>The devices, which were reportedly electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance, were sent to the UK from Lithuania and “appear to have been a test run to figure out how to get such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for North America,”
Dildos, essentially. I used to work at Brookstone selling waterproof “massagers” so believe me when I say most massagers are dildos. Russia attacked the West with flaming dildos.
I’m glad that the attack was too incompetent to succeed. The “massagers” ignited on the tarmac and nobody was hurt. This could have gone much, much worse had it been orchestrated by a more competent organization. As it stands it’s a testament to luck that they didn’t get any further than Germany. If the Kremlin is willing to partake in such heinous attacks, brute terrorism really, then the West will need to be on its guard. These deprivations will only intensify as the war in Ukraine continues to stagnate. Time is not on Putin’s side, folks. He’s losing this war.
>Incumbent Moldova President Maia Sandu has claimed victory in the Moldovan presidential runoff election held on November 3, 2024.[1] Preliminary results reported by the Moldovan Central Election Commission (CEC) show that Maia Sandu has won around 55 percent of the vote, defeating Kremlin-friendly presidential candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo.
At last! Some good election news! What a fantastic win for the lovely Maia Sandu!
Moldova did not have any easy time in this election. Voters received death threats by phone—like people straight up calling random voters and threatening their lives if they voted incorrectly; polling stations suffered bomb threats; the Kremlin straight up bribed voters who were open to it; rampant online misinformation; paid protests; anything and everything possible to weight the result in Putin’s favor.
Despite Putin’s efforts, however, the Moldovan people came out and supported their incumbent candidate by 55% of the vote. They show that democracy is still possible in the shadow of an empire hell bent on its destruction. With this victory the Moldovan people will be able to continue their march towards joining the European Union. It would have stopped has Sandu’s opponent, a Russian-backed oligarch named Alexandr Stoianoglo been allowed to take the presidency.
Honestly, I think that’s one of the biggest flaws in our democratic system. We expect nations to obey the rules and ideals to join our Western club, but what if a nation gets hijacked? What if democracy is impossible? We keep prosperity from the fingertips of people and do nothing to help them achieve it.
Take Georgia for instance.
>Georgian civil society and opposition resumed peaceful demonstrations on November 4 against the highly contested October 26 Georgian parliamentary elections, calling for continued resistance and further investigations into large-scale voting irregularities. Thousands of Georgians gathered in the center of Tbilisi and reiterated their refusal to acknowledge the increasingly pro-Russian Georgian Dream party’s victory in an election marred by large-scale evidence of voting irregularities and Russian influence.
The Georgian people protest for democracy, but unlike Moldova, they exist in thrall to the Russian state. Their election suffered just as much electoral interference as Moldova. They know it. They’re protesting it. The people of Georgia are pissed, but the mechanisms of government are deaf to cries because they serve different master.
At what point does it become a moral obligation for the United Nations to intervene? I know the possibility is entirely non-existent, but with such obvious fraud, shouldn’t a collection of Western nations come together to guarantee integrity of a fledgling member’s elections? These nations seek membership in the West. They want to obey the rules but find it impossible due to foreign interference. If foreign interference is guaranteed, then we should interfere on the people’s behalf.
I know it’s just a pipe dream. I know the West isn’t going to come roaring in to set things right in Georgia. It hurts to watch, but we must hope and pray the Georgian protests are enough to change the course of their nation.
>Russian drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure in Summer 2024 reportedly significantly impacted Ukrainian electrical generation capacity compared to March 2024, though it is unclear whether Russia had been able to inflict significant further damage on the Ukrainian energy grid since.
Ukrainian energy output capacity decrease by 9 gigawatts over the summer, according to Politico. In March 2024 they outputted 21.4 gigawatts, so that would mean a 42% drop in output capacity. Russia launched something like 200 missiles and drones in August, so the drop isn’t surprising. Moscow exerted a serious, concerted effort to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, and while their energy grid is resilient, it’s unclear whether they’ll recover before the onset of winter.
Hopefully the West will be enough to make up the difference. In September the United States sent a [$700 million aid package](https://www.wvtm13.com/article/us-announces-700-million-aid-ukraine-energy-grid/62156794) focused on assisting the Ukrainian energy grid. Kyiv is hooked to the European energy grid. And it’s been three years of this now, and a good portion of the country has a generator and working knowledge of electricity.
