Russia getting froggie outside the war zone?
No doubt you’ve seen the stories that Russia wished Ukraine a Merry Christmas by trying to take down Ukraine’s power grid. Well, the two of them are fighting, so one could say that this is a semi-legitimate target in time of war, right?
But there are also indications that Russia is expanding its operations to include other countries. is this in retribution for all the Western armaments being poured into Ukraine for use against the Russians? Sure could be construed as such.
We know about the underseas cables damaged around Denmark and Finland to Lithuania and Sweden. The biggest suspect, the Chinese-registered Yi Peng 3, stopped at a Russian port immediately before it ‘accidentally’ dragged its anchor 100 miles across the cables. Recent information shows it looped back across a cable 10 days earlier, too, but seems to have failed to cut that cable. One suspects either the world’s stupidest crew or active complicity for failing to notice a dragging anchor for several days on end? Newsweek
In the same vein, a Cook-Islands registered member of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ (which bootlegs Russian oil in contravention of international agreements, not to mention maritime registration and insurance regs) has been detained by the Finns after its dragging anchor seems to have damaged an underseas power cable providing electricity to Finland.
The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands, but was described by Finnish customs officials as a suspected part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers, Yle television reported. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
The Estlink-2 power cable, which brings electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down on Wednesday. The incident follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage. AP
Meanwhile, somewhat east and south of there, an Azerbaijan Airline flight made a rough landing near the Kasakh city of Aktau, killing 38 on board. Twenty-nine others on board survived the flight from Baku, Azebaijan to Grozny, Chechnya.
Footage of the crash showed the plane making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball.
Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass.
For those as unfamiliar with Caspian geography as I am, Aktau is nearly 180 degrees off the best flight plan. Imagine a flight north from New Orleans to Kansas City via St. Louis crashing in Cincinatti?
Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.
There is speculation that Russia was involved, either diverting the plane (as we talked about in March at MIJI ) or shooting it down. Or both.
Pictures of the plane wreckage showed what appeared to be some sort of shrapnel damage to the tail section of the plane. Aviation security firm Osprey Flight Solutions said in an alert to airlines on Wednesday that footage of the wreckage and the circumstances around the air space in southwest Russia indicated the possibility that the airliner was hit by some form of anti-aircraft fire.
Russia, for its part, denies any such intentional activity. Reuters But with heavy drone raids launched on both sides, counter-drone activities certainly could play a role.
Sounds to me like both sides are trying to inflict as much damage as possible before January 20th.
Like a salvo of long range missiles packed with Chernobyl corium? Poor country bubba-nukes. Even if intercepted they kinda work.
Hope not. But its going that way if Russia doesn’t concede that they lost.
Cool. And, suddenly, the Houtis do the exact same thing in the EU or America.
No sad faces. It was your idea.
Been possible for my lifetime. Only a matter of time before someone does. Not on me that this exists. Desperate patriots often go to extremes to defeat stubborn invaders.
Your statement is dumb.
And as if there isn’t enough drone hysteria going on now. Just have a couple dirka-dirkas detonate a few kilos of powdered Cesium-137 or the like above a population. Make Goiania look tame by comparison just from the panic alone, let alone any contamination or exposure.
Recall that kid that harvested smoke detectors and used the isotope to breed more hotstuff. Very clever boy.
Most folks seem to resist the temptation to actually use hellstuff as weapon. Apparently the global MAD balance was enough. So far.
Sooner or later, someone is going to FAFO.
We told Ukraine that if they gave up their Soviet nukes, we would keep Russia out. If we don’t, will any country fail to see the value of their own nukes that can defend them, versus ours which actually won’t?
For those who say “not our fight”, that ship sailed a while back when we talked Ukraine into relying on us. If we stop helping, they have every right to use whatever they have to survive.
Dispersing corium radwaste in the backyard of an invader is hardly more sinful than vaporizing cities. It’s easier to survive and clean is relatively simple compared to “kilotons”.
