Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[Jersey Girl]

I've been absolutely binge watching this youtube channel for a week now. The interviewer approaches Russian people on the street and poses his questions to them. It's interesting to see how people formulate their answers. This video is today's installment. It runs just 10 minutes.

Can you tell who is being straightforward, who is censoring their true position on the war in Ukraine, who is claiming neutrality or disinterest so they don't have to answer at all? Go back in time and watch a video from a week or two ago. Have their answers changed? Are they more reluctant to speak now?

What do Russians think now? 2 weeks after the start.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2TGvndDcxE

[Gunnar]

Russian War Hero DENOUNCES Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine

Alexander Garnaev, a highly decorated pilot who received one of Russia's highest state honors, has come out in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Soviet Union air force vet and test pilot publicly criticized the “ongoing slaughter of the brotherly Slavic people” in a handwritten note. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, and Helen Hong discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...

"A highly decorated former Russian test pilot has delivered a dramatic criticism of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his war on “brotherly Slavic people”.

Over the course of three decades, Alexander Garnaev flew for the airforce of the Soviet Union and then as a test pilot for experimental prototypes of the MiG-29M fighter jet.

In 1998, he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation, one of the country’s highest honours.

This week he dramatically criticised the Russian leader, posting on social media a letter of resignation from his position a chairman of the board of the Club of Heroes, an organisation for “creators and testers of aviation and space equipment” located in Zhukovsky, a city 30 miles south-east of Moscow.

“Due to newly arisen force majeure (or unforeseen) circumstances of the on-going slaughter of the brotherly Slavic people, I do not have a vision of how to proceed forward with operations in these conditions,” he says in the handwritten note."

[Kishkumen]

Putin is a kleptocrat.

[Jersey Girl]

These are all current.


Are Russians ready to be cut off from internet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0NbACjnAlo

Question: What will you do?

One answer: Probably read books no one can turn those off.

Oh really?


What young Russians think about Putin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAmzPeDoE3Q

[Gunnar]

What young Russians think about Putin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAmzPeDoE3Q

Given the fact that any Russian citizen now risks as much as 15 years of imprisonment for any criticism of Putin's war, or even acknowledging the incontrovertible fact that it Is a war, it is understandable that any Russian opposing it would be reluctant to openly admit it to some random reporter they don't know. Because of that, it is very telling and remarkable how many of those young interviewees expressed negative opinions of Putin and his euphemistically called "special military operation."

[Jersey Girl]

This is just over one minute in duration. I can't verify the translation. If the translation is correct, this man is full of both integrity and remorse.

It is my opinion that we have already lost this war, - Russian bomber pilot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sH3NRh33cM

[MeDotOrg]

This is just over one minute in duration. I can't verify the translation. If the translation is correct, this man is full of both integrity and remorse.

It is my opinion that we have already lost this war, - Russian bomber pilot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sH3NRh33cM

Any footage of a POW making a statement has to be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, the man seemed genuine.

Saw a YouTube video tonight about the disappointing showing of the Russian Air Force in the fighting. While they have a lot of flashy projects like 5th generation Sukhoi stealth fighters and hypersonic missiles, it's a bit of a military Potemkin Village. Russia has around 12 operational stealth fighters. Russia doesn't have enough money to produce this advanced aircraft without securing orders from another country to help amortize the costs, so most of their stealth aircraft currently are operational prototypes. Their hypersonic missile, for example, uses a 1980's rocket booster with a warhead and some electronics strapped to it. The Russians have something like 10 of these 1980's era missiles in their stockpile.

In fronting projects they can't afford, the Russians have let proper maintenance and training go wanting for a lot of the rest of their Air Force. They do not have a large stockpile of precision guided weapons, so expect to see iron gravity bombs in the near future.

The video is called Why Russia can't take the skies over Ukraine. Recommended.

[Moksha]

A short but anti-Trump video on Ukraine from Lord Ashcroft:

https://Twitter.com/lordashcroft/status ... 88355?s=21

[Gadianton]

Saw a YouTube video tonight about the disappointing showing of the Russian Air Force in the fighting. While they have a lot of flashy projects like 5th generation Sukhoi stealth fighters and hypersonic missiles, it's a bit of a military Potemkin Village. Russia has around 12 operational stealth fighters. Russia doesn't have enough money to produce this advanced aircraft without securing orders from another country to help amortize the costs, so most of their stealth aircraft currently are operational prototypes. Their hypersonic missile, for example, uses a 1980's rocket booster with a warhead and some electronics strapped to it. The Russians have something like 10 of these 1980's era missiles in their stockpile.

Yeah, I've been looking into the commentary on their military produced a year or so ago and seems like there's been a good case for a while now that their military is degrading. The hypersonic stuff is all nukes, and apparently that's because nukes don't require a great deal of accuracy. Same with Chinese. So while they're ahead, apparently, in that regard, it's not very meaningful when nukes from 1967 will do the job just fine. Hypersonic weapons with pinpoint accuracy would be scary.

[Chap]

Saw a YouTube video tonight about the disappointing showing of the Russian Air Force in the fighting. While they have a lot of flashy projects like 5th generation Sukhoi stealth fighters and hypersonic missiles, it's a bit of a military Potemkin Village. Russia has around 12 operational stealth fighters. Russia doesn't have enough money to produce this advanced aircraft without securing orders from another country to help amortize the costs, so most of their stealth aircraft currently are operational prototypes. Their hypersonic missile, for example, uses a 1980's rocket booster with a warhead and some electronics strapped to it. The Russians have something like 10 of these 1980's era missiles in their stockpile.

Yeah, I've been looking into the commentary on their military produced a year or so ago and seems like there's been a good case for a while now that their military is degrading. The hypersonic stuff is all nukes, and apparently that's because nukes don't require a great deal of accuracy. Same with Chinese. So while they're ahead, apparently, in that regard, it's not very meaningful when nukes from 1967 will do the job just fine. Hypersonic weapons with pinpoint accuracy would be scary.

So far as I recall, the Russian economy is about the size of Spain's. You really can't run a world-beating military on that budget, added to which a corrupt kleptocracy (Grosskreutz: 'rule by thieves') makes sure that spending destined for the military tends to be siphoned off in large part before it gets anywhere useful. Hence the results we see. All the Russians can really do effectively is shell Ukrainian cities, and they can do that simply because Ukraine does not have much heavy artillery itself, nor does it have a large enough air force to take out the Russian positions.