same old stan

[Lil Lola]

Mel you are aware that Russia has been given aide by China, India and North Korea? 10,000 North Korean troops, some of who defected because they got a taste of freedom. Russia is not alone. Aside from Belarus and others.

[Meliva]

The aid Russia has received is nowhere near the amount Ukraine has received. Largely, China's main way of helping Russia is not cutting off ties or giving them sanctions, I don't believe they've sent much in actual monetary or military support, or if they have, I don't believe it's anywhere close to the amount Ukraine has been receiving. have not heard of India supporting Russia at all, but again, how much are they providing in aid? Is it Hundreds of billions of dollars worth?

Also, those troops north Korea sent, were more or a liability then an asset. Some defected, they required interpreters to help them understand the Russians, and when in a battlefield, having to wait for a middleman to translate your orders can be very costly, they are underfed, and underequipped, they mostly are just being used as either labor for menial tasks to free up Russian soldiers to focus on fighting, or cannon fodder.

Sometimes no help is better than incompetent help. Or at least makes little difference.

[Lil Lola]

China will only tell us what they want us to know..Yes. India has helped them, I am surprised you had no idea.BRICs.. Yes I know sounds like the North Korean troops were about as useful as the Russians were when they first started.

I am just stating this because you had failed to mention them in your previous post. And now you are now saying you do not exactly know how much Russia was given but doubt it that it is as much as was given Ukraine. Well if you do not know who all the players are? How do you know what they gave and how much? Like did you know that Saudi and Russia relations have been growing in the past 10 years or so? Did you know Saudi is now a member of Brics and apparently gave Russia $2B for an air-defense system? And that was leaked info, meaning, that is all we know concerning them. Russia apparently gave a better response to the death of Khashoggi too. And we made a movie?

[Lachlan]

Russia is supported by Iran which gives Shahed drones and their cheaper made missiles, China by it buying up Russian oil and gas, North Koreans mainly have been giving artillery shells mostly because they have a large stockpile because they are an artillery focused doctrine. I think the shells are normal though, not the smart shells. Supposedly the north Korean troops in Ukraine and Russia are supposed to be their better trained troops lol. India, I don't think has given them direct support except buying Russian oil and gas and also, I watched a documentary about how Russia is tricking poor Indians to fight in the army and they will supposedly receive high wages but that ends up not being the case.

[Lil Lola]

And we will learn of more later Lachlan. Like WW2..it will all come out later. Especially since China, Russia and North Korea have serious propaganda machines, so god knows we not find out every detail.

[Lachlan]

And we will learn of more later Lachlan. Like WW2..it will all come out later. Especially since China, Russia and North Korea have serious propaganda machines, so god knows we not find out every detail.

Yeah you are probably right. Although I reckon it would not be large quantities of weapons because it's pretty hard to clandestinely give a huge amount of weapons without anyone knowing compared to a little here and there.

[Dmanwuzhere]

From my understanding hobbyists of the 3d printed guns (called ghost guns) get pretty good at making them to the point where they are just as reliable as a regular gun. There's a really interesting Vice episode on it where the journalist goes to a ghost gun convention and makes one with the help of a hobbyist

A ghost gun is not relegated to 3D-printed guns; the term evolved before 3D-printed guns were ever a thing.
When you drill and file your receiver (or 3d print now) You have a ghost gun.
Ghost guns are legal in most states although I haven't checked the regulations by state
nor have I kept track of legislation involving them.

I would never entrust my family's safety to a 3-D-printed gun
vice took you to an event of elites
not some random on the net downloading a file hitting print and sloppily assembling
the minute details would be lost on a new print builder
leaving them with a crappy gun at best and at worst playing Russian roulette

the problem you run into making them illegal is its not a factory or corporation selling the firearm it is a private citizen building them.
so serial numbers arent needed or mandated
I thought you hate billionaires leo... here you have citizens cutting the billionaires out from the defense industry and you're not happy

crude guns are easier to make and normally are 1 shot maybe 2
its why I enjoyed watching young folks experiment on YouTube showing and testing their builds
I guess youtube kinda choked it a bit because I haven't seen a new video from the few I subscribed to in a while

[Dmanwuzhere]

Canada put tariffs on us and while they have a ton of 2-3 percent tariffs (which is a steady drain of our cash)
they have quite a few that are over 130 percent, dairy over x amount is 200 percent.

so lets take the dairy ... it doesn't promote distrust it merely keeps Canadians dairy the most bought in Canada

in the same way that putting 25-50 percent keeps American steel aluminum etc the most bought in our market

the entitlement is more like we have been taxing you for years and in some cases a much much much higher tariff
but how dare you return the sentiment and by the way you will defend us as well you are here to serve us
we demand you give us your money in these taxes and have equal pricing in your market and be defended by you

seems a bit much mate

as for Australia its not even touching your main imports to the us would you prefer 25-50 percent tariffs on say the top 5
items you place on our market... because I'm down for it



