Originally Posted by mrken30

.... I suppose it is possible that Russia is concerned that ISIS is moving north and Syria is only 500 miles from the Russian border.

Originally Posted by morpeth

Perhaps would make an interesting separate thread. A few comments though :

His "arrogance" in assuming that the German army would be able to inflict a quick defeat was not only shared but encouraged by his generals- Halder for example well into the invasion the first few months claimed that the war would be over in two weeks, German intelligence completely missed the mark on the level of manpower Stalin had assembled and could continue assembling during the first two years. His standstill orders against the advice of his generals in the winter of 1941/1942 certainly saved the army from complete defeat - both Guderian and Manstein two of his best generals admitted this. He certainly was a monster but completely ignorant of military matters he was not, at least the first few years of the war.

The sideshow of his saving Il Duce in the Balkans may have not been so significant, the weather in Russia that year was not so conducive to an attack at that time according to some. And of course there is also the debate whether Moscow should have been a priority military target in the first place.

Hard to see him as a clown, and his ignorance of America possibly is now shared by ignorance of the Middle East amongst our policymakers today. Have they been more successful ? Would anyone who had even watched Lawrence of Arabia spent billions of dollars and destroyed countless lives trying regime change ? If someone had been more decisive knowing the ruthlessness of Assad maybe a lot of Syrian lives, not to mention billions of dollars, could have been saved.

Originally Posted by dc koop

You raised several valid points and I have to agree with them. Perhaps also Hitler, Halder and Guderian placed more trust than they should have on the quality of their weaponry. German tanks, field howitzers and even infantry rifles fell victim to the choking dust on the plains during the summer months which slowed down the advance. There was a certain fall in morale amongst the troops also. The sheer endlessness of those plains overawed them. When it rained so called roads turned into quagmires of thick mud.
The Russian equipment by comparison was well adapted to both extreme winter and summer conditions. While the Germans shivered and feel victims to frostbite in front of Moscow Stalin transferred several divisions of seasoned, well clothed, well equipped troops from the Russian far east to face off the Germans.

Stalin placed General Zhukov in charge of defending Moscow and unlike Hitler Stalin when things were going bad realized that military matters should be handled by military men. Zhukov was a highly competent general and from then on and all the way through Stalingrad he turned the tide of war against Hitler.

I wont disagree with you on the shortcomings of our middle east policy. Trump seems to be fond of blaming Obama for the creation of ISIS but the blame goes much further back than that to George W Jnr whose reckless invasion of Iraq kicked over a hornets nest.

Interesting to talk to you

Originally Posted by mrken30

Hopefully not, I mean who would have gone to war over a little disagreement on a tiny group of Islands in the Pacific? i think it was called Hawaii, miles away from the mainland.

I suppose it is possible that Russia is concerned that ISIS is moving north and Syria is only 500 miles from the Russian border.

Originally Posted by mrken30

Waterloo and Vietnam were other examples of where leaders under estimated the enemy. I guess Iraq and Afghanistan are others, how many years have they been dragging on? WW1 was supposed to be over in a few weeks.

Originally Posted by elizabethsmum

Hi all, I've just seen that Trump has launched missile attack after the chemical attack this wee. Do you think this is the start of WW3 ?

Originally Posted by fakey

No.
More accurately, this is a fairly successful gambit by the Trump regime to a) shore up their 30% approval
ratings after a disastrous first 2 months in power (it has worked - somewhat )
B) in light of the allegations of treasonous co-operation between Trump & Russian operatives it serves to put some perceived distance between them & Putin in the minds of the republican base. This has also been v effective.
They bombed a few (expendable) planes - not a landing strip, personnel or anything else meaningful,
Chances are v high that this strategy was agreed between Trump & Putin (or their operatives) beforehand & they hit selected targets.
As for WW3 - between who ?
The US & Russia are essentially run by the same people.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

Well at least your use name now makes sense!