Robert Morse 1931-2022

Interesting thread on Ukraine air power.

Worth a read. Not too long.

https://twitter.com/edwardstrngr/status/1517212412184698880

I guess you file this in the 'Well that's really interesting' category.

NPRs Tim Mak: the Dogs and Cats of war.

What will happen when Putin declares victory on May 9?

Will the West allow him to keep his territorial gains? Will it just get tired of helping Ukraine?
From today's Guardian:


Thu 21 Apr 2022 09.41 EDT
As Russia builds up its offensive operations in the east of Ukraine, many in the west have suggested that Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces to deliver success in Mariupol in time for Russia’s Victory Day, on 9 May. That’s an assessment based largely on circumstantial evidence and the cult status of Victory Day itself – but it’s not one that’s supported by what Russia is telling its own population, where domestic propaganda channels are no longer making promises of a swift end to the conflict.

Nevertheless, Putin is free to declare victory by whatever artificial deadline he chooses. Russia has already reinvented what its war was supposed to achieve, and can do so again if necessary. Moscow can say it has achieved its aims regardless of the facts on the ground and call an end to its “special operation” at will. This would present Ukraine with another harsh dilemma – the need to fight on while Russia appears to be offering peace, risking the erosion of support from western backers who would prefer an end to the fighting even if, in the long term, it could mean the end of Ukraine.

A unilaterally declared end to the war by Russia will cause Ukraine’s western partners to push Kyiv to follow suit, which Volodymyr Zelenskiy may be unable to resist. Those partners will also slacken their material support for continuing operations if he is seen to be continuing the war “unnecessarily”. With or without a 9 May deadline, there are good reasons for Russia to seek a temporary end to the fighting, not least to allow its battered forces to regroup. A declaration of victory would provide the “off-ramp” for Russia that would actually be useful to Moscow, unlike many of the options presented at the beginning of the year by western leaders who were trying to avoid conflict in the first place.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/21/putin-war-victory-russia-ukraine

Does the tiny table mean Putin's time is short?

''War against Europe and the World"

NPRs Tim Mak: The Dogs and Cats of War.

NPRs Tim Mak: the dogs of war.

Maybe Ukraine finally got planes.