Русский корабль - иди нахуй

[Parliament 14133]

9 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I remember reading something a while back that the best thing to do would be to take a cohort of young pilots right out of basic flight school and send them to the west to learn on western jets from the beginning rather than take a bunch of seasoned MiG pilots and try to teach them to fly western jets. I don’t know if that ever happened, but it made sense. 

Holy shit Top Gun 3 is gonna happen!

[Bevo 13526]

17 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Holy shit Top Gun 3 is gonna happen!

It all hinges on Penny Benjamin.

[Schulz2.0 28768]

 

[Auto Driller 2504]

41 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

The WH has denied. This reeks of a Russian info op.  First, because Russia would have taken the deal if it was true. “The Americans tried to surrender but Ukraine refused and we know we will win anyway?”

That shit was written in the Kremlin.

Where did you see the denial? I believe you, just want more details.

[Dahobbs 17444]

5 minutes ago, Auto Driller said:

Where did you see the denial? I believe you, just want more details.

https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-joe-biden-cia-ukraine-territory-putin-1778611

Quote

 

The White House has denied a report that CIA Director William Burns offered Russian President Vladimir Putin one-fifth of Ukraine's territory to end the ongoing war as part of a peace plan drawn up on behalf of President Joe Biden.

Sean Davitt, the deputy spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, told Newsweek that a report from the Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) is "not accurate," and that the CIA would say the same.

* * *

A CIA official told Newsweek that claims in the NZZ report that Burns took a secret trip to Moscow in January and that there was a peace proposal put forward by the director on behalf of the White House were "completely false."

 

Newsweek seems to be the only semi-major news outlet that has picked this up. That suggests to me that responsible outlets are having difficulty verifying anything from the original story. 

Malcolm Nance doesn't like it. 

 

 

[tokamak 6352]

Isn’t Newsweek basically the Sports Illustrated of news now? Basically, a bullshit blog run by businesspeople trading under a formerly reputable name?

 

Edit: I guess I'm showing my age by calling it a "blog". "Content farm" is probably more appropriate in the parlance of our times.

Edited February 3, 2023 by tokamak

[SydneyCarton 47874]

20 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Isn’t Newsweek basically the Sports Illustrated of news now? Basically, a bullshit blog run by businesspeople trading under a formerly reputable name?

Yes. https://dianeravitch.net/2020/10/25/the-new-republic-newsweek-has-turned-into-a-zombie-magazine/

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

21 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Isn’t Newsweek basically the Sports Illustrated of news now? Basically, a bullshit blog run by businesspeople trading under a formerly reputable name?

Yeah.  I have some recollection of that. 

[Dahobbs 17444]

21 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Isn’t Newsweek basically the Sports Illustrated of news now? Basically, a bullshit blog run by businesspeople trading under a formerly reputable name?

Yes, that is basically correct. And one of the co-owners pled guilty to fraud and money-laundering. 

[Captainant 27447]

33 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-joe-biden-cia-ukraine-territory-putin-1778611

Newsweek seems to be the only semi-major news outlet that has picked this up. That suggests to me that responsible outlets are having difficulty verifying anything from the original story. 

Malcolm Nance doesn't like it. 

 

 

Man, I was hoping after 2021 that we'd be done with the practice of putting out a lie just to get incredulous news publications to repeat it for you. I'm real tired of russia busting that out on us and it working so fantastically well

[Schulz2.0 28768]

 

 

[Chad Fuck 17564]

10 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

 

 

Seems like big picture here is Russia is clearly trying to draw Ukraine into a relatively stable lines attritional battle WWI style, before all those western tanks arrive, the ground dries up, and the Ukes can move to combined arms moving warfare offensive WWII style.  Methinks it may be a close shave.   

[956 Worldwide 34428]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Man, I was hoping after 2021 that we'd be done with the practice of putting out a lie just to get incredulous news publications to repeat it for you. I'm real tired of russia busting that out on us and it working so fantastically well

This one was so blatant. Why is a Swiss paper breaking news from unnamed high-ranking Germans? Why would we ever go to Moscow with a plan before getting Kyiv on board? 

[Parliament 14133]

6 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

71 year old mortar operator. Volunteered when he was 65 years of age to fight in the Donbas region. Call sign "Granddad" because of course it is. A colorful and highly entertaining interview. Credits his health to climbing mountains when he was younger. Dad was a Soviet Army Officer. Grew up in Soviet barracks. Loves using the PKM (the Pokemon) but doesn't get as many opportunities any more as a mortar man. 

Translation by Dmitri (two parts):

 

Never trust an old man, working in a young man's occupation.

[SquishMitten 10400]

14 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

More Leopard 1s sitting around a warehouse in Belgium. A little bit of a crazy story. Dude bought Belgium's stock of Leopard 1s back in 2014 for tens of thousands of euros apiece, and now during a war is trying to sell them for $500,000 apiece, and the somewhat hot but slightly unrealistic Belgium defense minister is saying he's being an opportunist. Uh, yeah. That's exactly what he's doing. 

And that's exactly what Belgium did when they sold all those tanks because, as she stated, "they were no longer working." The gubmint made a profit on something that they would've otherwise trashed because someone had the desire to buy them. Same exact thing now, except there are a lot more potential buyers. 

[956 Worldwide 34428]

 

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[SL Xpress 7505]

12 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

 

 

The Baltic States and Poland know what's up. Thank goodness they're a part of the European system where they can constantly put pressure on the more recalcitrant states. Including the US at times. 

There's the old joke about the difference between being involved and being committed as it pertains to breakfast. The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.

Well, the Baltic States and Poland are way more committed in this fight geographically and historically than their European neighbors, and they're acting accordingly. It warms my heart. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by SL Xpress

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[Parliament 14133]

14 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

 

My GOD Lithuania hates Russia.

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[MillerEP 30339]

 

[MillerEP 30339]

 

 

 

[Sbbruin 21723]

3 hours ago, Schulz2.0 said:

Russians are going to go with a WWI tactic of trying to overwhelm the enemy with shear numbers.  A fine tactic, if you're not one of the soldiers being fed into the meatgrinder.

[SL Xpress 7505]

10 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

 

 

 

 

"In further news, the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine recently stated, 'I brought the remains from a couple of Iranian drone manufacturing facilities to say, we're on it.'"

[SL Xpress 7505]

10 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Russians are going to go with a WWI tactic of trying to overwhelm the enemy with shear numbers.  A fine tactic, if you're not one of the soldiers being fed into the meatgrinder.

 

I continue to believe we're going to see more of an armored/combined arms major Russian offensive in the next month or two. I don't know how successful it's going to be. Hopefully not very. But I feel confident what we're seeing now from the Russian side is more of a prelude than anything else. 

[Brisketexan 104596]

13 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Russians are going to go with a WWI tactic of trying to overwhelm the enemy with shear numbers.  A fine tactic, if you're not one of the soldiers being fed into the meatgrinder.

The concern is.....it might work.  Read the account posted yesterday of a battle between UKA and Wagner forces - Wagner literally tried and almost succeeded with the approach of "we have more bodies than they have bullets."  The UKA unit ran out of ammo, and only survived because the Wagner forces withdrew.

The allies need to turn this new Russian strategy into an opportunity; the opportunity to kill as many Russians as the laws of physics will allow.  Kill.  Them.  ALL.

[Gengs1 2583]

7 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The concern is.....it might work.  Read the account posted yesterday of a battle between UKA and Wagner forces - Wagner literally tried and almost succeeded with the approach of "we have more bodies than they have bullets."  The UKA unit ran out of ammo, and only survived because the Wagner forces withdrew.

The allies need to turn this new Russian strategy into an opportunity; the opportunity to kill as many Russians as the laws of physics will allow.  Kill.  Them.  ALL.

They need long range weapons and some cluster ammo, some jets would really fuck then up 

 

another problem becomes, at some point the soldiers will go fuck this assault when everyone is dying, I ain’t going 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Gengs1

[Brisketexan 104596]

9 minutes ago, Gengs1 said:

They need long range weapons and some cluster ammo, some jets would really fuck then up 

 

another problem becomes, at some point the soldiers will go fuck this assault when everyone is dying, I ain’t going 

Yeah, do you even "it's Russia, life is worthless" bro?  Seriously, Putin would send every living Russian except himself into the meatgrinder, and they would go, because it is a country that is pure nihilism.

[Sbbruin 21723]

24 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The concern is.....it might work.  Read the account posted yesterday of a battle between UKA and Wagner forces - Wagner literally tried and almost succeeded with the approach of "we have more bodies than they have bullets."  The UKA unit ran out of ammo, and only survived because the Wagner forces withdrew.

The allies need to turn this new Russian strategy into an opportunity; the opportunity to kill as many Russians as the laws of physics will allow.  Kill.  Them.  ALL.

This can't be overstated.  I almost feel bad for the average Russian soldier.  Almost.  But until the Russians rise up against Vlad, they get what they deserve.

[Sbbruin 21723]

9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, do you even "it's Russia, life is worthless" bro?  Seriously, Putin would send every living Russian except himself into the meatgrinder, and they would go, because it is a country that is pure nihilism.

[The Dog 43802]

17 minutes ago, Gengs1 said:

another problem becomes, at some point the soldiers will go fuck this assault when everyone is dying, I ain’t going 

don't have the tweets in front of me but there are reports of this already happening. 

I don't get the idea that Russia can win with more and more bodies. it's a heck of a lot easier to make more bullets than to get more good troops.

The catch is the Ukrainians need to minimize their casualties because a war of attrition of that nature does favor Russia. 

[Superhero 8773]

Re the Russian offensive that military intelligence is talking about... What are the Russians going to attack with? They've lost thousands of tanks and are bringing T-64s to a Leopard 2 fight. They're short on artillery rounds, and their conscripts are not well trained.

Are they going with waves and waves of infantry? That probably worked during WW2, but I just don't see that strategy being effective since they are short on artillery rounds, while the Ukrainians still getting fresh rounds from US and Europe.

Someone tell me why there is so much concern.

[Dahobbs 17444]

6 minutes ago, Superhero said:

Re the Russian offensive that military intelligence is talking about... What are the Russians going to attack with? They've lost thousands of tanks and are bringing T-64s to a Leopard 2 fight. They're short on artillery rounds, and their conscripts are not well trained.

Are they going with waves and waves of infantry? That probably worked during WW2, but I just don't see that strategy being effective since they are short on artillery rounds, while the Ukrainians still getting fresh rounds from US and Europe.

Someone tell me why there is so much concern.

Don't underestimate Russia's equipment reserves. Being short on artillery rounds just means that continuing to use as much ammunition as they have been may force them to dip into strategic reserves and lower readiness in the event another conflict (e.g., with NATO). It doesn't mean that Russia is actually going to run out anytime this decade. Those older tanks are largely serving the same purpose as the conscripts: covering lines and allowing Russia to mass better troops and equipment for offensive operations. 

[InkaUtexas 25507]

25 minutes ago, Superhero said:

Re the Russian offensive that military intelligence is talking about... What are the Russians going to attack with? They've lost thousands of tanks and are bringing T-64s to a Leopard 2 fight. They're short on artillery rounds, and their conscripts are not well trained.

Are they going with waves and waves of infantry? That probably worked during WW2, but I just don't see that strategy being effective since they are short on artillery rounds, while the Ukrainians still getting fresh rounds from US and Europe.

Someone tell me why there is so much concern.

They can always borrow from the NORKS. 

Seriously, they have some serious stockpiles I am sure. But countries that were buying from them are not going to be getting much delivered. 

[bolverk 29399]

Some good insight in this article about the tactics the Russians are using with the convicts at cannon fodder to help advance trained personnel. One point it also makes is that many of Russia's horrendous losses are among the untrained and convicts, while Ukrainian losses (also heavy) are among trained soldiers. But Ukraine is also holding back its best.

The amount of carnage is devastating.

 

Quote

 

Soaring Death Toll Gives Grim Insight Into Russian Tactics
Moscow is sending poorly trained recruits, including convicts, to the front lines in eastern Ukraine to pave the way for more seasoned fighters, U.S. and allied officials say.

WASHINGTON — The number of Russian troops killed and wounded in Ukraine is approaching 200,000, a stark symbol of just how badly President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion has gone, according to American and other Western officials.

While the officials caution that casualties are notoriously difficult to estimate, particularly because Moscow is believed to routinely undercount its war dead and injured, they say the slaughter from fighting in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and the town of Soledar has ballooned what was already a heavy toll.

With Moscow desperate for a major battlefield victory and viewing Bakhmut as the key to seizing the entire eastern Donbas area, the Russian military has sent poorly trained recruits and former convicts to the front lines, straight into the path of Ukrainian shelling and machine guns. The result, American officials say, has been hundreds of troops killed or injured a day.

 

Quote

 

Russia analysts say that the loss of life is unlikely to be a deterrent to Mr. Putin’s war aims. He has no political opposition at home and has framed the war as the kind of struggle the country faced in World War II, when more than 8 million Soviet troops died. U.S. officials have said that they believe that Mr. Putin can sustain hundreds of thousands of casualties in Ukraine, although higher numbers could cut into his political support.

Ukraine’s casualty figures are also difficult to ascertain, given Kyiv’s reluctance to disclose its own wartime losses. But in Bakhmut, hundreds of Ukrainian troops have been wounded and killed daily at times as well, officials said. Better trained infantry formations are kept in reserve to safeguard them, while lesser prepared troops, such as those in the territorial defense units, are kept on the front line and bear the brunt of shelling.

The last public Biden administration estimate of casualties came last November, when Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that more than 100,000 troops on each side had been killed and wounded since the war began. At the time, officials said privately that the numbers were closer to 120,000.

“I would say it’s significantly well over 100,000 now,” General Milley said at a news conference last month in Germany, adding that the Russian toll included “regular military, and also their mercenaries in the Wagner Group.”

At two meetings last month between senior military and defense officials from NATO and partner countries, officials said the fighting in the Donbas had turned into, as one of them put it, a meat grinder.

 

Quote

 

On Norwegian TV on Jan. 22, Gen. Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s defense chief, said estimates were that Russia had suffered 180,000 dead and wounded, while Ukraine had 100,000 killed or wounded in action along with 30,000 civilian deaths. General Kristoffersen, in an email to The New York Times through his spokesman, said that there is “much uncertainty regarding these numbers, as no one at the moment are able to give a good overview. They could be both lower or even higher.”

Senior U.S. officials said this week that they believe the number for Russia is closer to 200,000. That toll, in just 11 months, is eight times higher than American casualties in two decades of war in Afghanistan.

The figures for Ukraine and Russia are estimates based on satellite imagery, communication intercepts, social media and on-the-ground media reports, as well as official reporting from both governments. Establishing precise numbers is extremely difficult, and estimates vary, even within the U.S. government.

 

Spoiler

A senior U.S. military official last month described the combat around Bakhmut as savage. The two sides exchanged several thousand rounds of artillery fire each day, while the Wagner private military company, which has been central to Russia’s efforts there, had essentially begun using recruited convicts as cannon fodder, the official told reporters. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details.

The convicts took the brunt of the Ukrainian response while the group’s more seasoned fighters moved in behind them to claim ground, the official said. Wagner has recruited some 50,000 troops to fight in Ukraine, according to senior American military and defense officials.

Thousands of the convicts have been killed, a loss of life that has shocked American officials, who say the strategic value of Bakhmut simply is not in line with the price Russia has paid.

In an interview on Tuesday, a senior Defense Department official pointed to myriad military supply and tactical problems to explain the Russian tactics. The Russian military is running low on critical supplies and replenishment, said Colin H. Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy. “They’re running low on artillery. They’re running low on standoff munitions, and they are substituting by sending convicts in human waves into places like Bakhmut and Soledar.”

The Russian military has been following the Wagner playbook and deliberately using the poorly trained troops to draw, and deplete, Ukrainian fire, senior American military and defense officials said.

Kusti Salm, Estonia’s deputy defense minister, in a briefing with reporters in Washington last week, said that Russia was better able to stand its losses than Ukraine.

“In this particular area, the Russians have employed around 40,000 to 50,000 inmates or prisoners,” Mr. Salm said. “They are going up against regular soldiers, people with families, people with regular training, valuable people for the Ukrainian military.”

“So the exchange rate is unfair,” he added. “It’s not one to one because for Russia, inmates are expendable. From an operational perspective, this is a very unfair deal for the Ukrainians and a clever tactical move from the Russian side.”

Moscow has thrown people it sees as expendable into battles for decades, if not centuries. During World War II, Joseph Stalin sent close to one million prisoners to the front. Boris Sokolov, a Russia historian, describes in a piece called “Gulag Reserves” in the Russian opposition magazine Grani.ru that an additional one million “special settlers”— deportees and others viewed by the Soviet government as second-class citizens — were also forced to fight during World War II.

“In essence, it does not matter how big the Russian losses are, since their overall human resource is much greater than Ukraine’s,” Mr. Salm, the Estonian official, said in a follow-up email. “In Russia the life of a soldier is worth nothing. A dead soldier, on the other hand, is a hero, regardless of how he died. All lost soldiers can be replaced, and the number of losses will not shift the public opinion against the war.”

 

[Brisketexan 104596]

Ukraine needs to start killing Russians, in Russia.  

They need to take out municipal power grids.  They need to start fires in residential buildings.  Russians need to start dying, where they thought they were comfortable.  And they need to start dying in droves.  Both to advance the strategic aim, and because every dead Russian is a Russian who can't pick up a rifle and enter Ukraine.

[Sbbruin 21723]

41 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Ukraine needs to start killing Russians, in Russia.  

They need to take out municipal power grids.  They need to start fires in residential buildings.  Russians need to start dying, where they thought they were comfortable.  And they need to start dying in droves.  Both to advance the strategic aim, and because every dead Russian is a Russian who can't pick up a rifle and enter Ukraine.

That would be a mistake. It would galvanize the Russian population.  Right now they are very divided on the Ukraine "special operation".  Not that they can be particularly vocal about their opposition.

[27-25 2040]

The most interesting President in the World says there are no limits, well almost no limits.

 

[Brisketexan 104596]

22 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

That would be a mistake. It would galvanize the Russian population.  Right now they are very divided on the Ukraine "special operation".  Not that they can be particularly vocal about their opposition.

Galvanize them.  Take them out of the fight by killing them.  Doesn't much matter to me.

They support a war of extermination and genocide.  Same reason I don't believe the allies should carry a millisecond of guilt over the ruin visited on German cities and citizens in WWII.  Don't start no shit, and continue to support shit, then won't be no shit.  And as long as you DO start and continue such shit....here comes the pain.

So often one can say honestly "our fight isn't with the _____ people."  In this case, it sure as fuck IS with the Russian people.  This is how they want it, this is the outcome they support and have happily let happen.  They sleep comfortably in their Moscow apartments as their husbands, sons, etc. lay waste to cities, and murder civilians by the thousands.  Fuck that.  Their free pass should end.

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

21 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

That would be a mistake. It would galvanize the Russian population.  Right now they are very divided on the Ukraine "special operation".  Not that they can be particularly vocal about their opposition.

What happens if the Russian population get galvanized? They invade Ukraine? Shoot thousands of missiles a day at them? Ukraine is in an existential fight for survival and the west is forcing them to fight it one handed. Bring the war to Moscow and St Petersburg. Rail lines, power grid, logistics hubs, air ports. Fuck it, take the gloves off...they're the only ones wearing them anyway.  

[Walser 1106]

We are wasting time.

[Kel Varnsen 8430]

Yea I used to think we were handling this well but we now seem to be using Ukrainian lives to further our weakening of Russia. They are begging for what they need to get the upper hand but we playing politics.

[Brisketexan 104596]

2 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

What happens if the Russian population get galvanized? They invade Ukraine? Shoot thousands of missiles a day at them? Ukraine is in an existential fight for survival and the west is forcing them to fight it one handed. Bring the war to Moscow and St Petersburg. Rail lines, power grid, logistics hubs, air ports. Fuck it, take the gloves off...they're the only ones wearing them anyway.  

PR gets it.  Russia is waging total war on Ukraine.  They're already fighting as dirty as they can.  Ukraine should bring shit home to Russia.  A blown up apartment building in central Moscow would be perfect.  I mean, that's the kind of scene the Russians love and support.  They should thank Ukraine for bringing them the scenery they love.

A generation of children in Ukraine will grow up scarred by the terror of air raid sirens and explosions.  In the spirit of brotherly understanding, Ukraine should return the favor.

It is total war, at least as far as how Russia wages it.  Ukraine should simply join the party that's already raging.

[InkaUtexas 25507]

This is a bit funny. Guess he does not understand we have a military designed to fight in Europe, one for the Indo-Pacom area, other places when needed, and a ton of shit in surplus. 

Here I a link to US Army's equipment abroad. Stored, maintained, rotated, etc. 

https://www.ausa.org/sites/default/files/TBIP-2008-Army-Prepositioned-Stocks-Indispensable-to-Americas-Global-Force-Projection-Capability.pdf

 

[cactusflinthead 27594]

 

[Auto Driller 2504]

7 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

 

This is 100% wrong. Fired from HIMARS. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Launched_Small_Diameter_Bomb