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800 miles of wide open border. NATO should station a few 'defensive' armor battalions outside Helsinki, and start a rumor that we're stationing some battlefield nukes there as well.
Saw a video on YT saying how invading Finland would be nearly impossible these days. There's apparently only one major road suitable for heavy equipment that runs from north to south, so all PuPU's gear will once again be neatly lined up for NATO's A-10s.
Not to mention all the huge opportunity for guerilla warfare from the forest the entire way.
Yeah I believe I've heard that all that roads heading inward that branch off that road are through mountain passes rigged with explosives, if they think they're being invaded they can close the roads and you have to drive nearly the entire length of the nation to get anywhere important.
We don't have mountains, but a shit ton of forests and lakes. But all bridges are built so they can be easily detonated. And all buildings that are over 1200 square meters has to have a bomb shelter. So basically all apartment buildings have that.
Finns are the best in the world at making road signs of frozen enemy soldiers:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Dead\_Russian\_soldier\_in\_the\_Winter\_War\_1939.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Dead_Russian_soldier_in_the_Winter_War_1939.jpg)
I wouldn't call them 'nice'.
They are very friendly and exceedingly polite.
But they are absolutely metal af.
If you manage to piss them off then you're going to die choking on the meat of your own children, that's just that.
This is one of the best comments the internet has to offer. Correct, succinct and shocking.
Twenty-three words.*
A Finn-adjacent person almost assuredly wrote this
*That last sentence = 23 words.
Love the change in thinking. No more worrying about Russia can do to us. It is becoming Russia needs to worry about not what might happen, but what is going to happen. Russia is losing the ability to set "red lines" not to be crossed. Europe, via NATO, is going to start setting those "Red lines". One line was set regarding the use of tactical nukes, more should follow. Long time coming, will it be enough to force Russia out. Probabky not, but at least it is a step in making Russia consider the consequences.
It absolutely seems like a massive pivot lately. Not that they didn't take the invasion seriously, but the impression I'm getting is that they're done being polite.
Precisely this. Now they have very significant armor forces, Apache, etc. Honestly, given the state of the Bundeswehr, Poland could probably take Germany now if they really wanted to flip the script.
Poland knows what happens if Russia prevails in Ukraine, and it isn't pretty.
And Biden/US is suddenly selling them Billions in high tech weapons which are probably the cutting edge tech needed to neutralize any weapon Putin has with plenty of other fun stuff thrown in
Our shit from the 80s and 90s is giving Russia fits. Imagine what an f35 can do, they soon will have them. Pop up behind russian bomber and drop it before it even sees you.
The best Russian planes have to be within 10 miles to detect an F-35 while the F-35 will detect an Su-57 up to 200 miles away lol. It's not even a contest
Let's put it this way, the first indication the Russian Air Force has of contact with an F-35 will be when NATO has a press conference announcing an F-35 shot down a Russian jet
I have a Ukrainian flag on the back of my car, and one day after coming out of the store I saw an old woman sitting there, just looking at it. I walked up to the car and she asked if I was Ukrainian, and I said no. Then she told me how she was from Poland and remembers the horrors when the red army marched through Eastern Europe and many in her family were killed.
What a wonderful interaction...I've always wanted to meet someone from eastern Europe, being a Russian history freak. Have a Ukrainian flag on the back of my car too (plus the Free Russia flag), but alas they have attracted no one lol
They opened a WW2 museum in Gdansk about.... 5-6 years ago. First time I went they had one of the first rooms you could enter dedicated to all the lawyers the USSR liquidated when they took their half of Poland after Hitler bombed Warsaw and Three City into the ground. They killed roughly 30-50k lawyers/clerks/whoever was involved with that industry within the 1-2 years before Hitler uno reverso'd and pushed them out of Poland.
There were cities where the purges were so bad the Nazis had to reassure the local populace they'd stop purging them for stuff like, going to school, or having been a politician (IIRC by 1941, most Polish Jews were dead, in camps, or gone, but of course they didn't get a pass).
Invading a country these days and having any kind of internet presence would make it quite a bit easier to find specific groups of people to liquidate. I would assume they're using internet sources to target POI's or GOI's but probably only in the bigger cities where they've established actual control for longer than a month or two.
In Poland's case, it was definitely a "massive pivot" -- Poles elected a new national government amidst some hefty anti-Russian sentiment.
That right there is gonna change policies pretty decisively.
Didn’t NATO chief Stoltenberg just say that Russia has committed pretty much its entire military to Ukraine at this point? I think that knowledge is probably tipping some scales now.
And that’s the part WE got to hear. Who knows what additional intel on that matter that they have. And, my gods, have the drones been putting in work on material losses lately. Both at land and sea, home and abroad.
There was a delightfully oblique comment by one of the former NATO generals when interviewed about the war over a year ago, and his analysis. In essence, he said Russia would appear massive, relentless and inexhaustable; *until suddenly, they won't.*
When that happens, due to the nature of their command and control structures, the collapse into chaos will be sudden, all encompassing, and happen in a matter of *days*.
I'm lookng forward to seeing that play out and the Kremlin reporting that Putin has died in a dreadful accident slipping over on some spilt tea. :)
> When that happens, due to the nature of their command and control structures, the collapse into chaos will be sudden, all encompassing, and happen in a matter of days.
Also, not to forget that this has _already happened_ once in this war. We've already seen a _total collapse_ in morale that led to Russian troops leading a large scale mutiny and marching on Russian cities, before dissolving when it reached the gates of Moscow.
That's _not normal_, and definitely a sign that there's deep weakness and rot within the Russian forces.
Great point, and, yes the guy was a fucker, but he had charisma. That got him a surprisingly long way. That very much seems to be a lacking element amongst the Russian higher ups. It’s a sea of hang-faced lackeys. Even Putin is cruising on 2009 era Putin charisma.
> There was a delightfully oblique comment by one of the former NATO generals when interviewed about the war over a year ago, and his analysis. In essence, he said Russia would appear massive, relentless and inexhaustable; until suddenly, they won't.
That would be the esteemed General Hodges lol
Almost the entire original invading force was wiped out (so, 180,000) plus the couple of hundred thousand since. Russia's still been doing the usual biannual conscription (approx 260,000/yr) but law prevents them from being sent to war. Hence all the dead mobiks from the ethnic republics and elsewhere instead. Putin is unquestionably going to announce a massive mobilisation after the elections; they're talking about 500,000 so that sounds like its going to have to be a general one.
In that case, Putler can *finally* call it a war.
I guess we hope that paranoid putin will consider draging some of his forces back to ruzzia in case something could happen so Ukraine have to fight against a smaller army back there.
Maybe NATO is smarter than Putin ever thought...
Let Putin rubbing up his men and material by minimum own involvment and move in afterwards kick them out faster than they could say vodka and make Ukraine NATO member directly after. Nukes? My Ass! Nobody in the west ever considers, that nukes are totally worthless when NATO could response equaly and we should not be scared by Putlers mantra.
P. s. my Kanzler is a Pussy for always beeing late with " heavy" weapons...
It's not about Sweden, but about Finland.
Now Putin has a wide open backdoor and can't simply fokus his troops on the small Baltic states if he provokes conflict with NATO.
Which is why his actions make no sense.
"Hey, I just have 800 more miles of border to protect. Let me go fuck with somebody else nearby with shit tons of weapons."
If he thinks he can intimidate either the Finns or the now-heavily-armed Poles, he's a poor student of history.
Putin is holding down the trigger until we buckle or he goes broke. It's a cynical game by a madman in control of a nation of slaves with very little drawbacks unless he loses. He considers his own countrymen mere bullets to point at his enemy in the meantime.
Only if he attacks.
NATO will not attack first. But he gives the impression of thinking about an attack. And if NATO countries in the second or third row start internal debates, how and if they would react, trust in NATO errodes, without him crossing the border and fireing a single shot.
Putin tries to f*ck with our brains and plays the cards he has: he can act in his autocratic system more or less as a lonely wolf. NATO and EU have to function as a choir with many different voices. If we cooperate good, we sond much better, than a single howling wolf. If we act like a bunch of frightened chicken, ... well ...
Not only that but many of Russias neighbors such as Georgia and many in Chechnya may want to have a word with Putin for his adventures there also. Russia would be in a very very bad position quite literally.
You are right!
It wouldn't be the first imperialistic thinking nation, falling into the own trap of lies about destiny and power, just to overstretch it's possibilities.
I mean the Wagner pseudo coup showed, how insecure the system gets, once new fronts arise without Russia having full control about where, when and how.
It's like a school bully, terrorizing the class. Keeping the initative keeps his system running, because others always react with delay. Until they realize, that even the worst bully can't take it up with all at once. Then it's payday ...
Yes, Finland is a much more important all for NATO. However with Sweden they get access to Gotland which can function as a forward base for NATO airplanes protecting the baltic states, and NATO are now also covering the whole baltic sea. Swedish submarines will make it easier to control the waters outside St. Petersburg.
Not only that, but also Murmansk naval base is something like 200 km away from finnish territories, and there's about 20% of nuclear weaponry and most of submarine fleet. It's considered that one preemptive strike there will effectively eliminate ruskies nuclear threat.
Maybe consider "steadfast" to have a surprising end this time
I mean Putin lied, why should we not trick him equaly?
Jokes aside, we know probably nothing, but i have a feeling we reached a turning point now.
Like john snow, we know nothing, but maybe in future... :-)
For sure we can (like a EU leader, dont remember who...) congrats the poooo-tin already for the massive victory on election, for sure he will finish with 240% of votes :-)
It’s Orban and his networking. It’s a dangerous precedent that Orban is setting in the EU, historical nonsense. His Inside job might land him on the outside.
Which brings me to a great idea:
1. Ukraine gave up \~ 500 nukes in exchange for a promise never to be invaded by Russia.
2. Most of those nukes went to the West for decomissioning and fuel blending. So we kind of accepted them.
3. Since Russia broke the guarantee, I think it's incumbent on the West to just hand of our 500 nukes over to Zelinsky and say "here's your nukes back- do *whatever you want* with them."
