Russia's War Against Ukraine

[FarAway Sooner]

I suspect a combination of good anti-drone systems, self-propelled/armored attilery to "shoot and scoot", and high-end radar to pinpoint the location of enemy batteries firing on your own side is the combo that both sides are looking for.

The lack of safety for the Russian auto breech-loader (3 rounds in the turret) has been a point of concern for those T-72s and T-80s for a long time.  The number of turretless tanks certainly suggests that their engineering never figured that out.  It's a far cry from the T-34, for sure. 

Little about the old Soviet system was meritocratic, which is why it fell.  It sounds like the Putinist system in Russia is, if anything, even less meritocratic.  That, or it was just never stress-tested the way that the old Communist system was in Afghanistan.

[Pete Dero]

^Has someone, somewhere deep in the Kremlin also absorbed this same lesson?

    Really they should
shut up and get a life.

  This just in (incomprehensibly from the Daily Mail -- the Translated from Italian in the Persian Djbouti edition I  think):

The ex-boyfriend of Vladimir Putin 's alleged mistress is being hunted by the Russian president's personal CIA. Former police captain Shalva Museliana, 52, dated Olympic gymnast and ex-MP Alina Kabaeva. Colonel Museliana is accused by the Russian Investigative Committee of 'theft of state funds' linked to a series of sabotage Arctic ports.


  Okay...lots of alleged ex-es there...how do you steal "state funds" by something "linked to series of sabotage Arctic ports"...?

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/vladimir-putin-secret-lover-pregnant-26940473
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/vladimir-putins-secret-mistress-pregnant-26921092

Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly outraged about his secret gymnast lover falling pregnant again.
Putin, 69, is alleged to have already fathered at least two sons with former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

Putin could now have another baby on the way after reportedly discovering that his mistress, aged 38, is expecting, The Mirror reports.
Sources informed The Sun that the Russian President was furious when the news broke as he was preparing for Russia's Victory Day parade in Red Square, Moscow.

Maybe the two ex-es kept in touch and Putin just found out ?  Maybe Artic port was the codename for Kabaeva  >:D. ?

[jamus34]

Design flaws notwithstanding have we reached the age where armor is relatively useless?

Between using mini drones, well entrenched guerrilla infantry and smart weapons that can almost shoot the tip off of a cigarette it seems like armor are just sitting ducks.

This could also be a result of the Russia "battle plan"  ;D ;D ;D ;D of sending their armor down a road single file and other wonderful examples of mismanagement but sure seems like armor is not the place to be in today's battlefield.

[GDS_Starfury]

[JasonPratt]

Maybe Artic port was the codename for Kabaeva  >:D. ?

"Series of sabotage" indeed.

[Gusington]

Pornhub for the win!

[JasonPratt]

In case you're wondering why there's such a focus on the "Arctic port"... (no, not that one, the figurative one), the Wall Street Journal (via MSN) gives lots of useful information!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/president-putin-s-reputed-girlfriend-sanctioned-by-u-k/ar-AAXdZSC?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=aa45c906fea6437b9966e9053518368e

Kabaeva isn't just an innocent gymnast swept up into a sordid business she cannot escape from (though maybe that, too, at least originally). She's a major Russian politician and ally for Putin.

Also, her example illustrates how Putin operates his finances, which again is why sanctions are going after friends and relatives of his (up to and including Putin's two official daughters, and Ms. Kabaeva's grandmother!) He only officially 'owns' a few valuable items; everything else is spread out around his friends, family, and allies, for safekeeping off the books.

[Gusington]

She doesn't look particularly innocent to me  :nerd:

[SirAndrewD]

It's good to be the dictator.

[Gusington]

Unlike the rest of Russia, she can look right at him as he's $%^$! her over.

[MengJiao]

Pornhub for the win!

  Or is it a "hoax"?  What's puzzling here is the Russians are threatening Finland -- but they aren't going to stop supplying natural gas?  So where does the
hoax begin or end?  Russia claims to be threatening Finland (and everyone else on the planet) so the threats would pertain to something less threatening
than a threat to shut off the gas?  Some bad memes on social media or something?  Maybe just some egregious misspellings here and there across the globe?
Maybe Bulgargaz with an extra "gar" as in Bulgargargaz?  Good Heavens!  That's brutal.



   Kremlin says reports that Russia will halt gas supplies to Finland on Friday are a "hoax"
From CNN's Anna Chernova

The Kremlin said Russia doesn't plan to stop gas supplies to Finland starting Friday, calling Finnish media reports alleging it would happen a "hoax."

"Gazprom supplies gas to various consumers in Europe, including NATO member countries," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday on a conference call with journalists.

"Most likely, these reports are just another newspaper hoax," he said.

Peskov added, however, that he is unaware of the payment details referring to the Russian energy giant Gazprom, "because there is a presidential decree on a new regime of payment for gas supplies."

Some context: The Finnish government is planning to issue a second white paper on Sunday proposing that the country joins NATO, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters on Thursday. The proposal would then be put into a parliamentary vote with a plenary scheduled for Monday morning.

Russia's foreign ministry said Finland's possible accession to NATO marked a "radical change in the country's foreign policy" and warned of countermeasures.

"Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop the threats to its national security that arise in this regard," it said.

In late April, Gazprom said it fully halted supplies to Polish gas company PGNiG and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz after they refused to meet a demand by Moscow to pay in rubles rather than euros or dollars.

[JasonPratt]

She doesn't look particularly innocent to me  :nerd:

She looks like an alien spider human hybrid in that photo! -- like a 4th generation Genestealer maybe? Can't quite hide the jutting teeth...  :nerd:

(Yes, the irony of my marking that nerdy comment with a jutting-teeth nerd smiley, is intentional.)

[Gusington]

^We can only hope she's a Genestealer.

[GDS_Starfury]

how desperate are you?  shes friking gross!  L:-)

[Gusington]

Who said she wasn't?