All Things Russia & Ukraine

[PizzaSnake]

So, FSB and GRU concentrating their efforts in more fallow fields?

"The full impact of the damage to Russia’s spy networks in Europe is difficult to assess.

Security officials in Finland and Sweden, for example, said they have been surprised at how little effort Russia put toward disrupting those countries’ applications to join NATO.

Effort better spent with the Fcuker Carlson and their ilk in the US?

“It was remarkably quiet in the springtime” as Finland submitted its paperwork, said Pelttari, the Finnish spy chief.
To some, it was a sign that Russia’s capabilities had been degraded and that its services were preoccupied with the Ukraine war effort, which has exposed major failings by the FSB and other agencies. But officials said it may also reflect recognition by Moscow that public support for joining NATO was so overwhelming that seeking to shift opinion or disrupt the process was a lost cause."

But the US looks like a better ROI given the amount of actual support on offer, perhaps?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... e-arrests/

The US counter-intelligence has some work to do in Miami and NYC.

"Eller’s work seemed to require near-constant travel — 110 trips last year alone, according to a person familiar with the investigation — with records showing that he had frequently traveled to Moscow.

Eller was “pretty fast identified as a possible co-conspirator,” said a senior German security official involved in the investigation. But by early November, he had departed to Florida with his wife and young daughter for a lengthy visit with his wife’s relatives in Miami, the person familiar with the investigation said.

Eller returned to Germany in December as part of an international business trip. When Linke was arrested on Dec. 21, Eller received a call from a contact in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — the main successor to the KGB — warning him that he was in danger and urging him to fly to Moscow, the person said.

Guess his handler had a little defenestration party planned for him on arrival.

Instead, Eller departed again for Florida on Christmas Day, the person familiar with the case said. Remarkably, German authorities made no attempt to prevent him from leaving. “The evidence we had gathered was not enough to arrest him,” the German security official said."

Miami, the Russian Riviera?

[old salt]

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine- ... 75740.html

Good analysis by Mike Eckel at Radio Free Europe/Liberty

How Did Everybody Get The Ukraine Invasion Predictions So Wrong?

Good stuff. I hope Bill Burns publishes an appendix to his memoir after he leaves the CIA. It will be fascinating.

All the current debate about F-16's for Ukraine makes my head want to explode.
There's no way F-16's can be deployed soon enough to impact this year's fighting.
For the longer term, Ukraine does not have the necessary military infrastructure (human or physical)
& won't have it until well into the postwar rebuilding period.
imho, the Saab Gripen * is the only western fighter that Ukrainians could operate in the near term, thanks to it's ability to operate from short, rough runways. Maybe someday the STVOL F-35B being operated by the Brits & our Marines.
Ukraine's proximity to Russia will never change. They need hardened aviation facilities & aircraft shelters, the ability to operate from dispersed, austere runways & the air defense systems necessary to protect their air bases. Otherwise, the Ukrainians will burn through their fighter aircraft inventory as rapidly as they're expending their allies' howitzer barrels & shells.
The EU should make the deal with Sweden, & provide the necessary guarantees, to increase Gripen production now.
EU/NATO members could use them if Ukraine collapses (which is unlikely).

* https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/ ... ssons.html

[MDlaxfan76]

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine- ... 75740.html

Good analysis by Mike Eckel at Radio Free Europe/Liberty

How Did Everybody Get The Ukraine Invasion Predictions So Wrong?

Good stuff. I hope Bill Burns publishes an appendix to his memoir after he leaves the CIA. It will be fascinating.

All the current debate about F-16's for Ukraine makes my head want to explode.
There's no way F-16's can be deployed soon enough to impact this year's fighting.
For the longer term, Ukraine does not have the necessary military infrastructure (human or physical)
& won't have it until well into the postwar rebuilding period.
imho, the Saab Gripen * is the only western fighter that Ukrainians could operate in the near term, thanks to it's ability to operate from short, rough runways. Maybe someday the STVOL F-35B being operated by the Brits & our Marines.
Ukraine's proximity to Russia will never change. They need hardened aviation facilities & aircraft shelters, the ability to operate from dispersed, austere runways & the air defense systems necessary to protect their air bases. Otherwise, the Ukrainians will burn through their fighter aircraft inventory as rapidly as they're expending their allies' howitzer barrels & shells.
The EU should make the deal with Sweden, & provide the necessary guarantees, to increase Gripen production now.
EU/NATO members could use them if Ukraine collapses (which is unlikely).

