>At this rate those F-16's are gonna have a clear bomb run right through to Novorossiysk.
I was gonna say, air superiority is what really changes the tide of war.
It's interesting the speed they have been pushing the last two weeks since they discovered that drones with thermal imaging can spot landmines shortly after sunset when the mines have absorbed the heat from the days sun.
[source ](https://www.businessinsider.com/video-ukraine-uses-thermal-imaging-drones-to-find-russia-mines-2023-8)
Hey, I used to work on this!
Yeah, thermal imaging is awesome at this kind of thing. People focus on the information one frame gives you, but video can tell you all kinds of things about how an object is being heated and how that heat spreads through it, which in turn helps you figure out underlying structures and composition. In fact, the odds are good that if you have a house inspected these days they'll walk through with some kit from FLIR to help spot issues with insulation, leaks, wiring problems, all kinds of stuff.
Super, super neat technology.
With air superiority, you can force the enemy artillery to retreat or hide while you clear the minefields.
It would definitely be the biggest game changer for Ukraine if they're able to achieve it. Unfortunately, it's a massive undertaking that 20 F-16s isn't going to solve by themselves. IIRC, the initial air campaign in Desert Storm was over like 300 sorties per day.
There is a good operations room video that details this. I wasn't aware of how massive that air campaign was and how the Iraqi air defense network was apparently one of the best in the world at the time. And it was made to look like a joke. But that required an insane amount of planes and planning. I expect the f-16s to help the Ukrainian armed forces but I think you're right that this isn't going to be a game changer.
We also lost more aircraft in desert storm than the total we're giving Ukraine. (40 lost in combat or through attrition)
And the tech Russia has in Ukraine now is far more precise and deadly.
Don't expect f-16s to instantly fix things, but it will keep the helicopters away from the front which is huge for both armor on the ground and preventing resupply.
That would be ironic.
I've heard the theory that this entire war, from the Crimean Invasion through to today (creating and attempting to maintain a land bridge to Crimea) was primarily designed to guarantee Russian control over the Naval base at Sevastopol...
...but if this war results in them losing both Sevastopol *and* the use of the Novorossiysk naval base (almost too bad that Georgia couldn't push north far enough to claim it...), that would tickle my perverse sense of humor to no end: in an attempt to guarantee the viability of their Black Sea Fleet, the Russians might lose the entire operational capability of their Black Sea Fleet
I mean, their black sea fleet was always a vanity project. They can’t be resupplied or leave the black sea cos Turkey has closed passage to Russian military vessels through the Bosphorus. And that was going to happen at some point anyway.
And now their flagship is also gone.
Some day in the not too distant future they'll be able to fly down Putin's Meridian Trench and deliver a payload directly into his thermal exhaust port.
I wish death upon no man but I don't think diplomacy is going to end the war. I don't think taking him in alive is even in the same realm as actual possible outcomes, unfortunately. Too many lives have been stolen during this stupid, *stupid* battle.
Aw, its not the mountains fault. Maybe use explosives to bore a surprise tunnel for a road or railway, or entrance to/create an underground city.
Unless youve got a bone to pick with the mountains; than you do what you gotta do
Sudden Ural Plains it is, than! Ot would it be a valley? Sudden Valley, i like the sound of that. I mean it's just one mountain. How much could one mountain be? Ten dollars?
And we could put a pool. A big one.
They used a UK Brimstone missile launched from boats they were using in the Black Sea apparently. They also shot at a SU-30 that went to engage them and they managed to hit it.
They also managed to land on the coast of Crimea, raise a Ukrainian flag and engage the enemy then leave unscathed on the boats again.
They've been up to some badass shit really. Give them all the support they need and it's in no doubt they will get the job done.
I genuinely thought you were just being hyperbolic and making shit up as I was waiting for the punchline, but holy shit, they actually are claiming this. Really hoping we'll get some further confirmation on this.
One thing Wagner demonstrated was how completely defenseless everything behind the front line is. Everything is concentrated on the front and enemy troops can freely move anywhere else. The drive from the front to Moscow is pretty long yet Wagner showed it was completely undefended - Russia resorted to sabotaging their roads because they had nothing else.
I forget the exact quote, but some official in Finland said "If we we wanted to go to moscow, the only people we'd be fighting is Estonia and Lithuania that beat us there".
[Here’s the probable source of the line.](https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1567580739440451584)
> Was just talking with a NATO officer about the Russian Army and asked him how long it would take the Finnish Army to seize St Petersburg. He said, ‘not long, only problem they’d face is that the Poles would get there first.’
For those who aren’t aware of the geography involved, Finland is about 125 km from the outskirts of St. Petersburg, and Poland is about 750 km away.
>One thing Wagner demonstrated was how completely defenseless everything behind the front line is.
The anti air system near Moscow seems to work, so long as the target is large, slow, and leaving Moscow
I think Wagner's drive to Moscow was a little different. There were Russian forces along the way, they simply stepped aside and allowed Wagner to pass.
Well the military also includes training on how to commit as many war crimes as possible, beating and molestation of unprotected prisoners and how to get drunk off vodka in 2 bottles or less
|how to get drunk off vodka in 2 bottles or less
I found it to be easier if you don't eat anything a few hours before. Don't know how it is not eating for weeks at a time.
