22892

Anyway, how about them tanks eh? Word on the street is, Scholz is actually sending Leo 2A6’s, the gucci ones! Oh man the gopniks are gonna get it now!

22893

I’m seeing other news articles (I believe some may have been in this thread) talking about how allies are urging Ukraine to back off of grinding it out in Bakhmut and focus on a southern offensive, using maneuver to keep the Russians off-balance. If so, that certainly makes sense why there has been an urgent push for Ukraine to receive armor and IFVs. I would imagine those 2A6’s and other armored vehicles would be put to great use in that scenario. No more having to assault positions using Humvees!

22894

Well, the next question is when?

The worry is that by the time Ukraine actually gets the hardware to make a difference, the situation may have shifted. Hopefully they can start shipping, like… yesterday.

22895

There are Ukrainian units training in Germany already, hopefully they can get started on the Leopards ASAP?

22896

At least a couple months. Unless… they been training on marders, bradleys, leos and abrams in deepest secret for months now. Oh and did you guys get the talk of the gogols getting second hand vipers from HATO to complete the toy chest?

This race aint run yet. Might take a year or more to run its course. And while putin taking a dirt nap is not a foregone conclusion, as it’ll take blood, sweat and tears by the boat load, it is fucking inevitable.

22897

I’ve been wondering about just that.

22898

US dramatically increasing artillery ammo production:

22899

oo-rah, arsenal of democracy! :usa:

22900

Is “artillery” one of them French words? 'Round here, we can 'em Freedom Flingers.

From ISW’s Jan 23 update, this is nuts if true:

An 80% loss rate? WTF.

22901

I think that maybe society might seem more equitable, when all the people in that society are the same.

Like, let’s look at the racial demographics of Scandinavia. It’s basically 99% white.

Look at how some of those countries treat minority groups. France’s treatment of Muslims would be a good example.

22902

I’ve pointed this out before, but this is not true and hasn’t been for decades. In actual fact it lies around 80-90% - comparable to most other Western countries (with Sweden having by far the most non-Western Immigrants, and Denmark/Norway having the least).

22903

The US has about 60% “White” population excluding Hispanic/Latinos.

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221

It’s a very different place from Scandinavia.

22904

And so f… what?

You’re blaming blacks and latinos for the failure of American democracy? Because that’s kind of the implication this argument is going for.

22905

Earlier above I posted about a presumed Russian offensive. Well, whatever it was appears to be a bust. Russian social media was hyping this loudly, but Ukrainian channels insisted they appeared to be just probing attacks. Given the silence in Russian social media the last few days, whatever it was is largely over, or never really happened.

However the threat of a Russian offensive somewhere remains real.

22906

Yeah, ISW thinks Russia will be launching a spring offensive of some kind. Along with proposed Ukrainian offensives, I think things might get real spicy once things warm up.

22907

I worded that wrong, sorry. I meant they were worried about the US becoming too dominant a power if Russia is decimated after this.

I think that might also be influencing the Germans to an extent.

22908

I have no doubt that they’re going to try something. The question really is whether they have the actual capability. The whole debacle around Bakhmut kind of implies that they don’t have the capacity for a sustained offensive.

Of course, the UA can’t cover the entire front line with in-depth defenses and counter-artillery, so it is probable that the Russian army will be able to make some gains if they can achieve operational surprise. But I’d be surprised if such an attack made any real impact on the state of the front.

Of course, the problem is that it seems hard to see the UA making any major gains either, with the current situation. Let’s hope the Leopards can actually tilt the balance, as analysts have been suggesting.

22909

A lot of people were saying the war was in stalemate before Kharkiv also. I am not sure what to think.

22910

Or the opposite. Democratic gumbo wins over democratic spenatsoppa. More ingredients, and easier to screw up, sure, but best result is a higher level of achievement, and America has way more practice.

22911

I’m not arguing anything. I’m presenting facts about US population and its Democracy.