Posts by Kate Lewis3

goldenowl73 said:Looks like those Baryaktars are about to get some serious upgrades with some fresh ordnance.

The US is actually shipping out laser-guided rockets 🚀 specifically to boost the punch of those Turkish made drones. https://t.co/nFo4plqtnG

This one right here is a legendary troll job aimed at the Russians:
"Since the Russians are now claiming they've wiped out 37 out of the 35 Bayraktars in the Ukrainian fleet—talk about an impressive 106% kill rate!"

boldotter2 said:This looks like prep work for future offensives. I mean, you just can't have a breakthrough without heavy artillery support.
It’s going to be tough defending Donbas with Donetsk right on the front line within range of heavy guns. I guess the same goes for all the other strongholds too.

The only place where Russia might actually hold onto control is Crimea, mostly because of Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet. Everything else? I bet it'll all just reintegrate voluntarily once things get a bit more intense on the battlefield. Honestly, the separatists seem totally checked out already. They probably realize pretty quickly that they're the ones who'll be on the chopping block first, not Putin, or anyone from Moscow or Chechnya.

Not if they don't have a Black Sea Fleet to begin with.

coastalmarlin64 said:What's the verdict? Any thoughts?

He could've easily pushed into those regions without obsessing over taking Kyiv, especially since they already bled out so many elite units and trashed an insane amount of gear trying to grab the capital. It just feels like more of the same—people twisting the narrative to claim this was the grand master plan all along.

Timothy Nelson5 said:The Ukrainian military inherited about 300 of those similar self-propelled howitzers from the old USSR days, not to mention another thousand or so of various other calibers, big and small.
A German M1 Abrams system would be much more advanced, I suppose.

Maybe the better way to help right now, in the middle of all this fighting, would just be providing them with more of those Soviet-style howitzers they already have—the kind their crews actually know how to use and where the ammo is already sitting in warehouses...

Plus, it means sending ammo they can actually grab from the Russians.

Thomas Nelson25 said:Honestly, they might be better off taking those old howitzers from East Germany..
Or... just stick to stuff they actually know (or can learn fast) how to use.
Basically, give them anything "heavy" from the USSR era.

Besides, they were asking for tanks too—presumably, that's happening behind the scenes.
The real headache is Canada—they won't let anything transit through their territory, and they haven't even donated a single round of ammo.

The only thing I don't get is how they think they can actually deploy these things quickly. Most Western tanks run with a four-person crew and they weigh about 20 tons more than what's currently on the ground. Sure, you could probably scavenge some old Soviet junk from former Eastern Bloc countries, but given what they're working with right now? Those Ukrainian farmers are productive, but they aren't turning dirt into heavy armor.

They should be asking for ammo instead. It'd actually make a difference.

Amy Diaz22 said:The bottom line is this: they can produce goods of that magnitude all on their own, whether it's for their own people or selling to whoever else is out there. Sure, exports will take a hit, but they'll be charging much higher prices to compensate. That's enough to keep them breathing for now; they can figure out their next move later.

Yeah, provided anyone actually wants to buy that junk. Once the dust settles in Ukraine, I don't see anyone from the Middle East even looking at their weapons or military tech. That's assuming they can even build anything under all these sanctions (they can't even get tanks rolling as we speak). Honestly, they haven't been able to pull off their most advanced systems even before all this mess started.

Arthur Miller7 said:Honestly, I was fully expecting them to be able to totally shield Chicago from all those missiles and airstrikes, but then... nothing. I just don't get it—so much stuff is being sent over there, yet Chicago is right near the border and boom, fuel depots gone, then that training center gets hit too. I mean, aren't you supposed to expect that area to at least be a fortress?

Look, the Israeli Iron Dome is advertised at a 90% success rate, and even then, stuff still slips through the cracks. Ukrainians don't have anything even remotely close to that level of tech.

Carl Lee27 said:We used to joke about how Russia was arming Ukraine, but now it looks like they actually have significantly more tanks on the ground than they did when the war first kicked off.
Maybe this belongs in one of those meme threads... word is the police in the Poltava region seized 11 tanks, among other things

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/...56959057956897

By the end of this whole saga, Ukraine might just end up adding something akin to the 2nd Amendment to their Constitution. Only instead of the right to bear arms, Americans in Ukraine will be fighting for the right to own armored vehicles.

rowdyraven112 said:Oh sure, and the working class is going to foot the entire bill. ☕

They're buying 4th-gen jets, they're buying Bradley fighting vehicles. The Prime Minister is only even thinking about getting a Patriot missile system just so he can act tough. For Christ's sake, the average salary is $70,000. We've got the money, if we want to spend it. ☕

Living next door to those barbarians from the East comes with a price tag. For Ukrainians and Americans alike.

casualtiger2 said:That’s 13,000 anti-tank rounds—not even counting what they already have in stock.
Why on earth do they need that many when Russia doesn't even have that many tanks left?

