You read my mind.
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Also important to remember how much of an advantage the defenders have in any battle. As Ukraine tries to regain territory, it switches from defense to offense and loses that advantage. Of course, the logistical SNAFU that is the Russian quartermasterâs corps (or whatever their equivalent is) remains, and I donât know how much that will spike their efforts. But it will be very different. After the revelations of the last week, though, I suspect there will by much more determined resistance from behind the Russian lines, and much more ruthless efforts to suppress it. To be short, this is going to get very ugly.
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You mean âreally old and after a lifetime of grift and powerâ? No thanks! Hurry that shit up!
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IMO, we really need to create some sort of âFlying Tigersâ unit. (Flying Tractors? The Nightingales?).
Create an all volunteer force of current or retired but still flying NATO pilots and support crew. Have them officially resign their position if active duty. Have them officially join the Ukrainian military, and then have them deliver and fly recently de-commissioned donated NATO jets with Ukrainian markings.
This will give the Ukrainians war materials and specialized personnel needed to keep command of the sky and allow them to be effective in the up coming counter attack in the east.
While Ukraine has done well with what they have, attrition means they are going to run out of both equipment and people to be effective if the war goes on long enough. Russia has suffered heavier than expected losses, but they can lost longer with attrition because they started with more.
With the pull out and refortifying the East, Russia will start to play a more defensive role, and that is going to be much harder for the Ukrainians to engage in a more conventional warfare. Being able to break lines and hit bases with air strikes is vital.
There will be some grey areas they will need to sort out first. They might make it clear they wonât directly strike outside of Ukraine, unless say a SAM battery inside of Russia is painting targets. And then it is open season on those SAM units.
I understand this is a level of escalation, but considering Russia is literally doing genocide right now, I think it is worth giving this targeted support. Unlike a NATO enforced no fly zone, theses units would technically still be Ukrainian. The world can not sit on their hands and tut Russia while Genocide is actively happening.
I also hope we have some Special Forces advisors in Ukraine right now. Even if it is âclandestineâ. Clearly, we canât and shouldnât be advertising if they are there, but I hope so.
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and
For sure. One is that ârecently decommissionedâ jets are generally ânon-workingâ jets. Getting them running again, if even possible, requires a full maintenance crew with training on those specific aircraft, and access to spare parts and diagnostic equipment. These arenât P-40s.
And, as the Japanese did with the Flying Tigers, the Russians arenât going to look at the swarming NATO jets with recently-retired USAF/NATO pilots and say âOh, look! Ukrainians.â They will, as the Japanese did, see this is a provocation and we would have to be prepared for them to respond accordingly.
For all of its mythology, itâs important to remember that the Flying Tigers didnât enter into combat operations until almost two weeks after the Pearl Harbor attacks, when the US was already at war with the Japanese Empire.
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A sensible, doable first step would be to hold an exceptional one-off vote to allow majority voting in the security council on specifically Ukraine-related issues and override Russiaâs inevitable veto. The rule change could be ratified by the anti-Russia two-thirds majority that already exists in the general assembly. If Putin didnât like it, he could lump it. And if he didnât comply with subsequent resolutions â for example, on withdrawing Russian forces â all UN members would be expected to support UN-agreed punitive measures, as in the case of North Korea.
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His views on foreign policy were designed to shock. He outlined them in a 1995 book, The Last Break Southward. Russia should extend its reach to the shores of the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, he wrote. Russia would rule the space âfrom Kabul to Istanbulâ. âThis is really the solution for the salvation of the Russian nation,â he wrote. He later advocated the forcible seizure from the US of Alaska, which would then become âa great place to put the Ukrainiansâ. He called for ethnic Russians to break away from Estonia and Latvia and recommended the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Chechnya.
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Well, when I say ârecently decommissionedâ, it is because on paper they were recently decommissions and given away. They should be viable, working jets (otherwise, what is the point). But they could be older models of F-16s and F-15s or even Mirages or Tornadoes, which would then have new orders to replace them with updated jets.
If spread out over all of NATO, you could create a force with out compromising any one nation.
Oh they are free to try. I donât expect them to NOT try to shoot them down, just like they are trying with the Ukrainians now.
And if Putin can play word games with âspecial operationsâ and âfiltration campsâ, the West can play those same word games with âdecommissioned planesâ and âforeign legions within the Ukrainian militaryâ.
That is true, but that is also partly due to coincidence. The organization took months to get pilots, planes, materials, and training up to active duty. The US didnât know it was going to enter the war when it did. Had they not already had the Flying Tigers started, they wouldnât have started missions 2 weeks after the declaration of war.
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Thesis:
Antithesis:
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THIS! NOW!
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The British politician George Galloway has threatened legal action against Twitter after the social media website flagged his account as âRussia state-affiliated mediaâ.
He had been regular fixture on the Russia Today news channel for many years.
He wrote:
Dear @TwitterSupport I am not âRussian State Affiliated mediaâ. I work for NO #Russian media.
I have 400,000 followers. Iâm the leader of a British political party and spent nearly 30 years in the British parliament.
If you do not remove this designation I will take legal action.
George Galloway is a boil on the arse of humanity.
I hope he sues and gets laughed out of court.
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A very good read, thank you.
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Simo says, âCome on over, friend.â
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previously
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I know it sounds crazy, but I kind of wish they could tap that guy who showed off his homemade super-laser (featured here on BoingBoing at some point). Point that thing at some petrol trucks and let 'er rip.
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