Jimmy_D

Oh what a finish! And what a through-ball! GET IN!

We’ve had the better of the game, although Germany had the best chance. Hopefully we can settle quickly in the second half and get control. Ref has been poor.

Huge miss for Germany. I had England as favourites before the match, but thought Popp might have given Germany a fighting chance with the way she’s been finishing. Need to hope England still give 100% after that… this is such a huge opportunity now…

Well, Putin has said again and again that he intends to restore the Russian Empire and expand the Russian sphere of influence. I’ve seen plenty of reports saying that those are Russia’s intentions, not too many that think those intentions are realistic, outside of Russian shills claiming it’ll happen. However, the reason that’s it’s not feasible is that Ukraine, with the help of NATO backing, have performed absolute heroics defending their home. Ukraine are the ones that are stopping Russia, and they’re owed a great debt for that sacrifice. You seem to be implying that if Russia are too weak to expand beyond Ukraine, we should abandon them to appease Russia in the (unlikely) hope that they’ll give us cheap energy again?

Got as far as them saying they don't know what 'successfully damaging three bridges' means and trying to discredit that with Russia saying they'd repelled it, when there are pictures of it out of action, a replacement ferry(!) service in place, and reports from 'officials' in Kherson that the bridge is closed...

70000 is the US estimate for killed and wounded. Usually that'd mean 14000-17500 killed. That's probably a conservative estimate based only on data they have relatively solid evidence for. Ukraine's own estimated figures put it at over 40000 Russian troops killed. Regardless of the true figures, they're certainly facing shortages. The threat of Russia invading beyond Ukraine was over as soon as they lost a large number of their best troops failing to take Kyiv. Russia has thrown away most of their hard power, which as it turns out wasn't anywhere near as much as anyone thought, and along with that, all the soft power that being percieved as being a significant military threat gave them. Public support for supporting Ukraine is there because it's Ukraine that are being invaded. That's enough. Trying to imply that there needs to be some threat beyond Ukraine for public support to continue is ridiculous. Another thing that Russia's thrown away is the perception that they're a reliable energy supplier. They've shown that they're willing to use energy supply as a weapon. Any western country currently using Russian energy is looking for ways to reduce that, and Russia won't be getting anything it loses that way back.

Doctor Who was where I saw him most, which of course he was fantastic in. Very sad news RIP

Meanwhile, actual leaked US intelligence; All of Russia's worldwide military interests outside of Ukraine are currently being covered by less than 20% of their military, including the defence of Russia itself.

So, England v Germany in a major final at Wembley… Nice!

Pretty even but scrappy game, it’s anyone’s after that. Anything can happen in a one-off game of course, but England won’t be going into the final fearing either of these.

China are already quietly placing themselves on the side of the West, for the moment at least. https://www.ft.com/content/470e2518-410b-4e78-9106-cf881dd43028 A weakened Russia probably benefits China in the long run.

Russia’s ability to resupply advanced weaponry and maintain equipment has been utterly crippled. They’re running their military on stockpiles now, but those only last so long. There’s a reason we’ve seen them using S400 rockets and anti ship rockets against ground targets, and it’s not because they’re the best weapons to use.

They don’t work so well when sanctions are preventing Russia getting hold of the chips they need to provide ammunition for them.

Looks like they hit it again last night as well.

Oh wow. Where even to start with this. I guess calling Ukraine Nazis is the easiest place to start. Zelensky being Jewish puts a pretty big hole in that one. Ros Atkins did an excellent piece with sourced information debunking it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-60853404 It’s telling that this justification for the war didn’t gain traction with the majority of the Russian public, to the point that Russia themselves stopped using it as justification for their illegal invasion back in March. As for the ethnicity of the Donbas region, it’s historically been about 40% Russian. Even during separatist occupation before Russia fully invaded, they wanted to be part of Ukraine. https://theconversation.com/amp/most-people-in-separatist-held-areas-of-donbas-prefer-reintegration-with-ukraine-new-survey-124849 Updated military doctrine actually gives defenders in friendly urban environments a 15-1 advantage, assuming they have access to regular resupply. Claiming that Ukraine are in the wrong for using their military to defend civilians during an invasion of sovereign Ukrainian territory is utterly ridiculous. Russia has been deliberately targeting civilians with indiscriminate attacks, including areas where there are clearly no military targets, and have been using rape and torture. Children haven’t been spared from that. There is no way to justify any of Russia’s actions here. As for stories about NATO weapons being sold, they’ve all come from the side that just in the last 48 hours have denied striking Odesa with rockets, then changed their lie to claiming it was striking a military target. If Russia really did have possession of NATO equipment, pictures of it would be plastered all over Russian State TV. Judging by the continued supply of weapons, NATO countries certainly aren’t worried about it being a major problem. As for the state of troop replenishment, there’s one side in this war that are raiding their prisons for manpower, and arming them with equipment half a century (or more) out of date. There’s one side which is training thousands of troops for a few weeks with various European armies, including the British Army, and is receiving state of the art weaponry. Guess which side is having the bigger problems with morale. As for supposed Pentagon briefings of imminent Ukrainian collapse, that’s not reflected in the US’s actions. They wouldn’t be sending HIMARS if they thought there was any risk of them falling into Russian hands.

Damaging the road surface is easy if they wanted to do that, it’s just a question of fuse timing. Whatever they’re using, setting it to punch through appears to be a strategic decision, destroying the tension cables underneath that give the bridge most of its strength. This allows Russian troops to retreat, but denies it to heavy equipment and any major resupply traffic.

Have to say anything less than the title will be disappointing now, especially with the way we’ve played this tournament. Massively impressive.

Wiegman must have the most secure manager’s job in football at the moment. Been fantastic for us.

We’re going to Wembley! Gerrin!

Oh wow! Should have finished it the first time, but amazing improvisation to score that. One foot in the final now you have to think…

Fantastic save!

Oh no… Surely wasn’t impeding the keeper’s view? YES! Perfect start to the second half!

Yes! Great finish!

If anyone can be considered to be 'winning' in this war, it certainly isn't Russia.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-send-scores-of-artillery-guns-and-hundreds-of-drones-to-ukraine That’s the sort of supplies that will allow Ukraine to start counterattacking. With the number of Russian ammo stores that have been hit, as well as the pressure that long range rocket artillery is able to put on defensive emplacements, and the logistics issues that are starting to bite because of that, feels like we’re nearing a tipping point.