#land invasion

[amalgamasreal]

Why a land invasion of the US would never work.

[deadpresidents]

Order of the Day message delivered to Allied forces from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, prior to the D-Day invasion, June 6, 1944.

[asterwild]

There are three species commonly known as giant African land snails -- Lissachatina fulica, Achatina achatina, and Archachatina marginata. Although some popular photos of them online make them appear even larger than life, their title of "giant" is well-earned. All three regularly reach 7-8 inches in length, and larger specimens have been documented.

[justacynicalromantic]

In early 2014, Ukraine was a neutral country, with a pro-Russian president, and with 70% of Ukraine's population against NATO membership. Yet Russia bluntly violated Ukraine's neutrality and annexed Crimea, then launched a covert invasion of Ukraine in the east.

Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election later in 2014 having promised a settlement with Russia, keeping a special status of the Russian language in Ukraine. He was initially sceptical regarding NATO accession, underlined Ukraine must rely on its own strength to provide security.

Did Putin meet Poroshenko halfway? Not at all. The regular Russian army entered the Ukrainian territory in mid-2014 to fight the Ukrainian troops, which led to the Minsk-1 agreement signed in September 2014.

Further text - down under the cut, or you can follow the Twitter link to the original post:

Few weeks later, Ukraine's parliament adopted a law that would guarantee the then Russia-controlled part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions additional economic, financial and cultural powers.

How did Putin react? Russia staged sham local elections in the occupied Donbas, and then sent the regular army again to Ukraine in early 2015, which led to the Minsk-2 agreement signed in February 2015.

Zelensky was even more sceptical regarding NATO accession. Asked about NATO, he once famously said he never pays anyone a visit if he has not been invited. He won the presidential election promising to compromise with Russia - to stop shooting, sit down with Putin and talk.

Did Putin meet Zelensky halfway? Not at all. He actually raised the stakes by issuing the Russian passports on the occupied territories of Ukraine even before Zelensky assumed the office, putting him in a difficult political position since the start.

Zelensky was ready to drop Ukraine's NATO bid in an exchange for the Russian troops withdrawing from Ukraine. The talks were held already before 2022. What did Putin do? He launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the first weeks of the invasion, Zelensky was yet again ready to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. But he wanted to obtain international security guarantees. What did Putin do? He demanded that Russia must be consulted before any aid would be given to Ukraine in the event of aggression.

To sum up, Ukraine has consistently tried to reach a deal with Russia over the last decade, and was open to giving up on its NATO bid in exchange for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine. Russia never reciprocated, never showed a good will, kept raising the stakes.

Both Poroshenko and Zelensky were initially sceptical regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO. Both wanted to get a deal with Putin. And Putin himself pushed both of them to seek NATO membership out of no other viable alternatives.

Up till now, Putin has shown absolutely no willingness to compromise with Ukraine. His war aims remain maximalist - subjugating Ukraine and changing its regime. He seeks Ukraine's partition, and will turn what is left of Ukraine into Russian protectorate.

Russia's imperial self-conception is that of Russian elites at large, and not just Vladimir Putin. The Russian leadership simply cannot reconcile with the existence of a sovereign Ukrainian statehood.

Therefore any sustainable Ukrainian-Russian compromise is currently not possible unless the Russian cost-benefit calculus changes. Only credible risk to the stability of the Russian regime would impact this calculus. The easiest way goes through defeating Russia in Ukraine.

[calops-does-art]

been enjoying this style of painting lately

[snototter]

Microplana scharffi, a land planarian, in Santa Clara County, California, USA

by Robin Gwen Agarwal

[zvaigzdelasas]

Sorry if this is a bad question, but do you think the Palestinians can keep their gains? I know this is an important win psychologically no matter what happens next, but is there any chance for changing the borders on the map?

Sorry if this naive or not relevant to the actual events

no its very relevant! Really too early to tell I think, at the absolute minimum I think this conflict could last several weeks, wouldn't be surprised if longer though. Either way the entire regional politic has already been changed forever, and I'm sure there will be defacto territorial change one way or another

Main factors/possibilities (rougly sorted in terms of my perceived importance/likeliness) imo:

A) level of coordination that Al-Qassam & other militants taking part have (idk what comms they'd really have available at this point, particularly with the blackout) as well as how robust logistical supply chains are for deliveries of weapons, personnel, and ammo, but to start out w 5,000 missiles in 20 minutes (though israel claims 2,500) definitely indicates a major degree of planning & coordination, probably months in advance if not more - so many contingencies were probably accounted for

B) how much Hezb'ullah enters the offensive, even pinning down a couple battalions around Sheba farm or the broader Golan heights can be a pretty pivotal, but if they actually are able to take territory that changes things significantly

B-2) how much non-muslim groups in lebanon accept hezb'ullah joining the offensive - israel can escalate here & potentially fracture the offensive by staging a ground invasion/aerial attack into Lebanon, as long as non-muslim groups read that as "because hezb'ullah instigated it" instead of as israeli aggression on them. I have no read on lebanese public opinion here so idk.

