Details:

💰Military Spending

🇪🇺📉Even if the European members collectively reached the US level of around 3.5% of GDP, their spending would still trail that of their superpower ally because Europe’s economy has been on a path of decline relative to the US since the global financial crisis of the late 2000s.

🪖Troops

🇫🇷🇬🇧🇩🇪 France’s active armed forces shrank by 56% between 1990 and 2024, to 203,850. The UK is still cutting: A 2023 Defence Command Paper states that the British army will be reduced to 73,000 soldiers by 2025 — the lowest level since the Napoleonic wars of 1803–1815.
Germany could possibly deploy one brigade — numbering a few thousand soldiers — to the Baltics and that “would be considered an accomplishment,” said Max Bergmann, director for Europe, Russia and Eurasia at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

France could mobilize 20,000 soldiers in 30 days, according to the joint chief of command of its land army, General Pierre Schill. The UK could at a best effort muster one division of between 20,000 and 30,000 soldiers, though this would probably take more than a month, said Matthew Savill of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based defense and security think tank.

“Ukraine’s losses against Russia of 31,000 troops would be the fighting strength of the British army gone,” he said.

🇺🇸 American special forces alone number around 70,000, and the US has some 80,000 military service personnel stationed just in Europe.

⛴ Naval Power

🇺🇸 Some US submarines carry more Tomahawks than the entire UK Royal Navy has in its stocks, according to RUSI calculations.

🇫🇷🇬🇧 France has one remaining full-scale aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, typically carrying around 30 Rafale fighter jets. The UK has two such vessels, which together have the capacity to host 48 F-35 combat jets in addition to helicopters. But it’s expected to have only 37 of the fighter planes by the end of 2024. (The F-35’s predecessor, the Harrier, was retired more than a decade ago.) A single US Nimitz-class carrier, of which there are 10, has an air wing of up to 69 aircraft.

Ships have some of the longest construction lead times of any military hardware. In early 2024, the British government said it was decommissioning two of its 11 Royal Navy frigates; the Telegraph newspaper reported it was due to a lack of manpower.

✈️ Air Power

The bulk of NATO’s long-range cruise and ballistic missiles, which in combat would be propelled over hundreds of miles from mobile batteries and warships, are provided by the US. And Europe doesn’t have Patriot-style anti-missile systems in numbers that would constitute an effective defense against incoming projectiles.

“In a ground fight with Russia, NATO success would be heavily reliant on achieving air superiority,” said Savill at RUSI.

🇺🇸 Currently, only the US could carry out effective suppression and destruction of modern Russian air defenses.

The US military has a shot at defeating so-called integrated air defense systems because it has large numbers of highly-trained pilots flying stealthy combat jets such as F-35s, which work in tandem with imaging satellites and long-range reconnaissance aircraft to pinpoint multiple targets quickly and accurately. The US also has large, readily available stocks of long-range “standoff” munitions that can be fired from outside the danger zone to destroy those targets.

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📈 The Outlook

🇩🇪🇵🇱🇳🇱🇬🇧Positive developments include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s announcement of a €100 billion fund to modernize the country’s defenses; a significant expansion of Poland’s armed forces to make it the third-largest in NATO, with a heavy focus on ground troops; a Dutch plan to restore tank forces that the country got rid of in 2011; and the arrival of new Apache helicopters and Archer howitzer guns for the British army.

🇸🇪🇫🇮🇳🇴🇩🇰A subgroup of members — Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark — also have moved in that direction by creating a Nordic air-defense alliance to combine command and control; share facilities, information and situational awareness; and improve interoperability. The group plans to have almost 250 modern combat aircraft by the end of the decade, of which at least half will probably be F-35s.

It’s also taken considerable credit for a rapid increase in European production of artillery shells — expected to reach 2 million by the end of 2025 from 1 million in early 2024.

Some security officials say European military spending may need to rise to as much as 4% of national budgets — levels not seen since the end of the Soviet era.

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❗️🇷🇺🤝🇰🇵🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺🚀🇺🇦 North Korean missiles used by Russia to attack Ukraine contain components from the US, UK and EU, according to a report by Ukraine's Independent Anti-Corruption Commission

"This is outrageous. A recent examination of the North Korean KN-23/24 missile shot down in Ukraine found numerous recently manufactured Western components. Putin and Kim still have access to them," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote in X.

Analysts analyzed the remains of the KN-23/24 missile (improved Hwasong), shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Poltava region

📌Most of the microelectronic components found in North Korean missiles were made in the US, including by Diodes Inc, Bourns, Broadcom, Analog Devices and Avago

📌Experts also found components manufactured by Traco Power and STMicroelectronics in Switzerland, NXP in the Netherlands and XP Power in the UK

❓The DPRK is under strict sanctions from the US, UK, EU and UN member states. They prohibit, among other things, the export of weapons, ballistic missile components and any dual-use goods

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🇬🇪 Thousands of people rally in Tbilisi for Georgia's European choice
Four columns of people from different parts of the Georgian capital converged on Freedom Square.

On October 26, Georgia will hold parliamentary elections, where, as is traditional, two main parties will oppose each other: the pro-Russian "Georgian Dream" of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili and the "United National Movement" of former Georgian President and now prisoner of freedom Mikheil Saakashvili

"Georgian Dream" intends to gain full control over parliament.

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The West Has Fallen: The West is looking for a way to end its support for Ukraine
🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦 "Even if Kamala Harris reaches the White House, it is likely she will pursue a deal to end the war because Washington sees no scenario for Ukrainian victory," — Bloomberg
🇰🇵 #North_Korea supplies Moscow with ammunition at a tenth the price of Western ammunition used by Ukraine.
🇨🇳 Russia opens Harpia-3 attack drone production plant in #China;
🇮🇷 #Iran supplies Russia with ballistic missiles;
📡 Ukrainians are outraged that Russians are using illegal Starlink for surveillance and control;
🇪🇺🛢European countries are trying to revive the old regime of cheap gas and oil;
❗️NATO membership would be the best guarantee of security for Ukraine. But the West is not ready for this.


ПАДЕНИЕ ЗАПАДА: Запад ищет способ прекратить поддержку Украины
🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦 «Даже если Камала Харрис выиграет выборы, она будет добиваться прекращения войны, потому что Вашингтон не видит сценария победы Украины», — Bloomberg
🇰🇵 #Северная_Корея поставляет Москве боеприпасы по цене в 1/10 от стоимости западных боеприпасов, используемых Украиной.
🇨🇳 Россия открыла в Китае завод по производству ударных БпЛА "Гарпия-3";
🇮🇷 #Иран поставляет России баллистические ракеты;
📡 Украинцы возмущены тем, что русские используют нелегальные Starlink для наблюдения и управления;
🇪🇺🛢Европейские страны пытаются возродить старый режим дешевых газа и нефти;
❗️Лучшей гарантией безопасности для Украины было бы членство в НАТО. Но Запад к этому не готов

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☠️ #Кремлевские_чистки продолжаются
🇷🇺 Еще один важный российский государственный деятель, сослуживец Путина по КГБ и носитель кремлевских секретов, генерал-полковник Константин Олегович Ромодановский, погиб странной смертью при загадочных обстоятельствах — в тот же день, что и бывший топ-менеджер ЮКОСа Михаил Рогачев.
Генералу Ромодановскому было 67 лет.

О смерти Ромодановского сообщил депутат Хинштейн в своем Telegram-канале, назвав смерть своего негласного куратора и источника многочисленного компромата «огромной утратой».

По версии следствия, генерал в пьяном виде неудачно упал с лестницы в своем подмосковном коттедже и сломал себе шею.

Впрочем, подконтрольные Кремлю медиа выдвинули ряд альтернативных версий:
▪️так, телеканал 5-tv сообщил, что у Ромодановского «не выдержало сердце»;
▪️"Московский комсомолец" написал, что генерал скончался из-за «последствий гепатита С»;
▪️другие кремлевские СМИ (RT, Life, Lenta, Известия) вспомнили о "тяжелом диабете".

❗️Константин Ромодановский был весьма осведомленным человеком: будучи первым замом главы УСБ ФСБ, а затем и Начальником Главка собственной безопасности МВД России, Ромодановский участвовал во многих межклановых войнах и располагал огромным компроматом на политиков, бизнесменов и сотрудников силовых органов.

В 2016 Ромодановский был уволен с поста министра Федеральной Миграционной службы и пристроен в Совет директоров различных подконтрольных ФСБ коммерческих структур, поэтому не бедствовал.

В ноябре 2023 в связи с громким делом Merlion попал под раздачу сын генерала, глава следственного управления СК по Северо-Западному округу Москвы Сергей Ромодановский: он был арестован по обвинению в вымогательстве взятки в особо крупных размерах и в организации преступного следственного сообщества.

📌О связи Ромодановского с главой комитета Госдумы по СМИ Александром Хинштейном рассказал журналист Сергей Канев:

«Свой трудовой путь Ромодановский начинал патологоанатомом в морге, затем перешел в КГБ. В 2001 году Иванов поставил этого чекиста рулить ГУСБ МВД. В то время из его кабинета не вылезал Саша Хинштейн, которому сливали компромат. На этих материалах Хиня сделал себе имя «борца с коррупцией», а в ответ стал называть Ромодановского «совестью милиции».

По данным Канева, перед переходом в ФМС Ромодановский в качестве главы Управления собственной безопасности МВД крышевал проституцию в Москве...

🤷Как бы то ни было, Константин Ромодановский больше уже ничего никому не расскажет

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☠️ #Kremlin_purges continue
🇷🇺 One more important Russian statesman, Putin's KGB colleague and bearer of Kremlin secrets, Colonel General Konstantin Olegovich Romodanovsky, died a strange death under mysterious circumstances — on the same day as former Yukos top manager Mikhail Rogachev.
General Romodanovsky was 67 years old.

Deputy Khinshtein reported Romodanovsky’s death on his Telegram-channel, calling the death of his unofficial curator and source of numerous incriminating materials “a huge loss.”

According to investigators, the general, while drunk, fell down the stairs in his cottage near Moscow and broke his neck.

However, Kremlin-controlled media have put forward a number of alternative versions:
▪️for example, the 5-tv channel reported that Romodanovsky's "heart gave out";
▪️"Moskovsky Komsomolets" wrote that the general died due to "the consequences of hepatitis C";
▪️other Kremlin media (RT, Life, Lenta, Izvestia) outlets recalled "severe diabetes".

❗️Konstantin Romodanovsky was a very knowledgeable person: being the first deputy head of the FSB Internal Security Directorate, and then the Head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Romodanovsky participated in many inter-clan wars and had a huge amount of dirt on politicians, businessmen and law enforcement officers.

In 2016, Romodanovsky was dismissed from his post as Minister of the Federal Migration Service and placed on the Board of Directors of various commercial structures controlled by the FSB, so he didno't live in poverty.

In November 2023, in connection with the high-profile Merlion case, the general's son, the head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the North-West District of Moscow, Sergei Romodanovsky, fell into disgrace: he was arrested on charges of extorting a bribe on an especially large scale and organizing a "criminal investigative community" (such an expression probably only exists in Russia).

📌Journalist Sergei Kanev spoke about Romodanovsky’s connection with the head of the State Duma Committee on Media, Alexander Khinshtein:

"Romodanovsky began his career as a pathologist in a morgue, then moved to the KGB. In 2001, Ivanov put this security officer in charge of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At that time Sasha Khinshtein, to whom everybody the incriminating evidence was leaked, didn't getting out Romodanovsky’s office.With these materials, Khinshtein made a name for himself as an "anti-corruption fighter", and in response began calling Romodanovsky "the conscience of the police."

According to Kanev, before moving to the Federal Migration Service, Romodanovsky, as head of the Internal Security Directorate of the Min of Internal Affairs, protected prostitution in Moscow...

🤷‍♂️Be that as it may, Konstantin Romodanovsky won't tell anyone anything anymore

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