Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[Kulindahr]

The US has not given this approval and Germany refuses to provide long range weapons.

The Russians will claim that U.S. and German weapons are being used to attack inside Russia anyway, so what's the point?

 

[rareboy]

I don't disagree.

At this point, to more than half the country, the hard truth that rrrZZZia remains an intractable enemy of a free, democratic USA should be evident.

But the Kremlin has not given up on their campaign to destroy America and bend it to their will and advantage.

And too many far right wing Republicans don't see Rujha or Putin as an existential threat but as an opportunity to realize an authoritarian, white, religious state.

 

[Kulindahr]

And too many far right wing Republicans don't see Rujha or Putin as an existential threat but as an opportunity to realize an authoritarian, white, religious state.

This made me think of a line from back in the late 1950s: "We have met the enemy, and he is us".

 

[TX-Beau]

Here comes Beau Geste!!

So in goes the foreign Legion. We're a long way from Macron running to Mokba supplicating to Putin.

When do the F-16s get there?

 

[rareboy]

Good question....when the fuck do the F-16's arrive.

Although at this point, the best that can be expected is that they will help freeze the frontline that will be used in bringing a close to this most recent invasion of a state by Mokba.

I realized that these planes are not a weapon of this current conflict...but a means of concretizing a new border.

 

[Kulindahr]

Here comes Beau Geste!!

So in goes the foreign Legion. We're a long way from Macron running to Mokba supplicating to Putin.

When do the F-16s get there?

So UK, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the Czech Republic understand reality.

As for the Foreign Legion, all I can find is that the Legion commander has allowed members of the Legion who are from Ukraine to take leave in order to volunteer in Ukraine.

Whenever the F-16s get there, thy won't be enough to change much. The West seems to think that Ukraine has an unlimited supply of personnel so the fight can just keep going until the Russians run out of soldiers and/or equipment. The number of tanks sent should have been three hundred or more, not the trickle that was provided; the number of F-16s should also be hundreds.

 

[Kulindahr]

I realized that these planes are not a weapon of this current conflict...but a means of concretizing a new border.

Which is idiocy. They need enough that a couple of dozen planes can concentrate on taking out defenses, another couple dozen flying cover, and a couple dozen more drop cluster munitions to clear mine fields.

 

[rareboy]

From your keyboard to God's eyes.

 

[NotHardUp1]

The number of tanks sent should have been three hundred or more, not the trickle that was provided; the number of F-16s should also be hundreds.

Do the math. The U.S. on has a fleet of just under 900 F-16s. No way are we going to reduce that by "hundreds".

Then there is the problem of Ukrainians not flying the F-16, so they will be at greater risk of loss than if Americans were flying them.

This war will not go the way of the Ukrainians unless and until the US stops directing the use of the weapons, and probably until European countries send forces. And Europe better believe it's time. America fucked around for too long and it's looking like Ukraine cannot recover from the stall.

Trum and the GOP were certainly the cause, but the accountability is on the entire nation. WE failed to act, to stop the games in Congress, and we fiddle-farted around while Ukraine was losing this war. It will be to our everlasting shame if we caused their capitulation after such brave resistance.

 

[rareboy]

Almost all the western countries have now agreed that their weapons may be used to strike targets within rrrZZZia.

It remains to be seen how this changes the calculus of the conflict...but it sends a clear signal to Mokba and the Kremlin that Ukraine's arm will no longer be pinned behind its back as Rzzia tries to attack from the northeast again.

Ukraine has scored some important tactical hits in Crimea this week...and maybe now can create enough of a threat to distract PutinCo. from thier failed campaign in Kharkiv.

 

[Kulindahr]

Would it be totally dreaming to wish Poland would tell Belarus to stay out of it or suffer the consequences?

 

[rareboy]

Belarus knows they are out of it.

One move now and it is all over for their hapless autocrat. Nothing has come from Belarus for many months. But at the same time...the Belarusians do nothing about the regime that literally plans on handing the state over to the Kremlin with re-unification by 2030.

The eastern European ex-Soviet states that have been co-opted...like Belarus, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia are still trying to have it both ways.

At this point Belarus is lost to the West.

 

[Kulindahr]

the Belarusians do nothing about the regime

I just don't get that.

 

[rareboy]

Update....UA has now hit a military command centre in rrrZZia (Bilhorod) and the rrrzzzian casualties keep mounting.

More strikes along the border with Ukraine and the attempted offensive should come to an end.

 

[Kulindahr]

Someone on another site proposed this task group for taking on the Russian Black Sea fleet. It would be overkill, though; the lead vessel, a refurbished USS Iowa, could manage that alone, with a cruiser and a pair of destroyers to deal with submarines.

If the Iowa wasn't so old, it would be fun to see it signed over to Ukraine; between its 16" guns and the hundreds of cruise missiles it can carry it could eliminate every bit of Russian equipment in Crimea without breaking a sweat.

 

[TX-Beau]

Turkey won't let any of our warships into the Black Sea.

 

[TX-Beau]

Apparently, there is a run on banks in Russia?

 

[rareboy]

Yes...the latest sanctions against rrrZZXja had the masses running to the banks...so they just shut down how much you can withdraw.

I am not sure why this set of sanctions have Putin's allies in crime pissing their pants, but something triggered an alarm.

I still think the only way out of this war is to bankrupt Soviet Union 2.0 to the point of collapse.

We're so far beyond normal now, that I honestly can't see how the Kremlin continues to finance their war...except once again...it is all about ROI.

rrrshn lives are worth less than a bucket of warm spit, but the control of the Azov, the Black Sea and the mineral rich areas of eastern Ukraine are worth trillions to the oligarchs that help keep Putin's war going.

 

[TX-Beau]

Well, much like North Korea, we don't really know anything about what's happening in Russia, and it's clear that all economic indicators and numbers disclosed by the Russian government are just lies.

I suspect, like you, that they're staving off defeat by sucking all cash away from anything else their government pays for.

Runs on banks are never good things. No matter how much dancing one can make the numbers do, that is a clear sign of distress.

 

[TX-Beau]

G7 leaders on Thursday agreed to lend Ukraine $50 billion this year -- backed by profits from frozen Russian assets -- to help the country's war effort and rebuilding...

MSN

Well, that's going to piss off Vladimir. If I were Zelensky, I'd immediately default and cost Russia 50 billion.

Just kidding, I'm sure someone has already told them no to that.