|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 25, 2024 16:08:16 GMT
Two of Ukraine's largest cities are now struggling for power.
The republicans blocking aid for almost 6 months now has really limited Ukraine's air defences. They don't have the launchers to cover many places, and missiles are running low.
The lack of Patriot missiles also means Russia's glide bombers are almost untouchable. Ukraine doesn't have an answer and keeps losing soldiers and defensive positions to them.
From what I can tell; artillery ammo was the #1 need, next up it's air defence, then long-range weaponry, then other ammo and equipment. Anything that cheaply takes out drones is also up there.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 25, 2024 16:19:11 GMT
Food for thought cos that's exactly how I'm currently seeing all politics. I think you & I want to get to the same place mate, just disagree a lot because of how we put info together. The skill level of the propaganda does scare me, how are any of us supposed to work out reality when there's so much noise? I can see why people would just throw up their hands and assume it's all bad. Hopefully listening to each other, trying to stay critical and work out good sources from bad will help. On this thread I do try to either post sources I've tested, or write a warning when something could be a bit dodgy. |
|
|
|
Post by staffordstokiemad1 on Mar 25, 2024 22:23:00 GMT
Did anyone watch :Ukraine Enemy In The Woods, on BBC2 this evening? Unbelievably brave men and women.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 25, 2024 22:58:09 GMT
Much of Kharkiv without power for days, now Odesa.
This will cost loads of money for Ukraine, money that can't be used in defence.
Part of Putin's total war.
And a lot is thanks to republicans - they've blocked Ukraine from having hundreds more defence missiles.
|
|
|
|
Post by sticky on Mar 25, 2024 23:11:04 GMT
Much of Kharkiv without power for days, now Odesa. This will cost loads of money for Ukraine, money that can't be used in defence. Part of Putin's total war. And a lot is thanks to republicans - they've blocked Ukraine from having hundreds more defence missiles. Why are the republicans blocking money? Must admit I don’t keep up with things as much as I should really |
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 25, 2024 23:46:20 GMT
Much of Kharkiv without power for days, now Odesa. This will cost loads of money for Ukraine, money that can't be used in defence. Part of Putin's total war. And a lot is thanks to republicans - they've blocked Ukraine from having hundreds more defence missiles. Why are the republicans blocking money? Must admit I don’t keep up with things as much as I should really It's hard to know for sure. MAGA basically want the US to look more like Putin's Russia so it's a birds of a feather thing. I think it's a combination of that (MAGA loves dictatorship and brutality), opposing Biden, and the Russian intelligence agencies and propaganda arms are helping republicans in the elections. |
|
|
|
Post by Paul Spencer on Mar 25, 2024 23:54:32 GMT
Much of Kharkiv without power for days, now Odesa. This will cost loads of money for Ukraine, money that can't be used in defence. Part of Putin's total war. And a lot is thanks to republicans - they've blocked Ukraine from having hundreds more defence missiles.
And will get exponentially worse if Trump wins the election.  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2024 8:35:19 GMT
Much of Kharkiv without power for days, now Odesa. This will cost loads of money for Ukraine, money that can't be used in defence. Part of Putin's total war. And a lot is thanks to republicans - they've blocked Ukraine from having hundreds more defence missiles.
