A Promising New Tactic Against the Fearful

George Rebane

Russia’s new tactic is the use of long-range missiles, many of which can be fired from Russia proper, to overcome the demonstrated ineptness of its land units and manned aircraft over Ukrainian air space.  Putin needs to reorganize his conventional forces because they most certainly have not performed as previously advertised to the Kremlin.  So the approach in the interval is to bombard the crap out of Ukrainian cities with missiles that are hard to intercept, and hope that President Zelensky will call for a favorable cease fire in order to stop the wholesale slaughter of the country’s civilian population. (more here)

With modern precision-guided missiles, this tactic is a movable feast for thugs like Putin whose saber-rattling has caused a comprehensive cowering by western leaders in the name of not willing to risk WW3 by striking Russia with any of several available and effective military responses.  He and Xi can use this approach from their own landmass to their heart’s content in future territorial conquests.  As long as western leaders continue to promise that they will not respond in any way that would (heaven forbid) irritate the international gangsters, they can assemble their land forces at the border and then proceed to slaughter the target country’s civilian population from afar.

As we now know, this will do the trick against any fearful opponent who openly declares from the gitgo that they’ll do nothing “reckless” to rile the attacker.  I challenge anyone to come up with a reason why such a tactic will not be used repeatedly until the west says ‘Enough!’ and demonstrates that we too are willing to return to MAD and risk WW3 to protect our interests.  Without the will to use force, non-military sanctions will not work to stay the hand of a tyrant; the planet is already too interconnected commercially and financially so that surgical sanctions have little effect, and the more comprehensive sanctions spill over and also hurt us and our allies.

In desperation, today we have learned to redefine our interests in favor of international criminals like those who run Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, … .  We learned long ago that the ONLY way to defend, let alone expand, liberal governance on this planet is to always be ready to go to the mat with the world’s tyrants, and appear willing to do that sooner than later with the big thugs.  This principle applies at all scales when we look at what our cities have become as we constrained law enforcement and started nurturing criminals.

Comments

[Gregory]

Since when is Ukraine "the West"?

We should do what we're doing. Ammo, not a ride out of town. Or USAF air support overflying Ukraine and shooting at Russians doing the same.

[scenes]

"Or USAF air support overflying Ukraine and shooting at Russians doing the same."

Heck, go for the gusto. Send in Slim Pickens. What could go wrong?

re: George's post.

That's not a 'Russian' tactic, it's the tactic of any modern armed forces who (a) has the money and (b) has a low tolerance for casualties.

You know, I wonder if I could find a spreadsheet showing US use of missiles of some sort over the last 25 years.

[Bill Tozer]

Hey. Some outgrew up having the nuke drills in school. Cover your head and get under the desk. I remember my mom telling me no matter what happens, “stay at the school and I will come get you. Stay at the school so I know where you are if something bad happens.” Reckon the Cubans or Russians were ready to launch that day. Did wonder why they would fire a nuke at our little hamlet.

So, it’s always in the back of our minds. Get under the desk and kiss you ass goodbye was an insensitive line tossed about for years.

It’s been drilled in our heads. Barry Goldwater, bad man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cwqHB6QeUw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAn6w2CNII0

[George Rebane]

Greg 551pm - where did I say that Ukraine was the west?

scenes 640pm - didn't mean to imply that the Russians invented rubblelizing cities without coordinated infantry assaults; only that the Russians have now reverted to such a siege tactic due to their bad luck conducting ground maneuvers and suffering heavy losses when used in this campaign.

[Don Bessee]

I was very interested in the pentagon report that said there is no intelligence of any kind no intercepts, cell phone calls or anything that shows an overall military leader in the fight. In fact they have observed the 4 separate columns are autonomous and stealing supplies from each other the situation is so dire.

Then you have provincial governors along the Ukraine boarder asking for donations of med supplies, potted meat and warm clothing for the solders.

Then you have the russian tweet that acknowledged 10k russian deaths and 16k wounded which would explain why they are scrounging for mercs and sending cadets from the military academies.

Its going to get way worse before it gets better.....

