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Why the Russian Special Military Operation is failing
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-putin-revamped-military-ukraine-invasion-11647469602 ^

Posted on 03/17/2022 3:42:22 PM PDT by vmirog91

When I went through ROTC training we were were obviously taught to respect the numerical superiority of the Soviet bloc Armour units deployed across the Iron Curtain. But I remember some of our NCO instructors mentioned that Russian enlisted personnel lacked strong NCO guidance....that they were heavily dependent on top-down leadership. After all these years...this holds true today.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bidensbuttboys; bidenswar; hielputlerfanclub; neocons4biden; nevertrumpers; putinpufferparade; russia; russiaescapesthetrap; russiaisfree; stephenfidler; thomasgrove; ukraine; ukrainewar
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To: A strike

[“The worse, the better.” - V.I.Lenin]


For the Russians, it’s been getting worse for a century since Red October. 100 years ago, they were taking a huge beating from Pilsudski. Now they’re taking a beating from Ukraine, fighting alone.


161 posted on 03/17/2022 8:56:04 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: ought-six
as the war was over and we had won and he saw that there was no reason to remain.

We lost. War is politics by other means. Our military, despite ridiculous handicaps imposed on it by our politicians, gave said politicians almost twenty years in which to find a political resolution to Afghanistan. Our politicians failed to do so, and we lost the war.

We need to look that squarely in the face. This "the operation was a success, but the patient died" BS we got after Afghanistan, and Vietnam, keeps us from studying what happened, what went wrong, and giving considered thought to how to fix it. That is: how to win war, as a nation.

After WWI the German Army, shaken by Germany's defeat, made a professional, cold blooded, review of its performance at the tactical and operational levels, and instituted reforms that led to its amazing operational success in 1939-41.

But the German Army did not lose WWI because it was tactically or operationally inferior, at least until the last few months. It lost because its politicians got the nation into a long war against a coalition with much greater resources of men and material, while being burdened by an assortment of lackluster "allies" who drained away already insufficient resources. German Army leadership never even formally identified the problem, much less came to grips with how to keep it from happening again. And it happened again.

Battlefield success is hugely important in winning wars, but it is not sufficient in and of itself, as we proved last year. Again.

162 posted on 03/17/2022 9:05:58 PM PDT by Pilsner
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To: Zhang Fei

I was referring to the current WEF/NWO philosophy.


163 posted on 03/17/2022 9:12:43 PM PDT by A strike (Public Health 21st century murder by government. DoktorFauxiMengeleGates to a TerreHaute gurney now)
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To: freeandfreezing

Why should I have to do any of that? If we had a truly free media that cared about reporting the facts, we’d have a realistic picture of what is happening in a country 5000 miles away. The fact that our media refuses to do its job and instead promotes a progressive view of the world is a tragedy that shouldn’t be tolerated by our society.


164 posted on 03/17/2022 9:31:58 PM PDT by Prince of Space ( Let’s go, Brandon! )
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To: rog4vmi

Right. Had to have been Putin meddling in the operational planning, because I can’t believe any professional officer would have come up with something like this
plan. With numbers this small, you invade like we did in 2003. A few, powerful, mutually supporting thrust on a relatively narrow axis of advance. This is the exact opposite.


165 posted on 03/17/2022 9:33:06 PM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin ( .)
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To: vmirog91

“Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment on analyses of its performance.”

ya just gotta love the dry wit of the WSJ ...


166 posted on 03/17/2022 9:33:46 PM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: Prince of Space

Is this the Col MacGregor who claimed “I would expect NATO to begin to break up over the Russian invasion of Ukraine”? The Col who claimed Kiev would fall in 3 days? The Col who supported Putin’s annexation of Crimea back in 2014? The Col who makes frequent appearances on RT (Russian State TV) pushing Russian Propaganda? THAT Col Macgregor? /Spit


167 posted on 03/17/2022 9:51:33 PM PDT by ETCM
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

“Relatively cheap drone technology nullifies armor. It’s plain to see.”

not to mention, medium-range, light-weight, inexpensive, self-guiding, accurate, lethal, hand-held, infantry-operated tank-killer missiles ...

overall, looks like the era of armor warfare has been ended by cheap high-tech ...

when Gomer Pyle can get a guaranteed kill on a multi-million dollar tank a mile and a half away by pushing a button on a $10,000 missile launcher, it’s all she wrote ...


168 posted on 03/17/2022 9:58:46 PM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: catnipman
when Gomer Pyle can get a guaranteed kill on a multi-million dollar tank a mile and a half away by pushing a button on a $10,000 missile launcher, it’s all she wrote ...

In Afghanistan, the Stinger was a game changer against the Soviets. But that pales compared to the impact the Javelin has had in this conflict. I'm not saying it will change the eventual outcome, but Raytheon and Lockheed are going to have to add a shift to keep up with the demand. Same for the Turkish TB2 drone. First against Armenia and now Russia.

And the Javelin is particularly effective as a defensive weapon, on home turf where the invader is less likely to use dismounted infantry ahead of armor.

