bkp_duke
Well-Known Member
Just Russia ?!
Ahem, you did cut off my next sentence . . . "Just like Iraq and Kuwait did for the USA."
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Just Russia ?!
Just Russia & USA ?Ahem, you did cut off my next sentence . . . "Just like Iraq and Kuwait did for the USA."
Just Russia & USA ?
Its all about oil & gas for all countries.
As I used to say in 1990s, US wouldn't have invaded Iraq if Kuwait just grew carrots.
No - I'm saying all these wars are all for oil & gas. Nothing new about Ukraine war.I wasn't exactly going to put together a long and exhaustive list of countries who's economies and politics are deeply intertwined with oil and gas. You are going on a tangent here.
Let's add this to the massive list of human civilization changing things going on that no one seems to talk about.No - I'm saying all these wars are all for oil & gas. Nothing new about Ukraine war.
Do you think this poll includes people in Crimea or the eastern part of the "independent republics"? It's great the rest of the country is united, but IMHO they're going to have issues pushing beyond the 2014 lines. Of course they're a long way from even reaching the 2014 lines, and haven't shown much ability to "push" at all so far.
The trick is to push when it won't cause a ton of casualties. Better to wear down the opponent and push at a time when there will be little resistance.Do you think this poll includes people in Crimea or the eastern part of the "independent republics"? It's great the rest of the country is united, but IMHO they're going to have issues pushing beyond the 2014 lines. Of course they're a long way from even reaching the 2014 lines, and haven't shown much ability to "push" at all so far.
Of course, Russia has been busy removing people loyal to Ukraine from the area and planting Russia-sympathizers there instead in the past 8 years.Do you think this poll includes people in Crimea or the eastern part of the "independent republics"? It's great the rest of the country is united, but IMHO they're going to have issues pushing beyond the 2014 lines. Of course they're a long way from even reaching the 2014 lines, and haven't shown much ability to "push" at all so far.
Of course, Russia has been busy removing people loyal to Ukraine from the area and planting Russia-sympathizers there instead in the past 8 years.
If Ukraine ever takes back those territorries, then they will be faced with the unpleasant situation where they either have to reverse that population-transfer (which would be called out as "nazi" action by the Russians again), or they have to deal with insurgency -- also not a pretty situation.
Of course, Russia has been busy removing people loyal to Ukraine from the area and planting Russia-sympathizers there instead in the past 8 years.
If Ukraine ever takes back those territorries, then they will be faced with the unpleasant situation where they either have to reverse that population-transfer (which would be called out as "nazi" action by the Russians again), or they have to deal with insurgency -- also not a pretty situation.
I see no evidence of any "flipping" in Crimea or the east. I haven't even seen Ukrainian propaganda make this claim. The link I posted last week quoted an officer on the eastern front who said 30% were pro-Russia, 30% pro-Ukraine and 40% didn't care. That was an area not previously controlled by Russia and currently under attack. I also mentioned the CNN interview with an older couple whose house was destroyed by Russian shelling -- they blamed Biden.When Russia invaded in February, opinions about Russia in all of Ukraine flipped very strongly anti-Russian and will likely stay that way for the next century if not forever. The people in the long occupied territories in Donbas are likely very anti-Russian now too.
Again, I've seen no evidence of 15 year olds fighting for Russia.From the moment the war started going against Russia, the Russians started conscripting every male over about age 14 to fight against Ukraine.
Russia has 4x the population of Ukraine. And guess which country saw a faster population decline than Russia over the past decade or so? Yep. And that was before 7 million Ukrainians fled and millions more got caught in areas now controlled by Russia.They didn't have a large population to begin with. The areas of Donbas Russia controlled before the war were not that densely populated.
Sounds like a rationalization. Ukraine is losing ground in Donbas. It's very hard to regain lost ground, no matter how cleverly you retreat.Trent Telenko also has made the point that the Ukrainians have been performing a shaping operation in the Donbas.
Take back? They are a very long way from that. You know that propaganda we hear about Ukraine taking back land in the south? "Major counteroffensives" and so forth? CNN sent a reporter in who found a stalemate. Both sides are dug into trenches with very little movement either direction. And that's a location the military allowed them to see. Ukraine will need much more offensive weaponry to push Russia back. They'll probably need many more well trained troops, as well.If the Ukrainians take back Donbas, I expect the areas that have been controlled by the Russians for six years will acquiesce.
Russia has 4x the population of Ukraine. And guess which country saw a faster population decline than Russia over the past decade or so? Yep. And that was before 7 million Ukrainians fled and millions more got caught in areas now controlled by Russia.
Ukraine has a motivation advantage, but they are at a huge numerical disadvantage. And numbers rule in a war of attrition.