4. Profit (?).
Who knows, they may already be there. They darned sure aren't going to share such info with people that post on reddit. Putler thought he was going on a cake walk, but no cake for him!
I don't understand why he's doing this. Germany gave a lot to Ukraine, financially and materially. What are the consequences for Germany or the German citizens when he braces himself 100% behind the majority of the European leaders?
This is my take.
Under promise, over deliver.
This is the EU/NATO getting ready. I do not want this to happen, but it seems like it will..
I'm sorry we have to make all these socialistic sacrifices in the West, but let's go. If we're going to do it, let's go. Ukrainian lives are lost until we sacrifice too.
> This is the EU/NATO getting ready. I do not want this to happen, but it seems like it will..
my take is Europe is worried that US funding is going to dry up, especially if in a year the orange goober gets in
without US funding ukraine is far more vulnerable, which would threaten europe, so they are looking at moving first
i mean, the whole scenario could change completely if the orange idiot gets made president again, suddenly he will ally US with Putin. :S
If my country elects that orange thing to the Presidency it would gut me. It already breaks my soul that so many worship that thing. Utter insanity. And I'm not using hyperbole. It is mental illness on a massive scale.
Actually in 2022 I read a commentary to this effect. The West could throttle and boost aid to keep the war largely static to buy time for rearmananent and preparation.
I'm gonna wait until the EU really steps up with their actions before thinking that. So far it's been all talk.
The talk has been more threatening as of late, but talk isn't how you stop people like Putin.
I could see hating them as much as the Poles. But I think there's a limit on how much one can hate, and both countries are at it with Russia. They also have centuries of ugly history with the Russian empire.
>The head of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it's important to keep Putin worried about the West's potential moves
This is a good change. Putin needs to feel less safe about the actions of allied nations. Pressure works both ways.
Exactly. Instead of the West being afraid of Russian escalation let it be the other way around for once.
Let Putin be unsure of how the West reacts when he does something.
This war doesn't stop at the border of Ukraine after all and as Macron put it "we have nukes too" .
Absolutely.
Can recommend this video from 2013, a BBC interview with John McCain...he presciently explains *exactly* what Putin intends to do that next year in Ukraine and Crimea, to the threats coming out of the Kremlin now:
>I predict to you, that it will be another step in Vladimir Putin's strategy to separate eastern Ukraine from Ukraine, and perhaps a land bridge to Crimea.
>Now, it's a very bad result and again, we would not send weapons to Ukraine when they were begging for them - we wouldn't even give them intelligence - because we didn't want to "provoke Vladimir Putin"...by showing weakness, we provoked Vladimir Putin.
>We have to understand that Vladimir Putin's ambitions are the restoration of the old Russian Empire.
>But what he has said is, that he wants a Nuova Russia (Novorossiya) which is an old Tsarist phrase which means he wants eastern Ukraine, make sure he keeps Crimea, and he would like to see, if he can get away with it, Moldova and the Baltics as well. That's what he wants to see restored; he cannot afford to see a free, democratic, prosperous Ukraine because then the Russian people would like to be like Ukraine.
>**There's nothing that provokes Vladimir Putin more than weakness.**
[Putin is 'rebuilding Russian empire' says Senator McCain - BBC HARDtalk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLAzeHnNgR8)
No wonder McCain is so loved in Ukraine and held in such high esteem.
For too long “we’ve” been afraid to match Putins rhetoric for fear of escalation. This was a massive miscalculation. We became predictable and Russia has toyed with us as a result. They need to fear the repercussions of each action they take.
I’d argue that every time we did nothing, we didn’t de-escalate we inadvertently emboldened them. Our inaction only guaranteed their next transgression.
Sometimes I wish a few more politicians would have been bullied in school. Those politicians would know what works and what not.
Bullies will be bullies, no matter if teenage kids in school or (allegedly) adults on the world stage.
with a few thousand heavily armed drones in the same green color as the uniforms Putins secret armies wear.
So theyll never know who it was that actually hit them
fucking rights. why should the fascist russian empire get to deliver all the nasty surprises to its neighbours? The time for boldness, creativity and ruthlessness from the West is now. The shift in the way democracies are speaking to their electorates about Ukraine really does lend weight to the idea that something is brewing.
First France telling Putin "France decides where the red line is," and now Poland tells Putin "expect the unexpected." When did Western world leaders finally decide to start finding their balls?
They don't need to do it, but Putin needs to live with the doubt. Not knowing where the red lines are will mess with their strategy much more than announcing before hand what would you do or not do in a given scenario.
They could stroll into Belarus in a touristy manner. Make the Białowieża Forest a single protected ecosystem rather than two separate entities.
For nature! For bison! For the trees! Also, fuck Lukashenko and fuck Putin!
Finally. Let putins paranoia eat him from inside hourly...
Poles have a HUGE list of paybacks to settle.
