Unfortunately Vlad has rather boxed himself with regards to his way out of this conflict. Anything less than the total subjugation of Ukraine will be seen as a failure, and its increasingly looking likely this is not going to happen, possibly quite the opposite. It must also be deeply troubling for him that his much-hyped conventional forces, in which he has invested so much and placed so much faith, have turned out to be a paper tiger. Sheesh, if they can't mount an operation on their own borders with months of planning, what use would it be against NATO?

Equally troubling is his apparent hold on power in Moscow. There doesn't appear to be any group capable of talking him down, getting him to comprehend his plight.

PS A Van and his ilk have gone awfully quiet. Maybe they've finally been reading the right news.

Did they think that the factories that make the weapons being used in the Ukraine would not become targets ?

Anyone old enough to remember how quickly the cruise missile crisis in 1983 was de-escalated after Andropov said he did not care where the weapons launched against the Soviet Union were launched from , the Soviets would destroy the factories where the weapons were made .

Facing defeat and wishing to avoid the fate of Ghadaffi and Saddam the buttons will get pressed this time . No doubt about it .

The hardware may be there, but when much of it on the ground is operated by brutalised conscripts without any understanding of the mission and even denied access to maps, is it any wonder it’s not going well? Brute force and Ignorance can only achieve so much against an agile and motivated opponent.

Given NATO's structure, this would have to be discussed, and with 30 members that would take some time. Presumably in such a situation, retaliation has to follow quickly, or it loses its impact/rationale ( apologies for poor wording, nothing better occured to me ). Is my thinking right there ? I am assuming that there is no pre-set agreement for who would do what because the situation is unique ( so far ).

I don't think anyone has any idea of the make-up of the invasion forces, but in newspaper articles a few days back, the "conversion" of Russian forces from conscripts was discussed and the current make-up was put at : 2/3 professional, 1/3 conscript.

OK, I'll take that number as valid. Still a weakness, though.

Old Duffer: agree totally. I've been beating my gums about it for a while. Available on Kindle, read chapter three on how and why it kicked off. Uncanny

That is one thing he would never do, and on the flip side is the reason for this whole debacle. He holds Ukraine in higher esteem that he does Russia.

He has said this many times. He sees Ukraine as the birthplace of mother Russia (and he is right in that regard) The Rus. It is why he is so determined that it must be back in his control.

Just catching up on the day's events. This is truly scary now.

Let's hope that the insiders within Russia are getting as scared with the reality that lies ahead. May they realise they have a mad dog in the household, and the only way to resolve the problem is to put it to sleep; very much sooner rather than later.

And Russia's breadbasket, IIRC. Russia is not just about factories, and the toiling Workers. Agriculture [the Peasants] was recognised at the outset.

First point of course you would not count crimea. It is in the country of Ukraine! So you would count there population numbers in the Ukrainian population.

Second point, I would bloody well hope there would be an overwhelming response should Putin go nuclear, because you are already dead. Need to make sure he is as well. That’s the point of MAD!

If on the slight chance this goes really wrong for Russia. In the peace talks it would be ALL Russian forces leave all of Ukraine. Crimea and all! If those ethnic Russians that want to be Russian take offence I’m sure they will be welcomed with open arms…. In Russia.

If the ordinary Russian soldiers share that respect for the Ukrainian Peasants, it certainly won't help their morale/motivation in being ordered to launch an all out assault on them.

The Oligharcs are turning against Putin

Financial Times:
Mikhail Fridman speaks out against Ukrainian conflict in letter to staff

Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia’s richest men, said the war in Ukraine was a “tragedy” and called on the “bloodshed” to end after president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the country.

In a letter sent to staff at his London-headquartered private equity firm LetterOne on Friday and seen by the Financial Times, the billionaire said he was “convinced” that “war can never be the answer.”

https://www.ft.com/content/9b3ab6bb-...c-42d937147463

also on Reuters, Fridman with Oleg Deripaska, another Russian billionaire.

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Two Russian billionaires, Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska, called for an end to the conflict triggered by President Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine, with Fridman calling it a tragedy for both countries' people.

