#Warsaw to Moscow

[white-cat-of-doom]

The 2004 cast recording for the Warsaw non-replica of CATS. As with most cast recordings, this one is highlights of the show.

There are a few photos of the rehearsals for the production in the booklet, along with cast and creative team credits.

I admittedly have not given this a listen yet, but it is great that a production like Warsaw had the opportunity to release a cast recording, especially it being a non-replica.

Now if I could only find the Versione Italiana CD easily.

[relaxedstyles]

Will Ukrainians now be classified as "people of color"?

[tomorrowusa]

Putin didn’t have a very victorious Victory Day.

Instead of Victory Day being the usual annual display of Russian power, Russia’s military in Red Square on Tuesday looked particularly flaccid. 

Analysis: Moscow's parade, intended to flaunt strength, instead reveals weakness

One tank. Some very young soldiers. And a distinctly warped message.

The display on Red Square for May 9, for decades a moment when Russia’s staggering sacrifice in the Great Patriotic War was sombrely honored, rang hollow. In 2023, it became a backdrop for the Kremlin head’s poor decision-making.

[ ... ]

The substance of the parade itself was also telling. There was only one tank: a T-34, a model made 89 years ago, before Putin was even born, raising the question of why they decided to include any tanks at all.

The level of hardware on display seemed thin: understandable perhaps for a military being mauled on a wide and relentless frontline. But again, it raises the enduring bind for the Kremlin.

They keep having to prove their strength, their might, yet have little actual might left to do it with. The exercise ends up being one of revealing weakness.

No jets flew by. The Kremlin itself had — according to its own press release —  come under drone attack just days earlier. All incompatible with Putin’s unique sales point —   that under him Russia is impregnable and respected again.

[ ... ]

Ukraine's air defense has proven potent — and Moscow less so.

It raises again the long-term question of this war: Is a weak Russia dangerous or just weak?

So here’s the only tank in Putin’s parade. It looks like it was borrowed from a museum.

Here’s why Putin’s parade had just one ancient tank and no jets.

And it wasn’t only Moscow where Putin’s Victory Day didn’t go well. Russia’s ambassador to Poland was faced with an installation marking Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukraine flags block Russian ambassador’s path on Victory Day

[redvanillabee]

The choice of setting continues to be…A Choice following last week’s events

[niveditaabaidya]

Poland's Ambassador Summoned To Moscow. #poland #warsaw #ukraine #kyiv #...

[andreablog2]

I hate LA, I hate Chicago, I hate New York, Boston and San Fransico. I hate Miami, I hate Minneapolis, I hate Indianapolis, I hate Saint Paul, I hate Vegas, I hate Nashville, I hate the dmv, I hate Orlando, I hate Columbus , I hate Dallas, I hate Houston and I hate st Louis…and San Luis Obispo, I hate Albany, I hate Philly, I hate every Springfield, camden and Essex. I don’t like Des Moines and i hate Fargo. Fuck London, fuck Paris, fuck Berlin, fuck Rome, fuck Madrid, fuck Manchester, fuck Milan, fuck Vienna, fuck Amsterdam, fuck Warsaw, fuck Munich, fuck Stockholm, fuck Moscow……..Fuck Newark

[girlactionfigure]

henmazzig

At least 15 synagogues have been set on fire—or attacked—since October 7: - Oct 17: El Hamma, Tunisia - Oct 18: Berlin, Germany - Nov 8: Montreal, Canada - Nov 18: Yerevan, Armenia - Nov 19: Lakewood, USA - Dec 11: Vienna, Austria - Feb 28: Sfax, Tunisia - Apr 5: Oldenburg, Germany - Apr 10: Moscow, Russia - May 1: Warsaw, Poland - May 17: Rouen, France - May 30: Vancouver, Canada - Jun 24: Dagestan, Russia - Jul 11: Obninsk, Russia - Aug 24: La Grande-Motte, France This doesn’t include the threats against Jewish schools, businesses, institutions, nor does it account for the vandalism of synagogues or the threats sent to Jewish centers. Now would be a good time to stand up with your Jewish friends, who are risking their life just to pray on Saturday morning, our holy day.

[odinsblog]

“I sometimes hear people say that Russia was forced to attack Ukraine because Ukrainians wanted to join NATO. Those people also often say that NATO promised it would not expand to the East, but later broke this promise. And this, allegedly, is the reason why Russia keeps attacking its neighbors.

If you have ever heard people say something like that, please know that this is not true. And it will take me less than five minutes to prove with facts that both statements are false.

