I feel like we entered a hot tub time machine
Bradleys mainly gone what I see are M113 armoured personnel carriers being blown
Same for Patriots, now we’re seeing Hawks
And presidential candidates get shot at.
Nostalgia

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 14 2024 15:24 utc | 4

how’s that kill list ukraine keeps cultivating?? were fico and trump recent additions?? myrotvorets….

Posted by: james | Jul 14 2024 15:56 utc | 6

Did you know that Joe Biden’s Chief Strategist/senior advisor Mike Donilon has a brother named Thomas Donilon, who is the current Chairman of BlackRock Investment? @BlackRock
Thomas Donilon also served as the National Security advisor under Barack Hussein Obama, and he is married to UNICEF @unicefchief
Director General Catherine Russell.
You need to learn the names and faces of the Biden operatives who have been covering up the fact that he has had dementia for the last 4 years.
These are the people who are destroying our country.
https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1812055537103638672

The Nato meet straight after the Biden Trump debate to get the direct war between Europe and Russia stated before the faction behind Trump take power…. now the shooting ‘drama’….
Blackrock – owns a good chunk if not all of Ukraine. That vaunted southern offensive, ordered to go ahead because the Americans wanted to see a ‘return on their investment’.
Direct Europe Russia war looks likely to go ahead, but with the what has happened recently up to the Trump shooting, it seems likely the divide in the US deep state is as bitter as the divide in American society.
War with Russia likely, but war with China? or will it be US civil war instead? Civil war would be good as the Americans will be too busy killing each other to launch wars around the globe.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 14 2024 16:17 utc | 8

anon2020@9…ah, an actor, a member of The Guild. Wonder if he can play dead?
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jul 14 2024 16:52 utc | 10

Yeah, He could be some better dead than red Idiot supporter of Ukraine is a Theory, I have said for 2 years now that they are all armed to the teeth and will reap havoc in Europe when they realise what we in the West did

Posted by: BoardinDundee | Jul 14 2024 17:27 utc | 12

I have said for 2 years now that they are all armed to the teeth and will reap havoc in Europe when they realise what we in the West did
Posted by: BoardinDundee | Jul 14 2024 17:27 utc | 12
They will keep the good workers, the stupid with money to spend, send everyone back to Zeli: “German authorities are ready to send Ukrainian citizens liable for military service to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Prime Minister of Bavaria Markus Soeder”( en.topwar.ru/246159-premer-bavarii-frg-gotova-vydavat-kievu-voennoobjazannyh-ukraincev.html )

Posted by: rk | Jul 14 2024 17:47 utc | 14

******
Sooo many alarming events these days happening in quick succession appears to point to the axiom of-
starting slowly then suddenly very quickly, is putting me on edge so to speak. I am advancing my preparedness timeline somewhat and stacking and stocking faster.
Get your house in order folks or you will be left behind or in a ditch, messed up somewhere. Hope you have a Plan for you and your loved ones….

Posted by: bisfugged | Jul 14 2024 18:02 utc | 16

As a patsy attempted to assassinate a puppet (The Orange One Trump) the patsy more often than not ends up dead, dead men tell no tales, Ukrainian forces have been making noises about bumping off Putin.
Budanov just painted and even bigger bullseye on his back.
“The Kremlin has reacted to Ukraine’s threats to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying Moscow is aware of dangers coming from the “Kiev regime,” and has ramped up measures to ensure the security of the Russian leader.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made remarks after a recent assassination threat that had been voiced by Kirill Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), against the Russian president.
“All the threats coming from the Kiev regime are obvious. Therefore, the security of the president is established at the proper level,” Peskov told Russian media outlet Life on Saturday.
Budanov, who is on Moscow’s terrorist and extremist list over his activities, revealed Kiev’s efforts to kill Putin in an interview with Ukrainian news outlet NV published earlier in the day.
His service has made several attempts to assassinate the Russian president, he claimed, without providing any further information.
“[The attempts to assassinate Putin] took place, but, as you can see, they were unsuccessful thus far,” Budanov said.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 14 2024 18:17 utc | 18

