Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Yes although they are to continue to pay their 60,000 odd workers which kind of defeats the point. Until the everyday Russian starts to feel the poverty line it will not get the message across . The rug needs to be fully pulled from under all of them . I agree. It's in the Russian people's power to...

Re: Possibility of coup in Moscow to oust Putin?

I have seen reports that Putin cannot be deposed because he's too powerful. They say that the sanctions will only hurt the poor Russians. The Ukrainian people have shown what a united country can achieve. If the Russians can't do the same, I'm not all that concerned with their suffering.

Re: Denmark to increase defence spending; poll on EU exemption

The readiness of what we have is not up to par. Sure we can probably fight Russia as is, but having more margins wouldn't hurt. I'm not saying Europe should be spending like a drunken sailor like the US does. Exactly. War isn't supposed to be an even/fair fight. If you have overwhelming power, you ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

william wrote:

https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-joy-reid-world-paying-attention-ukraine-white-christian-nation

Ironic its MSNBC.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

phugoid1982 wrote:

The recruitment of Syrian and other mercs isn't comforting.

Re: Germany Tornado Replacement News and Discussion Thread

I wonder if this means that more F35Bs will be assigned to the carriers for deployments?

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

From reports and videos circulating on Social Media, Russian forces aren't even trying to discern fleeing civilians from military any more. Launching shells at fleeing women and children, tanks repeatedly firing on civilian cars and buses - these are cowardly and indefensible war crimes. I'm starti...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Absolutely nothing and now that Russia has a high profile US athlete in their jail things just got very delicate in how Biden and the Dems operate toward Putin. Sheila Jackson Lee, her Representative is demanding her release. Though I think Putin is not going to oblige. https://nypost.com/2022/03/0...

Re: Royal Jordanian announces Toronto and increases Detroit

The Arab community in Detroit is very heavily foreign born. Plus Jordanians, Lebanese, and Iraqis, still choose Detroit as the number one place they immigrate to in the US and they still immigrate in large numbers. Just a little story. My wife and I live in the DTW area. A few years ago, we took a ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

What Northern Europe plains? There are no plains in Northern Europe but plenty of natural obstacles like dense forests, lakes, hills, mountains. The terrain in Northern Europe isn't very suitable for large/quick military operations. https://www.google.com/maps/@66.6221011,23.0676471,7.21z/data=!5m1...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

jaro76 wrote:

I'm saying that if we would get Russia into NATO in the 90', together with Baltics and Poland, they would be no paranoia in Russia and we would probably never have to deal with alienated Russia by now.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

They lost the buffer zone. Look at the map. There are no natural obstacles between NATO borders all the way to Ural. Why does Russia need a "buffer zone"? Their old buffer zone was smaller, poorer countries who they subjugated and oppressed, who finally got their independence. NATO has no...

Re: Gasoline prices, it hurts.

Even if gas goes up $2 a gallon, that's still probably less than $20 a week for the average person. The "cost" is more psychological than real.

Re: Gasoline prices, it hurts.

Yet people pay more for unneeded bottled water and think nothing of it. Where can you find bottled water that's over 2€ per liter? Except maybe a Perrier at a bar's terrace or at a restaurant, where you pay more for the service than for the product itself? I'm in the US. Gas is cheaper than in Euro...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

bikerthai wrote:

Maybe something a kin to the freedom of navigation along the Taiwan straight?

bt

Re: Why does Israel still let Aeroflot fly into TLV?

Maybe the US should remember this in the future and do what's best for us, not Israel...yeah, I can dream...

Re: Gasoline prices, it hurts.

Yet people pay more for unneeded bottled water and think nothing of it.

Re: Bravo November - No Ordinary Chinook Redux

Bravo November and Humphrey, probably the two most famous helicopters of all time.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

What happens if he finds a pretext to invade Finland? How long did it take fir Russia to build up it's invasion force for Ukraine? How long since the US put out the first warning of the build up? My guess is at the first sign of any Russian build up along Finland's border, Finland will immediately ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

The question is really were NATO puts the line for article 5 engagement .. Is a cyberattack on a NATO country enough ? Is sabotage to an oil rigg or pipeline of a NATO country enough ? Does it really have to be direct armed attack ? For now it seems not, but it could be. I don't know but Russia wou...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

https://warontherocks.com/2015/02/the-escalation-advocates-are-wrong-on-ukraine/ This article predicted way back in 2015 that the policy of arming Ukraine would backfire. The U.S. failed with their response following the events of 2014. So we shouldn't have armed them and Russia could've walked all...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

davidjohnson6 wrote:

Kherson and the surrounding area is *critically* important to Crimea. Control of the area means the fresh water supply to Crimea using the river Dnieper can be restarted. Lack of fresh water has been one of the major problems faced by Crimea since 2014

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

So, the city of Khersan fell today. The Russians gave an ultimatum to the mayor that they would level the city. The mayor surrendered. Given that this happened is there no reason to believe that this won't happen in other Ukranian cities? Khersan isn't that important. It's only the 17th largest cit...

