Elmar Bijlsma

The state of the AKs is so bad I first thought it was a partially removed anti-rust coating. The real shocker is how these AKs look that bad when African and Asian countries occasionally rummage through their arsenals and put Martini-Henry's on the market that look a damn sight better then this.

I really struggle to understand people that take this mobilization seriously. To me it looks less like a military gearing up for large scale war and more like a cargo cult making something shaped like a military in the quasi religious hopes of getting their win in the Great Patriotic War to happen again.

"They need a numerical superiority of at least 3 to 1." Yes. Locally, you dumb arse. Even a certain corporal had better military sense then this uni(n)formed clown.

I recall that clip. Sure looks the same. In other news, Zelensky was lightly injured a little while ago. Russian assassins? Artillery strike near Izium? No, road accident. Now we await the Russians giving the other driver a medal. Or claiming credit.

Melitopol indeed seems, just going by the map, the better target. After a breakthrough at Vasylivka, the road network seems to give more options for rapid exploitation to wherever the Ukrainians wish to go. And boy, would it make the Russians on the east bank of the Dnipro nervous should Melitopol fall. Also, Enerhodar is not too far off (well, by the new standards set this week) so might as well try and get that back before the Ruskies let that whole situation go south. Some have advocated finishing up Kherson first. I disagree. That's a problem that time can solve.

Heya Charles! Long time no see. How is the brain in a jar doing? I particularly enjoy the Kherson part as it was so obviously a trap and the Russians fell for it anyway. Only to find it was both trap AND decoy. The whole thing is just a layer cake of cunning plans.

Why attribute to cunning that which can attributed to a petulant act of acute Russian butthurt?

Remember that video of 2 BMP-2s turning onto and going down a road with raised berm, with the front most dismounts getting a beating. Turns out todays video of the guy clearing the dugout was the same event, from the rearmost of the two BMPs. Compare: with: I thought it looked similar but didn't expect it to actually be the very same event.

Oof, not a lot left of the hull, if that's it in the rear. It's almost like stuffing an IFV with 100mm shell was a bad idea or something.

Interesting numbers from Khodorkovsky: How accurate it is remains to be seen as, and this will shock you all, there's likely to be some corruption at work. But all in all tallies pretty well with the Ukr figures. If anything, adding missing, LNR, DNR and those still to be processed, they may actually been undercounting by a little. NATO and various think tanks were low-balling the numbers by a LOT.

Oh good, he is now aligning himself with the Ukrainian military in that he wants a lot of Russian soldiers dead too. A few months ago that dickhead was advocating we learn from Beria. Setting up Stalin as an example is practically a de-escalating move. Perhaps soon he will move to an even more moderate example:

It's a bit of a sign of the panic that has gripped the Russians that for once, instead of denying Ukrainian successes, their bloggers are are being accurate or even exaggerating the gains. Russians have placed the Ukrainians at Oskil town. If that were true, that's the game. I doubt it, but the mere rumour will sure put the wind up the Russian soldiers.

I appreciate that the map is cropped in just such a way as not to show the Ukranians to the south. That would show clearly how stuffed the Russians around Izyum really are.

Looks like they've taken Senkove. They aren't going to the Oskil, they ARE there. Another bridge unavailable to the Russians. This is setting up to be another Kherson-like pocket. Didn't think Ukr could pull this off. Kupiansk looked like an over-optimistic lunge but they have now got all the space they need to not be overly worried. Truly a military masterpiece.

That really does call to mind Darth Putin's "Do not believe anything until the Kremlin denies it".

Eh... it's not great. It's nickname is "glasbak" for it's similarity to an old fashion glass recycling container. The accompanying gag was that the latter was the more heavily armoured of the two. None with the 25mm cannon were delivered, just the one with the .50 cal "turret" minus the .50 cal. Basically, when I saw that beautiful photograph from a few hours back, I got very nervous about the YPR sitting out in the open field. Wouldn't want to do that with the 25mm one, sure as heck don't do that with the one's lucky to even have a MG.

So why that factory, assuming it is not random Russia doing Russian things? Is it one of the last in the west producing certain WP calibre tubes or artillery ammo? I know Romania is one of a select few still churning out shells for that. Albania fits my mental image of nations that still might, too.

Please tell me that slow ass drone isn't what is really been striking Crimea all along. If THAT is what gets past Russian air defence, the Russians should try turning on all their electric razors during an attack! After the first month or two I thought we would start seeing them getting their **** together. But here we are, and their stupidity keeps finding new and interesting ways to make their army look like clowns.

The SAMs are exploding in the same place. They are sending them up on a pre-set in the hope the explosion does something. What you are seeing cannot credibly be called air defence, it is impotent flailing at an enemy they cannot not touch or even see.

What does the Geneva convention say about meme-ing as hard as Ukraine does? Certainly, their media accounts aren't taking any prisoners. Probably the best social media since Wendy's went rogue and reshaped what was expected of corporate accounts. In the face of something so calamitous as a war of aggression by barbarians, it takes some big balls for official MoD accounts to start joking around.

Depends on what you want to have happen to Taiwan. As long as Taiwan makes chips like no-one else does, it is safe. Even China cannot do without Taiwan. Building chip manufacturing might be wise for the USA to do, but throws Taiwan under the bus. China knows the USA will go to bat for Taiwan to protect it's chip sourcing. If those chips will be made in the USA, China must now be made to believe the USA will go to bat for the democratic values of Taiwan. Call me cynical, but I'd start sweating.

That bit about the insignia at 9:00, where he mocks analysts who might spot the new one and draw conclusions. It's funny because he is dead on. Also, I feel a little bit seen.

As a fair few T-72 crew are finding out, when someone gets through your armour, your fuel isn't what you need to worry about when you are stacking ammo in every place it can fit.

I am not so sure. These are the three foremost dithering Putin whisperers. They could as easily be teaming up to pressure Ukraine into a compromise.

I've seen Jojo Rabbit (everyone should have) and I believe Yorkie. They aren't eating them.