DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Russia to launch Friendship Games after 40-year gap, sports minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Russia plans to relaunch the multi-sport Friendship Games next year, 40 years after its first edition, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin has told President Vladimir Putin. Matytsin said the event would be held after the Paris Olympics, which will run from July 26-Aug. 11 next year. "We continue to fulfil your (Putin's) instruction to organise the World Friendship Games in the autumn of 2024. FRIENDLY TIESLast year, Russia held a competition called the Solidarity Games with the aim of "strengthening of international friendly ties between states". The Friendship Games were first organised in 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other socialist states which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

☆ The US Navy is putting its submarines on rare public display in a message to Russia's growing undersea force
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US Navy has announced several visits by its subs to North Atlantic ports in recent years. Since 2020, when Norway allowed NATO subs to use a port near Tromsø, announcements of such visits appear to have increased. 'We're in your backyard'British Royal Navy attack submarine HMS Astute sails to the base at Faslane in November 2009. Russian Navy Yasen-class submarine Kazan at its base in Severomorsk on Russia's Arctic coast in June 2021. During the Cold War, US attack subs operated in the high north to get the Soviets to keep their attack subs close by to protect their ballistic-missile subs.

☆ China Balks at U.S. Push for Better Communications During Crises
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Brian Spegele | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING—China is resisting a U.S. push to build more-reliable systems for communicating in a crisis, raising the risk that a miscalculation by either side’s military could spill into conflict. Rarely since the Cold War have tensions between two global powers risen to the levels that exist between the U.S. and China today. But unlike the Soviets, who embraced crisis hotlines with Washington as a way to defuse tensions, Beijing is resisting the establishment of new communication channels. As Chinese officials see it, hotlines give the U.S. cover to continue what they view as provocative military operations in China’s backyard.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

☆ Opinion: How the battle for Bakhmut exposed Russia’s ‘meat-grinder’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Michael Bociurkiw | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It will also be recorded in history as a battle that exposed more than anywhere the meat-grinder approach of Russian fighting. Taking Bakhmut would be the first Russian gain since it captured (and later lost) the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in November. That Ukrainian forces have demonstrated such endurance in the battle for Bakhmut should come as little surprise. Like the current battle for Bakhmut, it too became emblematic of Ukraine’s tenaciousness to defend itself against Russia’s aggression – particularly considering the Ukrainian Armed Forces were far less prepared and equipped. “The battle for Bakhmut in winter-spring 2023 will surely enter the history books as the bloodiest battle in Europe since World War II,” said Masliychuk.

☆ Moscow is trying to play it cool, but its military moves hint at growing concern over NATO's newest member
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Finland's admission this month doubles the length of NATO's border with Russia and does so in a region with important Russian military outposts. But Putin's invasion of Ukraine scared not only Finland into joining NATO but also Sweden, which hasn't fought a war since Napoleon was alive. This boosts the alliance's military, political, and economic power considerably and confronts Russia with the prospect of even more NATO forces on its border. There is the possibility of NATO forces and infrastructure being deployed to those countries. Russia's Arctic forces also field an array of powerful weapons, including submarine- and land-based cruise missiles and air-launched hypersonic weapons.

☆ US embassy welcomes Finland to NATO with meme on Finnish snipers, a lethal force legendary for punishing invading Soviets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

To mark the occasion, a US embassy posted a meme to Twitter about Finnish snipers. The meme reads "select all images with Finnish snipers" and includes 12 small picture boxes which together make up an image of a snow-covered forest. What followed was a 105-day-long conflict known as the Winter War — a cold affair that saw Soviet forces suffer substantial losses. Given their limited number of troops and equipment, Finnish forces often couldn't go head to head against Soviet forces in pitched battles, so they turned to their snipers. Ski-mounted Finnish troops inflicted heavy losses on the Soviets.

☆ Putin said Finland joining NATO didn't pose a threat, but now that it's a done deal, Russia is warning it will have to take action
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Finland joining NATO is one of the most significant consequences of Russia invading Ukraine. Putin said at that time that Finland joining NATO didn't pose an "immediate threat" to Russia. Less than a year ago, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that Finland joining NATO wouldn't make "much difference." Finland joining NATO marks one of the most significant geopolitical consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine to date and represents a dramatic realignment of Europe's security framework. But now, as a result of invading Ukraine, Russia has seen its land border with NATO double in size.

☆ US journalist detained in Russia reportedly reading famous anti-Soviet novel by a Ukrainian Jew as he sits in notorious ex-KGB prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The WSJ reporter detained in Moscow is reportedly reading a famous anti-Soviet novel. The book, which equated crimes of the Nazis and the Soviets, was written by a Ukrainian Jew. "Life and Fate" was not published in the Soviet Union into 1988, when Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost allowed for greater freedom of expression. "This is a novel written by a Jew that concludes that the Soviet Union had come to resemble Nazi Germany," historian Walter Laqueur told the Washington Post in 1987, shortly before the novel was finally published in the Soviet Union. His parents were part of a large wave of Jews who fled the Soviet Union due to ongoing persecution.

☆ Ukraine's tank force shouldn't stand a chance against Russia's on paper, but dumb mistakes keep tipping the scales
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Russia has more tanks than Ukraine, more updated tanks than Ukraine, and more tank options. All three Western tank models are larger than most Russian tanks and are "quite survivable" thanks to their advanced armor, according to Edmonds. It's still unclear when the Western tanks will arrive or what role they will ultimately play in Ukraine's future offensives. "This stalemated frontline where we are right now, this is not a good environment for tanks," Cancian said. But the number of incoming Western tanks — less than 150 — is unlikely to change the tides of war.

☆ A close Russian ally is messing with the legendary spaceport it leases to the Kremlin, seizing assets over an unpaid debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Baikonur is a source of pride for Moscow, from which the Soviet Union sent the first man to space. Baikonur is pivotal to the Russian space program. Even though it isn't physically in Russia, it has been leased by the Kremlin since Kazakhstan became independent when the Soviet Union collapsed. Founded by the Soviet Union as a test range for intercontinental ballistic missiles, it was transformed into a space port in 1955. It remains a key part of Russia's space program, and is the only site where Russia launches missions to the International Space Station.

☆ ‘Retracing the Iron Curtain’ Review: The Border of Borders
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Andrew Stuttaford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In 2019, writer and historian Timothy Phillips embarked on a 3,000-mile trek along the route of Europe’s postwar dividing line—almost a third was on foot. The trip began in Norway’s far north and ended where Turkey and Azerbaijan meet, and in his engrossing “Retracing the Iron Curtain,” Mr. Phillips uses that journey to tell the story of this brutal “border of borders,” which in the early days after World War II reached much further than is typically recalled. And so Mr. Phillips shows up in Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic, which was still being “liberated” by the Soviets when Churchill spoke of an Iron Curtain. The Soviets eventually left, with conditions—just as there were conditions when they handed back Porkkala, a Finnish peninsula a few miles west of Helsinki that for a decade or so had been an exclave of the Leningrad region. The Soviets departed abruptly, but when the Finns returned home, “it wasn’t so much a case of the coffee still steaming on the stove as of the smoke still rising from the wreckage.”

☆ France is already sending one armored 'oddity' to Ukraine. Now it might send a slightly odder one.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

France is reportedly considering sending AMX-10P amphibious infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. France has already sent its AMX-10RC armored vehicle to Ukraine, among other military hardware. Troops exit an AMX-10P armored vehicle in France KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesAbout 2,000 AMX-10Ps were manufactured between 1973 and 1985. It is also relatively easy to learn and operate, Péria-Peigné said, describing it as "simpler than most modern" infantry fighting vehicles. As Ukraine struggles to assimilate a plethora of Western arms quickly, an old but simple armored vehicle may be good enough.

☆ China is getting rid of its 'grandpa' fighter jets, but they may make a comeback for a one-way mission against Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China's last J-7 fighter jets may leave active service this year, according to Chinese state media. China's air force may convert some J-7s into drones, which could be used in an attack on Taiwan. (Between its air force and navy, China now has the world's third-largest aviation force, according to the Pentagon.) A J-7 fighter at the People's Liberation Army Aviation Museum in Beijing in December 2013. UCAVs make it possible for China's air force "to use relatively cheap, capable, low-risk airframes as a first-in asset to either strike or soften Taiwan's air defense systems," Rice added.

☆ Rising tensions with Russia have NATO militaries worried about the revival of a Cold War-era submarine threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

A top concern is that those subs could be used to attack or interfere with undersea cables and pipelines. Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty ImagesConcern about Russia's expanding underwater capabilities and the danger they pose to critical underwater infrastructure has risen since Russia seized Crimea in 2014. Since then, Russian submarines have deployed more often and for longer and their activity close to critical undersea infrastructure has increased. Recent Russian submarine activity does suggest an increasing focus on being able to get into the Atlantic and closer to the US East Coast. At a Senate hearing in February 2020, the head of US European Command was asked if US forces have "sufficient visibility" on Russian submarines in the Atlantic.

☆ North Korea's antique fighter jets are still keeping the US and South Korea on their toes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Even with an aging fleet, Pyongyang has been able to catch the attention of South Korea and the US. On October 6, 12 North Korean jets were detected practicing air-to-ground attacks near the DMZ, prompting South Korea to scramble 30 of its fighters. On November 4, 80 South Korean fighters were scrambled after 180 North Korean planes were detected on South Korean radar. The activity and scale is unusual given North Korea's air force is widely regarded as the weakest branch of North Korea's military. South Korean troops guard a MiG-19 used by a North Korean pilot to defect to South Korea in May 1996.

