OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The United States has transferred over 1 million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to Ukraine. The ammunition was seized as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to ship it to Houthi rebels in Yemen, violating the U.N. Security Council Resolution. U.S. Central Command said in a statement. 

President Biden reiterated concerns yesterday that recent events in Congress could negatively impact Ukraine, following the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and the near government shutdown a few days earlier. Biden suggested that there may be “another means” of funding Ukraine, though he did not specify what those were. Frances Vinall reports for the Washington Post.

Russia has withdrawn most of its Black Sea Fleet from its main base in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, a possible sign that Ukrainian attacks have taken their toll. The vessels have been moved to other bases that offer more protection. While a significant political win for Ukraine as it endeavors to retain international support, the military impact is more limited as the ships will still be within striking distance to target Ukraine. Thomas Grove and Jared Malsin report for the Wall Street Journal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Italian television that while there was some “fatigue”, Ukraine was pushing ahead with the counteroffensive that began in June. “There is fatigue but we will do everything to win against our enemy, and our counteroffensive goes ahead, even if slowly we do everything to repel the enemy,” he told Sky TG24 through a translator.

Ukrainian forces made some headway in their drive southwards, according to military officials. “We have had partial success to the west of Robotyne,” a spokesperson for the southern group, Oleksandr Shtupun, told national television, noting that Ukrainian troops were “continuing to reinforce the positions they hold. In certain areas, we are advancing from 100 to 600 metres”. The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces also said forces had repelled Russian attacks near Robotyne and nearby Verbove.

In the east, Ukraine said its armed forces were resisting Russian attempts to reverse gains made by Kyiv since the start of the counteroffensive. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Moscow’s forces had struck Ukrainian positions close to Andriivka and a nearby village.

Russia said it brought down 31 drones launched by Kyiv over three southern Russian regions and reported no casualties or damage."

lousubcap

A layer behind the arms to Ukraine issue we are confronting in DC-

Anxiety is growing in Washington over the future of military aid to Ukraine. Almost 600 days into Russia's Ukraine invasion, U.S. officials in the White House are starting to look for additional, sometimes crafty ways to continue helping Kyiv's military ahead of the cold winter season. 

While a leaderless House of Representatives remains paralyzed for another week or so, a new survey of American voters reveals a slight but notable erosion in support for giving U.S. weapons to Ukraine. In May, 46% of respondents were in favor; this week, that number declined to 41%, according to a survey published Thursday by Reuters/Ipsos. Similarly, "Some 52% of Democrats backed arming Ukraine in the most recent poll, down from 61% in May," whereas: "Among Republicans, support for sending weapons to Kyiv fell to 35% from 39% in May."

Said one think tanker to Reuters: "Better messaging would help, including making it clear to Americans that much of the money allocated for Ukraine stays in the United States, including in jobs at U.S. weapons producers." 

That's close to a line of reasoning articulated Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which argued, "GOP hostility to Ukraine is hurting American arms production." In making their case, they write, "Money marked for Ukraine is tied up with America's ability to defend itself, even if Mr. Biden has failed to explain this to the public."

How so? "The more weapons America can produce, the more the world's Xi Jinpings have to think long and hard about provoking the U.S.," they argue. And from that way of thinking, "the now empty Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which lets the Pentagon procure new weapons from industry, is a down payment on a larger U.S. industrial base."

What's more, "Arms production isn't an American jobs program or economic stimulus, a fallacy that Republicans should reject." But they described it as "puzzling to see conservatives who complain about 'hollowed out' U.S. manufacturing oppose money for producing missiles in Alabama or tanks in Ohio," which is essentially "holding equipment and ammo as a partisan hostage." 

Perhaps most importantly, they stress, "The war in Ukraine has revealed that the U.S. needs deeper reserves in everything from artillery to long-range fires. And it is a strategic gift to learn this lesson before U.S. troops are dying in a war.""

JohnInCarolina

https://abcnews.go.com/US/after-white-house-trump-allegedly-discussed-potentially-sensitive/story?id=103760456

lousubcap

I doubt CHEETO could recall the warhead number although various START documents could get one close.  Likely an anal extraction.

Unless he had specifically asked (which I seriously doubt) the detection range in the past he would not have been remotely interested in the value which is a variable depending on several factors.  To give it an "exact number" is pure bull$hit. 

