Ukraine II
what I learned from the Ukraine war
Wargames are nonsense
Wargames treat military units as interchangeable tokens. People must be feed, supplied and inspired. Equipment is only as good as their maintenance. Pilots and leaders are only useful if allowed to think for themselves. People really as good as their training and experience
Slow and low flying equals suicide. junk the A-10
Americans love their warthogs. However, Russia tried the low and slow approach to close air support. It's a big reason that their Air Force got knocked out of the sky. The A-10, which uses the same approach to warfare, will not survive an effective air defense. It's time to retire the A-10
Russia will never change
The Russian people are a thin skinned empire with a chip on its shoulder. Russia takes pride in making its neighbor grovel in terror. Russia respects power and despises weakness. Russia will only listen to military force
Our super tech weapons work
Our personally carried missiles are quite effective against tanks and low flying aircraft. They are a pain and need special handling, but they are effective. They are expensive, but much less expensive than the tanks, helicopters and planes that they can destroy
There are limits to insurgency
Guerilla wars assume that the invaders wish to win hearts and minds. Russia doesn't want to conquer Ukraine. Russia wants to destroy Ukraine. Russia has finally admitted that the Unkarain people and Ukrainian cities our their enemies. Russia's response has been to pivot from claiming to be liberators to destroying Ukrainian cities and depopulating Ukraine. It's easier to occupy territory when it's unpopulated. If you don't move into a city, then you're never in range of man portable rockets
Old style armies are still effective
The Ukrainians are getting smashed by old fashioned long range artillery. No amount of partisans with Javelins and Stingers are going to change that. The Russians will pound the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians will be forced to retreat. Rinse and repeat
The Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is dead
Russia and Ukraine had an agreement. Ukraine gave up its Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia. In exchange, Ukraine received a Russian piece of paper guaranteeing Ukrainian sovereignty. This Russian paper has proved to be useless. I doubt that Russia would have invaded Ukraine if Ukraine still had its soviet nuclear weapons. I think that the nations of the world have learned that there is no such thing as independence without nuclear weapons