quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
So the Rooskies and the Chi-Coms are nothing but paper tigers? All the propaganda over the years is what a powerful military these two clown countries have built. Now Russia can't successfully invade Ukraine and because of that the Chi-Coms are suddenly afraid of Taiwan? Well you don't say!

I'd caution you though. Their militaries may indeed be far less than they've been billed as, but given what has happened to 'our' military over the past 10 years, I'd say the US military is little more than a shell of what it was in the past and should be today.

quote:

Now here's your question. What happens when the America public loses 'all' trust and confidence in the government and believes 'nothing' they tell them? Where does that lead? I run projects and have for many years and I can tell you without any hesitation, when a project team no longer trusts or believes in its project manager, that project is destined to fail. I believe that's the path we're on as a country, and we need to find a way to get off it asap.

Yeah... that's what I'm thinking too.
When you don't trust your own government, what do you do?
A lot of people bury their heads in the sand and say "I can't do anything about it, so I'll ignore it." But that has a lot to do with where we are. Too many people ignore what's going on.

Pelosi's son was deeply involved in Ukraine also;



Pelosi Son’s Associate Convicted of Fraud For Scam That Pelosi’s Son Promoted in Ukraine

https://nationalfile.com/pelos...promoted-in-ukraine/

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
What happens when the America public loses 'all' trust and confidence in the government and believes 'nothing' they tell them? Where does that lead?

I don't know where that leads, but that is EXACTLY where I am, and where I've been for nearly two years!

Sign of desperation?

Putin orders 134,500 new conscripts into Russian army

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Putin orders 134,500 new conscripts into Russian army

Sure, because that first batch of reluctant, poorly-trained conscripts worked out so well for them...


What's next? "Blocking detachments" of Commissars positioned behind the conscripts, ready to machine-gun them if they fail to charge at the enemy, ala the Russian Civil War and Early WW2?

Oh wait... Lookie here. They've already implemented that, positioning Chechen units behind conscript units with orders to execute anyone who attempts to flee or desert.

https://en.lb.ua/news/2022/03/...act_antiretreat.html

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-701071

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Sign of desperation?

Putin orders 134,500 new conscripts into Russian army

Typical Russian/Soviet thinking...when things aren't working out as we expected, lets double-down and do it HARDER!

^^^^
Initially, when I first heard this story more than a month ago, I dismissed it as possible propaganda, and it didn't seem to be getting much airplay. Last night I was curious enough about it and made the time to do a quick search and came up with this FOX NEWS piece below.

Given that President Putin is calling for more conscripts and reports of blocking detachments of Chechens, I have to wonder if this tool has been used, or if it will be used now. I heard one report that the Russians used these in Afghanistan, but I haven't made the time to check into that.

Unlike the U.S., that has developed an elaborate ceremonial tradition of honoring their dead as they are returned home, these mobile crematoriums are designed to quickly process and conceal the number of dead, both from the enemy, as well as from grieving mothers and families who would otherwise be seen waiting to receive their dead back home. Instead, the ashes are unceremoniously returned in the dead of night, perhaps in a railway box car.

There is speculation that these could be used to hide civilian casualties or war crimes, although I have to wonder if, given Russian mobility and logistics problems, whether these could even make it into the combat area.

[Note: Embedded video of a demo of the mobile crematorium in operation, photos, hyperlinks, and article comments at the linked website article.]

==========

Russian forces have mobile crematorium that can 'evaporate' soldiers killed in attacks

By Stephanie Pagones , Jennifer Griffin | Fox News
Published February 25, 2022 10:35am EST

Machinery could be used as a way to minimize appearance of Russian military casualties

Russia’s cache of weaponry and machinery includes a mobile crematorium, which is mounted on a vehicle and can be deployed if needed during the ongoing, devastating invasion of Ukraine, Fox News has confirmed.

The mobile crematorium has been seen among the Russian troops that, led by President Vladimir Putin, continue their advance onto the neighbor country, The Telegraph reported and Fox News has confirmed.

Ben Wallace, the British secretary of defense, told The Telegraph the mobile crematorium could be used as a way to minimize the appearance of Russian military casualties. Footage taken in 2014 provides a glimpse into the machinery and its capabilities.

Russian forces forged ahead Friday in their efforts to take Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, using what was believed to have been a method of encircling the country following a series of airstrike attacks.

