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Fourteen bodies were retrieved from the accident site in Nepal where a passenger bus bearing <keyword id="19894922" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh" source="keywords">Uttar Pradesh</keyword> number plate plunged into a river in Nepal's Tanahun district, a spokesperson for Nepal's Armed Police Force said on Friday. Kumar Neupane, Spokesperson for the Armed Police Force in Nepal said that 14 bodies have been retrieved from the river. Earlier today, a passenger bus bearing Uttar Pradesh number plate and with at least 40 people onboard plunged into the Marsyangdi river in the Tanahun district, Nepal police said. "The bus bearing number plate UP FT 7623 plunged into the river and is lying on the bank of the river," DSP Deepkumar Raya from the District Police Office Tanahun confirmed to over phone. As per the official, the bus was on its way to Kathmandu from Pokhara when the mishap took place. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Relief Commissioner said, "Regarding the Nepal incident We are establishing contact to find out if any person from Uttar Pradesh was on the bus." Sub-Divisonal Magistrate Maharajganj is being sent to Nepal and the Additional District Magistrate of Maharajganj will coordinate, the Uttar Pradesh Relief Commissioner said. Further details are awaited in the incident. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/webstories/2024-tvs-jupiter-vs-honda-activa-6g-which-110cc-scooter-should-you-buy/slidelist/112730069.cms">2024 TVS Jupiter vs Honda Activa 6G – which 110cc scooter should you buy?</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/how-to/how-to-add-music-to-instagram-profile/articleshow/112732934.cms">You can now add music to your Instagram profile – here's how</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/audi-q8-facelift-launched-in-india-with-a-1-17-crore-price-tag/slidelist/112707701.cms">Audi Q8 facelift launched in India with a ₹1.17 crore price tag</a>

Indian passenger bus plunges into Nepal river, 14 bodies retrieved

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An Iranian Navy frigate sank two days after capsizing in port.</li><li>The latest incident suggests a lack of training and a design flaw with the Iran-built ship.</li></ul>In another embarrassing incident for Iran's Navy, the frigate Sahand capsized on Sunday before completely sinking on Tuesday in the shallow waters of the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. It was the third navy ship Iran has lost in an accident since 2018.According to state-controlled Iranian media, the Sahand initially "lost its balance due to water leakage into the tanks" on Sunday and rolled onto its side, with only <a target="_blank" href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/07/iranian-warship-sahand-capsizes-and-sinks/">part of the hull and sonar dome appearing above water</a>, resulting in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.isna.ir/news/1403042013887/%D9%BE%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%B1-%D8%B4%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B4%DA%A9%D9%86-%D8%B3%D9%87%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B4-%D8%AE%D8%A7%DA%A9%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B4%D8%AF">at least one fatality</a> and an undisclosed number of injured, but "quickly returned to a balanced state." On Tuesday, however, local media <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iranian-warship-sahand-entirely-sinks-despite-rebalancing-efforts-2024-07-09/">reported</a> the vessel had completely sunk, claiming a rope that was holding it broke.The string of accidents suggests a lack of baseline training and supervision at a time its conventional navy is losing traction to its paramilitary competitor, with one expert cautioning that sabotage should not be ruled out. It also may be the Iranian-made frigate has a design flaw that makes it too tippy.Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and expert on naval operations, believes the incident was "largely the result of poor maintenance and inadequate training.""The updated design probably didn't help because it raised the center of gravity, which will reduce its stability," Clark told Business Insider.Iran launched the 315-feet-long, 1,300-ton vessel, named after another Iranian warship <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-praying-mantis-risks-of-us-iran-conflict-persian-gulf-2023-8">sunk by US forces</a> during a 1988 naval clash, in late 2018. At the time, Iranian media boasted it <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/general-news-2cc28441e0834d6b84d2397ef9f4bef1">could travel for approximately five months</a> without refueling. It also had a helicopter pad, sophisticated radar, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.Steven Horrell, a former naval intelligence officer and senior fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis, suspects "maintenance and training played a part" in the accident."If the cause was a rapid influx of water into the ballast tanks or other compartments, that says that some material condition was lax, whether the setting of valves within the transfer systems or what hatches and doors and scuttles are supposed to be secured or open," Horrell told BI. An intake of water is usually supervised because too much water piped into one ballast tank or one side of the ship can cause the hull to heel or even topple."And then it looks like whatever crew was aboard during that pier-side maintenance was not postured to respond."While the Sahand's hull is "certainly salvageable," the CEPA fellow anticipates "a long process" for returning it to service."Electronics and seawater don't mix, and for that matter mechanical parts — the whole engineering plant and propulsion train — are subject to water damage and corrosion," Horrell said. "They will be replacing systems from stem to stern."Iran's Navy lost two other warships to accidents in recent years.In June 2021, it lost the 680-feet-long Kharg support ship, <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-largest-warship-catches-fire-sinks-gulf-oman-f3e8126a8603326e1abc4705c6629fcd">the Iranian Navy's largest</a> by tonnage, in a fire, injuring 33. In January 2018, the 315-feet-long Damavand frigate, described as the navy's "<a target="_blank" href="https://warisboring.com/the-life-and-tragic-end-of-the-iranian-frigate-damavand/">most important warship on the Caspian Sea</a>," sank after it hit the breakwater at Bandar-e Anzali port during high seas, killing two crew.The Kharg incident is distinct since a fire destroyed that ship, and also because the vessel had been built by the United Kingdom.Clark noted the Damavand, a ship in the same indigenous class as the Sahand, "ran aground and could have capsized because of instability created by the updated design.""This calls into question the design itself, although proper training and maintenance would likely be able to mitigate the design shortfalls," Clark said. "At the very least, I cannot imagine any other countries being interested in Moudge-class frigates."Horrell also noted that this class of frigates is based on the older Alvand-class frigates built by the UK for pre-revolutionary Iran in the late 1960s and early 1970s."They are indigenously designed, but based off the import Alvand-class," Horrell said. "If you put more superstructure on a similar hull, you might be creating center of gravity problems, which would contribute to the rapid rollover Sahand experienced."In other words, more high weight on a ship increases the risk that if the ship heels it can act as a lever that rolls the ship over, a catastrophe that renders the ship useless and endangers its crew.Horrell also stressed that the three incidents were all different."A fire like on Kharg is a critical concern for every Navy; Damavand ran aground in reportedly terrible weather conditions in the Caspian Sea," Horrell said. "But one probable common thread is damage control. Every sailor on board should have some basic damage control training or firefighting training; these are all-hands operations."Consequently, he believes "better damage control" and "training, professionalism, personnel" may have saved some of these ships and prevented injuries and loss of life. Furthermore, it could also "be a small reflection of government prioritization" of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy over Iran's Navy."Budgets are not just ships and shipbuilding," Horrell said. "Budgets are training, maintenance, and personnel."Iran has two navies: its Navy, known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, and the naval arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary organization. For decades, the IRGC Navy patrolled the Persian Gulf north of the Strait of Hormuz using speedboats and fast patrol crafts, while the IRIN, with its larger warships, generally deployed in the seas beyond the Gulf. But in recent years, the IRGCN has built larger craft, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-irgc-fleet-persian-gulf-2024-7">including oceangoing vessels</a>."If you look at the numerous incidents of unsafe and unprofessional interactions with the US Navy or other navies, those are the IRGCN," Horrell said.<div type="image" title="The Shahid Hassan Bagheri is one of three new missile corvettes that are the most heavily armed warships in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy's fleet." height="1323" width="2000" msid="111684202" hostid="261" sizebytes="135322"></div>Since the 1979 revolution, the ruling authorities in Iran favored the IRGC over the regular military."The IRGCN is certainly favored in the Iranian government, partly because it is seen as more loyal to the Supreme Leader and partly because it operates businesses that provide cash to government officials," Hudson's Clark said."The design flaws that seem to be a contributor to the problems experienced by these ships are not directly attributable to the government's budget priorities," Clark added. "But the lack of training and maintenance that directly led to these accidents can probably be traced to the IRIN having lower precedence in budget competitions to the IRGCN."Farzin Nadimi, a defense and security analyst and senior fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noted that "on the surface," the regime tries to portray the IRGCN and IRIN as cooperating, while the reality is much more sinister."In effect, the IRGC is eating into the IRIN's turf and budget with all these <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-irgc-fleet-persian-gulf-2024-7">new 'oceangoing' vessels</a> they are commissioning, while they were supposed to limit their area of responsibility to the littorals," Nadimi told BI."Therefore, sabotage by the IRGC in order to undermine and weaken the IRIN in at least some of those cases should not be ruled out," Nadimi said.More generally, he noted the accidents "show a major flaw" in the IRIN command and "possible flaws in indigenous warship designs and production methods.""They are losing warships at such a pace in peacetime," Nadimi said. "Who knows how quickly they will lose ships in wartime!"

