Without going into where or when, my only involvement in any conflicts involving a nation’s military have been in designing what are traditionally called “field expedients”. Which is what got my attention about this video. That…and the use of a wee electric quadcopter drone. Which everyone is going to see used more than most can imagine in coming months and years.
What looks like a miniature bomb delivering an explosive charge to that tank actually is sold throughout Europe to folks as a “baiting” device normally charged with worms, minnows…even pieces of cheese…to attract the fish you’re stalking to your fishing spot. Dunno if shore-based fisherfolk have evolved beyond a strong throwing arm to get the bait to a tempting spot.
The Bucha massacre (Ukrainian: Бучанська різанина) was the killing and abuse of Ukrainian civilians by Russian Armed Forces during the fight for and occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photographic and video evidence of the massacre emerged on 1 April 2022 after Russian forces withdrew from the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre
Still David vs Goliath, Mark. Total cost of that drone + plastic bait bomb is a hundred quid or so. The tank cost Russian taxpayers 7 figures worth of rubles or dollars, whatever. 2-man crew extra.
“Of the 403,272 tank soldiers (including a small number of women) who were trained by the Red Army in the war, 310,000 would die. Even the most optimistic troops knew what would happen when a tank was shelled. The white-hot flash of the explosion would almost certainly ignite the tank crew’s fuel and ammunition. At best, the crew—or those at least who had not been decapitated or dismembered by the shell itself—would have no more than ninety seconds to climb out of their cabin. Much of that time would be swallowed up as they struggled to open the heavy, sometimes red-hot, hatch, which might have jammed after the impact anyway. The battlefield was no haven, but it was safer than the armored coffin that would now begin to blaze, its metal components to melt. This was not simply “boiling up.” The tank would also torch the atmosphere around it. By then, there could be no hope for the men inside. Not unusually, their bodies were so badly burned that the remains were inseparable.”
Catherine Merridale, “Ivan’s War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945”
For that matter, the crew enlisted in the Russian Army. They had to be trained and assigned well before the recent draft call-up. Armies throughout the world aren’t designed and staffed with peaceful intent. Regardless what political hacks blather.
Couldn’t agree more. Though I work to clarify my perception of what’s going on in the world…or the next block down the street, my life has been dedicated to fighting for peace, equal opportunity, equal rights, education, science and knowledge in general. Never been easy. Don’t expect to see that change in what’s left of a long and “interesting” lifetime.
During the Final Solution of the Holocaust, Nazi Germany created six extermination camps to carry out the systematic genocide of the Jews in German-occupied Europe.
In addition there were 23 main concentration camps (‘Stammlager’), of which most had a system of satellite camps. Including the satellite camps, the total number of Nazi concentration camps that existed at one point in time is at least a thousand, although these did not all exist at the same time.
An estimated 17 million people were murdered by the German Nazi regime and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945, according to data published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The estimates are based on the regime’s own reports as well as demographic studies of population loss during World War II.
Mr Eideard. Do you think that posting military snuff videos is in the interest of peace? Seems strange to me.
Personally, I avoid any mainstream (read Corporate) coverage of Ukraine. There is ZERO talk of peace. Surely weapons sales are booming. So there is that.
Caril Guzy has won the Pulitzer Prize four times — one of five people to do so, and the first journalist with that achievement. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1986, 1995, 2000 and 2011. Guzy was also a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 1988 and 2009.
Mark says:
I’d hardly call this video journalism or in the same league, but if you posted the execution photo on your blog with the caption ‘BOOM!’, are you serving the interests of peace?
Going2peaces says:
When Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 he explicitly ruled out seizing more territory: “Don’t believe those who try to frighten you with Russia and who scream that other regions will follow after Crimea … We do not need this.”
Yesterday, in defiance of international law, Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.
The annexation formalities were preceded by an angry, rambling speech that dwelled only briefly on either Ukraine or the four regions of which Russia now claims ownership. Instead, Putin railed at the west for a litany of sins, ranging from destabilizing Russia in the 17th century to allowing gender reassignment surgery.
