nivek
As Above So Below
Apparently the lies of the Biden administration didn't set well with the energy industry...
Energy industry swipes back at Psaki 'red herring' comment on oil and gas leases
...
Apparently the lies of the Biden administration didn't set well with the energy industry...
Energy industry swipes back at Psaki 'red herring' comment on oil and gas leases
...
nivek
As Above So Below
Kremlin officials 'are privately denouncing clusterf**k invasion': Putin's forces get bogged down in snow with temperatures set to drop to -4F, Ukrainian soldiers race to evacuate civilians and Kyiv claims to have killed 12,000 troops
The weather around Kyiv and Kharkiv - Ukraine's two largest cities which have seen heavy fighting and bombing - will fall to -20C with wind chill this week, worsening an already dire situation for refugees who have been forced to flee the fighting - but also bringing bitter conditions to Putin's troops, many of whom are trapped outdoors with little shelter, food or fuel. As snow began falling on the outskirt of Kyiv today, reports of brutal hand-to-hand combat between Ukrainian paratroopers and Russian special forces emerged from the city of Irpin - to the west of Kyiv - as Moscow's men try to take it so they can surround the capital and place it under siege. Ukraine's commanders said Putin's invasion has 'slowed significantly' in recent days, with American intelligence saying he has now committed all of the forces he built up along the border to the fight. Defence chiefs say Russia has now lost some 12,000 men in combat, with Putin's forces 'demoralised' and increasingly resorting to 'war crimes'.
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The weather around Kyiv and Kharkiv - Ukraine's two largest cities which have seen heavy fighting and bombing - will fall to -20C with wind chill this week, worsening an already dire situation for refugees who have been forced to flee the fighting - but also bringing bitter conditions to Putin's troops, many of whom are trapped outdoors with little shelter, food or fuel. As snow began falling on the outskirt of Kyiv today, reports of brutal hand-to-hand combat between Ukrainian paratroopers and Russian special forces emerged from the city of Irpin - to the west of Kyiv - as Moscow's men try to take it so they can surround the capital and place it under siege. Ukraine's commanders said Putin's invasion has 'slowed significantly' in recent days, with American intelligence saying he has now committed all of the forces he built up along the border to the fight. Defence chiefs say Russia has now lost some 12,000 men in combat, with Putin's forces 'demoralised' and increasingly resorting to 'war crimes'.
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pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Also, I thought this was the genesis of many breakfast cereals, as a way for agribusiness to offload surplus grain production onto the consumer. It seems that the US does produce far more corn than is consumed locally, and much of the rest goes to animal feed and biofuel production. The latter is a fairly recent development though, and arguably arose as a way of using excess corn growing capacity. The amount given to livestock is probably growing sharply as well, although I can't get figures. This 14-year-old article from Iowa Statue University's Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development, shows a graph of declining corn surpluses between the years 2004 and 2008 across Midwestern states as ethanol production increased:
Who Will Have Surplus Corn?
The US government has offered a massive annual subsidy to corn growers since the 1930s.
I really don’t know much about agricultural production but have heard that the states that produce the most corn - the rectangular ones in the middle - don’t actually use the biofuel. What I can say is driving from NY to WI brings you through places you might not normally think of for that sort of thing and when asked ‘how much comes from there’ it’s a LOT. Like, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck ? A bunch
nivek
As Above So Below
Electromagnetic pulse attack: Is Russia about to nuke space to launch massive EMP attacks to destroy the US and its Western allies?
As already introduced in prior posts, Russia is preparing to disconnect from the internet by March 11. In addition, the WEF removed the Cyber Polygon page (Cyber pandemic) from its website. Finally, a Russian spy ship, know to destroy underwater internet cables, has now disappeared from radars.
All of this is pretty disturbing, to say the least!
What if his endgame of the Ukraine-Russia conflic is western collapse? What if Ukraine is just the bait so the West (NATO) is dragged into war and then Putin has the opportunity to use nukes, not like we’ve seen before, but as an EMP?
He’d only need a couple hundreds warheads detonated in the atmosphere to take down the electric grid in Europe and America and civilization as we know it would instantly change.
A US Army report is clear: Russia (and China) are both capable of EMP attacks.
The United States and NATO allies regularly experience from Russia major cyber-attacks penetrating government agencies and critical infrastructures for electric power, telecommunications, transportation and other sectors vital to electronic civilization. These events practice a new way of warfare, including EMP attacks, that could blackout North America and NATO Europe, and win World War III at the speed of light.
