Shot in the Dark

ERMUHGEEEERD!!!

I’m going to take a break from dunking on the left’s hysteria and myopia to dunk on some of my own peeps.

Some, broadly conservative, are howling with rage that a Russian “fleet” – a frigate, a submarine, a replenlishment ship and, uh, a fleet tugboat, have been exercising in the Caribbean.

It marks the largest show of force by the Russians with their longstanding ally Cuba in many years. The US assesses that the Kazan does not have nuclear weapons on board, a US official said.

The vessels will carry out a five-day official visit to the Caribbean island – a show of Russian force just 90 miles from Florida as tensions rise between the US and Russia over the war in Ukraine.

And some – again, broadly right of center – are losing their minds.

First: back in the ’80s, this sort of thing was confined to “days ending in ‘Y’”. Overflights, reconaissance planes approaching our ships and aircraft, Soviet spy ships and subs parked off American ports? Unless shots were fired, it was all in a day’s sparring.

And – they brought a tugboat. Because today’s Russian ships are as likely to break down as fight.

Indeed, it’s probably more an opportunity than a threat:

The actual threat is the illegal immigrants.

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Mitch Berg

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18 responses to “ERMUHGEEEERD!!!”

  1. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Yet, some woke white female USAF veteran from Pennsylvania, named Chrissy Houlahan, introduced automatic sign up for selective service, which includes women. She claims that the current law “discriminates against women”. Of course, the war pig DemoCommies, many of whom have never served, were all on board with that, because they need as much cannon fodder for their endless wars that they can get. That bill was passed on Friday. There was a pretty lively protests against the inclusion of women, primarily from Republicans, but the RINO faction, which includes Michael Waltz, a former Green Beret from Florida, will probably push it over the top. But, the good news is that all of the SJWs involved in the various protests, including Kommandant Klink’s little traitor, are in for a rude awakening.

  2. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Agreed.

    It’s also worth noting that Ukraine – a country without a navy! – has sunk nearly half of the Russian Black Sea fleet; some 20 ships sunk or disabled. The rest are hiding in Black Sea ports located as far away as possible from the Ukrainian USVs (Unmanned Surface Vessels). The sunken ships included the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, the cruiser Moscow. Remember those grain shipments from Ukraine that were threatened? Not anymore.

    I’m too lazy to look it up, but I think Russian navy has also experienced an “own goal” or two with frigate sized ships in the Baltic. The Russian navy is still, 120 years later, LARPing as a real naval force.

    Moreover, with that said, the war in Ukraine has revealed that Ukrainians are not only pretty darn clever users but also pretty darn clever developers of “drones”. Both on sea and land. In this regard, for the foreseeable future, naval warfare will not be the same. I hope the Taiwanese, another clever people, are taking notes.

  3. Sailorcurt Avatar
    Sailorcurt

    Yes, my entire Naval career was during the “cold war” that actually got pretty warm at times with some of the games we played with each other.

    When I read the breathless stories about a Russian “fleet” traveling along our coast (in international waters) and performing exercises in Cuba, my reaction was “um…so?”

    Oh, no…those ships are “nuclear capable”. Hate to tell you this but any ship with torpedo tubes or missile launchers is “nuclear capable”. That is a meaningless designation.

    The only reason I can come up with as to the excessive excitement about this is that they were trying to distract from other things. I’m pretty sure they failed.

    BTW, they do realize that Biden is still (nominally) the Commander in Chief right? So if this is some sort of egregious provocation, what does that say about the Russians’ level of respect for our current chain of command?

    “The Russians have the audacity to poke us like this, but it totes has nothing to do with our visibly ineffectual President (or our military being more concerned with celebrating pride month and proper use of woke pronouns)…or something.”

  4. Sailorcurt Avatar
    Sailorcurt

    Sorry, I initially missed your point. I honestly don’t remember where I saw the stories about this. I assumed it was coming from the MSM, but if it was conservatives bleating about this, I have no clue what they were thinking.

    Maybe my last point? That this news was damaging to Biden as CinC? I don’t know, but, as you said, this was blown way out of proportion by the people reporting on it.

  5. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    They may be clever, but they are running out of men for their army. Zelenskyy has released both male and female prisoners to fight and lowered the draft age from 27 to 25.

    I’m skeptical that Russia has lost as many ships as the left wing media is reporting. Biden is losing support for subsidizing Ukraine and illegal invaders, while veterans and U.S. citizens get crapped on. The mockingbird media has been lying about this DemoCommie money laundering scheme since it began.

    In a preview to what I believe Pedo Pete’s regime will attempt, Zelenskyy has postponed their election. He’s also mimicking our regime by jailing dissidents and persecuting Christians. Of course, when one looks at Ukraine’s historical collaboration with and embrace of Nazis, it makes sense.

  6. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    The Ukes, having no Navy of their own but being an American puppet, are fighting effectively against the Russian Navy in the Black Sea using USV (remote-control boats or Jet-Skis loaded with explosives). Wonder where they’re getting them?

    The Houthis, having no Navy of their own but being an Iranian puppet, are fighting effectively against the US Navy in the Med using similar USV. Wonder where they’re getting them?

    China has been cranking out warships but if Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong can link up with the guy selling Jet-Skis to the Ukes and Houthis . . .

  7. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    Speaking as an America Firster, I’m in favor of making women sign up for the draft. The harder we make it for politicians to start wars, the less likely they’ll be to send troops hither and yon on senseless humanitarian and peacekeeping missions. End the college deferrment, while you’re at it – that’ll not only add political pressure but will save wasted student loan money besides.

    That said, I’m against lowering standards for draftees of all genders. If a draftee cannot meet the physical requirements to be in the fighting force, then he/she/it/they can change bedpans in a VA nursing home or peel potatoes in the galley. Everybody helps, one way or another. We’re all in this together.

  8. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Sailorcurt:
    Yup, while I was in the Air Force, the Russkies played cat and mouse with us about twice per month. But, hey. You know those SR71s that we used to fly over the countries of our enemies? That’s essentially what we were doing with them. Those countries all knew it, but didn’t have anything that could intercept, let alone catch up to them.

  9. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    boss, sorry, I don’t get my information from “the left wing media “. My primary sources are Strategy Page, streiff@redstate, battleswarmblog, CDR Salamander, and Phillips P O’Brien’s substack. It’s taken me a long time and a lot of work to gather these sources. I have found them to be reliable and authoritative without being fan-bois of either side. YMMV. It’s no skin off my nose.

    Mr Jones, the Ukrainians have developed their USVs on their own. Ukrainian designed and produced. They have used some rockets (I think the Moscow went down from rockets).

    The fact of the matter is that you can be an America Firster (which I am) and still acknowledge that Ukraine is making Russia look like the bunch of murderous, incompetent, and corrupt chumps they are – especially at sea. Here’s a link to a comment from battleswarmblog to give you a taste of just how wrong most people’s knowledge and conclusions are about the war in Ukraine as well as that incompetent boob, Putin (he must get up every day and give thanks to God that his opponents are the FJB oligarchy).

  10. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    I will add to the above that there is another comment from that Kirk fella at battleswarm that goes into depth about Putin’s stupidity (just scroll down a bit from the above).

  11. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    jdm.
    Thanks for those sources. I knew about one of them.
    Much of my info comes from three former residents of Ukraine that still have family there, but only visit them about once per week.
    I do know that Putin dumped either one of his top or his top naval commander over the Moscow incident.
    Putin may be incompetent and even a buffoon, but he’s the one with the launch codes.

  12. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    jdm, thanks for the clarification on Uke USVs. Makes sense – necessity – invention – all of that.

    Hmmm, maybe there’s a business opportunity for me? I could market Ukrainian USVs to small nations seeking to deter major naval powers from intimidating them. “Stay away from our shore or we’ll sink your ships.” Maybe my kid could get a no-show seat on the Board of Directors making a fat salary. Minus 10% for me, of course.

    I like it.

  13. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Oh, by the way, boss, I didn’t disagree with the points you made in your 8:11 am comment. My big concern is that the media, both left and right, are misreporting and un-reporting what is happening in Ukraine and not all of it is bad news. Remember a few weeks ago when the Russian Kharkov Offensive was declared a brilliant operational maneuver that would soon end the war? Yeah, it petered out with barely a whimper and we don’t hear so much about that anymore.

