Political impacts of Ukraine war

[FJAG]

Could such an exceptional permission for reprisal extend to CBRN? Biological weapons usage is one of those ‘beyond the pale’ things… If in fact Russia is using biological weapons… Oof.

I don't see any reason as to why not. Be aware though that Rules 146 to 148 bar reprisals outright against protected people, objects and in non-international conflicts.

Reprisals have been rarely used and, in these days of the proliferation of social media and high-level disinformation campaigns their use can be quickly turned against the reprising party. We live under the fiction that good people would never need to resort to such tactics.

I'm kind of wondering about the utility of throwing out Anthrax infected cattle carcasses. Anthrax occurs naturally in nature (not sure how much in Ukraine - there's less in northern countries), does not spread from person to person and can be vaccinated against. It's one thing to spray large population centres with weaponized anthrax and quite another to dump some cattle carcasses here and there which can be quickly incinerated with some Soviet era flame throwers.

 

[Furniture]

I don't see any reason as to why not. Be aware though that Rules 146 to 148 bar reprisals outright against protected people, objects and in non-international conflicts.

Reprisals have been rarely used and, in these days of the proliferation of social media and high-level disinformation campaigns their use can be quickly turned against the reprising party. We live under the fiction that good people would never need to resort to such tactics.

I'm kind of wondering about the utility of throwing out Anthrax infected cattle carcasses. Anthrax occurs naturally in nature (not sure how much in Ukraine - there's less in northern countries), does not spread from person to person and can be vaccinated against. It's one thing to spray large population centres with weaponized anthrax and quite another to dump some cattle carcasses here and there which can be quickly incinerated with some Soviet era flame throwers.

Who is going to vaccinate the locals? The people purportedly dumping the dead cows close to Ukranian populations in the occupied zones?

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Fake politician quote deleted by staff as it was not provided with citations.

We need a gag emoji!

 

[Altair]

We need a gag emoji!

Gifs work pretty well.

 

[FJAG]

We need a gag emoji!

Will this do ?

 

[KevinB]

Ukrainian production of Patriot missiles soon?

We're gonna have to see if there's anything actually behind this statement, or if he just said stuff for the sake of saying stuff.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2074856092199162302

Both LocMart and RTX (the artist formerly known as Raytheon) have already announced their desire to create Ukrainian production facilities.

I suspect for multiple reasons…

 

[Staff Weenie]

I don't see any reason as to why not. Be aware though that Rules 146 to 148 bar reprisals outright against protected people, objects and in non-international conflicts.

Reprisals have been rarely used and, in these days of the proliferation of social media and high-level disinformation campaigns their use can be quickly turned against the reprising party. We live under the fiction that good people would never need to resort to such tactics.

I'm kind of wondering about the utility of throwing out Anthrax infected cattle carcasses. Anthrax occurs naturally in nature (not sure how much in Ukraine - there's less in northern countries), does not spread from person to person and can be vaccinated against. It's one thing to spray large population centres with weaponized anthrax and quite another to dump some cattle carcasses here and there which can be quickly incinerated with some Soviet era flame throwers.

The risk depends on what they are dealing with. Bacillus anthracis does occur naturally around much of the globe. For humans, there are three main ways we can contract it - and each of the three has different morbidity and mortality rates (especially if not treated). Inhalation is the worst, cutaneous (through the skin) is the most common and least dangerous, then there is ingestion (and I'm not certain of the mortality rate for this).

The crappy thing with Anthrax, is that it can form endospores, and these can remain viable in the soil for decades, if not centuries, under the right conditions (see the excavations at Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump as an example).

Here, the risk is that the endospores go into the soil around the carcasses, and later farming activities disperse them into the air, leading to inhalation anthrax - very bad, but probably local impact only. Or, farm workers or soldiers digging defensive positions get endospores into cuts on their skin - cutaneous anthrax - not good. Ingestion - not really likely.

Bigger issue would be if it is altered/weaponized strains - but even then, dead cattle is not how that is effectively spread. You can cause local economic damage and long term soil contamination at the site, but not really large scale casualties. The frightening method for wide dispersion of the endospores is aerial (bomb, missile, or lightbulbs filled with spores dropped in public places).

 

[Czech_pivo]

Both LocMart and RTX (the artist formerly known as Raytheon) have already announced their desire to create Ukrainian production facilities.

I suspect for multiple reasons…

Further to this

Trump says Ukraine will get licence to produce Patriot missiles

Although the Patriots are highly effective against Russia's ballistic missiles, they also have lengthy production times.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine to get licence to produce Patriot missiles, Trump says​

 

[Altair]

Further to this

Trump says Ukraine will get licence to produce Patriot missiles

Although the Patriots are highly effective against Russia's ballistic missiles, they also have lengthy production times.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine to get licence to produce Patriot missiles, Trump says​

Lets see what he says after he next talks to Putin.

 

[brihard]

Further to this

Trump says Ukraine will get licence to produce Patriot missiles

Although the Patriots are highly effective against Russia's ballistic missiles, they also have lengthy production times.

www.bbc.com

Ukraine to get licence to produce Patriot missiles, Trump says​

Given that today he also talked about missiles fired by the “Islamic Republic of Japan”, I wouldn’t put a ton of stock in his verbal utterances.