Emrys
Emrys's JournalCzech President says Czechia found way to get 800,000 shells for Ukraine
Details: Pavel spoke at a panel discussion with the leaders of 5 EU member states and commented on the challenges of supplying weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He said Prague had found a way to arrange such supplies.
Pavel noted that Czechia "looks for military supplies around the world and then works with our NATO partners" and specifically mentioned Denmark, the Netherlands, and Canada, which have provided resources to bring military equipment to Czechia. "And then we promptly transport it to Ukraine," he explained.
Pavel added that Czechia had been successful in searching for it.
Quote: "So far, we have found half a million 155mm shells and 300,000 122mm shells, which we can ship [to Ukraine] in a few weeks provided we have the funding. We will address our partners in the United States, Germany, Sweden, etc., for such assistance," he said.
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/02/17/7442341/
https://english.radio.cz/president-pavel-czechia-has-found-possible-sources-ammunition-ukraine-8808818
"Stalemate" relies on accepting the parameters media pundits have chosen to apply,
as if they were describing plays on a sports field by focusing solely on the goal line and ignoring what's developing on the rest of the arena.
Take a look a Crimea and its surrounding waters. Absorb the progressive deliberate and painstaking attrition of Russian air defences and leadership and support resources, the vulnerability of the Kerch bridge and the ongoing near daily toll on Russian sea power - not insignificant as many of those platforms can be used to launch missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets. Tell me the situation there looks like a stalemate, and I'll just have to respond, "That judgement may not age well."
As it is, whatever our regrets about the toll in human lives - and the environment - and believe me I have plenty, every doom-laden verdict any of us express on the outcome plays into Putin's hands and joins the chorus from some compromised US Republicans and their glib fellow travellers to the tune that America is just pouring good money after bad (never mind the fact that most of that money is bolstering US industries), and capitulation had better come sooner rather than later.
Capitulation may feel different for Americans than it does for those of us in Europe, closer to the front lines. We've already been there in the First and Second World Wars.
It's no surprise that the Russian botnets on social media are singing from the same songsheet. Let's not join in.
Then it seems Carlson's vanity doesn't extend to checking out Russian state media
If he had, he'd have seen hours of raving genocidal fantasies about sweeping through and subjugating the whole of Europe, mixed in with joyous praise of his efforts on Putin's behalf.
He wouldn't even need to do any research, just check out Julia Davis's Russian Media Monitor Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1755651335473492294
@JuliaDavisNews
For years, I've been writing about Russia's preoccupation with Tucker Carlson and the enormous value of his propaganda for the Kremlin. Here is just a tiny sliver of Russia's Tuckermania. Watch, so you can be reminded how we got here.
Twitter video version:
@BidenHQ
Trump says he would encourage Russia to attack NATO allies: I said I would not protect our NATO allies. In fact, I would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want
[Twitter video]
https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1756414506723320127
Since this is based on one of Trump's reports of someone addressing him "Sir ...", there's every chance the exchange never happened, but the speech above certainly did.
AI is key to Ukraine's victory, says new analysis
Ukrainian AI outperforms US and China
The pace of AI development in Ukraine is more impressive than in the US and China, claims Benjamin Jensen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Future of Warfare Initiative.
“Ukraine is doing it because they’re building it from the bottom up, and it’s antifragile … it’s small, it’s scalable, it works, and they know what to do it. We’re trying to do it very Pentagonese from the top down, which means we’re going to spend tens of billions of dollars for a couple of high-profile failures versus spending,” Jensen explained to Fox News.
The US media explains to Americans that programmers and engineers are involved in AI applications in Ukraine. Many drones are made in “kitchens,” and then successful practices are launched into mass production rather than imposed by authorities.
