How about we give attrition a chance? The longer we help Ukraine to grind away at the disgusting atavism that is the racist white Russian cultural core the better the odds the poor sheeple will turn on their tormentors. It is critical, if at all possible, for the Russians to cut the head off the snake that is their paranoid and horrific legacy. This time they must baptize their transition, and new beginning, with nothing less than the bloodletting they should of had when they last found the KBG, and the worst of the Communists, on their knees. Nobody else can do it for them. They can't be provided with an excuse to revert to their old ways and blame 'outsiders' for their problems. Russians must not just close the door back to their past. They must destroy it. There can be no way, but, forward. ... That is worth waiting for.
Pretty sure the Ukrainians know this too. Pretty sure they know it is in their long term interest that the Russian system collapse internally BEFORE the Ukrainian people defeat them on the battlefield. Again, if the rotting imperial husk of Russian society is going to break free from the chains of their legacy, which no external force has succeeded in doing for over three centuries, they need to be the ones that do it. If not, the Old World has little chance of lasting peace for the Generations to come. The Evil that has taken root in Russia requires an overwhelming counter force. Only the Spilling of Russian Blood by Russians at this point can have any hope of cutting through the Gordian Knot that ties them to their Past. To imagine otherwise is wishful thinking and dangerous, as it merely postpones the inevitable recurrence of the White Russian reversion to type. Cheers ;)
NATO countries want this over as soon as possible, but my point is that does not mean the tanks start to roll as soon as the mud dries.
Conditioning on a Russian internal collapse would be a mistake - the war has very little effect on the civilian population (without ties to combatants). The only Russians (without ties) that are concerned are a fringe nationalistic minority.
Heh heh ;) I'm sure you are watching the Ides of June play out Kremlin style with the rest of us, so, I'll reiterate, if I may, let's give bloody grinding attrition, and the internal strife it breeds, a chance, while we continue to armor-up Ukraine into a seriously lethal battle-hardened adversary even the plague addled brain of Putin, and whatever imperialist Russian POS may come next, will eventually realize, that any Russian touching Ukraine is going to lose their fingers twice as fast as a diver dumb enough to pet Moray eel. LMAO as it couldn't have happened to more deserving clown crew. NOW is the time to STIR THEIR POT with anything and everything at hand!
A betting pool, perchance, on who dies first over there? Will it be Putin or the guy that looks like he spent most of his life deep underground in watery caverns squatting on wet rocks chewing on raw white-sightless fish muttering stuff about "Putin my precious ...". How about wagering on the method of rapid unscheduled cellular disassembly? Will it be the venerable et-tu-brute style shanking fit for an emperor? A knock in the night followed by blindfolding and another well-spent bullet to the brainpan as befits a czar? Personally, I'm torn between a cup of sweet plutonium tea, a neurotoxin dusted doorknob, or the ever reliable umbrella tip bus-stop poking, if it happens the target was granted refuge into rainy climes. So many possibilities, and their all winners! :)
I didn't get a chance to respond earlier, and the coup attempt (unfortunately for Ukraine) unravelled before it did too much damage. Right now, the Ukrainians are doing "bite and hold" tactics, where they make an initial push then dig in against a counter-attack. This is not as exciting as blasting through the lines and encircling everyone, but it is what I expected them to be able to do - a breakout would be highly vulnerable to air power, since it would overrun their air defences.
I think Putin is weakened, but it is unlikely that anyone wants to replace him. Prigozhine seems to have been more concerned about not being quietly "removed" than taking power. Right now, my main concern is the nuclear power plant. It might be that the Ukrainians are talking up the possibility, but at the same time, the Russians seem to be happy to cause maximum damage to the country.
I don't believe that Putin is in great health in the first place. I lean towards him surviving the war, then health concerns will lead to a replacement at some point. I think that once the shooting stops, it will just be a new Cold War, and what Russia is doing will no longer be a concern since it will be facing a wall of NATO countries.
Did you see the video (filmed from what appears to be a high-rise apartment building) of a helicopter firing on, and blowing up, some sort fuel depot, supposedly in a highly populated area near Moscow? If real, and it looked pretty darn real, what can you say, but, WTF was that about? Still a big proponent of giving Doubt, a potent political solvent, time to seep in and do it's work. Catalysts welcome to apply here ;) and the sooner the better before the despot goes full-Stalin. Isn't this the way it usually ends, within a generation or two at the most, in 'Modern' times, when one despot consolidates all power in themselves alone? The clingy ones don't end well.
