Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[foxhopper]

Possible first reported incident of a fragging by the Russians?

Russian brigade commander deliberately run over by a tank after his troops mutinied.

Russian commander who was deliberately run over with a tank by his own soldiers has DIED | Daily Mail Online

Every time another top ranked officer is reported killed this has been my first thought.

[AlabamAlum]

There aren't a ton of people who post on this thread. Those for Guevera-ites. Mike, Buchanan, Me, Hannibal, Geezer, a little bit of Tom, fpxhopper very rarely and whatever you call what Wiz does. I think that's about it.

((((Glaringly look towards Talent))))

That’s at least one too many who posts on this thread.

[iam416]

The time for honoring yourself will soon be at end, peckerwood.

[AlabamAlum]

My name is Ala Bama Alumnus, consumer of the delicious pork skins, devotee to the vienna sausage, and and loyal servant to the true emperor, Nickus Sabanus. Mourner to a deceased beagle, drinker of fine bourbons, and I will have my vengeance, in this forum or the next.

[iam416]

I remember that beagle. He was barely smarter than The Wizard and decidely less intelligent than Old Scribe. He was, more or less, the David Shula of beagles.

[AlabamAlum]

Over the line. I loved my beagle and my border collie more than nearly every person ever born.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The twitter link is great stuff, DSL Very detailed with regard to unit positions on both sides. Best I've seen. I also think it tries to get past some of the Ukrainian hype about battlefield successes.

The Russian Army is adapting to the battlefield. They are transitioning to defensive positions around the key Northern Ukraine cities of Chernehiv and Kiev that were, clearly identified as strategic objectives in the overall campaign and their capture was an important objective of the Russian campaign to quickly cease Kiev and topple the government. Didn't happen.

In the South of those important strategic cities in the overall Russian Campaign, Mariupol, is expected to fall in the coming weeks and it's leadership has moved to an undisclosed location to coordinate relief but it is not expected Ukrainian forces can prevent it's fall or to recapture the city once the Russians secure it through brute force with infantry supported by constant long range bombardment. The Ukrainian goal for now is to make the price Russia pays for capturing and holding it extremely high.

A lot of effort has been placed by the Russians on capturing Chernehiv. This is a key NE city on one of two major axis of attack off the Russians this one originating in Belarus and supported on it's flank from Russia. The Ukrainian forces are holding this city. The Russians NW axis toward Kiev has also been blunted by Ukrainian forces.

Russian success has been most noticeable in the S of Ukraine and in the Donbas and Luhansk regions with Mariupol at the center of it. However, it does not appear likely they will get control of land masses west of the the Donbas region to bridge to Odessa and control the entirety of Ukraine's Black Sea coast.

Elsewhere, as Russia moves into defensive positions to support an occupation and eventual, they hope, capitulation of the Ukrainian government, the key objective of the west is to keep the flow of weapons into Ukraine to prevent that outcome. A negotiated settlement then? Putin is not close to that point yet but the west's hope is to strangle his war economy and have the Ukrainians continue to disrupt resupply of Russian forces to reduce Russia's combat power for additional offensive operations. The Ukrainians have been extremely successful at conducting what are called "in depth" attacks to do this. These tactics employ small tactical units that attack Russian doctrinally vulnerable rear positions that support C3, logistics and protect regular Russian army troops who would mount a final offensive to seize terrain. This is why you've seen high ranking Russian commanders moving into forward positions to try to regain momentum and then get killed trying.

Who's going to blink first in this protracted war? The Ukrainians are facing horrific Russian bombardment, civilian deaths and destruction of infrastructure that supports the basic necessities of life in a city. The Russian Army is facing considerable morale issues and decreasing combat power due to both attrition and Ukraine's successful disruption of critical supplies and ammunition. Despite what Russia's state media would like the Russian public to believe, their is evidence that some are starting to question what Putin has saddled Russian citizens with.

I have no clue of who will blink first. However, it's apparent that western and NATO leaders know where this is headed and are prepared to work to isolate Russia from global participation and wait Putin out as his economy craters and support at home dwindles while hoping for a negotiated settlement. There are morale issues among deployed troops if reports of that are to be believed. That's a problem for Putin and his generals.

Working against the west is Putin's manufacturing of a strong believe among Russian citizens that the US has long wanted to overthrow him and destroy Russia. It was reported today that among Russian citizens, the majority support Putin and the war in Ukraine against, as Putin has described it for years and just in preparation for this moment, the Nazification of Ukraine and the genocide of Russian speaking people there by Nazis. This harkens back to Russia's classic resistance and perseverance v. the Germans in WWII. He's also prepared his citizens and continues to emphasize that this will be a long struggle. How long is anybody's guess at the moment but we know the world is entering a new period of confrontation and instability in Europe that exceeds the one left behind on February 24th.

[Tom W]

Every time another top ranked officer is reported killed this has been my first thought.

I usually think of Neidermeyer.

I'm sure that most of the rest of you do too.

[foxhopper]

You lost me at Neidermeyer, but I get intimadated by by you guys because I only have a Community college education... And I have been drinking with some everyday blue collar white trash. I would never fit in with you guys,

[AlabamAlum]

Neidermeyer Was the ROTC asshole from Animal House. At the end of the movie, it told what happened to the characters. Neidermeyer was killed by his own troops.

[Jeff Buchanan]

• Putin debases the term "cancel culture" by alleging the west is trying to cancel a long list of of famous Russian artists and Russia itself. In a national broadcast he continued to rail against the west not once mentioning that his Russian Army has failed him in Ukraine. I'm unsure that he is actually getting an accurate picture of the situation on the ground there.
• Russia's negotiating team, according to Ukrainian sources that are back-filled by US and British intelligence assessments aren't really negotiating anything because they are not empowered to do so. They have their singularly focused marching orders from Putin who, as I mentioned above, may not know the full extent of the successes of the Ukrainian forces v. the Russian Army's failures and retreat to defensive positions.
• My take is that we've taken a step back from the potential for unconventional warfare in Ukraine. Potential is not zero, however.
• If Ukrainian forces can blunt Russian artillery fires and bombardment from the sea and air by force of arms supplied by the west, meaningful negotiations may get undertaken. Until then, a protracted conflict will ensue.
• Not much is going to improve the living conditions of Ukrainians without the means to escape the cities that are the Russian targets in the most inhumane conflict since WWII. Russia is clearly trying to break the will of the Ukrainian population to resist and in the process committing a long list of war crimes.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I hereby proclaim CGVT as the Niedemeyer of this forum...

[Tom W]

You lost me at Neidermeyer, but I get intimadated by by you guys because I only have a Community college education... And I have been drinking with some everyday blue collar white trash. I would never fit in with you guys,

You shouldn't be intimidated. Most of us- even Jeff- would not have gotten bids from anyone but the Deltas.

[iam416]

Correct. And, shit, a lot of friends from HS are blue collar white trash. Heh. Best guys to tailgate with!

[AlabamAlum]

I live in Podunk Falks, Alabama. Someone who can score 50% on the vocabulary quiz in Reader’s Digest is considered a scholar.