Ukraine Conflict - "An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war"

[Azdeus]

23 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Maybe its the US because they want Sweden to become a right-wing, neo-Nazi state !!! You just never know 

We don't need the US help, a good part of the population here are doing their damndest to make that a reality on their own.

[xzar_monty]

25 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

https://www.suninternational.com/sun-city/

Whats embarrassing about Sun City, its a very prestigious and popular resort  

 

I don't know how old you are and whether I should have expected you to recognize it, but my reference was to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_City_(song)

[BruceVC]

48 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

I don't know how old you are and whether I should have expected you to recognize it, but my reference was to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_City_(song)

That is interesting, first time I have heard of it. Im sure it was banned in Apartheid SA?

[xzar_monty]

Oh yes, it was.

Anyway, I think Sun City is a brilliant example of how art done "in the name of good" can often be embarrassing. Boycotting Sun City during apartheid was a good idea, and raising awareness of the situation in South Africa was also a good idea, but the song just sucks. As a pop song it's not the worst, but the preachy lyrics make it hard to listen to, no matter how pertinent the message.

Banksy's new works, on the other hand, look fine to me.

 

And in other news: that Wagner guy Prigozhin shows what a wonderful philantropist he is. This is full-blown ISIS stuff, which is not surprising: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sledgehammer-execution-russian-mercenary-who-defected-ukraine-shown-video-2022-11-13/

Edited November 15, 2022 by xzar_monty

[Lexx]

2 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

And in other news: that Wagner guy Prigozhin shows what a wonderful philantropist he is. This is full-blown ISIS stuff, which is not surprising: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sledgehammer-execution-russian-mercenary-who-defected-ukraine-shown-video-2022-11-13/

If it were just that. Wagner thugs are wreaking havoc in Mali right now and nobody cares. IMO they should be branded a terrorist organization.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Lexx

[Malcador]

Well, Russians still have cruise missiles, hit Kharkiv, Lviv and Kiev with them.   Surprised they'd reached Lviv even if they get intercepted there.

[bugarup]

I'm reading they're firing Calibers, X-101 and X-555s that are supposed to be high precision missiles? Interesting how their high precision missiles still hit apartment blocks and civilian infrastructure just like their low precision missiles...

[xzar_monty]

Stop the press: the ISIS style execution was carried out by American intelligence services.

 

Also, Kaja Kallas, from Estonia, is very direct in her speech. The stance of the Baltic countries has been very commendable throughout this conflict, as has been the direct support they've given to Ukraine. The Baltic countries know better than most: life under Russia is hell. (Btw, I've sometimes thought that Serbian support for Russia relies, at least in part, on the fact that the countries are not neighbours. If they were, Serbians would have had a much harder time of it. Let us not forget that Stalin was not fond of Tito at all, but since Tito was too far away, geographically speaking, Stalin couldn't really crush him, or at least it would have been too expensive for him.)

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by xzar_monty

[Malcador]

7 minutes ago, bugarup said:

I'm reading they're firing Calibers, X-101 and X-555s that are supposed to be high precision missiles? Interesting how their high precision missiles still hit apartment blocks and civilian infrastructure just like their low precision missiles...

Well, the civilian infrastructure seems to be the target for some here, they're working over the grid again.  Never will know how or why each missile hit where it hit - could be intercepted, aimed or just plain old inaccuracy, granted matters little how exactly one dies.

This seems like a missile being intercepted, given the warheads the things carry.

 

[Zoraptor]

Yeah, that's not damage from the 400kg of explosives a Kh or Kalibr carries. That's tens of kg at most so if it was Russian and targeted it would have to be a 'suicide drone'. Otherwise debris from an interception, or the interceptor itself. Which happens pretty regularly, even with faultless wunderwaffe (obv not actually a patriot here).

Edited November 15, 2022 by Zoraptor

[Malcador]

Forum really screwed up my post..

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Malcador

[pmp10]

I wouldn't rush to conclusion on that one.
Chance that a missile missed it target by hundreds of kilometers but somehow managed to hit people is miniscule.

