Hardware and software configuration/experimentation is part of the benefit, not a cost. It's the whole reason I even own RPis or Odroids. I have engineers in Vietnam building an open-source hardware device for me, and I had originally intended to use the Odroid-XU4 as a basis.
Right now I run Kodi on an RPi2 Model B+. It's connected to my external hard drive, which stores all my movies and music, and HDMI out to my 40in LED. I'm already considering ditching this setup in favor of an Odroid-XU4 w/Ubuntu, since I just need something to basically run VLC....DRM will make me switch even faster.
And before that hits, there is the obvious decline in their physical attractiveness that tends to begin around age 30. Some call it "when women hit the wall". It can be delayed somewhat via a healthy diet, physical fitness, and stable mental health...or terrible decisions (IMO) like plastic surgery. But it doesn't change that men are visual creatures, we are primarily driven by a woman's looks, and so our interest (and the sexual market value of any individual woman) declines precipitously in their 30's as their looks and remaining fertility fade. Why else do you think we see so many articles, WRITTEN BY WOMEN, about how they are single and unhappy? Just as a sample: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/deb... https://www.psychologytoday.co... http://www.thenational.ae/life...
I'm not Japanese, I just live here. But yes, censored Japanese porn is terrible. Fortunately, they produce *uncensored* videos, theoretically just for the export market. However, shops are regularly busted for selling the stuff domestically under the counter, and of course all the major free porn sites are awash with "uncensored JAV" vids.
I'm not sure how well the laws re: attractiveness are enforced, if at all. How else can businesses like Hooters maintain the expected buxom quality of their staff?
Complaints about customer service-oriented businesses hiring physically attractive people, especially young females, are kinda unique to the West, while McD's is a global company. Here in Asia, having cute and polite female staff is just assumed pretty much everywhere. There's a night-and-day difference in the customer experience at a Japanese McDonald's and a US one. Same for all the Asian airlines. That PC crap about keeping women past their expiration date doesn't apply here.
On a related note, Trump had played twice as much golf in two months than Obama did in eight years.
Citation needed. This reference suggests otherwise: ( https://freepresspolitics.com/... )
Trump *IS* on track to out-golf Obama, but only if he maintains his current rate of golf trips.
Why were so many of Trump's advisers and proxies in such frequent contact with the Russians
Heaven forbid that the incoming administration of the world's #2 nuclear power attempt to patch up its relationship with the world's #1 nuclear power, and do so as quickly as possible, via back-channels if necessary, to avoid or de-escalate the tensions stoked under the Obama/Clinton duo....
Do we actually know this with absolute certainty? Based on evidence from...the "Syrian Observatory on Human Rights" aka "One Guy Who Lives in the UK"? Based on FSA social media accounts, because those are never BS propaganda? ( http://www.independent.co.uk/n... )
When that recent airstrike in Mosul killed 100+ civilians the US was quick to say "musta triggered a nearby ISIS carbomb factory....not really our fault"....but when the Syrians/Russians say "our airstrike must have hit a jihadi chemical warehouse...not our fault"....the ONLY conclusion made in the West is they must be lying through their teeth? What incentive would Assad have to employ a weapon that is well-known to provoke a Western response, given that he is already well on his way to winning the conventional ground conflict without it?
Mod parent up. I too had a short-liven interest in Tizen development....until I read the above article. Not to mention that the SDK was unstable, with limited instructions, and didn't work well on a RPi either.
For the life of me, I can't fathom why anyone would want to live in a big city. Every perk I hear touted, I can beat. It's quiet, I have a yard, and I have more spending money that the saps choking on smog.
Cities are pretty awesome if you:
-are a bachelor. High population density = high supply of sex partners. Contingent upon your own seduction skills, of course.
-enjoy any "alt" cultural activities. Good luck finding healthy goth communities or regular extreme metal concerts in the middle of South Dakota or something.
-don't want to own a vehicle to fulfill your commute requirements.
