prussianblue

Haha, a rapid flurry of people of a similar age all posting. I've jokingly said that Come Outside was like a Soviet kids programme. She was always wandering around some factory. Possibly the most exposure '90s British children got to industry.

Sad to see this. Not because of Open All Hours, which I think is absolute shit, but because she was Auntie Mabel in '90s kids classic Come Outside.

Michael's clearout raised £847,000, against a presale estimate of £314,000. That included £125,250 for his gold Rolex. Even the Muppets jacket made £2,000!

At 69 he's already exceeded the average Russian male life expectancy. I dare say the deaths of thousands of teenage conscripts on his orders will be dragging that average a bit further down.

An interesting map which aims to counter the idea of large territorial gains and show a more accurate summary of the Russian advance. In short, they control roads and the settlements along them, but not the land in between. The defence analyst I saw that shared it compared it to the Axis forces in Yugoslavia and the Soviets in Afghanistan, two situations where large insurgencies kept those occupation forces very busy before they were ultimately forced to withdraw.

Re. option 2, Anonymous claimed that people in the FSB gave the Ukrainian government a tip-off about a Chechen hit squad looking for Zelenskyy. If there are people in the Russian security apparatus who are willing to aid their supposed enemy, then perhaps there is appetite for a coup. Let's face it, unless you are Putin or his hardline coterie, it must be obvious that Russia has nothing to gain from this but a bombed-out wasteland full of insurgents, at the cost of thousands dead and an economy in ruins. Khrushchev was removed through a palace coup, and Gorbachev was subject to an attempt, so it can happen.

5 days in and they've gradually secured the Azov coast/land bridge to Crimea, and are tentatively creeping up the Dnieper. Still no significant progress in the rest of the Donbas, and Kharkiv is holding them at bay. I think the main thing to note are the advances towards Kyiv from the east. Clearly going to attempt an encirclement if they can get that far.

Well, his regular troops haven't been up to the job so far.

Fuck off you massive twat.

Meanwhile, Russia is having great success in alienating even friendly nations. Greece now very angry about the deaths of Greeks in Mariupol, and various countries in eastern Europe have closed their airspace to Russian planes over the course of the day.

There were reports before the invasion that the Russian top brass had doubts about the invasion, perhaps because they have a passing acquaintance with reality and understood that Ukraine is vast and the population not exactly enthusiastic about being bombed and turned into refugees. Interesting how there's been no big breakout from the Donbass. The Crimean breakout has gone okay but nothing astounding. Kyiv and Kharkiv have proven tougher nuts to crack.

He does seem to have reached that stage in a dictator's life where he's isolated, only has contact with a select group of yes men, and has developed a Messiah complex. The ranting about the Ukrainian government being drug addicts and Nazis wasn't exactly a sign of him being of sound mind.

The invasion hasn't failed exactly, but progress has definitely not been anywhere near as rapid as they would have liked or probably expected. I did see some comments about how Russian troops were surprised they weren't being greeted as liberators by Ukrainians. After all, their Jewish president is apparently a genocidal Nazi.

Maybe depends how the Russians tackle Kyiv. A bunker buster would rob him of the opportunity for a heroic last stand. He does seem quite pugnacious. When you think about it, it is utterly surreal that a law graduate-cum-satirical TV comedian is in the position of leading their country through an existential war.

I hear he has terminal pancreatic cancer.

Trump has already been praising Putin. Thinks that recognising the breakaway republics was a smart move.

The EU tends to take a dim view of ethnic cleansing.

It being a former Soviet republic aside, I really don't think he'd want Moldova. It isn't Russian. It isn't even Slavic. Transnistria maybe, but they may well just be used like South Ossetia and Abkhazia as a low-cost means of causing trouble for neighbouring states at a later date.

EU member states expelling millions of residents on the basis of ethnicity just isn't going to happen.

Aside from Kyiv, those are all Russophone cities in the south and east, so they may have an initial focus on the areas that will be most welcoming. It's the talk of demilitarising Ukraine that is most interesting. Maybe the overall concept is to take the lands you want (and can keep control of) and leave the rest as a weak rump state?

This is meant to be a bad outcome? It would certainly aid levelling-up.

Putin has confirmed that Luhansk and Donetsk are recognised as per their full oblast territories, so I guess we'll see them being aided in establishing control over them soon.

Getting married, and also thinking about passing his wisdom on to future generations.

That's the peacekeeping troops moving in now.

Perhaps the Queen will succumb to cancer caused by fallout from the nuclear war?