Leaked Documents Reveal US Forecast That Ukraine's Counteroffensive Will Likely Fail; <br><i>NSC Spokesman John Kirby Demands Media Not Publish Leaks Which Are Damaging to Biden's Lies About the War Going Great</i>

Leaked Documents Reveal US Forecast That Ukraine's Counteroffensive Will Likely Fail;
NSC Spokesman John Kirby Demands Media Not Publish Leaks Which Are Damaging to Biden's Lies About the War Going Great

Russian forces are "on the brink" of capturing the key defensive city of Bakhmut. Bakhmut is an important part of the Ukrainian defensive line, so losing this city would be very, very bad for Ukraine. Nevermind all the troops they have already lost, and would lose if the city falls.

Russian forces have "regained some momentum" and advanced towards the center of Bakhmut, after months of clashes for control of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city, according to a new intelligence update.
Moscow's advance in and around the city "had largely stalled" since late March, the British defense ministry said on Friday.
Bakhmut has endured months of heavy fighting between Kyiv's and Moscow's forces, with both sides committed to controlling the decimated settlement. Battles in Bakhmut have racked up heavy casualty counts on both sides, with U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, calling the battle for the city a "slaughter-fest" for Russian forces.
Russian military and mercenary forces have likely been joined by airborne troops, the British defense ministry said in a post to Twitter, adding that a key supply route for Ukraine to the west of Bakhmut is "likely severely threatened." They have likely reached the town center, controlling the west bank of the Bakhmutka River that runs through the settlement, the ministry wrote.

Scott Ritter is a pedophile and always takes the side of whatever country the US is in a cold or hot war with, so take his analysis with a grain of salt, but he told Kim Iverson that Bakhmut is about to fall, and that this will quickly lead to the end of the war, as Ukraine will have no choice but to sue for peace on terms favorable to Putin.

Now leaked documents show that the real assessment of the US is that Ukraine will likely fail in its coming counteroffensive to retake ground lost to Russia, while the Biden junta lies to the public about how the war is going.

That treasure trove of leaked classified documents is still spilling secrets, but perhaps the most consequential revelation is the U.S. government's grim assessment of the prospects for the Ukrainian spring offensive. President Biden's rhetoric regarding Ukrainian resistance to the invasion increasingly appears to be wildly overoptimistic happy talk, designed to assure Americans that he's managing the NATO coalition just fine, the military aid to Kyiv is arriving in a timely fashion, and Russia really is diplomatically and economically isolated.
A Grim Ukraine Assessment
President Joe Biden, speaking in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, February 20: "This is the largest land war in Europe in three quarters of a century, and you're succeeding against all and every expectation, except your own. We have every confidence that you're going to continue to prevail."

But apparently, the U.S. government does not have every confidence that Ukraine is going to prevail. Here is the actual assessment of U.S. intelligence, according to the Washington Post this morning:

Ukraine's challenges in massing troops, ammunition and equipment could cause its military to fall "well short" of Kyiv's original goals for an anticipated counteroffensive aimed at retaking Russian-occupied areas this spring, according to U.S. intelligence assessments contained in a growing leak of classified documents revealing Washington's misgivings about the state of the war.
Labeled "top secret," the bleak assessment from early February warns of significant "force generation and sustainment shortfalls," and the likelihood that such an operation will result in only "modest territorial gains." It's a marked departure from the Biden administration's public statements about the vitality of Ukraine's military and is likely to embolden critics who feel the United States and NATO should do more to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
The document adds that, "Enduring Ukrainian deficiencies in training and munitions supplies probably will strain progress and exacerbate casualties during the offensive."

As I said yesterday, this is bad. It is bad that this assessment leaked; it is bad that this assessment of Ukraine's abilities in the spring offensive are so modest or grim; it is bad that apparently lots of foreign-policy experts have doubts about the administration's approach but are afraid to say so publicly; and it is bad that Biden's public assessment of the war in Ukraine is the same rosy-eyed, unrealistic optimism that characterized his assessment of Afghanistan, inflation, migrants crossing the border, and the Chinese spy balloon. The president is always telling us that things are going great and that we have nothing to worry about, and a little later, we learn that the truth is the opposite.

Meanwhile, Egypt is going around Biden's back to sell missiles to Russia.

President Biden likes to boast that "nobody" f-words with him. Well, apparently the Egyptians are willing to mess around, and do not fear what they will find out. Keep in mind, the U.S. usually provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year and a separate $174 million or so in foreign aid.
Wait, there's more. The Associated Press finds documents indicating the government of the United Arab Emirates is building a closer relationship with the Russian FSB:

U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates "to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies," according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.
U.S. officials declined to comment on the document, which bore known top-secret markings and was viewed by The Associated Press. The Emirati government on Monday dismissed any accusation that the UAE had deepened ties with Russian intelligence as "categorically false."
But the U.S. has had growing concerns that the UAE was allowing Russia and Russians to thwart sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.

The leaked documents also report that the US is now keeping its drones far away from the battlefield -- 50 miles away from the Crimean coast.

I guess Russia's downing of a US drone had the desired effect.

Jim Geraghty, a NeverTrumper, concludes:

The administration is not playing it straight with the American public when it comes to Ukraine. An inability to see the situation clearly and communicate the situation without any sugarcoating is a formula for long-term problems.

Well you know, Trump said "pussy" and that's the worst thing.

I'm just glad that America is back under Biden, baby! That's what we were promised, and that is certainly what NeverTrump has delivered.

Meanwhile, John Kirby gives the propagandists their orders: Don't report on the leaked documents.

Or else.

John Kirby warns journalists not to report on leaked Pentagon documents.

"This is information that has no business in the public domain...It has no business...on the front pages of newspapers or on television." pic.twitter.com/625CxNIarI
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 10, 2023

That's his answer to questions about why the documents contradict his bullshit happy talk lies about the war: Don't talk about the documents.

And I bet you they'll obey.

Posted by: Ace at 03:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 first.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:32 PM (ncXxy)

2 And I have $50 that says ag garland will release a statement saying his office will prosecute anyone who reports on the leak.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:32 PM (ncXxy)

3 Flaming skull? Or do we already have enough heads on fire with regards to Ukraine?

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:32 PM (zZu0s)

4 To boldly go where no moron has gone before.......

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:32 PM (ncXxy)

5 Damn, boxy AND Bold. This is for those of us 29 year olds who live the high contrast lifestyle.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:33 PM (zZu0s)

6 unbolded. Chuy will have to unbox us.

Posted by: mikeski at April 11, 2023 03:33 PM (HNSSb)

7 John Kirby warns journalists not to report on leaked Pentagon documents.

"This is information that has no business in the public domain...It has no business...on the front pages of newspapers or on television." pic.twitter.com/625CxNIarI

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 10, 2023

OBEY. CONFORM.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:34 PM (zZu0s)

8 Insert joke that is topical while ace's blog fu is weak and then looks stupid later when it's all fixed.

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 03:34 PM (pwExq)

9 J>>>John Kirby warns journalists not to report on leaked Pentagon documents.

"This is information that has no business in the public domain...It has no business...on the front pages of newspapers or on television."

You mean like trump's tax returns?

Posted by: Archimedes at April 11, 2023 03:34 PM (EsekA)

10 8 Insert joke that is topical while ace's blog fu is weak and then looks stupid later when it's all fixed.
Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 03:34 PM (pwExq)

Hey, timely jokes are often the best ones.

What about this macarena?!

Or Mambo #5?

Or Menudo?!

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (zZu0s)

11 If Scott Ritter's pedophilia charges were close to the Epstein types, he'd still be in jail.

What's interesting is that Ukraine is using T-64 and even T-55 (?!) tanks in the super modern counteroffensive. Assuming that the Leopard tanks are piloted by Canadian Space Marines, it's the kind of hubris one expects in wars against Iraq or Afghanistan. Not against one of the major arms exporters.

If you believe the WaPo's reporting on 46-50 year old men being dragooned into AFU, it resembles nothing so much as the Volkssturm.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (DTm0P)

12 Howdy!

Posted by: Moonbeam at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (rbKZ6)

13 Woah there Leon Botsky. Enough with the Russian propaganda.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (ppBhU)

14 I knew when the US blew up the pipeline to keep Germany from signing a separate peace that this was going Putin's way.

What I hope to get out of it is a release of all of the bribe payments paid to western leaders to run the Ukraine scam.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (lTGtQ)

15 Did anyone seriously believe Ukraine was gonna toss Russia's salad? Bueller?

Posted by: Puddinhead at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (DmtxH)

16 Or the Cabbage Patch Kids Craze?

They'll be worth MILLIONS in a few years!

Do you have your certificate of authenticity?

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (zZu0s)

17 Flaming skull? Or do we already have enough heads on fire with regards to Ukraine?

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop

Honestly, as much as my heart bleeds for the innocent Ukrainians getting screwed over by this rolling clusterf***, I've actively stopped caring. The entire circus is just a massive shitshow and I literally wish every state entity involved could lose, simultaneously.

Posted by: Brother Tim sez Max Headroom for President! at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (OUMaO)

18

Spriter @Spriter99880

The technicians of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have reached a new level of mastery; now not only artillery, reconnaissance and attack drones are flying over the Kiev NATO infantry, but also drones that say - "Your commanders have left you..."

https://tinyurl.com/5n6df393

Posted by: artisanal ette at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (uQPen)

19 I think I'm pretty plugged in as an American dissident, but I've only seen five pages of this supposed leak. Where are the rest?

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (DTm0P)

20 These are all lies. We are about to change the regime in Moscow.

Posted by: Lindsay Graham, sodomite of principle at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (kOpft)

21 If you believe the WaPo's reporting on 46-50 year old men being dragooned into AFU, it resembles nothing so much as the Volkssturm.
Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (DTm0P)

Probably was the same for Carthage before the Hammer fell.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (zZu0s)

22 Throw some more money at it like that blackjack strategy. Win!

Posted by: NCKate at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (d5Qya)

23
lulz: Fake News and the Democrat party have labeled the racist grooming insurrectionists "The Tennessee Three."

You know, like the Selma Six, or whateverthefuck.

The _______ [insert numeric value here]

or

_____gate.

Posted by: Soothsayer, the HQ's Most Respected Commenter at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (ILtSa)

24 I love when John Kirby is forced to grovel.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (lf83v)

25 I saw a tweet that Yellin or some finance type said that the way to best bolster the world economy is to end the war in Ukraine. It is suggested that this leak is part of the pivot from the administration, which will now say - after affriming America's resolve to fight with Ukraine forever and ever - that the war can't be won and there should be a negotiated settlement (you know, like all the Russian bots say!).

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (pwExq)

26 The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters on Tuesday that a “significant number” of documents alleging to be American intelligence information were “forged” and did not represent authentic classified information, but did not specify which documents were “forged” and which may be real.

Several leftist outlets in the United States published alleged intelligence and defense leaks out of the U.S. government over the weekend. The New York Times presented the alleged documents as a “trove” of leaked, genuine information, most of it involving Washington’s stance on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (RHGPo)

27 I say anybody brings the Math over from the last thread should get a Barreling.

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (N3zMI)

28 How dare you!

Posted by: Joe Mama at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (WmGrA)

29 19 I think I'm pretty plugged in as an American dissident, but I've only seen five pages of this supposed leak. Where are the rest?
Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (DTm0P)

Apparently in a Minecraft Discord channel.

Which is where all the cool kids leak now.

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (pwExq)

30 The freaking Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, NATO and every spy organization in the World have this info.

Why shouldn't the American People?

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (Z32m1)

31
What about the OTHER "Tennessee Three?"

You know, the three 9-year old children murdered by a Democrat party pervert activist?

Posted by: Soothsayer, the HQ's Most Respected Commenter at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (ILtSa)

32 Actually most of Bakhmut/Artemovsk has been in Russian hands for a few days, I think it's just the western portion of the town/rail links that direction that the Ukes have decided to hold (makes sense, the exit route). Russki media quoting Wagner sources says Ukes have rotated in low-quality (territorial defense, new conscript) units and withdrawn better units for a while, which also makes sense.

And Russian VDV (airborne) has been engaged on the southern flank of Bakhmut for months.

"Ukrainian offensive" could be a multi-faceted thing, so need to distinguish between wildly different areas and situations. Crossing the river and trying to actually take the southern portion of Kherson oblast would be quite a thing, due to the geography, and the extensive fortification the Russians have put in place along key routes. Clawing back areas of Donetsk that have been fought over for years, ditto. Whereas parts of Zaporozhe or up near Kharkov, lightly held, Ukes could fairly easily make temporary gainzzz, though dubiously worthwhile or sustainable.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (OTzUX)

33 We're this close to collapsing the Russian economy......

---fading echoes of yesteryear.

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (W2wbi)

34 When did John Kirby give up his gig as a "used car salesman" ?

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (RHGPo)

35 Probably was the same for Carthage before the Hammer fell.
Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (zZu0s)

Mmhmm. Though at least Carthage was correct to fear total genocide at the hands of the Romans. By contrast, the surrender of Mariupol and the role of the ICRC with captured POWs is likely crushing the Ukrainian will to resist. Especially when most of the new army is made up of conscripted civilians.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (DTm0P)

36 And I have $50 that says ag garland will release a statement saying his office will prosecute anyone who reports on the leak.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS)

More likely to surveil the journos and cook up some BS charges.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at April 11, 2023 03:39 PM (jzzG8)

37 Where is Samizdat when we need it?

Posted by: N. Lurker at April 11, 2023 03:39 PM (eGTCV)

38 Its really too bad that Biden bombed all the American pipelines. It leaves Putin with no targets.

Posted by: Puddinhead at April 11, 2023 03:39 PM (DmtxH)

39 Is it wrong to hope Vlad sends a 5 megaton hyper-sonic missile to Dee Cee right away?

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 11, 2023 03:39 PM (DMyTF)

40 I'm looking forward to how they will blame this on Trump.

Because you know they will.

Something about how his impeachment caused the US to delay arming up the Ukraine. If he wouldn't have acted so, they wouldn't have had to impeach him, and they could've focused on the thing.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 11, 2023 03:39 PM (v4INW)

41 LOL!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at April 11, 2023 03:39 PM (KGlll)

42 Federal Government has put its workers on notice that looking at the leaked documents is espionage.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM (pa+NK)

43 34 When did John Kirby give up his gig as a "used car salesman" ?
Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (RHGPo)

As a former used car salesman I resent that.

Posted by: N. Lurker at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM (eGTCV)

44 Apparently in a Minecraft Discord channel.

Which is where all the cool kids leak now.
Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (pwExq)

I saw a YouTube channel from a different Discord moderator involved. But not the actual docs themselves.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM (DTm0P)

45 The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters on Tuesday that a “significant number” of documents alleging to be American intelligence information were “forged” and did not represent authentic classified information, but did not specify which documents were “forged” and which may be real.
_______

Holy shit.

Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM (lf83v)

46 Rumor has it that strategic city is already lost.

Posted by: runner at April 11, 2023 03:41 PM (5a2xV)

47 That’s what it’s all about. Duh.

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at April 11, 2023 03:41 PM (glGDV)

48 Nothing new. Russia has been overestimated and Ukraine underestimated since the beginning of the war. Let's wait and see what actually happens.

Posted by: Mark1971 at April 11, 2023 03:41 PM (xPl2J)

49 I saw a tweet that Yellin or some finance type said that the way to best bolster the world economy is to end the war in Ukraine. It is suggested that this leak is part of the pivot from the administration, which will now say - after affriming America's resolve to fight with Ukraine forever and ever - that the war can't be won and there should be a negotiated settlement (you know, like all the Russian bots say!).
Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 03:37 PM (pwExq)

====================

I remember 1974 and 1975. Next up! The Corrupt ~~South Vietnamese~~ Ukrainian Government does not deserve the support of the United States, and as Democrats we will cut funding to this illegal war!

