Agrégateur de flux

There has not been anything weird about Kamala Harris’ rollout of her campaign for the presidency. She’s moved swiftly to consolidate control over the delegates to the Democratic convention in Chicago, which will serve as a coronation if the elation surrounding her among Democrats is anything to go by. She’s also attacking Donald Trump head-on over immigration, claiming that he’s the one who has stymied real progress in choking off further influxes from Central and South America. A new poll from Bloomberg/Morning Consult suggests she has eliminated Trump’s polling lead in seven battleground states. Now, she is taking a leaf from the Trump playbook in delaying the announcement of her pick for vice president until next Tuesday. The longer she waits, the more she heightens the drama as various candidates, ranging from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, try to catch her eye with public performances.

Will Harris be Walzing to victory? He’s come on strong with his disarming, folksy manner. Rather than accept the framing of the media or the GOP about him being too left-wing, he mocks the notion from the outset. “What a monster,” he declared after CNN’s Jake Tapper queried him about his support for free school breakfasts and lunches. The sixty-year-old Walz is a former social studies teacher with a long record of military service who has regularly won re-election in rural districts as a Congressman. His experience as both a legislator and a governor may offer some extra appeal for Harris, who will need a loyal lieutenant who can collaborate with Congress successfully. Republicans will pummel Walz over his support for abortion rights and for failing to send in the National Guard into the Twin Cities immediately after rioting erupted in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. But the biggest reservation that Harris will have in tapping Walz is the most obvious one—he doesn’t come from a swing state.

Josh Shapiro does. The fifty-one-year-old, whose speaking cadence sounds uncannily similar to Barack Obama’s, would accentuate the age contrast with Trump. Shapiro enjoys a 61 percent favorability rating in Pennsylvania. He is also a centrist who tends to attract the ire of the progressive left for denouncing American protesters of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. He has also lowered corporate tax rates. The question mark hovering over Shapiro is whether he would suppress the enthusiastic wave of enthusiasm that Harris is currently experiencing among progressives who might see him as too pro-Israel and too pro-business. But if you believe that Harris needs to run to the center and to lock down the state’s 19 electoral to buttress the Democratic blue wall—and many Democratic pundits do—then Shapiro is your guy. Harris is slated to make her announcement on Tuesday in Philadelphia, which might suggest that Shapiro occupies the pole position.

Then there is Arizona senator Mark Kelly, who would send what the Wall Street Journal is calling a “tough-on-the-border” signal. The former Navy combat pilot, astronaut, and border-state senator would bring a lot of heft to the ticket and isn’t mired in controversies over Israel and the Gaza Strip. Kelly isn’t known as an attack dog, but given the ferocity of Harris’ own speeches, maybe she doesn’t really need one. As her speech in Atlanta on Monday indicated, she has no inhibitions about taunting Trump.

For now, Harris’ own version of the Apprentice show will continue as she ponders whom to choose. As Harris demonstrates her media savvy, it can’t be a comfortable feeling for Trump, who has become habituated to framing the 2024 race. No longer.

About the Author: 

Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of The National Interest and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. He has written on both foreign and domestic issues for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Reuters, Washington Monthly, and The Weekly Standard. He has also written for German publications such as Cicero, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Der Tagesspiegel. In 2008, his book They Knew They Were Right: the Rise of the Neocons was published by Doubleday. It was named one of the one hundred notable books of the year by The New York Times. He is the author of America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.

Image Credit: Shutterstock. 

Le ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique, Kamel Baddari‎, a annoncé l’ouverture de 32 nouvelles filières universitaires, répondant ainsi aux besoins actuels […]

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L’an passé, conformément à la revue stratégique de défense publiée par le gouvernement britannique en 2021, la Royal Air Force [RAF] a retiré du service ses quatorze avions de transport C-130J Hercules… alors que ces appareils avaient encore beaucoup de potentiel. Mis sur le marché de l’occasion par la Defence Equipement Sales Authority [DESA], douze...

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Ireland’s Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has announced the formation of a National Clinical Trials Oversight Group. The group is tasked with developing strategies to increase the number of clinical trials conducted in Ireland.

