Politics

[rookhawk]

Another update from Ukraine - or Russia, I should more properly say. After attempting to drop it with a HIMARS rocket strike (four rockets), the Ukrainians rather decisively took out the Glushkovsky Bridge over the Seym River in Kursk. This is a significant river barrier and will make it very difficult, perhaps impossible for the Russian Army to maintain forces south of it. It is the first clear indication that I have seen, that the UA intends to potentially hold this territory for some period of time.

View attachment 626897

Secondly, it looks like it was taken out by a aircraft delivered JDAM. The clip below shows the the damage caused by the earlier HIMARS strike (they aren't really intended for dropping bridges, but bloody accurate aren't they), and then the typically precise hit by the JDAM. Interesting point about the JDAM is that a UA fighter bomber was able to successfully operate at altitude at the Russian border.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1etvqmh/ua_air_force_destroying_the_glushkovsky_bridge

From a purely military perspective, this whole incursion, however successful, would be deemed inconsequential. But wars are as much about political consequence as military ones.

If I was Ukraine, I'd take and hold as much territory in Russia as possible, then wait for Russia to sue for peace. In the end, Ukraine gets back its territories in a swap.

@Red Leg is that your read of the incursion strategy as well?

 

[rookhawk]

Can anyone explain to me why Russia is allowed to possess Koenigsberg? (Kaliningrad)

I heard 3-4 months ago that their over land supplies were being restricted and could easily be cut off. It's the strategic naval yards for the Russians, its isolated 1000 miles West of Moscow. It borders Poland and Lithuania, and without it the Russian fleet cannot have sustainable presence in the Baltic and North Seas.

It just seems a logical piece of dirt to deny the Russians, truly crippling their naval capabilities against NATO.

Obviously this would be an escalation since it doesn't border Ukraine, but wouldn't that be the target to seize to cut off Belarus supplying much of Russia's Navy?

 

[Brent in Az]

You know this country has gone to shit, when Harley Davidson goes woke.

 

[VertigoBE]

Yes, in an exchange with the West, the damage to the West would be enormous. But that done to Russia would be existential. Putin and Xi, let's not leave him out, fully realize this.

Especially if the Russian nuclear arsenal, as well as the troops operating them is of the same caliber as what has been thrown into the Ukraine meat grinder up until now. It might be a lot of paper strength.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Brent, Harely Davidson is not in the best financial health. Sales are down.

They most likely are forced to borrow capital.

There are very few ways to get capital. Let alone low interest capital. Unless your companies ESG scores are in the upper quartile.

It’s a long tedious process to do an annual audit and submit your corporate environmental impact; (metric tons of carbon emitted) water and energy usage.

Then comes DEI. What are you social Justice programs. Minority makeup, gender and LGBTQ ? Policies and inclusivity.

All of these topics are rolled into your overall ESG score

It’s an exhaustive annual submission.

Most employees know nothing about it because it’s done from HR and Senior executive level


Now the really bad news. This is coming down from Davos Switzerland and the global capitalists.

Black Rock equity and others have a huge impact on large corporations DEI policies. If you don’t do as they say you get no capital or the interest rates are so high you can’t afford them.

Just read up on the man that runs Black Rock and how he says citizens need to be led and forced into the “right” way of thinking. Read up on him and you’ll get where we are going as a country and why.

Also read up on the annual Davos summit.

Just as many things left leaning, it’s hard to find an honest report using a Google search They tend to hide any negative light being cast on the direction we are being forced into.

The best truly free and honest reporting comes from Hillsdale College. It’s hard to get the facts from the internet.



“Dear Mr. Vanconant,
Thank you for requesting Hillsdale College’s video series, “The Great Reset?”

Filmed on the Hillsdale campus, the series considers the idea of the Great Reset, its ramifications for America, and pro-freedom alternatives.



Below are links to each of the six videos in the series:

1. “What is the Great Reset?” by Michael Rectenwald
2. “Woke Capitalism vs. Profit” by Vivek Ramaswamy
3. “Cashless Society” by James Rickards
4. “Is ‘Environmental Justice’ Good for the Environment?” by Mark P. Mills
5. “The Great Reset from China’s Perspective” by David P. Goldman
6. “The Alternative to the Great Reset” by Brian Wesbury

Please enjoy your free video series about the Great Reset.

