LOL, what has Ukraine sucking wind ? Climate Change. The US I’d the Empire of Lies. Vastly overrated hard power, vastly underrated soft power.
From former US Marine, State Dept and CIA Larry C. Johnson citing Pentagon source ... We should have seen all this coming up front. We not only proceeded on an arrogant basis without proper study, We knew we were in an industrial war and that was a game we couldn’t play for long. This was a military catastrophe from the beginning. Any planner worth his salt would recommend against it. Looks like DOD is scared now and is going to resist Biden Administration neocon pressure to “escalate.” The muttering about Crimea indicates the Administration is beginning to think about the end game.
Wagner group takes devastating hit. yay! edit: looking for corroboration. Have seen mention it was a HIMARS attack. here's more Explosion at Wagner Group HQ in Kadiivka Serhii Haidai, Head of Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, has reported that there has been an explosion at the Wagner Group headquarters in temporarily occupied Kadiivka.
Nah, man. That’s actually a huge win for Russia. They wanted that building leveled a long time ago to make way for glorious new tractor industry in Little Russia. Those stupid Yukes have just played right into Russian hands once more.
Is this the result of US giving Ukraine longer range missiles? Ukraine regional official says strike hits Wagner group headquarters (msn.com) Asenior official in eastern Ukraine said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had attacked a hotel where members of Russia's private Wagner military group were based, killing many of them. Gaidai, interviewed by Ukrainian television, said forces launched a strike on Saturday on a hotel in the town of Kadiivka, west of the region's main center of Luhansk. Photos posted on Telegram channels showed a building largely reduced to rubble. "They had a little pop there, just where Wagner headquarters was located. "A huge number of those who were there died." .......................... "I am sure that at least 50% of those who managed to survive will die before they get medical care," he said. "This is because even in our Luhansk region, they have stolen equipment."
Ukrainian partisans take responsibility for setting fire to Russian barracks in Crimea (yahoo.com) On Saturday, December 10, around 6:00 a.m., a fire broke out in the barracks where Russian conscripts were stationed in the village of Sovetske in occupied Crimea. As mentioned, the barracks could house from several hundred to several thousand people. “The base of the conscripts of the army of the Russian Federation in the village of Sovetske in Ukrainian Crimea is on fire,” ATESH wrote. “Our agents worked pitch perfect. We worked on this ‘project’ for a long time and, of course, everything worked out for us. We will continue to destroy the Russian army from the inside.” The partisans also added that there were victims as a result of the fire, and promised to publish a list at a later date.
Ukrainian air strikes hit Russian barracks in occupied Melitopol with US-supplied HIMARS, reports say (yahoo.com) Ukraine launched missile attacks on Russian barracks in the occupied city of Melitopol on Saturday evening, The Guardian reported. Multiple explosions were reported in the southern city, with both Melitopol's exiled mayor and the Russian-installed authorities confirming the strikes took place, per Reuters. The pro-Russian authorities said that the attack killed two people and injured 10. The exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov claimed on Telegram that an estimated 200 "occupiers" were killed in the attack, which reportedly used US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
"The Russians could do that to Ukrainian barracks, too, but they choose not to, so they can lull Ukraine into a false sense of security. They've got 'em right where they want 'em."
What I would like to see is the Ukrainians setting up automated mortar launchers outside the barracks (maybe on rooftops) to fire mortars into the barracks at random intervals for a half hour after the barracks are set on fire. Can you imagine the chaos of fighting a fire while mortars land around you? And when they trace where the mortars came from, the people that set them up are long gone. "We're under attack AND we're on fire, but we can't see any of the enemy!" Half the troops in the barracks might swim the Black Sea back to Russia. (Might be hard to smuggle mortars into Crimea, however.)
I'm sure Russia has mortars in Crimea that could be procured for a few bottles of vodka and a few drops of GHB, just need the right operatives to complete the mission
Unfortunately, "business as usual" for Russia includes rapes, torture centers, killing women and children in schools and hospitals, fighting with criminals straight from prison, and committing war crimes. If Putin wanted to be "slightly cautious" he would insist that his army follow the Geneva Conventions on what acceptable behavior is during a war. Anyone who thinks Putin is being overly cautious is probably as unhinged as Putin is, or does not understand the rules of modern warfare. Putin is a Neanderthal, clubbing and killing anyone and anything to get what he wants. A barbarian that only Russia could be proud of. Very rare that you see the leader of a country transform into the very thing he claims to be fighting against (Nazis, i.e., Hitler) and believe that what he's doing is justifiable in any way.
So 10% of Russia's casualties are fatalities, and 100% of Ukraine's casualties are fatalities? Or are you arguing that Ukraine has had a million casualties, and 100,000 deaths?
The British have pulled a fast one on the Russians. They have been supplying old pickup trucks from farms to Ukraine. The Ukrainians put a dummy in the left seat, and a driver in the right seat. Russian snipers are used to seeing the driver in the left seat, so they shoot through the left side windshield, and stand slack-jawed when the vehicle doesn't stop. How a fleet of aging farm pickup trucks from Britain is fooling Russian snipers
I’m not so much arguing with you as reminding you that you persist in the mass-rape narrative when Zelensky determined it was too outlandish even for his regime and fired the minister who fabricated it. In short, you’ll believe anything, from anyone, anywhere that puts Russia in a bad light.
Russia fires old missiles: BBC: "From a forensic analysis of the remains, our experts have determined Russia is using old Soviet missiles. This must mean their stocks are close to depleted!" Russia fires new missiles: BBC: "From a forensic analysis of the remains, our experts have determined Russia has been forced to manufacture new missiles. This must mean their stocks are close to depleted!" Takeaway, there’s just no winning the information war if you’re Russia ...
This tweet seems unrelated to the Ukraine conflict but I see a link. Japan's Constitution, basically imposed by the United States after WWII, prevents militarization. But they have been working around that legal limitation with various euphemistic descriptions of an ever-growing arms program, which seems justifiable in light of China's menace. The analogy to the Ukraine conflict is that Germany is starting to rearm in response to the Russian menace. For a long time, neither of the axis powers from WWII spent much on defense, because that was what the US and the world wanted. Both Germany and Japan had militaristic Imperial cultures that were seen as inconsistent with a stable world. I can assure you that many Europeans still fear the Germans, even in this century. Many Asian nations still harbor intense enmity towards Japanese atrocities of WWII, including the Chinese and the Koreans, both North and South, not without valid reason. I understood why many people did not like the substantial burden on US taxpayers to essentially police the world when nations like Germany and Japan did not spend much on their own defense. But that was largely by design. It will be interesting to see how things develop.
I just don't see a way that we could keep up policing the world. It is far too costly in both treasure and lives for us. I think that both Germany and Japan should have their own military.
World War Two ended 75 years ago. The Germans I believe would never be aggressors in a war again but until recently I never thought people would try to stage a coup in this country either.