History in the Making: Russian Invasion

frenchyd said:

Noddaz said:

 

"In the coming days, you will see a rather impressive show of force from the Ukrainians," said US Senator Lindsey Graham, hinting at an imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The initial priority, he said, should be "the return of some strategic places." He said that "formation operations" - that is, strikes that stretch the Russian defense and confuse the enemy's plans - are already underway, "meaning that the counter-offensive itself is likely to begin relatively soon."

Some people (US Senator Lindsey Graham) should just STFU.

I agree with you regarding STFU for Graham.  Do you find it as ironic As I do  that those who have never risked their lives doing military duty are so anxious to tell those who do or are risking their lives  what to do? 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the most peaceful period in 20th century US History coincident with the Eisenhower Adminstration? Irony indeed.

Korean War?  (Still might be true though)

And of course, most of the world was heavily involved in a massive conflict a few years before, I am sure that had an effect.

But yes, given the option I would highly prefer a Leader who has had as much direct combat experience (not just moving pieces on a board) as possible.  I think the perspective is highly useful.

Of note: Putler has no combat experience, but Hitler did...

The Korean war and Eisenhower overlapped by about 6 months. But yes, it's overly simplistic to just lay out broad strokes. FWIW, the military brass that I've personally known were the opposite of the bloodthirsty stereotypes you sometimes see in the movies.  

To understand just how active the Eisenhower administration was in managing international relations between 1953 and 1961, and keeping up the appearance of peace in the process, it is very much worth reading Kenneth Osgood's Total Cold War: Eisenhower's Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad. Long neglected by historians and leaders alike, the Eisenhower administration deserves credit for a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to foreign policy that we have not seen since.

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

Once again, it's not your message, it's the fact that it's just the same damn thing over and over and over and over and over again. You've made your point, and you won't let us move on. I'm sorry, you're just not that important to us. 
 

It's obvious that you're doing this to control the discussion as a form of attention seeking behavior

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Sorry to tell you but ain't nobody in Congress that cares about you.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to aircooled :

Funny how I questioned the new sources here and someone posts an article of Moscow being hit by drones and it is actually Kiev.  Odd isn't it?  I trust nothing from the mainstream media, and for good reason.  Everyone should be wary of western mainsteam media. 

I don't check this thread often but the cnn site had the correct picture. And if I read the posts correctly then Aircooled accidentally uploaded the wrong photo. Unless Aircooled revealed he is "mainstream media"....... just seem like you jumped the phaser there. 

So I actually returned to this thread to see what the hive thought about the growing volume of Ukraine disillusionment stories. At least I have noticed an uptick of more negative clickbait towards Ukraine when I never really got much negative clickbait against Russia....

Is this a subtle campaign or just actual turn of public opinion. Maybe it is just my feed. But I actually never search about the war just visit my 10 different news sites. 

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

That's narcissism. And you are giving him exactly what he wants.

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

It's not censorship if we can still choose to read it.   Your posts aren't getting deleted. 

Appleseed said:

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

That's narcissism. And you are giving him exactly what he wants.

True. 

On the subject of media coverage, one of the problems everyone faces in getting comprehensive sources is language - there just aren't a lot of non-Western sources available in English, at least reasonably objective ones (there's plenty of propaganda, of course). One useful exception that I've found interesting is the EurAsian Times, which is an Indian defense-oriented publication. I'm not suggesting they are any more authoritative or unbiased than Western sources, but they do offer quite a different perspective on some aspects of the Ukraine situation, which can be useful in understanding how things are being viewed outside the US and Europe.

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/soldiers-of-the-rvc-and-the-freedom-of-russia-legion-entered-the-territory-of-the-russian-federation-once-again/

Soldiers of the RVC and the Freedom of Russia Legion entered the territory of the Russian Federation once again

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/germany-will-transfer-a-large-number-of-armored-vehicles-to-ukraine/

Germany will transfer a large number of armored vehicles to Ukraine

This one has ALL the tracks!

And this one is a Fuchs.  It seems to not have Fuchs wheels. (Har har).