I've lived all over the US and now quite a few places in Asia. My preference is for big Japanese cities (EXCEPT the Tokyo area) as the best of all worlds: safe, fairly low pollution, excellent mass transit, still pretty car-friendly (I'm a gearhead), plenty of easy women, convenient and inexpensive air travel, access to decent (if not cheap) international schools for kids, access to parks, and it's easy to get away and enjoy the countryside. The only downside is the tiny and overpriced houses. But if you don't fill your home with a bunch of consumerist crap, the cramped living space really isn't that bad.
Right offhand my first thought is "Who are they going to work for next". You might not like the NSA but if all of their top talent goes elsewhere it could be a very serious problem for us.
Not really. In all likelihood they'll go work for private security contractors that specialize in intelligence, but give the US government the plausible deniability it has lost due to checks & balances. A high-level US security clearance carries a LOT of value for employees. Very few people would throw away.gov/DoD private contractor opportunities to go work for Russia/China/etc. for anything less than millions of dollars, IMO.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/a...
It was a dark time - tens of thousands of people were brutally murdered, and twice that many starved to death as he implemented Milton's "shock therapy".
By 1978 though - the economy had gotten over the worst of the harm (if only because the poor people were mostly dead now) and suddenly the so-called Pinochet miracle happened.
I'm curious where you are getting your numbers. The Wiki article on Pinochet suggests 3200 killed, ~30,000 tortured....2/3rds of all that in 1973. And that is based on testimony from 30,000 people, so sounds reasonably well-supported. As to your second comment about "the poor mostly being dead"......that stretches credulity, given that Chile's population around 1980 was roughly 11 million, up from 9.5million in 1970.
You're overall point about the Chilean experiment further enriching the elite and driving the masses below the poverty line is still accurate, however.
especially arguing that making everybody equally poor doesn't make for a better society
Devil's Advocate: how do you explain the overall high level of happiness in deeply impoverished countries such as Bhutan ( http://www.ibtimes.com/worlds-... )? Also consider books such as: ( http://isps.yale.edu/research/... ), which argue that the material progress in modern market democracies has not led to a commensurate rise, or even stable level, of happiness.
I can't speak to the US dating scene, but Tinder is awesome here in Asia (so is dating in general, BTW). I think I've only been catfished once in Osaka, but otherwise everyone I've encountered on Tinder aged 22-37 has had real pics and been a real woman.
Regarding TFA....I'm not sure I like this idea. Who is writing the algorithms or training the AI? Some beta coder who hasn't had a girl...ever? Just judging by the quote in TFS "you two like the same band, we can buy you tickets." GTFO. Why the FUCK would I blow money on a concert ticket for some Tinder chick I've never met? Talk about setting a guy up for failure. My AI better be making suggestions like:
"This chick's profile reads 'no hookups' but we're pretty sure you're her style and she'll put out to you. There's a cafe, an arcade with DDR, and a pool hall, all within 500 meters of your hotel and her present location. Do you want us to send her directions to the cafe with a note 'Look for the tall dark and handsome guy' with your pic?"
That would actually justify a slight increase in the monthly fee for Tinder Plus or whatever it's called. It would mix pre-screening potential matches, first encounter planning/logistics, message crafting....so really I all I have to do is click "Approve" and then actually show up to meet the woman.
I think as a high school senior I bought 2-3 porn VHS tapes:
One was of Aria Giovanni, one of Akira Fubuki, and one hentai tentacle porn vid "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend".
Then as a college freshman I bought the French "movie" full of unsimulated sex, "Baise Moi", which was basically a graphic version of Thelma & Louise, but with porn actresses in the lead roles.
On a few occasions I've bought Japanese porn mags in the convenience stores if a particular model catches my eye, and they often contain free DVDs which are usually pretty shitty.
Bottom line: probably less than $150 total spent over 15+ years for me. I think the industry is kept afloat purely from people with niche fetishes or those who develop an obsessive interest in particular porn whores.
I get it, you are a polack swelling from nationalistic pride.
