The War in the Ukraine

Who Will Win

  • The West

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  • America

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  • Right

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  • Good

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  • Evil

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  • Putin

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  • Zelensky

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  • Prigozhin

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  • Trump

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  • Total voters
    7
Western allies receive increasingly ‘sobering’ updates on Ukraine’s counteroffensive: ‘This is the most difficult time of the war’

“'Russians have a number of defensive lines and they [Ukrainian forces] haven’t really gone through the first line,' said a senior Western diplomat. 'Even if they would keep on fighting for the next several weeks, if they haven’t been able to make more breakthroughs throughout these last seven, eight weeks, what is the likelihood that they will suddenly, with more depleted forces, make them? Because the conditions are so hard.'"

How many lines were there? Hopefully 2.

"Ukrainian forces have incurred staggering losses there, leading Ukrainian commanders to hold back some units to regroup and reduce casualties."

I thought the ones already stationed on the front lines made the probes and the new brigades were waiting in the rear to exploit any gaps.
 
I thought the ones already stationed on the front lines made the probes and the new brigades were waiting in the rear to exploit any gaps.

That was the common assumption, but if you note the ongoing loss of Bradley IFVs it looks like at least some of the high mobility reserve forces have been sent in to patch the lines. Still few Leopard tank losses occluding, so the main strike force looks to still be keeping their powder dry.
 

"In June, Kyiv's KSE Institute, in association with the Yermak-McFaul International Working Group on Russian Sanctions, analysed 1,057 separate foreign components found in 58 pieces of captured Russian weaponry. It found that microchips and processors accounted for about half of the components and that around two thirds of them were made by American companies. The top five manufacturers were all American, including Analogue Devices, Texas Instruments and Intel."

In April this year, Nikkei found that 75% of US microchips were being supplied to Russia through Hong Kong or China. Nikkei's investigators found that small or midsize suppliers, set up after Russia's full-scale invasion, were heavily involved, sometimes operating out of anonymous, unnamed offices in Hong Kong. Such companies, the report says, are located across the globe, including the Czech Republic, Serbia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, India and China."

Those neutral parties...

"'I'm not sure how successfully we're going to play the game if we're sanctioning five companies,' he told the BBC. 'It won't solve the problem because it's just too easy to create some new entity elsewhere.'"

Let's roll out the 20th package of sanctions...
 

“'We don’t trust anyone in the city,' said one local police officer who commutes daily from Kharkiv, a two-hour drive. He noted the city’s proximity to the border and the uptick in intense fighting.

'No one in the administration sleeps in the city,' said the police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of possible retribution, 'because they know it is possible they might wake up one morning living under a new flag.'"

The counter-counteroffensive.
 

“Instead, soldiers who have experienced the front or who cannot be in the trenches because they have lost their health, lost their limbs, but have preserved their dignity and do not have cynicism, are the ones who can be entrusted with this system of recruitment.”

Along with the clamp down on corruption I hope they are making strides to make facilities accessible because otherwise I'm not sure how this form of staffing would work.

"...other officials who have shoulder straps and in respect of whom no evidence of crimes or violations has been found, if they want to keep their shoulder straps and prove their worthiness should go to the front."

A new conscript battalion will be raised...
 
Ukraine’s hopes for maximal victory look remote

"The difficulties, my colleagues reported at the end of last week, have led the U.S. intelligence community to conclude that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will fall short of at least one of its key goals — reaching the key southeastern city of Melitopol."
 

"Ukraine has sent the U.S. a list of 32 pilots it says are ready for training, but the official said only eight have the English language skills to complete the course. The other 24 must go through an English language instruction program run by the United Kingdom before they can start training on the jets"

If only they started learning English in February...


"Come on, we will be sending you pilots who've already trained for two and a half years,"
 

"'The fact it is written in the constitution that all male citizens must fight is, in my opinion, not in line with today's values.'

He was recently sent to a recruitment centre after being stopped by police in Kyiv, who accused him of avoiding the draft. He was eventually allowed to go home, after pleading that he had back problems, but next time he fears he won't be.

There are exemptions from service, including having poor health, being a single parent, and caring for someone vulnerable. But those convicted of draft-dodging face fines, or even up to three years in prison.

'Everyone should be allowed to contribute to this war if their situations are taken into account,' says Yehor. 'I feel sorry for people who are on the front lines, yet I don't have a pacifist alternative.'"

I have to say I have seen quite a few young men show up here since 10 months ago.
 
Yevgeny Prigozhin just received the proverbial ice pick in the back. Expect to see him erased from history tomorrow.
 
At least they blew up a plane and whacked 9 others instead of just having him fall out a window.
 
Finally, Putin having some success in his mission to deNazify …. *checks notes* Russia.

Dmitry Utkin, founder and senior Wagner leader, was also shot down alongside Prigohzin

IMG_0341.jpeg
 

"The Russians won't stop, he said, 'you can't negotiate with them'. The West doesn't understand this. Young soldiers who expected to be home in a year realise now, he said, they will be gone longer. He is a veteran of the fight in Donbas, he's been fighting Russia and its proxies since 2014. How long then did he expect this war to last? 'Another 10 years,' he replied."
 
Why not? No need to have bordellos and skanky hoes near the front lines. Just think how much more effective the Japanese imperial army would be if they didn't have to keep all those enslaved women around.
 
Anent the post about Nestor Makhno and anarchism, we employed a math tutor for our stepson when he was in high school. He was from Odessa but identified as Russian. We were talking one day about noted figures in modern Ukrainian history, and he remarked that I was the only American he had ever met who had known about "Batka Makhno."
 

Is this news to Cuba? I'm pretty sure these were advertised months ago - or even last year when Russia started handing out citizenship for foreign 'volunteers' if you (somehow) survive 1 year of service.
 

"Canada has completed sending $59 million worth of ammunition and small arms to Ukraine but it is still working on how to contribute to training that country’s pilots on how to operate F-16 fighter jets, according to National Defence officials.

The nations agreed to establish a joint coalition on training of the Ukrainian Air Force in operating and maintaining F-16 fighter aircraft.

Canada’s military doesn’t operate the F-16."

But we can teach your pilots English eh..
 
That's good. That could be the best low level/low risk commitment that can be made to defend Taiwan.
 

"During his two-day visit, Blinken is likely to announce a new package of U.S. wartime assistance worth more than $1 billion, a senior State Department official told reporters on the trip."

Better get it announced and passed in Congress before it shuts down.
 
Send this guy on a trip to the Titanic now!


The more I read about it the more I believe it's not the best interest for any nation's armed forces to entrust their connectivity to a commercial baron with his own interests. I posted elsewhere the Japanese Self Defence Forces and even the Canadian northern territories are considering to switch over to Starlink.
 
Atacms are finally coming and the offensive will likely grind on through the winter:

 

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