What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped • Hacker News Board

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#191

Post by Dma54rhs » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:56 PM UTC

HideousKojima wrote: post #127

consp wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It definitely isn't "completely fabricated": It would be exactly the same as calling all Americans Nazi's during the reign of Trump. There is no foundation in fact all American's are but there are small groups he as the President supported who were Nazi's. This is a plain lie to serve their propaganda.

>It would be exactly the same as calling all Americans Nazi's during the reign of Trump. Were any far-right groups formally integrated into the US military, federal law enforcement, or anything else like that during Trump's presidency? That's the difference here, the Azov battalion was a private militia that was made an actual part of the Ukrainian military.

I'm sure you could make a link if you really wanted (I don't believe it and hate your political party likes to call everyone fascist / racist similarly to Russia. But there were many articles I remember about white power type of people biggest terror threat by FBI, of course half the population who believed everyone's fascist (see, these locals agree with us!). I'm certain radicals often go to military, especially right wing, so there's the military connection. I'm also certain the whole police force was white supremacist organization and fascist (you might use something interesting like drug addict guns running the streets killing civilians without hesitation like Putin). So all in all its up to you interpret the world and how widespread something really is and if it deserves an action or pretext for war. Muellers report revealed GRU was running BLM social media and guns rights activists at the same time.

Sincerely from the bottom of my heart I suggest every American to de-escalate because most certainly its not fun to live in a society when things have to be solved by violence between countrymen and Putin has done cleanical job.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#192

Post by UltraViolence » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:57 PM UTC

tus666 wrote: post #131

I think this misses the point entirely. It's their entire strategy, or lack of strategy that is in question. Small numbers of light vehicles entering towns they have not overcome...are then promptly destroyed by irregular Ukrainian forces often with improvised weapons. Seemingly trying to take large cities without first gaining and controlling ground and surrounding areas. Lack of attempts to destroy strategic infras…

It's not a lack of strategy, merely an expression of that a soldier's life isn't worth sh*t in Russia.

These young enlisted conscripts are nothing but cannon fodder with their superiors hoping they can get off a shot or two before they're killed.

Pilots, being officers, are another matter entirely. I remember this Kamov Ka-40 helicopter had the ability to blow off its blades to enable the pilot to bail out with an ejection seat. There's nothing remotely like it in the U.S. arsenal.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#193

Post by ukraineally » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:57 PM UTC

aix1 wrote: post #163

ukraineally wrote: post #84

No air force, because cost-benefit isnt there. Too many things to take them out. Not enough things to drop bombs on. Dont worry, they did airstrike the Navy doing navy things? aka floating there threatening civilians. Army is in terrible disarray losing tons of equipment to mud. Losing even more equipment to combat. Their MREs expired 7 years ago. Their army sure is looking pathetic. Is this Putin's last hurrah?

It's hard to be sure, but he is now surrounded by (ex?) multibillionnaires who have all of a sudden lost much of the ability to enjoy their airplanes, yachts, houses etc, ONLY because of voices in Putin's head telling him about his historic mission (or whatever those voices are telling him). I think his life expectancy has gone down as of about a week ago.

>It's hard to be sure, but he is now surrounded by (ex?) multibillionnaires who have all of a sudden lost much of the ability to enjoy their airplanes, yachts, houses etc, ONLY because of voices in Putin's head telling him about his historic mission (or whatever those voices are telling him).

On paper they are still billionaires because the stock exchange was shutdown. I really don't know how much power they have exactly. I doubt they have any sort of assassination capability. Nor do I expect them to exercise this.

Ultimately this is about defunding their war. Their ability to sustain this war has a very short lifetime now. They are now excluded from the global community. The Russian people are headed into poverty.

We get to just sit back and let that happen.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#194

Post by ProjectArcturis » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:57 PM UTC

UltraViolence wrote: post #181

I'd have thought that Russia would have air superiority by now, but it seems they don't. Ukraine doesn't use its air power wisely, because I'd think that 60km long convoy would be a juicy target, ripe for the picking. The Russians probably have Buks and S-400 SAMs lined up all over the place to protect the convoy.

