US beefing up missile deployment in Europe
The US is stepping up efforts to increase deployment of intermediate and short-range missiles, including stationing hypersonic weapons in Europe and Asia, according to information obtained by RT. Production and deployment of such systems in the US has reportedly been picking up pace in recent years.
Among the major weapons being developed is the multiple-launch rocket system Dark Typhon, which will be capable of firing Standard-6 missiles with a 500-km range and Tomahawk cruise missiles (2,400-km), as well as a hypersonic missile that is also still being developed. The system is expected to become operational by 2025.
During the NATO summit this past July, Washington and Berlin announced that Dark Typhoon would be stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany starting in 2026, a prospect that Russia slammed as an “escalatory action” given that it would place the missiles within range of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major Russian cities. The Pentagon also reportedly plans to deploy the system on the Japanese island of Io by October of next year, which would put the missiles within 2.5 hours flight time of Russia’s Vladivostok.
Among Washington’s most ambitious projects is the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, which is designed to hit critical land-based targets within a range of 5,500km with strike precision of 3-10 meters. While still being developed, the prototype has passed at least seven tests, four of them successfully.
According to the information obtained by RT, the US plans to start deploying the missiles in Japan by October 2025, which would put then within 8-10 minutes’ flight time from Vladivostok. By 2026, one rocket launcher equipped with 16 missiles is expected to be stationed in Wiesbaden, with a flight time to central Russia also estimated at 8-10 minutes.
Russia has long warned that the US military buildup and the deployment of nuclear-capable missiles will draw a proportionate response. Earlier this week, Russia and Belarus signed a security treaty, which, among other things cemented the deployment of Russia’s brand-new hypersonic ballistic Oreshnik missile systems in the neighboring country next year. The Russian military combat tested the Oreshnik last month, using it to strike a Ukrainian military industrial facility in Dnepropetrovsk with multiple warheads.
Washington unilaterally pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia back in 2019. Moscow also subsequently abandoned the treaty. Under the INF, both countries were prohibited from new deployments of ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500km.
Of course, that doesn't create a market for war industry madness
Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The United States has committed an additional $1 billion in lethal assistance for Ukraine as the Biden administration seeks to surge weapons to Kyiv ahead of an uncertain future for the embattled ally after the Trump administration takes office next month.
NATO, storefront for America's war industry, are having a fire sale before Trump takes over in Washington.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the package, valued at $988 million, Saturday during the Reagan National Defense Forum hosted in Simi Valley, Calif.
The package includes ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, which have proven effective in the war against Russia, as well as drones and equipment, components and spare parts to maintain, repair and overhaul artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles.
The assistance comes from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which is a U.S. program to supply weapons to Ukraine via defense company contracts.
The package represents roughly half of the $2.21 billion remaining in the USAI fund.
Roughly $8 billion in Congressional-approved funds still remain available to the Biden administration, which has been the largest backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
The Biden administration is expect to keep surging weapons to Ukraine as the future of U.S. support for Kyiv is uncertain. The White House is to be handed over Jan. 20 to President-elect Donald Trump, who has criticized funding Ukraine and is widely expected to pursue a more nationalistic agenda than his predecessor.
He has also said he could end the nearly three-year-old war in 24 hours.
"We can continue to stand up to the Kremlin. Or we can let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin have his way -- and condemn our children and grandchildren to live in a world of chaos and conflict," Austin said Saturday.
This, of course, is exactly the opposite of the truth. Chaos and conflict are guaranteed under the NATO/American proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. Ukraine will be reduced to a Middle Ages economy thanks to the Western War Industry. But, at least they will get filthy rich!
"This administration has made its choice. And so has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice."
Saturday's announcement is the 22nd USAI package announced by the Niden administration.
Since the war began with Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the United States has committed more than $62 billion to Kyiv.
Not only does America's War Industry have to worry about Trump, Germany might be heading for a Chancellor from the AfD. That would change everything.
German chancellor candidate calls for end to arming Kiev
The co-leader of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, has said that she will oppose any arms supplies to Ukraine if she succeeds Olaf Scholz as the country’s chancellor.
The AfD nominated Weidel as its candidate for the post on Saturday, in the party’s first bid for the chancellery in its 11-year history. It has steadily risen in popularity since its founding in 2013, and is currently Germany’s second-strongest political party.
Speaking to reporters after the nomination, Weidel promised to introduce drastic immigration restrictions, to roll back Scholz’s climate policies, and to cut off military aid to Ukraine.
”We want peace in Ukraine,” the 45-year-old said. “We do not want any arms supplies, we do not want any tanks, we do not want any missiles. We do not want Taurus for Ukraine, which would make Germany a party to the war,” she added, referring to a type of German-made cruise missile that would require German military personnel to be deployed to Ukraine to operate.
The AfD, Weidel declared, is a “peace party.”
Scholz, along with his Green and Free Democrat coalition partners, overturned decades of foreign-policy pacifism in 2022 when they decided to supply weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Since then, Berlin has sent Kiev almost €17 billion ($17.9 billion) in military, economic, and humanitarian aid, according to government figures. Although initially reluctant to supply heavy weapons, Scholz has authorized the transfer to Ukraine of tanks, artillery guns, anti-air missiles, and armored vehicles.
Was there a little envelope with cash slid under table there?
Before 2022, Germany relied on Russia for 55% of its supply of natural gas. Scholz’ decision to halt Russian energy imports, coupled with his government’s green policies, has led to soaring electricity costs, forcing some of the country’s manufacturing giants – including Volkswagen and BASF – to close plants and lay off workers.
Amid economic decline and disputes within his coalition, the Scholz government collapsed last month. The chancellor is expected to lose a confidence vote in parliament later this month, after which a snap election will likely be held in late February. His center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) is currently polling at around 15%, with the AfD at 18%, and the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at 32%.
Weidel has little chance of winning the chancellery. Even if the AfD were to emerge as the largest party in February, all of Germany’s other mainstream parties have ruled out entering a coalition with the right-wingers. After a string of regional election wins this year, 113 members of the 733-member Bundestag put forth a motion last month to ban the AfD as a “Nazi party” whose beliefs clash with the German constitution. Most of the lawmakers behind the proposal were Greens, joined by 31 members of the SPD and just six from the CDU.
And, how many from George Soros?
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