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Defenestrategy posted:Is this the joke or foreal? The sanctions I've seen announced so far are, broadly speaking, banking and high tech, with some kind of generic sanctions against Russian oligarchs. Realistically, US sanctions will only go so far - the US and Russia just aren't major trading partners. Handicapping Russia economically will be primarily a European activity unless China gets on board. Bored As gently caress posted:He's probably gonna try to talk to Xi and somehow convince him to join the west in sanctions. This won't happen immediately, but in the weeks/months to come it may be more likely than a lot of people currently appreciate. One thing China and Xi both want is international political legitimacy - and stepping in to curtail Russia helps them tremendously on that front. That helps them transition from "Sure, you're a wildly wealthy country but you still step on everyone's toes on a daily basis" to "Hey, thanks for helping to prevent WWIII."
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Feb 24, 2022 20:48
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psydude posted:Watching some footage of the air to air combat yesterday and it's absolutely insane how low the Ukrainians are flying. I'm guessing this is to avoid radar and confuse hear-seeking missiles? I've heard 2 stories on this - one is that Russia has S-400s nearby (or is assumed to), so it's to avoid those. The other is that, in the case of the MiG 29 we've seen video of, its radar system doesn't allow for look down/shoot down and thus it has to be at eye level or below anything it wishes to engage. Since helicopters are a huge part of Russia's air force, that means by default that pilot would have to fly low to engage.
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Feb 25, 2022 10:23
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psydude posted:I wonder where they're parking these planes? I did see an interview yesterday with a Ukraininan government official who said they'd moved most of their aircraft, but I would have thought that Russia would have cratered every airfield by now. There were reports of a Ukrainian plane (SU-27 I think?) being escorted by Polish F-16s to a Polish airbase. I haven't seen any follow-up, this was shortly after the first reports of a Ukrainian MiG-29 shooting down Russian air assets. Unfortunately with the speed this thing is moving, I can't find even the original report - it's been lost amongst everything else going on. Edit: Milo and POTUS posted:What's look down shoot down? I'm reading the wikipedia page and I guess you can discern stuff that's real low to the ground? Someone else will almost certainly have a better explanation, but the short version is that look down/shoot down are two related capabilities that have to do with an airborne radar differentiating between an object to be tracked and other clutter around it - trees, buildings, vehicles, the earth itself, etc. "Look down" means your radar can track it, "Shoot down" means your radar allows you to engage it if you have the correct armament. It helps to understand how radar fundamentally works - radar doesn't "see" in the sense that it interprets what an object is directly using optical techniques, it does so using reflections emitted by a given object after the radar has become aware of it (and targeted it, if applicable) with whatever type of radar it has. However, when everything below you is reflecting back up at you, it's a challenge for the radar to figure out what is and is not a valid target. Conversely, when you're pointing a radar skyward, it functionally never reflects back at you - it transmits into infinity, so you are (or should) only be seeing real objects within the given parameters of the radar. Again, someone else will probably come through and clarify this much more effectively, hope that helped a bit. Shooting Blanks fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Feb 25, 2022 |
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Feb 25, 2022 11:09
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I was wrong in my earlier post - it was a Romanian airbase and escort that got a Ukrainian Su-27 down safely. Link here. The earlier article just mentioned the escort and landing, the complete story as of 12 hours ago is that it was flagged approaching Romanian airspace, escorted down and the pilot surrendered. They're currently trying to figure out WTF to do about the situation.
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Feb 25, 2022 11:49
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Mr. Nice! posted:Reminder that this was the tankie thought process: What. I'm trying to understand the logic here.
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Feb 25, 2022 14:42
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Stultus Maximus posted:Look, it's not like a minor partner in a system of alliances has ever done anything rash and led to disaster. Simply put: Russia's surface navy is not particularly strong or numerous, but their submarine force is at least a peer adversary to every other sub fleet on the planet. Entering a naval shooting war with them would be....interesting, to put it mildly.
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Feb 25, 2022 19:19
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Alan Smithee posted:So what do we know about the 10,000 Chechen unit moving in? I just keep thinking about how brutal the Russians were to them and vice versa during that campaign. Are these basically just softboys from rich families loyal to Kadyrov? This was posted a few pages ago: Cythereal posted:The Russian-affiliated Chechen brigade may just have been wiped out before ever making it into Ukraine proper, caught in convoy by a Javelin ambush. I haven't seen anything other than that.
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Feb 26, 2022 13:01
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Proud Christian Mom posted:https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/air...sell-seats.html Is there a Russian industry other than O&G or agriculture that isn't getting destroyed by this? Maybe heavy manufacturing if Russia can produce raw materials?
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Mar 3, 2022 22:29
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Gee, this announcement seems pretty timely. First B-21 bomber enters ground testing, ‘on track for first flight’
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Mar 5, 2022 02:16
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FrozenVent posted:Don’t look up Canada’s numbers. You left out China.
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Mar 6, 2022 16:04
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KitConstantine posted:Edited, thanks. I shouldn't post before stimulants Ehhhhh...that's a guy whose Twitter claims he's a "citizen journalist" and "numbers guy." You're making an assumption that he's working off a complete set of facts, i.e. that those photos show the only logistics train carrying food. If nothing else, given the sheer size of Ukraine, I find that to be unlikely.
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Mar 10, 2022 19:48
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Stultus Maximus posted:What legal hurdles have to be cleared in order to start using frozen Russian assets to send aid to Ukraine? I think it's more likely this becomes some kind of a forced reparations thing similar to the Treaty of Versailles.
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Mar 11, 2022 01:10
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Marshal Prolapse posted:I love Arnold. Solid piece, who knows how many people in Ukraine/Russia will see it. That said, the California flag patch on his shoulder is just weird - I see the Texan flag all over the place, I don't know if I've ever seen any other state flag worn by an individual or flown by any non-gov't building before now. Hyrax Attack! posted:He had an excellent interview on the nerdist (yeah I know, I know) podcast a few years ago that was supposed to be promoting the movie sabotage. He barely mentioned the movie but gave an in-depth autobiographical account of growing up in post-war Austria and moving to California, I hadn't know he had done so much investing in apartment buildings. It was interesting to hear how he was aware he was terrible in his early movies but kept taking English and acting classes to improve. I'm sure there were some omissions but overall I came away respecting him more. Schwarzenegger is one of the definitive "Worked hard, got lucky, made it huge." folks - I read up on his background a few years ago and there's not a lot to dislike.
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Mar 17, 2022 18:25
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ThisIsJohnWayne posted:I severely dislike all the credible accusations of sex crimes. First I've heard about those 
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Mar 17, 2022 18:46
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:well this is pretty heartbreaking. This is true of every war of conscripts, but what sucks in a new way here is just how brutal the sanctions are. It is difficult, if not impossible to overstate just how much hardship the Russian population is facing in both the near and long term. Sanctions can and will be lifted more rapidly if Putin is removed from power, but a lot of the damage simply cannot be done quickly - and if the sanctions last too long, some of it may not be undone at all.
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Mar 18, 2022 01:18
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sneakyfrog posted:ive never seen that particular cannon before and i would like to know more. It's basically peak Keltec. It's a pistol that shares magazines with the FN P90. I want to see a video of someone running one at a 3 gun comp.
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Apr 2, 2022 12:17
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A.o.D. posted:If this is real we're all in big trouble. I promise I'm not stanning for Russia but that poo poo seems a bit beyond the pale. Is there any kind of confirmation, is that a good source? I want that to be false, basically.
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Apr 4, 2022 12:15
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Notahippie posted:IMO the question is going to be whether the refocus on the eastern front by Russia is going to be effective or not. The commanders there seem more competent and they have stronger logistics, if they're able to drive forward or even just establish lines that the Ukrainians can't penetrate then the end is probably that Donetsk and Luhansk get formally incorporated into Russia, they declare victory and go home, and the next decade is marked by a new Iron Curtain style split between whatever states align with Russia and whichever ones align with Europe. Realistically, who aligns with Russia a year from now? 5 years from now? I realize that's impossible to answer accurately, but the longer this drags on, the more difficult I find it to believe that any countries other than current pariahs (read: North Korea, Syria, Myanmar, etc.) will make that decision.
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Apr 7, 2022 15:43
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Herstory Begins Now posted:ukrainian civilian death estimates are far above 10k. Closer to 100k if anything Where are you getting that number? I'm not doubting you, I just haven't seen an educated guess in awhile.
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Apr 7, 2022 21:56
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Uncle Enzo posted:I haven't read the bill, but if it works anything like the old Lend-Lease, they only have to pay for equipment if: The other thing L/L does is streamlines the process through the Executive branch more easily, meaning Congress doesn't have to come together every time. I don't know the specifics of this bill (and it hasn't passed the House yet anyway), but this could/should just make it easier to get materiel to Ukraine.
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Apr 8, 2022 02:10
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mlmp08 posted:What do you call boatloads of Class V, ATGMs, AT weapons, TUAS, up-armored vehicles? Right now? I call it "Not Enough"
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Apr 9, 2022 17:13
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mlmp08 posted:I just want people to be more specific in their “do something” or “give offense” posts. There are some weapons that just aren’t getting handed over. Some advocates are specific in wanting stuff like coastal defense cruise missiles or replacement tanks. But saying that everything given is not “offense” capable is incorrect, and just leads to wondering what someone really means. If the Ukrainian statement is accurate re: adopting kids, then I want to ship everything they can reasonably use (including training!) as quickly as possible. Some things aren't possible, of course - we can't give them an Arleigh Burke because they probably couldn't use it in short order. But missiles, artillery, mortars? gently caress it, open the gates.
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Apr 9, 2022 17:24
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:IIRC Yeltsin himself said he knew that Weirdly enough, that was the exact grocery store my family would shop at then. We had moved nearby just a few months prior (obviously we were not there the day Yeltsin visited).
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Apr 15, 2022 07:40
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had lost the Cold War when he realized the supermarket he visited wasn't a setup and the average American really could choose from five or six different kinds of frozen vegetables.
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glynnenstein posted:China participates in some African peacekeeping missions to try to gain practical experience, but I'm not sure how extensively. Is that to gain practical experience? My take on it was that China is trying to expand its sphere of influence by building infrastructure projects in other countries - how valuable those projects are to said host countries being a topic of debate. But one of the big caveats is that China often does most/all of the construction, security, and often the labor and operations once those facilities are complete.
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Apr 21, 2022 19:52
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DJ_Mindboggler posted:That's not a bad way to look at it in my understanding (civilian who reads a lot of history). But that's the thing though, Russia was thought to have greater power projection/offensive military power than they've been shown to have. Since their economic stature and soft power were already nothing special, this is the "proof" that they've truly lost "great power" status, for what that's worth. The biggest challenge to this I would make is that the USSR was a great power within living memory - especially among the political leadership of most countries. Collective memory lasts a long time and there are multiple international organizations built in part or in whole to maintain the balance of power with the USSR/Russia. Chances are they lost that status years ago, the USSR was a crumbling empire when it fell and it apparently hasn't regained that stature. This war in Ukraine is just opening a lot of peoples' eyes to that, and to the value of alliances/cooperation among nations.
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Apr 21, 2022 20:18
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Uncle Enzo posted:There's a scene in "Servant Of The People" where not-Zelenskyy is mailed a USB drive with a threatening note and promptly plugs it into his laptop. The problem here is similar to the problem with guns in Hollywood (note: I am not making a statement about Baldwin) - realism takes a backseat to writing, because doing things correctly is often more boring than simply letting [action] be a plot device. Shows and films that are heavily focused on one or another will often hire experts to lend some credibility and realism to it - I'm thinking explicitly about Mr. Robot (technology) and John Wick (guns) as examples. To put this into context, if you have a show that isn't heavily focused on technology and someone finds an untrusted USB - does it serve the narrative to both make a secured/airgapped laptop available to investigate, which then requires exposition, additional writing, and additional screen time, or does it make sense to just have The Hero plug it in and find The Clue?
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Apr 21, 2022 22:57
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That is an excellent troll.
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Apr 22, 2022 15:01
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Grand Fromage posted:If Ukraine can sink enough Russian ships on the same spot eventually they'll poke out of the water and be a new island. China would probably try to claim it as theirs if this happened.
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Apr 22, 2022 20:27
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I thought it was edited when I first saw it - photoshopped to look like a skull.
Shooting Blanks fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Apr 27, 2022 |
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Apr 27, 2022 08:18
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Carth Dookie posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a technique on some guns where you can use different charges/firing arcs so multiple shots from one gun land at the same time? So you've got a battery of 6 guns, but they fire on 3 different arcs, so instead of a spot eating 6 shells at once, they eat 18? Yes, Time on Target.
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Apr 28, 2022 09:24
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Arrath posted:That Russian kit looks like my lowest expense tarkov loadout. When art imitates life.
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Apr 29, 2022 16:26
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Lake of Methane posted:edit: This Malcolm Nance This reminds me of a thirdhand story I have about someone inspecting a 1911 that had a pretty serious mark on the finish at the slide stop - and asked for a discount because of said idiot scratch/mark. Apparently, it was an older guy showing it to him who didn't really take offense at it but just looked defeated and said something along the lines of "We didn't worry so much about the finish when we were doing this in the war (WWII? Korea? Vietnam? No idea), we just wanted to strip it quick and get moving again." It's a very different mindset when your gun is a tool vs. an accessory. I told the story poorly, but you get my point.
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Apr 30, 2022 04:26
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Jimmy Smuts posted:What are the gun control laws in Ukraine like? I hear they're pretty strict in Russia. But are they loose enough in Ukraine that there's plenty of civilians with Mosins, shotguns, and maybe AKs to form up an insurgency against the Russians? Red Dawn style There are photos of destroyed Russian armor with "Wolverines" spraypainted on them, so I'd say the Red Dawn comparison is somewhat appropriate (albeit very morbid).
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May 4, 2022 09:48
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zoux posted:Here's a more granular question, Who is your favorite character from any war movie or tv show Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz
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May 4, 2022 20:21
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shame on an IGA posted:absolutely criminal that this didn't become a tentpole franchise I believe it was wildly expensive to make and made next to no money once you include marketing. That movie also felt a little light in terms of character development - I wonder if it would be better as a big budget series.
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May 5, 2022 04:21
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M_Gargantua posted:I should clarify that that is not to lesson the horror of any of those actions. Just that calling stuff war crimes is mostly meaningless until the dust has settles and you've got one side bent over the barrel to prosecute "crimes" I think this is pretty well recognized. Even Curtis LeMay said that had the US lost WWII, he probably would have been tried for war crimes for ordering the firebombing of Tokyo.
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May 18, 2022 02:57
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