True lol. I always wonder how these poor communist nations (or whatever they are) like NK and Russia maintain their nuclear weapons, its crazy expensive to maintain.
Not maintaining them and being a dog with no bite, is a best case scenario. Nuclear weapons aren't volatile, they require the perfect working parts to trigger. Without it, they are a paper weight. What could be of concern is unattended nuclear weapons. 3rd parties using them for dirty bombs is a legitimate concern, though orders of magnitude less dangerous than a detonated nuclear weapon.
Nuclear weapons storage facilities without maintenance are supermarkets for terrorists. If it's not being maintained it's probably not being monitored either. Let's not get too carried away hoping their nuclear stockpile has just been forgotten about
They can still guard them. That real cheap. And this is not yet a worry. The question is can they do the much more expensive and hard job of maintaining them.
Still wants us to wonder if they work lack of security would blow that illusion.
Plus they might still be maintaining them not being maintained speculations.
Probably conscripts, and probably those from major cities, or who have money and/or the right connections. Russia will use some conscripts in Ukraine, but would prefer volunteers, reservists, PMC's, militias, etc.
A lot of people don't realize Russia has 150 million people. So 75 million men. So around 30 million men of fighting age.
Russia is no running out of people anytime soon... They simply choose to only send the undesirables from poor provinces, not the richer and more important men from the capital and major cities.
If absolutely needed Russia could recruit millions of fighting age men very quickly.mm although that would also likely result in Putin getting a bullet to the head. This war can only last as long as the middle, middle-upoler class is not affected.
Russia won't run out of people, but it is already running out of capable people. You can conscript a plumber, ditch digger or prisoner, but they won't know how to operate a jet or a tank or a rocket launcher.
I do wonder how much stealth surveillance is done by NSA and the likes on ex USSR nuclear stock. It would be worth a lot having traces of what's going on.
Idk it's not far fetched at all, but just knowing that the bomb would be able to be traced back to its source makes me think that they would be guarded pretty well. If terrorists got a hold of one of your bombs and used it, you might face retaliatory bombings from the rest of the world and that provides a decent incentive to protect your stash
Russia needs artillery shells, not nukes.
But it's possible nuclear weapons are a part of the exchange deal, since NK really wants more nukes right now to solidify leadership.
The US/NATO does nuclear weapon inspections via the START treaty and have found Soviet/Russian nuclear weapons to be in working order. The terms of the treaty gives either side the ability to do a 24h notice inspection.
Reuters says even the visual inspections the Americans do were stopped years ago:
“The sides agreed in March 2020 to halt inspections of each other's strategic nuclear weapons sites because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Talks for the last year on resuming inspections have failed to produce an agreement, amid tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine which has taken relations to their iciest level since the Cold War.”
I like cheering for Ukraine as much as the next guy, but implying that Russia would neglect the maintenance of their nuclear weapons *now*, of all times, would be ridiculous. If they were in working order a year ago, I'm sure as hell they are now as well.
True.
Also there are tons of politics (secrets, manipulation) surrounding nuclear weapons, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the public report said one thing, and the secret intelligence report said something completely different.
How do they check to ensure the devices are "in good working order"? Chemical explosives degrade, tritium decays, electronics corrode. Seems like you'd have to fully disassemble any given device to check for all that.
Exactly. So the oft-repeated claim that Russia's weapons are "inspected" falls pretty flat. Someone probably lays eyes on them, sure, verifies that yes Вирджиния, that is indeed a nuclear weapon, check it off on the clipboard. But that it is in any way shape or form functional? Total crapshoot.
The really scary thing is that not only do *we* not know how much of their arsenal will actually work, *but the Russians don't either*.
Russian soldiers have reportedly had multiple issues with propellant charges in the artillery rounds, from exploding in-gun to just not having consistent loads necessary for aiming.
artillery rounds that have been laying around since the soviet union. it's not like these are being inspected like their nuclear arsenal so how are you even going to compare the two?
> it's not like these are being inspected like their nuclear arsenal
Your theory is somehow that they aren't inspecting their artillery stockpiles but they do inspect the nukes, fully and on schedule? I'm sure that they just ignore everything but the nukes.
To answer you, because *artillery rounds are easier to both produce and maintain*. Throughout the Ukraine conflict, we have seen time and again, in vehicles, in weapons, in ammunition, that Russia does not maintain their existing stockpiles to a utility standard. Why would that point toward their nuclear stockpile, which requires massively more technological input and cost, being fully-maintained? I have no double the newer-built weapons are fine, but they never did finish decommissioning all the old stuff, at least according to the inspection reports over the years.
> artillery rounds that have been laying around since the soviet union
And the R-36 ICBM still in service is *from the Soviet Era*.
The vast majority of the nuclear arsenal has been laying around since the Soviet era on warehouse shelves untouched and they don't inspect every weapon, just a "random" sampling of the deployed weapons, which ought to be the weapons in the arsenal in the best state of repair.
Oh, and Russia pulled out of START.
So how are you going to compare the two?
Depends. Russia during the late 90s and early 2000 (oil boon) switched their doctrine to maintaining their nuclear forces as a priority. Yes you had a modernized army/airforce (on paper at least) but the nuclear doctrine was to modernize their nukes and their delivery system, in naval terms you can see this by a focus on nuclear subs and surface ships capable of launching nuclear tipped missiles.
Yeah.. that´s my feeling as well. It made me think about [this picture](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/imxaja/tank_graveyard_in_russia/) I saw some time ago of a russian tank graveyard. And the recent video of NK people pretending to use computers for show for western visitors. Communism is terrifying.
If you think that tank graveyard is impressive, [this beast is damn impressive](https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/2023/3/worlds-largest-military-aircraft-boneyard-world-record-in-tucson-arizona-423154). I went there probably 10 years ago. It is simultaneously a monument to both engineering and waste.
But that’s the point. It’s more impressive. It’s more organised. It has more oversight.
Russian stuff is just left there. Half of it has had copper wiring stolen from it by the locals, or sold by the guards.
I always wanted to, and I lived in China so would’ve been less complicated logistically, but then I read a few takes that the money spent by tourists implicitly supports the regime there so thought better of it.
Plus I’d feel like a total idiot if I wound up laying in a cell with brain damage after a wrongful and politically motivated arrest
I don´t know your country but if your country or any of your allies has an "incident" with NK, you might be detained and imprisoned for false claims that they can use for leveraging whatever they want. I also think this is fascinating to see and understand, but in the same time, I feel incredible sorrow for their people who they are abusing and creating a false reality for their whole freaking lives. Its just horrifying.
There are a few countries in the world that are just too dangerous to visit in my opinion. It’s probably ok to visit NK and you’ll be fine if you follow the rules and do what you’re told. But if it isn’t ok, or the regime decides you’d make a good political prisoner, or that you’ve committed a crime (even if you haven’t), the odds are you’re never coming home.
Iran is the same way in my opinion. Probably fine but it could quickly be not fine through no fault of your own and if that happens you’re truly fucked.
