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DirkDiggler

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Posts posted by DirkDiggler

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    55 minutes ago, ecugringo said:

    Didnt Iraq have sanctions in the 90's that the UN estimated was responsible for over 500k dead mostly children?

    You think in WW2 the allies wanted unconditional surrender.  That made the Germans and Japanese only fight on harder.  More people died in the last year of hte war than all the previous combined.

    I dont know what the solution is but backing Putin in a corner could be dangerous.  If he loses in Ukraine more of Russia will break away and he will lose more resources. Mostly the oil around the Caspian Sea which is vast.  He will lose out on the revenue from transportation of crude as well.  Even China could become aggressive in Russia's east.

    They can be starved out through sanctions but I think that will only draw more internal support for Putin.

    Putin can also show his neighbors that if you go against him he will exhaust all resources to burn you down like Ukraine.  Maybe that is his path to victory and create a new economic zone with his neighboring allies and China?  If he can take Ukraine he will have a stable food source and can influence the global food market.

    Also, I guess we're buying Crude from Venezuela now...Good job Brandon!

     

    The bold above is historically incorrect.  Unconditional surrender was agreed upon by the Allies at the Casablanca conference for multiple reasons, the most important of which were convincing Stalin that the US/UK wouldn't negotiate a separate peace with Hitler, preventing Germany from a repeat of WWI non-military defeat claims, and the destruction of Germany/Japanese ideologies.  There's no consensus or firm historical evidence that the unconditional surrender requirement made either Germany or Japan fight harder; in any case no negotiated settlement would have been possible given the National Socialist genocide in the USSR and the Holocaust, and the Japanese war crimes across China and the Pacific (not to mention Bushido code and the massive Japanese military influence in all Japanese affairs of the time).

      The last year of the war MAY have been the bloodiest; its impossible to know given incomplete casualty counts in the USSR and China.  Certainly it was much worse for the civilian populations across Europe and Japan.  1942-43 may have been bloodier overall but with incomplete data its impossible to say.        

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

    Word is the Ukrainians are low on munitions for their Turkish Drones.  I know the Turks were delivering more drone systems, hopefully they can speed more munitions as well.

    Also, it appears they tagged another Russian Two Star.

     

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    26 minutes ago, hockeydork said:

    If anybody played any part in stinger program/development, hats off to you. Quality work on display.

    Looked like a bigger SAM than a MANPAD to me (SA-8 or 11 maybe?).  Either way, agreed on the Stingers, they’re stacking up some Russian pigs and hardware over there.

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For anyone else who finds what Scott Ritter has to say “interesting”, please note he currently pens opinion pieces for RT, Russia’s state propaganda network.  That network currently claims there’s no invasion of Ukraine going on right now cause videos of Ukrainian children being ripped apart by Russian high explosives would be bad for Putin’s image.
      Furthermore, he was arrested and convicted in a child sex sting operation and served time in prison.  Personally I’m not gonna use a guy who’s actually been convicted trying to get his rocks off with kids as a source for anything regardless of how intelligent they are on a given topic but you do you. 

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    • Upvote 2

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Prozac said:

    Less than 5 minutes in & they’re already apologizing for Putin and cupping his balls. No need to listen to any more of their pro-despotic drivel. Go post that garbage somewhere else. 

    There was were so many half-truths or flat out misleading statements in the 1st 10 minutes of that horseshit it got tough to keep up.  It’s pretty shocking to me that a former US Marine could believe in or support that filth.

    • Upvote 3

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, pawnman said:

    Just be sure to fill out that high-risk activity form before submitting your leave request. 

    Yeah, would be more for anybody who's separated/retired.  That would be a weird conversation with your commander most likely followed by "no......." 

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by DirkDiggler
    Grammar

    37 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

    Did he want to serve or fight—yes or no?  If not, then most definitely.  As for “preserving a way of life and a set of ideals”…according to whom?  What if your way of life/ideals is to not be forced to fight in a war? 
     

    I take it none of you commenting have read the Reason article I linked…

    Fair.  I'll stop with the thread derail.

      We're going to have to agree to disagree on this then.  I read your posted article; I don't think that the author adequately addressed conscription in the time of a emergency/war that actually threatens the survival of the state/Constitution of the United States.  The article in question was mainly targeted at mandatory national service and/or the draft in a peacetime environment (he argues that the legal logic behind mandatory national service violates the 13th amendment, but doesn't provide further rationale with regards to an example like WWII or the destruction of the US).  Additionally, the logic of this article is a specific opinion on the US constitution, not another country and not a world war. 

    China & Chinese Shenanigans

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    12 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

    More/less what bfargin said.

    When China invades Taiwan, is everyone all of suddenly going to stop buying products that are made China?

    That's a fair question, and my honest answer is I don't know.  I've personally made the effort over the last 3-4 years to intentionally buy things that aren't made in China (it's more difficult than you'd think, waffle makers seem to be pretty much exclusively made in China these days, insert Frank the Tank not enough time reference).  

