Read an article earlier that a lot of Columbians are heading to Ukraine to fight there for Ukraine. Lots have military experience, there going for the money more then the cause but seems to be a lot of them there.
If we invest any money in security, we should invest it against cyber attacks. We should divert resources away from soldiers and tanks and start producing our own drone technologies here too.
And new Polish PM, not happy with the US Republicans
I remember there were many on here who called Scholz a Russian in the beginning. People are too quick to knee jerk reactions, the same with Ukraine to hold Crimea by Christmas 2023 and now the inevitable Russian victory.
Things change on the battlefield and if the US suddenly change policy then we could be back to Ukraine to hold Crimea by Christmas 2024. I'm not saying that pressure shouldn't be put on the US for further funding (or the EU for that matter) but let's keep in mind that long term plans in war need to be adapted often due to the ever changing situation on the ground so we shouldn't be surprised when the tide of the war shifts back and forth.
They'll be in for an even bigger surprise if they ever visit Russia.......😎
Neither has Ukraine - yet.
I don't think I am saying anything radical here.
If in 12 months time the border hasn't moved much and Russia proposes that they will stop attacking once Ukraine accepts the new border at the current battle line - how could that be spun as a Ukraine victory?
The war has been a disaster for Russia. I am not denying that. However Putin's view on what is a victory will be very different to what the west would view as one are very different. Whether people realise it or not he has successfully divided NATO. Europe needs to realise that it is on its own as the US can no longer be trusted. Even within NATO in Europe, there are divisions opening up.
From yesterday Vladyslav Rykov was shot down and killed during a mission over Ukraine an experienced pilot and commander with over 300 combat missions to his name
Scholz writing in the WSJ today
The Ukrainians won't release any footage unless it's showing Russian losses, after two years you should know that well, but there is people on the ground saying that they are in serious trouble,lack of men and munitions is having real world consequences,it was denied last week and claimed that the Russians were beaten after making gains through tunnels,a week later and they have increased the area of adviika under Russian control by a fair bit , compared to a few weeks ago,
It seems the Ukrainians lost another SU25 aircraft earlier today as well
Wouldn't that mean in your eyes, Russia has already won? Russia are currently not forced into anything 🤷🏻♂️
Probably sometime in 2025. They might hold out hoping for blue wave in November...
At this stage a Russian victory is anything that Russia isn't forced into.
it's funny that the anti-everything brigade who hate immigration and woke etc are often pro russia, they're in for a shock when they see the massive humanitarian crisis and huge amounts of refugees that further russian advancement is going to create
It would purely be a delay tactic with the hope of a change in US policy. The chances of that happening are very slim.
The dreamers in this thread will continue to believe but it is pretty clear that the West has completely failed in it's support of Ukraine. A Russian victory is almost a certainty at this stage it's just a matter of when and in what form.
What's the point in Ukraine mobilising another 500k soldiers if they don't have the weapons and ammunition to support them. Unless you want meat assault's like the Russians. Unfortunately it's a tough time for Ukraine with Russia making small gains almost everywhere. I just hope they don't gain momentum.
What I don't get with so much fighting apparently going on in Avdiivka why is there no footage of fighting within the city itself.
Iceland and Luxembourg also don't invest too heavily in defense, but are not neutral because they have openly signed defense and co-operation agreements. Which is what most countries do which don't want to/cannot spend money on their own defense like Switzerland, Austria or (formerly) Sweden/Finland.
From two weeks ago. Fiji has a military double the size of Ireland's compared to its population and has defense co-operation agreements with Australia, New Zealand and France. The US Coast Guard is authorised to conduct law enforcement within Fiji's waters (Interestingly, the treaty goes both ways, the Fijian Navy can conduct law enforcement in US waters. Presumably for US territories somewhere near Fiji)
Samoa, under a bilateral treaty with New Zealand, has its waters and airspace patrolled by the New Zealand military, the US Coast Guard also conducts law enforcement in its waters. Which is fair enough, the US is only about 80km from Samoa.
Tonga, fair, it doesn't seem to be under a defense treaty, though it did send more troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan than Ireland did. It routinely holds exercises with the US military. (Back when I was in the Nevada Guard, it was a common destination for us, as it's the partner under the State Partnership program. For completeness, the Chief of the National Guard was in Ireland last month, apparently the Irish are considering entering.)
