Comments by "Titanium Rain" (@ChucksSEADnDEAD) on "William Spaniel" channel.

  1. ​ @the11382  having countries consent to an attack mission refueling in their country and the ability to do aerial refueling halfway across the world is a feat in itself.
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  2. Prigozhin and Seagal open the hatch and climb down the stairs into the dimly lit submarine. Lukashenko is standing at the command post. "Gentlemen. I'm assembling a team." ROLL CREDITS
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  3. ​ @icemanzw  Russia is using most of their combat troops. You're forgetting a lot of their military is actually internal security. They exist to beat up protesters with nightsticks, not engage in actual combat.
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  4.  @javierfrancia1938  Cope.
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  5. But Putin, historian extraordinaire, said Poland started it.
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  6. I gotta tell this one to my new neighbor Eugénio Prigozo. He's from Argentina and moved in recently.
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  7. @Jacky138 the universe was actually created by Tom Clancy and we are just NPCs
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  8. Russia already invaded Georgia back in 2008.
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  9. ​ @u2beuser714  Not that easy. SHORAD is the last line of defense, if it fails you just let the attack slip through. Air defense needs to be layered.
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  10.  @julianpetkov8320  NATO did not invade Iraq. It did not operate in Syria. It only entered Afghanistan as part of the peacekeeping mission 2003-2014. NATO only managed the no fly zone over Libya after the UN resolution by request of the Arab League - blame them. And in Somalia NATO only conducted anti-piracy operations. You're in a drug induced stupor, because you're blaming NATO for things they didn't do.
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  11.  @julianpetkov8320  "attacking Libya is still an act of aggression" - The UN authorized it and it was asked by the Arab League. Talk to those nations. "There is no valid "article 5" with Afghanistan. This makes NATO a terrorist organisation." - False. The US was attacked by Al Qaeda. After the US invasion NATO had peacekeeping operations, not war.
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  12. ​ @travelfreak2  There was never an overthrowing of the Ukrainian government. The Verkhovna Rada had a vote.
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  13. ​ @nathanlevesque7812  You pay attention. After Israel agreed to a ceasefire Hamas rejected it as now they want a PERMANENT ceasfire.
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  14. The paradox is that it's those who are struggling economically and think they have nothing to lose who will risk it all using their life savings to pay off traffickers and do dangerous sea crossings. Doctors and engineers may earn enough to dissuade them from desperate measures, and if they do want to migrate there's visas to expedite the hiring of foreigners who have high skills in demand.
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  15. ​​ @ytsm  Defense is not the same as border control, that's like asking why isn't the TSA putting out fires. Or why the USPS isn't investigating crimes. The government can do more than one thing at once, direct your ire at the agency in charge of border control rather than the Pentagon. Also Trump is in office, you can retire the border talking point.
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  16. ​ @nikolabolesnik  Arms manufacturers have existed before Russia invaded...
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  17.  @afrolitious7930  "stealth capabilities would be useless once they cross the border" - What? "Baghdad didn't have 15countries working 24/7 to assist them like their lives depended on it." - What a ridiculous argument. 15 countries don't increase technical expertise of ground crews. 15 countries aren't ensuring the upkeep of Soviet arms any better than Russia would (pre-2014). When the air raids kicked off over Iraq, they had every SA- from 2 to the two-digit ones, they had MIM-23 Hawk batteries captured from Kuwait, French Roland missile systems and a French IADS network custom built for them (Kari, which is "Irak" backwards).
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  18. ​ @Kuksha51  Minsk was broken by Russia. The attack on Debaltseve happened before the ink dried.
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  19. The "nine women can't birth a baby in one month" principle.
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  20. Israel has a couple companies involved in that, as they have partnered with former Soviet nations and India to refurbish Soviet/Russian equipment with Western-compatible guts.
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  21.  @afrolitious7930  "The man pads and stingers are for helicopters and ground attack planes like the SU25" - the SAM threat forces jets of all kinds of fly low, into MANPADS range. Same deal as in Vietnam - once SA-2s were introduced, AAA kills on American aircraft increased. By flying under SA-2 radar, it made the AAA job easier. "Ukraine has been smart to not reveal the locations of their S300 systems" - They're easily seen by satellite when left static. You have to move them around or else you always reveal their location. "The US airforce will not fair better in a territory with extensive air defence." - The US pretty much invented the doctrine of peeling away layers off IADS networks. The US wrote the book on how to degrade and destroy extensive air defenses, because they always wrote the book on how to fight the Soviets/Russians.
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  22. ​ @wolfswinkel8906  Although Russia has the defensive stance, they're the ones with troops in a foreign country. They don't have home field advantage.
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  23. ​ @Kuksha51  14k includes 3000 Ukrainian army and 5000 separatists. Both Ukrainian fighters and separatists were Donbas residents.
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  24.  @VikramRaaj9999  Russia started this by seizing Crimea and arming the DPR/LPR. Also killing the people in MH17 with that Buk launcher.
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  25.  @touristguy87  the sacrifices made by the USSR can be heavily blamed on Soviet incompetence. Remember when they purged competent officers and then invaded Finland?
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  26.  @genericscout5408  Not true lol the Taliban asked to surrender Bin Laden to a "neutral" country. If you can't extradite Bin Laden to a US court then how do you actually bring him to justice? If a country would not honor a US warrant or extradition request, then Bin Laden would be free to leave. Think for three seconds.
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  27. That's nonsense. The Baltic states would give them the same response time. Now Finland could join NATO. Please look at a map.
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  28.  @afrolitious7930  "It doesn't matter how well trained the pilots area if there's formidable AA defence they'd be useless" - No. Pilots are trained to avoid "formidable" AA defenses. That's the first priority in dealing with defenses - don't stand where they can hit you. Doesn't matter how formidable they are, they can't hit beyond their range. Second, the US has every tool in the toolbox to deal with defenses. From glide bombs to cruise missiles, anti-radiation missiles which home onto radars, EW support to jam and create fictional contacts on radar, etc. "Once that's redundant they'd have to use artillery which they're not great at" - Did you notice how 4 HIMARS and two M270 essentially stalled the Russian offensive? How the hell can you claim US artillery isn't great when a dozen modern rocket artillery platforms and a few more from the 1980s have punched Russia's teeth in? "But this is not a desert nation where it's easier to find stuff with satellite" - Russian defenses are constantly showing up on satellite. "Even though the US swarmed Vietnam with everything in their Arsenal they lost to a far less formidable foe." - You do realize that North Vietnam essentially lost, right? Militarily, the Tet Offensive drained North Vietnam's fighting force. They won because public pressure against the war made the US stand down when South Vietnam was invaded.
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  29. Most of their resources are getting harder to extract. Technology? What technology are they famous for?
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  30.  @zwndapp1313  the diversion that cost more men, fuel and vehicles than if they had just used it where they needed? Stop coping.
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  31. Vast majority of countries in the world can't afford to replace Europe or deal with uninsured Russian tankers.
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  32.  @sinoroman  "Russia would have attacked earlier" - Russia tends to attack when fossil fuel prices are high "Georgia doesn’t have much yet Russia went in" - Georgia was going to have a pipeline built from Azerbaijan to Turkey.
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  33. Stop repeating Putin's propaganda. The promise was kept. Peace comes as soon as Russia withdraws.
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  34. Supplies would be instantly found in the frontlines and photographed. People even tracked some Ukrainian weapons to an Iranian shipment that got intercepted and impounded.
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  35. Been hearing that for 12 months.
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  36.  @wolfswinkel8906  Not if the attackers take the dug in position to provoke the defender into attacking. Bite and hold tactics.
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  37.  @basiltozer9078  Iraq wasn't conquest.
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  38. ​ @jansix4287  Rafales are not cheap. There's just less political strings attached.
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  39. You do realize that Europe also has agriculture, right? Having resources is only 10% of the equation. Afghanistan is sitting on trillions of dollars of rare earth minerals nobody wants to extract. Africa's resources only made it ripe to get exploited by outsiders.
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  40. ​ @aaronleverton4221  the Alligators enjoyed a ressurgence because in defensive operations they can hand back behind friendly lines and shoot guided missiles too low for Buks and too far away for Iglas or Stingers. It's only now that Ukraine is reaching the high ground that low flying no longer protects the Ka-52.
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  41.  Li Li  they already put a fist in the bear trap, are they really going to put the other fist down and think their meat is stronger than steel teeth?
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  42.  @ronaldfreites1487  This is pure mental gymnastics. There's more land than platforms available. There's literally no reason why Ukraine makes a difference in attack capabilities. If they could be neuralized with Ukraine, they can be neutralized without it.
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  43. ​ @nihluxler1890  Igor Konashenkov fanfic doesn't correspond to reality.
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  44. The Budapest Memorandum had no Article 5 equivalent.
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  45.  @thexalon  WWI tactics look insane by today's standards. Basically advancing on foot as artillery barrages also move forward ahead of you. Getting a battle taxi to drive you close enough to a trench to the point that you can use rifle fire and the enemy can't drop artillery on you without also hitting their own troops is space-age stuff compared to WWI. Early on, Ukraine was on a defensive posture so they weren't raiding that many trenches.
