American Liberalism ~ like the NYT and most of America's MSM ~ has long been a bloodthirsty cheerleader for war, Bill. As far back as LBJ, FDR, and Woodrow "Making the world safe for Wall Street" Wilson.
There are no "liberals" in DC, there are Red Team and Blue Team members, all of whom are very conservative. The entire "liberal news" fantasy that we hear about in the "news" is just misdirection. You don't get to hear anti-war, or anti-capitalism points of view in DC. You just hear from the two organized crime families (Red and Blue). In fact, the entire history of the US has been about crushing anything that looked or smelled like "the left" throughout the world, especially in Central and South America. Notice how the US only funds and arms "right-wing death squads". When was the last time that the US armed "Left-wing death squads" (if there even is such a thing).
During the recent kayfabe debt-ceiling crisis, I saw media reports praising the fact that the one area where bipartisan unity was easy to find is “defense” spending. This was meant to be inspiring and encouraging.
Yes. They use the artificial debt crisis to force through cuts in social spending. Then they applaud themselves for being "fiscally responsible" as they throw even more money at the Pentagon.
The NYT has been a bloodthirsty cheerleader for every US war during my lifetime--Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Panama, Grenada, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine. In fact, all mainstream media (both print and TV) in the US, including so-called "liberal" cable channels MSNBC and CNN, are bloodthirsty supporters. All of them are much better described as shameless regurgitators, just spewing out the latest claptrap from the US National Security State. These media outlets may be liberal when it comes to social and cultural issues, but when it concerns anything remotely related to "national security," they just parrot what they have told by the US government. And who are the politicians who run the US government? It is a complete fiction that there are 2 parties in the US. There is only one party, and based on recent US history the best name for it would be the War Party. This singular party has 2 wings, one called Democratic and one called Republican. On matters of "national security" there is unanimity of thought, with each wing vying to see which can be more hawkish and more slavish to the military-industrial complex. Only on matters of social and cultural issues can one discern any distinction between the 2 wings of the War Party. And so, for all the above reasons, Ray McGovern's acronym is the perfect description for our times--Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think Tank, or MICIMATT.
As always, thanks for telling it like many of us see it. 'Liberal' only with respect to the culture wars, NYT has now long been, indeed, a 'bloodthirsty cheerleader'. It has become, along with Washington Post (whose owner Bezos has, through Amazon, massive financial ties to the CIA), the go-to publisher for the security state.
I don't know when it actually began - I've only been over the years an occasional reader. But I recall well its unquestioning promotion of the Iraq invasion as the Washington neocons began selling their fiction about Iraqi WMD and the existential threat to the U.S. that these weapons presented to the U.S. Those lies had been rather compellingly debunked, well before Powell made the infamous televised speeches. My wife will recall how loudly I yelled at the TV screen, "That's a Lie!!! ", in response to his claims. But the NYT ate it all up; Colin Powell's speeches were CONFIRMATION of what they'd already been printing (always attributed to 'intelligence sources').
Later, of course, when the truth came out and all the claims were 'found to be invalid', they scapegoated Judith Miller (who certainly deserved the firing)- thus making everything ok. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis paid the price with their lives, while the country itself was devastated.
So what they've been doing w/r/t the Ukraine tragedy is just part of a long pattern. They haven't backtracked yet on Ukraine, but it will happen soon enough. Already they've begun their pivot to China. Just look at the headlines in every edition. Russia - this, China that. And Iran and Venezuela for good measure. Whoever resists the petro-dollar hegemony is The Empire's enemy; and therefore the bogeymen that NYT and 'WaPo' gladly use to keep everyone in line.
This seems to be so obvious; yet self-described 'liberals' still talk and act as if these papers (and NPR, MSDNC, etc.) represent a priori truth and sanity. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Well, there is no need to wonder anymore about the closed ecosystem of the MICMATT complex. A recent study shows that the sources for the NYT, Washington Post, etc. are all spokespeople from think tanks funded by weapons contractors who make obscene profits from war, up to and including the proxy war in Ukraine. No wonder the mainstream media is giddy about war!! Does this look like a conspiracy to you? Beware next time you dare to consider the NYT as an authoritative source concerning any war anywhere across the globe.
