It really can’t be described how difficult it is even for a highly motivated Ukrainian army to advance against defenses dug in by an enemy army over a period of nearly a year. There were two words that leapt out from a major New York Times story on Sunday that describes the slow, grinding nature of the Ukrainian offensive in the south that is attempting to break the so-called land bridge Russia has been using to resupply its army from Crimea.
Is the lesson taught and ignored from 99% and 44/100s of post-WW2 conflicts.
The other is ya can't stand up a military that previously didn't exist simply by jamming in equipment, weaponry, and ammo never mind stand up a modern western version to fight against the Ru mil.
Proffers: ARVN-epic fail v. VC. IAF-epic fail v. daeshbags, INA v. Taliban
Uk mil has to develop its own identity separate and apart from NATO's. There is no way in hell the seasoned Uk fighters and commanders wanted to sit back and watch Ru mil build fortifications and set obstacles for 5-8 months w/o Ru mil paying a price.
Don't know whose brainstorm it was to waste men and equipment trying to take back the non-strategic city of Bakhmut simply to deny Putin a victory. One that was the very definition of Pyrrhic.
And as far as outside experts commenting on the war can only shake my noggin. They have zero insight into the Uk force structure, its whereabouts, or KIA-WIA-POWs. How in hell can they then say with a straight face what is lacking and needed. Can tell you how, they don't. They are gaming the war how they would fight it w/o knowing what is required to be known. And no matter who they are they all focus on one and only one thing, firepower. All the while ignoring strategy, operations, tactics, geography, topography, weather and as was the case with aforementioned epic fails, corruption.
I wish we and NATO had been stepping up to the plate earlier and more substantially but Ru captured Crimea in 2014 so I'm thinking they've had a lot more than 5-8 months to fortify and dig in but willing to be proven incorrect in that assumption
In 2014 Uk was a shell of a nation. Is easy to forget the how different the eastern bloc nations of the USSR were from each other until the collapse of the USSR. The west's primary concern post-collapse were the Ru nukes in Uk not how a post-USSR Uk would emerge.
The vastness of the Ru-Uk border inc Crimea is something the west couldn't overcome in 2014 w/o directly involving its forces. A big NO-GO, then and now. And there were few trusted contacts in Uk back then. US and NATO did send trainers yet it takes generations, not years, to stand up an effective force including equipping it.
And yes Ru had years to fortify Crimea and has spent nearly 9 years in eastern Uk albeit contested. Agree w/Rich Hope there is not enough Uk fighters to expel the Ru mil across the entire border region even if it wasn't defended w/obstacles and fortifications. The numbers don't lie. The ratio needed to go on offense, push back the Ru mil across the border and hold just isn't in Uk's favor. Uk mil took back lost territory w/o the very same firepower the experts insist they need. The reason they do seem to need longer range systems is because they stopped their own advance all across the entire front. They didn't allow any group to continue to push. Isn't logistically difficult to funnel weapons, ammo, fuel, food, and equipment to a breakout group. Instead, they came to a full stop. What good is what one has if it isn't being used? Those are the 5-8 months of which I speak. And those months allowed Ru to marginally train warm bodies (conscripts) to the est. tune of 200000. How many new Uk fighters came on line during the same interval? Who knows? Bigger issue the so-called experts don't care, just as they never factor in Uk losses of fighters and equipment. But, but, but buy into Uk agitprop of killing 400-600 Ru each and every day and inflated numbers of Ru equipment lost. We've seen that chit countless times before.
US-NATO never stopped supplying full packages. And I reject the numbers of certain weapon systems experts claim are needed. They are looking at a full-blown counter offensive across the entire front. Never heard of such a thing. Not in WW2 Europe whether eastern or western front, in the Pacific nor in any conflict including in ancient times.
The length of the border doesn't lend itself to striking any place other than carve and cleave along the edges/flanks with any attacks elsewhere more to fall under deceit and/or if Ru redeployed troops to the far flanks leaving weaker spots. The idea of a full-frontal attack is MADNESS. And worse, stoopid.
The Ukrainians will end up droning Russia until RUSSIANS turn on Putin, that will be described as "impossible" by every last pundit, until it happens.
Putin engaged in the "Special Military Operation" not only because he though it would be an easy victory, but because what else can he do to distract the upcoming younger Russians from the effects of bungling their entire economic future in favor of stealing more stuff for himself and his kleptocratic cohorts.
Due to Ru being a closed society is difficult for me to glean the effect of the drone strikes conducted, or directed by Uk intelligence services, Same with the effect on the general Ru population of KIAs. WIA, MIAs, POWs, deserters, conscription and all the economic sanctions. Pretty safe in saying it sure doesn't endear Putin with the Ru people. While the expert class focused on what they claim was an attempted clue they continue to overlook all else.
Rostov-on Don droned, it's a start, just like the drones that have already struck Moscow and reminded the stunned population that an international war of aggression has consequences, unpredictable consequences. *******
13h ago
23.33 EDT
Blasts reported in Rostov-on-Don, home to Russia's southern military district command HQ
Blasts have been reported in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, near the headquarters of the southern military district command, which plays a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was one of the sites seized by late Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, during his aborted mutiny in June.
The rregional governor, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram that at least three buildings and several cars had been damaged and one person was injured after Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the city.
Golubev said that the remains of one drone fell outside the city, while the other fell “in the centre, in the area of 42 Pushkinskaya Street”.
Rostov-on-Don is the largest city in southern Russia and is the capital of the Rostov region that adjoins parts of eastern Ukraine where the war is raging.
It is home to the Russian southern military district command, whose 58th Combined Arms Army is fighting against Kyiv’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) thinktank.
Rostov also houses the command centre for the Russian joint group of forces in Ukraine as a whole and is therefore a critical logistical hub for the Russian army.
I clearly remember in the weeks before the war began listening to Zelenskyy, through an interpreter, for reasons known only to him stating that Russia would not invade Ukraine. At the same time President Biden was insisting that our intelligence indicated that Russia would invade and soon. Biden's reward for being correct was watching his approval ratings drop into the 30s while Zelenskyy for being totally wrong became an international rock star. There has been friction between these 2 men since then for, among other things, Zelenskyy continually insulting NATO leaders. If I were say, the president of France, I don't think I would be inclined to assist another nation whose leader referred to me as a coward, traitor and a war criminal. This is what diplomacy is about. If you want to insult people you do it behind closed doors. I also remember a member of the Ukrainian opposition party stating on MSNBC that the nuclear power plant which the Russians had been bombing was about to become "the worst catastrophe in world history," if the West didn't send troops into Ukraine now. It turned out that there was no danger of a meltdown at that plant.
