World Politics

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Reports out of Ukraine indicate that the Russian army is so depleted that they have begun using their T-72 tanks (the ones where the magazine is directly below the crew and vulnerable to detonating from a side hit) again. American military assessments state that Russia has lost over 50% of all their armored vehicles and aircraft.

Being a non-expert in warfare what I don't understand is they still remain in the fight?

At what point does it give if these reports are accurate? 

[Tracker]

41 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Being a non-expert in warfare what I don't understand is they still remain in the fight?

At what point does it give if these reports are accurate? 

All current Russian front lines consist of three lines: at the front are the "mobilized" troops- forced draftees, many of whom were press-ganged from their homes at gunpoint, The second line a hundred meters or so behind the first line are the mercenaries- recruited from every jail in Russia and from Africa as well. Their job is to shoot any first-liners who refuse to advance under fire towards almost certain death (for the past two days Russian casualties have exceeded 1000 per day compared to WW2 when Russian casualties averaged 450 per day). Behind the second line are regular Russian troops who are ordered to shoot any first or second-line troops who defy orders.

Abused Russian Troops Relocated After Leaking Beatings by Own Allies

If the leaked abuse videos and panicked pleas from soldiers are any indication, Russian efforts to integrate with Donetsk do not seem to be going well.
The Russian Ministry of Defense is transferring some mobilized Russian troops out of Donetsk in Ukraine after they reported that the militia of the Donetsk People's Republic beat them earlier this month, according to Vladislav Khovalyg, the governor of Tuva.

The Russian troops, who were trained in the Novosibirsk region of Russia, began fighting at the front in Ukraine in December, according to Novaya Gazeta. But come February, the militia in the DPR began beating them, troops said in a video message shared with Russian news outlets and posted to Telegram.

“On February 4, the military from the DPR arrived. They fired at us with machine guns,” said the Russian troops, who came from Tuva, a region in southern Siberia. “The military police came and beat us.”

Another video appears to show a Russian soldier getting knocked down and held at gunpoint.

The withdrawal of the Russian soldiers following the beatings peels back the layers on Russia’s attempts to integrate the illegally annexed Donetsk in Ukraine with Russia, and could be a sign that Russia’s efforts to integrate the militia in Donetsk with Russia’s military are not going smoothly.

Moscow illegally annexed Donetsk, along with Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, in October. Russia’s military has also just formally integrated occupied areas of Ukraine into its Southern Military District in an attempt to further meld together the occupied territories with Moscow, according to a British intelligence report released this week.

“The Russian military likely aspires to integrate newly occupied territory into a long-term strategic posture,” the intelligence report stated.

 

[Tracker]

 

                                

[blue_gold_84]

[JCon]

7 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Time to nationalize the satellites. 

 

 

[Tracker]

 

 

                                            

Russia lost 31 vehicles in just 1 failed attack today. Here is a photo of part of the aftermath.

 

 

[Bigblue204]

19 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Being a non-expert in warfare what I don't understand is they still remain in the fight?

At what point does it give if these reports are accurate? 

From what I understand, throughout their History the 1st year of any war is always a total **** show for the Russians. They're known to just throw bodies at the problem and eventually wear down their opponent. These reports of Russia failing should be taken with a big grain of salt. They aren't going to turn and run for years (some think decades). 

[Tracker]

2 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

From what I understand, throughout their History the 1st year of any war is always a total **** show for the Russians. They're known to just throw bodies at the problem and eventually wear down their opponent. These reports of Russia failing should be taken with a big grain of salt. They aren't going to turn and run for years (some think decades). 

Agreed. What the Russian military has not taken into account is the advancements (?) in weaponry and associated systems - like drone and satellite surveillance and weapon delivery that makes infantry almost irrelevant except to physically occupy ceded ground. 

[Tracker]

                                                   

[Tracker]

Moldova Says Russia Crossed Its Airspace to Hit Ukraine

Russia breached Moldovan airspace in its Friday attack on Ukraine, the Moldovan government said. At least one missile fired from the Black Sea into Ukraine crossed Moldova’s sovereign airspace, the government said, adding that no one was hurt. Moldova also said a missile crossed Romanian airspace, which Romania—a NATO member—denied. Such a breach would be a very serious matter, analysts say. The Russian ambassador to Moldova was summoned over the incident. Separately, Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announced on Friday that her 18-month-old government would resign, ending a critical period for the country, which sits on Ukraine’s border.

[Wideleft]

On 2023-02-09 at 11:32 AM, Bigblue204 said:

From what I understand, throughout their History the 1st year of any war is always a total **** show for the Russians. They're known to just throw bodies at the problem and eventually wear down their opponent. These reports of Russia failing should be taken with a big grain of salt. They aren't going to turn and run for years (some think decades). 

Yes, but... (from yesterday's Washington Post)

"Moscow is pouring much of its swelling force — which Budanov estimates has topped 326,000 soldiers — into parts of the region Russia has controlled through proxy authorities for nearly a decade."

Compared with:

 

"But 50 weeks of war — during which Ukraine has roughly quadrupled the size of its overall fighting force — and billions in donated weapons have made the country for more able to cover the long horizon of threats than it was a year ago.

“This is not like end of February, 2022, when we lacked manpower and so needed to impose priorities,” said Mykola Bielieskov, research fellow at Kyiv’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, a government-financed research institute that advises the Ukrainian president’s office on security and other issues.

“With 1 million men now in arms in Ukrainian security and defense forces, Russia cannot easily find an opening, even if they strike where there are no Ukrainian troops at all,” Bielieskov said."

