Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
PAGE 554 of 1104
Russian missiles and drones are terrorizing Ukrainians. You can help bring safe skies.
We can set an example for our own politicians. And we can bring a bit of peace at the beginning of 2024 to a people who have suffered greatly.
By Timothy Snyder | Updated 5:08 a.m. ET Jan. 5, 2024
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/01/05/ukraine-war-r
ussia-drone-detection/72052546007/
The air raid siren in Odesa, Ukraine, didn't wake me. It's sometimes too easy to get used to what should never be normal.
Russia had no reason to invade Ukraine in February 2022. The reasons Vladimir Putin gave, having to do with his view that another people do not exist, have the whiff of genocide. The invasion itself is the crime of aggression.
For nearly two years, Russia has committed countless war crimes. These are not just what happens in war. The filtration camps, the kidnaping of children, the executions of civilians – these are all atrocities, and they are all illegal. Russia has no excuse for sending rockets, cruise missiles and drones into Ukrainian cities.
In Odesa last September, the day before I had visited a cathedral – hit by a Russian rocket. I wanted to go to an outdoor cafe – hit by a Russian rocket. As it turned out, the cruise missile that night was headed not for this southern city but for the port of Izmail.
Russia has been using its drones and cruise missiles to target Ukrainian ports and storage facilities, to try to prevent Ukrainian foodstuffs from being exported to Africa and the Middle East, where of course they are needed.
Russian cruise missiles and Russian drones (often supplied by Iran) are regularly used, especially in cold weather, to target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. This is a possible war crime. It's not just what happens. It is a deliberate decision, made in Moscow, to make civilians suffer and die by denying them electricity and water in wintertime.
This happened last winter, and it is happening again now.
These realities make the politics as usual in Washington infuriating. It's very easy for us to help the Ukrainians win this war. What we supply them amounts to about a nickel on the Defense Department dollar. Most of that is spent in the United States, on American industry, paying American workers.
Ukrainians fighting Russia on behalf of America and NATO
In fighting the war, Ukraine is performing an extraordinary service to Americans. It is fulfilling the entire NATO mission, absorbing and halting a full-scale Russian attack. It might be deterring a Chinese offensive in the Pacific by showing how difficult offensive operations can be.
We have no excuse for treating any of this as normal. What the Russians are doing in Ukraine is a test for the whole international legal order and for people who say they care about freedom. What the Ukrainians are doing to protect legal order and freedom in general is extraordinary.
When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Washington recently, he was told whom he needed to thank. As an American, this makes me very uneasy. It is we who need to learn to thank our friends.
It is the Ukrainians who have been, in the millions, turned into refugees. It is the Ukrainians who have, in the tens of thousands, been killed or wounded on the battlefield or by those rockets, drones and cruise missiles. It is the Ukrainians who are fighting this war.
And it is the Ukrainians who can win it – if the U.S. government does what it should.
How you can help Ukraine win war against Russia
In the meantime, we can all help.
In Ukraine, there is a strong tradition of what is called civil society. This means doing what the government doesn't do, filling the gaps or helping the government do what it should be doing. This Ukrainian government understands that it needs support, and not just from other governments.
I was approached by United24, President Zelenskyy's funding platform, and agreed to help raise money for a very special project. The Ukrainians have developed an
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Fuck Ukraine.
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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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PATRIOT interceptors are estimated to cost about $4 million per missile.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12297
Forbes calculated the cost based on the estimates that one Russian Kh-101 cruise missile costs $13 million, a Kalibr cruise missile costs $ 6.5 million, a Kinzhal ballistic missile costs $15 million, an Iskander costs $3 million, and one Shahed 136 drone costs $50,000, among others.
https://news.yahoo.com/forbes-estimates-russias-jan-2-154556571.html
Western weapon's wins against Russia are 'intelligence bonanza'
By Chris Panella | Jan 4, 2024, 2:58 PM CST
https://www.businessinsider.com/western-weapons-wins-against-russia-ar
e-intelligence-bonanza-2024-1
Ukraine says it has shot down 25 Russian Kinzhal missiles with Patriot systems since last May.