Why the Iranian Navy keeps losing warships in accidents, after its Sahand frigate capsized and sank

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ryan Fields-Spack is a dad of three and wellness lead for first responders.</li><li>He's worked in emergency response for more than 23 years.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ryan Fields-Spack, first responder wellness lead at <a target="_blank" href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?boii6iitRERla_NPCKQMtq7Jl5RVnG8dhvEObWfTP1iyywzPGVZ-89UnBxiDOEvN3f82KFZteU1ApgpHMGgExmtJSDURpIHfxLc0aMTQO3jEkcU787bSZahSfzxOVfWdW">FirstNet</a>, a communication platform for first responders built by AT&amp;T. It has been edited for length and clarity.I was 17 when I started volunteering with my local <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-fire-department-false-alarm-tv-flames-viral-video-2023-10">fire department</a> in Colorado. One of my first calls was truly horrific: another fire department had responded to a highway accident, but a tow truck had struck those first responders. My department was called in to take over the scene.It was absolute chaos. The commanding officer let the stress of the situation hijack his response. His speech was distressed and agitated, which made everyone else fearful. As a teenager still trying to understand how to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adrenal-fatigue-treatment-supplements-feel-worse-doctor-2023-11">handle the adrenaline</a> and emotion of emergencies, I felt completely overwhelmed.Two months later, I responded to a very <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/house-fire-decluttering-lesson-2024-9">serious house fire</a>. I worried we would never get it under control. The chief in that situation could see my distress. He put his hand on my shoulder and spoke with calm confidence. He said, "You're going to stay right here, and we're going to put this fire out."That's when I learned there's a right — and a wrong — way to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health-effects-of-stress-2017-8">respond to stressful events</a>, whether at home or at work. Twenty-three years later I'm a dad of three, and use the same tactics to respond to 911 calls that I use to handle stressful situations at home.<h2 id="184b60ac-e87f-4ef0-be34-66c24c594712">Start from a place of neutrality</h2>Whether you're giving a public speech, dealing with a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tips-how-prevent-toddler-tantrums-big-little-feelings-experts-2024-4">toddler meltdown</a>, or handling a medical situation, starting from a neutral place is helpful. I do this with a simple truth: I realize people don't want the worst for me. They generally want the best and are entirely neutral at worst.That's a good thing. It means I can respond without worrying that they're judging or hoping for my failure. At home, I get back to neutrality by having a quick cuddle with my kids. Even if we just lost our tempers with each other, we can move forward together.<h2 id="632d034f-c953-4fe6-9dfb-c884b9ac301b">Be mindful</h2><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/key-to-practice-mindfulness-meditation-2015-8">Meditation is key</a> for keeping my equilibrium at work and at home. You don't have to be a monk, and you don't need a bunch of apps.I take two minutes each morning to focus on my breathing. If my mind starts wondering, I bring it back to my breath. Over time, that makes your brain stronger and better able to recenter itself.Later in the day, I might find myself in a stressful situation. My mind can move away from neutrality and think that people are being adversarial to me. Because of my meditation practice, I can bring my mind back to neutrality in those tough moments — even if my kids are the ones causing them!<h2 id="b1f33454-b851-49c8-9297-ca9f45e3c880">Just breath</h2>"First, just breathe" is a saying I use to remind myself what to do when my adrenaline rises. "First" represents fists. When we're nervous or upset, we tend to clench them. "Just" represents the jaw, another place lots of us hold tension. If you can move your hands, shake out your fists, and move your jaw around, you'll feel a lot of tension slip away."Breath" is obvious: take a slow, deep breath. It will lower your pulse and blood pressure and help dissolve anxiety. I teach my kids to do the same thing when they're overwhelmed or frustrated.<h2 id="1963fce5-c3cb-4d68-ac3c-2cc3f5b2cc9a">Do a mental rehearsal</h2>As a first responder, I would review my rig in the morning, ensuring I had all the equipment I needed for the day. At the same time, I was doing a mental rehearsal of my day. I would even go so far as to speak out loud the commands that I would need to say into the radio. I ran through all possibilities while thinking about a good outcome, and when the situation arose, I felt better prepared. Today, I use the same approach to prepare for public speaking, which is sometimes part of my job.Whether you're dealing with lights and sirens or diapers and homework, there's satisfaction in bringing calm from chaos. Just a few minutes of breath work and body movement help me reset and have calmer, more in-control interactions with the world around me — including my kids.

I'm a dad and an EMT. I use the same 4 steps in stressful situations at home as I do on the job. 