169 posted on 03/17/2022 10:18:35 PM PDT by ETCM
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To: Zhang Fei

How is that really any different than our fake polls that target democrats overwhelmingly and then pretend it’s true? We are not getting the truth from our govt either. They admonish us that 81 million Americans voted for Joke Biden so we’d better shut up if we know what’s good for us! 🤬


170 posted on 03/17/2022 10:19:16 PM PDT by Prince of Space ( Let’s go, Brandon! )
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To: Cecily

Why have we never seen the photos of the 14,000 ppl killed in the Donbas area over the last 8 years? Some were Russian and some were Ukrainian, but their deaths didn’t serve the purpose of fomenting a war so the media never showed them. I’m sure those pictures/videos were just as gruesome and sad as the ones they’re showing now though. So ask yourself, what’s the difference?


171 posted on 03/17/2022 10:24:50 PM PDT by Prince of Space ( Let’s go, Brandon! )
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To: freeandfreezing

The Russians killing as many Ukrainians as possible will also stop the war. Duh!


172 posted on 03/17/2022 10:27:04 PM PDT by Prince of Space ( Let’s go, Brandon! )
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To: ETCM

If we’re comparing records of prognosticators, then it’s important to mention Zelenskyy’s utter failure to anticipate the Russian “invasion.” Think about it! He’s the president of a country, privy to all sorts of classified material thanks to his American connections, and he was surprised by Russia’s actions and thus failed to warn/prepare his citizens for it. I’d say nobody really knows what’s going on in that corrupt impoverished area of the world, so all the armchair quarterbacks are actually just guessing at this point. 🤣


173 posted on 03/17/2022 10:34:45 PM PDT by Prince of Space ( Let’s go, Brandon! )
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To: Prince of Space

[How is that really any different than our fake polls that target democrats overwhelmingly and then pretend it’s true? We are not getting the truth from our govt either. They admonish us that 81 million Americans voted for Joke Biden so we’d better shut up if we know what’s good for us! 🤬]


The difference is that Free Republic is still up, along with any number of dissenting websites. In Russia, any website or TV station that disagrees with Putin has been shut down, with its operators imprisoned.

The Animal House romp through the Capitol Building has been overhyped as an insurrection, but we’ll get our turn, started in the mid-terms. A GOP majority will hopefully turn its attention to Lizard Cheney and Judas Kinzinger, and begin subpoenaing the co-conspirators to the January 6 kangaroo court. When Trump gets his 2nd term, he’ll pardon the folks imprisoned, and hopefully provide them compensation for their suffering.

Whereas the Russians are screwed even if another dictator replaces Putin. That’s the difference between having reasonably fair elections and completely bent ones like Russia’s.


174 posted on 03/17/2022 10:36:12 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Prince of Space
If we’re comparing records of prognosticators, then it’s important to mention Zelenskyy’s utter failure to anticipate the Russian “invasion.”

What the hell are you talking about? Zelensky has been warning the world that Russia was going to invade for a year. He's been preparing desperately, arming and training and begging for help, knowing that Russia had a huge advantage in armor and air power. Should he have massed his army at the border 19th century style to be slaughtered? And putting invasion in scare quotes? Is it not really an invasion, but a "special military operation" comrade?

And comparing a Russian propagandist like MacGregor to the President and Commander in Chief of a country fighting for its survival? Really?

175 posted on 03/17/2022 11:04:05 PM PDT by ETCM
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To: ETCM
Not true. Zelenskyy was on video the day before Russia invaded claiming that Putin wasn’t going to do it. He really thought NATO would come to save the day. He failed his constituents by not preparing them adequately.

Comrade...really? Are you in seventh grade or what? 🤣

176 posted on 03/18/2022 2:16:46 AM PDT by Prince of Space ( Let’s go, Brandon! )
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To: Zhang Fei

Great post.

“The difference is that Free Republic is still up, along with any number of dissenting websites. In Russia, any website or TV station that disagrees with Putin has been shut down, with its operators imprisoned...

...Whereas the Russians are screwed even if another dictator replaces Putin. That’s the difference between having reasonably fair elections and completely bent ones like Russia’s.”


177 posted on 03/18/2022 2:35:16 AM PDT by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
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To: A strike

“The instantaneous near universal condemnation and demand for expansion of this war is unprecedented and suggest extremely powerful global forces at work.”

Ah the Grand Delusion. The West sending weapons to Ukraine so it can defend itself is expanding the war... Putin expanded HiS war by invading.

By your illogic, gifting a 2nd Amendment weapon to a person in an urban area is expanding a war.


178 posted on 03/18/2022 2:48:38 AM PDT by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
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To: rbmillerjr

I see you’ve glossed over the main point of my post, which bears on the secondary one.


179 posted on 03/18/2022 3:37:50 AM PDT by A strike (Public Health 21st century murder by government. DoktorFauxiMengeleGates to a TerreHaute gurney now)
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To: Ancesthntr

I hear what you are saying but I have serious doubts that Putin would make that choice of a first strike. While he could conceivably launch a strike, we would identify it as such within about 2-3 minutes and would launch a response immediately. Even in the highly unlikely event that Russia wiped out our land based warheads, they do not have the ability to take out all of our submarine based nuclear Arsenal. Within an hour there would be no Moscow. Unless he is suicidal, he is not going to pull the nuclear trigger.

That is one of the reasons NATO makes him nervous. Realistically he knows that in a conventional war against the west, he is mismatched and that a nuclear option against Europe or the US would result in complete destruction of his beloved motherland.


180 posted on 03/18/2022 3:41:15 AM PDT by XRdsRev (Justice for Bernell Trammell, Trump supporter, murdered in 2020)
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