#troop 178

[vintagecamping]

A group of exhausted Boy Scouts stare endlessly into the fire after a long day of activities.

Troop 178

1949

[the-archlich]

Yuan Shao and his sons (+ Gao Gan), and also Yuan Shu, are widely. known. Were there any other important Yuans during the 3 Kingdoms period?

Here's the simplest way I can explain the Yuan family.

The common ancestor is Yuan Tang, grandfather of the Sanping warlords. The family was already powerful when he came of age, and they were known for their scholarship. He followed the family tradition, was admired for his good Confucian virtues, and encouraged the use of local histories to advocate for proper conduct.

During Emperor Shun's time, he became the director of the Secretariat and was closely affiliated with the Grand General Liang Shang. He remained closely associated with the Liang regime throughout the tenure of Liang Ji and engaged in some petty abuses of power. Eventually he was made one of the Nine Ministers and a marquis. Under Emperor Huan he served in all three offices of the Excellencies and left office due to unfavorable portents in 153. He passed away not long after that.

Yuan Tang had twelve sons but we really only need to note three in particular. The eldest surviving son was Cheng, who inherited the family estate. He was a trusted adviser to the dictatorial regent Liang Ji. He died relatively young and without an heir, so the family estate passed to his younger brother Yuan Feng.

Yuan Feng was widely respected as a generous and honorable man. He was liked by both the Liang and eunuch factions, so he prospered under both. He seems to have had some military pretentions. Although he became one of the Nine Ministers in 168, he was transferred to be one of the commanders of the Northern Army. In 178 he was made one of the Excellencies, but the next year he resigned to serve as Bearer of the Gilded Mace, head of Luoyang's police. He died not long after this.

Feng had three sons but we don't need to say much about them. The eldest was Ji, who inherited his estate. He doesn't appear to have been as ambitious as his younger brothers but presumably participated in their schemes. He became one of the Nine Ministers under Dong Zhuo in 190 but was then executed along with most of the family when his brothers revolted.

Feng's second son, by a concubine, was Shao. He was posthumously adopted to Cheng to maintain his lineage. Shu was Feng's youngest son. All of the Yuans you're thinking of are from this branch of the family.

The last of this second generation is Yuan Wei, a younger sibling of Cheng and Feng. He is probably the most important member of the family (at this specific point) people don't generally know about. Along with his brothers he prospered under the Liang and eunuch regimes. He eventually became one of the Nine Ministers and, in 172, Excellency of Works. He stepped down from this position for several years, serving as one of the Nine Ministers again, and then returned to being Excellency of Works in 182. By 189 he was also given the (at that point entirely honorary) position General of the Rear. Upon the death of Emperor Ling, he was made Grand Tutor to Liu Bian. Though theoretically very powerful, Yuan Wei does not appear to have exerted a strong influence. Instead he acted to rubber stamp the activities of He Jin and Dong Zhuo. Nevertheless, when his nephews revolted against Dong Zhuo, Wei was killed along with the rest of his family in Luoyang.

We also know of two in the third generation who are particularly noteworthy. Their fathers are unspecified siblings of Cheng, Feng, and Wei. Yuan Yi is described as a cousin of Shao and Shu and was evidently admired by Cao Cao. He served as the magistrate of Chang'an but was made head of Shanyang by Dong Zhuo in 190. Yi joined his cousins in revolting against Dong Zhuo and might have expected to lead the Suanzao camp. When the family split, he sided with Shao. In 193 he led troops to secure Yang province against Shu but was defeated. He was killed in a mutiny after that. Aside from Yuan Wei, he's probably the other most important relative who gets looked over.

Yuan Yin was another cousin, but he sided with Shu. Of note he was made head of Danyang in 195 but was driven out by Sun Ce in 197. Following Shu's death in 199 he led the family to seek shelter with Liu Xun and seems to have retired after that.

[sanct1f1ed]

I posted 4,846 times in 2022

848 posts created (17%)

3,998 posts reblogged (83%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@bugsarecool

@ultragreedier

@taintedlazarus

@wayneradiotv

@transexualfaggot

I tagged 2,753 of my posts in 2022

Only 43% of my posts had no tags

#bluposting - 977 posts

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#prev - 51 posts

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#long post - 22 posts

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Longest Tag: 140 characters

#oh yeah one of my friends touched my hair to see if it was fried and i recoiled from the pain ln my scalp 😭😭 it was so bad for like 2 days

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

ok my turn, PLEASE INTERACT IF:

you always have captions on

you're a dog person (bonus point if you only have a cat while being one)

you're mspec or aspec (2 points if both)

you prefer this format over the comma one

you make jokes about christianity ("my brother in christ", etc) without being christian

you add others' image descriptions to your original post

you're a past theater/choir kid

you're a picky eater

you like roguelike games, but are TERRIBLE at them

you use steamunlocked

81 notes - Posted March 14, 2022

#4

HEY! ALL OF BIOSHOCK IS FREE ON THE EPIC GAMES STORE FROM NOW (5/26/22) TO JUNE 2ND! DOWNLOAD THE EPIC GAMES DESKTOP APP AND GOGOGO GET YOUR GAMES

84 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

#3

when i was in girl scouts they took my troop of 3 kids to john's incredible pizza and they were like "make a pizza" so the other kids made pizzas with slightly unorthodox combinations meanwhile i continually stacked layers of cheese and pepperoni and sausage and cheese and pepperoni and sausage and i distinctly remember it being very tall and all the little girls at the table being like "that's so tall that's not going to work" and i just kept making my tower of babel and waiting for god to finally strike me down and there was only one layer of sauce. and my father was desperately trying to stop me but he failed. and when they popped it in the oven it shrank down into a miserable little thing and i was convinced they had swapped out my incredible pizza with someone else's but then i cut it open and i saw my glorious layers of pepperoni and sausage and cheese. and i bit into it and it sucked ass.

[ID: A banner with the text "This post was made by a man" (in all caps) over the trans flag. End ID.]

