Reporting from just outside DC on the eve of WWIII

For what it is worth, my own thoughts on this very public display by Russia to respond to missile attacks should they cause harm to Russian service personnel in Syria, is in my mind, a correct response. Russia will not respond to any missile attack as long as their interests are not targeted and attacked. However, if a few missiles go astray and kill Russian service personnel, then we have all been warned that a retaliatory response upon the launch sites of those missiles will happen.

This is the strongest and most blatant announcement from Russia that it will attack US and allied military resources as a defence response. Whoever brought about the chemical attacks - and I don't accept for one minute that Assad is behind them, wants to draw other actors into the conflict, something which Assad does not want. Assad wants to win and survive the conflict, so drawing upon himself attacks from more powerful adversaries through sanctioning chemical attacks is clearly not a logical move.

Personally, I think Western alliances know exactly who committed the chemical attacks, but is using them to hit Assad and to disrupt Russian interests, in order to more embed their own, such as impeding any military successes Assad may gain, or has gained. Pretty much like you getting into a fight and you are winning and you're opponent's friends jump in to stop you from winning. That is what Trump's missile attacks are all about.

The concern to the wider world is that Russia will attack American missile launch beds, regardless of where they are, if Russian assets are harmed, and boom...you have the first escalation towards a nuclear WW3. How do you think Trump will be goaded to act by hawk military advisers if Russia sinks a few ships if not all of an American fleet, with up to 10,000 American personnel lost?

You know for a fact that Trump will be advised (and wanting) to hit Russian assets, and when he does...as Jim Morrison sang...this is the end.

The pieces are set. This is going to be interesting.

Tonight is the calm before the storm...

a reply to: Konduit

this map appears on a free Syria website in 2015....

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: TinfoilTP

That's not a vulnerability, it's a way to target at long range. It also requires having upgraded Growlers and Hawkeyes in the area. That means a carrier, which, I don't believe we'll have in the area until late this month.

The US has lost a lot of our edge, both in current readiness and training rates and in general systems. Our electronic warfare systems are, at best, on par with the newest Russian systems, and that's largely because we use faster processors.

Is there any reason Growlers and Hawkeyes can't be positioned at USAF bases in the region? They trained with B1's from air bases in the past?

As a guy who lived through the peak of the 1980's Apocalyptic Cold War fear and loathing, I promise you this is nothing even close to any sort of apocalyptic exchange between Russia and the US.

a reply to: elysiumfire


I think it will go hot, but I think that after a Few US ships get sunk. Simply because their are so many of them in the area. Their will be a stalemate. Then a real inquiry as everyone steps back from the brink looking for who to blame for the fiasco.
The Russian ordinance, is built like a brick #house, notice that the air intake on their jets comes in from openings above the engine so that they can land on the worst runways, without the jet fan getting damaged by debris. Which makes them able to skip along the ground or water at lower elevations. Also to ground hug below radar .Their is an opinion that all the Russian stuff might be better than the Western stuff because their is no profiteering when the contracts go out, so no skimping is made on the final product.

originally posted by: Leonidas
As a guy who lived through the peak of the 1980's Apocalyptic Cold War fear and loathing, I promise you this is nothing even close to any sort of apocalyptic exchange between Russia and the US.

Exactly... this will blow over much like the nukes from North Korea story

IT IS 2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
DoomsdayClock_black_2mins_regmark.png

2018: The failure of world leaders to address the largest threats to humanity’s future is lamentable—but that failure can be reversed. It is two minutes to midnight, but the Doomsday Clock has ticked away from midnight in the past, and during the next year, the world can again move it further from apocalypse. The warning the Science and Security Board now sends is clear, the danger obvious and imminent. The opportunity to reduce the danger is equally clear. The world has seen the threat posed by the misuse of information technology and witnessed the vulnerability of democracies to disinformation. But there is a flip side to the abuse of social media. Leaders react when citizens insist they do so, and citizens around the world can use the power of the internet to improve the long-term prospects of their children and grandchildren. They can insist on facts, and discount nonsense. They can demand action to reduce the existential threat of nuclear war and unchecked climate change. They can seize the opportunity to make a safer and saner world. See the full statement from the Science and Security Board on the 2018 time of the Doomsday Clock.

a reply to: Leonidas

And Russia is no where near what it was to be able to choose from options and have hope.

They cant shrug off everything we do to them anymore. Its getting more played out is all. More frustrating for all.

WE are stuck in the cold war. (post WW2 golden age)

Good thing I’m in Thailand atm. This is all talk as usual. Neither sides wins this war so it will never happen.

a reply to: TinfoilTP

The Growler might, but not the Hawkeye. There hasn't been a reason for Hawkeyes to operate from land bases, so they can't refuel in flight and have relatively short legs. They're designed to operate close to carrier battle groups, not from land bases.

Even if they were though, unless the Growlers are upgraded they won't do any good.

originally posted by: testingtesting
Well I'm buggered

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Right in the middle of about 4 targets.
Oh well Good to know you all

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According to the Star lol

www.dailystar.co.uk...

< br />
Ahh! Nice of the Star to keep everyone calm and collected.

a reply to: nightbringr


So if a country Bombs another country they are at war with. What happens when the fallout hits a country they are not at war with. Does that country then sue for recompense ? Then looking at the map considering the prevailing winds , mot of the fallout and radioactive dust will settle back on then Soviet Union. So they have effectively bombed themselves as well.

originally posted by: anonentity
a reply to: nightbringr


So if a country Bombs another country they are at war with. What happens when the fallout hits a country they are not at war with. Does that country then sue for recompense ? Then looking at the map considering the prevailing winds , mot of the fallout and radioactive dust will settle back on then Soviet Union. So they have effectively bombed themselves as well.

Umm, I'm not sure which of my posts you are responding to?

a reply to: anonentity

No, that intake doesn't have anything to do with being able to fly low. The MiG-29, and some others have screens that cover the intake when they're taxiing, but once they takeoff it's retracted.

Any aircraft designed for it can fly extremely low. There are videos of all kinds of aircraft doing low passes over airfields so low that you couldn't lay down under them.

yeah comcast sucks///they got rid of "me" tv so no more swengoolie on saturdays nights for me ......me tv shows a variety of old programs...they replaced it with......a channel that show all old westerns??????? why???

a reply to: Zaphod58


Yes but the airfields are checked for every scrap of loose debris. By walkers.

originally posted by: Xcathdra

Keep an eye on US military movement, especially the navy.

On the flip side this entire issues seems very out of place. I say this because of European response to what Trump is doing. I get the impression many EU leaders dont care for Trump but in this case some are extremely supportive.

If this is true, then Trump's own ego could be very well spell the end. You don't start WW3 just to play nice with people who hated you in the first place. Either that or he never had any power to begin with, and is most likely a puppet catering to the majority of the people by telling them what they want to hear, while the real agenda continues on with Hillary and Obama in the background.

Hillary for prison? 1 year later she was stumbling on the steps in india...jailfree

a reply to: anonentity

It depends on the airfield. The only FOD walk I ever did, or ever saw done was around the immediate area that F-16s were going to be parked in.

Russia has a different philosophy than we do when it comes to combat, and designed their aircraft to be able to operate anywhere, even dirt strips if necessary. That's why the MiG-29 has intake screens installed. But when they're in use, the engine can't get enough air, so they need a ram air door to allow more air in. The doors are actually quite common depending on the engine.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

Speaking of signs...

ATS thread - Russian State media tells country to prepare for war.