Four major U.S. defense contractors sponsored a Washington, D.C., party for the 31st anniversary of the Ukrainian armed forces as they stand to gain billions from the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to a report.

Vox reported Saturday that the celebration, hosted by the Ukrainian Embassy last week, took place in downtown D.C. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, located less than a mile from the White House, and that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was in attendance.

The invitation said the event was “supported by” Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Pratty & Whitney, and Lockheed Martin — their logos emblazoned on the invite, reportedly prompting some observers to “laugh out loud.”

“It’s really bizarre to me that they would put that on an invitation,” a think-tank expert told Vox’s Jonathan Guyer. An academic also told Guyer, “The fact that they don’t feel sheepish about it, that’s interesting.”

 

“The explicit sponsorship indicates how intimate major military contractors have become with Ukraine, and how much they stand to gain from the war,” Guyer wrote, adding:

The invitation is a clear expression of how the war in Ukraine has been good for business. As Ukraine fights a defensive war against Russia’s brutal invasion, Ukrainians in Washington have been pushing for the US to send Ukraine more weapons. So far, President Joe Biden’s administration has committed a substantial $19.3 billion of military assistance since February.

The four companies sponsoring the party produce missile defense systems and anti-tank missiles that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Defense contractors’ stocks have soared since the war began. Lockheed stock is up 38 percent, according to Vox. The companies either declined to comment or did not respond to queries from Vox.

The Ukrainian Embassy, however, was not shy about publicizing the event.

On their Facebook page, they posted photos from the event — including one of Milley, along with a post that said:

Ukrainian Armed Forces Day in Washington [is] an opportunity to once again remind the world about the courage and the price paid by Ukraine for shared democratic values [and] a chance to express gratitude to our strategic partners for profound aid to Ukraine and the U.S. leadership for creation international coalition to support our country.

According to the post, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia Laura Cooper was in attendance, as well as other defense, White House, and congressional officials, international military attachés, and “representatives of the defense industry” and the Ukrainian community.

A former Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) adviser told Vox that defense contractors sponsoring a party for Ukrainian forces who they are essentially profiting from is a bad look.

“Sustaining American popular support is absolutely essential for Ukraine’s continued defense,” Matt Duss, who is now a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace fellow, said. “So Ukrainian diplomats should probably think harder about how it looks for them to be throwing parties with the defense contractors who are making bank off of this horrible war.”

Bill Hartung, a researcher at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Vox, “I can’t imagine another situation where the contractors would sponsor an event for a country that they’re arming in the middle of a war.”

Hartung added, “It’s one thing to support Ukraine to defend itself, which I think is certainly legitimate…But I think the companies want to go beyond that. They want to cash in on this reputationally.”

The companies stand to benefit in the long-term from the war, as the U.S. seeks to replenish its stocks sent to Ukraine, and as European nations want to boost theirs.

 

The Biden administration has said it will support Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes.”

Congress has passed $68 billion in taxpayer funds for overall aid for Ukraine just this year alone, and could pass tens of billions more before the year’s end. The Biden administration has asked Congress for $38 billion more, before the end of the year, anticipating that Republicans may tighten spending on Ukraine when they take control in January.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on Twitter, Truth Social, or on Facebook.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/17/u-s-defense-contractors-sponsor-d-c-party-for-ukrainian-forces-amid-ongoing-war/

 

 

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when the left is supporting arsehole nazis, in an upside down world.....

 

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With Crimea in play, Russia's war against Ukraine might be on a path to humiliation

 

By Mick Ryan

 

The Crimean War in the early 1850s is known for events such battles at Balaclava, the siege of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade.

These all had an impact on the war, and public opinion in European capitals.

What is less remembered is that it was the first truly modern war, employing the technological developments of the first industrial revolution.

Mass-produced weapons, the use of trains for logistics and troop movements, advanced firearms, the application of the telegram for military communication and news correspondents all featured in the Crimean War.

Now, Crimea is again the focus of war.

Recently, a small cottage industry has arisen for commentary about whether Ukraine can or should seek to take back its Crimean territory through the force of arms.

Whether this talk is diplomatic timidity, a desire to return to some historic relic like the concept of Europe, or just a response to the normal uncertainty of war, it helps Russia far more than it does Ukraine.

There is almost no prospect of Russia negotiating over the future of Crimea unless they are forced to through continuing battlefield defeats.

Putin has shown zero inclination to give up annexed territory he doesn't control, let alone Ukrainian territory he illegally seized in 2014.

 

Supporters of Ukraine sending mixed messages

How might Ukraine, and its supporters in the international community, move towards an outcome where Ukraine regains control of this part of its territory?

First, Ukraine's supporters need to stop sending mixed signals on the status of Crimea.

Comments from politicians and senior military leaders about the "difficulty'"of Ukraine retaking Crimea need to be moderated with "but, we support Ukraine taking back all their territory".

Discussing Crimea as territory that "only" went to Ukraine in 1954 is a spurious and illogical argument. By this logic, many of the territorial transfers that occurred in Europe in the wake of the 20th century world wars could also be re-litigated.

Second, western industry needs to step up its production of munitions and transfer of armoured vehicles and other offensive capabilities to Ukraine.

The Ukranian army requires a large numbers of armoured vehicles (tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armoured obstacle breaching vehicles), replacement artillery systems, helicopters and fighter aircraft.

As Ukrainian command in chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi has noted in a recent interview with The Economist, "we have made all the calculations — how many tanks, artillery we need and so on.

"This is what everyone needs to concentrate on right now … it's more important to focus on the accumulation of resources right now for the more protracted and heavier battles that may begin next year."

 Kherson and Zaporizhzhia the first priority

Third, Ukraine needs to complete offensives to recapture all of its southern territory as enabling activities.

The liberation of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces will be essential precursors to any Ukrainian campaign for Crimea.

Not only do these provide the only two ground axes that might be used to advance into Crimea, but they will also be critical for logistics, fire support from artillery and basing of aircraft.

Politically and militarily, seeking to liberate Crimea without first doing so in these other two southern provinces would be an impossibility.

Fourth, strategic patience is vital.

It is possible that it might take Ukraine all of 2023 to secure its southern territory before a Crimea operation is possible.

Patience is something that European and American publics and governments have demonstrated so far in this war, much to the shock of Putin.

Part of his logic for engaging in this devastating invasion was that the West was unlikely to intervene, and even if it wanted to, Kyiv would be taken too quickly for NATO to react.

Putin's decision-making since shows that he is still hoping to run out the clock on this conflict by demonstrating greater strategic perseverance than Ukraine's supporters.

As he reputedly told the Israeli Prime Minister earlier this year, "we are a big country and we have patience."

We must not allow this Russian theory of victory to succeed.

 

Campaign to seize Crimea still in play

All of these are necessary precursors to Ukraine considering a large military campaign to seize Crimea.

Indeed, if all four of these criteria are met then perhaps there may be an opportunity for negotiations about the future of Crimea.

If this particular future comes to pass, Russia will be in a difficult position if it holds out on negotiations.

If Ukraine has received significant injections of western weapons, has the full support of America and Europe to take back Crimea and has demonstrated the battlefield aptitude and will to do so, Russia could well then be on the precipice of a stunning national humiliation.

Of course, Russia may then decide that its only option to defend Crimea is nuclear weapons.

While there are numerous speculations about such a scenario, Putin by this point might appreciate that a negotiated settlement for a Crimean "special zone" would be better than Russia being an international pariah for a generation or more.

Perhaps.

We are a long way from such a scenario playing out, however.

The coming winter will see Ukraine and Russia reinforcing weary and battered units, protecting (or attacking) strategic infrastructure, sourcing munitions and supplies for 2023, and exploiting short-term battlefield opportunities.

But at some point, in the coming year, the different scenarios for how Ukraine might recover its Crimea territory — diplomatic and military — are going to be planned and discussed in Kyiv, Moscow, Washington DC and European capitals.

In 2023, all roads may lead to Crimea in the Russo-Ukraine War.

 

Mick Ryan is a strategist and recently retired Australian Army major general. He served in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, and as a strategist on the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. His first book, War Transformed, is about 21st century warfare.

 

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-20/crimea-russia-ukraine-war-2023/101787366

 

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NOTE: THE WEST HAS TO PUSH ZELENSKY TO MAKE A DEAL THAT GIVES THE RUSSIAN SPEAKING REGIONS OF UKRAINE BACK TO RUSSIA. YES, MICK, WE KNOW THE HISTORY OF CRIMEA, INCLUDING THAT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IF WE WISH TO GO BACK THIS FAR IN REGARD TO EUROPE AND THE BARBARIAN CIVILISATIONS THAT DESTROYED ROME.

NOTE: THE WEST IS ABOUT THREE MOVES BEHIND PUTIN'S GAME DESIGNED TO SAVE RUSSIA FROM THE NATO DEMOLITION DERBY — AND WILL BE FIVE MOVES BEHIND BY THE NEW YEAR...

