I have been surprised how numerous social media accounts have been censoring me, and locking me out of my accounts. These are Western; American social media. Nothing in China or Russia. I guess that I have dangerous opinions. Sigh.
The good thing is that I still have a solid freedom on speech in Communist China, while “freedom loving” United States is crushing on my opinions and my access to data.
Let’s go through contemporaneous “news” articles…
China in Africa
Be the Rufus
Help others. Make the world a better place. Stop being a spectator. Be a participant. video 4MB.
Germany is playing politics while under pressure by the USA to supply weapons to Ukraine
A most excellent article on MoA by b…
Did Germany really decide to deliver tanks to the Ukraine?
The German government said Tuesday it will deliver anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine after facing strong pressure at home and abroad to abandon its reluctance to supply heavy weapons to Kyiv. The decision to provide the “Gepard” tanks, which come from German defense industry stocks, was made at a closed-door government meeting on Monday, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told reporters at a Ukraine security conference at a U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany. There was no immediate information on how many tanks Germany would deliver. The announcement marks a notable shift for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who as recently as last week was still ruling out sending German tanks to Ukraine, insisting it would make more sense for Eastern NATO countries to give Kyiv old Soviet-era tanks already familiar to the Ukrainian military. Scholz promised Germany would then send those countries replacement German tanks.
I find it amusing how many misunderstand this move. First off – the Gepard (Cheetah) is not a tank as the turret has very little protective armor.
It is a short range (5 km / 3 miles) anti-air system on a tank chassis useful against helicopters, drones and low flying planes.
That Scholz decided to offer these, instead of real tanks or armored infantry carriers as the U.S. and the camouflage-Green party demanded, is a nice way out. It guarantees that the Ukrainians will not be able to use them before the war is over.
The Gepard system with its two 35mm cannons is more than 50 years old but has been upgraded two or three times. The Germany army retired their last one of these in 2010. They have since been held in storage.
I remember them well from my time in the Bundeswehr. While my primary training was as a gunner on a real tank, the Leopard 1A3, two people I knew were trained as gunners for the Gepard. There was a huge difference though. It took 6 months of training to become a reasonably good tank gunner. It took 12 month, including hundreds of hours in a simulator, to become a gunner on a Gepard. The commander role required even more training.
The system was excellent for its time but also really complicate. The two radars have various modes for different purposes. One would better use the right one or risk to attract explosive countermeasures. The startup of the turret systems and the handling of their various error modes that could occur were not easy to handle. The tank chassis is also more complicate than the original one. It has an additional motor which powers five electric generators, two Metadyne rotary transformers and a flywheel to handle the extraordinary fast movements of the turret (2.5 sec for a 360°turn).
There are probably less than ten people in the current Bundeswehr who still know how to operate and maintain a Gepard. There is thus little chance to find German crews for them.
If the Ukrainians really want to use these outdated systems they will have to train fresh crews for at least a year. Otherwise those guns will be ineffective and of little use.
My hunch though is that none of these will ever be delivered. The Swiss, who manufactured the cannons and their ammunition, have seen to that:
Neutral Switzerland has vetoed the re-export of Swiss-made ammunition used in Gepard anti-aircraft tanks that Germany is sending to Ukraine, the government said on Tuesday. Germany earlier announced its first delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks following weeks of pressure at home and abroad to do so. The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) confirmed a report by broadcaster SRF that it had blocked Germany from sending munitions for the Gepard tank to Ukraine.
Chancellor Scholz likely knew all that. The offer of Gepards is a safe way to relieve the pressure put onto him to send arms to Ukraine. It is an offer of a system that can not be used within the timeframe of the war and for which he can not deliver the necessary specialized ammunition.
Are there still some Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in German storage? If so those flying coffins should be offered next.
