The US could break Russia at any time, without nukes or boots on the ground
No, actually. The fact is that the USA is perfectly capable of crippling the Russian military, on its own, without the use of nuclear weapons and without the need for a single US boot to touch Ukrainian soil – probably without any large number of US aviators needing to enter Ukrainian airspace, even.
There was some doubt about this reality before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Looking at lists of weapons and units, it seemed that Russia had everything that the US had. America had its iconic, devastating Tomahawk cruise missile, the weapon which took down the air defences of Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gadaffi, much improved since then – but Russia had its Kalibr, supposedly even more capable in some variants. The USA had AWACS radar aircraft that could scan hundreds of miles of sky and direct fifth-generation stealth fighters to dominate that airspace: but Russia seemingly had Beriev A-50 AWACS planes and stealth jets of its own. Putin even had his claimed six 'super weapons', unstoppable by any existing defences: the nominally hypersonic Zircon and Kinzhal missiles among them.
But it has turned out that the Kalibr is no Tomahawk. Then, Russia only had nine Berievs nominally left in service at the start of the invasion. It has lost at least three to enemy action and there is doubt as to whether even one Beriev can now be kept airborne around the clock. Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow and other Russian targets should not have been possible if there had been Berievs watching overhead. Perhaps it is just that the A-50, as with so much supposedly advanced Russian equipment, doesn't really work.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Russia is interested in joint energy projects with India, Lavrov says
MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Russia and India have achieved good results in energy cooperation and Moscow is interested in working on joint energy projects with New Delhi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Indian counterpart in Moscow on Thursday. Moscow and New Delhi have talked up their "strategic partnership" since U.S. President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on imports from India earlier this month because of its purchases of Russian oil. "We have good results in cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, in the supply of Russian oil to the Indian market. And we have a mutual interest in implementing joint projects for the extraction of energy resources, including in the Russian Federation - in the Far East and on the Arctic shelf," Lavrov said. He was talking at a joint news conference with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow. Russia was able to divert its exports of oil, a significant source of state revenue, away from Europe and mainly to China and India after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over its conflict in Ukraine. India and China are the biggest buyers of Russia's oil. Russian embassy officials in New Delhi said on Wednesday that Russia expected to continue supplying oil to India despite pressure from the United States, adding that Moscow hoped trilateral talks with India and China would soon take place.
The Guardian
10 minutes ago
- The Guardian
California legislature poised to vote on redistricting plan in response to Texas gerrymandering
The California state legislature was poised on Thursday to vote on a plan to redraw its congressional boundaries and create five potential new Democratic House seats – an answer to the Republican redistricting push in Texas, sought by Donald Trump, aimed at tilting the map in his party's favor ahead of next year's midterm elections. The nation's two most populous – and ideologically opposed – states were racing on parallel tracks toward consequential redistricting votes, potentially within hours of each other. As Democrats in Sacramento worked to advance a legislative package that would put their 'election rigging response act' before voters in a special election this fall, Republicans in Austin were nearing a final vote on their own gerrymandering pursuit. Approval by the Texas senate, which is expected as early as Thursday, would conclude a dramatic showdown with the state's outnumbered Democratic lawmakers whose two-week boycott captured national attention and set in motion a coast-to-coast redistricting battle. The California plan, led by the state's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, is designed to flip as many as five Republican-held seats in California – the exact number of additional GOP seats Trump has said he is 'entitled to' in Texas. 'This is a new Democratic party, this is a new day, this is new energy out there all across this country,' Newsom said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. 'And we're going to fight fire with fire.' The redistricting tit-for-tat is an extraordinary deviation from the norm. Traditionally, states redraw congressional maps once a decade based on census data, with both the Texas and California maps originally intended to last through 2030. The California state legislature, where Democrats have a supermajority, is expected to easily approve new congressional maps despite sharp Republican objections. Newsom's signature would send the measure to the ballot in a special election this November. The California changes would only take effect in response to a gerrymander by a Republican state – a condition that would be met when the Texas legislatures sends the maps to the state's governor, Greg Abbott, for his promised signature. California was acting after a dramatic showdown in Austin, where Democratic lawmakers fled the state earlier this month to delay the GOP redistricting plan. When they returned, some were assigned police minders and forced to sign permission slips before leaving the capitol. Several spent the night in the chamber in protest ahead of Wednesday's session, where Republicans pushed through a map designed explicitly to boost their party's chances in 2026. The legislative action on Thursday followed a weeks-long showdown in Texas, after Democratic lawmakers fled the state in an effort to delay the GOP redistricting plan. They returned only after California moved forward with its counterproposal. California Democrats are moving ahead after days of contentious debate over the cost – and consequences – of a referendum to temporarily toss out the maps drawn by the state's voter-approved independent redistricting commission. Republicans estimated that a special election could cost more than $230m – money they said would be better spent on other issues like healthcare. On Wednesday night, the state supreme court declined an emergency request by Republican lawmakers seeking to block the Democratic plan from moving forward. The redistricting push has also caused angst among some Democrats and independents who have fought for years to combat gerrymandering. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Testifying in favor of the changes during a hearing earlier this week, Sara Sadhwani, a political science professor who served as a Democratic member of the state's independent redistricting commission in 2020, said the map-drawing tit-for-tat presented California voters with a 'moral conflict'. But she argued that Democrats had to push back on the president's power grab. 'It brings me no joy to see the maps that we passed fairly by the commission to be tossed aside,' she said. 'I do believe this is a necessary step in a much bigger battle to shore up free and fair elections in our nation.' The plan also drew the backing of former president Barack Obama and other champions of fair redistricting, such as his former attorney general, Eric Holder. But Newsom's redistricting plan – a high-stakes gambit for the term-limited governor who has made no secret of his 2028 presidential ambitions – is not assured to succeed. It faces mounting opposition from high-profile Republicans, including the state's former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has vowed to 'terminate gerrymandering'. Early polling has been mixed. But a new survey conducted by Newsom's longtime pollster David Binder found strong support for the measure in the heavily Democratic state, with 57% of voters backing it while 35% opposed it. In a memo, Binder noted that support for the redistricting measure varies depending on how it is presented to voters. When framed as eliminating the state's independent redistricting commission designed to prevent partisan gerrymandering, support drops. However, when voters hear that the initiative would allow temporary map changes only in response to partisan actions in other states, like Texas, while retaining the commission, the measure enjoys a double-digit margin of support.
The Sun
10 minutes ago
- The Sun
Putin IS ready to meet Zelensky face-to-face, says his stooge Lavrov – but vaguely says ‘issues need to be worked out'
VLADIMIR Putin is ready to meet Ukraine's President Zelensky, according a top Kremlin minister - but only after working through a list of vague "issues". Pressure has been mounting on Vlad to sit down with Zelensky since the White House summit - but the latest update looks suspiciously like well-worn stalling tactics. 2 2 Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "Our president has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Mr Zelensky." But he insisted the meeting would only happen "with the understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level will be well worked out, and experts and ministers will prepare appropriate recommendations. "And, of course, with the understanding that when and if - hopefully, when - it comes to signing future agreements, the issue of the legitimacy of the person who signs these agreements from the Ukrainian side will be resolved." Following the Alaska summit, Trump said he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. .
