Sanctions against Russia

[Jerry_Atrick]

7 hours ago, willedoo said:

This Ukrainian Tesla owner wrote an apology on the back of their car, translated as "Sorry! bought a Tesla before I knew Elon Musk was an a**hole”. They probably thought there would be less chance of the Tesla getting vandalised with the apology on it. Comrade Musk is not very popular in Ukraine at the moment.

 

We are thinking about replacing the missus' car with an electric one; and while I like the Teslas, we are defo not getting one...

[nomadpete]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

We are thinking about replacing the missus' car with an electric one; and while I like the Teslas, we are defo not getting one...

It's OK Jerry....

You don't  HAVE to write on back of a Tesla with a felt marker pen.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Fluorescent paint more like it... 

[onetrack]

Here's an interesting grains report on Ukraines struggle to continue to keep up grain production. They're doing reasonably well, but their farming areas are being impacted by landmines and Russian territorial control - and most importantly, by restricted grain shipping ability. They have a large stockpile of grain they need to move out, but Russia is determined to stop the grain movement, so they can cripple Ukrainian income.

The weather is throwing in a curve ball, with a major extended dry period resulting in a severe moisture deficiency, which has led to the cessation of Winter crop planting in some areas.

 

https://www.farmtender.com.au/prime-ag-news/agriculture-challenges-continue-for-ukraine?utm_source=Email_Alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FT_Daily_Tue_03/10/2023

[spenaroo]

yeah, but Russia is also having issues with the lower income from oil and gas.
especially as other markets are flocking to fill the void, so they have lost the political advantage they expected

[red750]

Hand grenade fragments found in Wagner chief’s plane crash victims, says Putin

 

Hand grenade fragments have been found in the bodies of people who died with Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday.

 

The Russian president added investigators found no indication that the jet suffered an “external impact” causing it to explode mid-air in August.

 

All 10 people on board, including Wagner leader Prigozhin and his top lieutenants, were killed when it went down.

 

Putin noted that a probe by experts was still ongoing and stopped short of saying what caused the crash.

But his statement appeared to hint that the plane was brought down by an accidental grenade explosion.

 

Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion in June marked the most serious challenge to Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades and eroded his authority.

 

Prigozhin was a key ally of the Russian president but their relationship soured after the Wagner boss staged the aborted uprising against Moscow’s military leadership over dissatisfaction about the treatment of his fighters in Ukraine.

 

Exactly two months after the rebellion’s start, the plane carrying Prigozhin and his team exploded while flying from Moscow to St Petersburg.

 

Videos and photos circulated on social media appearing to show it plummeting out of the sky and a burning heap of aircraft wreckage.

 

A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded the aircraft was brought down by an intentional explosion.

[willedoo]

A quote from putin at the Valdai meeting in Sochi - "if Western defense supplies are terminated tomorrow, Ukraine will have a week left to live as it runs out of ammunition." He's probably right. The statement shows a couple of things - one is his true genocidal intentions, the other is how much he is banking on Western support crumbling. U.S. Republicans blocking aid to Ukraine would be his biggest gift. He has always worked on the principal of Western weakness enabling him.

 

It's hard to guess at this stage whether his plans in that regard will pay off. He knows how long Russia can fight for and he knows that Ukraine's Western backers are only interested in supplying Ukraine with enough to defend the unoccupied areas of Ukraine. If the allies were genuinely interested in supplying Ukraine with the means for a decisive win, they could have done it well before now.

 

There doesn't seem to be any indication on the horizon that the major backers will suddenly do an about face and really try to stop this war. All this just emboldens putin. I think he genuinely believes he has the resources and manpower to outlast Western will. Cracks in support for Ukraine are growing. Aside from the obvious problems with the U.S. Republicans, Slovakia has just elected a pro Russian party running on a platform of ending aid to Ukraine. putin would be thrilled pink; along with Hungary, he would now have the potential of two EU and NATO allies.

