I guess what I don't understand is, why aren't more countries sending drones. In particular, the Turkish drones. It seems like it'd be easier to find people to man the drones than it is to find pilots to fly more expensive fighter jets.
I think these are the key to the Ukrainian resistance. With these massive pillars of the Russian convoys, these things should be able to mitigate a lot of the Russian charge on the front lines.
It could be because it's cheaper and more efficient. I've read about how the Russian army doesn't return bodies to their families or give an explanation. I'm not sure if this was in the dying days of the Soviet era or current Russia.
Not sure what your takeaway from the tweet, or your implication is, but I interpreted the meaning that in less than a week, russia lost almost half as many people as the US in the entire Iraq war. Which at least to me, offers hope that russia will see the dangerous folly of an unpopular and immoral takeover of a country determined to defend itself and pull out.
If Putin invades Finland or Sweden there will be likely be a very strong impetus to intervene but the US isn't treaty bound to defend them. I don't know if other NATO members like Norway or the Baltic states might have treaties with them that could drag NATO into it. I'm not sure what you mean by the fear is just convenience. There is legitimate fear that Putin doesn't limit himself to Ukraine and even with just Ukraine there are issues that are concerning with Russian expansionism. It's also important to remember this isn't 1938. The world is far more interconnected and things like sanctions that cut off trade and access to international systems is far more potent than it was then.
Lol. @SuraGotMadHops do y’all worship this dude because he makes y’all feel smart? Jebus he couldn’t be trusted to run a hot dog stand.
Yes. So basically Ukraine gets sacrificed. That may not encourage the same level of resistance from the next nation. I'm not saying it's the wrong stance to talk but it is a crappy reality.
I get the idea of a long drawn out ostracizing and punishing economically. Maybe it would work. But North Korea has lasted a long time. Russia has more resources than N. Korea, too. In addition our increased prices are prolonged and we feel some sting from that. That said, there are definite reasons not risk escalation with Russia. Nuclear war is a huge loss for everyone. It's a tough call for sure.
It might be disinformation, but Andy Ngo, a known spreader of disinformation, is one person I would not listen to. my prev statement stand - maybe he’s a spy From the 2018 article: Sounds like a victim of Russian disinformation after his busn went down during the Great Recession and he reached out to the internet. Believe he’s fighting for good and freedom against neo-nazi and fascists. If there is a connection here, it is that Russian propaganda is powerful and pro-Putin altitude that we saw over the last few years, and even after the invasion is evidence of that. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articl...n-foot-soldier-vladimir-putin-russia-hacking/ He had led something of a swashbuckling life; he’d been an Army engineer based in Germany, a hard-partying musician in South Padre, a mar1juana legalization activist in Minnesota and Alaska, and a drug trafficker on the run from the U.S. Marshals. In the early nineties, he’d even vied for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Bentley immersed himself in Russian media sources that blamed the war on “U.S.-backed Nazis.” He imagined the struggle as something akin to the Spanish Civil War, which had been famously portrayed by writers such as Ernest Hemingway as a fight between democracy and fascism. He began fantasizing about banding together with like-minded freedom fighters against so-called “Ukrainian fascism,” and months later he started planning his journey to Donetsk. “I felt a responsibility to come here and show the people of Donbass and the world that not everyone in the United States supports the fascist government of the United States that supports the Nazi government of Ukraine.” For years his media diet had consisted of a vast constellation of Kremlin-friendly fringe websites like Veterans Today and Global Research. (He later became a fan of Southfront, which appears “to be a Russian front that deliberately obscures its origins,” a State Department official told Politico.) The perspectives that he found there, from articles lamenting the shrinking American middle class to posts about the failures of the American justice system, resonated with his own experiences.
If you take an Andy Ngo tweet at its word maybe we should view your posts with more skepticism. Nobody thought the idea of a redneck singing the praises of Russia was a good thing.
