State of Play: USA aligns with Russia?

It's now day 1103 of the Russia's two day special operation in Ukraine. While the battle rages on there it seems Russia is making some gains outside that theater, seemingly with the help of relatively newly re-elected USA president Donald Trump. In just around two months of his second time in office the USA has held "Peace Talks" with Russia without Ukrainian participation and decided to halt aid going to Ukraine after President Trump publicly clashed with Ukrainian president Zelenskyy at the Oval Office.

On top of this his high tariffs on Canada, Mexico (he also renamed their gulf) and China as well as sanctions relief for Russia some speculate he's building "the bridge" to trade primarily with the Russians in the future. This has sparked more than a few interesting comments of "Trump is a Russian agent" and "Congrats to Russia on winning the cold war". I suppose we will see if and how this changes the battle field but one thing's for sure: Putin must be pretty happy right now.

Red Sparrow Outside the Wire

Movies with manipulation.

Red Sparrow

A famous Russian ballerina (played by Jennifer Lawrence) is manipulated by her uncle into joining the SVR Sparrow school where she learns the art of sexpionage to use against their USA counter parts. The story is a rather dark one but good, and while there is a bit of violence here, there is obviously much more in terms of nudity (full frontal) and sex. Worth a watch but I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again as the content is a bit "heavy" and the run time a little long.

Outside the Wire

In a future with robot soldiers supporting their human counterparts, war still rages in Ukraine. A drone operator who disobeyed an order is sent to the front lines as punishment to work in a two man team with his superior, Captain Leo (played by Anthony Mackie) who rather quickly reveals he is an experimental android and their mission is to find "lost nuclear silos" in the region. Uh. Really? You have freaking robots, drones, satellites and you need to walk around ask where these things are? The drone operator could have used a stronger actor too. That aside there's an ok movie in here, but its not one you need to rush out and see.

Busy September

Between working on "my own" TTRPG (in quotes because there's lots of external source inspiration) and actual work which is kicking my butt I've been a bit slack in posting. Hopefully that changes soon.

In the meantime you can try play around and make your own 6 second AI generated video for free! The site is Chinese but it can work with an English prompts. Tech advances are wild man. I'm also keen to see the remote machine guns Ukraine is developing (also, they've counter invaded Russia). Now gamers can really get into the fight? Curious to see if it will be stationary sentries or mobile with tracks or legs.

Then of course there's good old low tech sabotage and subterfuge, to do things like getting your enemies communication devices to just explode. That's pretty impressive too.

August 2024: Countries clash... in the Olympics!

We're more than half way through the games now but prior to the start Israeli athletes had been threatened a repeat of Munich. Israel's response was to take out some of the leaders of their known enemies and just get on with it. Meanwhile in the USA someone had tried to off Trump who is running for President again, but it was current President Biden who pulled out from running for his second term, finally understanding that he might be too old.

That shooter wasn't Olympics worthy unlike this pair (Kim Yeji and Yusuf Dikec).

Not all is well in the Olympics though with complaints ranging from uncomfortable beds to the Seine river (used for some swimming events) being so dirty its causing athletes to fall sick. Russian troops in Ukraine know all about bad water as they have a shortage of it, resorting to drinking whatever they can find. To be fair they might be dying too quickly to care about it anyway, but are still gaining ground regardless. On the water itself it's still humorous that the Russian navy is getting sunk by a country without one.

Some of this is made possible by drones. These things can do everything it seems, from spying on Olympic soccer training to killing helicopters. The UK has recognized the threat at has made an anti-drone laser system (which probably doesn't work well in fog, snow or rain but neither would flying drones). The crafty Ukranians solution is just to shotgun them from an old Yak-52. On a random tangent, I checked if someone made a laser to kill mosquitos and the answer is yes, but it currently isn't practical. Damn.

