chrisl

Think the only REAL response would be a massive exclusion zone for all Russian vessels. You would have to blockade the Baltic Sea more or less. I think that is more or less declaring war. I think giving Ukraine a 100 ATACMS to go with their new HIMARS systems is the best way to make the point short of that. The railroad side of the Kirch straight bridge falling in the water would be excellent.
 

This is brilliant:
 

This. 
Putin is looking for escalations that might drive a wedge into NATO that do not involve nuclear weapons. Why? Because it's been made very clear to him by everyone from Modi, to Xi to Kim Jong Un that the world is against him if he drops a nuke. So, he's digging around in the drawer for alternatives. The play here is to put some sort of energy onus on Poland and Ukraine vis a vis the rest of Europe, to show that other pipelines can be destroyed too, and to give the world something to think about other than the collapse of his military jugger-naught.
He's also putting a carrot out of reach for the Gazprom clique, showing will, etc. That the move underscores his unreasonableness and untouchability to Germany seems not to have fit into his calculations.

Starting to think the Ukrainians should start publishing collection points where the Russian conscripts can just get off their army truck/bus/hire car/stolen car that shipped them in and simply walk themselves into captivity.

Very much like the last Czar, he appointed every single person in this excuse for a government, and military, practically down to the dog catcher on Sakhalin Island. He does own it, all of it, and it is about to land on his head. After twenty years of absolute power, and then starting this war after consulting with about six people, there simply are no excuses.

It's the Nicholas II problem. Once old Nicky took the reins directly, everything could be and was blamed on him. I can't shake the feeling that the Russian military knows that and is simply letting inertia and friction have free rein. Also interesting to note that the FSB and associated security organs seemed to have not bothered with measures to control the borders despite the completely obvious rush of military aged males that were likely to head for the exits. Inaction like that starts to look like choice.

Capt if Kraze was a spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry you would be right to be concerned. But Zelensky is all but promising Russian soldiers who surrender a nice holiday in Odessa, and a Ukrainian passport. The official Ukrainian position could not be more opposed to Kraze's, well except for Russian soldiers in Ukraine who don't have the sense to give up, those guys deserve whats coming to them. For the rest of Kraze's ranting you are perhaps feeding the guy whose very pseudonym announces he is a troll with a bit too much of your valuable time and attention . 
Very respectfully, value every post you write.

I am going to ignore most of your rant, frankly if anyone were to push that kind of hatred towards any other group they would get tossed off this forum pretty quickly; however, we live in odd times.  
The Russian military and political system are responsible for this war.  I have no doubt some of the population does as well; however to blame an entire people - who you don’t recognize as a people, yet point to them as an evil homogeneous empire that has been a threat for hundreds of years - down to many who have nothing to do with this or actively opposed it, nor had a say in it because Russia lacks a democratic system, is wrong on so many levels.
If in your fractured Russian scenario - the one you are promoting, and I notice no denial of you promoting cultural genocide either btw- Russian elderly, women and children show up on on your borders in a humanitarian crisis I expect you and your nation to be better than the a$$holes we are currently supporting your nation against.  If you cannot do that - and for the record I really do not believe you represent your nation - then why are we even bothering with this whole war?  If a post-war Ukraine is suppressing democracy in re-taken regions, actively supporting civil strife in former Russian fragments (which would have to be in your plan), and let potentially thousands of people die because of their ethnicity (oh wait Russian isn’t a thing, so, how will you tell who to keep out) - the what the hell are we defending here?
If we wanted a brutal regime in Ukraine to ignore human rights and suppress freedoms based on pseudo-ethnicity then why we didn’t we just sit back and let Russia take the damn place?
I stand with Ukraine in this war, but I do not stand with you on this.  We want a Ukraine with a fully functional democracy for all its citizens, a Ukraine that recognizes and operates under international law and respects human rights, regardless of who is suffering.  That is the Ukraine that gets into NATO/EU - with Hungarian arm twisting if need be.  That is the Ukraine we invest hundreds of billions in reconstruction. That is the Ukraine we support and enforce Russian accountability for.
Not whatever nightmare you are selling here.

The comedy is getting very very dark .
 
Apparently Pedophiles and  Perverts are in large supply in Russia - as well as the previously mentioned cannibals  .... It's a pity its Fake subtitles !!

The US has a /terrible/ track record with puppet regimes. It's one of the things they just cannot do. Maybe none of /this/ would have happened, but a whole different raft of bedlam would  have ensued.
Puppets, and cricket, are just a no as far as the US is concerned.

40K more and they'll have gotten their 300K mobilization.  
Just all pointed in the wrong direction.

Mobilization in RU Military-Industrial High-Tech enterprises
 

Well I know of at least one that does not.  You get it at first year of military college but it is retained for about 15 seconds by most cadets.
We went with a “STEM will save us” model in the west.  The obscenity of the term “political science” is one example.
They often ask me what questions to ask new hires and I always go with “what do you read?”  The answer I am looking for is fiction: we wrap our lies in “truth” and we hide our truths in our lies.

Good to see this messaging is ongoing (been repeated over several days) and at the highest levels of state.
 

Most of the flaws in the NATO response came about because too much, not all, but too much, of NATO believed the Russian assessment that Kyiv would fall in three days. They were afraid of getting a brigade or two caught in country that was falling apart around them, and that it would be infinitely worse than just staying out. Boris said bleep it and gambled on a max effort at ATGM shipments, the Russian assessment of the Ukrainian government and military integrity was epically wrong, and here we are. The Russians assessment of their own forces was out to lunch too, and since we stole that from them too....
 

Virtually everything but the Abrams is an eggshell armed with a hammer, at that point it is all about who has the fastest hammer. These might be a stealthy winner.

Yeah, I'm getting married tomorrow (it's 11 PM now in Poland, we are saying the vows at 2PM). Just as we speak the missus is getting annoyed that I nerd about the war on the internet  But it is 100% worth it!

"Logically", they'd be "Porcs", wouldn't they? Think the French would've had an easier time in '70 if that had truly been the case.
 

You say that like they ever had one. When we finally get some real stats, years from now, I will bet you a case of good beer the Russian medical performance is not much better than the Union army in the U.S. Civil War. It wouldn't shock me if it was worse. These god cursed mobiks are going to die from things that result in a weeks light duty in a NATO army. Never mind living through a real wound. I am expecting real disease outbreaks too. We need to double check if Ukraine needs any support with vaccines. 

Does Russia have the capacity to even remotely feed, clothe and train all of these conscripts? Especially since they're cannibalizing the very industries they'd need to support them. One gets the impression nobody's thought beyond 'conscripting'. They'll probably get dumped into the middle of a field somewhere and be exposed to the elements for days on end.

I have to say, it's really striking to me how frantic the Russian mobilization looks. They *don't* have the capacity to process these men. They lack the materiel to properly cloth, shoe and arm them for the kind of war and winter they are about to face. In the field, they are going to be an enormous logistical strain that will not appreciably do much more than hold a sector that isn't in the way of a direct Ukrainian offensive.
If they are trying to make a political statement of will to NATO, well NATO can see what I can see what I can see too. If they are making a domestic political statement, they aren't exactly shoring up public faith in the war. If they are merely trying to back fill units, why ignore actual training/abilities/requirements? I can only think, watching it that they are really, truly about to collapse on one or more fronts and must perforce just funnel in bodies and hope for the best. If anyone has a better answer, I'm curious.
 
 

Just get him to buy CMBS.  It's why we're all here.
After the first game I'm certain s/he'll make an account just to ask WTF My T90s Keep Dying!!!! Plz Halp. 
Guarantee it. 

He needs a gaming laptop with Black Sea installed. 

Mark Hertling has a thread, before commanding US Army, Europe, he was commander over all basic and advanced soldier training for the Army so I'm quite inclined to believe his words on Russian training. Thread shows that RU leadership and training is woeful even in normal circumstances.
 

Hokay. 
1. Syria is a civil war,  waged by its autocratic government against its own people. 
2. Ukraine is a war of survival, led by the democratic government against an invading fascist regime, and with the overwhelming support of its own people. 
3. The Kharkiv op is not an aberration, it is the harbinger of worse to come. Yup Kharkiv isn't war winning. But it sure as heck is an inflection point. The war is not going to stay the same -  Russia no longer has the momentum, men, political coherence or operational adaptability to determine the course of events. 
4. Ukraine already went through an interminable, never ending warfare since 2014 -  in fact this is still that war but its now in the decisive phase, and its very much the Ukrainians making the decisions that matter. 
5. Two "past their prime" superpowers? Ehhh... Wut. 
Ok, Russia is one. Check. 
Who's the other, exactly? The one with the amazing weapons and wherewithal to send them halfway across the world? The one with the insanely accurate and immediate  ISR capabilities?  The one actively engaged in a long term project to build a moon base?  
Or maybe the other one,  which however rancorous its decision process has managed to provide billions of dollars in direct aid to Ukraine,  absorbed 5,000,000 refugees in 3 months without raising a sweat,  has weathered all of Russia's  gas threats and is set to get through the winter regardless, has vastly greater military power than Russia and,  as part of an alliance with that other power,  admitted two new,  heavily armed and highly  strategically placed nations, and which the prospect of Ukraine joining it was what set off this whole awful mess in the first place? 
That author is a political hack,  not an original  thought in his head and, at bedrock level,  a twit.