They basically swapped the equivalent of Carlos the Jackal for a basketball player. I think the US was hoping to include a US marine that was convicted of espionage in Russia. Good to see Brittney Griner released. I wonder what Russia have planned for Mr Bout.
FSB put him on a plane. I'd say he's shitting himself.
KHD wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 7:57 pm
They basically swapped the equivalent of Carlos the Jackal for a basketball player. I think the US was hoping to include a US marine that was convicted of espionage in Russia. Good to see Brittney Griner released. I wonder what Russia have planned for Mr Bout.
FSB put him on a plane. I'd say he's shitting himself.
What I get from what must be a deliberate artistic choice is that it is about conveying softening, inspiration, openness, transparency, glorification, angelic vibes. His eyes look watery now, emotional, heaven gazing. (Artistic critique ends.)
It's just odd. He has brown eyes, brown eyes are very nice. Why change them on Time magazine for his Person of the Year artwork? Do they generally do that? I checked back a bit. It looks to me that being Person of the Year is a bit of a curse. But Putin, Biden, Kamala and last year's winner Elon Musk, all have their own eye colour on the magazine cover.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
isha wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:13 pm
What I get from what must be a deliberate artistic choice is that it is about conveying softening, inspiration, openness, transparency, glorification, angelic vibes. His eyes look watery now, emotional, heaven gazing. (Artistic critique ends.)
It's just odd. He has brown eyes, brown eyes are very nice. Why change them on Time magazine for his Person of the Year artwork? Do they generally do that? I checked back a bit. It looks to me that being Person of the Year is a bit of a curse. But Putin, Biden, Kamala and last year's winner Elon Musk, all have their own eye colour on the magazine cover.
One of Ukraine’s colours is blue and judging by the artwork I’d guess they applied a blue filter which they decided to go with once they saw the results. My guess is nothing nefarious but it’s just an uneducated guess.
Edit on second thoughts they might not even be blue. Use your thumb and finger create a circle so you can see only his eyes and they look a lot more black. Could be a trick of your brain with so much blue in the photo. (If you have mspaint you can pick the colour and see exactly what it is)
In this following photo the squares A and B are the same colour.
isha wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:50 pm
The image of the Time magazine cover I downloaded directly from the Time site to make sure it is correct
TIM221226.POY-Final-Cover.jpg
The photo of Zelensky I downloaded from the Wikipedia page on him
Volodymyr_Zelensky_Official_portrait.jpg
This is something I have seen on Twitter, so I'm not the eagle-eyed one here. Why has Time given Zelensky blue eyes?
The guy in the Time cover, just below Zelensky's right earlobe, looks very like a younger Putin. Is there some sort of Freudian messaging going on here.
He is probably somebody famous, I don't pay enough attention to know important Ukrainian figures. I am thinking all the people around Zelensky are well known Ukrainian people (? but maybe they are other global figures?).
I accept KnownUnknowns reasoning - it's mad how colours work, how those two squares are the same colour. There does seem to be a blue filter as his beard is purplish. His eyes are possibly more black than blue, I can see that.
However I still have a small niggling feeling that a colourist would normally correct a person's global photo to their proper eye colour post filter, so it may be an error. And I do think there is iconography going on.
Not that that's unusual, but it is so prevalent as to be oppressive. We used to smile a little indulgently at Soviet era iconography on political posters - it's a whole art form. How were people impressed and conditioned by such obvious emotive aesthetics? We look back at our own iconography and think wtf were we on, the war promotion, the celestial filmstars, the heroic politicians. We think we are too sophisticated for that kind of stuff now, but we are drowning in it (in my opinion). If Marshall McLuhan was still around he would be a very busy man.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
All these hundreds of billions of military equipment handed over,and similar spent by Russia,and it has descended into trench warfare around bakhmut
Think it's reaching an indicator of what the next few years of this conflict will become,as neither side is seemingly willing to escalate this war to nuclear to break the deadlock (thankfully),unless political pressure is applied from EU to Ukraine,or China to Russia,it's going to be a catastrophic mess by time it's over.....those refugees are not going to have a country to go back to
"Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players." - Jock Stein
Setanta wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 10:06 pm
All these hundreds of billions of military equipment handed over,and similar spent by Russia,and it has descended into trench warfare around bakhmut
Think it's reaching an indicator of what the next few years of this conflict will become,as neither side is seemingly willing to escalate this war to nuclear to break the deadlock (thankfully),unless political pressure is applied from EU to Ukraine,or China to Russia,it's going to be a catastrophic mess by time it's over.....those refugees are not going to have a country to go back to
Won't need to use Nuclear weapons. High end conventional weapons are all that's required. But there has been a change recently between the Yanks and the Russians that should concern us all. Biden signed a document recently that gives the option to use nuclear weapons not only in retaliation to a nuclear attack, but also to respond to a non-nuclear threat. Also that they now can initiate a first strike rather than the policy up to now of using nuclear as a deterrent only. The Russians will now do the same. So this will bring Nuclear war closer since both countries may consider using a first strike approach based on what the other side is up to.
Setanta wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 10:06 pm
All these hundreds of billions of military equipment handed over,and similar spent by Russia,and it has descended into trench warfare around bakhmut
Think it's reaching an indicator of what the next few years of this conflict will become,as neither side is seemingly willing to escalate this war to nuclear to break the deadlock (thankfully),unless political pressure is applied from EU to Ukraine,or China to Russia,it's going to be a catastrophic mess by time it's over.....those refugees are not going to have a country to go back to
Speaking as a self appointed 27 star armchair General, I'm wondering if Bakhmut is being used to try to suck in opposition forces to thin out other places for a counter strike elsewhere. Now, who is doing the sucking in of opposition forces is the question.......
From looking at it, it appears that Ukraine actions tries to minimize losses. Look at the way Kerson fell. Russia just throws the soldiers into the meat grinder with no thoughts of losses.
Hairy-Joe wrote: ↑Fri Dec 16, 2022 9:47 am
Speaking as a self appointed 27 star armchair General, I'm wondering if Bakhmut is being used to try to suck in opposition forces to thin out other places for a counter strike elsewhere. Now, who is doing the sucking in of opposition forces is the question.......
From looking at it, it appears that Ukraine actions tries to minimize losses. Look at the way Kerson fell. Russia just throws the soldiers into the meat grinder with no thoughts of losses.
It's all very intriguing,it seemingly only place Russia pouring resources into,as opposed to digging in for the winter
It's two armies at deadlock/stalemate position,at such a stage,peace talks are imperative imo
"Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players." - Jock Stein
Setanta wrote: ↑Fri Dec 16, 2022 11:14 am
It's all very intriguing,it seemingly only place Russia pouring resources into,as opposed to digging in for the winter
It's two armies at deadlock/stalemate position,at such a stage,peace talks are imperative imo
Ya, is Russia trying to suck in Ukrainian forces so that Russia can launch an offensive (along with Belarusian forces) through Belarus on Kyiv? I wouldn't be surprised if that was their thinking.
This is interesting news on a couple of fronts. First off, from what I've been reading about this system, it consists of a radar, a control station and 8 launchers that can hold 4 missiles each. Each missile costs 4 million dollars, so when they say a billion, even if this is a billion dollars worth of missiles, this equates to 250 missiles. It could be a very short lived system if the Russians decide to saturate it with a mixture of old decoy missiles and real missiles, which they have been doing recently to help locate AD systems which are then taken out by their Mig 31s out of Belarus. It takes 90 personnel to operate it apparently and is a complex system that takes months to train up personnel on it. Unless the Americans already have Ukrainians trained up on it and are just not saying publicly.
My own view is that it will not make much difference as Ukraine is a big country and it is only getting one system, I suspect it will be installed around Kiev. Ukraine has a tendency to burn through quiet quickly the stocks they receive from the west on any system, there is a worldwide shortage of Patriot missiles so will be interesting to see how this works out.
I would think the Russian's will zero in on this system and destroy it as quickly as possible. It will be like a big red flag for them. It is a risky move by the Americans, what happens if the Russians destroy this system ? The prestige of the system could potentially go down the tubes. I wonder are there people in the Pentagon shaking their heads right now over this move.
Zelensky has touched down in the US, and is going to look for more weapons.
US has already given( put on hp for the eu to pay for) over 100 billion dollars in weapons
They will always give(endebt) billions to countrys for war, readily. But never for much else. Its a sad,sad world really.
Another interview with Colonel MacGregor on Ukraine and the possibility of Nato ceasing to exist after the war in Ukraine is over. Interviewed by some English lad who reminds me of something out of Dad's army, but very knowledgeable about British history rather than the air heads who pass as military analysts in this goldfish bowl of a world we now live in. Dedicated to CR as I know he loves Colonel MacGregor's lovely rasping voice.
Given how the bould colonel has - so far - been almost 100% wrong in his earlier predictions for what'd happen this winter, I think it's reasonable to assume that he's got his head in a goldfish bowl all of his own.
The events of the last couple of weeks have shown how well the Ukrainians understand the Russian mentality, and can effectively manipulate their enemy to their own advantage. Using "fake news" and Russian social media to get the Russians to relocate so much air-defence from the occupied territories to Moscow and St. Petersburg, leaving the way clear for a wave of tactical strikes on critical hubs was a master stroke.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues to waste men and ammunition doing stupid stuff because ... reasons? Maybe when they fill the ranks with women during the next mobilisation we'll see less stupidity in the field.
I found the video quite interesting (haven't finished it yet) and the points made about the Royal Navy's two new multi-billion aircraft carriers and the lack of sufficient British surface ships to protect them, the fact that aircraft carriers are a relic of WW.II., and submarines are where it's at - all very relevant. The points about China and Taiwan also very valid. The accents are indeed quite grating.
Del.Monte wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:18 am
I found the video quite interesting (haven't finished it yet) and the points made about the Royal Navy's two new multi-billion aircraft carriers and the lack of sufficient British surface ships to protect them, the fact that aircraft carriers are a relic of WW.II., and submarines are where it's at - all very relevant. The points about China and Taiwan also very valid. The accents are indeed quite grating.
It's all rubbish man, I'm sorry I watched it, what do them lads know about anything. Google Kiev independent for the real news.
The more I listen to the various "experts" spouting on YouTube, the more jaded I become. Most of them are fighting the previous generation war, not the current one.
This war has things that previous wars didn't. Internet, asymmetrical warfare (economic response against Russia), repurposed technology (Mitsubishi L200 as a fighting vehicle!), drones (military grade and €200 eBay specials), etc
I'm relying more and more on BBC as that's recognized as one of the most unbiased news outlets.
I remember reading years ago about the Viet Cong using buckets of urine hung in trees to render the US army's expensive hi-tech "people sniffer" technology ineffective.
I hear today that, hot on the heels of their recent well-targetted attacks on ammo-dumps and command centres, the Ukrainians have started responding to Russia's mass drone attacks with ... modified weather balloons. They don't do anything, other than show up on Russian radar over Russian-controlled airspace as something that shouldn't be up there, but the Russians are now so twitchy they fire off expensive air-defence rockets anyway, simultaneously revealing their location and depleting their stocks a little bit more.
That's the kind of creative thinking that achieves long-term success, and you don't get it by dragging "volunteers" off the street and sending them to the front line with a pack of fags and half a bottle of vodka.
Bakhmut is on brink of falling,some big breakthroughs for the Wagner group
Could potentially undermine Russian army,as Wagner group gets a significant victory,first in months for Russia.... likelyhood of defections to it will increase, undermining senior commanders and causing cracks internally in it, particularly after the mass loss of troops on new year eve
It took a toe-to-toe slog,and will for next few weeks.....everything should be done to intensify peace.... otherwise hundreds of thousands will die needlessly next year
"Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players." - Jock Stein
I'm wondering if the Ukrainians are allowing Wagner to advance and then try to kill Wagner people and then push back? They did that a few times outside Kerson to reduce the Russians. Also, it seems that Wagner are adopting the Soviet tactics of swamping and overwhelming with Cannon fodder and ignoring the losses.
Also, is it a tactic of Ukraine to get Russia to think that Ukrainians are weak here and so Russia would push forces in, weakening other areas. Then Ukraine can counterattack in these weakened areas?
Yes, I'm a self appointed 27 star armchair General.....
Hairy-Joe wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 11:42 am
I'm wondering if the Ukrainians are allowing Wagner to advance and then try to kill Wagner people and then push back? They did that a few times outside Kerson to reduce the Russians. Also, it seems that Wagner are adopting the Soviet tactics of swamping and overwhelming with Cannon fodder and ignoring the losses.
Also, is it a tactic of Ukraine to get Russia to think that Ukrainians are weak here and so Russia would push forces in, weakening other areas. Then Ukraine can counterattack in these weakened areas?
Yes, I'm a self appointed 27 star armchair General.....
I think their trying to bleed each other dry,to see who can stick out the levels of attrition....some of the footage of Russian/Wagner infantry probing in and getting annilated over and over, is grim,and a pure waste of life
I think the head of Wagner group is wanting to be seen to be winning,and is happy to scrafice members to do it.....him being photoed in that recently captured town,in theory within range of Ukraine missiles,plays well to a public at home compared to Putin and he sitting 10 feet away from any visiting politicians or their defence minister who had to go on TV to acknowledge a massive loss of life and putting the blame on ordinary soldiers
With them being only crowd to gain a victory in months of horrendous killings,it's a huge PR for his organisation and likely easier recruit than the forced drafts Russia is needing to undertake to bolster their ranks
"Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players." - Jock Stein
)
Given how the bould colonel has - so far - been almost 100% wrong in his earlier predictions for what'd happen this winter, I think it's reasonable to assume that he's got his head in a goldfish bowl all of his own. 
