panzermartin

But If there is a psychosis in their hearts and minds of average russians about the threat from their western borders, these attacks hitting home will only reinforce it. Not that Ukraine doesn't have the absolute right to do so. An eye for an eye...But do we want to fuel that psychosis more? The last thing Ukraine wants is to mobilize the more developed russian oblasts. So far Russia has been exchanging their worst (convicts, etc) for the best Ukraine has to offer (students, educated proffesionals etc) Anyway, chances are this isnt a wider bomber Harris plan but an effort to distract Russia ahead of the real offensive.

Thanks

With the unlimited ammount of material Ukraine is getting from all over the globe they can easily do this everyday if they like.

Just a reminder that not everything we certainly, firmly believe in this forum turns out right. Erdogan won the turkish elections once again.

Not very good news from Turkey, Erdogan will probably win the elections. I had the impression the dynamics were not in his favor. Do you think Russians could have played a role here... Another few years of agony in the aegean.

If the planes were on their way home the friendly fire scenario would be more plausible. But apparently they were not.

Could be a first hint, UA is trying a Stalingrad maneuver to push around the flanks of the Wagnerites in the city , knowing their are manned propably by lower quality Roma... Er russian conscripts. But I don't think it's possible for them to advance more against the artillery and aviation russian forces amassed currently in the area. They are not spread between hundreds of kms like in Kharkov in the summer. Or maybe the main south offensive starts with a bold distraction move in Bakhmut?

No tanks and no BMPs either. Even the T-14s are in the front?

Victory day parade in Moscow is on, spot something unusual? I think a bit shorter this time and didn't that many tanks/vehicles, or I missed them

And now I just realized that WW2 Sturmoviks were probably more succesful than the modern russian Jets in hunting APCs and MBTs. Anyway, we dont have much info on this yet, it would be interesting after the war to collect data on what the russian air force actually managed to hit in the frontlines.

Unfortunately for the russians, this seems to be mostly true. The lack of real CAS ability in coordination with the troops below. Otherwise counterattacks like those in the summer wouldnt be a walk in the park if RU could effectively employ its numerous aircrafts effectively in ground role. Maybe we'll see something different now or maybe not. There is one exception perhaps, I have seen some videos from attack helicopters using their Vikhr missiles from a distance on moving UKR vehicles. if I were the russian commander I would invest a lot in this to counter defense lines penetrations, with the hope that advance elements of the attacker are usually ahead of any AA coverage.

Regarding the recent trench videos, not sure if this was posted. I found the analysis interesting.

Intense and disturbing footage. You can see mutilated and beheaded soldiers, the drones were very accurate (or artillery before them). I wonder, are these trenches dug in by Ukrainian army? Or did Russians really had the time to dug in so extensively in a fluid and exposed environment on the western Bakhmut outskirts. I'm again not surprised by how little support russian forward troops receive some times. They seem to get hammered for quite some time, and then left to die without arty/aviation /drone /armor relief in an area that's supposed to be of reach for the numerous russian assets in the area. Must be that Wagner dug in and die "technique" or completely cut off troops.

Yes it could be a combination of all thes above . I made the assumption because it seems lately they release these away from UA AA fire , even from inside their own borders? https://wavellroom.com/2023/04/17/russian-glide-bombs/

I understand fuse malfunctions are common with those and other bombs bombs but it's strange they fall like that in friendly ground.

Could these be a failure of the newly introduced gliding kit for older bombs? Otherwise it's strange it's the second one falling in friendly territory.

19 still better than 1. We are forgetting Turkey, a precious NATO member that 50yrs ago invaded and occupied northern Cyprus in a Donbas scenario type intervention "to protect the Turkish population" . Who Recognised Northern Cyprus? In 1983, a Turkish-controlled area located on the northern section of the island declared its independence, calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Turkey has been the only country in the world to recognize the TRNC, however. Who talks about northern Cyprus anymore? It's like nothing ever happened, It's gone for the Greek cypriots.

