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
The Kremlin has called for the mass replacement of Russians with robots
The problem of labor shortage in Russia can be solved by introducing robots into enterprises, said Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin. "Robotization is a direct path to overcoming the labor shortage, which affects all industries," he said during his speech at the Innopolis forum.
From the Kremlin official's point of view, in addition to industrial production, robots can be introduced to support such processes as logistics, storage and sorting. Oreshkin added that with the active growth of wages, automation will become increasingly profitable. He also noted that Russia has a "large support package", including tax breaks, for robot manufacturers and those who introduce them.
In June, President Vladimir Putin demanded that Russia “shortly” enter the world’s top 25 countries in robot use, meaning the installation of more than 100,000 such machines. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak called robotization and the development of artificial intelligence among the main factors in the long-term growth of the Russian economy.
Currently, there are about 19 robots per 10,000 workers in the domestic industry. The leaders in this indicator are South Korea (1,012 robots), Singapore (730 robots) and Germany (415 robots).
After the war with Ukraine began, which resulted in mobilization and mass emigration, Russia experienced an acute shortage of personnel. According to the Central Bank, 70% of enterprises are experiencing a labor shortage. According to government estimates, the economy will need 2.4 million new workers by 2030.
North Korea has strongly rejected NATO's accusations of supplying missiles and ammunition to Russia, calling them "slander" and issuing a warning of "tragic consequences" if NATO persists with its "hostile policy." In a statement from the North Korean Foreign Ministry, Pyongyang expressed outrage over NATO's condemnation of its military cooperation with Russia, as well as similar criticism of Iran's support for Moscow.
The timing of these accusations, coinciding with the NATO Secretary General's visit to Ukraine, was interpreted by North Korea as a signal that the Alliance aims to confront the DPRK directly. The statement reiterated North Korea’s stance, echoing Russian propaganda, that NATO, not Moscow, is responsible for instigating the war in Ukraine. Additionally, North Korea criticized NATO's expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, claiming that the Alliance is seeking to justify its existence post-Cold War.
Pyongyang warned that if NATO continues its "hostile" actions, it would hold the Alliance fully accountable for any resulting "tragic consequences." This marks a firm stance from North Korea, highlighting the growing geopolitical tensions surrounding military support for Russia amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
It appears one person in North Korea gets enough to eat.
An excellent article today
Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Their leader and a good many of their people are demented.
Corporations that kill workers through dangerous working conditions
https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/when-corporations-maim-and-kill-their?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
A Wagner mercenary who returned from the war beat a resident of Novosibirsk to a coma and sent the video to her relatives.
Police detained a former participant in the war with Ukraine, who beat a woman in Novosibirsk to a state of coma, filming the beatings on video.
"Around 5 pm, my mother bought groceries and went to visit someone. Closer to late in the evening, we could not get through to her. At about one o'clock in the morning, we were sent a video of him beating her. He is a former prisoner, he was imprisoned for murder (he stabbed a woman), he signed a contract with the Wagner PMC from the camp and left for the special military operation," the son of the victim told the Incident Novosibirsk channel.
After the beating, the former mercenary dragged the victim out into the street and left her on the asphalt. The woman is in intensive care in extremely serious condition, in the last stage of coma.
The killer will probably not even be judged as police are actively recruiting "volunteers".
On February 29, the head of state, in a message to the Federal Assembly, declared the participants in the war with Ukraine the new "elite" of the country. Putin noted that they should be engaged in the education of young people and lead the regions. "Such people who think about the country, live its destiny, can be handed over in the future and entrusted to Russia," he said.
@freerussia_report
The European Union is planning to revise its military support system for Ukraine due to Hungary’s veto, which is aligned with its pro-Russian stance, reports RMF24.
According to the newspaper, EU ambassadors are expected to reach a political agreement on Wednesday regarding the provision of €50 billion in aid to Ukraine, sourced from the frozen assets of the Russian Federation. The draft decision suggests that most of the funds will be allocated to programs financed through the EU budget, with only 5% directed toward the European Peace Facility, a fund that has occasionally been used to finance arms for Ukraine.
This adjustment is designed to bypass Hungary's veto, as the decision will no longer require unanimous approval from all EU member states.
🔥 The fire at the oil depot in Feodosia in occupied Crimea continues.
The ruzzians have announced a state of "man-made emergency" in the city.
The oil depot that was hit by Ukrainian drones is the JSC Marine Oil Terminal, which is the largest in Crimea in terms of oil product transshipment volumes. The volume of its storage tanks is 250 thousand cubic meters. There are only two such terminals on the peninsula occupied by Russia. The second is located in Sevastopol.
The attacked terminal is located on the eastern edge of Feodosia, near the village of Beregovoe. It was previously already attacked by Ukrainian drones in March 2024. At that time, the main pipeline for pumping fuel was damaged. The same terminal was attacked in December and November last year.
The southwestern and southern section of the salient continues to show Russian gains but much of the salient has gone quiet and the action in the southwest is less intense.
Several areas to the south have heavy fighting but it’s slowed. Post Vuhledar things have also slowed down.
