someone bagged the only bridge to Russia from Crimea
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63183404
Today we sail
On the Solar Rail
For there's much we just don't know
So farewell with a kiss
Then it's fast for the mist
Till we're sleeping in the cold below
Speed Cameras Stolen From Sweden May Be Ending Up in Russian Drones
Speed cameras all over Sweden are disappearing at an alarming rate. More than 160 cameras have been stolen from rural roads, according to the New York Times, with most thefts occurring between midnight and 3 AM. Authorities are baffled over the issue. After all, who—other than some sort of vigilante pro-speeder—would want to go through all of this effort to steal something with virtually no resale value?
As it turns out, one possibility is that the stolen cameras may be finding a second life inside Russian surveillance drones being used in Ukraine. Local news reports suggest that the Swedish Security Service is aware of information potentially connecting the speed camera thefts to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though the Swedish government has been careful to avoid making any definitive statements in that regard so far.
On Aug. 27, eleven cameras disappeared overnight on one stretch of county road in Sweden. Three days later on Aug. 30, another 30 were stolen. By the end of the month, a total of nearly 70 cameras were taken during the month of August. Police say that unlike previous instances of vandalism, where an upset motorist simply destroys the camera by knocking it over or smashing the lens, in these cases the thieves are breaking into the cabinet housing the device's internal parts: a radar sensor to measure speed, a flash unit to illuminate a speeding subject, image processing hardware, and—the most important part to the thieves—a DSLR camera. After the cabinet is busted open, the suspects are making off with only the camera and leave behind a damaged unit that costs the Swedish Transport Administration around $22,200 apiece to repair.
According to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, these same cameras are being found inside customized low-tech Russian drones used in surveillance and attacks against Ukraine. In one instance, a crashed Russian Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicle can be seen with a Canon EOS 800D DSLR equipped with an 85mm lens. The camera body is rigged to a metal plate with a series of wires connected to it, with the lens sticking out through the drone's skin.
However, Eva Lundberg, who coordinates the traffic camera system at the Swedish Transport Administration, told the Times that the stolen cameras are actually customized Nikon DSLRs. This backs up other reports from local news outlets but complicates the theory that the cameras are being repurposed in Russian UAVs.
Lundberg says that the Nikon cameras are focused at a specific distance and "not possible to adjust," according to the traffic camera supplier. The videos showing recovered Orlan-10 UAVs have all featured Canon DSLRs thus far, though the focusing mechanisms are fixed in a similar way: the focusing mode is set to manual and fixed with epoxy, and the focusing ring is fixed to infinity, meaning that it would provide a similar focusing profile as the DSLRs nabbed from Sweden's speed cameras.
Whether or not the stolen speed cameras are being used for Russia's UAVs is still up in the air. If the cameras aren't headed to Russia for use in its drones, where might they be going? That information might soon be known to police, as one person—a Swedish citizen—was arrested in connection to the thefts Friday night.
However, if the theory of repurposing these DSLRs in Russian UAVs is accurate, it may signal that the Russian military may be pivoting to whatever gear it can get its hands on Canon officially stopped the sale and delivery of its products to Russia in March 2022 as a response to the Ukraine conflict. Constructing new UAVs with off-the-shelf parts is likely becoming harder for Russia as sanctions continue to take their toll, especially given its significant loss rate of around 50 units between February and May.
Russia has stopped using its Iranian suicide drones because they don't work in the cold
- Russia has stopped using Iranian-made suicide drones due to cold weather, a Ukrainian official said.
- He said that the drones were made of plastic and other materials that can't deal with frost.
- Russia has used the unmanned aircraft to knock out power infrastructure across Ukraine.
Russia has stopped using Iranian-made kamikaze drones in Ukraine because they don't work in cold weather, a Ukrainian official said.
Yevgeny Silkin, of the Joint Forces Command for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Russia had stopped using the Iranian drones, which are made of plastic and other materials that are not frost resistant, according to Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
The outlet said that the drones have not been used in Ukraine since November 17, which was also the first day that it snowed in Ukraine this year.
Winters in Ukraine can be cold, with mean temperatures often below freezing between December and March.
Russia started to use the Iranian drones in October, as part of a new playbook that targeted power distribution and other critical infrastructure from afar. Ukrainian civilians have also been killed by drone strikes.
Iran and Russia have denied any cooperation on weapons, but Iran later admitted that it had sent Russia weapons, adding that this was before Russia's invasion of Ukraine started.
Multiple reports and Western intelligence assessments have contradicted this.
The UK, US, and EU have put sanctions on the drone manufacturer and some individuals over supplying the weaponry to Russia.
CNN reported in November that Iran was preparing to send more weapons to Ukraine, including short range ballistic missiles. And it reported that Iran and Russia had reached an agreement for Russia to start producing the drones itself.
The UK's ministry of defense said on November 23 that Russia was likely running out of the drones, but that it could purchase more.
Multiple reports have also said that Iran has been training Russia on how to use the drones and other weapons.
On December 3rd, Avril Haines, the US National Intelligence Director, said that winter conditions are expected to slow the war, and that there was already a "reduced tempo."
Oh dear oh dear...Merkel admits the Minsk Agreements were sham to let Ukraine build up a military that was intended to be a threat to Russia and seize Russian speaking areas of Ukraine.
Who'd a thunk it, eh?
Enjoy world war three, ya chumps
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1281708.shtml
That is not what she said, at all. But you shouldn't be surprised that a news article FROM THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY'S SITE somewhat distorts what was said.Originally Posted by Silverblade
The intent with the accord was to give Ukraine time to be able to resist Russia's inevitable invasion:
Unlike you, the leaders of the West recognized what a snake Putin was and that he was going to try and conquer Ukraine no matter what he said. Who'd a thunk it?
Delores
like, Western media isn't largely influenced or actually controlled by the CIA using a big chunk of the USA's "black budget", hm?
Exactly how many corporations control the USA's TV and newspapers today?
Remember Robert Maxwell or Gary Webb?
The West IS a bigger nightmare, it just runs its prison camp in a much more subtle way, Huxley rather than Orwell
I'll give you that Biden and Trudeau look less obvious sociopathic scumbags than Trump, but they still are sociopathic scumbags!
the hysterics of our media are...insanity
one of the latest pieces of crap, literally, was "Putin fell down the stairs and shit himself!"
ye gods
the schemes and posturing of the cabals in DC are getting way out of hand, as Biden is literally out of his mind and his VP is a cackling lunatic (is she on coke all the time?!)
So NeoCons, NeoLiberals, whatever, can get away with crap, like helping Ukraine attack Russian nuclear bases...even in the Cold War anyone who did that would end up doing LIFE or as chum in the water of the Bahamas
But hey, keep supporting the fucking lunatics, if the mushrooms sprout, know you did your bit for truth, freedom and democracy!
Satan thanks you for your efforts, you've got this!
Yes, but with sprinkles of qanon, too!
Russia has a very easy exit from this mess. Just leave Ukraine. Putin might shoot himself 5 times in the back after falling out a window as a result. But it’s the best path to ending the war.
Today we sail
On the Solar Rail
For there's much we just don't know
So farewell with a kiss
Then it's fast for the mist
Till we're sleeping in the cold below
Even if you choose to believe that the CIA secretly controls all western media on the same level that China (or Russia for that matter) very overtly controls their own, in order to be intellectually honest you would have to admit that both sources are unreliable and that you do not know the truth. That you chose one in order to chase conspiracies is evidence of confirmation bias.
Never mind that I linked for him the original article in German, and the relevant section translated to English showing she didn't say what he thought she said. On some level, he has to believe that there is both a secret conspiracy by Western powers to deny Russia its rightful land, and that someone who is part of that conspiracy just announced it to the entire world in a magazine interview. That's grade-A cognitive dissonance right there.
Yeah, these are not the conspiracies you are seeking!
radek sikorski nordstream usa thank you.jpg
get it through your head, Delores, that the attacks on the Russian nuclear bases would normally be responded to by the Russians' own doctrine with NUCLEAR WAR
And likewise if some lunatic fuck drone striked a major continental US nuclear airbase, the criminals' entire country would be a smoking ruin...and possibly the entire world if it was Russia/China
I never thought the US would let itself have a worse government than Trump's, but wow, it managed it!
I just keep hoping the Russians and Chinese keep their revenge limited to economic annihilation, and not nuclear.
Enjoy the Apocalypse YOU are helping to create, Lemming_001!
mushroom cloud french.jpg
We already went over that particular event. You may wish to review what was said.
And you still haven't addressed the elephant in the room: you honestly believe that Merkel admitted, in an interview where she didn't "slip up" and wasn't coerced, to everything. You believe this even though I've linked what she actually said, and you can read that it's not what your source interpreted it to be. You apparently believe this because conspiracies CAN be real, so ANYTHING can be real, so long as you believe in it. Do you not see the problem with thinking like that?
So everybody's on the same page here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ssile-barrage/
On the 5th, drone strikes from Ukraine (Ukraine didn't directly confirm, but looks likely) hit two Russian airbases deep within Russia. These bases were being used to launch missile strikes into Ukraine. The planes being used are also part of the strategic nuclear bomber force for Russia, the same way America's bombers can launch both cruise missile strikes and nuclear bombs. These airbases are as far from Ukraine as Moscow, so these strikes were taken very seriously by the Russians.
Now, to Silverblade's point: yes, the Russians might normally launch a nuclear attack on whoever attacked them. But in this case, they'd be launching it at Ukraine, the country right next to themselves. They aren't quite stupid enough to create nuclear fallout next door, fallout that could likely hit themselves. Or did you think that the Russians would start shooting at anyone supplying weapons to Ukraine? Hell, for all I know you still think this is a "false flag" war and it's actually Americans shooting at the Russians.
I wish I could see your face when you realize (IF you ever realize) exactly who has been giving you information on this conflict. At least they consider you a comrade.
Putin supposedly loves threatening nuclear retaliation. I thought he must just be crazy at first, but it's apparent he is using their nuclear arsenal in an attempt to bully other countries. Capitulating puts MAD at risk and only encourages him to do it more. Heck it encourages him to actually use them more.
That's what all the jumbo sized fans at the border are for.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ys/ar-AA15zHUz
- The New York Times published a detailed investigation on Russia's blunders in Ukraine.
- A Ukrainian official said they realized a large number of calls were made from foreign numbers.
- They used the calls, and even a TikTok video, to locate the position of Russian troops and attack.
Russian soldiers in Ukraine made worried calls home as their efforts in Ukraine faltered — but their loved ones weren't the only ones listening.
Ukrainian forces used the cell phone calls made by Russian soldiers to locate them and wipe the troops out in large numbers, according to an investigation published by The New York Times that details Russia's blunders throughout the war.
"We listened to the Russian soldiers as they panicked and called their friends and relatives," a Ukrainian official who leads the efforts to intercept the phone calls told The Times. "They used ordinary phones to make decisions about their further moves."
Ukrainian authorities who monitor cell networks for criminal activity noticed that a large number of calls were being placed from foreign phone numbers in an area along the Ukraine and Belarus border. The officials deduced the unusual uptick in foreign numbers on the Ukrainian network were likely Russian soldiers.
Ukraine deployed teams of women to follow the soldiers' calls and alert the Ukrainian military, which would carry out attacks using the information. "We understood where the enemy was, what numbers they were using," the Ukrainian official told The Times.
At one point, Ukrainian forces used both the cell phone calls and a TikTok video to locate a unit of Chechen soldiers outside of Kyiv. Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine's military intelligence, told The Times the unit's location was confirmed only 40 minutes after the video was uploaded. Ukrainian forces then struck them with three missiles.
Ukrainian officials have frequently intercepted phone calls made by Russian soldiers since the invasion 10 months ago. Audio of the calls obtained by various outlets have captured Russian soldiers complaining about being unprepared and unorganized and hoping they would get injured so they could be sent home.
In new audio published by The Times, soldiers could be heard complaining about Russian President Vladimir Putin and saying they are being treated like "cannon fodder."
Addressing ONLY the quoted bit- rightful land? By what standard are you judging it to be Russia's rightful land? Was it not ceded during the breakup of the USSR as part of the creation of Ukraine? I can certainly understand Russia wanting it- lotsa good stuff in Ukraine. All that lovely oil, for a start, followed up by 2 of the 9 defense points that have been the primary goal of Russian foreign policy for the past 500 years, along with securing the full viability of a 3rd (Crimea) by unblocking the water supply. But having good reasons to want it is not the same as having a right to it any more than they had a right to bits of Georgia (another of the 9 defense points). So by what standard is it Russia's rightful land?
Ackar- Never mess with the autist brigades- If they can find Shia Lebeoufs' flags inside 2 days with nothing but a picture of the flag and a clear sky then poorly-trained troops with cell-phones and social media got no chance.
Last edited by VariaVespasa; December 25th, 2022 at 10:18 PM.
Delores was not suggesting that this was Russia's rightful land, but rather that this is something someone might believe if they were so insistent on defending Russia in this war.
Correct.
One of Russia's key points at home, based on conversations my Russian friend has with her parents back home, is that Ukraine isn't a "real" country but rather one manufactured by the West to weaken the Rus' people. The extreme nationalists in Russia regard the reunification of Kievan Rus' as a key goal of this invasion, and that the land being taken is rightfully Russian. I feel like it might be part of why the Russians are OK with killing and starving Ukrainians with their bombardment campaign, but are avoiding bombing the country flat. The people can be written off as enemies, but the land itself is highly symbolic and cannot be destroyed or defaced. My friend left the Soviet Union in her mid-teens some thirty years ago, and she still gasps in shock and gets angry when she sees extensive bombing damage in any of the hero cities in Ukraine.
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