Turkey has officially dropped its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. No idea what this is going to cost us, but it was probably worth it. We’re getting two value-added members. I worked with Swedish and Finnish officers in Afghanistan, and they were outstanding in contrast to some of the other officers from NATO nations I have worked alongside. Sweden and Finland are cleared to join NATO after Turkey drops objections | Daily Mail Online
The goat thing was hilarious. Glad to see Sweden and Finland free to join now. That mall bombing was horrific. Hoping Ukraine can continue to hold on.... As for me I'd posted in the other thread but forgot most of you don't go there. Recovery is taking longer than expected. I have to get a filter put in for blood clots. Simple procedure but just one more thing. But it's fine. Just still have to limit being on and have to limit screen time - even work agreed to put me at part time without losing my benefits temporarily. So yay. Keep up the good work.
More air raid sirens and at least one missile shot down in Odessa today. Lots of tine in shelters as the sirens are almost nonstop. per the guy I know in Odessa.
Someone just told me they saw there was an unconfirmed report of a skirmish on the Lithuania-Russia border. Hope it’s not true.
I hope so, too. But that’s exactly the kind of thing one should expect with tensions up this high. Of course, Lithuania has elevated its defense posture. They would be absolute fools to not do so. Of course, they are going to be more twitchy about Russian military moves at their frontier. And, of course, that increases the risk of incidents, real or imagined, intentional or unintentional.
Berlin is building a gigantic thermos to store hot water. Berlin preps 'huge thermos' to help heat homes this winter It only keeps water hot for 13 hours, but it can use excess electricity produced by solar and wind when there are not enough users for it, and provide that heat when it is needed later.
Putin has found an even larger table in Turkmenistan to isolate himself during meetings. Dr. Evil will stop at nothing to find the longest table in the world. Putin's preposterously long table at Kremlin dwarfed by gigantic table at a summit he attended in Turkmenistan
There is a separate little piece of territory that is apparently part of Russia that is east of Lithuania, the attack must have been on that border as Lithuania does not border the main part of Russia.
Kaliningrad or some such little Russian enclave on the coast. Nestled between Poland and Lithuania with no land link to Russia.
Generations of Ukrainians are going to despise Russia. The following is a post from Odessa and provides a bit of insight into the mindset over there: "This night, the aggressor launched a missile strike on Sergeevka. There are dead, including children. Russia and Putin will be held accountable for every death. They will all burn in hell. Moscow will burn in the fire" Sergeevka is on the Black Sea coast just sw of Odessa
This is a much better weapon for Ukraine than the M777, which is fairly useless. They'll need a lot more though, so once again I'm puzzled by why we've been so slow to send them and at such paltry quantities?
Looks like the Russians/Chechens have entered Lysychansk and taken the city center. I do still contend that the best way to counter Russia is not sanctions, which hurts us just as much and will disrupt our unity as all major Western governments are facing rapidly increasing internal threats. We need to send Ukraine better weapons instead, and this really can't wait any longer. Ill Prepared for Combat, Volunteers Die in Battles Far From Home "The Kyiv unit was also given the choice to go east, and those men were quickly attached to a regular Ukrainian army unit. The territorial defense soldiers said they only had rifles, machine guns and a few Western-supplied anti-tank weapons. They were lacking the one weapon that has defined the war in recent months — artillery. They also had few ways to communicate with the units that had those heavy weapons. In short, the soldiers said, they were mostly on their own. “We are being torn to pieces, people falling down like flies, and why are we here?” the soldier said. “It’s unclear.”"
