Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "Binkov's Battlegrounds" channel.

@ivangalik7848 You like Russia so much, you should go there to see what it is really like. I think you would very rapidly change your mind about how great it is. Just ask most of the Eastern European nations who joined NATO as soon as they could. It's also why Ukraine wanted to join NATO - to be protected from the very nasty neighbor to the east.
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That is the crux of the matter - the Chinese don't give out data on their aircraft. We have no idea what their capabilities are. And we also have no idea how capable the Chinese pilots are either. Failures with either factor or both (aircraft capability and pilot capability) will severely impact the efficiency of the Chinese Air Force.
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Of course, one thing that wasn't mentioned here is that open terrain means greater visual range and being able to attack tanks and other vehicles from a greater distance. If the Russians get stuck on the roads again (because of the Rasputitsa), can anyone say "shooting gallery"?
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I agree that one thing Binkov did not cover was the Russian economy. I watched Joe Blogs videos on the Russian economy, and in January 2023 they ran a 1.78 trillion ruble deficit ($23 billion USD). Their spending was up 58.7%, while revenues were down by 35% (oil and gas revenues were down by 46.4%). Their budge for February was just as bad, and as of February 28th this year, Russia has spent around 80% of its annual budget! They are rapidly heading towards bankruptcy.
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One should also remember that Ukraine has been training with NATO in some recent exercises, so their officer corps has seen first-hand how to fight properly rather than use brute force to win. Outside of their elite forces, they regular forces are not well trained and obviously lack the ability to use combined arms warfare. Also, all of Russia's most recent wars have been essentially curb-stomping opponents who could not fight back (Georgia, Syria, Ukraine in 2014). Now they are facing a professional or semi-professional force equipped with weapons that can hurt them in terrain that currently favors the defender (Rasputitsa and urban warfare). To me it is obvious that the Russians never did learn from their mistakes in Afghanistan, or have forgotten the lessons they learned.
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No, Putin wants to get rid of Ukraine as an independent state. An independent Ukraine joining the EU would still be a showpiece of what western economics can do for a country. Can't have someone next door who can illustrate how bad your policies are.
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Something you didn't mention here is the amount of damage caused by the AP rounds. Yamato's rounds had a larger and more powerful bursting charge, so hit for hit Iowa would take more damage. In a battle like this, I think the side that could find the range and start landing damaging hits first would likely win.
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@jakubz3177 If the general populace doesn't rise up first. Plus he seems to be targeting the very people who support him now. We can hope the Russian people depose him.
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Still, two major issues have plagued the Russian attack. First, for some reason, the Russian High Command ignored/underestimated the effect if the Rasputitsa, which has confined all their armoured assaults to the main roads. All these paved roads emanate from cities like spokes on a wheel, so you have to go through urban areas. This suggests that it was probably Putin, not the military, who is truly in charge of the attack. There is a reason why most combat in Russia during WW2 occurred between May-September and November-March. Second, the Russian logistical planning obviously sucked. If you are using rations that expire in 2012 and cannot keep you vehicles fueled, you aren't going to do too well. So, extremely poor planning all round. Oh, and they haven't developed techniques for suppressing AA missile systems like the US has. So chucking that 40-mile long convoy on another axis would have only given the Ukrainians a better chance to win because they could have focused their defenses on a narrower front.
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@Artem_Shepelev You obviously never heard the term "Russification". Russia has been trying to stamp out Ukrainian language, literature and culture since the mid-1800s. The Communists retained the practice, and from Putin's speech he intends to continue trying. I know this first-hand, because I visited Ukraine shortly after the fall of the USSR.
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Ruskie Troll.
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@Throki Well, we haven't seen the T-14 Armata. Then again, it is possible that it has too many teething problems to deploy. Including possible issues with the autoloader and driving using video displays only. The latter could be creating issues with the crew's vestibular organs (based on what an Abrams tank commander said), leading to nausea and actually reducing combat effectiveness.
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They are also handing out Ladas, chocolate cakes and water park tickets instead of hard cash as survivor benefits to families. I'm not joking about this!
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@CanComp You forgot to mention the Russians like to send people to infiltrate your country and try to overthrow your legitimate government, then replace it with one of their own puppet governments.
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I think Ukraine is playing a cagey game of making Russia pay for each kilometer of territory, then pulling out when it can no longer justify the cost of holding it. It is the classic strategy of trading space for time. The other thing that has been reported is that the Ukrainian forces in the Donbass are outnumbered by the Russians. If so, where are the Ukrainian troops? I suspect Ukraine is preparing a large counterattack, and using the Donbass as a magnet to suck in as many Russian forces as possible to facilitate a Ukrainian offensive. However, without more information on what forces Ukraine has available and where they are located, we can only guess what will happen.
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Actually, if they want to de-Nazify a country, they need to turn 180 degrees and head to Moscow. Putin is a Nationalistic Socialist, i.e., a Nazi.
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You also missed mentioning that NATO didn't rush in to help because they know that Russia wants to play the "Western Imperialist" card to turn people against the US and its allies. By not physically engaging, NATO prevents Russia from being able to galvanize their own population effectively, and makes it very difficult for other nations to side with Putin.
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@CanComp Nor their benevolence.
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Not quite true. They seem to get their kicks out of curb stomping nations that cannot fight back by blowing the you-know-what out of them with artillery. Like Georgia and Chechnya.
