Ukraine Watch...

[Default0ptions]

Ken:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=unesco+shelling+donbass+2014

[kenneal - lagger]

So now Russia invaded Ukraine to stop the shelling of schools and kindergartens and is punishing Ukraine by doing the same to them? How many more excuses for this genocide will we have to hear before you actually come up with the one that Putin has finally admitted to in public and that is that he wants to reinstate the Soviet Union and its empire despite what any of the participants of the former empire may want. You are continually finding excuses for a genocidal colonialist.

That article is saying that the US was telling lies about the Russian's wish to invade Ukraine but days later they did just what they had been denying for months. That article proves that the Russians are serial liars but you continue to place the blame on the US!! According to you the US is to blame for the colonial ambitions of Vladimir Putin. Are you nuts or am I?

[BritDownUnder]

Yes, Ken, but you must realise you're only telling part of the story there? I really hope you realise that!

One of the tricky things about this conflict is how few people are willing to recognise the whole, muddy, shades of grey picture. Almost everyone is bending over backwards to present the situation and black and white - it isn't, the world very rarely is. This is a shame as in this situation Russia is clearly the much greater evil here but painting the situation as B&W like you have devalues the analysis and paradoxically *opens the door* for Russian propaganda.

People are telling me that the situation is muddy or shades of grey but no one has told me why. Where is my "analysis" above wrong or not wholly correct? Which bits should be greyed or muddied or have I left anything out?

That great bit of Russian kit, a Kinzhal hypersonic missile crashed in Stavropol, Russia on its way to kill someone in Ukraine. Apparently they haven't got many so they have saved them for things like attacking civilian targets in Zelenski's home town in revenge for the huge gains the Ukrainians have made in the last week or so.
https://gagadget.com/en/167307-the-newe ... and-is-no/

Looks like a stand off missile, a bit like the UK's Blue Steel missile from the 1960's. One can only hope that details of its properties, flight path and CEP become better known with each use so that countermeasures may be developed.

I would like this one, the Sprint Missile, to be revived.

With the use of this missile by Russia it looks like the Ukrainian skies have been swept clean of Russian aircraft.

[Default0ptions]

Well at least you’re beginning to think about the possibility that there might just be more to this instead of blithely regurgitating your daily propaganda feed

[Vortex2]

I would like this one, the Sprint Missile, to be revived.

The Sprint was a specialist anti-ICBM weapon designed for last-ditch terminal defence to protect nuclear silos.

That said, one of the anti-aircraft missiles used by Russia looks exceedingly similar.
(They are fired from large cylindrical tubes.)

[BritDownUnder]

I would like this one, the Sprint Missile, to be revived.

The Sprint was a specialist anti-ICBM weapon designed for last-ditch terminal defence to protect nuclear silos.

That said, one of the anti-aircraft missiles used by Russia looks exceedingly similar.
(They are fired from large cylindrical tubes.)

The YouTube videos I saw give a range of 17 miles and altitude of 27 miles. It would make sense to use it to defend nuclear power stations and large cities. A nice acceleration of 0 to 7000mph in 15 seconds. So fast it glows white hot.

Should be revived and tested against Russian hypersonic weapons. Perhaps accuracy and guidance systems have improved in the last 50 years. After all the Russians are providing free hypersonic target vehicles at the moment.

On a related note I hear that the fellow Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are cooperating well with each other in changing their mutual border by their own ''special military border adjustment operations''. Russia clearly setting the precedent to its allies / former colonies.

And we have some more ''special military burials'' recently discovered in mass graves in recently Ukrainian re-occupied Izyum.

[kenneal - lagger]

I saw an article earlier which said that Russia has used 5 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on Ukraine of which one seems to have misfired and fell in Russia injuring six firemen when it finally blew up.

Hardly a war winning piece of technology!

[BritDownUnder]

One has to ask if these missiles are deliberately being targeted at shopping centres, railway stations and apartment blocks or they are aimed at some military target nearby (well the same country at least) and just not that accurate.

On the subject of delayed detonations I recall hearing during the 1991 Desert Storm operations an interview with an old former Royal Air Force man detailing his experience in the RAF against the Kurds in the 1920s. ''Bottom spanking'' was his description of the actions. Bombing attacks were launched on rebel Kurdish villages with the RAF dropping bombs, some of which were delayed detonation bombs. The former RAF man gleefully recalled the Kurds would sit on the delayed detonation bombs (presumably thinking they were duds) and hold some form of ''reprisal council'' whereupon the bomb would detonate.

[Stumuz2]

Someone just posted this in the FT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKEycjR ... e=youtu.be

Looks like Trump was very prescient in his warnings.

Look at the German delegation openly mocking and laughing at his warnings.
As Nigel Farage would say,
" they're not laughing now!"

[adam2]

This news report shows the russian forces in a very poor light.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62914958

Crowd funding and charity appeals to buy socks and underwear for the troops.
Fighter pilots lack basics such as fire resistant uniform, two way radios and torches.

[UndercoverElephant]

This news report shows the russian forces in a very poor light.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62914958

Crowd funding and charity appeals to buy socks and underwear for the troops.
Fighter pilots lack basics such as fire resistant uniform, two way radios and torches.

Suggests the "special military operation" is close to collapse. The Russians are fundamentally overstretched. Their resources have been severely depleted and their front line, in hostile territory, is far too long. There are too many places where Ukraine can attack, and attacking in one place threatens the supply lines in others.

It looks to me like Russia is going to be completely defeated, with the possible exception that they might be able to hold on to Crimea, and I think we are now talking about months rather than years.

[Default0ptions]

Are you serious UE?

Let’s see where we all are January.

You can always burn your computer to boil water for your morning coffee.

You have absolutely no idea about the difference between a consumer economy vs. an exporter do you

I really struggle to get to grips with your mindset at all

[UndercoverElephant]

Are you serious UE?

I am always serious.

You have absolutely no idea about the difference between a consumer economy vs. an exporter do you

I really struggle to get to grips with your mindset at all

Whether Russia is a consumer or exporter economy doesn't matter at this point. They do not have the resources to win this war unless the whole country is mobilised, but Putin doesn't have sufficient support for this war among the general populace to sustain that policy. The depoliticised majority will passively say they support the war while the alternative is being sent to prison or bumped off, but they will not go to the front line and fight with any fire. Their sole objective will be to stay alive until Putin is eliminated from the equation. Meanwhile the Ukrainians are fully mobilised and fully motivated. And now they really believe they can win. One more counter-attack like the one we've just seen could be enough to break the Russians completely. All Ukraine needs to do is to get close enough to the Kerch Straight to take out the bridge with artillery, and the bulk of the occupying army is threatened with being completely surrounded, with no safe retreat route.

[PS_RalphW]

I do not think Russia is that close to collapse in this war. The troops were ordered to retreat from Karkiv because the region is least politically important that Russia held. The retreat became a rout due to poor leadership and morale, but the majority of the troops made it out.

Russia is weak, but Ukraine does not have sufficient force to push them out. Putin does not care how many of his soldiers die, they are poorly trained and mostly from remote areas, prisons or overseas. He will hold on to as much ground as he can into winter, dig in, resupply and train more troops where ever he can find them. The army generals are still in a WWII mindset, they will back Putin.

[Vortex2]

It's Not Okay For Grown Adults To Say The Ukraine Invasion Was "Unprovoked"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0omINQTIQ1Y

A video for the black-and-white crowd.

Note: Caitlin Johnstone writes the commentary but her husband reads it out.