The Economist featured a new Oped penned by none other than Valery Zaluzhny—Commander-in-Chief of the AFU—himself. He makes some very interesting observations, not to mention one or two startling admissions, regarding the war. The main slant of the article is diagnostic; it’s an attempt to find meaningful ways to reorient the AFU towards a winning direction, with the implied admission that this is
"It presents a rare opportunity for us to get directly into the gears of the mastermind himself, rather than second and third hand info about what Ukraine’s high command may or may not be thinking."
This assumes 1. that Zaluzhnyii is being candid with the author and 2. that no editing has taken place.
"This assumes 1. that Zaluzhnyii is being candid..." .................No one believes that Zaluzhny is sharing what he knows is really going on. That does not make what he wrote worthless for Russian military experts. They know what the truth and reality of the situation and can put what he wrote into a context they can confirm, and push the rest, which is intended for his sponsors, aside. It helps to know what he wants them to know as part of their analysis. Of course, he has to morph some truth into his narrative to have some credibility, but experts, as Simplicicus has shown, are able to detect the truth compared to wishful thinking or sales pitches for more weapons.
Whole thing seems to be a sales pitch. Give me more money and stuff and money and this time, we got it, but we need more money and stuff for a long time so keep it hot and keep it coming!
The CIA coach who wrote his material was probably in the background going, "Fuck, this guy is worse than Biden." Anyway, they are already setting up new money laundry facilities in Taiwan, Philippines, etc. for the brrrr of the paper money counting machines can go even faster. Moldova will have to stand in for Kviv as a transfer point for all the Afghan and Burma/Myanmar heroin going into the EU, so I expect they will soon get a new airport expansion. If they are clever enough, they might even get China to pay for it.
I've wondered if Ukraine was being used as a transit / entry point for coke into the Euro zone, several Columbian mercs on the ground, Z's famous habit, the CIA and a crazy warzone, plus a huge market right there. All the ingredients are there..... S'pose we'll never know.
The almost monotonous repeating of "Russian losses" and "parity" or similar... its just boring. He doesn't dare tell the truth, yet anyone can tell that he's lying. Reminds me of the sorts of promoters who I sometimes run into that try to get me to invest in harebrained schemes...
Keep in mind that Zelenskii and Zaluzhnyii must keep up a narrative of impending victory, always just around the corner we only need the next token and everything will be complete, lest the goodies stop flowing.
Maybe, but the US and the EU is clearly signaling now that their great counteroffensive failed and they have
Israel to worry about that they will cut Ukraine off, i.e. the current interest of the MIC is to move away from the Z-man. Why would the Economist go against the agenda?
I am curious if he will go through with the veto - would do _wonders_ to his and Dem support in the 'democratic' (blue) states on the coasts, especially east coast.
'I dare you, I double dare you MF!' (c) Pulp Fiction
he is going to be set up for failure regardless of who he tries to blame
victory has many parents while failure is an orphan...
Project UA looks, smells (stinks!) like horrible failure, we would see all of the participants run away from it quickly to avoid being the last one left..
Well I don't know anything about the military. But I've been around the corporate world long enough to know that the CEO essentially never writes the things his name is put on. I guess it's obvious. but Zaluzhny at most reviewed this piece, if that. He didn't actually write a word. It was written by some team of mil nerds, probably in the U.S. military for that matter. They specialize in disinfo. And that would also explain some of the wilder statements. Maybe they used ChatGPT to help them!
I don’t think Zaluzny wrote this. It was probably some advisors, whether native or colonial.
The paragraph you [Simplicius] quote “ Use of radiation simulators …” is formally incomprehensible. It bears the hallmarks of drafting by committee members. They use the passive voice to avoid specifying sentential subject, the actor in the proposition. Thus “radiation simulators” has ambiguity between ‘We mechanically guess what’s going to happen.’ and ‘We project messages to the enemy about what’s about to occur.” “pilots’ refusal” is ambiguous between ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’. It’s abstract gobbledegook, with implied magical causalities between general impressions only alluded to.
Your summary: “Improve everything” or ‘do better’ is appropriate.
The writers go into confabulatory proposals - filling in impressions of realities they have no direct access to, making up how things ought to be - burrowing robots, empty hoses. Persuasive bullshit, rhetorical nonsense. Or as you term it “wishful thinking”. Confabulating isn’t lying - to lie you have to know what is truly real.
You have searched for realities behind the text.There aren’t any. That’s what your analysis shows.
Elon is property of the USG. You can’t be super wealthy anywhere in the world without being property of whatever government you choose. Ironically they do get that choice.
"See we told you they could do it, if only they had the ammo, the 3th generation aircraft, the british navy, and another million poor sods to slaughter.", the west repeats the mantra. The UA was never to win only RU was to lose. Problem is all the sanctions, all the threats of regime change, all the PR about the russian population going into revolt has turned out to be pure hollywood BS.
Zalushny is only one step away from facing war crime charges for his slaughter of his own people and those of the breakaway republics.
