१० सप्टेंबर, २०२२
"Moscow abandoned its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, a sudden apparent collapse of one of the war's principal front lines after Ukrainian forces moved to encircle the area in a shock advance...."
"The announcement came hours after Ukrainian troops captured the city of Kupiansk further north, the sole railway hub supplying Russia's entire frontline across northeastern Ukraine. That left thousands of Russian troops abruptly cut off from supplies across an entire stretch of front that has seen some of the most intense battles of the war.
Ukrainian forces have recaptured dozens of towns and villages held by Russia for months, since bursting through the frontline earlier this week."
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I don't know what to make of our proxy war:
Putin said he was going to flatten Ukraine - we lied and said he was out to conquer the world.
Now we claim he failed in achieving the goals we said he was going for.
It's idiocy.
Suchomimus has had the most accurate coverage for weeks. He's surprised by the speed too but the speed is in a way unsurprising. They've been blowing up Russian supply bottlenecks for weeks.
As with all such claims in this war, how much of this is actually true? I almost never find actual first hand accounts of the fighting on the ground, something almost unprecedented in the wars of my lifetime, and even more amazing in this age of the smart phone. I feel like everyone is lying about this war, and I have no idea who to trust.
rhhardin said...
"Suchomimus has had the most accurate coverage for weeks. He's surprised by the speed too but the speed is in a way unsurprising. They've been blowing up Russian supply bottlenecks for weeks."
No, WE've been blowing up Russian supply bottlenecks for weeks. They'd be nothing without our hands in this.
This report has to be Ukrainian Nazi propaganda! I have been assured by General Tim's reports from the Vermont front as well as the numerous other students of Russian military capability that contribute to this blog that the formidable Ruskies will roll up the Ukes forthwith, and certainly not later than 15 March 2022. What's that? 15 March was 6 months ago? Impossible! The Ruskies would have to be incompetent planners, inept logisticians and vastly overrated war fighters for that type of debacle to occur.
It did? They are?
Never mind.
One of the ring roads around Moscow has been closed to civilian traffic. Make of it what you may.
"Nice salient you've got yourself there...shame if something were to happen to it."
- Russia
I'm hoping, really hoping, that Ukraine planned for good flank protection against a strong counteroffensive from the North, because that thing sticks out like a sore thumb.
How long before a losing Russia turns to nukes ? When did we hold an election on going to war ?
I don't know what to make of our proxy war:
It's just one of many to come. The primary advantage the US has is our ability to produce weapons technically and lethally superior to our adversaries. Not so much when it comes to cannon fodder anymore. The military complex will make use of it. Proxy wars present a near no risk opportunity.
I am reading casualty rate 1:5 in favor of Russia
"we lied and said he was out to conquer the world."
No one said that. It was said that if the Russians were successful in Ukraine, the other small, Eastern European nations would be threatened. Which was a completely correct statement.
What level our involvement in Europe should be is certainly a valid question, but we should not minimize the threat the Russians pose to Europe.
We have just declared a global embargo on the transshipment of Russian oil. There is something to what Crack is saying, but I also think that the Russians are trying to put the best face on it. Look for reprisals against Russian ‘collaborators’ and the bodies to be repurposed for Ukrainian propaganda, as in Bucca.
I am sure Biden regime cronies have moved their money to take maximum advantage of the inevitable spike in oil prices. Meanwhile Biden has taken our strategic oil reserves down to levels not seen since Reagan’s first term because mid-terms.
"Suchomimus has had the most accurate coverage for weeks. He's surprised by the speed too but the speed is in a way unsurprising. They've been blowing up Russian supply bottlenecks for weeks."
Why I find this particular source suspicious is this- Russia borders the Ukraine everywere in the east. There are no "only" supply routes for the Russian forces in the east. My suspicion is the Russians got caught flat-footed in a region they were no longer actively trying to advance. The sorts of "this is the beginning of the end" language is silly at this point. All that may have happened is that the Russians decide that they have to scale up the effort. I guess I find it odd that an advance of 30,000 soldiers by the Ukraine's own numbers is indicative of a major change in outcome- on its face it looks minor to me unless followed up by something much larger in scope.
POWs for gas?
POWs for gas?
Good news for Ukraine. Wish them the best. Its going to be a long bloody slog. Way to go Putin you idiot.
Ukraine could have built a colony on the moon for all they money we've given them.
I would think beating the Russians is the least they can do...
I don't know what to make of our proxy war:
Me neither!!
I'm guessing the several billions in aid to Ukraine will be funneled back to the US as Democrat campaign donations. Welcome back, Crack!
The beginning of the end?
The speed of this is stunning. Hopefully the end result will be the removal of Putin, and the end of this terrible war. Enough people have died.
The best thing about a proxy war is that the inconvenient Pottery Barn Rule doesn't apply.
This could be the end of Putin and we are likely not going to like who replaces him. Still, Putin would have been overthrown anyway had he allowed NATO to simply waltz in to Ukraine unopposed. A rush like this towards Moscow by NATO from Ukraine, a half a day's drive, would force a general nuclear war. If the US wins, look for the world to live on the edge of nuclear war for the forseeable future on the slightest miscalculation. Look for the US to press its advantage, as Russia is viewed as a resource rich target by the US ruling class in the same way Europe once viewed Africa.
There are stories that a map is being circulated of how Russia is to be divvied up, complete with giving some to China the way Hitler offered part of the US to Mexico for its support.
In any event, Russia may take the gloves off, that's another possibility, and treat the Ukraine the way we treated Iraq, resulting in hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.
What do Iraq, Syria, Lybia, have in common? All former Russian client states who have been targeted for brutal war by the US using NATO forces. This war has been planned for decades. It's why Cheney is a Democrat now, political party was never as important to the neocons as the plan.
Seems akin to the German Counteroffensive in the Ardennes in December 1944. A surprise attack in a thinly held part of the line. The Russians were more concened about holding the area west of the Dniper (sic) River.
This just means more fighing, more unneccessary killing, and more $Billons in US tax dollars going down the drain.
I wonder if the Russians are ever going to just say, "Screw it, lets call up the Reserves, move on Kiev, take the losses, and get rid of Zelensky".
We seem to be witnessing WW1 trench warfare designed to slowly destroy both sides
Long live the Military Industrial Complex. And since a third of the money Congress sends over there for arm sales actually buys arms, long live the Ukrainian Democrat Controlled Slush Fund that buys American elections with the other two thirds of our untracked money.
