Thomas C. Theiner Profile picture
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus. Now: Film, Documentaries Ex: Comando Truppe Alpine
Sue Strong @strong_sue@mastodon.sdf.org 🇺🇦 Profile picture BN 🇺🇦 Profile picture Daniel O'Donnell Profile picture Peter Durbin Profile picture LabRat 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 Profile picture 200 subscribed
Jun 22 5 tweets 2 min read
#TheAcolyte - SPOILERS!

The vicious online reaction to The Acolyte shows, that right-wing "media critics" are film-illiterate grifters, who latch onto even the most minuscule line to disparage each episode. All to confirm their delusion that media involving #LGBTQ & colored
1/5 Image creators are an attack on the "white male", who they pretend to be the true arbiter of "culture".

@Lucasfilm even gave a hint in the first line of the first trailer that this is a #Rashomon style story. This didn't stop these "critics" to complete lose it after the first
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Jun 14 5 tweets 2 min read
1× frigate
1× submarine
1× oiler
1× tug to tow the above home when they break down

The russian ships were shadowed by:
🇺🇸Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Helena
🇺🇸Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Donald Cook & USS Truxtun
🇨🇦Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec
1/2 🇺🇸Legend-class cutter USCGC Stone
🇺🇸1× P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft

And in case the russians would have done something funny: there are some additional 50+ P-8A Poseidon at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, which is also home to the 159th Fighter Squadron, which
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May 18 4 tweets 1 min read
For 20 years war criminals from Karabakh had Armenia in their iron grip. In 2018 they were forced by the people to allow free elections and the democratic opposition won 70% of the vote, while the Karabakh criminals' party lost 90% of its votes and did not enter parliament.
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Aftet the disastrous defeat in the 2nd Karabakh war, the Karabakh clans demanded a snap elections, got it, and were crushed again with the democratic and pro-peace forces of Pashinyan receiving 54% and the two let's-have-more-Karabakh-wars parties at 26%.
Now, as Pashinyan is
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Apr 28 12 tweets 3 min read
How to do mobilization for war in the perfect way: the @USArmy in #WWII:

When Germany invaded Poland the US Army consisted of just 6× divisions (1st ID, 2nd ID, 3rd ID, 1st CAV, Hawaiian Division, Philippine Division).
1/12 Image In October 1939 the Army added the 5th ID and 6th ID. Afterwards the US Army fielded 8× divisions.

After the Germans invaded France with 141× divisions, the US Army activated another 4× infantry (4th, 7th, 8th, 9th) and 2× armored (1st, 2nd) divisions.

Total: 14× divisions.
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Apr 25 5 tweets 2 min read
Today Germans found out that raising and stationing a Panzerbrigade in Lithuania will cost up to €11 billion...

Of course, because if you devastate your military for 30 years and create gaps in personnel, materiel, etc. it costs MORE to rebuild than it would have cost to
1/5 Image maintain your military. Germany between 1989 and 2024 reduced its battalions (active and reserve) by the following %:

CBRN Defense -63,64%
Artillery -92,68%
Reconnaissance -45,45%
Paratroopers -66,67%
Signals -66,67%
Air Defense -100,00%
Gebirgsjäger -25,00%
Panzer -91,76%
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Apr 19 8 tweets 3 min read
The air defense of a large country is difficult.

People have forgotten the insane density (and cost) of NATO's Cold War SAM belts.

In Germany alone the HAWK belt consisted of (from North to South):
• 24× German
• 12× Dutch
• 8x Belgian
• 35× US Army
• 12× German

1/8 Image HAWK sites, each of which was filled with radars and missile launchers. (Photo: the Dutch HAWK site on Velmerstot in Germany).

Between the SAM belt and the border mobile radars, and short range air defense systems like Gepard, Roland, Chaparral, VADS, etc. as well as mobile
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Apr 2 17 tweets 6 min read
On April Fool's Day the head of the German Navy's Naval Aviation the #Marineflieger joked that the Marineflieger would finally get fighter jets again...

This should NOT be a joke.
This should be a high priority investment for the Bundeswehr.

A thread about 🇩🇪🇩🇰🇸🇪🇫🇮🇵🇱🇬🇧:
1/17 Image During the Cold War the West German & Danish navies' tasks were to:
• prevent the Soviet Baltic, East German & Polish fleets from transiting the Skagerrak
• prevent Warsaw Pact amphibious landings on the Danish isles

For this the German forces in Schleswig Holstein & the
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Mar 31 6 tweets 2 min read
The Soviet Union was losing the war against Germany.