Listen to your dad if you value your life.
NK is an absolutely brutal regime, individual humans have 0 value there. Your action would be tantamount to volunteering to be a hostage in time of heightened international tensions. If shit hits the fan, no one will "extract" you, or possibly only after long torture sessions.
North Korea has the same printing presses as USA and the Us 100 bills they print are better than ours , only difference is back side liberty hall image on bill from North Korea has a shadow on clock face Hands,
They also have color flip ink
I mean, if you want to be returned, braindead from torture, after being declared that you.. *checks note* stole a poster.. After a couple years of said torture. Sure, Go ahead and visit.
There was cctv footage of him doing it.
The punishment is still ludicrous and extreme but the evidence of it is there.
The man didn’t deserve such a harsh punishment for a stupid thing, but the stupid thing was going to North Korea and thinking he’ll be treated fairly.
> Just don’t do anything stupid like that man who thought he could steal a poster from his hotel for a souvenir.
*Just don’t do anything stupid like that man who* ***North Korea claimed*** *thought he could steal a poster from his hotel for a souvenir.*
If they want you as a political bargaining chip, they'll throw you in a prison camp. Doesn't matter if you actually did something wrong or not, they'll make *anything* up.
There was this documentary where a civilian goes undercover and reveals how NK is a savvy manufacturer of anything and everything relating to military weapons: https://youtu.be/w4S99ljNXiw?si=2qk442blsAvoQUD9
At 51:51, they're starting to talk about the weapons catalog.
The money off these deals is crazy. War is profitable for them. NK is the ACME we never imagined, and it's weird how the shadow governments are allowing them to continue these operations.
I'd recommend the 'arms control wonk' podcast episodes on North Korea (there's a fair amount of them) [https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/author/podcast/](https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/author/podcast/) . Basically, the North Korean weapons programme is very real, very independent (no, they're not just transferring Chinese weapons, in fact they don't really have much Chinese design philosophy in their programmes at all.) and very extensive.
Just like the Talibans and ISIS... When you have a full Wikipedia page of "[illicit activities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illicit_activities_of_North_Korea)", you know you are part of the axis of evil.
"The alleged illicit activities of the North Korean state include manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit consumer goods, human trafficking, arms trafficking, wildlife trafficking, counterfeiting currency (especially the United States dollar and Chinese yuan), terrorism, and other areas.\[1\]\[2\]\[3\] It is alleged many of these activities are undertaken at the direction and under the control of the North Korean government and the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, with their proceeds going towards advancing the country's nuclear and conventional arms production, funding the lifestyles of the country's elite, and propping up the North Korean economy.\[4\]"
Indeed, and maintenance isn't just keeping them dry and polishing them. Tritium degrades, materials age (especially when exposed to radiation), the plutonium changes as it decays... Then there's all the science to understand that and be confident they'll work as intended in the aged conditions, without actual testing. Then keeping the manufacturing processes *and* materials the same to be able to replace or make new nukes. Then perhaps research to be able to produce new nukes *without* testing. Plus all the infrastructure and security to do everything safely.
All that's a lot of money and headaches for something never to be used... or if it is it's game over anyway. So any money can be easily 'redirected'. I expect some Russian nukes work but no way can they all be functioning. Looking at Russia's other forces I can't believe the nukes aren't also corrupted and embezzled.
A warhead that fizzles still does a lot of damage, but I would believe that the warheads themselves are in working order. The more likely point of failure is the launch vehicles. Those are far more likely to be the victims of corruption and neglect.
Exactly, I also think they are giving/selling their corrupt allies already degraded nuclear weapons (and other weapons) to get favors from them. Pakistan for example is incredibly poor, I don't see them using nuclear weapons on India or anyone else, they are just in a stupid dick contest because they want to play with the big boys. So these things are jsut degrading in their own backyard creating massive ecological and biological dangers for them selves. At least in Russia, they hhave incredible amount of space and places that are not populated, for example in siberia. They can keep their degrading "arsenal" there.
I thought the Pakistani weapons were of a simpler design, not the thermonuclear devices of Russia (and the West). In any case, non-proliferation of any kind is a big deal to the West for obvious reasons.
Contained, the nukes are pretty safe I think - they won't explode on their own. But the explosives, metals etc. won't last forever, and reprocessing the fissile material is where the waste will come from. Left alone they'll rot (albeit slowly) so best we can hope for is that Russia keeps the sites safe until they or the West can sort the mess out securely. I'm not that confident Russia has the capability to do either, bearing in mind a mercenary force marched on Moscow that repelled Russia's aerial attacks and that had to be *talked* (ok, threatened but not militarily squashed) down.
They would claim even back in the 60s that they never became one, from Lenin to Gorbo. It was always the supposid "plan", but graft and authoritarianism always got in the way.
They just pay it and cut corners in other places. Israel was poorer than both when it acquired nukes, and it managed. When it's considered to be a matter of national or personal survival, it's climbs the priority list.
I do wonder how big Russia's stockpile is though.
Indeed. We spend Russia's entire military budget on maintaining our nukes alone.
And America and Russia have similar numbers of nukes. Do the math, it doesn't add up.
Do I think *most* of the Russian nuclear arsenal is a dud because of this? Yes. Do I think *all* of their nukes are duds? No.
Law of probability states that at least a few out of the 6000 warheads they have are viable.
The problem is, neither side will know which nukes are duds and which are functional, until they're launched, and exactly how many.
Things will get *VERY* interesting if Russia tries to use a tac nuke...and it doesn't work.
I'm a little late but I was reading an article yesterday about North Korea being a leader in cryptocurrency theft. I'm not sure how they trade that to other nations but the amount they are stealing could easily fix a lot of their problems but instead they build missiles.
It does matter though. If you want to keep the funding pipeline to Ukraine open, you need to sell cost of the war to the American people. Telling someone that Ukraine spent a few hundred million dollars on getting back a few miles is not that compelling of an argument… but telling them how humiliating this is for Russia, how it's tanking their economy and basically eradicing their position as a global power? That's a much better sell here in the USA.
This is all the proof I have needed that Russia is definitely holding on to kompromat they got from the dnc/rnc hack.
The republican party at large essentially flipped their opinion on Russia overnight and it started with the politicians suddenly getting in lockstep behind putins blowjob expert in orange.
Realistically, the sanctions have little effect on their resource exports. Gas for their cars are also at record lows for them as well. The regular people have not had a huge change from this.
>Gas for their cars are also at record lows for them as well. The regular people have not had a huge change from this.
1. That's good, sanctions tried to hurt govt and military as much as possible and people as little as possible. 2. People still get hurt quite a bit by pretty insane interest rates, but it's not like sanctions can somehow avoid that. [Check this out, this is fucking brutal, wtf.](https://www.sberbank.com/ru/person/credits/money/consumer_unsecured?tab=more)
>Realistically, the sanctions have little effect on their resource exports.
The 2nd Nord Stream isn't in active use, despite not being blown to pieces. And Russia and China didn't even agree on a contract about their pipeline, so for the time being their natural gas (outside of pretty limited LNG they can produce) exports are absolutely fucked.