178 notes - Posted June 28, 2022

#2

See the full post

349 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

ok. big spoons or small spoons. [as in silverware]. and if youre autistic or not

8,315 notes - Posted August 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thelaithlyworm]

I posted 2,772 times in 2022

That's 118 more posts than 2021!

301 posts created (11%)

2,471 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@llywela13

@regionalpancake

@procrastinatorproject

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@dduane

I tagged 1,530 of my posts in 2022

Only 45% of my posts had no tags

#dmbj - 178 posts

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Longest Tag: 110 characters

#sometimes you just need to see a girl in an increasingly ragged dress beat the complete shit out of bad people

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I Am Having A Very Bad Day

Any pictures of fluffy animals would be most welcome.

49 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

#4

Love Like The Galaxy is killing me. I’m going to be dead before this is over.

*spoiler*

Okay, so Heroine’s marriage to Cupcake has been cancelled due to external reasons and it wasn’t easy for any of them but Heroine made a, like, sweet and honourable choice and is now getting pilloried in public for it because people are shits. I mean really. Shits. I’m weirdly invested in how Cupcake and his new bride’s life is going to turn out. She was kinda objectionable when introduced but she’s gone through a lot and I hope the pair of them can make things work. (The General gets bonus points for being there, all quietly supportive for Heroine, and saying (even though he desperately wants her to withdraw so he can marry her), ‘I’m not going to advise you. I know whatever choice you make will be the right one.’ and just quietly killing me.)

But!

The General has lost So Much Social Credit of late. First, by pressuring her family to let him marry Heroine - and he had the Emperor right there, pressuring away. (Look, I know, and the Emperor knows, that those two will be a good match. But it’s an inauspicious start which reminds everyone involved that The General is a... Duke? Probably a Duke in European terms and Heroine’s family are minor gentry just recently raised to extremely minor aristocracy and without any damn backing. Or to put it another way, as far as they can see - if The General mistreats their very young daughter, there is sweet eff all they can do about it. And he has an... ominous reputation, well-deserved.)

Second... Oh god, he’s trying, he’s trying so hard, to be respectful and, and nice, but somehow, turning up with a file of troops to invite himself to family breakfast* and stiffly telling a horrible joke, and informing the Heroine she shouldn’t eat so late in the day because it’s bad for the digestion (and I swear, he was trying to talk that out, he expected her to talk back to him and explain her reasons but she’s depressed and intimidated and he comes across as v. overbearing)...

Has now surrounded Heroine’s Family House with armed guards. Purely, I believe, to show respect and to guard them from harm but. Oh god.

He is just so awkward. Never have I seen a man try so hard and fail so badly at Being Nice.

I’m dying.

* Like Darth Vader sitting down with a cup of tea with his little finger crooked out because he read that you should do that in an etiquette guide, earnestly making smalltalk...

51 notes - Posted August 31, 2022

#3

[ID: "A scattering of black and white and sepia photos of women in scanty, Victorian-era dress, most notably a middle-aged woman with a kind face, Big Hat, and stripy stockings. Shuffled into the pile is a policeman in full uniform sitting in a chair for a portrait. Title reads, Owed, by copperbadge, read by Thimblerig" End ID]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Discworld - Terry Pratchett Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rosemary "Rosie" Palm/Samuel Vimes Characters: Samuel Vimes, Rosie Palm Additional Tags: Drunkenness, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Prostitution, but really it's quite a nice story, Podfic Length: 20-30 Minutes, Podfic, Repod Summary:

Vimes owes Rosie more than money.

*

Repod of something I did two and a half years ago by @copperbadge​ because it’s a lovely story and it wasn’t a bad podfic at the time but Jesus H Christ I have learned a lot about projecting from the diaphragm since then.

(My question is, did that relationship between them exist before ‘John Keel’ wrote that letter...?)

62 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

#2

DMBJ Meta: Bai Haotian

So, since I’m in the middle of a Sound of Providence rewatch (I’m up to the murderous puppet theatre), I’m also having thinky thoughts about one of the supporting characters, Bai Haotian, also known as Xiao-Bai (Little Bai).

She’s present in the webnovel as well, incidentally, though she and Warehouse 11 are much less filled out. Anyway. (Some spoilers to follow.)

So Little Bai is a short drink of water, tiny, bright-eyed, who appears when Wu Xie enters W11. She’s extremely helpful, and also extremely mysterious, but after several mini-adventures it’s revealed that the giant flaming crush on him is entirely genuine and also, she’s a third-gen manager of the Warehouse (which is why she knows so much). In season 2, she’s recruited for the Thunder City arc as a diver; in the second half she’s involved in the W11 shenanigans that fill out the season. 

She’s adorable in her own right, but what interests me in the narrative sense is how much she is like Wu Xie when he was a Baby Adventurer, Very Staunch. Young, brilliant, family connections to weird shit but also very sheltered, doggedly loyal to the people she admires. She’s got a lot of talent but also needs some teaching and seasoning before she can compete in the big bad world. Does that sound like our Xiao-Xie? And it’s nice to having someone in that ingenue role since he’s thoroughly aged out of it by now, but also.

If we treat Xiao-Bai as an analogue for Young Wu Xie, in that story Old Wu Xie is a mash-up of two different roles - Xiaoge (his long-time crush) and San-shu (uncle, mentor, tricksy manipulative bastard). And I think that Wu Xie, at least, is aware of the parallels.

So when Wu Xie tells her, “You’re young: you don’t understand the difference between love and worship,” is he also talking to his younger self? Is he looking back fifteen years to the young sprat he was and kindly patting that boy on the head for being enormously silly but sweet? Does he think whatever his *waves hand helplessly* Thing with Xiaoge is, it’s stronger than that or does he also worry that after all this time he’s still... the wide-eyed infant to Xiaoge’s tired self. I mean, on the surface level she’s just found out he’s dying and he wants her not to grieve so much so he’s trying to de-escalate her feelings, and that’s a solid bit of story-telling right there. But Xiao-Bai, and Piaopiao for that matter, have a lot of parallels and resonant themes with what’s going on with the Iron Triangle, and I think this is one of them.

