Anyone but me notice the number of “progressives” that positively celebrated the Ukrainian government giving out selective-fire AKMs to literally everyone who showed up in the parking lot to get one? Including left-of-center members of the Ukrainian Parliament, who were positively lauded for excercising (what NPR would never, ever refer to as) their God-given right to defend their lives, their families, their community and their freedom itself?
Note to fellow amateurs: the Javelin or NLAW missile, or even the Molotov Cocktail, are only useful against the tank if you can get your people into position to shoot, or drop, them on the enemy. And that takes the lowly rifle.
An analysis – amateur, but factually solid – on the role of “irregulars”, the type of people the late and unlamented “Dog Gone” used to refer to as “fat white guys with guns”, on the war in Ukraine.
It’s long, but it’s worth a watch.
“the late and unlamented “D0g Gone” “
Did she die? When? Cause of death?
I would think that what the gun grabbers fear is that the authorities they place over local populations would be intimidated by an armed populace & reduce the ability of the feds to rule.
I love America. Its federal government is acting as though it were an empire ruling 50 colonies rather than a union representing their interests.
It strikes me that what we are seeing from Russia, and what we have seen historically, is the necessity to take military service seriously enough to maintain equipment, update it, train with those weapons, and the like. The U.S. had this as a consistent source of disaster in the days when we didn’t have a standing army, and the triumph of the Swiss is that everybody knew that the average Swiss militiaman could drive nails with his rifle at 200 yards.
Regarding how you can fight tanks with rifles, tank crews need to open the hatches sometimes, as thousands of Russian troops have learned the hard way in Ukraine and Afghanistan.
“We could try a sticky bomb…It’s in the Field Manual. You can check it out if you want to.”
At some point in the US, guns and ammo made in former Soviet countries will be hard to get. Every former Soviet country and its citizens is buying up all its arms and ammo as fast as they can make it. There will be little or none for export to the USA for years to come.
Bike: or you just cut off their food and fuel supplies.
Russia has already lost on so many fronts. NATO is emboldened and will shortly be expanded. Ukraine’s fight for survival has elevated it to a position in the world’s consciousness that it never had before. Meanhile Russia has revealed its military and moral failings in a way that has utterly diminished it in a matter of weeks. Now we must hope for as complete a defeat as possible for Russia on the battlefields as soon as possible. The West must continue to increase support to Ukraine to achieve that.
Sure, fat White guys with AK’s…and cluster bombs
https://www.wsj.com/video/ukrainian-troops-may-have-used-cluster-bombs/30D41365-F87F-4AEA-86D3-322017EB8C2F.html
“Military and moral failings….”
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/documents-prisoners-torture-abuse-ukrainian-conflict-78635636
I’m afraid E is right this time. The war is all but over.
Zelenskyy has been visited by Boris Johnson, Nancy Pelosi, even Bono. Yes, Bono! Who has visited Putin? Nobody. China won’t even return his calls.
Ukraine is clearly winning the battle to Tell a Better Story.
All Russia is winning is the coastline.
“Regarding how you can fight tanks with rifles, tank crews need to open the hatches sometimes, as thousands of Russian troops have learned the hard way in Ukraine and Afghanistan.”
Oh My! Really Delenda? Can you provide a link that supports all of these thousands of hatch wackings? How about 1?
NPR? Wikipedia? Or just you.
Fisch, Pedo Joe plucked that low hanging fruit back in ’21.
https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-united-states-imposes-additional-costs-on-russia-for-the-poisoning-of-aleksey-navalny/
How things change. 25% support for NATO membership in Finland in January and now 75%+.
Russia sure knows how to make friends and influence people.
JD, when you’re in a fight and want to end it quick, either you KTFO your enemy right away, or you give him a way to escape.
Russia wanted 2 things from Ukraine:
1. Stop shelling the Donbas and acknowledge their independence.
2. Keep Ukraine out of NATO
Both of these objectives are fait accompli, with the addition of control over much of the coast; Putin has what he wanted. This is prime time for negotiations, but Pedo Joe’s handlers and the neocons are set on fighting, whatever the eventual cost the the US.
