Post by mhbruin on May 28, 2022 9:58:45 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 585 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
--------------
Be the Fun in Dysfunctional.
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
They Are Supposed to Be Tourists, Not Vandals
Summer in the northern hemisphere is hotting up, travel chaos reigns, and tourists are intent on having some "revenge travel."
And in Venice, that makes for a perfect storm of visitors behaving badly.
The past couple of weeks have seen a slew of tourist transgressions in the city, from skinny dipping in the UNESCO-preserved canals to vandalizing one of the city's iconic churches.
On the night of May 15-16, the façade of the Redentore church -- designed by Renaissance "starchitect" Andrea Palladio, and the site of perhaps the city's most famous festival -- was vandalized.
A portion of the façade -- built in white Istrian stone, from what was part of the Venetian empire when the church was constructed -- was daubed in pink, with what looked like an equation scrawled on top of it.
The three-square-meter area sits beneath the statue of St. Francis of Assisi, just to the right of the entrance as you ascend its famous white-stone staircase.
It follows the vandalism of another Venice church, Sant'Antonin, which was daubed with graffiti a few days earlier, according to local paper La Nuova.
Meanwhile, another self-styled artist poured bright blue paint over a bridge on Fondamenta dei Garzotti, one of the the main streets into the city from the train station. It appeared to spell out the word "freedom."
When Journalists Enable the Liars.
Legendary rebel journalist I.F. Stone famously said that “All governments lie.”
He didn’t mean that all governments lie all the time. He meant they all lie some of the time.
And he reserved his greatest scorn not for lying officials, but for the credulous journalists who reported what those officials told them, instead of digging for the truth.
As a non-official narrative begins to gel about the police response to the mass murder of little boys and girls at an elementary school in rural Texas on Tuesday, all of us – journalists and the public alike – are hopefully seeing what a mistake it can be to think the police are telling us the truth.
Everybody Hates Ron
Heard the "Shooter was Trans" Rumor?
Some people are still pushing the lie that the Uvalde shooter was trans.
It's not true, but the lie is everywhere.
So how did so many — including a Congressman — come to believe it?
The explanation is a lot simpler (and dumber) than you’d ever imagine. And it starts on 4chan.
People will believe anything
Previous Celebrates Dead Kids With a Dance
Senator For Sale
Teach Your Children Well. Their children's hell will slowly go by
We Have Ways to Make You Talk
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday lost a bid to stop New York state Attorney General Letitia James' probe of his business practices, allowing the three-year investigation to move forward.
Trump, a Republican, last year sued James in federal court in upstate Albany, arguing the civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled banks and tax authorities about the valuations of its assets should be halted because he felt James, a Democrat, was using the case to further her political career.
James replied in a January court filing that Trump's "allegations of political disagreement cannot insulate" him from the investigation.
U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, stating in a written decision there was "no evidence" that James' investigation was undertaken in bad faith.
--------------
Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
When Journalists Don't Enable the Liars
Blue State Governments Aren't Perfect, But ...
When Salvador Ramos, 18, barged into a classroom at Robb Elementary on Tuesday and opened fire, he accelerated an already horrifying trend: Children have become more than twice as likely to die from gun violence as they were before Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took office seven years ago.
The annual number of gun deaths for children 17 and under jumped from 54 in 2015, Abbott’s first year as governor, to 146 in 2020 — the latest year available from the Centers for Disease Control. Youth gun deaths rose every year over that period, except one. Texas has the distinction of having more children die by gunshot than any other state.
It Still Seems Slow, But ...
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is stepping up the pace of her investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, questioning a wide array of witnesses and preparing a rash of subpoenas to top Georgia state officials, state lawmakers and a prominent local journalist for testimony that will start next week.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who won a surprise victory against a Trump-backed opponent in Tuesday’s Republican primary, is slated to be one of Willis’s lead witnesses when he appears before the grand jury next Wednesday, sources confirmed to Yahoo News.
“Based on her pugnacity, it looks like it’s full steam ahead,” said one lawyer representing a client who has been contacted by Willis’s team of investigators and prosecutors. “She’s much more aggressive and determined than I expected.”
I Don't Think Elizabeth Warren is Opposed to Gun Laws
Before the national anthem prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals Thursday, the Celtics held a moment of silence for the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Following that, the TD Garden public address announcer asked fans to contact their senators to urge them to “support common sense gun laws” and to register to vote to “make your voice heard.”
