09:56 – Johan No.1
I have a bit of a tradition to try to buy a better whisky for Christmas and some cigars that last until New Year. The price varies depending on work, how many children one has had during the year and other factors but I try to stay above famous grouse and white blend if possible – you can’t sit and drink ridiculously expensive whisky if the kids don’t get any Christmas presents.
Now this year’s purchase coincides with 100,000 dead PDA, Zelensky’s USA visit and then you should probably take a sip for 6,000 IFVs and 2,000 ART as well. It will be a good Christmas this year 👍
10:06 – Johan No.1
Biden praises Zelensky
https://twitter.com/potus/status/1605667817558261761?s=46&t=t8fwy-x-aNQZlm-ZH_jJ9A
10:28 – Johan No.1
Managing to drag that group in the days before Christmas is an achievement in itself I guess, they live all over the USA and had to rebook flights that didn’t exist and so on.
Yes, thank you for your insights about the USA, very valuable.
If I understand this correctly, this is quite a long journey now with lend-lease and what was voted through before new senators/congress members were/will be in place. Was this also for Congress and the Senate to persuade them to vote right or are we beyond that?
R has stumbled incredibly badly in this but I have the impression that support for them is decreasing, that Trump would run in the next election probably won’t happen, or maybe he will but it won’t be a win?
10:28 – Johan No.1
Managing to drag that group in the days before Christmas is an achievement in itself I guess, they live all over the USA and had to rebook flights that didn’t exist and so on.
Yes, thank you for your insights about the USA, very valuable.
If I understand this correctly, this is quite a long journey now with lend-lease and what was voted through before new senators/congress members were/will be in place. Was this also for Congress and the Senate to persuade them to vote right or are we beyond that?
R has stumbled incredibly badly in this but I have the impression that support for them is decreasing, that T-P would run in the next election probably won’t happen, or maybe he will but it won’t be a win?
10:28 – Johan No.1
Guess if one got stuck in the filter…
10:33 – Johan No.1
It was quite lively before we adjusted the dose down, the first time we were going over to Haakon to burn his castle and enslave his clan they were just lying on the ground writhing with laughter over the helmets having horns.
It eventually worked when we got the right dose but the failed raiding party against Haakon is something we don’t like to talk about, if mobile cameras had existed at that time there would have been no feared Vikings in Europe, it was that bad.
10:36 – MatsExtrude
+100
10:52 – Johan No.1
The blog writes – “The USA in turn decided on a new large military aid package, including a Patriot battery, which will assist with the protection of Kyiv, reports Ukrinform. Foreign Minister Kuleba says that this also opens for more Patriot batteries, probably a green light for other NATO countries to send the systems to Ukraine”.
Germany, of course, just announced that they need all their Patriot batteries at home, none to spare. Apparently, it was more important to be faster than the USA with that Christmas message to the abused children in Ukraine.
11:16 – Johan No.1
I’ve been sulking over this and those two, you know who, who refuse to be silent in the EU, but the horizon is brightening.
If we think it’s politically unstable in the USA – ask Lukashenko how well he sleeps at night 😀
The past week it has been quite clear to me that Putin et al. are panicking; he usually doesn’t leave the stripper pole and the oiled horse for a round with the detestable mob unless it’s a critical situation.
I’ll bet five hundred that tanks and aircraft will come soon.
11:23 – Johan No.1
It will get better when the Christmas whiskey arrives..
Yes, I believe they are establishing communication and cooperation among themselves that can be valuable. Then, just as you write, both NATO and EU have participants who play double or are directly pro-Russian; the UN is already hijacked, and with some subversive activity, those organizations can also be turned into passive colossi.
Passivity is all that is needed, and if the USA and JEF can cut through the clutter when needed, that’s probably not so bad.
11:41 – Johan No.1
Isn’t this a new package?
Does it have to pass the Senate as well?
The best Christmas presents are the hard and offensive ones, maybe a bit early but we can always hope.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1605866804588384256?s=20&t=FPvvdxWD0CpMnzTtFR8eEw
11:53 – MatsExtrude
I’ve understood that it’s intended to serve as the budget for next year (but outside of lend-lease) but that they are voting it through now because they lose the majority in the House of Representatives in January. However, I haven’t seen if it has passed yet.
11:57 – Johan No.1
Quite big news, you remember the 45th Air Assault brigade that has been down by the border with Transnistria is now at the active front.
If nothing else, it’s a fully rested brigade that has presumably been equipped and trained as well as any brigade can be.
https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1605567779871936512?s=20&t=hOXQuM5UQdVYsdfzXaHI7A
Ukraine definitely has something big planned this winter if they are moving even this one to the active front.
11:59 – MatsExtrude
If the support tracker has correct numbers (and I interpret them correctly) the USA has so far contributed 47 billion USD (military and other support). The package in the link above is 45 billion USD, so it doesn’t sound impossible that it covers all of 2023.
12:00 – Johan No.1
Yes, it’s very important for Macron to announce this right now, very important…
Then Germany couldn’t hold back either, so it was front page news that they definitely would not deliver Patriot to Ukraine, and the other day that they definitely would not deliver Leo2 – if anyone believed that, they wanted to clear things up.
If you didn’t know better, you could think that Macron and Scholz are sulking like two little kids because Biden rolled out the red carpet with extra everything for Zelensky.