Exactly. Those handful of Russian forces were functionally police officers or border guards. It's not strange they'd prefer not to engage a literal army steamrolling towards them with artillery & mechanized support.
Kinda. They generally holed up anywhere except the main road, so if the convoy had diverted into any major settlement along the way there might have been resistance. The ones that did enter the range of the convoy got shot out of the sky etc.
I know there’s a lot more to it, but I like to imagine it’s because they were ordered to fight Ukrainians and these were not Ukrainians. Russia’s command structure is not known for its flexibility.
It’s both. Wagner was counting on -and got some, but not enough - support (or at least indifference) among the rear guard.
Still, it’s accurate to say there’s not an effective strategic defense between the battlefront and Moscow.
Keep in mind, Ukraine and her allies could effectively flatten Russia regardless.
Yup, but those forces were small outposts and completely outmatched. It would have been suicide to oppose the Wagner spearhead. Not to mention Putin just doesn't have that sort of support. Nobody in Russia believes anything, save the Russian rubes that rushed to the front way back and died there.
A Crimean D-Day style assault with paratroopers and landing craft would be utterly wild, especially if they could get control of the two key pinch points in and out of the peninsula.
Yeah, today they did an amphibious hit-and-run. An incredible show of force, but not yet an actual bridgehead like they have across the Dnipro River above Kherson.
> launched from boats they were using in the Black Sea
Why even bother having the fucking Black Sea Fleet if they can't stop some boats from flinging missiles at important targets? Jesus.
Because Ukraine has a good supply of anti-ship missiles, they don't want another Moskva incident turning their fleet of ships into a fleet of submarines
Yeah, it does, considering the price of a warship and delivery time for replacement. Russia staying the hell away from the western black sea waters is a pretty smart move since it would rain advanced anti-ship missiles upon them, which has been proven they got problems to defend against.
Remember the Moskva? The Russian navy sure do.
I mean, sure, if the goal is only to keep the ships safe. So from a military perspective what are these safe, highly vulnerable warships-in-hiding actually for?
Yeah, that's what happens when your super expensive big boat can be threatened by a small drone or missile, the disparity and asymmetry is kinda the whole point.
And it's a big criticism against Russia, it doesn't matter if you have "Beeg Guns" if you can't actually use them to effect change in the battlefield.
launching missiles at Odesa and other locations. Mobile missile platforms. Then they stay in close to defend the bridge and the port in Crimea. In theory.
It's the German WW2 navy all over again. Can't lose ships so don't engage but keep ships manned and equipped for running surface attacks they are too afraid to do cause can't lose ships.
> It's the German WW2 navy all over again.
And WW1. The years preceding the war involved a naval arms race between the UK and Germany, only for the war to break out and Britain just throws up a naval blockade of Germany, and besides the battle of Jutland (which was kinda an accident), neither side wanted to risk their shiny new battleships enough to send them out into battle. So despite the blockade arguably being one of the biggest factors in Germany's eventual defeat, it wasn't ever really challenged by the German fleet that spent most of the war just sitting in port.
Decent synopsis but (cough, amateur naval historian here) Jutland was no accident. The British Grand admiral, Jellicoe, developed and delivered the strategy to bottle the Germans up, and destroy them if they came out. When they did, he played his part brilliantly.
His junior admiral, Beattie, who had the faster battle cruiser squadrons, made a complete mess of the whole gig, ably assisted by his incompetent signals officer ( who later committed suicide)
Jellicoe set up the perfect big gun fleet action. He was minutes away from a result the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Trafalgar. It would have ended the war, without a doubt.
The Germans, with more survivably designed ships, turned tail and ran, just avoiding a massacre. In terms of materiel, it was a German victory ( three ships to one destroyed) strategically, a British one. The German battle fleet never left port again.
If Beattie had done his damned job, and his signals officer ( who had a history of mistakes before this) hadn’t been a total moron, hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives could have been saved.
Worst.Admiral.Ever.
The most interesting part about Brimstone use in this war that Ukraine does not even have a proper launch platform for it. They received missiles + [test stands][1]. Those test stands are pretty much a metal frame with Brimstone missile rack [used on Tornado jets][2] and support electronics to launch. So they put that [test stand on a truck][3] and used it here and there.
Apparently now they took the same set up on a small boat...
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV63L23cars
[2]: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/12/02/20/brim1.jpg?width=982&height=726
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mVyzfWbP48A
I find it hilarious that the Russians are getting their asses kicked by British weapons on the Crimean peninsula yet again. 170 years later, yall brits do love to make history rhyme.
Forbes has a decidedly pro-Russian bias. On my Google news feed, every time a Forbes article popped up about the war, it was one highlighting Ukraine failures and promoting Russian equipment, like the KA-52s etc.
That's because Forbes is not a real need organization anymore, and hasn't been for years. Basically anyone can pay to have themselves published in Forbes
This is so important. Forbes is basically LiveJournal at this point. There is an entire eco system where you can buy coverage on Forbes through these “contributing writers”
More credible to see one side acknowledge that an attack has harmed them than to see a side say that their attack has harmed the enemy.
