The Russian dirty bomb agitprop hit a new low today:
The photos MFA Russia used for their "dirty bomb in Ukraine" claims are actually from 2010 and made by the Slovenian Radioactive Waste Management Authority. pic.twitter.com/GQdC318AwZ
— Bakhti Nishanov (@b_nishanov) October 26, 2022
I realize the war isn’t going well, but make an effort!
I had a very long day and am fried. So just the basics tonight.
Here is President Zelenksyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English language transcript after the jump.
Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health!
Today I held a big meeting on the energy situation. The participants were government officials, the Office, energy companies, and the State Emergency Service. The topics were diverse. It was recovery of damaged objects, protection of generation, ensuring people’s access to energy.
The state of nuclear and hydrogen generation was analyzed separately, as well as the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
Russian terrorists have created such difficult conditions for our energy workers that no one in Europe has ever seen or encountered. There were no such threats that our specialists are forced to overcome now. And they overcome them with honor.
I thank all the workers in the energy sector, our rescuers, repair crews, representatives of local governments, private companies who work efficiently enough to maintain the stability of our energy system despite all threats.
In many cities and regions of Ukraine, emergency blackouts happen, power consumption has to be limited. But we all have to remember one thing: we need victory over Russia in the energy sphere as well.
No matter what the enemy does, our task is to break its plans and protect Ukraine. And this is not just someone’s task, it concerns not only energy workers or anyone else. Conscious energy consumption is now needed by all Ukrainians. Please choose your own scheme for limiting electricity consumption while there is a shortage in the general power system.
The situation on the front line has not undergone significant changes. The fiercest battles are in Donetsk region: Bakhmut direction, Avdiyivka. The craziness of the Russian command is now most visible there: day after day for months, they drive people there to death, concentrate the maximum power of artillery strikes there. All our soldiers who hold positions in these directions in Donetsk region are simply heroes.
Active actions in other directions continue. Today I would like to mention the soldiers of the 25th Airborne Brigade for their bravery in liberating the occupied territories in Luhansk region.
In general, we are strengthening our positions everywhere at the front, reducing the capabilities of the occupiers, destroying their logistics and preparing good news for Ukraine.
Today, during the day, the air raid alerts sounded several times over most of the territory of our state. The Air Force has results – another helicopter of the occupiers was shot down, another drone.
By the way, the total number of downed Russian helicopters is already approaching 250. The Russian occupiers have already lost as much equipment – aircraft and other – as most of the world’s armies simply do not have and will never have in service. Russia will not be able to recover these losses. I thank all our fighters for such a gradual and irreversible demilitarization of the enemy.
We continue to do everything possible to free our people from Russian captivity. Today, we can finally announce the release of ten more Ukrainians. Our exchange team is working around the clock.
And I want to emphasize once again that any of our front-line units can speed up exchanges by capturing the occupiers. The more Russian soldiers are in our exchange fund, the sooner we will return Ukrainians home from Russia.
The President of Guinea-Bissau visited Kyiv today. He also chairs the Economic Community of West African Countries. In fact, he is a representative of 15 African countries that are part of this community. And this is the first African leader who visited our country after February 24.
In general, we are consistently expanding our contacts with Africa, filling them with new content. Many negotiations and agreements are taking place for the first time in our history. It is very important that on this continent, where the Kremlin’s influence is traditionally significant, they hear the Ukrainian position and know the full truth about what is really happening. We provide it.
We also work every day to protect our grain export initiative. It is obvious that Russia intends to exacerbate the global food crisis again, to bring back the threat of large-scale famine. And this, in particular, is the responsibility of all our partners – after all, to guarantee food security and end this dirty Russian game with hunger.
Today, due to deliberate Russian inhibition of our food exports, the number of ships waiting for the opportunity to meet contractual obligations is already 175. And this is not just some trade problem. This is the deterioration of access to food for millions of people and the threat of an even greater increase in the prices of essential products on different continents – both in Africa, and in Asia, and in Europe. If, after all, Russia succeeds in the negative scenario, it will end in a new large-scale migration crisis.
Russia as a terrorist state is a terrorist in everything and deserves daily increasing international pressure on it.