"....the New York Times is gushing about Ukraine using the element of surprise...."
I would suggest that if word of this attack is appearing in the NYT, it will hardly be a surprise. Never ceases to amaze me what appears in print and is supposedly "secret" or "a surprise."
For what it's worth, Denise, the NYT said the offensive itself won't be a surprise, but the direction/timing could be. And they used D-Day 1944 as an example, because, I don't know, the only war we've ever fought is World War II. I guess.
Even so, why publicize the offensive at all in the "paper of record?" Seems kinda....dumb. Are the Russians supposed to be intimidated?
I know you were being rhetorical, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the use of D-Day was because a) it's convenient, requiring no research; and b) it's a "safe" reference, as opposed to, say, the Surge(s), or any escalation in Vietnam. Bringing up phony wars that the NYT supported would be rather awkward, doncha know?
Agreed! D-Day is "safe." With respect to mentioning the offensive, they've been talking about it for months, so I guess the "surprise" is that it hasn't happened yet. :-)
Oh....so this is still the "spring offensive"? I honestly thought it had already happened. I'll admit I don't follow that segment of the news all that closely. Shame on me, but it just seems like the same war from 20 years ago. I realize that sounds completely callous, but I can't bear to read the horrendous stories. I know what's going on: unspeakable carnage for the sake of political domination.
US AT-4 rocket launchers missiles that were sent to Ukraine are showing up in the hands of Mexican drug cartel gangs. That is what the news in Mexico is reporting. We've been warned that US weapons given to the corrupt Zelenskyy would end up on the black market!
"Combined arms warfare", using tanks followed by infantry? How original. Sounds a whole lot like what's laid out in Guderian's "Panzer Leader." It was probably suggested by the "nazi" element this war is or was supposed to be all about, way back when.
AMERICA’S ADDICTION TO WAR COMES WITH A 15 TRILLION DOLLAR PRICE TAG by Jeffrey D. Sachs / Information Clearing House 060123
June 01, 2023: Information Clearing House -- In the year 2000, the U.S. government debt was $3.5 trillion, equal to 35% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2022, the debt was $24 trillion, equal to 95% of GDP. The U.S. debt is soaring, hence America’s current debt crisis. Yet both Republicans and Democrats are missing the solution: stopping America’s wars of choice and slashing military outlays.
Suppose the government’s debt had remained at a modest 35% of GDP, as in 2000. Today’s debt would be $9 trillion, as opposed to $24 trillion. Why did the U.S. government incur the excess $15 trillion in debt?
The single biggest answer is the U.S. government’s addiction to war and military spending. According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, the cost of U.S. wars from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2022 amounted to a whopping $8 trillion, more than half of the extra $15 trillion in debt. The other $7 trillion arose roughly equally from budget deficits caused by the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), the most powerful lobby in Washington. As President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned on January 17, 1961, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Since 2000, the MIC led the U.S. into disastrous wars of choice in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and now Ukraine.
The Military-Industrial Complex long ago adopted a winning political strategy by ensuring that the military budget reaches into every Congressional district. The Congressional Research Service recently reminded Congress that, “Defense spending touches every Member of Congress’s district through pay and benefits for military servicemembers and retirees, economic and environmental impact of installations, and procurement of weapons systems and parts from local industry, among other activities.” Only a brave member of Congress would vote against the military-industry lobby, yet bravery is certainly no hallmark of Congress.
America’s annual military spending is now around $900 billion, roughly 40% of the world’s total, and greater than the next 10 countries combined. U.S. military spending in 2022 was triple that of China. According to Congressional Budget Office, the military outlays for 2024-2033 will be a staggering $10.3 trillion on current baseline. A quarter or more of that could be avoided by ending America’s wars of choice, closing down many of America’s 800 or so military bases around the world, and negotiating new arms control agreements with China and Russia.
