I think we know the EU will take a very different view to Germany having to take their medicine than they did for lesser countries
In related news: Get that gas turned back on or we might stop supporting Ukraine.
For many years, Putin has had numerous personalities in public. About 12 years back I commented in a US publication that he showed signs of being under sedatives. on another occasion, he looked petrified during an OPEC meeting when he was left standing on his own unattended for a few minutes in a doorway. On another occasion still, he seemed to be struggling to stand up and did not appear to be able to speak. In short, he is one heck of an odd fellow to figure out. Unless of course, he has a number of doppelgangers doing the rounds. as someone else suspects again he is following the training manual and acting the whole time.
Since that time, things have changed due to climate change / global warming. Russian winters are not any longer as severe as they were back during the 2nd world war, or even further back in Napoleons time. I was speaking to a Russian friend last winter before this all kicked off, and we talked about places we had visited in the past, one place in particular, El Brus in Southern Russia. Its the highest mountain point in Continental Europe, and even in Summer, its peaks are snow covered. And during winter when I was there, it was heavy snow on all the approach roads, from 20 / 30 miles away. But not any more. Now you have to actually get to the foothills around the mountain before you meet snow. Not saying that its not cold there, it is and still has freezing temps. but not like it was even a few years ago. Neither Hitler or Napoleon would have met the same problems now that they met back then.
The Russians need to hurry up and invent the air fryer.
"Ugly but well-hung" is how A-10 pilots describe it. 😁
The scenario is beginning to smell quite different now.
The dominos will begin to fall from Kherson eastwards I expect.
Putin should be buried alive with the severed limbs of Ukrainian children.
He has been expertly "frog boiled" and he knows it.
It seems he was "given" the Donbas Region to "knock himself out".
Perhaps it would be advantageous to introduce Western military personnel now, in a civil engineering capacity ???
Obviously, the above suggestion is intended as a "toe in the water" towards militarily bolstering Ukrainian territory.
Putin's Achille's heel is his inability to appreciate that focused tech. is undermining flailing rage.
Finally, his Kremlin support group should be aware by now of where the "Putin Bus" is headed (I deliberately choose "headed" over "heading").
Occupation authorities in parts of Donetsk region decided to block Google services
Im sure google are worried, serious hit to their customer base
Great post, that's the key point, putin has over stepped the mark now and there is no going back for him now.
It is telling that putin had to travel to Iran to get an ally ,not China ,it will be interesting to see whether China will entertain Putin at all. Putin went too far even for China
Then Erdoğan keeps putin waiting awkwardly in Iran, in other words he sees that he is in a more powerful position than putin because he has options where putin doesn't.
When lukashenko now talking about the need to end the war he sees the writing on the wall with the arrival of more advanced western weapons. Even though Putin still talking about escalation
Well I'll certainly defer to your expertise, but there seems to be at best a mixed response to the idea from what I've read. They are survivable against projectile AA, but the concentration MANPADs etc makes them of questionable usage.
We haven't seen/heard of many SU25s doing strafing runs on armoured targets that I'm aware of? While I'm sure it wouldn't hurt, one doesn't get the impression that they would make a sizeable difference.
Also, the USAF trying so hard to get rid of them doesn't inspire much confidence surely?
That tweet is more relevant in the context of the USAF continued efforts to eliminate the A-10, and get away from the Close Air Support role period. The AF leadership had long been eager to kill the plane, to the point Congress had to step in and mandate they maintain the fleet.
The reason is they started with the Gun then put the plane around it. Had to figure out how not to destroy the fuselage as they went. 2 engines so if you lose one.
Yes they were used extensively in Afghanistan, always 2 of them patrolling around Kandahar Airbase. ( plus other types of aircraft as well Blackhawks etc. ) They are a very strange looking aircraft.....like some one picked up a few engines here, couple of wings there, and a fuselage from somewhere else, not related and stuck them all together.....no attempt at the usual sleek aerodynamic shapes you see in aircraft. But by God, were they effective. Even when parked up, they still look formidable and deadly.
Very true.... don't ever fear the bullets or explosions you hear,,,,,they're gone. Bullets and explosives travel faster than the sound they make. Which is admittedly not much consolation when shooting starts.. LOL☺️
Weren't warthogs used to great effect as close air support in Afghanistan? Very popular with troops when they saw it coming over the mountains to provide cover. Different threat environment to Ukraine, but there was surely enough SAMs to go around in that conflict.
