sburke

heh or we could just stay focused on Ukraine and not rehash WW2.

very nice. Take a look if you haven't at LLFs mods for the Ramadi map. There are some nice ones there to spice up the map.

Exclusive-Russia struggles to sell Pacific oil, 14 tankers stuck - sources, data (msn.com)

U.S. sanctions ruin Kremlin's grand energy project - Bloomberg (msn.com)

what you call a win-win I think.

Seems Ukraine is enacting its own form of "sanctions" on the Russian energy industry. Ukrainian drone attack ignites fire, forces shutdown of major Russian refinery on Black Sea coast (msn.com)

one way to deal with enemy drone capabilities,,, Drone warfare takes a deadly turn: Ukraine's HIMARS system eliminates Russian 'Judgment Day' squadron (msn.com)

druggier? Umm I'm throwing the challenge flag on that one. I think the mid/late 70s have this generation beat on the druggie thing ESPECIALLY in regards to the military. Funny thing, having integrated army units was once the "woke" thing. Other than a few NAZI types running around I doubt anyone gives a second thought to integrated units anymore. I'll admit to being confused sometimes by this generations challenges to orthodoxy but given what I've seen in my lifetime I take it for granted that my not understanding stuff has zero value on its importance to someone else so I mostly keep my trap shut and nod benignly as my neighbors kid goes on a rant and I understand only maybe half of it. Just so long as their friends stay off my lawn.

word. I'm confused enough on this thread with some of the stuff that gets said.

Maybe they should make it illegal then to disrupt the electoral vote in Congress... oh wait..

Military intelligence: Cyberattack on Russian scientific research center deals 'devastating' damage (msn.com)

and i'm stocking up on booze.

Ukraine's 'Blackjack' hackers breached 500 Russian military sites and caused chaos, says military intelligence (msn.com) "Blackjack," a Ukrainian group of hackers with possible ties to the country's main spy agency, stole construction plans for over 500 Russian military sites, Newsweek reported. The cyber operatives are believed to have links to the Security Service of Ukraine. Ukraine's military-intelligence agency, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, or GUR, confirmed the successful operation on Friday. GUR said a successful cyberattack had been launched against a Russian state enterprise overseeing all construction contracts for Russia's Ministry of Defence. They wrote that operatives had transferred critical information about Russian military facilities that have already been completed, constructed, reconstructed, or planned for construction to the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine. The Blackjack group amassed 1.2 terabytes of classified data on Vladimir Putin's military apparatus. The data includes detailed maps of more than 500 Russian military bases across Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. The mined information includes crucial data about Russian Army headquarters, air-defense installations, and weapons arsenals. The Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne said the group also took down seven servers and encrypted over 150 of the Russian contractor's employee computers.

This one is still going. Detentions made after fresh protests in Russia's Bashkortostan republic (msn.com)