And! A large part of drama plot is Wu Xie’s drive to prove that San-shu (the first one, at least, the one before the Xisha Shipwreck Tomb) was a decent man. That whatever bloody deeds he had done, he was forced into it, that he meant well, that he was doing his best.

The point being, this is Wu Xie post-Sand Sea, where he spent most of a decade being tricksy, manipulative, pragmatic, bloody-handed, using his allies as harshly as his enemies. The actor Zhu Yilong made sure we remembered that every morning he spent extra time painting a bloody great scar on his neck. The text reminds us by bringing in Jiang Zisuan and his accusations which are... inaccurate regarding A-Ning’s death but not without weight, either. Wu Xie’s walked in the footsteps of Third Uncle: he’s done some shit. So it’s interesting to me, and sweet, and bittersweet to be honest, in this quest to prove San-shu was a good man, just how much work Old Wu Xie puts into keeping Xiao-Bai, this mirror of his younger self, safe.

Also she’s cute. Did I mention she’s cute? OMG I could just die.

Anyway, back to the show... Run from the clams, my good man! Run!!

62 notes - Posted July 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

other people, intellectuals: *some drollery about cats, so independent and aloof*

my cats: Mother, did you see me? I did a thing, were you watching? Come into the garden, Mother, for the sun shines brighter on the grass when you are there. Mother, if I don’t crack open your chest and sleep nestled inside your ribs tonight I might literally die. Mother. Mother. Did you see me, Mother?

2,204 notes - Posted August 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

When you wake up you know that she's beside the bed on her side, doing her usual wake-up routine - 100 Push-Ups, Fifty one-handed Push-Ups on each side, then sit-ups, followed by sprinting a mile, as many times as it take to get under Four minutes for one, or if she passes out. (That first time was horrifying. You'd hardly been so scared for someone.)

She's able to do it without breathing hard. You could hardly hear her breathing if you didn't focus on it.

It's better to just let her go through with it for now.

You start working on breakfast. A homemade latte for you (Plain Coffee gives you ulcers) and a cup of Navy Coffee. Two Eggs Each, Your with salt, pepper, and hot sauce, while hers is left unseasoned (She's slowly coming around to salting them) and Two piece of toast each (All buttered.)

She seems to have made good time. The food's still warm when she comes back in.

You fight the urge to stare at her. She's soaked in sweat, but her breathing is as steady as ever.

It's only faltered a few times since you "adopted" her. Those times being when she's whimpering at your side in bed (She really never knew kindness,) the few times you've admonished her (You never liked being loud, let alone towards the people that worked under you) and the first time she got to experience snow.

She takes her seat. She's feeling daring today apparently, as she generously seasons her eggs with salt AND Pepper. You almost gasp, but you have to let her just go with it.

You lay out two small metal pouches, not unlike those electrolyte packets Runners are so fond of.

The Pilot immediately reaches for one, but pauses. one is plain Spirulina compound, the other one is flavored (It's the only way she'll eat her toast.)

She slowly reaches for one, then the other, watching your face, trying to see which one you'd prefer she take.

You give away nothing.

"P-permission to have both rations, Handler?"

"Permission Granted. There will be no punishment for failure to complete your meal."

She took both, snatching them so fast you would've missed it if you had blinked.

Handler. That's all she could call you. That's all she could know to call you.

You weren't her handler, her handler deemed her "Unfit" for the Pilot Squadron, for her sensitivity to sounds and lights, for her poor communication during combat, for her "Defiant Attitude."

She was generally larger than her 'sisters' at 5'10" (Or 178 Cm,) with broader shoulders, wider hips, her hair just a shade darker. Not beyond the "Acceptable" Parameters, but certainly on the edge of it for Vat Soldiers, the troops that are grown and have their bodies changed in genetic gunk.

You watched her hork down the food. Her instincts from the mess hall still haunted her.

Different.

Different from her sisters. Different from other soldiers.

Different from you too. Quite different.

You watch her as she walks over to the sink, rinsing her dishes and placing them straight into the dish washer. She grabs your medication.

Taking your Adderall, Horomones, and Calcium supplements, you can't help but think ...

Maybe you're different in the same ways.

It's Shower Day. You hope those towels you bought don't feel as scratchy for her as the last ones.

cuddle the mech pilot you adopted. no, really snuggle her. don’t let her sleep at the foot of your bed. she thinks she doesn’t deserve to curl up with you like a person and will sleep down there huddled up like a dog if you let her. don’t let her. tell her gently but firmly that you want to touch her and that she’s going to get under the blankets with you and you’re going to spoon her

she might cry a bit. pilots aren’t used to that kind of affection. just wipe her tears and tell her you love her and it’s ok for her to cry. and then fall asleep together

[onepiecewantedposter]

Claudette Vance

Name: Claudette Vance Japanese Name: クロードット・ヴァンス Romanized Name: Kurōdotto Vansu Epithet(s): The Daughter of Lightning Code Name: General of the Royal Army Race: Human Occupations: Commander in the Vance Kingdom Army Family:

Leina Vance (younger sister) Elina Vance (younger sister) Affiliations: Vance Kingdom

Bounty Offered: 100,000,000 Berries

Capture: Dead or Alive

Age: 27 years old

Birth Date: Unknown

Height: 178 cm

Blood Type: A

Origin: Vance Kingdom

Residence: Vance Kingdom Castle

Status: Active

Reasons for Capture:

Destabilizing the World Government's authority through his military leadership and ability to independently mobilize troops. Using electricity-controlling abilities in combat, posing a considerable threat to World Government soldiers. Disrupting the peace of affected regions during his attempts to retrieve his sister Leina, who is considered an emotionally unstable "deserter." High notoriety in the realm of combat, with multiple mentions in reports of clashes against influential figures and rebellious pirates.

