War in europe?

[S-Westerly]

1 hour ago, KiwiBob said:

Is that another way of saying Ukraine is hiring mercenaries?

I don't think they are paying much. More like the International Brigades who fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

[S-Westerly]

With all respect to Marino, with only 24 guys on board there's a lot of room for tensions to get exaggerated and no way to avoid meeting people. Also if your home is under occupation by an enemy state how do you even go home?

For that matter the Russian guys who are mostly not fans of the regime will have trouble leaving/joining ships too. Schengen and US visas will be impossible to get and flights problematic.

Edited February 27, 2022 by S-Westerly

[Bender]

5 hours ago, KiwiBob said:

Is that another way of saying Ukraine is hiring mercenaries?

Who cares paid or unpaid, remember Crimea was taken by volunteers on holiday who just borrowed attack helicopters, I'm sure there must be lots of military folk on hols at any given time. 

[S-Westerly]

Putin is obviously bonkers. Apparently he has put his nuclear "deterrent" forces on standby due to nasty sanctions. Does he honestly believe threatening nuclear war is going to solve his problems? MAD was always an appropriate acronym for the use of nukes but in his case its obviously literal.

[Bender]

41 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

Putin is obviously bonkers. Apparently he has put his nuclear "deterrent" forces on standby due to nasty sanctions. Does he honestly believe threatening nuclear war is going to solve his problems? MAD was always an appropriate acronym for the use of nukes but in his case its obviously literal.

Yes very worrying escalation in the brinkmanship game. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

35 minutes ago, Bender said:

Yes very worrying escalation in the brinkmanship game. 

Worrying in one sense of course, but on the other hand perhaps also slightly encouraging since it indicates that the sanctions have made an impact. I wonder if he really thought the rest of the world would just look the other way and let him get away with it?

 

If things were going his way he wouldn't be escalating things.

 

 

 

 

[Bender]

11 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

Worrying in one sense of course, but on the other hand perhaps also slightly encouraging since it indicates that the sanctions have made an impact. I wonder if he really thought the rest of the world would just look the other way and let him get away with it?

 

If things were going his way he wouldn't be escalating things.

 

 

 

 

Your assumption is based on that of a rational thinking person...... 

[S-Westerly]

I think he really did think we'd turn a blind eye and also perhaps his own bullshit about liberating the Ukrainians from its wicked government.  Sadly for him most Ukrainians seem to disagree.

[Bender]

4 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

I think he really did think we'd turn a blind eye and also perhaps his own bullshit about liberating the Ukrainians from its wicked government.  Sadly for him most Ukrainians seem to disagree.

Yup his calls for the military to turn on its leaders has done nothing. 

[Marino]

8 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

With all respect to Marino, with only 24 guys on board there's a lot of room for tensions to get exaggerated and no way to avoid meeting people. Also if your home is under occupation by an enemy state how do you even go home?

For that matter the Russian guys who are mostly not fans of the regime will have trouble leaving/joining ships too. Schengen and US visas will be impossible to get and flights problematic.

It is different on cargo ships I agree 

[Bender]

Europe closing airspace to all Russian aircraft, BP selling off its 20% stake in rosneft,  no doubt at a fair loss. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

What happens when / if the domestic Russian banking system begins to lose public confidence? 

[Bender]

14 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

What happens when / if the domestic Russian banking system begins to lose public confidence? 

More civil unrest if we make it that far. 

 

EU shutting down Russian news networks. 

[Bender]

More protests in Russia, hackers are doing a great job of shutting down multiple ru gov websites, they faked the location of putins yacht and showed it crashed into snake island whilst re naming it fckptn. 

 

Huge 3mile column of armour heading into the fray from Russia. 

 

Been some small wins for Ukraine but unless they get a shed load of munitions it's going to be bad. 

[S-Westerly]

Apparently the  EU (!) is going to supply jets. Wonder who will be flying them? Better off with Turkish drones I'd say. 

