Los

I don't think so. If Russians are defending Russia is one thing, defending Ukrainian objectives not so much, especially with all the firepower that can be brought to bear on them. Add that to the fact that the Russian officers themselves at all levels don't really now what they are doing, a complete lack of professionalism from top to bottom, trashed/incompetent logistics. Russia spent the past ten years building the wrong military to fight this war. 

Must be hard to be a Russian  and   watching this thread  DMS  . Your attempts to rationalize  or explain away the behaviors of your countrymen is a Herculean task indeed - I don't envy you it .

No, Russia is being judged by it actions, not what it says.  We have a saying in the west.  "Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck.... therefore it is a duck."   The acts of Russia in Bucha, Maruipol, all over Ukraine are in full display for the world to see.  Ergo, if Russia troops acts like uncouth, uncivilized barbarians, we are within our rights to call them out for it.

Don't want to rehash what already been said. Look at the current and future demographics for China and you'll see a nation that's headed towards serious problems. A massive aging population and decline in birth rates.
China is not Russia. Russia is an exporter of oil and natural gas. China must import both in large quantities. Their economy would come to a grinding halt if that was disrupted.
China didn't steal the US manufacturing industry. US and multinational corporations willingly moved the manufacturing base to China to take advantage of cheap labor on a massive scale. The work is grinding, the pay is ridiculously low and the conditions are about a step or 2 above exploitative. Profits was the motive.
Even if we wanted to the US could never create the sort of manufacturing scale that exists in China and there is no way Americans would be willing to work for the same low wages or conditions that Chinese peasants migrating from the rural area are willing to endure.
If you think inflation is bad now, just imagine what it would be if the manufacturing was being done in America with the wages and benefits America workers would demand. That cost would get passed down.
People talk about Russian propaganda. America has its own form of propaganda. Its called corporate media and politics. American media has changed over the years. Its now all about money. Stating boring facts doesn't sell. Creating outrage does. Same is true for social media.
The politicians who are concerned about getting re-elected and funding their campaigns are all to aware of the power of manufactured outrage. Its sells, it generates funding and its far more effective than just sticking to facts. The American public has a very short attention span, by and large they are not going to pay attention to complex facts, nuance and complex details. Add to that all the massive gerrymandering going on it little cause for optimism.
China is a problem. It's not just Taiwan or the treatment of Muslims, but the recent events in Hong Kong is cause for concern. Like Putin and his cronies the CCP is concerned about staying in power. Like Putin the internal security apparatus and forces behind it is massive. It has to be. China is composed of many ethnic groups and things could get out of hand quickly.
The US and China for better or worse have a mutually dependent relationship in-spite of the rhetoric. Much of the current economic issues in the US is related to the Covid lockdowns in China and the resulting disruption in the supply chain.
China is massively dependent on exports. If that gets cut their economy will collapse. They are trying to move away from that model, but China isn't there and if you look at the projected demographic trends in China, the future doesn't look good.
How the US and the West manages the complex relationship with China will determine what happens. China has seen the unified West response to Russia's actions and knows any similar response to any perceived hostile actions by China could lead to sanctions that would destroy their economy in short order. China is more vulnerable to economic sanctions that Russia.
Like China its also going to be a challenge for America and the west to manage Russia, Ukraine and Europe if and when the conflict ends. Its easy now. America and the west just sends money and weapons to Ukraine and the Ukrainians kill Russians by the bushel.
Managing the peace could end up being the real challenge and given the broken state of American politics, the media and social media where most American consume and get their information, that is driven by the profit motive that knows manufactured outrage sells and boring facts don't, doesn't give many cause for optimism. You have to dig deep to get to the facts and most Americans would rather just have it spoon fed to them by whatever outlet matches their leanings.
 

It's getting to be the part of Crimson Tide where the president dies and a new more unstable hard liner takes over....

It's getting to be the part of Crimson Tide where the president dies and a new more unstable hard liner takes over....

Any political decision that does not directly result in the destruction of as many Russian forces as possible is a waste of time at this point.
The maximum effective range of  Condemnations, proclamations, hopes, and prayers...is zero F'ing meters.....🤨
 

I think we can quit with the biggest fascist awards.  Anybody even competing is on the other side.  Doesn't matter if they are the worst or runner up worst.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think anyone is trivializing the holocaust.  I think what we are hearing is a relative comparison of the impact on the Ukrainian people regarding German versus Russian fascism.  Now given what we are hearing from some Russian nationalist forces one could say those folks attitudes towards Ukraine mirror the Nazis views and final solution for Jews.  (stated goal to exterminate etc) but I don't believe anyone is trivializing. Unless we are saying that one can never do a comparison to the Nazis when someone is talking about exterminating your own people.
My point was the Russians are clearly exhibiting extreme fascist behavior so can we move on?

