Geo Political Risk

[Davexl]

China withdraws promise not to send troops to Taiwan if it takes control of island


https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...on-2022-08-10/

[Davexl]

More innovation from Ukraine...

Ukraine’s makeshift drones are a bright spot for the military.David Guttenfelder for The New York Times

Ukraine’s ‘mosquito’ drones

As part of its military arsenal, Ukraine uses advanced military drones for observation and attack. But the bulk of its drone fleet consists of off-the-shelf or hand-built units adapted in workshops around the country to drop grenades or anti-tank munitions. The soldiers call them “mosquitoes.”

They are an example of flourishing innovation by the military, which has seized on drone warfare to counter Russia’s advantage in artillery and tanks, Andrew Kramer, The Times’s Kyiv bureau chief, reports.

Ukraine has long relied on drones in its underdog fight against Russia-backed separatists in the east. Before the war, the military had bought Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones, which have helped shore up Ukrainian defense.

After Russia invaded, donations poured in. The U.S. and European allies provided strike and observation drones. And people all over the world sent hobby drones. Workshops then set about converting them for military use.

One of the larger such outfits in Kyiv, called Dronarnia, takes orders online from military officers seeking customized units, some large enough to drop 18-pound bombs. The group is financed by crowdsourced donations.

“There’s a boom in experimentation,” said a commander in an Azov unit that flies drones.

With the risk of drones buzzing over their positions at any time, Russian soldiers “cannot eat and cannot sleep,” said the commander, who used the nickname Botsman. “The stress leads them to make mistakes.”

Soldiers guide the grenade-armed drones over Russian-held territory, looking for targets.David Guttenfelder for The New York Times

Converting a commercial drone to carry explosives can be dangerous and nerve-racking work. Preparing the grenade to explode at its target requires dismantling safety features. Accidents have happened, and some assemblers have lost fingers.

“It’s better to do it in an atmosphere that is calm,” Taras Chyorny, a drone armorer working in Kyiv, said.

Converting ordinary drones to carry explosives is dangerous and accidents happen.David Guttenfelder for The New York Times

As part of innovative marketing that also raises money, the Ukrainian company that makes the Punisher military drone allows people to pay about $30 to send a written message on the bombs.

Among the most popular messages are names of killed friends, hometowns lost to occupation or people’s own names with a “hello from.”

“A lot of people want to express hard feelings,” said Yevhen Bulatsev, a founder of UA Dynamics, the company that donates the drones to the military. “It helps people psychologically.”

[Davexl]

Ukraine did it...
The Crimea blasts

The explosions that ripped through Russia’s Saki Air Base in Crimea yesterday caused much more damage than what Russian officials had acknowledged. The explosions killed at least one person, wounded more than a dozen others and forced more than 250 into shelters, according to videos from the scene and an assessment by local officials, who declared a state of emergency. More than 60 apartment buildings were damaged, along with 20 stores and other buildings. Video footage showed a warplane apparently melted into the tarmac. A senior Ukrainian military official said that Ukrainian special forces — along with local resistance fighters loyal to the Kyiv government — were behind the blast. The weapon used was “a device exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture,” the official said. Ukraine has not officially taken responsibility for the explosions. Russia’s Defense Ministry played down the explosions, saying they were caused by the detonation of stockpiled ordnance for the base. But the Kremlin-installed authorities in Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, raised the terrorist threat level after the blasts. It appears unlikely that a Ukrainian missile strike was responsible. The base lies about 200 miles from the nearest Ukrainian position, and Ukrainian forces have few weapons that can reach the peninsula aside from aircraft, my colleague Michael Schwirtz reported from Odesa. This raises the possibility that locals loyal to Kyiv were involved. Partisans have carried out attacks in other Russia-controlled territories in Ukraine for weeks. Guerrillas in Kherson, for example, have helped target Russian bases and ammunition depots there. Any Ukrainian attack inside Crimea would indicate a significant expansion of Ukraine’s offensive efforts. Partisan activity on the peninsula would further endanger Russia’s Black Sea fleet, which already lost its flagship carrier, the Moskva, in April. It would also represent an embarrassment to President Vladimir Putin, who views Crimea as hallowed Russian ground and often celebrates its annexation.

[Davexl]

China’s new financial threat lurks in the shadows

https://www.smh.com.au/business/bank...jobid=29406981

"There are 68 trusts in China with about $4.3 trillion of assets – property loans, shares, bonds and commodities – under management, with property accounting for at least $500 billion of the total.

Their funding tends to be short term, and therefore the potential for liquidity crunches and “runs” -- a stampede by investors to get their money out in moments of crisis – and the kind of spreading contagion that the mortgagors’ and depositors’ protests have displayed is latent."

[BlackPeter]

China withdraws promise not to send troops to Taiwan if it takes control of island


https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...on-2022-08-10/

Given that it is well known that the Chinese Communist government is breaking their promises and commitments as they please (as we have seen with Hongkong), what exactly does it mean if they withdraw their meaningless promises anyway?

Bunch of crooks.

[Davexl]

Given that it is well known that the Chinese Communist government is breaking their promises and commitments as they please (as we have seen with Hongkong), what exactly does it mean if they withdraw their meaningless promises anyway?

Bunch of crooks.

Same maybe with their 'security' deal with the Solomons and THEIR PM's promises of no military base, but we'll see...(No transparency)

[GTM 3442]

Come home Ronald, all is forgiven. . .

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/w...ne-restaurants

[Davexl]

US and allies should move to protect ‘freedom of navigation’, says Taiwan envoy

Kelly Wu-Chiao Hsieh called for operations to uphold the ‘median line’ in the Taiwan Strait in response to China’s military exercises

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...an-envoy-china

[Davexl]

Gas-Starved Europe Is About to Get a Pair of Floating LNG Units

• Italy and Finland will receive floating import terminals
• Excelerate signs letter with Hyundai for new LNG import ship

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ting-lng-units

[Davexl]

More inclusive partnerships will help prevent conflict in space

https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/mo...t%20in%20space