I've been saying this for awhile but we have to understand the limits of what we can do. Saddly that does mean that we can't go all in to save Ukraine. Militarily we're not going in at all. Biden reiterated that last night. It's a horrible and terrible situation for the people of Ukraine but even if there was the political will to go into Ukraine we aren't in that position to effectively stop Russia. As we should know launching a credible military intervention takes time and to face Russia on it's own neighborhood would take a massive mobilization of not just US forces but also much of NATO forces. If Biden said last night we were going to send troops into defend Ukraine it's likely Russia speeds up its attack and becomes even more bloody and indiscriminate to create facts on the ground. What happens is by the time we get there more Ukrainians are dead and their cities are leveled. If we rely on air power while that has been shown very potent it hasn't shown the ability to completely stop a military advancement. It still required air major commitment of ground forces to defeat Saddam or even ISIS. Neither of those had the air defenses of Russia. As I said earlier too what happens when inevitably we shoot Russian planes down and they shoot ours down? What happens if they capture downed pilots and parade them on social media? More important is that just striking Russian forces in Ukraine likely won't cut it. To be effective will have to hit support infrastructure that is in Russia. If that happens Russia will then claim this really is a war of self-defense and mobilize even further. And of course we can't forget that Russia can project power. Even short of going to nukes they can launch their own missile strikes and air raids into NATO territory. TO stop an air war they could attack NATO bases in NATO countries. This could easily escalate into all out war. Besides the millions that will die in Europe it will cause a global depression that's economic dislocations could be felt all over the World. It's also unclear what happens with NATO and the US fighting Russia what other countries who are allied, client states or trade partners with those countries do. For example UAE is tacitly aligning with Russia. Qatar is with the US. Both are currently US allies but have longstanding beefs. What if they decided it's time to take one or the other out? Syria is a Russian ally and Iran has tacitly worked with Russia. What if they decide this is a good time to take out the US backed government of IRaq and then take on Saudi Arabia and the Sunni Arab states? Who knows what India or the PRC does in all this? To be just a little over dramatic this could easily spin into WWIII and where it ends nobody knows. The question that everyone needs to ask is that yes we need to stop Putin and Ukraine should be saved but does that mean we risk WWIII over Ukraine?
[Deep, Learned Thoughts] Putin's speech a week ago was quite an interesting read (link below). He complains about NATO's decades-long aggression and eastward expansion over time and the United State's pursuit of policies that only benefit itself to the detriment of Russia. There is a feeling on his part that this is unjust and immoral behavior by the United States. And he goes on to list many historical injustices including US military actions in Belgrade, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, among others. It is true that the US has been the military aggressor on the world stage repeatedly... and it is also true that in some cases the rationale that we used to attack was viewed as questionable by others in the world. Putin makes the case that the US doesn't live by the same code of honor, frequently lies, and uses leverage and blackmail to obtain its objectives around the world (Iraq's WMD being the main example that he cites). He may be right about some aspects of those conflicts, if we look at things objectively. With that said, we are not duty bound to behave in any other way. We have the resources and might to do whatever we want. And life's not fair or just, especially for our adversaries. That's life buddy. Putin is a terrible person who is clearly upset by the diminished power of the Soviet/Russian empire. He is also extremely intelligent and driven, and will stop at nothing to protect Russian interests. This combination creates a volatile and dangerous set of variables for the world. My best guess is that Putin's poison pill for Western powers is $200/barrel oil and €200/MwH natural gas costs in Europe. This would cause the global economy to collapse. Think S&P 500 at 2500 instead of 4300 (today). None of this is good for our way of life. We need leadership to oppose Putin and stop his advance. I'm not sure there is a figure in power today (anywhere globally) capable of leading on this, however. Also concerning. https://theprint.in/world/full-text...special-military-operation-in-ukraine/845714/
I'm shocked and befuddled by the lack of logistics coordination in this war by Russia. It's military planning 101 to make sure your supply chain is solid. What this really shows is the utter lack of organization and delegation from the top down. When people mentioned the poor quality of the Russian military leadership, I sort of swept that under the rug as a few bad apples. This is totally different. It's a clown show over there, zero management, just a big race by differing squads to conquer Ukraine. I don't think Russia could win this if Ukraine had been supplied with proper military equipment to resist the onslaught of the Russian army. Crazy.
While Russia tries to surround Ukraine cities, Russia is already surrounded by an unprecedented coordinated level of sanctions and isolation. I don't know if anyone actually knows the fallout of that. It might be more powerful than direct military confrontation without risking WW3 (that's the hope)... or it might actually risk WW3.
Russia's way of life and economy is not the old USSR. It's fully western from apple pay at the train station to imports for most of their materials. It's not the isolated economy that depends on no one else. I don't think Putin thought the world would go this far this fast with sanctions.
