badgerx16

Room

But what is the minimum Vlad can sell as a successful conclusion to the SMO ?

Russia says that "Phase 1" of the invasion has been successfully concluded. It's difficult to work out what "Phase 1" was intended to acheive; they have failed to encircle Kyiv and Kharkov, failed to capture Mariupol, haven't got near to Odessa, and are still bogged down in Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian forces will now concentrate on operations in the Donbas region.

The Pentagon is reporting that Russian forces have "lost control" of Kherson, the largest city they have captured in the war.

But after complete disarmament, how do you get rid of the knowledge of how to build nukes ?

Given the situation is as it is, how do you expect things to go ? Does the UK unilaterally get rid of it's independent deterrent and, instead, rely on the USA, a country that could quite easily elect Trump2.0 as President and go fully isolationist or turn it's attention fully to China.

That is like saying Paris was German territory in 1943.

New York Times analysing intercepted Russian comms from the opening days..... https://streamable.com/wae2fs

The main weapons the Russians are using are artillery and multi-launch rockets, neither of which a NFZ will stop. Also, the Ukrainians seem to be making good use of drones, plus their air force is still operating - technically a NFZ stops them as well. That is notwithstanding the risk of a Russian SU25 flying into the NFZ just to see what happens.

The Falklands were invaded because the Argentinian Junta thought that, following the Defence Review, the Conservative Government had eviscerated the Royal Navy to such an extent that the UK would be incapable of an amphibious operation to retake the islands. As it turned out, this was not an unreasonable assumption. If their domestic troubles had permitted them to wait for 6 months, they might have been proved correct. Do you think that we would have been justified in nuking Buenos Aires as a retaliatory measure ?

Given their history and Russia's stated war aims, they are fighting for their lives- I can't imagine them surrendering.

Berdyansk is Russian occupied, not Russian. They took control early in the 'Special Military Operation'.

I really want these to be true... https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3437016-russian-serviceman-surrenders-tank-to-ukraine-after-kyiv-offers-10000-reward-citizenship-prospects.html https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-troops-are-now-turning-on-each-other-its-a-shtshow-one-soldier-is-recorded-telling-another?source=articles&via=rss

It is about allegations about Hunter Biden, the bulk of which are yet to be shown to have substance. On the other hand, this is a rich person with political connections, who is claimed to be corrupt. Hardly a shocking revelation.

Then again, he was so many times..... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/

Pennywise

From the BBC "A former defence attaché at the British embassy in Moscow says that his warnings of "a long, dark march to war" by Vladimir Putin were ignored. Air Commodore Carl Scott, now retired, writes in a letter to the Financial Times that he and his colleagues "reported the inevitability of conflict in detail, regularly and with the despair of Cassandra". The former senior officer alleges that in the years he served in Moscow (2011-16), in the UK things changed and "all was subjugated to the City, all served the interests of our lucrative status as a safe haven for corrupt, and corrupting, wealth".

I would love the Government to take P&O to Court only for it to be thrown out because of Grayling.

Just been looking for some new handlebar tape for my Van Nicholas titanium road bike. Naturally I went to the company's web site to get the proper branded product - got to maintain the image. VN are a Dutch company. The tape costs £10. Prior to Brexit this would have been with free shipping, now shipping is £40. Needless to say I am compromising on the artistic presentation of the bike.

With regard to helping them find new jobs, perhaps they can work on the ferries Failing Grayling organised. Edit: apparently Grayling signed off on a change of Law that meant the Government didn't need to be told..... https://news.sky.com/story/p-o-ferries-sackings-change-in-law-signed-of-by-chris-grayling-meant-p-o-didnt-need-to-tell-govt-maritime-lawyer-says-12572920

Didn't realise you were originally from the Phillipines;-)

Putin has limited scope for further re-integration of former Soviet/Russian territories; on his Western borders only Finland, ( lost to Russia after WW1 ) and Belarus are not in NATO, and to reach Moldova he is going to have to do much better in Ukraine. To the South he has been embroiled for years in the Caucasus, without really achieving much, and further East I am not sure he is really after the 'Stans. The other consideration is how much blood and treasure the current actions are costing him, and whether he would have the military capacity, or domestic support, to go further.

The thing is, what the NYT has actually said is that some of the emails on the laptop in question have been verified as Hunter Biden's. It has not said the laptop is his, or that the laptop was actually used to send or receive the messages. According to the Washington Post, the only eye witness to HB depositing the laptop in the repair shop is almost blind.

We will have to agree to disagree. I do not subscribe to the Global Conspiracy driven by the "MSM", you do. I am not going to try to change your opinion, no amount of reference to Fox News, SKY Australia, or Rudy Giuliani will change mine. Have a nice day.

I have done 'research', and have formed my opinion accordingly without 'immeciately' dismissing anything. How anybody can trust Rudy Giuliani is beyond me, but you are entitled to believe whatever you want. Just remember to keep wearing your tinfoil hat.