Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse

The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. The Ukraine war thread

The Ukraine war thread

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
2.9k Posts 28 Posters 308.8k Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • R Offline
    R Offline
    Renauda
    wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 18:02 last edited by
    #1970

    Speaking of Lawrence, here’s Lawrence Freedman’s most recent Situation Report on the war in Ukraine:

    https://samf.substack.com/p/what-should-ukraine-do-next?utm_medium=web

    Elbows up!

    1 Reply Last reply
    • M Offline
      M Offline
      Mik
      wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 19:33 last edited by Mik
      #1971

      Good article, if not cheery. I think the major point is decisive victory is unlikely for either nation, but Russia's economy is so much smaller than the West's. The question is Ukrainian manpower. Weapons are important but you have to preserve the people to operate them.

      “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

      G R 2 Replies Last reply 30 Nov 2023, 19:40
      • M Mik
        30 Nov 2023, 19:33

        Good article, if not cheery. I think the major point is decisive victory is unlikely for either nation, but Russia's economy is so much smaller than the West's. The question is Ukrainian manpower. Weapons are important but you have to preserve the people to operate them.

        G Offline
        G Offline
        George K
        wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 19:40 last edited by
        #1972

        @Mik said in The Ukraine war thread:

        The question is Ukrainian manpower

        Indeed. I've seen reports that Russia has sustained >300K casualties. Considering the size of their military, that's not crippling (except, perhaps, in public opinion).

        Ukraine can't bear that kind of loss, and Russia will continue to throw troops into the grinder.

        "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

        The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

        1 Reply Last reply
        • M Mik
          30 Nov 2023, 19:33

          Good article, if not cheery. I think the major point is decisive victory is unlikely for either nation, but Russia's economy is so much smaller than the West's. The question is Ukrainian manpower. Weapons are important but you have to preserve the people to operate them.

          R Offline
          R Offline
          Renauda
          wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 20:23 last edited by
          #1973

          @Mik

          This morning in a Zoom scrum between friends and former colleagues, we parsed through Freedman’s report. One of our number with considerably more experience in these matters than I, expressed his concern that he senses a growing risk of fraying in team Kyiv as to what and how to adjust strategy while at the same time maintaining the necessary messaging to manage expectations on multiple fronts and levels.

          I suspect his concern is well founded.

          Elbows up!

          1 Reply Last reply
          • M Offline
            M Offline
            Mik
            wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 21:20 last edited by
            #1974

            It's a lot to maintain that fighting spirit as the Russian onslaught, incompetent though it may be, continues to wear them down.

            “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

            1 Reply Last reply
            • M Offline
              M Offline
              Mik
              wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 21:22 last edited by
              #1975

              Speaking of Russian competence...

              https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-troops-are-being-blown-up-by-their-own-minefields-because-their-leaders-won-t-say-where-they-are-ukraine-says/ar-AA1kMvEt?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=d3301936c16f4c89be763761bf1b15fa&ei=115

              “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

              1 Reply Last reply
              • G Offline
                G Offline
                George K
                wrote on 30 Nov 2023, 21:24 last edited by
                #1976

                "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                1 Reply Last reply
                • R Offline
                  R Offline
                  Renauda
                  wrote on 1 Dec 2023, 17:17 last edited by
                  #1977

                  Yesterday T. E. Lawrence just smiled, today it’s sardonic laughter:

                  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67593041

                  Elbows up!

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Mik
                    wrote on 1 Dec 2023, 17:21 last edited by
                    #1978

                    Smart. Ukraine cannot kill enough Russians to stop the war, but an ill-equipped army can't accomplish much of anything except get itself killed.

                    “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Renauda
                      wrote on 1 Dec 2023, 21:34 last edited by Renauda 12 Jan 2023, 21:35
                      #1979

                      More meat for the grinder….

                      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67592803

                      And somehow NATO is to blame.

                      Elbows up!

