I.m sure there are plenty of people in the world capable of hacking etc into the Russian systems and causing mayhem and havoc to the every day way of life. cause them as much misery as possible. i.m sure it could be done.
The Title of this Thread is, WW3 How Close. It is occuring to me more each day that the answer might well be, 'not very close at all'. It was assumed by many of us onlookers, that The Russian Army would walk straight over the Ukrainian Forces. Russia had the numbers, the Tanks and the Aircraft. Better equipement in every department. But it just hasn't happened. And it looks as if this whole opperation is proving itself to be very expensive in lives and treasure to Russia. So I ask myself, if Russia has to struggle so hard against a 'relatively weak' Ukraine, then PERHAPS the rest of the world can sleep a little more easily. (None of these observations take anything away from the magnificent defence put up by the whole Ukrainian population. And their are contributors on here who understand these things much better than I do, and I would welcome their views.)
I think soldier v soldier , army v army , we would tonk Russia as a whole - our problem is being against one idiot who has control over a lot of nukes .
At the outbreak of WW2 the Stalinist USSR allied itself with Nazi Germany. Later we allied ourselves with the USSR. We should push back against Putin, shouting that the USSR he served had allied itself with Nazis. This all just proves that in wartime we are more concerned with who can help us fight our enemy rather than what our enemies enemy believe or represent. We first supported Yugoslavian chetniks then switched to Tito's communist partizans - not for any political reason but simply because the chetniks had stopped fighting due to the German reprisals against innocent civilians was so severe it outweighed anything achieved in the initial attack. We didn't care about the politics of Mihailović or Tito. We didn't care about the Yugoslavian people. We just cared about getting someone to fight against our enemy. When you live with a neighbour as big and as evil as Russia then you accept whatever help you can get. That is what Ukraine has to do and I don't blame them for it. Andriy Biletsky has only ever represented a very small section of Ukrainian society. He did gain a seat in their parliament but was voted out at the next election. Whatever the politics, Azov is currently a vital military asset. I'm sure the Ukrainians can deal with their internal politics once they have a lasting peace.
The Army of GB, is probably a match for, or superior to any other on the Planet. That is on a one to one basis. But the numbers of our Defenders has been reduced massively, over the years. Currently I believe that The Army has around 70 thousand personel. (it's not easy to get an accurate figure for obvious reasons).Russia has around 900,000 and USA a similar number.
i thought he was Russian through and through until i heard him speak today, left a cushy life in Germany to put himself up for his country, now that's balls of steel
It isn't just the low numbers in our army, it is the fact that key parts of our armed forces now rely on reservists to function for any realistic campaign duration.
unfotunately, I think things are turning against Ukraine in recent days. Zelensky now talking about a possible referendum on giving up the disputed territories, Mariupol about to fall (and then Odessa quite soon after I fear) once that coastline goes I think its game over for Ukraine, and Zelenskyy will be forced to surrender to stop the bloodshed. God knows what happens after that, I just hope Putin gets targetted by either his own people or another means.
Very interesting, I was, being the boring geek that I am, nosing around the Ukrainian borders on Flightradar24. I spotted this US Army Blackhawk helicopter flying around and low and behold it isn't sticking to its flight plan and it switches off its transponder once it gets to within 7 miles of the Ukrainian border. Hmm....
For the first time I've spotted a US 'Rivet Joint' (ELINT sniffer) operating in that area - flown out of Mildenhall in East Anglia. That Blackhawk still hasn't reappeared yet either.
Winston Churchill was a different coloured passport away from being a nazi given his often spoke views on Aryan superiority over indigenous peoples of several continents. He goes down in history as a war hero. Sometimes bad men are in the right place at the right time to keep the wolf from the door.
I think there's a rabbit off here somewhere, the US Rivet Joint is being joined by an RAF Rivet Joint flown out of Waddington. Not only that though, there is a US Orion out of Crete that has been flying up and down the Romania-Maldova border (much closer than I've seen before, and it has not long shifted down to the Danube delta where Romania borders Ukraine and it was joined by a US Army Blackhawk that seems to be riding shotgun
Just making sure those Russian scamp's are not being naughty on the borders of the EU/NATO. I am sure they will playing nicely though, it's not at all like the Russians to make their own rules up to suit whatever agenda they have.