Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Monday, September 14, 2026 22:30
VIEWED: 567816
PAGE 41 of 111
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Poor comrade signym. She is completely reduced to lying. I wonder when she will return to her handler is Russia. Maybe she never came here. That's my bet. She never even came to the states.
I noticed that when SECOND gets his ass thoroughly handed to him, you step in with pure libel.
So prove it, stupid troll.
What you don't understand comrade is that your years of posting here are proof of your identity.
As for you winning out in any discussion between you and SECOND, if it ever happens I'll acknowledge it. So far your posted lies, your responses to what SECOND posts, clearly shows your identity to be that of an anti-American Russian troll.
You never seem to understand that your posts reveal you. I doubt you ever will. Not to worry though, you are not the only one who suffers this.
T
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Poor comrade signym. She is completely reduced to lying. I wonder when she will return to her handler is Russia. Maybe she never came here. That's my bet. She never even came to the states.
I noticed that when SECOND gets his ass thoroughly handed to him, you step in with pure libel.
So prove it, stupid troll.
What you don't understand comrade is that your years of posting here are proof of your identity.
As for you winning out in any discussion between you and SECOND, if it ever happens I'll acknowledge it. So far your posted lies, your responses to what SECOND posts, clearly shows your identity to be that of an anti-American Russian troll.
You never seem to understand that your posts reveal you. I doubt you ever will. Not to worry though, you are not the only one who suffers this.
T
Nobody in the RWED or the entire actual real world needs your approval or acknowledgement. You are an idiot.
Time will prove Sigs right, just as it has continually proven you wrong.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, it's embarrassing watching you squirm.
Oh no comrade. Norway, Sweden and Ukraine all becoming NATO members. Oh no comrade. It's embarrassing watching you Russians squirm.
Actually, it brings me great joy.
T
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Poor comrade signym. She is completely reduced to lying. I wonder when she will return to her handler is Russia. Maybe she never came here. That's my bet. She never even came to the states.
I noticed that when SECOND gets his ass thoroughly handed to him, you step in with pure libel.
So prove it, stupid troll.
What you don't understand comrade is that your years of posting here are proof of your identity.
As for you winning out in any discussion between you and SECOND, if it ever happens, I'll acknowledge it. So far your posted lies, your responses to what SECOND posts, clearly shows your identity to be that of an anti-American Russian troll.
You never seem to understand that your posts reveal you. I doubt you ever will. Not to worry though, you are not the only one who suffers this.
T
Signym posted this idiocy:
Quote:Russia's military failure in Ukraine follows from its incompetent past. Highlights from Russian history:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Furthermore, whatever justice there was in fighting WWII in Europe, it was the SOVIETS that won. If you want to credit anyone, give credit where it's due: Russia. Our claims to being Europe's savior are 80% stolen valor.
1) Russia loses the Russo-Japanese War in 1905
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War
US President Theodore Roosevelt helped Russia and Japan make peace after the war. He won a Nobel Prize for this.
2) Russia loses WWI
3) Russia loses the Winter War with Finland in 1940
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War
4) Russia loses the Continuation War with Finland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War
5) If Finland could beat Russia, so could Germany. Hitler decides to attack Stalin, who feared he'd be fired from his job and executed for the crappy way he handled the defense of Moscow. “For half a millennium, Russian foreign policy has been characterized by soaring ambitions that have exceeded the country’s capabilities. Beginning with the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the sixteenth century, Russia managed to expand at an average rate of fifty square miles per day for hundreds of years, eventually covering one-sixth of the earth’s landmass.” You go on to describe three “fleeting moments” of Russian ascendancy: first during the reign of Peter the Great, then Alexander I’s victory over Napoleon, and then, of course, Stalin’s victory over Hitler. And then you say that, “these high-water marks aside, however, Russia has almost always been a relatively weak great power.”
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/stephen-kotkin-putin-russia-ukr
aine-stalin
5) Russia loses 25 million soldiers in WWII, while Germany loses 7 million. Half of those were killed by US and British Empire soldiers. Literally, Russian soldiers are the worst in the world, but Stalin had so many excess bodies that he could throw their lives away for stupid and pointless reasons. (US deaths: 405,399 because US soldiers were valued by FDR ) During the war, Stalin continued his purges and executed millions of Russians because he had too many to care what happens to them.
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." – Josef Stalin.
6) The USA built atom bombs specifically for Hitler. The USA could have nuked Berlin without any help from Russians, whose only real skill is dying for Mother Russia.
7) Russia loses the Afghanistan War.
8) Russia collapses because of stupidity and incompetence in 1991.
9) Ukraine is defeating Russia, but not as decisively as Finland did in 1939 because Ukrainians aren't particularly competent compared to Russians. As for Finland, it is the world's happiest country for the 6th stra
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Russia won the war against Nazi Germany. That's a historic fact, SECOND, no matter how much in denial you want people to be about it.
And Russia hasn't, and is not, "failing" in Ukraine.
Your head is up your ass, SECOND. By now most people (except THUGR, who is either your sock puppet or incredibly conditioned) realize that everything you post is with the intention to lie. Bc everything you post is in service to your hate. If you do manage to hit on the truth once in a while, it's purely by accident.
You're a sociopath and a troll, Troll.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Huh??
Originally posted by THG:Poor comrade signym. She is completely reduced to lying.
What have I "lied" about? Specific examples will do!
Quote:HUH?!??
THUGR: I wonder when she will return to her handler is Russia. Maybe she never came here. That's my bet. She never even came to the states.
SIGNY: I noticed that when SECOND gets his ass thoroughly handed to him, you step in with pure libel.
So prove it, stupid troll.
THUGR: What you don't understand comrade is that your years of posting here are proof of your identity.
I was against the Vietnam war, not bc it was immoral (which it was) but bc I didn't see the point. Does that make me a N Vietnamese?
I was angry about the invasion of Iraq (twice!) bc it was all done on lies and led to unnecessary suffering and death, here and there, and a budget blowout here.
Does that make me an Iraqi?
I'm against our use of jihadi proxies in Syria and Libya, and our continued occupation and theft of Syrian oil and grain, bc in addition to being vastly immoral it's also incredibly stupid and dangerous to arm and train extremists who you can't just "shut off" when they've served their purpose. Just look at Afghanistan and the leftover "mujahideen". Does that mean I'm Arab, or Syrian, or Libyan, or Afghani?
And I'm against our continued attempts to destroy Russia bc, once again, it's incredibly immoral and stupidly dangerous to test another major power with a nuclear arsenal. RUSSIA is only as big a threat to us and to Europe as we provoke it into being. It's like a bear... don't poke it, and it won' come after you.
We have earned ourselves a metric crap-ton of blowback, THUGR. Most nations are unhappy with our behavior, and the only thing that kept them from taking their revenge was fear. NOT a good place to be!
Quote:Son, you are so far afield of reality I don't Know what to say. I said Russia would take Bakhmut, and they did. I'm sure they will win the war IN UKRAINE AGAINST NATO.
THUGR: As for you winning out in any discussion between you and SECOND, if it ever happens I'll acknowledge it. So far your posted lies, your responses to what SECOND posts, clearly shows your identity to be that of an anti-American Russian troll.
WHAT WILL YOU DO IF I'M RIGHT?
OH BTW I'm waiting for you to tell all of us WHAT is supposed to happen in two weeks? One week, now.
I suppose that's ONE way to make your predictions come true: Be real specific about the time, but fail to tell us the event!
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:You heard of the A-bomb? It would have worked perfectly in Berlin same as in Japan. Victory in Europe Day was May 8, 1945. Hiroshima was bombed 3 months later. The US could have bombed Berlin first then Moscow next if only Truman had known the Russians would still be Berlin and Warsaw 46 years later.**
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Russia won the war against Nazi Germany. That's a historic fact, SECOND, no matter how much in denial you want people to be about it.
This is how the Russian Army killed millions of its own soldiers in WWII: Disposable Russian infantry troops in Ukraine often continue trying to advance even after being wounded and fight until killed; in some cases, they have been fired on from their own lines when they try to retreat.
Captured Russian fighters have reported executions under similar circumstances.
This rinse-and-repeat approach would have looked familiar on the Eastern Front 80 years ago.
The result was as grim then as it is now. Disposable troops are fed into the meat grinder and killed or wounded before they can gain enough experience to survive.
An army that can afford such cynical use of troops either has enough manpower to waste — which demographically challenged Russia does not — or is desperate because its forces have proven too ineffective for anything else.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-russia-uses-infantry-and-mercenari
es-for-attacks-in-ukraine-2023-5
Without end, the Russians threaten A-bomb use to compensate for a grotesquely inadequate army.
** The plutonium A-bomb would have been ready in 1944 if the Manhattan Project had made the implosion design a higher priority, but the Army guys preferred the gun-type bomb design. https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1942-194
5/implosion_necessity.htm
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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More bullshit from SECOND. The Soviet Union used attrition effectively and Russia is doing the same, 80 years later.
Troll.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Russians died by the tens of millions. They died in vain because their tactics were not effective. “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.” The Russians have yet to understand Stalin's bon mot. Once a Russian does, they won't volunteer for Ukraine.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
More bullshit from SECOND. The Soviet Union used attrition effectively and Russia is doing the same, 80 years later.
Troll.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Putin and the Psychology of Nuclear Brinkmanship
By Rose McDermott, Reid Pauly, and Paul Slovic
May 30, 2023
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/putin-and-psychology-nuclear-br
inkmanship
ROSE McDERMOTT is David and Mariana Fisher University Professor of International Relations at Brown University.
REID PAULY is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Dean’s Assistant Professor of Nuclear Security and Policy at Brown University.
PAUL SLOVIC is Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon and President of Decision Research.
Shortly after the West rebuked Russia for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and imposed financial sanctions of unprecedented scope, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was putting his country’s nuclear forces on high alert. The Kremlin has issued many more nuclear threats, some oblique and some explicit, since then.
The mere possibility that Putin might make good on these threats raises great concern. Even before the war in Ukraine, Russia had reversed its longtime “no first use” policy, under which it claimed it would never go nuclear unless the enemy did so first. Some now believe Russia has switched to an approach known as “escalate to de-escalate,” which holds that nuclear escalation can defuse a crisis by proving one’s commitment to destruction and forcing the enemy to capitulate. In Ukraine, that could mean using a handful of tactical, low-yield nuclear weapons on the battlefield—which CIA Director William Burns and a number of high-ranking U.S. military leaders have warned is possible. Putin, for his part, has merely said that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if confronting an “existential” threat.
What constitutes an existential threat, however, is not clearly delineated in Russian strategic doctrine. It lies in the eye of the beholder—in this case, Putin, who retains full control of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, albeit subject to a supposed requirement that Russia’s defense minister and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces authenticate his launch orders. The answer, in other words, comes down to one of the most opaque aspects of the current crisis: the state of Putin’s mind and his outlook on the world.
Much of the debate around Putin’s psychological disposition has centered on whether the Russian president acts rationally. That discussion is an important one, but it has at times lacked nuance. A sounder approach may be to ask what common psychological biases and pathologies, based on behavioral theory and research, shape people’s perception of nuclear war—and how they may apply to the Russian leader. How far Putin will take his nuclear brinkmanship remains anybody’s guess. But a combination of known psychological and cognitive biases, combined with some psychological tendencies characteristic of Putin, could prove extraordinarily dangerous if he feels backed into a corner, with potentially massive implications as Ukraine begins its spring offensive.
SHIELD AND SWORD
A nuclear shadow has hung over the Ukraine conflict from the start. Although the war has been fought by conventional means, Putin would not have started it without his nuclear shield. And his repeated attempts at nuclear coercion have been a central element of his plan to achieve several war aims, although that strategy has met with decidedly mixed success.
For one thing, Putin has raised the specter of nuclear war to deter direct NATO intervention on the battlefield. This has undoubtedly worked, and it provides an ominous lesson to other countries—nuclear and nonnuclear alike—about the room for aggression below the nuclear threshold.
Putin also hoped that his threats would deter, or at least cap, the provision of Western military aid to Ukraine. The level of aid indeed appears to be limited by fears of nuclear escalation. But the success of Russia’s coercive efforts on this front is declining. A coalition of backers has slowly increased its level of support to Ukraine and has accepted at least some risk of nuclear escalation to do so. Its latest s
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Russia isn't going to use nukes.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Russians died by the tens of millions. They died in vain because their tactics were not effective. “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.” The Russians have yet to understand Stalin's bon mot. Once a Russian does, they won't volunteer for Ukraine.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
More bullshit from SECOND. The Soviet Union used attrition effectively and Russia is doing the same, 80 years later.
Troll.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Did you know that American military learned about Soviet war strategy from captured Nazi Generals? Of course, Nazi Generals were full of bullshit and excuses..."human waves"... "The winter!" "Subhuman barbarians" ... but the reality is that they LOST THE WAR. Today, our military still believes in blitzkrieg even tho it only works half of the time
You learned your bullshit from Nazis, SECOND. No wonder you sound just like them
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Scott Ritter is a former Marine Intelligence Officer. He was an inspector for enforcing nuclear treaties with Russia. He first came to my attention as a WMD inspector under Hans Blix in Iraq. He spoke in great depth about the precautions that the inspection teams took to ensure that their inspections were both a surprise (no sanitized sites) and thorough. He spoke in great detail, which I won't go into, but I was convinced that the UNMOVIC inspections were credible and naysayers from the GWB admin were either bullshitters who didn't know WTF they were talking about, or liars.
