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Erwin

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Posts posted by Erwin

  1. 39 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

    I have not yet seen any videos of burning Israeli tanks inside Gaza.

    Slightly OT, but the above note made me wonder if there has been any reports of the usefulness or otherwise of the Abrams, Bradleys and Leopards supplied to Ukraine.  I heard that Bradleys are being used mostly as ambulances as they are too vulnerable and the tanks turned out to be as vulnerable as the Russian ones.  Along with the Israeli experience, drones seem to be signalling the end of AFV usefulness.  

  2. Am very much looking forward to your Korea mod as well as your other amazing early war and NA mods.  I just got back after 8 month travels and unfortunately have so much to catch up on b4 I can focus on playing anything.   But, know that what you are doing is much appreciated by many more than the few who post here.  Have enjoyed playing H2H but my schedule makes it hard to be a reliable/regular oppo.  So, yes, plz cobble some single player... but only when you have time.

    Thank you yet again, Phil.

  3. It just occurred to me that one may need a WSJ sub to read the sobering article.  Here is an excerpt, but it is well worth reading the much longer article if one can access it.  Send me PM if you want the whole article and I can send it to you:

    "It’s Time to End Magical Thinking About Russia’s Defeat

    Putin has withstood the West’s best efforts to reverse his invasion of Ukraine, and his hold on power is firm. The U.S. and its allies need a new strategy: containment.

    By Eugene Rumer and Andrew S. Weiss

    Nov. 16, 2023 10:00 am ET

    As Russian President Vladimir Putin looks toward the second anniversary of his all-out assault on Ukraine, his self-confidence is hard to miss. A much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive has not achieved the breakthrough that would give Kyiv a strong hand to negotiate. Tumult in the Middle East dominates the headlines, and bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S. has been upended...

    Putin has reason to believe that time is on his side. At the front line, there are no indications that Russia is losing what has become a war of attrition. The Russian economy has been buffeted, but it is not in tatters. Putin’s hold on power was, paradoxically, strengthened following Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed rebellion in June. Popular support for the war remains solid, and elite backing for Putin has not fractured.

    ...Soviet legacy factories are outperforming Western factories when it comes to much-needed items like artillery shells.

    The technocrats responsible for running the Russian economy have proven themselves to be resilient, adaptable, and resourceful. Elevated oil prices, driven in part by close cooperation with Saudi Arabia, are refilling state coffers...

    Putin can also look at his foreign-policy record with satisfaction. His investments in key relationships have paid off. China and India have provided an important backstop for the Russian economy by ramping up imports of Russian oil and other commodities. Instead of fretting about lost markets in Western Europe or Beijing’s reluctance to flout U.S. and EU sanctions, Putin has decided that it’s more advantageous in the short term simply to become China’s junior partner in the economic realm. Goods from China account for nearly 50% of Russian imports, and Russia’s top energy companies are now hooked on selling to China.

    Even neighboring countries that have every reason to fear Putin’s aggressive tactics, such as Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, have made fat profits by serving as enablers of sanctions circumvention and as transshipment points for the goods that Russia used to import directly."

     

     

     

     

  4. Some of you may know that way back when I used to piggy back on foreign cultural exchange programs.  Had some similar travel over the past 8 months (hence my absence from the forums) and was able to gauge how people abroad feel about the current Ukraine situation - plus my own (very) personal conclusions.  Visited places like Scandinavia, Baltics, N. Africa, Central Asia, with an unscheduled quick drive through the Russian Fed.  (Yes, one can easily/accidentally do that in places.)  Talked with regular people, not govt. spokesmen, and any comments/conclusions are mine alone and not that of any official or govt. entity.

    Got back home just as the Israeli crisis erupted.  The situation in Israel makes my report somewhat obsolete, but the ME situation can be regarded as a “Ukraine added” phase of the increasingly hot global struggle for dominance between China and the US-led west.  Foreign travel makes one realize that we in the west are fed a very one-sided view of events from our media, so I hope the following very brief summary is interesting.

    1)      Outside of the US-led west, Russia (and China) have substantial support. 

    2)      Whatever Russia's initial hopes for an easy conquest of Ukraine, the current stalemate situation serves China's (and Russia's) aims. 

    3)      For Ukraine to "win", Russia has to be removed from all Ukraine's territory.  If Russia controls any of Ukraine's territory, Russia "wins". 

    4)      The west has no plans (or way) to remove Russia from Ukraine (barring unforeseen massive change in circumstances). 

    5)      The west’s plan seems to be simply to drain Russian resources and work out novel ways of waging war with new technologies.  However, that now appears also to be China and Russia's plan… to distract and drain resources from the west, and to train. 

    6)      The proxy war could go on indefinitely with Ukraine supported by the west and Russia supported by China until one side runs out of manpower. 

    7)      In Europe, there is rapidly decreasing support for sending funds and resources to Ukraine (or anywhere) because of the fast-worsening economic situation for ordinary people in all European countries.  Was even lectured in detail by an Albanian about how the Ukraine war was the fault of the US.

    8 )     In N. Africa and Asia, there is significant support for Russia and Putin.  Swedish folks are not particularly supportive of US goals. 

    9)      The nations bordering the Russian Federation were most concerned about Russian expansionism as one might expect.

    From additional reading it appears that Muslim nations are responding favorably to Chinese entreaties despite its treatment of the Uyghurs.  Looking at the big grand strategic picture China is doing everything it can to create an alternative world reserve currency to rival and diminish the dollar and US influence re its goal of world domination.  The situation in Ukraine and the new crisis in the Middle East serves its purposes as nations hostile to the US enter the Chinese sphere of influence. 

  5. 2 hours ago, jatmi026 said:

    Playing it right now, one of the best campaigns I ever played, so much attention to detail, from windows on buildings to street rubble, to playability overall, good job!

    Totally agree.  My favorite Red vs Red campaign..  Very playable, can't recall any frustrations and great fun.  Would love to see it updated.

  6. 1 hour ago, Chibot Mk IX said:

    Panzergrenadiers mount on the truck also need some love

    they can be split into 3 teams  🙂

    IIRC only squads with 10-11+ members can be split into 3 teams.  Nearly all the NATO squads one sees in CM cannot be split into 3 teams.  Which is what makes the Ukrainian 7-man squads squads so interesting and versatile.  I only wish someone would explain the rationale behind not allowing NATO and other 7-9 man squads to split into 3 teams.

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