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Peace dividend? What maintains the peace is constant preparedness for war. As for the debt, the defense budget is not the major driver of the debt, that is the social welfare of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Unless/until they reform those, the budget will remain out of whack. Also...

Well I don't know if it's that simple given the politics of the European countries. But also, as I said earlier, I do not see the likes of France or Germany going at it with Russia to defend the Baltic states or any such small countries. I don't know if Putin or his successor will be able to...

Because the large social welfare states the Europeans have to maintain I think would make it very difficult for them to develop the kind of military strength needed to long-term check Russian power. There's also the question of who would be the central leader for the defense. It is a slightly...

They'll try to rebuild a stronger military. Yes they have economic weakness, but they can get help from other countries that are benefited by a stronger Russia. They will try to take back former Soviet and Warsaw Pact states through direct and indirect means because, as Brett said, they are...

The fear is that further down the line, they will attack NATO after rebuilding and that showing weakness would send not only a terrible message to Russia but also to other such actors. It will also send a terrible message to other freedom-desiring nations. If "Europe" is charged with checking...

Hey now, during Soviet times they had the world's most advanced 19th century economy.

IMO, because many of the European leadership is weak. It is important to hold the line with Putin because if not, then it will tell the world that if you try invading a country and things backfire for your military, just hold out long enough and the West will lose interest and let you keep the...

Oh I agree. But that was due to the failures of the system itself, whereas with the Soviet military, bases with things like overgrown grass and so forth was intentional as it just wasn't viewed as something important.

I don't see France on this list...?

I forget where I read it, but I remember reading somewhere that that was actually purposeful to a good degree, that basically the Soviet mindset was it's a military base, so no point in making it look nice. From their perspective, the Western bases were very "fancy."

Is there a reason they are different? Like tied to doctrine or something? Also why does it limit how they can employ their aircraft?

Right now, no, but given some time to rebuild, who knows? You might say he'll be dead by then, but he will have a successor. And Ukraine's being a non-ally doesn't mean it still shouldn't be aided, due to being a people seeking to become free and also being a very strategically important state...

When you say "Europe" I think what you mean is "Western Europe." Eastern Europe is not capable of standing up to Putin on its own, or to the degree that it could, it would struggle mightily (as we've seen with Ukraine). In that sense, the parts of Europe currently under real threat from Putin...

I'd argue the reason the other countries have been able to use their tax dollars to spend on themselves is because of the defense umbrella we've been providing them since the end of World War II. Otherwise, I don't see how any such nations could afford to spend on themselves what they otherwise...

? I specifically said that I cannot predict how the fighting would go. My main points were just we'd notice if the Chinese were preparing to launch an attack, and if they were attacking our ships, I find it hard to believe they'd want to go nuclear if we attacked their bases in response. In the...

Well I would think it would be pretty obvious to the U.S. if the Chinese were preparing to try launching an attack. They'd need to concentrate their forces which would probably be obvious. As for the rest, I don't know if it would be so easy for the Chinese to just target American ships with...

Yes, people not in Naval Aviation asking questions can sound like a five year-old. For example, it didn't occur to me that said pilot would mention to his peers he was going to try such a thing, I was just thinking it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of decision. I see, thank you for the info.

I do not myself think that a confrontation with China would lead to a nuclear exchange. The Chinese are not stupid or nuts. In terms of their attacking Taiwan, at least in terms of trying an invasion, China would be carrying out the largest, most complex amphibious operation in human history...

Sounds kind of arbitrary though, like how can a pilot ever really know their own personal limitations regarding something like that without trying it first? Also, when you say he got to keep his wings, is that like a formality or will he ever be able to fly again? Another crash was the C-17...

So curiosity on my part, but....WHY would a pilot try a flashy maneuver where if you mess it up, you can sink your career? I know from reading this forum over the years that the most dangerous words in aviation can be when a pilot says, "Watch this." Mike Durant, the Black Hawk pilot shot down...

My understanding of the Boeing fiasco was it happened because they decided to use an old airframe to make a "new" plane, as this was cheaper. To make it more fuel efficient, they added new engines, but these new engines were huge, and so couldn't be mounted in the same spot as the old ones. So...

Asking if the sightings by military pilots of aircraft performing impossible maneuvers or moving at impossible speeds isn't out of reason. The problem is when anything unidentified gets tagged as aliens and/or when, as you said, it's more about confirming preexisting beliefs.

Some people also are just stupid. I had a supervisor at work who insisted to me the Moon is hollow and a space station. At first I thought he was joking but he insisted it was true. I told him that is just too silly a claim, he insisted that NO, two Russian scientists even put their careers on...

IMO, Russia doesn't have the manpower to just throw bodies at a war like Ukraine, because Ukraine is too big, with too large a population, and too well-trained a military for that to work. Now if it was a lone Baltic state, maybe things would be different. Where the Russians have succeeded, or...

Pretty sure that Joe Rogan hasn't bought into the Moon landing conspiracy for years now. He used to, but has since stopped. I know this because some years ago on an episode of his I was hearing at work as a coworker had him playing, he had on a couple of guests of which one was an actual Moon...

There ever was a ship regarding Rogan? I always thought he only was credible as an MMA commentator and comedian for a time, but otherwise, is just "a guy" with a show in which he interviews various people. I give him credit though for standing up to the politically correct and having all sorts...

IMO, he gets the overall big picture right, but I think he also is wrong about some things. For example, I would argue that part of the reason Russia lacks a road network is precisely because of their fear of invasion. After what Germany did to them in WWII, and seeing how the lack of roads...

Does this effect their ability to protect said assets? I know (well my understanding is) the gist was given space's importance and with so many agencies and branches having space hardware, the idea was to centralize the protection of such.

Well to be fair, they are just getting started, so there probably won't be much difference between what they were doing in the Air Force versus now as Space Force.

Couldn't the same have been said though about the Army Air Force...?

Is it though? I mean with space becoming more and more important and with the different branches having their own space assets, wouldn't it be better to have a specific force devoted to defense of said space assets? Sort of like how the Army Air Force was split off to become the Air Force...? I...

I'll bet the pilot loved this, was probably thinking, "WOO-HOO, I get to use my weapons for real this time!" Maybe I am naive but I just find it hilarious all the anguish and fury over a BALLOON from China caught flying over us. Honestly, I'll bet the Chinese are laughing their asses off at...

Pretty sure the Army uses amphibious armored vehicles, because when you encounter things like rivers and very large streams, being able to just drive across is very handy. Not all of their vehicles are amphibious though.

This is a little older now but figured I would post for those who may never have seen it:)

Government structure doesn't mean anything if their (lack of) resources make continuing to wage war impossible after a point. If their forces get forcibly driven out of Ukraine, then the war is pretty much over.

IMO, the war will end when Putin's forces are thoroughly ground down, which they have already been significantly. Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. had the capability to conduct indefinitely because our country is far richer and the damage to the military in terms of casualties and equipment loss...

By "functional," I mean the tank is a mostly complete tank that can be utilized as such. Now whether such old tanks would be effective against the Ukrainian forces is a totally different matter. It seems Russia is massing for an attack, so I wonder if this is the actual massing or if they are...

This is the thinking behind when I said earlier about how an EV can be great for regular needs but you still want an ICE vehicle just for backup. I drive 26 miles each day to and from work in total. If I go to the fancy supermarket, it's about a 40 to 60 (depending on the market) round trip. So...

Yep, you can run a vehicle on wood gas. Does hell on the engine though from what I understand.

When you say they got a lot more right than most assume, you mean our intelligence regarding the Russian military or the performance of the Russian military itself? I read an article by the leader of intelligence of the Estonian Defense Forces, he says the Russians have about 9,000 old tanks in...

I am actually not familiar with Superman so had to Google that. But from what I can gather, they were stupid:) Their sun was going supernova and they didn't know it despite having the ability to build advanced spaceships. Our Sun, however, is too small to die via a supernova.

Culture, distance, and also income. The Midwest isn't known for being where people earn the big $$$'s while places like San Diego have among the highest incomes in the country. And up until recently, owning a Tesla has primarily been a rich person's game.

The engineering of the battery plays a very large role in determining how good EVs are in the cold. Teslas for example have world-class battery designs. What will really be cool and a game changer is if they start getting them with 500, 600, and 1,000+ mile ranges.

I would rate a Coronal Mass Ejection as a legitimate concern, not comparable to the Sun exploding (which is of course impossible).

What about a nationwide or global EMP from say a Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun? The Earth missed one in 2012. Hypothetically speaking, such an event could knock out electrical infrastructure, electronics, and any autos that rely on computers and electronics. Absolute worst case scenario...

Thank you for all of the information, I do appreciate it. I do hope you are correct. Not meaning to make light of the fact that people are dying, but it is going to be extremely interesting to read about this war in the aftermath when the big books on it come out. On the American intelligence...

North Korea to the World: "Behold our Fearsome Military!" The World:

That is true, but an ICE will usually have a longer range (usually 400 miles at least), and can have even more if say a pickup truck with an auxiliary fuel tank. And if you have an outside shed, you can store some additional fuel.

Would only buy one personally if I had a secondary ICE vehicle to serve as a backup in the event of say having to get out of dodge, so-to-speak, due to a natural disaster or whatnot. Also I do not like the use of the touchscreen for everything, I like physical buttons and dials for the major...

Well actually, I didn't know such an answer would involve that, so the answer you provided above is plenty satisfactory. Also I don't know his qualifications. It's a war so I am very curious about it. I would never ask for information about things if I knew it would involve people spilling...