Mumbai: Govinda will be discharged from a hospital here on Friday, four days after the actor was injured in the leg when his revolver accidentally went off, his family said. The 60-year-old actor underwent a surgery on Tuesday and is recuperating at a private hospital. Sharing a health update with the reporters, Govinda's daughter <keyword id="23177614" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tina-Ahuja" source="keywords">Tina Ahuja</keyword> said, "He is better. He is getting discharged today." The actor's wife, Sunita Ahuja, also told reporters that Govinda has been advised to rest for at least six weeks. "He will be discharged today. I will bring him here but he will have difficulty to stand... He is fine and will start dancing again in a few days. Everyone has prayed for him and we have the blessings of Mata rani," she said. "At home, the doctor has told him to remain on bed rest for six weeks. So, we will not allow many people because he could get infected. So, he needs to res," she added. Govinda, known for films such as "Love 86", "Swarg", "Dulhe Raja" and "Partner", was injured in the leg on Tuesday after his revolver accidentally went off at his Mumbai residence when he was about to leave for the airport. While the local police have been conducting an investigation, the Mumbai crime branch has also initiated a parallel enquiry into the incident. No complaint has been lodged in the matter so far, police said. Dr Ramesh Agarwal, who tended to the actor after the accident, said the bullet hit him below his left knee and that he had got 8-10 stitches. Govinda, a favourite with audiences for his impeccable comic timing and dancing skills, later issued a statement informing his fans he is doing better. "With the blessings of my fans, my parents and god, I am doing better now. I was hit by a bullet, which has now been removed," the "Hero No 1" actor and a member of the Eknath Shinde-led <keyword id="19905334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shiv-Sena" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Shiv Sena" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Shiv Sena">Shiv Sena</keyword> said in the audio message.

Govinda's revolver accident: Actor to be discharged today, says family

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A regional expert believes Russia will supply Iran with Su-35 fighter jets.</li><li>Advanced air defenses and anti-ship cruise missiles may also be on the table.</li></ul>Russia is considering deepening its military support for Iran and its regional militia allies with more advanced weapons that could worsen the confrontation between Iran and Israel. The drones and ballistic missiles <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-ballistic-missiles-to-russia-questionable-accuracy-2024-9">Iran has supplied Russia</a> for its Ukraine war may have been leverage to gain more powerful weapons in return: modern anti-ship missiles, advanced air defenses and the Su-35 Flanker air superiority fighter jet it has long-awaited.Iran has ordered <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-russian-su-35-fly-us-f-16-risky-dangerous-2024-10">Su-35 fighters</a> and also wants <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-s-400-formidable-not-quite-up-to-the-hype-2024-5">S-400 Triumf air defenses</a> to, among other things, face Israel's superior missiles and air force. If all these deals do go forward, they would enhance the military capabilities of Iran and its allied militias."Delivery of the Su-35S to Iran in any significant numbers will take time, as will training flight crews, maintainers, getting the required infrastructure and ground support equipment in place," Justin Bronk, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology in the Military Sciences team at the United Kingdom's Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider."None of this is likely to be in a position to meaningfully affect Israeli strike plans in the immediate term," Bronk said.Israel has vowed to retaliate for the Iranian barrage of over <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-used-one-of-most-advanced-missiles-massive-israel-attack-2024-10">180 ballistic missiles</a> against it on October 1. Since then, there was a dubious and unconfirmed claim in Iranian media that Russia has already delivered at least one squadron of Su-35s and an unspecified number of S-400s to Tehran.Past claims of an imminent delivery of Su-35s in the Iranian press proved unfounded but there's reason to believe Iran may actually get these capable, fourth-generation fighters sometime soon.Anton Mardasov, a non-resident scholar with the Middle East Institute's Syria program, believes the Su-35 deal is a "settled issue" since Russia already delivered Yak-130 trainer jets needed for training Iranian fighter pilots in September 2023.The Su-35 would allow Iran to partially upgrade its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-air-force-could-still-have-advantages-without-russian-jets-2023-12">antiquated air force</a>, which hasn't received new fighter jets since the early 1990s, and is likely to enhance its ability to defend its airspace. Even so, it's unlikely to shift the balance of power in the region. The Arab Gulf monarchies still possess far more advanced combat aircraft than Iran. Consequently, drones and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-iran-relies-on-ballistic-missiles-to-threaten-its-adversaries-2024-10">ballistic missiles</a> will likely remain Tehran's main means of projecting military power.The Middle East Institute's Mardasov told BI that the timing of the Su-35 delivery will most likely depend on "technical readiness" and other factors. He argued a timely delivery won't necessarily be seen as a sign of strength for Iran but rather an indication that it cannot defend itself against Israeli strikes."It would look like an emergency delivery which will have a negative impact on Iran's image, suggesting it is unable to parry the threat without Russian jets and other military assets," Mardasov said.In August, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/05/world/israel-iran-hezbollah-gaza#russian-emissary-visits-tehran-at-a-tense-moment-as-iran-asks-for-military-aid">The New York Times reported</a> Russia had begun delivering air defense hardware to Iran despite heightened tensions in the region after Israel assassinated a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-scored-major-intelligence-wins-killing-hamas-hezbollah-leaders-2024-8">Hamas leader</a> in Tehran. While the type of equipment was not specified, it could be the S-400 Iran has long sought.<div type="image" title="Two S-400 defense systems in the snow" height="1125" width="2000" msid="114370369" hostid="261" sizebytes="116830"></div>Such deliveries could complicate Israeli or US airstrikes against Tehran. After Iran first directly attacked Israel in April with a drone and missile barrage, Israel responded by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-may-upgrade-its-air-defenses-after-israeli-missile-strike-2024-4">destroying the radar</a> of one of Iran's S-300PMU-2s, Iran's most advanced air defense system acquired from Russia and the S-400's predecessor.Mardasov does not believe Moscow will supply Tehran with the more advanced S-400, pointing out that Russia's own air defenses are strained from its war on Ukraine. Russia needs all the air defenses it can muster to defend its ammo depots from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-hit-another-russian-ammo-depot-deep-strike-on-airfield-2024-10">waves of Ukrainian drone attacks</a> and enable its air force to provide supporting strikes for its troops in Ukraine.Even if Russia decided to supply Iran with the S-400, the training program would take around five months, meaning Iran would not get them online <a target="_blank" href="https://carnegieendowment.org/russia-eurasia/politika/2024/10/iran-russia-military-aid?lang=en">until next spring</a> at the earliest.A P-800 missile deal may be especially provocative. Russia is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-may-arm-houthi-rebels-anti-ship-missiles-us-intel-2024-7">reportedly discussing</a> supplying this anti-ship cruise missile to the Houthis. The P-800 boasts an 186-mile range and can skim the sea's surface en route. They are more advanced than other anti-ship missiles in the rebel group's arsenal, and would fuel their dangerous attacks on commercial ships and the US-led coalition defending them. Russian intelligence operatives have reportedly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-russian-military-advising-houthis-inside-yemen-us-intelligence-suggests">advised the Houthis</a> in their attacks against commercial ships.Iran is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-brokering-talks-send-advanced-russian-missiles-yemens-houthis-sources-say-2024-09-24/">reportedly brokering the deal</a>, while Yemen's northern neighbor Saudi Arabia and the United States oppose it. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already suggested Russia might arm Western adversaries under certain circumstances."As for the anti-ship missiles, I think that if the talks between Moscow and the Houthis were really about supplying missiles, they were of a general nature," Mardasov said. "Although I think it was more a deliberate leak involving Russian intelligence services to back up Putin's words about possibly arming America's adversaries."The Russian president <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/05/europe/putin-russia-western-nations-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html">warned in June</a> that Moscow could arm enemies of the West in response to their arming Ukraine and authorizing Kyiv to use Western munitions for limited strikes inside Russia, affirming that "we reserve the right to act the same way."The Russia analyst is skeptical that any direct transfer will take place, noting that it could put Chinese-owned tankers at risk. A Houthi missile already hit the Chinese-owned MV Huang Pu tanker, which was flying a Panamanian flag, <a target="_blank" href="https://news.usni.org/2024/03/24/chinese-tanker-hit-with-houthi-missile-in-the-red-sea">earlier this year</a>."In addition, such a deliberate delivery of missiles would greatly irritate Arab countries, which are important partners for Moscow in the current sanctions environment," Mardasov said.Nevertheless, he sees a scenario where these missiles could find their way to the Houthis "allegedly by accident via Syria," if the US and its allies were to authorize Ukraine to use <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interactive-map-shows-russian-targets-ukraine-could-hit-with-atacms-2024-8">Western-made ATACMS missiles against Russia</a>.Such a scenario already appears to have happened with Iran's main militia proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon, which acquired the export variant of the P-800, the Yakhont, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollahs-anti-ship-missiles-bolster-its-threat-us-navy-2023-11-08/">in Syria</a> under unclear circumstances.

