John Anthony

5 hours ago, Bluegrasscard said:

What bases will they operate from?  Fuel?  Support teams?  Parts, armament packages?  How would they even be "sent"?  Ferried in by NATO pilots?  How would the NATO leave then?  

The "send jets" theme has seemed like a fantasy from first day it was mentioned. 

Poland would be the middleman.

2 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

They would need to be trained on US planes, that's why they are asking for Migs. Their pilots are already trained on them and they have the infrastructure in place to maintain those planes.

Sounds like NATO only has 70 Migs altogether.  I wonder how many they can spare? 10-20?

1 hour ago, theguru said:

I heard exactly the same thing only it was ten F15 fighters against one F22.

I can only imagine how many pilots have challenged F-22 guys.  The biggest thing with a pilot is, the cooler their call-sign, typically the weaker of a pilot they are.  If you ever go up against “Bozo” you’re screwed.

I’ve seen the F22’s fly in Dayton and Norfolk, if you ever get the chance do it!  The thing with the F22 is, even if the pilot is “off” that day, the onboard computers compensate for human faults, deficiencies.

Ukraine can’t fly the F22 or even the F35, we can help with with F16’s or F18’s.

Oil is at $126 dollars folks.  If you had told me this a few months ago I would have laughed at you.  This is insane, $4.00+ a gallon is a lock soon.

On 3/5/2022 at 3:36 PM, Jumper_Dad said:

Russia and China both have bragged about and shown off their newest fighters, their F22 answers. The only problem is about all they have done so far is build a few demonstrators or test versions. Neither air force appears to be as advanced as they try to proclaim. Both rely on using huge numbers and incurring huge losses to achieve objectives. 

Their anti-air defense systems are very strong. However when it come to air to air combat, as @TheDeuce said, "They don't want that smoke!"

I coached a kid who went to the Air Force academy.  He told me they did an op, five F-15’s vs one F-22, the 22 downed all 5 and nobody made contact with the 22.  He told me during debriefs, if the 22 is contacted, the pilot has to explain why to the upper brass.

Just now, theguru said:

I think the best thing America could do is totally reverse course on all forms of non-green energy and push full steam ahead.  Nothing will be solved overnight but the sooner we come back to our senses the better the world will be. 

10000000000%.  Green is the future, but let’s be honest about the present and work on a hybrid approach.

Sounds like multiple Russian fighter jets have been shot down today.  All those years of wondering how the US would fare against Russian fighter jets appears to have been answered.  I hope NATO considers sending fighter jets to Ukraine for them to use.

1 hour ago, Voice of Reason said:

@theguru @John Anthony

Back to the oil conversation. Forget Keystone, opening new lands for drilling, etc. None of that is necessary. The US has current capacity to increase production above and beyond the 710,000 barrels we buy from Russia. Less than 5% of Russian oil sales go to the US. If the US turned off Russian oil purchases today, it would be a non event for Russia. The US oil companies reduced production during the pandemic as prices dropped drastically. The US output is more than 1 million barrels per day below what it was prior to the pandemic. US companies are turning wells back on and increasing production. This production increase has been in process since last year and should be able to replace the Russian oil we buy within a few months. 

Now, that solves the US buying from Russia. That doesn't solve high gas prices. It might help some but when Europe buys 50% of their oil from Russia that makes this once again, repeat with me please, a problem for THE WORLD, not just the US. And no one here in the US can fix that. 

Let’s see if the US actually pursues production increases.  At some point in the not so distant future, we won’t have a choice.  We’re at a “do what you have to do moment.”  

23 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

This is price gouging, plain and simple. 

It’s all based on oil my man.  The Russia stuff obviously made things a lot worse. It’s scary to think $3.29 sounds good right about now. 

Chicago spot gasoline prices have firmed incredibly, up 40c/gal, MI/IN/OH/IL/WI watch out for $4.19-$4.39/gal soon.

Kentucky will likely be approaching $3.99-$4.09?  Someone can report 24 hours from now.

2 hours ago, okie1 said:

China?

Apparently India is doing business with Russia still.

1 hour ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Watching several videos coming from people all over Europe last night. One guy stated that nearly all of Ukraine's armor and air power has been destroyed by Russian Cruise Missiles. He was quoting someone that supposedly was in country and said to expect news of this to start to leak out in the next week.

