Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Russian Forces Moving Like Lightning

 


Unfortunately for those rootin' for Putin, the sudden Russian speed of advance is full headlong retreat.

For months now, Russia has been chewing its way deeper into Ukraine territory, averaging about 1km/day (that's 0.02 MPH for people whose countries landed men on the moon). After a brilliant feint to the south which caught the Russians deploying the wrong way, and caught the pundidiots cock-a-doodling about the "failure" of Not The Main Offensive Effort, the Ukrainians massed their forces in the north instead, and have averaged advances of 20km/day. Put another way, Russia has demonstrated that their tanks can go 20x faster in reverse than they go in forward gear. To find the equal of this Russian retreat, you'd need to look at Iraq in 2002, America coming out of Afghanistan last year, the South Vietnamese Army in 1975, or France anytime after 1815 to present, inclusive.

In the area north and east of Kharkiv, Ukraine has pushed the Russian army all the way back into Russia. Ukrainian forces have recaptured over 1000 mi² of territory in the last week or so, which is more territory than Russia was able to gain in 3 months of heavy fighting when the armchair generals declared they were "winning".

Which is why the Usual Suspects have been rather quiet about this disastrous (for Putin) turn of events. How sad for them.





Piss on the MSM all you like, but even Russian house press organ TASS basically instructed the few fifth-column pro-Russian holdouts in the Kharkiv area to GTFO of Dodge in haste, because the Ukrainians were coming. Suck on that hard cheese, geniuses.

Doubly so, because the possession of the HIMARS system by Ukraine now puts 30 miles of Russian territory in range of shelling, and any military target inside Mother Russia is now fair game. 

Trains, tracks, stations? Yup.

Airfields? Power plants? Factories? Major roads and junctions? Dams? Any POL facility? Oh hell yes.

Pretty much anything that Ukraine can make any reasonable argument is contributing to the Russian military's effort is now on the open season list, which means civilians thereabouts are now in season as well, and it won't be just Russian conscripts eating shit for Putin's dreams of a restored Soviet Empire. That's going to have a ripple effect, and put a spotlight on the 800 pound gorilla: Putin's forces suck at this war thing.

War gets a loss less fun when it's fought on your own territory, huh Vlad?

Already, nearly a score of minor Russian officials no longer buying the bullshit, and fully clued in to Reality, have publicly called for Vlad to fuck off and retire, in haste, and openly signed their names to the petition. The state media is openly hosting debates suggesting that maybe signing a peace accord and GTFOing from Ukraine wouldn't be a bad idea. None of this bodes well for Vlad's long-term career prospects, to say nothing of what a paper tiger it reveals Russian military power to be.

Exactly. As. We. Told. You.

Ukraine is fighting for its national survival; Russian troops are fighting for a paycheck. And faced with a peer military advance, they're running like scalded cats, leaving metric fucktons of supplies and operable munitions behind, and leaving some units stranded with no transport out except their boots. The ammo will come as a boon to Ukrainian equipment sidelined for lack of Russian-compatible ammo. The Russian POWs will have their moment in the sun on international news any day now, begging to be repatriated, and/or telling the world where Vlad can head in, and why this military adventure is all nightmare.

h/t Daily Timewaster

Pisser, Vlad. You'll be getting those lost rounds back soon, but probably at a high rate of speed.

At some point, the Russian army will stop outrunning the Ukrainian rapid advance, dig in, and put up a fight. Probably. Eventually. Vlad and his generals hope.

Things may even see-saw back and forth like this. But Russia giving up territory 20:1 compared to how they take it doesn't argue for eventual Russian victory.

And Vlad's frustration and desperation could lead to him trying to unleash nuclear weapons, which either opens the ball on WWIII (got bunker?), or gets him that 9mm Retirement Plan just behind the ear, followed by the sudden ascension of General Ivana Survivalot to the leadership of the surviving Russian Federation. Dealer's choice on which is more likely.


Fun times, kids. Fun times. How does this end? Rapidly, one hopes. The sooner Russia withdraws to status quo ante, the better for the entire world.

What does this new turn of events mean for pretty much everyone?


I can hardly wait to hear the spin and bullshit on this new reality in comments, or from the usual Armchair field marshals.


{And proving what I've told you all along about even-handedness, CA @ WRSA hot-linked this post within about two minutes of me dropping it on the 'net.}

34 comments:

Termite said...

The spin on this should make for great entertainment.

Note to self: buy more beer and popcorn.

Anonymous White Male said...