another reason for China to be wary of extending itself too much for Russia. China’s $6.3 Trillion Stock Selloff Is Getting Uglier by the Day (msn.com) Chinese stocks just capped another dismal week, with a gauge of mainland firms listed in Hong Kong languishing at the bottom of global equity index rankings for the year so far. Grim milestones have kept piling up in recent days: Tokyo has overtaken Shanghai as Asia’s biggest equity market, while India’s valuation premium over China has hit a record. Locally, a meltdown in Chinese shares is wreaking havoc on the nation’s asset management industry, pushing mutual fund closures to a five-year high. In all, some $6.3 trillion has been wiped out from the market value of Chinese and Hong Kong stocks since a peak reached in 2021, underscoring the challenge that Beijing faces as it seeks to arrest a decline in investor confidence. Authorities have ruled out the use of massive stimulus to revive the flagging economy, leaving traders wondering when things will improve. “What we are seeing this year so far really is a continuation of what we saw last year,” John Lin, AllianceBernstein’s chief investment officer of China equities, said in an Jan. 17 interview on Bloomberg Television. “These squeezing-the-toothpaste type of stimulus policies so far haven’t been able to turn around the underlying bottom-up fundamentals of areas like the property sector.” The HSCEI gauge plunged more than 6% this week and is on track to record its worst January performance in eight years. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index has dropped in nine of the last 10 weeks. Signs that state funds likely bought exchange-traded funds and a decision by China’s largest brokerage to suspend short selling for some clients failed to halt the onshore benchmark’s losing run. The headwinds buffeting the market are well documented: China’s real estate sector remains a trouble spot, deflationary pressures are building and a long-running feud between Beijing and Washington refuses to go away, with the US election set to take place later this year. In recent days, uncertainties about the trajectory of US interest rates and the threat of an imminent blowout of local stock derivatives have added to investor worries. Asian fund managers have cut their allocation to China by 12 percentage points to a net 20% underweight, the lowest in more than a year, according to the latest Bank of America survey. Managers of benchmark-tracking funds have sold a net $300 million of shares traded in mainland China and Hong Kong this month, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis. That’s a reversal from the last half of 2023, when they bought $700 million on a net basis even as stock indexes declined. “China is a waiting game and we continue to be waiting,” said Mark Matthews, head of Asia research at Bank Julius Baer & Co., which is mostly avoiding Chinese equities. Beijing’s efforts to reassure investors have been met with skepticism from investors, many of whom worry that authorities are behind the curve. While the People’s Bank of China took steps last month to pump cash into the financial system, it bucked widespread expectations for cutting a key policy rate on Monday. Speaking to leaders at the World Economic Forum this week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang trumpeted his nation’s ability to hit its roughly 5% growth target for 2023 without flooding the economy with “massive stimulus.” Right now, the loss of confidence is so severe that even attractive valuations are of little help. The MSCI China Index has never been this cheap versus the S&P 500 gauge from a forward earnings estimate perspective. Still, bets on a short-term rebound have failed to materialize. “The government seems very sanguine about the economy,” said Xin-Yao Ng, an investment director for Asian equities at abrdn. “The market might not even trust the 5% growth figure, it certainly has a much more negative view on the economy and definitely believes Beijing needs a big fiscal response.”

could have fooled me. I'm watching Russia's economy buckling and the latest sanction declaration from the US in December has both Turkey and China reevaluating their financial ties. Meanwhile despite some grumbling western aid is still pumping into Ukraine. Russia losing command planes, airfields getting hit, infrastructure going down the toilet.. well for those who actually have toilets. The Colonel responsible for defending the Kerch bridge just got jail time... Russia Colonel Given Jail Time Over Crimea's Inadequate Defenses (msn.com) Are things on the Ukraine side all rosy and wonderful? No, but I'd rather be in Ukraine's shoes than Russia's.

War in Ukraine Drains Nearly Half of Russia’s Liquid Assets (yahoo.com) Russia’s government has tapped almost half of the national wealth fund’s available reserves to shield the economy against the fallout from its almost two-year war in Ukraine, leaving it vulnerable to future shocks. The National Wellbeing Fund’s holdings of cash and investments that can be easily liquidated slumped to 5 trillion rubles ($56.5 billion) at the end of last year from 8.9 trillion rubles before the war, while total holdings fell almost 12% to 12 trillion rubles, Finance Ministry data showed. The value of the fund’s stakes in Russian companies and in bonds that were issued to finance infrastructure projects has surged by more than 2 trillion rubles, according to Bloomberg calculations. “The total size of the NWF seems quite irrelevant now that a big chunk of it has been invested in Russian shares and infrastructure – essentially illiquid investments,” said Tatiana Orlova, economist at Oxford Economics. “Only liquid investments can be considered as rainy day reserves, the rest is gone.” The wealth fund, which has taken years to build up its assets, is set to come under further pressure as Russia’s economy continues to be buffeted by sanctions that were imposed by Western nations in response to President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Finance Ministry tapped around 3 trillion rubles from the fund to cover the budget deficit last year as it ramped up spending on the military and measures to cushion the economy. It plans to take another 1.3 trillion rubles this year. In addition, budget rules provide for NWF funds to be paid over to the Finance Ministry to compensate it for a loss of export revenue should its earnings from oil sales undershoot the budget estimate of $60 a barrel. What Bloomberg Economics Says: “If oil prices continue to ignore the risks of supply disruption from the Israel-Hamas war, the remaining stock of the NWF’s liquid assets will continue to dwindle, making Russia increasingly vulnerable to shocks. It will last only another one to two years if Russia’s oil export price declines below $50.”

