Ukraine taking it to Russia

[SuperMatt]

certainly Putin expected better......and I've read the Chinese are said to be quite surprised. Actually it seems that most of the world's analysts of military things are a bit surprised.

Those angling for autocracy in America should take note. Things go downhill fast when you govern that way. Try accepting election results, and stop trying to restrict voting. Force the political parties to respond to the people, or watch the decline of the nation.

 

[Huntn]

Looks like the Russians are somewhat dissatisfied with the service they are receiving from their Ukrainian hosts and are now seriously taking that job upon themselves.

‘Let Someone Whack You’: Russian Troops Are Now Deliberately Wounding Themselves to Get Out of Putin’s War

ReutersNearly 90 days into Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian troops have apparently become so demoralized and desperate to quit they’ve begun deliberately injuring themselves.The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate on Saturday released audio...

news.yahoo.com

I feel sorry for the pawns, and hope they all head home to Mother Russia soon. But no good vibes for the murderers among them. They should suffer for their deeds.

 

[Alli]

certainly Putin expected better......and I've read the Chinese are said to be quite surprised. Actually it seems that most of the world's analysts of military things are a bit surprised.

China is watching because that was their plan for Taiwan. Now they see that it may not be that simple.

 

[Yoused]

hip hop folk ?

Spoiler: the song

 

[AG_PhamD]

I have to admit, I love seeing the videos of Ukrainian farmers towing Russian tanks away to hide them.

I don't know how everyone else feels, but I expected the Russian military to be a bit better.

Hmmm… what’s that green and yellow spec off the bow?

(Honestly, when the war is over and hopefully Russia is universally recognized as the loser, Ukraine should salvage the Moskova, just to further humiliate Russia. Regardless of cost or practicality, they should re-float it, tow it back to shore, refurbish it, rename it the Kiova, and make it the Ukrainian navy flagship.)

China is watching because that was their plan for Taiwan. Now they see that it may not be that simple.

China strikes me as a country that solely operates in their own self interest. They’re playing all sides and frankly probably couldn’t care less about Ukraine aside from using it as a litmus test as to how the world would respond to their planned invasion.

The scary thing is I’m not sure the global reaction of China invading Taiwan would be anything like Russia invading Ukraine. Is the US and Europe really going to sanction China like they did Russia? Where would all the Chinese made supplies come from? Would China really continue trade if we were supplying weapons to Taiwan? It would basically be like early German situation in the current conflict with their dependence on Russian oil— except far worse.

 

[Huntn]

Whatever issues Russia’s military has, it’s clear Putin is doing a piss poor job selling the war to the troops. They’re not buying the reasons and are not inspired by him.

Yeah, hey guys let’s go have a fun war against some Nazis, so what if they speak your language, look like your families and you grandmothers, and there is zero Nazi imagery anywhere.

 

[Macky-Mac]

....The scary thing is I’m not sure the global reaction of China invading Taiwan would be anything like Russia invading Ukraine. Is the US and Europe really going to sanction China like they did Russia? Where would all the Chinese made supplies come from? Would China really continue trade if we were supplying weapons to Taiwan? It would basically be like early German situation in the current conflict with their dependence on Russian oil— except far worse.

It seems unlikely that the reaction to an invasion of Taiwan would be anything like what's happened with Ukraine. Only a very few countries recognize Taiwan as an independent county, even the US officially doesn't. With most of the world already viewing Taiwan as a part of China, perhaps that may be sufficient for China to continue to avoid whatever risk it sees in an invasion.

 

[Nycturne]

It seems unlikely that the reaction to an invasion of Taiwan would be anything like what's happened with Ukraine. Only a very few countries recognize Taiwan as an independent county, even the US officially doesn't. With most of the world already viewing Taiwan as a part of China, perhaps that may be sufficient for China to continue to avoid whatever risk it sees in an invasion.

I agree that the reaction would be quite different, but not for the reasons you state. The whole reason for "strategic ambiguity" is to avoid a diplomatic incident while the status quo remains. To the point that the US changing wording on the State Department website kicked off a huff just days ago for making the wording more vague. It doesn't mean that the majority of world governments actually believe China's claim, but rather they aren't willing to challenge it.

If nations fully believed China's claim to the island, then the calculus for China is a lot easier.

The issue is really that if nations are willing to play the diplomatic game with this level of deference to China in an effort to keep the status quo of an autonomous Taiwan, then to me it is a signal that nations may not be willing to undermine relations with China by helping the Taiwan government and people if it came to blows.

 

[Alli]

The scary thing is I’m not sure the global reaction of China invading Taiwan would be anything like Russia invading Ukraine. Is the US and Europe really going to sanction China like they did Russia? Where would all the Chinese made supplies come from? Would China really continue trade if we were supplying weapons to Taiwan? It would basically be like early German situation in the current conflict with their dependence on Russian oil— except far worse.

A lot of goods actually come from Taiwan rather than China. I think we’d be ok.

 

[Nycturne]

A lot of goods actually come from Taiwan rather than China. I think we’d be ok.

