Category Archives: Military

When is a fence not one?

That is the thought I had a few days ago when I was confronted with ‘Finland’s main parties back plans to build Russia border fence’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/19/finland-main-parties-back-plans-build-russia-border-fence), it was a newer story with added parts, and they do not matter at present. You see, the Finnish border with Russia is 1,340km, like the Texas Mexico fence, it is folly. On the stage of getting a 1,340,000 metre fence costs more than the combined reserves of ALL EU nations, as such Finland cannot afford it. Then we get the simple setting that large parts of such a fence can be tunnelled under in simple ways. And to withstand the power of any tank that wall needs to be strong and it might merely delay any invasion by an hour, so what gives anyone the idea that this wall is a solution, other than the delusional thoughts of some politician? 

I honestly do not get it. Then, if you look at the map, the northern part of Finland borders Norway, who then borders Russia, so how to solve that? Build a wall that includes Norway? There are a dozen settings where the wall falls short, as such the use of a wall there is just folly. 

So what gives someone the idea that a wall was any kind of a solution to anything at all? And when you consider the Russian smugglers who use Finland to get to the shores to Sweden (the Lulea – Tornio – Russia route), I feel sure that some people will see the wall fail there as well. But the Guardian seemed to bite on that red herring with “Finland’s border guard last month suggested building a fence several metres high, topped with razor wire and equipped with surveillance cameras and sensors along 160 miles of the border – roughly 20% of its total”, so we have a wall that is covering 20% of the border, as such where? And when you consider that 80% is still available what does it do but take resources away, resources Finland does not really have that much to begin with. Then we get “The fence would protect areas identified as posing a potential risk of large-scale migration from Russia, mainly in south-east Finland, where most traffic crosses the border, but also around border stations in the north of the country”, which now implies that the Lulea – Tornio – Russia route could also make money for refugee smuggling, so yes, that was a really good idea from day one (sarcasm implied). And then we get the juiciest steak in political Finland. It is given to us with “The project would take up to four years to complete and could cost several hundred million euros, according to border guard estimates. Final approval for the main phase could be delayed until April, when Finland is due to hold parliamentary elections”, did you catch the stage? At a minimum of 200M, the fence will cost $1.3M per mile, which is ridiculously cheap, as such the cost would be well above 400 million and that is still decently cheap. Because border guards, electronic surveillance and a few other items will put the wall, the limited wall at no less than a billion, which is a lot more than several hundred million euros and that is before budgets are overrun and the entire mess will be useless at the price of close to €2,000,000,000 and that is still pinching pennies whilst the wall has no depth, implying that digging under it would be decently easy. So in this time of need, which nation has 2 billion ready to waste on solutions that go nowhere? At present NPR gives us that the Mexican wall is set to around $20,000,000 per mile, implying that Finland is looking at $3.2 billion, implying that my simple calculus exercise was right on the nose with €2,000,000,000 and as Finland has time issues (like Winter is coming) the 4 years is also over optimistic. Increasing the Finnish army by 300% might be cheaper and as we saw that the Ukrainian turned the Russian bear into sishkebab, that idea might be a lot more effective. A wall that cannot defend itself is merely a place you can get around and in this day and age, walls are avoided most of the time. To b e honest, I would like the politicians behind this give us the numbers on how they got to the few hundred million euro. I reckon we can all use the entertainment.

I reckon looking closely at the construction firms and their connections might reveal a few additional items, but that is me, ever the skeptic. Oh that is all before we look at the cost and maintenance of guards on that stretch of wall, you would need well over 80 guard groups, with 24 hour coverage, travel settings and food/drink options. I reckon I low balled the cost by a lot.

