Drifting To Oblivion, We Drown In Beauty
In the early years of Moon of Alabama I, at times, posted works of art created and sent in by commentators who had moved with me to this blog after Billmon had shut down his 'Whiskey Bar'.
Their were oil paintings by anna-missed, photographs by b_real, poems by rememberinggiap, ceramics by annie and pictures in oil, pastel or acrylic by beq.
Other commentators reflected on those works.
Such Bar-fly art still has its (unfortunately incomplete) category page. Here you can scroll through it. After I had taken a break in posting at this site the Bar-fly art theme never revived.
So I was pleasantly surprised when beq recently contacted me and sent me a new picture.
She wrote:
I have four large paintings that I made last year. Each is 42"x 94" [107 x 239 cm]. I lay down on the paper and had a friend trace my outline on the paper with spray paint. The rest is watercolor. [These are not what you're used to :-)]
drifting to oblivion, we drown in beauty
by beqbeq adds:
Cont. reading: Drifting To Oblivion, We Drown In Beauty
Ukraine Open Thread 2023-141
Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.
The current open thread for other issues here.
Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.
Open Thread 2023-140
News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) ...
Astroturfing For More War In Ukraine
Fellaraktar🇺🇦@fellaraktar - 14:46 UTC · May 29, 2023As a British citizen I want to say that arming Ukraine is the single best use of tax payer money for decades
My only criticism is that the west aren’t sending enough, fast enough
Ukraine is paying for political posturing with the lives of their sons and daughters
Do more now
Karen Goetz📯🇺🇦 @KarenGoetz362 - 22:18 UTC · May 29, 2023As a German citizen I want to say that arming #Ukraine is the single best use of tax payer money for decades. My only criticism is that the west aren't sending enough, fast enough. Ukraine is paying for political posturing with the lives of their sons and daughters. Do more now!
Cont. reading: Astroturfing For More War In Ukraine
Did Russia Destroy The Nova Kakhova Dam?
Propaganda will tell you that Russia detonated the Nova Kakhova Dam which was and is under its control. It thereby allegedly cut of Crimea from its major water supply and endangered the cooling of the six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The island as well as the power plant are under firm Russian control.
Well, so you can believe that. Or you can look for some facts hidden behind such 'news'.
Battles Rage as Ukraine Tries to Retake Russian-Occupied Territory - New York Times - June 9, 2023
Experts say the dam, which was held by Russian forces, was probably destroyed by an intentional explosion within the massive structure. They say an explosion from the outside, like a missile strike, or a structural failure caused by earlier war damage and high water spilling over the top, were conceivable causes but far less likely.
Ukraine Claims More Small Advances in Counteroffensive, but No Breakthroughs - New York Times - June 12, 2023
Engineering and munitions experts have said that the dam was probably breached by an explosion from the inside, not by shelling or other external attacks, and not by a structural failure.
Britain has delivered long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine ahead of expected counteroffensive, sources say - CNN - May 12, 2023
The United Kingdom has delivered multiple “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation a new long-range strike capability in advance of a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, multiple senior Western officials told CNN.
The Storm Shadow's BROACH warhead features an initial penetrating charge to clear soil or enter a bunker, then a variable delay fuze to control detonation of the main warhead. Intended targets are command, control and communications centres; airfields; ports and power stations; ammunition management and storage facilities; surface ships and submarines in port; bridges and other high value strategic targets.
"Two stage warhead punctures external shell, then detonates inside target"
Storm Shadown - Federation of American Scientists
When engaging hard targets, such as Hardened Aircraft Shelters or bunkers, the missile will strike the target at the estimated optimum dive angle, selected during mission planning. On impact the detonation sequence commences. The precursor charge will perforate the target structure, and any soil covering, and the follow through penetrator warhead will continue to penetrate inside the target to be detonated after a preselectable fuse delay.
Ukraine SitRep: Destruction Of Its Third Army - Issues To Negotiate
Another Ukrainian attack got bogged down in a minefield.
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Cont. reading: Ukraine SitRep: Destruction Of Its Third Army - Issues To Negotiate
Ukraine Open Thread 2023-139
Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.
The current open thread for other issues here.
Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.
The MoA Week In Review - (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-138
Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:
- June 5 - Ukraine Launches Its Counterattack
- June 6 - Nova Kakhova Dam Breach - Updated (12:15 UTC)
- June 9 - Kursk 2.0?
- June 10 - "Let's Try This Again!"
Related:
- Quiet death (scroll down) - Colonel Cassad / Niqnaq
- The war in Ukraine and the fight over raw materials - WSWS
- Vladimir Putin answered a journalist's question about the situation in the special military operation zone. - Kremlin.ru
- Biden’s team fears the aftermath of a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive - Politico
- White House anxiously watches Ukraine’s counteroffensive, seeing the war and Biden’s reputation at stake - Politico
- As Ukraine Launches Counteroffensive, Definitions of ‘Success’ Vary - New York Times
Privately, U.S. and European officials concede that pushing all of Russia’s forces out of occupied Ukrainian land is highly unlikely.
- June 6 - New Nord Stream Cover-Up Story Is Based On Dubious 'Leak'
- June 7 - No - Such Propaganda Delusions Will Not Win The War
- June 9 - Media: One Side "Says" - The Other "Provides No Evidence":
Related:
- Longing for Crusades - New Left Review
- Applebaum & Goldberg: Truth attended by a bodyguard of lies - Responsible Statecraft
- June 8 - After Pardon Given To Regime Changer Roman Protasevich His Girlfriend Gets Released Too
Related:
- Sofia Sapega shares her plans for near future - Belta
- Macron at 2023 Globsec summit: ‘We pushed Belarus toward Russia’ - Kyiv Independent
- The United States condemns a deal allowing Moscow to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. - New York Times
---
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-138
"Let's Try This Again!"
Yesterday I posted a picture of a Leopard 2A6 tank, 4 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and a Soviet era mine clearing vehicle all caught up next to each other in a minefield. There is now also better video of that scene as well as others.
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For unknown reasons the Ukrainian command later decided to add five more Bradleys to the scrap exposition:
Military Advisor @miladvisor - 18:06 UTC · Jun 9, 2023⚡️👇9x 🇺🇸M2 Bradley,🇩🇪Leopard 2A6, armoured recovery vehicle lost by Ukrainian forces.
video
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It is the same Leopard tank in the same position. I believe that the 'armoured recovery vehicle' @miladvisor mentions is an incorrect identification of the mine clearing vehicle that can also be seen in the previous picture.
Cont. reading: "Let's Try This Again!"
Kursk 2.0?
Lazy and arguably biased as I am, I will just present the analysis (slightly edited) of the former Swedish officer and defense politician Mikael Valtersson:
ANALYSIS UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE ZAPORIZHIA AFTERNOON JUNE 9Hard fighting continues along the Zaporizhia front, but with no Ukrainian breakthrough. Sometimes UkrAF makes small gains and then RuAF retakes the lost territories. But all fighting are still being conducted in the grey area in front of the Russian main defence lines.
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I will not go into details about attacks and counterattacks, but the main areas of fighting has been centred around Lobkove to the west, and Robotino to the south, of Orikhiv. Lobkove was captured a short while by Ukrainian forces, but later they retreated due to intense Russian bombardments.
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