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But, it's funny watching you and fka do gymnastics to provide support for the Russians and Putin.

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No one supports Putin, they just make every excuse imaginable to justify his actions.

I don't pay for WSJ, but an interesting headline there declares Putin, Musk, and the US economy the biggest winners of 2023 (in that order?)

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he Russian's goal wasn't simply territory, but to de-nazify Ukraine and eliminate a hostile power from their doorstep.

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And here we are, almost 2 years later and Ukraine's 4 largest cities are still safely in Ukrainian hands with zero threat of a Russian offensive, and Russia having lost 60% of their gains since the height of their initial invasion.



But ya, largely over.

PlaneCrashGuy said:

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I don't pay for WSJ, but an interesting headline there declares Putin, Musk, and the US economy the biggest winners of 2023 (in that order?)

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And Taylor Swift. Some hard hitting analysis in that article.

Where did Zelensky rank? Where did Ukraine rank? Was the analysis as hard hitting as "they exist so they win"? Were they above or below Taylor Swift?

I don't think the Ukrainians particularly GAF about where they rank in a WSJ opinion piece.

We’re coming closer … pic.twitter.com/TjotQFEDB0

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 20, 2023

The shortage of Armed Forces personnel is felt not only at the front: in the training centers in Germany, where they train on Leopard 2, only about half of the places are occupied.

This was stated by Die Welt journalist in Kyiv Paul Ronzheimer. He emphasized that Zelensky’s… pic.twitter.com/0uRtvCYvdg

— -- GEROMAN -- time will tell - 👀 -- (@GeromanAT) December 21, 2023

Pessimistic reports now come from Ukraine on German TV

A ZDF reporter tells the German public that Kiev is running low on ammunition. And there are not enough soldiers either. And those who still remain are tired. Trust in the authorities has decreased, people are afraid of… pic.twitter.com/5t1hCsDYB7

— SIMPLICIUS The Thinker Ѱ (@simpatico771) December 21, 2023

That last picture…. They've finally figured out what we've known for a while now.

Yep. The folks there do know.

The latest piece from @stevebryen explains:https://t.co/Wo0QLylPSv pic.twitter.com/KjW3kWyx4W

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 19, 2023

Wrong link

🇺🇦‼️🚨 BREAKING: “6000 military aged men leave per day.”

— Head of Ukraine’s border control

The county is collapsing…

pic.twitter.com/0HouV6RSGw

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 21, 2023

More:

⚡️🇺🇦Head of Ukraine border control says 6000 military aged men leave per day. Multiplied by 365, that would be ~2.1 million per year. Ukraine is said by some to only have around 2-3M military aged males left (some claim even less), so at this rate, in another year they would have… pic.twitter.com/ccjyXS0M3N

— SIMPLICIUS The Thinker Ѱ (@simpatico771) December 21, 2023

Ron Johnson gets it:

⚡️US Senator Ron Johnson says the main problem with liberalism is the denial of reality, and this pertains to Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/uIco3e9p1C

— SIMPLICIUS The Thinker Ѱ (@simpatico771) December 22, 2023

Good for her, but note the use of ambulances as abduction vehicles by Ukrainian 'recruiters:'

Amazing! pic.twitter.com/Bfl9gX3YPM

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 21, 2023

NBC (Fake/establishment propaganda) News regarding the paradoxical outcomes of the proxy war in Ukraine for Putin and Zelensky:

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Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy have arrived at two very different points in the war.

A year ago, Zelenskyy received a standing ovation in Congress and promises of billions in aid to help fight Putin's invading army. The Russian president, meanwhile, appeared to shun the spotlight. His army was losing ground as he fended off challenges from within his own ranks.

On Tuesday, the roles appeared reversed. Putin seemed confident and victorious at a Defense Ministry briefing, while Zelenskyy looked beleaguered at a hastily organized year-end news conference.

The Russian leader sounded buoyant as he touted Russia's war effort at the briefing, surrounded by his top military brass a stark contrast to just six months ago when his grip on power and the country's military leadership was threatened by a mutiny and Kyiv's new counteroffensive was expected to drive the Russians back as far as their own borders.

Putin's display of confidence is hardly surprising, said Mark Galeotti, the head of the Russia-focused consultancy Mayak Intelligence. "Putin is in a stronger position now than he has been at any point since the invasion, so he has some reason to crow," Galeotti, who has written extensively about the Russian president, said.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, is in a very different spot, he added, falling back on his tried-and-tested tactic of invoking a moral obligation by his allies to help Ukraine as he appeared to take a veiled stab at Washington.

"I am sure that the United States of America will not betray us and that what we agreed with the United States will be fully implemented," Zelenskyy told reporters.

