The usual's will be on in a moment to deflect but...
The above posts are true, unfortunately. However what's more unfortunate - this is where the tankies will want to practice their ridicule - is the cause of the war is muscovy imperialism. That doesn't require putrid, any dictator that believes in that imperialism will still meddle with and invade neighbouring countries. I believe unless muscovy is resolutely defeated on the battlefield we'll see much worse than putrid - which isn't a statement standing up for him. Remember the borders of muscovy stop nowhere. Still, today is the cheapest day ever to put a stop to this empire. "War fatigue" will result in witnessing larger wars. Has anyone experienced a bully stopping because they gained something from nothing?
Ukraine air chief: my best pilots are dying while we wait for F-16s
General Serhii Holubtsov says his men can learn to fly western jets in months, dismissing Nato claims that training could take years
An American assessment of Ukrainian fighter pilots has revealed they would be ready to fly F-16 jets after fewer than six months of training, their commander has told The Times.
In his first interview since President Putin’s tanks crossed the border last year, General Serhii Holubtsov, chief of aviation of Ukraine’s air force, said that two of his pilots had returned to the country last week after a rigorous assessment by the US military.
“They spent three weeks there and were trained on an F-16 simulator how to fly together as two pilots using weapons. The results came out very good: Ukrainian pilots can learn to fly and operate weapons systems on the F-16 in less than six months,” he said.
Whoops, there goes that take too long to train argument. Biden has generally been fairly good, but I agree with the Republicans who have accused him of having no clear goal or strategy. I remain convinced he doesn't want Ukraine to win, the aid has been provided far to slowly and in a miserly dribble with all sort of stupid excuses trotted out to justify it. I no longer think Ukraine can win with what it's got and with what weapons have been provided and promised.
There are numerous opinions that their military has just lost way too many of their most experienced and best troops. You can see this in Bakhmut. they just lost another very experienced and highly regarded medic a day or so ago. If the Orcs are losing 500 a day killed in Bakhmut, Ukraine must be losing 71 killed and likely 210+ wounded. In just one month that's 2143 killed and 7200 wounded. Thats over 9,000 a month. I am fairly certain that the rate of mobilisation and training can't remotely counter that.
I thought for a while the Bradleys might be enough to swing, it, but no more. They need a significant edge and it's not being provided. The Czech president, who's a former general, Petr Pavel is likely right about Ukraine having one shot and fatigue setting in.
Biden needs to either stop the pretence or ramp things up and enable the supply of far more weapons, stop lying about secrets falling into the wrong hands, and enable the provision of significant air power and weapons that go with that.
Air power has been the cornerstone of every US engagement since the Gulf War. Biden needs to ask himself is supplying Ukraine with air power more dangerous than Ukraine failing, the Orcs winning and Poland then trying to fix the mess he caused?
The next batch of scumbags grateful to the serial killer for rape has been identified, writes Mariupol mayor's adviser Piotr Andryushchenko.
On video from Nevsky
1. Lotkova Ekaterina, lived at Mashinostroitelnaya 88, in the background is her husband, Lotkov Dmitry (2), during the war and the bombings, they looted the chicken shop. The man who shows the apartment is Lotkov's father (3) Bondarenko Alexey, nicknamed Chemist. A friend of the Lotkovys.
https://instagram.com/lotkovaekaterina?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://instagram.com/lotkovdmitrii?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
+380717301785 ee telegram number
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013790089581
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100017301090507
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015481966325
That Tweet you quoted is incorrect.
The people that Putin met have already been identified by the Ukrainians as local collaborators.
The Poles. Poland has offered significant support to Ukraine over the past year in terms of providing a conduit for supplies from other states, supplying their own armaments, taking refugees etc. They're also the most likely to step in with direct military assistance and that is beginning to look increasingly likely.
I don't think it's incorrect
Even the missiles that launch the warheads need regular maintainance, like replacing the batteries that run the electronics. With my experience with electrolytic capacitors expiring rapidly, I wouldn't be surprised if the electronics need refurbishing every couple of decades also.
Back in the 80s I worked for the UK MoD calibrating batteries from Swingfire missiles (amongst others). Happy days, an' all that 🤣
Blondie must be feeling left out, she usually gets invited to all the gigs.
It seems to me that if Poland feels a need to get involved, then the best time would be before Kyiv is defeated.
Plus I think that the isotopes that they use in their nuclear weapons has a limited shelf life? I'm no expert, just read it somewhere, but maybe some one who knows about such things might elaborate? If true, that would be a major spoke in Russia's nuclear wheel's.
It's really depressing to see Xi Jinping arriving in Moscow just a couple of days after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin.
The world is splitting in two, and today's visit feels like another milestone on the path to a much, much bigger conflict.
After Putins invasion of Georgia, he was so disappointed by his army, that he pumped literally billions into it, complete refurbishment from top to bottom. Which maybe helps explain why he was confident to invade Ukraine, after all, he had the 2nd best army in the world ( on paper anyway, and all the receipts) But when push came to shove, it was just a paper tiger.
