Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
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It would be easier to make the case for lebensraum if they weren't the world's largest country by a country mile
What the hell is this? 
This reminds of the mob in NY offering to pay off judges in exchange for favorable rulings.
How winter can affect the troops
https://cdn.itemfix.com/2023/Feb/3/...p4?secure=V_hE6SB9IEr4WxKvm7clDg==,1675470239
M777 howitzer frozen to the ground and troops try to get it free.
https://cdn.itemfix.com/2023/Feb/3/...p4?secure=V_hE6SB9IEr4WxKvm7clDg==,1675470239
M777 howitzer frozen to the ground and troops try to get it free.
We all know that Russians are paying for propaganda in the West. It was the same during USSR, they were giving money to various communist parties in European countries.
I don't know why nothing is being done about this. Recently, some EU officials (among them a Greek member of the European parliament) were jailed because of the Qatargate. I'd guess that Russians give much more money than Qatar and Morocco, but I have never heard about any arrests for Russian money.
There have been in the US, jail for some of them
Well, I mean in Europe. And about politicians. In Qatargate they jailed the vice-president of the European Parliament (which is a good thing, in my opinion... and it shows that they can do it, if they want to).
But anyway, since I am not familiar with the US cases, did they jail any politicians over Russian money?
(Edit: Perhaps the Russians and KGB have much more experience in paying European politicians, so they don't leave traces, Qatar was inexperienced... )
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Problem is the timing, everything is taking so long, when exactly are these rockets going to be ready? Nothing in stock as it needs to be manufactured first, such decision (providing longer range) should have been made a few months ago at very least for it to properly impact the state of affairs in the theater. That’s why ATACMS still make sense in current situation as it something that can be delivered instantly, having an immediate effect.
What the hell is this?
Dude, who got thrown out of the Far-right Party here and just showed up at their meeting - not 100% sure of the details, but you can't really now say that he might not be paid off by Russians themselves or just a moron.
What the hell is this?
Honestly thought it was Ryan Gosling
A bit desperate to do shit-posting like this with their official MFA account, isn't it?
That definitely makes more sense than suggesting the justice system in European countries are willingly turning a blind eye to Russian corruption only to fight corruption by “more friendly” countries…
At this stage you never believe official, or leaked, timelines
The production might not take as long as one would expect at first, the GLSDB is actually made out of two already existing components, the air launched Small Diameter Bomb from Boeing and rocket engines from decommissioned M26 rockets for the M270/M142 system. So although it's a new type of ammunition most of the components are already available from current stocks, it's only the production of the adapter and assembly that would be required.
That's barely enough for a couple of family dinners with Japanese curry to go with rice (I truly love Japanese curry, by the way).
Can we post Russian propaganda videos in here? They are so silly that even a moron wouldn't be bought by it
Those Russian tv shows are russian propaganda, so i don't see why not.
Sure, why not? I've been posting Russian state TV segments for months. It's important to know what's being showed or said to the Russian people.
Also have you noticed that the same actress seem popping again and again?
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Little man with a Napoleon complex
" Russia is sliding back towards (aspects of) the 'wild 90s,' when murder was a business tactic, and the lines between politics, business, crime and war became near-meaningless."
You would think they would splurge by upping the quantities to at least 100kgs given that their relatives could die.
I said that there that it will fall if they did not reinforce there which they did. It is very much far from saying it will definitely fall in certain dates.
Are those videos real? Jesus Christ, what a shitshow that is! Unbelievable that anybody could fall for this. The level of production is miles lower than the average commercial in the west, not even considering the pathetic messages themselves.
They are border tragic. Unfortunately they seem to be convincing in the poor rural areas located in the middle of nowhere
Those posts did not say anything that I predicted the fall of Bekhmut in certain dates. Those posts were stating what was going on there.