This is already old news. I do wonder when/if the Ukrainians will outrun their logistics and artillery, that seems to be the only thing that would stop them.
TCE.
Putin set out to remake the Soviet empire. His stated goal. With the help of western countries his goal was thwarted. It is as much a victory because of Russia's inability to be prepared for a war as it is for HIMARS. Putin wouldn't have dared to do this but Biden said it was OK. Weakness(Biden) invites adventurism(putin).
Tim in Vermont must be a bit downhearted at this news.
Okay now maybe Europe can take over financing this war in their midst, or periphery, however you choose to see it. We should be done. There’s a point Ukraine needs to find their own financing and materiel.
Supply bottlenecks are ammo dumps and river bridges for the Russians. That's on every front.
Does no one remember Finland in 1939? Russia never does well in the opening stages of a war, because Russia is a conscript army. You have to do a lot of bleeding to turn those conscripts into veterans.
exhelodrvr1 said...
"we lied and said he was out to conquer the world."
No one said that. It was said that if the Russians were successful in Ukraine, the other small, Eastern European nations would be threatened. Which was a completely correct statement.
I heard it. And no, Putin's never said he had higher ambitions.
We put words in his mouth.
The beginning of the end?>
Hard to say, but I doubt it. Putin overplayed his cards and is all in. I don't think any sort of agreement will occur while he's in power. And dislodging him won't be easy.
Certainly a lot of Tucker Carlson'isms, in the commentry. I guess, I just don't get it. Yes it cost money to bloody a bullies nose.
Rusty said...
TCE.
Putin set out to remake the Soviet empire.
No he didn't - that's our lie. This is NATO - an entity that even Trump said should've been abolished.
The upside: we get too see what wicked weapons we now have.
I am reading casualty rate 1:5 in favor of Russia
A hard fought victory for territory earlier ceded by Russian forces. Why is a handmade tale with twin babies, where one or the other will be proven viable in the trimester ahead.
If you're a normal person, it gets tiresome. Lets recap:
Feb 2022: Putin's another Hitler he's gong to Conquer the world!!
March 2022: Sanctions will DESTROY Russia. Haha, those Ruskies will begging for scraps.
April 2022: Russia is being bled white. Putin is dying. Its all over for Russia.
July 2022: The Ukrainians are ripping the guts out of the Russians. Some more aid and its all over!
August 2022: The Kherson offensive will destroy the Russians and take back the Crimea! Its all over for Putin!
And now:
Sept 2022: The Kharlov front has collapsed. Some more American Aid and Zelensky will be dictating terms in Moscow. Its all over for Putin!
The UN after many trimesters, years, and decades, is deployed throughout Africa, may be a harbinger of the progressive path.
"And no, Putin's never said he had higher ambitions."
You need to pay more attention to his comments, and his foreign ministers comments, to Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Poland.
"No he didn't - that's our lie..."
Correctamundo. It's amazing how easily people swallow Neocon propaganda. We have been in a decades long war to pry Russia's client states, one by one, from her hands. Any opposition to that must by characterized as evil intent to sack your cites and rape your women. Just like Stalin demonized the farmers as "wreckers and hoarders" simply because they had something he wanted to take from them.
"must be a bit downhearted at this news."
I like peace better than war, not like you. Not like Joe Biden, who feels nothing as tens of thousands of men are cut down in a war to simply expand NATO.
On Feb 15, the OSCE recorded 41 ceasefire violations as Kiev’s forces began shelling Donbas.
Feb 16: 76 violations
Feb 17: 316
Feb 18: 654
Feb 19: 1,413
Feb 20-21: 2,026
Feb 22: 1,484
…virtually all by the Kiev side.
Feb 24: Russian forces intervene
Unlike you Inga, it troubled me when NATO destroyed civil government in Libya and turned it into a hellhole, same with Syria. Between those two NATO aggressive wars and Ukraine, we have dealt three seriously destabilizing blows to Europe, all three creating massive influxes of refugees, levels previously not seen since WWII.
But "rah rah rah! Sis boom bah!"
Dang it. You know what this means? This means that hot 19yo Ukrainian brunette we adopted 5 months ago is going to have to go back soon, doesn't it?
All those hours of English lessons, the close bonds we built, how fetching she looked in that vegan leather harness...all for nothing. Nothing left to do now but pack up what little clothes she brought with her in that snuff case. Damn you Putin and your incompetent army! WE HAD SO LITTLE TIME!
The pro Russian side (and I have no real idea who is lying, my best guess is both sides) is saying that they had already withdrawn, and so offered no real resistance to the advances, but used air superiority to exact a large toll in casualties and equipment as the Ukrainians moved across open steppe with no cover.
rhardin's take also seems plausible, that the Russian army had been pecked to death from behind by HIMARs and has been hollowed out. If the Pickett's Charge strategy of NATO (they must be out of ammo) is correct, then perhaps the war has turned in the favor of the Ukraine.
We can only speculate and our speculation is hamstrung by a lying media and a lying government and a lying president, and a ruling class that views the Ukraine as a private piggy bank.
Apparently the offsite power station that provides the cooling for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant has been destroyed by shelling and there is ten days worth of diesel to keep the plant from melting down if it's not repaired.
This is so much better than negotiating and getting along with other leaders we might not like!
.”heard it. And no, Putin's never said he had higher ambitions”.
Yup. The ignorance about how we got here by the Althouse intelligentsia is astounding.
rcocean said...
If you're a normal person, it gets tiresome. Lets recap:
Putin's got cancer!
So much drama on this thread. No, Ukraine is not going to invade Russia. Putin is not going to use nukes and the NATO expansion is a canard. The idea that all of the members of NATO are going to start a war of expansion against Russia now or ever is ludicrous. Despite the Ukrainians express desire to regain all of the territory lost in 2014 when they get to the Russian jump off point of February 24th 2022 is when the West will give the Ukrainians the choice of having a UN sponsored referendum for the Russian puppet's people to chose independence or rejoin the Ukraine or lose their support. If the referendum is reasonably clean neither side will be in a position to argue.
Tim - let me get this straight. Putin had no viable options because if Ukraine became part of NATO (not close to happening), NATO would have invaded Russia - resulting in a nuclear war? How exactly would that be in the interests of the West?
