Putin announces partial mobilization, warns nuclear 'wind' could blow towards West

[Matthew]

>Putin... claimed that Western countries had "crossed every line" and tried to "blackmail" Russia with nuclear weapons.

>"Those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind can turn in their direction," warned the Russian president, adding that Russia will use "all available means."
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-717706

>Russia pushes the panic button and raises risk of nuclear war

>“After annexing the territories, Moscow would likely declare Ukrainian attacks on those areas to be assaults on Russia itself, analysts warned, a potential trigger for a general military mobilization or a dangerous escalation such as the use of a nuclear weapon against Ukraine,” wrote my colleague Robyn Dixon.

>“Judging by what is happening and what is about to happen, this week marks either the eve of our imminent victory or the eve of nuclear war,” Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of state propaganda channel RT, tweeted. “I can’t see any third option.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/russia-referendums-ukraine-occupied-nuclear
https://archive.is/m1Rv2

[Matthew]

>Russia is at war not so much with the Ukrainian army as with the "collective West," the nation's defense minister said on Wednesday
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/russia-at-war-not-so-much-with-ukrainian-army-as-with-collective-west-defense-minister/2690655

[Jim Wilkins]

"Matthew" wrote in message
news:760a46fc-28dc-4e82...@googlegroups.com...

>Russia is at war not so much with the Ukrainian army as with the
>"collective West," the nation's defense minister said on Wednesday
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/russia-at-war-not-so-much-with-ukrainian-army-as-with-collective-west-defense-minister/2690655

----------------------

The West was quite willing to accept Russia after the USSR collapsed, but
Russia (and socialism) can't admit responsibility for its failures and needs
someone else to blame.

[Matthew]

>Medvedev: Strategic nuclear weapons can be used to defend annexed Ukrainian territory
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-717871

[Matthew]

>Four occupied Ukraine regions begin vote on joining Russia

>Referendums will continue until Tuesday and are seen as paving the way for Moscow’s annexation of the territories and an escalation of the war.

>“If this is all declared Russia territory, they can declare that this is a direct attack on Russia so they can fight without any reservations,” Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/23/four-occupied-ukraine-regions-ready-for-votes-on-joining-russia

[Matthew]

>Russia’s nuclear doctrine would extend to annexed Ukrainian territories, Lavrov says

>Lavrov added that the United States, the EU, and NATO members “cannot claim neutrality” in the Russia-Ukraine war, as they provide security assistance to Kyiv.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/russia-nuclear-doctrine-extend-annexed-141500008.html

[Matthew]

>US will take ‘catastrophic’ action if Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons
>Severe consequences loom if Russia follows through on attack threat, says White House, as Kremlin’s sham referendums in Ukraine continue
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/25/occupied-ukrainians-refuse-vote-sham-annexation-referendums

https://archive.is/gwpDm

[Matthew]

>Japan expressed grave concern about Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine as the top government spokesman on Monday announced an additional ban on exports of chemical weapons-related goods to Russia.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-japan-global-trade-nuclear-weapons-81f3a7fdd121028852ec58f0ca5fd2af

[Matthew]

>Telegram (a reliable one):

>❗️🇷🇺 Russian Military in occupied-Kherson and Zaporizhia 🇺🇦 regions are being given iodine, chemical suits, and other things for radiation sickness. - 🇷🇺 Russian military command.

>‼️ Information requires further confirmation.
https://twitter.com/officejjsmart/status/1574842367823183873

[Matthew]

>An oil leak was detected on a pipeline in Poland that’s the main route through which Russian crude reaches Germany, the pipeline’s Polish operator said Wednesday.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-poland-climate-and-environment-3802be20564b7339beb4e51c55afa9e0

[Keith Willshaw]

On 13/10/2022 05:33, Matthew wrote:
>> An oil leak was detected on a pipeline in Poland that’s the main route through which Russian crude reaches Germany, the pipeline’s Polish operator said Wednesday.
> https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-poland-climate-and-environment-3802be20564b7339beb4e51c55afa9e0

In the old days when Baku was in the USSR you could see the pipeline
from 30,000 ft by the pools of oil from leaking joints. In the end the
whole thing had to be replaced. Quality Assurance seemed to be a
unknown concept in the USSR and modern Russia is little better.

[Jim Wilkins]

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
news:0dc2ae0a-95d6-73b5...@gmail.com...

