Russia & Ukraine

Atlantic · Aug 19, 2024

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/18/europe/zelensky-kursk-incursion-second-bridge-intl/index.html

Ukraine aims to create Kursk ‘buffer zone,’ Zelensky says, as Kyiv’s forces blow up second Russian bridge

Atlantic · Aug 19, 2024

https://balkaninsight.com/2024/03/21/romania-to-host-largest-nato-military-base-in-europe/

Romania To Host Largest NATO Military Base in Europe

Madalin Necsutu
Chisinau
BIRN

March 21, 202411:40

Work has begun on expanding the Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Romania, transforming it into the largest NATO military base in Europe.

Two Apache attack helicopters belonging to the US land forces from 101st American Airborne Division in action during a demonstrative exercise held at Mihail Kogalniceanu NATO air-base near Constanta city, Romania, March 31, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/Robert Ghement

The military base at Mihail Kogqlniceanu, Constanta, southeast Romania, on the Black Sea coast, will become the largest NATO military base in Europe and will surpass the US military base in Ramstein, Germany, in size.

The new base will give Romania an increased role in NATO’s security architecture and a position of greater strength in the Black Sea, which is militarily dominated by Russia. It will be able to host 10,000 soldiers and civilians by 2030.

NATO and the US will relocate some logistics and human resources from Ramstein to the Mihail Kogalniceanu base.

Expansion works will cost 2.7 billion US dollars and work on access roads and a high-capacity electrical network has already started. Romanian authorities have expropriated 2,400 hectares from the localities of Mihail Kogalniceanu and Lumina, paying 5,500 euros per hectare.

“Social housing will be built for individual personnel or families. There will be block-type housing, individual housing, nurseries, kindergartens, schools, pharmacies, everything that is needed,” the commander of Mihail Kogalniceanu, Nicolae Cretu, said.

Covering an area of almost 3,000 hectares, the base will be the largest in Europe. Ramstein in Germany covers about 2,000 hectares.

The airport’s current runway will be doubled and served by fuel depots and several hangars for various types of fighter jets and drones. NATO’s plans include the construction of one more runway for aircraft.

In addition to new military infrastructure, the Kogalniceanu base will include schools, kindergartens, shops and a hospital.

General Virgil Balaceanu, President of the Association of Reserve Officers and former representative of Romania at NATO Command in Brussels, told Radio Romania that Ukraine and the war there are not far from Romania.

With war on its borders, he said Romania must consider worst-case scenarios, and strengthening the country’s defence and deterrence position is essential.

In recent years, Romania has invested massively in defence. For 2024, the army will have a budget of over 20 billion euros, 45 per cent higher than in 2023. The money is intended primarily for the purchase of modern weaponry.

According to data made public, including the amount spent in 2023, over five years that include 2027, Romania will invest almost 320 billion lei in the military, or about 65 billion euros.

gwb-trading · Aug 19, 2024

kashirin said:
Russia can win this war any second it chooses.

properly bombs ukraine into the ground, drops couple of tactical nukes on Poland and Estonia and offers unlimited missiles anyone in the world who wants to attack americans military ships or any other military assets and this war will end not in a day but in an hour
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gwb-trading · Aug 19, 2024

Not a word from the resident Russian propagandists about Kursk. Ukraine has now destroyed the last bridge over the Seym. This means that Russian troops in the region are trapped; they cannot get out and they cannot be re-supplied or reinforced. At this point Ukraine will just mop them up.

Ukraine cuts off Russian troops by destroying last bridge in Kursk Oblast
Ukrainian forces may have destroyed the third and final bridge over the Seym River in the village of Karyzh in Russia’s Kursk region, cutting off Russian troops from supply routes in the Hlushkivskyi district, according to the Russian Telegram channel Astra on Aug. 19.
https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukrain...egion-encircling-russian-troops-50444067.html

Why is Ukraine destroying bridges in Russia’s Kursk?
Russian officials say that a third bridge has been targeted in the Kursk region, causing concern from Moscow military bloggers that troops could be trapped
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...aine-war-kursk-bridge-incursion-b2598329.html

Snuskpelle · Aug 19, 2024

Random Russian blogger's take on the situation:

Note he's assuming UA will run out steam too, we will see.

Posted it because it corresponds with the general pattern of Russia in this war, it can fight according to previously defined static plans but doesn't handle dynamic situations too well. Plus it's totally committed in Donetsk.

smallfil · Aug 19, 2024

Good1 said:
I have not been convinced that Putin is the pariah that the legacy media would have us believe in.

It's also remarkable how incongruent people are when addressing the Israel v. Hamas-Hezbolla-Iran conflict, in comparison with the Russia v. Ukraine-Nato-US conflict.

For example, John Mearsheimer makes a great case for US/NATO provocation, over decades, if not an entire decade, leading up to and over Russia's red lines. That red line being the placement of missiles (in Ukraine) close enough to hit Moscow in minutes...AND, Ukrainian membership in NATO, protected by its Article 5.

But then Mearsheimer turns around and blames the Hamas-Hezbolla-Iranian incursion on the Israeli lobby in the US.

On the other hand, the Ayn Rand Center UK makes a great case for Israeli self defense, but then drops the ball on support of Russia's position with Ukraine.

Not many people are for both Russian, and Israeli defense.

But in both cases, the main need for defense is against rocket/missile attacks from hostile forward bases.

Hamas, for example, is a forward base for Iran, as is Hezbollah. In this way, Iran has flanked Israel on the north and south with missile/rockets.

Similarly, Ukraine is a forward base for the US-NATO alliance. That forward base, like Hamas in Gaza, has been arming up for years to the point it would be in position to carry off an actual offensive. It was already on the offensive within it's own borders, against the Russian heritage region within it's borders, and was about to launch a major offensive in that region when Putin decided to pre-empt it.

The only difference is Israel waited for an offensive, while Russia decided not to wait, and instead to pre-empt an actual attack that would eventually come. But Russia did wait for an actual attack on the Donbass region, but pre-empted an even larger, eminent attack on the Donbass. In either case, the offensives would be led by rockets/missiles.

I would add that Russia, represented by Putin, has been attacked for more than a decade in rhetorical legacy media smear campaigns. That smear campaign was kicked into high gear during the 2016 US Presidential campaign when, in response to a WikiLeaks leak, the DNC, Hillary, and the legacy media went all in on blaming the Russians by blaming Trump for colluding with Russians to steal the election.

It wasn't just a smear campaign on Trump, it was also to smear Putin with the effect that diplomacy would continue to be frozen between the US and Russia, and that the Ukraine would continue to be steadily armed toward readiness for an offensive, once the Democrats could steal the next election. The effect of that is when Putin saw that the next election was stolen by Democrats, he decided not to allow armament to accelerate, and for an alliance with NATO, which Biden had said could be expected.

Pound for pound, the DNC, in collusion with the legacy media, smeared Putin/Russia as much, or more, than Hitler ever smeared the Jews, Poland, or Russia...before attacking them.

A common denominator here is that rhetoric leads to an attack. You can measure the likelihood of an attack by measuring the heat of rhetoric. And, it will always be a surprise attack...unless you can read the rhetoric. Israel could not read the rhetoric. But Putin could. Any Russian could, when you remember Hitler's surprise attack, which broke the "alliance" he had with Russia at the time.

Now, for a surprise attack, you need a forward base. For Hitler, the forward base was Poland. For Iran, the forward base was Gaza. For the US, the forward base was/is Ukraine, still rife with leftover legacy Nazi units.

Once the Nazi units could suppress the Donbass, which they were in process of doing, then the Donbass would become the most forward of all forward regions in the Ukraine. There, they could install whatever missiles they could procure from US/NATO which could hit Moscow within minutes.

This would be a good time to remember that the whole Cuban missile crises was provoked by US installment of forward missiles in Turkey, as it was then part of NATO. People don't remember that the crises was resolved by Kennedy agreeing, secretly, to remove those forward missiles from Turkey.

Forward missiles weren't ok then, and they aren't ok now. If Kennedy was right to reject placement of missiles in Cuba, then Putin was right to reject placement of missiles in the Donbass, just as Kruschev was right to reject forward placement of missiles in Turkey, within the NATO sphere.

Putin would not allow Russia to be put into the same position that Israel was in at that time. Since then, in what has happened to Israel, we have found out what happens when you allow forward missile positions in neighboring territory filled with hostile rhetoric...and ignore the rhetoric.

