kwlf wrote:
Search for “henry kissinger ukraine” on youtube and your wish will be granted.
You don’t even have to go to Youtube. It was also in the media earlier this year. In short, he wants Ukraine to cede territory for peace.
Airborne_Again wrote:
In short, he wants Ukraine to cede territory for peace.
In one of his statements he was simply totally frustrated about the total lack of negotiation. Kissinger is one of those people who breaths and lives diplomacy and therefore two parties in a war which are not willing to talk are beyond his tolerance level.
He lives Realpolitik.
That is fine in complicated scenarios like Vietnam, where a settlement will of necessity involve a heavy compromise.
Ukraine isn’t at all complicated. It is a sovereign country, UN recognised, and it got invaded by Russia, which had no right to be there.
So the only area for negotiation is around how much of the loot is Russia going to keep, in return for getting out of there. This is tricky, because the answer is zero. They need to just get out. And pay reparations (which they obviously won’t, but the confiscated assets will do nicely).
In reality, a final settlement may involve a bit of this. That would be only in recognition of the fact that Ukraine has some millions of people who want to be Russian (or who are just lazy buggers who want the predictable life which communism gives you, along with poverty and corruption) but who don’t want to go and live in Russia itself because Russia (or the part of Russia to which millions of mostly nonproductive people would be allowed to dump themselves) is a sh1thole 
The standard hypocrisy of communism…
But it is way too early to talk about that. Ukraine is getting stronger, Russia is getting weaker (quite rapidly internally although they don’t show it yet) and things could change fast.
Ukraine could create a “province” for the “Putin lovers” to move to – a sort of Palestine – but that always causes long term trouble. Look at Yugoslavia, 30+ years later. Or Palestine…
The best solution is for Ukraine to return to the pre-invasion borders and deal with the “Putin lovers” using normal legal methods. But that will also be hard, due to the numbers. They could send them to N Europe and the UK; they would feel welcome, among many friends
Kissinger is one of those people who breaths and lives diplomacy and therefore two parties in a war which are not willing to talk are beyond his tolerance level.
No. He’s just a war criminal involved in overthrowing democratically elected governments/presidents in other countries, organizing and supporting military coups and causing suffer and death of many innocent people. If that’s called diplomacy then Putin is diplomat as well.
Peter wrote:
That is fine in complicated scenarios like Vietnam, where a settlement will of necessity involve a heavy compromise.
Actually, they tried negotiating earlier this year but that was pointless because the Russian delegates didn’t have any real mandate.
MedEwok wrote:
Basically the velocity of each shell is measured during the time they travel through the barrel and then at the muzzle the fuse is electronically programmed for a set detonation time based on radar data and calculated distance to target.
Didn’t see that video earlier. It’s more like an intelligent shot gun, sending a swarm of projectiles. This makes the Swiss stand even more difficult to understand. It’s clearly a 100% defensive weapon saving people from deadly drones and other killing stuff from the air. I have eaten my last Swiss cheese for sure 
(for whatever it’s worth)
Also the timing must be incredibly accurate, to get a reasonable proximity. You have to get within a metre or two.
Radar can measure distance very accurately but try working out the required accuracy for the projectile velocity, which – while you can measure it accurately at the muzzle – will be affected downrange by air temperature and all sorts of stuff.
I am sure Ukraine is using normal ammo in theirs, as far as they can. Lots of different photos online. But nobody is talking, presumably because a lot of delicate work is going on behind the scenes.
This is a far better solution, futureproof because the ammo is dumb, but maybe shorter range. The Gepard looks like a technological tour de force, and was an amazing achievement in its day. Especially given the decades-long mil procurement cycle times.
Possibly, but now we’re talking about Europe. Is this only your feeling or do you have actual statements to back it up?
It is actually a sincere question. You may well be right, but I can’t recall having read or heard anything in that direction except from you.
Verbal statements, perhaps not. But even in the case of our European politicians it is sometimes better to pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say.
For as long as I can remember, even when we were still in the EU, my company could not obtain a licence to route our arms exports to Ukraine through Germany (or through Poland, for that matter). We had to send our goods by air freight, usually via Istanbul.
Fast-forward to 2022 and Germany has clearly failed to provide support in proportion to its GDP to defend the territory of a European neighbour (as, to its shame, all of the EU failed to do in 2014.
To this observer, it seems that a large part (if not a majority) of German industry, politicians and people still crave better relations with Russia than with Ukraine.
Jacko wrote:
To this observer, it seems that a large part (if not a majority) of German industry, politicians and people still crave better relations with Russia than with Ukraine.
Different countries have different experience with war from recent history. WWII in particular. Finland for instance. Attacked by Russia (USSR) in a very bloody war, managed to fight them off, against all numerical odds. Still, they wouldn’t join NATO after the war, they even had Russian fighter jets at some point. Go figure. Germany was literally in ruin after WWII, 100% self inflicted due to believing in war as a political tool.
To this observer it’s always the same from US and to some degree UK. A bunch of sideline spectators who have never really participated in the game. Even to this day there is a large tendency, particularly in the US, to define themselves as “not part” of the rest of the world. Russians are European too, exactly as Ukrainians. Putin doesn’t define what Russia is, although he obviously think so ATM. This is something that has changed during the last years, he wasn’t like this earlier. Some of us have to live with Russia across the border for all foreseeable future. That is best done in peace.
US and to some degree UK. A bunch of sideline spectators who have never really participated in the game
Really??