First, let's have a look at the timeline of events.

Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2014 by occupying the Crimea peninsula. At that moment, Ukraine was a neutral country by law and expressed no intention of joining NATO whatsoever. For instance, during the Revolution of Dignity, the protesters insisted on Ukraine joining the EU, not NATO. It was only in autumn 2014, after many months of war, that Ukraine abandoned neutrality.

So what came first? Russia attacking Ukraine, or Ukraine wanting to join NATO?

The answer is clear.

Had Russia not threatened Ukraine's existence, there would be no reason for our country to seek collective security. So please do not repeat the lie that, I quote, “Russia attacked because Ukraine wanted to join NATO,” end of quote. This does not correspond with the facts.

Now let's have a look at the story of NATO allegedly promising not to expand to the East.

If you ask people who say this, when exactly, such a promise was made and who made it, most of them will not be able to provide a clear answer. Spoiler, because no such promise has ever been made and the whole story is a Russian fairy tale.

Those more sophisticated will tell you that the promise was made to the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. They may even refer to the 1990 U.S.-Soviet negotiations on the reunification of Germany. Again, let’s consider the timeline.

In summer 1990, when these talks were held, the Soviet analog of NATO, the Warsaw Pact, still existed. Its dissolution, let alone the Soviet Union's dissolution, was not on the cart. No one even talked about it or imagined it. It was only next year, in 1991 that the Warsaw Pact, and later the USSR, quite unexpectedly ceased to exist.

Now explain to me just how the very issue could be even discussed in the summer of 1990. It is not surprising that Mikhail Gorbachev later himself refuted this falsehood. When asked by a journalist whether any such promise had been made, he said this was a myth.

Now let's look at it from another perspective. How could NATO even promise anything like that?

Initially, it is not NATO that decides which country joins it. Countries themselves need to want it. And actually, the membership criteria are very difficult. It requires a lot of political will and reform. All the NATO members that joined it after 1991, really wanted to be part of it.

Their people wanted this.

And here comes the most uncomfortable question for Russia: Why were all of the nations that had been part of the Soviet Union or the Socialist bloc so eager and desperate to join NATO?

Well, maybe because in three decades, Russia has invaded or incited war in at least three of its neighbors, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. At the same time, Russia has not dared to invade any of its NATO neighbors.

Do you see the pattern?

The only reason for countries in the vicinity of Russia to seek NATO membership has always been and remains the need to protect their people from Russia.

Therefore, Moscow has only itself to blame for the fact that all of the central European and Baltic nations ran away from it and hid under the NATO umbrella as quickly as they could.

Do not let Russian officials or their supporters in the West fool you. Russia attacked Ukraine not because NATO expanded to the East, or because Ukraine wanted to join NATO. Russia attacked because it denies Ukraine's right to exist and wants to conquer our land and kill our people. It is through our shared strength that we can and must stop Russia and put an end to its aggressive plans for the rest of Europe.

For this to happen, keep supporting Ukraine and don't buy Russian lies.”

👉🏿 https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/11/06/did-nato-promise-not-to-enlarge-gorbachev-says-no/

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/686191406300184576/appeasement-does-not-work-appeasement-didnt

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/684530801484922880/believing-putins-reasons-for-invading-ukraine

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/742088177664344064/violated-agreements-1991-russia-cosigns

[majorhortonisonleaveinlondon]

An updated (April 3, 2024 7:48am pst) list of WW2 movies and TV shows in chronological order

thought out WW2 -(Imitation Game 2014) -(The Book Thief 2013) -(The Zookeeper’s Wife 2017) -(The Pianist 2002)

1937

October 26, 1937 Defence of Sihang Warehouse (The Eight Hundred 2020)

December 13, 1937 Nanjing Massacre - (John Rabe 2009) - (The Flowers of War 2011)

1938

Fall of 1938 (Munich – The Edge of War 2022)

1939

Summer 1939 (Six Minutes to Midnight 2020)

September 3, 1939 King George VI first wartime speech (King’s Speech 2010)

September 17, 1939, Soviet Union Invitation of Poland (The Way Back 2010)

November 30, 1939 Soviet Union invades Finland (The Winter War 1989)

1940

April 9, 1940 Operation Weserübung -(April 9th [movie] 2015) -(King’s Choice 2016) -(Narvik 2022) -(War Sailors 2023)

April 27, 1940 (Into the White 2011)

June 4, 1940 -Churchill gives “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech (Darkest Hour 2017) -Dunkirk Evaluation (Dunkirk 2017)

