I'm still baffled how Russia hasn't even flexed their collective muscle yet. I refuse to believe until I see that their entire armed forces have become rusted out lawn ornaments.
They haven't even flexed their naval presence properly.
And I still cannot believe they've used the best parts of their airforce.
I mean that is unless they completely missed the boat on how the rest of the world has gone away from old arsenal deployment strategies over the decades. But I can't see that! Like they've been in recent combat theaters as much as anyone! So how have they so completely missed the mark here? I don't get it. Even a simpleton like me is scratching my head at how the world's 2nd strongest military is just getting destroyed by the simplest deployment of mid range drones.
I'm still think that they're playing possum. Just don't understand why.
I have no clue about military but one of the possible explanations is that what we see actually IS domination. Russian forces are encircling Ukrainian cities with very little meaningful pushback. Russians seem to be shelling #1 and #2 Ukranian city daily with Ukraine seemingly unable to remove the siege. It looks like Russia is punching and Ukraine while not breaking, can't really land a single significant counter punch yet.
I have no clue about military but one of the possible explanations is that what we see actually IS domination. Russian forces are encircling Ukrainian cities with very little meaningful pushback. Russians seem to be shelling #1 and #2 Ukranian city daily with Ukraine seemingly unable to remove the siege. It looks like Russia is punching and Ukraine while not breaking, can't really land a single significant counter punch yet.
I think this is a pretty bad take. The Russians have lost in 2 weeks 5000 men, and in all the time they were in Afghanistan they lost 15000 after a decade.
If this is domination I'd hate to see what being ####ty would be.
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It's actually a pretty big dent, Russia can't pull up a lot of their forces to move to Ukraine. Dictators need to project force at home, plus is always busy in Georgia and Kazakhstan regions. If they just pulled out of there, things would hit the fan fast.
Plus Russia is huge, they can't pull force out of the East, plus not sure what those local populations would do, maybe they'd just declare independence.
Add on top of that, Russia's involvement in Syria.
Also for context, the coalition lost 274 aircraft in 20 years in Afghanistan.
Russia only has about 900k active military personnel at any given moment. Many of these won't be active combat troops, it includes the navy, and many, as you say, are occupied elswhere.
I 100% agree. Ukraine is a massive commitment right now. The next step would likely be to call up reservists.
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I think this is a pretty bad take. The Russians have lost in 2 weeks 5000 men, and in all the time they were in Afghanistan they lost 15000 after a decade.
If this is domination I'd hate to see what being ####ty would be.
Being bad would be being repelled back to the borders, Ukranians storming back into Crimea and Donbass. It's about Russia vs Ukraine, not Russia vs expectations
With all these established businesses leaving the country, there's going to be a hell of an opportunity for some entrepreneurial-minded Russians (or let's face it, Putin's oligarch buddies) to fill the void. I assume they'll also see a lot of new Chinese investment.
With all these established businesses leaving the country, there's going to be a hell of an opportunity for some entrepreneurial-minded Russians (or let's face it, Putin's buddies) to fill the void.
You are a graphics guy… what can you come up with for “Oligarchurger”?
Don't worry Russians! McDowells will be coming to a red square near you!
Every Big Mec will come with two serfs!
At the same time, rumors are Putin is looking to basically steal all these brands and just re-open them because as they withdraw from the international system, they just won't honor trademarks and will counterfeit everything.
With all these established businesses leaving the country, there's going to be a hell of an opportunity for some entrepreneurial-minded Russians (or let's face it, Putin's oligarch buddies) to fill the void. I assume they'll also see a lot of new Chinese investment.
Maybe one day.
For now, sky-high inflation, worthless currency, crippling sanctions restricting imports and a generally impoverished populace don't make for an enticing market.
Being bad would be being repelled back to the borders, Ukranians storming back into Crimea and Donbass. It's about Russia vs Ukraine, not Russia vs expectations
I had a far too emotional response for this but. No, you're wrong. This war is destroying your country and your men are dying at a rate far worse than even Afghanistan. Ukraine will never be your countries puppet. Ever.
Being bad would be being repelled back to the borders, Ukranians storming back into Crimea and Donbass. It's about Russia vs Ukraine, not Russia vs expectations
It's only been 2 weeks for an operation that Russia thought would be 2-3 days by most accounts. The fact they haven't taken Kharkiv which is ~20km from the Russian border doesn't bode well. They got smashed there and have pulled back to replenish their units. Ukraine isn't going to roll onto the plains and trade shots with numerically superior Russian units. They are stunting their advances and destroying their supply lines.
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Maybe we're just eating up the Ukrainian propaganda, because it makes us feel better. Could it possibly be that while Russia may not be meeting expectations, they are doing much better than what is being portrayed?
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Maybe we're just eating up the Ukrainian propaganda, because it makes us feel better. Could it possibly be that while Russia may not be meeting expectations, they are doing much better than what is being portrayed?
I think that Ukraine is suffering a great deal and is probably running on fumes at this point, but if Russia was doing much better than portrayed, there would still be Ukrainian air sorties, armoured counterattacks or persistent urban combat.
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I think this is a pretty bad take. The Russians have lost in 2 weeks 5000 men, and in all the time they were in Afghanistan they lost 15000 after a decade.
If this is domination I'd hate to see what being ####ty would be.
This is also more than 20-years of insurgency war in Afghanistan by the entire coalition.
Maybe we're just eating up the Ukrainian propaganda, because it makes us feel better. Could it possibly be that while Russia may not be meeting expectations, they are doing much better than what is being portrayed?
Most of the analysis by western countries mirrors the Ukrainian narrative. Maybe the casualties counts differ, but the level of advance and cities taken is the same. Kherson is the only Ukrainian city that has fallen in 2 weeks of fighting.
Maybe we're just eating up the Ukrainian propaganda, because it makes us feel better. Could it possibly be that while Russia may not be meeting expectations, they are doing much better than what is being portrayed?
It's tough to analyze that, because no one but Putin seems to even know what the goal is. Is it to slowly level every city, even if it takes months or years? If so, I guess he's doing OK. Is it to drive Ukrainians out of their country? That seems to be working too. But he's clearly failed at what he presumed would be quickly taking Kyiv and installing a friendly government. And in all of that, he's crippled his countries economy and international reputation beyond repair for a long time.
By expectations, he's clearly failed. But he continues to inflict an immense toll on the people of Ukraine.
I had a far too emotional response for this but. No, you're wrong. This war is destroying your country and your men are dying at a rate far worse than even Afghanistan. Ukraine will never be your countries puppet. Ever.
I don't even want it. I much prefer to have western democratic Estonia near our borders than backwards Belarus. Who wants to live in a country surrounded by impoverished dictatorships.
