quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
I can't figure out if I'm more bothered by him wearing his smock and boonie indoors or, his speech impediment?

What speech impediment?

Lisping

If true, Russia is getting desperate:
Russia used Chemical Waepons

Kyiv claims Russia used banned chemical weapon
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

The Ukrainian Navy has accused Russia of using a banned chemical weapon against Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine. In a post on Facebook on December 4, the navy asserted Russia had dropped chloropicrin grenades from drones, but that Ukrainian troops had used chemical defenses “to protect themselves from the strong irritant effect” of the prohibited substance. The chemical — which was developed as a poison gas during World War I — was reportedly dispersed using K-51 aerosol grenades. The reports could not be verified, and there was no immediate reaction from Moscow.

Part 2 of that interview I posted. They talk about kit.

https://youtu.be/DANTP2n8x3c

Wow, you guys all went silent after the incredible display this week in Wa.

That is surprising

Merry Christmas!

What display was that?

I'm guessing the nauseating display of our elected officials prostrating themselves and fellating the corrupt leader of Ukraine.

Zelenski came to Congress and the White House. It was nice for him to come and speak. But outside that, nothing really big.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
I'm guessing the nauseating display of our elected officials prostrating themselves and fellating the corrupt leader of Ukraine.

Nice try Irishwind, very nice.

Huh. I guess it must've meant a lot more to you than it did to anyone else.

Or guys like you are just to embarrassed and ashamed to admit what this is really all about. I get there is always a terrible human eliminate to any war. But good grief this one is taking the cake of all cakes if you care to scratch the surface. Which I get it that some like yourself don't. You have made it abundantly clear from the months of your posting in this thread. And yes there is evil in this world. Real evil. And it is rampant through out this conflict and periphery.

An interesting and revealing take on the war in Ukraine:

https://cepa.org/article/its-c...us-to-defeat-russia/

Altogether, the Biden administration received Congressional approval for $40bn in aid for Ukraine for 2022 and has requested an additional $37.7bn for 2022. More than half of this aid has been earmarked for defense.  

These sums pale into insignificance when set against a total US defense budget of $715bn for 2022. The assistance represents 5.6% of total US defense spending. But Russia is a primary adversary of the US, a top tier rival not too far behind China, its number one strategic challenger. In cold, geopolitical terms, this war provides a prime opportunity for the US to erode and degrade Russia’s conventional defense capability, with no boots on the ground and little risk to US lives.  

The Ukrainian armed forces have already killed or wounded upwards of 100,000 Russian troops, half its original fighting force; there have been almost 8,000 confirmed losses of armored vehicles including thousands of tanks, thousands of APCs, artillery pieces, hundreds of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, and numerous naval vessels. US spending of 5.6% of its defense budget to destroy nearly half of Russia’s conventional military capability seems like an absolutely incredible investment. If we divide out the US defense budget to the threats it faces, Russia would perhaps be of the order of $100bn-150bn in spend-to-threat. So spending just $40bn a year, erodes a threat value of $100-150bn, a two-to-three time return.  Actually the return is likely to be multiples of this given that defense spending, and threat are annual recurring events.

The US military might reasonably wish Russia to continue deploying military forces for Ukraine to destroy.  

Meanwhile, replacing destroyed kit, and keeping up with the new arms race that it has now triggered with the West will surely end up bankrupting the Russian economy; especially an economy subject to aggressive Western sanctions. How can Russia possibly hope to win an arms race when the combined GDP of the West is $40 trillion, and its defense spending amounting to 2% of GDP totals well in excess of $1 trillion when the disproportionate US defense contribution is considered? Russia’s total GDP is only $1.8 trillion. Vladimir Putin will have to divert spending from consumption to defense, risking social and political unrest over the medium term, and a real and soon-to-be present danger to his regime. Just imagine how much more of a bargain Western military aid will be if it ultimately brings positive regime change in Russia. 

