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Regarde Aduck posted:When all your opinions are based on feelings of schadenfreude you really should reevaluate your principles. Stop mud-wrestling with the pig.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:06
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Oh, there's no denying that shale oil has produced some extra oil, and even got a little part in the recent price decline, it's just a matter of placing the proper weight/credit to each "cause". Every expert is crawling out of the woodwork to lay it all on the glorious feet of the fracking ~boom~ and extrapolate into 2040 but as you say, none of that really matters if no one is buying. What I'm seeing that's pretty alarming is all the big oil players around here (like Statoil, Preem) laying off thousands and dropping their profit margins by like 50%+ or even losing money, which makes all those claims about those smaller fracking companies with debt up to their ears that are still somehow "profitable" at $70-80 per barrel prices sound pretty unlikely, or how it's only 4% of North American companies that don't make profit at these prices. I mean, why would a "Industry Insider" who's main gig is to sell shares in fracking companies be exagerating? Let's just take their word for it.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:14
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MeLKoR posted:Something that completely baffles me about the Russians is that on one hand they seem very competent at psy-ops disinformation poo poo which implies a good knowledge of their audience but then they seem completely unable to understand that people don't like to be bullied around by foreigners and that that'll only make them determined to tell you to gently caress off. Wow, it's almost as if... someone from the KGB came to power in Russia and filled all top levels of business and government with his buddies. And the KGB is a very peculiar organization. They're excellent at psy-ops operations because they have more than 50 years of experience and practice. But they simply cannot understand normal partnership relations. You must be either their enemy or you are their agent. If you are neither (like Serbia), that means they're working to recruit you. But the recruitment is like from a bad spy movie: they'll use blackmail, threats and coercion if you aren't sufficiently ideologically motivated to join them.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:38
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Pimpmust posted:Oh, there's no denying that shale oil has produced some extra oil, and even got a little part in the recent price decline, it's just a matter of placing the proper weight/credit to each "cause". You are going to see large layoffs in the industry no question. Companies are probably going to stick to replacement drilling at the most (~10,000 holes a year) but I have to say that there is a lot of fat in the industry to cut before you start shutdowns. The us shale industry has been somewhat spoiled by high prices and relatively low costs. The oil they've been selling actually sells for above WTI prices because it's so light. It's used a lot to blend into heavier Canadian/Mexican/Venezuelan crudes. The biggest issues for shale oil plays is transport. Transmission pipelines are great, but gathering lines are relatively rare in these areas compared to others. The wells simply don't last long enough to make large gathering systems viable. Intead they rely a ton on short range trucking adding a ton of cost. With high prices it's not a big deal but as prices drop they'll start to reexamine it. Couple it with new drilling patterns (high well density per lease) it may become viable for them to start building more short range gathering lines. I'm not worried that these guys are going to start shutting down en masse.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:45
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Regarde Aduck posted:When all your opinions are based on feelings of schadenfreude you really should reevaluate your principles. Every morning you wake up, salute the picture of Putin on your nightstand. Go into the bathroom, look at yourself in the mirror. Start whispering "Ukrainians are not people. Russia is strong!" over and over again, soon you aren't whispering anymore, soon your voice is proud and strong! All your neighbors will know how patriotic you are! After a few years you even start believing it yourself.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:58
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Sandweed posted:Every morning you wake up, salute the picture of Putin on your nightstand. Go into the bathroom, look at yourself in the mirror. Start whispering "Ukrainians are not people. Russia is strong!" over and over again, soon you aren't whispering anymore, soon your voice is proud and strong! All your neighbors will know how patriotic you are! After a few years you even start believing it yourself. A Good Post.
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Oct 31, 2014 22:50
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One time I was riding on a train near Rome and a Roma lady came on and handed out these cards that said some poo poo about please give me money or something. My dad took the one she handed him and put it in his shirt pocket. She came back around and asked for it back and he offered to sell it to her and she freaked out and it was pretty funny. She made some hand gestures at him and stuff when she was leaving. Everyone on the train was laughing at her. That is my funny Roma story. Also Italians are reeeeeally racist towards Roma.
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Oct 31, 2014 22:51
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Demonachizer posted:Also Italians are reeeeeally racist towards Roma. Confirming this, I roomed with an Italian attorney from up north of Udine for a year and he had quite the stories to tell. He was also ardently anti-Burlesconni and extremely pro-Polish migrant workers, so it was a bit weird. E: To expand on EE issues, I appreciate the oil chat. I still am of the opinion that America's re-emerging energy export market has brought price stability despite international uncertainty in traditional supplies. I do hold out that there is medium-term impact currently being felt from policies related to this, and that, as a system, American export stability has decreased, if not halted, the upward trend in energy prices seen during the naughty aughties. Broader implications of this are decreased margins from exports and increased production capacity to maintain current tarriff revenues. Failing this, decreased tarriff revenues will have an impact upon almost all sectors of the Russian economy, as the government will either have to cut spending or deal with inflationary pressures. Foreign excursions are pretty drat expensive, especially those against forces that are in America's interest to arm and coordinate intelligence and operations with. My Imaginary GF fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Oct 31, 2014 |
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Oct 31, 2014 22:57