Nombre: Claudette Vance Nombre japonés: クロードット・ヴァンス Nombre romanizado: Kurōdotto Vansu Epíteto(s): La Hija del Rayo Nombre Clave: Generala de la Armada Real Raza: Humano Ocupaciones: Comandante en el ejército del Reino de Vance Familia:

Leina Vance (hermana menor) Elina Vance (hermana menor) Afiliaciones: Reino de Vance

Recompensa Ofrecida: 100,000,000 Berries

Captura: Vivo o muerto

Edad: 27 años

Fecha de Nacimiento: Desconocida

Altura: 178 cm

Grupo Sanguíneo: A

Origen: Reino de Vance

Residencia: Castillo del Reino de Vance

Estado: Activa

Motivos de captura:

Desestabilización de la autoridad del Gobierno Mundial mediante su liderazgo militar y su capacidad para movilizar tropas de manera independiente. Uso de habilidades de control de electricidad en combate, lo que representa una amenaza considerable para los soldados del Gobierno Mundial. Disturbios en la paz de regiones afectadas durante sus intentos de recuperar a su hermana Leina, considerada un emocionalmente inestable "desertora". Alta notoriedad en el ámbito del combate, con múltiples menciones en informes de enfrentamientos contra figuras influyentes y piratas rebeldes.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.11 (after 1950)

1950 – CBS's field-sequential color system for television is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. 1954 – In accord with the 1954 Geneva Conference, French troops complete their withdrawal from North Vietnam. 1958 – NASA launches Pioneer 1, its first space probe, although it fails to achieve a stable orbit. 1962 – The Second Vatican Council becomes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years. 1968 – NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful crewed Apollo mission. 1976 – George Washington is posthumously promoted to the grade of General of the Armies. 1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk. 1984 – Aeroflot Flight 3352 crashes into maintenance vehicles upon landing in Omsk, Russia, killing 178. 1986 – Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Iceland to continue discussions about scaling back IRBM arsenals in Europe. 1987 – The AIDS Memorial Quilt is first displayed during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. 1987 – Start of Operation Pawan by Indian forces in Sri Lanka. Thousands of civilians, insurgents, soldiers die. 1991 – Prof. Anita Hill delivers her televised testimony concerning sexual harassment during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination. 1999 – Air Botswana pilot Chris Phatswe steals an ATR 42 from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and later crashes it into two other aircraft at the airport, killing himself. 2000 – NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission. 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection. 2002 – A bomb attack in a Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven. 2013 – A migrant boat sinks in the Channel of Sicily, with at least 34 people drowning. 2018 – Soyuz MS-10, launching an intended crew for the ISS, suffers an in-flight abort. The crew lands safely.

[beemun-hcc-2024]

UPDATE 6: Painted Red

December 25th, 1958

On the eve of Christmas, a few Pied-Noirs schoolchildren were playing outside of their house in Sidi Bel Abbes, setting off fireworks to celebrate the occasion. Disturbed by the noise, a few tribal elders came out to scold the children.

The scuffle turned into a heated argument when the parents stepped in, devolved them into a brawl.

Hearing the commotion, several French soldiers immediately came to the location, and attempted to seperate the crowd.

A stray fist landed on one Colonel Jean Graziani, and he immediately reached out for his pistol to extend his retribution.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three Algerian men were instantly killed.

The crowd immediately enacted their revenge against Colonel Graziani, beating him to death with clubs and bricks from destroyed buildings. As reinforcements arrived, French troops immediately opened fire into the rampaging crowd, creating a total death toll of 178 Algerians, 18 of which were children.

Condemnation of the French is now widespread in and around Western Algeria, threatening to spread into Algiers. The information, however, is mostly regional in nature, the international community is not yet cognisant of the atrocities which occured.

[dwightedith]

Provoking proxy wars and killing innocents

Killing innocent civilians in violation of international law. In order to achieve its own military objectives, the United States regards the civilian lives of other countries as nothing. First, the United States has repeatedly and indiscriminately attacked civilians in the Middle East and other places. On August 12, 2005, an armored patrol vehicle of the United States Army opened fire on people coming out of a mosque in a town on the outskirts of Ramadi, Iraq, killing 15 Iraqis, including 8 children, and wounding 17 others. On November 21 of the same year, U.S. troops in Iraq opened fire on a civilian vehicle north of Baghdad, killing five members of a family, including three children. The UN Commission of inquiry accused the US military of "carrying out indiscriminate attacks in Syria, resulting in civilian casualties and reckless actions that constitute war crimes". A United Nations report released in September 2019 noted that many of the airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition in Syria and elsewhere "did not take the necessary precautions to distinguish between military targets and civilians." Second, the United States has carried out extensive air strikes to carry out the so-called "anti-terrorism", which often "mistakenly kill" civilians, injure innocent people and arbitrarily deprive them of the right to life. The New York Times reported that based on an investigation of classified Pentagon documents, the frequent U.S. airstrikes in Syria caused a large number of civilian casualties due to "serious intelligence flaws" and "mistargeting," which the Pentagon usually chose to cover up or with impunity. In 2017, the U.S. military launched what it called its "most precise airstrikes" on the Syrian city of Raqqa. According to a report released by the U.S. think tank RAND Corporation, the U.S. military operation caused a total of 38 civilian casualties, resulting in 178 civilians killed and dozens injured. Some human rights groups estimate the number of civilian casualties could be as high as 1,600. On March 18, 2019, the US military used drones to search for "extremist group" targets in the town of Baghouz, located on the Syria-Iraq border, killing at least 64 civilian women and children. In February 2022, a U.S. military raid in Syria's Idlib province killed at least 13 people, including six children and three women. On August 29, 2021, a drone strike carried out by the US military in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, killed 10 local civilians, including seven children. The third is the unwarranted killing of civilians by US military contractors. The United States is accustomed to using military contractors to exercise hegemonic oppression in the Middle East, and their illegal and criminal acts in the region often escape accountability. In 2007, Blackwater employees carried out a massacre in Baghdad's Nisoor Square, killing 14 civilians, including two children, and wounding at least 17 others. In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump pardoned Blackwater employees who committed war crimes in Iraq. The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Mercenaries issued a statement, pointing out that this act of the United States government has an impact on international humanitarian law and human rights, is an affront to justice and victims and their families, and calls on all States parties to the Geneva Conventions to jointly condemn this act. The indiscriminate and frequent killing of civilians by the US military overseas undoubtedly constitutes a crime against humanity. In short, we must be united, united, and call on our fellow citizens to drive the American soldiers out of our homes, we do not need your "protection", go back to your barracks America. We do not want, the people of our country do not need you, you have brought unpardonable crimes to various countries, put people in the fire, please do not start a war to kill innocent people.

