"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again."

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Why the hell did he get off his ship? Was it the Ukrainians or did his own marines knock him off? Hmm.....
Ukrainian forces have been exploiting the poor security of Russian communications.

He most likely told the Ukrainians his exact location while leading his Naval Infantry units...
 
As GG points out the useless UN has done nothing to protect a member country. They did once years ago when N. Korea invaded the south. Why does the US do the majority of the funding for a do nothing, useless organisation?

There are five countries that can veto any proposal to protect a member country. Russia is one of them. That veto is there for a simple reason: the people controlling the process that formed the UN wanted to make sure it would never have the power to act against the will of the US, France, UK, China, or the USSR. In other words, the UN is powerless because the US, among others, wanted to make sure it would be. The UN is funded based on the size of each country's economy.
 
 
It's not such a binary POV. Some of the Azov leadership are themselves Jewish and admirers of Israel. Andriy Biletsky, the founder of the Azov Battalion "explained that he regards Israel and Japan as role models for the development of Ukraine".
While some of Azov's leadership might be Jewish and admirers of Israel: Many of its followers are, in fact, basically neo-nazis.

A common, and very interesting trait, of certain authoritarian personalities (particularly followers) is poor critical thinking skills, and a remarkable tendency towards compartmentalized thinking: This is such an example -- Basically, member of the KKK had actually proposed developing a device to fatally irradiate people with X-rays.

While the KKK is primarily anti African-American, they have demonstrated themselves to be xenophobic as fuck (hence an anti-Islamic stance, and plan to use this on Muslims), and anti-semitic. Yet, they proposed giving such a weapon to Israel: Could you imagine the State of Israel and the KKK working together?

In both cases, all I can say is Oy vey...

I'm willing to bet that the concession game has been over played by Putin.

The mass targeting of civilians has turned this into a situation where it'll boil down to all or nothing.

Collateral damage is one thing, but if you ever want to inspire a nation to fight to the end, deliberately murder it's civilians.

A clear lesson Putin missed from WWII...
Well, technically that's one lesson (it's the lesson I learned at least): Another is that deliberately killing civilians works if you use nuclear weapons, and it not only coerces surrender, but the very prospect of such a weapon being used means you can intimidate people (which is the basic idea of nuclear deterrence).

Of course, there's a fault in that thinking: After all, if other nations have nuclear weapons, and they realize this basic fact; then develop their nuclear arsenals to such a level that they can basically bomb the other off the face of the Earth and provide means of ensuring at least some nuclear weapons will make their target in the event of an attempted first strike: You end up with mutually assured destruction.

I'm kind of amazed that we managed to survive the Cold War to be honest, though I'm happy about it.

I remember thinking that if I could draw people half decent (like this guy could): I'd never have made it into my 30's.
 
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The Ukrainians "have effectively struck at the Russian logistics and sustainment capabilities," the official told reporters.

"As we've said all along, they've been quite creative here. They're not simply going after combat capability — tanks and armored vehicles and shooting down aircraft. Although they're doing all that, they are also deliberately trying to impede and prevent the Russians' ability to sustain themselves."
As they say, wars are won/lost by logistics. That's pretty basic stuff.

A Bretton-Woods global economic reset is best avoided.
Yeah global economic-resets aren't good ideas. We all need that like a hole in the head.

And, in a few years, the Russians orchestrate another "liberation movement" in another strategic border area. Nibble, nibble.
If at first you don't succeed... try, try again.

No, nukes won't fly. His Imperial Majesty is a narcissist and needs accolades for his self image.
If he launches nukes, he'll unleash hell on earth and get an avalanche of the sun on his head. Then who will be left to admire his bare-chested abs?
A guy like him is a malignant narcissist: This isn't your typical narcissist.

This type combines narcissism, with amorality, paranoia, and some sadism thrown in for good measure: When cornered, people like this will destroy anything and everything if they can't survive.

Their ego is more important than all life on Earth: A person like this could easily move to use nuclear weapons if his life or way of life is threatened.

I suspect that if Putin is killed (assuming that's even possible), Russia will descend into civil war.
Probably true. Something that will not benefit the Russian public.

Here we go! These Ruskies are funny guys!

If they moved to take Alaska, we'd probably go to war, which would almost certainly mean a nuclear exchange. It'd be a remarkably reckless move.

I would not be surprised if he has some aggressive form of brain cancer that is affecting his ability to think rationally.
It could just be simple hubris. After all, he's been able to stay in power for a long time, far more than the law normally allows, and his successes might have led him to believe he's invincible.

As for some form of brain tumor: It wouldn't have to even be an aggressive one, just one that's pressing on the wrong area of the brain. It is interesting, however, that the most common form of brain-cancer is also the deadliest.
Sounds very Stalinistic, but it could backfire with his assassination. After all, intelligence agencies do know how to do this very well.

Don't you just love auto-correct? You proofread your words before you hit POST REPLY, then it pops up on the thread "corrected"! AARRGGH!! Often the "corrections" make no sense at all, just R2D2 trying to read your mind and put words in your mouth. I would delete him if Samsung and 'droid would let me. It seems each generation of these infernal gadgets has more automation and less user control of its features.
I know! The ironic thing is the program would be simpler without auto-correct...
 
While some of Azov's leadership might be Jewish and admirers of Israel: Many of its followers are, in fact, basically neo-nazis.

A common, and very interesting trait, of certain authoritarian personalities (particularly followers) is poor critical thinking skills, and a remarkable tendency towards compartmentalized thinking: This is such an example -- Basically, member of the KKK had actually proposed developing a device to fatally irradiate people with X-rays.

