Ukraine updates

Anyone surprised? Let’s go Brandon, what a joke he/we must be to the rest of the world today. I can imagine the laughter that goes on in the meetings between world leaders when they talk about the once mighty USA.

 

Retired army veteran Daniel Davis reports that Russia has been content to eat away at Ukraine's capability in Bakhmut. That is why they haven't fully taken city yet. He also claims that Russia is moving West but very slowly. Many of the reports casualties are hitting Wagner Group a private military org aligned with Russia.

Ukraine still wants to launch an offensive but that will be difficult with all the losses and lack of training of those at the front today. But who knows. Right?

 

Well for Sure Biden et al don't know

 

America's First Black President Left A Legacy Of Slavery | ZeroHedge

 

and, in addition to rolling over for the PRC, Uncle Joe gave Afghanistan back to the Taliban.

 

Well mc I guess that article, damning as it is, gives reason to why the BLM riots are not considered violent in the same circles, hmmmm?

 

Are we talking about Clinton here, or OreO-bama?

 

"OreoObama"
Dead on

 

Sad to say, but if just us leaving instantly gave the whole country to the Taliban, then the whole country already belonged to the Taliban anyway.

Why are we blaming NATO and Zelensky instead of saying Putin needed to negotiate rather than invade?

 

And now it’s a well armed Taliban.

 

Yes. Putin should have continued to negotiate before invading Ukraine in Feb 2022. That was the moral move. He chose to the immoral move. If I could wave a magic wand, Russia withdraws and restarts diplomacy.

What I am talking about is what can US/NATO do to convince Russia to stop their attacks. NATO involvement is one of the sore spots whatever you think about the reasoning. Putin has signaled willingness to negotiate even without ending NATO involvement. But NATO/US has stopped negotiations at least once, stood in the way of ending war. And I think it has happened twice. My point is get NATO out of the situation. Let Russia and Ukraine negotiate. They have signaled a desire to several times to the news media.

 

Price of Nat gas in Europe has fallen to $10.7 per million btu, which is basically the same for spot gas price in Asia ($10.5 per mmbtu), the latter of which has been importing nat gas for 20 years or more. In short, a year from now with more pipelines incoming from N Africa and new LNG terminals in place, Europe is basically on par with Asia in terms of energy supply. Look for Europe to become big supporters of the US Navy like every other Asian country (excluding China).

 

An US Ambassador claimed South Africa sold arms to Russia? Was claim backed by documents?
Is there a big arms mfg industry in SA? Hearing SA bought arms from Russia seems more believable.

 

This is one example of why you shouldn't give Ambassadorships to people as political favors for blow jobs. Come to think of it, the principle probably applies to Vice Presidencies also.

 

There used to be.

I'm not sure what's going on here. It seems to me that our overarching strategy in Africa should be to get and keep nations in our camp, and drive them away from the China camp.

 

"Now back to the 500,000 number. At least 300,000 soldiers have been injured or killed since the operation began, which is close to the total from the first Russian mobilization. Yikes.

The Russians will need to bring in more numbers with a second mobilization, which means low-skilled soldiers and weak points in the Russian line. Now we're looking through a murky and convoluted lens, but this all sounds like an opportunity for Ukraine."

Shoigu competence has come under question. The Wagner group leader is a food caterer by profession. Russia is losing a lot of men. They'll likely have to draft more. They're still slogging through a bloody quagmire.

 

I predict a future surge in Russian Bride websites...

 

That 300,000 killed number for Russia is way out of the range I am hearing. More like 100,000 casualties over all. Ukraine is losing about 3xs as many as Russia.

 

More than twice as many Russian troops as Ukrainians have been killed in Putin's war, leaked estimates show

Zeihan didn't say 300,000 Russians killed, he estimated at least 300,000 injured or killed (casualties include injuries that take soldiers off the battlefield).

Business Insider (non-partisan) published that over twice as many Russian soldiers have died than Ukrainian soldiers.

It seems that the bloodbath continues...

 

"One document in particular suggests that Russia has suffered between 189,500 and 223,000 casualties, including between 35,500 and 43,000 soldiers killed in action and between 154,000 and 180,000 troops wounded.

Ukraine, by contrast, has suffered between 124,500 and 131,000 casualties, including between 15,500 and 17,500 soldiers killed in action and between 109,000 and 113,500 troops wounded."

More than twice as many Russian troops as Ukrainians have been killed in Putin's war, leaked estimates show

 

It’s Possible 270,000 Russians Have Been Killed Or Wounded In Ukraine

 

Who knows. This is the fog of war type stuff.

The reports you are showing reflect the mainstream narrative. I am also listening to ex-military guys who are trying to search through the different reports to see if they can get closer to the truth. Their are 2 or 3 guys like that. Their report is generally the inverse of what Zeihan is saying. He is ex-Stratfor. He has some good information and understanding no doubt, but they were a deep state contractor until the wikileaks stuff. Not sure these guys are very accurate.

 

It’s all sickening.

 

Mutual national slow suicide. Will probably hit Ukraine first. Long, slow, war of attrition. Russia is the honey badger--it don't care. Putin just has to outlast them. But it may be a Pyric victory--if they win at all.

"The dark answer is that Russia's current problems can be attributed to mobilization issues and ammo. Russia still has a deep reserve of armored vehicles and supplies they can tap into...Ukraine doesn't...and the Western logistical chain is not as good as we would hope. Yes, the US has a significant backlog of equipment, but most other countries do not (and in many cases, they are competing with Ukraine to ramp up their own production).

The really dark answer is that Russian wars are rarely quick. If neither side of this conflict can maintain current industrial output levels, this could likely become the status quo of living on the Russian borderlands.

The truly dark answer is that the demographic situation in Ukraine before this war was already terrible and is now likely terminal. No matter how this war shakes out, we could very well be in the final generation of Ukraine."

If Russia continues down this path of denuding its occupied territories of children, in ten years, there won't be anyone left to fight, let alone reconstruct the country."

 

Seymour Hersh: 'Something Else Is Cooking' In Ukraine | ZeroHedge

 

Wow - who could have predicted this shitshow? Like many on this board. Like within 2 weeks after the conflict started.

 

Russia will likely keep declining, whether they win or lose this war. Their demographics simply won't support a rising country or empire like Putin wants.

 

They basically aborted their way to irrelevance as a potential superpower.

 

Russia get its leverage from the land, ports, and other strategic possessions. Not sure if they measure superpower by GDP, culture, etc.