Now that Sweden and Finland will be joining NATO, I guess we can put your theory to the test. I trust your bomb shelter is in good condition.
also - you sort of show your allegiance by referring to Ukraine as "the Ukraine", the name when it was part of the soviet union. The correct name of the independent state of Ukraine is, drum roll, Ukraine.
Eastern Europe's fear of Russia is understandable, but I don't see how Putin could restore the Russian Empire. Too much has changed. It sounds like we have revived the Domino Theory and lost sight of current realities.
'The speed of this is stunning. Hopefully the end result will be the removal of Putin, and the end of this terrible war. Enough people have died.'
The people making billions of dollars off this money-laundering war don't want it to end quickly, so it will not.
The Crack Emcee said...
"Rusty said...
TCE.
Putin set out to remake the Soviet empire.
No he didn't - that's our lie. This is NATO"
Russian language news said it. It is Putin's policy.
it's a good thing Putin and his army is incompetent.
The Crack Emcee said...
"Rusty said...
TCE.
Putin set out to remake the Soviet empire.
No he didn't - that's our lie. This is NATO"
Russian language news said it. It is Putin's policy.
it's a good thing Putin and his army is incompetent.
If those darn Ukes would just stop writhing and squirming and take the drubbing they so richly merit!
In a war that began in earnest with the Russians trying to blitz a major regional country with <200k men, it shouldn't surprise that an attack with 20-30k might be successful. This war is being fought with unimaginably high-tech, but tech is less important than willpower and commitment (as ever). Then again, we have some hysterics imagining a NATO-Uke blitz on Moscow. It's like the negative image of the Old Left trope--greedy capitalists eyeing the Workers and Peasants State with covetous intent. (Putin's Russia as Charlie Brown, verse 96.)
I think there are a lot of bogus humanitarians commenting here, hanky-wringing about all the poor misled [insert favored tribe] . . .
More Azov Nazi NATO propaganda, right Tim? It must be a big disappointment to see Sir Donald's BFF struggling to liberate Ukraine from Western influence.
Notice the contradiction: When Putin invaded Ukraine, it was really because we made him do it; he's not in charge of events. But when the Ukrainian counter-offensive advances and retakes a swath of territory, it's really because Putin meant to retreat; he's the mastermind pulling the strings.
but used air superiority to exact a large toll in casualties and equipment as the Ukrainians moved across open steppe with no cover.
Yeah, right. The amazing thing has been the absence of Russian air power. It has been commented on, particularly in videos of Ukrainian troops moving in the open with no attempt to hide. I don't know what happened to it, but it hasn't been there.
"...It was said that if the Russians were successful in Ukraine, the other small, Eastern European nations would be threatened. Which was a completely correct statement.
"What level our involvement in Europe should be is certainly a valid question, but we should not minimize the threat the Russians pose to Europe."
What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?
The Biden Administration torpedoed a totally adequate peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in April. The deal, that was brokered by Turkey, would have included a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine except for Donbas and Crimea. Further, Ukraine would not seek NATO membership and the people of Donbas and Crimea would be entitled to a vote of self-determination. This should have been enough to end this stupid and dangerous war. But Biden and the (non-MAGA) Republicans refuse to negotiate with Russia. They want a war and they're convinced that they're the good guys. It's delusional bullsh*t about the democracies of the world uniting against authoritarianism.
Look for the US to press its advantage, as Russia is viewed as a resource rich target by the US ruling class in the same way Europe once viewed Africa.
=======
also since they gave up Afghanistan
There is no way that Ukraine can actually "win" this war. All they can do is to make this war so costly for Putin that he agrees to a settlement to stop the war and still keep some of what he has taken. (So he can still claim victory.)
As for what Crack is saying, I never heard ANYONE saying that Putin wanted to take over the world. (But then again, I don't watch MSNBC.) What I heard was that, when Putin started this shit, he thought that he could take Ukraine in a few days and it was probably part of a master plan to rebuild the former USSR to cement his legacy. I also heard that the United States, along with other Western countries, tried to get the President of Ukraine to evacuate so that Russia could just take the place and not make global economic waves because the world was already sliding into recession. Since the master showman, Zelenskyy, didn't leave and the Ukrainians became the darlings of the Western media due to their David and Goliath story, Biden had to start sending military aid to Ukraine.
There is no doubt that Putin severely underestimated the political and military power of Ukraine. They're actually a very big country and have a very large and sophisticated military industrial complex. (Heck, the smart missile that sunk the Moskva was actually a Ukrainian built missile.) I was reading that when they broke away from the USSR, Ukraine was the third largest nuclear power on the planet. They gave up their nukes because the West said that we'd protect them from Russia.
Another thing that is odd about Crack's cheerleading against Ukraine is that he's the first person I've seen do this who is not extremist far right. My Democrat friends are all on Team Ukraine. My Republican friends are mixed about it. (Most support Ukraine but some have concerns about the deficit and the fact that Hunter Biden was totally in bed with the Ukrainians.) The Libertarians are always against foreign intervention and the wasting of taxpayer's money. It's the extremist Trumpists and Proud Boy types that are totally against Ukraine.
"I don't know what to make of our proxy war."
I do.
Is there really a war? Oh, oh ... You read about it, did you? Who writes about it? Same people who told you about Russia Collusion? Pee-Pee Tapes? Ah, but you believe them when they tell you there is a war.
Is CNN on the ground in Baghdad - strike that - Kiev? They covered a real war once. Remember? I watched the bombs red glare, lighting up the capital of Iraq, live on CNN.
Are they even covering this one? Where is Bernard Shaw with the live remote? Oh, right ... he's dead.
I'm still waiting for someone - anyone - to provide me with convincing proof that there's actually a war occurring. I see grainy videos carefully staged to never provide any landmarks one might compare to recent satellite imagery to see actual destruction.
Are ya'll falling for this wag? Oh, I see. You read about it in the NYTimes. Reuters with breathless reports from correspondents you never heard of before.
I see. I see.
I'm not saying there's NOT a war. I'm just saying that if I was "faking" a war, this is exactly how I'd fake it.
I ask again, where are the peace makers?
Remember that Kyiv was founded by Vikings.
I'm still waiting for someone - anyone - to provide me with convincing proof that there's actually a war occurring. I see grainy videos carefully staged to never provide any landmarks one might compare to recent satellite imagery to see actual destruction.
**********
Provide YOU? Does Sol shine from your fundament, sir?
Grainy videos? Snort! I've seen dozens that are clear as day.
Carefully staged? How the fuck would YOU know they are staged?