I’d say that France is already at war with Russia if not an open one, many, many French military personnel have died in Ukraine Macron knows this, and with the French being booted out of much of the Sahel, Macron has thousands of French troops standing around not making money for the French government and it corporate buddies, so more French military personnel will be sent into the meat grinder.
“In his address to French military personnel before the National Day (July 14) President Emmanuel Macron said that France will continue to support Ukraine without entering into a state of war with Russia.
“We will continue to support Ukraine <...> and fulfill our obligations without seeking escalation and without entering into a state of war with Russia, because we have never been in one,” the head of state said. His address was broadcast by the press service of the Elysee Palace.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 14 2024 18:23 utc | 20

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 14 2024 17:00 utc | 11
I think the hatred comes from the factions that have to steal in order to eat, those that can get by nicely on trade don’t need to fire themselves up for murder so there’s no strong motive for it. Even batty Ukrainian nationalism seems to be mostly a product of western cultivation.
The divisions and murder are real enough, though, even if it’s mostly a distinction of profit taking mechanisms.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 14 2024 18:41 utc | 22

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 14 2024 18:31 utc | 21
#############
Imagine being Lewinsky or Budanov and no one is even trying to assassinate you. It’s like you’re not important enough for a bullet.
That’s gotta be hard on their egos. LOL

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 14 2024 19:02 utc | 24

Hey, this is the Ukraine thread, not the Trump thread!

Posted by: Avtonom | Jul 14 2024 19:11 utc | 26

is Ukraine’s threats to assassinate Putin okay with the rest of the world now?? probably in keeping with their nazi agenda..
Posted by: james | Jul 14 2024 18:14 utc | 17
Assassinating Putin would be a big mistake. He’s a popular leader in a very religious country.
Kill him he becomes a martyr.
If he survives he’s a saint protected by God.
His replacement will most likely be a hard line nationalist and not nearly so patient as Putin is.
Better the devil you know.

Posted by: HB_Norica | Jul 14 2024 19:19 utc | 28

@ HB_Norica | Jul 14 2024 19:19 utc | 28
the whole thing is just crazy talk and a byproduct of this stupid nato on russia war… people need to recognize who the enemy is and my take is the intel agencies are at the top of the list…

Posted by: james | Jul 14 2024 19:29 utc | 30

Peter AU1 (31).
And didn’t Facebook and Instagram drop their hate policies to allow the call for Russians to be murdered across the world after the onset of Putin’s SMO.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 14 2024 20:37 utc | 32

I went back to watching Dima and I have to say he has the gift of showmanship. His latest makes it sound like Russian motorcycle gangs are roaming freely around Ukraine and achieving mayhem like the “Sons of Anarchy” series
Urizhaine is toast; yet another cuckster-offensive village taken back. Is the NATO led 2023 operation now the biggest military failure by the West since the Moors conquest over Spain?

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jul 14 2024 21:05 utc | 34

CSTO or Russia needs to attack and destroy only england in order to stop all major wars in the world including ukraine war which was plotted by british to use proxies to fight who england thinks is the enemy of the week.
So Russia has to annihilate one and only one country -england which plots all wars. Then all wars will stop

Posted by: Sam | Jul 14 2024 21:08 utc | 36

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jul 14 2024 21:05 utc | 34
Nah. It’s the biggest since the Red Army got to Berlin.

Posted by: badjoke | Jul 14 2024 21:36 utc | 38

Ghost of Zanon@34….not quite what Dima said….the ‘sons of anarcy’ was black humour, he’s been picking up on that a lot lately. The bike gang approach is a new Russian tactic to mitigate FPV drone attacks. One vehicle with troops only takes one FPV to fubar it and men, 10 motorbikes twenty men, it takes ten drone operators to counter that. Likely an on the fly adaptation.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jul 14 2024 22:34 utc | 40

Immediately SMEARED For Telling Truth About Ukraine – Jimmy Dore Show
https://youtu.be/fCkUu3S4SIQ?si=FMTsUkixEKXKK24Q

Posted by: HERMIUS | Jul 14 2024 23:32 utc | 42

Today’s Russian MOD clobber list is atypical. Total of 1785 UKR casualties reported, ZERO tanks. Unusually, there are 140 casualties (included in my total) attributed to missile/drone strikes in the UKR rear on a convoy at a railway station and air defence installations.

Posted by: Drifter | Jul 15 2024 0:30 utc | 44

The attempted assassination of President Trump in Butler, Pa, USA, and the media pre-occupation with the event, creates even more stark possibilities in the Nazi occupied Ukraine.
Will Volo and company use the event to stage a massive false flag on the Kiev dams or on a NPP?
Remember the Biden re-election campaign has collapsed and the assassination attempt has created a swell of additional support for the Former President. The former President has pledged to end the war in the Ukraine and to halt all aid to Volo. As such he is threat to the globalist anti Russian agenda.
So a catastrophic false flag event engendering a US and NATO crisis would fit nicely into the deep state plans to regenerate a now moribund Biden campaign.
Imagine hundreds of thousands of flood refugees overwhelming the national media with stories of “Russian” responsibility for the event. The urgency for a direct US/NATO intervention, and life line for the Biden campaign now obvious…….
This situation is going to get more complicated in the near term……..stand by for further orders….

Posted by: Tobias Cole | Jul 15 2024 0:59 utc | 46

The Russians have been able to be much better at hitting targets like a recent NATO train up in the Kharkiv region, and many AD and advanced weapon systems due to improvements made to the Orlan recon drones which has made them immune to Western Ewar.
The Russians seem to be innovating and iterating much faster than anything on the NATO side. Quicker OODA loops.
The time to attack based on surveillance seems to be less than 10 minutes from observation to missile impact.
As fast as Sweden and Germany are supplying materiel, the Russians are incapacitating it.
Interestingly, since the improvements of the Orlan drones, there haven’t been substantial attacks by ATACMS and SCALP weapon systems on Crimea. Scalp and ATACM ammunition is being taken out at the depot level. A combination of HUMINT and surveillance.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 15 2024 2:27 utc | 48

LoveDonbass | Jul 15 2024 2:27 utc | 48
From what I can make out resistance movement inside Ukraine is getting quite large. Will be a lot of intel coming out on nato weapons shipments.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 15 2024 3:53 utc | 50

Is the NATO led 2023 operation now the biggest military failure by the West since the Moors conquest over Spain?
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jul 14 2024 21:05 utc | 34
Could be that ‘You ain’t seen nothin yet’. Nato are planning a real ‘mighty’ offensive this time…
And again, the Russians are sitting there waiting for it. Ukrainian ‘volunteer’ refugees to be trained in Poland. What could go wrong…

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 15 2024 4:06 utc | 52

Will Volo and company use the event to stage a massive false flag on the Kiev dams or on a NPP?
Posted by: Tobias Cole | Jul 15 2024 0:59 utc | 46
These Ukro zombies are really something new on the planet, killing themselves in millions for others. The problem is that Russia basically has become their enabler by doing nothing when terrorist events or false flags appeared in the past. You can’t run backwards for three years, leave all terrorist attacks unpunished then act surprised when they become bigger and bigger ( sputnikglobe.com/20240714/moscow-says-us-financed-ukraines-plot-to-assassinate-putin-1119374090.html )
For the nato invasion part, I hope they go in. If you know what I mean.

Posted by: rk | Jul 15 2024 6:49 utc | 54

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jul 14 2024 21:05 utc | 34
The following post is from the other day, note how close the failed FPV attacks are getting to the motorbikes without injuring the riders. I though this might be due to the warheads being impact fused so they were directing all their energy into the ground but, on reflection, they are probably anti-armour RPG warheads because these are designed to do just that.
If those FPVs had been carrying fragmentation warheads with lateral fragment dispersal those raiders would have likely being incapacitated in both instances of nearby FPV detonation. I think this video shows just how tenuous is this strategy of using motorcycles to “bumrush” enemy positions. On the plus side, motorbikes have a good power source for onboard EW so maybe the strategy can be improved.
Be wary of any story with an element of “FPV exploded right next to me and I was fine. If an FPV can get that close it can waste anyone with the right warhead.
https://t.me/intelslava/63014

🇺🇦Footage of the Hispaniola soldiers on motorcycles under fire from enemy FPV drones breaking through to their positions in Chasov Yar.
As before, due to the complete dominance of drones in the sky in many areas, sometimes only fast, small and mobile vehicles allow fighters to overcome open areas of terrain where heavy and slow equipment is usually left to burn out at the side of the road.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 7:08 utc | 56

motorcycles to “bumrush” enemy positions
Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 7:08 utc | 56
—
Calvary charges have been a thing for centuries. The presence of drones and motorcycles don’t change them much.

Posted by: too scents | Jul 15 2024 7:25 utc | 58

A rare picture inside an EW transmitter ==> https://t.me/s/ghost_of_novorossia/24704
https://www.google.com/search?q=+magnetoelectric++dipole+antenna+

Posted by: too scents | Jul 15 2024 8:59 utc | 60

excellent Helmer article touches on globalism and does an analysis on the Trump assasination attempt
https://johnhelmer.net/reap-what-you-sow-russian-reaction-to-the-trump-assassination-attempt-is-biblical/#more-90135

Posted by: ld | Jul 15 2024 9:30 utc | 62

https://t.me/Lunay14/18534

The enemy has started using a new type of ammunition on FPV.
They use an aluminum box with thermite.
They use FPV “Kolibri” as part of the “Army of Drones” program.
They are mostly used on the roofs of private houses.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 11:15 utc | 64

I’m sure I previously read about a system based on Switchblade drones that was intended to intercept other drones. FPVs with lightweight warhead and reduced battery range can indeed be very fast, fast enough to catch and hit a moving helicopter.
https://t.me/bayraktar1070/2422

I will intervene in the discussion with my colleagues . The physical destruction of enemy drones is a necessity. In addition to traditional means, we must not forget about FPV drones. They fly more than 30 km, their speed is higher than most Ukrainian drones. An FPV interceptor costs tens of times less than conventional missiles.
In Crimea, FPV drones intercept Ukrainian unmanned boats. The Ukrainians shoot down our “Zals” and “Supercams” with their FPV drones. There are already no technical obstacles to the development and deployment of systems for intercepting Ukrainian drones based on FPV drones. This needs to be done right now. In the future, such systems will be in demand all over the world. This is a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This money is needed for the Russian drone industry.
Alexander Kharchenko

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 11:41 utc | 66

Kaja Kallas resigns and becomes EU Foreign Minister instead. Gets to cause more havoc then?

Posted by: Avtonom | Jul 15 2024 12:18 utc | 68

Absolute hypocrisy and omission of very relevant details today in an item in the Guardian newspaper puffing and pimpimg the Azov regiment.

Posted by: Cynic | Jul 15 2024 13:02 utc | 70

They are mostly used on the roofs of private houses.
Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 11:15 utc | 64
What else would nato hit? Next step: bottles filled with chemical weapons

