How Russia killed its tech industry

According to [Russian] government figures, about 100,000 IT specialists left Russia in 2022, or some 10% of the tech workforce—a number that is likely an underestimate. Alongside those exits, more than 1,000 foreign firms curtailed their operations in the country, driven in part by the broadest sanctions ever to be imposed on a major economy. 

...

In Russia, technology was one of the few sectors where people felt they could succeed on merit instead of connections. The industry also maintained a spirit of openness: Russian entrepreneurs won international funding and made deals all over the world. For a time, the Kremlin seemed to embrace this openness too, inviting international companies to invest in Russia. 

But cracks in Russia’s tech industry started appearing well before the war. For more than a decade, the government has attempted to put Russia’s internet and its most powerful tech companies in a tight grip, threatening an industry that once promised to bring the country into the future. Experts MIT Technology Review spoke with say Russia’s war against Ukraine only accelerated the damage that was already being done, further pushing the country’s biggest tech companies into isolation and chaos and corralling its citizens into its tightly controlled domestic internet, where news comes from official government sources and free speech is severely curtailed.

 

3 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

How Russia killed its tech industry

According to [Russian] government figures, about 100,000 IT specialists left Russia in 2022, or some 10% of the tech workforce—a number that is likely an underestimate. Alongside those exits, more than 1,000 foreign firms curtailed their operations in the country, driven in part by the broadest sanctions ever to be imposed on a major economy. 

...

In Russia, technology was one of the few sectors where people felt they could succeed on merit instead of connections. The industry also maintained a spirit of openness: Russian entrepreneurs won international funding and made deals all over the world. For a time, the Kremlin seemed to embrace this openness too, inviting international companies to invest in Russia. 

But cracks in Russia’s tech industry started appearing well before the war. For more than a decade, the government has attempted to put Russia’s internet and its most powerful tech companies in a tight grip, threatening an industry that once promised to bring the country into the future. Experts MIT Technology Review spoke with say Russia’s war against Ukraine only accelerated the damage that was already being done, further pushing the country’s biggest tech companies into isolation and chaos and corralling its citizens into its tightly controlled domestic internet, where news comes from official government sources and free speech is severely curtailed.

 

Reminds me of all of the brilliant Jewish physicists and other scientists that were forced to flee Europe in the 30's/40's - leaving the Reich with a major brain drain and ultimately helping the Allies win. Interesting to see if something similar occurs here.

 

 

 

also... you said ...But cracks...

 

"The US military budget for next year is $800 billion. The Russian budget, not just military but overall the budget of the Russian Federation, is a lot less, $500 billion. One more number, because it's important to understand the capability for an increase, Boeing produces up to 1,000 planes per year Mishustin said we may be able to make 100 planes every year. The capabilities of the American industry, if it expands according to these insane sums of money that are being allotted for the Pentagon, are significantly greater than ours. Trying to compete against the united West whose capabilities are ten times more than ours, in terms of the economy, demographics, etc., it's simply unfathomable."

 

5 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

 

"The US military budget for next year is $800 billion. The Russian budget, not just military but overall the budget of the Russian Federation, is a lot less, $500 billion. One more number, because it's important to understand the capability for an increase, Boeing produces up to 1,000 planes per year Mishustin said we may be able to make 100 planes every year. The capabilities of the American industry, if it expands according to these insane sums of money that are being allotted for the Pentagon, are significantly greater than ours. Trying to compete against the united West whose capabilities are ten times more than ours, in terms of the economy, demographics, etc., it's simply unfathomable."

 

In 45 a German anti tank gun commander was taken POW and interrogated. He basically said that in the end before he was captured his gun ran out of ammunition before the attacking echelon ran out of Shermans.

Going to have to step it up. Ukraine got knocked off the front page by trannies, Budweiser, Tucker, and Lemon.

The Spring "offensive" is running a little late.

Apparently, there's just not left enough ammo in the arsenal of democracy anymore. 

Maybe there's a few crates still glowing in the Marshall Islands worth a look. Every little bit helps.

2 minutes ago, Abracadabra said:

The Spring "offensive" is running a little late.