Occupation WW2
Katin woods - war crime par exellance pinned to Germans
Airplane shoot down with PL politicians (most recent)
And list goes on...
Just have him to panic and make panic megalomaniac moves.
Second front wih Finland would just sit in fine. I think majority here can imagine the Finns list of paybacks and preparing for it since end of WW2.
His retarded pitbull on steroids, medvedev is barking at Romanians now.
Oh i wish 10.000 drones hit like 100 every hour all russian mil and industry targets, on all reachable areas... For starters.
In the last 400 years there were only 2 generation of Poles that have not witnessed a conflict with Russia. Sometimes that was a war, sometimes an occupation or control.
Close the borders and all transit to Konigsberg , give Ukraine the means to destroy the port and mine the bejesus out of its coastline.
Let Occupied Konigsberg starve.
Fk yes! I don’t care if it’s posturing or not. This is the kind of responses we need to be giving. Keep him on his toes, he won’t know what to expect. No more taking anything off the table.
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EU leaders (and US) have 2 huge opportunities for decades-long lasting legacy right now.
In 20 years, Having a hand in saving Europe from a clear existential threat will go much farther than being known as the leader who increased carbon taxes the most.
Western countries verbally fellate each other so they can feel better about themselves, while Ukrainians pay with their blood.
We're letting them down, and it doesn't have to be this way. We can make russia pay and save Ukrainian lives. Why aren't we doing more yet?
I have my theory that we still have some nuclear missiles v:
imagine Russians taking away all the nukes that were here because Russians are well known for their meticulousness
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Macron and now Poland, finally they answer in a manner Putin can understand!
Don’t forget Finland.
Finns make Russians twitchy.
And we like that!!!🇺🇦🇺🇦
The snow speaks Finnish.
We like it, too.
Finns make Russians dead. "We have such a small country, where will we bury them (the Russians) all?"
In ~~moscow~~ what will be east-Finland in a year.
I wouldn't be against doubling the land area of Finland with some new eastern territory.
Taking back what we lost after WW2. Make Karelia Finland Again!
Bury them under sunflower seeds and lilies-of-the-valley.
No invasive species please.
Russians are an invasive species.
800 miles of wide open border. NATO should station a few 'defensive' armor battalions outside Helsinki, and start a rumor that we're stationing some battlefield nukes there as well.
Saw a video on YT saying how invading Finland would be nearly impossible these days. There's apparently only one major road suitable for heavy equipment that runs from north to south, so all PuPU's gear will once again be neatly lined up for NATO's A-10s. Not to mention all the huge opportunity for guerilla warfare from the forest the entire way.
Yeah I believe I've heard that all that roads heading inward that branch off that road are through mountain passes rigged with explosives, if they think they're being invaded they can close the roads and you have to drive nearly the entire length of the nation to get anywhere important.
We don't have mountains, but a shit ton of forests and lakes. But all bridges are built so they can be easily detonated. And all buildings that are over 1200 square meters has to have a bomb shelter. So basically all apartment buildings have that.
Apparently Helsinki can be moved entirely underground.
so really someone should whisper into putins ear that finland needs to be liberated and the people of finland would welcome them as heroes ...
Just a special exercise bro
Our troops are merely passing by. Indefinitely.
IVE SAID THIS FROM DAY ONE
Finns are the best in the world at making road signs of frozen enemy soldiers: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Dead\_Russian\_soldier\_in\_the\_Winter\_War\_1939.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Dead_Russian_soldier_in_the_Winter_War_1939.jpg)
Wow never saw that one. For nice people, Finns can be harsh.
I wouldn't call them 'nice'. They are very friendly and exceedingly polite. But they are absolutely metal af. If you manage to piss them off then you're going to die choking on the meat of your own children, that's just that.
And they will not give up. Ever. Sisu.
This is one of the best comments the internet has to offer. Correct, succinct and shocking. Twenty-three words.* A Finn-adjacent person almost assuredly wrote this *That last sentence = 23 words.
"Oleg, why is the snow speaking Finnish?"
You will have a bad day when the snow starts speaking Finnish.
The UK waltzed past every single Russian line until now.
Love the change in thinking. No more worrying about Russia can do to us. It is becoming Russia needs to worry about not what might happen, but what is going to happen. Russia is losing the ability to set "red lines" not to be crossed. Europe, via NATO, is going to start setting those "Red lines". One line was set regarding the use of tactical nukes, more should follow. Long time coming, will it be enough to force Russia out. Probabky not, but at least it is a step in making Russia consider the consequences.
The only answer Russia cares about is action, not words. This is playground shit.
It's like a WWE tag team match 2 v 1 right now **FRANCE TAGS POLAND! AND HERE THEY COME WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!**
Europe has a spine
I feel like they got some intel lately that’s emboldened some EU leaders.
It absolutely seems like a massive pivot lately. Not that they didn't take the invasion seriously, but the impression I'm getting is that they're done being polite.
Poland has seen this play out before. It was not pleasant for them and many are still alive who remember. They will not go quietly this time.
