War with Russia

[BoldonLad]

Or, in a country where information and "truth" are strictly controlled and any talk contrary to the official line likely means prison, it might get rephrased into an unprovoked attack over Russian territory ...

Quite

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm not going to pay a subscription to read the rest of this piece, but it's an interesting initial take.

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-harping-on-ukrainian-manpower

Franklin Roosevelt was a great war-leader in many respects. One of them is that he had developed a politically and technologically sophisticated understanding of what wins wars and during World War II he was not afraid to tell the US Army to back off to get his way. The US Army, looking at war from its single service perspective, started lobbying for a gargantuan expansion as soon as the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The size of the force they wanted was immense. In early 1942, George Marshall asked for the Army to be raised to 212 divisions—a massive force that would have required so much manpower it would have weakened the other services and deprived the USA of much of its industrial workforce.

FDR, however, eventually put Marshall firmly in his place. Though Marshall nurtured his big army ideas for the next year and a half, Roosevelt ended up telling him to construct something very different. Roosevelt wanted to preserve much of America’s industrial workforce, saw a large army as a vehicle for mass casualties as much as anything else, and prioritized air and sea power in the defeat of Germany and Japan. In the end, the Army was kept to a level more than half below what George Marshall wanted—the famous 90-division gamble.

The result was that the US fought a machine intensive, infantry light war, which crushed the life out of the Axis at a historically small number of American casualties—approximately 400,000 deaths in all theatres and all services. It was a number that represented less than 5 percent of the combined military deaths of the Germans and Japanese, and probably less than 2 percent of Soviet deaths.

Fighting wars with machines and fewer soldiers is both strategically and politically (and ethically) a far more effective method than packing out a front line with soldiers. Its also another example of why the western analytic community and US government fails constantly in understanding the best way to fight wars.

 

[Ian H]

Here's an interesting aside in a review of When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists and the Origins of Trumpism by John Ganz.

In summer 1991, with the Soviet Union collapsing, Richard Nixon of all people privately circulated a memo, ‘How to lose the Cold War’, in which he criticised the West’s failure to support a sustainable transition out of communism for its former foe. ‘If Yeltsin fails,’ Nixon wrote, ‘the prospects for the next fifty years will turn grim. The Russian people will not turn back to communism. But a new, more dangerous despotism based on extremist Russian nationalism will take power.’

It might be paywalled but you might get a limited free view https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n17/william-davies/repeal-the-20th-century

 

[Beebo]

What is Gorgeous George Galloway doing in Russia? Didn’t he work for Russia Today?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20e4ge36e6o

A 71 year old with a 40 year old wife. What is that about?

 

[Pblakeney]

A 71 year old with a 40 year old wife. What is that about?

Do you really need it spelt out?
And from who’s perspective?

 

[Bazzer]

Meh, paywall.

Apologies. Both worked for me, but I am currently abroad, so may be that had something to do with it?
@Ianonabike thanks.

 

[Bazzer]

Major refinery hit by Ukraine for the fourth time.

Interestingly, Reuters reporting the Ukraine's efforts may be a bit too successful for the orange dictator's liking. - On the basis that if Putin's retaliation forces up oil prices, that is going to hurt the US economy and the dictator's promise to reduce domestic energy costs.

 

[Pinno718]

Major refinery hit by Ukraine for the fourth time.
Interestingly, Reuters reporting the Ukraine's efforts may be a bit too successful for the orange dictator's liking. - On the basis that if Putin's retaliation forces up oil prices, that is going to hurt the US economy and the dictator's promise to reduce domestic energy costs.

Is c*nt chops bothered? He's put up prices, increased unemployment, is sending the US economy into recession with his amazing fiscal policies and tariffs and he doesn't give a sh*t.

 

[briantrumpet]

More #explodey. Keep chipping away, grind the bar stewards down.

 

[Bazzer]

Is c*nt chops bothered? He's put up prices, increased unemployment, is sending the US economy into recession with his amazing fiscal policies and tariffs and he doesn't give a sh*t.

Yes, but he would have someone to blame and his followers would believe it.
The radical left/Joe Biden/Hilary Clinton/Barack Obama, (pick one or any combination), can't be to blame for everything. So why not blame that country about which probably most Americans know absolutely FA about, other than having a leader who attends the White House not wearing a suit and wants 'murica's money and armaments?

 

[Bazzer]

More #explodey. Keep chipping away, grind the bar stewards down.

View attachment 10235

No boom, but it looks to have been a good hit.
(Assuming this isn't behind a pay wall for UK viewers)
https://unn.ua/en/news/bryansk-under-attack-hit-on-industrial-plant-recorded

 

[Pinno718]

More #explodey. Keep chipping away, grind the bar stewards down.

View attachment 10235

I had to look up 'electrodetal'. Apparently, it's a plant making military components.

 

[Pinno718]

Does that mean Ukraine will start targeting rubber band and bicycle factories to curb sling shot production and transport?

 

[Pinno718]

Fuel shortages in Russia prompted Pootin to summon the heads of all the major oil companies for urgent talks.
Road tankers heading to Crimea to alleviate fuel shortages for military use get hit by Ukrainian drones.
This after the CEO of Russia's state nuclear agency was found dead in the streets of Moscow with a suicide note - the 20th major official to die in suspicious circumstances.
Russia cannot ensure stable fuel supplies to either the military or the public. "Key officials are dying and fuel prices are soaring".

https://d3w3o6m9etcfyi.cloudfront.net/media/d292927386419fe3abc46e62a350b149.mp4

https://www.rfunews.com/map

 

[Bazzer]

Fuel shortages in Russia prompted Pootin to summon the heads of all the major oil companies for urgent talks.
Road tankers heading to Crimea to alleviate fuel shortages for military use get hit by Ukrainian drones.
This after the CEO of Russia's state nuclear agency was found dead in the streets of Moscow with a suicide note - the 20th major official to die in suspicious circumstances.
Russia cannot ensure stable fuel supplies to either the military or the public. "Key officials are dying and fuel prices are soaring".

https://d3w3o6m9etcfyi.cloudfront.net/media/d292927386419fe3abc46e62a350b149.mp4

https://www.rfunews.com/map

Not helped when the puppet government of Belarus sends fuel for the military by train and a lorry driver stops his vehicle on a crossing, directly in the path of said train.
It's toast and/or marshmallows time.