special ed
1st Sergeant
- 5,205
- May 13, 2018
It appears Putin is rapidly assisting in the demographic factor with the loss of many thousands dead and thousands fleeing to avoid conscription.
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From your linked article:
While the wording was deliberately both vague and optimistic, it has been seen by Russian watchers as an obvious demotion for Surovikin – and a sign of Vladimir Putin's increasing anxiety over the stalling invasion, which has been raging since February 2022.
Speaking to CNN about the reshuffle, Mark Galeotti, senior associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute, said Gerasimov had been handed "the most poisoned of chalices. It's now on him, and I suspect Putin has unrealistic expectations again".
Aside from the obvious demotion of Surovkin, I believe this could also be an attempt to throw the Russian MoD under the bus for what appears to be a looming failure, in order to separate Putin from the great mistake he's made ... i.e., the blame is not in the decision, but how the MoD executed it. In short, it's insulation.
This has been a trend over the last three months at any rate, once the defeats on the eastern and southern fronts landed home. If their projected winter offensive goes bad, now it's Gerasimov himself on the hook, rather than Putin, is how I read it. It goes without saying that I could be reading it wrongly.
Gerasimov may want to avoid buildings with more than one floor for a while.
The US Army has millions of MLRS 155mm cluster rounds in depots that have been taken out of service.
I would argue that it was more than just the tanks issue. The Russians would still have pushed here even if tanks had been sent. The comments from the British Ministry of Defence daily briefing earlier this week is telling: "Part of the fighting has focused on entrances to the 200km-long disused salt mine tunnels which run underneath the district. Both sides are likely concerned that they could be used for infiltration behind their lines".I can't help but place much of the blame for the coming fall of Solodar upon the West's vacillations and timidity over sending Leopard 2 and other modern tanks to Ukraine in December 2022. If we send Ukraine these tanks now, we are demonstrably proving that the reasons given previously for withholding the tanks (mainly that the AFU does not have the ability/experience to operate nor the logistics to support modern MBTs) were bogus. What could have possibly changed in Ukraine from December when European leaders said tanks were impossible to January when the same leaders are saying tanks are essential?
This pussyfooting around on the part of the West is prolonging this war and costing Ukrainians lives. Let's give the AFU what they need.
Perhaps laying the narrative to defend losses?"On the western outskirts of Soledar there are heavy bloody battles. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are honourably defending the territory of Soledar,"
"Let's be honest with ourselves. The Ukrainian army is bravely fighting for Bakhmut and Soledar. Reports of their mass desertion are not true,"
I have visited the Salt Mine near Krakow Poland, they are amazing. I have also been down in the abandoned salt mine shafts under the city of Detroit, I was told we had actually crossed under the Detroit River and were in fact under the City of Windsor Ontario. But the shafts under Detroit are just old industrial relic's, The shafts under Krakow contan some real works of art.BTW, some interesting imagery of the mine:
Salt Of The Earth: Deep Inside Eastern Ukraine's Massive Soledar Mines
Russian forces in Ukraine are trying to capture the eastern salt-mining town of Soledar in a sustained offensive that Kyiv's Defense Ministry has described as "maniacal." In 2019, RFE/RL's Amos Chapple visited Soledar as the salt-mining operation was hoping to crack Western markets.www.rferl.org
Iraqi T-72s and T-62s did just fine against M1s.Hopefully the Russians soon feel the touch of the M1 ... "like Iraq".
Photo number two is an Iraqi purchased Chinese Type 69 tank.Iraqi T-72s and T-62s did just fine against M1s.
View attachment 702397 View attachment 702398
The Russian T-72s should perform just as well.
While we are at it Poland can give me my land s that I hold the title to in what used to be Germany?
I agree with you, though, you can't go back to ancient times and claim lands that have been lost for a thousand years. Otherwise the majority of Europe, North Africa, and the Mide East will be under Rome's control again. Italy says they want their empire back.
I agree the Germans are being obstructionists, but Poland's announcement was that they'd send Leopard tanks to Ukraine once anyone else also did the same. These needn't be the Germans, and could be any Leo2 operator, even us Canadians. I think in this case Germany is not causing Poland's conditional offer, but it's instead a repeat of Poland's debacle with the MiG-29, where they want to be seen as helping but don't want to be seen as taking the lead in arming Ukraine with modern Western kit. Fear of offending Russia runs deep in Warsaw.
Hmmm...so for nearly a year now, I have been referring to Putin as Vladolph Putler because his delusional war is parallel to Hitler's Ost-war playbook.
And if Spain wants things like spares?
I don't disagree here. I call him Putler too. He, however, is not trying to recreate the Soviet Union. He wants to recreate the Russian Empire, and even has compared himself to Peter the Great.
It's all semantics though, it's one and the same to a point, and as far as I am concerned he is Putler.