Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by MilitaryMadness

Russian mercs in 'hot pursuit' of the warlord Kony

MilitaryMadness — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 13:41:34 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1784226686898205181?t=y7I_hB0DUL0btNsRC-gRNA&s=19[/twt]

I for one thought the meme died sometime in 2012

Ornate gunblade revolver seized by NYPD

MilitaryMadness — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 10:48:30 +0800

WTF
[twt]https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1764010339811668173?t=F8rzNrupeWmt92tqb4k_hQ&s=19[/twt]

Lukas Podolski tauke kebab

MilitaryMadness — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 11:53:48 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/eurofootcom/status/1762454359613296792?s=19[/twt]

Malaysia record investments of RM329.5 Billion

MilitaryMadness — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 10:14:56 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/staronline/status/1760650737594597554?t=NsmEFHJL-FWg0DPDPwAGAw&s=19[/twt]Malaysia recorded the highest approved investment in its history, totalling RM329.5bil in 2023, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The investments were approved last year which was 23% higher compared to 2022, added the Prime Minister

"From the total investment, foreign investment was the main contributor with a total 57.2% compared to domestic investment amounting 42.8%.

"This excellent performance was supported by an increase of 35.1% in domestic investment as much as 15.3% for foreign investment," he said in a statement on Thursday (Feb 22).

The matter was presented during the National Investment Council's Second Meeting on Thursday.

Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said this was a good indicator that the pro-investments policies implemented through a whole-of-government approach have begun to bear fruit in terms of investor confidence.

Go MADANInomics!

Turkey's maiden flight of KAAN 5th gen fighter jet

MilitaryMadness — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:09:47 +0800

Turkiye has completed the maiden flight of its KAAN 5th gen stealth fighter jet
[twt]https://twitter.com/hulusiakarmedya/status/1760323379259650210?t=g-PMCEOaU2tZz4VgMJt1kA&s=19[/twt]
[twt]https://twitter.com/memetsimsek/status/1760365138127773791?t=cVhWzKOJz-XuiFFMJyG3GQ&s=19[/twt]
Bila nak masuk order?

UK Navy embarrased as Trident missile launch fails

MilitaryMadness — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 08:29:26 +0800

The Royal Navy is a joke right now

Major embarrasment for the Royal Navy as Submarine Trident missile test launch fails with UK Defence Minister onboard
[twt]https://twitter.com/OSINTOperative/status/1760074964827246773?t=rWA-7tswf0pWp-ObbbnNAA&s=19[/twt]
[YOUTUBE]hCvxOZtpuuw[/YOUTUBE]

Vladimir Putin gifts a luxury car to Kim Jong-Un

MilitaryMadness — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 23:02:07 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1759889669519479234?t=AqV4lOzCBRP1y_wM2dCfMg&s=19[/twt]
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a luxury Russian-made car.

Pyongyang's state media said the limousine was delivered to Mr Kim's top aides on Sunday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the gift, saying it was an Aurus, a full-sized luxury sedan of the type used by Mr Putin himself.

The two internationally isolated countries have forged close relations since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea is thought to be supplying Russia with artillery, rockets and ballistic missiles for the war, despite international sanctions on both countries. Both sides deny breaching sanctions.

Mr Putin welcomed Mr Kim to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East last September, in what was his first trip abroad in four years.

US bill to allow illegal aliens to join the army

MilitaryMadness — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 11:15:11 +0800

Late stage Roman Empire vibes
[twt]https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1759694171361964203?t=g3-10fOrzSNFdDiHMs11iQ&s=19[/twt]

Royal Navy's OPV HMS Spey visits Malaysia

MilitaryMadness — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 13:15:07 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/RoyalNavy/status/1758098839582699697?t=l5XGqPlMwK3e8KSn1_AyDQ&s=19[/twt]Patrol ship HMS Spey paid her second visit to Malaysia in three months to underline the UK’s commitment to the defence and security of the region.

Having completed a month’s patrol of the Indian Ocean and her first visit to India and Sri Lanka, the Portsmouth-based warship headed for Penang – about 170 miles north of the Malay capital to work with the Royal Malaysia Navy and support the long-standing Five Powers Defence Arrangements.

Spey’s crew hosted a series of tours for Royal Malaysian Navy personnel to look around and participated in a series of meetings with Five Powers partners to discuss further cooperation in the region; the patrol ship and her sister Tamar are on an extended mission across the Indo-Pacific to underscore the renewed importance of the region to UK security and prosperity.

And there was a capability demonstration followed by a reception and traditional Sunset ceremony for Malaysia’s naval leaders, VIPs and High Commissioner Ailsa Terry as Spey once again acted as a floating ambassador for UK plc in an overseas port.

“Maintaining security in this region is of global significance,” the patrol ship’s Commanding Officer Commander Paul Caddy stressed.

UK enters recession as economy shrinks

MilitaryMadness — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 17:53:34 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1758028646143393804?t=UelTOMRjJdHkeBREZqvv8g&s=19[/twt]
The UK economy has officially entered recession, figures show.