"Convincing proof"? Is there any other kind? Or you demanding evidence YOU ALONE will be convinced by?
Satellite images?
Here ya go...............chump.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=satellite+images+Ukraine+destruction
Face it: you never bothered to look for them, did you....
We've had numerous flaky lefties on this site, but you're a first "on-the-right" yahoo here in a long time.
We have a Monroe Doctrine - we're denying one to Russia.
That's the best I can make of it.
Pro-Russian war commentariat is full of doom, gloom and fingerpointing. It could be a radical reversal in this war, we shall see in a while.
I used to compare this war with US Civil war, but maybe more apt comparison is a War of 1812, when US went to “liberate” Canada and suffered major humiliation, losing control of Washington and coming close to losing its very sovereignty.
I am not comparing Putin to Madison in any way, but major dynamics of bigger country taking on smaller country and suffering humiliating defeat may still come true.
"What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?"
THe Poles, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Swedes, etc.
What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?
Russia and, to a lesser extent, France are the two remaining imperialist states in the region. The current war is certainly going to curtail future Russian ambitions. I feel strangely sad for them. I suppose it is too late to bring back the Romanovs.
piros said...
The Biden Administration torpedoed a totally adequate peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in April.
Oh yes. The Biden handlers have other plans for Ukraine. Remember Eisenhower's warning about "Military Industrial Complex?" They are running Biden.
bas·tion [ˈbasCH(ə)n, ˈbastēən]
NOUN
a projecting part of a fortification built at an angle to the line of a wall, so as to allow defensive fire in several directions.
synonyms: rampart · bulwark · parapet · fortification · buttress · outwork · projection · breastwork · redoubt · barbican · stockade · palisade · bartizan
a natural rock formation resembling a bastion.
an institution, place, or person strongly defending or upholding particular principles, attitudes, or activities:
============
so how does /bastion/ fit in this narrative?
Maybe Russia is on the ropes. But I don't see how anything happening now is hurting Russia. They're doing great financially. Is a bunch of soldiers retreating bad for business?
The "Russian Primary Chronicle" claims that Kyiv was founded by a Viking king but so what? There are no Viking cemeteries in Kyiv and very few archaeological artifacts link Kyiv to the Swedish Vikings. So where are the Viking relics?
Robert Cook said...
What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?
what makes you think that they're NOT?
Let's see, in the last hundred years; they've invaded
Finland
Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Romania
{i'm not going to count East Germany, but i should}
Hungary
Czechoslovakia
Afghanistan (which, to be fair; is NOT in Europe)
Poland (again)
Robert? Did i miss any?
I don’t trust any info on this war. The anti-Putin faction used him and a Russia as a bogeyman for the Trump years and beyond hence destroying their credibility. But the right who side with Putin, or at least excuse him, also cannot be trusted to report honestly. I suspect Russia will eventually win but it may take awhile to offset the money flow from us.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is about what Russia wanted to do. Our domestic politics are not a proxy for this, seeing this war through the lens of our domestic politics is nonsense.
It is a big world and not everything is about us.
"And no, Putin's never said he had higher ambitions."
You need to pay more attention to his comments, and his foreign ministers comments, to Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Poland.
Does Putin believe the a NATO backed coup ousted a pro-Russian leader in those countries and have Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland been shelling ethnic Russian in a violation of the Minsk Agreement since 2014? I guess life is simple when you have a simple view of things.
Every eastern European nation that has joined NATO did so as fast as they could after the Soviet (Russian Empire 3.0) collapse. That is enough evidence to understand why no one in Europe trusts Russia and its intentions.
Thank God that for Russian Empire 3.0 Russia is as incompetent as ever without masses of bullet sponges to cover for the incompetence.
"What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?"
The Poles, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Swedes, etc.
By that logic we need a proxy war with Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
>What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?
Russia's past (and current) actions and current threats.
“there is ten days worth of diesel to keep the plant from melting down if it's not repaired.“
Then scram the control rods and let the plants cool down. No electricity for them, who thinks they will run them dry?
“What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?”
Because Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. They live there, they know more than we do.
Unknown,
Who said we need additional wars? But the fact is that eastern and northern Europe has valid reasons to fear Russia.
I keep seeing comments from the unacceptable non-name.
Buckwheathikes
How dare you ask if there is really a war? You're gonna get Brandon's gestapo knocking on your door.
Of course there's a war. I'm seeing it on tv. H/t Conrad Brean
And if you think this war is expensive, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait til it's over and hunter and James Biden get the master contract to rebuild Ukraine.
They'll be farting through silk as the saying goes.
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
Robert? Did i miss any?
********
Bulgaria Moldova
And let's not forget the many cis-Ural countries like Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenian Soviet "republics", nor the trans-Ural Kirghiz, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, and Kazakh republics, all Muslim.
Unknown said...
"What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?"
The Poles, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Swedes, etc.
By that logic we need a proxy war with Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
************
Sure. Germany should wage war with an Empire that ended more than 100 years ago.
SNORT
My fat fingers - the Soviet Union was Russian Empire 2.0.
Russia is the largest country in the world; Ukraine is about the size of Texas; Russia has a two million man army ' Ukraine has about two hundred thousand. How the could Ukraine be defeating Russia as seems to be happening? The Russian Army isn't the Red Army that crunched across Eastern Europe. Conscripts are abused, underpaid and unmotivated; Russian corruption is so extensive that a lot of war material has rotted away or is non-existent. Moreover war has changed. Show up with lot of tanks and individual Ukrainians soldiers will shoot them with Manpads guided from drones. That's how the Russians lost the Kyiv battle. [Feb. - March] In Luhansk and Donbas the Russians began to win because they had heavy long-range artillery. [April-June] They would rain fire and steel down on Ukrainians who did not have artillery with the range to fire back and suppress the devastation. Then came HIMARS, a new US weapon. It could reach the ammunition stocks of the heavy artillery and it began blowing them up. The Russian offensive stalled [July - Yay] The Ukrainians kept using HIMARS on Russian ammunition depots and command posts and then they began to blow up the bridges over the Dnipro River in the south just above Crimea. There was a Russian Army group on the north side of the Dnipro and blowing up bridges trapped this Russian Army group in northern Kherson. The story began to circulate that the Ukrainians were preparing an offensive in Kherson starting with destroying the cross Dnipro Army. [August] Russia moved its best combat troops out of the Donbas/Luhansk area and into the Kherson area. [late August] Russia has been assembling Army, the Third Army, for the Ukraine and doing so in the following manner. It offered enlistment bounties; it recruited all ages from 18 to 60; it recruited from jails. This was followed by two weeks of training for each regiment and then the regiment was sent to the Ukraine. It's very probable that the Ukraine is attacking areas in Donbas held by the Third Army. This would explain their advances. [September] Russia is rushing its better troops back from Kherson to the Donbas area; another Russian Army is still trapped north of the Dnipro.
