I’m not.
I just don’t find it to be an improvement if the exact same fascists, but slightly nicer and quieter about it, are in control of the GOP.
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tbf, rushing out untested tech that endangers people’s lives just so he looks like he is the genius solving the world’s problems sounds exactly like something Elon Musk would do
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Phew! I don’t know whether I would have survived giving up Tyrkisk Peber!
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Not being in the UK, hadn’t heard those jokes before.
RE: Russians in Brighton, it make me recall this song: (ETA - been informed, wrong Brighton. Oh well. I still like the song.)
I don’t believe this. Abramovich, aka “Putin’s Wallet”, is not going to be targeted by his boss for his “peace negotiator” role, which he only adopted to try to avoid sanctions. Right now the UK government is supposed to be working out how his football club (Chelsea) can be sold for a couple of billion pounds without RA getting a cut of the proceeds; I wouldn’t put it past him to put on prosthetic makeup to fool the government into adding a backdoor to the sale license to make it possible for him to get the money after all, with the narrative that he might have been sincerely opposing Putin.
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Different Brighton. Brighton Beach is a heavily Russian (and Jewish) neighborhood near Coney Island in New York.
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Hell maybe he poisoned himself for sympathy!
(No, im not being serious… and yet the world is crazy enough to imagine such a story having legs at least).
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Ohhhh. I didn’t know there was a Brighton in NY… but it doesn’t surprise me. Still - its a good song.
ETA: In my defense, there is a Brighton Beach in the UK as well. Fatboy Sim has 2 live mix CDs from a show there.
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Been meaning to ask but did not want to derail the thread. Why are you always adding “Estimated Time of Arrival” to your posts?
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ETA = “Edited to Add”.
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… and launching a new site to host its upcoming dumps.
Very smart move. A dedicated site makes sense. And anyone trying to hack that new site may be in for a surprise.
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From The Guardian liveblog
Russian soldiers who seized the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster drove unprotected through a highly toxic zone called the “Red Forest”, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust, Chernobyl workers said.
The soldiers drove their armoured vehicles without any anti-radiation gear, according to two sources who spoke to Reuters. Both were on duty when Russian tanks entered Chernobyl on 24 February and took control of the site.
The two Chernobyl employees said they had witnessed Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles moving through the Red Forest, which is the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl.
One of the Chernobyl employees said it was “suicidal” for the soldiers because the radioactive dust they inhaled was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.
The hernobyl nuclear site, about 100km (65 miles) north of Kyiv. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
A vast area around Chernobyl is off-limits to anyone who does not work there or have special permission, but the Red Forest is considered so highly contaminated that even the nuclear plant workers are not allowed to go there.
The Russian military convoy went through the zone, the two sources said. One of them said it used an abandoned road.
One of the sources said:
A big convoy of military vehicles drove along a road right behind our facility and this road goes past the Red Forest.
The convoy kicked up a big column of dust. Many radiation safety sensors showed exceeded levels.
Reuters could not independently verify their accounts. Asked about the accounts from Chernobyl staff, Russia’s defence ministry did not respond.
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Also from The Guardian liveblog
Ukraine government investigates video alleged to show torture of Russian PoWs
Video footage purporting to show the torture of Russian prisoners of war is being investigated by the Ukrainian government.
The film, which has not been verified, appears to show Ukrainian soldiers removing three hooded Russians from a van before shooting them in the legs.
The Ukrainian military commander Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi accused Russia of staging the videos.
“The enemy produces and shares videos with the inhuman treatment of alleged ‘Russian prisoners’ by ‘Ukrainian soldiers’ in order to discredit the Ukrainian defence forces,” Zaluzhnyi said.
However, the government in Kyiv said they were taking the allegations of mistreatment “very seriously” and that there would be an immediate investigation.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said:
We are a European army, and we do not mock our prisoners. If this turns out to be real, this is absolutely unacceptable behaviour.
Arestovych added:
I would like to remind all our military, civilian and defence forces once again that the abuse of prisoners is a war crime that has no amnesty under military law and has no statute of limitations.
Oleksander Motuzyanyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military, said they did not know who was involved or where the incidents took place.
He said
Currently, no one can confirm or deny the veracity of this video. It’s not known where it’s happening, or who the participants are.
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More to your point, but aren’t the older Ladas really Fiat clones?
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Thread about how Russian soldiers are shocked that (provincial) Ukraine is more prosperous than (provincial) Russia.
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Sort-of, but all made in the USSR. They weren’t dependent on foreign parts.
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Licensed and joint-ventured - but 800 points of difference…
In 1966, Fiat entered into a collaborative agreement with the Soviet government to establish car manufacture in the Samara region of Russia. Fiat was contracted to take part in the creation of the massive VAZ plant in the newly created town of Togliatti, named after the Italian communist leader of the same name. The factory produced an adapted version 124R of the 124, known as the VAZ-2101 “Zhiguli” (sold as the Lada 1200/1300 in export markets), until 1982, and 1200s until 1987. Based on the 124, they were modified at more than 800 points, the major modifications having an entirely different OHC engine, hydraulic clutch, drum brakes at the rear, modified suspensions, etc. Early modifications include the VAZ-2102 (station wagon), 2103 (Lada 1500), 2106 (Lada 1600) and 21011 (Lada 1300). The updated and restyled versions of the 124-based design were produced until September 2012, as the VAZ-2104, 2105 and 2107 – marketed as the Lada Riva in UK markets. Production of this line reached 17,332,954 cars,[18] this being the second largest production volume for a car in automotive history.
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