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A New Thread For The Russian-Ukrainian War
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One of the things Hill grimly pointed out is that Russia can also just declare victory on any of the insane WMD bullshit they've thrown out, like foiling Zelensky's attempt to infuse nerve gas with radioactive COVID.
Unrelated: I really enjoyed her talk (posted in the last thread). Her insights didn't adjust my perspective of the big picture, but did add a lot of interesting nuance; like specific examples of how Putin's world view is being informed by his background as KGB officer, and tiny details like how a meeting at opposite ends of a 100' table makes it virtually impossible for even the bravest advisor to politely interject when the boss is misinformed.
I'm immediately reminded of this:
It's some incredibly heinous stuff so giving a massive warning.
Article from SocPortal - Newly started news aggregate site but registered with the Ukrainian government
Link
If I see any additional sources I'll add them to this post.
EDIT: Sorry I messed up the formatting there.
Senate passes $40 billion in Ukraine aid, sending bill to Biden
get dunked Rand and Putin
Yes!
I remember @Mazzyx saying something about the federal government it applied to Covid but it applies here too.
When it's being properly and competently run the US federal government can move mountains.
pleasepaypreacher.net
the Ukranians specifically want the MGM-140 which is a big missile with a 200 mile range and carries a big cluster munition that is quite accurate and would make a Very Bad Day for any Russian artillery
I very much enjoy the thought of them being forced to watch as their fascist money-daddy gets his hopes and dreams wrecked.
Typically when something directly benefits congressional members' financial holdings, like defense contractors, Congress Go BRRRR
86 to 11, so a majority of GOP senators supported this bill.
Holy shit that is some truly heinous crimes. Even worse then the stuff we've heard of before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M982_Excalibur
gps guided artillery round
holy shit, good luck dealing with this bullshit russia
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
But... agreed.
Usual caveats, I don't hold specific ire for poor (literally and figuratively) conscripts dragged into this possibly against their will, but if the Russian army is going to rape and pillage its way through a country, I'm not sorry to cheer for the technologies, soldiers, and straight up weapons that might reduce their capacity to do so.
And they all knew it would pass, which in the horse-trading that goes on in the House and particularly in the Senate, means that some of the folks who wanted to choose this moment to play budget hawk were freed up to do so. With private assurances that their demonstration would not actually sink the ship and land them in the history books as Putin's man in Washington.
Just to emphasize how big a deal that "falling within 4 meters" thing is?
The most common kind of self-propelled artillery Russia's fielding in Ukraine is four meters wide by eight meters long.
they'll rotate over to Musk soon enough, he's the new fascist money-daddy hotness
This is actually pretty huge, if it happens... I'm guessing that the U.S. and NATO are no longer fucking around with Russia's naval blockade, now that Russia has made it clear that it will hold hostage the world's supply of grain.
It would also stop Russia from launching missiles into Ukraine from the Black Sea, which it's been doing pretty much non-stop since the invasion started.
The rounds are of course pretty expensive and available only in low volume, but they can be used in combination with the very high quality ELINT that the Ukrainians are receiving as literal 'assassin rounds' to target specific high value people (high ranking officers, known war criminals, etc)
This is why people (and I use the term in it's loosest sense) like that Chechen chud whose name escapes me is staying the fuck in Belarus.
https://www.interfax.ru/russia/841904
Why does it feel more and more like "Last days of Third Reich" with each passing moment...
Because Putin is speed-running Hitler 1939-1945 and he's already got past the Battle of Kharkiv, and is now on the blaming generals and pinning his hopes on Wunderwaffe part. So I guess that puts him at around early 1944? I guess that means that next up is the July Plot and of course D-Day II Crimea Boogaloo.
Russia literally can't hold hostage the world's supply of grain.
No, but they can (and are) hold hostage a fairly significant portion of the export supply of grain
Correct.
It was covered in a few threads now, but a vast majority of countries grow and use their own wheat. A few countries are heavy importers of wheat, but the relative volume is small compared to the production (or the capacity to produce) wheat. Ukraine is hardly the breadbasket of the world.
People can poke around here: https://www.statista.com/topics/1668/wheat/#topicHeader__wrapper or google more if they want.
I understand that order, but I suspect until the fates of the earlier surrendering soldiers are clear I could equally understand a reluctance to do so. Doesn't help with the Russian Duma talking about treating them as terrorists and war criminals.
I could easily see the remaining Defenders going no I really don't want to be executed by Russia.
I wonder if this will end up like Masada
I'm wondering how much support the 50 year olds are going to have for this thing now that they can be shipped off.
They can only be shipped off if they sign up. As long as it's voluntary I don't think it'll change their opinions much.
Voluntary as same all those conscripts or soldiers threatened with prison for legal attempts to get out\refuse going to Ukraine right now? We already got reports of military recruiters sending notices to "reservists" aka all who served conscription already to enlist...
'Removing the upper age limits' made it sound like it was specific to people signing up to be contract soldiers. Which probably wouldn't bother the older generation who are gung-ho on this. Unless that was a bad reading of the excerpt on my part?
Has anything actually come from Putin sending conscripts into the conflict zone?
It depends on Putin intentions, remember that he is above law here... It can go one of 2 ways:
EDIT: And yes - all conscripts were pulled out, or so we thought until sinking of Moskva - close to a hundred conscripts were supposed to be stationed there, fate of many sailors is still unknown.
i was reading a separate article where they were interviewing a Wagner guy and he basically said (pardon the paraphrasing) "we're getting outplayed, the ukrainians are using technology and tactics, the russians are using paper and superstition" and that the russian officers believe "a shell will never land in the same place twice"... I wonder if he was aware that the Ukrainians do in fact have a shell that lands in the same place twice
do you think the Russians know that they're fighting space weapons from space? i feel like that would be crucial information to share with your officers
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
You okay?
Speculative translation:
I wonder if Ukraine is flying Bayraktars within range of Eastern Ukraine. Because that plus the howitzers sounds like with Excalibur shells would mean a bad day for any mechanized weaponry within range of both.