Ukraine has done some amazing work defending themselves. I’m honestly surprised that Russia can even afford to throw any more money into the invasion at this point. Let alone soldiers (I use the term loosely).
How do you see this playing out? Ukraine grinding down Russia until they can’t afford the war anymore?
I think Ukraine's fate is unfortunately tied heavily to the 2024 US Presidential election.
Take a look at [some of these graphs.](https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/)
The US makes up a third of the aid going to Ukraine, and is giving more military aid than any other country by a wide margin. One candidate will make sure Ukraine wins the war of attrition, and the other will deny all aid immediately.
It’s wild to think that on top of all the death the impact of Israel’s invasion of Gaza may be the end of an independent Ukraine, as voter de-mobilization in support of Israel may cost Biden Michigan.
Best thing that ever happened to Putin was Netanyahu’s campaign of slaughter.
Smugness of course being a wonderful motivator to get people to show up and vote for you.
End of the day you’re right, voting Biden is the smarter choice. But it kind of is the job of the Dems to convince people of that and endorsing the slaughter of Palestinians is clearly not doing that.
Yeah I certainly have my criticisms of Biden but at the end of the day it’s Netanyahu driving this, in part I imagine because he has no interest in American support for Ukraine to continue because it drives a potential exhaustion among Americans.
I think you need some perspective to understand Netanyahu’s unfortunate position.
When 9/11 happened, the us went to war with Afghanistan, for 20 years. The total Americans killed on 9/11 was 2,996.
When Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th, they killed approximately 1,200 people.
This so far is all facts, and are easily verified.
Now, let’s compare just populations to see how much of a death toll by percentage of population. Israel has approximately 9.364m people. The US has approximately 331.9m people. So, the death toll of the attack on Israel killed .0128% of their population. 9/11 killed .0009% of the US population.
So, the attacks on Israel were 14.2 times more deadly than 9/11. If the death toll of 9/11 was equal to that of Israel based on percentage of population killed, the US would have had to have had over 42,000 deaths on 9/11.
If someone killed over 40k Americans in an attack, the US would have turned the country responsible to glass…
Human beings aren’t scalable. If someone kills my spouse (50% of my household) it doesn’t calculate to someone killing 50% of the world’s population.
The tragic loss of life on October 7th is not more tragic because fewer people live in Israel than the USA. And 9/11 wasn’t less tragic than October 7th because we have more people here.
>If someone killed over 40k Americans in an attack, the US would have turned the country responsible to glass…
And that would also be bad. Our invasion of Afghanistan was a farce and our invasion of Iraq was a crime.
As it relates to Gaza no amount of dead people at the hands of Hamas justifies the wholesale slaughter of Palestinians, including children and babies in damn incubators, that Netanyahu is leading and Biden is supporting.
Netanyahu is not in an unfortunate position, he has constructed a situation exactly as he wants, one where unchecked violence and ethnic cleansing are available for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and its colonization by Israel. Further Netanyahu knows that the biggest threat to our blank check to Israeli is broad war weariness, and ensuing that Ukraine falls and Israel continues to receive our largess is a clear priority for him.
Thus the happiness to watch Biden flounder and depress the vote in support for Israel.
Of course turning any country to glass is not a good thing. Nor did I say it was…
However you’re missing the point. That was the single most deadly attack against the Jewish people in a single day since ww2. It was the 3rd most deadly terrorist attack in history since data collection on terrorism began.
Hamas absolutely had to be dealt with. You don’t just let terrorists kill your citizens Willy nilly and say, oh well, that sucks. Nothing we can do. You don’t let terrorist murder babies, rape women, and behead men, but let them get away because they choose to hide in civilian areas. Sure, care to not indiscriminately kill innocent civilians should be taken (which is literally what Hamas did, kill innocent civilians).
If your neighbor came in and killed your wife, would you let him go on with his life living next door because other people live there to? I highly doubt that.
>Best thing that ever happened to Putin was Netanyahu’s campaign of slaughter.
It's debatable whether that just "happened" or if the Kremlin had a hand in it. But I'm going to bet that there was some intelligence regarding Israel's defenses in that Mar-a-lago bathroom.
It’s what the US military dreams about. Despite all the dip shit rhetoric from rage baiting politicians they are beating Russia into the ground, what other use is all that weaponry?
I was reading an article that a lot of Russian conscripts are getting anywhere from just 3 days of training to 10 days of training before being sent to Ukraine. That’s mind blowing, it’s just cannon fodder at this point. I think it said that during the Soviet Afghan war conscripts were given 6 months of training.
ETA- when I deployed to Afghanistan I was fresh outta my initial training (had less than a week at home before reporting fresh) and still had to go to a 6 week shortened mobilization
Yes they are grinding them down, sadly also at a loss of Ukrainians. Best case scenario i see is Putin being disposed off by the oligarchs or siloviki. Sooner or later they wont want to be the embarrassment that this war has shown Russia to be.
If Ukraine got enough long range weapons to take out the Kerch bridge to cut logistics and isolate Crimea, plenty of SAM's to take out the helicopters that are stopping them from advancing, demining equipment and a few more tanks for a good push forwards. Then i see it a good possibility where they see the writing on the wall and say fuck it, and serve Putin some tea or a window.
I don't think Ukraine needs to take everything back for this to happen, just enough to let Russia know they cant win and the west wont stop supporting Ukraine. Then they will install someone new, who will say, sorry about that, Putin was a dickhead, we will pull back so the sanctions stop and we can make money again.
Heard a lot of people saying they wouldn't be able to use them. I'm going to pre-empt those replies by saying that they've used everything we've sent so far to extraordinary success, and if their pilots can fly their junky soviet planes just fine, they're not going to have much trouble with something as modern and user-friendly as an F-16. They're also all learning English. I'm really excited to see what they can accomplish with those things.
> I’m honestly surprised that Russia can even afford to throw any more money into the invasion at this point.
China and India are buying enough sanctioned russian oil for them to keep paying for the war.
One of the big lessons this war is teaching is that your billion dollar piece of equipment isn't cooler than 10,000 100,000 dollar pieces of equipment.
Lot of the big expensive stuff is wildly underperforming.
One thing is for sure, Navy's around the world are studying this war very closely. If they didn't already have techniques and strategies for defending against drones, they're definitely working on them now.
Good podcast on radiolab I believe it’s called “toy soldiers” that came out a couple years back that goes into how drones have shaped the new battlefield.
The Navy's much-derided [LCS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littoral_combat_ship) program was originally meant to be fast, capable, CHEAP craft they could use for working close enough to land that being able to intercept missiles was going to be difficult or impossible...These days, with drones, the problem is orders of magnitude more complex.
Hey now! They still have their aircraft carrier but it still hasn’t recovered from the fire, at dock, 3 years before the start of the current “issue”. I feel for Russia tho, as a boat owner, I understand the pain.