Meanwhile more bad news for Ukraine as Hungary is upset Ukraine is blocking their oil (despite them blocking aid to Ukraine for over two years) and NATO has also deemed Ukraine too corrupt to join them. Perhaps Russia's joint venture with China to establish a moon base, possibly in Mare Tranquillitatis Pit if they can claim it first, might take some heat off? With the ISS being retired in a few years that would be a pretty big achievement.

Not sure how China plans to bank roll this given their current financial troubles, but maybe it involves assimilating the Tibetans? They've still got around 10 years to work it out anyway. Not sure the way Thailand is handling their finance would be the answer. They're simply handing out digital money to citizens!

May 2024: War... War never changes.

It's day 827 of Russia's two day special operation to take Ukraine and while they are gaining ground slowly through sheer numbers, a few countries have finally given the green light for Ukraine to use their weapons into Russian territory. That's a strange handicap to have originally been placed on the clear under dog, but lets see if this shifts the momentum into Ukraine's favor.  

Meanwhile in the Middle East, Egypt had warned it might withdraw from its mediator position in the (so far failed) Gaza ceasefire negotiations because of recent doubts that "offend" them. These doubts are mainly center around getting caught red handed mediating in bad faith, secretly changing terms before handing them to Hamas after Israel had already agreed and signed to it. Not sure how the parties involved feel but I for one would say "good riddance" as it's clearly pointless to put your trust in these lying snakes in the first place.

Now Israel is taking out some serious revenge to the tune of around 35K dead Palestinians so far for the instigating October 7 Hamas raid which killed around 1.2K people (for comparisons sake 9/11 killed around 3K with a 3.6M retaliation). It's clear where the loyalties of some folks in Mexico are, burning down the Israeli embassy in Mexico City right as they are being hit by a water shortage.

Worth noting Hamas are now singing their old song (on replay apparently) of "we're willing to negotiate as long as Israel completely stops fighting". Israel would be stupid to accept that and let them regroup, given the Hamas charter  (#4) explicitly states:

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad”

Next it's over to China where they've developed some pretty cool gun toting automatons, but somehow they're still not as scary as the drones that can simply drop grenades on you. Then we have North Korea, trying to stay relevant by sending in explosive balloons of literal shit to South Korea. Are they trying to say all their septic tanks are full and are in dire need of help? Or simply that they're just full of shit?

Eurovision 2024: The Code (of War)

It was an interesting Eurovision this year with Sweden acting as the host. Ukraine had a better song this time around and Germany set the stage on fire, or was it one of the more eye-candy type acts? There was also a twisted fairy tale, a demon summoning, and a guy with no pants which I classify under the same theme of "horror" (though purely based on some vocals/songs more entrants could fit into this category). There was also a disqualification, and it ultimately came down to Croatia's Baby Lasagna and Switzerland's Nemo. For a change I managed to pick the winner correctly from the semi-final stage! Congratulations Nemo, not only for winning but for one of the best performances in Eurovision ever. Highly recommended you watch it. :)

Here's Raiven, fully clothed.

Since this seems to be a post about nations competing against each other let's check in on Russia's special 2 day operation to take Ukraine which is now on day... 817? It's been a long time since I posted anything about this (ironically, it was my previous Eurovision post) and in that time Ukraine was actually losing ground due to dwindling reserves of people and supply (due to other countries *cough USA cough* delaying support) and Russia's seemingly endless supply of people to take hits and further tire and disarm their opponent.

That battle continues as does the one of Israel (who actually had a Eurovision contestant this year) vs Hamas, a militant and designated "terrorist" arm of Palestine supported by Iran, who recently lost their president in a helicopter crash. President Bill Clinton tried sorting that out in 2000 but unfortunately was unsuccessful.

Xenonauts: Hopecenter

[Part of the Xenonauts story]

UFO's have once again been detected in the atmosphere and so the hero Commander from the previous invasion arrives at "Hopecenter" base in the Ukraine to lead the defense against these new invaders. Unfortunately the old facilities (like the flying fortress) are gone and most of his active soldiers are also doctors from the science division who can't hit a barn door from twenty feet but at least the few planes available to him have competent pilots who shoot down a few small scout craft.

