Ukraine Watch...

[UndercoverElephant]

If I was Putin, I'd be more worried about China coming in through the back door than NATO...

The truth is that Russia is already downgraded from "World Power" to a client state of China. Not just because Russia could not defend itself from China, but because it is now critically dependent on Chinese technological imports to keep its military going.

[Default0ptions]

Just leave it then UE. You really aren’t as important as you think

The world will keep turning regardless of your opinion

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Default0ptions]

If I was Putin, I'd be more worried about China coming in through the back door than NATO...

The truth is that Russia is already downgraded from "World Power" to a client state of China. Not just because Russia could not defend itself from China, but because it is now critically dependent on Chinese technological imports to keep its military going.

“Why Is The U.S. So Ridiculously Dependent On China?”

Article from 2020 but still relevant.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/ ... -on-china/

Much of the world is dependent on China. Dependence on china is not really an issue here.

The war in Ukraine is basically an artillery grind and what has counted and continues to count is that:-

“Ukraine's gunners have to use ammunition rounds sparingly, as there is a shortage of artillery shells.
Their gun, like most artillery systems provided by the West, fires 155-mm projectiles that are also supplied by foreign partners.
The problem is, Ukraine's troops need more rounds than their allies can currently give them.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67714719

The uncomfortable truth here is that Russia is out producing all of “Ukraine’s allies” - i.e. all of NATO - in artillery shells delivered to the front lines.

The artillery shells are not dependent on china.

[UndercoverElephant]

You really aren’t as important as you think

STOP MAKING THIS ABOUT ME. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT UKRAINE, NOT ME. I DO NOT WANT IT TO BE ABOUT ME. YOU HAVE MADE IT ABOUT ME. NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO GASLIGHT ME INTO BELIEVING THAT SOMEHOW THIS IS MY OWN DOING. F--k OFF.

[Default0ptions]

You really aren’t as important as you think

STOP MAKING THIS ABOUT ME. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT UKRAINE, NOT ME. I DO NOT WANT IT TO BE ABOUT ME. YOU HAVE MADE IT ABOUT ME. NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO GASLIGHT ME INTO BELIEVING THAT SOMEHOW THIS IS MY OWN DOING. F--k OFF.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Ralphw2]

Russia has imported millions of artilery shells from North Korea. I do not know if the shipments are continuing

What is really damaging Ukraine on the front lines are the glide bombs, not artilery. The electronic components for those almost certainly come from China.

The lack of artilery shells for Ukraine, due to the US suspension in deliveries, has allowed Russia to change tactics on the gound and concentrate forces that would have previously been shredded even before they got to the front lines.

The next few weeks should clarify how much more progress Russia can make on the ground before the renewed US shipments arrive on the front lines.

[clv101]

The guidance system on the glide bombs is Vietnam era technology - even Russia's obsolete indigenous technology industry can manufacture these chips.

[BritDownUnder]

So much lack of awareness of Russian history here. Peter the Great wrote a letter to his successor in the early 1700s saying it is the duty of Russia to expand - in that case it was at the expense of the Persian and Ottoman empires but the mindset continues today. So the reasons for Russian expansion into Finland or Moldova say, are not just for economic reasons but for cultural reasons. A kind of Russian Manifest Destiny perhaps.

I think you are right about Russia outproducing the West in artillery shells and probably many other military things. Russia is a militarised state that, due to its plethora of minorities on its territory as a result of historic expansion, cannot afford even the illusion of weakness and so needs to devote considerable economic resources and industrial production to defence related issues. So whereas Korea has Samsung, Japan has Toyota and Germany has Siemens etc Russia only has military brands and civilian brands that are household names. Nixon and Khrushchev touched upon these differences in their famous 'kitchen debate' in the 1950s.

On glide bombs, another German invention in WW2 with the Fritz-X that destroyed an Italian battleship and the US was also developing the Bat bomb slightly later. However proving very effective.

[Default0ptions]

So much lack of awareness of history here

https://www.britannica.com/place/Kyiv/History

[invalid]

Russian forces are currently outmanoeuvring and punching holes through Ukrainian positions all along the frontlines.

Taking land has been slow, as usual, but I believe they Will have been exacting a heavy Price on the defenders. In chasov yar, for instance, the Russians have been content to only conduct ground operations on the flanks, while simultaneously bombing the City to oblivion.

There have been múltiple recent reports of Ukrainian units abandoning positions and refusing orders, and I don't blame them. Manpower is the great problem for Ukraine. Everyone Who wanted to be fighting is probably already signed Up, and they are now exhausted, demoralised, and shellshocked, and probably thinking twice about sacrificing themselves for their Western overlords.

I don't think this aid, or at least as much of It as reaches the frontlines intact after graft and Russian strikes, Will do anything more than perhaps stabilise the current situation for Ukraine, for a short while. It's really hopeless for them.

[Ralphw2]

The Ukrainians are not fighting for their Western overlords, they are fighting because they have tasted freedom from their Russian overlords for the last 30+ years and have no wish to suffer that level of misery again. Morale has become a problem, but with the US supplies flowing again, they will at least have something to fight back with.

[Default0ptions]

The Ukrainians are not fighting for their Western overlords, they are fighting because they have tasted freedom from their Russian overlords for the last 30+ years and have no wish to suffer that level of misery again. Morale has become a problem, but with the US supplies flowing again, they will at least have something to fight back with.

Look Ralph. The Ukrainians are historically Russian and Kiev was the capital city of Russia for hundreds of years.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Kyiv/History

This is precisely why Russia hasn’t done a US style ‘shock and awe’ flattening of Kiev. Compare that to what Israel has done in Gaza. Or NATO in the Middle East.

You’re simply regurgitating the propaganda you’ve swallowed without actually thinking about it or even bothering to read up about it yourself.

This is unthinking nonsense: “The Ukrainians are not fighting for their Western overlords, they are fighting because they have tasted freedom from their Russian overlords for the last 30+ years and have no wish to suffer that level of misery again.”

Just look at what you wrote there. Does it look like reasoned argument? Or does it just read like emotional click bait?

It reads more like a 1950’s Boy’s Own magazine article than anything else.

Historically Kiev has a better claim to be the capital of Russia than Moscow does.

And Russia is respecting that. And hasn’t carpet bombed every major city.

[adam2]

Ukraine may have been a part of russia in the past. That does not give russia the right to seize it by force now. Many Ukrainians remember the last time that they were russian occupied, and have no wish to repeat the experience.

Large parts of France were once part of the UK, does that give us the right to invade now ? I think not !

[Ralphw2]

UK has been invaded many times over the centuries. Our current royal family is German. previous ones have been geographically Dutch, french danish and Italian, most of Eastern Europe has changed rulers more times than you have had hot dinners, and their populations have migrated or been forced marched many times. To claim post Soviet Russia has moral or legal right to subjugate the modern legal entity controlling Kiev is ludicrous you may as well say that Ukraine has the right to invade and claim Moscow.

Russia has been systematically targeting Ukrainian infrastructure, after it's initial invasion was repulsed with massive Russian losses. The reason that they have not destroyed the country is they do not have air superiority and Ukraine has been given a lot of air defences systems, Russia
only recently developed tactics that have had success on the front lines

[Default0ptions]

To claim post Soviet Russia has moral or legal right to subjugate the modern legal entity controlling Kiev is ludicrous you may as well say that Ukraine has the right to invade and claim Moscow.

Where did I claim that ‘post Soviet Russia’ had a moral or legal right to ‘subjugate the modern legal entity controlling Kiev’

I was just pointing out one of the reasons why Kiev doesn’t look like Gaza.

“Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day which exceeds the daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years”

“Russian drones kill two, Ukraine's Zelenskiy seeks better air defences”

The US ‘shock and awe’ in Iraq (an illegal invasion of a sovereign country by America)

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=iraq+shock+an ... &ia=images

Compare that to ‘Kiev 2024’

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kiev+2024&t=i ... &ia=images