OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

The decline in students enrolling in college-The great 2008 recession and the now impact-
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23428166/college-enrollment-population-education-crash
Frictionless conduit here-

Yep, looks pretty bleak for some of the smaller liberal arts colleges.  

Gulfcoastguy

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of sex and race. Basically college tuition and expenses have increased faster than general inflation ever since I was there in the early 80’s. While I was there increases of 20 or more % a year weren’t uncommon. My saving since I was 14 to go and a decent paying cooperative education job got me through with occasional parental help. 

It was a bit different, 2 to a room and 8 to one shower was the norm. I walked or biked everywhere during the week. Cellphones and data plans didn’t exist though $4000 computers with 2 floppy drives did so some of today’s recurring expenses weren’t there.

dmchicago

There are unfortunate side effects to this but imho, too many kids go to college. Or put another way, more kids should focus on trades. We all know kids with 4 year degrees that don’t/ can’t find work in their field. 

I ran into someone I hadn’t seen for some time last week and asked about her college daughter. She jumped up and down and told me she graduated and found work in the EE field, which is what my friend paid 4 years of tuition for. 

I’m a college dropout so consider the source. 

But I own an Egg and a bidet, so great success!
 

fishlessman

My first semester out of state in nuke engineering was a little over 600 bucks in 82. I'm thinking the class I saw on female masturbation back ten years ago cost more than that.  There's some very idiotic things being taught....maybe some lucky boyfriends

lousubcap

And I thought a "Wines, spirits and beers" college course was as good as it could get.  Back when the alcohol drinking age in NYS was 18.  So naive...

Botch

Gulfcoastguy said:

It was a bit different, 2 to a room and 8 to one shower was the norm. I walked or biked everywhere during the week. Cellphones and data plans didn’t exist though $4000 computers with 2 floppy drives did so some of today’s recurring expenses weren’t there.

This was interesting to read.  It appears you were about 4, 5 years after me.  My dorms were 30 to 3 showers, no issues except for the females who dominated the 8 washers/driers in the basement.  Constantly.
In college we didn't have computers/floppies, but we DID have punch cards and an overflowing data center on campus, my Jr year.  In high school I was one of the last holdouts to my slide-rule, before getting my Hewlett-Packard calculator. I still have it (them!)  

Gulfcoastguy

Botch said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

It was a bit different, 2 to a room and 8 to one shower was the norm. I walked or biked everywhere during the week. Cellphones and data plans didn’t exist though $4000 computers with 2 floppy drives did so some of today’s recurring expenses weren’t there.

This was interesting to read.  It appears you were about 4, 5 years after me.  My dorms were 30 to 3 showers, no issues except for the females who dominated the 8 washers/driers in the basement.  Constantly.
In college we didn't have computers/floppies, but we DID have punch cards and an overflowing data center on campus, my Jr year.  In high school I was one of the last holdouts to my slide-rule, before getting my Hewlett-Packard calculator. I still have it (them!)  

The dual floppies were towards the end, I fed punch cards in the beginning. Because I would go to school a semester then work a semester it took me a while to get my degree. The engineering school not offering any 3rd or 4th year engineering classes in the summer didn’t help. But I graduated owing less than 3 K and with the letter saying that I had already passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam in my hand.
 The dorm that I described was an upperclassman dorm. Which years later was demolished because every surface in it was asbestos. The freshman dorms had open showers like you see in prison movies, but no asbestos at least.

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian missiles have struck a maternity hospital and other civilian infrastructure in Ukraine’s south and east, killing at least three people including an infant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strike on the maternity ward in Vilnyansk in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia intentional. Thomas Grove reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Ukraine targeted the port city of Sevastopol with a drone attack yesterday, according to authorities in Crimea. Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-installed governor of the region, said that the drones appeared to be on course to attack a power plant in the Balaklava district, just east of the city. It was unclear whether any damage was done to the city or to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, which is headquartered there. Carly Olson reports for the New York Times. 

Since Russian troops retreated from the city of Kherson two weeks ago, fighting in Ukraine has focused on the Kinburn Spit, on the east bank of the Dnipro River. The peninsula, which Russia has controlled since June, is strategically significant as it allows Russia to project force deeper into the Black Sea, guard routes to the ports in Mykolaiv and Kerson, and protect its forces in Crimea. Russian forces on the spit can also launch missiles at the port city of Odesa, as well as the city of Mykolaiv. If Ukraine manages to seize the spit, it could enable it to outflank Russian forces still establishing defensive positions east of the Dnipro. Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Marc Santora report for the New York Times. 

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have caused “colossal” damage, the head of Ukraine’s national electric utility said yesterday.Volodymyr Kurdrytskyi said that most of the nation’s power plants had been crippled, and warned of rolling blackouts and power shortages as the temperatures in Ukraine start to dip below freezing. During an address to French officials yesterday, Zelenskyy also highlighted the attacks on infrastructure, accusing Russia of turning “the cold of winter into a weapon of mass destruction.” Carly Olson reports for the New York Times. "

TheFishWhisperer

fishlessman said:

My first semester out of state in nuke engineering was a little over 600 bucks in 82. I'm thinking the class I saw on female masturbation back ten years ago cost more than that.  There's some very idiotic things being taught....maybe some lucky boyfriends

Back in the day nuclear engineering classes were cheap.  I wish I'd taken those anatomy classes before they got expensive.   I still can't find the clit.  

fishlessman

TheFishWhisperer said:

fishlessman said:

My first semester out of state in nuke engineering was a little over 600 bucks in 82. I'm thinking the class I saw on female masturbation back ten years ago cost more than that.  There's some very idiotic things being taught....maybe some lucky boyfriends

Back in the day nuclear engineering classes were cheap.  I wish I'd taken those anatomy classes before they got expensive.   I still can't find the clit.  

date a girl from bradeis college, she can explain it to you

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Hungary's Parliament will ratify Sweden and Finland's NATO membership in its first session in 2023, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. The announcement, which brings to an end several weeks of speculation that Orban would further delay the move, was made following a meeting with leaders of the Visegrad Group of central European nations. The group includes Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Mohammed Tawfeeq reports for CNN. 

The European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution calling Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Moscow reacted angrily to the decision. "I propose designating the European Parliament as a sponsor of idiocy," Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram. Reuters reports. 

All three nuclear power plants under Ukrainian control are back online and will soon be producing energy at normal capacity, the head of the national energy utility has said. This comes after Russian attacks earlier in the week triggered emergency protections at the three plants and required a halt to production. On Thursday Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said that “the complete and simultaneous loss of off-site power for Ukraine’s nuclear power plants shows that the situation for nuclear safety and security in the country is becoming increasingly precarious, challenging and potentially dangerous.” Victoria Kim and Marc Santora report for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is preparing to unleash a new wave of strikes on the country. This comes as Ukrainian utility crews battle to restore power supplies destroyed by recent bombardments, in the face of increasingly cold weather. Matthew Mpoke Bigg reports for the New York Times. 

Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy company said yesterday that there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing to leave the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. However, the Kremlin dismissed the statement, saying that the plant is still under Russian control and will remain so. Pavel Polityuk reports for Reuters. 

E.U. officials are racing to finalize the proposed price cap on Russian oil before the December 5 deadline kicks in. Talks have stalled in recent days as Poland has led a push for a far lower cap than the European Commission advocates. E.U. governments have also clashed over whether the price cap should be linked to a wider round of sanctions. Sam Fleming and David Sheppard report for the Financial Times. 

The Pentagon is considering a proposal by Boeing to supply Ukraine with 100-mile strike weapons. Boeing’s proposed system, dubbed Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), combines small precision bombs with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in U.S. inventories. GLSDB would be capable of reaching far behind Russian lines, and could be delivered as early as spring 2023. Mike Stone reports for Reuters."

lousubcap

Some arms demand signals from the Russia-Ukraine war:

"U.S. and European arms makers seem to be busier than they've been all century now that we're 10 months into the Russian military's faltering invasion of its democratic neighbor Ukraine. There were at least four reports from major Western news outlets over the last several days about this new phase of weapons production. 

Warehouses across eastern European cities like Warsaw and Prague are newly bustlingwith activity related to artillery and gun manufacturing, as well as bullet-proof vests and air defense systems, Reuters reported Thursday. 

Rocket launchers, tanks, and bullets are dominating orders at firms like Germany's Rheinmetall and Sweden's Saab, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thanksgiving Day. American firms are seeing renewed interest in older weapons, too; that includes Raytheon's Stinger missiles, and Lockheed Martin's Javelin and HIMARS rocket stocks. Even L3Harris Technologies Inc. is cannibalizing old radios for chips to be used in new communications gear, according to the Journal.  

In terms of artillery use, "A day in Ukraine is a month or more in Afghanistan," one expert told the New York Times, reporting on the same trends Saturday. Consider this: "Last summer in the Donbas region, the Ukrainians were firing 6,000 to 7,000 artillery rounds each day," whereas  "Russians were firing 40,000 to 50,000 rounds per day…By comparison, the United States produces only 15,000 rounds each month."

Western nations have donated some 350 howitzer artillery systems to Ukraine (142 of those are from the U.S.); and at least a third are out of commission at any given time due to the laborious process of changing out warped barrels due to heat and overuse, the New York Times reported separately on Friday. French officials say they'd like to do more for Ukraine, but they've already donated a fifth of their howitzer systems to Kyiv since February. 

But there have also been notable instances of resilience and adaptability with the donated weapon systems: "To shell Russian positions at Snake Island," the Times' Steven Erlanger and Lara Jakes reported, "the Ukrainians put Caesars, with a 40-kilometer range, on barges and towed them out 10 kilometers to hit the island, which was 50 kilometers away, astonishing the French." 

But replacing 155mm shells here in the states? Even if you begin now, "it's going to be probably four to five years before you start seeing them come out the other end," Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the Times.

Big picture take: Rheinmetall's CEO told the Journal he's seen "a very, very clear signal that there must be investment programs over the next 10-15 years for the security of all of Europe." Continue reading, here. 

Developing: "Russian forces have been digging trench lines and concentration areas in eastern Kherson since early October," which seems to suggest they are "preparing either to defend in depth or to conduct operational or strategic delay operations," analysts at the Institute for the Study of War wrote in their latest assessment Sunday evening. 

• In photos: See some of the moved dirt via satellite imagery collected almost two weeks ago over Ukraine, via Maxar. 

"Russian forces clearly do not expect to be able to prevent Ukrainian forces from getting across the [Dnipro] river, nor are the Russians prioritizing defensive positions to stop such a crossing," ISW says, and predicts, "The Russian military is setting conditions for a protracted defense in eastern Kherson Oblast that could allow the establishment of a solid Ukrainian lodgment on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.""

lousubcap

Tom Nichols of "The Atlantic" wrote today-

"Here in the United States, Trump’s dinner at Mar-a-Lago resembled a lazy Saturday Night Live sketch. Trump was joined by Kanye West, now known as Ye, and Nick Fuentes, one of the many ambitious young grifters on the right who has figured out that performative idiocy—and, in his case, blistering racism—is a lot more fun than working a straight job.

Trump, as he typically does when his overtures to extremists ignite controversy, protested that he had no idea what he had blundered into. The whole business would be laughable were it not a fact that Trump is the de facto boss in the GOP and has long been the front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024. Having dinner with a racist agitator is not normally a clever move for an American candidate, but Trump needs new allies, so he’s testing the limits of the public’s tolerance for radical new members of his coalition.Trump doesn’t understand much about politics, so he may not have internalized what happened to Republicans in the midterms. He does, however, possess an innate awareness of where he stands with his fans, and he might realize that he’s worn out his less-extreme supporters. He needs replacements.

The attempt to replenish his base underlies not only Trump’s Early-Bird Racist Dinner but his previous embrace of the QAnon movement. If reasonably sensible people will no longer support him, he must find unreasonable reserves to make up the difference. Like Putin dragooning Russians into his army, Trump is net-fishing a new pool of weirdos and extremists to shore up his ongoing attempt to avenge his loss.

None of this is new. Trump pioneered the political game of saying outrageous things, letting the ensuing scandal burn, doubling and tripling down, and then insisting that being a jerk was an example of bravery and principle. And he got away with it every time, because millions of American voters refused—and still refuse—to hold him accountable. And that is the real danger in this authoritarian retrenchment: that once again, the voters will shrug off actions that would have shocked them even five or 10 years ago.

It is important to ask Republican leaders, including Kevin McCarthy and Trump’s many rivals for the 2024 nomination, why they remain silent. (As The Bulwark’s Amanda Carpenter quipped on Twitter, “When politicians have a perfect opportunity to attack a rival, shouldn't they, uh, take it?”)

These elected officials are quiet because they know their voters, and the tolerance of the GOP base for Trump is, for now at least, deep and resilient. But in the end, it is not the job of Mike Pence or Ron DeSantis to halt Trump’s attempted return to power. That responsibility belongs to Republican voters, who must decide whether they care if Trump is yukking it up in Florida with an anti-Semitic rapper and an odious, racist punk.

We can be relieved, for the moment, that the right is in disarray. But we should not lose sight of the fact that some of the worst people in national and global politics are reorganizing and retrenching. They will be back."

Botch

^^^ I can't really agree with Mr. Nichols this time.  He said: 

He does, however, possess an innate awareness of where he stands with his fans, and he might realize that he’s worn out his less-extreme supporters. He needs replacements.

Those extreme supporters, the Q-Anon'ers, and the cultists were already with him.  They can't be "replacements", they're "what's left".  
 
However, after watching the republican primary process play out six years ago, and knowing the current polls even after Jan 6, cheeto will be the republican nominee again (save a sudden spine transplant to the old-school gop, DoJ, or Karma; or an actual indictment from one of at least 3 states).  
And he'll lose again, for a fourth time; he won't have his chosen Attorneys General in most states, but he'll still have the heavily-uneducated, heavily-armed bottom 30% of all americans behind him.  And, possibly, a twitter feed.  
 
Sorry to keep repeating this, but damn I'm glad I have no kids.    

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update: (sources very quiet)

"U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and top diplomats from more than 30 European countries will meet today in Romania to discuss how NATO will continue to support Ukraine. The officials are expected to discuss further weapons shipments, as well as how to help repair Ukraine’s electricity grid and defend the country’s critical infrastructure against missile, artillery, and drone attacks by the Russian military. Edward Wong reports for the New York Times. 

Justice officials from the Group of Seven will meet today in Germany to discuss how best to investigate war crimes in Ukraine. Officials from the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada are set to be joined by their Ukrainian counterpart Denys Maliuska and the country's prosecutor general Andriy Kostin. According to a statement by the group, the meeting will discuss ways to "coordinate investigation of core crimes under international criminal law" more effectively. BBC News reports. 

A communal grave with six bodies has been discovered on the outskirts of Kherson. Three of the bodies had their hands bound by rope; two had bullet holes in the back of the skull. Residents say the bodies belonged to six people from the same house who were executed by Russian forces in April. Jeffrey Gettleman reports for the New York Times. 

Russia has hit out at comments from the Pope that some minority groups of soldiers have behaved worse than others in the invasion of Ukraine. The "cruelest" troops are generally Chechens and Buryats, Pope Francis said in an interview published yesterday. Russian called the remarks a “perversion.” Elsa Maishman reports for BBC News. "

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

Ukraine war: Nato pledges to provide more weapons and fix power grid (BBC) Nato has pledged to give more weapons to Ukraine and help fix critical energy infrastructure badly damaged by massive Russian missile and drone strikes.  Read More

US pledges $53 million to help fix Ukraine’s electrical grid (New York Times) U.S. officials said they hoped the commitment would spur allies to make similar donations, as many Ukrainians head into winter without power or water.  Read More

US mulls sending Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine (The Hill) The U.S. government is mulling sending the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine to help bolster its air defenses against an ongoing barrage of Russian strikes, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters.  Read More

Russia firing unarmed missiles to deplete Ukraine air defense, says US military official (Reuters) Russia is firing unarmed cruise missiles that were designed to carry nuclear warheads at targets in Ukraine to try to deplete Kyiv's stocks of air defenses, a senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday.  Read More"

fishlessman

wrong post

lousubcap

Slow day (Thursday) on the Russia-Ukraine front:

 Survey results from the Ronald Reagan Institute-

When it comes to global security threats, 57 percent surveyed said the U.S. "must continue to stand with Ukraine and oppose Russian aggression,"  while just a third said that "America has enough problems at home and cannot afford to spend more on the conflict." Some 76 percent of those surveyed said they view Ukraine as an ally, up from 49 percent one year ago. And 82 percent view Russia as an enemy, up from 65 percent last year. (Recall in 2019, one in four surveyed viewed Russia as an ally of the United States.)

The partisan picture: Overall, Democrats surveyed (73 percent) favored continued support for Ukraine compared to Republicans surveyed (51 percent). 

Nearly eight in 10 said they were concerned that Russia might use a nuclear weapon,while 74 percent said they were concerned the war in Ukraine might spill over into Eastern Europe, forcing the U.S. to get involved. And some 70 percent said they were concerned that the war in Ukraine is distracting U.S. policymakers "from the threat posed" by China.

"The way I read it, despite these very real concerns, and the survey makes the respondents aware of those concerns, there's still this continued support for Ukraine," said Roger Zakheim, Washington director for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. 

New: The White House is debating a plan to train Ukrainian forces in Germany with an estimated 2,500 American troops, anonymous U.S. officials told CNN on Wednesday."

I'll post more if I get it.  

lousubcap

Another insightful read from Tom Nichols of The Atlantic-

"Tom Nichols-

Trump supporters gathered outside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021. (Spencer Platt / Getty) View in browser Even before January 6, 2021, I wondered about the kind of people who live the classic American paranoid life, the citizens whose politics, as Richard Hofstader described them almost 60 years ago, are a stew of “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy.” I first encountered this mindset when I worked in the U.S. Senate as personal staff for the late John Heinz of Pennsylvania: I would field calls from constituents who demanded to know whether the senator was in league with the Trilateralists or the Bilderbergers or the one-worlders. I was barely 30 and taken aback at speaking with people who seemed to be living on some other planet. I am thinking about such people again, now that the leader of the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, and some of his associates are likely headed for federal prison. As I followed these trials, I kept thinking of a scene from the HBO World War II miniseries Band of Brothers. At the end of the European war, an American soldier named Webster is riding in the back of an open truck, watching the defeated German prisoners trudging along the road. In a fit of rage, he begins shouting at them, “What were you thinking? … Dragging our asses halfway around the world, interrupting our lives. For what? You ignorant, servile scum! What the **** are we doing here?” The scene is also something of a touchstone for my friend Charlie Sykes, who in 2020 discussed how it made him think of the diehards and cultists and election deniers whose delusions would eventually bring them to the Capitol in 2021. During the Oath Keepers’ trial, I found myself wanting to yell at the television like Private Webster: For what? The life of a great democracy was endangered why? I wasn’t doing this because Rhodes and his band were the Axis, but because, like Webster, I found it incredible that we had to interrupt our lives for a movement built on lies and political hallucinations. I am struck not by the grandiosity of the militias, but by their smallness. Rhodes is a disbarred lawyer who managed to shoot himself in the eye. Kelly Meggs, the leader of the state Oath Keeper chapter who was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy, was a Florida car dealer, a detail so perfectly clichéd that Hollywood would never have dared script it. (And despite being a man of a certain generous girth myself, I will note that the cosplaying amateurs who seemed to adore these organizations were not exactly trim and fit soldiers, which is why they were often dubbed the “Gravy Seals” and “Meal Team Six” by internet wags.) And yet, for these small, unhappy men, we had to suffer the first failed peaceful transfer of power in American history? And just what did the Oath Keepers intend to do had they won the day? Perhaps they expected Donald Trump to strut out onto the south balcony and declare martial law. Maybe they thought that they would march into Congress and be greeted as liberators, perhaps with medals bestowed by one of the rebel princesses. But in the end, it was a rebellion about nothing. Or, more precisely, it was a rebellion born in affluence and boredom and a desperate search for meaning in otherwise ordinary lives. I’ve written before about the threat to democracy stemming from this profound need to feel in control, to feel important, to find some heroic mission in life. I have long been haunted by the writer Eric Hoffer’s 1951 warning that the most dangerous people in a society are not the poor and desperate but the well-off and bored: There is perhaps no more reliable indicator of a society’s ripeness for a mass movement than the prevalence of unrelieved boredom. In almost all the descriptions of the periods preceding the rise of mass movements there is reference to vast ennui; and in their earliest stages mass movements are more likely to find sympathizers among the bored than among the exploited and suppressed. To a deliberate fomenter of mass upheavals, the report that people are bored stiff should be at least as encouraging as that they are suffering from intolerable economic or political abuses. As the columnist George Will put it in 2020, when society is bored by its own comforts, there is a “hunger for apocalypse,” a need for great drama that can provide some sense of purpose in life. The Oath Keepers and the militia movements found their sense of purpose in a belief that their fellow citizens were too hoodwinked, too stupid, too corrupt to run an election and know that the results are fair. They made ominous-looking arm patches and wore tactical gear and glowered through their sunglasses at the people whose rights they claimed to be defending. They arrogated to themselves the duty to interpret the Constitution in any way that would dissolve their sense of emptiness, douse their own insecurities, and make their lives more interesting. Such aimless people are at the foundation of the global crisis that modern democracy is in. They believe that they are the enlightened and brave among us, because they need to feel enlightened and brave instead of confused and frightened. They need a purpose in life and they are shopping for one among the dumpsters of the internet and television, egged on by political opportunists who would gladly waste their lives—and ours—for their own advancement. Some of these aimless people will now go to prison. Others will live out their lives stained by their participation in January 6, with careers obliterated, friends gone, and family destroyed. And, as Private Webster would demand to know, for what?

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"US President Joe Biden said he is ready to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin “if in fact there is an interest in him deciding that he’s looking for a way to end the war”. The Kremlin “hasn’t done that”, he noted.

• Putin is open to talks on a possible settlement in Ukraine, but the refusal of the US to recognise annexed territories as Russian is hindering a search for any potential compromise, the Kremlin said.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the US and NATO of direct involvement in the Ukraine conflict, though he did not provide evidence.
• Biden used the first state visit of his presidency to demonstrate unity with France’s Emmanuel Macron on Ukraine.
• Discussing a potential peace deal with Russia, Macron said, “We will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will not be acceptable for them.”
• Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a phone call the German and Western line on Ukraine was “destructive” and urged Berlin to rethink its approach, the Kremlin said.
• Several Ukrainian embassies abroad have received “bloody packages” containing animal eyes, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said, after a series of letter bombs were sent to sites in Spain.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency hopes to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to create a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by the end of the year, the head of the UN atomic watchdog was quoted as saying.

Fighting

• Ukraine’s armed forces have lost somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 soldiers so far in the war against Russia, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told a Ukrainian television network.
• Russian rockets pounded neighbourhoods in Kherson, knocking out power in the city where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops left.
• Ukraine’s armed forces reported heavy shelling of a number of eastern front-line villages near the city of Bakhmut.
• Ukraine’s military said it found fragments of Russian-fired nuclear-capable missiles with dud warheads in western Ukraine, and their apparent purpose was to distract air defences.
• Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko told residents to stock up on water, food, and warm clothes in the event of a total blackout caused by Russian strikes.
• American officials are discussing a major expansion in training for the Ukrainian military.
• The US may redeploy some air defence systems from the Middle East to Ukraine, Raytheon Technologies Chief Executive Greg Hayes told Politico."

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1599119359619858446

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/SpencerGuard/status/1599244013764505600?s=20&t=X2c7pZSiwS4CQGLqBtQyoA

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/Reevellp/status/1599697859682701313?s=20&t=FGpDMXoiuWBQTMkeFnB0TQ

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"A Group of Seven (G7) price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into force today. The G7 nations and Australia agreed on Friday to a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil after E.U. members overcame resistance from Poland which wanted it even lower. It is hoped that the cap will limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine. Nick Starkov and Pavel Polityuk report for Reuters. 

Russia will only sell oil to countries that “will work with us on market conditions,” even if that means cutting production. This is according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who also said that Russia was “working on mechanisms” to undermine enforcement of the price cap on Russian oil. Matt Stevens, Ivan Nichepurenko and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report for the New York Times. 

Ukraine has denounced the $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil as a weak measure. “You can’t call serious a decision on capping Russian prices that is completely comfortable for the budget of the terrorist state,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday. “It’s only a matter of time before it will be necessary to use stronger measures. It’s a shame that time will be wasted,” he added. Matthew Luxmoore reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

How to provide security guarantees to Russia should be an “essential point” in any peace talks on the war in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. In particular, Russia’s concerns over NATO must be addressed, Macron said in an interview during his state visit to the U.S.. Roger Cohen reports for the New York Times. 

Three people were killed and six injured when a fuel tanker exploded at a Russian airfield near the Russian city of Ryazan. A drone also hit the runway of a different airfield in the Saratov region of Russia. It is not clear if the incidents are connected or who might be responsible. The Washington Post reports. "

lousubcap

More on the Russia-Ukraine front:
"

There has been a “slowdown” in fighting following Russia’s retreat from Kherson and that is “likely to be what we see in the coming months,”  National Intelligence Director Avril Haines told a panel on Saturday. Her assessment comes as the Institute for the Study of War, a D.C.-based think tank, said that mud has prevented large vehicles from traversing eastern Ukrainian terrain during much of the past week, though the weather probably will become more conducive to combat in the winter.Haines told the Reagan National Defense Forum in an interview with NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell on Saturday. “Most of the fighting right now is around Bakhmut and the Donetsk area,” Haines added.

Russia and Ukraine will both probably “try to refit, resupply, in a sense, reconstitute” in the spring, so they are prepared for the other side’s counteroffensive, Haines said. However, she added that U.S. intelligence officials “actually have a fair amount of skepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be in fact prepared to do that. I think more optimistically for the Ukrainians in that time frame.” As The Washington Post has reported, Ukraine’s military appears to be pondering its next move.

The ground in Luhansk will soon harden as temperatures drop, according to its regional governor, Serhiy Haidai. Troops in the area have been sinking into the mud, Haidai said Friday on Telegram, hindering the advances of Ukrainian forces. The Institute for the Study of War said Saturday that December is “one of the most optimal times of year for mechanized maneuver warfare in this region.”

Russia is “not capable of indigenously producing” munitions at the pace that it is using them, Haines said at the forum. “So that is going to be a challenge, and that’s why you see them going to other countries effectively to try to get ammunition,” she added.

Russian public opinion toward the war could be souring, with the conflict in Ukraine now in its 10th month, said Finland’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto. “The war was more popular when you don’t have to send your close relatives or your brothers or your sons to the front,” Haavisto told Japan’s Kyodo News agency in an interview conducted Thursday and published Sunday. Britain’s Defense Ministry also suggested that “the conflict has become increasingly tangible for many Russians” since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s partial military mobilization."

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/NPRinskeep/status/1600086348374822912?s=20&t=rzh3JnFenNGuTKQQjRAsaA

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"An oil tanker close to an airfield in Russia’s Kursk oblast caught fire following a drone strike, Governor Roman Starovoit said on Telegram. The strike comes a day after explosions at two other military bases deep inside Russia. Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed Ukraine for the attacks and said it had intercepted low-flying drones in the area. Ukraine’s role in the strikes has been confirmed by a senior Ukrainian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Mike Ives and Ivan Nechepurenko report for the New York Times. 

Russia launched a fresh barrage of missiles toward Ukraine yesterday, as it accused Kyiv of conducting strikes in Russian territory. The Russian strikes cut off water and electricity supplies in some areas, killing at least one person in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, and at least two people in Zaporizhzhia, according to local authorities. Olga Voitovych, Tim Lister, Sana Noor Haq, Tara John and Sebastian Shukla report for CNN. 

The U.S. secretly modified the advanced HIMARS rocket launchers it sent to Ukraine so that they can’t be used to fire long-range missiles into Russia. This is according to U.S. officials, who said the precaution was taken to reduce the risk of a wider war with Moscow. Michael R. Gordon and Gordon Lubold report for the Wall Street Journal. 

Russia appears to be capable of producing guided missiles despite Western sanctions, according to a report by U.K.-based Conflict Armament Research. Experts from the group examined two cruise missiles that struck Kyiv last month, concluding that they were both produced in recent months, even after export controls prohibited vital components from reaching Russia. This indicates that Russia has either been able to subvert these sanctions, or had significant stockpiles of the components before the war began. John Ismay report for the New York Times. 

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has come under pressure from Ukraine to reveal what it knows about alleged abuses by Russian soldiers at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power plant. In a Nov. 28 letter sent to the secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ukraine’s government requested an update on allegations that Russia had detained hundreds of plant workers, and tortured, beat, shot, and electrocuted local staff. Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson report for the Wall Street Journal. "

Legume

Kind of a slow news day.

HeavyG

Well, the Trump Org. was found guilty of tax fraud. Haven't seen yet if Trumpy has been shouting out on Truth Social.