I dont like wishing death upon people, but Lavrov isn't people, so I am eager to see pictures of his disfigured corpse and bloated face after he has his unfortunate window accident.
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I love all the updates, but god damn do I hate the way vBulletin lazy loads twitter previews and scrolls you to the moon. This must be hell for people set to 100 posts per page.
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Rheinmetall is soon about to start manufacturing modern Lynx IFV's in Ukraine, which are intended to over time replace at least some of the hodgepodge of vehicles they're currently operating.
Along with the recent deal to buy 150 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, this is another sign that Ukraines European allies are in this for the long haul and have faith in Ukraine's future.
It's also a sign that Ukraine isn't just planning to hang on, their goal is to keep modernizing and improving their capabilities.
(Following the discussion, I've also noticed how there's a certain level of prestige in these deals for Rheinmetall and Saab. Ukraine has such an unrivalled amount of battle experience that I've read plenty of comments to the tune of "no one understands modern war like Ukrainians" and "they've battle tested so many platforms that it says a lot they picked that.")
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Ukrainian Special Operation Forces destroyed a Russian S-400 Triumf air defense system and an ammo depot Crimea. S-400:s have a unit price of over a billion dollars, so they're about as juicy as targets as they come.
The strike killed 12 servicemen and seven civilians, while 36 others were injured, according to#the Prosecutor General's Office.
According to the investigators, the officer organized on Nov. 1 a formal assembly and award ceremony for over 100 servicemen in front-line areas of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, including locations where civilians were present.
Although the General Staff had prohibited such gatherings, the commander neither halted the event nor dispersed the soldiers during an air raid alert, the SBI said.
At that time, Russia reportedly struck the assembly points with three Geran drones and two Iskander missiles.
Last edited by Itse; 11-09-2025 at 03:36 AM.
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In the Ulyanovsk region, mobile internet was disconnected until the end of "SVO". Also in Russia, they began to fine subscribers to “undesirable” channels. These are anti-war resources. https://twitter.com/user/status/1988304643122733542
The share of Russians who would disapprove of their loved ones' decision to volunteer to fight in Ukraine has reached 55%, according to data from Levada Center. Only 30% of respondents would approve of this now. A year ago, the share of those opposed to their loved ones volunteering to fight in Ukraine was 13% points lower. https://twitter.com/user/status/1988300871042506967
Ukraine currently produces approximately 4 million drones per year. Probably more than all NATO countries combined, - Bloomberg. By comparison, the US produces approximately 100,000 military drones annually. https://twitter.com/user/status/1988298399385518118
While the expenses of the war pile up, Russias oil income is way down.
Quote:
Russia's vital oil and gas revenues tumbled 27% in October from a year earlier, data from the Finance Ministry show
Additionally, discount for Russian crude oil has been around 20$ per barrel, a record price for this year and really frickin high when a standard battle of crude is currently selling at 64$ per barrel.
The previous record discount was 30$ per barrel, but that was from when the standard was over 100$ per barrel.
With Moscow witnessing it's first blackouts of this war and Ukraine still sending regular waves of kinetic sanctions over the border and Russian government finances probably in the toilet, it's no wonder support for the war inside Russia is starting to crater.
We've even seen some public protests against Putin this fall, which hasn't happened in a while.
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Ukraine’s defense forces struck the Ryazan oil refinery and several key Russian targets. Confirmed hits include a Nebo-U radar station in occupied Crimea https://twitter.com/user/status/1989790258867978644
SABOTAGE: 6500 km from the border, Ukraine's military intelligence, GUR, blew up railway tracks near the settlement of Sosnovka on the Trans-Siberian Railway. https://twitter.com/user/status/1989772425618436487
MAJOR STRIKE: The explosion & secondaries that occurred during UKR's Neptune strike on Novorossiysk may have been the destruction of as many as seven S‑400 air defense systems. https://twitter.com/user/status/1989754074586386710
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Can anyone explain to me why NATO and the EU put up with Orban? He's obviously got putins hand up his butt like a puppet. Why can't Hungary be ousted until they have leadership that isn't trying to get everyone to bend over for putin?
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Can anyone explain to me why NATO and the EU put up with Orban? He's obviously got putins hand up his butt like a puppet. Why can't Hungary be ousted until they have leadership that isn't trying to get everyone to bend over for putin?
