Ukraine (26 Viewers)

[Zack Lee]

Putin will soon have 'no choice' but to stop his invasion of Ukraine, former US general says

"Putin will have to halt his war in Ukraine sooner or later and probably in a matter of weeks," retired US Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan told Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

Only thing I can argue is that Ukraine halted the invasion pretty much from the beginning. The maps of Russia's front lines are really pathetic. Russia basically pushed the border on Ukraine a few miles and in the last week or two they haven't even been able to hold that.

The lesson they will learn about the might of their army scares me for the future. Large country of oppressed people would be very dangerous if they are skillfully manipulated into believing that building the worlds biggest and best army are their only option.

 

[bclemms]

The lesson they will learn about the might of their army scares me for the future. Large country of oppressed people would be very dangerous if they are skillfully manipulated into believing that building the worlds biggest and best army are their only option.

I want to build the world's biggest and best military too but I can't afford it either.

 

[Zack Lee]

I want to build the world's biggest and best military too but I can't afford it either.

I don’t know how you go about it but Germany couldn’t exactly afford it either. I know different situations and all that but I never want to ignore history. And I’m not saying my concerns are completely rational but sometimes what you think is the problem is a precursor to the real problem.

 

[SaintJ]

It just baffles me that a modern army would not have a dependable means of communication!! At this point, I think Russia would be better off with carrier pigeons!

Semaphore.

 

[SaintJ]

History has already shown us that doing nothing, in the face of tyranny, leads to greater suffering and mass murder.

So, at the risk of getting sidetracked into a greater argument I have to ask, what should have been done in Serbia and what should be done now?

Call Putin’s bluff, throw every piece of air power NATO has into Ukraine’s airspace, and destroy everything in Ukraine with a “Z” on it that’s bigger than a keyboard.

Putin can’t even fight a one-front war. If he tries to expand the conflict Russia will get crushed. He knows it.

His “off-ramp” will be to hunker down in Russia, put what’s left of his army just inside the Russian border, and declare victory to his people.

 

[SaintJ]

The lesson they will learn about the might of their army scares me for the future. Large country of oppressed people would be very dangerous if they are skillfully manipulated into believing that building the worlds biggest and best army are their only option.

Their country is too poor to do that. You can’t build ANY kind of army if you’ve looted your own country, and your culture is so corrupt that nine out of ten rubles you spend is either siphoned off by crooked manufacturers and generals or sold off by dead-broke troops, and nobody knows what they’re fighting for.

 

[Sailorsaint]

Semaphore.

You mean a white flag? lol

 

[Xeno]

The lesson they will learn about the might of their army scares me for the future. Large country of oppressed people would be very dangerous if they are skillfully manipulated into believing that building the worlds biggest and best army are their only option.

The time to do that was over the last 30 years while western money was pouring in. The people in charge decided they'd rather buy superyachts, send their kids to the most expensive schools in the west and take monthly vacations in Dubai. Russia in its current form cannot properly maintain a modern, conventional army.

They couldn't even be bothered to maintain the already cheap crap they inherited from the USSR. Most of the scary superweapons they've been releasing footage of for years appear to exist primarily on paper. There's now a legitimate question of whether or not their nuclear arsenal is even functional anymore.

In order for Russia to take that lesson to heart they'll need a complete political revolution and they'll have no choice but to westernize their military too. Frankly, the only way Russia's conventional military could actually become threatening at this point would be if they joined NATO.

As an aside, and I certainly hope we don't have to find out, but should we find out that Russia's nuclear arsenal is in fact a pile of useless radioactive scrap, I would hope that would be the final drive to global denuclearization. The US would stand as the only power capable of destroying all life on Earth and we can be certain the US isn't going to start indiscriminately nuking countries. A Russia without nukes should be what pushes us to finally do away with these weapons.

 

[baarbogast]

2 more commanders and 3 Spetsnaz commandos killed.

 

[DaveXA]

Crazy footage of Ukrainian urban (Kharkiv) combat. Some of it is graphic. These guys know what they're doing.

See more

 

[faceman]

The time to do that was over the last 30 years while western money was pouring in. The people in charge decided they'd rather buy superyachts, send their kids to the most expensive schools in the west and take monthly vacations in Dubai. Russia in its current form cannot properly maintain a modern, conventional army.

They couldn't even be bothered to maintain the already cheap crap they inherited from the USSR. Most of the scary superweapons they've been releasing footage of for years appear to exist primarily on paper. There's now a legitimate question of whether or not their nuclear arsenal is even functional anymore.

In order for Russia to take that lesson to heart they'll need a complete political revolution and they'll have no choice but to westernize their military too. Frankly, the only way Russia's conventional military could actually become threatening at this point would be if they joined NATO.

As an aside, and I certainly hope we don't have to find out, but should we find out that Russia's nuclear arsenal is in fact a pile of useless radioactive scrap, I would hope that would be the final drive to global denuclearization. The US would stand as the only power capable of destroying all life on Earth and we can be certain the US isn't going to start indiscriminately nuking countries. A Russia without nukes should be what pushes us to finally do away with these weapons.

I've mentioned before I work on Keesler AFB. Since the invasion they've never increased the threatcom level. It
leads me to think our military leaders don't consider Russia a threat

 

[Zack Lee]

2 more commanders and 3 Spetsnaz commandos killed.

That guy went out of his way to use incandescent twice in a way that might not have been wrong but sounded odd nonetheless. I digress.


I get a very small sense of satisfaction with his incandescence over US intelligence after their social media meddling

 

[mjcouvi]

It is sad but encouraging to hear the injured Russian soldier say that he just wants peace and just wants to go back to being a civilian.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

Putin will soon have 'no choice' but to stop his invasion of Ukraine, former US general says

"Putin will have to halt his war in Ukraine sooner or later and probably in a matter of weeks," retired US Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan told Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

Only thing I can argue is that Ukraine halted the invasion pretty much from the beginning. The maps of Russia's front lines are really pathetic. Russia basically pushed the border on Ukraine a few miles and in the last week or two they haven't even been able to hold that.

In terms of active units yes, but Russia still have lots of reserves which an order came down to be deployed into combat (legally before they couldn't e). That might amount little more than bodies with AKs, but I think they're strategy now is to flood the East with those units and try to hold on to territory. And probably willing to even sacrifice the western Kiev salient to do it. That still leaves the northeast (Kharkov, Cherniv, Sumy) which is still heavily contested, and borders on Russia. I can't see Ukraine giving up any territory where they still have boots on the ground, so that does undermines part of the rationale of the operation (pushing any potential NATO expansion away from Russia's borders). But it does look like Ukraine is willing to concede neutrality, so Putin might be able to spin as a win.

 

[mjcouvi]

Putin's/Russia's demands are simple:

Ukraine declares itself a neutral state
and acknowledge Crimea as part of Russia
and recognize the self-proclaimed (their words) republics of the Donbas region

These may or may not be reasonable demands (as neither Russian nor Ukrainian I don't feel like I'm a very good judge), or Putin may or may not be lying that this is where he'd stop --however, if the current narrative is correct, that Russia's military is completely incompetent and dilapidating, it seems that they couldn't go much further if they wanted to.

And our idiot President goes and says Putin CANNOT remain in power, only escalating the situation. I thought we wanted to end the conflict Biden, not threaten the crazy guy, which can only make matters worse.