This is new and interesting:

Actually it’s Putin assisted the Palestinians in attacking Israel and murdering 1300 people.  Whether Iran was in that loop is unknown but likely.

It's very interesting to me the design decisions and how they vary between the Russians and the West.  Even their bombs look quite different than ours.

That caught my eye also.. anyways wonder what range they can get with that flying elephant

There was a report that the F-16s were getting a radar upgrade, and someone posted info that a drop-in export AESA was available.
IMO F-16s will probably shoot HARMS for a while to diminish the Russian AD threat.  Remember that Russian fighters are almost exclusively operating behind their own SAMs.  If their SAMs start to go away they become a lot less secure and might be pushed back even further.
It’s standard practice to carry two AMRAAMS on the wingtips now.  Two AMRAAMS, two HARMS, and two tanks is very doable.  Or two AMRAAMS, two JDAMS, and two tanks.

Same here, it is what has kept me interested in weapons systems for over 30 years now.

Looks like the entire Russian advance was repulsed by FPV drones.  NSFW


https://x.com/region776/status/1745845981017686342

Thanks for the link.  There was also a post a while back about another highly suspicious indication.  A Russian-linked propaganda website went live with a well-developed anti-Israel narrative and spam news campaign like the day after the attack.  Meaning the narrative already had to be developed and ready to go.

It only seems to be bothering you, your moaning over it is doing more thread sliding than anything.  I'm glad snippets of the crisis in the middle east is included here as yes it is somewhat related.  And I don't have to Wade through all the bullshit in the other threads to see it.

Agree. Stop trying to run the thread if you aren't a mod. Bring your list of complaints up with them.

I would modify one thing. A symbolic target in Moscow is nice, but if there are limited long-range strike options, the #1 targets should be gas/oil production facilities in the east & north. Take away Russia's resource wealth, and the whole calculus changes. Even cutting their production in half would wreck their export business, and they'd be forced to use most of their remaining production domestically and for war. If production could be reduced by 75% or more, it would start to impact their ability to fight, and that is how you win wars.

FPV drone flown into Orc dugout pic.twitter.com/WctPpmBMJC

Getty  (@region776) January 12, 2024

"There is one president in our country, and he said Odesa is a Russian city" - a video from Putin's "election" campaign. pic.twitter.com/1PACKkzbUG

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) January 10, 2024

Orc propaganda.  

1st footage of Ukranian Leopard 1A5BE(Belgian variant) along with HMMWVs of the R.U.G group (59th Motorised Brigade), somewhere in Ukraine.

Pretty cool look at UA wheeled drone allegedly in combat. Looks like a .50, seems relatively accurate.

Half a dozen dead and dying Russians.  Method unseen but would guess arty/mortars.  NSFW.

Drops and kamikaze hits on Russian trench positions.

Russian rolls the wrong way and is blown ten feet out of his foxhole.  NSFW.

UA tank shelling Russian treeline

Part 6 of cleanup operations after the failed Russian attack near Kupyansk.  BMP destroyed.

Snippet of a small UA trench assault by one tank, one CV90, and infantry.

Short look at HIMARS ops

Short look at Dana SPAG ops

Sunak in Ukraine to sign mutual security treaty.

Probably just a misquote/mistranslation, but:

Newsweek
Ukrainian forces destroyed 26 Russian helicopters in a single day using an unknown long-range weapon supplied by Kyiv's allies, Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.

During a press conference with journalists in Latvia on Thursday, the Ukrainian president remained light on details when discussing the use of the mystery weapon, not disclosing which country had provided the system, how long it had been in operation or when it had been used against the helicopters.

"Partners have provided us with some long-range weapons," he said, according to a translation by Ukrainian news outlet RBC. "I won't say what, but our partners will understand.

"With it, we destroyed 26 helicopters in a day, and 12 planes that took off and attacked with missiles, against which these systems were working. We destroyed 12 at once."

Newsweek approached the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense via email for comment on Friday.

According to the Ukrainian Armed Force's own tally, they have not taken out any Russian helicopters since October 19, when they say they destroyed one so it is unclear if the 26 referenced by Zelensky were destroyed recently but were previously undisclosed, or if they were destroyed over three months ago.