The war in the Ukraine has no support in Russia. If Putin can win with the regular Army plus volunteers recruited by the method described above - well and good. Increasing conscription or hoping for a wave of patriots - no. As long Ukraine doesn't invade Russia that will be true.
Meanwhile Ukraine has halted Putin's advance into Europe; demonstrated the new way of war and US ability in that new way through arms and intelligence transfers; killed and wounded more Russians (40,000) than fell in nine years in Afghanistan; destroyed 2000 tanks; sunk the flagship of the Russian Black Sea feet; bombed the Black Sea fleet HQ in Crimea; driven the Russians in flight out of Kyiv and the north of Ukraine and is driving them out of the east of Ukraine (and the south soon, we hope?); unified NATO leading to re-armament plans; caused the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO; shown how right 45 was to say don't trust your energy needs to the Russians.
They did all this on $8 billion from us and about $4 billion from Europe (though Europe of course is directly helping and sheltering about 4 million refugees which is not counted in the amount of aid given to Ukraine)
We owe them a lot. Slavka Ukraine
Unknown said...
"What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?"
The Poles, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Swedes, etc.
By that logic we need a proxy war with Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
************
Sure. Germany should wage war with an Empire that ended more than 100 years ago. If that's what you call "logic" you're truly a hopeless dumb-ass
SNORT
"Bastion" in this case is just journalese.
Can't wait until Putin says, "OK, no more Mister Nice Guy!"
That'll show all those bullies, picking on little old continent-sized nuclear-armed Russia for no good reason at all, and signing up a lot of other bullies to join in. Noam Chomsky thinks that Sweden and Finland are making a mistake, and as the Official Smartest Man* in the World he should know, right?
*Melanin-deprived segment. (Obama of course, you silly.)
Unknown said...
"And no, Putin's never said he had higher ambitions."
*************WTF? Putin's been bitter about the collapse of the USSR ever since it happened.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/22/putin-speech-russia-empire-threat-ukraine-moscow
Go ahead and quibble. We can use the laughs.
"It must be a big disappointment to see Sir Donald's BFF struggling to liberate Ukraine from Western influence."
Wow.
After seeing how Obama, Trump, and then Biden dealt with Putin, I'd have to say that this was either the most nakedly partisan lie, or the most truly ignorant comment, I have seen on the internetz this week.
Or did I just miss the html tag for BS?
<>When did we hold an election on going to war ?
That's another upside to waging proxy wars. You don't have to go through that pesky Congressional approval thingy.
AA: no option to delete what I wrote?
Face it: blogger is not just "old school" but "on its last legs" school.
AA: no option to delete what I wrote?
Face it: blogger is not just "old school" but "on its last legs" school.
AA: no option to delete what I wrote?
Face it: blogger is not just "old school" but "on its last legs" school.
OK, AA. I now see the delete icon. Why did it not comeup in the ifrst place? Answer? Blogger instability.
OK, AA. I now see the delete icon. Why did it not comeup in the ifrst place? Answer? Blogger instability.
Crack writes, "And no, Putin's never said he had higher ambitions."
Quite true, but Putin didn't have to say that since the ambition to expand the Muscovite empire to the east, west, and south has been implicit in every ruling regime from Ivan the Terrible through to the present day. The Russian war of conquest on Ukraine has been re-fought at least three times in the last 100 years. (Stalin's Great Famine could be considered a fourth war against Ukraine, waged by the cruelest means imaginable.)
Ukraine dominates the largest and most productive agricultural land on the entire Eurasian continent, but it lacks defensible borders. Tartars, Turks, Russians, Poles, and Germans have spent the last 1000 years talking turns against that tempting target, so if the Ukrainians seem a little paranoid, they have a reason to be so.
Russia losing the current war might provoke constitutional changes in the Federal Republic that would favor the West generally, and render the NATO alliance moot.
@rhhardin: Suchomimus has had the most accurate coverage for weeks.
Also good coverage from the Institute for the Study of War (daily situation summaries).
Worth reading, especially for Tim in Vermont and Cracker Emcee, How we got here with Russia: The Kremlin's Worldview..
On Youtube, search for [perun ukraine]. Very in depth, and objective. Episodes run an hour to an hour and a half. In particular, watch How Corruption Destroys Armies
@Crack Emcee: Putin said he was going to flatten Ukraine - we lied and said he was out to conquer the world.
Wrong and wrong. Nonsense on stilts.
Even granting the validity of Putin's view of NATO and the US as existential threats (a big grant, btw), Putin's assertions about Russia's appropriate place in the world is as a great power the equal of the US were delusional.
And when I say a "big grant", by that I mean to do so requires ignoring all of history since 1989. After the collapse of the USSR, what did NATO and the US do? Major retrenchment. That is not the policy of entities bent upon dominating Russia.
Putin was intent on far more than just returning Ukraine to Russia's direct rule. After all, he has explicitly said as much. You need to take that on board.
@tim in vermont: We have been in a decades long war to pry Russia's client states, one by one, from her hands.
By the term "pry", you must mean "pushing at an open door." Russia's history, as the USSR, and its actions over the last 20 years, have driven what had been subject countries towards NATO and the EU. As the most recent examples, consider Sweden and Finland.
… rhardin's take also seems plausible, that the Russian army had been pecked to death from behind by HIMARs …
Pecked isn't the right term. HIMARS outranges Russian artillery by about six miles. The Russian air force has been entirely ineffective, and, at least by this point, has no precision munitions capability.
That means HIMARS operates with near impunity. But wait, there is more. HIMARS is extremely accurate, especially when aim points are precisely known. Because of the riverine nature of the terrain in eastern Ukraine, there are specific points where Russia must stockpile supplies, and move them to the front.
Consequently, what has happened is far more than a "pecking".
@Robert Cook: What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?
Are the Baltics, Poland, and Finland part of Europe? What has Putin explicitly stated about those countries? Is Ukraine part of Europe?
