The very concept of "NATO expands" is misleading. NATO doesn't decide to expand. Countries that had previously been neutral apply for membership. Contrast that to how "Russkiy Mir" expands.

Gold-plating the connectors is actually one of the few things that does make sense. When new, they won't sound better, but they corrode less, which can, sometime in the future, make a difference, albeit very slight: surface oxidation can form a tiny capacitor. That said, I think you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference to chrome-plated ones. But unlike lots of other esoteric "high-end" nonsense, this one has at least theoretical technical merit. And the micrometer-scale galvanic gold-plating isn't expensive, either.

It's a trap. If the House changes the bill, it has to pass through the Senate again, which is not guaranteed. This talk is intended to distract from the Discharge Petition that was initiated by a Democrat to approve the Senate's bill. The hardliner Republicans, first and foremost Mike Johnson, have made it crystal clear through their actions that they have no intentions of helping Ukraine. The Democrats built golden bridges by agreeing to border security measures which many of them find abhorrent, and by agreeing to combine it with help for Israel, which some Democrats also don't like at the moment. And still Johnson flatly refused to even consider it.

Speaker Johnson says the right things ("No one wants Vladimir Putin to prevail. I’m of the opinion that he wouldn’t stop at Ukraine … and go all through the way through Europe. There is a right and wrong there, a good versus evil in my view and Ukraine is the victim here"), but his actions speak louder with a very different message.

I guess the question "why wouldn't they just build the A-100 instead?" has about the same answer as "why don't they just build thousands of T-14 tanks?". They can't. Partly perhaps because it needs Western electronics, which are difficult to obtain.

That aside, restarting production of a large and complex aeroplane is going to take years.

Again?

It is up to Ukraine, but I think a few points remain extremely important:

• Any gain that Russia can retain from its aggression vindicates their invasion. And they will do it again. To the Russian government, personnel losses are irrelvant.
• Any peace that does not include Ukraine in a strong alliance (read: full NATO membership) will allow Russia to rebuild military strength and attack again to finish what they started
• Any deal that Russia signs is not worth the paper, as we have seen with the wanton violation of the Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia agrees to respect the borders of Ukraine as defined in the Helsinki Accords, and not to use force or threat of force against any signatory state (which included Ukraine).
• From which follows: only a strong Ukraine, backed by credible assurances of defense by all of NATO will keep Russia from attacking again. Not a written deal alone.

And yet:

“When the fighting is over, I will travel to Bakhmut myself, go on my knees and apologise to the Ukrainian people.”

This, more than anything, brought tears to my eyes. Wanting to apologise to the people who killed his son, because he knows they were right and his son was wrong.

Ever since the last A-50 was downed, it has been open Sukhoi season.

Why do people keep calling these "Kamikaze"? The point of the Kamikaze was that there was a human pilot inside, who was going on a suicide mission. These are just inanimate things. Drones, cruise missiles, whatever, NOT kamikaze.

Or else I will start calling all bombs, artillery shells, all munitions that destroy themselves at the target, "kamikaze":

"Germany has agreed to send more kamikaze ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft systems, along with a number of IRIS-T kamikaze anti-aircraft missiles, and 50 Taurus kamikaze cruise missiles." "The US have announced that they would deliver 15,000 new kamikaze artillery shells to Ukraine."

See how silly that is? /rant

I wonder what the design decision was for the forward-swept wings. These typically decrease lateral stability and increase structural weight, because they require substantially higher stiffness for flutter-resistance compared to straight or rear-swept wings. Maybe so the main wing spar can be further aft to have a larger contiguous payload bay. The HansaJet had forward-swept wings for a similar reason (no main spar in the cabin).

I wouldn't say the US government is "gridlocked". Instead, very specifically, a single person deliberately and single-handedly blocks a vote in the House of Representatives. I find that unbelievably unconscionable, anti-democratic and all-around despicable, especially since it is quite clear that a Ukraine aid package would easily win a huge majority in the House.

Good that other people with a conscience single-handedly donate large sums.

"Advanced weapons", showing a parking lot full of AK-style submachine guns. That's about as un-advanced as it gets.

That's kind of the point of the article, I guess. What is a museum piece doing on the battlefield?

"Speed limit enforced by aircraft."

When you fire, you create a huge flare, that can be easily detected and may draw counter-fire. So fire all that you want to fire in as short a time as possible, then pack up and leave.

I think the Gepard is probably the most cost-effective way of shooting down Shaheds. These fly low and slow, exactly what the Gepard was designed for. I didn't know Jordan had so many of them, but this is good news and will help protect Ukrainian infrastructure during winter, together with additional Patriot and IRIS-T from Germany. I hope they can also secure enough ammunition.

Yes, this is designed to work with absolutely minimal infrastructure and very few trained personnel, very much unlike the F-16, which requires sophisticated equipment, not to mention hydrazine, which is truly nasty stuff and cannot be handled in the field.

Gripen is what Ukraine desperately needs. You can literally refuel and re-arm it at the roadside in a forest with three trucks and 6 people, 5 of which can be conscripts.

That's just drawing from a special Presidential fund. I forgot the name. It is only a couple of billions in total, and must last for a year and for everything the administration wants to support without Congressional approval.

And if the $60 billion main aid package is intended for a year, then $300 million is the equivalent of less than 2 day's worth.

"A drop on a hot stone", as we say in Germany.

Turkey hasn't signed the Rome Statute, so they are under no legal obligations to arrest him.

This is in such stark contrast to Russian soldiers, who capture and disarm Ukrainian soldiers, who have surrendered, and then shoot them. Yes, not all Russian soldiers, probably a minority, but still, there are now several documented cases (and almost certainly many undocumented).