Crosswords1 min ago
Oh Dear Vlad........
48 Answers
https:/
...how's conscription working out?
...how's conscription working out?
Answers
you've excelled yourself in contrived nastiness Gromit - congratulati
08:46 Fri 23rd Sep 2022
You know it’s bad when:
People are queuing to leave for Mongolia
N Korea denies supplying you weapons
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kirghizia make it an offence to fight for you.
Meanwhile popcorn time at the UN as security council members’ foreign ministers are due to square up to each other about now :
Lavrov, Blinken, Kuleba et al
People are queuing to leave for Mongolia
N Korea denies supplying you weapons
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kirghizia make it an offence to fight for you.
Meanwhile popcorn time at the UN as security council members’ foreign ministers are due to square up to each other about now :
Lavrov, Blinken, Kuleba et al
I don’t think Putin is mad.
But he’s desperate.
It’s important to realise that although this is his war in that he’s the top man, there are others behind him who are if anything even more extreme. Putin is trying to progress this while at the sane time passing the buck should things backfire: note that in his speech yesterday he made a point of calling the mobilisation plan one made by the defence ministry, not he, Putin.
It was a great little speech by Blinken just now…
But he’s desperate.
It’s important to realise that although this is his war in that he’s the top man, there are others behind him who are if anything even more extreme. Putin is trying to progress this while at the sane time passing the buck should things backfire: note that in his speech yesterday he made a point of calling the mobilisation plan one made by the defence ministry, not he, Putin.
It was a great little speech by Blinken just now…
'What has happened to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine is explained in a remarkable memoir published on VKontakte, Russia’s Facebook, by Pavel Filatyev, a Russian professional soldier (not a conscript). Despite joining an ‘elite’ unit – the 56th Guards Air Assault Regiment – Filatyev found there were no beds in his barracks, and often no power or water. A pack of wild dogs roamed through the buildings. He wrote in his diary that there was not enough food: just stale bread and ‘soup’ that was raw potatoes in water. He had to buy his own winter uniform after being given summer clothes and boots in the wrong size. His rifle was rusty and jammed after a few shots.
On paper, his unit had 500 soldiers, but it was really just 300. While, officially, some 200,000 troops invaded Ukraine, he believes the real number was more like 100,000. Filatyev was sent into battle without a flak jacket – no doubt it had been stolen and sold. He was driven to the front in a truck that was carrying mortar bombs but had no brakes. He calls the army a ‘mafia’ and says officers continually lied to the top brass to hide the true state of their units. ‘All this [equipment] is 100 years old, a lot is not working properly, but in their reports everything was probably fine… the Russian army is a madhouse and everything is for show'
Paul Wood in today's Spectator
My view is that even if Putin is mad enough to give the order (he can't do anything himself) no one is mad enough to obey it. I think the famous "technical problems" prevalent in former communist countries will kick in.
On paper, his unit had 500 soldiers, but it was really just 300. While, officially, some 200,000 troops invaded Ukraine, he believes the real number was more like 100,000. Filatyev was sent into battle without a flak jacket – no doubt it had been stolen and sold. He was driven to the front in a truck that was carrying mortar bombs but had no brakes. He calls the army a ‘mafia’ and says officers continually lied to the top brass to hide the true state of their units. ‘All this [equipment] is 100 years old, a lot is not working properly, but in their reports everything was probably fine… the Russian army is a madhouse and everything is for show'
Paul Wood in today's Spectator
My view is that even if Putin is mad enough to give the order (he can't do anything himself) no one is mad enough to obey it. I think the famous "technical problems" prevalent in former communist countries will kick in.
Yes Filyatev’ is the most obvious testimony.
As I’ve said before in some ways it’s amazing the Russian military has master this long.
If anyone cared to follow the precedings at the UN just now they’d have heard a quite staggering, rambling tissue of lies from Sergey Lavrov. James Cleverley was pretty good I thought although it’s true that anyone would have sounded good after that.
As I’ve said before in some ways it’s amazing the Russian military has master this long.
If anyone cared to follow the precedings at the UN just now they’d have heard a quite staggering, rambling tissue of lies from Sergey Lavrov. James Cleverley was pretty good I thought although it’s true that anyone would have sounded good after that.
I do wonder what the average Russian - the man on the Chelyabinsk omnibus thinks of all this.
Do they have a minister for "Ukraine Upsides"?
Hilarious wordplay aside, are there any good links or reputable sources about how the general Russian population feels about this, as the effects are slowly getting closer to them...
Do they have a minister for "Ukraine Upsides"?
Hilarious wordplay aside, are there any good links or reputable sources about how the general Russian population feels about this, as the effects are slowly getting closer to them...
Ask people who aren’t likely to be drafted and they seem quite sanguine about it.
Ask people in other regions and they are much less keen.
Russians generally support their leader whoever it may be. Generally as regards the war younger people are more sceptical.
It’s important to realise that the Kremlin controls what most people can see on the media. And therefore the ludicrous idea that Russia is fighting Nazis. Also I think most stage Russians don’t want to consider the idea that their country’s government is fundamentally evil
Ask people in other regions and they are much less keen.
Russians generally support their leader whoever it may be. Generally as regards the war younger people are more sceptical.
It’s important to realise that the Kremlin controls what most people can see on the media. And therefore the ludicrous idea that Russia is fighting Nazis. Also I think most stage Russians don’t want to consider the idea that their country’s government is fundamentally evil
Putin trades on ultra nationalism and Russian sovereignty. Very similar to our Brexiters.
Many older Russians will yearn for former glories, and will be taken in by Putin trying rebuilt a lost empire. Younger people are more skeptical. They have sampled worldly freedoms and are reluctant to be shackled.
Again, the allusions to present post brexit Britain are striking.
Many older Russians will yearn for former glories, and will be taken in by Putin trying rebuilt a lost empire. Younger people are more skeptical. They have sampled worldly freedoms and are reluctant to be shackled.
Again, the allusions to present post brexit Britain are striking.
// the hospitals were full of people who had overdosed on iodine!//
in true AB fashion I can find no ( zero, nada) reports in the medical literature on toxicity of KI ( potassium iodide you proles) and German hospital admissions
may be using the wrong search terms
( permutations of potassium iodide toxicity after chernobyl, ( overdose, radiation)
in true AB fashion I can find no ( zero, nada) reports in the medical literature on toxicity of KI ( potassium iodide you proles) and German hospital admissions
may be using the wrong search terms
( permutations of potassium iodide toxicity after chernobyl, ( overdose, radiation)
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