Posted by: rk | Jul 15 2024 13:10 utc | 72

https://t.me/rusengineer/4604

Returning to the topic of protecting industrial facilities from the threat of attack UAVs, the discussion about this correctly listed the restrictions caused by the legislation. That is, no matter how much the owners would like it, physical destruction using anti-aircraft machine guns, automatic cannons, mobile air defense groups is possible only by the forces of law enforcement agencies. Which are not particularly eager to take responsibility for many objects in the country. Although some of them have a strategic influence on the course of military operations. But then it is easier to put the owner in jail for not ensuring security, because one fights, and another puts in jail. About the fact that we are doing one common cause – no, we have not heard. After all, this is not in any regulation.
This also applies to interceptor drones, which are being developed by many companies. Everything rests on the same weapons legislation, and the approach that “an armed law-abiding citizen is the main threat to security in the country.”
Yes, this is roughly the ideological basis under the legislation, which, in addition to practically strangling the development of the small arms industry (the examples of a couple of small enterprises are an example of survival not thanks to but in spite of), also actively hinders the development of means of combating new threats. As an example, for an interceptor drone used over a city, it is not possible to use explosives. We must wriggle out, trying to make any other options for destruction, without explosives. The reason seems reasonable, concern that the fragments do not hit people on the ground.
But the fact that an intercepted drone, its debris will fall to the ground, is somehow forgotten. Although it can quite cause serious damage. But this is practically irreparable, it has to be put up with as an inevitable evil. And the methods of intercepting and catching in a net are too utopian and do not work very well.
And now, when we have already resigned ourselves to the fact that the drone falls to the ground, what is the point of limiting a more effective defeat by abandoning explosives? In order not to cause harm to people, for example, it is possible to use GPE of minimal mass, which give sufficient damage to the elements of the drone structure in case of a close explosion, and at the same time at a distance of a couple of dozen meters almost completely lose kinetic energy, and become safe for people. Or use other ways to minimize risks. In general, instead of just a paper ban, work with the task that this ban carries, and not formally follow its letter.
But in the conditions of total bans, it will be difficult to ensure sufficient security for the country on its own. As a result, the result will be, as often happens, quite obvious. We will wait until our competitors-opponents calmly create all the necessary technical solutions, and we will have to buy them from them. Perhaps bypassing the sanctions.
An offensive option, but the most likely. It is doubly offensive because the enemy will develop it with the help of the hohols, who are now in a mirror situation. Only they have abruptly removed most of these obstacles, and since they are essentially Russian people (despite the fact that they are Russified), they have received the opportunity to use their ingenuity. And among our people it is very developed, if it is not fenced off from all sides by laws, regulations and prohibitions. Well, we continue to spar, with our legs tied. Against the enemy, and against our own prohibitions “as if nothing happened”, in the form of madness of formalism and bureaucracy.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 13:21 utc | 74

Interesting, was he an actor? and we all know the power BlackRock has. Was there a Ukrainian element to all of this as Trump may pull the funding, or vastly reduce it for Z and Ukraine if elected and that would seriously damage the MIC’s huge profits.
“The man identified as the shooter who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump has been spotted in a now-pulled BlackRockadvert.
In the advert filmed at Bethel Park School, Thomas Matthew Crooks can be seen in the middle of an economics class, watching the whiteboard.
The clip was a promotional tool to show how BlackRock can help those thinking about retirement.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-shooter-thomas-matthew-crooks-spotted-in-now-pulled-blackrock-advert/ar-BB1q0nut?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=9a3acaff17764655a5b59bff33ce9503&ei=65

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 15 2024 14:12 utc | 76

@77 in the process of breaking down indeed – emotionally, physically, and spiritually. How about some prose? https://folkpotpourri.com/rotting-forest-of-a-decaying-empire/

Posted by: Ozark Grandpa | Jul 15 2024 14:23 utc | 78

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 15 2024 7:48 utc | 393
I applaud you efforts to rid us all of the evil thoughts trump has placed in our minds. Who knew? False victim hood’s the way forward? Thank you. Hypocrisy? Must be because the rest of us are tools for not following what you claim is logic. Who knew? A long time poster posts that they arent sure about about a link they posted; must a tool who doesn’t follow my logic, therefore my detractor steals names and supports trump. Thank you. Who knew? An organization predicated on violence as its primary tool to combat other views,wasnt fascist, until trump perverted the english language. Thank you. I shall use your strenth to steel myself against its inexorable pull. I will use your wisdom and logic to free my mind of trumps hold on english as I endevour to join the the trump induced karmic spirit world big boy club. Thank you.

Posted by: Tamnenhouser | Jul 15 2024 14:54 utc | 80

Really good article from Caitlin Johnstone from a few days ago.

It’s actually difficult to wrap your mind around the scale and pervasiveness of the mountain of lies upon which this dystopian civilization is built. You think you’re starting to get a read on things, then you gain more knowledge and insight and realize it goes so much further than you thought. You start pulling on one thread, maybe some obvious lie about Iraq or Palestine or whatever, and the whole thing just keeps unraveling and unraveling and unraveling. Before you know it you’re staring at a society that is not just riddled with untruth, but actually woven entirely from the fabric of untruth.
Everything. How your nation really works. How the world really works. How capitalism really works. What politics really are. What the media are really used for. What laws are really used for. What wars and militarism are really used for. What ideology is really used for. What religion is really used for. What culture is really used for. What rules and etiquette are really used for. It’s all made-up narrative all the way down, and all of those narratives are made up by the powerful, in the service of the powerful.

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-mainstream-worldview-is-a-mass

Posted by: Mike R | Jul 15 2024 15:42 utc | 82

Senior military officers and defense experts are finally raising alarm, and admit that our assumptions about our capabilities have been greatly exaggerated.

Thanks for sharing this. This echos exactly what I and others have been saying in these pages for some time. Western ‘superiority’ myths are being exposed in Ukraine as so much wishful thinking. Unsurprisingly to all but the ‘well decorated peacocks’ who pretend to be senior NATO officers. Their entire delusions of competency rest on having fought underequipped militias with the weight of a global superpower. As far as knowledge, you don’t need to go to West Point to study military history or tactics in depth. The militaries of the West have been filled with yes men for decades. It shows.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jul 15 2024 16:05 utc | 84

Just watched a video of a net casting drone attacking another enemy drone. I have also seen live capture net guns that shoot at deer, geese et al with a net casting about 2 square meters. Seeing this type of FPV damage, if I had even a smidgen of sway, I would have every heavy machine have several of these net guns to shoot at drones…erm. Good idea to add a net gun launcher perhaps?
This latest assassination attempt is definitely hurrying along the steps towards these last days, as it seems America is without a friend and being destroyed from within. The upcoming events especially in Germany may offer a prime opportunity for a usurper to come in by “flatteries”, and it looks like the Vatican may be getting a new Pope soon. They are looking to create their holy empire again.
Beware the beast ridden by a woman.

Posted by: Arcticman | Jul 15 2024 16:20 utc | 86

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 7:08 utc | 56
Wow. That video is as powerful as trumps fist pump. A truely amazing display of bravery for humanity on one hand and on the other a supreme display of showmanship for the base.²

Posted by: Tannhouser | Jul 15 2024 17:34 utc | 88

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jul 15 2024 14:06 utc | 75
No worries.
Motorbike assaults are an innovative and gutsy use of civilian vehicles to make gains that would’ve been far more costly any other way and it’s this ingenuity of Russia’s immeasurably better motivated infantry units that contributes to their lower casualty ratio. There’s no reason for ground to be given up, the adopted territories haven’t been cleared yet either, but I’ve no idea whether these counteroffensive claims are real or not.
Ukraine’s got FPVs because there is no dependence on specialist production facilities or military components, drone building teams don’t even need a license to handle weapon components, the drones themselves are robustified geek toys and their logistical footprint is almost zero compared to regular military hardware. If all that wasn’t enough they are also cheap and flexible. They can’t match the best characteristics of long refined military systems but they can sometimes beat them in other ways and they’re what’s available.
Ukraine is substituting for lack of everything with FPVs because they are a form of explosive telepresence, often able to stand in for men and other equipment. Soldiers in position to use rifles against a motorbike assault are also at risk themselves, require a conspicuous supply chain to keep them provisioned, rotate the injured or fatigued etc. Spotter drones can identify assault attempts from kilometres away and call in FPVs from well behind the LoC, the total cost of having an infantryman there to fire cheap bullets from a reusable rifle might be quite high, all told.
Current FPV tech would be a terrible choice to stockpile long term because some fatal flaw might be found in the comms or onboard computing, or the batteries might perish in storage, but that doesn’t matter during an active conflict where they’re being used as soon as they’re delivered and any problems will be fixed in the next batch.
It’s quite remarkable to see the voluntary sector on both sides supplying a weapon, that’s not technically a weapon, in such large quantities and with such an influence where they are deployed.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jul 15 2024 17:39 utc | 90

Sorry, wrong thread.

Posted by: Avtonom | Jul 15 2024 20:19 utc | 92

While author PKD is most associated with the conundrum of what is human, what it means to be human, he also frequently wrote about gadgets. Yes, he at times expressed the belief they were connected to a universe striving to express its awareness, but they would often also be used in warfare.
I think PKD had an unusual insight into our future, so with all the news of the use of drones, and how they are evolving, I’ll repost his old short story of his, now in the public domain, Second Variety. It was the basis for the Peter Weller film, Screamers, so consider that a spoiler. 😉
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/32032-h.htm
Here’s a tease from the first paragraph.

The Russian soldier made his way nervously up the ragged side of the hill, holding his gun ready. He glanced around him, licking his dry lips, his face set. From time to time he reached up a gloved hand and wiped perspiration from his neck, pushing down his coat collar.
Eric turned to Corporal Leone. “Want him? Or can I have him?” He adjusted the view sight so the Russian’s features squarely filled the glass, the lines cutting across his hard, somber features.
Leone considered. The Russian was close, moving rapidly, almost running. “Don’t fire. Wait.” Leone tensed. “I don’t think we’re needed.”
The Russian increased his pace, kicking ash and piles of debris out of his way. He reached the top of the hill and stopped, panting, staring around him. The sky was overcast, drifting clouds of gray particles. Bare trunks of trees jutted up occasionally; the ground was level and bare, rubble-strewn, with the ruins of buildings standing out here and there like yellowing skulls.
The Russian was uneasy. He knew something was wrong. He started down the hill. Now he was only a few paces from the bunker. Eric was getting fidgety. He played with his pistol, glancing at Leone.
“Don’t worry,” Leone said. “He won’t get here. They’ll take care of him.”
“Are you sure? He’s got damn far.”
“They hang around close to the bunker. He’s getting into the bad part. Get set!”

Posted by: Babel-17 | Jul 15 2024 20:37 utc | 94

From another thread
“We see in Ukraine, not the extremists but but good normal everyday people getting fed into the grinder. We watch the meaning of cannon fodder in real time there.”
Eventually the good normal everyday people have only themselves to blame for being fed into the meat grinder.
The fact that the Nazis are kidnapping people off the street should tell them the war isn’t going so well.
So as soon as the extremists give you you AK and ammo, load the thing up and start shooting them. They’ll probably get you in a hail of bullets but that’s probably better than getting your limbs blown off by Russian artillery. You might even save a few of your fellow normies lives in the long run once Nazis see the trouble their new recruits are giving them.

Posted by: Fred777 | Jul 15 2024 20:47 utc | 96

I think PKD had an unusual insight into our future, so with all the news of the use of drones, and how they are evolving, I’ll repost his old short story of his, now in the public domain, Second Variety. It was the basis for the Peter Weller film, Screamers, so consider that a spoiler. 😉
Posted by: Babel-17 | Jul 15 2024 20:37 utc | 94
Huge fan of PKD and wondered if I should mention second variety for a while.
That and Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 15 2024 21:18 utc | 98

About that clown earlier in this thread, My comment yesterday should have read ‘There’s not much to reply to’ rather than ‘There is much to reply to’.
Saw the typo later but didn’t bother correcting it.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 15 2024 21:23 utc | 100