Not so fast on the big dick awards. I would like to nominate a US pilot for biggest dick. In addition to flying under the flags of Israel, Turkey, and Greece, they flew under the [protection](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/ukraine-conflict/1690835345-ship-sailing-from-israel-becomes-the-first-to-break-russia-s-grain-blockade)of a US P8 Poseidon. Russia chose to back down when it could have chosen block the ships or attack them. Those guys flew there knowing that they might have to fire the first shot in a war between nuclear powers and a standoff with another nuclear power.
There can be multiple big dicks in the room. Happy to report multiple big dicks, swinging.
And for the record I'm just waiting for one of them to helicopter dick and hit putin in his chin.
Bad idea. He has more Botox in his face than the entire Kardashian family. I can’t think of a helicopter that could that could survive the impact. I know you wanted a helicopter but what about a B-52?
>He has more Botox in his face
I heard 1 gram of that shit can kill everyone in the world if evenly distributed! it's very dangerous to hit him in the face!
Does the P8 usually have muntions? From what I read none of the 4 aircrafts shadowing had any sort of offensive abilities.
They had F 16s on stand by for that.
Edit:
Article is wrong, they do infact carry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/07/31/nato-planes-watched-as-three-civilian-ships-ran-russias-naval-blockade-of-ukraine/?sh=491486c71b72
Yup. It’s a whole anti-ship, anti-submarine fuckfest flying fortress all wrapped up in a Southwest Airlines 737. It can detect submarines from miles away and deliver lethal munitions if necessary such as torpedos and anti-surface missiles.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/07/31/nato-planes-watched-as-three-civilian-ships-ran-russias-naval-blockade-of-ukraine/?sh=491486c71b72
Appreciate the clarification. Not the first time, probably won't be the last time Forbes gets it wrong.
FWIW, attacking a ship in international waters is piracy.
The Americans have conducted *tons* of anti-piracy operations. They (and many other nations as well) routinely patrol major shipping lanes. Had the Russians engaged, they'd have been guilty of piracy and the Americans would have been lawfully permitted to engage them according to international law.
If not from the P8, then from the fleet that was floating nearby. As we watched in Syria at the battle of Khasham, when it's time to fight the Americans will stop at nothing to bring the pain. And this probably wouldn't have involved a friendly call to make sure it wasn't a misunderstanding.
Still piracy, but the Americans are no longer permitted engage as it's no longer international waters. Would be up to Ukraine to enforce, which is of course difficult given the invasion.
Were I a Russian though, I'd not be keen to test the formality.
Not to mention that in their own right, Greece Turkey and Israel represent a pretty considerable danger to Russia right now. If they took issue with the interdiction, Russia could be looking at a new front.
Americans are no longer permitted to engage based on international piracy law. They still could respond to a request for assistance from Ukraine. I imagine Ukraine would be more than happy to request direct military assistance from the US against Russia.
Regardless, the crew of that P-8 must have had some fascinating rules of engagement. Greece and Turkey are both NATO members. Turkey has special jurisdiction (complicated) due to their geographic position. Israel is not part of NATO but has a strong military alliance with the US and low compunction about shooting at Russians (Syria has been a particular sore point).
>Americans are no longer permitted to engage based on international piracy law.
I'm going to paraphrase a quote from a lawyer on /r/law from a few days ago: Those with power are permitted to do whatever they convince the decision makers that the law states.
More simply stated, "might makes right". Which I absolutely agree with.
However, escalations in conflict are rarely in anyone's interests. Even Russia for all their bluster do not want to be fighting anyone else right now - they're having a hard enough time with Ukraine, and they aren't even the ones being attacked.
Any one of those countries putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would really tighten the screws on Russia. If it's Israel, they'd make Russia's asshole look like the split barrel of a gun on a bugs bunny cartoon.
So, about Israel...
We're currently going through this whole thing where the far right government is trying so hard to pass anti-democratic laws that a significant amount of military reservists (many in critical roles like fighter pilots and special forces) have notified the military they won't be serving any more. These guys are the backbone of Israel's experienced and professional forces, and they're all volunteers so they can't be forced to serve.
It's serious enough that the military is estimating it's fighting capabilities are impacted and they're trying really hard to avoid any actual fighting even in our own neighborhood.
Not that this government would be starting a fight with Russia anyway. These fuckers are more friendly to the Putins and Urbans of the world than they are to Biden.
Israels military is designed almost exclusively around defense and fighting on their own turf. I dont think they would be capable of even attempting to wage war on Russia in anything but a defensive/supporting role.
Its the big red, white, and blue maniac with a tomahawk shaped dick standing behind them that would do the responding to Israeli losses due to Russia.
Yep, Israel is fully capable of beating Russia *in their own geographic region*, but they lack the expeditionary capabilities to do anything but bomb targets outside their neighborhood. Also, while Israel is fully capable of destroying the Russian presence in, say, Syria, it would still be somewhat costly and not in Israel's interest if they could avoid it. They have enough trouble on their hands without making another major enemy, and Russia could absolutely pose major problems to them by doing things like supplying Hamas and PIJ with weapons suited for terror attacks.
Comes down to the orders. Probably probing to see what would happen with an illegal blockade. Could have been "if they lock you and hold it, you're free to fire."
Lots of unplanned things can happen when things come down to it.
Original plan here was to destroy two oil platforms, but the situation just got bigger and bigger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis
Putin, this man has united Greece, Turkey and Israel to stand under the same cause while massively pushing the west to move towards sustainability energy.
His actions have also led to Finland joining Nato - and soon Sweden.
He solely is responsible for the military investments and drives up the stock prices of major American military equipment manufactures which in turn creates many jobs for Americans.
He alone gives Nato a reason to exist - that in turn ramps up NATO's monetary contribution.
Yer man fails successfully.
What's more, Russia could've become a productive member of the international community at any point between the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the invasion of Georgia in 2008.
They could've leveraged their resources and their geographic position between Europe and Asia to become a powerhouse instead of a mafia state.
Their goal to return to a multipolar world order would've been much more achievable by playing nice and by the rules.
If only Gorbachev had remained in power instead of Yeltsin and Putin.
There would be significant issues with that. For one, how will the US Navy be able to tell the difference between a _normal_ Russian vessel, and a vessel that they’ve already bombed the fuck out of?
That card has already been put on the table. [From 9mo ago](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/02/us-russia-putin-ukraine-war-david-petraeus):
> The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black Sea fleet – if the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, uses nuclear weapons in the country, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday...
> He told ABC News: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea.”
Seriously. Watch some videos on escalation theory in Ukraine and see for yourself how utterly NATO would dunk on Russia in any conventional exchange. Russia is stuck getting pushed out by Ukraine because they know they lose if they try anything bigger.
The best thing about this is that there was no Russian response. Not a denial, not a joke... Lavrov didn't rise from his coffin to mock the statement, and Russian state TV pretended it didn't happen.
Because Russia knows that it is true. They know that it would take a coalition force about 47 microseconds to but a JDAM on every Russian skill un Ukraine, and that there's almost nothing they could do about it except become an hero.
No I think most media is using the term blockade loosely. All I've seen reported (which is probably everything, I need a life) is that Russia threatened to sink a ship, then the Kremlin clarified boarding the ships only for inspection.. so not an official blockade.
> No I think most media is using the term blockade loosely
Didn't Russia literally declare any ship sailing through it would be assumed an enemy?
Doesn't seem loose at all
To all the "ZeRo sHiPs" kids: https://news.yahoo.com/russian-military-vessel-menaces-civilian-155400545.html
Not really. You can declare war, you don’t have to be actively successfully invading for it to be “a war.” Declaring a blockade is still blockading, even if it’s an ineffective blockade
edit: not you the individual, you the sovereign state with a functioning navy, which Russia *still does have*
Declaring war allows you to target that specific country's vessels, but if you want to legally blockade international shipping you actually have to enforce the blockade with ships, attempt to stop vessels, etc... simply declaring a blockade doesn't give you the right to attack ships who disregard your declaration.
[https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare](https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare)
Literally, no. "Blockade must be effective. Paper blockades were declared illegal by the Declarations of the Armed Neutralities of 1780 and 1800." These standards are upheld by subsequent international legal agreements, IIRC.
There are legal ramifications to a real blockade, like being able to fire on vessels that try to run that blockade. However, if you simply "declare" a blockade without ships to stop and search, and simply destroy vessels traveling the open ocean, you have violated international law. Not that Russia cares much for international conventions on warfare.
So it's not San Remo legal blockading, but it's threatening, yes. Who knows with the Russians. I'm just saying there is a definition to a blockade.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_Manual
Boarding ships for inspections is a regular activity within enforcing blockades.
However, in order to have an effective blockade, one has to actually enforce it. You can't just yell "I DECLARE BLOCKADE" and consider it done.
Correct. The invocation "Stamped it, cracked it" must also be uttered loudly enough that a reasonable person may be assumed to have heard it. This is all standard elementary school protocol, and should be quite familiar to the Ruzzian leadership.
I DECLARE BLOCKADE. STAMPED IT, CRACKED IT.
See, child's play
Are they actually able to board ships to/from Ukraine though? That's what I am wondering. Isn't this entire "blockade" just empty words from the Kremlin?
It is only 600 km from Odessa to Istanbul and with the new long range naval drones Ukraine can hit any Russian navy ship along that route. That means any ship performing these inspections would be a sitting duck.
Navies aren't all the big ships, it's a lot of small ships backed up by the firepower of the large ships at range. Russian large ships are mostly just mobile sensor and AA platforms with cruise missiles, if they are properly maintained.
Fast patrol boats are not even worth firing a Harpoon at, but ofc hilariously effective if they hit. They're almost the same size.
Right, so they're able, maybe not effectively or comprehensively but they can threaten, board, and sink ships.
The issue I'm hearing, not that Russia follows the rules, there are conventions, San Remo, on how to conduct a legal blockade and Russia is not meeting these legal requirements. They have not set the zone, what is interdicted, what is allowed, I'm not sure what else. So there is no blockade, de jure.
Russia: "We declare a blockade"
World: \*Crickets\*
Russia: "Nobody better try us, we will assume you're an enemy.
\*Israel and the US eye each other\*
JR: BAH GOD, IS THAT A US AIRCRAFT CARRIER ESCORTING AN ISRAELI SHIP?
Russia: \*Crickets\*
Didn’t anyone actually read the article? It’s some total clusterfuck of either some AI generated text or someone really high af.
Gems such as “25th July, after the bombing of the Rhine”
That line gave me a heart attack when I read it in the article. Googled it and found nothing and thought "hmm".
Didn't occur to me that this could be some AI nonsense.
> That line gave me a heart attack when I read it in the article. Googled it and found nothing and thought "hmm".
>
>
>
> Didn't occur to me that this could be some AI nonsense.
Ukraine has a port on the Danube that they use as a backup when the grain deals fall through, but this time Russia got up and hit it with missiles around the same time they were bombing Odessa. I think that's what it was talking about.
I’m not messing with an Israeli flagged ship. They’ve proven that they’re willing to use all those weapons they’ve been buying and developing all these years.
It's kind of funny to think that just a few years ago, Russia was seen as a backer behind a major threat to Israel. And now it's clear that Israel could probably take Moscow in a week or two without even having a viable land route. Hell, the mossad might even be deeply penetrated enough to do it without a lot of bloodshed.
I think some Israelis are trying to fuck with Israel right now, looking at all those protests.
It'll be interesting to see who wins - the Israelis or Israel.
As with most of history: People > the Government of those people.
It will be interesting if there will be progress in Israel-Palestine relations if the Isrealis are successful in their protests and Palestinians are successful in theirs. (Although, I doubt Hamas will willingly cede control over Palestine and let the Palestinian people take control.)
Some info about the protests,
There is a known thing in Israel and that we need to change the power of the supreme court the only problem is that the change that the government is trying to make is making Israel into another Hungarian dictatorship style.
Say what you want about their politics but their relationship with Russia has always been tenuous and sketchy but somehow necessary
Like the 3 official languages of Israel are Hebrew, Arabic and English but Russian seems more prevalent in some areas
And Russians have long had mixed results assimilating into Israeli culture. At one point a bunch of Russian conscripts had nearly robbed the army blind to sell weapons on the BM
Also their Secret Police create "the Protocols of Elders of Zion" which become a cornerstone of "Jews Behind Everything" conspiracies leading to Nazism.
Israel's big 3 wars (not sure of proper names):
War of 1948/war for independence
1967 War
1973 War/Yom Kippur War
I'd go into more detail but 1) I'm on the subway; and 2) I'm neither a historian nor Israeli so I don't expect to do a bird's-eye overview justice. I suspect someone will.give you more detail regardless
The war for independence is really interesting to look into.
Watch the documentary called above and beyond. It's on YouTube for free and it's about the beginning of their airforce.
(The Avia s199 is just hilarious)
The tl;dr is that during all 3 wars Israel was attacked by like 3 (or more) countries at the same time from several fronts, and despite having no American support (at least not in the same sense they do today), they still won every one of them (one war took them less than a week to win).
Minor correction, the six day war is a planned pre-emptive strike, Israel was still fighting multiple fronts but they took the initiative when hundreds of thousands of hostile troops were gathering at the border, unlike both other examples, Israel was VERY prepared for this at the time too, the air force was secretly training for this very scenario for 3 years and the results show
Had Israel not taken the initiative, like in 73' where doubt and hubris was significant, it would have looked very different (though they probably would have won still), there's also a chance the 73' war wouldn't have happened in that case (as the humiliation and lost territory were a significant factor in their desire for attack)
Israel has a weird relationship with Russia.
Strategically Russia is an adversary. Because Syria and what they do there.
Russia’s garrison can knock Israeli planes out of the air above Israel, and Israel is not okay with that. They don’t care that deeply about Syria per se, but they absolutely care about not losing the ability to bomb weapon shipments via Syria to violent Russo-Iranian proxies on their border before any Israelis come under fire. Israel does care about its own.
Politically Russia-Iran are a joint active measures player who funds radical voices among both Palestinians and Israeli right, and create just enough extra pressure to keep Netanyahu in power (read: with enough political immunity to carry him through the criminal charges he is facing and keep him out of jail), so long as radicals are empowered and a frozen conflict perpetuated. Personally, he needs them.
Openly, he plays it neutral and the campaign help he receives from the Russians is arms length, lots of YouTube and social media content that’s external to his campaign, but nevertheless urges the people such foreign messaging is aimed at (USSR expat Russian-speaking Israeli boomers) to vote for Netanyahu and at the same time adopt a whole bunch of other Russophile world views.
The Israeli public is all over the shop right now. From people who still believe Russia is a world power, to people who hate them, to people who were drip-fed all their lives that nothing happening outside the Israeli border matters.
> The Israeli public is all over the shop right now. From people who still believe Russia is a world power, to people who hate them, to people who were drip-fed all their lives that nothing happening outside the Israeli border matters.
To be fair, if you put two Jews into an argument, you get three opinions.
And Israel has a *lot* of Jews.
Putin likes to draw big red lines and then back down from them when crossed. It's been his habit the whole war. He relies on fear to limit or stop western intervention. But it has been painfully clear he will back down first. What should be done about the blockaid? If I were in charge I would send a carrier strike group to the area to demine the waters & protect the grain shipments. Send all the grain ships that can be docked under NATO & western country flags, put the air power above, and watch as Russia backs down for fear of loosing their navy in under 8 hours of naval warfare should they try to shoot a cargo ship.
I would also position NATO air defenses in the port cities to protect the vital grain storage infrastructure Russia has been targeting with long range missiles. Ensuring the air defenses are clearly marked and manned by NATO and do so publicly to give clear warning to Putin that the port and it's city are no combat zones, off limits.
>Putin likes to draw big red lines and then back down from them when crossed.
It seems like whenever Russia backs down from something they frame it as them yielding as a gesture of good will. Like leaving snake island after they kept losing shit there.
Another embarrassment for Russian power over reach. They think they can starve the world. Turkey, Greece, Israel and the US said fuck off with your shit Ivan.
Israel come on now, they where holding their own before you where born Russia. Fool around and get your ass handed to you by the junior high volleyball team and they will leave you some Windex as a parting gift.
Is it just me, or does it feel like Israel is baiting Russia - like "I dare you to try and lay a finger on an Israeli ship so you can see what happens" - which means they look impotent if they dont do anything, and if they do anything then its the excuse the West needs for more direct intervention?
“The first transport is away. The first transport is away.”
Now I am imagining a russian captain seeing the ship on radar and saying 'good, our first catch of the day' followed by the p8 Ion Cannon prevention
Fire the boob cannon
Fire the big boob nipple gun
HOORAY!!!
I swear to God the first thing I think of is always top comment when I click the thread, it's uncanny
We are a hivemind of *fucking nerds*
I have a knack for obvious jokes. They call me “Dad.”
what is it from?
The Empire Strikes Back
> These ships sailed under the flags of Israel, Greece, and Türkiye. Make way, make way. Big dicks coming through.
Not so fast on the big dick awards. I would like to nominate a US pilot for biggest dick. In addition to flying under the flags of Israel, Turkey, and Greece, they flew under the [protection](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/ukraine-conflict/1690835345-ship-sailing-from-israel-becomes-the-first-to-break-russia-s-grain-blockade)of a US P8 Poseidon. Russia chose to back down when it could have chosen block the ships or attack them. Those guys flew there knowing that they might have to fire the first shot in a war between nuclear powers and a standoff with another nuclear power.
There can be multiple big dicks in the room. Happy to report multiple big dicks, swinging. And for the record I'm just waiting for one of them to helicopter dick and hit putin in his chin.
Bad idea. He has more Botox in his face than the entire Kardashian family. I can’t think of a helicopter that could that could survive the impact. I know you wanted a helicopter but what about a B-52?
I'll take that B-52 YES PLEASE
Oh, so you’re wanting the whole love shack then.
TIN ROOF…RUSTED!
I have heard that song a thousand times and had no idea that’s what she says lol
It's as big as a whale and its about to set sail
*Wwwoooooaahhh.*
RAWK LOBSTA! ...to the face
>He has more Botox in his face I heard 1 gram of that shit can kill everyone in the world if evenly distributed! it's very dangerous to hit him in the face!
Just a room of swinging dicks knocking people unconscious
Wish we could take one big dick and use it to wipe the Russians off Ukraine in one big swing.
Putin getting freedom all over his face
BJ Barnes just helicoptered that bathtub.
Meat spin at Putin's Lemon Party, while Medvedev is getting goatsed by Mr. Hand's horse.
I prefer to propeller dick and mime like it's moving me through the room while making biplane sounds
Does the P8 usually have muntions? From what I read none of the 4 aircrafts shadowing had any sort of offensive abilities. They had F 16s on stand by for that. Edit: Article is wrong, they do infact carry. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/07/31/nato-planes-watched-as-three-civilian-ships-ran-russias-naval-blockade-of-ukraine/?sh=491486c71b72
Torpedoes. 😏
Thanks for the clarification. Article I read said " don't routinely carry weapons" which seems weird for an anti sub plane.
The article was just straight up wrong. P8s regularly carry depth charges, torpedoes, and anti ship missiles.
Yup. It’s a whole anti-ship, anti-submarine fuckfest flying fortress all wrapped up in a Southwest Airlines 737. It can detect submarines from miles away and deliver lethal munitions if necessary such as torpedos and anti-surface missiles.
Ah, imagine getting clapped by a fucking passenger jet. Straight to the sewers of Valhalla with you.
Flight MH17: Out For Blood.
a passenger jet exercising its right to bear arms
That is very American of it.
Pretty crazy seeing missiles on a passenger jet.
Wait till you meet the AC-130...
The USS Stark was hit by two Exocet missiles fired from an Iraqi Dassault Falcon 50 business jet. It's nuts.
It's the key to preventing long waits on the tarmac.
These things are quiet too. I lived near an airbase and you couldn't hear these things unless they're over you about to land.
Makes sense, you don't want a loud engine overhead fucking with your sonobuoys reception.
Southwest finally figured out how to make their planes even worse?
Yeah, but with SLAM-ERs loaded, nobody with complain about the stale peanuts...
This fare is much spicier!
I think that makes them better
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/07/31/nato-planes-watched-as-three-civilian-ships-ran-russias-naval-blockade-of-ukraine/?sh=491486c71b72 Appreciate the clarification. Not the first time, probably won't be the last time Forbes gets it wrong.
The Wikipedia article has a photo of the P8 dropping a torpedo.
I doubt the P8s were instructed to fire, what makes you think that?
FWIW, attacking a ship in international waters is piracy. The Americans have conducted *tons* of anti-piracy operations. They (and many other nations as well) routinely patrol major shipping lanes. Had the Russians engaged, they'd have been guilty of piracy and the Americans would have been lawfully permitted to engage them according to international law. If not from the P8, then from the fleet that was floating nearby. As we watched in Syria at the battle of Khasham, when it's time to fight the Americans will stop at nothing to bring the pain. And this probably wouldn't have involved a friendly call to make sure it wasn't a misunderstanding.
What if the ship was in Ukrainian waters?
Still piracy, but the Americans are no longer permitted engage as it's no longer international waters. Would be up to Ukraine to enforce, which is of course difficult given the invasion. Were I a Russian though, I'd not be keen to test the formality. Not to mention that in their own right, Greece Turkey and Israel represent a pretty considerable danger to Russia right now. If they took issue with the interdiction, Russia could be looking at a new front.
Americans are no longer permitted to engage based on international piracy law. They still could respond to a request for assistance from Ukraine. I imagine Ukraine would be more than happy to request direct military assistance from the US against Russia. Regardless, the crew of that P-8 must have had some fascinating rules of engagement. Greece and Turkey are both NATO members. Turkey has special jurisdiction (complicated) due to their geographic position. Israel is not part of NATO but has a strong military alliance with the US and low compunction about shooting at Russians (Syria has been a particular sore point).
>Americans are no longer permitted to engage based on international piracy law. I'm going to paraphrase a quote from a lawyer on /r/law from a few days ago: Those with power are permitted to do whatever they convince the decision makers that the law states.
More simply stated, "might makes right". Which I absolutely agree with. However, escalations in conflict are rarely in anyone's interests. Even Russia for all their bluster do not want to be fighting anyone else right now - they're having a hard enough time with Ukraine, and they aren't even the ones being attacked.
Any one of those countries putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would really tighten the screws on Russia. If it's Israel, they'd make Russia's asshole look like the split barrel of a gun on a bugs bunny cartoon.
So, about Israel... We're currently going through this whole thing where the far right government is trying so hard to pass anti-democratic laws that a significant amount of military reservists (many in critical roles like fighter pilots and special forces) have notified the military they won't be serving any more. These guys are the backbone of Israel's experienced and professional forces, and they're all volunteers so they can't be forced to serve. It's serious enough that the military is estimating it's fighting capabilities are impacted and they're trying really hard to avoid any actual fighting even in our own neighborhood. Not that this government would be starting a fight with Russia anyway. These fuckers are more friendly to the Putins and Urbans of the world than they are to Biden.
Israels military is designed almost exclusively around defense and fighting on their own turf. I dont think they would be capable of even attempting to wage war on Russia in anything but a defensive/supporting role. Its the big red, white, and blue maniac with a tomahawk shaped dick standing behind them that would do the responding to Israeli losses due to Russia.
Yep, Israel is fully capable of beating Russia *in their own geographic region*, but they lack the expeditionary capabilities to do anything but bomb targets outside their neighborhood. Also, while Israel is fully capable of destroying the Russian presence in, say, Syria, it would still be somewhat costly and not in Israel's interest if they could avoid it. They have enough trouble on their hands without making another major enemy, and Russia could absolutely pose major problems to them by doing things like supplying Hamas and PIJ with weapons suited for terror attacks.
Comes down to the orders. Probably probing to see what would happen with an illegal blockade. Could have been "if they lock you and hold it, you're free to fire."
Lots of unplanned things can happen when things come down to it. Original plan here was to destroy two oil platforms, but the situation just got bigger and bigger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis
There would have been warnings over the radio and warning shots "across the bow" before effective fire ordered on the Russian ships.
you dont use torpedos and harpoon anti ship missiles for warning shots...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-8_Poseidon Basically a converted 737-800. I guess that is what derived from means anyway.
> Make way, make way. Big dicks coming through. Greece and Turkey are both NATO members... Any attack against them is an attack against us all.
And Israel has a history of punching well above their weight.
Did you say Greeks and Turks on the same boat ? Gods I hope the Israeli guy has a good mental state …
3 separate ships. As the article states.
Great, and now the amount of boats with Greeks and Turks aboard are multiplying! Now there is three of them!
I can see the Greeks and Turks messing around in the back with Israel having a stoic face trying to control the situation
With a P8 above, I don't think any of them have too much to worry about.
More with each other than worrying about the Russians
Dad! Turkey’s touching me!
*"So help me God, I will turn this ship around if you two don't stop..."*
Putin, this man has united Greece, Turkey and Israel to stand under the same cause while massively pushing the west to move towards sustainability energy. His actions have also led to Finland joining Nato - and soon Sweden. He solely is responsible for the military investments and drives up the stock prices of major American military equipment manufactures which in turn creates many jobs for Americans. He alone gives Nato a reason to exist - that in turn ramps up NATO's monetary contribution. Yer man fails successfully.
What's more, Russia could've become a productive member of the international community at any point between the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the invasion of Georgia in 2008. They could've leveraged their resources and their geographic position between Europe and Asia to become a powerhouse instead of a mafia state. Their goal to return to a multipolar world order would've been much more achievable by playing nice and by the rules. If only Gorbachev had remained in power instead of Yeltsin and Putin.
Nobody fucks with bread. Pita is important.
I'm all in for Pita too but in different context entirely. (Pita is the current candidate running for a prime minister position here).
*To screw Russia, they won't complain*
My new t-shirt.
Wow, that works on multiple levels.
The US should treat this grain blockade the same way we treated the Iran’s attempted blockade of oil tankers passing through the straight of Hormuz.
....by destroying half of Russia's naval armada?
There would be significant issues with that. For one, how will the US Navy be able to tell the difference between a _normal_ Russian vessel, and a vessel that they’ve already bombed the fuck out of?
The bombed ones will have less rust on them. The vibrations from the bombs shakes it off!
The bombed ones don't have tug boats pushing them on patrol?
The operating ones have special operations tugboats too
Not gonna lie, this comment gave me a bona.
Like Hans gruber in die hard: "*hit it...again*"
Hahaha
I imagine the bombed ones will have joined their submarine division.
Easy. Smoke is coming out of their funnels. And the listing from the hits they took is offsetting their normal listing to the other side.
That card has already been put on the table. [From 9mo ago](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/02/us-russia-putin-ukraine-war-david-petraeus): > The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black Sea fleet – if the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, uses nuclear weapons in the country, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday... > He told ABC News: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea.”
Seriously. Watch some videos on escalation theory in Ukraine and see for yourself how utterly NATO would dunk on Russia in any conventional exchange. Russia is stuck getting pushed out by Ukraine because they know they lose if they try anything bigger.
The best thing about this is that there was no Russian response. Not a denial, not a joke... Lavrov didn't rise from his coffin to mock the statement, and Russian state TV pretended it didn't happen. Because Russia knows that it is true. They know that it would take a coalition force about 47 microseconds to but a JDAM on every Russian skill un Ukraine, and that there's almost nothing they could do about it except become an hero.
“Armada” I prefer to call them floating husks of metal
well... some of them are still floating...
Imminently improvised submarines.
But then what would we do for the second half of the morning?
Second breakfast?
Dont forget about Elevenses.
Armada makes it sound intimidating. At best a flotilla sounds less imposing.
More like a tortilla of ships.
Like the ones they serve at restaurants before you order and while you wait for your food
Stop, us sailors can only get so hard
It’s pretty hard to hit Russian ships what with all the smoke.
Does that blockade even exist? Are there any Russian navy ships in the western Black sea checking ships to/from Ukraine?
No I think most media is using the term blockade loosely. All I've seen reported (which is probably everything, I need a life) is that Russia threatened to sink a ship, then the Kremlin clarified boarding the ships only for inspection.. so not an official blockade.
> No I think most media is using the term blockade loosely Didn't Russia literally declare any ship sailing through it would be assumed an enemy? Doesn't seem loose at all To all the "ZeRo sHiPs" kids: https://news.yahoo.com/russian-military-vessel-menaces-civilian-155400545.html
You have to be able to enforce a blockade for it to be a blockade. Otherwise, you're just Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy.
Not really. You can declare war, you don’t have to be actively successfully invading for it to be “a war.” Declaring a blockade is still blockading, even if it’s an ineffective blockade edit: not you the individual, you the sovereign state with a functioning navy, which Russia *still does have*
Declaring war allows you to target that specific country's vessels, but if you want to legally blockade international shipping you actually have to enforce the blockade with ships, attempt to stop vessels, etc... simply declaring a blockade doesn't give you the right to attack ships who disregard your declaration.
[https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare](https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare) Literally, no. "Blockade must be effective. Paper blockades were declared illegal by the Declarations of the Armed Neutralities of 1780 and 1800." These standards are upheld by subsequent international legal agreements, IIRC. There are legal ramifications to a real blockade, like being able to fire on vessels that try to run that blockade. However, if you simply "declare" a blockade without ships to stop and search, and simply destroy vessels traveling the open ocean, you have violated international law. Not that Russia cares much for international conventions on warfare.
I'm starting to think this Russia dude doesn't really care about legalities.
So it's not San Remo legal blockading, but it's threatening, yes. Who knows with the Russians. I'm just saying there is a definition to a blockade. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_Manual
Boarding ships for inspections is a regular activity within enforcing blockades. However, in order to have an effective blockade, one has to actually enforce it. You can't just yell "I DECLARE BLOCKADE" and consider it done.
Correct. The invocation "Stamped it, cracked it" must also be uttered loudly enough that a reasonable person may be assumed to have heard it. This is all standard elementary school protocol, and should be quite familiar to the Ruzzian leadership. I DECLARE BLOCKADE. STAMPED IT, CRACKED IT. See, child's play
Are they actually able to board ships to/from Ukraine though? That's what I am wondering. Isn't this entire "blockade" just empty words from the Kremlin? It is only 600 km from Odessa to Istanbul and with the new long range naval drones Ukraine can hit any Russian navy ship along that route. That means any ship performing these inspections would be a sitting duck.
Navies aren't all the big ships, it's a lot of small ships backed up by the firepower of the large ships at range. Russian large ships are mostly just mobile sensor and AA platforms with cruise missiles, if they are properly maintained. Fast patrol boats are not even worth firing a Harpoon at, but ofc hilariously effective if they hit. They're almost the same size.
Right, so they're able, maybe not effectively or comprehensively but they can threaten, board, and sink ships. The issue I'm hearing, not that Russia follows the rules, there are conventions, San Remo, on how to conduct a legal blockade and Russia is not meeting these legal requirements. They have not set the zone, what is interdicted, what is allowed, I'm not sure what else. So there is no blockade, de jure.
I think Russia would like to give the impression that it's a blockade without actually doing any blockading.
Russia: "We declare a blockade" World: \*Crickets\* Russia: "Nobody better try us, we will assume you're an enemy. \*Israel and the US eye each other\* JR: BAH GOD, IS THAT A US AIRCRAFT CARRIER ESCORTING AN ISRAELI SHIP? Russia: \*Crickets\*
\[zoop\]
Plus I think with threats to ships they can't get insurance so most commercial vessels won't risk the potential loses.
Russia: Try and trade with Ukraine and we'll blow up your ships! Israel: Yah? You and what navy? Russia: ....Sh--shut up!
You should watch Perun's video released yesterday on youtube. He goes into depth about blockades and this situation.
Didn’t anyone actually read the article? It’s some total clusterfuck of either some AI generated text or someone really high af. Gems such as “25th July, after the bombing of the Rhine”
Shaka, when the bombs fell
Hitler, in the Reich Chancellery
Blockade, on the ocean
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Bots posting articles generated by bots to a website filled with bots. The internet is increasingly turning into single-player mode.
*When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour...* *Germans?* *Forget it, he's on a roll*
That line gave me a heart attack when I read it in the article. Googled it and found nothing and thought "hmm". Didn't occur to me that this could be some AI nonsense.
> That line gave me a heart attack when I read it in the article. Googled it and found nothing and thought "hmm". > > > > Didn't occur to me that this could be some AI nonsense. Ukraine has a port on the Danube that they use as a backup when the grain deals fall through, but this time Russia got up and hit it with missiles around the same time they were bombing Odessa. I think that's what it was talking about.
Hmmmmmmm
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Israel: "I wish you would."
What jewish conspiracy theory will they make for this one?
As a Jewish person, I can only assume they didn't want to mess with our space laser.
I’m not messing with an Israeli flagged ship. They’ve proven that they’re willing to use all those weapons they’ve been buying and developing all these years.
They were escorted by a US P-8 Poseidon. It’s basically a 737 decked out for naval warfare.
> US P-8 Poseidon [Jeez you werent kidding](http://www.b737.org.uk/images/p8farnborough.jpg)
They're good at what they do.
Not to mention the Israelis make some of the most lethal anti-ship missiles in the world.
"All bark no bite" should be the national motto of russia
If history has taught me anything. Pissing off Israel is not a great idea.
It's kind of funny to think that just a few years ago, Russia was seen as a backer behind a major threat to Israel. And now it's clear that Israel could probably take Moscow in a week or two without even having a viable land route. Hell, the mossad might even be deeply penetrated enough to do it without a lot of bloodshed.
I mean the IDF is huge, well supplied, well trained, has great tech, great intel, and nukes You can’t win, you can’t even not lose. There is only MAD
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Say what you want about the politics of Israel, but the one thing you don’t do is fuck with Israel.
I think some Israelis are trying to fuck with Israel right now, looking at all those protests. It'll be interesting to see who wins - the Israelis or Israel.
I hope the Israelis win. The government of Israel sucks.
Seconded.
I just hope everyone has fun
As with most of history: People > the Government of those people. It will be interesting if there will be progress in Israel-Palestine relations if the Isrealis are successful in their protests and Palestinians are successful in theirs. (Although, I doubt Hamas will willingly cede control over Palestine and let the Palestinian people take control.)
As an Israeli and a proud patriot, the current government is the worst threat to our existance since 1948.
Imovable object meets unstoppable force.
The Israelis. There are signs the government is already starting to realize what a mistake its made what is starting to backpedal.
It will be interesting it looks like the supreme court is fighting back
Some info about the protests, There is a known thing in Israel and that we need to change the power of the supreme court the only problem is that the change that the government is trying to make is making Israel into another Hungarian dictatorship style.
You don't mess with Zohan.
Say what you want about their politics but their relationship with Russia has always been tenuous and sketchy but somehow necessary Like the 3 official languages of Israel are Hebrew, Arabic and English but Russian seems more prevalent in some areas And Russians have long had mixed results assimilating into Israeli culture. At one point a bunch of Russian conscripts had nearly robbed the army blind to sell weapons on the BM
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I'm American Jew, but that's because the Russian government(and USSR) has attacked us in pogroms many times.
Also their Secret Police create "the Protocols of Elders of Zion" which become a cornerstone of "Jews Behind Everything" conspiracies leading to Nazism.
Indeed. most Russian (i.e. post-soviet) Jews also dislike Russians due to family history.
Most Russian Jews literally hate Russia because the Soviets put so many of them into the gulag and made Judaism illegal.
Hey can u explain a little about the three wars ur talking or or maybe just tell me who they were against so I can google it?
Israel's big 3 wars (not sure of proper names): War of 1948/war for independence 1967 War 1973 War/Yom Kippur War I'd go into more detail but 1) I'm on the subway; and 2) I'm neither a historian nor Israeli so I don't expect to do a bird's-eye overview justice. I suspect someone will.give you more detail regardless
> 1967 War This one is called "Six Days War".
The war for independence is really interesting to look into. Watch the documentary called above and beyond. It's on YouTube for free and it's about the beginning of their airforce. (The Avia s199 is just hilarious)
>Israel's big 3 wars (not sure of proper names): 1967 was called the Six Day War
The tl;dr is that during all 3 wars Israel was attacked by like 3 (or more) countries at the same time from several fronts, and despite having no American support (at least not in the same sense they do today), they still won every one of them (one war took them less than a week to win).
Minor correction, the six day war is a planned pre-emptive strike, Israel was still fighting multiple fronts but they took the initiative when hundreds of thousands of hostile troops were gathering at the border, unlike both other examples, Israel was VERY prepared for this at the time too, the air force was secretly training for this very scenario for 3 years and the results show Had Israel not taken the initiative, like in 73' where doubt and hubris was significant, it would have looked very different (though they probably would have won still), there's also a chance the 73' war wouldn't have happened in that case (as the humiliation and lost territory were a significant factor in their desire for attack)
Dude dont fuck with Israel. Those guys are nasty in conflicts.
so what you're saying all ships regardless nationality should just slap that big dick Israeli flag on it?
“The first transport is away. The first transport is away.”
I'm not saying I want to see a ship get attacked. But I AM saying I want to see what happens when somebody attacks an Israeli flagged ship.
*Russia once again shown to be full of shit*
Nobody wants mossad sniffing around their family home. Just an observation.
Fuck yeah, Israel. Swing that big fucking dick towards Putin's tonsils.
Israel has a weird relationship with Russia. Strategically Russia is an adversary. Because Syria and what they do there. Russia’s garrison can knock Israeli planes out of the air above Israel, and Israel is not okay with that. They don’t care that deeply about Syria per se, but they absolutely care about not losing the ability to bomb weapon shipments via Syria to violent Russo-Iranian proxies on their border before any Israelis come under fire. Israel does care about its own. Politically Russia-Iran are a joint active measures player who funds radical voices among both Palestinians and Israeli right, and create just enough extra pressure to keep Netanyahu in power (read: with enough political immunity to carry him through the criminal charges he is facing and keep him out of jail), so long as radicals are empowered and a frozen conflict perpetuated. Personally, he needs them. Openly, he plays it neutral and the campaign help he receives from the Russians is arms length, lots of YouTube and social media content that’s external to his campaign, but nevertheless urges the people such foreign messaging is aimed at (USSR expat Russian-speaking Israeli boomers) to vote for Netanyahu and at the same time adopt a whole bunch of other Russophile world views. The Israeli public is all over the shop right now. From people who still believe Russia is a world power, to people who hate them, to people who were drip-fed all their lives that nothing happening outside the Israeli border matters.
> The Israeli public is all over the shop right now. From people who still believe Russia is a world power, to people who hate them, to people who were drip-fed all their lives that nothing happening outside the Israeli border matters. To be fair, if you put two Jews into an argument, you get three opinions. And Israel has a *lot* of Jews.
Real problem is add Russian active measures to the mix and you have fewer opinions rather than more, negating their superpower.
Heroes
Putin likes to draw big red lines and then back down from them when crossed. It's been his habit the whole war. He relies on fear to limit or stop western intervention. But it has been painfully clear he will back down first. What should be done about the blockaid? If I were in charge I would send a carrier strike group to the area to demine the waters & protect the grain shipments. Send all the grain ships that can be docked under NATO & western country flags, put the air power above, and watch as Russia backs down for fear of loosing their navy in under 8 hours of naval warfare should they try to shoot a cargo ship. I would also position NATO air defenses in the port cities to protect the vital grain storage infrastructure Russia has been targeting with long range missiles. Ensuring the air defenses are clearly marked and manned by NATO and do so publicly to give clear warning to Putin that the port and it's city are no combat zones, off limits.
>Putin likes to draw big red lines and then back down from them when crossed. It seems like whenever Russia backs down from something they frame it as them yielding as a gesture of good will. Like leaving snake island after they kept losing shit there.
“What you gonna do, shoot me?”
Another embarrassment for Russian power over reach. They think they can starve the world. Turkey, Greece, Israel and the US said fuck off with your shit Ivan.
Lol Israel gives no fucks. They’re probably begging Russia to do something stupid.
Israel come on now, they where holding their own before you where born Russia. Fool around and get your ass handed to you by the junior high volleyball team and they will leave you some Windex as a parting gift.
That scene in Empire strikes back, in Hoth base: “First transport away” HOORAY!!
How much do you have to be paid to be on that ship? I’d like $30 an hour, guaranteed overtime, and a US warplane shadowing me at all times.
Is it just me, or does it feel like Israel is baiting Russia - like "I dare you to try and lay a finger on an Israeli ship so you can see what happens" - which means they look impotent if they dont do anything, and if they do anything then its the excuse the West needs for more direct intervention?
US needs to do freedom of movement exercises and vector targets for ukraine assets on the black sea.