EndlessWire
EndlessWire's JournalThese are YouTube videos
Reconstruction of the events in the Kerch Strait
by The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (Генеральная прокуратура Украины
This happened a few years ago. You will have to read the titles awfully fast, but this is a very interesting video.
Also
Is Russia Annexing The Azov Sea?
This is also extremely interesting. What is notable is the seaport of Mariupol, located in one of "Russia's" newest territories.
Those two territories have a river called Donets. It goes right through those two territories, hooking up with the Don River, and goes down to the Azov Sea. I don't think it is fully navigable.
In the video, the issue of the 12-mile limit is extremely interesting. There can be a lot of mischief down there. Perhaps this is why Putin is bothering with the Donbas area. He's not doing any of that for humanitarian reasons, at all.
This is an article
from CSIS (Center For Strategic and International Studies):
https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-possible-invasion-ukraine
This is for those that don't mind a long read, but a good one. It summarizes what's going on in Ukraine, and contains really good satellite images with labels showing various placements for Russian military equipment.
In particular, I thought some readers might like the extensive analysis of Russia's invasion options for several scenarios from taking the Donbas to taking all of Ukraine. It isn't a happy read, but if you have the patience to read it, it is very educational. Some people here read with lightening speed. It's not a technically hard read, pretty casual, just long. It's from January 2022, so it is up to date.
I don't know if this will work.
This is a link to watch the emergency UNSC meeting tonight:
https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1e/k1epflppn0
Russia is chairing the UN right now, so it should be veerrry interesna...All the principle players will be, apparently requesting Russia to explain itself right now...I really want to watch it.
I discovered that if I hold one of my little cube stereo speakers to my ear, I can hear almost only the translator, which makes it more doable. So, I hope it starts up. I thought it would be 6 pm PT, but I don't know for sure.
The last times I watched the SC meeting, they would come back with rebuttals, which made it interesting because the chair this month is Russia itself, so he probably will have to do a lot of speaking.
I was wondering
what the flotilla up near Ireland was doing lately, whether they had fired on some irate Irish fisherman, and whether the fisherman had sunk one of them yet.
So, I visited some live shipping tracking site. Man, there's a lot of ships out there! But, I guess they can't show actual military ships on there. Anyone know? I thought that I might see a blank area, indicating avoidance of an area.
I also wonder where Putin's yacht went.
Okay, I admit it
I'm attracted to men's shoes.
I am very tall and have large feet. I cannot find pretty female shoes, at all. Shoes in my size are universally ugly or old fashioned and terribly depressing. Plus, they are uncomfortable.
Yet, I am constantly seeing ads on the internet for fresh, exquisitely detailed leather shoes that are downright effeminate. They are beautiful. But, they're for guys. I could get several different ones, they would fit, and who would know? Who's gonna say, Aha, you're wearing men's shoes? No one would be that impolite.
Lately, I've begun to picture myself wearing these different shoes. I am so tempted. Is this how it starts? And, why do guys get to wear the comfy shoes, while pretty and comfy shoes for women are only meant for girls who are 5'2", size 6, maybe 9 at the most.
I think I am going to buy a pair of men's shoes to wear. I've held out long enough. It might be liberating. Plus, if I buy those shoes, maybe I'll get the nerve to buy one of those Hawaiian shirts they sell to guys. They are gorgeous! Just need to find a belt to cinch it up--you know what I mean--and walk with confidence. Confidence is everything.
Putin is trying to do to the Donbas region
what he did to Crimea in 2014, and Georgia in 2008. If he follows the suggestion of the Lower Duma, and declares the Donbas regions as their own independent Republics, then he can say he did not invade Ukraine. Which, make no mistake, he did.
This whole thing seems to be an attempt to take over the Donbas region. When he took over Georgia, he established military bases in that territory. That's probably what he is seeking to do here, except that he is menacing Kiev bigtime, and seems like, without a NATO reaction, he would probably try to take the entire Ukraine area. But, he'd settle for the Donbas.
He has himself in a pickle here, because he would have to disengage from the two rebel areas, which IMO is where he has to save face. The rest of the world just wants him to go home, whereas those two areas are dependent on Russia's support. They don't want him to go home. So, he's kind of in it right now.
Why can't Poland and Litho take on Belarus if Belarus participates in shelling Kiev? Better yet, why can't they take over Kaliningrad? How would Putin like that? Not trying to start WWIII, just musing. Putin has sounded out NATO, and doesn't anticipate NATO with boots on the ground. But, did he consider that Poland and Litho can operate independently of NATO? Is the Donbas region worth losing Kaliningrad and Belarus?
Putin is getting away with every lowdown thing he does. He plans to get away with this, too. There has to be an immediate and very consequential outcome here. He seems to sniff at sanctions. Maybe he'd like to negotiate over Kaliningrad (I think he would throw Belarus under the bus.)
If he succeeds in this gambit, he'll just be back for more. As it is, he is right on time with the war plans he has advertised, and the whole world is aware of what he intends to do.
What is happening
In the last weeks I have been an armchair general and an armchair admiral. Now, today, I am an armchair psychic. This is what will happen in the next few days:
1. shelling continues
2. the Olympics end, sending the Russian athletes home
3. the meeting on the 24th does not occur
4. more cyber stuff happens
5. more Russian troops arrive at the border
6. muddy terrain becomes a problem (I'd recommend seeding the clouds, but the rain would probably freeze coming down and turn into snow...is snow good?)
That is all. I must recline to contemplate more of the future.
Hasn't it started already?
Sure, the rebels blew a hole in a nursery building, barely missing the little kids. But, I keep reading that shelling is still occurring in the disputed region. For instance, they shelled someone's house and it burned. While I know they have been at war for 8 years, and fighting is nothing new there, it seems to me that the "false flag" is really the start. Like, the start is really hidden within the "false flag."
If I were Biden, I'd close the American embassy in Moscow and bring those guys home, especially since they kicked out one of our ambassadors. He is keeping it open in order to facilitate diplomacy and avenues of discussion, but forget it. Shred everything and come out. Hold your talks in Washington, where we know the Russian ambassadors are safe. But, not in Moscow.
Those rebel guys didn't start this up on a whim. They got instructions from someone. The fighting hasn't stopped, and it's turning into one continuous incident. I feel bad for the citizens there.
What is the Ukranian army supposed to do? Just sit there? Eff Putin. People just want to live in peace.
Do you remember the last Winter Olympics?
One event I like to remember is the following:
I don't remember their names, but one of our celebrity skiers was going to retire following this Olympics, and everyone was talking to her, talking about it and all. She was entered in several events.
Well, this one event was downhill skiing, you know, where you have to ski through the gates. There was a snow boarder who entered for a lark. She did not train for downhill skiing, but she knew how to do it.
So, she does her last run, and it is fantastic. She ended up winning gold. She did not expect to win, so it was almost an afterthought for her to look up at the scores. She beat even the Olympic champion downhill skier.
Later, the press was interviewing the retiring Olympian, who had an event scheduled, and they were inquiring as to how she felt about her chances to win. And, she said something like, "Yeah, I don't think there are any snow boarders entered."
Hahaha!! Oh, that was so funny! It was sweet and memorable. I don't have a clip of it, but I remember that joke.
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