this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 146 points 1 year ago (54 children)

It's like every time there's a war everybody forgets how fucking long they take. WW2 took six years. The Vietnam War took almost 20 years, same with the Afghanistan War. Anybody expecting anything solid within the next couple years is delusional. Ukraine is in it for the long haul.

[–] SheeEttin 67 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That's not strictly true. On the short end, there was the six-day war. On the long end, there was the hundred years' war.

Putin was clearly aiming for the short option, but then I suppose most belligerents usually are.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'd actually love to see a graph that shows the distribution of lengths of various wars

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted less than an hour

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[–] SkyezOpen 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dude took the low end and said "fuck that we'll do it twice as fast."

The good news is I don't think Russia can continue to sustain these kind of losses for 199 more years.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And Russia expected their little venture to be done in days.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It was never supposed to turn into a real war. They wanted to assassinate Zelenskyy put some Russian plant in as president, annex some more land and call it a night. Obviously Zelenskyy survived and the rest is history.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy"

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The comment threads here are weird. Who, in their right mind, would ever support a country like Russia? It's mind blowing.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago
[–] RememberTheApollo_ 13 points 1 year ago

BRICS. Even if they don’t necessarily support Russia it may just be an opportunity to take shots at the West.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Tankies claim to not be supporting Russia but only point out issues with Ukraine and believe every bit of info that comes out of Russia.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

HexBear and brigading yet another Ukraine thread with misinformation and Kremlin propaganda, name a more iconic duo.

EDIT: It appears that I've triggered the horde.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's funny seeing the replies to your comment crying about "not brigading" but then the vast majority of the comments in this post come from hexbear users commenting tankie shit

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

It's almost as if they completely lack self-awareness.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Easy way to trigger them:

Ahem...

"Human Rights"

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Everyone point & laugh at the sad tankie in this thread.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Damn we don't see them on blahaj :<

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Somewhere in the Pentagon there surely must be a series of rooms isolated for this war. In them intelligence is gathered, counterparts in Ukraine can be in instant contact, resources from both armies are tracked, tactics are formulated, simulations are run. How do I know this? Because this would be too good of a learning opportunity to pass up.

And those folks ain't talking.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (10 children)

All those folks in the 50+ age group that grew up with "Russia is enemy #1" are probably cycling through waves of intense work and prolonged orgasm.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the first things considered in strategizing any armed conflict is whether they want Russia and China to know that we have X or are capable of Y. Russia has shown their hand. If they could do more, they would have by now.

It has also taught NATO that Russia is still in the barbaric tactics mindset. Hospitals, schools, churches, shipping centers - they're all valid targets. If Russia wants a position, they'll level the entire town. That certainly changes the plans, of anyone thought they would abode by the Geneva Conventions.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

All those folks in the 50+ age group that grew up with "Russia is enemy #1" are probably cycling through waves of intense work and prolonged orgasm.

The ones that haven't suddenly decided that Russia is our best friend all of a sudden for some reason that I still can't figure out. This is even considering that Russia was found to have been paying out bounties on dead American soldiers, or that they had people assassinated in the UK. Certainly it should be a disqualifier that Russia isn't a true Democracy and had Putin's political opponents jailed. Two Democracies won't directly start a conflict against each other, but that doesn't hold up between Democracies and non-Democracies.

My hope is that as Russia runs out of money and organization to fund overseas psyops, the sheen will wear off.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Russians have less tactics and capabilities than NATO thought. Now it is a matter of how quickly they can be overwhelmed should it come to it. Their big problem is mid level command.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Haters gonna hate. Still though, they'll need to be cordial if some of these critics are also paying Ukrainian bills. Being rude is the fast track to falling out of favor with foriegn taxpayers.

[–] [email protected] 81 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They’re tired and weary from the onslaught of war fringe to safe their country from Putins aggression. Any dig at their progress is a dig at morale that spreads not only through the ranks, but also to the general public. There is a time for constructive criticism, but that should be done in private with actual solutions offered by those criticizing. I understand their needs to be some decorum but you can’t blame them for what I would consider a mild retort as their countrymen die trying to retake their land everyday.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago
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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

Good for Kyiv. Those armchair generals should shut up and fight if they think things are going slowly.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (7 children)

IMO these critics are used to air superiority which Ukraine doesn't have.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I wish we would just go ahead and give ATACMs. It would certainly speed things up.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I'm following the combat activities (the actual combat, not high level strategic stuff). It's all mines, mines, mines and then some trench warfare.

No amount of ATACMS can do anything about that. You still have to advance slowly, figure out where the mines are, clean them up or move around them and then take the trenches.

Drones can do a whole lot more good for a whole lot less.

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[–] anewbeginning 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Breaching those lines was never going to be quick, but once breached the line will move quicker.

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