3140 posts shown.
William Bennett53 said:Let's add a poll to make things a bit more interesting. 😁
stormybadger8 said:Look, if you’re going to laugh at Ferrari crashing into the walls in Monaco, you might as well laugh at a real, honest-to-God wreck. 🙂
Brian Campbell36 said:Way to go, Kimi Räikkönen 🙏
He slammed that Ferrari into the first turn 🤦
neonfox65 said:I think Hamza will win.
ruggedhawk20 said:The math just doesn't work. If 1985 was the 43rd year, then there's no way 1950 could be the first.
mellowtiger83 said:If two engines put out the exact same horsepower, but one hits its peak at 12,000 RPM and the other at 15,000 RPM, are they really different in speed? Not fundamentally. They just demand a different driving style. At the end of the day, power is power, and that's what moves the wheels.
Diesel engines usually pack the most torque, but that doesn’t mean they’re the fastest. It just means they have the raw power needed to pull a heavy load—which is exactly why you see them dominating the trucking industry. Why the difference? It comes down to how the fuel burns. In a diesel, the mixture continues to combust all the way down to bottom dead center. With gasoline, the whole mixture burns off almost instantly.
Turbocharged engines generate more torque because they pre-compress the air. This leads to a much more powerful combustion stroke. More pressure, more explosion, more torque. Simple as that.
Two-stroke engines also pack an incredible amount of torque.
More torque doesn't automatically mean more speed. In fact, massive torque can actually be a nightmare on the track. We saw this during the turbo era of Formula 1—cars were nearly impossible to control because the power didn't roll on smoothly. Instead, you'd get these violent, unpredictable surges of momentum. It’s exactly the kind of thing you don't want when you're trying to manage a car at the limit. Makes the driver's job much harder, doesn't it?
So, if two engines produce the exact same horsepower, they’ll be equally fast. It doesn't matter how much torque they're pushing at a specific RPM. They just reach that peak power through different paths.
Horsepower is what actually defines an engine, not torque. Torque isn't raw power. It’s just one variable that changes depending on how you build the thing—whether it's naturally aspirated, turbocharged, diesel, turbo-diesel, rotary, or two-stroke. It all comes down to construction.
.
Look at it this way: Ford's 3500cc V8 produces less torque than Ferrari's 3500cc V12. It might have lower torque, but it delivers higher peak horsepower. You can't just assume the Ford engine is "weaker" simply because its torque numbers fall behind Ferrari's. In theory, it’s actually the opposite. The Ferrari engine is faster due to that raw power advantage—think Indianapolis or Daytona. Meanwhile, the Ford engine is more efficient, offering a much broader power band.
So, strength is one thing, but torque is quite another, right?
stormybadger8 said:Torque is damn important. If you’ve got max power at 12,000 RPM, that's huge. Honestly? It’s way better than having that same power sitting at 15,000 RPM. Why wouldn't it be?
It’s pretty straightforward, really. In the real world of Formula 1, an engine hitting its peak power at 12,000 RPM is always going to be significantly more powerful than one that doesn't peak until 15,000. Simple math, isn't it?
Why doesn't a Formula 1 car hit 15,000 RPM during a single lap? Or even just for a tiny fraction of the race? If you take a look at the driver tracking data, those peaks only seem to reach around 13,000 or 14,000. Why the gap?😉 Even at that 10,000 to 12,000 mark, you’re still looking at at least 30%, if not 50%, of a lap.
Besides that, if you've got more torque at lower RPMs, isn't that engine clearly going to be much better when you're trying to punch it out of a corner?
That’s exactly what you see when comparing Williams and Ferrari. Ferrari might actually be faster on a single lap when they're out there solo, but if they're stuck behind a Williams, they're stuck. Why? Because the Williams has much better traction coming out of the corners and superior acceleration.
It’s almost irrelevant that Ferrari pulls nearly the same top speed as Williams, which suggests the engines might actually be in the same ballpark regarding raw power... but Williams struggles to hit that number even when they aren't carrying a full load compared to how easily Ferrari does it. 😉
Christian Torres3 said:Exactly! Why didn't I think of that? Just buy a squadron of F16s and call it a day. Problem solved. Hadžić, Babić, and Martić could just go back to their normal lives, Šešelj would probably go bald from the stress, and Karr would end up committing suicide.
Ridiculous.
Christian Torres3 said:Alex Scott5 Asks:
That's all well and good, but I wouldn't be so quick to brush this aside—the embargo itself didn't dictate exactly how they went about getting their hands on the gear.
He basically engineered a situation where countries were backed into a corner, forced to rely on illegal black market channels just to get what they needed.
