iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Great question - so DRDC did an pretty good analysis of that in 2014 - and showed there was no cost savings to be had in the purchase profile Canada would consider. Having two separate training pipelines and overheads was simply uneconomical. You can read it here: thehub.ca/wp-content/u...

thehub.ca

010

Reposted by Richard Shimooka

Alexander Lanoszka @lanoszka.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

There have been calls for Canada to mix its fighter jets so as to have Rafales or Gripens alongside its F-35s. @richardshimooka.bsky.social, @balkandevlen.bsky.social, and I think this is a very bad idea and not only because of the costs involved. nationalpost.com/opinion/mixe...

nationalpost.com

Opinion: Mixed fleet of fighter jets not the answer for Canada's Air Force

The F-35, Rafale and Gripen are so technologically complex that they have little interchangeability

121

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

You can use that line for every single option: Germany with the AFD in recent elections, France and the FN. You had the Germans try that argument on us to not consider the ROK KSIII subs for our Victoria class replacements, due to their proximity to China and internal turmoil.

010

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

I wrote a piece about this recently: thehub.ca/2025/03/18/r... Key point: "the basis of this policy move is not about the actual capability; rather, it’s a reflexive populist effort to assuage nationalist sentiments of anti-Americanism."

thehub.ca

Richard Shimooka: Cancelling the purchase of American F-35 fighters would be a colossally stupid mistake

120

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Quite the opposite - our current lack of capability is the dependency they are using as leverage. Canadians don't realize the abysmal state our air force is in: we've ignored allies' concerns that for a decade. Yet we're worked up about a hypothetical situation when our fighters might arrive?

110

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

My latest in the Hub, which discusses the perils of trying to shift Canadian defence production away from American supply chains to European ones. It an area not well understood outside a handful of defence analysts and industry members. thehub.ca/2025/04/11/r...

thehub.ca

Richard Shimooka: Switching from the American to the European defence market sounds good—but it’s a terrible idea in practice

Doing so would leave Canada’s military and economy much worse off

020

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Here's the link - we covered a wide variety of topics related to defence - I think its a pretty clear view that more needs to be done on defence www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

cbc.ca

000

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

And this morning, an appearance on The Current, hosted by @mattgalloway.bsky.social with Mark Norman and Jody Thomas.

120

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

A CBC double header from me. First it was my pleasure to answer listener questions on Just Asking, guest hosted Marcia Young on with the incomparable Dr Whitney Lackenbauer to answer questions on the state of the CAF. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

cbc.ca

130

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

I included the same point in an earlier draft of my article, but cut it for length. The irony is that it was the UK who stopped a sale of Gripen to Argentina. Germany tightly controlled Taurus and other weapons in Ukraine too. That's totally ignored in every discussion you see on this topic.

100

Reposted by Richard Shimooka

Alexander Lanoszka @lanoszka.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Forget annexation. @balkandevlen.bsky.social, @richardshimooka.bsky.social, and I argue in the G&M that "What the White House’s budgetary aspirations indicate ... an insular, enfeebled and politically divided country that harks back to the 1920s and 1930s." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

theglobeandmail.com

Opinion: Donald Trump’s budget priorities are a sign of an insular America, not an imperial one

Domestic defence cuts, inevitable legislative gridlock and a return to isolationism in the U.S. will leave a void that Canada and other allies must fill

063

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

I'd bet it political gravity as Eliot Cohen suggested in his Atlantic Article. The growing spectre for an historic mid-term drubbing shakes loose enough moderate GOP members to start showing "moderate" credentials on really unpopular policies. Its a combination of legislative and legal gridlock

000

Reposted by Richard Shimooka

Alexander Lanoszka @lanoszka.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

In my latest Substack essay, I write that American society is not polarized--it is complacent and docile, at least for now. open.substack.com/pub/alanoszk...

open.substack.com

American Society is Complacent, Not Polarized

Far from being a country that is setting itself up for a civil war, as some claim, American society has become docile.

5316

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Its unfortunate that the article doesn't provide more context - because this was a major policy shift during his first term that had operational consequences for the fight against ISIS. Biden Admin restored some of the guardrails but this will obviously dismantle them. Its a live debate within DoD.

020

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

My Latest in the Hub - as we move towards an inevitable federal election, the risk of bad Defence policy promises grows. thehub.ca/2025/02/24/r...

thehub.ca

Richard Shimooka: Canada’s place in the world is as uncertain as ever. Here’s how Poilievre, Carney, and Freeland are planning to secure it

120

Reposted by Richard Shimooka

Alexander Lanoszka @lanoszka.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

The bombastic clickbait title aside, which we did not choose, @balkandevlen.bsky.social, @richardshimooka.bsky.social, and I argue that although Trump's territorial rhetoric is worrisome, his stated ambitions are far from feasible such that we must 'right-size' him. nationalpost.com/opinion/dona...

nationalpost.com

Opinion: Donald Trump's dangerous game of territorial expansion

If we're not careful, his threats will play into the hands of our enemies

021

Reposted by Richard Shimooka

Rocky Flats Chimney Sweep 🇺🇸 @midlifesuezcrisis.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

As requested: A thread on the birth of plutonium, the incredibly rapid work done to develop the new metal, and the human experiences - and human costs - of the scientists and techs who did the work. In particular, the untold stories of my kindred metallurgist spirits at Los Alamos. #nukesky 1/🧵

The first gram-sized piece of plutonium metal ever made by man, probably to ever exist in the universe. Produced by Los Alamos metallurgists Ted Magel and Nick Dallas late at night on March 23 1944.

A modern electrorefined ring of plutonium metal.

Photo of Dr. Ted Magel sometime in 1944.

516347

Reposted by Richard Shimooka

Alexander Lanoszka @lanoszka.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

@balkandevlen.bsky.social, @richardshimooka.bsky.social, and I have a new piece in The Hub on what Assad's fall in Syria tells us about Russia's global political reach and what Canada and its allies ought to do about it. thehub.ca/2024/12/19/r...

thehub.ca

Richard Shimooka, Alexander Lanoszka, and Balkan Devlen: What Assad’s collapse in Syria says about Russia’s declining global power

141

Richard Shimooka @richardshimooka.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

My Bluesky Charter: This account is generally for my work, and a few personal interests (hockey, mostly). I strive for respectful interactions, I appreciate when others do the same. If you have a question or comment, I'm generally happy to engage when I have the time.

030