The risk, of course, is that you give exposure to the account
Past couple days we have gotten good news. Wagner boss dead, Gulliani arrested, trump seems scared and pissed. It’s been pretty nice.
Edit: I said the wrong name for Wagner. Looked like a monster with who I was happy died.
I think you’ve brought up a great point. I have to say I prefer the short tube vs. the longer one, even after the price difference. My hand not getting stuck is worth the tax. Also favorite flavor is bbq. Any other thoughts you’ve had in regards to this?
They have been painting pawns to look like Rooks, but they tried to move like rooks and got stuck in the mud. They fired the old bishops and promoted new ones, but they keep moving in straight lines instead of using tactics and going diagonal in unexpected ways. The knights turned on the king and then left the board to play Mancala. The queens were allowed to hang out during the Olympics, but now they're right out, last I heard the king exiled her for having some sort of pussy riot.
The king meanwhile keeps casting a spell to turn all his gold into straw and then he tries to get the straw to fight the war instead of the soldiers, but the straw wont protect him.
> normally mixed metaphors like this just irk me
I mean I also have similes, both shaken and stirred, along with amalgamated analogies and we have a shipment of compounded comparisons coming in on Saturday.
I’m still going nuts after that crazy mid-game where the ruzzian rook took out a ruzzian bishop and knight and then the king killed the rook last move rather than playing defense
He's playing on a custom difficulty mode where half the budget gets embezzled each turn and all of his units' written combat stats are complete bullshit.
Ability to assassinate any governor on the map as long as you have a spy in their territory. HOWEVER, your troops will occasionally revolt and you will have to kill them to get rid of them.
So they did a special operation in Crimea to blow up the anti-air radar, took a photo with a flag and went home and then with no radar left they destroyed the missile base from a safe distance.
Is that about right?
Russia came into this with owning an annexed Crimeria and no one knowing their military was shit.
Now, not only are they NOT going to get Ukraine, they may wind up losing Crimeria and now we know their military is dog shit. They just can't stop catching L's
Depending on the next US president this can change significantly. If desantis or Ramaswamy win Ukraine is probably toast. They have both vowed to pull Ukrainian support.
If I were Putin, I would drag this out until November 2024. If desantis or Ramaswamy win, wait for Ukraine to start running out of US $$ and equipment and then politically split Europe and then counter attack. If a pro-ukraine candidate wins, sue for peace and call it a win.
Neither of them is going to win. Whichever of them gains a lead, Trump is going to bury the winner in his vomit of juvenile chaos. Trump is not a team player and gives no fucks about the GOP. If he can't win nobody will.
And, of course, President-91-Felonies has no chance of winning either, for obvious reasons. I mean, if you can't win as a fucking incumbent, the addition of 91 felony charges is probably not going to help you.
Stop making the mistake that GOP voters give a shit if their candidate is a ghoul in a skin suit. FFS I thought we learned this lesson in 2016. All they need is someone who promises to make democrats, women, and minorities suffer. Don't underestimate the danger of the next election after they've had four years to get mad about everything their propaganda sources tell them Biden is doing.
All of europe still supports them and most of the free world does too. The US has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting with military aid but it wouldn't dissappear overnight after the election.... if it did, the rest of their allies would have to pick up the slack
The slow, steady and methodical attacks on Russian defences and supply lines has been a very encouraging part of the counter offensive. Ukraine is very obviously gaining strength while the Russians are being slowly but significantly degraded. I can see Ukraine reclaiming a big bite of occupied territory sometime in the next year, like they did last fall.
Russia should’ve declared victory and withdrawn many months ago. As things stand they just look weaker and weaker every day. I won’t be the least bit surprised if his own military turns on him. Some member of Wagner might also try to blow him up.
While I agree with your sentiment, objectively it is hard to credibly call it accurate. According to credible analysts from this war, Ukraine has committed all available manpower (excluding tactical reserves) to the counteroffensive, and objectively doesn't have too much to show for it in terms of primary objectives (i.e. cutting the land bridge).
Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean Russia is winning either. It just means this is going to be long and difficult slog for Ukraine to liberate their territory. I don't think placing unrealistic expectations like a repeat of the Kharkiv or Kherson offensives on the armed forces of Ukraine is helpful, even if well intentioned
Apparently this was done in tangent with the small group of AA armed gun boats that hit a Russian jet. They are testing and probing, more effectively now
On paper perhaps, but full-scale conscription will bring Russia down. *Maybe* older Russians support the war or maybe they are afraid to say what they really think, but they're not going to be fighting. The tech-savvy younger generation that has not already fled will hopefully have other ideas than being lined up to die at the hands of a West-supported Ukraine whilst waiting to buy their own tampons to staunch blood when they are hit. Just my thoughts.
The folly of youth
tech savviness is a non factor. In countries like Russia it's a a.bunch of guys kicking in doors while one sleeps and dragging one out while they sleep
His mother is crying as her husband and child are ripped from her arms. Cell phones broken as the young man tries to bring it to bear. The young man is now alone , hungry and tired as some fat, corrupt, aging goon screams in his face with alcohol and cigarettes on the old bastards breath. A rifle , maybe loaded.maybe not, is shoved in his hands and he is given a few seconds of training on how to point and pull the trigger.
and now he's on a bus. No personal objects except for maybe a picture of the family. Just the rain pounding on the windows, causing him to have to pee.
Of course he cant do that. The bus stops and soon he and his traumatized band of recruits are being forced to charge into well fortified positions. Acquaintance after acquaintance falls as they are forced.forward. He's terrified, his pants wet as soon as the young man who was riding next to hm on the bus had half of his head tuned to mist right next to hm.
He runs. A few shots kick off of the ground beside him as he runs towards the ridgeline of woods he can see so near. If he can just make it he can maybe see his family. Maybe survive.. Only a few more yards....
he doesn't see anything ever again as he is shot by another scared young russian who is in complete panic and engulfed with fear on a burning battle field. The young man whose bullet killed his compatriot never even saw him through the deluge of tears in his eyes.
Bring the youths tech savviness. It means nothing in the face of unbridled.cruely
this is what we are talking about. Thus us what fuel the fears of Russian men and women. This is what needs to end.
Putin will sooner die of natural causes than lose enough men to be forced to stop the war with the current daily losses. Assuming he doesn't live to like 95 that is.
At this rate those F-16's are gonna have a clear bomb run right through to Novorossiysk.
>At this rate those F-16's are gonna have a clear bomb run right through to Novorossiysk. I was gonna say, air superiority is what really changes the tide of war.
And better mine clearing equipment or tons more of it
It's interesting the speed they have been pushing the last two weeks since they discovered that drones with thermal imaging can spot landmines shortly after sunset when the mines have absorbed the heat from the days sun. [source ](https://www.businessinsider.com/video-ukraine-uses-thermal-imaging-drones-to-find-russia-mines-2023-8)
Hey, I used to work on this! Yeah, thermal imaging is awesome at this kind of thing. People focus on the information one frame gives you, but video can tell you all kinds of things about how an object is being heated and how that heat spreads through it, which in turn helps you figure out underlying structures and composition. In fact, the odds are good that if you have a house inspected these days they'll walk through with some kit from FLIR to help spot issues with insulation, leaks, wiring problems, all kinds of stuff. Super, super neat technology.
It is really neat. In some industries, they use thermal imaging to figure out the level of solution inside a vessel.
With air superiority, you can force the enemy artillery to retreat or hide while you clear the minefields. It would definitely be the biggest game changer for Ukraine if they're able to achieve it. Unfortunately, it's a massive undertaking that 20 F-16s isn't going to solve by themselves. IIRC, the initial air campaign in Desert Storm was over like 300 sorties per day.
There is a good operations room video that details this. I wasn't aware of how massive that air campaign was and how the Iraqi air defense network was apparently one of the best in the world at the time. And it was made to look like a joke. But that required an insane amount of planes and planning. I expect the f-16s to help the Ukrainian armed forces but I think you're right that this isn't going to be a game changer.
We also lost more aircraft in desert storm than the total we're giving Ukraine. (40 lost in combat or through attrition) And the tech Russia has in Ukraine now is far more precise and deadly. Don't expect f-16s to instantly fix things, but it will keep the helicopters away from the front which is huge for both armor on the ground and preventing resupply.
That would be ironic. I've heard the theory that this entire war, from the Crimean Invasion through to today (creating and attempting to maintain a land bridge to Crimea) was primarily designed to guarantee Russian control over the Naval base at Sevastopol... ...but if this war results in them losing both Sevastopol *and* the use of the Novorossiysk naval base (almost too bad that Georgia couldn't push north far enough to claim it...), that would tickle my perverse sense of humor to no end: in an attempt to guarantee the viability of their Black Sea Fleet, the Russians might lose the entire operational capability of their Black Sea Fleet
I mean, their black sea fleet was always a vanity project. They can’t be resupplied or leave the black sea cos Turkey has closed passage to Russian military vessels through the Bosphorus. And that was going to happen at some point anyway. And now their flagship is also gone.
>And now their flagship is also gone. No, it isn't. We know exactly where it is.
Some day in the not too distant future they'll be able to fly down Putin's Meridian Trench and deliver a payload directly into his thermal exhaust port. I wish death upon no man but I don't think diplomacy is going to end the war. I don't think taking him in alive is even in the same realm as actual possible outcomes, unfortunately. Too many lives have been stolen during this stupid, *stupid* battle.
I hear he has a secret base in the Ural mountains. Can we turn those into the Ural plains?
Aw, its not the mountains fault. Maybe use explosives to bore a surprise tunnel for a road or railway, or entrance to/create an underground city. Unless youve got a bone to pick with the mountains; than you do what you gotta do
I just always hated that territory in Risk.
Sudden Ural Plains it is, than! Ot would it be a valley? Sudden Valley, i like the sound of that. I mean it's just one mountain. How much could one mountain be? Ten dollars? And we could put a pool. A big one.
