Russia Update 06/24/2024
[UPDATE 06/25/2024: REPORTS NOW SAY THAT THE GLOBAL HAWK REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN SHOT DOWN WITH THE CALL SIGN “FORTE10” HAS LANDED IN SIGONELLA NAVAL AIR BASE IN SICILY. LATE YESTERDAY A STORY CAME OUT SAYING THAT THE GLOBAL HAWK DRONE SUFFERED FROM A FAULTY TRANSPONDER, LEADING TO REPORTS FROM INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS THAT THE DRONE HAD BEEN SHOT DOWN. SEE https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2024/06/24/usaf-rq-4-led-atacms-attack-in-crimea-with-a-disabled-transponder/#google_vignette]
The Russian Air Force has shot down a United States RQ-4 Global Hawk drone over the Black Sea. according to reports on Twitter and Telegram. The shoot down has not been officially confirmed.
The Russians say that the Global Hawks in the Black Sea are being used to coordinate missile and drone attacks on Crimea, the latest using 5 ATACMS missiles with cluster munitions warheads. Russia blames the US which it says provides the target coordinates and physically loads them into the ATACMS missiles in Ukraine. Global hawk sends the target information by satellite to Kiev.
Global Hawk flights originate in Sicily.
The Russians hauled in the US Ambassador to Moscow earlier today. President Putin has said there would be retaliation. A number of civilians including two children were killed on the beach in Sevastopol. Zelensky called them occupiers and that their killing was justified. One was 3 years old, the other a 9 year old girl.
Meanwhile Zelensky has fired one of his top generals after complaints from the neo-Nazi Azov brigade.
He was the commander of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Command, Lieutenant General Yury Sodol. He was fired after Ukrainian forces suffered very high casualties in the last week after a number of failed counter-attacks. Zelensky is under pressure from Washington to take back territory from Russia, particularly in Kharkiv and to show meaningful progress before the US presidential election.
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One of the great lessons I learned after a foolish adolescence was knowing when to stop (Just maybe that sixth pint was a little much). Unfortunately, nobody in the US government learned the important life lessons of moderation and will take us with them.
I know I am obnoxious about this, but our foolishness is why we need to cut it out, come home and pursue a neutralist foreign policy.
The war is escalating. The United States will soon regret that it unleashed this conflict.