Ignoring Russia eating a neighbor now means more later. Thus the only surviving Axis nation, never occupied, just joined NATO/”The Allies”. (They only removed the swastikas from their airforce recently)
We missed the win when we didn’t get newly de-Sov Russia to join NATO. I hope Trump sees the opportunity to do so now. China is likely shitting bricks seeing that Yuge risk. They are almost ready to sieze the Russian Far East. Russia in NATO totally fucks that.
The west like proxy wars.
However, Proxy Wars work both ways.
Just wait until the Houtis hit a couple of NATO bases with long range Russian missiles.
Or kill a few American generals outside their home.
Proxy War Karma.
Then they get crushed, assuming 1) we elect a president who will stomp an attacker, including killing leadership, versus not, and 2) the Israelis leave anything to stomp.
Why would the Russians be involved in shooting down a plane full of mostly Russians?
What’s the point? Why this plane? Why this location?
Usually there is a point for something this dramatic.
It would not be beyond those in charge to kill an entire plane of passengers to take out one individual.
Remember that the guy in charge is a KGB maniac. Anything is possible with this guy as long as he is breathing.
Same reason we shot down our own F/A-18; there were (or had been) incoming drones and missiles and someone made a mistake.
Get they make things better with a sincere “My bad”?
“If it flies…it dies.” “Ooops!”
Josef Snufski made an oopsie?
Recall when the former Soviet Union shot down an airliner. Or when we zapped that Iranian one.
That kinda shit happens in war.
Russians don’t take a dump without a plan, son.
Yup, then as now. This is all intentional.
Nah. “Oops” is vastly more likely. Recall that Vlad bagged an entire private airliner to get the former head of his pet PMC. If it had been intentionally, they would have repeated launches until the “aluminum shower” point. They had -lots- of time for finishing shots.
It’s a shame Europe (collectively) is so head-in-the-sand they can’t recognize that Russian and China are their enemies and are absolutely unwilling to act in their own best interests by cutting them off economically and diplomatically.
I guess when you’ve freeloaded under the protection of America for so long, so you can build up your own semi-socialist freebie benefits (while sneering at the country that enables you to do so), you forget what standing up for yourself looks like.
Ahh, Europe. It was nice knowing you-before you committed suicide.
At the European air show, the American said to the local, “That’s a nice airplane, do you think your government will buy them?” “No”, said the local, “if we need them, you Americans will buy them.”
Poland and Finland are counter-examples.
True enough in the case of Poland. Finland loves their socialist freebies, but does stand up to Russia. It’s a nice place to visit though. Poland is, too, but still looks very economically repressed. Lots of old school Soviet memorials and cemeteries there. Ugh.
Russia’s denying intention is believable, but is deceptive.
I’ve been following the war in Ukraine since Russia’s major invasion. Russian anti-air defense, like their other military equipment, is showing signs of neglect, lack of maintenance, etc., and they’re being operated by poorly lead, poorly trained, etc., soldiers.
The Russians have had some friendly fire incidents involving their own anti-air defenses knocking Russian military planes out of the sky.
Intentional?
Nope, they didn’t intend to shoot their own aircraft, or a non-target, down. They actually intended to hit something else, or they actually thought they were shooting an actual target.
I remember reading an event where a Russian was wailing over his newly damaged newly purchased vehicle. The Russians had tried to shoot at drones and other Ukrainian aerial targets, but they winded up destroying a lot of their own infrastructure. This Russian’s newly purchased vehicle became a victim.
You could hear this guy wail/scream “Khooooklleeee”, a drawn-out pronunciation of a derogatory term for Ukrainians.
Come on! The Russians would never shoot down an airliner 🙄
Korean Air Lines flight 007 comes to mind.
Nor would we, say over the Gulf….
Russkies been doing “funny business” in western Europe to disrupt things lately.