Ukraine Invasion - Please do not post videos showing attacks/similar

[ianh]

I think the West is safe for now in regards alignment and hopefully its all over before there is a chance of Trump getting in again. Trump getting in would add a significant wildcard at that point. Who would want to predict if he would take a call from Vlad first and then say US not supporting, or start talking again about his using the US nukes fixation.

Is that the same Trump that was warning NATO about too much reliance on Russia, the same Trump who brought in huge sanctions against Russia (via CAATSA), the same Trump who significantly calmed US/NK relations through diplomacy, the same Trump who had Iran on the backfoot by killing it's Generals when they stepped over the line after indirectly killing US personnel, the same Trump who warned that China was the biggest threat to the US and applied tarrifs to hurt China's economy, the same Trump who attacked Syria when they crossed a publicised "Red Line" by using WMD leading to them never doing it again - I don't know about you but during Trumps time the Western World seemed a much safer place with all it's "enemies" - Russia, China, Iran, Syria etc - all being far quieter after Trump either directly/indirectly hurt them, or used diplomacy to calm them.

Maybe another "wildcard" is what's needed again, irrespective of who that is (Democrat or Republican), because whatever Biden is doing currently isn't making a difference right now.

Of course Orange Man Bad means folks are psychologically unable to see the above, I get it.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Are you suggesting Trump might take a leaf out of the Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi book on diplomacy? Even the left leaning media are strongly hinting her unnecessary trip to Taiwan could push the shaky US / China relationship over the edge.

I'm suggesting Trump will almost certainly make the worst decision possible like he did with everything else.

 

[Chris Wilson]

I'm suggesting Trump will almost certainly make the worst decision possible like he did with everything else.

It's at least something that you realise this "maker of every bad decision in US history" and presumably to you a total anathema as a person, let alone a President, has a very realistic chance of being voted back into the White House again.

As ianh said above, the world, the USA and Germany all got specific and sage warnings of what was occurring politically, financially and energy supplies wise from Trump. They merely mocked him, without thought. Now some less arrogant ones, praying the lights and heating don't go off, or their sons and daughters are not called up, might listen and learn should he return...

 

[potatolord]

Russia seems to be doing it's best to drag more nations into the conflict in an east vs west type scenario, and to some degree it seems to be working. Combination of NK troops being banded about, China sabre-rattling over Taiwan, India buddying up with Russia, Iran supplying drones etc. Tensions are definitely up, and Russia was the one that really kicked the hornets nest.

The problem I see for the west is that letting Russia defeat Ukraine and annex it would be potentially worse than just fighting long term, Russia would gain even bigger monopolies on resources, and would dominate the grain markets for example. Therefore the only choice is to fight back even if indirectly, and step up the supply of arms and maybe eventually even troops to the defence of Ukraine.

I wish the world was a more forwarding thinking place, so much resource wasted on wars and military that could be better spent on improving the lives of everyone, but whilst these different ideologies clash we must make do with the current state of play.

Iran and N Korea have little to lose, really. The US can hardly sanction them more.

India is traditionally non-aligned, but could suffer reputational damage. Given the US supports Pakistan, they may be trying to apply pressure on this.

China may be gambling much of the world needs them more than it needs to support Ukraine. They may well be right for countries outside Nato.

Turkey are playing for both sides, and getting away with it.

The longer this war continues, the more complicated the diplomacy.

I fully expect things to get worse in the short-term.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

It's at least something that you realise this "maker of every bad decision in US history" and presumably to you a total anathema as a person, let alone a President, has a very realistic chance of being voted back into the White House again.

As ianh said above, the world, the USA and Germany all got specific and sage warnings of what was occurring politically, financially and energy supplies wise from Trump. They merely mocked him, without thought. Now some less arrogant ones, praying the lights and heating don't go off, or their sons and daughters are not called up, might listen and learn should he return...

Lolz you fan boys so desperate to defend him I didn't say maker of every bad decision in US history at all.

Problem is you only fixate on the things he said when it suits.
What about that he was a fag paper away from leaving NATO. Look back to those surrounding him at the time, the stock defence from the fans is he was trying to play the other nations. The commentary from those in the room was he was serious and lots and lots of effort went into persuading him not to withdraw and they still didn't know when he went out to make the speech which way he would flip.

What about pulling put of the Paris accord. Dumbest decision ever?

