Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[KaiserDave]

I have no idea how anyone could read Putin's speeches and think "this is a guy who wouldn't encroach upon Ukraine if NATO just didn't expand into Poland, the Baltics, Romania, and Bulgaria"

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1500584474471510027

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1500633315426160642

The onus is on Europe

[KaiserDave]

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1501512022470635521

American defense officials say, reported on CNN's live feed, that Russia still has 90% of its combat power ready for use, that doesn't sound like "losing significant equipment" or "running out of available troops" to me. I understand this forum is unabashedly cheerleading for Ukraine but believing in obvious pro-Ukrainian propaganda and exaggerated reports is a sure way to be disappointed when reality hits.

Russia has about “90% of their available combat power still ready for their use” in Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters on Wednesday.

The US assesses Russia no longer has “several hundred vehicles of different stripes and sizes” available to them, but the US does not know if those vehicles were captured, destroyed or abandoned, the official added.  

CNN first reported Tuesday that the US estimated that as much as 8% to 10% of Russian military assets used in the invasion of Ukraine are now destroyed or inoperable, according to a US official familiar with the latest intelligence as of Tuesday.

The equipment lost includes tanks, aircraft, artillery and other military assets. That is close to double the losses that CNN reported last week when it was estimated Russia had lost 3% to 5% of its military assets.

Question, are you stupid?

Wait, of course you are.

Russia lost 10% of its invading army in two weeks. That is.......insane. That is completely far beyond what anybody predicted. The US went into Iraq with some 300k forces. Imagine if we had lost 30,000 soldiers, that would have been unbelievable shock to the people and a massive disaster for our army. Imagine if that happened within two weeks of fighting. This is massive, catastrophic losses for Russia.

Now go, shoo, back to your cave.

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1501512022470635521

American defense officials say, reported on CNN's live feed, that Russia still has 90% of its combat power ready for use, that doesn't sound like "losing significant equipment" or "running out of available troops" to me. I understand this forum is unabashedly cheerleading for Ukraine but believing in obvious pro-Ukrainian propaganda and exaggerated reports is a sure way to be disappointed when reality hits.

Russia has about “90% of their available combat power still ready for their use” in Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters on Wednesday.

The US assesses Russia no longer has “several hundred vehicles of different stripes and sizes” available to them, but the US does not know if those vehicles were captured, destroyed or abandoned, the official added.  

CNN first reported Tuesday that the US estimated that as much as 8% to 10% of Russian military assets used in the invasion of Ukraine are now destroyed or inoperable, according to a US official familiar with the latest intelligence as of Tuesday.

The equipment lost includes tanks, aircraft, artillery and other military assets. That is close to double the losses that CNN reported last week when it was estimated Russia had lost 3% to 5% of its military assets.

Question, are you stupid?

Wait, of course you are.

Russia lost 10% of its invading army in two weeks. That is.......insane. That is completely far beyond what anybody predicted. The US went into Iraq with some 300k forces. Imagine if we had lost 30,000 soldiers, that would have been unbelievable shock to the people and a massive disaster for our army. Imagine if that happened within two weeks of fighting. This is massive, catastrophic losses for Russia.

Now go, shoo, back to your cave.

So catastrophic that they lost.... one tenth of their stuff? Still having 90% is "running out of troops" or "losing significant equipment"? Catastrophic is what the USSR suffered in Barbarossa, losing tens of thousands of tanks and aircraft and millions captured and killed, well over half their pre-war strength. I understand this forum is cheerleading for the Ukrainians and thus Ukrainian propaganda is spread, but you shouldn't actually drink the Kool-Aid and believe that stuff is real.

How stupid are you?
Are you really comparing World War Two to a war fought in 2022? Why would you do something so silly? Germany invaded the Soviet Union with 3.8 million soldiers. Russia had some 2.5 million on the border, and 11,000 tanks. The scale is not remotely comparable! The nature of the conflict is not remotely comparable!

Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago, expecting to decapitate the government within a few days. Instead, they have lost 10% of their army, and the other 90% is facing logistical and supply nightmares. Since then, Ukraine's military capacity has only increased on the land.

Be smarter (or for you I guess, just be not so stupid).

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1504412350102839298

No, you don't.

No, they can’t.

[KaiserDave]

Why are we even discussing Bandera? Bandera was awful, but he is also not relevant. Putin is committing mass murder in Ukraine, we need to be giving Ukraine the heavy weapons necessary to drive the Russians out of their country before more genocidal massacres happen. Andriy and all Ukrainians deserve freedom.

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/ukrainesinger/status/1511198612507791361?t=vKqRN1YZ7WQzskwSe...

]I just wanted you to know this story. And if the events that are unfolding in Ukraine are not genocide, then I do not know what is

The Russians Army is an army populated largely by murderers and criminals. The spirit of Beria and Blokhin, rapists and murderers lives on in many of these soldiers today. It's absolutely disgusting. They all must be expelled from Ukraine mercilessly. The West needs to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons and jets for the total expulsion of the Russian Army.