    The sources I use are not aware of each other that I know of, yet they independently report information that is mutually confirmed. Those Russian “assault motorcycles”, for example.

    Another example is that the Russians have literally blown through most if not all of their modern equipment (such as might be defined as modern) and they can’t replace it (hence the assault motorcycles). They are dredging up equipment from the 70s and 80s and they are blowing through that as well. Moreover, artillery tubes have to be replaced after so many rounds and they aren’t being replaced. I don’t know where I saw it, but I’m pretty sure that Russian/Ukrainian casualty rate is 4:1. And Ukrainian generals, in contrast to their Russian counterparts, are focused on preserving their manpower and avoiding the meat-grinder tactics practiced by Russians, since well, the Napoleonic wars.

    The situation for Russia is slowly but surely coming into focus as a snake eating its own tail. And for what? A few Ukrainian provinces with a higher percentage of Russian ethnics? Geez Loo-weez.

  14. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    No worries, jdm.

    I gathered that. Still, good information.

    One more thing from my time in the Air Force. The B-52 was a part of the U.S. “defensive triad, along with our vast silos full of ICBMs and missile firing subs. Secretly, some senior level officers didn’t think the Russians were competent enough to start anything. They just liked to use the threat that they could, even though both sides claimed that nukes were purely defensive.

  15. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Regarding Russia, I am reminded of Solzhenitsyn’s Harvard address from 1979, which extolled to a degree the Soviet (really Russian) capability for suffering. That does, in many ways, really explain the Russian way of waging war–broad brute force. It’s how Russia lost an eminently winnable war against Japan, it’s how Rennankampf and Samsonov were destroyed by von Hindenburg at Tennenberg, it’s how the Soviets managed to have several times worse losses than the Germans in WWII….and it is of course how Russian losses in this war appear to be greater than the size of the Ukrainian army.

    And along those lines, it is my prayer that Oleksandr Syrskyi manages to get the supplies he needs and the wisdom of von Hindenburg to spare the Russians an attritional war that will effectively end Russia. (and it’s not looking that hot for Ukraine, demographically, either)

    Regarding the “fleet” from Russia….well, same basic deal. Just as the Russian Navy had become a paper fleet before Tsushima, I think that Comrade Putinova has created similar situations for his armed forces. Best commentary on the matter is that a lighthearted Naval officer on the U.S. side noted that it gives our Navy and Air Force a great opportunity to see what they do in a much nicer area than around Murmansk.

  16. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    In case you wanted some proof kinda, sorta – let’s call it an indication – of just how drained Russia is for equipment, Strategy Page wrote this last night.
    Since World War II ended in 1945 Russia has celebrated the May 9, 1945, surrender by Germany to Russian and Allied forces […]. The celebrations declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but were revived by Vladimir Putin after 2000. A large military parade took place in Moscow and was broadcast nationwide. Until 2022 the parade featured more and more Russian tanks and other armored vehicles. These included new tank models. Most of Russia’s modern tanks were destroyed or captured during the first few months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Since then Russia has resorted to reviving ancient T-55s, T-62s and T-64s kept in long term storage for an emergency. Unexpectedly heavy tank losses in Ukraine are such an emergency, so Russia is restoring and using these older tanks, mainly for supporting infantry attacks with cannon fire.

    For the last two years only one tank has appeared in the victory parade, a World War II era T-34/85 built after the war and restored to operational condition by a Russian military museum.

    As to the reliability of “modern” Russian equipment, the T-14 Armata, Russian super-tank ‘stalls’ on rehearsal parade in Moscow (you can see a video of the event on YouTube). Also note that this tank which has been touted as a game-changer in modern tank warfare, but its deployment in Ukraine has been limited due to its high cost and operational issues. Also there just aren’t that many; there was supposed to be 2300 in 2022, but in October of 2023, there were 40.

  17. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Dang. Looks like I left an unclosed italics tag at the end of that second paragraph.

  18. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Fixed the tag.

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