Just two notes as I overstep onto Adam’s turf.
First, the Slovak Republic has put their long range surface to air missiles (SAMs) on a train to Ukraine. The SAM battery is the same type of equipment and reloads as what Ukraine already use. The US is backstopping Slovakian air defenses with the deployment of a Patriot battery.
This is the Prime Minster of the Slovak Republic confirming the transfer:
I would like to confirm that #Slovakia has provided #Ukraine with an air-defence system S-300. #Ukrainian nation is #bravely defending its sovereign country and us too. It is our duty to help, not to stay put and be ignorant to the loss of human lives under #Russia’s agression.
— Eduard Heger (@eduardheger) April 8, 2022
The Slovak Republic is also sending two batteries of field artillery to Ukraine.
Slovakia to sell ?? 16x self propelled artillery Zuzana (155mm, 33km range)
– 2 batteries = 16x vehicle, 200 operators.
– 1 or more weeks training required.
– Crew stays inside during ops/firing.@Atamansikka @UAWeapons @Osinttechnical @NotWoofershttps://t.co/D6kRYzDXRH— Martin Huba ???? (@matosalka) April 7, 2022
Czechia is sending heavy armored vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
?️?? Czechs to supply up to 40 pieces of T-72M1 and BVP-1 (BMP-1 variant) to Ukraine. The equipment is from the storage of Czech Army and unrelated to the ex-East German Pbv-501s. #Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar https://t.co/7hcsf292YO pic.twitter.com/5znOFhdhZS
— MilitaryLand.net (@Militarylandnet) April 5, 2022
NATO or at least NATO member countries are starting to move heavy weapons east to Ukraine.
Raven
Those 155’s will bring some smoke!
Ruckus
I hate to see weapons of war.
It often means that innocent people will die.
But if there is war – and for sure there is a war right now, I’m glad to see them going to Ukraine, where they will be used for defense against slime that has killed untold thousands of innocent people.
Tom Levenson
Good.
Please sir, can I have some more?
brendancalling
Good. May the Ukrainians see fields of sunflowers everywhere by next summer.
I had no sympathy for the Russians anyway, and hope every single one of their soldiers is soon pushing up the sunflowers, but once I read about them writing “for the children” on their missiles, it kind of put it over the top.
Uncle Cosmo
Czechs & Slovaks in particular ought to be especially pissed now that it’s out for all the world to see that the template for Vova’s Folly was the “Danube” operation of 1968 whereby Brezhnev crushed the Prague Spring. Only the Soviets did that with 5x as many troops, using equipment that was several decades newer, to a nation 1/4 the size – with no other country willing to come to its aid.
Lotsa luck, boychiks – may all of it be bad.
Re Lend-Lease 2022, I wonder how much of most of NATO’s general reluctance to provide Ukraine with more weapons of greater force and range stemmed from the presence of a Magyar mockingbird in the nest deeply penetrated by Russian intel assets. Who’d be surprised if in the next couple of weeks other NATO members start implementing bilateral mechanisms to funnel more substantial aid to Ukraine? (Not I, said the “ghoul”…)
Calouste
I guess one of the side effects of the Russian withdrawal from the Kyiv area is that it is now safer to transport heavy weapons like these eastwards.
oldster
Thank god.
More to the point: thank Joe Biden.
This would not be happening without the coordination of NATO, and without the full blessing and backstopping of the US.
Joe and Tony Blinken are making us proud on the world stage.
Miss Bianca
I am somewhat disturbed by how FUCK YEAH I am feeling about this news.
jeffreyw
Worth noting that the artillery is NATO compliant 155mm v the Warsaw Pact 152s.
Omnes Omnibus
Just what they need. They should learn the guns quickly and bring them to bear quickly.
Geminid
@Uncle Cosmo: Hopefully those kamikaze “Switchblade” drones we are supplying Ukraine will make an impact soon. They’re short range weapons but they sound effective.
Poe Larity
Is there a “Buy a drone for Ukraine” ActBlue?
Martin
@Calouste: Yeah, it turns out it was always pretty safe. Most of Ukraines railway is still working fine. Ukraine is able to move goods and troops around on highways even just south of Kyiv.
It’s like the Russians were so confident they’d just roll in that they didn’t think they needed to take out infrastructure, and then when that plan failed, it’s like they just forgot that’s something you typically do, so they’re using their limited supply of missiles to blow up apartment buildings rather than take out the rail line from Poland to Kyiv. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
CaseyL
This is good to see. I hope to see a lot more of it.