So while I agree that we need to do everything we can to assist Ukraine I also think Biden is correct to be somewhat concerned about provoking Russia into a nuclear confrontation. I also think Zelenskyy did not help the situation at first with his Trump-style insults of the very people he was looking to for help.
Easy for us sitting in the peanut gallery, thousands of miles away, to condemn the leader of a country suffering the worst systematic genocide since 1945, including the Balkans, for losing his cool and demanding more assistance as rapidly as humanly possible for his population, a population beaten, tortured, starved, raped, executed and buried in mass graves, murdered en masse in their apartments, schools, maternity hospitals, farms, shopping centers, villages, cities, railroad stations, operating automobiles, trucks, buses, bicycles, near rivers, seaports, dams, nuclear power plants, you name it, the Putin surrogates attacked it - and, as if all that were not already a surfeit of fiendish aggression at its worst, having their children kidnapped and brought to Putin's barbaric, morally bankrupt nation!
"Trump-style" insults, really? Within the surrounding context I just supplied, please instruct me as to exactly when Trump ever engaged even once, in his entire pathetic existence, in expressing justified moral outrage on behalf of any innocent victims of genocide - all this was done by the Russians, their mercenary army, and the Belarus forces to Ukrainians BECAUSE they were Ukrainians, so it's a paradigm case of genocide - or if that's too much to do, on behalf of anyone else?
I will wait for any sort of relevant, cogent response from you Eric, I hasted to add it's not your sincerity or basic decency I question, but your judgment - thanks in advance!
If its too easy for us to "condemn" ( a bit strong, maybe?) Ukraine's leaders, its also too easy to "condemn" those who ask questions, isn't it? So, rather than inflammatory rhetoric, what's your proposed solution to the issue that is politically feasible/likely?
Not exactly responsive, or are you responding to the "inflammatory rhetoric" of comparing Zelensky, the elected leader of Ukraine (first glaring contrast with America's own Donald J. Trump!) to the pathological liar (contrast #2!), completely amoral (3, count' em, 3!) subversive attacker of his own country (4, and what a #4 it is!) Donald J. "I Have Done Nothing Wrong!" Trump?
In that case, I agree.
As for the politically feasible answer, I am on here supporting universal human rights, ergo,
to support the basic human rights of Ukrainians : self-defense and defense of others against genocide, which the Russians have perpetrated before against Ukraine *, and which they are entirely likely to practice until every last Russian mass murderer either flees, exits as part of scheduled R & R and kills himself in remorse or is tracked down and killed by patriotic Russians or Ukrainian infiltrators (most Ukrainians speak excellent Russian, another crucial component in Putin's War of Blunders), is arrested before he can flee and jailed pending one of the war crimes trials already being prepared on the ground in Ukraine, is killed in action, dies of starvation, is severely wounded to the point he is rendered unable to continue his crimes, or Putin is deposed in a palace coup or some other fashion.
In other words, again: I personally am not prepared to surrender vicariously on behalf of people being subjected to genocide. Others may believe engaging in that kind of surrender is morally acceptable, but I doubt that they have thought it through systematically, since it is entirely comparable to allowing Hitler to succeed in his genocidal invasions "because it was too expensive to stop him," and I doubt they want to do that once they understand the implications.
"The Holodomor,[a] also known as the Great Ukrainian Famine,[b] was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians.....
While scholars are in consensus that the cause of the famine was man-made, whether the Holodomor constitutes a genocide remains in dispute."
Let’s not forget Zelenskyy began his rise to power as a comedian who portrayed a politician! The fact that the show has tragic outcomes is just another twisted, transcendental moment that underscores our unsuitability to sustain intelligent life on earth.
"Cursed to live in excessively interesting times!" might be a good adaption of the original variously sourced proverb, we don't exactly want one damn thing after another like the last years have been, of course not, but appreciating the strange kind of tragicomic karmic irony of the point you make about Zelensky - along with Jewish roots and yet being accused of LITERALLY being a "Nazi," yeah I can even see the dystopian conclusion: that we human beings collectively may manage to essentially destroy so much so extensively, it's akin to an apocalyptic series of disasters.
Damn, I maybe need to channel that mordant energy into taking time today, even this morning, for re- watching a film classic I finally ordered on DVD, and just got delivered, which also captures some of that sense of "What the FORK$! were they thinking!!" sensibility, I will post a Wiki link given there's no need to say more, you'll get it, hell once it's established it was directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Raymond Chandler I'll bet you could even guess the exact film!
Thank you for supporting universal human rights, which are always "feasible, practical" and permanently on the agenda.
This perennial controversy goes back at least as far as Book 1 of Plato's Republic, where the skeptical demand that Zelensky shut up about those pesky rights to be defended from genocide and admit that justice is, as always, connected with the interests of the stronger party to the struggle is advocated to Socrates by Thrasymachus.
The same controversy from a different angle - how can we know anything is or is not feasible, or what we ought to do, unless we can recognize various kinds of `epistemic success'? - is discussed here, and well worth studying like a dedicated student it is, including (Oh, the horror!) learning new terms even if you must expend the supreme, near Olympian effort, and "google them"!
I won't pretend this is exactly "light summer beach reading," but it's nothing like struggling along through far from trivial passages in Kant, Hegel, Husserl, the gnomically opaque Heidegger, or Sartre without a cicerone, either, because the philosophers writing for the free, no paywall ever! Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy have learned from those sometimes atrocious past examples, both in the original German and French, and via less than astute translators.
Here is one brief passage from the Epistemology article about assessing "cognitive success," here, on this comments thread as it developed with the controversy over Zelensky's "demands" (or we might call them "forceful requests that NATO and the USA in particular live up to their stated principles of resisting an aggressive genocidal war," and it would relate via the article's discussion, to whether or not "feasibility" can be defined broadly enough to include my bedrock principle: no compromise on a universal human right as basic as the right to self-defense and defense of others against genocide - notice especially the "gene pool" reference, which works in more than one way - preventing Putin's Russia from genocide against Ukraine as much and as expeditiously as possible would also count, wouldn't it?