I will merely add, that the SS and Nazis did stuff like this, and worse, with great frequency and frightening regularity. They were as bad as it gets.

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/PeterRNeumann/status/1512000767514849282?t=MaJqc4lyNfPtlBQyo...

They must be mercilessly expelled from Ukraine. Whatever has to be done. Read the thread. It's bad, very bad.

[KaiserDave]

We should absolutely welcome all (real, actual) Ukrainian refugees, send as much military aid to Ukraine as possible, and phase out Russian energy asap. I fully support it. But politicians aiming to boycott Russian oil and gas right now better have a backup option on offer.

As long as the political will isn't there to use perfectly viable backup options - our existing coal and nuclear plants which have been scaled off or shut down completely for the sake of the climate heresy (in the case of coal) and for an even dumber scare campaign that actually left us more dependent on Russia (in the case of nuclear) - it is perverse to call for immediate boycotts: it will make sure millions of Europeans descend into energy poverty. But not the stunning and brave green/liberal politicians calling for the boycott, of course.

[KaiserDave]

Inshallah we will get SirWoodbury banned from this thread very soon.

[KaiserDave]

https://www.twitter.com/lapatina_/status/1512818345489408006

The idiotic "threat of NATO to Russia" as an explanation for why this war is happening arguments need to go away.

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/olliecarroll/status/1513943338713497603?s=21&t=wtQpUxBAj...

Big news!

[KaiserDave]

Ukraine needs tanks, jets, and offensive weapons. That is the only way Russia will be totally expelled from Ukraine.

[KaiserDave]

“Russian security concerns” is a poor disguise for domination and control. They should not be given what they want. Russia has lost any chance to negotiate, once they lose the won they will not be consulted or listened to on Ukrainian security or internal affairs, nor should they be.

[KaiserDave]

“Russian security concerns” is a poor disguise for domination and control. They should not be given what they want.

I'm not advocating that we do what Russia wants. I'm establishing the reasoning for this war being rational from the Russian perspective.
If some hostile defensive alliance was expanding into our hemisphere, I'm sure we wouldn't want Mexico and Canada in it...

That is not why Russia is attacking. Putin and his associates do not believe that Ukraine is a real country. They refuse to let Ukraine conduct its own foreign policy or internal affairs policy, this includes joining the EU or EU based organizations, not NATO. Even if there was no threat of Ukraine joining NATO, Russia would have hostile intentions. Compounded upon that is that Putin cannot accept democracies (even flawed ones) on his border.

[KaiserDave]

https://twitter.com/InnaSovsun/status/1520838878155976704?t=__H_7fUR5QLrk9BERNao...

Russian hacks here (especially I want to hear something from BigSerg and Russian Bear), tell me about "This is not genocide" and "Putin's demands are reasonable".

Russian bear has not logged into his account since February 23

[KaiserDave]

Skip

Russian bear has not logged into his account since February 23

Thanks. I didn't know that. This time, from February 24 to my injury, I did not follow the forum very often, so I missed it. It will be necessary to follow, maybe someday he will appear here.

Skip

I don't recall seeing Russian Bear since this war began. Maybe he was jailed for taking part in an anti-war protest or something; I dunno exactly, no one knows.

Thanks. I doubt it. I do not remember exactly, but I think he once wrote that he lives in Belarus. But I'm not sure about that. In any case, there may be many reasons, at least - the intensification of repression for browsing certain foreign sites, who knows. Although I would like to hear his comments on the war and all these events.

BigSerg is unfortunately still around, but he doesn't talk as much as he used to. I know I'm glad you're back, but I hope you recover from your injuries soon and continue your heroic work. Slava!

[KaiserDave]

Andriy, do you think Ukraine is capable of launching a major offensive to liberate Kherson Oblast entirely?

[KaiserDave]

https://mobile.twitter.com/nypost/status/1520831090377859072

Who cares lol

[KaiserDave]

The Ghost of Kyiv was pretty clearly an effective propaganda play conflating the efforts of multiple pilots from the start to rally the Defense of Kyiv. It worked, Kyiv stood, and Russia is losing. I do not care that it wasn't true.

[KaiserDave]

The notion that Ukraine was an equal partner in the Russian Empire is wrong.

[KaiserDave]

#EndForeignAidToAllCountriesNow

https://twitter.com/wsmartin218/status/1527375701594484736

#StopPostingInThisThreadNobodyCares

[KaiserDave]

So this is something I’ve been wondering about for a while. PNTR with Russia was pulled months ago. But there hasn’t been any movement on tariffs.

Why won’t Biden place tariffs on Russia? Is he going to soon?

I know you have an obsession with 19th century economic policy, but big tariff walls are not actually a good idea. And why would Biden do that when we already have a high prices crisis? This wouldn't do much additional damage to the Russians anyway.