DiscoBiscuit
Meat Tornado
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2009
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When two globally significant exporters of grains and fertilizer go to war.
According to the official, the current NATO discussion is that the momentum has shifted significantly in favor of Ukraine and the debate within NATO circles is now over whether it is possible for Kyiv to retake Crimea and the Donbas territories seized by Russia and Russian-backed separatists, respectively, in 2014.
"I think they could [retake Crimea and the Donbas], yes," the official said. "Not now, not soon, but if they can keep up the fight I think so."
"I do question if they actually should fight to get their territory back," referencing a potential backlash by the local population in some of those areas.
Putin involved in war ‘at level of colonel or brigadier’, say western sources
This sound plausible in that it both fits with the personality of a despot and explains the surprisingly many rookie mistakes made by Russian troops so far.
This is hilarious.
I didn't think Putin would go to that extreme. I agree that it probably explains the many rookie mistakes. They're so extreme that I was starting to get suspicious that Russia was making them on purpose as part of a larger strategy.
I think @JAVO and I were more referring to stuff like the repeated reports of Russian troops crossing bridges or entering village lined up like ducks which made them easier to take down. You also keep hearing that the Russian army is very hierarchical, everything has to happen upon orders from above, there is little freedom of decision on the ground (I remember my brother explaining the difference between a "Befehlsarmee" (army of orders) and an "Auftragsarmee" (army of missions), two different military leadership styles, back when he did his service year*).To be honest I don't see it like that. What is mostly because the whole first world decided to put their weight behind the Ukraine. In my opinion that is right thing to do but we have to be honest here, we wouldn't be watching this movie without western arms, ammo and intel. The Russians aren't making that many mistakes as much they just can't get stuff done because Ukrainians know their every move and they have the means to deal with it. Without the Western aid all of this would probably be over in the matter of weeks.
Due to wages difference and similar mechanisms money doesn't always translate equally in the amount of military power. But there is still fact that
First world GDP: 54 Trillion $
Russian GDP: 1.4 Trillion $
And that is why we are watching what we are watching.
I think @JAVO and I were more referring to stuff like the repeated reports of Russian troops crossing bridges or entering village lined up like ducks which made them easier to take down. You also keep hearing that the Russian army is very hierarchical, everything has to happen upon orders from above, there is little freedom of decision on the ground (I remember my brother explaining the difference between a "Befehlsarmee" (army of orders) and an "Auftragsarmee" (army of missions), two different military leadership styles, back when he did his service year*).
* I just saw on Wikipedia that the German term "Auftragstaktik" (mission command) has made it into several languages as a technical term.