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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War For Ukraine Day 150: Russia’s Negotiated Agreement To Allow Ukraine To Export Grain Didn’t Make It 24 Hours, Kherson Heats Up, Russia Uses Thermite In Donetsk

War For Ukraine Day 150: Russia’s Negotiated Agreement To Allow Ukraine To Export Grain Didn’t Make It 24 Hours, Kherson Heats Up, Russia Uses Thermite In Donetsk

by Adam L Silverman|  July 23, 202211:00 pm| 36 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

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Here is tonight’s address by President Zelenksyy. Video below, English transcript after the jump (emphasis mine):

Dear Ukrainian men and women!

The one hundred and fiftieth day of our defense against Russia, against their invasion, is coming to an end. And this day is in some ways similar to all the previous ones – missile strikes again, heavy fighting in many areas of the front – Donbas, Kharkiv region, shelling again.

But this day also shows how far we have come towards our victory. It will be!

First of all, we can say now about Kherson region. The occupiers tried to gain a foothold there, their collaborators made various brazen statements, which in Russian are called the very apt word “shapkozakidatelstvo” (false forecasts)… But how did it help them? The Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing step by step in the region.

Today’s Russian missile attack on Odesa, on our port, is a cynical one, and it was also a blow to the political positions of Russia itself. If anyone in the world could still say that some kind of dialogue with it, with Russia, some kind of agreements are needed, see what is happening. Today’s Russian Kalibr missiles have destroyed the very possibility for such statements.

And we see the absolute unanimity of the world’s reaction to this strike. The occupiers can no longer deceive anyone. Among other things, as a result of this strike, the building of the Odesa Art Museum was also damaged. The missiles hit very close to the historical objects of Odesa – something that is an asset not only for Ukrainian culture, but also for the culture of Europe.

This apparent Russian barbarism brings us even closer to obtaining the very weapons we need for our victory.

Today in the capital of Ukraine, I held talks with U.S. congressmen led by Adam Smith, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

And we understand each other from half a word. And this also reflects the way we have passed during all these days – days of war.

By the way, I want to thank the people of the United States, President Biden for the new $270 million security assistance package.

I spoke today with the President of Kazakhstan, Mr. Tokayev. I thanked him for his fundamental support for Ukraine, our sovereignty, and international law. We discussed specific projects in the fields of energy, economy, digitalization.

And, finally, today the second annual Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen took place in Kyiv. This year, it gathered even more participants. It united Kyiv with Warsaw, Brussels, London, and Washington. It united top politicians, public figures of other countries and our soldiers. Representatives of business, sports, media. Writers, show business stars, educators, doctors… In today’s world, it is impossible to make do with the usual conventional diplomacy. We need soft power, we need the sincere desire of different societies to help the state, which is fighting for its indomitability and independence. And from this point of view, it has become very successful today.

The initiative of the First Lady of Ukraine in two years actually became a traditional format – unique for the world community. Everyone recognizes the potential of soft power. But only Ukraine managed to direct its indomitability, its potential into concrete diplomatic practice.

And in general, in these almost five months, we have achieved such large-scale and diplomatic support for Ukraine that Russia will not be able to oppose it.

The day will come when missiles will lose their meaning for the occupiers. Now, it is possible to shoot down some of the missiles. The goal is to shoot down each one. And we will do everything necessary to still get modern and effective air defense systems. It’s our goal.

The terrorist state provides new arguments for this every day.

As of today, almost 24,000 defenders of Ukraine have been given state awards for their bravery. A total of 160 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. Millions of our people joined the defense of our state. And I am sincerely grateful to them, each of them.

Our independence is our joint achievement. Victory will be shared. It will definitely be! I know it. I believe in it.

Glory to Ukraine!

The Ukrainian MOD did not post an operational update today.

Here is today’s assessment from Britain’s MOD:

They did not post updated macro level map today.

We’re getting more and more reporting out of Kherson indicating that the Ukrainians are on the front foot. President Zelenskyy referenced that in his address this evening. The British MOD focused their update today on it. This is an excellent thread that quickly drills down into the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson Oblast and the south of Ukraine:

A couple of weeks ago (or so) the Russians announced an ‘operational pause’ in the Donbas.