Yet instead of peace through diplomacy, and fiscal responsibility, the MIC regularly scares the American people with a comic-book style depictions of villains whom the U.S. must stop at all costs. The post-2000 list has included Afghanistan’s Taliban, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and recently, China’s Xi Jinping. War, we are repeatedly told, is necessary for America’s survival.
"Combined-arms". AKA Blitzkrieg (German). AKA Deep Battle (Russian). Although I think it only works if you have control of the skies. Or at least if the enemy doesn't.
It's embarrassing reading American commentary about their “superior” F-35 fighter jets. Americans who we read talking about their own aircraft, or any of its military weapons, are invariably clueless. And gingoistically claim that all Russian jet fighters are “rubbish”. And always claim the Yanks are 10-years ahead in technology. If only it were true eh?
They all prove how little they know or even understand, because none of them have ever asked themselves the most obvious - how can the F-35 stealth fighters detect, track, or target any other stealth aircraft from beyond visual range (BVR)? “Stealth” alone, only defeats high-frequency short wave radar, by absorption and deflection.
But it does NOT defeat low-frequency long wave radar. To detect, track, and target other stealth aircraft from BVR, you must have long-wave radar, and it must also be enhanced to remove all background clutter for targeting purposes. And neither the APG-77 radar, used in the F-22, or the APG-81 radar, used in the F-35, can detect any other stealth aircraft from BVR as they have no long wave radar.
When the F-35 radars were being designed 15-years ago, there weren't any other stealth aircraft to think about as a potential threat! So, how can anyone possibly consider these US stealth aircraft as any sort of real threat to either Russia or China, who both have these US stealth aircraft technically beaten today? They can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets BVR, while the US stealth jets can't even detect them BVR?
The reality of this Russian “rubbish” that they all claim, is that Russia has a new 5th generation fighter jet with enhanced long-wave radar. The new Byelka 2-band radar used in SU-57. They can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets from BVR. Russia has designed, and they've developed, the first L-Band fighter radar in the world. They've embedded L-band AESA radars into the leading edges of the wings, the L-band AESA radar "data" gets processed in real time through extremely powerful Russian computers, meaning they can detect, track, and engage enemy stealth aircraft from BVR.
This new Russian technology, along with its very impressive range parameters, and it's jamming ability over very large areas make this aircraft deadly to all other aircraft types. Just Russian rubbish? And they interact in ''real-time'' with each squadron member, auto selecting the best placed BVR missile being carried by any of them that can be fired by anyone of them.
They can take full control of surface-to-air (SAM) missile defence systems - that alone is lethal, and they can detect, track, and target all enemy stealth fighters, and detect them long before they even enter Russian airspace. From much greater distances today with the "real-time" data from all those massive Russian ground long wave stations that are all protected with their networked of S-400 ground-to-air missile defensive system.
These Russian stealth jets will always know exactly where the enemy stealth fighter aircraft are, so they'll approach them head on, being able to shoot down the US stealth jets from BVR while remaining undetected. The US stealth fighter jets would not even detect them coming!
Russian new 2-band radar, covers all frequencies across all channels, used for tracking, targeting, and also for jamming over large areas. It's part of Sh121 multifunctional integrated radio electronic system (MIRES) on board the SU-57. Russia tested this new radar suit in the SU-35's, so they also have the option of fitting this radar into the SU-35's.
Considering the all-important Russian advantage in BVR missile range, plus the excellent maneuvering, neither the F-22/F-35 have, US jet fighters are going to have a difficult time avoiding simply being blown out of the sky.
Plus the latest Russian 5th generation radar design, has a very clear and a very real potential to provide genuine shared multifunction apertures, with applications including: Search, track, and destroy, missile mid-course guidance, against low signature aircraft, identification of friend or foe with secondary surveillance radar.
The Russians also have high-powered active jamming systems. Capable of jamming satellite navigation receivers over large areas. And jamming of AEWC-AWACS and surface-based search radars at long ranges. And active jamming of guided munition command data links over large areas. Effectively, and completely, neutralizing the USA's use of AWACS for their detection.
