Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Did a Serb drive over your dog at some stage Lar? They're living rent free inside your head 😀

I wonder what would happen if one of his doubles was killed...?

They would probably say he rose from the dead a few days later.

I knew he never went to ukraine, he is too much of a coward to do that.

RAF rivet joint aircraft was patrolling over the blacksea earlier today escorted by 2 armed typhoon fighter jets ,

I read that this morning. Just an awful story.

This is the naked and ugly truth of them. Punishing children because they painted a picture. It wasn't even a sexual image. Nothing violent. Nothing blasphemous even. Just something that didn't fit the Kremlin narrative.

How in the hell can posters continuously go to bat for this regime, either directly or indirectly?

Not even a crudely drawn penis or tits, I was only thinking the same to myself earlier.

An excellent presentation. Some good points from about 14.20 onwards. Essentially, we may dismiss and belittle Russia and their capabilities, but that would be a mistake. They're not stupid. They have adapted in past conflicts, to devastating effect.

They also have an uncanny knack of finding solutions to problems using whatever they have around them.

There were also comments about the supposed unreliability of their missile launch systems. That, in my opinion, would be a definite underestimation. One thing Russia is very, very good at is producing and maintaining launch systems. Up to this year, Russia, with the Soyuz system, had the most reliable launch system in the world. Then along came the Falcon 9.

My point is, now is not the time for the West or Ukraime to become complacent. None of us really know what's going on on the ground.

Highly recommend this video...

This is a very likely scenario in my book.

The Ukrainians have been very clever about all this. They started this war at a huge disadvantage to the orcs, but over the course of the year they've massively closed the gap. If we're not already there, the moment when Ukraine is the stronger is coming very soon.

Once the scales tip in favour of Ukraine, this war ends as the orcs will simply have nothing left to fight with. This moment is coming a lot soon than people realise, could see it happening June/July personally.

He'll probably try to say that he meant the culmination of the orc defeat 😜

Wonder how many SVR Illegals in Ireland? We have weak counter-intelligence, like Slovenia.

But what can they do differently?

Their elite forces are dead. Their mercenary forces are dying and under rogue control anyway. The quality of their recruits and conscripts is abject and even if it wasn't, these people don't want to fight for Putin and they are deployed under coercion and under threat of reprisal against their families, with basically no training.

Their armour is gone. Their fighter bombers and attack helicopters have been massively depleted. Their artillery and longer range missiles have been almost depleted and as an economy, Russia doesn't have the capacity to replace them effectively and quickly.

It absolutely doesn't have the technology to repair and replace the digital systems that comprise and run their command and control network and more advanced weapons systems.

So my question to those who think there is a risk, or indeed a liklihood of Russia turning this War around would be; how?

Fair enough, although it's worth pointing out that Leopard 1 tanks, which Ukraine are using, first came into service nearly 60 years ago themselves, and this is probably a point being raised on Russian propaganda networks. A point we would counter with service history and retrofitting of new equipment being more important than a tank's mere age. Therefore, when we say that Russia is putting out 70 year old tanks, it's just worth qualifying that with whether they're deploying them exactly as they had been when they were mothballed.

The quality of life in Poland was not great either a few years ago, but after joining the EU, that has all changed. Its a different country now, as proved by the Nrs that left the UK after Brexit, and the EU generally during Covid, but did not return. Any ex- USSR Country has the same story to tell. And this is one reason why Putin invaded Ukraine, not because of NATO, but because he did not want the same success story emanating in Ukraine. It would have been like the horses looking over the hedge at the lush green fields next to them, while trying to survive on the poor grass in their own field. For sure, depending on how long the war drags on, a certain % will put down roots here in Ireland and remain, but for many, Ukraine is their home, and their history and that's where they will return too. I remember meeting a Chechen on flight one time while in Russia, He was returning back home to Grozny, after spending more than 10 years in Miami. When I expressed my surprise that anyone would swap the life in the US for the life in Chechnya, with the war in full swing, and the city leveled from the Russian bombing, he explained, that yes, the life in the US was indeed very good, he had made a lot of money, but his real life was in Chechnya, with its traditions and culture. And his place in Chechen society was more valuable to him than Life in the US,