Looks like UK is gonna deliver heavy ground material now, so I guess Germany and the rest of the EU aren't gonna be far behind.

All reports coming from the current hot(test) zones indicate that it's a bloodbath out there. Also, it sounds like Russia's most efficient fighting force so far are the Wagner mercenaries. That's an interesting thing to consider, seeing as there are no doubt large power struggles behind the scenes at the Kremlin with Putin clearly not being in great health. Their owner/leader has been raising his profile since the beginning of the invasion, and I wonder if he is waiting for Putin to go bye bye or if he is actively going to try and replace him. The former seems to make the most sense but who knows, things can change rapidly in such a corrupt country.

At least the talk of nuclear arms has died down a little over the past month or two. Ever since that Ukrainian missile landed in Poland and killed someone and they claimed it was the Russians. Probably one of the only times during this whole time the Russians didn't actively lie lol.

A group of Ukrainian soldiers landed in Oklahoma this past weekend to start training on PATRIOT missiles. The was what I did when I was in the Army oh so many years ago. These are primarily meant for defense against incoming ballistic missiles, but could quite easily be used to shoot down aircraft as well. I read the US was going to send M2 Bradleys to Ukraine as well, plus apparently we're doing advanced combined arms training in Germany. Between all of these things, UK's heavy armor they're sending, and Germany's armor that's supposed to be sent next year, I'm sure Putin is absolutely seething. For the sake of everyone I hope this doesn't drag on for another year though.

Very cool, thanks for posting that. That's one of the channels I occasionally watch, but I'd missed that video.

Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but it's some GoPro footage from some foreign fighters in Ukraine. There are several on this same channel, but this mostly involves them engaging a Russian BMP. Nothing too graphic, but I found it an interesting view of what modern combat can look like.

So, any opinions on the Wagner semi-coup? What a bizarre turn of events.

The most obvious explanation seem to be that Wager hoped that most of the population and military would turn against the Kremlin leadership and join them in their attempt to march on Moscow, but that it didn't happen (enough) for them to go through with it and they realized that it would be very difficult,so they settled for a sort of truce instead. And that Putin didn't have much of a choice but to give them an 'out' as he is too tied up in Ukraine to crush Wagner the way he normally would want to.

There's always the possibility that it was all a charade to put pressure on the miltary command (with Putin in on it), but I highly doubt he'd okay any scenario that could make his position look weak or vulnerable. And this surely hasn't been great for his image even within Russia.

Yea, that whole thing is just weird. Prigozhin's been going more and more nutty for the last few months in ways that made me expect he'd have an accidental fall from a 9th floor window, but the revolution or whatever was not something I expected. So they drove half way to Moscow, shot down a couple Russian military helicopters and then... poofed? So bizarre. It makes Putin look really weak, in any case. I expect Prigozhin will go into exile in Belarus and meet an untimely end very quickly, but it's not looking very good for Putin's Russia either.

Well, seems like he's still alive (as far as we know) and that Wagner has been disassembled/absorbed into the Russian military/moved to Belarus as planned. Very weird all around.

I gotta imagine he had some powerful leverage and/or friends to avoid the most obvious fate of anyone who goes up against a strongman regime.

Yea, agreed, the whole thing is just really weird. I'm sure the families of the helicopter pilots he killed are relieved. Meanwhile the war continues to drag on. I've been following some of the NSFW videos and whatnot from the front lines and it's just brutal. I'd love to see this end sooner rather than later, but unless Ukraine has a major military breakthrough, it looks unlikely.

We didn't have to wait very long for the 'accident' it seems. Occam's Razor says it was Putin/Russian army/FSB killing Prigozhin obviously, but as with anything coming out of Russia it's impossible to tell. For all we know he faked his own death.

Either way, will be interesting to see how Wagner will react after this. I don't mean the company as such, but their hardcore base which was clearly was very loyal to their boss - loyal enough to march on Moscow against some pretty bad odds.

Well, after Russia invading Ukraine we got Hamas doing a mass terrorist attack on Israeli civilians and then Israel bombing the crap out of Gaza in retaliation. I almost wish we were back in 2020 and simpler covid times.

Hey, don't forget about Azerbaijan recapturing territory from Armenia, Orban pining for the old days of Soviet oppression, China puling some super aggressive crap, Trump praising Orban as a great leader of Turkey .... what other dumpster fires have I missed? It may just be this decade is the decade of everything burning. Maybe the 2030s will be better.

Just for the record, I'm not being serious. There's a lot of BS happening in the world, but it's not all bad. The asteroid return mission from Bennu is amazing. The James Webb Space Telescope is amazing. The return to the moon is amazing. The rise of large language model AI is foreboding. If nothing else it's an interesting time to be alive.

Oh, as for Ukraine, it's insane how bad Russia is at war. I've been following the fighting out of a morbid curiosity and Russia just sends its men in to die in waves. Their losses are staggering. It just boggles the mind that any country would be so willing to sacrifice their people like that (not to mention a ton of expensive equipment). Unfortunately it looks like this war is just going to drag on for a really long time... or Russia's lines are going to collapse and things might get really interesting in a bad way.

Yeah, even if it looks like the world is burning everywhere these are relatively speaking some of the most peaceful or at the very least least bloody times in all of recorded human history, you're right. And the news has got to sell papers/clicks so...it's not a good indicator of the actual state of the world. Having said that, less bloodshed is always better than more, but what can you do when you're attacked by an asshole country/movement? Can't just roll over and take it, then the assholes win.

That is an amazingly appropriate and inappropriate movie click. Thank you sir.