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Where Do Things End With Vlad? (h/t romad1)


chasfh

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1 minute ago, romad1 said:

again, I would caution that the frozen ground isn't as much of an issue given all the tarmac roads.  Then again, watch Bald and Bankrupt's youtube channel and you'll see the Former Soviet Union is very backward as far as its road nets go.

The other huge variable has to be how many Stinger type weapons the resistance had been able to get their hands on. That has to be one of the critical time lines for Putin. A stinger equipped resistance immediately ups the ante on expected losses. If Poland is shipping them Putin probably can't wait until many get there.

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5 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Is shooting down aircraft as important as stopping tanks in this scenario?

one follows from the other. You can't harass the armor if you are running for your life from the aircraft. Make them pay a price for flying over you and you can get in, harass the armor and get out. 

Of course that is where the drones come in. Keep drones overhead and given the cost/availability ratios the stinger might be more dear to the resistance than a drone is to the Russians. Unless the resistance has its own drones......and so it goes...

Edited by gehringer_2
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12 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

The other huge variable has to be how many Stinger type weapons the resistance had been able to get their hands on. That has to be one of the critical time lines for Putin. A stinger equipped resistance immediately ups the ante on expected losses. If Poland is shipping them Putin probably can't wait until many get there.

The degree of UAV intergration of Russian and Ukrainian forces will be super important too.   The US has this stuff down pat after 20 years of GWOT and we've got extensive systems of systems designed to train up operators, have trained low level units in using them as their battlefield close air support systems .  This was demonstrated effectively in the recent war in Armenia/Azerbaijan when the Turkish UAV systems were decisive against (lavishly) Russian armed Armenia forces.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/has-azerbaijan’s-use-drones-karabakh-transformed-warfare-181526#:~:text=Azerbaijan forces had used Turkish Bayraktar TB2 Unmanned,armor%2C artillery%2C and tactical ground-based air defense systems.

Edited by romad1
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49 minutes ago, romad1 said:

So, notable that Turkey has backed Ukraine.  Keep that in mind.

That is interesting isn't it?  Also they have an ancient shared cultural commonality with the Uyghurs for whatever that's worth.  Erdogan might end up as a modern day Stalin, that piece of shit that you need as an ally.

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This persistent dream that an accommodation of some sort can be made is out there among even the sober diplomatic crowd like Bill Taylor.   An arms control agreement would not be a bad outcome if it limits some of the very exotic new weapons coming down the pike.  It wouldn't be bad to limit foreign election interference or created some rules for foreign behavior in an election.   It would be great to guarantee the civil and human rights of each other's citizens too. 

Likelihood?

 

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3 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Tom Nichols should know. He wrote the text my class in grad school read on the Soviet armed forces.

also note that below there are commenters that say that Ivashov has been in opposition to the regime for a while.  Others saying its a ruse.  We shall see.

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On 2/4/2022 at 8:01 PM, 1984Echoes said:

Haha!

So funny.

Bolton kicks Trump's ass.

I feel as though Bolton is one of those many people brought into that administration who naively thought Trump could be tamed, molded, and controlled, as though Trump has the wants, needs, and ambitions of a typical politician. That what I think when I see people like him and Pence speak out like they have.

I also think Bolton is betting on Trump and Trumpism to lose in the end, and that things will go back to whatever normal existed in the beforetimes, and that the American political system is stronger than any one man or group. That strikes as definitely something a traditional conservative politician would think.

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On 2/5/2022 at 11:20 PM, romad1 said:

again, I would caution that the frozen ground isn't as much of an issue given all the tarmac roads.  Then again, watch Bald and Bankrupt's youtube channel and you'll see the Former Soviet Union is very backward as far as its road nets go.

Given that the Soviet economy precluded mass automobile ownership practically by definition, that's not a surprise to me.

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2 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Given that the Soviet economy precluded mass automobile ownership practically by definition, that's not a surprise to me.

Imagine an environment where road rubble was subject to freezes worse than in Michigan.  Imagine that that is in a country more corrupt than the worst of Michigan corruption by a factor of 10.   Then ask:  "why won't they fix the roads?" 

OTOH, Germany has similar climate to Michigan but roads are in decent shape.  Because they built the roads properly.  

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27 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I feel as though Bolton is one of those many people brought into that administration who naively thought Trump could be tamed, molded, and controlled, as though Trump has the wants, needs, and ambitions of a typical politician. That what I think when I see people like him and Pence speak out like they have.

I also think Bolton is betting on Trump and Trumpism to lose in the end, and that things will go back to whatever normal existed in the beforetimes, and that the American political system is stronger than any one man or group. That strikes as definitely something a traditional conservative politician would think.

Agreed 100%.

I'd like to see establishment Republicans wrest control of the GOP out of the Trumpster's hands... but... I think that possibility is pretty close to 0%.

I still want to see every broadshot taken against the fascist side of the party. From anyone at all, from any direction...

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32 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

IDK, either he's getting close to the "I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue, then you'll be sorry!" stage, or he really wants to start WWIII.

G2, if I hit you over the head with a frying  pan it will be your fault for belonging to NATO. 

Edited by romad1
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