Not even close. I'm an American military officer in Asia, and definitely not of Polish descent. Not even Caucasian. You should probably read some relevant sources to plug the glaring holes in your knowledge base. The Military Balance 2016 is a good start, you can find a PDF if you search in the right places. Here's a quote:
Since its accession to NATO in 1999, Poland has grown into a significant European military power. This is primarily the result of the transformation of its armed forces and their participation in expeditionary operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the eve of the Ukraine conflict in 2014, Poland unveiled its largest ever defence-procurement programme and reconfigured its military-command structure.[pg.66]
Yes, Poland's tanks are old. But they have a significant quantity of them and are spending money to keep the best ones in operational shape. Even old MBTs are a force multiplier, especially if employed in a combined arms force with decent training.
If you have some other country you'd like to nominate for the short list of "potential major contributors in a high-intensity war against Russia" instead of Poland, please feel free to post them. Don't forget to cite some sources to back up your assertions.
So in other words, you'd rather just hand the EU over to Putin.
Point 1. Motive.
Your fear-mongering is so hyperbolic it's hard to take you seriously. The Russians, and Putin in particular, are pretty damn pragmatic. Russia has enough budget problems sustaining not-so-covert combat operations in Ukraine and very overt operations in Syria. Can the Russian government AFFORD to invade the EU? What would the cost-benefit analysis for that be? What is the end state? Russia's primary concern for the past decade has been US ABM sites in their near abroad. The ABMs themselves came after the US unilaterally withdrew from the ABM treaty. These concerns have fallen on deaf ears in Washington: 2016:http://www.zerohedge.com/news/... 2008:https://sputniknews.com/russia... 2001:http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12...
In the absence of US missiles destabilizing the balance of Mutually Assured Destruction, Russia's force structure was primarily aligned for counter-insurgency in the Caucasus, not conquest of Europe. http://turcopolier.typepad.com... And given that Russia has fought 2 devastating wars against military alliances attacking from the West in the past 100 years, are you really surprised that they are unwilling to give the US & NATO the benefit of the doubt?
Point 2. Logistics
Have you looked at a map lately? Kaliningrad to Warsaw: 275km. Kaliningrad to Vilnius: 300km St. Petersburg to Helsinki: ~350km
Even the US military, probably the king of expeditionary logistics, strains to support a 300-400km mechanized blitz with a 3-6 month buildup.
The Russians hit Tskhinvali pretty quickly but that's barely 140km from Nalchik. They have not demonstrated the ability to sustain a brigade or larger element at the distances required, let alone multiple axes of advance against national capitals in a short timeframe (such as all 3 of the Baltic States).
Finally....you have yet to spell out exactly why I should get my legs blown off so the (numerous, tall, and well-fed) sons of Europe can sleep peaceably in their beds. How is the "EU handed over to Putin" undermining my quality of life as an American expat in Asia? Can you even begin to actually articulate that, in real terms? Or are you only capable of posting one-liners of empty rhetoric?
Not that we'll eve know, but given a Division of US vs a Division or Russian soldiers on the same field, my bet would be on the Russians.
Generals McMaster and MacGregor have said as much, as well. The US brigades and divisions are too light on artillery IMO. Here's a good briefing on the subject: http://douglasmacgregor.com/RS... But the Army never fights alone. The US relies very heavily on air power to shape the battlespace, and the argument of Russian air defenses vs USAF SEAD/PGMs is a very complex discussion.
Not sure what you're on about here so you may need to provide some references.European military expenditure is still in the normal range
France, the UK, and Poland are spending 2% GDP. China, Australia, India = 1.9%. The global share of GDP is 2.3%. Most of Europe is closer to 1% (Germany 1.2%, Italy 1.3%, Spain 0.6%). https://www.sipri.org/database...http://books.sipri.org/files/F... And it's hard to argue that the cost savings is materializing as any sort of persistent military efficiency, given that Europe has prosecuted two air campaigns in the past 10 years where they've had to borrow/buy munitions from the US in short order. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.c...https://www.washingtonpost.com...
International R&D/procurement programs such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and A400M probably do yield cross-national economies of scale, but without a VERY robust commitment to command & control / administration / logistics / training & readiness, you can't run a multi-national combat force with any degree of integration and proficiency. http://www.military.com/daily-...
"The expert group comprising six defense officials, including former NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, warned of "chronic underfunding" and "critical deficiencies" of the Alliance's member states, according to the report, as quoted by the Financial Times newspaper.
