Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Back in the day , we called that ‘playing cowboys and Indians’. Do nothing new !,,,

Like blaming Russia for blowing up nordstream 2

Who do you think made the statement below ?

"Like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea,”

Disinformation deflection and misinformation is used on all levels and by all parties involved during conflict

Indeed, playing war and conflict has been a staple of outside play for ages. However, context is king and these kids are growing up in a state that has no issue with throwing them into unjustified invasions once they get old enough. This play has a little too much in common with what is actually going on out in the frontlines, compared to shooting at imaginary “ing-gens” trying to attack your Texas outpost.

Kids don’t get how war is hell (or at least they should never experience that horror), and I remember my own childhood sense of finding military stuff to be fun & awesome, so I get how easy it can be to sell a war to young lads in particular. There is a disturbingly thin line between play war (which is fine) and giving those kids quasi military uniforms to get an official stamp on their play to enable them for actual war. The Nazis learned this one early on. If Putin’s lads start producing “Z” shirts for this kids en-masse, then getting Russia back to some form of sanity is going to be all that much harder.

All quiet on the western front captures all that nicely. The expectation that the Germans would win, that war would be great, just like a game really. All your community proud of you for signing up as soon as you were old enough.

@cnocbui Another issue is that the bomb can’t be launched by any of Ukraine’s current equipment. Ukrainian engineers have been working on retrofits for ground launchers for several months..

This is my final post on this, running around in circles trying to prove your right,

Saab who produces the weapons along with Boeing have said that they can be launched from any HiMars and M270 MLRS systems,

Now why would the manufacturer be wrong but according to your opinion pieces they need separate launchers that the Ukrainans don't posses,but the actual manufacturer says no they can be launched from any HiMars or M270s.

Side story but good cause

And he is specifically involved in raising money for drones (1,400 drones so far)

You know we must be going through a quiet spell of any real gains or losses on either side when the last few pages have been taken over by the classic car club! My current view on the war, I don't believe this supposed new offensive to mark the 1 year anniversary will amount to anything. Why would the Russians be keeping back vital arms, ammunition, supplies and men while they get decimated on the front lines. They're a busted flush and full of hot air.

Har, har.

That would explain:

An indefinite level of terrorist danger has been imposed in the Belgorod Region, the region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Seems a very long way to have to source bridge bits.

🤣 WTF?

Karma.

Great piece from the BBC about the Ukrainian engineers who race to fix the grid

Some snippets

"Since October, when temperatures began to plummet, Russia has been using strikes on Ukraine's power grid to force the civilian population into submission. For two weeks, the BBC watched engineers and technicians who run the network racing to repair the damage and keep electricity flowing across the country.

We have been asked not to reveal the precise location of some of the facilities we visit. We've also altered the names of some of the officials we meet.

"Every time the equipment is damaged, it gets us all right here in our soul," Michael says, tapping his chest.

Some of these huge rust-stained machines are older than the men who run them. But for Michael, the plant's manager, they're his babies.

"It's our life. Our second family."

"Then, even through the thick concrete walls of our underground retreat, we hear a distant explosion. There's tension in the room as the men and women check their phones. A crowded apartment block, not far away, has been hit.

The scene, when we arrive soon after dark, is chaotic and desperate. A missile has torn a gaping hole in the middle of the nine-storey building. Thick smoke, pierced by flashlights, rises from a pile of rubble. Dozens of rescue workers and volunteers are working frantically to find survivors.

The death toll, which mounts inexorably over the coming days, is one of the highest of the war so far. Mothers, fathers, children. Whole families.

At the power station, the following morning, the mood is bleak. Everyone believes the missile was aimed at them."

"Data collected by Kyiv's Energy Industry Research Centre (EIRC) suggests that about100 substation transformers, of various sizes, have been hit since October. Due to their cost and the many months it takes to manufacture them, not a single one has yet been replaced

Serhiy points out the gaping hole in the administration building, where a bookcase and dangling light bulb are pretty much all that's left of his office. He watched the destruction from 500m away, as a "kamikaze" drone tore into the building, wrecking the control room and taking the substation offline.

"We knew it would happen sooner or later," he says.

Repairing the damage will take years.

"They know perfectly well why this facility is important for Ukraine. That's why they decided to destroy it."

You must feel angry all the time, I suggest. Serhiy is a man of few words.

"Hate," he replies simply. "Hate towards those who came to kill my people.""

"With Western help and several months of experience, Ukraine is getting much better at defending itself. Most of the drones fired by Russia are now shot down before reaching their targets, and most of the missiles too. Data from EIRC shows fewer than 10% of the 1,400 missiles and drones fired at Ukraine's civilian infrastructure since early October have actually destroyed key components of the grid.

But it's still a scramble for the country's engineers to keep up."

"Ukraine officially declared its desire to join the European grid in 2017. It's typically a lengthy process - it took Turkey 11 years - but when Vladimir Putin decided to invade last year, the process accelerated dramatically. In February last year Ukraine disconnected itself from the Russian grid for the first time, to test the country's ability to manage in "isolated mode" during the winter months, when demand for electricity peaks.

The disconnect, the first of two, was due to take place on the 18th and last just three days. The Russians requested a delay. It eventually happened at 01:00 on 24 February.

"We disconnected four hours before the invasion started, from this very building," Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, told me at his Kyiv headquarters.

"When the invasion started, it became obvious we would not reconnect."

Was the invasion timed to coincide with Ukraine's moment of maximum isolation?

"I absolutely believe the war started on the 24th just because of this," Kharchenko says.

Infrastructure was targeted in the early days, but not enough to plunge the country into chaos.

"They thought we would have a national blackout," Kharchenko says. "That this would cause panic, no connection, no government, no-one knows where the president is, how to connect with your siblings, your parents."

None of this happened."

On the Olympics thing, Poland says it plans to boycott any Games involving the terrorist state and reckons they can get 40 more countries at least to join them in such a boycott.