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How to buy a tank in Belarus: A BRDM-2 Story http://ntv.livejournal.com/364943.html (In English)
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Sep 25, 2014 01:34
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:How to buy a tank in Belarus: A BRDM-2 Story A T-72 in good order will run around the price of a luxury car. A little more cash and some paperwork and you can even play with the cannon.
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Sep 25, 2014 02:18
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They're like owning a medieval castle, they just cost a shitload to maintain and run.
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Sep 25, 2014 03:01
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Phobophilia posted:They're like owning a medieval castle, they just cost a shitload to maintain and run. That said, I'd love to drive a tank to work.
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Sep 25, 2014 03:15
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Dear Eastern Europe thread: Today I was in a boring seminar about using the writing and math help centers on my campus. Somebody's phone went off, and their ringtone was "House of the Rising Sun". I thought about the song for a bit, and then had a stroke of what I think is genius, but you'll likely disagree.   because my laptop sucks and dies when I edit photos.
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Sep 25, 2014 04:38
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Now there's an heir who'll be poisoned within a year of the death of his dad, probably after starting a regional war over a tantrum.
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Sep 25, 2014 08:06
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Brown Moses posted:Just been sent this short video, comparing the Paris Match Buk photo to the image of the Buk sighted in a convoy in Russia heading to the Ukrainian border a few weeks before the downing of MH17. Watch the markings and the damage on the rail above the tracks Someone put this together which I think makes it very clear it's a match.
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Sep 25, 2014 08:08
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Dolash posted:Now there's an heir who'll be poisoned within a year of the death of his dad, probably after starting a regional war over a tantrum. Wait, Joffrey is real?  Dusty Baker 2 posted:Dear Eastern Europe thread: This is superb. 
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Sep 25, 2014 08:09
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Majorian posted:Wait, Joffrey is real? The kid is also born out of wedlock, it is going to be a legit feud around a bastard child in 21st century.
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Sep 25, 2014 08:21
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:Something I almost missed. Polish miners blocked a coal train from Kaliningrad. That article doesn't go into details of protest, it's a bit more than "Lol, unions want protectionism". Taxes and tolls are based on declared value, which in turn is based on declared quality of coal - of course importers declare lower quality to be vastly more competitive. That way imported coal is 20-40% cheaper than polish alternative, while if all laws were obeyed it would be closer to 5-10%. In turn that makes companies that sell imported coal win most of competition for high volume contracts.
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Sep 25, 2014 09:49
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AFP is reporting Ukraine will apply for EU membership in 2020.
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Sep 25, 2014 09:56
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Brown Moses posted:AFP is reporting Ukraine will apply for EU membership in 2020. EU: "Not sure if want". Besides at this point I'm pretty sure Putin will just march all the way up to Kiev and take all of the land on the way there if Ukraine really tries to join. Russia is not going to let the entity that is currently Ukraine join a Western political organization.
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Sep 25, 2014 09:57
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Ruh roh http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/09/23/ukraine-may-need-far-more-foreign-aid-to-rescue-its-economy/
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Sep 25, 2014 10:51
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Brown Moses posted:AFP is reporting Ukraine will apply for EU membership in 2020. Good luck with that
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Sep 25, 2014 11:23
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Yeah, 2020 is bit far away and I have a feeling Russia is not going to suddenly let up until it gets what it wants, and it looks like Ukraine is in extremely dire straights financially. Basically, there is nothing going right with the Ukrainian economy or its finances at the moment.
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Sep 25, 2014 12:02
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Donetsk will hold elections in the beginning of November. Another farce like Crimea and the previous referendum there.
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Sep 25, 2014 12:22
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Brown Moses posted:Someone put this together which I think makes it very clear it's a match. I'm really not seeing it. It might be a good idea to have other BuKs in the comparison because they eye has nothing to compare these to. Do all BuKs look like that? I don't know.
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Sep 25, 2014 12:27
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Arglebargle III posted:I'm really not seeing it. It might be a good idea to have other BuKs in the comparison because they eye has nothing to compare these to. Do all BuKs look like that? I don't know. I've been collecting images of Buks, here's some of them, 1, 2, 3. I've looked at more than are in those albums, and I've yet to come across any with the same markings, or the same pattern of damage above the tracks. Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 12:54
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A bit of cross-region news: Serbia declares support of the Iraq government in its struggle against ISIS and promises to help with what few resources it has.
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Sep 25, 2014 13:38
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:
That is not KAMAZ truck. Feel the difference: 
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Sep 25, 2014 15:32
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I think the damaged part on the Buk is just a bit of crumple on the rubber skirt, which seems like it would happen easily, though having the same pattern of crumple in the same spot is still notable.