      There's a lot of verbose public personas ranting against China and pushing an independence from interdependence on China but not a lot of discussion on why/how the US got there in the first place.  Autarky hasn't been an overly successful model for any country in the past 300+ years (there's probably a historical example I'm unaware of, would honestly be interested in anything referenced).  I'd agree that the bulk of the US population that actually cares about this topic exhibits an odd form of schizophrenia that involves "China bad, America good" and "I want to buy American" (or insert any other foreign made product) but is unwilling to pay the higher prices involved in such an effort when confronted with reality.     

    • Upvote 1

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    52 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

    If you force someone into a job/life that they don’t want, what do you call it?

    Necessity, based on preserving a way of life and a set of ideals that's morally justifiable.  Not preserving an economic model, or war booty, or the subservience of one race over another. 

      So I'll ask again, would you, as current member of the US military, tell a living WWII veteran (I'll drop the MoH example), to his face that his service in WWII constituted/was equal to that of a slave?     

    • Like 1

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    8 hours ago, HeloDude said:

    Ugh…spending more money (that we don’t have) and potential blood all with the ‘attempt’ (Afghanistan anyone?) at saving Ukraine from Russia?  No thanks.

    As I said, there are people in this country who clearly want a fight, and it’s sad.  This isn’t the days of the Cold War, and arguments can be made that all that military build up wasn’t that necessary.  And today…it’s definitely not necessary. It’s about time we focused on our own issues as home—Ukraine is a great distraction.  Not saying it’s not real, just not our problem.  Oh and I was always against the government restrictions on its citizens due to COVID.

    Also, when the Ukraine government ordered that their adult males could not leave the country, I became less supportive of their “freedom” than before.  I have always been against conscription—it’s literally slavery.

    I really want to make sure I'm not misrepresenting what you posted here.  You're saying that conscription/the draft is equivalent to slavery?  So, if he were alive, you'd be comfortable telling PFC Desmond Dos to his face that his service in WWII was the equivalent of any slave picking cotton in 1864?  

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Lawman said:


    There is nothing about the VDV (Airborne) of their 1st Guards guys that got hammered which would qualify as anything resembling a Penal Battalion.

    The Russians losing an AN-26 and IL-76 alone would cut a pretty deep swath across some formations that they cannot readily replicate. Same as burning T-80s being seen in social media feeds.

    I’m noticing a lot more of these convoys with problems that to the laymen would be easily missed. Non prime movers with tow bars attached to other trucks, Diesel engined trucks/tracks with smoke colors that should cause alarm just hammering in down the road until they catch fire somewhere later. When you see a whole Mech convoy in what is not your rear area being filmed by somebody with absolutely no sign of any kind of set security or flank guard. Why on earth in a line of tanks at a tactical pause are you sitting turrets all facing forward, or have dismounts pushed out watching your vulnerable fixed force… that says a lot about the mindset of how they thought this was gonna go. It also explains why the Ukrainian military is having such luck with complex ambushes against these elements.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Those are fair points.  Some of the stuff you mentioned above are outside my ability to notice (MC pilot who thinks tanks are cool), but the lack of a herringbone formation on a stalled Russian armored column did catch my eye.  Also, several videos of Ukrainian infantry openly blasting Russian tanks operating without infantry support seemed real wrong, even to an AF guy.

      Either way, I’ve been very satisfied at the number of burning Russian tracks I’ve woken up to every morning.

    • Like 1

    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by DirkDiggler
    Words are hard when brewery

    26 minutes ago, uhhello said:

    Lots of video/photos of captured soldiers/looted equipment with old school analog radios and the like.  Think we might have over-estimated the Russian military as a wholes C2 structure

    There’s a cynical part of me that wonders if the Russians are utilizing an updated version of the penal battalion concept they used to fairly good effect in WWII.

     Push the conscript heavy/non Russian (Chechen/Donbas/Luhasensk) units forward to soak up the Ukrainian higher end anti-armor munitions (Javelin, NLAW, AT-14 etc), identify Ukrainian force concentrations, then use follow on echelons to overwhelm depleted Ukrainian infantry through massed artillery strikes and tank heavy mechanized units.  Hope that’s not the case.

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    Russian Ukraine shenanigans

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Lawman said:

    A whole lot of “Peace Keepers” getting ready to learn what every military professional with experience in it will tell you…. don’t fight in cities unless you absolutely have to. d4afe12b63c3686a933a7945e11a9807.jpg


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

    There’s been a lot of things about this invasion, just from an operational design standpoint, that really haven’t made sense to me.  I can’t figure out if Putin miscalculated that badly in the Ukrainian military capability/will to fight, overestimated Russian military abilities, honestly believed the Ukrainian civilian population would embrace the Russians, or some combination of the above.  Or whether Russian military leadership at the Operational and Tactical level is just that incompetent.

      Either way, I feel like the Russian overmatch in long range fires hasn’t been exploited well (F3 issues maybe?), their sustainment plan is pretty obviously non-existent, and the infantry/armor coordination is falling short.  Also seems like CAS and SEAD plans haven’t been executed well (interdiction maybe a little better, time will tell with regards to Ukrainian anti-armor/aircraft munitions resupply).  It seems like their higher command has decided that Kyiv is the Schwerpunkt (at least for now), but they’re not concentrating combat power there like I’d expect them to.  If the Ukrainian military really plays this right Kyiv and Kharkiv, amongst other cities, are going to turn into a Russian graveyard.

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