Kharkiv offensive: Ukrainian army says it has tripled retaken area

[Gunny]

I smell a rat, cuz I always smell a rat when things appear too good to be true :) I suspect Putin has changed his plan. Looks a lot to the West like he's getting his ass kicked, but he's not from the West. Look at Russia's, and Putin's past for that matter. If they think they have the most to gain by sacrificing military personnel and equipment, they'll do it in a heartbeat. Consolidating his forces and gains perhaps?

IMO, while rel morale-boosters, Ukraine's gains are not anyplace significant. Prime real estate is the Black Sea coastline and ports. The natural resources Putin is after are between Crimea and Odesa.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62867560

[Kathianne]

https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/09/11/hmmm-widespread-blackouts-in-eastern-ukraine-n495741


Hmmm: Widespread blackouts in eastern UkraineAFP, REUTERS Sep 11, 2022 2:40 PM ET
The centre of Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv was plunged into darkness on Sunday evening by an electricity blackout, a Reuters reporter said. …

[Gunny]

https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/09/11/hmmm-widespread-blackouts-in-eastern-ukraine-n495741Probably not coincidence. I am curious as to why an electricity blackout in a contested region during a war is noteworthy. I would consider that on the list of "to be expected".

Perhaps a ruse to make everyone stop in their tracks and take stock of their current situation? As one of the Ukranians pointed out in one of these articles, and I stated as well so it's not genius: Ukraine needs to consolidate and fortify its gains as ground gained is the easiest to counter attack until it is supported.

[Kathianne]

Echoing Gunny:

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-danger-from-a-wounded-putin/


The Danger from a Wounded Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the plenary session of the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 7, 2022. (Sergey Bobylev/TASS Host Photo Agency/Handout via Reuters)


By JIM GERAGHTY
September 12, 2022 9:50 AM

...

It’s not the Ukrainian boasts by themselves that are convincing; it is the Ukrainian boasts coupled with images from the front and the lack of a Russian counterargument.


In many ways, this is terrific news; the war is turning into just about the largest-scale humiliation of Vladimir Putin and Russia imaginable. Putin and the Kremlin no doubt deserve to be humiliated; the world will be a safer place if regimes from Beijing to Tehran see that an act of territorial aggression can rapidly turn into a disaster, costing fortunes in blood and treasure. (Estimates of Russian military casualties — the combined number of dead and wounded — range from 60,000 to 80,000; for perspective, the U.S. suffered 58,220 casualties during the entirety of the Vietnam War.)


Past editions of this newsletter have laid out the religious dimension of this conflict: “Putin sees himself as a saintly, heroic, messiah-like figure, smiting evil enemies and preserving all that is good and holy.” Mounting, worsening defeats might just get Putin to doubt that God is on his side.


But way back at the end of February, I asked “just how much economic devastation we want to inflict upon a country with roughly 4,500 nuclear warheads” — and a similar question can be asked about the scale of a Russian military defeat. We’re left with the same questions as at the beginning of the war. The U.S. doesn’t want Russia to win, but we would prefer the war wasn’t being fought at all. A Russia that is utterly defeated in Ukraine is a wounded dog — desperate, angry, irrational, and capable of lashing out in unpredictable ways that could turn out badly for everyone.


No less a figure than CIA director William Burns said in a speech this past April at Georgia Tech — ahem, excuse me, some folks write in and complain when I don’t call it “the Georgia Institute of Technology” — that, “given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.” At the time, he said that the CIA had seen no serious moves in that direction, and that the agency would be watching closely for any signals that this sort of devastating attack was in the works.


And as this newsletter discussed back in mid March, if Putin decides to use low-yield tactical nuclear weapons, he will have the option of leaving portions of Ukraine devastated but minimally irradiated, or using the effects of an electromagnetic-pulse attack over a wide area of Ukraine to effectively destroy all kinds of electronic equipment.


Putin expected a quick and easy war that would ensure he would be remembered as “Vladimir the Great.” What does he do in the face of the prospect of being remembered as “Vladimir the Defeated”?


Contemplating some sort of nuclear action on Putin’s part, the Wall Street Journal editorial board says today that, “We hope Western leaders have been mulling how to respond, rather than thinking it can’t happen.” Dare we hope for some sort of coherent deterrence plan? Because the plan to deter the invasion didn’t amount to much.


Putin likely thinks that his forces are losing because of the aid Ukraine is receiving from NATO, and that his best shot of neutralizing NATO is to freeze central Europe this winter. Even if the Germans, Italians, French, and Poles aren’t freezing in their apartments as 2022 turns into 2023, their factories will grind to a halt under skyrocketing energy prices. Putin may well believe that by spring 2023, the largest European NATO powers will be ready to force territorial concessions upon Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine.


Is the Biden administration prepared for all-out energy war in Europe in the coming months? Its track record is not encouraging.

...

[Gunny]

Echoing @Gunny (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=30):

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-danger-from-a-wounded-putin/Wonder in too this long for one of the damp rags to say it. The boogeyman. Putin's nukes. It's kept the West cowering in fear thus far.

I'm not for nuclear war by any means. But if nukes are your weapon and you plan to bully ME? Plan on using them. I'm not one of those that would rather be a live sheep. Apparently, I am not part of of the Western consensus.

I would not at all be surprised if once Ukraine gains go so far, and Putin can dig in and stalemate Ukraine, the West/NATO to start talking cease-fire with a UN DMZ same as in Georgia. Zelenskiy can comply or no more weapons. Cuz that's how we play :rolleyes:

[Black Diamond]

Wonder in too this long for one of the damp rags to say it. The boogeyman. Putin's nukes. It's kept the West cowering in fear thus far.

I'm not for nuclear war by any means. But if nukes are your weapon and you plan to bully ME? Plan on using them. I'm not one of those that would rather be a live sheep. Apparently, I am not part of of the Western consensus.

I would not at all be surprised if once Ukraine gains go so far, and Putin can dig in and stalemate Ukraine, the West/NATO to start talking cease-fire with a UN DMZ same as in Georgia. Zelenskiy can comply or no more weapons. Cuz that's how we play :rolleyes:

Great then go back to spending money on woke bullshit.


Actually they will spend money on that anyway

[Gunny]

Great then go back to spending money on woke bullshit.


Actually they will spend money on that anywayIn case no one's noticed, Biden thinks he has a blank checkbook with an unlimited supply of checks. As long as the US Treasury has a printing press, the US Government is good :rolleyes:

That chicken WILL come home to roost.