TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian 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 2993. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
The head of the Ukrainian Army.
https://mil.in.ua/en/news/zaluzhnyi-unmanned-systems-are-crucial-in-modern-warfare/
Trucker Convoy, No trucks Jeff Tiedrich
From "The Analyst":
RUSSIAN STRATEGIC WEAPONS PRODUCTION FALLS SHARPLY
Russian is very much dependent for its great power status on its nuclear weapons. A recent review of what they have claimed and lauded compared to the somewhat starker realities, show a strained industrial base. Facing lack of private investment, a shortage of state funds, insolvency, manpower shortages caused by mobilisation, international sanctions and an inability to overcome technical delays on one side. On the other state giants such as Roscosmos which make sections of the strategic Sarmat missile for instance, have lost 50% of their workforce due to lack of state funds and resources, and the complete disappearance of foreign contracts for satellites and space launches. On top of that rampant corruption has reared its head with no less than six serious cases of multi-million dollar level fraud haunting the company. Most of those cases are bogged down in corruption as those up the chain and down it, do their best to sideline investigators.
One of the suppliers who provide the primary stage of the Sarmat missile, Proton-PM, is on the point of bankruptcy, unable to pay its suppliers and barely getting by let alone supplying dozens of missile sections. Only one missile is actually expected to enter service this year, despite it being a high priority.
The second stage producer, Chemical Automatics Design Bureau, is actually bankrupt and going through the court process to dissolve its business. The reason? ‘A chronic shortage of working capital’. That’s no state or bank funds and interest rates being so high it can’t afford to borrow. Add to that the state is terrible at paying its bills and these companies cannot survive.
The Kazan Aviation Plant is supposed to be upgrading ten of the old 1980’s Tu-160 strategic bomber to ‘M’ standard and has only delivered one. The company is also supposed to be building ten new ones to the same standard having restarted the line.
So far only one test plane has been delivered and the most they can produce is 1.25 per year - if they get the approval in 2024. A second aircraft is said to be under testing. The target was to build ten per year through to 2027. That seems beyond impossible at present. The government just doesn’t have the money. In addition the modernised plant was supposed to have been finished in 2020 but COVID delayed it. Then sanctions hit in 2022 and the availability of machine tools and equipment from western sources dried up.
The latest Borei-A class SSBN is also way behind schedule - two more were supposed to be laid down. The Knyaz Pozarsky was supposed to enter service in 2023 but will only just manage late 2024 - and even then she may have no missiles unless another Delta-IV class is decommissioned to provide them. The eleventh and twelfth in the 16 planned submarine class, each of which carries 16 SLBM’s, were due be laid down for completion in the 2030’s but it hasn’t happened. They haven’t been cancelled but if they don’t get started then the experienced labour force will likely be considered mobilisation fodder and their skills permanently lost.
So we see above how in real life the sanctions on technology and mechanical/engineering equipment, technology and finance have seriously impacted Russian nuclear weapons plans. This equipment should never have been sold to them in the first place and should never be ever again.
Imagine too, how deep these problems run in Russian military industries generally. Over time the economic costs have and are hitting ever deeper into the Russian military industrial complex. Despite their best efforts to get around it, huge capital intensive and high tech industries are buckling under the strain. Government funding is clearly stretched - even for their pet projects that are considered next to god in terms of national prestige and importance.
It may not look like it every day, but slowly and surely the sanctions are digging deep. We need to pile on the pressure. Not letting up. It DOES make a difference!
⚫ I think there’s a very important fact outsiders misunderstand about Iran:
Iranians do not view the IRGC as Iranian or as being from Iran. And there is nothing in all of creation that can make them loyal to it.
They do not view it as a part of their culture. They do not view it as coming “from” their history.
They view it as an imposition from the west which harboured Khomenei in exile and dumped him on their doorstep.
The IRGC outlaws parts of Iranian culture that were a normal, daily occurrence for centuries. Even during the highest heights of Islamic rule in Iran.
It is a cult in every sense.
The best way you can support Iran is by separating these two entities.
One is Iran. The other is the jailer.
@Chelseahartisme
🇮🇱 @israel_report
I look more like Elvis than Donnie. And, trust me, I look nothing like Elvis.
Trump will likely have a trial in March and another in April.
The Volgagrad refinery is burning after a drone attack.
This propagandist can't figure out why these women want their husband's home.
The Ukrainian response to a Russian man who ripped flowers down from a Ukrainian monument.
Biden's hidden advantage. At least read the first inch of comments.
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/bidens-hidden-advantage/54346/
Russian propagandist Simonyan was offended after reading The Times, where she was called a "beaver-eater"
The newspaper wrote about Simonyan in its diary under the heading "Putin’s petulant pet".
"Vladimir Putin’s pet broadcaster seems a bit tetchy at the moment.
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT, the Russian state television network, turned on the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg during an election event in Moscow.
“Stop picking on us,” she whined, complaining that the West was “trying to destroy Russia”.
Rosenberg observed that the West didn’t invade Ukraine, to which Simonyan petulantly sniffed: “You’re so old. And naive.”
At 55, Rosenberg is nearer her age than Putin’s. Simonyan is known as “bobroedka” or “beaver-eater” because she once boasted of having the furry creature for a new year’s dinner.
She wasn’t always so grumpy. A few years ago, Madame Beaver told Rosenberg he was “a very nice man, a gentleman”, before saying it would be a pity if he had to be expelled for being mean about her boss.", the Times wrote.
Simonyan reacted angrily, complaining about the diminishing British humour.
Ðrones destroyed a Russian convoy.
Sony bans activation of their games in either Russia or Belarus
https://t.me/liveukraine_media/17839
Nikki Haley does not think this country is racist or has ever been racist. And she is all for letting Texas secede.
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/not-ready-for-prime-time/54357/
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian 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 2993. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
TheOldGuy's choices:
