Ukraine-invasion-part-16

[PestorPeston]

Warsaw Russian is letting out a lot of smoke - there has been no decision on who among them will be the next pontiff.

Biden is going there Friday

Is Boris Johnson the designated survivor?

Who the heck let me be in charge?

@AgnesWestern

Just saw this on Twitter:

North Korea has fired a possible intercontinental ballistic missile into the waters west of Japan, Tokyo's vice defense minister says

Just what we need! Another madman firing these.

Well it's either a party, or harry Hill style fight, fight, fight

@AgnesWestern I think north Korea pretty regularly fire missiles into uninhabited spots or space. They like to remind the world very regularly that they have the capability to do so.

Sky report on the Korean missions, sounds like South Korea fired back?
news.sky.com/story/south-korea-fires-multiple-missiles-in-response-to-north-koreas-rocket-launch-its-military-says-12573876

Footage of the Landing Craft(s) on fire:

www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/tm2s82/russian_landing_ship_orsk_destroyed_at_port/

The Orsk is completely destroyed but it is clear that the two other ships are also on fire as they leave the port.

There is the question of how this affects Russia's capabilities. The ships had already unloaded and an amphibious assault on Odesa would be a brave/foolhardy choice at the best of times. You could even argue it might help Russia as they will by default have to concentrate their forces in the fronts where they are.

Armies and mercenaries, I occasionally wonder if there’s be a lot more murders if some of those that way inclined didn’t have the outlet of fighting wars to satisfy their more evil leanings. Not at all saying every soldier is evil, I know for a fact that most are not, most want to protect and defend rather than go to war. I also admit I have no knowledge of recruitment processes to know if the people trying to join up because they want to kill would be filtered out somehow. But I’d be shocked if they didn’t at least try.
Mercenaries, I wonder if sometimes they carry on having left their previous soldier life because they are so traumatised by ptst that they can’t cope without the war going on around them but when actually in danger then they know what to do and how to fight.

Obviously my speculation may be well wrong, quite happy to be told so.

Mercenaries, I wonder if sometimes they carry on having left their previous soldier life because they are so traumatised by ptst that they can’t cope without the war going on around them but when actually in danger then they know what to do and how to fight.

If you watch the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary, you hear that for many black men, enlisting so their families could get $10,000 when they were killed in action seemed a career plan.

Throughout history, being a mercenary offered a better chance of advancement (if you survived) than tilling the land. It's a POV that our current ruling classes are descended from such folk.

Watching the interviews (or Q&As) with Russian politicians like Lavrov or the UN Ambassador (or his deputy who just had an interview with Martha Kelner) reminds me of the interrogations portrayed in Orwell's 1984 where the intention is to make you believe that white is black and black is white

Even though I accept that it is possible there are "two sides" to a story, their "explanations" are so warped, it's gob-smacking.

@prettybird
Was just thinking the same. Is there an element in them that has to believe the doublethink to survive?

Thanks @DGRossetti I’ll add that to my to watch list. I don’t think we’ve moved on enough that the idea wouldn’t still have merit as a career plan for some.

Sheldon Whitehouse
@SenWhitehouse
More news for the Ukraine victory chorus:
“The Pentagon issued a statement yesterday that said the invading Russian army is on the verge, maybe a day or two, of completely running out of food and fuel. The statement went on to say that the Russians did not bring warm clothes.

Napoleon's ghost is face palming right now.

@Onceuponatimeinalandfaraway

Thanks *@DGRossetti* I’ll add that to my to watch list. I don’t think we’ve moved on enough that the idea wouldn’t still have merit as a career plan for some.

[Vietnam Documentary] also mentions "fragging". When I saw the word last night I knew I'd heard it not that long ago.

Just seen on the news that the U.K. is giving them 6000 missiles.

Didn’t Putin say before that if we did that is an act of war and threaten nuclear retaliation?

MFA Russia @mfarussia
Russian Government Organisation
#Zakharova: Exactly one month since the start of the special military operation in #Ukraine; it is going according to plan, and all the stated goals will be achieved.

Life is returning to normal in the territories already liberated from nationalists.

@Workinghardeveryday

Just seen on the news that the U.K. is giving them 6000 missiles.

Didn’t Putin say before that if we did that is an act of war and threaten nuclear retaliation?

He said 'consequences like you haven't seen in your history' or something to that effect. But we've been providing arms to Ukraine for a while now and these consequences have not materialised.

Inna Sovsun @innasovsun
A woman from Mariupol came to Hungary with 4 kids.

Her own.

Her sister’s kid (mother went to find water and disappeared).

Child of her killed neighbors.

She was running for an evacuation bus and saw a kid, sitting on the street next to his dead parents. She took him too.

@Workinghardeveryday

Just seen on the news that the U.K. is giving them 6000 missiles.

Didn’t Putin say before that if we did that is an act of war and threaten nuclear retaliation?

Did he? Thought that was for planes or boots on the ground. Haven't we been providing missiles all the way along

@RedToothBrush

MFA Russia *@mfarussia* Russian Government Organisation #Zakharova: Exactly one month since the start of the special military operation in #Ukraine; it is going according to plan, and all the stated goals will be achieved.

Life is returning to normal in the territories already liberated from nationalists.

I’d really like to believe in this after hearing someone on R4 this morning saying the conflict could run on for months or even years.

Steven Swinford @steven_swinford
Western official says it is 'highly unlikely' that Nato would make a direct military intervention in Ukraine in the event that Vladimir Putin uses chemical weapons

Official says that there would be 'severe consequences' - but unclear what they would be

Helpful.

How about nukes?

Armies and mercenaries, I occasionally wonder if there’s be a lot more murders if some of those that way inclined didn’t have the outlet of fighting wars to satisfy their more evil leanings.

There are some soldiers who get hooked on killing. It's like a drug. Having killed once, then twice, at short range with a human in the sights, they need to pull the trigger. A quality army will filter those types out, but all armies will have some.

@DrBlackbird, that's just the Russian propaganda machine saying 'everything is going to plan for Russia. nothing to be alarmed about.' Lies, massive fat ones, in other words.

@RedToothBrush

MFA Russia *@mfarussia* Russian Government Organisation #Zakharova: Exactly one month since the start of the special military operation in #Ukraine; it is going according to plan, and all the stated goals will be achieved.

Life is returning to normal in the territories already liberated from nationalists.

Life is returning to normal in the territories already liberated from nationalists.

If that is the case, it says a lot about what "normal" life is like in the new USSR Russia

Really good map...

He said 'consequences like you haven't seen in your history' or something to that effect. But we've been providing arms to Ukraine for a while now and these consequences have not materialised.

Exactly this.

He was issuing ultimatums 3 weeks ago which you may have noticed have been ignored too.

To be honest the moment I heard that I felt he was done for. People with real power, who can use it, and know how to use it, simply do not make threats. They don't need to.

The statement went on to say that the Russians did not bring warm clothes.

I think this may be quite propaganda based. Presumably Russian soldiers only own warm clothes. Moscow is quite chilly in the Winter, -10C sort of chilly.

@DGRossetti

He said 'consequences like you haven't seen in your history' or something to that effect. But we've been providing arms to Ukraine for a while now and these consequences have not materialised.

Exactly this.

He was issuing ultimatums 3 weeks ago which you may have noticed have been ignored too.

To be honest the moment I heard that I felt he was done for. People with real power, who can use it, and know how to use it, simply do not make threats. They don't need to.

Indeed. He also threatened to target arms delivery convoys and I don't think Russia has actually succeeded (or attempted) to do so, unless I've missed something?