War in Ukraine

we couldn't produce more fuel. refineries and pipeline networks are pretty much maxed out as is. we may have been able to push more lng after 6 months or so with some concentrated effort

i think all decisions on ukraine also went through an inflation lens. raising oil by sanctioning the shadow fleet and no exemptions for China and India and ramping up munitions and armament production (restoration of mothballed fleets to be sent to Ukraine) would have been short term inflationary but long term beneficial. Sadly, very few politicains look long term and neither does the average voter. The loser in that shortsightedness is the Ukranian and the Russian people.

 

That is possible. For myself, though, it looks like Sullivan has been running his own foreign policy and, maybe, back briefing the President after some of the decisions were an established fact. There are too many rumors of generals and other foreign policy leaders not being able to get access to the President when critical decisions were being made (or not made) during the Afghanistan catastrophe, our alienation of Saudi Arabia, and our sacrificing other foreign policy goals to try and get a new deal with Iran (which we never did). For the moment, there's only speculation. The truth about these things tends to come out years later. We will see.

Again, could be. From my perspective, the disaster in Afghanistan was a far bigger motivator to Russia and China to accelerate their timelines for recovering territory they believe is theirs. I was overseas in support of INHERENT RESOLVE when the strategic blunder in Afghanistan occurred, and it was less than a month later that our intelligence started noting the build-up of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border.* I just don't think it was a coincidence. Russia and China smelled blood in the water, and thought it was time to settle all family business. China just got lucky in the fact that they were able to postpone their move on Taiwan once they saw how much the Russians struggled against Western arms.

* Before anyone asks, the reason this was significant to us in the Middle East was because of the ongoing coordination we had with Russia in parts of Syria at that time.

 

Explosions Rock Russian Nuclear Aviation Plant After Massive Drone Raid

A Ukrainian drone attack on Monday morning is reported to have targeted a nuclear aviation plant in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Tatarstan Republic, located east of Moscow.

The ASTRA Telegram channel, a project run by independent Russian journalists, said Ukraine targeted the plant in a massive drone attack, and struck an empty tank on its territory. Newsweek could not independently verify the claim.

Local officials said Ukraine had attempted to attack an "industrial enterprise" in the republic, but that no damage was caused, and all drones were downed.

 

There are a lot of ways we could potentially absolve certain presidents for mistakes which happened on their watch. Specifically ones that don't normally fall under their purview or have extraordinary circumstances. However, as CIC, that is definitely a "buck stops here" position if there ever was one. If Biden allowed Sullivan to back brief in the manner in which you speak of, to me, that is tantamount to making a really bad call on the battlefield as the CIC.

I'm sure you would agree the chain of command exists for good reason and if Biden was delegating that much discretion to his NSA, he was forfeiting his constitutional chain of command and we shouldn't be surprised with the results. That said, I do not think this is a full reflection of what happened. I think Biden laid out his objectives and crippled his NSA from the start. A no win situation for Sullivan. That doesn't mean I think Sullivan would perform any better under a different CIC, but it makes no sense to me that the gist of how we watched Ukraine play out was at the behest of Sullivan. I think it was Sullivan doing his best to do what Biden wanted.

There is simply too much evidence which suggests Joe Biden lacked command, not due to lack of attempting to assert it, but because he was delusional regarding foreign policy. His removal of sanctions on Venezuela, for example, shows how separated from reality he is in that realm. Although, I do believe as time went along, he was being duped by his underlings. But as long as he keeps himself in that seat, we have to assume by and large his staff was carrying out his vision.

 

more volunteers for the next suicidal assault?

Russian economic turmoil leads to potential mass layoffs at Gazprom and Sberbank

Energy behemoth Gazprom is contemplating cutting nearly 40% of its staff at its Saint Petersburg headquarters. The company's deputy chairwoman, Yelena Ilyukhina, proposed dismissing 1,600 of its 4,100 employees in a letter she sent to Gazprom's CEO, Alexei Miller.

Gazprom has experienced a significant drop in revenue since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Its gas trade with Europe has particularly suffered, leading the company to forecast an annual net loss in 2023 - its first since 1999.
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In a fresh setback, Sberbank, one of Russia's foremost financial institutions, is poised to initiate sizable cutbacks within its ancillary businesses.

The affected subsidiaries are listed as Cooper, MegaMarket, SberLogistics, and Samokat. Reports suggest that anywhere from 30% up to half of their workforce, including IT experts, may face layoffs.

 

Top sponsor of war against Ukraine purchases record volume of Russian oil

China increased its crude oil imports from Russia by 1% in 2024 compared to 2023, reaching a record level. Imports from Saudi Arabia fell by 9%, Reuters reports.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, the volume of deliveries from Russia, including pipeline and seaborne supplies, amounted to 108.5 million tons, which is equivalent to 2.17 million barrels per day.

 

North Korean Troops Thought Ukraine War Was an Exercise

North Korean troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine thought the war was a military exercise, according to videos released by Ukraine. Videos of two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine show them confessing via a translator that they did not know what country they were in, with one of the soldiers saying he was told they were being sent on a training exercise.
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Footage of a North Korean soldier, disseminated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Monday, shows the soldier stating that he did not receive adequate training, that he was transported over on a cargo ship not a military vessel, and that his mother does not currently know where he is.

"Communication between captured North Korean soldiers and SSU investigators continues. Intelligence data on the movement of such troops to Russian territory, their training and complete information isolation have been confirmed by the prisoners," Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside a video of the soldier.

 

As I recall, many of the junior Russian prisoners captured around Kyiv in the early days of the war reported the same thing. They thought they were on an exercise in Belarus right up to the moment they were issued live ammunition.

 

a little targeted sabotage to cause some logistical problems

Locomotive providing logistics for Russian army destroyed in St. Petersburg

A 3M62U locomotive was recently destroyed in St. Petersburg, Russia. It provided logistics for the Russian occupation army, according to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.

According to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, the Russian locomotive was destroyed on January 18, 2025, at the Rychy tram depot in St. Petersburg. This locomotive was used by Russians to provide logistics for their army.

According to preliminary data, the fire destroyed the entire control system. “The locomotive, which was transporting Russian weapons, ammunition, and military equipment by rail, is not subject to restoration,” the DIU said.

The guerrillas also sabotaged a railroad in the Rostov region of Russia. Agents of the Atesh guerrilla movement burned down a relay cabinet on the main railroad connecting Russia and the occupied part of the Donetsk region.

 

I forgot about the Inauguration party I was throwing …

 

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Lots of mixed feelings today. But not on this:



Good riddance, you no-talent ass clown.

 

Trump today: Russia has had 1,000,000 soldiers killed in Ukraine. Not casualties, but total dead.

 

Trump today: “Putin is destroying Russia.”

 

Trump today: “we won ALL the swing states.”

 

With all due respect to the President, that number is not close to accurate. A liberal estimate of Russian KIA is around 300K.

 

He also said Ukraine 700,000 killed in action. Trump is knowingly exaggerating, but the goal is to bring awareness to the war so that it will stop. His critiques of Putin destroying Russia from within were the harshest I have heard from him to date.

 

So here it is. Biden purposefully hung Zelensky out to dry …

Why Biden's Ukraine Win Was Zelensky's Loss

 

Do you have a link, so I can see exactly what he said? I see where the President has asserted the truth that the war is destroying Russia, but I can’t find anything asserting the 1M Russian KIA.