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On the subject of failure

Yes, it is a subject that we all face and no one (including me) is happy about it. We all face it in one form or another. I saw an event that could play out later this year, somewhere optionally between July and September and I was not happy on how I showed myself. How I responded, no matter how honest I was, at that moment, I saw something I never felt happy about, but no matter how valid the response was, it does not mean that I am happy that I responded in that way. It was not about finding another way to say it, it merely went on about something that does not matter now. It applies to some degree to what this is about, because it made me check news sources and in this I decided on the article (at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-director-bill-burns-china-russia-lethal-aid/). The CBS News article gives us ‘CIA confirms possibility of Chinese lethal aid to Russia’ and when I read it, I saw something different, it was not related to the earlier part, but it changed the way I looked at that news. We are given “In an exclusive interview with CBS News, CIA Director Bill Burns confirmed the possibility that China may send lethal aid to Russia in its war against Ukraine. “We’re confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment,” Burns told “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Friday.” We are also given “I think the Chinese are also trying to weigh the consequences of, you know, what the concerns we’ve expressed are, you know, about providing lethal equipment”, this comes from CIA Director William Burn and that is fine. I am not debating that part, but when you consider what is behind it, it is a different stage. You see Russia is close the broke on a few levels and the only way that Russia can pay for this (as China would prefer it) is via massively reduced oil. Oil China needs and Russia cannot sell it to their former largest buyers. Yet behind all this is more. The logistics of the Russian armed forces are a mess. Their soldiers are ineffective, their hardware is failing on many levels and their supply systems are (from my point of view) broken in many ways. Russia has a problem. It needs drones, it needs missiles and it needs hardware that soldiers can use, Russia is falling short on several fronts and it is losing against the 21st largest army in the world. We all have seen Ukrainian achievement reports in several languages on several sources and they seemingly align. Russia could mobilise its armies, but the hardware issues remain and that could push the Russian armed forces in a direction it does not want to go, not in this stage. To give some slight reference. Russia lost more people in this war in one year than the UK and France combined lost in WW2 over the entirety of the war. In one year lost more soldiers than the UK and France lost over the entire world war, they are doing THAT bad. So now they need upgrades in hardware and that is what Russia is seemingly angling for. But I reckon that China is only considering a limited list and the payments are due in oil and upfront. Which would give them millions of barrels in extra oil, oil they need and I reckon they will get it for an apple and an egg. 

But when you think this through we could optionally deduce a lot more. You see that oil can then not be used to heat Russian houses, fuel power and fuel mobility. In addition it would be a first direct proof that the Russian Army has no place to go, or at least not operational. If it was merely missiles the issue would be small (except for the Ukraine), I am speculating that it is about a lot more, even if we accept that Russia is sending troops with 40 year old ammunition. 

The fact that they cannot do this with a renewed offensive is up on the wall and now we see how deployment and supply lines are on the front issues. If they cannot get supplies they will need to acquire them and China is nearly the only option and that is merely the beginning of the issue. Thee news has shown enough issues with soldiers personal gear and debatable mobile hardware (tanks and other things requiring wheels). This is not the stage of some new tanks, this is about the refurbished T-72 tanks that are almost 50 years old, implying that whatever anti tank comes their way will slice through their armour like a hot knife through butter and that is if the refurbishments were properly done, which in light of several issues is now a matter for debate. If Russia stages this war with its regular armies (if they can find them) Those armies will be ill equipped and ill prepared. A lesson France learned in 1812 the hard way and now Russia gets to learn that very same lesson. But is it all true? I am speculating, but I believe that I am in a stage of presumption because I do know how in parts this field is set. And the lesson is not over, not for the Russians and not for me either. Because there are many debates on what was real, I need to wonder how reliable the information I have is. I believe that I made enough sidesteps to alternate sources of information so that I believe that I am on the right track, but that too is not properly vetted information, so there could be gaps. Yet overall the news is still valid. If Russia needs China it means that they were never ready for any real combat and they were never prepared with the hardware they had, or they wouldn’t need China’s hardware. It could be a Russian ploy, but I do not think so, if that was the case the CIA would have come with a very different presentation, of that I am very certain.

