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Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

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Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#61
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ukraine paid the largest price in war against Nazi. Can you explain your theory about _Neo_Nazi in Ukraine?

Didn't you see the links to articles with a lot more information and from reputable journalists in the post? Why are you even asking me? Those articles will give you a lot more info. Go ask the journalists who covered the situation for this "theory about _Neo_Nazi in Ukraine". Here are more articles from some established sources: * https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11... * And another one: htt…

I'm from Ukraine. Where I can meet NeoNazi? Ukraine lost about 30 millions in war against them.

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#62
As long as the US continues winning the economic/political game it doesn't matter what country builds X weapon that (perhaps) the US doesn't have (yet). It doesn't really make sense for China/Russia to try and compete with the US militarily - need only ask the Soviet Union how that turned out.

They need to compete on the economic/political level and they are still half a century away from having the clout the US has, regardless of who might occupy the Executive.

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#63
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russias ruling elite need external threats to keep their reign secure, otherwise russians would start looking inwards rather than outwards.

The same is true of Americas' ruling elite, yo. Stop blaming Russia - start blaming Lockheed Martin ($29.4 billion), Boeing ($14.6 billion), Raytheon ($12.3 billion), General Dynamics ($11.8 billion), Northrup Grumman ($9.5 billion), and so on .. ($number in brackets represents value of war-related contracts awarded and currently under obligation...) These companies need the Russian threat to justify their existence.

>These companies need the Russian threat to justify their existence.

So you're saying that Russia would be a peaceful, friendly nation, except that the military-industrial complex, which is about 5% of the US economy, persuades congress, the State Department and every president (including Obama) to act in ways that force Russia to be militaristic back?

One reason I find this highly improbable is there are lots of powerful political groups that benefit from peace and lower military spending. Are you saying they just stand by and passively let the military-industrial lobby get what it wants? Furthermore, if your conspiracy theory was true, then military spending would be very high, like 10% of gdp like it was during the cold war. Instead it is, as I recall, down around 4%.

The other reason is you seem to be assuming that Putin and Russia are basically peace-loving. That certainly does not fit with Russia's history. I mean, the Russian Empire got to be an empire through a whole lot of military conquest. And Putin was for decades a dedicated communist who believed world peace could come about only through either revolution or conquest. And Russians are highly ethnicist and nationalist, not at all peaceful universalists.

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#64
post #14

How would the US react if Russia build a missile defense site in Cuba? Cuba is closer to the US border than the site in Poland to the Russian border, on the other hand Washington is further away from Cuba than Moscow from the site in Poland. Both capitals would be in range of the interceptors. I do not really know enough to judge whether Putin's statement that one could easily replace interceptors with offensive weap…

You're absolutely right. Russia should be absolutely terrified by the US abm sites because the US is planning on launching a massive nuclear missile attack that would totally destroy Russia.

missing sarcasm tags

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#65
post #12
post #2

Is there seriously some new cold war going on? I read in other media how some new American weapons can fight certain Russian tanks etc, and now I read about Putin bragging about his new weapons. My prediction for the post-Sovjet area was that the US and Russia would just leave each other in peace.

Is there seriously some new cold war going on? Yes. Russia wants their empire back. They've already taken back a piece of Georgia, Crimea, and a piece of Ukraine.

[deleted]

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#66
post #33
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there seriously some new cold war going on? Yes. Russia wants their empire back. They've already taken back a piece of Georgia, Crimea, and a piece of Ukraine.

What a tidy explanation. It might surprise you to learn the US destabilized Ukraine in the first place, when the Ukrainian president put the brakes on their joining NATO and it looked as though they might instead join CSTO, the Russian version. This is all documented. Also Crimea IS the piece of Ukraine.

Putin has been perfectly clear about this, at least when he is talking to his own public. He says the collapse of the USSR and the Soviet block was one of the great tragedies of the 20th century, and he says that Russia will be under grave threat of being invaded and occupied by the US until it gets back its old territory.

He also says that Russia has a right to intervene in any country that has a substantial number of citizens of Russian decent that he believes are being ill-treated.

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So long as Russia has territory it doesn't control inside what it views to be its natural geological boundaries, there will always be Russian aggression. Russia very much wants to "never get involved in a land war in Asia." To that end, it wants a solid mountain boundary from the Carpathians to the Tien Shan, and the Gobi desert from there to the Pacific. Until then, you can expect continued encroachments on Ukraine,…

>So long as Russia has territory it doesn't control inside what it views to be its natural geological boundaries, there will always be Russian aggression. Quite true. The problem is that in order to gain the territory, it takes aggressive actions that provoke the very hostility it fears. Russia's basic problem is it thinks we are still in the pre-nuclear era where great powers regularly invaded each other, and the pr…

Right. But as long as it can manipulate its way toward that expansion (by, say, laying claim to the ethnic Russian populations in eastern Ukraine and playing tough to the West to inhibit any retaliation) it won't have to get involved in all-out war.

Agree 100%. Russia's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness: reliance on outdated forms of dominance. What we ought to be doing is working closely with China to develop energy technologies. Not only would it strengthen our interdependence on China (reducing the possibility of war with them), but our ability to cripple Russia economically would be substantially increased if we could build a couple thorium salt nuclear reactors in Eastern Europe and cut off Russia's income from oil exports.

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#68
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't you see the links to articles with a lot more information and from reputable journalists in the post? Why are you even asking me? Those articles will give you a lot more info. Go ask the journalists who covered the situation for this "theory about _Neo_Nazi in Ukraine". Here are more articles from some established sources: * https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11... * And another one: htt…

I'm from Ukraine. Where I can meet NeoNazi? Ukraine lost about 30 millions in war against them.

If any of those articles have inaccuracies, please say so. I never visited the Ukraine and I am not claiming to be an expert. Do you live near Kiev?

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#69
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Ukraine. Where I can meet NeoNazi? Ukraine lost about 30 millions in war against them.

If any of those articles have inaccuracies, please say so. I never visited the Ukraine and I am not claiming to be an expert. Do you live near Kiev?

I'm from Ukraine. I have 360°FOV realtime true color view at Ukraine. You asked me to say about inaccuracies, so here is answer.

In short: There is no Nazi in Ukraine. There are some attempts to create nationalistic ultra-right organizations by Russian agents, but they are monitored and destroyed as usual. (I destroyed one of them and deflect attempt to create another by myself when I was in operation).

Re: Putin's Hypersonic Weapon Appears to Be a Modified Iskander Ballistic Missile

#70
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds rather implausible, too. I have some weak memories of - at least officially - training missions or something along that line but I can not even tell when this was in relation to other events.

It is «The Truth» from Russian Federation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efcDkTyyZtQ You will not believe in that for the first 20 years or so, of course.

I am slightly confused why you used quotes around truth because that would often indicate that it is not actually the truth. Looking at your two comments I can not really tell if you think the involvement of Academi in the conflict actually happened or whether you are being sarcastic.

Anyway, I heard about it at that time and the evidence that Academi was active in the east of the Ukraine is rather thin at best. There are hundreds of articles but they are all just referencing each other and there is almost no underlying information. Sure, that would be the goal, to remain as unnoticed as possible, but it seems extremely unlikely that there are not more pictures and videos if 400 mercenaries were actively fighting in the Ukraine, especially given how powerful such material would be if its authenticity was not in doubt.

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