"Armchair Field Marshalls".

You mean, like you?

Gimpy said...

Don't know anything about source credibility, but I found this take interesting. https://bigserge.substack.com/p/special-military-operation-season

Anonymous said...

I don’t comment here often… last time was a couple months ago… but it seems that you still can’t comprehend that the whole Russia/ Ukraine deal is smoke and mirrors to push the wef/ tptsb( the powers that shouldn’t be) agenda to run all our lives( aka extinguish them). I really don’t understand why you push the Ukraine good Russia bad bag of crap that msm peddles… Just move on and focus on the bigger picture

-Midwest Farmer

Aesop said...

@Anonymous White Male,

Unfortunately for your petty screed, I have done no such field marshalling.
I have told you what has happened, from the most conservative reports, and its significance, not what ought to happen.

If you can't tell the difference, I pity you.

@Midwest Farmer,
It's neither smoke nor mirrors to 43M Ukrainians, nor a growing pile of Russian dead, and their relatives. And a matter of intense interest to at least 8 countries, many of them U.S. allies whom we are obligated to defend, who share a border with Russia.
Rulers who invade other countries on a whim, for self-aggrandizement, are simply evil.
Thieves and murderers do not achieve righteousness based on scale of their crimes.
'Twas ever thus.

I'm not pushing anything.
I'm gloating over the Rootin' For Putin junksuckers who got it wrong - again - and expect to have many further opportunities to do so, because they kneejerk reject anything purely on the grounds that people they don't like take the opposite position, rather than doing a dispassionate analysis of reality. They would do the same if those parties told them breathing oxygen was good, and drinking water was healthy.
That's the mark of a thorough-going moron. And such deserve to be pointed out and laughed at upon every handy opportunity.

But by all means, since you disagree, tell the class why Russia - a nuclear power - invading and attempting to steal part or all of Ukraine, or any other sovereign and independent nation, is or would be a good thing. Especially as this is their third instance, with respect to Ukraine.
Show all work.
And when you can't explain why it would be similarly good and right if Canada annexed the northern tier of states, and/or Mexico the southern-most, while Cuba laid claim to Florida, then it's abundantly clear, when your defense becomes solely dependent upon whose ox is being gored, that you're simply someone who believes might makes right, and devil take the hindmost.
Whereas if you took no such position, you'd merely be a hypocrite.
Feel free to paint yourself out of that corner at your convenience.

Anonymous said...

The Russian retreat was akin to a catchers mit retreating from a pitch. Or a short basemans mit retreating from a line drive directly to him. Or a goliath groupers mouth retreating from a choice, unsuspecting, meal fish approaching.

Anonymous said...

What is the possibility of this most recent "adavance" as a tactic to get the ukraines out in the open and cut them off? Putin certainly would sacrifice a few (or hundred) of his own to get those guys away from their resupply. Maybe, maybe not...

Aesop said...

Riiiiiiiiiiight.

And Lee retreated from Gettysburg to Richmond to suck Grant into Appomattox, too.

Q-tardation x Putinsucking bespeaks a serious cranial neuropathy.

Do give a holler when this clever 36-dimensional battle plan pans out, and Putin's mercenaries march triumphantly from victory to victory in the same rapid fashion, which they have been unable to do during any five minutes in a row since February 26th to the present date.

But if you really think that, show your work; otherwise, you're simply gainsaying out your other end, from a position of hopeful ignorance.

Aesop said...

@Shinmen,

Rest assured your rambling ad hominem screed is being saved for the opportune moment.
It won't age well, but the comedy gold will be priceless.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't you Aesop who back in March was stating that the Russians were just two weeks from running out of arty rounds? Talk about aging well...

Night driver said...

I thought Shinmen Takezo had folded his tent and faded into the sunset.

Night Driver.

Joe in PNG said...

Remember class. The Red Army in 1944-45 was a historical anomaly, and that because they got a lot of logistical support from the Allies.

More often than not, it's an overly large mob of poorly equipped, badly trained men led to the slaughter by incompetent and corrupt placemen pretending to be officers.

Rollory said...

"Russia has demonstrated that their tanks can go 20x faster in reverse "

Citation needed. I believe the correct statement is that the Russians can go 20x faster ON FOOT. (Or in whatever trucks they could grab.) They left all the tanks in place.

"or France anytime after 1815 to present, inclusive"

The "poilus" of Verdun would like a word with you.

Other than that - carry on.

DavidS said...

Your are right again.

Again.

Shinmen Takezo said...

Then why don't you publish it? One thing I've noticed about you, is that you are rather thin skinned when it comes to critique and anything counter to your thinking. Just to reiterate, you are on the WRONG side concerning the Russia/Ukraine issues. Your thinking is right out of the cold-war in the 1970's. Russia moved into Ukraine as a response to the terrorist acts (shelling, sniping, etc.) committed by the Nazi Ukrainian forces against the break-away republics of Luhansk and Donetsk (since 2014) who have the right to leave Ukraine. Sometimes you are just a coward when it comes to this comment section.

Anonymous said...

i'll be short. 1( do you have first hand field intel from either side?
2 when has the MSM been right about shit.
If you cant answer 1 with yes I do then SFTFU!. you are mentally masturbating. Don't much care for any of them. but you "know fuck all". time for a little humility. you were wron on the sweet and sour sniffles... so you could be right or wrong globalists will get to you and yours in due time. now. calm down and chill.

Anonymous said...

Who's paying you to shill for the Ukies?
They're toast and you know it, unless we intervene with boots on the ground. Is that what you want?
I used to respect you, but now doubt your every opinion. And I'm not alone.

Skipperdaddy said...

Does this mean Ann Margret’s not coming ?

Anonymous said...

Russia may not be our ally; well certainly not after the attempted sanctions takedown, that blew up our European allies. However, the ass clowns supporting Ukraine are certainly your enemies. They want to chemically castrate your sons, mutilate your daughters genitals, and teach them to be gay.

Same people, differnt arm of the agenda. These a$$#@&%$ are the enemies of all mankind. Ukraine is fully on board. In the face of the Russian invasion, they have taken time to pass legislation supporting homos, and transsexuals 9n several occasions. Apparently they have nothing more important to worry about. Look it up, you couldn't make this shit up. So far it has worked out fairly well for them, they show fealty to your enemies and the resident showers them with money and weapons.

Stop being a cuck. Do not fight your enemies battles for them.

John Wilder said...

It has collapsed: yup, Russia is proving they suck at war.

Anonymous said...

Oh I'm not saying that Russia is good; just that it doesn't matter who win or loses in this "special military op" since the script is already written and we're in Act 2 already... Just like the twin towers were smoke and mirrors to push the control state on all of us.(Note; I am not saying 9/11 was smoke in mirrors in the sense that the lives lost were meaningless or didn't happen; just that it was staged to bring about their agenda and was used to fool the American People.) This whole thing between Russia and Ukraine is like a thumb war where it is the left and right hand of the same person doing the fight; when they're good and ready they will decide which hand will win but they'll sure make a grand show of it till the end...( I'm sure I could have used a better analogy but I've had a long day and being eloquent with words isn't my forte.) This proxy "war" is being used to distract and drive prices of things sky high to get the ball rolling towards famine, war, and the conclusion that "we'll own nothing and be happy..." Do you have your head in the sand that you haven't noticed prices of things rising since Feb? Have you not noticed that Germany( and the rest of Europe) are going to be in a world of hurt this winter due to REEE MORE sanctions that all the wef puppets keep pushing? Have you noticed that the Russia/Ukraine "war" is what they keep blaming for these issues; regardless if it is the true cause? I am appreciative of the other info that you post.. more need to take it to heart... But when you go on a rant about how smart you are and how everyone else is a stupid mf it gets tiring... though to be honest some of them aren't the sharpest crayons in the box... And before you go and say REEE you didn't link articles to prove what you say... If I were to do that I would be copying and pasting for an hour and this comment would be quite long(longer)... And this all goes for those that are rooting for Russia (or Ukraine)... Focus on local,local,local... You guys are like the idiots that watch the super bowl cheering for your team like it'll change the outcome not realizing that the winners have already been chosen and that they're just putting on a show to distract and entertain you... (I guess I should have used this as the analogy to begin with... oh well) Oh and just to let you know Aesop... I'm someone who likes to poke the bear to see what reaction I'll get... Thanks for the laughs!

-Midwest Farmer

Jonathan H said...

If the Russians were doing an organized retreat/ realignment, for whatever reason, they wouldn't be leaving soldiers behind to walk out or surrender and they wouldn't be leaving piles of equipment behind (especially without booby trapping or "deactivating" it).

Aesop said...

@Anon 12:38,
Nope, i made no such prognostication. I said they were burning through artillery rounds at a prodigious rate, with little gain to show for it, and turning the lands they claimed to want to "save" into rubble heaps and ashes. Which they did. QED
I hope your pecker is longer than your memory, for your S.O.'s sake.