• Ukraine conflict is a tragedy - Fridman
• Deripaska says peace talks should begin
• One billionaire: the war is catastrophic

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ys-2022-02-27/

Smart move to irradiate it then, eh?

Precisely. Putin wants Ukraine to be a productive part of Russia. For that reason I believe his plan would be to throw a Nuke at another actor, probably in Europe. He will then say to Ukraine
‘You are next if you do not surrender’. He is throughly unaccustomed to being defied, and he has no idea how to deal with it.
Putin is firmly on track to lose this conflict and he cannot countenance that. He will go nuclear.

Guido Fawkes: “That moment when you realise the boss is stark staring mad”…



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Chelsea’s owner has handed over running of the team to the Trustees though says will still stay owner.

Sadly reports in the AN225 has been destroyed in a Russian air raid and has burnt to the ground.



​​​​​​…

THEY enabled it to happen, the way the USA enabled Trump.

However, I stray into other areas of discussion,

I just pray ‘internal forces’ will disable Vlad, one way or another.

So far, Putin has achieved something incredible: unity within the EU, and quick decisions being taken in Brussels. Thank you Vlad....

I think that is demented: almost guaranteeing a nuclear exchange with NATO as a threat to the Ukraine ?. Certainly a good chance that the order would somehow be ignored.

The most bewildering thing is seeing Putin putting nuclear units on alert because other governments said bad things about him, and imposed “illegal” sanctions on him… after he invaded a sovereign country!

It would be a laughable if it weren’t so serious.

Yet Roman Abromovich refuses to even mention the Russian invasion in his press conferences. Seize his assets put him on a commercial flight and be rid of!

I think Chernobyl showed that there is no such thing as a tactical nuke these days, the sh*t would spread throughout Europe. I never signed up to the idea of tactical nukes as a separate idea from a full blown nuclear exchange, use one and the other will follow in short order.

I just hope enough NLAWs and Stingers are getting to the right hands. The Ukrainians can end up with a bunch of free armor if Vlad can't get fuel to his columns, read the Ukrainians take out Vlad's tanker trucks.

Longer term (fingers crossed no nuke triggers are pulled) we need to ensure that the Baltic states including Finland are well supplied with NLAWs and Stingers with the civilian population trained and organized in using them.

Not to take anything away from the Ukrainians, but Switzerland is the example to follow in organizing civilian defenses.
​​

Russian bank Tinkoff now offering to exchange rubles for dollars at a rate of 171 rubles per dollar. It was 83 before the European/US announcement about targeting the Russian central bank.

Currency market formally opens tomorrow. This is brutal.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4efe87964.jpeg

as there are issues in delivering anything via air mail to Russia, he'll have to cross the border by foot... via Ukraine.

Not to mention the DE Defence Budget boost, and of course the perspectives of other Nations in that area. I thought the Turkiye response surprisingly favourable, and the Finns are undoubtedly having deep thoughts given their history vis a vis Russia. Essentially, Vlad the Mad has achieved many things the West has been trying to do for decades.

So Switzerland or the erstwhile Yugoslavia then? Assuming he doesn't want the Mayday parade spoiled...

CG

US response, basically we can nuke you too.

At least they will give him a gun in his way through!!

There might be a few gaps in his mayday parade.

Farmer pinching an APC, it probably would make a good farming tractor. :)


another Farmer having one away lol

I agree completely- he is demented, and I think he is facing his own Armageddon and will take as many as he can with him.

hahaha … Liverpool comes to Eastern Europe!

Sky reporting the US embassy in Moscow is advising all Americans in Russia to leave immediately.

”An increasing number of airlines are cancelling flights into and out of Russia, and numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines. U.S. citizens should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available.

The U.S. Embassy reminds U.S. citizens that the Department of State’s Travel Advisory level for Russia is at “Level 4: Do Not Travel.”…..

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7694bb8cf.jpeg
Most of what I’ve seen on the web are poor conscripts that are young, under trained and poorly lead, often left to their own devices without food or fuel.