Ukraine

[j44ke]

A Putin joke, moderately OT but somewhat relevant.

Putin dies and goes to hell. After a while he’s given a day off for good behavior.

So he goes to Moscow, enters a bar, orders a drink and asks the bartender:

-Is the Crimea ours?

-Yes, it is.

-And the Donbas?

-Also ours.

-And Kyiv?

-We got that too.

-Satisfied, Putin finishes his drink and asks:

-Thanks, how much do I owe you?

-5 Euros.

My wife is in Tbilisi, Georgia right now. I sent her this joke yesterday. She has a group of colleagues in Georgia from a previous firm and from other local firms she's worked with on pipeline litigation, so when among friends after dinner last night she told this joke. They thought it was hilarious. Some already knew a version where the 5 euros was replaced with 5 hryvnia (Ukrainian currency), but as Georgia is applying for EU membership, they thought the 5 euros was an improvement.

So thanks for posting that!

[Mabouya]

Just going for a bike ride in Ukraine...

[thollandpe]

This is not an easy thing to watch. It show the heights of bravery and dedication, and the deep depravity of disinformation. And the horror of war, which does not spare children.



Captive medic’s body cam shows firsthand horror of Mariupol — AP

“She recorded 256 gigabytes of her team’s frantic efforts over two weeks to bring people back from the brink of death. She got the harrowing clips to an Associated Press team, one of whom fled with it in a tampon.

Russian soldiers captured Taira and her driver, one of many forced disappearances in areas now held by Russia. Russia has portrayed Taira as working for the nationalist Azov Battalion, in line with Moscow’s narrative that it is attempting to ‘denazify’ Ukraine. But the AP found no such evidence, and friends and colleagues said she had no links to Azov.

The military hospital where she led evacuations of the wounded is not affiliated with the battalion. The footage testifies to the fact that she tried to save wounded Russian soldiers as well as Ukrainian civilians.”

[bigbill]

Hopefully this move by the EU will bring the invasion of Ukraine to the forefront and force conversations within Europe on how best to support the Ukraine.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-geor.../31902263.html

[thollandpe]

Sobering piece in the NYT this morning about Russia’s use of weapons and tactics that are against international law.

What Hundreds of Photos of Weapons Reveal About Russia’s Brutal War Strategy

Disproportionate use of unguided munitions (saturation bombing)
Cluster bombs — in civilian areas (hospitals, kindergartens, etc.)
Other shit — booby traps, land mines, thermite
Guided missiles used on civilian areas
Unexploded ordnance (likely leaving parts of Ukraine as a wasteland)

[j44ke]

The f^ckage quotient in the world today is obliterating. There is no direct object in that sentence.

[robin3mj]

Sobering piece in the NYT this morning about Russia’s use of weapons and tactics that are against international law.

What Hundreds of Photos of Weapons Reveal About Russia’s Brutal War Strategy

Disproportionate use of unguided munitions (saturation bombing)
Cluster bombs — in civilian areas (hospitals, kindergartens, etc.)
Other shit — booby traps, land mines, thermite
Guided missiles used on civilian areas
Unexploded ordnance (likely leaving parts of Ukraine as a wasteland)

It’s gonna get way worse before it gets better too..

[jclay]

Hopefully this move by the EU will bring the invasion of Ukraine to the forefront and force conversations within Europe on how best to support the Ukraine.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-geor.../31902263.html

Sometimes (like right now) I think (sorta), fuck it; go in (the US) and demolish the Russian war machine. Easy to say, costly (in all forms of currency), brinksmanship for sure, I don't give us a pass for forcing the issue; moronic (in my view) misplaying (to put it politely) our hand (one of our lesser modern sins) in the game or realpolitik but the photos of a demolished former vibrant country, and what that means to all living creatures there, really piss me off; and we haven't clean skirts either. But if Putin wants to launch nukes....well, as best I can tell we're (humanity) gonna make a trainwreck of the planet anyway (we're well along the way to doing it and I see no reason to expect changes in that trajectory), so why not just get the whole thing over quickly if that's how it's gonna go.

