sburke

c'mon guys you are missing the most obvious conclusion. This is the f'n Russians we are talking about. They are either lost or someone just found a Best Buy they can raid.

and frankly militarily Ukraine can afford to give quite a few concessions. The Russian Army is going to be pretty defanged after this. To your point what Ukraine is focusing on is the economic rebuild and human cost. The Ukrainian army will modernize more and become more effective with less while Russia... well Russia tries to figure out where to buy tires.

The last bit about Russian demographics is a long term problem not directly related to any of those previous issues. Poor health care, a high level of alcoholism and a few others in there have been causing a declining birth rate in Russia. There was a period where that was reduced but mostly from immigration changes, not birth rates. Not an issue specifically Russian. Japan has a similar problem due to a lack of immigration. In 2006, in a bid to compensate for the country's demographic decline, the Russian government started simplifying immigration laws and launched a state program "for providing assistance to voluntary immigration of ethnic Russians from former Soviet republics".[42] In August 2012, as the country saw its first demographic growth since the 1990s, President Putin declared that Russia's population could reach 146 million by 2025, mainly as a result of immigration.[43] New citizenship rules introduced in April 2014 allowing eligible citizens from former Soviet republics to obtain Russian citizenship, have gained strong interest among Russian-speaking residents of those countries (i.e. Russians, Germans, Belarusians and Ukrainians).[ Demographics of Russia - Wikipedia

well that could only happen if Russia was able to restore itself as a world power. Problem with that as we are finding out is... they haven't really been a world power for a while. As the Wizard of Oz said - pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. I am more worried that internal upheaval in Russia will end up with a humanitarian crisis that draws others in. but enough of that. Trying to respect Haiduk's request to keep the thread more focused (and apparently failing so far )

I believe the total was 6 and yeah much as I might wish it, there has been no evidence of the IL 76s. There were reports that they were enroute and turned back which would make sense.

Up until now I've been adding the dead ones, but yeah makes sense to include these guys

I suspect some of that is true but haven't seen any confirmation. there were a couple pics of damaged railways but nothing to note who was responsible. there was also a post about Russian officers replacing officers in units, but no confirmation of that either (and that would be a phenomenally bad idea) I strongly suspect Putin wanted/wants their troops in but some folks in Belarus know that would mean the fall of Lukashenko's gov't.

maybe but the Sackler family challenged that perception. I think their commercial ran something like - Religion? nah WE supply the opiate of the masses. Purdue Pharma. We make you not feel your pain. or sumfink

My guess is some folks in Germany are going to be worried they are severely compromised.

slightly morbid but I've been trying to keep a running account MG Andrey Kolesnikov, Russia’s 29th Combined Arms Army commander Andrei Sukhovetsky, Deputy Commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, First Deputy Commander Of The 41st Army Major-general Oleg Mitiayev, commander of 150th motor-rifle division Guards Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky commander of the 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment Colonel Yuryi Agarkov, the commander of 33rd motor-rifle regiment (Kamyshyn, Volgograd oblast) of 20th Guard motor-rifle division Colonel Andrey Zakharov, a tank regiment commander Colonel Sergei Porokhnya commander of the 12th separate guards engineering brigade Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov, Deputy Commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, Commander of the 61st Separate Marine Brigade Lt.colonel Alexei Khasanov, deputy commander of 31st Fighter aviation regiment Guards Major Burlakov Andrei Petrovich, Deputy Chief of Intelligence Staff - Chief of Intelligence Regiment Confirmed recently claimed death of high-ranked officer of 103 missile brigade (Iskander-M), Ulan-Ude, Buriatia, Esatern miliitarty district: the chief of liason, chief of staff deputy mayor Alexandr Fiodorov. So, this can be real, that Russian Iskander unit met with our SOF...

wow, it's all over now! Elon Musk challenged Putin to a 1 on 1! WTF?! I kind of understood how folks would talk about issues amongst royalty caused by inbreeding, but what is Elon's excuse? Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov responded to Elon Musk's challenge to fight Putin, saying Musk would get destroyed (msn.com)

I doubt Ukraine is going to have to promise anything. At the rate the negotiations are moving the Russian army in the field will collapse before there is anything to sign.

as calculating and brutal as it sounds there is value in Russia being thrashed by Ukraine and not giving Putin any chance to escalate. That would play too well with his theme and likely add to his ability to survive this war still in power. Being humiliated by the UKR army and popular resistance though is something I think would lead to him being removed. AFTER that is where Western resolve needs to stay the course. We need to ensure Russia is done. No more threats to Eastern Europe, no more participation with western economy without fundamental change.

yeah I understand. I think we are sidetracking the thread a bit too much at this point. Back to the original point if in fact that was just a ploy on Russian TV I think it has made squat difference to western reaction.

hey I get that. I think not long back Steve gave a response after I posted about war crimes trials for those guys. But we aren't talking about even the soldiers. We are talking about Russian civilians back in Moscow. Americans did some awful things in Vietnam including dropping a chemical agent all over the country including on our own troops. But that didn't make every American a sub human incapable of higher reasoning.

How would your average Russian soldier know to suddenly stop using the phrase? What now the godless Russian horde is linked by a skynet like Comms set up? c'mon man. You have spent quite a bit of time on this thread talking about the essentially subhuman Russian people on here. It permeates every post you make about Russians.

yeah I don't think Assad would want to see those guys leaving Syria. he isn't that secure.

I don't see any of that. there are a few folks who voted against the sanctions even before that clip, but I haven't seen anything to indicate there is any change of heart just because of that. I think you are letting your hatred of Russia color everything you see. Not good to be that unobjective.

that doesn't make any sense. It doesn't remove Ukraine from front pages, it only makes the West see Putin as more of the problem if that is even possible, it makes us think the world opposition is having effect in Russia so.. pile on more. Is it fake? maybe. But if so like all else in Russia's playbook it failed at whatever it may have been intended to do.

Anonymous strikes again 20 terabytes: Anonymous Germany hijacks data from Rosneft Germany - Anonleaks

no I think the requirement would be two hours service which would be met by participation in the local Ukrainian community victory parade.

it is Al Jazeera so here have a lick of this salt rock.

it is a little complicated, but right now I think any western country that tried to prosecute its citizens for going to Ukraine would face a severe public backlash. Ukraine’s foreign legion joins the battle against Russia (msn.com) Although officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia and other countries have openly or tacitly encouraged their citizens to join the Ukrainian army in its fight against Russia, there have also been questions about the legality of such an undertaking. Countries like the UK and Canada have laws banning their citizens from participating in military action against a country they are not at war with.

not surprising. They can't not do it. Without those aircraft internal travel in Russia would come to a grinding halt. I don't think anyone in the kremlin is thinking long term right now. Too busy fighting all the fires they have already.

and now we have Patch grogs... I love this place