Russia

Putin's lone aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is "grounded" again due to ongoing mechanical problems. This latest round caused a fire to break out and severe damage was reported. No reports of casualties. The Russkis have never enjoyed any success with carriers, and actually, their navy in general has always been 2nd-rate. The Kuznetsov was first launched in 2017 and has never, ever! been cleared for duty or determined to be "sea worthy." It often loses power and thus two large sea-going tugs have been permanently assigned to her, to rescue the ship when it becomes helpless. There is also video of jets rolling off the deck, one when an inexperienced pilot "took his foot off the brake" and the jet slowly rolled forward...plunk! right into the sea.

Russia's military has been exposed as the paper tiger it is.

Putin is losing.

Another Ukran drone attack on a Russian bomber base. Russkis claim to have shot down the drone, which then crashed on the base, killing three soldiers.

US is sending JDAMS and Mark-80 warheads to Ukraine. The Mark-80 is a vintage "dumb" bomb, developed in the late 1940's, and JDAMS are guidance devices that can be placed on the bombs making them "smart" or at least "smarter" bombs. JDAMS is 30-year-old technology. But, this will allow Ukran fighter-bombers to strike targets from more than 15 miles away, lessening the risk of being shot down by Russian ground-to-air missiles.

There are still predictions and concerns Putin will launch a spring offensive directly from Belarus. A British Military "think tank" has produced intelligence showing a build-up and intercepted communications all pointing to such an operation, planned for April, 2023. The Ukrans are taking the threat seriously and are constructing defenses along their border with Belarus. Which, may be exactly what the Russkis want them to do, depriving the Ukrans of resources which could be better deployed elsewhere. We shall see.

Doesn't matter....Putin is still losing.

The consensus places Putin's loss of tanks at about 2,800 since his invasion of Ukraine began. This is mostly the T-72, their main battle tank, but also includes some older T-62s, and their better tanks, T-80s and T-90s. The Russkis have lost a like number, about 3,000, other armored vehicles, like scout cars, personnel carriers, etc...

Why are Russki tanks so vulnerable? Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DmHgksJZ6o

I don't know how Russia ever got the reputation of being such a power (I guess it's related to their victory over the Germans in WW2, which cost them more lives than any other nation in the world). I never believed it, so if anyone is just discovering they were a paper tiger, welcome to the club.

All you had to do was look at their economy. Their GDP was about 3X our military budget. That's it. We have more money in the Ukraine war than they do.

In the mean time, China is a true threat on the world stage. As we continue our "Russia Russia Russia" boogieman stupidity, China continues to fund and modernize their military while increasing our dependency on them as an integral part of the national supply chain (and not just for the cheap "Made in China" crap thrown from Mardi Gras floats, either.)

The whole idea that we have to stop them in Ukraine or they'll go into Poland and other European nations is just so silly. Comparing them to Nazi Germany at the beginning of WW2 (like they are intent on world domination and Ukraine is just a first step) is equally as silly. Their capability is a fraction of what Germany's capability was at that time, and their economy seems unlikely to change that.

Is Putin a POS? You bet he is. But unless he decides to use his nukes he is of no threat to the US, and nothing we are doing in Ukraine is altering his nuke or chemical weapons capability whatsoever. But lots of Ukrainians will die in the mean time.

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Originally Posted by DawgyNWindow

I don't know how Russia ever got the reputation of being such a power (I guess it's related to their victory over the Germans in WW2, which cost them more lives than any other nation in the world). I never believed it, so if anyone is just discovering they were a paper tiger, welcome to the club.

All you had to do was look at their economy. Their GDP was about 3X our military budget. That's it. We have more money in the Ukraine war than they do.

In the mean time, China is a true threat on the world stage. As we continue our "Russia Russia Russia" boogieman stupidity, China continues to fund and modernize their military while increasing our dependency on them as an integral part of the national supply chain (and not just for the cheap "Made in China" crap thrown from Mardi Gras floats, either.)

The whole idea that we have to stop them in Ukraine or they'll go into Poland and other European nations is just so silly. Comparing them to Nazi Germany at the beginning of WW2 (like they are intent on world domination and Ukraine is just a first step) is equally as silly. Their capability is a fraction of what Germany's capability was at that time, and their economy seems unlikely to change that.

Is Putin a POS? You bet he is. But unless he decides to use his nukes he is of no threat to the US, and nothing we are doing in Ukraine is altering his nuke or chemical weapons capability whatsoever. But lots of Ukrainians will die in the mean time.

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I think you nailed it. Russia remains a threat because of what they could do (nukes). Don't worry, your representatives will spend every dollar you've got and every Ukrainian life pushing him to the brink of using them. I think Russia's economic strength is more in their relatively good control of large portions of their own supply chain rather than numbers like GDP. Also remember that while they've failed many of their wilder objectives (so far), they've made pretty good territorial gains while fighting an attrition war with all of Europe + the US. Sooner or later one side is going to run out of shells.

Russians could have been our greatest ally against China. Now, China watches and waits while we fight Russia over who can control the money laundry. Stupid.

All is not rosy in China either.

Tucker Carlson and others like him nightly rail against the money being sent to Ukraine and also that we have taken a stand in defense of Ukraine. To hear him say it, we should have allowed Putin to steamroll Ukraine and hell! to hear others chime in, we should have allied with Putin to crush those evil Ukrainians. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even when they are wrong.

The issue is Putin, not so much the average Russian citizen or "Russia" itself. I have posted several times I feel for the average Russian soldier, most of whom, probably 90%+ do NOT want to be in Ukraine fighting an immoral war. They too are victims of the Satanic desires of Putin, and they are the ones paying the highest price. Just yesterday another 600 "Russian" soldiers (not all are actual Russians, about 1/3 are other nationalities fighting as paid mercenaries) were reported KIA and about 1,000 wounded. Most of that in fighting around Bakhmut.

I believe such naked aggression as invading another country cannot be allowed to stand. The rest of the world has a moral obligation to intervene. Just my not-so-humble opinion.

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Originally Posted by dawg80

The rest of the world has a moral obligation to intervene. Just my not-so-humble opinion.

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We are "the rest of the world"? Who else is giving at the rate we are?

Not worried at all about continued corruption there?

Krooked Killary must be giving lessons to Putin...

Another outspoken critic, a political opponent, has died mysteriously. The latest one fell out of window. No joke, he fell from a window to his death. This makes 3 such deaths of Putin critics/opponents in recent months.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

We are "the rest of the world"? Who else is giving at the rate we are?

Not worried at all about continued corruption there?

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Many countries are delivering equipment, supplies, spare parts, some money...No, I don't know of a scorecard being kept on which countries are doing the most. Usually the US leads the way. Yeah, with Biden "in charge" that would be more difficult.

Have already commented on the so-called corruption there. I don't know of any in particular. Of course when governments are involved, corruption usually follows. Hey! do we have corruption in the US? :shocked2: Anyway, after Putin is ejected from Ukraine, we can address any other concerns there.

To bolster his flailing popularity, Putin took some heads of states to a strip club, owned by one of his former mistresses. Will this actually make him more popular with the average Russian? Well, beats pushing someone out of a window!

Putin strikes again. Only a few hours after Putin cancelled a scheduled meeting with one his generals, commander of his tank battalions, said general was found dead of suspicious circumstances. Krooked Killary has been hired as a consultant by the Putin regime. This confirms the rumors. :shocked2:

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Originally Posted by dawg80

Many countries are delivering equipment, supplies, spare parts, some money...No, I don't know of a scorecard being kept on which countries are doing the most. Usually the US leads the way. Yeah, with Biden "in charge" that would be more difficult.

Have already commented on the so-called corruption there. I don't know of any in particular. Of course when governments are involved, corruption usually follows. Hey! do we have corruption in the US? :shocked2: Anyway, after Putin is ejected from Ukraine, we can address any other concerns there.

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Here's a pretty good breakdown. Of course the US has probably doubled now:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...id-to-ukraine/

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

We are "the rest of the world"? Who else is giving at the rate we are?

Not worried at all about continued corruption there?

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Ironic that US involvement in Ukraine is probably Putin's #1 reason for invasion. I suppose he probably thinks he has a moral obligation to intervene as well.

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Originally Posted by MoonPieBlue

Here's a pretty good breakdown. Of course the US has probably doubled now:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...id-to-ukraine/

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All unaudited by design.

Zelensky is going to be a rich Russian oligarch when this is said and done, and half the population of Ukraine will be living in the US (whatever is left alive).

I think I'll feel a lot better when another one of these helper nations passes an inflationary omnibus package full of pork and other atrocities, but claims it's a big win because the most important line item was a 40 billion dollar handout to Ukraine. "Number 1 priority". Let that sink in!

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Originally Posted by Blue Dawg

Ironic that US involvement in Ukraine is probably Putin's #1 reason for invasion. I suppose he probably thinks he has a moral obligation to intervene as well.

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You actually made a moral equivalence between Putin's unprovoked, evil invasion, and the US trying to provide aid to the victims?

Wow.