Current Affairs Ukraine

[Spadge Vernacular]

The Ukraine forces have captured back about 47 Sq KM around Bakhmut and 15 Sq KM in the southern theatre.

They lost tens of thousands of lives and even more injuries taking even that small area of land back.

They've pierced nothing, basically. The Ukrainians are conducting a misinformation war around this counter offensive but I dont think there's many western analysts who buy it.

The defence minister is sacked ostensibly over corruption (though it's there it's likely he wasn't the reason for it) but the reality is the feller is getting sacked for political reasons - Zelensky has to have someone to blame for the failure of the counter offensive.

It's stalemate and the rain is about to hit and then the snow. This is attrition.

Russia losing 20,000 a month might be seen as a good reason for them to stop but the madman who sent them to Ukraine doesn't care about the lives of those under his boot in the Russian Empire.

 

[Kev The Rat]

What would happen if an 800-kiloton nuclear warhead detonated above midtown Manhattan?

At least 90 square miles of firestorm would extinguish all life and destroy most everything else

thebulletin.org

 

[WA Toffee]

What would happen if an 800-kiloton nuclear warhead detonated above midtown Manhattan?

At least 90 square miles of firestorm would extinguish all life and destroy most everything else

thebulletin.org

Horrible, isn't it. And 800kt isn't even a large nuclear weapon. Let's hope they never get used

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

What would happen if an 800-kiloton nuclear warhead detonated above midtown Manhattan?

At least 90 square miles of firestorm would extinguish all life and destroy most everything else

thebulletin.org

Use this Kev. You can fantasise about nuking any western city your little heart desores.

NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein

NUKEMAP is a website for visualizing the effects of nuclear detonations.

nuclearsecrecy.com

Here is Moscow and the surrounding regions vapourised. This will be front of mind of Vlad and his military. Nukes are not something anyone can win with.

 

[PKwalnuts]

He'll be squirrelling away millions to a Swiss bank account and leave them to it to reconstruct that country after sacrificing about 150,000 people at the end of all this.

So much to unpack here.
Seriously.
What are you basing any of that on?

 

[tsubaki]

How to end Russia’s war on Ukraine

How to end Russia’s war on Ukraine​

Safeguarding Europe’s future, and the dangers of a false peace
CHATHAM HOUSE REPORT 27 JUNE 2023

• Summary
• Introduction
• Fallacy 1: ‘Settle now: all wars end at the negotiating table’
• Fallacy 2: ‘Ukraine should concede territory in exchange for peace’
• Fallacy 3: ‘Ukraine should adopt neutrality’
• Fallacy 4: ‘Russian security concerns must be respected’
• Fallacy 5: ‘Russian defeat is more dangerous than Russian victory’
• Fallacy 6: ‘Russia’s defeat in Ukraine will lead to greater instability in Russia’
• Fallacy 7: ‘This is costing too much, and the West needs to restore economic ties with Russia’
• Fallacy 8: ‘Ukraine’s pursuit of justice hinders peace’
• Fallacy 9: ‘This war is not our fight, and there are more important global problems’
• Conclusion: Assuring the future of Europe
• About the authors
• Acknowledgments

Loading…

www.chathamhouse.org

For a report written by think tanks that is remarkably short in terms of out of the box thinking. It raises the wider global issues but never actually suggests we should do anything differently about them.

For example the point about the looming US election cycle; clearly the answer to the uncertainty that will cause is to remove the dependence that the EU has on the US via NATO, and establish industry and military structures that can support Ukraine by themselves. Yet this isn’t mentioned, probably because such a thing would make NATO obsolete.

Not do they seriously tackle the wider issues of competing influence in the rest of the world.

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

For a report written by think tanks that is remarkably short in terms of out of the box thinking. It raises the wider global issues but never actually suggests we should do anything differently about them.

For example the point about the looming US election cycle; clearly the answer to the uncertainty that will cause is to remove the dependence that the EU has on the US via NATO, and establish industry and military structures that can support Ukraine by themselves. Yet this isn’t mentioned, probably because such a thing would make NATO obsolete.

Not do they seriously tackle the wider issues of competing influence in the rest of the world.

I wouldn't let it worry you, mate. Not everyones reasoning will agree with your own.

 

[tsubaki]

I wouldn't let it worry you, mate. Not everyones reasoning will agree with your own.

I think it’s a bit much to describe that article as someone’s reasoning, more an attempt to limit reasoning.

Why aren’t the EU discussing a more unified (and able to operate separately to NATO) military in a time like this, given what might happen next year?

 

[Lobster Johnson]

His wife - the Vogue superstar - is in the news (again) today.

She'd go to the opening of an envelope.

The Ukrainian people are being badly let down by that clown Zelensky. He'll be squirrelling away millions to a Swiss bank account and leave them to it to reconstruct that country after sacrificing about 150,000 people at the end of all this.

And why are his generals putting up with this? Or is literally everybody in any position of authority in Ukraine in on the scam?

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

I think it’s a bit much to describe that article as someone’s reasoning, more an attempt to limit reasoning.

Why aren’t the EU discussing a more unified (and able to operate separately to NATO) military in a time like this, given what might happen next year?

Maybe the EU see value in NATO membership. As I say you are as welcome to your opinion and I support your willingness to voice it.

 

[davek]

Russia losing 20,000 a month might be seen as a good reason for them to stop but the madman who sent them to Ukraine doesn't care about the lives of those under his boot in the Russian Empire.

Where are these figures from? They seem unlikely to me.

 

[peteblue]

I think it’s a bit much to describe that article as someone’s reasoning, more an attempt to limit reasoning.

Why aren’t the EU discussing a more unified (and able to operate separately to NATO) military in a time like this, given what might happen next year?

So at a time of military concern you would advocate half of NATO splits off under a separate command structure. Russia would love that…what was that old saying again “divide and conquer “. Or have I misunderstood……

 

[davek]

So much to unpack here.
Seriously.
What are you basing any of that on?

I base the assertion upon the fact that Ukraine society is one of THE most corrupt societies in the world.

The notion that one of them climbs to the top of the greasy pole and isn't on the make is naive beyond belief. Fantasy Island thinking.

Zelensky was the puppet of an oligarch who he's now getting locked up.

When thieves fall out.

 

[peteblue]

Where are these figures from? They seem unlikely to me.

Well I think the USA have suggested a total Russian figure of 500,000 divide by the months is slightly above 20,000…..

 

[Kev The Rat]

I think it’s a bit much to describe that article as someone’s reasoning, more an attempt to limit reasoning.

Why aren’t the EU discussing a more unified (and able to operate separately to NATO) military in a time like this, given what might happen next year?

its because like NATO, they are the emperor with no clothes.

NATO is but a paper tiger, unless against helpless, weak goat herders. The root cause is classic Western arogance -- "You Ukies better listen to and follow us. Jettison your silly Soviet ways and become more like NATO". Zelensky's blind swallowing of this trope is a major part of his downfall.

The EU would be no better either.

Amputee Wraps Up Marathon Record Quest - The Press United

https://ift.tt/bpn14Zt amputee athlete Jacky Hunt-Broersma says her mantra is, “I can do hard things,” she’s not kidding — the amputee athlete has run 104 marathons in as many days, all using a carbon-fiber prosthesis. Hunt-Broersma, 46, completed that epic quest Saturday near her home in...

thepressunited.com