Turkey Follows China in Move Likely to Infuriate Putin (msn.com) Turkish banks have started to refuse to work with Russian banks, according to a Russian media report, which follows a similar move by institutions in China to avoid secondary sanctions linked to Vladimir Putin's full-scale Ukraine invasion. Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported on Wednesday that Turkish banks had terminated relationships with almost all Russian credit institutions and suspended payment processing, although there was an exception for foreign subsidiary banks in Russia. Sources told the paper that dealings between Turkish banks and Russia were complicated by U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order in December imposing secondary sanctions against foreign firms that help Moscow in the war. Biden's order allows U.S. authorities to disconnect foreign banks from the U.S. financial system that violate sanctions imposed against Moscow. Logistics companies working with Turkey told Kommersant that cross-border payments have become much more complicated and that more data and documents were required to confirm that sanctions rules were not being violated. A source in Turkey's banking sector told Russian state news agency Tass that Turkish institutions were "in a holding pattern." This was because Biden's order required additional clarification, as it was "very broadly worded" under the rules of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department. Meanwhile, independent Russian language news outlet The Bell reported that the move by Western countries to block Russian firms from circumventing sanctions "so far looks strong" and that it now meant that "Russia was in trouble with its largest trading partners, China and Turkey." The Bell said that "problems with international settlements should also be expected" in other countries that Russia terms "friendly" potentially adding to transaction costs and the prices of imported goods.

True there is no organized opposition, but that is to be expected with how quickly the regime cracks down. There have been protests including some decent sized demonstrations, but the Russian state shut that down quickly. There were also a number of firebombing of police stations etc. There is not and likely won't be any organized opposition that we will see. That doesn't mean there isn't any opposition. Never assume because you don't see something, that it doesn't exist. Not related to the war, but a good example of how the regime responds to protests. Hundreds protest and clash with police in a Russian region after an activist is sentenced to prison (msn.com) The person in question has also been targeted for opposition to the mobilization. Putin Deploys Rosgvardia Reinforcements as Protesters Clash With Police (newsweek.com)

some of it is the cold, but Russia has also been cutting spend on infrastructure. Massive Utility Breakdowns Across Russia Leave Thousands in the Grip of Winter (msn.com)

China Deals Major Blow to Russian Economy (msn.com) For those who insist sanctions aren't helping

Explosions Reported at One of Russia's Largest Chemical Plants (msn.com) Explosions have been reported at one of Russia's largest chemical plants in the Rostov region that borders Ukraine. The pro-Ukrainian Eastern European news outlet Nexta said on Telegram Monday that local residents heard explosions before a fire started at the state-owned Kamensky plant in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. It would mark the latest unexplained explosion to take place at a Russian facility. There have been a string of mysterious fires in Russia since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for strikes on Russian soil. The plant produces "special-purpose chemical products" for Russia's military aimed at "strengthening the country's defensive capabilities," according to the company's website, the AFP news agency reported in 2021 when a fire there caused multiple casualties. Newsweek couldn't immediately verify the report and has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment by email. "Workers were evacuated," NEXTA reported, publishing a nine-second clip that shows huge plumes of black smoke rising into the air. It described the facility as "at one of the largest chemical enterprises in the south of the Russian Federation." In August 2023, an independent Russian news outlet found that the number of explosions in Russia quadrupled in 2022, the year President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Verstka, a news organization founded shortly after the conflict began, cited figures from Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations in its claim that a total of 83 explosions occurred in Russia in 2022—more than four times the number recorded in 2021 (20 explosions). According to the publication, explosions on Russian soil in 2022 killed 55 people and injured 10,647 others. The outlet reported that the yearly number of explosions in Russia hadn't exceeded 20 in the previous 10 years, despite terrorist attacks and gas leaks in residential buildings. It also said that before 2022, the number of victims was in the hundreds, not thousands.

what you don't? Our bathroom says "wife only" with an arrow pointing to the backyard door for the "men's room". Though I gotta say our tomatoes do pretty well.

"Gender-neutral" toilets in Ukraine cause outrage in Russia, where one in four have no access to sewage system (msn.com) If 1 in 4 lack access to sewage does that mean 25% of Russia is already using gender neutral toilets?

Vladimir Putin crisis as ex-military chief warns Russia will run out of troops in weeks (msn.com) Hi Mr Girkin, Your ride is here. What didn't they tell you? You've been mobilized. Meanwhile, heart disease continues to strike down Russian journalists.