Russia weighs fighter jet and missile deals that would expand Iran's military power 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The relationship between Trump and Putin has long been a source of controversy.</li><li>Analysts say Trump could broker a Ukraine peace deal on terms favorable to Russia.</li></ul>With only a month to go before the presidential election, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-touts-russia-army-history-justify-deal-putin-over-ukraine-2024-9">Donald Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin</a> has once again come under the spotlight.In a forthcoming book, journalist <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bob-woodward-trump-unparalleled-danger-democracy-president-2022-10">Bob Woodward</a> says that the former president and Putin have a closer friendship than previously known.According to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-putin-woodward-book-secret-covid-tests-seven-calls-2024-10">excerpts</a> published by CNN and the Washington Post on Tuesday, Trump sent Putin COVID testing devices in early 2020 for his personal use.The book also says that Trump may have had up to seven phone calls with Putin since leaving office in 2021, citing a Trump aide.The Trump campaign denied the report, with spokesman Steve Cheung claiming it is "the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome."The Kremlin on Tuesday<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-covid-testing-devices-phone-calls-kremlin-rcna174632"> said </a>that Russia received the COVID-19 testing kits, though added that Russia sent kits to the US in return. It denied <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-says-trump-sent-putin-covid-tests-pandemic-denies-calls-2024-10">the seven calls that Woodward said Trump had with Putin.</a>While speculation and criticism about Trump's relationship with Russia's autocratic leader are nothing new, they are taking on a new significance amid the possibility of a second Trump presidency.<h2 id="ca1622e9-b987-46c8-878b-d263ec452e14">The Trump-Putin relationship</h2>Only weeks before Trump took office after his presidential victory, his administration-in-waiting was rocked by the publication of a dossier prepared by a former British spy.The report said that the Kremlin had secured compromising information that it could use to blackmail Trump.Trump's legal team said the dossier contained inaccurate information and that it breached his data protection rights.A subsequent inquiry by Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of coordination between Putin and the Trump campaign.<div type="image" title="Robert Mueller, who headed the FBI for 12 years, speaks into a microphone." height="2316" width="3500" msid="114090479" hostid="261" sizebytes="235904"></div>Throughout his presidency, however, Trump appeared friendly toward Putin and was reluctant to criticize Russia over reports of interference in the 2016 US presidential election.Trump has continued to praise Putin for being <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-praised-smart-putin-us-stupid-country-2022-2">"smart" </a>and<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-ukraine-invasion-justification-genius-savvy-2022-2"> "genius"</a> after he began his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine."I'd say that's pretty smart. He's taking over a country – really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in," Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/american_bridge/status/1496682759208775683?s=21">said</a> in 2022.<h2 id="8940f3b3-81cf-4fcd-b657-4036ec84ba83">A Ukraine deal</h2>The US, under President Joe Biden, has provided billions in aid to Ukraine to battle the invasion launched by Russia in 2022, which the president has characterized<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-normandy-d-day-ukraine-unchecked-tyranny/"> as a fight between</a> the forces of democracy and tyranny.Yet Trump has questioned why the US is helping Ukraine defend itself and had urged Republicans in Congress to block a Ukraine aid bill earlier this year, resulting in Ukraine suffering ammunition shortages.He has claimed that he'd be able to swiftly negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia if he became president.And though he's offered few details on how, a peace plan suggested by his running mate, JD Vance, on a podcast <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4884798-the-trump-vance-plan-for-ukraine-is-insane/">in September indicates </a>that it'd involve Ukraine ceding the territory Russia holds and pledging neutrality.Trump could hypothetically compel Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to agree to the deal or face US aid being cut off.Critics say it's a deal that would likely delight the Kremlin and infuriate US allies in Europe and beyond. It could also come back to haunt the US.<h2 id="8ad46fa4-95d4-47d5-919b-551c0fc2121b">There could be catastrophic consequences</h2>Philip Ingram, a former UK military intelligence officer, told Business Insider that a Trump deal with Putin that involved ceding Ukrainian territory could have catastrophic effects."I think if Trump forces Zelenskyy into a peace deal where he has to give up any territory, then that will stimulate the start of World War Three, and it will happen within a relatively short period of time," he said."And the economic impact that that will have across the globe will be enormous."The Ukraine war has already roiled markets for food, oil, gas, and other products, and wider conflict could have an even more devastating impact.Economist Kenneth Rogoff in an article for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/the-long-lasting-economic-shock-of-war">The International Monetary Fund</a> warned that the war is worsening "rising inflation, extreme poverty, increasing food insecurity, deglobalization, and worsening environmental degradation."William Pomerantz, an analyst at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, told BI a deal would hugely damage US alliances."Trump believes that he can end the war in Ukraine in a week, but that would require conceding to all of Putin's demands," he said."That would essentially end our alliance with Europe and our international credibility."<h2 id="62871981-d67f-4884-a229-94adfdbc3ed3">Empowering China</h2>Some Republicans, including Vance, say the US needs to shift its stance away from helping Ukraine battle Russian aggression toward the more urgent threat they say China poses.Yet analysts <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vance-trump-wants-us-focus-china-russia-one-big-problem-2024-7">told BI in July </a>that China's threat is closely linked to Russia's, with Putin and fellow Chinese autocrat Xi Jinping having formed a pact to weaken US global dominance.A Russian victory in Ukraine would likely embolden Xi to launch an invasion of US ally Taiwan, said Ingram.<div type="image" title="Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping talking." height="3452" width="5402" msid="114090480" hostid="261" sizebytes="395676"></div>If Xi believes that the West has "given in" regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine despite the money and diplomatic effort spent trying to defeat Russia, "we would very quickly see his invasion of Taiwan," he said.European leaders have also issued stark warnings that Russia, emboldened by its territorial victory in Ukraine, could seek to attack a NATO state in as little as five years.Spiralling conflicts in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East would have a devastating economic impact.<a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/jpm-stock">JPMorgan</a> CEO Jamie Dimon warned last month that investors are overlooking geopolitcal tensions as key risk that could significantly weaken the global economy."Geopolitics is getting worse, they are not getting better. There is chance for accidents in energy supply. God knows if other countries get involved. You have a lot of war taking place right now," Dimon told <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/24/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-warns-geopolitics-is-getting-worse.html">CNBC-TV18</a> during a visit to India.Dimon said that if geopolitical tensions elevate to instability and conflict, it will drag down the stock market in a way that pales in comparison to prior market crashes.<h2 id="cccccb09-431b-470e-9b1b-e688d2ce7308">Trump's words and actions differ</h2>Ingram pointed out that there has in the past been a gap between Trump's words and actions, and questioned whether Trump would be willing to risk the economic blowback on the US of canceling Ukraine aid, with arms manufacturing firms in swing states such as Pennsylvania massively boosted by the Congressional aid bills."What we're hearing from him, from a political perspective, but what he'd actually practically do will be different," said Ingram.It is also unclear Trump would continue to impose sanctions on Russia if he becomes president."It's much harder to predict him on that stuff," William Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/tough-u-s-sanctions-packages-are-here-to-staywhether-its-harris-or-trump-11f884ba">The Wall Street Journal</a> in August. "I would say [he is] sort of inconstant. He tends to veer from one thing to another.'"Either way, Trump will have to deal with economic problems at home, including record debt levels and surging interest payments.Trump's economic plans are estimated to raise the federal debt level by double the figure expected if Kamala Harris is elected, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.crfb.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/CRFB_US%20Budget%20Watch%202024_The%20Fiscal%20Impact%20of%20the%20Harris%20and%20Trump%20Campaign%20Plans_Final_10062024.pdf">report</a> out this week.Harris would add $3.5 trillion to the projected fiscal debt through 2035, while Trump would add $7.5 trillion, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.crfb.org/papers/fiscal-impact-harris-and-trump-campaign-plans">Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget</a> analysis said."Our large and growing national debt threatens to slow economic growth, boost interest rates and payments, weaken national security, constrain policy choices, and increase the risk of an eventual fiscal crisis," it added.If elected for a second term, Trump has pledged to purge the US government of those he deems disloyal to his agenda if reelected and could surround himself with loyalists rather than career officials seeking to check his more impulsive decisions.Pomeranz said that Trump's policies in a second term would more openly reflect his admiration for Russia's leader, regardless of the US' economic plight."Putin is the autocratic leader that Trump most admires," he said. "Trump will present any end of hostilities [in Ukraine] as a personal victory, and Putin will validate this."