Re: Drunk JetBlue pilot pulled from flight

This was a pre-dawn flight. Probably was out partying the night before at the outstation. Remarkable how many people lose their judgment about what they're capable of. He should have just called in unfit for Duty. Now he's arrested. Shame. You're making excuses. Reportedly was over four times the F...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

kitplane01 wrote:

(1) That's about three generations ago.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

kitplane01 wrote:

Russian peacekeepers

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

From the news I get in UK, I think there is little or no hope of Ukraine forces holding the cities. I imagine that Putin is prepared to flatten parts of them to get what he wants. I'm no expert but my guess is that Putin is secure - providing the Russian army prevails. Further down the line will be...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

The 35 abstentions are almost as bad, but most of them could be guessed at.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Just a couple of unrelated comments... Putin's talk about "historic Russian territory" should scare the other nonaligned ex Sovier Republics, like the Stans. I don't think that he'll try to take back Alaska, though. India screwed up. They made that food/oil deal with Russia just a short wh...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

What is your source of “we 3 times rejected Russia when they asked about joining NATO”? Russia joined Partnership for Peace and was cooperating with NATO, but IIRC there have never been formal requests to join NATO. But please correct me if I’m wrong. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/puti...

Re: 1980s NATO-Warsaw Pact hot war?

Harold Coyle's Team Yankee was interesting. It was based on Hackett's book, but brought down to the tactical level.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

Oh gosh. My news reads that every day the Russians control more territory. Every day the Ukrainians lose some more land. some more population, and the situation gets more desperate. If you really think Kyiv will remain under Ukrainian control a month from now .... It's a race between Russia slowly ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

I read in a separate forum, three reasons why the Russians are sticking to main roads to move logistics are... 1. Mild winter, has left the ground boggy and there trucks are unable to navigate through said conditions 2. Lack of GPS (Or Russian equivalent) in most of the trucks/vehicles 3. Maps are ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

william wrote:

I hope media follows up on the defense systems being sent to Ukraine. Pallets laying around an airport has a way of disappearing.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

What the heck does this mean? What's the scenario such that six month from now there is actual free speech in Kyiv? It will have just as much free speech as currently in Sevastopol. It means the Ukrainians are fighting back and the Russians are having a hard time and Putin is under more and more pr...

Re: Possibility of coup in Moscow to oust Putin?

petertenthije wrote:

johns624 wrote:

What would be his choices for exile, Belarus, Kazakhstan or ??? Not exactly the places he's been imagining, I suppose.

There’s a nice facility in The Hague that would welcome him with open arms.

Re: Possibility of coup in Moscow to oust Putin?

What would be his choices for exile, Belarus, Kazakhstan or ??? Not exactly the places he's been imagining, I suppose.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

Either that or China puts immense pressure on Putin. (I bet their desires on Taiwan are being recalibrated too). They could be the ones to try and engineer a face saving ‘out’ for Putin. And that would make Russia even more under the power of China...interesting. Russia may turn into a cheap natura...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

While from the beginning I wanted tough measures against Russa, I also believe we need to leave an off-ramp open. I'm not an expert on how to craft diplomacy and negotations, the off-ramp clearly CANNOT be at the expense of Ukraine in any way shape or form. But I think there should be, now that mos...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

There are reports that Belarus may join the invasion. I sorta expected it but they'll end up in even worse shape that Russia as far as being an international pariah. They don't have anything to offer. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/politics/belarus-ukrainian-invasion-american-embassy-suspended/index...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

Think hasn't been discussed here yet but the EU is sending Ukraine fighter jets and missiles. https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1498029493033881601?s=20&t=e2ITJUCgiO83RYKfn1WJdQ I assume this means Polish/Bulgarian/Slovakian Mig-29 which are already in Ukrainian inventory and perhaps also Bulgaria...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

Is this why the usial trolling hasn't been going on here, so far? Too preoccupied with standing in line to take out their own savings, rather than trolling for Putin? :stirthepot: The absence of the troll bots has been noticeable. With the ruble sinking, maybe their pay went down so much that they'...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

Meanwhile, another country that has freedom of speech is being extinguished, and the world will have more people governed my murderous dictators. Maybe, maybe not. What the heck does this mean? What's the scenario such that six month from now there is actual free speech in Kyiv? It will have just a...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

kitplane01 wrote:

Meanwhile, another country that has freedom of speech is being extinguished, and the world will have more people governed my murderous dictators.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

Trololzilla wrote:

^ Definitely German, it was never Lithuanian, or truly Polish for that matter. Would certainly appease a certain faction of Germans to see a return of Königsberg and the surrounding land to German hands.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - News and Discussion Thread

zkojq wrote:

It's time to make Kaliningrad Lithuanian again.

Re: Is Taiwan next?

I doubt that China will escalate things with Taiwan until they have finished with their project in the South China Sea. They need some stablity to extract the gas and oil reserves which will protect their economy in the years ahead. Of course they will still burp loudly when Taiwan is mentioned but...

Re: Who are your LEAST favorite sport teams?

NY Yankees
Chicago Bulls
Dallas Cowboys
Pittsburgh Penguins

Re: Possibility of coup in Moscow to oust Putin?

Once you assassinate a foreign leader, yours becomes vulnerable. Much better to let them take care of their own.

Re: Possibility of coup in Moscow to oust Putin?

Highly unlikely that Israel will want to assasinate Putin Israel does not consider Russia as a threat in the same way as it considers some countries in the Middle East Yet, a lot of the power of those Middle Eastern threats is due to their Russian equipment. I do agree with you that Israel won't be...