While the KKK is primarily anti African-American, they have demonstrated themselves to be xenophobic as fuck (hence an anti-Islamic stance, and plan to use this on Muslims), and anti-semitic. Yet, they proposed giving such a weapon to Israel: Could you imagine the State of Israel and the KKK working together?

In both cases, all I can say is Oy vey...
When the Azov Battalion was a political militia, they were a group of right wingers, yes.
But since then, they have been brought under the authority of the Ukrainian Army, and are professional soldiers. They are about as Nazi as the morning crew at your local McDonald's.
The Azov Battalion has also been one of the hardest fighting units in this war and have cost the Russians dearly.

In a twist of irony, though, the radical "Sparta Battalion" who boasted they were neo-nazis, was nearly wiped out by Ukraine forces, it's General and most of it's commanders killed.
Almost forgot to mention that the Sparta Battalion was fighting for the Russians...
 
When the Azov Battalion was a political militia, they were a group of right wingers, yes.
But since then, they have been brought under the authority of the Ukrainian Army, and are professional soldiers. They are about as Nazi as the morning crew at your local McDonald's.
The Azov Battalion has also been one of the hardest fighting units in this war and have cost the Russians dearly.

In a twist of irony, though, the radical "Sparta Battalion" who boasted they were neo-nazis, was nearly wiped out by Ukraine forces, it's General and most of it's commanders killed.
Almost forgot to mention that the Sparta Battalion was fighting for the Russians...
Do you know if they still use the Black Sun and Wolfsangel imagery? Not trying to imply anything with the question, just purely informational.
 
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Do you know if they still use the Dark Sun and Wolfsangel imagery? Not trying to imply anything with the question, just purely informational.
Not sure, though the internet is a tricky place to get hard facts, sometimes.

The funny thing about the Wolfsangel, the 2nd SS Division emblem has a reversed doppelhauken.
And that symbol is still found across Europe in municipal Coat of Arms, mile markers and so on.

The Azov Battalion was heavily de-politicized when it was officially placed into the military, but as with most things on the internet, myths persist.
 
Not sure, though the internet is a tricky place to get hard facts, sometimes.

The funny thing about the Wolfsangel, the 2nd SS Division emblem has a reversed doppelhauken.
And that symbol is still found across Europe in municipal Coat of Arms, mile markers and so on.

The Azov Battalion was heavily de-politicized when it was officially placed into the military, but as with most things on the internet, myths persist.
Yeah, I know it is tough to get good info. The thing with all these symbols is that many of them existed and were in use long before the Nazis co-opted them. And now they mean something completely different.
 
It's true that the early Azov militia used occult symbols - most groups try to come up with intimidating or embolding icons to boost that "scary" factor.

What is interesting, though, is that a "Wolfsangel" looks different and is about as ancient as the Doppelhauken. The true Wolfsangel icon looks more like a semi-circular leather cutting tool.

On a side note: the Finnish Military finally retired their "Swastika" from their heraldry and military medals, due to public concerns.
Latvia and Finland had used that rune as their national insignia long before Germany adopted it in the 1930's, too.
 
re general comments related to 'why the UN is so ineffective'.

Swampyankee beat me to it in his post#2,682. I will only add that while I cannot speak to the exact reasoning of the governments of the other countries with veto power, the US reasons for wanting the UN to be ineffective were quite clearly laid out in the debates in the US congress during the formation of the UN. Many records can be found on line or written about in various print books covering the time period.

The US was quite open in its contemporary debates on the UN, and historical record shows that we were afraid the UN might try to impose the rest of the world's view on the US, and that was not to be allowed unless it was OK with us. We refused to sign the UN charter until the veto clause was put in, including the US being a permanent member of the Security Counsel with the power of the veto.

As far as the US was concerned, if the UN did something that the UK, France, China, or the USSR did not like it was "eh, so what, plus it might be to our advantage".
 
I saw on-line (so treat it with caution) a video released by the Russian authorities of a strike using what was purported to be one of their hypersonic missiles on an ammunition dump. What was interesting was that it certainly was a missile strike, and may well have been an ammunition dump as it looked like the type of dump used by any army. However if it was it, was a very empty ammunition dump, the roof fell in and there was a small fire but no explosions.

Part of me does hope they wasted one of their few, very expensive, hypersonic missiles, on what clearly was, an empty shed
 
Seems like he get's it… Ukraine will not be giving up territory for peace.
Well yes, one of the first rules in negotiations is to make a hard demand for everything you want, an absolute position so to speak, with the assumption that you'll need to haggle down from that point. I expect the following:
  • Ceasefire, perhaps brokered by China (a very smart move on their part, though need to be careful supporting precedents on self determination in Taiwan)
    Ukraine haggles down to its prewar borders in return for withdraw of Russian forces
  • UN sanctioned referendums are held in the smaller pre-war Russian-held territories of Donetsk and Luhansk (not the entire Russian recognized territory) to determine if the populations wants to join Ukraine, Russia or be independent. These two leave Ukraine (and likely good riddance)
  • Crimea goes to Russia (Ukraine barely raised a finger to hold it in 2014)
  • Putin remains in power, hero's welcome in Russia for pacifying Ukraine and regaining Russian populated lands, with promise to protect Russians wherever they are.
  • Ukraine promises to never join NATO, but refuses to denounce EU hopes or to demilitarize
  • War declared over. Global business returns to business. Most sanctions end. Nord2 certified and begins pumping gas around Ukraine to Germany.
  • Ukraine begins rebuilding with most of the money coming from China and Russia.
  • Ukraine recalls its refugees from across Europe and world, and begins to update military. Ideally with an Israeli-sourced Iron Dome and US-sourced counter battery defence.
Now, I now you're going to reply with a rhetorical question(s) as to why Ukraine (or any other country) would accept any of this, especially when they appear to have the invader on the ropes; but they will. This is my prediction.
 
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