* https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/ ... ssons.html

Assuming you are correct about Ukraine's physical infrastructure needs and the inability to deploy F-16s from current infrastructure, and the potential for this particular plane in the meantime, certainly makes sense to move as much to them as possible, as fast as possible...perhaps with backfill to any NATO donor countries with F-16's for whom that makes sense.

But how different are the requirements for MiG-29s, Su-24s, Su-25s and Su-27's?
Those are all flown from Ukraine currently.

Don't need the same runways?

The Brits and French also have jets they appear willing to contribute.

Apparently our military believes that air defense systems and artillery are much more urgently needed given massing of fixed wing aircraft by Russia in preparation for their impending major push.

Seems to me that longer striking missiles and drones would not have the issues you describe for the F-16's...so prioritize those as well?

Critical that Ukraine can strike deeply within the Russian occupied areas and nearby bases, command and control, etc. Precision is the West's advantage, gotta leverage that as much as possible.

[DocBarrister]

I cannot recall anytime in the past century when a U.S. president visited an active war zone without U.S. troops controlling the war zone or U.S. troops being directly involved in the war.

Ukrainians greeted the sight of Biden strolling in the sunlight alongside Zelensky in central Kyiv as historic, heroic and a welcome sign of support for Ukraine. A popular Russian journalist, Sergei Mardan, described the visit in a post to his 200,000 followers on Telegram as a “demonstrative humiliation for Russia.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/20 ... kraine-war

DocBarrister

[njbill]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

[RedFromMI]

I cannot recall anytime in the past century when a U.S. president visited an active war zone without U.S. troops controlling the war zone or U.S. troops being directly involved in the war.

Ukrainians greeted the sight of Biden strolling in the sunlight alongside Zelensky in central Kyiv as historic, heroic and a welcome sign of support for Ukraine. A popular Russian journalist, Sergei Mardan, described the visit in a post to his 200,000 followers on Telegram as a “demonstrative humiliation for Russia.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/20 ... kraine-war

DocBarrister

I would expect Biden had some US power on his side - including any advanced warning of flying potential lethal objects that may have come his way. He also from what I am seeing on my Twitter feed actually warned Moscow a few hours before his trip...

[get it to x]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Cool-Aid alert.

[MDlaxfan76]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Keep watching that Fox, OAN, and NewsMax...you get so much "truth" there...

Just wondering, get it to x, but how many Presidential elections have you voted in and who exactly did you vote for?

Or are you one of these never voted until Trump sorts?

[DocBarrister]

Putin probably once envisioned standing in Kyiv, triumphant and reviewing the latest addition to his new Russian Empire.

Nearly a year after the start of Russia’s criminal and incompetent war against Ukraine, it is President Joe Biden who stands in Kyiv, defiant as air raid sirens wail in the background, supporting President Zelensky and the courageous Ukrainian people.

What a humiliation for that diminutive coward in Moscow, Putin.

CNN
—
There is no more powerful symbol of Vladimir Putin’s failure.

A year ago, the Russian leader launched a blitzkrieg against Ukraine, mocking its history and sovereignty, sending his tanks churning toward Kyiv to obliterate the democratically elected government led by a former comic actor. His purpose was clear: To crush once and for all Ukraine’s dreams of joining the West and to force it to return to the orbit of greater Russia.

Back then, anyone predicting how the anniversary of the war would be marked might have mused about a Russian military parade and a visit by Putin himself to a puppet leader he installed in a nation again under Moscow’s iron fist.

The reality is far different following heroic Ukrainian resistance bolstered by weapons sent by NATO members.

The president of the United States, in overcoat and shades, strolled through Kyiv in daylight, visiting a historic church as air raid sirens wailed and standing exposed alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky in the city’s vast, open and iconic St. Michael’s Square.

His presence sent a message of defiance to Putin most directly and a cherished sign of resolve and empathy for the people of Ukraine. His audience also included European powers in a western alliance that Biden has led and invigorated like no president since the end of the Cold War. And every time a commander-in-chief makes such an audacious splash on the world stage he’s also making a point to Americans – on whose support continuing extraordinary support for Ukraine’s war effort depends – and to his own fervent domestic critics.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/20/politics ... index.html

DocBarrister

[get it to x]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Keep watching that Fox, OAN, and NewsMax...you get so much "truth" there...