Op pauses are pretty normal in this type of high intensity warfare, because of the vast supplies required and damages inflicted.

— Dr Mike Martin 🔶 (@ThreshedThought) July 22, 2022

  • Armies sometime just have to take ‘time outs’ to regroup and build up their supplies again. Although normally you don’t broadcast to everyone that you’re doing it. That’s a big weird an makes it seem like there must be another reason that Russian military activity has decreased.
  • And decreased it has – Russian artillery fire has significantly dropped, and there are a lot less offensives. (They compensated for this by lobbing a few missiles into cites, just to remind everyone they were still there, and still relevant. As if we’d all forgotten!)
  • And during this RUSSIAN operational pause, the Ukrainians started bringing into action the longer-range, western-donated artillery systems.
  • And continuing a theme (of the last two months) – while the Russians were focussing on (regrouping in) Donbas, the Ukrainians started hitting targets on the Kherson front in the south.
  • Just a quick reminder – Kherson is much more important strategically – it is the only foothold that the Russians have north and west of the Dnipro River – which is the major strategic barrier that runs across Ukraine from Crimea to Kyiv.
  • It is also the route to Crimea for the Ukrainians, which is where they should put pressure on the Russians if they want to evict them from the whole country. If the Russians feel threatened in Crimea they will strip units out of elsewhere, including the Donbas.
  • Anyway, I digress.
  • Over the last fortnight or so, the Ukrainians have been hitting Command and Control posts up to the 70km range of the new systems (headquarters, communications sites, air defence radars etc.). This dislocates a military force.
  • This sort of range means that generally speaking they are hitting Brigade and Divisional HQs rather than company and battalion ones. In a war you keep the more valuable things further from a front line to protect them. Longer range artillery upsets this calculation.
  • Secondly, the Ukrainians have been hitting supply dumps. I’m sure we’ve all seen the videos and photos on twitter. Judging by the size of those fires they were brigade, divisional and corps level supply dumps – which are predominantly fuel and ammo.
  • And specifically for the Russians and the way that they conduct war – it means a lot of artillery ammunition.
  • This has meant that the Russians have had to move all of these supply dumps back beyond the range of the new Ukrainian artillery. And this has one very simple effect.
  • The Russians now have to transport all those supplies, say, 100km rather than 30km. And if you have the same amount of lorries it means you can only bring up 1/3 of the supplies that you could before you had to move your supply dumps. And what does that mean?
  • It means that Russia, who rely on a very artillery heavy way of fighting war (and artillery is the most logistics intensive thing ever), can probably no longer get enough supplies up to the front line to conduct offensives; they can probably only defend on the Kherson front now.
  • And, I guess as the cherry on the cake, the Ukrainians have started hitting the bridges over the river Dnipro that connect Kherson to the other side of the river. In other words, the bridges to the Russian force’s rear.
  • There are only two of them. And they haven’t destroyed them yet, they’ve just cratered them making them unsuitable for heavy logistics. But if I were a Russian soldier in Kherson I would be pretty scared right now.
  • The way to get an enemy force to collapse is to hit their command and control, hit their logistics, and then start playing games with their minds.
  • I would be watching Kherson very closely over the next ten days. I think we might be about to see another Russian ‘goodwill’ gesture as they pull out of Kherson 😂 ENDS

The Russians are also signalling that the Ukrainians are effectively pressing them in Kherson:

Ukraine refuses the enemy's request for a green corridor for thousands of soldiers to exit Kherson region. Ukraine demands their surrender of troops and equipment otherwise they will be eradicated. https://t.co/KhOMb0aX3I

— Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) July 22, 2022

Ukrainian memories of the Russian treatment of the defenders of Mariupol is not lightly set aside…

There is some initial reporting and concern that the Russians are using thermite over Donetsk this evening.

