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Computer viking posted:Oh that is extremely interesting news. Baikonur has been an obvious vulnerability ever since the USSR collapsed, and my impression is that all Russian attempts to build a space port within their borders have fizzled out in much the same way as all their prestige projects. Oh, it's much better than that. Vostochny Cosmodrome, the replacement for Baikonur in the Far East, has been under development for 15 years and has almost beat the Sochi Olympics in the "most money ever ripped off from the Russian taxpayer" event. And it's STILL not fully operational. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostochny_Cosmodrome quote:Corruption severely set back construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. According to Russian prosecutors, at least US$165 million was embezzled during the construction process (critics claim that these numbers are severely downplayed), and in 2015, 350 workers painted giant messages on their barracks, asking Vladimir Putin to help after long payment delays. By July 2016, the price for the spaceport was US$7.5 billion with costs rising every year (for example, an additional US$105 million was requested in 2016). By 2019, about 60 persons had been convicted for corruption. Until the invasion, the head of the Vostochny project, along with the rest of Roscosmos, was our good friend Dmitry Rogozin.
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Mar 14, 2023 05:59
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Re: when do the muskets come out. If some Twitter stuff I saw today is true they’ve already hit the bottom of the tech tree in some places. There was some stills and video of some Russian soldiers who got dead and they were armed with sticks. It’s like there’s always going to be new low points no matter how low it already got. I’m trying to picture the scenario where the commander orders some poor bastards to go assault that AFU position and just hands them a 3 foot piece of wood and wishes them luck. Not a sharp one or even one with a sharp rock tied to it. Would sticks / rocks be the bottom or would fists be level 0? Oscar Wilde Bunch fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Mar 14, 2023 |
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Mar 14, 2023 06:29
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Fists, tools are always a step up from baseline.
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Mar 14, 2023 06:51
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Midjack posted:Fists, tools are always a step up from baseline. I think we hit the baseline when it was clear Wagner PMC was training convict recruits about to be sent into Bakhmut to be bullet sponges and nothing else. Weapons were completely optional.
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Mar 14, 2023 07:12
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Oscar Wilde Bunch posted:Re: when do the muskets come out. It was less they were armed with sticks than they were using them as crutches to limp along with, possibly also having lost or abandoned their weapons.
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Mar 14, 2023 07:47
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Switzerland is destroying old Rapier anti-air systems rather than donating them to Ukraine or selling them back to the Brits (who made them): https://www.lemonde.fr/en/internati..._6019124_4.html The Swiss really know how to make friends.
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Mar 14, 2023 08:17
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Switzerland needs the EU way more than the EU needs Switzerland, so I'm really surprised they're continuing to poke the bear.
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Mar 14, 2023 08:46
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So we're clear, this is the same Switzerland that accepts deposits in gold eyeglasses frames, wedding bands, and teeth.
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Mar 14, 2023 09:09
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This is also the same Switzerland that has accidentally invaded Lichtenstein half a dozen times over the past half a century because they haven't got a drat clue how anything more militarily complex than a five kilometer march works.
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Mar 14, 2023 09:33
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Tbh, Lichtenstein is a Swiss canton with a convenient excuse more than a sovereign country; it's not like their border with Switzerland is well protected or even especially noticeable.
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Mar 14, 2023 09:56
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"Commander and driver after thundering through the triple S wire barrier at full speed at night" https://twitter.com/KampfmitKette/status/1635398629476438016 "Why would anyone do that?", you might ask. Well,... https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1319296387973042176
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Mar 14, 2023 10:03
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https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1629036862810497024
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Mar 14, 2023 10:43
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Pine Cone Jones posted:https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1635461695006015488?t=VKOwlOfQMFHHnQODL2YbwA&s=19 Awww, not this. All this time I've been waiting when will Kharkiv oblast be fully liberated, this is a wrong development. 
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Mar 14, 2023 10:45
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Wagner have switched from recruiting convicts to recruiting highschoolers https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1635161301247840256 Russia's demographic problem is going to get even weirder.
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Mar 14, 2023 12:24
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That's assuming he even gets to keep those recruits. This month there was increasing news on Telegram about Wagner recruits being picked up by Russian MoD representatives and suborned under their own battalions or brigades instead of being sent to join Wagner. Even Prigozhin complained himself about it once.
