Everything Is Driven ...

 ... by PR by people with zero understanding of the tactical-technical and operational realities of modern warfare. So, they lament and come up with BS. 

Australia’s controversial decision to transfer 49 retired M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) to Ukraine remains a source of contention among Western allies. That’s because the performance of those older Australian tanks has highlighted the weaknesses of MBTs in modern combat more generally, and, specifically, has shown that the vaunted Abrams MBT might not be the king of battle any longer.

Two points:

1. MBT is "weakened" in NATO (US) only whose staff structures do not understand that 404 poured Niagara of military BS into their ears, which tells you about a very low intellectual level of those staffers who missed the whole point that if anything else MBTs resurrected themselves as a critical element of modern battlefield and Russian tanks can take punishment no NATO tank can. But then again--NATO was building its fighting doctrine based on fairy tales from defeated Wehrmacht generals. I already elaborated on this matter here. 

2. Abrams IS vaunted, much talked up. It is not a good tank(c) per Colonel Macgregor who commanded a regiment of those. There is very little military (combat) value in blowing away backward monkey model (basic ballistic computer and basic optics) Iraqi T-72As and totally another meeting something like T-72B3 let alone T-90V Proryv which are fully netcentric systems with excellent optronic suite, comms and most importantly great gun and ability to launch ATGMs through it. 

So, it all comes down to PR and carefully constructed US military mythology which has very little if anything to do with the reality--only with this: 

Michael Bay has been tapped to direct a movie centered around Operation Epic Fury at Universal Pictures, the studio confirmed Wednesday. The untitled film tells the true story of a massive rescue effort to save two pilots downed during the April 2026 attacks in Iran. The film adapts a book from Mitchell Zuckoff coming in 2027 from Harper Collins.

Well, you get my drift, right? 

Nima and Me...

 ... live in 45 minutes. 

Yet Another Reminder ...

 ... for consumers of Hollywood version of war and owners of the movie Patton DVD. Pentagon doesn't have experience with this whatsoever, the US excels at killing civilians. Here is Lavrov on the issue, again: 

MOSCOW, May 20 - RIA Novosti. During a special military operation, Russia does not want to cause excessive damage to the territories where Russian people live, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "We are consistently solving the tasks of the special military operation. President Russia Vladimir Putin I have repeatedly said that we do not use the means that we could use, because we do not want to cause excessive damage to the territories where, by and large, our people live, whom the Nazis are trying to suppress," he said Lavrov in Interview Shanghai Media Group SMG. He noted that about 80 settlements were liberated in 2026, including 35 in March and April.

Let me remind you again--NO US serviceman ever fought in modern times in defense of own country and experienced the loss of everything dear to him (her)--loved ones, property et al. This war factor is absent from American military psyche and culture. That is why US "elites" view cautious approach in SMO and Russia' openness to negotiations as a weakness not an attempt to avoid inflicting unnecessary suffering. That is why German so called "historians" love so much fairy tales about Red Army "raping" millions upon millions German women based on a data on abortions from a single Berlin hospital--much of it unreliable--it is an attempt to cover up atrocities and crimes against humanity of the European Third Reich. That is why many want to believe delirious delusions about millions of Red Army soldiers "executed by NKVD"--anything to cover an ugly mug of a civilization which continues to murder all around the world. 

I want to remind you again--Russian drone. 

Things like that happen every day in former 404. Enough to say that initially this video was stolen and presented by ... VSU and their NATO handlers as 404 drone saving Ukie family--honor, humanity, consciousness do not exist in the West and their convulsing bloody Nazi regime in Kiev. 

The Fate of Il-96-400.

Vladimir Putin departing Beijing on President's Il-96-300 and when you look at the Il-96-300 you cannot fail to notice the elegance, if not outright beauty, of this plane. No, this is not Russian rah-rah. I, for once, consider B-747-400 to be one of the most beautiful aircraft in history, but Il-96-300 is an aerodynamic porn. 

Russia does have a very dynamic program for PD-26 (PD-35) engine which theoretically could serve as a substitution for a couple of reliable and still modern PS-90-As on each wing (or rather consoles--planes have only one wing and two consoles). As Andrei Tupolev famously noted--only beautiful aircraft fly well(c). Il-96-300 (400) is this beautiful aircraft, ironically from a rival of Tupolev's own design bureau. I personally love Ilyushin (and later Genrikh Novozhilov's) magnificent machines. I always felt safe in them, and comfortable. 

A few of them still fly. But they are a dying breed, Il-96? Is re-motorising possible for Il-96. For once, the wing will have to redesigned dramatically--one massive engine instead of two large ones. That immediately affects fuselage--loading everywhere changes. I can tell you one thing though, these four engine monsters will continue to fly, including its latest iteration--Il-96-400M. 

And what I want to say here--FUCK you, airlines, and your "bottom line" and profit margins. Despite all this talk about increased reliability--and it is true to a large degree--of the modern jet engines which pushed on us two-engine design of modern commercial aircraft, but ... 

... these are four engines which give these aircraft their unique and beautiful look. And yes, all professionals agree--four engines even today are better in terms of safety than two. My heart ached when they rolled out the last B-747 from a gigantic facility in Everett. 

No Uncertain Terms.

Rick, it was Zelenograd. Scott gives a very good rundown and yes, China is aware of all proceedings. Rumor has it--there are China's military people who are embedded with Russian MoD. 

Spirit of Beijing ...

 ... and 87% of British military delusion. 

A Short But A Very ...

... good graphics on global balance of power through Iran War scam by the US and Israel.