Ukraine Conflict - The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his

[Mamoulian War]

Analysis of Russian fortifications around Tokmak, one of the directions, where people are predicting the UA offensive might unfold.

 

 

[Gfted1]

Not even any SS-25's? I has a sad.  

[BruceVC]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/may/9/pentagon-ukraine-used-us-made-patriot-down-russian/

Further confirmation of the US Patriot system shooting down the Ruskie hypersonic missile 

 

 

 

[xzar_monty]

11 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Not really much of a Goldilocks zone for the Russians, they're either militaristic goons thumping their chests and threatening the peaceful west by displaying too much hardware in a parade, or, they're pathetic wieners who can't put a decent parade together to save themselves.

While I agree there's plenty of exaggeration and poor discussion around, I would argue that that kind of hyperbole doesn't really improve the quality, either: you're just sinking into the same morass yourself. I haven't seen anyone put forth either the first or the second part of what you describe.

Edited May 10, 2023 by xzar_monty

[Zoraptor]

Yeah, nah. If you'd said it was ironic me snarking at Oryx for snarking at the parade it would have been fair enough as there's a fair bit of irony there.

Not really so for that part though since the reactions actually are that binary. It's not even that much of an exaggeration in terms of language used.

 

[bugarup]

14 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Not really much of a Goldilocks zone for the Russians, they're either militaristic goons thumping their chests and threatening the peaceful west by displaying too much hardware in a parade, or, they're pathetic wieners who can't put a decent parade together to save themselves.

That's because both are true.  This year's ghoulfest might've been subdued and half-arsed, while previous ones were overly pompous and blowhardy, with slogans "We can do it again!" and such. Mind you, did anyone spot "We can do it again!" this year? Would've been particularly funny.

Anyway, fingers crossed that everyone and their dog keeps mocking russia for anything and everything, because if there's one thing tyrannies hate with a passion, it's being laughed at. 

 

[xzar_monty]

Speaking of possible health concerns: (unlike others), Lukasenka was in civilian clothes in Russia, was not able to walk 300 meters, had some kind of bandage on his arm, skipped the bosses' lunch and did not deliver his own usual speech after returning to Belarus. Whether this truly signals something, I don't know.

The future of Belarus is interesting nevertheless, with Lukasenka aging and the country falling even more clearly under Russian rule, what with the new deal with nukes and all that.

[xzar_monty]

6 minutes ago, bugarup said:

Anyway, fingers crossed that everyone and their dog keeps mocking russia for anything and everything, because if there's one thing tyrannies hate with a passion, it's being laughed at.

Ancient political wisdom will tell you, though, that for a ruler, it's actually rather safe to be laughed at by the people. This way, the people are much less likely to revolt, as they will regard themselves as being somehow above the ruler who is a fool. (I don't remember what Machiavelli said about laughter, if anything. I do know what he said about fear and love.)

But yes, the reaction of tyrannies to laugher is a different matter.

[Malcador]

14 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

If you are wondering, why Khabarovsk and Vladivostok might get the best of the best parades, maybe we should look how far it is from Ukraine, and how close it is to China, who definitely would like to resolve its claims on Manchuria

Yes, that must be it.

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1656256203432013824?t=m1g0FlfbIOn1UPBRppQMsQ&s=19

Guess MoD and Wagner are feuding.

[kanisatha]

3 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

The future of Belarus is interesting nevertheless

It has no future. It will be fully absorbed into Russia before the end of this decade.

[Gorth]

4 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

Speaking of possible health concerns: (unlike others), Lukasenka was in civilian clothes in Russia, was not able to walk 300 meters, had some kind of bandage on his arm, skipped the bosses' lunch and did not deliver his own usual speech after returning to Belarus. Whether this truly signals something, I don't know.

The future of Belarus is interesting nevertheless, with Lukasenka aging and the country falling even more clearly under Russian rule, what with the new deal with nukes and all that.

That sounds like a bad case of polonium poisoning... time to stay away from windows (and upper floors in general)?

Last step before Belarus "comes home"?

 

[HoonDing]

Why is that Nazi scumbag Biletsky still alive?

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, kanisatha said:

It has no future. It will be fully absorbed into Russia before the end of this decade.

Geez thats a depressing thought for the people of Belarus 

[Mamoulian War]

6 hours ago, Malcador said:

Yes, that must be it.

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1656256203432013824?t=m1g0FlfbIOn1UPBRppQMsQ&s=19

Guess MoD and Wagner are feuding.

This one is pretty interesting watch, which tries to shed more light into the competition between various military factions.

 

[BruceVC]

https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-closer-nato-ukraine-war-another-putin-own-goal-2023-5

Even Japan now wants to join NATO, another example of Putin's failure with the invasion to "prevent " NATO expansion   

[Gorth]

For added excitement, why doesn't Nato offer Taiwan membership of the club?

I know it's slightly tangential, but one of the Youtube channels I watch regularly (they usually did history/historic battles like War of the Roses, WWI, The Punic Wars etc.) has been making a series of videos where the Ukraine war gets covered in the same style as the historical documentaries. If curious, check out Kings and Generals on Youtube.

 

 

[xzar_monty]

17 hours ago, kanisatha said:

It has no future. It will be fully absorbed into Russia before the end of this decade.

There's no question that that is one possible scenario, but with the current Russia, I wouldn't make any predictions that go that far.

 

EDIT: Sheesh, Gerhard Schröder was celebrating Victory Day in the Russian embassy in Berlin. Oh dear.

Edited May 11, 2023 by xzar_monty

[Gorth]

26 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

There's no question that that is one possible scenario, but with the current Russia, I wouldn't make any predictions that go that far.

 

EDIT: Sheesh, Gerhard Schröder was celebrating Victory Day in the Russian embassy in Berlin. Oh dear.

Wouldn't it be a weird world if Moscow ended up with German peacekeeper forces patrolling the streets in a collapsed Russian Federation?

[BruceVC]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65550427

A really informative interview about the Ukrainian planned offensive from Zelensky 

 

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65550427

A really informative interview about the Ukrainian planned offensive from Zelensky 

 

Seems like the usual. At least no whining for more free stuff. 

UK is sending Storm Shadows, guess that meets their long distance needs. Maybe this is a trial before the US sends the ATACMS ?

[HoonDing]

Ukraine will attack only in Season 4.

[Mamoulian War]

5 hours ago, Malcador said:

Seems like the usual. At least no whining for more free stuff. 

UK is sending Storm Shadows, guess that meets their long distance needs. Maybe this is a trial before the US sends the ATACMS ?

 

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, HoonDing said:

Ukraine will attack only in Season 4.

Looks it started early, maybe ?

 

[kanisatha]

14 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

There's no question that that is one possible scenario, but with the current Russia, I wouldn't make any predictions that go that far.

https://news.yahoo.com/russia-belarus-strategy-document-230035184.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAxet4LIxuvF8daGVL25xrQOh2eFTNvz2adU9oXvrFkPomK_-H4MMvPP0Ia82xWTmOFWNR3n0Yl3GS7cI2XKBLTvhxbj5C62vPfyDbsxUpBexBZL0SegWMfIacowyisjecDImBjaQUNqTERlclGar_-KSs5dF61L2xl83sq-pEJq

[BruceVC]

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/south-africa-rand-dollar-arm-sales-russia-ukraine-sanctions-brics-2023-5

Another SA potential  inconsistency around our foreign policy statements and actions. Last year December a Russian ship was seen docking at night and certain goods were seen being loaded into the ship

SA civilians filmed this and at the time many questions were asked about what was the ship doing at night and what was being loaded on the ship

The US made a convincing allegation yesterday that weapons were being loaded and SA is implicated in selling weapons to Russia

Several points from my side but this event  is very concerning

• government started an investigation apparently but that was  6 months ago, whats taking so long
• SA has claimed since the war started that SA is " neutral and non-aligned " and believes in peace. If this allegation is true then government has been lying to South Africans and we are definitely not neutral
• We dont know who from government was involved and who authorised it, it could just be a few people in our military institutions  and not necessarily the president
• The president has authorised an independent inquiry with a retired judge  so that should get to bottom of this ostensibly disgraceful behavior 
• If it is true its a serious indictment on the Russian capacity around ammunitions and weapons if they need military aid from the likes of SA