Bkk Brian

Simply amazing how a discussion about the Biden administration's reaction to the spy balloon so quickly develops into a "...but Trump" festival. What the Great Orange Bad Man may or may not have done is completely irrelevant You may notice the articles and topic thread title being: REVEALED: Three Chinese spy balloons infiltrated the US during Trump administration but he NEVER shot them down or told the public - as Republicans call for Biden to resign for putting Americans at risk There is another topic running that does not include Trump so much if you'd rather not read posts in connection to the above topic. https://aseannow.com/topic/1285526-us-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-east-coast

This is a biggie, largest on record in Turkey since the one 80 years ago when 30,000 were killed they are saying, more than 200 dead in Syria. The first OP link has a live feed. Unconfirmed reports on twitter of thousands dead

Well I guess Trump would have handled things differently, being a genius and all that. However after his first rants about shooting it down, he's now changed tune.........lol Trump changes his tune about Chinese spy balloon — now claims he would have made 'the greatest deal EVER' For days, former President Donald Trump and his allied Republicans have railed against President Joe Biden for not shooting down a Chinese spy balloon as it made its way across the United States. Trump then claimed: "The Chinese would never have floated the Blimp ('Balloon') over the United States if I were President!!!" "Who sends a Billion Dollar blimp, with the most sophisticated equipment in the World, and large enough to hold ten cars or 3 large buses, into a complex pattern over the United States, without it quite possibly being manned, such as the 'manned spacecraft?'" Trump asked. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-changes-his-tune-about-chinese-spy-balloon-—-now-claims-he-would-have-made-the-greatest-deal-ever/ar-AA178IBP Link to original post in the article above

Ukraine prepares for renewed Russian offensive Ukrainian forces are bracing for an imminent large-scale attack by Russian troops as the Kremlin seeks to regain the initiative in the war and seize the rest of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have multiplied warnings in recent days about a coming Russian offensive, albeit with differing timelines. Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said on Sunday that his country expected Russia’s invading forces to launch a new offensive in the Donbas and southern areas where it currently occupies close to 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory later this month. https://www.ft.com/content/268bd522-4794-4f3d-895f-f58a55536af9

"focal-plane array seeker" https://www.navair.navy.mil/product/AIM-9X-Sidewinder

Great to know, nothing to do with my post however.........

No have you? Just clarifying the rules for food banks

Considering that the Trussel Trust is the largest in the UK and not everyone has local Churches that have food banks, the chances are that the majority of people get referred. https://www.goodto.com/family/money-news/food-banks-near-me-115479

I know of instances where people have used food banks but didn't need to. Abusing the system. I doubt food banks require those that go there to prove they are in need. I thought you need to get interviewed first to get vouchers for a food bank from agencies such as Citizens advice. Don't think anyone can just walk in. You need a referral and its for a limited time as far as I've read.

If Russia had actually applied to join the EU and Nato then your post could possibly have had a point to it.

His exact quote: “Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in Lake Chad Region. A substantial proportion of the arms and ammunitions procured to execute the war in Libya, continues to find its way to the Lake Chad Region and other parts of the Sahel. Weapons being used for the war in Ukraine and Russia are equally beginning to filter to the region." He offers no evidence, not surprising really he has never condemned Russia's invasion into Ukraine. War in Ukraine: Buhari cosiness with Putin's Russia shames Nigeria Mar 14, 2565 BE — President Muhammadu Buhari's favourite world leaders have long been President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia https://businessday.ng/columnist/article/war-in-ukraine-buhari-cosiness-with-putins-russia-shames-nigeria/ Like I said no credible links to substantiate your claim

NATO is not wavering. Your instance on taking events out of context is evident. As for the accidental air defense missile that landed in Poland: "The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations blamed Russia for the death of two citizens inside Poland’s territory. “While we still don’t know all of the facts, we do know one thing: This tragedy would never have happened but for Russia’s needless invasion of Ukraine and its recent missile assaults against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure,” Russia is "ultimately responsible for this tragic incident," with its now nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine, the White House council said.

32 pages of a Rand doc with the very important caveat that you snipped. A similar analysis could be said for any country supplying military aid to Ukraine. At the end of the day its what Ukraine and all its allies decide. Simple as that. If a more democratic, less corrupt and more prosperous Ukraine rises from the ashes of such a deal then the fight may have been worth it. Its also worth it to avoid a far worse corrupt and far less democratic Russia occupy Ukraine.

In short they assert that US interests are not the same as Ukrainian interests and US policy must put the US economic and military first. Well that's a little obvious, the US interests are quite rightly for their own people and country primarily, just as any sovereign nation, however that full quote from Rand is: "An important caveat: This Perspective focuses on U.S. interests, which often align with but are not synonymous with Ukrainian interests. We acknowledge that Ukrainians have been the ones fighting and dying to protect their country against an unprovoked, illegal, and morally repugnant Russian invasion. Their cities have been flattened; their economy has been decimated; they have been the victims of the Russian army’s war crimes. However, the U.S. government nevertheless has an obligation to its citizens to determine how different war trajectories would affect U.S. interests and explore options for influencing the course of the war to promote those interests." As for the commentary from responsiblestatecraft.org. "Co-founder Trita Parsi, an Iranian-born author and analyst, has described the Quincy Institute as "transpartisan", and, according to The Nation, has described the need for "an alliance of politicians on the left and right who agree on the need for restraint, even if they do so for different reasons".[7][12] Bacevich said: "Our purpose is to promote restraint as a central principle of U.S. foreign policy — fewer wars and more effective diplomatic engagement" What do you expect from them? Restraint in all US foreign policy is their objective, even down to the Chinese balloon incident which they say is overblown.

The missile hit the balloon, not the equipment that was attached and fixed dangling from the bottom of it. It was shot down over relatively shallow water so retrieving it should not be too problematic, navy ships already in the vicinity. "U.S. officials said, the debris field stretched at least 7 miles, and was in water 47 feet deep. That depth is shallower than what they had planned, making it easier to retrieve pieces of the sensor package and other parts that may be salvageable." https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-antony-blinken-china-b1b03193b7abeb7bbeca169bbc7c2c53 Video of the shoot down here.

So far nobody audit armaments which have disappeared from ukraine and ended up in Africa and elsewhere in zones of military conflict and civil war, as well as at terrorist's hands. Can you provide a credible link to these claims of yours, particularly those ending up in Africa? A source from a propaganda platform for Iran does not count.

China protests US downing of suspected spy balloon, keeps right for ‘reaction’ WASHINGTON/BEIJING - China on Sunday said it expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition towards the United States’ use of force to down its balloon and reserved the right for any necessary reaction to the incident. The use of force against the balloon, which China said is for civilian use and entered the US accidentally, was an “obvious overreaction” and violated international standard practices, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday. President Joe Biden said he had issued an order on Wednesday to take down the balloon, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to safeguard civilians from debris crashing down to Earth from thousands of metres above commercial air traffic. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-shoots-down-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon

Why let facts get in the way of a few subpoenas from the the GOP From the OP link: "Garland and the FBI have strenuously rejected the GOP accusation — which fact checkers have also deemed false — saying their focus was on protecting school board members amid sharply escalating threats of violence, with no emphasis on parents or those raising policy concerns about Covid restrictions. the White House immediately hit back at Jordan — saying he was marshaling his powerful gavel in pursuit of right-wing conspiracy theories that had largely been debunked."

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1621827200503750656

I believe you're right, under the right conditions the EU would have no problem with Britain rejoining, this from just 3 days ago UK can rejoin EU ‘any time’, says Michel Barnier The door is open for Britain to rejoin the EU “any time”, Michel Barnier said on Wednesday - before warning the UK not to tear up Brussels regulations after Brexit. Mr Barnier, the former Brexit negotiator, said diverging too far from EU rules now would make it more difficult for Britain to rejoin the bloc in future. “The door to the EU side will remain open any time for you,” he said. “Though everybody knows the conditions.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/02/01/uk-can-rejoin-eu-time-says-michel-barnier/

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement to CNN. It is unclear exactly where the balloon is over Latin America – but a US official tells CNN it does not appear to be currently heading to the United States. https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/suspected-chinese-balloon-over-us-02-04-23/h_3c1c5225c339fc04901fcebf655fde56

No idea why nobody mentioned it at the time. "The Pentagon says that this is not the first time that a Chinese surveillance balloon has passed over U.S. territory, including in the continental United States, and that the prior incidents predate Biden taking office in January 2021. Separate reports say that Chinese balloons previously passed over unspecified parts of Florida, Hawaii, and Guam." https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/chinese-spy-balloon-reaches-missouri

Really? "The balloon spotted this week over Montana was not the first time the US has detected Chinese balloons over their territory – with previous incursions occurring during the Trump Administration." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-03/high-flying-balloon-seen-as-part-of-broader-chinese-spy-program

Why the US hasn’t shot down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, according to officials A US official added on Friday to CNN: “This isn’t like ‘Top Gun’ where it just explodes and doesn’t go anywhere. It’s large and it’s metal, it would put hundreds of Americans at risk.” President Joe Biden was briefed on the balloon’s movements and requested options from his military advisers and while there was consideration to down the balloon while it was over Montana, the advice was to ultimately not to, the Biden administration acted “immediately” to protect against the collection of sensitive intelligence, an official said on Thursday. But that’s not to say that it couldn’t be shot down eventually; the senior defense official said on Thursday that the US has “options to deal with this balloon” if the risk it poses changes. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/03/politics/us-monitoring-chinese-balloon/index.html However according to MTG who's having regular rants about this on twitter, any average person could shoot it down. Although she failed to mention how exactly any old Joe could shoot it down, an AR-15 does not have the capacity to fire up 55,000 feet............lol https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1621626596581937152

You may not have noticed but the Ukraine military along with aid from not just the US is doing very well reclaiming the land that Russia invaded and illegally annexed, without the need for NATO boots on the ground. Will peace talks end this, of course, we all know that but not while Russia still holds so much territory that is clear.