Any nuclear weapon detonated in outer space, 30 kilometers or higher, will generate a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) damaging all kinds of electronics, blacking-out electric grids and collapsing other life-sustaining critical infrastructures. No blast, thermal, fallout or effects other than HEMP are experienced in the atmosphere and on the ground. Russian military doctrine, because HEMP attacks electronics, categorizes nuclear HEMP attack as a dimension of Information Warfare, Electronic Warfare and Cyber Warfare, which are modes of warfare operating within the electromagnetic spectrum.
Russia has “Super-EMP” weapons specialized for HEMP attack that potentially generate 100,000 volts/meter or higher, greatly exceeding the U.S. military hardening standard (50,000 volts/meter). As a result of its HEMP nuclear tests, the Soviet Union, and today Russia, probably knows a lot more about HEMP effects than the United States.
““Super-EMP is a first-strike weapon,” according to Aleksey Vaschenko, who describes Russian nuclear weapons specially designed to make extraordinarily powerful HEMP fields as Russia’s means for defeating the United States. “Hypersonic vehicles are potentially a new avenue for surprise HEMP attack, flying at 50-100 kilometers altitude: the optimum height-of-burst for Super-EMP warheads."
Russia has the technical capability to clandestinely orbit a nuclear-armed satellite or satellites to be maintained in orbit for years until needed to make a surprise HEMP attack. HEMP attack could achieve for Russia a key objective the USSR could not achieve during the Cold War—neutralizing U.S. ballistic missile submarines at sea.
Russia probably remains the world’s leader in Non-Nuclear EMP (NNEMP) weapons, also called Radio-Frequency Weapons (RFWs). Marriage of NNEMP to drones or cruise missiles, equipped with sensors to follow high-power electric lines and target control centers and transformers, introduces a major new threat to national power grids. As Russia categorizes HEMP attack as Information, Electronic or Cyber Warfare, Moscow’s already very loose strictures for nuclear employment may not even apply to HEMP.
So in other words, why use nuclear bombs that leave behind dangerous levels of radioactivity, when Russia and other countries have already developed nukes that are not designed to cause physical damage. Instead, these bombs are designed to be detonated high in the sky, where the generate a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can disable power plants and electronic devices across many hundreds of miles.
Meanwhile, it seems that some members of congress are beginning to advocate for a non-kinetic no-fly zone – something to the effect of using electromagnetic pulse, sonar, and cyber to keep Russian jets on the ground so they can never take off. Unclear how much support this will end up getting:
.
As already introduced in prior posts, Russia is preparing to disconnect from the internet by March 11. In addition, the WEF removed the Cyber Polygon page (Cyber pandemic) from its website. Finally, a Russian spy ship, know to destroy underwater internet cables, has now disappeared from radars.
All of this is pretty disturbing, to say the least!
What if his endgame of the Ukraine-Russia conflic is western collapse? What if Ukraine is just the bait so the West (NATO) is dragged into war and then Putin has the opportunity to use nukes, not like we’ve seen before, but as an EMP?
He’d only need a couple hundreds warheads detonated in the atmosphere to take down the electric grid in Europe and America and civilization as we know it would instantly change.
A US Army report is clear: Russia (and China) are both capable of EMP attacks.
The United States and NATO allies regularly experience from Russia major cyber-attacks penetrating government agencies and critical infrastructures for electric power, telecommunications, transportation and other sectors vital to electronic civilization. These events practice a new way of warfare, including EMP attacks, that could blackout North America and NATO Europe, and win World War III at the speed of light.
Any nuclear weapon detonated in outer space, 30 kilometers or higher, will generate a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) damaging all kinds of electronics, blacking-out electric grids and collapsing other life-sustaining critical infrastructures. No blast, thermal, fallout or effects other than HEMP are experienced in the atmosphere and on the ground. Russian military doctrine, because HEMP attacks electronics, categorizes nuclear HEMP attack as a dimension of Information Warfare, Electronic Warfare and Cyber Warfare, which are modes of warfare operating within the electromagnetic spectrum.
Russia has “Super-EMP” weapons specialized for HEMP attack that potentially generate 100,000 volts/meter or higher, greatly exceeding the U.S. military hardening standard (50,000 volts/meter). As a result of its HEMP nuclear tests, the Soviet Union, and today Russia, probably knows a lot more about HEMP effects than the United States.
