Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Most of the "accidents" in Russia involve falling out a conveniently open window or accidentally putting polonium instead of sugar in your tea.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Old joke

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[Dr. Strangelove]

First Jan 6th rioter to take his chances in a trial rather than take a plea deal was just found guilty on all charges. Jury didn't even need 4 hours. This father of the year threatened to harm his own kids if they snitched on him (they did).

Guy Reffitt, first January 6 defendant to stand trial, found guilty on all charges - CBS News

[Jeff Buchanan]

Leading reports in the news today:

• The Russian military in Ukraine is getting it's asses handed to them but the cost to Ukraine is exceedingly high in terms of human suffering, lives disrupted or lost and physical destruction. Logistical fuck-ups, dissertation, mind boggling tactical decisions by Russian commanders predominate.
• US Intelligence officials don't think Putin is crazy but he has become increasingly isolated and hard to deal with. Doubtful he will quit the invasion any time soon.
• My assessment from yesterday that a fallback position for him - controlling Ukrainian territory east of the Dnieper river and giving away the rest - may be looking more appealing. His problem is he doesn't have control east of the Dnieper...not even close.
• Hard to judge what pressures he's facing inside Russia. Well, MacDonalds is closing down. There's no question about what pressures he's facing from outside. Check back in 2w for results. Mother's of Russia are going to start dismissing the bull-shit from state media when somewhere around 3000 of their son's - a conservative estimate - show up in coffins.
• First signs that Xi isn't happy about hitching his wagon to Putin appeared today in softened official rhetoric calling for respect of international boarders and humanitarian needs.
• The big picture indicates that after about 2w, some equilibrium has been reached on the tactical level. That will drive strategic thinking on both sides.

TBH, I'm only reading news related to military activity or mood on the streets of Moscow. It was a hard last 10d on the humanity front for me.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Poland is sending 25 MiGs to Rammstein. After that we may try to get them Ukraine somehow? Are Ukrainian pilots coming to Rammstein to pick them up?

If Poland's worried about a response from Russia how does this avoid that?

Poland’s government says it's ready to hand over all its MIG-29 fighter jets to a US air base in Germany - ABC News

[Mike]

Shifting realities on the ground in Ukraine make these decisions easier.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Jeff Buchanan]

The last I heard, wherever they are going for staging, they're going to get disassembled and crated. These aircraft were disassembled and some reassembled in 1997 when the US bought 16 of them from Muldova to keep the from being sold to Iran. It's been done in the past. Not sure how airworthy a reassembled MIG 29 might be.

Alternatively, Ukrainian pilots could go to the staging are (where???) and just fly them into Ukraine. That would seem the easiest thing to do. I do think it is possible if done correctly to shield the movement from eastern Europe to a Ukrainian airfield from overhead intelligence sources (Russian satellites and airborne command and control aircraft). With Putin not knowing for certain where these aircraft came from, plausible deniability present, he can raise whatever stink he wants. But, Mike raises a good point. Militarily, is Putin in a position to threaten any of the states of NATO's eastern flank or Moldova in the South with a military response?

[Obi-Jon]

I hope Bulgaria's Su-25s are on the way. Orcish artillery and tanks are making a mess of the urban areas.

[Tom W]

Even Putin has to realize that an attack on Poland would an undeniable start of WWIII. One can split hairs and say that he's risking it already, but at least he can argue that Ukraine was an official part of the USSR. It's not a particularly good argument, but..

I can't imagine that the inevitable carnage unleashed by going full throttle against a member of NATO is going to sit well with the constituents either.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Russians lining up to get one last Big Mac at the very first location that opened after the Iron Curtain lifted

[Dr. Strangelove]

Russia suspending the sale of foreign currencies until Sept 9.

Sept 9th!

[froot loops]

Americans should all have looks like that after hearing all of the nonsense that Biden, Harris and Secretary Pete have spewed in the last two weeks.

It could be worse, we could have your boy Trump in office talking about how savvy Putin was for invading on 2 dollars worth of sanctions.

[Dr. Strangelove]

At risk of being petty, I do get a chuckle when I remember back to last summer when there was a big kerfuffle over the US Army running a commercial that featured a woman with lesbian moms or something. And this was contrasted with the commercials for the Chinese and Russian armies, which presented themselves as invincible and full of guys that make Arnold look tiny. Yessir, that Russian Military recruitment commercial was declared solid evidence that Russia would whip our ass in a war thanks to the woke elites.

Getting to see the real Russian army in action and it's generally either tiny kids barely out of high school or schlubby pot-bellied dudes who'd look less at home in a gym than at Wizzie's, devouring 6th place frozen wings.

[Obi-Jon]

Froot, you're not listening to the proper newscasters.



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