We'll be hearing from that penis piano player next that it is the the west's fault they are losing. In fact we are already hearing it.
How many ukie politicos have been stopped at the ukie borders while trying to get out? It's in the thousands. How many have already done it?
It's been a clown show orchestrated by the neoh-con, neoh-nahtzis will the full approval and guidance of the cookie lady and her crew. The same crew that are now going to orchestrate the fall of Israel.
They're trying to get the last tranche of Ukraine aid over the finish line. Just think how desperate they are - all stops are pulled out just to get $60b worth of hardware that will probably turn out to be about half that in the end, hardly enough to keep up with a couple months of wastage in combat. There won't be another after that. Election season is coming and Ukraine is unpopular now.
I think it’s the usual talk show to lure more equipment and money so the Generals and oligarchs can further line their pockets. They know it’s only a matter of time before the money dries up
And a Laser Powered Tunnel Boring Machine (listed on Amazon, available at any Walmart Store), selling like hotcakes with the Christmas Rush. Operated Artificially by unIntelligence. Batteries Included.
I think this is the point. This is to show he knows what to do - and by implication Zelenskyy does not. Simplicius's last point is the key one. A 'defence' would mean falling back to fight a guerrilla war.
The incredible thing is that Ukraine did not go to guerilla war as soon as they re-took the easy 6,000 sqkm.
I don't understand how the Russian psyops worked so that Ukraine just fed the meat factory for 16 months, but it did. That is the big secret and the big win that Russia has achieved. Kiev and Western media helped a lot and therefore are complicit in 80% of Ukrainian military deaths.
I'm not military, so all I can tell it's that I wouldn't wish to be this guy.
If he has a conscience, he will be hauted till death from the ghosts of all the people he ordered to go and die... uselessly.
If not... he doesn't deserve any pity, he seems to have spent too much time playing with the mighty Tesla tanks from Command and Conquer... he needs them.
Like Stephan Bandera, he wants to borrow someone else's army. The 3rd Reich for Bandera, and the Russian Army for Zaluzhny. Bandera may have been the most criminal of bastards but at least he was a realist; Zaluzhny is going to be the label they'll be putting on the strongest microdot acid papers in the future.
Bandera was a brain-dead retard that Austrians used an as asset to be a terrorist against Poland (who they lost territory to). Spend time in Polish jail for that and other crimes against Poland (USSR and Russia did not enter the picture until MUCH later). Hated Poles with a passion - the whole slogan on Ukraine then and current nazi regime is the 'Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the heroes, Death to the Poles' . Not commies, not russians, not even Jews, Poles. Enough said - a local genocidal maniac, a passive euro values (gay) supporters , Bandera is hardly a 'hero' in any book. No clue why Maidan regime used that level of trash for their 'heroes'
Zaluzhny I think is more complicated. He is clearly playing with cards he cannot win at all. And he is lying about it over and over and over, killing hundreds of thousands of his soldiers that he pretends he cares about.
What Ukraine really needs to get back on track and achieve an overwhelming stalemate / frozen conflict is… the Child Catcher and his Lollipop Wagon; (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Strategy). Mass mobilization of entire population for the frontlines is necessary now and Ukrainian children make great fighters. The added advantage here is they can re-design / re-purpose the Child Catcher’s net to be attached to drone-intercept units to net-catch Lancet drones etc. This will rapidly put AFU on course for victory over the beleaguered Russian forces, who are in reality down to their last few rounds of ammo and totally demoralized. /s
I'm not sure that Zaluzhny even wrote this piece. After all, he seems to be their only capable military commander and is apparently widely respected.
The article's delusional and almost infantile understanding of the military reality on the ground in Ukraine, is inconsistent with what we have learned about him.
Agreed. I was suspicious of the quality of his prose given it would be a second language for him. Ghost writer/translator? Any way I had heard he was dead or severly incapacitated.
The main reason why is that contempt for Soviet/Russian capabilities was not a feature of either book. Instead, both somehow projected a NATO victory in Europe, though I thought both books were rather optimistic. Also, the weapons in use are not that much different.
For that matter, Mellenthin's Panzer Battles would correct a lot of errors about Soviet warmaking. While being biased as hell and contemptuous of Russians in general, he realized he had been beaten along with the Nazis as a whole.
I'd guess that very few of today's opiners in the West have sampled any of this.
I suspect Brits and Americans would have preferred to operate a diesel powered, modern sloped armor designed T34 over the gasoline powered, death certain Tommy Cooker Sherman.
Military Historians notwithstanding, the more Bureaucracy in an Army, the greater the chance of being a loser.
No one with any knowledge ever insults Soviet/Russian tanks. That said, the T-34 would have been better with a 2 man turret, but just a quibble really.
Red Storm Rising is the novel I have read and re-read the most. Excellent and relatable characters (on BOTH sides of the conflict) and spot on technical knowledge.
That said, it was a LIMITED WW3 scenario, won in the end by NATO Wunder-waffen and U.S. 'guts', where the FULL Warsaw Pact abilities were NOT employed.
