Ukraine and the Russian invasion, 2022-24

[DownwardDog]

interesting call signs for the fighters!

PSYCHO is a No. 1(F) Squadron (my old mob) callsign. We didn't use it much in the Harrier era and were usually JEDI or POISON.

 

[DaveCinzano]

PSYCHO is a No. 1(F) Squadron (my old mob) callsign. We didn't use it much in the Harrier era and were usually JEDI or POISON.

I can imagine the arguments in the briefing room of a morning...



No,



Etc etc

 

[Ming]

I wonder if that dam will be blown up by the Russians. In their 'special operation against the Nazis'... rofl.

 

[ska invita]

What is the logic of blowing the dam? Power supply I guess? But I wonder if it will also make the river wider and uncrossable downstream, and better create a border with the annexed south? Has anyone seen anything written on that?

 

[bluescreen]

What is the logic of blowing the dam? Power supply I guess? But I wonder if it will also make the river wider and uncrossable downstream, and better create a border with the annexed south? Has anyone seen anything written on that?

At a guess it's the blow to power supplies and the impact on tens of thousands of people, the proportion of death to homelessness depending on how much notice they have.

 

[MrCurry]

PSYCHO is a No. 1(F) Squadron (my old mob) callsign. We didn't use it much in the Harrier era and were usually JEDI or POISON.

Better than DAISY, BUTTERCUP, etc I suppose

 

[Spymaster]

PSYCHO is a No. 1(F) Squadron (my old mob) callsign. We didn't use it much in the Harrier era and were usually JEDI or POISON.

Are callsigns assigned to the pilots, as in Topgun, or the mission?

If PSYCHO 1 was off sick that day, would someone else get the designation, or would PSYCHO 2 an PSYCHO 3 do the job?

 

[The39thStep]

What is the logic of blowing the dam? Power supply I guess? But I wonder if it will also make the river wider and uncrossable downstream, and better create a border with the annexed south? Has anyone seen anything written on that?

I've seen Russian claims that Ukraine want to blow it up , claiming it provides water to Crimea and Ukraine claims that Russia wants to blow it up as it would flood the surrounding area and reduce hydro electric power to Ukraine .

 

[keybored]

Pilot ejected after takeoff

View attachment 347634

Looks like another Sukhoi has crashed into a residential area, this time in Siberia. Both crew killed.

https://defence-blog.com/russian-fighter-jet-crashes-into-residential-building-in-siberian-city/

 

[The39thStep]

Are callsigns assigned to the pilots, as in Topgun, or the mission?

If PSYCHO 1 was off sick that day, would someone else get the designation, or would PSYCHO 2 an PSYCHO 3 do the job?

PSYCHO 1 becomes SICKO 1 presumably

 

[DownwardDog]

Are callsigns assigned to the pilots, as in Topgun, or the mission?

If PSYCHO 1 was off sick that day, would someone else get the designation, or would PSYCHO 2 an PSYCHO 3 do the job?

They are just assigned for each mission. Individual callsigns aren't really a thing in the British forces though some people have nicknames embroidered on their wings patch or a sticker on the bone dome.

 

[teqniq]

These people are completely vile:

 

[Ming]

These people are completely vile:

I wonder when they eventually lose what defence they’ll use? Just following orders? Ropes and lamppost time.

 

[keybored]

These people are completely vile:

Apparently he's been fired, again.

Propagandist Anton Krasovsky fired from RT

Propagandist Anton Krasovsky fired from the RT channel after saying that Ukrainian children who believe that the territory of Ukraine is occupied by Russia should be drowned in the river or burned alive

russianfreepress.com

 

[Dystopiary]

Looks like another Sukhoi has crashed into a residential area, this time in Siberia. Both crew killed.

https://defence-blog.com/russian-fighter-jet-crashes-into-residential-building-in-siberian-city/

If this is true then luckily nobody else was killed or injured from the crash, even though the plane hit a house. Apparently the occupants were out.

Fighter jet crashes into two-story home in Irkutsk — Meduza

 

[existentialist]

A bit worrying (for Russia ) that this is the state of the kit they're using.

But really, I only posted it because I thought the soundtrack was funny

 

[Pickman's model]

A bit worrying (for Russia ) that this is the state of the kit they're using.