The NATO report revealed that only 10 of 31 German Tiger helicopters and some three quarters of 406 Marder armored infantry vehicles were usable." https://sputniknews.com/world/...
I like for people to take care of themselves. I don't believe in subsidizing weakness. I also want the US to get out of the "world police" business and focus its spending on domestic economic development. Compare US spending on JDAM Kits to our spending on the National Ignition Facility(just as one example). As I pointed out, there is no reason, from an economic perspective, for Europe to end up dominated by Russia, because they possess the manpower and resources necessary to field a sufficiently capable deterrent. Europe's failure to protect itself should not translate into a security liability for the US.
Can you provide an itemized list of exactly which "American interests" are advanced by our involvement in Europe outside of "providing an export market to prop up our insanely huge military-industrial complex"? Do we have any examples of countries in the Russian orbit that have deliberately restricted access to other US exports?
This is all Woodrow Wilson's fault for violating the Monroe Doctrine and sticking our nose in Europe's internecine conflicts a century ago. Oh, and Brzezinski's too. Just read "The Great Game". Every megalomaniac in the US Deep State desires to dominate the Eurasian landmass by breaking up or otherwise weakening the continent's Great Powers. The deeper you dig into truthful answers to questions of "why does the US do that?", the more you find the reasons to be some combination of "megalomania + Petrodollar greed + The Great Game".
I absolutely understand the strategic advantages of the US's geographical position. It's why I'm a firm believer in maintaining an overwhelming Navy-Marine Corps Team but a rather atrophied Army. Our geography means we are almost always conducting Expeditionary Operations. Continental Europe doesn't have that luxury. I'm not sure how you conclude that we "would all be dead by now" though.....considering that despite our ocean border advantage we STILL maintain an Army large enough to deter even a direct invasion by Russia...if they could ever actually reach us.
Now compare the defense approach of another country that stands at risk of invasion: South Korea. The Koreans spend 2.6% GDP on defense and field one of the largest and most capable militaries in Asia. The Europeans instead decided to cut their militaries to the bone and then just *assume* that they could beg the US to bail them out in dark times. EU Battlegroups were a step in the right direction for combined European command & control of maneuver forces so that the sum is greater than its national parts. But this obviously hasn't been a priority focus for the people of Europe......until panic set in about Russia over the past few years. But militaries can't be torn down and rebuilt in the blink of an eye. They require a good 10-20 years of hard work and generous funding to ensure sufficient institutional knowledge from top to bottom.
Poland has 3 heavy divisions with 10 brigades. At this point they've probably got the most robust heavy armor force in Central Europe. The quality and readiness of their domestic defense industry is improving, and they share a border with the Russian Kaliningrad enclave as well as Russia's puppet Belarus so they more or less anchor the center of Europe's defense against Russian aggression.
Ahhh, so your desire for US involvement in European security is purely self-interest. That's understandable. Much more so than US chickenhawks writing checks with their mouths that they expect *my* ass to cash. But as much as I like Paradox Studios, Koenigsegg, Gothenburg melodeath, and Saab jets, I'm not coming to Sweden's aid until you guys up your defense spending past 2% GDP (currently 1.24%).
Russia: 144 million people, GDP PPP of $3.68 trillion
Germany+UK+France+Poland+Sweden(basically the biggest/best military-industrial complexes in Europe): 257 million people, $10.66 trillion
If the Europeans can't get their shit together and protect themselves when the balance of security resources is stacked so heavily in their favor...perhaps they DESERVE to have the Russians take chunks out of their ass? Also, if you are so concerned about Europe's security....are you volunteering to be on the receiving end of Russian thermobaric warheads for Europe's sake?
While every geek in the DoD is wishing for this, it is unlikely. Apparently, the Skippers of aircraft carriers are drawn from the ranks of the naval aviation community. Considering Kirk is the CO of a destroyer, he's almost certainly a Surface Warfare Officer. At best they'll make him the senior man of CVN-80 Enterprise's escorts.