Warm regards,

Larry P. Arnn

President, Hillsdale College

Pursuing Truth and Defending Liberty Since 1844 “””

 

[Altitude sickness]

Please do yourself a huge financial favor. For you and your family. Listen to the videos in the links above. You won’t get this from Google. It’s not from Left or Right nut jobs.

The video “ Cashless society” is the most disturbing to me. And it’s coming.

 

[Red Leg]

Can anyone explain to me why Russia is allowed to possess Koenigsberg? (Kaliningrad)

I heard 3-4 months ago that their over land supplies were being restricted and could easily be cut off. It's the strategic naval yards for the Russians, its isolated 1000 miles West of Moscow. It borders Poland and Lithuania, and without it the Russian fleet cannot have sustainable presence in the Baltic and North Seas.

It just seems a logical piece of dirt to deny the Russians, truly crippling their naval capabilities against NATO.

Obviously this would be an escalation since it doesn't border Ukraine, but wouldn't that be the target to seize to cut off Belarus supplying much of Russia's Navy?

Konigsberg, along with all of East Prussia, were taken by the Red Army in the final months of the war. It had extensive naval infrastructure, and in the months following the conflict, none of the allied powers seriously objected to Russia's stated intent to hold it as a form of reparation. This was ratified in the Potsdam Agreement of 1945. The small surviving German population was forcibly removed - many to Siberia. The current population of nearly two million are all Russians and a few Balts. Most significantly, the area was incorporated into the Soviet Union as an oblast (state).

As Russia's only ice free port on the Baltic, it became militarily significant as the Cold War intensified. It was soon one of the most heavily militarized bits of geography on the planet and was a dagger pointed at the heart of NATO. It was also the home port of the Baltic fleet.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, it initially lost much of its importance. However, the rise in tensions with NATO since 2014 again made it militarily significant. That has since again changed dramatically with the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO. As you suggest it has made Kaliningrad extremely vulnerable and now of limited value in a confrontation with the West.

But, regardless of its location (think Hawaii) it is still a part of the Russia. It is an incorporated state populated by Russians - not an occupied subject nation as the Baltic states were. To take action against Kaliningrad would be an act of war against Russia. No responsible leader in the West is remotely considering such an action.

 

[Datchew]

You know this country has gone to shit, when Harley Davidson goes woke.

Wellllllll.... They did kinda hold association with assless chaps as part of the "rugged individualist" standard Harley uniform for a long time.

Shoulda seen it coming.

 

[Red Leg]

If I was Ukraine, I'd take and hold as much territory in Russia as possible, then wait for Russia to sue for peace. In the end, Ukraine gets back its territories in a swap.

@Red Leg is that your read of the incursion strategy as well?

With the initial assault, and in the absence of any goals or objectives announced by Ukraine, three operational/strategic theories have been widely debated.

First, the assault was an extended raid designed to politically undermine the Russian regime and to cause significant economic damage through the destruction of the “Sudzha” gas metering station - the last remaining key infrastructure supplying Europe with Russian gas. Ukrainian forces currently comfortably hold that key terrain.

Or second, this was an effort to draw off Russian forces committed to the continuing bloody offensive in the Donbas where Russia has made incremental progress over the last nine months - at enormous cost.

Or third, it is designed to indeed seize Russian territory as a bargaining chip in some future negotiation. The dropping of the bridges over the Seym River would seem to indicate an intent to create a defensible enclave.

I rather suspect all three operational goals are in play and Ukraine is adjusting its objectives based upon the Russian reaction. The commitment of five of the Army's modernized brigades to the operation would argue for a flexible operational plan.

Holding the initiative is perhaps the single most important characteristic of the conduct of successful warfare. Whichever side holds it dictates the pace and geography of the conflict. Russia has held the initiative since the conclusion of last summer's Ukrainian offensive. That changed rather dramatically with the seizure of the Kursk border area and the simultaneous supporting strikes against Russian airfields which have destroyed both delivery systems and critical guided munitions - munitions that are becoming ever more difficult to produce. Simultaneously, Ukraine has increased its strategic targeting of the Russian oil infrastructure.

Putin and his generals are, at least for the moment, in a bind. They must respond to the Kursk incursion. If for no other reason, nearly a quarter of a million Russian refugee voices are flooding deeper into the country with an alternative assessment of the success of Putin's Special Military Operation.