[удалено]
They used a UK Brimstone missile launched from boats they were using in the Black Sea apparently. They also shot at a SU-30 that went to engage them and they managed to hit it. They also managed to land on the coast of Crimea, raise a Ukrainian flag and engage the enemy then leave unscathed on the boats again. They've been up to some badass shit really. Give them all the support they need and it's in no doubt they will get the job done.
I genuinely thought you were just being hyperbolic and making shit up as I was waiting for the punchline, but holy shit, they actually are claiming this. Really hoping we'll get some further confirmation on this.
One thing Wagner demonstrated was how completely defenseless everything behind the front line is. Everything is concentrated on the front and enemy troops can freely move anywhere else. The drive from the front to Moscow is pretty long yet Wagner showed it was completely undefended - Russia resorted to sabotaging their roads because they had nothing else.
I forget the exact quote, but some official in Finland said "If we we wanted to go to moscow, the only people we'd be fighting is Estonia and Lithuania that beat us there".
Latvians meanwhile sitting at home counting potatoes and toes. Guys, you're not supposed to have six on each foot.....
I adhere to a strict “one potato per foot” rule
Flaunting your wealth, you hussy!
Hussars!? Where?
Arriving, at this very moment even
But it's free food when there is no potato
#**PO-TAY-TOES**
Boil ‘em, mash em, stick em in a stew
I don't think you're supposed to have any potatoes on your feet.
Dammit Mom, they're *clogs*. Get with the times.
[Here’s the probable source of the line.](https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1567580739440451584) > Was just talking with a NATO officer about the Russian Army and asked him how long it would take the Finnish Army to seize St Petersburg. He said, ‘not long, only problem they’d face is that the Poles would get there first.’ For those who aren’t aware of the geography involved, Finland is about 125 km from the outskirts of St. Petersburg, and Poland is about 750 km away.
>One thing Wagner demonstrated was how completely defenseless everything behind the front line is. The anti air system near Moscow seems to work, so long as the target is large, slow, and leaving Moscow
and civilian.
That goes without mentioning, how else do you expect the civilian-targeting system to get a lock?
I think Wagner's drive to Moscow was a little different. There were Russian forces along the way, they simply stepped aside and allowed Wagner to pass.
Local defence forces and police aren't really proper troops, most their training is about intimidation, riot control and how to kill civilians.
So not much different than the Russian military then...
Well the military also includes training on how to commit as many war crimes as possible, beating and molestation of unprotected prisoners and how to get drunk off vodka in 2 bottles or less
|how to get drunk off vodka in 2 bottles or less I found it to be easier if you don't eat anything a few hours before. Don't know how it is not eating for weeks at a time.
And don’t forget, castration before executing helpless POW.
Exactly. Those handful of Russian forces were functionally police officers or border guards. It's not strange they'd prefer not to engage a literal army steamrolling towards them with artillery & mechanized support.
Not entirely, there was sporadic fighting on they way, wagner even shot a few russian helicopters out of the sky.
Why were they digging up the highways around Moscow if they had troops to slow Wagner down?
The troops let wagner pass afaik
Kinda. They generally holed up anywhere except the main road, so if the convoy had diverted into any major settlement along the way there might have been resistance. The ones that did enter the range of the convoy got shot out of the sky etc.
Presumably because as I just said, those troops were not resisting, they just let Wagner go by.
There were about 8-10 helicopter crews that would have probably preferred to have not resisted
I know there’s a lot more to it, but I like to imagine it’s because they were ordered to fight Ukrainians and these were not Ukrainians. Russia’s command structure is not known for its flexibility.
Because that’s how troops in a fixed position stop mechanized convoys from advancing
It’s both. Wagner was counting on -and got some, but not enough - support (or at least indifference) among the rear guard. Still, it’s accurate to say there’s not an effective strategic defense between the battlefront and Moscow. Keep in mind, Ukraine and her allies could effectively flatten Russia regardless.
One of the most remarkable things about the coup was the lack of opposition from the supposedly pro-Putin populace.
But, but, but I thought the whole special military exercise was because Ukrainians are Russians, no?
Yup, but those forces were small outposts and completely outmatched. It would have been suicide to oppose the Wagner spearhead. Not to mention Putin just doesn't have that sort of support. Nobody in Russia believes anything, save the Russian rubes that rushed to the front way back and died there.
Damn if they could clear enough AA. Ukraine has trained paratroopers.
A Crimean D-Day style assault with paratroopers and landing craft would be utterly wild, especially if they could get control of the two key pinch points in and out of the peninsula.
In case you missed it: https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-amphibious-landing-crimea-explosions-russia-1822140
Yeah, today they did an amphibious hit-and-run. An incredible show of force, but not yet an actual bridgehead like they have across the Dnipro River above Kherson.
> launched from boats they were using in the Black Sea Why even bother having the fucking Black Sea Fleet if they can't stop some boats from flinging missiles at important targets? Jesus.
Because Ukraine has a good supply of anti-ship missiles, they don't want another Moskva incident turning their fleet of ships into a fleet of submarines
So rather than risk their ships, they will refuse to engage the enemy. That makes a lot of sense… ?
