READ OP! War in Ukraine: a distressed blender making too many margaritas at once

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > READ OP! War in Ukraine: a distressed blender making too many margaritas at once

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Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Just as a FYI, if you see any videos with a bunch of young guys in civilian clothes, it might be best to avoid it. There are lots of videos popping up of people intentionally breaking their arms and legs to avoid mobilization.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2022 23:55

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# ¿ Jun 2, 2024 01:52

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

RWA believes the economic conditions in the former Soviet Union in the 90s were deliberately caused by the West. The West wanted to kill off all Russians so it could come in and take all of their natural resources.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2022 00:46

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Regarding the armband colours, one of the press officers for the UAF (�Operator Starsky�)has regular YouTube Q&A sessions. Someone asked him about the change in UAF armband colours and he said there was a story behind it but he wouldn�t discuss it until after the war.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2022 19:55

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

mobby_6kl posted:

Some interesting details in this video:
https://twitter.com/RFERL/status/1575885757373468675

I'm sure it's not a surprise to the (actual) tankies but he says that the tank, I assume the T72, only carries 22 rounds and they had to end the attack and return to reload three times. An M1 has 41 rounds so that would help . Some interesting info on using drones to command the tanks around too.

I�m guessing modern western MBTs have some sort of bird�s eye view of the field based on GPS coordinates of each tank.

Flavahbeast posted:

I just assumed its because yellow armbands look too much like white armbands from a distance

I think the context was someone asking why Ukraine didn�t use green tape anymore. I was wondering if there was an incident due to someone being red-green colourblind.

Mr. Apollo fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Oct 2, 2022

# ¿ Oct 2, 2022 23:03

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

One of the guys who did fight animations for the Metro video games died in combat today.

https://twitter.com/leonid_games/status/1576504412465680395?s=46&t=jleVrXQCQTocvjbBBQ7QKw

# ¿ Oct 3, 2022 01:06

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

The RuAF have apparently resorted to posting on social media asking for air support. However, they've been told that air support can't fly due to the rain (it's not raining there).

https://twitter.com/CalibreObscura/status/1576659424974102528?s=20&t=pTUCIOUQgxQKT2kzKLarPg

# ¿ Oct 3, 2022 15:17

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

slurm posted:

Does Musk flipping signal capital realigning behind Russia or is he once again uniquely dumb

Kchama posted:

"He's just dumb" is always the universal truth with Musk, and why I agree with cinci that he should not be brought up in this thread.

Yeah, Musk was never pro-Ukraine. He sold them Starlink for profit and good PR. Don�t forget that he posted this back in March.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1503276966874595330?s=46&t=gEpA_kBrY5kzXs18lmq4oA

# ¿ Oct 4, 2022 03:59

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

mobby_6kl posted:

I probably quoted the wrong tweet. I meant the Antonivsky bridge which let russians on the other side of Dnipro. Obviously flooding out a ton of people probably isn't a good idea.

Kherson Oblast is where Ukraine had some problems initially with people not following orders to destroy bridges or keeping units out on exercises instead of recalling them to defensive positions.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2022 19:27

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Yeah there definitely seem to be some leaks coming out. I wonder what the strategy is with these. They seem to be attempting to emphasize the distance between the Ukrainian military and the American.

I wonder if it's to emphasize that it's not literally NATO fighting this war. It's Ukraine with assistance from NATO aligned countries.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2022 19:54

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

FishBulbia posted:

Wow, so it was a suicide bombing? I guess you could RC it but...

Maybe there was a driver who got out and the last several hundred feet was done remotely.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2022 07:35

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Tomn posted:

Yeah I was gonna say, �Oh yeah, they can just slip over the border speaking Russian and buy a truck� is plausible enough, but if that�s how they did it what could their exfiltration strategy have been? Leaving a truck parked up in the middle of a bridge as long as that would have seemed mighty suspicious, and transferring to another car and gunning it at the last minute pretty risky.

Maybe there was a Special Forces team waiting near bridge with a boat or something to pick up the driver?

# ¿ Oct 8, 2022 07:40

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Remember this from a few weeks ago? Guess it was a test run. You�d think it would have been a huge hint to Russia to step is security around the bridge. :shrug:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2022/09/22/mystery-vessel-may-be-new-ukrainian-attack-drone/amp

quote:

Russia Finds Mystery Vessel On Crimean Beach: Is It A New Ukrainian Attack Drone?

Ukraine may be using a new type of drone boat supplied by the U.S. to attack Russian warships in the Black Sea.

Russian forces found a drone boat washed up on a beach close to their naval base at Sevastopol in the Crimea, according to submarine and covert vessel expert HI Sutton writing in Naval News. Rather than examining the uncrewed surface vessel or USV, the Russians towed it out to sea and blew it up. This was probably wise. Sutton believes that the boat was likely packed with explosives and on a mission to destroy Russian warships.

The boat, which looks to be about the size of a kayak, floats low in the water, making it difficult to swap. Sutton identifies a camera, infra-red sensors, communications antenna and bow-mounted sensors which might detect the presence of a target close enough to trigger its payload. It has a waterjet and might achieve considerable speed. The location, over 150 miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory, indicates long range.

While the exact type of vessel has not yet been identified, the USV certainly has a familiar look to it, and immediately suggests the vessels supplied by the U.S. back in April.

Back then, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters that an $800 million security assistance package included an unspecified number of �unmanned coastal defense vessels� among the items being provided to the Ukrainians.

�It�s an unmanned surface vessel (USV) that can be used for a variety of purposes in coastal defense. I think I�ll just leave it at that,� Kirby told reporters, adding that it was coming from existing Navy stocks. �I�m not gonna promise you a fact sheet [but] I can promise you the drat thing works.�

He declines to confirm whether the USVs would be armed.

�They�re designed to help Ukraine with its coastal defense needs� I�m not going to get into the specific capabilities,� Kirby said.

A senior defense official, speaking anonymously, noted that some Ukrainian personnel had already been trained on the USVs.

Fedscoop quoted naval expert Brent Sadler as identifying the Mantas T-12, built by MARTAC, as a likely candidate, stating that Ukrainians had recently trained at a Navy base in Little Creek, Virginia.

MARTAC produce a range of vessels in the Mantas series, with �open architecture and modular design allowing for rapid adaptation and integration of sensors, advance communications and improved energy payload.�

The vessel seen on social media does not look like a T-12, but might be something else from the same stable. Mantas craft can also float low in the water with what is described as �stealth mode,� allowing the USV to operate with the deck itself below the water line. And they could carry out a number of different roles, as well as kamikaze missions.

�USVs definitely could be used for intelligence and reconnaissance to support drone and missile strikes on the Russian Navy,� said Zachary Kallenborn, Policy Fellow at George Mason University�s Schar School of Policy and Government.

�Although the USVs could be equipped with explosives and used to carry out kamikaze attacks, I would wonder about the opportunity cost.�

Kallenborn suggests it would make more sense to convert commercial vessels for the attack role and keep the military ones for the stealth spy role. The Houthi rebels in Yemen have already adapted speedboats as remote-controlled kamikazes for attacks on oil tankers and other vessels.

Ukraine�s Neptune anti-ship missiles have proved highly effective, but they need a spotter to locate a target � Bayraktar TB2s were apparently used for this role when the Russian flagship Moskva was sunk. USVs might be a less risky, stealthy alternative, being able to lurk for long periods waiting for a target to appear.

We may never know the identify of the mystery USV � one that washed up in Scotland in 2020 was never claimed, although it was identified as an American-made Wave Glider.

However, Russian warships may have to be more cautious when navigating the Black Sea. Even a craft as small as the one found washed up in Crimea can carry an explosive shaped charge big enough to blow a hole in one and add to the tally of Russian losses.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2022 07:49

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

I think it was because Ukraine stationed some of its Territorial Defense forces on the Belarusian border in response to reports that Belarus might invade Ukraine. Belarus then started saying that it had no intention of invading Ukraine so the Ukrainian forces on the border must be an invasion force.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2022 03:08

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Marshal Prolapse posted:

Depends. Somestimes it is just getting bitched out. I'm pretty sure listening to angry Pakistani officals is part of the US Embassy and Ambassador job description. I know it's been the case with drone, and I think a Tomahawk here and there, but I could be wrong.

During the Gulf War, the US sent Tomahawks through Iranian airspace because the deserts of Iraq were too featureless for their guidance system to work.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2022 23:31

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# ¿ Jun 2, 2024 01:52

Mr. Apollo: Nov 8, 2000

Marshal Prolapse posted:

I wonder if they gave a heads up, even if from a netural party (say Sweeden at the time), so they wouldn't engage them (since the Islamic Republic of Iran had/has an interest in a weak Iraq).

The official line is no, Iran wasn�t given a heads up. However, Iran never reacted to the overflights of the missiles so there probably was a quiet heads up.

Mr. Apollo fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Oct 11, 2022

# ¿ Oct 11, 2022 00:45

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > READ OP! War in Ukraine: a distressed blender making too many margaritas at once

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