Good report on the rally and the general mood in Moscow from Steve Rosenberg on the 6pm news on BBC1 a moment ago. He says Putin is trying to create an 'us and them' society, meaning 'you're either with us or against us'. If you support the war, you are a patriot ; if you oppose it, you are a 'traitor' and a 'parasite' and are worthless to Russia. It's classic totalitarian dictatorship stuff.
American Patriot system, 2 of them deployed a week ago
Bear in mind for a long time they denied fighting in Syria too.
Wibbs just thinking about this comment of yours and then putting it into historical context of some of the other countries around Europe.
Him going for broke and Kyiv I don't get, unless he is actually afraid of a NATO membership in the offing and his minions actually shared that fear. His propaganda to the Russian people certainly pushes that fear, a fear easily aroused in a nation that's been so often invaded.
Has Russia really been invaded that often in comparison to some other states?
Yes it isn't like Britain, Portugal or Spain which was only invaded many hundreds of years ago, but Russia has been an Empire of sorts for hundreds and hundreds of years.
France were often invaded, Germany only came into being in 1860s, Italy in 1850s and some other European states were only formed in late 19th or even 20th century.
Yes Napoleon in 1812 got to Moscow, but wasn't St Petersburg the real jewel and indeed capital?
Yes they had spats down the years with the Ottoman Empire to the South, Sweden/Poland/Lithuania to the West and there were conflicts in the Caucasus and rebellions of Tatars, Cossacks, various Khanates/Sultanates, but the Russians were for the most part the invaders and conquerors.
They and the Japanese had a set to over Manchuria and Korea in early 20th century.
Hell Dublin is nearer to Moscow than Manchuria.
They were the ones that invaded East Prussia in 1914 and Austria's Galicia, before the war turned because they were so far behind the times.
And yes they were invaded in 1941 by Hitler, but hadn't they invaded Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland (all countries that had to fight for freedom from Russian Empire/Russian SFSR).
Jeeze if the Russians are fearful of invasion just imagine how the Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Finns feel about invasion.
All countries and peoples that were subjugated by Russian Empire and/or USSR.
All they have are the nukes and it's questionable how many are even working.
A lot of posts along these lines on here but I don't think western leaders can afford to think like this. IMO it has to be assumed Russia has more than enough functioning nukes to wipe out Western Europe and North America.
Does the tweet not say the exact opposite to your post or am I missing something?
Edit:Bayonets post clarified
I think one appropriate response to this awful situation would be a Star Wars II arms race. The first one ended rather well, except for the unforseen consequence of the whole Putin, the unaccountable dictator part. I miss the cold war, when Russian leaders were accountable to a higher authority.
I believe Germany has already announced it will start funding anti-ballistic missile tech. I think that will be the new race, US/NATO need to catch up on hyper-sonic missiles.
Also exactly what America did under Bush to get support for the Iraq war. Worked there too
UK Sky Sabre is heading to Poland as well
A bit strange, but okay, not going to knock any humanitarian stuff
Russian helicopter with "Onwards to Berlin" written on it
Photo from a supermarket in Russia where everything is totally fine and okay
He hasn't started liquidating people in camps yet, so he can't be compared apparently
@greenpilot
Is this interesting?
the Ukr should have its own list of individuals that suddenly disappear/ kidnapped/ arrested and keep them highlighted especially at the UN level such disappearances etc, is a continuation of the war
No one is giving you enough credence to think of you as a crack Russian cyber agent.
Just someone peddling conspiracy theories.
I was thinking more of a Thor's hammer / rods from god kind of thing. Tungsten rods the size of telephone poles that would enter the Earth's atmosphere at extreme speeds and unleash an immense amount of kinetic energy where they hit. Being tungsten, they would be resistant to the heat of re-entry.
I believe a bond movie incorporated the idea. The notion would be to have first strike capability that could neutralize almost all of Russia's nuclear weapon payload delivery mechanisms before it's use was detected (stealth coatings+). It's probably the US can track most of Russias ballistic missile subs and that many are tailed.
The idea wouldn't be to use it, just break Russia's economy as they try to match it, then be a lot less concilliatory and reasonable in dealing with the broken Russia than the last time.
Putin want's to be a cowardly barbarian sheltering behind the threat of his big stick, build a bigger stick that can break his.
Absolutely. They are F-16CM Wild Weasel aircraft. If you click on the large aircraft to their left, you will see that it is a KC-135 refueling aircraft. They are all flying at the same altitude. Wild Weasel flights carry Anti-Radiation missiles that lock on to enemy radar emissions. You'll see the fighters disappear from FR shortly when they switch off their transponders.
I have mentioned this problem before, these systems are being sent to the wrong countries. Sending out of date 80's era systems to a country being bombarded relentlessly and the really good stuff to countries that aren't. The very definition of WTF?
Maybe they're more like the English, invaded a couple of times and still go on about 1066. 😁 You notice some differences when you travel aorund Europe. In Ireland and often England castles are as likely to built in the nice part of the bottoms of valleys as a show off piece by the local lord, whereas in Europe you have whole towns built on the top of hills for defence. They were more used to being invaded.
Russias biggest just about within living memory event was WW2, or the Great Patriotic War from their point of view. Tens of millions died because of that. There would be very few Russian families in the west of that nation who didn't lose a few relatives to that and it still holds some sway in their psyche. Add in 80 or whatever years of the Soviet Union and the constant fear instilled in the people of The West. That dropped off in the 90's but they then dealt with the economic rape of their country, which putin has said was either the fault of The West, or they let it happen because they want to see Russia broken. That crap runs deep.
And yeah it is/was more of an empire than a country. Not unlike China. Unlike the European powers neither bothered their arses with colonial empires in the New World because they already had one in the old. And like Empires tend to do after a while both looked inward(Ottomans the same). Both were heaviliy centralised in power and both had vast tracts of land in the beyond they barely cared about or noticed and relied on local lords to look after and funnel taxes from to their czar emperor in Moscow/Bejing. And other parallels of empire can come into play too. The Chinese see Tibet as "theirs" because it once was within the imperial borders. The Russians had/have similar with bits of Poland and the like and Ukraine is an obvious one. They certainly see Crimea as theirs. I would reckon this imperial thinking still informs a chunk of the people and certainly the leadership.
It's blostering nato's Eastern borders more so Poland.
Simply because Poland have to think of Belarus on its border as well as Russian missiles and aircraft.
If Western Ukraine falls or come under Russian forces you definitely would not want these systems falling into there hands.
Imagine those farmers tax returns: Assets acquired on which depreciation is claimed:
1 BTR-80
1 Ka-52
2 TOS-1 MLRS launchers
.
The US has “seen a number of missteps” by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, the US defense secretary said on Friday.
In an interview with CNN Lloyd Austin said Russian troops “have not progressed as far as quickly as they would have liked”, adding that Russian forces have “struggled with logistics”.
Austin told CNN he has not seen evidence of “good employment of tactical intelligence” or “integration of air capability with a ground maneuver.”
“There are a number of things that we would expect to have seen that we just haven’t seen,” Austin said.
“Many of their assumptions have not proven to be true as they entered this fight.”
He added: “I think [Russia] envisioned that they would move rapidly and very quickly seize the capital city, they’ve not been able to do that,” the Pentagon chief said.
This is Adam Gabbatt taking over from Léonie Chao-Fong.
Ha, and on top of this the Ukrainians actually said a few days ago that all captured Russian equipment is tax exempt
If things are going as badly as is being reported they may well be wheeling out T-34s before too long... 😁
Russian embassy in Prague, someone accidentally tripped and spilt red paint on it
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