Well, that and what gilbar said.
@loudogblog: What I heard was that, when Putin started this shit, he thought that he could take Ukraine in a few days and it was probably part of a master plan to rebuild the former USSR to cement his legacy.
Exactly. Unfortunately, he was tragically wrong in two respects: the Russian military's competence, and the Ukrainians' view of Russia.
I also heard that the United States, along with other Western countries, tried to get the President of Ukraine to evacuate so that Russia could just take the place and not make global economic waves because the world was already sliding into recession.
That is one explanation. The other is that Western intel had a far better idea of Russian and Ukrainian capabilities than Putin did. In that case, the absolute best opening would be to offer Zelensky a free ride out, with his comeback already decided.
@wildswan: excellent summary.
——
The most fundamental element that some are losing sight of is that the post-WWII world order rests upon repudiating changing international borders by force. Failing to confront Putin would be a disaster of epic proportions.
The PRC must be taking this as a very cautionary lesson.
Lawrence Persons' blog Battleswarm has a fair amount of information on the Ukraine/Russia war. He doesn't draw unwarranted conclusions and sources well. He used to comment here.
wildswan said...
How could Ukraine be defeating Russia as seems to be happening? The Russian Army isn't the Red Army that crunched across Eastern Europe. Conscripts are abused, underpaid and unmotivated; Russian corruption is so extensive that a lot of war material has rotted away or is non-existent.
Meanwhile Ukraine has halted Putin's advance into Europe
IOW, the Russian military has been neglected and has fallen into terrible state, the equipment is obsolete and in disrepair and the men are poorly trained and lack all esprit and moral. And yet, we're asked to believe the Ukraine invasion was just the first step of Putin's ambitious, long-term plan to conquer Europe. How does this make sense?
If a country is planning an ambitious, long-term campaign of extensive military conquest, it seems to me the first thing they would do would be to build up a formidable military machine. Russia has clearly not been doing any of that. It's almost as if they had no intention of offensive action against anyone until very recently. They do not seem to have been at all prepared for a war of aggression.
Zelensky's government refused to negotiate in the months prior and they increasingly provoked Russia by heavily shelling Donbas especially in the weeks and days leading up to the invasion. For example:
On Feb 15, the OSCE recorded 41 ceasefire violations as Kiev’s forces began shelling Donbas.
Feb 16: 76 violations
Feb 17: 316
Feb 18: 654
Feb 19: 1,413
Feb 20-21: 2,026
Feb 22: 1,484
…virtually all by the Kiev side.
Feb 24: Russian forces invaded.
Meanwhile NATO led Putin to believe the west would do nothing to help Ukraine, kinda like we did with Saddam right before he invaded Kuwait.
[Ukraine] did all this on $8 billion from us and about $4 billion from Europe
As of early August, the US had given Ukraine over 54 billion dollars in aid since the invasion and European countries about 35 billion.
There's a lot more going on with this war than meets the eye. This war was avoidable, but it wasn't avoided. Just the opposite. Why? As somebody asked upthread, where were the peace makers and where are they now? Something is rotten in Denmark. We have almost zero visibility into what is happening in Ukraine and why. Virtually all our information is coming from corrupt people and corrupt institutions.
Before the war the US was sending $300 million per year to Ukraine. Since the start of the war we are sending $100 million a day to the nation that was, until recently, considered the most corrupt in Europe. Whose pockets is all that going into?
This isn't a black and white, simple morality play. Just think about it, is all I ask.
Sure. Germany should wage war with an Empire that ended more than 100 years ago. If that's what you call "logic" you're truly a hopeless dumb-ass
Dumb-ass can't distinguish prepositions.
Sure. Germany should wage war with an Empire that ended more than 100 years ago. If that's what you call "logic" you're truly a hopeless dumb-ass
Prepositions dumb-ass
Josephbleau said...
“What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?”
Because Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. They live there, they know more than we do.
I lived in Yurp and that's just not so - look at Germany and Trump on the oil issue: Trump had their number and he was talking about themselves.
bobby said...
"After seeing how Obama, Trump, and then Biden dealt with Putin, I'd have to say that this was either the most nakedly partisan lie, or the most truly ignorant comment, I have seen on the internetz this week."
Roll that hot mic tape of Obama saying he'd have more leeway to help Putin after the election. That usually shuts them up.
Putin Says He Doesn’t Seek to Restore Russian Empire
Russian President Putin Statement on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced after a Security Council meeting that Russia would recognize the independence of the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
- February 21, 2022
transcript from 05:56:
IN THE CURRENT SITUATION, WHEN OUR PROPOSALS THAT NO RESPONSE FROM THE U.S. AND NATO, WHEN THE LEVEL OF THREAT FOR OUR COUNTRY IS BECOMING GREATER AND GREATER, RUSSIA HAS A RIGHT TO TAKE COUNTERMEASURES TO ENHANCE OUR OWN SECURITY. THAT IS HOW WE PLAN TO I. AS FOR THE SITUATION, WE CONCEDE -- LACK OF WILLINGNESS TO IMPLEMENT AN AGREEMENT TO SETTLE THE CONFLICT. THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED IN A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION. YOU REMEMBER, HOW IT ENDED. NOW, ALMOST EVERY DAY, THEY ARE SHELLING SETTLEMENTS. THEY HAVE AMASSED LARGE TROOPS. THEY ARE USING VEHICLES AND OTHER HEAVY MACHINERY. THEY ARE TORTURING PEOPLE, CHILDREN, WOMEN, ELDERLY PEOPLE. IT DOES NOT STOP. WE HAVE SEEN NO END TO IT. THE SO-CALLED CIVILIZED WORLD AND OUR WESTERN COLLEAGUES PROCLAIM THEMSELVES OF THE ONLY REPRESENTATIVES OF THIS. THEY PREFER NOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS, THERE IS NO GENOCIDE PERPETUATED AGAINST 14 MILLION PEOPLE. THE ONLY REASON IS THAT THESE PEOPLE DID NOT WANT TO BACK THE COUP D'ETAT IN 2014. THEY STOOD AGAINST THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS NATIONALISM, STONE AGE NATIONALISM. THEY WANT TO DEFEND BASIC RIGHTS, TO SPEAK THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE. TO PRESERVE THEIR TRADITIONS AND CULTURE. HOW MUCH LONGER ADECCO ON? HOW MUCH LONGER -- RUSSIA DID EVERYTHING IT COULD TO KEEP ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF UKRAINE. WE TRIED HARD TO IMPLEMENT THE RESOLUTION OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL. IT ENDORSED THE MINSK AGREEMENT OF RESOLVING THE SITUATION, BUT EVERYTHING WAS DONE IN VAIN. PRESIDENTS ARE CHANGING, THE PARLIAMENT MEMBERS ARE CHANGING, BUT THE IDEA OF THE AGGRESSIVE REGIME IS STILL THE SAME. A RESUME THAT SEIZED POWER IN KIEV. THAT IS WHAT HOUSE BEEN CREATED BY THE COUP D'ETAT IN 2014. THOSE WHO CHOOSE VIOLENCE, THEY ADMIT THEY SEE NO OTHER WAY TO RESOLVE THE CRISIS OTHER THAN THE MILITARY WAY. IN THIS REGARD, I DEEM IT NECESSARY TO MAKE A DECISION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE A LONG TIME AGO. TO IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZE THE INDEPENDENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC. I WOULD LIKE TO REQUEST A FEDERAL ASSEMBLY TO SUPPORT THIS DECISION AND RATIFY THE AGREEMENT OF FRIENDSHIP AND MUTUAL HELP WITH THOSE REPUBLICS. WE WILL DRAFT THIS DOCUMENT AND SIGN THIS DOCUMENT IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THOSE WHO SEIZE AND KEEP THE POWER, WE DEMAND TO STOP IMMEDIATELY, OTHERWISE, THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE POSSIBLE CONTINUATION WILL BE ON THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE REGIME THAT HIS RULING IN KIEV.