If that is true, it would explain why Russia has been moving at a slower pace than expected. 

If cruise missiles are able to completely destroy Ukrainian forces this completely, it would explain why Russian Air power has been more subdued than expected. If Russia was leveling the country with bombing by their air force, there would be an international call for a no fly zone. By holding back with bombing campaigns it keeps No-Fly Zones off the board.  NFZs would be the quickest way for this to explode into a much bigger conflict.

Yup, once Russia setup their warships, they can send cruise missiles at will.  We’re beginning to hear the desperation calls from Ukraine officials.

3 days of training, now headed to the front lines of the Last Bastion.

On 2/25/2022 at 6:42 PM, Voice of Reason said:

WKU dropped their mask requirements today.

The science changing is welcomed by all!

15 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Have you not listened to the Ukrainian Presidents pleas for help?  There is a lot that can be done.  

We’re not gonna help until it hurts us directly.  

23 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

The 200,000 reserves were called up the day the invasion started. Why weren't they called up weeks to months ago? The best deterrent I can think of is Ukraine having twice as many soldiers as Russia ready and waiting for a possible invasion.

Ukraine can’t match them regardless, they are slowly in the process of circling Kyiv with a wall of tanks.  Ukraine had early success due to it being their land.  However, waves 25–100 will be tough to overcome.  Ukraine is a very large country, Russia appears to be going slow and steady now.  The worst bloodshed is still to come, Ukraine will fight to their last soldier.

Sounds like the plant and fire is secure/contained.  This was such a dangerous situation it sounds like 915PM phone calls were made across the pond.  Don’t be this stupid Russia, back off.

2 minutes ago, theguru said:

Mutual assured destruction (MAD).

Very dangerous situation, if Russia was trying to provoke the US/NATO to get involved, attacking nuclear power plants would be the way.  Hopefully, they quickly realize their mistake and back off. 

9 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Let's be clear everyone. A step into this by NATO or US forces and WW3 is on and nuclear weapons are in play. What can be done?

Fire first. 

19 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

If Russia is indeed actively shooting at this nuclear plant, it’s time to end this, now. 

It’s essentially a nuclear attack.  

1 hour ago, Voice of Reason said:

And what could have been done? By any country? 

Here is one point I have wondered about. Ukraine has 900,000 reserves. To my knowledge they did not call up or activate any of them before the invasion. Ukraine insisted Russia would nit invade even days before it started. Maybe 200,000 reserves activated and sent to counter the Russian troop build up would have helped prevent it?

No, Russia decided to attack weeks to months ago.  The 200,000 soldiers are already activated, on top of thousands of civilians.  China asked Russia to wait until after the Olympics.  Usually, when the US warns against something it’s a deterrent.  Not so much this time.  Ukraine isn’t even eligible to join NATO, Russia had no threat against them.  They decided months ago this was the time to attack.

23 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Nuclear power plant in Ukraine is on fire after being attacked by Russians. 

4 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Just saw this as well.  Not sure how well thought out this was by Russia unless they're hoping to end this soon by means of others stepping in. 

This could be worse than Chernobyl which is also in Ukraine.  Come on people!

It’s hard to believe that Ukraine will hold until the end of the month?  What happens afterwards?  

36 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

True, because THE WORLD hasn't united on an issue like this since 1941. This is not an US issue. It is a WORLD issue. There is nothing, I emphasize nothing, US could have done to prevent this.

It is a world issue but the US is viewed as the world police and always has been.  We still have the most dominant military in the world.  For whatever reason, Russia saw an opportunity and took it.  The literally staged their troops on the Ukrainian border for a month before attacking. They weren’t passive about it.

3 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

We here in the US are very good at making things all about us. Ukraine is fighting for its very existence but we complain about gas prices here. These are worldwide issues over the past 2 years but here it is all about us and what "they" are doing to us. People act like we control all these things happening in the world. We don't. It is that simple.

The only thing I can think of that may have prevented this war in the Ukraine would have been THE WORLD reacting to Crimea like they are to Ukraine. But THE WORLD did not. Thankfully THE WORLD is responding now. Let's hope it isn't too late.

We warned Russia not to do this they just didn’t take us seriously.  The people of Ukraine are suffering.  Sanctions will eventually cripple Russia’s economy, but that does nothing for the people of Ukraine today.