I.e. Russia with one hand tied behind its back...
Fast Forward to today, and NATO is a dim shadow of that scenario, and Russia is not...
And if I may add, using VDV airborne forces in a Morskoi Pekhoty(Marines) role, invading Iceland. With predictable consequences, e.g. their SAM systems being damaged by seawater. But there were glimpses of the future with Israeli-made drones guiding the gunfire of American battlewagons, and use of stealth fighter bombers and anti-satellite weapons. Clancy seriously underestimating the destructive capabilities of the then-current Soviet MBTs like T-80's versus US and NATO tanks. I still love Red Storm Rising though :)
Yes, invading Iceland was one of the scenarios in the PC game (totally forget the name) that gave them (Clancy had a co-author for that book) the idea for the book.
Using the VDV, with their non-maritime rated equipment, was one of the 'handicaps' (along with no tac-nukes, and setting aside many "A" class units for the actual war..) [for those following along here, invading West Germany was a feint...!!] in the book to give NATO a chance of winning a limited 'meeting engagement'.
In reality, they'd have used an actual marine unit (again, set aside for the real target, ironically IIRC an oil rich country, the riches of Siberia not being known to Clancy then) with marine rated equipment, thus making the retaking of Iceland much harder than in the book. But, then, Iceland gave us some interesting characters to follow..
It may be dated, but I highly recommend reading Red Storm Rising to anyone who hasn't. Much of the weaponry in the book is still current(!) from a NATO perspective as are the strategy/tactics... which explains the ongoing rout in SMO
I think the Soviet leadership understood there is no difference between a tactical nuclear warhead and a strategic warhead. Start using one, and the other becomes easier to use. Clancy was right, and Hackett was wrong - he portrayed a strategic exchange where Birmingham and Minsk were eradicated.
Lose 27 million in a war, and you're pretty sensitive to such things.
And i'm glad you enjoyed it, and saw my point immediately.
I'd also recommend the game "Harpoon". The original was the motivator for Clancy to write on naval affairs which ultimately got him to RSR. It was a good game and handled missile combat pretty well. The bottom line was that the Badgers and Backfires were going to cream the carrier groups most of the time.
The co-author was Larry Bond, the original author of "Harpoon". Bond did his own novels in the Clancy vein, about Korea and South Africa, at least the two I remember. He was nowhere near as gifted in prose as Clancy but the novels themselves were reasonable.
The US had actually purchased those drones for the reactivated Iowa-class battleships. I don't know if they ever got used in a war - maybe in the Persian Gulf in 1990-91.
as far as drones with nets i assume this is a mavic dropping a net on another mavic, to foul one or more propellers, which is something i have been expecting to see from the beginning
ECW is the most effective. If you want to disable the drone from another drone, a simple ram would be the most effective since the effort to engage is only slightly higher than dropping a net in the right spot. This of course excludes things like short range rockets or firearms on the HK drone.
Picture a drone with multiple 'cells' like party poppers loaded with nylon mesh instead of paper. Fly over adversary drone, fire mesh, drone drops. If it don't go boom on landing, recycle it for your own use (re-use this way is already happening with drones brought down by EW) Rinse, repeat, reload, repeat.
Suicide drones are the MIC response, because *2* drones are destroyed, requiring more to be built.
Shooting drones down with rockets or bullets better be a high % kill rate, or again your costs vs other drones will eventually kill you.
A big, ungainly, probably slow or expensive or both drone that is really only good for taking down modified hobbyist quadcopters.
Let's look at how this "smart" drone would apply its net to say, a Lancet.
First, how would this magical drone find the lancet?
Secondly, is the drone fast enough to catch the lancet?
Third, the propeller on a Lancet is on the back of the drone. Draping a net over the front wouldn't do squat except possibly partially obscure the camera, if the Lancet is in FPV steerage.
Orlan? Prop in rear also. Hell Predator drones also don't have front facing props.
Sometimes you're a complete idiot, like here, but your occasional insightful posts make up for it.
Sometimes.
1. I posited a drone carrying 'cells' of party popper sized munitions loaded with mesh to foul propellers. Even a mono-cell brain can see this masses LESS than the RPG rounds routinely used NOW by FPV drones....
So 2. Lower mass means faster drone, and it's only FPV sized too.
2a. DID the FPV SIZED sink in??? Did you picture nets sized for a Tyrannosaur or something? Idiot.
3. This is NOT for high value airplane drones like Lancet, Orlan etc (You pulled out an honest to God strawman argument to make your point. Total loser tactic) THOSE are the suicide drone targets. A $5k suicide drone to take out a $10k or more drone and save a multi-million dollar system?? No-brainer.
4. Nets are for the FPV/ Observation quad-copter drones which are the biggest tactical threat on the battlefield right now.
5. Zaluzhny thinks WAAAY better on military subjects than you do.
"I posited a drone carrying 'cells' of party popper sized munitions loaded with mesh to foul propellers. Even a mono-cell brain can see this masses LESS than the RPG rounds routinely used NOW by FPV drones...."
