Yup, but as long as the profits were there, everybody was willing to pretend that there was no risk.
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Huge anti-war protests in Russia tonight. Sadly and predictably, they’re getting brutal treatment from the riot police.
Same with “just in time” supply chain management.
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China doesn’t need Taiwan for the chips.
https://www.opportimes.com/top-10-semiconductor-chip-producers-in-the-world/?amp=1
Sure, but we do. If they control that production, they have a large measure of control over us.
When dealing with China you have to think decades ahead. Taking Taiwan just to control more of the chip supply is temporary and short-lived. Not their style.
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In case you were wondering like I was as to why fight over Chernobyl…
[Defend Chernobyl During an Invasion? Why Bother, Some Ukrainians Ask. https://nyti.ms/3IwvRSJ](Defend Chernobyl During an Invasion? Why Bother, Some Ukrainians Ask. https://nyti.ms/3IwvRSJ)
Ukraine putting up a hell of a fight.
There is apparently a recording of a Russian warship demanding the surrender of a small garrison of Ukrainian soldiers on a tiny Black Sea island. The reply was: “To the Commander of Russian warship: Go fuck yourself”. All of the garrison were killed.
There are reports of successful Ukrainian drone operations and re-taking of a strategic bridge. Fog of War and all that but, I have no doubt that this is more resistance than Putin expected. He would have expected to decapitate Ukraine by now. I seriously doubt he expected resistance at home.
Hopefully, someone in the Kremlin will wise up and put a bullet behind his ear.
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You never can tell on internet sources but there are some people on the ground updating places like Twitter and Reddit. Sounds like those javelins are being put to good use.
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This seems sub-optimal.
Russia has seen this before.
Knock on effects happening quickly. FC Schalke removed Gazprom as their front-of-shirt sponsor. They’ve also been booted as a sponsor of the Hass Formula 1 team and the Russian Grand Prix has been suspended. The UEFA Champions League final has been pulled from Russia too.
This may not sound like much, but it’s taking away the toys of the oligarchs, and that will bite over time. It’s not just toys, these are lucrative money laundering vehicles that are now closed to them. On that front, their list of opportunities grows thin.
This really does seem like it’s the Man in the High Castle. Putin has been in isolation for over 2 years, requiring anyone who meets him in person to quarantine for 2 weeks prior. There is no military or economic value to this action; just a man, drunk on power, exercising a grievance. His threat of a response “like no other” even sounds like one of Trump’s vacuous threats.
None of this means this will be over any time soon. But you can see it play out eventually with Putin getting an ice pick that makes his ears burn. Once the generals and the oligarchs decide this has to end, they will end it…and him.
We just hope this is done before he nukes someone.
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They are going to fight to the last.
The modern version of “Nuts” at Bastogne.
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Internet rumors abound of a Ukrainian pilot in a Mig-29 who was responsible for somewhere between 4 and 6 of the 6 air to air wins for the Ukrainian Air Force yesterday. He or she has been dubbed the Ghost of Kyiv.
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And then there’s Vitaly Shakun, who sacrifced his life to blow up a bridge and slow the Russian entry into Kyiv. Fuck Putin.
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There’s video of that. It’s tragic. You see the car driving slowly onto the bridge and the an absolutely massive explosion.
If this is true, it’s going to be politically unsustainable for Putin.
Which deputy defense minister?
That’s the thing that’s ultimately so confusing about this - there’s very limited upside for Russia in this, and the downside is effectively unlimited. I mean, Crimea, sure.
I don’t understand why he didn’t just wait for the US to foolishly elect another Republican president and then lean on that freak, whoever he’ll be, to leave NATO.
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