2022/24 Russian-Ukrainian War

[Richard White]

If that was recent, it may represent internal problems within Russia.

Sochi is closer to Georgia than it is Ukraine. Perhaps Georgian separatists are getting involved after all this time?

 

[kEiThZ]

Or it could be Ukrainian partisans who travelled there? Russia has had stuff blow up in the Far East. This one hits close to home because it's at the Olympics showcase city and is only 2 hrs drive from Putin's mini Versailles.

 

[DirectionNorth]

If that was recent, it may represent internal problems within Russia.

Sochi is closer to Georgia than it is Ukraine. Perhaps Georgian separatists are getting involved after all this time?

Interesting thought. If I were in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Tatarstan, Chechnya, Dagestan, or any of the other regions with separatist movements, now would be a good time to start sabotaging Russian institutions - and the aftermath of the war, a good time to declare independence. Especially now that Western nations won't be willing to support Russia.

 

[Northern Light]

Apparently one of Putin's closest advisors just lost his daughter to a car bombing meant for him.

(may I note there that I find the Mail's headline a tad tasteless); though in the same breath.......she has publicly aligned with her father's views, including describing Ukrainians as sub-human.........

Daughter of close Putin ally 'is blown to pieces in Moscow car bomb'

Darya Dugin was 'blown to pieces' in the 'assassination plot', which had been intended for her father Alexander, according to Russian media.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Richard White]

Apparently one of Putin's closest advisors just lost his daughter to a car bombing meant for him.

(may I note there that I find the Mail's headline a tad tasteless); though in the same breath.......she has publicly aligned with her father's views, including describing Ukrainians as sub-human.........

Daughter of close Putin ally 'is blown to pieces in Moscow car bomb'

Darya Dugin was 'blown to pieces' in the 'assassination plot', which had been intended for her father Alexander, according to Russian media.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I doubt this will ruffle too many feathers. It's not like they set off a bomb in Red Square or the Kremlin.

When the phone mysteriously gets cut off at Putins Dacha and he is put under guard.. then I will start getting worried. Until then, let the good times roll.

 

[kEiThZ]

She shared her father's views. Can't say with any certainty that Dugin was targeted by the Ukrainians. Indeed, risking a difficult strike on a target with very low military value has not been the Ukrainian Modus Operandi to date. So I'm going to bet there's some Russians who are sick of Dugin's bullshit and tried to take him out. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they got her instead. Hopefully they succeed next time.

 

[lead82]

Dugin has a very historical nostalgic view of the world and wishes to impose a closed mindset and lack of growth or evolution in the Russian culture. His position is that Russians are unique and have a different culture and history than Western civilization (which is true) but he ignores the fact that this is mostly because Russians have a cult like following to strong leadership and belief in strong men to rule them with hamfists. This is because most Russians do not know of any different system unless they leave the country and move to the West.

Here is an interview Dugin did on TVO - very good and civil discussions on his positions of the clash of civilization and his views of Ukraine. This was 2015 after Crimea got taken over by Russia.

TVO | Current affairs, documentaries and education

www.tvo.org

 

[Mystic Point]

 

[kEiThZ]

Peter Zeihan is a tool. Few months ago he was talking about how Ukraine was going to get destroyed and how Russia was steamroll through Eastern Europe. This was after the the column to Kyiv had already stopped.

A man with a hammer sees everything as a nail. In his case, he takes, "Demographics is destiny, " to some ultimately absurd conclusions and makes geography destiny too. And then on top of that, he adds on ignorance about climate change and cleantech.

I do applaud him for making money telling Americans what they want to hear.

PS. I attended the institution where he gave that lecture on military exchange. They bring in lots of contrarian voices to get people thinking. That's his function here.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

She shared her father's views. Can't say with any certainty that Dugin was targeted by the Ukrainians. Indeed, risking a difficult strike on a target with very low military value has not been the Ukrainian Modus Operandi to date. So I'm going to bet there's some Russians who are sick of Dugin's bullshit and tried to take him out. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they got her instead. Hopefully they succeed next time.

There is some unconfirmed (and lord knows if it has been collaborated) talk of a group called "National Republican Army" being responsible. So your bet might yet be correct.

AoD

 

[kEiThZ]

If anybody is wondering where Ukraine got the tech to hit deep in to Crimea. Turns out they might have been developing long range missiles with covert Saudi funding before the invasion:

Does Ukraine Have A Stash Of Domestically Developed Ballistic Missiles?

A possible high-profile long-range attack on a Russian airbase has led many to wonder if Ukraine has a pocket arsenal of ballistic missiles.

www.thedrive.com

 

[Admiral Beez]

I wholly agree with General Rick Hillier (retired), Canada's Chief of the Defense Staff from 2005 to 2008. We have Leo2 tanks that could easily be donated. We're unlikely to deploy them in strength overseas ever again - we would have now in the Baltic otherwise.

https://www.ukrainianworldcongress.org/no-nonsense-with-pamela-wallin/

"Canada and our government and our nation should take a whole bunch of our fighting vehicles from the army, 200, 250 of those LAV threes or LAV sixes, that we have excellent fighting vehicles. Combine that with, say, 50 of our Leopard two main battle tanks, among the best battle tanks in the world, with reconnaissance vehicles and engineer vehicles, put together a spare parts package and an ammunition package and give that to Ukraine so they can actually start to build a large reserve counter attack force. And then at the same time. What I would suggest we would do is challenge General Dynamics Land Systems, that center of vehicle manufacturing excellence for fighting vehicles. Challenge them to replace those vehicles within the next one to two years with even better vehicles. And so improve the Canadian forces while we're helping Ukraine in a very real way."

 

[lenaitch]

^^ What the CAF, in particular the army, as well as the government need to do is figure out what they want to be. Getting rid of key military elements means you can never do something in depth, or can only do it with the cooperation of an ally. I'm agnostic as to whether we retain heavy armour, but it is a doctrinal and strategic decision. We didn't need main battle tanks in Afghanistan - until we did. We didn't need heavy lift helicopters - until we did.

There is also much debate amongst military thinkers whether a LAV is a fighting vehicle or personnel carrier with some degree of protection to get infantry near the fight.

 

[kEiThZ]

Ironic. Hillier made us buy the tanks despite plenty of criticism from inside against the purchase. But I agree, deployability is very poor for them. And there's plenty of debate on obsolescence, that applies doubly to a country that has to project force. Good anonymous Twitter thread here from a Canadian staff officer (he's an infantry Lieutenant Colonel):

https://twitter.com/x/status/1516638100746915844

The LAVs are more useful. But they have deployability concerns too. Not to the same extent as the Leopards though. At least we can fly several in a C-17.

The real issue with giving the Leopards and LAVs to Ukraine is supportability. We won't have any substantial ability to support them. And these things eat up spares. It's like giving somebody a 10 yr old BMW when all they can afford and know to run is a 15 yr old Honda. And given that most of the Leopard tank spares come from Germany we'd need their help supporting this fleet in Ukraine.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Nazi-like insignia with its wolfsangel design is unfortunate from a global PR perspective.

This man gives a better message to the world.