Best two posts from nightshift

Scene: anon asks on the board for suggestions for best movies to watch yesterday (I guess anon doesnt check reviews on the one he chose to watch)

Anons post, brilliant anons response

17 Jul, 2022 13:16

Ukraine threatened with ‘crushing blow’

Kiev will pay a heavy price if it decides to strike Crimea, a Russian MP warns

Russia’s response to a threatened Ukrainian attack on Crimean targets will be so harsh that the Kiev authorities will never be able to recover from it, Mikhail Sheremet, who represents the region in the Russian parliament, has warned.

Commenting on continued suggestions by Ukrainian officials that Kiev forces may hit targets on the Crimean Peninsula or the Crimean Bridge, Sheremet stressed that such a move would be followed by “a crushing blow to decision-making centers in Kiev, military infrastructure and arms-supply logistics channels.”

“The Kiev regime will receive such a rebuff that it will no longer be able to recover,” the MP told RIA-Novosti on Sunday.

The warning follows Saturday’s statement by Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Vadim Skibitskiy, who claimed that Crimea could be targeted by US-supplied М142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS multiple launch rocket systems.

The peninsula is a legitimate target for Ukrainian forces due to becoming a Russian military transport hub amid the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, the spokesman said. Russia’s “Kalibr systems, frigates, small missile ships, submarines” in Crimea also “must be hit” as they endanger Ukraine’s security, according to Skibitskiy.

Sheremet insisted also that “the US, which supplies lethal weapons to Ukraine, will also bear responsibility for the provocation towards Crimea.”

“Russia won’t play nice with its enemies if the US decides to join their ranks. We have the opportunity to put in place the American authorities, who have crossed all red lines,” he added.

Since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine more than four months ago, several high-ranking officials and military commanders in Kiev have claimed that Crimea, which overwhelmingly voted to reunite with Russia in a 2014 referendum after a coup in Ukraine’s capital, could be attacked by the Kiev’s forces.

Earlier this month, Alexey Arestovich, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the Ukrainian military would target the Crimean Bridge as soon as it obtains the capability to carry out such a strike.

American officials had earlier claimed that their Ukrainian counterparts had promised them that US-made arms wouldn’t be used to hit Russian territory as it could escalate the conflict even further.

However, Kiev says it doesn’t view Crimea as part of Russia, considering the peninsula to be Ukrainian territory occupied by Moscow.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559134-ukraine-crimea-us-himars/

17 Jul, 2022 14:42

Ukrainian plane loaded with mines crashes in Greece

The cargo aircraft was carrying Serbian-made munitions to Bangladesh when it crashed, killing everyone on board

A Ukrainian cargo plane loaded with 11.5 tons of Serbian-made munitionscrashed in Kavala in northern Greece en route to Bangladesh on Sunday, Serbian authorities have confirmed.

The Antonov An-12 plane, operated by Ukrainian airline Meridian, had reported engine trouble and requested an emergency landing not long before witnesses say it exploded in a corn field outside the city at around midnight local time.

The plane took off from Nis Airport in Serbia around 8:40pm local time. Greek media confirmed that aviation authorities had lost the aircraft’s signal shortly after the pilot requested to make an emergency landing at Kavala Airport, citing an engine problem.

Meridian General Director Denys Bogdanovych dismissed speculation that the weapons had been destined for either side of the conflict in Ukraine, telling Reuters that “this is not related to Ukraine or Russia.” The cargo was owned by Serbian arms trader Valir, according to Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic. The airline and Serbian officials confirmed all eight members of the crew died in the accident.

A Jordanian source denied earlier rumors that the plane had been headed for that country, explaining to state media that it was merely set to refuel there. Stefanovic added that the plane was also scheduled to stop in Riyadh and Ahmedabad before reaching its final destination in Dhaka.

Those living within a 2km (1.2 mile) radius of the crash site were told to stay inside due to risk from potentially toxic cargo. While search teams and emergency vehicles were deployed to the location, they were not immediately permitted to approach the wreck.

https://www.rt.com/news/559138-ukrainian-plane-crash/

17 Jul, 2022 09:45 By: Scott Ritter

London falling: Britain's military decline exposes NATO's collapse in credibility and capability. NATO’s plan to vastly increase its forward force is wishful thinking, and the UK’s struggle for military relevance is a perfect case in point

The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, recently announced the US-led military bloc’s goal of expanding its so-called ‘“We will transform the NATO Response Force’ from its current strength of 40,000 to a force of more than 300,000 troops. “We will enhance our battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance up to brigade-levels,” he declared

The announcement, at the end of NATO’s annual summit in Madrid, Spain, apparently took several defense officials from the NATO membership by surprise, with one official calling Stoltenberg’s figures “number magic.” Stoltenberg seemed to be working from a concept from NATO headquarters were assumptions, without a coordinated policy among the defense bloc organizations of the 30 nations.

Confusion is the name of the game at NATO these days, with the alliance still reeling from last year’s Afghan debacle and unable to adequately disguise the impotence shown in the face of Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine. The bloc is but a shadow of its former self, a pathetic collection of under-funded military organizations more suited for the parade ground than the battlefield. No military organization more represents this colossal collapse in credibility and capability than the British Army.

Even before the current Ukraine crisis kicked off, theBritish military served more as an object of derisionthan a template of professionalism. As an example, the visit of UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to Zagreb, Croatia in February 2022. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic accused the British of trying to incite Ukraine into a war with Russia, as opposed to trying to address Russia’s concerns over the existing European security framework. When Wallace flew to Zagreb, he was rebuked by Milanovic, who refused to meet with him, noting that he only met with the defense ministers of superpowers, adding that “the UK has left the EU, and this gives it less importance.”

But London keeps putting a brave face on a sorry reality. For example, the offer of written security assurances to Sweden and Finland made by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The pledges were designed to bolster the resolve of the two Nordic nations, but there was no substance to the British offer, because they had nothing in the way of viable military capability to offer either country.

Even as Johnson proffered the proverbial hand of assistance, the UK Ministry of Defense was wrestling with planned force reductions that would see theBritish Army cut from its current “established strength” of 82,000 to 72,500by 2025.

Even these numbers are misleading – the British Army is only capable of generating one fully combat-ready maneuver brigade (3,500 to 4,000 men with all the necessary equipment and support). Given the reality that the UK is already on the hook for a reinforced battalion-sized “battlegroup” in Estonia, it is questionable whether the British could even accomplish this limited task…

Given what we now know about the reality of modern warfare, courtesy of the ongoing Russian operation in Ukraine, the British battlegroup would have a life expectancy on an actual European battlefield of less than a week, along with Estonia 2nd brigade. First,the units lack any sustainability, both in terms of personnel and equipment lossesif subjected to combat, or the basic logistical support necessary to shoot, move, or communicate on the modern battlefield. Artillery is the king of battle, and the British and Estonians are lacking when it comes to generating anywhere near enough tubes to counter the fire support to be generated by any hostile Russian force.

Stoltenberg’s hypothetical 300,000-strong Response Force envisions the existing battlegroups to be expanded to brigade-sized formations, ironically tasking the British to generate more combat power at a time when it is actively seeking to reduce its overall manpower levels. While the British may be able to scrape enough substance, to accomplish this projected reinforcement, there would literally be nothing left to back up Boris Johnson’s bold offer of substantive military assistance to Sweden and Finland,leaving the British prime minister looking more like the captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, issuing directives and acting as if his words had any impact, all while his ship is sinking.

https://www.rt.com/russia/558555-nato-uk-response-force/