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Starmer still has a 30%+ net approval lead over Johnson – politicalbetting.com

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  • Leon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Asking average underpaid Russian conscripts to slaughter fellow Slavs, often Russian speaking, in a country always seemed as "part of the Slavo-Russian family" is a huge task.
    You are probably unaware of the historic enmity between the Russians and the Poles, or the Serbs and Croats.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 4,555

    Leon said:

    Someone needs to slot Rabid Dog Putin

    Absolutely NO ONE wants this war, except Putin himself

    So kill him, and the problem goes away

    Yes. He needs to go now.

    There may not be that much time to spare.
    Oh for a successful Russian Stauffenberg ...
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 4,530
    Boeing are effectively putting a plane that is not airworthy into our skies.

    No other commercial airliner has an inherent design fault where you need sensors and extra pilot training to stop it crashing.
  • tlg86 said:

    TimS said:

    Leon said:

    Someone needs to slot Rabid Dog Putin

    Absolutely NO ONE wants this war, except Putin himself

    So kill him, and the problem goes away

    This ends in his death, one way or other. Either in the manner of Mussolini of Ceaucescu, or incinerated along with the rest of us in a nuclear blast.

    The more he loses without a coup happening, the more likely we’re heading for the latter.

    Someone in the Kremlin needs to do something very brave. The prize is saving at least a country, at most an entire hemisphere.
    How many Russians between Putin and the button/key? I’m not certain his orders would be obeyed.
    A story I heard from someone who probably knew what he was talking about (but still an anecdote) is that the Soviet nuclear threat was not as bad as the West thought even at the height of the cold war. The reason was that the land based rockets were fuelled with hydrogen-peroxide and... alcohol. The bored soldiers on duty at the silos had drunk most of the alcohol so any missile launch would not have gone far.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    ClippP said:

    DougSeal said:

    HYUFD said:

    Preferred PM is the most accurate figure and on that Starmer only leads Johnson by 3%. The same as the Labour voting intention lead

    https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1497663508179083264?s=20&t=QQpxdql6skhkyPIL2AKUcQ

    “Only” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Johnson’s supposed to be your election winning machine.
    Sorry, young HY. Your Johnson is a loser. Please can you Tories do somthing about him. I have no desire to see Starmer win by a landslide.
    In actual fact Boris still outperforms the Tory party.

    Starmer only leads Boris as preferred PM by 3% but Labour lead the Tories by 4%
  • PJohnson said:

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
    The Ukrainian people do not want any of this but they are not going to just roll over and now they are receiving modern NATO weapons from 27 countries they are more than likely to put Putin to the sword
  • Putin murdering Greeks now

    Prime Minister GR
    @PrimeministerGR
    10 innocent civilians of Greek origin killed today by Russian air strikes close to Mariupol. Stop the bombing now!
    https://twitter.com/PrimeministerGR/status/1497677174924529670

    Some of them have been around that coast for about 2000 years. Not much longer, at this rate.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,262
    nico679 said:

    Boeing are effectively putting a plane that is not airworthy into our skies.

    No other commercial airliner has an inherent design fault where you need sensors and extra pilot training to stop it crashing.

    I am no fan of Boeing and they deserve to be severely censured for the 737 Max debacle but no modern plane can fly without "sensors and extra pilot training".
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Asking average underpaid Russian conscripts to slaughter fellow Slavs, often Russian speaking, in a country always seemed as "part of the Slavo-Russian family" is a huge task.

    Killing Muslims or Africans or whatever (to be brutal) that's, sadly, not so hard. But butchering Orthodox Slavs who suffered USSR communism just like you, and who can argue with you in your own language?

    Could Mancunian troops be easily persuaded to open fire on the peaceful, unthreatening people of Dundee or Glasgow, for all of HYUFD's urging? I really really doubt it

    This, no doubt is why the Evil Putin is bringing in the rockets and the Chechens
    The Met and other southern police that the Thatcher government sent north to beat up the miners weren't very squeamish about it.
    Jesus. I know you're a lefty and you love this mythology but Thatcher did not ask Biritish police to run over miners with tanks, or strafe their homes with jets, or napalm their children with flamtethrowers

    Get a grip
    Deep down you just love the anti-woke Putin, don't you? :lol:
  • TheWhiteRabbitTheWhiteRabbit Posts: 12,387
    edited February 2022

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    What I can say is that 🇺🇦Ukraine’s military have been demonstrating outstanding anti-tank effectiveness. I’m just losing count of Russian armor convoys slaughtered every several hours across the country.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497670726891020294

    I have a feeling this war may do for the Main Battle Tank what WWII did for the Battleship.
    Does seem like a good outing got NLAW and Javelin, certainly, but it is a defensive war.
  • Leon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Asking average underpaid Russian conscripts to slaughter fellow Slavs, often Russian speaking, in a country always seemed as "part of the Slavo-Russian family" is a huge task.

    Killing Muslims or Africans or whatever (to be brutal) that's, sadly, not so hard. But butchering Orthodox Slavs who suffered USSR communism just like you, and who can argue with you in your own language?

    Could Mancunian troops be easily persuaded to open fire on the peaceful, unthreatening people of Dundee or Glasgow, for all of HYUFD's urging? I really really doubt it

    This, no doubt is why the Evil Putin is bringing in the rockets and the Chechens
    The Met and other southern police that the Thatcher government sent north to beat up the miners weren't very squeamish about it.
    A friend of mine was a mining engineer. He had to continue work or the pit would have become defunct.