C) Whether the Syrian SAF steps up strikes against israeli occupational military targets in the Golan Heights in the next couple days

C-2) amount of explicit coordination between Hezb'ullah & SAF

D) how the situation develops in the West Bank - expect a lot of retributional violence by Israeli civilians here.

D-2) Abbas & his govt have already taken quite a strong stance where they dont quite endorse hamas' operation, but put blame squarely on Israel - if West Bank escalates decisively they might take a much stronger stance.

E) How many israeli political prisoners Hamas has taken (israel has admitted to 130, hamas says "more than dozens") - PIJ also claims 30, how important they are, & how many of their own civilians Israel is willing to potentially kill in order to achieve broader military objectives.

E-2) If Israel arent willing to do that, then that also means a lot of their vaunted air force is largely useless here & combat will largely take the form of urban street battles, which tend to favor irregular insurgent combatants (esp when the regular army is used to unquestioned aerial supremacy)

E-3) what happens during the land invasion of Gaza (said to happen in about 24 hours, and something that would be surprising if wasnt expected by hamas), which is likely prompted by the large number of detained political prisoners. If this ends without something that can be spun as a clear victory for IDF, then this will be a major demotivating factor against their international perceived strength & massively increase morale among palestinian militants & civilians

F) If gazans are able to make a land bridge to the West Bank, then things are going to escalate in a significant way. Sderot is right now the frontline here, about 20 mile straight shot

G) how much more of the barrier around the Gaza strip is able to be destroyed, particularly at checkpoints

I) if the Saudis officially announce a pause in normalization talks

I-2) if other factions in the House of Saud take advantage of the mass-unpopularity of normalization with israel among saudi citizen (ie not immigrant labor) population (~2% support support among saudi youth according to Arab Youth Survey 2023 https://arabyouthsurvey.com/wp-content/uploads/whitepaper/AYS-2023-WP_123_English.pdf - seems like a fair assumption this isn't limited to the young). Even absolute monarchies have limits in terms of unpopular choices.

H) how much of a united front palestinian refugees (across the region but in Egypt & Jordan in particular) are able to mount & what political ends they're able to force pressure on - Sisi has rhetorically genuflected to Israel being the one to provoke escalation while also condemning both sides, but Jordan's Abd'allah has pretty much stuck to both sides so far

H-2) If the youth survey is a good proxy, Jordan would likely be the one where the governing regime would have most difficulty avoiding taking a stand against israel (~6% in favor of normalization)

J) if Israel officially declares military operations against Iran, then that's going to be a major escalation path.

J-2) More likely imo will just step up operations particularly in Iraq against shi'a militants, not sure they'd really want to escalate in Syria at this exact moment

K) how long the Netanyahu-centered Unity Govt takes to form, especially how much Gantz tries to push himself into the center

L) How much the US/european politicians publicly supports israel rhetorically & with guns without public pushback (that's where posting can actually help, particularly politicians). Right now the political class has basically all fallen in line in support of Israel, so normalizing discourse in support of palestine does do something, particularly if it has quantifiable achievement like BDS (particularly S)

M) Now is also when israeli civilians protesting against the corruption of their government would make the most difference. Strangely the recurring protests have been canceled. lol.

Z (wildcard)) Ansar Allah (houthis) or other non-coalition yemeni militant groups start an offensive against the Israeli-UAE occupation of Socotra. UAE alone is still militarily powerful and islands have obvious defensive advantages but scrambling to coordinate a rebuff of Israeli military positions all that way away would definitely start to strain logistics

[toadalled]

A custom "worm" design.

Here's a land planarian! Land planarians are commonly known as hammerhead worms despite not being annelids (segmented worms). While some species are invasive, they're a fascinating family of creatures that come in a stunning variety of colors/ patterns!

Please keep any comments about killing land planarians to yourself. Invasive species aren't invasive everywhere and can be appreciated and valued in their native range.

[official-boobies-posts]

always was, always will be aboriginal land ❤️💛🖤

[kikuohanamybeloved]

I want to finish this Chapter 82 Phos but my iPad won’t let me bc it only has <250MB of storage aw man 😞

[deadpresidents]

Operation Overlord Normandy, France D-Day: June 6, 1944

[magicianrabbidsupremacy]

Game Counterpart: Chill ass guy

Tv Show Counterpart: Malicious and evil (Also hates the color pink)

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Swamp

Artist: Ron Spencer TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[critter-creature-or-beast]

By SREEJITH VISWANATHAN - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

https://blaq.org.au/donate/

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Damaged Russian landing ship Olenegorskiy Gornyak is towed to dock, Novorossiysk Bay, Russia, August 4, 2023. Source: IanMatveev

P.S. Another slightly better picture confirms the successful attack of Ukrainian drones on Russian warships in Novorossiysk ...