The weather has remained warm and dry so there is no reason other than exhaustion, manpower issues and ammo shortages, that the Russians are complaining about, for things to have wound down.
Unquestionably the attacks in the ammo depots have been incredibly damaging - but the Russians will recover from it. However it might just have provided the breather for Ukraine to pull itself together after months of non-stop pressure and retreat. Slowing down the Russians after such a long run of forward movement is a big deal.
‘The Analyst’ MilStratOnX
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!
MILITARY & STRATEGIC:
1/2 FRONTLINE UPDATE
The situation in Kursk is difficult to ascertain. The areas directly controlled by either side are reasonably clear - and Ukraine has lost a lot of ground around the entire front. However the grey zone is in places as much as 1-10km deep.
What this indicates is that both sides are quite mobile and there’s a lot of overlap in where they are fighting - there’s no fixed frontline nor the forces available to create one on either side.
At Vovchansk the Ukrainians have successfully driven the Russians in the east of the town almost completely out, and they’re having a hard time holding the ground they have left.
Fighting has largely slowed until you get to Chasiv Yar which has remained oddly static for weeks now, the Russians preferring to focus on the Pokrovsk salient.
However the Ukrainians had quite the success there in the last couple of days.
A significant Russian attack was stymied on the southern flank because Ukrainians managed to isolate and kill the force commander - Russian C2 isn’t good without its central direction and there’s rarely anyone who can jump in and take control if a commander dies, it’s just not how they do things. A western commander would have at least one and
as many as three junior officers all knowing who was next in line and what the plan was.
The Russians focused on the southern flank because it’s an easier target. Get through the forest and create a spike attack towards Stopochky, in turn giving them leverage to attack Chasiv Yar from the south, avoiding a costly east-west assault through heavy defences.
The Russians have smothered the area in front of Chasiv Yar, occupied Bakhmut and Ivaniske with EW systems - severely impairing Ukrainian drone operations and allowing them the benefit of being able to congregate quickly using metalled roads rather than cross country. So they quickly assembled a sizeable strike force.
During the night the Russians used the forest which is heavily wooded still and not yet blown to matchwood, and got over the canal tunnel, behind Ukrainian lines.
As soon as the Russians were detected the Ukrainians quickly and quietly cut them off in the forest and hammered them with
drones and ground assault troops. Meanwhile second group prepared a counter assault from the south to cut in and behind the Russian lines. The death of the Russian commander left the force decapitated and undirected - swallowed up in the Ukraine operation. Ukraine regained a sizeable bridgehead and took back territory the Russians will find it hard to regain.
Added to that is the ammunition situation for Russia.
The Ukrainians as part of the above operation used JDAM’s in the Russian ammo depot in Bakhmut. Ammo is clearly a problem. There is no doubt that the Russians along the entire front are showing clear signs of reduced capability and activity. The steady flow of ammunition has been severely hampered by the loss of the main supply depots and the removal of such large quantities of ammunition in the supply chain has had a marked impact. It’s only temporary- probably about a month or so - but it buys valuable time for the weather to change and for Ukraine to prepare its defence lines.
I’m not entirely sure these play such a part any more for Ukraine.
The advent of the glide bombs in such large numbers, and the Russians gaining experience in using them with almost no means for Ukraine to challenge their use in the air - either by eliminating the delivery aircraft or the bombs, has changed the game.
Soldiers will tell you to avoid drones, you need to be dug in using relatively narrow trenches so the drones can’t get in so easily and chase men down. But the glide bombs make light work of complex trench systems by blowing them apart.
Ukrainians have used their defence lines in the Pokrovsk salient and in the north and northwest it’s largely held - but in places it’s already been breached. 1 of 2
Fico's Futher thoughts.
Slovakian PM promises not to allow Ukraine into NATO due to threat of WWIII
The Slovak authorities will prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, as this could become the basis for the outbreak of World War III, said Prime Minister of the Republic Robert Fico. "As long as I am the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, I will ensure that the deputies who are under my control as the chairman of the ruling party never agree to Ukraine's membership in NATO," Fico said in an interview with STVR. At the same time, he stressed that Bratislava will not object to Ukraine's membership in the European Union.
In July, NATO countries announced at a summit in Washington about Kyiv's "irreversible path" to membership in the military bloc. In particular, the alliance confirmed that it is ready to invite Ukraine to become a member of the association when the necessary conditions are met and with the approval of all NATO members. Ukraine applied to join NATO in September 2022 under an accelerated procedure. However, most members of the bloc considered this accession impossible while the war with Russia is ongoing. This position is related to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, according to which an attack on one NATO member will be considered an attack on all members of the bloc.
Meanwhile, at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defense (the Ramstein format), which will take place on October 12 in Germany, NATO allies are going to offer Kyiv concrete steps towards future membership in the alliance. Earlier, the Financial Times wrote that outgoing US President Joe Biden could make an important decision on Ukraine's accession to NATO. At the same time, the so-called "West German model" is gaining increasing support, including in Washington - the FRG's membership in NATO that lasted more than 30 years until the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification with the GDR, said Jeremy Shapiro, head of the Washington office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Moscow Times
🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦Liz
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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