The scoreboard showed a message that included a phone number to call (202-224-3121) and a website to visit Celtics.com/Takeaction.
The announcement which was similar to one before Game 5 in Miami was received by loud ovation from the crowd at TD Garden.
--------------
Invasions Have Consequences
Day 94
Fighting
Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, said Russian troops had entered Severodonetsk, the largest Donbas city still held by Ukraine, but denied the city was encircled. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat,” he said on Telegram.
Haidai said 90 percent of buildings in Severodonetsk were damaged with 14 high-rises destroyed in the latest shelling.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank, said while Russian forces would likely struggle to take ground in the city of Severodonetsk itself as they have “performed poorly in operations in built-up urban terrain throughout the war”.
Russia’s separatist proxies said they controlled Lyman, a railway hub west of Severodonetsk. Ukraine said Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, to the southwest.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would never cede Lyman or Severodonetsk, adding “Donbas will be Ukrainian”.
Ukraine’s military said it had repelled eight attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk on Friday, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles.
In the Kherson region north of Russian-held Crimea, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were fortifying their positions and trapping civilians with constant shelling.
The US Army has awarded a contract worth up to $687m to Raytheon for anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to replenish stocks sent to Ukraine.
The United Nations said a total of 4,031 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, including nearly 200 children, since Russia’s full-scale invasion began – although the real number is likely to be much higher.
Diplomacy
Zelenskyy said Russia was weaponising a global food supply crisis and the world must prevent large-scale famine. Moscow did not appear ready for serious peace talks, he said. The Kremlin blamed Kyiv for stalled peace talks.
US President Joe Biden said Russian forces are “attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums with no other purpose than to eliminate a culture” and added that the war is “a direct assault on the fundamental tenets of rule-based international order”.
Economy
The European Union is seeking a deal this weekend to ban Russian oil deliveries by sea but not pipeline to win over Hungary, which has opposed plans for a full embargo. Zelenskyy has accused the EU of dithering.
Russia expects to receive 1 trillion roubles ($14.4bn) in additional oil and gas revenues this year, the country’s finance minister has said, adding that part of the windfall will be spent on the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its military operation in Ukraine, its finance minister said. The economy minister blamed Russia’s economic troubles on low household spending.
Russia said it paid coupons in foreign currency on two eurobonds, a move that could mean it again averted default.
S&P cut Ukraine’s credit rating to ‘CCC+/C’ from ‘B-/B’, citing a larger effect of Russia’s attack on the country.
It Takes 6 Months to Train Soldiers
A resurgent Russian army has refocused its hitherto lumbering efforts to claim Ukraine’s east, making its first significant advances there in the 13th week of the war.
Russian forces have re-launched offensives at three main points to surround a spearhead of Ukrainian defenders, at Izyum to the north, Severodonetsk to the east, and Popasna to the south.
At Popasna, combined forces of Russian conscripts and mercenaries from the Wagner group broke through Ukrainian defences, taking several settlements on May 20. Three days later, they captured Myronovsky, the starting point of a highway leading to Sloviansk, where all three prongs of the Russian attack are likely aiming to converge.
On the northern front, Russian artillery at Izyum sprang to life at the same time, in what Ukrainian authorities described as the opening act to a full assault.
Russian forces appear to be attempting a pincer movement from Izyum and Popasna to isolate Ukraine’s entire tactical army of about 50,000 men in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to the east.
On May 21, the battle for Severodonetsk, the easternmost Ukrainian-held city, began in earnest. To the city’s east, a punishing bombardment began. To its west, Russian military bloggers said Russian forces destroyed one of two bridges connecting the city to Lysychansk across the Siversky Donetsk river and complicating Ukrainian lines of supply.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s bombardment was turning the Donbas into “hell”.
The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said Severodonetsk remained firmly in Ukrainian hands on May 24 amid darkening prospects.
“The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse. It is getting worse with every day and even with every hour,” Haidai said in a video on Telegram. “Shelling is increasing more and more. The Russian army has decided to completely destroy [key city] Severodonetsk.”
Russia’s tactics are now notorious in the southern port of Mariupol, which finally surrendered on May 21 after more than two months of aerial and artillery bombardment that have reduced the city to rubble.
Ukraine has fought valiantly and driven the Russians back from the northern cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv in recent weeks, but its counteroffensive has not been sustained because Ukrainian forces need time to assimilate Western military equipment, a retired NATO commander said.