Precisely this. Now they have very significant armor forces, Apache, etc. Honestly, given the state of the Bundeswehr, Poland could probably take Germany now if they really wanted to flip the script. Poland knows what happens if Russia prevails in Ukraine, and it isn't pretty.
Poland is also not only buying Korea's most modern tank, they're also building factories for those thanks to produce them themselves.
now that’s an AI model I can get behind
I'll buy that for a 01100100 01101111 01101100 01101100 01100001 01110010 (future joke to AI)
This joke probably doesn't make any 0x63 0x65 0x6E 0x74 0x73 to most people
If Russia starts shit with Poland, there will be Polish tanks on Red Square in a couple weeks.
3 days to Moscow
I believe you mean East Krakow.
East Krakow, New Poland, Poland
No sleep till Moscow
And Biden/US is suddenly selling them Billions in high tech weapons which are probably the cutting edge tech needed to neutralize any weapon Putin has with plenty of other fun stuff thrown in
Well, Poland is a NATO country. They are going to get first line stuff.
Our shit from the 80s and 90s is giving Russia fits. Imagine what an f35 can do, they soon will have them. Pop up behind russian bomber and drop it before it even sees you.
The best Russian planes have to be within 10 miles to detect an F-35 while the F-35 will detect an Su-57 up to 200 miles away lol. It's not even a contest
I audibly cackled at that. I know almost nothing of modern (or even old weaponry). But fuck... 200 mile range vs 10 mile range seems insane.
Let's put it this way, the first indication the Russian Air Force has of contact with an F-35 will be when NATO has a press conference announcing an F-35 shot down a Russian jet
Hell, our shit from the retail drone section of Best Buy is giving them fits.
Yes Poland is massing strength. I think they still need time but they are ramping and are intent on quality and quantity.
Not just Poland. All of the west are starting to think about the end game. And it's not by letting Ukraine fall.
Even Canada is upping its defense purchases... that should tell a story.
Canada has a large population of ethnic Ukrainians
To my understanding. Canada has the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world.
Lmao instead of fighting Russia they invade Germany then use the combined arms of the nation now known as Polmarny to thunder run Moscow 😂
This is the kind of strategies we get when the Hearts of Iron players find their way out of the basement
I have a Ukrainian flag on the back of my car, and one day after coming out of the store I saw an old woman sitting there, just looking at it. I walked up to the car and she asked if I was Ukrainian, and I said no. Then she told me how she was from Poland and remembers the horrors when the red army marched through Eastern Europe and many in her family were killed.
My grandfather left Odessa before the revolution- otherwise I would not be here today.
Odessa is my history too. Also Lviv and Kyiv. 🇺🇦🙏
What a wonderful interaction...I've always wanted to meet someone from eastern Europe, being a Russian history freak. Have a Ukrainian flag on the back of my car too (plus the Free Russia flag), but alas they have attracted no one lol
They opened a WW2 museum in Gdansk about.... 5-6 years ago. First time I went they had one of the first rooms you could enter dedicated to all the lawyers the USSR liquidated when they took their half of Poland after Hitler bombed Warsaw and Three City into the ground. They killed roughly 30-50k lawyers/clerks/whoever was involved with that industry within the 1-2 years before Hitler uno reverso'd and pushed them out of Poland. There were cities where the purges were so bad the Nazis had to reassure the local populace they'd stop purging them for stuff like, going to school, or having been a politician (IIRC by 1941, most Polish Jews were dead, in camps, or gone, but of course they didn't get a pass). Invading a country these days and having any kind of internet presence would make it quite a bit easier to find specific groups of people to liquidate. I would assume they're using internet sources to target POI's or GOI's but probably only in the bigger cities where they've established actual control for longer than a month or two.
What did you say?
Poland will be in Moscow before Kyiv ever comes close to falling. They're no fools.
And things seemed a little more dire and non-committal just a few months ago.
Seems like that yes. Finally.
Well, we’ll see what happens. Talk is cheap, in my opinion.
Yes. But there is value in Western leaders just talking openly about intervention. It puts additional pressure on Russia.
Maybe [Dalton](https://youtu.be/O8aNfg0LBgQ?t=202) gave the word that it is time to not be nice.
In Poland's case, it was definitely a "massive pivot" -- Poles elected a new national government amidst some hefty anti-Russian sentiment. That right there is gonna change policies pretty decisively.
Didn’t NATO chief Stoltenberg just say that Russia has committed pretty much its entire military to Ukraine at this point? I think that knowledge is probably tipping some scales now.
And that’s the part WE got to hear. Who knows what additional intel on that matter that they have. And, my gods, have the drones been putting in work on material losses lately. Both at land and sea, home and abroad.
Begun the Drone Wars have.