Some snarky comments…
LOL Is this a circus or what? Next time, send Ukraine some P-51 Mustangs. They should do wonders against an SU-35. :-) Hey, I bet Hollywood can find some old Tiger tanks from the movie "Kelly's Heroes" to send! LMFAO
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 27 2022 10:49 utc | 3
I suspect that the offloading of old and outdated weaponry, ammunition, tanks and other materiel onto Ukraine by NATO members is part of a deal or a plan in which NATO members agree to buy US replacements for ageing junk they otherwise can't get rid of for lack of space in their own territories, and that way they fulfil US demands or expectations that they spend up to 2% of their annual GDPs on armaments. The Russians might consider this possibility and maybe pause in the use of their own weapons to shoot up old NATO junk to avoid running out of their own ammunition. Though they are probably aware that whatever replacements come from the US into European NATO countries are not likely to match their own weapons and armaments in usefulness and precision.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 27 2022 10:49 utc | 4
The Flakpanzer Gepard is very similar to the Soviet ZSU-23-4 Shilka, except it is twice as heavy and has twice the fuel consumption. The last time I saw a ZSU-23-4 Shilka in combat was in Libya in 2011. The Balakleya ammunition depot in the Kharkov region recently captured by Russian troops had a few of them undergoing service. The Shilka may still be useful against infantry, but that role has been taken over by Toyota ratmobiles (known as Banderamobiles in the Ukraine). *** The Balakleya ammunition depot blew up in 2017. I now looked at satellite photos. Some 90% of the warehouses have been pulverized. I find it hard to believe that a single initial explosion could have destroyed all this. Did Petrov and Boshirov volunteer for the Ukrainian army?
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Apr 27 2022 12:24 utc | 24
The UK tells China to obey the Uni-Polar demands of the West
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Article
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And China responds. The International rules are not the rules of a small circle of nations: Chinese FM on Truss warning China– Global Times
Another MM You-Tube video removed
I do hope that you got a chance to watch it. It’s now GONE.
I accidentally misplaced this video, and all of its construction components. And thus, this video is now nowhere to be found.
Personally, I tended to rant and rave on it. And I was musing about taking it down myself.
Yet, perhaps the stuff about SAP programs, bioweapon carpet-bombing of China, and MAJestic was enough to get the video banned. I have to be very careful on what I talk about on American / United States platforms. They are not as free as they are here inside of Communist China.
Well, that’s life. Eh?
The barbarian west is going to start another world war :
Cool Plant
Cercis canadensis
Wow Russia Seizes Ukraine Weapons and taunt USA !
Interesting video.
Rocket Scientist Joke 1
This is a joke, but it is sadly very true. Sometimes individual subsystems designers get so focused on their subsystems they lose sight of the overall mission. Source and artist unknown.
The West Is Still Buying Russian Oil, But It’s Now Harder to Track
The West Is Still Buying Russian Oil, but It's Now Harder to Track Russia ramped up oil shipments to key customers in recent weeks, defying its pariah status in world energy markets. One increasingly popular method for delivery: tankers marked "destination unknown." Oil exports from Russian ports bound for European Union member states, which historically have been the biggest buyers of Russian crude, have risen to an average of 1.6 million barrels a day so far in April, according to TankerTrackers.com. Exports had dropped to 1.3 million a day in March following the Ukraine invasion. Similar data from Kpler, another commodities data provider, showed flows rose to 1.3 million a day in April from 1 million in mid-March. But an opaque market is forming to obscure the origin of that oil. Unlike before Russia invaded Ukraine, oil buyers are worried about the reputational risk of trading crude that is financing a government that Western leaders accuse of war crimes. Oil from Russian ports is increasingly being shipped with its destination unknown. In April so far, over 11.1 million barrels were loaded into tankers without a planned route, more than to any country, according to TankerTrackers.com. That is up from almost none before the invasion. Energy Capital Partners Raises $3 Billion So Far to Back Energy Infrastructure Energy Capital Partners has raised roughly $3 billion so far for its fifth flagship fund focused on investing in energy infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter.
From HERE.
So-Easy Coq au Vin
I am sure that this isn’t going to be anything like the “real thing”, but it is a very easy recipe to give try with…
Here’s my adaptation of the beloved French dish. I substituted boneless skinless chicken breasts for a lighter, easy coq au vin that still showcases the traditional and memorable taste. —Sonya Labbe, Los Angeles, California
A Minecraft plant…
Corpuscularia lehmannii.
A trick you can use to avoid some or most paywalls when the paywall strikes:
1. Click out of that site
2. Click back into the site
3. IMMEDIATELY press & hold the Ctrl key then the A and C keys in succession
4. Press the Ctrl and V keys to copy onto a notepad
5. Enjoy reading the whole article. (Try to remember what the title was so you can identify it on your notepad amongst the garbage.)
Rocket Scientist Joke 2
This is a joke, but it is sadly very true. Sometimes individual subsystems designers get so focused on their subsystems they lose sight of the overall mission. Source and artist unknown.
The War in Ukraine and the Imminent Impact on Western Food Supplies… What You Need To Know
Everyone understands by now that Russia is a large energy producer, but what many don’t know is that when they sit down at the dinner table at night, the entire supply chain (aside from the energy required for transportation) that gets them that dinner involves Russia and Ukraine to a frightening degree.
Our current globally integrated food supply system and mass food production cannot exist without, among other things, fertilizer.
This includes three main categories: nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus fertilizers. Potash is a potassium-rich salt fertilizer that enhances plant quality and is responsible for 20% of global fertilizer demand.
Together with Belarus, Russia has a 40% market share in global production and export of potash fertilizer. What OPEC+ is to the oil market, Belarus and Russia are to the potash market. The two monopolies in this space are Uralkali and Belaruskali, with the Belarusian Potash Company being the latter’s export arm.
With 16.5% of the nitrogen fertilizer market, Russia may not appear to be that dominant until we look at the key ingredient (ammonium nitrate) and then we realize… oh, yes it is. Why? Russia holds a whopping 66% of the global market share in the production of this chemical, and without it there’s no nitrogen fertilizer.
All this matters a great deal for those of us who like to eat, because last month the Russkies imposed an export ban on the ammonium nitrate mentioned above. Their reasoning, true or not, was to ensure an affordable supply for its own farmers. This ban comes off in April 2022.
“Fine, what’s a few weeks to wait,” you might ask.
Farming isn’t like manufacturing iPhones. In the case of iPhones, if you’re missing some component of the phone you can plonk it in a month or two later and voila, it’ll all still work. Sure, your overall opex related to carrying the product for longer than anticipated is impacted but it’ll still work. Try that in farming and you miss your planting cycle. You miss your planting cycle and you can literally go bankrupt. It’s a big deal, and it’s going to have a lasting impact on anyone who needs food.
It doesn’t stop there, though. Digging into this here is what we found. According to The North Africa Post Morocco’s OCP Group is the world top exporter of phosphates
“The Moroccan state-owned OCP group has maintained its leading position as the world first exporter of phosphates although its market share decreased from 38 pc to 34 pc between January & September 2019, but in phosphoric acid, the Group remains the biggest worldwide exporter, with a 49 pc global market share.”
What does this have to do with Russia?
Through the company Uralchem, Russia provides ammonia to Morocco, and Morocco, as it turns out, is the largest phosphate fertilizer producer in the world with 75% of phosphate reserves.
How much ammonia? More than half.
Source: Worldbank. Morocco’s Imports of Ammonia
Oh, what a tangled web this all is. And we have only just begun to scratch the surface of the repercussions.
It looks like a painting…
Caladium.
Lobo – Me And You And A Dog Named Boo • TopPop
Here’s a blast from the past.
Yet another Rocket Scientist Joke
This is a joke, but it is sadly very true. Sometimes individual subsystems designers get so focused on their subsystems they lose sight of the overall mission. Source and artist unknown.
A cat in the fields…
Saxifraga Arendsii.
Is The U.S. Going To Transition From Stagflation Directly Into A Full-Blown Economic Depression?
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Should the fact that the U.S. economy actually contracted during the first quarter actually surprise any of us? Since the start of 2022, there has been crisis after crisis, and now the war in Ukraine is depressing economic activity all over the planet. What we are facing could most definitely be described as a “perfect storm”, and the truth is that this storm isn’t going to go away any time soon. But where do we go from here? Will the U.S. economy bounce back, or will this new economic downturn soon become even worse? Most economic optimists are assuming that the former will be true, while many economic realists are issuing dire warnings about what is ahead.
