Rob
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Post by Rob on Mar 8, 2022 18:48:29 GMT
Anyone seen footage over the last few days of people struggling to get past the destroyed bridge (by Ukraine) to get south to Kyiv and wonder.... why don't they get a better, wider bit of wood and secure it? It's a bottleneck and dangerous. Make the replacement bodge birdge and quickly swap it. Yes it will stop people for a few minutes but then many more can cross safely.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2022 20:07:33 GMT
The problem with bridges is that they are two way. The bridge was originally destroyed to stop it being used by incoming forces. I guess they'd rather take care going over it in daylight hours than have troops running over it in the dark.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Mar 8, 2022 22:30:19 GMT
You could pull up the plank at night so to speak. But the frail are really struggling to get over it and it is slow.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Mar 14, 2022 23:43:05 GMT
I see they improved the bridge in the end. But that's not the point of my post.
Driving back along the M4 in south Wales yesterday there were about 9 military low loader transporters heading west in convoy. They were empty but looked like they'd take a main battle tank each.... I wonder if they were heading to pick something up at say Castlemartin Training Area? And then maybe a short journey to the docks?
It's worrying that Russia is asking China for rations, missiles, etc... because if they've run out then Putin is going to use something else soon. Chemical/biological weapons in the coming days as a false flag seems to be in the news for quite a few days now.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 15, 2022 9:29:02 GMT
Possibly. Also possible that China scents an opportunity, in assisting Russia, to let Europe destroy itself in a war and allow China to gain unchallenged economic and geopolitical dominance without firing a shot of its own.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 15, 2022 18:02:53 GMT
Or, glass half full, China and US have a tacit agreement you stay out, we'll stay out and let Russia stew in their own mess.
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 17, 2022 4:51:12 GMT
Apropos of other rogue nations... Nanzanin is home. Great news. The problem for her now is how will she ever feel safe enough to back to Iran to visit her parents?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2022 9:02:19 GMT
I expect she will be fervently hoping for a regime change to enable that. Because she won't be going back unless that happens.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 18:34:06 GMT
I have lunch tomorrow with the Ukrainian Chargé d'Affaires (A Chargé is what leads a country's presence if their involvement is not big enough to warrant an Ambassador), For a variety of reasons I am looking forward to it, but poor chap - his wife and two children are still in Kyiv - one cannot imagine what he is going through.
It'll be an interesting perspective on things though, I expect.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 20, 2022 7:13:07 GMT
Will there be ceviche?
Either way, yes. Of course, he’s unlikely to tell you anything significant that you can repeat here. I suspect that the atrocities in Russian-occupied towns mean that his government can’t contemplate any form of compromise in the form of territory for peace. They probably have to tough it out until Putin decides he’s gained enough to save face at home, then see what’s left and rebuild.
The talk of the new eastern offensive resembling WW2 made me look up the battle of Kursk from 1943, reckoned to be the definitive tank-to-tank engagement in all of military history. The numbers, in terms of forces engaged and casualties — hundreds of thousands on each side — are mindboggling but what alarmed me most was the willingness on the Soviet side to tolerate huge losses and just throw in more and more until the breakthrough was achieved.
We’ve seen evidence of a similar indifference to the fate of their own footsoldiers in today’s Russian command. They’re not in an existential struggle this time — although some may believe they are — but it seems we need to be prepared for things to get a lot more unpleasant.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2022 21:25:06 GMT
Well, that was sobering. Rather put one's own challenges and difficulties into stark perspective.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 20, 2022 21:54:12 GMT
Indeed. Terrible experience to live through. I hope the moral support of millions is worth something to him.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2022 14:19:21 GMT
Indeed. Terrible experience to live through. I hope the moral support of millions is worth something to him. It is, of course, he very much said so. But our conversations and his/their needs, were more related to flack jackets, helmets, food, medicine, sanctions and other things practical. He is clearly under significant stress, parts of his family are still in Kyiv and his country is fighting for it's very existence. I think the gratitude will come if and when this passes. His reports of what is actually happening made me somewhere between very sad and very angry. I am not naïve, I don't necessarily believe everything I am told, but this was heartrending. And the absolute mass of credible information is awesome. There were two others in our meeting, not Ukrainian, and the joint and shared predictions, understanding, strategy, expectations, reports and comments made the whole thing very very worrying indeed. Especially their thoughts on what it would take to stop this. I add my voice to those calling for nothing Russian to be entertained at the very least until this is over. No products, no ships, no transactions, no sports, nothing. Remove them from SWIFT, deny them entry to all ports, and reduce your personal and industrial energy usage. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 22, 2022 8:39:51 GMT
The best parallel is perhaps not with Iran or North Korea, which are noisy but essentially harmless on the global scale, but with apartheid-era South Africa, which repressed its own people and menaced its neighbours. The world outside Africa was slow to exert real economic and political pressure but what it did do eventually got results.
It doesn’t fit exactly, as Russia’s internal repression is, arguably, less egregious than South Africa’s, while its regional aggression is on a far greater scale. But the change eventually came from within, as it must in Russia.
This week I’ve had responses to my reach-outs to a couple of Russian colleagues. My messages amounted to little more than ‘hello’ because I don’t want to cause anyone any trouble. But I wanted them to know — or at least infer — that we don’t blame individual Russians for this, although they’re the ones who will feel the consequences hardest.
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Post by dixinormus on Apr 22, 2022 9:29:53 GMT
Meanwhile, the EU is continuing to pay Russia a billion Euros/day for energy... I appreciate that we can’t turn the gas taps off overnight but surely some contingency plans were made for this eventuality?
Next up: the Chinese can’t or won’t supply our cheap consumer goods.
Architects of our own downfall really. And Ukrainians will have to die because we want to keep the lights on.
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