ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

Being a racist and antisemite is hardly at odds with a military career.

Come on, apparently he was just being ironic.

...

He only said racist and antisemitic things to his friends because he wants to never forget that evil exists.

Being a racist and antisemite is hardly at odds with a military career.

― "The pudding incident?" (Boring, Maryland), Friday, April 14, 2023 9:25 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I mean, I won't go so far as to paint all military people with so broad a brush, but it's certainly not unusual!

https://media.tenor.com/l8h6A5YS54gAAAAC/dancing-tom-jones.gif

It has made me wonder what would be the ILXOR thread that would cause some one to pull out state secrets to show dominance on a thread. So not going to happen, indeed? Steely Dan/Fleetwood Mac/Skunk Baxter? DMB driving over rivers in Chicago?

Pineapple on pizza - C/D?

https://telegra.ph/Tolko-chestnyj-boj-nikakogo-dogovornyaka-04-14

Any thoughts on what Prigozhin is saying here? Suggesting an end to the special military operation and declaring it a success.

Setting expectations for the Russian public that the war this summer will mainly be fought over the territories in eastern Ukraine that Putin 'annexed', instead of a victorious push to Kyiv?

" The Russian deep state is going through a serious crisis today.

Many of those who supported the special operation yesterday are in doubt today, or categorically against what is happening. Representatives of the deep state want to urgently return to their normal life, old habits and comfort.".

Re-reading the whole thing I'm guessing he's being sarcastic about ending the SMO. Would seem pretty weird for Prigozhin to be the one floating the idea of declaring. "The deep state are tired of it we should totally pack it in for an easy life, yeah right". I don't know, difficult to parse the tone of it in places

By Adam Pemble
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

“Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.
...“Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word,” Reznikov wrote.

Experts have cautioned that the system’s effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war, even though it will add to Ukraine’s arsenal against its bigger enemy.
The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, it’s not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

In other developments Wednesday, China denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields. China has insisted that it will not help arm Russia, one of its key allies...

I read that Kyiv is running short on missiles for their primarily Russian/Soviet anti-aircraft defense systems and with no way to replenish them, the need is becoming urgent to switch to NATO systems.

But if Patriot systems are that expensive to use, what can they have for everyday use against appropriate Russian weapons? Also what do they use against all those drones?

Anyway, Ukraine troops are about to being trained to use Abrams tanks, and have been trained by US etc to a lot of other things I'd assumed they were already trained by Ukraine to do; also,

Though Poland and Slovakia have donated Soviet-style MiG-29 fighter jets, and the United Kingdom and Poland have offered to train Ukrainian pilots, the idea of supplying F-16 Fighting Falcon jets or A-10C “Warthog” attack planes remains a bridge too far for the Biden administration.

Stoltenberg told reporters discussions on whether and how to offer different airframes are still underway.

Earlier this year, two Ukrainian pilots visited a military base in Tucson — likely with the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing, which flies F-16s — to help the U.S. determine how long it might take to teach them to fly advanced Western aircraft, NBC News first reported in March. The Pentagon has not released any further information on their time in the simulators.

But Reznikov isn’t giving up hope.

“We’ve heard ‘no, it’s impossible’ a lot,” he wrote. “But I have seen firsthand how the impossible can become possible.”

(speaking of

Also related, like (leak-threatened) intel sources in Wagner Group---with btw mention of the group’s plans to strengthen its presence across Africa and in Haiti. :
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/09/politics/pentagon-leaked-documents-us-spying-allies-foes/index.html

Wagners are disrupting how to win friends and influence people

https://www.tvguide.com/a/img/resize/904c9d43866d980fa448ffbc36416e4ad7fcd274/catalog/provider/1/6/1-172399218.jpg

Okay, now it's time for the ethnic cleansing part:

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday that allows the deportation of Ukrainian citizens from the territories declared annexed by Russia if they are considered a "national security threat."

According to the decree published online, residents from the annexed territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson who have not taken Russian citizenship will be recognized as foreigners...

The deportations have been going on for some time, and according to Hanna Maliar there have been replacements from remote parts of Russia brought in to replace them, for at least 8 months. In telegram she seems to be saying this is mostly in Luhansk

It did make me wonder about Mariupol in particular, and Melitopol to a lesser extent. If there has been significant settling or population swap how that affects things should Ukraine get to a point of being able to retake the land bridge. While there has been significant deportation I'm not clear to what level the city is being re-populated with Russians

Add to that the reports on orphan placement that sound decidedly sinister.

I just heard that an activist that I knew from the Shelltosea campaign 10 years ago was killed fighting the Russians in the Ukraine. Had been in Syria beforehand. I hadn't realised I knew anybody who had done anything like that, but a link to a short article on him dying from teh Irish Times was circulated through an otherwise defunct chatlist yesterday.

a daft bugger but a fella i was very fond of always all the same. rip.

strikes me that the last time i met him i was with an ilxor, strangely enough

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fu-CmxBXwAQ5ni5.jpg

(Chomsky had some bullshit to say in the New Statesman; in unrelated news, the Wall Street Journal published a story this week revealing that he was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein's.)

I think a careful perusal of this thread would reveal more than one post by more than one ilxor that insists on considering that the USA is a doer of bad things, too. It seems relevant to me, but only as one small part of evaluating the war as a whole. Suspicion of US war policy is always justified.