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Moussa Dadis Camara, qui a dirigé la Guinée pendant 12 mois entre 2008 et 2009, a été déclaré coupable de « crimes contre l’humanité » ce 31 juillet 2024 à Dixinn dans le cadre du procès des massacres survenus en 2009 dans la capitale guinéenne. Il a été condamné à 20 ans de prison. Le 28 septembre 2009, au moins 156 personnes avaient été tuées et des centaines d’autres blessées dans la répression d'un rassemblement de l'opposition dans un stade de Conakry et ses environs. Au moins 109 femmes avaient également été violées.

Le tribunal de Conakry a déclaré l'ex-dictateur Dadis Camara coupable de crimes contre l'humanité et l'a condamné à 20 ans de prison, mercredi, dans le procès historique du massacre du 28 septembre 2009 en Guinée. Le capitaine Camara, qui dirigeait la junte à cette époque, et ses co-accusés répondaient d'une litanie de crimes d'assassinats, violences sexuelles, actes de torture, enlèvements et séquestrations. 

Après l’attribution de la mention « Mort pour la France » à des tirailleurs africains tués par l’armée française en 1944, plusieurs points restent en suspens pour pacifier cette mémoire douloureuse.

Summary and Key Points: Russia's sole aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, has long been plagued by technical issues, accidents, and maintenance woes, making it more of an embarrassment than a strategic asset.

-Laid down in 1982 and commissioned in 1991, the carrier was meant to project Soviet naval power but has instead become a symbol of Russia's naval shortcomings. Despite ongoing modernization efforts, many experts believe the vessel is beyond saving.

-Russia's insistence on keeping the aging carrier afloat, driven by national pride and fear of losing carrier capabilities, may be a futile effort, with Admiral Kuznetsov remaining a costly and ineffective relic.

Admiral Kuznetsov: Russia’s Only Aircraft Carrier Is a Total Disaster

Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the smoke-spewing, broken down Admiral Kuznetsov, is described by the Russian Navy as a “heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser.” While that might sound impressive, it is not. Admiral Kuznetsov is a continuing embarrassment for the proud Russian military.

The only reason one can assume that the Russians want to keep this national embarrassment around is to train crews for the future, supposedly better, aircraft carrier fleet that Moscow has been planning to build since 2017. 

Still, the carrier is a smoldering embarrassment that any other nation would have scrapped years ago. Indeed, Admiral Kuznetsov was more of an experiment than anything else – one undertaken at a time when the Soviet government was on its way to history’s dustbin. 

A Brief History of the Admiral Kuznetsov

Originally laid down in 1982 and commissioned in 1991, the same year that the USSR collapsed, Admiral Kuznetsov was a product of the Soviet Union’s ambitions for a greater navy. The carrier was intended to project Soviet air power and provide a strategic advantage in any potential conflict.

Even at the start of this project, though, Moscow had to make compromises – if not for budgetary constraints or technological limitations, then for strategic disinformation purposes. For instance, its qualification of being a, “heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser” was done expressly to skirt international rules. Russia is a mostly landlocked nation. It has just four warm-water ports, with possibly its most important one, the naval base at Sevastopol in Crimea, existing along the Black Sea. Since Turkey controls the entry point to the Black Sea for Russia, Moscow must adhere to Turkish rules.

One of Turkey’s rules has been to deny access to aircraft carriers in the Black Sea under the Montreux Convention. With a displacement of nearly 62,000 tons, Admiral Kuznetsov is the largest warship ever built by Russia. But it can also transit the Turkish Strait, because it comes just under the requirements of the Montreux Convention. 

Admiral Kuznetsov has a sloped ski-jump flight deck, which enables conventional takeoffs and landings of its naval aircraft, including Su-33 and MiG-29K fighters. Of course, the ski-jump is highly limiting, which is why the United States prefers to use catapults to fling its aircraft into the air. The Soviets and later the Russians simply did not have the technical skills or funding to install such capabilities on this model of carrier. 

The carrier itself has been plagued by technical issues, accidents, and maintenance problems throughout its more than 30 years in service to Russia. These problems have severely limited the carrier’s usefulness to Russia and has ensured Admiral Kuznetsov is little more than a sunk cost for Russia’s navy.