The reality is this L-band AESA radar is an extremely important strategic development, and it's a technology which once fully matured and deployed in numbers, will render narrowband stealth designs like the F-22 & F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and many UAVs, as highly vulnerable to all Russian jet fighter variants equipped with such radars.
Just Russian crap? A SU-57 fired at, and shot down, a Ukrainian SU-27 from a range of well over 200 km's in Ukraine, smashing the previous world record of range any jet has been shot down from.
The F-22 has shot down a weather balloon.
Not to mention that the Russian MIG-31K can carry and launch the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-to-ground hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile currently being used to great effect in Ukraine. It is claimed to have a range of 2,000km and Mach10 speed. The US Naval F-35C has a combat radius of 1,100km. Would a carrier-based F-35C be able to defend its carrier against a Kinzhal attack? Only the US Navy knows the answer to that.
The U.S. currently has no adequate defense system to take down hypersonic missiles. Air defense systems, such as Patriots and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, are not capable of taking down ballistic missiles that reach hypersonic speeds.
And we just learned the U.S. Air Force isn’t going to buy the Lockheed Martin hypersonic AGM-183A Mach5 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon after the prototyping phase ends, following problems during testing. “While the Air Force does not currently intend to pursue follow-on procurement of ARRW once the prototyping program concludes, there is inherent benefit to completing the all-up round test flights to garner the learning and test data that will help inform future hypersonic programs,” the service’s acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee in written testimony.
The Future of Freedom Foundation's Jacob G. Hornberger begins his June 1 article WHAT DEBT CEILING? as follows:
“Statists all across the United States, especially those within the mainstream press, are uncorking their champagne bottles today and celebrating the newest deal that lifts the debt ceiling. Predictably, the political strategy of crying “Default! Default! Default!” succeeded spectacularly, just as it does every time. In fact, it worked so well that THIS TIME CONGRESS DECIDED TO NOT EVEN SET A NEW CEILING. INSTEAD, THE DEAL AUTHORIZES FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO SPEND AND BORROW TO THEIR HEART’S CONTENT FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS — BEYOND ELECTION DAY 2024, OF COURSE.
“The people who will pay the price for this deal will be American taxpayers. If you happen to die before the day of reckoning arrives, you’ll escape having to bear the consequences of what these people have done. But if you’re alive when that day of reckoning comes, you will be one of the ones reaping the whirlwind.
“Right now, each taxpayer’s share of the federal government’s $31 trillion in debt is around $275,000. It will be increasing over the next couple of years. How many people list that liability on their financial statements? I’ll bet not very many. And yet, there it is — and growing.”
And concludes it as follows:
“FDR’s nationalization of gold along with his conversion of the federal government to a welfare state, set the stage for a century of out-of-control federal spending, debt, and monetary debauchery. Once President Truman converted the federal government to a national-security state in 1947, so much paper money was printed to cover federal welfare-warfare state expenditures that silver coins, which FDR had not made illegal to own, were driven out of circulation. [Note: That nationalization happened 90 years ago this past May 1, and required all Americans to turn in the gold they owned to the federal government under the threat of 10-year jail sentences.]
“CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE FREEDOM AND WELL-BEING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IS NOT RUSSIA, CHINA, SYRIA, AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, CUBA, NORTH KOREA, VIETNAM, THE TERRORISTS, THE MUSLIMS, THE DRUG DEALERS, OR THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR FREEDOM AND WELL-BEING LIES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. IT IS THE WELFARE-WARFARE STATE THAT IS TAKING US DOWN FROM WITHIN. IT IS JUST A QUESTION OF WHETHER THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL PUT A STOP TO IT BEFORE IT TAKES US DOWN COMPLETELY.”
American Liberalism ~ like the NYT and most of America's MSM ~ has long been a bloodthirsty cheerleader for war, Bill. As far back as LBJ, FDR, and Woodrow "Making the world safe for Wall Street" Wilson.
