There is no doubt that waging a conventional war using tanks etc are over, and actually have been for a long time. IMO.
British defense specialist
Nicholas Drummond↱ posted a Twitter thread a week and a half ago that includes this note:
Most NATO armies learned long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine that tanks advancing without infantry, artillery and air support pay a heavy price for not following the combined arms manoeuvre playbook. Russia's failure does not mean tanks are redundant.
The Russians did not establish any sort of air superiority to support the ground invasion, and part of what we're learning as the war goes on is that the invasion seems very poorly planned. There is a story about carrying dress uniforms for the victory parade instead of extra ammunition. At least a few videos have shown Russian vehicles bunched up too closely, and I just came across a bit earlier tonight when captured soldiers said their orders were just to move forward. The confusion captured soldiers showed in the early days of the war suggests they really had no idea what was about to happen. Oh, right, the Drummond thread also suggests Russian reactive armor was useless. More than the continued relevance and utility of tanks and other heavy vehicles, I think the lingering questions will have to do with war planning and management, and the poor performance of Russian gear.
There is also the point that Russia has apparently lost seven Generals in the field.
One need not be a defense industry analyst to know something about this war has gone terribly awry for the Russians, but it's a war going so badly the Canadian Armed Forces are
cracking jokes↱. War isn't funny, but that tweet sure as hell was.
• • •
bit surprised by Joes statement saying putin must go
it gives media(fuel to the fire) to those who say usa want regime change in russia
bit of a gaffe(?) ....
.... Joes statement is soo close to what russia said about an existential threat
Yeah, but Puti-Toots thinks gay people are an existential threat to Russia.
Actually, the commentary on that one has been all over the place.
Caroline Orr Bueno↱ suggests:
1) I really don't think he was calling for regime change and I don't think his comments were nearly as controversial as some people are making them out to be.
2) Putin is going to accuse the US of regime change regardless of what Biden says.
A different take, from
David Rothkopf↱:
Brief, cool-headed, foreign policy analysis on why the President saying Putin has got to go is not a problem.
1.) It's true. So long as Putin is at the helm in Russia, the country will be isolated and its people will needlessly suffer.
Both are actually better than whatever waterdown clarification the White House chose. Rothkopf is much more actively supportive of regime change, while Orr Bueno finesses the politics. But all three are actually responding to a particular aspect of the larger politics of war. Rothkopf is
direct↱:
Putin called Ukraine a Nazi country. He asserted he has a claim to many of the countries of Eastern Europe. He has threatened the world with nuclear war. He's the one to whom the world should take offense.
The current political atmosphere includes extraordinarily dense concentrations in which people abide such simplistic criteria for similarity as to preclude difference, but even this overlooks the fact that the asserted similarity does not and cannot justify what it protects. In this case, dysfunctionally simplistic comparisons of Russian and American history by which people complain that Americans would protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine do not actually justify or excuse Putin's grotesque adventure.
____________________
Notes:
@CAFinUS. "Reasons why the invasion hasn’t happened quickly: 1. Ukrainians". Twitter. 25 March 2022. Twitter.com. 27 March 2022. https://bit.ly/3ut5uaV
@djrothkopf. "Brief, cool-headed, foreign policy analysis on why the President saying Putin has got to go is not a problem. 1.) It's true. So long as Putin is at the helm in Russia, the country will be isolated and its people will needlessly suffer." Twitter. 26 March 2022. Twitter.com. 27 March 2022. https://bit.ly/3NlU9Sy
—————. "4.) The Russian outrage would have come no matter what Biden said. 5.) Putin called Ukraine a Nazi country. He asserted he has a claim to many of the countries of Eastern Europe. He has threatened the world with nuclear war. He's the one to whom the world should take offense." Twitter. 26 March 2022. Twitter.com. 27 March 2022. https://bit.ly/3IHAoBp
@nicholasdrummond. "2. Most NATO armies learned long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine that tanks advancing without infantry, artillery and air support pay a heavy price for not following the combined arms manoeuvre playbook. Russia's failure does not mean tanks are redundant." Twitter. 17 March 2022. Twitter.com. 27 March 2022. https://bit.ly/3wARFd8
@RVAwonk. "2 comments on Biden's remarks today: 1) I really don't think he was calling for regime change and I don't think his comments were nearly as controversial as some people are making them out to be. 2) Putin is going to accuse the US of regime change regardless of what Biden says." Twitter. 26 March 2022. Twitter.com. 27 March 2022. https://bit.ly/3NpwHDN