sherpa

I would say Wagner's activities are far more expansive than Blackwater, to include flying Russian strike aircraft. On the Ukranian side, a retired Ukrainian pilot, was shot down and killed a month or so ago. He was 61.

I wouldn't believe a thing Bolton says about anything. He has been a crazy warmonger for a long time. Couldn't get Senate approval as UN Ambassador under Bush when the Republicans controlled the Senate, so had to get a recess appointment. Hasn't had a day where he didn't want to invade Iran. Run out of Trump staff, not that that is unusual. Was suspected of withholding information from Colin Powell during his service because it went against his views. The man needs to be away from govt., and I wouldn't trust a thing he said.

I'm no fan of our Sect. of Transportation. He seems like a lot of this type-likes being in front of a camera far more than solving issues. But.....This pilot shortage thing has its roots in the 1970's, and has been predicted for at least twenty years. While that is fact, this recent debacle is a purely Southwest thing. They have an interesting culture that occasionally comes to the public's attention.

As long as the ret of the world continues to go to the US taxpayer to solve serious issues brought on by those regimes, and I would add North Korea to the list, I think the US has earned the right to insist on a strident consideration of its views. The useless UN and the exposure of the European NATO weaknesses should be in focus after this latest calamity. That's not US muscle wielding. It's long overdue common sense.

I'm guessing the firing squad execution part of the deal is a bit different.

Appealing to Russian prisoners to join the fight. Sounds pretty attractive, eh? Head of Wagner group "recruiting" Russian convicts.

That is a complicated question, and can only be viewed in hindsight. I've been through all this before, on a personal level, having flown carrier based fighters, then on shore duty, teaching then Soviet weapons and tactics, as well as serving as an adversary pilot/instructor using those tactics to train US and allied Air Forces how to defeat them. It's the same now as it was then. The threat is presented, ("sold" using your word, which I would not use), based on what is known about their weapon's capabilities. There are a lot of other things you can't know the total picture of by US and allied intel capabilities. Things like training levels, degree of challenge in that training. Leadership capabilities. Maintenance and readiness levels. Morale, to some extent. The level of corruption etc., and it goes on and on. To ensure effectiveness, you can't assume they are highly questionable until you see them in action in a meaningful, to them, operation. So far, what we have witnessed is nearly a complete waste of those significant weapons and troops. They obviously don't plan well, as seen by their complete inability to supply their initial offensive. They have shown no realization that cell phones get you in trouble if the US is around. Think it was a coincidence that a number of high ranking field officers were killed this past summer? How were they targeted? Think the Ukrainians happened to be lucky? Still worse, they have seemingly no ability to maintain equipment or even produce necessary parts. Still even worser, they have shown absolutely no ability to integrate forces. No coordination between ground and air, or any other joint force multiplier assets. Their leadership, if you could call it that, is seemingly hideous from the 0-6 level down to E-3. Their entire military operation reeks of massive corruption before anything even gets to the battle. Further, they seem entirely disinterested. The point is, though, you can't assume any of that prior to observation, which we are now getting an eyeful causing us to think the way we now do. Anecdotally, I recall a similar situation during my active duty. I was a Topgun trained adversary instructor and had access to stuff pretty early in the game. We had access to a couple of defectors who had strong opinions that they were being overrated, but they were defectors. Obviously unhappy. Anyway, when they shot down KAL 007, a civilian 747, I heard the intercepted radio transmissions of the entire thing. It was an amateur, boneheaded event from their end. I remember thinking, and stating, we are worried about these clowns? It was that bad. In contrast, when I was on cruise in the northern Indian Ocean, just after the Iranian Embassy was invaded and the hostages were in custody, the first Iranian surveillance plane, a P-3 Orion that we had sold them, had just taken off and was heading out to sea looking for my carrier. I launched off and was data linked, with out talking, to our E-2 Hawkeye early warning airplane. Nothing was said in the clear, but the intercept data showed up on my HUD, and I intercepted him without him even knowing I was in the area until I pulled on on his wing and pointed to my Sidewinder missile. That's how it's supposed to be done. The Russians have, or had, all they need to be a very effective adversary, but the entire thing is only impressive until you pull the curtain down, or you watch them in action. The problem is that you can't assume that. We have an all volunteer force, and you don't get volunteers unless they are quite sure of ultimate success.

I'm not sure of the implied viewpoint here. The $65b is their one year budget. It is not like US, NATO and other support is simply neutralizing that value. The Russian non nuclear military is being destroyed to a significant extend, and the cost Putin has strapped his country with extends way beyond one year's budget, as well as a tremendous brain drain and working demographic escape. Unless the tide is turned in his favor, this is going to cost the Russians a massive amount more than one year's military budget.

