Russia - threadbanned users in OP

This isn't modern technology.

Give Ukraine 100 out of 4,000. Let them hit the Kerch bridge, and opportunistically attack naval targets and air bases in Crimea. Give them another 100 if the first batch doesn't do the job after 3 months. Then another 100 after 3 months. etc.

Ukraine will use them all. The very few unexploded duds will have limited use.

We are not in sunk cost territory. I think Ukraine has the ability to reclaim the pre-2022 border if they get the help they need.

The brake is on this effort though. Yes, I said it. America is the only country that has the capability for Ukraine to reclaim the 2022 border and as of right now they are holding it back.

Like you say, America has the weapons Ukraine needs to progress much faster in the war. It won't give them. The question is why. Hard to escape the conclusion that the US is not against the war dragging on as it stops Russia making trouble elsewhere and keeps weakening the country. What can Ukraine do? Not much, as without American help it's in serious trouble anyway

Yes and when confronted with that fact they go dumb. Like it’s unbelievable Finland and Sweden have been in the news applying to join for the last year and it had to be approved by all members with much difficulty . Yet these guys say NATO is aggressively expanding. How is it possible for them to have that take??? Unbelievable

Russian ammo on fire in Crimea

A month later and I say the CIA/MI6 still don't know what's going on in Russia.

Last week, Bill Burns and Richard Moore both gave their assessments of the "March on Moscow" and it's obvious that neither of them know what happened on 25 June, most importantly why Putin and Prigozhin reached a deal and what that deal entails. At least Moore recognises that it was a humiliation for Putin. Burns' comment about Putin wanting revenge as a "dish best served cold" is just cover for "I don't know where this is going". (Please don't say that they only pretend that they don't know in order to protect their sources. If they knew what is going on, they would have spared us their rambling open-source speculations, and without exposing any agent.)

How apt that Moore was speaking in Prague before the 55th. anniversary of the 1968 invasion. The West was caught completely off-guard back then even though the Kremlin had been preparing it for months. Was that the worst failure of Western intelligence during the Cold War? Perhaps, but they had no excuse for missing the even more consequential invasion of Afghanistan (ultimately, that invasion opened the door to one of the CIA's most effective actions but, then again, that opened the door to the Taliban😱).

At least the Americans, unlike the Europeans, saw the invasion of Ukraine coming but that was probably sigint and geoint, not humint. No wonder the CIA/MI6 are pleading with Russian citizens to come forward, but would any senior Russian military commander risk their lives with either the CIA or M16? Can they even promise safety in the West after Salisbury etc.?

In fairness, I'm not sure the Chinese know what's going on either. Xi Jinping can't have been pleased by the confusing media messaging following the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister's unannounced visit to Beijing on 25 June. Hats off to whichever Western intelligence agency can find the Chinese Foreign Minister and ask him about that meeting. 🎖️😏

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/21/1189450185/cia-director-william-burns-putin-is-the-apostle-of-payback

Francie, go live there for a while, and you will understand why its not called a terrorist state for nothing. Before they terrorized other states, they terrorized their own people first.

You’re not just barking up the wrong tree with addressing that post to me, you’re somewhere in a Siberian forest at the moment 😄

No, no theories, the answer to your question is well known and well worn on this thread, not least by yourself. I touched on it in my post just there as well.

Next question? Or are you going to address anything from my actual post?

It could be argued that he had already lost it when he made the decision to invade in Feb 2022. But ever since his "Election?? " he has shown a murderous disposition.

As usual you revert to personal insults. Am I a bit cynical about American motives? Yes. But I'd call it realistic. America, like every country, serves its own interests first. In this case they happen to tally with Ukrainian self preservation, and that's a good thing. But anyone who thinks America's sole or even primary interest here is in promoting freedom and democracy is very naive.

Apathetic? No. Brainwashed by Russian propaganda? No. Believes there is no alternative to Putin? No. I've said time and again the only lasting hope is to overthrow the monster. Why do you keep repeating lies?

No need for apologies, I know myself I can be a contrarian poster, which comes from having all kinds of different experiences in life……… but I’ll never be on any other side than that of any nation’s freedom and self-determination. One of those! :D

That was always Putin's excuse and justification for his invasion. If NATO had never existed, he would have found other excuses. He wants Ukraine back under his control, and that's it. End of Story.