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That first step

That was the setting I was given when ABC decided to skip water with stones. The article (at https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/pressure-on-spy-boss-to-ease-up-on-foreign-interference/102010914) gives us ‘Pressure on spy boss to “ease up” on foreign interference’, a radio piece no less. It boils down to “In his annual threat assessment, the head of Australia’s security agency also revealed he’d been directly pressured by public servants, academics and businesspeople to “ease up” his focus on foreign influence” and apart from the one typo I saw, I also wonder who these people are. They are as I personally see them and as I have mentioned them the ‘stakeholders’ connected to corporations. I wonder who the Australian business people are, what THEY have to gain. I mentioned a long time ago that the media is filtered by Shareholders, stakeholders and advertisers. As I personally see it, it is the advertisers (with interests in Russia) and stakeholders with Russian connection that are the problem. In the first (and I apologise for the language) “Who the fuck do these academics and businesspeople think they are to oppose the security of Australia?” In the second, who are these public servants and business people? I think we need to put them out in the limelight and see what stakeholders become visible when we shake those trees. It is bbad enough that we are confronted with stakeholders stopping news from getting to the people, but when it comes to foreign influence in Australian governance, it becomes a whole new ball of wax and questions should be asked. The fact that this is now an issue, but we get limited exposure to this is another matter and we need to get this into the limelight. 

Mikey Mike (the spy catcher) has a bad enough setting as it is, lets cooperate with him, we owe him that much. He is trying to keep Australia safe and fair dinkum honest. In addition to that, if WE face it, make no mistake that there are equal issues in the United Kingdom, Canada (where currently unconfirmed rumours have it that Pierre Poilievre is engaging with trolls to get his visibility out there), India and optionally New Zealand, but the last reference is more speculation from me than fact. So Australia is not alone and as I see it Mike Burgess (ASIO),  David Vigneault (CSIS) and Ken McCallum (MI5) should pool resources and see which stakeholders have more than one shoreline they are fishing at, them and the direct connection they have. I think it is time to light up that collected Riffraff. I am still all for electing the actual traitors with a Accuracy International AXMC (the .338 edition) but apparently that is an illegal act (darn). And I admit, traitors make my blood boil and the blood gets a few degrees warmer when it is done for money. A first step is required and personally I think that illuminating these stakeholders will make them rush like the roaches they are for any place offering shades. When we have there visibility we can see who THEY are connected to. That does not mean that the connection are guilty, but it gives us the frame of an image and that image optionally colours the roadmap to something that could be a solution. Yes, there are issues with ‘could’ and ‘optional’ but in the dark we know nothing and we owe Mikey Mike more, or t least a stage where he can operate and three groups with self serving interests are not the way to go, especially when it is about the safety of a nation. It is even more when you consider that this could affect the whole Commonwealth. In this I could be wrong, I really could be, but should we allow this level of interference to go unattended to? I say no and it is time that you realise that in the Commonwealth stakeholders are given too much leeway and that needs to stop (or massively dampened). We need to realise that we have a problem and the first step to solving that problem is admitting we have one.

So have a great Friday and make your Friday a ‘Friyay’.

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Do ALL expressions have freedom?

That is the exercise of today, but I am adding a governmental side to this all, it is time to do so.

To:
Director-General Paul Symon ASIS 
Director-General Mike Burgess ASIO (@asio)

Regarding: Foreign agents in Australia

To whom it may concern. Via Twitter and outside sources the visibility of foreign agents have become visible. These are not journalists or even reliable people, they are bringers of disinformation. I wanted to wait until more evidence was known, but that is becoming harder and harder. The tweet in question is shown below.

This tweet is disinformation, what is being shown is the collection of bodybags of Wagner mercenaries. It was shown on Telegram by Wagner (exacct time unknown). That last part could not be confirmed, but I do trust the source whi informed me. I think that any Australian attacking the policies of an ally using fake information and disinformation needs to be dealt with. In addition, the profile of this person has at present 109,000 followers and as such his disinformation spreads too widely. In addition to this an academic ‘hiding’ behind “dominant in a political or social context” should be seen as a clear and present danger to the Commonwealth. In addition to this, this person is creating friction between us and our allies, as such action is required.