"According to some consequentialists, the benefit in question is that of having true beliefs and lacking false beliefs (see BonJour 1985, Audi 1993). According to others, it is the benefit of having a comprehensive understanding of reality. According to others, it is a benefit that is not narrowly epistemic, e.g., living a good life, or being an effective agent, or spreading one’s gene pool. "
But really, the entire article is worth at least scanning for interesting specific arguments and considerations. Online, you never can tell where it could lead, I followed research into The Horse Soldiers film to "Grierson's Raid" and that with a few steps led to the "Total Ban of using the Clan Name `MacGregor'" by the defenders of the Scots Royals, and THAT led to learning the MacGregors fled Scotland, changed their names, one of the common names chosen was: Grierson, but there's a list of dozens and dozens of names which could stem back to this episode in history from the 18th century, it's remarkable.
-"stating that Russia would not invade Ukraine." ~truth~ Effectively told his people and his mil the Russians are NOT coming, the Russians are NOT coming while simultaneously spitting at the US-NATO's intel capabilities.
-"Zelenskyy continually insulting NATO leaders. If I were say, the president of France, I don't think I would be inclined to assist another nation whose leader referred to me as a coward, traitor and a war criminal. : ~truth~. All that was done in public yet for the most part far away from the heads of state and foreign ministers. Juxtapose with him seated next to Trump at the UN presser (see it for yourselves on YOUTUBE) with the chance to expose Trump instead he folded and agreed w/Trump's take on the "perfect call'. Effectively killed the 1st impeachment.
"member of the Ukrainian opposition party stating on MSNBC that the nuclear power plant" ~truth~ She (yes it was a woman) was long featured on cable as a real-life Chicken Little.
-" Zelenskyy did not help the situation at first with his Trump-style insults of the very people he was looking to for help." ~truth. Gaining entry into the EU and NATO requires far more than shaming, insulting and offending both organizations while lecturing all on the danger Ru presents. If he knew that, then he must explain the reason he publicly rejected the intel on the invasion and as President/CinC did not follow the most basic of all tenets, "prepare for the worst, hope for the best."
-Will keep the issue of firepower front and center. This time Ru's over reliance. Or as Josef Stalin said and long has been incorrectly adopted by US GOs w/o ever thinking, "quantity has a quality of its own". Ru has a massive advantage of firepower over Uk mil. Same with numbers of grunts. What good did it do them in this war? UK stopped the invasion by taking advantage of Ru blunders beginning w/their over reliance on rail for re-supply cuz they had such a small number of trucks is Ru mil docrtine to rely on rail due to their own geography), imaginative and creative war fighting and the ace in the hole, western intel from satts. The same source P-Zelensky rejected pre-invasion. They did not have an inventory of western weapons nor the know with all in logistics to receive and distribute their own weaponry and supplies, never mind what was coming in from their western border. It was the US-NATO who supplied the brainpower and means to do so. All on the fly. And is something experts keep overlooking. What good is the most and bestest shit if the pipeline can only handle so much at a time? Haven't the experts ever picked up a map of Uk with its road and rail system on it? There are no airlifts nor any cargo ships delivering weapons and ammo.
-Experts don't know anything about Uk force structure that is one reason they never mention it. Yet somehow claim send them XXX of this and XXX of that. Modern weaponry requires large teams to operate. And weeks to train them. Above all else there has to be available bodies. The experts do NOT cite any evidence those bodies are available, niithah does Zelensky. The blind assumption of there is contradicted by SEC Austin's carefully chosen words when he speaks about what and how many of anything is transferred to Uk.
-SATTS. Ru has one or two that passes over Uk/western border on what others say is a weekly basis. That allows the arms pipeline to flow into Uk w/o being spotted. They lost whatever intel sources they had cuz no convoy whether truck or rail has been hit. Whatever overhead aircraft they have is likely used close to the Uk-Ru border. Remains a mystery as to the reason they haven't used their dedicated bombers instead fly a small number of sorties with attack aircraft and occasional fighter/bombers. So, what good is their overwhelming firepower advantage from the air? Because they are an artillery and rocket based mil they used both as a substitute for saturation bombing which depletes their munitions. Experts talk about the rounds Uk fires yet ignores what Ru is firing off. And how it took failure to change the quantity is a form of quality by manufacturing more and more precision munitions while attempting to source dumb rounds from PRC, Iran and DPRK. Is lazy thinking to simply state OMG Ru is low on ord while ignoring the better targeting of Uk troops and equipment that's part of their defensive plan. Ru has its own counter-RAM systems, a fact experts ignore.
Uk called a 5-8 month timeout giving the Ru mil the time to fortify, create layers of obstacles, resupply, stand up +/- 200000 conscripts and to build up a better mix of weapon systems. Would be like Ike saying fuck no to D-Day in June, let's wait another 6 months and attack the entire Atlantic coastal front, rather than a few beaches in Normandy when we have accumulated overwhelming firepower.
Zelenskyy has shown a lot of courage and leadership ability during this conflict so I don't want to pile criticism on him as if I believe he has been a complete failure. However, I keep seeing him sitting next to Trump like a little boy who has been called into the principal's office for misbehaving. Trump did not deserve that contrition. If there was ever a time to call someone a coward or a traitor, that was it. With Biden he knew he was not dealing with a vindictive man and he took advantage of that. To me that's a cowardly act, not saying he's a coward though.
President Zelensky has shown courage and leadership inside of Uk. He continues to show hubris and disrespect directed to those who have staked their own leadership positions as well as rallying their respective nations people to President Zelensky.
Great capture of the UN Trump-Zelensky presser. Have posted it w/o comment more than a dozen times. Same with how he waved off US-NATO explicit intel leaving civs in border cities to feel the full wrath of the Ru mil while 10s of 1000s of reservists sat in their homes waiting to be called up. In the fog of the first days of the invasion it was civs rallying on their own to create a quasi-NG. Western press focused on his walkabouts and overall defiance yet never bothered to remind folk that he froze for 2weeks. As you know 2weeks is many lifetimes in a war.
My final thought goes to my outrage at so-called experts gaming the war thru the single lens of firepower. They toss out numbers and weapon systems that are "needed". Then describe what their capabilities are. This approach of oversimplifying combat is absurd. Even if they had a war game/plan simulator the screen would flash, that's it? Followed by Seriously? TRY AGAIN
I am concerned about this slow slog through defenses that the Soviets have had years to prepare-- reminiscent of WWI trench warfare. Using armor against dug in troops equipped with anti-tank weapons just playa into the hands of the defense. You can hold the line with second line troops if the defenses are strong enough -- Patton v Metz WWII-- I just think that there must be a way around these defense or a way to render them moot as opposed to going into the teeth of their defense. The Ukrainians are allowing themselves to fight the way the Soviets want them to fight. I just cannot figure out a solution, but I would recommend Ukraininian officers skim Sun Tzu quickly...