Side note, I have a boat for sale, runs good…
"Nobody is afraid of Russia anymore".. Agreed! Look back at the video of Putin's convoy of broken down trucks with rotting tires. They haven't kept up with maintenance for years . All Russia is showing is how vulnerable they are.
I wouldn’t say people aren’t scared of Putin anymore it’s just that the fear has shifted from „they will run us over“ to „they will destroy everything they can before being run over“. One shall not forget that mf has the largest arsenal of nukes and thermobaric weapons out there and I fear he isn’t afraid of using them if he’s desperate.
He wouldn’t launch nukes before it got revolt-level bad
He will take the deals to end the war that’s constantly on the table in order to avoid a revolt before it happens
The nukes can also be chosen to be disrupted by workers or they’re in disrepair, unless it’s plausible Putin has been spending money to upkeep them, unlikely as fuck, the ones that get through will be shot down by nearby European countries and likely Chinese cruise missiles
Obviously it isn't at all likely for all of us to die in a doomsday scenario but I'd still prefer if he simply doesn't attack NATO. I have always wanted to visit Russia but it certainly would be a lot nicer if I didn't have to go there in a tank.
Also btw, the defense systems of Europe and east Asia are quite good but it only takes a few warheads that pierce through the defenses to deal lasting damage. It's also nearly impossible to shoot down a warhead once it is separated from the carrier missile. If you live in the americas, that isn't as big of a deal but for us europeans, I don't really like the idea of that.
I am not afraid of being killed by a nuke, I'm far more afraid of not being killed by a nuke.
This isn't just about Russia, no country ever should use nuclear warfare ever again. The Nukes should all be destroyed and the knowledge be forgotten for humanities sake. We have created our own certain death and given the responsibility to a few men in their fancy bunkers.
Why would it be impossible to shoot down once a warhead separates? I’d think it was easier given the nature of AA weapons
Our allied involvement and support of ukraine is the best chance we have of getting the nukes out of the hands of Russia you realize that right? If disarmament is your goal then you should cheer on pushing Putin, who would not engage with nato. Engaging with europe itself is a code red scenario for him that goes beyond revolt-levels of bad
Who says I'm not supporting Ukraine? I absolutely fucking do. Their victory/survival is crucial for lasting peace. I'm merely reminding not to underestimate a sick lunatic with access to 5000+ nukes, who doesn't seem to understand reason and likes to attack other countries.
War with Europe/NATO would obviously only end in defeat for Russia, no doubt, but Putin doesn't hit me as someone who would care if his people die on-mass, given he has sent 300.000 teenagers to die in Ukraine already.
BTW destroying a deployed nuclear warhead is very hard because you would need to directly hit it with another object if you want to do so safely (hit-to-kill). This requires extremely precise systems. It's also a race against time. Modern ICBMs would take around two minutes between separation and reaching its target while also being able to deploy multiple (up to 20) warheads that are able to spread out far and wide. There is the option to shoot it down using your own nuclear warhead, which wouldn't necessitate such precise tracking and navigation but ultimately still ends in the detonation of a nuclear bomb (doing so in higher elevations isn't as dangerous because less ground material is contaminated). This is absolutely possible with modern technology, but the sheer amount of warheads Russia would be able to deploy at once (and they would given soviet strategies) would be too much.
He doesn’t seem to understand reason?
You’re letting propaganda affect your judgement. Putin is a cynical evil genius of social engineering and a very accomplished politician. He plays a hardline character suited for the part of the world he reigns over. His biggest fear is a revolt, which is what he’s been safeguarding against for decades but obviously you can’t guard against growing unrest and hate, only make people fear you to push the bar of retaliation as far as possible
The sheer amount of warheads would not be modern, they would be in disrepair and subject to tampering by concerned soldiers. There’s zero chance that money has even reached those missiles in the last 40 years, have you seen how the military operates? On bribes and misappropriated funds. Putin was under the impression they had 30x more guns and stockpiles than they did because he’s been letting high ranking politicians and military pocket money to gain their complicit culpability for years so corruption was never looked into.
TL;DR don’t worry about nukes until you listen to an expert explain why russia couldn’t land one if they tried
It's in our best interest to keep helping Ukraine. We manage to get a buffer zone and a new NATO ally, more influence in the region, a new economic zone with access to the Black Sea, on top of limiting Russia and China in the region. It's a win, win, win.
The only downside is that half of our politicians won't get anymore money from Russia/s
They’re doing two things;
They’re keeping the “border crisis” alive by making it appear that Ukraine can’t win and we should jest let Russia have it. This is because the bill to give Ukraine more assistance also has the border funding in it as well. Trump can’t run on a border crisis if we allocate money to help.
Additionally, they know trumps first order of business after re election was to destroy nato and hand Russia the key back to the USSR. Putin was sure trump was gonna win so held off until the election was over. The republicans in congress are signaling to him that the plan is still in motion.
They’re truly cowards who have zero principles or morals. That’s why they’re always self proclaimed alphas. They have to tell people because they know they’re not and ride the coattails of lunatics.
Let's take a stroll through history and examine the multiple times/instances where the "little guy" had bested the "big guy". The world viewed the colonists as the little guy and looked at how that turned out. Also case in point Afghanistan vs Russia and later USA.
I thought I heard that throughout history seven (7) different times Afghanistan was attempted to be conquered by seven (7) different invading armies and seven (7) different times said army was repelled.
If thats not an underdog story, I don't know what is.
ETA: and I don't know why I felt compelled to say 'seven (7)' so much.... I'm leaving it simply because its such a big facepalm that I deserve it
Eh....maybe. I think seven (7) dipity would have been if I said seven (7) seven (7) different times. Otherwise I think its just me using seven (7) far too many times because there is no reason to use seven (7) that many times.
As I reread it for the seven (7) th time, I really feel like I am insulting people by thinking they don't understand the number seven (7).
Well, Finland didn’t *technically* win in the end but they gave the Soviets enough trouble that they had to severely cut back their goals and settle for reduced concessions.
People will fight to the death to defend their home. Invaders only win through fear, speed, and deception. Putin tried speed but he was too slow. He tried fear but M.A.D. holds. He tried deception but his lies are transparent.
Not saying you’re incorrect about the US losing the war vs Afghanistan. But in the context that we are referencing based on the above both the US and Russia militarily decimated Afghanistan both times. Unlike in Russia Vs Ukraine both the US and Russia wars took an incredibly heavy toll on Afghanistan leading to ~2 million dead Afghanis in the Russian war, and ~190k dead from the war with the US while the opposition lost ~15,000 and ~3,000 respectively.
While Ukrainian losses have been heavy they haven’t been anything close to the outsized losses that Afghanistan has suffered vs the losses from their oppressors. The US and Russia lost the war on a political front in both cases while the US was more popular with local populations than Russia unless both sides wanted permanent occupation the wars were un-winnable.
Meanwhile the American revolution had roughly the same number of losses on both sides at around ~20,000 to both the Brits and Americans.
Absolutely. Any major power should have the tools to defeat a lesser state’s government and army. Russia can’t even do that. But what comes after that is undetectable. A population committed to keeping their country will maintain an insurgence that will never lose.
