How do you reconcile your statements above and the fact that Russia has basically fought lowly Ukraine to a stalemate?
I had no idea there were so many Russian cheerleaders in here. Rah rah ree Kick em in the knee Rah rah rass Kick em in the Putin
Defeating Russia and saving us $2.5 trillion is more than repayment enough for me. Why do you not want to save $2.5 trillion?
I'm o.k. with that. If we have to suffer a little at the gas pump to defeat Putin-Hitler, that's not such a big deal. We survived $4.90/gallon gas not very long ago. I paid $9.19/gal on a vacation to Germany in 2008, a couple months before the bottom dropped out of the economy and the price of gas. I was way more pissed at the $650/week I was paying for (a small) car rental and the $650/week I was paying for insurance.
The entire party doesn’t even have a platform anymore it’s just a series of bad takes and a cult leader. The position on Ukraine is nonsensical, especially in historical context. Yet even as the war drags into a third year when we didn’t think it would last three weeks they still talk about how providing aid is a waste. the only thing aging is right about is the us is not currently able to replenish what we are sending over - and that is a huge problem as I’ve said over and over the west should be preparing for war. Especially if they are giving up in keeping it contained in Ukraine.
An interesting article on Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's oil refineries. Ukraine may not be doing it to knock out Russia's oil refining capabilities, to limit Russia's income, or to prevent Russia's military from getting fuel. They may be attacking the refineries to draw SAM systems away from the front lines and military facilities (airfields, etc.). Russia started the war with about 1,000 air defense systems. Ukraine has destroyed or captured about 200 of them. Russia has 36 oil refineries, many currently out of range of Ukraine's drones, so Ukraine can't completely wipe out Russian oil processing. Also, from my experience, refineries are typically so large that individual drone attacks will usually only knock out a small section of the refinery, unless it leads to widespread fires throughout the refinery. Russia can only make about 17 of the Pantsir air defense systems a year, assuming they can get get computer chips for them. Russia has a tendency to react to defend attacks on their infrastructure as opposed to defending front line infantry. Both sides are forming mobile defense groups, with autocannons and machine guns on top of pickup trucks with infrared sensors to try to knock out missiles and drones. On Jan 1, Ukraine's mobile defense forces knocked out 87 out of 90 drones targeting Ukrainian cities. Russia's problem is that it has many more sites to defend than Ukraine does. Now Russia has to choose which sites to defend and which to take their chances with. Are Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil industry actually aimed at something else?
Europe is finally taking steps to be ready for war in the future. Germany has a different gauge railroad track than the other countries in Europe for freight, and is finally upgrading their track to match the rest of Europe. If France wants to send tanks to the eastern front, they have to be offloaded before they can cross into Germany, and then loaded onto new rail cars. I believe the passenger track in Germany matches the rest of Europe, since passenger trains and HSR go between all of the major cities of Europe. German bureaucracy and old gauges: why boosting Europe’s train network is vital to prepare for war
British discover Russian stupidity. Russia was apparently tired of Ukraine blowing up so many of its aircraft while sitting on airfields, so they came up with a very crafty plan....to paint the likenesses of various Russian aircraft on the concrete at at least 13 different Russian airbases. The intent of this deception is obvious...to draw the fire of Ukraine's dwindling supply (thanks to our Republican Russian sympathizers in Congress) of Ukraine's missiles and bombs. One tiny problem with this ingenious plan...no one apparently told the Russian pilots and it has been discovered they are landing their helicopters on the painted decoy helicopters. That's MTG dumb right there. MSN
chemgator has self immolated on this thread. NavyGator93 has called me a pigeon but he is too weak to challenge me directly. Is there anyone who still thinks Ukraine should keep fighting?
In terms of relative damage … Ukraine is landing occasional jabs. Russia is hammering Ukraine with body blows.
Putin’s plan to conquer Europe appears to be working … Russia-friendly populist wins Slovakia presidential election
Sorry, been busy. Usually I just ignore your posts, what am I too weak to challenge you directly about? What type of challenge? Physical? Endurance? Small Arms? As I've aged my sheer physical power isn't what it used to be but endurance is out of control and few people can match me with pistol/rifle.
Ukraine destroys a very rare "doomsday" armored vehicle meant to safely transport senior Kremlin officials during a nuclear attack. No one knows how the Lagoda AFV got to the battlefield. It may indicate that Russia is running low on armored vehicles. Not something one would associate with Russia winning the war. The vehicle is built on a T-80 tank chassis with a gas turbine engine--sounds like a poor imitation of an Abrams tank. Ukraine appears to have destroyed a rare Soviet-era 'doomsday' armored vehicle that was first used at Chernobyl