Stress triggers a response, and it’s been three years of this stress. The Ukrainians have adapted. They’ll make it through this winter.
>Russian authorities arrested Rosgvardia’s Deputy Head of Logistics Major General Mirza Mirzaev for bribery on November 3.[18] Russian authorities have notably arrested several high-ranking Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials on bribery charges after Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and moved him to the position of Security Council Secretary in May 2024.
Wait, Putin replaced Shoigu?! Who’s the new whipping boy? This is why you shouldn’t take a five-month break from the news. You miss all the exciting developments.
Sounds to me like Putin is clearing house of Shoigu’s circle of buddies. I doubt Putin cares much about bribery, given how rampant corruption is in the Russian army, so we can assume this is a political removal. Take note, folks. In any healthy country Putin would have just fired Miza Mirzaev, but in Russia it needs to be backed up by a kangaroo court. This is because each of these men has their own circle of influence who must be nullified lest they become problematic. When institutions cease to have meaning, individual become the source of legitimacy, and Putin has just taken that legitimacy from Mirzaev.
>Ukrainian forces have reportedly struck seven Russian radars and air defense systems since the night of October 20 to 21. […] Further degradation of Russia’s air defense umbrella, particularly over occupied Ukraine, may impact how close to the frontline Russian pilots are willing to operate and could limit Russia’s ability to effectively use glide bombs against both frontline areas and rear Ukrainian cities.
Seven! Seven radar stations! That’s a huge whole in the Russian energy grid! And just the other day Israel knocked out ALL of Iran’s S-300 radar stations. Since Iran gets their S-300s from Russia, it seems safe to say those replacements won’t be forthcoming.
Keep it up, Ukraine. Those radars require complex microelectronics that Russia cannot easily source. They might as well be irreplaceable.
——————————————————————————————————
‘Q’ for the Community:
* What’s your opinion on the United Nations intervening in situations of extreme foreign interference to guarantee legitimacy of elections?
1 comment
Welcome to the [Peanut Gallery](https://www.nuttyspectacle.com/)! Today we got some good election news!
Please remember that I know nothing.
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**[Ukraine:](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-november-4-2024)**
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>[Incendiary devices that ignited in Germany and the United Kingdom in July were part of a covert Russian operation that aimed to start fires aboard cargo and passenger flights heading to the US and Canada, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday, citing Western security officials.](https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/04/europe/russia-suspected-incendiary-devices-europe-intl-latam/index.html)
Huh. Well that’s scary.
>The devices, which were reportedly electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance, were sent to the UK from Lithuania and “appear to have been a test run to figure out how to get such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for North America,”
Dildos, essentially. I used to work at Brookstone selling waterproof “massagers” so believe me when I say most massagers are dildos. Russia attacked the West with flaming dildos.
I’m glad that the attack was too incompetent to succeed. The “massagers” ignited on the tarmac and nobody was hurt. This could have gone much, much worse had it been orchestrated by a more competent organization. As it stands it’s a testament to luck that they didn’t get any further than Germany. If the Kremlin is willing to partake in such heinous attacks, brute terrorism really, then the West will need to be on its guard. These deprivations will only intensify as the war in Ukraine continues to stagnate. Time is not on Putin’s side, folks. He’s losing this war.
>Incumbent Moldova President Maia Sandu has claimed victory in the Moldovan presidential runoff election held on November 3, 2024.[1] Preliminary results reported by the Moldovan Central Election Commission (CEC) show that Maia Sandu has won around 55 percent of the vote, defeating Kremlin-friendly presidential candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo.
At last! Some good election news! What a fantastic win for the lovely Maia Sandu!
Moldova did not have any easy time in this election. Voters received death threats by phone—like people straight up calling random voters and threatening their lives if they voted incorrectly; polling stations suffered bomb threats; the Kremlin straight up bribed voters who were open to it; rampant online misinformation; paid protests; anything and everything possible to weight the result in Putin’s favor.
Despite Putin’s efforts, however, the Moldovan people came out and supported their incumbent candidate by 55% of the vote. They show that democracy is still possible in the shadow of an empire hell bent on its destruction. With this victory the Moldovan people will be able to continue their march towards joining the European Union. It would have stopped has Sandu’s opponent, a Russian-backed oligarch named Alexandr Stoianoglo been allowed to take the presidency.
Honestly, I think that’s one of the biggest flaws in our democratic system. We expect nations to obey the rules and ideals to join our Western club, but what if a nation gets hijacked? What if democracy is impossible? We keep prosperity from the fingertips of people and do nothing to help them achieve it.
