Putin Invades the Ukraine

[RickeyM]

I saw a piece somewhere saying that the U.S. should supply Ukraine with three squadrons of A-10 Warthogs. I don't know how it could be arranged but that would put a serious crimp in Pootin's plans.

[RickeyM]

How cheap Chinese tires might explain Russia's 'stalled' 40-mile-long military convoy in Ukraine

Bit of a tire expert here. Those aren't Soviet-era heavy truck radials. Chinese military tires, and I believe specifically the Yellow Sea YS20. This is a tire I first encountered in Somalia and Sudan; it's a bad Chinese copy of the excellent Michelin XZL military tire design.

[BigElCat]

Originally Posted by RickeyM

I saw a piece somewhere saying that the U.S. should supply Ukraine with three squadrons of A-10 Warthogs. I don't know how it could be arranged but that would put a serious crimp in Pootin's plans.

Hell yes. Just take the USA flag off, put a Pepsi Cola logo on the A-10s.

Pepsi once took an entire fleet of battleships from the Soviet Union in payment for setting up their business behind the iron curtain. They weren't allowed to take money.

Pepsi had their own Harrier Jump Jet for awhile. A-10s are better.

[Pio1980]

Putin's war is a nightmare for the Ukrainian people and for Russia, an expert warns https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/10839...e?sc=18&f=1001

[donquixote99]

This crazy business never came to my notice before....

Soviet rubles were worthless internationally, with their value determined by the Kremlin. Soviet law also prohibited taking the currency abroad. So the U.S.S.R. and Pepsi resorted to barter. In return for cola, Pepsi received Stolichnaya vodka to distribute in the United States. By the late 1980s, Russians were drinking approximately a billion servings of Pepsi a year. In 1988, Pepsi broadcast the first paid commercials on local TV, starring none other than Michael Jackson. The bartering worked well—Stolichnaya was popular in the United States. An American boycott in response to the Soviet-Afghan war, however, meant that Pepsi wanted something else to trade.

So, in the spring of 1989, Pepsi and the Soviet Union signed a remarkable deal. Pepsi became the middleman for 17 old submarines and three warships, including a frigate, a cruiser, and a destroyer, which the company sold for scrap.

The whole Pepsi-USSR thing started at the 'Kitchen Debate' scene--the Pepsi guy fixed it so Nixon would get Khrushchev over to the Pepsi booth....

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...on-pepsi-ships

[nailer]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

This crazy business never came to my notice before....



The whole Pepsi-USSR thing started at the 'Kitchen Debate' scene--the Pepsi guy fixed it so Nixon would get Khrushchev over to the Pepsi booth....

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...on-pepsi-ships

Daddy Coldwarbucks.

[Chicks]

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/27...y-soviet-ussr/

Yet in any real sense the story is false. What PepsiCo acquired were small, old, obsolete, unseaworthy vessels. The Pepsi navy no more conferred military power than a rusting Model T could have been a Formula 1 contender. What’s more, the ships themselves were immediately turned over to a Norwegian shipyard to be scrapped. PepsiCo was more a middleman than a maritime power.

[BigElCat]

That's true...but still.

Three squadrons of A-10s. One could be a Pepsi Squadron, another could be Coka Cola.

Let Coke go first. Then Pepsi would have to top them. The audience would go wild.

Two weeks into it, auction the third squadron off to the highest bidder / sponsor.

"Team Pepsi put some bling on that one ! Stay tuned for Coke's second run" !

[BigElCat]

The Harrier jump jet didn't turn out so well for Pepsi either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7XliS0DYRo

The A-10s would be chance for them to redeem the company.

[RickeyM]

https://youtu.be/yxgy_FfGUnY

https://youtu.be/5cqlJp3lW_w

These boys are in it to win it.