Someone needs to call Germany out.

Who’s side are they on?

Germany's.
The stink will hang around for a long time.
Macron is keeping a low profile, very wise

If Ukraine is not in distress now, I don't know what distress is! The Union Flag seems to be appropriately flown.

Not sure what to make of this - the headline is not completely supported by the body of the article:
In breakthrough, minister says Germany won't block Poland from giving Ukraine tanks - MarketWatch

​​​​​​​Not exactly definitive, although a move in the right direction.

Reminds me of the new paperback, "Tanks for Ukraine", by Hugo First.

Nightmare fuel

Anyone else have these lol, in a car usually....parachutist etc .. suppose a tanks worse.
they surely knew they were de-electrified before touching the cables, which you can see eventually.

reminds me of those choppers supposedly going under them, which i thought was a trick of the perspective....i hope

..

Yes, it's upside down. Often seen in that "flag-on-a-stick" configuration.

Hilarious. Russian volunteer in "LPR" Murz explains how expensive Russian EW works. It's put in the rears to avoid destruction by artillery and... you guessed it, it jams own Russian equipment. And no one does anything about it because "orders"….

Not really. Scholz is doing Germany a huge dis-service of which it will not benefit at all.
He's a pro.

Remind me which expertise Thatcher "sold off"? Or are you thinking of the privatisation of DERA in 2000? Which flavour of government was it at the time?

Politics had nothing to do with the construction of the two carriers - the requirement for which was endorsed by a joint committee - despite the best efforts of a cadre of pongoes to wrongly suggest it was all to keep Gordon Brown happy.

Realistically, how long can UKR withstand RU? Even with all the Western support it can get and a kill ratio of 3:1 (which I reckon is too optimistic) I am afraid RU will wear down UKR eventually. Maybe not this year or even next year. UKR is at a huge disadvantage when it comes to manpower. What must happen to give UKR the edge it needs to defeat RU?

Imho, RU aggression will not end by outside pressure. No matter how horrific its own losses. Vlad will just keep going unless he is stopped by internal pressure which isn't seen anywhere at this stage.

Well, that is the negative projection. By that logic they should just give up. Allow the nasty dog to control the household.

As a diehard Socialist it pains me to say this but you are right.

One has to wonder why it's the only good thing he has ever managed to do for his entire political career.



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There is an important difference: Ukraine is defending its Existance. Russia is 'only' trying to expand it's turf. This makes for a significant difference in level of acceptance/motivation in the population. 500k Deaths would be really tragedy for Ukraine but there would be 5 Mio people potentially able to defend the Country. So it wouldn't stop their physical ability to do so. As long as there is the will, there will still be a lot of potential defenders left.
500k Deaths for an adventure in a foreign Country will be difficult for puplic opinion in Russia. There is a reason Putin is still reluctant to go for mobilisation of the Moscovites and St Pete's.

Yes that is a daft example. The US has no operational control over the UK nuclear deterrent. It might have considerable industrial leverage but that is a very different thing indeed. And the relevant calculation - which is a very real consideration - becomes "how long to regenerate that industrial capability" in the event of a breakdown in relationships. Whether the UK (or indeed any other nation) gets those calculations right is debatable, especially as the minimum economic scale required to deliver the full range of security/defence solutions is nigh-on global in scale. It is certainly at least one continent's worth of economy, hence any nonsense about strategic autonomy has to be heavily qualified. I suspect that after the dust has settled re Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that a lot of countries will be revisiting those calculations.

In respect of the Challenger 3 upgrade what none of us know - or at least none of us who do know can disclose - is what confidential arrangements are in place to ensure that the necessary minimum design team, industrial capability, through life support, and contractual autonomy are in place. It might be that none of that is in place, in which case potentially the German government might have an arms control 'lock' on the Ch3 turret. However it might be that all those are in place - including confidential government-to-government arrangements - in which case there can never be a question of a German 'lock'. We simply don't know, but what we do know is that it is not as simplistic as some assume.

This river flows in many directions. As an example the Argentine efforts to re-equip their air force have frequently foundered because the relevant aircraft that they coveted included UK owned IP, most often the ejector seats.


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The data that became available a few months ago revealed that the KIA ratio for personnel was 6:1 in Ukraine's favour. Given that pre-war population sizes were 3:1 in Russia's favor, but that a lot of the better educated Russian males in-zone for conscription promptly fled the country, these staggering ongoing loss-rates appear simply unsustainable for Russia. By late 2022 it seems about 900,000 Russians had fled Russia (see link below, it is likely over 1m now) and the vast majority of those appear to be male. In contrast Ukraine appears to have very little equivalent thinning out of its corresponding pool. Personally I hope that we in the broader Western alliance give Ukraine all that is necessary for them to promptly clear the Russian invasion out of their territory at minimum further loss of Ukrainian life; and that the West retains its strategic patience through this effort and beyond.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3697f9c290.png


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia...ion_of_Ukraine

"Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000[1] by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors, and some political refugees"

Allied estimates now putting Russian loses at around 188,000 - and that may exclude those of the Wagner group.

To me Crimea looks to be the lynch pin, retake Crimea and destroy the bridge, Russia then loses the ability to attack and resupply from that direction, they also lose the port facilities, once that area is secured then the rest of the frontline becomes more managable, there are few supply lines in from mainland Russia so once they are removed from the equation Russia will be struggling to hold anything and the coast line areas will be restored.

Surly, someone soon, must tap Putin on the shoulder and say…. This is not going very well??

Or am I being foolish in thinking that.??

Curious: do you think there is the required political will amongst the Western allies to support UKR re-taking Crimea?
I mean "we" effectively turned a blind eye for 8yrs, so what's the political calculus that justifies a roll-back on this stance? And will it wash with the electorate who may settle for a de-minimis "victory" of pre- Feb 2022 borders?

Given the gyrations of the French and Germans governments to do the minimum possible, I have serious reservations that re-taking Crimea will get the support needed.