sburke

ohh that will go over well. They'll be creating an internal division similar to what the US went through in Vietnam. The privileged get to avoid the draft. the poor and unskilled get to go die.

If I was the UKR I wouldn't let them. A withdrawal while in contact. ... yeah that Army isn't capable. Putin can make all the statements he wants, The Ukrainians don't need to give them the space. I think Steve said many pages ago something about that moment in CM where your opponent is on the ropes. Yeah the game is over but we all know how much we want to wipe that force. Besides all those POWs would be leverage to get back the civilians Russia is kidnapping.

Yep and that was really the point. Who needs access internationally.. oh yeah the Oligarch's. For those in Russia sure you can still make financial transactions, but the value of your money is plummeting. Being able to use an ATM doesn't help if you don't have money.

busy day!

yeah but did they know the arming distance of an NLAW?

I think as @The_Capt has been pointing out, folks are making assumptions based on their own knowledge base and not allowing for the fact they have an inherent bias and therefore difficulty interpreting events. What is clear is that the Russian military doesn’t stand a good chance of achieving its initial political aims That he allows ANY chance for Russia achieving its political aims is surprising. That went out the window weeks ago. We will either see a significant operational pause and some kind of ceasefire that will lead to a settlement, or that pause will introduce a rearming period where Russia will introduce a number of units that they’re bringing up to the border right now. They have more forces, they have more materiel. Their losses are significant, but their rate of attrition as a share of the force is likely not as bad as Ukraine’s. But we don’t know. What matters is less the losses and more the losses as an actual share of the country’s military capacity. So Ukraine may be doing well, but nonetheless they’re still losing significant amounts of materiel and equipment. The idea of an "operational pause" has been discussed ad nauseum here. In addition the question of military capacity is based on a false comparison. The Russian Army as it was projected prior to the war and the expected behavior of the UKR Army based on his premise of how the war would be fought as well as it's size. As it turns out what Russia brought to the battle is a significant portion of the useful forces it has while UKr forces are growing while it's resupply way outpaces Russia's. I would agree though the next two weeks are critical. My expectation of how things will look in two weeks is significantly different. I'll give him this. That was written a week ago and doesn't reflect on the reverses Russia has had around Kiev and some of the info that has come out about Russia reserves.

Besides. When they take back Crimea, they can put a toll booth on their end.

Trying to keep that land bridge means having to hold a 500 km long front. I just don't see anything in Russia's options that are realistic given their capabilities. If (when) this Izium offensive fizzles out it will be curious what plan G is.

AKD posted this a few hours ago. Worth looking at again before it recedes any further

sorry..

fixed and no.

Knee capping itself won't mean they will die of their wounds, but they won't be walking home. It was a common practice for the IRA dealing with drug dealers. It is wrong, but I can't find it in me to condemn when you have this stuff going on. 'We Will Not Be Silent': MP Speaks Out Amid Claims Russian Soldiers Are Raping Ukrainian Women (msn.com) With the BS coming out of the Kremlin I doubt that incident will have that much impact as I am sure their leadership is telling them worse. Meanwhile 'Caught them by surprise': Ukraine troops take Kharkiv village (msn.com)

fixed that. "main stream media is way over used. I don't even know what it means anymore. Seems all media is parsing the hell out of that. I did like this. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, however, on Monday told CNN's John Berman that he was pleased to hear Biden's ad lib arrive when it did. "I think Ukraine and Ukrainians were waiting for a long time for such a statement," Yushchenko said. "I think this statement is absolutely correct as to the challenges of our times."

no. I figure if he is at the top he must be really incompetent. let's keep him around for a bit.

deleted

LOL a lot of roads with a lot of abandoned Russian tanks. it all gets so confusing. I could hear someone giving directions. Go down the road an make a left at the T80. If you see a T72 B3 you missed the left and you should turn around. Unless it's the one with the commander shield in which case you might as well continue on as you've gone too far.

At the rate Russia is wrecking it's army and economy I think Monaco will qualify.

got it

oh man I gotta get a shirt with that

hope the plan wasn't to move them by ship. I hear the dock there is still occupied.

My father enlisted early (and possibly underage) to get out of issues between his foster homes and the a55hat at the Catholic school he was in. Ended up serving on the USS The Sullivans off Korea.

The book received mostly positive reviews. Publishers Weekly noted it as "a classic spy novel", concluding: "Fans of extended combat sequences should look elsewhere, as the focus is on high stakes espionage and assassinations carried out in rented rooms and dark alleys, not well-lit battlefields It isn't a Larry Bond joint title. I much prefer Bond over Clancy. Cauldron still ranks up there for me.

I dunno. I think it is very positive that Russia donated so much metal material to Ukrainian farmers. I think you are being unfair to the beneficence of King Vlad.

damn the commander was already on the list.

do we know the unit? duh, never mind