I wonder where curves2000 gets this crap about "the guy with the biggest brass balls 'getting it done'." It would explain a great many things about the tone and bizarre, nonsensical analysis they bring to this thread, and others.
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Yeah, pretty sad when NK & China can outsupply the entire West.
But then again, I don't think Putin was ever going to withdraw, as its really not that hard for him to keep sending people into the meatgrinder.
Also, Russian oil & gas still in high demand, and they don't seem to have an issue producing their own weapons.
The West missed the boat on this one. Big time.
It's a lot easier for a dictatorship where they can override the welfare of the people. They can focus production where they want and export what they want with no democratic process or capitalist drivers.
Democracy is the best system, but not without flaws and is weak compared to dictatorships in some ways.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
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I wonder where curves2000 gets this crap about "the guy with the biggest brass balls 'getting it done'." It would explain a great many things about the tone and bizarre, nonsensical analysis they bring to this thread, and others.
They invent the dumbest strawmans and then go off on tangents. Always telling us what everyone is thinking, but the thing "everyone is thinking" is always super moronic and not at all what everyone is thinking.
And that's just one aspect of their non-stop terrible analysis and understanding of everything in the world, how things operate/interact and how people think/behave.
They're wrong every.single.time.
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They invent the dumbest strawmans and then go off on tangents. Always telling us what everyone is thinking, but the thing "everyone is thinking" is always super moronic and not at all what everyone is thinking.
And that's just one aspect of their non-stop terrible analysis and understanding of everything in the world, how things operate/interact and how people think/behave.
They're wrong every.single.time.
Could have said this in two words. "They're Trumpian"
I have always said since about day 3 of the war that one way or another, NATO is going to get dragged kicking and screaming into this conflict. I still believe that. Hope I'm wrong and UA can be armed to the point of doing it themselves, but with just how pathetic the past few months have been outside of a select few countries, I don't see how it's not headed down that path. I think slowly but surely, the big players in the EU realize just how big of a problem this is becoming. Europeans always say that the EU is powerful when it activates, but it takes forever to get there. Case in point. For a country that only recognizes force and strength, the West as a whole has done such a piss poor job of projecting that towards russia. I don't have an issue with what Macron says, because he might just be realizing that this is a reality that awaits them if they don't act now.
The russians might be sacks of ####, but they aren't stupid. They know exactly how to pull the strings of fear that hang over much of the world and know how to exploit each and every sign of weakness the west has shown for years now. So yeah, it sucks when you hear Macron saying things like this and him anticipating a larger conflict. But this is what you get when you sit around hoping and praying the reds simply go away.
I don't really see the logic. Western nations don't want to send military aid, but they're going to enter the war directly? If they were prepared to do that, why wouldn't they just send more aid?
Ultimately, there is no scenario where NATO is entering the war unless a NATO nation is attacked. NATO knows that, Russia knows that, and the rest of the world knows that. I suppose that gives Russia a slight edge because they can escalate without fear of anyone else doing the same, but that's just the reality. Ukraine is not of enough strategic importance to NATO to warrant direct intervention against a nuclear power and that hasn't changed since day 1 of the war. NATO would trade every inch of Ukraine to avoid a potential nuclear war and that's the rational approach.
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Yeah, pretty sad when NK & China can outsupply the entire West.
But then again, I don't think Putin was ever going to withdraw, as its really not that hard for him to keep sending people into the meatgrinder.
Also, Russian oil & gas still in high demand, and they don't seem to have an issue producing their own weapons.
The West missed the boat on this one. Big time.
It's not those countries vs. the West. It's Russia's massive Soviet stockpile of ammo vs. the US's pocket lint. That fact that Russia is relying on North Korea is an embarrassment for them, not a knock against the US's ability to produce weapons. The US has tons of weapons and ammo, they just don't want to compromise their own stocks in any way, nor are they willing to endure the economic impact of shifting industrial production away from consumer/commercial goods and more towards weapons for Ukraine.
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I was channeling curves. Why say in two words what can be said in 200?
My concern is a lack of unity amongst the west and leaders of the west. Just look at what is happening and what has happened in this conflict.
You had virtually no effective pushback from the US and NATO with the invasion of Crimea in 2014. They did sanctions but really not effective.
Obama was very upfront with Putin about using chemical weapons in Syria, which he did anyway. The famous redline that got pissed on.
We had Trump who approved arming the Ukrainian's and training them but was more looking for political favors from Ukraine to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden. In essence a Putin laptop who most likely will be the next President.
Biden who seems to have been very careful with this war but now appears to be losing the initiative along with the EU/NATO countries. Lot's of talk about staying with Ukraine until then end, but the end of support is quickly vanishing from all reports. The video of him walking in Kyiv during air raid sirens won' age well unless the US is able to assist Ukraine in defeating Russia.
We have Macron telling the world yesterday that the west hasn't ruled out sending soldiers on the ground, meanwhile today NATO countries are scrambling to counter that claim today. Seems like a brilliant strategy all around.
When this does indeed escalate, and it will, because nobody has shown Putin that it can't continue.
You wouldn't allow this wishy washy nonsense in your business. A lack of effective management and communication. Lower ranked employee's TELLING YOU what's going to happen. Making sure that YOU know they are equals in power. Sometimes you gotta clip some wings cause we are allowing Putin to fly a little too high for our collective security.
It's not those countries vs. the West. It's Russia's massive Soviet stockpile of ammo vs. the US's pocket lint. That fact that Russia is relying on North Korea is an embarrassment for them, not a knock against the US's ability to produce weapons. The US has tons of weapons and ammo, they just don't want to compromise their own stocks in any way, nor are they willing to endure the economic impact of shifting industrial production away from consumer/commercial goods and more towards weapons for Ukraine.
That is the problem though, no? Even lesser weapons aren't being produced and sent over as needed. Each subsequent 'upgrade' in weaponry first needs weeks or even months of political haggling to get approved.
But either way your point makes sense.
I think end of the day people thought Russia was going to bow out because of the 'we really showed them' mantra coming from the West, but the reality is that it doesn't matter to Putin if he sacrifices hundreds of thousands of MORE people in order to hold out long enough to let the West get weary and start detracting from more funding.
That is the problem though, no? Even lesser weapons aren't being produced and sent over as needed. Each subsequent 'upgrade' in weaponry first needs weeks or even months of political haggling to get approved.
Most of the consumables Ukraine is needing like artillery shells, anti-tank weapons, or anti-aircraft weapons aren't produced in vast quantities anymore (at least at a scale to support this kind of war) by the US because NATO doctrine doesn't really use them to a great degree. There are virtually no realistic situations where the US is going to find itself firing millions of artillery shells or having soldiers fire at tanks by hand tens of thousands of times in a short period of time, so the mass production capability for those things isn't just sitting there to be used. The US relies on overwhelming air and naval supremacy control the battlefield.
The US and NATO countries could shift to a wartime economy where manufacturing capacity is redirected towards weapons production. But that's really not feasible unless NATO countries are directly involved in a war and it's an emergency. That's what Russia has done, and it can work for a while, but it generally comes at a significant cost in the long term.
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I think end of the day people thought Russia was going to bow out because of the 'we really showed them' mantra coming from the West, but the reality is that it doesn't matter to Putin if he sacrifices hundreds of thousands of MORE people in order to hold out long enough to let the West get weary and start detracting from more funding.
Anyone who thought Russia would just walk away or that Ukraine would push them back to the 2014 borders was either exceedingly optimistic or was simply not appreciating the situation for what it was. When things stabilized after the first month or so, basically every credible analyst thought this would be a long war that likely involved significant periods of stalemate.
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Refineries and other key manufacturing facilities are being targeted by drones in Russia. Surely there has to be some rail bridges they can destroy in Russia on the way from China or North Korea.
This answers pretty resolutely why the Russians have seemingly not been using their material air advantage to enforce air superiority during the war so far. They can't without losing all their planes.
The question now is, what is motivating them to push so hard today that they're willing to endure all these losses? Planes are probably the hardest thing for them to replace.
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There have been so many reports lately, but many don’t have solid evidence. I generally trust Ukraine’s updates but wonder if a few grains of salt are warranted.