I don't agree with all of his analyses, but when describing his actual experience he's honest and forthright.
He just came back from a visit to Russia. I would pay attention to his description of Russia, which he says is vibrant and expanding economically, thanks to sanctions.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Maybe too much reality?
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Ok, how about a thought experiment?
Let's say that Russia has an overwhelming hand against Ukraine and that NATO is unwilling, or incapable, of helping Ukraine any more.
Russian victory, in whatever form, is assured.
What would Russia do?
I think in order to even try to guess ahead, you have to guess what their goal is. IMHO Russia has no interest in taking Ukraine. They have a few goals in mind, openly stated:
They want to protect the Russian speaking people of Ukraine. That I think would ultimately determine how many oblasts they want to fold into Russia.
They want Ukraine not in NATO.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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All they want is a buffer from NATO.
I can't blame them. NATO is cancer. It stopped serving its purpose decades ago but just keeps finding new and terrible reasons to keep going.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:To "protect the Russian speaking people of Ukraine" is easy: those people move to Russia. See how easy that is? Nobody dies. No war. It is a simple real estate transaction and moving vans.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Ok, how about a thought experiment?
Let's say that Russia has an overwhelming hand against Ukraine and that NATO is unwilling, or incapable, of helping Ukraine any more.
Russian victory, in whatever form, is assured.
What would Russia do?
I think in order to even try to guess ahead, you have to guess what their goal is. IMHO Russia has no interest in taking Ukraine. They have a few goals in mind, openly stated:
They want to protect the Russian speaking people of Ukraine. That I think would ultimately determine how many oblasts they want to fold into Russia.
They want Ukraine not in NATO.
Quote:The way Russia politely asks for a buffer is by either invading or threatening to nuke countries that don't want to be Russia's buffer. NATO's purpose was set when Russia invaded Poland, East Germany, etc. Russian troops moved in and never left until the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia regularly threatened to nuke the rest of Europe. Russia stopped the threats for a while but started making new threats to nuke Europe. 6ix, you should know this. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_138294.htm
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
All they want is a buffer from NATO.
I can't blame them. NATO is cancer. It stopped serving its purpose decades ago but just keeps finding new and terrible reasons to keep going.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Russians deliberately kill Russians. That was the policy in WWII. That is the policy in the Ukraine War. That is why tens of millions of Russians died. They were not killed by Germans. They were killed by Russians. See Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917 by R. J. Rummel
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Russians died by the tens of millions. They died in vain because their tactics were not effective. “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.” The Russians have yet to understand Stalin's bon mot. Once a Russian does, they won't volunteer for Ukraine.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
More bullshit from SECOND. The Soviet Union used attrition effectively and Russia is doing the same, 80 years later.
Troll.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Did you know that American military learned about Soviet war strategy from captured Nazi Generals? Of course, Nazi Generals were full of bullshit and excuses..."human waves"... "The winter!" "Subhuman barbarians" ... but the reality is that they LOST THE WAR. Today, our military still believes in blitzkrieg even tho it only works half of the time
You learned your bullshit from Nazis, SECOND. No wonder you sound just like them
Download the free book from https://libgen.unblockit.asia/search.php?req=R.+J.+Rummel
https://www.amazon.com/Lethal-Politics-Soviet-Genocide-Murder-ebook/dp
/B073RQ94KF/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Russians were promised a buffer in 1990. Instead, NATO moved inexorably east, and NATO even destroyed Yugoslavia to make more little NATO-states.
Originally posted by second:Quote:To "protect the Russian speaking people of Ukraine" is easy: those people move to Russia. See how easy that is? Nobody dies. No war. It is a simple real estate transaction and moving vans.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Ok, how about a thought experiment?
Let's say that Russia has an overwhelming hand against Ukraine and that NATO is unwilling, or incapable, of helping Ukraine any more.
Russian victory, in whatever form, is assured.
What would Russia do?
I think in order to even try to guess ahead, you have to guess what their goal is. IMHO Russia has no interest in taking Ukraine. They have a few goals in mind, openly stated:
They want to protect the Russian speaking people of Ukraine. That I think would ultimately determine how many oblasts they want to fold into Russia.
They want Ukraine not in NATO.Quote:The way Russia politely asks for a buffer is by either invading or threatening to nuke countries that don't want to be Russia's buffer. NATO's purpose was set when Russia invaded Poland, East Germany, etc. Russian troops moved in and never left until the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia regularly threatened to nuke the rest of Europe. Russia stopped the threats for a while but started making new threats to nuke Europe. 6ix, you should know this. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_138294.htm
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
All they want is a buffer from NATO.
I can't blame them. NATO is cancer. It stopped serving its purpose decades ago but just keeps finding new and terrible reasons to keep going.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Russia has been politely asking for a buffer zone since 2000. Instead, the west regime-changed Ukraine and promised it entry into NATO (and the EU).
Obviously, polite-asking the collective west doesn't work, since the collective west has no qualms about invading, destroying, or regime-changing nations that don't do whatthey demand, and the collective west is also "not agreement capable".
So where does Russia go from here?
Well, IMHO they started out with the idea that they were going to panic Kiev into negotiating, and it almost worked until BoJo set Zelenskiy straight a year ago March.
They've been slowly cranking up the "pain dial" and attriting Ukraine. But by now it's very clear that Zelenskiy isn't making the decisions (Altho Ukraine is paying the price) so IMHO Russoa has decided they need to make this painful for the collective west.
So I think there are a few things for them to consider.
I think Russia wants to bleed NATO as much as possible by drawing NATO in to commit more weapons and more volunteers and more "advisors" ino Ukraine, where they can be systematically destroyed. They can best do this by attacking portions of Ukraine that the west feels compelled to defend. Odessa and Kiev would be my two gueses, ut in order to get there they need to munch their way thru Kherson and Kharkov. And before THAT, they need to absorb this
So, absorb Ukraine;s counteroffensive then slowly make their way west, attriting as much western weaponry as the west chooses to commit.
Ultimately, I think that Russia might wind up militarily taking the entire Ukraine. Not that it wants western Ukraine ... who wants to administer and rebuild a bunch of Russia-haters in the unproductive part of the country? But in order to reach a settlement they can't leave any portion of Ukraine available to re-arm and start the whole thing over again.
If I were Russia, I would b
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Quote:Pick one out of many words you wrote: "Russia really wants those missile installations in Poland and Romania gone, and I think that's a reasonable ask, since they were put in ostensibly to protect Europe from ... wait for it... Iran! CLEARLY that's just a bogus excuse for USA missiles on Russia's border, and that excuse can easily be argued down."
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Russians were promised a buffer in 1990. Instead, NATO moved inexorably east, and NATO even destroyed Yugoslavia to make more little NATO-states.
Russia has been politely asking for a buffer zone since 2000. Instead, the west regime-changed Ukraine and promised it entry into NATO (and the EU).
Obviously, polite-asking the collective west doesn't work, since the collective west has no qualms about invading, destroying, or regime-changing nations that don't do whatthey demand, and the collective west is also "not agreement capable".
So where does Russia go from here?
Well, IMHO they started out with the idea that they were going to panic Kiev into negotiating, and it almost worked until BoJo set Zelenskiy straight a year ago March.
They've been slowly cranking up the "pain dial" and attriting Ukraine. But by now it's very clear that Zelenskiy isn't making the decisions (Altho Ukraine is paying the price) so IMHO Russoa has decided they need to make this painful for the collective west.
So I think there are a few things for them to consider.
I think Russia wants to bleed NATO as much as possible by drawing NATO in to commit more weapons and more volunteers and more "advisors" ino Ukraine, where they can be systematically destroyed. They can best do this by attacking portions of Ukraine that the west feels compelled to defend. Odessa and Kiev would be my two gueses, ut in order to get there they need to munch their way thru Kherson and Kharkov. And before THAT, they need to absorb thiswinter spring... summer?? ... offensive, and playing defense to Ukraine;s offense is something that Russia does very well.
So, absorb Ukraine;s counteroffensive then slowly make their way west, attriting as much western weaponry as the west chooses to commit.
Ultimately, I think that Russia might wind up militarily taking the entire Ukraine. Not that it wants western Ukraine ... who wants to administer and rebuild a bunch of Russia-haters in the unproductive part of the country? But in order to reach a settlement they can't leave any portion of Ukraine available to re-arm and start the whole thing over again.
If I were Russia, I would break off a chunk of Ukraine and set up a puppet government with a new Constitution that sys they must remain neutral and demilitarized, and let them join the EU. Make the EU responsible for its economic and financial well=being.
Also, Poland and other neighboring states - Moldova, Hungary, Belarus, and Russia = enter into a security guarantee treaty that requires that no neighboring states arm rump Ukraine. That would probably be ideal for Russia. (Other possibilites inclde paring out the various portions of Ukraine to the nations that contributedto its land mass, especially Poland. For whatever reason, I don't tink that Russia would try that, but that could be be wrong.)
The trick is, what next? Russia really wants those missile installations in Poland and Romania gone, and I think that's a reasonable ask, since they were put in ostensibly to protect Europe from ... wait for it... Iran!
CLEARLY that's just a bogus excuse for USA missiles on Russia's border, and that excuse can easily be argued down.
Also, I think Russia is working hard for as much of the world as possibe to de-dollarize, bc the pinch point in the USA then becomes systemic inflation, and THAT will swing the vote.
Anyway, Ill be very curious to see how this all plays out. If it turns out at all like I've reasoned, I'll be vastly surprised but also pleased with myself.
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lol
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Pick one out of many words you wrote: "Russia really wants those missile installations in Poland and Romania gone, and I think that's a reasonable ask, since they were put in ostensibly to protect Europe from ... wait for it... Iran! CLEARLY that's just a bogus excuse for USA missiles on Russia's border, and that e
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Russians were promised a buffer in 1990. Instead, NATO moved inexorably east, and NATO even destroyed Yugoslavia to make more little NATO-states.
Russia has been politely asking for a buffer zone since 2000. Instead, the west regime-changed Ukraine and promised it entry into NATO (and the EU).
Obviously, polite-asking the collective west doesn't work, since the collective west has no qualms about invading, destroying, or regime-changing nations that don't do whatthey demand, and the collective west is also "not agreement capable".
So where does Russia go from here?
Well, IMHO they started out with the idea that they were going to panic Kiev into negotiating, and it almost worked until BoJo set Zelenskiy straight a year ago March.
They've been slowly cranking up the "pain dial" and attriting Ukraine. But by now it's very clear that Zelenskiy isn't making the decisions (Altho Ukraine is paying the price) so IMHO Russoa has decided they need to make this painful for the collective west.
So I think there are a few things for them to consider.
I think Russia wants to bleed NATO as much as possible by drawing NATO in to commit more weapons and more volunteers and more "advisors" ino Ukraine, where they can be systematically destroyed. They can best do this by attacking portions of Ukraine that the west feels compelled to defend. Odessa and Kiev would be my two gueses, ut in order to get there they need to munch their way thru Kherson and Kharkov. And before THAT, they need to absorb thiswinter spring... summer?? ... offensive, and playing defense to Ukraine;s offense is something that Russia does very well.
So, absorb Ukraine;s counteroffensive then slowly make their way west, attriting as much western weaponry as the west chooses to commit.
Ultimately, I think that Russia might wind up militarily taking the entire Ukraine. Not that it wants western Ukraine ... who wants to administer and rebuild a bunch of Russia-haters in the unproductive part of the country? But in order to reach a settlement they can't leave any portion of Ukraine available to re-arm and start the whole thing over again.
If I were Russia, I would break off a chunk of Ukraine and set up a puppet government with a new Constitution that sys they must remain neutral and demilitarized, and let them join the EU. Make the EU responsible for its economic and financial well=being.
Also, Poland and other neighboring states - Moldova, Hungary, Belarus, and Russia = enter into a security guarantee treaty that requires that no neighboring states arm rump Ukraine. That would probably be ideal for Russia. (Other possibilites inclde paring out the various portions of Ukraine to the nations that contributedto its land mass, especially Poland. For whatever reason, I don't tink that Russia would try that, but that could be be wrong.)
The trick is, what next? Russia really wants those missile installations in Poland and Romania gone, and I think that's a reasonable ask, since they were put in ostensibly to protect Europe from ... wait for it... Iran!
CLEARLY that's just a bogus excuse for USA missiles on Russia's border, and that excuse can easily be argued down.
Also, I think Russia is working hard for as much of the world as possibe to de-dollarize, bc the pinch point in the USA then becomes systemic inflation, and THAT will swing the vote.
Anyway, Ill be very curious to see how this all plays out. If it turns out at all like I've reasoned, I'll be vastly surprised but also pleased with myself.
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Quote:Since buildings have a velocity of zero, flight time makes zero difference. Whether flight time is 4 seconds or 4,000 seconds for an American-made missile the Russian building or bridge will not have moved. Russian obsession with controlling their neighbors' lives and weapons means that Russians end up very poor compared to their neighbors and at war with them. Maybe the Russians could learn how to get along with people who aren't like Russians rather than murder them as if they were Russians who have different political opinions than Stalin or, for a more recent example, Putin.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I have two words to answer your bogus post, troll:
Flight
time.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:OMG, you're stupid!!!
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I have two words to answer your bogus post, troll:
Flight
time.
SECOND: Since buildings have a velocity of zero, flight time makes zero difference. Whether flight time is 4 seconds or 4,000 seconds for an American-made missile the Russian building or bridge will not have moved.
For someone who CLAIMS to be oh-so-scared of nukes (RUSSIA!!! NUKES!!!! AAHHHH!!!!) you have no grasp at all of what flight time means?
I think even THUGR figured that one out, troll.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Signym, like the Russians, you made it clear you know less than you think. Even the signature you use, with that fake Kissinger quote, gives away the truth you don't want to understand. What Kissinger actually said was:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
OMG, you're stupid!!!
For someone who CLAIMS to be oh-so-scared of nukes (RUSSIA!!! NUKES!!!! AAHHHH!!!!) you have no grasp at all of what flight time means?
I think even THUGR figured that one out, troll.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger said in November 1968, after Richard Nixon was elected U.S. president but before he took office: “Nixon should be told that it is probably an objective of Clifford to depose Thieu (South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu—ed.) before Nixon is inaugurated. Word should be gotten to Nixon that if Thieu meets the same fate as Diem, the word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”
The quotation referred to America’s role in Vietnam. If America doesn’t stand by its friends and allies, the quotation explains, then it might ultimately be less dangerous to be America’s enemy.
Much more at
https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/it_may_be_dan
gerous_to_be_americas_enemy_but_to_be_americas_friend_is_fatal
Signym, none of this stuff, whether flight time or the actual meaning of what Kissinger said or Russia murdering Russian soldiers in combat, are hard to understand, but Signym doesn't understand and is obviously unaware of that lack. I also don't expect Russians to understand that invading Ukraine and killing women and children is not advantageous for Russia. Russians have always handled the absurdity of how they live and die by denying that they do what they are doing.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:In other words, you don't know the significance of flight time. Pretty much what I thought.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
OMG, you're stupid!!!
For someone who CLAIMS to be oh-so-scared of nukes (RUSSIA!!! NUKES!!!! AAHHHH!!!!) you have no grasp at all of what flight time means?
I think even THUGR figured that one out, troll.
SECOND: Signym, like the Russians... blah blah blah ...,
Well, not gonna 'splain it to you!
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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A Russian Duma Deputy stated during a public forum on June 1 that Russia has failed to accomplish any of its articulated goals for the “special military operation” in Ukraine. First Duma Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Affairs Konstantin Zatulin emphasized that of Russia’s officially declared goals at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine — “denazification, demilitarization, the neutrality of Ukraine, and the protection of the inhabitants of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics”—none have actually been met.[16] Zatulin further noted that as the war has worn on, these goals have ceased to hold actual meaning and suggested that Russian forces should have been more aggressive in efforts to push Ukrainian forces back from the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Zatulin’s critical observations are noteworthy considering that he is a contributor to the Kremlin-affiliated Valdai Discussion Club, which famously upholds views complementary to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the official Kremlin propaganda line.[17] Zatulin’s apparent views of the war represent an absolute minority within the Russian domestic political environment, as self-censorship and general information space repressions are commonplace. However, such statements coming from a relatively mainstream and well-platformed official suggest that a small subset of the predominant pro-war Russian political faction may feel somewhat empowered to voice discontent and advocate for escalated goals as the war continues.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-3-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russians have been criticizing the military for not being aggressive enough since the beginning of the SMO. It's very hard to wage a war of attrition because the front is mostly static and there will be tactical withdrawals. Russians get tired of seeing their troops apparently not making "progress". I imagine even infantry get tired of fighting over the same city blocks over and over again.
Be prepared to see a lot of criticism of the Russia MoD over Ukrainian incursions into Russian Belgorad. IMHO they may be intended to draw Russian troops from Kiev's intended offensive (Zaporozhye?) and also have the beneficial (for Kiev) effect of ramping up criticism of Russia MoD's handling of the war.
But Russia IS making progress. Adiivka and Marinka are both almost surrounded, as bitterly fought over as Bakhmut (but w/o a running commentary from anyone like Progozhin) and which will probably be taken by the end of the month. THAT will end Kiev's shelling of civilians in Donetsk City.
And sooner or later, Kiev will be compelled by the west to launch its Great Counteroffensive and the Russian military will get to do its stuff for real. Some (not me) predict that once the Great Counteroffensive is neutralized, Russian MoD will launch Big Arrow offensives. IMHO they will just keep munching away at the front line, progressing towards Kharkhov towards Kiev, and Kherson towards Odessa.
But we will have to wait and see.
Patience, grasshoppers.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Russian State Duma member Konstantin Zatulin said on Thursday that Moscow failed to achieve goals it had set in its ongoing war in Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin launched last February.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But we will have to wait and see.
Patience, grasshoppers.
Zatulin, who serves as the first deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee of CIS affairs, was discussing the Russia-Ukraine war at a foresight forum when he admitted that it was obvious that Ukraine is "dangerous."
The Russian lawmaker added that Moscow doesn't have a solid standing in Ukraine or "enough grounds" to consider whether or not everything has been accomplished or to "assume that we will definitely win."
"What were our goals officially declared at the beginning of the military operation?" Zatulin asked. "You all remember—denazification, demilitarization, the neutrality of Ukraine and the protection of the inhabitants of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, who have suffered all this time. On which of these items have we achieved results to date? None."
Zatulin argued that the concept of a "neutral" Ukraine has "ceased to have any meaning."
This would mean that Ukraine would act as a neutral liaison between the West and Russia, possibly ditch its ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and to refuse hosting any NATO troops or installations on its territory in exchange for potential security agreements that would prevent another Russian invasion in the future.
"Moreover, some of them [objectives] have ceased to have any meaning. For example, 'neutrality of Ukraine.' What is the meaning of this requirement? None at the moment," Zatulin said. "It will no longer be neutral if it continues to exist. And now the question—since it has already been said here that 'the statehood of Ukraine no longer exists'—will Ukraine under the leadership of [President Volodymyr] Zelensky or his successors exist as a result of everything or not?"
Russia's war has extended to major cities in Ukraine including Kyiv, Kherson, Odessa, and Bakhmut—the latter being the site of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops. Throughout the course of the war, Western nations, including NATO members, have continued to send humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine and have provided heavy artillery, tanks, and advanced defense equipment to help the war-torn country prepare for its spring counteroffensive.
Zelensky told The Wall Street Journal in an article published on Saturday that his forces are ready to secure victory in its long-awaited counteroffensive, although he admitted that Kyiv could suffer great losses. The Ukrainian president added that he did not know how long the counteroffensive would take and expressed concerns about Moscow's air superiority.
"It can go a variety of ways, but we are going to do it, and we are ready," he told the newspaper. "We strongly believe that we will succeed."
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-lawmaker-admits-moscow-failed-achieve
-goals-ukraine-1804310
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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You're repeating yourself, troll.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Ukraine won't be giving any warning to Russia other than the H-bombs exploding in trucks parked next to the Kremlin.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You're repeating yourself, troll.
Putin's goal of making Ukraine "neutral" is a failure. Instead, Russia made the Ukrainian military into an enemy that proved to be as strong as the Russian military. The only advantage Russia has, Which.It.Mentions.Every.Day.Of.The.Week, is nukes. But for all Russia knows, Ukraine has nukes and is willing to wipe Moscow off the map if Ukraine looks like it will lose. Russia could be in a nasty situation where Ukraine is willing to commit suicide to murder Russia with no chance of reincarnation for either country. The US could have nuked Russia for many years after WWII but magnanimously did not. Unlike Americans with leftover positive feelings toward Russia from WWII, I don't think Ukraine has enough wholesome feelings toward Russians to not kill them all, especially if Ukraine feels it is losing.
Russia can't stop talking about committing suicide: “Why do we need a world if Russia is not in it?”
Russian state television host Dmitry Kiselyov opened his Sunday primetime show with an ominous allusion to nuclear war.
The comments came just hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian army to put its nuclear arsenal, the world's largest, on “high alert” in response to what he called "unfriendly" steps by the West.
“Putin warned them. Don’t try to frighten Russia,” Kiselyov said, repeating the Kremlin message on state broadcaster Rossiya 1.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/28/why-do-we-need-a-world-if-ru
ssia-is-not-in-it-state-tv-presenter-opens-show-with-ominous-address-a76653
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You're repeating yourself, troll.
Its you who is repeating themselves comrade.
Oh yeah, it has begun.
T
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Europe’s energy crisis is Putin’s problem now
With Europe’s fuel prices returning to pre-war levels, Russia has lost its leverage
European wholesale natural gas prices have reached a two-year low, ending last week at €24.84 per megawatt hour, according to analytics firm ICIS.
That's close to the 2010s average of €20.11 — and a major drop compared with April 2022, when gas price benchmarks hit the colossal €200 mark after Russia shut off much of its usual flows of gas to Europe in retaliation.
In 2021, supplies from Russia made up around half of all of the EU's natural gas imports at 150 billion cubic meters a year. By November 2022, it accounted for just under 13 percent — and that number has continued to fall.
Nobody is going to sign a new contract with Gazprom.
https://www.politico.eu/article/putins-gas-problem/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Ukraine won't be giving any warning to Russia other than the H-bombs exploding in trucks parked next to the Kremlin.
And Ukraine is getting its H-bomb from...???
You're whacked, troll.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:I'm not a plural, THUGR
THUGR: Its you who is repeating themselves...
Also, I may be repeating myself but what happens if I'm RIGHT? It just means you wasted opportunities to actually LEARN something for a change.
Quote:Yeah, right - the cryptic "it". That's ONE way not to get caught in a bad prediction: Keep it secret!
THUGR: Oh yeah, it has begun.
dood, EVERYONE can see that's a 5-year-old's trick.
****
Seems like Ukraine's go-to-guy for assasination and terrorism, Badunov...or is it Budanov? ... is MIA. And now Kiev has got real-live Nazis attacking over the border. Not a good look for Kiev.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:For example of a counting error, 4 million Ukrainians died in Holodomor but the Russians say that number is inflated since no one died. I assume you have forgotten that Ukraine had the third largest number of H-bombs in the world. You assume that Ukraine transferred all to Russia. Since Russians live in the land of "one death is a tragedy, and a million is a statistic", the Russians might not retrieve all their weapons because they make counting errors. So many errors.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Ukraine won't be giving any warning to Russia other than the H-bombs exploding in trucks parked next to the Kremlin.
And Ukraine is getting its H-bomb from...???
You're whacked, troll.
Ukraine inherited about 130 UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six warheads each, 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece, as well as 33 heavy bombers, totaling approximately 1,700 nuclear warheads remained on Ukrainian territory.
Despite Russia's claimed annexation of Crimea, which the UN General Assembly rejected as invalid,[17] the Government of Ukraine in 2014 reaffirmed its 1994 decision to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon state.[18]
Pavlo Rizanenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, told USA Today that Ukraine may have to arm themselves with their own nuclear weapons if the United States and other world leaders do not hold up their end of the agreement. He said, "We gave up nuclear weapons because of this agreement. Now, there's a strong sentiment in Ukraine that we made a big mistake."[19] He also said that, "In the future, no matter how the situation is resolved in Crimea, we need a much stronger Ukraine. If you have nuclear weapons, people don't invade you."[20]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Too bad that Russia cannot decide what to do about criminals:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Seems like Ukraine's go-to-guy for assasination and terrorism, Badunov...or is it Budanov? ... is MIA. And now Kiev has got real-live Nazis attacking over the border. Not a good look for Kiev.
Elements of the all-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR) conducted another limited raid into Belgorod Oblast on June 4 and are reportedly continuing to operate in a Russian border settlement.
Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov responded to a RDK and LSR demand to negotiate for the exchange of captured Russian prisoners of war (POWs). The LSR and RDK addressed a video to Gladkov purporting to show RDK and LSR fighters with two Russian POWs whom they said they captured near Novaya Tavolzhanka. The RDK and LSR demanded that Gladkov arrive at the temple in Novaya Tavolzhanka by 1700 (Moscow Standard Time) to negotiate for the release of the POWs.[5] Gladkov stated that he was ready to meet with the RDK and LSR fighters at the Shebekino checkpoint to negotiate the exchange of the POWs.[6] Gladkov later reportedly refused to meet with the RDK and LSR fighters because he believed that the Russian POWs were already dead.[7] The RDK and LSR released a subsequent video showing themselves with 12 Russian POWs, criticizing Gladkov for lacking courage, and stating that they would send the POWs to Ukraine.[8]
The dissonant Russian responses to and reporting about the limited raid in Belgorod Oblast continue to suggest that the Russian leadership has not yet decided how to react to these limited cross-border raids. The contradictory reporting from official Russian sources about the situation in Belgorod Oblast and Gladkov’s apparent personal decision to respond to the RDK and LSR suggests that the MoD and Gladkov are not coordinating their responses to the raids. ISW has previously reported that Russian officials have disproportionately responded to the limited raids into Russian territory in an effort to assuage growing Russian anxiety about the war in Ukraine while also supporting ongoing information operations that aim to present the war as existential to Russia.[9] Russian responses have primarily centered on informational effects, and there is no indication that the Russian leadership has set a wider policy for preventing further limited raids into Russian border oblasts. It is also not clear if Russian authorities are orchestrating the evacuation response to this activity. An RDK fighter claimed on June 4 that Belgorod Oblast authorities have not organized the announced evacuation measures in the Shebekino area and that Russian citizens have largely fled of their own accord, leaving many settlements in a semi-abandoned state.[10] Gladkov claimed that 4,000 residents from the area are currently staying at temporary accommodation centers in connection with evacuation efforts, however.[11] Ukrainian Advisor to the Internal Affairs Minister Anton Herashchenko stated on June 4 that the RDK and LSR activity has prompted Russian leaders to divert significant forces to stop border incursions, although ISW has not observed confirmation that Russian forces have done so.