July 10-October 31, 1940 Battle of Britain (Battle of Britain 1969)

1941

May 1941 (Call to Spy 2019)

June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa -(Fortress of War [The Brest Fortres 2010) -(Defiance 2008)

September 8, 1941, Siege of Leningrad begins. -(Battle of Leningrad [Saving Leningrad] 2019) -(Leningrad 2009)

October 1941 Battle of Moscow (The Last Frontier [The Final Stand] 2020)

October 1941 Battle of Sevastopol (Battle for Sevastopol 2015)

December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970)

December 8, 1941 Japan invades Shanghai International Settlement (Empire of the Sun 1987)

1942

January 20, 1942, Wannsee Conference (Conspiracy 2001)

February 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Greyhound 2020)

February 1942 (The Railway Man 2013)

February 19, 1942, Bombing of Darwin (Australia 2008)

Spring 1942 (U-571 2000)

April 18, 1942 The Doolittle Raid (In Harm’s Way 2018)

June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway (Midway 2019)

1942 Summer Occupation of Jersey Island (Another Mother’s Son 2017 Prime)

July, 10 1942 Easy Company Trains in Camp Tocca (Band of Brothers 01x10 Currahee 2001)

July 21, 1942, Kokoda Track Campaign (Kokoda: 39th Battalion 2006)

August 7, 1942, 1st Marine Division land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 1 Guadalcanal/Leckie 2010)

August 19, 1942, Dieppe Raid (Dieppe 1993)

August 23, 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins (Stalingrad 1993)

September 1942 Formation of Troop 30 (Age of Heroes 2011)

September 18, 1942, 7th Marines Land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 2 Basilone 2010)

Autumn of 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Das Boot 1981)

October 18, 1942, Operation Grouse (Heavy Water War Ep. 2 2015)

November 8, 1942, Operation Torch (The Big Red One 1980)

November 10-17 1942 Vasily Zaytsev kills 225 German Soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates 2001)

December 1942 The 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal is relieved (The Pacific Ep. 3 Melbourne 2010)

December 15, 1942, Battle of Mount Austen (Thin Red Line 1998)

1943

March 13-14 1943, liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto -(Schindler’s List 1993)

April 17, 1943 Operation Mincemeat (Operation Mincemeat 2021)

April 19, 1943, beginning of the Warsaw Uprising (Uprising 2001)

May 4, 1943, Final Mission of The Memphis Bell (Memphis Bell 1990)

May 15, 1943, Salamo Arouch and his family arrive in Auschwitz Concentration Camp (Triumph of the Spirit 1989)

May 27, 1943 Louis Zamperini plane crashes on a search and rescue mission (Unbroken 2014)

May 30, 1943 first All-American Girls Professional Baseball League game played (A League of Their Own 1992)

June 25, 1943, 100th Bomb Group flew its first 8th Air Force combat mission (Master of the Air: Part One 2024)

July 1943 -(The Tuskegee Airmen 1995) -(The Liberator Ep. 1 2020) -(Heavy Water War Ep. 5 2015)

July 16, 1943, The 100th Bomb Group bombed U-Boats in Tronbhdim (Masters of the Air: Part Two 2024)

August 17, 1943 the 4th Bomb Wing of the 100th Bomb Group bombed Regenberg (Masters of the Air: Part Three 2024)

September 16, 1943, William Quinn and Charles Bailey leave Belgium (Masters of the Air: Part Four 2024)

September 18, 1943 John ‘Bucky’ Egan returns from leave to join the mission to bomb Munster (Master of the Air: Part Five 2024

October 14, 1943, John ‘Bucky’ Egan interrogated at Dulag Lut, Frankfurt Germany (Masters of the Air: Part Six 2024)

December 26, 1943, 1st Marine Division lands on Cape Gloucester (The Pacific Ep. 4 Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika 2010)

1944

January 22, 1944, Battle of Anzio -(The Liberator Ep. 2 2020) -(Red Tails 2012) -(Anzio 1968)

February 20, 1944, Hydro Ferry bombing (Heavy Water War Ep. 6 2015)

March 7, 1944, Stalag Luft III Sagan, Germany, Germans find the concealed radio Bucky was using to learn news of the War (Master of the Air: Part Seven 2024)

March 24/25, 1944 Allied Mass Escape of Stalag Luft III (The Great Escape 1963)

June 1944 (Cross of Iron 1977)

June 6, 1944, 00:48 & 01:40 First airborne troops begin to land on Normandy (Band of Brothers 02x10 Day of Days 2001)

June 6, 1944, 06:30 D-Day landings -(Storming Juno 2010)

-(Saving Private Ryan 1998)

June 10, 1944, Easy Company Takes Carentan (Band of Brothers 03x10 Carentan 2001)

June 15-July 9, 1944 Battle of Saipan

-(Windtalkers 2002)

-(Oba: The Last Samurai 2011)

July, 1944 The Monuments Men land in Normandy (The Monuments Men 2014)

July 20, 1944 Operation Valkyrie (Valkyrie 2008)

August 12, 1944, The 332nd Fighter Group attack Radar stations in Southern France (Masters of the Air: Part Eight 2024)

September 15, 1944, U.S. Marines landed on Peleliu at 08:32 (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 16, 1944, U.S Marines take Peleliu Airfield (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 17, 1944, Operation Market Garden

-(Band of Brothers 04x10 Replacements 2001)

-(A Bridge Too Far 1977)

October 2, 1944 Battle of Scheldt (Forgotten Battle 2021)

October 12, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, Assault on Bloody Nose Ridge (the Pacific Ep. 7 Peleliu Hills 2010)

October 13, 1944, Rovaniemi public buildings were destroyed (Sisu 2022)

October 14, 1944, Erwin Rommel is arrested (Rommel 2012 Prime)

October 22/23, 1944, 2100 – 0200 Operation Pegasus (Band of Brothers 05x10 Crossroads 2001)

November 1944 middle of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest (When Trumpets Fade 1998)

December 16, 1944, Battle of the Bulge (Band of Brothers 06x10 Bastogne 2001)

December 1944 (Hart’s War 2002)

1945

January 2, 1945 (The Liberator Ep 3 2020)

January 10, 1945 (Attack Force Z)

January 13, 1945, Battle of Foy (Band of Brothers 07x10 The Breaking Point 2001)

January 30, 1945 The Raid at Cabanatuan (The Great Raid 2002)

February 14, 1945, David Webb rejoins the 506th in Haguenau (Band of Brothers 08x10 The Last Patrol 2001)

February 19, 1945, Battle of Iwo Jima starts. - (Letters from Iwo Jima 2006) - (The Pacific Ep. 8 Iwo Jima 2010) - (Flags of our Fathers 2006)

March 21, 1945, Operation Carthage (The Bombardment 2021)

April, 1945 (Fury 2014)

April 5, 1945, 506th Finds abandoned Concentration Camp (Band of Brothers 09x10 Why We Fight 2001)

April 26, 1945, near the end of the war in Europe (A Woman in Berlin 2008)

April 29, 1945, 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau Concentration camp (The Liberator Ep. 4 2020)

May 2, 1945, Fall of Berlin -(Downfall 2004) -(Jojo Rabbit 2019)

May 1945 Battle of Okinawa -(Hacksaw Ridge 2016) -(The Pacific Ep. 9 Okinawa 2010)

May 7, 1945, Germany Surrenders V-E Day - (Master of the Air: Part Nine 2024) - (Band of Brothers 10x10 Points 2001)

July 30, 1945, USS Indianapolis sank. (USS Indianapolis 2016)

August 15, 1945, The Empire of Japan surrenders end of the War. -(Oppenheimer 2023) -(The Pacific Part Ten: Home 2010)

September 11, 1945 US Military search and Arrest Japanese Leaders for war crimes (Emperor 2012)

1946 April 29, 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (Tokyo Trial 2016)

[mesetacadre]

Stalin’s radio speech seems to have reached all Europe on the day that it was delivered. In spite of German attempts to suppress it, it was posted and circulated in all the oppressed lands. Many letters of acknowledgment reached Moscow from Bulgaria. In Serbia and Croatia, the statement that the Red Army was fighting for all Europeans enslaved by fascism was especially stressed. The people of Carpathian Ukraine – the eastern tip of Czechoslovakia given by Hitler to Hungary – organized guerrillas, attacked the German airdromes on their territory and claimed to have destroyed 27 German planes, large quantities of gasoline, and many trains loaded with German troops. They sent a report about it to Moscow and added: “We consider our country as one of those territories referred to by Stalin as ‘temporarily occupied’.” How the people in Poland learned of the Soviet-Polish alliance signed in London is unknown. The German press did not mention it and death was the penalty for listening to a foreign broadcast. But the day after the agreement was signed, the body of a commander of a Nazi Storm detachment was found in the street in Lodz. On his chest a note was pinned by a dagger reading: “The Soviet-Polish Treaty has entered into force.” Long before any actual Polish battalions could be organized in the U.S.S.R. to fight at the front, guerrilla actions spread widely through Poland itself. Soviet planes are reported to be dropping ammunition to thousands of armed Polish soldiers who had been hiding in the forests and swamps for nearly two years. A manifesto from Poland smuggled to London disclosed that more than two thousand organized groups were carrying on active opposition to the Nazi war machine. Thirteen illegal Polish daily newspapers keep the population informed about their activities. Through these channels the appeal issued by the Moscow “Rally of Slav Peoples” was posted in Warsaw and Cracow and circulated throughout the villages only a few hours after it was made. This rally appealed for unity of all the Slav peoples against Hitler, a unity based on the equality of Slav nations and not on the old Pan-Slav concept of Russian dominance.

