Eddy

on the back of French supply of Aster missiles to Ukraine :
https://www.quora.com/Is-the-SAMP-T-Aster-missile-better-than-the-US-Patriot-surface-to-air-missile-Which-is-better-than-the-other
Decent comparison of Aster - SAMP/T and Patriot PAC-2.
 

Not sure if this has been posted already, but I found this an interesting read:
The Attritional Art of War: Lessons from the Russian War on Ukraine | Royal United Services Institute (rusi.org)
Here's the co-pilot summary of what is covered in the article
 

Not sure if this has been posted already, but I found this an interesting read:
The Attritional Art of War: Lessons from the Russian War on Ukraine | Royal United Services Institute (rusi.org)
Here's the co-pilot summary of what is covered in the article
 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/shooting-blast-reported-concert-hall-near-moscow-agencies-2024-03-22/

Quick tinfoil hat take:

Putin secures election 'legitimacy'
Peskov says it's no longer a Special Military Operation, it's a War
Terror attack in Moscow
...
Mobilisation

I don't know, I seem to remember quite a few reports saying that Ukraine generally struggles with coordination above a certain level. Doesn't mean Russia is any good at this, either. Not sure what is meant here but EW assets are usually higher level assets, right?

This article may explain an increase in Russian ISR:
Russian Shahed-136 With Camera, Cellular Modem Could Be A Big Problem For Ukraine (twz.com)
Co-pilot summary
 

This article may explain an increase in Russian ISR:
Russian Shahed-136 With Camera, Cellular Modem Could Be A Big Problem For Ukraine (twz.com)
Co-pilot summary
 

This article may explain an increase in Russian ISR:
Russian Shahed-136 With Camera, Cellular Modem Could Be A Big Problem For Ukraine (twz.com)
Co-pilot summary
 

This article may explain an increase in Russian ISR:
Russian Shahed-136 With Camera, Cellular Modem Could Be A Big Problem For Ukraine (twz.com)
Co-pilot summary
 

This article may explain an increase in Russian ISR:
Russian Shahed-136 With Camera, Cellular Modem Could Be A Big Problem For Ukraine (twz.com)
Co-pilot summary
 

This article may explain an increase in Russian ISR:
Russian Shahed-136 With Camera, Cellular Modem Could Be A Big Problem For Ukraine (twz.com)
Co-pilot summary
 

The thing to understand right now is that the Speaker already has no authority. His sole leverage is that nobody wants to go through another debac-tacular leadership election again. And with Buck's retirement and NY23 coming up, the Republican margin will be down to 1 vote for a while. It will then go back up to...2. So, there is little Johnson can do to punish recalcitrant members and plenty they can do to ruin his day, every day.  
The inescapable fact the derives from the above is that there is no plan or agreement. Johnson is a cipher...and Trump's cipher at that...in the House. He has no party loyalty to rely on (as Jefferies does) and his team is made up of pols who have more experience, cliques that support them, etc (i.e. Scalise, Jordan). What plan there is, is simply to stymie aid as long as possible because that's what Trump wants. Thus, the discharge petition.
To the vote, that the discharge petition is even happening tells you it has legs and in this case there are actually two (one from a Democrat and one from a Republican) but it is a hard road to travel and it takes time. How would the vote go? You probably lose about 10 to 15 Democrats but you also probably gain 70 to 100 Republicans. If the vote were a secret ballot, you probably would get 150 plus. Ukraine aid is that rare thing...it is truly popular and bipartisan. If they get the discharge to the finish line, it almost certainly passes...Johnson be damned. 

Except that we are literally at the point where a couple of people skipping their flu shots, eating some bad crab cakes, or losing their ability to tolerate the endless stupidity could flip the chamber to the Democrats. A two vote majority isn't really.
 

Yes, after reading the article @billbindc posted I came to the conclusion that there are an awful lot of moving parts to this, probably too many. Too many other distractions/issues/platforms. This backs this up. Sadly, democracy is a messy business.
Thanks for taking the time to explain.

Who is sponsoring the discharge petition?  If it's a Democrat I wouldn't put too much into that - it's possible it could go through, but every Republican who pushes this forward is basically torpedoing the speaker's authority and he would then become ineffective at moving future legislation going forward (the Speaker of the House must be able to get his caucus to agree to different things to pass legislation and if his authority is undermined then he would be ineffective).  So that basically means the Republicans would need to find a new Speaker.  I'm not sure how many Republicans want to go through that again just to pass this (as important as this is to some here, the US has a lot of big issues to tackle).  Besides, none of us on this board know what's going on within the Republican caucus - the leadership likely already has a plan / agreement on what to do.
There are a lot of Democrats who will refuse to vote for this as well simply because they don't want to agree to anything that sends money to Israel.  I haven't seen anyone talking / writing about this Discharge Petition and if nobody is talking about it then I doubt it has any legs - but we'll see.  The votes might be there to pass it if the Speaker brings it to the floor, but just because the votes might there for regular order that doesn't mean that a Discharge Petition will succeed.  Even if every Democrat signed it (and not every one will) you would basically have to get enough Republicans to sign on and then look for a new Speaker of the House. 