In the war, Ukraine leverages Western AI developments for diverse tasks – collecting evidence of war crimes and locating suspected war criminals; controlling drones and targeting; detecting Russian disinformation and propaganda; demining; and reconstruction planning.
https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/01/22/ai-is-key-to-ukraines-victory-says-new-analysis/
The article continues under the headings "Ukraine still relies on US", "Warnings for Ukraine" and "Russia’s “cyber-gulag”", and links to further articles titled:
Hear and destroy: Ukrainian artificial intelligence project Zvook helps shoot down Russian missiles
Ukraine seeks to expand battlefield tech with AI integration
Five Ukrainian defense tech startups taking on Russia’s brute force
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"I've never used Twitter"
I think you could have stopped there.
It's no surprise that those who have little or no experience of Twitter have no idea what good it's achieved, and is still achieving despite Musk's antics, which seemingly doesn't stop them having the strongest and most vociferous views about it.
Without it, I would have far less knowledge of what's happening in Ukraine unfiltered through the conventional media, and also in my own country, Scotland, for instance. Not a day goes by when I don't find worthwhile content on there. It's not hard to block the crap, and I've had long practice of doing that and ferreting out accounts that have proven to be trustworthy and worthwhile over a number of years. You don't feel the need for it or see any worth in it, having never used it, but nevertheless dismiss it and social media as a whole as "a useless cesspool of lies and misinformation" and "a stupid waste of one’s time".
As for Threads, those who rail against Musk seem happy to ignore the terrible track record of Meta and Mark Zuckerberg on various issues, including heavy-handed censorship of news feeds, highly intrusive and abusive exploitation of personal data, numerous awful and massive security breaches, and being implicated in warping politics in the USA, UK etc. Facebook, part of Meta, was much more responsible for boosting Trump and his ilk than Twitter or any other social media ever were. That's one reason Musk tried to subvert Twitter.
They also seem OK with the fact that Zuckerberg and his management have said clearly and repeatedly that they don't intend hard news to be a significant feature of Threads and won't do anything to encourage it because it's too much trouble. Its numbers are boosted by those who have Instagram accounts, many of whom are hardcore members of fandom, which I have no interest in, and generally block on Twitter because they just provide so much noise and meaningless (to me) nonsense.
The accounts I view regularly on Twitter aren't bailing out to Threads, if they're setting up insurance accounts anywhere in case Twitter goes *poof*, it's most often BlueSky, which has and will have its own issues.
Putinism hides its failures just like communism
By Janusz Bugajski
Vladimir Putin’s propaganda is bombarding the West with claims of military success in Ukraine, of Russia’s economic growth despite international sanctions, and of widespread global support for the Kremlin. In reality, Moscow’s alleged triumphs are based on the same illusions and deceptions as its failed communist past, in which the Soviet Union was supposedly destined to surpass the West.
Russian leaders are trying to convince Western leaders that Ukraine is losing the war in order to terminate military assistance for Kyiv. In reality, the war is disastrous for Russia. Although the Ukrainian counteroffensive stalled in Donbas and Zaporizhzhia for the winter, after defeating Russian forces in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson, the Russian army is being decimated, and its navy has been pushed back from the western part of the Black Sea. During two years of combat, Russia has lost at least 315,000 killed or severely wounded, from a ground force of some 360,000 that invaded Ukraine. It has also sustained huge losses in equipment, including 2,200 out of some 3,500 tanks and a third of its armored vehicles.
...
Until it receives new supplies of weapons and ammunition, Ukraine has temporarily switched its operations from offense to attritional defense in order to kill the maximum number of Russian soldiers. Russia cannot sustain the kinds of losses it is experiencing in the battle over Avdiivka, where about 40,000 recruits have perished in the past three months. Ukraine does not need to launch a major counteroffensive to regain territory but simply to maximize Russian losses until the occupation becomes untenable. Increased supplies of artillery shells for Kyiv will multiply Russian casualties, while long-range rocketry and fighter jets will help destroy Russia’s logistical chains.