To retain the initiative in the Donbas, the Russian Army must respond without breaking the tempo of the offensive in that region by shifting troops away. That is clearly why the initial response to the Ukrainian attack was with conscript units and ad hoc non-infantry formations pulled from across the country. To date these have been easily destroyed by the well trained UA formations committed to the attack.

Probably the worst case scenario for Putin would be a grinding to a halt of the Donbas effort, and failure to dislodge the Ukrainian troops in Kursk. Such a stalemate might very well create the internal political dissatisfaction to drive Russia to a meaningful negotiation to conclude the conflict.

 

[Aaron N]

Yes, if you can’t serve (I didn’t) or you can’t be called on to serve (I can be) or you haven’t served or been subject to the possibility of being called up then how can you fully appreciate the deadly serious duty of sending someone off to war? I know many men don’t fully comprehend (I don’t know if I fully comprehend it myself) that responsibility either but the reality is the same regardless and every man should ponder on these things. Obviously there are exceptions for men who genuinely can’t physically serve but would if they could or were called on to.

I would love to see women becoming drafted in America just to watch your guys’ heads explode about how “woke” the military is because it’s now 50% women.

 

[Brent in Az]

Wellllllll.... They did kinda hold association with assless chaps as part of the "rugged individualist" standard Harley uniform for a long time.

Shoulda seen it coming.

Assless chaps should be for the biker babes only....lol.

I saw a guy on social media that blew up his Harley in protest

 

[Newboomer]

Assless chaps should be for the biker babes only....lol.

I saw a guy on social media that blew up his Harley in protest

Guess he didn't like seeing Harley in the Bud light gang.

 

[PARA45]

@Red Leg, do you believe or know if we are providing some type of tactics support to Ukraine? Or, are their Army Generals that good and better trained than the Russians Generals?

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

I would love to see women becoming drafted in America just to watch your guys’ heads explode about how “woke” the military is because it’s now 50% women.

You including combat roles?

 

[mdwest]

the ridiculousness of the whole "gender" argument becomes clear when we start talking draft/registering for selective service..

so.. if youre a male, but you identify as a female.. is this a requirement?

if I am a female, but identify as a male... is this a requirement?

what if I dont identify as either? I identify as a unicorn or a wildebeest.. is this a requirement?

how is it the military can bind you to your birth gender and require you to register... but no other branch of the federal government can? while at the same time the military is paying for "transition" surgeries and giving people time off to recover from those surgeries so that they can make an attempt to become a gender other than what they were born as...

stupidity at its finest as demonstrated by our most senior leadership..

 

[PARA45]

I'd say, if you want equality (in the military), well, from now on you will do everything by one standard period. No more different standards for males & females, and those/theirs/its, or whatever pronoun they want to use.

 

[Rocked and Loaded]

Now Trump is attacking “Jewish Governor” Josh Shapiro. It is genuinely sad to see a man and a campaign so consumed by personal grievance.

“Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had,” Trump wrote on Truth Social just after midnight, accusing Harris of “hoping in the end” that the nation will fail. “Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will. Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less.”

I don’t see what Trump has said that’s inaccurate. Only one party’s convention had Hamas supporters rioting outside and delegates demanding they be allowed to speak.

 

[Red Leg]

@Red Leg, do you believe or know if we are providing some type of tactics support to Ukraine? Or, are their Army Generals that good and better trained than the Russians Generals?

What many people do not realize it that the Ukrainian armed forces have had a close relationship with the US and NATO for 20 years and particularly since 2014. Their most promising officers have attended branch officer basic and advanced courses in this country, and many field grade officers are products of the Command and General Staff College and War College. Others have attended similar advanced training in the UK. Many of those same officers and senior NCOs deployed over the years as individual staff support to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Ukrainian units and staffs have participated in or observed almost every major NATO exercise.

On the enlisted front, they have created a professional NCO education system modeled on the US. This was really hitting its stride by 2020. As I have noted here before, the Russian army doesn't really have a professional NCO cadre as we recognize one.

So yes, there are significant professional differences between Russian and Ukrainian military leadership - particularly since 2014.

I should also note that Zelensky has been pretty ruthless in moving out any of the older remaining dead wood once the war began.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

I’m sure this will be hailed as a genius move by the same people that lamented Trump’s criticism of Kemp last month.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4843315-trump-kemp-georgia-feud/

 

[Brent in Az]

5 Secret Service agents from the Pittsburgh field office have been placed on administrative leave, pending further investigation of the Trump assassination attempt.

Suspicious timing