Ridiculously poor shooting? Check!

Securing the first crashed vessel guarded by the typical looking Martian Men results in the deaths of Hurt Builder and Clutch Pinya as they stormed the ship! Greater care is taken to capture the second vessel piloted by lizardmen who still manage to flank and kill sniper Quincy and the third... is just airstriked safely. What!? Yes! There's an option to just obliterate downed alien craft. While it doesn't give you XP or components, it does give you lots of money. I think I'll be using that a lot!

Since there's loads of new things to study the Commander expands the base and goes on a recruiting spree, ending the first month with three condor planes, one MIG, 12 soldiers, 15 engineers and 60 scientists all paid with funding from the global council. Should five members of this council leave, the game (and the world) is lost. No way that's going to happen... right?

Decluttering Day 20: Remotes for a TV we no longer have.

Eurovision 2023 - The Winner Takes it All

I was late to watch this years Eurovision, hosted by runners up the UK for their awesome entry last year and because Ukraine, last year's actual winners, are still fighting against Russia. That recent almost revolt could have changed the battlefield but as usual, the easiest way to deal with mercs is with money so that's no longer happening which is an underwhelming result.

Underwhelming is also the word I'd use to describe this years Eurovision. There were the mandatory anti-war entries and sexy eye candy, a random pirate shanty, a flute dwarf, some German heavy metal, and a hard core cha cha song about getting drunk. My pick didn't even get close to beating the winner who intentionally made her song sound like one from Abba. Indeed the best performances were ones not even competing, my favorite being this one from the first semi final.

Unlike other years where there were songs DL or myself would actually be tempted to learn, this years batch has no such song.

November 2022: NATO weighs in with words

With the war starting to spill out of the set boundaries "Defending Ukraine is defending democracy," says NATO and while the little country is finding ways to continue with power shortages as winter approaches, Zelenskyy has had more visitors in the form of Sean Penn and David Letterman while his forces continue to push East, capturing Kherson - the only regional capital Russia captured after invading in February. Here's an animated map.

Meanwhile Russia, whose economy is now truly in recession and dubbed a terrorist state by NATO, is aptly proving redditor Rhinomeat correct in his statement that "You cannot use logic or reason to dislodge someone from a position that they used neither logic nor reason to maneuver themselves into."

They are blessing their guns and vehicles to slay the Ukranian devils and are relying on ally North Korea to provide winter uniforms. Their other ally, Iran, has supposedly suffered some military losses too however they are currently busy beating up women at home and finding workarounds to their own laws which state they can't execute virgins. Lastly India has opted to continue to buy Russian oil, which in itself is a show of support for the Russians, right beside China who are currently experiencing their own riots.

These are more to do with the continued COVID lock downs though, which include being locked in theme parks, taxis and burning buildings. Regardless, their future war preparations continue as they have begun cloning drones being used in Ukraine and Russia. Just another reason for their rival the USA to not support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons while strong arming others to say the same. Global Second Amendment anyone?

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October 2022: Day 250 of the war

The Ukrainian "advance" (to reclaim territory) continues, inspiring the people of Kherson, a city captured early on by the Russians, to no longer accept their rubles. To be fair, it might just be because rubles are not worth much these days with all the sanctions.

Their opponent, President Putin, has had an explosive birthday month for after being angered by the Crimea bridge explosion on/near his birthday, his forces conducted a retaliation bombardment that took down a third of the Ukranian power facilities in two days. They also have an interesting method of recouping their lost people by sending captured Ukranian kids to be adopted by Russians, some of whom publicly stating said kids should be drowned and/or burned alive.

The Russians have also found allies in Belarus and Iran, the latter of which is doing some serious multitasking by killing protestors with religious fashion police. They're also making strides for an alliance with North Korea, who are busy shooting missiles over Japan for the shits and giggles.

In true Crouching Tiger or Hidden Dragon style, China continues to bide its time as Xi Jinping secured his third term in power. Is it worrying that they might have "police" stations worldwide where they can drag you in and beat you up? Maybe?

