Category Archives: United States

Britain, Military, NATO, Russia, United States

Putin says Russia’s new nuclear weapons are invincible

VLADIMIR PUTIN

Putin

Vladimir Putin delivers his state of the nation address and says Russia has a new arsenal of invincible nuclear weapons.

RUSSIA has boasted that it has developed an arsenal of invincible nuclear weapons that are immune to enemy detection.

Vladimir Putin used his state of the nation speech this week to warn of his country’s resurgent military might, saying Russia was not listened to before, and declaring: ‘Listen to us now.’

The Russian president said his deadly weaponry included a nuclear-powered cruise missile that could reach anywhere in the world and an underwater drone with nuclear weapons that can obliterate an aircraft carrier.

Mr Putin also revealed details of an ‘invulnerable’ hypersonic missile and insisted it was not a bluff as he showed chilling test footage of the new kit. ‘No one else in the world has anything like that,’ he said.

He warned that any attempt to use nuclear weapons against Russia and its allies would bring instant retaliation. But Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson accused him of choosing a path of ‘escalation and provocation’ and added: ‘We are facing intensifying threats to our way of life and this development is another reminder to not let down our guard.’

Mr Putin made his hot-blooded claims as he laid out his key policies for another term in office, ahead of an election he is expected to win in 15 days.

The 65-year old president, who has led Russia for almost two decades, usually delivers the annual speech in the Kremlin but this year delivered his address from a nearby exhibition centre. This allowed him to show a series of slick video montages of missiles manoeuvring across mountains and oceans and heading over the Atlantic.

He quoted a 2004 speech in which he vowed Russia would develop a new generation of weaponry. ‘No one wanted to talk to us,’ Mr Putin said. ‘No one listened to us then. Listen to us now.’ It brought a standing ovation from the audience of lawmakers and celebrities.

He presented Russia’s military efforts as a response to recent actions by the US which last month unveiled plans to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons.

In a speech that ran to almost two hours, Mr Putin described several different capabilities which he said would render NATO defences completely useless.

One new weapon, called Avangard, is an intercontinental hypersonic missile that would fly at 20 times the speed of sound and strike its targets ‘like a meteorite, like a fireball’, he said.

The weapon is capable of performing sharp manoeuvres on its way to targets, making it ‘absolutely invulnerable for any missile defence system,’ Mr Putin added.

He said neither the nuclear-powered cruise missile nor the underwater drone had names yet, suggesting with dark humour that a public competition be held for ideas.

He also said that another new weapons system, called Kinzhal, is already operational and is a hypersonic missile carried by an aircraft that flies at ten times the speed of sound with a range of 1,250 miles.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu later said Russian arms would be able to ‘overcome all existing anti-missile systems’ such as those the US intends to deploy in eastern Europe and South Korea.

. See also A policy brief warns that NATO and Russia are preparing for conflict…

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Britain, Russia, Syria, United States

UN Secretary-General pleads for Syrian ceasefire

SYRIA

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY children are feared to have been killed in bloody Syrian air attacks on a rebel-held enclave near Damascus.

Bashar al-Assad’s warplanes pounded the eastern Ghouta district earlier this week for five consecutive days, turning it into a “hell on earth” according to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

As the UN pleaded for a ceasefire to prevent a “massacre”, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 368 people, including 150 children, had been killed since last Sunday night.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, visiting neighbouring Lebanon, said Britain was considering extending its commitment to resettle 20,000 vulnerable refugees from the brutal Syrian civil war.

Concern is growing that Russia has deployed a new stealth fighter to Syrian for weapons testing. Footage appeared to show two Su-57 fifth-generation jets landing at Russia’s Khmeimim air base in the country. The killing machine – which is yet to be tested in combat – is difficult to track on enemy radars – and is capable of autonomously assessing battlefield situations before striking targets with its deadly weaponry.

Map of Damascus locating the besieged rebel enclave in Eastern Ghouta.

 

The deployment of the aircraft would represent the latest the high-tech military system Russia has exhibited in Syria. The Kremlin has been accused of using the war-ravaged nation as a weapons-testing playground.

A Royal Navy warship has, once again, been forced to escort three Russian warships as they travelled through the English Channel on their way back from the region.

