Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

I think the whole peace-keeping thing as I've defined it is moot anyway. This is because I don't see Putin agreeing to a military force that includes, for example, British troops (Britain having been proposed by Zelenskyy as one of the peace-guarantor nations) that have a mandate to fight against Russian troops if needed.

IMO Putin will only agree to some toothless force with fuzzy mandate that would collapse in 5 minutes if push comes to shove. He won't want to see hard-nosed, well-trained and well-equipped soldiers - soldiers who will actually fight if it comes it - adding to Ukraine's security.

So unfortunately I see a long-drawn out conflict, with no peace deal unless and until either (a) the Russians are driven back to their pre-February 24th positions; or (b) Putin is removed from power and new leader voluntarily withdraws the Russian troops.

There will never ever be a traditional war between Putin's Russia and a NATO member. It's either peace or nukes, of that I am sure. So if a peace-keeping force is from a NATO member Russia would only attack if they are willing to go to nuclear war. You can give those troops BB guns the outcome would be the same.
 
At least we can claim that everyone gets represented -- including the stupids.

Oh they get represented, but not a single economic policy crazy lady or Brooks backs will help the dirt poor rural folks. Anyways, wrong thread for this so I will stop here.
 
There will never ever be a traditional war between Putin's Russia and a NATO member. It's either peace or nukes, of that I am sure. So if a peace-keeping force is from a NATO member Russia would only attack if they are willing to go to nuclear war. You can give those troops BB guns the outcome would be the same.

A conventional weapons attack on British troops (for example) inside Ukraine as a part of an agreed international peace-keeping force would not be an attack on NATO or a NATO country, and so would not trigger NATO's article 5 commitments as I understand it.

However, as I've said I don't see Putin agreeing to the deployment of British (for example) troops. But if he did, and if they had a mandate to engage Russian forces if needed, then I don't think Putin would risk invading Ukraine again ... because if he couldn't defeat Ukrainian forces by themselves, then he'd certainly realise that he wouldn't be able to do it if additional forces were added to them.
 
Ever been to North Georgia?
Northern Georgia and Northern Alabama (Mo Brooks country) form a corridor of stupid running East West.

I was in Biloxi, MS for the first time, and the line doesn't stop in Northern Alabama and Georgia. I grew up in the rural upper South (NC), but the Deep South is a different world. My friend wanted to go to the Jefferson Davis home and "presidential library," but we had to leave before his mouth got us shot. Racist children's books in the gift shop blew my mind. Started reading a biography of Sherman the same day.



This music belongs in the War Crimes thread. It's like Ukrainian Limp Bizkit.
 
Exactly. There’s no guarantee a peace deal will stop innocent folks being killed. A peace deal that results in Russian control of Ukrainian territory could actually lead to the exact opposite due to ethnic cleansing / genocide by the Russians.
Considering what horrors Russians has committed, I think we can say that Russia controlling any part of Ukraine in the long term is a guarantee of future genocide.

Hard to see Russia agreeing to stop before they lose their combat effectiveness, and if we're approaching that point, Ukraine won't be willing to make any concessions, seeing victory on the horizon.

Even if Ukraine could push Russian troops back into Russia, I don't think Putin would stop. Even if he runs out of tanks, he'll sponsor terrorism and incursions into Ukraine to destroy infrastructure. You'd expect Putin to return in a few years, like he did when they lost in Chechnya.
 
gambling on regime change as a strategy is stupid. because it isn’t a sure shot and the guy replacing putin won’t be a peace loving leader. it could also mess things up more and push the country further into despair.

Well what is the option? Force Ukraine to give into Russias demands? While Putins nazis rape and kill any dissent in their new *Ukrainian* land.
Which will then embolden Putin to do the same fecking thing again.
Genocide should not go unpunished and it certainly shouldn't be rewarded.
 
The year is 2022 and the German GREEN party is getting frustrated at their own country’s pace of lethal arms deliveries to Ukraine. Decades’ worth of change happening before our eyes.

 
Johnny is a Brit that has served with Ukrainian Marines for the last 4 years. He is in Mariupol, his twitter account was given to a friend for updates.

 
The year is 2022 and the German GREEN party is getting frustrated at their own country’s pace of lethal arms deliveries to Ukraine. Decades’ worth of change happening before our eyes.


That's nothing new actually. Some nickname them the "olive greens" as they actually act quite trigger happy and under their short government participations most German military missions happened.
 
Johnny is a Brit that has served with Ukrainian Marines for the last 4 years. He is in Mariupol, his twitter account was given to a friend for updates.



Multiple sources now claiming his unit has surrendered in Mariupol. There are are couple other vids from marines there in the last day however saying they are still holding and will fight to the last man.

 
Multiple sources now claiming his unit has surrendered in Mariupol. There are are couple other vids from marines there in the last day however saying they are still holding and will fight to the last man.


The best they can do is raise awareness of his POW status in the hope that it makes his treatment better or dare I say it execution less likely.

Sadly I doubt Russia will care about that.
 
Johnny is a Brit that has served with Ukrainian Marines for the last 4 years. He is in Mariupol, his twitter account was given to a friend for updates.


Multiple sources now claiming his unit has surrendered in Mariupol. There are are couple other vids from marines there in the last day however saying they are still holding and will fight to the last man.


:(

Them worrying that their countrymen will not honor them / their sacrifice here reminds me of the British garrison who surrendered Calais in the Dunkirk campaign. It’s damned heartbreaking.
 
F..cking heartbreaking they had to surrender if true. Hopefully, Mariupol is freed from Russian forces soon
 
The city itself basically doesn’t exist anymore, so the only purpose for the land it sits atop would be for Putin’s land bridge to Crimea, which will probably not happen since he won’t have the resources to keep the land once the Ukrainians get fully armed and retake it.
 
Mariupol was always going to fall. Strategically it should be been one of the first cities to fall as it is literally 30 km away from the Russian border. That it is still standing is a real testament to the Ukrainian will, and it bought a lot of time for other cities like Mykolaiv and Odessa to prepare themselves.

It is because of Mariupol's resistance that a full blockade of the Ukrainian South Coast from the Black Sea is now looking unlikely.

Heroes.
 



These kind of reports that emerged in the context of this war are what really gets up my hope for humanity. There is a lot of bad stuff happening all over the world. Some truly worrying people are in charge of powerful countries. But it becomes more and more apparent that while such regimes may be able to act quicker than democracies, they are corrupted by their own injustice and oppression, rendering them shockingly incompetent in many areas.

A month or so ago there was this unconfirmed whistle blower letter that suggested FSB analysts who would regularly report stuff their superiors didn't want to hear have their loyalty questioned. So when nothing was at stake, they just went with reporting positive stuff, contributing to a confirmation bias. And since none of them knew that a full blown war against Ukraine was even at the cards, they reported that the Ukrainian people were pro-Russia and that their economy was sanction-proof.

I think these are truly amazing insights. All this time the cynic in me used to think that dictatorships had this huge operational advantage over democracies since they could adapt their political course so much quicker. But now it becomes obvious that they're held back by their own corruption. If there's anything positive to take out of this war, for me it is this. Also in regards to China.
 
Tbf I remember saying near the start of the war that Mariupol and more of Ukraine would fall, there was a lot of posts against that opinion due to the resistance being shown by Ukraine at the time.

In general my view on the war not changed, Ukraine can resist as much as they want (and it's very noble how they've done so), but in terms of manpower, military power and general resources they're badly outmatched and it's only a matter of time before they lose. The east will fall next, and then it just depends on Putin's whims as to how far he wants to go. The only thing up for debate is the timeline, it could take months, even years, but if he wants Ukraine he can have it. We have to remember we're only a month and a half into this, it could go on for years if Russia wants Ukraine bad enough.

The only thing that could stop it is aerial capability to actual fight the Russian air force, because giving them aerial superiority lets them dictate what whatever they want. But the west doesn't want to supply planes. Or if the sanctions actually made a noticeable difference to Russia, which they don't. A complete embargo on Russian gas and oil could do it (though even then it'd probably just be sold outside of Europe), but there's no political will in Germany etc to impose another 1000 euro cost per citizen (according to estimates).
 
Tbf I remember saying near the start of the war that Mariupol and more of Ukraine would fall, there was a lot of posts against that opinion due to the resistance being shown by Ukraine at the time.

In general my view on the war not changed, Ukraine can resist as much as they want (and it's very noble how they've done so), but in terms of manpower, military power and general resources they're badly outmatched and it's only a matter of time before they lose. The east will fall next, and then it just depends on Putin's whims as to how far he wants to go. The only thing up for debate is the timeline, it could take months, even years, but if he wants Ukraine he can have it. We have to remember we're only a month and a half into this, it could go on for years if Russia wants Ukraine bad enough.

The only thing that could stop it is aerial capability to actual fight the Russian air force, because giving them aerial superiority lets them dictate what whatever they want. But the west doesn't want to supply planes. Or if the sanctions actually made a noticeable difference to Russia, which they don't. A complete embargo on Russian gas and oil could do it (though even then it'd probably just be sold outside of Europe), but there's no political will in Germany etc to impose another 1000 euro cost per citizen (according to estimates).
You are talking bollocks. They are not outmatched in manpower. Not until Russia conducts full mobilisation which they cant unless they start calling this officially a war. Also, He wanted Ukraine but couldn't have it. That's why he retreated from the Kyiv area.
 
Tbf I remember saying near the start of the war that Mariupol and more of Ukraine would fall, there was a lot of posts against that opinion due to the resistance being shown by Ukraine at the time.
You said this on March 11th, so give yourself a big ol’pat on the back.
We shall see. As much as I wish Ukraine could hold them out, I don't see how it's feasible in any way. Mariupol will fall, there's no way it won't. It's already a dead city. Kharkiv will follow, and the Russians will push inland. Holding a city isn't particularly hard once you've conquered it - you replace the police force with your own, the administration etc - there'll be no one left to resist but ordinary people, who won't want to fight against an army for nothing. It may take longer than initially thought but those cities will soon go the way Kherson has.
 
Tbf I remember saying near the start of the war that Mariupol and more of Ukraine would fall, there was a lot of posts against that opinion due to the resistance being shown by Ukraine at the time.

In general my view on the war not changed, Ukraine can resist as much as they want (and it's very noble how they've done so), but in terms of manpower, military power and general resources they're badly outmatched and it's only a matter of time before they lose. The east will fall next, and then it just depends on Putin's whims as to how far he wants to go. The only thing up for debate is the timeline, it could take months, even years, but if he wants Ukraine he can have it. We have to remember we're only a month and a half into this, it could go on for years if Russia wants Ukraine bad enough.

The only thing that could stop it is aerial capability to actual fight the Russian air force, because giving them aerial superiority lets them dictate what whatever they want. But the west doesn't want to supply planes. Or if the sanctions actually made a noticeable difference to Russia, which they don't. A complete embargo on Russian gas and oil could do it (though even then it'd probably just be sold outside of Europe), but there's no political will in Germany etc to impose another 1000 euro cost per citizen (according to estimates).

You're omitting a lot of factors that if included, would completely undercut everything you've just said. The Russians have been generally incompetent, have terrible logistics, are losing far more troops and equipment than previously imagined, have poor morale, and will run out of resources at some not too distant point in the future. The Ukrainians on the other hand, have demonstrated they are much more adept at going after the Russians and are now armed with an endless amount of high tech western weapons and technology to go after the Russians, and have much higher morale given that they are defending their country against foreign invaders. When you factor in these variables, nothing you wrote above appears to make much sense.
 
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Tbf I remember saying near the start of the war that Mariupol and more of Ukraine would fall, there was a lot of posts against that opinion due to the resistance being shown by Ukraine at the time.

In general my view on the war not changed, Ukraine can resist as much as they want (and it's very noble how they've done so), but in terms of manpower, military power and general resources they're badly outmatched and it's only a matter of time before they lose. The east will fall next, and then it just depends on Putin's whims as to how far he wants to go. The only thing up for debate is the timeline, it could take months, even years, but if he wants Ukraine he can have it. We have to remember we're only a month and a half into this, it could go on for years if Russia wants Ukraine bad enough.

The only thing that could stop it is aerial capability to actual fight the Russian air force, because giving them aerial superiority lets them dictate what whatever they want. But the west doesn't want to supply planes. Or if the sanctions actually made a noticeable difference to Russia, which they don't. A complete embargo on Russian gas and oil could do it (though even then it'd probably just be sold outside of Europe), but there's no political will in Germany etc to impose another 1000 euro cost per citizen (according to estimates).

The Russians are short of men. That's why they have to call up the 50 year old reservists now. This war will be over in a month or two max. The only thing unknown is who is going to come out the 'winner'.

Also, the ruble is now falling now Russia has tried to relax some of their tight controls. Their economy will have to be turtle-shelled for as long as they keep the war going, and the effect of a 17-20% interest rate will soon rear it's ugly head on the citizens.
 
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These kind of reports that emerged in the context of this war are what really gets up my hope for humanity. There is a lot of bad stuff happening all over the world. Some truly worrying people are in charge of powerful countries. But it becomes more and more apparent that while such regimes may be able to act quicker than democracies, they are corrupted by their own injustice and oppression, rendering them shockingly incompetent in many areas.

A month or so ago there was this unconfirmed whistle blower letter that suggested FSB analysts who would regularly report stuff their superiors didn't want to hear have their loyalty questioned. So when nothing was at stake, they just went with reporting positive stuff, contributing to a confirmation bias. And since none of them knew that a full blown war against Ukraine was even at the cards, they reported that the Ukrainian people were pro-Russia and that their economy was sanction-proof.

I think these are truly amazing insights. All this time the cynic in me used to think that dictatorships had this huge operational advantage over democracies since they could adapt their political course so much quicker. But now it becomes obvious that they're held back by their own corruption. If there's anything positive to take out of this war, for me it is this. Also in regards to China.
Dictatorships may be more agile as the decision-making is centralized but the quality of the work will always be worse IMO. Too many yes-men, corruption etc.
 
Dictatorships may be more agile as the decision-making is centralized but the quality of the work will always be worse IMO. Too many yes-men, corruption etc.

Yep, we've seen this historically with inflated reporting during the five year plans of the Stalin era and in modern China as well.

Bad news, poor results and lower than expected numbers gets you dead in these regimes so there's plenty of incentive to fudge your reporting. What surprises me is that these paranoid authoritarians don't actually audit the results but I suppose they get a lot of mileage out of them when promoting how great they are as leaders.