Russia Masses Military Equipment Near Ukraine Borders: A Prologue to WWIII?

[Likely Guy]

14 hours ago, Unusual Tournament said:

No country collapses within during a war, sanctions or not.

Um, except Russia during the first World War.

[Helen of Annoy]

 

[Helen of Annoy]

"endangered russian language" and crap are really, not surprisingly, a fig leaf for gigantic looting attempt. Totalitarian, genocidal, quasi-religious russia is also demonically greedy. 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Helen of Annoy

[Occult1]

Russia's attacks aimed at breaking Ukraine's spirit this winter seem to be missing their mark

''Since October, Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have endured an unrelenting attack from the skies by cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and Iranian-made drones — all launched by Russia to try to cripple the country's basic infrastructure.

Many have hit their mark, forcing Ukrainians from one end of the country to the other to endure frequent blackouts, frigid nights and no running water, as the invasion by Russia approaches its first anniversary on Feb. 24.

[...]

"The level of resilience of Ukraine as a whole is enormous. It has surprised even ourselves," said Oleksiy Melnyk, a former Ukrainian air force lieutenant colonel who's now with the Razumkov Centre public policy think-tank in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

"We haven't waited for the government to provide us with alternatives. We just do what we can."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-spirit-1.6729984

 

Ukrainians are resilient.

[Helen of Annoy]

Israeli foreign minister should visit Kyiv soon. 

(russians were boasting that they'll give nukes to Iran. Now they'll both enjoy the consequences of their incomprehensibly stupid actions.)

[Unusual Tournament]

2 hours ago, Helen of Annoy said:

"Sensitive" content is as usual not sensitive at all, it's a document in russian, issued by the channel whose employees were attacked, stating what happened.  

So Putin emptied the jails to fight for him to later fill them back up with a new generation of criminals 

[Unusual Tournament]

2 hours ago, Likely Guy said:

Um, except Russia during the first World War.

No idea what you’re referencing. Please be more specific 

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

6 minutes ago, Unusual Tournament said:

No idea what you’re referencing. Please be more specific 

The Russian empire collapsed, resulting in a bloody civil war lastning 6 years. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

[Helen of Annoy]

1 minute ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

The Russian empire collapsed, resulting in a bloody civil war lastning 6 years. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

They don't know about anything that sheds bad light on russia. They don't know about American lend-lease for USSR in WWII. They think they made it all by themselves. So it's honest ignorance, not deliberate avoiding of something they knew.  

[Unusual Tournament]

1 minute ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

The Russian empire collapsed, resulting in a bloody civil war lastning 6 years. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

Did the Russian state stop fighting? That’s the important question. Besides, from my limited reading on the subject, the Russian empire did not fall until after WW1

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

Just now, Unusual Tournament said:

Did the Russian state stop fighting? That’s the important question. Besides, from my limited reading on the subject, the Russian empire did not fall until after WW1

The Russians signed the Brest-Litovsk treaty with Germany in march 1918, ending Russias participation in the war. 

[Unusual Tournament]

1 minute ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

The Russians signed the Brest-Litovsk treaty with Germany in march 1918, ending Russias participation in the war. 

Russian empire officially fell 1927. So you are wrong!

[Tatetopa]

5 hours ago, Myles said:

Yes, in the states, I would should people trying to break into and steal my stuff and hurt my family.  Wouldn't you? 

Well maybe we should let the courts decide if that is true. Maybe the evidence isn't acceptable until it gets on a court docket in 2026?

[Saru]

Thread cleaned

Another reminder to keep it civil please, folks.

[Helen of Annoy]

Context: Whenever russians get HIMARSed, they send this "calendar guy" to pose for the photos. 

Such photos can be deleted, but reality cannot.  

 

  

[jmccr8]

5 hours ago, Myles said:

I will continue to say shoot anyone who steals and destroys an innocent persons property.  That's not to say I think anyone who steals something should be shot.  The crime rate in the USA is so high now that soft punishments are not working.  

Many times it is 2 or more people breaking into a home.  Having a firearm can save your life.  

Hi Myles

Okay, yes I know you will but am having a problem understanding you line of reasoning. If I go by your comment then it would be fair game for shooting Russian soldiers for stealing toilets and washing machines but somehow should not for raping, torturing and murdering the owners of those items that were buried in mass graves?

I haven’t insisted on killing anyone but have stated that Russian soldiers are responsible for those crimes given witness testimony and that those graves are from times of Russian occupation that can be corroborated by the decomposition of the bodies found there. Yes they will be tried for war crimes.

[Myles]

1 minute ago, jmccr8 said:

Hi Myles

Okay, yes I know you will but am having a problem understanding you line of reasoning. If I go by your comment then it would be fair game for shooting Russian soldiers for stealing toilets and washing machines but somehow should not for raping, torturing and murdering the owners of those items that were buried in mass graves?

I haven’t insisted on killing anyone but have stated that Russian soldiers are responsible for those crimes given witness testimony and that those graves are from times of Russian occupation that can be corroborated by the decomposition of the bodies found there. Yes they will be tried for war crimes.

I support shooting Russian soldiers all day.  

[spud the mackem]

4 hours ago, Occult1 said:

Kremlin: More Western arms for Ukraine will only lead to escalation

MOSCOW, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that further supplies of Western weaponry to Ukraine would only lead to further escalation of the conflict there.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said members of the Western NATO alliance were becoming more involved in the conflict, but that their provision of arms to Ukraine would not change the course of events.

