Of course I’m aware of that, believe me, I’ve a lot of stomach pains since yesterday. And of course it is hotly debated and criticized. But, it was probably long overdue and this decision was certainly not taken lightly. But it is also the sad truth, that the world as it was until recently, has suddenly become completely different. This requires presumably a rethink from all of us.
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Oh yes. As you said, the other truth is we all knew the Bundeswehr is a total disaster, up to the point of asking ourselves why even have one. Putin has really sped up that discussion…
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Just reading the piece from the mail, apparently Ukraine requested he takes part, if he can help Ukraine and use any influence to stop this madness then it has to be worth a try.
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Didn’t know where else to post this…
Please delete if it has been posted before. 
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It looked like a dressing down to certain members, regardless of what people think, there are quite a few as powerful people as Putin within the wider political calculus.
That absurdly long table again, it will probably go down in history.
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Makes me think of Austin Powers and that the button Putin has at the edge of the table drops them down into the sharks with laser beams. Could be true with their faces. Just smile and nod…smile and nod…
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I’m always wondering how regular Russians view that. I know it’s supposed to project some kind of power move and it’s probably working, but it’s just so comical in its exaggerated dimensions.
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The photo with the two Russian generals sitting right next to each other way the hell down at the other end of the room with the cameras trained on their faces is frankly unsettling. Part power move, perhaps, but it creates the impression of something else too.
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I am really struggling to understand how Macron got hoodwinked by Putin. I mean even a Sargeant in the Gendarme could tell him you don’t amass mega forces on the border of a country you have a dispute with just for a spot of camping and smoke some pot!
Noway can I accept that the french army and secret services hadn’t cottonned on to what was going on. France being France means that those advising Macron and Macron himself would have a lot of salt rubbed into their wounds. So much so I’m surprised no heads have rolled (or at least we haven’t heard anything yet, have we?
This was a massive miscalculation from Macron and just because Putin looked him in the eye from a far and made useless promises. What a dipstick!
I can not speak for Germany except to ask what went wrong there?
Was that also a political decission like in France ignoring reality?
Anyway could make for an interesting debate at some point.
Perhaps it was a good thing these 2 countries felt humiliated certainly got the reaction required eventually even if too late, as they say better late than never!
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That really runs to the comments I made earlier, about this being the fruit of the poison tree of Iraqi intel. The vast majority of raw intel the Western allies use is American produced. The rest of the allies really don’t invest a great deal in the way of intel gathering resources. Their intelligence services use their comparatively tiny budgets primarily on analysis, and are accustomed to looking at American photos, then parsing out all the ‘2 + 2 = 5’ conclusions the Americans have bolted on to that (or, in the yellowcake situation, 2 + 2 = 40). So Macron was probably reading some meta-analysis saying the Russians didn’t have the logistical train necessary for an invasion of this size - which it turns out, they don’t seem to have, and it is causing them real problems.
What the Russians have done is so far out of the frame of expectations that it has caught the entire world offguard. Not just France and Germany, even US intel had internal skepticism, and it seems fairly clear the Chinese thought Putin was bluffing.
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Graphic. RU tactics have changed the last 2 days:
I don’t have time to research this properly.
The aircrafts are from 1991 or thereabouts.
4, No, but these aircrafts are being phased out for F-16 and orders have been placed.
5. Chaotic. Airfields in the west ae bombed but operational.Elsewhere i cant’ say.
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