The US and Germany were preparing for land war in Europe since Elvis was popping amphetamines to stay awake on tank patrol. The F-22 and F-35 have been absolute perfect machines for funnelling tax dollars to defense contractors, i.e. serving their ultimate purpose. This war is looking more like WWI all the time. Winning these wars is all about dead bodies not fancy weapons, i.e. which side is willing to lose the most men (see: Soviet defeat of Germans in WWII - 6 million Soviet soldiers died for the cause)
In July 1954, Andropov was appointed Ambassador to Hungary. He held this position during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Andropov played a key role in crushing the uprising. He convinced Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev that military intervention was necessary.[13] Andropov is known as "The Butcher of Budapest" for his ruthless suppression of the uprising.[14] Hungarian leaders were arrested and Imre Nagy and others executed.
After these events, Andropov suffered from a "Hungarian complex", according to historian Christopher Andrew: "He had watched in horror from the windows of his embassy as officers of the hated Hungarian security service [the Államvédelmi Hatóság or AVH] were strung up from lampposts. Andropov remained haunted for the rest of his life by the speed with which an apparently all-powerful Communist one-party state had begun to topple. When other Communist regimes later seemed at risk – in Prague in 1968, in Kabul in 1979, in Warsaw in 1981, he was convinced that, as in Budapest in 1956, only armed force could ensure their survival".[13]
Many years ago, I went on one of the civilian tours of the military sponsored by one of our local civic organizations. The purpose was for us to learn more about the modern military, and it was propaganda at its finest. One of our stops was at the site where the F-22 was under development. One member of our group was a local government official who salivated at the thought of having such a project in his district. The company’s leadership were all former career officers, and the Pentagon-to-company pipeline was practically drawn on the floor. The retired Big General-now corporate honcho-talked about how he and his ilk were now more like CEOs of companies. When I suggested that it might not be the best model, he glared. It was an eye-opening performance all around and the few of us who questioned anything were actively shunned by the others. All I could think of (other than vomiting) was “your tax dollars at work.” And the damned plane doesn’t even fly right!
Soldiers are also going to wear out. If WWII studies are still valid, the pace and exhaustion and trauma of modern infantry combat produces a steady decline in efficiency (after an initial improvement for raw troops that survive and are capably led) after about 3 to 6 months of front-line combat conditions. This will be true for both sides. Eventually, even the best units are ground down and even seasoned cadres are weakened by ongoing casualties, combat fatigue, and the need to continually incorporate new, less-experienced fighters. NCOs and junior officers are even more prone to high levels of loss and stress, and these form the bedrock of an army.
War is such a waste. In Vietnam I used to sort of calculate/guess the cost of an encounter with the VC/NVA, bombs, gunship rockets, grenades, .50 cal, resulting often in zero body count with the enemy getting away as we couldn't close the box. Anyway, I saw millions (1960's dollars; forget inflation) which may as well have been burned in a barrel.
The Ukraines should just go on the defense and let the Russians come to them. Ukraine doesn't have enough men and never will, to win this stupid offensive. The towns are already destroyed, and the land distribution will eventually be settled at a table somewhere.
I hesitate to vicariously negotiate surrender of anything to a genocidal aggressor on behalf of the victims in Ukraine, and they won't listen to your counsel of defeat either, Rich!
The Ukrainians might have to goal of forcing Putin to sue for peace, he's already so desperate he bombs no-military targets and threatens to starve poor people around the world, what kind of "winning strategy" is that supposed to amount to?
I'll bet that we will see Putin's population grow far more restive and disillusioned and ready to turn on Putin, than ever see any such movement from the Ukrainians against Zelensky, that's for sure.
No edit button, fine, I will have to double-check for typos and subject-verb disagreements, spelling mistakes, overly enthusiastic rhetoric, might be a good thing at that!
this has been a good read, LKTIV, on a subject upon which many people have varying viewpoints, most all of them supportive of the West's involvement, thank goodness (literally).
one topic out of many that i dont think has been given enough attention here, are: drones.
i've been seeing that drones have been waging a new front on warfare. not just forward intel or artillery guidance, but in active warfare weapon usage against armor, ships, and even individual soldiers.
for unit costs of mere tens of thousands, drones have been obliterating enemy assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars, notwithstanding the tactical or strategic damage those actions yield.
briefly, i think when Ukraine successfully comes out of this war of survival, they will be held as a new world leader in warfare tactics and technology. the future is rushing toward us at literally lightspeed.
perhaps the U.S. might rethink the expenditure of over $100 million for the purchase and servicing of just one jet aircraft.
There is a long and inglorious history of abuse of power in the Soviet Union. To many, the breakup authorized by Gorbachev between 1989-91 was humiliating and the reunification of the 15 independent republics is Putin’s ultimate goal.
I was referring to Stalin’s starving his own Bolshevik troops early in the Russian Revolution and destroying crops to prevent Russian peasants and the invading Germans from harvesting them in WW II.
The idea that Russia is seeking to bring back Ukraine into the fold is absurd. In fact Kiev’n Rus was historically the center of the original Russian Empire.
But the brutal dominance by Russia is perpetual, the most significant being the 1932-33 “famine”. Known as Holodomor, the policy resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians who were deprived of the harvest from their lands. The wheat was shipped to Moscow under orders and Ukraine farmers were murdered if they wanted to distribute their own crops!
What a cluster F!!!
There'll be no winners when this is finally over. Just survivors. I pray the Ukrainian's can hang on
Is the lesson taught and ignored from 99% and 44/100s of post-WW2 conflicts.
The other is ya can't stand up a military that previously didn't exist simply by jamming in equipment, weaponry, and ammo never mind stand up a modern western version to fight against the Ru mil.
Proffers: ARVN-epic fail v. VC. IAF-epic fail v. daeshbags, INA v. Taliban
Uk mil has to develop its own identity separate and apart from NATO's. There is no way in hell the seasoned Uk fighters and commanders wanted to sit back and watch Ru mil build fortifications and set obstacles for 5-8 months w/o Ru mil paying a price.
Don't know whose brainstorm it was to waste men and equipment trying to take back the non-strategic city of Bakhmut simply to deny Putin a victory. One that was the very definition of Pyrrhic.
