1/ Russian escort agencies are seeking women with advanced skills in video games such as Counter-Strike and DOTA, to work as 'gamer girls' for $3,000 a day for members of the Saudi Arabian royal family. Sleeping with the clients is not compulsory. ⬇️
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that the super-rich now want to spend their leisure time playing video games with "gamer girls", a trend that Russia's 'modeling agencies' are capitalising on.
3/ The channel reports: "In addition to the standard requirements for applicants in the top category of “gamer girls”, they now need to have a “large gaming background”."
4/ "Modeling agency scouts explain that due to extensive experience in games, the so-called gaming IQ is developed, which allows you to navigate even new games.
5/ "Just for sitting together in front of the monitor and talking about “Dota” and “CS” (without bed scenes) with members of the royal family of Saudi Arabia and their friends, the organisers are ready to pay gamers $3,000 a day."
6/ According to an advert reproduced by VChK-OGPU, "female gamers/streamers" are urgently needed for a 30-day "image visit to Saudi Arabia".
7/ The advert reassures applicants that "this has nothing to do with a regular visit, female gamers live separately, may not go to parties (or go if you want), and so on, they don't need to sleep with anyone."
8/ The task of applicants is "to play games in special rooms with the Royal Family and their friends" for $3,000 a day, with a 30% commission for the agency. The advert advises that the clients "leave big tips."
9/ Applicants are to be 18-28 years old, a minimum of 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) tall, and to have "clear skin", a "baby face" and a "beautiful smile". Explaining why gaming expertise is needed, the advert explains that it's boring to play against inexperienced opponents:
10/ "As a console owner, I was always bored playing with guests who had played somewhere [only] a couple of times, since I knew the mechanics of the game and could simply use two buttons block + some kind of hit to defeat any guest."
11/ VChK-OGPU comments: "The so-called “image visits” have existed for a very long time and sex tourists regularly travel to popular destinations."
12/ "This is when girls recruited by “modeling agencies” come to work on an erotic tour, where they are supported, entertained and paid daily allowances throughout the entire trip.
13/ "In return, the models are required to be in a good mood to create an entourage with their presence and be ready for intimacy at the request of the event host or his guests.
14/ "And if earlier such trips looked like, for example, non-stop parties in private beach clubs, now more and more customers prefer to spend time in the company of gamers in special game rooms."
1/ A Russian medic who has deserted from the Russian army and is seeking asylum in France has given a vivid account of the grim conditions on the Russian front line in Ukraine, the brutality of the Russian commanders, and the threats faced by Russian troops. ⬇️
2/ 40-year-old Alexey Zhilyaev from Murino near St Petersburg deserted from the Russian army in August 2024 after nine months of service as a medic. He fled Russia with the aid of a dissident group and is now in France, where he is seeking political asylum.
3/ Interviewed by Radio Free Europe, Zhilyaev says that he had trained as a medic as a student. He was inspired to join the army by seeing "crowds of people without arms and legs, on crutches and in wheelchairs, getting off the train" in St Petersburg.
1/ Russian soldiers are being reportedly "demilitarised" by their own brutal and corrupt commanders, who extort money from men they call their "slaves" and "disposable" before sending them into unsurvivable assaults. ⬇️
2/ The 'All-People's Truth' Telegram channel describes how 'Surgeon', the commander of the Russian 1194th Motorised Rifle Regiment, located near Ozarianivka near Bakhmut, has "established his own rules" that violate army orders and the laws of war.
3/ The blogger says that "the volunteers located there are called 'meat', 'slaves', 'disposable'" by their commander. An audio recording corroborates this, with a man describing them as "my slaves... You can beat him, you can tie him up."
1/ Due to the effect of Ukrainian drones' suppression of Russian logistics, Russian soldiers are having to walk up to 35 km (21.7 miles) per day to form up for attacks, evacuate the wounded, reach frontline positions, or go to the rear. ⬇️
2/ The Russian warblogger 'Vault No. 8' writes:
"[A]t this moment, when the enemy has a huge numerical superiority [with drones] in the lower skies, the front line walks long distances every day.
3/ "Evacuation teams can walk 20 kilometres [12.4 mi] every day on the days of our attacks.
Supplies carriers also, about 20-25 km [12.4-15.5 mi] with a heavy load every day.
Infantry when moving to the assault, to the entrenchment and to rest – 10-20 km [6.2-12.4 mi] each.
1/ Russian soldiers are being trained to stand still if they are targeted by a drone, in the hope that the operator will not notice them if they are not moving. This tactic misunderstands how drones are being used and is lethally unsuccessful, as a Russian milblogger explains. ⬇️
2/ Commenting on a Ukrainian video of an FPV drone flying into a stationary Russian soldier's head, the 'Philologist in ambush' describes the tactic of "freezing like a post" as "some monstrous nonsense" imparted during the (brief) training given to newly recruited soldiers.
3/ "Human vision (especially with a weak drone image) is really good at capturing objects in motion, whereas static objects can be missed, and freezing in a well-masked environment (in particular, in untrimmed greenery) can help to some extent. But there are nuances!
1/ Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine complain that they have been overwhelmed since the New Year by a tsunami of paperwork. The sudden burst of activity by the militrary bureaucracy has led some Russian milbloggers to hope that it means an imminent ceasefire. ⬇️
2/ The Russian milblogger 'Vault 8' spots "signs of a possible détente":
"After the New Year, the paperwork, contrary to expectations, did not go down, but remained at the same level and even increased."
3/ "No matter who I talk to from different units, the same Paris-like movement is going on everywhere:
1) A total check of material property and write-off of losses. So that there are as few cold cases and criminal cases as possible, while write-offs can be in military order.
1/ Let's talk about rule of law versus rule by law.
Rule of law is the legal system that applies in democratic states, and is foundational to democracy. It holds that the law is the supreme authority to which everyone, including government officials, is subject.
2/ This is traditionally illustrated by the image of 'blind Justice', usually depicted as a blindfolded woman standing with a sword and set of scales. The blindfold denotes impartiality; the sword, authority; the scales, balance and fairness; the pose, steadfastness.
3/ In autocracies – notably Russia and China today, and so-called 'Herrenvolk democracies' like apartheid South Africa and the pre-Civil Rights southern United States – a different system has operated: rule by law, rather than rule of law.