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Sep 25, 2014 16:07
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Elukka posted:I think the damaged part on the Buk is just a bit of crumple on the rubber skirt, which seems like it would happen easily, though having the same pattern of crumple in the same spot is still notable. Note you can see it matches across the entire skirt as well, not just one part of it. There's other images of Buk with the same sort of damage to the skirt, but it's all in different positions.
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Sep 25, 2014 17:37
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my dad posted:A bit of cross-region news: Serbians are pretty good at killing Muslims and this time they get to help out from the "good" side? What could possibly go wrong?
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Sep 25, 2014 19:42
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Brown Moses posted:Note you can see it matches across the entire skirt as well, not just one part of it. There's other images of Buk with the same sort of damage to the skirt, but it's all in different positions. As I discussed with you via PM, I've been double-checking your evaluations of the pictures with a skeptics eye trying to find anything different between the pictures of the Buk to see if they're different vehicles. Unfortunately for the separatists, they're the same vehicle, as far as I can see. I've seen nothing in any of the pictures that contradicts anything you've said.
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Sep 25, 2014 19:56
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alex314 posted:That article doesn't go into details of protest, it's a bit more than "Lol, unions want protectionism". Taxes and tolls are based on declared value, which in turn is based on declared quality of coal - of course importers declare lower quality to be vastly more competitive. That way imported coal is 20-40% cheaper than polish alternative, while if all laws were obeyed it would be closer to 5-10%. In turn that makes companies that sell imported coal win most of competition for high volume contracts. Coal mining in Poland is a huge  . It's one of the last vestiges of strong organized labor and are known from their tendency to violently protest changes that could affect them negatively. They are one of the rare occupational groups without ties to the military or justice apparatus that still can go into early retirement and still receive a fairly large pension.It's not bad per se, but happens in the country where public trust in the pension system reached an all-time low. In recent years, the minimum retirement age was raised any many occupational groups that previously could withdraw from the workforce earlier, have lost that right. To make the matter worse, the first pensions affected by the 1997 reform, which were paid out this year, turned out to be much lower than before. There is a widespread fear that the current system will crash and burn in 10-20 years, which is stoked by economists and pundits clamoring for even more cuts. This means that the groups who actually receive decent pensions became hugely unpopular. This lead to a strange situation where the Poles (who mostly dislike Russia, especially after recent months) actually hate the protest and its organizers and would gladly see it violently dispersed.
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Sep 25, 2014 21:32
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With only Mariupol and the Donetsk airport being shelled by Russians today, it's been a relatively quiet day in Ukraine. Zhirinovsky is known for piling on the crazy every time he speaks, but experts point out he should be taken seriously because it's a precursor to what Putin intends to do. http://www.interpretermag.com/zhirinovskys-plan-for-ukraines-destruction-must-be-taken-seriously-illarionov-say/ Poroshenko says Ukraine will apply to join EU by 2020. See above for what Zhirinovsky says what's going to happen to Ukraine by 2019. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-220-poroshenko-says-ukraine-will-apply-eu-membership-in-2020/#4413 Hungary stops all gas shipments to Ukraine. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-220-poroshenko-says-ukraine-will-apply-eu-membership-in-2020/#4413 There was a grenade attack in Odessa. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-220-poroshenko-says-ukraine-will-apply-eu-membership-in-2020/#4407 All checkpoints between Russia and Ukraine are now closed. http://bluemarbletimes.com/archives/267108?utm_campaign=russia&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter Maidan wins the Lech Walesa freedom prize. http://www.france24.com/en/20140925..._source=twitter ISIS and the Homonazi Junta are all part of the American plot to destroy Russia. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29368707
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Sep 26, 2014 02:30
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Does Ukraine maintain even nominal control of the border with Russia? At this point convoys seem to be moving back and forth uninhibited, all that leaving Ukrainian forces there does is make them vulnerable to pocketing and being killed/captured - as soon as Russia decides it wants to erase the border it'll flatten them with artillery.
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Sep 26, 2014 03:47
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Dolash posted:Does Ukraine maintain even nominal control of the border with Russia? At this point convoys seem to be moving back and forth uninhibited, all that leaving Ukrainian forces there does is make them vulnerable to pocketing and being killed/captured - as soon as Russia decides it wants to erase the border it'll flatten them with artillery. Not in the areas adjacent to those controlled by separatists. A large stretch has no Ukrainian presence whatsoever. Now, in theory Russia is supposed to prevent crossing regardless, but in practice... hahahaha.
