one described it as “clumsy, chaotic and poorly planned.” Hmmm, do I detect a hint of bias in the writing at the AP? Why does this need to be included if all but one of the groups seems to ‘welcome’ it?

It’s all up-front costs! /s

It’s like they were trying to jump the Gorge Dukes of Hazzard style. Crazy to watch.

Now I’m imagining laser derby matches.

There’s multiple levels so the answer is “sort of.” Very generally, the Minister of Defense (or equivalent) has a national defense council that will have heads of armed forces and maybe a few senior civilian members. The council creates the overall battle plan with specific generals or admirals creating plans for specific battles or campaigns that conform to the overarching goals set by the defense council. The Prime Minister has a cabinet. The cabinet will receive info from the defense council. Intelligence agencies and departments involved with any economic warfare. The PM and cabinet can give direction to individual councils and departments to coordinate the overarching strategy of the entire country. The defense council will then adjust plans based on Cabinet’s directives. The PM is probably given detailed briefings of battlefield progress and aims for the military for the short-, medium-, and long-term for the conflict and can veto specific plans. But the PM won’t help to plan attacks or modify those plans usually. That’s the purview of generals and admirals.

BE Man, Amazon must be really pissed off about this…

I think most, like me, read the article and found it wanting. The USA has limited resources and has to decide what’s going to get priority. The Biden Administration’s decision to focus its foreign policy on countering growing Chinese global influence is a decision that has to be made in the context of these limited resources. So blaming the US for a war that both sides have wanted and worked toward for 50 years while every US President has put in far more resources to try to prevent that war seems like the journalist doesn’t understand the basics of practically anything having to do with foreign policy. But must be the USA’s fault because we didn’t decide to spend more of our limited resources on a conflict that never goes away.

36.005970N , 114.976380W

Someone has to take Ted Cruz to Mexico.

ADL would almost certainly file an anti-SLAPP claim and probably win. California’s anti-SLAPP law even says that it’s contents should be broadly considered as a bulwark against assholes using the courts to prevent public participation. If ADL does win an anti-SLAPP motion, Musk would end up paying their lawyers fees down to the cent.

So you’re telling me that Excel is very good at stuff?

It’s more like 2.5 billion for R&D and then 2.5 billion to create the factory that builds them and the first thousand units. The per unit cost is initially high and then comes down once all the front end work is done.

And as with many programs, the R&D phase may lead to a brand new use-case for drones or an entirely different purpose for one of the drone prototypes. So there can be unknown benefits too.

Ironic… he could see the problems in others… But not himself.

Sexists close ranks around each other to protect their own. This probably only ends after the Spanish FA has been completely rebuilt.

Reddit: “Fixes to title posts are impossible.”

How did we live?!!!

Or, they have the greatest, most technologically advanced space navy, with the Mariner Valley full of Chinese-Texans who all speak with the Texan drawl.

Don’t forget blowing up the train tracks leading into Tokmak! It’s not really about taking Tokmak but putting fire control on the train running through Tokmak. If Ukraine can prevent resupply via the trains then everything west of Tokmak falls practically without a shot.

But the “WORK FROM HOME” company should be doing EVERYTHING to encourage the activity that keeps THEM in business. It’s mind-boggling!

Poland would make quick work of Wagner. They have not fucked around in making their army one of the best in Europe in combined arms warfare. They’ve also updated their most of their materiel to Western gear (or are producing their own that is equal to Western gear) that we now know is dramatically superior to the old Soviet//Russian gear. They’ve been in on practically every peacekeeping mission across the world for the last 25 years, seasoning their officers with combat experience. They are far more competent than Wagner, to put it briefly.

Damn right it is!