Slashdot Mirror
Hardware and software configuration/experimentation is part of the benefit, not a cost. It's the whole reason I even own RPis or Odroids. I have engineers in Vietnam building an open-source hardware device for me, and I had originally intended to use the Odroid-XU4 as a basis.
Right now I run Kodi on an RPi2 Model B+. It's connected to my external hard drive, which stores all my movies and music, and HDMI out to my 40in LED. I'm already considering ditching this setup in favor of an Odroid-XU4 w/Ubuntu, since I just need something to basically run VLC....DRM will make me switch even faster.
Women don't have an expiration date.
So what do you call this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
And before that hits, there is the obvious decline in their physical attractiveness that tends to begin around age 30. Some call it "when women hit the wall". It can be delayed somewhat via a healthy diet, physical fitness, and stable mental health...or terrible decisions (IMO) like plastic surgery. But it doesn't change that men are visual creatures, we are primarily driven by a woman's looks, and so our interest (and the sexual market value of any individual woman) declines precipitously in their 30's as their looks and remaining fertility fade. Why else do you think we see so many articles, WRITTEN BY WOMEN, about how they are single and unhappy? Just as a sample:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/deb...
https://www.psychologytoday.co...
http://www.thenational.ae/life...
I'm not Japanese, I just live here. But yes, censored Japanese porn is terrible. Fortunately, they produce *uncensored* videos, theoretically just for the export market. However, shops are regularly busted for selling the stuff domestically under the counter, and of course all the major free porn sites are awash with "uncensored JAV" vids.
I'm not sure how well the laws re: attractiveness are enforced, if at all. How else can businesses like Hooters maintain the expected buxom quality of their staff?
Complaints about customer service-oriented businesses hiring physically attractive people, especially young females, are kinda unique to the West, while McD's is a global company. Here in Asia, having cute and polite female staff is just assumed pretty much everywhere. There's a night-and-day difference in the customer experience at a Japanese McDonald's and a US one. Same for all the Asian airlines. That PC crap about keeping women past their expiration date doesn't apply here.
On a related note, Trump had played twice as much golf in two months than Obama did in eight years.
Citation needed. This reference suggests otherwise: ( https://freepresspolitics.com/... )
Trump *IS* on track to out-golf Obama, but only if he maintains his current rate of golf trips.
Why were so many of Trump's advisers and proxies in such frequent contact with the Russians
Heaven forbid that the incoming administration of the world's #2 nuclear power attempt to patch up its relationship with the world's #1 nuclear power, and do so as quickly as possible, via back-channels if necessary, to avoid or de-escalate the tensions stoked under the Obama/Clinton duo....
2. The Syrians launched a nerve gas attack
Do we actually know this with absolute certainty? Based on evidence from...the "Syrian Observatory on Human Rights" aka "One Guy Who Lives in the UK"? Based on FSA social media accounts, because those are never BS propaganda? ( http://www.independent.co.uk/n... )
When that recent airstrike in Mosul killed 100+ civilians the US was quick to say "musta triggered a nearby ISIS carbomb factory....not really our fault"....but when the Syrians/Russians say "our airstrike must have hit a jihadi chemical warehouse...not our fault"....the ONLY conclusion made in the West is they must be lying through their teeth? What incentive would Assad have to employ a weapon that is well-known to provoke a Western response, given that he is already well on his way to winning the conventional ground conflict without it?
Mod parent up. I too had a short-liven interest in Tizen development....until I read the above article. Not to mention that the SDK was unstable, with limited instructions, and didn't work well on a RPi either.
For the life of me, I can't fathom why anyone would want to live in a big city. Every perk I hear touted, I can beat. It's quiet, I have a yard, and I have more spending money that the saps choking on smog.
Cities are pretty awesome if you:
-are a bachelor. High population density = high supply of sex partners. Contingent upon your own seduction skills, of course.
-enjoy any "alt" cultural activities. Good luck finding healthy goth communities or regular extreme metal concerts in the middle of South Dakota or something.
-don't want to own a vehicle to fulfill your commute requirements.
