Exactly. And I would add, how many countries has NATO invaded? Was Putin really stupid enough to believe that a NATO invasion of Russian soil was imminent? The truth is that Putin believes that as a regional bully and exporter of destruction and mayhem, he has certain inalienable rights, and one of those rights is to invade a neighbor whenever he feels like it. NATO's expansion threatened his ability to attack his neighbors. None of the countries in NATO are noted in this day and age for being enthusiastic about warfare or invading other countries. The countries in NATO are among the most civilized and committed to peace in the world. It's like having a having a family with daughters in the Girl Scouts move in next door. You know they are going to annoy you with sales pitches for cookies, but in no way does that justify you becoming a serial killer and going off on them. (Dear comrade: in this analogy, Putin is serial killer.)
Notice that, as it becomes increasingly obvious, that Ukraine is falling apart, that the conversation turns to the infantile (and hypocritical coming from Americans) accusation of unprovoked aggression.
What’s gotten into Zaluzhny ? If he perused this thread he’d know that Russian morale has hit rock-bottom and that Russian troops are eating zoo animals to ward off starvation ... “Russian mobilisation has worked,” says General Zaluzhny….“The enemy shouldn’t be discounted. They are not weak…and they have very great potential in terms of manpower.” “I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 IFVs, 500 Howitzers.” “It seems to me we are on the edge. What kind of mood will the fighters be in? Without water, light and heat, can we talk about preparing reserves to keep fighting?” This from his recent interview with The Economist.
If this Ukrainian soldier perused this thread he’d know that Russians are fighting without socks and half of them are frostbitten. From CNN ... “Everyone understands that the city will be abandoned. Everyone understands this,” he said. “I just want to understand what the point [in fighting house to house] is. Why die, if we are going to leave it anyway today or tomorrow?”…“No one will tell you how many dead and wounded there are. Because no one knows for sure.”
I'm not sure why anyone actually listens to this guy - he's been wrong. Like A LOT. Like an embarrassing amount.
I can’t think of anything that Brian Berletic has been wrong about. Perhaps one thing: he earlier argued that it would take months to train Ukies on HIMARS. In his defense, he couldn’t have known that the US was covertly delivering HIMARS months before it acknowledged that it was delivering the weapons.
Ukrainian soldier: “Do you expect me to keep fighting ?” Zelensky: “No, Mr. Soldier. I expect you to die!” Note: Zelensky has reportedly a FOURTH attempt to retake Soledar. The previous three have been destroyed. Ukrainian losses as high as 20,000 in the town of Soledar alone. The Vietnamese weren’t losing this many.
Abrams getting smoked in Yemen. Leopards getting crushed in Syria. They’ll light up like Christmas trees in winter Ukraine.
I believe the last time U.S. tanks and Russian tanks squared off in large numbers was in 1991, in Iraq/Kuwait. One side lost 3300 tanks, and the other lost 31 tanks. Guess which side Russia's tanks were on? That's right, Iraq was fielding T-72 tanks, which the Russians are also fielding in significant numbers against Ukraine. Maybe the newer Russian T-90 tanks can surpass the 1:100 kill ratio of the Iraqi T-72's, but I don't know if I would count on it. If Ukraine's tankers can be properly trained, Russia's tanks are toast. There will always be some losses of even the best tanks in tank battles, but the Abrams tanks have speed, accuracy, and a fire rate that I don't think the Russian tanks can match (and the Leopard tanks of Germany might be just as good). We already know that Russia's military leadership can't match up with Ukraine's, so you can forget about Russia out-smarting Ukraine. So then Russian admirers have to count on dumb luck as their only hope. Not a good battle plan. Gulf War - Wikipedia
A team of pissed-off beavers has decided to defend Ukraine from Belarus. Surprisingly, the Belarus army is so ineffective that a team of pissed-off beavers can defeat them. The beavers have been creating wet, sloppy messes on the border between Belarus and Ukraine, and Belarus does not yet have the technology to compete with the beavers. The Belarus army has tried gnawing on trees, but without success. Belarus has not yet decided whether to surrender to the angry beavers or to run in the opposite direction and surrender to Poland. Ukraine credits local beavers for unwittingly bolstering its defenses — their dams make the ground marshy and impassable (yahoo.com)
