December 26th’s update is here on the site and here in the comments.
December 27th’s update is here on the site and here in the comments.
December 28th’s update is here on the site and here in the comments.
December 30th’s update is here on the site and here in the comments.
Going out with friends today and tomorrow! Next week and onwards things should return to normal and we can continue drudging through in the second year of this war.
Links and Stuff
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. I recommend their map more than the channel at this point, as an increasing subscriber count has greatly diminished their quality.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources. Beware of chuddery.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are fairly brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. The Duran, of which he co-hosts, is where the chuddery really begins to spill out.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ Gleb Bazov, banned from Twitter, referenced pretty heavily in what remains of pro-Russian Twitter.
https://t.me/asbmil ~ Now rebranded as Battlefield Insights, they do infrequent posts on the conflict.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/riafan_everywhere ~ Think it’s a government news org or Federal News Agency? Russian language.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ Front news coverage. Russian langauge.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of the really big pro-Russian (except when they’re being pessismistic, which is often) telegram channels focussing on the war. Russian language.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine
Any Western media outlet that is even vaguely liberal (and quite a few conservative ones too).
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Last week’s discussion post.
Bolsonaro appears to be fleeing Brazil before the handoff of power to Lula. Bolsonaro has allegedly booked a one way ticket to Florida along with several generals. Additionally, he is going through a divorce.
Only a matter of time before he catches covid again too lol
This is funny af but I feel bad for cool Floridians that their state is about to get even more gusano somehow
Florida being a haven for Latin American fascists is probably why the state itself is turning increasingly into a fascist state.
Russia says U.S. intelligence services, pharmaceutical companies involved in military bio program in Ukraine
The Russian Defense Ministry has a document with the names of key U.S. officials supervising Ukraine’s military biological programs, Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said Saturday.
http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/view/2022-12/26/content_10207583.htm
ever since it came out that there were biological warfare labs in ukraine i have been lathing that they end up getting captured and the russians release undeniable proof that the US started the covid pandemic
from a dramatic storytelling perspective on reality it would be perfect
what is Umbrella Corp is not a more war industry focused Amazon? Horror Vanguard pod has covered that terrible movie series extensively
Moon of Alabama showcasing the incredible and profound advances in mathematics that Ukraine is making this year. Zelensky deserves both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Fields Medal. Emphasis mine:
After having run out of missiles, the Russian military today fired another round of them at Ukrainian energy facilities.
Russia fires 120 missiles from air and sea - Ukraine - BBC
An air raid alert has been issued across Ukraine, as a fresh wave of Russian missiles targets major cities.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said more than 120 missiles had been launched at the population and civilian infrastructure.
54 of the 69 missiles were shot down.
Commander: Ukraine shoots down 54 out of 69 missiles fired by Russia - Kyiv Independent
According to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the chief commander of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, the Air Force shot down 54 out of 69 missiles Russia had fired against Ukraine during its eighth mass strike targeting energy infrastructure on Dec. 29.
All missiles targeting Kiev were destroyed.
AFP News Agency @AFP - 10:10 UTC · Dec 29, 2022
#UPDATE Kyiv authorities said Thursday that air defences downed all 16 missiles that targeted the Ukrainian capital as part of a new wave of Russian strikes on the pro-Western country.
Those which came through seriously damaged Kiev’s energy facilities.
Energy Minister: Russia’s Dec. 29 mass strike causes damage to Ukraine’s power generation facilities, grid - Kyiv Independent
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reported on Dec. 29 that “some damage” was inflicted on Ukraine’s power generation facilities and energy grid during Russia’s mass strike despite the “excellent work” of the air defense.
The minister said that the energy situation is particularly “difficult” in Kyiv Oblast and the southern Odesa Oblast, as well as western Ukraine.
…
About 40% of Kyiv residents and 90% of Lviv residents in western Ukraine were cut off from electricity as of the morning, city mayors said.
Due to the attack some houses were damaged.
Arthur Morgan @ArthurM40330824 - 10:19 UTC · Dec 29, 2022
#Ukrainian air defense again hit civilian targets: now in Ivano-Frankivsk, a S-300 missile hit a residential building. There were no victims or injured.
While the fact that Russia has run out of missiles showcases their inability to manufacture more in the wake of sanctions, the fact that they can continue producing them is indicative of how sanctions need to be further strengthened. And while the fact that all Russian missiles that targeted Kiev were shot down highlights the effectiveness of Ukrainian anti-air, the fact that some of them hit Kiev shows how more anti-air systems need to be given to Ukraine.
:parenti:
Do you ever get the feeling that the members of the western permanent state are laughing at us? “Our bullshit facts and narratives we feed everybody don’t even need to be remotely consistent and everybody still believes them!” Thank god the power of decaying material conditions will eventually overpower the power of modern propaganda techniques or humanity would be totally fucked.
The quoted tweet thread from AFP contains multiple statements that directly contradict each other.
How do people believe this crap? Literally how gullible do you have to be?
So the UKR press is way beyond needing a kernel of truth for their propaganda, but there is one aspect I think I might believe:
Russia might be mostly out of (conventional-tipped) Iskanders. Tactical ballistic missiles are just about the least cost-effective possible way to get HE from here to there, and the biggest reason there are any non-nuclear ones at all is left-over cold war programs–e.g. both Iskander and ATACMS were programs from the 80s. Most of the ATACMS were converted to conventional after the Soviet Union fell (and they stopped making them in 2007), and Iskander was kept alive through graft until Moscow cracked down and forced the companies involved to actually produce something in the mid-2000s.
Russia fired SO MANY of these things off in the first couple months of the war that it’s not insane to conclude that they were just getting rid of them to save on maintenance costs. The US did basically the same thing with ATACMS for “shock and awe” in Iraq II. I don’t think there’s been a confirmed Iskander launch in months, either.
Of course the counterpoint is that Ukrainian air defense is so far degraded that Russia doesn’t need expensive ballistic missiles to get payloads through anymore.
Forget frying pans, mfs in wider hexbear are having a struggle session if bidets are reactionary
News mega > struggle session of the day
