Degsy

(As per Steve, above "dishonest or ill informed" -- the answer is "dishonest")
Meanwhile, NYTimes (full disclosure, I am subscriber) editorial board says Ukraine should negotiate away territory and it's bad to upset Putler and that UKR can't take back all it's territory anyway.  That is a disgraceful editorial.  UKR might, in the end, have to concede to some of Russia's thievery, but why would they do it before it becomes a necessity?   Would Putin negotiate away territory if he didn't have to -- hell no!
To those saying that we don't want to humiliate Russia w total defeat, I say that's absurd.  Have they learned nothing?  Letting Putin off the hook just means he will immediately start planning his next nefarious criminal adventures.  Small stuff like assassinating every critic and outspoken ex-pat who fled Russia.  Then bigger stuff, like stirring up fight in Moldova.  He'll use Russian minorities in Baltic states to ratchet up ethnic/political tensions.  Then maybe steal some more land from Georgia or wherever.  Politically/militarily annex Belarus.  Continue to poison the political processes in democracies.  Buying off powerful politicians and influencers in democracies. 
And that's not even mentioning the physical sabotage he might decide to perform against those that helped Ukraine, like  Cyber attacks, arson at critical infrastructure. 
Solidly defeating Russia matters to the future of the world's democracies a lot more than NYTimes editorial staff seems to understand.  He's a rabid dog and need to be as weakened as possible.  If Russia removes Putin, then they've got a chance to be part of the civilized world again, but that is the minimum step one.  And the worse they are defeated the better the chance he is removed.

BINGO!



I didn't see Gerasimov, but could easily be that I just didn't recognise him

I much preferred this thread when it was discussing the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Interesting Youtube discussion from 3rd May about Ukraine with  US generals McMaster and Hodges (former commander of USAEUR). They talk about amongst other things, the likelihood of nuclear escalation, Russian performance so to date, the lack of Rus cyber warfare so far, the surprisingly long lead time for US manufacturers to produce fresh systems like Javelin, and perceived failings on the Ukrainian side. Those failings were seen as weak logistics chains, taking too much time to activate the TDF, and lack of ammunition for the Russian legacy 122 and 152 arty.  You can judge their conclusion from the title of the vid, but they make the point that it's going to be long and bloody road to get there.
"Ukraine is going to end up winning" - McMaster and Hodges discussion.

Interview with captured Russian airborne soldier.
A video of a captured Russian soldier from 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, who was part of the first wave to attack (presumably) Hostomel, and is the only survivor of his company. He doesn't appear to be coerced and amongst other things (a) says that the individual soldiers weren't briefed about the mission until they were on the helicopters inbound for the attack (b) describes the effects of Ukrainian artillery on his unit (c) describes another company being merged with his own because their combat losses (d) gives his opinion about his units level of training. 
The interview is 25 minutes long, subtitled,and repays watching.
 
 

Interview with captured Russian airborne soldier.
A video of a captured Russian soldier from 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, who was part of the first wave to attack (presumably) Hostomel, and is the only survivor of his company. He doesn't appear to be coerced and amongst other things (a) says that the individual soldiers weren't briefed about the mission until they were on the helicopters inbound for the attack (b) describes the effects of Ukrainian artillery on his unit (c) describes another company being merged with his own because their combat losses (d) gives his opinion about his units level of training. 
The interview is 25 minutes long, subtitled,and repays watching.
 
 

Interview with captured Russian airborne soldier.
A video of a captured Russian soldier from 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, who was part of the first wave to attack (presumably) Hostomel, and is the only survivor of his company. He doesn't appear to be coerced and amongst other things (a) says that the individual soldiers weren't briefed about the mission until they were on the helicopters inbound for the attack (b) describes the effects of Ukrainian artillery on his unit (c) describes another company being merged with his own because their combat losses (d) gives his opinion about his units level of training. 
The interview is 25 minutes long, subtitled,and repays watching.
 
 

Interview with captured Russian airborne soldier.
A video of a captured Russian soldier from 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, who was part of the first wave to attack (presumably) Hostomel, and is the only survivor of his company. He doesn't appear to be coerced and amongst other things (a) says that the individual soldiers weren't briefed about the mission until they were on the helicopters inbound for the attack (b) describes the effects of Ukrainian artillery on his unit (c) describes another company being merged with his own because their combat losses (d) gives his opinion about his units level of training. 
The interview is 25 minutes long, subtitled,and repays watching.
 
 

Interview with captured Russian airborne soldier.
A video of a captured Russian soldier from 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, who was part of the first wave to attack (presumably) Hostomel, and is the only survivor of his company. He doesn't appear to be coerced and amongst other things (a) says that the individual soldiers weren't briefed about the mission until they were on the helicopters inbound for the attack (b) describes the effects of Ukrainian artillery on his unit (c) describes another company being merged with his own because their combat losses (d) gives his opinion about his units level of training. 
The interview is 25 minutes long, subtitled,and repays watching.
 
 

I was listening to a depressing video this morning from a woman who runs Russian language courses on youtube (she left Russia some years ago). She did a PhD in Russian propaganda in the Russo-Japanese war, so studying how Russian propaganda works is kind of her thing.
There was a lot about how Russia has been sidelining and intimidating (and murdering) any semblance of free press and how Russian TV has, in the last 8 years, basically removed any entertainment, so it is now basically propaganda for 23 hours of each day. If you've got the TV on in the background while doing something else, then you get a constant stream of aggressive propaganda.
So she describing the Russian propaganda position (which probably won't be news to most of us):
* Ukraine and Russia are one people and Russians have a duty to protect their Ukrainian cousins
* Maidain in 2014 was an evil Nazi takeover that has destroyed Ukraine and effectively enslaved the Ukrainian population
* Russia is therefore fighting to free Ukrainians and is being welcomed as liberators
(Then there is a whole load of re-writing history about how the Soviet Union stood alone against Nazi Germany, eventually defeating them, while the west didn't care and didn't help the brave Russian people).
You can see why people being fed a non-stop diet of this stuff and being actively denied access to any inconvenient facts that contradict it might end up supporting this war.

Many thanks for this Haiduk.

You know, emotional decisions are very rarely good ones. There's a problem with the fact that we are inundated with videos that, as humans, we can't help but respond to with visceral emotion. It didn't used to be like this. We used to read about facts, and have time to consider them, and then the odd photo or video that made its way through the editorial process. Nowadays it's all, "Forget ethics, forget the law, forget standards and decency. I just watched a video that made me emotional. Now I'm ok with war crimes." I've felt this myself, and seen it all over this thread. Truly the moment is all that matters, ala George Orwell. I've recently realized that all the "war porn" and videos from the front generally have a very negative effect on my pysche, and my capacity to live well. Now trying to cut down on the emotion, and sort through facts. From there is where the better decisions are made.
As always my sympathies are with the Ukrainian nation. 

"Where do Orcs come from".  A Google map released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence showing the passport numbers, service numbers (I think), DoB, rank and, seemingly, town of origin of members of the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade, the unit which carried out the killings in Bucha. Most of the soldiers evidently come from medium to small towns and villages from across Russia, and very few from the big cities. The home addresses of individual soldiers are not shown. 
"The Betrayed".  A documentary about the first Chechen War in 1994, the battle for Grozny, and some Russian mothers trying to trace their PoW sons. Compare and contrast with what's happening Ukraine today - very little has changed in attitudes, behaviour, or methods. The film is 1hr 20 mins long but if you have the time it's worth watching. 
"Bloody Energy"      The latest video in the information war. Just over a minute long.
 

Russian Embassy in Dublin about to run out of heating fuel.
The Embassy's heating runs on diesel but no-one is willing to sell to them. The Russian Ambassador, Yuri Filatov, is asking the Irish Foreign Ministry to look into this into this "clearly discriminatory case". I wonder how much diesel the average diplomatic bag holds because I don't see them getting it any other way.

Russian Embassy in Dublin about to run out of heating fuel.
The Embassy's heating runs on diesel but no-one is willing to sell to them. The Russian Ambassador, Yuri Filatov, is asking the Irish Foreign Ministry to look into this into this "clearly discriminatory case". I wonder how much diesel the average diplomatic bag holds because I don't see them getting it any other way.

Russian Embassy in Dublin about to run out of heating fuel.
The Embassy's heating runs on diesel but no-one is willing to sell to them. The Russian Ambassador, Yuri Filatov, is asking the Irish Foreign Ministry to look into this into this "clearly discriminatory case". I wonder how much diesel the average diplomatic bag holds because I don't see them getting it any other way.

Russian Embassy in Dublin about to run out of heating fuel.
The Embassy's heating runs on diesel but no-one is willing to sell to them. The Russian Ambassador, Yuri Filatov, is asking the Irish Foreign Ministry to look into this into this "clearly discriminatory case". I wonder how much diesel the average diplomatic bag holds because I don't see them getting it any other way.

Sometimes Twitter is a cesspool. Sometimes it is not.
"I am the very model of a Russian Major General
My standing in the battlefield is growing quite untenable
My forces, though equipped and given orders unequivocal
Did not expect the fight to be remotely this reciprocal
 
I used to have a tank brigade but now I have lost several
My fresh assaults are faltering with battleplans extemporal
I can't recover vehicles but farmers in a tractor can
It's all becoming rather reminiscent of Afghanistan
 
My ordnance is the best but only half my missiles make it there
I would have thought by now that we would be controllers of the air
But at the rate the snipers work my time here is ephemeral
I am the very model of a Russian Major General"
 

Ok just seen this and it made me smile.
 

"In Moscow's Shadows".  Interesting podcast by Mark Galeotti, talking in part about the lreasons behind lack of preparation for the war. Apparently standard practice would be to set up a 'Combat Management Group' (ГЬУ.) months ahead of the proposed operation to coordinate plans and resources. In this case it's possible that the ГЬУ was only established after  the Putin speech where he was seen browbeating various ministers. The whole podcast is 45mins but go to to 14.30 to hear about the Russian National Defence Management Centre and Combat Management Groups.
Ukraine War: 'Go and fight', says foreign fighter who joined the war in Ukraine A short (3 minute) Youtube clip. Interesting that he says that volunteers should have not just military, but actual combat experience.

DL,
I haven't watched it but the title means "The Road to Berlin"and  it looks as if it was released for Victory Day this year.There's an IMDB (that actually doesn't say very much) here     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686604/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1