Everyone...there is no need to panic about mines.
The US Navy has kept four mine countermeasure vessels in the Persian Gulf for the past 35 years. These ships and crews have trained for this very circumstance.
WAIT...what is that?
The minesweepers just arrived in Philadelphia yesterday to be decommissioned, but we have three Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) that took their place.
The Philippines is committed to peace and upholding international law. We are not trying to provoke anyone but are simply defending our rights and territory as recognized by international law, like UNCLOS. Accusing us of causing trouble is unfair and no basis; we're just standing up for what is right.
Nuclear war is firmly back on the agenda, I'm afraid. Thanks to Putin, Xi, and Kim - with Israel pitching in and the shadow of Trump's first-term threats.
They really have ramped up the rhetoric to a point far above the Cold War average. And that has implications - even if we don't want to hear them.
@JohnCulver689@RAF_Luton@AlexLuck9 That account used to be funny. Before ChatGPT and other large language model AI started doing exactly the same thing.
@ironicmeme42069 @3Clockamocha @Miguel64185066@Aviation_Intel Seems strange to me that we would so utterly destroy a capability - in case of contingency - long before the replacement is even on the horizon...
Shades of authoritarian absolutism / tantrum throwing, perhaps? Make it so the decision can't be reversed - damn the consequences?
@james_acton32@tarantulae I've not heard it. But there is still a certain "uncanny valley" effect (usually grammar and timing). Also, I guess it would be hard to find an actor willing to face charges over impersonating a public official who also sounded like Biden.
Which our PM has now done. The Chinese Ambassador has compelled him to break a diplomatic silence and rightly reiterate Australia’s accusation against the Chinese navy. This is hardly conducive to the ‘stabilisation plus’ agenda Beijing is advocating - so an own goal
An update on the Australian Taipan. On this issue, the Australian government is doing a world class job in being non-transparent and obfuscating the issue - and wasting an asset that every other user seems to be employing as designed.
https://t.co/hlW8WFAZvE
Years ago, when I asked Langford about his presence in this photo and any corrective actions he took, he mumbled something about protected identity status and said that only CDF was authorized to speak about these matters. Perhaps he should answer those questions first...
We can learn how quickly such a national organisation can be rendered useless by dogma-obsessed politicians. The US CDC's utter failure at the start of COVID is a case in point. Australia's State-based system could not be controlled and embarrassed politicians into action.
I guess that's why an Aus CDC is so desired by ... politicians.
One of the most powerful English professors of the past 40 years stole an argument I made in a seminar presentation, turning it into the core of his next book.
The week after my presentation, he came into the classroom and...
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