orald
4054
4 PM vigil planned in Portland, ME
Not the right shade of blue but it will have to do
I wonder who can actually buy their stake under the sanctions regime…?
Lurb
4056
If you thought Shoigu looked a bit like wanting to strangle Vlad, fear not for our Dear Leader, he’s well out of reach.
Hey, a great investment opportunity for everyone! /s
Thrag
4058
That guy should make it a point from now on only to stay on the first floor of hotels.
Thrag
4059
Swedes getting in on the supplying.
Haven’t seen this one make the rounds, yet; civilian in an apparently occupied territory goes in with fisticuffs against a Russian soldier holding an AK; to be fair, the soldier did NOT shoot the man, but it’s certainly looking like holding territory will be an ongoing problem if this is any indication
CraigM
4061
Once again actual soldiers. in warzones with more restraint than US police
I wonder if, in Vlad’s worst nightmares, he even envisioned things could get this ugly. The Ukrainians showing some major ‘fuck you Vlad’ energy all around.
Thrag
4062
Wow. The soldier fired off a round at the ground at the end there.
Greeted as liberators.
Thrag
4064
Here’s some more fuck you energy as people pitch in for civil defense.
There’s a pretty clear message being sent to Russia that every city will be a Stalingrad and this time they are the baddies.
One thing I’m thinking as I watch all of these endless images of Russian troop movements being pinned to Google Maps within seconds of going online is that I’m sure exasperated war planners everywhere are at the point of saying, “Fuck it, just EMP the damn place first.”
CraigM
4066
The new Ukrainian National Anthem
https://youtu.be/th4Czv1j3F8
It certainly seems to hit some element of the Ukrainian spirit out there now.
As the person who called the Russian army “the successors to the Red Army” a few days ago, I feel like a major re-evaluation is in order. (Though maybe, had it ever been tested in the same way, the Red Army would also have turned out to be a paper tiger.)
So let’s speculate in the opposite direction. Suppose that 20+ years of selecting officers based on cronyism and political reliability has created a hierarchy of people who’ve never had to know how to do their jobs? Whose most valuable skills are the ability to pad wage bills and siphon off training budgets.
As one of the sources linked here earlier said, many of Russias previous adventures have enabled the Army to hand pick the best units, and units to hand pick the best personnel. But now the entire army is being tested. So maybe some general commanding a Combined Arms Army is drawing lines on a map, from which orders are being generated for subordinate units mostly staffed by officers who have no idea how to properly plan or supply or co-ordinate an attack in the face of an actual enemy.
I’m reminded of some of the stuff I read about the Red Army in June 1941. Where thanks to the purges, divisions were being commanded by Colonels and large formations were largely staffed by officers who had no staff training. So while the Germans were attacking, the Red Army’s large and numerous armoured formations were snarling themselves in traffic, running out of fuel, or driving into swamps. Successful mechanised warfare requires staff work, planning, reconnaissance and logistics. And that requires hundreds or thousands of trained, competent staff officers at all levels in the hierarchy.
Alstein
4068
That would almost guarantee escalation by the west and China cutting Russia off.
If I were Biden, I’d talk to Xi and consult him on what China’s plans would be if such a thing happened and see what China would wish our response to be in such a scenario, then try to reach a joint consensus just in case he is that mad.
I was just a lowly infantry NCO a long time ago, but certainly my training at the time was that the Red army approach to taking a defended city would be to stand off and bury it under a mountain of artillery shells, and only enter when it had been reduced to rubble. I think it’s possible that this is still the preferred approach, but they’ve held off on it so far for political reasons, and my fear is that this bit of ‘negotiations’ is just political cover so they can revert to that sort of approach.
Thrag
4072
Be careful of misinformation. That looks like it might just be the line for the ATM.
That’s my fear—and if I’m honest, expectation—as well. I think we’ll see a flattened city or two before this is all through unless the quickly rising costs are just too high for Russia to continue. I originally figured Ukraine would have fallen by next week, but I underestimated the integrity of their armed forces. However, I can’t see a situation where they can hold out indefinitely shy of escalation via other nations joining in the fray (which won’t happen). This makes me afraid Russia will go full-bore sooner than later to end it.
