Ukraine - contd

You've just been reading stuff to suit your agenda. You find Biden fans and they're singing your song.

I am not anti Biden. He doesn't really concern me until he starts coming out with extremely dangerous words.

So you carry on. You are misguided. But that's fine. Be as misguided as you like and ignore all the words from Heads of State. Ignore the White House itself when it tries to soften Biden's words.

I'm, just hoping he won't be making any more speeches for a very ling time.

No I didn’t. I read as much as I could whilst ignoring media hype. Both those who thought the speech was dreadful through to those who thought it without fault.

I have given it thought and consideration, and have remained more or less of the same opinion, that it was an historical speech with an unfortunate off the cuff remark made by a man who had just witnessed the horror of the suffering of the refugees, his faith and honesty shone through.

I think Biden is an excellent communicator, who apparently is known for these off the cuff, off script remarks. He has done so throughout his 40 years as a politician, so this would have come as no surprise to his staff.

It has made no difference to Putin whatsoever, nor to the course of the war.

Whitewavemark2

I began to think after all the opposition to my stand on Biden’s speech that I had it very wrong, and have as a result read a lot of opinions other than the media of course, and I am so relieved that I am very much not alone in my opinion.

The Rory Stuart/Alastair Campbell podcast sums it up succinctly.

Whew! Nice to know that I’m not losing the plot.

I'm listening to the Stewart/Campbell podcast.

They are saying that it was a good speech but Campbell agreed that the comment about Putin being out of power was ill advised and he shouldn't have said it.

Which is what most people on this thread have said.

Which is what most people on this thread have said.

But they've said it rather less temperately than Campbell.

I accepted that the off the cuff remark was unfortunate, but I did not accept that it was a game changer. It wasn’t and isn’t.

Moving on from what Biden said and it’s consequences or otherwise.

Russias plan seems to have changed, they seem to be retreating to defensive positions, in many areas, probably to stop heavy losses. NATO has made it clear that heavy weapons are not going to be to provided to Ukraine, so occupied areas cannot be liberated.
There is much more occupied than Crimea or Donbas why would Ukraine agree to a ceasefire which amounts to Russian rule. Resistance and harassment along with sanctions continuing long term must seem as possibility.

Katie59

Moving on from what Biden said and it’s consequences or otherwise.

Russias plan seems to have changed, they seem to be retreating to defensive positions, in many areas, probably to stop heavy losses. NATO has made it clear that heavy weapons are not going to be to provided to Ukraine, so occupied areas cannot be liberated.
There is much more occupied than Crimea or Donbas why would Ukraine agree to a ceasefire which amounts to Russian rule. Resistance and harassment along with sanctions continuing long term must seem as possibility.

Katie59 I listened to a war strategist this morning, sorry I cannot recall his name. Who basically said that intelligence sources intimated that although it looks as if Russia is retreating to a defensive stance, they are in all probability re-grouping, re-equipping and giving time for fresh troops to be deployed.

I think it’s a given that President Putin cannot be trusted to do what is expected

GrannyGravy13

Katie59

Moving on from what Biden said and it’s consequences or otherwise.

Russias plan seems to have changed, they seem to be retreating to defensive positions, in many areas, probably to stop heavy losses. NATO has made it clear that heavy weapons are not going to be to provided to Ukraine, so occupied areas cannot be liberated.
There is much more occupied than Crimea or Donbas why would Ukraine agree to a ceasefire which amounts to Russian rule. Resistance and harassment along with sanctions continuing long term must seem as possibility.

Katie59 I listened to a war strategist this morning, sorry I cannot recall his name. Who basically said that intelligence sources intimated that although it looks as if Russia is retreating to a defensive stance, they are in all probability re-grouping, re-equipping and giving time for fresh troops to be deployed.

I think it’s a given that President Putin cannot be trusted to do what is expected

That's what most people seem to think, GG13. But there is a question over where he's going to get his fresh troops from. It appears that Russia has a declining population, not many young people, so fresh Russian troops are likely to be young, barely trained conscripts; useful as cannon fodder but not much else.

It's also been suggested that it's possible that places like Syria & Belarus, which have been cited as a source of fresh troops, may not be too keen to release the manpower they need to keep their own populations subjugated.

OTOH, foreign troops might be even more willing to commit the sort of atrocities which the Russians have already demonstrated they are happy to do...

I just hope that the NATO allies can keep up a good supply of arms to Ukraine, which their well experienced army seems to be able to use effectively.

Oh, and I've also seen that there's a question mark over the battleworthiness of Russian armoury because the sheer scale of corruption in the Russian supply chain has lead to appalling maintenance etc. And that they are hampered in building new armoury because they've become dependent on parts from the West, which aren't being supplied because of sanctions..

I’m thinking Maisie is closer to what may happen, A campaign of resistance by Ukraine will be very uncomfortable for Russia. They can bomb the cities but the Ukrainians seem a pretty tough bunch willing to fight for the homeland.

Do you remember seeing at the start of the war Kyiv residents making Molotov cocktails? We were wondering how they'd use them because they would have to get quite close to the Russians. Apparently they throw them at the wheels of Russian supply trucks, the tyres of which will burn, thus disabling the vehicles. Who'd have thought it?

Garry Kasparov
@Kasparov63
·

Biden said Putin must go. Russian TV said we need our "partner" Trump to come back. Trump asked Putin for help against Biden. Collusion or coordination, you cannot call it a coincidence.