sherpa

That is precisely why the US is flying WC 135 Constant Phoenix airplanes along the border. Those are "sniffer airplanes" that detect radiation. I do, and I think that's what the Poles really want.

Told ya. Aint happenin'.

Check out a company like Bloom Energy. Tons of capacity in place across the corporate world, some municipalities, including the town of Colchester, CT as well as a huge South Korean market including container ship energy supply, which is heavy, dirty fuel oil replaced by light, solid oxide energy. All changing. Of course it must be mentioned that Gillette Stadium, home of the Pats, also has the system installed.

There is so much more in this universe than electric cars and solar/wind. Solid oxide fuel cells that eliminate the energy grid which is the real vulnerability can be powered by nat gas, at a much less atmospheric impact than what we are now using, or hydrogen, which has no environmental impact. The long term solution to energy is not substituting oil producer producer A for oil producer B. It is in eliminating the centralized grid weakness, where energy is transmitted from a central source, (utility), across a vulnerable grid, (see California's problems). On site production is the solution, and many have figured this out, Google, ATT, Home Depot, Verizon, WalMart, Staples etc. It goes on and on.

There are no good nuclear options. Only when faced with the end of the regime. Israel considered it in the early days of the 1973 Yom Kippur war, but that option quickly changed when events turned in their favor. I have no doubt they would employ them if Iran got close to ending the state of Israel.

And it's really good stuff.

I'm not sure this three party agreement to get Mig 29's to Ukraine is going to be effective. Where are they going to base them? I cannot imagine that Ukrainian air bases are still operational, or would be within the time frame required. I'm unsure of the differences between Polish Mig variants and those provided to the Ukraine Air Force. Sometimes the differences are minor, sometimes they're not. Anyway, not sure this is going to matter.

That isn't going to happen.

I am commenting based on my experience, which is seven years of planning against them, the last two and a half an an adversary pilot, studying their tactics and weapons and presenting them to US fighters and other air forces. The US performance in Iraq was military nearly flawless. This is a a strange non use of capability, terrible planning and poor execution. The lack of a professional NCO group is obvious, but their Air Force sitting on the sidelines is puzzling.

Of course they're going to defeat Ukraine, but it's going to be the most pyrrhic victory in memory. Russia becomes economically and politically isolated and loathed by every nation on earth except its satellites. As well, the Russian military performance has been abysmal. Embarrassing actually. Alliances in opposition to them are tuned up and strengthened. Passive states like Germany, are changing to a far more hostile view of them, and countries like Finland and Sweden have become NATO friendly. Even historically neutral Switzerland is participation in sanctions, and it's hard to believe the "occupation" phase is going to go well for them.

Absolutely no blame. That coup failed and Chavez returned to power. Know he he got that power? You guessed it, a coup. Either way, no blame is due the US for any of that. The US simply knew the unfolding tragedy he would cause before he knew it. Either way, he was back in power quickly and started his tragic realm. Among the many things I listed in my original post that caused this economic and humanitarian tragedy that were firmly caused my the Chavez regime, I forgot to mention he completely trashed the currency, which happens when you trash the economy by expropriating, (stealing), entire industries leading to dramatic failures, stole money from foreign businesses providing needed services to that country resulting in them leaving, and caused a massive exodus of capital and talent, and causing the worst domestic crime environment in the hemisphere. None of that was caused by anyone other than him. Shoot. The country was so screwed up when he died that they couldn't even mummify him. They tried to do what the Chinese did to Mao, which was chemically treat him so he could be on display, but waited too long and his corpse was already rotting. Good thing for him, because if he was displayed, as pissed as the folks got at him, it would not have ended well for the mummy.

At the risk of "thread creep," Venezuela's problems are entirely self inflicted. By the way, they recently, two days ago I think, condemned the rest of the world's sanctions against Russia in the wake of their Ukraine invasion. The Chavez gov nationalized their oil industry to fund his adventures trying to spread the "Bolivarian Revolution" across South America and beyond. Utter failure and he destroyed that industry among others he nationalized. He then rigged the legislature, rigged the courts, changed the constitution to ensure he could stay in power, courted Syria, Iran and Russia while harassing the US, and US diplomats based in Caracas at every opportunity, and constantly poking his neighbor, Colombia. He set his acolyte, Maduro, up to succeed him and the downward spiral continued with a massive exodus of talent to escape the nonsense. Venezuela is an entirely self caused, unforced error. The US deserves no blame for their tragedy.

Well, for starters, how ' bout any rationalization that explains Putin "carpet bombing" a Ukraine city, a preposterous idea that you brought up.

😄 Where do you dream up this stuff?

I think the next month is going to be painful, but..... I think Russia is done, at least the Putin regime, and... I think China is grossly overrated by US folks.

Putin, if he was smart.

Of course they do. Russia is being economically isolated in a manner never seen, and the pain to its populace is going to be massive. I'm simply responding to one element.

I'm not sure what NATO did, but that would make zero sense. Might as well blow them up on the ramp. The entirety of Russian civilian aviation is gone, regardless of what they agree to return. No spare parts, no maintenance, or access to out of country airspace. Over 50% of Russian airlines airplanes are leased, and while they might not return them, they cannot operate them. Among other industries, this one is dead.

"No fly zone," and "stooge" should be banned form this site. Their are no deader horses.

If it was launched by the US or NATO if would be an act of war. I'm not sure how the Russians would retaliate, but I'm sure they would initially take it out on Ukraine as a message that such aggression from a third party would be counterproductive. The thing is that there would be better options. A cruise missile doesn't have that big of a warhead. Air launched cruise missiles are more effective- bigger warhead since less rocket is needed. For all their talk, I am surprised and disappointed that the locals haven't used some kind of guerilla tactics against it. If they had any missile capability it would be very simple to hit. If they have no missiles, though I'm sure the Russians are guarding it, there has to be some point where they could do some damage with improvised weapons. If another country was serious about hitting it, and was willing to commit an act of war and risk the consequences, it would make more sense to do something bigger than a pin prick action like a cruise missile, which could be cleaned up in a matter of hours.. On that note, the Russians have a very sophisticated air defense capability which is though to have some ability to defend against cruise missiles. That is if they have it operating, which I'm not sure of, but we would know from signal intel if they did.

Largely true, but I think what started on April 19, 1775 was pretty OK.

So not willing to put up money to back up your claim? An admission of no confidence? Got it.

Hey Tibs. I see you didn't respond to my challenge. No surprise there. Just for your edification, if you want to know why people with knowledge of these type of things are surprised at your suggestions regarding a no fly zone, you can be educated here: The guy on the left is an F-14 RIO, (back seater), and accomplished author. The guy on the right is from the same background as me, A7's to F-18's. Both did the entire career thing. They kind of know what they're talking about.

Want to make it interesting, or you want to keep acting the goof? I can provide massive amounts of proof, so you name the stakes of a gamble, no limit, and I'll gladly agree. If not, shut up.

Can we stop this? A no fly zone is a declaration of war. Call it what it is.