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A great interview from two journalists about the battle for Donetsk airport. One actually made it inside for a couple of days: In Russian: http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/svoi-glaza/1426502-echo/ English Translation by me: With your own Eyes. The battle for Donetsk Airport. Guests: Sergey Loiko - correspondent of Los Angeles Times. Timur Olevskii - journalist of 'Moscow's Echo' and TK 'Rain'. Hosts: Sofiko Shevardnadze, Alexander Plushev. Interview: A. Plushev - Once again you're on the air with Alexander Plushev on the program "With your own eyes". Today we have Sergey Loiko, a correspondent of "Los Angeles Times", good evenining to you! And our colligue from "Moscow's Echo" and TV station "Rain" Timur Olevskii. Hi! T. Olevskii -Good evening! I'll be like Sergey, I'll just nod and won't say anything. A. Plushev - Yes. Today we'll be talking about the battle for Donetsk Airport. As far as I understand it, you were there and had just come back, yes? T. Olevskii - We should probably explain who was where. Sergey, you descended the furthest into that hell. S. Loiko - Yes, I managed to be driven all the way from Kiev to Donetsk Airport and spent 4 days in that... A. Plushev - So you drove from the Ukrainian side by car? T. Olevskii - Well, you can't drive into it from the other side without getting killed. The battles for the airport are occuring there, the DPR militants are trying to take it by storm from the direction of Donetsk, and they're not getting in there. When I first found out - and Sergey saw it with his own eyes- I was just really close to it, but not actually in it, but when I found out that one building is occupied by soldiers from both sides I didn't actually believe it. They can yell at each other, or throw grenades at each other. S. Loiko - Yes there was an episode when one commander of these Paratroopers with code name "Raxman" was shooting almost point blank at - what they call - "Separa", that was standing right in the open on the airfield. And like in a computer game, he's shooting point blank from his Stechkin, spends the entire clip, sees how the other guy's breath is still steaming out into the street. And that guy is shooting back, then running away and hides into that clear sleeve that leads to the third floor. And "Raxman" is just standing there dumbstruck: "How! How did I not hit him!", and yells out: "Separ! Separ! Come back!" But that guy was long gone. T. Olevskii - This was in the building of the second terminal. First and second floors are occupied by Ukrainian military, and the third floor is occupied by separatists. S. Loiko - It's three-dimensional... T. Olevskii - It's all one building. S. Loiko - They're surrounded in a three dimensional way. Actually there are two buildings: old terminal and new terminal. As for the journey to the airport, the most difficult part is getting in and getting out. This doesn't only apply to me, but also the Ukrainian troops that make that journey regularly to resupply the defenders, - they're there for 5 months already... T. Olevskii - And that's the part that needs to be understood. S. Loiko - ...With water, weapons, to take away the wounded, to bring new guys in order to do a rotation, because the conditions there are not ones for human beings, the conditions are simply... I don't know, it was probably easier for capitan Scott to get to the North Pole then to be living in that airport. A. Plushev - I want to bring the attention of our net watchers to the screens in our studio. There we have the photographs taken and brought back from by Sergey Loiko. But maybe we shouldn't because this quality is so bad. I actually feel bad about how it looks. A. Plushev -I'm sorry. S. Loiko - ok. A. Plushev - Not me to be honest... S. Loiko - It's ok, forget about it. A. Plushev - Our guys try to fix these while we're on air... T. Olevskii - They're just slightly dark. A. Plushev - Yeah, if the brightness gets adjusted it would be great. And give more light to the screens probably. There they are, the photographs taken there. The way there... S. Loiko - I mentioned entrance and exit... Remember that saying: "A ruble for entrance - but the exit for three", well in this case it's: a life for the entrance, and a life for the exit. Baisically when you're going there... you might make it, and you might not make it. And only inside the armored personnel vehicle. The drive is over completely open terrain from every direction - you're visible to everyone - the drive is about ten minutes. There are several regions where you're driving and something is constantly hitting the armor and something close by is exploding. So if you get lucky - you get through. If you don't get lucky - 12.7 caliber armor piercing bullet from machine gun "Utes" pierces the APC, kills everyone in there. And the airfield there, it's simply... There are no airplanes there, just one training one somewhere far away, but it's all littered with burned out tanks and APCs, that drove here and there and could not get in or out in time. And when the APCs, the column: 1-2 or 2, or 4 depending on what is getting delivered, is arriving at the terminal, or rather what's left of it - that's the hardest part, because everyone get's out and starts unloading and shooting starts from all directions in order to suppress fire from the separatist perimiter, and a portion of the people are unloading the APCs. The unloading happens like this: everything gets tossed onto the airfield. Then the wounded get dragged inside the APCs, the live ones get in and if the APCS are not on fire yet, they drive away. And only after darkness comes do the people get out from the new terminal to drag the supplies inside. The old terminal is not approachable at all because while the new terminal is getting shot at from two sides, the old one gets shot from all four sides, the separatists are much closer to the old terminal. Recently there was a giant battle there, the top floor of the old terminal caught on fire and a lot of men lost their lives or were injured there. But the separatists didn't make it there. But the new terminal - it's surrounded in three dimensions. Not only is the perimiter hiding the separatists, but they're also in the basement that has different branches and entrances and goes into the airport, but also on the third floor. And the first two floors are occupied... A. Plushev - But the third floor... how can they... S. Loiko - Somehow they are getting there from the basement, and both sides are always setting booby traps on all manner of entrances and exists, but trapping them in such a way that no one remember anymore where the traps are. But the separatists are like some kinds of ghosts, there they go around, there they jump out. Recently one separatist - when I was there - jumped out on the balcony of the second floor and from that balcony shot his grenade launcher "Muha" into the command room of the paratroopers. The grenade blew up right in from on the entrance. Everyone fell down, everyone got blasted with debree. If the grenade had blown up inside everyone would have gotten killed there, but instead everyone just got concussed, including me. And at that moment, a paratrooper by the name of Batman - he looks like Batman - threw a grenade at the balcony, but it exploded before reaching the balcony - again everyone fell down. Actually everything that happens there, begining from the way it looks, the way the airport looks - it's like some kind of epic... I get the feeling like it's some kind of a film set, because it just can't be real life! Like Spielberg is about to come out and say "Cut!". Because of how ruined the ruins are, how ruined the airfield all around, how blown up everything is. It's like Palace of Congress, except without the contress and without the grass and with bent, twisted and burned frames. There isn't a square meter in there that didn't have tens of bulletholes. The bullet holes are everywhere: the cieling is full of them, the walls are full of them. Inside it's always dark: half dark during the day, in the evening the dark is absolute. If during the day people turn on some kind of flashlights, generators, charge up something... batteries, then during the night absolutely everything get's turned off: no flashlight, no cigarettes even - sniper fires on the third draft. And when they load their guns, they're really careful not to load tracer bullets. They don't fire tracer bullets. They have a joke: "We only shoot tracer blanks". And the other thing about the conditions, it's really cold, there is no nice spot for the burguiase there, the cold drafts are evrywhere. The only thing they can allow themselves is hot tea made on electric stoves. And the pots are all black-black. Everything is in absolute darkness, or absulute twilight. The