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  • Originally posted by Amled View Post

    [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=16px]
    Probably why Putin is continuing his crap about not declaring war, and instead waging a “limited military operation”!

    to be fair, the U.S. has not been at war for 79 years

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    • The news is two days old at this point, but there's been a Russian incursion into the Kharkiv Oblast from the Belgorod region. Looks like the attack is through difficult terrain, lots of forests, hills, rivers, etc., not open terrain whatsoever. Reports there might be 5000 Russian troops involved. May be a diversionary attack to force Ukraine to divert units away from other fronts.
      "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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      • Originally posted by rj1 View Post

        to be fair, the U.S. has not been at war for 79 years
        You’re right of course.
        Korea was a special situation being a UN action, but Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and even Panama could fall under the term “Special Military Operations”.
        This is ignorance asking: “Why”? Why don’t nations declare war, this whether it’s the US or Russia.
        Or, if Russia won’t declare war on Ukraine, why doesn’t Ukraine declare war on Russia? Is it the WMD angle?



        When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin

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        • Shoigu has been dismissed as defense minister, re-assigned as "Secretary of the Security Council."
          "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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          • Russians moving on Vovchansk

            Also:

            Estonia ‘seriously’ discussing sending troops to ‘rear’ jobs in Ukraine: Official

            The national security advisor to the Estonian president is the latest NATO nation official to weigh into the debate over the wisdom of foreign forces in Ukraine, while a senior British officer said it's still "not a path that the [UK] Prime Minister wants to go down."

            TALLINN — The government of Estonia is “seriously” discussing the possibility of sending troops into western Ukraine to take over non-direct combat, “rear” roles from Ukrainian forces in order to free them up to fight on the front, Tallinn’s national security advisor to the president told Breaking Defense.

            Madis Roll said the executive branch is currently undertaking an analysis of the potential move, and though he said Estonia would prefer to make any such move as part of a full NATO mission — “to show broader combined strength and determination” — he didn’t rule out Estonia acting in a smaller coalition.

            “Discussions are ongoing,” he said on May 10 at the presidential palace here. “We should be looking at all the possibilities. We shouldn’t have our minds restricted as to what we can do.”

            He also emphasized that it’s “not unthinkable” that NATO nations opposed to such a move would change their minds “as time goes on.”

            Roll’s boss, Estonian President Alar Karis, holds a position with many ceremonial duties relative to the nation’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, but he is ultimately Estonia’s commander-in-chief and is a key figure in foreign policy.

            Roll’s comments came after the head of Estonia’s defense forces, Gen. Martin Herem, told Breaking Defense earlier last week there had been discussions in the military months ago about sending troops to western Ukraine to take on jobs like medical services, logistics or air defense for some western cities, but the air had gone out of those talks after the idea became a public lightning rod.

            Herem was likely referring to the outcry that followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s declaration that Western nations must be open to discussing sending their troops in to aid Ukraine. (Kallas, the Estonian PM, in March appeared to defend Macron’s statement, noting that he wasn’t talking specifically about sending ground troops into combat. “In the exact same way, I can assure you that our soldiers will not go there to fight,” she said.)

            Echoing Herem and Roll, a key Estonian lawmaker, Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Marko Mihkelson, previously told Breaking Defense that European nations “have to start thinking about a coalition of the willing” to more directly help Kyiv, potentially with direct combat forces. (The Estonian officials spoke last week to an audience from the Kaplan Public Service Foundation; Breaking Defense accepted accommodation in Estonia from KPSF.)

            The willingness of different nations to send some forces into Ukraine is a potential dividing line inside NATO. Although each member of the alliance is free to send forces where it feels it must for its national interests, some nations have been clear they see more risk than reward in doing so.

            Notably, Germany and the US have flatly rejected the idea of sending in troops. The US Ambassador to Estonia, George Kent, pointed Breaking Defense to the Biden administration’s policy of aiding Ukraine through significant aid packages, but a firm commitment not to send in American soldiers.