The Soviets Expected It, Anna Louise Strong, 1941

[white-cat-of-doom]

how many versions of cats were released on cd? I have the obc and olc versions so I was wondering if you knew what other versions there were, and if possible where to find them :D many thanks!

Hello Anon,

There are eighteen cast recordings:

Original London 1981 (both 2CD full recording and 1CD highlights)

Original Broadway 1982 (both 2CD full recording and 1CD highlights)

Vienna 1983 (1CD highlights)

Budapest 1984 (1CD highlights)*

Australia (Sydney) 1985 (2CD full recording)

Japan (Osaka) 1985 (2CD full recording)

Hamburg 1986 (2CD full recording)

Amsterdam 1987 (1CD highlights)

Paris 1989 (2CD full recording)

Japan (Nagoya) 1989 (2CD full recording)

Mexico 1991 (1CD highlights)

Warsaw 2004 (1CD highlights)*

Prague 2004 (1CD highlights)*

Dutch Tour 2006 (1CD highlights)

Italian Tour 2009 (1CD highlights)*

Japan (Tokyo) 2019 (2CD full recording)

2019 Movie (1CD highlights)

Vienna Revival 2021 (2CD full recording)

*Non-replica production, if that matters

In addition, there are a number of promo CDs that include a handful of tracks from the casts at the time of release:

Hamburg 1996 (3 track promo, assuming audio taken from 1986 cast recording)

Japan (Tokyo) 1996 (3 track promo)

CATS 1998 Elaine Paige (3 track promo; 'Memory' included, and two other non-CATS songs)

Japan (Osaka) 2001 (4 track promo)

Madrid 2003 (1 track 'Memory' promo)

Moscow 2005 (8 track promo?, two versions; both have 4 instrumental tracks)

Dutch Tour 2006 (3 track promo, audio from 2006 cast recording)

German Tent Tour 2011 (3 track promo)

Of everything listed above, the only ones I do not own are the Madrid 2003 'Memory' promo, Prague 2004 cast recording (a very rare CD that was scrapped before moving to production, only test/promo copies exist), and Moscow 2005 (another very rare promo release, only found with the press packages). Who knows if I can ever get my hands on them.

In terms of where to find them, the OLC, OBC, and Vienna 1983 are still being produced today and can be easily found new online, through Amazon or eBay (or better yet, in-person at your local music store!), and so is the Budapest 1984 CD as well (at least from what I can tell, it is always readily available brand new from Hungary). The 1989 and 2019 Japanese cast recordings are also still readily available brand new from Japan through the Shiki webstore. The 2019 movie highlights is also very easy to find, considering it just was released. The Vienna 2021 recording is still available from the label's website (at 45% right now!), but they only ship within Europe.

All the others can be found second-hand to varying degrees of ease online (i.e., eBay). The 1980s cast recordings are not too difficult, with Hamburg being fairly easily found, but as you start moving into lesser known (and shorter running) productions, it becomes more difficult to find them. Some are extremely uncommon, and I purchased the only copy I have even seen go for sale throughout the years, and I am still waiting for the chance to get the few I do not have.

Happy hunting to you, Anon!

[mariacallous]

Russia’s renewed and much broader assault on Ukraine’s energy sector this spring, which has now destroyed roughly half of the country’s electricity generation capacity, represents an explosive blow to Kyiv’s resilience, civilian morale, and industrial production. What’s worse, the ongoing Russian attacks on the vulnerable energy system offer few prospects of a quick fix that could right the situation before Ukraine enters its third winter of the war.

Since early this year, Russia has set out to finish the job it failed to complete in early 2023—the destruction of Ukraine’s civilian energy sector, especially the power plants that provide light and heat for millions of Ukrainians.