““Super-EMP is a first-strike weapon,” according to Aleksey Vaschenko, who describes Russian nuclear weapons specially designed to make extraordinarily powerful HEMP fields as Russia’s means for defeating the United States. “Hypersonic vehicles are potentially a new avenue for surprise HEMP attack, flying at 50-100 kilometers altitude: the optimum height-of-burst for Super-EMP warheads."
Russia has the technical capability to clandestinely orbit a nuclear-armed satellite or satellites to be maintained in orbit for years until needed to make a surprise HEMP attack. HEMP attack could achieve for Russia a key objective the USSR could not achieve during the Cold War—neutralizing U.S. ballistic missile submarines at sea.
Russia probably remains the world’s leader in Non-Nuclear EMP (NNEMP) weapons, also called Radio-Frequency Weapons (RFWs). Marriage of NNEMP to drones or cruise missiles, equipped with sensors to follow high-power electric lines and target control centers and transformers, introduces a major new threat to national power grids. As Russia categorizes HEMP attack as Information, Electronic or Cyber Warfare, Moscow’s already very loose strictures for nuclear employment may not even apply to HEMP.
So in other words, why use nuclear bombs that leave behind dangerous levels of radioactivity, when Russia and other countries have already developed nukes that are not designed to cause physical damage. Instead, these bombs are designed to be detonated high in the sky, where the generate a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can disable power plants and electronic devices across many hundreds of miles.
Meanwhile, it seems that some members of congress are beginning to advocate for a non-kinetic no-fly zone – something to the effect of using electromagnetic pulse, sonar, and cyber to keep Russian jets on the ground so they can never take off. Unclear how much support this will end up getting:
.
AD1184
Celestial
The Poles are now going to give the Migs to the US. This enables them to wash their hands of the matter and let the US deal with it. The US can manage the logistics of getting the planes into Ukraine, and take the flak from Russia from handing Ukraine such significant military aid. The US is going to give Poland F-16s in return. I can't say I am pleased about this development. This will be a major escalation if the US succeeds in handing the jets over to Ukraine.
nivek
As Above So Below
The US decided it was too risky...
US pours cold water on Poland's 'untenable' offer to hand over all their MIG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine: Pentagon says plan 'raises serious concerns for NATO alliance' in the face-off with Putin
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said on Tuesday night the deal was unworkable and would cause serious concerns for the 'entire NATO alliance'. In a statement he said: 'We are now in contact with the Polish government following the statement issued today. As we have said, the decision about whether to transfer Polish-owned planes to Ukraine is ultimately one for the Polish government. 'We will continue consulting with our Allies and partners about our ongoing security assistance to Ukraine, because, in fact, Poland's proposal shows just some of the complexities this issue presents. The prospect of fighter jets 'at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America' departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance', he added.
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AD1184
Celestial
It looks like Poland called America's bluff.
nivek
As Above So Below
At least there's a shred of reason and sense in the Pentagon...
Biden is making himself appear weak in front of the American people by hyping up an aggressive posture towards Russia with Americans but falling short of following through his words with action...It would be in his best interest as President to put more focus on the internal domestic problems our country is dealing with and take a few steps back from Russia...Wars can win elections for the political party in power but not this war and not with inflation skyrocketing costs across all aspects of life...
...
AD1184
Celestial
The reporting of the Polish Mig fiasco is now getting weird. Many news media are now reporting the story as if the transfer of Poland's Migs to Ukraine had been a Polish initiative from the get go, rather than the US/EU urging Poland to do it (and the Poles rejecting the idea). This Telegraph article (paywall) says that it has put a major crack in NATO unity:
Poland's 'rent-a-MiG' plan has put a severe crack in Nato unity
While Robert Peston (a heavyweight in British television news) has tweeted that it is "the kind of western unity that was rare before Putin invaded Ukraine."
The Biden administration rejects the offer as unworkable, but urged the Poles to transfer the Migs to Ukraine in the first place:
Russia warns it is at war with any country hosting Ukrainian fighter jets | Daily Mail Online
The Mail is reporting that the British Transport Minister Grant Shapps has said that the plan risked escalation of the conflict and possible war between Russia and NATO and that it was untenable. This is all true, but it is despite the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announcing that the country backed the transfer just yesterday.
