rocketman

1 year of the war is passed. From the start of the invasion and to the huge count of air and missile strikes. One of my friends has been killed by wagner artillery in Bohorodichne village near Bakhumt. My father-in-law has been killed by storming the defensive enemy positions in the Kherson region 1st of October. I gave 3 of my salaries (all what I have)on the first day of the war on the military budget. Thanks to all of you, thanks for your help. Taking carry of our refugees, helping our soldiers to destroy enemy forces with AT weapons, artillery, APS, AFV, and Tanks, peoples who served in foreign legions. Thank you for giving billions of money to support our economy. Special thanks to battlefront for small support for me, when I asked about a discount, they gave me 2 games with all DLCs for free - I didn't expect this. Some of my relatives were in Kherson in occupation, and all high-value electronic and expensive things were looted from them by Russian forces. And now we don't fear rocket strikes (10 times they exploded 700-1000m from my house) we don't fear nuclear threat, we don't fear the second army in the world and you shouldnt. Sorry for we English would that what I want to say for all of you, I can tell you many things about the war but first i will try to improve my language knowlages.

Lol 
 

The Russian embassy in Berlin now has a Russian T-72B in front of it, destroyed during the Battle of Kyiv. It will stay there till monday.
 

You can think about it on the way up the next mountain…after the CMCW: BAOR AAR preview battle. 

Wikipedia already got updated:

This one line, the "In service: 1954 - 1970s (USSR), 2023 Russia" is such a good summary of the absurdity of the situation.

@The_Capt - a British one would be more appropriate:

Ok so this was the Falklands but the right era at least ... the bootneck with the moustache front left of the photo was a mate of my father's and was in the original NP 8901 and was one of the three who evaded capture for a few days after the original Argentine landings.  He, like the rest of NP 8901 returned with the Task Force.  Liked to drop his trousers in the pub to urinate off WW2 veterans who claimed that post WW2 conflicts "weren't real wars."  He got shot in Borneo in 1966 during Confrontation and had the hole in his leg to prove it.

During the last few turns the Hinds attacked two targets, one successful hit on a Bradley and a suspected hit on an Abrams moving just out of view. Got several attacks from my US CAS (had them in the air most of the battle and Soviet Shilka fired only once and two Igla launches) that hit several targets and missed some. And unfortunately some Blue on Blue infantry losses

And lastly :
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-economy/3673582-zelensky-signs-off-law-allowing-dutyfree-imports-of-uavs.html
Making it easier and cheaper to import UAVs signals a government that gets the idea.... 

Potentially 50 Caesars to ZSU in a month or so. Bourges factory now operating 3shifts, went from 2-4 Caesars a month to 8.
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/emploi/metiers/armee-et-securite/reportage-ca-fait-voir-que-la-france-est-armee-a-l-usine-caesar-a-bourges-on-est-fier-de-voir-le-canon-livre-a-l-ukraine_5671748.html
Caesars plus BFISTs.... Yeeeeow

Has the idea to start a Kickstarter to gauge interest for potential new CM games ever been tossed around? I wouldn't mind putting down $60 for an early war Eastern Front game for example, even if I knew it wouldn't release for another couple of years.

Ok, let’s say you are totally right.  The Col Macgregors of the world have got a bead on reality and we here are deluding ourselves (completely ignoring our track record to date).
The war unfolds as you outline above…so freakin what?  It will be a hard fight, so we should quit now?  We should quit now and hope that Russian and Chinese expansion stops somewhere “over there”?  Especially after we pulled off the field, tails tucked between legs.  Or maybe we should negotiate and hope they leave us alone?  What possible historical experience points to where backing away from an expansionist dictator is a good idea?  That somehow they take a foot off the gas when they win?

Seriously, who are the people who promote this?  They cannot be the children of the great generations who built this world. If they are they have forgotten what their grandparents and parents fought and sacrificed for.

Much of that $30B (and the many $Billions more committed) that will get recycled into the US economy was spent years ago (in the US) building stuff that we sent/are sending/will send.  Some of which was/is essentially retired and never going to be used again anyway - it's probably cheaper to ship it to Ukraine to get blown up and recycled there than to pay for disposal in the US. It's not like all the big defense companies just have parking lots and warehouses of materiel to send if we send truckloads of cash - we're sending it mostly from long since paid-for stock.  And then most of the rest of the military aid will get spent in the US, too, because where is the US going to buy high end US military equipment from other than the US MIC?  
The main actual cash outlays that go overseas are humanitarian aid and some fraction of the shipping cost.

it is only just under 6 months since the Kharkiv offensive and it has been a muddy winter. Surely that doesn't equate to stalemate.  What gives?  The only way I see direct NATO involvement is if Russia does something truly incredibly epically stupid.... which isn't impossible, but also not likely.