And will get exponentially worse if Trump wins the election. The U.S., of course, is one country that should be doing more. However, there are 31 other countries in NATO that could all be stepping up to do more during this time as well. |
|
|
|
Post by questionable on Mar 26, 2024 9:48:01 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 26, 2024 16:29:07 GMT
And will get exponentially worse if Trump wins the election. The U.S., of course, is one country that should be doing more. However, there are 31 other countries in NATO that could all be stepping up to do more during this time as well. Yup agreed. The US is pretty low down the table in aid given as a percent of GDP. I think somewhere around 30th place. |
|
|
|
Post by Foster on Mar 26, 2024 17:13:22 GMT
The U.S., of course, is one country that should be doing more. However, there are 31 other countries in NATO that could all be stepping up to do more during this time as well. Yup agreed. The US is pretty low down the table in aid given as a percent of GDP. I think somewhere around 30th place. Seems pretty obvious that NATO/EU should do a lot more, or Ukraine loses a chunk of land and Russia gets even bigger. There's no point sitting back and waiting for the inevitable. It's not much different from what Israel are doing. Annexing land and expanding their territory. China doing the same with Hong Kong and Taiwan...and getting into Africa. |
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 26, 2024 17:26:11 GMT
Yup agreed. The US is pretty low down the table in aid given as a percent of GDP. I think somewhere around 30th place. Seems pretty obvious that NATO/EU should do a lot more, or Ukraine loses a chunk of land and Russia gets even bigger. There's no point sitting back and waiting for the inevitable. It's not much different from what Israel are doing. Annexing land and expanding their territory. China doing the same with Hong Kong and Taiwan...and getting into Africa. Putin's taken a huge gamble. If Ukraine accepts any territory loss then he knows that he can conquer land and that NATO will give up if he just waits. China will see the same thing. So we better prepare for Russia invading more of Europe and China invading Taiwan. Unless Poland and Taiwan are smart and get nuclear weapons asap. Or we could do the cheapest option and just send enough support to Ukraine to end things sooner and with far less death and financial cost. It's hard to tell whether people like trump who support Putin's victory are pure evil or just unbelievably stupid. |
|
|
|
Post by Foster on Mar 26, 2024 17:31:33 GMT
Seems pretty obvious that NATO/EU should do a lot more, or Ukraine loses a chunk of land and Russia gets even bigger. There's no point sitting back and waiting for the inevitable. It's not much different from what Israel are doing. Annexing land and expanding their territory. China doing the same with Hong Kong and Taiwan...and getting into Africa. Putin's taken a huge gamble. If Ukraine accepts any territory loss then he knows that he can conquer land and that NATO will give up if he just waits. China will see the same thing. So we better prepare for Russia invading more of Europe and China invading Taiwan. Unless Poland and Taiwan are smart and get nuclear weapons asap. Or we could do the cheapest option and just send enough support to Ukraine to end things sooner and with far less death and financial cost. It's hard to tell whether people like trump who support Putin's victory are pure evil or just unbelievably stupid. I'd say they're selfish and too far from what's going on. They don’t realise that every inch you give now will weaken you later. |
|
|
|
Post by adri2008 on Mar 26, 2024 17:49:39 GMT
It's hard to tell whether people like trump who support Putin's victory are pure evil or just unbelievably stupid. I dont think its either really. Its more along the lines of 'why are we spending all this money supporting a country on a different continent rather than our own' which will chime well with people struggling (whose votes he wants). |
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 26, 2024 18:14:31 GMT
It's hard to tell whether people like trump who support Putin's victory are pure evil or just unbelievably stupid. I dont think its either really. Its more along the lines of 'why are we spending all this money supporting a country on a different continent rather than our own' which will chime well with people struggling (whose votes he wants). Most of the money goes into US weaponry and factories, preparing the US' defence, and preventing future war which would not just cost loads more, but also deeply hurt the US economy. Either he can't work out that helping Ukraine if the cheapest option - which is stupid, or he can but he's helping dictatorships to win - which is evil. He's supposed to be a leader and leaders need to understand their decisions. I get voters falling for his lies about how he'd actually spend the money helping Americans, but we should expect leaders to think a bit deeper. |
|
|
|
Post by Foster on Mar 26, 2024 18:17:45 GMT
I dont think its either really. Its more along the lines of 'why are we spending all this money supporting a country on a different continent rather than our own' which will chime well with people struggling (whose votes he wants). Most of the money goes into US weaponry and factories, preparing the US' defence, and preventing future war which would not just cost loads more, but also deeply hurt the US economy. Either he can't work out that helping Ukraine if the cheapest option - which is stupid, or he can but he's helping dictatorships to win - which is evil. You can kind of imagine in future, the US being the only western country left if we keep giving up territory or not protecting our own. |
|
|
|
Post by Clem Fandango on Mar 26, 2024 18:24:19 GMT
I dont think its either really. Its more along the lines of 'why are we spending all this money supporting a country on a different continent rather than our own' which will chime well with people struggling (whose votes he wants). Most of the money goes into US weaponry and factories, preparing the US' defence, and preventing future war which would not just cost loads more, but also deeply hurt the US economy. Either he can't work out that helping Ukraine if the cheapest option - which is stupid, or he can but he's helping dictatorships to win - which is evil. He's supposed to be a leader and leaders need to understand their decisions. I get voters falling for his lies about how he'd actually spend the money helping Americans, but we should expect leaders to think a bit deeper. Given that most of Europe is rearming and most of what they are buying is US made its madness. I'm a bit out dated on US politics but aren't most Republican states also associated with the defence industry? Feels a bit like Turkeys voting for Christmas. |
|
|
|
Post by georgeberrysafro on Mar 26, 2024 18:42:24 GMT
It's hard to tell whether people like trump who support Putin's victory are pure evil or just unbelievably stupid. I dont think its either really. Its more along the lines of 'why are we spending all this money supporting a country on a different continent rather than our own' which will chime well with people struggling (whose votes he wants). It's both - Trump lives on fueling hate and division, he's a facist racist idiot with zero leadership skills - look at his ties and dog whistles to the proud boys and other extremeists groups. Then his love and support of dictators and using language similar to Adolf with how he defines groups of people he doesn't like in recent speeches. He was asked to condemn white supremacists and militia groups during the riots...did he? Did he F%&k. That support is evil and it's people who want to see the world burn, some people just do. The other half are just braindead, some of the videos you see of supporters and their comments and complete lack of any basic understanding of politics or what's actually going on in the world live on his every word while he f$%ks most of them over...he was begging for money last week and the day after was boasting about having 500 million in cash. I could go on. I'd be extremely worried in Europe if he gets in so he can be Putin's puppet again. This sums him up and his supporters. Donald Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich man, a weak man's idea of a strong man, and a stupid man's idea of a smart man. |
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 26, 2024 18:45:30 GMT
Most of the money goes into US weaponry and factories, preparing the US' defence, and preventing future war which would not just cost loads more, but also deeply hurt the US economy. Either he can't work out that helping Ukraine if the cheapest option - which is stupid, or he can but he's helping dictatorships to win - which is evil. He's supposed to be a leader and leaders need to understand their decisions. I get voters falling for his lies about how he'd actually spend the money helping Americans, but we should expect leaders to think a bit deeper. Given that most of Europe is rearming and most of what they are buying is US made its madness. I'm a bit out dated on US politics but aren't most Republican states also associated with the defence industry? Feels a bit like Turkeys voting for Christmas. The media doesn't like numbers so lots of the stories don't get much coverage, but the US has sold hundreds of billions worth of weapons since the invasion because they've got the kit for sale. Trump has said republicans might cut off allies like they're doing to Ukraine, so it would make sense to set up so you don't have to rely on the US in future. He can play with export rules to limit replacements, repairs etc. Trump could already be costing the US hundreds of billions in future orders, but that's stuff voters don't care about. |
|
|
|
Post by butlerstbob on Mar 26, 2024 20:40:21 GMT
Not sure this has been mentioned but several sources on x are saying the FSB were involved or at least several FSB agents were present in the concert hall mass murder...the lengths that Russia will go to escalate this war has no boundaries!
|
|
|
|
Post by adri2008 on Mar 26, 2024 21:26:04 GMT
I dont think its either really. Its more along the lines of 'why are we spending all this money supporting a country on a different continent rather than our own' which will chime well with people struggling (whose votes he wants). He's supposed to be a leader and leaders need to understand their decisions. I get voters falling for his lies about how he'd actually spend the money helping Americans, but we should expect leaders to think a bit deeper. Trump is a big mouth egotistical moron but I suspect there'd be a majority of US voters who'd be quite happy if he forced an end to the war and as a policy, it'd be a vote winner. He's not thinking about 5/10 years down the line, hes thinking about getting elected. |
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 26, 2024 21:37:19 GMT
Denmark + France delivering 78 more Caesar mobile artillery to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy earlier claimed that Ukraine makes 72 of its own Bohdanas per year, which seems... Enthusiastic.
Anyway, Ukraine should be getting enough mobile guns over the next year, and enough ammo arriving within months. That leaves barrels + towed guns that they need.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 27, 2024 16:34:23 GMT
Not sure on this source but looks like China is going pretty far with military training camps to look like Taiwan.
Failure to support Ukraine's victory will tell Xi that the west will give up and let him keep Taiwan, if Trump wins then I think either Taiwan needs nukes asap or they're basically begging to be invaded.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 27, 2024 16:43:49 GMT
Disaster.
Trump, Johnson and their republicans could stop it by unblocking air defence ammunition.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 27, 2024 16:48:20 GMT
Almost every Ukrainian POW talked to has been tortured by Russia. There are at least thousands more being tortured right now, but Russia doesn't let anyone see them. Russians also regularly execute surrendering Ukrainians - there are loads of videos showing it. Sometimes they cut their heads, balls or hands off and hang them up to show off.
Ukraine allows international groups to access their camps for Russian prisoners.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 27, 2024 16:55:09 GMT
Russia is sending everything. This looks like one of the five Ladoga vehicles the Soviets built.
They were apparently used for VIP transport and most famously one was sent to recon the Chernobyl disaster zone.
|
|
|
|
Post by dirtclod on Mar 27, 2024 17:49:59 GMT
Much of Kharkiv without power for days, now Odesa. This will cost loads of money for Ukraine, money that can't be used in defence. Part of Putin's total war. And a lot is thanks to republicans - they've blocked Ukraine from having hundreds more defence missiles. Why are the republicans blocking money? Must admit I don’t keep up with things as much as I should really In the dithering circus that is American politics, we don't have the ability to line-item veto bills. So the Republicans pushed including financing for our border wall with Mexico (Afraid League MX will invade and improve MLS) as an additional line-item on the SAME bill that includes Ukraine funding. You either vote yea on the WHOLE bill (Including the Border Fence) or you vote nay on all of it. So the Democrats are fighting against the border wall thing - neither party can come to an agreement and unfortunately, Ukraine funding is held hostage while awaiting all this border-fight to resolve itself. We (US) should have had the ability to line-item veto years ago - it's been introduced several times as a bill, but never passes. The same bunch knee-jerks sending aid to Israel then balks at sending funding to a country who was doing nothing but minding its own business before being attacked by the Putin gang. And Paul is right - if Trump gets in office, funding for Ukraine will drastically decrease or cease altogether. The amount of Putin-pandering and "Israel can do no wrong" from Republicans is sickening. To save space here, I also have a lengthy diatribe against Democrats. I absolutely detest both parties and have done so for several years. Neither party is "representative" of the people they purport to "serve." |
|
|
|
Post by sticky on Mar 27, 2024 18:21:35 GMT
So what happens when Russia/China take these country’s? Surely the local population would be very hostile to it, and it’d be impossible for the Russians/Chinese to settle there?
And if putin ventures West, how’s he going to keep law and order with civilians carrying out attacks on a daily basis?
I don’t claim to have much knowledge about it, but certainly seems an odd course to take for the sake of a bit of land, not like they’re short on the stuff!
|
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 27, 2024 19:18:49 GMT
So what happens when Russia/China take these country’s? Surely the local population would be very hostile to it, and it’d be impossible for the Russians/Chinese to settle there? And if putin ventures West, how’s he going to keep law and order with civilians carrying out attacks on a daily basis? I don’t claim to have much knowledge about it, but certainly seems an odd course to take for the sake of a bit of land, not like they’re short on the stuff! Russia has practice and use a technique called "filtration", plus they brainwash the kids. People are sent through concentration camps, those loyal to their country instead or Putin are tortured, enslaved or killed. They did it in Chechnya and Donbas, and now those areas provide piles of meat for Russia's current invasion. Russia's fake "Donetsk People's Republic" reported casualty numbers until they were silenced in 2022. About 5% of all fighting age men were killed or wounded in under a year. That's like the UK taking 500k casualties in 10 months. Russia's problem atm is they can't produce enough vehicles and ammo but are using up all the soviet stores - when those run out they're fucked. I think the plan is that if Ukraine can be beaten and half occupied, the pro-dictator politicians will say "see we have peace now we should relax the sanctions". Russia will trade oil for Chinese weapons and be able to rebuild for the next invasion. They'll mobilise a million people from occupied Ukraine as meat shields in front of the million+ russian soldiers. |
|
|
|
Post by mtrstudent on Mar 27, 2024 19:27:33 GMT
France will now send any vehicles that are being retired to Ukraine instead of selling them off. Should include hundreds of VAB armoured transports. Also, all of the additional shells produced next year for Ukraine.
Way to go France! We should copy them. We're retiring the Warriors and some more Challengers - send them to Ukraine!
|
|