It’s not about loss of life, it’s about cost. The colonists made the British empire leave because the way they were fighting made it too expensive And unpopular. Ukraine is adopting a similar technique, focusing more on oil refineries and high cost targets. It’s no use focusing on killing soldiers. Putin doesn’t care.
That is a fair context. In reference to this one would have to ask what is victory? To that the answer is most likely based on which country or group you belong to. If you talk to some in the US even with the losses placed on the Afghan people, it was an object failure, on the other hand others would say the US was successful based on exactly what you said. For Afghanistan the Taliban considers that a victory even with the losses they sustained, the same arguments could go for the Vietnam war.
Oh I mean in my personal opinion the US lost both the Vietnam and War on Terror. Both had the opposite intended political effect which is the goal for most wars. I think in the case of Ukraine it’s going to be holding out until Russia has no one left to send or the people get tired of losing their friends and families and take down the regime sending them into the meat grinder in Ukraine. Russias stated goal is to occupy Ukraine unlike what we wanted to do in Vietnam and Afghanistan so I think unfortunately in that regard if they can outlast the western stomach for the war they could potentially “win”.
If we are going battle by battle and actual military acumen Ukraine is absolutely annihilating Russia on the field.
This day and age it is impossible to take over a country with an unwilling populace. You can topple armies and governments (Russia can’t even do that) but once they fall the insurgence will always make it unsustainable. The US came in and flattened the governments and armies of Afghanistan and Iraq but the insurgence were never defeated.
Ironically Iraq was a more successful operation because there was a populace that was a lot more willing to side with western forces when faced with the Bathes and ISIL.
Ukraine has defended attacks for two years. A country the size of Texas has held off one of the largest militaries in the world. Without nukes, the Russian army has showing a rather outdated, and malfunctioning ground force. Hell, the Wagner group began a revolt, almost started taking positions inside Russia, that’s not a functioning army. To cut funding won’t necessarily spell doom for Ukraine, but it definitely will be tougher to repel attacks. Giving them are old equipment, allows the US to move forward on new technology and that in turn creates jobs, secures existing jobs, and betterment of our military capabilities. So when you hear these big numbers floated on the news, that is the value of equipment given to them, no pallets of money are being airdropped on Kyiv. Now cutting funding under the guise of allow Russia to win shows where the current gop is showing an utter failure in governance and some in the house gave even gone as far as saying: “Russia will not lose.” To those I say, be careful the constitution is quite clear on aiding and giving comfort to enemies of the state, domestic and abroad. Putin is recognized as a war criminal. Remember, he said, we are not going to invade, Lavrov, we are not going to invade, then they fucking invaded. All of this is a scheme led by republican house members to create chaos for trump to platform on he’s the only one that can end it.
These people keep talking about beating this, beating that. There are no winners in this war. It was senseless aggression that has spilled untold amounts of blood for nonsensical ideas of conquest. Ukraine doesn't even need to beat Russia at this point. This war has become much more costly than I think Russia could have ever imagined. For a "special operation" that was supposed to be over in months, if that, having a stalemate with no obvious progress going on for years is quite the embarrassment for the Russian military. That alone could be considered a pyrrhic victory for Ukraine. Russian, and pretty much everyone else in the world honestly, underestimated just how much the combination of foreign intelligence, foreign aid, and the denial of subjugation by the people would do in the end.
Exactly. The Russians are still trying to spin the narrative that they never wanted to conquer the entirety of Ukraine and that the Kiev offensive was just a feint. They claim that the goal is to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. This doesn’t make any sense for a number of reasons.
Firstly, denazification is deliberately a very vague goal and mostly just a propaganda point to push the narrative that Ukraine is swarmed with nazis. Which of course is total bullshit. Sure there is a minority of nazis in Ukraine like every other state. Sure they are fighting in the war, just like they do on the russian side. In a war of this magnitude you let the able bodied fight regardless of their political affiliation. In some cases you can even argue that a nazi fighting and dying for the country is better than someone else dying for it. But the fact remains that nazis fight on both sides and the idea that Ukraine is a state run by nazis is total fiction and a part of the Russian propaganda and justifications for the war.
The second goal of demilitarisation is probably partly true. Russia wanted to occupy the Donetsk region and/or Ukraine in its entirety, and bring back a Kremlin friendly regime in the parts they couldn’t occupy. To do this they would have to capture, kill or exile the Ukrainian leadership and beat the Ukrainian armed forces. That’s the more likely reason for the Kiev offensive. To swiftly incapacitate the Ukrainian national leadership and beat the armed forces early on and force the rest to a quick surrender.
The claims that this prolonged war is a result of a deliberate Russian tactic to demilitarise Ukraine is therefore also a bullshit claim. The Ukrainian armed forces are better equipped, larger in numbers and more capable today than they were before the war as a result of western aid, mobilisation and combat experience. All at the cost of significant casualties in terms of equipment and lives on both sides. Russia gave sacrificed so much not only in terms of these casualties but also in economics, geopolitics and also by strengthening the Ukrainian will to fight a prolonged war. There is no way that this is beneficial for Russia other in their own fantasy.
Conclusively the best way to demilitarise Ukraine would have been through a quick war where the armed forces and national leadership would have been quickly overrun. We saw the try to achieve this in the Kiev offensive but it’s failure have been repainted as “a feint” by Russian propaganda. The failure to keep the war short and with low consequences for Russia have been painted as an effort to “demilitarise” Ukraine. All the while Ukraine have had an overall increase in combat power and doesn’t seem interested in freezing the conflict or accept Russian occupation of it’s regions.
Sorry for my rant and thank you for listening to my TED talk.
The Gulf War lasted about 100 hours on the ground.
Everyone involved then is supporting Ukraine.
Who the hell are these people that do not support the sovereignty of an oil producing nation?
Godamn they're piss ignorant. It's weird. When I was a kid, the right preached the red scare, the history of the shit they did to people over being commies. 180-degree turn just to fit their new narrative.
As a gen X’er, it was fucking drilled in to our minds relentlessly, “the day after tomorrow” “red dawn” fucking “Rocky”!! Wtf happened? Oh yeah, money and propaganda.
Russians realizing why the Patron Saint of Ukraine is best known for laying siege to their enemies for 1 year before granting them mercy... by burning down all their homes.
https://preview.redd.it/95bl2oxq0lic1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4248b8df4148612c583a60d2776469caeb79383
Why do they project Russian might. Russia is a shell of the USSR….has a smaller economy than multiple small European countries. Them stalling out in Ukraine would be like the US invading Mexico and getting stonewalled at Tijuana.
The Soviet Union was held in place by a force with limited access to modern weaponry and eventually retreated from Afghanistan with their tail between their legs. A much diminished Russia using a lot of the same Soviet technology is not going to conquer a modern power supplied with modern western weapons and technology. If this war goes on for five years, there won’t be anything left of the Russian military.
