OT: Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Targan]

Do my eyes deceive me? I'm seeing regular Russian Army T-72s on Ukrainian soil on tonight's news footage. That's not mobilization only, fresh-out-of-mothballs surplus stuff, that's genuine Cold War MBTs rolling across the border. And still the Russians say it's not their military that's involved, but maybe some soldiers who are "on leave and fighting as volunteers". So they went on leave and took their tanks with them? The arrogance just amazes me.

[Askold]

At this point denying that Russian forces are involved in the fighting in Ukraine is pointless. There is so much evidence for it so I don't think even Russia thinks people are buying it. They might be doing it for their domestic propaganda or just buying time for something.

Besides the amount of firepower the separatists have would be utterly impossible if it wasn't being shipped from Russia.


http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukra...rs-362535.html

Ukrainians seem to be fighting with attitude.

[Schone23666]

Nope, your eyes doth not deceive thee, Targan. Indeed, Ivan still wants to play with his balls in the Ukraine, and at this rate and the way things are going, he'll probably eventually want to play in Moldova, Romania, the Baltic States, Poland, etc. etc. etc....

And so far the response has been more or less as I expected. "Bad Ivan! Naughty Ivan! Bad, bad, bad!"

[John Farson]

What with this, and the war in Syria & Iraq, RL is starting to resemble the timeline of a T2kx game. T2k15? T2k16?

[Schone23666]

Originally Posted by John Farson

What with this, and the war in Syria & Iraq, RL is starting to resemble the timeline of a T2kx game. T2k15? T2k16?

You also forgot nasty tensions brewing in Asia with China asserting itself and claiming the South China Sea as it's personal ocean, and Japan taking a more proactive role in defense. A state of near anarchy/civil war in Libya. Afghanistan is still roiling alongside Pakistan. The Nationalists are now in control of India. An unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa, etc.

So yeah, perhaps slowly, yet surely. Funny how fiction on occasion can start mirroring real life, no? Might be time to finally start investing in a really deep fallout shelter with lots of provisions, food, water and lots of weapons. Anyone interested? I will happily pay you Tuesday for a loan today, according to my sig of course...

[headquarters]

reading the comments so far made me think..what would be a good book to bring to the shelter ( ref. Schones ideas) for that long bunker stay?

Something cheery like Arto Paasilinnas "Collective suicide" ? or a classic? Tolstoj? Or something fun and useful - Brysons "A short history of nearly everything"

hmm...

[Cdnwolf]

Don't forget the nasty little ebola outbreak in Africa... expect to top 20,000 by years end.

[DigTw0Grav3s]

I expect to see significant militarization in Europe well before the end of the decade.

America has no economic or political will to find land wars in Eurasia for the foreseeable future, and will move towards a Cold War-style proxy balancing strategy. Germany, France and the U.K. appear to be trying to drive Europe towards a sustainable regional defense, even if they have to drag the rest of the EU with them.

This trend will have significant repercussions for East-West military stability.

[stormlion1]

Got to agree, Europe is gonna arm up. But will they get the other European nations to follow suit? I doubt it. The interesting thing will be how they arm up, bigger overall armys? More Tanks? Newer designs or more of the older ones? And when Putin finally is gone even if he never threatens Europe will they keep it together?

[Schone23666]

Well, this adds another degree of "oh sh!t" to it all:

http://www.newsweek.com/russia-has-t...inister-267842

It may be (and probably is) just more hype and posturing by Russia and the Ukraine, but considering that they're basically at war now, and Ukraine doesn't have a nuclear arsenal unlike Russia...

[Schone23666]

Well, it seems the so-called "cease fire" has already unraveled, there's reports of fresh casualties in Eastern Ukraine.

And now it seems the Russians just recently kidnapped an Estonian official who they accuse of spying only a few days after Obama paid a visit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimber...usaolp00000592

And yet it seems the cult worship of Pooty continues....here's a particularly amusing one:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-hardman.html

That girl on the far left bottom picture though (Anastasia Petrova) almost fooled me as Jessica Alba.Great-looking gals with the bodies to prove it I admit, but they still have bad taste in men.

[Webstral]

I, for one, am glad that there is no real risk of having the 82nd Airborne steamrollered by Russian mechanized forces the way Hussein should have done in 1990. It surely sucks for the Ukrainians, but the Ukraine is just too far forward for us to project power without building up a very substantial logistical base locally. I can say confidently that this former 11B will not be reenlisting only to see his countrymen can change the channel once they get bored.