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:41 PM (Z32m1)

50 Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?
Posted by: Adirondack Patriot
___

Because we are no longer a serious country.

Posted by: SMH at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (U9Iwt)

51 It's funny how there was much less chaos during the chaotic Trump administration.

Posted by: N. Lurker at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (eGTCV)

52 Russian forces have "regained some momentum" and advanced towards the center of Bakhmut, after months of clashes for control of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city, according to a new intelligence update.
++++
But half of the YouTube sidebar of recommended videos are all about how badass Ukraine is and how the Russians are terrified of their defeat, their currency collapse, and all the rest!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (t0OGg)

53 President Joe Biden, speaking in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky
........

LOL fuck you Z-dog.

Posted by: wth at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (v0R5T)

54 39 Is it wrong to hope Vlad sends a 5 megaton hyper-sonic missile to Dee Cee right away?
--------------
If he added missiles to strike NYC, Detroit, Philly, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Maricopa County the Americans would have a chance of winning a war.

Posted by: Pudinhead at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (sVfvf)

55
The Billion Dollar Question: Where did all those billions go

Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (rIr5X)

56 What's interesting is that Ukraine is using T-64 and even T-55 (?!) tanks in the super modern counteroffensive. Assuming that the Leopard tanks are piloted by Canadian Space Marines, it's the kind of hubris one expects in wars against Iraq or Afghanistan. Not against one of the major arms exporters.

If you believe the WaPo's reporting on 46-50 year old men being dragooned into AFU, it resembles nothing so much as the Volkssturm.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM

The T-64 tank is the equal of some countries modern tanks that are fielded today. Fortunately, there aren't many of them left in the soviet Union. It was light years ahead of anything the west had when it was introduced, however it was insanely expensive to build and they quit making them. That's why the Soviets switched to the T72. They had two versions of that tank, an export version and the version they kept themselves.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (ncXxy)

57 The downing and then retrieving of the drone..

Posted by: runner at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (5a2xV)

58 The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters on Tuesday that a “significant number” of documents alleging to be American intelligence information were “forged” and did not represent authentic classified information, but did not specify which documents were “forged” and which may be real.
_______

Holy shit.

Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?
Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM (lf83v)

cluster...

Posted by: artisanal ette at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (uQPen)

59 I heard St. Petersburg is a beautiful place in the summer.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (DMyTF)

60 It is bad that this assessment leaked; it is bad that this assessment of Ukraine's abilities in the spring offensive are so modest or grim; it is bad that apparently lots of foreign-policy experts have doubts about the administration's approach but are afraid to say so publicly; and it is bad that Biden's public assessment of the war in Ukraine is the same rosy-eyed, unrealistic optimism that characterized his assessment of Afghanistan, inflation, migrants crossing the border, and the Chinese spy balloon.
++++
No shit.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (t0OGg)

61 Everything is propaganda at this point.

Posted by: artisanal ette at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (uQPen)

62 Rumor has it that strategic city is already lost.
Posted by: runner at April 11, 2023 03:41 PM (5a2xV)

Similar to Soledar and Mariupol. Of course, the difference is that there are no major fortresses left to hide in, and little chance that the fresh conscripts will be evacuated while risking of Ukrainian vehicles.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (DTm0P)

63 Jim Geraghty, a NeverTrumper, concludes:

The administration is not playing it straight with the American public when it comes to Ukraine. An inability to see the situation clearly and communicate the situation without any sugarcoating is a formula for long-term problems.

======

But, they were playing it straight when they accused Trump of collusion with Ukraine beforehand, right?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (UVZX7)

64 If the Electorate cannot even talk about a WAR issue... isn't that (to use THEIR terms) a threat to our Democracy?

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (oHd/0)

65 IMO can't be sure of anything coming out of Ukraine or Russia

Posted by: Skip at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (xhxe8)

66 Bout time for Joe to send in some US aircraft to help out. That won't spiral things out of control..no siree. Adults. In. Charge

Posted by: A dude in MI at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (/6GbT)

67 ... the U.S. usually provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year and a separate $174 million or so in foreign aid.
++++
Too bad we couldn't afford that border wall.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (t0OGg)

68 But, they were playing it straight when they accused Trump of collusion with Ukraine beforehand, right?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (UVZX7)

But first they accused him of colluding with Russia, so its all good.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (oHd/0)

69 The administration is not playing it straight with the American public ~~when it comes to Ukraine~~.
++++
This statement can be generalized.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (t0OGg)

70 The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters on Tuesday that a “significant number” of documents alleging to be American intelligence information were “forged” and did not represent authentic classified information, but did not specify which documents were “forged” and which may be real.
_______

Holy shit.

Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM

Because everything in those documents is real and everyone is trying to get ahead of the bad news and declare then fake.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (ncXxy)

71 I am no apologist for Ukraine, and from the start of this have said that I see these as two crime families battling it out, and I see no reason why I should take sides or get involved.

having said that, Bakhmut is *not* crucial to either side - it is a rather insignificant speck that now has been completely pulverized into dust and rubble. Each side is fighitng there only because the other side wants to fight there, and because of that they are both pouring irreplacable amounts of men and material into it - in this, it is eerily reminiscent of Verdun in WW1, or Hamburger Hill in Vietnam lore. If Russia wins, they will have sacrificed around 30,000 men to have taken a burned out old gas station in the middle of nowhere. Same goes for Ukraine.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (trdmm)

72 Has Senile Joe said slanche to a wall hanging in Ireland yet?

Posted by: N. Lurker at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (eGTCV)

73 *polishes off old comment *

This seems slightly more relevant in this thread than in the Bud Light thread

520 Egypt's President El-Sisi, one of America's closest allies in the region, recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be secretly shipped to Russia, according to an intelligence document US leaked --Washington Post
____

How about those norms being restored? Great Job National Review. You people are so stupid.
Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 02:17 PM (fs1hN)

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (fs1hN)

74 Russia has occupied Crimea since 2014. You'd think that was enough time for the foreign policy swinging dicks within the Biden State Department to realize that Ukraine represents the losing team.

Screw it, let's double-down on STUPID!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (uAY3R)

75 The Billion Dollar Question: Where did all those billions go
Posted by: ...

Sloshing back and forth between defense contractors, 'consulting groups,' US pols, and Ukrainian mobsters.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at April 11, 2023 03:44 PM (jzzG8)

76 zerohedge @zerohedge · 24 minutes
Firebombs Fly In Northern Ireland Ahead Of Biden Visit To Mark Peace Deal Anniversary

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (Vwz3I)

77 If Egypt can make enough missiles that they are comfortable selling them for export, and if they're of high enough quality to find an export market, why are we giving them more than a billion dollars per year in military aid?

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (t0OGg)

78 Have our military thought leaders determined who disabled Vlad's gas pipeline? I thought the UN said it was Biden.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (DMyTF)

79 ohn Kirby gives the propagandists their orders: Don't report on the leaked documents.
.........

There's still time to grift billions!

Posted by: wth at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (v0R5T)

80 Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?
Posted by: Adirondack Patriot

That's what I thought. What is up with that?

Posted by: Prime Sister at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (tQL7r)

81 Holy shit.

Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?
Posted by: Adirondack Patriot

========================

These New Documents were likely laundered through Russian and Ukrainian Intelligence both. What did they add or subtract?

The best way to lie? It is to bury the lies in a lot of truth.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (Z32m1)

82 I didn't believe it when US Party & State media organs told me Ukraine was winning, and I don't believe them when they say she's losing, either.

These motherfuckers have zero credibility. They can run their lies flat up their asses, where they found them in the first place. Feh.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (oINRc)

83 That's his answer to questions about why the documents contradict his bullshit happy talk lies about the war: Don't talk about the documents.

And I bet you they'll obey.
++++
Probably, yeah. That's the norm.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (t0OGg)

84 You can always tell when the war has started going badly for Ukraine by the Green posts at Insty-- always at the ready with the latest "Russia will lose any day now" story.

And lest I be accused of supporting Russia (a favored tactic of the Warhawks)--I don't. F em all. We have and had no business getting involved.

And the, "But Russia won't stop at Ukraine!" was always BS. Especially as they'd say out the other side of their mouth, "Russia is an empty husk of their former glory."

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 11, 2023 03:45 PM (v4INW)

85 I seem to recall someone else in history claiming his war with Russia was going swell, and people believed him until they lit his corpse on fire and let his ashes scatter to the wind.

Oh, some dreams are more lovely than others.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (J2eMo)

86 That's why the Soviets switched to the T72. They had two versions of that tank, an export version and the version they kept themselves.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (ncXxy)

Right, and now India makes a licensed version of the T-90. I doubt Ukraine is in any condition to repair its rarer tanks, certainly not ones that need Russian maintenance. More than a few vehicles are being shipped back to Poland.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (DTm0P)

87 67 ... the U.S. usually provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year and a separate $174 million or so in foreign aid.
++++
Too bad we couldn't afford that border wall.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:43 PM (t0OGg)

And still have US Troops stationed in the Sanai, overseeing the Egyptian Israeli Camp David accords Carter negotiated.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (oHd/0)

88 65
'IMO can't be sure of anything coming out of Ukraine or Russia'

No. but the prediction that Ukraine isn't capable of retaking anything rings true. If they were that strong, they wouldn't have lost territory in the first place.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (Hszs6)

89
Never take sides in a fight between trailer-trash nations.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (MoZTd)

90 And again, the entire framework in which this topic is discussed is usually/mostly false.

Russia's top objectives were probably impossible to attain and won't be - Ukrainian neutrality, non-association with NATO (de facto or formal), low level of Ukrainian military modernization. The other top objective - securing status of Russian "ethnics" inside 1991 Ukrainian borders - is doable and likely not something any Russian leadership can/will walk away from. Getting formal recognition of Russian sovereignty in Crimea unlikely, not critical.

But this is a 1200km internal border - now a militarized one, for the first time in history - for Russia. They're not going anywhere. It's not a major 20th Century war where the defeated side ceases to exist (as a regime). Any string of plausible Russian "defeats" in the field yields pretty much the same result as Russian victories - a nasty ongoing partly territorial dispute between two contiguous countries, neither of which is going away.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 11, 2023 03:47 PM (OTzUX)

91 I remember 1974 and 1975. Next up! The Corrupt South Vietnamese Ukrainian Government does not deserve the support of the United States, and as Democrats we will cut funding to this illegal war!

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:41 PM

Hey at least we wont see people clinging to the under carriages of airplanes and falling to their deaths trying to flee the country when we abandon Ukraine.................

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:47 PM (ncXxy)

92 The Taliban sure as hell weren't afraid to f*** with Biden. Or are we expected to believe they knew Biden was bound by Trump's plan for chaotic, disgraceful withdrawal that he could not change? ?

Posted by: Ripley at April 11, 2023 03:47 PM (cUYo/)

93 67 ... the U.S. usually provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year and a separate $174 million or so in foreign aid.

------------
I think that both Egypt and Israel get that aid as a condition of the Camp David Accords which sets out a formula. Not sure how that actually plays into actual appropriations as a required mandatory expenditure or discretionary though.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 03:47 PM (bVz3B)

94 I’m shocked! Shocked to find out there’s gambling in this place.

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at April 11, 2023 03:47 PM (glGDV)

95 I knew when the US blew up the pipeline to keep Germany from signing a separate peace that this was going Putin's way.

You gotta love this. Trump tells Germany, hey maybe you guys could lift up your end of the couch with regards to NATO spending.

Everyone freaks out about what a dolt he is.

This administration literally sabotages energy infrastructure of an ally, and nothing.....

Posted by: KJP is a race and gender swapped Side Show Bob at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (QpUKb)

96
HAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHA,, I-uh-just-uh, uh,, r-r-r-remembered that-uh-uh,, mmmm...

yeah

Posted by: John Fetterman at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (vwCZJ)

97 In regard to Ukraine, I think it almost impossible to know the true story. Most of our media is incompetent and largely relies on Twitter as a primary source. We don't trust them on stories we have some inkling about, so certainly they are not trustworthy about this.

Both belligerents are engaged full-scale in warfare over the information space.

The best strategy for someone trying to get at the truth is likely to look back over the past year of war and see who got most of it right. Even then, however, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

As for US intelligence, keep in mind their sterling record on Afghanistan.

Wars have a way of making fools of prophets.

Posted by: Nicholas Kronos at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (tjxra)

98 Right, and now India makes a licensed version of the T-90. I doubt Ukraine is in any condition to repair its rarer tanks, certainly not ones that need Russian maintenance. More than a few vehicles are being shipped back to Poland.
Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (DTm0P)

Yeah, been saying for awhile that Ukraine is like the Germans in WW2. A few really good tanks, but no Logistics to maintain them.

And Russia is like us with our Shermans.... lots of inferior tanks...

But spoiler alert... who won THAT fight.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (oHd/0)

99 Disinformation was posted, leading to a loss by Ukraine, this is why we desparately need the RESTRICT act to help defeat Russia.
-Lindsey Graham re-appearing on Jesse Watters show

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (fs1hN)

100 Russia is willing to continue this war for 50 years if needed.

Known from the beginning and yet... you and I have paid billions upon billions to "Stand with Uke".

Throw in that the money spenders know they are lying about the conditions of the war (which we have known from jump) while they continue funneling money into what is obviously is a lost cause and I don't know what it means but it means you've got some badass perpetrators and they're here to stay.

Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (SkVfA)

101 I agree with this assessment where it states that Ukraine has nowhere near the manpower needed to launch a successful offensive. This is a WW1 style conflict now where progress for either side will be measured in yards per month, and it will end when one of the two sides falls apart under the strain. The only question is which one goes first.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (trdmm)

102 Holy shit.

Why is the leader of a FOREIGN COUNTRY telling us about the veracity of AMERICAN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?
Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 11, 2023 03:40 PM (lf83v)
++++
Because America is deeply corrupt and cannot be trusted, nor can any of its documents. This country lies constantly and this breeds dependence on external forces.

In the 1980s, Reagan instructed the DIA to produce what became the "Soviet Military Power" series of reports. He then published them, over the opposition of most of the spies. He then had them translated into Russian and sent to various Politburo members. One of them famously (though perhaps apocryphally) demanded to know of Party leadership why he had to get information about the Soviet armed forces from the damned *Americans.*

This story is playing out again, except that we're the USSR now.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:49 PM (t0OGg)

103 Never take sides in a fight between trailer-trash nations.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 11, 2023 03:46 PM (MoZTd)

Yup. A couple of pisspot Slav gangster states get in a tussle over black earth, warm water ports, and gas pipelines, and I'm supposed to figure it for The Great Cause of Our Troubled Times. Ridiculous.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 03:49 PM (oINRc)

104 It's kind of amazing how much gravitas Biden has brought to American foreign policy.

Posted by: N. Lurker at April 11, 2023 03:49 PM (eGTCV)

105
Lindsay Graham needs a laryngectomy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 11, 2023 03:49 PM (MoZTd)

106 Bakhmut is important in logistic and transportation network terms for a significant part of that portion of the front. It's about the location/roads/rail, not the ag processing businesses and the metal factories.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 11, 2023 03:50 PM (OTzUX)

107 And Russia is like us with our Shermans.... lots of inferior tanks...

But spoiler alert... who won THAT fight.
Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (oHd/0)

Unlike WWII, Russia doesn't have a major ally well outside the theatre that can ramp up world leading amounts of military industrial production-

Oh wait, yes they DO!

