Some seemingly worrying developments in Belarus. Konrad has been very good to follow as he like Kofman is very cautious and rarely hypes things up. His assessment is that the "fixing Ukrainians at the border" argument is making less sense.
However, I reckon Western officials would be sharing intel with the press if Belarussian involvement becomes serious.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/europe...ing-ammo-ukraine-faster-can-replace-rcna59847Russian President Vladimir Putin was “surprised” at his military’s disappointing performance after its invasion of Ukraine in February, according to Haines. “I do think he is becoming more informed of the challenges that the military faces in Russia. But it’s still not clear to us that he has a full picture at this stage of just how challenged they are,” Haines said.
Putin has not changed his political objective to effectively control Ukraine, but it is unclear whether he would accept scaled back military ambitions, Haines said.
“I think our analysts would say he may be willing to do that on a temporary basis with the idea that he might then come back at this issue at a later time,” she said.
Geographical Europe has no legal existence. You can't arm something that doesn't exist. It's either Nato or the EU and Ukraine is a part of neither.
And it's not about comitting suicide, it's called nuclear deterence.
Also, as some people already stated, nato countries didn't increase their military spendings because of the involvement of the US in NATO.
Proxy wars can be fought with conventionnal weapons but if a war had to start between a foreign power and the EU/Nato, it WILL go nuclear and at this point, conventionnal armies wont matter anymore.
Russian public diplomacy
So basically Putin says he is ready to negotiate if the world recognizes the areas he annexed but not currently holding as Russias' and security guarantees so he can try to pull some other schemes later when the pressure is off? What about security for Ukraine and Russia's neighbors?
The maddest thing I've heard is people like Marcon actually advancing this. This is why Putin thinks he can do what he wants, it is not because of the number nukes that he has but he sees weakness in leaders like Marcon that he thinks he can get away with stuffs like this.
Restock. Resupply. Meaning: give us money.
Where did the US use Javelins in the past 10-15 years? Nowhere! Only in training and demos.
Where will the US use Javelins in the next 10-15 years? Nowhere! Only for exports. If US forces face any tanks, they will not use Javelins, they have better ways to eliminate them from farther away.
Anyone who can translate what the Russian signs say?
Horrible images, though I'm unsure whether they've been verified yet.
Anyone who can translate what the Russian signs say?
This is no surprise. Theres only a few of the smaller countries in Europe who have maintained or built up a trustworthy military during the last 30 years. Bigger nations like Germany, France, Italy and even the UK to some extent have completly neglected the security of Europe despite Russia building up it's armed forces during this time.
If going through Opération Serval was fairly popular in the eyes of the French, why would giving Putin the middle finger be a step too far? And besides, doesn't Macron have a military industrial complex to satisfy after a bunch of contracts were lost to the British and the Americans?Macron seems to like doing these things for public consumption. He knows there won't be any meaningful negotiations as long as Russian troops are in Ukraine.
Horrible images, though I'm unsure whether they've been verified yet.
Anyone who can translate what the Russian signs say?
Having weapons available is standard part of military readiness so whatever has been donated to Ukraine this year will need to be replenished on the US side, which will of course cost money.
The one on the left says traitor to the Lugansk people, the one on the right says they passed on information to the enemy. Under all of them is the Soviet acronym “SMERSH” (Death to Spies).
1. A traitor to people of LuhanskHorrible images, though I'm unsure whether they've been verified yet.
Anyone who can translate what the Russian signs say?
Of course! But it is not an emergency. Sometimes it is presented like it is a critical problem that needs to be solved asap.
To be fair to Raytheon, they're not living unless they're supplying missiles to hit weddings or funeral processions. This is an emergency to them.
Considering currently occupied areas Engels is a striking distance of about 800-850km from Ukraine, Moskau about 700-750km, so yes it is a bit further than Moscow.Engels is pretty far from the border (maybe even further away than Moscow?) Is that the furthest target the Ukrainians have hit?
I honestly think that after 50 years of cold war, the Europeans were hoping the threat of Russia would just dissolve as they transitioned to a "normal" market economy. They almost buried there heads in the sand expecting it to be over allowing everyone to concentrate on making money, Russia included. Of course, that the money making concentrated itself in the hands of a few thanks to the remnants of the rotten communist system and the general lack of consideration for the populace (something I feel we see more and more in US and UK btw) has led to full on corruption and control although China has been a more palatable, better thought out version of Russia. Remember, the EU had as one of it's original goals (as the EEC) to counter the economic prowess of the US and Japan (later then China of course). The way China grew was to European advantage though (cheap goods, cheap labour for multinationals), the way Russia grew was as a Mafiosi state, but also to our advantage - bountiful resources. In both cases, we are still economically bound to both, but have been doing so well in Europe that it was easier to ignore all the unsavoury aspects of both China and Russia which have unfortunately proven to be much more sinister and troublesome than I think anyone wanted to believe they would be.Back to the Soviet Union.
Once a KGB agent, Always a KGB agent.
Here is an article by Khrushchev's granddaughter. It is from 2014, part of her book (The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey Into the Gulag of the Russian Mind).
It is shocking for me that the European Union had no idea what was going on in Russia, and took zero measures back then. Zero preperation. What were the foreign ministries and the spy agencies of the European countries doing all this time? Why they did not warn Merkel and the other European leaders that Russia is turning into the Soviet Union?
https://www.newsweek.com/once-kgb-agent-always-kgb-agent-251120
It’s certainly not a drone then as was initially speculated given the speed of the object? It would either be a cruise missile or malfunctioned Tu?Considering currently occupied areas Engels is a striking distance of about 800-850km from Ukraine, Moskau about 700-750km, so yes it is a bit further than Moscow.
And I wouldn't be sure that thus actually was an Ukrainian strike. Yes, you can hear something flying overhead and than see the explosion, but as you can't see what it is I currently wouldn't rule out an out of control Tu-160 or Tu-95 crashing.
At least not the typical propeller drone like a Bayraktar. The calculated speed matches a typical cruise missile, but also the travelling speed of those bombers.It’s certainly not a drone then as was initially speculated given the speed of the object? It would either be a cruise missile or malfunctioned Tu?
The reason I’m inclined to reject the idea of some out of control Tu Russian bomber is because there was another incident at another airbase hosting these strategic bombers around the same time. Meaning it was definitely a planned and coordinated attack from Ukrainian side.At least not the typical propeller drone like a Bayraktar. The calculated speed matches a typical cruise missile, but also the travelling speed of those bombers.
However Ukraine does possess some old jet powered Tu-141 reconnaissance drones, which could in theory carry a warhead for a suicide mission and would fly at that speed, so a modified Ukrainian drone is indeed a possibility, and considering that Ukraine gets a lot of intel from NATO as well as from their more modern drones this would be a useful way to bin this old stuff.
Good point, somehow I missed that there were two incidentsThe reason I’m inclined to reject the idea of some out of control Tu Russian bomber is because there was another incident at another airbase hosting these strategic bombers around the same time. Meaning it was definitely a planned and coordinated attack from Ukrainian side.