An election is coming up in Hungary in April and the opposition party is in a pretty good position to win. The leader of the opposition, Peter Magyar, is pro-EU and has been highly critical of Orban's relationship with Russia. It might be worth seeing how that plays out before throwing Hungary to the side. The EU has already cut them off on some things.
Having said that, Orban has done a lot to consolidate his power and their democracy is seriously challenged. If Orban wins again, I think the EU should seriously consider cutting bait with them. Their democratic backsliding has fallen to the point that they wouldn't even be allowed to join if they weren't already in.
As for NATO, I read before that there is actually no mechanism to kick a country out. The other countries could choose not to honour the alliance if a country becomes a problem, but it's a bit of a slippery slope as well. NATO would probably prefer to keep them even if they are a pain instead of having them full on defect and join the CTSO or something stupid like that, and basically have another Belarus on their border.
It's also worth mentioning that Hungary currently leads the Baltic Air Policing NATO mission. Despite Orban's talk, their military is still participating at least.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 11-16-2025 at 11:06 PM.
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Can anyone explain to me why NATO and the EU put up with Orban? He's obviously got putins hand up his butt like a puppet. Why can't Hungary be ousted until they have leadership that isn't trying to get everyone to bend over for putin?
Multiple reasons, some good and some bad.
For one, neither EU or NATO particularly likes the precedent.
Second, even though especially the international news only talk about Orban being a POS and resisting everything, EU actually has quite a lot of sway over Hungary, and they have been able to push Hungary around more than you'd realize, for example when it comes to political freedoms. Those freedoms are a reason why Orban might still lose his grip on power through an election, just as an example of why that matters.
Throwing them out would basically force Hungary into the hands of Russia, China or Trump, as they'd be really effed. They could in fact be so effed economically (they're a landlocked country surrounded by other EU countries plus Ukraine), easpecially with a country at war right next door, that the country could become destabilized, a haven for criminal activity, Russian and Chinese spy activity etc. Nobody wants that in the middle of Europe.
Hungary is also contributing to overall NATO economics, and being able to use their airspace is also nice.
On the darker side: most of Europe has been moving towards the far-right, and Orban is part of that gang. The political will to push Hungary out could be impossible to gather, especially when you add in all the corrupt politicians in Russias pocket.
Last edited by Itse; 11-17-2025 at 12:26 PM.
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An election is coming up in Hungary in April and the opposition party is in a pretty good position to win. The leader of the opposition, Peter Magyar, is pro-EU and has been highly critical of Orban's relationship with Russia. It might be worth seeing how that plays out before throwing Hungary to the side. The EU has already cut them off on some things.
Having said that, Orban has done a lot to consolidate his power and their democracy is seriously challenged. If Orban wins again, I think the EU should seriously consider cutting bait with them. Their democratic backsliding has fallen to the point that they wouldn't even be allowed to join if they weren't already in.
As for NATO, I read before that there is actually no mechanism to kick a country out. The other countries could choose not to honour the alliance if a country becomes a problem, but it's a bit of a slippery slope as well. NATO would probably prefer to keep them even if they are a pain instead of having them full on defect and join the CTSO or something stupid like that, and basically have another Belarus on their border.
It's also worth mentioning that Hungary currently leads the Baltic Air Policing NATO mission. Despite Orban's talk, their military is still participating at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
Multiple reasons, some good and some bad.
For one, neither EU or NATO particularly likes the precedent.
Second, even though especially the international news only talk about Orban being a POS and resisting everything, EU actually has quite a lot of sway over Hungary, and they have been able to push Hungary around more than you'd realize, for example when it comes to political freedoms. Those freedoms are a reason why Orban might still lose his grip on power through an election, just as an example of why that matters.
Throwing them out would basically force Hungary into the hands of Russia, China or Trump, as they'd be really effed. They could in fact be so effed economically (they're a landlocked country surrounded by other EU countries plus Ukraine), easpecially with a country at war right next door, that the country could become destabilized, a haven for criminal activity, Russian and Chinese spy activity etc. Nobody wants that in the middle of Europe.
Hungary is also contributing to overall NATO economics, and being able to use their airspace is also nice.
On the darker side: most of Europe has been moving towards the far-right, and Orban is part of that gang. The political will to push Hungary out could be impossible to gather, especially when you add in all the corrupt politicians in Russias pocket.
Also Budapest is a hell of a night out!
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