@Shinmen,
Because it was naught but screed and ad hominem, neither of which were relevant nor true. Read the comments policy that's been unchanged for literally a decade, and see if you can stick to a topic, and you can blather all the livelong day, provided you can disagree on the merits without shitting the carpet.
Since you think Russia had a right to annex the eastern provinces of Ukraine which they pledged to respect unto death in exchange for Ukraine giving up all nuclear weapons in 1990, perhaps you could explain to the class the rationale for annexing Crimea some years back, and for fucking around heavy-handedly in Ukrainian politics non-stop from 1990-present, which is what got their last puppet removed via molotov revolution, and installed Zelenskyy. Whatever Z's other faults, he is certainly no vassal of Moscow, and the Ukrainians aren't having any more Russian love, under any circumstances. So tell us what gives Vlad the right to chisel away parts of that country, and why that should comfort the 6 NATO allies on Russia's border we are obligated to defend.
Sometimes folks are just cowards when it comes to making a case, instead of leaving a steaming turd on the carpet. Here's your chance to prove me wrong there.

@Anon 5:40,
1) Yes. I have first-hand field intel from TASS, the Russian state news agency since ever. We covered this right in the OP. -10 pts for lack of reading comprehension.
2) Pretty sure they got Pearl Harbor right. They seemed to be spot-on about 9/11. I recall a Cuban Missile Crisis they seem to have called right down the line. The Berlin Wall coming down doesn't seem to have any problems. The fall of Saigon happened just as they said. Pretty sure they noted the reversal on Roe v. Wade. The retreat from Afghanistan. Any number of named hurricanes. Earthquakes. Floods. Riots. Shootings. Sports scores. I could go on, but the bankruptcy of your point is pretty obvious.
So it's pretty obvious who needs to STFU about this, and it ain't me.
You got a better first-hand source than the Russian state news agency telling everyone friendly to unass the AO because the Ukes are coming, and 300 confirmatory live feeds from news teams on the ground in Ukraine from here to Bumfuckistan showing the recapture of town after town? Post it. Otherwise, pipe down; grown-ups are talking.

(cont.)

Aesop said...

(cont.)
@Anon 5:43,
1) I'm independent.
2) That wasn't shilling for the Ukes, it was stating obvious reality. That may be hard to tell with Putin's pubic hair in your eyes. Maybe pull back, and gain some much-needed perspective. The Russians are retreating faster than the Ukrainians can advance, and everyone on the planet is seeing that. If that truth hurts your feelings, harden the fuck up.
3) I've been crystal clear since Day Zero I want no American troops on the ground there under any circumstances. So you're either an idiot, or this is the first time you've dropped in here. Worst case for you, both are true.
4) If your faith mattered a whit to me, that might be a fair point. But as you're anonymous, my concern for your opinions cannot be measured with existing instrumentation. And the likelihood that you speak for any great horde dwindles into oblivion, as the blog's audience grows beyond any expectations I had when I started. All I care about is getting things right, or as near as it's humanly possible to get with the information available. If you have video of the shattered heap of a Ukrainian Army, bodies strewn everywhere, as Russian troops actually march into Kyiv today, kindly link to it. Otherwise, we can all recognize a fart by sound and smell.

@Anon 8:17P,
1) Russia was only a nominal ally for about 4 years, ut of desperation, after first being an enemy, then returned to being an enemy. Russia has no allies, and hasn't since about 1900 (if even then). They have vassals, client states, and suckers, whom they always buddyfuck. Stop being a sucker.
2) Some of the people supporting Ukraine are our enemies. Many of them are anything but. If you cannot tell one from the other, because you knee-jerked yourself into making support for Ukraine your litmus test, you're simply a moron. There's no nice way to put that.
3) Nations facing extinction by external enemies pay lip service to anyone with what they need. This has been true since ever.

Stop being a historical ignoramus, and bone up on the facts of human behavior that have been observed ever since anyone started writing it down.

Ukraine is an independent nation. Russia invaded them on tissue-thin pretenses, simply to expand their empire and regain lost resources that don't belong to them. The Ukrainians wish to repel this invasion.

So you're either in favor of people making choices for themselves and for their own country, because they're human beings, or else you're in favor of the strong subjugating the weak, because you think people are things to own, and that's just how it ought to be.

Stop cucking for tyrants and tyranny, thinking they won't do the same thing to you soon enough.