Indeed. But having read the New Statesman interview, it's clear(er than ever) that Chomsky's perspective is basically that the US's bad deeds are the only ones that count.

Yeah, my computer's running slow, but somewhere upthread I commented on an essay where Chomksy was just put out w Putin for providing NATO a chance to jump in and do its thing---also supposedly subverting an offer or inclination of P.'s to talk peace soon after incursion: no evidence provided, that I recall, and seemed like Putin probably didn't think he needed to talk peace until he'd achieved some significant military victory, which seemed then like it might be coming pretty soon.

He's had *some* victories, like finally taking Mariupol, but not enough to push for peace talks, that I've noticed.

No "See? I want peace," accompanied by actually refraining from bombing the fuck out of apartment buildings etc. for a little while, or offering to.

HIIII! Wussia sez it shot down two dwones ovew da Kwemwin in what it cwaims was an attempt on Putin's wife - nu one is wepowted injuwed (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)https://t.co/obzX6uI3VS

— Bweaking NuwuS (@BBCBweaking) May 3, 2023

May 22 (Reuters) - The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Monday that a Ukrainian "sabotage group" had entered Russian territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine and was being repelled by Russian security forces.

Unverified reports of attacks well past midnight on the main town of the region bordering Ukraine were posted on social media. Reports on some channels said the local headquarters of the interior ministry and FSB security service had been targeted.

he Ukrainian outlet Hromadske cited Ukrainian military intelligence as saying two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), were carrying out the attack.

Hromadske said both were composed of Russian nationals committed to fighting the Kremlin authorities. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Kyiv was "watching the events in the Belgorod region" but was not involved.

The Liberty of Russia Legion is a Ukraine-based Russian militia led by Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev that says it is working inside Russia for Putin's overthrow.
t said on Twitter it had "completely liberated" the border town of Kozinka and forward units had reached the district centre of Graivoron, further east.

"Moving on. Russia will be free!" it wrote.

Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov imposed a "counter-terrorism regime" allowing authorities greater powers to clamp down on people's movement and communications.

...The Russia Volunteer Corps published video footage late on Monday which showed what it said was a fighter inspecting a captured armoured vehicle. Another video showed what it said were fighters operating an armoured vehicle on a country road.

Other videos posted on Russian and Ukrainian social media channels showed pictures and video of what were described as captured Russian servicemen and their identity documents.

little green men

and pretty interesting how different Ponomarev and Kapustin are

this new yorker piece Two Weeks At the Front in Ukraine is really v good.

Mr Motivator

The leader of Russia's Wagner private mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says Moscow's plan to "demilitarize" Ukraine failed and that the invasion of its neighbor "turned Ukraine's army into one of the most powerful in the world." In an interview with pro-Kremlin political observer Konstantin Dolgov, the full version of which was published on May 24, Prigozhin said Russia's aggression made Ukrainians "a nation known to the entire world." Prigozhin added that Wagner had lost 20,000 troops during fight for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and suggested that the war may end with a mutiny by Russian soldiers.

v curious game he's playing. kofman and a colleague referred to him performing the role of a social media influencer in the war (one of the interesting themes of the new yorker piece is 'what does trench warfare look like in an age of internet and mobile communication'). looks like it's a political play, but if he's taking on shogyu and gerasimov then he's taking on some very experienced players indeed.

He's almost starting to sound like Strelkov there

xxxp Belogorod and other incursions continue, with gov. making a show of disdain and of evacuations---some overview of various Anti-Putin groups. incl. ones coming in from Ukraine:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/10/russian-guerrillas-are-trying-to-violently-overthrow-putin/

immediate, later effects of flooding, incl. ones tbd by war---yuck: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ukraines-dam-collapse-fast-moving-disaster-slow-moving-99991328

Russia rejects U.N. help as death toll from breached dam rises

Images taken from above the Kakhovka Dam and shared with the AP appear to show an explosive-laden car atop the structure, and two officials said Russian troops were stationed in a crucial area inside the dam where the Ukrainians say the explosion that destroyed it was centered. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Both Russia and Ukraine are major suppliers of grains and producers of fertiliser destined for African markets. According to the African Development Bank, the conflict has "triggered a shortage of about 30 million tonnes of grains on the African continent, along with a sharp increase in cost." As a result of this conflict, African countries are negatively affected by the rising costs of food and energy.

Supply chain disruptions have caused a shortage of farming inputs, such as fertilisers, threatening the food security of several African countries.

Another point of the African leaders' peace proposal is o opening up the movement of grains across the Black Sea for grains from Russia or Ukraine to reach world markets.

I mean would you want the UN to come in and help people you have war-crimed xp?

yeah so it figures The Guardian passes this along):

From 1d ago
09.06 EDT

One killed and seven injured after Russia fires at rescue workers in Kherson
One person has been killed and seven injured while they were clearing mud in the flooded area of Kherson, Ukrainian officials have reported.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, posted to Telegram to say:

The Russian army fired at rescue workers in Kherson who were clearing mud. As a result of the shelling, one employee of the state emergency service was killed, and seven more employees were injured. Six are in serious condition.

The claims have not been independently verified.

I mean it figures they'd be firing.

ok what the fuck is happening with Prigozhin

seems like he's kinda pushing his luck... better be careful next time he goes out for a smoke in a high rise

I would bet on wagner over the regular russian army tbh

a bunch of ex-cons with nothing to lose

Sounds like a late Roman Empire coup

LFG