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@mladenmatosevic4591 Umm, the reason why the people speak other languages at military bases are for two reasons. First, everyone wants to understand each other so that instructions can be carried out without causing an accident that will get people injured or killed. Loaded weapons and munitions tend to do that if handled incorrectly. Second, if you are a local dealing with people from the base, you would naturally learn their language so they would be able to shop at your store and purchase your goods. I think you are getting Cause and Effect mixed up. The CAUSE is a lot of soldiers (English, French, American, etc.) with lots of money to spend (i.e., customers) and merchants with products or services to sell. The EFFECT is that the locals learn the language spoken on the base by the vast majority of personnel, most of whom don't know the local language, so they can sell products and make a living with the base as a source of income. It is not banning the use of a language, but a necessity to communicate with other peoples. Not to mention part of a market economy. I would also add that English is the international language of aviation, it is the most widely learnt second language, and has the second highest number of native speakers in the world (after Mandarin). So, if you want to have a reasonable chance of speaking with a foreigner, English is the language to use, with Spanish second (I believe).
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@mladenmatosevic4591 You have obviously never been to England, because the Welsh speak the Welsh language (although it is actually the British language, as Anglo-Saxon English originated with the Danish and Jutish invasions around AD 600). Signs in Wales are written in the language. The Scots do speak Gaelic. Basically, you don't know what you are talking about.
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@mladenmatosevic4591 I wouldn't bet on it. If Putin starts making threatening moves, Estonia and Latvia are more than willing to push for an accelerated admission process for Finland. And around 50% of Finland's population support joining NATO (about 20% oppose), particularly in light of Putin's war of aggression.
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@mladenmatosevic4591 Considering that Putin is living in a world of his own making and trying to rewrite reality (much like any megalomaniac, e.g., Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, etc.), I wouldn't put it past him. His only concern is power and dominance, and recreating the USSR as a global superpower. People like that don't know when to stop. Historically, parts of Finland were part of czarist Russia, and Stalin invaded the country in an unprovoked war in 1939 to try and conquer it. It was only because the Finns gave the USSR a bloody nose (much like Ukraine is doing right now) that they stopped. The decisions in Russia are being made by a single man, a dictator, and until he is replaced Russia will continue attacking its neighbors. However, I suspect if there is another target, it will be the Caucuses.
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@gerryyan3372 As long as China leaves other nations alone, everyone else will leave China alone. No one wants to pick a fight. However, China has also been exhibiting imperialistic tendencies since Xi came to power (building bases on disputed islands, threatening Taiwan, etc.), so this has people on edge in the region and throughout the world. This is what is causing tensions in the region. The Chinese representative at the UN said today that Russia should respect Ukraine's sovereignty to its territory. If China practices what it preaches, then everything will be fine. And that includes Taiwan, whose people have overwhelmingly said they do not want to be part of PR China.
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@Lex-qt1cc But the Russians have not fought a war on this scale since 1990, that's over 30 years. Their main experience has been curb-stomping people who lack the ability to strike back. Also, Putin has likely promoted yes-men to command positions, rather than people of talent. He wants people who will jump when he tells them to. Putin is living in his own Stalinist dreamland, and is at the point where he won't take "No" for an answer. The real question is whether the Ukrainians can make is so damaging and painful to the Russians that their own people rebel against the high cost of this war before the Rasputitsa ends. Once the Russians gain the capability of advancing overland rather than just along the main roads, they will likely be able to overwhelm the Ukrainians.
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@internetenjoyer1044 If that is the case, then they seem to be using this war as an opportunity to get rid of some old equipment. I think it might be more the case that they are deploying more of their newer equipment on the Chinese border and other locales where they feel they might get attacked. Then again, maybe the T14 isn't as good as their sales pitch indicates.
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@Lex-qt1cc Except, Putin doesn't want to stay neutral. He is a control freak. You just have to read his articles and hear his speeches to see he thinks Ukraine should be a vassal state to Russia. Much like Belarus. Putin wants to recreate the USSR, pure and simple. When you read his demands, that's what they more or less say (NATO forces to move back to Germany, no expansion). He is living in a world of geopolitical spheres of influence, not global trade and economics. His attacks on Georgia and Ukraine prove this. And from everything that I have read, China was caught off guard by Putin's move, rather like Hitler was when Mussolini invaded Albania and Greece (and promptly got his ass whipped by the Greeks and had to be rescued by the Germans). This has everything to do with power and control, not geopolitics. What the US wants is stability so that trade and commerce can occur (and they can make tons of money). That is one of the things that NATO is supposed to do, ensure European stability. Having watched a video by a couple of bikers travelling along the Russian/Chinese border, things are not exactly cozy between China and Russia either. Xi may be looking for a good opportunity to help himself to Russian territory (including Vladivostok) that China feels is theirs, if given half a chance. That probably explains why Russia cannot commit too many more troops to Ukraine than they already have.
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@VladRadu-tq1pg I know they have only built around 20 T-14s, but it still surprises me they aren't doing field trials with it in real combat situations. It makes me wonder if it has issues that are being covered up.
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Depends on how well the upcoming offensive goes. Given the morale of the Russian troops and their equipment losses so far, it might stall out as soon as it starts. One can hope.
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@Jake12220 Ukraine is apparently sitting on the second largest reserves of natural gas in Europe, after Russia. If they can tap into that after the war, they could replace Russia in a few years as the main supplier of natural gas and oil to the EU. Interestingly enough, a lot of those reserves sit underneath Crimea and Donbass. I wonder why Putin started this war 🤔
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