Why you are flat wrong:
We have spent $30 billion on this war so far, much of which is actually recycled back into the American economy. That's equivalent to something like 4% of our defense budget to cripple the biggest threat to the global political order in half a century or more. This war is less than a year old  and Russia has already lost about half of the territory it gained.   It isn't our "foreign adventure" it is Russia's...which has repeatedly said Moldova and the Baltics are next. Which means NATO...and we certainly intend on defending it hell or high water and obviously should.

Of course this makes the somewhat biased assumption that NATO commanders know how to fight this war any better.  In fact in many ways fighting this war employing NATO doctrine would be worse and likely lead to operational cul de sacs.  I am not sure mission command is always appropriate or effective in this sort of environment. 

This is what I've also read,and has been noted by Haiduk et al. 
Notably:
16/17 In the areas where these mistakes were avoided, units performed greatly. While the Ukrainian army improved a lot, it's not always possible to turn a colonel or a general with 30 years of soviet-style experience into a NATO-like commander by performing a 3-month course.
This might be explain why when I look at videos of UKR officers in Western training I see relatively few over 30s. They seem to be sending the newer, "fresher" minds to NATO for early and clean training in Western approaches, the older guys are already engaged at the front and why try to train an old dog in new tricks? 
After those Western trained officers hit the front line this late spring/summer they will disperse throughout the force, supplanting the older Btt level cadre and accelerating the transformation of the ZSU. 
Wagner et al will doubtless adapt,  but the Russian MoD simply won't.  There's nothing in the intellectual bank except tactical variations. This is all we've seen. The higher level RUS command are still making the exact same mistakes as D1. 
The current offensive is shaping up very like their other assaults -  too many disparate axis that disperse their schwerpunkt with incoherent coordination and loss of pressure at critical points. They consistently plan big but think small,  dreaming up large scale encirclments then jumping from local opportuniy to opportunity to grind forward by map inches. 
It seems the Soviet mindset is embedded like a tick in the AFRF,  and for that the ZSU should be grateful as it is their one true and immutable strategic advantage. 
The ZSU corrosive, resilient strategy functions at all three levels and expands its own effects as it progresses. The approach requires an entirely different mentality to the Soviet Wow,  which is why we see inconsistencies in UKR successes (due to existing officers not "getting it") but also why we see steadily building successes in particular veins as newer officers push into positions of effect. 
Unfortunately it implies that this year will be a builder year for 2024,  when the ZSU will have purged, lost or moved on enough of the old mindset to truly transform at a operational level. 

When you really look at it, China is almost as big of a loser as Russia. Yep, Russia is paying the blood price, but the changes brought about by the war really hurt China in the sense of losing strategic options or advantages they had or could have capitalized on a year ago. Just making the world laser focused on autocratic aggression puts everything they do now under a large microscope. Add to that the production increases of the western nations that take a lot of time to spin up that are now in motion. Even the actual tactical lessons learned or reminded (arty ammo needed) from the battles on the ground. Think of how much the west should be gleaning from everything and already getting the wheels in motion for the next generation of warfare when China, although probably ahead of Russia, is not totally caught up to where the west was before the first shot was fired. 
Also has to be a lot of talk among the leadership of every smaller country around China about how apparently wars of aggression aren't a thing of the past. We will probably see strengthening of militaries and maybe even more robust alliances around China. 
If this was a master plan by China and Russia to draw US forces out of the Pacific and into Europe to contain a newly vitalized and threatening Russian bear, then it failed. Russia has degraded itself to the point where the US could pull everything they have out of Europe and Russia still isn't a true threat with what is left of their army. This "proxy" war has actually freed up US assets and for the next generation allows it to focus more on the Pacific than it could have otherwise. The longer it goes on and the more Russia emasculates itself the more negatively China is affected as well.
Will China supply Russia? I'd be surprised if they aren't selling small arms and all sorts of old ammo along with other non-lethal stuff to Russia. Anything bigger I really doubt. Xi is pushing for resolution as none of this helps them in the long run so I can't see them doing more than making a quick profit while they can.
Overall, if there was a plan between China and Russia, I'm pretty sure it has been an epic fail.

Unusual tat. Is it permanent? It's a play but I can't quite work out  the details. Is there some significance to that particular play?
And yes, I'm back and that's the first fruit. For the time being, I'm importing the new core files units into Montebourg (I've just finished 'Labrynth' which I was dreading doing) and after that, I'll import the new core units into The Scottish Corridor. Once that's done, I'll really get to work revising these two. I've learned a lot since I made Montebourg so reworking the AI plans should be 'fun'. It's the work I love best. 

