YazataApr 26, 2022 11:26 PM (This post was last modified: Apr 26, 2022 11:44 PM by Yazata.)
Things are getting weird in Transnistria, a separatist region of Moldova with its own government supported by Russia. Somebody blew up the transmitting tower of a radio station that had been broadcasting Russian propaganda. The government of the separatist region has started going on about "terrorists" and are setting up armed checkpoints. Russian "peacekeepers" (about 1,500 of them) are on high alert.
For its part, Moldova has put its own small military on heightened alert. Moldova is a former Soviet republic between Romania and Ukraine composed mostly of ethnic Romanian speakers. (Moldovans claim their Romanian dialect is different enough from standard Romanian to be a separate language.) It isn't a member of NATO or the European Union.
There's widespread worry that the Russians will try to use this as an excuse to try some new military adventure. There's even some suspicion that Russians blew up the radio tower themselves to create a provocation.
Except that the nearest Russian forces are in Kherson, and given the poor performance of the Russian military they will have trouble advancing westwards all the way to Transnistria against fierce Ukrainian opposition. (A Russian linkup with Transnistria would mean cutting off the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. That might in fact be the Russians' real objective but it's questionable if they can accomplish it.) There don't seem to be enough Russians in Transnistria to cause much trouble on their own.
C CApr 27, 2022 12:00 AM (This post was last modified: Apr 27, 2022 12:15 AM by C C.)
(Apr 26, 2022 11:26 PM)Yazata Wrote: Things are getting weird in Transnistria, a separatist region of Moldova with its own government supported by Russia. Somebody blew up the transmitting tower of a radio station that had been broadcasting Russian propaganda. The government of the separatist region has started going on about "terrorists" and are setting up armed checkpoints. Russian "peacekeepers" (about 1,500 of them) are on high alert.
For its part, Moldova has put its own small military on heightened alert. Moldova is a former Soviet republic between Romania and Ukraine composed mostly of ethnic Romanian speakers. (Moldovans claim their Romanian dialect is different enough from standard Romanian to be a separate language.) It isn't a member of NATO or the European Union.
There's widespread worry that the Russians will try to use this as an excuse to try some new military adventure. There's even some suspicion that Russians blew up the radio tower themselves to create a provocation.
Except that the nearest Russian forces are in Kherson, and given the poor performance of the Russian military they will have trouble advancing westwards all the way to Transnistria against fierce Ukrainian opposition. (A Russian linkup with Transnistria would mean cutting off the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. That might in fact be the Russians' real objective but it's questionable if they can accomplish it.) There don't seem to be enough Russians in Transnistria to cause much trouble on their own.
Apparently, Russia is becoming a big ol' Sow of Hope for scattered separatist campaigns. All of them squirming through the rival crowd of piglets to reach the Sow's underbelly and latch onto a teat.
This tactic may be a new fad, where the breakaway movements even sabotage their own stuff. Hoping that Russia detects the "signal of injustice" and intervenes militarily (also providing the excuse/rationale).
YazataApr 27, 2022 05:13 AM (This post was last modified: Apr 27, 2022 09:02 PM by Yazata.)
I really hope that the world famous Antonov aircraft company survives. It's arguably Ukraine's most internationally famous industrial company, one of the world's major producers of cargo aircraft. I've seen huge Antonov transports at the Moffett Federal Airport near my home.
Unfortunately its factory and headquarters at Hostomel outside Kyiv was pretty much destroyed by weeks of fighting at the Antonov airport.
Russia has been proping up puppet seperatist groups across Europe. It's not just the East of Ukraine, or Moldova. There is evidence to suggest that a number of far-right groups have been given support to create seperatist pockets (Theres suggestion of Russian support in places like Serbia and Albania). I guess the idea Russia had was that having a lot of small countries (or more technically PMC's) it can boss around. If those far-right extremists (PMC's) that make up those seperatist groups have a falling out with Russia, what would they do? They can't turn to anyone else, and if they attempted to retaliate they would just be labeled rebels or terrorists (Like in/with Georgia or Chechnya)
Such groups allow acitivities like torture and assassinations to those they think oppose them, and that mixed with granting Russia free movement based upon their Casus Belli allows Russian operations which are equally wrong. (Russia had been involved in Assassinations in the Ukraine prior to the current conflict)
I guess I'm mentioning all thise because it's not a small conflict, it is the start of something that will have the flames fanned. That's why it's beyond just EU or complaints of NATO.
And today a small group of unidentified men launched an attack on the security police headquarters in the Transnistrian capital of Tiraspol. They appear to have been equipped with several light shoulder-fired anti-tank rockets that they fired into the building. So somebody is definitely trying to stir things up.
Quote:It would be acceptable for Ukrainian forces to use Western weapons to attack military targets on Russian soil, a UK defence minister has said.
Seems like the kind of thing you might want to think but not spell out quite so clearly.
I don't know if it was Western weapons exactly, but a few hours ago there were new reports of the sound of loud explosions in Belgorod Russia. Locals are reporting seeing Russian surface to air missiles being launched which suggests that the Russians detected Ukrainian aircraft operating overhead.
Quote:It would be acceptable for Ukrainian forces to use Western weapons to attack military targets on Russian soil, a UK defence minister has said.
Seems like the kind of thing you might want to think but not spell out quite so clearly.
I don't know if it was Western weapons exactly, but a few hours ago there were new reports of the sound of loud explosions in Belgorod Russia. Locals are reporting seeing Russian surface to air missiles being launched which suggests that the Russians detected Ukrainian aircraft operating overhead.
Maybe Igor Strelkov was right after all (below). I need to see activity deeper than just 25 to 30 miles into Russia, though, to feel that it's a truly ironic Ukranian footprint presence. Maybe 75 miles minimum; preferably a semi-constant 100 to 150 miles to really be a mild cork popper. (Maybe Belgorod features the only worthy targets for the region. But that part of Russia is certainly not as sparsely populated as Siberia -- surely something has military appeal to an explosive than just the White City's facilities and surrounding turf.)
YazataApr 29, 2022 04:53 PM (This post was last modified: Apr 29, 2022 05:18 PM by Yazata.)
Dramatic Russian video from Mariupol. It isn't clear how recent the video is, but if it's recent it shows that the Ukrainians are still emerging from their Azovstal tunnels into the Mariupol streets.
One of those little dramas that I'm sure are being repeated thousands of times in Ukraine.
The video shows a squad of Russian soldiers trying to cross a wide street. They come under fire when exposed and one is shot. And a couple of others try to drag him to safety while under fire themselves. One of the rescuers may have also been shot, at the end of the video he's rolling around and crying out. Then a Russian armored personnel carrier appears.
One has to praise the courage of the Russian soldiers while criticizing what appears to civilian eyes to be their bad tactics (exposing themselves in a line without any covering fire, very late employment of the smoke grenade) which might arguably suggest lack of training.
Sadly, a lot of these Russian soldiers are conscripts, rushed through basic training and then sent direct into combat.
One can feel compassion for their plight and even admiration for their bravery, even if we aren't supposed to like the Russians.
Hey Yaz, with Ukraine hitting Russia near the border, has security in Moscow become extremely tight, are there curfews, is there real cause to worry if you live there? Guess that could also mean Government security coming down on citizens a lot more also.
Apr 26, 2022 11:26 PM
(This post was last modified: Apr 26, 2022 11:44 PM by Yazata.)
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