Ukraine

I see that Usmanov’s £600mill yacht has been impounded in Germany

They might agree to swop it for a Paul components rasta rear mech. Or anything original Klein.

@blokeuptheroad we were involved every year in the Minx excercise, if I recall the name correctly. Very happy that so far that scenario hasn’t come to pass! We also did a lot of work with the Fort who brought a few interesting things along with them.

They should use that yacht to house Ukrainian refugees.

They should use that yacht to house Ukrainian refugees.

Probably better selling it to fund munitions, or help pay towards aid. Same with and of the funds frozen from the Russian oligarchs. And in that what im afraid of is the US will keep it, when the point of fact its been effectively taken from the coffers of the Ukrainian people.

They might agree to swop it for a Paul components rasta rear mech. Or anything original Klein.

😂😂😂

Chapeau!

Yeah, for all the talk there’s very little action in the west nailing the oligarch’s to the wall and putting pressure on them, same with Belarus, barely a word said about them, and the way they’ve acted is worse for me, at least Russia never hid their intentions.

The sad fact is that the longer the Ukrainian people hold out, the more vindictive Russia will be, as much as sanctions, supplies, etc are helping, it’s not going to stop the inevitable in the Ukraine, this thing can only stop in Moscow.

Rather sadly, and beyond anything even in Orwell’s 1984, today there is a nationwide online ‘truth’ lesson for Russian schoolchildren.

Ironically enough, here it is reported in Pravda (Truth in Russian):

Truth in Pravda

system resolution

I hope the presenters get an opportunity to visit the current front line in Kyiv.

For them to have to do that, to brainwash the kids, is a good sign that some foreign media is reaching enough people and they feel the need to debunk it

a defense budget that’s not huge amount bigger than the UK spend – about $62Billion compared to $50B

One thing with Russia, China, etc. is that their personnel costs are much lower than in rich Western countries. NATO, especially the U.S., have gone for very high-tech militaries, but they are volunteer armies so they have to either use contractors or pay competitive salaries for tech specialists. Russia still has conscription. Soldiers who are poorly paid and badly treated will steal and cheat out of necessity in order to survive.

Thats the Ukranian Pravda. Click the blue link and hover over the header in Russian/Ukranian.

Russian Pravda https://english.pravda.ru is a whole bucket of haddock different and just shows how this is being represented in Russia.

Regarding military truck maintenance, there’s a big MAN truck depot on the business estate where I work in Westbury, and if going off-site for any reason it’s not unusual to see the big breakdown wagons towing another big truck into the estate, or else trucks being driven in. There are live firing ranges close enough that you can hear the crackle of weapons being fired as well.

There are some interesting threads on the mobility issues for the Russians. It looks like they haven’t been maintaining their vehicle fleet, they also use cheap Chinese/ Belarusian tyres, what’s happening is the side walls degrade and fail when run at low pressure. Why is low pressure important? Grip off road. So essentially the fleet can’t go off road (hence the traffic jam) and the limited advances.

This then gets worse, Ukraine has a famous’mud season’ where the ground conditions get very poor in spring and autumn. We are heading into that now.

I can see the Russians getting pushed back considerably on this basis, being tied to roads is a disaster for them, they don’t have air superiority and the range of the mlrs systems is limited

It’s still going to be costly for the Ukrainians but I’m thinking the corruption endemic in the Russian army has essentially gutted the ability to fight

It’s the old nursery rhyme, for the the want of a horseshoe nail…..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60598294 No need to panic everyone, Nadine is fighting hard on the third front.

Yeah, for all the talk there’s very little action in the west nailing the oligarch’s to the wall and putting pressure on them, same with Belarus, barely a word said about them, and the way they’ve acted is worse for me, at least Russia never hid their intentions.

Because London and the UK generally has always been very open to Russian oligarchs, welcoming their lavish spending and offering them long-term visas. In particular Russian donors gave to the Tory party; but it is broader than that and suddenly reversing course is taking a bit more time for decision-makers to wrap their heads around

You’re not far from the Land Warfare Centre there bud.

Nadine is fighting hard on the third front.

Belarus and Russian Para athletes have been bumped…

https://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/60599739

Latest Defence Intelligence Update

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 03 March 2022

Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/94E5eEDqiw

?? #StandWithUkraine ?? pic.twitter.com/XFTUykMhQx

— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) March 3, 2022

Nadine is fighting hard on the third front.

Still defunding the BBC then?

This is an enlightening read.  I knew the country was awash with Russian money but I didn’t know the extent of it and the amount of malign influence it had.  Depressing because you know very little of substance will ever be done to tackle it.

This quote won’t come as a shock to anyone though:

“Westminster – and the Conservative parliamentary party in particular – may be open to influence from wealthy donors who originate from post-Soviet kleptocracies, and who may retain fealty to these regimes”.

Linky

the amount of malign influence it had

Inevitable when the Klept is run by the Mafiya and ex-KGB/FSB, along with those who’ve become obscenely rich from stolen State infrastructure. Money speakers louder than words…

saw this and thought of here…

It must be exhausting for these folks…semper browseus pic.twitter.com/qDTkyEW1X5

— Hoff @ 127.0.0.1 (@Beaker) March 2, 2022

Yeah, for all the talk there’s very little action in the west nailing the oligarch’s to the wall and putting pressure on them,

My hope, but it is purely hope, is that “we” are actively talking to them to encourage them to depose Putin and bring the situation back under control. I’m not sure that a different corrupt leader supported by corrupt oligarchs who might now see “us” as owing them something in return is loads better – but it would be a reason for the UK not being as forthright with sanctions on individuals as they could be.

saw this and thought of here…

Rude!! 😡😂

That’ll go awesome on my airsoft teams new rig…

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saw this and thought of here…

Jam-bo that’s absolutely quality!!

It’s always been an open secret, and has been raised in parliament many times regarding the London housing market having a lot of expensive properties owned by mysterious corporations or individuals without any real investigation, maybe this will drive that to happen, then again, lots of people have made a lot of money from this over the years, so lets see how much property is actually seized or frozen.

It’ll be the same thing that happened a few years back, a quick check without delving too deep to find the link between the actual owner and property.

Surely a 40 mile long convoy is incredibly vulnerable to air attack by the Ukrainians?

They might agree to swop it for a Paul components rasta rear mech.

Or send it back with a new paint job.

a quick check without delving too deep to find the link between the actual owner and property.

In the same way companies house is underfunded so cant look into all those shell companies or do much more than rubber stamp paperwork.
I am sure there is no connection though between this and the donations to the tory party.
The Russia report from last year needs dusting off and questions asking about why Johnson tried to suppress it given it was already badly limited in scope.

I hope this isn’t just a bogus trend of the week thing that the NY Times seems to specialize in.

“in some cases, Russian troops have deliberately punched holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid combat, the official said. The Pentagon official declined to say how the military made these assessments” https://t.co/eIdOFOBxGP

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) March 1, 2022

Surely a 40 mile long convoy is incredibly vulnerable to air attack by the Ukrainians?

Yes, I think the fact that it’s stuck there is, lack of supply (fuel etc) breakdowns and Ukrainian resistance

Surely a 40 mile long convoy is incredibly vulnerable to air attack by the Ukrainians?

Reports suggest that this larger convoy is better defended with anti-aircraft weapons than other vehicles and convoys we have seen destroyed recently. BBC reporting suggests it has been slowed down by attacks from Ukraine, I’m not sure if that’s from the ground or the air though.

Gutted my great uncle isn’t around to check out some of these unencrypted radio recordings. In his National Service (in the ’50s) he learned Russian in a bootcamp, then spent a year translating intercepted Russian radio transmissions. Had a remarkable command of Russian swearing and colloquialisms!

thols2 – NY Times is more reliable than NY Post!
US print media appear to be regurgitating the latest twitter or reddit or fb post without much, if any, fact checking.

It’s always been an open secret, and has been raised in parliament many times regarding the London housing market having a lot of expensive properties owned by mysterious corporations or individuals without any real investigation, maybe this will drive that to happen, then again, lots of people have made a lot of money from this over the years, so lets see how much property is actually seized or frozen.

It was David Cameron who was forced into saying that they’d do something about the dodgy Russian blood money sloshing around the city of London. It goes without saying that he didn’t actually do anything, nor did May, and Boris certainly won’t as he’s Russian funded even more than his predecessors and has Russia to thank for his Brexit ‘victory’

Its not just that a lot of these Oligarchs are donors to the Tory party, so are a lot of the companies and individuals who are making lots and lots of money off the back of them, laundering their money for them

Boris is still today taking dodgy Russian money

Electoral Commission figures show Boris Johnson’s party continues to accept money from Lubov Chernukhin – wife of a former minister in Vladimir Putin’s government.https://t.co/HAz6rO75qg

— Anne Greensmith ? (@snowleopardess) March 2, 2022

Which is why he’s still dragging his feet and while saying they’re doing something about it, they’re not really. They’ve given. them 18 months to get their money out and sell their London properties and assets

#r4today
PM Boris Johnson told to explain why crackdown on Russian ‘dirty money’ will take 18 months https://t.co/KqWjvQ5G4P

— Sir Jamie Jones77?? (@JamieJones77) March 3, 2022

Whichever way you cut it, the flow of dirty Russian money has been going on for decades, and money laundering is a fundamental part of the economy of London and the UK, and they still don’t want to put a stop to it

Surely a 40 mile long convoy is incredibly vulnerable to air attack by the Ukrainians?

There seems to be conflicting information regarding how operational the Ukrainian air force is.
However, I’d have thought it was also pretty vulnerable to shoulder mounted RPG attacks?

I’m hoping the Ukrainians have got a plan for this convoy – as in wait until they’re in a position where they’re most vulnerable and strike.

I’ve been thinking about that convoy: it’s stuck there, not going anywhere and using fuel and food. I imagine the Russian’s are cold and not getting much sleep. Isn’t it in the Ukrainian’s interest to just leave it there while it’s stationary and then attack from the forests when it starts to move again.

Surely a 40 mile long convoy is incredibly vulnerable to air attack by the Ukrainians?

The fact they have to stick to the roads because of the mud is pretty major, I’d have thought (uneducated opinion). It’d be way easier to invade if you could just drive across those open fields willy-nilly because the defenders would never know where to find you. Now the Russians are just stuck on the Ukranian equivalent of the M4 in their own traffic jams. We all know what mayhem a minor crash can cause there, imagine if it were a few dozen burnt out tanks.

However it might also make it easier to defend, which could be why they are stuck.

Isn’t it in the Ukrainian’s interest to just leave it there while it’s stationary and then attack from the forests when it starts to move again.

Not sure how much forest there is.

I honestly think 1000 mounted knights, men at arms, some archers could drive the regular russian infantry back right now. Iron sighted Aks across the board, nobody with night vision. You can’t see or hit sh1t anyway.

Belarus and Russian Para athletes have been bumped…

Harsh on individual athletes but the right decision.