Vladimir Putin’s calculation about Ukraine, its president and its people, was off by an order of magnitude — perhaps because he failed to factor in one element…morale. When President Zelensky failed to flee to save his own skin, it sent a message. When the U.S. offered him egress and he said, “I don’t need a ride. I need ammunition”, it sent a more powerful message.
NOTE: We know that Miss Ukraine’s Instagram post was meant to encourage women to be strong, not to imply she had officially enlisted in the army. Although she is not part of the Ukraine military, she certainly played an important role in lifting morale. [And yes, we know the picture of her features an airsoft pellet rifle.]
Bill Whittle, Scott Ott and Stephen Green produce these episodes of Right Angle — five new each week — thanks to our Members.
22 replies on “MORALE: “I Don’t Need a Ride, I Need Ammunition””
When Ukraine gave up it’s nukes, what did the U.S. say they would do, anything?, protect them from Russia, I’m just asking if we committed to anything, I really don’t know, when I get time I will try to find out, can you save me any time?
My question is this: we have seen thousands of molotovs being made, and I cannot find even a single legit video of ANY molotov being deployed. Not one. No Uke redneck threw one & filmed it just to see what it would do? No one was filming when they dosed a tank? Not even once?
What I want to know is .. why are we trusting ANY footage from CNN right now. Did something change recently?
If this is true things got a whole lot more interesting in the best and worst ways.
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/russian-marines-mutiny-ordered-attack-ukrainian-beach-assault-canceled-report
Will Putin, who has two daughters; 39 and 38 respectively and an unknown number of grandchildren, sacrifice Russia and the world for his cause.
The parallels between Stalin’s invasion of Finland in 1939 and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine today are remarkable.
Russia took from Sweden what was to become Finland in 1809 and incorporated it into the Russian Empire. In 1917 the Russian Empire collapsed and the Finns declared independence.
In 1939, Stalin having invaded and secured eastern Poland and the Baltic countries at the outset of WWII, decided to further his territory by invading Finland. He used the excuse that Leningrad was only 30 miles from the Finnish border and needed to secure Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Stalin assumed the Finns would give up without much of a fight like the Baltic countries. Stalin and his general’s expected to overrun the entire country in 10 to 12 days.
The Russian Army was huge, the Finnish very small. The Finns had only one operable tank, and almost no artillery or anti-tank weapons. The Finnish Air Force consisted of 96 obsolete aircraft.
Stalin tried to install a puppet government, but the Finish Communist he picked refused to accept the offer. Stalin claimed that the Finns started the war by attacking Russia first!
On Nov 30 the Russians launched a massive attack across multiple fronts into Finland . Numbers vary widely on the total but it was at least 400,000 and up to1 million troops. For the main attack up the Karelian Isthmus he sent 120,000 men, 600 tanks, and 1,000 artillery.
The Finnish response was classic: “They are so many and our country is so small, where shall we find room to bury them all?”
Despite all odds, the Finns held the line on the Karelian Isthmus. On other fronts around Finland the Russians had better luck in the beginning using mass tank attacks which the Finns were unable to stop. But then they did. The Russians were sticking mostly to the roads in long lines of vehicles, some 30 kilometers long. Armed with bottles filled with petrol and a flaming rag, and later with Satchel charges the Finnish ski troops would come out of the forest and throw a flaming bottle of petrol or a satchel charge on to the rear deck of a Russian tank. The losses for these volunteers were huge, over 70%.
Thus the origin of the Molotov Cocktail. First used in the Spanish Civil War, the Finns named it a Molotov Cocktail to insult the Soviet Commissar of foreign affairs, Molotov.
The Russian attack slowed to a crawl, but the massive numbers ground down the Finns. By March the Finns were almost entirely out of ammunition and had lost much territory. But Russian losses were huge. Long after the war Nikita Khrushchev said that a total of 1.5 million Soviet soldiers were sent to Finland and one million of them perished during the three months of the war. These numbers are highly disputed. In 2013 Pavel Petrov stated that the Russian State Military Archive has a database confirming 167,976 killed or missing.
The Finns lost 26,000 fatalities and 44,000 wounded.
An armistice was signed on March 13th, 1940.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a meeting with military historians that the USSR launched the Winter War to “correct mistakes” made in determining the border with Finland after 1917.
I think that today the Ukrainians are showing what the Finns showed in 1939-40. The power of a people fighting for freedom.
Sources of the above come from Arto Bendiken’s A Thousand Lakes of Red Blood on the Snow.
Read at https://ar.to/2010/08/red-blood-white-snow
Max Hastings’s Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945
Wikipedia: Winter War : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War
Thank you so much for putting that all in perspective. I’ve been re-watching those portions of World at Ware and listening to podcasts on Russian and Ukrainian history to fill in knowledge gaps. The parallels are eerie, until I remember the lessons of history are always pertinent to today, and as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” I pray the next events that unfold don’t follow what happened in 1939.
It wouldn’t hurt if we could send them about a dozen A-10 Warthogs with volunteer pilots and ammo. 40 miles of tanks stationary on a highway would make quite a shooting gallery!
That may be obsolete. I believe the USA has one B 52 converted to operate as a drone and several Drone converted warthogs or warthog replacements were in testing before the election. The only question is does Biden, or Klain, have the knowledge and power to veto their use?
Putting Americans in Ukraine Air space may push Putin to nuke something. Drones passed to Ukraine adds plausible deniability.
Also there are rumor’s that that convoy is not just backed up but has been immobilized by Russians that don’t want to fight. Killing them may be counterproductive. Ukraine already has drone assets that could hit the main convoy but has not. Instead they are paying Russians to ‘defect’. We may already be looking at miles of empty vehicles.
As a former military’s man, a mere sig, I can’t see how an army can end up backed up 40 miles on the one highway without internal sabotage. Rule number one. Get off the road and form a defensible position in a field. Keep one lane of the road clear for emergency traffic, particularly ambulances. Why hasn’t half that convoy moved onto the parallel roads east and west? The roads are there. Are they mined? Why have they not used dismounted troops to fully encircle Kyiv? Where is the Air force? We see very little activity. Where is the Black sea fleet? There are a few ships in the sea of Azov supporting the push along the coast but its amazingly slow. Why was Lviv and Odessa attacked only once and there have been no attacks since? Why were those two attacks so small and in effective. Wiped out on arrival reportedly? A half decent miniatures player or a kid playing command and conquer would not make these mistakes. This army has not stalled its quit.
I was also wondering about a volunteer force to go over and help. I don’t know the legalities, but I do assume there are several who are very anxious to go and lend a hand.
Surprised and disappointed that Steve left out what must surely be the third rule of logistics…
Never, EVER, run out of booze.
The fact that the State Department’s first offer was a ride out tells you EVERYTHING you need to know as to where the US gov’t stands. When your friend’s house is on fire and he asks for help, do you ask if he needs you to call 911, or do you just run to help? The first offer is what the person asking thinks will help the most. The fact that they want to run away, tells you everything.
Do we have only the State Department’s word on the quote? Is there video or audio of it? I would not trust anything coming out of the current junta.
Putin Derangement Syndrome leads you on the exact path TDS did others. I wonder if it’s as hopeless to cure.
I understand that you record all the episodes in a single session to release through the week — but I thought you at least have enough wisdom to keep them in the bin if reasonable.
I don’t think the lads have Putin Derangement Syndrome, I know I don’t. I do know some Neo-Con types who do, but if anything I’ve found Scott, Steve and Bill to be very balanced on Putin.
I have had heated arguments with friends of mine who do have PDS. I’ve made the excuses, Russia is not the west, not the same tradition of an open society, fear of chaos, can’t judge him by our standards, etc. etc. etc. I’ve actually quite liked some of what Putin says. I’d love to see him as a defender of Christendom. I’d love to see Mother Russia and the UK once again be the anvil and hammer that combined to help stop Napoleon and Hitler, this time (peacefully) defeating the EU.I share Putin’s dismay when looking at the wilder expressions of western “progress”.
Sadly, like the lads, and most folk on here, I am bound to judge by actions. not words. No true defender of Christendom would ally himself with the Atheist, Marxist murderers in Beijing who persecute Christians and cut people up for their organs. No one who cherishes freedom locks up and assassinates opponents. No one who wants peace invades his neighbours. When I saw that Putin had actually invaded I felt a bit like someone in a bar who’s been making excuses for his drunken mate all evening, and the mate then finally hauls off and smashes a bottle on someone’s head.
At the tail I’m getting confused which countries are you describing. 🙂
Sure, if you eat up all the media lies like Crimea occupation, and use those as your base of “balance”, you think it’s level while actually having an elephant in one bowl.
At least you are aware of what was the situation of Donbass in the last 8 years, right? Or you’re in the camp that claims the absolutely unprovoked attacks the build all the virtue signaling from there.
And the guys here managed to even misrrepresent the fake news. If you dismiss the PDS theory, the only thing remains they are stone dumb. And I don’t believe that. It will be interesting to see whether a month ahead we might see a mea culpa series “howI got carried away by the fake news when they pained a picture aligned with my wishes”.
How do you confuse me saying that I actually have friends who exhibit PDS symptoms with me dismissing PDS as an idea?
I think Russia’s claim to the Crimea is a pretty strong one. The mix up of borders and peoples in eastern Europe is a horrible mess, but sending in troops and tanks is not the way to fix it.
I am aware of the conflict in the Donbas. I’m aware that there are claims and counter claims and no doubt at least some blame and justice on both sides. Are you aware Kiev in not in the Donbas? The situation in the Donbas does not justify the invasion of the Ukraine.
I was just referring to the last paragraph of the post where you describe what freedom respecting countries do and refrain, and it put all the western world in that camp… Not sure it was intention or not, hence the confusion.
I’m glad you at least know the map and the basic situation. So what do you think of claims just in this clip, i.e the number of fighting troops of U made by Bill, then of Russia made by Steve, that Bill attempted to correct but Steve just douled down and the company settled it as fine? Do you think it’s sorta accurate?
Before I get to your question let’s address the cluster fudge you open with. I will paste the paragraph you refer to and I would be obliged if you would point out where I mention western countries, their actions, or their claim to moral rectitude.
“Sadly, like the lads, and most folk on here, I am bound to judge by actions. not words. No true defender of Christendom would ally himself with the Atheist, Marxist murderers in Beijing who persecute Christians and cut people up for their organs. No one who cherishes freedom locks up and assassinates opponents. No one who wants peace invades his neighbours. When I saw that Putin had actually invaded I felt a bit like someone in a bar who’s been making excuses for his drunken mate all evening, and the mate then finally hauls off and smashes a bottle on someone’s head.”
I was dismissing Putin’s claims to be a defender of Christendom etc. I do not mention the west at all. Saying Putin is not what he claims to be is not the same as stating I think any western leaders or the west in general are those things. The west is far from perfect and has got worse in the last two years especially, that does not give Putin a pass to invade Ukraine.
“No one who cherishes freedom locks up and assassinates opponents. No one who wants peace invades his neighbours.”
Didn’t you hear of plenty lock ups happening in the supposedly civilised part of the world? Even just counting actual jail for mere political reasons, not a more general sense of locking massive part of population into their hoes or quaraintine hotels/camps.
Assasinating is also pretty common practice though rarely makes into the news. But everyone can call a handful of easy examples.
Invading… do you want to covr under meaning of “neighbor” by vicinity, so attacking countries a with little more distance gets a pass?
Yea, you did not mention west by name jut by the behavior, what you supposedly look after.
Can you actually read? I specifically said that my criticism of Putin does not mean I am not uncritical of western leaders.
Back under your bridge.
I’ve never heard of “Putin Derangement Syndrome”. Some people point out that “liberating Ukraine from Ukrainian Nazis” is hugely popular in Russia. Many Russians believe the propaganda that Ukraine’s governments, all of them since Yanukovych, have been taken over by Nazi’s. People on DeviantArt are spouting this claim as is one of my Pro Trump Facebook friends. This was taught in soviet schools for half a century.
The Ukrainians sided with Hitler WW2 but this was because Stalin was killing Ukrainians by the thousands. Stalin drove Norway’s Quisling, Sweden, Finland, Serbia, Romania, Syria and Iraq into Hitler’s tender loving care. Turkey and Persia managed to remain neutral. Given how tightly the news blackout in Russia is, most there probably still believe it and many don’t know there’s a war on.
The second thing that keeps Putin in power is the divided nature of the opposition. 5 non socialist parties that can’t unite or vote as a block. Several more parties that are communist or Slavic Nationalist but anticommunist. The monarchist party wants to nationalize everything and the libertarians can’t agree on a leader. Some of the leaders in the communists and Slavic Nationalist blocks would be far more deadly than Putin is. If Putin died today he would be replaced by someone that wants to conquer the world but does not know how to be sneaky.
Even Alexei Navalny is on Putin’s left economically. Its interesting that he is getting mail out to western news papers. That means that guards are hedging their bets. He may still be a future president.
It is not just a mater of replacing one man Putin, there are hundreds backing him and evil rivals that could step into a void. The while culture and Psyche of millions of Russians must change. At least 20-30 % of the population.