Phil1111

"Even under an independent grid, a Wall Street Journal investigation found that "deregulated Texas residential consumers paid $28 billion more for their power since 2004 than they would have paid at the rates charged to the customers of the state's traditional utilities....Texas' natural gas production was the main source of the recent power failures in the state, according to the Texas Tribune. But at least some of the causes of the state's issues date back about a decade."

That was more of a tongue and cheek answer. This war(sanctions) will finish off Russian aviation for a decade or two.. They will likely have to import technology from China in the future. Or at least as long as the remnants of Putin are around. The future of combat aviation is morphing into secure data links for targeting. Using "Loyal Wingman" platforms, conventional drones and the sharing of targeting data between A/C. The F-35 and F-22 have this integrated into the targeting architecture of the avionics. The French are also working on it. Israel is quite advanced in this area as well. It set aside the purchases of other A/C to buy more F-35s. Which they have used effectively in the face of S-400 systems in Syria. Using standoff glide bombs, drones and jamming. Together with F-35s they can attack weapons depos with impunity. The US and other NATO allies also have these capabilities. This war has proven that even third rate counties can deal with Russia's current capacities.

There have been many studies done on happiness that discount the value of wealth in the equation. Look at the people that go through life dealing with physical disabilities that remain very positive. People that are very, very wealthy yet continue to work because they love their jobs more than the money.

The movie Top Gun proved its value in combat! Russia has more IR integration "Consider a QWIP technology “OLS-50M” installed in the PAK-FA.  Such a device could be design-optimised for simultaneous detection and tracking of aircraft exhausts, jet-plumes and missile flares to ranges of 70 nm and beyond – the limiting factors are the size of the optics, cooling system and detector area. Russia has decades of experience in the integration of infrared sensors into its weapons systems, and QWIPs could well become the primary sensor and radar the secondary. This means that the F-22A AN/ALR-94 will be denied signals to detect and track the PAK-FA. "The ‘shooting match’ shifts from radar-centric to ‘infrared centric’. The problem here is that the PAK-FA will have it, the F-22A does not, and the ability of the F-35 EOTS and DAS to make long range aircraft detections and guide weapons is at best ‘unproven’. The F-35 systems have not been designed to be highly sensitive at the task of searching and tracking distant aircraft at those infrared colours where aircraft and their jet engines emit most of their infrared energy. An understanding of the physics, or for the ever-hopeful, a simple Developmental Test and Evaluation exercise will demonstrate this. With the Beyond-Visual-Range (BVR) radar detections being reduced to distances below 60 nautical miles and infrared sensor detection ranges growing beyond 50 nautical miles, a new generation of missiles will be required to dominate the battlespace."

"attacks, which Ukrainian leaders have neither confirmed nor denied but which one senior adviser winkingly described as “karma” on Wednesday, suggest that Kyiv is increasingly able to reach into Russian territory as the war continues. Empowered by NATO’s military aid, Ukrainian troops are hitting infrastructure, military targets and, Russian authorities say, at least some villages. Russian citizens are now waking to the same explosions that Ukrainians have faced for more than two months, making the conflict far more immediate and dangerous. At least 11 hits appear to have occurred since the fighting began Feb. 24, most of them since late last week. Most seem to have involved shelling or triggered Russian antiaircraft weaponry. A handful were suspicious explosions at Russian military facilities near the border. They have drawn Russian fury....Kursk residents had heard as the work of Russian air defense equipment. On Monday, two Turkish-made Bayraktar drones were shot down over the region, RIA Novosti reported" WP reports. Agree, I like it.

Ukraine already got a bunch more Mig 29s estimated at 20. They can carry 3000KG of bombs.

"President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that there was no threat to Russia if Sweden and Finland joined NATO but cautioned that Moscow would respond if the U.S.-led alliance bolstered military infrastructure in the new Nordic members." The opposing player has submitted to the rule change already. Concede your victory, smile and retire to the bar where the victor's spoils await consumption.

That the hard core of the republican base will always only see what they want to see? Or something else? I detest bullies and those in power that abuse power. I love the idea that Putin is getting the proverbial punch in the face. That Finnish membership delivers to him and his supporters. As far as Ukraine becoming some sort of external threat due to the flood of weapons flowing into the country. Don't forget it gave up its nuclear weapons years ago. In exchange for worthless paper promises.

trump's bosom buddy has blinked again. " President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has said that the alliance’s expansion poses “no direct threat to us,” but that Russia would respond “based on the threats that are created.” Perhaps now would be a good time to push Putin further. Like another tyrant, Putin has decided to run everything himself. No I don't mean trump. Putin has fashioned himself as a military genius. He is now co-directing military operations.

Sweden has donated slightly more to Ukraine's defense than has the US by GDP It also has a very robust defense program including its own fighter A/C. Finland has 200,000 full time and 900,000 reservists out of a population of 5.5 million. I get your point but alliances are built out of a sum of their parts. They are right on Russia's doorstep. Both can close off Russian access to the Baltic sea.both would be on the front line of any Russian conflict.

The US needs to supply some of these to Ukraine.

We all concur here.

Heretic! The constitution! the constitution!

Did I touch a nerve in my earlier post?

Thats quite amusing. But I have to give McConnell credit today. He stated that any settlement is up to Ukraine. That he and the US are on board till the end in helping Ukraine kick Putin ass. Ukrainian arty men are getting very very good lately. I don't know if its NATO howitzers, practice or both. But they seem to be able to walk shells up and down a shelterbelt no more than 25 yards wide.