I am grateful to those leaders and those politicians who understand and ensure this. I am grateful, in particular, to the Senate of Poland, which decided to officially recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. And such decisions should be adopted by the majority of the countries of the world – Russia itself, by its actions, leaves no alternative.
I thank everyone who helps us fight against Russian terror!
Glory to all who fight and work for the freedom of Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!
Oh goody, the Russian security council has discovered QAnon!
Meanwhile in Russia: since Putin's phony "denazification" never made any sense, now Russia's Security Council is absurdly calling for the "desatanization" of Ukraine. How embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/hxlLCAEBdD
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) October 25, 2022
Satanic panic for everybody!
And then DougJ appeared…
Guys, I know it’s a parody account and I love it)
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 26, 2022
Here’s former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessments of the situations in Izium and Bakhmut:
IZIUM/1145 UTC 26 OCT/ UKR hits ammo dump at Svatove. RU combat engineers reported to be constructing defensive positions west of P-66 HWY. Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA) reported stable. pic.twitter.com/goqE0ia1tn
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) October 26, 2022
BAKHMUT/1140 UTC 26 OCT/ RU attacks on Ivanhard and Bakhmutse repelled by UKR units. RU continues missile, aviation and artillery attacks on Bakhmut. UKR sources report the destruction of an enemy battlefield radar installation and a RU air defense complex pic.twitter.com/pzpKTazZqq
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) October 26, 2022
Ukrainian Air Defense is on the hunt!
Ukraine shot down 19 Iranian-made Russian kamikaze drones on 26 October, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense pic.twitter.com/CYrs4LcR0w
— Business Ukraine mag (@Biz_Ukraine_Mag) October 27, 2022
Reuters managed to get their hands on a batch of Russian military documents left behind Balakliia:
BALAKLIIA, Ukraine – The Russian soldiers had fled weeks before. But they left their traces everywhere.
Concrete steps led into the basement of their hastily abandoned headquarters in this small riverside town in eastern Ukraine. A bunker smelling of damp lay behind a steel door marked “Command Group.” Papers, some charred, were stuffed into a furnace. Others were scattered across the floor.
In a floral notebook, an unnamed staff officer left a sketch of a cartoon soldier and mused about going home. The book’s 91 handwritten pages contained other information, too: coordinates of Russian intelligence units, records of calls from commanders, details of battles, men killed and equipment destroyed. And accounts of a breakdown in morale and discipline.
In all, the bunker yielded thousands of pages of documents. Reuters reviewed more than a thousand of them. They detail the inner workings of the Russian military and shed new light on events leading up to one of President Vladimir Putin’s most stinging battlefield defeats: Russia’s chaotic retreat from Ukraine’s northeast in September.
In the weeks before that defeat, Russian forces were struggling with surveillance and electronic warfare. They were using off-the-shelf drones flown by barely trained soldiers. Their equipment for jamming Ukrainian communications was often out of action. By the end of August, the documents show, the force was depleted, hit by death, desertions and combat stress. Two units – accounting for about a sixth of the total force – were operating at 20% of their full strength.
The documents also reveal the increasing effectiveness of Ukraine’s forces and offer clues to how the eight-month-old war might unfold, with Russia now under intense pressure on the southern front around the Black Sea coast. In the weeks before their retreat, Russian forces around Balakliia, a town 90 kilometres south of Kharkiv, came under heavy bombardment from HIMARS rocket launchers, recently supplied by the United States. The precision missiles repeatedly hit command posts.
A Russian officer who served in the Balakliia force for three months, described to Reuters a sense of menace hanging over the occupiers. One of his friends bled to death in early September after a Ukrainian strike on a command post in a nearby village.
“It’s a game of roulette,” said the officer, who asked to be identified by his military call sign Plakat Junior 888. “You either get lucky, or you are unlucky. The strikes can land anywhere.”
The Kremlin press service referred questions for this article to the Defence Ministry, which didn’t comment. Russia has said previously its military has everything it needs to fight the war.
Much, much, much more at the link. Including screengrabs and pictures.
Your daily Patron!
Only today, in the direction of Balaklia, 11 sappers were injured, and one died. A few days ago, in Kharkiv direction two dead and 4 in hospital.
