Ukraine Invasion: Part 34

[MagicFox]

Welcome all 🇺🇦

I heard on the news last night, either Channel 4 News or Newsnight, that the aid the UK has spent on Ukraine isn't 'new' money that the government has come up with but is in fact money diverted from the foreign aid budget. Every penny spent on supporting Ukrainians, including those in the UK, is taken away from someone else who had been promised it. The UK government are the only country doing this. They are despicable.

What foreign aid though.?

They did mention some of the projects which have been cut but I've forgotten. Sorry.

If the foreign aid is being cut from countries who openly cheerlead for Putin then I'm ok with that.

It's potentially really dangerous to cut foreign aid elsewhere.

Just think for a moment how Putin will sell that to countries affected: "Those Western warmongers are hurting you with their war of aggression against Russia. I told you they didn't care about you. But it's OK, I'm your friend and will look after you: here have some stolen Ukrainian grain which the West has been hindering me shipping. We anti-colonial multipolarists have to stick together against the imperialists but don't forget I'm your leader."

I think it’s more nuanced than that though. Just because a country’s leadership ‘cheerleads’ for Putin that isn’t the same as the population supporting the Ukraine invasion. In general it’s the World’s poorest who suffer from these decisions.

One area that’s seen money diverted is funding for developing countries to combat Climate Change, including food aid for those suffering climate induced famine.

Also need to be mindful that the UK Government have chosen to include a number of ‘leftover’ Covid vaccines in their aid budget.

More cynically In terms of what this means for optics and soft power is important too. For example the UK’s aid to Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen fell this year by almost 55% whilst China’s contribution increased substantially in the same period.

I believe the UK spends more on foreign aid than nearly any other country

The UK is recognised as one of the leading support countries and I think has a foreign aid budget total in the top 5 across the World. Of course we largely have to address issues of our own making, be it through ramifications of colonialism or climate change. We should be proud to support other countries.

Im afraid that 'Foreign Aid" is a joke

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/oct/29/billions-in-foreign-aid-never-leaves-britain-under-sunak-rules-analysis

The UK aid budget is around £11bn, with about £4bn going to multilateral institutions including the World Bank.

Of the remaining £7bn, which is administered by the UK directly, more than half will be spent domestically in 2022, including about £3bn on housing refugees, according to CGD’s analysis.

NOËL AT NOELreports
Pro-Russians in Svatove about the situation in and around the city:

"As it is, everything is not very good in our direction. Slowly giving up territory."

Stellar Wildcat AT WildStellarCat
Locals seem to have reported russians slowly leaving all surrounding villages and either leaving trough Svatove, or trying to stay in the town itself.

Russians are suggesting that Ukraine won't even try an assault on Svatove and instead will just go straight past it to the north and the south...

twitter.com/haynesdeborah/status/1587460958749970438

Sober Ben Wallace thread on defence spending

Not great rumblings, let's hope Sunak does stick to the 3%

@RedToothBrush great dive into the numbers of RU deaths and linking them to key events by date. Very much appreciate your pulling this together.

We live in the times we do. All belts are being tightened. Ben Wallace will have to make do with the hand he is dealt. I am reassured with Ben at the helm of the UK Defence Ministry that he will do the best he can for Ukraine within those limits.

Agreed, but didn't Wallace suggest he'd resign if the 3% wasn't managed?

Resigning and threatening to resign are two completely different concepts as many years of watching politics will testify to.

I read somewhere that Ben has relaxed on the 3%, which the latest tweet seems to support. Fingers crossed he gets what he needs.

and I suppose it was in the context of the leadership debate too

Yes, thank you very much.

Ukrainian special forces have infiltrated an airbase on Russian territory and blown up three of their best ground attack helicopters. There's a video of them strolling into the area, affixing the explosive charges, and strolling out again.

Ukrainian Commandoes Raid Airfield Deep Inside Russia, Destroy Frontline Helicopters

Amazing. This is what happens when there is a complete loss of military discipline. The base security troops were no doubt valiantly drinking or sleeping at the time.

Ru were starting to use anti-ship missiles in a more general role/less accurate roles in the Summer and I'm sure the situation won't have improved..

www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2022/october/lessons-russian-missile-performance-ukraine

Yeah. Alarming news that they are getting ballistic missiles from Iran tho :(

<Ijsbeer>

I'm sure they have..

Without dragging things off topic again I was just trying to emphasise that (as you know) you can prove/disprove pretty much anything by selective use of stats.

Claims of missile systems having 100% "efficiency" sounds impressive to the lay reader but in reality are completely meaningless without an explanation of the metrics used. I can't think of a single SAM or Air to Air Missile with a demonstrated kill probability (Kp) of 1.00 (100%), I doubt that has changed.....
..

I do presume that since Ukraine claim that, and generally they seem to try to stay true to the spirit of the facts as well as the rules, that the claim of 100% efficiency is for at least several incidents

Correct. There is no magic bullet that will prevail in all situations. When the US Navy first deployed the rotary cannon CIWS units, they performed brilliantly until you threw too many targets at them. Then they locked up and wouldn't engage any of them. That's been fixed, fortunately.

I'm looking forward to the deployment of directed energy weapons in an air defense role. That will require new tactics, but will certainly change the rules of the game.