            Asked May 9 in Washington how Russia could react to NATO-nation forces being in Ukraine, British Chief of Defense Adm. Sir Tony Radakin was evasive, saying, “I won’t go into too much commentary on your question, if you don’t mind … The UK position is very clear in terms of, that’s not a path that the Prime Minister wants to go down.

            However, he emphasized that the UK position is not “being governed by how Russia will react.” Instead, he said, it is based around what the UK views as the best approach overall: “I think that what you’ve seen all the way through, is a UK that has done the right thing, based on its judgment of what’s needed to be done.”

            In contrast, there is Macron’s statement, as well as Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė who recently told the Financial Times she was open to sending Lithuanian troops into Ukraine to train Kyiv’s forces there. The FT wrote that Šimonytė predicted Russia could see the move as an escalation, but added, “If we just thought about the Russian response, then we could not send anything. Every second week you hear that somebody will be nuked.”

            Šimonytė added that to this point, Ukraine has not requested its troops.

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            • Is there an answer to the Russian glide bombs?

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              • Originally posted by statquo View Post
                Is there an answer to the Russian glide bombs?
                Beyond shooting down the aircraft, forcing them to stay grounded, or re-locate out of range? I don't think so. The glide bombs cannot really be intercepted.
                "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post
                  Beyond shooting down the aircraft, forcing them to stay grounded, or re-locate out of range? I don't think so. The glide bombs cannot really be intercepted.
                  Well not easily that's for certain. What Ukraine needs to tackle the problem is what it's always needed i.e. longer ranged systems, both ground attack and air defence. That and precise, real time intelligence on the location of Russian launch platforms. Give them that? They'll be a long way towards defeating the problem.
                  Last edited by Monash; 20 May 24,, 14:34.
                  If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

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                  • Reports that two Russian ships have been sunk/destroyed, perhaps using the ATACMS with the 470 lb unitary warhead. Tsiklon, a Karakurt-class guided missile corvette, and the minesweeper Kovrovets, are reported to have been hit at Sevastopol.
                    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                    • Nice but hopefully Ukraine is budgeting for the use of as many unitary ATACMs as it thinks it may need to take out a very important bridge.
                      If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

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                      • Ukraine took out a Russian early warning radar installation in the Krasnodar region. Apparently it didn't/couldn't detect whatever it was Ukraine used to take it out.

                        Attached Files
                        "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                        • Meanwhile, in the Kremlin, Putin is clearing/purging house... not quite Stalin-level, but 5 military VIPs gone in one month, it's not a bad score.

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                          • Originally posted by jlvfr View Post
                            Meanwhile, in the Kremlin, Putin is clearing/purging house... not quite Stalin-level, but 5 military VIPs gone in one month, it's not a bad score.
                            Unfortunately removing patently corrupt or otherwise incompetent leaders from senior positions also has a tendency to 'send a message' both to their replacements and their undeings i.e. do your job or else!.

                            Stalin may have kept shooting generals until he started seeing results but arresting and jailing them will probably work just as well for Putin. So given the choice? I'd have preferred to see the old guard who ran the peace time armed forces stay in place so they could continue to frustrate reform efforts.
                            If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by Monash View Post

                              Unfortunately removing patently corrupt or otherwise incompetent leaders from senior positions also has a tendency to 'send a message' both to their replacements and their undeings i.e. do your job or else!.

                              Stalin may have kept shooting generals until he started seeing results but arresting and jailing them will probably work just as well for Putin. So given the choice? I'd have preferred to see the old guard who ran the peace time armed forces stay in place so they could continue to frustrate reform efforts.
                              True. But this may also put in place people who are more "obedient" than "efective"...

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                              • Originally posted by jlvfr View Post

                                True. But this may also put in place people who are more "obedient" than "efective"...
                                Yeah...more likely to get more Jodls & Keitels than Manteufels & Beyerleins.
                                “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                                Mark Twain

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