Any chance pretty much all the numbers we’ve been getting are routinely obfuscated? I don’t know one way or the other.
I’m not so sure, … you could still have a weak-sauce missile-attack on Kiew (just “because” and have Joe run for shelter in front of cameras) … w/out a chance of killing Joe.
kiew is not a small town … population-wise it would be the 3rd biggest city in the US - bigger than Chicago …
That’s a fair point.
“I know what you’re thinking: did he fire six shots, or only five?”
Bakhmut is holding for dear life: now did the Ukrainians fire 37,320 counter-battery rounds or only 37,319?..
Did the USA announced numbers for Lend Lease in WWII?
If Russia started launching missiles at Kyiv while Biden was there, the USAF would have sent the jets it had to have had on standby to neutralize the source of the fire, in order to protect the president, and the result would have been the same. Nobody gets to shoot in the general direction of the President of the United States and live.
All in all, it was a good thing the Russians didn’t try anything.
And let the US announce that they’re investing $100Billion in new “Super Nukes”. Doesn’t even have to be a real thing, Russia will still panic.
while I completely agree with your last sentence - you are aware that Kiew is rougly 60miles/100km from Belarus, where missiles are being fired on a fairly ongoing basis …
… whereas the closest possible US-plane would be 600+km away …
… my point - had Putin interest in expanding the war, this would have been a good moment for him… from a plausible deniability POV.
A group of F-16 or F-35s flying into Belarus airspace from UKR while being engaged by a few AA-S400s (and possibly partially downed) … could easiy be spun from the RU into:
"While we were busy with our military operation, the US/Nato was attacking BERU / RU 600km behind the NATO border, and deep in the heartland - Seit 5:45 Uhr wird jetzt zurückgeschossen. … while showing a steaming heap of one or two F-whatevers, downed by them.
Again, possibly not the smartest move, but if P. wants to drag BERU into the war and expand it, this would have presented a good moment.
Pics. of Biden having to take off and being threatened while on the train could easily make for a messy “narrative” - and all of you who remember the 1980 Iran hostage crisis (and its impact on Carter’s presidency) - can visualize that this might be the shot of oxygen that D.Trump needs for running/winning in 2024 - AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A HUGE P. WIN.
glad it didn’t - but the point stands - there was a lot of “reputational” risk involved for Biden and the RU could easily have “brought him into a tricky situation”
mod: if that post is "too far out " feel free to lock it/move it/burn it with fire
Someone, with more time than me, could run the numbers against Benford’s Law.
That’s a good question. I don’t know.
Can you imagine the stroke Putin would have if the US acquired a couple L.L. bases and ports in Ukraine?
He would just see it as confirmation of his world view.
Given the Russians had been alerted a few hours in advance, I daresay part of the communication was a clear statement of what would happen if any harm to the President was even remotely attempted.
Indeed.
I would imagine that something was in place less provocative than having a squadron of F-22s flying near Russian airspace at mach 2.
Lend Lease numbers were publicized, used as propaganda for foreign countries (to give aid and comfort to our allies and to intimidate our enemies) and also to bolster domestic support for the war.
There’s a booklet about LL used for domestic consumption; here to rebut charges by isolationists that LL was only benefitting our allies, not ourselves. I’ve made the web reference go directly to the page that shows itemized total shipments to the USSR by the time of the booklet’s publication - LL to other Allies is generally given therein by dollar value.
A lot of the arguments in it, frankly, could be used for the current Ukraine situation as well - how can lives be weighed against goods, and how the U.S. benefits from a better world in the long run through the provision of Lend Lease. It’s a good quick read, naturally written in very simple terms. directed against the America Firsters of the 1940s.
Thanks, Sunup. My total knowledge of Lend Lease was FDR speaking about loaning a hose to a neighbor with a burning house.
Alternatively, if Biden walking around Kyiv with air-raid sirens going off* is good PR, showing solidarity with Ukraine and personal courage, then Kyiv or the President’s train coming under fire while Biden was there would’ve been even better PR (albeit not something I would hope for). Ducking – more realistically, going into a bomb shelter – isn’t a lack of courage, even if certain elements of the media would spin it otherwise.
It’s not the same thing, of course, but Buckingham Palace being bombed in the London Blitz didn’t cause the British public to wonder what the royal family was doing in harm’s way, it caused them to respect them more.
*I understand the sirens were a call to a moment of silence, not an actual air-raid warning.
Especially after the Queen (Consort) got to talk about it (ETA: quote not from John_Bredin, but pasted from Wikipedia):
Elizabeth said, “I’m glad we’ve been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.”
It’s that kind of statement of defiance and shared sacrifice that Zelenskyy made when he said “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.”