Russian invasion of Ukraine

Nice one, although arguably a similar skill set.

Aha. But maybe not in actual battle?

didn't lots of inflatable tanks get deployed in the 2nd world war to confuse the enemy
replica tanks might cause a group of russian soldiers to think twice about heading down a certain route
not such a bad idea

There were lots of deception operations in WW2
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:World_War_II_deception_operations
Lots involved dummy tanks etc
Modern anti tank weapons can spot them by their thermal picture.

what about a drunk conscripted russian youth ?

Switchblade at home.

In action: https://twitter.com/zloneversleep/status/1618124832033632256

P.S. people on twitter argue that the load would be too heavy for this kind of drone (warhead weighs from 2kg to 4kg) so it might be a fake just for some psyops.
Practical concept nonetheless.

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This gave me a good laugh.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-solovyov-putins-no-1-cheerleader-rips-into-russias-war-failures?ref=home

Can't find much on the situation yet but it seems Iran had multiple attacks against their infrastructure and military factories last night.

Attacker unknown.

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Kots hit him over the head with more bad news: “The first line of defense that will be meeting these tanks will often be comprised of mobilized men. Our mobilized soldiers on the frontlines are armed solely with Kalashnikovs. Unfortunately, there are no anti-tank weapons on many stretches of the frontline.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blast-heard-military-plant-irans-central-city-isfahan-state-media-2023-01-28/

Yeh they appear to of just taken out an Iranian convoy on the Iraq-Syria border as well

I guess he is still in denial and angry. Hopefully he will be able to come to terms with this new reality and eventually take some ownership on the issues that caused it. Cheerleading a useless waste of human life is not something a sensible person wants to have in their resume.

I don't know man, I think for people like him there's no easy exit, just like in mafia, you can't retire.

So crazy that a person like this was just recently allowed freely to go to his lakeside villa near lake Como to relax and think about new ideas to spread about decadent west when he gets back home.

I'm also afraid things will get back to "normal" eventually because russian money don't stink, no matter how many civilians Russia kills.

You are probably right and that is the scary thing. We have a demented dictator that watches these echo chamber clowns just like Trump watched Fox. Some dude Gallijamov is already predicting a military coup when Putler eventually dies. The world has to be ready for the fight between Wagner psykos and the fat cat oligarchs.

Sounds like Bakhmut is finally going to fall after months of defence

I hope the British government is going to announce something big during, or after, todays visit.
Not just training or a dozen tanks but something that shows leadership.

Credit where credit is due, they've shown quite a lot of leadership so far. The reason Germany, the US etc gave tanks was because we guilted them into it by offering Challengers first. Same with lots of other bits of kit.

Yes, but since they’re setting up a supply chain for every kind of tank, more than 14 would have been more helpful.

It’s possibly we only have the parts to keep 14 CR2 going for a long campaign.
For example We have probably given Ukraine all of our serviceable AS90.
The point of giving CR2 was to break through the German attitudes.

For sure, UK has done its fair share and rest of the continent truly appreciates it. Even if there are no more gifts it is important for Zelensky to have a chance to show he has international support and he is not fighting alone. Putler will eventually die and ruzzians will need to decide whether they want to keep fighting the world or come to another more peaceful conclusion.

or come to another more peaceful conclusion.

Tbh I don't get why then don't chill out and build up their economy by selling gas whilst they can. The fossil fuel era will end eventually so having a solid economy to finance the transition seems like a better option than litterally blowing the money up

Russians, chilling out and making rational decisions. Never gonna happen.

News says we could give aircraft to Ukraine, was just wondering what we could give them ? Do we have the equivalent of the US boneyard where planes like the Harrier get stored.

I seem to remember that the US Marines bought all the ex-RAF Harriers sold off by George Osborne. (Through an intermediary, of course).

Presumably we have an agreement with the manufacturers to make more quickly [1] so if we wanted to we could give away almost anything, it just costs a bit.

[1] we definitely do for bullets, saw a film of how they are made with the company saying they are paid to have excess capacity they can turn on at very short notice