Just putting this one here
(Has it really been 3 years?)
Anyone else see the Chinese pushing that they have evidence COVID-19 started in the USA?
This is a guarentee.
If the island of Taiwan looks likely to fall, the last pair of B1s or a flight of B2s will flatten each and every high tech site on that rock.
Relying on the so called ‘kill switch’ which is supposedy built into the factories is not something the US will do.
Scorched earth.
Also has the side effect of the Taiwanese knowing that if they dont put up a sufficent fight to repel invaders their GDP and lifestyle affordance will be over.
…
Part of me also suspects that key individual’s will already have been identified and marked for extraction, operation paperclip style, so that knowledge cant fall into enemy hands either.
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Naa mate, plenty of those still around.
Just called OF now…
I’d call that a mischaracterisation of what a flapper was, but ok.
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Not so sure that’s as relevant. Plenty of people know how, they just don’t have the technology and those running the machines and the factories aren’t those that design and make the machines - those aren’t in Taiwan or China and the latter isn’t about to roll into the Netherlands.
Not to say that extractions won’t happen though, just not as an “at any cost” priority.
As for flattening the place, it would be Donny T giving the go/no-go order.
Tbf…it was a blinder of a tactic
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Indeed, rather effective
Thought I’d share this here as the de facto Ukraine thread:
Very sad to hear this. Obviously, the thousands of Ukrainian deaths have been horrific, but this hits closer to home.
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Not very positive from the 1SL.
we must be ready to fight with what we have, not what we hope to have in the future
First Sea Lord issues blunt warning: “we need to be ready to fight”
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He’s right though. Whilst we absolutely need to be ready to fight with what we have now, we also need to be bringing what we have up to proper war fighting levels: not in 5 or 10 years time, but now.
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You got a magic money tree to shake?
It’s a simple matter of prioritisation. Lots of government spending in the recent budget: none of it was on Defence procurement for the current budget year.
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Speaking of Russia, got buzzed this morning by 2 x Wildcat HMA2’s, tooled up with fully laiden stubby pylons of Martlet’s flying East. Something we NEVER see around this area. Made me wonder what Vlad is bringing down the North Sea.
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BBC report on how long the UK Armed Forces could last in a war on the website today
How long Britain could really fight for if war broke out tomorrow
At the height of the Cold War in the 80s when we had far bigger forces than now the recokoning was 72 hours before instant sunshine was deployed at the minimum tactical level in Germany.
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The 30 - but initially twelve - 105mm light guns that went to the Falklands War fired as many shells as the MOD had stockpiled for more than 100 guns to fight the Red Army from the North Cape of Norway to Austria.
We’ve not been a serious war-fighting state since Korea….
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Germany directly accusing Russia of cyberattacks.
Also weird that this isn’t appearing at all on the BBC homepage if you’re in the UK, but if you’re abroad, or using a VPN, it’s the main headline breaking news thing!
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BBC World News is great, BBC News (UK) has become too “reality TV” style. But I suspect that’s due to demand from UK consumers of news.
So often, whether through their website or, in particular, BBC Breakfast, the news they broadcast to a UK audience just isn’t newsworthy. Yet whilst I was in Peru it was a great source of commentary on global affairs.
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