Yskonyn

I don't think it's sad at all. I think we have been trying to push square pegs into round holes for a long time.
The EU works much better if we recognise we are different people and use this for cross-pollination to advance universally as the EU while still keeping mind that we all have different roots, social constructs, habits, etc. as nationalities. Brussels outstretched paws to influence national politics have been reduced in a last years and I feel the strain has been reduced and the sentiment towards the EU has improved, at least here in Holland.
A cooperation rather than a unification works better. At least I think so.

According to several news outlets this is correct.
Aparently the German Government did not agree and therefore Ollongren cannot push through. Now dutch minister of defense Ollongren has stated that we will buy over 100 Leo 1's (together with Germany as far as I understand) for Ukraine use.
Most reports are quite short and without extensive explanation however.
EDIT: Aragorn2002 calls BS on the report. Perhaps he can elaborate?
BNR news reported it to be correct. Seems like a reliable source?
EDIT2: On further examination; it might be a hassle of words; aparently we lease the 18 Leo 2's from Germany and the plan was to buy them in order to then dispatch them to Ukraine.
Germany claims Netherlands did not make it known to Germany that we would like to deliver Leo2's to Ukraine, whereas the report tells us that Ollongren told parliament that we cannot deliver the Leo 2's because the German government has decided so.
Yet the German Government claims it was not aware of any such intentions and certainly did not block any request. They also hint at discontent within the dutch armed forces about buying Leo's to then make available to Ukraine.
Reeks of bureaucratism or communication error or just bull**** storymaking.

Ok, I see what you mean. Of course this should be about integration not assimilation and becoming some uniform undistinguishable mass.

Excellent first point!
And as you said a little later; there also is a EU after this war to be considered.
(And Huba has a great point too, Poland is certainly not the 'only problem' the EU has. No discussion here.)
On 'Countries weakening their own defence'; is this actually the case? I think we've also establsihed in this thread that were it not for western equipment to be made available to Ukraine the flow of this war might have gone very differently, did we not?
So in what manner is 'our defense' linked to 'Ukraine's defense' in that sense? And I am not talking about the front here specifically, but the broader aspect.
In terms of territory countries like the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, Greece or Spain and Portugal don't need to protect their borders directly from Russian aggression (at this point anyway), but I can imagine Germany might feel differently about this. Poland is quite clearly in a different position as well. 
But that's why we have NATO, don't we? It's not about the individual countries. 
The criticism about how effective the EU is, how much power Brussel has and how much we hate Brussel deciding for us on a national level is easy in peace time, but I am glad to see when the **** hits the fan the EU seems to be several levels more efficient and with resolve than I had anticipated.
It might still come across as a very slow moving political entity, but if you pauze for a moment and reflect on how many countries are involved, I find it rather impressive actually.
Also let's not forget the EU is still very young as an entity and has been under constant change and evolution.
We've discussed before what a 'European' is. A term often used by our American friends. Seeing Europe is visiting Madrid and Amsterdam in one trip. No it doesn't, really. I am trying to illustrate my meaning here, not trying to be abrasive.
My gauge is that most people don't 'feel' they are 'a' European. They are Spanish, Dutch, German, etc, but are part of Europe. Not as cultural identity, but as a political, military and monetary alliance of sorts.

Europe can be roughly divided into the Northwestern part (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries, unfortunately weakened by Brexit), democratic and cool headed, the Southern part (Greece and Italy), democratic but somewhat unpredictable and the Eastern part (Poland and Hungary) less and less democratic and therefor unpredictable.
Use that as a rough guide to understand European politics and you can't go wrong. 
Although Poland at the moment is trying to picture itself as the frontier of Western values, it is justifiably seen in the rest of Europe as undemocratic, self centred, greedy and more and more dictatorial. This is one of the biggest threats to European unity for the future and a factor the rest of Europe can't afford to ignore. Combine that with the confusing political situation in the US and the uncertainty after the next elections there and one may begin to understand the European dilemma.
When it comes to unity I don't have to explain to an American how complicated and difficult that can be. All in all I think the EU has performed a very impressive show in that respect since ww2, unparalled in modern history. The same goes for the European aid to Ukraine, which is equally unparalled. Countries weakening their own defence to strengthen that of another country. I call that damned impressive.

