Author Topic: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....  (Read 130943 times)

HankB

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1625 on: June 22, 2022, 12:17:10 PM »
If they believe that, they are smoking crack.  Lithuania is the most nationalistic of the Baltic States, remembers and hates the Soviets, and has a large group of folks that returned home in the 90's after long careers in the US military.  Of all the former SSR's, Lithuania is at the top of the list to successfully tell Russia to *expletive deleted*ck Off.  If Putin can't subdue the Ukraine, he has zero chance in Lithuania.

And that's before the rest of NATO wakes up and gets involved.
I remember when the USSR broke up and the Baltics regained their independence, there was a mass desertion of Lithuanians from the Red Army. The leadership insisted that the Lithuanians had to stay for the balance of their enlistment, but were ignored. And IIRC they were a bit . . . upset . . . that Lithuanian deserters were welcomed back to Lithuania rather than treated as Red Army deserters.
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MillCreek

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1626 on: June 22, 2022, 01:59:51 PM »
^^^I like to learn something every day: why were (or are) there numbers of Lithuanians serving in the US military?
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dogmush

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1627 on: June 22, 2022, 03:14:53 PM »
^^^I like to learn something every day: why were (or are) there numbers of Lithuanians serving in the US military?

A large number of Lithuanians came to the US as refugees from the Nazi's and Soviets.  They lived here, had kids, raised families, etc, while retaining a strong Lithuanian identity and community.  Their kids, and grandkids, having been born here were US citizens, and my understanding from the guys I talked to, was that that Lithuanian community put a lot of emphasis on being martial and joining the US military to be ready to fight the Soviets and reclaim their homeland.  When the USSR fell in the 90's, and the Lithuanian government reformed they welcomed home, and gave citizenship to, pretty much any ethnically Lithuanian kids of refugees (and obviously the refugees themselves, if still alive).  Due to the aforementioned strong community identity, a lot of Lithuanians in the US took them up on the citizenship.  Either dual US/Lithuanian, or just straight going home.  The way it was explained to me on my first Defender Europe was that in 1992-93 the fledgling government of Lithuania stood up an officer corps of pretty much all ethnically Lithuanian, US trained folks who had returned from the west.  That let them neatly sidestep the whole "We need a military, but those guys were Red Army last week" trust issues many former SSRs had.

Since then, and even more since 2004, they have been very proactive in cross training at US bases and doing a lot of joint exercises with us and the rest of NATO.  They joined ISAF early on, and when I was working with them in 2019 had managed to actually meet the NATO "2% of GDP" military funding requirement.

WLJ

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MechAg94

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1629 on: July 06, 2022, 10:32:51 AM »
Shocking Russian Military Corruption Exposed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F0kSDV9U_E


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJITZJWWblM
Is Ukraine losing the War?
This is an interview with someone who tracks what is going on in Russia.  Indicates Russia is not doing any sort of mobilization to ramp up efforts in the Ukraine.  Still seems to be winning even if slowly. 
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1630 on: July 06, 2022, 10:49:18 AM »
Russia is winning just not in the way they expected or wanted to. They expected a rollover but instead got a slow Verdun style grind.
IF Russia can keep up the pressure Ukraine should eventually crack. If Belarus does join the fray it's probably game over.

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dogmush

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1631 on: July 06, 2022, 11:01:43 AM »
I think Russia's original goal of a conquered Ukraine is lost.  They might be able to conquer some more lands in the east to add to the Crimea, IF they can keep it up.  If Ukraine can maintain foreign ammo coming in, and keep enough people alive to use it, they could conceivably push Russia completely out of the country, including the Crimea. I don't thing anyone, including Russia, really has a good idea of the state of their remaining forces and equipment, nor do we know how long it'll be till the world loses interest and Ukraine's ammo dries up.

HankB

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1632 on: July 06, 2022, 01:46:41 PM »
I think Russia's original goal of a conquered Ukraine is lost.  They might be able to conquer some more lands in the east to add to the Crimea, IF they can keep it up.  If Ukraine can maintain foreign ammo coming in, and keep enough people alive to use it, they could conceivably push Russia completely out of the country, including the Crimea. I don't thing anyone, including Russia, really has a good idea of the state of their remaining forces and equipment, nor do we know how long it'll be till the world loses interest and Ukraine's ammo dries up.
Joe Biden is putting his thumb on the scales - we were originally going to supply Ukraine with missiles having a nearly 200 mile range, but Biden was worried about how the Ukrainians might use them, so only "40 mile range" missiles will be supplied. There was talk about some sort of missile with a 400 mile range being in play, but the fear was that if the Russians hit Kiev again, the Ukrainians might decide to target Moscow, which is <400 miles from some parts of Ukraine that Russia isn't occupying.

Russia's strategy seems to have evolved from its initial "invade and take charge of the cities, factories, and infrastructure" goals to "bomb and shell the cr@p out of everything and occupy the rubble."  Makes it harder on the uncooperative Ukrainians.

Of course I don't know for sure what's going on, especially behind the scenes. This is just based on various US TV & internet news stories I've seen or heard, so take it for what it's worth.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

Lennyjoe

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1633 on: July 06, 2022, 03:59:47 PM »
I think Ukraine could change the tide of the war if they could just suppress the damn Russian artillery.  Air superiority would help if they had an Air Force to do so.

Most of the videos I’ve seen lately show the battlefield full of artillery impact craters everywhere….

Angel Eyes

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1634 on: July 11, 2022, 12:05:04 AM »
Unrolled thread about  Russian logistics in Ukraine, and the role of artillery in disrupting same:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1544495879884886017.html

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Lennyjoe

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1635 on: July 11, 2022, 10:16:00 AM »
  https://funker530.com/video/alleged-himars-strike-on-russian-logistics-warehouse-in-snizhne-ukraine/

Looks like our provided HIMARS rockets are making a mess out of Russias previously unreachable weapon dumps..


Angel Eyes

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1636 on: July 12, 2022, 10:24:01 PM »
Jordan Peterson weighs in on Russia vs. Ukraine, with some comments on the "woke" West as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxdHm2dmvKE

Lengthy, but worth a listen.
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kgbsquirrel

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1637 on: July 13, 2022, 02:56:07 AM »
https://funker530.com/video/alleged-himars-strike-on-russian-logistics-warehouse-in-snizhne-ukraine/

Looks like our provided HIMARS rockets are making a mess out of Russias previously unreachable weapon dumps..

When the heck did we give them HIMARS?   ???

Ron

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1638 on: July 27, 2022, 03:08:52 PM »
Seems all of us in the west were looking for lightening warfare by Russia to take Ukraine. Instead it seems to be more along the lines of creeping death.
For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

RocketMan

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1639 on: July 27, 2022, 03:37:14 PM »
When the heck did we give them HIMARS?   ???

Some weeks ago.  We even trained their folks in the use of the HIMARS.  You need to pay a little closer attention.   ;)
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Ben

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1640 on: July 27, 2022, 03:49:10 PM »
The dynamic with Ukraine is getting interesting. I saw Zelensky and his wife had the time to do a photo spread in Vogue, and Zelensky has made Rand Paul and a few others persona non grata in Ukraine. Kind of a weird way to portray a "free and open Ukraine" being attacked by oppressive Russia.
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WLJ

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1641 on: July 29, 2022, 01:57:08 PM »
Popped up on twitter
I'm not in any way shape or form taking one side or other to it's verity

Quote
Yaroslav Trofimov
@yarotrof
Spokeswoman for Donetsk People’s Republic tells Russian military TV that 50 Ukrainian POWs from Azov, kept in a separate barrack, were killed in the Olenivka strike and many more injured. But, what a happy coincidence, none of the Russian guards were killed or injured. 🤔
https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1553004152489402368?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email
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sumpnz

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1642 on: July 29, 2022, 03:00:02 PM »
The dynamic with Ukraine is getting interesting. I saw Zelensky and his wife had the time to do a photo spread in Vogue, and Zelensky has made Rand Paul and a few others persona non grata in Ukraine. Kind of a weird way to portray a "free and open Ukraine" being attacked by oppressive Russia.
.

While I still believe Ukraine has the right to defend itself from unprovoked invasion, and Russia was wrong to invade, I also still maintain that Ukraine isn’t likely the pure, innocent victims they’ve been made out to be.  And I wonder just how “unprovoked” this invasion really was.

Ben

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1643 on: July 29, 2022, 03:07:53 PM »
.

While I still believe Ukraine has the right to defend itself from unprovoked invasion, and Russia was wrong to invade, I also still maintain that Ukraine isn’t likely the pure, innocent victims they’ve been made out to be.  And I wonder just how “unprovoked” this invasion really was.

Yup. As much as I like a good "white hats vs black hats" story, this really is all about grey hats. As are many conflicts, I reckon.
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cordex

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1644 on: July 29, 2022, 03:15:16 PM »
I think Ukraine’s provocation was predominantly economic.

Hawkmoon

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1645 on: July 31, 2022, 01:16:13 PM »
This article is not available to me because I don't subscribe, and there's no reader view available. Can someone provide a Cliff's Notes summary for me?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-invasion-of-ukraine-widens-spiritual-rifts-among-the-nations-christians-11659265203
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
100% Politically Incorrect by Design

MechAg94

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1646 on: July 31, 2022, 04:46:01 PM »
I think Ukraine’s provocation was predominantly economic.
I am nearly certain the US and EU were up to some stuff there that no one wants to talk about.  Almost certainly a lot of money was being laundered through that country.  Maybe the truth will come out one day.
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RocketMan

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1647 on: July 31, 2022, 05:52:30 PM »
I am nearly certain the US and EU were up to some stuff there that no one wants to talk about.  Almost certainly a lot of money was being laundered through that country.  Maybe the truth will come out one day.

The Big Guy was getting his 10% for sure.
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.

HankB

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1648 on: July 31, 2022, 06:28:26 PM »
What gets me is WHY we're giving US MONEY to Ukraine to run their government?

Kickbacks to The Big Guy and others?

I remember hearing that there was somewhere north of 600 billion dollars worth of Russian assets in the west frozen when Putin invaded - if we're going to finance the Ukraine government, why not release some of that Russian money to Ukraine instead?
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

RoadKingLarry

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Re: War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....
« Reply #1649 on: July 31, 2022, 07:00:21 PM »
There seems to be some difference between "frozen" and stolen "confiscated". But, other than that I agree with you.
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