All Things Russia & Ukraine

[old salt]

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/nato-me ... sian-navy/

NATO member Turkey and Russians hold joint Naval exercise.

No F-35's for you Recip
Thought exercise : how might this have played out had Flynn survived ?

The Iron Fraulein proposes joint EU aircraft carrier ..

To be built from scratch (empty EUroburgher posturing - likely to never happen). They can't build a conventional carrier without US catapult & arresting gear + US testing & tech development. The French are now deploying with their Rafales aboard a US carrier, to maintain the capability while their carrier is in overhaul.

The Brits are already buying F-35B's to operate from their 2 ski jump carriers.
The Italians & Spanish could do the same from their combined 3 existing Harrier ski jump carriers.
They could do the same from a ski jump retrofit to the 3 French Mistral class LHA's already in service.
A lot quicker & more bang for the buck for the Med, Black Sea, North Sea, & Baltic Sea.

Or they could buy the USS Truman, at a discount, & pay for it's upcoming midlife refueling.

[old salt]

On order at my local public library :
Free podcast author interview

an oldie but a goodie

https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/ ... -his-story

William Burns’ new book “Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal” is a must-read for Russia watchers. No insider has offered more insights into the process by which a “strategic partnership” between the U.S. and a newly independent Russia under a president whose primary objective was to “bury Communism” deteriorated into the dangerous enmity we see today. A superstar of the Foreign Service in his generation, Burns served five presidents and 10 secretaries of state over a career of 33 years in which he rose to become the No. 2 official in the Department of State.

Among the most revealing strands in the book is Burns’ account of George W. Bush’s fateful push for NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine—and the not only predictable but predicted consequences. Newly declassified documents include a February 2008 memo from Burns to then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which Burns warned clearly that if the Bush administration pushed ahead with its plans to invite Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO, Putin would veto that effort—by using Russian troops or other forms of meddling to splinter both countries.

Two months before Bush and Rice ignored his warning and orchestrated a communique at the April 2008 NATO summit declaring that Georgia and Ukraine “will become members of NATO,” Burns’ private memo to the secretary said clearly: If we do this, “today’s Russia will respond. The prospect of subsequent Russian-Georgian armed conflict would be high. ... It will create fertile soil for Russian meddling in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.”

Burns’ insights into Putin—whom he labels the “apostle of payback”—provide perspective on the challenges the U.S. government faces today in dealing with what I’ve proposed we recognize as our “insufferable, inseparable Siamese twin.” However bedeviling, however devious, however self-destructive, however deserving to be strangled Russia is, we must constantly remind ourselves that if we were to kill it, we would also be committing suicide.

From his account of his meeting with Putin in 2005 when he handed him his credentials as the new U.S. ambassador in Moscow—and some of Putin’s first words were “you Americans need to listen more”—to his report of the first meeting between Putin and the newly elected President Obama at Putin’s dacha outside Moscow, where Putin began with an “unbroken 50-minute … monologue filled with grievances, sharp asides and acerbic commentary,” the reader is treated to a real insider’s analysis of a leader who continues to command a superpower nuclear arsenal that could erase the U.S.A. from the map.

Lionel Barber’s brilliant review of Burns’ book in the past weekend’s Financial Times provocatively suggests an alternative title for the book: “Present at the Destruction.” While that may be a bit much, it serves as a stark reminder why this is a must-read not just for Russia-phobes or -philes, but for anyone trying to understand how the U.S. has managed, and mismanaged, the post-Cold War world in order to think seriously about where we can go from here.

[wahoomurf]

"Judge Jackson conceded there was no evidence of Russian Collusion".

WOW! I was surprised to discover that Russia was being colluded upon. By who/whom is the head colluder?

Russia is a foreign country, correct? Isn't that the same country Ms. Palin could see from her front porch?

[dislaxxic]

Russian Tycoon Named in Trump Dossier Lost His Slander Suit, Then Lost His Secrets

"Gubarev runs a multinational internet hosting company called XBT that boasts subsidiaries in Europe, the United States, and Asia. Shortly after the 2016 election, one of Steele’s sources fingered Gubarev and his businesses as “significant players” in the Kremlin’s election-hacking, claiming Russia’s domestic spy agency the FSB had pressured Gubarev and his companies to use “botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct ‘altering operations’ against the Democratic Party leadership.”

