Another solid piece from Simplicius - turning into must-read material IMO. The stuff about how wall st hollowed out the US arms manufacturing is grimly amusing - late stage capitalism eating its own tail, and more evidence of the west's guiding philosophy being: "Reality is whatever we say it is." And how this struggle has eventually hinged on prosaic factors like how cheaply you can manufacture artillery shells has got to be pretty humbling to anyone honestly paying attention. I think it'll have to be the historians who piece together the true story from the rubble of whatever remains. Everyone is far too invested in the cult now to tolerate any challenge to its propaganda.
I had a look on teh youtubes for the German artillery manufacturer mentioned in the article and found this rah rah video from 2021 which shows the overpriced death machinery our taxes are getting showered on:
' Rheinmetall Artillery – Range Dominance. Rheinmetall – The integrated technology group 208K subscribers 979,233 views 10 Feb 2021 Rheinmetall sets the standard of excellence for the highest priority modernisation needs of artillery systems, particularly in key aspects of long-range precision fires – firing systems, cannon-delivered projectiles and propellants. Rheinmetall’s PzH 2000* 52-calibre length (L52) 155 mm howitzer tube is widely considered the best in its class and the celebrated Assegai family of 155 mm munitions, paired with Rheinmetall’s new Extended Range Top Charge propellants, have substantially outperformed conventional artillery systems in live fire testing.
Built on more than a century of excellence in advanced artillery solutions, Rheinmetall innovations offer ready now lethality solutions urgently needed to restore overmatch today and ensure it remains tomorrow.
__________________________ * In the joint venture with the prime contractor Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), Rheinmetall is responsible for about 50% of the PzH 2000.'
At 3,600E per shell, with 300,000 manufactured and shipped to Ukraine this year - 1.08bnE by my calculations - just think of what could have been accomplished with all that money, energy and effort could have been used. It's enough to make you weep...