kgwilson

Cracks emerge in Russian elite as tycoons start to bemoan invasion. The following article published today in the Washington Post gives an interesting insight into how Putins dictatorship has affected the rich and famous and silenced many but their tolerance is beginning to fade. A few more months and stagnation of Russian military operations will see the emerging cracks evolve into chasms and eventual internal self destruction. That is my hope anyway. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/29/russia-oligarchs-ukraine-invasion-dissent/

Putins Army Chiefs are reportedly urging Putin to declare war so that the general population can be mobilised and martial law declared. They are embarrassed & frustrated by their constant failures with the Ukraine invasion the latest after Afghanistan, Syria and Chechnya. How much military hardware can be mustered now is another problem. As well, Russian armament systems are chock full of Western technology so with no supply of that componentry those systems will slowly grind to a halt. If war & martial law is declared Western businesses will be nationalised & it seems that as Western companies are shutting up shop already that is underway now. So they call up reserves and their equipment, revoke the 1 year conscription limit, conscript more ordinary people, but if they run short of equipment and losses continue at the same alarming rate then who knows what will happen with their last resort being biological and nuclear options. Putin is unlikely to back down & his military won't accept total failure. The only options will be some sort of takeover by realists or it will end badly for the whole planet.

Absolutely. The problem is the sanctions are not going far enough. Russia must be isolated. There needs to be organised insurgency that will be able to persuade Russians to revolt big time, assassinate Putin, destroy his secret police structure and political stranglehold, release the political prisoners and negotiate a settlement. At the same time Finland, Sweden & Ukraine join the EU & later NATO. This could all happen easily if it wasn't for the threat of Nukes & with over 4000 of them perhaps the first priority is to get rid of the button pushers, then talk of total Nuke disarmament while pouring money in to Russia to raise their standard of living to that of a modern western society. But given Russias history this has buckleys of success.

Any investment organisation worth its salt will invest in whatever and wherever to get the best return it can for its investors within the risk envelope set for those investments. If that means investing offshore then that means the return to the Australian investors will be better than investing locally. It just makes financial sense. For example I had an old Super fund that was split in 3 ways for a moderate risk. Low risk was bonds and cash investments, medium risk was in blue chip stocks and high risk was in high performing but volatile companies. Combined the return was 5-7% annually except in a few bad years it was negative. Then once I retired & realised I had enough to keep me in a reasonable lifestyle I had become used to & I owned everything & had no debts, I decided to go the whole hog & put that old fund to work on the basis that I could lose it all. I started with 40k in 2005. I didn't know what companies the fund was investing in initially but later found it was a lot of Tech stock in the US, Europe & Japan and various start ups I'd never heard of. Returns after fees were 20 - 30% until I lost over 50k in a day in the 2008 GFC. I just left it there and the returns came back & in 2020 the annual return was 27% after fees, then it plateaued with the pandemic & talk of a stock market crash in September last year I took 150k out & put it in the bank. Between the decision & receiving the cash the value retreated 4k. That left 42k & today that is now 39k, just under what I started with.

As there is only one of you how can you pull yourself together and what are you going to get a grip of. Very confusing and sounds painfull so I think I'll pass on that suggestion.

I wouldn't send any editable document to anyone. A pdf can't be edited by anyone easily but anyone can modify a word document. Also I don't use any microsoft products, especially their office suite that they want you to keep paying for. I use Open Office which is free from Apache Software. Libre Office is another free system. Both are easier to use with more features that microsoft office. Same with Email. Microsoft email is appalling. I have Mozilla Thunderdird for all 6 of my email accounts & have them all on the same page & bluemail on my phone.

Europe has to stop buying or at least paying for Russian oil & gas. That is Putins cashflow IMO. Surely the Saudis & other producers would be keen to get this business. The flow of even more heavy duty weapons to Ukraine seems to be building. I think Putin is going to struggle to make further gains even as their propaganda machine tells us they have captured several villages. Ukraine has a pretty big salient in the Donbas which could get cut off by a Russian pincer movement but then they must have the capacity and professional ability to do this. Also if Mariupol is in Russian hands except for the Steel Mill, the so called land bridge to Crimea should now exist and the Russians should be advancing on towards Odessa. So why aren't they? No surprise really, it is very strong Ukrainian resistance with little left of the Black Sea navy. With Odessa a well defended and heavily fortified city I think they will be wary of a defeat here may be the beginning of a new strategy of pulling back to what they have and yet another consolidation.

I pay for everything by credit card unless there is a fee attached. Even something costing $1.50 from Bunnings. Aldi is the only place I go where there is a transaction charge for credit cards or tap & go transactions on a debit card & it is only 0.8%. If I insert the card & enter my pin number there is no charge. The banks are imposing a charge for their tap & go system even though it is simpler and takes less time. My credit card is free so has no points or rewards (you pay a fee for these cards) & I pay it off every month without fail. Reconciling our spending is as easy as pie. Also I don't need a wallet any more. I just take my phone & use google pay. It has all the loyalty cards built in, my drivers licence, pilot certificate & aircraft rego, vaccination status, bank details, health data etc and there are probably other things I could have in it that I haven't even checked on. I got $100.00 out of a cash machine about a year ago & still have most of it. When my wife goes shopping I can tell where she is in the shopping centre as the transactions are instantly on the system. The one time I was at a retailer & the system was down, they pulled out a zip/zap machine and I could still pay by card. The other option even if you only have your phone is to provide the credit card number and sign the amount and number as well as providing the CVC & expiry date. Then check the transaction as soon as you can. I check my balances every couple of days. Cash is pretty much dead from my point of view.

GIMP is supposed to be the best free photo editor. I have it but haven't used it. It has so many features it confused the crap out of me when I decided to edit a photo so I went back to using the now unsupported Google Picassa.

603, 903, 805, 809, 883, 808

With the huge losses of Russian tanks I am wondering if the age of the tank as an effective weapon is all but over. There is the British NLAW (new generation light anti tank weapon), the American Javelin & the Ukrainian Stugna-P, all of which have been used to great effect. All appear to target the trurret which is a weak point as once that is disabled or blown off a tank is useless. These anti tank missiles home in on the target once fired & the operator can high tail it out of the the area. The fact that they can be carried in the boot of a car and only need one person to use them & require minimal training to use as well. The UK initially sent 4200 NLAWS to Ukraine & had been training The Ukraine Army since 2014 & the hit rate against Russian armour is over 90%. The NLAW is lighter than the Javelin & is a one time deployment so you fire it drop the launcher & bugger off. The cost of these things is eye watering. A NLAW casts about $US30-40k & a Javelin $US178k with a reusable launcher but each missile costs $US78k. Still a lot cheaper than a tank & I guess they are used on all sorts of armoured vehicles including self propelled artillery etc.

Reports and rumours of dissent within the Russian hierarchy are gathering pace. The purges will come back to bite Putin. Many of those ousted will have friends in the Kremlin. Russian losses in manpower and equipment have been massive. Far greater than their ability to replace both. Apparently the Tank factories are at a standstill due to lack of supply of parts. Also the opposition to the war amongst ordinary Russians is way above the level of support that was held initially.

I saw a design some years ago that intrigued me. Basically it was a Caravan that doubled in size like opening a swiss army knife. The bit that folded out had a floor and roof and the rear wall folded down when it was open & it was a large space the size of the original caravan that was then used as a lounge or living area.

I agree that the system of preferences is a poor system of proportional representation because basically it isn't. When I lived in NZ in the early 90s there was a referendum on what system the people thought the best. Originally it was first past the post who got in. The Australian system was one of the offerings but the issues with transferring votes to someone you didn't even like at all & then down the chain to someone you may have never even heard of got thrown away & the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system was chosen & has been in place ever since. Basically you have 2 votes, 1 for the member you want to represent you in your electorate and 1 for the party you prefer. Many people choose to vote for say a National member because they like the person & how they operate but vote for the Labour party. The parliament is made up of 50% electorate representatives and 50% of MPs chosen from a list put up by the parties based on the percentage of the party vote they got. The system has its flaws and can often end up with coalitions of convenience but it is a far more representative system system than the single transferrable vote system we have here where someone can get into the senate with hardly any primary votes at all.

There are not enough expletives in the English language to do this.

The Ukrainians are fast learners. They need the worlds press to report the truth but they need to keep everything regarding their ability to combat the Russians completely away from the public eye. I am sure they are doing this and will be suspicious of spies which I am sure there are plenty. Mistakes will be made but they don't seem to make the same ones over and over again like the Russian have demonstrated to date.

With the leader of the Libs a psycho, horrible man and numerous other things bestowed on him by his own mob as well as being an arrogant, corrupt, religious nutter and the leader of the main opposition able to put both feet in his mouth at the same time what hope is there. Ideally the voting public should reject them both and a myriad of independents form a government. That would be a complete shambles & nothing would get done. Hang on that is what happens now. Bugger.

