The "convoy" north of Kyiv is a disaster in the making for the Russian Army, for several reasons:
1. Fuel. Military vehicles consume extraordinary amounts of it. Tanks get about 3 gallons to a mile (that's not a misprint) Even stopped, military vehicles have to keep their engines running, to recharge batteries, to keep weapons systems active, and to keep vehicle occupants from freezing to death. The situation will quickly consume any fuel stocks in the convoy. And, since the convoy occupies/blocks the road, no new fuel can be brought in. Any fuel trucks trying to operate off-road will bog down.
2. Deployment. Unless the Russians were absolutely brilliant about convoy order, this is nothing but a 40 mi. hodgepodge of heterogenous military units, each with its own orders about how to get to Kyiv, and each under a different commander. Necessary support units like engineers and bridgebuilders are snarled in the mess, unable to get forward (the Ukrainians have blown the bridges the convoy has to use). At the end of their travel, this conglomeration will have to sort itself out into discrete commands and form up for battle, while under fire. Good luck.
3. Readiness. Every day troops and tanks sit waiting degrades their usefulness. What we are seeing is a 40 mi. stretch of starving, freezing, and sleep-deprived soldiers. Further, they were in bad shape when they started; they had just finished three days of maneuvers with Belorussian troops; they were tired, hungry, and worn before they even crossed the Ukrainian border. Modern armored vehicles require an extraordinary amount of maintenance; modern tanks usually require an hour of maintenance for every hour in the field. They are probably now suffering a high rate of breakdowns.
4. Loss of initiative. Stalled convoys are an opponent's dream, easily taken apart and destroyed. In convoy, these forces cannot maneuver; and maneuver is essential in modern combat. Undoubtedly, the Ukrainians are starting to pick off those vehicles one by one. This happened in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War, where the Finnish sliced Soviet military convoys into smaller and smaller sections ("motti", islands), and destroyed them in detail.
The huge convoy north of Kyiv is an invitation to a Russian disaster. Unable to move, deploy, and resupply, running out of provisions, the convoy is a target far more than a threat.
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Az) had his imagination captured by the pro Putin wing of his Party. His recent statement claiming Biden Administration failures led to the tragedies being witnessed in Ukraine is reprehensible partisanship bordering on treason .
"Putin's invasion is an attack on Americans. Why? Because it will drive up prices of gas, it will destabilize the global social order that allows Americans to have cheap goods and services."
Jesus H. Christ.
I guess I'm going to reveal myself as one of the clueless elites, but I don't care. A free, sovereign nation has been unjustly invaded under false pretexts. Innocent people have been killed. Families with children are hunkering down in bunkers or seeking refuge in other countries, fleeing for their lives...
And America's first concern should be cheap gas and manufactured goods?!?
This just makes Americans sounds so soulless, uncaring, and shallow. (I am a naturalized American, btw.) "Who gives a sh*t about dead Ukrainians? I want my $3/gal gasoline, goddammit!"
One of the Founding Fathers, I forget who, reportedly said (I'm paraphrasing from memory): "Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a sorry state indeed."
Would that more of us had the spirit of President Zelensky and the brave Ukrainians who are risking everything to defend their homeland. Cheap gasoline, my a**.
The last letter you provided explaining America First is bone chilling. And good points on how to communicate: if Putin succeeds, your gas prices will go up, etc.
Shawn’s argument: “The security establishment likes to talk like it's 1960; they like to talk in euphemisms and with grand gestures of freedom and liberty. But Americans don't speak that language. They need to be open and direct: Putin's invasion is an attack on Americans. Why? Because it will drive up prices of gas…”
This strikes me as dumbing down, admitting that Americans don’t really care about real freedom/liberty, but only the material things, one’s pocket book. That’s the only language we know now?
This is where we are now. Freedom only means what? I don’t have to wear a mask or get a shot to protect myself and others, as an example? Or the freedom not to sacrifice my goods or suffer a cut in my cash?
Maybe we need to start learning to speak the language again about what real freedom and liberty means. We could ask some Ukrainians.
My Congressman, an empty suit and human weathervane (and graduate of Wheaton College no less) -- overtly and tacitly complicit in all the various moral and legal outrages perpetrated by his party's Orange leader, and never having in a long political career been detected saying anything that could possibly be interpreted as words uttered by a member of any vertebrate species, initially maintained-- as expected --a careful silence about the invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump's televised public licking of Vladimir Putin's genitals.
Imagine our surprise when, unexpectedly, some people in his party started blurting out contradictory sentiments, and the Honorable Member's office emitted a careful condemnation of Russian aggression, together with a conjoined expression of regret that the current president is too weak to deter malefactors. We are still recovering from the shock. Not sure if the wind has changed direction or if it was only an errant gust.