LOL - now you're trying to compare your mythical net slinging drone with a Lancet.
You are stupid and just can't understand that the Lancets are attacking ground targets while a Lancet or even quadcopter hunting drone has to hit a much faster, 3D moving, aerial target. Such drones have to be much more maneuverable and much faster than its targets so your attempt to show parity = failure.
"Lower mass means faster drone, and it's only FPV sized too.
2a. DID the FPV SIZED sink in??? Did you picture nets sized for a Tyrannosaur or something? Idiot. "
Lower mass comparing an apple to an orange. Yes, you are full-on Dunning Kruger. Nor are you even competent in estimating what the weight of multiple nets would be compared to an RPG warhead. First of all - the nets can't be something cheap and light like cloth. It isn't even clear that anything but high test fishing line would be sufficient. Have you even looked at what a sufficiently strong net would weigh? I bet not.
"This is NOT for high value airplane drones like Lancet, Orlan etc (You pulled out an honest to God strawman argument to make your point. Total loser tactic) THOSE are the suicide drone targets. A $5k suicide drone to take out a $10k or more drone and save a multi-million dollar system?? No-brainer."
The drones that I see being used to take out dugouts and whatnot ARE ALSO REAR PROPELLER. You are so stupid it burns.
These drones are rear propeller BECAUSE THE FRONT IS A CAMERA you moron.
"Nets are for the FPV/ Observation quad-copter drones which are the biggest tactical threat on the battlefield right now."
You are making assumptions, emphasize the ass part. The Russian military is not using repurposed quadcopters like Ukraine - they are using purpose made drones which are overwhelmingly rear propeller. More stupidity on your part. Furthermore, the Orlan IS a battlefield observation drone.
Furthermore your incompetence is also clear given that you have obviously given zero thought to the difficulty of even locating target drones whatever the type.
Hint: One observation drone with multiple kilometer viewing range means said drone can be anywhere in an enormous volume of space.
"Zaluzhny thinks WAAAY better on military subjects than you do."
Good God - you really think Zaluzhny is a brilliant military thinker?
So brilliant he elected to beat two of his own armies to death, multiple times, fighting the wrong war the wrong way because he can't seem to understand that the Russian army is focused on de-militarization i.e. classic Napoleonic/Clausewiczian destruction of the opponent's ability to fight, in conjunction with public Putin and other Russian government statements, in conjunction with Surovikin openly saying attrition?
Thank you for the laughable exclamation point to your stupidity.
I really appreciate this stunning display of incompetence.
Zelensky has snorted too much cocaine and it's addled his already cognitive impaired cerebral matter. His mental meanderings will only impress the stupid.
I remember rumours in 2022 of Zaluzhny being an unrepentant womaniser who diverted taxpayer money for the comfort of his girlfriends, ie chaffeurs, expensive holidays abroad etc but it's been more than a year now these rumours 've been completely hushed up
wasn't budanov the injured one? zaluzhny disappeared earlier this year for a while because he got into an argument with Zelensky on leaving vs defending Bakhmut at all costs
well, he does have many female subordinates who he sleeps with - so what? As long as he wins, who cares? the problem is that he does not win and can not win, and then all of the skeletons in the closet come out to party..
Face saving is the immediate need. Need more weapons, need more of everything, as usual always need more and better 'Wunderwaffe' to turn the corner.
For the US and the West the face saving results in blaming Zelensky. We have given him so much but he does not take our advise. Talk of a stalemate is funny while the Russians are pummeling them all over.
The picture of Zelensky snorting coke is priceless and great way to illustrate the end of the article as well as the end of his dictatorship.
"It presents a rare opportunity for us to get directly into the gears of the mastermind himself, rather than second and third hand info about what Ukraine’s high command may or may not be thinking."
This assumes 1. that Zaluzhnyii is being candid with the author and 2. that no editing has taken place.
"This assumes 1. that Zaluzhnyii is being candid..." .................No one believes that Zaluzhny is sharing what he knows is really going on. That does not make what he wrote worthless for Russian military experts. They know what the truth and reality of the situation and can put what he wrote into a context they can confirm, and push the rest, which is intended for his sponsors, aside. It helps to know what he wants them to know as part of their analysis. Of course, he has to morph some truth into his narrative to have some credibility, but experts, as Simplicicus has shown, are able to detect the truth compared to wishful thinking or sales pitches for more weapons.
I never said that Zaluzhnyii's words are worthless, merely that they should not taken at face value.
I suspect that Simplicus is as aware of that as anyone.
and 3. That any part of Ukraine's high command is situated outside the US,
Verily. This is probably the most salient point. Zaluzhnyii is at most the local overseer.
Whole thing seems to be a sales pitch. Give me more money and stuff and money and this time, we got it, but we need more money and stuff for a long time so keep it hot and keep it coming!
