CAZmaj

China will not care much. India will protest but that will be it.

There’s a deep misunderstanding about what matters to Putin. It dangerously affects policy. A German politician proved the point last night. Others, elsewhere, make the same mistake. Putin cares about his own survival. Not Russia’s well-being.

“I see their faces”: a saboteur hunter in Kyiv remembers his victims Sasha worries that killing Russians is corroding his soul https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/03/29/i-see-their-faces-a-saboteur-hunter-in-kyiv-remembers-his-victims That was suppose to be my job in former YU in 1983 - 1987.

Russian Nukes & Chem https://riprawlings.com/2022/03/29/wzd8-russian-nukes-chem/

New York Times (paywall) GREAT VISUALS!! How Kyiv Has Withstood Russia’s Attacks By Anjali Singhvi, Charlie Smart, Mika Gröndahl and James GlanzApril 2, 2022 Russia has more troops and more firepower. Why has it failed to seize the capital? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/02/world/europe/kyiv-invasion-disaster.html?searchResultPosition=40

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/b-21-stealth-bomber-anddogfighter-200003

+ 1

That! + 1

So Russians cannot prevent China to occupy eastern Siberia!

...step-daughter to drive him since he cannot drive...

https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armbrust Translation: Armbrust is a German hand-held non-refractory mortar developed in the late 1960s by the German firm Messerschmitt Bölkow-Blohm. The production of rocket launchers began in Belgium, and was used mainly by units of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Army of Cameroon and several Asian countries. Development Mortars began to be developed around 1970 at the German Messerschmitt Bölkov-Blohm factory, which was known for making helicopters, missiles and other high-tech equipment. The development of the mortar took several years, as the weapons differed greatly from the then hand-held non-refractory mortars. Serial production began at the Belgian PRB factory and later elsewhere. The advantages of this weapon over other hitherto known rocket launchers were: it did not emit flames or smoke from the barrel, bursts less than a pistol, is easy to use, and requires no special maintenance. All these properties mean that the rocket launcher can be used indoors, near flammable substances or. everywhere. The shooter can take up a firing position anywhere without worrying about being betrayed by mortar smoke. Its good feature is also ease of use and training. The mortar allows hitting targets up to 300m. In addition to good qualities, a weapon also has some bad ones: weight, penetration and price. Description The armbrust consists of a tube, a sighting device, a trigger and carrying parts. The barrel contains a projectile, propellant powder charge, two pistons and a counterweight. The gunpowder charge is located in the middle of the tube between the two pistons. In front of the front piston is a projectile, and behind the rear piston is a counterweight in the form of a block of plastic tiles. The tube is narrowed at both ends, which prevents the pistons from leaving the tube, which ensures that the powder gases do not leave the tube after launch. These are released slowly so the bang is minimal, only the movement of moving parts is heard. The instability of the mortar is due to the movement of the mine forward and the counterweight backwards. The measuring device is of the reflex type and is installed in the housing on the left side of the pipe. It is folded in the housing during transport and is turned outwards by the shooter before use. The measuring device has no magnification, on the right edge of the field of view are marked firing distances of 150-500m, and in the middle are crosshairs. The trigger mechanism contains a piezoelectric element that generates the electric current required to ignite the drive charge when the trigger is pressed. Triggering can be repeated if the first attempt fails. To wear or. the holder has a mortar pistol grip, shoulder support, front support, carrying handle and strap. These parts also allow shooting from a standing, kneeling, sitting and lying position. Use Armbrust is a disposable weapon, so the user discards it after use. The shooter must not cover the rear end of the barrel with his body, and there must be no obstacles 80 cm behind the rear of the barrel. The mortar must be protected from external environmental influences and cannot be disassembled into smaller parts. A special version of this mortar has been developed for training purposes, which has a built-in 17mm caliber barrel and uses ammunition similar to the original. Unlike the real thing, the training mortar can be reused. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-Day_War https://www.quora.com/How-bad-were-the-Yugoslav-Wars-for-Slovenia More in the few days. armbrust-486debde-1876-4584-b8a3-7805b3cadac-resize-750.webp

SLAVA "???" - can someone translate please?

Actually, successful Slovenian war for independence lasted only ten days with a total of 70 KIAs and 100 WIA and then Yugoslav National Army pulled out of Slovenia to Bosnia thus West's embargo was irrelevant. Before retreat there was a tank brigade of M-80's MBTs (upgraded Soviet T-72) stationed near capital Ljubljana, and they were considered dangerous because they could not be defeated by Slovenian Territorial Defense RPG-7s. Thus, new Slovenian government clandestinely procured German Armbrust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armbrust which could destroy M-80s. TD's Strela-7s were also successfully used to fight the Yugoslav Air Force. Regarding Croatia and Bosnia - they were indeed heavily embargoed.