And if this was a deliberate message then Polish villagers are a poor medium to deliver it. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by pmp10

[Chilloutman]

Russia know well why they didn't target anything near border - seems like they missed the memo this time. I bet Putin is sweating now

[xzar_monty]

Article 5 stuff, potentially.

[Malcador]

1 minute ago, xzar_monty said:

Article 5 stuff, potentially.

Not worth it, really.

[xzar_monty]

18 minutes ago, Chilloutman said:

Russia know well why they didn't target anything near border - seems like they missed the memo this time. I bet Putin is sweating now

I bet he isn't capable of sweating over something like this. I bet there is a lot of concern in his "inner circle", though, whatever that inner circle might mean.

[Chilloutman]

doubt article 5 but maybe no fly zone over west ukraine can me on the table

[bugarup]

Not worth it, sure, but could be deliberate anyway. Fleeing from Kherson with their tails between the legs, "G19", scrotum voodoo doll's no-show there and sad horse's hospital time, things like that all chip away at their moronic "RUSSIA STRONK!!!" narrative they seem incapable of even adjusting, let alone letting go. Bombing Ukrainian cities cannot cut it anymore because it is already routine for them, why not ruffle NATO's feathers by letting missiles "accidentally" graze its corner. Because "So what? Whatchagonna do, gayropeans, huh? Huh????"

[Malcador]

Going to be a long time before we find out anything, I guess. If we ever do, remember the drone that reached Croatia ?

 

[Mamoulian War]

Poland or NATO needs to do something, because Russia already blown up ammo warehouses in Czech Republic and IIRC Bulgaria some time ago. Which is third attack against NATO country in 5-10 years… Else the khuylo will start to escalate it. Let’s hope it will be rational response, which will help Ukraine and does not start WW3…

[Malcador]

Guess that was the target.  That website with the power grid is pretty nifty, too

[Gfted1]

Did it hit a Polish farmers tractor in that picture? Russia dont want none of that smoke.

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

Going to be a long time before we find out anything, I guess. If we ever do, remember the drone that reached Croatia ?

Most amazing thing about that drone was that something that old still worked. Well, kind of, since whoever used it it wasn't meant to go to Croatia.

1 hour ago, pmp10 said:

I wouldn't rush to conclusion on that one.
Chance that a missile missed it target by hundreds of kilometers but somehow managed to hit people is miniscule.

And if this was a deliberate message then Polish villagers are a poor medium to deliver it. 

The chances are certainly miniscule of hitting anything accidentally, but they wouldn't have to be hundreds of km off course. Lviv is ~50km away and it was definitely targeted, so it would only have to be 10s ok km off target.

The crater in Przewodów definitely isn't from a cruise missile though, way, way too small. For comparison, a tomahawk crater (also with ~450kg warhead) looks like this which isn't even close size wise, conservatively a tenth the explosive force. Which puts it potentially into suicide drone territory, but the wreckage certainly doesn't match that. Still could be Russian as they have several air launched missiles in the appropriate warhead range, but they also have to be fired from pretty close (10s of km; main issue is that I haven't heard anything about Russian warplanes near Lviv ever. It's always been cruise missiles hitting that deep in Ukraine).

OTOH a S-300 crater looks like this (note: using a Ukrainian source) which... matches just about perfectly. Theoretically a Russian S-3/400 (especially) firing from Belarus could fly that far, but it would far more likely be Ukrainian AD if so.

 

[Mamoulian War]

Russian planes did already shoot their missile at Ukrainian targets from Belarus airspace though.

[Mamoulian War]

14 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

Also, Macron tweets "with" or "alongside" Xi, thus:

Interesting.

The photos of Lavrov in Bali (?) are also delightful: the guy's wearing a Basquiat T-shirt, and he's got a Western mobile phone and a Western wristwatch. Such a staunch opponent of the "decadent West" he is, indeed. No hypocrisy there at all.

Couldn’t resist