Trump's close relationship with Putin could come back to haunt the US

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia appears to have lost one of its new S-70 Okhotnik (Hunter) drones over the weekend.</li><li>The suspected drone crashed in eastern Ukraine, but the cause is still unknown.</li></ul>An aircraft believed to be a new heavy Russian combat drone crashed in Ukraine over the weekend. Losing one would not only be a major blow for Moscow; it could be a significant intelligence win for Kyiv and its NATO partners, including the US.Russia hasn't built very many of the S-70 Okhotnik-B (Hunter) drones, which made their combat debut during the ongoing Ukraine war.Video footage circulated across social media on Saturday showing the suspected <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/clashreport/status/1842513328217760059">S-70 plummeting out of the sky</a> while leaving a trail of smoke in its wake, an indication that the aircraft had suffered damage of some kind. Photos later showed the aircraft's <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/PEnssle/status/1842590071402434807">wreckage</a> on the ground.The wreckage of the Russian aircraft was discovered in Kostyantynivka, a city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region just a few miles behind the front lines. It's unclear what type of mission the drone was on when it crashed.<div type="image" title="Ukrainian service members inspect parts of a Russian S-70 drone in eastern Ukraine on October 5." height="3769" width="5653" msid="114023434" hostid="261" sizebytes="2603090"></div>The exact cause of the crash is unknown, but there's been speculation about what might have happened. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has commented publicly on the incident.Conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said that some Russian sources have claimed that Moscow accidentally shot down the S-70 in a friendly-fire incident. Open-source intelligence accounts on social media <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/clashreport/status/1842513328217760059">amplified this theory</a>, asserting that the drone was shot down by one of Russia's few <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-feared-losing-su-57-combat-ukraine-hit-one-anyway-2024-6">Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets</a>.As to whether the downing of the aircraft was an accident or intentional, other Russian sources have suggested that the drone operators lost control of the aircraft and shot it down on purpose to prevent Ukraine from gaining access to the system's advanced technology, the analysts wrote in a Sunday <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-october-6-2024">assessment</a>.Business Insider is unable to immediately verify any of the theories, but Ukraine, based on photos taken at the crash site, has access to the wreckage.<div type="image" title="Russia's S-70 drone is seen taking off at an unidentified location in August 2019." height="2377" width="3400" msid="114023444" hostid="261" sizebytes="62340"></div>Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the Center for Naval Analyses and an expert on drones and Russian defense issues, said that the apparent loss of the S-70 a "significant win" for Western intelligence given that it has been Moscow's flagship drone project for more than a decade.Photos captured at the crash site show Ukrainian troops already examining the suspected S-70 wreckage, a scenario Russia — or any military — would probably prefer to avoid with new and sensitive technology."Presumably it has top resources and investments, materials and products, including microelectronics and other key components," Bendett told Business Insider.Bendett said that NATO countries, which are ahead of Russia in unmanned combat aerial vehicle development, are likely working on their own designs. Getting ahold of this aircraft could provide insight into its workings, as well as its weaknesses and how best to counter it. Additionally, because there aren't many S-70s, losing one could set Moscow's program back, although it "will not stop its ongoing experimentation with such designs," he said.<div type="image" title="Ukrainian scene investigators examine the wreckage the S-70 in eastern Ukraine on October 5." height="3915" width="5873" msid="114023439" hostid="261" sizebytes="1416530"></div>The S-70 "Hunter," which looks similar in shape to the US military's RQ-170 Sentinel built by Lockheed Martin, has been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-testing-loyal-wingman-drone-for-su57-stealth-fighter-2020-12">under development</a> since the early 2010s and took its first flight in 2019. Only two of the jet-powered drones — which weigh some 20 tons and have a 65-foot-long wingspan — are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-october-5-2024">thought to have been built</a>.Both Ukraine and Russia have relied heavily on drones to wage war, although they have primarily employed <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-beating-russia-in-the-drone-production-race-2024-10">mass-produced, cheap drones</a> instead of heavier and more expensive systems.Bendett said that Ukraine and Russia are fielding drones with impressive ranges that can cause extensive damage and issues for air defenses as the S-70 was intended for, but some other drones can perform these tasks at a fraction of the price.This poses a dilemma for Moscow, Bendett said. Should it continue developing the S-70, even though the few it has would be at great risk, or spend more resources on long-range attack drones that are much cheaper? The answer remains to be seen.