Just wondering, get it to x, but how many Presidential elections have you voted in and who exactly did you vote for?

Or are you one of these never voted until Trump sorts?

NOYFB who I voted for, but every Presidential election since 1976. And it wasn't all one party, either. Oh, BTW, I only watch sports on TV. Oh, and the "Murder and Mayhem" channels, like ID and Forensic Files.

[DocBarrister]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Your party’s base is largely comprised of racists, misogynists, bigots, xenophobes, and pro-Putin trash.

MTG, LB, Gosar, Gaetz … that’s your base.

DocBarrister <——- aviator shades

[get it to x]

Putin probably once envisioned standing in Kyiv, triumphant and reviewing the latest addition to his new Russian Empire.

Nearly a year after the start of Russia’s criminal and incompetent war against Ukraine, it is President Joe Biden who stands in Kyiv, defiant as air raid sirens wail in the background, supporting President Zelensky and the courageous Ukrainian people.

What a humiliation for that diminutive coward in Moscow, Putin.

CNN
—
There is no more powerful symbol of Vladimir Putin’s failure.

A year ago, the Russian leader launched a blitzkrieg against Ukraine, mocking its history and sovereignty, sending his tanks churning toward Kyiv to obliterate the democratically elected government led by a former comic actor. His purpose was clear: To crush once and for all Ukraine’s dreams of joining the West and to force it to return to the orbit of greater Russia.

Back then, anyone predicting how the anniversary of the war would be marked might have mused about a Russian military parade and a visit by Putin himself to a puppet leader he installed in a nation again under Moscow’s iron fist.

The reality is far different following heroic Ukrainian resistance bolstered by weapons sent by NATO members.

The president of the United States, in overcoat and shades, strolled through Kyiv in daylight, visiting a historic church as air raid sirens wailed and standing exposed alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky in the city’s vast, open and iconic St. Michael’s Square.

His presence sent a message of defiance to Putin most directly and a cherished sign of resolve and empathy for the people of Ukraine. His audience also included European powers in a western alliance that Biden has led and invigorated like no president since the end of the Cold War. And every time a commander-in-chief makes such an audacious splash on the world stage he’s also making a point to Americans – on whose support continuing extraordinary support for Ukraine’s war effort depends – and to his own fervent domestic critics.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/20/politics ... index.html

DocBarrister

They can afford to send him. Might even be fortuitous for the Democrat Party if he got picked off. Opens up the primary. Not Susan Rice, though. They need her to keep running things.

[get it to x]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Your party’s base is largely comprised of racists, misogynists, bigots, xenophobes, and pro-Putin trash.

MTG, LB, Gosar, Gaetz … that’s your base.

DocBarrister <——- aviator shades

When you have to resort to 2nd grade playground name calling you have lost the argument. My party's base is made up mainly of working people and patriots. Yours? Not so much. Academics and freeloaders. You're the party of big government, yet you can't even get your workers to come back to the office. Enjoy watching the exodus from what was once a great state. I was born there. There won't be any lights to turn out for the last person leaving California.

Keep cheerleading WWIII, though.

[Kismet]

Could be worse X - we could have former British PM Liz Truss in charge (she lasted less than 30 days in the job in the UK) and just today called for 'Economic NATO' should be created to counter China - she voted for Brexit.

Say what you want about ol' Uncle Joe - but walking out in the open in a foreign city with an air raid siren blaring in the background could be perceived by some as the ultimate BOSS move. ...and his people gave the Rooskies a heads up, too!!

Interesting fact - POTUS flew direct from Andrews AFB to Rzeszow, Poland, in an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used for domestic trips to smaller airports and not the usual 747 used for international trips with a refueling stop in Germany 9no transponder after that). Once Biden was aboard the Air Force jet, the call sign “SAM060,” for Special Air Mission, was used for the plane instead of the usual “Air Force One.”

[a fan]

Biden so tough Putin invaded

I keep hearing this. Why would anyone think that Biden was anything other than a Neo-con? If the idea is that Putin waited for BIden to arrive because he wouldn't do anything to stop Putin....it appears that this was a catastrophic mistake on Putin's part, does it not?

