ReluctantEskimo

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukra...reports-2024-6

ReluctantEskimo

https://gwaramedia.com/en/russia-los...kiv-offensive/

Now that Ukraine is being resupplied with Western air defense again, it is expected that forward progress will be halted or reversed.

Excargodog

Still foolishly trying to count coup? This isn't about points. This is NATO and never has the Walter Lippmann quote been more apropos.

It's not bad enough that Article 5 is pretty much meaningless in terms of mutual support. NATO allies aren't really obligated to do squat. Basically it gives them permission to do anything they were going to do anyway - big whoop. But it does illustrate why it was silly to bring some of these nations - like Hungary and Slovakia- into NATO in the first place. A lot of these small and pretty much unimportant countries are a liability - not an asset.

And in the context of the EU which demands unanimity on actions - where even one country blackballing a decision terminates it, having proRussian countries like Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Hungary pretty much stops the EU Afrom taking effective action. I know you don't think a knowledge of these countries' history, culture, and historical animosities fit your simplistic picture of "Putin - bad" but their histories, cultures, etc happen to be important.

For those who actually want to learn why we have been remarkably unsuccessful in our recent wars (with the possible exception of Desert Storm) this is worth a read:

https://www.realcleardefense.com/art...y_1037009.html

Basically, Putin isn't the problem Eastern Europe history and culture is the problem. Where Putin to be assassinated today, he would most likely be replaced by someone equally bad.

Excargodog

Not by anyone remotely knowledgeable.

Seriously? Gwaramedia??

A news service based in Kharkiv? You expect them to be objective? I'm not bad-mouthing them personally, but everybody puts out propaganda in a war that serves their purposes of keeping up morale and as patriotic Ukrainians Gwaramedia is going to do the same. They are in a town 19 miles from the Russian border, thousands of people have already fled from the city, electric power and running water are intermittent and Russian glide bombs dropped from over Russian territory can glide all the way to the city center. OF COURSE Gwaramedia is going to do what they can to keep up morale. A headline of "OH $HIT, WE ARR ALL GOING TO DIE" wouldn't do anyone any good and woukd probably lead to the government shutting them down..

ReluctantEskimo

"If the facts are on your side, pound the facts into the table. If the law is on your side, pound the law into the table. If neither the facts nor the law are on your side, pound the table."

You questioning my sources while you puke an unlimited supply of questionable opinion pieces just means that you literally have nothing to back you up.

ReluctantEskimo

The Russians are more guilty of everything you've accused the west of than NATO itself.

https://www.politico.eu/article/arme...nyan-confirms/

Excargodog

What have I accused NATO of doing?

1. Accepting into NATO Russian leaning countries like Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Hungary? They did.
2. Accepting into NATO countries that are so small they are more a liability than an asset like Albania (2.7 million population), Estonia (1,4 million), Latvia (1,8 million), Lithuania (2.8 million), North Macedonia (1.8 million) and Slovenia (2.1 million)? They did.
3 Allowing their largest and most prosperous countries (other than the US) to underfund their own defense forces even during the Cold War and profoundly neglect them for the ensuing thirty years? They did.

As to the above article, the Armenian Azerbaijani problem goes back a long time - preceding even the Armenian Genocide in 1915. But basically a group of Armenians were residents in Azerbaijan in an isolated enclave. Azerbaijan, a long time associate member of NATO () https://nato-pfp.mfa.gov.az/en/conte...to-cooperation first blockaded and then attacked the group which had started a separatist movement and the Russian peacekeepers in the area were unable/unwilling to protect them and they largely moved back to internationally recognized Armenian borders. What did you want the peacekeepers to do? Go to war with Azerbaijan?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66852070

You really do need to try to understand the basis for European problems rather than just trying to post what you apparently believe are "gotcha" articles.

Excargodog

For crying out loud, go to their own website and look:

https://gwaramedia.com/en/about-gwara-media/

A staff of 16 in Kharkiv. I'm sure they are patriotic as all get out and being in a city that's being attacked and within easy glide bomb range of Russian airspace they really OUGHT to be trying to keep morale up. It's the patriotic thing to do. But making authoritative pronouncements on:

?

Not so much. Call it propaganda or call it wishful thinking, doesn't matter and I don't blame them for putting it out. But authoritative? Hardly.

High tech hasn't been any game changer in this war, it has admittedly allowed Ukraine to lose slower, but short of :
a. NATO boots on the ground
or
b. Nukes

it's still a manpower, logistics, and defense industrial base mismatch. Perhaps the 40 year old F-16 block 15s will change that, perhaps not. We'll just have to see.

MaxQ

Regarding to your reply to the "russia being richer" comment.

I was informed today that the Moscow Exchange suspended Ruble/Dollar and Euro trading due to a crashing Ruble.
More significantly is the anecdotal reporting of long lines at banks as people are getting their money out.
This is at least the second time the Ruble has crashed in the past 12 to 18 months. We shall see what is done to rescue it this time.

News services lack the resources to do any true investigative reporting, so they basically just print the official releases from the govt regarding economic performance.

With NGOs being shutdown in Russia, plus the risk of being arrested (or worse) if one does any genuine investigative journalism, Westerners don't have a lot to go on when analyzing/interpreting Russian economic data.

Fortunately there are lots of people east of the Odra who do have a pretty good understanding of:
What is happening.
Whom has been compromised.
And "what is to be done".

We would do well to listen more to them, and a little less to the resurrection of the America First catastrophe.

ReluctantEskimo

Well said.

We won't know if Russia is on the brink of collapse until after it happens. The Iron Curtain was sitting in storage and easily reinstalled.

Excargodog wants to attack sources he disapproves of with charges of bias, without evidence.

Meanwhile, he has no reservations about regurgitating the thoughts of some pundit in a K Street think tank.

Kharkiv journalists are miles away. They could literally count the bodies.

Keep posting those realclear op-eds. Anyone with an isolationist mil blog gets a retweet from Kargo.