Russian invasion of Ukraine

a lot of people are getting info from twitter, particularly people ex very high up in the military at both the sharp end and analysis plus academics who study politics/wars/conflicts.
it’s a pretty good resource and often more in depth than just the TV/radio news.

the tyres thing was a good example, the chap had seen them before in somalia and went into detail the maintenance procedures and schedules to ensure the tyres were in optimum condition and pointed out the flaws in the cheap chinese copies that were failing as soon as they hit the dirt.
It was literally his job to make sure logistics/supplies had reliable equipment for operations available at all times.

“for the want of a nail a shoe was lost....etc etc”

The Russian navy has joined the "being blown up by UAV" club

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1507005804880097281?s=20&t=X7O9ddgnfgmPBKMQK27leA

That explains why he was keen to have Tucker Carlson from Fox News join him for an interview.

I read through half the transcript but when I checked some of the claims he made found them to be wrong or misleading.

I flew RAF gliders when I was 16. Ask me anything.

Terrific interview with Vindman in the Washington Post. Absolute gold. https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/23/ukraine-russia-putin-war-alexander-vindman/

I think they completed their service just before they qualified as virologists, but after they'd completed their internments in Brussels as European law specialists...

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insane that this exists

https://twitter.com/DavidNorthWSWS/status/1507008646718242818

Speaking of tanks tipping over, nasty way to go. I don’t see any escape hatch.

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I think T72s do have a drivers escape hatch but it’s near impossible to get out of. At least one Soviet era tank did it was taught as a weakness in the armour.
(If you were feeling brave and fancied a head on attack)

Of course you would have to find the hatch after being turned upside down and being showered with everyone’s personal kit,the BV(kettle type thing)and the contents of the chemical loo/piss bottle.

Yikes. I googled similar scenarios for the Abrams after meeting the unhappy vet, and only found one, when the driver was shot while on a bridge over the Euphrates. The tank went off the bridge and everyone drowned. The driver was blamed because he'd been driving with the hatch open. Not allowed in combat.

Rough Ramblers

Good read, thanks for linking!

Unencrypted radio chat
good (graphic) reportage from the New York Times

wtf?

As Ukrainian forces struggled to hold the flattened city, it was claimed that civilians in captured territory were being deceived into leaving shelters to be bussed out to Russian camps by soldiers wielding loudhailers.

Officials said 15,000 residents of the encircled city had been deported so far after being told by the soldiers that Ukraine had abandoned them, with some sent as far as the Russian island of Sakhalin in the Pacific.

Russian soldiers with loudhailers were instead said to be driving around parts of the city claiming that the city of Odesa has fallen and that other havens for refugees were now rejecting fleeing people.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence claimed that those evacuated by the Russians were being taken to “filtration camps” such as one in Dokuchaievsk, in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk, before being moved onwards to Russia itself.

“A number of northern regions are mentioned as the final destination, including Sakhalin,” the defence ministry said. “Ukrainians are being offered official employment through employment centres. Those who agree receive documents banning them from leaving Russian regions for two years.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/ukraine-sinks-orsk-russian-ship-moscow-accused-forcible-deportations-mariupol

This is how they’ll try to control Ukraine without the troop numbers to do so. Good old forced population deportation. Back to the good old USSR.

Has anyone on this thread served in the Army, Navy or Air Force as there seem to be a lot of people who are informed about various things ?

I think one of the reasons why "everybody is an expert on this" is because military literature is such a massive and popular resource. A bunch of people I know, who haven't served in the military, have ready literally hundreds of books about warfare. Its even a meme that middle aged men get hugely drawn into low level WW2 history and strategy.

Weird how people (particularly males) develop a life long interest in the military. For me, I'm just very interested in logistics and radio communications in all walks of life, not just military. I have certainly read dozens and dozens of books on the subject though.

I also think that its quite common for people to mistake having an opinion for thinking you are an expert. I think that nuance gets lost as easily as sarcasm when typing online.

Edit: And no, have not served in the military. Have worked as a civil contractor on communications and media projects to restore infrastructure in war zones after a conflict is over though. ( re-establishing TV broadcast and comms facilities etc)

My interest started when I was a 13 year old air cadet and decided to be a fast jet pilot in the RAF. I failed the medical, but one of my fellow air cadets got in and became a Tornado pilot, eventually rising to air vice-marshal or something, and being in charge of all RAF bombing for quite a while. He killed lots of Iraqis, who tried to kill him. This was a bit of a shocker for me. When I was trying to get in I believed that the only enemy was the USSR and that MAD would ensure that the RAF would never go further than training to kill people. Even if I'd been good enough to do the flying I don't think I'd have been suitable for the killing part, and would not have been selected for training.

Biden speech to US military in Poland just now (talking about the bravery of Ukrainian citizens) - "...you'll see when you're there..." - slip of the tongue or giving something away?

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https://mobile.twitter.com/nknewsorg/status/1507242223343001600?cxt=HHwWgICjjaC05uopAAAA

35 seconds

Gangnam Style! LOL 😂