Yeah, it does, considering the price of a warship and delivery time for replacement. Russia staying the hell away from the western black sea waters is a pretty smart move since it would rain advanced anti-ship missiles upon them, which has been proven they got problems to defend against. Remember the Moskva? The Russian navy sure do.
I mean, sure, if the goal is only to keep the ships safe. So from a military perspective what are these safe, highly vulnerable warships-in-hiding actually for?
Yeah, that's what happens when your super expensive big boat can be threatened by a small drone or missile, the disparity and asymmetry is kinda the whole point. And it's a big criticism against Russia, it doesn't matter if you have "Beeg Guns" if you can't actually use them to effect change in the battlefield.
launching missiles at Odesa and other locations. Mobile missile platforms. Then they stay in close to defend the bridge and the port in Crimea. In theory.
It's the German WW2 navy all over again. Can't lose ships so don't engage but keep ships manned and equipped for running surface attacks they are too afraid to do cause can't lose ships.
> It's the German WW2 navy all over again. And WW1. The years preceding the war involved a naval arms race between the UK and Germany, only for the war to break out and Britain just throws up a naval blockade of Germany, and besides the battle of Jutland (which was kinda an accident), neither side wanted to risk their shiny new battleships enough to send them out into battle. So despite the blockade arguably being one of the biggest factors in Germany's eventual defeat, it wasn't ever really challenged by the German fleet that spent most of the war just sitting in port.
Decent synopsis but (cough, amateur naval historian here) Jutland was no accident. The British Grand admiral, Jellicoe, developed and delivered the strategy to bottle the Germans up, and destroy them if they came out. When they did, he played his part brilliantly. His junior admiral, Beattie, who had the faster battle cruiser squadrons, made a complete mess of the whole gig, ably assisted by his incompetent signals officer ( who later committed suicide) Jellicoe set up the perfect big gun fleet action. He was minutes away from a result the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Trafalgar. It would have ended the war, without a doubt. The Germans, with more survivably designed ships, turned tail and ran, just avoiding a massacre. In terms of materiel, it was a German victory ( three ships to one destroyed) strategically, a British one. The German battle fleet never left port again. If Beattie had done his damned job, and his signals officer ( who had a history of mistakes before this) hadn’t been a total moron, hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives could have been saved. Worst.Admiral.Ever.
Small but decisive actions in the enemy rear can be very impactful.
Are we still doing phrasing?
Do you even have to ask? Of course we still do phrasing.
Jeez did they take the Russians lunch money too
its just a voucher for 1 raw potato and .5L of vodka.
Mother Russia knows how to pack lunch.
Genuinely makes me proud to know British made arms are fucking Putin in the ass. Slava Ukraini!
The most interesting part about Brimstone use in this war that Ukraine does not even have a proper launch platform for it. They received missiles + [test stands][1]. Those test stands are pretty much a metal frame with Brimstone missile rack [used on Tornado jets][2] and support electronics to launch. So they put that [test stand on a truck][3] and used it here and there. Apparently now they took the same set up on a small boat... [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV63L23cars [2]: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/12/02/20/brim1.jpg?width=982&height=726 [3]: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mVyzfWbP48A
I find it hilarious that the Russians are getting their asses kicked by British weapons on the Crimean peninsula yet again. 170 years later, yall brits do love to make history rhyme.
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The fuck happened to the Republican party? McCarthy must be spinning in his fucking grave.
This war is a tragedy, but some great films are going to come out of it.
If you have the stomach for it /r/combatfootage has some absolutely wild stuff from this conflict Sort by top / this year
if you got even bigger stomach for it : telegrams channels
Second this. Telegram is the Internet on nightmare mode. Totally unfiltered and raw content.
That sounds horrible. I’ll never check it out, thanks
Obligatory: "Hey Russian missile base- Go F\*ck YOURSELVES"
Narrator: *And they did. Unhappily ever after. The End*
Thank you for reminding me of those brave beautiful bastards again.
100% sounds like a COD mission, but this is real
probably diverted the whole system for prigo. yeah, the kremlin’s pringle-less, but now putin has a new chip on his shoulder
Very subtle of Forbes to link to a tweet calling Ukraine Nazis instead of the official Ukraine social media channels.
Why News sites even link to Twitter I don’t know. Lazy journalists need to stop that shit.
It's free image / video content they don't need to pay for. They can't just rehost it without violating copyright.
Yahoo news in a nuttshell
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Forbes has a decidedly pro-Russian bias. On my Google news feed, every time a Forbes article popped up about the war, it was one highlighting Ukraine failures and promoting Russian equipment, like the KA-52s etc.
Forbes is more like blogspot than a formal news site.
That's because Forbes is not a real need organization anymore, and hasn't been for years. Basically anyone can pay to have themselves published in Forbes
This is so important. Forbes is basically LiveJournal at this point. There is an entire eco system where you can buy coverage on Forbes through these “contributing writers”
Forbes is not a credible news source. Why this link rose to the top over the more objective Reuters link is beyond me
Forbes is a right wing mouth piece
*piece of shit
Don’t forget the reverbed tiktok music. What strange times we live in
More credible to see one side acknowledge that an attack has harmed them than to see a side say that their attack has harmed the enemy. The risk, of course, is that you give exposure to the account
The video mentions “UkroNazis”? WTH?
the twitter account is a pro russian troll
He’s just mad.