Which country do you think would oppose Ukainian membership given that there would be peace?
Yeah, but 'Germanic' <> 'Germany' or 'Germans'. This is a trap the English language leads you in. In German, the same words are 'Germanen' <> 'Deutschland' or 'Deutsche'.
However, the Dutch were included in being 'Aryan' so the result would have been the same as the Russian behavior.

I think you guys are using Russia and Russians two different ways. One very literal, the other general and encompassing.  Might be more of a language/usage issue than an actual disagreement?
Dave
 

Well, which country actually has the same borders today as 100 years ago? If you go by that half of this thread, the one frequently doing historical comparisons is pointless. No country won WW2 all by itself and I don't think anyone said so. But it is a historical fact that the Soviet Union played a very major part in the Allied victory. By extension, since the Russian population made up roughly 60% of the Soviet Union, a large part of the credit goes to Russia. Denying that is a kind of historic revisionism that may be politically convenient right now but is factually wrong. Moreover, the tide was turned near at Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad, which, when last I took a look on the map was Russian proper not Ukrainian or Lithuanian or Kazakh or whatever. If pointing out that makes one pro-Putin then I think this thread is dead for all intents and purposes because then I can just as well go into any other echo chamber on the internet.
Btw. that wasn't even what @Seedorf81said. He just said that this is what Russians think and that is what influences their will to go on.

This was unconfirmed rumors. Since weekend Russians multiplied own efforts to cut off Bakhmut from main supply routes Sloviansk - Bakhmut on the north and Kostintynivka - Bakhmut on the south. Except Wagners convicts, they also attacked with Wagner "core" and with VDV troops, so they could advance significanly along canal from Klishchiivka to Ivanivske and now are heavyly assault approaches to the Kostainntynivka - Bakhmut road. 
Today's twitters are reporting about endless heavy arty and MLRS barraages from both sides in that area. Unlike in previous days, reportedly UKR arty is working continuosly and hard. Either ammunition was delivered in time, or now they use "emergency strore" due to lack of ammo. Mass usage of bomblet-copters in Bakhmut is not of good life - but because of critical lack of artillery. One guy wrote in twitter - their battery has a long queue from units, which requested Excalibur strike or even "several shots at mother...ckers".
93rd mech.brigade was returned to Bakhmut week ago or some more - their time of R&R was shortened, because situation became worse. Their drone recon unit "Seneca" returned there so far through a 7-10 days, after the brigade was moved out - troops critically needed eyes in the sky. Many eyes. Despite on Bakhmut direction there are many drone teams are operating (except drones inside frontline units), their number anyway insufficient to cover all enemy movements on so wide front.   

You do realize how that sounds?  Probably gets some hackles up and so makes readers less receptive to your message.  The folks who post here are pretty smart overall but you seem to imply that folks just aren't smart enough to understand your message.  They understand, they are just disagreeing with your positions on several matters and have made some very strong arguments.

"As for what Russia does now... why would they change? If Ukrainians want to run bodies into bombardments, why would Russia not oblige?"
I'm fairly sure we aren't watching the same war.

Go-pro footage from a Finnish volunteer
 

We have now reached page 1985 of this thread. Rather symbolic if you ask me.
Keep the great discussion/analyses and what not coming guys. I am not able to contribute much, but I learn lots every day and am amazed at the knowledge at display in this community. Truely something special and not something I’ve seen in any other gaming community.
For our Ukranian members; strength and courage! 

NRC news (dutch) reports about (further)integration of dutch army elements into german army.
Division ‘Schnelle Kräfte’ has the 11th ‘Luchtmobiele Brigade’ (aparently already since 2014)
1. Panzer Division gets 43th Mechanized Brigade
10. Panzer Division gets 13th Light Brigade
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/01/31/nederland-en-duitsland-bundelen-hun-landmachten-a4155834
As I read it due to funding cuts and staff shortage the idea began as a win win to ‘plug holes’ in both armies, but the project has expanded in scope over time and ambition for the future, but support units like engineers, medical personel, etc as well as special forces will not be part of the integration.
 