A major measure of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.3% between October and December, the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows.

It's a steeper-than-expected fall, as economists had forecast a 0.1% contraction.

It followed 0.1% of negative economic growth in the three months from July to September.

Another one

Japanese economy falls into a recession

MilitaryMadness — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 11:44:20 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/BBCNewsAsia/status/1757959789668131099?s=19[/twt]Japan has unexpectedly fallen into a recession after its economy shrank for two quarters in a row.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.4% in the last three months of 2023, compared to a year earlier.

It came after the economy shrank by 3.3% in the previous quarter.

The figures from Japan's Cabinet Office also indicate that the country may have also lost its position as the world's third-largest economy to Germany.

At a press conference in Tokyo this month, the IMF's deputy head, Gita Gopinath, also said an important reason for Japan potentially slipping in the rankings was the yen falling by about 9% against the US dollar last year.

Skirmish on Armenia-Azerbaijan border escalated

MilitaryMadness — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 09:38:40 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1757331109858173212?t=e3qIXRtcL_WayVaRl18cOQ&s=19[/twt]
[twt]https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1757386933808865742?t=D7ZUefrG3WpDvLxfUW19wA&s=19[/twt]

UK MoD to relax security checks on recruits

MilitaryMadness — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:11:18 +0800

WTF is happening with the UK military ?
[twt]https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1756421007139618978?t=efcwbBklRLaM5HYF0cY-Og&s=19[/twt]The British Army wants to relax security checks for recruits from overseas to boost diversity and inclusion, The Telegraph can reveal.

Britain’s armed forces have consistently failed to hit recruitment targets and are looking overseas to boost ethnic minority representation, which currently stands at 14 per cent of the regular army.

A document leaked to this paper, titled The British Army’s Race Action Plan, notes that the Army “struggles to attract talent from ethnic minority backgrounds into the officer corps”.

Published in March 2023 and understood to be the latest guidance, it outlines a series of “actions” to boost representation and describes security clearance vetting as being “the primary barrier to non-UK personnel gaining a commission in the Army”.

The Army’s Race Action Plan plan is part of a wider Ministry of Defence diversity push that has caused alarm among former defence chiefs.

Edward Stringer, a retired Air Marshal, said that while serving in the Royal Air Force, he raised concerns “at the highest levels”.

DEATH STRANDING 2 ANNOUNCE TRAILER

MilitaryMadness — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:43:38 +0800

[YOUTUBE]6cs-A1rNvEE[/YOUTUBE]

British Army recruitment ad targeting Muslims

MilitaryMadness — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 07:59:50 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1752655556358160863?t=UtvAqGbX4MYEIyAEPgOLPQ&s=19[/twt]

Russia to establish a 20,000-strong 'Africa Corps'

MilitaryMadness — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 10:52:23 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/bpolitics/status/1752285891786088500?t=UBnWu7bEnPjJruciMZfT9w&s=19[/twt]Emboldened by a French retreat from the region, Russia’s new Africa Corps aims to put together a force numbering up to 20,000 at a string of bases to replace Wagner forces over the next half year.

That may be ambitious, with Russia also looking to draft 250,000 new volunteers to fight in its war in Ukraine. But even a smaller contingent would likely dwarf Wagner’s presence in Africa, which never exceeded several thousand fighters.

Formalizing Russia’s one-time covert activities in the continent by swapping private contractors for regular armed forces is a double-edged sword.

Unlike the free-wheeling activities of Prigozhin, who fell foul of the Kremlin with his armed mutiny in Russia last year, the Africa Corps cements Russia’s presence through government-to-government agreements. That removes the cloak of deniability that allowed Moscow to distance itself from accusations of war crimes and other abuses leveled against Wagner troops.

So far, Russia’s regional allies are content.

In the Central African Republic, security cooperation with Moscow has “intensified” since Prigozhin’s death, according to a senior adviser to President Faustin-Archange Touadera.

In Burkina Faso, where Wagner’s been active as well as in Libya and Mali, some 100 Russian troops arrived last week to provide security for military junta chief Ibrahim Traore.

Next is Niger, where France withdrew its troops and closed its embassy last year. Still, for now the military rulers are betting on two horses by keeping open a US base used for drone attacks on militants in the Sahel region.

UK Navy unable to attack Houthi targets in Yemen

MilitaryMadness — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:25:56 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1751568647984705978?t=ewRLQ0wx6kiqLGCb5MaSOQ&s=19[/twt]None of the Royal Navy’s destroyers or frigates have the ability to fire missiles at targets on land, leaving the US to carry out the majority of strikes on Houthi targets with support from RAF planes based 1,500 miles away.

A British defence source said HMS Diamond, the destroyer stationed in the Red Sea, had not joined retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets because it did not have “the capability to fire to land targets”. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it had instead been “directly involved in successfully destroying Houthi drones targeting shipping in the Red Sea”.

One former rear admiral suggested that Britain’s inability to strike the Iran-backed Houthi movement’s bases from warships highlighted how the Navy would be unable to “go toe to toe” with Chinese and Russian warships.

