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Interesting Slavic phrase...

Nope, the suffering is only on the attacked side. Bleed out Ivan and this stops and won't happen again...

It's not taking disagreeing... G'night, folks. I'll be here all week. Tip your servers...

Something just seems "odd" with a couple of the most vociferous posters. I'm not smart enough to recognize the "why," but it sure does seem like it. Of course, we have a couple of posters who are happy with the self-inflicted COVID vaccine casualties that an enemy couldn't do much worse...

Having been to both Madrid and Chicago, I'd exchange them in a heartbeat. Shipping might be cost prohibitive, however...

Roger... And I found it easier to engage with you rather than the AS200 facts master. I only have a foil to battle the Claymore broadsword of buzzwords so I declined the battle...

I've written, repeatedly in this thread, that A) I will not be surprised if Putin has his ass handed to him, he uses a tactical nuke inside Ukraine. If third country parties use armed force against Russian forces, that prediction is doubled, but the mushroom cloud will be inside Ukraine. B) What nuclear nation would trade any of their cities for one in Ukraine should Putin take that action? If any outside nuclear nation retaliates against Moscow kinetically, especially nuclear, then the very large arsenal there will be used. Are you advocating trading Chicago for Kyiv? Are you advocating for the post-explosion effects that will result from such an exchange? Do not mistake my sentiments. If Putin pulls a small nuclear trigger, he's toast literally. His own folks will off him to try and contain this mess from WWIII with multiple nukes going off around the world. The best scenario, if this goes that far, is that Putin gives the order to light up one in Ukraine and the nuclear forces refuse the order. I don't see many scenarios where Putin comes out of this alive. The trick is to limit the number of other people that run advance for his trip to hell.

Who's nuclear forces will strike Moscow in your scenario? Think that answer through...

Vindman, is that you?

World class post right there. And not in a good way.

I wonder if any of the supporters of the storming of COVID Beach regret the needless casualties DoD suffered now that the world is going back to somewhat normal? I'm betting not.

Kinzinger has got to be sweating bullets since CNN was sold and the new owners have said they are moving away from opinion and back to news. 1. Proof will be CNN's actions. 2. With 50% of his cable network shows not likely to be wanting a token "republicans are bad talking skull, his post-Congress options narrow. 3. Blankets.

That's certainly one way to reply. Not necessarily the way I would, but it is one way. If Putin really is having his ass handed to him, he's fcuked. Either he wins or he, literally, dies. Combine that with the putting the Russian Empire back together fantasy, and there's some real bats in the belfry occurring. If he's got nothing to lose, a tactical nuke inside Ukraine is a real possibility. 1 in 4 or so odds IMO. I disagree with your analysis about world reaction. First, global markets will absolutely crash should a nuke go off. Crash into deep recession, if not full depression areas. And that's in the short term before the humanitarian clean-up begins. The crash will upend markets and the reserve currencies in use now. If a nuke goes off in Ukraine, not one nuclear power is going to respond with a mushroom cloud in Russia. Such a retaliation means trading a Ukraine spot for L.A. or London or Berlin, etc with the next salvo to be launched from Russia. Not gonna happen. China will watch this passivity when comes to such stakes and will plan accordingly, very confident that Taipei isn't going to be traded for LA. Middling countries will go as fast as they can to get nukes since the modern precedent has been set and that the only way to prevent such an attack on them is to have their own deterrent. There will be more proliferation, not less. I hope Ukraine continues to bleed out Russia. But Putin has lots more troops and equipment if he really decides to end this, but at the cost of weakening himself in other precarious areas of Russia. Will he gamble? Obviously, I don't know. But I don't believe he will go out without a bang at the tactical level. Or at least the order to make something go bang. Having that order obeyed might be a different story. One hopes so...

Please note the source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/21/fact-sheet-us-assistance-ukraine

And yet that aid, to include weapons, got there. And Russia didn't take any parts of Ukraine then. Unlike the last time Biden was point man for Ukraine and that administration sent blankets. That cost Ukraine Crimea. So far, Biden's given the ok to "a limited incursion." As well as cashing various 10% checks payable to "the big guy" from Hunter's Ukrainian adventures. So...I'll take what are anti-tank rounds for a $1000 over What are blankies for $500. Now do Afghanistan withdrawal planning...

Cyrano. Very good date movie (or if you really, really like Broadway musicals...not that there's anything wrong with that...) Advance spoilers: It's a musical. It's a tearjerker. Both were strikes I wasn't looking forward to, but I promised CinCHouse that I would take her. Outstanding movie and Peter Dinklage acted his ass off. No regrets.

Sooo, WWIII? With lots of nukes for everyone. And that's a good thing? I say again, give the Ukrainians all the weapons and logistics they can handle plus more. Cut off Putin and, especially, his friends from their money outside of Russia, sit back and watch the show. Start shooting as a nation-state and the stakes are raised exponentially. Tell me again, what is our vital national interest in this? I'm not a fan of spending our borrowed treasure and our kids' lives for something that's not our problem. I'm sure not willing to have nukes going off. That will tend to disrupt the twitter feeds... But, I've got ammo and there's lots of game around here, so maybe...

Annnnddd...scene...

How would they stop him?

For those eager for No Fly Zones or pushing Putin into a nuclear corner, just stop. If any nation outside of Ukraine pulls a trigger on anything, that is an act of war. If that's your intent, ok, are you ready for the full monty? Air assets are supremely vulnerable. Pretty easy to make them go boom on the ground. And how long does it take to bring in the combined arms to make a real war happen? Putin, for whatever his reasons, has pushed all in on this. To think he won't pull the nuclear trigger if he loses or is cornered by outside nations is willful ignorance. He's not likely to nuke London or Paris or Berlin, but any target in Ukraine or another none-NATO country is vulnerable. Do you really think the West will respond with a nuke when it's not on them? I don't. Powerful megalomaniacs have a history of going scorched earth when they are cornered whether in a bunker in Berlin, a field in Belgium, or a steppe in Ukraine. Toss the Ukrainians all the weapons and logistics they can use and more. Sanction the sh1t out of Putin and comrades, make it hurt financially to them personally and this can stop. Bleed him out and stack his casualties to the moon. He will be bumped off by his own side. If we turn him into a hero/martyr, we get a lot of that for us. Go full John Wayne and it won't end without a full, abrupt halt. With other non-friendly nations watching and planning accordingly.

There's a run on Canadian banks following Treudeau's dictator move. If only there was a way to think about second and third order effects...

This Administration is a clown show: https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2022/02/25/this-is-embarrassing-jen-psaki-tells-peter-doocy-why-u-s-will-continue-to-work-with-putin-in-key-areas/ Hate the political slant of the website if you wish, but the fact is, the White House said it will continue to cooperate with the Russians on "areas of mutual concern." Implying that Ukraine is not. So enough with the "treason" cheap shots. It won't sanction oil/gas revenue streams. Enough with the Biden's a foreign policy wizard. This won't get serious until the Russki keyboard wizards interrupt the re-runs of "Matlock." Meanwhile, have fun getting a loan to fill up your car. break, break: Kill Putin? Sure, why not? Nothing says full-on fight's on like killing the leader of a nation. Of course, you can't be too outraged when someone Hellfire-skis our leaders in that case. But, Putin has laid it all on the line. If he fails, he's literally gonna be gone, as in dead. At 69/70, perhaps he was willing to roll the dice since most of his years are behind him. Go big or go home, if you will. Something to consider in our calculus of this.

When you might lose your F1 ride because your dad's friend starts a war: https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/33368180/haas-decide-nikita-mazepin-uralkali-next-week

I say again, not our fight. This Administration has got to be seen doing "something" for PR purposes, but in practical terms, not so much. Europe, particularly Germany, do not want to get tough with sanctions, especially SWIFT. The jacked up gas prices are already spooking them. If they don't want to stand up to the Bear, why should we? We have our own oil and gas and could sell if certain policies newly enacted were reversed. Screw Vlad getting the band back together. If we act strong economically, we can beat him non-kinectically. In a fight that isn't ours. If we are going to fight, then it damned sure ought to be all in. But will we? Nope. Should we? Nope. But the current clown show of Obama foreign policy II is going to screw the pooch. Of that I am sure. I hope to be wrong. But something will go over the Russian line and we won't realize it, especially if we go cyber. I know we don't talk about it here for obvious reasons, but if we poke vigoursly via electrons, I think we and the West will cry "uncle" before the Russkis. Interesting to hear how this is Trump's fault and the invasion this week is the reason for the rampant inflation of last year. With that kind of time travel at our disposal, this should be an easy win for us...