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:50 PM (DTm0P)

108 Let’s not forget Top Men and The Aristocrats.

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at April 11, 2023 03:50 PM (glGDV)

109 DC is a massive edifice of lies.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, sore and more at April 11, 2023 03:51 PM (jTmQV)

110 Hitler's Germany didn't like things that made them look bad in the press either. Funny that.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at April 11, 2023 03:51 PM (17s+e)

111 Biden helped trigger a war that was completely avoidable and unnecessary and he is going to lose it while killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, further damaging NATO, hurting our alliances around the world, emboldening China, NK and Iran and costing us hundreds of billions while weakening our ability to respond to other threats.

The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 03:51 PM (ZLI7S)

112 I like how the "Republican " position as set by McConnell is, "there is no higher priority than supporting Ukraine."

So when they lose ... ?

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (v4INW)

113 The administration is not playing it straight with the American public when it comes to Ukraine. An inability to see the situation clearly and communicate the situation without any sugarcoating is a formula for long-term problems.

----------

Unexpectedly.

The Administration, Deep State, MDM-MSM, and Big Tech (BIRM quattro] are not playing it straight with the American public when it comes to [fill-in-the-blank].

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (IvUe1)

114 The leaked U.S. documents are Russian disinformation!!

Posted by: 51 National Security Experts at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (x2qWz)

115 54 39 Is it wrong to hope Vlad sends a 5 megaton hyper-sonic missile to Dee Cee right away?
--------------
If he added missiles to strike NYC, Detroit, Philly, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Maricopa County the Americans would have a chance of winning a war.
Posted by: Pudinhead

25 Megatons properly distributed in New York State, and it is a red state again. With 1/3 the population and 20% of the Gross Domestic Product.

Ditto California, Illinois, and even Massachusetts.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (Z32m1)

116 Yeah, been saying for awhile that Ukraine is like the Germans in WW2. A few really good tanks, but no Logistics to maintain them.

And Russia is like us with our Shermans.... lots of inferior tanks...

But spoiler alert... who won THAT fight.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM

Problem with that comparison there was no United States shipping in thousands of Javelin missiles. From what I have read we have sent the Ukes over 2,000 javelin missiles and a couple of hundred troops to train them how to use them.

They are pretty simple fire and forget weapons that can destroy any main battle tank in the world. Even with a 50% kill ratio using untrained inexperienced troops, they are a game changer.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (ncXxy)

117 No higher priority than... Ukraine.

Noted.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (oINRc)

118 HAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHA,, I-uh-just-uh, uh,, r-r-r-remembered that-uh-uh,, mmmm...

yeah
Posted by: John Fetterman at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (vwCZJ)
.......

calm down, John. Baby steps. Focus. Form the thought, then slowly put the words in place. Practice.
We're rooting for you.

Posted by: wth at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (v0R5T)

119 It's pretty obvious other countries, especially those referenced in the leaked Pentagon documents don't really give a shit what Kirby has to say. I'd believe them before anything that fucktard says.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (Q4IgG)

120 "It's kind of amazing how much gravitas Biden has brought to American foreign policy."

You think it was easy to get Saudi Arabia and Iran to cozy up with each other?

Posted by: Nicholas Kronos at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (tjxra)

121 Scott Ritter predilections are irrelevant to the accuracy of his analysis... which happens to coincide exactly with that of Col. Doug McGregor. Ukraine's losses are unsustainable -- 200,000 KIA. Russia's are FAR LESS by the nature of the war. Ukraine is dead in the water -- they just don't know it yet.

Posted by: DJS at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (FeP+4)

122 Today's military can tell a loser when they see it. Usually by looking in the mirror.

Posted by: Regular joe at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (nnp+f)

123 82 I didn't believe it when US Party & State media organs told me Ukraine was winning, and I don't believe them when they say she's losing, either.

These motherfuckers have zero credibility. They can run their lies flat up their asses, where they found them in the first place. Feh.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice
-------------------
Nowadays, that is about the only way to play most news about foreign affairs and military matters unless you have well developed alternative sources abroad or in the military.

But, I think part of it is the roasting the FJB is getting ready to get when gas prices hit new highs and there is nothing left in the SPR to release. He has pissed off the Saudis, Russians, UAE, even Canada, etc. apparently so no hope or succor from getting more supplies on the market.

I think that the Greenies in the admin wanted high gas prices but the realist Dems sure hate the political blowback right now when Biden's approval ratings are already going down.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (bVz3B)

124 77
'why are we giving them more than a billion dollars per year in military aid?'

Camp David accords. We pay Egypt to not attack Israel and generally be an 'ally'.
Of course, not having their ass kicked by Israel probably plays into that decision too.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (Hszs6)

125 Biden helped trigger a war that was completely avoidable and unnecessary and he is going to lose it while killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, further damaging NATO, hurting our alliances around the world, emboldening China, NK and Iran and costing us hundreds of billions while weakening our ability to respond to other threats.
---
Notice by the absence in the media the hard embargo on quoting Biden's "a little incursion" statement that gave Russia the green light.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (v4INW)

126 And Russia is like us with our Shermans.... lots of inferior tanks...

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (oHd/0)

On a separate note, I'm not sure the Leopard is a superior tank. They got fustigated in Syria by haphazardly armed terrorists.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (DTm0P)

127 One of the main reasons the USSR fell, was its horrible economy. We forced them to spend money they did not have on defense.

Now, take a look at our economy, and how much we are borrowing to support the Uke war.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (oHd/0)

128 The Billion Dollar Question: Where did all those billions go
Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (rIr5X)

They didn't go anywhere. They went into the pockets of American weapons companies, who then sent it back to the politicians who are ordering more money to be printed.

10% for the Big Guy.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (J2eMo)

129 ... But, I think part of it is the roasting the FJB is getting ready to get when gas prices hit new highs and there is nothing left in the SPR to release. He has pissed off the Saudis, Russians, UAE, even Canada, etc. apparently so no hope or succor from getting more supplies on the market. ...
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 03:53 PM (bVz3B)
++++
It's really too bad that ours isn't a country with significant petroleum reserves or production capacity.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (t0OGg)

130 OK horde mind. I had five things I was going to post but all of these points were posted in the last 3 minutes.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (17s+e)

131 If you're a foreign leader who takes the United States seriously, you're an unfit drooler who needs to be removed from office immediately.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (oINRc)

132 The Ukrainians are killing Russians, and in fact, have decimated the Russian military of its best fighters already and much of its best weapons have been chewed up and spit out. The fact that the Ukraine is still able to put up any resistance 14 months after the start of the invasion from a world super power says beyond any doubt that the fight to defend is worth pursuing.

Posted by: astonerii at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (VcZlJ)

133 106 Bakhmut is important in logistic and transportation network terms for a significant part of that portion of the front. It's about the location/roads/rail, not the ag processing businesses and the metal factories.
Posted by: rhomboid at April 11, 2023 03:50 PM (OTzUX)

all of those facilities, and the rails in the area have now been destroyed by the months of fighting. It will take years to rebuild any of them, and alternate supply pathways behind current lines have already been set up. Bakhmut is now a useless no-mans land, nothing but a burned out cemetery. The fighting there is just for the bragging rights and to attrit the other side.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (trdmm)

134 >>>Lindsay Graham needs a laryngectomy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

>Turkey has an array of horse cocks well suited for the job.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (uAY3R)

135 Starting to feel like they don't care that much about Approval.

Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (53z8v)

136 I like how the "Republican " position as set by McConnell is, "there is no higher priority than supporting Ukraine."
====================
And the GOPe puts Joe Biden in charge?

If anything definitively proves their incompetence, then, by their own standard of criticality, putting Joe Biden in charge of their most important priority is all you need.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (x2qWz)

137 Scott Ritter is a pedophile

Convicted or alleged? Not that I know who this guy is but was curious about the strong statement.

Posted by: olddog in mo at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (ju2Fy)

138 Many months later and I remain just as sure that I know almost nothing reliable about this war as when it began.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (ppBhU)

139 Biden helped trigger a war that was completely avoidable and unnecessary and he is going to lose it while killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, further damaging NATO, hurting our alliances around the world, emboldening China, NK and Iran and costing us hundreds of billions while weakening our ability to respond to other threats.

The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.
Posted by: JackStraw

==============

Biden's Energy Policies allowed Russia to actually finance their war against Ukraine. He shutdown Keystone XL, cut drilling on federal lands, and everywhere else, and dropped the sanctions on Nord Stream II, leading Vlad to think he had enough money to actually take all of Ukraine.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (Z32m1)

140 Someone posted on the prior thread that Ukraine is posed to ban photos of military cemeteries.

Cause that's what democracies that are winning wars do ....

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (v4INW)

141 And Russia is like us with our Shermans.... lots of inferior tanks...

But spoiler alert... who won THAT fight.
Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (oHd/0)

The Russians WWII Tank Crews that used the Shermans (Lend Lease), liked them. The Russian M4s had diesel engines not gas, so a little better crew survival when hit. Plus the reliability was better than the T-34. The Russians also liked all the Dodge Trucks and P-39s we gave them in WWII.

Posted by: Ganowicz Commie Exterminators, LTD. at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (K7t4/)

142 Now leaked documents show that the real assessment of the US is that Ukraine will likely fail

So when China invades Taiwan and the big boys in the EU shrug and say " not our zoo, not our monkeys " I'm trying to picture KJP's power point presentation on how that aligns with our foreign policy goals.

Posted by: Sock Monkey * invictus maneo at April 11, 2023 03:57 PM (Yi79T)

143 "It's kind of amazing how much gravitas Biden has brought to American foreign policy."
==

Aw come on man. I united the whole world. Sure it is against the USA but, look here, they're united. Stupid son of a bitch. Ohhh puddin!

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (17s+e)

144 Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (ncXxy)

Javelins are gone. We sent them our War Stocks, which will take years to replace. That's why we are now seeing 'video' of cheap suicide drones in the propaganda pieces.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (oHd/0)

145 Wonder if Russia is using former US abandoned weapons from Afghanistan

Posted by: Skip at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (xhxe8)

146 It's really too bad that ours isn't a country with significant petroleum reserves or production capacity. Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)
--------
Can't disagree. Stupid is as Stupid does as they say.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (bVz3B)

147 Elizabeth Warren Wants Progressives To Hate Crypto

It's been weird to see crypto getting so politicized by one party or another.

.. you can tell that the Democrats have decided that they have squeezed every drop of money out of crypto

Sam Bankman-Fried is fried

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (RHGPo)

148 Many months later and I remain just as sure that I know almost nothing reliable about this war as when it began.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This!

Is Ukraine like France in 1917, bled white with troops on the verge of mutiny?

Is Russia in a similar state?

Who knows? I know I don't! But I do remember the past.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:59 PM (Z32m1)

149 111 Biden helped trigger a war that was completely avoidable and unnecessary and he is going to lose it while killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, further damaging NATO, hurting our alliances around the world, emboldening China, NK and Iran and costing us hundreds of billions while weakening our ability to respond to other threats.

The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.
Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 03:51 PM (ZLI7S)

Unless you realize that was the plan all along...

Posted by: Inogame at April 11, 2023 03:59 PM (53oGX)

150 Connecting the dots in today's posts:
1. Earlier post - The Left always doubles down when losing.
2. The Left supports Ukraine
3. Ukraine is losing.
4. Get ready to go to fight in the Ukraine, boys!

Posted by: Wally at April 11, 2023 04:00 PM (Tz3Yt)

151 Convicted or alleged? Not that I know who this guy is but was curious about the strong statement.
Posted by: olddog in mo

Convicted in under age internet sting.
Link goes to Reuters story
https://tinyurl.com/3e69ju2h

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:00 PM (bVz3B)

152 Leaked documents, eh? Jill has Consuela to take care of Biden's "leaked documents".

Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 04:00 PM (IL+AX)

153 Ukraine's losses are unsustainable -- 200,000 KIA. Russia's are FAR LESS by the nature of the war. Ukraine is dead in the water -- they just don't know it yet."

That's a nonsensical assessment. Even when things are going very well, the side on the offense takes far higher casualties than the defense, probably at a 3 to 1 ratio. I don't believe the Ukes have had 200,000 KIA anymore than I believe the Russians have had 600,000 KIA.

And all of the numbers are bad, there is not one single honest source for actual casualties on either side.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:01 PM (trdmm)

154 145 Wonder if Russia is using former US abandoned weapons from Afghanistan
Posted by: Skip at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (xhxe

----

Only if he's paying more than Zelenskyyyy

Posted by: Just Lily at April 11, 2023 04:01 PM (3f+sJ)

155 Posted by: Wally at April 11, 2023 04:00 PM (Tz3Yt)

That's good

Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 04:01 PM (2qnj5)

156 Only way for them to beat the Russians is to storm Moscow, and Ukraine ain't ever gonna storm Moscow.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (pohLc)

157 Speaking of wars, the island that JFK and the crew of PT-109 swam to.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ySPG1fvgYNU&t=320s

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (FVME7)

158 The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.
Posted by: JackStraw

Unless you realize that was the plan all along...
Posted by: Inogame
____

Unless Biden wasn't in on the plan, then we're back to JackStraw's assessment

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (fs1hN)

159 Blah blah blah Mother Ukraine is eternally victorious blah blah blah Mother Ukraine needs every American to give his all in the face of fascist Russian aggression blah blah blah

It's all so much horseshit. I believe nothing.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (oINRc)

160 111 Biden helped trigger a war that was completely avoidable and unnecessary and he is going to lose it while killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, further damaging NATO, hurting our alliances around the world, emboldening China, NK and Iran and costing us hundreds of billions while weakening our ability to respond to other threats.

The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.
Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 03:51 PM (ZLI7S)

Unless you realize that was the plan all along...

Posted by: Inogame
===

^^^^^THIS^^^^^

It is NOT stupidity or incompetence. IT IS THE PLAN.

JFC Have some common sense people.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (17s+e)

161 This busty brunette is certain that everyone in public life is lying about literally everything, so she's just going to enjoy her snack:
https://is.gd/VnjYWw

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (t0OGg)

162 I agree with this assessment where it states that Ukraine has nowhere near the manpower needed to launch a successful offensive.

Posted by: Tom Servo

At this point, Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to exist as a nation. That age cohort left Ukraine, died, or is already in uniform getting their asses kicked. They literally don't have enough young people to continue as a country.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (lTGtQ)

163 Scott Ritter is a pedophile

Convicted or alleged? Not that I know who this guy is but was curious about the strong statement.

Posted by: olddog in mo at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (ju2Fy)

Wasn't he in Iraq Vets Against the War? They were a shady bunch.

Posted by: pookysgirl barely remembers milblogging at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (dtlDP)

164
Is Ukraine like France in 1917, bled white with troops on the verge of mutiny?

Is Russia in a similar state?

Who knows? I know I don't! But I do remember the past.
Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 03:59 PM (Z32m1)

From reading Russian mil-bloggers and other non-American sources, my conclusion is that both sides are at that point right now. The question of the war will be which one falls apart first, and that's impossible to predict. Ukraine is in bad, bad shape - but so is Russia.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (trdmm)

165 Nice.... Bud has lost $1 BILLION in sales due to its deciding to side with the insane.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (oHd/0)

166 Wolfus asked me a question this morning after I went to work, I can sort-of answer it but I'll do it next tech thread. Sorry about that, didn't mean to be rude.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (UKCk3)

167 Daniel Ellsberg was a hero to the left when he leak3d the Pentagon papers. Now Kirby tells the media they shouldn't publish such sensitive stuff. Who's the fascist again?
By the way Ellsberg is terminally ill with pancreatic cancer.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (+MtKE)

168 "The fact that the Ukraine is still able to put up any resistance 14 months after the start of the invasion from a world super power says beyond any doubt that the fight to defend is worth pursuing.
Posted by: astoneri"

That might be true if we could believe any of the news coming out of there. Including, no especially, about how wonderful Zelensky is.

Posted by: Ripley at April 11, 2023 04:04 PM (cUYo/)

169 At this point, Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to exist as a nation. That age cohort left Ukraine, died, or is already in uniform getting their asses kicked. They literally don't have enough young people to continue as a country.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (lTGtQ)

Neither does Russia, if you look at the demographics. It's quite a moment in history.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:04 PM (trdmm)

170 I'm so glad Joe Biden got elected because he promised to being an adult in the room and he has delivered. On the international stage, this adult has lied to the American public continuously about the Ukrainian war and blew up our entire defense posture so that we might not be able to fight an effective war against China, and he's so destabilized everything else Egypt's giving him the finger by shipping weapons to the Russians, has the Chico's, Irians, and the Saudis playing kissy face and are on the verge of gutting the US dollar. I could go on for another 3 hours. Meanwhile at home he is behind the plot to send Trump to prison. Joe Biden is asshoe and he has the mental acuity of a rutabaga.

Posted by: Lost In Space at April 11, 2023 04:04 PM (RustQ)

171 No, control of Bakhmut area cuts road network for which no equivalent alternatives currently exist. And rail can be fixed quickly, though moot point in this case. Very useful place from both offensive and defensive viewpoint, for Russian for es in that sector of the front.

Posted by: rhomboid at April 11, 2023 04:04 PM (gToVg)

172 Joe Biden is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: Tex Lovera at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (wtvvX)

173 All information about Russia is lies.

All information about Ukraine is lies.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (WzJYQ)

174 165 Nice.... Bud has lost $1 BILLION in sales due to its deciding to side with the insane.
____

Yes, but ESG scores are way up, baby! We're going to put more of your retirement funds into A-B.
- BlackRock

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (fs1hN)

175 I don't believe the Ukes have had 200,000 KIA anymore than I believe the Russians have had 600,000 KIA.

... the leaked intel showed the Ukes had 17,000 KIA and the Russians have had 58,000 KIA.

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (RHGPo)

176
At this point, Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to exist as a nation. That age cohort left Ukraine, died, or is already in uniform getting their asses kicked. They literally don't have enough young people to continue as a country.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

Cede the whole kit and kaboodle to trannies. Encourage them to move there. Between the Rooskies and Islamists, they'll be just a greasy spot on history's highway in no time.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (pNxlR)

177 Convicted in under age internet sting.
Link goes to Reuters story
https://tinyurl.com/3e69ju2h
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:00
-----------------
Thank you.

Posted by: olddog in mo at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (ju2Fy)

178 At this point, I am not sure if I believe Ukraine and Russia are real places.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at April 11, 2023 04:06 PM (WzJYQ)

179 These motherfuckers have zero credibility. They can run their lies flat up their asses, where they found them in the first place. Feh.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice

I think it's actually less than zero credibility since you can go far by always immediately trusting the opposite of what they say.

Would that be right? Zero credibility would mean you can't ever believe them. Right? What would mean you can ALWAYS trust they are bullshitting you with the opposite of the truth? I swear that's less than zero credibility. I'm following this thread because it's the kind of minutiae I dig and honestly everything else just pisses me off.

Posted by: ... at April 11, 2023 04:06 PM (QFXde)

180
OUT: That Fucking Guy
IN: That Fucking Idiot

Posted by: Tex Lovera at April 11, 2023 04:06 PM (wtvvX)

181 So when China invades Taiwan and the big boys in the EU shrug and say " not our zoo, not our monkeys " I'm trying to picture KJP's power point presentation on how that aligns with our foreign policy goals.
Posted by: Sock Monkey
--------
No one since WWII has shown much ability to do massive sea lifts of forces and pretty much the rain of missiles or bombers ending wars is a myth as well. What would happen if China decided to invade has a lot more unpredictability than does Ukraine-Russia. Russia has the ability to simply lose enough troops and supplies to destroy by attrition the Ukrainian army. Same as Grant at Cold Harbor. In both UKR and RUS, the question though is how much will the leaders in each country cost their home countries. A win for Russia still leaves them worse off for probably a generation and more or less neutered its reputation militarily which has implications for its greatest long term threat--China. UKR is a devastated country requiring billions to rebuild and has lost at least one generation, maybe two.

Stupid people and stupid war.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:06 PM (bVz3B)

182 all of those facilities, and the rails in the area have now been destroyed by the months of fighting. It will take years to rebuild any of them, and alternate supply pathways behind current lines have already been set up. Bakhmut is now a useless no-mans land, nothing but a burned out cemetery. The fighting there is just for the bragging rights and to attrit the other side.
Posted by: Tom Servo
_________________________

The 64 Billion Dollar Question:

Which side is being attritted? Russia? Ukraine? Both?

Defense "Should" favor Ukraine, but attack and counter-attack can use up a lot of soldiers on both sides.

There were lot of stories of Wagner units full of convicts being decimated. True? False? How many Ukrainians did they take with them?

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:06 PM (Z32m1)

183 Scott Ritter is a pedophile

Convicted or alleged? Not that I know who this guy is but was curious about the strong statement.

Posted by: olddog in mo at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (ju2Fy)

Convicted. Underage internet sting.

Posted by: scampydog at April 11, 2023 04:06 PM (2bFN5)

184 Convicted or alleged? Not that I know who this guy is but was curious about the strong statement.
Posted by: olddog in mo at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (ju2Fy)

Convicted, but as with everything else from the W era, not sure what is real and what isn't. Other than the kiddie pron thing, his major crime was not going along with the Boosh admin regarding Saddam's WMD program.

I'm not going to swear to it, but it's possible Scott Ritter is a genuine American hero, and all around standup guy.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 11, 2023 04:07 PM (J2eMo)

185 HANDFUL of salt.

Posted by: Whiskeymike173 at April 11, 2023 04:07 PM (e64iX)

186 153 Ukraine's losses are unsustainable -- 200,000 KIA. Russia's are FAR LESS by the nature of the war. Ukraine is dead in the water -- they just don't know it yet."

That's a nonsensical assessment. Even when things are going very well, the side on the offense takes far higher casualties than the defense, probably at a 3 to 1 ratio. I don't believe the Ukes have had 200,000 KIA anymore than I believe the Russians have had 600,000 KIA.

And all of the numbers are bad, there is not one single honest source for actual casualties on either side.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:01 PM (trdmm)

Russian hasn't been on offense for the most part since fairly early on in the war. Sitting in trenches and being shelled doesn't give Ukraine a whole lot of opportunity to inflict damage.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at April 11, 2023 04:07 PM (eYoxG)

187 Ukraine has only held on this long because we armed them.. And I suspect we have "advisors" there too...

Posted by: It's me donna at April 11, 2023 04:07 PM (bs+z0)

188 First of all they aren't close to running out of Russians in Russia. Second, many underestimate the number of casualties the Russkies are willing to take. And I would put that number in the range of a million+.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at April 11, 2023 04:07 PM (pohLc)

189 First rule of leaked documents...

Posted by: Doof at April 11, 2023 04:08 PM (iY8R7)

190 "why are we giving them more than a billion dollars per year in military aid?"

Where else are they going to to get the funds to make those missiles?

Posted by: FeatherBlade at April 11, 2023 04:08 PM (ou9hh)

191 This busty brunette is certain that everyone in public life is lying about literally everything, so she's just going to enjoy her snack:
https://is.gd/VnjYWw
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (t0OGg)
---
She probably makes a damn fine sammich!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 11, 2023 04:08 PM (YIVH2)

192 Glenn Greenwald has been saying for a while that if the Pentagon Papers happened again the media would be arrested for reporting on them.

Posted by: Ian S. at April 11, 2023 04:08 PM (ZGrMX)

193 158 The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.
Posted by: JackStraw

Unless you realize that was the plan all along...
Posted by: Inogame
____

Unless Biden wasn't in on the plan, then we're back to JackStraw's assessment
Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 04:02 PM (fs1hN)

I don't mean Biden isn't a potato.
I just mean it was always the plan put shit midas 2 up against putin in 3d chess...

Posted by: Inogame at April 11, 2023 04:08 PM (53oGX)

194 Recall the miles and miles of print, pixels and commentary condemning with horror the "chill wind that blows across the nation stifling free speech" because Shrub said, "if you see something, say something?"

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (v4INW)

195 We still stand with the Ukraine! *hic* And the trannies! *hic*

Posted by: Suburban Wine Moms at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (Xrfse)

196 Remember: There are no good guys in the Uke war. And that includes the USA.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (BdMk6)

197 Remember the last go-around of The Pentagon Papers?

We're going to have Plumbers not named Mario.

We will have plenty of hotels, but Trumpgate will cause confusion on the specific one.

We will get to hear "C'mon, man! I'm not a crook!"

And Deep Throat is already in the role of Spiro Agnew.

Posted by: Another Anon at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (7e2Ss)

198 The "down side" risk of wrong guesses by nuclear nations at high alert, or the Ukraine conflict spilling over to NATO countries is massive conventional war in Europe and large-scale deaths of hundreds of thousands of Europeans and many Americans, at best. And, quite potentially, thermonuclear war.

Other, not-unlikely outcomes of this continued conflict include an opportunistic Chinese blockade of Taiwan or more active operations, now that US capabilities are stretched and supplies depleted, and this during the weakest Administration in memory (i.e. creating a vanishingly favorable time window for the Chicoms).

The fact that our President and senior leadership seems to take no pause from maximum provocation, and giving no opportunity for a diplomatic solution, just beggars belief. What the actual f*** happened to what generations of American leaders used to call "stability" ?

Posted by: Zek at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (5FPX4)

199 >>Unless Biden wasn't in on the plan, then we're back to JackStraw's assessment

Joe has been wrong on virtually every single foreign policy decision in the last 50 years.

That isn't my assessment. That is the assessment of of Barak Obama's Sec of Defense Bob Gates. Yes, Biden is corrupt but he is also dumber than hammered dog shit and always has been. He was Obama's point man on Ukraine for almost a decade and was convinced he had helped create a thriving new democracy in the most corrupt nation in Western Europe.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (ZLI7S)

200 And all of the numbers are bad, there is not one single honest source for actual casualties on either side.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:01 PM (trdmm)

I'm an honest source. And I assure you, 100% - that every dollar we send into that shit-hole is indeed a casualty.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (ojZfe)

201 One of the ‘Tennessee Three’ tells CNN a Republican wants to bring back lynchings

-
Fair and balanced.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (FVME7)

202 The Ukrainians are killing Russians, and in fact, have decimated the Russian military of its best fighters already and much of its best weapons have been chewed up and spit out. The fact that the Ukraine is still able to put up any resistance 14 months after the start of the invasion from a world super power says beyond any doubt that the fight to defend is worth pursuing.
Posted by: astonerii at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (VcZlJ)

Alternately, it tells us that Russia is no threat to NATO in conventional arms.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (yQpMk)

203 132
'the fight to defend is worth pursuing'

Worth it for Ukraine definitely. Worth it for us? I don't think so, other than seeing an aggressor lose.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (Hszs6)

204 Joe Biden is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.
Posted by: Tex Lovera at April 11, 2023 04:05 PM (wtvvX)

Wow -- callback to the 44th president. Well played.

Posted by: Doof at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (iY8R7)

205 I was just looking at some maps and found out that there's a spot just north of Bakhmut named Sacco i Vanzetti.

I can't believe those f'ing commie assholes back when actually named a town Sacco i Vanzetti. fuckwads.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (trdmm)

206 165 Nice.... Bud has lost $1 BILLION in sales due to its deciding to side with the insane.
Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (oHd/0)
====================
Did that number come from a good source? I've been watching for data and haven't seen anything, so I am very curious.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (zuz4h)

207 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.
==
Hanlon was naive.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (17s+e)

208 GOPe will be happy to spend even more future generations into debt to rebuild Ukraine, they'll get a good cut for their re-election campaigns, mansions and secret side-trips with whoever took over Epstein's underage trafficking business. No money left over for East Palestine though. Sorry.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (fs1hN)

209 UKR is a devastated country requiring billions to rebuild and has lost at least one generation, maybe two.

Stupid people and stupid war.
Posted by: whig

===================

Think of the RE-Building Opportunities!!!

--- The Clinton Global Crime Foundation
(which was re-activated in the Spring of 2022 for some reason)

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (Z32m1)

210 The Ukrainians are killing Russians, and in fact, have decimated the Russian military of its best fighters already and much of its best weapons have been chewed up and spit out. The fact that the Ukraine is still able to put up any resistance 14 months after the start of the invasion from a world super power says beyond any doubt that the fight to defend is worth pursuing.

Posted by: astonerii at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM

Ukraine has only lasted this long by literally draining the West of all available weapons and ordnance. The United States, Britain, France, Poland, Germany, et. al. have given them everything we had to give. We have nothing left to give and everyone knows that. Heck the Krauts have come out publicly and stated there is nothing left to defend the Country if they are attacked.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (ncXxy)

211 Glenn Greenwald has been saying for a while that if the Pentagon Papers happened again the media would be arrested for reporting on them.
Posted by: Ian S. at April 11, 2023 04:08 PM (ZGrMX)

They wouldn't report them in the first place.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (yQpMk)

212 #76 Update:

Breaking911 @Breaking911 · 1h
Biden takes son Hunter on Ireland trip

“I can confirm that Hunter Biden is traveling [on Air Force One],” @PressSec says

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (Vwz3I)

213 Neither does Russia, if you look at the demographics. It's quite a moment in history.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:04 PM (trdmm)
---
Russia is so big as a geographic entity with such a low population by comparison, it's a bit of a mystery how they are able to sustain their borders from one side of the country to the other.

I'd suspect that a Russian from their version of "flyover" country doesn't give a rat's ass about what Moscow is doing.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (YIVH2)

214 Re The Great Ukrainian Spring Offensive:

The Russians are planning on replicating what they did at the Battle of Kursk in WWII - let the enemy attack, have the enemy's attack waste itself on the fortified line that the Russians have spent six months constructing, and then counterattack.

The Ukranians' problem is that every month that the military status quo persists benefits the Russians - the obvious end-point of the war is a Korea-style armistice along the current front lines, and Ukraine needs to change the status quo soon if they want to prevent that.

The problem is that rushing Ukrainian troops through abbreviated training courses to use the spiffy Western equipment may not work very well in battle.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (2tUFv)

215 130 OK horde mind. I had five things I was going to post but all of these points were posted in the last 3 minutes.
Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at April 11, 2023 03:54 PM (17s+e)

Then a nood will come, and all these posts will be gone, like tears in the rain.

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (pwExq)

216 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.

That's the trouble with shit like Hanlon's Razor ... Chesterton's Fence ... Moore's Law ... and all these other rules of thumb thrown about as immutable universal forces. Sometimes, they're just wrong.

This is one of those times.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (ojZfe)

217 Alternately, it tells us that Russia is no threat to NATO in conventional arms.
Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (yQpMk)

Are you serious? Have you seen what passes for the German army lately? Even the Krauts know they are incapable of defending their country.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (pohLc)

218 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.

-----

The very stupid are almost always malicious -. Lily's corollary

Posted by: Just Lily at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (3f+sJ)

219 165 Nice.... Bud has lost $1 BILLION in sales due to its deciding to side with the insane.
Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 04:03 PM (oHd/0)
====================
Did that number come from a good source? I've been watching for data and haven't seen anything, so I am very curious.

Posted by: Huck Follywood
===

I was at grocery store earlier and my anecdotal evidence of every other beer other that Bud and BL were sold out or very little stock on hand. BL was stacked up on end caps in addition to the coolers.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (17s+e)

220 WaPo: Let's fight the big one again!

This ought to be the trump card for the United States. In World War II, the United States converted manufacturing plants across the country to make tanks, planes and aircraft carriers that simply overwhelmed Japan and Germany. No similar mobilization has taken place this time. Why not? Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has met several times with defense contractors, but why hasn't President Biden appointed the equivalent of Franklin D. Roosevelt's War Production Board?

https://bit.ly/43mHkzs

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (FVME7)

221 The dumbest man ever to hold the presidency.
Posted by: JackStraw
Unless you realize that was the plan all along...
Posted by: Inogame
===
It is NOT stupidity or incompetence. IT IS THE PLAN. Posted by: Jukin
--------
It is part of a plan but that plan itself, just like Biden is and was stupid all along. When you consider that most of what we know on psychology is based on studies of college freshmen taking psychological quizzes for extra credit, the whole field stinks of incompetence. Our intel community has demonstrated time and again that they are incompetent idiots as has our recent military chiefs, diplomats, and other such professional think tank and office holders. Bud Light ditz girl idiot demonstrates how to destroy a brand in one week. Iger and his idiots demonstrate how to take a beloved company and turn it into a clapped out scabby whore. Schwab himself is a literal cutout Bond Nazi Villain expressing such popular mantras as eat ze bugs and 90 percent of people have to die.

These are not serious people and these are not serious plans--it will all come a cropper worldwide. The question is at what price now.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (bVz3B)

222 Off Joey Topic:

Breaking911 @Breaking911 · 2h
LOUISVILLE BANK SHOOTING — LATEST:
- Gunman purchased rifle legally last week
- Victims were targeted, police say
- Massacre was livestreamed
- Police bodycam to be released today

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (Vwz3I)

223 I'm stunned Russia is winning, stunned. I wonder if Russia is an FBI code word like based and red-pilled?

Posted by: Indignacio Vindacatorem at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (oWBc3)

224 I can't believe those f'ing commie assholes back when actually named a town Sacco i Vanzetti. fuckwads.

I laughed when I saw that.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (2tUFv)

225 Are you serious? Have you seen what passes for the German army lately? Even the Krauts know they are incapable of defending their country.
Posted by: Xipe Totec at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (pohLc)

They have to get through Poland first.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (yQpMk)

226 Did that number come from a good source? I've been watching for data and haven't seen anything, so I am very curious.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (zuz4h)

Article from 'Independent News', reposted by MSN on their lead page.

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (oHd/0)

227 Are you serious? Have you seen what passes for the German army lately? Even the Krauts know they are incapable of defending their country.

*********

They also ended the last of their nuclear plants because they expect to get all of their energy needs by unicorn farts and purposely killing the population en masse via starvation and lack of power to heat or cool their homes

But hey they know their pronouns!

Posted by: The Unvaxxed and Unmasked Ranger - America is Dead - National Divorce NOW at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (VTu1l)

228 You know, if the Ukrainians are gonna win this war, they're going to have to put more points on the scoreboard than the Russians. Give 110 percent.

Posted by: Zombie John Madden at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (ppBhU)

229 202 The Ukrainians are killing Russians, and in fact, have decimated the Russian military of its best fighters already and much of its best weapons have been chewed up and spit out. The fact that the Ukraine is still able to put up any resistance 14 months after the start of the invasion from a world super power says beyond any doubt that the fight to defend is worth pursuing.
Posted by: astonerii at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (VcZlJ)

Alternately, it tells us that Russia is no threat to NATO in conventional arms.

... plus neither side can sustain the rate of weapons use/loss

that's why every planner always figured a Soviet/NATO war would go nuclear very quickly

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (RHGPo)

230 Remember: There are no good guys in the Uke war. And that includes the USA.

The Uke side basically *is* the USA. Obama and the CIA color-revolutioned Zelensky, then a moderately successful comedian who played a piano with his dick, into running Ukraine for their (and many others') enrichment. (Obama probably also demanded a private performance of Zelensky's dick).

Posted by: Ian S. at April 11, 2023 04:15 PM (ZGrMX)

231 Biden intends to fight to the last Ukrainian.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:15 PM (yQpMk)

232 Ukraine has only lasted this long by literally draining the West of all available weapons and ordnance. The United States, Britain, France, Poland, Germany, et. al. have given them everything we had to give. We have nothing left to give and everyone knows that. Heck the Krauts have come out publicly and stated there is nothing left to defend the Country if they are attacked.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (ncXxy)
---
This situation kind of reminds me of a Steve Jackson game like Munchkin or Illuminati. A friend of mine once pointed out that the *first* person to attempt to achieve the victory condition often failed as everyone expended resources to stop them. The *second* person to attempt to win also failed as more resources are expended. The *third* person to attempt victory often succeeded because everyone else was tapped out of resources.

Maybe China is just waiting for Russia/Ukraine/West to expend all their resources so that they can move into Taiwan relatively unmolested because we'll have no way to prevent it.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 11, 2023 04:15 PM (YIVH2)

233 Joe has been wrong on virtually every single foreign policy decision in the last 50 years.

....

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.
Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (ZLI7S)

See? I don't always disagree with JackStraw!

Hiya spoon buddy!

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 04:15 PM (pwExq)

234 Are you serious? Have you seen what passes for the German army lately?

If I became dictator, first thing I would do is militarize the Boy Scouts and invade Germany with them. Just for the sheer joy of humilating the Hun with child soldiers.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority at April 11, 2023 04:16 PM (ppBhU)

235 I'd suspect that a Russian from their version of "flyover" country doesn't give a rat's ass about what Moscow is doing.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 11, 2023 04:12 PM (YIVH2)

If I was a Russian, I'd be most worried about the fact that much of the population east of the Caucasus - maybe even a majority - are now ethnic Chinese, along with assorted native Siberian groups. Very few white Russians left out there.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:16 PM (trdmm)

236 187 Ukraine has only held on this long because we armed them.. And I suspect we have "advisors" there too...
Posted by: It's me donna at April 11, 2023 04:07 PM (bs+z0)

=======================

We have drones, AWACS, and Electronic Intelligence Aircraft flying across the border from Byelorussia, Ukraine, and the Black Sea 24/7. The intelligence we develop and send to Ukraine is invaluable.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (Z32m1)

237 I don't believe the Ukes have had 200,000 KIA anymore than I believe the Russians have had 600,000 KIA.

.. i believe that is more likely ...

the Ukes have had 200,000 casualties and the Russians have had 600,000 casualties.

a casualty being KIA/WIA/MIA

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (RHGPo)

238 >>This is one of those times.

Sure. This will sound great on Joe's reelection campaign stump speech.

I brought the country to the brink of WWIII while destroying our alliances and emboldening our enemies but hey, it only cost you a couple hundred billion!

NATO has been trying to win not lose and they are losing.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (ZLI7S)

239 My guess is that if Ukraine looks to fall, Poland enters the war. Possibly Lithuania and the other Eastern European countries as well.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (wmDcS)

240 Everyone seems to feel the need to say they don't want Russia to win.

Well I'll say it. I hope they do. I hope they win, put zelensky on trial, have him shot, and then start releasing all the captured docs of U.S. corruption and money laundering and warmongering, to the point where international courts are convicting U.S politicians of crimes against humanity.

I have a dream...

Posted by: BurtTC at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (J2eMo)

241 Quick get the TikTok influencers, they'll save Biden and his administration's ass.

Posted by: redridinghood at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (NpAcC)

242 The fact that our President and senior leadership seems to take no pause from maximum provocation, and giving no opportunity for a diplomatic solution, just beggars belief. What the actual f*** happened to what generations of American leaders used to call "stability" ?
Posted by: Zek
-------
NO money in it for the pols, bureaucrats, and their associated asshole corporate and ngo friends.

A lot of those financial hedge funds that so generously give to Dems actually like chaos in the world as it allows them to use inside information to make bundles as well. Soros is simply one such monster but Marc Rich was another such asshole.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (bVz3B)

243 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.
Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:09 PM (ZLI7S)
++++
Never attribute to stupidity or malice that which is adequately explained by both.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (t0OGg)

244 GOPe will be happy to spend even more future generations into debt to rebuild Ukraine, they'll get a good cut for their re-election campaigns, mansions and secret side-trips with whoever took over Epstein's underage trafficking business. No money left over for East Palestine though. Sorry.

A couple days ago, in the morning thread ... we discussed just how far back the rot went. When did our government become a single UniParty ? When did the GOP truly cease being an opposition party ?

Well - in 1945 - in response to winning a world war against two aggressors, in part by allying with another future enemy - our global response was to rebuild the aggressors. A few short decades after that, our policy was to drive away the very industrial might that made that victory possible. Draw your own conclusions.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (ojZfe)

245 White House Tells Journalists They Have ‘No Business’ Reporting On Leaked Intel

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (RHGPo)

246
Uh, I crane ... ummm, we crane ... *cough* ... Ukraine.

That is all ...

Lumpy Fetterman, Senator De Luxe

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (pNxlR)

247 239 My guess is that if Ukraine looks to fall, Poland enters the war. Possibly Lithuania and the other Eastern European countries as well.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (wmDcS)

So a return of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

Posted by: Thrawn at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (Rl7KJ)

248 How about Black Russians and Moscow Mules??

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (Vwz3I)

249
Are you suggesting that the Newsweek/MSNBS/ General Petreaus Youtube videos I've been watching are incorrect?

Russian disinformation. Good day sir!

Posted by: Auspex at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (j4U/Z)

250 Why the left fights so hard to get their way:

1. They are Bigots
2. Bigots are the bottom 10% of humanity
3. Because of Dunning-Kruger they are absolutely sure they have all the answers.
4. Like all bottom dwellers in any field they are convinced that the best people in the field are simply evil.
5. Being Bigots they actually have none of the answers to anything.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (CecP5)

251 Breaking911 @Breaking911 · 1h
Biden takes son Hunter on Ireland trip

Dr. Jill sent him as Joe's handler... I see on the Easter roll yesterday Hunter had to steer Joe away from the crowd... Took over Easter bunny duties

Posted by: It's me donna at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (bs+z0)

252 Are you serious? Have you seen what passes for the German army lately?

If I became dictator, first thing I would do is militarize the Boy Scouts and invade Germany with them. Just for the sheer joy of humilating the Hun with child soldiers.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls - an election is simply a festival for the majority

===============

The German Army is not the greatest danger. The unassimilated foreign population is the greatest danger to civilization.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (Z32m1)

253 My guess is that if Ukraine looks to fall, Poland enters the war. Possibly Lithuania and the other Eastern European countries as well.

Posted by: Colorado Alex

I doubt it.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (lTGtQ)

254 So a return of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
Posted by: Thrawn at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (Rl7KJ)

Stranger things have happened.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (wmDcS)

255 Well I'll say it. I hope they do. I hope they win, put zelensky on trial, have him shot, and then start releasing all the captured docs of U.S. corruption and money laundering and warmongering, to the point where international courts are convicting U.S politicians of crimes against humanity.

I have a dream...
Posted by: BurtTC
-----------
It is a pipedream-- I think if Putin had a lot of kompromat, he would have deployed it already. The truth is that Russian hackers got the rep but the Chinese are the ones that insinuated themselves successfully to gather all these secrets of the US.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (bVz3B)

256 If you believe the WaPo's reporting on 46-50 year old men being dragooned into AFU, it resembles nothing so much as the Volkssturm.
Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 03:35 PM (DTm0P)

Probably was the same for Carthage before the Hammer fell.
Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 11, 2023 03:36 PM (zZu0s)

In the 3rd Punic War Carthage surrendered hoping for good terms, but the Romans told them to march out as the city would be demolished. Horrified, the civilians closed the gates and took up makeshift weapons and the Roman army assaulted the town and killed most all of the citizens and it burned to the ground as a result.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:20 PM (eoQWY)

257
I have a dream...
Posted by: BurtTC at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (J2eMo)

I'm almost there

Posted by: It's me donna at April 11, 2023 04:20 PM (bs+z0)

258 245 White House Tells Journalists They Have ‘No Business’ Reporting On Leaked Intel
Posted by: SMOD at April 1

Jim Acosta is screaming his head off I'm sure.

Posted by: That Northern skulker at April 11, 2023 04:20 PM (VdGjU)

259 We've been played folks. Zman got rich, Russia got what Russia wanted, we are substantially weaker in every measure. What can't Joe do? And for all the idiots saying,"well they are killing Russians", you have no idea how Russians think about these things.

Posted by: Indignacio Vindacatorem at April 11, 2023 04:20 PM (oWBc3)

260
So a return of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
Posted by: Thrawn at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (Rl7KJ)

You know that deep in their heart of hearts, Poland has got to be mightily tempted to invade Germany right now.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:20 PM (trdmm)

261 Dr. Jill sent him as Joe's handler... I see on the Easter roll yesterday Hunter had to steer Joe away from the crowd... Took over Easter bunny duties
------------
The Easter Bunny scared Joe too much.

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 11, 2023 04:20 PM (Vwz3I)

262 This tells me less about what is actually going on in Ukraine than it does the Pentagon wanting more money to be poured into the country.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 11, 2023 04:21 PM (0hOvj)

263 Regarding Ukranian tanks, I think the Germans were only providing a dozen Leopard's, and they still aren't there.

That's only one company of tanks, and that isn't going to win anybody's war.

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 04:21 PM (pwExq)

264 Waraiotoko's Razor: Never attribute to stupidity the actions of a group that can adequately be explained by malice.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 11, 2023 04:21 PM (9UlRk)

265 It is a pipedream-- I think if Putin had a lot of kompromat, he would have deployed it already. The truth is that Russian hackers got the rep but the Chinese are the ones that insinuated themselves successfully to gather all these secrets of the US.
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:19 PM (bVz3B)

Well we've driven China and Russia to be allies, so they may do Putin a solid and give him some information they have.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:21 PM (eoQWY)

266
If I was a Russian, I'd be most worried about the fact that much of the population east of the Caucasus - maybe even a majority - are now ethnic Chinese, along with assorted native Siberian groups. Very few white Russians left out there.
Posted by: Tom Servo

Bummer ... man

-- The Dude

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 11, 2023 04:21 PM (pNxlR)

267 Biden intends to fight to the last Ukrainian.

Rabid Ukrainian fanboy, Paul Massaro:

And it's like, I mean, oh my God, when in history have we been able to knock out one of our primary adversaries without a single trooper, without a single person on the ground, without a single jet in the air? The Ukrainians are just doing it all, and they're doing it for what is essentially pennies in our national security budget. This is like a rounding error of stuff we’re giving the Ukrainians.

Yup.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:21 PM (2tUFv)

268 And no one in Europe will defend Ukraine as this continues to go south - they don't like them either.

Posted by: Indignacio Vindacatorem at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (oWBc3)

269 Which is worse?

A) Saying p*ssy
B) Mean tweets

The answer is to embrace and!

Posted by: NPC_10001111 at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (a3Q+t)

270 I hope they do. I hope they win, put zelensky on trial, have him shot, and then start releasing all the captured docs of U.S. corruption and money laundering and warmongering, to the point where international courts are convicting U.S politicians of crimes against humanity.

I've been saying since this started that if Putin was as smart as he thinks he is, he'd have concentrated on grabbing every server in KEEEV and posting the contents on WikiLeaks.

Posted by: Ian S. at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (ZGrMX)

271 We have drones, AWACS, and Electronic Intelligence Aircraft flying across the border from Byelorussia, Ukraine, and the Black Sea 24/7. The intelligence we develop and send to Ukraine is invaluable.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (Z32m1)

If you look on FlightRadar 24, you can see P-3E, P8A, RC-135W, a number of different air refueling planes and Polish, Romanian Italian Air Force planes on the Southeastern border of Romania nearly every morning Eastern time

Posted by: SMOD at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (RHGPo)

272 I have a dream of Justin Castreau hung on his own gallows.

Posted by: That Northern skulker at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (VdGjU)

273 To be fair, I'm pretty sure the DoD didn't think the last pair of (wildly successful) counter-offensives were going to work, either.

You have to remember the DC establishment goals here vary between "drag this war out because we're evil fucks", "drag this war out because $$$", and "drag this war out because our Chinese paymasters said so". Of course the DoD is going to report that things are going as planned.

I would not count on Ukraine having the resources to push hard, but I would trust them to know better whether they can push with what they have, vs DC DoD hacks.

Posted by: somedood at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (HMWox)

274 Intel has no business leaking intel.

Once the cat is out of the bag, too bad, suckers.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (9UlRk)

275 Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (Xrfse)

276 @263

>>That's only one company of tanks, and that isn't going to win anybody's war.

It's an Op, everything is Op.

Every time Zelinski gets a billion dollars, a Uniparty/MIC simp gets his Vig.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (up/3i)

277 I hope they do. I hope they win, put zelensky on trial, have him shot, and then start releasing all the captured docs of U.S. corruption and money laundering and warmongering, to the point where international courts are convicting U.S politicians of crimes against humanity.

Now do Syria.

It's just possible - just possible, mind you - that we aren't the "good guys" in this conflict. And maybe haven't been the "good guys" in others.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (ojZfe)

278 My guess is that if Ukraine looks to fall, Poland enters the war. Possibly Lithuania and the other Eastern European countries as well.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (wmDcS)

I can see it now... highly saturated, colorful camera cards with Helvetica or Gotham typeface, sitting on top of a lachrymose synth-piano audio bed... "Armor Hotdogs Stands Together With Poland, Lithuania, Raytheon, Boston Dynamics, And Us All During These Troubling Times.

#Justice #Hotdogs"

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (oINRc)

279 247 239 My guess is that if Ukraine looks to fall, Poland enters the war. Possibly Lithuania and the other Eastern European countries as well.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (wmDcS)

So a return of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
Posted by: Thrawn at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (Rl7KJ)

Most of the Lithuania of that era is western Ukraine. Lithuania is very tiny these days.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (eYoxG)

280 I'd be most worried about the fact that much of the population east of the Caucasus - maybe even a majority - are now ethnic Chinese, along with assorted native Siberian groups. Very few white Russians left out there.

Absolutely untrue - Siberia is 85% Russian. The Russians are very careful about letting Chinese into the country, for obvious reasons.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:24 PM (2tUFv)

281 For I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do you?

Posted by: Roger Daltry at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (aT619)

282 Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:13 PM (bVz3B)

Well then. Keep thinking that way as they keep most of the the power by all their stupid ways of doing things.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (BdMk6)

283 275 Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (Xrfse)

---

You, sir, are a Great American!

Posted by: Just Lily at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (3f+sJ)

284 I have a dream of Justin Castreau hung on his own gallows.
Posted by: That Northern skulker at April 11, 2023 04:22 PM (VdGjU)

Tell him it's what the cool kids are doing in Bali this year and the stupid bastard will tie the knot himself.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (9UlRk)

285 Well, there's only one man who can right the ship, and the people who lead us and run all of our institutions would rather blow up the world than allow that to happen

Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (mR6Gs)

286 Maybe China is just waiting for Russia/Ukraine/West to expend all their resources so that they can move into Taiwan relatively unmolested because we'll have no way to prevent it.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

Taiwan will be a naval and air war, not so much ground troops. For a Chinese invasion to occur successfully, they either need Taiwan to fold to allow occupation forces in as fait accompli or win naval and air supremacy over the waters and air over the straits separating Taiwan from the mainland. Thus, torpedoes, ship to surface, asw weapons, etc. are at a premium along with medium range missiles whether cruise/ballistic/ or hypersonic. Then there is the air to air missiles and anti air missiles.

None of that much has been deployed or sold to Ukraine.

In a way, similar to how the Atlantic and Pacific theatres of war in WWII differed.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (bVz3B)

287 I know someone up-thread had most likely already said this, but I grew up on WWII lore that was clear in saying that Japan and Germany both used propaganda techniques to lie to their own people so as to not diminish the Government's power. And that this was a bad thing.

Why is it any different now? We are being told deliberate lies all of the time by these people. To preserve themselves in power. I wonder if Steven Van Zandt would care to comment on that?

Posted by: Erik In Texas at April 11, 2023 04:26 PM (z0DEK)

288 Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Hanlon's Razor.

The obvious corollary to Hanlon's Razor: "One must attribute to malice that which cannot be explained by stupidity." That is true, because in order to hide actual malice, a clever person need only disguise it as stupidity.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at April 11, 2023 04:26 PM (CecP5)

289 52 Russian forces have "regained some momentum" and advanced towards the center of Bakhmut, after months of clashes for control of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city, according to a new intelligence update.
++++
But half of the YouTube sidebar of recommended videos are all about how badass Ukraine is and how the Russians are terrified of their defeat, their currency collapse, and all the rest!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at April 11, 2023 03:42 PM (t0OGg)
----
Yep, I noticed that youtube trend right from the beginning of this debacle.

Posted by: Ciampino --- I do believe the Book is true at April 11, 2023 04:26 PM (qfLjt)

290 Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.

As if we'll be able to maintain the bridge. Or make a cardboard box.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:26 PM (ojZfe)

291 I agree with this assessment where it states that Ukraine has nowhere near the manpower needed to launch a successful offensive. This is a WW1 style conflict now where progress for either side will be measured in yards per month, and it will end when one of the two sides falls apart under the strain. The only question is which one goes first.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 03:48 PM (trdmm)

Every mile Ukraine advances into this zone means they have to man two fronts on their flanks against counterattacks. The zone has been fortified for months now, and Russia has plenty of artillery. Word is that in some places Russia has 360 degree fortified regions so that they can place troops that can be surrounded and hold out until relieved by counter-attacks.

If by some miracle they do reach the coast, this leaves their attacking forces holding two sides of a square, while Russia can still supply the western part through the Crimea and the eastern part from Russia directly. It is a fools errand

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:26 PM (eoQWY)

292 I get it, some of you love the underdog, but look at facts and history and you're betting Sam Houston State beats Georgia in football. I just don't get the Ukraine love - you can hate Russia, I don't care - but we're being played.

Posted by: Indignacio Vindacatorem at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (oWBc3)

293 Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM

Your terms are acceptable.

Posted by: TFG at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (a3Q+t)

294 Which country will Zalenskyy flee to with his billions?

Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (mR6Gs)

295 >>It's just possible - just possible, mind you - that we aren't the "good guys" in this conflict. And maybe haven't been the "good guys" in others.

We aren't. We've known exactly what would happen if we made continued overtures about bringing Ukraine into NATO since the 2008 Bucharest NATO summit. Putin told us bringing Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was his red line and it would trigger a war.

He invaded Georgia under Bush to prove his point. Days after we helped engineer the 2014 Maidan coup Putin took Crimea and Obama did shit. Nothing happened under Trump so Putin did nothing. Biden started hinting he was going to invite Ukraine into NATO and here we are.

Anyone who is surprised about any of this hasn't been listening to Putin. He might be a murderous thug but he has a say in when his country goes to war.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (ZLI7S)

296 Did that number come from a good source? I've been watching for data and haven't seen anything, so I am very curious.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (zuz4h)

Article from 'Independent News', reposted by MSN on their lead page.
Posted by: Romeo13 at April 11, 2023 04:14 PM (oHd/0)
===================
the article cites a blog post from something called "SpaceXMania" and blames Elon Musk for calling the beer "carbonated urine". The billion dollar number is speculation but they blame Musk, and not the Mulvaney craziness.

Darn. I'm really hoping this hits them hard.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (fA91Z)

297 > US Forecast That Ukraine's Counteroffensive Will Likely Fail;

Are these the same forecasters who said Russia would take Kiev in 3 days?

Posted by: comradearthur at April 11, 2023 04:28 PM (/P8Pv)

298 Regarding Ukranian tanks, I think the Germans were only providing a dozen Leopard's, and they still aren't there.

That's only one company of tanks, and that isn't going to win anybody's war.
Posted by: blaster

=================

the Poles have been agitating for months to send their Polish Leopards to Ukraine. Except Germany kept saying NEIN!

There are about 10 countries willing to send their Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

The delay is that it takes time to train tankers how to use an entirely new and different tank. A tank that is built to a completely different design philosophy, with entirely different equipment, with a completely foreign language(s) on all the parts and pieces.

The Germans and Europeans even use a completely different, NON-Cyrillic Alphabet. Try driving a new car labelled in Japanese or Chinese characters.

It will take time for the tanks to appear.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:28 PM (Z32m1)

299 283 275 Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at April 11, 2023 04:23 PM (Xrfse)

---

You, sir, are a Great American!
Posted by: Just Lily at April 11, 2023 04:25 PM (3f+sJ)

You will live in a cardboard box and you will enjoy it.

Posted by: Just Call Me Klaus because Schwab sounds too Tuetonic at April 11, 2023 04:28 PM (aGGj6)

300 Which country will Zalenskyy flee to with his billions?
Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (mR6Gs)

Israel.

Posted by: Ganowicz Commie Exterminators, LTD. at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (K7t4/)

301 Document isn't only thing leaking, my hot water tank is. Not catastrophic yet, slow trickling

Posted by: Skip at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (xhxe8)

302 I have no idea why China hasn't taken Taiwan or North Korea attacked South Korea with this incompetent fool as Resident.

We have no strategic reserve of oil, our ammo, weapons systems are degraded, our Navy is retiring the Ticos w/o replacements, new submarines/carries/anphibs are back logged, they taken MBTs and heavy artillery from the Marines, the Army under strength.

The Resident hasn't been right on a foreign policy question ever in his entire career.

I don't know what our enemies are waiting for unless they think they'll win w/o firing a shot.

Posted by: Archer at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (gmo/4)

303 If you believe the WaPo's reporting on 46-50 year old men being dragooned into AFU, it resembles nothing so much as the Volkssturm.

I saw the Ukrainians boasting about having an economics professor on the front lines, complete with a picture of him with his MANPAD. The guy was obviously in his '50's.

One theory is that the old guys are assigned to the front as cannon fodder, while the younger guys are being put into the reserve units behind the lines, in preparation for the counteroffensive.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (2tUFv)

304 I don't trust the authenticity of these "leaks" I have this feeling that Our Gov. is doing the leaking

Posted by: It's me donna at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (bs+z0)

305 Lumpy

I am Lump.

Posted by: Fetterman's Lump at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (Vu7A1)

306 "NSC Spokesman John Kirby Demands Media Not Publish Leaks Which Are Damaging to Biden's Lies About the War Going Great"

And the $130 billion (and counting) that has already left the US to fund the Ukraine - what of that?

Posted by: Darrell Harris at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (/iWhV)

307 "This is information that has no business in the public domain...It has no business...on the front pages of newspapers or on television."

Kirby should know better then to affirm the leak with this statement. He was an Admiral. Jackass

Posted by: Marcus T at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (x7plP)

308 carriers dang auto cucumber

Posted by: Archer at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (gmo/4)

309 I have no idea why China hasn't taken Taiwan or North Korea attacked South Korea with this incompetent fool as Resident.

Because neither has the capability to win, even without US involvement.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (wmDcS)

310 Which country will Zalenskyy flee to with his billions?
Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (mR6Gs)

Doesn't he have a mansion in Miami? Or am I thinking of a different gangster?

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (yQpMk)

311 Which country will Zalenskyy flee to with his billions?
Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (mR6Gs)

He will move in next to Meghan Markle in Montecito and cuck the British Royal whelp. There will be a Netflix reality show about it, and then McConnell and Biden will anoint him with adrenochrome and crown him Holy American Emperor.

Fin.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (oINRc)

312 Biden started hinting he was going to invite Ukraine into NATO and here we are.

Anyone who is surprised about any of this hasn't been listening to Putin. He might be a murderous thug but he has a say in when his country goes to war.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM

And both biden and obama knew with 100% certainty that taunting Russia with Ukraine NATO membership was a line that would set putin off and almost guarantee he would invade, because he told us exactly what would happen if we invited them into NATO. Yet here we are.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (ncXxy)

313 Re: the squirrel-and-bird cat video in the sidebar . . . If I left that playing on my TV, I'd come home to find the flatscreen toppled over. My two feline thugs I've caught on occasion reaching up toward the top of the TV. The little one is not that tall, but Stirling the big black is, and he weighs enough and is strong enough to pull the TV over.

Otherwise it would be great for them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (J2vNu)

314 "..... Nothing happened under Trump so Putin did nothing. Biden started hinting he was going to invite Ukraine into NATO and here we are......'

Trump is Putin's Poodle!

Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (mR6Gs)

315 :Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.
Posted by: Notorious BFD"

Just hope the bridge was not designed by a DEI hire.

Posted by: Ripley at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (cUYo/)

316 The Resident hasn't been right on a foreign policy question ever in his entire career.

(D) voting NPCs continue to insist that Boe Jiden is a "foreign policy genius", but ask for examples and they got nothin'.

Posted by: Ian S. at April 11, 2023 04:31 PM (ZGrMX)

317 @298

>>It will take time for the tanks to appear.

It's a Potemkin war, literally nothing about is real.

You notice how there is very little footage from it, zero embeds, zero reports from the front, everything is spin and propaganda.

The only footage you see are various politicos and celebrities going to Ukraine to kiss Zelemski's ring.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 11, 2023 04:31 PM (up/3i)

318 I just don't get the Ukraine love - you can hate Russia, I don't care - but we're being played.
Posted by: Indignacio Vindacatorem at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (oWBc3)
=====================
I honestly don't care who wins. We have no national interest at stake. The only reason we are supplying weapons is because Ukraine paid our political leaders (and not just Biden).

Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:31 PM (fA91Z)

319 Well then. Keep thinking that way as they keep most of the the power by all their stupid ways of doing things.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons

Power to do what exactly? They can certainly single out and punish individuals to some extent but not everyone. They can try to get people fired or their business to shut down at an individual level, they can do that, but they aren't really respected, they are not really feared, etc. because the damage so far other than the economy and the open border has been at the individual level.

Their mystery meat production has flopped, the EV revolution is in the process of flopping and destroying value, solar/'wind is being shown up like in Texas, and the result is no one, really even the left, believes their lies anymore. At best they are running the Red Queen's race to keep from losing it all, at worst--they have already lost but simply refuse to realize it yet.

Germany was essentially defeated by the end of 1943 and yet fought on for two more years. Same roughly for Japan.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:31 PM (bVz3B)

320 the article cites a blog post from something called "SpaceXMania" and blames Elon Musk for calling the beer "carbonated urine".
...
Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:27 PM (fA91Z)

That sounds pretty credible.

If you can't trust SpaceXMania for internal financials in a multinational corporation, who can you trust?

Posted by: blaster at April 11, 2023 04:31 PM (pwExq)

321 Isn't it amazing that the FNM is working hand and glove with the government for a war we aren't formally in, but when Americans were dying in Iraq and 'Stan they claimed it was their job to "report objectively" even if it got Americans killed?

Posted by: 18-1 at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (lc5cP)

322 Problem with that comparison there was no United States shipping in thousands of Javelin missiles. From what I have read we have sent the Ukes over 2,000 javelin missiles and a couple of hundred troops to train them how to use them.

They are pretty simple fire and forget weapons that can destroy any main battle tank in the world. Even with a 50% kill ratio using untrained inexperienced troops, they are a game changer.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 03:52 PM (ncXxy)

They used them all up months ago. They had some successes and a lot of failures, from what I hear the U's were not impressed.

2000 missiles spread across a 500 km or more front gets pretty thin, and once you take a shot you need the missiles to be replaced. We can't replace them, we sent them out of stocks. Logistics is where serious people concentrate in wartime, not pretty pictures of a blown up tank that might be Ukrs shooting at one of their own.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (eoQWY)

323 The Russians are well past the center of Bakhmut. At present, the Ukrainian army only holds the western part of the town and is using a muddy road to the next town for resupply.

Posted by: A Concerned Citizen at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (zcPgo)

324 I don't know what our enemies are waiting for unless they think they'll win w/o firing a shot.

Posted by: Archer at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (gmo/4)
---
They are allowing us to expend our resources and we are not replacing them. The Chinese play the long game. Wouldn't count them out just yet, though they will probably find the taking much more difficult than they anticipate.

Also, HOLDING their acquisition brings up a whole new slew of challenges.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (YIVH2)

325
Youtube videos about "The REAL Cuba" are the best! Everyone is friendly and happy, there's no crime, and really cool old cars!

Posted by: Auspex at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (j4U/Z)

326 The only footage you see are various politicos and celebrities going to Ukraine to kiss Zelemski's ring.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

They go for the same reason as they do to WEF and other places. That is where they get the sex trafficked victims of both sexes, drugs, and various other horrid enjoyments for the decadent.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (bVz3B)

327 >>It's just possible - just possible, mind you - that we aren't the "good guys" in this conflict. And maybe haven't been the "good guys" in others.

We aren't. We've known exactly what would happen if we made continued overtures about bringing Ukraine into NATO since the 2008 Bucharest NATO summit. Putin told us bringing Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was his red line and it would trigger a war.

He invaded Georgia under Bush to prove his point. Days after we helped engineer the 2014 Maidan coup Putin took Crimea and Obama did shit. Nothing happened under Trump so Putin did nothing. Biden started hinting he was going to invite Ukraine into NATO and here we are.

Anyone who is surprised about any of this hasn't been listening to Putin. He might be a murderous thug but he has a say in when his country goes to war.
Posted by: JackStraw

===============

I think Trump would have been smart enough to say, sure let's take Ukraine into NATO; as soon as Russia and Byelorussia want to join NATO too.

Make it all or nothing. Remind Russia that China wants lots of new land and new resources, and Siberia is very close to Beijing.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (Z32m1)

328 And the $130 billion (and counting) that has already left the US to fund the Ukraine - what of that?

Got my 10%!

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (Vu7A1)

329 >The United States, Britain, France, Poland, Germany, et. al. have given them everything we had to give. We have nothing left to give and everyone knows that. Heck the Krauts have come out publicly and stated there is nothing left to defend the Country if they are attacked.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (ncXxy)

Sounds like the prelude to a tragic future history.

Posted by: Dworkin Barimen at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (BGlWj)

330 Which country will Zalenskyy flee to with his billions?
Posted by: JoeF.

Delaware.....it's tax free!

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (W2wbi)

331 309 I have no idea why China hasn't taken Taiwan or North Korea attacked South Korea with this incompetent fool as Resident.

Because neither has the capability to win, even without US involvement.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (wmDcS)

Correct. The Chinese Navy ships would spring leaks and sink halfway to Taiwan.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (/iWhV)

332 "255 Well I'll say it. I hope they do. I hope they win, put zelensky on trial, have him shot, and then start releasing all the captured docs of U.S. corruption and money laundering and warmongering....

I have a dream..
Posted by: BurtTC
-----------"

The Ukrainian leaders you have in mind are already long gone. Zelensky was simply determined to be an acceptable bag holder to fill the office while Russia steamrolled in, so the west would have a new boogeyman. China likely predicted more accurately that Russia would stumble, but the west had to shift to a longer proxy war on account of unexpected levels of Russian failure.

What would you have Zelensky do? The west set him up and Russia has always had it in for them. Former Soviet and warsaw pact states want NOTHING to do with Russia for good reason. He knows they are being used but they need what aid the western progs will give.

Posted by: somedood at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (HMWox)

333 The only footage you see are various politicos and celebrities going to Ukraine to kiss Zelemski's ring.

Except for Xi. Xi still refuses to return Zelensky's phone calls.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (2tUFv)

334 carbonated urine - pretty good description of Bud Lite.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (trdmm)

335 I don't know what our enemies are waiting for unless they think they'll win w/o firing a shot.

Posted by: Archer at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (gmo/4)

Very Sun Zooey strategery... It's more of watching the USSA empire collapse in real-time, and shaking their heads and wondering WTF happened? Gotta go walk doggo, one of the best things I do every day.

Posted by: Ganowicz Commie Exterminators, LTD. at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (K7t4/)

336 The entire tranche of documents released to date - including the obviously doctored ones - smacks of something that might wash up on a Spanish beach.This isn't data. Not sure if it rises to the level of theater.

The Ukes stood up and fought. Their closest neighbours, understanding "who's next" immediately emptied their arsenals and stockpiles onto trains heading west.

The Ukes ejected the Russians from 80% (less Crimea) of their seized territory. Captured more equipment than they began the war with. And they've had four months of training cycles plus whatever homegrown or outside supplies they've integrated into their forces.

IMO Bahkmut stands as a testament to Russian stupidity. Whatever plans they ever had for a spring offensive died right there.

Last February people in Kiev and Kharkiv and other places drew AKs from the backs of trucks and headed to the sound of the guns.

They'll have Mariopul by June, and Crimea will be cut off. The Russians have been moving stores and key personnel out of Sevastopol since December.

The West is ruled by tyrants, and worse. I support Ukraine.

Posted by: TmjUtah at April 11, 2023 04:34 PM (oCyyt)

337 I have no idea why China hasn't taken Taiwan or North Korea attacked South Korea with this incompetent fool as Resident.

Because China can't take Taiwan without destroying Taiwan. And North Korea, even if they could take the South tomorrow without loss of blood or treasure, couldn't do anything with what they've gained.

China and the US are in a race to see who can beat the other to the bottom. We're both too interconnected to fight and too corrupt to survive. In twenty years - both will be former empires, still wrapping themselves in the songs and flags of old. No different than the UK of sixty years ago.

Every other nation-state on the planet would be well served to start positioning themselves now to get as far away from the both of us as possible. In order to minimize the collateral damage.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:34 PM (ojZfe)

338 You notice how there is very little footage from it, zero embeds, zero reports from the front, everything is spin and propaganda.

The only footage you see are various politicos and celebrities going to Ukraine to kiss Zelemski's ring.

There's been a fair amount of unofficial footage on TikTok and Instagram and stuff, although even that's sparse lately. It's been enough to keep Brandon Herrera making "Weird Guns of Ukraine" videos though.

Posted by: Ian S. at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (ZGrMX)

339 315 :Hey, I have an idea. Let's keep pouring my hard-earned, confiscated tax dollars into this shit until I'm sleeping under a bridge in a cardboard box.
Posted by: Notorious BFD"

Just hope the bridge was not designed by a DEI hire.
Posted by: Ripley at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (cUYo/)

"Hey, we got this. Relaaaaaax!"

- Florida International University

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (N3zMI)

340 He will move in next to Meghan Markle in Montecito and cuck the British Royal whelp. There will be a Netflix reality show about it, and then McConnell and Biden will anoint him with adrenochrome and crown him Holy American Emperor.

Fin.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice

I think you had better substitute Thune for McConnell. Fair chance for McConnell to be room temperature by then. Has been out of action for over a month now which indicates severe issues.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (bVz3B)

341 I think Trump would have been smart enough to say, sure let's take Ukraine into NATO; as soon as Russia and Byelorussia want to join NATO too.

Make it all or nothing. Remind Russia that China wants lots of new land and new resources, and Siberia is very close to Beijing.
Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM (Z32m1)

I think Trump would have been smart enough to leave Ukraine out of NATO

Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (mR6Gs)

342 No matter what side you are rooting for ( go team whatever) the responsibility for this shitshow falls in large part on the US government, and its’ cynicism and venality.

Posted by: tubal at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (PCK5/)

343
The only footage you see are various politicos and celebrities going to Ukraine to kiss Zelemski's ring.

The Deep State and lil 'Z are managing the propaganda side of the war in a way we haven't seen in the west since WWII.

The odd thing though is it looks like Russia is mostly grinding the Ukes in Bakmut with Wagner and just digging in with their regular military everywhere else.

And this should be a major redflag...because if Russia is doing this it means their strategy is to keep the war going to bankrupt *US*

Posted by: 18-1 at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (lc5cP)

344 >>And both biden and obama knew with 100% certainty that taunting Russia with Ukraine NATO membership was a line that would set putin off and almost guarantee he would invade, because he told us exactly what would happen if we invited them into NATO. Yet here we are.

Putin also knows we took down a Ukrainian president friendly to Russia and supportive of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and replaced him with our own puppet.

He also knows much of the crap that was used to help take down Trump came from Ukraine while Russia took the blame.

Posted by: JackStraw at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (ZLI7S)

345 How much of a statement is it on the preparedness and might of the US military that it apparently can't manage to supply some pissant skirmish in a muddy field for a year with the spare change found in the cushions?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (9UlRk)

346 One theory is that the old guys are assigned to the front as cannon fodder, while the younger guys are being put into the reserve units behind the lines, in preparation for the counteroffensive.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (2tUFv)

Setting aside the psychotic globalist cruelty one needs to treat otherwise productive citizens that way, Russia can afford to lose artillery shells a hell of a lot more than Ukraine can afford to lose men.

One reason Scott Ritter is better than most jingoist pundits on either side is that he has actual experience. Apparently HIMARS was developed as a way to attack enemy artillery depots at range, reducing the American need for factories producing shells. Not the worst notion, except Russia has since spaced out shell storage to the point where HIMARS rounds are wasted on them.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 04:36 PM (DTm0P)

347 Ukrainian offensive" could be a multi-faceted thing, so need to distinguish between wildly different areas and situations. Crossing the river and trying to actually take the southern portion of Kherson oblast would be quite a thing, due to the geography, and the extensive fortification the Russians have put in place along key routes. Clawing back areas of Donetsk that have been fought over for years, ditto. Whereas parts of Zaporozhe or up near Kharkov, lightly held, Ukes could fairly easily make temporary gainzzz, though dubiously worthwhile or sustainable.
Posted by: rhomboid at April 11, 2023 03:38 PM (OTzUX)

Those areas near Kharkov have been reinforced and fortified since the fall due to the call up of additional forces, so they won't be as easy as it was then, and a good chunk of the land ceded then has been retaken.

Russia also has some 100-150K uncommitted from that same call up, with retraining complete ready to respond.

According to the leaked documents, the free force for the offensive in toto is at most 50-60K for Ukraine.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:36 PM (eoQWY)

348 I don't know what our enemies are waiting for unless they think they'll win w/o firing a shot.

Posted by: Archer at April 11, 2023 04:29 PM (gmo/4)

---

They plan on waiting until Trump gets back in office. Then they will attack. He will be powerless to do anything because our military, economy and all our reserves will be in shambles and the citizenry starving in the dark.

But it happened on his watch so it will be his fault.

This is just enough of a conspiracy theory to be absolutely true in these times.

Posted by: Just Lily at April 11, 2023 04:36 PM (3f+sJ)

349 Why do I get the distinct feeling western civilization is twisting in the wind?

Posted by: Huck Follywood at April 11, 2023 04:37 PM (fA91Z)

350 Nood. Now off to post.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at April 11, 2023 04:37 PM (/iWhV)

351 "Heck the Krauts have come out publicly and stated there is nothing left to defend the Country if they are attacked.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 04:11 PM (ncXxy"

The Krauts couldn't defend prior to this anyways. Any 5 random US state guards could have mopped the floor with them. This is actually changing as they start to retool and reorganize; western europe is realizing the US is willing to lob them under any number of busses. See also France's recent realignments.

Posted by: somedood at April 11, 2023 04:37 PM (HMWox)

352
I think you had better substitute Thune for McConnell. Fair chance for McConnell to be room temperature by then. Has been out of action for over a month now which indicates severe issues.
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:35 PM (bVz3B)

We've been waiting for Biden to die. Fettermann should be room temperature. RBG lived LONG past her sell-by. Shit, Jimmy Carter has been in hospice for MONTHS

These people just don't die

McConnell ain't going nowhere

Posted by: JoeF. at April 11, 2023 04:37 PM (mR6Gs)

353 I have no idea why China hasn't taken Taiwan or North Korea attacked South Korea with this incompetent fool as Resident.

Because neither has the capability to win, even without US involvement.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:30 PM (wmDcS)

Correct. The Chinese Navy ships would spring leaks and sink halfway to Taiwan.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at April 11, 2023 04:33 PM

China is waiting to take Taiwan just like they did Hong Kong. Not a single shot fired, the British Empire just gave up and walked away. They are hoping that the Taiwan situation will be the same.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 11, 2023 04:38 PM (ncXxy)

354 I just don't get the Ukraine love - you can hate Russia, I don't care - but we're being played.

As is the case with pretty much everything.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at April 11, 2023 04:39 PM (Xrfse)

355 The Ukrainians are killing Russians, and in fact, have decimated the Russian military of its best fighters already and much of its best weapons have been chewed up and spit out. The fact that the Ukraine is still able to put up any resistance 14 months after the start of the invasion from a world super power says beyond any doubt that the fight to defend is worth pursuing.
Posted by: astonerii at April 11, 2023 03:55 PM (VcZlJ)

Alternately, it tells us that Russia is no threat to NATO in conventional arms.
Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (yQpMk)

Western reports of Russian losses are *extremely* exaggerated. Russian KIA are less than 20K from a BBC report counting funerals. Wagner and the Donbas militia might add the same again. Ukr KIA are likely well over 100K, perhaps double that.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:39 PM (eoQWY)

356 @343

>>And this should be a major redflag...because if Russia is doing this it means their strategy is to keep the war going to bankrupt *US*

That's exactly what they are doing, the war isn't hurting Russia and increasingly it's causing a rift between the Western Powers and The US and creating a larger multi-power bloc of power axises.

The US if f**king around and is about to find out.

It's not going to pretty when Colossus falls.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 11, 2023 04:40 PM (up/3i)

357 So, after dispatching Ukraine, maybe Russia will continue west and eventually get to Rome.

It is prophesied in the Third Secret of Our Lady of Fatima.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 11, 2023 04:40 PM (5u1+1)

358 The Chinese haven't taken North Korea because the Norks are useful sock puppets and buffer for the Chinese. The Norks can rattle their Sabers at Chinese command and its not like China doing the same thing.

The Chinese haven't taken South Korea because they know Japan would go nuclear in response. The Japanese can build H-bombs any time they want, and the ChiComs know that.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at April 11, 2023 04:41 PM (CecP5)

359 The Krauts couldn't defend prior to this anyways. Any 5 random US state guards could have mopped the floor with them. This is actually changing as they start to retool and reorganize; western europe is realizing the US is willing to lob them under any number of busses. See also France's recent realignments.
Posted by: somedood at April 11, 2023 04:37 PM (HMWox)

One thing that threw a wrench in sending German modern Leopard tanks was the news that they only have enough working tanks for one unit at a time to train, so they swap these tanks into each unit in rotation. The other tanks on the books would need to be repaired to send to Ukraine or anywhere.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:41 PM (eoQWY)

360 Because China can't take Taiwan without destroying Taiwan. And North Korea, even if they could take the South tomorrow without loss of blood or treasure, couldn't do anything with what they've gained.

China and the US are in a race to see who can beat the other to the bottom. We're both too interconnected to fight and too corrupt to survive.

Posted by: Trader Vics at April 11, 2023 04:34 PM (ojZfe)

I don't think "North Korea" (really a vassal state of China) is intended to assimilate Seoul. If South Korea joins Western sanctions against the coalition, China will be quite pleased to reduce both sides of the Korea peninsula to the same level of poverty.

I keep saying that China isn't going to mount an amphibious invasion of Taiwan, because that would make them dumber than Hitler. What they need is to destroy or drive off the US Navy, then force American soldiers out of the region. Korea remains the best place for China to demonstrate the power of its new army while keeping their own casualties to a minimum.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 04:41 PM (DTm0P)

361 329 >The United States, Britain, France, Poland, Germany, et. al. have given them everything we had to give. We have nothing left to give and everyone knows that. Heck the Krauts have come out publicly and stated there is nothing left to defend the Country if they are attacked.
Posted by: Mister Scott
---------
Not really. You forget aircraft. There are a lot of F-16's sitting in boneyards among other things. The problem would be training pilots and providing munitions and sensitive information via capture, illegal sale, or destruction to a potential adversary.

Russia's airforce has performed badly by all accounts and their training plus doctrine is simply not very good as of yet. The question is whether the Ukes would use those weapons to broaden the war to Russia itself is one problem that has also affected MLRS missile provision.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:41 PM (bVz3B)

362 The Ukrainians are running out of men. The Russian population is approximately 3 1/2 x that of Ukraine. Our weaponry has been keeping them alive. Someone mentioned the battle of Kursk and in that battle the Russians launched a massive spoiling attack the night before the Nazis scheduled attack. The Russians know the Ukrainians are coming and are going to stomp them, as now it appears the Ukrainians are running out of aaa. The Ukrainiansp collapse will come slowly then quickly

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 11, 2023 04:42 PM (+MtKE)

363 Britain held Hong Kong by way of a lease that was getting ready to expire.

They did the right thing, and they couldn't or wouldn't try a "Falklands gambit."

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 11, 2023 04:42 PM (5u1+1)

364 "One reason Scott Ritter is better than most jingoist pundits on either side is that he has actual experience. Apparently HIMARS was developed as a way to attack enemy artillery depots at range, reducing the American need for factories producing shells. Not the worst notion, except Russia has since spaced out shell storage to the point where HIMARS rounds are wasted on them.
Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 04:36 PM (DTm0P)"

Ritter is just a jingoist for another camp. His experience makes his blather more pathetic. Russian logistics are a total joke.

You will basically not find legit expert commentary on this over TV or in print media. It's all prog "support current thing" shills or their Russian counterparts.

Posted by: somedood at April 11, 2023 04:43 PM (HMWox)

365 Ritter's a sex offender. With a record. He served six months in Chino for exposing himself to an eight year old.

When he moved to Hollywood, he had to go door-to-door to tell everyone he was a pederast.

What's a pederast, Walter?

Shut the f*** up, Donny.

Posted by: A Concerned Citizen at April 11, 2023 04:44 PM (zcPgo)

366 Something, something about a land war in Asia.

Yeah, I know. Ukraine is the border between Central and Eastern Europe.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 11, 2023 04:44 PM (5u1+1)

367 You will basically not find legit expert commentary on this over TV or in print media. It's all prog "support current thing" shills or their Russian counterparts.

Its extremely hard to get real, good reporting or information on any of this. Both sides are blatantly lying, sometime comically so like the Ghost of Kiev. We have no idea what is really going on over there except that the US government keeps spending hundreds of billions to help Ukraine

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 11, 2023 04:46 PM (0hOvj)

368 We've been waiting for Biden to die. Fettermann should be room temperature. RBG lived LONG past her sell-by. Shit, Jimmy Carter has been in hospice for MONTHS

These people just don't die

McConnell ain't going nowhere
Posted by: JoeF.
------
Carter is not relevant anymore for anything. RBG was allowed to violate Scotus norms of justice performance by Dred Chief Justice Roberts and I suspect her clerks did her opinions for several years actually. Biden's minions are basically running the show while he continues to malfunction but both Fetterman and McConnell are awol in the Senate where they don't allow proxy voting like the house did and they actually require that you show up to vote.

Right now the wheels are still turning but at some point, closer to June, the debt limit has to be raised and that does requirement active engagement by a Senate leader.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:47 PM (bVz3B)

369 The Russians WWII Tank Crews that used the Shermans (Lend Lease), liked them. The Russian M4s had diesel engines not gas, so a little better crew survival when hit. Plus the reliability was better than the T-34. The Russians also liked all the Dodge Trucks and P-39s we gave them in WWII.
Posted by: Ganowicz Commie Exterminators, LTD. at April 11, 2023 03:56 PM (K7t4/)

For all the talk about the Sherman being a bad tank, the entire US Army Armored Corps lost 1400 KIA for the entire war, Europe and Pacific. It was easy to get out of if it did get hit, and it was nimble to avoid getting hit.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:48 PM (eoQWY)

370 These people just don't die

McConnell ain't going nowhere

It just feels like a long time because of how awful they are and how much damage they do while alive. But they die. Ruthie and McCaine are sharing hell together.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 11, 2023 04:48 PM (0hOvj)

371 Wonder if Russia is using former US abandoned weapons from Afghanistan
Posted by: Skip at April 11, 2023 03:58 PM (xhxe

I did hear that they were in discussions to get hold of some weapons from there. Haven't heard if any transfers have happened.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:49 PM (eoQWY)

372 They plan on waiting until Trump gets back in office. Then they will attack. He will be powerless to do anything because our military, economy and all our reserves will be in shambles and the citizenry starving in the dark.

Posted by: Just Lily at April 11, 2023 04:36 PM (3f+sJ)

Aside from the fact Trump will be taking a hammer to every foreign-owned traitor in America, most countries have learned the lesson of Soleimani. Fuck with MAGA, and Trump will attack you personally. Not a warning, but to kill. Most countries don't do this because of the risk of retaliation, but Trump's seen off countless deep state death threats. They're meaningless to him now.

Besides which, his ability to negotiate with North Korea and Saudi Arabia alike has to be making China sweat a little.

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 04:49 PM (DTm0P)

373 I saw the Ukrainians boasting about having an economics professor on the front lines, complete with a picture of him with his MANPAD. The guy was obviously in his '50's.

One theory is that the old guys are assigned to the front as cannon fodder, while the younger guys are being put into the reserve units behind the lines, in preparation for the counteroffensive.
Posted by: The ARC of History!

====================

That theory has a lot possibilities. Holding a fixed position doesn't require a lot of physical prowess.
Defenders do not need to move around a lot, unless they are actively counter-attacking too.

It was US SOP to withdraw trained US Pilots from the front and have them train the new and up and coming pilots, and also staff the squadrons full of new pilots before they were sent to the front. If we are training Ukrainians? They probably are using a lot of our personnel policies too.

God Save them if they use our selection process for generals and admirals.

Posted by: rd at April 11, 2023 04:50 PM (Z32m1)

374 I was just looking at some maps and found out that there's a spot just north of Bakhmut named Sacco i Vanzetti.

I can't believe those f'ing commie assholes back when actually named a town Sacco i Vanzetti. fuckwads.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 11, 2023 04:10 PM (trdmm)

There's another town farther south called "New York"

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:52 PM (eoQWY)

375 UKR is a devastated country requiring billions to rebuild and has lost at least one generation, maybe two.

Stupid people and stupid war.
Posted by: whig

I read that the land Russia is occupying now, and has legally incorporated into Russia already, contains about 80 percent of Ukraine's GDP.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 04:54 PM (eoQWY)

376 Ritter is just a jingoist for another camp. His experience makes his blather more pathetic. Russian logistics are a total joke.

You will basically not find legit expert commentary on this over TV or in print media. It's all prog "support current thing" shills or their Russian counterparts.
Posted by: somedood

Hate to say it--I see similarities in the way people argue about it here. Too many people have emotional stakes in the outcome and thus argue like lawyer advocates for one side or the other rather than analysts. Then there are the instant new nics that arrive arguing one position over another. For the most part, I stay out of it.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:55 PM (bVz3B)

377 20,000 Russians killed is two divisions of their front line troops wiped out. Why aren't the Russians firebombing Ukraine's cities, WW2 style with their heavy bombers? Because, as we found out in Vietnam, even primitive Anti-aircraft missiles from the 1950s and 60s can shoot down large numbers of bombers, and S-300s, which Ukraine has, would swat them from the skies like flies from a can of Raid.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at April 11, 2023 04:56 PM (CecP5)

378 I blew up a local conservative radio talk show. On Fridays if you're in the Houston area you get to hear 'The Three Amigos' on Friday afternoon. Two conservatives and a liberal.

I completely opposed their united take on Ukraine, what with the corruption, lack of accountability, lack of coverage, lack of purpose, etc.

They were stunned but one of them was listening (Paul Bettencourt). Ultimately they agreed my take was solid but they promised to bring on a house member to address the lack of accountability. I told them not to bring on Michael McCall because he was probably making more off his investments in Raytheon and Boeing than his normal graft.

More hilarity ensued.

Posted by: DanMan at April 11, 2023 04:56 PM (DB6tu)

379 I read that the land Russia is occupying now, and has legally incorporated into Russia already, contains about 80 percent of Ukraine's GDP.
Posted by: Oldcat

Cites are always useful around here. A lot of that analysis is probably based on very old data prior to 2014 and Crimea where the steelworks are Mariupol still existed, mining in the Donbass was still going on, and so on. Like the effects on the Russian economy, it is hard to determine exactly what the long term effects will be but both countries will feel it for years if not decades.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:58 PM (bVz3B)

380 Ritter is just a jingoist for another camp. His experience makes his blather more pathetic. Russian logistics are a total joke.

Posted by: somedood at April 11, 2023 04:43 PM (HMWox)

Setting aside the fact that "Russia doesn't have forklifts!" is likely professional retardation, do you need Six-Sigma to put artillery shells on a train from Siberia to your own borders?

Posted by: trev006 at April 11, 2023 04:59 PM (DTm0P)

381 My guess is that if Ukraine looks to fall, Poland enters the war. Possibly Lithuania and the other Eastern European countries as well.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 11, 2023 04:17 PM (wmDcS)

So a return of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
Posted by: Thrawn at April 11, 2023 04:18 PM (Rl7KJ)

They've all given their Airforce, Tanks, Artillery and shells to Ukraine already and they have not been replaced.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 05:00 PM (eoQWY)

382 Because, as we found out in Vietnam, even primitive Anti-aircraft missiles from the 1950s and 60s can shoot down large numbers of bombers, and S-300s, which Ukraine has, would swat them from the skies like flies from a can of Raid.
Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe

Part of the analysis stated that Ukraine was running out of S-300 missiles and would be out in a month or so at current consumption rates. Trading an Iranian drone for an S-300 is a bad trade but one the UKRs are doing apparently in some cases because the Russians have gotten very skittish about using planes without standoff munitions.

Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 05:01 PM (bVz3B)

383 Also, HOLDING their acquisition brings up a whole new slew of challenges.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 11, 2023 04:32 PM (YIVH2)

I saw an election map of Ukrainian elections. The area Russia holds now voted 70 percent or higher for the "Russian" candidates who were couped out. Kharkov, the area around the Dniepr, and Odessa also voted heavily this way. The "Western" candidate took Kiev and the center, and the area near Poland heavily.

It looks like a partition line that Russia wouldn't have much trouble holding, which may be how it turns out.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 05:07 PM (eoQWY)

384 Part of the analysis stated that Ukraine was running out of S-300 missiles and would be out in a month or so at current consumption rates. Trading an Iranian drone for an S-300 is a bad trade but one the UKRs are doing apparently in some cases because the Russians have gotten very skittish about using planes without standoff munitions.
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 05:01 PM (bVz3B)

In recent days this is changing as the lack of air support on the front line due to these shortages makes direct use of air power possible. They also have gotten production of the GPS guided bombs on line and to the front and these have been very damaging. So far Russian air losses haven't increased significantly.

Remaining air defense is pulled back to Kiev, and the power infrastructure across Ukraine.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 05:10 PM (eoQWY)

385 Cites are always useful around here. A lot of that analysis is probably based on very old data prior to 2014 and Crimea where the steelworks are Mariupol still existed, mining in the Donbass was still going on, and so on. Like the effects on the Russian economy, it is hard to determine exactly what the long term effects will be but both countries will feel it for years if not decades.
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:58 PM (bVz3B)

Could be, but the mines won't be moving on. I agree the farmlands are outside this area, but wheatfields won't make you self sufficient in tanks any more than destroyed industries you don't have.

One note on rebuild times - apparently in Mariapol city Russia has already built a number of apartment blocks for civilians evicted during the fighting last year and are giving apartments free of charge.

Posted by: Oldcat at April 11, 2023 05:15 PM (eoQWY)

386 Big serge has his usual if Rus sympathetic analysis out:

https://bigserge.substack.com

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 11, 2023 05:23 PM (1ais2)

387 GPS guided bombs means the Ukrainians have to shift to guerrilla hit and run tactics, they can't use massed troops. When do you think Putin shifts to poison gas attacks?

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at April 11, 2023 05:24 PM (CecP5)

388 Like the effects on the Russian economy, it is hard to determine exactly what the long term effects will be but both countries will feel it for years if not decades.
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 04:58 PM (bVz3B)

Yeah. No. RUS is making subs and hypersonics and the aircraft industry is a few months from being 100% indigenous. Not to mention the ice breakers. RUS is stronger now.

It is possible US will be able to force RUS to cannibalize domestic industry for some larger war. But Putler is aware of this and has not done it yet. He saw the USSR.

Look, the Pentagon and White House let the City of London and UKR run this hands off and it is a disaster. And the US sanctions were counter-productive.

Btw, we know it is London's war because over 1/2 the foreign advisors are UK. Roughly 4 times US inserts.

Looking like worst geopolitical blunder ever rn.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 11, 2023 05:29 PM (1ais2)

389 When do you think Putin shifts to poison gas attacks?
Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at April 11, 2023 05:24 PM (CecP5)

Never? Why would Rus do this? When have rhey ever done that? Do you think RUS is the charicature US media says it is?

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 11, 2023 05:30 PM (1ais2)

390 Trading an Iranian drone for an S-300 is a bad trade but one the UKRs are doing apparently in some cases because the Russians have gotten very skittish about using planes without standoff munitions.
Posted by: whig at April 11, 2023 05:01 PM (bVz3B)

More nonsense. How many sorties has RUs flown? Compare that to Gulf War.

Now if you mean air to ground strikes (a small subset) then perhaps. But even the tempo of those has accelerated. Prob why Pentagon leaked these docs.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 11, 2023 05:33 PM (1ais2)

391 I'm making $100 an hour working from home. i was greatly surprised at the same time as my neighbour advised me she changed into averaging $100 however I see the way it works now. I experience mass freedom now that I'm my non-public boss.
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Posted by: www.Payathome7.com at April 11, 2023 11:58 PM (qEHbV)

392 I'd rather Ukraine run the Russians out. I don't mind them doing it with some free US equipment and some paid for US gear, but i would like to see more Euro equipment, both free and paid for. I do think the Russians could lose this. I do think that Biden might be over estimating Ukraine's chances of losing to try to get more money to Hunter's buddies.

Posted by: hurricane567@gmail.com at April 12, 2023 12:14 AM (7/Z17)

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Posted by: box at May 08, 2023 02:56 PM (6ct+v)

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Leaked Documents Reveal US Forecast That Ukraine's Counteroffensive Will Likely Fail; NSC Spokesman John Kirby Demands Media Not Publish Leaks Which Are Damaging to Biden's Lies About the War Going Great

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Leaked Documents Reveal US Forecast That Ukraine's Counteroffensive Will Likely Fail;
NSC Spokesman John Kirby Demands Media Not Publish Leaks Which Are Damaging to Biden's Lies About the War Going Great