Play Nice The NM Devil's Chessboard Thread - Part II

[ferball]

Remember this:

“I argue that it is extremely good value for money for the United States and for others,” Cameron said. “Perhaps for about five or 10% of your defence budget, almost half of Russia’s pre-war military equipment has been destroyed without the loss of a single American life. This is an investment in United States security.”

David Cameron in April.

 

[The Warlord]

Remember when someone here said with a straight face that Russia isn't destroying Ukraine like Israel is destroying Gaza?

People still dance in nightclubs in Kyiv and Lvov, but all of Gaza is destroyed and famine is underway.

Russia ISN'T destroying Ukraine like Israel is destroying Gaza, that's just a fact.

 

[ferball]

That happened waaaaay before imo, Iraq being the real start, then folks watching in disgust as Obama didn't bring any real CHANGE and certainly not any justice after the Wall Street led economic collapse.

This was it imo.

The first thing Obama did was appoint people involved in the GFC to formulate a response. He failed so badly there. And we all hoped he represented something different and was the beginning of some real change.

 

[ferball]

View attachment 2038052

No one here believes what Russia says about there casualties either.

There's an old cliche - the first casualty of any war is "truth" and the reason its still used is cos its accurate.

 

[The Warlord]

This was it imo.

The first thing Obama did was appoint people involved in the GFC to formulate a response. He failed so badly there. And we all hoped he represented something different and was the beginning of some real change.

Lots of folks who voted Obama then voted Trump. They wanted change and believed Obama when he said he'd deliver it.

He didn't, so they went with Trump who promised to shake up the swamp.

 

[ferball]

All I did was post on-topic information sourced directly from the Ukranian military.

I'm not the one who has spent the last two pages going back-and-forth with my little clique about how we're right and everyone else is wrong. I also haven't abused anyone.

You'd do well to keep that in mind next time you try and accuse me of being the one "trolling" or "dragging the thread off course".

Why is the Ukrainian military any more trustworthy than the Russian, or for that matter any other military on the planet?

 

[The Warlord]

No one here believes what Russia says about there casualties either.

There's an old cliche - the first casualty of any war is "truth" and the reason its still used is cos its accurate.

There's going to be a reckoning on this stuff in coming years when the dust settles, and people will be shocked at just how bad Ukraine's casualties are.

 

[ferball]

Lots of folks who voted Obama then voted Trump. They wanted change and believed Obama when he said he'd deliver it.

He didn't, so they went with Trump who promised to shake up the swamp.

I know. And they might have voted for Sanders if he was running.

Don't get me wrong, Trump is as much a part of the swamp as anyone, and incompetent to boot but he marketed himself very well and for that all he had to do was point at what his opposition were doing and their historical record.

 

[Chadwiko]

There's going to be a reckoning on this stuff in coming years when the dust settles, and people will be shocked at just how bad Ukraine's casualties are.

This, but for Russia.

 

[The Warlord]

Why is the Ukrainian military any more trustworthy than the Russian, or for that matter any other military on the planet?

Noting this is a military even its own allies say is absolutely riddled with corruption and increasingly needs to press gang men off the streets.

 

[ferball]

New York? Nah.

Ireland though...


View attachment 2038058

View attachment 2038060

You realise US and Russian subs (and other countries as well) sit off each others coast in silence in case they need to launch their nuclear weapons don't you? Its been that was for my whole life and I'm in my 50s.

They'd be doing it to the UK as well, especially after this "new cold war" has kicked off.

 

[Chadwiko]

 

[ferball]

There's going to be a reckoning on this stuff in coming years when the dust settles, and people will be shocked at just how bad Ukraine's casualties are.

There are young Russians and Ukrainians throughout SE Asia avoiding going home to fight in what they see as a stupid war cos they all know its a ****en nightmare for them.

 

[The Warlord]

This, but for Russia.

Any serious student of this war will tell you that Ukraine has much higher casualties than Russia.

It is a direct result of the enormous artillery advantage that Russia has had the whole time.

 

[The Warlord]

Not sure a former USAF officer specialising in missile and nuke stuff is much of an expert on what has been a fairly static land war of attrition.

Is why this guy is interesting:

x.com

x.com

Ex US military and crucially an artilleryman

 

[ferball]

Why would anyone trust the word of a US asset who was prepared to launch nuclear missiles if ordered to do so and who posts stuff on twitter about 45 million Russians being vapourised in response to one nuclear weapon being used by Russia.