When BuzzFeed published a leaked copy of the dossier in January 2017, Gubarev vehemently denied any role on the Kremlin’s hack and filed a defamation lawsuit against the media company. Over the years, that litigation has produced a mountain of documents and hour upon hour of videotaped depositions, nearly all of which was kept under seal. A federal judge threw out Gubarev’s lawsuit last December on the grounds that BuzzFeed, being a news outlet, was within its rights to publish a document that top FBI agents had cited in surveillance court affidavits, and that two U.S. presidents had received personal briefings about.

Gubarev is appealing that ruling. In the meantime, on Thursday, the same judge unsealed the majority of the documents in the case at the urging of separate petitions by BuzzFeed and The New York Times.

In a twist that must be maddening to Gubarev, the media coverage of the document dump is giving fresh oxygen to the dossier’s claims about Gubarev and his business."

So MANY of what the Ancient Mariner likes to call "appetizers" in Russia-related shenanigans...who has room for the Main Course??

The American People, that's who!

..

[old salt]

House symbolic grandstanding legislation on Russia, which will never become law.

[foreverlax]

House symbolic grandstanding legislation on Russia, which will never become law.

Symbolism is big in DC....recall there were over 60 votes in the House to repeal the ACA....

[Typical Lax Dad]

Grandstanding at its finest

[old salt]

House symbolic grandstanding legislation on Russia, which will never become law.

Symbolism is big in DC....recall there were over 60 votes in the House to repeal the ACA....

...& 1 would have passed the Senate, & been signed into law, were it not for John McCain's 11th hour drama.

[foreverlax]

House symbolic grandstanding legislation on Russia, which will never become law.

Symbolism is big in DC....recall there were over 60 votes in the House to repeal the ACA....

...& 1 would have passed the Senate, & been signed into law, were it not for John McCain's 11th hour drama.

What about the other 5 dozen times? Grandstanding?

[old salt]

House symbolic grandstanding legislation on Russia, which will never become law.

Symbolism is big in DC....recall there were over 60 votes in the House to repeal the ACA....

...& 1 would have passed the Senate, & been signed into law, were it not for John McCain's 11th hour drama.

What about the other 5 dozen times? Grandstanding?

It only takes 1 to pass. Keep the pressure on the Senate. Trump would have signed it.
The Russia legislation would likely be unconstitutional.

[dislaxxic]

Roger Stone's upcoming trial promises to be VERY interesting...

“I CAN’T BE SEEN TAKING CREDIT FOR HIS VICTORY:” THE PURPOSE OF ROGER STONE’S PAPERBACK

Marcy gots the goods on these scumbags...

..

[old salt]

Cold War for fun & profit :

B-52's now deployed to UK, on Mon probed Russian air defenses, within 95 mi, from 4 different directions, while B-52's from Guam probed Kamchatka.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your ... his-month/

Rapid troop deployment to Europe tested.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/201 ... uvers.html

Russia amps up nuclear bluster.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2019/0 ... ef=d-river

[old salt]

Cold War for fun & profit :

https://www.defenseone.com/business/201 ... ef=d-river

American-made fighter jets, once facing extinction, have seen a resurgence in sales, thanks largely to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Add to that Middle Eastern nations arming for potential war with Iran and there may be more than $80 billion in new or potential sales for F-15s, F-16s, and F/A-18s worldwide.

Trump’s Pentagon budgets over the past two years have enabled the U.S. Navy to keep buying new F/A-18 Super Hornets. His fiscal 2020 budget plan calls for purchasing even more of those warplanes, plus a new variant of the F-15 for the Air Force, which has not purchased Eagles since 2001. Meanwhile, eastern European nations spooked by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea are looking at the affordable F-16.

Three years ago, just one U.S. fighter jet was expected to still be in production next year: Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a warplane being built for the U.S. military and a growing number of its allies.

“We basically thought the F-16 line was finished,” Lockheed CFO Ken Possenriede said March 7 at a JP Morgan investors conference in New York.