bathroom is everywhere where you'll get lucky and won't be killed. No one goes anywhere for No 2 anymore and the smell doesn't exists because people are not eating. They're getting fed by their own adrenaline. Everyone's eyes are enlarged... When I took the photographs later... - well I'm older now, don't see very well - looked at those photos later on the computer - I was amazed, at how people's eyes looked. You can't shoot a bad picture in such a situation, you can't take a picture of the setup by accident. It's always action there, people's eyes are always ready and real, you always have the internal feeling of heroism there. And of course it's such an epic creation, such an epic occasion, it's like some kind of resurrected Tolken, and I've never liked him, some kind of Lord of the Rings, because in that book there's no humor, some kind of idiotic fable: some kind of absolute good is battling with absolute evil. And here finally Token had come alive for me. I saw, that really, something really close to absolute good is inside that airport, that can't be defended, that does not need to be defended, is battling with absolute evil, with these orks, that surround it from all sides and pound it with "Grads", mortars etc. A. Plushev - We'll come back to good and evil. I wanted to ask Timur Olevskii, you said you were close by? T. Olevskii - Close by, yes. Luckly I did not managed to get in there like Sergey did. S. Loiko - You should have gotten in front of the APC and waived your hand. T. Olevskii - I even tried to act like I was a sandbag - I'll tell this story in a sec. In order to get into the airport you need to go through several levels of permissions, at least as a Russian journalist and arrive at village Pisky, where the Ukrainian mechanized brigades are: artillery and paratroopers, and that's where the APCs, "Doves" as they call them, that go to that airport. As far as I remember about the numbers... S. Loiko - Don't start telling secrets now... T. Olevskii - Well, they all the time baisically. It's not a secret because it's on open frequency there, everyone understands it. This is how it works: Every delivery is a battle. Sergey saw it in person, I saw it from the side of the preparation of the APC send off. It's a battle. Every delivery is prepared for by the arillery, from both sides of the conflict. 79th brigade is there - artillery officers, mortar operators, that... S. Loiko - 79th brigade is a paratrooper one. T. Olevskii - The portion of the brigade that I was with were mortar operators and artillery officers. I was living with the artillery officers. "Right Sector" was there as well, they were doing their own thing. Some of them are even at the airport - not a large number as far as I understand it, but. I saw the fighters of "Right Sector" that do cleaning in Pisky, which means they're always trying to catch the enemy artillery spotters. When I first heard about them trying to catch guys like that - I've been on both sides of the conflict - I was always thinking that they just catch the guys they don't like. But here for the first time I saw what an artillery spotter looks like. Like in a ruined building on the opposite side of Ukrainian artillery positions, where no one is living, at night one suddently sees dim light of a flashlight, blue clored one. Recon rushes there and finds positions that were left a couple of minutes before they busted in there. When such a successful spotter appears, the shells soon start falling on the artillery positions. You can only hide from them in an APC baisically. But the people that serve there had long ceased to hide from them and remain near their mortars. They sit in the hangar, and come out to their positions with a very solid view on the shellings, thinking as such: "If "Grad" hits the roof - nothing will happen, but if SAU hits, then of course we'll all be killed". Nothing else happens. And this place, that you can see the airway from, there's a tower where Ukrainian soliders are also at. On the tower there are two... S. Loiko - Well, there are 3 places: old terminal, new one and the twoer - is controlled by Ukraian forces. T. Olevskii - And the tower, yes. That place is the most open to fire in my opinion. S. Loiko - It's the most hellish of all hells. T. Olevskii - Yes, it's the most hellish of all hells. One one should be there. And people, I don't know for how long, stay there. But I saw for myself how a man, a sniper that was on that tower, begged to be rotated because he had a wedding in two days. And his commander was asking him to remain there for a bit longer, to talk to the new guy and tell him what's what. It's a conversation that's very hard to recraite, but it's a conversation between a man begging to be brought out three hours ealier then needed, because he wants to live, and a man who's asking him to stay in that place for another 3 hours, a place where he might be killed during those 3 hours. And they're talking, and the commander manages to convince him to stay for 3 more hours in a place where he might be killed in 10 minutes. And he was there for a long time already and is counting every minute for the arrival for the rescuing APCS. A. Plushev - Our listeners, a couple people are asking the same question: "What's the point of holding on to this airport for so long? What does either side need it for?" S. Loiko - This reminds of my favourite movie, a movie for all times and all nations, the most epic film of the spaghetti western that I saw in my life, a film by Sergio Leone "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". There the bandits are looking for a bag of gold while the American Civil War is going on. There's a moment in the mvies when two bandits: Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach approach a river that they can't ford, but then they're stopped as the bridge over the river is being battled over: on one side the Northeners, on the other the Southeners. The Southerners want to capture it and the Northeners are defending it. So these two bandits are sitting there under fire, and don't know what to do. So at night the blow up the bridge and then sleep on it. In the morning they wake up and - there's no bridge, the first army is gone, and so is the second. T. Olevskii - That's about right, yes. S. Loiko - So yeah, it's the same thing here. If the airfield is blown up and everything that remains of the airport.. and I'm surprised it's still standing, it's whole structure consists 95% of holes. There are a lot of motivations there. Some colnel might tell you that it's a strategic rise, that if we leave then the way to Pisky will be open, and they'll go here or there... For most of the soldiers there, it's a symbolic thing, it's like a Ukrainian Stalingrad. So it means, "not a step back, we won't give away a bit of earth from it". T. Olevskii - The suprising thing about it is that there should be people who would want to get out of there. But I didn't see a single person like that there. S. Loiko - I'll explain. Everyone who was there with me those four days, were all volounteers. Not in the sense that they volonteer for the army - that's only the "Right Sector" that volounteered - they're a grain when you consider everyone there. People at the airport consisted of Recon, Spetznaz, Paratroopers, Artillery men - everyone. And every single one of them - and they were of all ages: from 45 to 18 - every one of them was a volounteer, so when they were asked: "Who wants to go to the aiport?" Everyone stepped forward and came here. On top of that, when I was in Pisky, and I spend quite a long time there over several different periods, where there's a very large concentration of Ukrainian troops, each soldier dreams about going to the airport. For a real Ukrainian soldier, for a patriot of Ukraine it's like that most secret room in "Roadside Picnic" of Struganski brothers, or the most secret room from "Stalker" by Tarkovskiy, where if they get there, they'll find out, what he, the Ukrainian man exists for. And this