I've lived all over the US and now quite a few places in Asia. My preference is for big Japanese cities (EXCEPT the Tokyo area) as the best of all worlds: safe, fairly low pollution, excellent mass transit, still pretty car-friendly (I'm a gearhead), plenty of easy women, convenient and inexpensive air travel, access to decent (if not cheap) international schools for kids, access to parks, and it's easy to get away and enjoy the countryside. The only downside is the tiny and overpriced houses. But if you don't fill your home with a bunch of consumerist crap, the cramped living space really isn't that bad.
Right offhand my first thought is "Who are they going to work for next". You might not like the NSA but if all of their top talent goes elsewhere it could be a very serious problem for us.
Not really. In all likelihood they'll go work for private security contractors that specialize in intelligence, but give the US government the plausible deniability it has lost due to checks & balances. A high-level US security clearance carries a LOT of value for employees. Very few people would throw away .gov/DoD private contractor opportunities to go work for Russia/China/etc. for anything less than millions of dollars, IMO.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/a...
It was a dark time - tens of thousands of people were brutally murdered, and twice that many starved to death as he implemented Milton's "shock therapy". By 1978 though - the economy had gotten over the worst of the harm (if only because the poor people were mostly dead now) and suddenly the so-called Pinochet miracle happened.
I'm curious where you are getting your numbers. The Wiki article on Pinochet suggests 3200 killed, ~30,000 tortured....2/3rds of all that in 1973. And that is based on testimony from 30,000 people, so sounds reasonably well-supported. As to your second comment about "the poor mostly being dead"......that stretches credulity, given that Chile's population around 1980 was roughly 11 million, up from 9.5million in 1970.
You're overall point about the Chilean experiment further enriching the elite and driving the masses below the poverty line is still accurate, however.
especially arguing that making everybody equally poor doesn't make for a better society
Devil's Advocate: how do you explain the overall high level of happiness in deeply impoverished countries such as Bhutan ( http://www.ibtimes.com/worlds-... )? Also consider books such as: ( http://isps.yale.edu/research/... ), which argue that the material progress in modern market democracies has not led to a commensurate rise, or even stable level, of happiness.
I can't speak to the US dating scene, but Tinder is awesome here in Asia (so is dating in general, BTW). I think I've only been catfished once in Osaka, but otherwise everyone I've encountered on Tinder aged 22-37 has had real pics and been a real woman.
Regarding TFA....I'm not sure I like this idea. Who is writing the algorithms or training the AI? Some beta coder who hasn't had a girl...ever? Just judging by the quote in TFS "you two like the same band, we can buy you tickets." GTFO. Why the FUCK would I blow money on a concert ticket for some Tinder chick I've never met? Talk about setting a guy up for failure. My AI better be making suggestions like:
"This chick's profile reads 'no hookups' but we're pretty sure you're her style and she'll put out to you. There's a cafe, an arcade with DDR, and a pool hall, all within 500 meters of your hotel and her present location. Do you want us to send her directions to the cafe with a note 'Look for the tall dark and handsome guy' with your pic?"
That would actually justify a slight increase in the monthly fee for Tinder Plus or whatever it's called. It would mix pre-screening potential matches, first encounter planning/logistics, message crafting....so really I all I have to do is click "Approve" and then actually show up to meet the woman.
I think as a high school senior I bought 2-3 porn VHS tapes:
One was of Aria Giovanni, one of Akira Fubuki, and one hentai tentacle porn vid "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend".
Then as a college freshman I bought the French "movie" full of unsimulated sex, "Baise Moi", which was basically a graphic version of Thelma & Louise, but with porn actresses in the lead roles.
On a few occasions I've bought Japanese porn mags in the convenience stores if a particular model catches my eye, and they often contain free DVDs which are usually pretty shitty.
Bottom line: probably less than $150 total spent over 15+ years for me. I think the industry is kept afloat purely from people with niche fetishes or those who develop an obsessive interest in particular porn whores.
I get it, you are a polack swelling from nationalistic pride.
Not even close. I'm an American military officer in Asia, and definitely not of Polish descent. Not even Caucasian. You should probably read some relevant sources to plug the glaring holes in your knowledge base. The Military Balance 2016 is a good start, you can find a PDF if you search in the right places. Here's a quote:
Since its accession to NATO in 1999, Poland has grown into a significant European military power. This is primarily the result of the transformation of its armed forces and their participation in expeditionary operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the eve of the Ukraine conflict in 2014, Poland unveiled its largest ever defence-procurement programme and reconfigured its military-command structure.[pg.66]
Failing that, look here: https://southfront.org/polands...