I have no idea if he would have a realistic chance of getting in or not right now. I mean he spent most of his presidency as one of the lowest rated in history.
For sure there is a fairly core MAGA group who will deffo vote for him, but if there will be any serious challenge from more moderate Reps who knows.
I suspect in 9 months or so time we will see how Biden (Dems) are being rated and what the big talking issues are, IMO thats what will dictate whether Reps can gamble on Trump again, because it will be a gamble. I mean he lost the popular vote both times, the lines of the map have won it for him once.
I can't see Biden going again, I mean if you listened to some of our resident nutters on here he was only on the ticket to win and Kamala would be president within days.
They also kept going on about Biden being too old, expect the narrative to change if Trump goes again, since Trump by then will be as old.

Anyway enough Trump. I genuinely think we need a more moderate in charge should the war be still ongoing then (dont care personally if they are R or D), I expect the global political situation will continue to get worse, and if its not resolved by then an incoming new US president may be a trigger for some improvement.

 

[Chris Wilson]

Lolz you fan boys so desperate to defend him I didn't say maker of every bad decision in US history at all.

Problem is you only fixate on the things he said when it suits.
What about that he was a fag paper away from leaving NATO. Look back to those surrounding him at the time, the stock defence from the fans is he was trying to play the other nations. The commentary from those in the room was he was serious and lots and lots of effort went into persuading him not to withdraw and they still didn't know when he went out to make the speech which way he would flip.

What about pulling put of the Paris accord. Dumbest decision ever?

I have no idea if he would have a realistic chance of getting in or not right now. I mean he spent most of his presidency as one of the lowest rated in history.
For sure there is a fairly core MAGA group who will deffo vote for him, but if there will be any serious challenge from more moderate Reps who knows.
I suspect in 9 months or so time we will see how Biden (Dems) are being rated and what the big talking issues are, IMO thats what will dictate whether Reps can gamble on Trump again, because it will be a gamble. I mean he lost the popular vote both times, the lines of the map have won it for him once.
I can't see Biden going again, I mean if you listened to some of our resident nutters on here he was only on the ticket to win and Kamala would be president within days.
They also kept going on about Biden being too old, expect the narrative to change if Trump goes again, since Trump by then will be as old.

Anyway enough Trump. I genuinely think we need a more moderate in charge should the war be still ongoing then (dont care personally if they are R or D), I expect the global political situation will continue to get worse, and if its not resolved by then an incoming new US president may be a trigger for some improvement.

Trump had every justification in pulling the US out of NATO, if places like Germany can afford to encourage over 1.5 million mainly undocumented migrants into the country, they can certainly afford to pay a huge amount more into the NATO coffers than they have been. So can many other members. As to Trump's age should he get re-elected, there is a big difference between age and senility. Sleepy Joe, by any balanced metric, is verging on senility, if not already senile. Not his fault, some folk age better than others.

As for climate accords, that's fast becoming history due to unwise decisions about energy sources and political stability. I keep repeating it, all this climate carbon neutral shenanigans is a waste of time, the global population is excessive and on more local levels, like the UK, grossly excessive.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Trump had every justification in pulling the US out of NATO, if places like Germany can afford to encourage over 1.5 million mainly undocumented migrants into the country, they can certainly afford to pay a huge amount more into the NATO coffers than they have been. So can many other members. As to Trump's age should he get re-elected, there is a big difference between age and senility. Sleepy Joe, by any balanced metric, is verging on senility, if not already senile. Not his fault, some folk age better than others.

As for climate accords, that's fast becoming history due to unwise decisions about energy sources and political stability. I keep repeating it, all this climate carbon neutral shenanigans is a waste of time, the global population is excessive and on more local levels, like the UK, grossly excessive.

Pointless having this conversation any more.
Anyone who can post about climate change in the way you have done is off their head.

You keep going on about population, how do you propose to fix that, everyone can do their bit if they think its a problem.

Your so funny, sleepy joe, lolz

 

[bris]

Turkey will always do whats best for Turkey, They always have and always will.

You mean Erdogan will always do what right for Erdogan.

Before Erdogan stole the presidency Turkey was pretty much a democreatic country, now it's a dictatorship.

 

[bris]

This North korea troops thing will have other countries on Putlers hit list worried.

If they pump 100k troops in and china supply them with tanks then it's a whole new ballgame.

Putler as it stands now is defeated nowhere to go, with that kind of support though it puts Ukrain back in a position where they push furthe into Ukrain again.

I would hope if the do get NK troops then Ukrain get backup from Nato countries.

 

[HungryHippos]

Could be fake news to be fair, will need to await confirmation of more, and about China supplying kit as well, that will also be pretty obvious if it shows up, at least as obvious as a bunch of NK troops running around Ukraine countryside.

