Prophylactic defenestration?
Prefenestration?
Meanwhile Chinese state media has shown a map of what Russia might look like after its collapse.
I’m guessing those red bits are where the natural resources are.
Or is that playing up to the Russian “This is what the West wants to do to us” line?
I did wonder that but if that was the case i reckon you would see more NATO and less China on that map. Admittedly however, I don’t know the full context.
Damn I think I got duped. Sorry everyone.
Upgraded T-80 tanks from Pakistan to Ukraine possible. Upgraded tanks with the diesel engine vs. the turbine.
I would much rather read, “44 T-80 tanks arrived in Ukraine from Pakistan.”
Nvm - apparently the news media got trolled.
That would be nice. I wonder how difficult the logistics of such a transfer would be. Presumably the transfer would be via American transport planes. The route going west is shorter, but would involve flying over Iraq, or maybe Egypt if they take a slightly longer route. The alternative would be to go the very long way east across the Indian and Pacific oceans, the US, then the Atlantic and Europe. Maybe a naval transport, all the way around Africa and then north up to the Baltic, dropping them off in Poland, would be a viable alternate route? Either way it seems like it’s going to be a challenge to get them there.
From an article in the Telegraph, reprinted in the National Post:
Mothers in Russia met with Putin, and said he should stop sending their sons to the front with poor training and no ammunition.
In a rare acknowledgment of government failings, Putin told a group of mothers he felt “their pain” at a choreographed meeting. He has also said “mistakes” were made in the call-up to reinforcements.
Despite this, the Kremlin has hinted at a second mobilization. MPs have proposed a law to give Russia’s National Guard more power to enforce military draft orders and another that will allow property to be confiscated from Russians who flee abroad.
Right. Looks like the only “mistake” he thinks he made in the mobilization was not being harsh enough.
Xi to speak to Zelensky in a virtual meeting:
The private armies being formed by Russian companies will be useful to them after Russia collapses and descends into warlordism:
Not everyone appears to be thrilled with private military companies, however.
The idea of Putin’s administration deliberately bleeding internal rivals’ armies to ineffectiveness feels likely.
And I thought the constant squabbling in WWII between the IJN and Imperial Army was a recipe for defeat. For a paranoid society it’s surely failing to pull together and protect Rodina.
I would add a fair pinch of salt to anything appearing in Bild, and the Daily Express.
Forbes is reporting that Russia is running out of T-72s faster than previously thought with only a third of them left. The NATO tanks will make mincemeat out of these. The British challenger 2 tank fought against Soviet style tanks in Iraq and they didn’t lose a single unit.
Did Iraq field T-72s in the Gulf War?
How do you feel about the ISW, who has been a prominent analyst of the conflict so far?
Yes - how many they had available at any one time would have varied and they were of various models, but over 1,000 were delivered to Iraq over the years, plus about 100 local variants. They performed reasonably well in the late 1970’s against similarly elderly Iranian tanks (British Chieftains, most notably). The current Iraq army still has a couple hundred.
If he were so worried about NATO moving in, why the hell wasn’t Putin building modern tanks instead of invading countries?