Pretty dubious about the cheering citizen video's for the departing Wagner troops, but, we won't really know exactly why they were cheering for some time, if ever. Were they just part of a bit of Telegram (social media) stage/war-craft? Most of those "citizens" gesticulating with some emotion I decided to translate as supportive, and apparently vociferously expressing 'happy' emotions as well, appeared to be young-dumb-and-full-of-cum in the majority. Unlike the haphazardly attired soldiers, they looked to be unacquainted with trench warfare in the rapidly evolving Ubiquitous Drone Age of Digital Precision Targeting. Just a wild guess here, but, I'd wager the cheering won't last long if the 'citizens' of the resurrected Russian Imperialism forces them to share the trenches with the dregs of the Russian Gulag-Industrial Complex. But, who knows, maybe they'll be happy to share those trenches, as it is pretty obvious, being a convicted criminal in Putin's Russia is a valid career. His Chef, and if there's any Justice left in the USA, his American Kennel Club lapdog Trump, will both attest to that.
They blew up at least one fuel depot on video with a helicopter strike, but there might have been more. Hope was to cut fuel logistics for the advance.
The problem for Wagner - and other rebels - is that the FSB allegedly went after their families. An actual coup would gave to prepare for things like that - and such preparations would be noticeable. However, the story right now is that Wagner troops have not stood down completely- there are rumours of retaliation, and so giving up might be suicidal.
In the long term, Russia is a mess, and I have no idea what will happen. However, their forces in Ukraine are still fighting without too much sign of a collapse. It would take time for that to change, as information does not get to the front that quickly.
Putin is NATO's savior. Putin breathed life back into a Federation that had become so moribund the last American President, and the people that vote for him, thought it was a good idea to cut ties. Remember the scumbag General he pardoned? Clearly, Trump's plans were over ambitious and reality seemed to, at least temporarily, penetrate his force-field of Stupid, but Stupid has rested, and Stupid is coming back for a second go-around. Because that's what Stupid does. That is, at the moment, about the only reason I'd think attrition starts to get increasingly risky, beyond what it is now, in about a year. Besides, with a little luck, if Putin can be killed before November 24, sometime close enough to the election (say within two weeks ;), it might stick in the minds of the voters jacked-into the intertube's distraction machine artificial-intelligentsiya just long enough to hurt Trump at the ballot box.... Keep pondering the impenetrable as "chance favors the prepared mind."
How about we give attrition a chance? The longer we help Ukraine to grind away at the disgusting atavism that is the racist white Russian cultural core the better the odds the poor sheeple will turn on their tormentors. It is critical, if at all possible, for the Russians to cut the head off the snake that is their paranoid and horrific legacy. This time they must baptize their transition, and new beginning, with nothing less than the bloodletting they should of had when they last found the KBG, and the worst of the Communists, on their knees. Nobody else can do it for them. They can't be provided with an excuse to revert to their old ways and blame 'outsiders' for their problems. Russians must not just close the door back to their past. They must destroy it. There can be no way, but, forward. ... That is worth waiting for.
Pretty sure the Ukrainians know this too. Pretty sure they know it is in their long term interest that the Russian system collapse internally BEFORE the Ukrainian people defeat them on the battlefield. Again, if the rotting imperial husk of Russian society is going to break free from the chains of their legacy, which no external force has succeeded in doing for over three centuries, they need to be the ones that do it. If not, the Old World has little chance of lasting peace for the Generations to come. The Evil that has taken root in Russia requires an overwhelming counter force. Only the Spilling of Russian Blood by Russians at this point can have any hope of cutting through the Gordian Knot that ties them to their Past. To imagine otherwise is wishful thinking and dangerous, as it merely postpones the inevitable recurrence of the White Russian reversion to type. Cheers ;)
NATO countries want this over as soon as possible, but my point is that does not mean the tanks start to roll as soon as the mud dries.
Conditioning on a Russian internal collapse would be a mistake - the war has very little effect on the civilian population (without ties to combatants). The only Russians (without ties) that are concerned are a fringe nationalistic minority.
Heh heh ;) I'm sure you are watching the Ides of June play out Kremlin style with the rest of us, so, I'll reiterate, if I may, let's give bloody grinding attrition, and the internal strife it breeds, a chance, while we continue to armor-up Ukraine into a seriously lethal battle-hardened adversary even the plague addled brain of Putin, and whatever imperialist Russian POS may come next, will eventually realize, that any Russian touching Ukraine is going to lose their fingers twice as fast as a diver dumb enough to pet Moray eel. LMAO as it couldn't have happened to more deserving clown crew. NOW is the time to STIR THEIR POT with anything and everything at hand!
A betting pool, perchance, on who dies first over there? Will it be Putin or the guy that looks like he spent most of his life deep underground in watery caverns squatting on wet rocks chewing on raw white-sightless fish muttering stuff about "Putin my precious ...". How about wagering on the method of rapid unscheduled cellular disassembly? Will it be the venerable et-tu-brute style shanking fit for an emperor? A knock in the night followed by blindfolding and another well-spent bullet to the brainpan as befits a czar? Personally, I'm torn between a cup of sweet plutonium tea, a neurotoxin dusted doorknob, or the ever reliable umbrella tip bus-stop poking, if it happens the target was granted refuge into rainy climes. So many possibilities, and their all winners! :)
I didn't get a chance to respond earlier, and the coup attempt (unfortunately for Ukraine) unravelled before it did too much damage. Right now, the Ukrainians are doing "bite and hold" tactics, where they make an initial push then dig in against a counter-attack. This is not as exciting as blasting through the lines and encircling everyone, but it is what I expected them to be able to do - a breakout would be highly vulnerable to air power, since it would overrun their air defences.
I think Putin is weakened, but it is unlikely that anyone wants to replace him. Prigozhine seems to have been more concerned about not being quietly "removed" than taking power. Right now, my main concern is the nuclear power plant. It might be that the Ukrainians are talking up the possibility, but at the same time, the Russians seem to be happy to cause maximum damage to the country.
I don't believe that Putin is in great health in the first place. I lean towards him surviving the war, then health concerns will lead to a replacement at some point. I think that once the shooting stops, it will just be a new Cold War, and what Russia is doing will no longer be a concern since it will be facing a wall of NATO countries.
Did you see the video (filmed from what appears to be a high-rise apartment building) of a helicopter firing on, and blowing up, some sort fuel depot, supposedly in a highly populated area near Moscow? If real, and it looked pretty darn real, what can you say, but, WTF was that about? Still a big proponent of giving Doubt, a potent political solvent, time to seep in and do it's work. Catalysts welcome to apply here ;) and the sooner the better before the despot goes full-Stalin. Isn't this the way it usually ends, within a generation or two at the most, in 'Modern' times, when one despot consolidates all power in themselves alone? The clingy ones don't end well.
Pretty dubious about the cheering citizen video's for the departing Wagner troops, but, we won't really know exactly why they were cheering for some time, if ever. Were they just part of a bit of Telegram (social media) stage/war-craft? Most of those "citizens" gesticulating with some emotion I decided to translate as supportive, and apparently vociferously expressing 'happy' emotions as well, appeared to be young-dumb-and-full-of-cum in the majority. Unlike the haphazardly attired soldiers, they looked to be unacquainted with trench warfare in the rapidly evolving Ubiquitous Drone Age of Digital Precision Targeting. Just a wild guess here, but, I'd wager the cheering won't last long if the 'citizens' of the resurrected Russian Imperialism forces them to share the trenches with the dregs of the Russian Gulag-Industrial Complex. But, who knows, maybe they'll be happy to share those trenches, as it is pretty obvious, being a convicted criminal in Putin's Russia is a valid career. His Chef, and if there's any Justice left in the USA, his American Kennel Club lapdog Trump, will both attest to that.
Interesting how Trump is so clingy for power ...
They blew up at least one fuel depot on video with a helicopter strike, but there might have been more. Hope was to cut fuel logistics for the advance.
The problem for Wagner - and other rebels - is that the FSB allegedly went after their families. An actual coup would gave to prepare for things like that - and such preparations would be noticeable. However, the story right now is that Wagner troops have not stood down completely- there are rumours of retaliation, and so giving up might be suicidal.
In the long term, Russia is a mess, and I have no idea what will happen. However, their forces in Ukraine are still fighting without too much sign of a collapse. It would take time for that to change, as information does not get to the front that quickly.
Putin is NATO's savior. Putin breathed life back into a Federation that had become so moribund the last American President, and the people that vote for him, thought it was a good idea to cut ties. Remember the scumbag General he pardoned? Clearly, Trump's plans were over ambitious and reality seemed to, at least temporarily, penetrate his force-field of Stupid, but Stupid has rested, and Stupid is coming back for a second go-around. Because that's what Stupid does. That is, at the moment, about the only reason I'd think attrition starts to get increasingly risky, beyond what it is now, in about a year. Besides, with a little luck, if Putin can be killed before November 24, sometime close enough to the election (say within two weeks ;), it might stick in the minds of the voters jacked-into the intertube's distraction machine artificial-intelligentsiya just long enough to hurt Trump at the ballot box.... Keep pondering the impenetrable as "chance favors the prepared mind."