I hereby demand (or forcefully request if you prefer) that this account is investigated. The setting seems to imply that he is a foreign agent working for Russia, in the current environment this is a setting that should not be allowed. There is of course a lot more in his statement, but there is a grey area where less intelligent people demand their say and their freedom of expression which is much harder to validate or oppose. Yet as I personally see it, the disinformation should not be allowed. People should be held to standards, especially if they proclaim to be director of counter hegemonic studies in Sydney.

Kind regards,

The blogger who is a simple no one.

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The sad story in this

Yes, it all started early this morning when one source gave me certain facts, facts that will hopefully shown tomorrow as I need a telegram source. But related to this SBS gave us (at https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/attempted-recruitment-of-journalists-plan-to-dispose-of-activist-australias-spy-boss-threat-warning/6qbsejg0q) the story ‘Attempted recruitment of journalists, plan to ‘dispose of’ activist: Australia’s spy boss’ threat warning’ is only on the surface of this. We are given “ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has also revealed the agency foiled two plots by foreign governments to harm perceived dissidents living in Australia, including a plan to lure a human rights activist overseas where they could be “disposed of”” and that is fine. Only a fool goes against the word of Mikey Mike of the tradecraft. Yet it is seemingly incomplete. You see there is a second cog in play. That cog uses stupid people (you have to be stupid to spread disinformation on behalf of the Russian government) and this involves AUSTRALIANS. But about that more hopefully tomorrow when I get the second source with the telegram link. At that point I will be demanding (or forcefully requesting if they prefer that) action. So at that point the intensely phrased request will be towards both Director-General Paul Symon (ASIS) and director-general Mike Burgess (ASIO). You see Australians by Russians own definition against their press have become foreign agents and as an Australian I do not tolerate foreign agents to work on Australian soil, not even in a multicultural location as Sydney. 

And now the cog becomes a little more clear. These spreaders of disinformation are not voicing or expressing free will, they are agents for a foreign power giving their audience false information and that is a stage we cannot condone. The reason for voicing it now is that SBS is giving us parts now, but mostly because a foreign agent like that is too dangerous too be allowed to continue. As such I started this now. 

So even as we are given “Mr Burgess warned the countries engaging in espionage in Australia were varied, including authoritarian regimes but also nations “considered friends” of Canberra” the added cog that spreads disinformation might consider himself safe for now, but I will not have that. The support of Russia through lies is a rather nasty stage and this is seemingly happening all over the Commonwealth, as such there is a problem and it is larger than you think.

So, it is not a simple stage, but the sad story behind this is that the children and grandchildren of the people who fought the acts of Nazi Germany are now enabling a similar setting that is orchestrated by Russia and that is sad on several levels. Consider the Australian day march on January 26th where we all salute and cheer the military for their actions in past and present. These lines are now smitten with pro nazi sentiment, you tell me how sad that is for you because to the fallen it will be devastating, of that I have no doubt. A stage we see and we do not act, but that is hopefully about to change.

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When we see a hustle

This is the idea that came to my mind when I saw ‘US-GCC meetings in Riyadh seek to counter Iranian threats’ (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2250361/middle-east). Thee we see “A senior US delegation led by Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley is participating in meetings in Riyadh this week focused on confronting the increasing threats posed by Tehran in the region.” My initial response would be “Oh, whoop di do”, you see, I was on that horse long before I wrote ‘The Iranian play’, which was in August 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/08/30/the-iranian-play/)  as such, is this a covert hustle for cheap oil? Is this a fake mention to be seen as an ally to Saudi Arabia? I honestly do not know, but you can read up on Iran (try Google with “Lawlordtobe + Iran”) you’ll see articles that go back to even before July 2020 when I wrote ‘A pawn in nuclearity’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2020/07/22/a-pawn-in-nuclearity/), it’s not rocket science (or nuclear missile science), It is all out there, with media links and all. As such when we see “US forces in Iraq and Syria “are under constant threat from Iranian allied militia groups that seek to constantly harass our forces,” which “undermines” their ability to combat Daesh.” We get to see a hollow statement. Saudi Forces have been under drone attack for some time. Perhaps Rob Malley needs to have a real conversation with Saudi Colonel Turki Al-Maliki. He has a lot more usable goods on the acts of Iran, as such the US is again late to the party, well over two years late to the party and as such I see a hustle plain and simple, what the target is is unsure, but the grasp for cheap oil seems likely. 

