2/ Ukraine is forming an international branch of their "military "which will make it much easier for anyone in the world and wants to come and join the fight to do so
3/ #Kiev again repulsed a Russian assault. Once Russian armor was dispatched, Kiev spent the night purging itself of Russian foot soldiers 4/ Russian armor is flowing in from #Belarus on multiple vectors, with the intent of hitting Kiev from multiple directions
5/ and most important for the long run, #Germany announced plans to DOUBLE defense spending w/in 2 years. Not only does this put Europe on the road to general militarization, this guarantees the Russians will not stop....
DW dumped everything they had into a single article. In no particular order. 1/ The French have started seizing Russian cargo ships on the high seas. That's kinda badass. Very pre-WWI. dw.com/en/ukraine-hea…
2/ Heavy fighting near Mariupol. Russian forces are pushing out of those eastern secessionist enclaves with the goal of linking up with Crimea.
3/ Facebook decided that while they are fine posting xenophobic and genocidal propaganda from China, actual war propaganda is a step too far. Facebook has barred all Russian entities from putting up ads on their platform.
1/ In light of all the Ukraine goings on, I'm posting some maps from The Absent Superpower.
2/ From the US point of view, Ukraine is not what matters. Instead, its what happens after the Russians have consolidated control over Ukraine & turn to their next targets: Poland and the Baltics.
3/ Russia sees these conquerings as defensive. Russians are attempting to plug the access point to their heartlands. In Absent Superpower I broke these efforts into a series of phases. By my math we are now in phase 3.
1/
Quick sequence of some of my favorite #Russia graphics so you can familiarize yourself with the scope of what is unfolding vis-a-vis #Ukraine. Russians live in the green. The wheat belt. The part of Russia that has temperature and rainfall levels to make habitation possible.
2/ Compare that to the #populationdensity map so you know I'm not lying.
3/ Russia's problem is - Russia's problem HAS ALWAYS BEEN - there are no good barriers near the populated zones to keep invaders at bay. The Russian goal is - the Russian goal HAS ALWAYS BEEN - to expand their footprint until they reach such barriers. Those barriers are in red.
Short personal story. Im immunocompromised & I am vaccinated and boosted. Got my Covid shots as soon as I could. Vaccination in March and April of last year, booster in September. 10 days ago I woke up with a sore throat. Tis flu season so I didn't think much about it.
1/
But the next day was… Less fun. Bodyaches, chills, fever, bit of a cough. I've certainly been sicker in my life, but it's not something I aim for. I speak to groups of people for a living, so being patient zero for any sort of outbreak is a big no-no.
2/
Day 3 was pretty miserable. Called the doctor and was told it would be five days before I would be able to get in. The system was totally overwhelmed and they had no Covid tests. They also said they would not see me without a Covid test.
3/
Here is where the US currently stands with vaccinations. Just a touch over 64% of us are fully vaxxed. (Data is a bit wobbly because it relies upon states reporting regularly, which they do not always do.) 3/ usafacts.org/visualizations…
1/ Quick US military thread:
Military COVID vaccine deadlines start today (active duty Air Force) and continue on service-by-service, active-then-reserve, into next June.
2/ The U.S. military is the most vaccinated population on the planet, and the mandate isn’t so far meeting meaningful resistance.
There 2.1m servicepeople. So far only a small single-digit thousand have applied for exemptions.
3/ Zero religious exceptions have been granted as <no> religions represented in the military have a problem with vaccines.
<All> medical exceptions granted are temporary (pregnancy, undergoing surgery, etc). Once the temporary conditions are passed, the mandate kicks back in.