12:01 – MatsExtrude
A quick Google search shows that a brigade in Ukraine corresponds to about 4,000 men. Does anyone know if that’s correct or have other figures?
12:03 – Johan No.1
Something like that, and Air Assault is almost mechanized and an elite unit. These guys have also been waiting a year to go into combat.
12:27 – MatsExtrude
Good, good, sounds like they can make a real difference!
18:16 – Johan No.1
It must freeze, you check the weather daily. According to someone in Luhansk, the ground now supports armor. I believe maintenance can be provided even if it gets tougher.
You get a good distance on a full tank, Wikipedia says 450 km for T72 but that’s probably not mixed driving so less than half. A bit under 200 miles is still not bad for a breakthrough, other factors probably dominate like not losing infantry or artillery support if it goes fast.
You can have jeeps with jerry cans if it gets tight?
If you stand idling like the Russians to get heat, of course, you won’t get far.
20:55 – Johan No.1
What the heck, he has 1 million subscribers and uses the same talking points as we do and some that seemed a bit too spectacular. Now it’s going to be a YouTube channel, English course, and a self-study in how to draw on maps so it ends up in moving video.
My six-year-old son has gained five hundred subscribers by posting shorts of him throwing Winnie the Pooh and a Mickey Mouse across the room to different music, so I’ve long thought about starting something similar because people seem to follow anything.
20:58 – Johan No.1
https://twitter.com/TheDeadDistrict/status/1593225128242040833?s=20&t=Ep-g3uv5Dd3ZhhPNBLj2MQ
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1591887633587867651?s=20&t=Ep-g3uv5Dd3ZhhPNBLj2MQ
https://twitter.com/TpyxaNews/status/1593195302210920448?s=20&t=Ep-g3uv5Dd3ZhhPNBLj2MQ
21:11 – Johan No.1
Now I can’t decipher “Cossack business” but I see mechanized in BMP on passable road. If it’s recent, it must be full speed ahead because that’s probably before an attack?
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1606003655563300864?s=20&t=jVGknBA1pCY5AMF08RngzQ
21:11 – Johan No.1
The Ukrainians have a sense of humor.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1605975187110760449?s=20&t=jVGknBA1pCY5AMF08RngzQ
09:42 – Johan No.1
Hard to sit still after skimming through Zelensky’s USA visit, if you respected him before, soon there will probably be fan letters and a Zelensky poster on the wall – he played his role perfectly.
The visit was directed down to the smallest detail with military clothes and a speech that hit straight home – a flag from Bakhmut, a letter from a soldier at the front, “Bakhmut Stands”, “Ukraine holds its lines and will never surrender”
– USA absolutely LOVES that, that’s about all I know about that country. “On Wisconsin” and all that 😀
The American side rolled out the biggest red carpet available and the signaling politics were hard to miss – Zelensky and Ukraine are our honored friend and we are with you all the way, we will never betray you.
At the end Pelosi holds up the Ukrainian flag in Congress – how often does something like that happen (never)?
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1605810434241548288?s=20&t=ZjA-37G5O2nMLLMZ604s_w
I’m guessing here but I don’t think it’s often Congress has full attendance for a foreign head of state and the applause was like when Saddam or Stalin gave speeches with the difference that those were voluntary. Congress has united as one behind the Ukraine war – that message was impossible to miss (even if it was staged).
One wonders if anyone dares to show these videos to Putin and with a bit of luck we’ll be spared Macron and Scholz for a while now, hard to try to broker peace when the USA promises to go all in to secure a win.
I also believe that JEF got on a plane to the USA to also discuss their support. A couple in the thread posted flights yesterday and I think it looked like that.
The visit to the USA obviously came for a reason – support in the EU is starting to falter and you know who (two) have smelled morning air and crawled out into the daylight which has made Putin still believe he has an out.
Now they have probably secured support from the USA and JEF in the amount and systems Ukraine wants, including tanks and advanced aircraft. They have also planted a very fast-growing seed of doubt among the Russian leadership and the country Ukraine knows that their president is welcome every day into the fine rooms in the USA.
This was probably Putin’s worst day so far in the war, he is well versed in the subject of the USA and knows very well that when they go all in, it’s over.
It is obvious that soldiers and citizens in Ukraine are starting to get war-weary and Zelensky has probably succeeded with the biggest morale boost since the berserkers got their mushroom through his visit to Bakhmut and the USA trip. The choice is between castration and desecration of small children or being welcomed with open arms into the free West by none other than the USA if they just keep fighting.
I also think I see a new security order taking shape – JEF (joint expeditionary force) includes the countries that have donated the most weapons to Ukraine and made the strongest statements. It is pleasing that Sweden is part of it, even though my personal opinion is that we could have delivered more.
I believe the EU will move in the right direction going forward as this is a strong group with short numbers to the USA as it should be. Clearly, the EU daycare needs a preschool teacher in the form of the USA to function as it should.
You saw who demonstratively sat and looked at their phones the whole speech…
Very positive, when I worked in an African country there was an election, the two candidates got the same number of votes (fraud of course…) and could not decide who would become president – both were ready to fight for power.
The US ambassador got into his diplomatic car, flag on, and drove home to one (the most suitable) candidate.
The next day he stood on TV as the country’s new president and a civil war was avoided.
-That’s kind of how I see this USA visit, the diplomatic car has driven into Zelensky’s driveway.