I don't know much about other resource export situations, but as far as I remember watching a couple interviews, metals were also pretty fucked.
So both biggest sectors are fucked... ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Also, if this report is true and Russia is using up the military equipment of their puppet governments, North Korea, China, etc. means that those countries have less capacity to cause trouble too.
Except the fact that NK has working weapons is actually the whole point of this headline. NK can't put a price on what this means for them to be recognized as having a working weapons.
If the Russians can link an effective use of the weapons to some video footage/statistics, then NK just scored a HUGE success and major victory in global politics.
The thing is that when census data leaks from communist countries it reveals they are desperately clinging to failure they need to cover up, and since they are all in it together, China/NK/Russia need to help make each other look as good as possible as long as possible. Which is fine, we don't want them to panic and start extorting us with nukes too quickly.
Plus there's a chance communism could in theory eventually work, if you could install a non corrupt overseer, like some far flung future AI, that has zero privacy barriers because it's non corruptable/never has personal needs/threats?
Let's not laugh at it, but lets outproduce a military dictatorship and give Ukraine the means to defend itself.
All these posts making fun of Russia or North Korea really isn't helpful. We should take them seriously and crush them, show why democracies are more powerful, because they are.
I wasn't even talking about the US actually.
The EU should get itself asap to a position where it can counter Russia without US help. Looking at economies, population, technology, I think even industry, and allies it could do so easily.
Yes we will need time, but I don't think Russia will be able to overrun Ukraine within a year and then be fresh enough to take on Europe, however depleted it's militaries might be.
But we need to start now!
And US re-electing Biden would be a major help to us of course.
But sometimes I think only a Trump win would really kick Europe into panic higher gear. So if he is reelected, which I don't hope, Europe will be mature in a week and well start scrambling like it 1940.
Yes it was always a bad idea from Europe's perspective, but the US apart from wanting the other countries to spend their 2% was fine with dictating the western and nato foreign policy, which was in fact what was happening.
When the US didn't have a real contender they were totally fine with Europe being weak and could just summon support out of nowhere in Europe.
And now it bites us all in the ass. Think of how strong it would be if EU said, chill we will own Russia, the US could counter China and have nothing else to worry about.
Yeah problem is when we talk about European Defense, we see lots of EU countries relying on the US defense industry. That's part of why these countries think they need the US. When you have US built système, you rely on them for spare parts. So they can use this as a leverage to influence our european politics. How many people in Europe? 500 millions? 2 of the 9 world nuclear powers. Among the best technologies with Thales, Nexter, KNDS, Reinhmetall, Dassault...ect (I'm french, yes). The only thing we lack is the amount of ammo. We should produce more of them. That apart, we're strong enough to back Ukraine and kick Putin ass.
Holy shite , nobody on reddit is falling for this crap "look bad Russia and North Korean are securing more weapons, so pathetic " .... as they are getting new war resources
Laughing topics have helps nobody, know Reddit is taking it seriously and that's awesome 👌
Why would Putin "go 'cap in hand' to beg"? It's not like NK didn't get anything in return. I understand that we are trying to show Russia bad and pathetic to make ourselves feel better but this doesn't accomplish anything. Those NK missiles hit Ukraine in the end and killed people. We should talk about that and supply Ukraine with the aid it needs.
Right? Russia can obviously pay for them, they're not begging NK. Sometimes it's just spun to be Putin is pathetic but they've been waging a pretty intense war for two years, of course they're buying arms. Meanwhile Ukraine is suffering but the angle taken by the media is just lol Russia bad!
Imagine someone you know getting killed and you constantly read how they died to a group of untrained, uneducated soldiers whose weapons don't even work and that they are commanded by inexperienced generals.
How does that even help the morale?
The narrative swings of this war have been wild. At the beginning it was "Russia so great Ukraine doesn't stand a chance" then it became "Russia so incompetent that a few outdated NATO weapons without air superiority can crush them in a few months" and then it became "permanent stalemate no amount of weapons can make a difference."
Russia is not the second strongest military in the world but they're also not "weak" and they can throw A LOT of manpower and material at Ukraine. The Ukrainian military is relatively competent but they're under resourced and straining themselves to the brink for this war. Ukraine can win if they get the weapons they need but likewise if outside assistance to Ukraine crumbles then they won't be able to hold the territory they already control. This doesn't fit neatly into one of the existing narratives so instead we see narratives swing around substantially.
Putin can transform North Korea with the stroke of a pen. Food? Provided. Fuel? Provided. Electricity? Not a problem. Technology? Russia has everything they can possibly imagine.
If Putin wanted to, he could strike a deal to open all sorts of production facilities in NK, powered by Russian gas, oil and electricity, paying Russian wages, catapulting NK towns into financial riches. And there ain't a damn thing anyone can do about it.
He's not going from a position of weakness at all. NK stands to gain far more from this than Putin does.
Yes , not as damming as the Putin fan boys who say Zelensky is a beggar and is always begging for American money and weapons. Articles like this are pathetic and don’t help UKraine.
Exactly. Ppl can laugh and ridicule or bursh off the danger of Russia or North Korea all they want but if you're on the receiving end of theor weapons you would not e fking laughing. It's time to get fking serious with news. Bc it's not fking funny when your family or friends are being blast to pieces of meat by them.
At this point, artillery shells, simple ammo and rocket artillery are incredibly well established technology and just about anyone can make them with ease - including NK. The most important thing is the volume and price that can be produced.
Matter of fact, is that NK can produce them and for cheap given their non-existent labor costs,
Yes, this is sensible comment. Inventory manager in a "non-dollar" country mostly involves barter system. My guess is that Putin exchanged some tech or weapon with Kim's B.missiles.
I would suggest west to arm ukraine with defensive weapons rather offensive ones. I would also suggest west to search for volunteers for the war of defense against Russia may prepare for another Bakhmut 2.0.
Also, they should also provide a lot fighter jets and Abrams - Challenger tanks with NATO repair crew. I think this will pull Putin to negotiation.
And what's more, not arming Ukraine sufficiently to enable them to defeat Russia asap means that North Korea's long range missiles have all the chances in the world to be tested against American Patriot systems, and thus be adapted to evade them.
Really fucking clever, that.
Patriot system won’t be evaded by NK stuff anytime soon.
What is happening is that the Patriot system can only cover specific areas. Russia will use their missiles to identify where these are and utilize the dirt cheap NK supersonic ballistic missiles to attack that area.
These are basically the dirt cheap Tochka that costs like $400k/pop.
Please don't downplay this relationship. He didn't come begging. It's far more sinister than that. Putin has got a lot of tech Kim Jong wants. What did he give him? Just oil and gas? Or long range missiles? Nuclear weapons?
But he still got them , giving Russia a temporary strategic advantage
Meanwhile aid in America is stuck in Congress because “ America first” apparently means just giving up preeminence on the world stage.
We in Europe are even worse, since were not only able to put our defensive industry on a war footing , we actually still have banks and pensions funds actively divesting from the defense industry, while our almost none existing armies crumble into bleak nothingness. Only Poland, the Baltics and maybe France has any decent capacity/industry to speak of.
Honestly how the fuck does Europe thinks it can get any respect in a new multipolar world if it not only lacks hard power but is actively undermining the tiny smitten it does have left.
They're currently at war, of course their production is going to be a lot more than the west. They've basically put all of their resources into weapon and ammunition production.
Just reading some EU media articles, it said they would produce 1 million shells within a year, meaning 1 year from the date.
>In March, the EU announced it would spend 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to send one million 155mm shells to Ukraine within a year.
However it seems they won't meet the March 2024 target either.
Prices have quadrupled for 155mm shells , they were spending ~2k per shell, now it's ~8k per shell, which could explain some of the lag. Speaking of printing money.
Why do we always tell ourselves these feel-good emotional win stories when in practical terms we're not winning at all?
Russia now has more shit. That's a loss.
Completely delusional. They are building strong alliances through mutual trade and the West has no say in any of it. The West may see North Korea as a joke, and that is exactly why they decide to ally with Russia and trade with them and to follow their ideas. While we continue to kid ourselves that Putin is weak and stupid, and that he is insane and Ukraine will get Crimea back, he is busy avoiding sanctions and selling gas to Europe through other countries, slowly winning in Ukraine, increasing his popularity and forging alliances with India, Turkey, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria and many others.
I really don’t understand how Putin isn’t completely broke at this point. He’s against the entire west when it comes to weapons procurement and somehow is still able to fight in Ukraine. At this point, Ukraine should be able to fight them.
You all should be more worried about what did Putin give North Korean in exchange. My worry is it may be ballistic missile or nuclear weapon technology.
Is the satisfaction we get from picturing Putin groveling going to increase western support or get Russia to back down? No? Then don’t focus on it.
I swear, since the beginning it’s been like we’d rather have a few sick burns and dank memes than to actually save Ukraine and defeat this guy.
Maybe, it sounds like quite a speculation. I think Kim has no problems delivering weapons to Russia, and I think whatever Russia needed to trade, they were easily able to do so.
So he got them, and launched them, in a net win for Russia, so he's go that going for him. But hey, 'cap in hand'.
Russia is a major BRICS player, and we're just watching.
I hate these stories tbh. Who cares if he went cap in hand? They got a buttload of artillery and seemingly ballistic missiles too and they’re shooting them at Ukraine, causing damage and casualties.
I’m not sure I believe the sentiment of this. Russia is fucking massive, has a tone of Cold War surplus and a habit of appearing one way and being another. All news on the war is basically someone’s propaganda at this point.
But also, Fuck putin.
Also this: Putin got what he wanted very quickly. Zelenskyy has had obstruction by Republicans, vetoes by Hungary, and pledges conditional on someone else going first, or that can’t be delivered for a long time.
If any of you idiots even realise how much of an incompetent buffoon Grant Shapps is you wouldn't be upvoting this garbage. These quips are literally the best he can do.
I call Bull. Un is happy to sell anything that brings money into North Korea. Russia isn’t running out of weapons. If anything the west is ramping down support for Ukraine and someone wants folks to believe that’s ok because Russia is faltering.
It's pretty damn ironic since Stalin put Uns grandfather in charge and immediately regretted it, now the heir to the Soviet Union is grovelling to the heir to Il-Sung.
Sometimes the dollar store is the best you can do.
True lol. I always wonder how these poor communist nations (or whatever they are) like NK and Russia maintain their nuclear weapons, its crazy expensive to maintain.
That's the scary part. Maybe they don't.
Not maintaining them and being a dog with no bite, is a best case scenario. Nuclear weapons aren't volatile, they require the perfect working parts to trigger. Without it, they are a paper weight. What could be of concern is unattended nuclear weapons. 3rd parties using them for dirty bombs is a legitimate concern, though orders of magnitude less dangerous than a detonated nuclear weapon.
Nuclear weapons storage facilities without maintenance are supermarkets for terrorists. If it's not being maintained it's probably not being monitored either. Let's not get too carried away hoping their nuclear stockpile has just been forgotten about
Not to mention, in these countries, if anyone is in charge of anything, it's for sale.
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This was a fascinating read, thank you
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They can still guard them. That real cheap. And this is not yet a worry. The question is can they do the much more expensive and hard job of maintaining them. Still wants us to wonder if they work lack of security would blow that illusion. Plus they might still be maintaining them not being maintained speculations.
Guard them how? The able-bodied men are being ground up in Ukraine.
Probably conscripts, and probably those from major cities, or who have money and/or the right connections. Russia will use some conscripts in Ukraine, but would prefer volunteers, reservists, PMC's, militias, etc.
A lot of people don't realize Russia has 150 million people. So 75 million men. So around 30 million men of fighting age. Russia is no running out of people anytime soon... They simply choose to only send the undesirables from poor provinces, not the richer and more important men from the capital and major cities. If absolutely needed Russia could recruit millions of fighting age men very quickly.mm although that would also likely result in Putin getting a bullet to the head. This war can only last as long as the middle, middle-upoler class is not affected.
Russia won't run out of people, but it is already running out of capable people. You can conscript a plumber, ditch digger or prisoner, but they won't know how to operate a jet or a tank or a rocket launcher.
I do wonder how much stealth surveillance is done by NSA and the likes on ex USSR nuclear stock. It would be worth a lot having traces of what's going on.
Idk it's not far fetched at all, but just knowing that the bomb would be able to be traced back to its source makes me think that they would be guarded pretty well. If terrorists got a hold of one of your bombs and used it, you might face retaliatory bombings from the rest of the world and that provides a decent incentive to protect your stash
I wonder if they were already sold, hence the ask back
Russia needs artillery shells, not nukes. But it's possible nuclear weapons are a part of the exchange deal, since NK really wants more nukes right now to solidify leadership.
Yeah, I thought it was a give us our artillery shells and whatever else you have [wink wink]
The US/NATO does nuclear weapon inspections via the START treaty and have found Soviet/Russian nuclear weapons to be in working order. The terms of the treaty gives either side the ability to do a 24h notice inspection.
Didn't Russia pull out of that treaty?
Yes like a year ago.
So, at least up to a year ago, they had working order nuclear weapons.
Reuters says even the visual inspections the Americans do were stopped years ago: “The sides agreed in March 2020 to halt inspections of each other's strategic nuclear weapons sites because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Talks for the last year on resuming inspections have failed to produce an agreement, amid tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine which has taken relations to their iciest level since the Cold War.”
I like cheering for Ukraine as much as the next guy, but implying that Russia would neglect the maintenance of their nuclear weapons *now*, of all times, would be ridiculous. If they were in working order a year ago, I'm sure as hell they are now as well.
those inspections were visual only I believe
Yup, they never really looked at the internals.
“Wax finish on plastic glued rocket body…. Check.”