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Decent analyses:

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Story at-a-glance

• Lex Fridman interviews John Mearsheimer, an international relations scholar at the University of Chicago, about how the war in Ukraine may end
• In the best-case scenario, Mearsheimer predicts a ceasefire leading to a frozen conflict
• In the event of a frozen conflict, Mearsheimer believes it will be unstable, with Ukrainians attempting to weaken Russia's position and Russians "going to great lengths" to damage Ukraine and sow dissension within the alliance
• Mearsheimer states that if the U.S. continues to interfere in the war, the answer to whether the conflict will be solved "is definitely no … You have to get the Americans out"
• Mearsheimer believes there's a "sliver of a chance" to work out the war, but to get there Ukraine has to become neutral and completely sever all security ties with the West

In the video above, Lex Fridman interviews John Mearsheimer, an international relations scholar at the University of Chicago, about how the war in Ukraine may end. Mearsheimer isn't optimistic.

Since the war began in February 2022, about 500,000 Ukrainian and Russian troops have been killed or wounded,1 along with more than 9,600 civilian deaths in Ukraine.2 Meanwhile, according to official aid trackers, the U.S. has sent $76.8 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as of the end of July 2023.3,4 The European Union contributed another $85.1 billion in that same timeframe.

Not only may corruption may be a primary driver of this war, it may be unwinnable. "I don't think there's any real prospect of a meaningful peace agreement," Mearsheimer said. "I think it's almost impossible. I think the best you can hope for at this point is at some point the shooting stops. You have a ceasefire and then you have a frozen conflict."

Did the US Get in the Way of a Resolution?

In the event of a frozen conflict, Mearsheimer believes it will be unstable, with Ukrainians attempting to weaken Russia's position and Russians "going to great lengths" to damage Ukraine and sow dissension within the alliance, "and that includes in terms of Transatlantic relations," he says … "The potential for escalation there will be great. So, I think this is a disaster."

…

Fridman believes in the power of individual leaders to come together to end war, but this requires trust something that, Mearsheimer says, was broken for the Russian. This was in large part due to the Minsk Agreements, which were meant to shut down civil war taking place in the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine.

Four main players were involved Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France. "I believe the Russians took the Minks accords seriously," Mearsheimer explains. "I believe Putin took them very seriously. He wanted to shut down that conflict."

The other leaders involved, however Angela Merkel from Germany, Francois Hollande from France and Petro Poroshenko from Ukraine were not wholly on board. According to Mearsheimer:

"All explicitly said they were not seriously interested in reaching an agreement. In all of the discussions with Putin they were bamboozling him. They were trying to trick him so that they would buy time to build up Ukraine's military. Putin is profoundly upset about these admissions by these three leaders. He believes he was fooled into thinking that Minsk could work.

He believes that he negotiated in good faith and they did not, and he believes that the level of trust now between Russia and the West is virtually zero as a result of this experience over Minsk … if you're Putin at this point in time, trusting the West is not an idea that's going to be very attractive at all. In fact, you're going to distrust anything they say."

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I'm kind of surprised they didn't just take wifey with em. There was a video of a deceased women in the trenches recently on X, far to bloody/graphic for this site, so we know Uke has girls on the front line, at least in some places.

Give it to the Ukes and the Russians alike. Not only are their women better looking (on average) they also evidently have testicles where their ovaries go vs American men, particularly liberal ones, have ovaries where their testicles are stored.

When the Fox reporter Benjamin Hall was severely injured, his local contact was female and she was no bull**** strong and fearless.

Those women are certainly braver/tougher/stronger than the keyboard battlefield experts we've seen show up in here telling them to go sacrifice themselves at the altar of the big guy.

Except that many of us on this thread and the other have served, taken direct or indirect fire, and in one example on the other thread been wounded in action.

Teslag said:

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Except that many of us on this thread and the other have served, taken direct or indirect fire, and in one example on the other thread been wounded in action.

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Yes I served thx for remembering but that doesn't mean I am always right in geopolitical decisions or blindly accept the propaganda our cia and msm put out about the rightness of any given wars. There are also plenty of military matters my service didn't make me an expert on.

He wasn't questioning knowledge or expertise. He was making a half ass attempt to call in to the question the courage of others while forgetting that many of us have served.

I've been in a bunker taking indirect fire and to my left was one of the finest female NCO's I've ever known. Doubt he has and it was a BS comment.

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blindly accept the propaganda our cia and msm put out about the rightness of any given wars.

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Does blindly accepting actual Russia state media accounts, and even the Russian ministry of defense' claims mean one is open minded?

Teslag said:

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blindly accept the propaganda our cia and msm put out about the rightness of any given wars.

