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CNN highlighted this video yesterday which comes from a Ukrainian journalist. They haven’t independently confirmed the contents but the video appears to shows Russian soldiers who are near the front lines complaining about the complete lack of supplies and training. “The sent us here without any training, without anything at all,” the soldier said. He added, “We don’t have any training or supplies and our guys showed up in their own uniforms paid for with their own money.” A second soldier said, “We have no weapons, no ammo bags, no grenades, no belt pouches, no food, no water. It’s absolute...

We all know how this has played out. This summer Russia started monkeying with the natural gas supply to Germany and the rest of Europe, claiming there was some technical problem that required maintenance. Then they cut the gas off completely and not long after that someone blew up the Nord Stream pipeline. The result of all this has been a huge spike in energy prices in Europe and concern that there might not be enough gas to heat homes this winter.But here we are in late October and the situation is looking very different. For one thing, Europe has...

A report published yesterday which documents the routine use of torture in Izium, a small city in eastern Ukraine which was recently recaptured after months of Russian occupation. The Associated Press sent reporters to the city and spoke with residents who identified 10 locations which had been used by Russians to torture both Ukrainian military personnel and civilians.(snip)Russian torture in Izium was arbitrary, widespread and absolutely routine for both civilians and soldiers throughout the city, an Associated Press investigation has found.(snip) Based on accounts of survivors and police, AP journalists located 10 torture sites in the town and gained access...

Putin’s partial mobilization continues to look like a disaster. There are reports that some of the new recruits are being sent to the front lines in Ukraine with little or no training or equipment. Mobilized soldiers and their families provide their own equipment and even medical supplies before they ship out.A half-dozen Russian soldiers talk about being shipped to an area of intense fighting in eastern Ukraine just 11 days after their mobilization. Asked about his shooting practice, a bearded conscript says, “Once. Three magazines.”…Elsewhere, scores of relatives of freshly drafted Russian soldiers crowd outside a training center, passing items...

Last night Politico Europe published an interesting story about where Russia is starting to feel the pinch as it tries to keep its war machine going. Despite sanctions, Russia has managed to keep selling lots of oil and that has kept its economy from collapsing. But while it has lots of cash on hand it’s not so easy to import supplies of high tech chips that are needed for its weapons of war. In order to find those parts, Russia has put together a shopping list.Having fired off (or lost in combat) way more of their missile firepower than they...

Russia has been playing this game for months and now it seems to have reached its inevitable outcome. The gas supply flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has been completely shut off. Russia claimed this week that it was shutting the gas supply off temporarily in order to do maintenance on the line. Then it claimed it had discovered a problem which prevented it from resuming the supply. No one is being fooled by any of this anymore. Even the German company that built the machines used to pump gas through the pipeline has said Russia’s explanation makes no...