;-)

[scenes]

GeorgeR@8:22PM

While the Russian strikes are nowhere near some of the strategic bombing by the US in WWII, I really can't tell what the situation is on the ground in Mariupol from my EZ chair. The Russians don't appear to keep pet journalists in their columns to entertain the folks at home.

It could well be that some planner in Moscow is shaking up places like that to clear out the civilians, you then closely check the refugees for suspicious tattoos that your arch-enemies have. Dunno.

I expect Mariupol will shake out something like Fallujah II. An ugly situation overall. The Marines evidently used white phosphorous and thermobarics. Good things when your side uses them, bad things when they use them. It's kind of a bummer that there was so much foreign adventurism in the post-Vietnam and post-Soviet era by the United States, it sort of deflates the righteous indignation.

Until the US .gov appears to make a solid effort to get both sides to calm down rather than simply throwing fuel into the fire, I'm just going to have to hold my head in woe. Informed opinions are rare on the ground though so I'll just keep an eye on the Drudge Report for the latest missives from Minitrue.

[George Rebane]

scenes 732am - My easy chair provides no better perspective on Mariupol.

BTW, don't think our Marines used white phosphorous (the 'Willie Peter' of WW2) in Fallujah. WP was last used by us in Korea, and it was already outlawed internationally when I was on active duty, although we still inventoried WP in Europe in case the USSR started using it first. WP is a terrible chemical weapon, it burns most ferociously when in contact with water (used a lot in undersea operations) and also with the water vapor in air. When WP lands on exposed skin it flares and instantly starts burning deep into the flesh. The correct response was to immediately use a knife to cut out the WP and the burning flesh. I didn't know the Russians had reverted to using WP, and have yet to see its characteristic snow-white burst in news videos of artillery shellings.

[scenes]

WP:

"US admits using white phosphorus in Falluja"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/16/iraq.usa

"Pentagon and military officials told CNN that white phosphorus was used in Falluja as a smoke screen to hide advancing U.S. troops as well as to target insurgents in trenches and "spider holes."

In an article in the March-April issue of Field Artillery magazine, soldiers said the white phosphorus was used to flush out insurgents so U.S. forces could target them with high explosives."
https://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/17/white.phosphorous/index.html

Russia:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1580240/russia-ukraine-banned-white-phosphorus-bombs-invasion-war-chemical-weapons

Naturally, all the news is from the official Ukrainian Ministry of Defense guy.

Everything is true. Nothing is true.

[George Rebane]

scenes 742pm - If it's true, I had no idea of such use in Iraq. Thanks.

[scenes]

GeorgeR@8:54

The 'rules' of war are a confusion to me in any case.

I don't know what the public relations plan will be for the inevitable autonomous tracked vehicles with chainsaw arms and NVidia Inside®.

They can be commanded by Grand Admiral Levine from an underground bunker while having his nails done.

[scenes]

Here's one worth checking out fairly regularly.

https://t.me/medvedev_telegram (whack on 'preview channel').

The Party Line is always worth keeping an eye on. There might not be a lot of air between what they say and what they think.

[scenes]

Is this the new Russia thread?

One more step in the dismemberment of current international payment systems.

https://www.rt.com/business/552546-putin-wants-rubles-russian-gas/

[scenes]

lol. This should go over well. Duck 'n cover.

https://www.msn.com/pl-pl/wiadomosci/polska/gen-skrzypczak-obw%C3%B3d-kaliningradzki-jest-okupowany-warto-si%C4%99-o-niego-upomnie%C4%87/ar-AAVuuZB

I'll go ahead and google translate it (those crazy Poles, it's like they have a different word for everything!)

"Gen. Skrzypczak: The Kaliningrad District is occupied. It is worth asking for it

Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak said that the Kaliningrad Oblast was under Russian occupation and that Poland should "stand up for it".

The shocking words were uttered in the program of "Super Express". The military officer first stated that the Kaliningrad Oblast was an area "under Russian occupation since 1945". Then he emphasized that this territory was never Russian, and historically belonged to Prussia and Poland.

- Now it would be worth asking for them, as it used to be for the Regained Territories - he said. - It might be worth asking for this Kaliningrad District, which, in my opinion, is part of the territory of Poland. We have the right to have a grudge against the area that Russia is occupying, said the military officer. "

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Bummer that US media is such a shit show. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there.