I was actually thinking of writing about something else today, but I knew that my regular readers would want me to talk about this…
Gross domestic product unexpectedly declined at a 1.4% annualized pace in the first quarter, marking an abrupt reversal for an economy coming off its best performance since 1984, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The negative growth rate missed even the subdued Dow Jones estimate of a 1% gain for the quarter, but the initial estimate for Q1 was the worst since the pandemic-induced recession in 2020.
We already knew that inflation had started to spiral out of control in the United States, and now the “stag” part of “stagflation” has arrived.
So what caused this “sudden” downturn? According to CNN, there are quite a few factors that can be blamed…
A push by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and combat high inflation. Supply chain shortages. An ongoing global health crisis. And of course, the geopolitical earthquake caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is also threatening to create a world food crisis.
If the U.S. economy shrinks again in the second quarter, that will officially meet the definition of a “recession”.
But as John Williams of shadowstats.com has pointed out, if honest numbers were being used the U.S. economy would still be in a recession that started all the way back at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
Everybody pretty much realizes that economic conditions are not great right now.
So are brighter days just around the corner? That is what some pundits seem to think…
The US economy will return to growth during the second quarter, according to RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas. “Without a doubt,” he said. “This is noise; not signal,” Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson wrote in a report. “The economy is not falling into recession.”
Maybe they will be right.
But if the economy is so strong, then why are foreclosure filings absolutely soaring?…
Last month, 33,333 properties across the U.S. faced foreclosure, a 181 percent jump from March 2021 and 29 percent pop from February, according to a report by foreclosure tracker Attom. The first quarter saw 78,271 properties with a foreclosure filing, a 39 percent from the previous quarter and 132 percent from last year.
Needless to say, there are other experts that have a much more negative view on what is ahead.
For example, Nancy Lazar is warning of a “synchronized” global recession…
Piper Sandler chief global economist Nancy Lazar warned on Monday that the world is in the early stages of a “very significant” and “synchronized” recession. In an appearance on “Mornings with Maria” Monday, Lazar noted that a recession is expected outside of the United States. “It’s going to be a global recession pulling down [the] Euro zone in particular,” she told host Maria Bartiromo. “It looks like China GDP [Gross domestic product] in the second quarter could also be negative.”
Actually, if all we suffer is a significant global recession that will be really good news.
Because right at this moment inflation is dramatically spiking all over the globe, we are witnessing the largest land war in Europe since World War II, and the UN is telling us that we are heading into a horrific worldwide food crisis.
An increasing number of Americans are starting to realize that things are moving in the wrong direction. In Gallup’s April survey, only 18 percent of Americans rated economic conditions as “good”, and only 2 percent rated them as “excellent”…
The GDP news comes on the heels of newly released polling data from Gallup that suggested that economy confidence is extremely low among the American public. More than four in ten (42%) of Americans said that economic conditions in America were “poor,” while another 38% said that they were only “fair” in Gallup’s April survey. Just 2% said economic conditions were “excellent,” while 18% said they were “good.”
Those are terrible numbers, and they have very serious implications for the Democrats in the fall.
But instead of focusing on fixing the economy, Joe Biden wants Congress to give him another 33 billion dollars for the war in Ukraine…
President Joe Biden is asking Congress for another $33 billion to help Ukraine resist Russia’s invasion and provide humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people. The proposal, which the White House will send to lawmakers on Thursday, includes $20 billion in additional security and military assistance for Ukraine, another $8 billion for economic assistance and $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
This is complete and utter madness.
To put this in perspective, the military budget for Ukraine is normally about 6 billion dollars for an entire year.
And much of the equipment that the U.S. is sending to Ukraine is being blown up by the Russians before it can even get to the fighters on the front lines.
With each passing day it is becoming clearer to everyone that this conflict is really a proxy war between the United States and Russia.
And nuclear war is increasingly becoming one of the hottest topics on Russian television. For example, the following is a recent exchange between two Russian television personalities that is making headlines all over the globe…
“Everything will end with a nuclear strike is more probable than the other outcome,” she continued. “This is to my horror, on one hand, but on the other hand, with the understanding that it is what it is.” It was at that point Solovyov chimed in, “But we will go to heaven, while they will simply croak.” “We’re all going to die someday,” Simonyan agreed.
