World War III

[Stefan Mikes]

Oh, and how tractors can be militarized.

Did you notice how popular tractors have become recently?

A merry song of older, joyful times...

TRACTOR
I've bought a black tractor (repeated)
I've bought a black
Alu-rims, tinted glass

Chorus:
I've always wanted something like this
Just to drive her

Four hundred
The capacity of two (thousand) four hundred (repeated)
The capacity of two
Seven-one (seconds) to one hundred (kph)

It's not your usual Ursus: we've got leather and a computer
AC, servo, fan, sunroof, and the steering wheel in fur
The horn squeals as loud as the tyres burn
And you baby check it it's driven by the right man!

I will take you to my place (repeated)
And in the barn, aside of the tractor...

I've always wanted something like this
Just to drive her.

 

[Cowlitz]

I used to live an hour from where they had a Christmas tractor parade. Farm tractors would be decorated with lights and driven down main street at night. I see there are videos on youtube, but it looks like there are very few tractors in it. Instead, it seems to have gone to trucks, including military trucks.

This makes me sad. I liked seeing The Tractor Parade. That's what we called it.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

The only thing good to come out of it is finding out how Russian weapons and military are not so proficient as originally feared.

I concur. This pretty much puts an end to the old Cold War Era worry of numerically superior Warsaw Pact armour divisions flooding through the Fulda Gap and overwhelming NATO's western European defenses. It now looks as though the Russian military today is pretty much incapable of organizing a gang bang in a whorehouse.
I've always believed that a big part of the fall of the Berlin Wall was the result of the Russians having seen the coalition forces thrash Iraq in the Gulf war. Their invasion of the Ukraine has shown the only thing to fear about Russia looks to be their Nuclear Threat.....and only a complete loser would release that to humanity. CN

 

[indianajo]

. This pretty much puts an end to the old Cold War Era worry of numerically superior Warsaw Pact armour divisions flooding through the Fulda Gap and overwhelming NATO's western European defenses. It now looks as though the Russian military today is pretty much incapable

I suspected the Russians were paper tigers when I was 30 miles from the Fulda gap in a uniform. 1982. Andropov & Gorbachov knew it, too. If only one atom bomb equipped missile worked it would be a tragedy, but soldiers of dictators don't fight like democratic volunteers. Look at the collapse of Hussein's Iraq. Russian TVs consumer goods & buildings were all ****, why would the tanks & rifles work better. Hedrick Smith The Russians "They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work". The one part of Russian armed forces seems to be effective is their missiles. The artillery works but they can't hit valuable targets worth a ****. Apartment houses & theaters are not strategic targets. If repair parts funds are available (Reagan years) our equipment works. Our soldiers train to shoot accurately, and burn enough ammo in training to prove themselves. Biggest US fault is we don't ask enough questions of the targets.

 

[Roamers]

Nuclear Threat.....and only a complete loser would release that to humanity

And that doesn't describe Short Man accurately? Might the pinhead's performance be a cunning plan to distract the world from real capabilities?

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I've been wondering if the apparent poor markmanship/capabilities of the Russian Army is in part due to a passive resistance amongst the soldiers. In other words, maybe they aren't very good at hitting targets because they don't want to/they are trying not to. Maybe they are dragging their metaphorical collective feet and not taking the steel plant or Kyiv or whatever, because they don't want to. Or at least enough of them don't and they are quietly resisting. After all, we have read of officers being shot by their own soldiers, it stands to reason. To paraphrase, "They pretend it's a 'special military operation' and we pretend to be an army."

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I've always believed that a big part of the fall of the Berlin Wall was the result of the Russians having seen the coalition forces thrash Iraq in the Gulf war. Their invasion of the Ukraine has shown the only thing to fear about Russia looks to be their Nuclear Threat.....and only a complete loser would release that to humanity. CN

That theory would work except that the Berlin Wall went down in late 1989 and the Gulf War was in early 1991.

As for the nuclear threat, I suspect that is as much of a paper tiger as the rest of their military. Based on the technical, maintenance, and corruption problems we have seen in every other part of their military it is hard to imagine that everything is hunky-dory with their nuclear arsenal. Another thing: all of the Russian nuclear weapons are based on old Soviet designs, and the cores of those weapons can only last 10-15 years before needing to be remanufactured; the last facilities that made those cores closed in 2003.

So it is hard for me to imagine more than a tiny fraction of their nuclear arsenal actually working. On the other hand, even ten percent of that arsenal will ruin our whole day.

The one part of Russian armed forces seems to be effective is their missiles.

Except that there seems to be a pretty high failure rate in their standoff weapons. On the order of 50 percent of them seem to be duds. Also, they don't have that many of them and are starting to use naval missiles because they are apparently short on land attack missiles.

 

[Mulezen]

Read This: "Town Makes Mockery of Putin’s Troops and His Sh*tty Arsenal"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukrai...-and-vladimir-putins-pathetic-arsenal?via=ios

Unknown to us, a Ukrainian GRAD rocket launcher had been stationed in the tree line behind us during our visit to the front lines on Thursday. A few minutes after the first eruption of rockets, yet another barrage of rockets poured from a position just down the road. We heard incoming Russian fire returned, but they landed nowhere near us. Western counter-artillery radar and drones have unexpectedly given Ukraine an advantage in the artillery duels that are dominating the battles of eastern Ukraine.

A masked Ukrainian soldier stationed on the front line said that while the Russians had prepared a huge amount of artillery for the assault on villages like Rohan in Kharkiv Oblast, most of their equipment is completely dysfunctional. He predicted a swift Ukrainian victory that would push the invaders out of the rest of the occupied territories of the region within the next weeks.