Apparently, there's just not left enough ammo in the arsenal of democracy anymore. 

Maybe there's a few crates still glowing in the Marshall Islands worth a look. Every little bit helps.

No, moron. It's still mud season.

The offensive was never going to happen until at least mid-May.

You can go ahead and tell your telegram buddies. 

 

 

Biden’s team fears the aftermath of a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive

Quote

The Biden administration is quietly preparing for the possibility that if Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive falls short of expectations, critics at home and allies abroad will argue that America has come up short, too.

Ukraine’s ever-imminent counteroffensive will attempt to retake Russian-seized territory most likely in the east and south, though for operational reasons no senior officials from Kyiv have detailed specifics.

Publicly, President Joe Biden’s team has offered unwavering support for Ukraine, pledging to load it up with weapons and economic aid for "as long as it takes.” But, if the impending fighting season yields limited gains, administration officials have expressed privately they fear being faced with a two-headed monster attacking it from the hawkish and dovish ends of the spectrum.

One side will say that Ukraine’s advances would’ve worked had the administration given Kyiv everything it asked for, namely longer-range missiles, fighter jets and more air defenses. The other side, administration officials worry, will claim Ukraine’s shortcoming proves it can’t force Russia out of its territory completely.

That doesn’t even account for the reaction of America’s allies, mainly in Europe, who may see a peace negotiation between Ukraine and Russia as a more attractive option if Kyiv can’t prove victory is around the corner.

Inside the administration, officials stress they’re doing everything possible to make the spring offensive succeed.

"We’ve nearly completed the requests of what [Ukraine] said they needed for the counteroffensive as we have surged weapons and equipment to Ukraine over the past few months,” said one administration official who, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal considerations.

But belief in the strategic cause is one thing. Belief in the tactics is another — and behind closed doors the administration is worried about what Ukraine can accomplish.

Those concerns recently spilled out into the open during a leak of classified information onto social media. A top secret assessment from early February stated that Ukraine would fall "well short” of its counteroffensive goals. More current American assessments are that Ukraine may make some progress in the south and east, but won’t be able to repeat last year’s success.

'Not a game': Pentagon leak sparks bipartisan fury

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Ukraine has hoped to sever Russia’s land bridge to Crimea and U.S. officials are now skeptical that will happen, according to two administration officials familiar with the assessment. But there are still hopes in the Pentagon that Ukraine will hamper Russia’s supply lines there, even if a total victory over Russia’s newly fortified troops ends up too difficult to achieve.

Moreover, U.S. intelligence indicates that Ukraine simply does not have the ability to push Russian troops from where they were deeply entrenched — and a similar feeling has taken hold about the battlefield elsewhere in Ukraine, according to officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the U.S. hasn’t adequately armed his forces properly and so, until then, the counteroffensive can’t begin.

There is belief that Kyiv is willing to consider adjusting its goals, according to American officials, and a more modest aim might be easier to be sold as a win.

There has been discussion, per aides, of framing it to the Ukrainians as a "ceasefire” and not as permanent peace talks, leaving the door open for Ukraine to regain more of its territory at a future date. Incentives would have to be given to Kyiv: perhaps NATO-like security guarantees, economic help from the European Union, more military aid to replenish and bolster Ukraine’s forces, and the like. And aides have expressed hope of re-engaging China to push Putin to the negotiating table as well.

But that would still lead to the dilemma of what happens next, and how harshly domestic critics respond.

"If the counteroffensive does not go well, the administration has only itself to blame for withholding certain types of arms and aid at the time when it was most needed,” said Kurt Volker, the special envoy for Ukraine during the Trump administration.

A counteroffensive that doesn’t meet expectations will also cause allies in foreign capitals to question how much more they can spare if Kyiv’s victory looks farther and farther away.

"European public support may wane over time as European energy and economic costs stay high,” said Clementine Starling, a director and fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C. "A fracturing of transatlantic support will likely hurt U.S. domestic support and Congress and the Biden administration may struggle to sustain it.”

