Thread by @JBelcourt73

Today I am going to piggy back off both yesterday's essay and two people I respect but in this case disagree with. Both are probably smarter than me and at least one of them operated at the heights of military power so this essay may well be hubris on my part. I'll let you be the

judge. Yesterday was of course a brief thumbnail history of why strategic bombing doesn't work. Not working is however not the same as not killing, destroying, and causing untold misery which is why this tweet exists:

https://twitter.com/Teoyaomiquu/status/1595565990988898304?s=20&t=5qSRvOLLelV1r38-2kPz7g

I did not hear @general_ben's actual words but I am going to proceed as the tweet is a faithful accounting. First I don't have any moral qualms about #Ukraine hitting naval facilities or airfields where missile launching platforms are located. In fact having weapons able to sink

The Black Sea Fleet wherever they were unless they flew a white flag and exited the area would help Ukraine by reducing the number of launching platforms. Second, Ukraine already can and is targeting shorter ranged systems like the S-300 wherever they can find them excepting

#Belarus where both Ukraine and Belarus seem to have a tacit agreement to not force Lukashenko to go all in with Putin. #Russia uses Belarus to stage attacks and she loots the countries armories but she does not get to use the country's troops. Less than ideal for Ukraine but far

from the worst possible situation there. A Ukrainian screening force on the border is far less resource intensive than another combat theater. The big problem for Ukraine regarding missile attacks is getting at the launchers. Iskanders are road mobile and will be nearly

impossible to locate and destroy. This is the lesser of the impossibilities though. The Iskander M is an SRBM with a limited ability to hit targets in the West but it can be moved far enough back from the border to hit anything in the east and remain unreachable even with ATACMS

or similar systems. The bigger impossibility is the bombers. They can be based anywhere in Russia, fly to anywhere in Russia and launch from anywhere in Russia, Black Sea or Belarus. The US has launched strikes on a land locked Asian country from Missouri. There is simply no way

get at the bombers. It sucks, but I said what I said. There are two options. The first and only way to end the missile attacks is to kill so many Russian invaders that the link between Putin and Russian society is broken and he is forced from power. Ukraine is doing its best to

make that wish a reality. The other is to call Russia's bluff and create no missile zones using NATO Patriot batteries and other ABM capable systems in order to facilitate the humanitarian work of repairing the grid and caring for the Ukrainian population. Since Russian bombers

don't do penetration raids these no missile zones would not kill Russians and the only way NATO troops would be at risk is if Russia decided to pick an even more unwinnable fight. Some Russian missile would still get through, but the numbers would go down. Combined with dwindling

Russian stocks of missiles and improving Ukrainian anti-cruise missile defenses the number of successful strikes would continue to trend down. Even Iranian missile shipments would only prolong Russia's ability not improve them. Both helping Ukraine break the Russian Army faster

and closing Ukrainian skies to Russian missiles are political questions. My leaders @JohnBoozman, @SenTomCotton and @RepFrenchHill know where I stand (as an aside, I had to use my congressman's parking lot the other day to bet backed into Conway PD's sally port for a delivery).

They know I support sending more, better and now to Ukraine and they know I want NATO to close the skies. Do your leaders know how you feel? Politicians are naturally risk averse, Putin was in fact counting on this when he invaded. So let your leaders know the riskier position

is turning a blind eye or only offering a limp hand to Ukraine. Sadly, until the Russian Army is broken the suffering will continue. Even NATO anti-missile systesm will only lesson not end it. Until that day we need to step up. So here goes my daily pitch. Ya'll know that

@MriyaReport is my go too but that I also advocate for others like @U24_gov_ua and @UkraineAidOps but today in particular I want to push forward @3xR_team and ask them a specific question (anyone who knows can answer) Does Amazon Poland/Europe stock traction boards or other

off road recovery gear? @OKCityRyan was talking last night on @MriyaReport about getting stuck. Having a shovel, some kitty litter and a set of traction boards in each relief convoy might be an actual life saver. So if anyone could check for me that would be grand. Of course

includes to the actual people who have to break the Russian Army like the @georgian_legion and @belwarriors but is only 1/3rd of the battle. The last third is the bonking. Russian dis-info efforts must be combatted wherever they pop up. Thats the reason for #NAFO #FELLAS but a

word of warning here. We are the good guys not the baddies. Yesterday a Fella got suspended for advocating tit for tat. He deserved it period full stop.

https://twitter.com/copesint/status/1595676471343054848?s=20&t=5qSRvOLLelV1r38-2kPz7g

The argument that nits breed lice is not a valid one where we assume human life has inherent dignity. Ukrainians kill Russian soldiers because they must. Targeting civilians doesn't work. Terror, strategic bombing, reprisals the shit doesn't work. It's a road to hell paved with

bad intentions. Ukraine is better than that so we are called to be better than that. We must uphold the ideals of our societies it's what makes Ukraine worth fighting for: They are an US not a THEM. #RussiaisATerroistState that is perpetrating a #GenocideOfUkrainians it must

never be the other way around. If for no more practical reason than we don't want the average Russian to have a reason not to break. Until Ukraine Wins On Ukraine's Terms: Slava Ukraini! #UkraineWillWin #RussiaIsLosing #Bakhmut #Kharkiv #Kherson #KyivUnderAttack #powergrid

@mfa_russia <--- still losing no matter how many babies and doctors you kill.

@threadreaderapp unroll please