Is WWIII inevitable?

[Monseratto]

Did the US just blinked...

Biden Administration OKs Boost in Chinese Airline Flights to US

The United States will allow Chinese airlines to increase U.S. passenger services to 12 weekly round trips, the Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Wednesday, equal to the number of flights Beijing has permitted for American carriers.

It is a boost from the eight weekly round-trip flights currently allowed by Chinese carriers and matches what Beijing has permitted for U.S. carriers, but a small fraction of the more than 150 round-trip flights allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

USDOT's order said its goal was "a gradual, broader reopening of the U.S.-China air services market." China in March reopened its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years after abandoning COVID-related border controls for its own citizens in January.

Blinken Hopeful to Visit China This Year

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he is hopeful that he can reschedule a visit to China this year after postponing a planned trip to Beijing in February because of a Chinese spy balloon downed by the U.S. military.

Blinken's remarks reflect what experts see as signs of a thaw in the U.S.-China relationship, including a recent high-level meeting in Beijing between American and Chinese officials, as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's plan to resume inspections in China as soon as this summer.

"I am," said Blinken on Wednesday when asked by The Washington Post if he is hopeful that his China trip could be rescheduled this year. The top U.S. diplomat said it is important that the United States and China "reestablish regular lines of communication at all levels and across our government."

"We need to have a floor under this relationship. We need to have some guardrails on it. And the way to do that is through engagement," Blinken said.

[suv]

"therefore, justs as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions."

- sun tzu

[dr. d]

"therefore, justs as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions."

- sun tzu

no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.

[baludoy]

the nightmare of world war 3 almost became a reality over the last weekend

https://twitter.com/DailyLoud/status...104265217?s=20

[Monseratto]

Taiwan strait is 160 km between China's shore and Taiwan...

[Monseratto]

PRC and US militaies still aren't in talking terms... PRC knows they'll just receive a sermon from the Americans.


US, China trade barbs at security summit Shangri-La Dialogue

[Athrunzala]

'British Storm Shadow missile' hits bridge between Crimea and Russian territory | Daily Mail Online



The strike comes just two days after the Kremlin warned that it would see the UK as 'full-fledged' participants in the war in Ukraine if the Storm Shadow missiles hit Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

[baludoy]

It looks like prigozhin and his Wagner group are on a counter offensive of their own against their very own.

Putin and his ministry of defense are said to be hunkering down in Moscow and fortifying it for a reported possible showdown. Shades of the Russian themed ww2 movie "enemy at the gates".



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[shadow]

MIA si Putin.


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[dreamur]

Tapos na drama sa Russia. Naghanap lang ng excuse to end the Ukraine war.

Kremlin drops Wagner charges, Prigozhin to Belarus – DW – 6/24/223

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[Ry_Tower]

Tapos na drama sa Russia. Naghanap lang ng excuse to end the Ukraine war.

Kremlin drops Wagner charges, Prigozhin to Belarus – DW – 6/24/223

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Seems like Prigozhin really just wanted out of the war without admitting mistake kaya kunwari may x deal na lang para hindi niya mapatalsik si Putin.

His life though will forever be in danger.

[dreamur]

Seems like Prigozhin really just wanted out of the war without admitting mistake kaya kunwari may x deal na lang para hindi niya mapatalsik si Putin.

His life though will forever be in danger.

From FB

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[Ry_Tower]

From FB

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Heard it over the news kahapon pero unless may intelligence update I discount that possibility, though the scenario is not altogether farfetched.

[baludoy]

^^ There's another speculation that's been making the rounds. Pundits say pregozhin probably got what he ultimately wanted : the key to the lock of the voronezh- 45 nuclear facility w/c his wagner troops - early on in the putsch - secured.

One thing is for sure, Putin's apparent fragile hold in Kremlin was exposed. The security consequences of last weekend's adventurism will be felt in the following months.

But prigozhin is no better than Putin though. He seems to be more of a hardliner than the current Russian leader.

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[Yatta]

From FB

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Its possible. Russia has been a fan of collective punishments since the time of the Czars and the communists. There was an anecdote about why no one abducts Russians. One time during the 80s civil war in Lebanon, several Russian diplomats were abducted by militants. The Russians promptly abducted their own hostages and a show of resolve, dump a few back on the streets either without a head or without their more intimate parts. Then the missing Russians were promptly released.

^^ There's another speculation that's been making the rounds. Pundits say pregozhin probably got what he ultimately wanted : the key to the lock of the voronezh- 45 nuclear facility w/c his wagner troops - early on in the putsch - secured.

One thing is for sure, Putin's apparent fragile hold in Kremlin was exposed. The security consequences of last weekend's adventurism will be felt in the following months.

But prigozhin is no better than Putin though. He seems to be more of a hardliner than the current Russian leader.

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I think Prigozhin is the crazier one. Better the devil we know.

[Flipo]

From the admirer of GMA and Digong!

Menace
FIRST PERSON - Alex Magno - The Philippine Star
June 29, 2023 | 12:00am

The Putin regime in Russia is a menace to the rest of humanity while in power. It could be an even greater menace as it dissembles.

There is consensus that last weekend’s bizarre events in southern Russia, where the Wagner private army took over a strategic city before agreeing to stand down, is the beginning of the closing chapter of the Putin regime. Putin will never recover from this embarrassment. His grip on power will henceforth be seen as tenuous.