Russia’s Love Affair with a Failed Aircraft Carrier

Russia’s decision to maintain the aging Kuznetsov can be attributed to national pride as well as a fear of a capabilities gap. Russia already is behind the Americans, and now the Chinese, when it comes to carrier operations. Should Moscow let the decrepit Admiral Kuznetsov be retired, it could mean a lost generation of carrier capabilities for their navy. 

Then again, the wayward carrier spends most of its time in the shipyard, begging the question of whether those capabilities are already lost to Russia. Money might be better spent actually building a new generation of decent carriers.

As if unable to let go, Moscow is apparently investing to extend the service life of this failed carrier by another 25 years. The modernization efforts will include upgrades to the carrier’s air defense systems, propulsion, and flight deck, among other investments.

Despite their insistence that the carrier will be modernized, though, there is much evidence to suggest that the carrier is dead and cannot be modernized anymore. Regardless of what speculation exists on the internet and among analysts, Admiral Kuznetsov is an objectively awful flattop that should have been scrapped 30 years ago.

Author Experience and Expertise: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

All images are Creative Commons or Shutterstock. All photos are of various submarine styles. 

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Russia Freaked Out: Why the U.S. Navy 'Unretired' the Iowa-Class Battleships

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Summary and Key Points: The RAH-66 Comanche, envisioned as a stealth reconnaissance and attack helicopter by Boeing and Sikorsky, was set to revolutionize the U.S. Army’s aerial capabilities in the 1990s.

-Designed with advanced stealth features, it was fast, agile, and highly survivable. Initially, the Army planned for a fleet of 1,213 Comanches, later reduced to 650, but the program was ultimately canceled due to cost overruns, technical challenges, and shifting military priorities.

-While the decision remains controversial, with some arguing it was a missed opportunity akin to the F-22 Raptor, the Army opted to modernize existing helicopters and focus on UAV development instead.

How the U.S. Army Missed Out on the RAH-66 Comanche's Advanced Capabilities

The U.S. Army in the 1990s wanted to upgrade its aging Kiowa OH-58D and AH-1 Cobra helicopters. The RAH-66 Comanche was born. It was designed to be a stealth reconnaissance and attack helicopter developed by Boeing and Sikorsky. The Comanche was intended to be a highly advanced, stealthy, and versatile platform capable of performing reconnaissance, light attack, and air-to-ground missions. 

Fast and agile, with a top speed of around 200 miles per hour, this bird could hover out of ground effect at an altitude of 10,000 feet. It also had a maximum range of 345 miles and an operational ceiling of 18,000 feet. The estimated cost of each Comanche was around $30 million.

The Comanche was designed to be highly survivable, with features like low radar cross section, infrared signature reduction, and advanced self-protection systems. 

What the U.S. Army Wanted 

The Army originally envisioned a fleet of 1,213 Comanches. The number was later reduced to 650. Ultimately, a total of zero would go on to serve. The Pentagon worried about the helicopter’s ability to meet the changing requirements of modern war. Comanches were designed to fight the Soviet menace, but they would not have been ready until well after the Soviet Union collapsed and America was ensconced in its unipolar moment.

Had production continued as originally planned on the RAH-66 Comanche, it would not have entered service until the second decade of the Global War on Terror, a totally different fight. Rather than build what most experts agree would have been the world’s finest helicopter, the Army chose to invest in modernizing its existing fleet of helicopters and building unmanned aerial vehicles.

Terminating the Comanche program was a highly controversial decision at the time. Proponents argued the Comanche would have provided the Army with a much-needed capability for reconnaissance and light attack missions. They also argued the Comanche’s advanced stealth and survivability features would have been favorable in the kind of future conflicts the U.S. military faces now. 

Others, however, argue that the cancellation was the right decision. They point to the program’s cost overruns, the Comanche’s technical challenges, and the changing nature of warfare, all of which made the Comanche less relevant. These detractors also figured the Army’s decisions to invest in upgrades to its existing helicopter fleet and in developing UAVs were more cost-effective and flexible approaches to meeting the Army’s needs. 

