It purports to be a weapons sales site, although the lack of an Onion address makes me suspicious. The guy is offering them in volume (at least assuming Google translated the page properly, I don't know Russian), but apparently has only one post and the thread got closed for a failure to provide verification. Even if the site is what it claims to be this isn't credible evidence of diversion.
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Russian Invasion of Ukraine - tactics and logistics
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steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
Aint the Second Amendment great?You're right! I just bought an S-300 missile defense system and two M777 howitzers on Ebay for a bargain price. Just waiting for delivery.
Elixir
Made in America
I think it’s a hallmark of Russian brutality and cruelty, well developed and well maintained for centuries for purposes of terror and dread. Why even HAVE soldiers if it’s not ok if they die? Culture…
Jarhyn
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The point is, it makes the crossing even more costly even if they can manage it.
Minefields can be swept a lot of ways, but not by Russian military assets, is the point.
Their engineer corps sucks ass.
steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
What I remember being said during the Cold War was that Russian soldier's life was pretty miserable even brutal. I also read that unlike western armies Russia keeps its soldiers in the dark. No pass down of battle plans or goals. Get in a truck, get out, and go in the direction you are told to. A bit simplistic but that's the idea.
Going back to WWII non commissioned officers were important for battlefield leadership. They could make decisions on the fly as needed. If an officer is killed an NCO is prepared to take over. If a sergeant is killed a corporal is ready. From what I read on WWII that goes back to Eisenhower and the failures in North Africa. He intitiated leadership training down to the lower ranks. If two provate are left the one with more time in service takes over.
From the pictures and reporting the Russians were in a classic rout. Turn tail and run dropping everything including working tanks and ammunition.
I also wonder about education in Russia and how the Russian army compares to western armies in education and general intelligence. How literate are the lower ranks. How well educated is a Russian lieutenant?
Elixir
Made in America
Hermit
Cantankerous grump
Someone named Vladimir had a used T72 for sale last week. Said it needed some repairs and the turret had gone missing, but it was in pretty good nick otherwise. He wanted a hundred bucks for it. I almost bought it, thinking I could flog it to the local scrappy, who used to pay $50 per ton. Luckily, I rang him first to check if he still pays at that rate. He said: "Are you kidding? For the past couple of months I got more Russian scrap metal than I can handle. People are just leaving that shit outside my gate at night and scarper. There's a mountain of that stuff on the footpath now. I don't know where they get so much of it from. And don't bother ringing Sims. They got more than they can handle too."
So, no deal.
T.G.G. Moogly
Traditional Atheist
A Russian columnist recently appeared on television and gave a damning assessment of the situation in Ukraine from Russia's perspective.
Watch the video. This guy is telling it like it is. Completely rational saying it looks very bad for Russia particularly because they are so isolated. Lots of other good stuff. A great read.
Watch the video. This guy is telling it like it is. Completely rational saying it looks very bad for Russia particularly because they are so isolated. Lots of other good stuff. A great read.
Tigers!
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That has been noted for hundreds of years. Even when the Mongol hordes were ravaging Russia in the 1300s foreign observers noted the Russian disregard for their soldiers. The Novgorod chronicle apparently mentions that.
Copernicus
Industrial Grade Linguist
OK, that has gone viral in the Western press, so poor retired Colonel Mikhail Khodaryonok is probably in for a world of hurt. I haven't been able to find much on his background, but he has been a "defense commentator". Possibly, this very candid admission of Russia's failures is some kind of deliberate attempt by the press to begin questioning the course of the war, which pretty much seems doomed at this point. Russia is in a losing position, and, as Khodaryonok said, the US is in the process of flooding Ukraine with new weaponry. The moderator kept jumping in on Khodaryonok, questioning the preparedness and professionalism of all of those Ukrainians willing to fight. Khodaryonok claimed that Ukraine could field a million more people ready to fight and that they would become seasoned troops as time went on. At the same time, he pointed out that Russia could not replace all of the equipment it lost quickly and that fighting morale was on the side of Ukrainians defending their homeland. IOW, Khodaryonok was pretty much saying what commentators in the West have been saying about the turn that the war has taken. Khodoryanok ended by saying that Russia's isolation in the world had to end. I wonder if more commentators with his perspective will be allowed on state-controlled TV.
TV and credit cards
Contributor
I liked Kodaryonok’s pushback against the moderator’s comments about conscripts and professionals. She doesn’t seem to understand that this professionalism starts in training and a strong desire to learn, practice, and excel at everything that is taught. It’s all about morale. If morale is high, your forces will look to overcome obstacles, be they food, equipment, clothing, or sleep. There is camaraderie and a winning attitude from the very beginning.
On the other side when you force a very young man just starting out in life to fight in a foreign land with no purpose and no motivation, he will see every obstacle as an opportunity to avoid doing his job. He will keep his head down, do just what he has to do to keep himself alive and get back home.
If you’re going to treat your forces like cannon fodder, leaving their bodies to rot in foreign fields, if you’re going to treat them like their life has no value, then you need to convince them of the same.
Aside from being a thug and keeping himself in power, Putin really doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing, does he? It’s all coming home to roost now.
steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
In North Africa Patton instilled discipline, pride, morale, and professionalsim into a rag tag American army, after Kasserine Pass where the Americans ran away in a rout by the Germans.
The iconic optimistic smile and persona on Eisenhower's face was crafted and practiced. He believed leadership was an acquired and teachable skill.
He was afraid that any hint of doubt in how he presented himself could spread through the army. There is the clip of his sending off paratroopers on B Day sniling and shaking hands..
The iconic optimistic smile and persona on Eisenhower's face was crafted and practiced. He believed leadership was an acquired and teachable skill.
He was afraid that any hint of doubt in how he presented himself could spread through the army. There is the clip of his sending off paratroopers on B Day sniling and shaking hands..
Jimmy Higgins
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I'm personally shocked that Russia is failing to make in-roads here. They regrouped for what seemed to be a planned incursion, but that regrouping failed. And yes, Ukraine's benefit is that Ukrainians are fighting to save Ukraine. They can be hungry, cold, uncomfortable, but their goal is to save their country. The Russian military doesn't have that drive. They are just hungry and uncomfortable.
I think the idea was Plan C included taking a large swath of Eastern Ukraine and annex it (Plan A was shock and awe Ukraine via a build up into giving up, Plan B was to march towards Kviv and then have them give up). Now it seems they can't even do that, not remotely. Had Putin just annexed the areas he recognized, all would have been well and he could have continued to slowly incur on Ukraine. But maybe illness "forced" Putin's hand.
This is one of the worst invasions since Bay of Pigs and we knew when to give that up immediately. Putin is playing Risk and keeps rolling 1's and his huge advantage of numbers has dwindled. Their economy can only manage for so much longer, this was supposed to happen quickly and now it appears that it never will happen and Russia needs to figure out just how much longer they can keep this up because the longer they don't advance, the less of Ukraine they get to keep.
Copernicus
Industrial Grade Linguist
At this point, it is hard to see how they can give up. If they just stop fighting now, there is no guarantee that Ukraine will stop trying to regain its lost territory. The potential for Putin suffering a humiliating defeat has begun to worry the governments of France, Germany, and Italy:
EU's leaders are softening on Putin 'humiliation' as USA hardens towards war
Macron has said that he prefers some kind of "face-saving solution" for Putin rather than total defeat. One of the reasons, of course, is that Europe depends so heavily on Russian oil and gas, which is far less of a concern to the UK, Canada, and the US. The UK defense ministry has estimated that Russia has lost about a third of its committed ground forces in Ukraine already:
UK: Russia has likely lost one-third of ground combat forces in Ukraine
That sounds sensational and is likely an exaggeration, but Russia has not committed its entire military and still has plenty of reserve to throw into the invasion. The question is how long this can go on. Putin still seems to have a solid hold on power, and it isn't at all clear how any subsequent Russian government would deal with this mess if Putin were to suddenly be removed from power.
Nobody deals well with humiliation, but the main driver of this war appears to be the humiliation that Putin and Russian nationalists still feel over the collapse of the Soviet empire. They wanted to regain their self-image as the dominant power in eastern Europe, but their image is now lower than it ever was in the past. What the EU leaders worry about is how that feeling of humiliation will fester after the fighting stops in defeat.
Jimmy Higgins
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Problematic to "save face" when you started it, and the only way to "save face" is to give them territory they have no right to, and should owe money to Ukraine for the damage. Indeed, Russia is the weakest it has looked in a long time. There is little that can be done to make Russia not look like a giant bag of dumbasses.
Elixir
Made in America
Oddly, when the Soviet Union broke up, my feeling toward the Russian people was like "proud of y'all" not some kind of "gotcha!".
Apparently that's not how Pootey and his ilk thought they were being viewed.
Apparently that's not how Pootey and his ilk thought they were being viewed.
Copernicus
Industrial Grade Linguist
Putin was a KGB counterintelligence officer in East Germany at the time the Wall came down. His life was devoted to serving and protecting the Soviet Union, which fell apart. He took it as a personal failure and felt betrayed in much the same way that Hitler felt betrayed by the humiliating end of WWI for Germany. A lot of Russians felt the same way Putin did, but they were powerless to stop it. Putin's life is no longer devoted to the Soviet Union, but Russia. This war is getting revenge on the West for himself and like-minded Russians, who have felt a renewed sense of national pride since he took power. They are likely to feel even more betrayed and humiliated, if Russia is forced to concede much at the end of this war. They will desperately want to keep what gains they have made, and they will not accept that this was all their fault.
steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
Hitler was also motivated by revenge over WWI and the treaty. He also carried a grudge for not being propmoted to officer in the war.
I believe the French surrender was taken in the same rail car that the Germans surrounded in.
East Germany was particularly brutal under the Soviets. I member the videos of people shot trying to cross over. East Germans got creative in ways to get out.
I believe the French surrender was taken in the same rail car that the Germans surrounded in.
East Germany was particularly brutal under the Soviets. I member the videos of people shot trying to cross over. East Germans got creative in ways to get out.
DrZoidberg
Contributor
A Russian friend sent me this. He says Putin's spell has been broken. Nobody is buying his bullshit anymore. It seems like the governments threatening statements about Finland and Sweden are making people worried Russia will be in endless wars.
That's what he says
That's what he says