Ukraine War discussion

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#2915366 18-May-2022 02:46

We've already seen the Russian duct tape drone, now we have Wrecked Russian fighter planes found with rudimentary GPS receivers ‘taped to dashboards’. Russia is looking more and more like Mussolini's Italy, lots of fancy parades and boasting but nothing of substance actually there when it matters.

kingdragonfly

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#2915393 18-May-2022 08:53

Remember the Russian super yachts? Most are hanging out in our NATO "ally" Turkey's waters.

I've been following the one seized in Fiji, "Amadea". US agents had boarded the yacht after the Fijian courts seized it and allowed the US to remove it from port. Last minute appeal was successful and the appeals judge gave a 30 day stay. Looks like the Fijian tax payer has to pay NZD $725,000 a week to keep it in port.

The appeal judge's decision was a bit suspect because it was made ex parte, without the prosecution lawyer present, only the defendant's lawyer was there. This isn't supposed to happen. Corruption?

Fiji Sun: Fiji Lose Over NZD $725,000 From Keeping Amadea Yacht

This was highlighted by the Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde during the mention of interim stay of execution granted to Millemarin Investments Limited ... registering the US warrant to seize the Russian superyacht Amadea.

The matter was called at the Fiji Court of Appeal ... on Thursday.

The Civil High Court in Suva refused an application by Millemarin Investments Limited for an interim stay of execution...

On the same day, the Court of Appeal granted Millemarin Investments Limited an ex parte application staying the High Court’s orders.

The Court declined to conduct a hearing on the stay and instead ordered the stay to continue until next week Wednesday when a full bench of the Court of Appeal would hear the substantive appeal filed by Millemarin Investments Limited against the decision of the High Court registering the USA warrant.

Millemarin Investments Limited filed an appeal...

The Appeals Court ordered an interim stay of execution and/or enforcement...

It ordered the yacht be restrained from leaving Fiji waters pending the hearing and determination of the appeal application for stay of execution and/or enforcement of Justice Amaratunga’s judgment.

The court also ordered the Fiji Police Force to assist in enforcing this order.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Mr Pryde said it was urgent because it was costing the Fijian Government NZD $132,000 and just over a NZD $725,000 a week blocking traffic at the port

He said Fiji had its international reputation at stake.

Mr Pryde said the the case should be heard in the USA...

kingdragonfly

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#2915400 18-May-2022 08:58

neb: We've already seen the Russian duct tape drone, now we have Wrecked Russian fighter planes found with rudimentary GPS receivers ‘taped to dashboards’. Russia is looking more and more like Mussolini's Italy, lots of fancy parades and boasting but nothing of substance actually there when it matters.

It's funny how reliant the Russian military is reliant on GPS to use their own system GLONASS.

Captured Russian drones also use GPS, because it what is sold by R/C hobby stores.

floydbloke

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#2915458 18-May-2022 10:15

Interesting read here (well, I thought it was):

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/467334/retired-colonel-speaks-out-on-russian-tv

on what's basically propaganda backfiring, or was it deliberate

RNZ News article:

Or was it a pre-planned burst of reality in order to prepare the Russian public for negative news on the progress of the "special military operation"?

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

ezbee

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#2915493 18-May-2022 11:13

Russian TV, could be a case of having a bob each way.
It could be perverse encouragement to be even more brutal, in that Russian technology is not going to win.
Create that kind of support for the underdog.

You did have those diatribes on revenge for sinking of Moskva, while announcing it was all an accident and nothing happened.
So revenge for a ship sinking itself, in a storm !

1984 doublethink ?

Was the lady doing the questioning the same one who a few weeks ago was saying that... ?
Nuclear Armageddon was great as Russians get to go immediately to Heaven !
Something USA Evangelicals and quite a few here are looking forward too.

Though there is a kind of manipulation where you create strong emotions with 'some' truthful statements,
then go back to your propaganda which sinks in deeper due to linkage with emotional response

Anyway...
But if it goes bad, the others were not playing fair.
Skips question on how this started, you see it in Putin's recent comments vague things,
like we had to, there was no choice.
Just trot out words NATO, Liberal, Democracy and West now linked to negative emotions.

Skipping the why a free liberal educated society is worse than your rusting Kleptocracy.
Why do so many best and brightest leave, why my leaders buy assets, and put their money safely there.
Avoiding the tricky question of how you really got to this point.

gzt

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#2915548 18-May-2022 13:00

kingdragonfly: The appeal judge's decision was a bit suspect because it was made ex parte, without the prosecution lawyer present, only the defendant's lawyer was there. This isn't supposed to happen. Corruption?

No idea. This just looks like a postponement until the appeals court assembles a full bench to consider the appeal.

