The Russians have gone in

[UncleEd]

Putin is sacrificing the lives
of many young ones right
now in Ukraine as have
tyrants in the past when
conquering.

Those same tyrants have also
sacrificed their own when
finally pushed toward a corner.

Not psychiatry, just history.

 

[Rudi]

I'm really not worried about Putin and nukes. In the end, and this applies to the Chinese also, it's about money and power. Dead people have neither. I worry more about a nuclear Iran. People who will fight for religion tend to not worry about killing themselves and everyone else. In their world, dying to advance a religion is righteous and there's those 72 virgins waiting on the other side. Hopefully we don't send them anymore pallets of Euros to advance their nuclear programs.

Yes, MAD won't work if you want total destruction.

 

[LVSteve]

Great first-person account from Ukraine here, from The Atlantic...

What Foreign Fighters Are Seeing in Ukraine - The Atlantic

The only issue I have with the article is the assertion that the Javelin and the NLAW have done so well against the Russian armor. There are persistent rumors that many of the reactive armor units don't contain explosives because of corruption at the factories and the army officers who sign off on the inspections. I'd love to think that our weapons are that good, but we need to apply a little caution IMHO.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Here's just one example of how Putin's little adventure is going to hurt Russia for a long, long time to come.

You might have heard that Putin ordered the nationalization of all commercial aircraft operating in Russia, in retaliation for the ban on Russian airlines flying internationally. Well...

Most of the commercial aircraft flying in Russia are Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, etc...and since the parts to maintain those airplanes are embargoed, they won't get serviced properly. Even worse, because the owners can no longer keep track of them, and because there will be no way to verify Russian recordkeeping even if needed maintenance is done, those airplanes -- worth about $10,000,000,000 -- will have to be written off.

This war will end at some point, and when that happens, does anyone really think anybody will want to lease aircraft again to any Russian airline? Putin has effectively destroyed the entire Russian civil aviation industry. Russian citizens will have very limited options when they wish to fly, and thousands of Russians employed in the aviation field will be out of work.

On the world stage, Putin has set Russia back decades, if not centuries. In the words of the one and only Fred Sanford..."You big dummy!"

Putin Signs Law Allowing Russian Air Carriers to Seize Western Jets Worth $10B

Russia Is Seizing Hundreds of Leased Boeing, Airbus Planes; Poses Risk to Passengers

 

[arjay]

He really underestimated what he was up against and not just with Ukraine.
I think he's nuts.
My dad (a Swiss) and I would talk about the war and hitler at times. The Swiss knew he was nuts in the 30s. It was common knowledge.

 

[UncleEd]

Well, it's been five weeks
already since Russia invaded
Ukraine. Time for Americans'
attention span to fade.

 

[Beemerguy53]

I don't know if he's nuts or not, but he sure didn't think through the longterm consequences of invading Ukraine.

 

[Rudi]

Looks like his inner circle of yes men are afraid to tell him the truth.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Looks like his inner circle of yes men are afraid to tell him the truth.

Shades of Berlin, 1945.

 

[CH4]

I don't know if he's nuts or not, but he sure didn't think through the longterm consequences of invading Ukraine.

Yep, hubris and one dimensional thinking gets many in trouble. I see it all the time, especially when working with foreign companies. They get fixated on the shiny object and fail to see the obstacles just past the end of their nose.

 

[dockmurgw]

I'm thinking putin is more taken aback by world reaction than Ukrainian tenacity...likely not what he expected. As an extra bonus, his ground game is as powerful as a 3rd world banana republic...we are learning that without nukes they are nothing.

 

[Rudi]

I'm thinking putin is more taken aback by world reaction than Ukrainian tenacity...likely not what he expected. As an extra bonus, his ground game is as powerful as a 3rd world banana republic...we are learning that without nukes they are nothing.

Yes, this is not the Soviet Army that was going to smash through the Fulda Gap and be in Portugal in a week.

 

[smithman 10]

AP story says Rudi is right about Putin advisors

Looks like his inner circle of yes men are afraid to tell him the truth.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military's poor performance in Ukraine, according to the White House. The advisers are scared to tell him the truth, the intel says.

White House: Intel shows Putin misled by advisers on Ukraine | AP News

 

[oldbrownhat]

...The advisers are scared to tell him the truth....

I hope they all have food tasters...

 

[oldbrownhat]

The Guardian: Head of Britain's GCHQ spy service says some Russian soldiers are refusing to carry out orders

On Wednesday, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) chief Jeremy Fleming said that there's new intelligence that shows some Russian soldiers in Ukraine have sabotaged their own equipment and accidentally shot down one of their own aircraft, Reuters is reporting.

"We've seen Russian soldiers short of weapons and morale - refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft," Fleming said in a speech in Canberra at the Australian National University.

"Putin has massively misjudged the situation," Fleming said. "We believe Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth." Reuters was unable to independently confirm GCHQ's analysis...​

 

[riverrat38]

I hope they all have food tasters...

A guy could starve if he waited to see the effects of Polonium-210 on the tasters!

73,
Rick

 

[Kevin J.]

Just think about the rise and fall of the Russian/Soviet empires of the last 105 years, all have been born and destroyed by wars. 1917 the Czar falls, Lenin and the Soviet communists come to power due to the Russians losses in WWI. 1989 the fall of that Soviet regime in part to the loss in Afghanistan. 2022 we have that Russia invading Ukrainian. Stay tuned…..

 

[oldbrownhat]

A guy could starve if he waited to see the effects of Polonium-210 on the tasters!

73,
Rick

Ah, but they might not use Polonum-210. There have already been reports of people getting mysteriously sick, and from another recent Guardian article:

Ruth Michaelson is in Istanbul to cover the peace talks for us. She sends this report:

"I advise anyone going through negotiations with the Russian Federation not to eat or drink anything, and preferably avoid touching any surface," Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba reportedly told delegates. Pictures from inside the negotiations, expected to stretch into the afternoon, suggest Kuleba's instructions might be a challenge.​

Perhaps Mad Vlad has a special, faster-acting "Putinium".

 

[Rudi]

Just think about the rise and fall of the Russian/Soviet empires of the last 105 years, all have been born and destroyed by wars. 1917 the Czar falls, Lenin and the Soviet communists come to power due to the Russians losses in WWI. 1989 the fall of that Soviet regime in part to the loss in Afghanistan. 2022 we have that Russia invading Ukrainian. Stay tuned…..

The Russians are paranoid with good reason. Throughout history they have been invaded by hostiles. They lost how many in the war with France? How many in WWI? Well over 20,000,000 in WWII. Not to mention those killed by their own leaders. The current gaffes by other leaders are red meat for Russian TV and putin's propagandists.

 

[Kevin J.]

True. History is written by the victorious. Stalin covered his war and post war atrocities with full blame on the nazi's and that has become ingrained in the Russian culture and understanding of history. Russians aren't taught or are aware of the original partnership with Hitler on the attacked on Poland and Finland. This same paranoia and suffering victim mindset has been used on the Russian people ever since. This is a basic strategy of a dictatorship through history and Russian dictators like Putin have a deep well to draw from.