disproportion... Basically, this whole war isn't worth a rotten egg. There were no reasons to start it. The sharppoints and dullpoints of "Gulliver" by Swift - had more reasons to kill each other then here. It's an invented war. And here, in this new Stalingrad like battle, there is no point either, neither side really needs these remains of the destroyed airport. T. Olevskii - Right now the politics are the real reason... A. Plushev - One second, I'll let you say it. But I want to ask you both one thing: Is the airport in such a state that it can no longer be used by military aviation? T. Olevskii - The airfield isn't blown up. S. Loiko - Russian air transports could in principle land on the airfield. T. Olevskii - It could also land on pebble fields. S. Loiko - This was one of the best airfields in Europe, the longest. Even "Jumbo Jets" could land there, those giant transport airplanes. In principle, yes, Ukrainians haven't blown it up yet. T. Olevskii - It should be understood that the airport - is a part of Donetsk, it's a region of Donetsk. For now the airport is Ukrainian. So Donetsk is not fully under the control of DPR, and when the question of marking new borders becomes and issue, the fact that Donetsk is not under the full control of DPR will mean that it will need to be divided. I think there might be some kind of political story there. Maybe the Governor Sergey Taruta before his removal from office said the truth about the existance of the plan to exchange the Donetsk airport for some of the area around Mariupol that occupied by the militants or maybe some other area. Maybe it's needed for that, but once again we're talking from the point of view of the soldiers. I lived three days with the soldiers, the military and they don't think about such an exchange but are discussing it. I saw men, that were 45 years old, that went to the army because of their own agendas, these are men with the most higher levels of education, that are very well off, many of which did not tell their relatives where they are at, and as such asked me not to take their pictures. They're telling their elderly mothers that they're under Nikolayev. And they've all volounteered to be there, they asked to be there: "Send us to Pisky". They talk in Russian - this is very important. Several of them say that they have never used any other lanaguage then Russian in their whole life and never studied Ukrainian. And despite that one of them even told me that he hates Russian. So I say: how is this possible? A. Plushev - A portion of them are ethnic Russians. T. Olevskii - Absolutely. They're not only Russian, they're also not integrated in the Ukrainian speaking culture. They're defending their homeland, for them it's a moment of priciples. Overall it's a collection of people that feel that they need to go until the border and free Ukraine from what's going on in DPR. And of course they're all saying that they're fighting a war with Russia, every single man there. And what's suprising... I don't know, I don't want to draw populist parralels, but for me it really seemed like I saw what happens when you take good, kind people and bring them to a point where they won't take it any more. And this is regarding the regular army that for example is in that artillery brigade. They look like I saw them. And the fact that they listen to Rozenbaum and afgan songs and watch "Brother-2" and are fighting against people on the other side that I think... A. Plushev - Are doing the same things. T. Olevskii - I think so. Well, a portion of them are doing the same thing. That really makes an impression on me. I saw people that are at war almost never use slang. S. Loiko - I want to add that inside the airport the operational language is - Russian. Everyone talks in Russian on the radio. There is no Ukrainian language there. And I was shocked that, really, in critical situations and emergency situations, under shelling, I never heard any cursing while people were talking. It was all clear, cultured, practically literature like Russian language, because most of the people there were, cultured, educated people. It wasn't some kind of trash, it wasn't some faceless soldiers dragged out of some villages brought here to be cannon fodder. Another thing that suprised me, almost half of the poeple there were officers. I didn't see any of that usual Soviet, or Russian officer arrogance/rudeness. It was brotherhood. The private and the officer would drink from the same cup, defended each other, lent a shoulder and talked in familiar tones. Only in the cases of really young to really old would a more formal greeting be used. I saw when Major Valerii Rud - he's almost 40, whole life had been a soldier - was booby trapping a passage. And at that moment a battle starts, shelling starts, and a kid from "Right Sector" in a horrible position is shooting at something with a machine gun. And this Valerii runs through the area being fired at and says: "Kid, this is my war. Move aside!", he pulls him away and at that moment something blows up close by. If he didn't pull him away the young man would have been killed. And this Valerii puts down the machine gun the way it's supposed to be, and begins fighting like a real soldier, and he keeps on fighting until the battle is over and then return to his things. He only saved the life of this unknown volounteer private. And the most amazing moment for me was when they sent the Tank guy home. There was a tank, it burned down... A. Plushev - We have half a minute. S. Loiko - Ok, I'll tell it after. A. Plushev - Let's. I'm reminding everyone that we have here Sergey Loiko, correspondent of "Los Angeles Times", Timur Olevskii, journalist of the Russian radiostation "Moscow's Echo" and russian TV station "Rain". We'll come back in five minutes after news and commercials. A. Plushev - Sergey Loiko, correspondednt of "Los Angeles Times" and Timir Olevskii from "Rain" and "Moscow's Echo", that came back from the region of Donetsk airport. We had paused for news and commercials in the middle of Sergey's story. S. Loiko - I told this story in today's "Los Angeles Times", that story had the main photograph on the first page. I'm shiowing off, it's the third time in a row that my story and photograph made it to the first page. So today it came out, and there was a episode: the return of "Tank Man" home. So there was a tank - it burned down. The crew of three people jumped out while burning. Sniper didn't let any of them escape, killed all three. Two bodies were recovered. But then a mortar shelling occured and the third's body got blown up and no one could find it. Only after a couple of days the guys found a large piece of his hip. And a conversation began: "We need to send the Tank guy home". But how? Someone needs to come out on the airfield and get hit by bullets in every part of his body in order to get a piece of a dead man home. So when the commander said: "Guys, this is really a deadly task. Who will go:?" Everyone raised their hands. Two guys got up immediately. Sniper Slavik and Private Misha. When the transport arried, the fire went into it's direction, the run out on the airfield, put down their gun and SVD, sniper rifle; found a box of used ammunition, found that leg, under fire. This was while I was there, I was taking pictures. So we three are standing, they're putting that leg into the box and then a bullet goes through the box - chips are flying, everything is ringing. They close the box and attach it to the APCs, then they run back, pick up their guns and continue the battle. Those guys were risking their necks for 30 seconds, really risking their necks for a fallen comrade. T. Olevskii - They had almost 100% chance of getting killed. S. Loiko - Slavik later told me: "I don't want to not come back home like that, so that dogs would eat my remains." These guys are absolute heroes. I hate romaticizing war, but I'm always remembering in relation with this mini-Stalingrad the poems of my favourite poet Semen Gudzenko, Pavla Kogana, that lived in the same building as