I mean, how would that even work?
Do they remember what Alaska is LIKE?
Are they just going to drop paratroopers into Fairbanks and see what happens 
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On the other hand, itās entirely possible that this analysis might be accurate, despite its source being a right-wing idiot. NATO does have the problem that itās political command structure contains two countries - Turkey and Hungary, that are bad actors at best, and moles for Putin at worst. Given the complete political control that both Orban and Erdogan have over their victims in each country, Iād also be suspicious of how independent the military are in each country.
Iām mostly worried about the political side. Russia might be banking on the idea that it only has to hold on until November, when itās political interference in the US will start to pay off again, and support for NATO and the war can be held up by the general political paralysis that ensues.
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This is worrying:
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I can only speak for Hungary, but oh, itās not independent whatsoever. It hasnāt been for ages, since OrbĆ”nās rule solidified, but also right now OrbĆ”n technically has dictatorial powers. Iām not exaggerating, he really does, heās been ruling by decree for the past three years (originally due to a āstate of emergencyā declared over the pandemic, which they abused to hell and back, in ways that had literally nothing to do with the pandemic - and then later this year they quickly changed the so-called āconstitutionā so that a state of emergency legislation can be declared due to basically anything that might be construed a danger in any way, eg. right now the excuse is the war in Ukraine, even though the official propaganda er, narrative is that we have nothing to do with it, itās not our war, etc). But even without that, his party ācoalitionā has such a massive majority in Parliament that they can, and do, vote pretty much anything. And since the Constitutional court (our version of the Supreme Court) is also full of OrbĆ”nās people, nobody can do anything about it.
Besides, that the current minister of defense is in many ways connected to OrbĆ”nin his personal life as well as his businesses. (He also has, or at least āused to haveā if that means anything in current circumstances, a whole lot of business interests in Russia, go figure.)
Not to mention the tiny issue of Russians roaming free in governmentās networks, with the governmentās full knowledge and acknowledgement:
So yeah. When talking about the Hungarian government, nothing is independent from OrbĆ”n. Not the military, not the legislation, not the judiciary system, and the less we speak of media the better. And OrbĆ”n is pushing Putinās interests, partly because heās terrified of losing Russian oil and gas (a cornerstone of his power) and partly because heās a cynical, amoral asshole who only looks for his own interests and gives zero shits about the actual country heās supposed to represent and lead, and Putinās rule is something he strives to achieve here.
If I was not, in fact, living in Hungary Iād be campaigning to kick us out of the EU and NATO once and for all. As I am, however, a Hungarian in Hungary without much hopes of leaving in the near future, I canāt help hoping it wonāt come to that - the EU and NATO are literally the only things remaining that keep us from becoming Belarus v2.
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Iāll start to worry if this continues after Ukraine is no longer locked in a struggle for national and cultural survival with Russia.
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If I had lots of money Iād bet a large sum on it continuing, although hopefully there will be some kind of pressure from the EU and heāll have the common sense to dial it back if he wants the EU to actually take it on as a member state. (Which is never going to happen anyway, if you ask me, at least not in the near future, but definitely not if Ukraine shows signs of authoritarianism. I donāt think the EU wants another Poland or Hungary on their hands.)
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As a Yankee living in Germany, i see Germans are unified in wanting to cut off Hungary from the sweet, sweet EU subsidies and freeze all benefits. The Germans are sick of letting OrbĆ”n suck on the EUās tit and then spit in their faces.
So yeah, whatever goodwill Hungary had from 1989 has been well and truly used up and then some. Which kinda sucks, to be honest.
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Heh, thatās putting it mildly. Honestly itās a pretty dark story, how OrbĆ”n managed to build a quasi-dictatorship from a country shakily ambling toward an actual European style democracy, and a really terrifying one, showing how a group of cynical and amoral grifters managed to take over an entire country, and how unprepared everyone else was - and in a way, still are, which is ridiculous - to handle them. (No wonder they have such a love affair with Americaās far-right, theyāre taking their notes out of the books of the late āgreatā Arthur Finkelsteinā¦ he was, in fact, their original campaign consultant.)
I wish I could leave, but as I canāt I have no other option but to try and turn a hopeless situation better in whatever small way I can. (All the while not-so-secretly hoping that OrbĆ”n just magically drops dead one day, because at this point I see no realistic chance for him to gtfo otherwise. He canāt live forever, damn it.)
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Bloggers reported seeing fires burning for hours and Russian state media said that debris from the sites had been catapulted up to three miles away.
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Honestly, I had been expecting this sort of report for a while now. Ukraine is winning the logistics war. While Moscow keeps ordering territory gains, the Ukrainian army has done a bang-up (ha!) job of sussing out the invaderās supply network and identifying depots and chokepoints. Itās interesting seeing the different types of artillery strikes in the satellite date for finding fires.
My guess? It seems the first week of HIMAR and M777 usage was calibration, getting ready for inflicting real harm on Russian military targets.
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Thread:
Thread:
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Enjoy the fireworks, Vlad.
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I find it gratifying to see the Russian ammo depots go for many reasons. One of the main ones simply being that it reduces the supply of ammunition that can be brought to bear on civilian targets. Other reasons have to do with knowing that Russian supply lines will be strained and should help make a Ukrainian counterattack be more effective.
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