He was prepared to kill millions of civilians by pushing a button when ordered to. Russian or American, people like that don't really deserve a voice in a decent society.

 

[Chadwiko]

In terms of watches SCO is a pretty big one, I'm sure Putin would like to see a massive cooperation pact coming from it.

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-arrives-kazakhstan-russia-china-dominated-sco-summit-2024-07-03/

Speaking of SCO, this was noteable;


China's President Xi was personally greeted on the tarmac by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, at the foot of the airplane. This included lots of pomp and ceremony, and the exchanging of flowers etc.

Later in the day, Russian President Putin was greeted "only" by the Kazakh Prime Minister Oljas Bektenov, with no ceremony. Russian embassy staff lined the tarmac to make it look a little less empty, apparently.

A stark indicator of the loss of diplomatic standing that Putin has experienced since invading Ukraine.

Compare the pair:

 

[The Warlord]

There are young Russians and Ukrainians throughout SE Asia avoiding going home to fight in what they see as a stupid war cos they all know its a ****en nightmare for them.

Apart from the partial mobilisation in late 2022 (and that was existing reserves) the Russians haven't needed to change their standard drafting/recruitment models.

Ukraine has done so multiple times and now even the most pro Ukraine outlets admit they're suffering an acute manpower shortage and the troops being sent forward are gene4rally relatively old and unfit.

Anyone who was young and fit and committed joined up and was killed LONG ago.

 

[ferball]

Chad's laughing at that comment but Russia/USSR has always recruited from its prisons for front line shock troops.

I read this book by a defecting Soviet general in the 1980s that said it was one thing they could rely on for cannon fodder because their prison system was pretty bad and people would always want to get out of it.

 

[Chadwiko]

Is why this guy is interesting:

x.com

x.com

Ex US military and crucially an artilleryman

Yeah, nah. Not interested in hardcore far-right tankies. Thanks.

 

[The Warlord]

Yeah, nah. Not interested in hardcore far-right tankies. Thanks.

Apart from "far right tankies" being a contradiction in terms, nobody said you have to agree with his personal political views.

They post some very good analysis on battlefield stuff in Ukraine, that's what is interesting.

I mean, the guy you posted above - the ex USAF dude - appears to be a straight down the line Bushie Republican (going by his Twitter) and that's OK?

(Also, this is an admission you will never ever ever be as well informed about the world as me, as you simply shut off sources, views and frankly facts that don't comport with your preestablished world view.)

 

[Chadwiko]

I mean, the guy you posted above - the ex USAF dude - appears to be a straight down the line Bushie Republican (going by his Twitter) and that's OK?

I would genuinely prefer to read the analysis of a neo-con Bushie than a far-right modern MAGA cooker, yes.

(Both are awful, to be clear. Don't get me wrong.)

 

[Chadwiko]

(Also, this is an admission you will never ever ever be as well informed about the world as me, as you simply shut off sources, views and frankly facts that don't comport with your preestablished world view.)

First things first: lol.

Secondly... I see those reports from those people. I don't "shut them off". I am aware of them. But they are laughably transparent in terms of the agenda they are pushing.

Honestly, over the last few years the thing that probably surprises me the most is how much you have thrown your lot in with the far-right MAGA types who have wholeheartedly embraced the Pro-Russian/Anti-Ukraine/Anti-NATO/Anti-US types.

It's something that I'll be fascinated to see you reconcile in the coming months and years, especially when Trump probably wins the US election and things go to shit, including in Europe and Ukraine.

 

[The Warlord]

Chad's laughing at that comment but Russia/USSR has always recruited from its prisons for front line shock troops.

I read this book by a defecting Soviet general in the 1980s that said it was one thing they could rely on for cannon fodder because their prison system was pretty bad and people would always want to get out of it.

Ukraine is releasing thousands of prisoners so they can join the fight against Russia

Ukraine is expanding its military recruiting to cope with battlefield shortages more than two years into fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion.

apnews.com

The Ukrainians are doing it too. They also released some of the worst war criminals and Nazis at the start of the fight, Tornado Battalion guys etc who had been jailed for their gangsterism

 

[The Warlord]

I would genuinely prefer to read the analysis of a neo-con Bushie than a far-right modern MAGA cooker, yes.

Keen to hear why the subtle difference in far right US politics has any impact on the physics of glide bombs or the importance of the terrain in the Zaph area.

(Both are awful, to be clear. Don't get me wrong.)

But you chose to platform one and dismiss the other.