The CIA coach who wrote his material was probably in the background going, "Fuck, this guy is worse than Biden." Anyway, they are already setting up new money laundry facilities in Taiwan, Philippines, etc. for the brrrr of the paper money counting machines can go even faster. Moldova will have to stand in for Kviv as a transfer point for all the Afghan and Burma/Myanmar heroin going into the EU, so I expect they will soon get a new airport expansion. If they are clever enough, they might even get China to pay for it.
I've wondered if Ukraine was being used as a transit / entry point for coke into the Euro zone, several Columbian mercs on the ground, Z's famous habit, the CIA and a crazy warzone, plus a huge market right there. All the ingredients are there..... S'pose we'll never know.
The almost monotonous repeating of "Russian losses" and "parity" or similar... its just boring. He doesn't dare tell the truth, yet anyone can tell that he's lying. Reminds me of the sorts of promoters who I sometimes run into that try to get me to invest in harebrained schemes...
Keep in mind that Zelenskii and Zaluzhnyii must keep up a narrative of impending victory, always just around the corner we only need the next token and everything will be complete, lest the goodies stop flowing.
Maybe, but the US and the EU is clearly signaling now that their great counteroffensive failed and they have
Israel to worry about that they will cut Ukraine off, i.e. the current interest of the MIC is to move away from the Z-man. Why would the Economist go against the agenda?
Biden is requesting many times more aid for Israel and is threatening to veto Israel aid if Ukraine is not adequately funded.
This shows his real priorities.
I am curious if he will go through with the veto - would do _wonders_ to his and Dem support in the 'democratic' (blue) states on the coasts, especially east coast.
'I dare you, I double dare you MF!' (c) Pulp Fiction
He's hedging his bets. He's saying he needs air superiority, and EW superiority, and plasma drills and drone nets to beat Russia.
It's all part of the preemptive blame game that's coming when things inevitably start to go downhill.
If I were a Royal Bengal Tiger, I'd eat the neighborhood dogs.
he is going to be set up for failure regardless of who he tries to blame
victory has many parents while failure is an orphan...
Project UA looks, smells (stinks!) like horrible failure, we would see all of the participants run away from it quickly to avoid being the last one left..
Well I don't know anything about the military. But I've been around the corporate world long enough to know that the CEO essentially never writes the things his name is put on. I guess it's obvious. but Zaluzhny at most reviewed this piece, if that. He didn't actually write a word. It was written by some team of mil nerds, probably in the U.S. military for that matter. They specialize in disinfo. And that would also explain some of the wilder statements. Maybe they used ChatGPT to help them!
It is a piece of disinfo.
Never trust him.
Most likely the same person who ghost writes for demented Joe.
I don’t think Zaluzny wrote this. It was probably some advisors, whether native or colonial.
The paragraph you [Simplicius] quote “ Use of radiation simulators …” is formally incomprehensible. It bears the hallmarks of drafting by committee members. They use the passive voice to avoid specifying sentential subject, the actor in the proposition. Thus “radiation simulators” has ambiguity between ‘We mechanically guess what’s going to happen.’ and ‘We project messages to the enemy about what’s about to occur.” “pilots’ refusal” is ambiguous between ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’. It’s abstract gobbledegook, with implied magical causalities between general impressions only alluded to.
Your summary: “Improve everything” or ‘do better’ is appropriate.
The writers go into confabulatory proposals - filling in impressions of realities they have no direct access to, making up how things ought to be - burrowing robots, empty hoses. Persuasive bullshit, rhetorical nonsense. Or as you term it “wishful thinking”. Confabulating isn’t lying - to lie you have to know what is truly real.
You have searched for realities behind the text.There aren’t any. That’s what your analysis shows.
Too bad Elon Musk is just as likely to let them use his borers as his satellites.
Elon is property of the USG. You can’t be super wealthy anywhere in the world without being property of whatever government you choose. Ironically they do get that choice.
"The paragraph you [Simplicius] quote “ Use of radiation simulators …” is formally incomprehensible. "
That can also be a translation problem.
Great piece of analysis.
Unfortunately zalushny is delusional.
It's save your aśś time in the UA.
The western press needs an off ramp.
Zalushny has provided one for the Economist.
"See we told you they could do it, if only they had the ammo, the 3th generation aircraft, the british navy, and another million poor sods to slaughter.", the west repeats the mantra. The UA was never to win only RU was to lose. Problem is all the sanctions, all the threats of regime change, all the PR about the russian population going into revolt has turned out to be pure hollywood BS.
Zalushny is only one step away from facing war crime charges for his slaughter of his own people and those of the breakaway republics.
We'll be hearing from that penis piano player next that it is the the west's fault they are losing. In fact we are already hearing it.
How many ukie politicos have been stopped at the ukie borders while trying to get out? It's in the thousands. How many have already done it?
It's been a clown show orchestrated by the neoh-con, neoh-nahtzis will the full approval and guidance of the cookie lady and her crew. The same crew that are now going to orchestrate the fall of Israel.
...and the beat goes on.
