Sanctions against Russia

[facthunter]

Seems to be left leaning.  Putin won't like to even acknowledge it.  Nev

[willedoo]

13 hours ago, red750 said:

Navalny has been sentenced to a further 19 year in prison, on top of the nine he is currently serving.

The authorities are really stretching the truth this time with extremism charges. As far as his previous charges, none of us are in a position to really know whether he was guilty of defrauding those companies, or whether the prosecutors fabricated evidence to frame him. In the other case of violating bail conditions, the authorities deemed him guilty and being out of the country recovering from a poisoning to be no excuse for not physically checking in with authorities.

 

The extremism charges are a new low. As an opposition figure, he's broken some minor laws by organising street rallies without permits. Like Australia, in Russia it's illegal to organise a protest street march without permits. But those offences have been dealt with; Navalny went to court and was fined for them. There's nothing extreme he has done, and as far as I know, he hasn't advocated any unlawful overthrow of the government, and all he has done is be an opposition activist. Another kangaroo court.

[facthunter]

laws and legality and Justice mean little in Russia. How does anyone deal with someone who's word is worth nothing. The Russian delegation Blatantly lied to the UN but still have a right of veto there. Why are they now allowed in there at all?  Nev

[facthunter]

They are getting their way  BY threat of a nuclear war. Any one with half a brain knows that is something no one can forecast the end position  of.. Nev

Edited August 5, 2023 by facthunter

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

laws and legality and Justice mean little in Russia. How does anyone deal with someone who's word is worth nothing. The Russian delegation Blatantly lied to the UN but still have a right of veto there. Why are they now allowed in there at all?  Nev

It's a crazy setup. All five permanent members of the security council have the right of veto, and any binding resolution must be unanimous. Three NATO members votes vs Russia and China who stick together. It seems like there's no way to evict a permanent member. Having one of the permanent members waging an illegal war of aggression and being able to remain on the council with veto rights makes a mockery of it.

[facthunter]

100% agree and it's crazy. They were actually Chairing the meeting at the time all this was starting.  Nev

[willedoo]

The Ukrainian SBU has released footage of the USV attacks on the Russian vessels. The Russians have said they intercepted all the drones; they left out the part about intercepting them with the hulls of a landing ship and oil tanker.

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by willedoo

[willedoo]

The Ukrainians have hit the Crimean bridges again. The Chonhar road bridge was attacked again and received a hole right on the centre dividing line of the two lane bridge. Along with the Chonhar rail bridge, they are important supply routes out of Crimea to Kherson Oblast. The other bridge at Henichesk received a lot more damage and looks like it will be out of action for a while.

 

The Henichesk bridge attack might be more messaging than tactical importance, as the unsealed track across the Arabat spit is not a viable military supply route. First photo is the Henichesk road bridge, second one is the Chonhar bridge.

 

[pmccarthy]

Where"s the Hooray button?

 

[facthunter]

Bridge is gambling isn't it? Nev

[willedoo]

The Russian tourists must have thick skins. At the time the Kerch bridge was hit by the sea drone recently, there was an estimated 50,000 Russian tourists in Crimea for their summer beach holidays that had driven there by road. They are rapidly running out of safe options for the trip back home.

[spenaroo]

That or they just don't want to go back to Russia, and Putin would rather call them tourist then admit to it

[willedoo]

Just an update on the Crimean bridge attacks. The Henichesk bridge is not as bad as it looks in the photo. I saw some video of traffic crossing it and only one lane is knocked out; the other lane is untouched. Traffic is still getting across the Chonhar bridge by diverting around the hole in the centre of it, so while inconvenient, neither bridge is totally disabled.

[facthunter]

Impossible to use it and not notice the damage though.  Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

Interesting I reckon how the value of the missiles compares with the value of the repair job. I would think it was smarter to wait for the first bit of damage to be under repair before hitting it again, then you could kill some repairmen and that adds to the value of the strike.

Nasty calculations huh.

[willedoo]

It seems like the Ukrainians are just trying to keep the psychological pressure on with these ad hoc bridge attacks. They never seem to finish the job with follow up strikes. They have a limited supply of Storm Shadow missiles due to run out in a few months at the current rate, so that might be a factor. I guess they could waste a lot of missiles knocking a bridge out and the Russians would have a pontoon bridge set up within days. Possibly they're saving the bulk of the cruise missiles for ammo dumps and command centres.

[Marty_d]

Well, the Russians have released a textbook for their kids about the whole affair.  

Bound to be objective and unbiased...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-08/russia-unveils-history-textbooks-praising-ukraine-offensive/102701658

[red750]

Putin overruns Ukraine: 9000 attacks in a week

 

According to Hanna Maliar, Kyiv’s Deputy Minister of Defense, eastern Ukraine has been the center of heavy fighting over the past week. This reports the German news website n-tv.de.

 

Russia occupies most of the territory and regularly shells from there the city of Kherson, which was liberated by Ukrainian troops last year. Moscow has announced that it will wage war in the annexed regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhya until they are fully under Russian control.

 

Hanna Maljar reported that the east had been the epicenter of fighting throughout the week. She said that it had been possible to prevent Russian troops from advancing further towards Kupjansk, Lyman, Avdiivka and Maryinka. In Lyman, the Russians had tried to drive Ukrainian troops out of the Serebryansky Forest area. Fighting was proving difficult for Ukrainian troops as Russian attacks had increased. According to Maliar, it was estimated that the Russians carried out about 9000 attacks on eastern Ukrainian territories within a week, consuming about 500,000 rounds of ammunition.

[facthunter]

It's NOT a WAR though. Just a SPECIAL Military Operation.  Nev

[willedoo]

Here's an interesting review of the battle for Hostomel (Antonov) Airport in the first days of the war.

 

https://warontherocks.com/2023/08/the-battle-of-hostomel-airport-a-key-moment-in-russias-defeat-in-kyiv/?__s=dwmbzkw8tpme6crapuvp

 

 

 

 

[red750]

British Ministry of Defense: Russia fixes its biggest vulnerability

Every day since the start of Russia’s large-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defense has published its assessment of the situation in the conflict. On August 10, 2023, it is about Russia’s main vulnerability.

 

Via X, formerly Twitter, the UK Ministry of Defense writes: “Over the past week, Russian authorities have likely increased their efforts to disrupt Russian citizens’ access to virtual private networks (VPNs). According to reports, many of the most popular VPNs have become unusable in some regions of Russia. VPNs allow users to disguise their access to the Internet, protect their privacy, and circumvent government censorship. VPNs are very popular in Russia, although they have been illegal since 2017. They allow users to access objective international news sources, including about the war in Ukraine.”

 

Read more here.

[willedoo]

There's a bit more activity at the Kerch bridge. Tomorrow might shed some more light on it, but at this stage Russian media is saying they shot down two Ukrainian missiles and set off smoke screens.

 

[nomadpete]

The black smokescreen  in far left of that picture looks like it might have been provided by the Ukrainians?

[nomadpete]

As an aside, I am surprised  that there hasn't been  much  use of A.I. in the drone industry.

The Russians claim to have knocked out a swarm of drones by electronic means.

 

A half decent A.I. CPU and camera with visual recognition  of target should be capable of hitting a target without reliance on GPS.

 

Just a thought. I guess both sides are working on it.

[Marty_d]

Another thing would be flying them extremely low and fast.   It'd be hard to stop drones if you don't know they're coming.