kgwilson

The Ukrainians could walk in and take Kherson at any time but they are not that stupid. It could easily be Putins tactical nuclear target and will be full of booby traps at the very least. The very public and almost comedic withdrawl could be plain Russian stupidity that everyone had become accustomed to or it could be a trap. The parallels with Hitlers last few months in his bunker under the Reichstag are interesting. Hitlers physical health deteriorated along with his mental state. By April 1945 he was completely delusional and believed everyone was betraying him and was giving orders for counter attacks with Armies that no longer existed etc. He had developed an uncontrollable twitch in his left hand. Putin is on a similar steady decline and he may very well order the nuclear option, something that Hitler would have done if he 'd had the means. He has a few fanatical "Yes hench-men" still providing encouragement. Hopefully those a bit further down the line that actually make things happen will see the light and make things change so they can find a way for Putin to fall out a window or something. The next major Russian action may be Putins last stand.

A report yesterday says at least 1000 Russian troops were killed in a single day, the most since the start of the war. Apparently these were unequipped or poorly equipped new reservist recruits and were specifically targeted by Ukraine.

At US$20 billion it better be good. How many GWH will it produce? Once it is running the operating cost is not high but to get an ROI it will still be the most expensive electricity you could buy.

Ukraine has been fought over for centuries but in 1917 at the start of the Russian revolution Ukraine proclaimed itself a sovereign nation and was recognised by most of the worlds major nations at the time. There was a lot of bitter fighting and the top hierarchy changed hands several times until the Bolsheviks finally had enough power to take over in about 1921 & they were relegated to a puppet state of the Soviet Union. Then of course Stalin starved them in the 30s by taking the grain as the communist collectives his mob set up failed. With recent history like that Putin must have been 100% deluded to think they would welcome his thugs & now they are kicking his arse. His reign a latter day Tsar is rapidly nearing its end.

The statistics show it is getting hotter and drier over a number of years. Climate Change is proving the science is right. The extremes of the climate are getting larger and more frequent.

Putler Youth at the start up stage. Guess who else tried that 80 years ago.

Get out your woolies as there is a very cold Antarctic air mass with a cold front heading in to NSW via South Australia with possible snow as far North as Glen Innes. Temperatures are about to go from the mid 20s to the mid teens. Temperatures here on the Mid North Coast are forecast to drop from the high 20s/early 30s to the low 20s in the next few days.

I see that Russian warships moored at Sevastopol have been attacked by drones or have they. The Russians have said a minesweeper had minor damage and that they repelled 16 attacking drones. Ukraine said they had nothing to do with it & 4 ships which included a frigate, a landing ship and a cruise missile ship used in a deadly July attack on a western Ukrainian city were all damaged due to careless handling of explosives. I reckon there is probably some truth in both reports. Maybe a few drones got hit but a reasonable number got through and the lack of competence by Russia resulted in them blowing themselves up.

Your friend may be telling you the truth but the information he was given was false.

Wow, that was only 10 seconds from the time the missile hit to the time the ejected pilot hit the ground. It demonstrates how effective ejection systems are these days at vey low level.

The building and installation of nuclear reactors even small sized ones that drive a submarine is not a problem technologically as there are enough manufacturers around the world with the capability. The problem is environmental (NIMBY) and protection from waste contamination (also not a major problem these days) from a major event like earthquake, Tsunami etc or even sabotage. Most governments even if supportive of nuclear power have huge safety and environmental hoops for the proposals to have to jump through. The main issue is that the infrastructure required to make it work means a large source of water for cooling and steam generation, and all the safety requirements for containment in the unlikely event of a meltdown or leak.

It looks like Boris has the support of 100 MPs along with Rishi Sunak so there could actually be a comeback.

This statement from whoever the WW speakers group are, is pure Scotty from marketing. Not a word of truth in any of it but he believes it himself emphatically. It will work with those who have been living under a rock for the last 20 years.