The limited raids and border shelling in Belgorod Oblast are increasingly becoming the current focal point for criticism against the Russian military leadership. Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin continued to use the situation in Belgorod Oblast to criticize the MoD on June 3 and 4, specifically calling out the lack of response from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Colonel General Alexander Lapin, and Chief of the Russian General Staff Army General Valeriy Gerasimov.[12] Prigozhin offered to negotiate the release of POWs held by the RDK and LSR if Russian authorities failed to do so, and responded to criticism of his offer by sarcastically stating that Russia has a problem with people who have “balls.”[13]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensi
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How Russia Got the Ukraine War Wrong
by Jordan Michael Smith
https://newrepublic.com/article/172799/russia-got-ukraine-war-wrong-ov
erreach-book-review
In August 1991, President George Bush delivered the most infamous address of his one-term presidency. Speaking to the legislature of Ukraine, then still part of the Soviet Union, Bush expressed concerns about the country’s potential push for complete sovereignty. “Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism,” he said. “They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred.”
Bush’s speech has gotten an unfairly bad rap. His administration reasonably feared that the USSR’s disintegration would mimic Yugoslavia’s descent into devastating ethnic conflicts but with the added catastrophic danger of nuclear weapons. The relatively peaceful demise of the Soviet Union looks inevitable only with hindsight’s benefit; the process could have been much bloodier, as the current Russo-Ukrainian war demonstrates.
The address is striking now for its suggestion that Ukrainian independence would be an act of self-destruction, however. Russia’s invasion in early 2022 showed that Ukrainian nationalism was more powerful, cohesive, and widely shared than anyone knew. Before the war, few would have predicted that this small, newly independent, ethnically and linguistically divided country led by a former comedian would successfully resist the former empire boasting the world’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal.
Two new books by veteran experts in the region help explain this puzzle. Owen Matthews is a longtime foreign correspondent in Moscow, whose book Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine focuses on decision-making within Moscow circles. Serhii Plokhy is a Harvard University historian, whose book The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History presents the centuries of complicated history between the two countries and surveys Russian myths about Ukraine. Plokhy shows how Russian leaders used these precedents and legends to justify invasion, while Matthews focuses on how Putin exploited the intellectual currents flowing through post–Cold War Russia as a way to keep Ukraine in his country’s orbit. Together, these books help us understand how Russia decided to try to conquer Ukraine—and how Ukraine managed to shock the world with its astonishingly strong resistance.
Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine by Owen Matthews
Mudlark, 448 pp., $21.99
The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History by Serhii Plokhy
W.W. Norton & Company, 400 pp., $30.00
Both Overreach and The Russo-Ukrainian War devote significant chunks—about half of each book—to the longer history leading up to the war. Plokhy emphasizes that Ukraine had an even more difficult time during the 1990s than Russia did, as its economy cratered, regions splintered, and politicians plundered the country’s resources. In the twenty-first century, however, the country gradually coalesced around a democratic ethos. Meanwhile, President Boris Yeltsin failed either to keep Ukraine in Russia’s orbit or resign his countrymen to the loss of their former empire—and fatefully, he handpicked Putin as his successor.
“Yeltsin placed Putin in charge of waging war against Chechen rebels” when he became prime minister, Plokhy writes. “Putin took control of the war effort in the most public way possible, appearing on television again and again to threaten the rebels and demonstrate his and Russia’s resolve to defeat the insurrection.” Within a few months, he was the most popular politician in the country, with a reputation for effectiveness, patriotism, and ruthlessness. This reputation lasted for more than two decades, until he ordered the Russian military to occupy all of Ukraine in early 2022.
Matthews and Plokhy spend time plumbing the depths of Putin’s psyche, but they arrive at different conclusions. Matthews believes the Russian leader is simpler than the genius strategist that he
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War is always a partial or full miscalculation. You miscalculate how strong you are and you miscalculate how weak the enemy is. You miscalculate how easy it’s going to be, how low the costs are, how great the benefits. - Stephen Kotkin
We used to believe the Russians had the second-best army in the world. Now we know they have the second-best army in Ukraine. - Ukrainian soldiers’ joke
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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NATO-trained units will serve as tip of spear in Ukraine’s counteroffensive
By Isabelle Khurshudyan and Kamila Hrabchuk
Updated June 4, 2023 at 12:50 p.m. EDT
When Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive finally begins, the fight will be led by brigades armed not only with Western weapons but also Western know-how, gleaned from months of training aimed at transforming Ukraine’s military into a modern force skilled in NATO’s most advanced warfare tactics.
As other Ukrainian units were fighting to expel the Russian occupiers from the country’s east and south, the brand-new 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade was preparing for the next phase of war from a classroom at a NATO base in Germany.
The brigade’s leadership trained with computers that simulated situations they might face in real life. Deputy commander Maj. Ivan Shalamaha and others planned their assaults and then let the program show them the results — how their Russian enemies might respond, where they could make a breakthrough and where they would suffer losses.
“You understand the overall picture, how it works,” Shalamaha said. “You understand where and what your shortcomings were. And we pay attention to what we failed to do during this simulation.”
Now the war games are over. The 47th brigade and other assault units have been armed with Western weapons, including Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and relocated to a secret location closer to the front line. During a recent visit by Washington Post journalists, the soldiers were waiting for the order to charge ahead to retake a large swath of Ukrainian territory and tip the war back in Kyiv’s favor.
The counteroffensive will be the biggest test yet of the U.S.-led strategy of giving the Ukrainians weapons and training to fight like an American army might — but on their own.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov called it the “next level” of security assistance, something he and other officials requested from their Western partners. The United Kingdom has been providing basic training to thousands of Ukrainian recruits since last summer. But more recently, whole Ukrainian units have been sent to Germany and other countries to learn “how to operate simultaneously together, like interoperability among the different units,” Reznikov said.
“We need company-level, platoon-level, battalion-level training courses with techniques, with their infantry fighting vehicles, with a commander who will understand how to conduct his forces, support artillery, support reconnaissance operations,” Reznikov said.
Critics of the West’s new emphasis on training the Ukrainians in combined-arms warfare, in which tanks, artillery, combat vehicles and other weapons are layered to maximize the violence they inflict, have pointed out that Kyiv is still missing key elements to fully implement that attack, mainly modern fighter jets. Ukraine is expected to receive U.S.-made F-16s after Washington agreed not to stop allied nations from providing them, but they won’t reach the battlefield in time for the counteroffensive.
One goal of the training is to teach Ukraine’s soldiers how to go on offense. For years, the Ukrainian military focused mainly on defensive tactics — how to protect its territory from attack. Even soldiers who fought Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine for eight years before Moscow’s full-scale invasion had little experience with planned assaults.
The quick, sweeping counteroffensive last fall to liberate nearly all of Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region in less than a week was the military’s first planned large-scale offensive in the country’s more than 30 years of independence.
The success in Kharkiv, and last year’s successful defense of Kyiv, were credited in part to previous NATO training for Ukraine’s military, which began after Russia invaded Crimea and fomented war in the eastern Donbas region in 2014. Many Ukrainian commanders, now in senior leadership, took part in such training.
At the training in Germany earlier this year, “the main tasks that were played there were offens
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More pirate links on Haken's site. Must be Monday.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:WHAT are we waiting for, THUGR? Something is missing! This time you got a deadline but not an event.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Let's give it another two weeks, shall we?
T
Epic fail.
Try to keep up comrade.
T
Ukraine military urges 'silence' ahead of expected counteroffensive
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HAHAHAHA!!
YOU'RE keeping YOUR predictions silent bc you have... what?
Secret knowledge from der Fuhrer himself?
You're revealing Important Intellignce to Powerful People?
You think anyone is fooled, or impressed, by your claims?
Hate to tell you this, but we don't take you all that seriously. And nobody takes US all that seriously. This is a discussion board, dood, not some super-secret intelligence-gathering site. And I'm sure Russia has MUCH better source of real intel than here!
Oh BTW, your "I've got a secret about two weeks from now and I'm not telling" is not only patently obvious, it's patently childish.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Ukraine-Russia border ‘demilitarised zone’ inside Russian territory
A demilitarised zone between 100 and 120 kilometres wide (62 to 75 miles) should be established in Russian border territory with Ukraine as part of any post-war settlement, an adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office has said.
Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said the demilitarised zone should cover the Russian regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Rostov in order to protect adjacent territories in Ukraine.
Such a zone, which cannot be used or occupied by military forces, would likely require “a mandatory international control contingent at the first stage”, Podolyak said.
A demilitarised zone should be a “key topic” of a post-war settlement, said the presidential adviser, adding that such a buffer would “prevent the recurrence of aggression in the future”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says there are detailed rules for the creation and recognition of demilitarised zones and the concept is not far removed from hospital zones and other areas deemed neutral during conflicts.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/30/ukraine-russia-border-demilit
arised-zone-floated-for-peace-deal
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Ukraine-Russia border ‘demilitarised zone’ inside Russian territory
A demilitarised zone between 100 and 120 kilometres wide (62 to 75 miles) should be established in Russian border territory with Ukraine as part of any post-war settlement, an adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office has said...
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
In their dreams!
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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The Eyes of the World Are Upon Ukraine
By Paul Krugman
June 5, 2023, 3:08 p.m. ET
Seventy-nine years ago Allied paratroopers began landing behind the beaches of Normandy.
World War II was a long time ago, but it still lives on in America’s memory. And the anniversary of D-Day, on Tuesday, seems especially evocative this year, as we await the moral equivalent of D-Day, coming any day now when Ukraine begins its long-awaited counterattack against Russian invaders (which may have already started).
I use the term “moral equivalent” advisedly. World War II was one of the few wars that was clearly a fight of good against evil.
Now, the good guys were by no means entirely good. Americans were still denied basic rights and occasionally massacred because of their skin color. Britain still ruled, sometimes brutally, over a vast colonial empire.
But if the great democracies all too often failed to live up to their ideals, they nonetheless had the right ideals; they stood, however imperfectly, for freedom against the forces of tyranny, racial supremacy and mass murder.
If Ukraine wins this war, some of its supporters abroad will no doubt be disillusioned to discover the nation’s darker side. Before the war, Ukraine ranked high on measures of perceived corruption — better than Russia, but that’s not saying much. Victory won’t make the corruption go away.
And Ukraine does have a far-right movement, including paramilitary groups that have played a part in its war. The country suffered terribly under Stalin, with millions dying in a deliberately engineered famine; as a result, some Ukrainians initially welcomed the Germans during World War II (until they realized that they, too, were considered subhuman), and Nazi iconography is still disturbingly widespread.
Yet like the flaws of the Allies in World War II, these shadows don’t create any equivalence between the two sides in this war. Ukraine is an imperfect but real democracy, hoping to join the larger democratic community. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a malevolent actor, and friends of freedom everywhere have to hope that it will be thoroughly defeated.
I wish I could say that the citizens of Western democracies, America in particular, were fully committed to Ukrainian victory and Russian defeat. In reality, while most Americans support aid to Ukraine, only a minority are willing to sustain that aid for as long as it takes. For what it’s worth, U.S. public opinion on aid to Ukraine right now looks remarkably similar to polls from early 1941 (that is, well before Pearl Harbor) on the lend-lease program of military aid to Britain.
What about those who oppose helping Ukraine at all?
Some of those who oppose Western aid just don’t see the moral equivalence with World War II. On the left, in particular, there are some people for whom it’s always 2003. They remember how America was taken to war on false pretenses — which, for the record, I realized was happening and vociferously opposed at the time — and can’t see that this situation is different.
On the right, by contrast, many of those who oppose helping Ukraine — call it the Tucker Carlson faction — do understand what this war is about. And they’re on the side of the bad guys. The “Putin wing” of the G.O.P. has long admired Russia’s authoritarian regime and its intolerance. Before the war, Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz contrasted what they perceived as Russian toughness with the “woke, emasculated” U.S. military; Russia’s military failures threaten such people’s whole worldview, and they would be humiliated by a Ukrainian victory.
The point is that the stakes in Ukraine right now are very high. If Ukraine’s counteroffensive succeeds, the forces of democracy will be strengthened around the world, not least in America. If it fails, it will be a disaster not just for Ukraine but for the world. Western aid to Ukraine may dry up, Putin may finally achieve the victory most people expected him to win in the war’s first few days, and democracy will be weakened everywhere.
What’s going
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
HAHAHAHA!!
YOU'RE keeping YOUR predictions silent bc you have... what?
Secret knowledge from der Fuhrer himself?
You're revealing Important Intellignce to Powerful People?
You think anyone is fooled, or impressed, by your claims?
Hate to tell you this, but we don't take you all that seriously. And nobody takes US all that seriously. This is a discussion board, dood, not some super-secret intelligence-gathering site. And I'm sure Russia has MUCH better source of real intel than here!
