The Russian Invasion of the Ukraine.

[Jimbo07]

I'm seriously starting to suspect that a lot of people have been overestimating Putin's smarts. Sure, he isn't Trump-level dumb and he's totally ruthless which gives him a larger set of tools, but that doesn't mean he's a strategic genius who's always a dozen moves ahead.

I've been thinking about this. Putin is ex-KGB.

I have a vision of someone who is devious, perhaps even wickedly cunning, but not experienced in the same domain as some generals. Sometimes there's tension between the spooks and the army...

 

[theprestige]

BBC Rolling

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has questioned Russia’s membership on the UN Human Rights Council in an address to the body.

"One can reasonably ask whether a UN member state, that tries to take over another UN member state - while committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering - should be allowed to remain on this council?", he said

"We must condemn firmly and unequivocally Russia’s attempt to topple a democratically elected government and its gross human rights abuses", Blinken added

He also spoke of Kremlin repression within Russia's own borders, describing the "shuttering of human rights organisations", the harassment of activists and political opponents and media crackdowns.

HRC membership and leadership frequently goes to countries with abysmal human rights records (even by US standards). Why change now?

Personally I think the best thing about the UN is that it's a relatively neutral forum for all the actors on the world stage, bad actors and good actors, to get into the same room and argue openly about how much of each other's crap they're willing to tolerate. Russia should continue its membership in all UN bodies, otherwise what even is the point of having the UN?

Start kicking countries out of the UN, and pretty soon you've created a new Warsaw Pact. Nobody besides Russia wants a new Warsaw Pact.

 

[Arcade22]

Of course they had no choice but to attack the Radio and TV transmitting tower. Not only is it a perfectly legitimate military target, it's a necessary one to end the Ukrainian Nazis genocide. As Kiselov says on Russian TV: they whip the Ukrainians into a ghastly murderous frenzy with their vile propaganda, becoming more like savage beasts than people.

 

[Jungle Jim]

HRC membership and leadership frequently goes to countries with abysmal human rights records (even by US standards). Why change now?

Personally I think the best thing about the UN is that it's a relatively neutral forum for all the actors on the world stage, bad actors and good actors, to get into the same room and argue openly about how much of each other's crap they're willing to tolerate. Russia should continue its membership in all UN bodies, otherwise what even is the point of having the UN?

Start kicking countries out of the UN, and pretty soon you've created a new Warsaw Pact. Nobody besides Russia wants a new Warsaw Pact.

The original signatories to the Warsaw Treaty Organization were the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and the German Democratic Republic. Aside from some members of the former Soviet Union none of the other countries listed above would join a new Warsaw Pact. So what exactly would the West be worried about?

 

[Ryokan]

The EU parliament has voted to accept Ukraine as a candidate for membership, with an overwhelming majority.

 

[I Am The Scum]

Really happy to see that this thread is moving 100x faster than the Russian advance.

 

[jimbob]

No. What causes collateral damage is non-combatants near to the target. Regular bombs can cause a lot of collateral damage, if their target happens to be around a bunch of civilians or whatever.

A thermobaric bomb, in the right circumstances, just does the same damage as a handful of conventional bombs. It's a way to get the same military effect with a smaller payload. This translates directly into less risk to pilots and planes, and higher operational tempos, since you can get more done with fewer sorties.

For precision strikes that mitigate the risk of collateral damage in crowded areas, the Small-Diameter Bomb has been developed. This is the opposite of a thermobaric. It's a small bomb designed to have an extremely small blast radius. It's good for when you have a very clear, very small target, and you can rely on your targeting systems to hit it exactly.

And if you care about that

ETA: meaning if the military concerned cared about minimising harm to non-combatants. Which the Russians obviously don't

 

[shemp]

There are already reports of jams.

Soon there'll be full-blown raves and lots of ecstasy getting passed around!

 

[ponderingturtle]

The UA may have captured a loaded TOS-1A. Should they use it?

https://twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/status/1498697710429425672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1498707888348573702%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2Fliveupdate%2F18hnzysb1elcs%2FLiveUpdate_6f8e28ce-9983-11ec-826c-e641cc36a296%2F0

How much ammo did they capture for it?

