Rule Number 2 of the Rules Based International Order (RBIO) Manual states:

When wolves are hungry, sheep should feel guilty.

***
What do you think Rule Number 1 is?

———
Inspired by subscriber’s comment to this post. Thank you!

Just a short analysis about Russian and NATO defence budgets.
While everyone is focusing on the fact that in terms of $ the combined NATO defence budget is higher than 1,3 trillion while Russian budget for 2023 was around 80 bln $ to say that there is an enormous advantage for NATO the reality is different in this field, yes NATO is bigger but there's a nuance.
(Anyway NATO is the expansionist, aggressive power, every sentient person knows it's not Russia that started the conflict in the Ukraine so it makes no sense to use this difference in budgets to score some information war victories). Why?
First of all the Western countries pay enormously more for military hardware than Russia, from jets to missile defence systems, from rockets to drones and average shells the cost for each piece in the West is from 4 to 8 times higher, what Russia gets for 1 bln $ (in Rubles, this is just a way to let you understand) the Western countries get it for 4 to 8 bln $.
Second over the last few years the cost of energy skyrocketed in the West while in Russia remained stable, this further inflated the cost of Western military equipment compared to Russian one, of course this does not apply to old stuff which anyway has been almost completely depleted by NATO.
Third, the US has 800+ military occupation bases worldwide, while some colonies especially in Europe pay part of the maintainance costs, the cost shifts entirely on the US in the rest of the world, there are various speculations about the cost of bases, some say it's around 50 bln $ per year, some say less than 20 bln, others even more than 50 bln, who knows... What's sure is that it's far from being an irrelevant part of the US defence budget.
Fourth the restoration costs of equipment in the West is extremely high, just recently both US and UK gave up on restoring various warships because the cost would be almost as high as buying new ones, this is related mainly to corruption issues as it can be hardly justified.
And finally the F-35 summarizes the unsustainability of Western war machine, this "breakthrough" 5th generation jet costs 1 bln each and the same amount of money is needed per year so that it can remain constantly operational, not talking about all its tech issues throughout the year, how many countries can buy it and use it without going bankrupt or cutting healthcare or pensions?
To summarize, approximately if Russia was part of the West and adopted NATO standards, modus operandi and equipment to sustain its defence budget throughout the recent conflicts and the SMO it would spend in reality from 400 to 500 bln $ instead of the accounted 80 bln $ which is the result of cheapest energy, cheapest production cost, quasi self-sufficiency, higher efficiency, less corruption (you don't have to offer bribes to 1.000 politicians like Lockheed Martin does in the US when you have a stable system and a powerful leader in power) and just 13 bases abroad instead of 1.000 occupation bases.

🇺🇸🤡 The self-propelled Grandfather, after his speech today, did what he does best - ran away from the waiting media.

🎙Subscribe @TheIslanderNews

The United States is still in talks with its European partners about how to use Russian frozen assets to aid recovery in Ukraine, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

"Russian assets are going to remain immobilized until they are put to use for recovery in Ukraine. The precise way in which that happens. . .is still a matter of consultation with our European partners," Sullivan said during a press briefing.

Sullivan added that the subject will be a prominent topic at the G7 summit in June.

After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in 2022, the EU and G7 froze almost half of Russia's foreign currency reserves amounting to about 300 billion euros ($320.8 billion). The EU is discussing ways to use frozen Russian assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. The European Central Bank warned that this could pose reputational risks to the European currency in the long term, and advocated looking beyond that isolated conflict.

Moscow has on many occasions said that any attempts to confiscate frozen Russian assets are an expropriation of property and a violation of international law. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik that Russia would do everything possible to return the seized assets.

Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

❗️We hear such bullsh!t like “reconstruction of Ukraine”.

There won’t be a Ukraine to reconstruct.

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ For Military Fans we recommend our Partner Channel SITREP⚡️

🗺 Just as we have a Specialisation - SITREP has one - and reports mainly on Front Developments:

❗️NEW SITREP creates an 👉 Evaluation from various reports, weighing up contradictory info, which is updated daily.