Liechtenstein, also fair, though it's worth noting it is completely surrounded by heavily armed neutral countries.
Vatican's an odd one, as its value is purely symbolic. It doesn't exactly have a major economy to protect. Interestingly, its defense budget as a percentage of expenditure is much lower than might be expected as it relies on Switzerland to pay for much of it (Much to the annoyance, recently, of a number of Swiss politicians).
Andorra joins Iceland and Luxembourg in having its security openly guaranteed by treaty (with France and Spain)
Similarly, Monaco has a treaty which obligates France to defend it.
So, yes, spending little on defense is an option, a viable one. But doing so requires abandoning the holy cow of the policy of 'military neutrality'.
There's a lots lads and Girls from all over the world including a group from here currently on the front lines in this case a group of poles covered in tricolour patches, I think going forward they will struggle to find international recruits the initial romanticism of going off to fight for a just cause has worn off ,there is foreign units Actively looking for qualified individuals ie military trained and experienced and equipped from snipers to medics, but there is no guarantee that your not dead within 6 months , others are asking for a fee to place lads in Units like a finder's fee which they will also ask for cash directly from recruits for admin ,
With the current situation I can't see many volunteering from here or the EU they need Ukrainians more than anything
As a matter of interest where do see the recruits for an International Brigade coming from?
I've been saying it for months something is going wrong and there is splits inside Ukraine they can keep sacking people from defence ministers to military Generals but who sacks the people making the poor decisions , since Kharkiv was liberated it's like the wheels came off and rather than pressing the advantage when the Russians withdrew across the river at Kherson they just seemed to have stopped and decided we are digging instead and we will wait for more US /EU equipment and munitions when they already had an actual advantage and the Russians were in disarray,now the Russians are pushing forward and slowly but surely taking territories, and yes they are having successes with their drone ops but they are physically losing ground in Ukraine,so they absolutely need to change tact and get moving on the ground or face more losses while blaming the Americans which they have solely become reliant for military and financial aid, and to think zelensky himself said the military didn't give him good enough reasons to mobilise up to 500,000 men , adviika is a good enough reason ,the lack of men in units is another good enough reason, winning the war is a good enough reasons,
International brigades will only do so much because they then have to be trained and equipped and deployed and that takes time and money nobody seems to have,tens of billions have gone to the Ukrainian military yet units are funding equipment and supplies through social media,that's absolutely not right or fair ,
I can see the military Leadership getting completely hacked off and saying its time to let us do the job or move aside
If the mobilisation age is dropped to 18 as you say, what help will that be if the weapons aren't there to be used?
Yeah it's going to be a close race this year between vlad and his doubles ,
This is not good at all
something needs to change. Whether it's more mobilisation or new International brigades. No idea what's the solution.
Boris Nadezhdin banned from running against Putin - Surprise surprise
putin was unfortunately proved to be 100% correct on America. Too much internet conspiracy talk has ruined their brains.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J1GowkWE0RA&pp=ygUSRmluYWwgaG91cnMgYWRpdmth
Russia doesn't want to actually control these places it's purely area denial operations, we want to take town A but the defends they don't want to leave so we will reduce town to Rubble so that there is not to hold or defend and move on to the next objective, once adviika is done Chasiv Yar will be the next town /city we will be discussing on here,
Totally agree with mobilisation it should be anyone 18 + should be eligible unless they have an actual disability,if I read correctly they have several million people unemployed but can't find people to mobilize,but others want the EU to forcibly Deport people to Ukraine to fight,they need to be taking a leaf out of Russias play book and look at everyone capable of fighting not just those over 27
It's more if Russia do take control of here and reinforce it and put considerable amount of troops in the city, if Ukraine are ever able to try and take it back will cost them more military personnel and equipment then they lost trying to take bakhmut back. Adviika seems to be more easily to defend and has better defences. It's more Ukraine are loosing a lot more of their people now as they don't have the same amount of supplies say this time 6 months ago. The more this drags on for them and if there not supplied, Russia will gain more land and it's more of an ask for Ukraine to take it back. Something has to give, either Ukraine are given all they need or they need to really up it on their recruitment end and do full mobilisation with ages 18 up. If the U.S. keep flip flopping until the presidential elections and Ukraine are not given all they need by them or the EU it will be interesting to see where the lines will be come then and what has to be taken back.
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