 

[Arcade22]

Russian lawmakers are drafting legislation that would punish “fake” information about the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine with up to 15 years in prison.

The bill being drafted in the lower-house State Duma seeks to punish those who knowingly "distort the purpose, role and tasks of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as other units during special military and other operations," said Vasily Piskarev, head of the Duma’s Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, in an interview with state broadcaster Channel One.

Piskarev said the penalties could apply to “fake” information about Russia’s war losses.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022...terms-for-fakes-about-ukraine-invasion-a76687

I was and still am skeptical towards the idea that Russia has mobile crematoria to discretely dispose of their dead and literally destroy evidence of casualties, but honestly given the Baghdad Bob level of lying they are engaging in i'm starting to think it is probably true.

 

[Jimbo07]

Those of us from Canada know Rex Murphy. Whatever your opinions of his articles, he really seems to have his head up his ass this time!

Blame Russia's attack on Greenism?!

 

[theprestige]

And if you care about that

I mean I spent millions of dollars developing and manufacturing the SDB so obviously I care about that.

(And really, if we're being honest and dispassionate, I could well care about that even if I lacked the resources to do something about it right now anyway.)

 

[ponderingturtle]

I'm genuinely not sure if Russia can win this stage of the war at this point. Frankly at this point I'd question the Russian ability to invade Costa Rica, let alone Ukraine.

Depends on how one defines win. It is highly likely that they will be able to hold more territory than they did before.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

No.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the British used thermobaric warheads in its Hellfire missiles carried by Apache helicopters and UAVs against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Oh well in that case yea, go nuts Ukraine.

Target the food supplies.

 

[I Am The Scum]

Why such a fetish for the A-10?

haha vulcan go brrrrr

 

[jimbob]

I mean I spent millions of dollars developing and manufacturing the SDB so obviously I care about that.

(And really, if we're being honest and dispassionate, I could well care about that even if I lacked the resources to do something about it right now anyway.)

You misunderstood me.

I meant that if one cared about that. It's hardly the type of ordnance that Putin would find a use for.

 

[JoeMorgue]

Mexico's president says he will not impose sanctions on Russia, criticizes "censorship" of Russia.

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-new...s-03-01-22/h_16ea9365f2eb3f81a9b5c09f85de66b9

Huh. Kind of surprised about that. Can't claim to have my thumb anywhere near the pulse of Mexican-Russian relations, but I never pegged Mexico to really be on their side.

 

[theprestige]

Of course they had no choice but to attack the Radio and TV transmitting tower. Not only is it a perfectly legitimate military target, it's a necessary one to end the Ukrainian Nazis genocide. As Kiselov says on Russian TV: they whip the Ukrainians into a ghastly murderous frenzy with their vile propaganda, becoming more like savage beasts than people.

The radio and TV transmitting tower is a perfectly legitimate military target. "No choice" is an awkward turn of phrase, but modern doctrine is pretty clear that such communications infrastructure absolutely should be targeted at the earliest opportunity. I'm not sure where you're going with the rest of your post, but yeah, Russia really should have hit this thing on Day 0.

 

[jimbob]

Mexico's president says he will not impose sanctions on Russia, criticizes "censorship" of Russia.

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-new...s-03-01-22/h_16ea9365f2eb3f81a9b5c09f85de66b9

Huh. Kind of surprised about that. Can't claim to have my thumb anywhere near the pulse of Mexican-Russian relations, but I never pegged Mexico to really be on their side.

Populist leader in the Americas. See also Bolsonaro. He hasn't gone as far as calling it genius though.

 

[theprestige]

The original signatories to the Warsaw Treaty Organization were the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and the German Democratic Republic. Aside from some members of the former Soviet Union none of the other countries listed above would join a new Warsaw Pact. So what exactly would the West be worried about?

A new pact in spirit. A collection of bad actors around the world who are unified in their being left out in the cold while the "good guys" hang out at the UN. The whole point of the UN is to give even the bad actors a voice, some input into world affairs, rather than leaving them alone to nurse their grievances in solitude, or in secret solidarity with other bad actors.

Kicking Russia out of the UN would make things worse, not better. Making that the beginning of a trend of kicking out annoying nations would end up creating an anti-UN that would make things a lot worse in the long run.