January 19, 20232 yr 28 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: Ukrainians have been there longer than "Russians". Moscow was founded by a Kievan prince. There's a reason the area is "Kievan Rus". Acting like Ukrainians are going anywhere or are going to cede land to Russia is stupid and misguided. In 2014 Ukrainians threw out a Russian puppet leader. Russia didn't like not having a puppet, so they run up a propaganda campaign in Eastern Ukraine and give material support to the Russian speaking Ukrainians there. Ukraine, as is its right, do what they need to suppress revolutionaries. Doesn't go anywhere, Russia gets impatient, and they invade. Russia is the imperialist bad actor in this scenario. Until your stupid thick fat head gets that, you'll continue to be a fool. Sure, the Ukrainians aren't going anywhere either. That's why is made sense for the two to negotiate a settlement without the interference of colonial powers. If it were not for the billions of borrowed blood money flowing into and through Kyiv, a settlement would already be in place. Ukraine no longer has a choice in what territory Russia considers her own. Ukraine chose to submit to playing proxy for imperial powers against a brother nation so now it's fate is in the hands of others. They've been reduced to begging reluctant Europeans to provide whatever scraps of material support they can muster. At some point, and it looks to be soon, the colonialists will cut and run to focus on their next imperial project, leaving bad blood between fraternal people like a calling card.
January 19, 20232 yr Europe and the US is not flagging in its material support for Ukraine. As long as Ukrainians are willing to fight for their sovereign territory the West will continue to support them. And the West has far deeper pockets and resources than the failed state of Russia.
January 19, 20232 yr 2 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: Europe and the US is not flagging in its material support for Ukraine. As long as Ukrainians are willing to fight for their sovereign territory the West will continue to support them. And the West has far deeper pockets and resources than the failed state of Russia. Please don't confuse him with facts and reality.
January 19, 20232 yr 2 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: Europe and the US is not flagging in its material support for Ukraine. As long as Ukrainians are willing to fight for their sovereign territory the West will continue to support them. And the West has far deeper pockets and resources than the failed state of Russia. Yea, those deep pockets just hit another debt limit and will resort to raiding pensions to cover it's bloated obligations. We'll see how willing the U.S. is to continue lining the pockets of war profiteers while granny's pension gets pilfered to pay for it. The West has thrown just about everything they have at Russia and she still stands. The world at large has taken note.
January 19, 20232 yr 22 minutes ago, Abracadabra said: Yea, those deep pockets just hit another debt limit and will resort to raiding pensions to cover it's bloated obligations. We'll see how willing the U.S. is to continue lining the pockets of war profiteers while granny's pension gets pilfered to pay for it. The West has thrown just about everything they have at Russia and she still stands. The world at large has taken note. You really don't seem to understand scale here. So let me spell this out. The US DoD budget is around $1T. As in $1,000B. To date, the US has committed $50B roughly. Frankly that's overstating it, because a big chunk of that is the sticker price of military hardware and equipment we've sent, which is not worth the quoted amount. But even at face value, the US has spent only 5% of its annual DoD budget to arm and train Ukrainians currently fighting "the biggest army in Europe" to a stalemate in Eastern Ukraine. And that stalemate comes after Ukraine kicked Russia's ass out of Western Ukraine/Kiev and drove them back East. 5% is not "throwing just about everything they have". The West has literally done the bare minimum required to allow Ukraine to claw back its territory, because if it "threw just about everything they had" Russia would have been toast months ago and that risks WW3 and Putler reaching for the nuclear option. Russia has mobilized hundreds of thousands, is struggling to arm them already, and is getting little support from its few allies. The world at large has absolutely taken note. They've taken note that Russia is a paper tiger, its military prowess and hardware - while not insubstantial - have been absolutely overrated by Western powers, and that Russis has made a conscious choice not to allow its citizens to further integrate with the West because that represents a threat to the power structures in Russia and its satellites like Belarus. THAT is the reality. Suck it up buttercup. Time is running out for one side in this war, and it ain't the West. Tick tock mother-f***er. Just now, Abracadabra said: Deep pockets? Yeah we've seen what those mothballed T-62s can do. Mostly pop off.
January 19, 20232 yr 3 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: You really don't seem to understand scale here. So let me spell this out. The US DoD budget is around $1T. As in $1,000B. To date, the US has committed $50B roughly. Frankly that's overstating it, because a big chunk of that is the sticker price of military hardware and equipment we've sent, which is not worth the quoted amount. But even at face value, the US has spent only 5% of its annual DoD budget to arm and train Ukrainians currently fighting "the biggest army in Europe" to a stalemate in Eastern Ukraine. And that stalemate comes after Ukraine kicked Russia's ass out of Western Ukraine/Kiev and drove them back East. 5% is not "throwing just about everything they have". The West has literally done the bare minimum required to allow Ukraine to claw back its territory, because if it "threw just about everything they had" Russia would have been toast months ago and that risks WW3 and Putler reaching for the nuclear option. Russia has mobilized hundreds of thousands, is struggling to arm them already, and is getting little support from its few allies. The world at large has absolutely taken note. They've taken note that Russia is a paper tiger, its military prowess and hardware - while not insubstantial - have been absolutely overrated by Western powers, and that Russis has made a conscious choice not to allow its citizens to further integrate with the West because that represents a threat to the power structures in Russia and its satellites like Belarus. THAT is the reality. Suck it up buttercup. Time is running out for one side in this war, and it ain't the West. Tick tock mother-f***er. Yeah we've seen what those mothballed T-62s can do. Mostly pop off. A bloated budget doesn't necessarily translate to success on the battlefield. A lot of high priced junk an ocean away means little in the real world where Russia maintains supremacy. In the real world, the battlefield losses for Zelensky are piling up. Soledar has been liberated, Siversk and Bakhmut are cut off. Kramatorsk will not hold. It won't be long before all of Donbas is liberated.
January 19, 20232 yr This is why Ukraine is begging for tanks. They started this conflict with hundreds and hundreds of tanks. A few dozen more will not escape the same fate.
January 19, 20232 yr Russia rainy day fund shrinks by $38 bln as government plugs deficit Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russia's National Wealth Fund shrank to $148.4 billion as of Jan. 1, down $38.1 billion in a month, as the government took out cash to plug its budget deficit, data showed on Wednesday. The ministry said it had spent 2.41 trillion roubles ($35.1 billion) from the NWF, a rainy day fund that accumulates oil revenues, to cover the deficit in December. Along with heavy state borrowing at domestic debt auctions, the NWF - which was originally intended to support the pension system - has become the main source of financing for the budget deficit since Russia invaded Ukraine last year and was hit by waves of unprecedented Western sanctions. Repeat: US has "spent" only 5% of the DoD budget to put Russia's economy in the toilet and drive them to a stalemate with Ukraine. Time is not on Russia's side.
January 19, 20232 yr 21 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: Russia rainy day fund shrinks by $38 bln as government plugs deficit Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russia's National Wealth Fund shrank to $148.4 billion as of Jan. 1, down $38.1 billion in a month, as the government took out cash to plug its budget deficit, data showed on Wednesday. The ministry said it had spent 2.41 trillion roubles ($35.1 billion) from the NWF, a rainy day fund that accumulates oil revenues, to cover the deficit in December. Along with heavy state borrowing at domestic debt auctions, the NWF - which was originally intended to support the pension system - has become the main source of financing for the budget deficit since Russia invaded Ukraine last year and was hit by waves of unprecedented Western sanctions. Repeat: US has "spent" only 5% of the DoD budget to put Russia's economy in the toilet and drive them to a stalemate with Ukraine. Time is not on Russia's side. Raiding their pension system you say?
January 19, 20232 yr Stalemate? The Ukrainians are being bled white! The Russians have destroyed the army Ukraine started with, then all former Soviet bloc countries sent their legacy weaponry and Russia destroyed that too. Now, the U.S. is forcing EU countries to sent all their modern equipment to have Russia destroy yet another army. Western belligerence to spill Ukrainian blood. How valiant.
January 19, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, paco said: Raiding their pension system you say? Considering their poor life expectancy due to their alcoholism/hepatitis/AIDS/TB rates and now the war deaths, the pension system should have plenty of surplus rubles available.
January 20, 20232 yr 9 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said: Latest NATO care package. So, did Germany relent on allowing other countries to send Leopard 2? I hadn't seen that yet?
January 20, 20232 yr 9 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said: Latest NATO care package. I see there is this tidbit from Poland (what do the Poles care? They'll just order Abrams tanks the next time they need to order a main battle tank): Pressure is mounting for Germany to make a change. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki indicated that if Germany prolongs its resistance, Poland could pull the trigger and send Leopard tanks without Germany's approval. "Consent is of secondary importance here,” Morawiecki said on Polish radio. "We will either obtain it quickly, or we will do the right thing ourselves.”
January 20, 20232 yr 19 minutes ago, barho said: So, did Germany relent on allowing other countries to send Leopard 2? I hadn't seen that yet? You added the color after, but yeah it's still a bit in the air. Poland appears to be willing to risk its relationship with Germany to give Ukraine its Leopards, we'll see if that's a bluff. But France is also now pressing with sending Leclerc main battle tanks in solidarity with Poland/etc. edit: fixed typo
January 20, 20232 yr I'd think the Poles might be a bit cautious about ticking off the Germans. Just saying...
January 20, 20232 yr 4 hours ago, vikas83 said: I'd think the Poles might be a bit cautious about ticking off the Germans. Just saying... They hate the Russians more. A lot of living memory on that side of the equation…
January 20, 20232 yr 5 minutes ago, TEW said: They hate the Russians more. A lot of living memory on that side of the equation… Just a joke...
January 20, 20232 yr 7 hours ago, barho said: So, did Germany relent on allowing other countries to send Leopard 2? I hadn't seen that yet? No. The read I get is that most countries are probably going to send them anyway, and the German defense industry will effectively be toast. For big picture things I like to read the quips of Gen. Hertling, but to be honest he puts american equipment up on a pedestal as if it's some super complex object that requires understanding of interdemensional existence to be able to operate, when in actuality most pieces of ground hardware are designed to be operated by 19 yo PFC Cornfed, who has a 29.9% APR on his new Camaro and married a stripper from off post. He's a former Cav commander, which has a reputation in the Army as not being the best and brightest soldiers. The US runs the Abrams on JP-8 because it's a turbine engine, but it can run on diesel (Australia does so). It's the same thing with pilots and, IMO, overstating the complexity of learning a new airframe. (Sorry @Mlodj) If the Ukrainians had been training on F-16s and A-10s ( sorry @Mlodj ) long ago they could have been fielding them by now. The west needs to get it out of their heads that they need perfect training that is up to western standards. They don't. Classic case of letting perfect get in the way of better. Speaking as to the sorries, when comparing his experience (inordinate), to mine (non existent) he would be the expert to defer to on matters of use of air assets, as I'm more or less suffering from Dunning-Kruger. That said, I think what I think regarding providing equipment and what I would like as CAS (and no, it's not the gun, it's the loiter time, quantity of armament, and better view of the battle space).
January 20, 20232 yr 8 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said: You added the color after, but yeah it's still a bit in the air. Poland appears to be willing to risk its relationship with Germany to give Ukraine its Leopards, we'll see if that's a bluff. But France is also now pressing with sending Leclerc main battle tanks in solidarity with Poland/etc. edit: fixed typo Poland took their first delivery of South Korean K2 tanks back in December and have a contract to buy almost 400 U.S. M1 tanks. At this point they probably don't give two sheets about their relationship with Germany, especially when Russia is in an expansionist mood, and Poland is almost certainly next in their sights.
January 21, 20232 yr 9 hours ago, Bill said: It's the same thing with pilots and, IMO, overstating the complexity of learning a new airframe. (Sorry @Mlodj) If the Ukrainians had been training on F-16s and A-10s ( sorry @Mlodj ) long ago they could have been fielding them by now. Eh, do you really want under trained pilots handling a $50-$100 million airframe? US fighters are expensive to produce, expensive to operate, and take a long time to produce. And a big reason we do so well in air combat has a LOT to do with how many more hours our pilots spend in the air when we’re not at war compared to other nations. You’re probably right about ground equipment, but air superiority is a really different animal and the stakes are a lot higher from a resource perspective.
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