Look, they're probably just wiping out every single armored vehicle in sight. Plus, you have to wonder how many shots it actually takes to land a hit—I highly doubt it's a perfect 1:1 ratio.

Morgan Morales4 said:In my view, the only certain result of these sanctions against Putin is the weakening of the EU—specifically Germany—and the worst part is that people don't seem to grasp what that actually looks like on the ground. Everyone forgets about the practical stuff: losing hot water in hospitals, or heating issues in ICUs, pediatric wards, daycare centers, and schools... I could go on. Now, the German Foreign Minister is talking about having to find housing for 8 million refugees across the EU. These economic sanctions show absolutely no sign of breaking Vladimir Putin or removing him politically, and there's no guarantee the world will be any better afterward, especially since two-thirds of the globe didn't join in on sanctioning Russia.

The kicker? They kicked Gazprom off the European market, even though they were the ones controlling gas storage in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. They kept those levels low on purpose just to keep the European Union from pulling the trigger on sanctions before the aggression against Ukraine started.

nimbleharbor10 said:We won't, because we have a dedicated specialist sitting in a high position whose entire job seems to be insulting people constantly; he's already insulted the Ukrainians, but he could certainly manage to do it several more times.

The F-4 Phantom II isn't a completely impossible option, but attempting to fly them against Su-30s and dense Air Defense is likely bordering on suicidal.

The real question is whether any F-16s can actually be found to replace those Polish F-16s on short notice—perhaps pulling from a National Guard unit, given the promised future upgrades—because there simply is no time to manufacture them. Years of small orders have driven production capacity down to an absolute minimum.

At one point, the USA purchased about twenty of those jets from what I believe was Moldova, though who knows what kind of condition they're actually in.

It also remains to be seen if those 30 F-16s will make any meaningful difference for Ukraine. If they aren't paired correctly, a single Iskander strike and they're gone. It would probably be more effective for them to secure better Air Defense systems first, but NATO is already facing its own shortages and relies heavily on aircraft for airspace control. You can't just mass-produce those quickly either, because no sane company is going to keep production lines running hot without guaranteed orders.

If you listen to Wikipedia, they were sitting on maybe 37 before the invasion started. Sounds like the Russians managed to snag some of them on the ground, so getting 30 would probably actually put them ahead of where they started.

goldendrifter11 said:

The deal would involve Ukraine receiving Russian-made warplanes from Germany, which would in turn be given F-16s by the US.

That sounds like a massive win for Poland. 👍

Do we still have any of those MiGs left in the inventory? 🙂

(And here's the link to the article—it’s free to read, no paywall.

Poland’s rocking F-16s, while the US is barely scraping by with some old junk. I mean, let's not insult the Ukrainians.

Though, honestly, it would be a nice little win after that absolute disaster with the repairs in Odessa.

hollowdriver13 said:

silverotter72 Asks:
So, looks like those sanctions finally started hitting home, even for the guy running half the show.
So, I was just catching up on the latest news, and man, Putin is really leaning into this narrative about how the conflict in Ukraine is basically his fault for being "pushed" by the West. It’s wild how he tries to spin it like he's the one being cornered, rather than the guy who actually started the whole mess. He’s out there claiming that all this tension was inevitable because of how the West has been expanding its influence, acting like he had no choice but to react. It’s pretty much the same old song and dance we've seen before—lots of finger-pointing and trying to shift the blame onto everyone else to justify what he's doing. Honestly, listening to these speeches feels a bit like watching a bad movie where the villain tries to convince you they're actually the hero. He keeps pushing this idea that the US and the EU are the ones driving everything toward a massive confrontation, when in reality, the whole situation is a direct result of his own decisions. Anyway, just my two cents while I sip my coffee. It’s a lot to wrap your head around, especially when you realize how much of this is just pure political theater designed to play to his base back home. Just stay skeptical, folks.

It’s gonna be wild seeing how things play out once the forex markets kick off this Monday. I'm honestly pretty stoked to see what happens.