“Tanks and armoured vehicles need an initial stage of personal training and team training for the driver, gunner, reloader and commander,” said Lt-Gen Konstantinos Loukopoulos, who has taught tank warfare at military academies in Kyiv and Moscow.
“They need tactical training, including test firing and exercises, which cannot be done in a few weeks. The training cycle is at least six months, and that doesn’t change in wartime,” he said.
“After [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illusions about winning the war in 96 hours, the illusions began on the Western side,” he added.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and the Czech Republic are among those who have pledged various types of armour and artillery, and that complicates matters, Loukopoulos said.
For instance, out of 90 howitzer M777 artillery pieces sent by the US to Ukraine, about 18 have been absorbed, he said, adding that it is unknown how many of the 12 or 14 César self-propelled howitzers sent by France are in use.
“For Ukraine to absorb the weapons from the West and make them operational, form the right units, and train them, it needs eight, nine months. It can’t pull active units from the front to train them,” Loukopoulos said.
That is the timeframe, he believes, within which Putin must win the war on the ground and reach a negotiated settlement.
“Under the present balance of forces, the general trend is in favour of the Russians. Right now nothing can change that,” he said.
“After a few months, with training of reserve units, there could be a [Ukrainian] strategic counteroffensive that could throw the Russians out.”
Loukopoulos believes this could likely be done by Ukraine seizing Russian territory that it could exchange for its own territory in negotiations.
“Can the Ukrainians create a fact on the ground to counter Russian gains? Right now they cannot,” he said.
“Whether we like it or not, Russia has the political and military initiative. The West is reacting to what Putin is doing.”
You're Never Too Old to Commit War Crimes
Putin signs law scrapping upper age limit to enlist in Russian military: The Russian President has signed a law scrapping the upper age limit for Russians and foreigners to join the military as contract service members, according to Russian state news agency TASS. Russia’s State Duma passed the bill on Wednesday but Putin's signature was needed for it to become law. Previously, citizens aged 18 to 40 and foreigners aged 18 to 30 could enlist in the Russian military.
Why Severodonetsk?
Why is Ukraine was so hell-bent on defending Severodonetsk, isolated on a deep salient surrounded on three sides and no natural barriers, when those forces could simply cross the river and hold out in a much more defensible Lysychansk. Retired Australian general Mick Ryan pondered the same today, noting that “the tactical and political necessity to hold out in Severodonetsk is questionable.”
Davydiv Brid
Igor Girkin was in charge of Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas during the 2014 war, and is a rabid Russian nationalist (Mark wrote more about him here). He remains well connected to Russian and separatist military sources. And what he’s saying in that tweet is that there was a tank breakthrough near the village of Davydiv Brid. (Ukrainian presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych separately confirmed a counter-offensive in the area.)
Russian telegram accounts claim 10-15 Ukrainian tanks made a river crossing into Davydiv Brid, then pushed south down that highway to the village of Bruskynske, where fighting is ongoing.
If those accounts are accurate, it’s not a particularly large attack—about the size of a Russian BTG (and we’ve spent all war mocking Russia’s under-resourced BTG-sized piecemeal attacks). Ukraine’s brand new tank brigade has 100 tanks, plus another 70 or so armored personnel carriers, so there’s a lot more combat power somewhere. This might be a small blocking action, designed to merely cut off supply lines to Russian forces to the north. But, if we can dream, Nova Kahkovka would be an even juicer target than Kherson itself.
Nova Kahkovka is the source of water for all of Crimea, posing a major problem for Russia if it were cut off again (like it was pre-war). Just threatening the town should require Russia reinforce it, “fixing” Russian troops desperately needed for Kherson’s defense and the offensives out east. Ukraine’s control of Crimea’s water supply would be a massive bargaining chip in any future negotiations. And depending on whether bridges survived any action, Ukraine would have a western approach to Melitopol—the logistical hub for supplies coming from Crimea to Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. It would be bye-bye “land bridge,” connecting Crimea to mainland Russia.
--------------
These Pirates Don't Sing "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum"
Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf on Friday, Iranian state media reported, shortly after Tehran warned it would take “punitive action” against Athens over the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) said in a statement on their official website on Friday that they seized two Greek oil tankers in the Arabian Gulf “due to violations that were committed.” The statement did not elaborate on what the “violations” were.
Greece responded by accusing Iran of “piracy” after the IRGC said they seized two Greek-flagged oil tankers in the Gulf Friday.
