Tux

Yeesh, how much did Exxon and Chevron pay for this imperialist drivel? 

Absolutely.  In fact it takes on a "key rate if systemic attrition" aspect.   Here ISR and precision become key.  However, if the UA runs out of ammo for this sort of fight, they likely will not have enough for a big offensive action either.  Slow pace by conventional standards is also a clear factor - we saw this at Kherson.  This is a case of western biases and lack of understanding on how these wars unfold driving advice to political will.
Someone just posted an article on some expert decrying the UA for not having enough "mission command".   Frankly looking at how this thing is going I am not even sure mission command is the right way to go, but in the west we have pushed it into an almost religious dogma.  This advice get to the political level and becomes pressure on the UA to "fight and win like us" when we have zero proof it would even work given the same constraints/restraints.  So the western political level needs and education on war, let's face it no one has had to fight one like this since the 50s - maybe parts of Vietnam.  The good news is that Russia hasn't either. 
Corrosive warfare will take longer and will need to be more deliberate.  It is in effect precision attrition.  It takes time to break a military operational system and in a lot of cases we really do not have all the metrics or indicators figured out.
But door #2 is to try and force generate enough mass to overcome the ISR/strike problems and then project and protect it in this environment.  We have watched the RA struggle with this for over a year and fail.  The UA will likely corrode and then use mass when the shaping phase is done.  Everyone in the west seems to be expecting Gulf War but I think it will be more like Kherson, or Kharkiv if we are lucky.

Are you being deliberately disingenuous to make a point or do you honestly think discussions about the ways in which Russia might split apart were common before this war started?
Russia started a war. People on this board (amongst others) have assessed that as having been a bad idea and don’t think that Russia can win. The question is then raised: “what does Russia losing actually look like?” and a conversation follows which considers, among other things, what lines it might fracture along, if it fractures.
The only way in which it can be considered to be “a goal in the West” is if it is adjudged to be the least bad option.  Kind of like how driving into a tree might become a “goal” if the alternative is to go over a cliff edge.
If Putin or Russians in general are truly afraid of westerners having that conversation then they should stop smashing their country’s future against the Ukrainian army and focus on making the Russian Federation into.. just.. *any* kind of good neighbour.

Pretty much par for the course for the so called professional arm of the RU armed forces.  My initial take on the whole thing was that the pilot took it on himself to play the clown and he screwed it up.  He's lucky he didn't end up taking a swim himself.

No, of course you’re right that the fuel dump(s) were intentional.  Has that ever brought a targeted aircraft down though, as opposed to being the closest to a ‘disrespectful act’ that you can get in these scenarios?  If not then I’m still not convinced the intent was to destroy.
Not that the intent matters very much, now. 

The more I think about it the more I suspect this whole thing is actually just a case of an idiot (and let’s just say it one more time: f*ing *reckless*) pilot accidentally colliding with the MQ-9.  There’s no way he deliberately approached a moving target at a closing speed of something like 100kts, the last second or two with the ‘target’ out of sight, and then purposefully clipped just the outer 20cm of the propeller.  There’s also no way his superiors ordered him to try to do just that. 

I think this is an angry clown of a pilot trying to scare the drone’s operators with a very close flyby and… ahem… “messing” it up. 

The more I think about it the more I suspect this whole thing is actually just a case of an idiot (and let’s just say it one more time: f*ing *reckless*) pilot accidentally colliding with the MQ-9.  There’s no way he deliberately approached a moving target at a closing speed of something like 100kts, the last second or two with the ‘target’ out of sight, and then purposefully clipped just the outer 20cm of the propeller.  There’s also no way his superiors ordered him to try to do just that. 

I think this is an angry clown of a pilot trying to scare the drone’s operators with a very close flyby and… ahem… “messing” it up. 

Before seeing the video, I envisioned the SU flying alongside of the drone then sliding in front and releasing fuel.  The actual approach is much more dangerous as the pilot loses sight of the drone in the final moments.  Considering the closing speed this is far too risky, to my mind it would be far safer to approach from below where the pilot could keep the drone in view for the entire encounter.

 

Wow. Another joke?
I mean, yes it can.  It’s up to the Russians whether they want to cross the next line and attack said drone but I’m not even arguing that the attack was unwarranted, I’m arguing that it was done in a reckless and stupid way.  I feel like this isn’t a productive sub-thread though, so will probably leave things there.
Oh and I meant to say it would have been a major international crisis if the SU-27 pilot had misjudged and gone down too, which he could easily have done if he made contact with the drone any more heavily than he actually did. My apologies if I wasn’t clear. 

Wow. Another joke?
I mean, yes it can.  It’s up to the Russians whether they want to cross the next line and attack said drone but I’m not even arguing that the attack was unwarranted, I’m arguing that it was done in a reckless and stupid way.  I feel like this isn’t a productive sub-thread though, so will probably leave things there.
Oh and I meant to say it would have been a major international crisis if the SU-27 pilot had misjudged and gone down too, which he could easily have done if he made contact with the drone any more heavily than he actually did. My apologies if I wasn’t clear. 

On the other hand, though, perception is reality. Exchange ratios are essentially unknowable at any real level of detail or accuracy. About the best you can do is get a sense of how things are going based on what you can see leavened with your experience. It's not that knowing the ratio to 3 decimal places is unimportant, but you just don't have access to the data required to create reliable, numerical, information.
However if the UKR forces perceive that the exchange ratio is getting away from them, which appears to be what Kofman et al are relaying to audiences outside Ukraine, then that really is a real problem and not just a tempest in a teapot.

For the love of God don’t anybody show this to Scholz!

