[tomder55]

The earth running out of oxygen ? If I'm around in a billion years I will be concerned .

When will Earth run out of oxygen? | BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Zombie Spiders ?

Fungus-encrusted zombie spiders are now being found in America and freaking out homeowners | The Independent

Can gain of function cause them to pass the fungus to humans . Her Doctor Fauci has not weighed in yet.

But if I see one of them ,I'll just stomp on them.

The biggest nightmares are still human induced . Things like drones .

A very expensive Blackhawk helicopter got downed by a cheap drone in Columbia. Drone warfare is now a global phenonium

The CNP helicopter was hit by a drone while “providing security to officers engaged in manual coca crop eradication efforts,” Antioquia Governor Andres Julian Rendon stated on X. “We have activated the hospital network and are closely monitoring this news, which is so painful for democracy and sad for our Forces. In that area, FARC dissidents and the Gulf Clan are operating.”

Colombian Black Hawk Downed By Drone Is A Glimpse Of What's To Come

Cartels , Rebels and Terrorists have got their hands on them .

A drone attack on a U.N. convoy set fire to all 16 trucks carrying desperately needed food to Sudan’s famine-hit North Darfur region and destroyed all the vehicles, the United Nations said Thursday.


Drone attack destroys 16 trucks carrying UN food in Sudan | AP News

Both sides of the war in Ukraine have used them to effect. Soldiers once safe in trenches are sitting ducks.

Ukraine becoming the ‘Silicon Valley’ of defense as startups develop long-range drones and missiles | PBS News

Fiber-optic drones new twist to Russia's war in Ukraine – DW – 08/21/2025

But for us the problem is the Cartels have adopted drone strategy in out border war .

Testifying this week before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Willoughby said federal authorities since the start of July to the end of December 2024 detected 60,000 such drone flights just south of the border and 27,000 unique remote-controlled craft doing the flying.
Most of those drones are going up at night or flying at altitudes that are restricted in both Mexico and the United States. That’s 400 feet high in the U.S. and 120 meters in Mexico. That’s enough to give Mexican drone operators a clear view of U.S. Border Patrol agents’ location and movement, send migrants north in a different direction or find places to drop drugs for later pickup.

Cartels flew drones 60,000 times along US border in six-month period | Border Report

In Star Wars the Ewoks used primitive inexpensive items to defeat the weapons of the Empire . In our world the drones are the bows and the rocks ,the rope between the trees.

A Defense of Ewoks

[jlisenbe]

Your observations about drones, and in particular those in the hands of the drug cartels who have plenty of cash to purchase and develop them, are certainly alarming. We can only hope that the Defense Dept. is working with the border patrol to counter these. I would think that some sort of jamming would be effective.

[tomder55]

Easier said than done. RF jamming can be overcome with frequency hopping.
Technology fundamentals of hopper signals | Rohde & Schwarz

Then defense requires a knowledge of what frequency is being used and when and where (the border is big) ,

Also the jammer has to be aware that by jamming they become targets as they also emit RF .

On the Ukraine front they swarm the drones expecting a percentage of them to fail. But they are cheap .

[jlisenbe]

Also the jammer has to be aware that by jamming they become targets as they also emit RF .

The same is true for the RF controller of the drone. These problems are generally overcome, I would think, by putting the antenna for transmitting some distance away from the controller. Antennae are cheap.

[tomder55]

Between drones and hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) the era of projecting power with an expensive carrier surface fleet is over. The navy that dominates the sub surface will rule.

Navy Submarine Just Tested A Torpedo Tube-Recovered Drone

[tomder55]

Forget $10 million M1 Abrams tanks . The future of ground combat is cheap drones covering troops on motorcycles.

Russian Troops Swarm Pokrovsk in Fog-Covered ‘Mad Max’ Assault
The Russians had been taking territory inch by inch for months in the strategic towm of Pokrovsk
Then the switched tactics.

And now we learn the Ukraine has been supplying Iran with drone parts.

Iran's military drones are supplied by 2 Ukrainian companies dealing in aerospace parts, the US says

With friends like these .....................