I'm certain there's no changing your mind, but the situations you mention are completely different. Viet Nam is not only ancient history, but totally inapplicable. First, we deployed a large amount of troops to fight an ground/air war. Second we foolishly and tragically did not allow our military to fight that war using its capabilities. Iraq was a tremendous military success until the primary military goals were met. It was then completely destroyed by a terrible regime and massive third party interference. The military goals in Afghanistan ere relatively easily achieved, but again, domestic leadership was unsupported and horribly ineffective. Ukraine is fighting an invading force trying to steal its land. It is under a very popular regime, for the moment. It has huge international support which includes sufficient weapon aid. China has an arms length relationship with Russia and as currently developing, would never send troops of any significance to be led by this grossly failing Russian military, nor has it ever been anything but a home defense force. As the saying goes, you can't fight the last war. In addition, you can't use strategies of the last war to fit inapplicable realities. Completely turning back the unprovoked Russian invasion is extremely beneficial to Europe and the US. Doing so without US troop involvement is as good as it gets. The downside is current cost, which may be well worth it compared to continued and even more aggressive Russian expansion. Evolving trade and discovering energy realities alone are worth tens of billions. NATO countries finally coming around to learning that their failure to live up to agreements is an additional value. Anyway, lots of variables in this equation, but I doubt active, large scale warfare extends into next winter.

If BUF is closed, they could possibly change the destination and bus. Got to find an open airport with about a 7500' or longer runway, Toronto would be problematic due customs requirement.

The "pull" is because the ridiculous claim of asylum makes it much easier to nor enforce laws approved by our legislature, you know, the governmental body elected to make law, that the administration has absolutely no history of enforcing and no intent to do so.

Which is why they need to elect or at least exercise some level of control over those who govern them. The difference between being a citizen or being a subject is something that takes a lot of effort, and the longer it's neglected, the more effort required to change. When they don't exercise that effort, you get situations like Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela and a host of regimes that either abuse the governed, threaten their people, neighbors or both, and/or cause mass exodus as is happening on our southern border.

Because they provide very effective products built to specifications that the government, (with a lot of advice), requests. The government then assures that its' people are well trained to operate these very effective product, and provides the environment and support necessary to these very effective products to be employed. Win Win

Piece of cake. Now this is tough: Dark night on Nimitz Carrier shows up at about the 1:30 mark, but that is the light on the island. The landing area, to the lower left of of the island light, doesn't show up until the 2:50 mark, seconds befoe toufhdown And taxiing after the landing is interesting also.

You may have misplaced a decimal somewhere, or something, but the Ruble is nowhere near 14-16 cents US. The exchange rate in the open market today is 68.55 rubes to the dollar. That after massive intervention and restrictions imposed by the Russian gov to support it earlier in the year. And they sure as hell aren't getting anything close to WTI or Brent North Sea prices for their dirty fuel. Economy shrinking. revenue shrinking. Foreign exchange being depleted. Only one path for them.

I'd say both are struggling. Russian GDP is down 4-6% this year, depending on who you believe. The Ruble is losing ground and bound to get worse in spite of huge restrictions put in place by Moscow to prop it up. Slow asphyxiations.

For what it's worth, Biden was a strident advocate for invasion of Iraq in 2003. That is his history, no matter how be bungled the attempt to confuse the issue during the campaign. Still, it is hard to believe that Russia can make it through a second winter next year. They simply cannot handle the economic collapse. Now that Germany has constructed and is operating three LNG terminals, the price of Russian oil is bound to plummet. Very hard to see how the Russians can continue to fund this failed effort.

They are going to be operated by Ukrainian forces, trained by the US in a third country. While Patriot offers a significant upgrade to existing air defense capability, I really wonder about the efficacy of this. First, Patriot is a relatively short range system, a point defense weapon. Second there are not many of them being deployed. Thus, the question is where to put them? Probably to defend against very specific high value targets. Third, what happens if the battery is attacked by scores of drones? Patriot costs about $3 million per missile. The drones Russia is reportedly using cost about $50,000. twenty times less. The obvious strategy would be to saturate the Patriot batteries with drones and either waste the missiles or defeat the drones by other means. On a related note, our NATO allies, noteworthy the Germans, are failing miserably to provide what was promised. They promised Puma tanks, and every single one has failed, so they aren't being sent. Just a mess.

A ridiculous assumption.

Their airports a fine. They are just terrible at controlling airplanes, thus they operate incredibly slowly for what they manage. Totally incapable of handling small accidents in traffic. I've seen rear enders that result in massive jams in Beijing and Shanghai. There's nothing more welcoming than being presented a mask to protect your lungs during the Beijing winters when inversions set up and trap the coal exhaust. The country also has as ticking time bomb demographic issue.

Like most announcers, I'll bet Sanchez just wanted to get out of the stadium as early as possible.

KBUF is suitable for a 747, except at extreme weights on really long haul flights. Usually teams use either a 767 or 777, but as the airlines have withdrawn more and more from doing these for other reasons, the teams find other carriers.

Not sure about this claim. NFL charters to Buffalo disembark at the General Aviation ramp and go directly to chartered buses. They shouldn't pass through any TSA station in doing this.

I can't remember how he described what was going on but I do remember him stating that in 2019, about $75% of insurance litigation cases were from Florida, while the state only accounted for 8% of nationwide claims, and that 49 of the 52 carriers had losses between 2017 and 2021, and that the state run option, Citizens, was going broke.

For what it's worth, I heard an interview with the guy who is going to be the head of the Florida State Legislature in 2023 last week. He spoke extensively on this issue and stated they were going to address it in a comprehensive way as soon as they got in session. The fact is that insurance companies don't want to do business there, and that has been going on for over a decade. What they have done is dramatically raise rates to a point where nobody would accept, and then with no clients they could leave. Anyway, this Florida insurance issue has been going on for a very long time.