You're right. Russia's vaunted T-14 tanks are so bad they won't even send them into combat. China knows every Russian secret and technology. The Chinese know how inept, useless Russian hardware and leadership is. China already knows everything about Russian leadership because they all use Chinese cell phones. Now that sanctions are in effect Russian chip production will fall to zero. Do you think that Moscow, Saint Petersburg, etc. will have to revert to using outhouses instead of indoor plumbing?

Russia loves leaders with short term ideals. Stalin wanted all of the troublesome republics. It looked good for a greater Soviet empire. Russia itself subsidized all of its satellite states, subsidized Cuba, etc. Just as it subsidizes Belarus today. Basically Russia only has friends that it buys with energy subsidies. More likely Putin will sell Siberia to China just as Tsar Alexander II did with Alaska. It will need money for its ageing population. To pay for its wars, reparations and endless subsidies of its "ally states". Russia the best collection of vassal states that roubles can buy.

I realize the Putin has starved Russian education to pay for yachts. Putin has eliminated all real news services to conceal his kleptocracy. That Putin keeps gas revenues for himself and his friends. But everyone knows that you're geographically and politically wrong. "With the TurkStream pipeline inaugurated, a southern export route to Europe has been opened for gas to travel from Russia. A high-profile ceremony on the occasion took place in Istanbul on Jan. 8, 2020, and was attended by the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia ...The TurkStream and TANAP-TAP pipelines pass through Turkey, an emerging regional energy hub...The TurkStream pipeline's launch is anticipated to increase the stability of Russian gas exports to Europe" Off to the Ukrainian front for you. You failed both gaslighting and propaganda 101. Five years from now "us people"will be free of Russian energy. Ukraine will be a NATO member, a EU member, and Belarus will still be sucking money from Russia. Russia will be sucking Xi's member because he's the only buyer around. Because of that Russia will be getting kopeks on the rouble for its energy.

Its also shipping almost every Bayraktar TB2 drone built to Ukraine. About one a day. The company is owned by a relative of Erdogans.

This and it was viewed as a bridge to the Islamic world in a democratic, secular country. Turkey used to follow the ideals of Ataturk whereby the state operated independently of Islamic teachings. With Erdogan thats out the door.

That i don't know but its no longer a real democracy. The rise and fall of liberal democracy in Turkey: Implications for the West Scores poor on the rule of law. Gutted civil and political liberties. IMO if Turkey invoked article five there may be allot of NATO countries that call in sick.

Well I could go on for pages. The US federal reserve has the independent duty to control inflation. Not Biden. Gas prices are determined by supply demand and international market forces. Not the President. America Is Having a Violence Wave, Not a Crime Wave “There was no crime wave—there was a tsunami of lethal violence, and that’s it,” Philip Cook, a crime expert at Duke University, wrote to me in an email. "The murder rate rose by nearly 30 percent, the largest increase on record. There were about 21,500 murders, or 6.5 per 100,000 people. Aggravated assault, the most common form of violent crime, rose 12 percent. Among other components of the violent-crime rate, robbery actually decreased and rape reports were flat. But property crimes overall fell 8 percent, led by drops in burglary and larceny—though motor-vehicle theft increased." I'm sure you'll be blaming Biden for the murders in Buffalo this weekend. But wrong is right for you.

IMO Finland and Sweden should be voted in and Turkey voted out. Sweden and Finland have given sanctuary to some Islamic members and groups that Turkey has issues with. Associated with the coup and the PKK. So Turkey is likely going to want accommodation for that. U.S. sanctions Turkey over purchase of Russian S-400 missile system

That is not true. Like everything else about trump he likes to play both sides of any issue. Then play to his base. Then blame others. Feb 22, 2022 "Donald Trump on Wednesday called Russian President Vladimir Putin "very smart" for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, suggesting that he supports a military conflict that will lead to untold civilian death. "I mean, he's taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart," Trump said during a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser. "He's taking over a country, literally, a vast, vast, location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in." Despite praising the invasion, Trump also claimed that it "never would have happened" under his watch, saying that he knows Putin "very well … almost as well as anybody in this room." "March 1: “The RINOs, Warmongers, and Fake News continue to blatantly lie and misrepresent my remarks on Putin because they know this terrible war being waged against Ukraine would have never happened under my watch … There should be no war waging now in Ukraine, and it is terrible for humanity that Biden, NATO, and the West have failed so terribly in allowing it to start.” So they are to blame and not Putin? "March 15: “Now with what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine, among many other things, the great and wonderful people of Hungary need the continued strong leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orban more than ever.” (Note that, among the NATO countries, Orbán has taken a uniquely pro-Russia stance. So Trump’s argument that “what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine” makes his election more important directly implies that Orbán’s refusal to support NATO’s response to the invasion makes him more valuable.) Only once did Trump use an active-voice construction to identify Russia as the aggressor (“If the Election wasn’t Rigged … Russia would not have attacked Ukraine”). On every other occasion, he has relied on verbal contortions to mask its author." Not once has trump called for Russia to get out of Ukraine. Not once has he called out Putin's crimes in Ukraine. Instead he praises Orban of Hungary. The sole European country refusing to limit Russian oil exports. trump would never have led, or allowed, any international effort to sanction Putin. That is a fact.

All about White Replacement Theory... er Great Replacement Theory. The shooter lived 200 miles away and chose that location because it had the highest number of Blacks. According to an internet search he did and his manifesto. "The Great Replacement” has made its way into mainstream consciousness in the past several years. From the chants of “Jews Will Not Replace Us” on the University of Virginia campus to then-U.S. Rep. Steve King’s tweeted protest, “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson’s complaints that the Democratic party is attempting to “replace the current electorate” with “third-world voters,” the racist conspiracy theory has well and truly arrived." Its illegal to yell fire in a movie theater. Yet the networks that preach White nationalism are promoted, idealized.