Any such kill improves the Patriot's accuracy and algorithms, benefiting other users of the system.
It's invaluable intelligence for the West and further highlights the need for more air defenses.
Ukraine's made good use of its Western-provided Patriot air-defense systems, shooting down plenty of Russian missiles, aircraft, and drones, including some advanced, albeit overhyped, weaponry.
But the intercepts, while a win for Ukraine, are also gathering hoards of data for other Patriot operators, making the system smarter and better. It's just one example of how the war in Ukraine is, as one missile-defense expert told Business Insider, an "intelligence bonanza."
And as Ukraine defeats threats, there's also a growing recognition of the importance of robust air and missile defenses, vital for defending and deterrence and, in Ukraine's case, survival amid an increase in missile and drone attacks.
On Tuesday, Ukraine said it shot down all 10 of the new Kinzhals fired during a vicious air assault, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine praising the incident as "what heroism supplied with advanced systems looks like." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too, hailed Western-provided air defenses like Patriots, IRIS-T, and NASAMS for saving "hundreds of lives."
The reported kills nearly doubled the tally of Kinzhals destroyed in the war. Just Sunday, Ukraine said it had shot down 15 Kinzhal missiles using Patriot batteries since the first recorded intercept last May, which was confirmed by the Pentagon.
A Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, Col. Yurii Ihnat, praised the Patriot's ability to counter a variety of missile threats. The rate at which the Patriot may have intercepted Kinzhals indicates Ukraine has learned well how to operate its Western air defenses and developed a strong defense against the missile the Russians have touted as an unstoppable hypersonic weapon.
But Ukraine is not the only one benefiting from these engagements. For other Patriot operators, such as the US, new data about how to counter specific threats, such as the Kinzhal, is incredibly useful information.
"Every Ukrainian downing of Russian hypersonic Kh-47M2 Kinzhal with the Patriot missiles will improve the Patriot missile intercept algorithm — and increase accuracy for all Patriot systems, a benefit for the US, the rest of NATO, and other Patriot AD users," Jan Kallberg, a senior fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security program at the Center for European Policy Analysis who was a professor at West Point, posted on X.
That data is valuable for both the US and its NATO allies, giving them a rare opportunity to live test systems and learn more about how not only to engage but also defeat Russian weaponry.
"The larger point is the intelligence bonanza that we are capitalizing on by observing or capturing Russian systems" without actually having any troops on the ground, Tom Karako, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who's the director of the Missile Defense Project there, told Business Insider. He said the opportunity was giving the US valuable data on Russia for potenti
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"Ukraine says..." is your tipoff to a lie. The chance of a Patriot missile hitting a Kinzhal, if the Patriot system is mated with Israel's fancy ultrafast predictive radar (as was done recently), is about 10-15%.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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I have no idea who Lord Bebo is, but he (they?) is (are?) universally available as LordBebo and Mylordbebo on X, TikTok, Telegram, YouTube and who knows where else.
Lord Bebo posted an interesting video on YouTube about the war in Ukraine from a Russian drone operators POV
I've seen LOTS of drone footage on Military Summary, but there's no audio. And that makes a huge difference. Where you might see small squads of men moving from building to building or clearing trenches under a watchful drone, it looks kind of random. But There's a lot, and I mean A LOT, of communication going on between drone operators and soldiers, between drone operator and drone operator, and between squads. I don't have time to describe everything I heard, but the drone operator was telling a squad which building to clear. When the squad reported they were being shot at, the operator found which building they were being shot at from. Another drone operator broke in to tell them there was a Ukrainian APC coming down the main road, going to their rear. As it turns out, the APC was evacuating Ukrainian soldiers. It's not soldiers all by themselves anymore. There's probably a drone watching and an operator telling .... Sometimes nagging... ("Throw the grenade in the building and go in ... Throw the grenade in the window and enter. FUCK! THROW THE GRENADE AND GO IN") them what to do. With a lot of "fucks" thrown in.
This was, of course, from a Russian POV but I assume it's the same on the Ukrainian side.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:Who told you 10-15%?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
"Ukraine says..." is your tipoff to a lie. The chance of a Patriot missile hitting a Kinzhal, if the Patriot system is mated with Israel's fancy ultrafast predictive radar (as was done recently), is about 10-15%.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 7, 2024
Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky continued the Kremlin narrative that Russia is engaged in an indirect conflict with the West in Ukraine. Polyansky claimed that Ukrainian forces are not planning to march on Moscow because the “Kyiv regime will lose soon,” but noted that NATO threatens Russia’s existence because the alliance is leading the war against Russia in Ukraine.[71] Polyansky’s statements are similar to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s January 1 identification of the West as Russia’s “enemy” and are likely aimed at setting information conditions aimed at convincing the West to betray Ukraine through negotiations.[72]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-january-7-2024
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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During Russia’s New Year’s show The Little Blue Light 12 months ago, one of its hosts, Dmitry Guberniev assured the viewers that victory in Ukraine was near. He said, “Life is like a biathlon or ski racing. If you’re having a hard time, then the finish line is near.” During the same program, comedian Yevgeny Petrosyan claimed that the West had tried to destroy Russia but instead was forced to freeze and suffer without Russian gas supplies. He boasted: “Like it or not, Russia is enlarging!”
The mood was markedly different during this year’s festivities. Instead of laughing at the West, Petrosyan wished fellow Russians to have “barns and cellars that are fully stocked and regularly replenished with patience and optimism.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/shocking-reality-of-ukraine-blowback-ham
mers-putin-at-home
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Putin recast his war as Russia’s eternal ideological struggle. “The point is not that they (the West) are helping our enemy. They are our enemy,” he said. “They are solving their own problems with their hands. That is what it is all about. Unfortunately, this has been the case for centuries and continues to be the case today.”
“Though it has been their (the West’s) goal to deal with Russia from time immemorial, we will deal with them faster,” Putin assured the wounded during his hospital visit.
“And the most important thing we have is … the unity of our people and society. Because there is an understanding of how important your job on the battlefield is in the armed struggle for our country and our future.”
Putin’s previous proclamations of “denazifying” Ukraine and “battling the forces of satan” are no longer enough justification.
The messages pushed by the Putin regime’s leading ideologists increasingly resemble caricatures. Indeed, the less credible the information, the more willing Putin’s ideologists are to use it.
One recent accusation by long-term Putin associate Security Council chief Nikolai Patruschev states that “Anglo-Saxon elites” believe Siberia to be the safest refuge from an impending eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano in the western United States. And that is why the West wants to invade Russia.
Other such extraordinary claims include Poland having secret territorial designs over Belarus and Ukraine.
And Finland wanted to seize a broad swath of northern Russia.
The Kremlin relies on stories designed to support slogans such as
“We are not the same as everybody else!”
“We have a special DNA!”
“We are fighting godlessness and the enemies on our country’s Western borders!”
“We have to defend ourselves by reclaiming our ancient territories and ‘liberating’ them!”
In short, the best defense of the beleaguered Russian nation is offense.
https://nypost.com/2024/01/06/news/russian-president-vladimir-putin-re
veals-countrys-new-enemy/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Putin Goes Full Bond Villain
By Brendan Cole | Jan 08, 2024 at 9:24 AM EST
A counterintelligence directorate created by former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin and made famous by the James Bond novels of author and former British spy Ian Fleming has reportedly made a return to Russia.
SMERSH is a portmanteau of the Russian for "death to spies," or "smert shpionam." It was announced in 1943 as a move to target Nazi spy rings, traitors and foreign agents during the World War II, before it was disbanded in 1946.
Fleming portrayed the group as cold-blooded foes of James Bond. One of his characters was Rosa Klebb — an assassin handy with a flick-knife shoe, who was played by Austrian actress Lotte Lenya in the 1963 film version of From Russia with Love.
SMERSH has been recreated in the present day to hunt down intelligence officers Moscow believes are targeting Russia.
https://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-putin-bond-villain-smersh-stalin-mod
-1858646
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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