They're trying to get the last tranche of Ukraine aid over the finish line. Just think how desperate they are - all stops are pulled out just to get $60b worth of hardware that will probably turn out to be about half that in the end, hardly enough to keep up with a couple months of wastage in combat. There won't be another after that. Election season is coming and Ukraine is unpopular now.
I agree. I think it all about another money injection...The article is addressed to the US policy makers
Perhaps written by the US policy makers :)
Bingo.
Nice to know the American Taxpayer is paying for the Ukraine Government, including Pensions.
I think it’s the usual talk show to lure more equipment and money so the Generals and oligarchs can further line their pockets. They know it’s only a matter of time before the money dries up
And a Laser Powered Tunnel Boring Machine (listed on Amazon, available at any Walmart Store), selling like hotcakes with the Christmas Rush. Operated Artificially by unIntelligence. Batteries Included.
I think those ones are the consumer anti-mole variety, which can be upgraded to the anti-gopher model for another 40% or so.
:-)
He hasn't written it for Gerasimov his "tutor".
He has written it to appear still in place, doing his job and sounding realistic but competent and positive.
He has written it to make sure he stays in place when Zelensky gets moved on. Maybe even get Zelensky's cash flow / job.
I think this is the point. This is to show he knows what to do - and by implication Zelenskyy does not. Simplicius's last point is the key one. A 'defence' would mean falling back to fight a guerrilla war.
The incredible thing is that Ukraine did not go to guerilla war as soon as they re-took the easy 6,000 sqkm.
I don't understand how the Russian psyops worked so that Ukraine just fed the meat factory for 16 months, but it did. That is the big secret and the big win that Russia has achieved. Kiev and Western media helped a lot and therefore are complicit in 80% of Ukrainian military deaths.
Zaluzhny speaks poorly enough and has no time for it. Im sure he didnt write this nonsense.
I'm not military, so all I can tell it's that I wouldn't wish to be this guy.
If he has a conscience, he will be hauted till death from the ghosts of all the people he ordered to go and die... uselessly.
If not... he doesn't deserve any pity, he seems to have spent too much time playing with the mighty Tesla tanks from Command and Conquer... he needs them.
Sadly, this is real and not a game.
Like Stephan Bandera, he wants to borrow someone else's army. The 3rd Reich for Bandera, and the Russian Army for Zaluzhny. Bandera may have been the most criminal of bastards but at least he was a realist; Zaluzhny is going to be the label they'll be putting on the strongest microdot acid papers in the future.
Bandera was a brain-dead retard that Austrians used an as asset to be a terrorist against Poland (who they lost territory to). Spend time in Polish jail for that and other crimes against Poland (USSR and Russia did not enter the picture until MUCH later). Hated Poles with a passion - the whole slogan on Ukraine then and current nazi regime is the 'Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the heroes, Death to the Poles' . Not commies, not russians, not even Jews, Poles. Enough said - a local genocidal maniac, a passive euro values (gay) supporters , Bandera is hardly a 'hero' in any book. No clue why Maidan regime used that level of trash for their 'heroes'
Zaluzhny I think is more complicated. He is clearly playing with cards he cannot win at all. And he is lying about it over and over and over, killing hundreds of thousands of his soldiers that he pretends he cares about.
What Ukraine really needs to get back on track and achieve an overwhelming stalemate / frozen conflict is… the Child Catcher and his Lollipop Wagon; (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Strategy). Mass mobilization of entire population for the frontlines is necessary now and Ukrainian children make great fighters. The added advantage here is they can re-design / re-purpose the Child Catcher’s net to be attached to drone-intercept units to net-catch Lancet drones etc. This will rapidly put AFU on course for victory over the beleaguered Russian forces, who are in reality down to their last few rounds of ammo and totally demoralized. /s
Very interesting analysis, thank you Simplicius.
I'm not sure that Zaluzhny even wrote this piece. After all, he seems to be their only capable military commander and is apparently widely respected.
The article's delusional and almost infantile understanding of the military reality on the ground in Ukraine, is inconsistent with what we have learned about him.
He has no power as ZE is sabotaging all his decisions and created meat grinders iso as is he was a FSB agent.
Agreed. I was suspicious of the quality of his prose given it would be a second language for him. Ghost writer/translator? Any way I had heard he was dead or severly incapacitated.
There were a couple 1980s books, both technically novels, that probably deserve a reread.
https://www.amazon.com/Third-World-John-Winthrop-Hackett/dp/0025471600
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Storm-Rising-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B001QEAQQC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1699039012&sr=1-1
The main reason why is that contempt for Soviet/Russian capabilities was not a feature of either book. Instead, both somehow projected a NATO victory in Europe, though I thought both books were rather optimistic. Also, the weapons in use are not that much different.
For that matter, Mellenthin's Panzer Battles would correct a lot of errors about Soviet warmaking. While being biased as hell and contemptuous of Russians in general, he realized he had been beaten along with the Nazis as a whole.
I'd guess that very few of today's opiners in the West have sampled any of this.