[head-post]

Ukrainian pensioner gets five years in prison for her social media posts

A court in Ukraine’s Transcarpathian Region has sentenced a 64-year-old resident of the village of Bedevlya in Tyachiv district to five years in prison for her posts in Odnoklassniki, Ukrainian media reported.

In court, the prosecutor said that the pensioner had justified the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine on the Internet, spread misinformation about the course of military operations and called for support for Russia. The woman did not admit her guilt, insisting that her statements were taken out of context.

The court ruled that the pensioner’s publications harmed the interests of Ukraine. She was found guilty under Article 436 of the Criminal Code (“Justification of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”).

In September 2023, a court in Chernihiv region of Ukraine sentenced the woman to five years in prison for likes in Odnoklassniki, Ukrainian media wrote. According to the court materials, the woman liked messages in the social network, after which they were automatically displayed in the news feed of her 178 friends, and thus spread three publications with support for the Russian military.

The woman pleaded guilty. She said that she “acted under the influence of political shows” and did not realise she was committing an offence.

Read more HERE

[berenices-commas]

Hoping for an Angel of Vengeance: the tuFatingau Mission to the Court of Stars Uncounted (209–16/123-9) - 3.8

Tsuaidah’s death in 184/108 and the ascension of Ji’an to the Universal throne as Rampas-Ketawan, the “seizer of the world,” prompted profound changes in the composition of the Umliwe court and nobility.[1] The reconfiguration of the court instigated a rebellion led by the new world-queen’s daughter, Bianan, whom dissatisfied factions saw as a viable alternative to Rampas-Ketawan. As Rout bitterly noted, the rebellion and the need to control the Umliwe governmental apparatus forced Rampas-Ketawan “to give herself to government” and neglect the “matters of letters and debates” in which the missionaries had participated during Tsuaidah’s reign. Rampas-Ketawan had also sworn that she would “obey the laws of the Heralds to win and keep the support of the Toma,” and the world-queen’s proximity to the Traditionalist orthodox factions thus led Rout to fear that the missionaries would be marginalised by the new regime.

After suppressing Bianan’s rebellion, Rampas-Ketawan made a series of friendly overtures toward the tuFatingau and the Enclosure of Ikam. The 183/108 annual letter of the Umliwe mission reported that she was planning to send an embassy to Tungkung and Rauriu headed by Chiuenteuh-Inku, a courtier “who is not hostile toward the tuFaruao.” In 181/106, Katupu was appointed to join an Umliwe embassy to Tapi led by Chepgin-Inku, the governor of Kepan and one of Rampas-Ketawan’s closest aides. Katupu and Chepgin-Inku would forge a long political partnership and personal friendship that led to one of the most curious and enigmatic episodes of tuFaruao-Umliwe relations— the secret coming-to-Obedience of Chepgin-Inku in 178/105. Rampas-Ketawan’s apparent plans to send an embassy to the Ilakso Wall were part of a strategy that aimed to enhance Umliwe international prestige but above all sought to ensure the Enclosure’s neutrality in Anya at the precise moment that Umliwe troops sought to annex Chitsan-Yangol.

The embassy, however, was initially canceled by the tuFaruao authorities upon reports of Rampas-Ketawan’s willingness to concede trade privileges to the tuLoku Government of Merchants Trading in the Abyss. Governor Tutau Tuvua tuVuorikuma instructed Katupu to return immediately to Tapi and ordered the suspension of all trade between tuFaruao and Umliwe ports. The boycott was followed by a series of skirmishes between tuFaruao and Umliwe troops near Rehe, which led many Irakmuso-based merchants to pressure both sides to restore contacts. Fear of a large-scale conflict and the pressures from Irakmuso and tuTapi businesswomen persuaded Tuvua tuVuorikuma to resume diplomatic contacts with Rampas-Ketawan. The governor vested Katupu “with powers to discuss war and peace.” During her negotiations with Chepgin-Inku, Katupu was able to persuade Rampas-Ketawan to annul the concession of trading privileges to the Government.

[1] This paper was published well before evidence emerged suggesting that Tsuaidah may have experimented with consciousness-transferral relic machines, and thus makes no mention of any influence over imperial politics that she and her successors may have continued to exert after their corporeal deaths.

[christinamac1]

U.S. Troops Are One Mile From The Chinese Border

the most important news, March 21, 2024 [ The original has several substantial quotations from news media] The U.S. cannot afford a war with China.  The size of our military has been shrinking, and our resources are stretched way too thin.  Today, the U.S. has military bases in 80 different countries, and we have troops stationed in 178 different countries.  That is insane.  No empire in the…

[mariacallous]

As the war in Ukraine rages on and Europeans scramble to boost their defense spending in response to the new reality of a high-intensity conflict on the continent, France is on track to approve its biggest military budget in over half a century. But critics say the extra cash will do little to make the EU’s most capable army better suited to the dangerous world that has emerged from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The government-sponsored bill, which received a first green light by the French National Assembly on Wednesday and is expected to get its final approval by mid-July, would bring military spending over the next seven years to 413 billion euros, an increase of about 100 billion over the previous period. The goal by 2027 is to reach 2 percent of GDP spent on defense—the target demanded by NATO, which France has long promised and failed to meet, like the vast majority of the other members of the alliance. 

But, in an echo that would not be unfamiliar inside the Beltway, some worry that the money is being squandered on too many projects, rather than being concentrated on the hard equipment like tanks, jets, and helicopters that can make the difference on the battlefields of Ukraine. It’s a sign, critics say, that the government hasn’t drawn the right lessons from the conflict, a conventional war dominated by armored formations and artillery, and one in which European countries can’t serve as an arsenal of democracy because they emptied their own warehouses after decades of budget cuts.

