Sanctions against Russia

[willedoo]

In this video, the wave surge appears at bottom right just before the explosion. Perhaps it's the bow wave of a drone boat. I'm sure this is the span broken in the middle. In the attached photo you can see the scorch marks on the opposite lane where that span was dropped. I've downloaded this video and played it back full screen. A split second before the first blast, you can just see something white appear in the next bay, perhaps a bow wave of a second drone. Looking at this video, it looks very much like more than one blast.

 

https://twitter.com/real__libyan/status/1578637271666167814

 

 

 

 

[willedoo]

3 minutes ago, rgmwa said:

I wonder how long it will take them to get it partially functioning again. If the damage to the rail bridge is fairly minor and the inner roadway is not too bad they may have it usable again fairly quickly.

It might not take too long depending on the damage. The rail line is a double line so if the bridge structure is safe, it might be just a matter of fixing some track. With the road bridge, they would have to get engineers to check it out and repair any damage and just use two lanes for a while.

[willedoo]

Maybe the Ukrainians will wait till the Russians spend time and money fixing it before hitting it again. The next few days will tell us whether it's a red herring designed to distract from something else about to happen. A left jab before a right hook coming perhaps.

 

Zelensky is going to get a few dirty looks from Putler at the G20 next month in Bali. Both have accepted invitations to attend. Gloves off in the carpark maybe. The Indonesians are planning to put them up in separate hotels and keep them apart as much as possible. It will be interesting to see the body language of the two at the G20. I doubt Putler will be swinging his little dick around as much as he used to do at these events.

Edited October 8, 2022 by willedoo

[willedoo]

This is the span on the eastern side that supposedly came undone at the expansion joint. Doesn't look like any blast damage. Maybe when the other spans went down, they pulled this one out of place.

 

https://twitter.com/real__libyan/status/1578635677226319873

Edited October 8, 2022 by willedoo

[Old Koreelah]

11 hours ago, nomadpete said:

..,No matter who gets called 'winner', the recovery process for Ukraine will be miserable, and the ongoing suffering by the people will drag on for decades.

Perhaps not, NP. After the destruction ends, the world will be queueing up to get a piece of the reconstruction action. How fast will Ukraine recover? Given the spirit they’ve shown this year, probably much faster than the other ex/soviet nations did.

11 hours ago, nomadpete said:

...Probably the west will collectively wring its hands and do little to stop it all.

We’ve heard some pretty clear talk from Biden about how the west would react to Russia using a tactical nuke in this war. NATO has the capacity to devastate Putin’s military and economy- without using nukes.

 

Meanwhile, we’re told that nuclear weapons require regular maintenance and testing, so why they be any more reliable than Russia’s conventional weaponry?

Some predict an absolute shemozzle, where many nukes don’t work.

[willedoo]

There's reports of some activity in Moscow. The Russian Guard entering the city and moving to the city centre with police units. All military units on the perimeter of Moscow put on high alert. Probably fake news.

[willedoo]

Traffic is getting through on the relatively undamaged lanes of the bridge, but only a handful of cars per hour. Trucks might be doubtful for a while.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

8 hours ago, willedoo said:

Here's a link to the media article that has the video:

 

https://www.rt.com/russia/564274-crimean-bridge-damage-caused-explosion/

I think the UK has banned us accessing RT's website...

[willedoo]

33 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

I think the UK has banned us accessing RT's website...

Jerry, it was just this video that has since been re-posted all over Twitter.

 

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1578638952885784576

[Jerry_Atrick]

Thanks, Wille.. Wow! I I think it puts beyond doubt that it was an explosion (as if the other photos and videos didn't). If repairs won't take long to fix, then I think, although a greate morale boost to the Ukranians, it will be seen as not having had the outcome they wished as they wouild want to fracture supply lines for a while. Clearly, Putin was rattled a he has appointed another monster to head the war: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/russia-appoints-notorious-general-sergei-surovikin-ukraine

 

By the time you read this: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-war-latest-news-today-2022-b2198546.html, the news feed may have moved on, but this exerpt implies they now have the excuse to up the ante from a special military operation to a counter-terrorism operation:

"Russia’s response to the Crimea bridge explosion

The speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament blamed Ukraine for the explosion, but downplayed the severity of the damage and said the bridge would be promptly repaired. Leonid Slutsky, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russian parliament, said “consequences will be imminent” if Ukraine is responsible. Gennady Zyuganov, the head of the Russian Communist Party, said the “terror attack” should serve as a wake-up call. “The long-overdue measures haven’t been taken yet, the special operation must be turned into a counterterrorist operation,” he said. Sergei Mironov, the head of the Just Russia faction in parliament, said that Russia should respond to the explosion on the bridge by attacking key Ukrainian infrastructure including power plants, bridges and railways. The statements, especially from Zyuganov and Slutsky, may herald a decision by Putin to declare a counterterrorism operation."