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Does blindly accepting actual Russia state media accounts, and even the Russian ministry of defense' claims mean one is open minded?

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Accepting versus sharing. Not sure why that is such a difficult concept to understand the difference.

I often SHARE unpopular positions, particularly when I feel like only one side and perspective is being SHARED.

That oft gets turned into attacks on me ACCEPTING that perspective and information and even condoning it.

When you are attacked as ACCEPTING or condoning information when all you did was SHARE, that is unacceptable to me. And you do that a lot, particularly on this thread.

nortex, Plane Crash Guy and myself often simply SHARE information or question the authenticity of all the information shared by MSM and from the established narrative that both sides of the aisle have propagated on this conflict.

And as nortex has indicated, serving in the military whilst honorable certainly does not make one an expert or even informed on geopolitical issues.

Like how driving a Tesla does not make one the only source of information on EVs and electricity.

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Accepting versus sharing. Not sure why that is such a difficult concept to understand the difference.

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Simply sharing those sources and their information is more than fine. It's actually interesting to see their attempts a manipulation or willful ignorance.

But Nortex doesn't just do that. He often adds his own commentary using those same sources as citations and justification for his point of view. Once someone does that they arent simply sharing, they are placing credibility to that source and using it to frame their opinion.

And I will state that I've never seen you do this, but he certainly does with regularity. Definitely not lumping you with him.

Teslag said:

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Accepting versus sharing. Not sure why that is such a difficult concept to understand the difference.

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Simply sharing those sources and their information is more than fine. It's actually interesting to see their attempts a manipulation or willful ignorance.

But Nortex doesn't just do that. He often adds his own commentary using those same sources as citations and justification for his point of view. Once someone does that they arent simply sharing, they are placing credibility to that source and using it to frame their opinion.

And I will state that I've never seen you do this, but he certainly does with regularity. Definitely not lumping you with him.

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Just derailing over a temper tantrum that I share sources and sometimes add commentary to them that you hate doesn't really add anything other than the usual snark/hissy fit you are pretty broadly known for. You can wrap yourself in the flag all you want and excoriate anyone who mocks you for the claim to some sort of Sgt York/Audie Murphy level of heroism, but it's all ridiculous to almost all of us, including those on 'your side' regarding the Biden proxy war in Ukraine.

But anyway, go back to some how telling us about the gender of someone you were in a bunker with. Thx again for bumping the thread with your inane, inadvertently humorous rants.

There's no reason this incompetent, maniacal push to extend wars with American funding/resources/weapons should continue. Thankfully, our leadership in the House is holding forth for some accountability finally.

Here's another veteran making this very on-point political argument:

During President Biden's inauguration, he promised to bring our country together, to be a president for all Americans, no matter who they voted for, and he promised to get us closer to peace. Instead he is tearing our country apart, pouring fuel on the fire of divisiveness, and… pic.twitter.com/kyeES64WBh

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) December 22, 2023

And here's some exciting war news;

🇷🇺🇺🇦‼️🚨 BREAKING: Naval drone warehouse hit.

The Russian Armed Forces hit a warehouse where Ukraine had previously demonstrated a batch of naval drones.

The location was quickly identified and struck. Careful what you publish. pic.twitter.com/3PHOeDyTKr

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 22, 2023

The Kyiv Independent’s Asami Terajima spoke with soldiers about the human toll of operations to probe the Russian fortifications on the eastern bank of Ukraine’s biggest river.https://t.co/XrzUKB1fhZ

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 22, 2023

Ukrainians need negotiations and a new president, preferably someone who doesn’t love cocaine more than his own country.

— Gabe (@GabeZZOZZ) December 22, 2023

You know was well as I do that the house hold up is all for sure. The defense lobby will always get their way in the end and Ukraine will get whatever is they want.

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other than the usual snark/hissy fit you are pretty broadly known for.

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And the lack of self awareness with this post is simply amazing.

Russia also got stronger overnight when they lost 3 SU54's. The loss of these aircraft no doubt put Russia in key position of strength.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-says-it-shot-down-three-russian-su-34-fullbacks

Pretty sure those are just streaming off the assembly line. Plus those were probably old. Addition by subtraction.

Proably the default 200 per month on those as well

Let's compare the impact of 3 strike bombers vs. this;

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Head of Ukraine border control says 6000 military aged men leave per day. Multiplied by 365, that would be ~2.1 million per year. Ukraine is said by some to only have around 2-3M military aged males left (some claim even less), so at this rate, in another year they would have no one left to fight but women or people "above or below" military age: i.e. teenagers or 70+ year olds.

Every day, about 6 thousand men of military age leave the territory of Ukraine abroad.