Russian spy ship Feodor Golovin, landing ship Alexander Ostrakovskiy and tanker Yelnya had been supporting Russian military operations in Syria.

The deployment of Portsmouth-based HMS Mersey and a Wildcat helicopter from RNAS Yeovilton is the third time in two months that the Royal Navy has been scrambled to keep a watch on Russian vessels passing the UK.

In Lebanon Miss Rudd said 10,538 people from the Syrian war zone have already been granted refuge under a government scheme and the UK would reach its target of bringing in 20,000 by 2020.

The Home Secretary said she was already holding talks about what would follow when the target was met. She failed to rule out the option of bringing in more refugees, although other ways of helping – such as providing support in the region – could also be likely.

The Home Secretary said: “I am consulting with stakeholders and engaging with other departments to decide what we should have to replace that after 2020. I am going to make sure we have something post-2020 but I’m not sure yet what shape it is.”

World leaders have ramped up the pressure for an urgent ceasefire in Syria.

The UN Security Council was expected to vote on a resolution, called for by Sweden and Kuwait, ordering a ceasefire to allow relief agencies to deliver vital aid and evacuating the sick and wounded from besieged areas.

A spokesperson for Syrian Civil Defence, a search-and-rescue group, said eastern Ghouta was being targeted for “extermination”, adding: “This is a war against civilians. The civil defence is being targeted as they rescue women and children.”

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Britain, Business, Government, Technology, United States

Probity needed over GKN bid

GKN’s TAKEOVER BID

ALL TOO OFTEN it is price which determines the outcome of mergers and takeovers. Share registers are now global and, once the proverbial train has departed, City traders and hedge fund managers hitch calculated risks and profit handsomely.

Notwithstanding, there have been several bid approaches where robust industrial and strategic- defence policies have prevailed. Examples include the proposed Airbus deal with BAE Systems, the Pfizer skirmish with Astrazeneca, the Deutsche Boerse ‘merger of equals’ with the London Stock Exchange, and the approach for Unilever by Kraft-Heinz. The key to shooting down these transactions were robust company boards, and strict regulatory and political responses.

The House of Commons business select committee may be up to its neck picking over the carcass of Carillion, but it would be a dereliction of duty if it now allowed GKN, Britain’s only world-class car components manufacturer, to fall into the hands of financially driven Melrose which has little of the same commitment to British research and development and manufacturing.

The country cannot allow manufacturing know-how to vanish into uncertain hands at the very moment when Britain is looking to new global markets post-Brexit. At least the defence select committee is preparing to ask some serious questions about aerospace.

GKN may not be a top Ministry of Defence contractor, but it does important work on the Typhoon fighter jet and is a strategic partner with the US (including work on the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint-strike fighter destined for Britain’s new aircraft carriers).

In the civilian sector, Airbus regards GKN as a vital supplier for wing components, to the point that the company’s chief executive, Tom Enders, says he would not favour GKN falling into the hands of a financially driven and predatory bidder.

Aerospace, along with pharmaceuticals, finance and high-tech, is a sector of the UK economy where there are industrial clusters and genuine competitive advantage. Allowing that to be whipped away would be enormously detrimental.

The biggest concern about a Melrose takeover is for GKN’s driveline (driveshaft) technology and its advanced work in Abingdon on e-drive, a vital component for next generation electric cars already embraced by manufacturers including Volvo.

The UK car components industry was greatly denuded by the experiences of the late 20th century, but, as the industry has risen phoenix-like from the ashes, GKN emerged as a world-class player willing to invest in the new drive technologies.

It would be an act of industrial sabotage if Melrose were to get its hands on driveline and e-drive and sell the technology to the highest bidders in France, Germany or China. We only have to look at the recent takeover by Vauxhall by Peugeot owners PSA and the threat to the Ellesmere Port plant to understand how ruinous that would be. The Unite union recognises this, and so does an industrialist of the stature of Sir Richard Lapthorne.

The business select committee has a sacred duty to properly scrutinise what the impact of a hostile Melrose deal would be. Allowing the future of GKN to be settled by global investors, with no loyalties to British technology and jobs, would be unconscionable.

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