Finally, someone steps up. As so often, 'tis Ol' Blighty. Well done, lads.

 

UK steps up w/ long-range cruise missiles for Ukraine (most likely the air-launched Storm Shadows.) Damn straight, UK. Well done. 300km range. Fabulous.

 

Combined w/ the (late-arriving!) US HIMARS-launched GLSD Bombs (160km range, but delivery later this year), loudmouth Prigozhin and his thugs talking big and leading from behind will have more visitors to welcome in theatre: to their supply lines, ammunition stores, fuel dumps, and - privet, Yevgeny - rear command centers.

 

Rishi Sunak: "If there is a moment in this conflict we can make a difference, why not seize it? What are we waiting for?” Well said. I could grow to like this guy.

 

Joseph Robinette Biden? What are you waiting for? 300km ATACM Systems? You know you'll send them soon. Why not today? Join Rishi.

 

This is great news. The first concrete step (procurement) to getting long-range capability in theatre to kiss the back-line supply and command centers. Ooh-rah!

 

From the halls of Montezuma...to a shore near you, Vlad.

 

Source: "Long-range Strike" IFU Procurement Notice: 05 June Contracting. Specs fit the UK's Storm Shadows. Well done, UK. (Especially like the "air-defence penetration methods to increase probability...." Nice touch.)

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/international-fund-for-ukraine-ifu#ifu-procurement-opportunities

 

I'm inclined to think that less jingoistic warmongering, not more, would be a more sensible strategy.

 

We hear lots of expressions of support for Ukraine for "as long as it takes." As long as what takes, exactly?

23 minutes ago, Eleftheros said:

We hear lots of expressions of support for Ukraine for "as long as it takes." As long as what takes, exactly?

As long as it takes for Russia to over run Ukraine! 

Am I the only one that read that as Lone Rangers kemosabe?

3 hours ago, Eleftheros said:

I'm inclined to think that less jingoistic warmongering, not more, would be a more sensible strategy.

So it's another Munich Agreement, then is it, Neville?

 

C'mon, Brother! You're a descendant of William the Conqueror, possibly, or perhaps a fan of George Washington. Even George had his challenges as a new commander, including a surrender and demotion in early Pennsylvania. These things do take time. Consider if some wackos laid claim to the area from Bristol to Cornwall, or Charleston to Baton Rouge. No fight? The US would lose its best Bar-B-Q and strip joints, the UK its best seafood and pasties. Unacceptable! Ha, ha. That's what Ukraine is facing.

 

The nationalistic warmongering is coming from Moscow. Determined backbone is simply what they've met, and didn't expect. Putin is crumbling.

 

Finland has joined NATO. The center of gravity in European backbone has shifted to Warsaw. Russia's "allies" from Minsk to Tashkent want nothing to do with him. Russia runs scared of its own "Victory Day" celebrations today (09 May). Putin will fall, though it may take time, even a decade.

 

That said, your point is right. Ukraine's time is now. "As long as it takes" is a friend's slogan. Ukraine has no time. This is Yorktown. Cornwallis is in George Washington's sights. Foreign allies have joined the fight. The time to close it is now.

 

The "what", you mention, is for Putin to fail in his land-grab. That's doesn't mean all land vacated immediately. Like Transnistria in Moldova or Abkhazia in Georgia, that may take a decade. It does mean Putin negotiating in weakness. Clamoring to save face. Propping up the economy. Pandering to the Chinese. A Kim Jung Un of ridiculousness and servitude. His authority shriveling, over time, like a cheap Matryoshka doll, and finally to nothing. The rest of the world moving on.

 

Those around him will take care of the rest.

4 minutes ago, Un Homme du Midi said:

So it's another Munich Agreement, then is it, Neville?

You would make more sense, possibly, if you argued with what I did say, rather than with what I didn't say.

1 hour ago, Eleftheros said:

You would make more sense, possibly, if you argued with what I did say, rather than with what I didn't say.

Ha, ha. Yes. My brother keeps telling me that.

 

I'm just happy to see long range equipment on the move. One hand tires tied behind the back for so long.

 

I hadn't interpreted the UK's posture as warmongering, if that's what you meant. I think its been the right touch.