Just shows to me how much some eu countries free ride off the military of the US as well .
This war is more important to the eu , and they’re still spending less than the US
more important to all European nations, including the UK.Just shows to me how much some eu countries free ride off the military of the US as well .
This war is more important to the eu , and they’re still spending less than the US
more important to all European nations, including the UK.
On the blue bit Germany is spending more than the UK (obviously they have more money).
Imagine if there was a US President who challenged the 'free ride', including the size of the blue bits. Aren't the US currently providing 85%+ of the military support?
There was , it was trump
European countries need to get off their arses and start increasing military spending . I don’t blame Americans at all for being ***ed off with it . As far as I’m aware , the US spends 5% of its gdp on its military . There are quite a few in nato who don’t even hit the 2% needed for nato standards.
Even more galling is the US is europes security blanket and macron proceeds to stick two fingers up at them when in China
Russia is forever the enemy of the USA, that is why they are spending so much. It is in their interests to weaken Russia. Why should the EU do that for them?
Or as a % of GDP the 3 Baltic states of Lithuania/Latvia & Estonia have donated the most with each donating over 1% of GDP almost a 3x bigger proportion than the US. The next 6 biggest donors on this basis are also EU members with Norway also donating a bigger proportion than the US.Just shows to me how much some eu countries free ride off the military of the US as well .
This war is more important to the eu , and they’re still spending less than the US
Based on his last post is matey boy an adviser or participant in the military action?Just been talking with matey boy He says that, if the line is properly breached at Verbove, the UAF will chuck the kitchen sink at it to grab as much as possible as quickly as possible. The coast is already in Himars range now.
Russia is nowhere near as relevant as it was before 1991. It’s not a superpower anymore as it no longer is as big an empire .
The enemy for the US is China . Russia is nothing but a mere vassal state to China now
I'd imagine it's about sphere of influence as much as anything economic. And those spheres are largely about military capability.Economically yes, I agree, but them yanks do have an obsession with Russia. It’s engrained in them. Might be the Cold War and all them nukes that they still have!?!
Based on his last post is matey boy an adviser or participant in the military action?
I hope he gets some sleep soon.Had to redact a big chunk, but it was personal stuff. Anyway, people wanted action and advance.... it is happening.
"The Big Offensive
It has obviously begun.
The two current big vectors are at Slavomlynivka Eastwards and at Robotyne Eastwards.
As we flew in towards the Slavomlynivka HQ (it is not there) I saw a sea of men, armour, logistics and the diesel fumes lay thick over the land.
Once more, Scale.
I have never seen a full Division, today I saw two of them next to each other.
The brand new Brigadier (Tank Girl) are lording it over the 31st, 35th and 36th Mechanised, plus an artillery Brigade, plus a drone Brigade. Add to that a logistics Brigade, and a motor depot Brigade and you have a rather souped up Brigade.
Behind that one was a motorised infantry Division ready to follow after to secure the land.
That is an Army Group.
Currently all 3 mech Brigades are pounding the living bejeezus out of the Russians, and I can confirm that they have broken through the Surovikin Line.
They are currently widening the breach as fast as is humanly possible, while at the same time attacking more places along the line.
I expect them to need 2 to 7 days before they go full throttle to swim in the Azov Sea.
Over at Robotyne there are two mechanized Brigades, 1 artillery Brigade and an Infantry Brigade, plus a drone Battalion, and assorted support and logitistics units.
They are also breaching now the Suroviking Line and widening it.
Over at Kakhovka My new Second favourite Colonel is up against the Surovikin Line pounding it for all he is wort, so he kept his promise.
He is also widening the stretch infront of the line, a good manouver since he has not yet breached.
I promised him a bottle of very good Armenian Cognac for when is through and coming my way.
He has gotten another Brigade and 2 battalions worth of Artillery.
Over at Vuhledar you also have an Army Group, but they are for now sitting idle, except for shelling Mariupol.
Landbridge
The Landbridge is now under comfortable artillery control by the Ukrainians.
Both GLSDBs and GMLRS rockets can hit targets all the way to Mariupol and Berdyansk from two separate directions.
Something that Ukraine is taking liberal advantage of.
Conclusion
I have almost not slept for 36 hours and I am sitting outside in the dark before going in to the nightshift.
So, brief...
Even though I knew what Ukraine had in store, and how deep their reserves truly are, it was with a sigh of relief I saw with my own eyes the big offensive on the move.
We are though still weeks from them being at the coast.
They could probably do it in two, but they are very conscious about saving lives of their soldiers.