me, but at a different time: We'll lie down, where we'll lie down, And we won't get up, from where we'll lie down. And, choking on "Internationalism", Fall face first into dryed out grass. And to not get up, and not appear in the annals. And even our close ones won't be able to find the glory in it. A. Plushev - I think this is just emotional pressure that is coming from you Sergey that's affecting out equipment, sorry. We had to move to a new studio. S. Loiko - I brought the battle between "Beaver and the Donkey" here. A. Plushev - Somehow we're managing it. We don't have that much time left, but we have a lot of questions from our radio listeners. They're referring to the subject you mentioned in the very beginning Sergey about absolute good and absolute evil. Some of them are listening to this from other areas... someone from Chicago for example. A question I'm seeing for example is: "Army that's killing their own people cannot be heroes". S. Loiko - They found this out on the television? A. Plushev - I don't know, they don't tekk me. I'm just forwarding their reaction. S. Loiko - Alex, I spend the last half a year at the Ukrianian War. I don't know which army is killing their own people, because they army that's there that has their own people there isn't destroying them. And the army that's killing them - that's not the Ukrainian army. T. Olevskii - I can tell about Pisky, for example - it's really close to the airport, a couple occupied buildings are left, everyone else went away. Some people don't go away - for different reasons - even when buildings are exploding. And army is feeding them, and they're feeding the army. They've got really good relations, and there's no mass cleanings of people that could have in theory supprted DPR - nothing like that is happening. I saw a different story, that I thought was very important. This story happened on Firday at the airport when "Grads" of the separatists from one area of Donetsk were firing on the positions of different separatists in Donetsk. They were shooting at them the entire day, after which... A. Plushev -The separatists were shooting at other separatists? T. Olevskii - Yes, these were probably different groups, I can't explain it: there were no Ukrainian army in either of those locations. A. Plushev - Was it accidental Friendly Fire? S. Loiko - It was conflict. T. Olevskii - It lasted several hours. For about five hours they were shooting at each other, after which the changed the direction of the fire in the direction of Ukrainian Army positions, and that evening they were shooting Ukrainian army seriously. Both the airport Pisky. What this was I don't know. Who was shooting at whom, I don't know, but obviously at least one of the two regions was in the middle of Donetsk and under fire. S. Loiko - The thing is, the Ukrainian troops, that have access to artillery and "Grads" are professional military. T. Olevskii - No one different is there. S. Loiko - But these DPRs and LPRs - they're like monkeys with grenades that shot down the plane. T. Olevskii - There are professional people there too. S. Loiko - Some professionals, but in general its some kind of a conglameration of mercenaries that were given a bunch of military equipment and vehicles, they don't even understand how to use it. They're shooting at everything that's standing. T. Olevskii - I think that everything has changed now Sergey. So I won't agree with you. What you're saying now is hwo thigns were about a month ago. These things changed in principle after people that Ukrainian troops are for sure calling Russian army. The quality of battling forces there has changed. It's a different question as to what's happening there that one strong group is shooting other less loyal or obediant groups. At least that's how it seems to me. Maybe that's not how it is, but it sure looks like it. A. Plushev - One more question about the Ukrainian forces and the Separatists. We have lot of TV showing that from the direction of the airport there is artillery fire on the living areas of Donetsk. S. Loiko - I can say this immedetely. I'll open a military secret: from the direction of the airport it's not possible to be shooting artillery because there are weapons there that are more scary then an AK. T. Olevskii - There are mines there. S. Loiko - There are no mortars there. I remembered one more episode, to add to what we were talking about. I was talking to a guy there. Sergey Galan - he's a student from Chrkassi. He has a father that's a Russian Colnel. And he's a Ukrainian soldier, paratrooper. Before he went off to the army and before going to the airport, he called his father, or the other way around. And the father, zombified by this shameless, criminal lying of the Russian TV... T. Olevskii - That's absolutely right. S. Loiko - Said: "But you'll be shooting at your own brothers!" And then the son said: "What kind of brothers are these, dad? Brothers that came with weapons onto my land, into my country - how can they be my brothers?" T. Olevskii - Regarding shelling. I can say what I saw personally. I saw some of the mortars, I won't say how many - I promised not to say- that were close to the airport, they're 120 mm mortars, but each one of them is set on a specific target that should defend the Ukrainian soldiers in the airport. Each one is tied to that target, and they're very well aimed. No one ever gets the idea to shoot at random. Each shot has a specific point. Why? Because while everyone there is cursing at the Ceasefire that's in effect. Ukrainian army - the part that I saw is doing everything they can to obey it. Even when the airport is fired upon with small arms, AKs, sniper rifles and such then there's an order on the radio: don't answer with artillery fire, this is a provocation and we don't answer to provocations." The first shot that I heard on Thirsday and on Friday was fired at the direction of Separatist positions as an answer to shells that hit Ukrainian positions in Pestovo. When artillery shelling began, there was a return shelling, but both times it was a couple of mortar shells only. They were aimed at a specific place in the airport. To imaging that somehow they flew all the way to the center of the city... Well, at least at the battery I was at, it's impossible. Maybe there's some kind of other hidden artillery. But that's a different question, as I didn't see it. I want to say that Ukraine answers to artillery in a very limited manner. Because there's a Ceasefire, and they, cursing it, are afraid of breaking it. S. Loiko - When I was there, I remember when the commander yelled: "Our "Grad" is about to hit. They'll be close. You guys know, they can miss, so everyone to cover". So when the Infantry of the militants were storming the airport they got hit by artillery, but it was so surgically close that it almost destroyed the entire building because everything around was shaking and breaking apart. Guys, if the Ukrainian army, as they keep telling you on your television, wanted to destroy the Ukrainian people, as they're telling you on your television, they would have done it long time ago. For me this is 25th war. 25th trip to war. I was there during destruction of Grozny in 95th, I was there during the destruction of Grozny in 2000. There the military wanted to destroy the people - and destroyed a city, erased it from the face of the planet, two times. Here, look at Slavyansk. How much these zombified guys were yelling that "Grad" is shelling the city. Go to Slavyansk now - you won't understand that you're there. Normal town, everyone is living there, there's electricity. A couple destroyed or semi-destroyed buildings and that's it. And in Donetsk? Yes there are some destroeyed buildings here and there, damaged communication cables. But its not comparable with Grozny. And remember, in Grozny they were carrying out a Counter-Terrorist operation. So where do we have Stalingrad and where do we have a counter-terrorist operation? And regarding Stalingrad, that war reminded me where one side perfidiously