Yes thats a very good reason also. Takes away a lot of weight. I understand this. For the remote poster outside of this conflict I might feel he deserves less excuse. Ukrainians though have all the reasons to feel like that, I admit, after all the war was imposed on them. Its not only them, there are also pro russian sites where the comments are very disturbing under videos and makes you wonder how many rats are out there. This board has been very restrained in contrast, depsite also having ukrainian posters. I still think I need to skip reading comments in twitter and elsewhere because I think its mental health deteriorating.

Good points and I have asked myself some of these questions. We had bloody merciless war since ancient times, with soldiers ripping the guts of people with pointy things, have we really changed at all? I try to resist the idea that war is implemented in human nature, but sometimes I can't find a good counter argument. Still, I admit I dont feel very comfortable with the edited morbid videos, the music even if I understand its for raising morale or propaganda. Apart from the smiling Nazis posing after executions, I don't think there was a lot of intention from each side to ridicule their victims or glorify the kill back then. Or perhaps it deliberately went less documented.

I've watched quite a few of those close action videos posted from both sides and I'm coming to the conclusion that modern soldiers have become even less densesitized firing at the enemy than what was described in the book "on killing". Some of you might have read about it. There was a theory that in WW2 most soldiers didn't fire their guns at all or didn't shoot to kill but mostly injure the enemy. That changed the coming decades, particularly from wiki : "As a result of Marshall's work, modern military training was modified to attempt to override this instinct, by: using man-shaped targets instead of bullseye targets in marksmanship practice practicing and drilling how soldiers would actually fight dispersing responsibility for the killing throughout the group displacing responsibility for the killing onto an authority figure, i.e., the commanding officer and the military hierarchy (see the Milgram experiment) By the time of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, says Grossman, 90 % of U.S. soldiers would fire their weapons at other people. He also says the act of killing is psychologically traumatic for the killer, even more so than constant danger or witnessing the death of others. Grossman further argues that violence in television, movies and video games contributes to real-life violence by a similar process of training and desensitization." I know the brutality and hate of this conflict may have surpassed any training needed to reach those levels and not sure if those videos represent the general rule but there is something in this war that I haven't seen before. From that video with the russian drone dropping a grenade to an injured Ukranian pleading for his life to the close Call of duty action trench clearing videos I find it disturbing to see perfect killing machines, or find that people from both sides enjoy the video clips with techno and dance music. I mean, how normal is that?

I'm far, faaar from that. I'm quite modest. But sometimes this board has the exact opposite world view. A fairytelish one if we remind ourselves how many times we make LOTR comparisons here drawing a distinct line between the enlighted of this world (West ) vs the orcs, russians, chinese whatever. It's a mentality heading for a total clash of the two worlds, maybe I'm naive enough thinking we can prevent it.

Nothing is enforced by law of course...US wont supress different cultures like China does perhaps, but in the end its the same thing but less violent. Simply because of the sheer volume of material we are exposed to. Is it everything really attractive though or we are used to it? For example Pamela Anderson buttocks and Pamela herself admitted to be to a certain degree "fabricated" to be sold as a product. I find an old Polish or other european town more attractive than skyscrapers for instance.( And more natural looking women:)) But I admit we are going off topic. We might miss the age of US hegemony, but there has to be a day in the future where people wont have always to look to uncle Sam for their guarantee of freedom. And perhaps gain much more trust and respect on their own existance and ability to coexist and be democratic.

It's not that simple There are many great things about living in the USA era. But we have to admit its the Empire of our times, good or bad. And yes sometimes, I feel living in american World. Not a german, french, or chinese...Health systems are being privatized, most series, movies are streamed from there, and we suddenly all sing trap. Thank god we we are still watching football (not soccer) here in Europe!

Ironically the most expansionist feature of China was kickstarted from western companies/goverments , mostly US, that transfered all their hardware there to cut the costs and make some more free cash. That started to turn them into the behemoth we are all depended upon and in case of a war this will kickback mercilessly against all of us. Their military expansionism is an infant in comparison. When was the last time China army went to war? Started a war even? I can't remember.

Wait, didn't t you know that China has over 750 military bases all across the globe and is enforcing chinese language, chinese currency, chinese culture and chinese weapons everywhere? But it's too difficult to write in chinese so we all continue in english here.