A fantastic article from CNN that debunks all of the crap coming from Russia about the West crossing lines and escalating the war in Ukraine. Something our more ignorant posters could learn from, if they could read it all the way from start to finish without convulsing and having their eyes roll back in their heads. Putin wants to frame every attempt by Ukraine to defend itself as an escalation. In reality, Russia is doing all of the escalation, whether it is with missile attacks on city centers, or opening torture centers in Ukraine. With the Kremlin propaganda machine, anything Ukraine or the West does to resist Russia is classified as an escalation, and one with potentially dire consequences. The technique is called "reflexive control", and is one that Russia employs routinely. Russia tries to impose a false set of choices on its adversary to force the opponent into limiting their options to respond to Russian provocations. Eventually, the opponent (whether that is Ukraine or western countries in this case) argues from Russian premises instead of their own. You wonder how people could be so stupid as to allow their enemy decide what and how they should think in their decision-making process, but apparently, the Russian system of bullying engages a deeper and more primitive part of the brain that overrides logic and sense. Both Biden and the Germans have clearly been susceptible to this kind of manipulation. Of course, the pathetic logic that uneducated republicans sometimes use to justify not helping Ukraine--"it costs too much!"--is due to ignorance of the fact that not defeating Russia in Ukraine will cost 20 times as much, if not more. That self-defeating logic is self-inflicted, but no doubt the killers in the Kremlin appreciate it just the same. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/28/europe/ukraine-russia-escalation-atacms-intl-latam/index.html
russian glide bombs is what has been moving the front lines. without long range (62 mi??) a2a missiles, they cannot push the russian bombers back Ukrainian Su-27 Flanker Pilot’s Rare Account Of The Changing Air War The difference in approach is also seen in Russian tactics. Viking says the Russians frequently use at least 10 times as many munitions in one single area of the front lines than Ukraine does across the entirety of the front lines in a month. Viking suggests that, while Ukrainian munitions might achieve an accuracy as high as 85%, Russian equivalents might only attain 15-20% on target, hence the need for more and heavier weapons to compensate. Viking also warns again about the particular threat posed by Russia’s relatively recently developed low-cost precision-guided glide bombs — a menace that has frustrated Ukrainian air defenses since they first began to appear in early 2023. “To treat the symptom, it’s necessary to drive away the carriers of these glide bombs, but this is a difficult task, and it requires a complex approach. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand to drive them away. It needs a complex approach, including both the aviation component and the ground component, as well as the necessary air defense radars, and air-to-air missiles that have the ability to hit, at least at medium altitudes, targets at a range of 100 kilometers [62 miles],” Viking says, referring to the need for beyond-visual-range missiles to target the aircraft launching the glide bombs. “Without all these means, if the Russians continue to throw glide bombs, then the consequences will be terrible, they will simply squeeze us out, no matter how incredible our infantry is.
NATO is purely a defensive organization that moved 1,000 km and 16 countries and armed Russia’s next door neighbor before Russia had its morning tomato juice.
When you say "had its morning tomato juice", are you referring to Russia engaging in some forcible, non-medical bloodletting of its neighbor? If Vlad the Impaler Putin weren't so bloodthirsty in his need for Ukrainian "tomato juice" every morning, Russia would have nothing to fear from NATO.
To begin its massive eastward ‘defensive’ thrust, NATO had to confront Putin, in Portugal, and drive him all the way back to Russia.
Wow, that sounds awful. How many of those countries did NATO forcibly invade to make them join NATO? I mean, you wouldn't be trying to pass off countries asking to join an organization because it is in their interest as a form of offensive action, would you?
What was Putin the known marauder and land thief doing in Portugal? Looking at real estate? Or shopping for more "tomato juice"? Sounds like someone did Putin a favor if he was lost and needed a ride home, and was incapable of driving himself home. None of the other leaders of European countries have had any difficulty staying home and avoiding wandering into other countries looking for blood in the last 80 years.
Ukranian military intelligence concluded in April 2024 that the war was lost. Now it's all about corrupt actors lining their pockets with US cash
Sampling of countries the purely defensive NATO has attacked in order to curb a rapacious Russia 75 Years of NATO = 75 Years of Denial
duck://player/MEMkVI4y1QA Ukraine military intelligence concluded Russia had won the war in April 2024 (2 years and 2 months after duggers_dad and vegasfox reached the same conclusion)
Apparently, the U.S. is not a threat to its neighbors and has not been in over a century. Something that many Russians probably wish they could say, but they can't. You know, because Russia IS a threat to its neighbors.
Venezuela, Panama, Cuba and various other Latin American countries on the phone for. And while we’re on the subject, how do we get a Monroe Doctrine and Russia doesn’t ?
So dumb. The US wanted to use Ukraine to take out Putin and split Russia into 17-32 different countries--Jaques Baud Ukraine started the war by violating Minsk 2 (which it signed) when they started shelling Russian-speakers with artillery. That violated 1 of Russia's 3 red lines. On Feb 23, 2024, Kamala Harris said Ukraine would join NATO. That violated 1 of Russia's 3 red lines. Russia invaded the next day. Obviously if Ukraine joined NATO they would eventually have long-range hypersonic missiles that could reach Moscow in 3 minutes. That would violate 1 of Russia's 3 red lines. Russia wasn't a threat to any of its neighbors. Stupid people started this war and now they're pretending they had no choice. Poor chemgator. He called other people "useful idiots" and "clowns" but it is now crystal clear that he was engaging in confession by projection. His self immolation on this thread has been a joy to watch.