TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
⚡️⚡️🛳 This morning, the Main Directorate of Intelligence, in cooperation with all components of the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine, destroyed the large landing ship "Caesar Kunikov" of the Black Sea Fleet of the aggressor country
The enemy ship was attacked by "Magura V5" sea attack drones near the shores of the temporarily occupied Crimea, the city of Alupka.
This is the fourth ship of this type destroyed. In total, the russian Black Sea Fleet had 10 such ships in service, that is, 40% of large enemy landing ships have already been destroyed!!
@ukrainejournal
“FROM THE ANALYST”
GLOBAL MILITARY EXPENDITURE REACHES RECORD HIGH
$2.2 trillion dollars was spent on defence in 2023. That’s the highest ever amount in monetary terms. 41% of that was the United States alone, with it spending 70% of the money all of NATO spends (though that’s not really a fair comparison as NATO is not a global alliance).
The constant threat of increasing tensions in Europe, Russian aggression, Chinese and North Korean militarism, the increasingly aggressive stance of the Iranian régime, Russian interference in Africa, and a growing realisation that the world is not in a good place, all contributed.
It’s hard to comprehend sometimes that after years of living under the threat of nuclear Armageddon, and honestly believing we might just have managed to get out from under it, we’re back to square one. Only this time it’s even worse.
There were only two power centres in the First Cold War. Now there are at least three and nominally as many as five.
Technology has moved things in directions nobody could have imagined, and directions that have no fixed parameters.
Decision making is swamped with information that may or may not be real, AI stands to revolutionise that process and risks making as many mistakes as it does providing solutions.
The first power to adopt full quantum computing and employ it effectively will have the ability to break every possible encryption and security fence online in seconds. The race to encode secure communications in a format quantum computers will have to work at - maybe even find impossible to break - is just as urgent and well under way. It’s a race against time. Effective quantum computing is five, maybe ten years away. Quantum computing and AI combined? Possibly and arguably, something that should never happen.
And with these technologies coupled to drones and advanced missiles and avionics, the next 30 years - if we get through them - look set to be tumultuous.
And it’s all of this that’s spurred on a new era of global rearmament and an appreciation that trade, and trade alone, with an ideologically driven enemy who doesn’t really care about the money as a bottom line, but prefers power and control, really requires weapons to deter.
For most of The West, armaments are a last resort. The willingness to use them has to be made clear. Russia has struck fear into NATO. Those who dithered over defence are now facing the consequences of not saying no loudly and clearly enough back in 2014. The attack on Ukraine left the disbelievers without any arguments. The only thing Russia understands is force and the ability and willingness to use it. The same applies to China and the lunatic slave camp we know as North Korea.
Oddly enough the willingness to strike at Iranian assets outside of its borders has been key in keeping the lid on that situation. Even Iran doesn’t want an attack on its homeland.
Israel’s behaviour may be repugnant in so many ways - and it truly has been barbaric in recent months - but its willingness to do it has left the Arab world horrified and surprisingly muted. That will have a price of its own eventually, for both sides. But it proves that in the end armed might and the willingness to use it keeps your otherwise potentially aggressive neighbours in their box.
We have all rediscovered that weapons and the willingness to kill and destroy is the only means of keeping the peace. It’s who and what we are as a species.
Until we all decide war is obsolete it’s never going to change. And that’s never going to happen. Ever. So expect next year’s military expenditure report to get even higher.
@ukrainejournal
@ylove yes but why are they Republicans? We Democrats don't want to divide the country.
Trump's lawyer is claiming "selective prosecution". Jack Smith found a similar case judge Loose Cannon prosecuted and is asking for a similar ruling.
Republicans filed their 5th lawsuit.
The front as of the end of the day on 13 February 2024 - DeepState
▶️ Bilomoskovsky - no changes.
▶️ Svatove section - Katsaps had partial success near Ivanivka. Attempts to improve their tactical position near Synkivka were unsuccessful. Fighting continues to the east of Yampolivka, the enemy is making progress, and the line of contact is being clarified.
▶️ Bakhmut direction - Katsaps are conducting active assault operations to the east and north of Ivanivske. The goal is obvious - to reach the ridge to Chasiv Yar.
▶️ Avdiivka section - the enemy continues to advance in Avdiivka. The main blow remains in the northern part of the city. Katsap is advancing with significant numbers of manpower to the accompaniment of dozens of KABs. The enemy managed to reach the industrial avenue, cutting off the connection. The motor depot is also under enemy control. Katsaps continue to outflank Zenit from the south, creating a risk of a full encirclement. The enemy continues assault operations in Pervomayske and the surrounding area. The enemy's pressure in the south-eastern part of Heorhiivka has intensified. Fighting continues in Novomykhailivka, and the enemy continues to make progress in the eastern part of the village. At the same time, the defenders manage to inflict significant damage on them.
▶️ Berdiansk section - no changes.
▶️ Zaporizhzhia section - clarifications near Robotyne and east of the village.
▶️ Tavriya section - contact line in Krynky updated, grey zone expanded.
🗂 Analytical note. The situation in Avdiivka remains critical. No positive dynamics is observed. In other areas, the enemy continues to exert pressure, but it has slightly decreased.
The next few days will be crucial for the defence of Avdiivka, the enemy is bringing everything it can to the city and will not count any losses.🦅 We hope that with the new command in the Airborne Forces, the period of "Zhytomyr will send more" will end, and we will monitor the actions of the new team so that it does not repeat the mistakes of the old one.
Kyiv region detains Russian agent who rented an apartment near the airfield to spy on Ukrainian aircraft
The enemy accomplice, an 18-year-old resident of the capital, was interested in the locations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces aviation and the directions and intensity of flights of Ukrainian troops.
At the same time, the suspect was reconnoitering the geolocation of the Armed Forces' air defense complexes and finding out the accuracy of enemy "arrivals" at power facilities.
He faces life imprisonment, the SBU reports.
💔 In St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv, they said goodbye to combat medic from Germany Diana Wagner.
🕯The chief medic of the Third Assault Company of the 49th OSHB "Karpatska Sich" with the call sign "Snake" died at the end of January in the Swativ region of the Luhansk region.
According to her siblings, Diana called Ukraine her home. Above all, she wanted victory over the enemy, and then she planned to live in a flourishing liberated country.
❤️🩹She did not hesitate to run to the rescue of wounded soldiers in the hottest areas of the front. The girl's absolute dedication and German organization saved the lives of many Ukrainian soldiers.
Eternal glory to the brave daughter of Ukraine!
🔥 "Magura" destroyed "Caesar" - reconnaissance scouts sank the large amphibious assault ship of the Black Sea Fleet
On February 14, 2024, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine in cooperation with all components of the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine destroyed a large landing ship "Caesar Kunikov" of the Black Sea Fleet of the aggressor state of Russia.
🦉 The successful mission was carried out by the special forces of the "Group 13" of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
💥 The enemy ship was attacked by Magura V5 maritime strike drones off the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimea near the city of Alupka.
☑️ As a result, the "Caesar Kunikov" received critical holes on the port side and began to sink. It is symbolic that the Russian officer after whom the ship was named was killed exactly 81 years ago.
⚡️ The large amphibious assault ship Caesar Kunikov of Project 775 is one of the newest Russian vessels. It could accommodate 87 crew members on board. It was used by terrorist Moscow during the wars against Georgia, Syria and Ukraine.
❗️ The occupiers' search and rescue operation was unsuccessful.
🇺🇦 Glory to Ukraine!
A difficult night in Selidove in Donetsk region: the enemy shelled a medical facility and a house. 15 people were injured: 3 died (among them a child and a pregnant woman), another 12 were injured (including 4 children).
The occupiers attacked the hospital around one in the morning. The main impact was on the maternity ward. In total, there were almost 200 people in the institution at that time, and dozens of patients were in serious condition. They were evacuated to other medical facilities in the region.
Rescuers managed to save a 6-month-old child. 6 people, including a child, were injured. The bodies of 3 people were removed from the rubble, including a child born in 2015.
In addition, the Russian military hit a residential 5-story building. The entire entrance was completely destroyed. One person was rescued from the rubble, 6 people were injured. Among them are 3 children born in 2007, 2011 and 2016.
Police, rescuers - our forces are always in places where help is needed. Rescue, protect, document war crimes of the Russian Federation. The enemy will not escape punishment
Russians are terrorists.
From "The Analyst":
UKRAINE OFFICIALLY ON THE DEFENSIVE
The new CinC made it clear yesterday , Ukraine is now officially on the defensive and its position is to resist everywhere as much as possible for as long as possible.
It will prioritise saving lives, ammunition and weapons to extract the maximum cost from Russia for everything they try to take.
To my mind this is an admission of the glaringly obvious but it is required to shape the mentality of the people and create an understanding that this is now what it really always has been, a life or death struggle.
It laid the mental preparations for the loss of Avdivka - the city is almost indefensible and I can’t imagine that plans for a controlled departure aren’t well advanced.
Conserving ammunition in now a big deal. Drones are good but they don’t replace artillery when this war is still largely driven by artillery fire.
Ukraine has been preparing defensive lines in its rear areas for months now. All along its northern border, behind key areas along the entire front line. They learned the lesson the Russians provided.
This is now a war of Russian attacks and Russian losses. As we have seen attacking heavy defences is costly and dangerous. It takes at least three times the effort in men and machines to overcome a defensive position without preparation- with a heavy pre-prepared defence that cost rises to 7-8 times more than the defender.
That type of attrition is rarely sustainable.
And that’s what Ukraine now has to achieve. It has, like Britain in 1940-41, to stand alone and ready itself for what comes next. Eventually the aid will increase, the weapons will come both from at home and abroad.
It just takes time. And willpower. More than anything it takes willpower.
Yet Ukraine will remind Russia everyday behind the frontlines, that strategic targets are going to pay the price. They may be on the defensive on the ground - but the economic and military-strategic long range war has only just begun.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 !
@DrGeraintLLannfrancheta He will be in the dungeon soon.
Promoted to submarine.
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/21234
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
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