Of course, these cogitations are pure hogwash. 

What the Army Got

The RAH-66 Comanche would have been to America’s helicopter fleet what the F-22 Raptor is to the U.S. air fleet. 

But the Army, and its political authorities, lacked the vision needed to turn the Comanche into a real fighting force. 

The Comanches should have been built in the numbers originally planned. The failure to do so is a serious missed opportunity for the United States.

Author Experience and Expertise: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

All images are Creative Commons or Shutterstock. All photos are of various submarine styles. 

From the Vault

Russia Freaked Out: Why the U.S. Navy 'Unretired' the Iowa-Class Battleships

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Pendant quatre jours, le site de « Tchadinfos » était indisponible, rendant inaccessibles l’ensemble de ses publications en ligne.

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Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Air Force has announced a pause in its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, which aims to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.

-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall emphasized that while the fighter platform's development is paused, other elements of the air dominance system, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program, will continue. The decision comes amid concerns over the NGAD's high costs, which are expected to reach "multiple hundreds of millions" per airframe.

-The pause allows the Air Force to reassess the program’s design and necessity before proceeding with further development.

NGAD: Why the Air Force Is Pressing Pause on Its Next-Gen Air Dominance Fighter

Yesterday, the US Air Force announced that it will be “taking a pause” from the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.

This news makes sense intuitively; the development of a sixth-generation fighter may seem exceedingly proactive, as no other world power can be reliably capable of matching America’s fifth-generation platforms. 

However, the American taxpayer is still bruised from cost overruns on the F-22 and F-35 projects, so this demographic will likely be glad to hear that the Air Force is stepping back with NGAD to get things right, rather than plodding ahead unrestrained.

NGAD 6th Generation Fighter: Why the Pause?

“We’re taking a pause there,” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “With the platform itself, we’re taking a pause. With the rest of the elements of the air dominance family of systems, we’re moving forward as fast as we can.”

Exactly what elements of the air dominance system Kendall was referring to is not clear. Presumably, Kendall meant the Collaborate Combat Aircraft (CCA) – the autonomous drone system expected to serve as a “wingman” to the NGAD’s crewed aircraft.

Last week, the Air Force awarded contracts to five companies for the development of software to be used in the CCA. The award of multiple CCA contracts stands in stark contrast with the decision to pause the NGAD platform for which the CCA system is meant to complement – suggesting that the NGAD will proceed eventually.

Kendall did not offer specifics about how long the NGAD program will be paused, or even why this decision was made.

Kendall did say that Air Force officials would be “taking a few months right now to figure out whether we’ve got the right design and make sure we’re on the right course.”

Kendall also clarified that the NGAD program would merely be paused, and not outright canceled. “I’m absolutely confident we’re still going to do a sixth-generation crewed aircraft,” Kendall said, although he did acknowledge the possibility that a sixth-generation fighter could be unmanned. “There’s a chance it might be uncrewed…but I think we’re not quite ready for that. And we could always do something like an optional crewed platform.”

Cold Feet Over 6th-Generation Fighter Costs?

The NGAD’s costs were expected to be astronomical. Kendall said previously that each airframe would cost “multiple hundreds of millions.” Some have said it would cost around $300 million per airframe. 

The reason for the exorbitant price tag: exhaustive research and development into the cutting-edge technologies that would comprise the airframe.

For example, the NGAD was expected to feature advanced adaptive cycle engines that could offer more power, improved fuel economy, improved heat regulation, and better loiter times – just generally an improved type of engine. Similarly, the NGAD was expected to feature improved radar absorbent materials and a sensor suite that rivaled or exceeded that of the F-35s.

Of course, developing all of these technology features is an expensive proposition. Given the cost, the need for the systems, in the field, needs to be pronounced. It's possible that the Air Force took their NGAD pause because the need for such urgent resource spending just wasn’t there at the moment. Yet, given the nature of military-industrial relations, given the expectancy of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and given the efforts of China to improve their military capabilities, the NGAD program will likely resume in due time.

About the Author: Harrison Kass, Defense Expert 

Harrison Kass is a defense expert with over 1,000 published articles. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock.