ukraine

expect sweden to announce fast-track nato membership on the same day as finland

to tide them over the brits have set up a 3-way defence partnership

www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Britain-pledges-to-defend-Sweden-if-attacked-17164695.php

russia will probably close the finnish border............if they move more tactical nucs into the border areas they will give nato the excuse to offer similar counter-strike weapons to the finns and swedes

what other choice do russians neighbours have when they see the brutality papa dishes out to his own family?

meanwhile a russian battalion bunched-up under smoke and fog to try and secretly cross the donets river to surround and cut-off ukrainian troops and towns for later incorporation into an expanded russian puppet state 

the ukrainians correctly guessed what a battalion of armoured vehicles next to a river were trying to do, and knowing the area better than the russians, guessed the best bridging point before the russians..................resulting in them having distant artillery pre-postioned to shell the hell out of it

in classic sun-tsu the ukrainians let the russian minions set-up the floating barges and allowed half the battalion to cross before laying the area waste with the artillery.............when the smoke had cleared enough the drones were sent in to pick-off the remaining armoured vehicles and let the ukrainian troops know where to find the russian troops who had exited the vehicles and were trapped on the wrong side of the river  




The Annotated Art of War (Parts 9.3-6: Rivers) 
4. When an invading force crosses a river in its onward march, do not advance to meet it in mid-stream. It will be best to let half the army get across, and then deliver your attack.

if the russians won't withdraw from ukraine this will become a war of attrition between 100? million population, virtually bankrupt, russia and 25? million shattered ukraines

the west now believes that due to surprising russian incompetence, at all levels, and surprising ukrainian resistance, at all levels, that ukraine can be supplied with high tech weaponry and training faster than russian can replace its losses  

History being repeated--- Punch Magazine 24 April 1904

now that lithuania is blocking russia's access to their kaliningrad? coastal enclave

some russian analysts are saying russia should basically take back latvia, estonia and lithuania

euroweeklynews.com/2022/06/14/russia-proposes-to-revoke-recognition-of-independence-of-ukraine-and-baltic-states/

because of this nato is now going to setup headquarters in poland and stick with troops and weapons

all getting very nasty over there and will keep on getting worse

will include new structures in which western NATO allies, such as the US, UK and France, would pledge their troops, ships and warplanes to be ready to deploy to specific territories on the alliance’s eastern flank, with graded response times starting from the opening hours of any attack.

www.baltictimes.com/nato_set_to_bolster_defense_of_baltics_against_russian_threat/

the US will maintain a presence of 100,000 troops in Europe, up 20,000 from the levels before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, for the “foreseeable future.” During the Cold War, roughly 300,000 American troops, on average, were stationed in the region.
Biden also announced the US is sending two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the UK, increasing the number of destroyers stationed in Spain, deploying additional troops to Romania on a rotating basis, enhancing current rotation deployments in the Baltic states and dispatching air defenses and other capabilities to Germany and Italy.

nypost.com/2022/06/29/us-to-keep-100k-troops-in-europe-to-face-russia-threat/

we've lost the 'peace dividend'

everyone who doesn't want to eventually become a russian or chinese vassal state

needs to at least start doubling what they spend on defence

I doubt anyone would take military action over a couple of soldiers being executed. Soldiers are expendable, in the eyes of our leaders, and within the bigger picture. Especially mercenaries.
There would be lots of harsh words, but there are so many of those anyway.

I would hope that NATO and the US keep their eyes on the end game, which is starving the Russian economy, and a war of attrition to weaken Russia so it is not a threat - literally let them use up all of their missiles and bombs. Ukraine is just some dog-toy-chew-doll being torn to bits by two mongrels, for the sake of a strategic outcome of a neutered Russia (benefit to the rest of the Eastern block of NATO).

PS Could you imagine how this would have played out with Trump in charge? I can't believe he had the nuclear codes...

Yeah, but at least Biden can't actually remember them. He would get half way through the launch sequence and forget what he was doing, have a cup of tea, then suddenly wonder why the special briefcase is open and the red lights are flashing.
Dementia is a great thing sometimes.

I am rather uncomfortable with any leader having the launch codes. Paradoxically, it is a good thing they all have them. I just hope they can comprehend the theory of mutually assured destruction. That would require a degree of logic and clarity of thought. I'm not sure Trump with his impulsive behaviour had that clarity of thought.