Independent Russian media out of Latvia



Most of those who returned to Russia during the last exchange of prisoners are ex-prisoners
Such an approach to the exchange may be due to the fact that it is easier to force convicts to return to the front

On January 3, Russia and Ukraine conducted their first prisoner exchange in six months. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 248 servicemen returned to Russia as part of the new exchange. At the same time, 73% of them (180 people) were recruited by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in colonies, according to the project "Our Way Out", which is engaged in the search and return of prisoners in cooperation with the state Ukrainian platform "I Want to Find".

It is alleged that Ukraine was preparing a larger number of Russian contract soldiers and mobilized soldiers for exchange, but the final lists mainly included former prisoners.

The "Our Exit" project also published a list of 248 Russian prisoners who returned home. IStories checked the people on this list with a random sample and made sure that it mainly consists of convicts in recent years who were supposed to serve their sentences during the war in Ukraine. The editorial office also contacted the relatives of those on the exchange list and confirmed that they were indeed returned to Russia on January 3.

Among those exchanged are those who have been repeatedly convicted, convicted of murder, including of close family members, kidnapping, robbery and extortion, and other especially grave crimes.

Among the exchanged prisoners of war is Anton Meshcheryakov, a prisoner of a colony in the Leningrad Region, who was recruited into the Shtorm-Z detachment, his relative and colleague confirmed to Important Stories.


https://istories.media/news/2024/01/12/bolshinstvo-vernuvshikhsya-v-rossiyu-v-khode-poslednego-obmena-plennikh-eks-zaklyuchennie/


Anton Meshcheryakov in captivity

Before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Meshcheryakov served a five-year sentence in colony No. 4 in Fornosovo, Leningrad Region, under the "people's" Article 228 of the Criminal Code. By the time the contract with the Ministry of Defense was signed, he had 2 years left in prison. "He didn't have the opportunity to get parole, so he went to war," says a relative of Meshcheryakov.

According to a former colleague of Meshcheryakov, in the Donetsk region, the man was part of a separate detachment of "blacks", where the most hardy were selected from among the former prisoners, to perform "especially difficult tasks" at night. During the offensives in the winter and spring of last year, most of the members of the "black" detachment were killed, some are still missing. Meshcheryakov himself was seriously wounded near Maryinka and was taken prisoner.

Meshcheryakov told a relative that he was treated normally in the camp, although he complained about the lack of heating. The prisoners were fed porridge and bread, they worked on gluing paper bags.



From the moment the serviceman was taken prisoner, Meshcheryakov's relatives sought his exchange: they wrote letters to various authorities, communicated with volunteers.

"We were told: 'we are waiting for the exchange, we are waiting for the exchange'... And we could not understand on whom this exchange depends," says a relative of the ex-prisoner. "It's just that the camp called the exchange lists, and Anton was on that list."

On December 31, 2023, Meshcheryakov and other prisoners of war were taken out of a camp in the Lviv region. "For several days, they were kept somewhere and collected from different camps. He does not know where exactly, but he says that the bugs were bitten. Probably some kind of basement. Then they were brought to Belgorod, and on January 3 they were sent by plane to Moscow. Before boarding the plane, they gave me SIM cards and clothes, and he called," our interlocutor explained.

Now Meshcheryakov, along with other exchangeees, is in a military unit in the Moscow region. According to the interlocutor of Important Stories, it was explained to the servicemen that they would stay there for about a month, during which time the FSB would "work with them."

They were not told anything about the fate of the former prisoners. "I don't think Anton can be returned to the front. His contract expired in August. In addition, there are many wounds: contusion, cyst and hematoma in the head. And shrapnel in the body," says a relative.

"The concussion changed him a lot, he began to forget a lot. He doesn't even remember which unit he served in," said a former colleague who spoke to Meshcheryakov by phone.

Relatives fear that the serviceman's problems may arise because of a video recording in which Meshcheryakov, while in captivity, criticized the Russian command.


Oleg Shunin in captivity

Oleg Shunin, who was sentenced in January 2023 by a court in Voronezh to 11 years of strict regime for the murder of a drinking companion, also returned from captivity, his relative confirmed to Important Stories.