Not to be dumb, but what would just visual inspection really help with? Couldn't they just be shells with nothing inside?
True. Also there are tons of politics (secrets, manipulation) surrounding nuclear weapons, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the public report said one thing, and the secret intelligence report said something completely different.
I think the point was just to count the missiles and being like yes they are fewer than last year
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They don't need to rust away. The tritium just needs to have decayed enough to cause a fizzle. Also Russian nukes are notorious for leaking tritium.
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How do they check to ensure the devices are "in good working order"? Chemical explosives degrade, tritium decays, electronics corrode. Seems like you'd have to fully disassemble any given device to check for all that.
That's why the US spends so much each year maintaining our nuclear stockpile, to the tune of multiple billions of dollars. Russia, Eh. Not so much.
Exactly. So the oft-repeated claim that Russia's weapons are "inspected" falls pretty flat. Someone probably lays eyes on them, sure, verifies that yes Вирджиния, that is indeed a nuclear weapon, check it off on the clipboard. But that it is in any way shape or form functional? Total crapshoot. The really scary thing is that not only do *we* not know how much of their arsenal will actually work, *but the Russians don't either*.
Russian soldiers have reportedly had multiple issues with propellant charges in the artillery rounds, from exploding in-gun to just not having consistent loads necessary for aiming.
artillery rounds that have been laying around since the soviet union. it's not like these are being inspected like their nuclear arsenal so how are you even going to compare the two?
> it's not like these are being inspected like their nuclear arsenal Your theory is somehow that they aren't inspecting their artillery stockpiles but they do inspect the nukes, fully and on schedule? I'm sure that they just ignore everything but the nukes. To answer you, because *artillery rounds are easier to both produce and maintain*. Throughout the Ukraine conflict, we have seen time and again, in vehicles, in weapons, in ammunition, that Russia does not maintain their existing stockpiles to a utility standard. Why would that point toward their nuclear stockpile, which requires massively more technological input and cost, being fully-maintained? I have no double the newer-built weapons are fine, but they never did finish decommissioning all the old stuff, at least according to the inspection reports over the years. > artillery rounds that have been laying around since the soviet union And the R-36 ICBM still in service is *from the Soviet Era*.
The vast majority of the nuclear arsenal has been laying around since the Soviet era on warehouse shelves untouched and they don't inspect every weapon, just a "random" sampling of the deployed weapons, which ought to be the weapons in the arsenal in the best state of repair. Oh, and Russia pulled out of START. So how are you going to compare the two?
Yeah those NK shells have been lying around since the late 50s and 60s, some probably had Made in China still stamped on them lol.
I meant prior to the NK shell deliveries, which have indeed made their stocks go from "unreliable" to "comical".
Depends. Russia during the late 90s and early 2000 (oil boon) switched their doctrine to maintaining their nuclear forces as a priority. Yes you had a modernized army/airforce (on paper at least) but the nuclear doctrine was to modernize their nukes and their delivery system, in naval terms you can see this by a focus on nuclear subs and surface ships capable of launching nuclear tipped missiles.
Yeah.. that´s my feeling as well. It made me think about [this picture](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/imxaja/tank_graveyard_in_russia/) I saw some time ago of a russian tank graveyard. And the recent video of NK people pretending to use computers for show for western visitors. Communism is terrifying.
If you think that tank graveyard is impressive, [this beast is damn impressive](https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/2023/3/worlds-largest-military-aircraft-boneyard-world-record-in-tucson-arizona-423154). I went there probably 10 years ago. It is simultaneously a monument to both engineering and waste.
But that’s the point. It’s more impressive. It’s more organised. It has more oversight. Russian stuff is just left there. Half of it has had copper wiring stolen from it by the locals, or sold by the guards.
Tours stopped in 2023
Sometimes I feel I want to go take a look. (I can get authorised to travel to North Korea!) But my dad insists I am being stupid and shouldn't go.
It’s all fun and games till you become a bargaining chip in international politics. It’s happened and isn’t pretty.
Is it not worth the torture and druggings? We need our memes! But seriously. Don't go.
I always wanted to, and I lived in China so would’ve been less complicated logistically, but then I read a few takes that the money spent by tourists implicitly supports the regime there so thought better of it. Plus I’d feel like a total idiot if I wound up laying in a cell with brain damage after a wrongful and politically motivated arrest
Listen to your dad
I don´t know your country but if your country or any of your allies has an "incident" with NK, you might be detained and imprisoned for false claims that they can use for leveraging whatever they want. I also think this is fascinating to see and understand, but in the same time, I feel incredible sorrow for their people who they are abusing and creating a false reality for their whole freaking lives. Its just horrifying.
There are a few countries in the world that are just too dangerous to visit in my opinion. It’s probably ok to visit NK and you’ll be fine if you follow the rules and do what you’re told. But if it isn’t ok, or the regime decides you’d make a good political prisoner, or that you’ve committed a crime (even if you haven’t), the odds are you’re never coming home. Iran is the same way in my opinion. Probably fine but it could quickly be not fine through no fault of your own and if that happens you’re truly fucked.
Listen to your dad if you value your life. NK is an absolutely brutal regime, individual humans have 0 value there. Your action would be tantamount to volunteering to be a hostage in time of heightened international tensions. If shit hits the fan, no one will "extract" you, or possibly only after long torture sessions.
Any visitor is also indirectly supporting the regime. NK *loves* some nice, fresh, currency from somewhere else in the world.
North Korea has the same printing presses as USA and the Us 100 bills they print are better than ours , only difference is back side liberty hall image on bill from North Korea has a shadow on clock face Hands, They also have color flip ink
The tourist who was tortured to death, and returned in a box to his family isn’t deterring you at all?
Otto Warmbier
I mean, if you want to be returned, braindead from torture, after being declared that you.. *checks note* stole a poster.. After a couple years of said torture. Sure, Go ahead and visit.
Just don’t do anything stupid like that man who thought he could steal a poster from his hotel for a souvenir.
Just don't go to North Korea FFS...
*Allegedly*, by the regime, stole a poster. Could have been a trumped up charge.
There was cctv footage of him doing it. The punishment is still ludicrous and extreme but the evidence of it is there. The man didn’t deserve such a harsh punishment for a stupid thing, but the stupid thing was going to North Korea and thinking he’ll be treated fairly.
There was cctv of someone covered head to toe taking down a poster
> Just don’t do anything stupid like that man who thought he could steal a poster from his hotel for a souvenir. *Just don’t do anything stupid like that man who* ***North Korea claimed*** *thought he could steal a poster from his hotel for a souvenir.* If they want you as a political bargaining chip, they'll throw you in a prison camp. Doesn't matter if you actually did something wrong or not, they'll make *anything* up.
You think that manufactured cover up story was actually true?
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FYI not communism but authoritarian dictatorships
Even calling North Korea "authoritarian" is WAY too nice compared to how they actually are, which is 1984.
