Posted on 09/08/2022 1:51:38 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday said Russia’s strategic objectives in its attack on Ukraine have “been defeated.”
“The war is not over, but so far the Russian strategic objectives have been defeated,” Milley said at a news conference alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
A far better version!
Well, then, I don’t see any reason Biden need the $2.8 billion in additional aid for Ukraine.
“let’s just say if they thought they could take all of Ukraine with 200k then they were delusional at best”
They obviously didn’t think they could occupy the country with 200k. But they attempted a quick encirclement of the capitol, and tried to seize an airfield behind enemy lines with their elite paratroopers to facilitate a strike on the Ukrainian government to install a new puppet regime. That would have resulted in effectively capturing the country without having to occupy the whole thing. And it failed miserably.
The Russians had already occupied much of Lugansk region before the February invasion. Since then, they have developed even more sworn enemies in the Donbas due to the forced conscription and forcing teachers, hospital workers, civil engineers, and administrators to join the UNITED RUSSIA Party. Many thousands of Russian speakers from the Donbas are fighting against the Russians. Glory to Ukraine! Death to the invaders!
“We failed 19 goals but we succeeded on the 20th!!!” <==== You.
I am against the invasion regardless, but Russia started out with unmanageable goals, and would have fared better only pursuing coastal areas.
“How the hell does MUTINY milley know what their strategic goals are ?”
Probably the same way anyone with a functioning brain and an ounce of knowledge about military strategy does, just by looking at how Russia deployed their forces and used them.
I want to re-emphasize some critical points: 1. Russia attacked Ukraine with a small force that was one-third the size of the defending Ukrainian force. Advantage Ukraine and yet, despite the fact that Russia was outnumbered, Russia steadily pushed Ukraine back, taking Mariupol, Kherson and Luhansk.
2. At no point did Russia declare any kind of timeline for accomplishing its stated mission of demilitarization and denazification.
3. The bulk of the fighting from the Russian side is being handled by the militias from the Donbas. Russia has committed only a small fraction of its troops.
4. Despite a massive influx of western military aid, Ukraine has been unable to force the Russians to retreat. Those who want to point to the current Ukrainian offensive as a stunning success are ignoring Ukraine’s massive losses in men and equipment during the past week. Capturing a couple of isolated, unihabited rural villages is not exactly a 21st Century version of Omar Bradley’s Operation Cobra, which was led by General Patton and broke out of hedge row country in Normandy.
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You know how worried the Russian Government is about the progress of the operation in Ukraine? Putin and his top Generals spent a week on Russia’s east coast, i.e. the Pacific, conducting a 50,000 man joint force military exercise with China and Vietnam.
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et me suggest an alternative explanation for Russia’s slow, methodical approach in Ukraine. Russia is committed to the demilitarization of Ukraine. Russia’s current campaign not only is destroying Ukraine’s army and the tanks, planes, helicopters and vehicles, but it also is forcing the United States and NATO to strip themselves of weapons that will not be quickly replaced in the near term. In other words, without risking a direct confrontation with NATO, Russia also is weakening NATO. And Putin does not have to turn Ukraine into a smoldering, nuclear wasteland with millions of dead Ukrainians. Seems like a reasonable approach to me.
The weakening of NATO also is being accelerated with economic weapons–i.e., cutting off the sale of gas and oil. Without gas and oil, Europe’s war industry is grinding to a halt. I do not know if this is part of the Russian plan for the Special Military Operation or just a happy serendipity that serves Russia’s interests. Regardless, the effect hurts NATO.
I do not pretend to know what plan Russia’s General Staff is following. What I do know is that none of the weapons supplied by the United States and NATO have changed the strategic goal of Russia to demilitarize Ukraine and eliminate a NATO threat on the western border. That means Russia’s ability to continue moving west is not eliminated and Ukraine’s prospects grow more bleak.
“How much was your cut to say this?”
Free eye shadow for the rest of its days.
It is only one week into the Kherson counteroffensive that is expected to take months. Ukraine has asked and received a news blackout for operational security. There isn't a lot of information out as how this is shaping up.
I hope Russia is on its way to losing. There just is not enough information to be definitive just yet.
Russia is seven months into what should have been a seven day war.
This should have been so damned easy for Russia to pull off. A massive push into Kyiv, force the capitulation or abdication of the government, push to the Polish border, and declare victory. Boom-bada-bing. And that’s what I expected back when this started.
Instead the Russians were defeated mostly by their own ineptitude. Yes, the Ukies did a stand up job of fighting them but by all rights this was still Russia’s war to win or to lose.
And no one has to get paid to say this. It’s just how it is.
Really, saying a country has been defeated when they occupy large sections of the country they invaded and show no signs of leaving is stupid, it’s like saying China invaded the US but only took over the Western US and saying at least we kept them out of Washington
So, it’s then clear that Russia has attained all its objectives if Thoroughly Modern Milley says otherwise.
If he says it ,it’s 180 degrees off.
So says the hero of Afghanistan.
Milley said that?
Oh, oh, Ukraine is in trouble.
I think many at the beginning, and dare I say even many today, think the Russians are bringing all they have to the table. If 200k is all Russia can field, then NATO and all of Europe have nothing to worry about.
But we must be somewhat careful, drawing conclusions based on the numbers involved. Theoretically it could easily be 4x greater than what we see on campaign in Ukraine today. And wise individuals would weigh land war with Russia on the assumption of millions of men at arms not hundreds of thousands. Just my .02.
Full transparency, I am merely watching a very old school type war in progress, without a dog in the fight. I honestly do not care about either side, and as a student of history understand that Europe has drawn and redrawn border lines long before us and will continue to do so long after us. I would like us to try to stay out of it for now, and if we are going to send weapons we send them cash on delivery. Then use that money to fix our problems here at home, rather than throwing our children’s money to the wind.
same way anyone with a functioning brain and an ounce of knowledge about military strategy does,
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You just made my point for me.
He has none of that.
Look at the afganastan withdrawal.
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