I suspect "Ukrainian" soldiers to actually be Russians kneecapping Russian deserters.

Money and privileges/benefits.

Wrong link

Just horrible : Mariana Leshkovych (she/they) (@Meduselchen) tweeted at 3:07 AM on Sun, Mar 27, 2022: cw death (really, don't watch this) Stacked bodies of civilians in #Mariupol - in a truck, on the stairs, in a (temporary?) morgue/hospital. #Ukraine #UkraineWar https://twitter.com/Meduselchen/status/1508022826816704512?t=y5hH_0oODHV78po9QxkvoA&s=03

"LENIN" and Hammer & Sickle

What is a "back up command group"?

https://twitter.com/AosmanZeynep/status/1507784417481216015?s=20&t=RSTa7dqQGIj9JsAgmjQN-g

Armenia???

Regarding FALLOUT… In my previous life (before getting my first after college job in USA) I was a volunteer in Slovenian Territorial Defense, draftee in Yugoslav National Army (Skopje - Macedonia, School for NCOs, Motorized Infantry, Junior Sergeant), and JNA Army reservist (2nd Lt (Reserve) in Slovenia, 1982 - 1987). Yugoslavia in 1961-1990 was a non-aligned socialist country ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement#:~:text=The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM,largest grouping of states worldwide. ) and never in Warsaw pact. Yugoslavia since 1948 considered Warsaw Pact the main treat and thus positioned 90% of 250,000 standing army facing Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Albanian border. We had to invested about 10% of GDP in defense – expensive but at least we never got attacked by Soviet Union. There was a mandatory draft after high school, 12 + 3 months active service and then mandatory reserve service until 60/65 years of age. While in Army reserve (1982-1989), I (my unit) was told if the Third Word War would happen it would start by Warsaw Pacts troops attacking trough Fulda Gap, Northern Germany plain and through Vienna and northern Austria. Yugoslavia would try to remain neutral but highly likely Soviet and Hungarian tank and mechanized divisions would invade from SE corner of current Hungarian-Slovenian border through river Mura plain, try to penetrate through “Ljubljana gate” and reach important ports in northern Italy and Southern France. I was told we would then of course fully mobilize, flood the river Mura, and defend "Ljubljana gate." Plan was (if needed) to get reinforced by (the elements of) US 173rd Airborne Brigade from Vicenza, Italy. Job of my platoon was to hunt and kill Soviet Spetsnaz in my home city Ljubljana. I asked, OK, we stop the Soviets at the gate, what is next? And I was told they will use chemical weapons first, and then tactical nuclear weapons, OR immediately tactical nuclear weapons. What about the fallout, I asked, and was told: 1/ Soviets do not care about their troops, they will remain well protected in their armor, 2/ they will use airburst(s) thus causing much less fallout, and 3/ they will use something which at that time was called “neutron bomb”/ tactical nuclear weapons, which produce a lot of radiation killing the enemy (us) but little material damage and fallout. I was also told that (at that time in the eighties) Soviet Union was ruled by a Politburo of up to ten important members and Secretary General (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko,…) could not by himself order to use strategic nuclear weapons, and if the global thermonuclear war happened the Soviet Union would be able to save the biggest percentage of their population, because they spent a lot of resources building strong civil defense shelters. That was of course thirty-five years ago. Russians now has several hundreds of low yield tactical/battlefield nuclear weapons that can be delivered by rockets, planes, and artillery, right? There is no more Politburo to manage Putin. Civil defense shelters were updated. I was an expat in Moscow in 2001 and some of my former coworkers that were ex FSB/ Soviet military, were bragging that at least a third of Russian city population would survive a major nuclear attack. Putin’s former wife and both daughters, and his new wife with three children have already been evacuated to one of the main nuclear bomb shelters in Ural Mountains. IMHO, only Cuban crisis had more potential for a global cataclysm.

Russian flag patch, Z patch...ha, I'm sure he is not reporting on Russian losses.

My former coworker was born and grew up in Belarus. He lives and works in the USA now but is in daily contact with his father, relatives, and friends in Minsk. Today he returned my phone call and told me that for the last few days Belarusian armed forces started calling up their reservists aged 25 – 40. Not good, unless Belarusian attempted invasion of NW Ukraine results in a hopefully successful coup against Lukashenko.