DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Russia cont.

Russia going into North Korea mode.

There was also a letter leaked, allegedly from an FSB whistleblower(unverified) suggesting that the current state of Russia is similar to that of 1944 Germany.

none of this inspires hope of any sort.

j/c….

THAT'S HORRIBLE AND DEVIOUS AF.

Look, I'm usually not one to shy away from calling out Pit, but you yell at him for not reading the article, repost the article that backs up what he's saying, and then insist we are supposed to make up a situation that none of the known facts support.

As pit said, defense attorneys aren't allowed to say much, but they are absolutely allowed to defend their client's being innocent, and they haven't done that here.

You're ridiculous. This thread has been pretty good about supplying/discussing actual information specifically about the conflict. If you want to start drama, do it in your own thread.

That is absolutely horrendous in the worst way.

There would be a certain poetic justice if hackers helped bring about Putin's demise in Russia.

j/c...

None of the Russian equipment being destroyed is newer than Soviet-era.

Have they not been modernizing their army over the last 30 years, or are they holding the good equipment in reserve?

Since when do you spearhead an assault with your worst troops and oldest gear???

I’ve been absolutely shocked by Russia’s tactics.

It seems to me that a lot of their military investments have been all “dessert” and not on any “meat and potatoes.”

They also started off in a way that was very puzzling to me and apparently to just about every military expert on CNN.

Some fundamental things that I’ve garnered are key when engaging in battle from our own experiences and tactics:

1. Establish air superiority and continuously ramp up to air supremacy. That has been a fundamental approach of ours for decades. It seems the Russians tried to do that early on, but failed, as evidenced by the fact Ukraine still seems to be using aerial combat to some level of effectiveness, including the use of weak-flying UAVs, which shocks the hell out of me, like I’ve discussed before. Russia has some of the more advanced SAMs in the world today. WTH are they doing with them???

2. Take out command and control (C2). I can’t confirm, but it seems C2 is much more effectively run on the Ukrainian side right now. This brings me to:

3. Ensure communication of the mission and the objectives are crystal clear. You’re not going to tell your troops that they’re invading Ukraine until they’re already in Ukraine and think it’ll work???? Also, it doesn’t seem clear that once the Russian troops found out they were supposed to invade Ukraine that they knew what their specific objectives were. On top of that, it seems like the overall global tactical level has pivoted from trying to win everywhere to trying to win somewhere.

4. Know your logistics. Don’t overextend and leave yourself exposed. What good is a huge armored column if it can’t move anywhere?

They’re now nearing 100% force commitment and they haven’t even gotten to the point of occupation, which is nuts. They will have to surge, and when they do, what are they going to tell their people? That the special military operation of 150K troops going next door wasn’t enough??

I’m sure on that point that their media brainwashing will come into play and help, but goodness, what a mess that would cause over here. I know that they have the ultimate weaponry and whatnot at the end of the day, but I feel like this has by and large shown the US and the rest of the world that they are not nearly the conventional warfare threat that they had broadcast themselves to be. If they invaded some place like Poland against our troops and NATO, I can’t help but think it would be disastrous for them on a battlefield level, even in the current situation, let alone when all the western countries actually committed the full amount of requisite forces to the region.

I definitely don’t want any of that to happen. This is all just to say that Russia so far has looked like that bully in the school yard who talks a big game and then starts fighting like Screech Powers.

If you wanted to get rid of internal dissidents and anyone that might be capable of garnering enough support to stage a coup, ordering them to the front in antiquated equipment with inadequate support would be one way to go about it.

One of the few times that American forces went up against Russia was the defense of that base in Syria, but the story was that not much should be read into that because it was "Russia's B-Team". Unless things turn around for them, I'm starting to wonder if Russia even has an A-team.

Right??!

Like, if you wanted to create a documentary of the anti-SunTzu, all you'd have to do is compile footage of everything the Russians have done thus far over the last two to three weeks.

Not one single step, thus far, has made any level of strategic or tactical sense and at no point have they even appeared to approach being the feared Bear of the Cold War.
You have modestly armed civilians defeating the snot out of your military and no aspect of your military appears to be performing at a level that demands any respect, whatsoever. You can't even drive to your neighbors house without running out of food and fuel.


Like, if the stakes weren't literally Life and Death for so many, I'd begin to question if this wasn't some insanely grand scale false flag op for deliberately creating world shortages or something. I mean, it is *that* badly executed right now that you have to ask yourself if it is even ever meant to be a real fight..... and, I don't think it is.