And as far as outside experts commenting on the war can only shake my noggin. They have zero insight into the Uk force structure, its whereabouts, or KIA-WIA-POWs. How in hell can they then say with a straight face what is lacking and needed. Can tell you how, they don't. They are gaming the war how they would fight it w/o knowing what is required to be known. And no matter who they are they all focus on one and only one thing, firepower. All the while ignoring strategy, operations, tactics, geography, topography, weather and as was the case with aforementioned epic fails, corruption.
I wish we and NATO had been stepping up to the plate earlier and more substantially but Ru captured Crimea in 2014 so I'm thinking they've had a lot more than 5-8 months to fortify and dig in but willing to be proven incorrect in that assumption
In 2014 Uk was a shell of a nation. Is easy to forget the how different the eastern bloc nations of the USSR were from each other until the collapse of the USSR. The west's primary concern post-collapse were the Ru nukes in Uk not how a post-USSR Uk would emerge.
The vastness of the Ru-Uk border inc Crimea is something the west couldn't overcome in 2014 w/o directly involving its forces. A big NO-GO, then and now. And there were few trusted contacts in Uk back then. US and NATO did send trainers yet it takes generations, not years, to stand up an effective force including equipping it.
And yes Ru had years to fortify Crimea and has spent nearly 9 years in eastern Uk albeit contested. Agree w/Rich Hope there is not enough Uk fighters to expel the Ru mil across the entire border region even if it wasn't defended w/obstacles and fortifications. The numbers don't lie. The ratio needed to go on offense, push back the Ru mil across the border and hold just isn't in Uk's favor. Uk mil took back lost territory w/o the very same firepower the experts insist they need. The reason they do seem to need longer range systems is because they stopped their own advance all across the entire front. They didn't allow any group to continue to push. Isn't logistically difficult to funnel weapons, ammo, fuel, food, and equipment to a breakout group. Instead, they came to a full stop. What good is what one has if it isn't being used? Those are the 5-8 months of which I speak. And those months allowed Ru to marginally train warm bodies (conscripts) to the est. tune of 200000. How many new Uk fighters came on line during the same interval? Who knows? Bigger issue the so-called experts don't care, just as they never factor in Uk losses of fighters and equipment. But, but, but buy into Uk agitprop of killing 400-600 Ru each and every day and inflated numbers of Ru equipment lost. We've seen that chit countless times before.
US-NATO never stopped supplying full packages. And I reject the numbers of certain weapon systems experts claim are needed. They are looking at a full-blown counter offensive across the entire front. Never heard of such a thing. Not in WW2 Europe whether eastern or western front, in the Pacific nor in any conflict including in ancient times.
The length of the border doesn't lend itself to striking any place other than carve and cleave along the edges/flanks with any attacks elsewhere more to fall under deceit and/or if Ru redeployed troops to the far flanks leaving weaker spots. The idea of a full-frontal attack is MADNESS. And worse, stoopid.
The Ukrainians will end up droning Russia until RUSSIANS turn on Putin, that will be described as "impossible" by every last pundit, until it happens.
Putin engaged in the "Special Military Operation" not only because he though it would be an easy victory, but because what else can he do to distract the upcoming younger Russians from the effects of bungling their entire economic future in favor of stealing more stuff for himself and his kleptocratic cohorts.
Agree.
Due to Ru being a closed society is difficult for me to glean the effect of the drone strikes conducted, or directed by Uk intelligence services, Same with the effect on the general Ru population of KIAs. WIA, MIAs, POWs, deserters, conscription and all the economic sanctions. Pretty safe in saying it sure doesn't endear Putin with the Ru people. While the expert class focused on what they claim was an attempted clue they continue to overlook all else.
Rostov-on Don droned, it's a start, just like the drones that have already struck Moscow and reminded the stunned population that an international war of aggression has consequences, unpredictable consequences. *******
13h ago
23.33 EDT
Blasts reported in Rostov-on-Don, home to Russia's southern military district command HQ
Blasts have been reported in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, near the headquarters of the southern military district command, which plays a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was one of the sites seized by late Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, during his aborted mutiny in June.
The rregional governor, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram that at least three buildings and several cars had been damaged and one person was injured after Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the city.
Golubev said that the remains of one drone fell outside the city, while the other fell “in the centre, in the area of 42 Pushkinskaya Street”.
Rostov-on-Don is the largest city in southern Russia and is the capital of the Rostov region that adjoins parts of eastern Ukraine where the war is raging.
It is home to the Russian southern military district command, whose 58th Combined Arms Army is fighting against Kyiv’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) thinktank.
Rostov also houses the command centre for the Russian joint group of forces in Ukraine as a whole and is therefore a critical logistical hub for the Russian army.
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/sep/07/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-russian-military-headquarters-blast-rostov-drone?page=with:block-64f934728f086d013616c98a&filterKeyEvents=false#liveblog-navigation
I clearly remember in the weeks before the war began listening to Zelenskyy, through an interpreter, for reasons known only to him stating that Russia would not invade Ukraine. At the same time President Biden was insisting that our intelligence indicated that Russia would invade and soon. Biden's reward for being correct was watching his approval ratings drop into the 30s while Zelenskyy for being totally wrong became an international rock star. There has been friction between these 2 men since then for, among other things, Zelenskyy continually insulting NATO leaders. If I were say, the president of France, I don't think I would be inclined to assist another nation whose leader referred to me as a coward, traitor and a war criminal. This is what diplomacy is about. If you want to insult people you do it behind closed doors. I also remember a member of the Ukrainian opposition party stating on MSNBC that the nuclear power plant which the Russians had been bombing was about to become "the worst catastrophe in world history," if the West didn't send troops into Ukraine now. It turned out that there was no danger of a meltdown at that plant.
So while I agree that we need to do everything we can to assist Ukraine I also think Biden is correct to be somewhat concerned about provoking Russia into a nuclear confrontation. I also think Zelenskyy did not help the situation at first with his Trump-style insults of the very people he was looking to for help.
Easy for us sitting in the peanut gallery, thousands of miles away, to condemn the leader of a country suffering the worst systematic genocide since 1945, including the Balkans, for losing his cool and demanding more assistance as rapidly as humanly possible for his population, a population beaten, tortured, starved, raped, executed and buried in mass graves, murdered en masse in their apartments, schools, maternity hospitals, farms, shopping centers, villages, cities, railroad stations, operating automobiles, trucks, buses, bicycles, near rivers, seaports, dams, nuclear power plants, you name it, the Putin surrogates attacked it - and, as if all that were not already a surfeit of fiendish aggression at its worst, having their children kidnapped and brought to Putin's barbaric, morally bankrupt nation!