I'll trust in the eyes in the sky to uncover any actual details of this I think, intelligence gathering in the Ukraine region is very good.

 

[StriderX]

Is that the same Trump that was warning NATO about too much reliance on Russia, the same Trump who brought in huge sanctions against Russia (via CAATSA), the same Trump who significantly calmed US/NK relations through diplomacy, the same Trump who had Iran on the backfoot by killing it's Generals when they stepped over the line after indirectly killing US personnel, the same Trump who warned that China was the biggest threat to the US and applied tarrifs to hurt China's economy, the same Trump who attacked Syria when they crossed a publicised "Red Line" by using WMD leading to them never doing it again - I don't know about you but during Trumps time the Western World seemed a much safer place with all it's "enemies" - Russia, China, Iran, Syria etc - all being far quieter after Trump either directly/indirectly hurt them, or used diplomacy to calm them.

Maybe another "wildcard" is what's needed again, irrespective of who that is (Democrat or Republican), because whatever Biden is doing currently isn't making a difference right now.

Of course Orange Man Bad means folks are psychologically unable to see the above, I get it.

NATO falling apart because the US left it is good for Russia.
US/NK relations will never be calm no matter how much the US president praises it's dictator.
Iran, fair enough.
The tariffs hurt the US more than it hurt China and I'm pretty sure his companies still use Chinese goods, certainly his daughter doesn't seem phased by it so hardly great believers... rather opportunistic hypocrites. On the other hand it did shift the narrative on China a fair bit so I suppose it wasn't entirely faulty.

It doesn't matter what short-term irritation Trump might have caused because his long-term damage to the Western rules-based order is precisely what the West's enemies value most.

Anyway, back on topic I think if all these stories about Russia gaining foreign soldiers could push Poland over the edge and we ought to start thinking about the possibility that we do a limited rear-focused operation to secure Ukraine's spine/borders.

 

[Firestar_3x]

This North korea troops thing will have other countries on Putlers hit list worried.

If they pump 100k troops in and china supply them with tanks then it's a whole new ballgame.

Putler as it stands now is defeated nowhere to go, with that kind of support though it puts Ukrain back in a position where they push furthe into Ukrain again.

I would hope if the do get NK troops then Ukrain get backup from Nato countries.

Malnourished, badly trained troops unfamiliar with the gear or terrain who have never been combat tested are going to be thrown into a theater of battle away from the delusional land they live with poor supply lines.

What could possibly go wrong.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Malnourished, badly trained troops unfamiliar with the gear or terrain who have never been combat tested are going to be thrown into a theater of battle away from the delusional land they live with poor supply lines.

What could possibly go wrong.

Maybe they will take their own equipment and not use Russian?

In that case they would be familiar with their own grey quality sharpened sticks!

 

[HungryHippos]

In that case they would be familiar with their own grey quality sharpened sticks!

I'm sure they've got at least blue quality rare sharpened sticks.

 

[Hagar]

I'm sure they've got at least blue quality rare sharpened sticks.

They would definitely be nicking all the household goods (like knives, forks, spoons etc).

 

[Chris Wilson]

Malnourished, badly trained troops unfamiliar with the gear or terrain who have never been combat tested are going to be thrown into a theater of battle away from the delusional land they live with poor supply lines.

What could possibly go wrong.

The West might be underestimating their combined resolve, whilst wittering on internet forums about their lack of this 'n' that, under the guise of game playing "warfare experts"?

 

[bingham67]

 

[StriderX]

North Koreans haven't fought a war in 70 years so they are literally nothing more than cannon fodder.

 

[Firestar_3x]

The West might be underestimating their combined resolve, whilst wittering on internet forums about their lack of this 'n' that, under the guise of game playing "warfare experts"?

Yea whilst others might be overestimating their combat resolve whilst.....

North Koreans haven't fought a war in 70 years so they are literally nothing more than cannon fodder.

Thats my take on it.

 

[Chris Wilson]

Yea whilst others might be overestimating their combat resolve whilst.....



Thats my take on it.

So what are South Korea and the region in general whining about when Kim lobs a few ageing technology missiles around and makes bellicose noises?


North Korea follows Songun, or "military first" policy, for its Korean People's Army. It possesses nuclear weapons, and is the country with the second highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 7.769 million active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel, or approximately 30% of its population. Its active duty army of 1.28 million soldiers is the fourth-largest in the world, consisting of 4.9% of its population.