[jlisenbe]

You would have to think that carriers will someday become obsolete. Hyper fast missiles which cannot be intercepted reliably will spell their doom. And then comes the question, what supersedes them?

[tomder55]

It goes on and on with no end in sight. Names from the Korean war are imbedded in memory and now lore. Pork Chop Hill;Hill 266 ;Heart Break Ridge. All grinding slogs to make small territorial gains to better negotiation positions at the peace table.

WWI they fought back and forth through muddy bloody trenches ;both sides exhausted until the US sent fresh meat to the grinder .

This is the Ukraine war today. The battles the same ;the names changed . Future observers (if anyone remains ) will speak names like Pokrovsk.
Future authors are sharpening their pencils to write tropes about the futility of it ;the next Erich Marie Remarque
"The same torn-up earth we take, lose, take again—the mud stays, the dead stay.”
(All Quite on the Western Front)

Russia gets fodder from their friends . NATO sends grist for the mill to Ukraine ;enough to keep them from losing but not winning.

"They don’t care if you live or die here. All they want is to get you back where you can stop a bullet."(Norman Mailer 'The Naked and the Dead' )

[tomder55]

Trump has proposed a 28 point peace plan
Draft of US-backed peace proposal for Ukraine | Reuters
On the surface it favors Russia. It also reflects the reality on the ground. Additional territory conceded to Russia is being contested for now .Russia will eventually gain them one way or another. Only in Donetsk will Ukraine withdraw. All other territory is already occupied by Russia. The plan says Russia will not occupy the territory Ukraine leaves.

There are many critics of the plan. What I have yet to hear is a viable alternative ;especially since territory of Ukraine is not the sole issue ;and there are multiple nations that have an interest in the conflict.

How does Ukraine win ? The plan gets Ukraine into the EU .That was one of the casus belli for Russia's invasion. They wanted Ukraine's economy to be Russian aligned . This plan gives Ukraine preferred entry in the Euro economy.

Russia wanted Ukraine's military to be limited to 80,000 troops . The plan allows Ukraine 600,000 . They currently have 700,000 and they cannot sustain that level if the war drags on.

Under the plan Russia grants $100 billion in frozen Russian assets to be used toward the rebuilding of Ukraine.

It also provides security guarantees backed by Washington as well as economic cooperation with the US in rebuilding and developing resources .


If the deal is not agreed to then you can expect Ukraine ;on the verge of economic collapse and having a scandal plagued crisis in leadership conflict due to corruption will inevitably collapse. Then Russia will march into Kyiv .

[jlisenbe]

Great article. Thanks for this. Trump has proven to be a bit better at foreign relations than I expected.

[tomder55]

I'm sure there is more tough negotiations ahead . Hopefully it doesn't bog down on BS like the shape of the table or who sits at it . (see Paris Peace Accords )
It will be a tragedy if it ends in failure and the war grinds on.

The war party and the compliant press does not help by calling the plan a capitulation.
Senate GOP’s Russia hawks push back on Trump’s Ukraine ultimatum - POLITICO

Chuck Schumer condemns Trump’s Ukraine peace plan as capitulation | Ukraine news - #Mezha

To Many Ukrainians, U.S. Peace Plan Looks Like ‘Capitulation’ - The New York Times

To me ;the integration into the EU is more critical than Ukraine's desire to join NATO (a complete non-starter )
Ukraine will adopt EU standards on religious tolerance and the protection of minorities .Russia had demanded that Russian be established as a second language. That is off the table.

The areas Ukraine withdraws from will be demilitarized and monitored by a peace keeper force.

I also think ending NATO expansion is a great idea ;long overdue and a deescalation away from WWIII.
For us it brings closer ties between the US and Russia. It envisions an economic cooperation and the resumption of arms reduction talks .

This may be the last opportunity to preventing WWIII. (I can't predict what will happen in the Pacific )

[tomder55]

Now the EU has a counter proposal that relies on a heavy US guarantees commitment. Why get our noses bloody when we can pay the Yanks to do it ?

10. US guarantee that mirrors Article 5
a. US to receive compensation for the guarantee

Full text of European counter-proposal to US Ukraine peace plan | Reuters

[tomder55]

Somehow Sec State Marco Rubio did not find out about the proposed peace deal until it was leaked .

Initial Ukraine-Russia peace plan was hashed out over dinners in Miami: report | New York Post

It was brokered by Jarred Kushner and the completely incompetent Steve Witkoff ;the Trump business crony who the President deploys as a special envoy before he gets unceremoniously shoved to the side when the rubber hits the road.


Steve Witkoff is fumbling foreign talks and dragging Trump down | New York Post

There is talk of a WH shake up going into next year. Top of the list of candidates to get the boot are Pam Bondi and Steve Witkoff.

[tomder55]

Witkoff advised Russia during the peace plan process. No surprise there.
Trump Envoy Steve Witkoff’s Russia Ties Scrutinized: What to Know | TIME

How Witkoff coached Putin's aide on pitching Trump, according to a Bloomberg report | AP News

Still Trump trusts him
Trump Sending Witkoff to Moscow, End of Russia-Ukraine War Within Reach: Live Updates - Newsweek

The EU wants a seat at the table and a say.

But their financing has run dry and some of these morons want to keep the war going by using frozen Russian money for reparations .

Of course Russia will agree to that ! </sarc>

Ask EU nations how much more of their money they want to send down that rabbit hole .
Once the US pulls the plug it will end rapidly .

As for Russia paying reparations as if they have lost the war ? What planet do these people live on ? A strong case can be made that it was NATO that caused the war by declaring in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would join NATO. And specifically when the US engineered a coup in Ukraine in 2014

NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.

Bucharest Summit Declaration | NATO Media advisory

hmm April 2008 NATO says Georgia and Ukraine WILL become NATO members
August 2008 Russia invades Georgia

or the US actions during the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine that led to Russia taking Crimea .
America's Ukraine Hypocrisy | Cato Institute

Russian annexation of Crimea - Wikipedia


couldn't see a war with Ukraine coming .
Putin's redline was this expansion of NATO right to it's border . Flashback ....what did the US do when Russia put nuclear weapons in Cuba ?

.

[tomder55]

Meanwhile Germany is planning a war against Russia . They have a secret plan. They think that a US brokered armistice will free up Euro resources for the effort . They have detailed maps of the ports, rivers, railways and roads they would travel to rush 800,000 NATO troops through Germany and the Baltics to the front .

They believe while Russia bleeds in Ukraine they are preparing for an all out war against NATO by the end of the decade. And all out is the key phrase. Their plan isa"Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society Approach"

The Operational Plan for Germany – Building Block for a Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society Approach to Resilient Defence Readiness

"We must relearn what we unlearnt," said Nils Schmid, deputy defense minister. "We have to drag people back from retirement to tell us how we did it back then."

Germany becomes NATO's staging ground as Russia threat intensifies

[jlisenbe]

And yet I read recently (perhaps here?) that 70% of German young men said they would not join the military even if their country was invaded. Not sure how you can conduct a major war with that pitiful situation.

[tomder55]

thus the draft


nothing like a war to fix an economy in the toilet

How Germany Became the World’s Worst-Performing Economy | The Daily Economy

Billions for the Military: Germany's Economy Pins Its Hopes on the Defense Industry - DER SPIEGEL

[tomder55]

They could always recruit like the Russians

A 46 year old unemployed father of 3 from South Africa was offered a year long training in Russia to be a security guard . The call recuiting him came from the daughter of the former President of South Africa

When he got there they gave him military fatigues ;a rifle ;and sent him to Rostov . From there he was shipped to the front lines in Ukraine.

Seventeen South Africans have sent distress signals to their government this month asking to be rescued from the grinding battle in Ukraine, according to the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Mr. Ramaphosa has announced an investigation into how the men ended up there, and an elite police unit says it is looking into criminal charges against Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, Mr. Zuma’s daughter, who has been accused by one of her own sisters of tricking the men into joining the Russian battle.

South Africans Were Promised Job, but Ended Up ‘Going to War’ for Russia - The New York Times

[jlisenbe]

I can only imagine the unrest in Germany if a draft was imposed.

[tomder55]

we will find out in about a year

Germany agrees new military service plan to boost troop numbers