There are no "liberals" in DC, there are Red Team and Blue Team members, all of whom are very conservative. The entire "liberal news" fantasy that we hear about in the "news" is just misdirection. You don't get to hear anti-war, or anti-capitalism points of view in DC. You just hear from the two organized crime families (Red and Blue). In fact, the entire history of the US has been about crushing anything that looked or smelled like "the left" throughout the world, especially in Central and South America. Notice how the US only funds and arms "right-wing death squads". When was the last time that the US armed "Left-wing death squads" (if there even is such a thing).
MSM = 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse
During the recent kayfabe debt-ceiling crisis, I saw media reports praising the fact that the one area where bipartisan unity was easy to find is “defense” spending. This was meant to be inspiring and encouraging.
Yes. They use the artificial debt crisis to force through cuts in social spending. Then they applaud themselves for being "fiscally responsible" as they throw even more money at the Pentagon.
The NYT has been a bloodthirsty cheerleader for every US war during my lifetime--Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Panama, Grenada, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine. In fact, all mainstream media (both print and TV) in the US, including so-called "liberal" cable channels MSNBC and CNN, are bloodthirsty supporters. All of them are much better described as shameless regurgitators, just spewing out the latest claptrap from the US National Security State. These media outlets may be liberal when it comes to social and cultural issues, but when it concerns anything remotely related to "national security," they just parrot what they have told by the US government. And who are the politicians who run the US government? It is a complete fiction that there are 2 parties in the US. There is only one party, and based on recent US history the best name for it would be the War Party. This singular party has 2 wings, one called Democratic and one called Republican. On matters of "national security" there is unanimity of thought, with each wing vying to see which can be more hawkish and more slavish to the military-industrial complex. Only on matters of social and cultural issues can one discern any distinction between the 2 wings of the War Party. And so, for all the above reasons, Ray McGovern's acronym is the perfect description for our times--Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think Tank, or MICIMATT.
As always, thanks for telling it like many of us see it. 'Liberal' only with respect to the culture wars, NYT has now long been, indeed, a 'bloodthirsty cheerleader'. It has become, along with Washington Post (whose owner Bezos has, through Amazon, massive financial ties to the CIA), the go-to publisher for the security state.
I don't know when it actually began - I've only been over the years an occasional reader. But I recall well its unquestioning promotion of the Iraq invasion as the Washington neocons began selling their fiction about Iraqi WMD and the existential threat to the U.S. that these weapons presented to the U.S. Those lies had been rather compellingly debunked, well before Powell made the infamous televised speeches. My wife will recall how loudly I yelled at the TV screen, "That's a Lie!!! ", in response to his claims. But the NYT ate it all up; Colin Powell's speeches were CONFIRMATION of what they'd already been printing (always attributed to 'intelligence sources').
Later, of course, when the truth came out and all the claims were 'found to be invalid', they scapegoated Judith Miller (who certainly deserved the firing)- thus making everything ok. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis paid the price with their lives, while the country itself was devastated.
So what they've been doing w/r/t the Ukraine tragedy is just part of a long pattern. They haven't backtracked yet on Ukraine, but it will happen soon enough. Already they've begun their pivot to China. Just look at the headlines in every edition. Russia - this, China that. And Iran and Venezuela for good measure. Whoever resists the petro-dollar hegemony is The Empire's enemy; and therefore the bogeymen that NYT and 'WaPo' gladly use to keep everyone in line.
This seems to be so obvious; yet self-described 'liberals' still talk and act as if these papers (and NPR, MSDNC, etc.) represent a priori truth and sanity. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Well, there is no need to wonder anymore about the closed ecosystem of the MICMATT complex. A recent study shows that the sources for the NYT, Washington Post, etc. are all spokespeople from think tanks funded by weapons contractors who make obscene profits from war, up to and including the proxy war in Ukraine. No wonder the mainstream media is giddy about war!! Does this look like a conspiracy to you? Beware next time you dare to consider the NYT as an authoritative source concerning any war anywhere across the globe.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/06/01/how-weapons-firms-influence-the-ukraine-debate/
"....the New York Times is gushing about Ukraine using the element of surprise...."