Only the 🇺🇸 US industry saved the Soviets.

In 1941 in seven months of war in the East the Wehrmacht suffered 285,400 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,137,673 irrecoverable Soviet losses. A ratio of 1 to 11 (!).
1/6 Image In the 12 months of 1942 the Wehrmacht suffered 500,700 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,258,216 Soviet irrecoverable losses. A ratio of 1 to 6.5.

BUT from 1941 to 1942 Soviet average monthly losses decreased by 176,700 troops... because US Lend/Lease materiel began to arrive.
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Mar 31 6 tweets 2 min read
About the loss of British combat power:

During the Cold War the British Army was the smallest of the four big (🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹) European NATO armies.

The British Army fielded 13 brigades (+ the Royal Marines' Commando brigade), while Germany fielded 38 and Italy 25 brigades.
1/6 Image France fielded 12 divisions, which each had the strength of 2× standard NATO brigades.

But no one complained, because at the time the Royal Air Force was the biggest air force on the continent with some 800+ fighters & bombers. Only France fielded a comparable air force.
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Feb 29 25 tweets 7 min read
Air Force reductions in Europe 1989 - 2024
A look at 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇩🇪🇫🇷🇮🇹🇧🇪🇳🇱🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪🇫🇮🇨🇦🇵🇹🇪🇸

Let's start with fighter bases in Germany:
• left 1989
• right 2024

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Fighters based in Germany in 1989:

🇺🇸 156× F-16C Falcon, 72× F-15C Eagle, 58× F-4 Phantom II = 286
🇬🇧 96× Tornado, 32× Harrier GR.3, 32× Phantom FGR.2 = 160
🇩🇪 312× Tornado, 224× F-4 Phantom II, 168× Alpha Jets = 704
🇨🇦 54× CF-18 Hornet

Total: 1,204 fighters
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Feb 22 4 tweets 2 min read
#Transnistria asking putin to annex it to russia is insane.

The center of Tiraspol, the capital of this russian created fake state, is barely 10km from Ukraine... and there are 0 geographical obstacles between Ukraine and Transnistria.

The six Ukrainian brigades currently
1/4 Image in the Odesa region (20,000+ battle hardened troops) outmatch the approximately 4,000 Transnistrian troops and 1,000 russian troops. And half of the Transnistrian troops are in the north, while half of the russians are on the other side of the Dniester in the city of Bender,
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Feb 19 4 tweets 2 min read
Wrong. The British needed arms and ammo to withstand a German invasion in 1940.

Every British soldier in this photo is equipped with US "surplus war supplies", that Roosevelt allowed to be shipped to the UK on 1 June 1940. Included were: 900 field guns with half a million
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Image shells, 80,000 machine guns and half a million rifles with 125 million rounds. This allowed the UK to build up its forces after the defeat at Dunkirk.

Britain needed US materiel to survive the first two war years. Without this US help Hitler would have taken London.
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Feb 18 4 tweets 2 min read
🇺🇸 US Army material based or stored in depots in Europe in 1989 and what is left in 2024 in brackets:

Armor:
• M1A1 Abrams: 3,189 (0)
• M2 Bradley: 3,085 (0)

Artillery:
• (M109A3 & M110A2): 1,320 (M119: 12 & M777A2: 24)
• M270 MLRS: 288 (32)

1/4 Image Helicopters:
• Attack (AH-1F & AH-64): 572 (AH-64E: 24)
• Scout (OH-58C & OH-58D): 597 (0)

US Air Force fighters based in Europe in 1989:
• A-10 Thunderbolt: 144
• F-4G Phantom II: 58
• F-15C Eagle: 96
• F-16C Falcon: 244
• F-111E/F Aardvark: 186

Total: 728 fighter.
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Feb 18 6 tweets 2 min read
Some examples of operational equipment reductions from 1989 to 2024:

Let's start with main battle tanks:
🇩🇪 3,892 -> 248
🇫🇷 1,297 -> 200
🇮🇹 1,206 -> 200
🇬🇧 855 -> 148
🇳🇱 750 -> 16
🇸🇪 660 -> 110
🇩🇰 330 -> 44
🇧🇪 296 -> 0
1/6 Image Now artillery - first howitzers and in brackets multiple rocket launchers:

🇩🇪 1,206 (352) -> 104 (32)
🇮🇹 888 (18) -> 160 (18 + 18 ordered)
🇸🇪 822 -> 26
🇫🇷 608 (24) -> 96 (11)
🇳🇱 402 (18) -> 35 (20 ordered)
🇬🇧 357 (24) -> 156 (~40)
🇩🇰 306 -> 19 (8 ordered)
🇧🇪 162 -> 14
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Feb 17 10 tweets 2 min read
In 1989 the Italian Army fielded the following brigades:

• Alpine Brigade "Cadore"
• Alpine Brigade "Julia"
• Alpine Brigade "Orobica"
• Alpine Brigade "Taurinense"
• Alpine Brigade "Tridentina"
• Armored Brigade "Ariete"
• Armored Brigade "Centauro"
1/9 Image • Armored Brigade "Mameli"
• Armored Brigade "Pozzuolo del Friuli"
• Mechanized Brigade "Brescia"
• Mechanized Brigade "Garibaldi"
• Mechanized Brigade "Goito"
• Mechanized Brigade "Gorizia"
• Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna"
• Mechanized Brigade "Legnano"
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Feb 16 6 tweets 2 min read
In 1989 the British Army fielded the following active brigades:

In Great Britain:
• 1st Infantry Brigade
• 5th Airborne Brigade
• 19th Infantry Brigade
• 24th Airmobile Brigade

In Northern Ireland:
• 3rd Infantry Brigade
• 8th Infantry Brigade
• 39th Infantry Brigade
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In W. Germany:
• 4th Armoured Brigade
• 6th Armoured Brigade
• 7th Armoured Brigade
• 11th Armoured Brigade
• 12th Armoured Brigade
• 20th Armoured Brigade
• 22nd Armoured Brigade
• 33rd Armoured Brigade
• Berlin Infantry Brigade

In Hong Kong:
• 48th Gurkha Brigade
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Feb 16 8 tweets 2 min read
German Army brigades 1990 vs. 2024 (wait for it):

In 1990:
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 1
• Panzerbrigade 2
• Panzerbrigade 3
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 4
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 5
• Panzerbrigade 6
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 7
• Panzerbrigade 8
• Panzerlehrbrigade 9
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still 1990:
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 10
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 11
• Panzerbrigade 12
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 13
• Panzerbrigade 14
• Panzerbrigade 15
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 16
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 17
• Panzerbrigade 18
• Panzergrenadierbrigade 19
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Dec 1, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
The West has allowed dictators and terrorists to get away with invasions, annexations, murders, terror attacks, chemical attacks, genocides...

After Assad, Iran, putin, Houthis, Hamas... now Venezuela's narco-dictator wants to invade, ethnically cleanse and annex part of a
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neighboring country... and he is asking is people in a bonkers referendum (the 1st and 5th questions are INSANE) to legitimize his war crimes.

Weakness invites aggression.

As long as the West is failing to confront dictators and terrorists it will get worse and worse.
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Oct 31, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
The people demanding Israel should just accept Hamas's terror and let Hamas escape punishment, and thus allowing Hamas to murder more Jews in the future - all of these people are either terrorists or anti-semites.

Israel can never please these people.

NEVER, as these people
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will only be satisfied with Israel if Israel ceases to exist and all of its Jewish citizens are dead.

So, for what reason should Israel heed the demands of these people, who hate Israel and Jews. There is no way to please them, except by being dead.

Israel interest is to
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Oct 24, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
Nazi Germany started a war by invading Poland.

Imperial Japan started a war by bombing Pearl Harbour.

Both were defeated on the battlefield and surrendered.

Everyone understands that the deaths of German and Japanese civilians were caused by their nations starting wars.
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In the end defeat meant liberation for Germans and Japanese from their oppressive regimes.

Gaza started a war by invading Israel.

It was Gaza that started this war. Hamas rules Gaza. Everyone in government in Gaza is a member of Hamas. They decided to send their forces into
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Oct 1, 2023 14 tweets 5 min read
I am in Warsaw and was quite busy the last two weeks with the preparation for and then networking at the Heart of Europe International TV Festival... so I only found the time to work through two #Pentagon Ukraine Realignment papers.

So many new weapons for 🇺🇦 Ukraine 😃😃
1/14 Image So let's begin with the coolest stuff - there is a classified Army emergency missile procurement for $187.4m... which it seems isn't GMLRS, as that is under another classified section: $71.3m of GMLRS are being acquired. So: if it isn't GMLRS... what could it be 😉
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