Ukraine isn’t gonna KTFO Russian military; not even with the help of our elite tranny corps…this will end badly. In the absence of an honorable way out, there is zero chance Putin will stop until he crushes Zelinsky. Much of the $40 bil Pedo Joe and the GOP will eventually send to Ukraine will end up in various numbered Swiss bank accounts to provide golden parachutes for the Zelinsky crowd. Accepting Finland into NATO is utter idiocy; it’s an unnecessary poke in the eye for the RF, and just one more mouth to feed for US taxpayers with no return possible.
We are already providing real time intel to Ukraine, which is a Casis beli, and if we continue on this path, direct conflict between the US and Russian Federation is inevitable.
I hope all you boomer “Stand with Ukraine” types are ready to send your kids to fight for a corrupt regime, ’cause mine sure as fuck ain’t going anywhere.
Yo, Swiftee, you realize that the second source you links basically says that the Ukrainians stopped doing these things in 2017, but the “separatists” (“Russians”) are continuing to do them, right?
Your brilliance never ceases to amaze me.
Regarding the first, OK, dateline 2014, lots of the bomblets are still intact, suggesting they didn’t explode. Guessing it was an old Soviet era munition used in desperation as Russia invaded. And yes, Russia. The little green men didn’t get their tanks on eBay.
And since you insist–Putin delenda est, or “Putin must be destroyed.”
Perhaps Ukraine should indicate that it wants to annex Russia, and call for a referendum there. Or perhaps skip the referendum and just issue a decree.
I quite fancy annexing my neighbor’s garden, so do I just issue a decree and roll my lawnmower in? Or do I need to intimidate local law enforcement with nuclear action…. Then do the lawnmower thing 😂
Hatch wackings, Delenda. Tell about the hatch wackings.
WSJ: “Ukrainian government forces may have used cluster munitions in populated areas in Donetsk in early October, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Monday.”
Delenda Est!: “Yeah well, those were cluster bombs stashed from when they were Russia…RUSSIA, see?…so there”
lol
So perhaps I am off base here, but during the Cold War half the world would have sided with Russia, without ambiguity. Now a minority side with Russia, the West oppose it, and close to half the world really does not seem to care very much.
It is one thing to have friends or enemies, but it is entirely another thing to not matter. The incredible apathy towards Russia is something I have never seen in my life. It seems like a far greater change than Finland joining NATO.
Russia is accelerating towards its own irrelevance. Culturally, economically, and now militarily Russia has fallen apart, and shown the world very clearly just how far it has fallen.
Dullee, look at the dateline. October 2014.
Yeah, no possibility that the Russians could have used diplomatic channels for the past seven and a half years to resolve those differences, none at all. Had to send their army in and destroy 93% of the residences in Mariupol over that, fer sure.
Maybe before posting again, Dullee, learn to read.
By the way, here’s who is currently using cluster bombs against civilians.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/world/russia-general-ukraine-syria-cluster-bombs-intl-cmd/index.html
And as Russia is driven away from Kharkiv, they’re finding more and more evidence of serious war crimes by the Russian army. Putin is behaving more or less like an abusive ex-husband saying “if I cannot have you, no one will.” And idiots like you are cheering him on.
Putin Delenda Est!
And here you go, dullee, with regards to what happens when tankers need to open the hatches.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/dropping-a-grenade.html?edg-c=1
Yes, it happens. Hint; armored vehicles generally don’t have a bathroom.
Delenda Est!: “Look! CNN has the facts. Learn to read!!!”
Yeah sure, but what does Wikipedia/PBS/NPR say smart guy?
Delenda Est! “Yeah, no possibility that the Russians could have used diplomatic channels for the past seven and a half years to resolve those differences,”
Good point, if *only* there had been a framework for peace…schwoops!
https://peacemaker.un.org/UA-ceasefire-2014
Delenda Est!: “ And here you go, dullee, with regards to what happens when tankers need to open the hatches.”
Ooooh. Just follow a tank and wait until everyone has to take a piss and *poof* thousands of dead tankers!
Delenda Est!: “It happens…click the link!”
Ok…”So, while it is possible that the soldiers could drop grenades into a tank, there is no clear way of knowing if such an event occurred during battle other than eyewitness testimonies.”
Lol.
We will see, the key is that Putin no longer gets to decide. As noted he started a fight he expected to win quickly and decisively, but now he’s in the water with a shark.
No doubt Putin will focus on consolidating his hold on the West, and aim to create a stable occupation around the coast, but I don’t think the Ukrainians are going to allow that.
