Sideface:

The "McPutins" logo

 

Rikkitic:  Peter the Great modernised Russia. Putin the Putrid is taking it backwards.

 

The Guardian agrees with you:

The Guardian - Putin compares himself to Peter the Great in quest to take back Russian lands

10 June

 

“Putin, celebrating the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great’s birth, is confused about history again,” wrote Andrei Kolesnikov, a Russian political analyst.

 

“Peter the Great has opened a window to Europe, Putin is hammering it up with rotten planks from the time of Ivan the Terrible.”

 

This is possibly what gave Putin his big chance to step up the ranks, back in 1993, St Petersburg.
The 'ton' of cocaine that disappeared.

CORNED BEEF AND COCAINE
Putin’s Men, The Israeli Smugglers, And The Great St. Petersburg Drug Bust
https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-cocaine-connection/31855099.html

""
“Tastes bitter. Numbs the tongue,” he said as laughter filled the room.

It was February 1993 in St. Petersburg, and the man in the military uniform was sampling what was billed as the largest cocaine haul in Russian history: just over a metric ton -- with an estimated value of more than $100 million -- stashed in cans of corned beef that had been shipped from Colombia and smuggled into Russia by road via Finland.

The man whose security agents had seized the drugs was Viktor Cherkesov, known during Soviet times as a merciless KGB investigator. He was also a confidant of a fellow KGB alumnus serving as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg: an unremarkable spy-turned-bureaucrat named Vladimir Putin.
""

""
But no trial ever materialized in Russia. Cherkesov’s office halted the investigation seven months later, saying the main suspects had fled the country.

Nearly three decades later, it also remains unclear exactly what officials did with the 1,092 kilograms of Colombian cocaine, 
""

The Big Picture

This is a very useful political map, published the The Sunday Times today:

• Five "normal" hangers
• Plus one telescopic helicopter hanger
• a landing craft
• which holds a SUV
• a submarine
• a hovercraft
• a pool with retractable roof

 

kingdragonfly:  Hisutton.com: Russian oligarch's luxury mega-yacht Nord, cutaway.

He's obviously a fan of Thunderbirds and Stingray ...

I guess there are two ways to counter it. One is to have air supremacy and just cruise around spotting them and plinking them with drones - but they don't have that. The other way is to use counter-battery radars and shoot it back. They have some of that now and are getting more of it. I haven't got time to look right now before I leave for work, but I saw a video last week of the procedure to aim the old ex-Soviet rocket artillery systems. Essentially you get out, use a theodolite to get your levels - presumably in 2022 they have hand-held satnavs so they at least know their own lat/long precisely - and the climb up onto the truck to use hand cranks and an iron sight to aim it by eye. The setup procedure takes 12-15 minutes and then you have to hand crank it all to pack up again.

The western howitzers with counter-battery radars and digital fire control can put return fire in the air before the rockets land if the gun is already deployed, and you can be driving again in a couple of minutes.

Some combination of those two is the only way they're going to counter it, but it will be a long, blodoy fight.

neb: A question about the ongoing Russia/Ukraine artillery duel: Back in 1945, a Cpl.A.Hitler observed that Russians are made of artillery (well, actually what he said was that Russians aren't made of artillery, but then some Russians turned up and convinced him otherwise). So for Ukraine to get drawn into an artillery duel with Russia seems like absolutely the last thing they'd want to do. Can anyone with military experience comment on (a) why you'd do this and (b) if there isn't any other way to continue?

No expertise, just reading a lot of commentary.  They (Ukraine) do not have a choice is ultimately the reason this is turning into an Artillery battle.  As more NATO equipment makes it in, they are at an advantage with longer range capabilities.  Which means being out of range to your enemy, while they are in range for you.  Equally they have used Severodonetsk as an urban battle ground, drawing Russian troops in, so that they cannot just sit back dropping shells on it, while slaughtering when they can in urban warfare.

The irony for this whole situation is that the fastest way out of it, is more weapons, better weapons. My take on it is that Ukraine need far more trained soldiers to use this equipment, to maintain it, and to be effective with it.  A war of attrition on their home soil is not what they want, look for more effective pushes when and where they can once the new equipment (MLRS etc) arrives in a month or so.  With that being said the Kherson push looks to be working, all beit slowly, with latest suggestions they are 10km from the outskirts, 15km from the center.

itxtme:

 

The irony for this whole situation is that the fastest way out of it, is more weapons, better weapons.

 

Which is why Russia keeps complaining, in effect, 'If you would just stop sending weapons to Ukraine and let us win, this war would be over a lot sooner!'