"Trump-style" insults, really? Within the surrounding context I just supplied, please instruct me as to exactly when Trump ever engaged even once, in his entire pathetic existence, in expressing justified moral outrage on behalf of any innocent victims of genocide - all this was done by the Russians, their mercenary army, and the Belarus forces to Ukrainians BECAUSE they were Ukrainians, so it's a paradigm case of genocide - or if that's too much to do, on behalf of anyone else?
I will wait for any sort of relevant, cogent response from you Eric, I hasted to add it's not your sincerity or basic decency I question, but your judgment - thanks in advance!
P01135890 fiddled while Rome burned.
If its too easy for us to "condemn" ( a bit strong, maybe?) Ukraine's leaders, its also too easy to "condemn" those who ask questions, isn't it? So, rather than inflammatory rhetoric, what's your proposed solution to the issue that is politically feasible/likely?
Not exactly responsive, or are you responding to the "inflammatory rhetoric" of comparing Zelensky, the elected leader of Ukraine (first glaring contrast with America's own Donald J. Trump!) to the pathological liar (contrast #2!), completely amoral (3, count' em, 3!) subversive attacker of his own country (4, and what a #4 it is!) Donald J. "I Have Done Nothing Wrong!" Trump?
In that case, I agree.
As for the politically feasible answer, I am on here supporting universal human rights, ergo,
to support the basic human rights of Ukrainians : self-defense and defense of others against genocide, which the Russians have perpetrated before against Ukraine *, and which they are entirely likely to practice until every last Russian mass murderer either flees, exits as part of scheduled R & R and kills himself in remorse or is tracked down and killed by patriotic Russians or Ukrainian infiltrators (most Ukrainians speak excellent Russian, another crucial component in Putin's War of Blunders), is arrested before he can flee and jailed pending one of the war crimes trials already being prepared on the ground in Ukraine, is killed in action, dies of starvation, is severely wounded to the point he is rendered unable to continue his crimes, or Putin is deposed in a palace coup or some other fashion.
In other words, again: I personally am not prepared to surrender vicariously on behalf of people being subjected to genocide. Others may believe engaging in that kind of surrender is morally acceptable, but I doubt that they have thought it through systematically, since it is entirely comparable to allowing Hitler to succeed in his genocidal invasions "because it was too expensive to stop him," and I doubt they want to do that once they understand the implications.
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
"The Holodomor,[a] also known as the Great Ukrainian Famine,[b] was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians.....
While scholars are in consensus that the cause of the famine was man-made, whether the Holodomor constitutes a genocide remains in dispute."
Let’s not forget Zelenskyy began his rise to power as a comedian who portrayed a politician! The fact that the show has tragic outcomes is just another twisted, transcendental moment that underscores our unsuitability to sustain intelligent life on earth.
"Cursed to live in excessively interesting times!" might be a good adaption of the original variously sourced proverb, we don't exactly want one damn thing after another like the last years have been, of course not, but appreciating the strange kind of tragicomic karmic irony of the point you make about Zelensky - along with Jewish roots and yet being accused of LITERALLY being a "Nazi," yeah I can even see the dystopian conclusion: that we human beings collectively may manage to essentially destroy so much so extensively, it's akin to an apocalyptic series of disasters.
Damn, I maybe need to channel that mordant energy into taking time today, even this morning, for re- watching a film classic I finally ordered on DVD, and just got delivered, which also captures some of that sense of "What the FORK$! were they thinking!!" sensibility, I will post a Wiki link given there's no need to say more, you'll get it, hell once it's established it was directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Raymond Chandler I'll bet you could even guess the exact film!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Indemnity
just a quick note as i'm scanning all the posts:
i agree with your stand thru and thru, RTJ.D.
Thank you for supporting universal human rights, which are always "feasible, practical" and permanently on the agenda.
This perennial controversy goes back at least as far as Book 1 of Plato's Republic, where the skeptical demand that Zelensky shut up about those pesky rights to be defended from genocide and admit that justice is, as always, connected with the interests of the stronger party to the struggle is advocated to Socrates by Thrasymachus.
The same controversy from a different angle - how can we know anything is or is not feasible, or what we ought to do, unless we can recognize various kinds of `epistemic success'? - is discussed here, and well worth studying like a dedicated student it is, including (Oh, the horror!) learning new terms even if you must expend the supreme, near Olympian effort, and "google them"!
plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology/
I won't pretend this is exactly "light summer beach reading," but it's nothing like struggling along through far from trivial passages in Kant, Hegel, Husserl, the gnomically opaque Heidegger, or Sartre without a cicerone, either, because the philosophers writing for the free, no paywall ever! Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy have learned from those sometimes atrocious past examples, both in the original German and French, and via less than astute translators.
Here is one brief passage from the Epistemology article about assessing "cognitive success," here, on this comments thread as it developed with the controversy over Zelensky's "demands" (or we might call them "forceful requests that NATO and the USA in particular live up to their stated principles of resisting an aggressive genocidal war," and it would relate via the article's discussion, to whether or not "feasibility" can be defined broadly enough to include my bedrock principle: no compromise on a universal human right as basic as the right to self-defense and defense of others against genocide - notice especially the "gene pool" reference, which works in more than one way - preventing Putin's Russia from genocide against Ukraine as much and as expeditiously as possible would also count, wouldn't it?
"According to some consequentialists, the benefit in question is that of having true beliefs and lacking false beliefs (see BonJour 1985, Audi 1993). According to others, it is the benefit of having a comprehensive understanding of reality. According to others, it is a benefit that is not narrowly epistemic, e.g., living a good life, or being an effective agent, or spreading one’s gene pool. "
But really, the entire article is worth at least scanning for interesting specific arguments and considerations. Online, you never can tell where it could lead, I followed research into The Horse Soldiers film to "Grierson's Raid" and that with a few steps led to the "Total Ban of using the Clan Name `MacGregor'" by the defenders of the Scots Royals, and THAT led to learning the MacGregors fled Scotland, changed their names, one of the common names chosen was: Grierson, but there's a list of dozens and dozens of names which could stem back to this episode in history from the 18th century, it's remarkable.
Hear~Hear
-"stating that Russia would not invade Ukraine." ~truth~ Effectively told his people and his mil the Russians are NOT coming, the Russians are NOT coming while simultaneously spitting at the US-NATO's intel capabilities.
