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Where Do Things End With Vlad? (h/t romad1)


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Posted (edited)

this long (an hour) but interesting. In Finnish with English subtitles. The view of Russia by a retired Finnish intelligence officer. This is from about 2018 - recent but before the current war began.

 

Edited by gehringer_2
Posted (edited)
25 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Military geeks.  Geek out:

the whole thread is interesting

Amazing now much this is looking like Vietnam compressed into weeks instead of years. The Russian can't hold ground but continue to harry Ukraine from the air as their remaining bargaining leverage to try to gain at the table what they cannot hold on the ground. 

As noted, the #1 priority now should be high altitude air defense capability for Ukraine. Manpads can(have) stop(ed) the Russians attaining tactical air dominance for ground operations, but can't protect the Ukrainian populace.

Edited by gehringer_2
Posted

Interesting nugget:  Ukrainian forces continue to root out Russian SOF in Kyiv.   I guess they had their guys infiltrate the city before and during the "siege" and are still a nuisance. 

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Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, romad1 said:

 

They are daily raising up a stronger army against them. The morale and motivation difference the Russians have created by their actions more than counter balances the 3:1 population ratio theoretically supporting their army's numbers. With continued western support I don't see any possibly way the Russians can prevail in this conflict at this point short of starting WWIII, which they would also lose (which they  also well know). The question we all pondered in this forum before this all started was "Would the Ukrainians fight." Well damn if they have not answered the bell beyond anyone in the West's wildest dreams. 

Edited by gehringer_2
Posted
1 hour ago, romad1 said:

 

The problem is no one will have to answer for these war crimes.

As long as the war criminals remain behind Fortress Russia...

They will get away with these murders.

Posted
Just now, 1984Echoes said:

The problem is no one will have to answer for these war crimes.

As long as the war criminals remain behind Fortress Russia...

They will get away with these murders.

Which reminds me:

How the Fuck is Trump not behind bars for 20+ years?

I'm freaking floored by the very thought...

  • Like 2
Posted

Think about how Joe Kennedy Sr was basically ostracized until he could pay his kids way 20 years later for his Hitler remarks?  How is what the GOP and their sympathizers like Tuckkker were saying any different?

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

The question we all pondered in this forum before this all started was "Would the Ukrainians fight." Well damn if they have not answered the bell beyond anyone in the West's wildest dreams. 

The answer was always obvious, but frankly too many people put too much stock into whatever line Putin and the Kremlin gives at any given moment on any given subject and that maybe blinds them to common sense. 

Sure, there is a historical connection between the Russian and Ukrainian people, and there are many Russian speakers in Ukraine who historically look east versus west in terms of geopolitical disposition. But we are still talking about a proud people from a sovereign land... one can maybe be inclined to look east without wishing to be invaded by their eastern neighbor. Some arguments seen before the invasion, here and elsewhere, seemed to struggle with this... people may have leanings, but they may have them within the context of a sovereign Ukraine, not within one being invaded and subjugated. Where the friends and neighbors are being slaughtered, etc.

A lot of contemporaneous interviews from people in Kharkiv and east of the Dnieper that I've seen in print or in TV clip seem to back this up - suggesting that very few expected an invasion and that, once it did happen, it was a sin that would take generations for the Russian government to fix, with a prerequisite being the departure of Putin. 

Edited by mtutiger
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Posted

There was an argument to make before this started that war *could* have been worse than capitulation for the Ukrainian people *IF* the Ukrainian people didn't care that much about their government and were being dragged into it by anti-Russian minority element. That could have been the kind of charge to level against neo-con-ism as it was in Iraq. 

But at this point, the War in Ukraine has shown itself to have nothing to do with the kind of neo-con motivated nation building project they were pushing in Iraq. Ukraine has manifested absolutely to be a nation. This is a simple repudiation of a raw war of imperial conquest. As different from the neo-con's Iraq II as Kuwait was.

Posted (edited)
16 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

.... The question we all pondered in this forum before this all started was "Would the Ukrainians fight." Well damn if they have not answered the bell beyond anyone in the West's wildest dreams. 

 

Maybe I have a cheat, since I live in the midst of large Russian and Ukrainian populations in the greater NYC area, and count many friends...

But I knew Ukraine was ready to fight... every man, woman, and child in Ukraine (within reason), against Russian aggression. The Ukrainians are still enraged over 2014.

Note also: Not joking about Ukrainian women. They currently make up approximately 17-20% of armed forces fighting against Russia. That's counting resistance fighters, not just regular armed forces, or support forces.

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

... *IF* the Ukrainian people didn't care that much about their government and were being dragged into it by anti-Russian minority element...

And this was never a legitimate thing in Ukraine.

Like I said, almost to a man/ woman/ child... they are 99.9% against any Russian incursion. Russian or Ukrainian speaking... doesn't matter.

 

 

Edited by 1984Echoes
  • Like 1
Posted
48 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

 

Maybe I have a cheat, since I live in the midst of large Russian and Ukrainian populations in the greater NYC area, and count many friends...

But I knew Ukraine was ready to fight... every man, woman, and child in Ukraine (within reason), against Russian aggression. The Ukrainians are still enraged over 2014.

Note also: Not joking about Ukrainian women. They currently make up approximately 17-20% of armed forces fighting against Russia. That's counting resistance fighters, not just regular armed forces, or support forces.

And this was never a legitimate thing in Ukraine.

Like I said, almost to a man/ woman/ child... they are 99.9% against any Russian incursion. Russian or Ukrainian speaking... doesn't matter.

 

 

I knew you were “passionate” about this war but didn’t know that it was informed as directly by your neighbors.

Posted

I have a passion for reading history, heavily in European histories...

And I have a 30 year personal history...

Including neighbors and friends and...

Plus, my ex-wife is Russian and Ukrainian (that's the 30 years part).

I probably have somewhat of a unique viewpoint in here...

  • Like 1
Posted
1 minute ago, 1984Echoes said:

The US/ EU/ World needs to declare the Russian Administration (Putin), and thereby the Russian state, a terrorist organization/ state.

The UN must vote to remove Putin’s regime from the UNSC

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