Russia of course are fully conscious of war crimes. So careful of staying within the bounds of Marquis of Queensbury rules. Being careful not to upset popular opinion by harming women and children. Heaven help they hit a hospital by accident. They could never live with themselves.
On the “Oh damn” frontz someone has been scouring the reports the Pentagon generates for Ukraine and they found that the US is giving Ukraine an absolute ton of the latest rounds for the Abrams. So much so that it likely means more Abrams are on the way. However, the rounds are the big news here. This is a programmable round that were specifically designed to clear trenches. They can be programmed to explode on contact, penetrate a set distance then explore, or air burst over a trench and shoot shrapnel down into a trench, all of this from a nice comfy almost 2 miles away. The air burst is mode is probably the most interesting, IMHO. Let’s say you got some Russians hiding in a trench. Well, you use the Abrams’ range finder to target a tree behind the trench, decrease the range by how far behind the trench it is, then fire. The shell then travels the set distance and explodes spraying the trench below it with shrapnel. Oh, the US actually had a grenade launcher that worked very similar that was, quite literally, a war crime. Why was it a war crime? Because apparently back in the late 1800s exploding bullets were outlawed. But it’s a grenade launcher, not a rifle you might say. Well, the treaty actually includes a size limit so that exploding rounds for cannons and artillery were legal and the grenade was below that limit. Unfortunately, for the US, no one noticed this until it was deployed to Afghanistan where it received race reviews from the units that used it.
Dual use targets which are out of action and being repaired cannot be targeted whilst being repaired unless the action is proportionate. They have zero military value so deliberately timing a bombing in order to kill the contractors working to repair them is very likely a war crime I’m afraid. If the railway is a military target you can always strike it as soon as the repairs are done (and it would make sense to do that rather than bombing out an unusable railway). Its a “double tap” tactic which the US used in Afghanistan and it’s a war crime to do it. Take your own logic and apply it to hospitals treating soldiers. Or public roads. It’s ok to bomb roads in the US during any future war when the contractors are working to repair them?
German women were so terrified by the Russian Red Army's rape reputation, they rather drowned themselves before the advancing soldiers would get them. Didnot stop the soldiers from raping the dead bodies.
Are the conservative trolls gloating over the passing of the spending bill without additional aid to Ukraine? I'm sure the imminent liberation of Novorossiya is on the way. There's at least one reason that conservatives are behind Putin on this being that supporters of Novorossiya are using the below flag. Very similar to a US conservative flag.
So all a court all has to do is prove the motivations of the general who ordered a missile attack on a piece of infrastructure.
I believe Hospitals are specifically mentioned in the Geneva conventions are off limits, I am not sure about people trying to fix logistics that can be used for military use. Double tapping tends to be when medical and rescue personnel are targeted, so bomb a bridge or building, then wait for red cross / red crescent to show up, then drop another bomb. Some legitimate targets mentioned Regarding civilians, they can be killed but it ""must be proportional and no excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated"" https://web.archive.org/web/2009092...sofwar.org/thebook/legit-military-target.html https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/part1/commentary/1987?activeTab=undefined
I don't know, you tell me: pic.twitter.com/W9i9YEM8uA— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2023 Elon Musk is a twat, and not a good human being. He has squandered any good will he had from me (as little as he had currently).
No.. It's not. The "double tap" is specifically targeting civilians, but, again, just to repeat myself. Russian repair crews are part of the military. It's not a civilian.
The Slovakian new President is against additional aid to Ukraine in terms of arming them and was critical of EU sanctions against Russia and is against more sanctions. He doesn't seem to be a right winger though. His party seems to be a left wing populist Social Democratic party. He also used to be part of the Communist party back in the day (Tchekoslovakia).
That's fair. Most of the articles I found covering the election classified him as right-wing. That could be a result of Western media not really covering Slovakia elections before and assuming that pro-Putin would be right wing.
This is from a blogger whose professional area of expertise is war and peace, and who recently visited Ukraine. Zelensky's Future - Lawyers, Guns & Money (lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com) "I was surprised to find zero, absolutely zero evidence of a cult of personality around Zelensky in Ukraine. He is admired but not worshipped, even to the same extent that Obama or obviously Trump were worshipped in the US. By and large Ukrainians were proud of this point, offering it as a contrast between their approach to democracy and the autocratic systems that have taken hold in Russia and Belarus." I've been thinking that there's more hero worship of Zelenskyy outside of Ukraine than inside, but I don't think I've ever made the comment. Anyway, this is one data point in favor of that theory.
With SMER only having 42/150 seats he's going to have to find 2 other parties to support him. Hlas broke away from SMER. If he gets them back onside it would take him to 69. He's still going to need one of the conservative parties or the nationalists. If he fails to form a government the alternative is a liberal/centrist/conservative coalition. Why do all the parties in Slovakia sound like Bond villains?
Those long range suicide drones mentioned in the attack on the MiG-29 at an Ukrainian air base are showing up in numbers. They have a tremendous range - basically everything within 50km of the front can be a target. Ukraine lost a number of supply trucks in the Donestk region recently to these. Russia is also making up for the losses in artillery with large scale use of glide bombs dropped from aircraft. They drop something like a thousand a month now, and those are really big booms. Ukraine can't really use villages near the front for supply or staging because they get flattened. Ukraine needs more Patriot systems.
Technological advances make battlefield deception harder but more important than ever from the WSJ: How Ukraine Tricks Russia Into Wasting Ammunition
How is it going with Russia's sovereign wealth fund? I was hearing it has actually grown??? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ebuilding-wealth-fund-even-amid-war#xj4y7vzkg
It will go up if oil & natural gas prices rise. Yet another strong reason to switch to green energy. Prolonging the transformation transfers wealth and power to the crap governments.
The Ukrainians have crossed the railroad line near Andriivka, south of Bakhmut. This is important because Russia has been holding this line for quite a while. Throughout the war, rails have served defenders as lines that are difficult to cross. In order to keep the rails flat, at lower elevations the rails are on a constructed mini mountain ridge with steep sides and no cover. You can even tunnel under them to build bunkers that are impervious to shelling. One such bunker was taken as part of today's attack, with many casualties and or prisoners depending on which Russian Telegram you read.