    He was attacked on his way to work and beaten up, and his bicycle thrown in the river. He also had to arm himself with an iron bar when the mob were attacking their own buildings and stand in an office corridor where "they could only come at me one at a time".

    I don't think anyone should have been squeamish about beating the pickets up.

    3 people died during the miners strike. None of them due to the police. 2 of the three were killed by miners (a concrete block dropped through a taxi window and a brick thrown by another miner) and one was crushed under a lorry on the picket line.
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,087
    Reports: the UN Security Council votes tomorrow on calling an emergency session of the General Assembly over Ukraine.

    The vote is procedural so veto power doesn't apply. Nine votes are needed, and it is therefore thought likely to pass. The General Assembly would then meet on Monday.

    The General Assembly has no power to pass a binding resolution, but one imagines that a vote to censure Russia is bound to pass, and the way it breaks will offer a good indication as to how many friends Putin has left.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    Someone needs to slot Rabid Dog Putin

    Absolutely NO ONE wants this war, except Putin himself

    So kill him, and the problem goes away

    Yes. He needs to go now.
    Do they not have the equivalent of Graham Brady and the 1922 committee in Russia? I imagine their equivalent does a bit more than write a strongly worded letter.
    Though if their coup fails they either get life in prison or executed
    That would mean a lot of by-elections. Oh, wait, you meant the Russians?
    Probably, though Boris had said his favourite film is the Godfather
    I haven't heard from Phillip Hammond recently...
  • HYUFD said:

    ClippP said:

    DougSeal said:

    HYUFD said:

    Preferred PM is the most accurate figure and on that Starmer only leads Johnson by 3%. The same as the Labour voting intention lead

    https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1497663508179083264?s=20&t=QQpxdql6skhkyPIL2AKUcQ

    “Only” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Johnson’s supposed to be your election winning machine.
    Sorry, young HY. Your Johnson is a loser. Please can you Tories do somthing about him. I have no desire to see Starmer win by a landslide.
    In actual fact Boris still outperforms the Tory party.

    Starmer only leads Boris as preferred PM by 3% but Labour lead the Tories by 4%
    No Tory poll lead for two months and 20 days.
  • Chameleon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Yep I think there's a decent case of that being true. Certainly the Ukrainian army is unrecognisable compared to just 8 years ago.

    On a separate note, in almost all of the videos I've seen so far (the exception are the VDV from the airport), captured Russians have been either senior officers, or 17-23 year olds.

    Young conscripts (technically volunteers, but they were conscripts coerced into signing contracts just before crossing the border) fighting a brother nation are not going to be motivated, or have key experience. There's a reason why most countries have moved towards professional armies.
    IS the apparent failure of Russian nilitary plans possibly an illusion .We have 24 hour news now so each hour seems an eternity at times like this. I cannot remember exactly how long it took the yanks to capture Baghdad but in was in weeks not days and everybody thought it swift at the time. Was the difference just a lack of social media where things need to happen by the hour to maintain interest?
  • TimSTimS Posts: 9,138
    DougSeal said:

    ydoethur said:

    DougSeal said:

    I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
    Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
    No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
    There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Asking average underpaid Russian conscripts to slaughter fellow Slavs, often Russian speaking, in a country always seemed as "part of the Slavo-Russian family" is a huge task.

    Killing Muslims or Africans or whatever (to be brutal) that's, sadly, not so hard. But butchering Orthodox Slavs who suffered USSR communism just like you, and who can argue with you in your own language?

    Could Mancunian troops be easily persuaded to open fire on the peaceful, unthreatening people of Dundee or Glasgow, for all of HYUFD's urging? I really really doubt it

    This, no doubt is why the Evil Putin is bringing in the rockets and the Chechens
    The Met and other southern police that the Thatcher government sent north to beat up the miners weren't very squeamish about it.
    Jesus. I know you're a lefty and you love this mythology but Thatcher did not ask Biritish police to run over miners with tanks, or strafe their homes with jets, or napalm their children with flamtethrowers

    Get a grip
    Just in case you're talking about it, the tank that ran over the car was Ukrainian and wasn't a tank
  • ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886
    Apparently now the convoys that bypassed Sumi and Karkhiv to dash towards Kiev have... run out of fuel. No verification for the claim yet beyond a new video of villagers in the dark burning abandoned APCs that clearly weren't disabled by combat.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 9,138

    Chameleon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Yep I think there's a decent case of that being true. Certainly the Ukrainian army is unrecognisable compared to just 8 years ago.

    On a separate note, in almost all of the videos I've seen so far (the exception are the VDV from the airport), captured Russians have been either senior officers, or 17-23 year olds.

    Young conscripts (technically volunteers, but they were conscripts coerced into signing contracts just before crossing the border) fighting a brother nation are not going to be motivated, or have key experience. There's a reason why most countries have moved towards professional armies.
    IS the apparent failure of Russian nilitary plans possibly an illusion .We have 24 hour news now so each hour seems an eternity at times like this. I cannot remember exactly how long it took the yanks to capture Baghdad but in was in weeks not days and everybody thought it swift at the time. Was the difference just a lack of social media where things need to happen by the hour to maintain interest?
    Yes to some extent, but it’s the losses of equipment and fighters that are making the news. This isn’t just a case of being bogged down. And if there are logistical problems already those will surely only get worse.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Asking average underpaid Russian conscripts to slaughter fellow Slavs, often Russian speaking, in a country always seemed as "part of the Slavo-Russian family" is a huge task.

