This is well written and I shall use it as a source to quote, but, I must seem a Johnny-one-note it is more evidence that the US should withdraw from Europe and elsewhere and adopt a neutralist ethos and pursue a neutralist foreign policy.
I strongly disagree with the author's call for the USA to "do something" about the Houthis firing on ships. These ships in the Red Sea the Houthis are firing at are not American, but belong to countries such as Monaco, Cayman Islands, Antigua, etc. The ship owners can ask for the Monaco Navy to defend them. Worse yet, the reason America lost its merchant fleet is because the US Navy will defend ships from these nothing countries. The US Navy should be shrunk by 90% because there is no merchant fleet to protect.
Some of the missiles and drones were aimed at US warships. We and our allies (especially France and UK) are working to keep international waterways free from interference. The Houthis are violating international law. Who owns the commercial ships being attacked is, by law, completely irrelevant.
Sorry, but the USS Carney fired on the Houthis first, without the Houthis ever attacking an American merchant ship. The only private American ships of note on the high seas that get attacked are small sailboats. When they ask the US Navy for escorts, the US Navy tells these Americans to contact the coast guard of the closest nation.
By the way, (Real, Middle, Main St.) America does not care about (landlocked) Bolivian ships in the Red Sea.
Yes, the Carney fired on the Houthi drones, thus committing an act of war against the Houthis.
By the way, the only way to change my mind about the US Navy is if the Navy would charge for protection of foreign ships, as in $15 per container. No fee, no protection. Joe Blow American should not bear the whole cost. My complaint is foreign companies getting FREE protection.
Your arguments are sane, sound and based on fact and common sense. Unfortunately, its exactly what our government "leadership" needs to hear, but never will.
"Russia even exercised restraint ... Russians tolerated the attack to a degree and took no steps to widen the conflict."
Besides mass bombing Ukraine everyday and sending hundreds of new attacks with thousands troops and hundreds of tanks etc., what else can RUssia do? Nuke? Russia has been waging war on Ukraine to max capacity it has had. There is laterally nothing else Russia can do. Is that clear now to you?
That image of burning Tu-160 is known to be doctored. Look up Tu-160, look at its wing span and at the doctored picture again. On that day there was minor damage from a drone to fuel trucks, no planes critically damaged. Ukrainian propaganda at its best
Who? I live in Russia so I can do mistakes in English. I worked as electrical engineer designing the electric distribution for Ty-160 and Ty-22 when I lived in Kazan so I know everything about both aircraft, all of them in operation or in disposal. The two airplanes are completely different. If you have specific questions, you can ask me.
What's your argument? You just said that the photograph was doctored. If you wanted to make an impression of a Russian aircraft expert, you failed. Well,
Stephen Bryen failed on his judgements too, so you are not alone.
You said the plane "burned to ashes". Regardless to what plane that was, that specific foto was circulated by Ukranians and has been debunked before as a fake...Do you have any evidence that specific attack resulted in a plane loss? Nobody questions your expertise on planes, yes those 2 are different, but Ukranians claimed Tu-160 loss at the time
I don't know what Ukrainians talk and do, I know what's going on in Russia, specifically in Rus air force. I have my mates, they serve in the Engels and in Lipetsk air force bases, they told me about the loses. I tend to believe them, they are good professionals, I served with them for two years long time ago.
Notice that you don't provide any link and any evidence to "debunked before as a fake...". Understand this: we are airmen, professionals, we can spot a tiny feature on an aircraft while it's flying 5 km above us, we can identify the type of a helicopter or airplane from the noise it makes, we can identify it from a small fragment of a photo (that's how it's spelled) of it. We also can identify the air base facilities because its our environment. No one can lie to us when it comes to aircraft, aerodrome, etc, even you.
So what's your point? Give more weapons to Ukraine so she can hit more Z rocket launchers while they are on the ground before they launch missiles at Ukrainian cities.
Give 190-km ATACMS missiles, give Taurus missiles, give tomahawks! -- these are the best air defence for Ukraine. They will hit Tu-160 and many others.
