Russia's War Against Ukraine

[al_infierno]

and them there Ukrainians love playing partisan.

This is for sure more of a deterrent than any small-nation army could possibly be.

[W8taminute]

Look like we're sending a 3000 troops to Poland. 

This has me puzzled.  In buildups to wars past you usually see massive troops movements and buildups across borders.  Not the penny packets we see in the news by both sides actually. 

Numbers are just not adding up to me to believe that a war is about to break out but deep in my gut I'm suspecting that something is going to happen that will change the dynamics in the region. 

Maybe some sort of secret deal that magically happens and all this troop movement is just a horse and pony show to make people believe a war is about to break out? 

[al_infierno]

My guess is the U.S. Govt doesn't want to risk escalating the situation by sending in a massive expeditionary force.

[Gusington]

I think the Russians will one way or another install a puppet in Kiev.

[GDS_Starfury]

considering what the Army did to the russian regiment in syria maybe 3000 is all we need.

[Pete Dero]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31572259

The government and rebels in eastern Ukraine have agreed to start pulling back heavy weapons from the frontline. (Minsk agreements 2015 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_Protocol)


It looks like the Ukrainians and the pro Russian troops in the Donbas (Donetsk) region are still sticking to the treaty.   The large Russian army less than 100 K away clearly doesn't (they are not impacted by the treaty anyway).

@W8taminute : I'm not sure what you meant by 'penny packets by both sides' but if you were thinking about the 140.000 Russian soldiers that sure looks massive to me.

My guess is the U.S. Govt doesn't want to risk escalating the situation by sending in a massive expeditionary force.

NATO is a defensive alliance and Ukraine is no member of it.  As I understand those US troops (some are just redeployed from Germany) are an answer to some NATO members requests.  By no way they are intended to defend Ukraine.

[W8taminute]

...

@W8taminute : I'm not sure what you meant by 'penny packets by both sides' but if you were thinking about the 140.000 Russian soldiers that sure looks massive to me.

...

Well I'm no military expert but 147.000 troops doesn't seem like enough to take and hold ground.  I'm thinking in terms of the battles for Kharkov and Kiev back in WW2.  Maybe today's technology makes it such that 147.000 troops equals 500.000 WW2 soldiers. 

[Gusington]

The Russians don't need to take all of Ukraine the old fashioned way.

[Sir Slash]

They may not need to take it, but after a significant taste of freedom, they will have to defend it against the Ukrainian people's long-term resistance to their presence. That could be much worse than trying to win a war in Afghanistan with 100,000 troops over what, 6 to 8 years, which they were never able to do. I still think Vlad's playing the crying child in the Candy Store trying to get what he wants by showing his ass until Mommy, or Daddy, caves and gives him what he wants...a practically defenseless Ukraine living in fear of Russian tanks and under Putin's bloody thumb. I won't get political here, but the West so far has been the parent who tells the child, "I'm going to count to three. One, two, two-and-a-half, 2 3/4, 2 7/8, 2 and....." They never get to 3 because they don't really plan to do anything to the kid but give them the candy anyway. It's no small coincidence that Putin looks so much like a fox in the face because that's the game he's playing. My 2 cents.

[Gusington]

^I agree with a lot of that. I also think that Putin could care less about sanctions, etc. He wants nothing less than a restoration of the USSR and maybe even the Warsaw Pact, he's said so himself. And he even put demands in writing that NATO troops be pulled back to their 1997 status, which the US and the rest of the west just laughed at.

[W8taminute]

^^Interesting take and sounds very plausible. 

So let's say Putin does fail to get what he wants.  He may feel boxed in and re-direct his military somewhere else.




Suggested reading - Ezekiel 38 anyone?

[CptHowdy]

i would be more worried about what russia is doing in syria with iran and turkey.. my eyes are on damascus and jerusalem.

[W8taminute]

i would be more worried about what russia is doing in syria with iran and turkey.. my eyes are on damascus and jerusalem.

Mine too brother.  Mine too...

[Gusington]

I think it's all part of the same end game. A new Russian-dominated superpower.

[GDS_Starfury]

 :DD