You see, most of us (and I at times too) see one stage, but the reality is that the stage contains dozens of stages, all with their own settings. US diplomacy, Wall Street, US congress, the seem the same, but that is not the case. They are often alike and they all have their own goals and their destination is at times anyones guess, because we are not given a clear view, we only see parts of that view and until you see the list of views and a proclaimed set of goals (if they are honest) we remain mostly in the dark and as such the arrival of Rob Malley well over two years late comes across as insincere and as such it is seen as a hustle. If the US wants to sound sincere, they need to come across with ACTUAL actions. But there is every chance that these steps come with a large fine (optionally payable in oil) and in no clear steps will we see any actions against the nuclear acts that Iran is pushing. So what do you call something like that? A hustle, or the acts of a sincere ally, because I feel certain that the Saudi government will report the acts by Rob Malley as insincere, I would too. But perhaps we will see some real actions soon enough, I am just not holding my breath on that event, I might suffocate long before the US actually acts against Iran. In part that makes sense with the Ukrainian issues in play, if only they had acted well over two years ago, that would have been nice too.

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Success of terrorism

That is the shout and plenty of you will not agree, I get that but lets look at the stage that we ourselves created. 25 years ago the Taliban was small, insignificant, just another wannabe party. Then Osama Bin Laden made a failed attempt on the US. The action was successful, the outcome less so. You see, he wanted the Twin towers to burn throughout the day and night. At night billions would see the twin towers burn and like torches illuminate New Yorkers, it would have been some sight. In one strike a demoralised America. The outcome was different, the towers collapsed and America got angry, really angry and you know what happened next. On May 2nd 2011 he was killed. One martyr and now the Taliban are in charge in Afghanistan. NATO and America lost. They got beat. The one word that got them there was ‘indecisiveness’, when they acted they did not. Actions I saw coming a mile away on 2005 onwards were ignored and the Taliban went largely asleep, only to awaken when America pulled out and within a week the Taliban had control of over 80% of all hardware, they took the country in less than a week. This you can look up, this is all there for the reading and now we are about to face the same setting again. The Taliban (via the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan) will do this again, now they are going for Pakistan. So what will be the epitaph of the west? “If only we acted” that is today’s lesson. The first part we get from ‘Pakistan mosque bombing survivors traumatised but undeterred’ (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/31/never-imagined-pakistans-blast-victims-mourned) we see all the grandstanding as we are told that “At least 100 people killed and more than 225 wounded in a suicide attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar” a mere 150 kilometres from Islamabad. We also get “The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable, This is no less than an attack on Pakistan.” We get this from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and we get his answer, we really do. But the USA and NATO showed the Taliban the path to success the last time around, as such this time around the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan knows what to do. They are willing to fight 25 years to get the job done. And there is a clear setting. For whatever reason Pakistan has been left weaker through years of sanctions and other actions. Now that there is a path to success the 

Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan are grabbing their options. So, as we also are given ‘What is behind the rising violent attacks in Pakistan?’ (At https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/2/what-is-behind-the-rising-attacks-in-pakistan) we need to realise that the quote “Pakistan decided to cooperate with the US when it invaded Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks. US forces targeted armed groups, including TTP, along the Pakistan-Afghan border for decades. Washington-Islamabad ties have remained cold since 2011, when al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. The US accused Pakistan of sheltering the Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders.” And all that could be true, but the aftermath was not properly taken care of and now that these forces are reinvigorated in part by the success that the Taliban has by governing Afghanistan these two players are ready to tackle a much larger target. They are ready to take the war for governing to Pakistan, which will also have larger impacts in India as well. The Ukrainian situation merely works FOR the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan as both the US forces and NATO forces and their equipment is spread too thin all over the theatres of action. We see the news of actions intensifying in Al Jazeera but the other places do not mention it as much, it is not sexy enough. But I reckon that this changes when the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan makes one successful blast in Islamabad. That will wake people up, but depending on the damage there it might be too late. I reckon that if Pakistan is left without serious resources the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan has a decent chance of changing governments by 2030, perhaps in time to attend festivities in Riyadh, that is the jackpot for them and if you say, this is one event, you would be right, but the setting is that TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani has been blamed for more than 100 attacks since walking out of a ceasefire with the Pakistani government last November. 100 attacks in three months. That shows that they have resources, equipment and a mindset to resolve the issue with that plenty of people willing to be a martyr. Pakistan is in serious troubles and we need to take heed, because Afghanistan was merely one nation. Pakistan is the 23rd-largest worldwide in terms of GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP). According to a 2021 estimate, the country has a population of 227 million people (5th-largest worldwide). That is not merely a nation that is the jackpot price that the Taliban awaits getting. And make no mistake, this time around the indecisiveness of the USA and NATO will have a long lasting global impact. That is what we face. Feel free to check data, feel free to check the papers, but also realise that any new day of inactions merely helps the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) to get closer to THEIR goals and they are not YOUR goals. 

Enjoy the weekend!

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As the tide turns

That is the subject of today. I have seen the events, I saw the considerations and I saw the traitor politicians (Thierry Baudet) as they betrayed their own country for a pro Russian rhetoric. For the most I stayed away, I did not care. It is not that I did not care, I merely cared about other things more. The accusation that countries did enough to keep the Ukraine in the war, but not enough to win it struck a chord with me. It made sense and it made sense for some to keep a distance, but they kept a distance for too long and now that the tide is turning people will demand answers from these people. I expect them to hide behind settings of nuance, or that it was too complex an issue for them. But the stage is set, these weak politicians will be out of a job soon enough and whilst they cry to any entertainment channel (example Fox News) that gives them a few seconds of limelight. The people who know are the people sidetracking those weaklings.

Now the BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64495520) with ‘‘I apologise to the whole Ukrainian nation’ – former Russian army officer’ or (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64470092) with ‘Russian army officer admits: ‘Our troops tortured Ukrainians’’ these people as well as the Wagner officer who ‘defected’ earlier. They are busy to create humanitarian revenue. They need good coins because they see it is the end for them. The Russian Stalin approach does not allow losers, the Russian stage is falling apart and even as I am not sure whether they will completely lose, they will lose a lot and with the exception of an execution of Putin by the Kremlin. Putin remains in charge and the losers have no place to go to. It will be a larger setting soon enough. The Russian army needs to order 129,000 bodybags (or coffins) so there is revenue for some in front of them, but the story behind them is a lot worse. 

The image gives us that over 300K are wounded and they never had that much medicines to begin with, the long term cost is beyond what Russia can give to themselves so the number of Russians seeking any kind of currency that keeps them away from Russia and away from the Russian Army is going to be the choice of too many Russians. A war that was badly conceived, poorly executed and even worse considered with the opposition to have and even as Russian propaganda continues, the propaganda people are starting to realise what the bad end of propaganda is when you lose. These people have no place to go. The Russian mafia is losing grip on to many places. With the oligarchs out of billions and most of them left with nothing, the material support for them is not going anywhere and without their billions in support other groups will now push in, soon that scenery changes for a lot of people too. Tongs and Yakuza will see their options soon enough to take over terrain and as loss after loss is becoming clear, some governments will start to draw out papers where Russians without permanent residency or citizenship will not be allowed to own anything. In the mean time as the BBC gives us “Konstantin Yefremov, the most senior officer to speak openly, said he witnessed interrogations and the mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners”, it is my personal belief that he does this for a passport for him and his family. Russia is about to become an automated deathtrap for him. You see, not only did he lose, he spoke out against the Kremlin and that never ever goes good for any Russian who does so. At the same time we get ‘Fvd-leider Thierry Baudet op Curaçao om stemmen te werven’ the politician Baudet is on Curacao to get votes, but personally I reckon he is starting to feel too much pressure in the Netherlands and soon enough his voice will be shut off from politics and too many people will want him hurt, so better for him to go to a place where no one cares about him and the tropical setting of Curacao might be the last place where he has a chance to live out his life. 