Aaaah the good old special "Booooom - erang Missile", always a hit with orcs
Tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, is a vital and perishable ingredient of nuclear bombs. Unlike plutonium, which lasts for tens of thousands of years, tritium transforms itself into a form of helium at a rate of about 5.5 percent a year. Therefore, it must be replaced periodically. A few grams of tritium inside a bomb help to produce a more efficient chain reaction - the same destructive energy from less fuel. This translates into smaller, lighter warheads.
Yes, hydrogen bombs need their tritium replaced relatively frequently.
If the Poles really do want to get involved, it begs the question of why not go into Ukraine now, while the Russians are struggling to make any real headway in the face of Ukrainian resistance as opposed to some time down the line where Russia have potentially kicked their war machine into high gear and actually pose more of a threat. The potential pitfalls would be the same then as now in terms of Polish territory facing direct retaliation from Russia, but, to answer my own question, maybe there's just not the real political will to go in unless the matter becomes existential for Poland.
Could the Poles possibly enter Ukrainian territory as 'peace-keeping' force? Could they, for example, line out along the Belarussian border and allow Ukrainian forces to deploy in greater numbers elsewhere? As far as I'm aware, it's not actually an act of war to enter a 3rd country in this way. Definitely an escalation, but not an act of war.
You have your Russian pundits sounding off about Ukraine being only the first step, but in reality Russia shows little to no capability of taking any significant NATO territory via conventional military means even if an attack on that territory did not meet a full-throated response from the rest of NATO.
Yes, and with the bulwark that Ukraine holds at the moment keeping Russia at bay, gone if they lose, then war will quickly come to Europe too.
To be fair, conflicts can only get so much bigger in this day and age before they leave us huddled around a fire in a charred and blackened hellscape, roasting yet another miscarried foetus on a spit.
Not the first country to threaten the Hague if the ICC acts against them
.
The American Service-Members' Protection Act (ASPA, Title 2 of Pub. L. 107–206 (text) (PDF), H.R. 4775, 116 Stat. 820, enacted August 2, 2002), known informally as the Hague Invasion Act, is a United States federal law described as "a bill to protect United States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of the United States government against criminal prosecution related to war crimes, Genocide and crimes against Humanity by an international criminal court to which the United States is not party."
A weird story…….
No it is very, very unlikely (IMO). As part of some NATO/US led mission they might step in (I have wondered about that happening before if it looked like Russia is really going to "win" at some point). They will never do anything on their own, regardless what happens in UKraine. The govt. there definitely say more than their prayers, just pure populists so expect an ambassador of theirs would be cut from same cloth.
Russia inherited 35,000 warheads in 1991. They dismantled the majority over a long period and built a smaller number of modern-design warheads. They have "just" 1,550 actively-deployed warheads. Assuming that they cannot maintain this relatively small number (compared to peak) is dangerous and groundless. Drawing comparisons to the reliability of mothballed tanks etc is not realistic.
Their ICBMs are extremely reliable. Most of their fleet are recently manufactured (this century). In many cases the current missiles are based off previous designs and we have figures and sources for the reliability of their predecessors. For example as part of the decomissioning process they launched 72 SS-20s with 100% reliability. In the mid 90s they launched a salvo of 40 R-39s (sub-launched) with one failure. There are links between ICBMs and space launchers in terms of design (or design bureau). In many cases they are practically identical. We can look at the reliability of these launchers quite easily - statistically they are very good and well-regarded.
Their ICBM accuracy may not be fantastic but it does not need to be.
They've been making noises about intervening since last March - this is not new.
They were spouting about unilaterally transferring their Soviet era jets (and I suppose also their Leopard tanks pre the agreements involving several countries to send them) to Ukraine for similar period. Nothing happened, and providing weapons is a far smaller and less dangerous step than a military intervention. "Noises" is an appropriate term.
No mention of missle strikes.
No ?
See if you can find the russian version
So as I do when laws are brought up, I follow the links. The relevant act starts on Page 81 of the document.
There's a lot of talk in it about prohibiting co-operation with the ICC, there is even a section (2008) giving the President authority to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any person" except bribery, which could in theory include military action in a 'jailbreak' type action, though I suspect the 'appropriate' bit would generally rule that out given that s2008 also covers legal counsel for Americans appearing in front of the ICC.
What I don't see in there, however, is anything threatening the ICC itself or the Hague.
It surely can't be that hard to find out who owns a Czech/Polish AFV in Ireland, can it?
More than spouting as reported recently.
There was a tank there once too (I think a T55 for sale?)
In fairness to @timmyntc, the behaviour of the US towards ICC prosecutors when they attempted to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan was disgraceful.
The US Treasury issued a statement saying Bensouda and Mochochoko had been deemed “specially designated nationals”, grouping them alongside terrorists and narcotics traffickers, blocking their assets and prohibited US citizens from having any dealings with them.
The US has completely undermined the ICC and has allowed Putin and his supporters to treat the institution with contempt. The US can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds here.
In russia....
Meanwhile.....
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