Putin’s remarks condemning the rebellion was laced with the usual bluster. But he allowed Yevgeny Prigozhin to slip into neighboring Belarus. Moscow’s security agency announced it would drop any charges against him. The 40,000-odd Wagner fighters are invited to integrate into the regular Russian army – the very organization Wagner denounced as incompetent and corrupt.

According to the latest reports, Prigozhin and his senior staff have landed in Minsk aboard their private jets. The man has a vastly shortened life expectancy, however.

In his latest remarks, Putin confirmed the Wagner mercenary outfit has been funded by the Russian defense establishment. Over the last year alone, Wagner received about $1 billion in subsidies from Moscow.

This outright admission by the Russian president strips whatever deniability the Russian government tried hard to maintain for years. Although Russian law bans private military groupings, the Putin regime fostered groups such as Wagner and the various Chechen militias. These private militias furthered Moscow’s policies abroad such as propping up the brutal Assad regime in Syria.

Wagner has a presence in Libya’s unending civil war. From their Libyan bases, Wagner has intervened in the civil war in Sudan on the side of the paramilitary groups challenging the country’s army.

In addition, Wagner has a presence in Mali and in other places in central Africa. They barter their mercenary muscle for control of gold and diamond mines, commodities the oligarchy in Moscow lusts for to blunt the effects of global economic sanctions. If the Wagner group is dissolved, there will be consequences for African regimes reliant on their brutality.

Lest we forget, Wagner played a vital role in the months-long bloody battle for Bakmut in eastern Ukraine. For this role, Wagner was allowed to recruit convicts in Russian prisons – adding a whole new dimension to the abusive use of prison labor. Thousands of these recruits died in fruitless assaults on Ukrainian positions.

As his fighters moved to control the city of Rostov-on-Don, Prigozhin ranted against Moscow’s justification for its “special military operation” in Ukraine. The warlord claimed that the invasion of Ukraine was inspired by the greed of Russian oligarchs seeking to control the resources of a neighboring country. He knows enough to speak the truth.

Prigozhin, after all, is an ultimate insider. It was Putin that rescued him from selling hotdogs on the streets of Petrograd and rewarded with fat contracts to perform an assortment of chores for the tyrant. He was allowed to build the powerful Wagner organization to serve as Putin’s private army, performing foreign missions for the Kremlin as much as acting as a counterweight to the power of the regular army. Wagner complemented the 200,000-man military force set up solely to protect Putin.

The Putin regime is a mafia thinly disguised as a government. The fabulously rich oligarchs, with all their super yachts and costly real estate all over the world, owe their wealth to Putin alone. The moment they displease the ultimate godfather, they are jailed or killed.

The cabal Putin collected around himself controls nearly every major business and economic sector in Russia. Most of them acquired formerly state-owned enterprises dirt-cheap and grew their companies exporting their country’s vast natural resources.

Like all mafia organizations, Putin’s oligarchs are controlled from the top by sheer violence. They are as much subject to repression as the rest of this tightly policed society, although they enjoy the unimaginable perks of loyalty.

Putin critic Alexei Navalny survived poisoning and is now in jail for exposing the corruption of Putin and his gang. He will not likely survive his imprisonment.

Like all mafia organizations assembled on the basis of personal loyalty, the Putin regime cannot survive the demise (political or literal) of its leader. It will likely break down in the chaos of infighting. This will happen sooner or later.

The corrosion or implosion of the Putin regime can happen quickly or in painfully slow motion. The factional struggle for succession could be brief or protracted. But all these will affect the supply and pricing of vital commodities such as grain, fertilizers and hydrocarbons Russia supplies the rest of the world.

Recall how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threw energy and grain prices into a frenzy. That could happen all over again at the first sign of the dissembling of effective rule in Russia. The next economic shock could result from disintegration of the Putin regime.

Philippine foreign policy clearly has no role to play in helping ease whatever political transition will occur in Russia. That is purely their internal matter.

But we do have the responsibility to de-risk in the face of further tumult in Russia. We depend on the stability of international grain and energy prices. Both could be severely affected by regime meltdown in Moscow.

Part of the food inflation we now experience is due to the spike in fertilizer prices. Most of the supply of urea comes from Russia.

Fortunately, Russia is not a major trading partner. That is at least an upside.

[Yatta]

Purges starting with missing general.

[Monseratto]

When US loves circling near China and Russia in the name of freedom of navigation... Now Russia and China are returning the love.


China, Russia send warships near Alaska; US responds with Navy destroyers

"The incursion by 11 Chinese and Russian warships operating together – off the coast of Alaska – is yet another reminder that we have entered a new era of authoritarian aggression led by the dictators in Beijing and Moscow," Sullivan said.


Although the senators' statement suggested the vessels were passing through U.S. waters, the Northern Command told the Journal the combined force did not appear to enter U.S. territory. “Air and maritime assets under our commands conducted operations to assure the defense of the United States and Canada. The patrol remained in international waters and was not considered a threat,” it told the Journal in a statement.

[Athrunzala]

How would a nuclear war between Russia and the US affect you personally?

[dr. d]

How would a nuclear war between Russia and the US affect you personally?

"those who died instantly, are the lucky ones."
"the next war after a nuclear war, will be fought using sticks and stones."
highs.