Russia and Ukraine

[Anomalocaris]

adapting under fire is a different thing from adapting out of sound, forward and intellectually honest peace time thinking.  

in the past the russian army has repeatedly recovered from the consequences of its own lack of forward, sound and intellectually honest peacetime  thinking by adapting during war, often under appalling circumstances of its own making.

this is relatively little recognized on the west, and then only in the context of recovery from German invasion  of 1941.  But in reality, Russia exhibited this in most of its wars during the last 2 centuries.   The recovery is not always enough to enable Russia to win the war in the end, but the recovery was nonetheless a feature of almost every war the russians engaged in.

in fact, if a russian army went into a new war prepared, then look closer, it is probably not a russian army,

[The Grand Nudger]

I think that's broadly true of every army. They say generals prepare to fight the last war by habit. I guess we'll have to wait a year or two to see russian fail in a new war with tactics that might have stood a chance in ukraine.

[Anomalocaris]

that every army adapts to the reality revealed by actual war is true.   But different army also exhibits different levels of initial preparedness both relative to its pre-war perceptions, as well as to early realities of war.   In general Russia has seldom if ever entered a war without being less prepared than it had believed itself to be compared to powers, and less prepared than those other powers.

it appears the normal peacetime state of the russian army is having thought less far ahead, having analyses probable nature of the next war with less intellectual rigor, and more fatalism in reliance on the capacity and willingness to absorb casualty and wing it then leading armies.

A particularly traumatizing experience, such as WWII, may prompt the society and ruling class to support a generation or two of diligent military reform that enables it to find ways to keep pace with other leading armies in overall effectiveness.   but that diligence gradually fades after a generation or at most 2, and russia falls back again.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Macron and Scholz have both floated the idea of ceding some (not a lot) of territory so Putin can end the war without being completely humiliated.

I think this is a VERY good idea. Now, all that’s needed is for the parties to work out which parts of France and Germany now belong to Russia.

Boru

[Deesse23]

Macron and Scholz have both floated the idea of ceding some (not a lot) of territory so Putin can end the war without being completely humiliated.

I think this is a VERY good idea. Now, all that’s needed is for the parties to work out which parts of France and Germany now belong to Russia.

Boru

Alsace and Lorraine

[Angrboda]

Antarctica!

[The Valkyrie]

Antarctica!

Bit chilly.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Antarctica!

Bit chilly.

Russians are used to that. Seems a little unfair to the penguins, though.

Boru

[Fake Messiah]

963 Americans have been banned from Russia by Putin, including President Biden and Vice President Harris, actor Morgan Freeman and deceased Sens. Orrin Hatch and John McCain. But, not Donald Trump. He is welcome anytime to visit.

https://www.axios.com/2022/05/21/kremlin...russia-ban

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

How significant is Russia’s invasion? It has made the Swiss - the Swiss - re-visit their policy of neutrality. Not to the extent of joining NATO, but they’re considering working more closely with the alliance, even to the extent of backfilling munitions sent to Ukraine by NATO members.

That Switzerland is even considering this is an indication of how badly Putin read the room.

Boru