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  46. It's easy to make a moped engine travel a thousand miles. It's difficult to lift a thousand pounds of explosive.
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  47. Why would anyone obey the launch order?
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  48. ​ @cbm2156  Portugal was neutral during WWII. They famously allowed British ships into port (world's oldest alliance) while selling tungsten to Germany. Taking a stance against the use of weapons isn't neutrality, it's a defined stance.
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  49. "Boarder"
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  50. The arms industry profiting off 30 year old weapons sitting in storage lol the people who built them are probably retired by now.
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  51.  @denism8494  Not only has Putin been out of the KGB for decades, he was not a field agent.
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  52.  @NUMMEHARBEN  Comes from a derrogatory term for communists/socialists who defended Soviet aggression. It's a reference to Moscow sending tanks rolling down the streets to put down protests in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc. So they're "tankies". Because Russia is the "heir" to the Soviet Union and many military units roll around with Soviet symbology in their tanks the name has stuck to Westerners who defend Russia.
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  53. They're not refusing. There's videos of liberation coming out already. Expect delays because they wait several hours before posting videos so that troops don't get shelled.
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  54.  @TheRatlord74  There was no attempted genocide. In fact, Abkhazia and South Ossetia were ethnically cleansed of Georgians.
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  55.  @apveening  we're getting into the weeds here but a gay man can marry in Russia... to a woman. If it were me I'd do a female friend a solid and have her as my wife on paper so she'd get some compensation. Maybe ask to split 50:50 with my parents.
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  56. Russia declared war first by invading. Stop blaming Ukraine.
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  57. ​ @mzahkazaha331  but they did.
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  58. Russia didn't keep their "we won't invade" agreement so countries need NATO protection.
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  59. ​ @MasterBlasterSr  Patriot is still active.
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  60. Sam Hyde
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  61. ​ @McKrzyniu  It takes time to lay minefields, and you can't mine the retreat paths for your friendlies or else they blow up too.
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  62. The European army would be a mess. NATO standardization is better.
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  63. Russia has been conducting offensives and it's going terribly for them. Going backwards is kind of hard when Russia is wasting offensive power.
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  64. I agree. The sparks in the air also may indicate aluminum powder was added to the explosive slurry. Adding fuel (very fine mesh metal powder) to the explosive helps by reducing the peak in pressure but increasing the duration. More "area under the curve", so to speak.
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  65. The USMC has retired a lot of tube artillery and focused on rocket artillery. They tested the firing of HIMARS off the deck of one of their amphibious assault ships. Most likely ATAMCS are earmarked for a potential naval fight due to its greater range vs GMLRS.
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  66. They accidently published the ore-written articles about their victory. Minsk II was broken by Russia when the DPR assaulted Debaltseve the day after signing.
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  67. The US benefitted from everyone else investing in economic prosperity. If we had all spent money to have deserts full of 3000 Leopard 2s and hundreds of Eurofighters, we'd be poorer, whoch means that for decades we'd have spent less on US goods and services. Making you poorer. You enjoyed our money when it lasted. Now you say we should have spent it all on massive military stockpiles. Come on...
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  68. He didn't create Wagner, Dimitry Utkin did. Since he had government contracts for his carering business he was given the control of the "corporate" side of Wagner as he could create shell companies and handle logistics.
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  69. Having a panicked firesale isn't the sign of a master business strategy.
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  70. MANPADS do not have the range.
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  71.  @allanfarr  Not just a media win. The bridge was understood to be a main supply artery and it got nicked bad enough that no freight train has been filmed crossing it after that propaganda shoot.
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  72.  @GummieI  Turkey refused to let US troops invade Iraq through their territory. Iraqi forces were actually stationed in the Turkish border until the very last minute when they realized they were defending the wrong place and quickly re-positioned. In this particular case, there would be less objections because international shipping is at stake, but even allied countries raise a fuss about being involved in conflicts.
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  73. ​ @Robertsmith-un5cu  Expensive ballistic missiles are not drones. Cheap drones can be shot down cheaply.
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  74. ​ @ShapurTheLegend  Shahed drone engines cost 9k alone. The Ukrainians have done crash wreckage analysis and exposed how expensive the components are. Iron Dome is used against fast rockets. Slow Shaheds are shot down in Ukraine with cheap Gepard ammo, quad mounted machine guns with spotlights, and 30k USD APKWS guided rockets.
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  75. Does this mean Russia will stop retreating soon?
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  76. They aren't. Old weapons sitting ij storage cost you nothing
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  77. The words of prophets are scribbled on bathroom stalls.
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  78. Their debt is low because nobody trusts them to pay back.
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  79. Military aid comes slowly because it takes time to plan, refurbish, train and ship.
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  80. Okay, but you do understand the guy who doesn't have the money will swear he'll get you the money when you show up to his house with a baseball bat, right? When judging Russia's economy from the outside, you don't have the tools to audit them so you have to use indirect means. When telling you about their own economy, Russia will say everything's fine. You never take their word for it.
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  81. ​ @simonkevnorris  Nonsense. Cruise missiles fly low. Ballistic missiles fly high. Russian cruise missiles like the Onyx, Kalibr, etc fly low while Iskanders, S-300 set for ground attackn etc fly high.
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  82. It was a legal strike (military HQ stuffed full of Quds force shadow warriors) on an annex.
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  83.  @mirekslechta7161  "Russia is our neighbour" - Ukraine is also Russia's neighbor. Georgia is also Russia's neighbor. Being Russia's neighbor seems to be a hassle and a half.
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  84. They're pulling out because they were defeated enough for the juice not being worth the squeeze. They committed far too many troops to a region that was reduced to 1/3rd of the supplies, even pulled the remaining professional units with elite status from other regions and put them through several months of fighting in subpar conditions. A tactical victory can still be achieved without mass surrender or total destruction of the enemy forces. The difference is that Ukraine did use defense in depth, Russia spent months in "not one step back" mode until they realized they were going to get defeated everywhere else by stubbornly standing their ground. Bashing the opponent's head in until he realizes he's gonna lose is a tactical victory on anyone's book, even without encirclement or rout.
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  85. Notice the poor grammar on the second sentence. Hmmmm.
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  86.  @davthatguy3052  Nah they burn it. You can't shut the tap off.
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  87. But the infantry is driven to the action in IFVs and uparmored vehicles like MRAPs. Instead of foot pace charges, armor blitzes in to drop troops and gets out of dodge to avoid becoming an ATGM magnet.
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  88. "Xaxaxa foolish Westoid, we didn't want Kherson" then why did you capture it?
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  89. We would need to restart extraction operations in gas fields we control but which damage houses, and build the infrastructure for LNG shipments. It's a matter of being able to do it, but we'd prefer if we didn't have to and now these things take months.
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  90. Your life really is waking up and immediately thinking about tr**ns.
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  91. America did initially, but requested assurances that the court wouldn't be weaponized by sore losers in case of intervention.
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  92. ​@mfallen6894 Soviets fought the Mujahideen. The Taliban came later.
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  93. They get weapons. Not money.
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  94. Why would the generals commit suicide just to protect the tsar? It's just easier to let him go.
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  95. Russia is printing rubles.
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  96. It's impossible to be discrete. The first fuze that fails will leave a shell with Chinese markings in Ukraine. Anyone with a cellphone can photograph it.
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  97. ​ @MrLeadb1  Actually, they did. The Kerch bridge was built not just as a vanity project but precisely because how much of a drain Crimea was on the state coffers.
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  98. Peace happens when Russia leaves.
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  99. If he was wrong, Ukraine wouldn't exist anymore.
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  100. The Vietnamese took massive casualties. The Tet Offensive had a bunch of deep infiltration attacks combined with conventional front line assaults and it was still an unmitigated disaster. The Viet Cong were nearly wiped out and the NVA had to send regular troops to fill their ranks. Like Russia is sending Russian men to DPR/LPR units to make up for the fact that they were nearly annihilated.
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  101. 3.4 billion people, what's their purchasing power like?
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  102. Not enough pipelines to shift to asia.
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  103.  @mikeincalifornia  NATO didn't invade Iraq.
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  104. The ATACMS uses the same pod as the 6 GMLRS used in HIMARS. Since when does it need a modification?
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  105. ​ @robbrown4621 Severodonetsk was captured last year... it was right before Lysychansk.
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  106. ​ @LaGrandeBayou  that's a post-hoc rationalization.
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  107.  @rh_BOSS  thanks for doing the research, I love 90s mall ninja LARPer magazines
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  108. THAAD is a defensive system. Finland will be NATO too, why would nukes in Finland be okay but not in Ukraine?
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  109. "And you also act if europe is the only one who needs gas" - The pipelines lead to Europe. They can't pick up the tubes and connect them somewhere else.
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  110. Plenty of African countries with a ton of resources.
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  111.  @migo2444  You deserve a medal for serving the Russian Armed Forces on the online battlespace.