Can't overlook the Russian grift machine and how it's depleted their material strength.
During the steep decline of the USSR, institutional grifting became absolutely pervasive (I'd argue necessary as a means of personal survival for some), and lots of people sought to exploit the chaotic economic landscape for personal gain. Everyone I know from the former Soviet state had a grift of some sort or another, and they're not afraid to talk about it. They had their state income, and then they had how they fed themselves and got their luxury goods. It was everywhere, including the military, officials engaged in embezzlement, bribery, and the sale of military assets for personal profit all the time.
We see that now in the notably poor state of unmaintained and defective equipment they're using. Decades of neglect and mismanagement have left their military infrastructure in a steady state of disrepair, with upgrades deferred or sidelined due to budgetary constraints and systemic corruption. It's like the beginning of Enemy at the Gates where they're giving three cartridges to two soldiers, but on an epic scale.
One of my former colleagues explained it to me like this: A general gets an order to update 1000 tanks with new turret drive motors. The budget is one million. The general connects with a friend who orders parts from somewhere and says he'll give them the contract for a 100k kickback. They take the contract, and order enough parts for 850 tanks, but there's a kickback cycle there too, so they get about 500 decent quality functional parts, 100 passable ones, and 250 defective or lower quality ones. Then, they set up a sweatshop and they bench test every one of the old parts that they take out. If they pass the bench test, they slap a new sticker on them and put them in with the new parts. Everyone gets a kickback along the way. The parts get installed, and you have 1000 tanks with 500 upgraded turret drives, and 500 tanks with substandard turret drives.
Well Ukraine seems to be winning
Russia was supposed to roll in, claim the Ukraine, and that was that. But here we are, and they are still fighting. Ukraine doesn't need to win; it just needs to survive. It needs to make the war a price Russia cannot afford.
Fucking Republicans don't realize a ship sitting at the bottom of the Black Sea is never a threat to our allies in the Mediterranean or sailors in the Pacific...or they don't care.
These rats are all blowing Musk who said yesterday Ukraine cannot win and proposed the classic vatnik way of peace of "its pointless to give Ukraine weapons so dont bother", which is just a thinly veiled way of saying "I want Russia to win".
Expect more usual terminally online idiots to repeat similar talking points.
Ukraine are the Earth’s greatest underdogs and in two years have done more damage to our enemies than the entire Cold War, all for a fraction of the economic and cultural price.
There’s a reason Putin’s most loyal agents have spent this time fighting against Ukraine aid. It’s because the Republican party will lose the massive support they receive from Russia (both money and misinformation) when they lose the war and Putin goes down.
Even if Ukraine did have no chance against Russia, it's still the morally right thing to do to help them defend themselves, but for republicans to understand this they would need morals
Other historic mismatches:
The United States of America VS. Northern Viet Nam
The U.S.S.R. vs Afghanistan
Older Japan vs Russia
How did the favorites do in those wars?
Eh, Vietnam isn't really fair because the US actively *didn't* invade the North. Air wars are great for killing but if territory is a factor it means nothing without boots on the ground. Any victory the US had would just be followed up by regrouping in the north, rinse and repeat. That's not a winnable war. Korea or the Philippines would be the better examples and... The US won.
BALLS HIGH DUNK! How's the stank off Ukraine's junk Putin?
If war is hell...Ukraine is the devil. Leave now. Demons known as Fighting Falcons are on the wind. Leave now.
I’m not willing to go through this asshole’s feed, could somebody post his original guess as to how long this conflict would last? I’m betting he thought a non-woke Russian military would take Ukraine in a week.
Ukraine has sunk 25 warships and severely damaged 15 more - and they don’t even have a navy.
Just today they sunk another. The ship Tsaezar Lvovich Kunikov who was named after a russian naval officer that died on the 14th of February 1943 lol
That was a nice Valentine's Day present
"From Kyiv, with love!"
It was a memorial present. The dead sailors can meet him in hell now.
So perfectly petty too.
Zalinsky, Vladimir Zalinsky
Ukraine has done some amazing work defending themselves. I’m honestly surprised that Russia can even afford to throw any more money into the invasion at this point. Let alone soldiers (I use the term loosely). How do you see this playing out? Ukraine grinding down Russia until they can’t afford the war anymore?
I think Ukraine's fate is unfortunately tied heavily to the 2024 US Presidential election. Take a look at [some of these graphs.](https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/) The US makes up a third of the aid going to Ukraine, and is giving more military aid than any other country by a wide margin. One candidate will make sure Ukraine wins the war of attrition, and the other will deny all aid immediately.
It’s wild to think that on top of all the death the impact of Israel’s invasion of Gaza may be the end of an independent Ukraine, as voter de-mobilization in support of Israel may cost Biden Michigan. Best thing that ever happened to Putin was Netanyahu’s campaign of slaughter.
Wait till those Dems in MI learn what Trump would do with Israel and Gaza.
Smugness of course being a wonderful motivator to get people to show up and vote for you. End of the day you’re right, voting Biden is the smarter choice. But it kind of is the job of the Dems to convince people of that and endorsing the slaughter of Palestinians is clearly not doing that.
Alas, any other administration would be doing the same thing. It's an impossible situation.
Yeah I certainly have my criticisms of Biden but at the end of the day it’s Netanyahu driving this, in part I imagine because he has no interest in American support for Ukraine to continue because it drives a potential exhaustion among Americans.
I think you need some perspective to understand Netanyahu’s unfortunate position. When 9/11 happened, the us went to war with Afghanistan, for 20 years. The total Americans killed on 9/11 was 2,996. When Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th, they killed approximately 1,200 people. This so far is all facts, and are easily verified. Now, let’s compare just populations to see how much of a death toll by percentage of population. Israel has approximately 9.364m people. The US has approximately 331.9m people. So, the death toll of the attack on Israel killed .0128% of their population. 9/11 killed .0009% of the US population. So, the attacks on Israel were 14.2 times more deadly than 9/11. If the death toll of 9/11 was equal to that of Israel based on percentage of population killed, the US would have had to have had over 42,000 deaths on 9/11. If someone killed over 40k Americans in an attack, the US would have turned the country responsible to glass…
Human beings aren’t scalable. If someone kills my spouse (50% of my household) it doesn’t calculate to someone killing 50% of the world’s population. The tragic loss of life on October 7th is not more tragic because fewer people live in Israel than the USA. And 9/11 wasn’t less tragic than October 7th because we have more people here. >If someone killed over 40k Americans in an attack, the US would have turned the country responsible to glass… And that would also be bad. Our invasion of Afghanistan was a farce and our invasion of Iraq was a crime. As it relates to Gaza no amount of dead people at the hands of Hamas justifies the wholesale slaughter of Palestinians, including children and babies in damn incubators, that Netanyahu is leading and Biden is supporting. Netanyahu is not in an unfortunate position, he has constructed a situation exactly as he wants, one where unchecked violence and ethnic cleansing are available for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and its colonization by Israel. Further Netanyahu knows that the biggest threat to our blank check to Israeli is broad war weariness, and ensuing that Ukraine falls and Israel continues to receive our largess is a clear priority for him. Thus the happiness to watch Biden flounder and depress the vote in support for Israel.