SaltyNZ

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#2915554 18-May-2022 13:14

gzt:
kingdragonfly: The appeal judge's decision was a bit suspect because it was made ex parte, without the prosecution lawyer present, only the defendant's lawyer was there. This isn't supposed to happen. Corruption?

No idea. This just looks like a postponement until the appeals court assembles a full bench to consider the appeal.

I can understand why the Fijian government wants it over with ASAP though. What a disgraceful waste of taxpayer money (arguably, a disgraceful waste of *anyone's* money, but hey, there's no law against greed).

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

kingdragonfly

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#2915604 18-May-2022 15:06

The Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Mr Pryde said it was urgent because it was costing the Fijian Government NZD $132,000 and just over a NZD $725,000 a week blocking traffic at the port

If the berth is costing NZD $725,000 a week, and blocking a port, why not anchor outside the port, disable the engine, with a Fiji port worker onboard?

Perhaps they could invent the world's largest parking clamp :)

neb

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#2915695 18-May-2022 16:25

kingdragonfly: If the berth is costing NZD $725,000 a week, and blocking a port, why not anchor outside the port, disable the engine, with a Fiji port worker onboard?

Given the number of semi-abandoned ships that have been left in berths, sometimes for years, racking up enormous fees that will never be paid, I'm guessing there's something in international maritime law that says you can't just push a ship away from the wharf when it's no longer convenient.

That's just speculation though.

kingdragonfly

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#2915730 18-May-2022 17:34

Obviously way outside my area of expertise, but I've come across the phrase "arrest the boat" or "the boat was arrested" more than once when countries deal with Russian megayachts.

Here's the UK version, which I assume is pretty standard.

"Non-payment of berthing or storage fees, by boat owners, is an all too familiar scenario faced by marina operators....

Arrest the boat

The arrest of a boat prevents it from moving, pending the resolution of a court action, in which usually the boat to be arrested is the subject of the claim. This gives the marina security in that if it is successful in court, there will be something that can be sold in order to recover the amount of the judgment plus costs..."

ezbee

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#2915770 18-May-2022 19:40

Apparently Russians are also getting DJI drones from somewhere.

They do have 'supposedly' lots of Orlan drones as its been in production for years.
Artillery units seem to be siloed, and don't share so much with the troops. So other units have to fend for themselves.

Russians that survive are learning but hopefully not too fast, then there is their unbending leadership.

https://dronexl.co/2022/04/01/dji-mavic-3-combo-boxes-russian-army/

Dji Mavic 3 Combo Boxes Left Behind As The Russian Army Seemingly Left In A Hurry

kingdragonfly

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#2915814 18-May-2022 23:07

Why did Russians take Chornobyl?

Operator Starsky

neb

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#2915819 18-May-2022 23:31

kingdragonfly: Why did Russians take Chornobyl?

What makes Chernobyl really nasty is that the radiation is very unevenly distributed, it's not that the soil is uniformly moderately radioactive, it's that most of it barely shows any activity and then scattered all over it are small, incredibly hot fragments of ejected reactor core (alongside areas where irradiated equipment was dumped, which is different). So instead of getting an overall moderate dose, you get extreme doses concentrated in very small areas, which is far more damaging.

The other danger about moving the soil around is that it's going to create dust, some of which you'll breathe in, which means you now have alpha particle emitters inside your lungs.

So the threat isn't so much generic "radioactive soil" but in the short term effects of exposure to concentrated high-activity sources and in the long term lung cancer.

neb

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#2915828 19-May-2022 03:18

Video where a Russian guy visits a local mall and supermarket in the context of sanctions on Russia:

What's interesting is just how much of the stuff in the supermarket is non-Russian, the basic produce, baked goods, and so on are Russian but almost everything else he shows isn't. In France when you go into a Carrefour for this stuff it'll typically be French, in Italy in a Conad it'll be Italian, in Germany in an Aldi it's German (in each case with a certain amount from other EU countries), but in the Russian supermarket that he shows it's all non-Russian brands. Which means that when their current stock begins to run down there's going to be serious shortages of a whole lot of things that aren't potatoes, bread, or Doctor's sausage.

Caveat: This is a supermarket for relatively well-off Muscovites so it may not be representative of supermarkets throughout Russia.

kingdragonfly

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#2915859 19-May-2022 08:42

ezbee:
Apparently Russians are also getting DJI drones from somewhere.

I was curious what the DJI Mavic drone. In New Zealand range from $550 to $10,000, median $2,300

Washington Post: Chinese drone-maker DJI suspends operations in Russia, Ukraine over war use

Despite Beijing’s rhetorical support for Moscow, Chinese companies have distanced themselves from Russia over fear of getting caught in Western sanctions

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