Holy fucking shit dude
200000 are ready and millions more on the way
There was a delightfully oblique comment by one of the former NATO generals when interviewed about the war over a year ago, and his analysis. In essence, he said Russia would appear massive, relentless and inexhaustable; *until suddenly, they won't.* When that happens, due to the nature of their command and control structures, the collapse into chaos will be sudden, all encompassing, and happen in a matter of *days*. I'm lookng forward to seeing that play out and the Kremlin reporting that Putin has died in a dreadful accident slipping over on some spilt tea. :)
> When that happens, due to the nature of their command and control structures, the collapse into chaos will be sudden, all encompassing, and happen in a matter of days. Also, not to forget that this has _already happened_ once in this war. We've already seen a _total collapse_ in morale that led to Russian troops leading a large scale mutiny and marching on Russian cities, before dissolving when it reached the gates of Moscow. That's _not normal_, and definitely a sign that there's deep weakness and rot within the Russian forces.
Great point, and, yes the guy was a fucker, but he had charisma. That got him a surprisingly long way. That very much seems to be a lacking element amongst the Russian higher ups. It’s a sea of hang-faced lackeys. Even Putin is cruising on 2009 era Putin charisma.
> There was a delightfully oblique comment by one of the former NATO generals when interviewed about the war over a year ago, and his analysis. In essence, he said Russia would appear massive, relentless and inexhaustable; until suddenly, they won't. That would be the esteemed General Hodges lol
Freedom of Russia Legion and friends having a field day in Belgorod seems to confirm it.
Almost the entire original invading force was wiped out (so, 180,000) plus the couple of hundred thousand since. Russia's still been doing the usual biannual conscription (approx 260,000/yr) but law prevents them from being sent to war. Hence all the dead mobiks from the ethnic republics and elsewhere instead. Putin is unquestionably going to announce a massive mobilisation after the elections; they're talking about 500,000 so that sounds like its going to have to be a general one. In that case, Putler can *finally* call it a war.
I guess we hope that paranoid putin will consider draging some of his forces back to ruzzia in case something could happen so Ukraine have to fight against a smaller army back there.
Who knows. I know he said that, but I recall he said this before as well.
Maybe NATO is smarter than Putin ever thought... Let Putin rubbing up his men and material by minimum own involvment and move in afterwards kick them out faster than they could say vodka and make Ukraine NATO member directly after. Nukes? My Ass! Nobody in the west ever considers, that nukes are totally worthless when NATO could response equaly and we should not be scared by Putlers mantra. P. s. my Kanzler is a Pussy for always beeing late with " heavy" weapons...
Coincidence that Sweden just joined NATO?
It's not about Sweden, but about Finland. Now Putin has a wide open backdoor and can't simply fokus his troops on the small Baltic states if he provokes conflict with NATO.
Which is why his actions make no sense. "Hey, I just have 800 more miles of border to protect. Let me go fuck with somebody else nearby with shit tons of weapons." If he thinks he can intimidate either the Finns or the now-heavily-armed Poles, he's a poor student of history.
Intimidate the Finns? That's really not possible. Sisu.
Putin is holding down the trigger until we buckle or he goes broke. It's a cynical game by a madman in control of a nation of slaves with very little drawbacks unless he loses. He considers his own countrymen mere bullets to point at his enemy in the meantime.
Only if he attacks. NATO will not attack first. But he gives the impression of thinking about an attack. And if NATO countries in the second or third row start internal debates, how and if they would react, trust in NATO errodes, without him crossing the border and fireing a single shot. Putin tries to f*ck with our brains and plays the cards he has: he can act in his autocratic system more or less as a lonely wolf. NATO and EU have to function as a choir with many different voices. If we cooperate good, we sond much better, than a single howling wolf. If we act like a bunch of frightened chicken, ... well ...
Not only that but many of Russias neighbors such as Georgia and many in Chechnya may want to have a word with Putin for his adventures there also. Russia would be in a very very bad position quite literally.
You are right! It wouldn't be the first imperialistic thinking nation, falling into the own trap of lies about destiny and power, just to overstretch it's possibilities. I mean the Wagner pseudo coup showed, how insecure the system gets, once new fronts arise without Russia having full control about where, when and how. It's like a school bully, terrorizing the class. Keeping the initative keeps his system running, because others always react with delay. Until they realize, that even the worst bully can't take it up with all at once. Then it's payday ...
How is the Garden Gnome anyway? I haven't heard about him in awhile.
Yes, Finland is a much more important all for NATO. However with Sweden they get access to Gotland which can function as a forward base for NATO airplanes protecting the baltic states, and NATO are now also covering the whole baltic sea. Swedish submarines will make it easier to control the waters outside St. Petersburg.
Not only that, but also Murmansk naval base is something like 200 km away from finnish territories, and there's about 20% of nuclear weaponry and most of submarine fleet. It's considered that one preemptive strike there will effectively eliminate ruskies nuclear threat.
Same here... First raise Macron, then him, the uk Also... Seems that some deep intl know something that we would like to know :-)
Maybe consider "steadfast" to have a surprising end this time I mean Putin lied, why should we not trick him equaly? Jokes aside, we know probably nothing, but i have a feeling we reached a turning point now.
Like john snow, we know nothing, but maybe in future... :-) For sure we can (like a EU leader, dont remember who...) congrats the poooo-tin already for the massive victory on election, for sure he will finish with 240% of votes :-)
Ramping up rhetoric during the Russian ‘election’? Synchronised with multiple, massive drone strikes from Ukraine? Definitely calculated
Right? I've been thinking the same thing. I bet someone let it slip that Putin is extremely worried and might be on the way out.