Another view from Donetsk pic.twitter.com/h3RbZVN1f1

— Aric Toler (@AricToler) July 23, 2022

Whole bunch of videos in this Telegram channel, via @666_mancerhttps://t.co/3yBjUiCKCy pic.twitter.com/i4MaZVzbRU

— Aric Toler (@AricToler) July 23, 2022

One of the reasons I’m still not particularly enthusiastic that the economic and sanctions regime will have any effect is because we’re not actually doing anything about the categories of crimes that are called white collar crimes and organized crime. Which, by the way, have so much overlap they are pretty much the exact same thing. A great example comes to us as a warning from the anonymous whistle blower who delivered the Panama Papers to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Der Spiegel has the details:

The anonymous whistleblower behind the bombshell leak known as the Panama Papers has emerged anew to warn how offshore companies are enabling Russia’s war machine.

What kind of instability do you mean?

The rise of fascism and authoritarianism globally, from China to Russia to Brazil to the Philippines, but especially now in the United States.

America has made some terrible blunders in its history, but it has served as a balancing force against the absolute worst regimes when needed most. That balance has functionally ceased to exist.

Tax havens seem to be of crucial importance for strongmen in autocratic regimes.

Putin is more of a threat to the United States than Hitler ever was, and shell companies are his best friend. Shell companies funding the Russian military are what kill innocent civilians in Ukraine as Putin’s missiles target shopping centers. Shell companies masking Chinese conglomerates are what kill underage cobalt miners in the Congo. Shell companies make these horrors and more possible by removing accountability from society. But without accountability, society cannot function.

“Shell companies funding the Russian military are what kill innocent civilians in Ukraine.”

– John Doe

The Panama Papers seem to be more relevant than ever, due to the Russian aggression in Ukraine. For example, one of the oldest and closest friends of Vladimir Putin, the cellist Sergei Roldugin, got sanctioned at the end of February. The main reason for that has been found in the Panama Papers, which showed that Roldugin seems to have acted as a proxy for his powerful friend and owns billions — at least on paper. Are you pleased about that twist of events?

I was glad to see Roldugin sanctioned. I think it’s brilliant.

Do you fear Russia might seek revenge?

It’s a risk that I live with, given that the Russian government has expressed the fact that it wants me dead. Before Russia Today’s media presence was curtailed due to Russia’s attack against Ukraine, it aired a two-part Panama Papers docudrama featuring a “John Doe” character who suffered a torture-induced head injury during the opening credits, after which a cartoon boat sailed through the pool of his blood, as though it were the Panama Canal. However bizarre and tacky, it was not subtle. We have seen others with connections to offshore accounts and tax justice resort to murder, as with the tragedies involving Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak. Their deaths affected me deeply, and I call upon the European Union to deliver justice for Daphne and Ján and their families. And to deliver rule of law in Malta, one of Mossack Fonseca’s former jurisdictions.

German police have shared Mossack Fonseca data with dozens of countries, but they limited it to data about citizens of the country in question. According to this logic, data about oligarchs could only be shared with Russian authorities, unless there are criminal investigations in other countries — an absurd situation, especially given that these men have recently been sanctioned in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, neither the governments of Germany nor the United States have expressed much interest in the Panama Papers. Instead, they are focused on yachts. Frankly, yachts do not matter very much, beyond symbolic value. Offshore companies and trusts matter. Sanctions are one important tool but there are others. For example, the United States could raid some of the offshore incorporators’ offices on American soil to send the signal that this type of activity is no longer acceptable. It would be easy for them to do. But it hasn’t happened.

The Russian elite routinely hides ownership of luxury homes, yachts, jets and other assets through complex offshore arrangements. How can this be stopped?

I think the Western world viewed Vladimir Putin as a nuisance for a long time, but one that they could control with economic incentives. Obviously, that has not worked. It would take a truly extraordinary effort, a kind of modern-day Manhattan Project, where the goal would be the untangling of the enigmas of the offshore world. Certainly, the computational capacity to do this exists. The question is whether the political will does. So far, I have not seen much evidence.

Why do you think we haven’t seen a major Russian whistleblower yet?

Even given some requisite amount of bravery, it also takes a certain degree of freedom to become a whistleblower. Someone has to be there to listen and there must be at least some desire to make change. Apart from the fact that Putin murders and imprisons the brave, it’s very hard to find that kind of freedom in a place like Russia.

What has become abundantly clear since 2016 is that the US, the UK, the EU member states, Israel, and several other developed states and societies all have significant organized crime problems. That a significant amount of this organized crime is actually white collar crime. And that it is being very effectively used by Russia, the PRC, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Iranians, and a number of others to wage a different form of warfare – a 21st century form of warfare – against the US and our allies. Until or unless the US, the UK, our EU, and our non-EU allies actually crack down on and then take the steps to make it much, much, much harder to engage in white collar and organized crime the economic and sanctions regime will fail.

Finally, several members of the International Legion were killed by Russian forces in Ukraine this past week. Two Americans, a Canadian, and a Swede were killed in action. Politico has the details:

KYIV — Two Americans, a Canadian and a Swedish citizen were killed this week when a Russian tank opened fire on them during an hourslong battle at the frontline in the eastern Donetsk region, their commander confirmed exclusively to POLITICO.

Ruslan Miroshnichenko, the foreign fighters’ commander, said Saturday that the Americans killed were Luke “Skywalker” Lucyszyn and Bryan Young. He said they were killed alongside Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois of Canada and Edvard Selander Patrignani of Sweden on July 18.

The men were part of a special operations force within the Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Miroshnichenko said. Their unit has been based near Siversk, a town in eastern Donetsk oblast that has been the target of Russia’s invasion force.

In an attempt to slow Russia’s advance, the foreign fighters were deployed to the village of Hryhorivka, two miles northwest of Siversk. There, Miroshnichenko said, “the guys were tasked to take their firing positions” and clear a ravine where Russian forces were working to cross a river.

“They did it successfully. But at the end of the mission they were ambushed by Russian tanks,” Miroshnichenko said. “The first shell injured Luke. Three guys, Edward, Emile, and Bryan, they immediately attempted to help Luke, to do first aid, and evacuate him from this spot. Then the second shell killed them all.”

The State Department spokesperson confirmed the deaths of the two Americans on Friday but did not name them. “We are in touch with the families and providing all possible consular assistance. Out of respect to the families during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add,” the spokesperson told POLITICO.

More at the link!

That’s enough for tonight.

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Open thread!

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Reader Interactions

36Comments

  1. 1.

    Mallard Filmore

    July 23, 2022 at 11:16 pm

    Turkey has been busy:
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/23/2112121/-Turkey-assassinated-women-leaving-a-forum-on-Women-s-Revolution-of-Rojava-North-East-Syria

    “These are the Women, of the YPJ, the ones who kicked ISIS’ butt so that our troops did not have to. …”

  2. 2.

    JanieM

    July 23, 2022 at 11:18 pm

    Thanks, Adam. The organized/white collar crime thing is depressing, all of it is depressing, except that the determination of the Ukrainian people is inspiring. Having this kind of close daily reporting of what they’re enduring has put a lot of things in clearer perspective for me. I am out of words for things like the Russians asking for a “green corridor” for their army. WTAF?

  3. 3.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 23, 2022 at 11:31 pm

    I couldn’t *believe* the Russians asking Ukraine to pretty please let their soldiers leave Kherson. The chutzpah!

  4. 4.

    Andrya

    July 23, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    putin answered my question of yesterday:  why on earth did his government even offer safe passage for ships exporting Ukrainian grain?  Now I see the pattern- he is acting like the most typical abusive partner:  gaslighting.  Ships are safe!  Maybe!  Now you see it, now you don’t!  What a total, utter, scumbag.

    I am very worried about the political situation in Italy, combined with the fact that Emmanuel Macron appears to be absolutely clueless.  My take is the russian government believes they can erode western support for Ukraine by assisting far right populist parties to win elections- including, of course, helping TFG win in 2024.  And the terrifying thing is they could well be right.

  5. 5.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    July 23, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    I hate russia. And I so entirely do not want to hear any #notallrussians shit right now. The strikes on Odesa should at the very least shut up anyone still insisting that negotiations are possible. They are not—not when one side is mixing mendacity with barbarism. Absolutely nothing can or should be ceded to the russian invaders. They ought to be launched into the sun.