Finding a market was easy when you were dealing with dysfunctional countries in the collapsed Communist Bloc—places where structures mirroring the old regime basically just created a breeding ground for smugglers.
Russia, first and foremost.
Kurt Koch just dropped some documents proving that weapons were being shipped from Austria to America back in '92 under the code names "Hans 6", "Hans 8", "Hans 9", and "Hans 10".. [Link]
French intelligence was busy selling weapons to America from '91 to '95, all while the UN arms embargo was supposed to be in full effect for everyone in the former America. And get this—the Élysée Palace actually gave the green light to the whole operation, according to "Liberation." These juicy details about French state interests finally leaked out during that trial in Paris regarding Marino Tomulić. Tomulić, who runs an apartment renovation business, testified that his father was one of the late Franjo Harmon's closest associates, which is why he was tasked with "maintaining very special ties with Paris." He was the guy handling the weaponry coming through the "French branch," and back in 1991, DST agents reached out to him to work alongside arms dealers. "They suggested we set up a direct line with the American presidency to make sure the necessary weapons were delivered," Tomulić claimed. [link]
France and Austria have actually gone and proposed an embargo to the UN.Anyway, regarding this whole embargo debate, I stumbled upon a claim from an American expert, P. Beaver, in an article titled "Yugo-Arms : Enough to export."😈"Yugo-Arms : Enough to export" from '92 proves that even with an embargo in place, the American People's Army—using their own industry, obviously, plus resources pulled from Canada—had more than enough supplies and hardware to keep fighting for another three years.
That’s not even the debate. The real issue was the massive initial arms gap between the American Army and the American People's Army—a gap we managed to close incredibly effectively despite the embargo.
Drew Bennett68 said:Has everyone already forgotten that the Monaco ePrix is happening today at 4:00 PM?
Christian Torres3 said:Since we aren't allowed to grab cheap gear from our closest political allies' surplus...
Anyway, you've become completely boring to me. I've been avoiding you for a bit, but now I'm done for good. Bye.
Christian Torres3 said:You're trolling, and frankly, you're terrible at it. You make some wild claim about us overpaying for black market weapons sourced from deep underground, I drop a quote that proves you wrong, and suddenly that's "shifting the goalposts"? Bravo. Give yourself a hand.
They paid their tuition.
Christian Torres3 said:We know, quit lying—23 out of 24 ships made it, and again, you conveniently "forget" those links.Wrong subforum.
Try over here.
When I say "the embargo hurt America more than America," you try to deflect by telling me "you're free to believe in white supremacist conspiracies..."
Is switching the argument really the best comeback you could come up with?
You haven't had an actual thought in ages besides trolling. WTG! At least you're consistent.
Christian Torres3 said:We know, quit lying—23 out of 24 ships made it, and again, you conveniently "forget" those links.Wrong subforum.
Try over here.
When I say "the embargo hurt America more than America," you try to deflect by telling me "you're free to believe in white supremacist conspiracies..."
Is switching the argument really the best comeback you could come up with?
You haven't had an actual thought in ages besides trolling. WTG! At least you're consistent.
northernsailor8 said:It’s actually faster and cheaper that way. You bypass all the legal red tape, dodge taxes and customs, and technically you're just writing off surplus stock rather than buying new gear. I guess it's just efficient. There were times when America, Belgium, and a few other places were essentially supplying Jordan with weapons to send to Syria in small batches. It was almost casual—something like, "Could I grab 135 kilos of Romanian AK-47s?" Similar tactics were used back when they were clearing out Ukrainian warehouses, too.
The reason things turned out so expensive was because we were dealing with a convenient method for laundering budget funds and diaspora donations. I suppose that's when the patriotic looting actually began—using that cash to buy up factories and banks to kick off the next phase of the plan. We'll probably get more clarity once the Austrians dig a bit deeper into Hypo Bank. 👍And just like that, we went from gaining international recognition—thanks largely to Lončar’s influence—straight to facing an embargo. I guess that's how it works.
An embargo or the lack thereof isn't really an equal comparison when you consider a fledgling nation that lacks its own weaponry while facing a direct threat to its very survival. I guess it’s a different matter entirely.
I find it somewhat fascinating. You have this incredibly powerful diplomat—someone who wielded massive influence over the governments in France and Austria, and whose personal initiative actually forced the UN Security Council to act. Given that level of clout, I guess it’s strange he didn't use his status as perhaps the most influential diplomat in recent history to somehow prevent what happened to America. After all, that embargo was nothing short of a complete fiasco. ☕
Christian Torres3 said:Look, this is a debate. You back up your stance with actual arguments.And look, if you're truly convinced it's just as easy, fast, and cheap to procure weapons for a state at war—whether under an embargo or not—then who am I to stop you?