I would suggest that if word of this attack is appearing in the NYT, it will hardly be a surprise. Never ceases to amaze me what appears in print and is supposedly "secret" or "a surprise."
Great critique of the coverage, Bill.
For what it's worth, Denise, the NYT said the offensive itself won't be a surprise, but the direction/timing could be. And they used D-Day 1944 as an example, because, I don't know, the only war we've ever fought is World War II. I guess.
Even so, why publicize the offensive at all in the "paper of record?" Seems kinda....dumb. Are the Russians supposed to be intimidated?
I know you were being rhetorical, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the use of D-Day was because a) it's convenient, requiring no research; and b) it's a "safe" reference, as opposed to, say, the Surge(s), or any escalation in Vietnam. Bringing up phony wars that the NYT supported would be rather awkward, doncha know?
Agreed! D-Day is "safe." With respect to mentioning the offensive, they've been talking about it for months, so I guess the "surprise" is that it hasn't happened yet. :-)
Oh....so this is still the "spring offensive"? I honestly thought it had already happened. I'll admit I don't follow that segment of the news all that closely. Shame on me, but it just seems like the same war from 20 years ago. I realize that sounds completely callous, but I can't bear to read the horrendous stories. I know what's going on: unspeakable carnage for the sake of political domination.
US AT-4 rocket launchers missiles that were sent to Ukraine are showing up in the hands of Mexican drug cartel gangs. That is what the news in Mexico is reporting. We've been warned that US weapons given to the corrupt Zelenskyy would end up on the black market!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-E47Zbe5Y0
Bravo Bill.
"Combined arms warfare", using tanks followed by infantry? How original. Sounds a whole lot like what's laid out in Guderian's "Panzer Leader." It was probably suggested by the "nazi" element this war is or was supposed to be all about, way back when.
Good article, Bill, Will be linking today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
The NY Times has been cheerleading for war since day one. Makes you wonder if they aren't invested in the arms industry somehow!!!
AMERICA’S ADDICTION TO WAR COMES WITH A 15 TRILLION DOLLAR PRICE TAG by Jeffrey D. Sachs / Information Clearing House 060123
June 01, 2023: Information Clearing House -- In the year 2000, the U.S. government debt was $3.5 trillion, equal to 35% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2022, the debt was $24 trillion, equal to 95% of GDP. The U.S. debt is soaring, hence America’s current debt crisis. Yet both Republicans and Democrats are missing the solution: stopping America’s wars of choice and slashing military outlays.
Suppose the government’s debt had remained at a modest 35% of GDP, as in 2000. Today’s debt would be $9 trillion, as opposed to $24 trillion. Why did the U.S. government incur the excess $15 trillion in debt?
The single biggest answer is the U.S. government’s addiction to war and military spending. According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, the cost of U.S. wars from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2022 amounted to a whopping $8 trillion, more than half of the extra $15 trillion in debt. The other $7 trillion arose roughly equally from budget deficits caused by the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), the most powerful lobby in Washington. As President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned on January 17, 1961, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Since 2000, the MIC led the U.S. into disastrous wars of choice in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and now Ukraine.
The Military-Industrial Complex long ago adopted a winning political strategy by ensuring that the military budget reaches into every Congressional district. The Congressional Research Service recently reminded Congress that, “Defense spending touches every Member of Congress’s district through pay and benefits for military servicemembers and retirees, economic and environmental impact of installations, and procurement of weapons systems and parts from local industry, among other activities.” Only a brave member of Congress would vote against the military-industry lobby, yet bravery is certainly no hallmark of Congress.
America’s annual military spending is now around $900 billion, roughly 40% of the world’s total, and greater than the next 10 countries combined. U.S. military spending in 2022 was triple that of China. According to Congressional Budget Office, the military outlays for 2024-2033 will be a staggering $10.3 trillion on current baseline. A quarter or more of that could be avoided by ending America’s wars of choice, closing down many of America’s 800 or so military bases around the world, and negotiating new arms control agreements with China and Russia.