    Killing Muslims or Africans or whatever (to be brutal) that's, sadly, not so hard. But butchering Orthodox Slavs who suffered USSR communism just like you, and who can argue with you in your own language?

    Could Mancunian troops be easily persuaded to open fire on the peaceful, unthreatening people of Dundee or Glasgow, for all of HYUFD's urging? I really really doubt it

    This, no doubt is why the Evil Putin is bringing in the rockets and the Chechens
    The Met and other southern police that the Thatcher government sent north to beat up the miners weren't very squeamish about it.
    Jesus. I know you're a lefty and you love this mythology but Thatcher did not ask Biritish police to run over miners with tanks, or strafe their homes with jets, or napalm their children with flamtethrowers

    Get a grip
    And nor did I say that she did. Get a grip.
  • Oh fuck..

    @IAPonomarenko
    ·
    4m
    EXTREMELY HEAVY RUSSIAN AIR RAID EXPECTED IN KYIV WITHIN MINUTES
    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497681804983164938
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Asking average underpaid Russian conscripts to slaughter fellow Slavs, often Russian speaking, in a country always seemed as "part of the Slavo-Russian family" is a huge task.

    Killing Muslims or Africans or whatever (to be brutal) that's, sadly, not so hard. But butchering Orthodox Slavs who suffered USSR communism just like you, and who can argue with you in your own language?

    Could Mancunian troops be easily persuaded to open fire on the peaceful, unthreatening people of Dundee or Glasgow, for all of HYUFD's urging? I really really doubt it

    This, no doubt is why the Evil Putin is bringing in the rockets and the Chechens
    The Met and other southern police that the Thatcher government sent north to beat up the miners weren't very squeamish about it.
    Jesus. I know you're a lefty and you love this mythology but Thatcher did not ask Biritish police to run over miners with tanks, or strafe their homes with jets, or napalm their children with flamtethrowers

    Get a grip
    Coincidentally what your green-inked letter sent to the blessed Thatch at the time said:

    You need to run over the miners with tanks, strafe their homes with jets and napalm their children with flamtethrowers
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    warning in #Kyiv that attacks about to intensify...
    https://twitter.com/bbclysedoucet/status/1497682475249811476
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    edited February 2022
    PJohnson said:

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
    Why would they not? What lesson are you trying to impart here? It's not a positive one.

    We are the Borg. Lower your weapons and surrunder...we will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    From the defence reporter from Kyiv Independent: https://twitter.com/iaponomarenko/status/1497681804983164938
  • Chameleon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Yep I think there's a decent case of that being true. Certainly the Ukrainian army is unrecognisable compared to just 8 years ago.

    On a separate note, in almost all of the videos I've seen so far (the exception are the VDV from the airport), captured Russians have been either senior officers, or 17-23 year olds.

    Young conscripts (technically volunteers, but they were conscripts coerced into signing contracts just before crossing the border) fighting a brother nation are not going to be motivated, or have key experience. There's a reason why most countries have moved towards professional armies.
    IS the apparent failure of Russian nilitary plans possibly an illusion .We have 24 hour news now so each hour seems an eternity at times like this. I cannot remember exactly how long it took the yanks to capture Baghdad but in was in weeks not days and everybody thought it swift at the time. Was the difference just a lack of social media where things need to happen by the hour to maintain interest?
    Yes I think that is a risk. But whatever now happens I think Putin badly miscalculated this. He has given the Ukrainians something to fight for and the time to get used to the idea. As I said to the Sovbot earlier, he may achieve his short term objectives - and I sadly think he will - but the medium to long tern he is screwed and the Russians will be leaving Ukraine as the losers.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    PJohnson said:

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
    The Ukrainian people do not want any of this but they are not going to just roll over and now they are receiving modern NATO weapons from 27 countries they are more than likely to put Putin to the sword
    More than likely is a bold call.
    Drag it out for far longer than was expected, yes.
    I don't see Ukrainian troops in Russia soon.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    In 30-60 mins #Kyiv will be under attack never seen before.#Russia will hit us with all they have. Main Bessarabka market is a target. All parliamentary chats are exploding
    https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1497677986136576002
  • BalrogBalrog Posts: 207

    ydoethur said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    Did they possibly believe Putin when he said he wasn't planning to invade? And therefore made minimal preparations they thought would be for show.

    It would suggest they are stupid. But we're slowly being forced to that conclusion anyway.
    *If* things aren't going as Russia planned (that is far from certain, as we have no visibility of their plan), then a significant factor might be that the Russian military has been lying to itself, and the leadership, for years. "Sure we have 100 combat-ready tanks in that warehouse," when in reality the maintenance money had bene going into someone's back pocket. It could be the entire system's riddled with capabilities that exist only on paper.
    I did a project for the army, part of which was to automate reporting of the status of battlefield equipment, eg tanks, armoured personnel carriers etc up the chain of command. They wouldn't accept automatic reporting because it gave the wrong impression. They wanted the ability to manually report things, for example as working when not yet ready, but could be made ready at short notice if anyone from brigade was going to visit... Perhaps things have changed (it was a long time ago), perhaps all militaries have the same wish not to report unpleasant facts?
  • ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886

    Chameleon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Yep I think there's a decent case of that being true. Certainly the Ukrainian army is unrecognisable compared to just 8 years ago.