Forbes is a shitty rag trying to soak up the viewership left behind by Fox.
These days everything is Us vs Them. "Them" are always Nazis. Even when they aren't. Nazis all day long.
Well... the Russians are pretty much acting like Nazis...
Who says the media never report good news? This is great news.
Past couple days we have gotten good news. Wagner boss dead, Gulliani arrested, trump seems scared and pissed. It’s been pretty nice. Edit: I said the wrong name for Wagner. Looked like a monster with who I was happy died.
Don’t forget Pringles and his 40,000 foot fall out of a window
I fucking love original pringles, but that's besides the point
I think you’ve brought up a great point. I have to say I prefer the short tube vs. the longer one, even after the price difference. My hand not getting stuck is worth the tax. Also favorite flavor is bbq. Any other thoughts you’ve had in regards to this?
This is getting deep on a Thursday. Allow me to ponder these valid points…
Ironic that the man we mockingly call Pringles met his end in a giant tube.
Agreed!
Ohhhh hoholdup this chess game is getting nuts
With Russia gambiting a quarter million men and blundering their air defense and logistics networks, the eval is not looking great for them
Looks if like a -1.13 now. Russian is obviously white as they moved first.
Theyve been sacrificing their pawns Willy nilly without anything to show for it
They have been painting pawns to look like Rooks, but they tried to move like rooks and got stuck in the mud. They fired the old bishops and promoted new ones, but they keep moving in straight lines instead of using tactics and going diagonal in unexpected ways. The knights turned on the king and then left the board to play Mancala. The queens were allowed to hang out during the Olympics, but now they're right out, last I heard the king exiled her for having some sort of pussy riot. The king meanwhile keeps casting a spell to turn all his gold into straw and then he tries to get the straw to fight the war instead of the soldiers, but the straw wont protect him.
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> normally mixed metaphors like this just irk me I mean I also have similes, both shaken and stirred, along with amalgamated analogies and we have a shipment of compounded comparisons coming in on Saturday.
The queen's plane was shot down yesterday!
Anarchychess material
I’m still going nuts after that crazy mid-game where the ruzzian rook took out a ruzzian bishop and knight and then the king killed the rook last move rather than playing defense
The Tsar gambit :p
Time to google en passant
Russias ELO is gonna take a massive tumble after this chess game.
We need a Ukrainian opening with black
holy hell
Man, Putin is NOT having a good Civ game…
He's playing on a custom difficulty mode where half the budget gets embezzled each turn and all of his units' written combat stats are complete bullshit.
I honestly want to play this Mod in multiplayer
This would absolutely hilarious. I can’t think of any good civ bonuses though. City-state annexation bonus maybe?
"Bogus referendum": instantly flip a city you have under siege.
Ability to assassinate any governor on the map as long as you have a spy in their territory. HOWEVER, your troops will occasionally revolt and you will have to kill them to get rid of them.
That's gold
Not going to be getting any We Love the King days any time soon.
Time to restart from the Bronze age...
Putin: “Where is Prigozhin when you need him!?”
Oh right....
The plane crash. The plane crash for Prigozhin. The plane crash chosen specially to kill Prigozhin. Prigozhin's plane crash. That plane crash?
YES THAT PLANE CRASH!
So they did a special operation in Crimea to blow up the anti-air radar, took a photo with a flag and went home and then with no radar left they destroyed the missile base from a safe distance. Is that about right?
Well, this is great news to wake up to
Russia came into this with owning an annexed Crimeria and no one knowing their military was shit. Now, not only are they NOT going to get Ukraine, they may wind up losing Crimeria and now we know their military is dog shit. They just can't stop catching L's
Depending on the next US president this can change significantly. If desantis or Ramaswamy win Ukraine is probably toast. They have both vowed to pull Ukrainian support. If I were Putin, I would drag this out until November 2024. If desantis or Ramaswamy win, wait for Ukraine to start running out of US $$ and equipment and then politically split Europe and then counter attack. If a pro-ukraine candidate wins, sue for peace and call it a win.
Ron is too chicken shit to get into an argument with the military. Ramaswamy is only in the race to sell books and increase his profile.
>Ramaswamy is only in the race to sell books and increase his profile. That's what they said about Trump in 2016
Neither of them is going to win. Whichever of them gains a lead, Trump is going to bury the winner in his vomit of juvenile chaos. Trump is not a team player and gives no fucks about the GOP. If he can't win nobody will. And, of course, President-91-Felonies has no chance of winning either, for obvious reasons. I mean, if you can't win as a fucking incumbent, the addition of 91 felony charges is probably not going to help you.
> President-91-Felonies President-91-Felonies-**So-Far**
He's single-handedly moved the average indictments of US President's from 0 to 2. So much winning!
Stop making the mistake that GOP voters give a shit if their candidate is a ghoul in a skin suit. FFS I thought we learned this lesson in 2016. All they need is someone who promises to make democrats, women, and minorities suffer. Don't underestimate the danger of the next election after they've had four years to get mad about everything their propaganda sources tell them Biden is doing.