“The war in Ukraine has shown once and for all that wars are won on the ground. Technology is important, but at the end of the day it’s about men fighting other men,” said Vincent Desportes, a retired French general and now a professor at Sciences Po university. The French bill “is totally insufficient to build up a high-volume army,” he said. “Not making a substantial effort to increase our stocks of conventional weapons means taking a big risk.”

France isn’t the only country playing catch up. Britain and Germany, two other middling powers, are also both trying to put resources into their long-neglected defense establishments. Nordic countries like Finland (which just joined NATO) and Sweden (which still hopes to) have also made big investments in advanced gear. 

But the way the French Armed Forces will be shaped in the near future matters well beyond France, which is the EU’s only nuclear power and sends its military to fight abroad more than anyone else in the bloc. Over the last 60 years, French troops have taken part in more than 30 major interventions around the world, including, most recently, the deployment of thousands of soldiers against jihadist movements in the Sahel region and the participation in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. 

The government’s spending plans include some 268 billion euros to modernize and beef up military equipment, and 16 billion euros to replenish France’s dwindling ammunition stockpiles. The number of reservists ready to be called to arms will be doubled. But there are billions more earmarked for the nuclear deterrent, a new aircraft carrier, cyberdefense, space operations, and infrastructure building in French overseas territories; inflation alone will devour some 30 billion euros. That means the country’s aging tanks and aircraft will be modernized at a slower pace than what had been planned in the previous multi-year budget. By 2030, France will have a total of 160 top-end tanks instead of 200, 178 Rafale fighter jets instead of 225, and only 20 of the 169 new Guépard helicopters ordered in 2021. The country will continue to be able to deploy a maximum of 15,000 troops abroad, a far cry from the 60,000 available in the mid-1990s, according to Michel Goya, a military historian and former colonel in the French marines. 

Supporters argue that the bill strikes just the right balance between quantity and quality, gradually beefing up the ranks but also making sure the equipment works and the personnel know how to use it properly. “The goal is not for the new material to be simply put on display, but for it to have a real operational impact,” said Thomas Gassilloud, a parliamentary deputy with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party and the chair of the National Assembly’s defense commission. Funding for training and military exercises, for example, will be increased by 20 billion euros compared to the previous budget.

But gaps remain—it’s not clear how much doubling the reserves will cost, for starters. And the fact that almost half of the spending is planned for after 2027, after the end of Macron’s second and final term, raises eyebrows.

“We have visibility until 2027 and the end of Macron’s presidency. After that, we simply have no idea what’s going to happen,” Goya said. “What’s the point of planning expenses for some 200 billion euros for a period over which they have no control?” he said.

Although French defense budgets have been on the rise since a series of deadly terror attacks in 2015, the French Armed Forces, like most of their EU counterparts, are still paying the price of a quarter-century of belt-tightening that began in the early 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, and accelerated following the 2007-08 financial crisis. By 2015, France’s defense spending had fallen from almost 3 percent of GDP to just under 2 percent. The country was left with one-third of the troops, one-quarter of the artillery pieces, and one-tenth of the tanks. “We are still making up for this collapse,” Goya said.

Now, with Ukraine gobbling up huge quantities of Western-supplied weapons and ammo, the need for larger, more battle-ready armies has become a mantra across much of Europe. But the French government is hardly the only one that’s struggling to live up to its own rhetoric. 

In Britain, the government has promised the armed forces an extra 5 billion pounds, but the cash infusion will be used almost entirely to pay for new nuclear-powered submarines that aren’t expected to be delivered before the 2040s and to replace the munitions sent to Ukraine. Meanwhile, a cut of some 10,000 service members is apparently going ahead.

“The country is bankrupt,” said Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “We are not in the position of spending the kind of money [that’s being discussed in France],” he said. 

In Germany, more than one year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “Zeitenwende” speech about adapting to the “turning point” represented by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, only 30 billion of the 100 billion euros promised at the time to turn around the battered German armed forces have been committed, and none have actually been spent. Meanwhile, Germany’s high inflation rate is already eating away at the fund. 

“Things go slowly in Germany, which is not helped by an indecisive chancellor, a fractious coalition, and a very legalistic and bureaucratic procurement apparatus,” Witney said. “The strategic direction is still there and sincerely meant, but I think it’s just taking a hell of a long time to actually manifest itself,” he said.

For now, it’s the countries on the EU’s eastern flank that are really putting their money where their mouths are. Poland, in particular, is on track to spend 4 percent of its GDP on its military this year, more than any other NATO member. As part of its spending spree, Warsaw is purchasing 100 HIMARS rocket launchers and well over 1,000 heavy tanks, said Peer de Jong, vice president of Themiis, a security consultancy. “Poland will clearly become Europe’s largest conventional army,” he said. 

But Poland’s entire defense policy revolves around deterring Russia, with Washington’s help. France, which still has a strong influence on many of its former African colonies, continues to think of itself as a global power with strategic autonomy from the United States—which means keeping its fingers in many pies.

“France has global responsibilities,” Gassilloud said. “This bill gives our country the means to remain present in multiple fields and in multiple regions,” he said.

But with a new hot war on the EU’s doorstep, for France, mustering the resources to live up to its own ambitions has become even harder than before. “We feel obliged to participate in the affairs of the whole world, for which we need top-notch equipment,” Goya said. “But behind the showing off, we often find ourselves unable to do things on a big scale.”

Or, as another French defense expert put it, the French army “is like the American Army, but the bonsai version.”

