Borscht and vodka comrade.
On the plus side for the Russians, the T62s don't have autoloaders that lead to the explosive turret launch seen on the newer T72, 80s etc
Borscht and vodka comrade
Anyway I think the Russian tankers have had enough vodka
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1580291630913187840?t=e6rtkpOcau1C3W76ktxhaQ&s=19
The Russian's insistence that it was a truck bomb, plus their obviously fabricated evidence make it more and more likely that it wasn't a truck bomb.
https://twitter.com/John_A_Ridge/status/1580252296599851009
I like the fact that, in the sake of continuity, those ancient T62’s appear to be being worked on in a factory that is of a similar vintage by a workforce that appears to be, to put mildly, ambivalent to the whole affair. Every tank is a Friday afternoon tank.
Clearly they realise that they are just building the next donations to the UA. Out of the 26 T62’s lost by Russia, 22 have been captured 😉
Out of the 26 T62’s lost by Russia, 22 have been captured 😉
22 have probably been abandoned. The only saving grace for the T62 was its gun, which was considered advanced at the time
Vulnerable fuel and ammo storage only added to its woes
Put a brick on the accelerater and aim it roughly where you want to go
It will clear any landmines for you, or if the Russian army have any AT rocket left, let them shoot up an empty, decrepit piece of history using up their ammo and revealling their position
Looking at the workplace and workforce, most of whom appears to be as old as the tanks, they wont even make it to the front lines this year
This is great news - I had no idea so many were being trained (more waves of 10k to follow) https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1580244637284900864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
that's a big number, way more than has been reported before.
Indeed let us hope that such a number of freshly trained, equipped and warmly dressed fighters can really, really make a difference. 🤞
Once again we await the clever logistics and strategy from the Ukrainian side. 👍
kimbers Full Member
On the plus side for the Russians, the T62s don’t have autoloaders that lead to the explosive turret launch seen on the newer T72, 80s etc
Once again on the negative side, the T-62 requires an additional crew member to load the gun, increasing manpower requirements and also adding an additional problem that because they've been using tanks with autoloaders for several decades, the Russian Army doesn't actually train tank soldiers in how to load MBT guns.
I don't think Putin is going to nuke anything. He'd lose the little support he has from other countries and it'd make a coup more likely.
Nukes are the ultimate bluff. If you actually use them then you're ****ed. They know what NATO's response will be and it just doesn't benefit them.
Judging by the latest comments about how the special military operation can be achieved with talks, it sounds like Putin's going to try and keep the Ukrainian land Russian troops currently occupy. I doubt Zelensky is going to go for it. Ukraine can drive them all out so why wouldn't he.
The freshly trained 10k Ukraine troops are going to be upsetting for the Russians. Imagine being chucked in a field with your clothes and a sleeping bag knowing you're up against a bunch of guys that have actually been trained, have better equipment than you and have had decent hot meals and warm rooms for the last x months. I'd be surrendering the first opportunity I got.
Turkey's leader seems to be playing both sides to his profit which isn't very nice.
Something to keep in mind is that this is kind of a proxy war between the US and Russia. They're backing up Ukraine for the right reasons but also a weakened Russian is in their best interests. They've thrown a lot of money at this and American soldiers don't even have to die to get what they want.
Starting to heat up again. Notwithstanding further advances in Kherson - and the Russkies pretty much admitting the game is up on the right bank of the Dnipro with the imminent 'evacuation' of the city - on the Eastern front (remember that, Izyum, Kupyansk and Lyman et al) it looks like the UA is closing in on Svatova.
This is significant for two reasons. First it controls the one remaining route that the Russians can use for logistics into that part of Luhansk, particularly for Kreminna and Severodonetsk.
Secondly it is a significant strategic base in Luhansk. Taking it would open up significant chunks of Luhansk to the UA. Militarily very bad, politically disastrous as the Donbas is the non-negotiable for the Russian Nazis..
At what point does the maintenance of internal security and the Russia's far flung borders become unsustainable?
catdras Free Member
I don’t think Putin is going to nuke anything. He’d lose the little support he has from other countries and it’d make a coup more likely.
Nukes are the ultimate bluff. If you actually use them then you’re ****. They know what NATO’s response will be and it just doesn’t benefit them.