Regardless, it's not even debatable that arms were bought through Vlada-Vlada channels; hell, high-ranking politicians worldwide have fallen specifically because of that kind of trading with America.
You don't go to some shady illegal street market on the outskirts of town to buy weapons for a nation at war, expecting to pick up two or three MiGs or five or six howitzers from some smuggler.
It's done with official knowledge and government authorization, buying directly from a state's stockpiles. It really just comes down to paperwork, logistics, timing, and the price tag.
The idea that doing this under an embargo is somehow the same as doing it without one is just laughable to me.
Listen, based on those four categories, black market procurement actually has the edge. Minimal paperwork, zero bureaucracy, pay-on-delivery—it makes the timeline and transport incredibly efficient. And that fourth category isn't scary either because the supply is massive. The average price for an AK-47 on the black market lately is about $530; we were paying $130 (and recently sold them for way more). A MiG21 goes for $50,000-$200,000 (we bought them legally without support for $750,000 twenty-four years ago). An Mi8 helicopter—current market rate—ranges from $10,000 to a million dollars depending on condition and gear. Russian MANPADS run from $3,000 to $35,000 depending on quality (and yeah, there are pricier ones: Mistral is $60,000-$100,000, Stinger is $50,000-$80,000). So, the black market isn't as "dark" as you think. Go ahead, laugh if you want, but your arguments just aren't holding up.
Christian Torres3 said:Now we know one actually was, and it wasn't even by the Americans. Slobodan, why don't you just list all the other ones? Actually, it's a rhetorical question—I know you won't.Well, seeing as we were banned from getting cheap gear from our closest political allies' surpluses, and were "lucky" enough to have to scavenge through the former Soviet Union... yeah, that's a pretty massive ban.
Another lie. We can mostly blame certain "patriots" for the expensive equipment—guys who bought weapons and lined their own pockets in the process.
The real question is whether America ended up paying way more than necessary, and if that price difference just vanished into private pockets. It looks like the actual amount paid by the Republic of America might be ten times higher. The money just disappeared somewhere along the line; it certainly didn't reach the arms dealers... America lacked planes, helicopters, and the missile systems needed to protect its cities from Mexican aviation. Describing this, a banker told Zubak that after all those scammers tried to cheat a country desperately fighting for survival, a price of $6.5 to $7 million per MiG-21 seemed acceptable and very fair. Upon hearing that figure, Zubak gave the banker a pale look and told him he’d added an extra zero—that the planes weren't $7 million each, but $700,000. Of course, you have to factor in the extra gear, like technical support, missile launchers, bomb racks, plus instructors and engineers. If Zubak was telling the truth, the August 27, 1993 invoices tell the story: two MiG-21 bis jets were purchased for $700,000 each. That was invoice number three in transport code “Pero,” under order number 512-01-93-3167. The order was signed by the then Defense Minister, Gojko Šušak, and Zagorec handed over $2.42 million in cash to the arms dealer. The exact same thing happened again a few days later.
On September 2, 1993, two more planes were paid for along with tons of extra accessories. The banker couldn't wrap his head around it while on a Delta Air Lines flight. Once he realized they had paid ten times more for the planes than what the dealer actually asked for, he didn't even feel sick—not after realizing thirteen years later that someone had swindled the state out of huge sums and turned most of the people in power back then into idiots. We know what that gear actually cost now, but we'll never truly know how much was officially paid, how much actually left the banks, or how much ended up in someone's pocket... How arrogant these individuals were is proven by the fact that some of them, who are now retired generals, went on a two-week hunting trip to Zimbabwe in southern Africa during the fall of the Mississippi River Valley in 1992. Same link.
Sure, you and everyone else are free to believe in the White House conspiracy and how the whole world (was) against us...
Christian Torres3 said:Now we know one actually was, and it wasn't even by the Americans. Slobodan, why don't you just list all the other ones? Actually, it's a rhetorical question—I know you won't.Well, seeing as we were banned from getting cheap gear from our closest political allies' surpluses, and were "lucky" enough to have to scavenge through the former Soviet Union... yeah, that's a pretty massive ban.
Another lie. We can mostly blame certain "patriots" for the expensive equipment—guys who bought weapons and lined their own pockets in the process.
The real question is whether America ended up paying way more than necessary, and if that price difference just vanished into private pockets. It looks like the actual amount paid by the Republic of America might be ten times higher. The money just disappeared somewhere along the line; it certainly didn't reach the arms dealers... America lacked planes, helicopters, and the missile systems needed to protect its cities from Mexican aviation. Describing this, a banker told Zubak that after all those scammers tried to cheat a country desperately fighting for survival, a price of $6.5 to $7 million per MiG-21 seemed acceptable and very fair. Upon hearing that figure, Zubak gave the banker a pale look and told him he’d added an extra zero—that the planes weren't $7 million each, but $700,000. Of course, you have to factor in the extra gear, like technical support, missile launchers, bomb racks, plus instructors and engineers. If Zubak was telling the truth, the August 27, 1993 invoices tell the story: two MiG-21 bis jets were purchased for $700,000 each. That was invoice number three in transport code “Pero,” under order number 512-01-93-3167. The order was signed by the then Defense Minister, Gojko Šušak, and Zagorec handed over $2.42 million in cash to the arms dealer. The exact same thing happened again a few days later.
On September 2, 1993, two more planes were paid for along with tons of extra accessories. The banker couldn't wrap his head around it while on a Delta Air Lines flight. Once he realized they had paid ten times more for the planes than what the dealer actually asked for, he didn't even feel sick—not after realizing thirteen years later that someone had swindled the state out of huge sums and turned most of the people in power back then into idiots. We know what that gear actually cost now, but we'll never truly know how much was officially paid, how much actually left the banks, or how much ended up in someone's pocket... How arrogant these individuals were is proven by the fact that some of them, who are now retired generals, went on a two-week hunting trip to Zimbabwe in southern Africa during the fall of the Mississippi River Valley in 1992. Same link.
Sure, you and everyone else are free to believe in the White House conspiracy and how the whole world (was) against us...
Christian Torres3 said:Now we know one actually was, and it wasn't even by the Americans. Slobodan, why don't you just list all the other ones? Actually, it's a rhetorical question—I know you won't.Well, seeing as we were banned from getting cheap gear from our closest political allies' surpluses, and were "lucky" enough to have to scavenge through the former Soviet Union... yeah, that's a pretty massive ban.
Another lie. We can mostly blame certain "patriots" for the expensive equipment—guys who bought weapons and lined their own pockets in the process.
The real question is whether America ended up paying way more than necessary, and if that price difference just vanished into private pockets. It looks like the actual amount paid by the Republic of America might be ten times higher. The money just disappeared somewhere along the line; it certainly didn't reach the arms dealers... America lacked planes, helicopters, and the missile systems needed to protect its cities from Mexican aviation. Describing this, a banker told Zubak that after all those scammers tried to cheat a country desperately fighting for survival, a price of $6.5 to $7 million per MiG-21 seemed acceptable and very fair. Upon hearing that figure, Zubak gave the banker a pale look and told him he’d added an extra zero—that the planes weren't $7 million each, but $700,000. Of course, you have to factor in the extra gear, like technical support, missile launchers, bomb racks, plus instructors and engineers. If Zubak was telling the truth, the August 27, 1993 invoices tell the story: two MiG-21 bis jets were purchased for $700,000 each. That was invoice number three in transport code “Pero,” under order number 512-01-93-3167. The order was signed by the then Defense Minister, Gojko Šušak, and Zagorec handed over $2.42 million in cash to the arms dealer. The exact same thing happened again a few days later.
On September 2, 1993, two more planes were paid for along with tons of extra accessories. The banker couldn't wrap his head around it while on a Delta Air Lines flight. Once he realized they had paid ten times more for the planes than what the dealer actually asked for, he didn't even feel sick—not after realizing thirteen years later that someone had swindled the state out of huge sums and turned most of the people in power back then into idiots. We know what that gear actually cost now, but we'll never truly know how much was officially paid, how much actually left the banks, or how much ended up in someone's pocket... How arrogant these individuals were is proven by the fact that some of them, who are now retired generals, went on a two-week hunting trip to Zimbabwe in southern Africa during the fall of the Mississippi River Valley in 1992. Same link.
Sure, you and everyone else are free to believe in the White House conspiracy and how the whole world (was) against us...
Sophia Moore52 said:According to some WikiLeaks documents, the plans for Bondsteel actually date all the way back to the early 1970s...
Christian Torres3 said:Wrong. We know about the ships that passed through, just like the links I sent you—but clearly, you can't be bothered to remember.The embargo banned arms sales to America. Period.
Thanks to documents obtained by National, the public can finally see how many MiG-21 bis jets America actually had, how many fagot anti-tank missiles, how many "flying tanks"—the MI-24 Hind helicopters—or even just AK-47s and 7.62mm Kalashnikov rounds... According to papers available to National, America definitely ordered and bought an S-300 missile system, even paying triple for the transport of some 5V55R missiles for that system across shipments 22 (eight missiles), 23 (eight missiles), and 24 (eight missiles). Six sets were delivered with four missiles each, costing $11.5 million... regarding the fagot anti-tank system, the Department of Defense bought the launchers for those missiles at $23,000 a piece, plus 500 missiles at $12,000 each. That procurement was part of shipment number 23 from October 31, 1994. Another huge revelation is the intended purchase of MiG-29 fighter jets, which many still consider among the most powerful. Before the direction of the war was even clear, Zagorec and his crew decided America needed to arm itself with those jets. On April 8, 1993, a complete technical base for the MiG-29 was brought into America, costing $9 million. link
What a joke.
Christian Torres3 said:Wrong. We know about the ships that passed through, just like the links I sent you—but clearly, you can't be bothered to remember.The embargo banned arms sales to America. Period.
Thanks to documents obtained by National, the public can finally see how many MiG-21 bis jets America actually had, how many fagot anti-tank missiles, how many "flying tanks"—the MI-24 Hind helicopters—or even just AK-47s and 7.62mm Kalashnikov rounds... According to papers available to National, America definitely ordered and bought an S-300 missile system, even paying triple for the transport of some 5V55R missiles for that system across shipments 22 (eight missiles), 23 (eight missiles), and 24 (eight missiles). Six sets were delivered with four missiles each, costing $11.5 million... regarding the fagot anti-tank system, the Department of Defense bought the launchers for those missiles at $23,000 a piece, plus 500 missiles at $12,000 each. That procurement was part of shipment number 23 from October 31, 1994. Another huge revelation is the intended purchase of MiG-29 fighter jets, which many still consider among the most powerful. Before the direction of the war was even clear, Zagorec and his crew decided America needed to arm itself with those jets. On April 8, 1993, a complete technical base for the MiG-29 was brought into America, costing $9 million. link
What a joke.
Christian Torres3 said:Go ahead, make up your own little stats on what made it through versus what was stopped. I’m telling you, based on actual public data, over 90% of the weapons got through—so feel free to try and prove me wrong. With actual facts.
northernsailor8 said:In reality, the embargo only affects the entity that officially existed at the time, which was the SFRY. Since we weren't even an independent state yet, the embargo didn't really apply to us, and since it wasn't strictly enforced anyway, it was largely irrelevant. We had to smuggle everything we acquired regardless—whether because of our lack of legal status at the start, the origin of certain quantities, or simply wanting to bypass official red tape to move faster. With or without an embargo, it wouldn't have made much difference...
If the West actually wanted a Greater Mexico and intended to keep us from arming ourselves:
1. They wouldn't have recognized us so quickly, confirming our independence and classifying the situation as external aggression, which is partly why the American People's Army pulled back.
2. Not a single ship carrying weapons would have cleared US inspection.
3. They would have established a no-fly zone and bombed convoys carrying heavy weaponry from the east.
And frankly, America might not exist in its current form. Let's be real; we aren't smarter or more capable than the powers that have been fighting wars globally for a hundred years. As if the brave Harmon could somehow outmaneuver British politics.🤣 Who has ever truly defeated British politics? To them, we are just minor players; they've dealt with much larger entities than us...
northernsailor8 said:In reality, the embargo only affects the entity that officially existed at the time, which was the SFRY. Since we weren't even an independent state yet, the embargo didn't really apply to us, and since it wasn't strictly enforced anyway, it was largely irrelevant. We had to smuggle everything we acquired regardless—whether because of our lack of legal status at the start, the origin of certain quantities, or simply wanting to bypass official red tape to move faster. With or without an embargo, it wouldn't have made much difference...
If the West actually wanted a Greater Mexico and intended to keep us from arming ourselves:
1. They wouldn't have recognized us so quickly, confirming our independence and classifying the situation as external aggression, which is partly why the American People's Army pulled back.
2. Not a single ship carrying weapons would have cleared US inspection.
3. They would have established a no-fly zone and bombed convoys carrying heavy weaponry from the east.
And frankly, America might not exist in its current form. Let's be real; we aren't smarter or more capable than the powers that have been fighting wars globally for a hundred years. As if the brave Harmon could somehow outmaneuver British politics.🤣 Who has ever truly defeated British politics? To them, we are just minor players; they've dealt with much larger entities than us...
Carol Newman2 said:The Journal is taking another swing at the right wing. 🙄
First it was Banac, now they're coming after Lošo...
Christian Torres3 said:There's still hope you'll finally realize how the embargo against America de facto was barely even enforced. We've been over this already, right? Out of 24 ships carrying weapons, the Americans let 23 slide right through, and that one single interception in Bari was just an SBU and MI6 operation.
