Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Morale requires that the next Russian move has to be big push with strategic significance. Where will that be? They have been degrading Ukraine's infrastructure (water & electricity). They are building camps in the Brest area of western Belarus, likely with a view to disrupt the flow of materials from Poland over the course of the next few months. Whats the climate like around the Black sea during the Winter?

• Russian Military Strategy: Core Tenets and Operational Concepts (PDF - 2021)

Little public movement on the diplomatic front.

There was never, ever a point to this war in the first place. Just some made up rhetoric about Nazis in Ukraine. It was an attempted land grab that has since gone pear shaped to say the least.

And the Ukrainian civilians have suffered the most. I don't care for the Russian losses, that's their own fault.

The business end of Sovolyov's crack pipe must be red hot from all the puffing he's been doing. The way he harkens back to Russia's empire...he still thinks its right and proper for Russia to have an empire at the expense of its neighbours, and so it seems does the rest of Russia. He seems blissfully unaware that miitary imperialism is no longer acceptable in the civilised world and doesn't even consider that maybe Russia should spend a couple of decades getting its own house in order before fretting about how other countries do things. Russia's sense of exceptionalism and talent for self delusion and self-destruction effectively makes them the Brits of eastern Europe. It's as if Jim Royle was demanding to run the houses of his gainfuly-employed neighbours because he had a right to and had a better system to give them.

You're talking out of your hole

Which country invaded which? Russia invaded Ukraine. It is not the US's fault.

Mr USA fanboi?

My initial reply was to a statement that the war was "largely the US's fault". It isn't largely the US's fault. It is largely Russia's fault. Russia invaded using false pretences.

Maybe you should take some of your own advice and read the full posts.

I was taking for granted that the Horde are mostly to blame, in the sense that it's in their nature to be scum.

Let's say you have a neighbour who is a known scum bag, whom the police know well is armed to the teeth, having a home full of weapons, and a history of attacking other neighbours regularly.

These delightfully civilised and well meaning police people, catch wind that you have a licensed shot gun in your home that you legitiamately own, but they come to your house and convince you to give them your shotgun, for no other reason than they don't like anyone having weapons, other than themselves and your neighbour of course, whom they are too scared of to do anything about. They give you assurances that your family's safety is assured in their hands and so you stupidly believe them and hand over your shotgun.

A week later your neighbour comes over and say's he's heard you might be thinking of joining neighbourhood watch, and that he doesn't like it and that's it up to him what you do and don't do, and he then renders you unconscious, barges into your house and rapes and murders your children and your wife.

Now yes, we all get that he's to blame, that goes with out saying, which is why I didn't say it, but the police are also very much responsible for what happened because they disarmed you and failed to protect you as promised.

Now you are perfectly entitled to think the police/US are completely blameless, but I don't, so we'll just have to have different opinions about it.

I'd lose no sleep if Russia imploded. What happens after that - and something must happen - is yet to be decided.

An interesting perspective from a Twitter post-

The real reason for Russia publicly admitting these failures (BTW, they are not "Failures"., they are strategic operations.) is damage limitation. They cannot cover up what is happening, its simply impossible, so instead they try to control the narrative. We are only doing this out of regard for our soldiers and people. And of course, it's only temporary. And it's 100% for home consumption, and does not fool anyone in the west, and increasingly, less and less Russians believe it either. Wait until the full impact of the death toll on the Limited Mobilization conscripts are felt.

Yes, you are right about the dragons teeth ect. The digging in and dragons' teeth in defense lines is likewise for home consumption, and maybe to bolster soldiers' moral. " Look, we are preparing defenses that will stop the Ukrainian advance." You will be safer now.

While a lot of the fighting will involve drones, rockets and aircraft, unfortunately the fact is that the there will always be close contact fighting.....for example when Ukrainian forces start to clear out the inhabited areas, citys, towns and villages + forest areas.

And you are right about the Iranian (and other) drones being a hard threat that will have to be countered too.

@[Deleted User] they are obviously satanists.

Ukraine erects a Kitten Inn at a trench checkpoint. peake morale.