Russia’s manpower shortages are a political problem. They can theoretically call up plenty of men. So far, mobilization hasn’t been a problem for Putin.
it hasn’t been a problem so much that they are lying about how many mobiks died, and recruiting people with ulterior motivations in penal colonies.
The committee added in the statement that its proposals did not violate Swiss neutrality rules since the arms would go via another country and not directly to a conflict zone.
Calvinball but whatever. It seems like the politics is shifting.
Really hope the news about Ukraine getting Abrams tanks is true and that they get the fuel and support needed to use them properly and not just a token 2 tanks so the US held their end of the deal with Germany. Even a small amount of them can make a huge difference on the battle field as they are fast, difficult to destroy and hit hard. Leopard 2 tanks are not as good but still much better than what Ukraine has access to now and much better than anything Russia is bringing to the battlefield.
From what I read it’s ~30 of them and we’re not sending them from our stockpile; we’re ordering them from the manufacturer 
. Wouldn’t want to deplete our precious supply of useless tanks parked in the desert. They said it could take months - years to get them over there.
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It’s always top priority to shovel government money to defence contractors. Global security can take a back seat.
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The tanks that have been standing in the desert for years probably are neither in the best condition nor equipped with the latest tech
Interesting size comparison between the T-72 family and M1 tanks.
The T-72 is much smaller than the Abrams tank. The Leopards are similar size to the Abrams. But these silhouette overlays really make it clear how different Russian and US tank design philosophies are.
The thing about the t-72 that’s crazy to me is putting the ammunition right below the crew, guaranteeing they all die if it gets hit.
You’re right, we’d better build a few thousand more to make sure we’ve got an infinite supply of the latest and greatest!
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1618382562778558464?s=20&t=rPi5PllG-USVJ4B38Dk_BQ
A shipping source said there are twelve Turkish ships trapped in Ukrainian ports, including in Kherson, that are not covered by the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal.
They’re better than nothing and some people want to send nothing. A few techs and trainers is better than nothing.
What I still dont understand is why the production of additional tanks and weaponry hasnt even started yet. From my perspective you either can give more stuff to Ukraine or if you dont want to assist Ukraine anymore and it collapses NATO now has a huge border with Russia that has to be protected. And I dont really think that you can guarantee the safety of the Baltics with the 300 tanks Germany currently has when Russia could easily block these countries with Kaliningrad.
Going to twitter these days makes me really mad. These people who chant “Thats not our war” are so fkn stupid. Yeah dont assist Ukraine and let Russia win. So where are the Ukrainian people fleeing to? I have no doubt that Poland will let them through towards Germany.
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NATO defensive security isn’t based on tanks. Tanks are offensive weapons to (re)capture territory. NATO has air superiority and these days it is not even close. Russia would get crushed tomorrow in Ukraine even with limited NATO air support.
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Besides if Kyiv had fallen as planned or if there had been no support by the west, it would have become „our war“ much more directly.
Estonia and Latvia are one quarter ethnic Russians. If Russia can stage „Our Lisa“ demonstrations in Berlin or Quran-burnings in Stockholm, of course they would be able to fabricate a Donbas-2014 style „uprising“ in the Baltic states and NATO would still be debating whether this constitutes an article 5 event, long after Russia had decided the whole conflict.
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Tanks are defensive weapons as well in the face of an armored offensive. That was true even in WW2 but with the merging of the roles of defensive tank destroyers and tanks into the jack-of-all trades MBT concept, it’s even more true today.
a guest opinion on wapo claimed that us-trained afghanistan commandos are being recruited to fight in ukraine as a part of either wagner, or another russian paramilitary force, and the fighters use it as a way to escape the taliban. that would be horrible of course, but i have yet to see any other rumor or mentions of that, and i have seen multiple times claims of syrian fighters doing the same never get confirmed.
still maybe it will be revealed in the future, or maybe it’s only limited instances and not a huge factor. but anyway, the “brandon done fucked it up in afghanistan” narrative is again being workshopped around.
btw RU already had an LDNR mobilization, and a shadow mobilization in russia in the summer, along with an open volunteer effort. then they announced a partial mobilization in the fall. then they increased enlisted service time. then they started taking in tens of thousands of convicts, including prisoners from occupied territories. and now second wave will be a “quiet” mobilization.
jfc, any real superpower would have just done russian population a favor and decapitated the mafia org by now. it’s pretty obvious that nothing is working well, but they just can’t admit that, and will not stop until some symbolic large enough victory.