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  112. The US and Russia need the EU. It's a large collection of potential client states with high GDP per capita.
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  113. Assault rifle is descriptive. Intermediate cartridge, magazine fed, select fire. You're confusing it with assault weapon.
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  114. lmao surrender when they're winning, change the script you bot
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  115. ​ @chucksingh9339  This stuff got me seeing Prighozin screaming for Shoigu. Smoking on that Shwartzkopf, rolling down the Highway of Death. Get Putin on the phone, I fronted him money for a brick! Plug called, said he had a line of lightly used Russian uniforms from Bakhmut.
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  116. Not true.
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  117. They have PMCs. Since the late 2000s I believe.
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  118.  @VikramRaaj9999  I'm the puppet for not buying Z telegram copium?
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  119.  @markomicovic5308  What corruption? What nationalism? They literally protested against their corrupt leader, and Russia invaded. It wasn't about nationalism.
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  120. Expansion of money supply is precisely what the inflation in inflation refers to. You don't want more money and the same goods. You want same money, more goods.
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  121. They were assault rifles.
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  122. We're paying the bill for two years of restricted economy and massive govt spending. The scale isn't even comparable.
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  123. And most geopolitical analysis channels also say that there's a limit on capacity. They can't afford to sacrifice European revenue, they'll need to complete the Power of Siberia 2 and use gas tankers.
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  124. ​ @Robespierre-II  Yeah there's analysts constantly looking at everything. For example some amateurs on twitter posted satellite pictures of scuff marks in Israeli airfields. A few hours later other analysts posted updated sat pics showing the supposed craters were clouds passing over the area. Hilarious. Obviously all countries have analysts doing this, but not for public consumption.
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  125. They can be arrested. Countries can break the treaty, they're just expected to suffer retaliation against their own diplomats.
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  126. ​ @bigdopamine9343  The difference is mostly academic. If a hypersonic can get smacked down on a straight line, a "maneuvering" hypersonic (with a turn radius the size of Belgium) can also get smacked.
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  127. ​ @MasterBlasterSr  the Teixeira leak showed 17k Ukrainian KIA vs 43k Russian KIA.
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  128. Western Europe isn't Siberia.
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  129. ​ @festekj  Air superiority isn't a cheat code. Air assets just get a better view of you getting bogged down in the mine fields and pre-sighted artillery kill zones.
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  130. ​ @emilsinclair4190  Trenches are easy to cross. Mines and artillery prevent you from getting close to cross them.
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  131. ​ @gingernutpreacher  Mine flails expedite the process but getting close enough to a minefield without ATGM teams, artillery and Vikhr missiles launched from 10km away taking pot shots at you is nearly impossible.
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  132. And it's not a betrayal from the American point of view?
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  133. ​ @askeladd60  Pushing up wages means that operating costs increase and thus products will become more expensive. During WW2 the US had such an issue, due to manpower sent overseas and wartime demand, wages started climbing too fast which forced the US govt. to impose a ceiling in wages.
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  134.  @askeladd60  No, lower unemployment can mean you're not able to produce goods and services because you lack workers. Everyone working for military factories is on a government handout. Their job only exists because of the government burning cash in a war.
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  135.  @askeladd60  Producing stuff isn't a goal by itself. Russia is being forced to produce stuff that will burn in Ukraine, rather than develop Russia. A lot of Russian production is meant to be wasted and thus will bring no economic return down the line.
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  136.  @askeladd60  No, it isn't. Overproduction will collapse the value of the goods. Leading producers to bankrupcy does not lower the cost of living. I didn't say lowering unemployment is negative by itself. I said that using such a metric with blinders on and ignoring everything else is ridiculous. Low unemployment can actually mean your labor force is insufficient. More territory. Okay. Does Russia get money from that territory? Is the real world Monopoly? Control of the Black Sea? The Black Sea fleet is getting dunked on. NATO isn't expanding. Ukraine will ask for NATO ascension after the war. And Finland asked too. Next stop, Georgia perhaps.
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  137. The remaining question is, how does this affect LeBron's legacy?
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  138. Why would they attack civilians, when they claim to be an alternative to Putin? Why would they need the border clashes, after all they are Russian citizens so they could have done the attacks at any time.
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  139. Not only would that lead to aircraft being shot down, a bridge can support and entire convoy of trucks. An aircraft can transport the equivalent of a big truck or a couple trucks depending on the aircraft. There's a limit to the tonnage. There's a reason we rely on shipping lanes and trucks/trains and reserve aircraft for priority cargo.
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  140. Of course not. The US if anything is doing "enemy of my enemy" with the Taliban as they fight ISIS K.
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  141. ​ @DementiaJoeGottaGo  So places within a walking distance of 2014 lines are better than taking over supply lines inside Russia?
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  142. ​ @sohamsuryawanshi118  it's THIS video 16:15
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  143. That's bad. When exporting, you want a low ruble so that you get paid MORE rubles. When the ruble increases in value, you get paid LESS.
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  144.  @lucianmuntean529  You don't understand basic economics. If you get paid 100 Rubles per barrel and now get paid 60 Rubles per barrel, you either pay workers less or you reduce hours/start layoffs.
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  145. Germany was winning ground daily in WW2.
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  146. Then why was the Nordstream turbine outside of Russian territory?
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  147. Why would the terms get worse? Russia gets to demand more severe terms by retaining the power to conquer Ukraine entirely. As time goes on, Russia has lost leverage. They have less tanks, less aircraft, less missiles than when they started. Their ability to threaten a worse fate is dwindling.
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  148. ​ @FalconfromRF  Ukraine isn't fighting for the West, 60% of Ukraine didn't like NATO according to polls before the war.
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  149. Gerasimov is not seen as a contender for the top spot. You're probably thinking of Patrushev.
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  150. I hate to lecture people, but all of those who were afraid of this happening had to stand their ground. Because so many left the country, now those who don't want to go to war are lacking in numbers and feel isolated. If 500,000 men started beating the snot out of Moscow police who'd be able to stop them?
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  151. Russia lost most of the firepower advantage when their ammo depots started blowing up.
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  152. The other side is complaining about combat mosquitos. Do you genuinely care about what they have to say?
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  153.  @WhiteWolf126  Nuclear codes are like padlocks. It prevents unauthorized access. If I simply take your locker out if the locker room and bring it home with me, the padlock is meaningless. I have physical access. I can use a bolt cutter and bust your padlock. I can cut a hole in the thin sheet metal. The padlock is only useful when everyone is watching me in public trying to rob your stuff. Ukraine with Soviet nukes could disassemble the safety mechanisms and replace them with new ones with Ukrainian codes.
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  154. How is he saving civilians by firing Iranian drones at them?
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  155. There's signs of shortages. They pulled ammo out of Belarus.
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  156. Meanwhile Putin begging Iran for drones.
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  157.  @Brewliciouscafe  Meanwhile Russia advancing all the way to Moscow.
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  158.  @Brewliciouscafe  And he's winning. Do you realize how utterly humiliating this is for Russia?
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  159. And they did - they were just too corroded to be used as weapons and the American troops who found them suffered neurological damage from the leakage.
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  160. Can you get housed inside an ATACMS missile? It's quite cramped inside.
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  161. Nah.
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  162. The injuries include concussions. How many boxers die from knockouts? It's a handful a year out of tens of thousands of matches (and hundreds of thousands of sparring sessions).
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  163. Relevance?
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  164. That's like saying you kicked a soccer ball and sent it flying 200km/h. That's impressive, but not how you score a game of soccer. Russia's obsession with crippling civilian infrastructure is not preventing their army from being sliced and diced on the actual battle. Kiev's power infrastructure can be rebuilt. Russia's army can't.
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  165.  @gogodaal7273  Stronger ruble = they get paid less per exports.
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  166. He sent Berkut to torture and kill protesters. He then decided to throw the police under the bus so they stopped protecting him. It wasn't a coup. The government had a vote.
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  167.  @paulsansonetti7410  "His price is way cheaper than what LNG will cost" - You forgot to add the cost in human lives. The gas is cheap, but it's paid for in blood. "their own country's continued existence should be a more primary concern for them" - Hm. Okay, Germany's existence... Russia... Remember when Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union? It's Germany's interest to not be subjugated by Russians again. Financing the Red Army is a threat to their existence.
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  168. Since 2014 they've been a walk's distance from Avdiivka.
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  169. The "war strategy" of getting punched hard for months.
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  170. The state department tried to keep Yanukovych in power.
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  171. What?
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  172. He won't. Xi already told him he couldn't.
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  173. lol they're being used as cannon fodder, the republics are done
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  174.  @DARKSTAR-mn8ee  DPR admits 10,000 losses. If we compare it to the US population, imagine if the US suffered 1.4 million casualties in a 4 month war. They're nearly done existing. The Russians showed up and enslaved them into a military force that's gonna leave the region dead and wounded.