Austin: Abrams tanks will arrive ‘in the next few weeks’

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Many European nations could also push Kyiv to bring the fighting to an end. "A poor counteroffensive will spark further questions about what an outcome to the war will look like, and the extent to which a solution can really be achieved by continuing to send military arms and aid alone,” Starling said.

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Biden and his top aides have publicly stressed that Zelenskyy should only begin peace talks when he is ready. But Washington has also communicated to Kyiv some political realities: at some point, especially with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, the pace of U.S. aid will likely slow. Officials in Washington, though not pressing Kyiv, have begun preparing for what those conversations could look like and understand it may be a tough political sell at home for Zelenskyy.

"If Ukraine can’t gain dramatically on the battlefield, the question inevitably arises as to whether it is time for a negotiated stop to the fighting,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "It’s expensive, we’re running low on munitions, we’ve got other contingencies around the world to prepare for.”

"It’s legitimate to ask all these questions without compromising Ukraine’s goals. It’s simply a question of means,” Haass said.

Earlier this month, Andriy Sybiha, a deputy head in Zelenskyy’s office, told the Financial Times that Ukraine would be willing to talk if its forces reach Crimea’s doorstep. "If we will succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we will be on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” he said.

That comment was quickly rebuffed by Tamila Tasheva, Zelenskyy’s Crimea envoy: "If Russia won’t voluntarily leave the peninsula, Ukraine will continue to liberate its land by military means,” she told POLITICO earlier this month.

It doesn’t help America’s confidence that the war has slowed to a brutal slog.

Both sides have traded punishing blows, focused on small cities like Bakhmut, with neither force able to fully dislodge the other. The Russian surge ordered up earlier this year, meant to revitalize Moscow’s struggling war effort, seized little territory at the cost of significant casualties and did not do much to change the overall trajectory of the conflict.

Ukrainian soldiers chat in war-hit Bakhmut.
Ukrainian soldiers chat in war-hit Bakhmut. | Iryna Rubakova/AP Photo

The fighting has taken a toll on the Ukrainians as well. Fourteen months into the conflict, the Ukrainians have suffered staggering losses — around 100,000 casualties — with many of their top soldiers either sidelined or exhausted. The troops have also gone through historic amounts of ammunition and weaponry, with even the West’s prodigious output unable to match Zelenskyy’s urgent requests.

U.S. officials have also briefed Ukraine on the dangers of overextending its ambitions and spreading its troops too thin — the same warning Biden gave then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as the Taliban moved to sweep across the country during the U.S. military withdrawal in 2021.

But the chances of Ukraine backing down from its highest aspirations is, to say the least, unlikely. "It’s as if this is the only and last opportunity for Ukraine to show that it can win, which of course isn’t true,” said Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C.

Yea, it's totally the muddy trenches and not fear of failure. 

The coke-head of Kyiv will eventually send this last hunk of flesh into the meatgrinder and hope the word wizards can fashion a plausible narrative of imminent victory. The media blitz is their only hope of roiling the Russians because the battlefield advantages of the red white and blue are insurmountable. 

The Ukrainian corpse has entered Cheyne-Stokes and this is it's last gasp.  

48 minutes ago, Abracadabra said:

Biden’s team fears the aftermath of a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive

Yea, it's totally the muddy trenches and not fear of failure. 

The coke-head of Kyiv will eventually send this last hunk of flesh into the meatgrinder and hope the word wizards can fashion a plausible narrative of imminent victory. The media blitz is their only hope of roiling the Russians because the battlefield advantages of the red white and blue are insurmountable. 

The Ukrainian corpse has entered Cheyne-Stokes and this is it's last gasp.  

 

On 10/5/2022 at 3:54 PM, Abracadabra said:

I'll admit I underestimated the willingness of Ukrainians to throw themselves into artillery lines and die by the tens of thousands to buy temporary headlines. This is a last-ditch effort to present some meager sign of effectiveness before the rains come and Russia builds it forces. 

Enjoy it, plebs. This is the gasp. 

 

19 minutes ago, Boogyman said:

 

 

Ukraine’s Spring Offensive Comes With Immense Stakes for Future of the War

Quote

WASHINGTON — Ukraine is preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces as early as next month, American officials say, in the face of immense risks: Without a decisive victory, Western support for Ukraine could weaken, and Kyiv could come under increasing pressure to enter serious negotiations to end or freeze the conflict.

