Apparently Germany now claiming it can't send any heavy weapons to Ukraine (after saying they would) in case Russia attacks them. Hello??? You've got UNITED STATES MILITARY BASES THERE! Are they seriously going to be on the wrong side of history again?
SpaceX shut down a Russian electromagnetic warfare attack in Ukraine last month — and the Pentagon is taking notes
In 'Rarest Of The Rare Maneuver', US Spy Plane Flew Russia's East Coast To Monitor Putin's 'Invincible' Sarmat Missile -- Reports They had 2 "Cobra Balls" there at the same time. Article goes in depth. Apparently scrambling 2 spy planes at the same time to the same location is rare/doesn't happen. (Putting this here since we posted about the test here as it was related to Ukraine. Mods feel free to move if needed)
Cnn live "France to send self-propelled artillery system to Ukraine From CNN's Dalal Mawad and Camille Knight in Paris France is sending French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzers — long-range weapons — to Ukraine by the end of the month, the Elysée Palace confirmed Friday. In an interview with French media outlet Ouest-France on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the country was “delivering substantial equipment, from MILAN to CAESAR and several types of weapons.” ..... About 40 Ukrainian military service members will arrive in France to get trained on the military equipment, according to the Elysée. MILAN anti-tank weapons systems have already been delivered, the Elysée said. The CAESAR is a truck-mounted artillery system with a self-propelled gun developed by Nexter Systems."
Once again firing on evacuees "Evacuation bus from eastern Ukrainian city of Popasna came under fire, Ukrainian authorities say From CNN's Katharina Krebs in London Russian troops opened fired at an evacuation bus with 25 people onboard from the city of Popasna, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration Serhiy Haidai said in a Telegram statement on Friday. "This evacuation was special and extremely dangerous. 22 passengers were seated. There were a 25-year-old boy, who was injured in the back and leg, and a paralyzed elderly woman in a stretcher on the floor," Haidai said. He added that a mother with a baby were also rescued from a bomb shelter. According to Haidai, no one was injured and the passengers are now safe." ....... Note - I'm assuming that "25 year old boy" may be a typo & will likely be fixed later.
I think I would like to know a bit more about German calculus on this one. I suspect (but certainly don’t know) their earlier commitments were predicated on the assumption of an American buildup in Eastern Europe to deter further Russian aggression and, of course, to keep Russia under military pressure while fighting in Ukraine. Well, much to the surprise of many, we sent only part of one light infantry division to NATO’s eastern flank and have done little or nothing in the way of reinforcing with a capability that would actually give Russia some pause or at least force them to hold back a reserve that they could not use in Ukraine. Germany might think it unwise to go giving away weapons it needs to fight Russia later on if the U.S. is not putting top-tier armored forces into Eastern Europe to absorb the first blow of a Russian attack. I’m sure many are sick of me saying it, but this is an example of what I mean when I say that we are fighting this war astrategically, not taking advantage of the time and space Ukrainian bravery has bought us. Expect other NATO countries to start acting more selfishly, too, if the U.S. does not step up and lead the effort to defeat Russia.
This is just a mess. And I thought the US had moved troops & equipment accordingly. What bothers me is the waffling, but in their case they have US bases there. They have US soldiers, planes, weapons, etc there. If they're attacked they're not exactly out to dry here. It smacks of fence sitting especially combined with their slow response to the gas situation, comments about not wanting to antagonize Putin, etc. Supposedly there's money between him & Putin too. He was just brought in & his own people are angry at his tepid response to sanctions/helping Ukraine. Edit - and I fully agree the US needs to physically lead more. I suppose the problem is it's a fine line where apologists will start claiming it's the US that wants a war with Russia, evil Americans, the US should stay out of their business, etc.
Germany to provide $40.12m to Ukraine for infrastructure restoration amid Moscow-Kyiv war Germany says open to sending Ukraine heavy weapons
That's part of the confusion. She (the foreign minister) says one thing and Scholz (the chancellor) says something different.
A number of industrial plants in Russia have been blowing up or burning down. Who would be doing this? Ukraine Special Operators? Anti-Putin elements of Russian military or FSB? Coincidence is possible but remains curious to me. Here’s the most recent. and another previous incident. Interesting
Could it also be Russians against the war sabotaging it? Sort of like the rail workers in Belarus who sabotaged their rails?
Russians have done false flags before to stoke support for their wars. It wouldn't surprise me if this was another.
That’s another possibility and Putin, in particular, has done this and/or benefitted from it. Apartment buildings that FSB blew up killing 600+ that Putin blamed on Chechen terrorists and then claimed he was the only one that could fix it.