Oh BTW, your "I've got a secret about two weeks from now and I'm not telling" is not only patently obvious, it's patently childish.
You are without a doubt comrade a complete wack job.
T
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Ukraine and NATO, A change in tone and the Ukrainian counteroffensive
Phillips P. O’Brien, Jun 4, 2023
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-31
Another week with almost no change on the front line between the Ukrainian and Russian armies, but this did not stop it from giving some powerful indications of the direction of travel in the war. In particular, two things stood out, the growing focus of Ukraine’s future relationship with NATO, and, the change in tone that is coming out of major western state’s about how the war is trending in Ukraine’s favor. And in many ways the two discussions are interrelated.
Ukraine and NATO
This week saw a fascinating uptick in the discussion of Ukraine’s future relationship with (hopefully in) NATO. Its one of the most fascinating changes that we have seen since February 24, 2022. Then, even the prospect that Ukraine would join NATO far in the future was seen as justification enough for Putin to launch the full scale invasion.
However what the war has shown is that one of the only reasons Putin felt free to invade Ukraine was because it was not a NATO member. Since then, watching the discussion evolve over Ukraine eventually joining NATO has been like watching one of the discussions over Ukraine getting a new weapons systems (think MBTs or F-16s) only longer and more tortured.
Its because the end point of this relationship is clear—at some point Ukraine will have to be in NATO. There can be no permanent peace after this genocidal invasion without it. For Ukraine, Russia is unconquerable. Thus, Ukraine outside of NATO will always be a possible victim of another Russian attack. The country needs to think not years, but decades into the future, when it could be confronted by a rebuilt Russian military.
What the war has shown is that anything short of a full-NATO membership is in security terms, worthless. Ukraine actually had different types of security guarantee given to it a number of times since the dissolution of the USSR. According to the Budapest Memorandum of 1993, for instance, Ukraine agreed to give up Soviet nuclear weapons in its border. In exchange for this, Ukraine had its full territorial integrity, including Crimea, recognized by the USA, Russia and the UK. Of course this did nothing to stop both the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donbas in 2014 and what has come later.
If Ukraine is going to have enduring, long-term security after the war, it will only be through full membership of NATO and the application of NATO’s Article 5. This fundamental difference between Ukraine and the Baltic states, for instance, is what has kept Putin from ever convincingly threatening other former members of the USSR such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. It's also why immediately after February 24, Finland and Sweden did their historic pivots and decided to become NATO members.
The importance of this cannot be understated. As a number of Ukrainians said to me during my visit—how can we expect investors to invest large sums of money helping rebuild the country after the war if Ukraine doesn’t have the iron-clad protections of NATO membership? It's a very hard position with which to disagree.
Now for much of the time since February 24, 2022 the idea of Ukraine joining NATO still seemed a step too far. It was seen as potentially too escalatory and too threatening to Russia—a step that would make an eventual peace deal between Ukraine and Russia almost impossible. And then, as with the F-16s to Ukraine idea, the notion of Ukraine joining NATO started to change, and last week it became, for many NATO members of NATO now a question no longer of it—but instead a question of when.
At the end of April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ramped up the pressure when he stated during his visit to Kyiv that “Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help you make it possible.”
That statement still had no timetable, and it could be argued that it would be many years after the conclusion of this war befo
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Lets repost this shall we?
T
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Apparently Ukrainian attacks were repelled and Kiev lost more than 16 tanks and 3,000 soldiers killed or wounded.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Apparently, no tanks and few soldiers were lost, but phantom victories haunt Russian minds. Just wait. Any day now Russia will crush Ukraine. At least that is what Russian State TV News says. The glorious victory, a repeat of the Great Patriotic War, is almost, but not quite, here.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Apparently Ukrainian attacks were repelled and Kiev lost more than 16 tanks and 3,000 soldiers killed or wounded.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Patriotic_War_(term)
These guys look like future victims, not victors.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Fuck Ukraine.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:Ukraine will flush Russia down the toilet. 6ix, you already flushed yourself. As for America's other millions of angry white trash Trump voters, their addictions, their guns used to commit suicide, their divorces, their poor health because of self-abuse, their mental illnesses, their children who hate them, and their terminations from jobs because of incompetence, will flush themselves without any help as 6ix flushed himself. In response, 6ix, please don't brag about how well your life is going because your lying is sad and unconvincing as are Russian lies:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Fuck Ukraine.
Russia bragged that it easily defeated a Ukrainian tank attack, but even pro-Russia bloggers say the battle didn't go well
Semen Pegov, who blogs under the name WarGonzo, said the situation at the front line near Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk Oblast was "becoming more and more disturbing with each passing hour," the Kyiv Independent reported.
"The situation is heating up," he said, according to the Kyiv Independent. "The attack is much more serious than yesterday."
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-claims-defeat-ukrainian-tank-at
tack-military-bloggers-disagree-2023-6
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Ukraine will flush Russia down the toilet.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Fuck Ukraine.
Russia will crush Ukraine.
Quote:
In response, 6ix, please don't brag about how well your life is going because your lying is sad and unconvincing as are Russian lies:
My life is awesome. How was work today, honey?
Your mom hates you.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Ukraine will flush Russia down the toilet.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Fuck Ukraine.
Russia will crush Ukraine.
Looks like Ukraine is being flushed down the toilet as we speak...
Ukraine accuses Russia of destroying major dam near Kherson, warns of ecological disaster
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kakhovka-dam-flood-evacu
ation-eecc9952c2d9f500c38b0a873f69438c
Quote:
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of southern Ukraine that Russia controls, sending water gushing from the breached facility and threatening possible massive flooding and what officials called an “ecological disaster.” Ukrainian authorities ordered hundreds of thousands of residents downriver to evacuate.
Russian officials countered that the Kakhovka dam was damaged by Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area.
The fallout could have broad consequences: Flooding homes, streets and businesses downstream; depleting water levels upstream that help cool Europe’s largest nuclear power plant; and draining supplies of drinking water to the south in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:6ix, the Russians versus the West has always been about the Russian leaders' mental illnesses and their obedient followers. Trump voters versus the 21st Century has always been about their leader's mental illnesses and the followers' feelings of unease and disgust with everything unfamiliar. The leadership gives its crazy marching orders to their Russians and their Trumptards, who then do tremendous damage to countries because there are not enough insane asylums to hold them all.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Looks like Ukraine is being flushed down the toilet as we speak...
Next, the crazy Russians will be blowing up nuclear power plants than saying the Ukrainians did it. "A vast Soviet-era dam in the Russian controlled part of southern Ukraine was blown on Tuesday. Both sides blamed the other for destroying the dam." That's the crazy Russian way.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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The Russian Black Sea Fleet is attempting to mitigate complications with logistical support in occupied Crimea by shifting resources to mainland Russia. Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Natalia Humenyuk reported on June 5 that Russian forces are transferring the Black Sea Fleet’s logistics centers from Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, to Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai.[21] Humenyuk stated that Russian forces are moving the logistics centers because of widespread logistical and ammunition provision issues in occupied Crimea.[22] Humenyuk noted that Russian amphibious ships are continuing to maneuver in the Black Sea and enter Sevastopol, but that the overall center of gravity of the Black Sea Fleet appears to be shifting towards Novorossiysk.[23] Recent strikes on Russian concentration areas, logistics hubs, and transportation assets in southern Ukraine may be causing increased anxiety over the security of the Black Sea Fleet, and the move to Krasnodar Krai is likely in part reflective of this fact.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-5-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Journalists Are Asking Ukrainian Soldiers To Hide Their Nazi Patches, NYT Admits
...The surprising Monday Times headline said that "Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History." This acknowledgement comes after literally years of primarily indy journalists and geopolitical commentators pointing out that yes indeed... Ukraine's military and paramilitary groups, especially those operating in the east since at least 2014, have a serious Nazi ideology problem.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/journalists-are-asking-ukrainia
n-soldiers-hide-their-nazi-patches-nyt-admits
Quote:
Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History
A soldier resting in a trench. A small bag on his belly bears a blue and yellow patch with a black skull emblem on it.
An image of a Ukrainian soldier wearing a patch containing the Totenkopf symbol, an example of Nazi iconography, that was posted on the Twitter account of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, then deleted.
Credit...Vlad Novak, via Ukraine MOD Twitter account
Thomas Gibbons-Neff
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff
Published June 5, 2023
Updated June 6, 2023, 10:59 a.m. ET
KYIV, Ukraine — Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last year, the Ukrainian government and NATO allies have posted, then quietly deleted, three seemingly innocuous photographs from their social media feeds: a soldier standing in a group, another resting in a trench and an emergency worker posing in front of a truck.
In each photograph, Ukrainians in uniform wore patches featuring symbols that were made notorious by Nazi Germany and have since become part of the iconography of far-right hate groups.
The photographs, and their deletions, highlight the Ukrainian military’s complicated relationship with Nazi imagery, a relationship forged under both Soviet and German occupation during World War II.
That relationship has become especially delicate because President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has falsely declared Ukraine to be a Nazi state, a claim he has used to justify his illegal invasion.
Falsely???
Oh, of course... Azov and Kraken and other unit patches, the wulfsangel signs and Nazi tats and worship of Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian Nazi, are just meaningless Ukrainian nostalgia.
Quote:uh huh. Because they'd come right out and say so?
Ukraine has worked for years through legislation and military restructuring to contain a fringe far-right movement whose members proudly wear symbols steeped in Nazi history and espouse views hostile to leftists, L.G.B.T.Q. movements and ethnic minorities. But some members of these groups have been fighting Russia since the Kremlin illegally annexed part of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014 and are now part of the broader military structure. Some are regarded as national heroes, even as the far-right remains marginalized politically.
The iconography of these groups, including a skull-and-crossbones patch worn by concentration camp guards and a symbol known as the Black Sun, now appears with some regularity on the uniforms of soldiers fighting on the front line, including soldiers who say the imagery symbolizes Ukrainian sovereignty and pride, not Nazism.
Quote:Yanno, there WERE Nazi Jews. Soros, for example.
In the short term, that threatens to reinforce Mr. Putin’s propaganda and give fuel to his false claims that Ukraine must be “de-Nazified” — a position that ignores the fact that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
Quote:
More broadly, Ukraine’s ambivalence about these symbols, and sometimes even its acceptance of them, risks giving new, mainstream life to icons that the West has spent more than a half-century trying to eliminate.
“What worries me, in the Ukrainian context, is that people in Ukraine who are in leadersh
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Quote:
1000s Evacuated As Massive Wall Of Water Surges Through Ukraine After Major Dam 'Blown Up'
Tuesday, Jun 06, 2023 - 04:20 AM
Images and videos posted on social media show a major dam and hydroelectric power plant in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson, located in southern Ukrainian, destroyed early Tuesday. Water rushed through the dam into the Dnieper River, which separates Ukrainian and Russian forces. Both sides accuse each other of the attack that puts tens of thousands of homes at risk and might even threaten the safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
Source: Washington Post
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a drone video showing the damaged dam as water gushed downriver. Zelenskyy blamed "Russian terrorists."
Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land. Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror. It’s only… pic.twitter.com/ErBog1gRhH
Well, when Ukrainian or American forces are found responsible for the destruction, we won't have to argue about whether it's terrorism, bc Zelenskiy already said it was. And since America blew up Nordstream we KNOW they have no compunction against blowing up critical and environmentally sensitive infrastructure.
Quote:
The situation appears critical as Ukraine's state power agency said the damaged dam poses an additional threat to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.
"Water from the Kakhovka Reservoir is necessary for the station to receive power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP. The station's cooling pond is now full: as of 8:00 a.m., the water level is 16.6 meters, which is sufficient for the station's needs," the agency said.
This is what makes me extremely doubtful that Russia destroyed the dam. Since they hold the power plant, it makes as much sense for Russia to put the power plant at risk as it dies for them to shell their own position there.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Bakhmut No Longer Under Russian Control, Prigozhin Says
Days after forces from Russia's Wagner Group withdrew from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, its chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said the city is no longer under Russian control, and that troops under the leadership of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov are fleeing.
Ukrainian forces have now retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut, Prigozhin said, calling it "shameful."
https://www.newsweek.com/bakhmut-russia-ukraine-wagner-group-prigozhin
-shoigu-gerasimov-1804502
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Wagner boss rubbishes Russian claims of Ukrainian casualties
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin dismissed Russia's claims to have inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine in the Donbas when Kyiv attempted offensive action.
Prigozhin said the claims were "simply wild and absurd science fiction".
But Russia's defence ministry doubled down on the claims on Tuesday.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65825304
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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IMHO Progozhin has lost it. Bakhmut is firmly in Russia's hands, and Progozhin wasn't anywhre near the latest fighting, so how would he know?
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:Tell me how you know where Prigozhin was and what he knows. I am really curious about how you achieve so much "certainty".
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
IMHO Progozhin has lost it. Bakhmut is firmly in Russia's hands, and Progozhin wasn't anywhre near the latest fighting, so how would he know?
And while you are at it, explain your "certainty" in this statement: "And since America blew up Nordstream we KNOW they have no compunction against blowing up critical and environmentally sensitive infrastructure."
