Russia’s huge bombing attack, one of the largest of the war against what had been a largely spared section in western Ukraine included specific targeting of an AMERICAN factory. In an ‘in your face punk’ to Trump who evoked memories of the fraternity pledge in Animal House getting paddled. Keven Bacon’s character on all fours wearing nothing but a diaper saying “Thank you sir, may I have another?” with each whack of the paddle.
Putin is a war criminal. He’s regularly concentrated on attacking civilian targets in Ukraine especially cities. Residential areas, schools, hospitals have been intentionally struck by drones and missiles. So have factories and now a large electronics factory in western Ukraine has been struck. An American factory that like others the company has produces consumer electronics. Not military items, but home use things like coffee makers or other appliances. A lot of damage was done both to the factory and people working in it.
Rather than deal with this attack Trump instead chose to hawk his Reality TV version of ‘Cops – DC’ with Vance & Hegseth’s train station visit and his own planned evening LE ‘ride along.’ Trump it’s clear got way out over his skis after meeting with Zelenskyy and NATO allies Monday. Putin saw all that talk about figuring out a way to end the war in Ukraine. Talk that clearly did not involve Russia controlling Ukraine and he decided to publicly and violently show Trump who’s boss.
Flex Ltd. is a major electronics manufacturer based in Texas with factories all over the world. They are NOT a producer of military stuff but rather consumer electronics. They established a large facility in western Ukraine that has largely been left alone by Russia. However, Putin decided to make a point – as in there’s not a chance in hell he’s going to give up his dream of taking over Ukraine. As this article from The Telegraph explains Russia launched one of its largest attacks of the war:
Russia struck an American business with cruise missiles overnight in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war so far, Ukraine has said.
The Ukrainian air force said some 574 drones and 40 missiles were fired overnight, primarily targeting western regions of the country – far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country.
The strikes killed one person and injured 15 more and struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia, according to Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister.
I should note that early this year a Boeing office in Kyiv was hit during a strike but it got little notice. Given the relentless Russian attacks on that city Boeing getting hit could be spun as an ‘unfortunate’ ‘error.’ Not this. No way in hell. The bulk of such Russian attacks have taken place not against Ukrainian forces in the field or forward bases, actual military targets. Nope. Putin has engaged in a campaign of terror deliberately targeting CIVILIANS in Ukraine. Still, as I’ve said this portion of Ukraine had until now been largely spared.
I say Putin decided to put on a massive show to humiliate Trump. To challenge him in a ‘What are you gonna do about it Donald? We BOTH know the answer is NOTHING.‘ Make no mistake, it was a large scale attack but the centerpiece was the AMERICAN owned factory. A large one. Six hundred workers were working the night shift when the attack took place. It’s a miracle only one person seems to have been killed and relatively few had to be sent to the hospital. I want to be really clear about this company and this factory NOT being a military contractor. They produce consumer goods for use in homes.
For his part Zelenskyy wasn’t shy about calling Putin out and with a hint of ‘Hey President Trump, TALK IS CHEAP.’ Zelenskyy says this massive attack is proof Putin has no intention of sitting down to work out any sort of peace. AND that he has no worries of consequences for attacking American businesses that have heeded calls to invest in Ukraine:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said the attack was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”
He said Moscow had shown no signs of pursuing meaningful peace negotiations and urged Ukraine’s allies to respond with stronger pressure, including further sanctions and tariffs.
Russia “wasted several cruise missiles against an American business”, Mr Zelenskyy said, noting it was a regular civilian enterprise producing domestic utilities, such as coffee machines. “And that too became a target for Russia. Very telling.”
I can’t say for sure but it’s likely at least a few Americans were in there. There’s no word on whether any of them were hurt but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s a large and American owned place meaning American blood could have been shed. And all that will happen is a Trumpian version of Senator Collin’s ‘deeply concerned’ routine.
What we SHOULD do is have our military plan to breach Russian lines in the south. Rip a wide hole in the Russian defenses which isn’t easy to do given the time they got to develop multiple trench lines. However the U.S. happens to have the perfect tool for the job. The A-10 Warthog. A coordinated attack along a few miles of the Russian defenses could be done. Ukrainian troops could pound an area with tube and precision guided artillery as well as missiles. American subs could join in with Tomahawks and Russia would have a hard task proving the U.S. Navy was responsible. Once that bombardment is over and Russians come out of their hidey-holes wave after wave of Warthogs could rip into them. They have proven deadly accurate and are exactly the right “tool” to deliver devastating fire INTO those trenches.
Open up a hole big enough for a Ukrainian division or two to make it to the coast. Once BEHIND Russian lines they could raise holy hell and Putin would be screwed. No more Land Bridge to Crimea. I’ve long believed we should do this and/or encourage Allies in Europe to do so. At least one and I think two of our friends over there have A-10s. Remember for years the Air Force kept trying to get rid of this unique weapons platform. Pawning some off to allies made sense. Despite the relatively low cost of maintaining the A-10 the Air Force didn’t want it. It wasn’t new. Or “cool” looking. Despite its ugly appearance those who’ve flown it say its a dream to fly. Fun as hell when not being shot at although that sucker is so heavily armored none have actually been shot down in combat in multiple wars. They ARE however devastating in their air-to-ground attack capability.
So, I’ve told you what happened and what Trump’s options are. If there’s one thing we can be sure of it’s that he’ll strip down to his Depends, get on all fours and say to Putin “Thank you sir may I have another?”
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Thanks putin for reminding us that the traitor in chief works FOR YOU!!!!! Hey Amerika go phuck your stupid self with a hot comb up your collective asses.
Currently and previously, only the US Air Force flies A19 Warthogs. And in an aerial war environment now dominated by cheap to make and deploy drones, on both sides, there is some doubt that there is any room left for any manned aircraft.
Actually while nowhere near at the levels of U.S. squadrons variations of the Warthog have been part of the Air Force of no less than 24 countries. As for it’s ability to operate with drones in the sky bear in mind Warthogs are desigend to hold up to 20mm fire and have withstood even larger. They are damned near impossible to shoot down and while some have been damaged beyond repair they completed their missions and made it back to base.
One of the arguments against it is it’s designed for only ONE type of mission. That’s true. It’s designed for close air to ground support – flying low and slow enough to strike and destroy targets including any tank in the world with devastating accuracy. It’s a product of the Cold War and a time when we’d design and build single purpose aircraft to deal with Russia/the USSR. And Russia is reduced, especially in the south to using old school trench warfare tactics to hold that ribbon of ground along the coast.
We have a weapons platform specifically desgined and battle proven to deal with exactly this situation. The A-10.
TACO
With madmen in charge of vast nuclear arsenals, it will be a wonder if we’re not all consumed by nuclear fire in the not-too-distant future.