Thanks, I will. And I’ll be correct too.
They were always part of Ukraine.
They really should. Declare a “People’s Republic of Belgorod” and the like.
And St. Petersburg would be a much better city if it was in Finland.
Ehhhhhhhhh, again thats factually incorrect
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Ok, since 1991.
It’s factually incorrect in the same way that it’s factually incorrect to say any piece of land in Russia now was always part of Russia.
Serious escalation in fairness when nuclear weapons are being mentioned.
I wonder was Putin referring to Liz Truss regarding the nuclear blackmail comment?
Putin openly threatens first strike nuclear war and has been doing so since February. Nobody in the west is doing so.
Da fuq 
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Crowds gathering in Moscow and other Russian cities tonight protesting, shades of 1989 in the former Soviet satellite states, hopefully Vlad will face a similar outcome to Ceaucescu
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Russia will devour itself eventually, the sanctions are about the best thing the EU has ever done.
Hopefully Russia will retreat from the Ukraine if Putin can be ousted. This will lead to civil war and countless other wars in the region, all the places kept in check by Russian control or Russian allegiance with their enemies will kick off when Russia collapses.
It’s going to be messy as fuck in the short term
This is the moment that the lads in the FCA and the Naval Reserve dreaded above all else. The day when you got called up to fight in an actual battle and it wasn’t about marching around a square, learning to tie a knot and cheap large bottles any more.
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We could get the call soon enough comrade.
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That’s Willum Street in Limerick
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Sounds like your lads might still have done a better job than the Russians
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Mark Hertling
(https://twitter.com/MarkHertling/status/1572571676524838915)
5h • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Putin’s announced mobilization of 300,000 “reservists” was jaw-dropping to me this morning, but not for the reason some might suspect.
Why? Because know how Russian soldiers are trained, in basic training & in their units.
A brief 
on some fun facts. 1/
While I commanded US Army Europe before retiring, before that I commanded all basic & advanced soldier training for the Army (2009-11).
During that period,≈150,000 new soldiers/year at (then) 5 basic training sites & 21 advanced training locations, received training.2/
Most new US soldiers get 10 weeks of basic training (some get more at one-station unit training (OSUT) sites, like infantry, artillery, MPs). Those that don’t go to OSUT travel off to different length courses for advanced training in a “specialty” (logistics, intel, etc). 3/
It’s a long period of time, trained by very professional drill sergeants. There is an extremely high resource overhead to all this.
Soldiers report to their units ready to be integrated in the specific mission.
Remember, the US population is 344 million & we train≈150k. 4/
Russia, on the other hand, has a population of 144 million citizens, spread over 11 time zones.
Theirs is a conscript force w/ 1 basic training site, (Labinsk in S. Russia). Some RU get advanced specialty training, but most RU soldiers get most training in their 1st unit. 5/
Russian soldiers got just a few days of basic training before being sent to Belarus starting last November (pre-invasion). themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/20/rus… 6/
Russia Sends Army Recruits to Fight in Ukraine After Just Days of Training - The Moscow Times“There was a soldier in our company who didn’t know how a machine gun works," said one recruit sent to the front after five days training.https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/20/russia-sends-army-recruits-to-fight-in-ukraine-after-just-days-of-training-a78314
During 2 visits to RU, I saw basic & unit training. It was awful. Familiarization versus qualification on rifles, rudimentary first aid, very few simulations to conserve resources, and…most importantly…horrible leadership by “drill sergeants.” 7/
More Than a Decade After Military Reform, Hazing Still Plagues the Russian Army - The Moscow TimesMany believe bullying is a rite of passage for a “real man.”https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/02/17/decade-after-military-reform-hazing-plagues-russian-army-a69309
Officers admitted to me that theirs was a “one year” force, with some - the poorest - volunteering or being elected for leadership roles. 8/
Remember, RU soldiers get almost ALL training in units vs at basic.
How units are resourced play a big part.
One tank unit i visited near Moscow proudly told me they get 1 tank round/crew each year (US units spend hours in simulators & crews fire dozens of real rounds/year). 9/
BTW, Ukraine’s army has taken the US model to heart after receiving training from US personnel in both individual and unit training techniques since 2014.
The establishment of JMTG-U by US Army, Europe was instrumental in that. Heres a link to that. 10/
https://www.eucom.mil/topic/jmtg-u
But I digress…
The issue is the Russian army is poorly led & poorly trained. That starts in basic training, and doesn’t get better during the RU soldier’s time in uniform.
Mobilizing 300k “reservists” (after failing with depleted conventional forces, rag-tag militias…11/
…recruiting prisoners & using paramilitaries like the Wagner group) will be extremely difficult.
And placing “newbies” on a front line that has been mauled, has low morale & who don’t want to be portends more RU disaster.
Jaw-dropping. A new sign of RU weakness 12/12
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For which side?