Russia's War Against Ukraine

[GDS_Starfury]

40 years of soviet tank design

[MengJiao]

and todays map update.  the full thread is linked below.

  I say wow to the map.  It looks like if the Ukrainians can get weapons, they will outnumber the Russians pretty seriously.  Another reason the Russians may want to use poison gas: lots lots and lots of Ukrainian troops.  On a not-really related note from CNN:



Russia said Saturday it was ready to work again with the United States on security issues and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

"If the Americans are ready for this, we will, of course, be able to resume dialogue and are determined to do so, as well as to work on the START, where there is also a certain pause," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Channel One, state media RIA Novosti reported.

"It all depends on Washington," he added.

According to Ryabkov, Russia did not stop dialogue with the US. "We have not withdrawn from the US strategic stability dialogue. It has been suspended by Washington, apparently under the illusion that we need this dialogue more than Washington. Absolutely not," Ryabkov said.

Ryabkov added that Russia has prepared a list of retaliatory personal sanctions against the US and the West that will be made public soon.

Okay so that's not too hard to parce: the Russians are running out of shit to shovel and now its the fault of the US that they still have nukes.  Of course we know what talking to them
at this point about anything is like: nothing but threats, so why bother?  And the final note is pretty pathetic  -- retaliatory personal sanctions?  Does somebody like Tim Cook have a
personal yatch sitting in Vladivostok or something?

Some megayatching news:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-wednesday-edition-1.6378936/how-an-ex-cia-agent-is-tracking-the-luxurious-superyachts-of-russian-oligarchs-1.6378964

[GDS_Starfury]

pretty easy low hanging fruit on the bio labs:

https://www.bbc.com/news/60711705?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&at_custom2=twitter&at_medium=custom7&at_campaign=64&at_custom4=75FF11D8-A17A-11EC-BA2A-72C9923C408C&at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_custom3=%40BBCWorld

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/11/how-right-embraced-russian-disinformation-about-us-bioweapons-labs-ukraine/

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/25/tweets/there-are-no-us-run-biolabs-ukraine-contrary-socia/

https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/sections-offices/defense-threat-reduction-office/biological-threat-reduction-program/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/us/politics/us-bioweapons-ukraine-misinformation.html

[GDS_Starfury]

now for some fun!  syria sends 1000s of troops to russia as if thats going to go well.
the response is Abu 'TOW'!  146 kills with atgm's.

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/features/meet-famed-and-feared-elite-syrian-rebel-fighter-abu-tow

[GDS_Starfury]

trying to figure out how to embed twitter and tiktok videos, not much success

https://twitter.com/i/status/1502296533340987394

[GDS_Starfury]

love this guy!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1502635747467309061

[GDS_Starfury]

lets attack at the end of winter!

[MengJiao]

lets attack at the end of winter!

  It looks like they didn't even clip the counters in the back of the truck.

[GDS_Starfury]

does make ya wonder how this would have worked out if they had started in april.

[MengJiao]

does make ya wonder how this would have worked out if they had started in april.

  I've noticed mixed things about that.  Apparently spring came early this year -- but suppose the Russians could have driven farther in the first day or two, either because the ground was frozen or
the mud had dried.  EArly on they thought things were going to be easy peasy -- so harder ground just might have gotten more Russian loses since the Ukrainians very craftily did not do a "Token defense"
on the edg of their territory, but waited until Russian forces where pretty deep before ambushing them.  Less mud might have just meant more Russian losses.

[Tripoli]

The Ukrainians are claiming to have killed a 3rd Russian general.   It sounds like there are serious OPSEC problems with the Russians, and that their physical security is lacking.  The physical security is possibly a by-product of them appearing to be road-bound.  That may prevent them forming the necessary security cordon around their HVUs.  The OPSEC issue is surprising, though.  Possibly this indicates NATO/US intel being supplied?  I have seen reports of that, but this would imply NATO is supplying not just troop movements, but leadership movement info.  Of course, that would be NATO doctrine: go for the Soviet HQs.  Interesting...

https://www.westernjournal.com/ukrainian-defenders-announce-pulled-off-hat-trick-decapitation-russian-forces/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=AE&utm_campaign=can&utm_content=2022-03-12

[GDS_Starfury]

from what Ive read the russians are using regular cell phones to communicate with each other.

[Jarhead0331]

from what Ive read the russians are using regular cell phones to communicate with each other.

So are Ukrainians. The Russians are mostly using cheap unincrypted baofengs.

[Tripoli]

from what Ive read the russians are using regular cell phones to communicate with each other.

So are Ukrainians. The Russians are mostly using cheap unincrypted baofengs.

IMHO, while tactically the unencrypted handsets would cause problems for some of the company sized maneuver units, the movement of HVUs would be discussed via encrypted networks.  On the Other Hand, the Ukrainians have captured enough prisoners/deserters/equipment that maybe the encrypted networks have been compromised.  On the Other, Other Hand, that gets back to poor OPSEC: if you are losing comms gear, you need to change your codes

[Jarhead0331]

from what Ive read the russians are using regular cell phones to communicate with each other.

So are Ukrainians. The Russians are mostly using cheap unincrypted baofengs.

IMHO, while tactically the unencrypted handsets would cause problems for some of the company sized maneuver units, the movement of HVUs would be discussed via encrypted networks.  On the Other Hand, the Ukrainians have captured enough prisoners/deserters/equipment that maybe the encrypted networks have been compromised.  On the Other, Other Hand, that gets back to poor OPSEC: if you are losing comms gear, you need to change your codes

Their rations expired in 2015 and you expect them to have encrypted comms gear and to observe OPSEC?