The end?

I hadn't realised there was a collision.

Even so, a Russian jet firing a missile to take out an American drone is likely to have far more fallout than a jet buzzing and 'accidentally' colliding.

If you look at the video the plane was belly down above the drone - the pilot couldn't see the drone at all, hence the collision. It was a pure accident that they clipped it, the pilot would have been inches away from killing himself and taking the drone down in the process.
 
I don't think the US will get directly involved as in declare war. I think they will lift a lot of the restrictions on Ukraine regarding targets and weapons that can be donated.
I also think the US will have a naval presence in the Black Sea. I have a feeling that they will get permission from Turkey to pass through into the black sea and Turkey will be given extra help rebuilding after the natural disasters recently.
I think the majority of American citizens would riot if America declared war on Russia over a remote controlled plane.

Do we know anymore about the gas pipeline sabotage?
 
If you look at the video the plane was belly down above the drone - the pilot couldn't see the drone at all, hence the collision. It was a pure accident that they clipped it, the pilot would have been inches away from killing himself and taking the drone down in the process.

Would the stuff the jet dumped on it have brought the drone down?

I was assuming it would do that, in which case this is risky but very brave.

If it wouldn't then it was very foolhardy and I don't see the point?
 
Would the stuff the jet dumped on it have brought the drone down?

I was assuming it would do that, in which case this is risky but very brave.

If it wouldn't then it was very foolhardy and I don't see the point?
If the fuel was taken into the airintake of the drone it could of stalled the engine.
The pilot acted in a very aggressive manner, at that speed the aircraft would not be very maneuverable. So no idea why he thought he had to get so close. I doubt he intended to physically hit it though.
 
If the fuel was taken into the airintake of the drone it could of stalled the engine.
The pilot acted in a very aggressive manner, at that speed the aircraft would not be very maneuverable. So no idea why he thought he had to get so close. I doubt he intended to physically hit it though.
I reckon if the drone jockey pulls up on the stick he can put the Reaper into the jet intakes of the Sukhoi that would be one scrap jet and a pilot (at best) floating down for a paddle in the Black Sea.
 
The relative speeds have obviously caught the pilot out. The drone would have been much slower than the jet at that height, the intention was clearly to get the drone to ingest fuel to cause a terminal engine surge. The pilot was very lucky not to end up swimming with the fish.
 
I know, there's a game on, but this may be very significant.

"I had just gone to the stores and bought a bottle of Bombay Saphire Gin, lime fruits, and enough tonic water to produce a bucket of yumzy G&Ts...
When all hell broke loose.
My G&Ts are on hold :(

Directly after the ICC issued the arrest warrant for Putin Igor II of All Russias of the Strelkovian line, stated that this was it and that Russia would throw in the towel and beg for Putins life in return for going home.

This turned out to be 100 percent true, seems like Strelkov hit the nail.
Russia just offered to meander home, immediately as it seems, as long as they get lifted sanctions and Putin cleared from ICC.
For once Zakharova was sober even.
Every phone in every political office and intelligence community started to ring as Russians called promising that this is a true offer.

We will see what Ukraine and The West has to say.
Honestly I have not a clue how they/we/us will react.
Welcome to a few highly interesting weeks as we clear up what they exactly means, but as per understood they are offering 1991 borders at once.
We will see.
What are diplomats doing?"

I was about to post on the Urainian counter-offensive, but that can wait.
 
I know, there's a game on, but this may be very significant.

"I had just gone to the stores and bought a bottle of Bombay Saphire Gin, lime fruits, and enough tonic water to produce a bucket of yumzy G&Ts...
When all hell broke loose.
My G&Ts are on hold :(

Directly after the ICC issued the arrest warrant for Putin Igor II of All Russias of the Strelkovian line, stated that this was it and that Russia would throw in the towel and beg for Putins life in return for going home.

This turned out to be 100 percent true, seems like Strelkov hit the nail.
Russia just offered to meander home, immediately as it seems, as long as they get lifted sanctions and Putin cleared from ICC.
For once Zakharova was sober even.
Every phone in every political office and intelligence community started to ring as Russians called promising that this is a true offer.

We will see what Ukraine and The West has to say.
Honestly I have not a clue how they/we/us will react.
Welcome to a few highly interesting weeks as we clear up what they exactly means, but as per understood they are offering 1991 borders at once.
We will see.
What are diplomats doing?"

I was about to post on the Urainian counter-offensive, but that can wait.
Time will tell…..

I would love this to be true but after so many false dawns I have little confidence.
 
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Reparations?

God knows, I suspect that if such an offer has been made, it will have caught a lot of the key players on the hop. Don't know yet who has made the offer, whether or not it was official policy endorsed by all the leadership etc. And I suspect that not everyone on the West side of the fence will see it in exactly the same way.
 
Screenshot_2023-03-18-16-01-13-80_0b2fce7a16bf2b728d6ffa28c8d60efb.jpg
I saw this about an hour ago. For a nation which sanctions don't have any effect and don't recognise the ICC they certainly seem to be in a bit of a flap!
 
Just seems amazing without the offer of reparations they are basically just saying ‘let’s just forget all about it, eh?’

Not a chance Ukraine can, will or should accept this. They have 200,000 deaths, many more injuries, destroyed towns, mines and shells everywhere and the idea from Russia is just to forget about it and no repercussions for those responsible and for 65,000+ war crimes.

That’s why they now want to negotiate. It’s not about Putin, who may be dead anyway, it’s about all of them being hauled off to The Hague.
 
That’s why they now want to negotiate. It’s not about Putin, who may be dead anyway, it’s about all of them being hauled off to The Hague.
I totally agree, that is why alongside Putin a relatively minor politician was also issued a warrant. That was blatantly A warning to the rest of the Russian top brass, 'we are coming for all of you unless things change, no more villas in Europe, No more yacht trips around the Med, No more Uni visits with you children in Cambridge or Oxford just a life behind bars' if they had went for Putin and all his top brass it would of been a reason for them to go on a defensive in a sense. By putting a warrant out for Putin and one of the lower down politicians it gives a warning to the others that they will be next if they don't do something about it.
 
I totally agree, that is why alongside Putin a relatively minor politician was also issued a warrant. That was blatantly A warning to the rest of the Russian top brass, 'we are coming for all of you unless things change, no more villas in Europe, No more yacht trips around the Med, No more Uni visits with you children in Cambridge or Oxford just a life behind bars' if they had went for Putin and all his top brass it would of been a reason for them to go on a defensive in a sense. By putting a warrant out for Putin and one of the lower down politicians it gives a warning to the others that they will be next if they don't do something about it.

My thoughts too, although this is the ICC, who may not be quite so political, I don’t know, they may simply be deciding and issuing warrants based on the information provided by their investigators. More may be coming anyway.
 
Just seems amazing without the offer of reparations they are basically just saying ‘let’s just forget all about it, eh?’

Not a chance Ukraine can, will or should accept this. They have 200,000 deaths, many more injuries, destroyed towns, mines and shells everywhere and the idea from Russia is just to forget about it and no repercussions for those responsible and for 65,000+ war crimes.

That’s why they now want to negotiate. It’s not about Putin, who may be dead anyway, it’s about all of them being hauled off to The Hague.

The starting point for negotiations is Russia fully pulls out of Ukraine .

From there, perhaps we can negotiate with the Russians the handing over of Putin so he can face trial for his crimes . Then I think we do have the opportunity to open diologue with the Russians. We can then start to rebuild our relationship with them if the main instigator in this is gone

Ukraine needs to rebuild and we need to assist them . However that won’t be possible unless the Russians are brought to the table because all that will happen is they will continue to bomb Ukraine if we oust them and just ignore them . I sadly don’t feel reparations are realistic , as I don’t see the Russians agreeing to that and also we don’t want to fuel extremist resentment like that fuelled in Germany after ww1 . It will be up to the west to help rebuild Ukraine . Different countries have dabs already on rebuilding different cities , we (the uk ) have already been given the honour of rebuilding kyiv .

If they agree to hand back all Ukraine and hand over Putin I think we should be open to easing or removing sanctions personally . At the end of the day a Russia paying reparations and being in the economic **** is a recipe for extremism that was mirrored in Germany after ww1. Even worse is this time it’s a country with lots of nukes
 
I do appreciate your cautious contributions to this thread but, sometimes, I do wonder if you are not so much "glass half empty" as "I haven't got a glass".

I don't think any of us is setting much stock in the Russian position. I'll quote my mate tonight "It's really confusing, even to the best analysts on the planet".

By the way, for those doubting the Putin doubles, have a look at the Putins in Crimea over the last day or so. There's two of them. Neither of them is real.
 
One of the clips on Reddit of a Putin in Crimea very clearly looked like he was wearing a mask. Didn’t post it here though as there’s no context behind the clip so I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to legit be him or just some footage of someone wearing a mask of him today.

It was very Mission Impossible Ethan Hunt. It was that surreal if that really was them trying to pass it off as him.
 
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