attacked another. And it had it's own Bretsk fortress... A. Plushev - You're asked a personal question Sergey: "How can you be a journalist with such a loud pathos? I completly sympathyse with your position, - Oleg from Moscow writes, - but in such situations I've never gotten the idea to sing such high praises to only one side." It's iteresting where he's been in such a situation. S. Loiko - I don't think I'm singing anthing, I'm explaing what it was like. Right now I'm explaining this not as a journalist, but as a human being, that was there as a witness. I'm explaining what I saw; I sing what I know. You should read my articles if you're interested, then you can judge me. A. Plushev - Also the photographs can be seen on Facebook. S. Loiko - Yes there is a giant gallery of photoes in "Los Angeles Times" and a giant gallery in Facebook. And I saw Bretsk fortress here - it was Saur-Mogila. Then I saw the encirclment, like it was in the year 41. And now we have mini-Stalingrad here. In Stalingrad the Soviet starved knee broke the back of fascism. And here, with my own eyes I saw as mini-Stalingrad is breaking the back to, I don't know what - fascism or not - but the back of marauderism, orcism, this meaningless, pointless terrorism - that's for sure. I don't have any doubt that these DPR, LPR - are both artifical imaginary semi-fascist ogranizations, the point of which is not to do something for the Ukrainian people, not to create something for the Ukrainian people, not to give happyness to the Ukrainian people, but to create an endless zone of terror, to turn all of Ukraine into the airport. Who needs this - is not for me to say. T. Olevskii - Here's what I'd like to add. I really heard as the Ukrainian military were calling what's going on in Pisky a Great Patriotic War, I heard this several times at several different camp fires, so it's just an idea. I also heard this in Gorvilka, from people that are fixing APCs for Bezler. A. Plushev - From the direction of the separatists. Please explain in simpler terms, not everyone is so well versed in the inter-Ukrainian situation, and not only inter... T. Olevskii - Yeah, I was in Ukraine several times. And it should be understood, Gorlovka - is a differnt story. It's controlled by a strange officer with his own ideas about good and evil, with his own visions of what he can solve... S. Loiko - Bah, he's no officer! T. Olevskii - No, no. He's an officer of the Soviet army. S. Loiko - Exactly. T. Olevskii - Look, he really decides: who lives and who dies. He has some ideas on what's good and what's evil, and he at least has some rules to his game, those rules allow for deals. Right now he's talking to Ukraine about different things, for example heating for Gorvilka, baisically he's a guy that in principle Ukraine can talk to. On the other hand we have Donetsk and Lugansk, where the situation is great and there I saw groups that at first would rob the people, then would hide behind them from shelling and would keep saying that they're defending the people. But there too, they would say that this is a war against Fascism. So here the question comes up. There they're saying that a war against fascism is happening there. The DPR is saying, that they're fighting against Fascism, again junta. Ukrainian army is saying, this is Great Patriotic War and brings up analogies with WW2 where they too battled Fascism. But this is a relatively important story, because they now see Russia as that nation, Fascist Germany in a different time. They're recieving Russia as the agressor, and it's very important for us to understand, this is for forever. Children of children will be remembering this. This, is the idea: that in the end Ukraine is feeling and with good justification that it's fighting not with DPR, but that it's fighting with Russia. This is the tragic part of this story. A. Plushev. - We have a couple of minutes. We already said that everything that happening inside the separatists: some kind of conflics that end with firefights between themselves. But you also mentioned that inside Ukraine, between the army and "Right Sector" there are complicated relations. A couple of minutes. T. Olevskii - Really short "Right Sector" - it's a Right wing organization, that collected a large array of Right wing people from all over Ukraine, for example I've met an ex FSB agent from Primorye, but was too right wing, he thought that terrorist methods for fighting for the Right wing ideology in Russia was completely ok. And then he came to "Right Sector", they didn't take him into "Azov", checked him with Polygraphs. Also saw Ukrainian Right Wingers, that aren't really right wingers, and to be honest resemble Left Wingers more. Also they resemble football fanatics, and if you're waiting for some kind of stories of burning children or small jewish pogroms, then it just doesn't resemble what's going on from the Ukrianian side. But the army does not view people that hold on to some kind of Right Wing ideals in any kind of positive light. In fact "Praviy Sector" doesn't even use any kind of Chevrons, not even nonstandard ones. I think this is all unnecessary playing. They're received as comrades in arms, but they're internationalists obviosly. A Plushev. - We have another minute. Sergey please add to this. S. Loiko - In this nationalistic "Right Sector" orgainization I saw an old "Maksim" machine gun that still works, it's very loud. The machinegunner for it was a jew, Valerii Chudovskii, also the colnel of the Ukrainian army, a real colnel Oleg Zubovskii in the airport told me, these guys from "Right Sector" only did one extreme thing: they came to the airport. They're brave and real and we always know that we can rely on them. T. Olevskii - Yes they have those kinds of relations. A different question as far as I understand is that Ukrainian army that fights at the front is full of people who either went through hot spots before, or people with a lot of education that came to war for personal reasons. A. Plushev - Our collegue Timur Olevskii and Sergey Loiko, correspondent of "Los Angeles Times" were telling us about what's happening at Donetsk Airport, at least as far as they saw themselves. Thank you and goodbye!
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Oct 31, 2014 23:18
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Thanks for the translation, was an interesting read.
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Nov 1, 2014 00:16
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Side note of the story: Russian censorship agency blocked it on the station's website, and set them a warning about "content that excuses the practice of war crimes".
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Nov 1, 2014 01:38
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OddObserver posted:Side note of the story: Russian censorship agency blocked it on the station's website, and set them a warning about Good that Minitrue is vigilant.
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Nov 1, 2014 02:31
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3peat posted:A couple americans thanking their maker for not making them albanians http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e7e_1413818233  MeLKoR posted:I'm sure I'm missing something here because this looks like a retarded use of stick out of loving nowhere as a warning for Serbia to not do... what?! Eh, I've been kinda expecting that to happen since early July. my dad posted:The Serbian prime minister is in Russia today and tomorrow, and I imagine the conversations involved are going to look something like this: I guess Putin just decided to wait for the onset of winter to swing that particular bat. MeLKoR posted:You'd expect them to pamper the Serbs and try to use them as a trojan horse to grind poo poo in the EU to a halt anytime the two were in conflict.  OK, I've been seeing this "Serbia is a Trojan Horse for the EU" thing mention several times in this thread, what the gently caress? People seriously believe this?
