Posted on 11/22/2022 5:01:19 AM PST by Timber Rattler
Russia has been burning through equipment, ammunition and weaponry at rates that have raised questions about how effectively and for how long it can continue to prosecute its war against Ukraine.
The challenge of sustaining the military effort isn’t unique to Russia, which after making significant territorial gains early in the war has been yielding territory back to Ukraine in phases.
Both sides have suffered heavy losses of men and materiel since the invasion began in February, but Moscow is more dependent on its own shrinking economy to replenish supplies than Kyiv is. Ukraine’s economy has been more devastated than Russia’s, but has more powerful backers in the U.S. and its allies, which are providing billions of dollars of military and economic aid.
“They are running low on everything,” Eliot Cohen, chair in strategy at the Washington, D.C.-based bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of the Russians. A significant proportion of the Russian arsenal brought out of storage has deteriorated because of corruption, mismanagement and poor maintenance, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I don’t think Ukraine ever got the jets that Trump wanted them to get, but we are training Ukrainians to fly American jets.
Only up to comment #19 and already 12 Comrades and fellow travelers have signed in to comment. Russia must really be running scared to throw in so many of its troll farm workers. They are trying so hard to convince us and NATO to throw in the towel and force Ukraine to negotiate. Keep up the good fight Ukraine. Crimea next, then the east.
Sombody ought to report for abuse the Pooty Pal who is being so insulting and nasty to TR.
Russia on the other hand, has a very limited industrial capacity and millions of its best engineers and leaders have fled, while hundreds of thousands of grunt workers are being fed to the Ukraine meat grinder.
When was the last time you or someone you know purchased a Russian made vehicle?
as they gaze lovingly at their posters of Pootie Poot.
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Pootie Poot™ but I’ll allow you to use it as long as its used well.
Russia has plenty of spare industrial capacity.
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You are confusing Russia with the USSR.
No, it doesn't.
The trick here is to look and see how much truly new stuff the Russians had when this war first began, because the amount of new stuff gives you an idea of how much they are able to produce. And the answer is pretty pathetic. The mainstay tank of the Russian army at the outset of the war was the T-72, which is basically a somewhat simplified version of the T-64. And the T-64 first entered service in 1959.
They later created a gas turbine variant of the T-72, called the T-80. That's their best MBT, but they produced the last of those way back in 2001. Good tank, but difficult to maintain and the gas turbine engine is a massive gas hog, which creates logistical issues. They subsequently produced the a few hundred T-90's, but that's an inferior tank even to the T-80 and they stopped production. They worked on a more modern tank that was supposed to be able to compete with the U.S. M-1A1, that was dubbed the T-14 Armata. In 2015, they placed orders and were supposed to have 2,300 T-14's fielded by 2020.
They can't get the program off the ground, and have produced a couple dozen at most. The program is a failure.
Corruption has killed their weapons industry, as well as the logistics and maintenance support. They'd first have to build a weapons industry, then build the equipment. That's a multi-year project given the demands of modern technology.
They take a long time to train how to use, especially fighter jets. Ukraine seems to be doing alright on the tank front anyway, considering how many Russia keeps “donating” to them, and with which they are already familiar with.
China continues to build its military strength while we squander away billions defending Ukraine, a country we have no treaty obligation to defend.
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China continues to build its military strength while we squander away Trillions on Climate Change, Green New Deal, Wind Mills and Made in China Solar Panels.
If you want to complain about Congressional spending, picking on Ukraine spending is like giving a Kleenex to a polio victim.
Flak means you are over the target pic!
There are two ways to be sure the trolls are upset:
They brigade, spam, and try to drown the thread.
They ignore you.
Both means they have nothing.
We have to borrow the money to pay for all of these projects. And we have the looming $100 trillion liability of Social Security and Medicare. The SS Trust Fund is exhausted in 2033 and Medicare’s HI trust fund in 2028.
Why are we spending billions in Ukraine? What is the exit strategy?
The other issue is that confronting China would be an issue of air and naval power. We’re sending ground munitions to Ukraine, generally from the European stores that were pretty much set aside for a potential conflict with Russia anyway.
“Russia’s attack started as shock and awe. Then deteriorated to fire and maneuver. Then deteriorated to lines and defensive positions. Now it is a logistics war. Whoever first runs out of men, food, material, arms will loose.”
There is much truth in that.
Force may win battles, but logistics wins wars.
I have noticed something that may explain some of this. I think some of those pro-Russia FReepers are not just one person; in other words, several people post under the same name. That would possibly explain the lack of consistency in style, syntax, and format.
Perhaps there is, say, FReeper “Pro-Russia.” But that is not just one person, one FReeper. Rather, several people log into that account, at different times — or just relieve each other at a desk — and post away.
What is the exit strategy?
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When Russia is out of Ukraine and in NATO ad EU.
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Why are we spending billions in Ukraine?
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its going to good cause and using material meant to destroy the Orc military which it is, and cheaply at that.
But why are you complaining about pocket change and on a military thread, unless you are a troll.
This war has been going on since 2014 ever since the US and NATO engineered a coup of the elected Ukrainian government. This resulted in the separatist movement in the Donbas and the Russian annexation of Crimea.
An open-ended commitment to Ukraine is nonsense and unsustainable. So if Ukraine wants to negotiate a settlement with Russia that includes Russia retaining Crimea and a promise not to join NATO, the US should reject such a settlement? You are proposing conditions that Ukraine isn’t even demanding.
Russia shares a 1,500 mile border with Ukraine. It is not going away. In the meantime, 40% of Ukraine’s electrical grid has been knocked out as winter descends on the country. All of the death and destruction going on is confined to the territory of Ukraine. More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled the country and another 10 million are displaced internally. This war is only 10 months long. The Russians are in the process of destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure. The hardships for the Ukrainian people are only beginning.
Have you ever been involved in a war? Fighting a proxy war until the last Ukrainian is cynical and inhumane. This war could have been avoided.
Pocket change? We have spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are now involved in another endless war that will weaken us. We have also entered into a new Cold War that will result in a global political realignment. Most of the world is ignoring the sanctions, including some members of NATO. Europe is suffering economically due to high energy and food prices. Civil unrest is happening in some countries. And the dollar is under attack as the world’s reserve currency. The BRIC countries are expanding in numbers.
Americans are also suffering from the war in Ukraine with higher fertilizer, food, and energy costs. When the Reps take over the House, spending in Ukraine will come under greater scrutiny and accountability. Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Time to end this war.
“This war has been going on since 2014”
NO. This INVASION began with the first Russian invasion of “little green men” in 2014 .
BURN RATE: Russia’s Kalibr 3M/54 cruise missile is used to attack UKR cities. Earlier in the war, RU launched as many as 24 Kalibr missiles a day. With stocks now running out, UKR sources report that in OCT, Russia carried out only five Kalibr 3M/54 launches in the entire month.
Oops, forgot to ping you om post #59, a graphic on the Russian Navy’s Kalibr Cruise Missile.
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