Any political decision that does not directly result in the destruction of as many Russian forces as possible is a waste of time at this point.
The maximum effective range of  Condemnations, proclamations, hopes, and prayers...is zero F'ing meters.....🤨
 

My experience so far in CW is treat your infantry not too far different than late WW2.  Get yourself positioned for side and rear shots.  And note your range is far superior to WW2 weapons.  Anyone who thinks they can scoff at LAWs and Dragons is gonna be in for a rude awakening.  Definitely not as bad as Javelins but you can still serve up some hurt. BMPs and BTRs are a nice target, especially if their crunchies are still mounted.
As for the Russian side.  ATGM heaven.  I learned to really like the BRDM 2 ATGM variant

Guys don’t waste your time scratching your heads on this. In agreement with Splinty. All our USArmy training ranges (typically pop up) had the farthest target out to 300m . With the iron sights it was all you could do to even see anything in the peep sight at that range. The AK47 was even crappier in this regard. Apart from my service I also owned an m16a2 and an akm. The M60 was good reliably out to 800m in bipod  configuration and effective with a certain Spread to 1200 in tripod w t&e.
An infantry platoon, rifles firing together are lethal out to 250m , and plinking beyond that. The Squad or platoon MGs extend that touch out to around 800-1000m plinking after that.

US divisions in 70s -80s had a CEWI BN (combat electronic warfare and intelligence). It had three companies. One was a traditional MI company , one was a signal intercept company and one was a ground surveillance company.  The GS company had three platoons each supporting a brigade. Each platoon had ground surveillance radars ( first iirc an/pps5 (which they  pronounced it”Pepsi” 5,) then by early eighties an/pps-15. It also had remote sensors.( hand emplaced remotely monitored  unattended ground sensors using, depending on the type, seismic, acoustic, or and metal detecting.
Every line combat battalion typically had two three-man radar teams and one three-man sensor team attached. The radar guys could be employed depending on the terrain as early warning for attacks integrated into the battalion defensive schemes, ( this was before decent NVG capability) and in open terrain could pick up vehicles and infantry movement out to several kilometers if there was LOS. The down side being the radar’s emissions could bring in artillery. 
The sensor team could deploy sensor strings along trails (usually via dedicated sensor emplacement patrols) and other areas where observation was more problematic, could not be DF.d, and were accurate enough to detect infiltrators, attacks, and be used to call  in fire.
Both assets were controlled by the BN S-2 and integrated into the battalion’s reconnaissance and screening efforts provided that the S-2 knew what he was doing (many did not).
 
hope that helps.
 
Los

Here is some NTC action as it exists today (taken from my son's deployment 56th Stryker Brigade). Plenty of terrain shots:  
Los
 

Dragon gunners like javelin gunners are typically platoon level assets. You have m72 laws and at4s at the squad level. I was an infantryman between 1978-1987. (And my son is an infantryman now and was a javelin gunner for a while) 
Also none of us were particularly enamored with the dragon but it was all we had as a platoon asset that could engage things out to a kilometer (iirc) We had several firing malfunctions. The worst,  one day while at the range an m47 malfunctioned when it was half way down the range shot straight up then came back at us. Everyone dove for cover as it flew by the gunner and exploded on a berm behind him. No one was hurt.  But sometimes they worked too.
Los

Guys don’t waste your time scratching your heads on this. In agreement with Splinty. All our USArmy training ranges (typically pop up) had the farthest target out to 300m . With the iron sights it was all you could do to even see anything in the peep sight at that range. The AK47 was even crappier in this regard. Apart from my service I also owned an m16a2 and an akm. The M60 was good reliably out to 800m in bipod  configuration and effective with a certain Spread to 1200 in tripod w t&e.
An infantry platoon, rifles firing together are lethal out to 250m , and plinking beyond that. The Squad or platoon MGs extend that touch out to around 800-1000m plinking after that.

Would make a good scenario...its been done in Steelbeasts and was a real nail biter.
 

More Royal Engineers:   
 
 

These were our babies

 

These were our babies

 

Here is some NTC action as it exists today (taken from my son's deployment 56th Stryker Brigade). Plenty of terrain shots:  
Los
 

Here is some NTC action as it exists today (taken from my son's deployment 56th Stryker Brigade). Plenty of terrain shots:  
Los
 

Will someone please fix the aspect ratio on those BMPs?!!

Dragon gunners like javelin gunners are typically platoon level assets. You have m72 laws and at4s at the squad level. I was an infantryman between 1978-1987. (And my son is an infantryman now and was a javelin gunner for a while) 
Also none of us were particularly enamored with the dragon but it was all we had as a platoon asset that could engage things out to a kilometer (iirc) We had several firing malfunctions. The worst,  one day while at the range an m47 malfunctioned when it was half way down the range shot straight up then came back at us. Everyone dove for cover as it flew by the gunner and exploded on a berm behind him. No one was hurt.  But sometimes they worked too.
Los

Guys don’t waste your time scratching your heads on this. In agreement with Splinty. All our USArmy training ranges (typically pop up) had the farthest target out to 300m . With the iron sights it was all you could do to even see anything in the peep sight at that range. The AK47 was even crappier in this regard. Apart from my service I also owned an m16a2 and an akm. The M60 was good reliably out to 800m in bipod  configuration and effective with a certain Spread to 1200 in tripod w t&e.
An infantry platoon, rifles firing together are lethal out to 250m , and plinking beyond that. The Squad or platoon MGs extend that touch out to around 800-1000m plinking after that.