    On a separate note, in almost all of the videos I've seen so far (the exception are the VDV from the airport), captured Russians have been either senior officers, or 17-23 year olds.

    Young conscripts (technically volunteers, but they were conscripts coerced into signing contracts just before crossing the border) fighting a brother nation are not going to be motivated, or have key experience. There's a reason why most countries have moved towards professional armies.
    IS the apparent failure of Russian nilitary plans possibly an illusion .We have 24 hour news now so each hour seems an eternity at times like this. I cannot remember exactly how long it took the yanks to capture Baghdad but in was in weeks not days and everybody thought it swift at the time. Was the difference just a lack of social media where things need to happen by the hour to maintain interest?
    Outside the VDV it definitely seems like lots of Russian forces deployed are lower quality in both skills and equipment compared to expectations.

    However even if it is a feint, a lot of actions, such as the non-existant supply chains and lack of air domination still would make no sense.
  • TimS said:

    Chameleon said:

    pigeon said:

    Chameleon said:

    I've said it before, but this is just all baffling:

    Russian airforce failing to to achieve air supremacy
    Whole convoys of Russian vehicles being abandoned due to a lack of fuel just days and tens of kms in.
    Support and light arms convoys being sent right into set defences with NLAWs
    Russian generals running low on rockets, despite supposedly having many stockpiled.
    The airforce killing a good portion of the VDV by either flying troop transporters into SAM defences, or right into the sea.
    Russia supposedly having no real battle plan and failing to get allied help.

    Some of these are surely disinfo (1, 2, 3 are all proven fact), but there's enough to point to a seriously dysfunctional command structure who are unprepared for the war they started.

    It's also possible that the Russian conventional forces are largely a hollowed-out basket case. Much of Europe has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on domestic priorities. Perhaps the Russian elite has denuded its defences to spend the excess cash on tarts, cars and yachts?

    I don't know, it's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe - just maybe - they are a lot weaker than their previous quick wins making modest gains from puny opponents (the Georgians; the Ukrainians themselves eight years ago) made them appear.
    Yep I think there's a decent case of that being true. Certainly the Ukrainian army is unrecognisable compared to just 8 years ago.

    On a separate note, in almost all of the videos I've seen so far (the exception are the VDV from the airport), captured Russians have been either senior officers, or 17-23 year olds.

    Young conscripts (technically volunteers, but they were conscripts coerced into signing contracts just before crossing the border) fighting a brother nation are not going to be motivated, or have key experience. There's a reason why most countries have moved towards professional armies.
    IS the apparent failure of Russian nilitary plans possibly an illusion .We have 24 hour news now so each hour seems an eternity at times like this. I cannot remember exactly how long it took the yanks to capture Baghdad but in was in weeks not days and everybody thought it swift at the time. Was the difference just a lack of social media where things need to happen by the hour to maintain interest?
    Yes to some extent, but it’s the losses of equipment and fighters that are making the news. This isn’t just a case of being bogged down. And if there are logistical problems already those will surely only get worse.
    but i am sure if there was social media in 1944 the Germans could point to a lot of footage about downed planes and blown up allied tanks regards D -Day as well. And that woudl have been an illusion . We have to discount a lot of seemingly good news on the basis of the abilty for any single small success to be blown up to be more than it is
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,072
    Can we presume that NATO is feeding Ukraine command intelligence on an hourly basis? Perhaps even tactical advice?
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,005
    Scott_xP said:

    In 30-60 mins #Kyiv will be under attack never seen before.#Russia will hit us with all they have. Main Bessarabka market is a target. All parliamentary chats are exploding
    https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1497677986136576002

    Are they going to try and starve the population?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    Can we presume that NATO is feeding Ukraine command intelligence on an hourly basis? Perhaps even tactical advice?

    Well, let's hope the intelligence is from the Americans not the Germans...
  • Can we presume that NATO is feeding Ukraine command intelligence on an hourly basis? Perhaps even tactical advice?

    Yes. We've been training them for 7 years after all. Why stop now?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited February 2022

    Can we presume that NATO is feeding Ukraine command intelligence on an hourly basis? Perhaps even tactical advice?

    Something that is interesting is clearly just how leaky Russia is. The US / UK clearly know about the plans well ahead of the invasion. They told the Chinese this and of course Chinese sold them out and went running to Vlad.

    Paranoid Putin must be even more paranoid that the west clearly have the inside track.
  • ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886
    Scott_xP said:

    In 30-60 mins #Kyiv will be under attack never seen before.#Russia will hit us with all they have. Main Bessarabka market is a target. All parliamentary chats are exploding
    https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1497677986136576002

    A few days ago British intelligence leaked a remarkably explicit plan around Russia planning a decapitation air raid in Kyiv. I wonder if after a couple days of probing, they are confident enough in their knowledge of the air defences to press the trigger?
  • Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483
  • Can we presume that NATO is feeding Ukraine command intelligence on an hourly basis? Perhaps even tactical advice?

    I have no doubt NATO are providing intelligence 24/7 to Ukraine
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 4,746
    On the refugee issue, it requires more thought than just the reflexive 'take people in on compassionate grounds'. People are fleeing a warzone, which is understandable, but in such circumstances they need basic temporary accommodation, not long term resettlement through the asylum system.