Yes, Poland's tanks are old. But they have a significant quantity of them and are spending money to keep the best ones in operational shape. Even old MBTs are a force multiplier, especially if employed in a combined arms force with decent training.
If you have some other country you'd like to nominate for the short list of "potential major contributors in a high-intensity war against Russia" instead of Poland, please feel free to post them. Don't forget to cite some sources to back up your assertions.
So in other words, you'd rather just hand the EU over to Putin.
Point 1. Motive.
Your fear-mongering is so hyperbolic it's hard to take you seriously. The Russians, and Putin in particular, are pretty damn pragmatic. Russia has enough budget problems sustaining not-so-covert combat operations in Ukraine and very overt operations in Syria. Can the Russian government AFFORD to invade the EU? What would the cost-benefit analysis for that be? What is the end state? Russia's primary concern for the past decade has been US ABM sites in their near abroad. The ABMs themselves came after the US unilaterally withdrew from the ABM treaty. These concerns have fallen on deaf ears in Washington:
2016: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/...
2008: https://sputniknews.com/russia...
2001: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12...
In the absence of US missiles destabilizing the balance of Mutually Assured Destruction, Russia's force structure was primarily aligned for counter-insurgency in the Caucasus, not conquest of Europe. http://turcopolier.typepad.com... And given that Russia has fought 2 devastating wars against military alliances attacking from the West in the past 100 years, are you really surprised that they are unwilling to give the US & NATO the benefit of the doubt?
Point 2. Logistics
Have you looked at a map lately? Kaliningrad to Warsaw: 275km. Kaliningrad to Vilnius: 300km St. Petersburg to Helsinki: ~350km
Even the US military, probably the king of expeditionary logistics, strains to support a 300-400km mechanized blitz with a 3-6 month buildup.
The Russians hit Tskhinvali pretty quickly but that's barely 140km from Nalchik. They have not demonstrated the ability to sustain a brigade or larger element at the distances required, let alone multiple axes of advance against national capitals in a short timeframe (such as all 3 of the Baltic States).
Finally....you have yet to spell out exactly why I should get my legs blown off so the (numerous, tall, and well-fed) sons of Europe can sleep peaceably in their beds. How is the "EU handed over to Putin" undermining my quality of life as an American expat in Asia? Can you even begin to actually articulate that, in real terms? Or are you only capable of posting one-liners of empty rhetoric?
Not that we'll eve know, but given a Division of US vs a Division or Russian soldiers on the same field, my bet would be on the Russians.
Generals McMaster and MacGregor have said as much, as well. The US brigades and divisions are too light on artillery IMO. Here's a good briefing on the subject: http://douglasmacgregor.com/RS...
But the Army never fights alone. The US relies very heavily on air power to shape the battlespace, and the argument of Russian air defenses vs USAF SEAD/PGMs is a very complex discussion.
Not sure what you're on about here so you may need to provide some references.European military expenditure is still in the normal range
France, the UK, and Poland are spending 2% GDP. China, Australia, India = 1.9%. The global share of GDP is 2.3%. Most of Europe is closer to 1% (Germany 1.2%, Italy 1.3%, Spain 0.6%). https://www.sipri.org/database... http://books.sipri.org/files/F...
And it's hard to argue that the cost savings is materializing as any sort of persistent military efficiency, given that Europe has prosecuted two air campaigns in the past 10 years where they've had to borrow/buy munitions from the US in short order. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.c... https://www.washingtonpost.com...
International R&D/procurement programs such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and A400M probably do yield cross-national economies of scale, but without a VERY robust commitment to command & control / administration / logistics / training & readiness, you can't run a multi-national combat force with any degree of integration and proficiency. http://www.military.com/daily-...