NRC news (dutch) reports about (further)integration of dutch army elements into german army.
Division ‘Schnelle Kräfte’ has the 11th ‘Luchtmobiele Brigade’ (aparently already since 2014)
1. Panzer Division gets 43th Mechanized Brigade
10. Panzer Division gets 13th Light Brigade
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/01/31/nederland-en-duitsland-bundelen-hun-landmachten-a4155834
As I read it due to funding cuts and staff shortage the idea began as a win win to ‘plug holes’ in both armies, but the project has expanded in scope over time and ambition for the future, but support units like engineers, medical personel, etc as well as special forces will not be part of the integration.
 

I don't think this is one of the better examples of Russian propaganda. They seem to get worse at it lol. I chuckled at one of the comment 'new Command & Conquer trailer just dropped.' 
 

We have now reached page 1985 of this thread. Rather symbolic if you ask me.
Keep the great discussion/analyses and what not coming guys. I am not able to contribute much, but I learn lots every day and am amazed at the knowledge at display in this community. Truely something special and not something I’ve seen in any other gaming community.
For our Ukranian members; strength and courage! 

We have now reached page 1985 of this thread. Rather symbolic if you ask me.
Keep the great discussion/analyses and what not coming guys. I am not able to contribute much, but I learn lots every day and am amazed at the knowledge at display in this community. Truely something special and not something I’ve seen in any other gaming community.
For our Ukranian members; strength and courage! 

We have now reached page 1985 of this thread. Rather symbolic if you ask me.
Keep the great discussion/analyses and what not coming guys. I am not able to contribute much, but I learn lots every day and am amazed at the knowledge at display in this community. Truely something special and not something I’ve seen in any other gaming community.
For our Ukranian members; strength and courage! 

We have now reached page 1985 of this thread. Rather symbolic if you ask me.
Keep the great discussion/analyses and what not coming guys. I am not able to contribute much, but I learn lots every day and am amazed at the knowledge at display in this community. Truely something special and not something I’ve seen in any other gaming community.
For our Ukranian members; strength and courage! 

Granted this is mostly speculation… but I’d assume that most of the dismembering in modern war comes from shrapnel rather than the actual blast of an explosion. That’s a big boom, of course, but I don’t think a HEAT round would generate that much shrapnel and so the blast (though plenty fatal) wouldn’t generate that kind of damage.

Well in the first hit there is clearly explosive trauma.  A HEAT round is not designed for AP.  As the name suggests it is designed to penetrate armor and then once behind it, spray hot metal and bounce all over the insides of a vehicle.  So hitting a person or group of people with a HEAT round is both sub-optimal and overkill at the same time.
The inverted cone of the HEAT round forms a hot very fast moving slug (you can actually see their contrails) after the initial explosion.  The explosion itself does create blast and frag, obviously but most of the energy is converted into that slug.  So what?  Well unless you are hit by that slug directly (and in the first hit it looks like someone’s head has been taken off by it), then you normally “only” get fragmentation from the casing.  This can still kill you but you are peppered to death vice blown apart, massive blood loss being the primary mechanism of mortality.  In most of these cases it looks like blast and frag got them while the slug flew off and away.

This is clearing of village of Petropavlivka directly east of Kupyansk. From other sources we know Spetsnaz was send there as hasty reinforcent to plug the front;could also be BARS, though. But them barricading inside building seems indeed strange.
 
There is 3-parts documentary "Battle of Chernihov" dedicated to this battle early in the war.
https://www.hejto.pl/wpis/bitwa-o-czernichow-2022-film-dokumentalny-napisy-eng
One can check youtube links in summay above (summary in PL, one can autotranslate; while movie itself has ENG subs).

From Galeev's latest, the banality of evil....
Just watch this video clip and study the body language. Putin comes across as neither sick nor insane, quite intelligent and self aware in fact.
What also comes across is an arrogant bully, accustomed to having yes-men around him. So, functionally indistinguishable from malice....
 

I see a couple issues with this member of the independent “press”: