I believe that Russia is methodically grinding to dust America’s great proxy. And it’s not because I follow Russian sources. No, I hew to Western sources that aren’t shot through with prior hatred for Putin. And a number of these sources are former military, CIA, etc.
May the gods of war spare this country from achieving any of your kind of “victories” in the future. If your glorious stand at Kherson is any example, it’s no wonder you’re praying so hard for an early and long winter. But maybe — just maybe — these incoming 137,000 raw conscripts, convicted criminals, Putin Youths, and old men on bicycles will turn the tide next year. Or maybe the North Korean munitions will do it. Who can say? PS — I wouldn’t mock Ukraine as a “great proxy,” for starters, since they’ve been cutting down more Russians in six months than the Afghans managed in a decade, and second since your only alternative to fighting a proxy is to openly engage us in general war. Your choice, of course. But I wouldn’t recommend it, considering you still don’t have air superiority against lowly Ukraine. Our air forces would bend your teeth backwards pretty easily by the look of things.
We need to dig in HERE, NOW, EVERYONE of us ... or we’ll all be speaking Russian tomorrow. But there is hope! The blue areas are the glorious gains, of the counter-offensive, as compared to the red that Russia did not hold as of 2/23/22 ...
But I don’t discount Ukrainian sources ... Zelensky: Ukrainian army suffering up to 700 casualties daily - Kyiv Post - Ukraine's Global Voice
Intellectually, I fully understand that Russia collapsing internally due to armed uprisings of the disaffected, starving, and oppressed would not be in the world’s interest. I’ll try to enjoy it anyway.
Well, that’s what we clearly wanted. After all, proxy wars and regime changes are us. We just didn’t expect to see our own proxy getting crunched, our own weapons supplies depleted, our own junior partner regime-changed (UK), Europeans building warming stations while Russians are enjoying circa 1970 gas prices, Putin enjoying robust support and, if anything, a Russian mood to intensify the war.
That’s damn good stuff. You know, when this gig doesn’t work for you, you should should consider becoming a beat writer for Tiger Droppings. I’ll bet you could have them convinced that in reality they beat a miserable SWAC team and that the future looks promising.
Affirmative, comrade, shall we regroup later at American restaurant of your choosing for hot dog sandwiches and CocaCola drinking beverages to discuss CIA defector?
From another Western observer, an explanation as to how the tiny blue dots will soon become larger red splotches. It has to do with the way in which Russia fights ... The key thing to understand about Russian defenses is the front line thinly manned, practically a tripwire force, with the bulk of the defense away from the front in the form of strongpoints and mobile reserves that can be shifted. The advantage of this is economy of warfare Getting through the first line is not hard. Russia will pull back if an attack is significant, but the large reserve forces behind them forces attacks to be canalized in the apparent gaps, which turn into killzones. This is what the Ukrainians found when they tried pushing out. Forced into a thin, narrow salient that was under total fire control. Ideally, Ukraine should have had multiple spearheads bypassing and isolating these reserves into pockets, but they could not accumulate forces of that size without being hit with missiles.
The tiny blue dots that represent Ukrainian gains, via the Kherson counter-offensive, are actually what the Russians call “fire bags.” Why advance when they’ll just come to you to be killed ? It’s heartbreaking, really. The US and it’s vassals really are committed to fighting Russia to the last dead Ukrainian ...
More indications that Russia is running out of ammunition. They are looking to buy artillery shells and ammo from North Korea. "Top quality, comrade-boss. Sit in warehouse for 65 years. 1957--good vintage! We paint over rust, no charge." North Korea has the world's largest collection of artillery pieces, so they certainly have plenty of artillery shells they could spare. They have been making shells for action with the west (and South Korea) since the early 1950's, and other than training, they have not used the vast majority of shells they manufactured. Ukraine Latest: US Says Russia Seeks Munitions From North Korea I imagine that the capability and reliability of artillery shells could deteriorate with time, or the shell might refuse to fire (or it might go off in the breech). Maybe our military experts could comment.
They'll figure out what they are doing. The Ukrainians are motivated and fighting at home, unlike the Russian troops. There is no way to hide the truth here--Russia is losing this war. It is close to being a stalemate at this time, but that is a win for Ukraine. Russia will run low on weapons and ammunition, and have to rely more on infantry as the war drags on. Ukraine will continue to be supplied by the west. Russia is dependent on computer chips from outside Russia to assemble guided missiles, so they will have difficulty manufacturing more. Ukraine continues to gain experience using some fairly advanced weapons from the U.S. and other countries, and Russia is having little success in knocking these weapons out of service (other than the wooden mockups). Russia's bases and ammo dumps are being routinely attacked and destroyed. The Ukrainian military is getting stronger, while the Russian military is getting weaker and more demoralized, with soldiers routinely shooting themselves in the leg to get out of service. The Nazi-in-Ukraine myth is pretty much dead, even with the most easily-deluded Russian troops.
Motivation counts for little in the face of overwhelming firepower. Ex: during this recent counter-offensive, Ukraine has upped its aerial sorties to 25 a day. Russia has been flying 200-300 a day since the beginning of the war. Ukraine has lamented that it is being outgunned x 60 by artillery, which has been the big killer of Ukrainians. There are only three reasons the war has lasted as long as it has: (2) Ukraine has had hundreds of thousands of troops to be blown to bits (2) billions and billions of dollars of weapons from US/NATO to give them the hopes of sustaining a resistance (3) and Russia is making due with a small expeditionary force, drawn from its peacetime army, operating alongside a modest contingent of separatists.
From an American who missed the memo that we’re supposed to hate Russia ... “Russia has done little to contest Ukraine in the information space. Ukraine enthusiasts eagerly propagate Ukrainian claims, no matter how absurd, but the information coming from the Russian side mostly takes the form of dry briefings from the MOD. Ukraine is playing a Marvel movie, Russia is putting on a webinar.” The Russo-Ukrainian War