🤔

It’s been ten days since...Honestly, nobody can touch us. We’re stronger than fate itself.Honestly, saying that the weight of these sanctions is basically a declaration of war? That's some heavy stuff right there.
But man, he was acting all high and mighty, claiming they’ve totally got the tools and the capacity to just soak up those sanctions like they're nothing. 😬
It just goes to show how much these guys leaned too hard on their own assumptions. You can clearly see they totally underestimated how the West would react. They were banking on internal bickering and hoping everyone would be too hesitant to slap on heavy sanctions because of the lingering fallout from the pandemic. Honestly, they probably thought they could just coast through this, treating it like some minor skirmish over Crimea and expecting nothing to change.

That alleged mistress of Putin’s—some gymnast or whatever she is—has been whining for a while now. She’s out there crying about how Maddox was allowed to run wild back in the America days, and then suddenly they hit them with sanctions. Give me a break. The West is just being difficult, especially since Slobodan Maddox didn't even have... nukzor.

Carl Sanders5 said:You guys are being way too optimistic about these sanctions, honestly. I’m not seeing it. Russians are used to this stuff; it's practically part of their routine. How long did the Cold War even last? Over 30 years, right? And they still functioned just fine.

There are over 30 million people living out in Siberia. Every single year, they deal with summer water shortages and three-month stretches of winter gas rationing when it hits -40. They know exactly what poverty feels like.

As for the middle class—whose quality of life is about to tank—they’re just going to bail. We're already hearing reports that trains heading from Russia toward Norway are packed to capacity.

Sure, the economy will take a massive hit in the long run, but IMO? Don't hold your breath for some big political breakthrough. It's a long shot.

The thing is, the Soviet Union went belly up when it was actually way stronger economically than Russia is today. You had the war in Afghanistan, that whole arms race with the USA, plus Chernobyl—which was basically a freak accident, not some grand strategic move.

Who cares if "Russians are used to misery." If you want to fund a war, fund an army, or fund anything at all, you need cash. And they aren't going to get it.

Michael Davis9 said:That’s definitely true, but they—just like the United States—are printing money like there's no tomorrow. And man, you can see that inflation just keeps climbing and climbing...

Standard operating procedure. Their moves aren't tied to sanctions against Russia, whereas any attempt by Russia to defend the ruble is strictly dictated by those very sanctions.

Ever since senile Biden and his Build Back Better plan took the reins, the US has been cranking the printing presses to fund these absolutely insane projects, fueling inflation long before any Russian aggression in Ukraine ever happened.

hiddeneagle98 said:Hmm, let me think about that...

The Euro only dropped about 1.5% against the Dollar or the Yankee today.

Meanwhile, the Ruble tanked by 3% against the Dollar.

Honestly, things aren't looking too great for the EU either..

The EU isn't burning through its reserves just to keep its head above water.

It’s exactly what Putin predicted: liberal democracies are soft, led by weaklings, and just plain full of losers. From his "alpha male" worldview, why would you ever fear a nation run by a senile old man and a pack of smug hyenas who care more about hitting diversity quotas in the military—putting a trans woman in command just because she fits a checklist—than actually being ready for a fight? And don't even get me started on those pathetic, clownish recruitment commercials they put out.

And let's not forget about bloated, lazy Europe. They aren't willing to sacrifice an ounce of their own comfort to isolate Russia until it bleeds out, and they certainly won't step up to do anything meaningful. It isn't just about Ukraine, either; look at the pressure they're putting on full EU members like Sweden and Finland.

While the West spends all its time marching in ridiculous parades and encouraging men to act more feminine, it’s no wonder someone like Putin looks at us the way Germans looked at the US before World War I: just a bunch of weaklings and playboys.

If things were any different, they would have already made a move to sneak into Belarus and trigger the collapse of the Lukashenko regime.

Morgan Peterson said:On the contrary, I believe my colleague explained the situation perfectly. 👍
We don't just hand out partial bans like candy for a single controversial post; if that were the case, the thread author would have been sanctioned ages ago.
We are looking at ten full pages of various threads regarding the Coronavirus PDF, which implies this individual has been systematically violating the rules and ignoring warnings for at least a year.
And now, the streak finally comes to an end.
I wish the author a pleasant time browsing the rest of the Forum, and I truly hope they manage to learn something valuable from this experience.
Oh, one more thing—just a little heads-up: posting via a clone account of a partially banned user is treated with the same severity as posting via a clone of a permanently banned user. In short, it’s simply not worth the effort.

Look, it isn't about how much you post. I've only ever had two warnings, and for reasons I won't even bother speculating on, I got hit with a partial ban on the PDF. One of those two instances was just me commenting on how Western police handle things during recent protests compared to the Black Lives Matter protests—without being insulting or making stuff up.

It's pretty obvious it's a violation of the subforum rules, even though there's nowhere specifically stating we can't call out double standards when it comes to how different protests are treated.