    I would advocate aid to provide such basic accommodation in safe countries adjacent to the border. Where people are sponsored by a citizen or long term resident, they should be allowed to come to Britain until it is deemed safe to return to Ukraine.

    But this is really a distraction, as the people who we really need to support are those who have remained in Ukraine and are actually fighting the Russians. And it is they who will ultimately be in the greatest long term danger, and they who may ultimately need asylum in the event of a Russian victory.
  • ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,920
    Must have been a busy day for Corbyn, what with all these Stop the War demonstrations around the place?
  • Fishing said:

    Leon said:

    Someone needs to slot Rabid Dog Putin

    Absolutely NO ONE wants this war, except Putin himself

    So kill him, and the problem goes away

    Yes. He needs to go now.

    There may not be that much time to spare.
    Oh for a successful Russian Stauffenberg ...
    "Es lebe das heilige Russland!"
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,206
    Scott_xP said:

    In 30-60 mins #Kyiv will be under attack never seen before.#Russia will hit us with all they have. Main Bessarabka market is a target. All parliamentary chats are exploding
    https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1497677986136576002

    God help them

    This is Putin's Go To Modus, when things don't quite work

    Just obliterate everything. Like in Grozny. Except this time it will be a European democratic nation in full view of international and social media
  • Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Its quite a turn around that Chechens fighting for Russia rather than against them.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,600

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Hmmmmm....

    image
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Some context would be utterly fucking fantastic here. I mean REALLY fantastic.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 4,530

    nico679 said:

    Boeing are effectively putting a plane that is not airworthy into our skies.

    No other commercial airliner has an inherent design fault where you need sensors and extra pilot training to stop it crashing.

    I am no fan of Boeing and they deserve to be severely censured for the 737 Max debacle but no modern plane can fly without "sensors and extra pilot training".
    This is the question though . You’re adding these extra sensors onto the plane which are not needed on others.

    The 737 Max has a design fault because they’ve moved the engines which unbalances the plane . Is there another passenger airliner which was designed to be unbalanced so effectively you need extra sensors to stop it crashing .

    I will never fly on that plane and would refuse to board if I got to the airport and my flight had seen a change of plane to the 737 Max .

    Some airlines might try and hoodwink passengers with changing the serial numbers but the 737 Max is easily identifiable and you can find the alternate serial numbers online .

  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited February 2022

    Must have been a busy day for Corbyn, what with all these Stop the War demonstrations around the place?

    He has spent the day banging on about the NHS not being paid enough.....15% pay rise demanded.

    Maybe he will pop up on Russia Today later on.
  • BlancheLivermoreBlancheLivermore Posts: 5,129
    edited February 2022
    IshmaelZ said:

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Some context would be utterly fucking fantastic here. I mean REALLY fantastic.
    Russia has invaded Ukraine.

    10,000 Chechens are reported to have gone to Ukraine to fight for Russia.

    This is a picture of the Chechen leader Kadyrov, with one of his top Warlords Tushayev.

    Tushayev has been killed in fighting in one of Kyiv's airports.

    Enough?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,206
    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    EXTREMELY HEAVY RUSSIAN AIR RAID EXPECTED IN KYIV WITHIN MINUTES
    9:15 PM · Feb 26, 2022 from Ukraine·
  • ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886
    edited February 2022

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Its quite a turn around that Chechens fighting for Russia rather than against them.
    The word 'cucked' is silly and ridiculous 99% of the time it's used. However in this case it is justified. There is nothing more cucked than seeing a brutal warlord invade you, turn your capital into a brutal hellhole of indiscriminate civilian murder and shelling, razing it to the ground in the process, killing your fathers, uncles, and neighbours. Only two decades later to turn around and be that same dictator's most loyal and feared soldiers.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891

    DougSeal said:

    ydoethur said:

    DougSeal said:

    I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
    Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
    No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
    It is far too early to talk of a bounce but the next few weeks may provide a clearer picture
    That's rather a poor analogy. Thatcher was involved in the war. Johnson has no involvement whatsoever
  • IshmaelZ said:

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Some context would be utterly fucking fantastic here. I mean REALLY fantastic.
    Russia has invaded Ukraine.

    10,000 Chechens are reported to have gone to Ukraine to fight for Russia.

    This is a picture of the Chechen leader Kadyrov, with one of his top Warlords Tushayev.

    Tushayev has been killed in fighting in one of Kyiv's airports.

    Enough?
    Also..

    Bojan Pancevski
    @bopanc
    Chechen forces also fought in the invasion on Donbas in 2014; extremely brutal and inhumane: they tortured, mutilated and raped people
    https://twitter.com/bopanc/status/1497685817413808139
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    Roger said:

    That's rather a poor analogy. Thatcher was involved in the war. Johnson has no involvement whatsoever

    He is at an RAF base right now

    Amazingly, no flak jacket...
  • Leon said:

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    EXTREMELY HEAVY RUSSIAN AIR RAID EXPECTED IN KYIV WITHIN MINUTES
    9:15 PM · Feb 26, 2022 from Ukraine·

    God help Kyiv.
  • AslanAslan Posts: 1,673
    Russian peacekeeping: missiles hitting apartment buildings.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/juliaskripkaser/status/1497458194951647236
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,087
    darkage said:

    On the refugee issue, it requires more thought than just the reflexive 'take people in on compassionate grounds'. People are fleeing a warzone, which is understandable, but in such circumstances they need basic temporary accommodation, not long term resettlement through the asylum system.

