im just shocked that all these hits haven't caused a major logistics problems throughout the country. do they have that much extra refinery capacity or is their demand down that much such that it isn't creating shortages? Russia exported lots of refined products before the war so maybe that drop in exports would offset loss of capacity..
Michael Myers was real, the bogeyman of a Russia bent on rolling through Europe is borne of hysteria. That said, weapons manufacturers would love to get their hands on a goodly portion of that projected $808 billion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin: "I assure you, Trump, with his character, with his persistence, will restore order there quite quickly, and all of them—you'll see, it will happen quickly—soon they will all stand at the feet of the master and will gently wag their tails. Everything will fall into place." "Master" Donald Trump will "restore order" in Europe, Putin says
What a @#$^&n load of crap. Russia can't get past Ukraine in 3 years, but we're supposed to believe that after they stumble bloodied and beaten all to hell through Ukraine, they're going to plow right through the NATO ironclad barrier, MADD be dawned, and invade @#$%&n Europe???? Who actually believes that load of horse shit? That's richer than the one about the magic bat shitting covid on a wet market (that just happened to be situated in the back yard of the chicom viro bio warfare lab...but no connection, of course...). Damn....ppl will believe any damn thing anyone makes up as long as it's delivered with a straight face. Come the @#$% on.... use your damn heads... does that make a lick of sense? Does that hold a drop of @#$%&n water?
Also, More things to believe: Ukraine had upwards of 1.2 million troops in the beginning, has conducted as many as ten conscriptions since and has lost 45,000 troops.
Whatever happened to the anti-war left ? Democrats are the new war party and the “if the government wanted us to know they would have told us” crowd.
Relax Neville, I'm thinking your felon skidmark will give you your appeasement soon enough. Unless Ukraine can bribe him out of it.
Have you ever heard of something called history? History consists of events that actually happened. Did you know that Nazi Germany was relatively ineffective in its invasion of Poland? They were nowhere near the juggernaut they were eight months later. They had a lot of weapons in the developmental pipeline, and they benefitted enormously from the experience they gained while invading Poland. The rest of Europe was either completely unprepared to fight, or was only prepared to fight WWI again (France). As for Russia being completely unable to take Ukraine, they came extremely close to taking Kiev in the first month of the war. It is possible that Putin pulled the troops back from Kiev to get another general to share the responsibility of taking Kiev, because Putin was afraid the first general would be too popular in Russia (and would be a threat to Putin). That's one theory, anyway. Russia would not target the nuclear powers any time in the near future. He would focus on picking off the weaker countries, like Moldova or Lithuania, if he ever secured Ukraine. He would wait for the economies of the European countries to weaken before acting on them.
Conspicuously missing from the conversation…. This ain’t good… Zelenskyy: Ukraine received US$76 billion out of US$177 billion approved by America Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Associated Press Quote: "When I hear – both in the past and even now – from the US that America has provided Ukraine with hundreds of billions [of dollars] (177, to be precise, based on what Congress approved), as the president of a nation at war, I can tell you – we’ve received more than US$75 billion. So, when people talk about US$177 billion or even US$200 billion, we’ve never received that. We’re talking about tangible things because this aid didn’t come as cash but rather as weapons, which amounted to about US$70 billion. But when it’s said that Ukraine received US$200 billion to support the army during the war – that’s not true. I don’t know where all that money went. Perhaps it’s true on paper with hundreds of different programmes – I won’t argue, and we’re immensely grateful for everything. But in reality, we received about US$76 billion. It’s significant aid, but it’s not US$200 billion." Zelenskyy: Ukraine received US$76 billion out of US$177 billion approved by America
As there appears to be little our crumbling empire can do to stop Russia at this point, better begin to bone up on the language.
drip, drip, drip..then the dam bursts Russian economy on the verge of meltdown as shopping malls face bankruptcy Russia’s economy is on the brink of collapse, as shopping malls face the threat of permanent closure due to rising taxes and skyrocketing rent costs. As Russian consumers drastically cut their spending, many businesses—including shopping malls—are disappearing. According to the Shopping Mall Association, 200 malls are on the verge of bankruptcy. "Now shopping malls have problems closing existing loan agreements, and new loans are completely unavailable to them," explained Oleg Voitsekhovsky, managing director of the Russian Council of Shopping Centres (STC). On top of this, taxes continue to rise steadily, a trend expected to continue this year, according to Pavel Lyulin, vice president of STC. Other industries are also suffering from the economic crisis, particularly the coal sector, which is struggling to export and has reported losses of 80 billion rubles.
non-kinetic drone destruction.. hopefully this non-kinetic weapon system can be deployed on land too not in Ukraine..yet US destroyers in the Red Sea conflict defeated enemy weapons without firing a shot, changing the way warships fight Documents obtained by Business Insider detail multiple incidents throughout the Navy's counter-Houthi mission in which US destroyers used "non-kinetic" capabilities, engagement methods not dependent on munitions and physical destruction, to defeat the hostile drones launched by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels. Between November 27, 2023, and March 9, 2024, sailors aboard the USS Mason "successfully executed the engagements" of a drone using undefined "non-kinetic effects" to intercept the uncrewed system. These actions prevented damage to Navy and coalition warships and commercial vessels, one of the documents said. And on February 19, 2024, sailors aboard USS Gravely used an unspecified "Non-Kinetic Weapon system" in multiple successful non-kinetic engagements against drones in combat, according to another document. It said that these non-kinetic engagements are "not only proving non-kinetic weapon systems work underway, but changing the way the Surface Navy fights wars at sea."
An economic collapse is not as easy to define as a political or military collapse is, but I agree that all of the data we are seeing is inauspicious for Russia. The Trump Administration might be wise to stop pushing for negotiations so hard and let Russia be the ones who request to come to the table. At this point, it seems time might be on Ukraine's side, which is to say that on current trajectory the strategic picture gets worse every day for Russia vis-a-vis Ukraine. The only possible remedy for that is a huge Russian victory in the field, but the prognosis for that gets progressively worse as the days tick by as well. Ukraine seems to be playing this smart strategically by continuing to trade space for time while maximizing Russian casualties, getting in sharp blows on the Russian petroleum industry, and stating that they're willing to come to the table. If Russia's response continues to be "Don't make us destroy Ukraine in the field!" then ours needs to be, "Show us. We don't think you can."
How would you know? The U.S. has done very little to stop Russia up to this point. We have not fired a single rifle at Russia, and we have not dropped a single bomb on Russia, and we have not fired a single missile at Russia. All we did was provide some weapons and ammunition for Ukraine to use as they see fit, and put some economic sanctions on Russia. Ukraine has done an excellent job of killing more Russians than the Russians have killed Ukrainians, and they have destroyed a lot more Russian equipment than Russia has destroyed of theirs. They have given up some land to the much larger army, but they have kept Russia away from their capital. Ukraine is currently in an excellent position to win this war, since it appears that they will not lose too much more land before the Russian economy collapses. Not the outcome you were hoping for, but a positive outcome for humanity. You should probably bone up on reality.
Credit where due: Russia has found an innovative and fuel-efficient (if dated) method for getting artillery shells from its rear areas to its guns in the field. This might be the thing that convinces General Kellogg et al that Russia has more than a year left in it.
An article indicates that just because Russia is failing badly in Ukraine does not mean that it is not dangerous to the rest of Europe. Russia's problems in Ukraine don't mean it's unable to attack the West. NATO allies warn its war machine is spun up and as dangerous as ever.