I guess it's fair to say that I'm in a sour mood.

It occurs to me that the characteristics necessary for human survival up to the point when clubs and swords were state of the "art" are precisely the characteristics that will doom us now; the corollary being that we're in a race between evolving aggression adequately out of the human species (well, seriously attenuating it which is necessary in a nuclear weapons + hypersonic scramble for the Earth's remaining resources age), and some indeterminant date when somebody decides to push the button, or we just over consume/pollute/destroy everything to the point of ecological catastrophe. Which it will be, and on what schedule, are really the only questions in my mind.

Hopefully, somewhere, some well meaning people a hell of a lot smarter, wiser, etc., etc., etc., than me are working on the problem. But they have to drag the folks who populate the rest of the Gaussian curve, along...and that is a tough nut to crack (the evidence abounds)!

Cheers.

[Paul Jacobs]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61858476

[Doug Fattic]

This picture that Tweed chose was taken in Bucha (I think all these pictures look about the same) the city where I have gone every year for many years to build bicycles for pastors. I've cycled or walked or run on about every street. The guy I worked with lived in the town next door and - as I already said in other posts - had to hid in his root cellar for a couple of weeks until he could escape to the west. He went back recently to survey the damage to his house and our workshop and storage sheds. Our workshop was broken into and all the general tools were stolen. Our bench vise, grinder, drills and general tools like open end socket wrenches. And all the stainless nuts, bolts and screws we use to make frames into complete bicycles. Fortunately they left the bicycle tools like all our bicycle specific taps and reamers we got from Park as well as our truing stands. Those would be difficult to replace. It used to be that I could load up a bike box up to 100 lbs and I took advantage of that every time I went over with bike specific tools. I think that is all that was taken, I'm waiting for a more complete report. The Russian thieves couldn't break into the storage shed next door to the workshop where Yuiry and put our Anvil fixtures and other valuables. In the other storage shed - where some road bicycles were stored - the door was busted open but the bicycles remained. 3 of them were sport touring steel Treks I repainted and reequiped. The one I used I put on a Campy 8 sp triple group. The interesting thing is that Yuiry told me that when campus people returned they found the shed door wide open (had been for days) but nobody had bothered to take the bikes. I had a transportation bicycle with an IGH that survived too. Yuiry gave permission to those that came back to campus to use it. This area is at the back of campus where it would be a bit awkward to get to. I'm sure the Russians found them a bit bulky. As I understand it, the stuff they stole goes on the Russian equivalent of eBay. The houses surrounding the college campus were really nice homes and probably had a treasure trove on expensive items smaller and more valuable than our bicycles.

[fastupslowdown]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61858476

French, German and Swiss support is truly disheartening. The U.S. and U.K. are doing most of the heavy lifting -Mike G

[9tubes]

Sometimes (like right now) I think (sorta), fuck it; go in (the US) and demolish the Russian war machine. Easy to say, costly (in all forms of currency), brinksmanship for sure, I don't give us a pass for forcing the issue; moronic (in my view) misplaying (to put it politely) our hand (one of our lesser modern sins) in the game or realpolitik but the photos of a demolished former vibrant country, and what that means to all living creatures there, really piss me off; and we haven't clean skirts either. But if Putin wants to launch nukes....well, as best I can tell we're (humanity) gonna make a trainwreck of the planet anyway (we're well along the way to doing it and I see no reason to expect changes in that trajectory), so why not just get the whole thing over quickly if that's how it's gonna go.

Can I ask how the U.S. would "demolish the Russian war machine"? When was the last time Russia was defeated in a war? Of America's last 10 wars, how many has it won? And how did that foe compare to the Russian military? America didn't even win in Yemen even after killing 350,000 impoverished people with cluster bombs. BTW, were you equally pissed after seeing the pictures of a destroyed Yemen? Or Iraq? Or Syria? Or...

