Londonrake wrote:Kikapu wrote:What can I say, other than to say that, “the devil is always in the details” for me!
When the claim is made that 2 Russian Battalions are destroyed, I expect to see 200+ dead bodies in the vicinity of the destroyed equipment, that’s all.
As for the rest of your post, we are going in circles. It’s no point beating a dead horse! However, allow me to make one point on the expansion of NATO which you seem to put a lot of importance with the expansion with Sweden and Finland, and that is, there never be a ground war between NATO and Russia because NATO do not have the courage to have a ground war directly with Russia, hence the reason of the proxy war taking place in Ukraine between NATO and Russia, because NATO countries won’t be able to stand when the body bags of their loved ones return home in the thousands. The next alternative to a ground war, it will be Nuclear to which we will ALL lose. So, please tell me again what is the good news on adding Sweden and Finland to the NATO club?
Pages!
Yes - you have several times played the "broken record" or, as here, "Going in circles" card but......................... that's not really the case.
It's not so much I put a lot of importance upon NATO expansion, it's that it was a core Putin principle for his invasion of Ukraine. To stop it. Come on, failed - surely?
"NATO do not have the courage to have a ground war directly with Russia"? What does that mean exactly? NATO is of course a conglomeration of 31 countries. Soon to be 33 it seems. Whilst there are certain factors which involve all - certainly those applicable to Article 5 - nothing has ever stopped individuals, or groups, from pursuing an agenda, which quite often others disagree with. Which seems to me on the whole what's happening in Ukraine.
I wouldn't want to get into a "My Dad is bigger than your Dad" argument but - honestly - given what's happened in the past 18 months in Ukraine do you really think that Vladimir Putin is looking to take on NATO? Please - look at the math.
It isn't so much "good news" about Sweden and Finland but their joining NATO is certainly bad news for Russia.
Personal experience in here is usually treated with contempt. Trumped by Google "research" . Experts. Nevertheless, I spent some time working with the Swedish air force. Albeit quite a while ago. They are a very impressive organisation. Sweden doesn't have a global role or a nuclear option to worry about. For decades though they have had a simple outlook.......................... potentially opposing Russia. A lot of their main road system has been built to facilitate the landing of aircraft. Every few miles or so you will see camouflaged revetments on the sides, where aircraft can hide. That's the sort of outlook they have.
Their aircraft are quite formidable, technologically.
So , no, their decision to join NATO, after a century of neutrality, isn't "of no significance to Russia". In fact it's pretty momentous.
Right now for Russia, the most important issue as to which country/countries join NATO is what it matters, and Finland and Sweden are not it. At another time and another war, Finland and Sweden may become a factor, but not now. It seems ALL NATO countries are making decisions on the Ukraine war not based on principles, but on being coerced by the US in the form of being blackmailed with promises of receiving political support to military hardware. We have seen this movie before called the “Coalition of the Coerced” in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yugoslavia where promises are made and sometimes delivered by the gang leader (USA) to the misguided followers with their hands out to receive goodies for their participation in criminal actions.
The war in Ukraine is no different since Ukraine is not a NATO member. For now, NATO expansion into Ukraine is the most pressing concern because of Crimea and the Sea of Azov. If you can’t see this, then you do not see what the war in Ukraine is all about. For Russia, the mission will be completed once all of the coastal regions are taken from Ukraine, including Odessa. This was the choice made by Ukraine and NATO by they starting this war which has been in the making going back couple of decades. The war will not be over for a very long time unless Ukraine and NATO capitulates, just Luke in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN. It might take 20 years or longer, but NATO will eventually capitulate in Ukraine, because Russia is no Yugoslavia for them to beat and break up.
NATO may or may not be a match against Russia or vice versa, but as seen, despite all of NATO’s members fighting Russia in a proxy war in Ukraine, Russia has not changed course at all and is staying in the fight. NATO members had the golden opportunity to go “ALL IN” for a direct war with Russia, but backed away. All they had to do was to make Ukraine a NATO member several days ago just as effortlessly as they did with Finland and Sweden, but did not. Surely, a superior military alliance with 31+ countries against just one country would be a no brainer to take on head-on, but decided to let Ukrainians die instead with the old equipment supplied to them by NATO members, with promises by the US to replenish them with modern ones sometime in the future, instead of putting NATO’s boots on the ground in a major way to destroy Russia once and for all after it has been preparing for this war going as far back to 1991 and thus far, they have very little to show for. You need to question just how “superior” NATO’s military is vs. Russia’s, even with soon to be 33 members!
