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This might be a little tougher than Putin thought...

This is a pretty awesome system.

Stuff like this almost isn’t fair. I wonder what the United States counter measure is to something like this.

Future wars will almost certainly be all drones/robots. Manned aircraft and armor almost looks like suicide when competing against high tech.

everybody is always curious about the “next” high tech plane. I am starting to shift my curiosity towards these types of systems.
 
This is a pretty awesome system. Basically lightweight and mobile SAM system. Three “warheads” per missile. Much higher range than stingers.

"Starstreak’s lightweight 14kg missile has a claimed operational range of more than 7km, with Thales stating that the precision weapons has “low collateral damage”.

It is also reportedly the fastest short-range surface-to-air system in the world, with a peak velocity above Mach 3.

The missiles have been in service with the British Army since 1997, and has been used by other forces around the world, such as the South African and Indoensian armies.

Ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, Starstreak weapons were installed on top of apartment blocks near the Olympic Park to defend the games from a potential attack."

 
Is this your employer?
Naw, state of FL.

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While that may be true, I am a first time BMW buyer (2018 X5), and this vehicle is way better than my old 2016 Cadillac SRX.
I’m sure the current X5 is nicer to drive and easier to live with than the e53. That’s probably because BMW caters to what their customers want, and not what impractical cranks on HROT are nostalgic for.
 
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They were shot well before you could see the tanks; literally just after the vehicle came to a stop

Not really any time for an 80 yr old to make the assessment...
Looked to me like they stopped because they saw the armored vehicle coming. Regardless, pretty reprehensible.
 
I’m sure the current X5 is nicer to drive and easier to live with than the e53. That’s probably because BMW caters to what their customers want, and not what impractical cranks on HROT are nostalgic for.
If they delete the sun roof and add a cupola for an HK MG4 they could export a few more to Ukraine.
 
I’m kind of nearing the point where the United States and NATO needs to step in, whether that triggers WWIII or not.

Where do we draw the line?

We can hold off on drawing lines while mutually assured destruction is on the table.
 
I’m kind of nearing the point where the United States and NATO needs to step in, whether that triggers WWIII or not.

Where do we draw the line?
I think we draw the line on whatever starts WW3 haha. I think if we stay the course the damage inflicted by these sanctions will make a regime change in Russia.
 
I’m kind of nearing the point where the United States and NATO needs to step in, whether that triggers WWIII or not.

Where do we draw the line?
I actually disagree on this. First, there seems to have been some progress, if inconsistent, on humanitarian evacuations. Second, the parties' public statements reflect very incremental softening so you want to give at least the current round of talks some chance of achieving something. (But probably not much time, as I'd assume the Russians will start up in full force immediately at the conclusion.) Third, between where we are now and no fly or stronger nato intervention, there are still a couple of materiel assistance steps, including more/more sophisticated ground based air defensive systems. As much as we'd all love to see convoys get shot up more, the reality is that the chief danger posed by the russian forces at the moment is from the air.
 
I agree with Whiskey on that take.

Blaming "the West" for Russia's crimes is asinine. We are doing what we can short of declaring war on Russia.
This. Like my tort law professor told us, there comes a point where the intervening criminal conduct of a third party negates whatever civil wrongs, real or perceived, may have been committed against it.
 
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For all of the talk about how Ukraine has been winning the “information war,” in Russia, Putin’s latest reboot of dezinformatsiya has been effective—and destructive. Even if the war in Ukraine were, by some miracle, to end quickly, Russia’s crackdown on the media and public discourse will likely endure. Autocrats like Putin rarely return freedoms that they have taken away. The threat to Russia’s free press, which has dealt with years of repression, may be existential.

The suppression of the free press is also causing trouble for Western outlets. Several American and European journalists have left the country in recent days and weeks. The Russian government, meanwhile, has also banned several foreign news outlets, including the BBC, from being read in the country. At the same time, Russia’s own propaganda efforts are in overdrive. The country has for years invested heavily in pushing online misinformation. Its official outlets are, unsurprisingly, also working overtime to cover up the country’s sputtering invasion. While Ukrainian officials have suggested that thousands of Russians have perished in the invasion, Russia’s own Ministry of Defense acknowledges only a few hundred casualties. The Russian government is insisting that it is not at war, nor is it invading Ukraine: an absurd claim if you have seen even a few seconds of footage from civilian areas in places like Kharkiv or Kyiv. It also insists that it is merely engaged in a “special military operation” targeting nationalists who are oppressing Russian nationals and citizens in the country.

This repression is a culmination of years of efforts to restrict Russia’s fledgling independent press outlets. But it has a dire, apocalyptic feeling. The country’s journalists have reported amid violence and threats for years. Finally, Putin and his cronies have seized the opportunity to silence the few outlets in the country brave enough not to parrot the official line. And Putin’s information blackout has already had a deleterious impact on the Russian public: As The New York Times reported this week, Ukrainians under siege are “encountering a confounding and almost surreal backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all.”


 
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