It would be absolutely glorious if Ukraine can at some point go on the offensive. I’d like to think the whole “Russia will now focus on Eastern and Southern Ukraine” turns out to be a huge mistake, and Ukraine will be able to bring the war to them.
oldster
@jeffreyw:
Good catch on the NATO standard ammunition. That was one of Ukraine’s requests, because there is so much more NATO ammunition available than for legacy USSR hardware.
That’s an even better present than I had realized! That means it can fire, inter alia, shells with multiple tank-killer submunitions.
Emma from Miami
@Miss Bianca: Same here. My family usually complains I can “see all sides of the issue” (complete with air quotes). But in this case. HELL YEAH is my only answer.
catfishncod
In the same vein as Kyiv-not-Kiev: It’s Czechia now, not Czech Republic.
Martin
There’s upwards of 800 Soviet/Russian built tanks inside NATO that can be shipped to Ukraine. A lot are old and not spectacular, but when we’re getting video of a Ukrainian APC chasing down a couple of Russian T-72s, I don’t think Ukraine will particularly care or suffer.
Omnes Omnibus
@oldster: If there are things that can be serviced and maintained with Ukraine’s current tools and equipment but fire NATO compatible munitions. It will be the best of both worlds. We can give them all the rounds they want.
oldster
David, you can give us insights here that Adam just can’t match.
For instance: how will these developments affect the bronze and silver health insurance plans for Russian conscripts? Do you foresee higher deductibles? higher premiums?
Baud
Another brick in the wall.
Pink Floyd – Hey Hey Rise Up (feat. Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox) – YouTube
Kelly
https://twitter.com/MilitaryBanter/status/1512135509962891266
A bit of British humor about a troubled Infantry Fighting Vehicle program
brendancalling
@Miss Bianca: It’s very easy to get into the “fuck yeah” mindset when you see a bully like Putin and his Russians committing outright murder in the streets, including children. It’s instinct to root for the underdog.
JoyceH
@Uncle Cosmo: My impression is that early on, the US and the West in general didn’t want to supply Ukraine with heavy conventional weapons because the assumption was that Russia would quickly be taking over all of Ukraine and those weapons would just wind up in Russian hands, so the planning was for smaller, mobile weapons suitable for an insurgency in occupied territory. By now it’s clear that hey, there still IS a Ukrainian Army!
Medicine Man
@Martin: I worry about confirmation bias in my own head as I say this, but it really looks like the Russians have a fatal case of testosterone poisoning to the brain.
They’re so used to getting high from knocking around tiny neighbours and can’t figure out why their usual shtick isn’t working. Heck, they can barely acknowledge their shit isn’t working, nevermind why not.
It’s entirely possible they’ll try an 7+ axis assault during their spring campaign because it is the road of maximum manliness.
jimmiraybob
I read that a translation could be that the missile was vengeance for the Russian children that Ukrainians had/were killing. Don’t rule out the effects of Putin’s propaganda lies causing outrage leading to revenge. It’s really very hard now to differentiate between Putin/Russia and Trump/GOP propaganda.
Martin
@JoyceH: And I think there is an ongoing re-assessment of where Russia’s red lines are. We push, and see how they respond, then we push some more, etc. Takes time.
Ohio Mom
@Miss Bianca: Me too.
Omnes Omnibus
@JoyceH: Another factor was that they needed things that could be deployed and effective immediately with very little training. They are able to prepare for longer term war and can train on new systems.
oldster
@Omnes Omnibus:
And artillery shells — even fancy ones — are a lot cheaper than ATGMs.
I was somewhat shocked to see an announcement that we’re spending $100million to send 800-1000 Javelins to Ukraine. My first reaction was — wait, that doesn’t add up: that would make them about $100k a piece!
Well, Wiki says their usual unit price is about $250k a piece. Every soldier walking around with a Javelin is carrying a quarter million bucks on their shoulders. (I guess we’re giving the Ukraine a quantity break? Baker’s dozen?)
Granted, it’s a bargain when you can knock out a million-dollar tank. But artillery shells are a *lot* cheaper. And part of the battle here is to make Russia burn up their money faster than we burn up our money.
WaterGirl
@Poe Larity: Your first one went into moderation because of the stray letter on the end of your nym. I fixed that, approved it, then saw the duplicate, so then I deleted it. :-)
jimmiraybob
I assume that Putin would eventually have done the Ukraine invasion and more if TFG had been in office and once NATO had been sufficiently dismantled and that when he realized that wasn’t going to happen he struck hoping that enough damage had already been done.
