Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

A Biden admin official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to take back Crimea.

A Biden administration official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to retake Crimea, but some officials are concerned any large-scale offensive that threatens Russia’s hold on the peninsula could push Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons, say two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The late November Ukraine briefing to some members of Congress included discussion of the reasons Ukraine will continue to need U.S. weapons and equipment for the foreseeable future. The two officials said a Biden official, when asked during the briefing about continued support for the Ukrainian military and whether it would try to retake Crimea, responded that Ukraine now has the ability to take it back.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/na...-congress-ukraine-can-retake-crimea-rcna61755
 
Great long piece from NYT. It's just unbelievable how badly the Russians planned this invasion. Crazy details.

Russian soldiers go into battle with little food, few bullets and instructions grabbed from Wikipedia for weapons they barely know how to use.

They plod through Ukraine with old maps like this one from the 1960s, recovered from the battlefield, or no maps at all.

They speak on open cellphone lines, revealing their positions and exposing the incompetence and disarray in their ranks.

They have trained at dilapidated Russian bases hollowed out by corruption, including this one, home to a tank division badly defeated in Ukraine.

They are given wildly unrealistic timetables and goals for taking Ukrainian territory and complain of being sent into a “meat grinder.”

This is the inside story of historic Russian failures.
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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/16/world/europe/russia-putin-war-failures-ukraine.html
 
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Don't feck with Kadyrov



Translation: Another series of the Indian film "Don Raj Kadirka". Bollywood is resting
 
Raoul said:
Don't feck with Kadyrov



Translation: Another series of the Indian film "Don Raj Kadirka". Bollywood is resting
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Gay Dagestani Steven Gerrard starring in a Nollywood action blockbuster.
 
So, Putin wants to try an invasion of Kyiv again, is he insane, stupid?

His army has a hard time enough as it is, and they couldn't even suceed in that objective last time when they had the upper hand.
 
Morty_ said:
So, Putin wants to try an invasion of Kyiv again, is he insane, stupid?

His army has a hard time enough as it is, and they couldn't even suceed in that objective last time when they had the upper hand.
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His probable strategy is to take out Ukrainian infrastructure as winter sets in, then use that to his advantage through a second northern invasion so he can alleviate Ukrainian pressure on Russian positions in the south and east.

Trouble is, his troops are untrained conscripts and would get obliterated by Ukrainians who are increasingly armed to the gills with sophisticated NATO weapons. This is not the same Ukrainian army Putin managed to surprise with his best troops 10 months ago.
 
Raoul said:
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It's been a long time since I had to study the bible but I must have missed the chapter that covers when the use of nuclear weapons is justified.

So have they moved on from the denazification nonsense then?

It turns out this is actually a holy war between orthodox Christians and um orthodox Christians.
 
stevoc said:
It's been a long time since I had to study the bible but I must have missed the chapter that covers when the use of nuclear weapons is justified.

So have they moved on from the denazification nonsense then?

It turns out this is actually a holy war between orthodox Christians and um orthodox Christians.
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The weatherman agrees, so he must be right.
 
Interesting pattern break: Lukashenko has been in Russia on average once a month to meet Putin. He hasn't been there since September and now they will meet in Minsk tomorrow. Wonder what will happen then...
 
Morty_ said:
So, Putin wants to try an invasion of Kyiv again, is he insane, stupid?

His army has a hard time enough as it is, and they couldn't even suceed in that objective last time when they had the upper hand.
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You can't really predict his actions by trying to rationalize them, so the rule of the thumb is not to rule anything out.

The thing is, he doesn't really have a way out at this point. He probably had it in late spring still but he's not going to survive a full on defeat (which is coming eventually) or a complete surrender (Ukraine will take nothing less). So trying to launch another attack by throwing everything that he has left on it in the hope that the West will be fed up by that war by the end of the winter seems like a very possible strategy. It won't play out like he wants it to and it's going to lead to tens of thousands of additional deaths but it's not like he cares.
 
nimic said:
Gay?
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He's also not Dagestany (and not Steven Gerrard) so I'd imagine that this is a parody of a clickbait video title of sorts.
 
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