CDR S is typically--and rightfully-- circumspect in attributing credibility and reliability to state officials (of any stripe), but he sure seems to give broad credence to Ukrainian ones here. Perhaps a bit of caution is warranted, especially given the rank propaganda, if not outright BS, that abounds in that part of the world (as well as closer to home, sadly).
If "joining the West" was the goal, and I think you have to importantly ask whose goal (but that's another question), then they certainly did it the wrong way. Or they really didn't plan it out and think what would Russia do? Or in their hubris they didn't care. All three seems to be the case to me. At this point Russia goes to nukes before Ukraine joins NATO. Whose vital interest is it anyway? Sad that it got to this point. A neutral Ukraine could have benefited greatly by being a gateway for both sides. Instead, the Atlantic Council and the Victor Nulands of the DSC got their way-- and how is that working out for you? Their ilk keep urging to go "All in" with the chips. It's going to be like that scene from Hunt for Red October. "You arrogant bastard, you killed us all."
Multiple billions of US cash and arms with no accounting as to where it is and what it it is being used for seems like #2 priority is slipping in importance.
I saw Vietnam start while in Elementary school and ended up there by 19, it started like Ukraine did, border war left over from WW2, first aid, money, weapons, ammo then somehow a Torpedo boat attack which triggered JFK (D) to start US boots on the ground, then the draft of High school graduates and straight to Nam.
After that the Boxes of body bags started streaming in, along with the sick, maimed, blinded Veterans.
All who got crapped on by those who didn't go.
And we shall see this in Ukraine, any time now, a sudden torpedo boat will blow up a Nuke plant and put down your books and pick up a gun ,here we go again.
Ukraine is NOT a US Problem, let those cousins decide their war without us.
perhaps the example was already set by one General Marshall when he cleaned house prior to WWII, cause right now it sure seems if anyone has confidence in the General/Admiral crews and their civvie counterparts over the services right now, well god bless them, cause this is one big corporate set of who leads the most straight line path and stays connected to the voted weasels gets the highest rungs of the ladder. Challenge it in anyway and well, there is a job awaiting the bright ones in the defense industry as a bright spot. The bright person out there that fixes it can even use the very big abused phrase "divest to invest" to get these bright minds in place now.
This makes me wonder, if the reason US Navy transformation efforts were such a miserable failure was because the leftover Cold War leaders were running things, Now with the Cold War well in our wake we see the USMC transforming, creating change, with notible success.
It's a task, quite an undertaking, to maintain factory production while under repeated assault. Still, in his book "Inside the Third Reich" Albert Speer described how he was able to keep factory production up, even under the heavy Allied bombing. Even though the aerial photography showed devastating direct hits, getting production back up to 85% was often only a matter of a couple weeks. What Speer wrote wasn't just him blowing a lot of smoke. The US Strategic Bombing Survey had come to the same conclusions.
I wonder is any retired UKR FOGOs are involved in their defense industry?
Perhaps if we fired all the FOGOs involved in ours and replaced them with kids in their thirties we might not do any worse. Ditto for the 535 idjits in Congress.
"his nation is in the middle of an existential fight"
"existential"?
Well, you know how disagreeable I am. Perhaps you can show me some evidence of Russia's goal to eliminate Ukraine, as opposed to a limited goal of taking territory it considers to be Russian.
Perhaps President Zelensky can set an example by donating all the money he has in Swiss banks and European real estate to Ukraine.
CDR S is typically--and rightfully-- circumspect in attributing credibility and reliability to state officials (of any stripe), but he sure seems to give broad credence to Ukrainian ones here. Perhaps a bit of caution is warranted, especially given the rank propaganda, if not outright BS, that abounds in that part of the world (as well as closer to home, sadly).
I hope, for their sake, that it works.
If "joining the West" was the goal, and I think you have to importantly ask whose goal (but that's another question), then they certainly did it the wrong way. Or they really didn't plan it out and think what would Russia do? Or in their hubris they didn't care. All three seems to be the case to me. At this point Russia goes to nukes before Ukraine joins NATO. Whose vital interest is it anyway? Sad that it got to this point. A neutral Ukraine could have benefited greatly by being a gateway for both sides. Instead, the Atlantic Council and the Victor Nulands of the DSC got their way-- and how is that working out for you? Their ilk keep urging to go "All in" with the chips. It's going to be like that scene from Hunt for Red October. "You arrogant bastard, you killed us all."
Multiple billions of US cash and arms with no accounting as to where it is and what it it is being used for seems like #2 priority is slipping in importance.
The U.S. needs to implement this in our "higher, higher" within the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I saw Vietnam start while in Elementary school and ended up there by 19, it started like Ukraine did, border war left over from WW2, first aid, money, weapons, ammo then somehow a Torpedo boat attack which triggered JFK (D) to start US boots on the ground, then the draft of High school graduates and straight to Nam.
After that the Boxes of body bags started streaming in, along with the sick, maimed, blinded Veterans.
All who got crapped on by those who didn't go.
And we shall see this in Ukraine, any time now, a sudden torpedo boat will blow up a Nuke plant and put down your books and pick up a gun ,here we go again.
Ukraine is NOT a US Problem, let those cousins decide their war without us.
perhaps the example was already set by one General Marshall when he cleaned house prior to WWII, cause right now it sure seems if anyone has confidence in the General/Admiral crews and their civvie counterparts over the services right now, well god bless them, cause this is one big corporate set of who leads the most straight line path and stays connected to the voted weasels gets the highest rungs of the ladder. Challenge it in anyway and well, there is a job awaiting the bright ones in the defense industry as a bright spot. The bright person out there that fixes it can even use the very big abused phrase "divest to invest" to get these bright minds in place now.
People in their thirties today are not Gen X but Millennials. Generally, demographers consider those born between 1965 and 1980 as Gen X.
This makes me wonder, if the reason US Navy transformation efforts were such a miserable failure was because the leftover Cold War leaders were running things, Now with the Cold War well in our wake we see the USMC transforming, creating change, with notible success.
It's a task, quite an undertaking, to maintain factory production while under repeated assault. Still, in his book "Inside the Third Reich" Albert Speer described how he was able to keep factory production up, even under the heavy Allied bombing. Even though the aerial photography showed devastating direct hits, getting production back up to 85% was often only a matter of a couple weeks. What Speer wrote wasn't just him blowing a lot of smoke. The US Strategic Bombing Survey had come to the same conclusions.
Perhaps we could borrow a few of these people to get our factories producing armaments at somewhere near the levels we need.
I wonder is any retired UKR FOGOs are involved in their defense industry?
Perhaps if we fired all the FOGOs involved in ours and replaced them with kids in their thirties we might not do any worse. Ditto for the 535 idjits in Congress.
"his nation is in the middle of an existential fight"
"existential"?
Well, you know how disagreeable I am. Perhaps you can show me some evidence of Russia's goal to eliminate Ukraine, as opposed to a limited goal of taking territory it considers to be Russian.
"Young men deeds, middle-aged men plans, old men farts".
Another interesting note on Oleksandr Kamyshin…he previously ran UKR Rail, achieving a 90+% on-time rate.