JoyceH
I remember before the invasion, all the coverage of those quaint home molotov cocktail factories. They made a LOT of molotov cocktails – are they using them?
trollhattan
@jimmiraybob: They’ve already tried to dissemble and blame the train station missile on, of course, Ukraine. Because that’s what “nazis” do? And that was after claiming the “victims” were dummies scattered for the cameras.
Learning that one of the things Russians are routinely doing upon captured towns, in addition to rounding up and terrorizing the citizens, is slaughtering their dogs, pried even more venom from me than I thought I had in my strategic venom reserve.
SiubhanDuinne
Good for Slovakia. As Ruckus said, if there must be weapons of war, at least let’s be glad these are going to the good guys.
David, I hope you realise that with this one post you’ve set things up so that Adam will front page highly-researched, carefully-analysed, lavishly-linked essays on health care costs, insurance premiums, comparisons of silver-gold-platinum coverage, and state-by-state differences every single day. You know that, right?
//
Martin
@oldster: I don’t think money is a concern. Ohio could stay ahead of the Russian economy on this one.
I think there’s a certain amount of stock rotation going on here. The US gears up for fancy-pants smart wars, but we have a lot of legacy gear that needs to be (or can be without reducing our readiness) cycled out. Russia isn’t really fighting a fancy-pants smart war, so Ukraine does just fine with our slightly outdated stuff, so we send it to them. That $250K Javelin is a sunk cost. We made it 20 years ago, there’s been a bunch of improvements to it, and the older ones are sitting in a a bunker somewhere in case we need them, so we send them over.
And the $250K is for the full Javelin kit. The command unit can be reused, and the disposable part is around $100K. The Ukrainians like the command unit because it’s a proper IR system so they can use it to spot heat signatures to be attacked with other equipment.
trollhattan
Speaking of actual and not imaginary nazis, prosecution fail in Michigan.
Not good, because they’ve learned they can literally get away with plotting a sackful of felonies.
West of the Rockies
I hope Russia regrets this and stops their bullshit in the future. They need two black eyes, some missing teeth, and a permanent limp. Putin’s ugly-ass head on a pike would be nice.
Martin
@JoyceH: Not really. That’s sort of what the Russian total destruction campaign is about – it’s hard to put up that kind of defense when damn near every square foot of your town has been hit with artillery. But that ‘we will fight to every citizen’ expression helped prevent Russian forces from rolling into these cities to begin with.
Early on, the expectation was that Russia would be able to occupy cities pretty quickly, and that’s really where the Molotovs come in. Wait for the main force to move out of the city to advance the front, and then start a proper insurgency campaign against the occupiers where things like Molotovs become pretty effective. The war never really entered that phase.
Martin
@trollhattan: I was afraid that was going to happen.
oldster
@jimmiraybob:
I think that’s right. Don’t we have testimony from a sorta reliable source (Bolton, maybe?) that TFG actually said he was waiting until after re-election to pull out of NATO?
If TFG had pulled the US out of NATO, then Moscow really would have rolled over Kyiv in 48 hours. That’s what Putin thought he had promised to him, and then he got desperate and greedy and tried to take it all anyhow.
Ukraine’s early success was due in part to our provision of weapons and early intel — Joe Biden’s steady drumbeat of absolutely accurate warnings and leaks in the months prior to the invasion. And it was also due to some conversations in which Biden and Zhelensky had a heart to heart, and Biden promised him our full backing if Zhelensky promised not to cut and run. Zhelensky has turned out to be braver than anyone could have imagined. But it would have been suicidal folly for him to stay if he had not had Biden’s pledge of support.
Everyone who contributed to Biden’s election campaign? You helped Ukraine survive this long. Thank you.
Martin
@jimmiraybob: I don’t think so. I think Trump and the dismantling of NATO was so important that he would have waited for a Democrat to get into office. I mean, he was getting what he wanted basically for free with Trump in power. It was slow, but it was working.
Ksmiami
@Miss Bianca: watching genocide in real time has a way of doing that… Josh Marshall made a salient point last week that often democracies are underestimated when it comes to warfare but in actuality democracies from Athens to the US are absolutely terrifying when they are committed to war
Calouste
@Martin: What’s that saying again? Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics? And the Russians haven’t been doing much about logistics, either providing their own or disrupting their opponent’s.
trollhattan
@Martin: I decided when they began turning up to not link to sources here, because it’s just too distressing, but there’s plenty of it.
If Mariupol is ever liberated, the level of slaughter and inhumanity of all kinds will be orders of magnitude greater that what has been documented to date. It’s a huge city and a good portion of the population remain trapped.
marcopolo
I think now that the world has seen what Russian forces are doing in areas they occupy that all the worried hemming and hawing about giving this or that to Ukraine might be escalatory has fallen away (though why reducing Ukrainian cities to rubble and bombing hospitals and other stuff wasn’t enough just makes me shake my head). This is literally an existential war for Ukraine–obviously it has been from the get go but it has taken a month for the rest of the world to catch up.
There’s a lot of military equipment in former Warsaw Pact countries that was either already in storage or scheduled for retirement and upgrading to NATO standards that we’ll now see going to Ukraine. Hell, this makes the entire upgrading situation a lot more easy to justify considering the costs of new equipment. Add in the military hardware western nations are in the process of retiring and upgrading that Ukraine can use without serious training or logistics issues (thinking of like Hummers here) and that too should find its way over there soon enough.
I hope that everything that is being sent them will be enough to allow Ukrainian forces to inflict enough more damage on Russian forces that at some point Russia will be forced out but I don’t know how that happens w/out a leadership change at the top in RU (and all the experts I’ve been reading seem to now believe that Ukraine’s army will be able to hold (mostly) against new Russian attacks but taking it to RU in areas that have been under their control since 2014 sound really really hard without more significant control over the skies. We’ll see, just makes me sick thinking of how much more death and destruction is going to occur between now and then.
Peale
@trollhattan: Same as the wildlife sanctuary occupiers.
trollhattan
@Calouste: General Grant had extensive experience as quartermaster, both in wartime and peacetime, prior to the Civil War and he used that knowledge brilliantly once he was put in charge. If ever there was a lesson to retain across the century and a half since, that’s one of the greatest.
craigie
@oldster: Ok, that was funny.
trollhattan
@Peale: Oh lord, the Bundys. They’re still out there.
marcopolo
@Martin: That there is still significant Ukrainian resistance to Russian forces in Mariupol seems crazy to me considering how long the city has been cut off and how much of its infrastructure is just gone. I definitely want to hear an accounting of how the defense has held up so long–apparently even to the point of getting some kind of reinforcements/supplies just this past week.
Aziz, light!
@Martin:
Apartment buildings and mission-critical train station waiting rooms.
WaterGirl
@Martin: Kind of like dividing bulbs makes the remaining bulbs stronger. :-)
MP
@Martin: It’s the quote from Lenin being turned on the Russians: ““You probe with bayonets. If you find mush, you proceed. If you find steel, you withdraw.”
oldster
@Martin:
Thanks for explaining the $100k vs. $250k discrepancy.
But I’m not sure that we do have ample stocks of missiles available to hand out like halloween candy. See this article on the need to replenish:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/45132/as-ukraine-pummels-russians-with-javelin-missiles-can-production-keep-pace-with-demand
And even if the bottle-neck on building more is not money but something else — chips, likely — it still gives us reason to prefer killing Russian tanks with artillery shells to killing them with missiles. The shells are just orders of magnitude more plentiful.
Peale
@marcopolo: I guess the three objectives would be to stop putin from annexing the separatist regions and frankly, if possible, shove as many Russian separatists out of the country as Russia retreats, push Russia back into Crimea so that they can cut off the water supply there, gain back as much of the black sea coast as possible, keep Russia from taking the natural gas fields. I don’t think Ukraine can do all of those things, though
Edit: I think that might be more than 3 objectives. But that’s o.k. I figure if I’d write a confusing post, the GRU wouldn’t be able to pass along my note to Putin so he could figure out what his objectives are supposed to be.
oldster
@craigie:
Thank you!
oldster
@WaterGirl:
Man, I tried that with some GE 100-watts, and it did *not* go well.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Fuck. That is a terrible outcome. I feel bad for Gretchen Whitmer today. Hopefully this awful result can be turned to good if this outrage makes Dems fight even harder in Michigan.
It’s like these would-be kidnappers and murderers got the get out of jail card and landed on the free space.
Aziz, light!
I think Putin finally got the word on how badly he got clobbered in the north and told his generals to get him major results fast or else their heads will roll. Thus the coming bridge-too-far assault from multiple points in the east. Putin is running out of time to keep the Russian people uninformed and passive and he knows it.
WaterGirl
@oldster: I can imagine! I thinking more along the lines of tulips and daffodils. Which I know you know.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
I had no knowledge of Whitmer before Trump and then his acolytes attacked her, but have since really grown to value her as a smart, clear-headed pol. Wearing her “That Woman from Michigan” tee was a great introduction. Michigan is proving they don’t deserve her, but they sure as hell need her.
Alison Rose ???
@Miss Bianca: Same.
David Anderson
@catfishncod: Updated and thank you!
lowtechcyclist
This is a Big Fucking Deal.
Now let’s see F-15s and F-16s, Western tanks, and whatever other heavy weaponry Ukraine will need to push the Russians off of every last square inch of Ukrainian soil.
Sure, we know it’ll take more than a few days for them to learn how to use the good stuff. But Ukraine’s not going to recapture their territory with just aging USSR stuff: there’s not that much of it, and it’s old and in iffy shape. It was the right ask for a month ago when it was a matter of whether they could hold out. But it’s going to take months to evict the Russians, even with the best weaponry. They’ve got enough time to get good at using our best equipment. So let’s give it to them.
oldster
@WaterGirl:
Sorry — I think I am giddy, partly from the good news, partly from the end of a long week. I’ll try to sober up and act right.
PJ
@Uncle Cosmo: A big problem with any potential resistance to the Warsaw Pact invasion by Czechoslovakia in 1968 is that the Czechoslovak military was controlled by Communist Party members, some of whom may not have been behind the reforms at all, and was probably rife with Soviet agents who would have sabotaged what they could while they informed Moscow of all military plans.
A more salient parallel to me is 1938, when France and Britain told Czechoslovakia they would them responsible for the war if they refused to give up the Sudetenland (which they did, in exchange for worthless guarantees). If the Czechs and Slovaks had resisted the Nazis then, how long would they have lasted? I think at least a month, maybe two (they had fully mobilized, and had heavy fortifications all along the German border). Would any countries have come to their assistance then, or would they have let them be wiped out?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Calouste:
There is a guy on twitter who has been using open source intel photos of abandoned or destroyed Russian trucks & other vehicles to dissect in detail (down to the make of tires used on their trucks and a woeful lack of palletization in their bulk loads) just how clusterfucked the Z logistics have been. It would be comic if the war were not such a horrific human tragedy.
artem1s
@oldster:
And for raising the level of concern months ahead of time so the former Soviet block countries could get prepared to send weaponry. And also for having the patience to step back and wait for these new NATO partners to get up and running and involved. High time the US worked with a coalition again instead of going in guns a blazing like the Bush Crime Family usually does. This is how you strengthen democracy, not by being the big daddy authoritarian strong man who only gets involved when they get to bomb a weak country back to the stone ages.
It takes patience to let a new democracy stand on it’s own and take the lead on shaping their future. Thankfully Ukraine has picked a good leader and the US is not in the usual position of having to back some dictator who is only marginally better than the opposition’s leader/s.
cain
@Martin: It’s cause they think after they kill all the Ukrainians they don’t have to repair the road and train infrastructure. Overconfident assholes.
ETA 70.. I knew it. This is my lucky day!
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Maybe “Poe Larityy” is the Ukrainian spelling. ?
PJ
@catfishncod: Nope. It’s still officially the Czech Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_the_Czech_Republic And colloquially, Czechs still use Česká Republika, or Česko for short. Nobody calls it “Czechia” – that’s not a Czech word. It’s something they came up with for foreigners to use as a short term. (Čechy in Czech only refers to the western part of the country – what we used to call Bohemia, but that’s not an accurate term for the whole country, which also includes Moravia and a tiny bit of Silesia.)
cain
@trollhattan: Somebody has done a poor job of jury selection I reckon. (or a very good job)
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
I always think of a different Bundy family when I first see that name.
eclare
@Miss Bianca: What makes me feel better is I was not FUCK YEAH! for Iraq, I was very much against that. But this? USA/NATO. FUCK YEAH!
MisterForkbeard
@PJ: Interesting. My Czech colleagues always call it “Czechia” when we speak, but that just be a verbal thing for US people. Assuming this is correct.
cain
@marcopolo: Those countries will be ready to purchase weapons and that means money for the industrial-military complex. I’d leverage influence.
trollhattan
@artem1s:
Revealing Vlad’s war planning more or less in real time was, I think, a master stroke. Russia: “Stupid Americans.” Ukraine: “Stop with the fear-mongering.” NATO “Don’t be silly, it’s just exercises. Really, really large exercises.”
U.S. intel raised their standing in the world’s eye and I doubt we burned any sources or revealed unknown technology in the process. Guessing they have a much better relationship with the administration, too.
PJ
@MisterForkbeard: All I can say is, over the 30 years I have been talking with Czechs in the US or over there, I have never heard a Czech say “Czechia”.
The Moar You Know
Good. The rest of Europe (looking at you, Germany) needs to step the fuck up and get with this program. Or learn to speak Russian. Their choice.
Ruckus
@oldster:
The shells are just orders of magnitude more plentiful.
One often has to use a number of shells to work, rockets have guidance systems. Shells require a rather more expensive launch vehicle. Which is more obvious, requires a lot of fuel to move and is itself a largish target. Yes the projectile is cheaper. But in a war, effectiveness is somewhat/actually important.
West of the Rockies
As Russia withdrew from Kyiv, I hope they took a shitload of Javelins up their retreating keisters.
zhena gogolia
@PJ: But there has always been čechy? (Sorry don’t know how to capitalize it)
zhena gogolia
Go Slovakia!
sdhays
@marcopolo: It turns out that they haven’t been completely cut off, although they may be now. For weeks, the Ukrainian military was flying a couple helicopters a day (I think) through a route that Russia didn’t know about.
Last week, Russia got lucky and accidentally came across one of these missions and shot the helicopters down. Who knows what else Ukraine has going to resupply? But this had been going on with the Russians having no clue for weeks!
oldster
@artem1s:
Agreed, and well-said.
O. Felix Culpa
@zhena gogolia: Co-signed.
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
Among the types of engagements in Ukraine, old-school set-piece battles with artillery and armor tossing shells at one another from distance doesn’t seem common. Ukraine can’t endure it, for one thing. What I’ve seen from videos of both sides, is shoot-and-scoot use of artillery before counterfire can catch them. https://twitter.com/UAWeapons This doesn’t include the long-range barrages Russia conducts from deep in their territory and from sea, because Ukraine doesn’t seem to have the ability to reach them. Maybe that can change, they’re asking for antiship missiles, for one such item.
Ukraine’s lasting advantage will be insurgency style warfare and the handheld anti-tank weapon is a key tool. With such an array of types, Russia can’t easily defend themselves with countermeasures, either. “Is American, Swedish, German, Polish, Spanish, Italian missile today?”
tom
@cain:
@trollhattan:
I live in Michigan, and have been following this case. A few things:
I’m very unhappy with the verdict, but I think the FBI and prosecution screwed themselves.
Kelly
Bruce Cockburn hit from 1984
Bruce Cockburn – If I Had A Rocket Launcher – YouTube
Steeplejack
@PJ:
From the very article you link to:
PJ
@zhena gogolia: Čechy is just Bohemia, the western part of the country. Moravians get touchy when you refer to the whole country as Čechy.
PJ
@Steeplejack: The first poster claimed that “Czech Republic” was disapproved, which isn’t true.
zhena gogolia
@PJ: Yeah, I have some Moravian in me.
Geeno
@trollhattan: Eisenhower was a lt. col. in a logistics position at the start of WWII. It was his ability to “strategize” logistics that made him rocket through six grades to five stars in under four years.
CaseyL
The Russian domestic disinformation campaign is so similar to the RW disinformation pushed by Fax/GOP/et al. it would be uncanny – if we didn’t know they’re all coming from the same source using the same templates.
Accuse the other side of what you yourself are guilty – whether that’s pedo sex or war crimes, or both,
Find sympathetic/bought media outlets to work the story, to build up mass hysteria over it.
Use that to justify more crimes.
Baud
@PJ:
Half of this country is still using Czechoslovakia. You might as well try to get them to upgrade to Windows 11 while you’re at it.
prostratedragon
@Ruckus: Only after your comment did I realize that it wasn’t the tv sitcom crew. And I only watched the show once or twice. Pop culture!
eclare
@Geeno: Wow! That is fascinating!
trollhattan
@Geeno:
Operation Overlord sure put his skills to the test. Is that still considered the largest military deployment in history?
catclub
@trollhattan: On the one hand, some of the defendants already pleaded guilty. ON the other hand, the defense was able to emphasize an outsized role of FBI informants in the case. Also a Domestic Violence arrest/ lawsuit against one of the key FBI agents.
The Greensboro Klan murders in 1977 also had heavy informant participation/instigation. I just don’t know.
catclub
The other half is downright abusing it.
trollhattan
My calendar says April 8. Do your calendars say April 8, or is it suddenly July?
Fuuuuuuuuuck.
catclub
@tom: Thanks! beat me to it on all topics.
eclare
@trollhattan: Two days is a long time….
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Splitters!
scav
@PJ: & @zhena gogolia: Oddly enough, my (immigrant) great-grandmother would get entirely sniffy if referred to as Czech, no! WE were Bohemian! (Leading decades later, to me getting sniffed at by Docent Rose at the Cedar Rapids museum because “Bohemians were gypsies.” For the sniffy record, G-g Francis wins, hands down.)
trollhattan
@scav:
When I was a kid “Bohunk” was an insult I never understood. “You stupid Bohunk!” Doubt we had many in the Pacific Northwest in any case. Norwegians, you betcha.
NotMax
@Baud
Bite your tongue.
;)
Raven
@trollhattan:
Some 545,000 U.S. troops, backed by 12,000 aircraft and 1,600 ships, stormed Okinawa, an island in the south of Japan, in the last major battle of World War II. The invasion was considerably bigger than the one at D-Day, and it marked the beginning of the planned assault on Japan
trollhattan
Aw man.
Don’t you mess with our Nancy SMASH, covid!
catclub
@WaterGirl:
It would be interesting to find out if their defense team was sponsored by Erik Prince, or someone similar.
On the third other hand, the US DOJ has a terrible record in bringing cases against rightwingers. The Bundy’s.
CaseyL
@trollhattan: Heh.
I gave Jazz (my Late Great Mini-Black Panther) the nickname of Bohunk – because to me that word sounded like a combination of “Bodacious” and “Hunk,” and he was both.
eclare
@Raven: Those numbers are hard to envision. Thank you.
scav
@trollhattan: I have heard that honky was derived from bohunk — not that either would have slowed G-g F down. Her other words of wisdom were not to marry a man only because he could dance.
Raven
@eclare: Estimated 200,000 dead.
Baud
@Raven: U.S. only or total?
Steeplejack
I got my second COVID booster at CVS this afternoon. I opted for Moderna—all previous were Pfizer—and it was super quick and convenient. Much better than when I got the first booster at a different CVS in November. (Exactly five months ago to the day, by coincidence.) Will report on side effects, although I had only brief arm discomfort previously.
catclub
@scav:
The Beaux Hunks is a saxophone band.
Raven
@Baud: 12,500 Americans killed.
eclare
@Raven: I went to the WW2 museum in NOLA but only had one day, so I only got to spend time in the Atlantic theater wing. I will def go back someday for Pacific.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
They were still finding unexploded ordnance when I lived there in the late ’60s. A kid down the street blew a hand off while drilling into a grenade he found.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
The concept of large weapons, such as tanks, will likely be less idilic in armies because while they are powerful, they are relatively easy targets for modern weapons. A country like Russia which depends on them will suffer against a country with shoulder mounted rockets. One or two men with one can take out a tank easily, move and take out another with a reusable launcher. No large, loud, large petroleum using, easily disabled, very expensive piece of equipment required.
eclare
@Steeplejack: Oh gosh!
jeffreyw
@Steeplejack: Mrs J and I both got the Moderna top-up yesterday at a Walgreens. Some soreness at the injection site in the arm today, no other side effects. First 3 jabs were Phizer.
Raven
@Baud: Try on the Rape of Nanking, the Russians are amateurs.
Raven
@eclare: The last time I went I was with a Jewish buddy and ,after we did the Pacific Wing, he said “nope, I know what happened there”.
Baud
@Raven:
Thanks
Raven
@Steeplejack: They still find unexplored ordinance in Charleston from the bombardment of Ft Sumpter.
Raven
@jeffreyw: I got pretty woozy for a day after phizer 4
eclare
@jeffreyw: I’m the opposite! First three Moderna, today Pfizer. I found out yesterday my extended family is going out to eat on Easter, and I know I won’t have two weeks til then, but hopefully I’ll get a mini-boost.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
In SoCal at my place it’s currently 97 degrees at 2pm. It’s supposed to get warmer this afternoon but be 10-12 degrees cooler tomorrow. And yes anytime it’s near 100 with single digit humidity (8%) it’s fire season.
Geeno
@trollhattan: Not sure – but what is his presidency best remembered for? Infrastructure – the Interstate Expressway system – electrifying and spreading telephone lines to the most rural parts of America. Eisenhower knew that strength came from the base, not the branches.
eclare
@Ruckus: Shit. Way too early.
eclare
@Geeno: Things like TVA were under FDR. As far as I have read, Ike is best known for interstate highways, but I’m sure others know more than I do.
Oh and that overthrow of the Iranian government. Although I have not read enough to know the details
But in these parts, TN, def TVA.