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil be done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
The mate was fixed by the bos'n's pike
The bos'n' brained with a marlin spike and
Cookey's throat was marked belike It
Had been gripped by fingers ten and
There they lay all good dead men like
Break o' day in a boozing ken__
Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum
--------------
They got rhythm, They got music. They got leaves, Who Could Ask For Anything More?
The indri of Madagascar, also called the babakoto, is one of the largest living lemurs, with a head-and-body length of about 25–28+1⁄2 in and a weight of between13 — 21 lb. It has a black and white coat and maintains an upright posture when climbing or clinging. It is monogamous and lives in small family groups, moving through the canopy, and is herbivorous, feeding mainly on leaves but also seeds, fruits, and flowers. The groups are quite vocal, communicating with other groups by singing, roaring, and other vocalizations. Besides humans, it is the only mammal found that can use rhythm.
It turned out that indri songs are structured in categorical 1:1 or 2:1 ratios. Although males and females tend to sing at different tempos, their beats remained categorical. This makes the indri the first known nonhuman mammal with rhythm.
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | New Hospitalizations 7-Day Average | |
| May 27 | |||
| May 26 | 109,643 | 315 | |
| May 25 | 109,564 | 305 | 3,609 |
| May 24 | 104,399 | 288 | 3,614 |
| May 23 | 104,480 | 279 | 3,604 |
| May 22 | 102,940 | 281 | 3,531 |
| May 21 | 105,198 | 283 | 3,226 |
| May 20 | 105,713 | 284 | 3,369 |
| May 19 | 101,029 | 279 | 3,379 |
| May 18 | 101,130 | 280 | 3,332 |
| May 17 | 99,347 | 273 | 3,250 |
| May 16 | 94,199 | 274 | 3,136 |
| May 15 | 90,337 | 263 | 3,013 |
| May 14 | 88,187 | 265 | 2,698 |
| May 13 | 87,831 | 266 | 2,798 |
| May 12 | 87,382 | 272 | 2,731 |
| May 11 | 84,778 | 272 | 2,652 |
| May 10 | 78,236 | 326 | 2,629 |
| May 9 | 74,712 | 323 | 2,597 |
| May 8 | 66,564 | 323 | 2,510 |
| May 7 | 67,561 | 335 | 2,310 |
| May 6 | 68,807 | 340 | 2,396 |
| May 5 | 67,263 | 341 | 2.363 |
| May 4 | 64,780 | 334 | 2,267 |
| May 3 | 61,712 | 325 | 2,219 |
| May 2 | 60,410 | 318 | 2.214 |
| May 1 | 57,020 | 307 | 2,072 |
| Apr 30 | 56,581 | 310 | 1,882 |
| Apr 29 | 56,166 | 308 | 1,946 |
| Apr 28 | 54,696 | 311 | 1,955 |
| Apr 27 | 53,133 | 334 | 1,941 |
| Apr 26 | 48,692 | 299 | 1,889 |
| Apr 25 | 47,407 | 330 | 1,840 |
| Apr 24 | 44,416 | 314 | 1,779 |
| Apr 23 | 45,413 | 315 | 1,629 |
| Apr 22 | 44,308 | 311 | 1,642 |
| Apr 21 | 40,744 | 346 | 1,647 |
| Apr 20 | 42,604 | 375 | 1,609 |
| Apr 19 | 40,985 | 385 | 1,582 |
| Apr 18 | 37,132 | 380 | 1,564 |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
--------------
Be the Fun in Dysfunctional.
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
They Are Supposed to Be Tourists, Not Vandals
Summer in the northern hemisphere is hotting up, travel chaos reigns, and tourists are intent on having some "revenge travel."
And in Venice, that makes for a perfect storm of visitors behaving badly.
The past couple of weeks have seen a slew of tourist transgressions in the city, from skinny dipping in the UNESCO-preserved canals to vandalizing one of the city's iconic churches.
On the night of May 15-16, the façade of the Redentore church -- designed by Renaissance "starchitect" Andrea Palladio, and the site of perhaps the city's most famous festival -- was vandalized.
A portion of the façade -- built in white Istrian stone, from what was part of the Venetian empire when the church was constructed -- was daubed in pink, with what looked like an equation scrawled on top of it.
The three-square-meter area sits beneath the statue of St. Francis of Assisi, just to the right of the entrance as you ascend its famous white-stone staircase.