I note that Yevgeny Prigozhin who came to the fore as Putins Chef has now admitted he is the head behind the Wagner Group & still in Putins inner circle though has begun to join the ranks of those critcising the Armed forces. One of Putins most ardent critics Mikhail Khordorkovsky is upfront about the bloke, who before becoming wealthy spent a number of years in jail, got into the restaurant game and then started meddling in US politics to get Trump elected in 2016. "Prigozhin is under the control of Putin today," he said. "But he's also getting ready for life after Putin." https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-23/yevgeny-prigozhin-the-rise-of-vladimir-putins-so-called-chef/101555386

What an excellent innovation. Now Angus Taylor and his LNP dinosaur mates will have to think up another bit of BS to replace their "We need coal for when the wind doesn't blow & the sun doesn't shine" even though that original statement is BS anyway.

Part of the reason for the low casualty numbers in attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities is that they have been being attacked since February. They have a very good defence system that they have been honing since February and they are well drilled and disciplined. When the air raid sirens go off most people heed the warnings and head for the shelters. Most apartment buildings have cellars and the subway system is set up to shelter people. They know missiles are coming from their observation and radar so the targets are obvious from the direction of travel. The sirens go off & people get out. With the Drones there is a lot more time but they fly low and many are destroyed by small arms fire. They have a Chinese made air cooled 4 cylinder VW inspired boxer engine & fly at about 180 knots. Their slow pace gives residents plenty of time to get to shelters. In contrast the SU34 was an accident & there was no warning, it was full of fuel so there was a massive fireball

Presumably they are Russians and Russian sympathisers living in Australia. How the hell does a Russian fight for freedom by invading the neighbouring country. I think I'll wander next door and take over the house citing i am doing it for freedom. That'll work, Not.

The first thing I noticed were the old AKs with timber stocks. It looks like they have raided a WW2 museum.

Another crikey, that is only 0.07mm per metre fall overall. It is amazing it even flows at all. The minimum fall when putting in a drain is supposed to be 1% or 10mm per metre.

I was astounded at the level of corruption in Australia when I first arrived here. NZ used to be the least corrupt country in the world. Now that place seems to have slipped since the labour government has a large majority & does not have to rely on partners to govern. Transparency international which publishes the ratings still have Denmark, Finland & NZ as 1st equal in the least corrupt countries in 2021. Australia is slipping in the rankings and is now at No 18. The US of A is languishing at No 27 the same spot as Chile. Russia is ranked at 136 out of 180 countries. https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021

You would think he would learn from history. Stalin did the same when he purged the military and installed political hacks with no knowledge or experience of such things and it took 2-3 years to find some military chiefs by which time they'd lost several million people. At that time it was the full Soviet Union & they had overwhelming weight of numbers and their armaments factories were well beyond the German reach. Not so this time & they are running out of equipment, ammunition and willing canon fodder.

Vic is like it was here in the NE corner of NSW in March & La Nina is back. We have been spared the early onslaught & the aerodrome is almost dried out since those floods. I went flying today, beautiful weather. It looks like another system is due to hit next week but now everything is saturated in many areas out West and South Summer looks like being a washout

In Western movies a cowboy (the star) can hit a man between the eyes riding a horse flat out at 300 metres with a Colt 45. The Russians need to send their best troops to Hollywood & then redeploy them to the Ukraine front line with Colt 45s. The Ukrainians would all die from laughing too hard.😁

I am sure that Ukraine would have anticipated the missile attack on civilian targets after the humiliating bridge strike. This is pure Putin & his regimes complete disregard for innocent people and is just an extension on what they have been doing since the beginning. He know he can never win this war but is determined to destroy everything and anything to keep his tenuous position & bolster is waning support at every opportunity. Now Russia has used a lot more of it's short supply of missiles & more than half of them didn't make it to the target, none of which were military targets. History has shown that targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure does nothing to weaken your adversary. What it does is harden their resolve as occurred in Britain during the Blitz and also in Germany during the bombings from 1942-45. Most German civilians were collateral damage except for the raids on Hamburg & Dresden.

Crimea is likely to stay Russian unless there is a regime change and the Nuclear threat disappears. Nato could totally destroy the Russian military with a planned offensive in a very short time. It has overwhelming numbers, modern equipment, strategic & logistics plans that have been well tested and there is little corruption. Nothing will change unless Putin and his henchmen are eventually deposed and a new democratic regime arises from the ashes. Given Russias history of autocracy, violence and corruption that is a super long bow.