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  175. There were a bunch of hot takes like German generals saying that they should just go around minefields instead of driving into them. Later a German general Dr. Freundling said that this is impossible in Ukraine as the minefield spans the frontline, but hot takes were indeed generated.
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  176. Relevance?
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  177. What a joke. They were never a NATO force. The "endless funding" was a pittance considering most of their equipment was still Soviet in origin. You're using eight years as a measure of time when effort is usually in a sane measuremdnt like man hours. A month in combat easily has more man hours than several years, because Bakhmut clearly does not have 8 years worth of man hours put into it. It's a town reduced to rubble. It was a temporary roadblock to reinforce the Kramatorsk line behind, but ended up stalling Russians there.
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  178.  @austinlevi3452  They were not NATO. The cities were not "fortified", otherwise Russian shelling wouldn't be so catastrophic.
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  179. According to game theory, yes. If you do not call the bluff, nuclear war becomes a when not "if". If you keep calling the bluff every time, you make sure it doesn't happen.
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  180. Because it's an admission that they don't want peace. They have to bet all the chips because the "muh peace" argument won't fly. The only way to have peace will be to defeat the self-admitted warmonger.
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  181.  @APW554  Both Milley (I know he's not a fan favorite) and two gentlemen who went on War on The Rocks to explain aid packages explained the issue. You have to account for what you have (unaccounted ATACMS missiles were found because they're spread out across multiple bases around the world), figure out what the pressing needs are, make plans, develop the training syllabus, order the refurbishment and repair of necessary equipment, train the crews, load the stuff on ships and trains, etc etc etc. When the invasion started, MANPADS and AT weapons were the focus because that was the most pressing need. If the government unlocks X amount of dollars in aid, you don't give them 1 F-16 and 10 tanks. You give them 5000 missiles which require an afternoon of training. After the aircraft and tank threats are minimized, then you send 100 tanks with the Y amount of dollars. Then when Z dollars of funding are unlocked you think about F-16s.
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  182. Russia shelled the reactor.
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  183. ​ @manoloorz  One of the best ATGMs in Ukraine is the Ukrainian-made Stugna.
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  184. That makes no sense. The capital is never left undefended. Those resources would never be sent to the South or East, so they were not taken away. It was just a waste of fuel, vehicles and lives. Mariupol was not easy at all.
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  185. This is because many in the Ukrainian army are Russian speakers, and when mobilized men reached the front they spoke Ukrainian - leading to Russians thinking they were Poles. This is just a mistake stemming from ignorance.
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  186. Aliexpress airsoft gear.
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  187. ​ @OzzyBloke  How is it the exact opposite of reality?
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  188.  @tomk3732  "Russia did not need foreign currency to make 100k T-34!" - They needed Lend Lease
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  189. Russian gains which will eventually be rolled back?
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  190.  @kommandokodiak6025  Bradleys will do the trick.
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  191.  @JohnCSmith-lp1qr  John Smith from Texas Oblast.
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  192.  @JohnCSmith-lp1qr  Doesn't matter, you speak like you're posting from St. Petersburg.
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  193.  @JohnCSmith-lp1qr  More like "superpower suicide by stepping full force on the bear trap". Remember Afghanistan? Still around. The Soviet Union? Not anymore.
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  194. So Russia gives NATO exactly what it wants by getting Russian soldiers killed, losing tankd and expending their munitions. Smart move.
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  195.  @Teeurbo  If it's Iranian territory isn't even more legal than if it were Syrian territory. They aren't spies. They're Quds force. They're not diplomats. They are war assets. It's a perfectly legal strike. The Vienna convention prohibits Syria from striking foreign embassies inside Syria. Not third parties.
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  196. People risked their lives on rafts to leave Cuba. People get shot at if they try to cross from North to Souty Korea. Iran needs a paramilitary force to keep their theocracy in power as the youth gets more liberal/progressive. Do these countries seem like they're doing well? Russia has no debt, because who'd trust them to pay back? Unemployment is low because many workers they needed are rotting in Ukrainian soil.
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  197. ​ @OzzyBloke  The US specifically passed laws to make Iraqi oil unprofitable. The Russians, Chinese and Frwnch did take Iraqi oil though.
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  198. Massive lol yeah let's go on vacations to authoritarian states to gain sympathy for their government who doesn't care about their own people
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  199. Russia isn't using Soviet defense in depth. They're using the "NO PANIC! LOOK AT THE MAP WE DIDN'T LOSE TERRITORY" defense which wastes manpower instead of ablating Ukraine's fighting force.
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  200. ​ @HouseholdDog  Reached the first line, gained localized artillery superiority, and reached the high ground near Tokmak. Kherson 2.0.
    1
  201. The republic of China existed before Maoist China. A better example would be Washington DC.
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  202. No, it didn't. There's no scorch marks on the underside, but the guard rails were bent outwards on top of the span. Meaning the explosion happened above the asphalt.
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  203.  @aykaykalash  Because it's beside the point?
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  204. When the US was in Afghanistan everyone talked about US incompetence and corruption, and not the Taliban losses.
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  205.  @shithead4767  "But just because of your mundane lives it doesn't mean that I should be a impacting me or my family." - Yeah, it shouldn't. Complain to whoever made you dependent on Russia.
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  206. Wishes don't come true.
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  207. Cope harder Vatnik.
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  208. ​ @BS-jw7nf  That's not shocking at all. All defenses are statistic. Even Floyd Mayweather got hit with punches. He still defended enough to win.
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  209. I love when Russia shills have /pol/ names, go back to /chug/ and fantasize about these Ukrainian loses you imagined between hits on your crack pipe.
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  210. All embassies are points of entry for spies. Countries can send things secretly inside diplomatic bags. And working at an embassy is a cover. So most likely he was the one in charge of the actual spies.
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  211. The European continent rebuilding from WWII made the US very wealthy. NATO ensuring that the US had a stockpile of weapons across an ocean served as a deterrent against Warsaw Pact invasion. Now you want the roles reversed and somehow Europe to turn back time and invest in military stockpiles instead of economic prosperity.
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  212. What pentagon papers?
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  213. ​ @samo6083  If a country has defensive measures overwhelmed, they go after the enemy's offensive capabilities.
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  214. ​ @Sub0x-x40  Iron Dome is meant to be used against cheap rockets. Not MRBMs or ICBMs.
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  215. The US assassinated a "top general" (also a leader of Quds force) who was behind attacks on US servicemen. It's war. He had American blood on his hands, he just never pulled the triggers. He got whacked. What goes around comes around, my guy. Stop crying for people who decided to live by the sword. When you decide to make a living out of this shadow war stuff, you accept the consequences.
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  216.  @StonedSpagooter  Does that mean they'll stop retreating soon?
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  217.  @StonedSpagooter  There's no locals anymore. Russian mobilized men are now staffing the LPR and DPR forces. Funnily enough, Russian nationals complain that LPR and DPR leaders mistreat them. Might be karma. They don't retreat. They send in reserves to the line of contact and avoid retreating at all costs. They fight for every inch because retreating means the map changes color, and the map not changing is the only thing that lets them tell the Russian population that the Ukrainians have failed.
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  218. Can Russia afford a conflict that's bleeding them by the billions every day it goes on?
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  219. And vatniks do krokodil.
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  220. But the US "lost" by... leaving as stated they would in a peace deal. The Taliban didn't chase the US out of the country. The US said "we're out, now be nice to each other". And the Taliban came crawling out from their holes as if they won a battle. The Mujahideen against the Soviets were way more ballsy.
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  221.  @russianslipperagent2689  A lot of equipment either cost more to ship back than just buy new, and a whole lot more belonged to the ANA. Sure, it was American in origin, but the ANA was the organization that had their stuff jacked. They couldn't pick up everyone because the ANA forces collapsed faster than the US could recover those people. Do you understand the world around you? If a doctor tries to save you from cancer but fails, that doesn't mean the cancer made the doctor run away. The US was out of the war, left, then tried to recover people who would be in danger if found by the Taliban and failed. Why are you trying to turn it into a man bites dog story when everything makes perfect sense the way things are?
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  222. Air support is occasionally used. Most assaults indeed use artillery. But there are secondary lines, protection holes, and overwatch positions. The barrage ends before the assault. That's when defenders know they're coming.
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  223. Their military potential is shot. They cannibalized training units to plug losses. Their air power is getting attrited every time they use it for real. They're pulling 1960s vehicles from storage.
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  224. Damn and despite that Russia can't beat them.
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  225. ​ @oohhboy-funhouse  in 2003 the US skipped the opening air campaign. In fact Saddam had planned for a 1991 style weeks long air campaign to soften his defenses before boots hit the ground, but Americans did what everyone least expected and rushed forward.
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  226. What? Literally nobody in charge looks at official statements for clues. They look at actions. Televised speeches are for the people at home with nothing better to do.
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  227. Minsk 2 was not implemented because the DPR forces attacked Debaltseve.
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  228. Those soldiers aren't going home, they're going to the next human wave attack against Bakhmut.
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  229. Serbs and Croats are African?