It follows the vandalism of another Venice church, Sant'Antonin, which was daubed with graffiti a few days earlier, according to local paper La Nuova.
Meanwhile, another self-styled artist poured bright blue paint over a bridge on Fondamenta dei Garzotti, one of the the main streets into the city from the train station. It appeared to spell out the word "freedom."
When Journalists Enable the Liars.
Legendary rebel journalist I.F. Stone famously said that “All governments lie.”
He didn’t mean that all governments lie all the time. He meant they all lie some of the time.
And he reserved his greatest scorn not for lying officials, but for the credulous journalists who reported what those officials told them, instead of digging for the truth.
As a non-official narrative begins to gel about the police response to the mass murder of little boys and girls at an elementary school in rural Texas on Tuesday, all of us – journalists and the public alike – are hopefully seeing what a mistake it can be to think the police are telling us the truth.
Everybody Hates Ron
Heard the "Shooter was Trans" Rumor?
Some people are still pushing the lie that the Uvalde shooter was trans.
It's not true, but the lie is everywhere.
So how did so many — including a Congressman — come to believe it?
The explanation is a lot simpler (and dumber) than you’d ever imagine. And it starts on 4chan.
People will believe anything
Previous Celebrates Dead Kids With a Dance
Senator For Sale
Teach Your Children Well. Their children's hell will slowly go by
We Have Ways to Make You Talk
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday lost a bid to stop New York state Attorney General Letitia James' probe of his business practices, allowing the three-year investigation to move forward.
Trump, a Republican, last year sued James in federal court in upstate Albany, arguing the civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled banks and tax authorities about the valuations of its assets should be halted because he felt James, a Democrat, was using the case to further her political career.
James replied in a January court filing that Trump's "allegations of political disagreement cannot insulate" him from the investigation.
U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, stating in a written decision there was "no evidence" that James' investigation was undertaken in bad faith.
--------------
Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
When Journalists Don't Enable the Liars
Blue State Governments Aren't Perfect, But ...
When Salvador Ramos, 18, barged into a classroom at Robb Elementary on Tuesday and opened fire, he accelerated an already horrifying trend: Children have become more than twice as likely to die from gun violence as they were before Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took office seven years ago.
The annual number of gun deaths for children 17 and under jumped from 54 in 2015, Abbott’s first year as governor, to 146 in 2020 — the latest year available from the Centers for Disease Control. Youth gun deaths rose every year over that period, except one. Texas has the distinction of having more children die by gunshot than any other state.
It Still Seems Slow, But ...
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is stepping up the pace of her investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, questioning a wide array of witnesses and preparing a rash of subpoenas to top Georgia state officials, state lawmakers and a prominent local journalist for testimony that will start next week.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who won a surprise victory against a Trump-backed opponent in Tuesday’s Republican primary, is slated to be one of Willis’s lead witnesses when he appears before the grand jury next Wednesday, sources confirmed to Yahoo News.
“Based on her pugnacity, it looks like it’s full steam ahead,” said one lawyer representing a client who has been contacted by Willis’s team of investigators and prosecutors. “She’s much more aggressive and determined than I expected.”
I Don't Think Elizabeth Warren is Opposed to Gun Laws
Before the national anthem prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals Thursday, the Celtics held a moment of silence for the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Following that, the TD Garden public address announcer asked fans to contact their senators to urge them to “support common sense gun laws” and to register to vote to “make your voice heard.”
The scoreboard showed a message that included a phone number to call (202-224-3121) and a website to visit Celtics.com/Takeaction.
The announcement which was similar to one before Game 5 in Miami was received by loud ovation from the crowd at TD Garden.
--------------
Invasions Have Consequences
Day 94
Fighting
Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, said Russian troops had entered Severodonetsk, the largest Donbas city still held by Ukraine, but denied the city was encircled. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat,” he said on Telegram.
Haidai said 90 percent of buildings in Severodonetsk were damaged with 14 high-rises destroyed in the latest shelling.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank, said while Russian forces would likely struggle to take ground in the city of Severodonetsk itself as they have “performed poorly in operations in built-up urban terrain throughout the war”.
Russia’s separatist proxies said they controlled Lyman, a railway hub west of Severodonetsk. Ukraine said Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, to the southwest.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would never cede Lyman or Severodonetsk, adding “Donbas will be Ukrainian”.
Ukraine’s military said it had repelled eight attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk on Friday, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles.
In the Kherson region north of Russian-held Crimea, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were fortifying their positions and trapping civilians with constant shelling.
