Русский корабль - иди нахуй

[F250 28775]

13 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

Been thinking about alternatives to any NATO countries doing airstrikes and I got to thinking, what's stopping the Israeli's from flying a sortie or 20?  Russians did just rocket attack (albeit somewhat on accident) a major holocaust memorial.  They aren't NATO, but are flying USA made equipment, but legally operate independently from us.  Combine that with at least a significant cultural tie to Ukraine.  Additionally, I think Russia would be unlikely to engage outside of the combat zone as an attack on Israel would be an attack on the US via treaty.  Of course that all presumes that the Israeli's would be interested in such a move.  Bottom line the Ukrainians just need a few well done sorties and the entire tenor of this changes.  

 

[BamaATL 16593]

1 minute ago, F250 said:

It may not be a great idea, spitballing ideas, but can you tell me why this isn't feasible?  

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

Ukraine should do like the Republic of Texas and promise land and a pension for any foreign nationals who choose to come fight for them.

[Hermanator 7050]

8 minutes ago, TexasEd said:

I am convinced that some of those abandoned Russian vehicles and uniforms in Ukraine are the infiltration forces sent in to blend into the local population, sabotage, recon, and hunt for high value targets.

 

 

Other than accent there is no way to discern between some Russians and some eastern Ukrainians. If they felt they needed to abandon millions in operational equipment just to blend in they're the stupidest army on the globe. Even aggy fake army isn't that stupid. 

I think a lot of them  fed up with how poorly they're supported and led and have just said fuck it is far more likely. 

[Hermanator 7050]

2 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

Other than accent there is no way to discern between some Russians and some eastern Ukrainians. If they felt they needed to abandon millions in operational equipment just to blend in they're the stupidest army on the globe. Even aggy fake army isn't that stupid. 

I think a lot of them  fed up with how poorly they're supported and led and have just said fuck it is far more likely. 

Or it's a trap and as soon as the Ukrainians get the equipment back to their home base a ton of Russian elite attack midgets jump out and start slashing Achilles tendons

[Hairy Biped 586]

2 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

Or it's a trap and as soon as the Ukrainians get the equipment back to their home base a ton of Russian elite attack midgets jump out and start slashing Achilles tendons

Seen it a million times.

[F250 28775]

Just now, BamaATL said:

It may not be a great idea, spitballing ideas, but can you tell me why this isn't feasible?  

Israel is the guy that you don't invite to the party because a fight will breakout. They are currently working with Russia and against Iran in Syria. If Israel sided against Russia it would definitely destabilize Middle Eastern affairs. 

[texastough 1129]

It seems like Ukraine is running a brilliant PR campaign to rally both its own people and international support. If everything we are seeing is to be believed:

-- Russia's wins or gains boil down to taking territory mostly unopposed, shooting down a few Ukrainian aircraft, some missile hits on strategic targets in Ukraine, some Spetznaz wins on certain installations. They've taken a few towns or cities but then lost them again. They've shelled civilian areas in cities. They've fired up a few prohibited weapons.

-- Ukraine has seemingly won every close range engagement. It has shot down a number of Russian aircraft and even attacked aircraft bases on Russian and/or Belarusian soil. It seems Ukraine is often allowing the Russian front to pass, and then destroying supply chains. It has stopped Russian advances in many areas and maintains control of key cities despite heavy bombardment. Russia's casualties appear to be more than 5 times greater than Ukraine's. 

-- Russia seems to be on a serious budget, with limited numbers of the really scary weapons/missiles, and much of its armaments outdated. Most Russian forces are green, ill trained and ill equipped. Failed to gain air superiority.

-- Ukraine is getting the good stuff (armaments) that is perfectly suited for this kind of warfare. Ukraine has built a real functioning military, likely receiving a lot of training from ex special forces type military contractors and perhaps allied forces. Lots of foreigners with combat experience joining the cause. Ukraine civilians taking up arms. Its military plus fighting age citizenry vastly outnumber the Russians.

-- Russian morale is nonexistent, with many conscripts getting lost, surrendering, deserting, running out of food and fuel, abandoning equipment, very shaky communications with chain of command, no real plan. 

-- In contrast, Ukrainians are dragging their nuts all over the Russians, changing street signs to tell the Russians to fuck off, music videos with St Javelin and Baryaktar etc., "I feel so bad, its like a video game, the Russians keep coming and I keep killing them." Etc. Clearly Ukrainian morale is through the roof and they're metal as fuuuck. (I can see why, just watched "Winter on Fire.") They have some super hot women too. 

-- Ukraine has an ENORMOUS advantage in intel. I don't think this can be overstated. Most of the Russian army seems to be sticking to the playbook that was drawn up months ago, and many of them are getting blown up. The Ukrainians can not only see Russian movements in near real time, but apparently can pick up their comms as well. 

-- Ukraine of course has the advantage of knowing their own terrain, has been making preparations, can pick and choose where and when to engage

-- Ukraine has been playing up the civilian casualty angle and the war crimes angle

I really cannot wait to see how close to the truth this ^^^ story is. But, Putin's aggression based on the most transparent of pretenses along with Ukraine's valiant fight as the hero underdog defending its homeland has turned the civilized entire world (Venzuela, N.K., and a few others are not part of the civilized world) against Putin and they have imposed crushing sanctions and are cutting off ALL ties of any form with Russia.

One of the stories of this war will be the use or manipulation of the info sphere. For the sake of discussion, lets say the above is accurate. If so, I don't see how Ukraine does not rout Russia in a matter of days.  Russia has now committed virtually all of its forces, and they have generally bogged down and stopped moving. With Ukraine's intel it can identify where Russia poses the biggest threat -- its Spetznaz and scarier weapons. Ukraine forms kill squads to take out those threats, blow up the cluster bomb and thermobaric launchers, artillery, etc. Ukraine blocks supply chains. Russian conscripts are hungry and don't want to fight, so the Ukrainians round them up. War over. 

Then, I fully expect Putin, seeing no way out of this war and knowing he cannot remain in power, to try to launch nukes. But my prediction is that through either the refusal of subordinates to follow that order, or malfunctioning Russian nuke systems, we all live until the next pandemic.

I know Putin has no honor in any recognizable sense, but the only honorable way out for him is suicide. 

[BamaATL 16593]

8 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

It may not be a great idea, spitballing ideas, but can you tell me why this isn't feasible?  

I'm an idiot, this is the Larry David being wrong about everything commercial.  My bad.  Good joke.

[Nicole44 22060]

Oh and btw I am not the only Zelenskyy fan...he has legions of them. He has not tweeted for nearly 12 hours which concerns, I don't know, millions of us following his tweets. Comedian turned actor turned politician turned leader turned hero. Meanwhile a certain actor named Sean Penn hitchhiked his way to Poland accomplishing nothing. 

[BamaATL 16593]

2 minutes ago, F250 said:

Israel is the guy that you don't invite to the party because a fight will breakout. They are currently working with Russia and against Iran in Syria. If Israel sided against Russia it would definitely destabilize Middle Eastern affairs. 

Fair Point, but the idea that Middle the East is stable is laughable in its own right.  The collective being against Iran would be a deal breaker for the Israeli's makes sense.  

[SL Xpress 7513]

6 minutes ago, F250 said:

Israel is the guy that you don't invite to the party because a fight will breakout. They are currently working with Russia and against Iran in Syria. If Israel sided against Russia it would definitely destabilize Middle Eastern affairs. 

Hahahaha! He said destabilize Middle Eastern affairs. Hahahaha!

[Nicole44 22060]

I don't know if that convoy is stalling or waiting for the other group to join. I can say this...huge war crimes being committed for what? 

[BamaATL 16593]

13 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Oh and btw I am not the only Zelenskyy fan...he has legions of them. He has not tweeted for nearly 12 hours which concerns, I don't know, millions of us following his tweets. Comedian turned actor turned politician turned leader turned hero. Meanwhile a certain actor named Sean Penn hitchhiked his way to Poland accomplishing nothing. 

Look, I am not a fan of Sean Penn, I think he's been on the wrong side of a lot of things.  That having been said, I do give him credit for going to places that a lot of others wouldn't and trying to see a story.  When he tries to spin it a certain way is when he runs into trouble.  That having been said, I'm not going to begrudge the guy for at least giving an effort.  It's what happens after he gives the effort that questionable at best.  

[Nicole44 22060]

5 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

Look, I am not a fan of Sean Penn, I think he's been on the wrong side of a lot of things.  That having been said, I do give him credit for going to places that a lot of others wouldn't and trying to see a story.  When he tries to spin it a certain way is when he runs into trouble.  That having been said, I'm not going to begrudge the guy for at least giving an effort.  It's what happens after he gives the effort that questionable at best.  

Not trying to derail a brilliant thread by a brilliant poster but while I do appreciate his "attempt" fucker did the same thing during Katrina with a shotgun on his back and shot a hole in his boat and had to be rescued. He doesn't have ultimately what it takes to be a reporter on the lines of battle. Say what everyone wants to say about a reporter for any news station they do not agree with but they are in danger and reporting. He crapped out immediately. he got a lot of accolades for going to Iraq and filming what he did. I will always think of him as a great actor though. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Nicole44

[F250 28775]

18 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

Fair Point, but the idea that Middle the East is stable is laughable in its own right.  The collective being against Iran would be a deal breaker for the Israeli's makes sense.  

Obviously it's unstable but the world doesn't need a fire turned into a grease fire with Israel involved at the moment.

 

 

[RPM 26321]

Pretty sure this is live, CNN is interviewing Zelensky.

[HeHateMe 885]

4 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Not trying to derail a brilliant thread by a brilliant poster but while I do appreciate his "attempt" fucker did the same thing during Katrina with a shotgun on his back and shot a hole in his boat and had to be rescued. He doesn't have ultimately what it takes to be a reporter on the lines of battle. Say what everyone wants to say about a reporter for any news station they do not agree with but they are in danger and reporting. He crapped out immediately. he got a lot of accolades for going to Iraq and filming what he did. I will always think of him as a great actor though. 

Sean Penn should stick to acting.  Now if he were to start pumping bullets into Russians, or Javelins into armored vehicles, my personal opinion of him might change.  Until that happens, he remains a great actor who is also an attention seeking self absorbed douche bag.  YMMV

[BamaATL 16593]

7 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

I don't know if that convoy is stalling or waiting for the other group to join. I can say this...huge war crimes being committed for what? 

One man's ego, basically.  Putin is like an NFL owner, the worst kind, think Jerry Jones or Arthur Blank; I'll focus on the latter because its closer to me.  It's not enough to him that he's made it and has an NFL team, now he needs to build a stadium with Zeus's butthole for a roof as a testament to his own ego.  Never mind the fact that we have a perfectly good stadium.  He justifies his actions via murky bullshit, in this case a non existent boost the economic and gets local taxpayers to foot at least some the bill.  Meanwhile he sets the whole deal up to really only help himself.  People are stupid and we go for it.  Meanwhile he doubles his worth while the people are left making 4% per year against their own bonds and using the peoples credit (i.e. bond ratings) vs his profit margin.  

Putin's this guy, except he's doing it on a national level (i.e. invading countries) with huge financial risk for his people, but he's hedged financial risk for himself.  In this case he has thus far badly missed, and there are other factors at play, but at least until the blow back he's always felt like he was too insulated to really get hurt financially.  He just thought he'd be getting his stadium with Zeus's butthole, metaphorically anyway.  

[Pods 7552]

Sean Penn talk not going away. 

[Nicole44 22060]

4 minutes ago, Pods said:

Sean Penn talk not going away. 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

3 hours ago, BachelorTrek said:

 

Never weaponize mean girls. That's Geneva convention level stuff.

[BamaATL 16593]

6 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Never weaponize mean girls. That's Geneva convention level stuff.

Good grief, this group of photo propaganda needs to stop.  I can hire a few models out of Atlanta, head up to the foothills, get some camo at an Army surplus store in Marietta and get these same types of photos for a total of 5k.  Hot girls sell, quit being stupid folks.  

[Nicole44 22060]

For some reason I felt compelled to watch Rouge One tonight. 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

2 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

She is a badass. One of many badasses. 

Brass ovaries are real.

[BamaATL 16593]

Just now, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Brass ovaries are real.

A real public servant.  Doing her job and then some. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

5 hours ago, Grade of D as in David said:

So you hooked him up with the gig?

If the worst passes, this young man will have died doing what he loved.  I watched the alpinist this weekend and it really drove that point home and how much luckier they are than 99 percent of people who ever lived.

 

No, sorry I was unclear. My son's old army buddy -- by old, I mean they served together and both got out last year -- is hooked up with some kind of ad hoc American Foreign Legion and is headed over there. He's made the decision. He wants me to hook their unit up with an embedded journalist, who would then be my responsibility in my own mind. 

I agree about the doing what he loved part but I dread having to deal with parents and loved ones and also the load on myself....This is why recruiters have such a high rate of suicide, I believe. They really do build a rapport with they kids they enlist, even if a significant amount of what they tell them is bullshit. 

[Nicole44 22060]

3 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Brass ovaries are real.

She was interviewed on two networks that I saw and she is committed. 

[elfenix 34240]

 

[SL Xpress 7513]

3 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

I agree about the doing what he loved part but I dread having to deal with parents and loved ones and also the load on myself....This is why recruiters have such a high rate of suicide, I believe. They really do build a rapport with they kids they enlist, even if a significant amount of what they tell them is bullshit. 

I don't think that's why. Recruiters have always had a higher rate of suicide than other ratings, even when the US wasn't in combat. One of my closest friends killed himself a couple of days before he was going to be named recruiter of the year for the entire US Navy a few years ago. Went out, bought a gun, and shot himself in the head. There are just a lot of pressures associated with the job. You're basically assigned a relatively high pressure sales job, with quotas, talking kids in high school into a multi year commitment (he was an officer recruiter for his last year, so it was much different), with an extraordinary lack of authenticity in many ways. Oh, and no sales training whatsoever. Just the typical "do this this or this and we're going to buttfuck you, but you better make sure you get the job done." And no real way to quit without completely fucking up your career.

But that's the military. I'm not actually complaining. It is what it is. I do miss him a lot, though. 

[immamac 42850]

2 hours ago, XYZ said:

I don’t believe you.

There has been like 1 successful ICBM intercept ever and we basically cheated. At best we have a 5% chance and only 100 ABMs. 

2 hours ago, BachelorTrek said:

Here you go!

I don’t speak Ukrainian/Russian but I assume it says something about Russia fucking itself. Can someone actually translate? 

1 hour ago, Hermanator said:

That sounds completely made up

It is in fact not made up. He posted pics on twitter. 

[956 Worldwide 34715]

Sberbank is exiting Europe. In the Czech Republic it was the tenth largest consumer bank (not significant in a small nation). But, it had attracted business from some government entities and businesses for its good interest rates.  Yesterday they limited people to withdrawing 46 dollars a day equivalent and no online transactions.

I feel a longcat post brewing about the flawed assumptions behind “trade makes peace more likely/as people get more prosperous they will want more rights and democracy.”

For now: aggressive regimes view trade and business as another theater of operations, democracies have a harder time accepting short term pain outside of crisis moments.  Time to start seriously decoupling from China in strategic sectors.

[Shady Ray 1633]

 

French media now confirming this, as well. 

 

This is a big one, as control of Kherson is critical to Russia's apparent plans in the southern front. It gives them control of the Dnieper estuary at the Black Sea and positioning for continued movement towards Odesa.

 

Given that Mariupol is now surrounded - and that IMO Mariupol will be the place where the Russians go absolutely ape given that it is defended by Azov and has huge propaganda value given its history in the 2015 conflict - this shows that for all the difficulties that the Russians are having in the north, they are fighting much more effectively in the south. Ukraine's future Black Sea access is starting to look very tenuous.

[Nicole44 22060]

 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

4 hours ago, heso said:

Hard to trust a map that spelled Pittsburgh wrong. 

Also one that has a nuke headed to LaGrange and two headed for Natchez MS, but none aimed at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

2 hours ago, Rip76 said:

The world has been backward since Neil Peart died in January of 2020.

Nope, it all went to shit because of that snitch Mike Fiers.

[BachelorTrek 2976]

4 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

For some reason I felt compelled to watch Rouge One tonight. 

[Shady Ray 1633]

1 minute ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I feel a longcat post brewing about the flawed assumptions behind “trade makes peace more likely/as people get more prosperous they will want more rights and democracy.”

[BachelorTrek 2976]

2 minutes ago, immamac said:

There has been like 1 successful ICBM intercept ever and we basically cheated. At best we have a 5% chance and only 100 ABMs. 

I don’t speak Ukrainian/Russian but I assume it says something about Russia fucking itself. Can someone actually translate? 

It is in fact not made up. He posted pics on twitter. 

Look at the Topic of this thread (as it is now) and now look at the sign.  I can't speak any of it neither.

[SL Xpress 7513]

I know this is so far astray from the thread, but how do you propose decoupling from China? As much as I wasn't a fan of Trump, that's actually a subject he and his advisers were on point about as far as I'm concerned. The level of political will that would take at various levels of society is daunting without a catastrophe involving China to point to. Not to mention the consequences. People would have to accept a lower standard of living at a time when the bottom half of the country already lives paycheck to paycheck. And that's in best case scenarios.

[immamac 42850]

2 minutes ago, BachelorTrek said:

Look at the Topic of this thread (as it is now) and now look at the sign.  I can't speak any of it neither.

Well yeah. I set the topic, so I know it says something about Russia going to fuck itself. 

[956 Worldwide 34715]

3 minutes ago, Shady Ray said:

 

French media now confirming this, as well. 

 

This is a big one, as control of Kherson is critical to Russia's apparent plans in the southern front. It gives them control of the Dnieper estuary at the Black Sea and positioning for continued movement towards Odesa.

 

Given that Mariupol is now surrounded - and that IMO Mariupol will be the place where the Russians go absolutely ape given that it is defended by Azov and has huge propaganda value given its history in the 2015 conflict - this shows that for all the difficulties that the Russians are having in the north, they are fighting much more effectively in the south. Ukraine's future Black Sea access is starting to look very tenuous.

Mariupol will be a bloodbath. Posted that earlier. An angry, fortified city stuffed to the gills with angry people and angry Russians who actually might have some neo-Nazi types to fight against. 

[immamac 42850]

Just now, SL Xpress said:

I know this is so far astray from the thread, but how do you propose decoupling from China? As much as I wasn't a fan of Trump, that's actually a subject he and his advisers were on point about as far as I'm concerned. The level of political will that would take at various levels of society is daunting without a catastrophe involving China to point to. Not to mention the consequences. People would have to accept a lower standard of living at a time when the bottom half of the country already lives paycheck to paycheck. And that's in best case scenarios.

Give bottom half of the country jobs that China currently has and move the shit work to Central America instead of China? 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

2 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Mariupol will be a bloodbath. Posted that earlier. An angry, fortified city stuffed to the gills with angry people and angry Russians who actually might have some neo-Nazi types to fight against. 

Well maybe in this little theater of this conflict we can enjoy it as an Aggie-Sooner contest with tons of season-ending injuries on both sides. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by MaybeACoordinator

[BachelorTrek 2976]

2 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Mariupol will be a bloodbath. Posted that earlier. An angry, fortified city stuffed to the gills with angry people and angry Russians who actually might have some neo-Nazi types to fight against. 

Mariupol is also the first city my Ukrainian friend was worried about how ugly the fighting would get, before this war started.

[956 Worldwide 34715]

1 minute ago, SL Xpress said:

I know this is so far astray from the thread, but how do you propose decoupling from China? As much as I wasn't a fan of Trump, that's actually a subject he and his advisers were on point about as far as I'm concerned. The level of political will that would take at various levels of society is daunting without a catastrophe involving China to point to. Not to mention the consequences. People would have to accept a lower standard of living at a time when the bottom half of the country already lives paycheck to paycheck. And that's in best case scenarios.

Could get into it but it’s more of a frog boiling than setting shit on fire. Start with strategic segments like coms and finding other rare earth sources  (already doing in some cases), offer sticks and carrots not to start new investments. Begin placing hurdles in place that will be annoying and bothersome, like verifications of no forced labor or human rights violations involved in producing. Tougher export controls on tech and greater scrutiny of research cooperation. Stuff like that. 

[SL Xpress 7513]

Just now, immamac said:

Give bottom half of the country jobs that China currently has and move the shit work to Central America instead of China? 

Just snap a finger? Wave a magic wand? You think those jobs pay well? Frankly, I agree with you to a certain extent, but it's not exactly something that can be readily implemented in a market based economy. We've hollowed ourselves out as a country since the 80s. Supply chains take an extraordinary amount of effort and capital to set up. We're not geared for that. Our investment structure at this juncture is geared towards looking for the home run by financing 1000s of startups. Or else participating in arbitrage activity on various levels with a variety of financial instruments. None of that speaks well to what your prescribing.

[BachelorTrek 2976]

2 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Could get into it but it’s more of a frog boiling than setting shit on fire. Start with strategic segments like coms and finding other rare earth sources  (already doing in some cases), offer sticks and carrots not to start new investments. Begin placing hurdles in place that will be annoying and bothersome, like verifications of no forced labor or human rights violations involved in producing. Tougher export controls on tech and greater scrutiny of research cooperation. Stuff like that. 

There are rare earths in West Texas. 

The problem is that the assay has just begun there, and it's not on a huge scale to have that completed at that current rate, but that could change.

[SL Xpress 7513]

3 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Could get into it but it’s more of a frog boiling than setting shit on fire. Start with strategic segments like coms and finding other rare earth sources  (already doing in some cases), offer sticks and carrots not to start new investments. Begin placing hurdles in place that will be annoying and bothersome, like verifications of no forced labor or human rights violations involved in producing. Tougher export controls on tech and greater scrutiny of research cooperation. Stuff like that. 

The problem is, it's not that easy, and you know it. Nuanced moves aren't going to move the needle in terms of decoupling, when every market force in the world screams more interaction. It's like suggesting people shouldn't do drugs in an effort to curtail the cartels.

Nobody wants to cut off the cheap goods, and nobody wants to cut off the capital flows from all those dollars Americans are spending on Chinese products returning. The best solution is to be able to sell more to the Chinese, but just like the Japanese, the Koreans, and the Germans, they're all predatory economic engines predicated on export led economic growth. Well, to have that someone has to import their goods. The US has been the global leader in importing goods for 40 years, and our current account deficit year after year shows it.

A decoupling requires a seismic shift in how Americans manage their economy in ways that would be excruciatingly painful to enact, in a political climate that's more polarized than its ever been. 

Again, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying it's going to take the economic equivalent of Sputnik or crossing some kind of line in the sand militarily to make it happen. 

[SL Xpress 7513]

7 minutes ago, BachelorTrek said:

There are rare earths in West Texas. 

The problem is that the assay has just begun there, and it's not on a huge scale to have that completed at that current rate, but that could change.

There are rare earths on asteroids, too. Not that we're anywhere close to that being feasible, but it'd be great if it was.

[Nicole44 22060]

And on the 7th day...of fighting. GIVE THESE FIGHTERS WEAPONS!!!!