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All Is Not Quiet on the Eastern Front
As we focus on our own problems in the United States, the Russian war against Ukraine continues. There is also a cold war between a Russian proxy, Belarus, against Poland and Lithuania that involves immigration.
Belarus invites Middle East immigrants to come to Belarus. Belarus then deposits these immigrants on the Polish and Lithuanian borders and tries to force them to cross into Poland and Lithuania. The goal is to destabilize two NATO nations.
Ukraine is not a NATO nation but the United States is selling Ukraine Javelin anti-tank missiles to defend against Russian tanks in the Donbass region of Ukraine. They are also purchasing drones from Turkey, and Turkey plans to allow Ukraine to produce the Bayraktar T2B in Ukraine.
From Radio Free Europe:
Ukrainian government forces have used a Turkish-supplied armed drone for the first time against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, in a development condemned by the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian military posted a video on Facebook on October 26 that it said showed a Bayraktar T2B destroying a Russian-made howitzer in a separatist-controlled area.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces said the advanced drone was used “for the first time” to suppress artillery fire that killed a Ukrainian soldier and wounded another. After the strike, the shelling of Ukrainian positions stopped.
“The unmanned aerial vehicle did not cross the line of contact and destroyed with a guided bomb one artillery piece with a crew of Russian occupation forces,” the military said in a statement.
Turkey has sold Ukraine Bayraktar drones and Kyiv plans to buy dozens more to deploy to eastern Ukraine, where Russia has backed separatist forces in a seven-year war that has killed more than 13,200 people since April 2014.
In September, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country plans to build a factory to produce the drones in cooperation with the Turkish drone maker, Baykar.
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Published in Military
Then there’s our little friend further to the East. A couple of asteroid strikes might do the world some good if they hit the right cities.
But there are so many nice monuments and museums in the District of Columbia. Perhaps they can be moved first.
Are we still thinking we should act in some special way to make the world acknowledge the rights of people while our own Republic is broken down and awaiting some life-saving action? We didn’t even take care of our own in Afghanistan.
This is anther situation where I have a scorecard and still can’t tell the players.
Russia sells SAMs to Turkey. Yet Turkey sells UCAVs to Ukraine to kill Russians. And we have not yet discussed Syria.
I think Putin is playing 4-D chess.
We need a long and deep discussion regarding where we are, where we have been and what we have done, and where are we going from here. If we stay in the established leadership pattern we will continue in the much deserved free fall we are experiencing. Does anyone in their right mind want this Democrat leadership to be taking major foreign policy actions on a par with those taken during the previous sixty years? And actions taken during Republican Administrations are not impressive either.
I’m not advocating that we need to send troops to Ukraine. I see nothing wrong with selling them Javelin anti-tank missiles, at least until Ukraine decides to march on Moscow. I do believe the chance of that is nil, but I’m not sure the Russians would hesitate to roll into Kiev if they thought they could get away with that.
I’m not suggesting that you are advocating that. What I am posing, in light of your assessment of continued disquiet in the east, is do you think America’s influence or power in reserve now is on the same plane as five, ten, or fifteen years ago. I happen to think we did many things wrong in the past, it’s a secret how all has been revealed, and I think we have suffered a precipitous drop in influence with the ascension of the Biden/Democrat Administration. Is it likely just a matter of a short waiting period before things start to pop on the world stage?
Generally, anti-tank systems are defensive in nature.
Generally.
The problem for Putin is fairly complex. Sweden has signed a mutual military assistance pact with the United States. Finland is not a NATO nation but US troops train with Finnish forces for winter ground operations, as well as air force exercises. Norway has asked that US Marines rotate in and out of Norway on a regular basis.
Poland will soon have one of the largest armored tank forces in Europe, a combination of the latest Abram tanks, about 250 that they have purchased from the US, as well as German Leopards. In fact Poland will probably have more operational tanks than Germany.
Biden’s big mistake was giving the Russians the green light on the Nord Stream pipeline. That gives Russia reason to increase their military presence in the Baltic.
I don’t think Russia will try massive military operations in Europe, but like a bear they might try bite sized digestible chunks, like the annexation of Crimea, extending their border in eastern Ukraine (Donbass region) and trying to deny Ukraine access to the Black Sea.
Poland and Lithuania should make the Belarus border one long stretch of razor wire and landmines.
Get a Vespa.
The Libyans invaded Chad back when Gaddafi was still in charge. The Chadians got ahold of a bunch of Milan missile systems, bolted them to the beds of Toyota pickups, and went all Rat Patrol on the Libyan armor.
Poland has already started fencing their border with Belarus.
Why would they do that? Didn’t Nancy Pelosi tell them fences don’t work?
Except for the one around her mansion, of course.
DHS is spending $455,000 to put a fence up around Biden’s beach house.
To keep him from wandering off, probably.
That’s one way to get taxpayers to increase your home’s resale value.
I agree and the bites they take will be downplayed by the Biden Administration as of little consequence. Remember, those who support Biden are not anti-Communists.
I’ve told this joke before, but here it comes again:
We somehow managed to fire a missile and nuke Moscow by accident. The Russians didn’t retaliate immediately, and entered negotiations as to how we could make it up to them. We said, “We nuked your capital, we’ll let you nuke DC.” The Russians said “No way. Then you’d be two ahead.”
Apparently, none of our “statesmen” are capable of, or are interested in, thinking beyond the next election.
You give Vladimir way too much credit
Indeed. Checkers or Yahtzee would be more than enough to beat our current “leaders.”
But who makes the money?
FIFY
FIFY
I would never suggest the absurd possibility that Putin was somehow making money off of Russian military sales to Turkey. Nor would I suggest the even more preposterous possibility that Hunter Biden had Ukrainian contracts that were a quid pro quo for weapon sales to Ukraine.
China, Russia or anybody else can do what they please to whoever they want. It is not our business and if it was I would not trust our government and it’s military to do anything but mess it up. Afghanistan has shown our measure and it is wanting. The world needs to take care of itself while we change sex, marry same sex, destroy past history and discover every grievance
We’re going to learn what US power projection, where real and where perceived, has meant. How it all unfolds we can’t know, but the only winner will most likely be China. How extensive it is, how long it lasts and what kind of resistance China gets in Asia is yet to be seen, but globally, general chaos and economic decline is almost a certainty.
Good. Now I can sleep at night. :)
By “her mansion” I presume you mean the US Capitol building?