 

The Head of foreign affairs committee does have an unfortunate name, I have to admit.. Tickled my juvenille brain.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[Jerry_Atrick]

An interesting economic take on the war:

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Very interesting view of inside Ukraine

 

[nomadpete]

6 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

Perhaps not, NP. After the destruction ends, the world will be queueing up to get a piece of the reconstruction action. How fast will Ukraine recover? Given the spirit they’ve shown this year, probably much faster than the other ex/soviet nations did.

We’ve heard some pretty clear talk from Biden about how the west would react to Russia using a tactical nuke in this war. NATO has the capacity to devastate Putin’s military and economy- without using nukes.

 

Meanwhile, we’re told that nuclear weapons require regular maintenance and testing, so why they be any more reliable than Russia’s conventional weaponry?

Some predict an absolute shemozzle, where many nukes don’t work.

I do hope you are right, O.K.

I have allowed the worst case scenario to get me all depressed.

[willedoo]

Putin is continuing to play musical chairs with his commanding generals. The sackings and appointments are hard to keep up with. His latest one is the ninth commander of the invasion of Ukraine since it began. Very few of them have lasted more than a month in the job.

 

If nine different generals can't get a result, wouldn't that tell a normal person something? Not Putler, he'll just keep trying number ten, number eleven, and so it will go on.

Edited October 9, 2022 by willedoo

[facthunter]

 So speaking Generally you don't think He's handling himself well..?  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Oh.. I think he is firmly handling himself well...

[pmccarthy]

He has a grip on himself.

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

He has a grip on himself.

But not reality.

[willedoo]

The rail line on the Kerch Bridge. They are saying the passenger train service will be restored tonight. There should be high demand for it; a lot of Crimeans getting out of Dodge.

 

[willedoo]

If anyone hears that the Russians have attacked New York, it's not the Big Apple, it's New York in Donetsk region, Ukraine. Local defenders drove them back.

[facthunter]

People's lives don't seem to worry Putin as much is objects he takes as sacred (or personal).. Anyone else's stuff is there for the smashing in a fit of Pique. . Nev

[willedoo]

2 minutes ago, facthunter said:

People's lives don't seem to worry Putin as much is objects he takes as sacred (or personal).. Anyone else's stuff is there for the smashing in a fit of Pique. . Nev

That's very true, Nev. It might not happen, but there's talk that Putin is meeting with his security council today in response to the bridge attack and might order full mobilisation. Sending another 300,000 inexperienced peasants to their death wouldn't worry him, but don't touch his bridge.

[facthunter]

The more he does the more his Madness/incompetency are on show. Russia is more defenceless now than in a long time.  Putin's leadership is more threatened. He's gone to great lengths to avoid that. He's running out of viable options. Tick Tick Tick. Done by the mouse that roared. What Irony. Nev

[willedoo]

I wonder whether Crimea will ever be Ukraine again. If the war goes worse still for the Russians and Putler exits the scene, it might be possible. Some could argue that Khrushchev erred by gifting Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. Back then they probably thought the Soviet Union would exist forever, and the status of Ukraine wasn't a big issue. Historically, it had been part of Russia for a long time, in Imperial days and later as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

 

In the 1991 referendum on Ukrainian Independence from the Soviet Union, the Crimean yes vote was 54%. It was the lowest yes vote in Ukraine, but still a majority. I can think of two points on whether Crimea should be part of Russia. First point, a fresh referendum on staying with Russia, even if supervised by international observers, wouldn't be a true picture because of the demographic change since the annexation in 2014. Since that time, a lot of ethnic Ukrainians have left and been replaced by migrating mainland Russians.

 

The second point is that Russia now has a track record of using Crimea as a base to invade and destroy Ukraine. Russian occupation of Crimea is now an existential threat to Ukraine, and in my opinion, that should disqualify it from any claim to ownership forever, regardless of ethnic demographics or any historical link.

[facthunter]

I agree but I think it was Gorbachov  who gave away Russia's warm water port. Russia has had some real dickhead US presidents to deal with. Nev