"The 1980's are calling to ask for their foreign policy back."

Lyle, actually...

Man, this guy is even more unreliable than Tomas Theiner. Sushko has been talking about an "FSB coup" for six months. Also, there is no other verifiable information on the F-16 thing, at this time.

Yeah, all I could find from reputable sources was from a few days prior when someone in the NL government saying they were considering it. Why I put that caveat at the front.

U.S. MILITARY VETS IN UKRAINE ARE FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN COURT

This is one of those instances where it doesn't matter who's right, there's clearly some fucked up shit going on and I'd not be inclined to trust any of the folks involved.

Italy is missing some yachts.

@shootER does this sound legit?


People forget that all US M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams tanks in service with or stored by the US Army are filled with a ton of depleted uranium (DU).
Every Abrams built after 1 October 1988 has a DU mesh between its steel and ceramic armor plates. The US won't give those tanks to
1/4

anyone. The M1A1 without DU mesh were sold years ago to Australia, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco & Saudi Arabia.
The problem is that the mesh is top secret. Not even the workers building the Abrams at the Lima Tank Plant get to see it. It comes from a classified government facility
2/4

and is enclosed in steel (1st, 2nd generation) or carbon (3rd generation). Workers only insert the plates into the Abrams. Export Abrams are taken apart completely so that the DU mesh plates can be replaced by Tungsten plates... and that takes weeks.
I am sure the German
3/4

government knows this and that this is why they demand Ukraine must receive Abrams tanks before the German will release Leopard tanks.
This way Ukraine gets no tanks and won't defeat putin, which is what the German government wants as its policy is: keep putin in power.
4/4


https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1617339804785512451?s=46&t=9-2UJutjJRli8yvniI74Sw

I don't know about 4/4 but the rest sounds about right. We don't give away or sell the ones with DU armor.

Priorities, people...

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...p-down-discipline_uk_63ce3ac5e4b01e928864cfcc

So, they're all the way down to the 80's comedy villains.

Someone read The Tipping Point on their last vacation and decided the broken windows approach would win them the war.

Poland: Germany can give us permission to send tanks to Ukraine or we can send them anyway.

https://twitter.com/reuters/status/1617595520708378647?s=46&t=SkI2fuiabAUJvEZB9pFk1Q

I think we are well beyond tanks when the enemy has started to grow hipster chinbeards to beat us. Seriously, look what it did for Don Jr. and Hunter. We allo certainly take them much more seriously with the beard. And remember when Riker's beard saved the federation?

I do not know what it is about a lazy douche with squirrel chunks in their chinhairs that makes people think they are formidable, but perhaps we should just neuter them to be sure we don't spread the mental problems.

Poland is already buying Abrams and K2s AND has a deal with South Korea to build a K2PLs (slightly longer and with an extra road wheel and a couple other modifications) tank factory in Poland.

So they have nothing to lose by calling Germany’s bluff. If they win Ukraine gets a lot of tanks to fight Poland’s greatest threat. If they lose Germany shows itself an unreliable arms supplier and then other countries might want to buy some Polish K2s next time they need a new batch of tanks.

It's not quite that simple is it? AFAIK the K2 uses some German parts, so if Germany did block deliveries of supplies to Poland I saw speculation it could also cover that as built.

It's a shitty move by Germany to not authorise the transfer happening yet, but I wouldn't really say if it makes them an unreliable arms supplier. Most countries (including the US) that sell arms do so with the same sorts of restrictions on its movement. It would definitely seem to make them a supplier not aligned with Poland's interests though.

I think it was originally reported that the main gun was of Rheinmetall design but in fact it is totally indigenous.

I know part of the reason for the K2 was that the K1 used a lot of M60 and M1 designed and so was subject to US Export Controls. The South Koreans are REALLY pushing to become a major arms exporter so wanted their new tank to be under their control.

Der Spiegel now confirming Scholz will indeed send "at least one Leopard 2A6 company" to Ukraine:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1617941402851368962

US finalizing plans to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, US officials say

*pours one out for all the Ukrainian logistics, supply and maintenance folks*

https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1617992181440208896?s=46&t=kCjWuqCY_Cx9HiyVVXujVA

Don’t want to get in trouble for doxxing a member but I’m pretty sure our resident replicant is running the Irish Times twitter account:

https://twitter.com/alexluck9/status/1618091447017959424

14 Leopards from Germany. 30 Abrams from US. 14 Challengers from UK. Poland is up for sending 14 more Leopards if Germany allows it.

Ukraine have estimated they need 300 tanks to push Russia out. But is that on top of what they already have in the field? They had about 200 T-72s from other former Warsaw Pact nations and those have been the mainstay thus far.

They have several hundred Russian IFVs and tanks that were abandoned. These are being worked up now, and the vast majority are expected to be ready for the Spring offensive.

The question is whether the 500K troops that Russia sends to secure their ill gotten gains going to be able to hold up. Russia's ineffectiveness and inefficiency is likely to be resolving as well. These troops will still be green, but the vast corruption of the Russian military absconding with their resources is likely to be impacted by Putin literally throwing the people in charge of the logistics out of 10 story windows. Their replacements I expect to be more highly motivated.

I'd put my money on NATO tech and training (60K Ukrainains are learning NATO tech and tactics now and will be back in theater by Spring) but it's going to be a blood bath either way.

Meanwhile UK defence intel suggests Russia is deploying substandard tanks - the T-14 Armata is reported to have been sent to the frontlines:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...battle-in-ukraine_uk_63d0eb0de4b04d4d18e2795a

Biden says we’re sending 30 Abrams to Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1618295166942515204?s=46&t=X2g921k5jH3Qb9KUFYBKcQ

So as someone who knows fuck-all about tanks, can someone explain to me why the ones we’re sending will fare better against Russian and Iranian anti-tank missiles and drones better than the Soviet and Russian tanks have fared against ours? Is NATO armor just that much thicker/better? Or are we going to start seeing pictures of exploded and burnt out NATO tanks too?

I know our tanks have more sophisticated countermeasures than Russian tanks and are more comfortable to ride in.

Some will almost certainly be lost but probably not that many.

I can't speak for Leopard IIs, but Abrams have far better fire control systems than Russian tanks and the ergonomics are far superior, making them easier to operate and less fatiguing to the crew (which consists of four people--another advantage over Russian tanks with only three crewmen).

Abrams are more survivable than any other tank in the world because most of the main gun ammunition is stored behind an armored bulkhead. In the event that the ammo bins are penetrated, the blast is directed through blowout panels on the rear of the turret roof, leaving the crew safe.

In the short term, not sure it's going to matter. They aren't going to have the infrastructure in place to support the Abrams for a while. Some analysts are suggesting it might be a year or more before we see Abrams in play on the battlefield.

The Leopards are a different beast. Estonia, Lativa, Lithuania and Poland all already use the Leopards. They are a great tank, better than anything the Russians actually have (as opposed to what they claim they have), but the US Abrams is more advanced. It will be easier for the Ukrainians to learn to use them, supply them, and repair them due to the knowledge already extant in Eastern Europe and the supply chains in place.

So it's quite likely the Leopards will be ready come the Spring offensives.

Most of NATO operate the Leopard, and several countries have indicated that once the Germans give the OK and send theirs they will as well. But so far that number appears to still be less than 50 total. Ukraine is going to need more MBTs to break the human wave it appears Putin plans on sending into occupied territory.