In addition to what others have said, the UK had a soft empire for quite a while after the real one faded away. At least they pretended they were still great and indulged in large quantities of nostalgia.
The King is still the head of state of 15 countries, as Town and Country dutifully reminds us - https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/g41501895/what-countries-does-king-charles-iii-reign-over/
Until the Australians upset the apple cart, the UK (England) got to remind all the oiks who was best at the Commonwealth games every 4 years - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Commonwealth_Games_medal_table
And even now the proms (an annual series of classical performances in London) concludes with rousing singalongs to Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia, despite discontent in some circles given the damage they did to the colonised countries and people.
Throw in Brexit with it's longings for a lost Britain and you could say that the UK is still renegotiating it's post-empire place in the world.

From bad to wurst.  Sorry, sorry, I'll get my coat.
 

Why though? I thought this forum was Cooking Mission: Bavarian Sausage?

Heh. A couple of years ago I had a similar thing happen at the Gasthof "Zum Stich´n" in Grafenwöhr. After a week of eating nothing but meaty meatiness, my eye was struck by the promise of a jaegersalat. Great! I thought, fresh raw vegetables! Maybe I can have a normal poo tomorrow!
Alas.
The salat consisted of lightly pickled layers of thinly sliced cold beef with a few stray bits of an onion that must've gotten lost on its way through the kitchen. I think I cried a little when it landed on the table and I realised what it was.

Putin: "so you're saying there's a chance?  And with just this one little trick?"

freudian slip there.  Charge!!!  🤣

What is China's plan if the Russian Federation disintegrates?

Are you being deliberately disingenuous to make a point or do you honestly think discussions about the ways in which Russia might split apart were common before this war started?
Russia started a war. People on this board (amongst others) have assessed that as having been a bad idea and don’t think that Russia can win. The question is then raised: “what does Russia losing actually look like?” and a conversation follows which considers, among other things, what lines it might fracture along, if it fractures.
The only way in which it can be considered to be “a goal in the West” is if it is adjudged to be the least bad option.  Kind of like how driving into a tree might become a “goal” if the alternative is to go over a cliff edge.
If Putin or Russians in general are truly afraid of westerners having that conversation then they should stop smashing their country’s future against the Ukrainian army and focus on making the Russian Federation into.. just.. *any* kind of good neighbour.

Are you being deliberately disingenuous to make a point or do you honestly think discussions about the ways in which Russia might split apart were common before this war started?
Russia started a war. People on this board (amongst others) have assessed that as having been a bad idea and don’t think that Russia can win. The question is then raised: “what does Russia losing actually look like?” and a conversation follows which considers, among other things, what lines it might fracture along, if it fractures.
The only way in which it can be considered to be “a goal in the West” is if it is adjudged to be the least bad option.  Kind of like how driving into a tree might become a “goal” if the alternative is to go over a cliff edge.
If Putin or Russians in general are truly afraid of westerners having that conversation then they should stop smashing their country’s future against the Ukrainian army and focus on making the Russian Federation into.. just.. *any* kind of good neighbour.

Are you being deliberately disingenuous to make a point or do you honestly think discussions about the ways in which Russia might split apart were common before this war started?
Russia started a war. People on this board (amongst others) have assessed that as having been a bad idea and don’t think that Russia can win. The question is then raised: “what does Russia losing actually look like?” and a conversation follows which considers, among other things, what lines it might fracture along, if it fractures.
The only way in which it can be considered to be “a goal in the West” is if it is adjudged to be the least bad option.  Kind of like how driving into a tree might become a “goal” if the alternative is to go over a cliff edge.
If Putin or Russians in general are truly afraid of westerners having that conversation then they should stop smashing their country’s future against the Ukrainian army and focus on making the Russian Federation into.. just.. *any* kind of good neighbour.

Are you being deliberately disingenuous to make a point or do you honestly think discussions about the ways in which Russia might split apart were common before this war started?
Russia started a war. People on this board (amongst others) have assessed that as having been a bad idea and don’t think that Russia can win. The question is then raised: “what does Russia losing actually look like?” and a conversation follows which considers, among other things, what lines it might fracture along, if it fractures.
The only way in which it can be considered to be “a goal in the West” is if it is adjudged to be the least bad option.  Kind of like how driving into a tree might become a “goal” if the alternative is to go over a cliff edge.
If Putin or Russians in general are truly afraid of westerners having that conversation then they should stop smashing their country’s future against the Ukrainian army and focus on making the Russian Federation into.. just.. *any* kind of good neighbour.

for what it is worth you can go to comments sections in yahoo articles/reddit etc and find tons of responses from wingnuts.  It doesn't really tell me much what the average person who isn't sitting around posting on social media all the time thinks.
Also as an aside on this "cancel culture" thing.  Understanding history is important. period.  Whether it makes your guy look good or not, the details matter in understanding motivations and actions.  It is also important to establish context.  Growing up as a kid about all I knew of George Washington was that he cut down a cherry tree and then admitted his fault honestly.  later I learned he had wooden teeth.
I grew up in Phila, in easy driving distance of Valley Forge.  Independence hall was a rail line ride away. As I got older and lived in the DC area I got to visit Mt Vernon a lot.  (they used to make a great peanut soup).  I also got to visit other places like Jefferson's. I slowly got to learn more about these folks, both the good and bad.  These guys weren't saints.  They also however established a nation founded on some really important principles even if they applied those principles unevenly. As a history buff I want to know the whole story.  If that offends someone that wants to maintain some bogus unblemished view of them.  Well too bad.  All of us humans are flawed, we shouldn't be afraid to understand our flaws.

Sorry DF, that slot's taken 😆
You can challenge for the title once you draw at least a half-page sized text Wall of Exasperation from @The_Capt.