According to The Guardian/Reuters it's from cost savings in some contracts. 
White House announces $300m stopgap military aid package for Ukraine | US military | The Guardian

"Lawmakers are discharging a special rule from House Rules. Process slightly faster than discharging legislation from a standing committee. Only 7 legislative days to pass for discharge, rather than 30 days to discharge a bill."
https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/724415/how-a-little-used-parliamentary-maneuver-could-decide-the-fate-of-ukraine-funding/?unlock=3941GNX9JJY9R4NM

Yes, yes, and yes.

Correct. And it has been a risky step to take given the politics of aid in the US House. 

Sutton is a good source. Observant. 

I can recall at the start of this war someone coming on the forum and boldly declaring that Russia would dominate this war because they had control of the Black Sea.  So much for that theory.

Hi,
As a Swede I thought today would be a good day to stop lurking for a bit and drop a comment. Been playing cm for 20 years and following this forum for a long time.
Thank you all for contributing to this thread, checking it daily. Always a good source for news and discussion, so much knowledge and experience gathered is hard to get elsewhere. 
I always was all for our countrys neutral stance combined with a strong Defense but last decade has of course swayed us all in Sweden a bit. I have my background in the army, cv90. Seeing us finally start to retake our capabilities regarding defense is good.
Anyways thanks for having us in the club I guess (why am I thinking about brothers Marx)?
Carl 

I'm not really on a level to argue with you but i watched some russian propaganda shows and argue about one and a half year with middle men whom was spreading russian propaganda (and that was a waste of time) so i'm very familiar with their arguing points.
I'm saying this because its feels like that their is a misunderstanding how russia is waging this war.
So first of all at the start of the war putin said that the its a challenge against the west hegemony and that the west should consider russia's interest from that point on. Something on the line i'm not remembering how it was said. But this isn't started there, its started back in 14. And since than they using the same tactics. They lie without impunity and escalate because they are fairly confident that the west will not throw away its good life for Ukraine. They are proud of their suffering its a badge of honor that they can endure more than others. That's in their culture.
When US lose 50 000 for Vietnam its a tragedy when russia lose 16 000 for a little town its business as usual. Russians don't care about loses until they are involved.
Other thing is that russia is a system based on suppression. The elite don't have to care about votes, and they made phony opposition parties that aimed at useful fools. Loud and dumb peoples.
Russian propaganda is not aimed at intellectual its aimed at the mass, not to persuaded them to believe in something but to don't care. They are pushing extremes from every side of the political palette, and drown the rationality with a noise similar to a pub argument.
Those whom are a real threat to the system simply squashed, intimidated, jailed or killed in a way that everybody is aware that they did that. But in the same time lying that they didn't. They more akin to a mafia than a political party. Everybody in the russian system is aware that the big guys are so powerful that you cant really f..ck with them and they make them sure to remind them again and again. Navalny, Sojgu, even Mortz is a sign for the rest. You have no chance, do as we want or you will be sorry.
There is no way in the short run to russia explode. They are basically part brainwashed and partly scared of the elite so much that they don't believe that there is a chance for a power change. Many believe that if there would be a power change the new elite would be more dangerous than one they have now.
So no their is no other way than to keep making the Ukrainians kill russians until they will be so scared that they would risk a fight against the elite.
Cause the elite plays a different game than the west. They perfectly aware that they can push their peoples into situations that they don't want without a serious blow back. While in the west when people get scared they just vote out the guy who is charge and put in one that say its gonna be all okay. Their long game is simply playing chicken with the west and take as much as they can while they do. They will not stop at Ukraine if they don't have to. They don't believe that west would risk a war for Estonia or Latvia or Moldova. Same as they believe that west will not fight for Ukraine. Once you prove them right they will go on. If Ukriane is check, than the Baltic and Moldova, if that's check than transnistria even if it means to attack Poland. Cause they are sure that the west is a coward. I cannot really emphasize this. They believe it like a religion.
So they will push until they are allowed to, they will not stop until they have to. And that's something that peoples in the west should understand, their is a kind of madness with the russian society that is dangerous as hell, and the more time you give them the more dangerous they become. They are not getting weaker, the elite basically destroyed any opposition and right to oppose them under the war. They are getting more akin to the third Reich after 43. Except they have nukes.

Fellow forum readers, you only have one life (probably). Do not waste any of it reading this absolute bollocks.. I will summarise:
Premises:
A minister went to HMS Clyde on a super secret mission, taking a reporter with him! The UK has a submarine called HMS Ambush that the minister visited The submarine had a tarp on it The UK has trained underwater bomb disposal divers Liz Truss said something     Conclusion: The UK blew up Nord Stream.