-"Zelenskyy continually insulting NATO leaders. If I were say, the president of France, I don't think I would be inclined to assist another nation whose leader referred to me as a coward, traitor and a war criminal. : ~truth~. All that was done in public yet for the most part far away from the heads of state and foreign ministers. Juxtapose with him seated next to Trump at the UN presser (see it for yourselves on YOUTUBE) with the chance to expose Trump instead he folded and agreed w/Trump's take on the "perfect call'. Effectively killed the 1st impeachment.
"member of the Ukrainian opposition party stating on MSNBC that the nuclear power plant" ~truth~ She (yes it was a woman) was long featured on cable as a real-life Chicken Little.
-" Zelenskyy did not help the situation at first with his Trump-style insults of the very people he was looking to for help." ~truth. Gaining entry into the EU and NATO requires far more than shaming, insulting and offending both organizations while lecturing all on the danger Ru presents. If he knew that, then he must explain the reason he publicly rejected the intel on the invasion and as President/CinC did not follow the most basic of all tenets, "prepare for the worst, hope for the best."
-Will keep the issue of firepower front and center. This time Ru's over reliance. Or as Josef Stalin said and long has been incorrectly adopted by US GOs w/o ever thinking, "quantity has a quality of its own". Ru has a massive advantage of firepower over Uk mil. Same with numbers of grunts. What good did it do them in this war? UK stopped the invasion by taking advantage of Ru blunders beginning w/their over reliance on rail for re-supply cuz they had such a small number of trucks is Ru mil docrtine to rely on rail due to their own geography), imaginative and creative war fighting and the ace in the hole, western intel from satts. The same source P-Zelensky rejected pre-invasion. They did not have an inventory of western weapons nor the know with all in logistics to receive and distribute their own weaponry and supplies, never mind what was coming in from their western border. It was the US-NATO who supplied the brainpower and means to do so. All on the fly. And is something experts keep overlooking. What good is the most and bestest shit if the pipeline can only handle so much at a time? Haven't the experts ever picked up a map of Uk with its road and rail system on it? There are no airlifts nor any cargo ships delivering weapons and ammo.
-Experts don't know anything about Uk force structure that is one reason they never mention it. Yet somehow claim send them XXX of this and XXX of that. Modern weaponry requires large teams to operate. And weeks to train them. Above all else there has to be available bodies. The experts do NOT cite any evidence those bodies are available, niithah does Zelensky. The blind assumption of there is contradicted by SEC Austin's carefully chosen words when he speaks about what and how many of anything is transferred to Uk.
-SATTS. Ru has one or two that passes over Uk/western border on what others say is a weekly basis. That allows the arms pipeline to flow into Uk w/o being spotted. They lost whatever intel sources they had cuz no convoy whether truck or rail has been hit. Whatever overhead aircraft they have is likely used close to the Uk-Ru border. Remains a mystery as to the reason they haven't used their dedicated bombers instead fly a small number of sorties with attack aircraft and occasional fighter/bombers. So, what good is their overwhelming firepower advantage from the air? Because they are an artillery and rocket based mil they used both as a substitute for saturation bombing which depletes their munitions. Experts talk about the rounds Uk fires yet ignores what Ru is firing off. And how it took failure to change the quantity is a form of quality by manufacturing more and more precision munitions while attempting to source dumb rounds from PRC, Iran and DPRK. Is lazy thinking to simply state OMG Ru is low on ord while ignoring the better targeting of Uk troops and equipment that's part of their defensive plan. Ru has its own counter-RAM systems, a fact experts ignore.
Uk called a 5-8 month timeout giving the Ru mil the time to fortify, create layers of obstacles, resupply, stand up +/- 200000 conscripts and to build up a better mix of weapon systems. Would be like Ike saying fuck no to D-Day in June, let's wait another 6 months and attack the entire Atlantic coastal front, rather than a few beaches in Normandy when we have accumulated overwhelming firepower.
Zelenskyy has shown a lot of courage and leadership ability during this conflict so I don't want to pile criticism on him as if I believe he has been a complete failure. However, I keep seeing him sitting next to Trump like a little boy who has been called into the principal's office for misbehaving. Trump did not deserve that contrition. If there was ever a time to call someone a coward or a traitor, that was it. With Biden he knew he was not dealing with a vindictive man and he took advantage of that. To me that's a cowardly act, not saying he's a coward though.
President Zelensky has shown courage and leadership inside of Uk. He continues to show hubris and disrespect directed to those who have staked their own leadership positions as well as rallying their respective nations people to President Zelensky.
Great capture of the UN Trump-Zelensky presser. Have posted it w/o comment more than a dozen times. Same with how he waved off US-NATO explicit intel leaving civs in border cities to feel the full wrath of the Ru mil while 10s of 1000s of reservists sat in their homes waiting to be called up. In the fog of the first days of the invasion it was civs rallying on their own to create a quasi-NG. Western press focused on his walkabouts and overall defiance yet never bothered to remind folk that he froze for 2weeks. As you know 2weeks is many lifetimes in a war.
My final thought goes to my outrage at so-called experts gaming the war thru the single lens of firepower. They toss out numbers and weapon systems that are "needed". Then describe what their capabilities are. This approach of oversimplifying combat is absurd. Even if they had a war game/plan simulator the screen would flash, that's it? Followed by Seriously? TRY AGAIN
The World had better make Putin accountable for his war crimes against Ukraine.
I am concerned about this slow slog through defenses that the Soviets have had years to prepare-- reminiscent of WWI trench warfare. Using armor against dug in troops equipped with anti-tank weapons just playa into the hands of the defense. You can hold the line with second line troops if the defenses are strong enough -- Patton v Metz WWII-- I just think that there must be a way around these defense or a way to render them moot as opposed to going into the teeth of their defense. The Ukrainians are allowing themselves to fight the way the Soviets want them to fight. I just cannot figure out a solution, but I would recommend Ukraininian officers skim Sun Tzu quickly...
Who… ‘and I want names…’could possibly profit from the decades and billions we have been forced to invest that jet turd, the F-35?
“Necessity is the Mother Invention;
‘Greed is the father of Stupidity.”
‘Me
Excellent column, Lucian! Thank you. This is the kind of understanding we can't get elsewhere.
Give Ukraine what they need -- or wait for Russia to attack Sweden, Finland, Poland and on and on.
Good news ---plenty of incompetence on display in Russia. Almost comical, but there are ugly war crimes from Putin's killer Mad Men.