Beginning in March, Russia has specifically targeted Ukraine’s biggest power plants in six massive waves of missile and drone strikes, wiping out about 9 gigawatts of electricity generation, or half the country’s total. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a reconstruction conference in Berlin on Tuesday that Russian strikes have wiped out 80 percent of Ukraine’s big coal- and gas-fired power plants and one-third of its hydroelectric facilities.

Especially as a result of the last two big attacks, in early May and early June, Ukraine has had to ration electricity for industrial and residential consumers, leaving many with power for only short periods of time; some cities, such as Kharkiv, on the country’s eastern front line are virtually powerless. Russia’s assaults, which the U.K. ambassador to the United Nations has argued are in part an attempt to terrorize civilians, are even a subject for the U.N. Security Council.

As bad as Russia’s attacks have been so far, they could get worse. Russia has already hit some of Ukraine’s natural gas storage facilities—underground bunkers that are used to store fuel both for domestic needs and to backstop European consumption. Further Russian strikes there could expand the pain of energy attacks beyond Ukraine’s borders, right at a time when Europe is scrambling to find a solution for gas transit flows across Ukraine into landlocked Eastern European countries, especially Austria. 

The other big worry is that Russia, after having already destroyed Ukraine’s main sources of baseload power generation, will finally knock its remaining three nuclear power plants off the grid. (Russia has since the early days of the war occupied Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, using it as a shield for its occupation of south-central Ukraine, but the station—Europe’s largest nuclear facility—is in shutdown and not generating power.)

“It sounds mad to attack the nuclear power stations, but Russia could hit the transformers near the nuclear plants. If they did this, the power system will lose its unity, and the country will be split into different energy islands, some with spotty power and some entirely without,” said Andrian Prokip, an energy expert at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute in Kyiv.

The undeniable success of this year’s Russian assault is a sharp contrast to its ultimately failed bid in the first winter of the war to freeze Ukraine into submission. Russia has thrown more ordnance at more vulnerable targets this time around, leading to longer-lasting damage that will be far costlier to repair. Only after the big strikes in early May did Ukraine have to start rationing power to residential and industrial consumers. There is concern among big industry, such as the country’s once-vaunted steel and iron industry, that the power outages could kneecap what appeared to be a miraculous wartime recovery of industrial output.

“The difference is that before they mainly targeted transmission lines and substations and now they are destroying power generation plants,” said Slawomir Matuszak, a Ukraine specialist at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw. “The previous attacks were relatively easy to recover from—a question of days or weeks. But you’re looking at one to two years now for a real rebuild, if that even makes sense, because they can simply be attacked again.”

For Ukraine’s leaders, the renewed Russian strikes pose a threat to the country’s already strained ability to sustain years of unremitting bombing assaults, social and economic disruption, and the increased mobilization of service members. The new campaign has redoubled Ukraine’s desperation to bolster its air defenses in order to protect what’s left of its energy system. 

“Russia’s goal hasn’t changed—they seek to destroy our energy system and use it as a weapon against our citizens,” said Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian parliamentarian who leads the pro-European party Holos and who described the constant disruptions to daily life from the power outages that come atop Russia’s ceaseless use of stand-off weapons to batter civilian residences across the country, including her own. (Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia had launched 135 glide bombs in just the last day.)

“So we are saying, get us the F-16s, get us the Mirages, get us to this luxury point where we can go to bed and know that we will wake up in the morning,” Rudik said, referring to U.S.- and French-made fighter jets. “In Ukraine, we do not have this luxury.”

The increased pace of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure has also injected fresh urgency into the question of how and when to leverage Moscow’s frozen assets for Ukraine’s assistance. U.S. and European leaders are working on a plan to turn the proceeds of frozen Russian cash into a large loan for Ukraine. For those on the receiving end of Russian attacks, even discussions such as those at the reconstruction conference in Berlin seem too focused on rebuilding Ukraine after the war, rather than reinforcing Ukrainians’ will to resist now.

“We need the money now,” Rudik said. “We have a simple task before us: to survive the summer and get through the winter somehow.”

Some Western countries are heeding Ukraine’s pleas for more air defense, which could help protect both cities and critical infrastructure from Russian attacks, especially after the devastation unleashed in the May and June strikes. Germany is now mulling the dispatch of a fourth Patriot air defense battery, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz urging allies to do more; Italy is preparing to send more air defense systems of its own, while even recalcitrant countries such as Spain are sending more air defense ammunition. Late last week, the Biden administration included more air defense missiles in its latest aid package for Ukraine.