I suspect Brits and Americans would have preferred to operate a diesel powered, modern sloped armor designed T34 over the gasoline powered, death certain Tommy Cooker Sherman.
Military Historians notwithstanding, the more Bureaucracy in an Army, the greater the chance of being a loser.
No one with any knowledge ever insults Soviet/Russian tanks. That said, the T-34 would have been better with a 2 man turret, but just a quibble really.
Red Storm Rising is the novel I have read and re-read the most. Excellent and relatable characters (on BOTH sides of the conflict) and spot on technical knowledge.
That said, it was a LIMITED WW3 scenario, won in the end by NATO Wunder-waffen and U.S. 'guts', where the FULL Warsaw Pact abilities were NOT employed.
I.e. Russia with one hand tied behind its back...
Fast Forward to today, and NATO is a dim shadow of that scenario, and Russia is not...
And if I may add, using VDV airborne forces in a Morskoi Pekhoty(Marines) role, invading Iceland. With predictable consequences, e.g. their SAM systems being damaged by seawater. But there were glimpses of the future with Israeli-made drones guiding the gunfire of American battlewagons, and use of stealth fighter bombers and anti-satellite weapons. Clancy seriously underestimating the destructive capabilities of the then-current Soviet MBTs like T-80's versus US and NATO tanks. I still love Red Storm Rising though :)
Yes, invading Iceland was one of the scenarios in the PC game (totally forget the name) that gave them (Clancy had a co-author for that book) the idea for the book.
Using the VDV, with their non-maritime rated equipment, was one of the 'handicaps' (along with no tac-nukes, and setting aside many "A" class units for the actual war..) [for those following along here, invading West Germany was a feint...!!] in the book to give NATO a chance of winning a limited 'meeting engagement'.
In reality, they'd have used an actual marine unit (again, set aside for the real target, ironically IIRC an oil rich country, the riches of Siberia not being known to Clancy then) with marine rated equipment, thus making the retaking of Iceland much harder than in the book. But, then, Iceland gave us some interesting characters to follow..
It may be dated, but I highly recommend reading Red Storm Rising to anyone who hasn't. Much of the weaponry in the book is still current(!) from a NATO perspective as are the strategy/tactics... which explains the ongoing rout in SMO
I think the Soviet leadership understood there is no difference between a tactical nuclear warhead and a strategic warhead. Start using one, and the other becomes easier to use. Clancy was right, and Hackett was wrong - he portrayed a strategic exchange where Birmingham and Minsk were eradicated.
Lose 27 million in a war, and you're pretty sensitive to such things.
And i'm glad you enjoyed it, and saw my point immediately.
I'd also recommend the game "Harpoon". The original was the motivator for Clancy to write on naval affairs which ultimately got him to RSR. It was a good game and handled missile combat pretty well. The bottom line was that the Badgers and Backfires were going to cream the carrier groups most of the time.
The co-author was Larry Bond, the original author of "Harpoon". Bond did his own novels in the Clancy vein, about Korea and South Africa, at least the two I remember. He was nowhere near as gifted in prose as Clancy but the novels themselves were reasonable.
The US had actually purchased those drones for the reactivated Iowa-class battleships. I don't know if they ever got used in a war - maybe in the Persian Gulf in 1990-91.
as far as drones with nets i assume this is a mavic dropping a net on another mavic, to foul one or more propellers, which is something i have been expecting to see from the beginning
why bother with such elaboration if you can get that close to the other? simply put your undercarriage into his props?
because the props fold when they hit things and after a drop of a few tens of feet they unfold again and you are flying again
Drones with nets is idiotic.
ECW is the most effective. If you want to disable the drone from another drone, a simple ram would be the most effective since the effort to engage is only slightly higher than dropping a net in the right spot. This of course excludes things like short range rockets or firearms on the HK drone.
Drones with nets are *smart*
Picture a drone with multiple 'cells' like party poppers loaded with nylon mesh instead of paper. Fly over adversary drone, fire mesh, drone drops. If it don't go boom on landing, recycle it for your own use (re-use this way is already happening with drones brought down by EW) Rinse, repeat, reload, repeat.
Suicide drones are the MIC response, because *2* drones are destroyed, requiring more to be built.
Shooting drones down with rockets or bullets better be a high % kill rate, or again your costs vs other drones will eventually kill you.
LOL - now you're talking a drone with many nets.
A big, ungainly, probably slow or expensive or both drone that is really only good for taking down modified hobbyist quadcopters.
Let's look at how this "smart" drone would apply its net to say, a Lancet.
First, how would this magical drone find the lancet?
Secondly, is the drone fast enough to catch the lancet?
Third, the propeller on a Lancet is on the back of the drone. Draping a net over the front wouldn't do squat except possibly partially obscure the camera, if the Lancet is in FPV steerage.
Orlan? Prop in rear also. Hell Predator drones also don't have front facing props.
Nets = stupid.
Sometimes you're a complete idiot, like here, but your occasional insightful posts make up for it.
Sometimes.
1. I posited a drone carrying 'cells' of party popper sized munitions loaded with mesh to foul propellers. Even a mono-cell brain can see this masses LESS than the RPG rounds routinely used NOW by FPV drones....
So 2. Lower mass means faster drone, and it's only FPV sized too.
2a. DID the FPV SIZED sink in??? Did you picture nets sized for a Tyrannosaur or something? Idiot.
3. This is NOT for high value airplane drones like Lancet, Orlan etc (You pulled out an honest to God strawman argument to make your point. Total loser tactic) THOSE are the suicide drone targets. A $5k suicide drone to take out a $10k or more drone and save a multi-million dollar system?? No-brainer.
4. Nets are for the FPV/ Observation quad-copter drones which are the biggest tactical threat on the battlefield right now.
5. Zaluzhny thinks WAAAY better on military subjects than you do.
"I posited a drone carrying 'cells' of party popper sized munitions loaded with mesh to foul propellers. Even a mono-cell brain can see this masses LESS than the RPG rounds routinely used NOW by FPV drones...."
LOL - now you're trying to compare your mythical net slinging drone with a Lancet.
You are stupid and just can't understand that the Lancets are attacking ground targets while a Lancet or even quadcopter hunting drone has to hit a much faster, 3D moving, aerial target. Such drones have to be much more maneuverable and much faster than its targets so your attempt to show parity = failure.
"Lower mass means faster drone, and it's only FPV sized too.
2a. DID the FPV SIZED sink in??? Did you picture nets sized for a Tyrannosaur or something? Idiot. "
Lower mass comparing an apple to an orange. Yes, you are full-on Dunning Kruger. Nor are you even competent in estimating what the weight of multiple nets would be compared to an RPG warhead. First of all - the nets can't be something cheap and light like cloth. It isn't even clear that anything but high test fishing line would be sufficient. Have you even looked at what a sufficiently strong net would weigh? I bet not.
"This is NOT for high value airplane drones like Lancet, Orlan etc (You pulled out an honest to God strawman argument to make your point. Total loser tactic) THOSE are the suicide drone targets. A $5k suicide drone to take out a $10k or more drone and save a multi-million dollar system?? No-brainer."
The drones that I see being used to take out dugouts and whatnot ARE ALSO REAR PROPELLER. You are so stupid it burns.
These drones are rear propeller BECAUSE THE FRONT IS A CAMERA you moron.
"Nets are for the FPV/ Observation quad-copter drones which are the biggest tactical threat on the battlefield right now."
You are making assumptions, emphasize the ass part. The Russian military is not using repurposed quadcopters like Ukraine - they are using purpose made drones which are overwhelmingly rear propeller. More stupidity on your part. Furthermore, the Orlan IS a battlefield observation drone.
Furthermore your incompetence is also clear given that you have obviously given zero thought to the difficulty of even locating target drones whatever the type.
Hint: One observation drone with multiple kilometer viewing range means said drone can be anywhere in an enormous volume of space.
"Zaluzhny thinks WAAAY better on military subjects than you do."
Good God - you really think Zaluzhny is a brilliant military thinker?
So brilliant he elected to beat two of his own armies to death, multiple times, fighting the wrong war the wrong way because he can't seem to understand that the Russian army is focused on de-militarization i.e. classic Napoleonic/Clausewiczian destruction of the opponent's ability to fight, in conjunction with public Putin and other Russian government statements, in conjunction with Surovikin openly saying attrition?
Thank you for the laughable exclamation point to your stupidity.
I really appreciate this stunning display of incompetence.
Maybe the drones can be armed with both nets & tridents like a Retiarius, Roman gladiator style.
The dear General has one simple request:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M84ELb_Zms4
Zelensky has snorted too much cocaine and it's addled his already cognitive impaired cerebral matter. His mental meanderings will only impress the stupid.
I remember rumours in 2022 of Zaluzhny being an unrepentant womaniser who diverted taxpayer money for the comfort of his girlfriends, ie chaffeurs, expensive holidays abroad etc but it's been more than a year now these rumours 've been completely hushed up
So not all bad then....
mouth-pouching instagram whore kind of girlfriends, very bad optics
I don't think he can lead anyone at all because of his injury in May.
wasn't budanov the injured one? zaluzhny disappeared earlier this year for a while because he got into an argument with Zelensky on leaving vs defending Bakhmut at all costs
President Putin hinted at a meeting with journalists that Zaluzhny was undergoing treatment in Europe.
well, he does have many female subordinates who he sleeps with - so what? As long as he wins, who cares? the problem is that he does not win and can not win, and then all of the skeletons in the closet come out to party..
Face saving is the immediate need. Need more weapons, need more of everything, as usual always need more and better 'Wunderwaffe' to turn the corner.
For the US and the West the face saving results in blaming Zelensky. We have given him so much but he does not take our advise. Talk of a stalemate is funny while the Russians are pummeling them all over.
The picture of Zelensky snorting coke is priceless and great way to illustrate the end of the article as well as the end of his dictatorship.