Archive for the ‘war’ Category

Russia longing for the Days of the 1940’s when the US was carpet bombing their enemies

Posted: September 3, 2024 by datechguy in in Ukraine, war
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Amid all of the political news that we’ve been talking about the 2nd biggest story in the world is getting very little play.

Namely that Ukraine is still holding it’s ground in Russia and continues to use drones to strike within their territory.

The situation is mostly unchanged from last week. Ukraine continues to operate freely in Kursk. You can catch my update on that operation here: Russia Invaded, Week 2. State of Play.

Russian airstrikes continue to drop, some of that can be attributed to Russian aircraft being deployed out of range of Ukrainan drones and thereby reducing their sortie rates. We have experienced the longest sustained period without a massive Russian missile attack since the war began. This, by my count, 45-day drought is 35% longer than the last 34-day dry spell between February 16 and March 22, 2024. While I can only guess why this is happening, the fact is it is happening. That the invasion of Kursk hasn’t provoked a missile blitz is very curious.

Furthermore some of Russia’s former allies are getting cold feet:

and even some of the folks who we thought might be joining in when the world thought Russia would just walk through Ukraine without a problem are singing a different tune.

For quite a while Russia has been considered an unstoppable military machine, but think about the answer to this question:

When is the last time Russia won a war an actual war vs an army that fights back when it did not have the US:

  1. Supplying it with arms
  2. Carpet bombing Russia enemies?

Hmmm.

Five Fast Thoughts Under the Fedora: Curry Nails it but it’s a matter of time, Will the Dem Ticket be the Same? Ukraine Jackson, Stewart or Bragg? Will Maduro Stay or Go? The Money Keeps Coming

Posted: August 12, 2024 by datechguy in business, election 2024, nba, under the fedora, war
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Stephan Curry’s impossible three point shot was the talk of twitter as team USA won gold again in basketball and is rightly considered a huge moment for the team in the Olympics.

But the real story is European basketball has progressed so far since the days of the original dream team of Bird, Jordan, Magic and Barkley that both France and Serbia are making these games, GAMES.

I may live to see another country win the Gold vs a dream team.

Between Walz’s issues with Stolen Valor and Kamala’s fake crowds I’m really wondering if the Democrats won’t be changing one or more horses in next week’s convention.

Given the coup against Biden it’s very possible. I think they just should have done the 25th Amendment but they don’t want to risk a 50-50 senate for the next 100 days or more.

Eventually reality wins out and the reality of the same Kamala that the were saying was a weakness for Biden remains.

The real question in Russia right now is what will the Ukrainians do with the initiative they have seized.

Will they like Stonewall Jackson in the valley use this initiative to try to turn Russian forces out of the Donbas region or will this like Jeb Stewart try to wreak havoc on a wider area or will they like Braxton Bragg that Lookout Mountain await the Russian response.

This decision might decide the war or at least as much of the war that takes place before the election.

In Venezuela Maduro fresh from stealing an election is getting all kinds of offers for amnesty if he leaves the country rather than continuing his crackdown to suppress the people after the steal.

What it really comes down to is does he want to spend his stolen money there or somewhere else? Of course if he leaves a lot of those folks who are doing the grunt work of Murder and oppression will have their days numbers so even if he wants to go they might not allow it.

I’m sure there are more than a few Democrats in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin watching what happens there.

Finally can someone explain to me how Boeing gets a new giant defense contract given their massive problems lately?

I don’t know how much they’re paying their lobbyists in DC but apparently they’re worth every penny and more.

Ukraine’s Interesting Offensive Into Russia

Posted: August 8, 2024 by datechguy in Uncategorized, war
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“We must stop this army of Grant’s before he gets to the James River. If he gets there it will become a siege, and then it will be a mere matter of time.”

Robert E Lee 1864

I was very surprised to hear about the new Ukrainian offensive into Russia, I didn’t see it coming and apparently neither did the Russians.

In one respect it makes a lot of sense, if there is a war of attrition Ukraine loses. It’s sort of like Lee sending troops against Washington to relieve pressure on Richmond. The difference of course is that Ukraine is getting plenty of supplies from the west and has decided to act proactively. If it works out it takes out a main Russian supply hub and complicates things for the troops in Donbass. This could give Ukraine a boost in getting better terms from Russia or perhaps cause them to decide that it just isn’t worth it or even bring down Putin.