"The expert group comprising six defense officials, including former NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, warned of "chronic underfunding" and "critical deficiencies" of the Alliance's member states, according to the report, as quoted by the Financial Times newspaper. The NATO report revealed that only 10 of 31 German Tiger helicopters and some three quarters of 406 Marder armored infantry vehicles were usable."
https://sputniknews.com/world/...
I like for people to take care of themselves. I don't believe in subsidizing weakness. I also want the US to get out of the "world police" business and focus its spending on domestic economic development. Compare US spending on JDAM Kits to our spending on the National Ignition Facility(just as one example). As I pointed out, there is no reason, from an economic perspective, for Europe to end up dominated by Russia, because they possess the manpower and resources necessary to field a sufficiently capable deterrent. Europe's failure to protect itself should not translate into a security liability for the US.
Can you provide an itemized list of exactly which "American interests" are advanced by our involvement in Europe outside of "providing an export market to prop up our insanely huge military-industrial complex"? Do we have any examples of countries in the Russian orbit that have deliberately restricted access to other US exports?
This is all Woodrow Wilson's fault for violating the Monroe Doctrine and sticking our nose in Europe's internecine conflicts a century ago. Oh, and Brzezinski's too. Just read "The Great Game". Every megalomaniac in the US Deep State desires to dominate the Eurasian landmass by breaking up or otherwise weakening the continent's Great Powers. The deeper you dig into truthful answers to questions of "why does the US do that?", the more you find the reasons to be some combination of "megalomania + Petrodollar greed + The Great Game".
I absolutely understand the strategic advantages of the US's geographical position. It's why I'm a firm believer in maintaining an overwhelming Navy-Marine Corps Team but a rather atrophied Army. Our geography means we are almost always conducting Expeditionary Operations. Continental Europe doesn't have that luxury. I'm not sure how you conclude that we "would all be dead by now" though.....considering that despite our ocean border advantage we STILL maintain an Army large enough to deter even a direct invasion by Russia ...if they could ever actually reach us.
Now compare the defense approach of another country that stands at risk of invasion: South Korea. The Koreans spend 2.6% GDP on defense and field one of the largest and most capable militaries in Asia. The Europeans instead decided to cut their militaries to the bone and then just *assume* that they could beg the US to bail them out in dark times. EU Battlegroups were a step in the right direction for combined European command & control of maneuver forces so that the sum is greater than its national parts. But this obviously hasn't been a priority focus for the people of Europe......until panic set in about Russia over the past few years. But militaries can't be torn down and rebuilt in the blink of an eye. They require a good 10-20 years of hard work and generous funding to ensure sufficient institutional knowledge from top to bottom.
Poland has 3 heavy divisions with 10 brigades. At this point they've probably got the most robust heavy armor force in Central Europe. The quality and readiness of their domestic defense industry is improving, and they share a border with the Russian Kaliningrad enclave as well as Russia's puppet Belarus so they more or less anchor the center of Europe's defense against Russian aggression.
Ahhh, so your desire for US involvement in European security is purely self-interest. That's understandable. Much more so than US chickenhawks writing checks with their mouths that they expect *my* ass to cash. But as much as I like Paradox Studios, Koenigsegg, Gothenburg melodeath, and Saab jets, I'm not coming to Sweden's aid until you guys up your defense spending past 2% GDP (currently 1.24%).
Russia: 144 million people, GDP PPP of $3.68 trillion
Germany+UK+France+Poland+Sweden(basically the biggest/best military-industrial complexes in Europe): 257 million people, $10.66 trillion
If the Europeans can't get their shit together and protect themselves when the balance of security resources is stacked so heavily in their favor...perhaps they DESERVE to have the Russians take chunks out of their ass? Also, if you are so concerned about Europe's security....are you volunteering to be on the receiving end of Russian thermobaric warheads for Europe's sake?
While every geek in the DoD is wishing for this, it is unlikely. Apparently, the Skippers of aircraft carriers are drawn from the ranks of the naval aviation community. Considering Kirk is the CO of a destroyer, he's almost certainly a Surface Warfare Officer. At best they'll make him the senior man of CVN-80 Enterprise's escorts.
The Mega.nz links in the pastebin are already broken: http://pastebin.com/y9P19guS