Reporting from Moscow —
Neither Russia nor China has one inch of coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, making it an unlikely and provocative venue for their first joint naval war games.
The 10 days of maneuvers that got underway Monday will include live-fire exercises in the strategic sea connecting Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The point is lost on no one: A powerful new alliance of eastern giants is flexing its muscles in the very backyard of Western Europe — much as China has done on its own in the Pacific.
The war games follow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, where he headlined Victory Day celebrations and spent three days making billion-dollar deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin. ...”
https://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-china-russia-joint-naval-maneuvers-20150511-story.html
______________________________________________________________________
The drums are already rolling for the upcoming Russian “Vostok” (east) wargames commencing on September 11. With its focal point in the Trans-Baikal region of eastern Siberia adjoining Chinese Manchuria and Mongolia, this is a nationwide Russian military and societal event.
Touted by Russian minister of defense Sergei Shoigu as “unprecedented in scale, both in terms of area of operations and numbers of military command structure, troops, and forces involved,” Russian state press is declaring that up to three hundred thousand troops and one thousand aircraft will be involved, with the majority from the Eastern and Central Military Districts.
This would be even larger than the near-legendary Zapad-81 maneuvers held in the western USSR during the depths of the Cold War. ...”
I’ve enjoyed the information in your comments for quite few years, ETL. Good stuff. Here’s something related.
What if the virus was an accidental, premature release from a lab helping a foreign government to develop a bio-weapon?
Some of us have been trained to know that a release of that kind of weapon is a possibility and to prepare for survival if needed. Most people haven’t been trained but are now participating in training relevant to civilians.
As for Democrats, many of them would try to teach everyone to save themselves, take credit for it and get more votes. But a few would participate in their political opposition’s discussions (ours) and try to prevent us from protecting ourselves. So would trained members of some foreign, expansionist governments.
There’s no feasible purpose for Democrats to design and spread the virus. There’s no feasible purpose for Democrats to talk everyone into wearing masks, physical distancing or taking vaccines except to claim credit and get more votes.
But foreign governments are developing bio-weapons, and some of those weapons are far more horrible than SARS-CoV-2. And after they strike, every lucid, logical person will try to use masks properly, keep their distance from others and take vaccines as soon as available. The survival chances of those who don’t train themselves to the extent of forming second nature habits in advance will be poor.