Originally Posted by fineline (Post 11380332)

BDIM, in other posts you've said you work at a high level in defence, have privileged insight, and that NATO and allies are drawing this out in order to deplete Russia's war capacity. That seems entirely reasonable - whether true or not.

But this new assessment doesn't seem reasonable at all. If Russia takes out a major Western city, by whatever means, the notion that the free world at that point meakly surrenders seems ... far fetched. In fact the whole plot does. I'm guessing this is your own personal speculation, rather than further insight from the inner sanctum of defence leadership?

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Originally Posted by Low average (Post 11380589)

Then he'll condemn himself, his girlfriend, daughters and the whole of Russia, which he supposedly serves, to certain, inescapable death.

A low probability in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Confusious (Post 11380593)

A lot depends on the truth regarding his mental health. He comes across as calm and collected on the exterior but that can't possibly match what's between his ears.

Originally Posted by Beamr (Post 11380165)

I''m with Xeptu here and this has been discussed earlier in depth in this thread. The assumption is that Ukraine stops at its legitimate borders. Biden made it very clear that if Z-ombies start throwing even the tiniest of nukes, the U.S. will take a stand. Not necessarily by nukes initially but maybe with overwhelming conventional weapons. Call it gloves off if you like. No more Vipers to Ukraine but everything that U.S. has that flies, with crews and things that go bang.
If the Z-team continues tossing NBC's, then there's the rest of the strategic arsenal.
Also that would mean most probably that China gets upset: who would trust a neighbour sending nukes cross the border? It would pretty much quarantee total isolation from the rest of the world.

If V.V.Putin is stupid enough to send a loud and radiating message to a NATO country it would without a doubt mean article 5 activation and at that point it would be game over, maybe for mankind but in any case for Putin and his regime.. NATO joining the war is meaning opening an entirely new front to which Russia has no equipment nor troops to put against. The barracks from Murmansk all the way down to Kaliningrad has been exhausted of troops already. To emphasize the situation we can take the elite spearhead of Russian army that Russia (and Soviet Union) has planned to use as elite counterforce repelling NATO attack, the 1st Guards Tank Army. It was destroyed north of Kyiv a year ago by Ukrainian forces.

But sending a covert ship up Thames turning London into glass and not claiming the quilt? I am sorry but that's a bit too much Hollywood for me. It would not be a subtle reminder nor could it be denied and it would inevitably lead to all of NATO joining the war with the result as above.

Putin may be mad and all that, but I bet that even he is not that stupid to use NBC's. Not over Ukraine. And even in Russia there is a chain of command and events to follow for the nukes tobe launched and the hope is that sanity prevails in there. But the message has been sent to Moscow that at minimum they'll find out why the U.S. is ranked the most powerful army in the world if they use WMD's.

Originally Posted by Low average (Post 11380613)

Actually, I think it does. He's a trained KGB agent, used to acting calm and collected on the outside. In the KGB, he would have been involved in things that would numb him emotionally. Cold, calculating, ruthless....but not crazy.

Originally Posted by Andy_S (Post 11379832)

Given that the OP was a prolific poster on PPRuNe over many years I very much doubt he just suddenly lost interest, especially given his slavishly pro-Russian views.
[snip]

Originally Posted by NutLoose (Post 11380897)

She's got a nasty twitch there and i can totally understand why, brave girl..



https://twitter.com/NOELreports/stat...43071512788992

Originally Posted by ORAC (Post 11381164)

Defense companies in Switzerland are currently struggling to receive new contracts with every company in the industry reporting they have already lost at least 1 to 2 contracts because of the “neutrality” claim.

https://t.co/E2aBAjQ5ZN

Originally Posted by NutLoose (Post 11381162)

Yes, I must admit seeing her step backwards towards that wall of glass, I hoped the hell it wasn’t a close hit as she would have been shredded.

I sometimes feel this is the most important thing that is happening in the world in our generation and has the ability to destroy everything and everyone in the beautiful World we inhabit, hence why I try to keep this thread relevant, at the top of the forum and current, though I do wonder sometimes when one see people are more interested in Williams bloody hat!