Re: Emergency action: Bank of England

It turns out that the source of the UK's problems has never been the EU, it has been the tories all along! Surprise? Not really... It didn’t seem to be a problem when David Cameron was leader and he advocated for the EU Cameron was less of a swivel-eyed loon but tory policies have always been about...

Re: Emergency action: Bank of England

It turns out that the source of the UK's problems has never been the EU, it has been the tories all along!

Surprise? Not really...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Ukraine applies for Nato membership after Russia annexes territory https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/ukraine-applies-for-nato-membership-after-russia-annexes-territory I don't see that actually happening at this time (or anytime soon), but this application is still not entirely pointless...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Invading Russia would be the perfect birthday present to Putin – it would hand him the perfect pretext for complete mobilization and oppression on a silver platter! I do not think that the USA would invade Russia, however based on their shown military tactics, I expect Russian infrastructure way be...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

A couple questions as I have no issue with the sentiment, just the application if Putin does fire off a nuke. 1. Does the elimination of the NordStream pipelines make Germany a stronger component or a disgruntled one who had choice of greater / lessor support removed? That is seen more as an oddity...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

As expected, Russia vetoed a UNSC resolution condemning the annexation of parts of Ukraine. While China has tried to act like they're neutral, actions speak louder than words. They abstained, along with India, Brazil and Gabon. By abstaining, they supported Russia. If India and Brazil think that th...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

UAF will have to plow through masses of defenders on each of their offensives, or use a lot more ammunitions to turn them into mashed meat. No more surprise effect. That is clearly what Putin is hoping for, but I am equally certain that the ukrainians will not fall for that strategy. The russian ca...

Re: Emergency action: Bank of England

Whoops https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/dutch-inflation-leaps-17-boosted-by-high-energy-prices-2022-09-30/ Problems everywhere. Ah, whataboutism , the last resort already! The UK "mini budget" is harm inflicted by the tory government on top of the trade sanctions the previous tory g...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Of course, there is another possibility: They can start to learn the national anthem of Ukraine. Raising the hands into the air and while shaking white flags are perhaps by far not the most stupid decisions Just slightly unfortunate if they can't get rid of the evidence of their war crimes in time....

Re: Emergency action: Bank of England

Tories seem to be getting just slightly nervous now that decades of a deliberate policy of de-industrialization, de-education, austerity, active trade sanctions against the UK from within now culminate in a raid on the crumbling wreckage of the country for the benefit of only the wealthiest few, so ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

They are already sending numbers of untrained conscripts to Ukraine. Russian officials are setting conditions to forcibly mobilize or conscript Ukrainian civilians in soon-to-be annexed areas of occupied Ukraine; More meat for the grinder. This is something from 1941/42, not today. It is sad. Yes, ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

As for Germany changing course, they are only doing so once confronted to the fait-accompli, with their arm twisted. No. It is a completely different government now, too, so it is nonsensical to claim an externally forced change of heart when the new government was always to embark on a completely ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Von der Leyen yesterday evening: Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable & will lead to the strongest possible response. Source: https://twitter.com/vonderleyen I guess and I hope they are investigating the leaks right now and as soon as there will be ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

It will definitely be interesting to see how the various European countries react. So far? Not much noise... Curious It's not a really interesting issue right now, just another marginal mess to mop up – the complete boycott of russian gas has been on the agenda as soon as technically feasible anywa...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

My out of the box theory for the day - Cui bono? Europe! That is utterly bonkers enough for satire, but not remotely plausible. Insurance payments – if those would actually be forthcoming for an obvious criminal act / act of war which is extremely doubtful – would be a drop in the bucket compared t...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

tomcat wrote:

I read somewhere that the pressure had stabilized at 7 bars

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

50-100 m is possible with special training and equipment, Easy for an underwater UAV. The other possibility is an inside job with a suicide pig. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging In that case there should have been some detectable pressure fluctuations at the german terminal before the blowup...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

The US ups the ante: https://twitter.com/Flash_news_ua/status/1572665515423694849 That's from a "former commander" . Is he still working for the gov? Or is he just a well informed talking head? Looks like an estimate of a well-informed outsider, not like an official statement. But it feel...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

I think the entire reason for Putin's threat to use nuclear is exactly because he knows the mobilization will not likely work. For all the reason already noted by other posters. He doesn't have anything else left to really threaten with! If it doesn't then... well honestly I do not know (duh) but I...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

We're in day 210 of a 3 day "special military operation." 0️⃣ days since the last major screwup! I know the new math in the US is very concerning to people, but this new Russian Math is staggering. We lost 5000, we need 300,000 more we are going on a 3 day special operation, 210 days late...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

lightsaber wrote:

We're in day 210 of a 3 day "special military operation."

Re: Will King Charles receive the same support long term as the Queen

Short answer - no, he will never be as popular as the Queen. I don’t see any way he abdicates. He’s already hinted that he’ll follow his mother’s example of life-long service. He's wanted the position for so long that he'll never give it up. He knows first hand what it did to his own family when hi...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

If the majority of the UN member states had any balls they would vote to remove the permanent members from the security council and their veto. I agree that it's an outdated construction, but we'd need a workable replacement to deal with crises which the General Assembly with its current setup clea...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

hh65man wrote:

@Klaus
Mate, OOPS, i forgot to use question marks, I was being more sarcastic then serious….. my bad…
I agree with what your saying, spot on.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Interesting detail: in his announcement Putin said that he just signed a proposal made by the ministry of defense. A British commentator said that Putin is already laying the foundation for blaming his secretary of defense in case it doesn’t work… Sergey Shoygu sits on an ejection seat anyway, and ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Someone has to be prepared to shove back against Russia. They are just allowed by the weak to invade, declare a referendum then say the country is their own. That’s not right. Correct! One thing that might be brewing could be a UN General Assembly vote being called to strip Russia of its seat in th...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Next up, EU mobilises against Russia. Uh, no, not at all! Ukraine is further supported to win back their legitimate and internationally acknowledged territory while Putin is trying to scrape together a bunch of highly resistant reservists (who hadn't volunteered so far for some reason!) to pump int...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

JonesNL wrote:

Imagine that RUSSIA goes for mobilization with 4 million soldiers. What happens is that you suddenly have 4 million potential enemies with military gear…

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

These will be such poorly equipped troops. I think this mobilization is certain to happen. Ghad, that is a huge amount of young life wasted. I doubt it, as mobilizing "main Russia" instead of just the more distant Hinterlands would massively destabilize Putin's own position. What I expect...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

So, pretty sure, we will soon see the full mobilization of Russia? The official declaration of war? Russian stocks are crashing: https://simplywall.st/stocks/ru/market-cap-large Those stocks are effectively worthless on the world market anyway, but it seems even within the confined russian stock ma...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

We have no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes, and while NATO is literally at war with Russia, No, literally NATO is not at war with Russia! I believe the back-channels are still open. Diplomacy still goes on in times of war, with feelers being put out, and lines being drawn. It would be...

Re: UPDATE: Queen Elizabeth has died

Impressive spectacle.

Clearly this was way more important than the poor having food or heat.

Relative priorities are in obvious evidence.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

I suspect it's mostly managing their dwindling resources and trying to not appear as chaotically dysfunctional as they actually are. If the russian forces could actually manage any substantial advances they would have long ago. Disorganized resistance and feeble token strikes seem to be all they are...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Even if you deliver two missiles or one, unless they are directly controlled by US boots on the ground, would anyone be shocked if they let one loose on Moscow? That would be a waste of actually useful weapons for actions which would just be counterproductive. Ukraine has already hit military-relev...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Ukraine is pressing for reparations from Russia, including the seizure of russian state assets abroad, but other countries are wary about the precedent that would set, and the legal ramifications: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/18/west-wavers-on-ukraine-proposals-to-seize-russian-assets-...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

With all the corruption in the Russian army, I just cannot imagine they'll finally be issued proper winter gear when they weren't in February. Seriously, who drills in Russia in February in summer uniforms other than Putin doing that to his troops in spite? Most likely because winter gear doesn't e...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Interview with Igor Girkin (Strelkov). Also this giuy deserves to end up in jail for the rest of his live and as he is additional a big fashist asshole, the first to call it a war and to start mobilisation; he is the best analyst on Russian site. If you read between the lines, he states, Russia wil...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Among all the Russian equipment captured, this one is attracting some attention: The T-90M captured in Ukraine is more special and rare than at first glance. It features a brand new gunner's sight named "PNM-T" made using only domestic components. Few have it And almost certainly produced...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

As for WW2, no Lend Lease trucks, Jeep’s or rations either this time. Yes, there are / will be – just not on the russian side this time! :mischievous: Putin has slipped into the role of the nazi regime which fits him like a glove – and the allies are responding accordingly, too! (Now including Germ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

There is pretty much continuous coverage of the battle field by numerous NATO signal intelligence planes. Could these not guide the missile to the target? I don't think that is how it works technically, but it would also undoubtedly make NATO an active party in the ukrainian war which we currently ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Far better for all concerned would be for alleged abuse and atrocities to be investigated when conditions allow and for legal punishment to be administered after conviction. In the meantime suspects can be held in detention pending :| What percentage of war criminal during the Bosinan war were ever...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Setting aside the ethics of non-judicial revenge killing, the territory occupied by the belligerents goes back and forth and revenge killing by one side will encourage revenge killing by the other side when control of areas changes. Far better for all concerned would be for alleged abuse and atroci...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

I'm definitely not advocating for lenient treatment of actual war criminals, quite to the contrary! Especially in Germany we have seen what a toxic legacy it brings trying to sweep such crimes under the carpet as was largely done after the superficial "de-nazification" when anti-communism ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

I just hope that the ukrainians refrain from revenge killings and murder even while understanding the pain and grief they have been suffering from the russian incursions (the reports of apparent abuse, torture and further massacres are deeply troubling indeed). But there will be an aftermath and Ukr...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Yeah I messed up my links, looking for the right one atm. I can't find a good link in english so a rough translation from french would be: "China is willing to work with Russia for a firm and mutual support on issues related to each other's core interests", Translated from Le Monde Well, ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Xi Jinping is finally out of the wood: https://www.politico.eu/article/china-xi-give-most-direct-backing-putin-invasion-ukraine/ I guess he had to back Russia up. Otherwise how would his objective allies back him when he plans to invade Taiwan? Also, there's probably too much to squeeze out of Russ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Military Aviation News and Discussion Thread

Now all you Need is embedding a "translator" in the new pylon ro allow the aircraft system to talk to the missile. Easier than trying to splice something to existing wiring. I don't know, but maybe there exists a separate "add-on" unit which can be wired into the cockpit (mostly...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Parallel universe time again. Now Russians are being told that foreign merceneries make up half the soldiers fighting for Ukraine: https://www.twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1569991181324484611 According to those same people a while ago, Ukraine didn't really exist, so of course the cause for the...

Re: UPDATE: Queen Elizabeth has died

Queen Elizabeth has achieved lots during her 70 year reign. Look at president macron in France as another head of state for example, he hardly has the support of the whole nation and can’t even get basic pension reforms through his country. You're making exactly the mistake I had talked about above...