🔹SITREP is focused on Ukraine & Gaza Battle Events and Map Reports in exact translation, including location and unit names in Russian transcription. Faults as 👉 Western Outskirts when Eastern get corrected with hint to the source, here Rybar.
💹 All in a Timeline and only about 35 posts daily.

🔹SITREP publishes complete reports from various 🇷🇺🇺🇦🇬🇧🇺🇸 sources, selected 👉 videos and 👉 analyses.

🔹SITREP also provides information on 👉 defeats, so you can keep up to date and get an accurate picture of the situation.

🔹SITREP delivers 4 daily 👉 summaries of the situation on the Ukraine frontlines and 1 for 👉 Palestine.

📌 SITREP is a must for anyone interested in strategy. Therefore we strongly recommend that you take a look at.

t.me/sitreports /@TheIslanderNews/#pro/
Join SITREP🔺Map Reports - Top Videos - Analyses

🇮🇱⚔🇵🇸Israel-Gaza Conflict: April 24-25 (Recap)

1️⃣ The EU has backed a UN call for an independent investigation as more than 324 bodies have been retrieved from two mass graves at hospitals in Gaza following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

2️⃣ Five people have been killed and several wounded in the latest Israeli air strike on a residential building in southern Gaza’s Rafah city, where 1.5 million people are sheltering and in fear of a planned Israeli ground invasion, which military officials say is “moving ahead”.
.
3️⃣ US President Joe Biden signs into law a $95bn security package that includes $26bn in military support for Israel and $1bn in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

4️⃣ Hundreds protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, calling for the release of all captives after Hamas release a video of Israeli-American captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin, currently held in Gaza.

5️⃣ Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said that students protesting against the war in Gaza “belong in jail” in a post on X. “Arrests being made right now and will continue until the crowd disperses,” the Texas governor added, as dozens of state troopers and police surrounded students at the University of Texas at Austin.

6️⃣ Israeli artillery have shelled several sites in Deir el-Balah and Wadi Gaza in the central Gaza Strip - In eastern Jabalia and Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, there are reports of artillery shelling and Israeli raids, especially in the Zeitoun neighbourhood and in the northwestern side of Gaza City, Wafa reports.

7️⃣ Turkey has accused the United States of double standards when it comes to human rights, saying Washington’s annual global rights report failed to reflect Israel’s “ongoing inhumane attacks in Gaza”.

At least 34,262 people including more than 15,000 children, have been killed and over 77,229 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll from the October 7 attack in Israel stands at 1,139.

🎙Subscribe to The Islander

♦Twitter /X | Substack | Website♦

⚡️🇮🇱🇵🇸⚔️ Escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Zone until the End of 24 April 2024⚡️

🔹In the north of the #Gaza Strip, a series of attacks were carried out on Beit Lahia, whose residents the IDF called on to evacuate. In the near future, Israeli troops may carry out an operation here similar to the one they carried out a week earlier in Beit Hanoun.

🔹In the south of the Enclave, the removal of rubble in Khan Yunis and the recovery of bodies from the territory of the Nasser medical complex continue. At the same time, attacks were carried out on Rafah, which the Israelis are preparing to capture.

🔹On the border with #Lebanon, mutual shelling continues. The IDF launched a series of attacks on more than 40 Hezbollah targets in southern #Lebanon, and Shiite group fighters fired at Israeli positions using MLRS.

🔹In the Red Sea Region, the Houthis became more active for the first time since 10 April. Southeast of Djibouti port, fighters from the Yemeni Ansarallah movement fired a missile at a merchant ship, but the ammunition did not reach its target.

🧾 Read More on our Channel 👉 🇷🇺 @rybar_plus_bot

🗺 High Resolution: 🇬🇧 MAP; 🇷🇺 MAP

📜 RYBAR; 24 Apr 2024, 20:25

t.me/sitreports /@rybar/#pal/
Join SITREP🔺Map Reports - Top Videos - Analyses