While we could start a whole philosophical debate about whether or not anyone can provide anything but their individual experience of things, I doubt someone unqualified would have been invited as observer to NATO wargames.

Perun approaches the topic from an economical and strategic viewpoint. And yes, he uses mostly open source information because it would be very unwise for his career to use any form of insider information he might possess. Though if you have a look around the channel you can also find some interviews with experts in specific fields. And also yes, if you are more interested in the day-to-day situation on the ground I’d recommend checking out other channels as well. It’s his stated goal to provide a top down view.

My main source of information on the Ukraine conflict is Perun, an Aussie working in or at least adjacent to the military industrial complex. He has a playlist of presentations (he basically delivers narrated PowerPoint presentations instead of “traditional” videos) on Ukraine.

It waswas definitely avoidable but the situation for many soldiers in forward positions is tense at the best of times.

I am no expert on this but I believe the additional funds will not improve the situation for the grunts in the trenches significantly because the issue is not a lack of materials. Instead it’s the ubiquity of cheap kamikaze and spotter drones that makes logistics so difficult because any sizeable movement attracts an immediate response.

I think instead the funds will to a significant portion be spent on purchasing material that are actually in short supply like missile interceptors to bolster defense against Russian air threats beyond drones.

[…] a general gesture extended to all heads of state and government whom he had invited to Budapest to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution.

Did he invite Putin as well, just for completions sake?

Here we go again …

Every German nuclear power plant has been run with minimal maintenance for the remainder of their operational live because their shutdown had been decided years ago. It would have been more efficient to rebuild them from the ground up. It would have been if any of the major energy companies in Germany had been interested in operating new nuclear power plants at all.

Then there is the problem with nuclear waste. Yes, of course now someone will bring up the argument “It’s so little waste” but even if it is, it’s too much if there is no long term storage solution at all. Meanwhile, our existing waste containers are rusting away.

“But cheap electricity is worth it” I hear you say. Nuclear is not cheap. Every western nuclear power plant is propped up by government subsidies and guarantied electricity prices, which makes it a net negative for the taxpayer.

“But China is doing it on time and budget” is next in line. Sure, let’s take the totalitarian state with total control over its industry as role model. But even China is adding magnitudes more renewables than nuclear capacity. Why wait decades for one nuclear power plants worth of energy when over the same time period we can add multiple nuclear plants worth of solar and wind farms together with the battery capacity to balance energy usage?

Next we have the issue of sourcing the fuel. Guess where i.e. France is getting most their fuel from? Yeah, it’s Russia. “We could get our uranium from Australia instead” is the follow-up argument. Theoretically yes, but in reality France is even expanding their ties with Russia.

I really don’t understand why people refuse to acknowledge that civilian nuclear power usage is a thing of the past.

It’s no different from the S.S. arresting germans who spoke jewish sympathy.

Bit of nitpicking here, but that would have been the job of the Gestapo.

And a different error means progress!