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

#681

Post by porknubbins » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 3:23 AM UTC

brimble wrote: post #560

oblio wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could also be more common for non-native English speakers, for example native speakers of Romance languages. I'm reasonably sure we were taught about suzerainty ("suzeranitate" in Romanian) during high school history lessons.

It's definitely more a "college level" term in the US, but very much undergrad , if that makes sense. Good chance someone who even minored in certain social science fields will know it (decent odds they'll have employed it on a written exam a time or three), plus most people who just have a hobby-level but long-running interest in those kinds of things. A good high school course might expose students to the term, but…

I definitely only know this word from ancient Chinese history in undergrad. The lesser kindgoms were always having to send tribute to the Emperors.

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

#682

Post by cmurf » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 3:28 AM UTC

ghostwriter wrote: post #611

oblio wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The German Army isn't capable of much at the moment. And even if it were, no NATO member will set foot in Ukraine while this war and the following insurgency are happening. What will happen is, depending on how hard Putin pushes, the reaction will be just as strong. More attacks targeting civilians? More weapons sent to Ukraine. Harder sanctions, with actual teeth. I wouldn't be shocked if by next winter 60%+ of the…

> I wouldn't be shocked if by next winter 60%+ of the gas supply for Western Europe will be covered from other vendors, more or less bankrupting Russia you will be shocked to discover that Russia is going to fuel China's economy instead [1] [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-28/gazprom-p...

Possible, but risky for China to do that. A dollar buying Chinese made goods, is a dollar China has to buy Russian oil products, is a dollar Russia has to pay soldiers and build more weapons to bomb whoever they're bombing. I'm in favor of global free trade, but not without limits. The U.N. Charter is more important. The non-violent multilateral institution of resolving disputes is too important. Anyone outside that arrangement is calling to past demons. And for what? What does China gain by being seen as funding Russia's war effort?

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

#683

Post by tguvot » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 3:28 AM UTC

pastacacioepepe wrote: post #676

tguvot wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nothing of it reported. use google translate to browse ria ru

Can't access it even with Google translate from Europe. What a sad day for the so-called free world. Edit: works with Yandex translate

jump over here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30536790

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

#684

Post by ethbr0 » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 3:29 AM UTC

drran wrote: post #678

ethbr0 wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give them Crimea in exchange for an agreement that Ukraine be allowed to apply to join NATO.

Give them Sudeten in exchange for promise that they will not attack Poland. This tactic worked well for 8 years in the case of Ukraine and was heavily (really heavily) promoted by François Hollande and Angela Merkel. IMHO, it's good to stick to a tactic with proven track record. The main idea is to feed the monster with virgins. Give them Crimea, then Donbas, then Belarus, then South Ukraine, then Eastern Ukraine, th…

If the remainder of Ukraine is covered by NATO after the appeasement, that's the end of Russian aggression.

There is no "and then" with NATO member sovereign territory.

Ukraine is only being invaded by Russia because it isn't a NATO member.

Russia was willing to invade Ukraine, for some land. Russia isn't willing to invade 28 European countries + US + Canada, for some land.

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

#685

Post by ethbr0 » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 3:30 AM UTC

water8 wrote: post #634

ethbr0 wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US blue-water navy has many similar problems to the Soviet Army. Specifically: operating out of range of land-based friendly fighters and interceptors. And since there are only so many carriers, naval aviation also can't be assumed. Consequently, SAMs are prioritized, compared to the army or air force.

That's what the KC-46 and KC-135 are for

Tankers don't solve transit time for Atlantic and Pacific-magnitude distances.

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

#686

Post by AmpsterMan » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 3:45 AM UTC

pastacacioepepe wrote: post #675

JohnTHaller wrote: post #661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard it before and I watch Rick and Morty.

Just play Civ

Or better yet just play Suzerain.

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

#687

Post by rixed » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 4:01 AM UTC

littlestymaar wrote: post #526

truffdog wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fallujah and Mosul were pretty bad in terms of city levelling. We just don't like to remember them, or think about depleted uranium dust causing birth defects, or what happened to the refugees, or a million other things.

You can't just compare Fallujah and Grozny. Of course urban warfare is destructive to the city no matter what, but the US and Russian tactics are very different, and so is the destruction. Dropping tons of low precision thermobaric weapons on a city is a Russian thing, unmatched in its destruction. (The is no American equivalent to the TOS-1[1] for instance). That being said, that doesn't mean I approve US invasion o…

According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1994%E2%80... the Russian army started to destroy Grozny with heavy bombings only after the initial plan, which was to drive the tank columns straight to the presidential palace, badly failed.

Their stated objective in Ukraine is not to take Kyiv, let's hope it's true.

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

#688

Post by zabzonk » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 4:01 AM UTC

dmz73 wrote: post #637

lmohseni wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have footage of cluster bombs striking civilian apartment buildings in Kharkiv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZuKEwuZznw

That footage is not of a cluster bomb. Cluster bombs consist of many small bombs that spread over a large area and don't all detonate at once but instead detonate over longer period of time in order to maximize casualties and make area difficult to access https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_munition . NATO used cluster bombs in the 1990s bombing of Serbia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%C5%A1_cluster_bombing . If…

> I think we are now seeing a clearer picture of what happens when there is a conflict in an urban area

Now? Have you heard of Stalingrad?

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

#689

Post by rixed » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 4:05 AM UTC

oblio wrote: post #513

littlestymaar wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia doesn't have a big track military track record in recent years, but there's one thing that they have proven to do really well: leveling a city to the ground while slaughtering the civilians who didn't flee. Having the Ukrainian legitimate government agree to surrender to save Kiev (or “just” Khariv) from such a fate isn't completely impossible to imagine. And giving infantry weapons isn't going to be enough to…

The thing is, once they do that, they'll cross another one of those imaginary lines. And the sanctions Russia is under will be nothing like the ones that will be heaped on top. Europe is highly sensitive about local conflicts, especially after what happened to Srebrenica. Grozny didn't really count since it was: a) an internal war b) at the end of Europe If Putin flattens a major European city (for Europe any city ab…

In 2022 outrage does not influence policies. You have it reversed.

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

#690

Post by oblio » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 4:11 AM UTC

ghostwriter wrote: post #611

oblio wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The German Army isn't capable of much at the moment. And even if it were, no NATO member will set foot in Ukraine while this war and the following insurgency are happening. What will happen is, depending on how hard Putin pushes, the reaction will be just as strong. More attacks targeting civilians? More weapons sent to Ukraine. Harder sanctions, with actual teeth. I wouldn't be shocked if by next winter 60%+ of the…

> I wouldn't be shocked if by next winter 60%+ of the gas supply for Western Europe will be covered from other vendors, more or less bankrupting Russia you will be shocked to discover that Russia is going to fuel China's economy instead [1] [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-28/gazprom-p...

The Chinese are not kind masters.