The word “oukraina” was first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex in 1187 as the name of the territory of Pereyaslav Principality meaning “outskirts”.
From 1922 until 1991, Ukraine was the informal name of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union (annexed by Germany as Reichskommissariat Ukraine during 1941–1944).
Kiev's origins are obscure and enshrouded in
myth. According to the chronicler Nestor, three brothers from an ancient
Slavic tribe settled on separate hills and built a city in honor of the eldest
brother, Kyi. 2 The name Kiev followed.
The issue in the Ukraine, as in Israel, as in Jordan, as in Iraq, as in China, as in India, as in African nations writ large, is the transnational division. distribution, and integration of disparate peoples under unified umbrellas of alien choice.
Sounds like the EU can take it from here.
@ effinayright
A whole 60 seconds of YouTube "video" showing two grainy satellite images from 10,000 feet provided by Reuters (same outfit that brought us the PeePee tapes)?
That's your "proof" a shooting war is occurring?
OK buddy.
Me? I'm still waiting for proof there's a war going on. Provided by independent sources that are trusted. Not Reuters. Not the same folks who brought us Russia Collusion Hoaxes.
Sheesh, next you'll link me to CNN.
I don't believe a war is occurring. You have to convince me; not call me an idiot. Convince me.
"It's the extremist Trumpists and Proud Boy types that are totally against Ukraine."
Perhaps because they're not Nazi Sympathizing Deep State Cucks like yourself
"Trumpists" lol
That's another upside to waging proxy wars. You don't have to go through that pesky Congressional approval thingy.
========
Oft claimed that USA is nation of laws [= Rule of Law etc.]
so then somebody explain what Constitutional power validates the Congress act to funding for proxy wars?
That's another upside to waging proxy wars. You don't have to go through that pesky Congressional approval thingy.
========
Oft claimed that USA is nation of laws [= Rule of Law etc.]
so then somebody explain what Constitutional power validates the Congress act to funding for proxy wars?
Josephbleau said...
“What makes you believe Russia poses any threat to Europe?”
Oh. I don't know. The last 100 years?
Thanks Skipper.
“I lived in Yurp and that's just not so - look at Germany and Trump on the oil issue: Trump had their number and he was talking about themselves.“
If it pleases you to think that Sweden and Finland are stupid, that is fine. Politically, them joining NATO is a big deal, it makes them admit that the US is a moral entity and Russia is not, which they did not want to do publicly.
Germany, as you say, is acting stupidly because they see hyper greenness as the only way to prove that the are better than everyone else. Germany has been protected from Russia by NATO at little cost for so long they act like children rebelling against daddy.
Skipper and Boyd, and others make a good counterpoint. We can’t let Russia profit from a war of conquest, that’s a hard line we can’t cross. But you can be sure that the party in power is making sure that they are getting a nice percentage from the defense industry and Ukraine is a cesspool of corruption for the children of US pols.
The question of why Putin invaded with a weak army is not relevant now, but I suspect it was a combination of being told what he wanted to hear; success in Georgia, Crimea, and Chechnya; and belief that he could scare and blackmail his victims into giving up.
I thought it was hilarious that his heavy carriers were being abandoned on the road because they had crappy Chinese tires. So typical. I bet that made some Russian generals rich. And why should China sell quality in a market that doesn’t understand quality
.
My gut tells me that Zelensky was right to not pay Danegeld to Putin. He would have never gone away. A truce with Russia is not worth having.
A truce with Russia is not worth having.
Tell that to the dead.
So we've sent hundreds of billions in foreign aid, no strings attached, yet we're confident it's all being used to fight that evil menace, Putin. And now we sit here in the West, attempting to narrate the war that we're seeing through a lens of nearly 100% misinformation, propaganda, and bad reporting. Sometimes so bad, they reporters even mis-identify the hostiles as friendlies.
Seriously? Think: Which journalist do you trust? Why? Which one is the most accurate? How do you know? Meanwhile the Ukrainian leader is chairing conferences for American weapons manufacturers. The commenter's here, their commitment to take sides is remarkable, given the circumstances. It's not the 'fog of war', it's a smokescreen, and by the way, we need more of your money.
Many of us take what is happening thru this lens.
@Buckwheathikes: “I don't believe a war is occurring. You have to convince me; not call me an idiot. Convince me.“
I find these pictures pretty convincing:
https://www.nationalreview.com/photos/russia-ukraine-war-28/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=second#slide-26
I looked at this site to get the figure $8 billion in aid - and I meant military aid but accidently didn't say so.