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Nov 1, 2014 11:23
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: I hope you will recognize Crimea as an integral part of Russia.
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No. *cough* Kosovo *cough*
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my dad posted:
No, that would make no sense for Serbia's interests, but I would expect Russia to try and use Serbia that way. The chances of that working can't be worse than simply threatening the Serbian people,I would be more inclined to side with a country that helped mine rather than one that threatened us with "consequences" if we didn't.
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Nov 1, 2014 11:52
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The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement takes effect today.  http://www.praguepost.com/eu-news/42397-eu-ukraine-agreement-takes-effect FEMEN did a thing at the Paris Wax Museum for Halloween  https://twitter.com/MikTukhachevsky/status/528230677956014081
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Nov 1, 2014 12:43
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why does a dead Soviet marshal have a twitter account i feel so old
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Nov 1, 2014 13:21
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V. Illych L. posted:why does a dead Soviet marshal have a twitter account Why does a machinegun on a wheeled mount work in the ministry of transportation and Kontinental Hockey League?
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Nov 1, 2014 17:11
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Uncle Putin comes early with christmas gifts this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT5Gr8alEIw Winter uniforms for the tourists and lost boy scouts.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxA1VD_7s9k Rincewinds fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Nov 1, 2014 |
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Nov 1, 2014 17:55
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The photos come from Luhansk yesterday. There's worries that this is the push toward Odessa to create a land link with Crimea.      Russia has been continuing "humanitarian" convoys into Luhansk and Donetsk. The most recent one was a few days ago.
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Nov 1, 2014 23:23
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That's good news. Thank you!
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Nov 2, 2014 01:20
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What is the likehood that that would happen though? The last time the Russians regulars caught the Ukranians with their pants down, as they were preparing to encircle Donetsk and a bunch of units got caught in pockets during the retreat, but now the have had ample time to fortify Oddesa and the positions around it and if its the rebel themselves that are leading the attack then I don't see how they could succeed.
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Nov 2, 2014 01:27
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You still think what's happening in Eastern Ukraine is led by a rebel Ukrainian force. This was never the case. Russia has been leading this from the beginning. T 72 in Luhansk. This was taken today. 
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Nov 2, 2014 01:30
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:
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Nov 2, 2014 01:36
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TeodorMorozov posted:That's good news. Thank you! Holy poo poo, gently caress off. e: not super related, but there's a woman running for some minor position up here in Olympia, Washington whose last name is Svoboda so there are signs everywhere that say "Vote Svoboda". Fuckin' homonazis are coming. Dusty Baker 2 fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Nov 2, 2014 |
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Nov 2, 2014 01:55
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NATO better make Odessa the red-line.
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Nov 2, 2014 02:05
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Nonsense posted:NATO better make Odessa the red-line. The red line is Poland.
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Nov 2, 2014 02:23
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papasyhotcakes posted:What is the likehood that that would happen though? The last time the Russians regulars caught the Ukranians with their pants down, as they were preparing to encircle Donetsk and a bunch of units got caught in pockets during the retreat, but now the have had ample time to fortify Oddesa and the positions around it and if its the rebel themselves that are leading the attack then I don't see how they could succeed. I hope I don't have to eat crow on this later, but the idea that Russia even wants to take Odessa/the Odessa Oblast right now doesn't seem likely. They have no possibility of setting up a separatist republic with any popular support there, it's not a strategic port, Transnistria is so hosed linking up with it would actually be a liability, and taking the city would involve heavily shelling of a civilian population that's not particularly pro-Ukrainian. Earlier this year there was some fear of the Kiev government but it's subsided now and will remain muted as long as the language issue doesn't come up again. Regardless, there's zero enthusiasm for joining Russia--the memory of when the pro-Yanokovich faction hired titushki to beat up peaceful protesters back in January is still fresh, and the trade union building fire was a goddamn tragedy. The impression I get from my contacts there is that Odessa is going to sit this one out and that the local elites are using whatever influence they have in both Moscow and Kiev to avoid any more externally driven violence in the city. On the other hand, if there was a way Odessa could be an independent city-state separate from both Russia and Ukraine, a referendum on that would pass with 90% support. http://timer.od.ua/statji/posledstviya_mayskoy_boyni_polgoda_spustya_995.html This is a pretty good article about what happened on May 2nd. From what I gather both the pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian sides had a mixture of violent and non-violent protesters, the police were paid off to not interfere but nobody other than a few radicals/provocateurs on both sides actually wanted to kill anyone. The government's doing an investigation but they've already done sketchy things like alter causes of death on the certificates. https://www.ukr.net/news/odessa.html Also some military equipment has been moved in and details are sketchy but people are freaking out about it on kontakte.
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Nov 2, 2014 02:59
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Debate & Discussion > Eastern Europe: Estado Homo
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Nov 2, 2014 03:36
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Smerdyakov posted:I hope I don't have to eat crow on this later, but the idea that Russia even wants to take Odessa/the Odessa Oblast right now doesn't seem likely. They have no possibility of setting up a separatist republic with any popular support there, it's not a strategic port, Transnistria is so hosed linking up with it would actually be a liability, and taking the city would involve heavily shelling of a civilian population that's not particularly pro-Ukrainian. Earlier this year there was some fear of the Kiev government but it's subsided now and will remain muted as long as the language issue doesn't come up again. Regardless, there's zero enthusiasm for joining Russia--the memory of when the pro-Yanokovich faction hired titushki to beat up peaceful protesters back in January is still fresh, and the trade union building fire was a goddamn tragedy. The impression I get from my contacts there is that Odessa is going to sit this one out and that the local elites are using whatever influence they have in both Moscow and Kiev to avoid any more externally driven violence in the city. I do think Mariupol is a possibility for the Russians, during the ceasefire they continued to attack the outer regions of that city. Hopefully Russia doesn't get any ideas to go all the way to Odessa, but back in February I was certain Crimea wouldn't be occupied by Russians right now either.
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Nov 2, 2014 03:49
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Zeroisanumber posted:The red line is Poland. We must make the Russians believe the red line is Moscow: Obama's failure on the Syrian red line brings into question any future red lines. Per Shekhovtsov, in case it wasn't posted immediately following the elections: http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.com/2014/10/ukraines-parliamentary-elections-and.html?m=1 Highly recommend subscribing to his blog. From my Ukrainian policy friend, on Russia's opinion of an American red line: quote:All of Putin's actions are basically power play. HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:I do think Mariupol is a possibility for the Russians, during the ceasefire they continued to attack the outer regions of that city. Hopefully Russia doesn't get any ideas to go all the way to Odessa, but back in February I was certain Crimea wouldn't be occupied by Russians right now either. This conflict is over Black Sea energy. So, I don't expect Ukraine to hold a coast without a [foreign-financed, trained, and armed] fight.