So bipartisanship still stops at the water's edge, assuming the Anemoi don't start contradicting one another, and America stands united with the rest of the world against -- Joe Biden, and his cowardly weakness in opposing the evil dictator of Russia.
Look. Russia will take a nice chunk of Unkraine, say up to the Dnieper. By the time our next domestic crisis heats up, 2024 at the latest, Americans will have forgot. And that will be that.
It just occurred to me your comment may have considered the possibility that the administration may have been more active than they felt it prudent diplomatically to take credit for. One of the downsides of acting like a grownup.
"The latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that 50 percent of voters said that Biden would be “very” or “somewhat” responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, "
I sure hope that there's a word missing there, and that it should have said "50 percent of REPUBLICAN voters". That would be bad enough!
Supposedly that's what Dem-leaning polls are also saying. Polls need to be abolished or dumped. They're useless and causing confusion. And some pols think they should be led by the polls in legislating.
Shawn: I will accept your problem 1 as you state it. Close enough.
But you misidentify problem two. Whether Americans are willing to fight for Ukraine or not, it is millitarily infeasible. The Black Sea is private to Russia, so our carrier groups are irrelevant. We have no forces in Europe remotely sufficient to stop the Russion army. Any serious military attempt to stop Putin in Ukraine has got to involve nukes.
We particularly liked Shawn’s comments on the “American Firsters.” Would it make any difference to them to learn that in addition to Alaska being only 55mi from Russia that you can walk across ice 2.5mi US to USSR? Almost like a border. No one is an island in today’s world.
Some people really think we can basically close ourselves off from the rest of the world, make everything at home, and then we'll all be better off and happier.
Some of those same people also view at least half of the American population as enemies.
This piece hits a home run as it points out the anti-americanism that dominates the maga’s that seem to dominate the former republican party. It has always seemed to me the so called conservative party has been trending in this direction ever since one of them referred to the the idea of government being here to help as frightening.
I think a swing and a miss going off on another not well defined anti-elites rant. What a useless term, elites. It means so much that it actually means nothing at all.
The "convoy" north of Kyiv is a disaster in the making for the Russian Army, for several reasons:
1. Fuel. Military vehicles consume extraordinary amounts of it. Tanks get about 3 gallons to a mile (that's not a misprint) Even stopped, military vehicles have to keep their engines running, to recharge batteries, to keep weapons systems active, and to keep vehicle occupants from freezing to death. The situation will quickly consume any fuel stocks in the convoy. And, since the convoy occupies/blocks the road, no new fuel can be brought in. Any fuel trucks trying to operate off-road will bog down.
2. Deployment. Unless the Russians were absolutely brilliant about convoy order, this is nothing but a 40 mi. hodgepodge of heterogenous military units, each with its own orders about how to get to Kyiv, and each under a different commander. Necessary support units like engineers and bridgebuilders are snarled in the mess, unable to get forward (the Ukrainians have blown the bridges the convoy has to use). At the end of their travel, this conglomeration will have to sort itself out into discrete commands and form up for battle, while under fire. Good luck.
3. Readiness. Every day troops and tanks sit waiting degrades their usefulness. What we are seeing is a 40 mi. stretch of starving, freezing, and sleep-deprived soldiers. Further, they were in bad shape when they started; they had just finished three days of maneuvers with Belorussian troops; they were tired, hungry, and worn before they even crossed the Ukrainian border. Modern armored vehicles require an extraordinary amount of maintenance; modern tanks usually require an hour of maintenance for every hour in the field. They are probably now suffering a high rate of breakdowns.
4. Loss of initiative. Stalled convoys are an opponent's dream, easily taken apart and destroyed. In convoy, these forces cannot maneuver; and maneuver is essential in modern combat. Undoubtedly, the Ukrainians are starting to pick off those vehicles one by one. This happened in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War, where the Finnish sliced Soviet military convoys into smaller and smaller sections ("motti", islands), and destroyed them in detail.
The huge convoy north of Kyiv is an invitation to a Russian disaster. Unable to move, deploy, and resupply, running out of provisions, the convoy is a target far more than a threat.
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Az) had his imagination captured by the pro Putin wing of his Party. His recent statement claiming Biden Administration failures led to the tragedies being witnessed in Ukraine is reprehensible partisanship bordering on treason .
"Putin's invasion is an attack on Americans. Why? Because it will drive up prices of gas, it will destabilize the global social order that allows Americans to have cheap goods and services."
Jesus H. Christ.
I guess I'm going to reveal myself as one of the clueless elites, but I don't care. A free, sovereign nation has been unjustly invaded under false pretexts. Innocent people have been killed. Families with children are hunkering down in bunkers or seeking refuge in other countries, fleeing for their lives...
And America's first concern should be cheap gas and manufactured goods?!?
This just makes Americans sounds so soulless, uncaring, and shallow. (I am a naturalized American, btw.) "Who gives a sh*t about dead Ukrainians? I want my $3/gal gasoline, goddammit!"
One of the Founding Fathers, I forget who, reportedly said (I'm paraphrasing from memory): "Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a sorry state indeed."
Would that more of us had the spirit of President Zelensky and the brave Ukrainians who are risking everything to defend their homeland. Cheap gasoline, my a**.
Love the wonderfully appropriate quotation, Charlie, especially since it's from one of Shakespeare's darkest comedies.
The last letter you provided explaining America First is bone chilling. And good points on how to communicate: if Putin succeeds, your gas prices will go up, etc.
You can build a wall in people’s heads but you can’t build a wall to save yourself from history. Ask Hadrian.
Shawn’s argument: “The security establishment likes to talk like it's 1960; they like to talk in euphemisms and with grand gestures of freedom and liberty. But Americans don't speak that language. They need to be open and direct: Putin's invasion is an attack on Americans. Why? Because it will drive up prices of gas…”
This strikes me as dumbing down, admitting that Americans don’t really care about real freedom/liberty, but only the material things, one’s pocket book. That’s the only language we know now?
This is where we are now. Freedom only means what? I don’t have to wear a mask or get a shot to protect myself and others, as an example? Or the freedom not to sacrifice my goods or suffer a cut in my cash?
Maybe we need to start learning to speak the language again about what real freedom and liberty means. We could ask some Ukrainians.
News Flash. Invasion of Ukraine, four days in.
My Congressman, an empty suit and human weathervane (and graduate of Wheaton College no less) -- overtly and tacitly complicit in all the various moral and legal outrages perpetrated by his party's Orange leader, and never having in a long political career been detected saying anything that could possibly be interpreted as words uttered by a member of any vertebrate species, initially maintained-- as expected --a careful silence about the invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump's televised public licking of Vladimir Putin's genitals.
Imagine our surprise when, unexpectedly, some people in his party started blurting out contradictory sentiments, and the Honorable Member's office emitted a careful condemnation of Russian aggression, together with a conjoined expression of regret that the current president is too weak to deter malefactors. We are still recovering from the shock. Not sure if the wind has changed direction or if it was only an errant gust.
So bipartisanship still stops at the water's edge, assuming the Anemoi don't start contradicting one another, and America stands united with the rest of the world against -- Joe Biden, and his cowardly weakness in opposing the evil dictator of Russia.
Look. Russia will take a nice chunk of Unkraine, say up to the Dnieper. By the time our next domestic crisis heats up, 2024 at the latest, Americans will have forgot. And that will be that.
Shawn, you also said: "the right is ... against pop culture itself in all its forms."
But then, who is more pop culture than Donald Trump? Aren't conspiracy theories American pop culture? Isn't gun culture? Isn't social media? Fentanyl?
Seems to me, the right's is a different pop culture, but no less pop.
It just occurred to me your comment may have considered the possibility that the administration may have been more active than they felt it prudent diplomatically to take credit for. One of the downsides of acting like a grownup.
"The latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that 50 percent of voters said that Biden would be “very” or “somewhat” responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, "
I sure hope that there's a word missing there, and that it should have said "50 percent of REPUBLICAN voters". That would be bad enough!
Supposedly that's what Dem-leaning polls are also saying. Polls need to be abolished or dumped. They're useless and causing confusion. And some pols think they should be led by the polls in legislating.
Shawn: I will accept your problem 1 as you state it. Close enough.
But you misidentify problem two. Whether Americans are willing to fight for Ukraine or not, it is millitarily infeasible. The Black Sea is private to Russia, so our carrier groups are irrelevant. We have no forces in Europe remotely sufficient to stop the Russion army. Any serious military attempt to stop Putin in Ukraine has got to involve nukes.
Are you willing to go there?
We particularly liked Shawn’s comments on the “American Firsters.” Would it make any difference to them to learn that in addition to Alaska being only 55mi from Russia that you can walk across ice 2.5mi US to USSR? Almost like a border. No one is an island in today’s world.
Some people really think we can basically close ourselves off from the rest of the world, make everything at home, and then we'll all be better off and happier.
Some of those same people also view at least half of the American population as enemies.
"Most Americans cannot find Ukraine on a map". If by most, you mean 86.47%.
I knew where Ukraine was, but had to doublecheck Moldova.
This piece hits a home run as it points out the anti-americanism that dominates the maga’s that seem to dominate the former republican party. It has always seemed to me the so called conservative party has been trending in this direction ever since one of them referred to the the idea of government being here to help as frightening.
I think a swing and a miss going off on another not well defined anti-elites rant. What a useless term, elites. It means so much that it actually means nothing at all.