Author Topic: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....  (Read 130988 times)

WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #325 on: February 26, 2022, 08:48:30 PM »
Quote
Ukraine to receive boost in weaponry

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues in the early hours of Sunday morning, here's a reminder of pledges for support from Western allies issued so far this weekend.

On Saturday:

    The US State Department said it will send $350m (£261m) in weapons - including Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft systems and body armour.
    The German government said it would supply Ukraine with 1,000 anti-tank grenade launchers and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles on an emergency basis.
    The Dutch announced deployment of 50 Panzerfaust-3 anti-tank weapons and 400 rockets.
    The two countries are also said to be considering sending a joint Patriot air defence system to a Nato battle group in Slovakia.
    Earlier, Nato began deploying more of its forces to Eastern Europe "to respond quickly to any contingency".
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60542877
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Angel Eyes

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #326 on: February 26, 2022, 10:35:23 PM »
"I make love to men daily, but in the imagination."
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Hawkmoon

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #327 on: February 26, 2022, 10:56:51 PM »
I have a friend in Athens whose wife is Ukrainian. She is currently in Odessa (visiting her adult son and daughter-in-law) and they don't know how they're going to get her out.
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JN01

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #328 on: February 26, 2022, 11:49:54 PM »
Biden should use his awesome negotiating skills to get the Taliban to forward all the military equipment we left in A-stan over to the Ukrainians.

HankB

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #329 on: February 26, 2022, 11:55:28 PM »
Biden should use his awesome negotiating skills to get the Taliban to forward all the military equipment we left in A-stan over to the Ukrainians.
Not quite all of it - the handguns we left over there should be issued to Afghan women - that might improve their relations with the Taliban.
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #330 on: February 27, 2022, 09:07:19 AM »
Quote
Putin puts Russia's strategic nuclear force on 'special alert'
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60542877
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RocketMan

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #331 on: February 27, 2022, 09:20:51 AM »
Quote
Putin puts Russia's strategic nuclear force on 'special alert'

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60542877

Do we need any further proof that Putin is a megalomaniacal nutcase?
If there really was intelligent life on other planets, we'd be sending them foreign aid.

Conservatives see George Orwell's "1984" as a cautionary tale.  Progressives view it as a "how to" manual.

My wife often says to me, "You are evil and must be destroyed." She may be right.

Liberals believe one should never let reason, logic and facts get in the way of a good emotional argument.

WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #332 on: February 27, 2022, 09:24:37 AM »
All is well

Quote
Russian move does not signal intent to use nuclear weapons

Gordon Corera

Security correspondent, BBC News

President Putin has ordered his military command to put nuclear forces on a "special" state of alert.

This is after what Moscow calls "aggressive statements" by Nato countries.

Russia's leader had already issued a coded warning that he was willing to use nuclear weapons as he began his invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, he warned that "whoever tries to hinder us" would see consequences "you have never seen in your history".

These words were widely interpreted as signalling a threat to use nuclear weapons if the West stood in his way.

The very public shift to high alert status is a way for Moscow to send a warning. Moving to alert status is likely to make it easier to launch weapons more quickly. But it does not mean there is a current intent to use them.

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world but also knows that Nato also has enough to destroy Russia if they were used.

But the aim is likely to try and deter Nato support for Ukraine by creating fears over how far he is willing to go and creating ambiguity over what kind of support for Ukraine he will consider to be too much.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60542877
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RocketMan

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #333 on: February 27, 2022, 09:32:50 AM »
All is well
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60542877

Sure it is.  We can trust a guy who has never hesitated to remove his detractors from play.  How many people has he had murdered or imprisoned since he first took power in 1999?  How many countries has he invaded?
If there really was intelligent life on other planets, we'd be sending them foreign aid.

Conservatives see George Orwell's "1984" as a cautionary tale.  Progressives view it as a "how to" manual.

My wife often says to me, "You are evil and must be destroyed." She may be right.

Liberals believe one should never let reason, logic and facts get in the way of a good emotional argument.

WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #334 on: February 27, 2022, 09:34:47 AM »
Now where did I put that glue?
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #335 on: February 27, 2022, 10:13:58 AM »
Quote
The Ukrainian defence minister says that 25,000 guns have been handed over to territorial defence members in the Kyiv region alone.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60542877
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #336 on: February 27, 2022, 10:15:58 AM »
Some are thinking we're still in the softening up phase and the real push hasn't started yet.
I don't know since I don't have access to Russian force deployments.
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #337 on: February 27, 2022, 10:47:47 AM »
An-225 confirmed destroyed.  :mad: [ar15]
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #338 on: February 27, 2022, 10:52:29 AM »
Putin warned Finland and Sweden not to join NATO.
Finland: You want to try again? Bring it!  [ar15]

I made up the Finland part. They could have said something along those lines who knows.
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dogmush

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #339 on: February 27, 2022, 10:59:30 AM »
You know, when we started this thread however many pages ago I would not have picked "Ukrane holds off the Red Army long enough initial logistics start to break down" as a possible outcome.

Whatever other crazy *expletive deleted*it Putin ends up doing, the Ukrainians,  both professional military and not, are putting up a hell of a fight.

dogmush

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #340 on: February 27, 2022, 11:08:46 AM »
Some are thinking we're still in the softening up phase and the real push hasn't started yet.
I don't know since I don't have access to Russian force deployments.

I also don't  have access to Russian Force Deployments,  but that excuse rings hollow.

First, it's not russian doctrine. They run their armor in fast and run the Motor-Rifle troops in afterwards to hold land. Which is what we saw with T-90s running in first under air cover, and BMPs and BTRs coming in later. That's why most of the videos taken by civilians on the web are of APCs.  That's what comes in after the initial push. So the Red Army appears to be following their doctrine.

Second if you were planning a softening up stage followed by a hard push, your softening forces would have enough fuel and ammo to hold until the follow on force, and there are reports of Russians running out of both.

Third, that's  a dumb strategy in modern warfare. You don't  send a force against prepared and warned defenders unless you think you can beat them. Sending an initial attack followed by a larger wave as the plan invites defeat in detail.

It's more likely  IMO that the Russians sent what they thought they needed, and it failed. Now they are committing whatever reserves they have and trying to save face by saying this was the plan all along.

WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #341 on: February 27, 2022, 11:15:26 AM »

It's more likely  IMO that the Russians sent what they thought they needed, and it failed. Now they are committing whatever reserves they have and trying to save face by saying this was the plan all along.

That's my personal belief
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #342 on: February 27, 2022, 11:21:50 AM »
I think Putin actually expected the Russian army to be welcomed as liberators and it would all be over in a few days. I think meeting strong resistance even in the so called "Russian" areas threw a monkey wrench in their plans.

Plus as I asked a few pages back I wonder what the morale of the Russian army is like in all of this. I would be willing to bet most Russian soldiers were/are like "Why the F am I here?"
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Angel Eyes

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #343 on: February 27, 2022, 11:32:40 AM »
From foxnews.com:
Quote
Turkey says Russia is waging war in Ukraine, may control warship passage into Black Sea
Turkey has declared that Russia’s actions in Ukraine constitute a war and will act accordingly, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday.

Cavusoglu invoked the Montreux Convention, which dates back to 1936 and gives Turkey the ability to regulate the transit of naval warships between the Dardanelles Straits into the Black Sea.

Zelenskyy had claimed Saturday that Turkey had agreed to do this, but Turkish officials immediately pushed back saying they had not yet taken a decision on the matter.

Posted by Peter Aitken

There's a real danger of escalation here, Turkey being a NATO member.
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dogmush

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #344 on: February 27, 2022, 11:37:37 AM »
You would hope that Putin had most of the Black Sea Fleet in the Black Sea before he kicked this off.  After all their home port is already in there.

At any given time there's some Russians from the Black Sea fleet in the Med keeping an eye on Israel and Syria, and usually one down in the Red Sea doing pirate interdiction.  I would expect the rest of the fleet to already be up by the Ukraine.

Let's all hope Turkey doesn't sink one trying to run the straights at night.

Ben

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #345 on: February 27, 2022, 11:46:09 AM »
I almost feel bad putting this in a serious thread. Genius David Hogg thinks everyone should jump on Tinder to do psyops on Russian soldiers, as per a nearly 80 year old OSS manual. Mr anti-gun is now an I/CI expert.

https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2022/02/27/impressively-dumb-harvards-pride-david-hogg-tells-people-to-find-russian-soldiers-on-social-media-sites-like-tinder-to-sabotage-them/
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Boomhauer

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #346 on: February 27, 2022, 11:46:35 AM »
I think Putin actually expected the Russian army to be welcomed as liberators and it would all be over in a few days. I think meeting strong resistance even in the so called "Russian" areas threw a monkey wrench in their plans.

Plus as I asked a few pages back I wonder what the morale of the Russian army is like in all of this. I would be willing to bet most Russian soldiers were/are like "Why the F am I here?"

Reportedly a few have surrendered to the Ukrainians saying they weren’t told they were going to be invading Ukrainian and wanted nothing to do with killing Ukrainians. I can’t confirm it of course it’s all hearsay at this moment but it being true would not surprise me.

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OTOH, there wouldn't be a tweeker left in Georgia...

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RoadKingLarry

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #347 on: February 27, 2022, 11:49:13 AM »
Aren't a very significant number of Russian troops conscripts?
I can see that being an issue.
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #348 on: February 27, 2022, 12:03:41 PM »
The things that pop into your head while mopping the bathroom floor.

The Czars of old thought of themselves as the protectors of the Slavic race. Maybe Putin after "liberating" Ukraine had the grand idea of crowning himself Czar Putin I in  the old seat of Rus power Kiev. Yeah, crazy idea. But in my defense who knows what's going on in that guy's head. Wouldn't surprise me if that thought has passed through his mind.
 
Back to mopping. Want things nice and clean for when it's vaporized in a nuclear blast.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2022, 12:27:51 PM by WLJ »
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #349 on: February 27, 2022, 12:19:10 PM »
Quote
    Elon Musk activates Starlink internet service in Ukraine. Will allow Ukrainians to use for free to keep communications going during invasion.https://t.co/4a1Zrv8vaq

    — Jazz Shaw (@JazzShaw) February 27, 2022
"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us".
- Calvin and Hobbes