American and NATO allies have supplied Ukraine with extensive artillery and ammunition for the upcoming battle, and officials now say they are hopeful the supplies will last — a change from two months ago when weapons were only trickling in and U.S. officials were worried that the supplies might run out.

At the same time, 12 Ukrainian combat brigades of about 4,000 soldiers each are expected to be ready at the end of April, according to leaked Pentagon documents that offer a hint of Kyiv’s timetable. The United States and NATO allies are training and supplying nine of those brigades, the documents said.

Although Ukraine shares few details of its operational plan with American officials, the operation is likely to unfold in the country’s south, including along Ukraine’s coastline on the Sea of Azov, near the Russian-annexed Crimea.

"Everything hinges on this counteroffensive,” said Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and senior NATO official. "Everybody’s hopeful, maybe over-optimistic. But it will determine whether there is going to be a decent outcome for the Ukrainians, in terms of recovering territory on the battlefield and creating much more significant leverage to get some kind of negotiated settlement.”

While Ukrainian officials have said their goal is to break through dug-in Russian defenses and create a widespread collapse in Russia’s army, American officials have assessed that it is unlikely the offensive will result in a dramatic shift in momentum in Ukraine’s favor.

Image
Ukrainian soldiers wearing fatigues, helmets and holding guns.
Twelve Ukrainian combat brigades of about 4,000 soldiers each are expected to be ready at the end of April, according to leaked Pentagon documents.Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Ukraine’s military faces many challenges — one reason that a stalemate remains the most likely outcome. Fighting in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine this winter has drained ammunition reserves and led to heavy casualties in some experienced units.

And yet American military officials say it is possible that Ukraine’s army could once again surprise them. They are now armed with European tanks and American armored personnel carriers and have new units trained and equipped by Americans and NATO forces.

"I’m optimistic that between this year and next year, I think Ukraine will continue to have the momentum with it,” Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, told reporters during a visit to Washington last week. "I also think we should be realistic. There is not going to be a single magic-wand moment when Russia collapses.”

The State of the War
Spring Offensive: Ukraine is preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the face of immense risks: Without a decisive victory, Western support for Ukraine could weaken, and Kyiv could come under increasing pressure to enter serious peace talks to end or freeze the conflict.
In the South: Russian troops are forcibly relocating people from occupied areas near the city of Kherson as fighting there intensifies, Ukrainian officials said.
Grain Supplies: When Russia’s war blocked vitally needed Ukrainian grain exports, E.U. officials succeeded in finding other routes out. But the solution has caused discontent among European farmers.
Although Ukraine has deviated from the usual secrecy surrounding military plans by talking openly about the coming battle — in part because Ukrainian leaders need to drum up morale and pressure the West for weapons — U.S. officials expect Ukraine’s army will use deception and feints to throw the Russians off balance.

Image
Soldiers lined up in front of a train, as one holds a Russian flag.
Ukrainian officials have said privately that they hope a push will break through dug-in Russian defenses and trigger a widespread collapse in Russia’s army.Credit...Associated Press

Ukraine’s best chance of making a dramatic show in the counteroffensive will also depend on American, NATO and Ukrainian intelligence. If the United States and its allies can identify significant weaknesses in Russian defenses, Ukraine can exploit them with the speed and protection of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

Still, big gains are not guaranteed, or even necessarily likely. The battlefield is heavily mined by the Russians, and the Ukrainian advance will depend on whether Kyiv’s forces can effectively deploy mine-clearing equipment, much of which the West has provided.

Ukraine built the new combat brigades by pairing raw recruits with a small core of experienced veteran soldiers. Beginning in January, the units went to American training grounds in Germany to learn how to use their new equipment and how to conduct what the American army calls combined arms maneuvers — using effective communication to coordinate advancing troops with supporting units such as tanks and artillery.

Training on those tactics has gone well, according to multiple U.S. officials, and a motivated Ukrainian force has shown itself to be a quick study. But employing new tactics is often easier in training exercises than it is on the battlefield, especially with the Russians so dug in.