Grant Shapps backs US blocking Poland's plan to hand Ukraine fighter jets | Daily Mail Online
Poland's 'rent-a-MiG' plan has put a severe crack in Nato unity
While Robert Peston (a heavyweight in British television news) has tweeted that it is "the kind of western unity that was rare before Putin invaded Ukraine."
The Biden administration rejects the offer as unworkable, but urged the Poles to transfer the Migs to Ukraine in the first place:
Russia warns it is at war with any country hosting Ukrainian fighter jets | Daily Mail Online
The Mail is reporting that the British Transport Minister Grant Shapps has said that the plan risked escalation of the conflict and possible war between Russia and NATO and that it was untenable. This is all true, but it is despite the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announcing that the country backed the transfer just yesterday.
Grant Shapps backs US blocking Poland's plan to hand Ukraine fighter jets | Daily Mail Online
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I've been addicted to Reuters, BBC, AP News, Al Jazeera English and the good old NY Post and they all have a certain amount of absolute tripe spewing from them. One thing we all have in common with the Russian public - we're all being spoon fed to one degree or another.
Oh, and one thing while I'm at it.
Been reading a lot of sugary sweet stories about saving pets in Ukraine. heard something about the zoo.
Guess what happens next when cities are cut off from food supplies for long periods of time?
Oh, and one thing while I'm at it.
Been reading a lot of sugary sweet stories about saving pets in Ukraine. heard something about the zoo.
Guess what happens next when cities are cut off from food supplies for long periods of time?
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Infographic: Which countries buy the most Russian weapons?
Infographic: Which countries buy the most Russian weapons?
Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter: India buys one-quarter of those weapons followed by China, Algeria, Egypt and Vietnam.
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 9 Mar 20229 Mar 2022
Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter, behind the United States, accounting for roughly 20 percent of global weapons sales. Between 2016 and 2020, Moscow sold $28bn of weapons to 45 countries.
Russia exports nearly 90 percent of its arms to 10 countries. Its biggest customer, India, bought 23 percent of Russia’s weapons for some $6.5bn over the past five years. Half of India’s total arms imports, 49.3 percent, come from Russia.
China is the second-largest buyer of Russian weaponry at $5.1bn over the same period followed by Algeria ($4.2bn), Egypt ($3.3bn), and Vietnam ($1.7bn), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The weapons Russia sells
Russia exports a variety of weapons including planes, engines, missiles, armoured vehicles and air defence systems.
Aircraft make up nearly half (48.6 percent) of Russian arms exports. Between 2016 and 2020 Russia delivered about 400 fighter jets including the Sukhoi and MiG family of jets, to at least 13 countries. India bought at least half of them. India is also one of only six countries in the world that operate nuclear-powered submarines it has on lease from Russia.
While a lot of Russia’s weapons are upgrades to their Soviet-era arsenal, it is increasingly developing more advanced systems, including the S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system which has been sold to China, India, Syria and Turkey. Several other countries have expressed interest in purchasing the long-range mobile systems, which cost about $400m per unit.
AK-47: World’s most prominent weapon
The most famous Russian weapon is the AK-47, or Kalashnikov.
Developed by Soviet army general Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s, the cheap, durable and easy-to-use assault rifle is the standard infantry weapon for more than 100 countries. The AK refers to “Avtomat Kalashnikova”, Russian for automatic Kalashnikov, and the number “47” represents the year the rifle was developed.
There are an estimated 100 million AK-47s, or similar variants, around the world, making it the most widely owned assault rifle in the world.
The world’s biggest military spenders
In 2020, the US spent $778bn on its armed forces – the largest military spend in the world and more than the next 10 highest-spending countries combined, according to SIPRI.
China ranked second at $252bn, followed by India at $73bn, Russia at $62bn, and the United Kingdom at $59bn.
Russia’s military spending
Russian military expenditure has grown significantly over the past three decades. In 2020, Moscow spent about $62bn (4 percent of its GDP) on its military.
Russia’s arms industry consists of some 1,300 companies employing about two million people. The largest of these companies is Rostec, founded in 2007 by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has been in a number of conflicts since it became a federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. In 1994, the Kremlin launched an offensive against Chechnya, a breakaway republic bordering Georgia, in an effort to crush its separatist leadership but were defeated after a 20-month battle.
Three years later, Russia launched the second Chechen War to retake the republic. It laid such a harsh siege on Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, that the United Nations called it “the most destroyed city on Earth”.
