And by the way, the people who actually make reality hold a gun in their hand. You don't determine/predict whether the troops holding Liman had morale/will-to-fight etc
Even though I'm practically certain of a Russian victory, I've always warned against excessive optimism, and have predicted more of these upsets than probably most people.
If we want to brag about predictions, here is one of mine back in May.
Contrast this with your unwarranted excessive optimism (see attached).
Quote: "they're attempting a thrust toward Kupyansk, with the aim of cutting the line connecting Izyum to Belgorod in the north. This operation is ... doomed to spectacular failure."
I don't want to start in-fights like this, but the way you gloss over this is just embarrassing.
If you actually care about this like I do, you'd be losing sleep at the moment.
I know it seems cool to pretend to be indifferent, but this really just amounts to detachment from reality. It's an escape from reality rather than a courageous confrontation with it.
As early as December 2021, German foreign minister Baerbock said: "In the event of further escalation (in Ukraine), NS2 could not come into service."
America wasn't hinting at sabotage. It was restating what Germany was already saying it would do. Sanctions were a last resort.
Germany already cancelled NS2. It has been extremely stubborn on this policy.
There was no reason for America to destroy it. If the US had gas to sell, it would already be selling it to Germany who is suffering shortages.
No one has provided a compelling reason why America would try to destroy NS1.
If America wanted strategic dominance over Germany, this wouldn't achieve it. The pipeline will either be fixed, or Germany will have to buy gas elsewhere. America doesn't have enough has to give out.
America doesn't even do this kind of thing to its sworn enemy Iran, whose energy industry (esp. nuclear) it wants to undermine.
America is far more subtle than this. It doesn't just blow shit up in Europe. The device used for such a thing would also be visible.
Ukraine has already tried to destroy gas pipelines, and it is a common view among Ukrainians that Germany is an enemy of Ukraine for buying Russian gas in such high quantities.
Ukraine, unlike every other country in existence, shells nuclear power plants.
This kind of rogue insanity is in the DNA of the Ukrainian state.
I do not believe it is impossible for Ukraine to damage a 1.5 diameter pipeline which is only 60m underwater. I do not think this is beyond a highly industrial European country like Ukraine.
300,000 mobilised reservists isn't a massive societal change.
It's not a high enough demand on Russian society to cause panic and make large numbers of people pack all their belongings and leave the country.
It's more of a "I know someone who knows someone who's being called up" type of societal impact. Your brother's friend or something, often not even that if you live in a city like St Petersburg.
A statistical analogy:
There are probably hundreds of thousands of people from your country who are on vacation. How many do you personally know who are on a vacation right now? Maybe 1 or 2?
Do hundreds of thousands of vacations leave a huge mark on society right now?