Maybe they are saving their A-Team for if/when NATO gets involved.

When you have a sociopathic dictator without a conscience it makes perfect sense. Let the Ukranians expend their resources vs troops you don't care about and equipment of little value, while not having to expend a bit of your good stuff. Russia just might be cleaning house at Ukraine's expense.

j/c...

Another element I thought about - and this also goes along the lines of what Jfan introduced - is actually a dynamic where a democratic form of government may be better in warfare than a dictatorship.

Often times, the dictatorship can be more efficient because there’s a simple set of procedures: the dictator says to do something and everyone does it immediately. Pretty efficient when it’s working.

The problem with that setup though is when things go south. Putin either had to come up with the invasion plan, have some say in it, or approve a plan that was presented to him. In any one of those scenarios, I can’t imagine the staff of generals thinking “this is going poorly. We should probably say something right away about how the plan is not working.” Probably similar to the Nazis when the Allies were encroaching. Goering and Jodl weren’t sitting there saying “Your plan sucks! None of this is working.”

Some of the Russian aircraft that has been shot down or are being used are newer/more modern pieces of equipment. SU-35s, SU-34s and SU-30s are being flown. I posted earlier and SU-34 that was shot down.

Here's one...

j/c...

Was wondering this myself. Did he intentionally send in kids and dilapidated equipment? Except for the missiles and artillery fire, Russia has looked like an absolute disaster in this. Almost all videos show them getting their asses handed to them. And I know they are hitting cities, but how much Ukrainian hardware has been trashed like theirs has? Looks like the Ukrainians have Putin in a stalemate. I don't want WW3, but I'd like to see Putin die over this. He has that coming IMHO.

My understanding is Putin has a lot of the military money. He had to get his billions from somewhere.

Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle for anyone trying to figure out acronyms.

So they are winning the vehicle losses 3 to 1 against the Russians. Never in a million years would I have thought this possible. I expected Ukraine to fall to Putin like Iraq to the US during the first Gulf War.

This is hysterical and terrifying at the same time. Putin is going to take a huge hit, maybe die, all the while having the info to see it coming and a finger on the button.

I have to wonder how much bias is in what is being reported. And who benefits from it.

So, economic stuff is admittedly not my strong suit. Let’s say Russia does default. What is the ripple effect from that? What happens to them next?

Tax Day.
How fitting.

Here are a couple good threads b/t Rob Lee and Strategy Badger on keeping perspective on the casualties, downed equipment, etc., on the Ukrainian and Russian sides.

Click to read both their threads.

These people will never lose to Vladimir Putin.
Never.

If he occupies their cities, he will never be able to hold them.
If he bombs them into the stone age, they will defy him by throwing rocks.
They will become The Insurgents From Hell- and they will bleed Putin to extinction with a million relentless cuts.

And here's why:

1. They have had a 30-year taste of Democracy and self-determination. A free people will never capitulate to a dictator who seeks to subjugate them, no matter what he does. They will pay any price to remain free. They will pay every price to remain free. To the last person.
2. Their President has inspired them to fight this David/Goliath scene by example. He told Joe Biden: "I don't need a ride; I need guns." I would follow a President like that. I would pick up a gun and run into the streets for a President like that. That's what The people of Ukraine are doing right this minute.
3. They know the rest of the free world is behind them. The longer they continue to fight hard, the more difficult it becomes for Putin to extract any measure of gain from this foolish initiative of his.

Even now, Putin's Russia is being cut off from the very world in which he wished to be a player. Every asset he could ever want for himself is based on Western standards, and he is now cut off from all of them. Western banking ties- gone. Western commerce- gone. Western trade opportunities- gone. American/western corporate infrastructure- shut down. And now, world news outlets report that volunteers (mostly ex-military) from any number of free nations are signing up to place their boots on Ukrainian soil in defiance of Putin and what he stands for. With the exception of the Russian people, the entire world is watching this go down. That also includes President Xi, who must already be weighing China's own risk/reward calculus regarding continued support of Vlad.

As ugly as this is, I really do think that it could be the scenario that writes the final chapter of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

He shoved all his chips to the center of the table on a sucker's hand that only he believed in. Everything he was hoping for rested upon winning this thing quick, 'shock & awe'-style.
Ooops.

Now, he's mired in a no-win.
With an intractable opponent.
And worldwide sentiment against him.

There was no win for Putin in any of this, at this point.



All he had to do was- nothing.
But no- he had to go start some s#.

And here we are.