Trump could end the conflict in 24 hours by accepting Russia's gains over the Donbass, including its land access to Crimea, which it would also keep. At the same time, he could end it in 24 hours by putting Zelenski in his place and ending the grift Zelenski has going with NATO/US. Trump could also end the grift NATO has going with the US.

By the time he takes office, i don't think Trump will give any more damns about the DNC and legacy media efforts to keep diplomacy frozen between the US and Russia, no matter who is leading Russia, even if it's Putin.

This will be interpreted as "support" for Putin. But i must say, Trump is the only mind i am aware of that maintains consistency of principle in both these conflicts. He's on the right side of the Israel v. Jihad conflict, and he's on the right side of peace with Russia. This is rare.
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The correct position is support Israel and end the war in Ukraine. Other than putting the US and NATO on the path to direct war with Russia, the warmongers are useless slugs enriching themselves at the price of Ukrainian, Russian and NATO troops who are all cannon fodder for them. This is fully supported by the Uniparty headed by Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham. All out to enrich themselves while, everyone else suffers or dies. NATO (32 Nations) plus Ukraine are losing this proxy war and should be a clue for them to quit while, they are ahead. A direct war with Russia will be very bloody and deadly for the US and Europe. It will not be the cake walk, the NATO planners are envisioning. Not even close. Putin's restraint would be gone too, as Putin knows, he will have to completely destroy NATO in the shortest time possible. It will become an existential threat to Russia.

vanzandt · Aug 19, 2024

smallfil said:
The correct position is support Israel and end the war in Ukraine. Other than putting the US and NATO on the path to direct war with Russia, the warmongers are useless slugs enriching themselves at the price of Ukrainian, Russian and NATO troops who are all cannon fodder for them. This is fully supported by the Uniparty headed by Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham. All out to enrich themselves while, everyone else suffers or dies. NATO (32 Nations) plus Ukraine are losing this proxy war and should be a clue for them to quit while, they are ahead. A direct war with Russia will be very bloody and deadly for the US and Europe. It will not be the cake walk, the NATO planners are envisioning. Not even close. Putin's restraint would be gone too, as Putin knows, he will have to completely destroy NATO in the shortest time possible. It will become an existential threat to Russia.
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You're a 100% right. A war with NATO ... cakewalk is not even in the equation. the world be thrown into chaos, smaller economies would collapse, and the contagion alone would set the worldwide standard of living down the tubes. It would be ugly. I can't even imagine what would happen.

vanzandt · Aug 19, 2024

At this point in the game, I think the biggest question now is... how can Putin end the war and save face in front of his people.

That right there (and duck Van because here it comes), but that right there is reason enough alone to vote for Trump... because that is the only way I can see Putin stepping back. Not out of fear of Trump, but because Trump is slimey and he knows how to do stuff like that. And Putin's slimey. Trump will figure out a way to give Putin a way out, but at the same time letting him somehow declare a success. I have no idea how that can be done... but if anyone could pull it off, it would be Trump.

The alternative... say Kamala wins. I don't see that Administration doing anything except basically what we're doing now. Feeding the war pig with money and weapons. The rhetoric, and rightly so, will continue to be "Putin is a war criminal." It might even get louder. But the point is, under that scenario, there's no backdoor for Putin to slither out of.

Now some of you may say "Good, he needs to die or be held accountable", I couldn't agree more... but again, that's not the point. The point is what WILL he do. He knows he can't win, and a man with nothing, has nothing to lose. Paraphrasing Dylan again. So lets circle back to my "the world will be thrown into chaos" in my above post... and lets ask ourselves... do we want that? I am only being logical here... the greatest hope for some semblance in the reduction of bloodshed in that region, and perhaps even the world economies getting catapulted back to the dark ages... is for Trump to be the next President. It is what is.

I will now retreat to the bomb shelter because here it comes...

Atlantic · Aug 19, 2024

after everything putin did - not only in ukraine - but in the last 20+ years - he surely does not deserve a "way out" or any sort of chance to declare this crime a success. that would only encourage him.

he is old and sick - suicide is his best option at this point.

russian nukes will surely not be used - beside the fact that they would most likely not work anyway.

Atlantic · Aug 19, 2024