Ye gods, nearly forty years old. I remember our whole family laughing our asses off at this.
Mar 072022
Mar 062022
The hope among many is that the sanctions on Russia will cause the Russian people, or business class, or military, or *somebody* to pull their thumbs out and give Putin the boot. And it’s starting to look like those sanctions are really making a mess of sizable chunks of the Russian economy and daily life. but… as has been noted here and elsewhere, many, MANY times… Russians are kinda used to trouble. No boom today. boom tomorrow. Always boom tomorrow. Consequently, if the Russian government can adequately spin this mess as being the fault of EEEEVIL westerners, rather than their our bad behavior, chances are pretty good that the Russian people will simply muddle through as they’ve always done. The effects of sanctions are hardly likely to make things worse in Russia than they were during the Soviet years, at leas after the initial confusion settles down, and Russians lived under communism for 70 years without overthrowing their dictators.
Some relevant videos on the subject. The first one is the source of the title of the post:
The next one, if the translation is to be believed (I don’t speak Russian beyond “blyat” and “suka,” so for all I know they’re actually debating the merits of Cardi B vs. Justin Bieber), is some rather brave soul doing vox pop in Russia, showing locals photos of the attacks in Ukraine. A distressing number think – or at least express – that Putin is doing the right thing. Disturbing that the dangerhaired girl is on the side of right and reason here…
Mar 052022
Most videos showing helicopters, either Ukrainian or Russian, getting shot down are from such a long distance that you can’t really see anything. but the video below is reasonably clear; the Hind takes a Stinger (or perhaps a Javelin) straight to the engines and promptly plummets from the sky. A bad few seconds for the crew. Of course, the possibility always exists that this is yet another computer simulation, but it certainly looks realistic.
Mar 042022
Russia Drafts Plans For Public Executions In Captured Cities: REPORT
Russia devised plans to stage public executions in cities its forces conquer as a way to cut down the morale of Ukrainians, a European intelligence official told Bloomberg.
The idea apparently is to use these executions as a way to dissuade Ukrainians from carry out an insurgency. The evidence for this claim is – as is traditional at this point – shaky to the point of non-existence, but it’s not like there isn’t historical precedent. This tactic has been used by conquerors since basically the invention of conquest. Probably the most famous practitioners of it are, of course, the Nazis… once again demonstrating that those who scream the loudest that they are fighting Nazis or are anti-fascist are the most likely to actually emulate the Nazis.
So far Ukrainians can still largely communicate with the outside world, and they have a bagrillion cameras… so if these executions actually happen, the world will know in a matter of moments. These sort of executions can be effective if the population is already conquered, subjugated, beaten down into submission… but if there’s still fight in ’em, all they’ll do is piss off those most likely to grab a rifle or a Molotov cocktail or just a pointy stick and go find an enemy to rub out. And these videos will be flashed around the world, even into Russia… and they’ll likely do a *fantastic* job of demoralizing the Russian population (“Are we the baddies?”). So on the whole, the idea is not just bugnuts, it’s *dumb.* Unfortunately, neither of those has ever prevented tyrants for doing whatever it is that comes into their weird little heads.
Mar 032022
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on fire after Russian attack
A spokesman for Europe’s largest nuclear plant says the facility is on fire after Russia attacked the power station in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar.
“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Andriy Tuz, spokesperson for the plant in Enerhodar, said in a video posted on Telegram. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.” Tuz told Ukrainian television that it is urgent to stop the fighting to put out the flames.
BREAKING: Europe's largest nuclear power plant in southern #Ukraine is reportedly being shelled by Russian troops right now. Watch ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/HGklnjOuQL
— The News with Shepard Smith (@thenewsoncnbc) March 4, 2022
WATCH: The Associated Press reports there are elevated levels of radiation at the nuclear plant under attack in #Ukraine. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rv4mZUhVWQ
— The News with Shepard Smith (@thenewsoncnbc) March 4, 2022
From the AP:
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on fire after shelling
Firefighters cannot get near the fire because they are being shot at, Tuz said.
A government official told The Associated Press that elevated levels of radiation were detected near the site of the plant, which provides about 25% of Ukraine’s power generation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been publicly released.
This map might prove useful:
https://www.windfinder.com/#5/47.0252/47.3730
Shows current wind directions. At the moment, the winds in the region of the reactor under attack are circling around a region in north-eastern Ukraine, then seemingly drifting south-east over Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran. If the reactor pops, the Caspian Sea is likely to get trashed. Tomorrow the wins is to be more generally easterly, but Saturday the wind will come down from the north and then hang a right straight over Greece. From then on it looks like the region of Greece and Turkey will get a constant flow from the area of the reactor.
Mar 032022
The Russian propaganda outlet (the official one, anyway) in the US has gone belly-up:
RT America ceases productions and lays off most of its staff
Yeah, how’s *that* going to look on your resume?
Mar 032022
UPDATE: A better look, courtesy Russian state TV:
Russian State TV report from Gostomel Airport in Kyiv. Sadly An-225 completely destroyed. pic.twitter.com/9kN04Gkz91
— Aldin 🇧🇦 (@aldin_ww) March 4, 2022
—————
Here it is, on fire. You can see the blue, yellow and white nose laying cocked at an angle.
Гостомель, 25 или 26 фев pic.twitter.com/qfYx8nZAu6
— IgorGirkin (@GirkinGirkin) March 3, 2022
I see yellow inside of the hanger 🙁 pic.twitter.com/rYtg66hRaY
— cameron (@csm231_) March 3, 2022
Good job on deNazyfying the Antonov 225. Bah.
Mar 032022
Gosh, I’m sure the residents are real glad Putin has come along to “deNazify” their town…
Looks like Detroit now.
An additional vid showing brave Russian troops shooting up civilians:
Mar 032022
The war in Ukraine is now affecting cats. The much-feared Fédération Internationale Féline has issued a proclamation:
The Board of FIFe feels it cannot just witness these atrocities and do nothing, so it decided that as of 01.03.2022:
● No cat bred in Russia may be imported and registered in any FIFe pedigree book outside Russia, regardless of, which organization issued its pedigree.
● No cat belonging to exhibitors living in Russia may be entered at any FIFe show outside Russia, regardless of, which organization these exhibitors hold their membership in.
Well. Putin has no choice now but unconditional surrender.
Mar 022022
Based on the timing, seems like they were about 1.7 miles from the second detonation. That kind of light from that far away probably indicates a pretty sporty explosion… thermobaric bomb of great magnitude, or a hit on an ammo dump. One person suggests the first explosion was nuclear; I would *guess* that the yellow-orange nature of the flash would argue almost immediately for a chemical explosion. A nuclear one – at least one measured in the kiloton range and beyond – should be white, perhaps blue-tinged, like a welding arc. If you see *that* kind of flash light up the sky… well, go perpendicular to the wind, then turn into the wind and get out of the fallout zone.