Take Georgia for instance.
>Georgian civil society and opposition resumed peaceful demonstrations on November 4 against the highly contested October 26 Georgian parliamentary elections, calling for continued resistance and further investigations into large-scale voting irregularities. Thousands of Georgians gathered in the center of Tbilisi and reiterated their refusal to acknowledge the increasingly pro-Russian Georgian Dream party’s victory in an election marred by large-scale evidence of voting irregularities and Russian influence.
The Georgian people protest for democracy, but unlike Moldova, they exist in thrall to the Russian state. Their election suffered just as much electoral interference as Moldova. They know it. They’re protesting it. The people of Georgia are pissed, but the mechanisms of government are deaf to cries because they serve different master.
At what point does it become a moral obligation for the United Nations to intervene? I know the possibility is entirely non-existent, but with such obvious fraud, shouldn’t a collection of Western nations come together to guarantee integrity of a fledgling member’s elections? These nations seek membership in the West. They want to obey the rules but find it impossible due to foreign interference. If foreign interference is guaranteed, then we should interfere on the people’s behalf.
I know it’s just a pipe dream. I know the West isn’t going to come roaring in to set things right in Georgia. It hurts to watch, but we must hope and pray the Georgian protests are enough to change the course of their nation.
>Russian drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure in Summer 2024 reportedly significantly impacted Ukrainian electrical generation capacity compared to March 2024, though it is unclear whether Russia had been able to inflict significant further damage on the Ukrainian energy grid since.
Ukrainian energy output capacity decrease by 9 gigawatts over the summer, according to Politico. In March 2024 they outputted 21.4 gigawatts, so that would mean a 42% drop in output capacity. Russia launched something like 200 missiles and drones in August, so the drop isn’t surprising. Moscow exerted a serious, concerted effort to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, and while their energy grid is resilient, it’s unclear whether they’ll recover before the onset of winter.
Hopefully the West will be enough to make up the difference. In September the United States sent a [$700 million aid package](https://www.wvtm13.com/article/us-announces-700-million-aid-ukraine-energy-grid/62156794) focused on assisting the Ukrainian energy grid. Kyiv is hooked to the European energy grid. And it’s been three years of this now, and a good portion of the country has a generator and working knowledge of electricity.
Stress triggers a response, and it’s been three years of this stress. The Ukrainians have adapted. They’ll make it through this winter.
>Russian authorities arrested Rosgvardia’s Deputy Head of Logistics Major General Mirza Mirzaev for bribery on November 3.[18] Russian authorities have notably arrested several high-ranking Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials on bribery charges after Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and moved him to the position of Security Council Secretary in May 2024.
Wait, Putin replaced Shoigu?! Who’s the new whipping boy? This is why you shouldn’t take a five-month break from the news. You miss all the exciting developments.
Sounds to me like Putin is clearing house of Shoigu’s circle of buddies. I doubt Putin cares much about bribery, given how rampant corruption is in the Russian army, so we can assume this is a political removal. Take note, folks. In any healthy country Putin would have just fired Miza Mirzaev, but in Russia it needs to be backed up by a kangaroo court. This is because each of these men has their own circle of influence who must be nullified lest they become problematic. When institutions cease to have meaning, individual become the source of legitimacy, and Putin has just taken that legitimacy from Mirzaev.
>Ukrainian forces have reportedly struck seven Russian radars and air defense systems since the night of October 20 to 21. […] Further degradation of Russia’s air defense umbrella, particularly over occupied Ukraine, may impact how close to the frontline Russian pilots are willing to operate and could limit Russia’s ability to effectively use glide bombs against both frontline areas and rear Ukrainian cities.
Seven! Seven radar stations! That’s a huge whole in the Russian energy grid! And just the other day Israel knocked out ALL of Iran’s S-300 radar stations. Since Iran gets their S-300s from Russia, it seems safe to say those replacements won’t be forthcoming.
Keep it up, Ukraine. Those radars require complex microelectronics that Russia cannot easily source. They might as well be irreplaceable.
——————————————————————————————————
‘Q’ for the Community:
* What’s your opinion on the United Nations intervening in situations of extreme foreign interference to guarantee legitimacy of elections?
——————————————————————————————————
* Join the conversation on /r/TheNuttySpectacle!
Comments are closed.