    I would advocate aid to provide such basic accommodation in safe countries adjacent to the border. Where people are sponsored by a citizen or long term resident, they should be allowed to come to Britain until it is deemed safe to return to Ukraine.

    But this is really a distraction, as the people who we really need to support are those who have remained in Ukraine and are actually fighting the Russians. And it is they who will ultimately be in the greatest long term danger, and they who may ultimately need asylum in the event of a Russian victory.

    Putting people in a holding pattern for a short stay is one thing, but if this conflict drags on for any length of time then we may well see the millions of refugees that the UN has predicted, followed by a lengthy Russian occupation of Ukraine. That will mean that people will have to be parcelled out throughout the West and resettled.

    The fleeing Ukrainians can be put up in hotels, sports halls and tent encampments for weeks, not years - and the border states can't be expected to shoulder all the burden.
  • Surely the first rule of a paradrop is surprise? Have the Russians leaked this as well?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    This appears very much to be a government minister suggesting that refugees fleeing a warzone should apply for a seasonal worker programme. https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1497688909983064067/photo/1
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    Aslan said:

    Russian peacekeeping: missiles hitting apartment buildings.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/juliaskripkaser/status/1497458194951647236

    Old Soviet definition of a tank:

    'A large vehicle that visits countries to show how much we like them. It can fire shots as a friendly way of saying 'hello.''
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited February 2022
    🇬🇧🇺🇦 PM tonight with plane stuffed full of “military support” heading out to our comrades in Ukraine - PA



    https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1497687061582778370

    Overflying Germany.....
  • Chameleon said:

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Its quite a turn around that Chechens fighting for Russia rather than against them.
    The word 'cucked' is silly and ridiculous 99% of the time it's used. However in this case it is justified. There is nothing more cucked than seeing a brutal warlord invade you, turn your capital into a brutal hellhole of indiscriminate civilian murder and shelling, razing it to the ground in the process, killing your fathers, uncles, and neighbours. Only two decades later to turn around and be that same dictator's most loyal and feared soldiers.
    Sikhs fought against the Brits in the 1830s, losing their independence in the process. Then siding with the the Brits when the rest of the Subcontinent had their Mutiny in the 1850s.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    JUST IN: #Russian state TV channels have been hacked by #Anonymous to broadcast the truth about what happens in #Ukraine.

    #OpRussia #OpKremlin #FckPutin #StandWithUkriane https://twitter.com/YourAnonTV/status/1497678663046905863/video/1
  • Roger said:

    DougSeal said:

    ydoethur said:

    DougSeal said:

    I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
    Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
    No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
    It is far too early to talk of a bounce but the next few weeks may provide a clearer picture
    That's rather a poor analogy. Thatcher was involved in the war. Johnson has no involvement whatsoever
    Utter nonsense
  • AslanAslan Posts: 1,673
    kle4 said:

    PJohnson said:

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Russia moves in heavy flamethrower weapon

    CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the Russians moving a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower that shoots thermobaric rockets near Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsycTW8mGc

    Yes the more Ukraine resists the worse and more bloody it will be for them. Do the ukrainian people really want this
    Why would they not? What lesson are you trying to impart here? It's not a positive one.

    We are the Borg. Lower your weapons and surrunder...we will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
    Russian shills gonna Russian shill.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 2,179
    edited February 2022

    IshmaelZ said:

    Illia Ponomarenko
    @IAPonomarenko
    Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
    🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.

    https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497657772980244483

    Some context would be utterly fucking fantastic here. I mean REALLY fantastic.
    Russia has invaded Ukraine.

    10,000 Chechens are reported to have gone to Ukraine to fight for Russia.

    This is a picture of the Chechen leader Kadyrov, with one of his top Warlords Tushayev.

    Tushayev has been killed in fighting in one of Kyiv's airports.

    Enough?
    If Tushayev is really dead then Kadyrev will have to watch his own back. Something I have occasionally thought is the day after Kadyrev is gone, so will Putin be. If the Ukrainians can ride the storm a few more days then maybe Putin is really toast.

    BTW the tweets from General Riho Terras, former Estonian CDS are important. He was born in Narva and has close personal relationships with the Russian Stavka. If he is right then the Russian deep state is in panic and things really have gone badly for Russia in these last few days.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    Surely the first rule of a paradrop is surprise? Have the Russians leaked this as well?
    The surprise is presumably that they've landed in Kyiv rather than the Kyiv Reservoir.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623
    Scott_xP said:

    JUST IN: #Russian state TV channels have been hacked by #Anonymous to broadcast the truth about what happens in #Ukraine.

    #OpRussia #OpKremlin #FckPutin #StandWithUkriane https://twitter.com/YourAnonTV/status/1497678663046905863/video/1

    Amazing if true.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    Russians are conducting airdrops southwest of Kyiv https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497688481958699011/photo/1
  • Scott_xP said:

    This appears very much to be a government minister suggesting that refugees fleeing a warzone should apply for a seasonal worker programme. https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1497688909983064067/photo/1

    Boris live just now has said he is aware of fake news on the Internet on refugees and the UK will be welcoming them into the country
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    New line from the Tories: Ukrainian refugees can apply for DEFRA seasonal worker visas. I kid you not.
    https://twitter.com/JMPSimor/status/1497686802798465024
  • Saw tonight the Campbell vs McFarlane fight - was waiting for some live music to start.

