Miroslav

If you don't trust amerikanskiy televizor, then turn it off. Regardless of amerikanskiy televizor, this war is an invasion by the Russian Federation of an independent country, who is trying to get on its feet after centuries of bullying by Russia. Countries such as Poland are putting their historical grudges with the Ukrainians aside and are assisting in an admirable way.

That is not strange. This is not a soccer game.

It's one heck of a civil war that requires a neighbouring country to mobilize 300 000 troops after already committing 100 000- 200 000 people to the conflict.

I agree with your entire post, but mainly this point. The Putin regime is completely sabotaging any future relationship with the west and replacing it with Russia having no option other than being China's little bitch. This whole war is unnecessary and stupid. Russia could have gone in a completely other direction. Russia will now be poor and backwards for another 50 years instead of becoming a normal grown-up country. The excuses you hear when talking to Russians are so pathetic. I'm so glad the baltic states and Poland got away from Russia when they had the opportunity. I feel a lot of sympathy for the Russian population, but I have lost respect for all of these "neutral" Russians who think they are detached from the events in Ukraine. They choose to be serfs instead of citizens.

If it works, it works. No reason to have a whole camera development program and production line when you can get the job done with off the shelf components. This camera is produced in giant numbers and I don't think Canon could keep them out of Russia no matter how hard they would try. This morning, Russia is reportedly assaulting Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. We'll see how that goes for them.

I must say that the rifle that eventually became the AK-12 has the same vibes to it. Lots of picatinny but not sturdy enough to hold zero for magnified optics or IR lasers for night fighting. Can't see the improvement over the nicer Ak74-variants. Then again, not every new batch of standard issue rifles has to be better than the last batch. The soldiers that the Russian MoD want to equip with magnified optics or night fighting equipment can probably get their hands on other kits to have the same capability.

I'd never trust an improved top cover for a precision optic. Red dots and magnifiers and 1-4x scopes is one thing, but putting a 1 kg high magnification optic on the top cover and expecting it to be reliably precise over the course of months of field use... no. Of course, I don't have any experience with SVDM, but the picatinny top cover looks like an idea somebody had for something cool to display in the booths at military industrial trade fairs. Very good for a sales pitch in a room full of suits and neckties. The receiver is sturdy and is connected to the barrel only through sturdy components. The side rail works well with removable scope mounts.

Very interesting to see. That's an older variant of the Kahles K312 scope but it's still a very nice optic. Those scope caps look very pragmatically attached. What is that scope that is fifth from the bottom in the group photo? On the gun with the black handguard and the folding stock.

I think something has gone wrong in the leadership structure. That meeting where Putin had his security officials lined up like school children and he humiliated Naryshkin looked like a parody. When I first saw it I thought it was some kind of western fake propaganda, but it was actually real. Even the video editing that was shown in western media is the same as was published on official Russian channels. In that kind of a context, good decisions are not made.

To quote myself: Your impoliteness is uncalled for and your accusation of laziness would be better aimed at yourself. In a discussion on an ongoing war, in which parties to the discussion are citizens of the warring nations, it really would fit you as a moderator to have an ounce more respect and grace than Eric Cartman.

Even if Russia could get the manpower, it couldn't train it to become effective soldiers fast enough to make major offensive action in Ukraine possible. Neither is it possible to replace all the destroyed equipment at record speed without some economic war miracle.

The Ukrainian Nazi discussion is almost off-topic, but I am very confused by that narrative. Yes, Ukraine has a nationalist patriotic movement spanning large parts of society. This much is clear. But this is normal for any society. The only thing that is provocating about this is that as Ukraine self defines itself as a separate independent entity, it says that Ukraine is not Russia. Well that's not nazism. In addition, there undoubtedly seem to exist small nazi parties. But this is true for a lot of countries. Hungary is not a nazi country. Sweden is not a nazi country. Spain is not a nazi country. The most damning evidence is that there are soldiers fighting in ukrainian uniforms that celebrate nazi iconography and even some pure german operation barbarossa nazi shit. But these guys are politically irrelevant idiots! They are fighting for a slavic nation with a jewish president. They are hooligans in uniform! Very useful back in 2014 when ukraines regular forces had no fighting morale and no morals. They primarily want to fight. Whatever political context is not so important. I read an interview of a western (neo nazi) azov guy who traveled to join the Donbass separatists, but he ended up defecting to the azov battalion instead because he didnt like his commander in the separatists forces... Political idiot, citizen of nowhere, he just wanted to fight. I would never want that shithead watch over a POW. But Ukraine and the Kiev government is still not a nazi regime. I live in a European "western" democracy. Because of family, I have a lot of love for Russia. But this special operation bullshit is a major mistake by Russian leaders. I wish peace and prosperity for the Russian people.

How do you guys think it will go from here? Assuming neither side is capable of a serious offensive, who has time on their side? Eventually I guess Zelensky will be pressured to make peace to reduce civilian casualties, but the Russian occupation force must be suffering heavy attrition.

I just read a news report that the Czech Republic will be donating a bunch of T-72:s to Ukraine. Couldn't find any information on what level of upgrades and modernization they have received.

Looking at the current maps on the facts on the ground, Russia looks like it is in a position of strength for negotiations. Does Ukraine have any credible capability for purely offensive action to retake the Donbass region, Mariupol or Kherson?