patrick.net

Macron said he was gonna send several thousand French troops to the Ukraine if there wasn't a peace agreement by 2026.

There are posters here talking smack about Russia being a paper tiger.

Even though French soldiers are the best in the EU, Russia would simply destroy them. I dunno if they would last a week.

I think Macron will kinda renege on his promise. Putin has said any foreign troops in the Ukraine would be open game.

France and its embarrassing leader get to do the walk of shame.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/doctrines-and-fractures-monday-january

You may recall that Ukraine’s unfunny comedian-in-chief, Zelensky, has been increasingly isolated by a series of unfortunate and inconveniently timed corruption scandals. On Friday, CNN squirted out a story headlined, “Zelensky names spy chief to head presidential administration in big shake-up.” The ‘spy chief’ from the headline is Kyrilo Budanov, pictured below.




... But the highest-profile replacement was that of Zelensky’s Chief of Staff, a person nobody had ever heard of until last month, but who apparently actually ran the country the whole time: Andriy Yermak. He’s out now, saddled with corruption allegations and labeled with the crooked code-name “Ali Baba,” and it probably won’t be long till he flees the country.

On Friday, Zelensky named Yermak’s official replacement, Budanov. ...

Budanov’s ascension was great news for President Trump, but more bad news for the Europeans. EU capitals fear that ‘key decisions’ could be ‘directly brokered’ through a covert CIA–Budanov channel— leaving Europe behind, like the kid who never gets picked for a team in gym class.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ukraine-tricks-russia-paying-500k-203835951.html

Ukraine tricks Russia into paying $500K bounty for fake hit on Putin opponent

Ukraine orchestrated a fake hit on one of Russia's enemies who has fought alongside Ukrainian forces, tricking the Kremlin into paying out a $500,000 bounty Kyiv used to fund its war effort.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/pygmalion-thursday-january-8-2026

Russia has surged ahead in nuclear submarines. Russia, in particular, has demonstrated rapid adaptability to new technologies such as battlefield drones, whereas the US lags far behind.

Patrick says

Russia, in particular, has demonstrated rapid adaptability to new technologies such as battlefield drones, whereas the US lags far behind.

Drones may just be a new version of guerilla war - a war method of the weak. Just like how a guerrilla soldier with a TOW can take out a stray tank, the drone can hit small targets. Useless against an advancing army using mass tank, helicopter, and infantry, especially after artillery and aerial saturation.

Ever notice Russia and Ukraine takes a break when the rest of the world is preoccupied with a crises other than theirs?
Funny how that works. I haven't heard shit about Russia and Ukraine since Trump remanded Maduro.

I've said this before, but I suspect the things are connected via some phone call between Trump and Putin.

Trump: Listen Vlad, I'm not going to complain too much about your dealing with your own back yard if you'll let us deal with our own back yard.

HeadSet says

Useless against an advancing army using mass tank, helicopter, and infantry

But Russia and China also have hypersonic missiles, which the US does not. Those things can definitely take out an advancing army.

Patrick says

HeadSet says

Useless against an advancing army using mass tank, helicopter, and infantry

But Russia and China also have hypersonic missiles, which the US does not. Those things can definitely take out an advancing army.

This pisses me off. Fricken North Korea has them and Iran, broke countries. But Raytheon with insane budgets doesn’t. So much corruption in our military spend. Republicans were showering MiC for years with trillions, those companies are lazy and unpatriotic too used to free money.

You'd think the NAFOs would be over the moon that we embarassed Russia (and their Chinese quartermaster) with Maduro: Completely bypassing the CCP Radar, Russian Sukhois, and Russian SAMs...

...and by seizing Russian's falsely-flagged oil smuggling tankers.

NAFOs are basically EU propaganda accounts. Their take on multiple issues conforms to Brussels Eurocrats, from Maduro Legality Moaning to the new EU "distract people from fakefugees and point their nationalism against America" accounts that are popping up.

Patrick says

Russia and China also have hypersonic missiles

The WW2 Battleship USS Missouri had guns that could precision hit a target over 20 miles away with a 2700 lb explosive shell. Just as unstoppable as a hypersonic missile.

Patrick says

I've said this before, but I suspect the things are connected via some phone call between Trump and Putin.

Trump: Listen Vlad, I'm not going to complain too much about your dealing with your own back yard if you'll let us deal with our own back yard.

Interesting:

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/external-bleeding-thursday-january

Meanwhile, in late December, Russia had already begun a quiet evacuation of its Venezuelan diplomats’ families. “Moscow, which publicly denied a news report on the evacuation,” the Journal said, “didn’t inform the Chinese of its plan.” It sounds like Putin enjoyed the benefit of a heads-up— and didn’t tell anyone. Weird!

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/external-bleeding-thursday-january

Here is a brief Proxy War update in three headlines. First, this morning, the Washington Post filed a chilling report from Ukraine’s capital city, Kiev:

Ukraine's politicians trade barbs as Kyiv shivers amid the loss of power
In Kyiv, a frigid lottery of sorts is playing out in which residents may have
power, heat or water but almost never all three depending on where they live.

Next, yesterday CNN reported that Ukraine’s military is shrinking faster than a puddle of water on the airport tarmac in Florida in August:

Ukraine's new defense chief reveals
200,000 soldiers have gone AWOL and 2
million are dodging draft

It sounds like a lot of Ukrainians don’t want to fight anymore.

The problem might seem obvious, but admitting the problem exists is brand new. “Rumors of low morale and high desertion rates have been swirling around for a long time,” CNN said, “but Fedorov’s comments mark the first time any Ukrainian official has disclosed the scale of the problem.” Defense chief Fedorov, 35, told Ukraine’s parliament that —I promise I am not making this up— Ukraine needs to replace its shrinking human army with robots.

Third and finally, Reuters ran an exclusive yesterday with this bold headline signaling a difficult audience for the former comedian:

Trump says Zelenskiy, not Putin, is holding up a Ukraine peace deal

Anyway, President Trump seems sure who is to blame for the lack of a peace deal: the country that has no power in its capital and is running out of soldiers. “Asked why U.S.-led negotiations had not yet resolved Europe’s largest land conflict since World War Two,” Reuters said, “Trump responded: Zelenskiy.”

Patrick says

Ukraine needs to replace its shrinking human army with robots.

"I need more grift money laundered under the guise of acquiring robots"