Currently, the only weapons on destroyers that can fire at other ships or land are artillery guns at the front of each vessel. While US destroyers can fire Tomahawk guided missiles at land targets, the UK’s only options for such strikes are deploying planes or submarines, five of which were reported to be unavailable at one point in the autumn.

Tobias Ellwood, the former chairman of the Commons defence committee, warned that the situation was unsustainable and urged Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, to conduct an urgent review. “We can’t continue to do this with a surface fleet that’s too small and cannot fire on land at range,” Mr Ellwood said.

During the first few months of Boris Johnson’s premiership, Sir Tony publicly advocated replacing Harpoon anti-ship missiles with a weapon that could be used to attack land targets.

However, the Harpoon was retired from the Navy last year and its temporary replacement, the Norwegian-made Naval Strike Missile, which can hit land targets, has only been installed on one vessel so far as part of a trial and has yet to be fired.

“The real worry is that we are not going to be able to go toe to toe with our Chinese and Russian opposite numbers in encounter actions and we are going to see more and more of these issues. We, the UK, haven’t thought about the scenarios within which those weapons might be used.

“You need to look at the effect you want to have and that effect should be that when a British frigate or destroyer turns up, the Chinese and the Russians say oh f—, it’s the Brits. That’s what a deterrence is all about.

“Instead they are going to say, it’s got a pop gun on the front, no surface-to-surface missiles and a helicopter which I can shoot down with a drone so why are we worried?

“The point is you don’t bring a knife to a gun fight, and at the moment we have the knives and they have the guns.”

Australia must consider conscription for its army

MilitaryMadness — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 12:30:45 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1751411270887387574?t=UQgrOIlVEJ84cXO1J6BA-w&s=19[/twt]
As Australia continues to face divide surrounding its national day, as well as the contentious matter of broken promises on fiscal policy, another kind of uneasy debate is happening overseas.

The primary consideration is on readying countries and coalitions for the possibility of an all-out world war.

The risk of a war in eastern Europe and the Middle East becoming the catalyst for a nuclear catastrophe were highlighted on Tuesday, when the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists kept the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight.

Our immediate region has several potential flashpoints, which may ignite yet another regional conflict.

That in turn may drag Australia into an orbit of an open confrontation, an eventuality Canberra is clearly trying to avoid.

Perhaps it is time for Australia to consider another uncomfortable subject - the return of national service.

The inadequate size of the ADF’s permanent force was recognised by the former Morrison government, which committed to a 30 per cent increase to Australia’s target force of some 80,000 personnel by 2040.

Labor at that time supported the decision, although it raised concerns about its actual implementation - pointing to recruitment and retention challenges.

The question of the ADF’s size came to the fore during Australia’s contingencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which required considerable commitments supported by regular rotations of personnel.

As the risk of Australia being drawn into a major war increase, we are facing a short window of opportunity to address some of the shortfalls in our defence capability.

Back in 1972, Labor under Gough Whitlam’s abolished the national service in peacetime, even though it could still be reactivated in times of war.

Fifty-two years later, we should be asking ourselves and Labor under Anthony Albanese if we should consider reintroducing a form of national service to increase a pool of trained reserves while we still have time.

Or should we wait to be dragged into a major conflict, and deal with the consequences?

US Navy lowers qualification criteria for recruits

MilitaryMadness — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 17:48:43 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/AP/status/1751085283783610731?t=3k9rh4nm906MoUYYpLRejg&s=19[/twt]The U.S. Navy is starting to enlist individuals who didn’t graduate from high school or get a GED, marking the second time in about a year that the service has opened the door to lower-performing recruits as it struggles to meet enlistment goals.

The decision follows a move in December 2022 to bring in a larger number of recruits who score very low on the Armed Services Qualification Test. Both are fairly rare steps that the other military services largely avoid or limit, even though they are all finding it increasingly difficult to attract the dwindling number of young people who can meet the military’s physical, mental and moral standards.

UK army chief warns brits face possible call-up

MilitaryMadness — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 11:40:48 +0800

[twt]https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1750045634881585553?t=P75kLVXJ27CkvUJrwYBBaw&s=19[/twt]
The British public will be called up to fight if the UK goes to war because the military is too small, the head of the Army is to warn.

General Sir Patrick Sanders will stress the need for the Government to “mobilise the nation” in the event of war with Russia in a speech on Wednesday.

With the British Army being reduced to its smallest size for centuries, The Telegraph understands Gen Sir Patrick, who has been openly critical of troop cuts, wants British men and women to be prepared for a call-up if Nato goes to war with Vladimir Putin.

Putin is on the front foot in Ukraine and has tripled Russia’s military expenditure, while Nato is struggling to replenish weapon stocks it has given to Kyiv.

All three armed forces are experiencing a recruitment and retention crisis, with the number of fully trained soldiers in the Army set to fall to 72,500.

The Royal Navy is struggling to hire more than the other forces, with just 29,000 full-time recruits.