Next question: are you currently enlisted in the military? Are your children currently enlisted? Are your nieces and nephews? Or do you expect that others will volunteer to die for your dream?

You want to see the youth of Russia's 160 million population join the army? Watch what happens in the week after the moment the U.S. crosses the border.

President Obama warned against getting involved in Ukraine. Plus many other experts over the last 25 years including Zbigniew Brzezinski and three former ambassadors to Russia. I hope and expect Russia will lose its war with Ukraine, but the idea of America going to Russia with the goal of "demolishing the Russian war machine" is just...uh...ill-advised.

[jclay]

Can I ask how the U.S. would "demolish the Russian war machine"? When was the last time Russia was defeated in a war? Of America's last 10 wars, how many has it won? And how did that foe compare to the Russian military? America didn't even win in Yemen even after killing 350,000 impoverished people with cluster bombs. BTW, were you equally pissed after seeing the pictures of a destroyed Yemen? Or Iraq? Or Syria? Or...

Next question: are you currently enlisted in the military? Are your children currently enlisted? Are your nieces and nephews? Or do you expect that others will volunteer to die for your dream?

You want to see the youth of Russia's 160 million population join the army? Watch what happens in the week after the moment the U.S. crosses the border.

President Obama warned against getting involved in Ukraine. Plus many other experts over the last 25 years including Zbigniew Brzezinski and three former ambassadors to Russia. I hope and expect Russia will lose its war with Ukraine, but the idea of America going to Russia with the goal of "demolishing the Russian war machine" is just...uh...ill-advised.

It was pointless, fatalistic venting, not a serious proposal; it is not possible to be very much more critical than I am WRT the MIC, US military "interventions" and general footprint in the post WWII era, the cost in blood, treasure and lost opportunity on all sides, but vastly more particularly in the "recipient" countries, and the associated ecological destruction; the second place country in this insane race isn't on the same lap as the US.

[bigbill]

I've linked Commander Salamander in the past, but an article from this week should be read by every warhawk or armchair strategerist. http://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/20...-national.html As John Clay and others have alluded, the US view of the world is that of the US point of view. Word salad, but we as a nation want the rest of the world to respond according to our world view. As the article discusses, the outward appearance of Germany's waffling concerning Ukraine and Russia requires a deeper understanding of German history and how it shaped their world view.

[jclay]

Intro para: "The cultural and historical elements that determine the relations between Russia and Ukraine are important. The two countries have a long, rich, diverse, and eventful history together.

This would be essential if the crisis we are experiencing today were rooted in history. However, it is a product of the present. The war we see today does not come from our great-grandparents, our grandparents or even our parents. It comes from us. We created this crisis. We created every piece and every mechanism. We have only exploited existing dynamics and exploited Ukraine to satisfy an old dream: to try to bring down Russia. Chrystia Freeland’s, Antony Blinken’s, Victoria Nuland’s and Olaf Scholz’s grandfathers had that dream; we realized it."

More here: https://www.thepostil.com/the-hidden...ar-in-ukraine/

Jacques Baud is a former colonel of the General Staff, ex-member of the Swiss strategic intelligence, specialist on Eastern countries. He was trained in the American and British intelligence services. He has served as Policy Chief for United Nations Peace Operations. As a UN expert on rule of law and security institutions, he designed and led the first multidimensional UN intelligence unit in the Sudan. He has worked for the African Union and was for 5 years responsible for the fight, at NATO, against the proliferation of small arms. He was involved in discussions with the highest Russian military and intelligence officials just after the fall of the USSR. Within NATO, he followed the 2014 Ukrainian crisis and later participated in programs to assist the Ukraine. He is the author of several books on intelligence, war and terrorism, in particular Le Détournement published by SIGEST, Gouverner par les fake news, L’affaire Navalny. His latest book is Poutine, maître du jeu? published by Max Milo.