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  230. China and India are demanding massive discounts. They're not charities, they'll want to exploit Russia for their own profit. The infrastructure is also mostly tied to the West, so billions will have to be spent on new pipelines.
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  231. ​ @joshuapaul2022  Okay. Russian Major General Popov was relieved of command for admitting they lost localized artillery superiority. Ukraine is taking the high ground near Tokmak. Much like Antonovsky bridge was the catalyst for the Kherson retreat. The objective wasn't the territory. It was the Russian army. Ukraine's offensive tactics removed an important Russian capability (artillery) and the push was focused not on territorial gains but getting closer to choking out supplies.
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  232.  @joshuapaul2022  They don't need to be in Tokmak. They just need to lob shells at incoming rail supplies. According to WaPo they have numerical advantage in artillery. Paper numbers and real life aren't always the same. Russia had the advantage the whole time - why do they keep retreating? They had the advantage in Kiev. In Kharkiv. In Kherson. They keep losing. Muh gamechanger wunderwaffe glide bombs. What do they do that Iskanders and Tochkas weren't already doing? Astonishing rate? Then why does Ukrainian artillery claim around 30 Russian artillery pieces every day?
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  233.  @joshuapaul2022  Yes, just like Kiev, Kharkiv, Kherson, etc. all delusions.
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  234. Railways are repaired quickly. The crater is filled in, the twisted rail cut off, then new rail sections laid in place and welded to the rest of the track.
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  235. Damn they're fighting Russia with no weapons.
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  236.  @dfgiuy22  Your "hope" is that whoever gets the order is as senile as Putin and would rather destroy the world rather than just pick up a phone and tell the West he's going to surrender the nukes in exchange for immunity. Live a good life for the rest of your days, or die with Putin. Make your call.
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  237. Outnumbered in artillery, but Russia blasts holes in empty fields while Ukraine hits steel.
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  238.  @maryginger4877  Russia depends on rail even more, and Ukraine can shut down Russian rail for 12-24 hours by blowing the tracks any time they want.
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  239. Rheinmetall is producing more shells than the US right now.
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  240. Novichok-grade copium.
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  241. You can make a country run on fumes as long as everyone believes the charade. It's going to take several months of wages being withheld for people to refuse to work because many will work with no pay believing the next month they'll be paid in full. When the products stop coming out of factories and drivers refuse to deliver what is on warehouses, that's when chaos happens.
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  242. They'd get shot down. The jets flying over Ukraine seem to hug the ground to avoid radar, and the bombers seem to deploy mostly standoff missiles and tutn back to not enter too deeply into threat rings.
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  243. You're obessed with that man.
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  244. Because a S-300 knocked a Russian cruise missile off the sky?
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  245. Because a S-300 knocked a Russian cruise missile off the sky?
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  246.  @shdmd2118  If the bullet hit a terrorist and exploded his suicide vest, you don't need forgiveness. Ukraine wasn't shooting rockets at random. They brought down a Russian missile with a large warhead. The crater was too large for a SAM. Russian missiles with a thousand km range exist, and Belarus is only 80km away.
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  247.  @shdmd2118  By Russian missile.
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  248. Russia is smashing their skulls against their wall at Bakhmut. The cracks on the wall aren't as noteworthy as someone with the brain leaking out.
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  249. They wouldn't leave Kiev anyway. It was a stupid tactic. I guess their military planners are just stupid for not realizing the capital is never left undefended.
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  250. Horrible crimes comitted against civilians? Russians are cheering for those in Ukraine.
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  251. China brokering a deal only possible by Ukraine resisting in the battlefield and decrying the shipment of weapons that made it possible "escalation" is beyond disingenuous.
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  252. No.
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  253. Why would it happen?
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  254. Not really on the same category. The ATAMCS turns a rocket artillery system into a short range ballistic system. It's like if you had a vehicle that could be a Grad or a Tochka-U. Storm Shadow requires air launch so you need your multirole fighters to do the job. Keeping a large air force during peacetime is expensive, HIMARS don't leave the ground so you don't have that worry of a 60 million dollar jet crashing in a city.
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  255. ​ @zhop951  Well they're certainly not doing it.
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  256. What have you done for your country apart from whining?
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  257. False. Russian troops crossed the border first.
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  258. Russian cruise missile, Ukrainian interceptor.
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  259. You can't throw food and oil at a county to defeat it militarily. Russia is resorting to older and older vehicles. Soldiers can't load up on cakes. They need ammo, radios, armor plates.
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  260. Because rolling over a bridge takes 5 minutes. Preparing for river crossing requires prep time for armor. If you have to stand close to a river for an hour to change into amphibious mode you're getting pelted by artillery. And a lot of supply vehicles aren't amphibious.
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  261. They do. They literally filmed themselves firing AGM-88 HARM missiles, and American missile mounted on a pylon to work with the Soviet MiG-29 and Su-27.
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  262. They're sending T-55s into battle.
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  263. Defeating Russia inside that country does not require a nuclear exchange according to Russia's own nuclear doctrine.
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  264. Okay but they're doing a piss poor job considering that Ukraine will keep receiving more weapons.
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  265. The ships travelled at light speed? Why would the weapons be delivered in a port?
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  266. @jim Oneill State of the art Javelins from the 90s. You have a point - old American stuff is more high tech than modern Russian stuff.
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  267.  @Shakspier  the USSR was mauled in Finland and suffered great casualties in February this year in Ukraine. The "Russia STRONK in winter" is a meme.
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  268. If a team refuses to show up to a game, the other wins by forfeit.
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  269. ​ @donttellmymisses1581  Ukraine has ethnic Russians in their ranks. Ethnicity isn't a factor. It's Putin-worship vs freedom. Givi claimed Donbas should be independent from Ukraine and Russia, FSB shot a RPO Shmel at his office.
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  270. Combined arms doesn't mean you combine EVERY armament. You can do combined arms with artillery, armor (modern cavalry) and infantry.
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  271. It will flood the Russian side. That would kill more Russian troops than Ukrainians.
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  272. Still clicked and commented which helps the algorithm.
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  273. You're welcome to file a criminal complaint.
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  274. Nonsense. Ukraine wouldn't commit those troops to Donbas. The capital is never left undefended, and there's practical limits to how many can be deployed in the region. If you're right, the Russian military planners are beyond stupid. They had to come from the special ed class in the military academy. So if Vladivostok is invaded, these geniuses would send all troops around Moscow across the country to leave it undefended?
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  275. That's not what happened. The Taliban remained in hiding until the US left.
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  276.  @egroegny  But the NVA did have conventional fights against the US. Great, you reinvented the Stosstruppen from WWI. Creating defensive lines do nothing when Russia is content to just let the clock run out and keep the territory they have.
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  277. ​ @baneofbanes  all attackers were clones of Boris Johnson.
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  278. It's hard but honest work.
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  279.  @BjorckBengt  Mikahil from California Oblast
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  280. Hitching your wagon to the losing side is a nice cope.
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  281. ​ @yam2050  the gold backed idea was a disaster in the making.
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  282. They didn't hold back. They shot missiles at the capital and levelled Mariupol. Citizens to join? They took citizens into alleys and basements and shot them.
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  283. ​ @thebaldidiot  You're the one who said "Israel attacks Gaza" rather than say "Hamas attacks Israel".
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  284. The only way to stop is for Putin to get the Qaddafi treatment. That will only happen after Ukraine gets all the aid it needs.
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  285.  @denism8494  In cases of spying, intelligence agencies have ways around the legal system. For example after 9/11 suspicion of terrorism essentially stripped you away of legal rights.
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  286. Most of their equipment is Soviet/Russian. NATO equipment is actually lower in numbers. Even the tanks they got from Poland aren't "Western", they're upgraded T-72s from the Soviet era. And they'll get T-55s upgraded to 1990s technology from either Slovakia or Slovenia, I don't remember.
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  287. Oh no, the 25th charge on Bakhmut. Surely it will work this time.
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  288. ​ @Typexviiib  Ukraine and Georgia were supposed to join a NATO ascension program in the 2000s. But it was walked back because it pissed Russia off.
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  289. The US spends 1.5 trillion in medicare and medicaid.
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  290. Another nuke threat? After 9 months it'sa little stale.
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  291. I ordered my hot sauce an hour ago.
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  292. Since Harambe got clipped we have been living in that.
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  293. >"Kherson is Russia" >leaves >refuses to elaborate
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  294. It's fighting one country with ancient hand me down gear.
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  295. Houthis are attacking unrelated ships. Ukraine was invaded. It's self defense. Russia is at war. Innocent ships headed to Europe are not at war.
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  296. The Iron Dome is a cheap short range system meant to take out the cheapest rockets fired by Hamas. Also, deploying decoys is hardly new. Russian Iskanders did that in Ukraine and it was a secret feature we didn't know about until Feb 2022. Pretty much all MIRV warheads for nukes featured "penetration aids" (lol) in the form of decoy warheads and chaff to confuse radar and optical tracking.
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  297. They're making a ton of money by selling more. They're having to sell a higher volume to make up for the fact that they earn less.
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  298.  @1969nitsuga  Europe transfers to an account in their banks, which makes the exchange for rubles. When the ruble value increases facing the dollar, it means that instead of getting paid more they get paid less. Say the dollar is trading for 100 rubles, and oil prices are 100 dollars per barrel. That means one barrel of oil is sold for 10,000 rubles (100x100). If the ruble increases and trades 50 to one dollar, and oil price stays at 100 dollars per barrel, now you only get 50x100 = 5,000 rubles. If your employees in this gas company get paid a thousand rubles per month (for simplicity's sake), selling an oil barrel with the old ruble would allow you to employ ten people that month. If the ruble value increases against the dollar like in the example, now each oil barrel only lets you employ 5 people instead of 10. Do you understand now? Having a strong ruble helps imports and hurts exports. When many goods now can't be imported and you still depend on exports to finance your country, the strong ruble actually means you get paid less when selling the same volume. Russia cannot work under the gold standard. There's not enough gold in the world to back the economy. You fell for a stupid piece of news designed to fool people, for a couple of months Russia had a ruble/gold trade scheme and then stopped. Stop trying to make the gold standard happen. We have more material value laying around in the world than there is gold.
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  299.  @1969nitsuga  It was an example, am I talking to someone who doesn't understand examples? Russia is definitely having problems. A strong ruble means little when other nations are selling to you, because they know they can't take their rubles elsewhere. So in the end, you're still dependent on exports. They have not prepared. Half of their preparations was sitting outside of Russia, and it got seized as part of the sanctions. That's being poorly prepared. Their operational manufacturing infrastructure depends on machines and components imported from the West. They don't control China. China is buying at a massive discount. China is exploiting them. You're welcome to trade your life savings for rubles and put the literal money where your mouth is.
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  300. Copium.
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  301. ​ @funki4896  No matter the language? How about Mandarin?
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  302. ​ @Kuksha51  There was no genocide. Only 21 people died in 2021.
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  303. Amazing how all you people use different numbers. Most of the Ukrainian Army was in the East, Kiev was mostly Territorial defense. Despite having no navy Ukraine has destroyed two ships, and they're hitting fuel depots in Russia too.
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  304. And Russia is competitive? Their cars have no airbags and their weapons are based on Western imports through shell companies which are being discovered.
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  305. Hope isn't gonna save them.
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  306.  @migo2444  What good is sovereignty is when you have to sell yourself at a discount to India and China?
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  307. Mafias buy businesses, use real money in bribes, etc. Do you think they pay off chiefs of police or customs agencies with crypto?
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  308. Russia could get the support of 30 countries if they were a nicer country. All they do is invade and threaten nuclear war so they asked for this.
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  309. Why? They film tiktoks and cry when under real combat.
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  310. The MiG-31 is an upgraded MiG-25. The Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft in Ukrainian use are more modern. The AIM-54 Phoenix missile wasn't that great at shooting down fighters at the edge if its range. Ukraine has NATO AWACS aircraft circling around and tipping them off about anything that's in the air. You think this MiG-31 is that useful? A long range missile shot needs to be fired from high altitude to minimize drag. At high altitude a fighter exposes itself to Ukrainian SAMs.
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  311.  @clutteredchicagogarage2720  I think I have seen it, an article by David Axe. Honestly, I don't like the guy very much because he also posted the 2015 F-35 flight test report and wrote an article about how the F-35 can't dogfight. But he totally misunderstood what the document said.
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  312. Yeah and a thousand women and their children were bombed by Russia. Nice sob story, Ukraine has hundreds more and you're complaining that you want to pay for more slaughter.
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  313. ​ @ads401-  NS2 was blocked by Germany. There was no need to attack NS2. Plus, it was NS1 that got destroyed, with NS2 being 50% disabled. By your own logic, Biden never spoke about NS1 so the US is innocent.
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  314.  @travelfreak2  He was only chased out because the pro-Yanukovych security forces realized they'd be charged with murder of protesters and Yanukovych would get immunity. When the security services refused to protect Yanukovych he suddenly remembered he needed protection. It was his fault he had to flee.
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  315.  @ajaykumarsingh702  "According to official data" you mean Russian official data?
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  316. The UK paid back their WWII debt in 2006. They'll be given a long time to repay.
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  317.  @johnc2438  you should buy crypto with the hope that it's a token of exchange that can't get messed with by the state. If you buy it to make money, you're just the reason why a good thing is now awful.
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  318. Your wishes are late.
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  319. Donbas cannot be independent, it's an empoverished war zone populated by elderly people and Russian criminals. They depended on Russian funding (70% of the DPR state budget was paid by Russia) and people driving to West Ukraine and collecting government pensions. It's not self-sufficient and will need billions in aid to be rebuilt.
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  320.  @Silver_Prussian  it was a target
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  321.  @jonathanlivingstonseagull3378  if they didn't intend to, then they wasted resources and lives. VDV air assaults, special forces and the OMON troops armed with riot gear. Killed holding their shields. Supposed to pacify civilians, met territorial defense with real guns and real bullets.
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  322.  @VikramRaaj9999  They didn't remove the president, he fled the country because he didn't want to get prosecuted for the deaths of protesters. The parliament had a vote to relieve him of his duties since he was missing.
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  323.  @jonathanlivingstonseagull3378  They wouldn't interfere anyway. What's worse? Getting defeated on the road to Kiev? Or having such an idiotic tactic you lose men and vehicles on a fake offensive that doesn't change anything? It didn't "work" because the exact same thing would be achieved by doing nothing. The capital is never left undefended.
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  324. But Russia already found out French deployments in Ukraine two years ago. Where are the nukes?
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  325. Why are you coping? Yes, if one side is retreating the other can make the choice not to chase to avoid casualties. Nobody knows why? We all know why. They're undersupplied and tired from fighting for months with no rotation.
    1
  326. You can. Air power isn't a cheat code. Most air forces do not have the power of the USAF (or even US Navy).
    1
  327. One of the situations mentioned involved the Biden administration...
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  328. The pain inflicted on civilians will not hinder the soldiers. If anything, the soldiers will be motivated to ease the pain. I'll let your mind wander and picture what hell the Ukrainian soldiers want to unleash on invaders.
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  329. Because they'd have to admit they don't want peace. Sorry, I know some people have thick skulls, but most will understand when Russia says "thanks for helping us in the name of peace, but we never wanted peace, we just wanted help". How will all the fifth columnists go on and on about wanting the war to end after Putin outright states that until he gets Gaddafi'd the war won't end?
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  330. The only theory blaming the US is full of lies and mistakes.
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  331. The wires were crossed on the story. Supposedly solid fuel chunks were used as fuel tablets. Liquid fuel rockets (which are stored empty and only fueled prior to use) could have been tested for leaks by filling them with water.
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  332. A strong ruble means they get paid less. A weak currency means you get more of it on exports. Also, they're being forced to sell at a massive discount. They're giving up their commodities. India and China are profiting by stealing the bread out of Russian mouths and Putin allowed it.
    1
  333. ​ @Socrates21stCentury  If they were not afraid, why not strike directly?
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  334. Consider the following: Ukrainian troops at a low level are NATO trained but commanders aren't which makes unit coordination harder and limits the size of offensive actions. This lead to early attempts to use massed assaults to get bogged down. Ukraine switched to smaller unit tactics, which are slower and methodical to limit the losses seen in the early attempts. You're judging the alternate method for not working like the first method (which was stopped in its tracks). In the meantime, Russia is an artillery army. Their victories mostly came from relentless pummeling of Ukrainian positions. Ukraine made the deliberate effort to take out Russian artillery tubes, to the point a Russian Major General was relieved of command for admitting they lost artillery superiority at a local level. Russia is also losing the high ground near Tokmak, whoch means future Ukrainian operations will focus on choking out Russian rail supply. How is Russia losing artillery and getting their supply line threatened a clear Russian success? Food for thought.
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  335. @@first-and-last the US actually cut off aid under the Trump admin
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  336.  @alopam  It was a Russian warhead. It didnxt match S-300 150kg warhead craters, but it matched 400kg Russian warheads.
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  337.  @Stychinsky  Craters in Enerhodar city and the Rosatom spokesperson prove it was Russia shelling the plant. He tried to convince the IAEA that Ukrainian rockets do a 180 degree flip before landing.
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  338. The popular vote is a meaningless metric because each state has delegates that vote on behalf of their state. If the rules changed, you'd have a point.
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  339. If the attrition favors Russia, why are they the ones resorting to Chinese golf carts and motorbikes?
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  340. Housing for example is suffering from greatly increased demand with a severely choked supply. That's not "inflation". That's just real estate demanding a massive premium.
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  341. ​ @Draxynnic  Housing costs are part of Chinese capital flight, countryside exodus, "digital nomads", etc. and not inflation. It's not that your money buys less house. Houses are pure and simply worth more than your money.
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  342.  @Draxynnic  But the issue is that you're talking about a capital asset (real estate) and increase in value of a capital asset is called appreciation. Inflation is measured with a broad price index. A single product or service being subject to supply and demand would knock inflation calculations out of whack. Imagine if we tried to calculate inflation based on price gouging of hand sanitizer in 2020. Inflation will increase prices of housing by increasing the nominal value of property, cost of materials, etc. but housing crisis are not inflation. It's simply us all trying to live relatively close to civilization so we can have jobs and schools rather than live in the middle of nowhere in those small towns that give away free land if you move there.
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  343.  @Draxynnic  But housing is counted towards some inflation metrics. It's just weighed down by other goods not inflating as much.
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  344.  @Draxynnic  And most of that inflationary pressure came from the 2020 world event which wrecked supply chains and made goods on hand extremely valuable while laying down huge uncertainty for future restocking. Which is why monetary policy is focused on subdued demand to prevent a spiraling of raising costs. Sadly, we can't count on the next ship to come deliver more housing to our shores. We have to tear down the old stuff and build new. Takes longer than stocking shelves.
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  345.  @Draxynnic  True. But again, the population was moving towards population centers. If you just want housing, there's worthless land all over the country. You just don't want to move there because you'll have no emergency services, no schools, no jobs. There's physical limits to how much housing we can cram into a place without knocking down entire blocks and building from scratch. The switch to remote work could have alleviated some pressure but many corporations are still clinging to the office and requesting 1-2 days of office work for supposedly "remote" jobs.
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  346. I see you don't understand anything.
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  347. Is it? I'd say it's because you don't make enough to be worth taxing. If you were truly successful the IRS would be hounding you.
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  348. ​ @alexorehowski3387  If you give reason to believe defenses will fail, Israel will go after the launch platforms.
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  349.  @commandoslayer  I heard that hospital was where all the Kremlin big wigs and oligarchs are treated. It's reasonable that a former Soviet leader was on the same hospital.
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  350. How is it the Russian game? Russia's demographics and equipment stockpiles simply do not allow for it. Bookmark this link, I want to see your response when the next frontline collapse happens, Mr I Don't Care.
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  351. Source: Shoigu
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  352. We also remember what happened to the nation fighting against US aid.
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  353.  Nadeer  They're getting cut off at Izium.
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  354.  Nadeer  So? Russia still losing.
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  355.  Nadeer  Watch the Russian sources, they're admitting that they're losing.
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  356. The gas is being burned, the flaring is seen from space.
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  357. First, I'm pretty sure the Soviet Union itself killed 30 million. Their concern trolling about Nazism is a sham. Second, Minsk II was immediately broken by DPR forces with their assault on Debaltseve a day after it was signed.
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  358.  @doublehelix7880  You're changing the subject. Did Russia invade US for awarding medals to American soldiers who fought against the influence of the Soviet Union in Vietnam? No. If you're worried about statues and street names on a foreign country, you're mentally ill. Nice strawman. Nobody said nobody died in WWII.
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  359. Because if you were an American sailor during WW2 and fell overboard you couldn't be chalked up as a death caused by Germans or Japanese.
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  360.  @baneofbanes  either copium or krokodil.
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  361.  @GodSoulNight  I thought global warming was going to prevent that.
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  362. ​ @GodSoulNight  Yeah, cope and seethe. Russians are a dead empire, it's time to start accepting it instead of throwing your weight behind the losing team.
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  363. Nice cope.
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  364. Most of the weapons we sent are outdated and combat proven, they don't need any testing.
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  365.  @lordjarjar5805  So why not stay on the Western side?
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  366.  @lordjarjar5805  Again, I ask why not stay on the Western side? The right bank of the Dnipro is higher than the left bank. Russians are moving to the area that wil be washed away, while Ukrainians will stay feet dry if they chose to strike the hydro dam. Which they won't, because the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant needs a certain water level.
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  367. Because the VDV is doing the actual fighting.
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  368. No. It's just "globalization by choice" and "globalization by conquest". Lisbon to Vladivostok is globalism under an iron fist.
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  369. Youtube don't care.
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  370. Well, there's multiple theories that deals have been made. China, maybe the Iranian ballistic missiles, etc. I think it's because the USMC is retiring tube artillery and testing the use of HIMARS from the decks of ships. ATACMS would be an addition to helicopters and F-35B jump jets, so the US can't just give them out without depleting stocks that could be needed in the Pacific.
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  371. We have economics students in the comments saying they agree woth the black magic comment.
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  372. It was a real front where real people died. No troops were drawn because they were territorial defense and would not leave the capital undefended. Everyone who died there died for nothing. You got it wrong, because you get your information from Russian pundits. They laugh all the way to the bank, where they have Euros and Dollars rather than Rubles, earned by lying to people like you. Just answer one question? Would you have volunteered for the "feint"? Would you toss you life away to draw away troops that would never leave the capital if you weren't there? Would you serve Putin like that?
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  373. Well, they're not acting that independently when they're coordinating attacks.
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  374. Their army was 250k. It only increased to 650k with mobilization. The NATO training was only offered to 30-50k men at most.
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  375. ​ @triggerwarning5762  but are people in Germany and Poland coming to Kiev just for the clubs?
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  376. ​@@JulianKazmier-vo3fn "muh nukes"
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  377. ​@@JulianKazmier-vo3fn Yes, Ukraine is the home of the Rus people. But Russia isn't the Rus.
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  378.  @TheBobVova  They took the name of the Rus. Marketing is always a trick.
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  379.  @TheBobVova  There's 195 replies on this thread, put some context into that question.
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  380.  @alexnguyen1284  Mind that cartels bought and built resorts as a way to launder money so usually they don't want bad stuff to happen where the gringos go. If Ukraine had a financial interest in bringing Russians to Crimea despite the war, they'd keep the attacks away from tourist destinations.
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  381.  @TheBobVova  "Russia = Rus" that doesn't make any sense. I can call myself Italian but that doesn't make me Italian. Russia named itself after the Rus. But it's just a name. Like calling oneself the Holy Roman Empire.
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  382.  @TheBobVova  The Rus settled in Kiev. Centuries later the Muscovites, former Mongol vassals, called themselves Russians to pretend to be inheritors of the Rus.
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  383.  @TheBobVova  Why would Europeans pretend to be the inheritors of the Roman empire?
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  384. Defending his hide-n-seek championship belt
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  385. It's not so much resources but the fact that the Russian state won't be able to justify why Ukrainians got wealthy and Russians stay impoverished, so they have to keep an easily influenced puppet in power or inflict poverty into Ukraine. This whole mess started because Putin thought Yanukovych had double-crossed him and was going to sign the deal with the EU when the negotiations between the government and the opposition started. The FSB attempted to have uprisings in Odessa and Kharkiv as well, but those failed. It just so happened that Luhansk and Donetsk managed to gather enough support. Putin tossed a large net and only a couple of fish got caught, I wouldn't call it coincidence that it was the most Eastern regions that had success but the fact that there's overlap with gas fields is at best an afterthought.
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  386. Because those billions are decades old vehicles and missiles gathering dust. You can't give them to Americans as aid.only spend them, or put them in the desert and rig them with EOD charges.
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  387. It's not money, it's weapons. How do you help people with a decades old missile or IFV?
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  388. They also pulled troops from the far east bases guarding the borders, sailors, strategic rocket forces guys, etc. who need replacements.
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  389.  @Rick-kw2ti  How is the US Dollar not a bunch of Ponzi schemes?
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  390. It was a consulate annex. Not the consulate itself according to the sources online.
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  391. The general staff of the Russian armed forces confirmed it.
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  392.  @christianvachon2235  First, that's the Russian excuse. We know their strikes are woefully inadequate in terms of accuracy, yet they nail a smuggled weapons cache? Stupid things? How did the weapons arrive to the port during the blockade?
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  393.  @christianvachon2235  How was it a blow? You literally provide no evidence, you're just telling a tale. How did it get past Istanbul?
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  394.  @christianvachon2235  "How they got them was unclear" - You mean it was made up. "it could have been via either Bulgaria, or Romania and not from Istanbul" - Then how come this wasn't done before? "For the US, that meant a heavy loss in money" - Well, Russia already lost more in the Saki air base. "Russia had more ways of tracking weapons transfers than known" - Pure conjecture. You have not proven there were weapons, or that Russians knew there were weapons. "Russia was very adamant that they would not allow NATO weapons transfers to Ukraine and destroy them" - NATO weapons still clapping their cheeks every day, though. "sealing of the coasts prevented weapons transfers close to the conflict zones" - Weapons have been entering Ukraine since day one. "The Russians issued their statement and its likely true" - It's a lie like everything they say. They offer zero evidence and lie through their teeth every day. "But Ukraine is currently understocked" - Damn and still destroying Russian stockpiles with precision. Absolute Chads, those Ukrainians. "I am not trying to excuse the Russians but explain what is happening." - Your explanation is based on believing everything the Russians say, uncritically.
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  395. A grand total of a handful per country. Did you know there are also US Marines deployed in Moscow right now? They're the embassy guard. Those handfuls of guys are protecting diplomatic buildings and their staff.