Did Seymour Hersh tell you? Seymour Hersh’s Nord Stream Theory: Fact or Fiction?
https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/seymour-hershs-nord-stream-theory-
fact-or-fiction/
The US bombing Nord Stream was fiction. Fact: Ukraine was behind the Nord Stream bombing all along
It turns out that the country behind the September 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline was almost certainly Ukraine—and US government officials have known it all along. The Washington Post reported this today based on intelligence leaks from the Discord Papers:
Details about the plan, which have not been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022....The highly specific details, which include numbers of operatives and methods of attack, show that for nearly a year Western allies had a basis to suspect Kyiv in the sabotage.
....European officials in several countries have quietly suggested that Ukraine was behind the attack, but resisted publicly saying so over fears that blaming Kyiv could fracture the alliance against Russia. At gatherings of European and NATO policymakers, officials have settled into a rhythm as one senior European diplomat said recently, “Don’t talk about Nord Stream.”
The European intelligence made clear that the would-be attackers were not rogue operatives. All those involved reported directly to Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the country’s highest-ranking military officer, who was put in charge so that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, wouldn’t know about the operation, the intelligence report said.
Details of the Ukranian operation that were shared by the intelligence source are strikingly similar to evidence gathered by German law enforcement:
For instance, the Ukrainian individual that informed the European intelligence service in June said that six members of Ukraine’s special operations forces using false identities intended to rent a boat and, using a submersible vehicle, dive to the floor of the Baltic Sea then damage or destroy the pipeline and escape undetected. In addition to oxygen, the team planned to bring helium, which is recommended for especially deep dives.
German investigators now believe that six individuals using fake passports rented a sailing yacht in September, embarked from Germany and planted explosives that severed the pipelines, according to officials familiar with that investigation. They believe the operatives were skilled divers, given that the explosives were planted at a depth of about 240 feet, in the range that experts say helium would be helpful for maintaining mental focus.
Investigators...have linked Ukrainian individuals to the rental of the boat via an apparent front company in Poland. Investigators also suspect that at least one individual who serves in the Ukrainian military was involved in the sabotage operation.
Ukraine certainly makes more sense as a saboteur than either Russia, which had little reason to bomb its own pipeline, or the United States, which had already been mostly successful at persuading Germany to halt imports of Russian gas.
One interesting aspect of this is that it's yet another example of Ukraine's remarkable wartime proficiency. Just as Russia's performance in the war has been surprisingly poor, I don't think anyone expected Ukraine to be as capable and skilled on the battlefield as they have been. That the pipeline bombing, a complex and
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
IMHO Progozhin has lost it. Bakhmut is firmly in Russia's hands, and Progozhin wasn't anywhre near the latest fighting, so how would he know?
SECOND: Tell me how you know where Prigozhin was and what he knows.
How do YOU, Nazi troll?
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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You know Joe Biden* blew up the dam.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:Well, he* blew up Nordstream.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You know Joe Biden* blew up the dam.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
Sounds like a State Dept/neocons/CIA/Kiev secret op, with implausible deniability all around.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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How much is Russia spending on its invasion of Ukraine? May 30th 2023
By historical standards, it’s a puny amount. That tells you three big things
SINCE RUSSIA invaded Ukraine in February 2022 it has caused enormous damage. Thousands of people have died and billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure has been destroyed in Ukraine. Yet all this damage has come at a relatively mild cost to Russia. As we have reported, its economy is holding up much better than almost anyone expected. And the direct fiscal cost of the war—what it is spending on men and machines—is surprisingly low.
Russia’s budget is murky—especially its military one. So our estimate of what Russia is spending on invading Ukraine is imprecise. However, in consultation with various experts, and using our own analysis, we have come up with a figure. In essence this involved taking the Russian government’s pre-invasion forecast of what it would spend on defence and security, and comparing that with what it is actually spending. That would put the cost of its invasion at 5trn roubles ($67bn) a year, or 3% of GDP.
That is, by historical standards, a puny amount. We compiled estimates of spending on other wars—some involving Russia, some not. At the peak of the second world war the USSR spent 61% of GDP on the war effort. Around the same time America spent about 50% of GDP on its military forces.
Three reasons explain why Russia is spending so little. The first is political. Many within the Russian government would like to continue to portray the war on Ukraine as a “special military operation”. It would hardly make sense for such an operation to cost a double-digit percentage of GDP.
The second is economic. Russia would struggle to expand the war effort without costing its citizens dearly: printing money would spur inflation, eroding living standards; loading up banks with public debt might have a similar effect; tax rises or a big shift in public expenditure towards defence would also eat into personal incomes. This is a problem for Vladimir Putin, who has presidential elections in 2024. Mr Putin’s victory seems certain, but he does not want the potential embarrassment of large demonstrations, as happened for example in legislative elections in 2011. “Of course, national defence is the top priority,” he said recently, “but in resolving strategic tasks in this area, we should not repeat the mistakes of the past and should not destroy our own economy.”
The third reason relates to defence economics more broadly. Today’s armed forces are far more efficient than the ones of the past. They need ever fewer people and their machines are ever more accurate. The economic theory of “cost disease” suggests that high-productivity sectors tend to command a smaller share of GDP over time (unlike something like health care, which tends to take up a bigger share). Spending a lot less than you did in 1945 can still buy you a powerful army.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/05/30/how-much-is-russia
-spending-on-its-invasion-of-ukraine
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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In other words, no sweat off Putin's balls.
Meanwhile, child rapist Zelensky has spent over $150 Billion in US taxpayer dollars and will run out by September if we don't give him more.
Go Joe*!
Keep that sunk cost fallacy up in perpetuity until the US Dollar is worthless.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:The US Defense Department wrote on May 31, 2023: In total, the United States has committed more than $30.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $32.4 billion and more than $29.8 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. I get the feeling that 6ixStringJack is Stupid and Crazy and Dishonest. He'd make a fine Russian. And 6ix, just like Trump, does not pay taxes so all the whininess about tax dollars is his nuttiness.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
In other words, no sweat off Putin's balls.
Meanwhile, child rapist Zelensky has spent over $150 Billion in US taxpayer dollars and will run out by September if we don't give him more.
Go Joe*!
Keep that sunk cost fallacy up in perpetuity until the US Dollar is worthless.
https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Support-for-Ukraine/Timeline/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from space
The Economist
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/06/05/ukrainian-advances
-on-donetsk-and-zaporizhia-can-be-seen-from-space
Satellite data can be used to track the counter-offensive
AFTER MONTHS of speculation, Ukrainian forces appear to have begun their long-awaited counter-offensive. On June 4th Russian military sources reported that Ukrainian forces had launched assaults on five axes in Russian-occupied Donetsk province, in the east of the country. Ukrainian sources have been keeping conspicuously quiet. As news from the ground slowly filters out, The Economist has built a model that uses satellite data to give a glimpse of the conflict from the skies.
Our system relies on satellites that circle over Ukraine twice a day and use thermal imaging to detect high-temperature events in places unobscured by clouds. We use a machine-learning system to estimate whether these events are related to the war, by comparing patterns with what was observed before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It is far from perfect, but it offers a consistent and neutral guide to probable military activity in the country.
Examining the data from June 4th and 5th, the model identified war-related fires at several points along the frontline. Most of these fires were concentrated around the cities of Zaporizhia (Ukrainian-held) and Donetsk (Russian-held), where there were reports of significant escalation in the night between June 4th and 5th. Russian forces claim to have repelled most of the attacks.
Although our model can be used to track the counter-offensive, war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones. The model detected fires in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where airstrikes on June 3rd, thought to be caused by Russian missiles, killed a child and injured 22 people. In recent days the number of war-related fires has been higher in Ukrainian-held or contested territory than in firmly Russian-controlled areas.
The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. This might be because of the limitations of the data: comparing the raw number of fires through time can be difficult as the satellite captures only a snapshot in time as it flies over. Many analysts believe that Ukraine is currently only probing Russian forces, looking for vulnerabilities—or creating them—before committing its strongest units and artillery firepower. If the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive, and the weather stays clear, our model may detect far more activity in the days to come.
Inspect all our code, data, and models on GitHub. https://github.com/TheEconomist/the-economist-war-fire-model
https://github.com/TheEconomist/the-economist-war-fire-model/tree/mast
er/plots
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Statements by US and European officials are generally consistent with ISW’s October 2022 forecast that the Russians have a greater and clearer interest in flooding the lower Dnipro despite the damage to their own prepared defensive positions and forces than the Ukrainians.[29] ISW previously assessed on October 21, 2022, that Ukraine has no material interest in blowing the dam and pointed out that 80 settlements would risk flooding.[30] Ukrainian officials confirmed on June 6, 2023, that 80 settlements risk flooding as a result of the damage.[31] ISW further assessed that by contrast, Russia may use the flooding to widen the Dnipro River and complicate Ukrainian counteroffensive attempts across the already-challenging water feature.[32] Russian sources have expressed intense and explicit concern over the possibility that Ukraine has been preparing to cross the river and counterattack into east bank Kherson Oblast.[33] Available footage from June 6, corroborated by claims made by Russian milbloggers, suggests that the flooding washed away Ukrainian positions near the Dnipro shoreline and forced Ukrainian formations to evacuate while under Russian artillery fire.[34]
Ukrainian officials acknowledged that Russian formations and positions on the east bank may have been caught off guard and threatened by the flooding due to the topography of the area, some Ukrainian officials suggested that this was a result of the chaotic handling of the intentional detonation of the dam by Russian forces.[35] Some Russian sources indicated that the damage to the dam could threaten the water supply to occupied Crimea, but ISW previously noted that Crimea survived without water from the Dnipro River in the years between Russia‘s initial illegal annexation in 2014 and when water access was restored following the 2022 full-scale invasion.[36] There is also the possibility, of course, that pre-existing structural damage to the dam eventually caused breakage and flooding, as some sources have additionally suggested, although reports of noises like explosions are not necessarily consistent with this notion.[37] ISW cannot offer a definitive assessment of responsibility for the June 6 incident at this time but finds that the balance of evidence, reasoning, and rhetoric suggests that the Russians deliberately damaged the dam.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-6-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:Funny but that's not what the article says.
Originally posted by second:
Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from space
Quote:Ya think?
war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones.
Quote:
The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. ... IF the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive...
There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be
"Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space"
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Surveillance video from November 2022 shows explosions at the Kakhovka dam
There were explosions at Ukraine's Kakhovka dam in early November 2022. British military intelligence at the time said it was almost certainly the work of Russian forces using controlled detonations.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:"All is going as planned." - Russian State TV
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be
"Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space"
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russian forces conducted another large-scale missile strike across Ukraine on the night of June 5-6. Ukrainian military sources reported that Russian forces launched 35 Kh-101/555 cruise missiles from six Tu-95 bombers over the Caspian Sea and that Ukrainian air defense shot down all 35 missiles.[41] The Ukrainian General Staff also reported that Russian forces targeted Kharkiv City with S-300 surface-to-air missiles.[42] Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Natalia Humenyuk noted that the fact that Russia only launched Kh-101/555-type missiles and returned all sea-based Kalibr missile carriers to their base points before the strike may suggest that Russia is running out of Kalibrs to launch.[43] Humenyuk’s comments are consistent with periodic Ukrainian tallies of the numbers of Kalibrs remaining and Russia’s capacity to produce them. [44] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed that Russian aerospace forces conducted the strike with long-range air-launched missiles against Ukrainian ”decision-making centers” and struck all intended targets.[45] The UK MoD reported on June 5 that Russian forces have recently heavily relied on Iranian drones to try to attrit Ukrainian air defense missile capabilities, but the fact that Ukraine is still managing to employ air defense systems against cruise missiles to such high effect suggests that these Russian efforts have been largely unsuccessful.[46]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-6-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Prigozhin again hit out at the Russian Defense Ministry. "There is no management, there is no planning, there is no preparation, there is no mutual respect," he said. "And then all this is replaced by tantrums at the top...We will now suffer serious losses, I am absolutely sure of this. We will certainly lose part of the territories."
The southern front line south of Zaporizhzhia has been touted as one of the most likely locations for the expected Ukrainian counter. If Ukrainian troops can break Russian lines there, they could drive south to liberate Melitopol and onto the Sea of Azov coast, severing Moscow's land bridge to Crimea.
The situation in this area, Prigozhin said, is a "catastrophe." He added: "Novodonetskoye has already been taken. And if the troops retreat further, to a depth of 5 to 8 kilometers, this means that then there will be an uncontrolled entry of the enemy."
"We understand that at least another 50 percent of the inhabitants of this territory will help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Therefore, as soon as they go a little deeper, then they will go to Berdyansk and Mariupol, and it will be impossible to stop them."
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-offensive-broken-through-russian-line
s-prigozhin-bakhmut-donetsk-zaporizhzhia-1804946
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:The US Defense Department wrote on May 31, 2023: In total, the United States has committed more than $30.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $32.4 billion and more than $29.8 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
In other words, no sweat off Putin's balls.
Meanwhile, child rapist Zelensky has spent over $150 Billion in US taxpayer dollars and will run out by September if we don't give him more.
Go Joe*!
Keep that sunk cost fallacy up in perpetuity until the US Dollar is worthless.
Lies by your puppet masters.
Here are the real numbers:
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/congress-approved-113-billion-aid-ukraine-2
022
Quote:
I get the feeling that 6ixStringJack is Stupid and Crazy and Dishonest. He'd make a fine Russian. And 6ix, just like Trump, does not pay taxes so all the whininess about tax dollars is his nuttiness.
No. It's not nuttiness. Everything costs more because of Joe Biden*.
Even people who aren't paying Federal Tax are paying taxes through the worst inflation most Americans have ever gone through under the current administration.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:Funny but that's not what the article says.
Originally posted by second:
Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from spaceQuote:Ya think?
war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones.Quote:
The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. ... IF the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive...
There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be
"Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space"
Being Russian comrade Signym wouldn’t know that you probe an enemy as you start an offensive. You’re looking for weak spots and even strong areas of resistance you may want to avoid. You look for areas you can take advantage of. This is what is happening now.
Russia just moves forward in a disorganized manner, no matter how many soldiers needlessly die. It’s why Russia is losing.
T
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Only Russia isn't losing.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:With you being Russian, THUGR, apparently you have problems with English.
Originally posted by SECOND:
Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from space
SIGNY: unny but that's not what the article says.Quote:Ya think?
war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones.Quote:
The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. ... IF the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive...
There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be
"Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space"
THUGR: Being Russian comrade Signym wouldn’t know that you probe an enemy as you start an offensive. You’re looking for weak spots and even strong areas of resistance you may want to avoid. You look for areas you can take advantage of. This is what is happening now.
I wasn't saying there wasn't a counteroffensive happening. I was just commenting on the stupid headline, which pretends that something is in the article that isn't even there.
According even to you, there are no "advances" along the front. Just "probing".
I just heard a funny summary of Kiev's description of the counteroffensive so far: Don't say it's happening until you achieve a breakthrough somewhere. Until you do (and as you suffer losses) claim that these are "probing attacks" or (if bigger) "reconnaisance in force" or (if bigger still) "shaping operations".
I expect to see those designations from Kiev for the foreseeable future and extravagant publicity if Kiev achieves a 10-km advance anywhere.
/snark
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Putin's Shifting Strategy
Anders Åslund, an economist and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, said that the conflict has now entered a "new phase."
"Putin has gradually changed strategy," Åslund, who has served as an economic adviser to the governments of Russia and Ukraine, told Newsweek.
"During the first week of the war, the Russians just tried to go in and take everything. They did not bomb anything but really military targets," he said.
Russian forces then targeted Ukraine's critical infrastructure from October 2022 in retaliation for an attack on the Kerch bridge. This links the annexed Crimea peninsula to Russia. Kyiv denied responsibility.
"First, they went for the [power] grid, and then, from January, they went for the power stations. So they have gone deeper and deeper into infrastructure, in steps," said Åslund.
He drew a comparison between the dam's destruction and how Iraqi President Saddam Hussein set oil wells on fire in 1991 when he was forced out of Kuwait.
"When you have lost territory, then you destroy it," Åslund said. "I think that this is something that you do when you give up. It's not an offensive action but sour grapes. [Russia is saying], 'We have lost the apple; we are destroying as much as possible.'"
Domestic Stability
Åslund said he believes the Russian leader has become increasingly concerned about his domestic stability in Russia. There have been recent attacks by Russian anti-Putin militia groups in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.
"It's also important that these incursions into the bordering regions show that Russia cannot defend its own border. So, all of a sudden, Putin has spoken about it repeatedly, 'it's a question of our country's survival,'" Åslund said.
"They substantially changed tone from being aggressive to claiming some false victimhood, but I think that he's really concerned about domestic stability now," Åslund added.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-war-ukraine-new-phase-kakhovka-dam-floo
ding-russia-1804965
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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For Ukrainians, Devastation Caused by Russians Destroying Dams Is No Surprise
In August 1941, Nazi troops swept through Soviet-era Ukraine and were believed to be approaching the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Moscow – some say, under the direct orders of Josef Stalin – sent agents from the NKVD (the predecessor of the KGB/FSB) to blow up the city’s DniproHES hydroelectric dam.
The dam, which stood a few miles north of the town of Zaporizhzhia, was 760 meters long and 48 meters high. It raised the river level by almost 40 meters and made the Dnipro navigable over almost 2,000 kilometers by eliminating stretches of rapids.
The aim was to slow the Nazi advance and to deprive German forces access to the electrical power produced by the dam, as well as the large agricultural and industrial areas that existed on both sides of the Dnipro. The NKVD team used almost 20 tons of explosives to tear a 165-meter-long breach in the dam.
The destroyed dam released a tidal surge reaching ten meters in height at its peak. It washed away everything in its path, killed thousands of civilians in settlements along the Dnipro, devastating homes and villages along the coastal city strip, Khortytsia island marshes and the neighboring towns of Nikopol and Marhanets. It also killed Red Army troops and destroyed their defensive positions, as they had not been warned of the sabotage plan and, even if they had, would be totally unprepared to protect themselves from the power of the released water.
In echoes of yesterday’s attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam, Moscow disseminated information that claimed it was the Wehrmacht that had blown up the dam – they were helped in this attempted fiction by the several hundred unprepared Soviet troops who died both on the dam and downstream. The Soviets did not keep records of the death toll caused or the extent of the destruction, but based on an earlier census it is believed that as many as 100,000 Ukrainians died.
Historian Vladyslav Moroko believes that, in actual fact, the Germans had no plans to seize Zaporizhzhia at the time and had very few troops in the area. The NKVD team seem to have gone ahead anyway, afraid of being accused of failing to carry out Stalin’s orders.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/17942
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:OMFG.
Originally posted by second:
Putin's Shifting Strategy
Anders Åslund, an economist and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, said that the conflict has now entered a "new phase."
"Putin has gradually changed strategy," Åslund, who has served as an economic adviser to the governments of Russia and Ukraine, told Newsweek.
"During the first week of the war, the Russians just tried to go in and take everything. They did not bomb anything but really military targets," he said.
Russian forces then targeted Ukraine's critical infrastructure from October 2022 in retaliation for an attack on the Kerch bridge. This links the annexed Crimea peninsula to Russia. Kyiv denied responsibility.
"First, they went for the [power] grid, and then, from January, they went for the power stations. So they have gone deeper and deeper into infrastructure, in steps," said Åslund.
He drew a comparison between the dam's destruction and how Iraqi President Saddam Hussein set oil wells on fire in 1991 when he was forced out of Kuwait.
"When you have lost territory, then you destroy it," Åslund said. "I think that this is something that you do when you give up. It's not an offensive action but sour grapes. [Russia is saying], 'We have lost the apple; we are destroying as much as possible.'"
Domestic Stability
Åslund said he believes the Russian leader has become increasingly concerned about his domestic stability in Russia. There have been recent attacks by Russian anti-Putin militia groups in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.
"It's also important that these incursions into the bordering regions show that Russia cannot defend its own border. So, all of a sudden, Putin has spoken about it repeatedly, 'it's a question of our country's survival,'" Åslund said.
"They substantially changed tone from being aggressive to claiming some false victimhood, but I think that he's really concerned about domestic stability now," Åslund added.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-war-ukraine-new-phase-kakhovka-dam-floo
ding-russia-1804965
So, let's see... Russia blew up its own gas pipelines to deny Germany natgas...when it could have simply turned off the taps?
And Russia was shelling the Zaparozhiy Nuclear Power Plant even tho they were positioned there?
And Russia blew up the Kakhova Dam even tho they were in control of it, to sweep away a Ukrainian advance (that wasn't happening) ...even tho they could have simply opened the gates???
How stupid do they think we are??
How stupid are YOU, Nazi troll?
Jeez!!
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:You, 6ix, Trump, and Russian State TV announcers have got two things in common: highly articulate and stupid. You can talk yourself and your kind into believing any old thing that makes you feel superior.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
OMFG.
So, let's see... Russia blew up its own gas pipelines to deny Germany natgas...when it could have simply turned off the taps?
And Russia was shelling the Zaparozhiy Nuclear Power Plant even tho they were positioned there?
And Russia blew up the Kakhova Dam even tho they were in control of it, to sweep away a Ukrainian advance (that wasn't happening) ...even tho they could have simply opened the gates???
How stupid do they think we are??
How stupid are YOU, Nazi troll?
Jeez!!
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians will be truly murdering 2 or more Russians for every Ukrainian that dies and Russians will be falsely claiming that they have a 10 to 1 or higher advantage in the kill ratio over the Ukrainians. Time will tell who is superior, but I'm betting it is the Ukrainians because the smartest Russians have been either emigrating or being executed since 1914. Either way, those smart Russians leave their homeland, and the Russians left behind get stupider and stupider, poorer and poorer, less and less fit for life. It is Russian-style evolution in action, creating a decidedly inferior race of Slavic human beings to run Russia.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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I think YOU'RE the one who keeps going on and on about how perfect you are and how stupid "Trumptards" are and how evil and subhuman Russians are, and how they deserve to be killed, Nazi troll
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think YOU'RE the one who keeps going on and on about how perfect you are and how stupid "Trumptards" are and how evil and subhuman Russians are, and how they deserve to be killed, Nazi troll
You never answered my question comrade. Just an oversight, I’m sure. Tell me how long you have to stand online for a bag of potatoes. Are things as bad in Russia as we hear?
T
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Quote:Attacking Ukraine's Kakhovka Dam Fits Russia's Centuries' Old Pattern
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think YOU'RE the one who keeps going on and on about how perfect you are and how stupid "Trumptards" are and how evil and subhuman Russians are, and how they deserve to be killed, Nazi troll
by Christopher Atwood
All it takes is a brief review of Russian state television to understand what drives Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. Just days before the destruction of the dam, a prominent Russian propagandist called for the destruction of "every living thing" in one of Ukraine's eastern regions in order to "punish and deter" Ukrainians for resisting Russian occupation. This state news rhetoric is rooted in a colonial understanding of Russia's own national and imperial history. There is a cruel, perverse irony in a now-viral tweet from the United Nations celebrating Russian language day, which very intentionally coincides with the birthday of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. As Russian literature's most celebrated poet, Pushkin infamously derided Ukrainians as bandits and traitors in his poem Poltava. One of Ukraine's most prominent philosophers, Volodymyr Yermolenko, has argued that a direct line can be drawn from Pushkin's rhetoric to contemporary neo-imperial Russian narratives.
These narratives manifest in the genocide taking place against the Ukrainian people. According to Russian opposition media, Russian soldiers prevented Ukrainians from leaving the flooded areas near the Nova Khakhovka dam, telling civilians that "you're all going to die right here." This report follows a well-documented pattern of targeting Ukrainian civilians for destruction.
Yet this is not Russia's first attempt to destroy Ukrainian national identity. In the 1930s, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin forcibly starved to death millions of Ukrainians in a genocide known in Ukraine as the Holodomor. During that same decade, the Soviet police carried out a campaign to erase Ukraine's cultural leaders. As Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko has argued, Western countries made a grave mistake in attributing these atrocities to Communism alone. The problem was not simply the poisoned ideology of Marxism-Leninism. The problem was Russian colonial chauvinism, barely hidden beneath the guise of slogans such as "friendship of peoples."
Crucially, Ukraine stands on the front lines of not only the fight to preserve Western-style democracy, but it also stands as the most viable opposition to Russian colonialism as such. Russia has never confronted its colonial past, and its colonial chauvinism has continued to drive atrocities in Ukraine, along Russia's periphery, and in the colonized territories and republics within Russia.
Of course, this paints a bitter reality. Atrocities like the ones in Bucha, Irpin, Izium — and now the cities and villages near Nova Kakhovka — will continue until the root of the problem is addressed. The only way to end a colonial war is to win it.
Christopher Atwood is a specialist on Eastern Europe. He works at Razom for Ukraine and serves as the head of the Advisory Board at the Souspilnist Foundation. Follow him at https://twitter.com/tca1_?lang=en
https://www.newsweek.com/attacking-ukraines-kakhovka-dam-fits-russias-
centuries-old-pattern-opinion-1805110
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think YOU'RE the one who keeps going on and on about how perfect you are and how stupid "Trumptards" are and how evil and subhuman Russians are, and how they deserve to be killed, Nazi troll
SECOND: Attacking Ukraine's Kakhovka Dam Fits Russia's Centuries' Old Pattern
by Christopher Atwood
All it takes is a brief review of Russian state television to understand what drives Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. Just days before the destruction of the dam, a prominent Russian propagandist called for the destruction of "every living thing" in one of Ukraine's eastern regions in order to "punish and deter" Ukrainians for resisting Russian occupation.
Who? Links?
Besides,!"Every living thing" in what is, or was, eastern Ukraine would include an awful lot of Russian-speaking, pro-Russians.
That makes me think that this quote is bogus and the article is utter nonsense.
More bullshit from a Nazi troll.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Hey, I can post long articles, too! The difference is, this one is funny and actually points to something teal.
Quote:
First There Were Neo-Nazis, Then There Were No Nazis, Then There Were
June 6, 2023
By Patrick Lawrence / Original to ScheerPost
I tell you, serving as a New York Times correspondent these days cannot be easy. You have to convey utter nonsense to your readers while maintaining a straight face and a serious demeanor. You have to suggest the Russians may have exploded a drone over the Kremlin, that they may have blown up their own gas pipeline, that their president is an out-of-touch psychotic, that their soldiers in Ukraine are drunkards using faulty equipment, that they attack with “human hordes” (Orientalism, anyone?) and on and on—all the while affecting the gravitas once associated with the traditional “Timesman.” You try it sometime.
