NATO Training and Lessons from the War in Ukraine - Interview with General Ben Hodges (Ret.)

[Bond_Villian]

 

[Bond_Villian]

Just thought i would share this here as i found it interesting, and maybe of interest to some here

[Captain_Colossus]

 hodges, hr mcmaster, petraeus, milley, austin- all must really be reflecting on their attention their own past statements except that no one holds them to account, that is, how they were wrong-  the mainstream media itself has demonstrated how unreliable it is and is blatantly manufacturing the correct narrative no matter how bizarre.

 

the textbook russian defense that the media, encouraged by pundits and political hacks to believe was a farce and something left over from world war two just underscoring how primitive and incompetent the russians were- tore up the roughly what- somewhere between one and two ukrainian corps intended to break through and push on to the azov coast.

 

you have a multi-echeloned defense stretching for miles- well the first line is intended to be penetrated - because then an attacker finds itself raked by fire from multiple directions, while the russians re-seed minefields behind or around the attacker. then the problems are just starting to become apparent- because behind that is the second line, which is the main russian defense- again., the same problem as before if they get this far but even more intense; then behind that is typically where the reserves are which counterattack any forces which are dithering in kill zones and so on. depending on the sector, there could be more defensive belts depending on the importance signed by the russians. and when you looked at the maps when all of this happening you could practically see where the russians were enticing the ukrainians to penetrate- because you would see what looks like a relatively weak pocket separating trench positions as if there was some kind of lax oversight.

 

now of course the ukrainians never got that far- the stories abou ukrainian making breakthroughs never happened- instead the ukrainians fell apart among the russian screen positioned in front of the main defenses- these groups did not expect nor intend to hold this territory, but just to wear out the spear through a push and pull seesaw action- attack, retreat, fall back, displace, lure attackers into minefields and fire sacks and so on. keep attacking then displace, give up infantry positions then retake them again, the repeat and keep this pressure going. throughout all of this ukraine captured maybe a dozen or so small settlements consisting of small farming communities in the forward area- but that was all, other than a few small infantry groups which made into the russian defenses for a photo op before having to pull out again before the drones and the artillery started zeroing in. but of course this was all being played up as some kind of breakthrough which was going on. and so i think the real problem for russia wasn't a ukrainian breakthrough but that ukraine would have gotten smart all of this and called it off too early, preserving its forces for the next round of the russian offensive, which is not going to look like the long parked columns.

 

the problem was the public and i think many of the leadership do not understand what they are dealing with- ukraine capturing ground is not per se winning for ukraine, that is certainly not the russians are viewing it, as if you all that is needed to score points mean getting past the defense in a hocky or football analogy or whatever- which mean next to nothing in this conflict, instead the russians view trading territory for attrition on ukraine as intentional and desireable.

 

and so in a similar way it was a trap like bakhmut was intended to draw in as many ukrainians as possible, then cinch the trap and destroy as much of the ukrainian armed forces as possible- which you saw similarly in last year's ukrainian counteroffensive which was eventually shut down by the fall of 2022- and which resulted in the destruction of the best the ukrainian army.

 

and so it is not a stalemate and never was a stalemate, which is a misunderstanding of how russia is grinding down ukraine because it is not proceeding as quickly as desert storm or iraqi freedom, so therefore it is not understood too well how the russians view the progress of the war and how to win differently from the west- which looks like reality to starting to catch up and more and more the public is now realizing this

 

 

[Grenny]

Oh look....someone realized that media in a war is not entirely truthful.

Funny thing is how he then swallows what russian media is producing....the irony is tasty

[Captain_Colossus]

1 hour ago, Grenny said:

Oh look....someone realized that media in a war is not entirely truthful.

Funny thing is how he then swallows what russian media is producing....the irony is tasty

 

i know that you look at me and angelina and brad and you cannot help but admire us. well we feel the same way about you. you look so carefree and content. it looks different to us

[Ssnake]

....and here we go again, thread locked.

I share the sentiment about media pundits in general that are never held accountable for their false predictions; Nassim Nicholas Taleb has something to say about them as well. But you bloody well know the forum rules, and went ahead and violated them anyway.