The US Army has awarded a contract worth up to $687m to Raytheon for anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to replenish stocks sent to Ukraine.
The United Nations said a total of 4,031 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, including nearly 200 children, since Russia’s full-scale invasion began – although the real number is likely to be much higher.
Diplomacy
Zelenskyy said Russia was weaponising a global food supply crisis and the world must prevent large-scale famine. Moscow did not appear ready for serious peace talks, he said. The Kremlin blamed Kyiv for stalled peace talks.
US President Joe Biden said Russian forces are “attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums with no other purpose than to eliminate a culture” and added that the war is “a direct assault on the fundamental tenets of rule-based international order”.
Economy
The European Union is seeking a deal this weekend to ban Russian oil deliveries by sea but not pipeline to win over Hungary, which has opposed plans for a full embargo. Zelenskyy has accused the EU of dithering.
Russia expects to receive 1 trillion roubles ($14.4bn) in additional oil and gas revenues this year, the country’s finance minister has said, adding that part of the windfall will be spent on the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its military operation in Ukraine, its finance minister said. The economy minister blamed Russia’s economic troubles on low household spending.
Russia said it paid coupons in foreign currency on two eurobonds, a move that could mean it again averted default.
S&P cut Ukraine’s credit rating to ‘CCC+/C’ from ‘B-/B’, citing a larger effect of Russia’s attack on the country.
It Takes 6 Months to Train Soldiers
A resurgent Russian army has refocused its hitherto lumbering efforts to claim Ukraine’s east, making its first significant advances there in the 13th week of the war.
Russian forces have re-launched offensives at three main points to surround a spearhead of Ukrainian defenders, at Izyum to the north, Severodonetsk to the east, and Popasna to the south.
At Popasna, combined forces of Russian conscripts and mercenaries from the Wagner group broke through Ukrainian defences, taking several settlements on May 20. Three days later, they captured Myronovsky, the starting point of a highway leading to Sloviansk, where all three prongs of the Russian attack are likely aiming to converge.
On the northern front, Russian artillery at Izyum sprang to life at the same time, in what Ukrainian authorities described as the opening act to a full assault.
Russian forces appear to be attempting a pincer movement from Izyum and Popasna to isolate Ukraine’s entire tactical army of about 50,000 men in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to the east.
On May 21, the battle for Severodonetsk, the easternmost Ukrainian-held city, began in earnest. To the city’s east, a punishing bombardment began. To its west, Russian military bloggers said Russian forces destroyed one of two bridges connecting the city to Lysychansk across the Siversky Donetsk river and complicating Ukrainian lines of supply.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s bombardment was turning the Donbas into “hell”.
The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said Severodonetsk remained firmly in Ukrainian hands on May 24 amid darkening prospects.
“The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse. It is getting worse with every day and even with every hour,” Haidai said in a video on Telegram. “Shelling is increasing more and more. The Russian army has decided to completely destroy [key city] Severodonetsk.”
Russia’s tactics are now notorious in the southern port of Mariupol, which finally surrendered on May 21 after more than two months of aerial and artillery bombardment that have reduced the city to rubble.
Ukraine has fought valiantly and driven the Russians back from the northern cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv in recent weeks, but its counteroffensive has not been sustained because Ukrainian forces need time to assimilate Western military equipment, a retired NATO commander said.
“Tanks and armoured vehicles need an initial stage of personal training and team training for the driver, gunner, reloader and commander,” said Lt-Gen Konstantinos Loukopoulos, who has taught tank warfare at military academies in Kyiv and Moscow.
“They need tactical training, including test firing and exercises, which cannot be done in a few weeks. The training cycle is at least six months, and that doesn’t change in wartime,” he said.
“After [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illusions about winning the war in 96 hours, the illusions began on the Western side,” he added.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and the Czech Republic are among those who have pledged various types of armour and artillery, and that complicates matters, Loukopoulos said.
For instance, out of 90 howitzer M777 artillery pieces sent by the US to Ukraine, about 18 have been absorbed, he said, adding that it is unknown how many of the 12 or 14 César self-propelled howitzers sent by France are in use.
“For Ukraine to absorb the weapons from the West and make them operational, form the right units, and train them, it needs eight, nine months. It can’t pull active units from the front to train them,” Loukopoulos said.
That is the timeframe, he believes, within which Putin must win the war on the ground and reach a negotiated settlement.
