In case you hadn't noticed, both sides are running out of artillery shells, especially those that fit the Soviet legacy guns both sides are using.a fan wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 12:38 amMan, you are a piece of work.
You're honestly so embarrassed that you were wrong, and that GDP and money DOES matter when it comes to waging war....that you're going to try and make up what I wrote, and pretend that no one notices?
Holy cow man, it's just a forum. You got it wrong. Putin is LITERALLY out of bullets and explode-y stuff in pockets on the front line, and you're trying to pretend that I didn't tell you that you need GDP and money to wage war. I told you this. Multiple times. You mocked me, and it turns out....I was (shocker) completely correct.
But sure, build a strawman, and pretend I'm so dumb that I don't think that the Russian army can kill people and make a mess, like a toddler that sh(ts himself.
The AWESOME thing is: I learned this lesson from you! Remember how you complained about not having spare freaking parts under Carter, even with a (checks notes) a budget of over $100 billion? Money matters. GDP matters.
The whole GDP discussion, as you very well know, goes back to Obama and Mittens. Where Romney was asked: What’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America?
Obama called it. You MOCKED him. Russia isn't the biggest geopolitical threat TO AMERICA. Russia is losing a war to UKRAINE, FFS. You think they can touch the US? Unless Putin goes full psycho, and shoots his nukes (that I seriously doubt work correctly)....he's in charge of a lousy, disorganized, broken joke of an army that is now LITERALLY throwing prisoners to the front line so that they can catch mortars in their pockets.
Can Putin stil make a mess? Yup. But the emperor has no clothes....just like Obama tried to tell you. And the dumbest part is that you would have listened to him if he had that R by his name.
That's where China (& N Korea) come in. They have the only remaining stockpiles, & (along with Russia) the capacity to make more.
No matter your GDP, if you don't have, or can't make, 122mm & 152mm shells, you can't effectively wage the war in Ukraine.
So yeah, keep fulminating about GDP, as if that matters now, in the crunch. Youtoldmeso.
ftr -- I mocked Obama (& you) for dismissing Russia as a threat or credible adversary. The '80's are calling (again).
https://www.csis.org/analysis/expanding ... -artillery
The war in Ukraine has become an artillery war. Stable front lines, increasingly effective kill chains, and reduced scope for air power have created an environment where ground firepower trumps maneuver, at least for the moment. While weapons like High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and Javelins have received most media attention, artillery has proven that it is still the “king of battle” by the intensity of its use.
Ukraine started the war with approximately 1,150 Soviet-era howitzers. Added to the 424-plus howitzers received from allies, Ukraine has a total of approximately 1,600 artillery pieces. While this may seem like a lot, it is inadequate considering the shortage of Soviet-standard ammunition, the length of the front lines, and the size of the Ukrainian forces.
Shortages of Soviet-standard ammunition (122 mm and 152 mm) have progressively reduced the value of Soviet-era artillery. The United States has scoured the globe to buy Soviet-standard ammunition and has sent Ukraine 45,000 152 mm artillery rounds and 20,000 122 mm rounds. However, with Russia and China, the major producers, unavailable, there are severe limits on what can be provided. Those limits will increase over time as accessible inventories become exhausted.
While available ammunition is short, the front is long. The actively contested frontline along the south of Ukraine and extending to the Russian border in the Kharkiv region is approximately 850 kilometers (km). The border with Russia along Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv Oblasts (not occupied by Russia) is 500 km. Ukraine’s border with Belarus, a potential adversary, is another 1,100 km. While not all these borders have active hostilities, that could change at any time. If Ukraine has 1,600 pieces of artillery, of all kinds, this amount is not enough to cover a combined border of almost 2,500 km.