But then new orders started coming in for the venerable jet, which first flew in 1974. Last year, Bahrain ordered 16 planes. Lockheed is negotiating with Slovakia for 14 jets, Possenriede said. Bulgaria is in talks to buy eight jets and Romania is considering buying three dozen used F-16's

There’s also the international market. Last year, Kuwait ordered 28 Super Hornets, the first of which are to arrive by December. Finland is considering new Super Hornets (as well as the F-35 and other European-made aircraft) to replace its older Hornets in a deal that could be worth $13 billion. Germany is considering the Super Hornet to replace its fleet of 90 Tornado jets.

Then there’s the F-15. Last week’s Pentagon budget request includes $1.1 billion to buy eight of the new F-15EX variant. If lawmakers approve, it would be the first U.S. Air Force order of an F-15 in nearly two decades. And the budget plan calls for buying 72 more F-15EXs between 2021 and 2024 for $6.8 billion.

The Eagle has drawn interest overseas as well. Beside the Saudi order, Qatar agreed in 2017 to order 36 F-15s, the first of which is expected to arrive in 2021. Israel is also reportedly considering an order of new F-15s.

Then there’s India’s long-awaited, long-delayed plan to buy 114 new jets for around $15 billion. Among the contenders are Boeing’s Super Hornet and Lockheed’s updated, rebranded F-16 called the F-21.

Obviously the big one is India,” Possenriede said.

The F-15 & F-18 are Boeing products. The decision to buy them (keeping the production lines going) comes at the expense of buying a few less Lockheed Martin F-35's/year, although the total F-35 buy won't be reduced.

The Acting SecDef is the former Boeing CEO. I wonder if the DoD "whistlebowers" who sic'ed the IG on him are F-35 or Lockheed Martin advocates ?

Pairing the stealthy F-35 (& linking it's sensors) to heavy laden weapons carrying F-18E/F's or new F-15EX makes for a formidable strike or air defense capability, at a reduced price.

[old salt]

Cold War for fun & profit :

https://www.defenseone.com/business/201 ... ef=d-river

American-made fighter jets, once facing extinction, have seen a resurgence in sales, thanks largely to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Add to that Middle Eastern nations arming for potential war with Iran and there may be more than $80 billion in new or potential sales for F-15s, F-16s, and F/A-18s worldwide.

Trump’s Pentagon budgets over the past two years have enabled the U.S. Navy to keep buying new F/A-18 Super Hornets. His fiscal 2020 budget plan calls for purchasing even more of those warplanes, plus a new variant of the F-15 for the Air Force, which has not purchased Eagles since 2001. Meanwhile, eastern European nations spooked by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea are looking at the affordable F-16.

Three years ago, just one U.S. fighter jet was expected to still be in production next year: Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a warplane being built for the U.S. military and a growing number of its allies.

“We basically thought the F-16 line was finished,” Lockheed CFO Ken Possenriede said March 7 at a JP Morgan investors conference in New York.

But then new orders started coming in for the venerable jet, which first flew in 1974. Last year, Bahrain ordered 16 planes. Lockheed is negotiating with Slovakia for 14 jets, Possenriede said. Bulgaria is in talks to buy eight jets and Romania is considering buying three dozen used F-16's

There’s also the international market. Last year, Kuwait ordered 28 Super Hornets, the first of which are to arrive by December. Finland is considering new Super Hornets (as well as the F-35 and other European-made aircraft) to replace its older Hornets in a deal that could be worth $13 billion. Germany is considering the Super Hornet to replace its fleet of 90 Tornado jets.

Then there’s the F-15. Last week’s Pentagon budget request includes $1.1 billion to buy eight of the new F-15EX variant. If lawmakers approve, it would be the first U.S. Air Force order of an F-15 in nearly two decades. And the budget plan calls for buying 72 more F-15EXs between 2021 and 2024 for $6.8 billion.

The Eagle has drawn interest overseas as well. Beside the Saudi order, Qatar agreed in 2017 to order 36 F-15s, the first of which is expected to arrive in 2021. Israel is also reportedly considering an order of new F-15s.