Russia's apparent loss of one of its new heavy Hunter drones over Ukraine could be an intelligence win for Kyiv and the West

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ukraine's F-16 pilots have had to get up to speed on a different fighter jet quickly.</li><li>Their training isn't just to teach them to fly a new plane but also to break them of habits from their days flying Soviet jets.</li></ul>Ukraine's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraines-f16-jets-shot-down-missiles-during-massive-russian-strike-2024-8">F-16 pilots</a> have had to dramatically change the way they fly in a very short period of time <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-ukraine-could-get-air-superiority-use-f-16s-experts-2024-7">in order to fight Russia</a>, and it's a tremendous challenge for pilots when they are under pressure, an air warfare expert told Business Insider.Michael Bohnert, an air warfare expert at the RAND Corporation, told BI that the big changes Ukrainian pilots have had to make so quickly make it difficult for them to overcome old habits and muscle memory in a crisis.Ukrainian pilots were given roughly nine months of training in the US and some European countries, while most Western pilots are given three years to learn the jets, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-f16s-what-to-know-224d96ff2ad4f416d3969676a55876e2">according to The Associated Press</a>.And more broadly, Ukraine's air force is having to rapidly undergo a wider transition that its international partners took significantly longer to do. Across the board, Ukraine's military has had to adapt to new weapons and fighting styles on wild timelines, and the results have been mixed. It's far from an easy task, and in a fight, it is easiest to revert to what you know best.Before the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/missiles-on-ukraines-f-16s-hint-at-missions-against-russia-2024-8">F-16s first arrived in Ukraine in August,</a> the country's fighter fleet consisted only of much older, Soviet-era aircraft. Those older jets have hydraulic systems, while F-16 jets are fly-by-wire, which means computers process the input by pilots."What it means is that F-16S are not just more maneuverable, they're more responsive," Bohnert said."And transitioning pilots from the older to the newer is a problem because you can teach someone to fly a plane in six months to a year. But to teach them that muscle memory to know what to do when something goes wrong takes four or five, six, takes many more years," Bohnert said.<div type="image" title="Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in front of the first F-16 fighter jets received by Ukraine on August 4, 2024." height="2509" width="3763" msid="113940845" hostid="261" sizebytes="260716"></div>He said that it is difficult for pilots to retrain on such radically different jet types because "if something's going wrong, your muscle memory reverts back to something that's older."He said it's something that can be overcome with more and more time on simulators — but Ukraine's military does not have much time to spare.<h2 id="2f637335-59d6-4a6f-ba63-aa0624fee40f">A challenging task for Ukraine's pilots</h2>Ukrainian pilots have praised the combat power of their new F-16s compared to the older jets but have also noted how big a transition they have been.A Ukrainian pilot with the call sign "Moonfish" earlier this year called it "a really awesome jet to fly" that was easier to fly. They <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-danish-f-16s-summer-russia-2024-2">compared the change to upgrading</a> from a basic phone "like a Nokia, straight to an iPhone, without all those steps in between."Tom Richter, a former US Marine pilot who flew F-16s for the National Guard, called the jet "a sensitive beast" compared to Ukraine's Soviet-era aircraft in an interview with <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-f-16-fighter-jets-war-russia-base-runway/">Politico</a>.The reality that Ukrainian pilots are new to F-16s was acknowledged by Gen. James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces in Europe and NATO Allied Air Command, in September, when he said <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-isnt-flying-most-dangerous-missions-f-16s-us-general-2024-9">Ukraine was not using the jets for the riskiest types of missions</a> as "the pilots are new to it."<div type="image" title="A Ukrainian air force F-16 fighter jet banking across grey skies." height="1933" width="3000" msid="113940844" hostid="261" sizebytes="244994"></div>The transition to F-16s and the integration of these weapons into the combat operations of the Ukrainian military <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-air-force-f-16-fighter-jets-western-soviet-warfare-2024-7">require Ukraine to overhaul decades of Soviet doctrine and training</a>, two American air warfare experts said in July."Old habits die hard. They must be willing to embrace new concepts and training — as well as a willingness to 'rewrite the books' on military employment," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/the-significance-of-air-superiority-the-ukraine-russia-war/">wrote</a> the Mitchell Institute's David Deptula and Christopher Bowie in a report this past summer.Changes in militaries don't usually happen overnight. The transition to fly-by-wire aircraft took years for Western air forces and, Bohnert said, "there were still accidents and unhappiness." The Ukrainians do not have that kind of time, though, and are under much greater pressure to adapt much faster.And Ukrainian pilots have risen to that great challenge. An internal US Air Force assessment from last year said that two Ukrainian pilots proved they could complete the training for the F-16 in just four months — more than four times faster than what the Pentagon had predicted.But as former US military pilots <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f-16-to-ukraine-most-dangerous-battlefield-2024-4">warned</a> in interviews with BI in April, the contested skies above Ukraine will be the most dangerous battlefield that F-16s have ever faced.Though causes remain unknown, Bohnert said inexperience on the new fighter jet might have been a factor when <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-faces-questions-f16-downed-friendly-fire-patriot-missile-2024-9">an F-16 crashed</a> in August while defending against a Russian attack. In that fatal incident, both the jet and Ukrainian Air Force pilot Oleksiy Mes were lost.<div type="image" title="A service member carries a Ukrainian flag at a memorial event for a downed F-16 pilot as hundreds kneel nearby." height="1436" width="1918" msid="113940662" hostid="261" sizebytes="138778"></div>The loss could have also been the result of a mechanical failure on the aging aircraft, or friendly fire could have caused it as Ukraine works to get all of its combat systems, a hodgepodge of equipment, working smoothly together. Ukraine has not given a reason for the loss, but the investigation considered these possibilities.<h2 id="6cbae3fe-6082-4a49-869e-c642b9a15728">Ukraine's F-16s are limited</h2>Air warfare experts previously told BI that the F-16s are not likely to be major game changers but will help Ukraine replenish lost aircraft, protect cities and other targets, and potentially allow Ukraine to launch new raids in the air.The jets Ukraine is receiving, though a capability jump over its Soviet-era planes, are older F-16s without some of the newer upgrades. Bohnert described the fighters as "older airframes with not a lot of life left," though he said that "doesn't mean they're bad." Still, they're not a match, though, for Russia's better jets or its formidable air defenses.A bigger problem is that Ukraine was not given enough of the jets to use them like the West does and make a substantial difference.Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands have pledged more than 85 F-16s to Ukraine. Only a handful were delivered in August. Roughly 20 of the fighters are expected to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of this year.<div type="image" title="Two F-16 fighter jets flying side-by-side against blue skies." height="1201" width="1801" msid="113940843" hostid="261" sizebytes="41698"></div>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said in July that his country <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-faces-same-problem-with-f16s-as-abrams-tanks-zelenskyy-2024-7">wasn't getting enough new jets</a>, said last month that there are plans to increase Ukraine's number of jets and trained pilots. But he offered no details.Partners have hamstrung Ukraine <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-f16s-less-effective-russia-defenses-missiles-cant-strike-experts-2024-9">in how it uses Western weapons</a>, and those limitations could potentially prevent it from leveraging the F-16's capabilities in the way it might without restrictions. But limited airframes and trained pilots are big issues.Not enough pilots are being trained for the jets Ukraine was promised, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/05/ukraine-f-16-pilot-training-00161742">Politico</a> reported in June. The outlet reported that partner nations had fewer training spots than Ukraine does jets and pilots ready to be trained. The delays in getting this program spun up have been detrimental.Ukraine began asking for F-16s shortly after Russia invaded over two and a half years ago. But the US, which has to give permission for the jets it manufactured to be donated even by other countries, was long reluctant.Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia Programme, said last this month that the delay in meeting Ukraine's demands meant "Russia has been given ample time to plan for the appearance of Ukraine's new aircraft type and adapt to it."Ukraine, on the other hand, is still setting up its new F-16 program and trying to resolve issues with pilot training and integrating the jets into Ukraine's military.Michael Clarke, a Russia and Ukraine expert and a British national security advisor, told BI this summer that "if the West donated F-16s a year earlier, then most of these problems would be solved by now."And he also said that if more planes aren't on the table, then, "in terms of defending Ukrainian airspace and being able to deal all the way across the front with Russia's numbers, the F-16s are a long way from being able to do that."The challenges, limitations, and restrictions aside, air warfare experts still say the jets are a positive for Ukraine.Retired US Army Maj. Gen. Gordon 'Skip' Davis, who was NATO's deputy assistant secretary-general for its Defense Investment Division, told BI Ukraine's F-16s "are making a difference now" and more arriving "will help them make more of a difference."

Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots have had to dramatically change the way they fly after long flying Soviet jets, and it's a lot to overcome

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Kamala Harris just told voters what kind of gun she owns.</li><li>During a "60 Minutes" interview, she said she has a Glock, a short-recoil polymer-framed pistol.</li></ul>Vice President Kamala Harris wants voters to know she's a responsible Glock owner.In an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-sixty-minutes-interview-donald-trump-why-explained-2024-10">interview with CBS' "60 Minutes,"</a> aired on Monday, CBS host Bill Whitaker asked Harris about her recent comments on owning a gun, asking her which gun she has."I have a Glock, and I've had it for quite some time," Harris said."Look, Bill, my background is in law enforcement, so there you go," she added.Whitaker asked if she had ever fired it."Yes, of course I have, at a shooting range," she said.Glock is a brand of short-recoil-operated polymer-framed pistols made by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The gun brand advertises the Glock 22 as "by far the most popular police service pistol in the United States."This frankness about firearms could be a campaign strategy to try to move the needle in swing states, political and communications experts told BI — and it might help fend off potential GOP attacks.Gun ownership is widespread in the US, too. In a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/24/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/">survey</a> of more than 5,000 US adults conducted in June 2023 by the Pew Research Center, 32% of respondents said they own a gun.Harris also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/us/politics/kamala-harris-gun-oprah.html">mentioned</a> that she owned a gun during a live-streamed interview with Oprah Winfrey in September.And in 2019, Harris said that she <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-owns-gun-personal-safety-2019-4">carried a gun for personal safety.</a>Although she owns a gun, Harris has been a proponent of safer firearms usage and stricter gun ownership laws.She oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which President Joe Biden <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ogvp/">set up</a> in 2023 to ensure more stringent background checks and create new criminal penalties for unauthorized gun ownership.Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, is a gun owner and hunter. Trump has shown interest in guns.Trump went to a South Carolina gun store in September, where he was seen posing for photos and admiring a handgun."I want to buy one," Trump said in the video.Earlier in June, the NYPD sought to revoke Trump's license to carry a concealed weapon after he was convicted on 34 felony counts in his New York hush-money trial.<h2 id="68b57779-59fc-4c75-9704-854a11a3ec6f">Experts: Harris' comments on guns are unexpected</h2>Kristin Doidge, a public relations lecturer at Loyola Marymount University, told BI that voters — especially younger ones — are watching both presidential candidates and committed to understanding their policy positions."Harris' comments about gun ownership definitely feel unexpected, especially for voters here in California," Doidge said.But gun talk could help move the needle for Harris, especially with undecided voters, Doidge said. But issues like the economy remain top of mind for voters, she added.Other experts said that leaning into being a gun owner may be a savvy move from Harris' campaign, especially for swing-state voters."It may also be strategic to remind voters that Kamala Harris is the candidate of law and order, as a former Attorney General," said Georgia Kernell, an associate professor of communication and political science at UCLA.<h2 id="835a9bf8-0580-4506-84d0-b05b107c2ac8">Guns are an important part of the political narrative</h2>Jonathan Aronson, a professor of communication and international relations at USC, said that it was "reasonable" for former prosecutor Harris to own a gun and talk about it."I suspect the reason she brought it up was to blunt a possible attack from Trump that she was anti-police and soft on crime," Aronson said of Harris.Guns and the Second Amendment have become central to the Trump campaign's messaging.In May, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/af4c3b37-575f-4bd4-976f-bf501405f4b5">announced</a> the formation of "Gun Owners for Trump," a coalition supporting the Second Amendment.And one of his strongest backers, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, has promised to pay $47 to people who refer voters in swing states to sign a petition pledging their support for the First and Second Amendments.Representatives of Harris didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside business hours.