Soldiers fighting in Ukraine have said that, so far, sophisticated maneuver warfare has been all but impossible to execute. They have struggled to coordinate their operations because they require strong communications, which is difficult because radio equipment differs unit to unit and is susceptible to Russian jamming. One soldier in Ukraine who participated in a recent failed attack in southern Ukraine said that coordinating anything above the platoon level — a unit of about 30 soldiers — remains extremely difficult.

If the Ukrainians succeed in using these new tactics, even to a small degree, they may be able to overcome the numerically superior Russian forces.

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"If they can break through, then I think they can change the dynamic on the battlefield,” Adm. Christopher W. Grady, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a brief interview.

Image
Rows of battered weapons parts lying in the dirt.
Major questions about Ukraine’s artillery and other ammunition supplies remain before its expected counteroffensive.Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Major questions about Ukraine’s artillery and other ammunition supplies remain. Kyiv’s supplies of air defense missiles and artillery rounds, critical to sustaining any push and to defend against Russian air attacks, could run dangerously low if its forces continue to expend ammunition at their current pace. After the offensive is over, there is little chance that the West can recreate the buildup that it did for Ukraine’s coming assault for the foreseeable future, because Western allies do not have enough supplies in existing inventories to draw from and domestic production will not be able to fill the gap until next year, experts say.

The Ukrainian military has been firing thousands of artillery shells a day as it tries to hold Bakhmut, a pace that American and European officials say is unsustainable and could jeopardize the coming offensive. The bombardment has been so intense that the Pentagon has raised concerns with officials in Kyiv, warning them that Ukraine was wasting ammunition at a key time.

While Ukrainian forces can use drones to strike behind Russian front lines, they have not been given missiles with a long-enough range to hit Russia’s logistical hubs, a tactic that proved important in last summer’s offensives outside Kharkiv and Kherson.

The Russians have challenges of their own.

Since the beginning of the invasion, there have been major doubts about the basic competence of Russian commanders and their supply of well-trained soldiers, artillery shells and equipment. The Russians have expended many of their cruise missiles, lost thousands of people in Bakhmut alone and drained their stores of ammunition much faster than they can replace them with their domestic production.

But Russia is working to address those gaps. Russian troops have honed their ability to use drones and artillery to target Ukrainian forces more effectively. They have recently started using glide bombs — which use gravity and basic guidance devices to reach their targets without making any noise — to show they are still capable of deploying newer weapons on the battlefield. The efforts mean the window to make significant gains against Russia’s depleted forces may not remain open indefinitely.

In private meetings, Sergei K. Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, has told other officials that he believes Russia has the numerical advantage on the battlefield because it has more planes, tanks, artillery pieces and soldiers than the Ukrainians, according to a senior European official aware of the discussions. In these conversations, Mr. Shoigu came across as supremely confident that Russia will eventually prevail.

Image
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia shaking hands with Sergei K. Shoigu.
A photo released by Russian state media shows President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia meeting with Sergei K. Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, this month.Credit...Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik

American intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia thinks that time is on his side. Given Russia’s bigger reserves of equipment and manpower, the officials say Mr. Putin believes he will ultimately emerge victorious as the West’s appetite to support Ukraine subsides.

U.S. and European officials say Russia is preparing new rounds of mobilizations to bolster the ranks of its military without creating the same exodus of young men from the country, which occurred last year when a partial mobilization was announced. Some of the leaked Pentagon documents also outline how Wagner, Russia’s biggest military contractor, had restarted recruiting troops from Russia’s prisons.

American officials say that Mr. Putin faces a political cost for any mobilization, and even if he is willing to bear those costs, it will take Russia time to conscript those forces, train them and send them to the fight. Forces that were rushed to the front, like Wagner’s prison recruits, quickly became cannon fodder.

Still, Russia’s capacity — and willingness — to absorb losses remains large, allowing it to mobilize more conscripts. But some analysts have raised doubts that Moscow has enough soldiers to fill the trenches they have built across their front lines.

