Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[HVC]

All of Gerhard Schröder's tax payer financed staff quit their jobs.

Why does he have staff paid by the state?

The same reason former US Presidents and family get Secret Service protections? I think it's reasonable.

I was thinking more like office/secretarial staff, not protection. Protection makes sense.

[The Minsky Moment]

If the Northern troops around Charkiv join up with the Southern troops from Crimea in Zaphorzhzhie or Dnipro, the Ukrainians East of that holding against the Donbass front will be cut off.

Charles XII is deploying to Poltava, so no worries.

[PDH]

So if my wargaming has taught me anything, it is that soon the mud will hit and for several turns the Soviets Russians Nazis Russian-Nazis won't be able to move and fight.

I wonder if this has been accounted for in the modern game mechanics...

[DGuller]

Looks like Belarus is now fully in the war.  That's a shame. 

[OttoVonBismarck]

Schröder's behavior after leaving office has to be among the least reputable of any major European leader in the 21st century. He's a disgrace.

[Razgovory]

Looks like Belarus is now fully in the war.  That's a shame. 

And today of all days.  That certainly isn't in the spirit of National Pig Day.

[Habbaku]

Schröder's behavior after leaving office has to be among the least reputable of any major European leader in the 21st century. He's a disgrace.

His behavior in office was a disgrace as well. How much of his support for transitioning Germany away from nuclear energy can be attributed to his being bought and paid for by Russia?

[Zanza]

All of Gerhard Schröder's tax payer financed staff quit their jobs.

Why does he have staff paid by the state?

The same reason former US Presidents and family get Secret Service protections? I think it's reasonable.

I was thinking more like office/secretarial staff, not protection. Protection makes sense.

He gets about 400.000 Euro per year to pay for an office with staff. Former chancellors (two alive) and presidents (three alive) get that. Normally that is reasonable, but normally our elder statesmen do not become Russian gas lobbyists either. 

They also get protection from police, but as Merkel's handbag was recently stolen when she was shopping. 

[The Larch]

Mentioned before but the Belarussian troops will probaby be even more reluctant, adding a uniquely "Spanish sailors at Trafalgar" vibe to all of this.

What does that mean? It's genuinely the first time I see that expression.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Mentioned before but the Belarussian troops will probaby be even more reluctant, adding a uniquely "Spanish sailors at Trafalgar" vibe to all of this.

What does that mean? It's genuinely the first time I see that expression.

That's some British shit, just smile and nod.

[Syt]

So that TV tower the Russians attacked? It's also the site of a holocaust massacre/memorial. 



(The Soviets didn't think much of commemorating Jewish victims, focusing instead on Soviet victims as a whole, and built the TV tower there. Memorials were erected after 1991.)

Google Maps location: https://goo.gl/maps/QTaGf57SkvznHFZs9

Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

The Russians are not very good at trying to look like the good guys.

[Syt]

Zeit reports that the Russian military has announced drills for nuclear submarines and strategic missile forces. The Arctic Fleet is sending out multiple subs to "test performance in stormy conditions" in the Barents Sea, while missile troops in Irkutsk have deployed into the forests to train secretive deployment. The military didn't mention whether the exercises were related to their heightened alert levels.

 

[The Larch]

Andrei Kozyrev, former Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 90s, is asking all current Russian diplomats to quit as a protest against the war.

"You are professionals, not cogs of a propaganda machine. You can't support the bloody fratricide war in Ukraine."

[Sheilbh]

Intersting set of posts on how Russia is apparently fumbling their propaganda war at home as much as the offensive in Ukraine: https://imgur.com/gallery/6mycNaY

(same thing as a twitter thread: https://twitter.com/irgarner/status/1498334656353218560 )

Super weird - I was kind of friends with him at university. Nice to see him doing so well - and very interesting

[Admiral Yi]

Russia is only using a small part of their army and air force. It's a total war for Ukraine, it's not yet a total war for Russia. The Russians are fighting with one hand behind their back so far, if it came down to stopping a serious counter-offensive they would start fighting according to their artillery-centric doctrine and stop dead any Ukrainian attack.

Air force yes, but Syt said 75% of Russian ground troops are in Ukraine.  That jibes with what I had read earlier, that 60% of the Russian military was deployed on the border before the invasion.