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Sep 26, 2014 05:08
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And there's plans to send a 4th humanitarian convoy into the occupied parts of Ukraine. Elena Vasilyeva in a press conference says that over 4,000 Russians have died fighting in Ukraine. https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR/status/515430449712488448
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Sep 26, 2014 10:52
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Just read a Sueddeutsche article about the repression of families of fallen soldiers in Russia. Noone dares to speak about lost loved ones. The reason is obvious: whoever breaks the silence has to either flee or ends up half dead in the hospital. Putin has sent countless Russians to their death and then he brutally opresses everyone who was close to them. He heaps injustice upon injustice.
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Sep 26, 2014 11:27
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Lucy Heartfilia posted:Just read a Sueddeutsche article about the repression of families of fallen soldiers in Russia. Noone dares to speak about lost loved ones. The reason is obvious: whoever breaks the silence has to either flee or ends up half dead in the hospital. And still individuals refuse to call Russia for what it is: fascist.
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Sep 26, 2014 11:28
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My Imaginary GF posted:And still individuals refuse to call Russia for what it is: fascist. I was honestly hesitant at the beginning of the crisis to conclude this because I was like "there is no way Putin could really be so stupid as to try and placate the ultra-nationalist morons" but here we are. 
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Sep 26, 2014 12:31
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:And there's plans to send a 4th humanitarian convoy into the occupied parts of Ukraine. As much as I want to cheer on Ukraine in matters of self defense, this sounds enormously inflated considering the timeframe and how badly they were being routed. Any idea how this number was reached?
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Sep 26, 2014 16:18
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Cuntpunch posted:As much as I want to cheer on Ukraine in matters of self defense, this sounds enormously inflated considering the timeframe and how badly they were being routed. Any idea how this number was reached? Maybe uncritically adding up all the reports from people saying "I personally killed 5 Russian soldiers", repeated throughout the country. I'm having trouble finding reliable sources on total Russian deaths, but according to Wikipedia the total death count in Donbas is believed to be less than 4,000.
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Sep 26, 2014 16:27
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More likely it simply includes the imported "separatists" rather than just Russian soldiers.
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Sep 26, 2014 17:16
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An honest accounting of casualties is going to be all but impossible since the premiere power operating in the area is extremely committed to obfuscating the truth. We may never know. There was talk by Ukraine about building a defensive line to contain the the separatists, while the ceasefire has been pretty shaky is there any word on that? I assume the big fear in this relative lull is once the separatists finish rearming and reorganizing (with help from this latest "humanitarian convoy") they'll push to take Mariupol and try to roll up the whole Ukrainian coast down to Odessa. I don't know if realistically the Ukrainian army can stop such an offensive unless the West starts arming them with something stronger than rusting soviet gear, but presumably they can at least mass some artillery and troops and hope for the best.
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Sep 26, 2014 17:35
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Dolash posted:An honest accounting of casualties is going to be all but impossible since the premiere power operating in the area is extremely committed to obfuscating the truth. We may never know. They'll only be able to get Mariupol+ if Russia rolls in again, Ukrainian army can stop the actual separatists easily.
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Sep 26, 2014 17:40
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Dolash posted:An honest accounting of casualties is going to be all but impossible since the premiere power operating in the area is extremely committed to obfuscating the truth. We may never know. Even in the state the Ukrainian military is in, I doubt the separatists will be able to push much outside the two oblasts without far more significant Russian assistance. One thing is that the more territory they take, the more territory they have to defend and while they have still an edge of the Ukrainian army, it is still within the limits of the territory they have taken. Putin could obviously change his mind, but he would probably need to put closer to 50-60,000 troops in there more more rather than 6,000-10,000. He probably could easily take Kiev in two-weeks if he wanted to, but he would actually have to engage divisions to do so. Right now, the separatists seem to still be taking villages here and their and are keeping up their bombardment, but at this time they aren't making major progress. Anyway, the reason people don't like calling Putin a "fascist" isn't cause they like him and don't want to say bad things, but that Putin and his regime are fairly different than classical fascism itself. quote:They'll only be able to get Mariupol+ if Russia rolls in again, Ukrainian army can stop the actual separatists easi I don't know if "easily" is the right word, the Ukrainian army is still on the defensive and losing some ground, but ultimately still holding. Ardennes fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Sep 26, 2014 |
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Sep 26, 2014 17:43
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Ardennes posted:I don't know if "easily" is the right word, the Ukrainian army is still on the defensive and losing some ground, but ultimately still holding. It's on defensive because they're under orders to Cease Firing due to political reasons.
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Sep 26, 2014 18:22
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Sergiu64 posted:It's on defensive because they're under orders to Cease Firing due to political reasons. The separatists are still taking territory, just at a much slower pace, at least according to reports from UAlivemap.
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Sep 26, 2014 18:32
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