Malazan Empire: Mentalist - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Yeah, I'm not really buying the " if we had the 5 extra brigades, we would've pushed through the 20 km of solid trenches and fortifications" narrative. That's been going around since last eyar, I think- either the WSJ or the NYT did a big piece about the US command hub interacting with the UAF that stated the same thing, and pinned the blame on Syrsky for trying to get his share of the glory by leading a supportive attack on the Velyka Novosilka axis.

But honestly, we've seen the footage. A column tries to get through the minefiled, a helicopter takes out the lead vehicle that's doing the clearing, column's stuck, gets bombarded by more helicopters and artillery. Rinse, repeat.

While the orcs had air control in the S in the summer of 2023, with minefields 5-10 km deep, whether you threw in 40 or 100 armored vehicles, I seriously doubt you'd have gotten a "decisive breakthrough". The enemy spent 8 months (from the withdrawal from Kherson to the start of the UAF summer offensive building up and fortifying 4-layered trench lines. They weren't getting cracked as long as there was sufficient manpower there to hold them, unfortunately.

Some reports that UAF managed to grab a foothold in Plavni. If true, this means the forces trying to occupy Stepnohirsk are at a risk of being cut off, which would be a repeat of what happened in Kup'yans'k.

Z-heads are hinting that the TG block that's rumoured to be coming on April 1st is a prelude to the next mobilization, b/c UAF's focus on droning over 30k orcs a month (which is above their recruitment rate) is bearing fruit, meaning the overall numbers are starting to diminish, and without a steady increase in manpower holding their ground (to say nothing of advancing) is becoming more and more difficult.

Yeah, if they can push the orcs out of Stepnohirs'k and back S of the Yanchekrak in Kam'yans'ke, that'd be a feat.
The Geneva talks are over. As usual, everyone says "productive, but no details".

And the main message of all these pleas is still "please fix these things so we can properly kill Ukrainians and win the war"


Which is why all the people whining about how putler's underlings are "sabotaging the efforts of our valiant troops with their corruption and cronyism" won't ever be the allies of those seeking to end this. And it's dangerous to entertain such delusions and try to humanize them, until they are wiling to admit that their basic premise for the war has been monstrously wrong.

Governor of Belgorod admitted that the city will be left w/o heating and hot water until April.

Now the UAF needs to find another infrastructure hub to pummel beyond restoration.

There seems to be some progress in the counter-strikes on the Hulyaipole axis. Still unclear as to how deep this will get, though. Seems they are trying to clear the line of villages the orcs grabbed in Dnipropetrovs'k Oblast'. Which would relieve some pressure from Pokrov'ske.

CentroBank continies to play chickemn with inflation, lowering the interest rate by .5, down to 16%. Considering how much they are racheting up taxes and various other fees to try to balance out teh budget deficits, I don't think this'll help their flailing business sector much. Not really offsetting the losses due to insane discounts on Urals that they're offering to keep the tankers moving.

Cause, on 11 February 2026 - 05:49 PM, said:

Kaladin sulks, feels guilty, fucks up, says some more words, makes up with Syl, powers up, kicks ass. Shallan occasionally makes a quip.

Rinse, repeat.


There's a reason I wait until these books are out in mmpb beefore I buy'em. His characterization is gradually improving (he learned a lot from writign Wax & Wayne, and it shows), but the story arcs are glacially slow. He hasn't mastered good pacing for doorstoppers yet.