Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[tonyh29]

23 minutes ago, hippo said:

Disappointed that no one on VT has a brother whose mates cuts Putins hair - or works at the stables where he rides his horses who can give us some real ITK as to what Putin is up to ? 

I did hear from a friend of a friend that Geoffrey Palmer had advised Putin to stick  2 pencils up his nose and pretend to be mad 

[sne]

4 minutes ago, StewieGriffin said:

Fabrizio Romano has just confirmed that Russia have sent some soldiers into Ukraine

Any news from Villareport?

[Delphinho123]

No doubt Villareport will wade in soon with their disinformation and lies. 

[Delphinho123]

Can I ask a question to the people more intelligent than me. 

What is the outcome here? What is the most likely scenario to play out? 

[romavillan]

5 minutes ago, hippo said:

Just interested how everyone sees this panning out ? 

Im old enough to remember Turkey invading Greece in the mid 1970's - as they were overly with a change of govt - I believe after a coup.  Turkey captured masses of of Land - the eventual ceasefire involved a UN buffer line between the two countries.

Obviously a UN buffer looks unlikely to be an option right now.

Or will Putin in the coming weeks take the capital cities - and try and quell the insurgency - again that looks unlikely with the hardware en route to Ukraine from the west.

Could Putin be toppled ? - again unlikely.

Dunno - wots everyone think ? 

  

I think Putin has made a big mistake this time, clearly emboldened by the success he's been having since 2014. Crimea, Brexit, Trump etc. all went his way through his shenanigans but now that the UK is out of the EU it seems the EU can quickly, much more quickly than when they had to deal with the Conservative party, come to a consensus. Germany has just dropped €100bn on defence (it's annual budget was €53bn), the EU is united and this threat will cause greater integration and a more powerful bloc. The international response (in particular China's abstention and not supporting vote in the UN) has completely isolated Russia and the economic fallout is already causing problems for the people on the street in Russia. There are protests all over the country against the war too.

This isn't how Putin wanted things to play out at all. I think it might end up being the end of Putin's regime and see Russia lose the Crimea, it could well have the complete opposite effect to what he wanted and see more states join NATO. 

As an aside, the UK has been exposed as a compromised state, it's embarrassing. Instead of being involved in the serious negotiations at the top table, the EU and the US decide what's going to happen and they tell the UK. Lord Lebedev is a total disgrace, the amount of Russian influence is terrifying. Whilst Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson was saying sanctions would take months to sort out the EU turned around the most devastating set of sanctions in like 48 hours. Banks, Farage et al's true colours have come out as well, even Putin's Italian cheerleader in Italy, Salvini, has been trying to distance himself from Russia but the Vote Leave crew have all been essentially saying it's the EU and NATOs fault. words removed.

[Chindie]

43 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

In case people aren't familiar with the thermobaric launcher (I wasn't and I was a happier man), here's one being moved around the countryside:

And here's what it does:

 

Thermobaric weapons were used in Afghanistan, because the way they work is particularly enhanced in enclosed environments.

They're particularly nasty weapons. They kill through 2 methods - the explosion creates a particularly powerful pressure wave (that can reverberate in enclosed spaces), and the aftermath of the pressure wave is a massive drop in pressure. So you get all the damage you get from a typical explosive, plus you get the effects of a brief near-vacuum. The common cause of death is from the lungs popping.

[Awol]

21 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

We used them on civilian areas in Iraq.

During the battle of Falujah, in grenades, against insurgents I.e. room clearance. 
 

Not comparable to rocket artillery fired indiscriminately against a city.

[Awol]

4 minutes ago, romavillan said:

I think Putin has made a big mistake this time, clearly emboldened by the success he's been having since 2014. Crimea, Brexit, Trump etc. all went his way through his shenanigans but now that the UK is out of the EU it seems the EU can quickly, much more quickly than when they had to deal with the Conservative party, come to a consensus. Germany has just dropped €100bn on defence (it's annual budget was €53bn), the EU is united and this threat will cause greater integration and a more powerful bloc. The international response (in particular China's abstention and not supporting vote in the UN) has completely isolated Russia and the economic fallout is already causing problems for the people on the street in Russia. There are protests all over the country against the war too.