"Ukraine demands more and more weapons," Peskov said in a call with reporters, when asked to comment on a public request by Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk for Germany to send Kyiv a submarine.

[...]

"It's a dead-end situation: it leads to significant escalation, it leads to NATO countries more and more becoming directly involved in the conflict - but it doesn't have the potential to change the course of events and will not do so," he said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-more-western-arms-ukraine-will-only-lead-escalation-2023-01-30/

Peskov ,says anything but his prayers ,and he whistles them . the Russians who speak about the War are told what to say , and they go along with that because they are afraid of the Kremlin , who can hold your family to ransom or send them of to prison or worse .

[spud the mackem]

3 hours ago, Helen of Annoy said:

"endangered russian language" and crap are really, not surprisingly, a fig leaf for gigantic looting attempt. Totalitarian, genocidal, quasi-religious russia is also demonically greedy. 

 

Another mysterious fall out of a window perhaps . These oligarchs know that if they don't agree with Poo-tin these will have a sudden illness or death 

[Buzz_Light_Year]

 

[el midgetron]

 

 

 

 

[jmccr8]

1 hour ago, el midgetron said:

 

 

 

 

Hi El

Obviously no big deal Americans chant slogans at their own officials as well it’s part of the job.

[jmccr8]

5 hours ago, Occult1 said:

Russia's attacks aimed at breaking Ukraine's spirit this winter seem to be missing their mark

''Since October, Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have endured an unrelenting attack from the skies by cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and Iranian-made drones — all launched by Russia to try to cripple the country's basic infrastructure.

Many have hit their mark, forcing Ukrainians from one end of the country to the other to endure frequent blackouts, frigid nights and no running water, as the invasion by Russia approaches its first anniversary on Feb. 24.

[...]

"The level of resilience of Ukraine as a whole is enormous. It has surprised even ourselves," said Oleksiy Melnyk, a former Ukrainian air force lieutenant colonel who's now with the Razumkov Centre public policy think-tank in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

"We haven't waited for the government to provide us with alternatives. We just do what we can."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-spirit-1.6729984

 

Ukrainians are resilient.

Hi Occult

Russia has been missing the mark since they started this conflict, at least they can claim consistency.

[pellinore]

Total war:

 

[Alchopwn]

There is an interesting problem that has emerged in the Russian Military, amongst many others, but this one seems to have gone largely uncommented on.

In most militaries, young people are encouraged to choose a career in the military and are sent to a Military Academy for training in how to become officers.

In these academies, the youngsters are trained up in regards to how to perform their job as a military officer.  This involves many military protocols they must familiarize themselves with but when it comes to the actual fighting of wars, the training is all about the prevailing Military Doctrines of the arm of service they are training to be a part of.

Presently the main intellect in the Russian Military is Valery Gerasimov, and he has recently been appointed to be the head of the "Special Operation".  Gerasimov argued for a new doctrine based on soft power projection and hybrid warfare.  Many argued that this approach was completely alien to previous Russian approaches to military doctrine and they weren't up to the challenge.  Certainly Russia had reasonable cyber warfare capability, but the fundamental thinking required was not in keeping with either the weapons or institutional knowledge of the Russian military.  It was a bit like trying to teach the Incredible Hulk the patient and cultured  art of embroidery.  Not going to happen.  Having examined Gerasimov's doctrine, it is a structurally incohesive approach to problems that the US Kill Chain doctrine handles far better.  It is symptomatic of thinking that is rooted in thinking from the 1990s and barely understands the post 2020 world.  They are solving the problems of thirty years ago, not todays.

Add to this, the problem that the high mobility mechanized warfare doctrine that young officers in the Russian Army are exposed to and we see a further disconnect.  The simple fact is that the Russian experience of warfare on Ukranian soil bears no resemblance to the situations that they have been trained for.  We see next to zero opportunity for they style of high mobility warfare that the Russian military believed they were going to fight. Add to this, an entrenched hierarchy of information control, cynicism, corruption and vranyo in the ranks above them, and your young officer is basically stymied from ever using what they have been taught.

What this means is that Russia presently has a terrible dearth of crucial military doctrine.  The soft power projection doctrine of Gerasimov is presently impossible for Russia as it has burned its access to the world, and simply can't project soft power anymore.  Their high mobility mechanized warfare doctrine has utterly failed and turned into a trench warfare doctrine based on futile infantry attacks.   Russia has gone from being a "near peer" of the USA to being revealed as an incohesive and incoherent machine of military suicide thru attritional warfare. 

Add to this, the fact that in this picture, really only Putin knows what Russia's true war aims are, and it is possible that even Putin is merely clutching at straws, attempting to bolster his failing strongman image and hang onto power in the face of repeated humiliation.  Junior officers do not know what Russian goals are.  Senior officers don't know either.  They are simply handed objectives.  This information control hierarchy has occasionally produced "crazy Ivan" moments in the past, where the Russians seem to perform acts that are unpredictable and brilliant, but few countries have a better understanding of how the Russian military operates than the Ukranians, whose national army emerged from the same origins in the USSR.  The Ukranians have proven unusually able to predict Russian moves for this reason, and due to the enormous intelligence resources they have developed among their population and been loaned by their Western supporters.

For want of a coherent military doctrine, or even some sort of plan, Russia has reverted to their time-honored "Zach Brannigan" strategy of "Drown the enemy in blood".