The Times first reported that hackers, alleged to be based in China, began targeting Ukrainian websites on 23 February, the day before the invasion. That [suggests] they had advance notice of Moscow's plans and if their intention was somehow to support Russia.
A broad set of Ukrainian government and commercial organisations were said to have been targeted by hackers, including organisations linked to nuclear power. It is unclear how far this activity was scanning for vulnerabilities online and how many websites were actually compromised. The aim looks to have been espionage - stealing secrets - rather than the kind of sabotage operations which Russia was accused of carrying out just before the invasion, and when it started.
22-1-19 In 2001 Beijing and Moscow signed the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. This treaty was signed after NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia and direct hit on China’s embassy in Belgrade. Today, Russia and China are once more feeling the pressure. Last June, China and Russia renewed the 20-year-old treaty after the NATO summit declared that China’s “ambitions and assertive behavior presents systemic challenges to the rules-based international order” and to Alliance security. China’s military links with Russia were also singled out. President Vladimir Putin hailed the treaty as a “fundamental international legal document” that "plays a stabilizing role in global affairs," while President Xi Jinping has called it a “vivid example of building a new type of international relations and community with a shared future for mankind.” [Not a shared future that the sane would welcome.]
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America’s renowned geostrategist, Zbigniew Brzezinski, proclaimed four years ago that the most dangerous scenario facing the US would be a grand coalition of China and Russia, united not by ideology but by complimentary shared grievances.
New thesis proposed by Emeritus Professor Paul Dibb is that such a grand coalition of China and Russia is now fast becoming a geopolitical fact in an era of growing tensions among the major powers.
China and Russia are the two leading revisionist powers leagued together in their contempt for the West. Both these authoritarian states see a West that they believe is preoccupied with debilitating political challenges at home. The evidence now is accumulating to suggest that the relationship between China and Russia is at its closest since the 1950s.
If the China-Russia military partnership continues its upward trend, it will inevitably seek to undermine the international security order by challenging the system of US-centred alliances in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. Moreover, both China and Russia have outstanding territorial ambitions they seem intent on pursuing.
So, what are the chances of Beijing and Moscow concluding that now is the time to challenge the West and take advantage of what they both consider to be Western weaknesses? Is the strategic alignment between China and Russia in effect now a de facto alliance or not? ............. On October 18th, 2021 10 Chinese and Russian warships crossed the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido. It's the first time Japan has seen Russian and Chinese warships crossing the Strait simultaneously. It has made Japan, and perhaps South Korea, nervous. "Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force yesterday on October 18th confirmed that five Chinese naval ships and five Russian naval ships sailed the Tsugaru Strait moving east towards the Pacific Ocean." ... "The Japanese government has a strong interest in the activities of Chinese and Russian naval ships around Japan, so we are closely monitoring."
A prototype of Russia's prospective fighter jet was displayed at the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky outside Zhukovsky, Russia, July 20, 2021.
A prototype was unveiled at the 2021 MAKS air show with President of RussiaVladimir Putin in attendance. The Checkmate's maiden flight is expected in 2023 and initial deliveries are planned for 2026-2027. The Checkmate is designed to be low cost and for export, and may compete with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and Shenyang FC-31 aircraft of the same light to medium-weight category. Production is forecast to be 300 planes over 15 years.
According to the chief executive of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, the LTS ‘Checkmate’ Fighter Jet is expected to cost US $25-30 million each. Rostec is anticipating that Argentina, India and Vietnam are primary export destinations of the aircraft, as well as some African countries could buy the aircraft.
The Sukhoi Su-57 (Сухой Су-57; NATO reporting name: Felon) is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth multirole fighter developed by Sukhoi for the Russian Aerospace Forces. The aircraft is the product of the PAK FA (ПАК ФА, short for: Перспективный авиационный комплекс фронтовой авиации, Perspektivny Aviatsionny Kompleks Frontovoy Aviatsii, lit. ''prospective aeronautical complex of front-line air forces'') fighter programme that would form the basis for a family of stealth combat aircraft. Sukhoi's internal designation for the aircraft is T-50. The Su-57 is the first fighter in Russian military service to feature stealth technology.
According to Sukhoi, the multirole fighter is designed to have supercruise, supermaneuverability, stealth, and integrated avionics to overcome the previous generations fighter aircraft as well as ground and naval defences. The Su-57 is intended to succeed the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the Russian Air Force and entered service in December 2020. The fighter is expected to have a service life of up to 35 years.
Overhyped? 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Expert: Justin Bronk 00:58 - Russian Air Power since Cold War 05:53 - Technical difference: East vs West 11:35 - Su57: Russian Stealth 15:06 - The Scary Stuff 21:31 - Major recent changes for Russian Aerospace 27:17 - Recommendations
The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the Chinese Navy, PLA Navy or PLAN, is the naval warfare branch of the People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of China and, by default, the national armed forces of China. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese Civil War and was established on 23 April 1949. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union provided assistance to the PLAN in the form of naval advisers and export of equipment and technology. Until the late 1980s, the PLAN was largely a riverine and littoral force (brown-water navy). However, by the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union and a shift towards a more forward-oriented foreign and security policy, the leaders of the Chinese military were freed from worrying over land border disputes. Having traditionally been subordinated to the PLA Ground Force, PLAN leaders were able to advocate for a renewed attention towards the seas.
In 2008, China confirmed plans to operate a small fleet of aircraft carriers in the near future, but for the purpose of regional defence as opposed to "global reach". By 2009, with the advancements in naval technology, the PLAN was recognized to have reached the status of a green-water navy. Chinese military officials have also outlined plans to operate in the first and second island chains, and are working towards blue water capability. Chinese strategists term the development of the PLAN from a green-water navy into "a regional blue-water defensive and offensive navy."
The PLAN continues its expansion into the 2020s, increasing its operational capacity, commissioning new ships, and constructing naval facilities. Observers note that the PLAN's ongoing modernization is intended to build up the Chinese surface fleet and fix existing issues that limit the capability of the PLAN. Observers have noted that the PLAN's expansion will allow it to project Chinese power in the South China Sea and allow for the navy to counter the USN's operations in Asia.
The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by the People's Liberation Army Navy of the People's Republic of China. Operations include maritime patrols in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters, as well as counter-strike and counter-invasion operations during wartime. The Republic of China Marine Corps functions as a branch of the Navy.
The ship prefix for ROCN combatants is ROCS (Republic of China Ship); an older usage is CNS (Chinese Navy Ship).
The defence ministry said the aircraft, including nuclear-capable bombers, entered its air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in two waves. Taiwan responded by scrambling its jets and deploying missile systems. China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state. Taiwan has been complaining for more than a year about repeated missions by China's air force near the island.
For > Poland Military >>, the migration crisis triggered by Belarus is the first tangible experience of the period of chaos that comes with the collapse of the unipolar order we have known so far. For the Polish authorities, this is the end of the geostrategic sleep in which they have been for the last 30 years.
00:00 Intro 00:45 Border Crisis 05:55 Information Warfare 13:45 The End of Strategic Sleep 17:35 Outro