[Fozzie]

What ever they do, they need to move quick to catch that convoy before it disperses. 

 

Issue is, it's to the north, which has substantial missile based systems firing into Ukraine. 

 

I've been following the Reddit group on Ukraine, and many of the locals have been coordinating on there. They never give locations of where they are, they just keep on publishing where the Russians are, and I'm not sure if it's propaganda to dissuade the Russians, but the kill to death ratio is pretty bad for the Russians at the moment. Although Putin has always struck me as the sort of man who just treats his troops as cannon fodder. 

[fastbob]

On 26/02/2022 at 19:27, Trooper74 said:

I suspect those, like myself, those that would fight, and possibly die, for our country are are in the minority.

The days of 19 year olds, fighting the in the air, on sea and on land, en mass, are gone.

Too many would be worried about being “triggered”, “stressed” or “outside their safe space” ...

I mean fight for trans rights .. of fight for your country .... mmm 

I can see the people of Barnsley, Rotherham, Newcastle, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow ... making ied's and molotov cocktails.

But .... but, ..Bristol, Oxford, London, Cambridge ... Surrey

There are fanatical religious groups , well entrenched in the UK, that would welcome any enemy of the indigenous population with open arms and full co-operation ... I suspect.

I am in contact with my friend Andrey in Kirov, his wife and girls have gone to his parents in the south of the country, he is staying to fight, he’s 64 ... but won’t leave ..... 

 

 

 

 

What we need is a strong man to emerge as Britain's leader . Someone with a military intelligence background and a love of the outdoors . Somebody who is prepared to ruthlessly crush all wishy washy liberal opposition and who is backed by true patriots . Somebody who has a vision to make Britain great again even if dissenters have to be rounded up into internment camps for reeducation . Is this starting to sound familiar ?  Be careful what you wish for . 

[Trooper74]

22 minutes ago, fastbob said:

What we need is a strong man to emerge as Britain's leader . Someone with a military intelligence background and a love of the outdoors . Somebody who is prepared to ruthlessly crush all wishy washy liberal opposition and who is backed by true patriots . Somebody who has a vision to make Britain great again even if dissenters have to be rounded up into internment camps for reeducation . Is this starting to sound familiar ?  Be careful what you wish for . 

It sounds like the last 2 years in England ..............

[husoi]

In my opinion the west and particularly the US are missing a golden opportunity to defeat Putin.

 

You know all those gun lover idiots that want to go shooting around?....

Take them to Ukraine and show what a Russian uniform looks like. 

[rob m]

7 hours ago, husoi said:

In my opinion the west and particularly the US are missing a golden opportunity to defeat Putin.

 

 

I'm willing to bet that Special Forces/SAS are in Ukraine if not already across the border in Russia. With the technology available they know exactly where Putin is and I also bet there is a plan to eliminate him if he goes too far.

 

I'm hoping that somebody near to him has been influenced to do the job themselves. 

 

 

[Six30]

[daveinlim]

On 28/02/2022 at 12:33, husoi said:

In my opinion the west and particularly the US are missing a golden opportunity to defeat Putin.

 

You know all those gun lover idiots that want to go shooting around?....

Take them to Ukraine and show what a Russian uniform looks like. 

 

Send in the gravy seals. 

 

 

[Bender]

1 hour ago, daveinlim said:

 

Send in the gravy seals. 

 

 

I would be that size if I were over there, your never looking good wearing 3 bullet proof vests and 2flack jackets 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I see the FIA wanted to allow Russian drivers to compete in F1. Motorsport UK have had the balls to say Russian drivers cannot compete in the UK. 

[husoi]

Read in a Portuguese website some comments about Russian air force.

According to some US general it was expected that they would be using far more aircrafts than what they are using.

Add this to the fact that a long convoy is stuck because the fuel supply is not as efficient as it was supposed and makes you think if Russia is really that powerful in conventional weapons as west has been always lead to believe... 

 

Considering the supposed differential on head count you would expect russian troops to be ploughing through Ukraine