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Nov 2, 2014 03:52
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Smerdyakov posted:I hope I don't have to eat crow on this later, but the idea that Russia even wants to take Odessa/the Odessa Oblast right now doesn't seem likely. They have no possibility of setting up a separatist republic with any popular support there, it's not a strategic port, Transnistria is so hosed linking up with it would actually be a liability, and taking the city would involve heavily shelling of a civilian population that's not particularly pro-Ukrainian... It's clear that if Putin gave a rat's rear end about any of that Ukraine wouldn't be in the shape it was and Russia wouldn't be an international pariah state. Might want to have a good crow recipe ready.
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Nov 2, 2014 05:18
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Dzyady procession to Kurapaty is happening right now in Belarus. This is near Minsk. Kurapaty was discovered in the late 80's. It's a mass grave site from one of Stalin's purges in the 1930's. Every year the opposition has a procession to the location. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpdt2AWxt3E The live chat on the side bar is interesting. There are people calling this a gay parade, because obviously the opposition in Belarus is made up of homonazis too.
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Nov 2, 2014 12:19
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So that Estonian agent who was grabbed by Russians. His lawyer (one whom no-one has heard of at the address he is supposed to work at) is mostly busy with blaming the Estonian state for not supporting our guy and saying that he is guilty. Yeah.
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Nov 2, 2014 14:18
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jonnypeh posted:So that Estonian agent who was grabbed by Russians. His lawyer (one whom no-one has heard of at the address he is supposed to work at) is mostly busy with blaming the Estonian state for not supporting our guy and saying that he is guilty. I can now see now why they've been trying to get the Ukrainian pilot grabbed by Russians to change her lawyers, even though her persecution has nothing to do with the law anyway.
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Nov 2, 2014 14:31
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OddObserver posted:I can now see now why they've been trying to get the Ukrainian pilot grabbed by Russians to change her lawyers, even though her persecution has nothing to do with the law anyway. Apparently our guy gave up his lawyer "voluntarily", the one who defended Pussy Riot. He also blames Estonia for not providing money for an apartment in Moscow to discuss the possibilities of house arrest. Yeah, right.
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Nov 2, 2014 14:33
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Libluini posted:Russia still thinks it hasn't made enough enemies: The chairman of the Green's parliamentary group in the European Parliament has been forbidden from travelling to Russia. Russia never told her, though. Until she arrived in Moscow, that is. Then they told her, making her entire trip completely pointless. One should add that this chairman was among some other things, very very firm on banning all sorts of Russians from travelling to the EU. Turnabout is fair play.
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Nov 2, 2014 15:59
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Meanwhile, Bezler and Mozgovoi tried to get some communications with normal Ukrainians (Ukrainian regulars mostly) going. Because everyone is accusing everyone of misrepresenting everything, the two sides agreed that absolutly nothing is cut, which makes the thing pretty long. Bezler: http://youtu.be/uVN2wkuL88w Mozgovoi 1: http://youtu.be/WYy5Y9MQozA Mozgovoi 2: http://youtu.be/tC7YGe0SmqQ It is more than 4 hours, so no way I will be translating all that. Everythign is paraphrased: Ukrainian position: "Maidan was completely legitimate, it was you (Seperatists) who took up arms and created a crisis the Kiev Junta used to prevent us from reaching our goals. We do not want our country to break up further, and you are doing just that. Also, your Russian backers/allies have anything but Ukraines best interests at heart. Stop fighting, join the political process and clean our country from crazies, fascists and oligarchs together." Novorussian position: "We did not choose to fight, you came to our land and killed our people. If you want to clean Kiev from the Nazi scum, dont stand in our way. You are taking orders from nazis and oligarchs, and have done nothing to stop the killing of our people. If we would yield or arms, we would just get massacred." Funny part one: Ukraine:"You are just doing Russias bidding!" Novorussia:"Yeah, and you are doing the CIAs bidding." Ukraine:"We do, but Washington is far away, doesnt know poo poo and is easily distracted. It is easier to get rid of Washington then of Moscow." Novorussia:"That may be, we are unconvinced about this though." Epic Iceburn: Ukrainian: "So Bezler, do you actually speak Ukrainian?" Bezler (who is iirc half Russian/Ukrainian half German and from Sevastopol): Yeah I do. Ukrainian:"Really? Can you recite a poem by Taras Sevchenko? Bezler: recites Sevchenkos poem "to the poles", very bad translation by me: The Catholic priests came and burned our quiet paradise. And spilled An Ocean of tears and blood, And killed and crucified orphans In the Name of Christ The heads of Cossacks they dropped Like trampled grass, The Ukraine cried, and moaned! And the head after head Fell to the ground. As if enraged, A priest furiously Screamed: «Te Deum! Hallelujah! .. " And this is how my Polish friend and brother! Vile priests and rich men/aristorcracy Separated us from each other (yeeha, the only thing that rhymes in my translation) When we could have lived together happy Whatever one may think of Bezler, this was one hell of an iceburn. I still have to say that I was impressed by the Ukrainians. They went into seperatist territory to talk with Bezler (who was very much demonized, and not entirely without reason, by the Kiev press), stood their ground and boldly said things that can get them into serious trouble in Kiev.
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Nov 2, 2014 16:19
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Nonsense posted:NATO better make Odessa the red-line. 
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Nov 2, 2014 16:35
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Unfortunately, the only epic Bezlerburn is that he got sacked today. I mean went into well-deserved early retirement.
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Nov 2, 2014 16:52
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How would Russia go about creating a "land link" with Odessa? It is over 200km by road, and land forces must first cross the Dniepro River, overlooked by the city of Kherson of a few hundred thousand people. Then they must cross the Pivdennyi Buh, the bridge being in the middle of the city of Mykolaiv, another city of a few hundred thousand. It wouldn't be a straight forward excersise. Even if the bridges weren't just blown up and the towns fell easily, Russian/pro-Russian forces would be thinly stretched along the coast and very vulnerable to attack or harassment from the north.
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Nov 2, 2014 17:30
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