“We’re all going to die someday”?
I certainly don’t like the sound of that.
Unfortunately, many Russians are now entirely convinced that nuclear war is coming.
But instead of pushing for peace, Joe Biden and his minions just keep escalating the conflict.
If we continue to go down this path, it will end in a nightmare.
Our current economic problems pale in comparison to the possibility of a nuclear conflict, but most Americans still don’t understand the implications of the decisions that our leaders are making.
Because if they did understand, there would be giant protests in the streets of every single major U.S. city right now.
A very cool tree…
Sterculia apetala.
More Than a Dozen Mysterious Carved Discs Found Near Volgograd, Russia
Time for a good laugh…
A team of investigators in Russia found more than a dozen stone discs in the Volgograd region of Russia. At the time of the discovery back in 2015, the team claimed that the discs contain tungsten, a high density metal that has applications in military technology.
While the nature of the discs remain a mystery, UFOlogists alluded to the disks being debris from an ancient spaceship.
UFO Hunters Discover Mysterious Discs in Russia
Russian news site Bloknot Volgograd reports that the finding was made by the Russian UFOlogy and Crytozoology group Kosmopoisk, known since 2004 as the All-Russian Scientific Organization, led by Vadim Chernobrov, during excavations in the Zhirnovsky district of the Volgograd region. The UFO hunters were investigating in the region due its fame for the occurrence of mystical phenomena.
While the team had previously discovered more than a dozen disc-shaped stones, they recently found a particularly large one. “We already found a dozen of these discs of not more than one meter (3.28 ft) in diameter and in Kuzbass a disc of about two meters (6.56 ft) in diameter,” Chernobrov told Bloknot Volgograd , adding that the newest one is unique because it is larger than all the others.
Spaceship Damaged in an Attack on Mars? Really?
“The shape… which resembles the popular image of a flying saucer , has let the imagination of the conspiracy theorists fly,” reports International Business Times .
“Scott Waring of UFO Sightings Daily thinks this is proof that aliens exist and claims the disc is made of tungsten. Tungsten is also known as wolfram, and is used in special military technology.”
The UFO investigation team has made lavish claims about the stone discs, stating that they could be about a million years old.
When discussing the find, Waring of UFO Sightings Daily explained:
“It looks to me like the stone discs I've seen in Mars NASA photos, which leads me to conclude that this UFO is a military drone, but it was probably damaged during the Mars attack and got off course, crashing on Earth.”
Evidence of military drones damaged in an attack on Mars. My goodness!
Wow! I am speechless!
Rational Explanations for the Mysterious Disks in Russia
Earlier this year, another disc-shaped stone object was discovered in Russia by a coal mining company, this time in Siberia’s Kuznetsk Basin.
The strange relic was found 40 meters (131 ft) underground, which suggests it is quite old. Archaeologists who examined the stone disc, which is perfectly circular with a diameter of 1.2 meters (3.93 ft), stated that it was man-made.
Fortunately, scientists at the Zhirnovsky Museum are taking a more rational approach and are studying the largest of the mysterious stone discs to determine its age and material. Some UFO skeptics even believe that the discs were not man-made, but that their shape is simply the result of erosion. The large stone disc was put on display at the Zhirnovsky Museum of Local Lore in order to undergo further testing, reported Bloknot Volgograd in 2015.
Isn’t nature strange and wonderful?
Haworthia cooperi, Cooper’s Haworthia.
Chinese girl in tan
Israeli Troops Arrive in Ukraine to FIGHT RUSSIA!
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Video below from inside Ukraine, shows the arrival of Israeli Defense Force troops, to fight against Russia. This is a gigantic stab in the back by Israel to Russia. “Allies” and “Partners” don’t do things like this.
WHOA! U.S. Just Blinked!
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The United States, seeing all its efforts in Ukraine as now futile, has said the following: The United States will accept a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow, after which Ukraine will be a neutral country.
This statement was made by the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
"Washington will respect Ukraine's decision if it enters into an agreement with Russia to renounce NATO membership to end the conflict,"
Blinken said.
Now the general American and Western public is being spoon-fed the news:
But you all must recognize that both Russia and China believe that America is “agreement incapable”; that they lie, ignore things and treaties at will, and that the United States is russing the war against Russia. The Ukraine is powerless.
This is perhaps a “punt” realizing that the situation has no advantage to the United States and cannot be reversed or changed.
The plant that looks like parrots…
Cyanotis tuberosa.
Cute Chinese Girl
Russia warns “NUCLEAR” WORLD WAR 3 risks now ‘considerable’
Russia’s foreign minister told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict, and Nato’s supply of weapons to Ukraine “in essence” meant that the Western alliance was engaged in a proxy war with Russia.
Interviewed by Russian state television, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
“The risks now are considerable,”
Mr Lavrov said according to a transcript of the interview on the ministry’s website.
“I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he regarded Russia’s scaremongering as a sign of weakness.
Russia had lost its…
“last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine,”
Mr Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Mr Lavrov’s interview.
“This only means Moscow senses defeat.”
During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.
The US State Department on Monday (April 25) used an emergency declaration to approve the potential sale of US$165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the package could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.
Moscow’s ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.
Mr Lavrov said:
“Nato, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.”
Russia’s two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad. Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists.
Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin. The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defence talks that will focus on arming Kyiv, US officials said.
Britain said all tariffs on goods coming into the country from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed and it would send new ambulances, fire engines, medical supplies and funding for health experts to help the emergency services.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday that it had declared 40 German diplomatic staff “personae non gratae” in a retaliatory move after Berlin expelled the same number of Russian diplomats.
FOREIGN TROOPS FIGHTING ALREADY IN UKRAINE
Over the weekend, photos emerged of foreign troops (NATO) already deployed inside Ukraine and fighting the Russians!
Below, a British Sniper Team in Ukraine:
Below, French troops from the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment, which is part of the Special Operations Forces, were deployed to Ukraine. The group includes instructors on the use of MILAN anti-tank systems and AT-4 grenade launchers:
While NATO countries may be claiming they are only sending in advisers or training troops, it is clear that ground forces from NATO countries are already inside Ukraine.
This appears, on its face, to be DeFacto war; exactly what Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov commented about above.
Meanwhile, inside Russia, near the Ukraine border, acts of war are being covertly committed. Below, video shows fuel storage tanks inside of Bryansk, Russia, being blown up by small explosives:
Other acts of war through sabotage, are also being committed. Below, a “mine” is shown having been placed on Russian railroad tracks. Such mines detonate when a train rolls over them, destroying tracks and derailing and damaging trains:
It is not likely that Ukrainian troops are perpetrating such acts as they do not have the manpower or expertise to engage in such covert activities. NATO countries, however, do have such abilities.
HIGH-TECH NATO WEAPONS APPEARING IN UKRAINE
While NATO troops are now clearly visible in Ukraine, very new, even “Black Project” NATO weapons are also appearing inside Ukraine.
Previously unknown Western military aid to Ukraine is being unveiled – it appears that Germany delivered pretty rare PARM DM22 HEAT off-route anti-tank mines, which can strike enemy vehicles with fin stabilized rockets up 100 meters away:
In addition, The US Dept. of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are fast tracking more black project weapons like the Phoenix Ghost to assist Ukraine.
The Phoenix Ghost tactical drone, a never-before revealed system designed by the US Air Force, will now prove its mettle on the battlefields of Ukraine.
The United States will provide more than 121 Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems, which are manufactured by AEVEX Aerospace, the Pentagon announced.
A senior defense official said the new drone “was rapidly developed by the Air Force in response, specifically, to Ukrainian requirements.”
Phoenix Ghost is a low-cost, single-use suicide drone that behaves like a loitering munition — flying around an airspace before ramming itself into a target.
REGULAR WARFIGHTING GEAR TOO
Yesterday, Poland’s Prime Minister confirmed that they have supplied Ukraine with tanks but does not confirm any specifications or quantities.