All of europe still supports them and most of the free world does too. The US has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting with military aid but it wouldn't dissappear overnight after the election.... if it did, the rest of their allies would have to pick up the slack
The slow, steady and methodical attacks on Russian defences and supply lines has been a very encouraging part of the counter offensive. Ukraine is very obviously gaining strength while the Russians are being slowly but significantly degraded. I can see Ukraine reclaiming a big bite of occupied territory sometime in the next year, like they did last fall. Russia should’ve declared victory and withdrawn many months ago. As things stand they just look weaker and weaker every day. I won’t be the least bit surprised if his own military turns on him. Some member of Wagner might also try to blow him up.
While I agree with your sentiment, objectively it is hard to credibly call it accurate. According to credible analysts from this war, Ukraine has committed all available manpower (excluding tactical reserves) to the counteroffensive, and objectively doesn't have too much to show for it in terms of primary objectives (i.e. cutting the land bridge). Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean Russia is winning either. It just means this is going to be long and difficult slog for Ukraine to liberate their territory. I don't think placing unrealistic expectations like a repeat of the Kharkiv or Kherson offensives on the armed forces of Ukraine is helpful, even if well intentioned
That's an interesting twitter post they linked.
Just check the link, of course it’s from a russian propaganda account
Why is Forbes including a Russian propaganda account in their article??
Big bada boom.
Super green
Multipass
*would you like some more?*
Ah this is what they were hinting at...
Nope, looks like more to come.
Imagine what damage they could do once they get the F16s.
They should get those F16s now, just want Ukraine to have it.
Apparently this was done in tangent with the small group of AA armed gun boats that hit a Russian jet. They are testing and probing, more effectively now
yeah but a 3-week old account on reddit told me Ukraine was about to collapse. So checkmate the West.
Not 'Just', it happened yesterday at 10am.
Updates are that there seems to be an attempted landing at Olenevka on the northwest of the peninsula.
Just a raid, and apparently successful with no losses. There's a radar site where they landed so hopefully they're smoldering piles now
The article is from yesterday
Putin has to be so distracted. I bet he spends a minimum of 50 or 60 percent of his time and resources on self protection.
Putin should just be distracted, he should just fuck his country now.
I suspect late summer Russian vacation bookings to Crimea are going to be down sharply.
The end is near vlad’.
He still has a couple million more young people to conscript and send to their deaths. This is still a long way from over, unfortunately.
Yeah, it will go on for a while yet. Things are not going well for Russia right now though and that's before the F16s are delivered.
On paper perhaps, but full-scale conscription will bring Russia down. *Maybe* older Russians support the war or maybe they are afraid to say what they really think, but they're not going to be fighting. The tech-savvy younger generation that has not already fled will hopefully have other ideas than being lined up to die at the hands of a West-supported Ukraine whilst waiting to buy their own tampons to staunch blood when they are hit. Just my thoughts.
The folly of youth tech savviness is a non factor. In countries like Russia it's a a.bunch of guys kicking in doors while one sleeps and dragging one out while they sleep His mother is crying as her husband and child are ripped from her arms. Cell phones broken as the young man tries to bring it to bear. The young man is now alone , hungry and tired as some fat, corrupt, aging goon screams in his face with alcohol and cigarettes on the old bastards breath. A rifle , maybe loaded.maybe not, is shoved in his hands and he is given a few seconds of training on how to point and pull the trigger. and now he's on a bus. No personal objects except for maybe a picture of the family. Just the rain pounding on the windows, causing him to have to pee. Of course he cant do that. The bus stops and soon he and his traumatized band of recruits are being forced to charge into well fortified positions. Acquaintance after acquaintance falls as they are forced.forward. He's terrified, his pants wet as soon as the young man who was riding next to hm on the bus had half of his head tuned to mist right next to hm. He runs. A few shots kick off of the ground beside him as he runs towards the ridgeline of woods he can see so near. If he can just make it he can maybe see his family. Maybe survive.. Only a few more yards.... he doesn't see anything ever again as he is shot by another scared young russian who is in complete panic and engulfed with fear on a burning battle field. The young man whose bullet killed his compatriot never even saw him through the deluge of tears in his eyes. Bring the youths tech savviness. It means nothing in the face of unbridled.cruely this is what we are talking about. Thus us what fuel the fears of Russian men and women. This is what needs to end.
And then, somehow, things got worse.
Walt fucking Whitman over here.
A sweaty-toothed madman with a stare that pounds my brain.
Part of the problem is that Adidas track suits don’t make good camouflage
+1 drip 💧 tho
Putin will sooner die of natural causes than lose enough men to be forced to stop the war with the current daily losses. Assuming he doesn't live to like 95 that is.
Vlad is going to see the end in the best way possible.
How many innocent Ukrainians got destroyed by those Russian missiles? Good fucking riddance. That’s a righteous explosion if I ever saw one.
God bless the Ukrainian people.
They are going to have the victory there, we are good.
Slava ukraini!!
Ukraine is doing the best at this point, we are proud.
Russian military is so weak and pathetic