But really, I only posted it because I thought the soundtrack was funny

and i thought i was joking when i posted about t-34s being sent to the front from museums

 

[ska invita]

 

[not-bono-ever]

J

 

[frogwoman]

Zelensky slams Israel, suggests Russia will help Iran with its nuclear program

Zelensky said the alliance between Russia and Iran would not have happened had Israel provided Ukraine with air defense systems.

www.axios.com

 

[RedRedRose]

Russia’s population is in a historic decline as emigration, war and a plunging birth rate form a ‘perfect storm’

Russia seems to have brought its demographic problem to the fore.

Besides casualties in the thousands on the battlefield, the enlistment of 300,000 reservists to join the fight — and an even bigger flight of men abroad — is derailing Putin’s goals of starting to stabilize the population already this year.

Russian demography has long been an existential issue, and just last year he declared that “saving the people of Russia is our top national priority.” He’s presided over efforts to buy time with costly policies that contributed to a steep gain in longevity and ranged from lump payments for new mothers to mortgage relief for families.

But as Russia approached the invasion of Ukraine in February, it was coming off its deadliest year since World War II — made worse by the pandemic — with the population in decline since 2018. It reached 145.1 million on Aug. 1, a fall of 475,500 since the start of the year and down from 148.3 million in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The continuation of the military campaign and mobilization until the end of next spring would be “catastrophic,” according to Efremov, likely bringing births down to just 1 million in the 12 months to mid-2024. The fertility rate may reach 1.2 children per woman, he said, a level Russia saw only once in 1999-2000.

A fertility rate of 2.1 is needed to keep populations stable without migration.

 

[Tanya1982]

Russia’s population is in a historic decline as emigration, war and a plunging birth rate form a ‘perfect storm’

Russia seems to have brought its demographic problem to the fore.

Making it a place that those already there want to stay in, a place that those who left aim to return to, and that others from around the world see as a viable somewhere to pursue their dreams and life goals, would've been much simpler and more productive than literally all the things the Russian government has done. It's very sad, all the more so for being so unnecessary.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

Making it a place that those already there want to stay in, a place that those who left aim to return to, and that others from around the world see as a viable somewhere to pursue their dreams and life goals, would've been much simpler and more productive than literally all the things the Russian government has done. It's very sad, all the more so for being so unnecessary.

A lot of non-Russian ethnic minorities finally got the chance to escape after the end of Communism. Ingrian Finns to Finland, Greeks to Greece, ethnic Germans to Germany and Jews to Israel or wherever. Other small minorities as well. That's on top of those thought of as economic emigrants or political refugees. I wouldn't be surprised if the weather was a factor for some.

 

[Pickman's model]

Russia’s population is in a historic decline as emigration, war and a plunging birth rate form a ‘perfect storm’

Russia seems to have brought its demographic problem to the fore.

If it had all worked out for putin he'd have raised russia's population by millions in one fell swoop

 

[Tanya1982]

A lot of non-Russian ethnic minorities finally got the chance to escape after the end of Communism. Ingrian Finns to Finland, Greeks to Greece, ethnic Germans to Germany and Jews to Israel or wherever. Other small minorities as well. That's on top of those thought of as economic emigrants or political refugees. I wouldn't be surprised if the weather was a factor for some.

Yes, quite possibly the weather was a factor in quite a lot of people weighing up their futures, but people move to Toronto in great numbers - they can hardly pile in quick enough, so there was no weather related reason for Russia not to have any cities with a global appeal.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

Yes, quite possibly the weather was a factor in quite a lot of people weighing up their futures, but people move to Toronto in great numbers - they can hardly pile in quick enough, so there was no weather related reason for Russia not to have any cities with a global appeal.

Ok. I surrender. It must have been their crap government and society after all. Not the weather.

 

[teqniq]

They are really scraping the barrel now:

 

[StoneRoad]

They are really scraping the barrel now:

WTAF !!!

that's patently absurd. unless they are trolling ?
but with Kadyrov about, who the f*ck knows ?

 

[Ming]

They are really scraping the barrel now:

Satan is worse than Hitler though, right? I think he’s finally run out of things to ‘de-‘ Ukraine of.

 

[tim]

Satan is worse than Hitler though, right? I think he’s finally run out of things to ‘de-‘ Ukraine of.

Here's a Timothy Snyder podcast on the focus on Satan and Satanism in Russian propaganda.

As Ukraine Goes, So Goes the World (audio)

Listen now (51 min) | A lecture on fascism, genocide, colonialism -- and renewed democracy

snyder.substack.com