This was stated at a briefing by the head of the department for organizing border control of the Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service, Igor Matviychuk.

The schemes used are variable from using transport permits for truck drivers to several relatives of conscription age accompanying a disable family member across the border.

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Now, I could be mistaken, but if Ukraine only has 2 million military age males left, and they report to be losing 20K a month:



This is their report, not 'russian propaganda' despite whatever some resident keyboard rambo's might report.

I think it's tragic the lives being sacrificed at whatever one calls the altar of this war, including Americans deluded into thinking it's about some notion of 'freedom' etc.

Speculation:

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Recall that at 20k a month, after about 22 months of war, they would be at around 22 x 20k = 440,000 losses, which is roughly where a lot of tallies peg them now. After all, Zelensky's own announcement is for exactly 450-500k new men, as per the video I postedso this would line up perfectly with how much they need to replenish.

Another corroboration is Budanov's new video, which I posted last time, where he states that a steady 1.1M armed forces figure has to be maintained "at all times"which tells us that Ukraine's doctrinal principle is to always maintain the same equilibrium of men, which logically explains why 450-500k total losses would require 450-500k new men, as opposed to 500k new men for an 'expansion' of some sort.

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The cold, hard math doesn't work for the Ukraine war proponents, imho. The politics we could debate, I guess (as that always involves opinion and prognostications), but really none of it adds up to a future 'free, independent Ukraine.'

But a few Su-34's, and a handful of 30 year old F-16's might suddenly mean...what, exactly?

Teslag said:

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Except that many of us on this thread and the other have served, taken direct or indirect fire, and in one example on the other thread been wounded in action.

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I guarantee you and yours have taken less fire than the average Uke you keyboard command forward at any costs. The proof of this guarantee is the fact that you're still alive- while the Ukes you order into the meat grinder are rarely so lucky.

I dont doubt that you've served. I am appreciative of yours, and Nortex's service. The proof you've been in direct fire is your inability to recognize a war that is lost: thats a skill front line grunts in bunkers don't have, because its an opinion that requires perspective. Nortex on the other hand can zoom out and see what you can't.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-veteran-ukraine-ethan-hertweck/

Have to wonder about accuracy with these sensational headlines.With 46 dead Americans the "no American blood spilled" line is dried up.

Are we supposed to pretend we don't know the "no American blood spilt" means we suffered zero casualties among our military personnel?

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After going on a few missions, one of which involved crossing the Dnipro River, Ethan Hertweck joined another unit along with one of his comrades. On Dec. 8, he and a member of his former unit were protecting two bunkers when the Russians began to overrun their position.

"They both single-handedly left their post taking out about 12 enemy soldiers and halting their advance," Leslie Hertweck said. "They saved two bunkers full of their unit. Ethan made it to the bunker but had to go back for his mate, and that is when he was hit in his left upper chest above his plate, but he still tried to render aid before he passed."

Never during his time in Ukraine did Ethan Hertweck voice any regrets for deciding to help Ukrainians, his mother said.

While his family is mourning his loss, they are also deeply proud of his sacrifice, she said, adding: "He gave his life for a country and people he had fallen in love with!"

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This whole story is very sad as it really sounds like a young kid who basically fell for propaganda, and wound up dying in the meat grinder craziness (tactically/strategically) that is the Dnipro 'beach head' Zelensky insists on holding.

Not going to denigrate his life/sacrifice or anything, I just think it is exactly the tragic story (and attendant narrative) I wish we could get fewer people to see as 'good' as it is just a waste of a promising young life.

nortex97 said:

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After going on a few missions, one of which involved crossing the Dnipro River, Ethan Hertweck joined another unit along with one of his comrades. On Dec. 8, he and a member of his former unit were protecting two bunkers when the Russians began to overrun their position.

"They both single-handedly left their post taking out about 12 enemy soldiers and halting their advance," Leslie Hertweck said. "They saved two bunkers full of their unit. Ethan made it to the bunker but had to go back for his mate, and that is when he was hit in his left upper chest above his plate, but he still tried to render aid before he passed."

Never during his time in Ukraine did Ethan Hertweck voice any regrets for deciding to help Ukrainians, his mother said.

While his family is mourning his loss, they are also deeply proud of his sacrifice, she said, adding: "He gave his life for a country and people he had fallen in love with!"

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This whole story is very sad as it really sounds like a young kid who basically fell for propaganda, and wound up dying

…

Not going to denigrate his life/sacrifice or anything

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Oof

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I think it's tragic the lives being sacrificed at whatever one calls the altar of this war,

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A war in which Vladimir Putin started and is solely responsible for.

But as always he gets a pass

Sounds like he FAFO like those NAFO fella's like to joke about.