The advance on Kyiv is seen as an attempt to replace the Ukrainian presidency with a Kremlin-friendly regime.

Pre-dawn explosions rocked Kyiv and gunfire was reported in parts of the city, while Ukraine's military said a group of Russian spies and saboteurs was seen on the capital's outskirts. Police told people not to exit a central subway station because of gunfire in the area.

The assault, anticipated for weeks by the West, amounts to Europe's largest ground conflict since World War II. It could also portend the emergence of a new "Iron Curtain" between the West and Russia, with global repercussions.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for defense assistance and tougher sanctions on Russia. President Biden was to meet Friday with fellow NATO leaders in a virtual summit.

The U.N. human rights office said it was receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties, with at least 25 deaths verified, mostly from shelling and airstrikes. "The figures, we fear, could be much higher," agency spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. And at least 102 people were said to have been injured so far.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
So the Rooskies and the Chi-Coms are nothing but paper tigers? All the propaganda over the years is what a powerful military these two clown countries have built. Now Russia can't successfully invade Ukraine and because of that the Chi-Coms are suddenly afraid of Taiwan? Well you don't say!

I'd caution you though. Their militaries may indeed be far less than they've been billed as, but given what has happened to 'our' military over the past 10 years, I'd say the US military is little more than a shell of what it was in the past and should be today.

China has a massive propaganda apparatus. Essentially, the entire state media. China Daily (English) pays western media to run their biased stories. Western media gets money from it and doesn't have to do any work (like pay reporters to write).

Social media discussions about China are filled with trolls who promote China's military superiority. Take a look at questions on Quroa about the topic. The trolls create the questions, then provide the answers.

I've seen China's single aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in port in Dalian many times, along with a couple destroyers. Seems it's more of a propaganda showpiece than a combat vessel. China cannot conquer Taiwan with a single carrier, and they have no base of successful military experience on which to plan strategies and tactics. Chinese in large organizations are taught to follow rules and procedures - I see this all the time. Deviating from rule or procedure causes stress because then they might be responsible for the outcome. Yes they cut corners on many things but basically that's a leadership decision, and everyone else just does what they are told.

China has lied about almost everything about COVID and convinced the general population of China that it came from the U.S. and all outbreaks in China have been caused by outsiders - travelers returning from overseas, Hong Kong, whatever. They will lie about anything they can to promote their interests.

As for Russia, their military is massively underfunded and thus horribly corrupt when it comes to money. Grift is standard procedure and we are seeing the results now.

Operator Starsky on Youtube mentions all of this in yesterday's vlog.

The Ukrainians have put up a website to document the POWs and KIAs so that Russian families will have closure. With a grain of salt and all that....

Ukrainian propaganda, or Russian ineptitude? (Or a bit of both?)

Russian troops are reportedly evacuating Chernobyl due to suffering "acute radiation sickness" after digging trenches in heavily irradiated forest without protective gear.

From https://www.thedailybeast.com/...g-chernobyl-trenches (also https://apnews.com/article/rus...dd04ba42a25de0d31449 and https://www.reuters.com/world/...d-forest-2022-03-28/ )

quote:

Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering “acute radiation sickness” from contaminated soil, according to Ukrainian officials.

The troops, who dug trenches in a contaminated Red Forest near the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history, are now reportedly being treated in a special medical facility in Gomel, Belarus. The forest is so named because thousands of pine trees turned red during the 1986 nuclear disaster. The area is considered so highly toxic that not even highly specialized Chernobyl workers are allowed to enter the zone.

Energoatom, the Ukrainian agency in charge of the country’s nuclear power stations, said the Russian soldiers had panicked and fled.

“It has been confirmed that the occupiers who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the Exclusion Zone set off in two columns towards Ukraine’s border with Belarus. The occupiers announced their intentions to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant this morning to the Ukrainian personnel of the station," the agency said in a statement on Telegram, adding that a small number of Russians still remained at the facility.

The agency said it had also confirmed reports of Russian forces digging trenches in the Red Forest, “the most polluted in the entire exclusion zone.”

“Not surprisingly, the occupiers received significant doses of radiation and panicked at the first sign of illness. And it showed up very quickly.”

Local reports suggest that seven buses with the zapped troops arrived in Gomel early Thursday. Journalists on the ground have also reported “ghost buses” of dead soldiers being transported from Belarus to Russia under the cover of dark.

U.S. intelligence reported Wednesday that Russian forces began withdrawing from the defunct site. Russia said the withdrawal from Chernobyl was part of a pledge to scale back the invasion. But Ukrainian media says it is actually because the troops were “irradiated” from the contaminated soil.

“Another batch of Russian irradiated terrorists who seized the Chernobyl zone was brought to the Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel today,” Yaroslav Yemelianenko, who works for the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, posted on Facebook. “There are rules for dealing with this territory.”

The Chernobyl facility fell to Russian control on Feb. 24, the first day of the invasion. Workers were on duty for more than 600 hours before being allowed a shift change. International concern grew immediately when Russian troops moved heavy military hardware through the area, kicking up radioactive dust without any protective equipment. Forest fires in the area also raised concern about environmental contamination.

Digging trenches in the forest—considered the most contaminated area of the site—drew widespread ridicule from Ukrainians who work at the site.

After watching a few of the Operator Starsky videos the other day (which are informative, if obviously pro-Ukrainian), I saw some videos on a channel called Perun.

Although it is/was a video game channel, I believe the guy works in military finance (i.e. some business that is involved in the finance side of the military industrial complex in Australia), and he has begun doing analyses of the conflict in Ukraine in the last few weeks.

There are two very informative videos, one about why Russia's military spending numbers/force on paper are irrelevant, thus leading to their dismal performance in the current conflict; and another about debunking the idea that Russia is "holding back" the good equipment and forces.

Very well sourced and explained videos by someone who is in a military-adjacent field.

Sorry, too dumb to embed video, but here are links to the two long but informative videos:

https://youtu.be/KJkmcNjh_bg

https://youtu.be/Lem3enNkbV0

“ Russian troops are reportedly evacuating Chernobyl due to suffering "acute radiation sickness" after digging trenches in heavily irradiated forest without protective gear.”

This further strengthens the position that the main Russian forces are a shadow of their former competence (whatever that actually was). The lack of forethought, planning, or intelligence that accompanies digging in the soil near one of the most severe nuclear accidents in history highlights this extreme ignorance. Good lord.

Remember O'Biden telling all of us we had to suffer because the sanctions on Russia were necessary to punish Putin for attacking Ukraine? And that these sanctions were devastating and crippling. Yep, the incontinent retard and his cast of morons and grifters were wrong yet again.

Russia’s ruble has almost totally recovered. Does that mean sanctions aren’t working?

Yep, when you go to bed tonight, you can thank Slo Joe for $5+/gallon gas, food prices skyrocketing, and 40 year high inflation, while the US has accomplished little to nothing in really hurting Russia (something we should never have had to do in the first place if Joe had any clue what he was doing). This Ukraine debacle is going to go down in history as one of the biggest failures of the US in the past century, and Biden owns 110% of it.

Worst president in American history by a country mile. But you'll have to walk that mile because you won't be able to afford to drive it.

General Jack Keane: “The US has decided that Putin cannot lose.”

Too much fear in the administration

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Remember O'Biden telling all of us we had to suffer because the sanctions on Russia were necessary to punish Putin for attacking Ukraine? And that these sanctions were devastating and crippling. Yep, the incontinent retard and his cast of morons and grifters were wrong yet again.

Russia’s ruble has almost totally recovered. Does that mean sanctions aren’t working?

I think we may still be waiting to find that out. Remember that Putin is forcing Russian importers to swap 80% of their foreign reserves for rubles, which is still propping up the ruble. Russian securities are off of the foreign market as well. He's also trying to force oil and gas buyers to pay in rubles, but hasn't quite got that working yet. There's no doubt that cutting off oil and gas purchases from Russia completely would make a tremendous difference just because those minerals as well as gold and fish (believe it or not) are the steady sources of foreign currencies for Russia. But what we need to see in order to assess the effect of sanctions so far is what happens if the Euros refuse to him in rubles and Russian sources run out of foreign currencies to convert into rubles.

Take a look at http://www.wsj.com/articles/pu...3?mod=hp_minor_pos20

Would you?

^^^^
Clearly not magnetic mines; I wonder if they are being over watched by mortars or AGTM teams for when Russians try to remove them

As bad as the drivers driving over the mines are, worse is the fool who stood there with the camera.
Anything to get those media hits.