Ukraine invasion

[D5CAV]

To go even further into the "Wayback Machine," Mr. Peabody, our buddy Vlad is our own creation.

The New York Times Magazine, noting that the KGB of the seventies that Putin joined was no longer really a murder factory but just another “thinking corporation,” even compared him once to Russia’s first true Western-looking leader:

In him, Russia has found a humane version of Peter the Great, a ruler who will open the country to the influence of a world at once gentler and more dynamic than Russia has ever been.

I’ve been bitter in commentary about Putin in recent years because I never forgot the way the West smoothed his rise, and pretends now that it didn’t. It’s infuriating also that many of us who were critical of him from the start are denounced now as Putin apologists, I think in part because we have inconvenient memories about who said what at the start of his story. The effort to wipe that history clean is reaching a fever pitch this week. Before they finish the job, it seemed worth getting it all down.

In late 1996, Vladimir Putin was at a career crossroads. His boss, Anatoly Sobchak, the first democratically elected Mayor of St. Petersburg, had just lost an election and with Putin’s help, was gearing up to flee the country to avoid corruption charges.

Should Putin, too, flee abroad, perhaps to Germany, where he’d enjoyed a posting in his KGB days? He had his own reputation issues, having been inveigled in scandal in his time as Sobchak’s adviser and Deputy Mayor. In 1992, while head of a Petersburg Committee to attract foreign investment, he’d been given over $120 million in export quotas for timber, oil, and rare earth metals by the federal government, to trade for desperately needed food. The deal was approved by Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar and then-trade Minister (and future Alfa Bank heavy) Pyotr Aven. The raw materials were not bartered but pawned off to “various commercial structures,” as the newspaper Smena put it, and the city got back just two tankers of cooking oil.

The Federal Accounting Chamber ended up writing a letter recommending that Mr. Putin not be considered for promotions. But the little man from the northern capital was destined for a higher calling...

You can read the entire article here, but you need to subscribe. https://taibbi.substack.com/

[randy]

Looking at the 40km(?) long Russian column enroute to Kiev.

I imagine more than one A-10 pilot sported a woody on seeing that imagery

[randy]

The New York Times Magazine, noting that the KGB of the seventies that Putin joined was no longer really a murder factory but just another “thinking corporation,” even compared him once to Russia’s first true Western-looking leader:

One a Nekulturniy Chekist, always a Nekulturniy Chekist.

[randy]

Looking at the 40km(?) long Russian column enroute to Kiev.

How would you play that as the Resistance as they approach. I'm no grunt, just an old airedale but i imaging the goal would be to reduce their ammo, fuel and Comms?

How to do that with what you have on hand (and maybe a trip to Home Depot, Tractor Supply and Hobby Shop for supplies)?

First of all, if I'm resistance, not active duty regular, I don't do squat as the front end approaches and passes by. I hunker down and wait for the tooth part to pass by and concentrate the softer targets towards the tail (assuming no other orders/instructions from the government to do other wise).

If some of the reports coming out about morale problems among the conscript majority of the trips, without sufficient fuel or food, one approach might be to be friendly, offer the boys a meal and ask them why they are here? You want to call your mom at home and let her know you're OK? Sure, use my cell phone.

A more kinetic approach would be sniper work. Concentrate on Senior NCOs, officers, and since Putin apparently recreated the Zampolit corps, make them the number 1 target if you can identify them.

Maybe instead of hitting people, occasional random rounds into tires, engines, etc. to keep them on their toes, ruin their sleep, but not really piss them off enough to come looking for you with blood in their eye.

If it starts getting ugly, start targeting sentry posts, Guards go out. No one comes back.

If you have comms with higher, collect intel, maybe lay target markers to particularly interesting stuff like command vehicles, fuel tankers, etc. in the surrounding terrain in case any Ukrainian SU-25s have survived and want to make an attack run.

Prepare caches and hidey holes for regular special ops types passing through for raids (or running away after hitting a target). Definitely stash your personal supplies away in case hungry Russians start foraging.

A lot is going to depend on what the situation at the moment in a particular location.

[HTRN]

If it was me? And I had enough manpower available and munitions? Wait till they just start crossing a bridge, the blow it, and attack from behind, pinning them against the river.

But that would require alot of men, alot of Semtex and truckloads of ammunition.

[Netpackrat]

Maybe instead of hitting people, occasional random rounds into tires, engines, etc. to keep them on their toes, ruin their sleep, but not really piss them off enough to come looking for you with blood in their eye.

I have no military experience but I did watch Red Dawn as a kid, so it seems like if you have enough manpower, maybe do like you said and let the toothy part of the column by, and then intentionally draw that response with sniper fire from one or two dudes. After you get them to detach a group to pursue your snipers, the rest of your force ambushes and wipes out the pursuit, and then tries to fade back into the countryside. Preferably with suppressed fire, and maybe you can disengage before their main body really figures out what has happened. Unless they send an airstrike instead, then you are probably fucked.

Try to do what was done to us in the sandbox. Blowing bridges like HTRN said would be great but otherwise "regular" roadside bombs can still slow them down a lot.

In "Freehold" Mad Mike's protagonist has her partisans targeting the enemy's cooks and kitchen staff. You mentioned taking out sentries; in his short story collection about the same war, there's a couple of old retired competition shooters who are targeting a specific guard position at the enemy base. Whoever draws that duty, eventually they get taken out.

[Vonz90]

If it was me? And I had enough manpower available and munitions? Wait till they just start crossing a bridge, the blow it, and attack from behind, pinning them against the river.

But that would require alot of men, alot of Semtex and truckloads of ammunition.

This, if munitions are available, hit bridges, knock down trees on the road, etc.

Pot shots with Javelins or other anti-tank missiles if you can.

Other than that, as partisans, hit side units or anything away from the main group.

Hunker down when it is hot.

[D5CAV]

Pot shots with Javelins or other anti-tank missiles if you can.

Javelins are after my time. During my time, we were in the process of up-gunning some of our M2s with TOW launchers, so some of my NCOs went to TOW missile school. Two weeks and they didn't get to shoot one TOW missile, just simulators. They told me at the end of the training, the four top students (tied with perfect scores) put their names in a hat and drew for the one live TOW round the class was allocated. IIRC, TOW rounds were about $50,000 each. I think Javelins are over $200,000 each.

While you are wishing for some Javelins, wish me up a strike package of A10s and a box of jelly donuts.

[randy]

I read recently that the Javelins were $80K each. Your point stands however.

[Vonz90]

Pot shots with Javelins or other anti-tank missiles if you can.

Javelins are after my time. During my time, we were in the process of up-gunning some of our M2s with TOW launchers, so some of my NCOs went to TOW missile school. Two weeks and they didn't get to shoot one TOW missile, just simulators. They told me at the end of the training, the four top students (tied with perfect scores) put their names in a hat and drew for the one live TOW round the class was allocated. IIRC, TOW rounds were about $50,000 each. I think Javelins are over $200,000 each.

While you are wishing for some Javelins, wish me up a strike package of A10s and a box of jelly donuts.

A lot of video of Ukrainians running around with them, so they must have them.