Ukraine

[Beany]

A quick check of The Internetz suggests that the US have 500+ F16c/Ds airworthy right now, but you can bet your boots that training, maintenance and parts won't be free - this is late stage capitalist USA remember

[mik]

Poland was ruled, bullied and humiliated by Russia for a long time….

[Carlos]

I'm clueless on capability/models but a quick search says 1000+ but even at 500, giving 30 away is like me giving my Sega Master System to the poor kid in the street !

ETA - regardless it's pleasing to see meaningful hardware support.

[Zonda_]

Oh the irony that their own planes will be used to humiliate them further. The only way back for Russia is to get rid of Putin ASAP and find someone from the Gorbachev school of thinking.

[Beany]

This is pretty interesting. Poland - little Poland - might have forced Bidens hand by just announcing it without it being formally agreed.



If that's the case, I'm struggling to think of a bigger, more lopsided political power play of recent times.

That said, there are rumours that this has been agreed through back channels but that senior polish politicians and US defence types wanted to keep it on the down low; mid ranking polish political figures have, however been blabbing it all over NATO, hence the various rumours and official denials over the last couple of days.

I mean, it's not like the US can back down on the deal now, eh?

Regardless of reality of it all, I suspect no Pole will pay for a drink in Ukraine for a decade.

[John]

F16 - mk1 mx5

Mig 29 - Lada Riva with a Cosworth engine

[Simon]

The questions I have about this whole situation are two-fold.

1) How far does the lie go? That is, the world knows that this is not a 'special military operation' to 'denazify' Ukraine. But who in Russia really knows? That is, does Putin and his inner circle know that it's really his war and they are keeping the rest of the population and military in the dark? Or does maybe Putin not actually know and it's his inner circle that have convinced him of this? How far down the rabbit hole do you have to go?

2) Russia's odds seem to be getting slimmer by the day, but even *if* they manage to 'win' the war that FSB report said that they'd need 500,000 troops to occupy Ukraine and actually hold it long term. That just isn't going to happen. And then there's the chances that they'll get successfully beaten back and humiliated for long enough that they can't be 'victorious'. The FSB reckons the Russian economy will be on it's knees by June. What does Putin do then? Does he fein victory and walk what's left of his troops back into Russia claiming that his 'special military operation' was a success to the Russian people (see '1' above). Or, like a wild animal that's backed into a corner and out of options does he get more erratic and dangerous? Does he drop an N bomb on Ukraine. Does he threaten with the rest of the world with Nuclear obliteration if they don't unwind the sanctions? Just what happens?

What's interesting is how accurate the US intelligence was on all this before it kicked off. Have they been wiretapping generals or do they have someone on the 'inside' who, if things are impossibly perilous enough will be instructed to move to give Putin a forever sleep with a headache vanquishing .50 cal?

[Mito Man]

A quick check of The Internetz suggests that the US have 500+ F16c/Ds airworthy right now, but you can bet your boots that training, maintenance and parts won't be free - this is late stage capitalist USA remember

Just had a look on wiki - it’s 48 years old now and still in production!

[Simon]

Also, this.

Quite extraordinary. In 2 weeks the west has completely destroyed a currency. Hyperinflation USSR style inbound for Putin and co.

[RobYob]

Maybe the "win" is setting back the Ukraine petroleum industry by 20-30 years.
Or Putin's goal is still to control the entire coast to completely cut off the black sea reserves.

Or nobody has any control at all and the whole tragic mess is running on inertia.

[Beany]

The US is being a massive bitch - Operation Polish Mad Lad appears to be a bust.

[Beany]

I...er... when was the last time an armoured train was used in anger, guys?



I'm guessing it was at point before usable strike aircraft were a thing.

Maybe the conspiracy theorists are right, and Russia is just in Ukraine to get rid of its absolute worst men and equipment - like fly tipping on steroids, PCP and crack.

Edit: thinking more clearly, the more obvious question is how many farmers with tractors will it take to pull that thing away?

[Mito Man]

Just need one grenade on the track to derail the whole thing

[Beany]

No, no, it has railway sleepers on board as well as tracks, in case that happens.

And a finite supply of both.

Your need perhaps something a bit punchier than a hand grenade if you wanted to do it that way.
Or, just gas axe 50m of rail out, and use a tractor to dump it three miles away. Repeat a dozen times, and that train is going nowhere for weeks.

There's a reason no modern military uses armoured trains, and that is because they're fucking shit. Even Russia rarely used them in more recent times, and mostly to intimidate people who didn't have current tech anti armour weaponry and armed UAVs....

[Simon]

Well this is something I didn't expect to be reading this morning.

[Ascender]

Well this is something I didn't expect to be reading this morning.

I mean... bravo.

itizen Brick announced late last week that it would be launching a unique custom minifigure of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with printed Molotov cocktail pieces – with all proceeds being donated to victims in Ukraine. And while the Molotov cocktail elements ultimately saw its initial Instagram post removed, the retailer still managed to raise an enormous $16,540.

[integrale_evo]

At current Lego pricing that probably means they sold about 100

[Rich B]

Lego won't like that - they don't even do military vehicles...

[Simon]

I understand that there is a potential issue with Polish MiG 29s being 'given' to Ukraine via the US, but what if, say, the Ukrainian pilots were being given a tour of the Polish airbase and they happened to leave the pilots unattended for 20 minutes whilst they watched an episode of Polish EastEnders or something, and the naughty pilots stole the MiGs?

[Beany]

Two weeks into this, and people in my office thought that a no fly zone was where both parties have a friendly agreement to not put planes in the air.

I fucking despair sometimes.