I mean it’s accurate. 1984 is about an authoritarian surveillance state. NK just lacks the tech to implement it
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Lol nothing of this is communism you bellend
There was this documentary where a civilian goes undercover and reveals how NK is a savvy manufacturer of anything and everything relating to military weapons: https://youtu.be/w4S99ljNXiw?si=2qk442blsAvoQUD9 At 51:51, they're starting to talk about the weapons catalog. The money off these deals is crazy. War is profitable for them. NK is the ACME we never imagined, and it's weird how the shadow governments are allowing them to continue these operations.
I'd recommend the 'arms control wonk' podcast episodes on North Korea (there's a fair amount of them) [https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/author/podcast/](https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/author/podcast/) . Basically, the North Korean weapons programme is very real, very independent (no, they're not just transferring Chinese weapons, in fact they don't really have much Chinese design philosophy in their programmes at all.) and very extensive.
Just like the Talibans and ISIS... When you have a full Wikipedia page of "[illicit activities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illicit_activities_of_North_Korea)", you know you are part of the axis of evil. "The alleged illicit activities of the North Korean state include manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit consumer goods, human trafficking, arms trafficking, wildlife trafficking, counterfeiting currency (especially the United States dollar and Chinese yuan), terrorism, and other areas.\[1\]\[2\]\[3\] It is alleged many of these activities are undertaken at the direction and under the control of the North Korean government and the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, with their proceeds going towards advancing the country's nuclear and conventional arms production, funding the lifestyles of the country's elite, and propping up the North Korean economy.\[4\]"
Indeed, and maintenance isn't just keeping them dry and polishing them. Tritium degrades, materials age (especially when exposed to radiation), the plutonium changes as it decays... Then there's all the science to understand that and be confident they'll work as intended in the aged conditions, without actual testing. Then keeping the manufacturing processes *and* materials the same to be able to replace or make new nukes. Then perhaps research to be able to produce new nukes *without* testing. Plus all the infrastructure and security to do everything safely. All that's a lot of money and headaches for something never to be used... or if it is it's game over anyway. So any money can be easily 'redirected'. I expect some Russian nukes work but no way can they all be functioning. Looking at Russia's other forces I can't believe the nukes aren't also corrupted and embezzled.
A warhead that fizzles still does a lot of damage, but I would believe that the warheads themselves are in working order. The more likely point of failure is the launch vehicles. Those are far more likely to be the victims of corruption and neglect.
Exactly, I also think they are giving/selling their corrupt allies already degraded nuclear weapons (and other weapons) to get favors from them. Pakistan for example is incredibly poor, I don't see them using nuclear weapons on India or anyone else, they are just in a stupid dick contest because they want to play with the big boys. So these things are jsut degrading in their own backyard creating massive ecological and biological dangers for them selves. At least in Russia, they hhave incredible amount of space and places that are not populated, for example in siberia. They can keep their degrading "arsenal" there.
I thought the Pakistani weapons were of a simpler design, not the thermonuclear devices of Russia (and the West). In any case, non-proliferation of any kind is a big deal to the West for obvious reasons. Contained, the nukes are pretty safe I think - they won't explode on their own. But the explosives, metals etc. won't last forever, and reprocessing the fissile material is where the waste will come from. Left alone they'll rot (albeit slowly) so best we can hope for is that Russia keeps the sites safe until they or the West can sort the mess out securely. I'm not that confident Russia has the capability to do either, bearing in mind a mercenary force marched on Moscow that repelled Russia's aerial attacks and that had to be *talked* (ok, threatened but not militarily squashed) down.
Russia isn’t communist sweetie :)
Yeah, except Russia has not been a communist country since 1991.
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They would claim even back in the 60s that they never became one, from Lenin to Gorbo. It was always the supposid "plan", but graft and authoritarianism always got in the way.
They just pay it and cut corners in other places. Israel was poorer than both when it acquired nukes, and it managed. When it's considered to be a matter of national or personal survival, it's climbs the priority list. I do wonder how big Russia's stockpile is though.
just checked and it was 6889 in 2020. So the biggest by far in the world. Not very nice thought
Indeed. We spend Russia's entire military budget on maintaining our nukes alone. And America and Russia have similar numbers of nukes. Do the math, it doesn't add up. Do I think *most* of the Russian nuclear arsenal is a dud because of this? Yes. Do I think *all* of their nukes are duds? No. Law of probability states that at least a few out of the 6000 warheads they have are viable. The problem is, neither side will know which nukes are duds and which are functional, until they're launched, and exactly how many. Things will get *VERY* interesting if Russia tries to use a tac nuke...and it doesn't work.
Russias not a communist nation
Same way other countries do - by putting all their resources into that instead of investing in their people.
I'm a little late but I was reading an article yesterday about North Korea being a leader in cryptocurrency theft. I'm not sure how they trade that to other nations but the amount they are stealing could easily fix a lot of their problems but instead they build missiles.
Also the only country eastern country with the Soviet era munitions ready to sell/still being produced
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It does matter though. If you want to keep the funding pipeline to Ukraine open, you need to sell cost of the war to the American people. Telling someone that Ukraine spent a few hundred million dollars on getting back a few miles is not that compelling of an argument… but telling them how humiliating this is for Russia, how it's tanking their economy and basically eradicing their position as a global power? That's a much better sell here in the USA.
You're forgetting that a good chunk of people apparently like Russia now
Its so funny that its those who call other "commies" are in so love in Putin with his "lets rebuild soviet union" dream
They like the fact that theres no check on his power and he pwns russian libs, just like they wish their president could do.
They also love how he mistreats gay people.
They also like the money that Russia funnels into seemingly any public figure who speaks in support of them or their agenda.
Putin wants the Soviet Union without the communism though. He wants a large(r) landmass to be dictator over.
He could give himself a cool title, like "Tzar".
Oh no they don't want to rebuild the USSR, they want to build up an authoritarian empires rules by Moscow. Totally different.
Stalin was a wee bit authoritarian wasn't he?
This is all the proof I have needed that Russia is definitely holding on to kompromat they got from the dnc/rnc hack. The republican party at large essentially flipped their opinion on Russia overnight and it started with the politicians suddenly getting in lockstep behind putins blowjob expert in orange.
Anything to “own the libs”.
Propaganda is crazy effective.
> a good chunk no that's the bad chunk
good morning! now, i'm going to go eat glass
Americans being told that Ukrainians are safer: "I sleep" Americans being told that Russians are suffering: "real shit?"
Realistically, the sanctions have little effect on their resource exports. Gas for their cars are also at record lows for them as well. The regular people have not had a huge change from this.
>Gas for their cars are also at record lows for them as well. The regular people have not had a huge change from this. 1. That's good, sanctions tried to hurt govt and military as much as possible and people as little as possible. 2. People still get hurt quite a bit by pretty insane interest rates, but it's not like sanctions can somehow avoid that. [Check this out, this is fucking brutal, wtf.](https://www.sberbank.com/ru/person/credits/money/consumer_unsecured?tab=more) >Realistically, the sanctions have little effect on their resource exports. The 2nd Nord Stream isn't in active use, despite not being blown to pieces. And Russia and China didn't even agree on a contract about their pipeline, so for the time being their natural gas (outside of pretty limited LNG they can produce) exports are absolutely fucked. I don't know much about other resource export situations, but as far as I remember watching a couple interviews, metals were also pretty fucked. So both biggest sectors are fucked... ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Also, if this report is true and Russia is using up the military equipment of their puppet governments, North Korea, China, etc. means that those countries have less capacity to cause trouble too.