Yet instead of peace through diplomacy, and fiscal responsibility, the MIC regularly scares the American people with a comic-book style depictions of villains whom the U.S. must stop at all costs. The post-2000 list has included Afghanistan’s Taliban, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and recently, China’s Xi Jinping. War, we are repeatedly told, is necessary for America’s survival.
Continued at https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57596.htm .
"Combined-arms". AKA Blitzkrieg (German). AKA Deep Battle (Russian). Although I think it only works if you have control of the skies. Or at least if the enemy doesn't.
i don't see where nytimes knows 'combined arms'........
It's embarrassing reading American commentary about their “superior” F-35 fighter jets. Americans who we read talking about their own aircraft, or any of its military weapons, are invariably clueless. And gingoistically claim that all Russian jet fighters are “rubbish”. And always claim the Yanks are 10-years ahead in technology. If only it were true eh?
They all prove how little they know or even understand, because none of them have ever asked themselves the most obvious - how can the F-35 stealth fighters detect, track, or target any other stealth aircraft from beyond visual range (BVR)? “Stealth” alone, only defeats high-frequency short wave radar, by absorption and deflection.
But it does NOT defeat low-frequency long wave radar. To detect, track, and target other stealth aircraft from BVR, you must have long-wave radar, and it must also be enhanced to remove all background clutter for targeting purposes. And neither the APG-77 radar, used in the F-22, or the APG-81 radar, used in the F-35, can detect any other stealth aircraft from BVR as they have no long wave radar.
When the F-35 radars were being designed 15-years ago, there weren't any other stealth aircraft to think about as a potential threat! So, how can anyone possibly consider these US stealth aircraft as any sort of real threat to either Russia or China, who both have these US stealth aircraft technically beaten today? They can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets BVR, while the US stealth jets can't even detect them BVR?
The reality of this Russian “rubbish” that they all claim, is that Russia has a new 5th generation fighter jet with enhanced long-wave radar. The new Byelka 2-band radar used in SU-57. They can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets from BVR. Russia has designed, and they've developed, the first L-Band fighter radar in the world. They've embedded L-band AESA radars into the leading edges of the wings, the L-band AESA radar "data" gets processed in real time through extremely powerful Russian computers, meaning they can detect, track, and engage enemy stealth aircraft from BVR.
This new Russian technology, along with its very impressive range parameters, and it's jamming ability over very large areas make this aircraft deadly to all other aircraft types. Just Russian rubbish? And they interact in ''real-time'' with each squadron member, auto selecting the best placed BVR missile being carried by any of them that can be fired by anyone of them.
They can take full control of surface-to-air (SAM) missile defence systems - that alone is lethal, and they can detect, track, and target all enemy stealth fighters, and detect them long before they even enter Russian airspace. From much greater distances today with the "real-time" data from all those massive Russian ground long wave stations that are all protected with their networked of S-400 ground-to-air missile defensive system.
These Russian stealth jets will always know exactly where the enemy stealth fighter aircraft are, so they'll approach them head on, being able to shoot down the US stealth jets from BVR while remaining undetected. The US stealth fighter jets would not even detect them coming!
Russian new 2-band radar, covers all frequencies across all channels, used for tracking, targeting, and also for jamming over large areas. It's part of Sh121 multifunctional integrated radio electronic system (MIRES) on board the SU-57. Russia tested this new radar suit in the SU-35's, so they also have the option of fitting this radar into the SU-35's.
Considering the all-important Russian advantage in BVR missile range, plus the excellent maneuvering, neither the F-22/F-35 have, US jet fighters are going to have a difficult time avoiding simply being blown out of the sky.
Plus the latest Russian 5th generation radar design, has a very clear and a very real potential to provide genuine shared multifunction apertures, with applications including: Search, track, and destroy, missile mid-course guidance, against low signature aircraft, identification of friend or foe with secondary surveillance radar.
The Russians also have high-powered active jamming systems. Capable of jamming satellite navigation receivers over large areas. And jamming of AEWC-AWACS and surface-based search radars at long ranges. And active jamming of guided munition command data links over large areas. Effectively, and completely, neutralizing the USA's use of AWACS for their detection.
