The Russian Aerospace Forces have begun to introduce the service’s first class of nuclear-tipped air-to-air missile into service, according to a report by the U.S. Armed Forces Defence Intelligence Agency. While little remains known regarding the missile class, it is widely expected to be a new variant of the R-37M – a missile class that was first introduced in the mid-2010s.
The R-37M carries a very large 60 kilogram warhead, around three times the size of those usually integrated onto air-to-air missiles, which provides a greater capacity to integrate a miniaturised nuclear warhead. If fired from high altitudes and at high speeds by MiG-31BM interceptors, the missile can engage targets up to 400 kilometres away. The R-37M is the world’s fastest known air-to-air missile class with a Mach 6 speed, and has the second longest range int he world surpassed only by that of the Chinese PL-XX. It is manoeuvrable enough to be able to neutralise small fighter sized aircraft. The integration of nuclear warheads onto the R-37M would allow a single Russian fighter or interceptor to neutralise full squadrons of enemy targets, entire salvoes of cruise missiles, or large swarms of drones, with each MiG-31BM interceptor or Su-35 fighter able to carry four missiles.
The fielding of nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles follows a broader trend in the Russian Armed Forces towards using nuclear assets to asymmetrically counter the much larger forces of the country’s NATO adversaries. A nuclear armed variant of the R-37M could be particularly useful against stealth aircraft such as the F-35, which has been deployed in very significant and growing numbers across the country’s European, Arctic and Far Eastern borders by Western Bloc and allied states.
Ed Martin weighs in on Biden’s autopen and handlers thereof
Jussie Smollett pays $50K to charity to settle with Chicago six years after ‘hate crime’ hoax
Jussie Smollett has reached a settlement with the city of Chicago over the 2019 ‘hate crime‘ hoax lawsuit.
Smollett was convicted in December 2021 for lying to police about an alleged episode in Chicago two years before, where he claimed two men beat him, yelled homophobic slurs and placed a noose around his neck while wearing MAGA hats.
The city of Chicago’s Law Department filed a civil lawsuit against him in 2019 to recover over $130,000 in costs incurred investigating his allegedly staged attack, after he failed to meet a city-imposed payment deadline.
The case, which had dragged on for six years, was finally put to rest by both sides through a settlement.
The terms of his settlement require that Smollett pays $50,000 to a charity of his choice, instead of paying the six-figures in restitution for the investigation, as per TMZ.
Greater Israel, the Dream of Zionism
Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin on the killing in Gaza
UPDATE: I hope and believe Trump is striving to sideline Jewish Supremist fanatics through diplomacy with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and others in the region. If Trump and GCC are successful, Israel will no longer be able to goad USA into wars-for-Israel or by themselves seize control of the Middle East and establish their Greater Israel fantasy. Instead, GCC plus others, with US backing, will become a collective hegemon of the Middle East and, ideally, focus on prosperity and peace rather than endless fighting. I know it’s a rough world but odds are not too bad, especially since Israel has lost so much respect and soft power over the past year. ABN
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Senate hearing on covid vax harms & danger
Tense meeting between Trump and South African President Ramaphosa, “Genocide” accusations
Supreme Court orders Maine House to restore vote of GOP lawmaker who ID-ed trans teen athlete online
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Maine legislature to count the votes of a GOP lawmaker who was censured after she identified a transgender teen athlete in a viral social-media post.
The court majority sided with Rep. Laurel Libby, who filed an emergency appeal to restore her ability to vote while her lawsuit over the punishment plays out. There were two noted dissents, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The majority did not explain its reasoning, as is typical on the court’s emergency docket.
This made me laugh
It wasn’t Joe, ‘It was the people that knew he was cognitively impaired and took over the Autopen. TREASON at the Highest Level! They did it to destroy our Country’ — Trump
Joe Biden was not for Open Borders, he never talked about Open Borders, where criminals of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, can flow into our Country at will. It wasn’t his idea to Open the Border, and almost destroy our Country, and cost us Hundreds of Billions of Dollars to get criminals out of our Country, and go through the process we are going through now. It was the people that knew he was cognitively impaired, and that took over the Autopen. They stole the Presidency of the United States, and put us in Great Danger. This is TREASON at the Highest Level! They did it to destroy our Country. The Joe Biden that everybody knew would never allow drug dealers, gang members, and the mentally insane to come into our Country totally unchecked and unvetted. All anyone has to do is look up his record. Something very severe should happen to these Treasonous Thugs that wanted to destroy our Country, but couldn’t, because I came along. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
It was treason and the people who managed, led, paid for, abetted, and planned the invasion should be named and prosecuted. There is nothing petty or personal or partisan about holding them accountable for their acts of war against USA and USA citizens. Harris, Mayorkas, and Garland should be at or near the top of that list because not only did they do the deed, they also repeatedly lied about it, loudly claiming in public ‘there is nothing we can do. Congress must act’. Most of SCOTUS is not far behind as an injudicious majority of discourteous anti-intellectual bench-warmers have repeatedly ruled in favor of the invasion and in disfavor of ousting the invaders. The disproportionality of their rulings is a blatant insult to reason itself, let alone the grand tradition of American law. ABN
Biden pardons to be examined
How smiling is understood in Russia
Russians do not smile at strangers
Russia is a collective culture, consisting of ’in-groups’. Russians do smile at people they know. Shop assistants smile at the clients they already know, not necessarily at others.
If you smile at a stranger in Russia, he/she can smile back, but it can already mean an invitation to come and talk. Russians take smiling as a sign that the person cares about them. To smile at a stranger can raise the question:” Do we know each other?”
You see two behaviours in one person in Russia: formal – unsmiling is for ’them’ (strangers); friendly – smiling for ’us’ (friends, people he/she knows). Some Russians skip to friendlier behaviour after a shorter time. You can consider yourself accepted when people you have met begin smiling at you.
Real feeling – not fake
Smiling in Russia usually shows the real good mood and good relationship between people, as it is not used as a form of politeness. When a Russian smiles at you, he/she really cares about you or is genuinely in a good mood.
How to smile
Russians prefer not to show their teeth too much when smiling. Showing your upper and lower teeth when smiling, looks a bit vulgar, a horse grin to Russians.
Smiling without a reason
Others must understand the reason of smiling in Russia. If they don’t, it is considered strange. They start wondering what is behind the smile. Perhaps they interpret that the person who ”keeps smiling” is a bit simple or stupid. All Russians know the saying: “The laugh without reason – is the sign of stupidity” (“Smeh bez prichiny – priznak durachiny”)
Pretty sure if was in Kumarajiva’s Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom that I read a passage about how a man should not show his teeth when smiling; a smile should be demure or none at all. Smiles can be understood very differently in different places. ABN
Rise, sunshine! Latvian pagan song
The Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian have preserved to this day the world’s oldest versions of spoken Indo-Aryan. They are remarkably similar to ancient Sanskrit. This song shows the continuity of culture, language, and spirituality from ancient times to today, still remembered and felt in this part of Europe. ABN
American Buddhist Net 