BRIAN BERLETIC/ NEW ATLAS—The US has announced it will be sending General Atomics “Gray Eagle” drones – similar to the infamous “Predator” drone – to Ukraine. However, the US is only initially sending 4 drones and the Gray Eagle is comparable to Ukraine’s existing (or perhaps previously existing) Bayraktar TB2 drones produced by Turkey. The Gray Eagle drones will face the same limitations Ukraine’s Bayraktar drones faced, providing no means to change the course of the conflict, but almost certainly making General Atomics money alongside other US arms manufacturers, namely Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
UKRAINE/NATO/RUSSIA/CHINA
-
-
Alexander Nepogodin: Modern Ukraine was built on an anti-Russia foundation, but a large part of the country refused to play along
28 minutes readAbout half of the “Russian Ukraine” is currently controlled by Russia’s armed forces and that’s where the military operations are mainly taking place now. As a result, Moscow is faced with a number of important tasks it has to accomplish in order to win the loyalty of the people living in the territories it controls. The top priorities here include revitalizing the region’s economy, filling the political vacuum (by establishing military-and-civilian administrations), helping the locals to get through the sowing season, opening the border with Russia for consumer goods, canceling debts owed by enterprises and individuals, granting benefits to small and medium-sized businesses (including tax relief), fast-tracking the procedure of Russian citizenship acquisition, restoring the destroyed infrastructure, and producing local mass media and social media content.
-
Russian Ops in Ukraine: Rocket Launchers and Lost Cities
5 minutes readBRIAN BERLETIC—Update on Russian Military Operations in Ukraine for May 31, 2022 – Russian advances continue – roads out of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk cauldron under Russian artillery fire; – Ukraine launches anemic “counteroffensives” as political distractions from strategic catastrophe unfolding for them in the Donbas; – Ukraine, Western media float notion of Ukrainian retreat in Donbas; – Western media beginning to cover the full scale of Ukraine’s continued defeat; – Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) may still be sent, just not with long-range missiles; – US MLRS have steep logistical needs, large physical footprint that will make them cumbersome, easy to spot and destroy; – Other “wonder weapons” are being cleared off the battlefield in a similar manner, including most recently Italian FH70 howitzers; – Javelin and Stingers will take years to replace; – Nothing short of a direct NATO intervention will reverse course for Ukraine.
-
Jackson and Gonzalo Lira discuss the likely imminent disintegration of the Ukrainian government, and its possible consequences for different players involved in the current power structure.
-
Much as the Western press has been promoting the idea that Ukraine is winning the war against Russia, it’s becoming clear that there will be no clear military conclusion to the conflict. Even the New York Times is beginning to admit that a diplomatic solution is in the offing. The only real question is how much territory Ukraine will have to cede and how much of the sanctions currently imposed on Russia will have to be removed. Jimmy and his panel of The Dive’s Jackson Hinkle and American comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the prosecution of the war and who benefits from endlessly prolonging the conflict.