The reality is this L-band AESA radar is an extremely important strategic development, and it's a technology which once fully matured and deployed in numbers, will render narrowband stealth designs like the F-22 & F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and many UAVs, as highly vulnerable to all Russian jet fighter variants equipped with such radars.
Just Russian crap? A SU-57 fired at, and shot down, a Ukrainian SU-27 from a range of well over 200 km's in Ukraine, smashing the previous world record of range any jet has been shot down from.
The F-22 has shot down a weather balloon.
Not to mention that the Russian MIG-31K can carry and launch the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-to-ground hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile currently being used to great effect in Ukraine. It is claimed to have a range of 2,000km and Mach10 speed. The US Naval F-35C has a combat radius of 1,100km. Would a carrier-based F-35C be able to defend its carrier against a Kinzhal attack? Only the US Navy knows the answer to that.
The U.S. currently has no adequate defense system to take down hypersonic missiles. Air defense systems, such as Patriots and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, are not capable of taking down ballistic missiles that reach hypersonic speeds.
And we just learned the U.S. Air Force isn’t going to buy the Lockheed Martin hypersonic AGM-183A Mach5 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon after the prototyping phase ends, following problems during testing. “While the Air Force does not currently intend to pursue follow-on procurement of ARRW once the prototyping program concludes, there is inherent benefit to completing the all-up round test flights to garner the learning and test data that will help inform future hypersonic programs,” the service’s acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee in written testimony.
The Future of Freedom Foundation's Jacob G. Hornberger begins his June 1 article WHAT DEBT CEILING? as follows:
“Statists all across the United States, especially those within the mainstream press, are uncorking their champagne bottles today and celebrating the newest deal that lifts the debt ceiling. Predictably, the political strategy of crying “Default! Default! Default!” succeeded spectacularly, just as it does every time. In fact, it worked so well that THIS TIME CONGRESS DECIDED TO NOT EVEN SET A NEW CEILING. INSTEAD, THE DEAL AUTHORIZES FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO SPEND AND BORROW TO THEIR HEART’S CONTENT FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS — BEYOND ELECTION DAY 2024, OF COURSE.
“The people who will pay the price for this deal will be American taxpayers. If you happen to die before the day of reckoning arrives, you’ll escape having to bear the consequences of what these people have done. But if you’re alive when that day of reckoning comes, you will be one of the ones reaping the whirlwind.
“Right now, each taxpayer’s share of the federal government’s $31 trillion in debt is around $275,000. It will be increasing over the next couple of years. How many people list that liability on their financial statements? I’ll bet not very many. And yet, there it is — and growing.”
And concludes it as follows:
“FDR’s nationalization of gold along with his conversion of the federal government to a welfare state, set the stage for a century of out-of-control federal spending, debt, and monetary debauchery. Once President Truman converted the federal government to a national-security state in 1947, so much paper money was printed to cover federal welfare-warfare state expenditures that silver coins, which FDR had not made illegal to own, were driven out of circulation. [Note: That nationalization happened 90 years ago this past May 1, and required all Americans to turn in the gold they owned to the federal government under the threat of 10-year jail sentences.]
“CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE FREEDOM AND WELL-BEING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IS NOT RUSSIA, CHINA, SYRIA, AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, CUBA, NORTH KOREA, VIETNAM, THE TERRORISTS, THE MUSLIMS, THE DRUG DEALERS, OR THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR FREEDOM AND WELL-BEING LIES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. IT IS THE WELFARE-WARFARE STATE THAT IS TAKING US DOWN FROM WITHIN. IT IS JUST A QUESTION OF WHETHER THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL PUT A STOP TO IT BEFORE IT TAKES US DOWN COMPLETELY.”
Full article at https://www.fff.org/2023/06/01/what-debt-ceiling/ ; EMPHASESE added.
The leader who makes the decision for the US to go to war - since Congress has shirked its duty since WW2
Video shows Biden falling on his face, AGAIN, live. The "strongest" man in the World. He's in charge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbVEe4WEUdU