However, knowing what I know about CHEETO I would not put it past him to make up some story to feed his weak ego.

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The Biden administration could use a State Department grant program to send military aid to Ukraine after Congress stripped Ukraine support from a deal that narrowly averted a government shutdown. However, a U.S. official said that Congress would need to authorize any funding to support Ukraine regardless. Lara Seligman, Paul McLeary, and Connor O’Brien report for POLITICO.

Russia’s legislature is considering revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian Duma, said today. The announcement comes just after President Vladimir Putin said Russia successfully tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Guy Faulconbridge reports for Reuters. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies recovered from the plane crash that killed the paramilitary organization Wagner group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Putin suggested an explosion from within caused the crash. Opinion polls suggest that most Russians think Prigozhin’s death was an accident or the result of a Western security service operation. Alan Cullison reports for the Wall Street Journal.

At least 51 people died following a Russian strike on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, apparently targeting a memorial service for a Ukrainian soldier yesterday, marking one of the deadliest strikes since the invasion began. Isabelle Khurshudyan and Kamila Hrabchuk report for the Washington Post.

The Ukrainian general staff said 24 of 29 Russian drones launched overnight were brought down over the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, as well as the central Kirovohrad region. Regional Governor Andriy Raykovych said “critical infrastructure” has been damaged in Kirovohrad as a result of the Russian air raids."

lousubcap

Shifting gears here-Ozempic and the food industry-initial assessment:

https://www.axios.com/2023/10/06/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-food-business?utm_ 

Botch

lousubcap said:

Shifting gears here-Ozempic and the food industry-initial assessment:

https://www.axios.com/2023/10/06/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-food-business?utm_ 

That's the story I posted about elsewhere, reported on CBS News but not on their website.  Thanks.  

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/juliettekayyem/status/1710966733194899462?s=20

lousubcap

An update on the Hamas-Israeli war:

War in Israel (Mohammed Abed / AFP / Getty)   View in browser Israel didn’t see this coming. Just one week ago, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, that “the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” And “just a few days ago, the Gaza border seemed to have been stabilized after some unrest, and nearly 20,000 workers were able to travel across it again,” Atlantic contributing writer Juliette Kayyem wroteyesterday. Then, “thousands of rockets, which must have been obtained and hidden, were launched by Hamas. It did not end there. Hamas used drones to strike at Israeli targets. It sent its fighters on foot, by boat, and by air on motorized paragliders. Images have emerged of Hamas attackers on the streets of Israeli towns terrorizing citizens, and worse.” “One aspect of this needs little analysis, but a lot of explanation,” Kayyem argues: “How did Israel’s extensive counterterrorism efforts fail to pick up an attack waged by land, sea, and air? How did its defenses fail so extensively?” The role of Hamas’s backers in the Middle East is still unknown. “So far the geopolitics of this war are only starting to be understood,” the Atlanticstaff writer Graeme Wood wrote yesterday. “Hamas has backers—Iran and Syria foremost among them—and unlike the flat-footed Israelis, they are likely to have had plenty of time to think through how the war will unfold.” Negotiations with Saudi Arabia and Israel will most likely stall. “The most predictable consequence of the war will be a pause in the process of diplomatic recognition” between the two countries, Wood noted. “The countries have long had a working security partnership, and it is an open secret that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would, for the right price, expand that partnership to include full normalization. That is impossible while civilians on either side are dying in large numbers, and their mangled bodies are being exhibited on social media.” The U.S. will need to start rationing its weaponry. “If war breaks out generally around Israel, and questions arise about Israel’s very survival, the United States will have to start counting its ammunition,” Wood writes. “How much is left for Israel, after Ukraine has taken its share? And what about Taiwan, now third in line?” This could be a Pyrrhic victory for Hamas. “The trauma in Israel today should give pause to those thinking that Israel will simply acquiesce to a short tit for tat,” Natan Sachs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote yesterday. “As bad as things have been in Gaza in the past two decades—and they have been terrible—the coming weeks could prove even worse.” “Israel is in a genuine state of war—not merely one more round of Israel-Hamas fighting,” Sachs wrote. “The psychological impact of these attacks creates political cover, and political demand, for Israel to go much further than it has in the past, to be willing to pay and to exact prices it has previously stopped short of. BTW-US intelligence did not see it coming either and we lean on the Israelis for a whole lot of Middle East material. Edit to add the following from Politico: "Today, Israel issued a formal declaration of war against Hamas, as local media report that more than 600 Israelis and 300 Palestinians have been killed. The war declaration allows the Israeli government to tap into a larger trough of military reserves and also increases the chances of a ground invasion into Gaza. A bigger concern on the horizon is the possibility of a broader conflict after “a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group” in the north, according to the AP. “The flare-up on Israel’s northern border also threatened to draw into the battle Hezbollah, a fierce enemy of Israel’s which is backed by Iran and estimated to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal. Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border and Israel’s military fired back using armed drones.” Another sign of possible spread via Reuters: “In Alexandria, two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with their Egyptian guide.” THE BIG QUESTION: Reports indicate that Hamas fired more than 2,200 rockets into Israel while infiltrating the country by land, sea and air. “So, how was none of the preparation for this assault picked up on?” asks Jamie Dettmer. “Hamas would have used its vast network of tunnels that link the enclave to Egypt, but how did it smuggle in the materials needed for such a huge attack without Israel catching wind of the traffic? And how did Israeli intelligence fail to notice Hamas was making and assembling thousands of home-grown Qassam rockets?” Here in Washington, our Lara Seligman reports that “members of Congress want to know how Hamas was able to penetrate Israel’s sophisticated network of air defenses, sending hundreds of rockets from Gaza into Israel. The lawmakers are focused on Israel and are avoiding blaming the U.S. intelligence community, at least for now.” Rep. JIM HIMES (D-Conn.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee: “That something of this size could be pulled off, I can tell you that that is not done without a lot of observable signals. It was kind of shocking in its size and ambition.” THE U.S. ANGLE: “The Palestinian militants who attacked Israel this weekend have done Benjamin Netanyahu a much-needed political favor: They’ve revived his foundering relationship with JOE BIDEN,” writes Nahal Toosi. “In the short term, it’s likely to … [increase] Republican pressure on Biden to do more to support Israel and weaken Iran, which backs Hamas. Pressure that Biden has felt from progressive Democrats to be tougher on Israel could fade temporarily. … “For now, Biden ‘really has no alternative but to be extraordinarily supportive of Netanyahu,’ said AARON DAVID MILLER, a former U.S. official involved in Middle East peace negotiations.” President Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Saturday, and offered the Israeli leader “all appropriate means of support.” “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop,”Biden reiterated after the call. “There’s never a justification for terrorist attacks. And my administration’s support for Israel security is rock solid and unwavering.” That sentiment, paired with pledges to support Israel with more aid, came from across the political spectrum. But this latest violence comes at a moment when Congress is poorly positioned to act quickly and deliver new assistance to Israel. The Senate is in recess until next week and the House can’t do much of anything until it elects a new speaker. (As our colleagues note, the “speaker is also part of the Gang of Eight, a group of congressional leaders that reviews some of the most sensitive intelligence and is usually the first briefed in a crisis.”) And here’s a sentence we didn’t expect to write at the end of this week: There’s a longshot, underground effort to reinstate KEVINMcCARTHY as speaker."

            

Gulfcoastguy

Financed by billions returned to Iran. There is now a certainty of a massive Israeli land invasion because they have to find and plug all of the tunnels used to smuggle rockets and rocket making material through Egypt. But watch no country volunteer to take Palestinian refugees.

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

Financed by billions returned to Iran. 

No.

nolaegghead

Gulfcoastguy said:

Financed by billions returned to Iran. There is now a certainty of a massive Israeli land invasion because they have to find and plug all of the tunnels used to smuggle rockets and rocket making material through Egypt. But watch no country volunteer to take Palestinian refugees.

Maybe google that.  None of that money has been spent yet.

lousubcap

However, having access to those $$ downstream gives Iran the ability to flex $$ to sources that may not have made the initial cut.

I am aware that Iran has not gotten the $$ via a third party(ies) intermediary but knowing it is in your account changes the landscape. At least as I see it...

HeavyG

lousubcap said:

However, having access to those $$ downstream gives Iran the ability to flex $$ to sources that may not have made the initial cut.

I am aware that Iran has not gotten the $$ via a third party(ies) intermediary but knowing it is in your account changes the landscape. At least as I see it...