Australia Exports to United States Value Year
Meat and edible meat offal $4.03B 2024
Pearls, precious stones, metals, coins $2.02B 2024
Pharmaceutical products $1.35B 2024
Optical, photo, technical, medical apparatus $1.20B 2024
Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers $1.16B 2024
Electrical, electronic equipment $686.78M 2024
Aircraft, spacecraft $663.41M 2024
Animal, vegetable fats and oils, cleavage products $275.71M 2024
Aluminum $268.58M 2024
Iron and steel $265.75M 2024

I'm aware metals are not our main export to you. You completely missed my point that if trade is already in your favour why would you punish the other country by making it more expensive to enter your market increasing the trade imbalance? Have we somehow wronged your country in any way? The answer is no. Sure metals are a minor export to you but why hit people with tariffs for no reason when the benefit to your own country is at best minimal.

the tariffs on other nations are placed on items our market sells already
by jacking up the price to said nation they cannot rival our manufacturers pricing
which cuts that nations competition and profit from our economy
that is a good thing.... for us

[Dmanwuzhere]

From my understanding hobbyist of the 3d printed guns (called ghost guns) get pretty good at making them to the point where they are just as reliable as a regular gun. There's a really interesting vice episode on it where the journalist goes to a ghost gun convention and makes one with the help of a hobbyist

They are not. They have a very limited life. They are not made of the right material and can't last long when used to actually fire. They will start to break down and become less reliable the more you use one. After a dozen shots, if it hasn't failed yet, it's probably damn near about too.

Which again, real good if your goal is just to go and kill one person who isn't guarded, but in a shoot out? With other people with actual metal guns? Or even worse a battlefield or war zone? Better have a bunch of back ups to fall back on when the one you're using breaks down..

Since I have a bit of knowledge about this I figured I'd dispel a few misconceptions. Most modern 3d printed guns include several metal parts, most usually the barrel and the other important working parts. A lot of modern firearms already include some amount of polymers anyway, a Glock is a great example, it has a polymer frame. In the United States, citizens have the right to manufacture their own firearms, but historically most people don't do so because of the expertise and equipment required. For most firearms, the frame is the part that is legally considered the firearm. For most models, the frame experiences relatively little stress, and so is able to be made out of polymer (and thereby be 3d printed) without any real downsides. So a person can 3d print a frame, and buy a bunch of metal parts and manufacture their own firearm.

In Myanmar, rebel forces have used (and I believe are still using in reserve duties) entirely self-manufactured guns. They are able to 3d print the frames, magazine bodies and a bunch of the other smaller parts. They use a process called electrochemical machining rifling (ECM) to put rifling into correctly sized regular steel tubes, which they can purchase on the open market. Using this process they have manufactured thousands of functional and reliable firearms without traditional gun-making equipment.

Now to be clear no 3d printed gun made on a consumer grade printer will ever be as reliable as a traditionally made firearm. But, the difference is that the lifespan of the gun is going from say 30,000 rounds down to 5,000 rounds. And if I'm being frank, that's still more than most people will ever fire through a gun. There are also entirely plastic 3d guns, which is more what I think Mel is imaging, the Liberator is probably the best example-- and yeah a dozen rounds is frankly optimistic from that thing.

smash polymers on a glock with a hammer
do the same for 3d printed guns
the manufacturing process is totally different
firing with a polymer that absorbs shock is different than 3d plastics that shock leaves microscopic cracks in to create failures over time
a combination of a print with a polymer layer on top might ve functional long term but whats the point lol

I can take some gas pipe a cap a nail and a shotgun shell and have fun
a little time some steel and again having fun

no way I'm playing with a 3d printer
the story of the guy who started it and and overcame arrest and lawfare to keep sharing it for free and building them legal
is the only part of that hobby I agree with

[Dmanwuzhere]

Ukraine has done as well as it has for a few reasons.

1- It's a very large country land wise. It's a lot harder to take and hold a large area of land, then a small area. That's why so many invasions against Russia have failed. Further in you go, harder it is to keep your supply lines up. Easier it is for enemies to get behind you.

2- Wars tend to have a slight advantage to defenders. You need to fight people who are probably entrenched, in defensive positions, all while you need to get a foot hold.

3-I think Russia seriously underestimate how much a fight they were going to put and made a few nasty blunders.

4- probably the most important reason, Ukraine isn't holding them off alone. They have received hundreds of billions of dollars of aid, while Russia has been hit with sanctions. If no aid was given to Ukraine at all, and nothing was done to try to punish Russia, Ukraine probably would have fallen by now.

Even with all this support, Ukraine is just holding on, but the longer it goes on, the worse it will be for them. Unless other countries are willing to put boots on the ground, Ukraine will slowly be worn down to nothing- and even if they do manage to fend off Russia, their population is going to be decimated.

There is an allegation from Tucker Carlson that Ukraine has been selling some of our provided weapons on the black market
I want to see how that accusation turns out
I mean it is obvious Zedumsky wants the money to keep coming in but selling our aid on the market could lead to some nasty stuff