If they run out of them there is not much they can do.
One million soldiers might sound like a lot, but if you squander them like the Russians it is only enough for a year of warfare.
And Ukraine must use that Million again and again...
If they continue like this it is amply enough, regardless of how many the Russians mobify.
I knew roughly when the big one would start, but there are always things that are floating in the air, and you also depend on your enemy for these things.
But, on the whole I still hold to my late August/ early September for pictures of happily Swiming Ukrainians.
After that Southern Kherson will fall rapidly.
I still hold that Ukraine will dump the Bridge once and for all, and sit down to eat Borstj and bombard the land approaches to Crimea over the winter season.
I do though guess that Zaluzhnyy (note ... part of redacted was about meeting Zaluzhnyy) will do a bonus round just since he is a sly fox.
Note, he did not tell me about any other plans.
My guess is that he intended to go to Luhansk, but have scrapped that due to all the reinforcements of Russians there.
Instead I do think he is considering taking Soledar/Bakhmut, and then pound his way all the way down to Donetsk to put it under siege during the winter.
That Army Group over at Vuhledar is sort of giving it away.
There is also some sort of fuckery going on again up in Bilhorod, but nothing has been released yet, but the Russians are complaining about being bombarded, and they are once more evacuating people.
Unless Russia prollapses it will take Ukraine roughly to September next year to clear out the last Russian.
Obviously Russia could speed things up by Goodwilling, and I think they will do that very soon.
Or, they could give up and go home.
Of these 3 alternatives I rank them like this:
1. Goodwill of Zhaporizhzhia and Kherson.
2. Prollapse of Russia. (coup or breakup)
3. Russia gives up and goes home. I seriously believe they will continue for years even after getting kicked out, but that would sort of be a continuation war.
On a continuation war there are two distinct factions in the West.
Eastern and Northern Europe together with Germany and Spain are all for Ukraine doing a continuation war if needed.
The US and France are against, with Italy as neutral on this.
Basically the EU sans France are not keen on investing gigantic sums of money into rebuilding Ukraine into a shining pillar of European Expansion if the newly built things are blown up by random Russian crappy missiles, and are thusly very keen on having it solved once and for all.
The US and France are quite fine with Russia squandering resources indefinitely.
Distance does make for a difference in the logics on this.
This is not a criticism of the US.
Not at all, their reasoning is that as long as Russia is squandering its small resources they are not able to rearm and reequip and come for a second round as Germany did in WWII.
The EU weighs other equally cold details in our equation, like refugees, food safety for the EU... etcetera.
There is also the not so small part that with Ukraine inside the EU we are truly a superpower in all senses of the word.
Being a superpower is a cold business indeed.
Oh look, I did ramble in the end.
I will try to not ramble in the future.
We will see!"
Important update to this, Ukraine has arrived at the 3rd Surovikin line. There is nothing between there and Berdyansk but fields.
thanks for that. I found that a very interesting read and has given me a urge to delve deeper into this and the history of it.I've been reading a lot about Russian history recently in a bid to try to understand how they got to where they are. I'm not about to post my thoughts on it all but it is worth doing a little reading. Particularly the British (perfidious Albion) have a historical niche in the Psyche of the Russian leaders. Not just the Crimea War and our part in supporting the Whites in 1919/20 but also throughout the 19th Century there were two great global empires Britain and Russia and there were points of friction throughout the borders of Russia as Britain contrived to limit the Russian sphere of influence and this (I think) contributes to their feeling of being surrounded. As a maritime empire we were quite capable of doing this and limited their access to the oceans and therefore trade. They still seem to have a belief that we control American thinking and have undue influence in Washington. They blame us for a lot. Which to me is odd, they overstate our importance and influence. This generally does not extend into the general population which just want to get on with their lives preferably without being conscripted as meat for the Russian war machine.
What I believe we are seeing, and I've heard this from a few commentators and historians is the break up of an Empire. Not the USSR but the Russian Empire. Communism and the creation of the USSR delayed the break up. Then WW2 shored up the Soviets with massive material aid and then the acquisition of German technology with the conquest of Eastern Europe. With the end of the USSR what remained (with Eastern Europe now free from the Soviet boot) was the remnants of the Russian Empire first as the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) now calling itself the "Russian Federation". The problem is that Russia still treats the other members of the Federation as vassal states. Wealth is largely concentrated in Russia and specifically in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Native Russians are less likely to be conscripted.
In short I think after this war ends we will see a diminished Russia trying to hold on to what remains of its sphere of influence with a succession of dirty little wars.