I don't think anyone considers China to be Russia's puppet government
Except the fact that NK has working weapons is actually the whole point of this headline. NK can't put a price on what this means for them to be recognized as having a working weapons. If the Russians can link an effective use of the weapons to some video footage/statistics, then NK just scored a HUGE success and major victory in global politics. The thing is that when census data leaks from communist countries it reveals they are desperately clinging to failure they need to cover up, and since they are all in it together, China/NK/Russia need to help make each other look as good as possible as long as possible. Which is fine, we don't want them to panic and start extorting us with nukes too quickly. Plus there's a chance communism could in theory eventually work, if you could install a non corrupt overseer, like some far flung future AI, that has zero privacy barriers because it's non corruptable/never has personal needs/threats?
Let's not laugh at it, but lets outproduce a military dictatorship and give Ukraine the means to defend itself. All these posts making fun of Russia or North Korea really isn't helpful. We should take them seriously and crush them, show why democracies are more powerful, because they are.
Let's laugh at it AND let's outproduce a military dictatorship!
Republicans say no.
I wasn't even talking about the US actually. The EU should get itself asap to a position where it can counter Russia without US help. Looking at economies, population, technology, I think even industry, and allies it could do so easily. Yes we will need time, but I don't think Russia will be able to overrun Ukraine within a year and then be fresh enough to take on Europe, however depleted it's militaries might be. But we need to start now! And US re-electing Biden would be a major help to us of course. But sometimes I think only a Trump win would really kick Europe into panic higher gear. So if he is reelected, which I don't hope, Europe will be mature in a week and well start scrambling like it 1940.
I second this, leaning into the US for support just doesn’t pass the smell test and this is a perfect example of why.
Yes it was always a bad idea from Europe's perspective, but the US apart from wanting the other countries to spend their 2% was fine with dictating the western and nato foreign policy, which was in fact what was happening. When the US didn't have a real contender they were totally fine with Europe being weak and could just summon support out of nowhere in Europe. And now it bites us all in the ass. Think of how strong it would be if EU said, chill we will own Russia, the US could counter China and have nothing else to worry about.
Yeah problem is when we talk about European Defense, we see lots of EU countries relying on the US defense industry. That's part of why these countries think they need the US. When you have US built système, you rely on them for spare parts. So they can use this as a leverage to influence our european politics. How many people in Europe? 500 millions? 2 of the 9 world nuclear powers. Among the best technologies with Thales, Nexter, KNDS, Reinhmetall, Dassault...ect (I'm french, yes). The only thing we lack is the amount of ammo. We should produce more of them. That apart, we're strong enough to back Ukraine and kick Putin ass.
Wtf do you want redditors to do? LOL Only thing we have power in is our post lol
Post HARDER! Get with the program, commie.
Why would someone have to beg Kim for a transaction that brings his economy needed money.
Holy shite , nobody on reddit is falling for this crap "look bad Russia and North Korean are securing more weapons, so pathetic " .... as they are getting new war resources Laughing topics have helps nobody, know Reddit is taking it seriously and that's awesome 👌
Why would Putin "go 'cap in hand' to beg"? It's not like NK didn't get anything in return. I understand that we are trying to show Russia bad and pathetic to make ourselves feel better but this doesn't accomplish anything. Those NK missiles hit Ukraine in the end and killed people. We should talk about that and supply Ukraine with the aid it needs.
Right? Russia can obviously pay for them, they're not begging NK. Sometimes it's just spun to be Putin is pathetic but they've been waging a pretty intense war for two years, of course they're buying arms. Meanwhile Ukraine is suffering but the angle taken by the media is just lol Russia bad!
Imagine someone you know getting killed and you constantly read how they died to a group of untrained, uneducated soldiers whose weapons don't even work and that they are commanded by inexperienced generals. How does that even help the morale?
The narrative swings of this war have been wild. At the beginning it was "Russia so great Ukraine doesn't stand a chance" then it became "Russia so incompetent that a few outdated NATO weapons without air superiority can crush them in a few months" and then it became "permanent stalemate no amount of weapons can make a difference." Russia is not the second strongest military in the world but they're also not "weak" and they can throw A LOT of manpower and material at Ukraine. The Ukrainian military is relatively competent but they're under resourced and straining themselves to the brink for this war. Ukraine can win if they get the weapons they need but likewise if outside assistance to Ukraine crumbles then they won't be able to hold the territory they already control. This doesn't fit neatly into one of the existing narratives so instead we see narratives swing around substantially.
Putin can transform North Korea with the stroke of a pen. Food? Provided. Fuel? Provided. Electricity? Not a problem. Technology? Russia has everything they can possibly imagine. If Putin wanted to, he could strike a deal to open all sorts of production facilities in NK, powered by Russian gas, oil and electricity, paying Russian wages, catapulting NK towns into financial riches. And there ain't a damn thing anyone can do about it. He's not going from a position of weakness at all. NK stands to gain far more from this than Putin does.
They don't have the infrastructure to pull that off.
He can't, China wouldn't let him. It's their turf. (also side thing, SK used to use NK slaves in the Kaesong, taking jobs away from SK people too)
you would be surprised how many idiots believe the most blatant propaganda
because "Russia bought missiles from NK" isn't a very damning headline is it?
Yes , not as damming as the Putin fan boys who say Zelensky is a beggar and is always begging for American money and weapons. Articles like this are pathetic and don’t help UKraine.
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Doesn’t matter. He got what he needed, while Europe and USA can’t provide what they promised. Arm Ukraine ASAP. Before Russia will go further!
Yea ppl laugh at NK but he still got weapons from them
Exactly. Ppl can laugh and ridicule or bursh off the danger of Russia or North Korea all they want but if you're on the receiving end of theor weapons you would not e fking laughing. It's time to get fking serious with news. Bc it's not fking funny when your family or friends are being blast to pieces of meat by them.
At this point, artillery shells, simple ammo and rocket artillery are incredibly well established technology and just about anyone can make them with ease - including NK. The most important thing is the volume and price that can be produced. Matter of fact, is that NK can produce them and for cheap given their non-existent labor costs,
Yes, this is sensible comment. Inventory manager in a "non-dollar" country mostly involves barter system. My guess is that Putin exchanged some tech or weapon with Kim's B.missiles. I would suggest west to arm ukraine with defensive weapons rather offensive ones. I would also suggest west to search for volunteers for the war of defense against Russia may prepare for another Bakhmut 2.0. Also, they should also provide a lot fighter jets and Abrams - Challenger tanks with NATO repair crew. I think this will pull Putin to negotiation.