Col. McGregor states that NATO is in no shape to take Russia on. Germany is almost a zero with tiny numbers of equipment, tanks and planes mission ready. They don't even have enough G36's. France won't join in. Spain won't join in. What's left? Even if they did take part its not nearly enough to successfully take them on in a ground war. NATO would spin apart IMO. Germans have no appetite to go to war with Russia again. Its in their DNA now. Its a bluff and everyone knows it. This never should have come about. We treated Russia badly after the cold war. We sowed the wind. There is an earthquake coming when Ukraine falls apart.
macgregour is so useless colonel. He has so much predictions for the past 24 months: none of it come true. He is actually paid for those talking points from taxes we pay in Russia. Also, the GRU/FSB has got tonnes of kompromat on him and gen Flynn, so half of the work they do for free, although they hate themselves for it, coze they know they betrayed America.
"We treated Russia badly after the cold war." -- this is a total lie or total ignorance. There has been no country on Earth that has received so much from the West: G8, WTO, NATO-Russia councils, billions of investments and free money (which Russia has all expropriated again as it did in 1917). All Russian oligarchs, officials, even FSB and military generals have hidden hundreds of billions of dollars and their families in the USA, hundreds of billions of euros and pounds and families in the EU and UK. You know why? Because they know that in the West their assets and families are always safe and free, unlike in Russia.
America has a Gun Problem at home and abroad, and the MIC is the big brother of the NRA.
If the Pentagon and their gun dealers want more money, maybe they should track down some of of the $3.8 TRILLION that's gone missing according to the latest audit.
This is well written and I shall use it as a source to quote, but, I must seem a Johnny-one-note it is more evidence that the US should withdraw from Europe and elsewhere and adopt a neutralist ethos and pursue a neutralist foreign policy.
I strongly disagree with the author's call for the USA to "do something" about the Houthis firing on ships. These ships in the Red Sea the Houthis are firing at are not American, but belong to countries such as Monaco, Cayman Islands, Antigua, etc. The ship owners can ask for the Monaco Navy to defend them. Worse yet, the reason America lost its merchant fleet is because the US Navy will defend ships from these nothing countries. The US Navy should be shrunk by 90% because there is no merchant fleet to protect.
SEE: https://www.itfglobal.org/en/sector/seafarers/flags-of-convenience
Some of the missiles and drones were aimed at US warships. We and our allies (especially France and UK) are working to keep international waterways free from interference. The Houthis are violating international law. Who owns the commercial ships being attacked is, by law, completely irrelevant.
Sorry, but the USS Carney fired on the Houthis first, without the Houthis ever attacking an American merchant ship. The only private American ships of note on the high seas that get attacked are small sailboats. When they ask the US Navy for escorts, the US Navy tells these Americans to contact the coast guard of the closest nation.
By the way, (Real, Middle, Main St.) America does not care about (landlocked) Bolivian ships in the Red Sea.
where did you get that idea? The Carney didn't fire on the Houthis, nor did any other US shjip.
Yes, the Carney fired on the Houthi drones, thus committing an act of war against the Houthis.
By the way, the only way to change my mind about the US Navy is if the Navy would charge for protection of foreign ships, as in $15 per container. No fee, no protection. Joe Blow American should not bear the whole cost. My complaint is foreign companies getting FREE protection.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/03/politics/uss-carney-shoots-down-houthi-drones-red-sea/index.html
I disagree strongly. That's not right. I don't have any idea where you come up with such an argument.
Your arguments are sane, sound and based on fact and common sense. Unfortunately, its exactly what our government "leadership" needs to hear, but never will.
People hear only what they want to hear, or at least that is true of our government these days.
"Russia even exercised restraint ... Russians tolerated the attack to a degree and took no steps to widen the conflict."
Besides mass bombing Ukraine everyday and sending hundreds of new attacks with thousands troops and hundreds of tanks etc., what else can RUssia do? Nuke? Russia has been waging war on Ukraine to max capacity it has had. There is laterally nothing else Russia can do. Is that clear now to you?
"The Russians were frequently assured, starting with former President Bill Clinton, that NATO would not expand."
Stephen, so your "NATO assurances" started after 1991? What about the NATO assurances before 1991? Or you just got lost quoting lying sources?
That image of burning Tu-160 is known to be doctored. Look up Tu-160, look at its wing span and at the doctored picture again. On that day there was minor damage from a drone to fuel trucks, no planes critically damaged. Ukrainian propaganda at its best
That is why I qualified the statement as destroyed or damaged
That is not -160, it's a Ty-22, don't be so much ignorant. And it's burned down to ashes.
Does not change my argument on the wing span much...how is the google translate working for you, NAFO agent?
Who? I live in Russia so I can do mistakes in English. I worked as electrical engineer designing the electric distribution for Ty-160 and Ty-22 when I lived in Kazan so I know everything about both aircraft, all of them in operation or in disposal. The two airplanes are completely different. If you have specific questions, you can ask me.
What's your argument? You just said that the photograph was doctored. If you wanted to make an impression of a Russian aircraft expert, you failed. Well,
Stephen Bryen failed on his judgements too, so you are not alone.
You said the plane "burned to ashes". Regardless to what plane that was, that specific foto was circulated by Ukranians and has been debunked before as a fake...Do you have any evidence that specific attack resulted in a plane loss? Nobody questions your expertise on planes, yes those 2 are different, but Ukranians claimed Tu-160 loss at the time
I don't know what Ukrainians talk and do, I know what's going on in Russia, specifically in Rus air force. I have my mates, they serve in the Engels and in Lipetsk air force bases, they told me about the loses. I tend to believe them, they are good professionals, I served with them for two years long time ago.
Notice that you don't provide any link and any evidence to "debunked before as a fake...". Understand this: we are airmen, professionals, we can spot a tiny feature on an aircraft while it's flying 5 km above us, we can identify the type of a helicopter or airplane from the noise it makes, we can identify it from a small fragment of a photo (that's how it's spelled) of it. We also can identify the air base facilities because its our environment. No one can lie to us when it comes to aircraft, aerodrome, etc, even you.
So what's your point? Give more weapons to Ukraine so she can hit more Z rocket launchers while they are on the ground before they launch missiles at Ukrainian cities.
Give 190-km ATACMS missiles, give Taurus missiles, give tomahawks! -- these are the best air defence for Ukraine. They will hit Tu-160 and many others.
Col. McGregor states that NATO is in no shape to take Russia on. Germany is almost a zero with tiny numbers of equipment, tanks and planes mission ready. They don't even have enough G36's. France won't join in. Spain won't join in. What's left? Even if they did take part its not nearly enough to successfully take them on in a ground war. NATO would spin apart IMO. Germans have no appetite to go to war with Russia again. Its in their DNA now. Its a bluff and everyone knows it. This never should have come about. We treated Russia badly after the cold war. We sowed the wind. There is an earthquake coming when Ukraine falls apart.
macgregour is so useless colonel. He has so much predictions for the past 24 months: none of it come true. He is actually paid for those talking points from taxes we pay in Russia. Also, the GRU/FSB has got tonnes of kompromat on him and gen Flynn, so half of the work they do for free, although they hate themselves for it, coze they know they betrayed America.
"We treated Russia badly after the cold war." -- this is a total lie or total ignorance. There has been no country on Earth that has received so much from the West: G8, WTO, NATO-Russia councils, billions of investments and free money (which Russia has all expropriated again as it did in 1917). All Russian oligarchs, officials, even FSB and military generals have hidden hundreds of billions of dollars and their families in the USA, hundreds of billions of euros and pounds and families in the EU and UK. You know why? Because they know that in the West their assets and families are always safe and free, unlike in Russia.
America has a Gun Problem at home and abroad, and the MIC is the big brother of the NRA.
If the Pentagon and their gun dealers want more money, maybe they should track down some of of the $3.8 TRILLION that's gone missing according to the latest audit.
And as Stephen demonstrates, the Red Peril in Vicky Nuland's Eastern Europe is largely imaginary.
NATO is a quite simply a Protection Racket.