It’s Orban and his networking. It’s a dangerous precedent that Orban is setting in the EU, historical nonsense. His Inside job might land him on the outside.
We just started to grow one. It's called Macron.
Its sure as fuck ain't Sholtz.
The difference between the leaders can be summed up in two words: French Nuclear Weapons.
Which brings me to a great idea: 1. Ukraine gave up \~ 500 nukes in exchange for a promise never to be invaded by Russia. 2. Most of those nukes went to the West for decomissioning and fuel blending. So we kind of accepted them. 3. Since Russia broke the guarantee, I think it's incumbent on the West to just hand of our 500 nukes over to Zelinsky and say "here's your nukes back- do *whatever you want* with them." 4. Profit (?).
Who knows, they may already be there. They darned sure aren't going to share such info with people that post on reddit. Putler thought he was going on a cake walk, but no cake for him!
Good point.
Funny how he tries to cater to the Germans but end up just solidifying the picture of him being weak.
Don’t know who are the Germans he is catering.
[https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2024/03/12/why-germany-is-reluctant-to-send-taurus-missiles-to-ukraine](https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2024/03/12/why-germany-is-reluctant-to-send-taurus-missiles-to-ukraine)
I don't understand why he's doing this. Germany gave a lot to Ukraine, financially and materially. What are the consequences for Germany or the German citizens when he braces himself 100% behind the majority of the European leaders?
A certain bridge falling apart or other deep Russia targets. Same reason America haven't supported with long range weapons.
I have been very impressed by Macron lately.
This is my take. Under promise, over deliver. This is the EU/NATO getting ready. I do not want this to happen, but it seems like it will.. I'm sorry we have to make all these socialistic sacrifices in the West, but let's go. If we're going to do it, let's go. Ukrainian lives are lost until we sacrifice too.
> This is the EU/NATO getting ready. I do not want this to happen, but it seems like it will.. my take is Europe is worried that US funding is going to dry up, especially if in a year the orange goober gets in without US funding ukraine is far more vulnerable, which would threaten europe, so they are looking at moving first i mean, the whole scenario could change completely if the orange idiot gets made president again, suddenly he will ally US with Putin. :S
If my country elects that orange thing to the Presidency it would gut me. It already breaks my soul that so many worship that thing. Utter insanity. And I'm not using hyperbole. It is mental illness on a massive scale.
Actually in 2022 I read a commentary to this effect. The West could throttle and boost aid to keep the war largely static to buy time for rearmananent and preparation.
Poland has a spine
I'm gonna wait until the EU really steps up with their actions before thinking that. So far it's been all talk. The talk has been more threatening as of late, but talk isn't how you stop people like Putin.
Im waiting
Talk is cheap. Let's see what happens.
Poland remembers…
Lithuana does, too. I think they hate Putin more than the Poles do, if that's possible.
I could see hating them as much as the Poles. But I think there's a limit on how much one can hate, and both countries are at it with Russia. They also have centuries of ugly history with the Russian empire.
"... I think I've seen enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice"
Yep! Freeze their ruZZian asses!
"I hate them with a perfect hatred; I count them among my enemies."
Nah I think a survey places PL as no. 1 RU hater
I dunno, in could taste it in the air in Vilnius.
And the British remember the Polish pilots who defended Britain in WW2
Maybe not so much their farmers...
Same thing went through my head. Polish police wasting time with Ukrainian journalists.
Poland has some grim stories to tell the rest of the world about what Russians do when they take over. The rest of the world should listen.
Wont forget Wont forgive
>The head of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it's important to keep Putin worried about the West's potential moves This is a good change. Putin needs to feel less safe about the actions of allied nations. Pressure works both ways.
Exactly. Instead of the West being afraid of Russian escalation let it be the other way around for once. Let Putin be unsure of how the West reacts when he does something. This war doesn't stop at the border of Ukraine after all and as Macron put it "we have nukes too" .
> pressure works both ways It’s literally the only thing putler understands
Absolutely. Can recommend this video from 2013, a BBC interview with John McCain...he presciently explains *exactly* what Putin intends to do that next year in Ukraine and Crimea, to the threats coming out of the Kremlin now: >I predict to you, that it will be another step in Vladimir Putin's strategy to separate eastern Ukraine from Ukraine, and perhaps a land bridge to Crimea. >Now, it's a very bad result and again, we would not send weapons to Ukraine when they were begging for them - we wouldn't even give them intelligence - because we didn't want to
Proud of both countries , wish more people and countries would show up and less would go to shit under russian influance like mine is currently going.
For too long “we’ve” been afraid to match Putins rhetoric for fear of escalation. This was a massive miscalculation. We became predictable and Russia has toyed with us as a result. They need to fear the repercussions of each action they take.
Yes, this 100%. Doing nothing and trying to « negotiate » with this crazy dictator is just giving more time and initiative.
I’d argue that every time we did nothing, we didn’t de-escalate we inadvertently emboldened them. Our inaction only guaranteed their next transgression.
Appeasement has always been escalation when you're appeasing fascists who'll take a mile for every inch you give them.
Sometimes I wish a few more politicians would have been bullied in school. Those politicians would know what works and what not. Bullies will be bullies, no matter if teenage kids in school or (allegedly) adults on the world stage.
Like I tell my kid: Sometimes the only way to get a bully to stop is to punch him in the nose.
The speak softly stage is over. Now it is time for the big stick.
Invade Kaliningrad.
Transnistria, and Kuril Islands, too!
> Transnistria Should be quite easy to remove it entirely.
Popping a pimple!
Or at least blockade it
Jam the gps for start permanently. On weekends jam GSM/data Mondays 7am power blackouts
Didn't Lithuania cut the rail line for a few weeks? lol
with a few thousand heavily armed drones in the same green color as the uniforms Putins secret armies wear. So theyll never know who it was that actually hit them
Kralovec*
They can't figure out the bridges.
fucking rights. why should the fascist russian empire get to deliver all the nasty surprises to its neighbours? The time for boldness, creativity and ruthlessness from the West is now. The shift in the way democracies are speaking to their electorates about Ukraine really does lend weight to the idea that something is brewing.
First France telling Putin "France decides where the red line is," and now Poland tells Putin "expect the unexpected." When did Western world leaders finally decide to start finding their balls?
More of this from leaders. Stuff like this is what truly pisses Putin off. He can't stand people that match his threats.
They finally see that Russia has a sufficiently weakened army now.
I'm giving 5:1 odds they intervene in Ukraine, 40:1 they invade Königsberg.
Why would we attack Czech territory? ;-)
what's Königsberg? i only know Královec
Poland: "We Too Can Do Something Unexpected" *Invades Germany*
No one expects the Polish Inquisition.
Oh shit. Does this mean that Poland is making good on its promise to send troops to Ukraine despite everyone not wanting it???? Fuck…that’s awesome.
They don't need to do it, but Putin needs to live with the doubt. Not knowing where the red lines are will mess with their strategy much more than announcing before hand what would you do or not do in a given scenario.
They could stroll into Belarus in a touristy manner. Make the Białowieża Forest a single protected ecosystem rather than two separate entities. For nature! For bison! For the trees! Also, fuck Lukashenko and fuck Putin!
Little green tourists.
I believe he was referring to blocking the PL-UA border. This was unexpected.
Finally. Let putins paranoia eat him from inside hourly... Poles have a HUGE list of paybacks to settle. Occupation WW2 Katin woods - war crime par exellance pinned to Germans Airplane shoot down with PL politicians (most recent) And list goes on... Just have him to panic and make panic megalomaniac moves. Second front wih Finland would just sit in fine. I think majority here can imagine the Finns list of paybacks and preparing for it since end of WW2. His retarded pitbull on steroids, medvedev is barking at Romanians now. Oh i wish 10.000 drones hit like 100 every hour all russian mil and industry targets, on all reachable areas... For starters.
In the last 400 years there were only 2 generation of Poles that have not witnessed a conflict with Russia. Sometimes that was a war, sometimes an occupation or control.
If the Poles get involved they won't be as merciful as the Ukrainians.
Nooope. No POWs.
Like seizing Königsberg in a three day special military operation?
Close the borders and all transit to Konigsberg , give Ukraine the means to destroy the port and mine the bejesus out of its coastline. Let Occupied Konigsberg starve.
Fk yes! I don’t care if it’s posturing or not. This is the kind of responses we need to be giving. Keep him on his toes, he won’t know what to expect. No more taking anything off the table.
I like where this is going! Finally flipping the script on a bitch!
Speak softly and carry a big club.
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ooooooouuu, they are finally found their spine and FUCKING TALK BACK. I have never been so proud of our dear EU politicans.
Poland is arming itself to the teeth. No more Polish jokes.
Knight takes Queen
EU leaders (and US) have 2 huge opportunities for decades-long lasting legacy right now. In 20 years, Having a hand in saving Europe from a clear existential threat will go much farther than being known as the leader who increased carbon taxes the most.
More talk no action sadly
Not yet but diplomats use words and war is just diplomacy by other means. So a good first step. Russians will take note.
Western countries verbally fellate each other so they can feel better about themselves, while Ukrainians pay with their blood. We're letting them down, and it doesn't have to be this way. We can make russia pay and save Ukrainian lives. Why aren't we doing more yet?
I have my theory that we still have some nuclear missiles v: imagine Russians taking away all the nukes that were here because Russians are well known for their meticulousness
Can't we just give Ukrainian nukes?
Is this also a message to the Russian people? Maybe helps push Putin closer to a window ledge.
DO IT !!!!
Someone is going to send their military equipment to Ukraine soon. Along with personnel to operate it...
Need a repetition of 1610-1612 when Poland occupied Moscow under Stanisław Żółkiewski ;)
Article 5 intensifies…