The RA troops are doing as well as they can. I don't rate them much. So I did not expect them to capture the whole UA. But compared to what everyone's expectation was of being collapsed in a few weeks back in September, they have been doing pretty well for that expectation (based on a very low standard). They have caused the UA a lot of problems with both their offensive and defensive actions in the last few months. It may mean two things in general for me. One is that in this period, the UA troops are not up to par against poorly trained and equipped RA's troops. The other thing is that the UA's troops are not much better than the RA's troops at this moment due to a lack of necessary equipment. And I wanted to believe that the second was the most logical. It helps my assumption when the UA also kept asking for more and better equipment as their main weaponry is still from the Soviet era (I'm not sure where you got the idea that UA troops come back from training with NATO weaponry regularly). You kept talking about how bad these RA troops in your posts. But, UA military might disagree with you on that. In a CNN Jan 25, 2023 article, "Wagner Group fighters have become the disposable infantry of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, but a Ukrainian military intelligence document obtained by CNN sets out how effective they have been around the city of Bakhmut – and how difficult they are to fight against."
In November, US General Mark Milley stated that the UA's causalty was similar to the RA's. The 100k-120k estimated casualty figure for both sides (through November) was repeated again in the NYTimes article, which was linked a few posts ago. The Bakhmut defenses cost UA men in three-digit numbers a day, which came from their president awhile ago. I can't give you much more reliable than those. The UA army, just like the RA army, does not have many professional soldiers left, and most are volunteers ("With the exception of a small proportion of rear area troops, the AFU is practically an entirely all-volunteer force. Complaints of lingering Soviet mentality in field grade and higher officers, particularly in rear area units, are widespread. Kyiv Post reporters visiting front line units have repeatedly heard soldiers and even junior officers argue that senior commanders in the AFU at times lack tactical skill or don’t really understand the situation on the front" - Kyiv post, Dec, 2022). The "West" is training some, and most of them are not back to UA yet. It would be hard for those UA volunteers who don't take a break from defending in the field to be much more highly trained than the RA's newly recruited troops. You can interpret the situation however you want, but I read that Zelensky having to come to the US and the "West" urging more heavy weapons meant everyone was aware of how dire the battlefields could become in the coming weeks or months for UA.
The last paragraph of your post is obviously what almost everyone hopes or talks about regarding this war. It does not mean it will happen or it is happening. You found my posts annoying because my arguments don't support what you want to hear? I can still want UA to win the war while pointing out that RA currently has the upper hand. There is a possibility that I think that UA may not win this war at all (Sorry if you find that annoying as well). When I say that UA is not winning the war, it means that they have 10 to 15% of their land occupied by RA while getting attacked by missiles every month.
But the main point of the post to which you responded was that I cautioned that the RA still may have the manpower and combat capacity to conduct spring offensives, despite almost everyone saying that it was not possible a few months ago, in the hope of making themselves feel better about the situation rather than trying to get more accurate information (alternative facts, you say?). But somehow, you called me out on the Bekhmut. Is it important when it falls or when I predict it will fall? If it fell, don't you think it would be very concerning for the UA because with all the highly trained and equipped troops (according to you), they could not defend against ill-trained and equipped drunkards or criminals? And the UA is dead set on not giving up that city, so you would think they are sending their best troops and equipment (as much as they have) there.
"Bielieskov, the research fellow, said the least-trained Russians go first to force the Ukrainians to open fire and expose the strengths and weaknesses of their defense.
More trained units or mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company led by a rogue millionaire and known for its brutality, make up the rear guard, Bielieskov said.
Bielieskov said that Ukraine compensates for its lack of heavy equipment with people who are ready to stand to the last."
“Manpower is less of a Russian problem and, in some ways, more of a Ukrainian problem, not only because the casualties are painful, but they’re often ... Ukraine’s best troops,” said Lawrence Freedman, a professor emeritus of war studies at King’s College London - APnews.
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Assuming Ukraine spring offensive in the south is successful, isn't it better to cut off Crimea, instead of trying to capture it?
Yeah, they are. But they are, like many things in Russia, less about convincing people about anything and more about getting tons of money from lucrative government contracts. And if someone dislikes the final product, you can just accuse them of being unpatriotic.
Although a lot of highly trained professionals, especially from creative professions, left the country. Plus in general “the cultural sphere” (cinema/theatre/visual arts etc.) is against the war, aside from a few very notable oddballs. Volodin and others that are set with curating this sphere are quite vocal in their disappointment.
Capturing it, or threatening to capture it is a fabulous bargaining tool for an eventual peace settlement with Russia.
Honestly, Crimea is the biggest prize of all from the Ukrainian perspective. It is to Ukraine what Manchuria was to Japan before the 1904-05 war: the biggest threat to their sovereignty for as long as it remains under Russian control.