 

Ukrainian aid coming from those two countries is not the issue. The problem is their ability to block with their vote in the EU and NATO, as Hungary has shown. The elephant in the room would have to be the U.S. Republican representatives. In the last Ukraine support package vote there was only a slight majority of Republicans who voted in favour. Almost 50% of Republicans are for stopping aid to Ukraine.

[facthunter]

Those same Republicans would cut Australia Out just as quickly.. Good to remember that.   Nev

[willedoo]

Satellite images have shown that most of the important Black Sea Fleet vessels have relocated to the port of Novorossiysk on the Russian mainland. All the remaining submarines are there as well as landing ships and missile cruisers. It's a lot harder for Ukraine to attack because of the extra range. They don't have missiles with that range but have previously carried out sea drone attacks on Novorossiysk harbour. It won't stop the Russian cruise missile launch capability as they have plenty of long range ability, but it might create a few logistic problems for the Russian fleet.

 

In recent news, the Russians have said they will build another naval base further down the coast in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia. Novorossiysk is ice free like Sevastopol but certainly not as good a harbour as Sevastopol.

[willedoo]

The death toll from the missile strike on the village of Hroza in Kharkiv province is around 52 at present. It was a terrible thing and a straight out act of terrorism. Some background information: Hroza (Groza) is a small rural village in the middle of nowhere, miles from the fighting further east. A normally peaceful village, it has no military or state infrastructure targets and no reason to be targeted, nor has the area ever been attacked before.

 

Last year, a father and son from the village enlisted and the father was killed and buried in a military cemetery. Recently the son was discharged on medical grounds, so he decided to have his father reburied in his home town. A funeral was organised and as the villagers gathered in the local grocery store/cafe for a memorial service, a Russian missile struck it and obliterated the building, killing almost everyone, including the deceased soldier's entire family. The population of the village is only 300, so the attack killed one sixth of the residents. It hardly seems likely that a missile intended for elsewhere went off course and just happened to hit the memorial service. More likely that a traitor or agent was in the area and directed the attack on purpose.

 

The Google Maps screen grab shows the building before the strike (arrowed).

 

[willedoo]

The Russian representative to the UN Security Council has justified the killing of the villagers in the Hroza attack by saying it was a legitimate military target because lots of neo-Nazis were at the funeral.

[willedoo]

There's not much news coming out of Ukraine lately due to media focus on the war in Israel dominating the space. The point has been raised that Netanyahu might have finally realised that putin has conned him. The cosy relationship has been on in one form or another since the start of the Syrian conflict. The deal was Israel is nice to Russia, and in return the Russians use their influence to keep Iran and it's proxies (including Hamas) off Israel's back. That deal extended through to Israel's neutral stance on Ukraine. So how's that working out for Netanyahu?

 

Surely now he's realised that putler is not an ally anyone can trust. If they get solid intelligence of Russian involvement, then the honeymoon is over. One thing the Hamas attacks have highlighted is Russia's declining influence and status in the region.

[onetrack]

Ukraine has destroyed a reported 27 out of a reported total of 100 produced, of the newest Russian tank - the T-90M - and damaged another 18 of them. Called the "Breakthrough tank" by the Russians, it's no match for Anti-Tank Guided Missiles that the Ukrainians themselves have produced. The drone footage is clear and brutal.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/russias-most-advanced-frontline-tank-absolutely-detonates-when-hit-by-missile?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spot_im_redirect_source=pitc

 

Edited October 11, 2023 by onetrack

[onetrack]

I'm wondering if Putin has assisted in engineering an attack on Israel, backed by Iran. What better thing for Putin to have happen, than another War in the Middle East involving Israel? - which will immediately make America rush more arms to the Israelis - thus depleting the supply of U.S arms available for the Ukraine? I can easily imagine Putin scheming up something like this.

Iran has been supplying armaments such as drones to Russia, I can well imagine Putin stating to the Ayatollahs, "We're right here to back you with all the extra armaments you need, if you want to king-hit Israel!"