Saw a report just now the address went dark across the country due to a "hack": Breaking. 
"web links of main state channels which are part of All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company [VGTRK ] were taken down as he spoke."

Some background from the Second World War which Putin Imo uses today as his excuse.
 

Lets also remember Stalin himself was allied with the Nazis as they carved up Poland.

I look forward to Republican lawmakers proposing new safety regulations, extending more benefits to rail workers, and advocating greater government intervention in economic realms in the name of safety. 
Say both sides all you want, but on regulation, the consistent policy of the Republican Party forever has been less government regulations stifling economic competition, less unions, less oversight, so unless these calls for focus on Ohio include the prior mentioned expanded government and anti-business power, I doubt this rhetoric is genuine. 
I mean recall the rail strike, Congress is the lawmaking branch, Rubio who criticized the DoT and lack of regulations here: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senators-question-rail-oversight-after-toxic-ohio-derailment-2023-02-15/
Advocated a few months ago instead of utilizing Congress's ability to change and make laws to positively support rail workers, asked the Biden admin. to withdraw this bill and throw it back to the rail companies and rail unions to hash out another agreement. https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/11/rubio-congress-shouldn-t-vote-to-impose-agreement-on-rail-workers
Congress has the ability to force a agreement on the rail companies and rail unions along whatever lines they want, yes, there were Democrat and Republican lawmakers who preferred to let the rail dispute end, but if we really want to resolve this issue, Republican and Democrat lawmakers should come together and improve the regulatory environment, impose a new rail agreement that provides more benefits to rail workers. But only one party consistently skews anti-regulation, and has the House majority to boot. 
It would be nice tho if this gathered speed and urgency in Congress. but I am unhopeful. 

It will never not make me laugh that the party that's now bitching about money spent in Ukraine...as opposed to Ohio...were the same party that gutted the regulations that would have done much to stop or mitigate the East Palestine disaster. 
And to drag this back on topic...that 5% of the US budget spent on Ukraine to wreck the Russian army is pretty much the bargain of the millennium. Stop having yourselves on.

And yet, EVERY SINGLE BILL in Congress, from the moment written, is available to every US Citizen (for that matter, anyone in the world unless some country blocks it), on Congress.gov, free to read, download, print, full text and summary, status, votes in committee and floor.
The fact that the general public has no idea is at least in part due to the general public making no effort at being informed. When presented with extreme claims of doom due to the potential passing of this or that bill by either party, or any news or social media post, the general public should go read the bill for themselves and find out. 

Dave

This really is a “you guys” thing, so I am going to leave out any and all personal opinions one way or the other.  However what I do not get is that the US government is one of the most transparent governments in history.  
So if I am sitting on my back porch and someone in my sphere says “the government is spending all that money on Ukrainians and screwing Ohio-ians, damn [insert political party of your choice]”.  It literally takes an internet connection and about 10 mins to unpack this thing to a level that at least lays out some actual facts:
https://www.policymattersohio.org/research-policy/quality-ohio/revenue-budget/budget-policy/review-of-ohios-2022-23-budget
https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/assets/organizations/legislative-service-commission/files/historical-revenues-and-expenditures-table-1-grf-lpef-and-lgf-revenue-history.pdf
https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/publications/historical-revenues-and-expenditures
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state
So the punchline is that the US federal government spent about $40B on Ohio alone in 22-23 (12B in grants which are code for “we never except to see them back”) and Ohio is in the top ten states to receive federal funding annually.
Yes, it looks like FEMA is being particularly dense and bureaucratic - and they likely need some executive nudging, however, we are talking about apples and unicorns here in both scale and funding streams.
And finally, there is a lot of some pretty convincing arguments flying around that said dangerous cargo was supposed to be off that train but…politics: https://apnews.com/article/wv-state-wire-north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-2e91c7211b4947de8837ebeda53080b9mp-us-news-ap-top-news-transportation-1936e77a11924c909880f1ef014c7ca7
So what?  Well could the federal government be doing more cut through the red tape and support East Palestine Ohio - looks like it could.
Is the US government blowing all it money on Ukraine and therefore cannot support Ohio-eons?  No, that does not track.
Do US rail safety regulations look like they need a revisit - yes, probably a good idea.
Is there a direct link between East Palestine Ohio and US support to Ukraine - no.  In fact trying to find and indirect link is pretty hard.  The US federal budget was roughly $6.27T in 2022.  The $50B in aid to Ukraine comes to about .8% of that.
So for perspective if an average family income in the US is about 71k per year: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-276.html
So in parallel terms this would be the same as that family spending about $560 dollars, or about $46 per month.
And last point, one of those corrupt former Soviet republics is Russia, a P5 UNSC member and nuclear power, and is directly threatening US global interest and influence, on a great power scale - you wanna stay on top?  You have to fight for it.