Germans have proven indifference is just as effective as beatings though, as these not so smart scientists discovered when they protested for climate change. They were simply left in the sticky situation they got themselves in and were proven to be the hypocritical morons they actually are.

Finally, at 50 days, the shortest serving UK PM has finished her low% speed run successfully crashing their economy. Good job?

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September 2022: COVIDED
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September 2022: COVIDED

Well, it finally happened: I got Covid for around a week this month. Itchy throat, headaches, lots of flem with sudden, violent coughing and blocked sinuses that made it hard to breathe. Not fun at all. Ultimately only ended up taking 2 days off though, being able to work from home the rest of the time.

Being sick doesn't stop the world from carrying on though: Queen Elizabeth II died, and Russia's conflict with Ukraine continues with Putin ordering a mobilization while also increasing the penalties for desertion or refusing to serve. In what looks like desperation, Russia is trying to "legally" annex the parts they currently control. This is most likely in response to Ukraine's counter offensive which is best viewed in this "200 days animated" tweet (its the big blue chunk towards the end of the animation).

Meanwhile China's scored a win with an agreement to buy Russian gas at a 50% discount. According to the Russians, the USA is to blame for the whole gas shortage in Europe. I wonder if they'll also get the blame for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage leaks? Private talks between those two nations is currently focused on a different issue though: that of avoiding the use of nuclear weapons.

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August 2022: Day 188 of the war

Ukraine has managed to hit targets deep in Crimea, which the USA agrees is part of their territory. This has sent Russian tourists in that region fleeing back home and leaving the resorts empty. You can actually check on this webcam if/when people start coming back. That said, exploding stuff and retaking territory are two different things, but the counter offensive has begun.

Russia has settled into a defensive stance in anticipation of this so the battle lines haven't moved much from last month. Reports state that they are failing to pay some of their troops, but that doesn't stop them from threatening to explode nuclear power plants and deploying Steven Seagal. It might require one of these powerful exo-suits to stop that guy.

While this all might be "same/same" and war fatigue for you, Ukrainian redditor Saberflux gives daily updates from Kharkiv which seems to be on the receiving end of Russian missile strikes almot all the time. Redditor PCX99 also has daily war summaries for those interested.

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July 2022: Day 158 of the war

It's been another month of battle and thanks to constant ammo depot explosions near the front and reports of "scoring own goals", Russia needed a brief operational pause this month to steady their supply while simultaneously recruiting (more) felons to boost their ranks and up their war crimes. This possibly also includes quitting from the International Space Station. Maybe they need their cosmonauts in the fight too?

Their ally, Belarus, is also saber rattling against their Polish neighbors while providing Russia with an airfield close to Ukraine's borders while "neutral" party China, who enjoy dictating terms to religions and the USA, has just sent troops and equipment to Russia for some military olympics? That's a real thing and not an "oh, now Russians have new Chinese arsenal/reinforcements"? Cool, I'd watch that if it was televised.

Meanwhile Ukraine is still playing host to international leaders while using any means, including Tindr, to defend their land but they still have time to make funny stamps. They did lose an ally in Boris Johnson who resigned as the UK PM this month, but at least he went out with a "hasta la vista, baby" and not just via an overseas email or by fatal, home-crafted shotgun shot.

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June 2022: Switching Addictions

China has been busy. Not only have they been building a new aircraft carrier and rewriting the history of Hong Kong, they are also publicly supporting Russia who are continuing arduous combat against Ukraine while claiming NATO has started World War III.

While nothing much has changed there, regular readers might have noticed the drop off of posting frequency on this blog. I think it's a mix of being tired, lazy, and far too addicted to Warframe which has consumed most of my free time this month. It's even been holding me back from playing a bunch of new games!

Honestly though, it's kinda felt nice not having to post everyday. Maybe I just traded one addiction for another? It does make this "Most Viewed Posts" (of the month) a bit silly though, as its now just the top three out of ten?

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May 2022: Ukraine Wins (Eurovision)

While their conflict continues into Day 95 against Russia (who continue to do some odd things like accuse Israel of supporting Neo-Nazis while at the same time sounding like Nazis themselves on State TV with corn stealing plans), Ukraine has emerged victorious in this years Eurovision song contest proving the massive worldwide support they are currently receiving as their entry - which was 200 points in the lead from the second place - was far from the best performance around.

The rest of the field contained some vegans, instructional cleaning, mandatory eye candy, a nice but worryingly murder-suicide song, the third return of Moldova's Zdob si Zdub, and the Rasmus. The UK also finally got up to second place with a worthy entry after years of languishing down the bottom with no votes, and Azerbaijan's Fade to Black was impressively simple but artsy.

I do think they need to establish some better rules though because one of my pet peeves is when someone is "playing" an instrument, then stops but that instrument can still be heard. Lots of the entries do this, but they've taken it a step further with masks, and I'm not talking about ones that people remove during the performance... checkout the hilarious "Give that wolf a banana" by Subwoolfer. Everyone is fully masked up - guess that saves them having to lip sync? That also means they really can just go hard on choreo if you don't need to be seen singing / playing an instrument in the first place!

Gotta hand it to the Ukranian winners though, they managed to make this crazy contest another revenue stream for purchasing weapons of war.

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April 2022: Day 65 of the war

Or in Russian, it would be Day 65 of the special operation. There are now laws in which saying what the government doesn't want to hear or agree with a crime worth 15 years in prison. For similar reasons they've sent a wikipedia a hefty fine for spreading misinformation.

After losing a war ship, a few more tanks, being chased by drones, and being poisoned by locals, Russian forces were redeployed from attacking Kyiv to partake in a major offensive at Donbas to the East which includes the long besieged city of Mariupol. They have also started deploying dolphins, because that's apparently a thing that the USA does as well?

That's an artsy destroyed tank turret.

With the supposed default of the Ruble coming soon (speculated May 4th), Vladimir Putin has announced that the Russian lunar program will continue. Perhaps that's an additional reason why Russia is cutting the gas supply to both Poland and Bulgaria. To quote reddit: "Russia can't get enough fuel to drive a few hours to Kiev. Moon is a bit further".

Less people using Russian gas is exactly what the outnumbered Ukraine wants though, who are going hard on their propaganda with an excellent writing team - though sometimes a single picture can be pretty moving too. Support continues to flow for them from overseas, with Britain's Boris Johnson visiting Zelenskyy in Kyiv, USA's Joe Biden labeling Russia's action as genocide, France's Emmanuel Macron boosting weapons supplies for Ukraine after winning a second term of presidency over a pro-Russian opponent, hackers continuing to do their thing against Russia, and chef Jose Andres providing food to those he can reach.

It's also funny that Germany's Green party is saying the German government isn't being aggressive enough arming Ukraine. Again quoted from reddit: "Green party: Fuck it you know what would reduce emissions? BURNING MOSCOW *heavy metal riff*"

While I've been impressed at the use of drones in the theater of war, China is using them a different way - using mounted speakers to instruct the people locked down in Shanghai due to COVID to comply with the restrictions and "control the soul's desire for freedom". Sounds like another step towards a dark cyberpunk future! Actually, how is Hong Kong doing? Oh. Not great.

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March 2022: Day 35 of the war

Ukraine (backed by international support, some of whom had the balls to meet in Kyiv) continues with a strong defense thanks to troop training and morale, unlinking their power grid from Russian dependency, capturing tons of Russian hardware, and inspiring many volunteers to their cause, including some that consider virtue signaling more important than tactics resulting in a number of fatalities. Gotta get those upvotes right?

It's clear what would happen to Kyiv if it should actually be surrounded. It's already happening to Mariupol, a city right on the border, whose citizens are beginning to die of starvation. They're in a tough spot, because each time a ceasefire is called and a corridor is opened for civilians to flee, the Russian's either missile it, mine it, or simply make the corridor only go towards Russia (or their ally, Belarus).

