badgerx16

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency have impounded a P&O ferry in NI as they say it is unfit to sail with it's new crew.

Given that they are not only facing up to China and North Korea, but antagonism with Russia over the Kuriles is increasing, ( and technically still fighting WW2 because of the islands ), they may be feeling that an overtly pacifist constitution needs to be reviewed.

The Foo Fighters drummer has died aged 50, whilst on tour in South America.

There is no way I would go to war in a T-72. The arrangement of the ammunition for the auto-loader means that just about any penetration of the hull will lead to a cataclysmic detonation that launches the turret.

I wonder if somebody somewhere has done a count of the stuff retreived by Ukrainian farmers.

A Russian lollypop ?

I heard yesterday that the Ukrainians have put in place a very effective recovery and repair system where they triage captured Russian equipment; the first group has simply been abandoned and just needs re-arming and refuelling, the next group need repairs, and the third group become the donors. What is left is for scrap metal merchants.

As Lady Bracknell might put it, "To lose one General is unfortunate, to lose 7 is downright carelessness".

Whilst the war is ongoing he will find it reasonably easy to control the narrative. However, it will be increasingly difficult to hide the thousands of dead, tens of thousands of wounded, and nearly a hundred thousand 'veterans' returning home and providing their own assessment.

Room

But what is the minimum Vlad can sell as a successful conclusion to the SMO ?

Russia says that "Phase 1" of the invasion has been successfully concluded. It's difficult to work out what "Phase 1" was intended to acheive; they have failed to encircle Kyiv and Kharkov, failed to capture Mariupol, haven't got near to Odessa, and are still bogged down in Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian forces will now concentrate on operations in the Donbas region.

The Pentagon is reporting that Russian forces have "lost control" of Kherson, the largest city they have captured in the war.

But after complete disarmament, how do you get rid of the knowledge of how to build nukes ?

Given the situation is as it is, how do you expect things to go ? Does the UK unilaterally get rid of it's independent deterrent and, instead, rely on the USA, a country that could quite easily elect Trump2.0 as President and go fully isolationist or turn it's attention fully to China.

That is like saying Paris was German territory in 1943.

New York Times analysing intercepted Russian comms from the opening days..... https://streamable.com/wae2fs

The main weapons the Russians are using are artillery and multi-launch rockets, neither of which a NFZ will stop. Also, the Ukrainians seem to be making good use of drones, plus their air force is still operating - technically a NFZ stops them as well. That is notwithstanding the risk of a Russian SU25 flying into the NFZ just to see what happens.

The Falklands were invaded because the Argentinian Junta thought that, following the Defence Review, the Conservative Government had eviscerated the Royal Navy to such an extent that the UK would be incapable of an amphibious operation to retake the islands. As it turned out, this was not an unreasonable assumption. If their domestic troubles had permitted them to wait for 6 months, they might have been proved correct. Do you think that we would have been justified in nuking Buenos Aires as a retaliatory measure ?

Given their history and Russia's stated war aims, they are fighting for their lives- I can't imagine them surrendering.

Berdyansk is Russian occupied, not Russian. They took control early in the 'Special Military Operation'.

I really want these to be true... https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3437016-russian-serviceman-surrenders-tank-to-ukraine-after-kyiv-offers-10000-reward-citizenship-prospects.html https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-troops-are-now-turning-on-each-other-its-a-shtshow-one-soldier-is-recorded-telling-another?source=articles&via=rss

It is about allegations about Hunter Biden, the bulk of which are yet to be shown to have substance. On the other hand, this is a rich person with political connections, who is claimed to be corrupt. Hardly a shocking revelation.

Then again, he was so many times..... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/

Pennywise