This might be a little tougher than Putin thought...
- Thread starter Nole Lou
- Start date
Russia’s attempts to replace sales of natural gas to the West with increased sales to China have fallen short. It appears Russia has lost about 10 percent of their market. Pretty bad when you are hemorrhaging money to pay for a war. And, petro prices are being held down due to sanctions.
www.newsweek.com
Russia's dream of replacing Western demand with China is fading
Russia has been selling more gas to China since the start of the war in Ukraine, but not enough to offset the losses to Europe caused by sanctions.
www.newsweek.com
Rheinmettal is expanding a plant in Hungary to produce 120 mm and 155 mm shells for tanks and artillery systems. A strong diversification move to expand suppliers to European customers. Hopefully Orban doesn’t meddle with who gets what…
bbj.hu
Expansion of Rheinmetall Ammo Plant in Várpalota in Progress - BBJ
The new Rheinmetall ammunition plant in Várpalota, Hungary, currently being built by the Hungarian holding company N7 on behalf of the joint venture company Rheinmetall Hungary Munitions, is now poised to expand as planned. The second phase of construction started in January 2024.
bbj.hu
Wow! "Wolf Pack" of drones.
Last edited:
(Russia)
"in Buïnaksk a complex of shopping centers is on fire"
"in Buïnaksk a complex of shopping centers is on fire"
Going to be 24 ships tomorrow!
Zelensky set to announce dismissal of Ukraine’s top commander within days as rift grows over war, source says
Ukraine’s popular army chief Valery Zaluzhny was called to a meeting at the president’s office on Monday and told he was being fired, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN, following weeks of growing speculation over tensions between Volodymyr Zelensky and his top commander.
A formal announcement has not been made, meaning Zaluzhny was still in post as of Wednesday evening, however, a presidential decree is expected by the end of the week, one of the sources told CNN, in what would be the biggest military shakeup by Zelensky since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion almost two years ago.
Rumors of the meeting, and Zaluzhny’s dismissal, exploded around Kyiv on Monday evening, lent credibility by a rift widely understood to have opened up between the president and his commander-in-chief following the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive last year.
Loading…
www.cnn.com
Zaluzny had one hand tied behind his back as far the offensive goes. Without air superiority it was a very difficult proposition.
Trivia-why some refer to the location as a lake. (I think)
"Lake Donuzlav was the deepest lake of Crimea but become a bay since 1961, when sandy split (200400 m wide) separating it from the Black sea was dug with 200 m width channel. Related to the Crimean crises 2014, on 5 March 2014, on the lake were sunk two vessels belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet to prevent the access of the Ukrainian vessels to the Black Sea. "
Last edited:
This has been a head scratcher...Ukraine is short on manpower and their conscription age is 27 and older? Seems nuts to me. On the political front it doesn't appear Ukraine is as united as one would like....to prosecute a successful war effort.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more people. Army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has said the figure takes into account the military's plans and projections of possible losses.
PUNISHMENTS FOR DRAFT EVASION
The bill sets out punishments for those who flout the law on mobilisation, which governs how civilians are conscripted into the army during martial law.
The bill would allow courts to freeze assets and impose restrictions on going abroad or driving a vehicle for people who fail to abide by the mobilization rules and do not report to registration centres.
Citizens of military age would be obliged to carry military registration documents with them and police would have the right to check them at any time.
The amended bill proposes lowering the age people can be mobilised for combat duty to 25 from 27. Such a move would allow Ukraine to call up more people to replenish its reserves. The exact figures have not been made public for security reasons.
Parliament approved this same change last spring but it did not come into force because Zelenskiy did not sign it.
ONLINE CALL-UPS
Draft offices would be able to issue online call-ups to people via an account that citizens would be obliged to have.
Such a step would make it harder to evade draft officers who currently give call-up papers to civilians in the street or send them to people's known home addresses.
DEMOBILISATION
The bill proposes discharging soldiers who have served continuously for 36 months during martial law. This is a sensitive issue for families of soldiers who have been fighting for almost two years and are exhausted. There is currently no time limit on wartime military service.
Nonetheless, demobilisation in this case would not be automatic.
MILITARY REGISTRATION FOR THOSE ABROAD
Martial law prohibits men of military age from going abroad and there is no common procedure to call up people abroad.
It is unclear what the process would look like as the bill only says it is to be determined by the government.
The draft proposes tracking people who are abroad and requiring them to have up-to-date military registration.
Receiving consular services for things like passports would require citizens to present their military registration documents.
OTHER PROVISIONS
Under a new provision in the bill, people who received a suspended sentence would be allowed to serve. Convicts are currently banned from any type of service - either compulsory or volunteer - in the army.
The bill removes the right of some categories of civil servant to defer their conscription. The Defence Ministry introduced this change to make military registration fair and equal for all.
After mobilisation, all people must undergo a compulsory two-three months training to be sent to a combat area.
PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS
Now the bill has been submitted to lawmakers, it needs to be approved by a committee before being sent to parliament for debate in two or three readings. It is likely to change during that process. Once passed, it has to be signed by the president before it becomes law.
Explainer-Embattled Ukraine Moves to Tighten Army Mobilisation Rules
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more people. Army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has said the figure takes into account the military's plans and projections of possible losses.
PUNISHMENTS FOR DRAFT EVASION
The bill sets out punishments for those who flout the law on mobilisation, which governs how civilians are conscripted into the army during martial law.
The bill would allow courts to freeze assets and impose restrictions on going abroad or driving a vehicle for people who fail to abide by the mobilization rules and do not report to registration centres.
Citizens of military age would be obliged to carry military registration documents with them and police would have the right to check them at any time.
The amended bill proposes lowering the age people can be mobilised for combat duty to 25 from 27. Such a move would allow Ukraine to call up more people to replenish its reserves. The exact figures have not been made public for security reasons.
Parliament approved this same change last spring but it did not come into force because Zelenskiy did not sign it.
ONLINE CALL-UPS
Draft offices would be able to issue online call-ups to people via an account that citizens would be obliged to have.
Such a step would make it harder to evade draft officers who currently give call-up papers to civilians in the street or send them to people's known home addresses.
DEMOBILISATION
The bill proposes discharging soldiers who have served continuously for 36 months during martial law. This is a sensitive issue for families of soldiers who have been fighting for almost two years and are exhausted. There is currently no time limit on wartime military service.
Nonetheless, demobilisation in this case would not be automatic.
MILITARY REGISTRATION FOR THOSE ABROAD
Martial law prohibits men of military age from going abroad and there is no common procedure to call up people abroad.
It is unclear what the process would look like as the bill only says it is to be determined by the government.
The draft proposes tracking people who are abroad and requiring them to have up-to-date military registration.
Receiving consular services for things like passports would require citizens to present their military registration documents.
OTHER PROVISIONS
Under a new provision in the bill, people who received a suspended sentence would be allowed to serve. Convicts are currently banned from any type of service - either compulsory or volunteer - in the army.
The bill removes the right of some categories of civil servant to defer their conscription. The Defence Ministry introduced this change to make military registration fair and equal for all.
After mobilisation, all people must undergo a compulsory two-three months training to be sent to a combat area.
PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS
Now the bill has been submitted to lawmakers, it needs to be approved by a committee before being sent to parliament for debate in two or three readings. It is likely to change during that process. Once passed, it has to be signed by the president before it becomes law.
Loading…
www.usnews.com
Interesting story about the US investing heavily into the development of new explosives and propellents. There was a better one in the Economist, but, actual print copy that I was reading in the sauna at the gym The gist of both articles is that Russia and China are heavy into this. The US, and the world for the most part, are using explosives developed 100 or more years ago. For over 50 years the main area of development was accuracy, or platform used for delivery. But, now, there is a new focus on finding smaller packages of explosives that can deliver a bigger punch.
https://www.reuters.com/world/eyein...losives-make-missiles-fly-further-2023-08-02/
https://www.reuters.com/world/eyein...losives-make-missiles-fly-further-2023-08-02/
I've seen several more stories popping up lately about Bolshoi Island. 20 years ago Russia and China agreed to split the island that lies in the Amur River drainage basin. This forms part of their border. Recently China has been putting out maps that show the entire island as China's. They don't make mistakes like that. Xi is letting Putin know that Xi is the boss. Too bad Putin needs Chinese tech and for them to keep buying up petroleum products.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-breaks-silence-china-map-disputed-islands-1823983
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-breaks-silence-china-map-disputed-islands-1823983
If we do enter into some kind of large-scale conventional war with China/Russia/Iran, naval combat will be substantially different than years past. Watching those sea drones zig zagging to evade fire before plowing into the ships is pretty chilling.
I don't think he is supposed to say this out loud.
Ditto-hope it is because she is brave and not stupid.
Ditto-hope it is because she is brave and not stupid.
Hope it's true.
LOL-I could not resist. Turn on the sound.
LOL-I could not resist. Turn on the sound.
Last edited:
I don’t know about the age thing. Seems smart. I would rather go to the front line than my two oldest kids. Try to preserve the future.
Europe really is starting to lead the way. Congress needs to get their shite together
The question I have is what has Europe done to inoculate itself from the Russian propaganda farms that we have failed to do in the US? Obviously they were successful with Brexit, and with Hungary, but they have failed to get the EU to splinter over the invasion unlike the success they have had in the US.
Gonna be difficult to get an accurate tally of dead Russian sailors.
They are working their way down. Does not seem dumb to me at all. Seems like something that a nation of 45 million would do against the supposed world’s second best army (and a country of 150 million) after two years of fighting their asses off. Save the youth and future for as long as possible.
Perhaps some context.
Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age.
Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age.
Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths - US Wings
I understand your point but...
At home, however, he faces a human resources problem. The war is approaching the end of its second year, and Ukraine’s military needs more manpower to sustain a bloody war of attrition against Russia, a country with more than three times the population of Ukraine.
In a recent essay, Ukraine’s top military commander, Valery Zaluzhny acknowledged that training and recruiting troops was becoming a serious challenge.
“The prolonged nature of the war, limited opportunities for the rotation of soldiers on the line of contact, gaps in legislation that seem to legally evade mobilization, significantly reduce the motivation of citizens to serve with the military,” he said.
The essay acknowledged a bleak reality: Ukraine needs more people in uniform, and it needs them now.
If they are short in manpower then limiting their conscription to 27 and older just doesn't make sense.
Some pretty cool videos of Ukrainian weapons systems
www.wsj.com
What the U.S.-Supplied GLSDB Could Mean for the War in Ukraine
The U.S. is shipping Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs to Ukraine, according to a U.S. defense official. While analysts say the GLSDBs won’t be Kyiv’s most powerful or longest-range weapon, here’s how they could add significant flexibility and capacity to military operations against Russia...
www.wsj.com
TGIF
New Women's Uniform Ukraine
New Women's Uniform Ukraine
Last edited:
