Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Maybe he is. However, his personal life isn't really of much interest to me regarding this particular topic. He has stated on many occasions that he was the victim of a government smear campaign, and that the FBI promised to destroy his reputation if he didn't keep his mouth shut. And of course the FBI / CIA have never attempted to do anything like that to anyone before, right? Yeah, right...

Perhaps there's some truth in that, or maybe it's BS. Who really knows? But if there is any truth in it, then not listening to him would be a big win for some very powerful people.

Either way, I don't really see how these ad hominem attacks necessarily disqualify the man from giving his professional opinion?

Meanwhile, we can see on this thread, certain people are fully prepared to throw around terminology and rhetoric that is peddled by some very unsavoury groups within this conflict. Groups that no decent person would/should be happy to stand behind - regardless of where you stand on this conflict. But because it's rhetoric coming from "their side", they hold their nose and consider it acceptable. Well, people are free to make that moral choice if they wish.

So yes, I am prepared to hold my nose and listen to what this guy Ritter has to say. This doesn't necessarily mean I like the guy, or that I like what he might have gotten up to in his personal life. It also doesn't mean I take what he has to say, as wholesale truth either btw. He's qualified to give his professional analysis, so I am prepared to listen. That's pretty much it basically.

Like I said, I'm not telling anyone what to believe or whom they should listen to. That's very much your choice and your free will. I will keep listening to as many varied opinions and voices as I can on this conflict. That's what makes the most sense to me. We're all wading through a river of propaganda around this conflict from all sides, so it's up to each individual to decide for themselves what information they think is relevant or not.

Belgorod-

In all this window dressing at least you are acknowledging it. You do trip at the final hurdle with a dose of both sides-ism. There aren't "two sides" to this. There weren't "two sides" to Hitler invading Poland. So the next time you read "Putin is bad but", pay very close attention to what comes after the "but". 99% of the time it's indirect validation of what Putin is doing.

The fighting is going to go on for a lot longer than most people realise. It wouldn't surprise me if it was years until we saw an actual negotiation that ended this war.

A few things of note in this segment:

• He disregards well documented mobilisation problems as a "handful of cases" and states that "the majority is working fine". When pressed about a specific case he implies that it could well be some kind of fake news
• Still spins the "We could destroy Ukrainian infrastructure tomorrow but our President is being generous" fable
• States that it's "good" that the Ukrainians are mounting an offensive in Kherson and is confident that thanks to mobilisation they will be able to defend it.
• Says that the Ukrainians are mounting the offensive now, not because of the impending Winter but because of the upcoming elections in the USA
• A couple of instances of straight up racism

This is actually all very reassuring. If this guy reflects the typical intelligence within the Russian Armed Forces then they don't even know what they are doing wrong and why they are losing. If you don't acknowledge your mistakes then you will continue to make them.

It's cute as well that he thinks that the average American mid-term voter cares about foreign policy.

Russian war criminal and blogger Igor Girkin/Strelkov has apparently been drafted and is now in Ukraine somewhere. Last night various Ukrainians on twitter were talking about chipping in money for a bounty on his head (only if captured alive).

Seems like the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) is now joining in:

He's been very vocal in his criticism of the military lately, wonder is that is behind his "drafting". Would love to see him captured and brought to the hague for his role in MH17.

That's one way to cut back on the cost to the State of keeping people in prison anyway.

Well whatever they cost, it reduces to zero if they are blown to bits in Ukraine.

I think Luka is coming under immense pressure from his commander in chief to assist in his invasion,

How long can he hold out is anyones guess but if putin doesn't get what he wants from luka he's has the forces in place to remove him ,it's a dangerous game

If the people of Belarus fundamentally do not want to go to war, there's not really a lot that Luka or Putin can do about it. You can't throw everyone in jail for refusing their marching orders, and even if you try, you risk pushing the public well past the point of popular revolt.

In my opinion in the long term Belarus is a sideshow. Their military is way worse than Russia's and we see how they are performing. Some are implying that Russia will take over Belarus I believe. That would stretch them even more than they are already which would accelerate their demise.

An interesting undercurrent is the action taking place on the Sumy frontline. I never see much reporting on the attacks by Ukraine across this border and feel that the Ukrainian military may know something that we don't.

Looking at my very cloudy crystal ball I think we might see the Ukrainian's open up a third front towards Polohy.