There was bound to be a purge. The Russians are famous for them. Stalin did it & got rid of all the experts & installed the politico in their place. That's one of the reasons that Operation Barbarossa was initially so successful for the Germans. In this case starve the military of quality equipment & training, make a giant f#$%k up & get rid of them for incompetence. Who would like to replace them when the failures keep coming. Putin is slowly backing into a corner he may not have the support long term to get out of. Slava Ukraini.

I just noticed from the ABC news that employment is now classified if you work only 1 hour a week not two as it used to be and that it includes people who did no work at all because there was no work for them. So when Albo fumbled around with the figures he was technically more correct that Morrison. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-13/australias-unemployment-rate-4-per-cent-better-by-election/100985844

My latest is a new umbrella I ordered through Amazon on Friday the 9th when my 25 year old quality golf umbrella finally broke. It started in Sydney, was in transit to Kempsey when it went back to Chullora & then on to Mayfield West in Newcastle where it currently is. Kempsey is past Newcastle so why not divert direct to Mayfield West rather that go back to Sydney & start again. Aust Post is blaming the floods at present.

The Press has had a field day with it though. I did hear a political commentator on the drive home this afternoon saying he was not sure either so had to check. It will be forgotten in a day or 2 unless the Libs decide to use it in their negative advertsing.

According to Scomo unemployment is 4% & Albo won't forget that after today. But they don't like to publish the "under employment" figure because a large percentage of the workforce only works part time & anyone working 2 hours or more per week is considered employed. Underemployment includes anyone working less than 35 hours a week & that is about 32% of the total workforce. The supply & demand theory usually works in the employment market but with Covid & lack of immigration & seasonal workers etc which should do this, it hasn't. I did read the NZ news the other day & they are paying up to $60.00 an hour over there for people to pick kiwifruit which seems ridiculous.

Is he any relation to warren Buffet? He is worth over $US120 billion

I order plenty on line. Sometimes everything works pretty well but quite often when Australia post is involved I'll get a tracking number and nothing happens for a few days. This because the vendor lodges the number apparently but has not delivered it to the post facility. The the next message is "Processed at whatever facility" and anything from almost immediately to several days the next message is "in transit to next facility at wherever". Then nothing for several days or a week or more. Eventually it turns up on the dining room table as we do not have postal delivery & my wife has picked it up from the Post Office. Next I get an email & Australia Post proudly announces my package has been delivered when they never even told me it got past the first facility they were sending it to. Then they send me a survey to see what I thought of the process. Do they ever review these? I have given them the lowest score possible on a number of occasions & told them what I think in the comments box at the end. I have never been contacted by them after any of these so called Feedback" surveys. I ordered a Smartwatch through Ali Express & got it in 8 days, free delivery from Shenzen, China in November last year. Nothing gets here from Sydney, 6 hours drive down the Pacific highway via Australia Post that quick. Most thing I have ordered & sent via courier get here within 5 days though.

He is right in that the sanctions are hurting the ordinary Russians who have been brainwashed by Putin and his regime for over 20 years that Ukraine rightfully belongs to Russia and they have to get rid of the Nazi regime there. Now that there are about 10,000 dead Russian soldiers including half a dozen Generals and they have lost enormous amounts of military hardware, it will be difficult to maintain this belief with ordinary Russians. Wounded Russians will return home with stories that belie Putins BS and the truth will slowly spread. Even though it will be countered by the Kremlin lie machine, the seeds of discontent will be sown. I'd say that this has already begun. The first and most obvious truth will be that the Ukrainians did not welcome the Russian invaders as liberators. All they did was destroy their peaceful existence where they had begun to embrace and enjoy the fruits of Western culture. The sanctions to date are a feather duster approach. The only sanctions that will really hurt are to stop all trade with Russia. The reliance on Russian Oil and Gas has hamstrung Europe & Putin is still laughing all the way to the (Russian) Bank. The UN is completely toothless. It may as well not exist. Russia should be expelled from the UN or at the very least removed from the Security Council. The fact that this council still exists displays its big Boys Club approach. It is certainly not a democratic organisation when a huge majority of votes can be vetoed by 1 of only 5 permanent members. The other 10 rotated members don't get a say at all. The hope is that during this lull, supply lines for Ukraines defence in the East and South are able to bring in enough to repel the Russians as happened with the first offensive. Anti tank weapons have worn them down but it is Russian Artillary and their long range missiles that seem to be doing the most damage. How many more of these missiles they have and how quickly they can manufacture more is the unanswered question.