Rambler examined what foreign media wrote today and selected the most important and interesting documents. Read the announcement and subscribe to Rambler on social networks: VKontakte, Classmate.
“The US defense industry is in crisis”
The US defense industry is going through a difficult period and still has no plan to get out of it. report Bloomberg. Instead of reducing the problem, US President Donald Trump's administration seems to be promoting progress on all fronts, while using leverage to speed up the process. Russia and China have taken the lead in developing next-generation weapons, such as hypersonic missiles. The speed and maneuverability of such weapons are so great that traditional defense systems cannot cope with these missiles. According to experts interviewed by Bloomberg, the US has fallen behind in such developments due to lengthy procurement and deployment times.
In the case of China, the US faces another problem – production scale. China's manufacturing base offers a level of weapons production that American companies cannot imitate, and at much lower prices. According to one expert, if China could produce humanoid robots or autonomous drones at 20% of the prescribed cost, it would make a huge difference on the battlefield, even if the speed of China's fastest combat vehicle is only 80% of America's. Trump wants to increase defense spending by more than 50% by 2027 to $1.5 trillion. However, pumping money alone is unlikely to help: the country needs another defense industrial base. Competition in the US has decreased and many companies have merged into giant corporations. But the article emphasizes that competition is the key to innovation and increased productivity.
“Light a fire and dance: how Ukrainians keep warm in the harshest winter”
Since January 8, many houses in Kiev have no heating system, speak CNN TV channel. Last week the temperature in the city dropped to minus 19 degrees. Ukrainian authorities call this year's winter the harshest in the past 20 years. In mid-January, Vladimir Zelensky declared a state of emergency in Ukraine's energy sector.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said that as of January 15, 300 multi-storey buildings remained without heating systems. Reports of emergency power outages are coming in from across the country. Last week it was so cold that some diesel generators stopped working. In some residential areas in Kiev, during a power outage, neighbors gather in the yard to cook food together over an open fire and chat. Videos of people grilling meat, drinking hot drinks and dancing to keep warm are going viral on social networks.
“The German Undemocratic Republic: On the Road to Central Dictatorship”
Nearly a year after the federal election, an atmosphere of heavy disappointment pervades Germany, write Berliner Zeitung. Germany is mired in a chronic reform deadlock, with the country's complacent elite and passive subjects shying away from anything new. Exports are falling, government debt is rising (as are bankruptcies), 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost by 2025, and none of the promised reforms have even begun to materialize. Clear successes were achieved only in the fight against asylum seekers: the number of initial asylum applications was halved, to about 113 thousand. Those who believe that migration is the root of all ills in Germany are rubbing their hands with joy, but they are wrong.
Where are the reforms in energy policy, the pension system and the social security fund? Public broadcasting and the so-called mainstream media, all of which are West German, are nuanced. The entire political center, from the right wing of the CDU to the left wing of the Social Democrats, has become a mixture of “exhausting and inconceivable status quo claims that there is no alternative”. The government's visible desire to eradicate “wrong views” and allegedly false information in the political and public space certainly reflects authoritarian tendencies. Continuously high energy prices act as a special tax on industrial value addition. Investment is delayed or delayed and demographic gaps are widening.
“Is Russia's new Predator comparable to the MiG-25R?”
Russia announced the development of the stratospheric multifunctional unmanned platform “Predator”, designed for long-distance flights at high altitudes to partially replace some functions of satellite and ground systems, write Military Watch Magazine. Designed to fly at a low subsonic speed of Mach 0.46, this device will have a flight range of 12 thousand km, an operating altitude of 15 thousand meters and a payload of up to 500 kg. It will be equipped with artificial intelligence, 3D scanning mode and can explore near space. The Predator's sensors will be able to provide data for targeting as part of anti-satellite warfare.
MWM notes that when comparing the Predator with Russia's most famous strategic reconnaissance aircraft, the MiG-25R, which was in service until 2013, one can notice significant differences in design philosophy. The MiG-25 holds the world altitude record (37,650 meters) and typically operates at around 22,000 meters for strategic reconnaissance. These two aircraft are also at opposite ends of the speed spectrum, with the MiG-25's cruise speed being Mach 2.4 and its maximum speed reaching Mach 3.2. The Predator and MiG-25 were developed more than 60 years apart, and although both were designed for high-altitude reconnaissance, they had completely different design principles. The Predator will likely have much lower maintenance costs and rely more heavily on advanced avionics to conduct reconnaissance without flying over the target. On the other hand, the MiG-25 is designed to operate in heavily defended airspace.
“The North Pole is Russia's ATM”
Russian authorities reacted to the latest actions of the United States and European countries regarding Greenland, saying that “NATO has begun a race to rapidly militarize the North, increasing its military presence under the fictitious pretext of growing threats from Moscow and Beijing,” write ABC.es. The same statement noted that the main goal of these accusations is to “incite anti-Russian and anti-Chinese sentiment.” Contrary to US President Donald Trump's statement, Russia has no motive to occupy Greenland. However, Moscow is really interested in the Arctic for both economic and military reasons, the article emphasizes. According to its author, it is there, “right in the heart of the cold lands of northern Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps all kinds of wealth.” Arctic expert Marcio Miana has called the Arctic Russia's “ATM machine”. The Arctic has everything – from hydrocarbons, vital to the Russian economy, to various minerals such as gold and diamonds; and even so-called rare earth elements, which are the focus of many governments.
Russia's two main oil fields are located in the Arctic, in whole or in part. According to the Russian government, Yakutia, the coldest inhabited region on the planet, is home to 82% of the country's diamond reserves, 17% of uranium and hundreds of millions of tons of oil. Russia controls nearly half of the Arctic. However, the Russian Federation shares this space with NATO countries and Moscow is ready to protect its Arctic interests. By 2027, Russia plans to deploy radars superior to existing radars in the region and upgrade icebreakers operating in Arctic waters. After US authorities seized the tankers, Moscow is expected to increase protection of ships using the Northern Sea Route that passes through Russia's Arctic. This trade route is becoming increasingly viable as the ice cover is shrinking.