A key focus of the United States and the West has been trying to stop Russia from finding new supplies of weaponry. U.S. and NATO officials have hindered Russia’s domestic manufacturing with sanctions and export controls, and put diplomatic pressure on countries to reject Russian requests for arms.

Image
President Biden standing next to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during a visit in February to Kyiv, with the blue-and-gold St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery behind them. 
President Biden traveled to Kyiv and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in February. American officials have been working to influence the flow of arms to both Ukraine and Russia.Credit...Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

China appears to have been deterred, at least for the moment, from providing ammunition or other lethal aid to Russia. U.S. officials publicized intelligence about Beijing’s private discussions with Moscow, and they have not seen any evidence since that China is sending arms. Similarly, Russian efforts to acquire guided missiles from Iran have not borne fruit so far.

Another apparent success has been Egypt. While U.S. officials were quietly pressing Cairo to supply artillery shells to Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies gathered information, first reported by The Washington Post, that Egyptian officials might also supply weaponry to Russia.

After a diplomatic push by the United States and Britain, the Egyptians appeared to side with the Americans. According to a subsequent intelligence report, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt rejected the idea of Cairo supplying the Russian side.

U.S. officials said a production contract has been agreed with Egyptian state-owned arms makers to produce artillery shells for the United States and American contractors, who, in turn, will send them to Ukraine.

Some European countries, including France, are pushing for negotiations. For now, Mr. Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, are dug in, and peace talks appear to be nowhere in sight.

For the Ukrainians to force a real negotiation, they must make sure "Vladimir Putin’s hubris, his arrogance, is punctured,” William J. Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said at a speech at Rice University earlier this month.

The Ukrainians have said they would not agree to any peace talks until they push back the Russians and gain more territory.

Image
Ukrainian soldiers preparing a weapon in a the snow next to bare trees.
A successful counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces could make it easier for the Biden administration to make the case for continued support.Credit...Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

The chances that Mr. Putin will back down or cut his losses in response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, the senior European official said, were "less than zero.” Instead, the official said, Mr. Putin will likely opt to call up more soldiers and send them in.

Celeste A. Wallander, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said there is no sign that Mr. Putin is ready for a compromise. "There is very little evidence and little reason to believe that Putin will give up on his strategic goal of subjugating Ukraine politically, if not fully militarily,” she said in an interview. "It’s been his goal, not just for a year, but it’s been going on for nearly a decade. So there’s no sign he’s giving up on that.”

This is the third army Russia will destroy. There won't be a fourth. 

Maybe the dopes in Poland will volunteer to be the next serfs to be obliterated but Ukraine is done. They're already forcibly conscripting children, elderly and the lame. 

I guess they could scour the prison system for volunteers, but who could ever be so desperate 

14 minutes ago, Abracadabra said:

Ukraine’s Spring Offensive Comes With Immense Stakes for Future of the War

This is the third army Russia will destroy. There won't be a fourth. 

Maybe the dopes in Poland will volunteer to be the next serfs to be obliterated but Ukraine is done. They're already forcibly conscripting children, elderly and the lame. 

So the last last last gasp? 

 

Definitely retarded. Now get back on that mop.

"Allies are apprehensive about imminent D-Day offensive" ... 

yeah, of course there's anxiety about the success of an offensive that is being planned. any sane person is going to be. it's only idiot Rashists and Vatniks proceed with unwarranted confidence.

 

11 hours ago, Mike31mt said:

I guess they could scour the prison system for volunteers, but who could ever be so desperate 

 

"Volunteers”   Well done sir

 

 

 

Google has been systematically blocking a lot of the front line map apps out there showing troop movements and whatnot.

Wonder if that's in coordination with Ukraine at their request for opsec ahead of the expected counteroffensive.

 

4 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

Google has been systematically blocking a lot of the front line map apps out there showing troop movements and whatnot.

Wonder if that's in coordination with Ukraine at their request for opsec ahead of the expected counteroffensive.

Its too bad we cant just help

ukraine overrun moscow

US for the war, China for the rebuild?

https://www.ft.com/content/33805887-224d-4a22-a04d-5ff264bfc10f