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I heard it was substantially overhyped.

Hey,just because I don’t believe the Biden/Zelenski/NWO lie does not mean I know the truth. Nothing about this war makes any sense. Ukraine lost all credibility with me over the Ghost and Snake Island. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

I have heard enough about Putin from Russian business partners and an acquaintance Yuri Maltsev (former Gorbachev team advisor, so to speak) to know he has a reputation as quite the liar. So I am not on team Putin.

However, in some cases (not sure that is the case here), the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Between the status of the western world nowadays, the reported corruption of Ukraine and Putin being a liar but some things in Russia being far less accepting of ridiculous principles (LBGTFOADQ!, whacko environmentalism, Agenda 21+, WEF, +++) than here in the west....I just am totally in the “I don’t believe a single f’n thing coming out of anywhere” camp.

But, from what I’ve seen and the results of this war being in an evident state of stalemate for quite some time....I am NOT believing 30,000 dead russians in past few months, any 5:1 ration BS and tales of equipment losses.

Just because I don’t believe the lies doesn’t mean I know the truth.

BTW, read thru your bio. Nice to make your acquaintance! :) I think Patrick Henry and the anti-federalists had it right, and (not that you mentioned it) I’m a 5-point Calvinist. :) Thanks for your service!

Russia doesn’t have much of a tactical nuclear force remaining. Most of the old delivery systems are nonoperational. The warheads are old (which matters), and storage was poor.

Tactical nukes are not as powerful in reality as in imaginations. Many of us were trained to fight in such conditions. Our conventional weapons of today are better—more accurate, for one.

Russian use of small battlefield nukes would be a green light for NATO to decidedly take down Russian forces, at least in Ukraine and probably more extensively than that.

Preparations for ICBM launches would precede the end of the enemy’s nuclear forces by about 5 minutes.

griffin: "However, in some cases (not sure that is the case here), the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Between the status of the western world nowadays, the reported corruption of Ukraine and Putin being a liar but some things in Russia being far less accepting of ridiculous principles (LBGTFOADQ!, whacko environmentalism, Agenda 21+, WEF, +++) than here in the west....I just am totally in the “I don’t believe a single f’n thing coming out of anywhere” camp."

So this is your first big problem -- you've allowed trivial matters like LGBTPolitics to override existential matters like Vlad invaded Ukraine.
Politics are matters of who cares enough to vote, invasions are matters of who lives and dies, individually and as a nation.
Do you see the difference?
You cannot compare a feather landing on the palm of your hand with a ton of bricks landing on your head and say, "oh, they're both bad."

If Vlad's invasion of Ukraine succeeds, then the world as we know it will begin to end, to be replaced by one where ruthless dictators have their way with weaker neighbors, and we soon enough return to the empires of January 1914.
That world will not be friendly to us or our ideals, regardless of how you feel about LGBTPolitics.

griffin: "But, from what I’ve seen and the results of this war being in an evident state of stalemate for quite some time....I am NOT believing 30,000 dead russians in past few months, any 5:1 ration BS and tales of equipment losses."

There's no need to believe what Ukraine says about Russian casualties.
There are several other estimates, from the US, EU and UN sources.
In round numbers they put casualties as:

Civilians, around 10,000 killed, 15,000 wounded, though one Norwegian estimates 30,000 civilians killed.
Ukrainian forces, 120,000 total killed & wounded.
The Ukrainian government puts their own killed as around 13,000.
Russian forces, in the range of 50,000 killed plus 150,000 wounded though the high end is 70,000 killed and 180,000 wounded.
Ukraine's government estimates Russian killed plus wounded at circa 145,000.

So, if you compare low estimates for Russians with high estimates for Ukraine, they are roughly equal, which is not good for Ukraine, since Russia's population is three times Ukraine's.

But the rule of three-to-one advantage for defenders should still apply and therefore we should not be surprised to see claims along those lines at Bakhmut.

griffin: "BTW, read thru your bio. Nice to make your acquaintance! :)
I think Patrick Henry and the anti-federalists had it right, and (not that you mentioned it) I’m a 5-point Calvinist. :) Thanks for your service!"

The 1787 Federalists included Washington (VA), Adams (MA), Madison (VA), Franklin (PA), Hamilton (NY), Mifflin and the Morrises (PA), Jay (NY), the Pinkneys (SC) and Marshall (VA).
Had they been defeated in ratifying the Constitution, the US would have remained a weak confederation of semi-independent states, organized regionally by mutual interests such as promoting trade in the Northeast, Westward settlement in the Midwest, and expanding slavery in the South.
Whether these regional associations could win another war against Britain (i.e., 1812), or would inevitably come to war on each other, is a matter of conjecture.

As for Calvinism, I'm not enough of a theologian to know (or much care) about our differences with other denominations, am not sure if I can defend the L in LIP.
So, I don't fret much about the exact tenets of our faith because am sure such matters will be sorted out correctly when the time comes.
But I know this much for certain -- when conservative Calvin Coolidge was President, the US enjoyed a decade of peace and prosperity the likes of which we've not seen since.
So, I am strongly in favor of that form of Calvinism! 😁