War in Ukraine

Why respond to an obvious troll comment from an obvious troll. Ignore them and engage the adults on this thread.

 

The rational response, I just couldn't resist.

 

No explanation of what we’re seeing (and when) top and bottom.

Middle may be the Moskva which Russia never disputed, only the cause was a matter of speculation.

Bottom line: there have been too many claims of ‘sinkings’ in which the vessels were photographed afloat in subsequent days.

 

Putin trembling …

 

With Atacms now being deployed, hopefully the US changes position on this.

 

Ukraine claims that all 24 Shahid drones fired on Kyiv were destroyed.

By their targets.

 

Momentum "clearly" building for NATO troops in Ukraine

More indicators that some members of NATO are pulling away from the U.S. and moving toward active intervention in Ukraine. This is yet another warning to the Biden Administration that if it does not start leading this Alliance, then it will get led by it, perhaps in a direction that it cannot as effectively control. The “Trump at all costs” crowd should take note of this, too. Any fantasies they have about Trump winning this election and pulling all support for Ukraine (neither of those things will happen in any case, but let’s just go with it) are out the window if NATO goes to war. Whatever illusions people have about the agency of the Presidency will see them washed away by the structural realities a President is boxed in. The first NATO soldier who is killed by a Russian, inside or outside of Ukraine, will box the President in, whoever it is. The solution to avoid that now, by this President and this Congress is to gradually remove any more obstacles to aid and how Ukraine uses it (including strikes on Russia; I think events have taken us past that particular point of escalation management) as well as taking some of the measures short of general war that are within President Biden’s authority and will increasingly send the message that Russia will not be allowed to win by military means. The Biden Administration needs to do this now, before France, Poland et al tie our hands even more firmly by putting troops on the ground in there.

 

The way to treat this is exactly the norm we have established in dealing with China and Iran, both of whom have likewise made outlandish claims of territorial airspace and waters outside of what is actually theirs. Keep sailing it. Keep flying it. If Russia wants to initiate hostilities against a NATO member, then so be it. But, no, once again, Russia can’t “just have it” because they say it is theirs.

 

Putin's Pursuit of Kharkiv Ends in Bloodshed and Tactical Failure (msn.com)

Well, it's not over until it's over, but for the moment, it looks like Russia pulled off another successful "feint."

 

Same difference ... except it isn't. And you didn't seem to know it. And yet you want credibility in your dire predictions.

Next time you want to argue that China is trying to replace the dollar with the RMB as the world's reserve currency, please explain the Monetary Trilemma to the class, what element a world currency must have to be a world currency, and what element the CCP cannot risk with its currency and guarantee its monopoly on power (hint: they are the same element). Once you understand that the CCP's hold on power is its prime directive, you might understand that the exact threat you're predicting is outside of the Party's interest.

Now that does not mean the dollar will remain the world reserve currency, but that's up to us, not China. China cannot make us adopt lunatic policies, such as MMT, that would make our currency virtually worthless to the world and force them to adopt something else (probably the Euro; definitely not RMB).

 

Retired US colonel with a heads-up for NATO

 

Apologies for all of the posts today. I've been waiting around for my Pod to show up from the move, and this is how I've filled the time.

One thing bothers me about the commander's story in that article. If he can actually see the Russian troops massing, then ATACMS is not the correct weapon system in any case. They should be using their own tube artillery (maybe unguided rocket artillery) in those circumstances, and the U.S. should not be telling Ukraine what they can and cannot do with their artillery. If we are, we need to stop. I can completely understand some of the restrictions on ATACMS. Not only do we not want them using them on Russian soil in many (by no means all) circumstances, but we also want Ukraine only using them against soft, high-value, deep targets. And that is not troops in the open, massing for an assault, who are in range of other weapons systems. We want Ukraine to use an ATACMS when they have positively identified, say, a functional transport plane on the ground at an airfield. The target has to be at least as valuable as the munition. That might not be of much comfort to a Ukrainian soldier at the tip of the spear, but tactical considerations have to remain subordinate to the strategic.

 

I've done my fair share of Freedom of Navigation flights in the Straits of Hormuz (Iran) and around the Spratly Islands (China). The Spratly Islands were hairy as hell.

 

I remember when Shane Osborn had his misadventure over there in 2001. My very first thought was "I sure hope that wasn't [NavyGator93] or any of our mutual acquaintances." I was still a young buck in flight school in those days, not a mature winged aviator like yourself and some other people we know.

I did a few such missions as a helo guy in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians would come up on the radio and try to intimidate you. All you could say in response was this standard script about being part of a Coalition task force, blah, blah, blah. It took a great deal of discipline not to mouth off to those guys.

 

I agree with all of this save one. Trump would not respond to article 5 in the instance you describe. It would end nato.

 

Kremlin TV Drops ‘New’ Tucker Carlson Show

Useful idiot doesn’t seem to do him Justice.

 

And what I'm telling you is, no matter what he would "want" to do, the system would box him in. Between the allies, the Congress, and his stakeholders, he would have to act. In fact, I can't think of something that would please him more than to be an actual war time President. He would eat it up.

But it's irrelevant. He isn't going to win. Biden is spinning his gears over nothing. He needs to act like a guy who is President, not a guy trying to be President next January.

 

I hope you’re right. He seems like a chicken shit to me.

 

End NATO ? Works for me.

 

That's polite. I hope he dies suddenly, naturally, and painlessly and we never have to find out if I'm right.