 

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when the left is supporting arsehole nazis, in an upside down world.....

 

russia seeks arms control agreements to prevent dangerous escalation. the US empire wants shit........

 

napoleon was deluded, deranged, moronic, idiotic and loony too... but he wasn't jewish.....

 

imagine a world without capitalism......

 

irritations and biases......

 

 

 

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by Pavel Tulaev

The goal is to train a new subject, that is, a leader and victor in World War IV. More generally, we will discuss the background and problems of creating the prerequisites for our victory, the peculiarities of the development of informational and cultural cyberspace.

Since the local military conflict in Ukraine, in the context of the so-called global "hybrid war", is in full swing and it is now clear to everyone that Russia is opposed to the whole United West represented by NATO, I think it is crucial to focus on the global aspects of the ongoing processes. In my publications for the past 30 years, that is, since the 1990s, I have referred to this issue as the “wars of our generation”.

The struggle for global or regional leadership involves many actors in many spaces, but today it is important to emphasize the sphere of science and technology (the noosphere), cyberspace (the virtual world) and the media (mobile communication, network platforms, etc.). It is the so-called “innovative” high-tech spheres that provide leadership in modern weaponry. They are what transform the nature of war, the methods and forms of war.

Some analysts believe that a network-centric war is taking place in Ukraine. The theory of such a war was developed by the American military command, in particular by the Force Transformation Branch. This doctrine has been adopted and applied in several armed conflicts. It has been studied in detail by our colleague Leonid Savin in his book Network-centric and network warfare.

I want to emphasize that the essence of modern cyber warfare lies not in the fact that Ukraine has become a testing ground, but in the fact that its space is “air”, not “terrestrial” and not “water ". This is why American domination at sea and Chinese expansion on land must be opposed to aerocracy, that is to say domination in the sky, in all its senses, rather than trench warfare at the light weapon.

I will not untangle here the complicated subject of multipolarity and poly-subjectivity, including transnational and potential structures, but it should be noted here that global competition as a whole is formed by a complex tangle of contradictions and conflicts, the open and covert struggle of special services, military-industrial complexes, mutual learning and destruction by different means in the event of a military collision.

Specialists know that the world is experiencing a fourth industrial revolution. With intellectual-intensive production, automation and robotics, “digitalization” has arrived. Whether this is good or bad is a philosophical and ethical question. From a spiritual point of view, one can criticize the civilization of the machine for its dehumanization, its alienation and its destructive effects on man and nature. The spirit of Prometheus, who brought the fire of knowledge to mankind, leads to the tragedy of Faust. The Christian God-man degenerates into "man", which leads to the individualization of consciousness, to the degradation of the individual and of modern society as such.

Furthermore, the ruling elites, sometimes referred to as "world government" or "traitors", consciously use the latest technologies for their own class and clan interests. They seek to control not just production, but humanity as a whole. Hence the digital control (remember the recent COVID-19 experience), cyber weapons on the military and “peaceful” fronts. Hence the conscious cultivation of zombified subjects, programmed bio-robots, the use of sex as a social weapon and the imposition of all sorts of “new normals”.

Someone is given the right to create and use high technology, to conform to the standards of the global elite, and they are given logical and geopolitical traps, imposed on them "retarding technologies" and empty of its “cultural waste” (degenerative art).

I hope everyone here understands what technological dependence and programmatic dictates are.

Wealthy and virtuous young people are rushing to buy the latest advanced laptops, phones, videos and cameras, only to be suddenly told that they are "enemy networks" or "Services of the Fourth Reich". It turns out that Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, WhatsApp, Vyber, Instagram and other products are designed for the needs of Western intelligence services.

In fact, many technical objects with personal software, from mobile phones to PCs, have a unique identification number that can be used to monitor the activities of the owner of the toy in question. In this regard, the most radical patriots advise against the use of Western software. And what do we offer instead? This is the main question.

Please answer me where the leadership comes from if we are far behind China, Japan, USA and Europe in science, innovative technologies, education, communications , manufacturing intensity and robotics? I think you know this sad statistic. If not, I'll show it to you.

Let us also recall the sad historical experience of the USSR: genetics was declared a bourgeois science, cybernetics as well, moreover invented by the Zionists; Tsiolkovsky was long considered a builder of airships, Korolev was declared a Trotskyist, and Tupolev the leader of the Russian fascist party; the same situation happened with other great scientists: Losev, Snesarev, Svechin and many others. A common pattern is evident: the misunderstanding of genes by authorities and bureaucrats, who interpret them according to their simplified and often primitive paradigm.

What the current Russian government should do in these circumstances, I do not say. There is a National Security Council, several important analytical institutions and special services, as well as a State Duma with a well-developed expert structure for this purpose.

In general, as I have already written and said many times, it is necessary to widely introduce the theory and practice of leadership. It is obvious that in the context of fierce global competition, we need a “Russian breakthrough”: cyberspace, the noosphere, the “sky” in the broad sense, must become a field of competition.

And of course, this qualitatively new virtual habitat of the Russian subject must not turn into a dumping ground for information on a hot topic of war: where someone was killed, what was blown up and where. Such a vector of information, in the spirit of television bulletins from the front, leads to hysteria, panic and depression in public opinion.

Our Russian world in real and virtual space should be multidimensional, complete, harmonious, aesthetic, etc. Healthy lifestyle, strength of mind, fundamental and applied knowledge, national tradition, peaceful strategy, etc. should be grown here.

It is quite logical that the local conflict in Ukraine, called “Special Military Operation”, has awakened a new level of understanding of many issues. It is on the front lines of the world war that a new generation of victors is born, the future leaders of the Russian world.

source: Geopolitics

 

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The Ukrainian government has rolled out a NATO-backed mental health program, aiming to make its soldiers more effective in battle and less prone to post-traumatic stress, the US outlet Daily Beast reported on Friday.

“Following Russia’s invasion and at the request of Ukraine, NATO has put in place assistance to enhance the psychological resilience of military service personnel and develop a mental health system for Ukrainian combatants and veterans,” bloc spokesperson Oana Lungescu told the Beast.

The program is supposed to counter the “fear, agitation, and meltdowns” troubling the Ukrainian soldiers, so they can keep fighting. Ukraine “can’t afford to have soldiers falling apart on the battlefield,” the outlet noted.

“People have had no understanding of the mental state they could get into during combat,” military psychologist Rodion Grigoryan, who runs the program, told the Beast in an exclusive interview. His program is training soldiers to spot signs of combat stress in their colleagues and intervene in mental health crises. 

READ MORE: Russian defense minister visits frontline

The UK military has a similar program, called Trauma Risk Management (TRiM). Neil Greenberg, a professor at King’s College London who helped implement it in the UK and also trained Ukrainian fighters, told the Beast that unaddressed mental health problems can “degrade your capacity to keep on fighting.”

From what Greenberg has heard from the battlefield, “things are horrible out there.”

Artillery and drones and unpredictable, non-defensible attacks are much more psychologically difficult, because you could be the best soldier in the world, but if an artillery shell lands somewhere near you, there's nothing you can do about that.

Psychological trauma is a major preoccupation in Western armies, whose expeditionary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have caused four times as many casualties from suicide than from combat, according to a 2021 Brown University study.

The biggest challenge Greenberg sees for Ukrainian troops is that they are “not flying into a war zone during the battle and then coming home to normality,” as rear areas are affected by the conflict as well.

Ukraine’s defense ministry hopes to rotate forces on the front lines as the fighting slows down with the onset of winter weather, according to the Beast. Aditi Nerurkar, identified only as “a doctor with expertise in stress and resilience,” told the outlet that this will be sorely needed, in order to release some of the pressure of constant warfare.

“It’s been ten months. There is no respite. We need that respite,” Nerurkar said.

 

READ MORE:

 https://www.rt.com/russia/568833-ukraine-nato-combat-trauma/

 

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SIGN A DEAL NOW, BEFORE NEW YEAR, VOLODYMYR AND SAVE THE WORLD, WITH A LITTLE SACRIFICE....

 

ANY NEGOTIATIONS HAVE TO PLY TO RUSSIA’S FAIR DEMANDS (THESE WON’T CHANGE, EXCEPT IN RUSSIA’S FAVOUR AS THE CONFLICT GOES ON. THE WEST KNOWS THIS):

*NO NATO IN UKRAINE.

*CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN

*THE DONBASS REGIONS ARE NOW RUSSIAN BECAUSE KIEV REFUSED TO ACCEPT THE MINSK AGREEMENTS

*FORMALISED WESTERN NON-AGGRESSION AGAINST RUSSIA (AND CHINA).

 

BIDEN* DOES NOT WANT TO GIVE ANYTHING TO RUSSIA, THUS THERE IS NOTHING TO DISCUSS. 

*BIDEN IS A DUPLICITOUS SENILE IDIOT WHO HAS LONG LOST THE PLOT AND NEEDS A TELEPROMPTER TO THINK.

 

PUTIN HAS MADE EVERYTHING CLEAR LAST YEAR....

 

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