— Patron (@PatronDsns) October 26, 2022
Here’s the link to the United24 site. You know what to do if you are so inclined!
And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok:
@patron__dsns Слова тут зайві…🧀💔 #песпатрон #патрондснс
The caption machine translates as:
Words are superfluous here…🧀💔 #PatrontheDog #PatronDSNS
Open thread!
Ivan X
Thanks, Adam.
The Pale Scot
Over at LGM they have coverage of the Orcs not only kidnapping children but stealing corpses
Where’s Harrison Ford when we need him
Alison Rose
“I feel like I’m not doing enough to keep them alive.”
OMG this freaking broke my heart. Especially since whomever it is who writes the tweets for that account is probably speaking their own thoughts through it. Every single person in Ukraine is doing everything they can, and I hope they never feel like it’s not enough.
I liked this video asking Kyiv residents if russia had succeeded in scaring or cowing them. You get three guesses as to their answers.
Thank you as always, Adam.
RaflW
When Boris Yeltsin was losing control of the situation decades ago, I worried that some terrorist cell outside the broken USSR would acquire enough poorly guarded or secured radioactive material to do up a decent size dirty bomb. Now, here we are, and it could be Putin himself who ends up giving the order to blow one up.
Glad that the scam pretense is widely exposed, though that may not stop a desperate and increasingly foolish/reckless man from trying.
Tony G
The “desatanization” of Ukraine. Apparently the crack Russian intelligence agents found out about Zelenskyy playing Black Sabbath LPs backwards. Curses, foiled again.
trollhattan
Evidently there has been a rash of Rotax light aircraft engine thefts–the engines used in Iranian drones. Funny, that.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/bizarre-theft-wave-targets-same-rotax-engines-used-in-iranian-drones
Tony G
The Russian propaganda apparatus is apparently as incompetent as every other aspect of Russia. Pathetic. The Italian armed forces during World War Two might not have been this inept.
trollhattan
@The Pale Scot: Battleship? Battlecorpse!
trollhattan
@Tony G: It’s their dyslexia acting up again. They really mean desantafication.
Andrya
@The Pale Scot: It’s obvious what putin will do with the body. He will have a grand public propaganda funeral to try to whip up public morale. If he’s feeling extra wicked/stupid, he will imply the Ukrainians murdered Potemkin- in 1795.
There’s a bit of irony here- this is the Potemkin of “Potemkin villages” i.e. fake villages to give the impression they were real villages.
Tony G
@The Pale Scot: I can’t even think of a lame joke about this, it’s so weird and bizarre. The question comes to mind: With the Russian Army so busy stealing corpses, washing machines and everything else that they find, I wonder whether they have enough time and energy to fight the evil Ukrainians. This might be a major reason why they’ve been so incompetent as a fighting force.
Tony G
@trollhattan: Well I, for one, am all in favor of ridding the earth of Ron DeSantis, if that’s what they mean.
Another Scott
(via DarthPutinKGB)
(What a weird strike-through font…)
Cheers,
Scott.
trollhattan
@Tony G: Ron and his white boots. We could offer him up as an opening offer for ceasefire negotiations. Second prize, two Rons.
Gin & Tonic
@Alison Rose:
Alison Rose
@Tony G: I kind of want him to wear a Judas Priest t-shirt in his next video.
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: I saw! I wonder if those 86% are gonna go find the other 14% and be like “listen up”
cbear
@Tony G:
Russian Army Rifle for Sale.
Excellent Condition!
NEVER FIRED, ONLY DROPPED ONCE!!
Mike in DC
I assume Russia has some basic idea of what will happen if they use even one teensy-tiny 5 kiloton tac nuke in Ukraine:
–“national death penalty” level economic sanctions–not even humanitarian aid permitted
–their position in global organizations is at risk, including their seat on the UNSC–this is hard to pull off, but not inconceivable
–even the people still trading with them now cut them off, either due to their own redlines being crossed or fear at being sanctioned themselves
–military aid to Ukraine massively stepped up, previously barred weapons now on the table(ATACMS, jets, Patriot, Abrams tanks, etc)
–some kind of massive demonstration of conventional force to make an indelible point to Putin that backing off is in his self-interest and self-preservation interest.
YY_Sima Qian
Why are the Russians so obsessed w/ Bakhmut when they are on the back foot on all other fronts?
Aussie Sheila
@Another Scott: What’s funny/not funny about that list is the first four items are actual excuses/arguments from many people whom I would have expected to know or understand better.
There is a whole on line lefty cohort in the US who trot out this crap on a regular basis. I know idiocy is cross cultural, but I haven’t seen anything quite like it anywhere else in the English speaking world.*
*Because English is the only language I can read completely fluently.
Carlo Graziani
On Russian military document discipline:
During the Cold War, US, British, and French military attaches were entitled by the terms of the post-war settlement to roam East Germany as touring military missions, essentially as legal spies on Soviet military activity. They were banned from areas where active military exercises were underway, but when the maneuvers were over, they scoured the area for scraps of paper, because the Soviet troops were not issued toilet paper. In consequence of which any paper that came to hand was pressed into service as bumwad. This not infrequently included letters from home, maps, and other military documents, which the wind proceeded to blow around the fields. In The Hidden Hand, Richard Aldrich writes:
It’s good to see certan traditions being kept up.
Parfigliano
Russia. Incompetent shithole country that instinctively Trump gravitates towards.
Geminid
There are reports that an Israeli anti-drone weapon has actually been seen in the Ukrainian battle space. Not Iron Dome or David’s Sling missiles, but rather the “Smartshooter” system. This is a computer aimed rifle carried by a quadcopter drone. A compact electro-optical, AI assisted component is supposed to make it a “one shot, one kill” weapon. The Smartshooter can also be mounted on a light airplane.
There were reports last month that an Israeli company had transferred anti-drone weapons to Poland knowing that they would be passed on to Ukraine. Israel’s Defense Ministry approved the sales. Apparently that system was the Smartshooter. The US and Indian militaries also intend to purchase these weapons.
Urza
@trollhattan: Stealing engines to keep the drones running sounds like something Russia would do. Its like all Americas enemies were just cartoon caricatures made up by the military industrial complex or something. And Russia now trying to recruit Afghans to fight for them, most of which are only available because we didn’t bother to bring them stateside like we promised.
Carlo Graziani
@YY_Sima Qian: I think it’s Wagner/Prigozhin, not “Russia”. And it must be doing a number on their logistical supply arrangements. And Prigozhin keeps bitching that MOD is starving Wagner, while the rest of the army is trying to hold the Ukrainians back from Starobilsk, and their final supply line.
I bet they wish he’d been in that building when it got HIMARS’d.
Gin & Tonic
@Carlo Graziani: I’m thinking the Prigozhin/Kadyrov vs Shoigu show has to come to a climax at some point.
Kelly
@trollhattan: Stolen Swedish speed cameras were reported found in Russian drones earlier this week.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/speed-cameras-stolen-from-sweden-may-be-ending-up-in-russian-drones-report
YY_Sima Qian
@Carlo Graziani: Huh, good point. So why is Wagner so obsessed w/ Bakhmut? Bragging rights for the coming internal struggle?
lashonharangue
@Geminid:
I think this is the article you were referencing. https://eurasiantimes.com/israel-is-providing-vital-intel-to-ukraines-russia/
Interesting point in the article is that Iran can learn how their drones can perform in combat and Israel can try out its new defense weapon. Both will probably learn lessons that will be applied when Israel and Hezbollah go at it again.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Pale Scot: Ye Gods, the mind recoils at the though of a Putin following in Catherine the Great’s footsteps (so to say) with Prince Potemkin.
frosty
@lashonharangue: The Spanish Civil War all over again.
Lyrebird
@Alison Rose: Thanks for linking that KI video!
Tony G
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I have to appreciate Putin for educating me. I’d heard of “The Battleship Potemkin” and Potemkin villages, of course, but it never occurred to me to find out who this Potemkin guy was. Apparently he was one of the guys who banged Catherine the Great — and that’s pretty impressive in and of itself.
Geminid
@trollhattan: These four cylinder engines are used in the Mojeher-6(?) drones. These are similar to the Turkish Bayaktars and carry guided munitions.
The Shahed kamikaze drones must have smaller engines, maybe two-stroke, as their range is 1500 kilometers. I read that the Shahed’s delta wings and body are made of plastic infused cardboard, for light weight and low cost.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@YY_Sima Qian: The obsession is from Wanger. Prigozhin is positioning himself to be Putin successor so he wants to be the Russian leader who didn’t give up in the Great Patriotic War Against Satanism.
Tony G
@Carlo Graziani: … “any paper that came to hand was pressed into service as bumwad”. I’m pretty sure that that Mara-a-Lago guy has been doing that with some of those classified documents that he “borrowed”.
Bill Arnold
@frosty:
Ukraine and Russia are just barely scratching the space of possible uses of drones (autonomous to various degrees) in warfare. This war is accelerating military tech development.
Tony G
@Tony G: Him and about 10,000 other guys, I guess.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Speaking of that someone has already got an anti-drone computer guided rifle out. Mounted on a tripod and looks like something out of Space Marines in the Aliens series.
Joe Falco
Satanic Panic and it’s just in time for Halloween! Truly, Putin knows us Americans so well!
Mike in NC
@Parfigliano: Trump family made millions doing money laundering for the Russian mob/oligarchs in the 1990s. But we all knew that.
Carlo Graziani
@YY_Sima Qian: For Prigozhin and Kadyrov, the “war” seems to have largely moved into social media, with actual combat appearing to be secondary to their immediate concerns. It’s one of the most bizarre aspects of the war, almost a Wag The Dog in reverse. So yes, for Prigozhin, appearing to be fighting for an important symbolic war objective is essential to his media strategy, even if his progress compares unfavorably to 1916 Western Front rates of advance.
What they are preparing for I couldn’t say. As G&T says, maybe there’s a showdown coming. Or maybe they are living in a completely irrational world. The Biden administration may have some idea, if they still have Moscow wired for sound and video. I have no clue.
YY_Sima Qian
@Carlo Graziani: Aspects of this war is turning into a farce, if it isn’t still so tragic due to the lives that continue to be lost & ruined.
catclub
@Geminid:
Didn’t Israel initially waffle on condemning the Russian invasion at the start? Maybe I imagined that.
ETA: Israel has not levied sanctions?
Mike in NC
@Tony G: Some of the guys who banged her felt that Catherine wasn’t so great.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …DW.com:
(Emphasis added)
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@lashonharangue: Israel and Hezbollah could go at it tomorrow. That’s the day a maritime territory deal between Israel and Lebonon will take effect. Since Lebanon does not recognize Israel, the deal is in the form of Letters of Understanding between each of the countries and the US.
Thursday is also the day Israel plans to start tapping a gas field off its northern coast. Hezbollah has threatened to attack the production platforms. Israeli intelligence has warned that the powerful militia may attack but most likely in a limited, symbolic way.
Both sides are preparing for war but neither is willing to start a full blown conflict yet. Cyprus has been letting the Israeli Army conduct training on that island’s mountainous terrain similar to Hezbollah’s strongholds in south Lebanon.
gwangung
@Bill Arnold: I’m sure Western and American weapons makers are taking notes.
Hm. This gives me vibes of the weapons development cycle in David Weber’s Harrington universe….
James E Powell
@Alison Rose:
86% is about as close to unanimous as we are likely to get in response to any question.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@Bill Arnold: This is the ironic ” silver lining ” of war. It can push science & technology to the ” next level “. Medicine certainly developed faster because of the pressures applied by 2 world wars.
Andrya
@Another Scott: OK, this is all OT, but wicked Catholic here, and I’m going to defend Pope Francis, whom I really like.
Issue 1: Watching news to be a proactive citizen is great, spending all day surfing the internet is not great. You need to get off your duff and do something about it. In the last 15 years, I’ve been a community college (math) teacher, and I cannot even count the number of students whose lives were suboptimal due to phone/internet addiction. One student whom I worked with for 3 semesters (one year, counting summer session) was dumped by five, count ’em five, girlfriends because of his phone addiction. When he worked with me one-on-one, he would (repeatedly) check out and focus obsessively on his phone. I’ve also had a number of students who flunked because they constantly checked their phones in class rather than paying attention. (Yes, I forbid cell phone use in class but they do it on the sneak.)
Issue 2: porn. The porn of my younger days (Playboy, etc.) didn’t do anyone any harm. The problem is that modern internet porn often involves rape, violence, degradation of women, etc.- and I have often heard from female students/younger female friends that their boyfriends are asking them to do really unpleasant things because they saw these things on porn- or that their boyfriends are so focused on internet porn that they can’t focus on an actual woman.
Bottom line: on purely secular grounds, I think Pope Francis has a point.
pieceofpeace
Thank you, Adam. Greatly appreciated, again.
Geminid
@catclub: Israel has tried to stay neutral in this conflict. Early in the war they sent a field hospital to Ukraine for six weeks, and they’ve shipped medical supplies. Also helmets, armored vests etc., but only for use by civilian emergency personnel. I think some wounded Ukrainian soldiers have been treated in Israeli hospitals.
But as Defense Minister Gantz recently reaffirmed, the Israelis rule out sending weaponry, although apparently they’ve made an exception for indirect sale of these “Smartshooters.”
Polling shows that a majority of Israelis favor Ukraine in this conflict, but an equally large majority back the government’s neutral stance. Reasons include concern for their country’s relationship with Russia and it’s powerful anti-air missiles stationed next door in Syria, and also the status of Jewish Russians.
Carlo Graziani
@Andrya: Kudos for spreading the Good Word — Math, that is.
NotMax
FYI.
Sanctions, shmanctions.
Redshift
I remarked to Ms. Redshift just the other day that the ease of sowing discord through social media must have made Russian propagandists flabby. They used to be good at this stuff! Sad.
Redshift
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
Not just the two world wars, every major war going back at least to the Civil War. Medevac came out of the Korean war (there were helicopter rescues in earlier wars, but that was the first where it was an organized process.) Using saline to prevent shock was pioneered in Vietnam. And so on.
Alison Rose
@Another Scott:
Joke’s on him, I’m unemployed.
Also, I don’t think porn’s main message is “information”
Chetan Murthy
@Redshift: Didn’t Florence Nightingale get her start in the Crimean War?
Alison Rose
@James E Powell: Just don’t ever tell me if there’s a poll asking if Winnie the Pooh is the best cartoon and the response isn’t a unanimous “yes” because I will be angry.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose:
The original Grinch. I will not be taking questions.
Carlo Graziani
@Omnes Omnibus: The Pink Panther. Popeye. Bugs.
C’mon, they don’t even make real cartoons anymore.
Bill Arnold
@gwangung:
Not just weapons.
Also communications, propaganda/information warfare, much tighter OODA loops (or whatever the current term is), better distributed sensor networks including humans, better coordination of distributed forces both offensive and defensive, improved EW, rapid learning/shifts in tactics, and much more.
Fueled in part by tech-savvy intelligent people in Ukraine and also in Russia. (E.g image segmentation/classification tasks can be done in milliseconds in cheap low-power hardware.)
Geoduck
@Andrya: Though the stories about Potemkin actually constructing whole villages to fool Catherine appear to be exaggerated.
Alison Rose
@Omnes Omnibus:
@Carlo Graziani:
WINNIE THE POOH. I SAID WHAT I SAID. CHUBBY LITTLE CUBBY ALL STUFFED WITH FLUFF.
Fair Economist
@Redshift:
Their tactic in social media manipulation is to put huge amounts of patent nonsense, often contradicating each other, and figure something will take off. Easy to see how that could cost them the ability to put out compelling propaganda.
Fair Economist
@Alison Rose:
What do you think of his lookalike?
NotMax
@Alison Rose
Or not.
:)
MobiusKlein
What do Russians call “Russian Roulette” ?
re:
Anoniminous
@Bill Arnold:
We are only at the start of a sustained period of innovation in military technology way beyond the trifecta of {machine gun + indirect fire artillery + barbed wire} that slaughtered so many soldiers in World War One. The fact a $2,000 commercial quadcoptor armed with a $25 RKG-3, an obsolete anti-tank grenade from the 1950s, can destroy a T-90, third-generation Russian main battle tank, costing $4.5 Million is a hint of what is to come.
Another hint is the latest US Air Farce brain wave – the F-35A – is now projected to cost $1 Trillion for ~2,500. Compare to the cost of the Chinese CAIG Wing Loong drone at roughly a $1 million a pop. Granted the Wing Loong isn’t as effective as an F-35 when measured 1:1. But for the same price as 2,500 planes you can buy 1 million drones.
Alison Rose
@Fair Economist: My favorite thing is how much Xi hates it.
@NotMax: Hey, this is me you’re talking to. Pooh-bear plus swearing? Yes please.
Sebastian
@trollhattan:
If that’s true, the rumored hundreds of thousands of drones in Southern Lebanon are delusional.
With Russia purchasing this many on an ongoing basis, the Iranians will run out of Rotax to steal.
And yes, thank you, Adam. As always. You are an inspiration.
kalakal
kalakal
@Carlo Graziani: Agreed.Tom & Jerry ( though they were patchy – the middle period ones were great, the rest meh) and for some reason I find Roadrunner absolutely hysterical.
opiejeanne
Completely off topic, The Baby has arrived. Healthy and angry, at 9:50 pm PDT. At 5 minutes her APGAR score was 9, which is really good. She came out with 2 pushes, so fast I didn’t realize what I was seeing.
The new grandpa is in the room visiting with her now. Only 2 guests at a time so I’m in the waiting area now.
James E Powell
@Carlo Graziani:
Bugs Bunny FTW.
kalakal
@Carlo Graziani: They remind me of the various politicians and generals who’d collaborated with the Nazis, as their puppet governments collapsed as the allies liberated their countries many of them fled/ evacuated to Germany where they continued to issue edicts & laws, squabble over rank & positions as though they were still in control. It was then & is now utterly delusional.
kalakal
@opiejeanne: great news! What a relief for you all.
YY_Sima Qian
@Fair Economist:
@Alison Rose:
In case you are wondering, Winnie the Pooh is not currently banned in China. The cartoons, books, images & merchandise can be found everywhere, including in Shanghai Disney.
The genesis of the meme came from a photo from a meeting between Xi & Obama in California (in 2014?). The resemblance was uncanny, w/ Xi being Winnie & Obama being Tiger. I didn’t think the comparison was demeaning, but Chinese censor being what they are, they decided to ban references to Winnie the Pooh from Chinese internet. I don’t recall how long the ban lasted, weeks or months, but it was quietly lifted. (Because the ban was ridiculous to everyone, & merely served to reinforce the meme.)
Does Xi hate Winnie the Pooh? I don’t know, probably not.
Does Xi hate being caricatured as Winnie the Pooh? I don’t know, most likely yes.
Is it advisable to caricature Xi as Winnie the Pooh (or anything else) in China? Definitely not. Such satire is not tolerated, not only for Xi, but any official at any level of government, & has been the case for decades. In fact, such personally targeted satire is frowned upon in general.
So, the meme has lived on the internet outside of the Great Fire Wall, but it is also divorced from what is happening in China. If you want to own Chinese ultranationalists & trolls that venture onto Twitter, this meme is not an effective means to do so. People dissatisfied w/ Xi in China have their own much more subtle & roundabout ways of expressing their contempt.
YY_Sima Qian
@kalakal: You have described every regime in exile. Aren’t there still remnants of deposed European royalties or nobilities keeping up their appearances & pretenses, even as their countries have become republics over a century ago?
opiejeanne
@kalakal: Thank you. It was slow… slow… slow…. Then everything happened all at once.
gwangung
@Anoniminous: Yeah, and the US military had better pay attention and not fight the last war’s battles. That billions and billions of defense spending means nothing if you don’t keep up on the mental end.
kalakal
@YY_Sima Qian: True, there still are eg Greece and German, but they don’t pretend they actually rule anything beyond their garden walls. Wilhem II was not the sharpest tool in the box but was smart and realistic enough to stay in exile in the Netherlands, resisting all attempts by German monarchists to even think about returning.I can understand the “I shall return” mentality if there is some prospect of it actually happening eg the Bourbons in the Napoleonic era. However you had to be beyond delusional to think there was a way back to power in 1944. The more grounded ones hid, or fled to neutral countries with fake ids.
Yutsano
@opiejeanne: MAZEL TOV ON THE NEW LITTLE ONE!
kalakal
@opiejeanne: My sister’s first child was like that. We were all really worried & then suddenly. Congratulations, it’s a wonderful thing.
Yutsano
@kalakal: Heck there is still a claimant to the Russian imperial throne. Let us hope the Grand Duchess doesn’t prefer polonium in her tea.
patrick II
@opiejeanne:
Congratulations. There is nothing more wonderful.
Ruckus
@Parfigliano:
Russia, SFB. Two peas in a toilet, made for each other.
MomSense
@opiejeanne:
Congratulations!!!!
YY_Sima Qian
@opiejeanne: Congratulations!
opiejeanne
Thank you all. This induced labor took 29 hours, from check in to “Closing Time”, which my son and one of the nurses were singing very quietly while he was holding his baby. It was the slowest, gentlest induced labor you can imagine, with pain killers so Mom really didn’t feel much.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@opiejeanne: awww Congratulations!
Tony G
@cbear: Old joke, but a good one!
Tony G
@Mike in NC: Well, I’m sure that they told her that she was great. One of my disappointments in life is that Mel Brooks never got around to making Part Two of “History of the World”, which could have included a Catherine the Great parody. He’s only 96; maybe there’s still time.
Tony G
@Alison Rose: I vote for Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny (but views differ). When my wife from Japan was here on a student visa (may years ago) she fine-tuned her English by watching those cartoons.
Tony G
@Tony G: Of course Roadrunner has no dialogue — so she learned to say “beep beep” a lot.
Gin & Tonic
@Anoniminous: A lot has changed since I last read Manuel de Landa’s War In the Age of Intelligent Machines (shit, close to 30 years!) I wonder how it holds up.
Carlo Graziani
@Gin & Tonic: The situation is difficult to interpret because of the opaqueness, and tne number of important actors moving below surface. I wrote upthread that I have “no clue”, by which I mean that I really can’t make a guess that I’d hazard a bet on when, if ever, the knives might come out.
However, there are some outcomes that I’d bet money against, and some of them are the ones that Prigozhin and Kadyrov appear to be (or may be) betting on, by pumping their Telegram followerships. If they believe that a large mass following is the key to winning a struggle for power in Russia, they are, from a historical perspective, on crack. The winner is going to need support from state security, and almost certainly from the army, or his mass movement is going to be introduced to water cannon, tear gas, and prisons.
I’d say that Prigozhin has almost certainly fucked himself, by antagonizing the army beyond endurance. Kadyrov is more difficult to read. He has an ethnic disability, and he’s been made a general, which must be irritating to MOD, but perhaps he’s kissing up.
What is also unclear is the balance of power between the army and siloviki-controlled. internal security. At the outset of the war the consensus was that the latter had the former over a barrel. After 9 months of war, those bonds have likely come loose — you can’t fight in manacles. There are heavy weapons and (somewhat) trained units moving arond on army-controlled trains, using army-controlled comms. So it is conceivable that at a crisis moment we could see the Army mount or back a putsch.
But shrug-emoji. It’s all behind a veil.
A Man for All Seaonings (formerly Geeno)
@The Pale Scot: My favorite comment on the Russians took Potemkin’s body was:
It wasn’t actually Potemkin’s body; it was a Potemkin Potemkin.
pieceofpeace
@opiejeanne: Congratulations!
J R in WV
@Fair Economist:
Everyone seems to be overlooking my personal favorite, Rocky and Bullwinkle, flying squirrel and Moose, along with Boris Badenov and Natasha, his romantic sidekick. The whole thing was full of punny stuff, as well as sight gags to die for. Broke me up as a kid, still hilarious as an adult.
J R in WV
deleted, as first post on the topic finally showed up after I wrote my second post. Still my favorite, tho…
Tony G
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: True. Of course, most of the technology that improves during warfare is killing technology
The Pale Scot
Really most of them are Jewish only by familial history. The biggest reason that Isreal has become a an apartheid state is because of the racist Russians they imported.
Russians are bigots, even the ‘nice’ ones
Geminid
@The Pale Scot: Three different questionable takes, but not worth arguing over.
The Pale Scot
@Geminid:
Cool