“Under the present balance of forces, the general trend is in favour of the Russians. Right now nothing can change that,” he said.
“After a few months, with training of reserve units, there could be a [Ukrainian] strategic counteroffensive that could throw the Russians out.”
Loukopoulos believes this could likely be done by Ukraine seizing Russian territory that it could exchange for its own territory in negotiations.
“Can the Ukrainians create a fact on the ground to counter Russian gains? Right now they cannot,” he said.
“Whether we like it or not, Russia has the political and military initiative. The West is reacting to what Putin is doing.”
You're Never Too Old to Commit War Crimes
Putin signs law scrapping upper age limit to enlist in Russian military: The Russian President has signed a law scrapping the upper age limit for Russians and foreigners to join the military as contract service members, according to Russian state news agency TASS. Russia’s State Duma passed the bill on Wednesday but Putin's signature was needed for it to become law. Previously, citizens aged 18 to 40 and foreigners aged 18 to 30 could enlist in the Russian military.
Why Severodonetsk?
Why is Ukraine was so hell-bent on defending Severodonetsk, isolated on a deep salient surrounded on three sides and no natural barriers, when those forces could simply cross the river and hold out in a much more defensible Lysychansk. Retired Australian general Mick Ryan pondered the same today, noting that “the tactical and political necessity to hold out in Severodonetsk is questionable.”
Davydiv Brid
Igor Girkin was in charge of Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas during the 2014 war, and is a rabid Russian nationalist (Mark wrote more about him here). He remains well connected to Russian and separatist military sources. And what he’s saying in that tweet is that there was a tank breakthrough near the village of Davydiv Brid. (Ukrainian presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych separately confirmed a counter-offensive in the area.)
Russian telegram accounts claim 10-15 Ukrainian tanks made a river crossing into Davydiv Brid, then pushed south down that highway to the village of Bruskynske, where fighting is ongoing.
If those accounts are accurate, it’s not a particularly large attack—about the size of a Russian BTG (and we’ve spent all war mocking Russia’s under-resourced BTG-sized piecemeal attacks). Ukraine’s brand new tank brigade has 100 tanks, plus another 70 or so armored personnel carriers, so there’s a lot more combat power somewhere. This might be a small blocking action, designed to merely cut off supply lines to Russian forces to the north. But, if we can dream, Nova Kahkovka would be an even juicer target than Kherson itself.
Nova Kahkovka is the source of water for all of Crimea, posing a major problem for Russia if it were cut off again (like it was pre-war). Just threatening the town should require Russia reinforce it, “fixing” Russian troops desperately needed for Kherson’s defense and the offensives out east. Ukraine’s control of Crimea’s water supply would be a massive bargaining chip in any future negotiations. And depending on whether bridges survived any action, Ukraine would have a western approach to Melitopol—the logistical hub for supplies coming from Crimea to Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. It would be bye-bye “land bridge,” connecting Crimea to mainland Russia.
--------------
These Pirates Don't Sing "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum"
Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf on Friday, Iranian state media reported, shortly after Tehran warned it would take “punitive action” against Athens over the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) said in a statement on their official website on Friday that they seized two Greek oil tankers in the Arabian Gulf “due to violations that were committed.” The statement did not elaborate on what the “violations” were.
Greece responded by accusing Iran of “piracy” after the IRGC said they seized two Greek-flagged oil tankers in the Gulf Friday.
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil be done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
The mate was fixed by the bos'n's pike
The bos'n' brained with a marlin spike and
Cookey's throat was marked belike It
Had been gripped by fingers ten and
There they lay all good dead men like
Break o' day in a boozing ken__
Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum
--------------
They got rhythm, They got music. They got leaves, Who Could Ask For Anything More?
The indri of Madagascar, also called the babakoto, is one of the largest living lemurs, with a head-and-body length of about 25–28+1⁄2 in and a weight of between13 — 21 lb. It has a black and white coat and maintains an upright posture when climbing or clinging. It is monogamous and lives in small family groups, moving through the canopy, and is herbivorous, feeding mainly on leaves but also seeds, fruits, and flowers. The groups are quite vocal, communicating with other groups by singing, roaring, and other vocalizations. Besides humans, it is the only mammal found that can use rhythm.
It turned out that indri songs are structured in categorical 1:1 or 2:1 ratios. Although males and females tend to sing at different tempos, their beats remained categorical. This makes the indri the first known nonhuman mammal with rhythm.
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------