Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "Jake Broe" channel.

  1. Jake, glad you showed the map of Ukraine's untapped oil and gas reserves. It supports what I have said for over a year now, that the 2014 invasion of Crimea and Donbass was done to secure these resources and prevent their exploitation by Ukraine. Ukraine joining the EU and supplying them with cheap oil and gas (undercutting Russia) is Putin's nightmare.
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  2. 13:30 Just about choked on my drink when Peskov said, "Russia never attacked anyone". I think the Turks, Georgians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, China, Poland, Sweden ...
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  3. Problem is that most people don't realize that in most cases the system is only sent once crews are trained on how to do use it properly. That was the delay on the GMLRS. As Jake stated, the Pentagon was waiting until they had the new missiles in production before releasing the ATACMS. At a rate of 20 missiles a month, the US has 2 years worth of ATACMS to send Ukraine.
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  4. Jake, I think the really interesting thing about the monument that was unveiled was the lack of people attending the ceremony. I doubt there were more than two dozen people there, including those unveiling the monument.
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  5. Wonder when the FBI is going to pick her up. As a former member of the US Navy, she would have recognized what the documents were. That places her in the same category as Teixeria, as far as I am concerned.
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  6. At this rate, Russia will clear out a large percentage of the Russian sympathizers that were living in Donetsk and Luhansk. Will help Ukraine reestablish control over these areas after the war.
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  7. The irony with North Korea is that they started the war by invading South Korea at the behest of the Kremlin. It was Stalin who convinced the North Koreans to start the war, and provided both tank drivers and pilots to help them. So again, Russia was behind this conflict.
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  8. "... if Russia is willing to negotiate in good faith." When has Putin EVER negotiated in good faith?
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  9. The last video confirms something that I had seen bits of pieces of over the last few months. The Ukrainian Army has sufficient troops to rotate their soldiers out of the front lines for R&R, which spells bad news for the Russians. It means that Ukraine has a fair number of reserves, but Russia likely has few if any reserves to throw into battle. It also means they can assemble a force of battle-hardened veterans for a massive counterattack, which I suspect may occur fairly soon.
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  10. What's really funny is that Russia can't even hit a bridge in Ukraine with a missile, let alone one in Germany.
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  11. Considering that Ukrainian pilots have been doing simulator training for around 6 months now, all they need is to have flight hours. They could be in action sooner.
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  12.  @lunos8776  At least the Democrats WANT to do something to take the country into the future, even if some of their policies and ideas are suboptimal or just plain wrong. They at least want to try to improve the health and welfare of all Americans. From my standpoint as an outsider looking in it appears that all the GOP wants is to be in control and give themselves and their supporters money and power, regardless of the consequences to the country. Which is why if I was an American I would hold my nose and vote Democrat as the lesser of two evils.
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  13. The entire process started with Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary BLACKMAILING President Clinton during his 1996 re-election campaign. Vlaclav Havel, Lech Walessa and Gyula Horn basically told Clinton that if he didn't back their accession to NATO, they would openly speak at Republican rallies to promote their cause. Given their popularity at the time, this would have torpedoed Clinton's re-election hopes. This opened the floodgates for the other former Eastern bloc countries to join once they met NATO requirements.
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  14. One issue with Russia using old ammunition is that the explosives in the shells and the propellants used to propel the round downrange are likely becoming unstable, and more likely to blow up while handling or in the tubes.
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  15. The two statistics that should really worry the Russians are: Truck production: -39.3% Freight Wagons: -51.8% (likely boxcars, tanker cars and flatbeds for railroads) That means they will have a very hard time replacing all the trucks they have lost in Ukraine, and more importantly, have an extremely difficult time moving large quantities of supply by rail to Ukraine. This is going to really bite into their logistics.
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  16. One problem. You are assuming that the Russians follow US and EU standards for their tank farms. Knowing how bad their maintenance can be, and their propensity for skipping minor things like watertight doors with proper seals (one reason Moskva sank), placings tons of ammo in the basement of a building where you are housing troops (Makiivka), or building tanks where the ammo is stored in the crew compartment (every modern Russian tank), I wouldn't want to place bets on how bad the damage to the tank farm is. You may be right, but this is Russia we are talking about.
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  17. It's also the reason why Canadian Peacekeepers spent over 20 years in Cyprus.
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  18. As a side note, both my parents served in WW2. My father was a navigator in the RAF, my mother was a radar operator.