-----------------------

https://en.newizv.ru/article/general/19-08-2021/work-is-not-a-wolf-how-the-russian-work-ethic-differs-from-western-and-japanese

Victor Belenko's biography provides examples of how no one cared about
anything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiG_Pilot:_The_Final_Escape_of_Lieutenant_Belenko

Surprisingly Erich Hartmann's account of his imprisonment reinforces it; the
guards worked only half days, so the prisoners did too.

[Matthew]

>‘EVACUATE NOW’: China tells citizens to leave Ukraine amid nuclear fears

>The Global Times report made no mention of a potential nuclear threat, but said tensions in Ukraine had “escalated to a new level”.

>Eight other countries have reportedly joined China in inviting their citizens to evacuate Ukraine in recent days.

>Serbia
>Kazakhstan
>Uzbekistan
>Turkmenistan
>Kyrgyzstan
>Tajikistan
>Belarus
>Egypt

>There are also unconfirmed reports that Kazakhstan has closed its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
https://www.asiamarkets.com/evacuate-now-china-tells-citizens-to-leave-ukraine-amid-nuclear-fears

[Matthew]

>Ukraine war: Mysterious defence secretary trip to Washington amid fears of Russian escalation
>The secretive, last-minute nature of the trip and a comment by a second defence minister, James Heappey - who said the conversations Mr Wallace would be having on Tuesday were "beyond belief" - suggested particularly sensitive and serious issues would be discussed.
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-mysterious-ben-wallace-trip-to-washington-amid-fears-of-russian-escalation-12723942

[Matthew]

>The commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, has warned that he has information about a possible Ukrainian attack with "prohibited methods of warfare" against the city of Kherson, in southern Ukrainian territory but annexed by Russia.

>According to the Russian military high command, the Ukrainian Army could carry out a "massive missile attack" against the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/russia-warns-ukraine-plans-attack-on-kherson-with-prohibited-methods-of-warfare/ar-AA136JfD

[Keith Willshaw]

On 17/10/2022 01:14, Jim Wilkins wrote:
>

> Victor Belenko's biography provides examples of how no one cared about
> anything.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiG_Pilot:_The_Final_Escape_of_Lieutenant_Belenko
>
> Surprisingly Erich Hartmann's account of his imprisonment reinforces it;
> the guards worked only half days, so the prisoners did too.
>
>

I have worked in the old USSR in 1976 and again in 1988 and am very
familiar with this. My contact in Moscow was an East German who was
tearing his hair out as he found it impossible to get any Russian to
make a decision. As he explained it to me it works this way.

If you take the initiative and it works your boss will take the credit
and if it doesnt you will be demoted. The safest thing to do is leave it
to him and that cascades all the way up.

In 1988 I also worked in Czechoslovakia which was entirely different.
Skoda Praha were a major player in the Nuclear Power Industry and had
the latest high end Silicon Graphics workstations. They still are up
there and were privatised very quickly. The only way the USSR was
successful at all was due to the efforts of the industries in the Warsaw
pact countries, their only usable computers were knock offs of the VAX
made in the DDR.

[Keith Willshaw]

On 19/10/2022 00:34, Matthew wrote:

>> According to the Russian military high command, the Ukrainian Army could carry out a "massive missile attack" against the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station
> https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/russia-warns-ukraine-plans-attack-on-kherson-with-prohibited-methods-of-warfare/ar-AA136JfD

The Russians are now evacuating Kherson which will seriously compromise
their ability to supply their army.

[Matthew]

>India urges its citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/travel-advisory-ukraine-russia-drones-b2206647.html

[Matthew]

>UK says Russian aircraft fired missile near British spy plane over Black Sea
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-defence-minister-wallace-russian-aircraft-fired-missile-near-british-plane-2022-10-20
https://archive.is/BAEkh

[Matthew]

>Multiple undersea cables in the south of France were cut overnight, making Internet access unreliable globally.
>An unlikely coincidence or did Russian sabotage temporarily put Internet access on hold?
https://www.techspot.com/news/96394-damaged-european-undersea-cables-impact-internet-connectivity-worldwide.html

[Matthew]

>The Russian Foreign Ministry: The Western countries that supply weapons to Ukraine are approaching a point of conflict with the Russian Federation.
https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1583025216032120833

[Matthew]

>Ukraine's power grid sustains record damage in Russian strikes, utility says
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/22/1130742768/ukraine-power-grid-outages-record-damage

https://img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1666/46/1666461767410687.web

[Matthew]

>Russia defense chief makes unfounded claims of Kyiv ready to use ‘dirty bomb’
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukrainw-russia-vladimir-putin-volodymyr-zelenskyy-defense-chief-claims-of-kyiv-dirty-bomb