That gets me to the final part of this. Over the decade too many Russian primed people have had their options to fill their pockets and the hunt that will start no later than 2024 will happen all over Europe. Ukrainian coated hunts for all these people who thought that they could hide behind Russian colours will now find themselves in a new setting, a setting where they all hunt them and it will not go well for them. Beside that there will be a setting where over 300K Russian women will seek a man, any non Russian man will do. Russian lives will be slammed all over the field and Russia will see what the short end of a Versailles treaty feels like. That is a future I expect to see, I could be wrong but considering that a Ukrainian army, 21st on the army size list took Russia to town and put over 500,000 Russian troops in either a hospital bed or a bodybag is a setting no one saw coming and now that they are getting some real equipment the impact will increase dramatically. This is merely my point of view and I could be wrong. I will let you decide.

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School out awareness

This is a time for me to gather thoughts, for me to take notice if what I know and what I THINK I know, they are not thee same. You see in continuation of yesterday I got to think. I giggled at the people stating that when we send F16’s to the Ukraine the war will be over pretty soon. So who will be piloting them? Americans? Other NATO nations? The learning line of an F16 is months if not a year and there will be little left of the Ukraine when that is done. Tanks are a different matter, basic tank skills are within every tank operator and training them to a new tank takes weeks at best and some will be ready in days, that is something we can use. I know because my first education was as a military instructor (small arms). So when these tanks are delivered, will instructors be coming along to train them? It is a serious question, I reckon that they thought of it, but how is still unknown to me. Perhaps military advisors like the start of Vietnam, all kinds of options. It takes a day and a practice day to get people ready on most small arms including the LAW (M72), it isn’t enough to stop a tank nowadays (although the Russian tanks are not that good as news shows us), but it will wreck havoc on a truck with supplies, its inhabitants will require more than a bandaid. 

So why the thoughts?
Well we need Russia to lose for all our sakes, we need Ukraine to win for pretty much the same reason, the fact that it is the right thing to do is merely icing on the cake. Yet most people forget that wars are not won in a day and such settings require infrastructure and operational points to make it work and when we introduce hardware that is not native to its army, the lines become a lot more important. The infrastructure needs more and that is where my mind was at. 

And it is the Lithuanian news give us ‘Lithuanian military instructors leave for UK to train Ukrainian troops’ (at https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1874591/lithuanian-military-instructors-leave-for-uk-to-train-ukrainian-troops) a mere 14 hours ago. So when we see “Ukrainian troops are being trained in Lithuanian military units to use 60 mm mortars and are taking part in training courses for military police instructors.” I see nothing wrong, it makes perfect sense, but at some point (a month ago was better) some people will have to decide to place boots on the ground in the Ukraine. It does not solve the issue to ship hardware and leave the software in the west. We need to consider setting the stage there to train people THERE. There really is no other way. We can train a set of officers and NCO’s in the UK or any place, but at some time we need to train troops and there is a time gap between any NCO having certain skills and the point where he can actively and efficiently transfer that knowledge to troops, this takes time and as such as the image grew, my thoughts were with the instructors and how to get the knowledge into the Ukraine. It is a school out setting, a field exercise and the exercise is in the Ukraine. Of course any volunteers optionally get to shoot Russians as well, for some a boyhood dream in a real stage where buildings are slammed to the ground by missiles. It is not a fun place and it does remain a dangerous place. Even if the Russian Army (or Wagner) can’t shoot straight (as some news reports), a missile could accidentally hit you whilst shooting a civilian building, so this is no ones clambake, but it has become an essential one. The west needs to realise that the Ukrainian troops need to be taught, need to become efficient making the numbers (bad for Russia, good for Ukraine) more appealing. So 1:100 (one Ukrainian for every 100 dead Russians) could then become 1:800 or even 1:1000. Skills have that much of an impact in the field. There is of course more than merely shooting down Russians, other skills are required, but I never had those. In the field of survival the ability to properly wield hardware is essential and my thoughts are with how are these skills ending up in the Ukrainian heads? Perhaps it is already solved, but I would not know anything about that at present, hence the thoughts came to me. This war has been going on for a year now, as such the Russian opponent is already a first class loser, but I feel we need to do more to make it worse for Russia and the FBI not aiding oligarchs is an essential first.

 

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Pussies in the Pentagon?

OK, that is not really true, I get it. This all reminds me of an old joke. The doctor arrives in the morning asking the night nurse if something happened during the night. She says nothing, and then ohh yes, the hypochondriac they brought in during the night died. 

You think it is funny and of course to some extent it is, but there is another side. For decades we were kept in fear that Russia was the big bad, the great evil, the big fighter. Yet at present, a year after they tried to overtake Ukraine, a nation with the 21st largest armed forces is fighting off and winning against one of the top three nations (there will always dispute whether China, Russia or America is number one). Russia is becoming the defence joke of all time. Their army is demoralised and unable to keep any kind of battle tactic in play. They are for the most nothing more than rapers and war criminals. Their materials are buckling under minimum pressure and whatever is abandoned by Russian armed forces is repaired and added to the Ukrainian battle tactics. They rely on the Wagner mercenaries who are getting killed as easily as the Russian armed forces and their commander ran to Norway to defect. That is the army we all feared for decades. Or as some might say, their trains cannot run as they have flat tires. We see the introduction of horses carrying the wounded and in the demonstration the horse kicks the bed dummy of its saddle. The Russian army is failing on many fronts. Their missiles are not as they pound civilian targets again and again. And the west does very little. I saw week after week some debate on leopard 2 tanks. They are apparently finally shipping to Ukraine. 

So is the failing Russian army the best kept lie in NATO? There is no way that these failings were not on the visors of the CIA, and if they were not how massively did they fail? It is like the Dutchman Rob de Wijk, we need to acknowledge that Russia is a nuclear power (if that part works) so we need to tread carefully, but there is a difference to tread carefully and there is treading cautiously letting Russia get away with war crimes and crimes against humanity and the second part has been in play for much too long. 

To be honest, it would be an idea to try my contraption on one of the 38 nuclear plants Russia has. Three or four would be enough to show Russia what an energy crises really feels like. I got the idea from a snow globe, so it could be flawed, yet isn’t it better to test it in Russia at present? In Russia alone there are enough people willing to try that idea out. The setting is however not that simple. We see all the nations contributing weapons and armour, but at present for the most the Ukraine at present is alone when it comes to soldiers and I wonder why. We see Russia rely on Wagner mercenaries who are even less effective than the 122,000 soldiers they lost at present. 

And at present Russia is not stopping with their acts of terrorism, willing to allow others to lose even more. At what cost and can we afford to lose the losses that the Ukraine is losing? What more should we allow to lose? There comes a time that enough is enough and we are very far past that point, but the news is shouting, they are dangerous. Are they? When the FBI (certain people) aid Russian oligarchs (Oleg Deripaska) in certain matters, we have gone long past the time of catering and we are seemingly whoring for the Russian bear. It is now time to stop that and we all need to chip in, or we become a simple Russian knave forever at their back and call, I am certainly not willing to become one of those, are you?

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