Then there’s India’s long-awaited, long-delayed plan to buy 114 new jets for around $15 billion. Among the contenders are Boeing’s Super Hornet and Lockheed’s updated, rebranded F-16 called the F-21.

Obviously the big one is India,” Possenriede said.

The F-15 & F-18 are Boeing products. The decision to buy them (keeping the production lines going) comes at the expense of buying a few less Lockheed Martin F-35's/year, although the total F-35 buy won't be reduced.

The Acting SecDef is the former Boeing CEO. I wonder if the DoD "whistlebowers" who sic'ed the IG on him are F-35 or Lockheed Martin advocates ?

Pairing the stealthy F-35 (& linking it's sensors) to heavy laden weapons carrying F-18E/F's or new F-15EX makes for a formidable strike or air defense capability, at a reduced price.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/milita ... -new-f-15/

[Trinity]

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/trump ... er-problem

Brighton Beach memories. Trump’s Moscow needs.

[dislaxxic]

Did Felix Sater’s 20 Years as an Informant Help Land Him at the Center of the Trump-Russia Story?

Sorry, this thread is far from dead...

"The man closest to the [Trump Tower Moscow] project, longtime Trump business associate Felix Sater, was set to appear before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees this past week. But with many details of the 400-page special counsel investigation still shrouded in mystery, Sater’s testimony has been postponed indefinitely, or at least until members of Congress better understand the contents of the so-called Mueller report.

Sater’s story is a familiar plotline in the Trump-Russia narrative: An opportunistic ex-con ingratiates himself into the Trump Organization, landing a rent-free office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, then brokers connections between the future president, Trump’s family and company, and Russian elites, eventually including the Kremlin. When the unbecoming details of Sater’s past — his secret prosecution, his ties to organized crime — come to light, the president disavows their relationship."

..

[6ftstick]

Did Felix Sater’s 20 Years as an Informant Help Land Him at the Center of the Trump-Russia Story?

Sorry, this thread is far from dead...

"The man closest to the [Trump Tower Moscow] project, longtime Trump business associate Felix Sater, was set to appear before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees this past week. But with many details of the 400-page special counsel investigation still shrouded in mystery, Sater’s testimony has been postponed indefinitely, or at least until members of Congress better understand the contents of the so-called Mueller report.

Sater’s story is a familiar plotline in the Trump-Russia narrative: An opportunistic ex-con ingratiates himself into the Trump Organization, landing a rent-free office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, then brokers connections between the future president, Trump’s family and company, and Russian elites, eventually including the Kremlin. When the unbecoming details of Sater’s past — his secret prosecution, his ties to organized crime — come to light, the president disavows their relationship."

..

Still shrouded in Mystery!

Mueller and his 19 democrat agents found NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION. Maybe you read that somewhere

[dislaxxic]

...and maybe some have also read that only fringe rightwingnuts and hopelessly misinformed deplorables BELIEVE the latest of the president' lies about the myth of "total exoneration"...

..

[MDlaxfan76]

Did Felix Sater’s 20 Years as an Informant Help Land Him at the Center of the Trump-Russia Story?

Sorry, this thread is far from dead...

"The man closest to the [Trump Tower Moscow] project, longtime Trump business associate Felix Sater, was set to appear before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees this past week. But with many details of the 400-page special counsel investigation still shrouded in mystery, Sater’s testimony has been postponed indefinitely, or at least until members of Congress better understand the contents of the so-called Mueller report.

Sater’s story is a familiar plotline in the Trump-Russia narrative: An opportunistic ex-con ingratiates himself into the Trump Organization, landing a rent-free office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, then brokers connections between the future president, Trump’s family and company, and Russian elites, eventually including the Kremlin. When the unbecoming details of Sater’s past — his secret prosecution, his ties to organized crime — come to light, the president disavows their relationship."

..

Still shrouded in Mystery!

Mueller and his 19 democrat agents found NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION. Maybe you read that somewhere

Is that what they found: "NO EVIDENCE"?
Get your head out of the right wing Twitter feed.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-does-b ... -collusion

[old salt]

Comrades. How 'bout using the Mueller thread for the never give up TDS Zombie conspiracy stuff,
so this thread can be used for legit news about Mother Russia.