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Mar 14, 2023 12:27
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Rude Dude With Tude posted:Wagner have switched from recruiting convicts to recruiting highschoolers How horrible to recruit high school kids. What sort of barbarians would do such a thing? Btw, what did you get on your ASVAB?
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Mar 14, 2023 13:23
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See we just trick them when they're young and ignorant. We have the decency to wait a few years to get them injured.
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Mar 14, 2023 13:34
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IPCRESS posted:So we're clear, this is the same Switzerland that accepts deposits in gold eyeglasses frames, wedding bands, and teeth. Oh yeah in 1997 a Swiss bank guard blew the whistle that his bank was illegally destroying documents related to Holocaust assets, leading to a massive settlement with the victims, and the Swiss authorities were so mad at him he became the first Swiss citizen to get political asylum in the US.
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Mar 14, 2023 14:33
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I spoke to a swiss guy recently and he was bragging that they didn't accept the Nazi gold, they just stole it. Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy.
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Mar 14, 2023 15:42
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Nominal Neutrality is a hell of a drug.
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Mar 14, 2023 16:00
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Borscht posted:I spoke to a swiss guy recently and he was bragging that they didn't accept the Nazi gold, they just stole it. Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy. The also refused to take basically any Jewish asylum seekers in the 30s.
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Mar 14, 2023 16:46
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https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1635681468730028040?s=20 gonna be an interesting day if it's one of ours shot down by RUS
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Mar 14, 2023 17:47
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pmchem posted:https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1635681468730028040?s=20 Tempest in a teapot and most. It’s a drone around an active war zone, who cares?
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Mar 14, 2023 18:00
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pmchem posted:https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1635681468730028040?s=20 https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1635685779639873540 Looks like forced down by a RU fighter jet.
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Mar 14, 2023 18:01
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“Forced down” is an interesting phrase.
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Mar 14, 2023 18:03
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So is “hit by a Russian aircraft” really.
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Mar 14, 2023 18:06
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So they dumped fuel on it, then tried to intimidate an unmanned drone and I guess ran in to it? Not sure how exactly they expected that one to play out. Sounds like a Ferrari trying to frighten a tractor trailer, only with stall speeds in the mix.
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Mar 14, 2023 18:34
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That Top Gun scene except Tom Cruise is giving the finger to a drone and getting increasingly upset at the lack of response
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Mar 14, 2023 18:37
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psydude posted:The also refused to take basically any Jewish asylum seekers in the 30s. Nobody really covered themselves with glory in that respect tbh
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Mar 14, 2023 18:47
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Jonny Nox posted:Tempest in a teapot and most. It’s a drone around an active war zone, who cares? In international airspace and definitely intentional? Seems like some folks might care
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Mar 14, 2023 18:53
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No one with the power to do anything about it is going to care
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Mar 14, 2023 19:23
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EasilyConfused posted:Nobody really covered themselves with glory in that respect tbh IIRC, Portugal made a valiant effort?
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Mar 14, 2023 19:29
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CainFortea posted:No one with the power to do anything about it is going to care What're they gonna do, start a proxy war with Russia?
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Mar 14, 2023 19:30
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No fly zone! 
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Mar 14, 2023 19:33
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We should just give Russian bases in Crimea a quick bombing for funsies in response.
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Mar 14, 2023 19:48
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CainFortea posted:No one with the power to do anything about it is going to care Biden will probably announce the next aid package early and/or put some extra goodies in it as a response.
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Mar 14, 2023 20:03
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Cugel the Clever posted:We should just give Russian bases in Crimea a quick bombing for funsies in response. A proportional response. Just one SDB that destroy's the fighter that forced it down (while it's parked and no one around) from out of nowhere.
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Mar 14, 2023 20:24
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CainFortea posted:No one with the power to do anything about it is going to care Fox News is definitely going to play this up and try to force an angle of Biden being ineffectual and failing to meet our enemie's antagonism. With that widdle election coming up I wouldn't be so sure that no one with the power to do anything is going to care edit: Looks like the Russian Ambassador is being summoned about it
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Mar 14, 2023 20:24
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Murgos posted:A proportional response. Just one SDB that destroy's the fighter that forced it down (while it's parked and no one around) from out of nowhere. Nah, JDAM filled with concrete. Much less chance of collateral damage. This incident is exactly why we're using UAVs for recon work, nobody is in harm's way.
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Mar 14, 2023 20:36
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mllaneza posted:Nah, JDAM filled with concrete. Much less chance of collateral damage. World's first orbital strike
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