In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. A month later, pro-Russian separatists began capturing territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.
In 2015, Russia formally entered the Syrian civil war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and its heavy weaponry managed to shift the dynamics on the ground. The war, which has displaced tens of millions and killed hundreds of thousands, is now in its eleventh year.
In 2018, the government of the Central African Republic – embroiled in civil war – invited Russia to send military contractors to train its armed forces. UN experts have repeatedly expressed concerns over reports of “grave human rights abuses” by the mercenaries. Russia has rejected these claims.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
Infographic: Which countries buy the most Russian weapons?
Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter: India buys one-quarter of those weapons followed by China, Algeria, Egypt and Vietnam.
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 9 Mar 20229 Mar 2022
Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter, behind the United States, accounting for roughly 20 percent of global weapons sales. Between 2016 and 2020, Moscow sold $28bn of weapons to 45 countries.
Russia exports nearly 90 percent of its arms to 10 countries. Its biggest customer, India, bought 23 percent of Russia’s weapons for some $6.5bn over the past five years. Half of India’s total arms imports, 49.3 percent, come from Russia.
China is the second-largest buyer of Russian weaponry at $5.1bn over the same period followed by Algeria ($4.2bn), Egypt ($3.3bn), and Vietnam ($1.7bn), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The weapons Russia sells
Russia exports a variety of weapons including planes, engines, missiles, armoured vehicles and air defence systems.
Aircraft make up nearly half (48.6 percent) of Russian arms exports. Between 2016 and 2020 Russia delivered about 400 fighter jets including the Sukhoi and MiG family of jets, to at least 13 countries. India bought at least half of them. India is also one of only six countries in the world that operate nuclear-powered submarines it has on lease from Russia.
While a lot of Russia’s weapons are upgrades to their Soviet-era arsenal, it is increasingly developing more advanced systems, including the S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system which has been sold to China, India, Syria and Turkey. Several other countries have expressed interest in purchasing the long-range mobile systems, which cost about $400m per unit.
AK-47: World’s most prominent weapon
The most famous Russian weapon is the AK-47, or Kalashnikov.
Developed by Soviet army general Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s, the cheap, durable and easy-to-use assault rifle is the standard infantry weapon for more than 100 countries. The AK refers to “Avtomat Kalashnikova”, Russian for automatic Kalashnikov, and the number “47” represents the year the rifle was developed.
There are an estimated 100 million AK-47s, or similar variants, around the world, making it the most widely owned assault rifle in the world.
The world’s biggest military spenders
In 2020, the US spent $778bn on its armed forces – the largest military spend in the world and more than the next 10 highest-spending countries combined, according to SIPRI.
China ranked second at $252bn, followed by India at $73bn, Russia at $62bn, and the United Kingdom at $59bn.
Russia’s military spending
Russian military expenditure has grown significantly over the past three decades. In 2020, Moscow spent about $62bn (4 percent of its GDP) on its military.
Russia’s arms industry consists of some 1,300 companies employing about two million people. The largest of these companies is Rostec, founded in 2007 by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has been in a number of conflicts since it became a federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. In 1994, the Kremlin launched an offensive against Chechnya, a breakaway republic bordering Georgia, in an effort to crush its separatist leadership but were defeated after a 20-month battle.
Three years later, Russia launched the second Chechen War to retake the republic. It laid such a harsh siege on Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, that the United Nations called it “the most destroyed city on Earth”.
In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. A month later, pro-Russian separatists began capturing territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.
In 2015, Russia formally entered the Syrian civil war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and its heavy weaponry managed to shift the dynamics on the ground. The war, which has displaced tens of millions and killed hundreds of thousands, is now in its eleventh year.
In 2018, the government of the Central African Republic – embroiled in civil war – invited Russia to send military contractors to train its armed forces. UN experts have repeatedly expressed concerns over reports of “grave human rights abuses” by the mercenaries. Russia has rejected these claims.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
think they'll ask for a refund now ?
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
True. No doubt there are many, many in use in Afghanistan and various places around the world. But Russia's current export small arm is the AK-74, not the 47. Minor point because there are bazillions of 47s and AKMs and the ammo to feed them still around.
AD1184
Celestial
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute maintains several databases that are the source of data in this Al Jazeera article:Infographic: Which countries buy the most Russian weapons?
Infographic: Which countries buy the most Russian weapons?
Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter: India buys one-quarter of those weapons followed by China, Algeria, Egypt and Vietnam.
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 9 Mar 20229 Mar 2022
Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter, behind the United States, accounting for roughly 20 percent of global weapons sales. Between 2016 and 2020, Moscow sold $28bn of weapons to 45 countries.
Russia exports nearly 90 percent of its arms to 10 countries. Its biggest customer, India, bought 23 percent of Russia’s weapons for some $6.5bn over the past five years. Half of India’s total arms imports, 49.3 percent, come from Russia.
China is the second-largest buyer of Russian weaponry at $5.1bn over the same period followed by Algeria ($4.2bn), Egypt ($3.3bn), and Vietnam ($1.7bn), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The weapons Russia sells
Russia exports a variety of weapons including planes, engines, missiles, armoured vehicles and air defence systems.
Aircraft make up nearly half (48.6 percent) of Russian arms exports. Between 2016 and 2020 Russia delivered about 400 fighter jets including the Sukhoi and MiG family of jets, to at least 13 countries. India bought at least half of them. India is also one of only six countries in the world that operate nuclear-powered submarines it has on lease from Russia.
While a lot of Russia’s weapons are upgrades to their Soviet-era arsenal, it is increasingly developing more advanced systems, including the S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system which has been sold to China, India, Syria and Turkey. Several other countries have expressed interest in purchasing the long-range mobile systems, which cost about $400m per unit.
AK-47: World’s most prominent weapon
The most famous Russian weapon is the AK-47, or Kalashnikov.
Developed by Soviet army general Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s, the cheap, durable and easy-to-use assault rifle is the standard infantry weapon for more than 100 countries. The AK refers to “Avtomat Kalashnikova”, Russian for automatic Kalashnikov, and the number “47” represents the year the rifle was developed.
There are an estimated 100 million AK-47s, or similar variants, around the world, making it the most widely owned assault rifle in the world.
The world’s biggest military spenders
In 2020, the US spent $778bn on its armed forces – the largest military spend in the world and more than the next 10 highest-spending countries combined, according to SIPRI.
China ranked second at $252bn, followed by India at $73bn, Russia at $62bn, and the United Kingdom at $59bn.
Russia’s military spending
Russian military expenditure has grown significantly over the past three decades. In 2020, Moscow spent about $62bn (4 percent of its GDP) on its military.
Russia’s arms industry consists of some 1,300 companies employing about two million people. The largest of these companies is Rostec, founded in 2007 by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has been in a number of conflicts since it became a federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. In 1994, the Kremlin launched an offensive against Chechnya, a breakaway republic bordering Georgia, in an effort to crush its separatist leadership but were defeated after a 20-month battle.
Three years later, Russia launched the second Chechen War to retake the republic. It laid such a harsh siege on Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, that the United Nations called it “the most destroyed city on Earth”.
In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. A month later, pro-Russian separatists began capturing territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.
In 2015, Russia formally entered the Syrian civil war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and its heavy weaponry managed to shift the dynamics on the ground. The war, which has displaced tens of millions and killed hundreds of thousands, is now in its eleventh year.
In 2018, the government of the Central African Republic – embroiled in civil war – invited Russia to send military contractors to train its armed forces. UN experts have repeatedly expressed concerns over reports of “grave human rights abuses” by the mercenaries. Russia has rejected these claims.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
SIPRI databases | SIPRI
The Arms Transfers Database lets you look at the bulk statistics of arms trades, and look up individual transfers of what was sold, by whom, and to whom, and sometimes for how much. For example, you can discover that the US ordered six second-hand transport helicopters from Russia in 2009, and that they were delivered in 2012:
This is the only transfer of arms recorded between Russia and the US (in either direction), in the database, and including the Soviet era. You can also see that the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova transferred seven Mig-29s to the US in 1997:
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Saudi Arabia refuses to talk with Biden about oil. Wants nuclear plant and other concessions:
Saudi Arabia and UAE leaders ‘decline calls with Biden’ amid fears of oil price spike
Saudi Arabia and UAE leaders ‘decline calls with Biden’ amid fears of oil price spike
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
EMPs are as dangerous as nukes. Pentagon studies from the Cold War era calculated that within 1 month from EMP attack 90% of US population would starve to death because of interruption of supply chain.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Better to buy it from another place where you have to hold your nose - and tongue - to deal with those in charge than pump it out of the ground yourself.