Second, the war has served to destroy the myth that Russian military technology is somehow comparable to that of the US and West. Remember that Ukraine is using only upgraded second generation US technology but is consistently beating whatever Russia’s military can deploy. Wars are shop windows for defense manufacturers; any buyer in their right mind will want the technology made by the winner. Putin’s misjudgment has merely provided a fantastic marketing opportunity for its Western competitors.  

Note also that the war is also pushing NATO partners to quickly increase spending to the 2% of GDP and above target. Given the US’ technological advantage in defense equipment, a sizeable share of this additional military outlay will be spent on US equipment.  

quote:

Originally posted by Fed161:
An interesting and revealing take on the war in Ukraine:   

Thank you for that.
It's not the first or only time such facts have been pointed out, but it is a nice summary.
And considering what monumentally stupid things this Administration has done, supporting a defensive war against a dangerous enemy is actually astonishing.

“If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the House of Commons.” — Winston Churchill

I suppose it's no worse than the corruption that was during Vietnam and the fiasco of Afghanistan. At least we don't have any of our Armed Forces participating via the public sanction of our government... yet.

I'd still rather the countries in that part of the world that are most threatened pick up more, or all, of the tab for keeping the Ukrainian oligarchs in style, though. At least the percentage that comes back to the Democrats' coffers will be nice and clean.

^^^ Is there any proof that that's what's happening with the current government of Ukraine? Zhelensky was voted into office to end corruption and the roles of the oligarchs - which were no different from the oligarchs currently operating in Russia, and the fabled sources of "ten percent for the big guy". There have been some corruption busts, especially since Russia invaded, but is there any reason to think that the oligarchs are still in power, that Zhelensky et al are taking dirty money under the table, or that Ukraine is currently being used to funnel dirty money to US Democrats?

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
^^^ Is there any proof that that's what's happening with the current government of Ukraine? Zhelensky was voted into office to end corruption and the roles of the oligarchs - which were no different from the oligarchs currently operating in Russia, and the fabled sources of "ten percent for the big guy". There have been some corruption busts, especially since Russia invaded, but is there any reason to think that the oligarchs are still in power, that Zhelensky et al are taking dirty money under the table, or that Ukraine is currently being used to funnel dirty money to US Democrats?

A search using "Volodymyr Zelenskyy corruption" will provide a plethora of information - from both Conservative and Leftist media. I used Brave search engine.

Ukraine/Zelenskyy corruption is very much like our 2020 election results. A lot of irregularities and puzzling actions but if investigations and audits aren't allowed then the powers-that-be have all the cover needed to claim "no proof, no crime".

Not a smidge of corruption.
Pollyanna assured me

The guy comes over here, demanding more money, visits Joe at the White House, then speaks in front of the congress critters......wearing a damn sweatshirt! With all the money we've sent, couldn't he at least have stopped at some discount store in DC & bought a suit off the rack? I guess he wanted everybody to think that he was taking a short break from killing Russian Spetznaz on the battlefield to pay us a visit.

I get it. We're supporting an enemy of our enemy, but why are we bearing almost all the monetary burden? It seems to me that all of Europe has a hell of alot more to worry about with Putin than we do, but the entirety of Europe is contributing only a fraction of what we are.

At this point, I'm a hell of alot more worried about the assholes in DC taking away my rights, or breaking down my door, than I am of Putin.

Russia WAS our enemy for most of the 20th century, but economically and demographically they barely register on the major threat scale.

We only have one near peer at the moment, and they will gladly watch us piss away money and material as they continue to build.

Oh, and we happily buy all of our shit from them.

World War III is coming, and in that conflict Russia is more likely to be an ally than an enemy… so destroying their entire military capacity, however ineffective it may be, will backfire.

Why would you count on Russia as an ally? They're the ones playing footsie with the ChiComs.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
Why would you count on Russia as an ally? They're the ones playing footsie with the ChiComs.

Think long term. China has done a wonderful job of extracting as much natural resources from their own land, and laying waste to much of it as well. They need oil, gold, wood, coal etc… Conveniently, there is a huge amount of sparsely populated land just to the north, with all of these things.