"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (16 Viewers)

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Well yes, and the Americans drove up massive body-counts in the Vietnam War, killing an estimated eight hundred thousand NVA/VC (about 3–4 times U.S. combat deaths), and yet they still lost. That's mainly my point. From 2022 to present, Ukraine has reportedly killed up to 362k Russian soldiers (much like the Americans in Vietnam, that's about 3-4 times Ukraine's combat deaths), but cannot seemingly take any ground, much like the Americans in Vietnam. Your analogy is a good one, in that a huge body count does not always equate victory, or even give the ability to advance.

... and yet equally, the absence of palpable advances does not mean an unwinnable war. See WWI for a historical example of that.
 
True, and I also agreed with your last post and Vietnam War analogy.

Of course. I hope you don't think I'm angling for argumentation, because I'm not. I just think there's more nuance here, and that none of us has the MkIIA crystal ball, myself included.

And yes, it's terribly frustrating to read or watch these small-unit victories or successes with new tech, and still not seeing any movement in a war that is dragging on and killing so many people. From my view, it seems a lot like 1917 or 1941-42, where there's a bit of hope but not much else.
 
What made you anyone think that Elon Musk would not sell his products to anyone and everyone who has money?
You can buy complete Starlink setup kits on Amazon.

So basically any bottom feeder can purchase one and send it to whomever is dangling at the end of the Kremlin's strings.
 
Of course. I hope you don't think I'm angling for argumentation, because I'm not. I just think there's more nuance here, and that none of us has the MkIIA crystal ball, myself included.

And yes, it's terribly frustrating to read or watch these small-unit victories or successes with new tech, and still not seeing any movement in a war that is dragging on and killing so many people. From my view, it seems a lot like 1917 or 1941-42, where there's a bit of hope but not much else.
At this point, and may the Almighty forgive me, I'm hoping that Putin's FAFO games transgress Poland's (or other neighbors) sovereignty and they invoke NATO Artical 5, which would see them swarm into Ukraine and slam into Russian elements like a sack of hammers, putting a swift end to this bullshit.

I am deeply disappointed that the U.S. and UK did not honor the '94 Bucharest Accord and immediately come to Ukraine"s aid as promised.

I get it, everyone was afraid to "escalate" or whatever the word of the day is, but a show of force would have stopped this f**kery dead in it's tracks.

Schoolyard bullies don't like to fight, their advantage is bluster and chest thumping. The moment you stand your ground and punch them in the face, their game is over.
 
All the bullies in this debacle need someone to call their bluff and make them crawl back to mummy.
Agreed.

And I cannot speak for the UK's leadership, as I don't pay attention to their politics, but here in the U.S., our leaders (both sides of the aisle) are complicit in failing to honor that Accord in 2014 and beyond.

The U.S. has realtime and in depth Intel - they knew exactly what was going on when Ukraine kicked out their Kremlin puppet government and Russia retaliated in 2014.

THAT was the time to act.
 
At this point, and may the Almighty forgive me, I'm hoping that Putin's FAFO games transgress Poland's (or other neighbors) sovereignty and they invoke NATO Artical 5, which would see them swarm into Ukraine and slam into Russian elements like a sack of hammers, putting a swift end to this bullshit.

I am deeply disappointed that the U.S. and UK did not honor the '94 Bucharest Accord and immediately come to Ukraine"s aid as promised.

I get it, everyone was afraid to "escalate" or whatever the word of the day is, but a show of force would have stopped this f**kery dead in it's tracks.

Schoolyard bullies don't like to fight, their advantage is bluster and chest thumping. The moment you stand your ground and punch them in the face, their game is over.

I've said much earlier in this thread that I would like to see my beloved 7th Bomb Wing weigh in on affairs, precisely because I don't believe Medvedev's bluster.

I am in agreement with your policy about bullies, and I think the Russians only wave around nuclear threats in order to play upon Western fears. But you know what? Our missiles don't explode over the launch pad.

Russia is expending its national strength in Ukraine, and it cannot even shoot off its warning tests without the missile blowing up over the launch pad. Game theory is useful in a think-tank, but it doesn't matter if my weapons work and yours don't.

Modern Russia is a Potemkin village. Guess where that idea started, by whom.
 
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I have a major respect for Ukraine in their quest to minimize collateral damage when striking Russian targets, but, the next time the Russians bomb Kiev, Zelensky should address the Russian public on all media channels that Moscow will now be ground zero for retribution after 3 1/2 years of murdeeing his people and the civilians of Mockba need to evacuate asap.

Then level that Mofo with any and all long range ordnance at hand.

Enough is enough.
 
I am deeply disappointed that the U.S. and UK did not honor the '94 Bucharest Accord and immediately come to Ukraine"s aid as promised.
The US and Brits were focused on Afghanistan and Iraq. If only Canada's (sorry) April Glaspie in July 1990, per the transcript had instead of telling Saddam Husain "We have no opinion on your Arab - Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America. (Saddam smiles)" had told Saddam, "the US will not tolerate Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and will take direct military action to prevent any attack, and we strongly recommend not testing us on this matter, to Iraq's detriment", or similar in diplomatic lingo.

We, the West wasted nearly forty years now kicking up sand in the Middle East, all while ignoring the growing will for democracy and freedom in Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, and also ignoring Russian threats to these new potential allies and friends in Europe.
 
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With all these videos and news we learn how Ukraine's technological advances are killing more Russians. But we never see reports of Ukrainian ground offensives taking back any sizeable territory. If they're killing Russians at such an increasing rate, surely there's less of them on defence?
Sizeable territories were taken back in 2022. I assume we all have seen those reports.

Whether the current rate of killing is increasing or decreasing, for example, through 2025, we don't know for sure. Future historians will count.

Even if the rate is increasing, that doesn't mean fewer enemy soldiers on the defence. The recruiting machine of Russia is huge and capable of producing a lot of cannon fodder, as long as there is a budget for that.
 

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