It might depend on how desparate Putin is and how few steps ahead that has led to him thinking. We've seen before that he wants to frame this war as Russia vs NATO. Use of nuclear weapons will trigger a NATO response and Putin could use that to rally domestic support behind him by portraying himself as standing up for Russia against NATO/Western aggression. That makes everything worse for everyone but for Putin it may look like it'd buy him some time to hang on and come up with some other awful plan that will keep him in power.
Hopefully it doesn't come to that and Putin is not so short sighted and cynical.
Imagine being chucked in a field with your clothes and a sleeping bag
I think a lot of the Russians are imagining how nice it would be to have a sleeping bag. Russian war veteran reunions are gonna pretty much run to the Four Yorkshiremen script.
We’ve seen before that he wants to frame this war as Russia vs NATO.
Framing is rather academic at the moment. People that I know see it as Russia Vs NATO but more specifically Russia vs NATO (America pulling the NATO string).
Framing is rather academic at the moment. People that I know see it as Russia Vs NATO but more specifically Russia vs NATO (America pulling the NATO string).
1) Russia invaded Ukraine.
2) NATO is providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Individual countries are providing military aid to Ukraine.
Also, Russia launches an invasion against another sovereign nation and has threatened the same to two more. The NATO excuse is as flimsy a premise as any you continue to present.
Framing is rather academic at the moment.
Not for Putin it isn't. His first priority is the survival of his regime, everything else is done in pursuit of that. He frames it as NATO vs Russia because that distracts from his disastrous stupidity in starting this war and how it has been carried out. That's why it's important to not accept Putin's counter-factual framing - it's just buying into the propaganda of a murderous tyrant.
I don’t think Putin is going to nuke anything. He’d lose the little support he has from other countries and it’d make a coup more likely
TLDR: It relies on the US and China because the UN holds votes but no concerted will
The UN voted on Russia's "attempted illegal annexation". The vote was 143 - illegal, 5 - legal and 35 abstentions. Russia wanted the vote to be secret, but this was rejected by the UN in another vote.
The only overt support that Russia has in the UN these days is from Belarus, N.Korea, Nicaragua and Syria, countries that would probably be in rebellion without Russian support.
China, India and African nations tend to abstain and all have their roots in greater links to Russia, its energy and food.
Russia is sending "negotiate, please" signals off to anyone who will listen; energy, mobilisation and now withdrawing from the UN agreement to supply grain are about increasing pressure to negotiate, as well as playing well on the domestic front.
The problem is the domestic front in both China and the US. Both Presidents are up for important domestic votes in the next few weeks, which has led to a certain amount of playing to the home crowd. The US is curbing sales of chips to China and the US FCC is banning all new Huawei and ZTE products.
China is sitting back, abstaining in the UN, and watching the US spaff billions on weapons and having a row with OPEC+
I'd like to think that winter and the end of elections will bring perfect sunshine; Russian troops will feel the effects of winter, the US will calm its rhetoric and China will be happier to rein Russia in
Russia is holding its regular annual exercises with nuclear weapon drills, which usually include a launch or two, soon. Get ready for another round of media doing what media does 🙂
Russia is sending “negotiate, please” signals off to anyone who will listen;
I read this more as the classroom bully situation - looking like your the innocent peace making one despite continuing to give someone a kicking. It plays well to his home audience.
The problem is that no-one will negotiate for two reasons - it's unacceptable to allow any ground to be given to Russia now for fear of encouraging future land grabs and Russia can't be trusted on anything.
Russia is sending “negotiate, please” signals off to anyone who will listen;
Not really, they are losing and are desperately trying to avoid being completely routed.
https://twitter.com/mhmck/status/1580413345341276161
Musk really seems to have swallowed the Moscow line - new rumours he is threatening to shut down starlink in Ukraine.
Or they've shown him footage of vidoes they've taken similar to Trump's watersports in Moscow
People that I know see it as Russia Vs NATO but more specifically Russia vs NATO (America pulling the NATO string).
Posted 9 hours ago
They are either daft or swallowing Russian propaganda
Before Putin's invasion there was 0 chance of Ukraine joining NATO, now it's an option
And NATO & the West countries refused to supply Ukraine with the number & weapons that they'd been asking for for years, but always been denied
If it is Russia be NATO, that's because Putin chose to invade
Not forgetting his decision to invade prompted Sweden & Finland to apply to join NATO, so from not wanting Ukraine being in NATO & bordering Russia, he'll have a border to NATO in the north.
His NATO/US narrative is purely for his home market.
His NATO/US narrative is purely for his home market.
There are plenty of useful idiots on both the left and right in Western countries that buy into it.
https://twitter.com/CathyYoung63/status/1580783939530420229
I'm just guessing here, but my feeling is that 50,000 well-fed, well-equipped, well-trained troops would be better than 250,000 starving, badly equipped conscripts.
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1580838265774829568
1/ What's life like for newly-mobilised Russian troops in their barracks and temporary accomodation? Terrible, from all accounts, with no heating, no food, no sleeping bags, no hot water, no toilets, freezing tents, bedbug-infested mattresses and no training. 🧵 follows. pic.twitter.com/7KCOmWHsHQ
— ChrisO (@ChrisO_wiki) October 14, 2022
Peace! Land! Bread!
Maybe it's a ploy by Putin- conscript '000s, then at the first sign of fighting they surrender clogging up the Ukranian network.
Also all those that "escaped" the draft to neighbouring countries? Good way to get plenty of sleeper agents into neighbouring states!
Not really, they are losing and are desperately trying to avoid being completely routed
They are mutually compatible. President Putin sees that negotiation will give him a withdrawal option that can be spun at home to "we didn't lose".
The problem is that no-one will negotiate for two reasons – it’s unacceptable to allow any ground to be given to Russia now for fear of encouraging future land grabs and Russia can’t be trusted on anything
Which is where China needs to step up to rein Russia in, but the current US tech market restrictions don't promote the necessary east-west mutual trust
Which is where China needs to step up to rein Russia in
The idea that one country can rein another country in ignores that those countries have agency. China cannot rein in Russia and the U.S. cannot rein in Ukraine.
What a ****ing joke. Everyone's losing - Russians and Ukranians alike. Just for one man's stupidity.
Ukraine has the upper hand, dictating where operations take place, steadily shaping the battlefield to its advantage. Putin won’t give them what they want, all their land back, so negotiations won’t be happening 🤷♂️
The idea that one country can rein another country in ignores that those countries have agency. China cannot rein in Russia and the U.S. cannot rein in Ukraine.
A lot to agree in that but the US made it's thoughts very definitely "felt" over the Suez invasion crisis.
US made it’s thoughts very definitely “felt” over the Suez invasion crisis
I think the relative size of the US to UK had an impact.
Putin in his speech today blaming the grain ships for bringing in explosives for the Kerch Bridge attack.
More blackmail for the world and a stick to beat African nations that voted agains5 him at the UN.
What a **** joke. Everyone’s losing – Russians and Ukranians alike. Just for one man’s stupidity.
Very true.
No-one wins here, least of all Ukraine with decades of poverty, rebuilding and worry about their neighbour, huge physical and mental health issue, pulluted, mined and damaged land and buildings across a huge swathe of countryside.
Interesting perspective on the function of the U.N.
https://twitter.com/charlicarpenter/status/1580925598331203585
I think the relative size of the US to UK had an impact.
It sure did, but I think there’s more to it than that. The disparity in GDP (I think) is greater for Russia/China today than the U.K./US in 1956. Same for population size as well.
The idea that one country can rein another country in ignores that those countries have agency. China cannot rein in Russia...
We'll have to see what happens after China's 20th Communist Party Congress, which starts this weekend. If President Xi retains his post then he'll be China's most powerful leader since Chairman Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China.
China, Russia and three "'stans" are founder-members of the "Shanghai Five", which has expanded into the nine-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which together holds 30% of world GDP.
The SCO has another twelve partner and observer countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey. We're already aware of the influence that these two countries have had on Russia by negotiating to secure grain shipments and PoW swaps, which isn't bad going for countries that aren't even SCO members, just dialogue partners. China would have massive influence, if it chooses to use it, and has already told Russia to reduce its nuclear threat rhetoric.
...and the U.S. cannot rein in Ukraine
It's not about anyone reining Ukraine in, it's about the US giving China and Saudi Arabia a reason and encouragement to work some diplomatic magic, end this war and if necessary offer a safe existence to those who need it in their choice of 21 SCO countries.
The US is heading towards important elections of its own next month and its tough stance with US tech market restrictions towards China and threats of consequences for Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ cut oil production don’t promote the necessary east-west mutual trust.
Why would China, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the SCO exert influence that might end the war when they are getting nothing in return? They'd rather watch the west spend billions and damage its economies
work some diplomatic magic
Magic won't end this war. It will end when Ukraine have expelled Russian troops from Ukraine.
What a strange post?
Guess it was going back to basics for trolling