I am reminded of that pithy passage in Daniel Boorstin’s regrettably overlooked book, The Image. “The reporter’s task,” Boorstin wrote in 1962, “is to find a way of weaving these threads of unreality into a fabric that the reader will not recognize as entirely unreal.”
Boorstin reflected on America’s resort to imagery, illusion, and distortion as Washington geared up its gruesome follies in Vietnam. The reporter’s task is a whole lot harder now, given how much farther we have wandered into illusion and distortion since Boorstin’s day.
And now we have the case of Thomas Gibbons–Neff, a square-jawed former Marine covering the Ukraine war for The Times—strictly to the extent the Kyiv regime permits him to do so, as he explains with admirable honesty. This guy is serious times 10, he and his newspaper want us to know.
Tom’s job this week is to persuade us that all those Ukrainian soldiers wearing Nazi insignia, idolizing Jew-murdering, Russophobic collaborators with the Third Reich, gathering ritually in Nazi-inspired cabals, marching through Kyiv in Klan-like torch parades are not what you think. Nah, our Tom tells us. They look like neo–Nazis, they act like neo–Nazis, they dress like neo–Nazis, they profess Fascist and neo–Nazi ideologies, they wage this war with the Wehrmacht’s visceral hatred of Russians—O.K., but whyever would you think they are neo–Nazis?
They are just regular guys. They wear the Wolfsangel, the Schwarze sonne, the black sun, the Totenkopf, or Death’s Head—all Nazi symbols—because they are proud of themselves, and these are the kinds of things proud people wear. I was just wearing mine the other day.
The slipping and sliding starts early in “Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History,” the piece Gibbons–Neff published in Monday’s editions. He begins with three photographs of neo–Nazi Ukrainian soldiers, SS insignia plainly visible, that the Kyiv regime has posted on social media, “then quietly deleted,” since the Russian intervention began last year. “The photographs, and their deletions,” Gibbons–Neff writes, “highlight the Ukrainian military’s complicated relationship with Nazi imagery, a relationship forged under both Soviet and German occupation during World War II.”
Complicated relationship with Nazi imagery? Stop right there, Mr. Semper fi. Ukraine’s neo–Nazi problem is not about a few indiscreetly displayed images. Sorry. The Ukrainian army’s “complicated relationship” is with a century of ultra-right ideology drawn from Mussolini’s Fascism and then the German Reich. As is well-known and documented, the neo–Nazis who infest the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the AFU—among many other national institutions—have made idols of such figures as Stepan Bandera, the freakishly murderous nationalist who allied with the Nazi regime during the war.
This history is a matter of record, as briefly outlined here, but Gibbons–Neff alludes to none of it. It’s merely a matter of poor image-making, you see. In support of this offensive whitewash, Gibbons–Neff has the nerve to quote a source from none other than Bellingc
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:You, 6ix, Trump, and Russian State TV announcers have got two things in common: highly articulate
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
OMFG.
So, let's see... Russia blew up its own gas pipelines to deny Germany natgas...when it could have simply turned off the taps?
And Russia was shelling the Zaparozhiy Nuclear Power Plant even tho they were positioned there?
And Russia blew up the Kakhova Dam even tho they were in control of it, to sweep away a Ukrainian advance (that wasn't happening) ...even tho they could have simply opened the gates???
How stupid do they think we are??
How stupid are YOU, Nazi troll?
Jeez!!
Don't be salty that the only articulate posts you've ever made here were the ones that you plagiarized word for word.
You're nearly as stupid as Ted. You get bonus points for knowing how to steal and cheat to make yourself look smarter.
And say what you will about Ted and his low IQ, but I don't think he'd be the type to steal and cheat like you do everyday... So maybe you're both around the same intelligence level, but only one of you is a sociopath.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Russian authorities continue to restrict international travel for those eligible for military service. The Russian Federation Council approved a law on June 7 that clarifies rules on declaring Russian passports invalid and introduces travel restrictions on certain categories of citizens.[62] The law holds that the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs can essentially take passports for “storage" (confiscate them) for citizens who are restricted from leaving Russia due to conscription for military service or alternative civilian service.[63] Such legislative manipulations are likely aimed at maintaining a force generation pool and preventing Russians from fleeing abroad to avoid military service.
Russian milbloggers criticized the Russian MoD for falsely claiming that Russian troops destroyed a Leopard tank in Ukraine. The Russian MoD posted footage June 6 that claims to show a Russian strike destroying a Leopard tank.[68] Russian milbloggers were quick to notice, however, that closer examination of the footage shows that the object resembles a piece of agricultural equipment and suggested that Russian forces actually destroyed a John Deere tractor.[69] Several Russian milbloggers criticized the MoD for posting the footage and urged Russian military authorities to vet their public posts more carefully.[70] Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin sardonically congratulated the Russian MoD for a “job well done” in reference to the tractor.[71]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-7-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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In blowing up the dam, Russia committed a war crime
by Andreas Kluth
In a way, this says it all: Just as the Ukrainians are finally launching their long-expected counteroffensive against the Russian invaders, the latter preempt the former with another war crime. They appear to have blown up a huge dam that blocks the Dnipro - the Ukrainians are certainly blaming the Russians, and it's hardly plausible that the Ukrainians did it.
The floodwaters will deluge several villages and maybe a city. The attack will probably also put a hydroelectric power plant out of commission. It may even compromise the cooling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant just up the river.
Is this fair game? There are different ways to answer this question, none of them satisfying. You can start with the inner logic or illogic of warfare, the long history of such tactics, or international law. But however you choose to look at these Russian detonators, they're hardly comparable to Britain's Dambusters of 1943.
Those Dambusters — in what was called Operation Chastise, later heroized on the big screen — were fighting a world war against the Third Reich, which had started the conflict by invading much of the continent. So the British tried to take out dams on rivers in Germany's prime industrial area, and factories that powered the Nazi war machine. More than a thousand civilians were killed, whereas the strategic value of Chastise is still debated. Morally and legally, however, the operation can be justified in the context of the war being waged at that time.
Especially in places defined by rivers, like Ukraine and its Dnipro, the manipulation of floodwaters has always been popular as a tactic. In Mesopotamia (the land "between rivers"), Cyrus the Great took Babylon in one night by diverting the Euphrates. Seventeen centuries later, the Mongol conqueror Hulagu used the floodwaters of the Tigris for victory there. More than seven centuries hence again, in the 1980s, the Iranians bombed Iraqi dams. The most recent to target them was the Islamic State.
The worst modern dam attack was launched by the defending side in its own country. In 1938, Chinese nationalists fighting Japanese invaders blew up the dikes holding back the Yellow River. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died, either by drowning or losing drinking water and shelter. The breach slowed the Japanese advance, but didn't stop it.
On it goes, with almost every major belligerent using the tactic at some point or another - the Americans bombed dams in North Korea and North Vietnam, for instance, and again in Syria in 2017. As a weapon, water is both obvious and frightening.
But is it ethical, or even legal? As ever when lawyers are involved, that question leads to frustrating quagmires of fine print. The oldest answers come from so-called customary international law, which derives from established practices among states rather than the written words in treaties. It acknowledges that bombing dams may be fair game (as in the case of Operation Chastise, in my opinion) when the targets have military importance, as long as the consequences for civilians are "proportionate."
The first international treaties dealing with attacks on dams were the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977. They stipulate that "dams, dikes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population." (Emphasis added.)
Note the telling conflation of floodwater and nuclear radiation in the protocol. These two hell scenarios have much in common, in that a belligerent can take out a target with ambiguous military relevance — the dam on the Dnipro or the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — and kill, harm and terrorize vast numbers of civilians in the vicinity. In that sense, dams and nuclear stations make perfect targets for the least scrupul
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How can you POSSIBKY keep thumping such ridiculous lies, Nazi troll?
Yanno, you're like good Berliner Nazis at the end of WWII: They firmly believed that some wunderwaffe would defend them. LOSUNG THE WAR TO RUSSIA CAME AS A VAST SURPRISE.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:After peace was declared in WWII, Russians continued to kill German civilians by the millions, but at a slower pace with more torture. According to Russians, nobody died. Which history is more persuasive?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
How can you POSSIBKY keep thumping such ridiculous lies, Nazi troll?
Yanno, you're like good Berliner Nazis at the end of WWII: They firmly believed that some wunderwaffe would defend them. LOSUNG THE WAR TO RUSSIA CAME AS A VAST SURPRISE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944%E2
%80%931950)#Legacy_of_the_expulsions
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-expulsions-film/film-depict
ing-germans-as-ww2-victims-fires-debate-idUSL0515685120070305
https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/poland-post-wwii-as
saults-on-minorities/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russian Soldiers Complain That 'Entire Regiments' Are Being Wiped Out
By Isabel van Brugen On 6/8/23 at 10:56 AM EDT
The Russian soldiers said poor leadership and a lack of reinforcements and equipment are to blame for high casualty numbers.
"We are ready to defend our homeland, but with proper supplies," the unit said. "And to be taken prisoner without arms or with no possibility to counteract is not defending the homeland. On behalf of the 1009th regiment we ask you to look into this serious problem and make decisions as soon as possible."
An unverified video has also circulated on Russian and Ukrainian social media channels, purportedly showing a Russian soldier from the 138th Brigade posted in the Belgorod region. In the video, the solider said his unit lost 80 percent of its personnel and that he and his fellow soldiers were "forced to retreat without permission and without reinforcements."
"After some time, the same situation occurred with two other groups [units]. They mowed down entire regiments of our men," the soldier said.
Who is attacking the Russian soldiers? Not Ukrainians but two Russian rebel groups—the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC)—entered Belgorod last week, and intense fighting has been ongoing since. The Legion is made up of defectors from the Russian armed forces and Russian and Belarusian volunteers, and the RVC says its members include Russians fighting on Ukraine's side and against the Kremlin regime.
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-soldiers-belgorod-freedom-russia-legi
on-volunteer-corps-ukraine-war-1805354
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
How can you POSSIBKY keep thumping such ridiculous lies, Nazi troll?
Yanno, you're like good Berliner Nazis at the end of WWII: They firmly believed that some wunderwaffe would defend them. LOSUNG THE WAR TO RUSSIA CAME AS A VAST SURPRISE.
Comrade, oh no comrade, the Russian lines have broken.
T
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THREE-PLUS HOURS?!?!
R U KIDDING???
Some of us have a life to live, dood!
If you want to get a PRO-UKIE summary from a pro-Ukrainian Belorussian, WITH MAPS, go to YouTube Military Summary Channel.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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The great counteroffensive gets caught up in minefields...
Quote:
So, as you can see. The enemy approached the minefields in the ‘no man’s land’ between the two armies south of Orekhov. They rode in vehicles with headlights off, counting on their fancy NATO ‘nightvision’. They began to clear mines with trawls and with the UR-77 ‘Snake Gorynch’ mine clearer. However, many of them still appeared to hit mines anyway at one point or another.
Russian analyst Yuriy Podolyaka gives further details:
Yuriy Podolyaka: "The Armed Forces of Ukraine could not clear the fields, they are forced to go through narrow corridors. There are shots of a cluster of tanks: one is hit, and the rest are afraid to bypass it, run into mines. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are compressed, our artillery and aviation are working. All night long, our night hunters worked as a carousel, shooting a lot of enemy equipment.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/offensive-confirmed-afu-strikes-ha
rd
Well, tomorrow is another day. Let's see what it brings.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Russian sources provided explanations for claimed Russian successes during the June 8 attacks, praising Russian forces’ effective use of electronic warfare (EW) systems, air support, and landmines against Ukrainian forces. Multiple Russian sources reported that Russian EW severely interfered with Ukrainian command and control signals, GPS-enabled devices, UAV controls.[12] Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces had insufficient air defense in the Orikhiv sector, that Russian forces operated with an “unprecedented” amount of rotary wing air support, and that Russian aviation was able to return to a high level of activity after not actively engaging in combat operations since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022.[13] Continuous Russian missile and drone attacks against Kyiv and critical Ukrainian infrastructure may have fixed Ukraine’s more advanced air defense systems away from the frontline, although ISW cannot assess which systems would be effective against the kinds of air support missions Russian aircraft were flying. ISW’s previous assessments that Russian air and missile attacks were not setting conditions to defend against the Ukrainian counter-offensive may thus have been inaccurate. Russian sources also praised at length their claimed defensive success using layered field fortifications and landmines, with Major General Popov stating that Russian minefields played a “very important role” in defeating the initial Ukrainian advance in the early hours of June 8.[14] CNN additionally reported that an anonymous US official said that Russian landmines degraded Ukrainian armored vehicles.[15]
Russian forces appear to have executed their formal tactical defensive doctrine in response to the Ukrainian attacks southwest of Orikhiv. Russian doctrine for a defending motorized rifle battalion calls for a first echelon of troops to repel or slow attacking forces with minefields, fortifications, and strongpoints, with a second echelon of forces counterattacking against an enemy breakthrough.[16] Russian forces apparently operated in this fashion in this sector – Ukrainian forces penetrated the initial defensive lines; Russian forces pulled back to a second line of fortifications; and Russian reserves subsequently counterattacked to retake the initial line of defenses.[17] This maneuver is a regular feature of defensive operations and has been executed by both Ukrainian and Russian forces throughout the war. Early control of terrain changes day to day should thus not be misconstrued as the overall result of a wider attack.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-8-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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