Financially, militarily, and politically the Russian forces are not capable of sustained action. Especially militarily, they have lost more forces and hardware in a month than they had in decades before. And those forces they have lost have been their elite.
And that’s not even taking into account the forays being made into Russian territory itself. We were under the assumption that Russia would sweep through Ukraine, and that was false. We were also under the impression that Russian air defense was basically impenetrable, and in the last few weeks we have seen that is false. Strategic hits on rail hubs and fuel depots within the territory of Russia are going to change the game again.
If there is not a major change in the maps by the end of Summer, I’ll be shocked. Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.
Russia has a lot of nukes, something like ten times as many as the US.
American nukes are city-busters.
Russia has battlefield nukes, and has never ruled out using them.
Beware of thinking that you know how this will end. The people running the show know a Hell of a lot more than you do, and they have no idea how it will end.
Yo, dullee, if you’d, ahem, actually read the links I provided, you’d have found they say exactly what I told you they said. Maybe try reading beyond the first paragraph or two?
Regarding the framework for peace, the precondition was that heavy weapons would be withdrawn. Russia never did that, hence the agreement collapsed. Of course, maybe they do have an excuse, since it seems that Russian heavy equipment doesn’t seem to be able to go more than a few miles without breaking down. How do you remove a tank with a blown head gasket and a bad transmission from the front? I guess they need Ukrainian tractors or Javelins to help!
Putin delenda est!
Working on my list of Putin’s achievements:
1. Strengthen NATO.
2. Inspire Germany to rearm.
3. Lose European energy markets.
4. Reveal inadequacy of Russian military hardware.
5. Crush the morale of Russian troops.
6. Bankrupt the Russian population.
7. Isolate Russia from global institutions.
8. Diminish soft power network of Russian oligarchs in the West.
9. Turn Russia into a helpless Chinese dependent.
10. Make US Intelligence appear omniscient.
11. Mass-slaughter innocent Ukrainian civilians – the friends and families of Russians. Destroy their homes, schools, churches and hospitals.
12. Inspire Ukraine’s national pride.
13. Ensure that Ukraine will never, ever want to be part of Russia, and that an angry armed Ukrainian population will hate Russians for generations.
14. Reinforce global image of Russia as incompetent, corrupt, dishonest, brutish and violent.
15. Lose Russia’s dominance of the Black Sea for the first time since Catharine the Great founded Sebastopol.
Sweden and Finland to make Nato applications on ‘historic’ day for Nordics
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/05/15/in-applying-to-nato-finland-and-sweden-give-the-lie-to-putins-claims
That’ll upset certain people on this forum.
Bad luck for Putin’s keyboard warriors.
That’ll upset certain people on this forum.
Who?
Like listening to wind blowing in an empty pipe . . .
As you read Emery crowing about how bad things are going for Russia and how wonderful the Ukranians are, remember that Emery predicted that the Brexit vote would fail, that Hillary would win over Trump in a landslide, and that Mueller would provide proof that Trump colluded with Putin to steal the 2016 election.
At the time Russia invaded Ukraine, Finnish attitudes toward joining NATO were in the historical rut of roughly one-third in favor, one-third opposed, and one-third undecided. The opposed has stayed about the same, but there’s been a huge swing in the undecideds.
If I were a citizen of Finland, I’d look long and hard at American actions in Vietnam and Afghanistan before voting to put my faith – and the fate of my nation – in the party of John Kerry and Joe Biden.
JD – the Finns might also look at the way Obama stiffed Poland; almost as if he were a Russian agent.
^ Putin’s previous, more limited adventures all paid off: second Chechen war in 1999, Georgia 2008, and Crimea 2014. Those experiences, and the absence of a western response in those conflicts, made him overconfident and led him to overplay his hand in 2022.
Agreed that the strengthening/expansion of NATO is probably a mixed bag. It is good, IMO, that states near Russia are realizing that they need to devote a bit more effort to defense. Given the mercurial nature of decisions on both sides of the aisle, I think it would be healthier if more nations adopted the Swiss model of “every able bodied man in the militia” to make any invasion horribly painful for the invader. I even have half a hope that we’re starting to figure out a way around the nuclear terrorism that Putina’s been mentioning.
Putin delenda est!
Trump said NATO was obsolete. NATO is revitalized and it’s expanding thanks to Putin.
^Not because of Biden, Trump or Obama, but because of Putin – the Europeans are starting to pay their fair share for NATO defense.