    Also, “Apart from the fact that Putin murders and imprisons the brave” is quite a sentence to be used as an aside.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  6. 6.

    Redshift

    July 24, 2022 at 12:03 am

    Hmm. I remember reading a long Twitter thread early in the war/sanctions from someone who works on money laundering and such. The gist of it was that in response to demands related to the sanctions, major tax havens had given up information that they had previously claimed was impossible to do, and this presented a big opportunity.

    I wonder what happened with that, and whether there might be more going on than the Panama Papers guy thinks. Both he and the person I read seem to have similar views and objectives.

  7. 7.

    West of the Rockies

    July 24, 2022 at 12:14 am

    Janie M.

    How do you feel about a crimson corridor (as in blood red)?

  8. 8.

    Bill Arnold

    July 24, 2022 at 12:27 am

    @JanieM:

    I am out of words for things like the Russians asking for a “green corridor” for their army. WTAF?

    The words from the Ukrainians that the Russians heard were , paraphrased, “Surrender or Die”. Normal rules of war.

  9. 9.

    Bill Arnold

    July 24, 2022 at 12:35 am

    Adam has talked about this a lot in interesting detail; here’s a detailed dissection. (The steps are generic, the order/collection specific to this case.)
    How Russia promoted the claim that Ukraine re-sold French howitzers for profit – Kremlin media amplified narrative until mainstream coverage on the risk of weapons smuggling allegedly gave it credence (DFRLab (AtlanticCouncil’s Digital Forensic Research Lab), Jul 21, 2022)
    The section headings:

    Step 1 — Start with a claim by a fringe social media user, preferably a Western one
    Step 2 — Stir the conversation with a smattering of sarcasm
    Step 3 — Launch the media wave with non-existent “confirmations”
    Step 4 — Cast doubt on any denials
    Step 5 — Recycle old ‘evidence’ and inject with a dose of drama
    Step 6 — Reinvigorate reports through foreign “independent sources”
    Step 7 — Keep adapting it
    Step 8 — Amplify until it appears to reach the mainstream media

    Practice at spotting this stuff; the Russians have been sloppier than usual, with technique that reeks of mild frantic desperation, so it’s easier to spot. (Not saying that it won’t be disturbingly effective, but the western press has been learning a bit.) Occasionally, there will be a core nugget of truth (they have to maintain belief by the gullible they use for amplification), but even then the methods are similar.

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 24, 2022 at 12:51 am

    @Redshift: Nothing happened with it. But we and our allies seized nine yachts and Abromovich had to sell his football club in England.

  11. 11.

    MobiusKlein

    July 24, 2022 at 12:54 am

    What is the purpose of using thermite in Ukraine?  Beyond starting fires in cities, is there a specific goal?

    Terror?

    Or just they are running low on Boom Boom bombs, and just need to fire something.

  12. 12.

    Andrya

    July 24, 2022 at 12:56 am

    @Adam L Silverman:  Did Abromovich get to keep the money he got for selling the football club?  I hope not!

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 24, 2022 at 12:59 am

    @MobiusKlein: Typically used by the Russians for night illumination. The advantage is it also terrifies because of the damage it can do.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 24, 2022 at 1:00 am

    @Andrya: I have no idea.

  15. 15.

    Medicine Man

    July 24, 2022 at 1:24 am

    I suspect too many influential lawyers, politicians, and high-finance types in our countries have helped launder Russian lewt, “wet their beaks”-so to speak, to be eager to unwind the mess.

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    July 24, 2022 at 1:33 am

    Speaking of money moving around in mysterious ways, … France24:

    Beijing (AFP) – China’s troubled property sector suffered another blow this month when frustrated homebuyers stopped making mortgage payments on units in unfinished projects.

    The boycott came with many developers struggling to manage mountains of debt, and fears swirling that the crisis could spread to the rest of the Chinese — and global — economy.

    Xi’s China has a lot of money and a lot of things going for it. But every economy goes into recession at some point. We’ll have to see if they can deflate their property bubble, and manage all the anger of people losing lots of money and the boundless future they expected…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  17. 17.

    sab

    July 24, 2022 at 1:59 am

    @Bill Arnold: Not popular to mention, but this is pretty much what Dick Cheney always did. I like Liz Cheney this year, but we need to remember who they are and what they have done and will do.

  18. 18.

    sab

    July 24, 2022 at 2:10 am

    @Another Scott: They aren’t a democracy. They’ll manage this.

  19. 19.

    Jesse

    July 24, 2022 at 2:53 am

    What’s the over-under on General Pavel making it through August?

  20. 20.

    Mallard Filmore

    July 24, 2022 at 3:05 am

    @sab: 

    They aren’t a democracy. They’ll manage this.

    Some are not so confident.
    link: https://youtu.be/o0rsyLi28dQ
    title: “China Sends The Tanks In As Banking Collapse & Riots Explode!”

    Other YouTubers claim that China’s appeal as the world’s factory is starting to fade, as their prosperity is raising labor costs, and the Zero Covid policy is a severe disruption in supply chains.

    There are more than one moving parts to manage.

  21. 21.

    sab

    July 24, 2022 at 3:07 am

    If you are a democracy it doesn’t take much to vote yourself  off kilter. If you are not a democracy it is nearly impossible to shift the government back to tolerable policies.

  22. 22.

    Andrya

    July 24, 2022 at 3:20 am

    @Jesse:  Although I am passionately pro-Ukraine, I am highly skeptical about the 400 lb. russian general Pavel.  russian generals, bad as they are, do not normally appear looking disheveled, with a 3 day growth of beard, and no medals in sight.  Wikipedia has never heard of him, which would be unusual for a russian general sufficiently high up to be chosen for heading the war on Ukraine.  No one seems to know his first name, again unusual.

    There is a Czech retired general Petr Pavel, but he formerly held a NATO position and does not look remotely like the guy in the photo.  Most important, there is no way he would be working for putin.

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    July 24, 2022 at 3:44 am

    @Andrya:

    The reporting said Abramovich didn’t see a penny from the sale of Chelsea FC — the money was paid to the entity running the sale, and presumably now belongs to the British Government — nor was he repaid any of the £1.9 billion that he had loaned to the club over the years.

  24. 24.

    YY_Sima Qian

    July 24, 2022 at 4:21 am

    @Mallard Filmore: The video footage shows an exercise by a PLA formation at Rizhao in Shandong Province, on the shore of the Yellow Sea. The bank customer protests are in Henan Province. The sensationalist claims were 1st made by some no name Indian tabloid, the off it went. It was quickly debunked on Twitter, but BS will fly a lot further & more widely than any correction.

    Not sure why the tanks are not on trailers, risk damaging the city streets driving on treads. However, the behavior of the crowd, clearly onlookers curious about the military maneuvers, should be a quick give away nothing particularly amiss was going on.

    The deflation of the real estate bubble & generally challenging economic conditions in China are stressing the financial system, w/ some of the more over leverage property development companies as well as some of the local banks that sold risky financial products are the 1st to show distress.

  25. 25.

    bjacques

    July 24, 2022 at 4:53 am

    I knew the financial component of the War On Terror would be a joke when it became obvious they weren’t going after tax-dodging havens in general. I figured then that all governments needed deniable flows of dark money, and nothing since then has changed my mind. Russia and its enablers prove there’s no real difference between legal and illegal tax-dodging.

    All that wealth hiding from the taxman erodes a government’s ability to function, let alone fund physical and social infrastructure, and it fuels resentment by taxpayers who don’t have access to those offshore havens (where the money sloshing through doesn’t benefit their citizens very much). But the story doesn’t stop there. That untaxed wealth returns to the economy as one speculative tsunami after another, driving up prices of energy, food, and shelter—the necessities of daily life. I’d call that economic warfare, except all governments are complicit, so it’s more like anorexia, with conservative parties motivating themselves with trigger images of a zero-tax, trickle-down paradise. If low taxes encourage growth, then zero taxes will bring the economic Singularity.

     

    On a lighter note, all those Russian ammunition dumps going Foop! satisfy my 12-year-old self who once dreamed of having enough money on July 4th to buy an entire fireworks stand and light it all off at once (somewhere safe of course).

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    July 24, 2022 at 5:50 am

    @bjacques: A corporate reform law was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act and passed over Trump’s veto in the last days of the 2020 “Lame Duck” session. It’s called the Corporate Transparency Act and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY) was a principal sponsor. Basically the CTA requires U.S. corporations to disclose “beneficial,” or actual ownership, and is aimed at the use of shell companies to conceal ownership.

    A writer for Forbes Magazine called tbe CTA the most important corporate reform legislation in decades. New incorporations have to comply with CTA requirements while existing corporations had two years to comply, a period that ends this January.

    My knowledge base in this area is pretty small, but it seems like the CTA’s effects could be widespread at least in this nation. There was so much going on at the time it was passed that the CTA garnered little attention and now it may only be a topic for segments of the legal and accounting professions.

    I can see why Trump vetoed the bill it was part of, though, because it could hit him and crooks like him where it hurts (he of course gave different reasons for his veto of the NDAA). Disclosures under the CTA  may even expose some Russian connections like those found in the Panama Papers, although I expect there has been a scramble this past year to unwind a lot of these shell companies.

  27. 27.

    randal sexton

    July 24, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @Andrya: There was a twitter thread that found the original ‘fat russian general’ photo — He was not russian, and was some guy at an awards ceremony.    So funny as that looked the story told is not true.

  28. 28.

    Tony G

    July 24, 2022 at 9:59 am

    If there was ever any doubt, it is now clear that a negotiated agreement between Ukraine and Russia is impossible.  Yet some on “the left” (e.g., Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky) continue to call for negotiations.

  29. 29.

    randal sexton

    July 24, 2022 at 10:04 am

    Found the thread disproving the ‘fat russian general’ :  https://twitter.com/ArbiterOfTweets/status/1545651614253555712

    Kinda sad how fast bullshit spreads – particularly funny, or ‘want to be true’ bullshit.

  30. 30.

    The Pale Scot

    July 24, 2022 at 10:50 am

    @Andrya:

    That was a hoax. He was tracked down, he’s a former army/guard type who was at some sort of commemoration

  31. 31.

    jnfr

    July 24, 2022 at 11:12 am

    Thanks so much for these regular updates. I really  appreciate them.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    July 24, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @randal sexton: Thanks.  I suspected as much.  Good sleuthing!

    Everyone with a UK tabloid subscription should cancel it and all advertisers should boycott them.  And this is the least of the reasons…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    compassrose.pdx

    July 24, 2022 at 12:33 pm

    Someone might let Russian army grunts know that thermite can be an amazing sabotage weapon against their own war machine.

  34. 34.

    MobiusKlein

    July 24, 2022 at 1:08 pm

    Apparently thermite use against civilian areas is a war crime.

    Like so many other Russian actions is this war.

  35. 35.

    J R in WV

    July 24, 2022 at 1:16 pm

    The video of thermite flames raining down was a cross between beautiful and terribly horrific.

    I was surprised at how quickly Putinsky rendered the grain sales agreement null and void, less than 36 hours after the signing in Turkey.

    Thanks for these reports, Adam, more hard data here than anywhere else on that Russo-Fascist War of Aggression. I always look these up the next morning, so I can settle down and be calm for a while before bedtime.

  36. 36.

    Carlo Graziani

    July 24, 2022 at 4:43 pm

    Apropos of not much, except perhaps a thread a few days ago concerning the eventuality that the Russians might find themselves having to move reinforcements to Crimea across the Kerch Strait bridge, and the difficulty of the Ukrainians actually dropping the bridge by artillery (as opposed to using munitions aimed at the bridge supports). It occurred to me that just creating a giant, snarled traffic jam of burning, broken heavy vehicles on the cratered deck of the bridge might be just as useful. After all, the Russians would need to move tanks and artillery — both of their remaining infantrymen could probably just take a boat :-).

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