re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Older systems that had been retired by our forces and were sitting in storage have almost zero value to the US military. Sure, we are sending Ukraine some new stuff too, but if you add up all the older stuff that we didn't need, or munitions that were about to expire, you'd probably get to $20 billion or so. It's not like $60 billion is coming out of the pockets of the US taxpayer.

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It is charitable giving accounting. It is like the M113s we gave, they were a drag on our "balance sheets". Never mind the numbers also include huge amounts of intelligence gathering that we are "paying ourselves". We were going to spend every penny of that money studying a "near-peer". This war gives incredible insight into the Russian and by extension other countries that follow Russian doctrine strategy and tactics in this type of war. By passing this intel on AND giving strategic and tactical advice on how to proceed against them has turned this war into a war laboratory. The Ukes get invaluable assistance and we get to see exactly how Russia acts and reacts to various scenarios.

While I would prefer not to have a need to spend this money it gives invaluable insight not only into the Russians but into drone use in the battlespace. The latter is a lesson we would have learned at some point anyway but seeing them used and the impetus to increase our pursuit of drones and counter-drone technology will almost certainly save US lives in the future. I think ultimately this expenditure will provide great ROI but will be easy to overlook if one wants to negate the benefits.

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Prigozhin is the money man for the infamous Wagner Group of mercenaries (who are basically Russia's private army they use for dirty work). He's been positioning himself as a "fighting" man who wants to see the war carried through to total victory.

To that end he's been heavily promoting the limited attacks his forces have been making in the Bahkmut area, though neutral reports indicate the Ukrainians have been kicking hell out of his forces. Which doesn't matter to Prigozhin, he's after the image of being the one fearless leader willing to stand up to the military and not give up the war.

With Putin looking increasingly in danger of losing key support Prigozhin is positioning himself to get the backing of the ultra-nationalists, which is an active enough bloc in Russia that it could get him Putin's job.

Putin, of course, knows what Prigozhin is doing but he's dependent on his support since wide spread dissatisfaction with the war has eroded his popular support and standing with the various Russian Oligarchs.

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Using these comments to share the below to augment credit. Found them scrolling Twitter which would support these comments and LSUCanFan’s as well.

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Rybar sure seems to have flipped to 100% Putin propaganda in the last few weeks. They are more about politics in the Twitter feed than what is happening at the front, and not just Ukraine.

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Yep and it happened right after the Russian milblog crackdown as well.

Stoup doesn't understand accounting procedures.

Take for instance my handling of all surplus items for Dow Chemical in LA and CA over 20 years ago. Items which had zero actual value and no longer in service had a lot of value on the books as the value of the item but the foundations, structural steel and engineering were all part of the book value of the actual item.

Then there was the engineer (now retired) with GE Polymers (now Sabic) in Mt. Vernon, IN who needed two each extruders for a high value product. There were 5 each identical sitting stored in a pole barn offsite from a cancelled project. Book value included all design engineering so it was cheaper for him to buy brand new, instead of already there unused.

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Yep and it happened right after the Russian milblog crackdown as well.

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That is exactly what happened. The other bloggers don't want to be snatched up and sent to the front.

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This is why I don’t see why we don’t send Super Cobra attack helicopters

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I don't know anything about those specific helicopters, but I do work with a couple businesses that purchase the turbine engines from retired military helicopters and repurpose them for power generation and fracing operations. Those engines have a robust secondary market and wouldn't likely just sit in a decommissioned helicopter for very long.

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They must be fondly remembering
the Iran deal two administrations ago.

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back when Iran was our enemy. They're cool now, apparently.

It's been discussed before, but there are three competing power centers in Russia:

1) The military itself
2) The FSB, and
3) The other siloviki (including Prigozhin and Kadryov)

These three groups jockey for power now, but they are also trying now to position themselves to take over if and when Putin falls.

Just recently, we've seen the FSB reassert its power by threatening milbloggers. We've seen Prigozhin and Kadryov team up to criticize the military.

Of course, the military could seize power. That's one reason that Putin has been so comfortable with Shoigu, a Tuvan, as defense minister: the Russian people would never consent to be led by a non-Slav, so Shoigu is not a threat. It's why Shoigu has kept his job.

The FSB could also conceivably try to arrest Putin at any point, which is why Putin's personal bodyguards are Chechens supplied by Kadryov. Putin doesn't trust the FSB, especially not after they wrote so many reports promising him that Ukrainians would greet Russian troops with open arms and flowers.

#India's two largest oil refineries have stopped buying #Russian oil

The reason for this was the possibility of secondary sanctions.

?? Bloomberg citing sources

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1584915091866243073

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Putin's personal bodyguards are Chechens supplied by Kadryov.

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SO Kadryov is the real power. He can take Putin out any time he wants to. Weird how someone as crafty and paranoid as Putin would put his life in someone's hands like that.