☆ Decades after winning the world's first jet-powered dogfights, US fighter pilots are still flexing their muscles over Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

That November, US Air Force and Navy pilots notched the first victories between jet-powered aircraft. The first, involving an Air Force Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star piloted by Lt. Russel Brown, occurred on November 8, 1950. Air superiorityUS Air Force F-80C fighters return from a mission in August 1952. The Air Force's 'first'A US Air Force F-80C armed with napalm bombs takes off from a Korean airfield in February 1951. The exercise, called Vigilant Storm, involved roughly 100 US aircraft and some 140 South Korean aircraft flying more than 1,600 sorties.

☆ 3 spy aircraft that were also 'weather balloons'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Blake Stilwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China has said that it is a weather balloon that has gone off-course. It wouldn't be the first time that a spy balloon has been described as a weather balloon. China is probably just taking a page out of the US government 1960s-era cover-up playbook that we'll call: The ol' "Weather Balloon Dodge." Thomson ReutersThere's a reason the Department of Defense believes China's weather balloon is actually a reconnaissance balloon: The DoD is developing reconnaissance balloons of its own. If any of the massive balloons get forced down, they'd just be another weather balloon, which the National Weather Service still uses.

☆ Here's how a wildly outgunned US Navy pilot outfoxed one of the Soviet Union's best jets, scoring a string of kills in a legendary dogfight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

An outgunned US Navy pilot downed four Soviet MiG-15 jets in a legendary dogfight over 70 years ago. This swept-wing Soviet aircraft was considered to be superior to the straight-wing American Panther in terms of overall performance. A Grumman F9F Panther fighter jet fires its guns during an attack on the North Korean port of Hungnam. "In the moment I was a fighter pilot doing my job," Williams said in an account of the fight, according to Pacific Fleet. Williams' dogfight isn't the only example of US planes battling enemy aircraft that are superior on paper.

☆ German chancellor's indecision on sending tanks to Ukraine has created a new word in Western war room politics: Scholzing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced criticism for delaying the delivery of tanks to Ukraine. Scholz's indecision became the topic of Ukrainian memes that coined the term "Scholzing." "Scholzing" means to communicate good intentions, but find or invent reasons to delay action. As Scholz spent weeks hesitating — and facing international pressure — over sending advanced Leopard 2 tanks to battle Russian forces in Ukraine, his name took on a new meaning. He also insisted the move be tied to a United States commitment to send their own Abrams tanks to the frontlines.

Persons: Валгалли

☆ A Russian ship that's been off the coast of Hawaii for weeks is believed to be gathering intelligence, the US Coast Guard says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US Coast Guard said Wednesday it is monitoring a Russian ship near Hawaii. The Coast Guard said the ship is believed to be gathering intelligence. "The Coast Guard operates in accordance with international laws of the sea to ensure all nations can do the same without fear or contest. The Coast Guard said it was coordinating with the Department of Defense to provide updates on the movement of the foreign ships. In May, the US Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring a Russian vessel near Hawaii.

☆ Putin is a tyrant who wants to enslave Ukraine, Poland's president says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference after a meeting of the State Council on youth policy in Moscow, Russia, December 22, 2022. Sergey Guneev | Sputnik | ReutersPoland's president, Andrzej Duda, has slammed his Russian counterpart, saying Vladimir Putin is behaving like a colonialist. "Vladimir Putin wants to enslave Ukraine, he wants to expand his regime across the Ukrainian territory, [to] take away Ukrainians' freedom. Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands and hug during their press conference on August 23, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Or do we think that the free world can progress and every country has the right to self-determine?"

☆ As Russia's only aircraft carrier falls apart, some Russians want to undo a shady ship deal with China 25 years ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia's sole aircraft carrier has been sidelined for years and may not see action again. A Russian lawmaker has proposed trying buying China's Liaoning aircraft carrier as a replacement. Liaoning began life as a Soviet carrier, but China acquired it in a shady sale in the late 1990s. Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning during a drill in the western Pacific in April 2018. A 40-year-old aircraft carrier in the Black Sea won't provide much value.

☆ The US Navy backed the hunt for Titanic in part because the explorer who found it argued it would 'drive the Soviets crazy,' book reveals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The hunt for the Titanic was cover for a secret Navy mission to investigate two submarine wrecks. It was also part of a psychological warfare game the US was playing with the Soviets, Ballard revealed in a 2021 book. But his most recognizable discovery was the British passenger ship Titanic that sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, ending more than 1,500 lives. "I wanted to do a bang-up job for the Navy, but I was also constantly thinking about how to find Titanic," Ballard wrote. "There it was, one of 29 boilers that had created steam for Titanic's engines," Ballard wrote in his book.

☆ The tragic story of the only 3 cosmonauts who died in space
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

This Soviet crew had spent 23 days in space, setting a new record for human space flight endurance, and were finally coming home. They gathered existing equipment and hastily put together a space station that was launched on April 19, 1971. A treadmill was installed on the Salyut 1 and the cosmonauts forwent their space suits in the space station and Soyuz. But a few missteps on the ship and by the Soviet space program led to the tragic deaths of the cosmonauts. According to Siddiqi, the death of the three cosmonauts had a lasting impact on the Soviet space program afterward.

Search resuls for: "Soviets"

25 mentions found