Getting more air defense is a necessary but hardly sufficient condition to begin rebuilding Ukraine’s battered electricity sector. Even at big plants that had an air defense umbrella, such as Kyiv’s critical Trypilla generating station, Ukrainian forces simply ran out of ammo under Russia’s big assault in April; the plant was demolished. But even with better air defenses, energy experts doubt more than 2 to 3 gigawatts of power generation capacity could be rebuilt before winter. That would still leave a big shortfall in power generation, not to mention the ongoing damage to combined heat-and-power plants that provide central heating during Ukraine’s brutal winters.

One short-term, but expensive, fix would be to rely on more electricity imports from Europe. Just before this year’s Russian assault began, Ukraine was actually exporting excess electricity production to Europe—but that was soon reversed. Today, Ukraine can import about 1.7 gigawatts of electricity from Europe and in a pinch can even get more than 2 gigawatts of power. The problem is that imported electricity is more expensive than the subsidized power Ukraine generated at home, exacerbating the country’s already strained finances. 

The other solution, long broached in Ukraine, is to build more small, decentralized power plants, including small gas-fired turbines and renewable sources such as solar and wind power. The push for more renewables has actually increased during the war, and especially in the wake of this spring’s Russian onslaught, as Ukraine seeks new sources of power generation. 

On Tuesday, members of the G-7+ Energy Coordination Group and Ukraine’s government outlined plans to make the electricity sector more resilient, including through more distributed generation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday at the Berlin conference that Brussels is raising money for urgent power sector repairs as well as a host of small-scale generators. “The aim is to help decentralize the power system and thus increase resilience,” she said.

The biggest advantage of replacing hulking, centralized power plants with a lot of smaller, widely scattered sources of power is that they are a lot harder to blow up with scarce Russian missiles.

“If you have sources of microgeneration, and lots of them, then Russia will not have enough missiles to hit all of them, even if they knew where they were,” Prokip said. “So distributed generation is the right way to go, but the government didn’t take enough steps to do this when it could.”

[albiclalepsza]

Just remembered that there is a Polish version of the Metro universe and it's really funny because like, if you have ever heard anything about the original series you know that it takes place in the Moscow metro, which is gigantic and pretty fucking complicated

Every time I'm rereading these books and the name of the station pops up I search for it on the map to place it somewhere and I can never remember which stations are supposed to be next to each other, even after a dozen readthroughs. It's a fantastic, complex setting which gives the author so many opportunities to put cool shit in this world.

Now, there is a book series in Poland where the concept is the same as in Glukhovsky's books, but it takes place in the Warsaw metro. And the contrast between the two is so funny.

It's so tinyyyy. I loved these books as a kid and I read them years before the original series, but compared to the Moscow metro this is just like a younger sibling copying the older one in an adorable way

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Andrew Roth at The Guardian:

Donald Trump’s choice of JD Vance as his vice-presidential pick has reignited fears in Europe that he would pursue a transactional “America first” foreign policy that could culminate in the US pushing for Ukraine to acquiesce to Vladimir Putin and sue for peace with Russia. “It’s bad for us but it’s terrible news for [Ukraine],” said one senior European diplomat in Washington. “[Vance] is not our ally.” Foreign diplomats and observers have frequently called Trump’s actual policies a “black box,” saying that was impossible to know for certain what the unpredictable leader would do when in power. Some have soothed themselves by suggesting that names tipped for top positions, such as former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, would maintain a foreign policy status quo while Trump focuses on domestic affairs.

But a prospective Trump administration now has a much more energetic surrogate who will fuel Trump’s skepticism towards Ukraine and Europe, while urging on the party’s aggressive trade and foreign policy elsewhere around the globe. “Senator Vance was one of the leading opponents of the new assistance package to Ukraine last spring and has expressed indifference to what happens in that war,” said Michael McFaul, director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a former ambassador to Russia. “By choosing Vance as his running mate, Trump has clarified a very clear choice for American voters in November on foreign policy.” “President Biden’s foreign policy strategy radically contrasts with Mr Trump’s approach,” he said. “Biden and Harris have promoted democracy and stood up to autocrats. Trump and Vance have paid no attention to advancing democracy abroad and instead have embraced autocrats. The contrast in foreign approaches embraced by these two presidential candidates has never been clearer in my lifetime.”

In public, Vance has criticized US aid packages to Ukraine and pushed for negotiations with Russia, although Ukraine has said it did not wish to hold talks. He has accused the Biden administration of “micromanaging” Israel’s war in Gaza, and said that America should “enable Israel to actually finish the job”. He has advocated containment of China, saying that America was “spread too thin” in Europe and pushing for aggressive trade restrictions and intellectual property protections against China. [...] Vance also said he believed the Ukraine war “will end in a negotiated peace”, a view that appeared to be backed up on Tuesday by the Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, who has been traveling on a rogue “peace mission” to Moscow and Mar-a-Lago, wrote that Trump after the elections will begin acting as a “peace broker immediately”, even before his inauguration.

Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán are happy at the news that Donald Trump tapped anti-Ukraine Senator J.D. Vance to be on the ticket.

If the Trump/Vance ticket wins, Ukraine is done for and Russia would terrorize the Baltics and some of the former Warsaw Pact nations.

A vote for Biden (or Harris) would keep Ukraine strong, so vote Biden/Harris!

[beardedmrbean]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO member Poland paid tribute Thursday to its historic victory over the Red Army by honoring fallen Poles and showing off modern tanks and other equipment that it hopes will deter the threat it sees in modern-day Russia.

A parade featuring Polish troops joined by some U.S. and other allied soldiers took place in Warsaw, the Polish capital, on the Armed Forces holiday, with tanks rolling down a major riverside thoroughfare and fighter jets flying overhead as thousands of waving people watched on.

“We must arm ourselves and build such potential that no one will ever dare to attack us,” President Andrzej Duda said ahead of the parade, the culmination of state commemorations.

Some of Poland’s new weapons have replaced Soviet- and Russian-made equipment sent to neighboring Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its democratic neighbor in 2022. Since Poland broke free of Moscow’s control 35 years ago and then joined NATO, it has worked to modernize its army.

Those efforts moved into higher gear after Russia under President Vladimir Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, and then again in 2022, with fears heightened all along the strategic stretch of NATO’s eastern flank — from the Baltic nations to Poland to Romania.

“Muscovites always threatened the peace here,” said Radoslaw Prokop, a 49-year-old who watched the parade. “For hundreds of years.”

U.S., British and Romanian soldiers riding in tanks with their national flags waving joined their Polish allies.

Jacek Szelenbaum, a 60-year-old truck driver, was among the thousands of spectators. His grandfather was forced to serve in a mounted infantry division of the Russian czar in the early 20th century, the waning years of a long Russian occupation over Warsaw and the surrounding region of Poland.

He said he realizes the parade is mostly for show but is still encouraged when he sees the military having more modern weaponry as the years go by.

“We feel a bit better because we see this good equipment, and we feel the presence of our allies, Americans, British, Romanian and others,” Szelenbaum said. “It’s necessary in this situation because Poland could never defend itself alone. Only in an alliance can we manage against Putin.”

The holiday falls on the anniversary of the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, in which Polish troops defeated Russian Bolshevik forces advancing on Europe, halting their western march.

The war in Ukraine has reminded Poland of the enduring threat it has long faced on the flat plains of central Europe wedged between larger, more powerful — and often aggressive — neighbors.

Even membership in NATO has not eased the sense of threat after Russia’s attack on Ukraine and a migration crisis that erupted in 2021 along Poland’s border with Belarus. Warsaw saw a sudden surge that year in large-scale migration from the Middle East and Africa as a form of hybrid warfare organized by Moscow and Minsk.

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote a letter to soldiers saying the holiday is a reminder of “the most glorious episodes of the Polish army, of the price of independence and freedom.”

“On this day, we pay tribute to all the heroes who fought for the homeland from the dawn of our country,” he added.

Russia’s war against neighboring Ukraine and the Poland-Belarus border crisis have led many Poles to fear what the Kremlin might do next, should it succeed in Ukraine.

Poland signed a $10 billion deal earlier this week with the U.S. government for 96 Apache attack helicopters.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said the Apaches, with their modern technology, mark a milestone for Poland’s efforts to modernize its military, and would allow Abrams tanks and F-35 aircraft to be used to their full capacities.

[catgirlcommissar]

"Zhou Enlai spent the month of December in a series of official visits to India, Burma, Pakistan, but he was back to visit Warsaw, Budapest, and Moscow in January. "I told Enlai to give Khrushchev an earful," Mao said. Enlai did.

A heated argument took place. Zhou castigated "great-Russian chauvinism" and "big-power complex" to denounce the actions of the U.S.S.R., particularly the treatment of Vietnam as a pawn in the game of "contention and collusion" which the U.S.S.R. was engaging in with the United States.

Khrushchev was outraged. "You cannot speak to me like that. After all, I come from the working class, while you are a bourgeois by birth." Zhou was silent for a while, then replied, "True, comrade, but we have something in common, you and I. We are both traitors to our class."

The Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the making of modern China