Orla Guerin report on this tonight mentioned Ukrainian ships will lead them out through the minefields and that Russia has had trouble selling its fertiliser and grain internationally even though there are no sanctions on those so there will be something in it for them ie easier for them to sell those internationally.
Dropping a Nuke ends the relevance of them. If anyone with a nuke can hold you to ransome what's the point of having your own. I wager thermobaric or may get away with a Neutron one.
You never hear the bullets coming your tank goes pop before the sound arrives. The Pilot is the one who hears the Brrrrrrrrrrrrt.🤣
Germany’s insistence during euro crisis that the problems PIIGS faced were due to wrong choices they made coming back at them.
The choices Germany made regarding Russia were wrong also.
edit: Germany has 10-15 years of gas within Germany but chose to use Russian gas instead
https://archive.ph/PgTCG
Watch how Russian vessels will start flying Ukrainian flags to sail with stolen Ukrainian grains ,
I'm very surprised no attempt was ever made to sieze vessels full of stolen Ukrainian grains once they left the black sea
The US welcomes the "agreement in principle" brokered by the UN and Turkey between Russia and Ukraine to allow the safe transport of Ukrainian grain from blocked ports, but is focused on "holding Russia accountable" for implementation and getting grain to the world, @StateDeptSpox said
Grain of hope
They were designed to take severe hits, and fly on, still fighting. They were the nearest thing to a flying tank such was the the way they were armor plated.
Maybe it was down to the fact that pro Russian military leaders and so called elected civilians massively underfunded the Ukrainian military to prevent them having the ability to actually defend themselves,at one point the Ukrainian had hundreds of aircraft but no money to maintain them or modernise what they had a lot of stuff was left to rot ,if they had the competent pilots and maintainers there is no reason they wouldn't have been able to use A10 if they had them,and as manic Moran pointed out the US airforce has been trying for decades to get rid of the A10 and go with fast sexy big ticket jets ,still no aircraft comes close to the A10 for ability and firepower and survivability, just look at how many Russian su34 and su35 aircraft the Russians have lost to Ukrainan fire along with their lesser cousin the su24s , Ukraine has lost a few but not in the same numbers of Russian aircraft.
Compare helicopters and tactics they both the Russians and Ukrainians have been reduced to volley firing unguided rockets from a distance to prevent helicopters getting shot down,
Where America or nato would use their gunships with a lot different tactics high percision hellfires against armor and bunkers and flachett rockets and 30mm canon for infantry and soft skin vehicles or buildings
Your hero!
here something for you to listen before admiring his genius
I don’t agree with probably any of your posts on here but it is spot on to say that Germany is a mudguard that many other countries are happy to hide behind in relation to Russian energy. That is the reality. If Germany stopped importing Russian gas the **** hits the fan and you will see the true position of many countries in relation to energy then.
I suppose they would have been really useful in the early stages of the war , long columns of exposed vehicles , or if it was armour racing across the flatlands ..
But Ukraine couldn't get their su 25s in the air back then .. so I doubt they'd have got a10s airborne any quicker ..
Although they do have a large airforce gap after opening up ..
I note that neither side seems to be inclined to fly at particularly high altitude, it seems to be asking for trouble. I would also note that both sides are very happy to use Su-25s, which aren't any less vulnerable than A-10s. Indeed, the way they're using helicopters, those are probably even more vulnerable.
A-10s aren't invincible, they will eventually be shot down, just like the Su-25s, Su-34s, and whatever else before them that are getting shot down. That doesn't mean they can't do enough damage to be worth it.
That said, the USAF has been looking for an excuse to get rid of the things for years. "Oh, we gave them all to Ukraine. Ooops. I guess we'll just have to buy F-35s instead then..."
Winter came to Russia's rescue against Napoleon and Hitler.
Lets hope this time it does not!
Let's hope its a mild winter in Ireland and Europe. I say putin and the likes hoping it's crazy ass cold. I suppose it's 50/50 which way it will fall. If it ends up getting cold proper from October be interesting what way countries will go in regards to Russian oil and gas. We won't properly know for a few more months.
Posted already Calm down dear, he’s hardly in the best of health physically and obviously not mentally.
Yes, that's what's happening. Saudi / India / Others buy bargain price oil from Russia. Now if they were not doing this, then they would be buying on the world markets, and creating demand / supply problems = more expensive oil. They say it's an ill wind that does not blow some good. This year and winter will be tough, but the world will not allow itself to be caught like this again. Its Putins last roll of the dice. I doubt very much that next year, he will be funding his war from EU oil revenues.
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