Iran has plenty of money to spend on ventures they deem important. Sanctions haven't really stopped that. From a State Dept. website:

"How is Iran avoiding sanctions?

"ranian currency exchange houses create front companies abroad to enable trade on behalf of their Iranian clients and help them evade U.S. sanctions. Companies utilizing these networks have generated tens of billions of dollars for the Iranian regime across a variety of fields.Mar 9, 2023"

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

However, having access to those $$ downstream gives Iran the ability to flex $$ to sources that may not have made the initial cut.

I am aware that Iran has not gotten the $$ via a third party(ies) intermediary but knowing it is in your account changes the landscape. At least as I see it...

Sure… but the financing for this latest attack has surely been in the works for months now. I really haven’t seen any evidence that the release of those funds and the attack by Hamas are actually connected.

Gulfcoastguy

nolaegghead said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Financed by billions returned to Iran. There is now a certainty of a massive Israeli land invasion because they have to find and plug all of the tunnels used to smuggle rockets and rocket making material through Egypt. But watch no country volunteer to take Palestinian refugees.

Maybe google that.  None of that money has been spent yet.

Two different presidents, both Obama and Biden. Google that.

nolaegghead

I’m not sure what your point is.

Gulfcoastguy

Google “Obama and a plane load of cash “ Biden is the second president to either return or give over a billion dollars to Iran.

Gulfcoastguy

https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/politics/us-sends-plane-iran-400-million-cash/index.html

Gulfcoastguy

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-administration-acknowledges-1-7-billion-transfer-to-iran-was-all-cash/

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

Google “Obama and a plane load of cash “ Biden is the second president to either return or give over a billion dollars to Iran.

Jesus Christ my man.  

Gulfcoastguy

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Google “Obama and a plane load of cash “ Biden is the second president to either return or give over a billion dollars to Iran.

Jesus Christ my man.  

Did you follow the links? Neither of them are Fox News or any conservative news source. Disprove it or not.

HeavyG

Gulfcoastguy said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Google “Obama and a plane load of cash “ Biden is the second president to either return or give over a billion dollars to Iran.

Jesus Christ my man.  

Did you follow the links? Neither of them are Fox News or any conservative news source. Disprove it or not.

Disprove what? Nobody disagrees that that happened. This has been discussed before.

So money that belonged to Iran to begin with was returned to Iran due to a decision by an international court at the Hague and you want to blame a US president for bad behaviour by complying with the arbitrated decision. Alrighty then.

Again, the sort of sanctions we usually impose do nothing to stop nefarious activities by the nations we intend to target. All they achieve is making life for middle and lower income residents of those countries more difficult than they already are.

Gulfcoastguy

Okay Heavy you spoke up for John. 

I don’t imagine Iran holds itself to any international court decision much less arbitration that is not in its favor but back to the point of my tour of scandals past.  Nola was obviously 🙄 not aware that a previous president had already flown a plane load of cash to Iran in the middle of the night. In plenty of time to finance and plan this little soirée. You might want to parse out lousubcap’s comment about the current 6 billion at bit. To carry it a bit further with a “right wing “ twist. If you pay the Proud Boy’s mortgages and car loans or even commit to do so for the next year they have plenty of money to buy AR 15’s

HeavyG

Gulfcoastguy said:

Okay Heavy you spoke up for John. 

I don’t imagine Iran holds itself to any international court decision much less arbitration that is not in its favor but back to the point of my tour of scandals past.  Nola was obviously 🙄 not aware that a previous president had already flown a plane load of cash to Iran in the middle of the night. In plenty of time to finance and plan this little soirée. You might want to parse out lousubcap’s comment about the current 6 billion at bit. To carry it a bit further with a “right wing “ twist. If you pay the Proud Boy’s mortgages and car loans or even commit to do so for the next year they have plenty of money to buy AR 15’s

John can speak for himself. Nola was aware of all that as it has been discussed here many moons ago.

Nobody knows for certain what form Iran's support of Hamas in this attack may have taken. Did Iran give Hamas lotsa money? Or was Iranian support perhaps more knowledge, or materiel, or planning, or logistical? What have been the contributions from Egypt, Russia, North Korea and perhaps even China?