[Tracker]

3 hours ago, Wideleft said:

Yes, but... (from yesterday's Washington Post)

"Moscow is pouring much of its swelling force — which Budanov estimates has topped 326,000 soldiers — into parts of the region Russia has controlled through proxy authorities for nearly a decade."

Compared with:

 

"But 50 weeks of war — during which Ukraine has roughly quadrupled the size of its overall fighting force — and billions in donated weapons have made the country for more able to cover the long horizon of threats than it was a year ago.

“This is not like end of February, 2022, when we lacked manpower and so needed to impose priorities,” said Mykola Bielieskov, research fellow at Kyiv’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, a government-financed research institute that advises the Ukrainian president’s office on security and other issues.

“With 1 million men now in arms in Ukrainian security and defense forces, Russia cannot easily find an opening, even if they strike where there are no Ukrainian troops at all,” Bielieskov said."

Heavy weaponry is starting to pour into Ukraine and the Russians want to strike a decisive blow and seize as much land as possible before the armaments make their way to the front lines. This may be Putin's last chance to save his administration and his own life. Desperation time in the Kremlin.

[Wideleft]

Just now, Tracker said:

Heavy weaponry is starting to pour into Ukraine and the Russians want to strike a decisive blow and seize as much land as possible before the armaments make their way to the front lines. This may be Putin's last chance to save his administration and his own life. Desperation time in the Kremlin.

I don't know how Russia can strike a decisive blow when they are barely maintaining their lost ground.  His only real option for advance is to do something that will eventually bring NATO in for realz.  Putin is past the point where he can save face.

[Tracker]

32 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

I don't know how Russia can strike a decisive blow when they are barely maintaining their lost ground.  His only real option for advance is to do something that will eventually bring NATO in for realz.  Putin is past the point where he can save face.

Monomaniacal tyrants rarely see reality. For Putin, because he is losing the war of attrition, its now or never because every day that passes without a victory is a day closer to his assassination or sudden death from "natural causes". Putin lost yet another general yesterday and since the military ousted the Kremlin leadership in 1989 after Matthias Rust flew his little plane across Russia undetected and humiliated Russia, the precedent has been set. So far, the killing of potentially problematic oligarchs has kept them in line, but that is not going to last as they are bleeding millions of rubles every day and are being denied trips to the Riviera.

[WildPath]

56 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Monomaniacal tyrants rarely see reality. For Putin, because he is losing the war of attrition, its now or never because every day that passes without a victory is a day closer to his assassination or sudden death from "natural causes". Putin lost yet another general yesterday and since the military ousted the Kremlin leadership in 1989 after Matthias Rust flew his little plane across Russia undetected and humiliated Russia, the precedent has been set. So far, the killing of potentially problematic oligarchs has kept them in line, but that is not going to last as they are bleeding millions of rubles every day and are being denied trips to the Riviera.

Exactly. I don't think the goal is to outlast Russia. Body count does not phase Putin, he will keep throwing bodies with reckless abandon. It means nothing to him. The goal is to outlast Putin. Oligarchs losing privileges, power and money are likely putting some internal pressure on Putin.

[Tracker]

 

                       

[Tracker]

                                                                      It happened again!

 

                                               

[17to85]

4 hours ago, Tracker said:

                                                                      It happened again!

 

                                               

Fell out a window onto some bullets?

[Tracker]

                                                 

[Tracker]

 

                      

In the epicenter of the earthquake in Turkey, they found a surviving city where not a single building collapsed. That's because the mayor didn't allow illegal construction.

 

 

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/scotland-sturgeon-resignation-1.6748903

Quote

Nicola Sturgeon, who has had the longest tenure of any Scottish first minister, announced her plans to resign on Wednesday, standing down with no obvious successor in place and dealing a blow to the fight for independence.

Sturgeon, 52, said she would stay on until her Scottish National Party (SNP) had completed the process of finding a successor.

"In my head and in my heart, I know that time is now, that is right for me, for my party and my country," she said at a news conference in Edinburgh.

...she has recently become embroiled in a row with the London government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and some of her own voters, over a gender recognition bill, and London has blocked the path to another independence referendum.

Sturgeon said she had wrestled with the decision with "oscillating levels of intensity" for several weeks and denied that it was a "reaction to short-term pressures" and battles inherent in the position.

[Mark F]

12 hours ago, Tracker said:

 

                      

In the epicenter of the earthquake in Turkey, they found a surviving city where not a single building collapsed. That's because the mayor didn't allow illegal construction.

 

 

"

"We solved the problem of 144,156 citizens of Maras with zoning amnesty," Erdogan said, using his term for the construction amnesties handed out to allow contractors to ignore the safety codes that had been put on the books specifically to make apartment blocks, houses and office buildings more resistant to earthquakes.

Engineers and architects say the lack of safety features designed to absorb the shock of earthquakes likely contributed to the soaring death toll."

https://www.ctpublic.org/news/world/2023-02-14/videos-show-turkeys-erdogan-boasted-letting-builders-avoid-earthquake-codes

Dictator. 

[blue_gold_84]

He's a tinpot dictator. And a piece of ****.

[JCon]

Just now, blue_gold_84 said:

He's a tinpot dictator. And a piece of ****.

Who controls a strategically important plot of land and waterway that basically makes the West complicit in his actions because we need access. It's a very complicated and a very horrible situation but we seem fine to let the people of Turkey suffer for our access. 

We'll be fighting for control of the Istanbul for generations to come.

[Tracker]

6 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/scotland-sturgeon-resignation-1.6748903

Trump, in all his wisdom and glory cheered her departure.