    McFarlane looked like he belonged in a pub car park brawl rather than prime time Saturday night - very obese, kilt, flat cap and green hair:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgQCHSalw8g
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,072

    Scott_xP said:

    This appears very much to be a government minister suggesting that refugees fleeing a warzone should apply for a seasonal worker programme. https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1497688909983064067/photo/1

    Boris live just now has said he is aware of fake news on the Internet on refugees and the UK will be welcoming them into the country
    Ah well, if Boris said it, it must be true.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    ...
  • That's why the Lufthansa flights turned back:

    NEW: Germany closing its airspace to all Russian planes

    https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1497687075595952129

    That's Aeroflot seriously banjaxed.....

  • Scott_xP said:

    Russians are conducting airdrops southwest of Kyiv https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497688481958699011/photo/1

    I know Zelenskyy is prepared to be martyred for the cause, but wouldn't it make more sense to draw Russian fire to Kyiv, while being safe elsewhere? Perhaps he is. Then the Ukrainians can mop up ground forces without the threat of Ukraine being without its influential figurehead.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,600
    TimS said:

    DougSeal said:

    ydoethur said:

    DougSeal said:

    I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
    Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
    No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
    There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
    Trying to step back and actually think about events - the thing I could see Starmer doing differently was the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,623

    Saw tonight the Campbell vs McFarlane fight - was waiting for some live music to start.

    McFarlane looked like he belonged in a pub car park brawl rather than prime time Saturday night - very obese, kilt, flat cap and green hair:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgQCHSalw8g

    It got a bit silly near the end, the referee needed to jump in a good bit quicker to end it.
  • Scott_xP said:

    This appears very much to be a government minister suggesting that refugees fleeing a warzone should apply for a seasonal worker programme. https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1497688909983064067/photo/1

    Boris live just now has said he is aware of fake news on the Internet on refugees and the UK will be welcoming them into the country
    Ah well, if Boris said it, it must be true.
    He certainly did say it and no doubt on Monday the matter will be clarified in the HOC
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    IanB2 said:

    Off topic, for those looking for some relief from the death and destruction in Ukraine, the recently released Downfall documentary film on Netflix, about Boeing and the 747 Max scandal, is well worth a watch.

    Yes it is excellent. Damning on Boeing's corporate culture and the corrosive influence of C-suite greed and the tyranny of the quarterly reporting cycle. Incredible how someone can preside over it all and leave with an eight figure golden parachute.
    I don't have Netflix, but I can imagine there's lots of material. Boeing have really, really mucked up several high-profile projects and products. Their reputation has gone down the toilet.
    It is sad because as the film makes clear they used to have a well deserved reputation for engineering excellence. When you see the sheer complexity of these machines, the miles of wiring inside each one, my main feeling was that it's a miracle they don't crash more often. They are phenomenally reliable, mostly. But the company's failures over the Max project are absolutely jaw-dropping.
    The clarity of the documents they finally managed to get the company to release is staggering. One essentially said that until the software was fixed, there’d be another fatal accident on average once every two years. Knowing this, they set about the months of work it would take to sort and get approval for the revised software, gambling that the ‘once in two years’ wouldn’t come up before they’d finished.
  • I imagine the scenes in Berlin when the German government realised that Putin hadn't won as quickly as they wanted were worthy of a Downfall parody.
  • ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,920
    edited February 2022
    Scott_xP said:

    New line from the Tories: Ukrainian refugees can apply for DEFRA seasonal worker visas. I kid you not.
    https://twitter.com/JMPSimor/status/1497686802798465024

    Perhaps they could get a message out to those citizens defending Kyiv with a recently distributed kalashnikov: ‘you don’t need to be doing this, if you’ve got a HGV licence’.
  • [Translated]:

    Lufthansa is stopping its Russia flights because of the Ukraine war !

    A company spokesman told BILD: “Lufthansa will no longer use Russian airspace for the next seven days due to the current and emerging regulatory situation. Flights to Russia will be suspended during this period.”

    Two planes turned back in the air because of the short notice! "Flights that are in Russian airspace will leave it again shortly," said the airline spokesman.

    According to data from the Flightradar24 tracking website, a Lufthansa Airbus A340 en route from Frankfurt to Tokyo via Estonia turned around, while a company Airbus A350 from Munich to Seoul via Russia changed course and flew west again.

    The Tokyo flight was listed as "diverted" on the Lufthansa website and landed back in Frankfurt around 10 p.m. The machine, which was on its way to Seoul, was supposed to land in Munich shortly before midnight. According to "Flightradar24", a Boeing 777 from the German freight company Aerologic also turned back via Russia, which was supposed to fly from Leipzig to Tokyo.

    The Lufthansa Group is monitoring the situation closely and is in close contact with the national and international authorities, it said. "The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority at all times."

