[Monterrosa-24]

“...In the 2010’s, Russia exported arms to over 60 countries. This year, only 11.

It is not just a wartime pause, those customers are now overwhelmingly buying Western weapons instead...”

That is a huge loss for the Russian economy and Russian prestige.

[Windcatcher]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWK_euAwrMk

I’m old enough that this isn’t telling me much that I didn’t already know except for a handful of small details. Nevertheless, it points out some very hard truths about Russian behavior and why Europe looks the way it does.

TLDR: Russia-defenders don’t have a leg to stand on. Russian behavior has been so brutal, so barbaric, over the centuries that it’s debatable who has been the worst historical actor over the last 225 years: them or Nazi Germany. Their hands are the opposite of “clean”.

[AdmSmith]

25DEC: We now have 5 Russian ships that are very likely heading to Tartus to aid in the evacuation travelling in 2 groups:

Currently north of Algeria:
- Ivan Gren
- Alexandr Otrakovsky
- Sparta

Currently just east of Denmark:
- Sparta II
- General Skobelev
https://x.com/OAlexanderDK/status/1871924292776325545

This local Spanish fisherman, Cirilo Butano, expects choppy waters in the Strait of Gibraltar.

[blitz128]

Curious how much arms they are even able to export even if nations wanted them.

General performance of Russian weapons systems during this war would not inspire confidence regardless of the price