"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (2 Viewers)

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At the cost of nuclear war? No thanks.

I no longer think there is much danger of that.

Remember Russia is now a virtual client of China and getting more and more in political and financial debt to them every day. Russia's Foreign Relations minister was talking up nukes for weeks but the moment that China said the use of nukes was not acceptable he immediately changed to Russia will not use nukes.

Not even Vlad would be willing to have Russia lose all China's financial and political help -- or to have Russia overrun by the Chinese.
 
As others have pointed out, Ukraine was non-aligned. The Budapest Memorandum, signed in 1994 by the US, UK and Russia, provided that none of the signatories would threaten or use military force against Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. France and China didn't sign the memorandum but later signed other, albeit weaker, agreements with the 3 nations. As a result of these guarantees, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed to give up their nuclear weapons.

Given Russia's actions against Ukraine, why would any sensible-minded national leader believe a word that comes out of the Kremlin? Remember back in February how Putin and his cronies kept saying that the forces on Ukraine's borders were just conducting exercises and they had no intention of invading Ukraine?

Nobody wants nuclear war but, at the same time, we can't just stand by and let Putin get his way, particularly when it involves sacrificing Ukraine or other independent nations. Failure to confront Putin will simply encourage him to do the same again, and again, and again.

Just like appeasing Hitler did in the 30's

Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them
 
Keep in mind that the fuel purchased from Russia is by contract.

They just don't call up Russia and place an order, the fuel delivery is a negotiated contract for x-amount of fuel @ x-amount of Euros to be delivered over a period of time (quarterly, semi-annual or whatever is contracted) well ahead of actual delivery.

You also have to understand that entire nations are dependant on that fuel not only for private homes, but hospitals, institutions, farm production and manufacturing. So a sudden shutdown of fuel will have serious consequences for that nation.

Many countries have started to reduce their consumption and have received pledges for fuel from nations outside of Europe until and alternative and reliable supply for Europe can be established.
I understand it all completely, I just believe that the situation of paying both combatants in a war is lunacy that is a direct result of Europe's misguided energy policy and the habit of appeasing Putin, which has become ingrained in government policy over the past 15 or so years.
 
Huh? I don't remember that.
There apparently was a shortage, but that's all I can see on line.

 
Huh? I don't remember that.
There were shortages in the supply chain. Command decided that ~50k support troops didn't need them so that they could be given priority to the combat troops at the front line.

Shortly thereafter, snipers, insurgents, etc made it just as unhealthy for support troops as for combat troops.

There are stories of families sending civilian body armor overseas in care packages as well as troops buying body armor on the civilian market before deploying to Iraq. Google will find plenty of stories of varying levels of truth.

Production eventually, as always, caught up and it became more of a political football than a valid problem.

It's really no different than during WWII when command didn't prioritize winter uniforms because the war would be over by Christmas and then the Bulge happened. Some troops from the north had LLBean clothing and boots shipped to them but not everyone knew to do so. My ex's uncle from Alabama was cold the whole time of the Bulge and never forgave the Army for that. Same these days with memories of body armor.
 
According to one Aus news site Russia has cut electricity off to Finland because Finland is asking to join NATO but I have not seen this elsewhere. So - true or false?
The Finns will be fine. This is the shove all of Europe needed to severe their energy ties to Russia.

As a Canadian I'd like to see my country expedite LNG export development. We have more natural gas than our 15 million households could ever need. Unfortunately our main projects to develop the export of LNG are based in BC, intended for sale in Asia.
 
There were shortages in the supply chain. Command decided that ~50k support troops didn't need them so that they could be given priority to the combat troops at the front line.

Shortly thereafter, snipers, insurgents, etc made it just as unhealthy for support troops as for combat troops.

There are stories of families sending civilian body armor overseas in care packages as well as troops buying body armor on the civilian market before deploying to Iraq. Google will find plenty of stories of varying levels of truth.

Production eventually, as always, caught up and it became more of a political football than a valid problem.

It's really no different than during WWII when command didn't prioritize winter uniforms because the war would be over by Christmas and then the Bulge happened. Some troops from the north had LLBean clothing and boots shipped to them but not everyone knew to do so. My ex's uncle from Alabama was cold the whole time of the Bulge and never forgave the Army for that. Same these days with memories of body armor.

Yeah, I now I remember. It was the same for us. We did not get our body armor until we got to Kuwait. There was none on hand until we got to Kuwait.
 
The Finns will be fine. This is the shove all of Europe needed to severe their energy ties to Russia.

As a Canadian I'd like to see my country expedite LNG export development. We have more natural gas than our 15 million households could ever need. Unfortunately our main projects to develop the export of LNG are based in BC, intended for sale in Asia.

Same in Aus
We export it for a fraction of the cost that locals pay. I know there are large distribution and metering costs but I feel there is no way they are that high.
 
According to one Aus news site Russia has cut electricity off to Finland because Finland is asking to join NATO but I have not seen this elsewhere. So - true or false?

It was mentioned at Post #6103. Seems to be legitimate, although Russia is claiming this is due to Finnish non-payment and has nothing to do with any decision to join NATO. I can't believe Finland would not be paying its bills, and the timing of the decision to cut off electricity to Finland is suspicious to say the least.
 
Russian forces fired at Severodonetsk hospital on Sunday, Luhansk regional military administrator says
Russian forces fired at the hospital in Severodonetsk on Sunday, Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, posted to his official Telegram channel.
Nine civilians were injured and received medical treatment at the hospital, which continued to operate during shelling, he said.
"Over the past day, the orcs (a derogatory Ukrainian term for Russian troops) carried out 11 artillery attacks on Severodonetsk," he added.
The Russians "shelled houses, a chemical plant, a school and a hospital," he said.


This is the region of the Museum I queried about yesterday where pro Russians were "restoring" museum exhibits to use them to support the Russian invasion.

Looks like some of the residents have changed sides. May many more join them
 
The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko:
If the war lasts more than another 'three or four months', painful measures will be needed, involving huge tax rises and swingeing spending cuts.

If we do not take into account foreign aid, we now estimate the receipt of revenues in May-June at the level of 45-50% of (what was) planned, provided that the situation does not worsen," Marchenko said.
(actually the realistic estimated receipt of revenues in Mai-June is at 35-40%)

A reminder that Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Kyrylo Budanov expects the breaking point in the war to be in August and most of active combat actions to finish by the end of the year.
 
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Huh? I don't remember that.

Edit: now I remember the shortage.
Our unit was reservists and REMFs, so we got the older style kevlar vests. The ballistic vests went to the regular combat units. Later, some super-REMFs were sent out from Meade to show us part-timers how things were done. They squealed like little girls when they weren't issued the latest toys. Went out on an op with the Florida NG, and they were lining their soft Hummers with the kevlar vests. I saw lots of interesting field mods.
 
Our unit was reservists and REMFs, so we got the older style kevlar vests. The ballistic vests went to the regular combat units. Later, some super-REMFs were sent out from Meade to show us part-timers how things were done. They squealed like little girls when they weren't issued the latest toys. Went out on an op with the Florida NG, and they were lining their soft Hummers with the kevlar vests. I saw lots of interesting field mods.

Yeah, when we got to Kuwait, we were issued ballistic "blankets" for our helicopters, but our ground support units still had soft hummers. They went and purchased steel plates on the Kuwaiti economy and welded them to the vehicles for the convoy into Iraq. It was not until a month later that they got the actual uparmour mods. Personal body armor we all got in Kuwait.

It was an interesting time for sure.
 
At the cost of nuclear war? No thanks.
Then why does the USA have nuclear weapons? It's to stop the bear attacking it.
If we follow your logic, the risk is too high so why not just surrender.

If you lived in Sweden or Finland and had seen Russian break every agreement its ever signed, attack every civilian target with almost every weapon at its disposal, lay waste to major cities, terrorise the people in the area's its captured with every conceivable atrocity and know that the same could easily happen to you. What would you do?

If Russia or China decided to take a shine at Hawaii, or Alaska would you think the risk of nuclear war is to high, we can just sign something and avoid world devastation. Or would you defend what is metaphorically the line in the sand?

I like to think that you would defend yourself.
 

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