Of course it’s also possible that it causes Russia to allocate resources to crush this offensive and drive into the heart of Ukraine figuring they’ve gone all in to raise the troops for this offensive, or even back Putin into a nuclear corner.

I have no idea how this ends but it’s a logical move if you want to change the course of a war that was heading for Ukrainian defeat.

What really surprises me is that this offensive is not only Ukraine having the balls to launch it but that it’s getting almost no coverage in the press.

I find that almost as interesting as the offensive.

The DaTechGuy Peace Plan for Ukraine: Sell Russia the Donbas region.

Posted: July 6, 2024 by datechguy in war
Tags: ,

There are a lot of reasons why the war in Ukraine continues on. The Russian “official” Casus Belli was to protect ethnic Russians in the area. While that concern has some legitimacy to it that’s the thing about creating an empire of unwilling states, when your people move there and said empire breaks up as empires do the folks who moved there they tend to be disliked by the natives.

#unexpectedly of course

The actual Casus Belli had two additional components that were likely much bigger drivers.

  1. The desire to re-establish the old Russian control of Ukraine which predates communism by a century or more.
  2. Biden telegraphing to Putin that if he went into Donbas it was OK (People tend to forget that 2nd part)

Putin being Putin seeing that Biden was Biden then decided to go all in rather than just settling for Donbas and Biden being Biden (or whoever was actually running the country) swiftly offered Zelensky free passage out of Ukraine before it fell. Zelensky showing that he’s more than just another corrupt kleptocratic answered in words that Ukrainians will never forget:

“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,”

There is not a lot to admire about Zelensky but with that answer he likely saved not only his country but likely Moldovia too. The aid came and the Russians were stopped and Kiev held.

In the western part of the country Russia had much more success and Ukrainian attempts to drive them out have met with failure. Russia can’t go beyond Donbas without a major escalation and for all the weapons granted them by NATO allies Ukraine can’t drive them out.

This leads to stalemate and Attrition.

Russia having been invaded twice in the last two centuries by the single most powerful military in the world at the time (Napoleon 1812, Hitler 1941) is now VERY worried about NATO being right on their border (the Finish borders is not suitable for an invasion of Russia). To a westerner the idea of NATO invading Russia might seem insane but Russia fought a war with Poland in the 1920’s and didn’t do all that well and given the failures of the Russian war machine exposed by this war that fear along with saving face is high on the Putin agenda.

Meanwhile Ukraine isn’t all that anxious to give up a chunk of their country even one with a huge Russian ethnic population, they fear that peace might give time for Russia to reset rearm and have another go, plus frankly Zelensky and his pals have been making out like the bandits they are from the grift that comes from western aid. His decision to stay and oppose Russia may have paid off for Ukraine as a nation but it’s paid off big time for him personally. If the war ends so does the gravy train.

In the end however the Ukrainians can’t win a war of attrition and the longer it goes on the better the chance Russia might actually have a 2nd go at Kiev or that NATO & or US troops end up being thrown in the fray.

In short the war is now pretty much become a body and money pit, and unless it ends the potential for someone to do something stupid to generate a wider war or a bigger crises keeps increasing.

So how do yo solve the problem of Russia not wanting to lose face and Ukraine wanting to drive them out?

The problem is in fact simple: SELL RUSSIA THE DONBAS REGION!

The Price can be set very high high enough to mask what will in effect be reparations for the invasion. The folks concerned about the cut off of their graft have little need to worry as the rebuilding costs will be considerable with a lot of money to be skimmed off the top from the coming western aid. Meanwhile both Ukrainian and Russian conscripts who are dying by the ton can get out of this alive and rebuild their lives while Drone technology can give early warning if Russia starts to prepare for a second Round OR if Ukraine decides to try to take the sold region back.

This is the best and simplest way to end the war. Won’t please everyone but the alternative is that this war eventually ends will Russia troops in Kiev or NATO troops in Moscow and the price of either of those options is too terrible to contemplate.

Sell the Russians Donbas and let’s move on.

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