In his remarks Putin said Russia is “ready for negotiations” – but annexed territories will be part of Russia “forever” and can not be part of any talks. He also stated that any attack on the annexed territory will be an attack on Russia and reiterated his threat to use nuclear weapons, claiming the US had “created a precedent” for the use of nuclear force in 1945. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/putin-annexation-speech-more-angry-taxi-driver-than-head-of-state-ukraine
NATO Secretary General said the alliance would never recognize annexation of Ukrainian territory. “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting – Ukraine will cease to exist,” he added.
”The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War (5th century BC).
Russian soldiers who die in the line of duty in Ukraine have all of their sins forgiven, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed in a sermon, comparing their sacrificial death to that of Jesus.
The assertion, made on Sunday, ratchets up Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s already staunch support for Russia’s war on Ukraine since its beginning in February.
Kirill has characterized the war as part of a larger metaphysical struggle against an encroaching liberal West, which he depicts as demanding gay pride parades. He has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s depiction of Ukraine as spiritually and politically tied to Russia through their common medieval roots. https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/us/moscow-patriarch-russian-war-dead-have-their-sins-forgiven/article_e23848fa-57d6-58c8-af1b-0b1ce5f73923.html
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church — which had remained loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate until this year, even when other Orthodox in Ukraine had broken away — declared its independence in May. By then, many priests and bishops had ceased commemorating Kirill in their public worship, a ritually potent snub.
Eideard 
The families of the soldiers in that tank must be so glad you shared this, Mr Eiderd.
STOP THE WAR
Without going into where or when, my only involvement in any conflicts involving a nation’s military have been in designing what are traditionally called “field expedients”. Which is what got my attention about this video. That…and the use of a wee electric quadcopter drone. Which everyone is going to see used more than most can imagine in coming months and years.
What looks like a miniature bomb delivering an explosive charge to that tank actually is sold throughout Europe to folks as a “baiting” device normally charged with worms, minnows…even pieces of cheese…to attract the fish you’re stalking to your fishing spot. Dunno if shore-based fisherfolk have evolved beyond a strong throwing arm to get the bait to a tempting spot.
The Bucha massacre (Ukrainian: Бучанська різанина) was the killing and abuse of Ukrainian civilians by Russian Armed Forces during the fight for and occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photographic and video evidence of the massacre emerged on 1 April 2022 after Russian forces withdrew from the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre
Re: family photos
Still David vs Goliath, Mark. Total cost of that drone + plastic bait bomb is a hundred quid or so. The tank cost Russian taxpayers 7 figures worth of rubles or dollars, whatever. 2-man crew extra.
“Of the 403,272 tank soldiers (including a small number of women) who were trained by the Red Army in the war, 310,000 would die. Even the most optimistic troops knew what would happen when a tank was shelled. The white-hot flash of the explosion would almost certainly ignite the tank crew’s fuel and ammunition. At best, the crew—or those at least who had not been decapitated or dismembered by the shell itself—would have no more than ninety seconds to climb out of their cabin. Much of that time would be swallowed up as they struggled to open the heavy, sometimes red-hot, hatch, which might have jammed after the impact anyway. The battlefield was no haven, but it was safer than the armored coffin that would now begin to blaze, its metal components to melt. This was not simply “boiling up.” The tank would also torch the atmosphere around it. By then, there could be no hope for the men inside. Not unusually, their bodies were so badly burned that the remains were inseparable.”
Catherine Merridale, “Ivan’s War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945”
For that matter, the crew enlisted in the Russian Army. They had to be trained and assigned well before the recent draft call-up. Armies throughout the world aren’t designed and staffed with peaceful intent. Regardless what political hacks blather.
Couldn’t agree more. Though I work to clarify my perception of what’s going on in the world…or the next block down the street, my life has been dedicated to fighting for peace, equal opportunity, equal rights, education, science and knowledge in general. Never been easy. Don’t expect to see that change in what’s left of a long and “interesting” lifetime.
Gandhi wrote two letters to Hitler, asking him to end World War II https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/when-mahatma-gandhi-chided-hitler-and-called-his-actions-monstrous-1605346-2019-10-02
During the Final Solution of the Holocaust, Nazi Germany created six extermination camps to carry out the systematic genocide of the Jews in German-occupied Europe.
In addition there were 23 main concentration camps (‘Stammlager’), of which most had a system of satellite camps. Including the satellite camps, the total number of Nazi concentration camps that existed at one point in time is at least a thousand, although these did not all exist at the same time.
An estimated 17 million people were murdered by the German Nazi regime and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945, according to data published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The estimates are based on the regime’s own reports as well as demographic studies of population loss during World War II.
Mr Eideard. Do you think that posting military snuff videos is in the interest of peace? Seems strange to me.
Personally, I avoid any mainstream (read Corporate) coverage of Ukraine. There is ZERO talk of peace. Surely weapons sales are booming. So there is that.
A Photo That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/world/asia/vietnam-execution-photo.html
Caril Guzy has won the Pulitzer Prize four times — one of five people to do so, and the first journalist with that achievement. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1986, 1995, 2000 and 2011. Guzy was also a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 1988 and 2009.
I’d hardly call this video journalism or in the same league, but if you posted the execution photo on your blog with the caption ‘BOOM!’, are you serving the interests of peace?
When Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 he explicitly ruled out seizing more territory: “Don’t believe those who try to frighten you with Russia and who scream that other regions will follow after Crimea … We do not need this.”
Yesterday, in defiance of international law, Putin signed “accession treaties” formalizing Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.
The annexation formalities were preceded by an angry, rambling speech that dwelled only briefly on either Ukraine or the four regions of which Russia now claims ownership. Instead, Putin railed at the west for a litany of sins, ranging from destabilizing Russia in the 17th century to allowing gender reassignment surgery.
In his remarks Putin said Russia is “ready for negotiations” – but annexed territories will be part of Russia “forever” and can not be part of any talks. He also stated that any attack on the annexed territory will be an attack on Russia and reiterated his threat to use nuclear weapons, claiming the US had “created a precedent” for the use of nuclear force in 1945. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/putin-annexation-speech-more-angry-taxi-driver-than-head-of-state-ukraine
NATO Secretary General said the alliance would never recognize annexation of Ukrainian territory. “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting – Ukraine will cease to exist,” he added.
“Peace, Just Peace, and Ukraine” https://www.duckofminerva.com/2022/10/peace-just-peace-and-ukraine.html
HOW DARE THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST THEIR RUSSIAN ‘LIBERATORS’?! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_in_the_2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
”The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War (5th century BC).
Russian soldiers who die in the line of duty in Ukraine have all of their sins forgiven, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed in a sermon, comparing their sacrificial death to that of Jesus.
The assertion, made on Sunday, ratchets up Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s already staunch support for Russia’s war on Ukraine since its beginning in February.
Kirill has characterized the war as part of a larger metaphysical struggle against an encroaching liberal West, which he depicts as demanding gay pride parades. He has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s depiction of Ukraine as spiritually and politically tied to Russia through their common medieval roots. https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/us/moscow-patriarch-russian-war-dead-have-their-sins-forgiven/article_e23848fa-57d6-58c8-af1b-0b1ce5f73923.html
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church — which had remained loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate until this year, even when other Orthodox in Ukraine had broken away — declared its independence in May. By then, many priests and bishops had ceased commemorating Kirill in their public worship, a ritually potent snub.
Originally written in 1938, this song is one of the best-known symbols of WWII in France, and remains associated with it today.
“User-generated content has been essential to coverage of the war in Ukraine since it began in February. Soldiers, civilians, aid workers and other witnesses have posted footage of fighting and destruction in real time, making this war one of history’s most visually documented.” (The Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/18/ukraine-russia-war-footage-researchers-journalists/
“How a former journalist took a viral meme and turned it into a million-dollar campaign to support the Ukrainian resistance.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGu29D_JJ0M
See also SGM-148 Javelin engineering (and how to operate) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUdHzKRiBX8