mosuri

You could say the same about Petrograd. After Estonia joined the distance from NATO to there is short. But isn't this something of a red herring? In case of the big one ICBMs don't mind a few hundred kilometers here or there. And I don't think NATO has any incentive to attack either city in any other scenario. Many countries have their capitals close to international borders. No need to be particularly paranoid about that, if you have good neighbors. Re the missile shield, not that I follow these matter in detail but AIUI those Russian missiles that target US would fly over the pole mostly, so for any missile shield in Ukraine it would make sense to protect Ukraine and the rest of Europe. Which I can't see as a bad thing.

Another manager got suicided: Railways company manager -- hmmm.... not sure what "digital logistics" means tho

I am honestly puzzled by this. It removes Nordstream (both 1 and 2) from the table completely, so Russia can't anymore use those in the game for bargaining (as in remove sanctions / remove support to Ukraine and the spice will flow). To me this seems to paint Vladimir Vladimirovich even more tightly in the corner. What's the upside for him? Edit: was writing when Steve posted. Seems to be an awfully expensive way of making a f you statement (the external messaging Steve mentioned)

Obviously porcs, how else to explain nazi swine? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b9CStCYZJs&t=4s

I had to read this a couple of times

I really, really hope they do this because it would be unbelievably stupid and damaging to their exports. But more likely it's just some politician trying to score points with Kremlin via a press release... and tomorrow nobody actually does anything about it.

Well, if Putain escalates, I must also escalate in my own little way. I've been sending a small monthly donation to UA since the spring, and I made a second donation for September now. It's not much, but every little bullet helps...

A clock moving forward: tik-tak Russian army moving backward: tak-tik (originally a German WW2 joke)

There have been some good parodies of the VDV propaganda song, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzK1gl6UoM0 , maybe the meme corps can come up with one for the Spetsial Nazis as well?

Is the sparky stuff with erratic (nonballistic) flight patterns Grad rockets or something else?

The elites all probably have a "golden passport" from Cyprus or Malta already so that horse has bolted long ago. I think the visa restriction discussions now are mostly about RU tourists (at least in Finland that is the case). Yes, the fee would be symbolic more than anything else, but those who would feel offended about funding Ukraine even symbolically would be free to remain in Russia..

Someone floated the idea that visa fees for Russians should be significantly increased, the extra money sent to Ukraine, and applicants be made aware of the fact. Would not stop anyone from applying but could keep the worst RU nats inside Russia...

Did not see this yet here, apologies if I missed it -- Russia trading arms for Sudanese gold in an effort to circumvent sanctions https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/29/africa/sudan-russia-gold-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html

I am in favor of the NATO membership 100%, but at the same time I will not expect a free ride. It does not remove the need for having an army, even if it would significantly raise the threshold of Russian aggression towards us.

It's not that much about contract obligations, but what would you send? We have over 200 Leopards -- roughly the same number as Germany, and we're a much smaller nation economically and by population! Luftwaffe has about 200 fighter jets and one third of those are ancient Tornados -- Finland has 60+ and again that is not in proportion to the size of the economy and population. Not to say that the situation could be such that Germany would have need to keep its equipment within Germany for strategic reasons -- would be completely understandable. So I would not bet the house on the hope that you'd come to help --does not seem realistic. (And let's not start discussing about how 3rd Reich honored contractual obligations, that will not lead to anywhere good. Besides, we've not forgotten we Ribbentrop et al. sold us to the Russians in exchange for a slice of Poland either)

You can call me a cynic and a pessimist, but Finland for sure needs to have an independent army. I don't believe for a moment that any French or German soldier would make an appearance here if Putain decided to come over for a visit. With the "anglo-protestant" countries I have a bit of hope.

Oh for sure. This is nowhere near over.

AMOS has two barrels for twice the fun and similar range to Rak it seems

And if that wasn't enough to deter foreign investors, this thing is moving forward Russian lawmakers give initial approval to bill allowing foreign asset takeover

Translation table Russian to English: "We are not going to do X" = "We've already done X or are actively considering doing it" "You are doing X" = "We are doing X (but haven't been caught doing it yet and are muddying the waters in preparation)"

From a Finn whose grandparents farmed on the Karelian Isthmus, no thanks. Land touched by Russians' inverse Midas touch likely isn't worth having, unless you're prepared to put millions after millions on getting it back to shape. What might be interesting from an economic point of view would be to get Petsamo area back -- given the global warming, a port in the Arctic can be a good thing to have in the future.

That by the way is one of the absolutely best infographics ever. The whole campaign in a single image.

What people in various European countries think about whose fault it is that Russia attacked -- Yougov poll Sad numbers from the Balkans.

You couldn't make this stuff up. The description of Beria at the end of the video is priceless.

Swedes should claim the lot, including Ukraine (it's all Rurik's fault anyway)