Ishiyama
I recommend Tomiko Higa’s memoir The Girl with the White Flag for a 10 year old girl’s experience of that battle.
Raven
@Ishiyama: thanks
Tom Levenson
@Ruckus: Here in scenic Palo Alto, we got to 90 yesterday. 10 degrees or so cooler today, and more so tomorrow.
But yeah…hot and dry and windy. In April. With almost no rain since Dec.
Feh.
Ruckus
@CaseyL:
Isn’t that the way of all conservative type people? No one said they are better or good, and they really, really do not want to change. They seem to hate government, not because what it is but because if it grows and becomes more democratic it shows them for who they are. Now that’s not universal of course, not every conservative is a pedophile or thief or pervert or all of the above, but it does seem to be a premise that they should be allowed to observe their proclivities, especially when those proclivities are considered illegal and likely immoral.
Ruckus
@Ksmiami:
Most democracies don’t seem to like war/warfare. But they will do it when pushed and when pushed will do it with a vengeance. A democracy will see what is to be gained or lost, a conquerer just wants what he wants and has his peasants to get killed for him. He wants to win but his countries armies are usually not interested to die for someone who doesn’t give a fuck about their life. Did you notice how many of the early Russian soldiers gave up rather easily? They weren’t willing to die, given all that Russia does
forto them.Calouste
@trollhattan: The largest deployment in history was when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union with an initial force of 3.8 million. About the entire population of a medium US State or a small country.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I watched her speak the day of – or the day before – the election in Nov 2020.
She is a very charismatic speaker, so talented, and she definitely has that certain something. I predict that she will be the first female president.
WaterGirl
@oldster: I vote for giddy. don’t ever straighten up and fly right on my account!
kalakal
@Raven: I think the record holder is Operation Barbarossa: The Nazis deployed 3.8 million troops, 7,000 AFVs, 5,500 aircraft, 24,000 artillery pieces and 600,000 motor vehicles. Oh and 600,000 horses.
The WW2 Eastern front battles were mind boggling, in 1944 the Soviet Operation Bagration, deployed 2.5 million troops, 6000 tanks, 45,000 artillery pieces and 6,000 aircraft.
dr. luba
@jimmiraybob: Apparently it was to revenge the child victims of the supposed Ukrainian genocide of Russian speakers in the Donbas. You know, that entirely fictional one that exists only in Vlad’s head and Russian propaganda outlets.
“За/Za” means for, but in the sense of revenge for.
“Для/Dlia” means for, but in the sense of giving to.
The missile said “Za.” Then again, the theater in Mariupol was marked “CHILDREN,” but the Russian s**m bombed in anyways.
Jinchi
@jimmiraybob: Reports were that TFG had given Putin the green light to take Ukraine as soon as he was settled into his second term. Goven all his praise for Putin’s brilliant move, it’s clear that the US would not have provided any aid or intelligence to support Zelenskyy and would be busy undermining NATO.
Putin came really close to winning the jackpot.
matt
I was disgusted to see a report that Germany hasn’t been interested in helping Ukraine as much as they can. They are somewhat compromised by their energy dependence on Russia, and I think they’re run by center rightists who are going to be squishes when confronting Putin.
I certainly hope that Biden understands the importance of this opportunity in the global war against fascism. A decisive defeat for Russia here would change the world for the better, quite a lot.
It has felt like he does fully grasp the significance of the opportunity and is doing everything he can to get the right help to the Ukrainians.
matt
@oldster: We have a lot more money. Our GDP is over 10x that of Russia. Flooding the zone with expensive tech that actually works has been a great strategy so far. I am a little worried that supply chains might not keep up with demand – I was reading that we’re looking at a 30 month plus time to replenish all the Javelins that have been sent over.
Calouste
Maybe you should inform yourself instead of “thinking”.
JAFD
@scav:
To my parents (born 1913 & 1914, in an East Coast port city) ‘hunky’ was mildly insulting term for ‘Hungarian’ or ‘person with terrible taste in clothes’.
I once, in middle of overhauling bicycle, came out of basement to wash up for dinner, wearing old grease-spattered clothes in three clashing colors. Father remarked “You look like a hunky that just got off the boat.”
Geeno
@eclare: I’m sure that I’m way late with this reply, but as far as electrification went – Ike filled in a lot of the left over corners left after the TVA. He was also a big booster for Ma Bell (aka AT&T) to wire up the whole country (Googling now – It looks like this was all funded via government research at Bell Labs)