Russia’s war in Ukraine is far from over

Task and Purpose ^ | Published Mar 26, 2022 2:17 PM | Andrew Milburn

[Zhang Fei]

Russian morale is rock bottom, but they are adapting. As they dig in, they resort to laying reams of mines alongside roads and around their positions. The Ukrainians, who lack mine-clearing equipment, find themselves now unable to get close enough to use some of their much-vaunted anti-tank systems. The British-made NLAW, for instance, which has done sterling work throughout the campaign so far, has an effective range of only 500 meters in the hands of a good gunner (this despite what the manuals say, since feedback from the field is just that).

Assets such as small drones, which are regarded as being de rigueur for effective small unit operations in the U.S. military, are in short supply here – and the ones that the Ukrainians possess are vulnerable to Russian interference. Ukrainian soldiers use their cell phones to communicate because they don’t have secure radios – and by doing so make themselves a target for Russian artillery. They drive their own cars to the front because official vehicles are not available. A fleet of Toyota pick-ups with cross-country capability would make all the difference, the colonel told me, assuming as so many here do that because I am an American I have easy access to such things.

Despite stories in the media that appear to indicate that the Ukrainian military is now one of the best equipped and supplied armies in the world thanks to Western largess, bureaucratic and logistic difficulties plague the equitable distribution of badly needed assets. And everything the Ukrainians need costs money – something that they simply don’t have. A friend of mine, an American who has lived in the city for some 30 years, runs one of the leading non-government organizations devoted to the defense of Ukraine, and yet has amassed a paltry $400,000.

[Zhang Fei]

Biden's shtick, which combines reassuring talk and passive aggressive sabotage, is a winner among the uninformed public. Biden is in Putin’s pocket*, although in a plausibly deniable way. His problem is that both parties are pretty solidly in Ukraine’s camp. And there is plenty of material available to impeach, remove *and* imprison Biden. I doubt Biden will act precipitously to aid his Russian patron. He will slow-walk the aid where feasible and perhaps, in so doing, doom Ukraine to defeat.

Joe Biden has the affect of a very good used car salesperson, which he presumably acquired at the feet of his car salesman dad. He makes you feel comfortable, like a member of his fambly, to the point that it almost feels like you’re imposing on him by asking for a discount off the list price. Heck - you want to pay above list, just to show him how much you appreciate the service he provides. Then you drive away from the showroom with the cream puff you just acquired, and the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree, then goes completely dark, as the car rolls to a gradual stop.

* One of the unheralded aspects of the Ukrainian scene is the way large numbers of Ukrainian oligarchs are owned by Putin. For instance, Burisma, a corporation that looms large in the Biden scandals, is owned by a Ukrainian businessman with indirect ties to Moscow.

It's possible Biden is slow-walking aid to Ukraine because he’s afraid that Putin will blow up his administration. Not with explosives, but by carefully laying out how he used cut-outs to bribe Hunter Biden, and by extension, Joe, in a way that no amount of denial by the media can scrub away.

Some people say Ukraine has its hooks into Biden. That’s absurd on its face. Saying that Biden is tied to Ukraine is like saying the Anwar Awlaki, US citizen anchor baby and the Yemeni terrorist, is tied to the US. The relationship is completely incidental. Biden’s real relationship is to Russia - Burisma’s owner is a pro-Moscow oligarch tied indirectly to Putin.

Yanukovich ran to Moscow because he was Putin’s man. Who was Yanukovich’s man, who left Ukraine when Yanukovich scuttled away to his master in Russia? Zlochevsky, who *co-incidentally* owned Burisma, the outfit that bribed Biden through Hunter.

Zlochevsky served as Ecology and Natural Resources Minister during most of the first cabinet of Mykola Azarov,[1] and during both the later part of Azarov’s first government and all of Azarov’s second government, he served as deputy secretary on National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.[1]

The bottom line? Countries don’t pay bribes. People do. If I had to guess who really bribed Biden, I’d say Putin, through a couple of intermediaries - Zlochevsky who was beholden to Yanukovich who was beholden to Putin. It’s really not that complicated, and makes for plausible deniability.

Why hasn’t the media made the connection? For the same reason it’s completely uninterested in Hunter Biden’s laptop.

[BenLurkin]

“A fleet of Toyota pick-ups with cross-country capability would make all the difference, the colonel told me, assuming as so many here do that because I am an American I have easy access to such things.”

Uh....tell him..."No."

But he can buy a fleet of Chevrolet and Ford pick-ups with cross-country capability if he is so inclined.

[Kazan]

The only thing to be decided is if Russia takes control of just the eastern half of the country, two-thirds of it or all of it.

The longer Zelensky holds out, the worse the final deal will be.

[Godebert]

Video - Mass Surrender of Ukranian Soldiers Near Kiev

[marktwain]

The only thing to be decided is if Russia takes control of just the eastern half of the country, two-thirds of it or all of it.

The longer Zelensky holds out, the worse the final deal will be.

Why do you think so?

Historically, often the more a country holds out, the better deal they get.

Nothing is certain, of course. It can go the other way. But putting up a good fight is often the way to get a better bargain.

[Mount Athos]

This is a funny article.

He solicits an opinion from a former Azov (war criminal) commander, and then in the next paragraph immediately proceeds to state that this is the opinion of ALL Ukrainians.

That’s really, really stupid.

There is one solid paragraph of information, it is the second to last.

“ten Ukrainian battalions, currently holding the line East of the Dnieper river, run the risk of being cut off. “

[Zhang Fei]

[The only thing to be decided is if Russia takes control of just the eastern half of the country, two-thirds of it or all of it.

The longer Zelensky holds out, the worse the final deal will be. ]

---

What the final outcome is depends on Putin’s pain threshold. In Soviet times, when the Russian security state had extreme coercive powers at its disposal, and Russia had 280m people within its empire, that threshold was 13,000 dead. Putin has crossed that raw number of dead, and the Russian empire is now 145m strong. There’s also the fact that the Russia of today lacks the sheer state security muscle of yesteryear. Can it cripple and kill enough Russians internally to force them to sacrifice themselves in large numbers in Ukraine so Putin can make himself Vladimir the Greater? The jury is still out.

[FarCenter]

How the white Toyota HiLux became the favorite vehicle of terrorists

https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/white-toyota-hilux-favorite-vehicle-of-terrorists/

[A strike]

“A friend of mine, an American, who has lived in the city for some 30 years ...”
Which city ?

[thepoodlebites]

(But he can buy a fleet of Chevrolet and Ford pick-ups with cross-country capability if he is so inclined.)

Toyotas ar more reliable, terrorist tested.

[Zhang Fei]

[How the white Toyota HiLux became the favorite vehicle of terrorists]

---

It was also the favorite vehicle of the Chadian resistance that held back Gaddafi’s hordes during the Toyota War:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War

That war also pitted the West against Russia, acting through its proxy, Libya’s leader Gaddafi, the man who brought down two civilian airliners:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTA_Flight_772

[Kazan]

That all assumes the numbers you're posting are accurate and not propaganda. The Russian MOD listed the number causalities yesterday at 1351.

But, if you believe these numbers, then you believe the Russians in the same region have lost more troops to the Ukrainian military than the Soviets did to a much more formidable German military WWII. I certainly don't believe that.

The Russians own the air space and sea. They could be engaging in "shock and awe" if they wanted to in major cities like Kiev. And, they probably would be if the causalities were anywhere near the number you're quoting.

What I can't figure out is why you would believe the Biden regime on this. They lie about everything else. But, you think they telling the truth about this?

Or do you think Ukrainian government is when it is using video game footage to show the destruction of Russian planes?

[struggle]

If you read all the comments, they’re Russians just asking the Ukrainians for peace and to get rid of the Nazi AZOV.

[Zhang Fei]

[But, if you believe these numbers, then you believe the Russians in the same region have lost more troops to the Ukrainian military than the Soviets did to a much more formidable German military WWII. I certainly don’t believe that.]

---

You must be misinformed. The Russians lost millions of troops in the region, or almost 200,000 a month.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties_of_the_Soviet_Union#Military_losses

For them, 15,000 dead would have been a blessing. During WWII, they fought hard, after some initial stumbles, because the Nazis wanted them killed to the last man, woman and child, and repopulate their territory with Germans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_Plan

No such reason exists in Ukraine for any Russian to risk life and limb. While many would have no issues with Putin becoming Vladimir the Greater on the strength of an easy victory, risking his own life to make Putin famous is probably not on any Russian’s bucket list.

[Zhang Fei]

[What I can’t figure out is why you would believe the Biden regime on this. They lie about everything else. But, you think they telling the truth about this?]

---

Biden lies for practice. That’s not debatable. But he doesn’t lie about everything. That would hurt his credibility.

And we’re not relying on Biden’s output. We have actual people on the ground, publishing through various news outlets. And it’s not Ukraine that invaded Russia, but the other way around.

Lastly, it’s the Russians, not Joe Biden, that came up with the blood libel that Americans created AIDS to kill black people:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_INFEKTION

I don’t have a problem with Russian sleaze. I like Russians. I don’t even have a problem with Putin. But he needs to stay *within* Russia’s borders. As they were after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] Biden is in Putin’s pocket [/snip]

Exactly.

[Jim Robinson]

Gotta be electric. No fossil fuel burners to mess up the climate.

[Kazan]

Alex Christoforou at about the nine minute mark of this video breaks down how ridiculous the NATO numbers are and amount to the Ukrainian military killing a higher percentage of Russians in 28 days than the Nazi military did in 41 days in the same area in WWII:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWSdfUb7omQ

https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/03/i-

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[ought-six]

Well, you believe Russian propaganda; perhaps he believes Ukrainian propaganda.

The simple fact is Russia was expecting this to be a cakewalk, and it is anything but. Arrogance and overconfidence generally backfire.

If Ukraine is going to fall, I fully expect an insurgency that will make the Soviets’ experience in Afghanistan pale in comparison. Ukrainians apparently HATE the Russians, and would relish some payback.

The Russian military is an over-rated, ill-prepared, maladjusted joke. It has some big toys, but on an operations level, they pretty much suck. But, historically, they have always been that way. It is how their armed forces have been constructed for generations. Unlike the US military, which operates under a delegated authority (i.e., everyone knows the mission and its objective, and are committed to carrying it out; thus, local control of an operation is at the company and battalion level; and all NCOs have the authority to carry out the mission even if all their officers are out of the fight).