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Megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - May 18-19
This thread is posted Monday/Wednesday/Friday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.
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MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS ITCHING TO SEND “HUNTER-KILLER” DRONES TO UKRAINE
https://theintercept.com/2022/05/18/ukraine-reaper-drones-weapons-transfer/
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I think I have a fair bit of criticism about that article. Not that I criticize you posting it here.
Sure, let's call these "essentially unmanned fighter jets" when they don't even have the sensors, maneuverability, speed or weapons to engage in air-to-air combat. Well, it's not unusual for journalists to not be able to tell apart fighters from strike aircraft.
And sure, let's quote botched airstrikes that killed civilians in Afghanistan, when in Ukraine one of their prime targets would be Russian artillery, which itself is conducting "botched" fire missions against Ukrainian civilians.
Also, no mention at all of Bayraktar TB-2 drones, which are more or less the same thing and are being sent by a NATO ally while this war is ongoing.
I also don't see all the talk about turning this war nuclear this way: It's already happening, it's a tool Ukraine already has some amount of. It's not going to give Russia an excuse to use nukes or attack NATO, not that they need an excuse.
I'm not too knowledgeable on the MTCR, but notably both Ukraine and Turkey are members. I do wonder though how drones but not manned aircraft are relevant to limiting the proliferation of WMD delivery systems.
A brief scroll through the author's other recent articles give the impression that she's a touch too pacifist given the current state of the world. This is not the US invading a sovereign country.
Do not worry about that. Posting an article shouldn’t be seen as a form of endorsing it, or at least I never take it that way. In this case anyway, what I was focused on when reading this one was the important reminder that US supply of weapons systems to Ukraine isn’t as simple as good vs evil. There is also the very important component of the “military industrial complex” (I’m glad the article at least names a specific corporation) which views conflicts like this as good for business and which expends a lot of effort lobbying above and below the table to get their products into the market.
Also, the population is highly willing to tell you where the "bad guys" are but otherwise stay far away from them, so as to not get hit in the crossfire. You know, different from when the "bad guys" are popular heroes.
Captive medic’s bodycam shows firsthand horror of Mariupol (AP)
Not that long of a read, but also not one I want to quote in parts since it's well worth reading whole, IMO.
Ukraine thanks Egypt for turning away Russian ship carrying grain (Reuters)