Anonymous said...

You lost a lot of respect from me with your asinine statement about the msm being spot on about Pearl Harbor and especially 9/11 when there is so much evidence that 1- Pearl Harbor was known about and was allowed to happen as an excuse to enter the war and 2- the trade towers were not taken down by jetliners by any stretch of the imagination… care to tell me what caused wt7 to collapse? Or what hit the pentagon? Hint… is wasn’t what the msm told you… And you do realize that if the crisis they want isn’t there they will and have done false flags to get what they want… It’s like the quote about arguing with an idiot…. You can’t win by bringing yourself down to their level and I’ve had to drop down quite a bit to comment here… Oh -100 points to you for your blind belief in the msm about 9/11…

-Midwest Farmer

Aesop said...

You lost any respect I'd have for you by spouting such black helicopter nonsense.
Pearl Harbor happened. 9/11 happened.
The only lunatards who think 9/11 was an inside job have Rosie O'Blubberhead ("Fire can't burn steel!") as their standard-bearer.
Everyone in America, including the military, expected the Japanese to attack us.
They didn't expect the attack they got, because they were stupid.
Not because of some devious machinations which widespread conspiracy survives unrevealed 81 years later.
Never ascribe to malice what sheer idiocy adequately explains.

Walk tall, bubba.
https://coldfury.com/2022/09/11/occams-razor-says/

markshere2 said...

Damn, its nice reading your rebuttals to the folks directing flak your way!

As always, when you are taking flak- you are over the target!

Phelps said...

This won't age well.
When it doesn't, per AeSOP, it will be ignored, and when it is brought up, it will be claimed that something else was said.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm. CNN, MSNBC… the Usual suspects that told you that the war would be over in two weeks, and that sanctions would leave the Russian economy in tatters …?

Aesop said...

@Phelps,

It's already happened, FFS. You figure in a week, a month, or a year, it will have unhappened?? Tell us, do, how that works, exactly?

History ages like fine wine. Fanboy hype and Q-tard claims of Russia's prowess, not so much.
If that's all you got, you're a featherweight fighting in the unlimited category.

@Anon 9:31A,
Those were simply a few representative links of what's been getting reported for days from any 200 stops on the 'net, from around the world. Including the Russian State Media. You could look it up.
-10 pts for reading comprehension, and you look pretty dumb for not knowing that without being told.
You've got a better source? Link the video.
Either put up, or shut up.

dthompson4447 said...

Being a medic I would have thought you might have noted
the respective casualtys, likely worse than the usual 10:1, maybe 20:1
Can you say pyrrhic victory? Also the withdrawing units are also getting attention
(for the southern offensive)
Job security I guess, why are you not there patching up nazis?

Aesop said...

I have seen no casualty figures that don't stink like week-old fish.
The casualties are likely far worse on the army in headlong retreat than on the army pushing them out at 20km/day. That's also why the Russian casualty figures are, as usual, off by probably a factor of at least 10-20X.

Supposedly, the Ukrainians were all spent months ago, according to the pundidiots.
So obviously all that tea-leaf reading on their part was so much ass gas.

And there are more nazis in your home town than you could find in all of Ukraine, and I have job security right where I am. The whole "Nazis!" boogeyman I find particularly amusing, since the most strident anti-semites online are also the most rabid Putin junk-suckers. Somebody obviously got their talking points all scrambled up.

Thanks for fulfilling my expectations by contributing more screed and not one bit of intelligence to the discussion.

Anonymous said...

I wish you'd stick to talking about things your understand. Used to be lots of invaluable med tips round these parts.

You can be in my foxhole as a medic. But you'd be terrible running the outfit. Worse at planning strategy.

Aesop said...

1) I was leading troops and running outfits a decade before I ever picked up a stethoscope, and I was quite good at it per people who'd done it in uniform for twenty years and more, having been taught by some of the best in the world in two service branches. You?

2) I haven't given you any leadership tips nor strategy here, I merely related the facts on the ground, so your BMWing is not only completely pointless, but it makes it obvious you never even actually read the post. Shocked am I.

3) As a subject-matter expert on the topic, maybe you can explain: Why is it the most irrelevant and chickenshit comments are always nothing but unsigned amateur ad hominem screeds, O mighty anonymous keyboard warrior? And where and when did you earn your field marshal's baton, and your psychic medium license, to be able to discern so clearly things which were neither seen nor indeed even mentioned?

Now back under your bridge! Grownups are talking here.