International relations thread

[Banksy]

Rat deserts the sinking ship.

Putin has escaped to his secret palace in a forest amid anti-draft protests in Russian cities, report says

Journalist Farida Rusamova has claimed that Vladimir Putin is released pre-recorded videos sporadically to hide his absence from the Russian public.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[Phil Sayers]

Kyiv now has an effective, modern air defence 'bubble' protecting the whole city and its surroundings which is great news. Another couple of NASAMS on the way as well as German equivalents in the form of IRIS-T SAM batteries. Could urgently use one of these systems in Odessa which is being repeatedly bombarded by Kamikaze drones that Russia has sourced from Iran:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1574073276212682752

NASAMS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

IRIS-T SL Surface-to-Air Guided Missile - Airforce Technology

The IRIS-T SL (Surface Launched) is a new, mobile, medium-range surface-to-air guided missile designed and developed by Diehl BGT Defence…

www.airforce-technology.com

People in Odessa trying to down an incoming drone with small arms fire - they sometimes succeed but most of the drones are getting through:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1573891462357553153

More luck elsewhere in Ukraine using a short range missile on another such drone:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1573423941418627072

 

[Mr Jinx]

Interesting scenes outside the Iranian embassy in London and other parts of the country yesterday.

I do feel however that those type of protests are probably better off happening in Iran.

How do you think that's all going to pan out? Would be good to see some regime change over there although I see the protests being fairly easily quashed. And if we did see some sort of change there it'll be a case of welcome to the new boss...same as the old boss, but at least it might give those dissenters in Russia some hope.

 

[tavyred]

Russia closes it borders. Putin can’t see this out for much longer surely?

 

[Banksy]

Russia closes it borders. Putin can’t see this out for much longer surely?

‘I will cross the border tonight’: Russians flee after news of draft

Border guards cite an ‘exceptional’ number of Russians leaving after ‘partial mobilisation’ announcement

www.theguardian.com

 

[Mr Jinx]

Russia closes it borders. Putin can’t see this out for much longer surely?

I think there will be a tipping point. Just a question of when I think. Need the protests to expand significantly. Do their people have the bravery?

 

[Phil Sayers]

Russian State TV is angry about how the call up is going - the host has the traditional Russian solution to problems in mind.....

"Death solves all problems. No man, no problem."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1574429570849284099

 

[Phil Sayers]

I wouldn't be overly happy if I was press-ganged into fighting in a war and told that I should take some tampons along as they are the best thing available for bullet wounds.....

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1574476679539527680

 

[Phil Sayers]

This is potentially interesting - I struggle to see what Russia would gain from effectively sabotaging their own future prosperity and nor do I see what any of the (handful) of countries capable of doing this would gain either but three simultaneous leaks across two different pipelines is one hell of a coincidence. Methinks this is most likely sabotage whether via cyber-attack or (more likely) a Navy being naughty with a submarine. The latter has been much speculated about in the context of e.g tapping trans-Atlantic fibre optic cables or else just severing the cables to cause utter chaos:

Nord Stream: Ukraine accuses Russia of pipeline terror attack

The allegation comes after both Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines sprang a leak on Monday.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Phil Sayers]

The prevailing theory is that this was indeed done by a Russian submarine and that the purpose is to illustrate they could do the same to other pipelines that are actually operational; particularly those off Norway.