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  19. I had little problem believing the 200,000 figure. So, I did a little math based on what I have put together from various sources over the last 15 months: 240,000+ Russians during initial invasion 60,000+ DPR and LPR troops 50,000+ Wagner TOTAL INVASION FORCE: ~350,000 soldiers. Then we have to add the following: 30,000+ during conscription cycle 1 30,000+ during conscription cycle 2 ~100,000 LPR and DPR 50,000 Wagner Prisoners 10,000 regular troops from Kaliningrad 50,000+ regular troops from other regions of Russia (Vladivostok and other locales) 300,000 recruited during the special mobilization between September and December 2022 TOTAL REPLACEMENTS WE CAN ESTIMATE: 570,000 soldiers Total estimate at least 920,000 Russians and allies fought in Ukraine Russian army in Ukraine is currently pegged at around 400,000. So where did almost 600,000 troops go? They don't appear to be in training bases. They haven't been given leave, they aren't being regularly rotated back to Russia, so where are they? Logic suggests, based on the accounts from previous wars that there are 200,000 dead Russians out there, and another 400,000 wounded and out of the fight (half of those permanently). Will be interested if my quick and dirty math will be verified in the future or not.
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  20. Well, the Russians weren't lying about the Moskva, they were just telling half the truth. A fire DID break out on board the Moskva. It's just that the cause of the fire was two Ukrainian Neptune missiles striking the ship. And because their damage control is the pits, they couldn't put out the fire.
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  21. The problem is that the African countries cannot let go of the past, and still complain about European imperialism while ignoring Russian imperialism. For these countries, the majority of their leaders were fed a constant diet of how wonderful Russia/USSR is, and ignore the fact that ANY imperialism is bad! As long as they aren't the ones being overrun by an imperialist, they think everything is fine. This is not to say the European imperialism was fine, I am not saying that. But pointing the finger at one lot of imperialists while ignoring a country that is arguably far worse than most of the European imperialists in an age when all world leaders should know better, strikes me as being hypocritical.
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  22. I really wonder about Trump. He wants Zelenskyy to stop saying nasty things about Putin. That would be like FDR asking Churchill to stop saying nasty things about Hitler in order to get Lend-Lease.
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  23. Jake, if the Russians are losing troops in the Kherson region to the tune of 200-300 per day, that equates to about 1500-2000 dead per week, or around 3000 to 4000 casualties incapable of further fighting per week. At that loss rate, without reinforcement, the Kherson pocket shouldn't last more than another 4-5 weeks.
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  24. One difference. The US announced they were leaving and did so more or less under their own timetable (the gear left behind was supposed to equip the Afghan National Army). The Russians were forced to leave and were kicked out so quickly they left all their stuff behind, stuff they would never have left if they had had time to remove it.
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  25. Fortunately, it appears the Russians only destroyed the sluice gates. It is bad in the short term, but should mean that the dam can be repaired.
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  26.  @flagmichael  Point is, the Republicans shouldn't be holding a country of 40 million people fighting for their survival hostage (plus two other nations for a further 34 million) for the sake of petty politics.
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  27. Of course, the US may NOT have supplied the longer-ranged missiles for the HIMARS. That wouldn't stop Poland or Slovakia or another NATO country from doing it.
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  28. I don't find it strange at all. They remind me of my classmates back in high school who always told me I should be an individual like they were, and wear T-shirts and jeans. I used to wear corduroy pants and plaid shirts (it was a cold climate where I was at the time). It boggled my mind then, and still does, that to be an individual was a "free thinker" as long as they were exactly like them. Or to use my favorite lines from "Life of Brian" where Brian speaks to the crowd and tells them, "You are all individuals". The crowd in unison responds, "We are all individuals", except for one guy who says, "I'm not."
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  29. Jake, the US may be holding off on allowing Ukraine to target these airfields so the Russians get complacent, keep using them, and then get clobbered while a lot of planes on the ground. It is a strategy that the US 5th Air Force used against the Japanese in New Guinea several times during WW2.
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  30. I think the Ukrainians are being a bit disingenuous. Yes, the attack in Kherson was announced, but the reason for that was not a diversion, but rather to draw the Russian reserves away from other, more vulnerable sections of the front. I think the attack at Kherson is also designed to succeed, but more along the lines of the reduction of the Stalingrad pocket. Whereas the attack in the Kharkiv region was always meant to be more of a blitzkrieg style attack based on maneuver, outflanking and surrounding enemy units. Now that the latter attack has succeeded, Russia has fewer reserves to use to plug holes in the lines. I expect that another offensive will start up shortly. Also, there are rumors that the Kherson Pocket may soon collapse or surrender.
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  31.  @RossRadical-zf5ug  The vast majority of NATO members do. Ever look at the figures for all the Eastern European states? The Baltic States? The UK? The Scandinavian nations? You might want to look at the math, because POLAND and ESTONIA beat out the US for % contribution to NATO, while LATVIA is 0.3% behind the US. Twenty-three, yes, 23, of the member states now contribute 2% or more of their GDP to defense spending. And that number is only increasing. Improvements have been made, and it is only getting better.
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  32. 6:52 Jake, just as important as the pilots, possibly more so, are the mechanics, armorers and other highly trained personnel who repair, service, refuel and arm these aircraft. They can be harder to replace than the pilots.
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  33. Any politician who discusses signing a peace treaty that hands over to Russia has obviously forgotten the lesson of Munich.
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  34. Visit Canada instead. We have scenery that is just as nice, and we have the same King.
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  35. I spent around a month in Ukraine back in the mid-1990s. Very nice people, great country, but in dire economic straits. Really want to go there again once they have recovered from the war.
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  36. I don't mind the concept of the filibuster. BUT the person who is speaking should be forced to speak on the topic at hand, and ONLY the bill that is being presented. Reading from Dr. Seuss or the New York phone directory should be prohibited, because allowing anything else makes a travesty of the democratic process. By the way, one attempt at a filibuster in Canada was done by Sir John A. McDonald in order to try and keep construction going on the CPR. He spoke for over 12 hours, drinking gin the whole time. But he only spoke about the political crisis and the CPR, nothing else (except to answer or reply to name calling).
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  37. Jake, glad you mentioned the North Crimean Canal. It is a very important strategic asset that seems to be overlooked by most news outlets.
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  38.  @KN-xl6lw  My sister, an ex-Air Force clerk, says she cannot believe the garbage that one of her former OFFICERS spouts, let alone enlisted personnel. From the news I also know that several members of the Canadian Armed Forces have been either discharged or even convicted for expressing support for radical groups. I suspect Bils was pretty good at concealing her beliefs/opinions, and deflecting criticism. If you don't make a big scene or blurt things out, how will anyone know? That's how serial killers avoid discovery for decades.
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  39. It was not just during Soviet times. Ever since the Russians coerced them into being occupied, Ukrainians have suffered under the Russian yoke.
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  40. There is no way you could have done that with the helmet I wore while I was serving in the reserves. It was the old WW2 style steel helmet, and you would have broken your fist or knocked yourself unconscious doing what that Ukrainian soldier did with a modern Russian helmet.
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  41. Jake, one other issue is that 500,000 soldiers is probably the maximum number of troops that Russia can keep supplied. It is the limit of their logistical support. That is why their numbers have not increased beyond this value, and likely won't.
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  42. Jake, the one thing I noticed in the US Dept. of Defense release is the phrase "include equipment ... such as:" Which suggests there are other items in the shipment that the Defense Dept. is not disclosing. That is fine by me - I really want there to be a few more nasty surprises for Putin.
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  43. I think that leaves only Joe Biden to vote for, since Trump and his advisors seem to be aiming for Munich Agreement Version 2.0. Except with Russia, not Germany, this time.
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  44. The US also fed the people in the newly founded USSR during the Soviet-induced famine of 1919-1922. Something I found very interesting when listening to the Revolutions podcast.
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  45. The funny thing about this truck (at 24:00) is that the Russians recovered the unit, attached it to another truck, and got it stuck underneath an overpass a couple of miles down the road.
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  46. The missiles hitting the power stations is just being done out of childish petty spite. Like a schoolyard bully who destroys something that he cannot have.
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  47. Don't forget the agreements they signed with Peter the Great, and with the Bolsheviks in 1918.
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  48.  @obriets  What annoys me more than anything else is that she very obviously feels absolutely no compassion for the Ukrainians just across the border who have been experiencing the same thing for 465 days! It reminds me of that line in the movie about Albert Speer, when during one air raid on Berlin his secretary exclaims, "What did we do to deserve this?"
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  49. Jake, another reason Ukraine hasn't gone on the offensive is because Russia hasn't committed all their reserves to the front yet. As long as Russia has reserves they can move into position to block or stall the offensive. Also, I think Ukraine wants to chew up the Russian army even more, and weaken them to the point the front line becomes brittle and breaks under pressure.
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  50.  @1stCallipostle  Considering that Finland had 1/50th the population of the Soviet Union, was outnumber 2:1 in soldiers, had 32 tanks versus 2,500 tanks, 114 aircraft versus 2,800 aircraft, almost no anti-tank guns and a fraction of the artillery, they did very well to hold out for 3 months.
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