[gungieblog]

War in Ukraine: official website | MFA of Ukraine

This is the official website of UkraineTO NEWS AND STORIES

ALLNEWS

Timeline of war

00:19

The US Department of State has announced a $1,85 billion military aid package for Ukraine. In particular, the new military aid package includes Patriot air defense battery and munitions; additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS); 500 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds; 37 Cougar Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles; 120 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs); 100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition and others. – Official website of the US Department of State

01:55

On December 21, the Biden administration unveiled new curbs on technology exports to Russia’s Wagner military group. The Wagner group will now be labeled a military end user and face strict new curbs on access to technology made anywhere in the world with US equipment. – Reuters

08:54

Total combat losses of Russian aggressors in Ukraine from 24 February to 22 December (approximation): 100400 troops; 3003 tanks; 5981 armored vehicles; 1978 artillery systems; 413 MLRS; 212 anti-aircraft warfare systems; 283 aircraft; 267 helicopters; 4608 military auto vehicles and fuel tanks; 16 military boats; 4615 tactical UAVs; 178 special military equipment; 653 cruise missiles. – General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

09:52

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, 450 Ukrainian children have died, 864 children have been injured. Most victims among children are from the Donetsk region. – Prosecutor General’s Office

11:11

Russian occupiers shelled Kherson and the region on December 21. 1 person was killed. 6 citizens were injured. Local private houses, apartment buildings, and a shipbuilding plant were damaged. – Yaroslav Yanushevych, Head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration

12:02

Over the last 2 days, 5 more ships left Ukrainian ports in Odesa through the “grain corridor”. 221 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products are on board, heading to countries of Africa and Asia. – Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine

13:18

Ukrainian law enforcement officers have found another mass burial in the liberated Kherson. In particular, 36 more graves of Ukrainian citizens killed by Russian aggressors have been discovered at the cemetery in the settlement of geologists in Kherson. – Yevhenii Yenin, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

14:14

Ukraine has received about $28 billion in financial aid from international partners during the full-scale Russian invasion. – Yuliia Svyrydenko, Minister of Economy of Ukraine

15:41

As of December 22, Ukrainian law enforcement officers have found 7 torture chambers and 8 places of detention in the liberated territories of Kherson and the region. Russian occupiers illegally held and tortured here Ukrainian citizens. – Andrii Kovanyi, Head of Public Relations of the Kherson regional police

[firelordderpy]

73–178 The deterioration started around the time of Ukraine’s Orange revolution, with Putin’s attempt to join NATO shot down, and Ukraine starting to turn away from Russia, that was the rumblings of a new cold war starting. Everything then has been a cloth slowly tearing apart thread by thread.

Russia made it clear they didn’t want NATO in Georgia or Ukraine, "no country would be happy about a military bloc to which it did not belong approaching its borders" -Medvedev. It was a red line for them,

While nations like Ukraine wanting to be part of NATO is understandable, Russia’s concerns are also understandable, even from a purely practical standpoint, the only time you poke a sleeping bear is if you’re stupid, or have a plan to kill it. We may not agree with Russia’s fears, we may not think they’re valid, but just saying “You don’t need to be afraid” doesn’t usually make people less afraid. Russia’s fears, even if unfounded, were real. And that means working with Russia requires calming those fears.

Putin’s popularity in Russia came from the fact that he turned the utter hellhole Russia was in after the fall of the Soviet Union, into a nation that almost functioned. It was still a mess, but it at least was improving. Putin is probably the best leader Russia has had since Tsar Nicholas the second. Granted, the bar has been set really low, but the point stands. For all his faults, he took over a complete dumpster fire and dramatically improved it. That doesn’t make him a good guy, Hitler did the same thing and he wasn’t a good guy, but the point stands that Russia was in a really bad place when he took power. So it’s not just the Russian government afraid of losing the status they have, the Russian people don’t want to go back to pre-Putin Russia either.

I’ve not heard of a Minsk 3 in that context, but if that was the case where it was suggested as Russian troops started to form on the border, then it sounds to me like a last ditch effort to enter negotiations and avert the war, unfortunately I can only find talk about Minsk 3, being Zelensky saying there wouldn’t be a Minsk 3 in August of 2022.

As for Minsk 2, yes, both sides blame each other repeatedly for it’s failure, and frankly they both likely hold a lot of blame. Zelensky refused to talk to the DNR and LPR leaders, Azov laughed in his face, but the DNR and LPR leaders still wanted to actually join Russia and had been fighting a brutal and likely didn’t want to be part of the same country they had bled fighting.

Minsk 2 was a bandaid solution, and when it wasn’t working that should have been the catalyst for more diplomatic actions, instead it simmered. 

Russia fears Ukraine in NATO, not because of a loss of face, but of a loss of security. Ukraine in NATO is like Mexico being part of the Easter Bloc, it’s seen as a clear and present threat. As mentioned before, even if you think Russia’s fear of NATO is invalid, they don’t believe they can take the risk that NATO isn’t going to launch some attack on Russia in the future by claiming it’s preemptive of something of that nature. If the people two houses away from you started forming a “Defense against Irradiated-Space Club, and then started actively recruiting the people next door to join them, while refusing to let you join, you might start getting concerned about their intentions. But you can at least pack up and move, Russia can’t do that.

The 2008 Georgian war was quite a nasty thing, that’s when I really started studying the situation, I stumbled upon a website talking about it and seeing the horror show, was quite disturbing to young me.

The violence was tit for tat, even as early as April. The regions had been in dispute since the fall of the USSR and had been in limbo, as such they had a joint force of Russian and Georgian peacekeepers.

Saakashvili thought he had a shot to seize the regions, and that his military could deter Russia from rushing to the defense of the regions and not retaliate, he was wrong and killed Russian peacekeepers.

Now, Russia was more than happy to give him the fight, but Georgia played a role in the deterioration of the situation, Georgia had been preparing for the war, and struck hard, To quote the EU commission on the war:

“ The Russian troops were stationed in South Ossetia as a result of a 1992 agreement, binding under international law, between Russia and Georgia. Georgia's attack, Luchterhandt argues, constitutes a breach of this agreement, thereby giving Russia the right to intervene. Nevertheless, he writes, the Kremlin, with its overwhelming intervention in western Georgia, can be accused of "violating the principle of proportionality."