It's obvious to me ...my opinion...that it was Trump starting to arm and train Ukrainians that put this whole thing in motion. And Putin made the decision to pull the trigger when Biden signaled that there was more arms and training on deck. So Putin invaded before he could no longer do so.

just like he did when Obama was CIC.

Yes, but you supported that, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be calling Dems "warmongers". Obama didn't send any military aid to Ukraine, and only levied sanctions when Putin invaded Crimea. Isn't this your preferred response?

Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks

Since when? Since when were Republicans "peace freaks"?

[a fan]

You're the party of big government

Trump made the government 66% bigger in four years. Four years. That's insane. Did you complain? Did the Tea Party reassemble, and march?

As for your freeloader comment...how do you think the lights are on in rural America right now. It's not local and State spending. It's Federal.

That's why your party makes the Federal government larger every chance they get. They cannot survive without all that borrowed money....given away freely.

Obama cut spending two years in a row with the sequester. Republicans screamed bloody murder about it, if you'll recall. "Hollowed out military" and other charges.

I've said this many times: the last Republican that cut spending from one year to another was Eisenhower. So where'd you get the idea that the Republican Party was the party of small government?

[DocBarrister]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Your party’s base is largely comprised of racists, misogynists, bigots, xenophobes, and pro-Putin trash.

MTG, LB, Gosar, Gaetz … that’s your base.

DocBarrister <——- aviator shades

When you have to resort to 2nd grade playground name calling you have lost the argument. My party's base is made up mainly of working people and patriots. Yours? Not so much. Academics and freeloaders. You're the party of big government, yet you can't even get your workers to come back to the office. Enjoy watching the exodus from what was once a great state. I was born there. There won't be any lights to turn out for the last person leaving California.

Keep cheerleading WWIII, though.

California is doing fine.

We are in the process of passing Germany as the world’s fourth largest economy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 7.html?amp

We already have an economy larger than India, despite being dwarfed in population.

California is an economic powerhouse. Republican states like Alabama, MS, Missouri, South Carolina, and Arkansas? Not so much. And it’s Texas that has trouble keeping its lights on.

As for Florida, they’re too busy banning books, promoting fascism and White Supremacism, and fighting Disney to do much that is productive.

DocBarrister

[MDlaxfan76]

Compare that to Trump cowering in the White House basement, after having pushed Melonia aside as he stumbled down the stairs, when a bunch of candy bar throwing protesters were in Lafayette Square.

Can't get Trump out of your head, can you? Biden so tough Putin invaded, just like he did when Obama was CIC. Funny how my party's base is mainly economic populists and peace freaks, while your party is corporatists and war mongers. No wonder you liked Liz Cheney so much. Of course, you're still the racist party, but instead of the KKK and Bull Connor at the schoolhouse door you have the NEA and Randi Weingarten.

Keep watching that Fox, OAN, and NewsMax...you get so much "truth" there...

Just wondering, get it to x, but how many Presidential elections have you voted in and who exactly did you vote for?

Or are you one of these never voted until Trump sorts?

NOYFB who I voted for, but every Presidential election since 1976. And it wasn't all one party, either. Oh, BTW, I only watch sports on TV. Oh, and the "Murder and Mayhem" channels, like ID and Forensic Files.

yeah, on an anonymous forum you claim "my party" as the GOP and yet are unwilling/afraid to tell us who you voted for???

I guess you get your "news" from 'some guy on the internet'?
And the algorithm feeding you your bubble crappola?

[MDlaxfan76]

You're the party of big government

Trump made the government 66% bigger in four years. Four years. That's insane. Did you complain? Did the Tea Party reassemble, and march?

As for your freeloader comment...how do you think the lights are on in rural America right now. It's not local and State spending. It's Federal.

That's why your party makes the Federal government larger every chance they get. They cannot survive without all that borrowed money....given away freely.

Obama cut spending two years in a row with the sequester. Republicans screamed bloody murder about it, if you'll recall. "Hollowed out military" and other charges.

I've said this many times: the last Republican that cut spending from one year to another was Eisenhower. So where'd you get the idea that the Republican Party was the party of small government?

some guy on the internet