The top leadership of Hamas are billionaires that live a life of luxury in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They have plenty of money to give to Hamas. Just how much money do you think was spent on this attack? Hamas' rockets are simple ballistic things most of which cost less than $1k/ea they are not sophisticated guided missiles. The other weapons they appear to have used are also pretty cheap - especially when compared to US/Western military hardware. Bottom line is that this attack likely didn't cost anyone more than a couple million dollars. Money, in and of itself, isn't really the issue in all this is it?

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Google “Obama and a plane load of cash “ Biden is the second president to either return or give over a billion dollars to Iran.

Jesus Christ my man.  

Did you follow the links? Neither of them are Fox News or any conservative news source. Disprove it or not.

You’re confused.  You think I’m disputing that money was transferred to Iran under Obama, but I’m not.  

HeavyG

A screen cap so nobody has to mess with Twitter (that's right Elon, I said Twitter):

lousubcap

Israel-Hamas update, Monday:

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is “at war” with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched a large-scale surprise attack on Israel on Saturday. Hamas entered Israel by air, land, and sea, penetrating at least four military bases near the Israel-Gaza border. In Israel, initial reports suggest over 700 people were killed, over 2,000 injured, and approximately 100 taken hostage. More than 400 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and 2,300 wounded. BBC News reports. 

As the barrage of Israeli rocket fire continues, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant today said he ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip with “no electricity, no food, no fuel.” The International Committee of the Red Cross has called for establishing humanitarian corridors. BBC News reports. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday said Israel was entering the “offensive phase” of the war with Hamas militants as he faces growing calls to begin a ground invasion of Gaza. “Anything less than invasion will be a grave mistake,” said Amir Avivi, former deputy commander of the Gaza Division of Israel’s military. “Not doing that will be devastating for Israel’s ability to deter not only Hamas, but the whole region,” he added. James Shotter reports for the Financial Times. 

U.S. officials expect Israeli forces to launch a ground incursion into Gaza within 24 to 48 hours. The Washington Post reports. 

While the Israeli Defense Forces have said “most” of the breach points at the Israel-Gaza barrier have been closed, they “couldn’t deny” that militants may still be entering Israeli territory, a spokesperson said earlier today. Owen Amos reports for BBC News. 

Over 260 have been killed following Palestinian militants’ surprise attack on a music festival in southern Israel. Francesca Gillett reports for BBC News.

Senior members of Hamas and Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah claimed Tehran helped plan Hamas’ large-scale surprise attack on Israel, giving the Palestinian militant group the greenlight at a meeting in Lebanon last Monday. The officials said the attack aims to disrupt the U.S.-backed efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Direct Iranian involvement in the attack would raise the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East, as senior Israeli security officials vowed to retaliate if Iran was found to be responsible for Israeli deaths. Egypt has warned that Hezbollah would enter the fight if Israel invaded Gaza. Summer Said, Benoit Faucon, and Stephen Kalin report for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia’s defence ministry said it shot down two Ukrainian S-200 anti-aircraft missiles over the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula. The ministry issued two near-identical Telegram posts on Saturday night saying that Kyiv had “attempted a terrorist attack” at 6pm (15:00 GMT) and 10pm (19:00GMT) Moscow time with an S-200 anti-aircraft missile that had been “converted to an attack version”.

Another Ukrainian drone was also shot down near Moscow early on Saturday, the Russian TASS news agency reported, adding that it appeared to cause no damage or injuries.

In Russia’s Belgorod, local authorities said three Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles were destroyed over the border region and that shelling by Kyiv’s forces had killed one person who was on the street at the time of the attack.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s Chechnya region and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, proposed that a presidential election due next March should either be postponed due to the war in Ukraine or limited to one candidate.

“I propose now, while the ‘special military operation’ is under way, to unanimously decide that we will have one candidate in the elections – Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,” Kadyrov was quoted as saying. “Or temporarily call off the elections, because there’s no one else who could defend our country today.”"

Legume

Perhaps I'm paranoid, but it has felt increasingly to me that there is a hand behind the scenes that is encouraging and supporting this uptick in regional conflicts that will draw the US in.  Spread the US military and resources out, create a drain on the US economy and public support. Endgame Taiwan?  Elections? Something bigger?  Anyway, it feels coordinated to me.  I hope I'm wrong.