This isn't how Putin wanted things to play out at all. I think it might end up being the end of Putin's regime and see Russia lose the Crimea, it could well have the complete opposite effect to what he wanted and see more states join NATO. 

As an aside, the UK has been exposed as a compromised state, it's embarrassing. Instead of being involved in the serious negotiations at the top table, the EU and the US decide what's going to happen and they tell the UK. Lord Lebedev is a total disgrace, the amount of Russian influence is terrifying. Whilst Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson was saying sanctions would take months to sort out the EU turned around the most devastating set of sanctions in like 48 hours. Banks, Farage et al's true colours have come out as well, even Putin's Italian cheerleader in Italy, Salvini, has been trying to distance himself from Russia but the Vote Leave crew have all been essentially saying it's the EU and NATOs fault. words removed.

That’s the most distorted, bad faith interpretation of reality as I’ve seen in a long time. 

[osmark86]

6 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Can I ask a question to the people more intelligent than me. 

What is the outcome here? What is the most likely scenario to play out? 

More people will die.

[tomav84]

16 minutes ago, StewieGriffin said:

Fabrizio Romano has just confirmed that Russia have sent some soldiers into Ukraine

i bet he even threw in his catchphrase too:

"confirmed: russia invades ukraine, thousands dead, here we go!"

[sne]

Believe it when I see it but hope it's true.

 

[tomav84]

7 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Can I ask a question to the people more intelligent than me. 

What is the outcome here? What is the most likely scenario to play out? 

i'm not sure either, so checked the one place i thought would give me the answer and was amazed that skybet didn't have a market for it.....

[sparrow1988]

8 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Can I ask a question to the people more intelligent than me. 

If all the people who meet this criteria reply to this, your inbox is going to be bulging.

 

Joking

[DCJonah]

A good thread and well worth a read. 

[sparrow1988]

6 minutes ago, sne said:

Believe it when I see it but hope it's true.

 

The IOC have essentially made their decision for them...

 

Can't see FIFA and UEFA going on a solo run with this one.

Edited February 28, 2022 by sparrow1988

[OutByEaster?]

5 minutes ago, Awol said:

During the battle of Falujah, in grenades, against insurgents I.e. room clearance. 

Not comparable to rocket artillery fired indiscriminately against a city.

Ah, perhaps I'm confused, I'd read that we'd used thermobaric adapted hellfire bombs during the initial shock and awe attack on Baghdad - surely the very definition of rocket artillery fired indiscriminately against a city?

Regardless, it's exactly what I really hope we don't see in Kyiv.

 

 

[StefanAVFC]

 

It's a start but they can't claim to be world leading. They still will.

[OutByEaster?]

I think that Russia hasn't yet resorted to some of the more straightforward bombing options available to them thus far is a good sign for the conflict in some ways - not just in that it's keeping casualty numbers to a minimum, but also in that it suggest that the Russians weren't expecting to have to do that, that they thought there would be little resistance - if that's the case, there may not be much appetite in Moscow for raining hell on the citizens of their near neighbour and traditional friend.

I suspect they saw it more as the British equivalent of a mission to remove the Sons of Glyndwr from the Welsh parliament by force before returning to their homes in the home counties and might not be quite so keen on the concept of carpet bombing Swansea. 

Hopefully that's the case.

Although I'm down for carpet bombing Swansea.

[sidcow]

13 minutes ago, Awol said:

That’s the most distorted, bad faith interpretation of reality as I’ve seen in a long time. 

Have you not been in a match thread lately? 

[hippo]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think that Russia hasn't yet resorted to some of the more straightforward bombing options available to them thus far is a good sign for the conflict in some ways - not just in that it's keeping casualty numbers to a minimum, but also in that it suggest that the Russians weren't expecting to have to do that, that they thought there would be little resistance - if that's the case, there may not be much appetite in Moscow for raining hell on the citizens of their near neighbour and traditional friend.

I suspect they saw it more as the British equivalent of a mission to remove the Sons of Glyndwr from the Welsh parliament by force before returning to their homes in the home counties and might not be quite so keen on the concept of carpet bombing Swansea. 

Hopefully that's the case.

Although I'm down for carpet bombing Swansea.

He needs a face saver to survive on the home front though. The west won't drop those sanctions quickly.