The convoy is likely stationary but well-defended. And, more importantly, appears to have already been stopped. Ukraine will use its limited resources to attack easier or more critical targets.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#195

Post by lamontcg » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:58 PM UTC

It might just be that they don't trust most of their pilots to not surrender/defect, and being in a plane makes that easier. I don't really know, but it make as much sense as anything else.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#196

Post by qqqwerty » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:58 PM UTC

999900000999 wrote: post #110

platinumrad wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without minimizing the awfulness of this invasion and the fact that it must be condemned, it is not nearly as brutal as Russian operations in Chechnya and Syria or the US-led coalition invasion of Iraq, likely because Ukranians are not nearly as much of a racial or cultural other to Russians as Chechens or Syrians. The greater ability of Ukrainians to gain coverage in both traditional and social media may also be a f…

Thank you for articulating this better than I could. You had a CBS* commentator straight up saying this is different than Middle East wars since Kyiv is a " civilized city". That said, I think much of Russia's restraint is due to their end goal. Ukraine's Russian backed president was outted in a coup back in 2014. The new pro West leadership decided to go dancing with John McCain. This entire conflict could of been a…

Your Haiti analogy greatly oversimplifies the complexity of the situation. Europe and the West have been bending over backwards to help integrate Russia into the international economy. The entire point of those efforts were to build trade relationships and de-escalate security concerns. Russia has been taking full advantage of those economic relationships while maintaining an aggressive posture towards the buffer states. And as a result, those buffer states have been joining NATO.

The only way your hypothetical analogy would make sense is if Russia/China spent decades trying to improve economic relationships with the US, and the US took advantage of those overtures while maintaining an aggressive military posture. At that point, I think most of the world we be sympathetic with installing a pro Russia/China regime in Haiti.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#197

Post by xtian » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:58 PM UTC

sAbakumoff wrote: post #95

It's an internal resistance conducted by the military. In the coming days I would expect a coup, Putin's arrest(or worse), the new administration, end of war.

Willing to put money on that?

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#198

Post by drran » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 6:59 PM UTC

HideousKojima wrote: post #127

consp wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It definitely isn't "completely fabricated": It would be exactly the same as calling all Americans Nazi's during the reign of Trump. There is no foundation in fact all American's are but there are small groups he as the President supported who were Nazi's. This is a plain lie to serve their propaganda.

>It would be exactly the same as calling all Americans Nazi's during the reign of Trump. Were any far-right groups formally integrated into the US military, federal law enforcement, or anything else like that during Trump's presidency? That's the difference here, the Azov battalion was a private militia that was made an actual part of the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine has not such thing as private militia. Azov regiment was made by volunteers: football fans. See them there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvzxM_DbQhw .

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#199

Post by UltraViolence » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:00 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #19

slavoingilizov wrote: post #13

Many conflicting viewpoints here. Sure, there's been less of a push from Russia than everyone expected, but it's not like Ukraine controls the sky either. Are Ukranians really still flying? If that was the case, the mentioned 40-mile convoy heading to Kiev would have been hit by now, no? Russians driving vehicles bumper to bumper shows VERY strong confidence that they own the sky, so things might not be as rosy for U…

> If that was the case, the mentioned 40-mile convoy heading to Kiev would have been hit by now, no? Not necessarily. That's likely to be a target-rich, but well-defended area. As long as it's not moving - especially given rumors of fuel troubles - there may be better things for the Ukranian air force to tackle, like helicopters moving troops around.

No, this convoy would be an obvious strafing target. I'm disappointed that the Ukrainians didn't even attempt it. Or we haven't heard about it.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#200

Post by ProjectArcturis » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:01 PM UTC

999900000999 wrote: post #149

vegai_ wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does NATO membership imply that America owns the country? I haven't witnessed anything like that in any of the European NATO countries.

>Article 5 provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm Like I said, I'm not enlisting if the Russians invade Poland. If individual American citizens want to…

Lol yes, history shows that aggressive dictators just want to conquer Poland, and if we give it to them they'll stop there.