Ukraine

[Mito Man]

This is a crazy story
https://news.sky.com/story/russian-for ... s-13324938
The Russians walked hunched over for 9 miles in a gas pipe only to get blown up by artillery.
One person wearing a gas mask in the old gas pipeline whilst 2 others light up a cigarette. Then again probably a better death than the alternative if it did blow.

Also, Russian officials giving mothers of dead soldiers meat grinders on international women’s day. Just nuts.

[Nefarious]

At this point, I think the only remaining viable option is for Europe to stop pissing about with interest from seized Russian assets, and just hand the principle over to the arms companies on behalf of Ukraine. And, you know, sell a few of the seized yachts too, just for shits and giggles.

The extra funny thing is that most of Russia's counter-seizures (which it has actually trousered) have been US, so when Vlad gets mad, it's mainly American exploitation, errr, I mean investment, funds he can take it out on.

[Simon]

I think the planes they stole were worth a few quid,

[Nefarious]

I think the planes they stole were worth a few quid,

Orders of magnitude. I think the insurance claim for the lost planes was £3.5bn. The Russian state assets are £300bn+ before you start looking at assets held by sanctioned individuals.

[mik]

My mate is still “digital doodling”

[jamcg]

Where’s his suit?

[mik]

Where’s his suit?

He hasn’t even said thank you for that portrait.

[DeskJockey]

With the news about Chinese mercenaries fighting for Russia, and reports that Chinese social media is full of adverts recruiting them, would it be a stretch to think this is done with implicit approval from Beijing? Without risking anything they could (assuming the mercenaries survive) gain some battle tested frontline soldiers to support territorial ambitions.

[IanF]

Chinese method is numbers.. Taiwan would easily defeat the first wave of attack, second and third probably, eighth , ninth, twentieth ; no chance.

They are doing this to see Western responses, assess Western tech and test their own equipment to Western anti-x.. low cost option that reduces the cost later on.. we’d call it a trial/test

[RobYob]

I've not read much about the captured Chinesse mercenaries but the remote border and close ethenicities of eastern Russia and North western China make it very murky. Beijing might have a direct hand but I'd be a little skeptical. There will no doubt be a lot of cash changing hands to get the mercenaries signed up and to get at least local officials to look the other way.

I'm not sure what useful intelligence they'll get on the ground war from them either as it resembles nothing like how an invasion of Taiwan might proceed in my opinion.

The strategic anti-air & missile war on the other hand will directly effect the invasion plans (should they be insane enough to still want that after seeing the bloodbath in Ukraine) as will the sea war.

Considering that the USA is the lynchpin for Taiwan's defence and the easiest way to remove that is to get friendly with the President it's looking unlikely they'll have a go before Trump leaves (if ever...)

Sidenote I'm not a royal fan and I'm pro aussie republic, but in an era when oligarchs are doing so much damage to the world it's good to see Prince Harry's visit to the Lyiv hospital.

[mik]

[IanF]

Interesting vid..

I will say NATO and Europe were aware of the incoming threat, with the UK taking over all logistics last October under Rutte’s instructions, but to replace the US militarily is a generational transition and not the work of a moment.

I also don’t see China and the USA working together against Europe any time soon either, but that’s only because of Trump

[Sundayjumper]

Following perfectly from that vid, the US's "final" offer seems to have emerged and it's exactly as terrible & predictable & pro-Russia as we all expected.

* Russia gets legal control of Crimea
* Russia continues to occupy the currently occupied areas
* Ukraine can never join NATO
* Sanctions on Russia are lifted
* Russia resumes trade with the US

No security guarantees for Ukraine, no US commitment of any kind, and no reparations from Russia. It's just a demand for Ukraine to surrender.

Point #1 being the worst as it would set a precedent that if you invade another country, then it's legally yours. Since WW2 that is emphatically NOT how it works in Europe. That will inevitably get applied to point #2 after a bit of a break during which (facilitated by #4) Russia loads up on vast amounts of Chinese military kit ready to have another go. Points #4 & #5 also point to frozen Russian assets being unfrozen, removing a significant funding source for Ukraine.

It's 100% Putin's wish list. I can only hope Europe & UK step up.


https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/ ... irect=true

[Simon]

Anyone seen 40+ planes destroyed by Ukraine, today, by drones launched from a truck hired by Ukraine special forces? It's awesome. lol

[Beany]

Even better, it's Military Transport Day in Russia, so chances are a significant amount of staff on those airfields would have a day off or otherwise be less 'on it' than normal.

And apparently everyone involved in the operation is already back in Ukraine, so there's no-one to arrest.

Russia just got it's pants pulled down, and has been thoroughly rogered, and they can't do anything about without physically and invasively inspecting every single truck that crosses it's borders.

[Mito Man]

The trucks didn’t just drive through Ukraine to get to Russia did they? The border can’t just be open like that can it?

[Beany]

The trucks didn’t just drive through Ukraine to get to Russia did they? The border can’t just be open like that can it?

Reports are a bit all over the place, but I believe they hired Russian transport companies to (unknowingly, obviously) move the drones, and the cabins they were launched/controlled from, independently on HGVs.

They got the two sections within range of each other (or they moved the drones to the cabins, it's a bit unclear), and the targets, they did the strike, and they left the country without any of the remaining hardware. There's footage of some of the trailers burning so presumably they covered their tracks as best they could afterwards?

Thing is if Russia have to now check every single vehicle (or as many as possible) that'll be highly visible to the Russian people. There are reports that one of the strikes was closer to Japan than Europe - so they could feasibly be anywhere across the entire geographic territory of Russia.

So they're damned if they do something about it (highly visible, inconvenient transport checks casting doubts on the Russian governments claims of 'nothing to see here') and damned it they don't (Ukraine can operate with impunity, but the Russian people don't see the effects of it through roadblocks etc).

[Mito Man]

Just looking at that map and the distances involved I’m wondering if the cargo entered and people exited through Finland/Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan

[Simon]

Thees vids of drones launching from a truck, another of impacts on planes, and another of a russian exploring one of the trucks after the event and it exploding. Top day for Ukraine.

[Sundayjumper]

Reportedly about a third of their strategic cruise missile carriers gone, $7bn worth, but the price is irrelevant as they're irreplaceable. They were built decades ago and there's no capability to build new ones.