What is Putin's objective....it's not primarily sizing Ukraine

[Rightguide]

Am I the only one getting real fucking tired of Russia threatening WWIII with a nuclear exchange. I wonder how long we'll have to live under nuclear blackmail.

Well, Americans lived under a nuclear cloud for the entirety of the Cold War.

 

[Rightguide]

Until such time as there is a general multilateral nuclear disarmament.

You'll never see it.

 

[Rightguide]

That alleged 40 mile long transport column seems like a fine target for aircraft or long-range artillery. That should be a highway of death for the Russians.

 

[icanhelp1]

Well, Americans lived under a nuclear cloud for the entirety of the Cold War.

Detent is not the same as being threatened. I think we should give Putin a one up. I think we should sink that $600 million yacht LOL!

 

[icanhelp1]

That alleged 40 mile long transport column seems like a fine target for aircraft or long-range artillery. That should be a highway of death for the Russians.

We could take that column out in 2 days.

 

[pecksniff]

We could take that column out in 2 days.

But, without risk of nuclear escalation?

 

[ll74]

That alleged 40 mile long transport column seems like a fine target for aircraft or long-range artillery. That should be a highway of death for the Russians.

They're already at their Destination and I doubt Ukraine got their migs in time

 

[butters]

But the Russians have brought their superior firepower to bear in the past few days, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country and making significant gains on the ground in the south as part of an effort to sever Ukraine’s connection to the Black and Azov seas.

Cutting its access to the coastline would deal a crippling blow to its economy and allow Russia to build a land corridor to Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014.

The Russians announced the capture of the southern city of Kherson, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed that forces have taken over local government headquarters in the vital Black Sea port of 280,000, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago.

Heavy fighting continued on the outskirts of another strategic port, Mariupol, on the Azov Sea, plunging it into darkness, knocking out most phone service and raising the prospect of food and water shortages. Without phone connections, medics did not know where to take the wounded.

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/world-news/russian-troops-seize-key-ukrainian-port-pressure-others/

- Territorial continuity - "In reality, Russia already controls this (Azov) sea as it controls the only entry point -- the Kerch Strait," said Igor Delanoe, deputy director of the Franco-Russian Observatory in Moscow.

But since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, it has been pursuing the theory of "territorial continuity", seeking to link up the Black Sea peninsula with the separatist territories in the east of Ukraine, which Moscow recently recognised as independent, he added.

Russia built a bridge spanning the Kerch Strait in May 2018, physically linking the Crimean peninsula to Russia and thus encircling the Azov Sea.

At the end of 2018, the Russian navy opened fire on and then captured three Ukraine military vessels trying to reach Mariupol via the Kerch Strait.
*
Yet if Russia already in practice controls the Azov Sea, why does it need to control the Ukrainian territory bordering it?

"These are symbols," said political analyst Alexei Malashenko of the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute. "Everything that happens now has a symbolic meaning. There is less and less of a rationale. The objective is to show that Russia is a great power. Ukraine is the last place where it is possible to demonstrate that."

https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...f-russia-ukraine-war/articleshow/89929956.cms

 

[icanhelp1]

They're already at their Destination and I doubt Ukraine got their migs in time

Migs couldn't take out that column. F-22s and F-35s for air superiority, Wild weasels for jamming ground to air missiles along with an assortment of B-2s and B-52s, about 15 should do the trick flying at 45,000 ft dropping 500lb JDAMs and mop up with A-10s and Apaches using hellfires. LOL

 

[Rightguide]

Detent is not the same as being threatened. I think we should give Putin a one up. I think we should sink that $600 million yacht LOL!

The SAC did have nuclear-armed B-52s flying to their points of wartime departure 24-7 for many of those years. There wasn't much of a detent until glasnost and Mikhail Gorbachev in the 80s. A 600 million Yacht is testimony to Putin's pretension and despotic character. Big time Napoleon complex.

 

[Rightguide]

We could take that column out in 2 days.

Ukraine just received 28 Mig 29s from Poland. What they could use is some good electronic warfare aircraft that can take down the air defenses around that column. They should be strafing and bombing the shit out of that column.