    Germany in turn wants to close its own airspace for Russian aircraft. Transport Minister Volker Wissing (51, FDP) supports the closure and has ordered everything to be prepared for it, his ministry announced on Saturday evening.


    https://www.bild.de/geld/wirtschaft/wirtschaft/ukraine-krieg-lufthansa-stellt-russland-fluege-ein-79288168.bild.html###wt_ref=https://t.co/&wt_t=1645912318374
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,728
    I suspect that 'Minister says Ukrainians fleeing war will be asked to pick fruit to gain entry to UK' is such a bad look that it may not survive this weekend.
    https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1497691295405559808
    https://twitter.com/kevin_j_foster/status/1497671997756788737
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 2,179
    Perhaps Johnson really is a bit Churchillian. After the war is over, we chuck him out as fast as we ever can.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    Barnesian said:

    I think this is really good news..

    @visegrad24·20m

    "We are shocked that the Ukrainians have so many weapons.

    We have no desire to fight against the Ukrainian people,"

    Chechen leader Kadyrov

    Commentators say Kadyrov means he wouldn’t fight against the Ukrainian people but would with “Neo-Nazi Ukrainians”

    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1497666363871182850

    The material is reworked, effects from Instagram have been added, and his statements are cut off old statements that someone pasted on and that do not even match the movement of the mouth. Original video with Kadyrov, from which the frame and his lips are taken here:
    https://youtu.be/rwyfOOTJNpE?t=4
    yes a deep fake
    Is that the third or fourth fake posted here just today? It would be nice if people waited to see if things are genuine before doing the cut ‘n paste
  • ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886

    Scott_xP said:

    Russians are conducting airdrops southwest of Kyiv https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497688481958699011/photo/1

    I know Zelenskyy is prepared to be martyred for the cause, but wouldn't it make more sense to draw Russian fire to Kyiv, while being safe elsewhere? Perhaps he is. Then the Ukrainians can mop up ground forces without the threat of Ukraine being without its influential figurehead.
    I have no doubt that from dusk to dawn he is hidden in some nondescript compound tat would require the Russians door to door searching half the city to discover.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,072

    Scott_xP said:

    This appears very much to be a government minister suggesting that refugees fleeing a warzone should apply for a seasonal worker programme. https://twitter.com/mikeysmith/status/1497688909983064067/photo/1

    Boris live just now has said he is aware of fake news on the Internet on refugees and the UK will be welcoming them into the country
    Ah well, if Boris said it, it must be true.
    He certainly did say it and no doubt on Monday the matter will be clarified in the HOC
    Well its clearly not fake news as here's Kevin Foster MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safe and Legal Migration https://twitter.com/kevin_j_foster/status/1497671997756788737
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,164
    TimS said:

    DougSeal said:

    ydoethur said:

    DougSeal said:

    I’m sure Churchill beat Attlee for standing up to Hitler. Fat lot of good it did the Tories at the 1945 GE.
    Attlee spent five years managing the wartime economy specifically to help beat Hitler. I know Churchill accused him of wanting to refound the Gestapo but I don't think that cut much ice.
    No analogy is perfect but there’s a lot of talk here of a “Churchillian Bounce”. If you wanted something like that it would be a post Falklands “Thatcher Bounce”. I don’t see how this impacts Johnson’s overall favourability much at all.
    There’s actually something a bit Galtieri about the whole military adventure at the moment.
    There’s quite a significant parallel with the Falklands. Both that war and this happened four years after the perpetrators hosted the football World Cup.
  • Cicero said:

    Perhaps Johnson really is a bit Churchillian. After the war is over, we chuck him out as fast as we ever can.

    He is your best friend at present

    When this concludes I doubt Boris will remain PM
  • pingping Posts: 3,724
    edited February 2022
    Deleted
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    Cicero said:

    Perhaps Johnson really is a bit Churchillian. After the war is over, we chuck him out as fast as we ever can.

    We should not wait that long. William Hague as acting PM would be a vast improvement.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 4,746
    It is going to be extremely depressing if the discussion about Ukraine moves on to the usual left/right arguments over refugees. The story should be the heroic resistance, of the people who have stayed.
  • pingping Posts: 3,724
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,087
    It’s hard — perhaps impossible? — to think of a less strategic/military target than a hospital for kids with cancer.

    But the one in Kyiv was just hit. At least one child was killed.

    https://twitter.com/_EmmaGH/status/1497677005575307270
  • Germany shortly to be added to the list.....if Denmark & Sweden follow....



    https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/ukraine-aviation-situation-updates/
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,262
    IanB2 said:

    Barnesian said:

    I think this is really good news..

    @visegrad24·20m

    "We are shocked that the Ukrainians have so many weapons.

    We have no desire to fight against the Ukrainian people,"

    Chechen leader Kadyrov

    Commentators say Kadyrov means he wouldn’t fight against the Ukrainian people but would with “Neo-Nazi Ukrainians”

    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1497666363871182850

    The material is reworked, effects from Instagram have been added, and his statements are cut off old statements that someone pasted on and that do not even match the movement of the mouth. Original video with Kadyrov, from which the frame and his lips are taken here:
    https://youtu.be/rwyfOOTJNpE?t=4
    yes a deep fake
    Is that the third or fourth fake posted here just today? It would be nice if people waited to see if things are genuine before doing the cut ‘n paste
    In fairness, it's hard for the lay person to tell if they're fake - which is the whole idea of course.

    Despite all the positive reports of Ukrainian resistance and Russian ineptitude, I am steeling myself for the prospect that Ukraine falls within the next week.

    I do so much hope I am wrong.
  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Der Putin ist wie ein Kinderhemd; kurz und beschissen.
This discussion has been closed.