Much like their communist predecessors, Moscow’s current rulers also claim that Russia’s economy is growing. In reality, GDP growth in 2023 has only been sustained through massive infusions of cash into the military-industrial sector. The rest of the economy is sinking, shortages are spreading, infrastructure is collapsing, and inflation is rampant. The Kremlin’s war economy is not supportable in the longer term and cannot provide economic growth, especially as Western sanctions are tightening, its military products are demolished in Ukraine, and fewer workers will be available because of war losses and the mass exodus of young Russians. In sum, Russia has little prospect of economic development and is facing increasing social unrest.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2789414/putinism-hides-its-failures-just-like-communism/
'Shocking' Reality of Ukraine Blowback Hammers Putin at Home
Julia Davis
For years, Russian government officials and state media propagandists have been claiming that Western sanctions don’t cause any real harm to their economy and to the contrary, actually help it develop. But the main industry that seems to be thriving despite the sanctions is the country’s military-industrial complex. As for everyday people, their lives are progressively getting worse.
...
In 2023, therapists reported an increase in complaints about permanent stress and financial worries. The poorest Russians, including pensioners, suffer the most. Just in time for the holidays, the price of eggs in Russia shot up by 40 percent or more and their availability greatly diminished. Some regions started to limit the number of eggs an individual could buy, with some stores even selling them individually. This was an especially sensitive issue, since a traditional New Year’s salad, the Olivier, requires eggs as one of its main ingredients. During his annual televised event, Direct Line, Putin had to apologize for the rising egg prices—a fact that even state TV propagandists described as “shocking.”
...
Russian State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladislav Davankov, who filed his paperwork to the Central Election Commission to take part in the 2024 presidential campaign, accused the Federal State Statistics Service of fudging the numbers “to make it seem that all is well with the prices.” He said that prices on many items, including rice, grains, and butter, are rising 10-30 percent faster than officials claim. “When statistics diverge from reality, it is impossible to make effective decisions to curb prices,” Davankov added.
According to official statistics, basic food products sharply rose in price: eggs by 59 percent, tomatoes by 52 percent, bananas by 46.5 percent, cabbage by 29 percent, poultry by 27.7 percent, and apples by 20.7 percent.
Polls reveal that two-thirds of Russians complain about the prices rising at a faster pace—and that Russians in general are tired of war, with over 50 percent of participants hoping for the end of the so-called “special military operation” as their biggest wish for 2024. Witnessing Western hesitation to continue aid to Ukraine, Putin is unlikely to grant the wish of his own citizens anytime soon. Russian lawmakers and other state TV propagandists promise an expanded agenda, with all of Ukraine on the menu. Encouraged by the disarray in the U.S., they hope for a civil war in America that will permanently distract the country from helping Moscow’s intended victims.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/shocking-reality-of-ukraine-blowback-hammers-putin-at-home
If you liked the first video, here's some more, a fully live performance this time
Here's one of Simonova's appearances on Ukraine's Got Talent in 2011 (when, poignantly, relations between Russia and Ukraine hadn't yet decayed so far), probably her most powerful (you may recognize among the music a finale of a string quartet version of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", which has become something of an Ukrainian wartime anthem):
This performance was presented on "Ukraine's got talent" show by Kseniya Simonova and brought her win.
Kseniya Simonova is a sand artist from Ukraine, she lives in Crimea (South of Ukraine). Her great-grandfather was an officer of USSR army and defended his Motherland from horrible Nazi's invasion. He was killed in 1943 and Kseniya decided to devote her semi-final performance on UGT to his heroism.
In the end of the story Kseniya writes in Russian a phrase which means "You are always nearby"
If you check out her YouTube channel, you'll find more recent appearances on America's Got Talent, including a shortened reprise of this performance.
Astonishing real-time animated sand art from Kseniya Simonova
Kseniya Simonova is an Ukrainian artist from Crimea whose many achievements include winning Ukraine's Got Talent in 2009, later performing at the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as featuring on Britain's Got Talent and America's Got Talent at various times, the latter very recently.Simonova's performances combine creating narrative artworks in sand on a light-table with music, and pack a considerable emotional punch.
In 2022, she collaborated with international musical and artistic collective October Project on a special project called "ANGELS FOR UKRAINE", to raise funds for the International Rescue Committee's “Crisis in Ukraine” Emergency Fund, as part of which they released this song:
You can see more of her work on her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KseniyaSimonovaTV
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