misterID wrote:

The strength of the Russian soldiers has been busted. They're getting captured by farmers. Reports are many of them are scared kids. They're saying up to 4,000 have been killed.

James wrote:

This has always been assumed of course but is that still the case after this conflict? The footage and stories all across social media platforms reveal an army with outdated equipment and incompetence. Soldiers begging for food, trading fuel for liquor,  leaving vehicles on the side of the road, crying or running in certain situations, list goes on.

I don’t think the Russian ground forces are trying to displace and shoot civilians. Putin wants to rule the Ukraine, he doesn’t want to create more insurgents by murdering parents. How many buildings does Russia need to level in Ukrainian cities before people beg the violence and siege to end?

I don’t see a version of this ending where Putin is still President/alive and Ukraine isn’t ultimately under his control. He’s absolutely pulling his punches at the moment. Yes, Russian ground forces aren’t as supplied and equipped as the US/UK/AUS soldier. But I don’t believe the goal here is to Blitzkrieg to Paris. Putin’s winning this war and slowly occupying and controlling all major cities. If Kiev is not completely sieged or occupied next weekend, I’ll be shocked.

Both the Ukrainians and Russians are putting out propaganda according to the DoD. Neither side has killed as many as they’re claiming. We’re losing visibility into Russian state media, but so much of the Ukrainian “victory” is pure fabrication. The “Ghost of Kiev” western media was pushing, complete bullshit. The Ukrainian soldiers who told the Russian Navy to “go fuck yourself” in a refusal to surrender before being blown up?  They were taken alive and Russia now controls the island.

Point being Russia is on the path to victory here where they can take over the Ukraine with minimal infrastructural loss and civilian casualties. If the tide were to turn, Russia wouldn’t be pulling its punches and could level entire cities in hours.

Hopefully the sanctions cause the Russian oligarchs to feign concern for Democracy and remove Putin. But I don’t think that’s likely.

With gas prices and oil costs going through the roof, how long until every day citizens in every western nation start bitching about those prices, and fickle politicians turn their coat. It was no more moral to abandon Afghanistan and allow the Taliban to take over than it is to allow Russia to take over Ukraine. So the idea our leaders are righteous and defending democracy from autocrats is complete bullshit. Weeks ago Germany was full bore ahead with the Nord Stream and refused to export weapons to Ukraine. Italy didn’t want banking sanctions via SWIFT. We’ll see how long the solidarity lasts and how much pain western powers are willing to inflict on their people in the hopes a tyrant will abandon his effort to reform the Russian empire.

Smoking Guns wrote:

Randall Flagg wrote:

The man is threatening nukes. 135 countries denounced him today while only 4 others praised him. But the reality is only the US has a military capable of taking on Russia. What EU leaders think once that line is crossed is irrelevant, they don’t get to be part of the discussion. Military action by the US runs a very high chance of nuclear strikes. When the power grid is out and you have to scavenge and hunt to feed you and yours, will you really care what is happening 10k mikes away?

I hate to be part of the “told you so” crowd, but I’ve been bitching about this inevitably for the past 20 years. Europe has been derelict in their defense for decades and only matter on the global market as consumers. You don’t have Omar’s and AOC’s trashing their nation in Russia, nor do you have millions of followers who think their opinions are righteous.

Westerners with full bellies can wave flags and change their Facebook photos, but they don’t have a clue about real conflict. And they’ll eagerly follow whatever person make them feel comfortable and safe -COVID proved this.

We’re talking about nuclear war. WW3. Since they’ll recall my ass if that happens, I’m a little resentful of folks who want to pretend to be tough while others get bloody for their values that they won’t defend or sacrifice for.

Sounds like we should take out Putin before he takes out the world. Isn’t Putin forever tainted now?

And how does that happen? You think we can just shoot a bullet from space?  You want to drone strike him?

This isn’t North Korea. If Putin has a stroke tonight, Russia isn’t going to turn 180. I’m not discounting his personal influence, but he’s not acting in a vacuum. If Putin “took out” Biden, do you think Harris would not level Moscow? Why would the Russians be more reserved than the Americans?

Look at how pundits and opposing party leadership responded when Trump took out an Iranian General who was responsible for direct attacks on Americans, and you’re advocating we assassinate a world leader. How do you think that plays out?

The West is doing what it realistically can to hurt Putin without war. I’m shocked Germany ended its pipeline deal, but we’ll see how that actually plays out versus what sounds good in the media. Germany isn’t just going to watch 50% of their energy vanish and no amount of solar or wind can replace that much oil and gas.

End all trade, boycott Russia.  Deny visas to their citizens. Sign me up for all that. But you’re advocating WW3 for a nation and continent that doesn’t give a fuck about you or me and mocks us behind our backs. I don’t want to risk nuclear war because Europe has pretended to be above the realities of the world the past 70 years.

We have enough people in America who think millions of unskilled illiterate migrants crossing our boarders illegally each year is a non issue. Geniuses who think we should defund the police and military to give crackheads a condo with free internet. People who think rioting and looting are political discourse. The last thing I want to do is throw more chaos and idiocy into the mix outside my own front door.