"After his release from captivity, he contacted me, but for two days he has not been in touch, the phone is out of reach. He said that in the Moscow region, some of them are undergoing a medical examination, the FSB is questioning them. There is no information at all about what will happen to him next," she said.

The Our Way project believes that the lists for exchange mainly included former prisoners, since it is easier to send them back to the front, motivating this by the need to fulfill the "conditions" of pardon. "Prisoners are easier to manage, they can be manipulated, and most importantly, they can be sent back to war. It is hard to realize how the Russian government once again spat on the mobilized who are now in captivity in Ukraine," write social activists who were present at the exchange.

A lawyer with the Appeal to Conscience coalition, who works with military personnel participating in the war, believes that such a proportion of prisoners and ordinary soldiers in the exchange lists is unlikely to be due to the desire to return them to the front. "They [ex-prisoners] end up in stormtroopers more often than others, and stormtroopers are more likely to be captured," he told Important Stories. "The ban on returning to the front is based on international norms, not Russian law. Therefore, theoretically, there are no obstacles for any group to return to the front. At the beginning of the war, there were even conscripts who had to complete their military service after captivity."

https://istories.media/news/2024/01/12/bolshinstvo-vernuvshikhsya-v-rossiyu-v-khode-poslednego-obmena-plennikh-eks-zaklyuchennie/

Not a "start," more like an "opportunity for continuation." Rapes happened across Eastern Europe, not just Germany.


Russians even rape their own- look up the history of the NKVD chief, Beria.

Agreed.  Hard to watch.
" You wonder what his name is... where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home. If he would not rather have stayed there in peace." - Faramir.

A shame that so many Russians waste their lives in this needless war.

Russia has a psychopathic culture and is lead by a psychopath. It amazes me that other world leaders extend the same courtesies and inclusion to Russia as any other country. Including the idea of negotiating issues. Rather than isolating them and minimizing interactions.

When it comes to psychopaths and sociopaths:
There is no negotiating with them.
They do not think like we do.
They never associate consequences with their actions, bad things are ALWAYS the fault of others.
They will never feel sympathy or remorse for hurting others.
They enjoy stirring up shit.
They understand better than anyone that information is a weapon. Never share info with them for any reason.
They are pathological liars at all times.
The best approach is to stay away from them. Do not negotiate, make your plans based on the sound assumption they will lie, cheat, steal or sabotage any “deal.”  Your words mean nothing to them.

Rising oil prices directly benefits Russia and Iran.

With their top of the line, military grade Chinese Baofeng radio getting prime billing.  

This morning (ET)

Dnipropetrovsk Governor
The enemy hit the Dnipro district with a rocket. No dead or injured. ▪️It was also loud in Synelnykiv Oblast. An agricultural enterprise was damaged there. People are whole. ▪️Russian troops were hit by artillery in Nikopol three times. The utility company was beaten. Fortunately, there were no casualties there either.
https://t.me/dnipropetrovskaODA/9945


Map of current worries ‼️ Vibuhi ‼️ Rockets ‼️
🚀→Dnipro/region
💥Dnipropetrovsk region - vibuhi
https://t.me/povitryanatrivogaaa/74713

Yeah I would have ordered parts of the elephants foot sent to Moscow among other things if I were Zelenskyy.....

The land war has already started. The Poles can either enter it alongside Ukraine and have a good chance of ending Russia for good. OR, wait for Ukraine to be defeated (assuming waning support from the West) and then face Russia alone (with same cheerleaders Ukraine has). They might try to bestir NATO by warning them You guys either get serious and give Ukraine what it needs out of your active duty supplies now, or we have no choice but to mobilize ourselves and jump in while Ukraine is still a force.

Nodding head "Yes"  stay safe mang, stay frosty

If the Republicans are serious about solving the border and not just using it as a perpetual vote carrot, they should first work on converting the US Chamber of Commerce. The big money comes from the US multinationals that want top consumer markets and lowest worker wages. Unless those companies are convinced to quit spending millions on lobbying for open borders nothing will change.

And the Rs have to get it through their pig heads that the Dems don’t really care about Ukraine, not even in their top 10 issues.