 

[PatriciaK]

Read This: "Town Makes Mockery of Putin’s Troops and His Sh*tty Arsenal"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukrai...-and-vladimir-putins-pathetic-arsenal?via=ios

Unknown to us, a Ukrainian GRAD rocket launcher had been stationed in the tree line behind us during our visit to the front lines on Thursday. A few minutes after the first eruption of rockets, yet another barrage of rockets poured from a position just down the road. We heard incoming Russian fire returned, but they landed nowhere near us. Western counter-artillery radar and drones have unexpectedly given Ukraine an advantage in the artillery duels that are dominating the battles of eastern Ukraine.

A masked Ukrainian soldier stationed on the front line said that while the Russians had prepared a huge amount of artillery for the assault on villages like Rohan in Kharkiv Oblast, most of their equipment is completely dysfunctional. He predicted a swift Ukrainian victory that would push the invaders out of the rest of the occupied territories of the region within the next weeks.

This post to God's ears!

 

[Comfortably Numb]

That theory would work except that the Berlin Wall went down in late 1989 and the Gulf War was in early 1991.

My bad, sorry. I forgot the wall went down earlier.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

As for the nuclear threat, I suspect that is as much of a paper tiger as the rest of their military. Based on the technical, maintenance, and corruption problems we have seen in every other part of their military it is hard to imagine that everything is hunky-dory with their nuclear arsenal.

I'm with you.
I've read far too many accounts over the years like Russian air force crews robbing alcohol from aircraft systems rendering planes unusable. Shortages of everything. Stories of having to cannibalize parts from all types of weaponry to keep a modicum number in service. Auto loaders splayed out behind tanks in the field from US satellite imagery because they were junk and always being re-assembled. The story went they were way better at loading arms and hands than tank rounds. Aircraft turbines of poor reliability and life spans. Ever seen a Mig 25 up close? A piece of junk. When Sergey Belenko defected with one to Japan it raised a lot of eyebrows around it's design and Belenko filled in a bunch of gaps. The US tore it apart, went over it, then shipped it back to the Russians. Not a hell of a lot to learn from it. Just a lot of insight.
High alcoholism and poor morale throughout their military. The accounts go on and on. It's hard to believe their nuclear arsenal would be any different. CN

 

[Mulezen]

All the well-trained soldiers are detailed protecting the Kremlin.

 

[PatriciaK]

Unfortunately, though stories about ill-prepared, ill-trained and ill-equipped Russian soldiers make me feel better, the fact is, Russia has pretty much taken the Donbas region, and is well in the way to cutting off the southern Ukraine coast. It's horribly messy, but Russia is advancing, and destroying Ukraine.

I wish this were not true...

 

[indianajo]

Russia has pretty much taken the Donbas region, and is well in the way to cutting off the southern Ukraine coast. It's horribly messy, but Russia is advancing, and destroying Ukraine.

If ukraine wins the battle of kharkiev they cut rail access from the North. 2 cruise missiles could take out the bridge at Crimea. No supplies from the east. Team of marines mounted a US cruise missile on a truck last year. Biden had better decide if he wants this war won or not. Javelins are great but they won't take out a rail bridge. Armies without a supply chain have to retreat. Supply of aircraft parts for Boeing & Airbus is already cut off. Lets see the Russians supply their troops with 30 year old Tupelov 204 planes. Many of them have Roll-Royce engines, anyway. How Ukraine won the battle of Kiev somebody in Bellorussia sabotaged the dispatch systems of the rail lines from the North. Russians were burning more ammo than 2 trains a day could bring in.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Unfortunately, though stories about ill-prepared, ill-trained and ill-equipped Russian soldiers make me feel better, the fact is, Russia has pretty much taken the Donbas region, and is well in the way to cutting off the southern Ukraine coast. It's horribly messy, but Russia is advancing, and destroying Ukraine.

I wish this were not true...

Yes, and Right Now Ukrainian forces are pushing east from Kharkiv. This is important because it threatens Russian forces to the south, which will be cut off and probably be forced to surrender if they let the Ukrainians get away with it.

 

[Mulezen]

I just listened to a general (US)retired recount how the Russians built four pontoon bridges across (?) and at the time the General thought the Ukrainians won‘t let these alone for long…and pretty soon three were destroyed…and only after the 4th bridge decamped a brigade did they destroy it. Then they hunted down the fragments of the brigade.

 

[Handlebars]

I found out on local broadband.
US tax payers Is given $5bills to the war effort to remove. That clown Zelensky Team.

It is indeed Clown World when billions are being OPENLY shoveled monthly through a cocaine-addicted alcoholic clown right into the pockets of those politicians and financiers who set up the scam in previous years.
Now Cokelensky is shutting off the fuel to European countries? What a sh*tshow.

 

[Handlebars]

They are going to buy up all property, like Bill Gates has been doing with farmland. All property, so you will Own Nothing and Be Happy. Happy for the breadline.

 

[Handlebars]

Gee, why don't we conjure up another $33 Billion. No, let's make it an even $40 Billion this time. That sounds great!

Russia military spending/defense budget for 2019 was $65.10B

 

[Mulezen]

In regard to the Russian bridge

Ukrainian Soldier Reveals How He Secretly Blew Up Russian Bridge

A military engineer in the Ukrainian army explained how he spotted where the Russian troops would have tried to cross the Siverskyi Donets river.

www.newsweek.com