Quite the turnaround, looks like Turkey is welcoming Sweden in to the NATO family.
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-latest-russia-putin-nato-nuclear-belarus-12541713?postid=6157873#liveblog-body
Turkey inhabits the creamy nougat middle of a geo-political weird zone where they’re technically Asia but close enough to Europe historically to maybe get into the EU if they weren’t a single party totalitarian state cosplaying as a democracy.
Cyprus are technically in Asia themselves, and are in the EU, while Georgia harbour dreams of membership despite being even more in Asia. But it’s *close enough* to maybe get in.
So Boris Johnson and the brexit lads were right, Turkey is joining the EU?
Quoted for gatling.
Still dug in on the F-16?
It is already an EU "accession candidate" state, and I think has been for long before the current Erdogan era. A process that has been going nowhere fast.
On contrary though it may not be politic to say it out loud, I think the whole Islam issue and religosity of the Turkish population (vs Europeans, seemingly straying ever further from God's/Allah's light!) is still a big stumbling block (one among many) and counts as a reason why Turkey should not be allowed to join for now.
Nope.
Let's just say yes, it's the farage-signal and people need entertainment from a few souls willing to sacrifice their remaining credibility.
Very sad accident with gun.
..
Have you an update on any F16s .
No ?
Didn't someone suggest July ,next suggestion was September and October
Turkey’s economy is in the pits. Erdogan presidential campaign was quite anti western from what I read at the time. Seems to be a big pivot back towards the west since his reelection. Maybe a combination of their economy and the fact Putin is severely weakened. Either way he’s a sinister individual and can’t be trusted but at least he’s been more agreeable of late.
I doubt it very much that the pair of them will ever see Heaven...
He's been agreeable because there is something in it for him ,
He can't be trusted
He was talking about the Vietnam-era grandfather of the AC-130, the AC-47. It was an old-timey Second World War C-47 with a bunch of miniguns stuck out the side. An improvised setup that worked when there was nobody able to shoot down a slow-moving cargo plane loitering overhead.
If the war in Ukraine has taught us anything about ground support aircraft it's how vulnerable they've become. Purpose-built ground attack aircraft have taken high losses, gunships are even more vulnerable because they hang above and around the target area for a much longer time making them a juicy target. They're better used in low-intensity conflicts where your enemy doesn't have much in the way of AA capability.
thats the one i was thinking on...went and looked it up and have to say that was impressive!!! yeah it would be old and slow(like myself) and i know Ukraine has shag all air power and im sure many technical reasons why it wouldnt really work but just for a minute imagine being a bunch of russians stuck in Ukraine,a dark night,no moon and you hear this noise somewhere...then the guns open up,said russians probably wouldnt stop running until they got to vladivostok...just the fear factor alone if Ukraine said yes we have just taken delivery of 2 of these...
havent seen a KA52 shot down for a while... have they run out ?
Drama Queen
Which equates to over 3 times the amount of dead compared to what the Soviets lost in Afghanistan over near a decade of conflict. That had accelerated end of the Soviet Union, and this might do the same to the Russian Federation.
Lol.
I wonder if Ukraine have already formed their version of Mossad (and indeed if the actual Mossad might be amenable to training them...). It seems a given that they'll be hunting for years after this war ends.
These recent assassinations of Russian war criminals with general's stars might indicate that it has.
All the world except Putin knew this.
Turkey have been an official EU candidate since 1999, so they've been on that walk for 24 years already with nothing to show for it (more actually, since they submitted their application in 1987 when it was still the EEC). All negotiations were suspended by the EU in 2019, on account of Turkey's deteriorating human rights situation. They have an awful lot of things to sort out before they have any chance or actually becoming a member: human rights, corruption, judicial independence, economy, Cyprus - the list goes on and on. And they're making no effort on any of them.
I suspect that Turkey actually know they don't really have a chance of membership any time soon. They just want the negotiations to begin again, because that in itself make it look like the're making an effort and casts them in a better light in terms or European trade. EU membership was never going to be fast tracked for them, especially in return for something as (relatively) minor as Sweden's ascension into NATO. The two memberships aren't comparable at all. Sweden have now said that they'll help "reinvigorate Turkey's EU accession process". That only means trying to get the negotiations and monitoring started again, so you're right, they still have a very long road ahead of them.
Sounds like Russia might have suffered its biggest armoured defeat since Vuhledar around Krasnohorvika.
10 Jul: INSANE ATTACK. Russians Lose 200 MEN, 21 TANKS & BMPS IN 20 MINUTES | War in Ukraine - Ukraine Today .org
Unfortunately for Russians, the Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade never left their positions. Ukrainians unleashed artillery fire and also engaged their most skilled drone operators to target Russian vehicles. As a result, one by one, Russian tanks and armored fighting vehicles got destroyed, and Russians lost approximately 200 men killed in action. Other graphic footage that I will not show in this video captured the moments when abandoned, wounded Russian soldiers in the field were killing themselves after the battle. This was the most disastrous Russian attack since Vuhledar. The only difference is that this time, Russians did not advance even an inch.
My own pet is the Warthog A10, ( I know, I know, that its not a good choice with the air defenses the Russians have ) but even so. the thoughts of an A10 tearing into a convoy, or any target in fact, would warm the cockles of my heart😎
Erdogan's really been a tear recently. I think everyone expected the Sweden/NATO thing to happen sooner rather than later but releasing the Azov commanders directly into the custody of Zelensky himself was a real middle finger to Putin. The beautiful thing about it all is that the Russians can do nothing except sit there and take it. As one of his propagandists said the other night, they've burned all of their bridges with the EU countries so that makes them extra reliant on the likes of Turkey, Iran and China. They can't afford to lose any of them.
Erdogan and Putin are a pair of gangsters so I hope that some small part of Putin can only admire Erdogan spitting in his face like this.
i had forgotten about that one....HOLLLLLLEEEEEEE SHEEEEEEET!!! some bit of equipment all right!! yeah few of those warthogs and a couple of puff the magic dragons be kind of impressive!! 😎
More aid from Germany and France announced including the french version of the storm shadow long range missile
Excercise apps and similar things on your phone/watch which track you are a big no-no in the military.
The Bulgarian President gave Zelensky an update on the Socialist position, Zelensky tore him a new one.
Ruled out surrender completely.
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-mauls-bulgarian-president-rumen-radev-over-opposition-to-arming-ukraine/
Oddly enough a few years back a secret US special forces base in the middle east was exposed after running routes marked out the exterior walls of the base due to operators using the watches and apps
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