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  396. They aren't intact. Veterans? Of what wars? Afghanistan in the 80s? They're elderly at this point. Chechnya 1? Also a little old, also that war went tits up. Chechnya 2 or Georgia? They already fought for Wagner, Redut, etc which suffered so many losses they started recruiting non-military people and prisoners.
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  397. Cope lmao
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  398. The Mujahideen had US backing. The Taliban mostly hid as they got slaughtered. The guys who "won" Afghanistan in 2021 basically destroyed a country and lost their fathers to 18-19 year old American kids trying to pay for college or a Dodge Charger. Is that what we want for Ukraine? Have 20 years of "Z safari" where Russians go into Ukraine for sport and then come back for book deals and podcasts?
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  399. No, it's to both not provoke Russia but also threaten against escalation. The more Russia pushes the more weapons we give. They turn up the heat, we turn up the heat on them. If we open the floodgates they'll panic and do something horrible.
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  400.  @the11382  "LNG can be transported by truck as well" - delusional...
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  401.  @TheFlyingFish692  Yes, because their buildings keep collapsing. Tofu dreg
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  402. Bro. Russia broke Minsk I within the first 24 hours. Please stop listening to washed up politicians cope and try to look like master strategists. Russia attacked and seized Debaltseve right after signing. Minsk II fell apart with the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport. Russia used the scheme. Merkel sold you COPIUM to pretend she didn't get played and you believed her.
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  403. ​ @lexburen5932  What brain? Minsk I and II were broken by Russia.
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  404. NATO mercs ahahah take your meds
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  405. But the US "won" in Vietnam. It was North Vietnam that broke the peace deal and the US cut their losses and abandoned South Vietnam.
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  406. The problem is that even if you started a hasty restart procedure, you'd have to wait until next Autumn at least. The plants are being decommissioned, which means many parts will need to be remanufactured or refurbished and the plant recertified to work again. For them to continue to run this winter, you'd have to breach nuclear safety protocol.
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  407. Which is an insane plan. Most troops in Kiev were territorial defense, while most of the Army was fighting in Donbass. The capital is never left undefended. There's also a limit on the troop density that can be deployed, as sending more people to Donbass would cause even more strain on supply lines. By your own logic, Russia comitted a massive blunder by wasting money, lives, vehicles, fuel, munitions, etc on a distraction that was useless.
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  408. They bombed their own apartments to kick off the second Chechen war. They considered Kherson Russia and abandoned it like a redheaded stepchild. It's clear that they don't see Novorossiya as "real" Russia.
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  409. If they're not under pressure why leave?
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  410. The US has pledged to join as long as they are assured they won't be unfairly targeted. Lots of sore losers after intervention.
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  411. Considering the footage of the Russian assaults and the fact that Russia is now visibly using African and Asian foreigners as troops, yeah.
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  412. Crypto was born to be decentralized. The fact that scammers picked up on it doesn't mean you can rewrite history. The Miss Something scammers are also using normal trading in their scams, not just crypto.
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  413. I see Russia losing artillery superiority and the high ground next to Tokmak as a success.
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  414. So what will you say when Russia abandons Zaporizhzhia? Here's some minimal knowledge of military strategy - what do you say when your main rail supply line for the entire front is being threatened by the enemy taking the high ground?
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  415. He took a picture in a gas station geolocated in the Rostov region in the beginning. One of his personal friends also got clipped in the first days as a Kadyrovite convoy so he ordered Kadyrovite forces to remain as second and third echelon forces to spare them from frontline combat.
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  416. The US used a volunteer force, not conscripts. They signed up.
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  417.  @PRubin-rh4sr  Okay, the point is that Russia can do that to civilians. The civilians have to obey military orders and fight the useless war. At least the soldiers who went to Iraq knew beforehand there was always a risk they'd go to war.
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  418. Because it's cheaper to wait for an old building to get knocked down and put the insulation on a new building.
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  419. The US is trying to negotiate a ceasefire while Israel wants to fight to the end. How is a proxy calling the shots?
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  420. A single man named Putin did.
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  421. Iron Dome doesn't target MRBMs. Stop guessing.
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  422. Lots of places, no pipelines.
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  423. They don't have the capacity to divert the European market to the East.
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  424.  @caravantravels-r7w  At capacity.
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  425. ​ @neurofiedyamato8763  love the implication that Vietnam is in the southern hemisphere.
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  426. Extremely high risks for Russia. You got it backwards, bub. If they fail, they've killed one of their industries.
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  427. ​ @locomotive9122  obsessed
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  428. They already levelled Eastern Ukraine, they conscripted the "Russian people" and killed them by using them as suicidal assault detachments and recon by fire elements.
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  429. Ukraine invaded regions that were annexed the day after. If Ukraine can wage war against Russia, literally take territory Russua claims as theirs, and not get nuked, how is an arrest an act of war?
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  430.  @johncarter9054  That got a chuckle out of me.
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  431. Xi already told him to not use nukes. Putin knows things will be worse for him if he uses a nuke than if he just loses.
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  432. It would require more transport, which Russia pays for. India wants a good deal, not giving away charity.
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  433. They won't cross the river - they're already on both sides in Zaporizhzhia.
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  434. Meanwhile Russians are forced to die in Western owned fields. You didn't think about that.
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  435.  @brickleberry7829  I'm not blindly following anything or any narrative. The fact is that Kherson is no longer Russian. How's that for independent thought? Mr blindly follows the Russian narrative.
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  436. The war was monitored by international observers. 21 people died in 2021, including mines and unexploded munitions harming civilians by accident.
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  437.  @federicox8484  But that's their blindspot. If we allowed Russia to do whatever they wanted, they'd be knocking on Italy's door soon.
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  438.  @militaristaustrian  the imaginary losses from Igor K. at the Ru MoD. Russian OSINT calculated 25k irrecoverable losses (KIA and crippled) by correlating figures and statistical data from artillery-heavy wars at around the post-Severodonetsk mark. This was the point where the Russian military hit the hardest, and the Ukrainians were taking the most losses. You're trying to claim that Ukraine suffered over half of these losses in just a month, month and a half despite of the fact that at that point they were better trained, the Russian forces were past the tipping point and had their ammo supplies and ground lines of communications attacked?
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  439.  @militaristaustrian  Not if they're only fighting with 1/3rd of the supplies. Trashed equipment doesn't mean much. Ukraine was losing 200 per day for like a week. Zelensky said that ONCE, several months ago, and you're extrapolating that to 8 months. Stop playing. Ukraine cancelled conscription. They have enough troops.
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  440. Same thing was said about Izium. Same thing was said about Lyman. Always a trap... then it isn't.
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  441. Nice cope.
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  442. Defenders would be fixed in place no matter what. A literal child would understand that. The capital is never undefended. There's a practical limit on how many people can be deployed in the Eastern front. Either the Kiev offensive failed, or Russian military planners have below 80 IQ. They should have known it would ve impossible for those troops to be diverted elsewhere. Everyone who died in that "feint" died for absolutely nothing. Who would fight for a country who'd get him killed like that?
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  443.  @ftboomer1  The fact is that they did - by virtue of trying to move West and South to cut off highways leading to Kiev. Stop changing the subject, Z-boy. Say if you'd be willing to die in the feint, Z-boy.
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  444.  @ftboomer1  And how many will die to kill those 100,000, Z-boy? Can you tell me the expected casualty rates suffered in offensive vs defensive operations, Z-boy? You're pounding at the keyboard with glee for death because it's not your blood being spilled. People like you deserve to be sent wearing the Z to the frontlines.
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  445.  @joshhanklon  1. Russian media accidentally let it slip that the government intended to win in 3 days. 2. Russia used Minsk II to attack Ukraine. So accusations that Ukraine ignored Minsk are lies.
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  446.  @MattMajcan  So you're saying they hinged on a quick victory, but saying they did is hilarious. Okay. It's still a failure, and their performance clearly indicates they weren't ready for a real war.
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  447.  @trevorcrook5753  In a sense, they will end it. By either leaving, or by the last man falling.
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  448.  @trevorcrook5753  They're pulling out T-55s from storage now. Russian attrition is incredibly high.
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  449. Funny, they claim to be self-reliant... why was the turbine outside Russia?
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  450. If they destroy the dam they flood their own defensive positions on the left bank.
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  451.  @LudosErgoSum  There was no trap. They just ran away.
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  452. Cope harder lol
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  453. The problem is that time and time again the leaders trend towards hypocrisy while followers are blinded by idealism. Are they really willing to pay the ultimate price just for the next generation to benefit?
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  454. Copium overdose.
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  455. No, I expect Russia to crumble. We'll get all the cheap gas we want once their empire falls.
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  456.  @mirekslechta7161  "Russia is not USSR" - The USSR collapsed only about 30 years ago. Many in power are still Soviets. Putin was KGB. " We want to get along with Russia since they are our important neighbour" - The "important neighbor" invades and slaughters the people around it. Why would you want to get along with that butcher?
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