Friendly reminder: when commenting about a news event, especially something that just happened, please provide a source of some kind. While ideally this would be on nitter or archived, any source is preferable to none at all given.
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
let's say like Hezbollah launches an assault while the IOF is bogged down trying to slog through Gazan streets. they push pretty hard against a token and demoralized IOF. the U.S. responds by targeting Hezbollah armored columns and support. Hezbollah succesfully strikes a U.S. carrier or escort with an Iranian anti-ship missile.
what could happen next? would this just wind up into a crazy mostly aerial, drone and missile conventional regional conflict? would the U.S. prepare for an invasion of Iran or Lebanon? would Russia decide to enter the skirmish if Syria is caught up?
what stage would tactical nuclear weapons possibly be considered?
and finally what would israel take to do a samson option and just decide to hurl 400 thermonuclear warheads in every direction, against friend and foe alike? and would the U.S. coup netanyahu or decapitate the Israeli strategic missile command (which i'm sure the U.S. knows EXACTLY where it is located) before they decide to just smash the table and end the world?
i would usually agree with you - I think most of the concerns I see in leftist spaces about nuclear armageddon are overblown. but we have never seen a nuclear armed state faced with imminent defeat in an existential war. a nuclear strike from israel is not an unreasonable thing to be concerned about.
I think the West is cooked if they let Israel fire off it's nukes over this. However, for MAD to work, someone has to be on the other side to also launch the nukes. That should have been Iran if they didn't have their heads up their asses. Who is it going to be now, though? It's not going to be anyone in NATO. It won't be the Russians, the Chinese, or the Indians. I doubt it's going to be Pakistan given their current government. That leaves North Korea to be the MAD counterparty.
It's amazing that they threaten the whole world, and yet other countries consider themselves allies and let their citizens be recruited into its military service.
israel is that nightmare alternate history scenario of "what if nazi germany violent expansionist fascist state that also had enough nukes to glass 400 cities"
If Hezbollah attacked "too far" into Israel - what happened next could spiral into a full-blown war. For a while Israel would face very high casualties. But soon Israel and the US would turn most of Lebanon into rubble.
i'd imagine this could easily draw in Syria (and with them possibly some Russian support), elements in Iraq and also Iran. or everyone is simply cowed and the U.S. just levels Lebanon like you say.
would the U.S. coup netanyahu or decapitate the Israeli strategic missile command (which i'm sure the U.S. knows EXACTLY where it is located) before they decide to just smash the table and end the world?
lmao trusting the only state on earth with a first-strike nuke policy, the only one that's ever used them even, to do this is lol