The US and Germany were preparing for land war in Europe since Elvis was popping amphetamines to stay awake on tank patrol. The F-22 and F-35 have been absolute perfect machines for funnelling tax dollars to defense contractors, i.e. serving their ultimate purpose. This war is looking more like WWI all the time. Winning these wars is all about dead bodies not fancy weapons, i.e. which side is willing to lose the most men (see: Soviet defeat of Germans in WWII - 6 million Soviet soldiers died for the cause)
Many Soviet troops died from starvation and civilians from Russian “scorched earth” policy in WW ll. Prohibiting grain shipments is still employed.
I’m always suspicious of the war profiteers and the great motivators of the Military Industrial Complex. If War is Hell why is it so hard to resist?
Putin was inspired by his mentor and wants to surpass him in brutality?
Putin's mentor, the "Butcher of Budapest":
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Andropov
Excerpt:
Suppression of the Hungarian Uprising
Main article: Hungarian Revolution of 1956
In July 1954, Andropov was appointed Ambassador to Hungary. He held this position during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Andropov played a key role in crushing the uprising. He convinced Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev that military intervention was necessary.[13] Andropov is known as "The Butcher of Budapest" for his ruthless suppression of the uprising.[14] Hungarian leaders were arrested and Imre Nagy and others executed.
After these events, Andropov suffered from a "Hungarian complex", according to historian Christopher Andrew: "He had watched in horror from the windows of his embassy as officers of the hated Hungarian security service [the Államvédelmi Hatóság or AVH] were strung up from lampposts. Andropov remained haunted for the rest of his life by the speed with which an apparently all-powerful Communist one-party state had begun to topple. When other Communist regimes later seemed at risk – in Prague in 1968, in Kabul in 1979, in Warsaw in 1981, he was convinced that, as in Budapest in 1956, only armed force could ensure their survival".[13]
Isn't that what war has always been about - killing each other. The definition of insanity.....
Many years ago, I went on one of the civilian tours of the military sponsored by one of our local civic organizations. The purpose was for us to learn more about the modern military, and it was propaganda at its finest. One of our stops was at the site where the F-22 was under development. One member of our group was a local government official who salivated at the thought of having such a project in his district. The company’s leadership were all former career officers, and the Pentagon-to-company pipeline was practically drawn on the floor. The retired Big General-now corporate honcho-talked about how he and his ilk were now more like CEOs of companies. When I suggested that it might not be the best model, he glared. It was an eye-opening performance all around and the few of us who questioned anything were actively shunned by the others. All I could think of (other than vomiting) was “your tax dollars at work.” And the damned plane doesn’t even fly right!
What an experience!
This is WW I style fighting with modern weapons. Deadly, slow, terrifying! War is hell!!
An other interesting, and slightly upbeat, item found in my inbox today...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/04/a-psychological-weapon-inside-a-ukrainian-factory-making-decoy-kit
Soldiers are also going to wear out. If WWII studies are still valid, the pace and exhaustion and trauma of modern infantry combat produces a steady decline in efficiency (after an initial improvement for raw troops that survive and are capably led) after about 3 to 6 months of front-line combat conditions. This will be true for both sides. Eventually, even the best units are ground down and even seasoned cadres are weakened by ongoing casualties, combat fatigue, and the need to continually incorporate new, less-experienced fighters. NCOs and junior officers are even more prone to high levels of loss and stress, and these form the bedrock of an army.
War is such a waste. In Vietnam I used to sort of calculate/guess the cost of an encounter with the VC/NVA, bombs, gunship rockets, grenades, .50 cal, resulting often in zero body count with the enemy getting away as we couldn't close the box. Anyway, I saw millions (1960's dollars; forget inflation) which may as well have been burned in a barrel.
The Ukraines should just go on the defense and let the Russians come to them. Ukraine doesn't have enough men and never will, to win this stupid offensive. The towns are already destroyed, and the land distribution will eventually be settled at a table somewhere.
I hesitate to vicariously negotiate surrender of anything to a genocidal aggressor on behalf of the victims in Ukraine, and they won't listen to your counsel of defeat either, Rich!
The Ukrainians might have to goal of forcing Putin to sue for peace, he's already so desperate he bombs no-military targets and threatens to starve poor people around the world, what kind of "winning strategy" is that supposed to amount to?
I'll bet that we will see Putin's population grow far more restive and disillusioned and ready to turn on Putin, than ever see any such movement from the Ukrainians against Zelensky, that's for sure.
What's the rouble worth now, anyway, three cents?
No edit button, fine, I will have to double-check for typos and subject-verb disagreements, spelling mistakes, overly enthusiastic rhetoric, might be a good thing at that!
Rather than cheerleading, what's your solution?
in my quick scan of posts,
i have to ask you, MinMN, other than critiquing others' comments, what is *your* solution, please.
It’s over on the right Richard, they moved it
~Bravo~
this has been a good read, LKTIV, on a subject upon which many people have varying viewpoints, most all of them supportive of the West's involvement, thank goodness (literally).
one topic out of many that i dont think has been given enough attention here, are: drones.
i've been seeing that drones have been waging a new front on warfare. not just forward intel or artillery guidance, but in active warfare weapon usage against armor, ships, and even individual soldiers.
for unit costs of mere tens of thousands, drones have been obliterating enemy assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars, notwithstanding the tactical or strategic damage those actions yield.
briefly, i think when Ukraine successfully comes out of this war of survival, they will be held as a new world leader in warfare tactics and technology. the future is rushing toward us at literally lightspeed.
perhaps the U.S. might rethink the expenditure of over $100 million for the purchase and servicing of just one jet aircraft.
There is a long and inglorious history of abuse of power in the Soviet Union. To many, the breakup authorized by Gorbachev between 1989-91 was humiliating and the reunification of the 15 independent republics is Putin’s ultimate goal.
I was referring to Stalin’s starving his own Bolshevik troops early in the Russian Revolution and destroying crops to prevent Russian peasants and the invading Germans from harvesting them in WW II.
The idea that Russia is seeking to bring back Ukraine into the fold is absurd. In fact Kiev’n Rus was historically the center of the original Russian Empire.
But the brutal dominance by Russia is perpetual, the most significant being the 1932-33 “famine”. Known as Holodomor, the policy resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians who were deprived of the harvest from their lands. The wheat was shipped to Moscow under orders and Ukraine farmers were murdered if they wanted to distribute their own crops!