"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter XBe02Drvr
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Admiral Beez
Major
You may still have lost had the RN not uncharacteristically lost the Battle of the Chesapeake. Of course France's helping a grass roots rebellion in 1776 was a little dumb, as it gave their own people the same idea in 1789, with the French King being executed in in 1793.
The smarter French move in North America would have been to sit it out, or even better, offer an alliance with Britain to keep the colonials in their place. France has been at Peace with Britain since 1763. There was no gain for France to provoke Britain, leading to France's disastrous wars of 1778-1783. An alliance is highly unlikely, but sitting it out was the smarter move for France.
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- #4,804
Nitpicking, I know, but actually nobody would touch the American rebels in 1776. It was the American defeat of Burgoyne's northern invasion in late 1777 that opened the floodgates of foreign aid. Gen. Horatio Gates was credited with that victory, but it was his subordinate, Benedict Arnold, who was the primary architect of the success at Saratoga and the campaign leading up to it.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
The Dutch were also a key player along with France and Spain.
Admiral Beez
Major
- Thread starter
- #4,807
Why Orwell Matters - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
It's a good read.
Never mind the academic claptrap. The pertinent perspective on Putin, Stalin, Hitler, et al, is encapsulated in Nineteen Eighty Four.
A necessary read for any responsible citizen of a democratic society.
I personally found more of value for that in "Homage to Catalonia" with the descriptions of dealing with real Stalinists and fighting the Fascists while not politically acceptable (Trotskyite) to either being in the POUM militia. His wound came, really, just in the nick of time.
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- #4,809
Who taught you history?? Have you forgotten the entire Napoleanic wars? 1789 would have happened without the USA's example though probably a little later, and definitely more brutally, if that's conceivable. Napoleon or someone like him would be the result, as the clash of empires still required resolution. Britain and France spent most of the rest of the 19th century snarling at each other. Hardly "at peace with each other".
Ukrainian soldiers inside Azovstal release video of children trapped by Russian attacks
As Russian forces step up their assault on Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, new video appears to show some of the women and children trapped inside.
www.abc.net.au
- Thread starter
- #4,811
Thanks for the tip. Added to my list.
My PoliSci prof at university was a survivor of a Russian shtetl upbringing, conscription in the Red Army, German POW camp, Dachau, and the Israeli war of independence, with the scars and tattoos to prove it. We spent half a semester on Orwell and totalitarianism. If you haven't already, add Eric Hoffer's The True Believer to your list. Another necessary asset in today's world.
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Think that was a typo for "had". The idea being that they were then currently at peace so why kick the dog? Fortunately, Franklin convinced them to do so
Admiral Beez
Major
I do hate the gotcha like replies we sometimes see. Whenever I'm compelled to reply with such sarcastic dismissals I say to myself, "Come on Admiral, don't be a dick. If you have nothing to contribute, keep quiet."
I wrote that Britain and France had been (up until the date they joined the Americans in 1778) at peace since 1763, the end of the Seven Years War. As I said, France was at peace with Britain and should have sat out the American revolutionary war. The Napoleonic War started in 1803, a different matter.
But we're off topic, I'll say no more on this. Back to Ukraine.
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- #4,814
By land, and in Europe, there were periods of "peace" and war, but at sea and globally, conflict never ceased, as the contest for empire and sniping at rival's seaborne trade with privateers and letters of marque was never-ending, despite treaties and conventions.
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- #4,815
Roger that!
I let astonishment get the better of me and missed the obvious typo in your comment.
Mea culpa.
Admiral Beez
Major
Ukraine to call for heavy arms when top U.S. officials visit Kyiv
Ukraine will ask U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin for more powerful weapons during an expected visit by the officials to Kyiv on Sunday as the Russian invasion enters its third month.
"Ukrainian officials plan to tell Blinken and Austin of the immediate need for more weapons, including anti-missile systems, anti-aircraft systems, armoured vehicles and tanks, Zelenskiy aide Igor Zhovkva told NBC News on Sunday."
What US armoured vehicles would Ukraine want? Up to now the US has focused on facilitating Russian-made AFVs from other countries to Ukraine, often backfilling the departing Russian-made AFVs with US kit or even US units. Is this just more of the same or is Ukraine asking for US made and operated AFV? As I understand it the issue is a lack of familiarity and training.
Maybe they'll get some Light Strike Vehicle - Wikipedia.
ThomasP
Senior Master Sergeant
Unless something has changed, the US is sending several hundred M113 APCs including variants thereof, plus an unspecified number&type of wheeled APCs (mostly MRAPs and variants thereof, I think). Both are easy to train in on and relatively easy to support, and because of the nature of this war they can be treated as single use items if they break down or are otherwise abandoned, so spare parts logistics is maybe not so important.
There are a lot of M113 based vehicles available from the US. There are 200+ scheduled for the first deliveries (some already in the air, though I think most of the rest will be sent by ship) with many more currently in the regular Army and National Guard repair and maintenance shops being brought up to operational standards.
There are a lot of M113 based vehicles available from the US. There are 200+ scheduled for the first deliveries (some already in the air, though I think most of the rest will be sent by ship) with many more currently in the regular Army and National Guard repair and maintenance shops being brought up to operational standards.
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- #4,818
Besides, isn't the .M1 Abrams kind of long in the tooth these days? And don't we have a stockpile of them out of service as they're considered unsurvivable on a modern battlefield?
Escuadrilla Azul
Tech Sergeant
- 1,805
- Feb 27, 2020
The Marines are getting rid of the M1 also, so there must be some more hundreds of surplus Abrams tanks.
Being re-manufactured into M1A2 SEP V3s I believe.