I also think that the pandemic exposing issues with the global supply chain might have some interesting knock on effects. I’m seeing more coverage on pushes to reinvest in local supply chains to provide resiliency. That resiliency would have the effect of weakening China’s international clout that they currently enjoy, and increase willingness to sanction China. Diversification into other countries like India for the sort of manufacturing that China has been known for will have similar effects.

So in some ways, China might have a closing window to take advantage of their current position.

 

[Yoused]

W's back!

Bush was discussing how Vladimir Putin stifles dissent and imprisons dissenters. “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. … I mean, of Ukraine.”​

 

[Citysnaps]

W's back!

Bush was discussing how Vladimir Putin stifles dissent and imprisons dissenters. “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. … I mean, of Ukraine.”​

Shrub.

 

[SuperMatt]

W's back!

Bush was discussing how Vladimir Putin stifles dissent and imprisons dissenters. “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. … I mean, of Ukraine.”​

Speaking of punishing dissenters, the Inspector General just determined that is most likely what happened to the Vindman brothers.

MSN

 

[Cmaier]

Speaking of punishing dissenters, the Inspector General just determined that is most likely what happened to the Vindman brothers.

MSN

Duh

 

[AG_PhamD]

A lot of goods actually come from Taiwan rather than China. I think we’d be ok.

If China is at war with Taiwan it’s unlikely we’d be getting many products.

Taiwan certainly exports a lot of electronics and electronics chips, as we know controlling a substantial portion of the chip market- though after the pandemic experience companies are trying to diversify.

We are incredibly reliant on China though. 21% of our imports versus 2.6 with Taiwan. And if you consider how much cheap a lot of those products are from China, it has a long reaching influence.

The pandemic illustrated quite well how much medical equipment and pharmaceutical precursors we depend on them for. Even just the packaging materials for a lot of products comes from China- like the vaccine vials.

As energy independence is a hot topic these days- Solar panels are almost exclusively Chinese and Lithium Ion batteries one way or another are dominated by China- either making the batteries themselves or the fact they control over 50% of world lithium and cobalt and nearly 100% of spherical graphite market. This is accomplished by buying up mining rights in poor countries. They also do much of the refining of these elements. They also pretty much dominate the windmill market. There’s very little competition when China can produce items for so much less.

The vast majority of cell phones are made/assembled in China. Manufacturing in general is dominated by China. Many items might be “made in X country” but source components from China. Something like 20% of GM vehicle components come from China.

That said, China’s economy and stability does depend on massive US imports and investment, but I think they are in a much better position to survive without us than us without them.

 

[Yoused]

This Katch-2022, it is best katch. Russian supply vehicles keep getting blown up by the UkA, so the RuA is conserving them by not sending them forward where they are at risk of being blown up. Thus, food and fuel are not getting to the troops because the command are unhappy about the Ukrainians objecting to it. But at least the equipment is safe.

 

[Cmaier]

This Katch-2022, it is best katch. Russian supply vehicles keep getting blown up by the UkA, so the RuA is conserving them by not sending them forward where they are at risk of being blown up. Thus, food and fuel are not getting to the troops because the command are unhappy about the Ukrainians objecting to it. But at least the equipment is safe.

Reminds me of the first Iraq war. Iraq kept hiding the scuds because they knew if they tried to launch them they would get exposed and blown up.

 

[AG_PhamD]

This Katch-2022, it is best katch. Russian supply vehicles keep getting blown up by the UkA, so the RuA is conserving them by not sending them forward where they are at risk of being blown up. Thus, food and fuel are not getting to the troops because the command are unhappy about the Ukrainians objecting to it. But at least the equipment is safe.

You know things aren’t going to plan when the Russians are sending T-62 tanks into the battle. This tank went into production in 1961. The last T-62’s were produced in 1975 making the newest examples almost 50 years old.

I can’t imagine any soldier aware of the risks of modern anti-tank weapons would feel good about hopping in a tank and driving into battle to begin with. Then your leadership throws you the keys to a tank that’s 50+ years old. That’s gotta be a real morale booster.

It’s amazing these things run considering how bad Russia’s maintenance reportedly is.

 

[Macky-Mac]

You know things aren’t going to plan when the Russians are sending T-62 tanks into the battle. This tank went into production in 1961. The last T-62’s were produced in 1975 making the newest examples almost 50 years old.

I can’t imagine any soldier aware of the risks of modern anti-tank weapons would feel good about hopping in a tank and driving into battle to begin with. Then your leadership throws you the keys to a tank that’s 50+ years old. That’s gotta be a real morale booster.

It’s amazing these things run considering how bad Russia’s maintenance reportedly is.

I've read there's a known problem with the T-62 in that shells for the cannon are stored in the turret, and while this makes reloading faster, it also means that this spare ammo will explode if some of the anti-tank fire hits the turret. This kills everybody inside and also causes the turret to fly off.

 

[Yoused]

… spare ammo will explode if some of the anti-tank fire hits the turret. This kills everybody inside and also causes the turret to fly off.

​

I heard a turret had been found in a 3rd floor apartment.