 

[icanhelp1]

The SAC did have nuclear-armed B-52s flying to their points of wartime departure 24-7 for many of those years. There wasn't much of a detent until glasnost and Mikhail Gorbachev in the 80s. A 600 million Yacht is testimony to Putin's pretension and despotic character. Big time Napoleon complex.

Yah, when I was young I lived right next to a SAC bomber base, day in and day out 52s and 135s constantly flying over my house. We were shitting bullets during the Cuban missile crisis, I'm sure they had a mushroom reserved just for us. LOL

 

[ll74]

Migs couldn't take out that column. F-22s and F-35s for air superiority, Wild weasels for jamming ground to air missiles along with an assortment of B-2s and B-52s, about 15 should do the trick flying at 45,000 ft dropping 500lb JDAMs and mop up with A-10s and Apaches using hellfires. LOL

Missiles from planes make things go boom. 29 migs can hold a few missiles.

Whether they are the best planes doesn't mean anything.

 

[icanhelp1]

Missiles from planes make things go boom. 29 migs can hold a few missiles.

Whether they are the best planes doesn't mean anything.

Missiles from planes make things go boom. 29 migs can hold a few missiles.

Whether they are the best planes doesn't mean anything.

They'd have to spend a good amount of their assets to protect their base of ops. Protect their runways and some air interdiction. The Russian air force is under-performing big time, Ukraines should not have an air force left, puzzling?

 

[pecksniff]

Well, Americans lived under a nuclear cloud for the entirety of the Cold War.

And it drove us constantly crazy. It is not a thing to be dismissed as tolerable.

 

[ll74]

They'd have to spend a good amount of their assets to protect their base of ops. Protect their runways and some air interdiction. The Russian air force is under-performing big time, Ukraines should not have an air force left, puzzling?

Seeing as though I already mentioned it can't happen, it's conjecture.

Missiles could take out the convoy if the timing is right....they're already too late anyway.

 

[Rightguide]

And it drove us constantly crazy. It is not a thing to be dismissed as tolerable.

That fact is, it was tolerated. We're still here.

 

[Stillrandy]

l have wondered re some perhaps irrelevant things:

• Is Putin acting alone; i.e., does he have a 'cabinet', a group of advisers, etc. Stalin, from what I have read, pretty much acted alone.
• Is there a 'chain of command' in Russia?
• Putin is mortal; is there a succession plan for governing Russia?
• Could it be that Putin is being manipulated by his military? I wonder what the process would be for Putin to invoke nuclear weapons. Hopefully there is not a big red button on his desk....

Just things I hope that the Western nations have a handle on....

 

[Rightguide]

l have wondered re some perhaps irrelevant things:

• Is Putin acting alone; i.e., does he have a 'cabinet', a group of advisers, etc. Stalin, from what I have read, pretty much acted alone.
• Is there a 'chain of command' in Russia?
• Putin is mortal; is there a succession plan for governing Russia?
• Could it be that Putin is being manipulated by his military? I wonder what the process would be for Putin to invoke nuclear weapons. Hopefully there is not a big red button on his desk....

Just things I hope that the Western nations have a handle on....

He's a strong man who has surrounded himself with old KGB commie billionaire cronies who think as he does. It all depends on the Russian people. Unless he is double-crossed by his cronies, it will be up to the Russian people to kick him out.

 

[pecksniff]

There wasn't much of a detent until glasnost and Mikhail Gorbachev in the 80s.

No, there were significant detente efforts from Nixon through Carter, until the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan spoiled it.

 

[pecksniff]

Hopefully there is not a big red button on his desk...

Well, it doesn't work that way. The big red button on Trump's desk only signaled a servant to bring him a Diet Coke. The "Nuclear Football" is really just a briefcase containing the launch codes for the day, and presumably it works the same way in Russia.

 

[icanhelp1]

Seeing as though I already mentioned it can't happen, it's conjecture.

Missiles could take out the convoy if the timing is right....they're already too late anyway.

That alleged 40 mile long transport column seems like a fine target for aircraft or long-range artillery. That should be a highway of death for the Russians.

Maybe they should call Trudeau to break up that convoy.

 

[Rightguide]

No, there were significant detente efforts from Nixon through Carter, until the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan spoiled it.

What a dope.

 

[pecksniff]

What a dope.

I'm historically right.

 

[Dribble]

Well we can add starting a fire at a nuclear facility to the list.