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • G Offline
                        G Offline
                        George K
                        wrote on 1 Dec 2023, 23:14 last edited by
                        #1980

                        https://www.statista.com/statistics/1334454/russian-armed-forces-personnel/

                        Screenshot 2023-12-01 at 5.13.37 PM.png

                        Even if the Ukrainian claim of 300K casualties is inflated by a factor of two, it's still a big hit.

                        "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                        The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • W Offline
                          W Offline
                          Wim
                          wrote on 2 Dec 2023, 22:15 last edited by
                          #1981

                          A diplomatic failure for Russia:

                          https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/12/02/ukraine-outmaneuvers-russia-at-osce-in-chemical-weapons-maritime-agencies/

                          R 1 Reply Last reply 3 Dec 2023, 00:13
                          • M Offline
                            M Offline
                            Mik
                            wrote on 2 Dec 2023, 22:35 last edited by
                            #1982

                            It would appear Russia does not fear isolation.

                            “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • W Wim
                              2 Dec 2023, 22:15

                              A diplomatic failure for Russia:

                              https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/12/02/ukraine-outmaneuvers-russia-at-osce-in-chemical-weapons-maritime-agencies/

                              R Offline
                              R Offline
                              Renauda
                              wrote on 3 Dec 2023, 00:13 last edited by
                              #1983

                              @Wim
                              The losses are significant from the Kremlin’s point of view in that it surely feels it has a right to entitlement to have a voting representative on both agencies’ governing bodies.

                              Big diplomatic win for Ukraine, EU and NATO.

                              Elbows up!

                              W 1 Reply Last reply 3 Dec 2023, 11:01
                              • R Renauda
                                3 Dec 2023, 00:13

                                @Wim
                                The losses are significant from the Kremlin’s point of view in that it surely feels it has a right to entitlement to have a voting representative on both agencies’ governing bodies.

                                Big diplomatic win for Ukraine, EU and NATO.

                                W Offline
                                W Offline
                                Wim
                                wrote on 3 Dec 2023, 11:01 last edited by
                                #1984

                                @Renauda I suppose Lavrov felt pretty uneasy. Who else is to be blamed for this debacle?

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Mik
                                  wrote on 3 Dec 2023, 11:41 last edited by
                                  #1985

                                  Here's what might help Putin out of office. Not sure where he's getting the cash for this expansion.

                                  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-orders-russian-armed-forces-personnel-increase-of-170-000/ar-AA1kTUtQ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=138bcec0f1bd4d798538c5f270b2d1c3&ei=17

                                  “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Jolly
                                    wrote on 3 Dec 2023, 18:51 last edited by
                                    #1986

                                    The average age of a Ukraine soldier is in the forties. Putin is playing a war of attrition, using bodies instead of equipment.

                                    Biden straddled the fence too long. Not the right equipment, not enough equipment, too many restrictions on use.

                                    Almost as if he was fighting a proxy war, trying to simply bleed the Russians.

                                    “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                                    Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • W Offline
                                      W Offline
                                      Wim
                                      wrote on 3 Dec 2023, 21:54 last edited by
                                      #1987

                                      Speaking of attrition:
                                      https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/12/03/frontline-report-russian-soldiers-refuse-to-attack-dnipro-islands-as-ukrainians-maintain-bridgehead-across-the-river/

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • W Offline
                                        W Offline
                                        Wim
                                        wrote on 8 Dec 2023, 22:27 last edited by
                                        #1988

                                        Another diplomatic failure for Russia:

                                        https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/12/08/armenia-azerbaijan-breakthrough-signals-end-of-russias-south-caucasus-influence/

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • R Offline
                                          R Offline
                                          Renauda
                                          wrote on 8 Dec 2023, 22:42 last edited by
                                          #1989

                                          We’ll see how long it takes for the Kremlin to withdraw its “peacekeepers” from the area.

                                          Elbows up!

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes

                                          1979/2882

                                          1 Dec 2023, 21:34


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          1979 out of 2882
                                          • First post
                                            1979/2882
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups