rostasi

Also, you gotta think that even if they make Ukraine a parking lot,
the cost of actual occupation would be far too expensive.
This is why there is not a whole lot of strategic thinking going on here.

(Hey! I’ve become a signature for some reason).

The Batlord

And if Ukraine goes on the offensive you take away the benefit of being the defender and give it to the Russians. Defending is much easier than attacking.

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rostasi

Plus, if you’re a Ukrainian male and 18 to 60, you pretty much are the attack force -
vs a phalanx of yes-men Russian “soldiers.” (and you have a whole lot of babusias
with Molotov cocktails standing by as well). [Kinda saying the same thing as Bat here].

TheBig3

News to Musicbanter

I just love a good, out of context quote.

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Norg

im pretty sure russia had a plan for the sanctions north korea is isolated and they have been a thing for decades in terms of having a large military'

besides with all the new resources in Ukraine the gas and oil in the black sea the new buddies im central asia russia will be fine

besides u know who is gonna keep russia head above the water china in terms of trading n money and everything else

but whatever imo usa should stay teh hell out of this mess u know they wont tho

Norg

u seen that video of Ukraine soilders denying African students a exit from the country there forcing everyone to stay n fight

obvs the coin goes both ways your gonna have people esp from eastern Ukraine fight with the russians

The Batlord

Fun fact: the Molotov cocktail was used earlier but the name comes from the Winter War between the USSR and Finland in 1939. Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov claimed publicly that the actual bombs they were dropping on Finland were actually food drops, and the Fins jokingly refered to this ordnance as "Molotov bread baskets".

The Fins also did not have tanks or enough heavy weapons to counter Soviet armor, so they modified a petrol bomb so that it would burn hot enough to destroy a tank and called it the "Molotov cocktail". So it actually has a rich history of anti-Russian imperialism.

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Lisnaholic

^ That's an interesting bit of history, Batlord - as is your avatar, which I was surprised to see recently in a documentary about the fall of Berlin in 1945!

Yes. One commentator has remarked that the Russian Bear is trying to swallow a porcupine and, although it isn't much comfort to Ukrainians living day-to-day at war, long term there is at least one precedent that favours Ukraine: the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1989. That led to 9 years of puppet government/occupation but in the end Russia withdrew in the face of endless guerilla tactics against them.
From what I've seen, I think the Ukrainians have the same determination as the Afghans. The biggest difference perhaps is that the supposedly unhinged Putin is not Gorbachev, who actually listened when Ronnie Reagan told him, "Tear down this wall."

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

TheBig3

The only problem is that the Ukrainians live in familiar territory to the Russians.

The film Charlie Wilson's War, which is fantastic, and does a great job of explaining the U.S. support of the mujahideen against the Soviets, highlights that Russian tanks don't work well in mountains. Moreover the U.S. wanted to do to the Soviets what they did to us in Vietnam.

Maybe it's changing but the past week didn't see a mass import of arms from some warlord nation-state as they had in 1980's Afghanistan.

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emotutu

US is responsible for war...