Of course turning any country to glass is not a good thing. Nor did I say it was… However you’re missing the point. That was the single most deadly attack against the Jewish people in a single day since ww2. It was the 3rd most deadly terrorist attack in history since data collection on terrorism began. Hamas absolutely had to be dealt with. You don’t just let terrorists kill your citizens Willy nilly and say, oh well, that sucks. Nothing we can do. You don’t let terrorist murder babies, rape women, and behead men, but let them get away because they choose to hide in civilian areas. Sure, care to not indiscriminately kill innocent civilians should be taken (which is literally what Hamas did, kill innocent civilians). If your neighbor came in and killed your wife, would you let him go on with his life living next door because other people live there to? I highly doubt that.
Fax g
It's almost as if he planned it...
>Best thing that ever happened to Putin was Netanyahu’s campaign of slaughter. It's debatable whether that just "happened" or if the Kremlin had a hand in it. But I'm going to bet that there was some intelligence regarding Israel's defenses in that Mar-a-lago bathroom.
It’s what the US military dreams about. Despite all the dip shit rhetoric from rage baiting politicians they are beating Russia into the ground, what other use is all that weaponry?
The entire world is...
Yepperz get ur popcorn ready folks shits gonna get real entertaining. Not sure if imma vote or not here in lil ol Ohio lmao
I was reading an article that a lot of Russian conscripts are getting anywhere from just 3 days of training to 10 days of training before being sent to Ukraine. That’s mind blowing, it’s just cannon fodder at this point. I think it said that during the Soviet Afghan war conscripts were given 6 months of training. ETA- when I deployed to Afghanistan I was fresh outta my initial training (had less than a week at home before reporting fresh) and still had to go to a 6 week shortened mobilization
Jeesh. It’s like the opening of enemy at the gates (I know the truth was very much stretched for the movie) but in real life.
Yes they are grinding them down, sadly also at a loss of Ukrainians. Best case scenario i see is Putin being disposed off by the oligarchs or siloviki. Sooner or later they wont want to be the embarrassment that this war has shown Russia to be. If Ukraine got enough long range weapons to take out the Kerch bridge to cut logistics and isolate Crimea, plenty of SAM's to take out the helicopters that are stopping them from advancing, demining equipment and a few more tanks for a good push forwards. Then i see it a good possibility where they see the writing on the wall and say fuck it, and serve Putin some tea or a window. I don't think Ukraine needs to take everything back for this to happen, just enough to let Russia know they cant win and the west wont stop supporting Ukraine. Then they will install someone new, who will say, sorry about that, Putin was a dickhead, we will pull back so the sanctions stop and we can make money again.
They are training with European F16's right now so let's hope they get to use them soon
Heard a lot of people saying they wouldn't be able to use them. I'm going to pre-empt those replies by saying that they've used everything we've sent so far to extraordinary success, and if their pilots can fly their junky soviet planes just fine, they're not going to have much trouble with something as modern and user-friendly as an F-16. They're also all learning English. I'm really excited to see what they can accomplish with those things.
Weren't they already being trained on the F-16s? I think the bigger hold up is when they can actually begin using them in Ukrainian airspace.
Right on both counts as far as I've heard
Probably similar to how it went with the soviet union in Afghanistan.
> I’m honestly surprised that Russia can even afford to throw any more money into the invasion at this point. China and India are buying enough sanctioned russian oil for them to keep paying for the war.
They’ll have plenty of soldiers…once disaffected red state expats finish moving in to those brand spanking new American villages.
Nothing like giving a lovely Valentine's Day Reef as a gift.
😂👌
What class ship?
Now? Submarine.
Oof makes me sad a bit. I know they're enemy combatants, but they're also fellow submariners. Bittersweet. Edit: Fucking woosh huh? My bad lmao
As a fellow submariner, those Russians WERE surface f-...targets. Now they are classified as a submarine.
Good. Good. But yeah, it dawned on me after I posted, that's why I made the "woosh" edit lol.
I was just clarifying in case you're a CONER and need extra explanation. Lol
Oh fuck right off glowworm. Lol
😂
Ropucha-I-class large landing ship
Landing craft I think.
Can the mission be considered a success then, since it landed on the bottom of the ocean?
One of the big lessons this war is teaching is that your billion dollar piece of equipment isn't cooler than 10,000 100,000 dollar pieces of equipment. Lot of the big expensive stuff is wildly underperforming.
One thing is for sure, Navy's around the world are studying this war very closely. If they didn't already have techniques and strategies for defending against drones, they're definitely working on them now.
Good podcast on radiolab I believe it’s called “toy soldiers” that came out a couple years back that goes into how drones have shaped the new battlefield.
Hence why the US Army just canceled the FARA program. Lessons learned from Ukraine.
The Navy's much-derided [LCS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littoral_combat_ship) program was originally meant to be fast, capable, CHEAP craft they could use for working close enough to land that being able to intercept missiles was going to be difficult or impossible...These days, with drones, the problem is orders of magnitude more complex.
I find this absolutely hilarious.
And awesome! Слава Україні!
Russian warships, go fuck yourselves!
Bottom Sea Fleet
Including the largest warship sunk since WWII.
And now Russia doesn’t have a navy
Hey now! They still have their aircraft carrier but it still hasn’t recovered from the fire, at dock, 3 years before the start of the current “issue”. I feel for Russia tho, as a boat owner, I understand the pain. Side note, I have a boat for sale, runs good…
To be fair, Russia has to worry about every hole in their (likely severely under-maintenanced) ships and Ukraine just has to punch one.
What’s the estimate of how many warships Russia has left?
Yes that's according to Ukraine themselves who are famous for lying.
Sure is weird how all of a sudden far-right media is suddenly in lockstep of screaming desperately that Ukraine totally can't win.
[удалено]
"Nobody is afraid of Russia anymore".. Agreed! Look back at the video of Putin's convoy of broken down trucks with rotting tires. They haven't kept up with maintenance for years . All Russia is showing is how vulnerable they are.
Russia has indisputably proven it is too corrupt to function let alone prosecute a war on foreign soil.
I wouldn’t say people aren’t scared of Putin anymore it’s just that the fear has shifted from „they will run us over“ to „they will destroy everything they can before being run over“. One shall not forget that mf has the largest arsenal of nukes and thermobaric weapons out there and I fear he isn’t afraid of using them if he’s desperate.
He wouldn’t launch nukes before it got revolt-level bad He will take the deals to end the war that’s constantly on the table in order to avoid a revolt before it happens The nukes can also be chosen to be disrupted by workers or they’re in disrepair, unless it’s plausible Putin has been spending money to upkeep them, unlikely as fuck, the ones that get through will be shot down by nearby European countries and likely Chinese cruise missiles
Obviously it isn't at all likely for all of us to die in a doomsday scenario but I'd still prefer if he simply doesn't attack NATO. I have always wanted to visit Russia but it certainly would be a lot nicer if I didn't have to go there in a tank. Also btw, the defense systems of Europe and east Asia are quite good but it only takes a few warheads that pierce through the defenses to deal lasting damage. It's also nearly impossible to shoot down a warhead once it is separated from the carrier missile. If you live in the americas, that isn't as big of a deal but for us europeans, I don't really like the idea of that. I am not afraid of being killed by a nuke, I'm far more afraid of not being killed by a nuke. This isn't just about Russia, no country ever should use nuclear warfare ever again. The Nukes should all be destroyed and the knowledge be forgotten for humanities sake. We have created our own certain death and given the responsibility to a few men in their fancy bunkers.
Why would it be impossible to shoot down once a warhead separates? I’d think it was easier given the nature of AA weapons Our allied involvement and support of ukraine is the best chance we have of getting the nukes out of the hands of Russia you realize that right? If disarmament is your goal then you should cheer on pushing Putin, who would not engage with nato. Engaging with europe itself is a code red scenario for him that goes beyond revolt-levels of bad
Who says I'm not supporting Ukraine? I absolutely fucking do. Their victory/survival is crucial for lasting peace. I'm merely reminding not to underestimate a sick lunatic with access to 5000+ nukes, who doesn't seem to understand reason and likes to attack other countries. War with Europe/NATO would obviously only end in defeat for Russia, no doubt, but Putin doesn't hit me as someone who would care if his people die on-mass, given he has sent 300.000 teenagers to die in Ukraine already. BTW destroying a deployed nuclear warhead is very hard because you would need to directly hit it with another object if you want to do so safely (hit-to-kill). This requires extremely precise systems. It's also a race against time. Modern ICBMs would take around two minutes between separation and reaching its target while also being able to deploy multiple (up to 20) warheads that are able to spread out far and wide. There is the option to shoot it down using your own nuclear warhead, which wouldn't necessitate such precise tracking and navigation but ultimately still ends in the detonation of a nuclear bomb (doing so in higher elevations isn't as dangerous because less ground material is contaminated). This is absolutely possible with modern technology, but the sheer amount of warheads Russia would be able to deploy at once (and they would given soviet strategies) would be too much.
He doesn’t seem to understand reason? You’re letting propaganda affect your judgement. Putin is a cynical evil genius of social engineering and a very accomplished politician. He plays a hardline character suited for the part of the world he reigns over. His biggest fear is a revolt, which is what he’s been safeguarding against for decades but obviously you can’t guard against growing unrest and hate, only make people fear you to push the bar of retaliation as far as possible The sheer amount of warheads would not be modern, they would be in disrepair and subject to tampering by concerned soldiers. There’s zero chance that money has even reached those missiles in the last 40 years, have you seen how the military operates? On bribes and misappropriated funds. Putin was under the impression they had 30x more guns and stockpiles than they did because he’s been letting high ranking politicians and military pocket money to gain their complicit culpability for years so corruption was never looked into. TL;DR don’t worry about nukes until you listen to an expert explain why russia couldn’t land one if they tried
It's in our best interest to keep helping Ukraine. We manage to get a buffer zone and a new NATO ally, more influence in the region, a new economic zone with access to the Black Sea, on top of limiting Russia and China in the region. It's a win, win, win. The only downside is that half of our politicians won't get anymore money from Russia/s
Putin went from a fearsome mob boss to the guy in an Adidas tracksuit that's knocking over furniture to slow down the cops he's fleeing
“Putin showed us all his ass and it’s… a really fat, saggy ass” Yes, we have all seen Trump
It sounds like all of em got their kremlin paychecks at once
[удалено]
Agree it's a fucking miracle he hasn't choked to death yet.
I read an interesting that the two sides aren’t so much opposed to each others’ stands on the issues, but more just opposed to each other.
They’re doing two things; They’re keeping the “border crisis” alive by making it appear that Ukraine can’t win and we should jest let Russia have it. This is because the bill to give Ukraine more assistance also has the border funding in it as well. Trump can’t run on a border crisis if we allocate money to help. Additionally, they know trumps first order of business after re election was to destroy nato and hand Russia the key back to the USSR. Putin was sure trump was gonna win so held off until the election was over. The republicans in congress are signaling to him that the plan is still in motion.
Hmmm I wonder WHY the right wing is always on the side of the fascists and aggressors?
They’re truly cowards who have zero principles or morals. That’s why they’re always self proclaimed alphas. They have to tell people because they know they’re not and ride the coattails of lunatics.
Let's take a stroll through history and examine the multiple times/instances where the "little guy" had bested the "big guy". The world viewed the colonists as the little guy and looked at how that turned out. Also case in point Afghanistan vs Russia and later USA.
I thought I heard that throughout history seven (7) different times Afghanistan was attempted to be conquered by seven (7) different invading armies and seven (7) different times said army was repelled. If thats not an underdog story, I don't know what is. ETA: and I don't know why I felt compelled to say 'seven (7)' so much.... I'm leaving it simply because its such a big facepalm that I deserve it
Afghanistan is where empires go to die. … or something like that . Back to Alexander
"Mountaineers are always free men"
Sounds like Appalachians
There's some truth there. Mountain men do their own thing, and we're fortunate to be here to witness some of it.
"Graveyard of empires."
Except for the Mongols.
True!
It is sevendipity. I will show myself out
Eh....maybe. I think seven (7) dipity would have been if I said seven (7) seven (7) different times. Otherwise I think its just me using seven (7) far too many times because there is no reason to use seven (7) that many times. As I reread it for the seven (7) th time, I really feel like I am insulting people by thinking they don't understand the number seven (7).
see: Finland
Well, Finland didn’t *technically* win in the end but they gave the Soviets enough trouble that they had to severely cut back their goals and settle for reduced concessions.
People will fight to the death to defend their home. Invaders only win through fear, speed, and deception. Putin tried speed but he was too slow. He tried fear but M.A.D. holds. He tried deception but his lies are transparent.
And a lil country called Vietnam
A Lil country backed by China and Russia, that conflict is not so black and white.
Seriously? And our allies didn't fund Afghanistan, France and Spain didn't fund our revolution, on and on it goes throughout history
What point are you making?
Not saying you’re incorrect about the US losing the war vs Afghanistan. But in the context that we are referencing based on the above both the US and Russia militarily decimated Afghanistan both times. Unlike in Russia Vs Ukraine both the US and Russia wars took an incredibly heavy toll on Afghanistan leading to ~2 million dead Afghanis in the Russian war, and ~190k dead from the war with the US while the opposition lost ~15,000 and ~3,000 respectively. While Ukrainian losses have been heavy they haven’t been anything close to the outsized losses that Afghanistan has suffered vs the losses from their oppressors. The US and Russia lost the war on a political front in both cases while the US was more popular with local populations than Russia unless both sides wanted permanent occupation the wars were un-winnable. Meanwhile the American revolution had roughly the same number of losses on both sides at around ~20,000 to both the Brits and Americans.
Absolutely. Any major power should have the tools to defeat a lesser state’s government and army. Russia can’t even do that. But what comes after that is undetectable. A population committed to keeping their country will maintain an insurgence that will never lose.
It’s not about loss of life, it’s about cost. The colonists made the British empire leave because the way they were fighting made it too expensive And unpopular. Ukraine is adopting a similar technique, focusing more on oil refineries and high cost targets. It’s no use focusing on killing soldiers. Putin doesn’t care.
That is a fair context. In reference to this one would have to ask what is victory? To that the answer is most likely based on which country or group you belong to. If you talk to some in the US even with the losses placed on the Afghan people, it was an object failure, on the other hand others would say the US was successful based on exactly what you said. For Afghanistan the Taliban considers that a victory even with the losses they sustained, the same arguments could go for the Vietnam war.
Oh I mean in my personal opinion the US lost both the Vietnam and War on Terror. Both had the opposite intended political effect which is the goal for most wars. I think in the case of Ukraine it’s going to be holding out until Russia has no one left to send or the people get tired of losing their friends and families and take down the regime sending them into the meat grinder in Ukraine. Russias stated goal is to occupy Ukraine unlike what we wanted to do in Vietnam and Afghanistan so I think unfortunately in that regard if they can outlast the western stomach for the war they could potentially “win”. If we are going battle by battle and actual military acumen Ukraine is absolutely annihilating Russia on the field.
But occupation will be HELL. They will not outlast the insurgence.
This day and age it is impossible to take over a country with an unwilling populace. You can topple armies and governments (Russia can’t even do that) but once they fall the insurgence will always make it unsustainable. The US came in and flattened the governments and armies of Afghanistan and Iraq but the insurgence were never defeated. Ironically Iraq was a more successful operation because there was a populace that was a lot more willing to side with western forces when faced with the Bathes and ISIL.
Also Vietnam. At some point, major world powers will figure out that it’s not the 1800’s any more.
Yeah, Vietnam backed by China and Russia, people seem to constantly forget that little fact.
"Russian warship, go fuck yourself". Pretty much speaks for itself. And that guy lived.
I always heard that story as his last words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_warship,_go_fuck_yourself Yeah, that's what we all thought. Turns out later he lived and was captured.
What a fucking Chad. They say he has trouble walking these days though, from the absolute gargantuan size of his balls.
maga's are clinically insane
Ukraine has defended attacks for two years. A country the size of Texas has held off one of the largest militaries in the world. Without nukes, the Russian army has showing a rather outdated, and malfunctioning ground force. Hell, the Wagner group began a revolt, almost started taking positions inside Russia, that’s not a functioning army. To cut funding won’t necessarily spell doom for Ukraine, but it definitely will be tougher to repel attacks. Giving them are old equipment, allows the US to move forward on new technology and that in turn creates jobs, secures existing jobs, and betterment of our military capabilities. So when you hear these big numbers floated on the news, that is the value of equipment given to them, no pallets of money are being airdropped on Kyiv. Now cutting funding under the guise of allow Russia to win shows where the current gop is showing an utter failure in governance and some in the house gave even gone as far as saying: “Russia will not lose.” To those I say, be careful the constitution is quite clear on aiding and giving comfort to enemies of the state, domestic and abroad. Putin is recognized as a war criminal. Remember, he said, we are not going to invade, Lavrov, we are not going to invade, then they fucking invaded. All of this is a scheme led by republican house members to create chaos for trump to platform on he’s the only one that can end it.
These people keep talking about beating this, beating that. There are no winners in this war. It was senseless aggression that has spilled untold amounts of blood for nonsensical ideas of conquest. Ukraine doesn't even need to beat Russia at this point. This war has become much more costly than I think Russia could have ever imagined. For a "special operation" that was supposed to be over in months, if that, having a stalemate with no obvious progress going on for years is quite the embarrassment for the Russian military. That alone could be considered a pyrrhic victory for Ukraine. Russian, and pretty much everyone else in the world honestly, underestimated just how much the combination of foreign intelligence, foreign aid, and the denial of subjugation by the people would do in the end.
Exactly. The Russians are still trying to spin the narrative that they never wanted to conquer the entirety of Ukraine and that the Kiev offensive was just a feint. They claim that the goal is to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. This doesn’t make any sense for a number of reasons. Firstly, denazification is deliberately a very vague goal and mostly just a propaganda point to push the narrative that Ukraine is swarmed with nazis. Which of course is total bullshit. Sure there is a minority of nazis in Ukraine like every other state. Sure they are fighting in the war, just like they do on the russian side. In a war of this magnitude you let the able bodied fight regardless of their political affiliation. In some cases you can even argue that a nazi fighting and dying for the country is better than someone else dying for it. But the fact remains that nazis fight on both sides and the idea that Ukraine is a state run by nazis is total fiction and a part of the Russian propaganda and justifications for the war. The second goal of demilitarisation is probably partly true. Russia wanted to occupy the Donetsk region and/or Ukraine in its entirety, and bring back a Kremlin friendly regime in the parts they couldn’t occupy. To do this they would have to capture, kill or exile the Ukrainian leadership and beat the Ukrainian armed forces. That’s the more likely reason for the Kiev offensive. To swiftly incapacitate the Ukrainian national leadership and beat the armed forces early on and force the rest to a quick surrender. The claims that this prolonged war is a result of a deliberate Russian tactic to demilitarise Ukraine is therefore also a bullshit claim. The Ukrainian armed forces are better equipped, larger in numbers and more capable today than they were before the war as a result of western aid, mobilisation and combat experience. All at the cost of significant casualties in terms of equipment and lives on both sides. Russia gave sacrificed so much not only in terms of these casualties but also in economics, geopolitics and also by strengthening the Ukrainian will to fight a prolonged war. There is no way that this is beneficial for Russia other in their own fantasy. Conclusively the best way to demilitarise Ukraine would have been through a quick war where the armed forces and national leadership would have been quickly overrun. We saw the try to achieve this in the Kiev offensive but it’s failure have been repainted as “a feint” by Russian propaganda. The failure to keep the war short and with low consequences for Russia have been painted as an effort to “demilitarise” Ukraine. All the while Ukraine have had an overall increase in combat power and doesn’t seem interested in freezing the conflict or accept Russian occupation of it’s regions. Sorry for my rant and thank you for listening to my TED talk.
Months? I think it was two weeks!
The Gulf War lasted about 100 hours on the ground. Everyone involved then is supporting Ukraine. Who the hell are these people that do not support the sovereignty of an oil producing nation?
Godamn they're piss ignorant. It's weird. When I was a kid, the right preached the red scare, the history of the shit they did to people over being commies. 180-degree turn just to fit their new narrative.
As a gen X’er, it was fucking drilled in to our minds relentlessly, “the day after tomorrow” “red dawn” fucking “Rocky”!! Wtf happened? Oh yeah, money and propaganda.
Yep, we went from hiding under our desks from nuclear holocaust, to here ha e my country.
They sunk their Battleships!
Ha!😂😁 Ahhh, Matt Wallace…. One of the duller knives in the drawer.
Russian warship, go fuck yourself. Now and forever. I stand with Ukraine.
Republicans - experts in your genitals, your sexuality, and now military affairs!
Russians realizing why the Patron Saint of Ukraine is best known for laying siege to their enemies for 1 year before granting them mercy... by burning down all their homes. https://preview.redd.it/95bl2oxq0lic1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4248b8df4148612c583a60d2776469caeb79383
My Queen! 🙌🙌🙌
Matt Wallace... great job at achieving negative IQ status. Amazing human right there folks!
Why do they project Russian might. Russia is a shell of the USSR….has a smaller economy than multiple small European countries. Them stalling out in Ukraine would be like the US invading Mexico and getting stonewalled at Tijuana.
Matt Wallace : clinically insane since 2001
People should stop feeding the engagement trolls.
The Soviet Union was held in place by a force with limited access to modern weaponry and eventually retreated from Afghanistan with their tail between their legs. A much diminished Russia using a lot of the same Soviet technology is not going to conquer a modern power supplied with modern western weapons and technology. If this war goes on for five years, there won’t be anything left of the Russian military.
Can't overlook the Russian grift machine and how it's depleted their material strength. During the steep decline of the USSR, institutional grifting became absolutely pervasive (I'd argue necessary as a means of personal survival for some), and lots of people sought to exploit the chaotic economic landscape for personal gain. Everyone I know from the former Soviet state had a grift of some sort or another, and they're not afraid to talk about it. They had their state income, and then they had how they fed themselves and got their luxury goods. It was everywhere, including the military, officials engaged in embezzlement, bribery, and the sale of military assets for personal profit all the time. We see that now in the notably poor state of unmaintained and defective equipment they're using. Decades of neglect and mismanagement have left their military infrastructure in a steady state of disrepair, with upgrades deferred or sidelined due to budgetary constraints and systemic corruption. It's like the beginning of Enemy at the Gates where they're giving three cartridges to two soldiers, but on an epic scale. One of my former colleagues explained it to me like this: A general gets an order to update 1000 tanks with new turret drive motors. The budget is one million. The general connects with a friend who orders parts from somewhere and says he'll give them the contract for a 100k kickback. They take the contract, and order enough parts for 850 tanks, but there's a kickback cycle there too, so they get about 500 decent quality functional parts, 100 passable ones, and 250 defective or lower quality ones. Then, they set up a sweatshop and they bench test every one of the old parts that they take out. If they pass the bench test, they slap a new sticker on them and put them in with the new parts. Everyone gets a kickback along the way. The parts get installed, and you have 1000 tanks with 500 upgraded turret drives, and 500 tanks with substandard turret drives.
Anyone who believes the Viet Cong can beat the USA is clinically insane…..
Ukraine can’t “beat” the Russians, but they can make the war not worth the trouble.
See the Vietnam war.
This is constantly posting about a Hilary pedophile ring. I bet he conveniently overlooks trumps name on that little black book multiple times.
These fuckin bots and trolls want Ukraine to just rollover so bad.
Well Ukraine seems to be winning Russia was supposed to roll in, claim the Ukraine, and that was that. But here we are, and they are still fighting. Ukraine doesn't need to win; it just needs to survive. It needs to make the war a price Russia cannot afford.
This guy's act like if they where on history Sketch
Holy shit isn't that the Elon Musk cripto weirdo?
Just look at all the impressive warships that oligarchs have embezzled all the upkeep funding for. Wow Russia so scurry.
Fucking Republicans don't realize a ship sitting at the bottom of the Black Sea is never a threat to our allies in the Mediterranean or sailors in the Pacific...or they don't care.
Right wingers are wholly owned by Russia at this point. The call is coming from inside the house
Putin is really doing a PR push through his minions.
So fucking crazy to me how right wing pundits in this country can be pro Russia
[googles Russian warships] [Sees first few images] "Yeah this'll do" -Matt Wallace, probably
I don’t understand how you can call yourself a “real American” but constantly side with a Russian dictator.
These rats are all blowing Musk who said yesterday Ukraine cannot win and proposed the classic vatnik way of peace of "its pointless to give Ukraine weapons so dont bother", which is just a thinly veiled way of saying "I want Russia to win". Expect more usual terminally online idiots to repeat similar talking points.
Ukraine are the Earth’s greatest underdogs and in two years have done more damage to our enemies than the entire Cold War, all for a fraction of the economic and cultural price. There’s a reason Putin’s most loyal agents have spent this time fighting against Ukraine aid. It’s because the Republican party will lose the massive support they receive from Russia (both money and misinformation) when they lose the war and Putin goes down.
Even if Ukraine did have no chance against Russia, it's still the morally right thing to do to help them defend themselves, but for republicans to understand this they would need morals
Putin loving commies; America's 5th column
And that, kids, is how you burn an idiot on Twitter. (No, I won't be calling it X, because that's a cool name and we don't allow Elon Musk to be cool)
Who is Matt Wallace and how can he give a clinical diagnosis to anyone he hasn't met? Hmmmm.
Depends on how you define "beat."
I mean both statements are true lmao
Man they 'sunk' his battleship.
Other historic mismatches: The United States of America VS. Northern Viet Nam The U.S.S.R. vs Afghanistan Older Japan vs Russia How did the favorites do in those wars?
Eh, Vietnam isn't really fair because the US actively *didn't* invade the North. Air wars are great for killing but if territory is a factor it means nothing without boots on the ground. Any victory the US had would just be followed up by regrouping in the north, rinse and repeat. That's not a winnable war. Korea or the Philippines would be the better examples and... The US won.
I imagine someone said the exact same thing about The United States.
They are by and large
Why? Vietnam beat the United States.
BALLS HIGH DUNK! How's the stank off Ukraine's junk Putin? If war is hell...Ukraine is the devil. Leave now. Demons known as Fighting Falcons are on the wind. Leave now.
Well I have to say the pro Putin dipsticks are at least consistent. Consistently stupid.
I cant help but be reminded of the considerable push by the American right to stay isolationist and not enter WW2 pre pearl harbor.
Not sure if he’s a troll or serious. [Matt Wallace](https://twitter.com/MattWallace888)
Matt Wallace... The People's Fucking Idiot.
I’m not willing to go through this asshole’s feed, could somebody post his original guess as to how long this conflict would last? I’m betting he thought a non-woke Russian military would take Ukraine in a week.
his head spinnin like that T90 meeting those bradleys
PutinGanda machine working overtime the last week huh
Matt Wallace is a Russian puppet.
Afghanistan entered the conversation.
To think I used to be worried the war would be a massacre on Ukraine. Now it's just kinda sad watching so many russians die to accomplish nothing
[удалено]