In reply to 02Pilot :

Getting the straight info is a HUGE problem that we've discussed before and one of these days I'd like to open up another thread discussing which are the better information sources, what are potential solutions and such. One of the things that bothers me is that some of the people who complain the loudest about media bias have the sketchiest alternate sources: "You can't believe anything that the NYT or Washington Post says! You need to read Infowars if you want the truth!" or some such. You don't generally fix broken cars with broken parts from other cars.

What really got me thinking was Bush IIs runup to the Iraq invasion. His administration was just laying out the propaganda so darn heavy and sometimes it seemed that they believed their own line of BS. After a while I was fairly sure that much of the time they simply didn't know the answers so they started filling in the gaps with wishful thinking. Did Dick Cheney really believe that "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators"?   If he did, it shows a lack of information and insight that is more worrying than if he was simply lying.

As noted, it looks like the Freedom Legion is now messing with the Russians in Shebekino, which is in Russian, north east of Kharkiv (north east region) and again, in a sort of direct line to Moscow.

The Russians have to hate the fact they need to deal with these since they know the Ukrainians will almost certainly not cross the boarder.  Great shaping operation though.

Explosions in Belgorod.  There are reports the Russians may have bombed the city.... again (this is a Russian city).

Interesting, maybe suspicious (?) shots of the Kerch bridge, with massive cracks in it.  This may be the reason for the smoke screen we saw earlier?  

The second shot does look manipulated (overly contrasted, but that might be a compression artifact).  One thing that I would say that makes it seem real is the cracks are so strange (e.g. the right angles).  If you asked someone to make it look like it's cracked, it's highly unlikely they would make it look like that (not what you would expect)

Thoughts?  Any structural engineers here?  (I actually know one on the board, I may have him take a look)

How much strength does a piling like this loose when it's cracked like this?  I would suspect a lot.

BTW, yes, I consider my self main stream.... well sometimes split stream....

(that's bathroom humor people  )

In reply to aircooled :

Not a concrete guy but a Mechanical Engineer.

My curiosity is increased (not just by the definite enhancement or alteration to the second photo) due to what appears to be fluid staining originating from cracks. Efflorescence or staining like that isn't instantly created.

When was it assumed to have started cracking?

Was there a massive storm or high water? Is roadway run off flowing down columns?

My suspicion is that that huge explosion that dislodged a few sections of the roadway a while back is a likely source.  Of course, the process of repair and any stresses then (e.g. having un-spanned sections) may have contributed.

Yeah, no idea when they appeared.

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

It's almost impossible to know the intentions and beliefs of people, but studying actions and statements carefully can reveal at least a good bit of information. The Iraq War decision has been extensively analyzed, and there is a lot of documentary support - see the National Security Archive (and a second, older but more document-rich link here) for lots of good information.

Hopefully, the same level of examination will be applied to US involvement with Ukraine. Though not at war, US policymakers are certainly dealing with some of the same issues and concerns as were raised in 2002 regarding Iraq. Sadly, these sorts of critical reviews only tend to occur when things have gone pear-shaped somewhere along the way. For those in opposition, there is much to be gained politically by placing blame on those responsible for failures, but little if any to be gained from revisiting successes.

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

I know people who have said exactly that, but they actually cite Alex Jones as the voice of truth, even before their own doctors.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Whenever something is untertaken hastily the opportunities for both mistakes and corruption go up big time. I'm trying to get worker retention credits out of the IRS, but they got scammed so heavily during the first round of COVID benefits, now they are reluctant to do anything.

aircooled said:

As noted, it looks like the Freedom Legion is now messing with the Russians in Shebekino, which is in Russian, north east of Kharkiv (north east region) and again, in a sort of direct line to Moscow.

The Russians have to hate the fact they need to deal with these since they know the Ukrainians will almost certainly not cross the boarder.  Great shaping operation though.

Explosions in Belgorod.  There are reports the Russians may have bombed the city.... again (this is a Russian city).

Does anyone have some credible reading material on the Freedom Legion? I don't know what to make of these guys. Where are their allegiances? What will they do if they "win"? What does that even look like?