Sweden (not a NATO member, but might be next month) is also donating some of its FH77 BW Archers to Ukraine…
UKRAINE WAR CRIMES EVIDENCE FOUND
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) abandoned its office in Mariupol Ukraine, leaving behind all the video and photo evidence of actual WAR CRIMES perpetrated inside Mariupol, BY UKRAINE FORCES!
This evidence was hidden, and the war crimes committed by Ukraine were not reported in the official OSCE reports . . .
VIDEO EVIDENCE PROVES THE CRIMES:
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
After Blinken’s /Austin’s trip to Ukraine yesterday it should be clear to everybody that NATO is now actually engaged in a FULL SCALE WAR against Russia, but is using Ukrainian Blood versus their own for the actual fighting.
Forget the distractions of small engagements … it is now clear that NATO wants to totally defeat Russia on the battlefield, and Russia now understands that, though it took a few weeks for them to realize they were actually in a full scale War with NATO.
The ONLY thing lacking in this War at the moment is the two air forces and navies going at each other tooth and nail and direct people involvement by NATO troops.
In many respects the battle shaping up for Eastern Ukraine is much like the set up for set piece battles over the last 150 years … preparation time for each army to marshal it’s forces and pre-stock the supplies they will need for the battle close to where they believe the fighting will take place BEFORE that battle begins. Definitely NOT a Rommel Style Blitzkrieg Affair Russia LOST the opportunity to pull off that type of battle off early in this War with some early serious mistakes.
“IF” Ukraine starts to seriously lose in the east, is NATO air intervention a possibility?
Truly scary times for those of us on the outside wondering how far the main actors are willing to go to RAMP UP this conflict. Nuland, Blinken, and Austin clearly WANT a full scale War to evolve out of this conflict.
WHY? I have no idea, but everything they have been doing was first geared towards getting the War started and now appears to be geared towards making the War BIGGER, not dampening it down.
Hold on tight … the ride is about to get very very wild.
Overworked Employee Quits Because He Wasn’t Getting A Fair Wage, Costs The Company $40 Million
From HERE.
Not paying your employees a fair wage can have disastrous consequences for the company’s bottom line. Some business owners realize this only when it’s far, far too late.
Redditor u/slw_motion_trainwrck opened up about how he quit his low-paying, exhausting IT job at a major multinational company… and how the day after he left work, the business lost $40 million. In three very extensive posts on r/antiwork, the redditor detailed exactly how this happened, and the read is absolutely riveting.
Scroll down for the full story and more details about why exactly the manufacturing company that makes components for the automotive industry lost as much money as it did, dear Pandas. It’s definitely worth your attention. You’ll see just how low companies go and how far from every promise is worth listening to if it’s not in writing.
Financial expert Sam Dogen, the author of ‘Buy This, Not That: How to Spend Your Way to Wealth and Freedom’ and the founder of Financial Samurai, was kind enough to share his opinion with Bored Panda on how to gauge if someone is underpaid.
“The best way to gauge if you are underpaid is to ask your colleagues and other people in your industry what they are getting paid. They might be hard-pressed to reveal their figures at first. Therefore, you can ask for a range and also volunteer your wage and ask for their guidance. Getting average wages for your job based on online websites is not too helpful given their numbers are averages and all over the place,” he told us that employees should ask around to see if they’re being paid a proper wage.
According to financial expert Sam, a good employee knows their value. “The more an employee is irreplaceable, the more valuable the employee is. Therefore, if you know that your business will run just fine without you for one month or longer, you may not be as valuable as you think,” he said. “On the other hand, if you feel your business will suffer if you’re out longer than a week, then you are considered more valuable. No manager wants to lose a valuable employee because it takes a lot of time to find and train a new employee.”
An IT specialist, who was very overworked and incredibly underpaid, decided that he wanted better work conditions.
However, the multinational company was less than friendly, and drove itself into a huge financial mess as a result. Here’s the full story
He then summed up the story in one short sentence
U.S. does not rule out military action in Solomon Islands
Hypocrisy is at an insane level.
From Intel Slave Z Telegram channel… Nice hit!