Kamala Harris wants voters to know she owns a Glock. Talking about guns on the campaign trail is no accident, experts say.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia is likely mapping underwater internet cables, a NATO official said.</li><li>It's also believed to be behind flight GPS interference.</li></ul>In June, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-russian-president-medvedev-became-key-warmonger-since-ukraine-invasion-2023-1">Dmitry Medvedev,</a> the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, issued a stark warning.The undersea cables that enable global communications had become a legitimate target for Russia, he said.Medvedev based his claim on the belief that the West had been involved in blowing up Nord Stream 2, a pipeline transferring gas from Russia to Germany."If we proceed from the proven complicity of Western countries in blowing up the Nord Streams, then we have no constraints - even moral - left to prevent us from destroying the ocean floor cable communications of our enemies," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/moscow-may-sabotage-undersea-cables-part-its-war-ukraine-nato-2023-05-03/">Medvedev posted on Telegram.</a>(Recent reports, however, suggest<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-general-defied-zelenskyy-to-blow-up-nord-stream-attack-wsj-2024-8"> Ukraine was actually behind the attack</a>.)Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has a long history of making incendiary claims.According to analysts, however, this was not just another idle threat.<h2 id="73e4f038-abe7-4e97-b7c0-ff17a402e7e3">A serious warning</h2>The vast network of undersea fiber optic cables that transfer data between continents is indeed vulnerable to hostile powers, including Russia, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/safeguarding-subsea-cables-protecting-cyber-infrastructure-amid-great-power-competition">The Center for Strategic and International Studies warned in a report this month.</a>In May, NATO's intelligence chief <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-warns-russia-could-target-undersea-pipelines-and-cables/">David Cattler warned </a>that Russia may be planning to target the cables in revenge for the West's support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.It's a scenario that has NATO's planners increasingly worried.If the cables are seriously damaged or disabled, swaths of the everyday internet services we take for granted and which our economies rely on, including calls, financial transactions, and streaming, would be wiped out.Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden's minister for civil defense, said damage to a telecommunications cable running under the Baltic Sea in 2023 was the result of "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-govt-says-estonia-has-linked-baltic-cable-pipeline-damages-2023-10-23/">external force or tampering</a>," though he did not provide details.And in June, NATO stepped up aircraft patrols off the coast of Ireland amid concerns about Russian submarine activity,<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/britain-france-and-norway-search-for-russian-sub-off-ireland-cwljngdsj"> reported The Sunday Times.</a><h2 id="d5e30731-592a-4c26-8a6c-753dc1f7b830">The threat to GPS</h2>Security analysts say that the internet is not the only network that Russia is probing for vulnerabilities.In recent months, Russia has been accused of interfering with GPS navigation systems, causing havoc on commercial airline routes. As a result, flights from Helsinki to Tartu, Estonia, ground to a halt for a month in April.Melanie Garson, an international security expert at University College London, said it was part of Russia's "gray zone" campaign against the West, which involves covert actions that fall below the threshold of open warfare."Russia has long been developing this capability and it is currently a cheap and effective way of malicious gray zone interference," said Garson."As we increase our reliance on connectivity and space data in everything from agriculture to food delivery disrupting national and economic security through interfering with subsea cables and GPS becomes increasingly effective."<div type="image" title="Fiber optic cables on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea." height="1500" width="1999" msid="112843592" hostid="261" sizebytes="128368"></div><h2 id="fe47ae34-df5d-4c60-b055-6c99268d4329">Russia puts the West 'on notice'</h2>For decades, the world has depended on data carried on cables running for thousands of miles underwater. In the early 20th century, the cables carried telegraph signals, and later, telephone calls.Robert Dover, a professor of international security at Hull University in the UK, said the cables have long been seen as potential military targets, and both the US and USSR surveilled them during the height of the Cold War.As the world has become more dependent on the internet, the cables have become increasingly vital. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2023/may/information-warfare-depths-analysis-global-undersea-cable-networks">The cables now span around 745,000 miles</a><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2023/may/information-warfare-depths-analysis-global-undersea-cable-networks"> </a>and are responsible for transmitting 95% of international data."The growth in electronic communications has made the undersea cables — vital for international communications, the internet, finance, and so on — a point of vulnerability for nations who use them extensively and for those who don't publicly have an obvious fall-back position," said Dover.Similarly, GPS signals are increasingly vital to the airline industry. They are used to safely guide planes to their destinations and land them.Planes do have backup navigation systems in the event that GPS fails, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/37776b16-0b92-4a23-9f90-199d45d955c3">but Baltic officials</a> are warning that disrupted GPS signals can still put planes in danger.During its war with Ukraine, Russia has enhanced its already sophisticated electronic warfare capability, enabling it to remotely scramble the GPS coordinates used to guide missiles and drones.Those capabilities are now impacting commercial aviation GPS in eastern and northern Europe. Some analysts believe that may be an accidental result, but others believe that Russia is sending a signal to the West."The targeting of civil aviation GPS is a means by which to undermine the surety of Western publics in aviation, in particular, and shows the reliance on satellite platforms for ordinary citizens to navigate around," said Dover."It also puts governments on notice about the political risks of mass transit accidents that have a plausibly deniable cause."<div type="image" title="A fence is seen along the border to the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad." height="683" width="1024" msid="112843591" hostid="261" sizebytes="44806"></div><h2 id="4abf10d6-7059-4e18-988a-11459fb7d001">A backup plan is urgently needed, says expert</h2><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/24/nato-undersea-cable-network-russia-infrastructure-defense/">According to Foreign Policy in June, </a>NATO has begun taking more action to safeguard undersea cables, setting up a system that would automatically warn of attempted interference.But Garson said it's not enough, and more government fallback plans are needed in case the systems fail entirely."Countries need to not only take measures to protect but also to make sure that the communications system is resilient, e.g., with robust alternatives," said Garson.She said satellites transmitting GPS data often lack safeguards against attempted interference, while the task of protecting undersea cables often falls on the private companies that own and maintain them."It's key to visualize these strategic futures and have a clear resilience plan that accounts for potential systemic risk and to keep countries operational if key comms infrastructure is compromised," said Garson.In its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/safeguarding-subsea-cables-protecting-cyber-infrastructure-amid-great-power-competition">report this month</a>, the CSIS called for the US to increase international cooperation to coordinate a response to a potential attack on cables.It said that the current legal and international framework for undersea-cable sabotage was "complex and fragmented, with different <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-law-of-maritime-neutrality-and-submarine-cables/">international legal regimes</a> determining responsibility and punishment.""When cables are sabotaged in international waters, there is no regime to hold the perpetrator accountable," it said.

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