[Jerry_Atrick]

If he trusted Putin, he only has himself to blame.

[Old Koreelah]

Egypt claims to have given ample warning to Israel about the Hamas offensive. If so, why was Israel not ready?
Perhaps the odious Netanyahu allowed the attack to justfy a massive assault on Gaza.

 

[facthunter]

Not having any warning of such a large and well planned  attack will have to be answered by the most extremist Israeli  Gov't ever ar some point. Hamas ARE Sunny and Hezbollah are Shiite. Bit unlikely they would be planning together secretly  .Nev

[rgmwa]

I can’t see how this brutal attack by Hamas on civilians furthers their cause. They must have known full well that Israel would attack Gaza in response and make the lives of their own people even worse. Stopping the Saudis from normalising relations with Israel may have been a reason but probably a bigger concern for Iran than Hamas. If Iran was  pushing Hamas to attack, the Palestinian people are paying a heavy price for Hamas’s hatred of Israel.

[facthunter]

There's PLENTY of HATE to go around in that region and when a glorious death assures Martyrdom  that would have some appeal compared to a death by a thousand cuts with gradual extinction of any hope of a separate state for the Palestinians.  Nev

[spenaroo]

A lot of angry young men who don't know of anything different.

[willedoo]

It's still unconfirmed, but there's reports that the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship 'Pavel Derzhavin' blew up in the outer part of Sevastopol bay after hitting a Russian mine. They only had four of the patrol ships to start with, and one was claimed as damaged by a Ukrainian drone strike last month.

 

 

[facthunter]

75 % unemployment in one of the most densely Populated places on Earth.   Nev

[onetrack]

A Russian Lancet-3 drone has destroyed a Ukrainian Su-25 that was sitting in the open, about 70kms behind the front line. The Russians are crowing about this hit being the second Ukrainian Su-25 they have destroyed. There's a BS propaganda Russian video on YooToob which is full of unassociated "blow-ups" - but which does clearly show the hit on the Su-25

 

Either the Ukrainians have become complacent and they didn't think the Lancet-3 could reach that far - or it was a decoy Su-25. The latter scenario seems unlikely.

It appears the Russians are improving their drone missiles range, so the Ukrainians had better become more adept at hiding valuable equipment, or moving it more often.

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by onetrack

[willedoo]

3 minutes ago, onetrack said:

A Russian Lancet-3 drone has destroyed a Ukrainian Su-25 that was sitting in the open, about 70kms behind the front line. The Russians are crowing about this hit being the second Ukrainian Su-25 they have destroyed. There's a BS propaganda Russian video on YooToob which is full of unassociated "blow-ups" - but which does clearly show the hit on the Su-25

 

Either the Ukrainians have become complacent and they didn't think the Lancet-3 could reach that far - or it was a decoy Su-25. The latter scenario seems unlikely.

It appears the Russians are improving their drone missiles range, so the Ukrainians had better become more adept at hiding valuable equipment, or moving it more often.

 

I read on Xcrement that it was the second aircraft they've hit at that same airfield, but don't know whether that's accurate or not. The Su-25's are a big loss. They don't have many, and they are a real workhorse.

 

Looking to the future, I often wonder how they will replace the Su-25 as that day will come when it's not viable to keep them running. The F-16 can take on quite a bit of the Su-25 role, but being a single engine is not as survivable regarding MANPADS strikes. The Su-25 is famous for making it back to base with one engine knocked out from heat seeking missiles. They're a tough old bird.

[Old Koreelah]

12 hours ago, facthunter said:

There's PLENTY of HATE to go around in that region and when a glorious death assures Martyrdom  that would have some appeal compared to a death by a thousand cuts with gradual extinction of any hope of a separate state for the Palestinians.  Nev

Much as I admire the gutsy Israelis, their state is built on stolen land and broken agreements; who’d want to be a Palestinian?