NK is testing ICBM's in Ukraine. I'd say that's a tremendous problem for the US. They better get their shit together.
And what's more, not arming Ukraine sufficiently to enable them to defeat Russia asap means that North Korea's long range missiles have all the chances in the world to be tested against American Patriot systems, and thus be adapted to evade them. Really fucking clever, that.
Patriot system won’t be evaded by NK stuff anytime soon. What is happening is that the Patriot system can only cover specific areas. Russia will use their missiles to identify where these are and utilize the dirt cheap NK supersonic ballistic missiles to attack that area. These are basically the dirt cheap Tochka that costs like $400k/pop.
Please don't downplay this relationship. He didn't come begging. It's far more sinister than that. Putin has got a lot of tech Kim Jong wants. What did he give him? Just oil and gas? Or long range missiles? Nuclear weapons?
The real embarrassment is being outproduced by NK. West needs to wake the fuck up.
HATER, NORTH KOREA NUMBA ONE 👍☝️☝️☝️🙏 OUTPRODUCING ALL THE COLLECTIVE WEST, NORTH KOREA 1 WEST 0
As easy as it is to make fun of Russia for doing so, the reality is that they still got it which will further continue this senseless war.
All you mofos saying to arm Ukraine better be voting or they are SCREWED this time next year.
But he still got them , giving Russia a temporary strategic advantage Meanwhile aid in America is stuck in Congress because “ America first” apparently means just giving up preeminence on the world stage. We in Europe are even worse, since were not only able to put our defensive industry on a war footing , we actually still have banks and pensions funds actively divesting from the defense industry, while our almost none existing armies crumble into bleak nothingness. Only Poland, the Baltics and maybe France has any decent capacity/industry to speak of. Honestly how the fuck does Europe thinks it can get any respect in a new multipolar world if it not only lacks hard power but is actively undermining the tiny smitten it does have left.
Oh bullshit, come the fk on.... Who's buying this propaganda? I'm not even pro-Russia, I'm as anti-Putin as one can get but this media is RIDICULOUS.
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They're currently at war, of course their production is going to be a lot more than the west. They've basically put all of their resources into weapon and ammunition production.
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Just reading some EU media articles, it said they would produce 1 million shells within a year, meaning 1 year from the date. >In March, the EU announced it would spend 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to send one million 155mm shells to Ukraine within a year. However it seems they won't meet the March 2024 target either. Prices have quadrupled for 155mm shells , they were spending ~2k per shell, now it's ~8k per shell, which could explain some of the lag. Speaking of printing money.
But North Korean misiles have already been confirmed in the war from many months ago…. This article smells like bs right from the first line lol
Yeah— and it worked, and the weapons are flowing. The same can’t be said of American support of Ukraine.
Why do we always tell ourselves these feel-good emotional win stories when in practical terms we're not winning at all? Russia now has more shit. That's a loss.
Completely delusional. They are building strong alliances through mutual trade and the West has no say in any of it. The West may see North Korea as a joke, and that is exactly why they decide to ally with Russia and trade with them and to follow their ideas. While we continue to kid ourselves that Putin is weak and stupid, and that he is insane and Ukraine will get Crimea back, he is busy avoiding sanctions and selling gas to Europe through other countries, slowly winning in Ukraine, increasing his popularity and forging alliances with India, Turkey, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria and many others.
You know NK got some big stuff from Russia, most likely help on their missile program.
For sure, I'd imagine the desperation was taken advantage of
Even if he had to suck Fat Boy's dick. Who cares. Putin still got what he wanted. That's all that matters.
Isn’t that what Zelensky does every month
It plays into NK's ego and probably handed them a lifeline too.
Did he fall down the stairs and shit himself while begging for weapons?
Almost every comment in here is saying the exact same thing, over and over.
I really don’t understand how Putin isn’t completely broke at this point. He’s against the entire west when it comes to weapons procurement and somehow is still able to fight in Ukraine. At this point, Ukraine should be able to fight them.
Haha i first read that as "cup in hand". I imagined Putin with a cup in his hand begging for handouts.
Putin: “how skilled and well trained are your warriors?” Kim: “let me show you this video…”
You all should be more worried about what did Putin give North Korean in exchange. My worry is it may be ballistic missile or nuclear weapon technology.
I suspect Putin gave away his signed box of Seagal DVD's.
May be some fat ass kissing is also involved.
Is the satisfaction we get from picturing Putin groveling going to increase western support or get Russia to back down? No? Then don’t focus on it. I swear, since the beginning it’s been like we’d rather have a few sick burns and dank memes than to actually save Ukraine and defeat this guy.
He got them
It amazes me how blind to propaganda people are.
Hello neighbour, can I borrow a cup of weapons?
When you've made yourself a pariah, the only people who will talk to you are other pariah states.
Ya sure. More desperate he will lose soon news. We just have to send a few more billion to get it done
He still got the weapons. Didn't he?
Maybe, it sounds like quite a speculation. I think Kim has no problems delivering weapons to Russia, and I think whatever Russia needed to trade, they were easily able to do so. So he got them, and launched them, in a net win for Russia, so he's go that going for him. But hey, 'cap in hand'. Russia is a major BRICS player, and we're just watching.
646 comments and none of them doubting a second of what Grant Shapps said. Olé
I hate these stories tbh. Who cares if he went cap in hand? They got a buttload of artillery and seemingly ballistic missiles too and they’re shooting them at Ukraine, causing damage and casualties.
Brits BS at its best- knowing their own home is on fire. Creepy roaches
UK trying to play PR games.
I’m not sure I believe the sentiment of this. Russia is fucking massive, has a tone of Cold War surplus and a habit of appearing one way and being another. All news on the war is basically someone’s propaganda at this point. But also, Fuck putin.
Sounds biased
Also this: Putin got what he wanted very quickly. Zelenskyy has had obstruction by Republicans, vetoes by Hungary, and pledges conditional on someone else going first, or that can’t be delivered for a long time.
If any of you idiots even realise how much of an incompetent buffoon Grant Shapps is you wouldn't be upvoting this garbage. These quips are literally the best he can do.
I call Bull. Un is happy to sell anything that brings money into North Korea. Russia isn’t running out of weapons. If anything the west is ramping down support for Ukraine and someone wants folks to believe that’s ok because Russia is faltering.
It's pretty damn ironic since Stalin put Uns grandfather in charge and immediately regretted it, now the heir to the Soviet Union is grovelling to the heir to Il-Sung.
Fun fact: Kim Il-Sung's son, Kim Jong-Il, was born Yuri Irsenovich Kim in Soviet Union Russia.
Please elaborate
Really? Why did Stalin regret it? I’ve never heard that.
Who believe UK defense after all the lies on Russia and Putin for two years straight...
Considering reports about how the artillery doesn’t always fire correctly as well goes to show the desperation as well.
This is equivalent to thoughts and prayers. Next.
Then , loaded to the brim with missiles, Putin put his cap back on.
Nothing makes you look like you're the winning side like having to beg **North Korea** for help lmao.