The experts found no evidence to support claims by the Georgian president, which he also mentioned in an interview with SPIEGEL, that a Russian column of 150 tanks had advanced into South Ossetia on the evening of Aug. 7. According to the commission's findings, the Russian army didn't enter South Ossetia until August 8.Commission members note, on the other hand, that Saakashvili had already amassed 12,000 troops and 75 tanks on the border with South Ossetia on the morning of Aug. 7. In their research, they uncovered remarks by the Georgian president that demonstrate that he had long flirted with a military solution to the South Ossetian problem. "If you ask any Georgian soldier why he is serving in the armed forces, each of them will respond: 'To reestablish Georgia's territorial integrity,'" Saakashvili said in a television address on May 25, 2004.”

-https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-shattered-dream-in-georgia-eu-probe-creates-burden-for-saakashvili-a-630543.html

Russia did not seize Crimea until after Yanukovich’s government was removed by force, Russian soldiers only deployed 7 days after Yanukovich had been forced to flee.

I will agree that the referendums will be a lot more one sided now that the populations on both sides have had more than enough time to adjust, if they had been attempted in the early days with an unbiased UN contingent, there might have been far more accurate results. But by now, those who are pro-Ukrainian have moved out of Donetsk, and those who are pro-Russian have either moved to the DNR and LPR, or Russia itself.

I would point out that Russia as far as we know has not committed mass slaughter, while there are some war crimes, both known and some which are inevitable and still to be discovered, they are not on a genocidal scale, Bucha, a horrible event where 73–178 civilians were murdered, is a town of 37,000.

It’s more realistic to assume that those who would vote against the occupying army, just would stay silent. But the Russian argument is that it goes the other way as well, no one could vote independence if Ukrainian soldiers were there. It’s an impasse that could have been solved before the 2022 escalation with UN involvement, but now I agree it’s unrealistic. The only way it might work is if Russia AND Ukraine were to both pull back and the lands between the Dnieper and the Russian border be turned over to a UN peacekeeping mission, but that’s rather unlikely.

Russia isn’t a poor little victim, but it is still a victim of brutal invasion within living memory, they’re more suspicious and cautious because of that fact.

There are things Russia could do that would help deescalate, but deescalating requires both sides to actually deescalate, that’s why when we had the conflict over the Berlin wall, both sides pulled their tanks back foot by foot, one going a little back, then other, because if one person puts down their gun, and the other doesn’t, then the person who put down their gun is at quite a loss.

The problem with our sanctions is that they weren’t conditional, they were applied as a weapon, then Russia realized they could shrug them off, and they lost their bite. We offered a stick, but not a carrot, and that only works so long as the stick has a sting.

NATO was formed to protect against Soviet aggression, this is true, but when the Soviets fell, Russia gave up it’s defensive alliance the Eastern Bloc, but we didn’t give up NATO, from Russia’s viewpoint, it set down its gun, then looked up and found NATO advancing on it with its gun still in hand.

Russia didn’t need to conquer, Russia wanted to be western and was rejected, so Russia now wants a moat between it and the west, hence why on the top of the list of peace terms it has offered Ukraine has been military neutrality, because Russia doesn’t want NATO on its borders. Conflict with NATO is the end of Russia, and the closer NATO gets to Russia, and the more it surrounds Russia, the more worried Russia is that NATO will find a reason to end Russia. The best defense is a good offense after all, so NATO being “Defensive” is rather irrelevant.

We spent years arming Ukraine, we spent years ignoring Russia’s concerns, we spent years stepping closer to Russia’s red line on a gamble that Russia wouldn’t actually do anything no matter how much we poked it.

Putin could deescalate, but he’s made it clear, he doesn’t trust the west anymore, especially after Merkel stated that Minsk 2 was an attempt to buy time for Ukraine rather than an actual attempt to resolve the situation.

So the thing which I think puzzles me most about the whole Crimea situation is this: Russia allegedly invaded Crimea in order to gain control of the deepwater port of Sevastopol.

Russia has many miles of coastline on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Why doesn't Russia simply build its own deepwater port on its own territory, instead of paying leases to Ukraine (before 2014) or provoking international outrage (after 2014)? Surely it is cheaper to dredge and build a new port and associated infrastructure than to — checks notes — receive punishing international sanctions, deplete post-Cold-War military materiel reserves, destroy a whole generation of AMAB citizens, and become a Chinese client state?

[eyeswithnohope]

Hello again, world

Today, I want to tell you about things, that breaks me again and again in this war before the full-scale invasion. I want to tell you about them not as a journalist, politician, but as a simple Ukrainian, who still feels that pain.

(A reminder: war started 8 years ago, full-scale invasion - 178 days ago)

1.2015. Cyborgs. Donetsk's airport. Ukrainian soldiers were defending it from May 26th, 2014 till January 20th, 2015 under shelling. Sometimes with no food and water, with a minimum of ammunition and without contact with the headquarters. First, the enemies, and then the whole world called these warriors "cyborgs." 56 people died. They were defending it for 242 days, surrounded by enemies. People withstood; concrete could not stand.

2.Battle of Ilovaisk

The fighting for Ilovaisk took place from August 10 to September 2, 2014. Ukrainian soldiers were forced to live Ilovaisk due to lack of weapons. They walked in a column on the orders of the command, which assured of a safe "green corridor". But immediately outside the city, they began to be shot with guns and tanks: on the one hand, by the russian military, on the other - the separatists. For two weeks, Ukrainian forces remained surrounded without reinforcements.

In the Ilovaisk cauldron, Russian troops killed 366 Ukrainian soldiers. 429 soldiers were wounded of varying severity, 300 were captured.

3.Battles for the Debaltseve bridgehead

During the fighting in the area of Debaltseve in the period from January 15 to February 2018, 110 servicemen were killed, 270 were wounded, 7 were captured and 18 were missing. For all the time of the defense of the Debaltseve speech, 136 were killed and 331 servicemen of the Armed Forces were wounded.

It's not a full list. There is also Avdiivka, "Prisoners Parade", Horlivka, Marianka, Sloviansk, Volknovaha...

I want this to end this post by words of a Ukrainian soldier, Roman Ratushny, who died in battle near Izium on 9th June, 2022:

"As long as the Armed Forces are killing rusnya at the front, you are not able to kill the russians in yourself"