Hello and welcome to this episode!
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the world has become more and more turbulent day by day, and the United States has instigated the conflict, which has also made everything more complicated.
The first is Russia's strong warning to NATO.
According to RIA Novosti, Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation to the negotiations on military security and arms control issues in Vienna, warned NATO countries at the 1065th plenary meeting of the OSCE Security Cooperation Forum that if F-16 fighter jets take off from air bases in Poland, Romania and Slovakia to assist the Ukrainian army, then Moscow will treat these countries as participating in the conflict in Ukraine.
Gavrilov noted that there is an opinion that in the event of serious damage to Ukrainian airfields, F-16 fighter jets to aid Ukraine can take off from air bases in Poland, Romania and Slovakia. And if fighter jets take off from the territory of these NATO member states, "Moscow will treat these countries as participating in the conflict in Ukraine, and Russia will be forced to take retaliatory measures." ”
It is worth noting that although Russia has warned NATO many times before, it is still very rare to have such a signal to join the war, which can be regarded as a stern ultimatum from Putin to NATO, so that NATO countries should not act rashly, let alone try to cross this red line.
Gavrilov has already unequivocally warned that "the United States and its client states" continue to create security threats on Russia's western borders. The aggressiveness of Western policy is no longer disguised by the purely defensive rhetoric of its military doctrine.
It can be seen that with the changes in the situation between Russia and Ukraine, the relationship between Russia and NATO has also rapidly become tense, and in fact, recently, some NATO countries have openly supported Ukraine, and in the context of the United States' "lack of stamina", some NATO member states have shown Zelensky a "righteous anger".
According to a number of ** reports, Zelensky finally obtained the "commitment" of the five Nordic countries after asking the United States for help.
The details disclosed that Ukraine** Zelensky made a surprise visit to Oslo, the capital of Norway, and held talks with the leaders of 5 Nordic countries, while Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, the five Nordic countries, directly issued a joint statement saying that since February 2022, the five countries have provided Ukraine with aid worth about 11 billion euros and are ready to continue to provide extensive military, economic and humanitarian support. "The Nordic countries will stand with Ukraine," the statement added. ”
To Zelensky's great relief, he received good news as soon as he arrived in Norway. Norwegian Prime Minister Støre pledged more air defense support to Ukraine and also said that Norway would donate 3 billion kroner to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which ranked first in terms of funding commitments to Ukraine as a percentage of GDP as of October 31.
So the question is, why is Norway so generous, and even ranked first, according to many sources, Norway actually earned $31 billion from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Norway's oil and gas revenues hit a record high last year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused a surge in energy**.
I have to say that if you look into it in detail, it is still a little intriguing, but compared with Norway, the United States is more "painful", and on the issue of aid to Ukraine, now Biden can no longer even call the shots.
Some British media commented that Zelensky's third trip to Washington was tinged with desperation. "Zelensky's magic ended in failure", some scholars bluntly said that the United States simply cannot provide all the ammunition and **, and in the end Biden ** will make concessions on the border reform demanded by the Republican Party in order to allow the Ukraine aid bill to pass Congress, but the final package will be far less than the $61 billion that Biden originally requested.
From this point of view, now the United States is "more difficult", and NATO countries have also received a stern warning from Russia, and the situation in Ukraine at the moment is obviously not optimistic.
We know that Putin's toughness has always been more than just words, and if he tries to cross the red line drawn by Russia, he is bound to invite serious consequences.
At the same time as issuing an ultimatum to NATO to join the war, Russia is also developing a new type of mobile strategic missile, that is, a new type of mobile strategic missile, according to RIA Novosti, Russian strategic rocket commander Karakaev said in an interview that Russia is developing a new mobile strategic missile system to replace the "Yars" land-based strategic missile system.
Karakaev also pointed out that all of Russia's mobile strategic rocket units have been equipped with the "Yars" missile system, and the research and development of the new "Sarmat" silo-based missile system has been basically completed, and the system has unique tactical performance and embodies Russia's advanced achievements in the rocket and space fields.
We know that the United States and NATO have always been afraid of Russia, and have repeatedly claimed that they do not want to break out a direct conflict with Russia, an important reason is Russia's strong military strength, the Russian army continues to develop new ones, and Russia has said not long ago that Russia has signed a decree to increase the number of Russian armed forces by 170,000, and Russia's standing strength will reach 1.32 million, these moves are revealing a sense of deterrence.
It is conceivable that if the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to drag on for a long time, and if the United States continues to lead its allies to encircle and suppress Russia, then the conflict between Russia and the West will continue to escalate.
And at a time when US-Russian relations are tense, China and the United States are not very "calm".
According to the official report of the US Space Force, recently, General Saltzman, chief of operations of the US Space Force, said at a conference that the future of the X-37B spaceplane is brighter than ever due to the competition between the Pentagon and its Chinese counterpart. Saltzman also said that the Chinese spacecraft of the same kind could be launched at about the same time as the X-37B, "perhaps not by coincidence."
It is reported that the X-37B spaceplane's most recent flight began on May 17, 2020 and ended 908 days later, and in early November, the U.S. Space Force announced that the X-37B spaceplane will be launched on December 7 at the Kennedy Space Station in Florida by SpaceX's "Falcon Heavy" rocket. However, due to various reasons, the launch date was postponed again, and the launch plan was cancelled several times.
At the same time, according to Xinhua News Agency, China has successfully launched a reusable test spacecraft using the Long March-2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on December 14. After a period of orbit operation, the test spacecraft will return to the scheduled landing site in China, during which it will carry out reusable technology verification and space science experiments as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space.
Interestingly, the US media said that as early as 2020, when Salzman was still a lieutenant general, he had hinted that the X-37B may be approaching its mission life. But now due to competition with China and the fact that another spaceplane project is not going well, the X-37B may continue to operate for years to come.
And at the meeting that day, when asked about the launch plans of similar Chinese spacecraft, Saltzman also claimed: "It is not surprising that the Chinese are very interested in our space planes." We are also very interested in their products. Because this represents a capability," when the Chinese and American spacecraft are in orbit, "they are the two targets that attract the most attention from the outside world." It may not be a coincidence that the Chinese side is trying to match the time and sequence of launches with the American side. ”
As we all know, the United States has been very vigilant about China's rise, and even fabricated an imaginary enemy, saying that it wants to "compete" with China, but it always "does not authentically" suppress Chinese companies, and even calls on allies to contain China.
Coincidentally, at the very moment when the United States made the above statement, two important allies of the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, also took action, and the British aircraft carrier strike group will go to the Asia-Pacific region again.
According to Japanese media reports, British Defense Secretary Shapps announced during his visit to Japan that the British aircraft carrier strike group will visit Japan in 2025, and it should be pointed out that this was revealed by Shapps during his visit to the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the inspection of the destroyer "Maya". He believes that this is a very important link from the perspective of security in the so-called "Indo-Pacific" region.
I believe many friends still remember that as early as May this year, British Prime Minister Sunak, who came to Japan to attend the G7 Hiroshima Summit, also made similar remarks, and the British Defense Secretary's speech this time is in the same vein.
* It is mentioned that in 2021, the United Kingdom sent an aircraft carrier strike group composed of several warships with the "Queen Elizabeth" aircraft carrier as the core to the East Asian region. In September of the same year, a number of ships, including the "Queen Elizabeth", sailed into the Japanese port of Yokosuka.
According to the United Kingdom**, the British aircraft carrier strike group had a range of more than 55,000 nautical miles and docked in 40 countries and regions, including Japan. And if it is true as the British defense secretary said, then 2025 will be the second visit to Japan by a British aircraft carrier strike group after 2021.
In fact, in recent times, the intervention of individual European countries in Asia-Pacific affairs has become more and more obvious, and it is reported that Britain and Italy have signed an agreement with Japan to jointly develop the next generation of fighters.
The Associated Press reported that the Japanese side said the move was in response to "growing threats" from China, Russia and other countries.
In the current turbulent world background, we must not only guard against the ambitions of other countries, but also continue to enhance our own strength, and only when we are strong can we gain a firm foothold.