This is now an official stamp.

Russia has declared Arnold Schwarzenegger an enemy for his anti-war video to the Russian people around the time journalist Marina Ovsyannikova managed to get an anti-war sign up on State TV. Nationalization of "unfriendly" companies has also begun, capturing hundreds of civil aircraft and McDonald's (which will now be Uncle Vanya's by turning the M to a B?). Despite their heavy losses, it doesn't look like they have any shortage of troops to recklessly throw into battle - regardless if said troops have working vehicles or supplies to get through the Ukrainian mud.

Said vehicles and/or supplies might be on amphibious ships that were spotted by Japan (apparently not all ships are "amphibious"?). In typical reddit fashion this has been summarized as "[Russia] is bringing military equipment to be abandoned in Ukraine. They should put a "Z" on it so Zelenskyy knows it's another donation for him".

Another of my favorites: "A few months ago Russia said it had 'no plans' to invade Ukraine. I'm starting to think they were telling the truth." 

Apparently China officially asked Russia to wait with invasion until after Olympics claims the New York Times, and since the USA could almost accurately predict the date and time of invasion it certainly was a bold decision on Russia's part to plan a surprise attack where their own men were the only ones not in on it.

Russia has also asked China for aid to which I'm not sure what the reply was as China is busy quietly expanding it's reach in the South Pacific (in some cases not so quietly).

Meanwhile Anonymous is siding with the rest of the world by doing a variety of hacks like putting this Russian Camera Dump online where you can... watch Russians do... Russian things? If you are the more visceral visual sort then r/combatfootage might be the place to go (not just for this war). Be warned, that site is not safe for life.

Lastly, since truth is the first casualty of war, it's up to you what to actually believe. For some, this whole thing is just a hoax and it's not happening at all - it's just a big movie set. I guess I need to watch Wag the Dog at some point.

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February 2022: Russia invades Ukraine

Not the best title to follow the one from last month, but in what seems to be a live action version of the game Iron Grip: Warlord, it seems Vladimir Putin is intent on expanding the Russian borders into the "little" country that seems to be backed and resupplied by almost everyone else (except Belarus, who are very pro-Russia). Ukraine's brave President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is doing a good job rallying his people though, as are the tales such as the battle of Snake Island, the engineer who sacrificed himself to take out a bridge to delay a tank column, the possibly urban legends of the Ghost of Kyiv (ace) and the Ukrainian Reaper (sniper), or videos like this on twitter. 

They're also hoping St. Javelin protects them.

Meanwhile it's clear Putin underestimated the amount and quality of gear and tech the Ukrainians were getting gifted. After their early capture of Chernobyl (which has seen increased radiation since) to open a passage to Belarus and a closer attack window to Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, the reportedly "tactically clumsy" but massive Russian army continues its advance and unlike the defenders they can't (and shouldn't) take to social media to announce their movements to create bad surprises like this one.

And it's only Day 4 of the conflict. The war continues.

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Seems fitting posts with those titles feature for this war time post. :/

Today I Smiled: Eurovision Songs

A music related post this time, mainly centered around Eurovision - which is a pretty big music contest held yearly among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The songs each year range from pretty damn good to downright awful, but there are always some (usually in the latter category) that make me a happy boy. Usually the insane version of happy, which is still good.

As you might have guessed, it is coming up again in a few days which was the basis of this post. That, and I haven't done a Today I Smiled post for awhile! :)

Anywho, I thought I'd share a few of them with you in no particular order! Have your ear plugs ready! :P

So Lucky - Zdob si Zdub (Moldova)
Party For Everybody - Buranovskiye Babushki  (Russia)
Wolves of the Sea - Pirates of the Sea (Latvia)
Alcohol is Free - Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis (Greece)
Danzig - Verka Serduchka (Ukraine)
Fairytale - Alexander Rybak (Norway)
Hard Rock Hallelujah - Lordi (Finland) (skip to 0:40)