On April 26 at 11:00 a.m., a Kalibr cruise missile hit a secret neo-Nazi training center disguised on the territory of the Zaporozhye aluminum plant. Up to 1,500 militants were trained on its territory under the leadership of 60 British mercenaries, as well as British SAS troops. The fact of the attack is carefully concealed by the Ukrainian intelligence agency. A cyberattack carried out by our units on the servers of healthcare institutions in the Zaporozhye region made it possible to collect information on the number of those killed and wounded. So far 523 killed and 347 wounded.
Cute Chinese girl
Imagine finding this in your home…
Rufus helps others no matter what
Be the Rufus. video 3MB
Russian Army BOMBS Airport Hangar Storing West-Supplied Weapons for Ukraine
Russian missiles have struck an arms depot housing weapons from the United States and European countries donated to Ukraine.
The Russian defense ministry said its Kaliber missiles destroyed hangars in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine which contained …
"a large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition supplied to Ukrainian troops by the United States and European countries".
Yesterday, Russia accused the West of “pouring oil on the fire” with weapons deliveries fueling the nine-week-old conflict.
They have also repeatedly warned that such weapons donations are legitimate military targets. The U.S. and European countries simply ignored such warnings and continued shipping weapons.
Those weapons have now been destroyed.
The United States and NATO have (officially) ruled out sending their own forces to Ukraine, but Washington and its European allies have supplied large quantities of weapons to Kyiv, including drones and anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.
And we have evidence of Western mercenaries, UK, French, American, and Israel special forces operating in and around Ukraine.
How Chinese BBQ is made
Slow-Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup
I tweaked a recipe I got from one of my best friends, and I couldn't believe how much this soup really does taste like stuffed green peppers! With beef and brown rice, it makes a hearty meal on a cold day. —Gina Baxter, Plainfield, IL
Directions
- In a large skillet, cook and crumble beef with onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, 5-7 minutes; transfer to a 6-qt. slow cooker. Stir in remaining ingredients.
- Cook, covered, on low until flavors are blended, 5-6 hours.
Cool discovery
I think finding the unexpected treasures that lie all around us is very curious and very interesting.
Rufus takes action to help others
Shelly West — Flight 309 to Tennessee
This was the top song on the Country Charts when I was discharged from the Navy and left to fend myself prior to my MAJestic training.
For those who cook…
First Spaceship on Venus
We end this installment with a classic science fiction film.
The print is so sharp and crystal clear it’s like watching it for the first time! Lots of us old-timers and sci-fi geeks think the Cosmostrator is one of the most elegant spaceships in movie history. This is a real treat if you’ve got the time.
This is a very unusual sci-fi space exploration flick...the kind that will give you weird dreams after viewing it! I was tempted to write that this East German / Polish film was the Warsaw Pact's answer to the US' 1956 movie Forbidden Planet , but then I discovered that this film is based on a 1951 sci-fi novel titled The Astronauts written by Stanislaw Lem who later wrote the 1961 science fiction novel Solaris that later inspired two movies. So, it's possible that Forbidden Planet was actually inspired by Lem's first book! Both Forbidden Planet and this flick involve alien races that become victims of their own super technologies. What's impressive in this film are the expensive props they had to construct and the eerie post nuclear holocaust Venusian landscape. Vitrefied and melted structures are everywhere and there is a dense vapor that floats through the atmosphere. We learn that the Venusians were preparing to use a super nuclear beam weapon on Earth, but, somehow, it backfired and created temperatures on the surface of Venus similar to the surface of the Sun! All that is left of the Venusians are some Hiroshima-like "shadows" on the walls of destroyed buildings. The film does not have a happy ending, but does deliver a strong anti-war / anti-nuclear weapons message. Despite being produced in communist countries, the astronauts that head to Venus are an international team of scientific specialists. The film was significantly shortened from its original length to remove the "commercials" it contained for communism and it's too bad we can't see the entire film. There was some sort of previous romance between the female Japanese medical doctor and one of the male spaceship pilots that is only hinted at and we have to guess what happened between them in the past. Does the film "make sense" scientifically? Yes and no. But, regardless, it is visually stunning in a way and definitely worth a view for anyone who has not yet seen it.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
New Beginnings 4.
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Posted by: Rasta | Apr 27 2022 10:45 utc | 2