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
Scroll down till you come to
Government support to Ukraine: Military aid, € billion
and also just above see:
Government support to Ukraine: Committed vs. delivered weapons, € billion
As you can see there are a lot of weapons in the pipeline which the Ukraine hasn't got yet and similarly a lot of money committed which the Ukraine hasn't got yet and there's a lot of credit which is financing purchase of weapons from the US. So I believe it is correct to say that the Ukraine has actually gotten $8 billion with which it has done the all actual fighting so far and with this it has forced Russia to retreat several times. Compare that with $1 trillion in Afghanistan spent to no purpose including $87 billion in arms left behind in the evacuation. The Ukraine has probably wiped out $87 billion in Russian arms (though a lot of these "weapons" were unusable stocks - old tanks and such - which were simply sitting in inventory and which disintegrated on the way to battle when the Russian attempted to use them a lot more were modern battle tanks, Navy cruisers and landing craft, jets and helicopters.
A commenter thinks that someone would have told Putin that the inventory lists were unreliable and the Army wasn't ready. It's the last thing I'd tell him when I saw him set on invasion; if I did tell him, it would be the last thing I told anybody.
>scram the control rods and let the plants cool down.
The diesel powered cooling pumps are provide decay heat removal if electric power is lost. Decay heat after shutdown is a lot.
Hey Skipper said...
I find these pictures pretty convincing:
i Don't.
>”scram the control rods and let the plants cool down.
The diesel powered cooling pumps are provide decay heat removal if electric power is lost. Decay heat after shutdown is a lot.“
Yes, that’s why you need to shut down well before the water ( diesel fuel) runs out, according to schedule. In fact they should shut them down right now.
Tucker Carlson is speechless. Asshole.
If Tucker Carlson was around in 1939, he would have railed against the aid given to Great Britain to fight the Nazis. That is all you need to know about that asshole.
“ Tell that to the dead.”
I am not trying to be argumentative, but that can be said of every war, Lincoln should have let the South leave and keep slavery because the dead of the civil war are more important. But who has to give up first and make the concessions to save the future dead? The good guy, because the bad guy does not care about the dead.
This is a recipe for a slave world, men would fight and die voluntarily to prevent that, I would. Is the Ukraine a special case where they should give up and become Putin’s minions, or is it a slippery slope that will result in the conquest of Europe? Who knows.
Now is the time to ask me why I am not in the Ukraine dying for freedom, good question, probably because people fight for their own families and homes.
The question of why Putin invaded with a weak army is not relevant now, but I suspect it was a combination of being told what he wanted to hear; success in Georgia, Crimea, and Chechnya; and belief that he could scare and blackmail his victims into giving up.
===========
could it be that
Putin is hoping for ride out of Moscow as offered to Zelenskyy out of Kiev
or has spider hole all warmed up for winter hibernation
The Crack Emcee said...
I don't know what to make of our proxy war:
Putin said he was going to flatten Ukraine - we lied and said he was out to conquer the world.
Now we claim he failed in achieving the goals we said he was going for.
That's an amazing level of stupidity you've achieved.
Putin was out to conquer every neighbor that might prove a "threat".
But every time he conquers one, he gets new neighbors who are now threats, esp. since they're pissed about him conquering their neighbor.
What happens after he's conquered everyone in Europe? Well, now he needs the resources form African and the Middle East.
It's an ongoing threat that will never end, until you violently end it.
It looks like we may have successfully needed it in Ukraine. If so, that's wonderful, and every actual American thinks so
GTCT nails it.
Aggie said...
"So we've sent hundreds of billions in foreign aid, no strings attached, yet we're confident it's all being used to fight that evil menace, Putin. And now we sit here in the West, attempting to narrate the war that we're seeing through a lens of nearly 100% misinformation, propaganda, and bad reporting. Sometimes so bad, they reporters even mis-identify the hostiles as friendlies."
Well. hundreds of millions anyway. There are a lot of political operatives right here in the US that get their cut of the grift and then kick back a percentage to the authors PACs. They really don't care if Ulkrain wins or loses as long as they get their cut.
Josephbleau said...
that can be said of every war
Straw man argument. We're not talking about every war. We're talking about this war.
You seem to be saying that we should never try to prevent war because some wars in the past were justified. That can't be what you believe. We can't prevent all wars, but we can certainly try to prevent needless wars.
Look, if the details don't interest you and you just want to cheer for a side, that's fine. It's a very common.
Also, I had no intention of asking you why you are not over there fighting in Ukraine, but I think it speaks well of you that you ask that question of yourself.
It's amusing to watch the various political factions tie themselves up in knots over this Ukraine "issue". Particularly when they try to politicize the whole thing, when it's really very simple: Russia is trying to put the old Empire back together, and Ukraine wants nothing to do with that. Which is why they left in '91.
And, while I suspect that there's a whole lot of chicanery and corruption being masked by all on all sides, I further believe that the question of corruption is irrelevant to the question asked by this war, which is "Does Ukraine get to determine its own fate?" I would suggest that facts on the ground are going to determine the answer, and those facts are going to be written by actual Ukrainians down at the base of their nascent society making decisions as to which set of corruptocrats they want running their lives. My guess is that they're going to throw them all out, and the idiots surrounding our wunnerful president and his son are going to be the next set defenestrated by the people of Ukraine, once they're done with the Russian set.
I'm on the side of liberty and self-determination, whether it's in Ukraine or California. You get what you fight for or vote for, and generally, you get it pretty hard. Remains to be seen what the Ukrainians are going to do with this situation, but I'm all for giving them everything they need to make that decision for themselves. Also not a fan of the Russians, who strike me as being a bunch of childish and immature totalitarian-fellators, who still think Stalin was a good guy even after he got 20 million of them killed by his erstwhile allies and partners in tyranny, the Nazis. Hard to forget all the Soviet trains sent west with resources and supplies that enabled Hitler's conquest of Europe, or the partition of Poland, the rape of the Baltics, and the assault on Finland. F*ck Russia, and the Russians that applaud that sort of thing.
I don't think this is going to end in anything other than tears for Putin and his crowd of sycophantic Russ-fellators. My guess is that the Russian Federation collapses into an undignified mess, with the various provinces peeling away from Moscow to go their own way. Likely seeing much of Siberia go Chinese, along with Shoigu's home region of Tuva. Finland may well get Karelia back, and God alone knows what happens to the rest of the benighted former Penitentiary of Nations...
he Crack Emcee said...
No, WE've been blowing up Russian supply bottlenecks for weeks. They'd be nothing without our hands in this.
No, we've been providing them weapons so that they could attack Russian supply lines.
Because if you can simply destroy the supply lines of a mechanized army, you can destroy the army without having to kill all the people
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