Article

2022-04-02 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russia's war effort stalls as the Red Army can't get replacement weapons or spares for their crippled convoys... because they're all made in Ukraine

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-02 00:59|| || Front Page|| [14 views ] Top

I hope no one in the Biden administration is laughing too loudly. You deny the global Chinese manufacturing hegemon at your own risk.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 01:41|| 2022-04-02 01:41|| Front Page Top

Posted by Frank G 2022-04-02 09:29|| 2022-04-02 09:29|| Front Page Top

#3 Daily Mail is the source? Why does this site keep linking to a shitty UK tabloid rag known for telling lies?

Posted by Grorong Barnsmell1400 2022-04-02 10:09|| 2022-04-02 10:09|| Front Page Top

#4 /\ The MAIL tells fewer 'lies' that all the rest of the media ?

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 10:11|| 2022-04-02 10:11|| Front Page Top

#5 Putinists can't argue against the claim, so they attack the source.

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-04-02 10:24|| 2022-04-02 10:24|| Front Page Top

#6 Daily Mail is the source? Why does this site keep linking to a shitty UK tabloid rag known for telling lies?

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]

Posted by badanov 2022-04-02 10:26|| 2022-04-02 10:26|| Front Page Top

#7 Why does this site keep linking to a shitty UK tabloid rag known for telling lies?

"Why are you linking to X?" is a common complaint with new 'visitors'. Don't think of a source as news, think of it as data. Data needs to be filtered and cleaned and processed before it is usable. A compass that points 90 degrees to the left is still useful as long as you are aware of the skew. Sometimes, just knowing the Message of the Day is information.

Posted by SteveS 2022-04-02 10:31|| 2022-04-02 10:31|| Front Page Top

#8 Some accompanying articles in this gutter publication that caters to an audience with a room temperature IQ:

"Kendall Jenner is mocked over her 'big toes' by her sisters"

"Emily Ratajkowski puts on a very busty display in a tiny black bikini as she poses for a sizzling Instagram snap"

"Britney Spears posts and DELETES rant claiming her parents 'thrived and lived with drama' and declaring her family has 'broken' her"

Posted by Chuckles Ebbique3271 2022-04-02 10:32|| 2022-04-02 10:32|| Front Page Top

#9 A colleague told me this site aggregates open source info relevant to defence and terrorism issues.

Your colleague is correct, although we also pay attention to interesting local situations like the current excitements in the Ukraine. Please pass along our thanks for the recommendation.

The Daily Mail is as reputable as the National Inquirer or Alex Jones.

On some subjects, yes, much like the New York Times, et al. But if you check the curated Daily Mail articles posted here, you’ll notice that in almost all cases the DM links to one or more published articles from sources local to the events being reported, so with a few minutes’ work you can decide for yourself the trustworthiness of the information they present.

Did the site get a new owner?

No.

Why is it linking to tabloid garbage?

To the educated mind, even bad data is useful if it reveals something about the actors or the situation. Good data, of course, is even better for this, and it must be remembered that the site owner is a professional military intelligence analyst, fully aware of the sources and methods pertaining to the information we present here.

—trailing wife for the moderators at 11:40 a.m. ET

Posted by Chuckles Ebbique3271 2022-04-02 10:35|| 2022-04-02 10:35|| Front Page Top

#10 A colleague told me this site aggregates open source info relevant to defence and terrorism issues. The Daily Mail is as reputable as the National Inquirer or Alex Jones. Did the site get a new owner? Why is it linking to tabloid garbage?

The Daily Mail does provide American domestic news we can't get anywhere else.

If you have a link disputing this news presentation, post it and let readers decide for themselves.

Posted by badanov 2022-04-02 10:48|| 2022-04-02 10:48|| Front Page Top

#11 And besides, where else can you read a publication which refers to the Russian Army as the Glorious Red Army (TM)

Posted by badanov 2022-04-02 10:50|| 2022-04-02 10:50|| Front Page Top

#12 Hey - the National Enquirer (of Batboy) fame) broke the 'John Edwards' story the other media refused to report.

"Consider the Source"

As for the Daily Mail - as long as you know its slanted you can use its information - just adjust your bullshit filters accordingly - and change them more often.
I also read gab - which is very open. Some of the things posted there are pretty wacky - again adjust your BS filter to match. I like gab because it is open and I can see everything - yes even the messy, disgusting, and wierdo stuff. *I* choose what I believe or not - not some executive or fact finder.

Posted by CrazyFool 2022-04-02 10:53|| 2022-04-02 10:53|| Front Page Top

#13 You're so gullible. The London tabloids are notorious outlets for MI5 and MOD disinformation. They've been using these rags to manipulate public opinion for decades.

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 10:55|| 2022-04-02 10:55|| Front Page Top

#14 If you don't have a bullshit filter, that's your problem, no one else's. I'm directing that remark at all our recent visitors who are always telling me to "educate myself."

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-02 10:57|| 2022-04-02 10:57|| Front Page Top

#15 Squinty Gliper2985,
It's pretty well known here the Russians and Brits hate each other. Their media takes on the political slant.
But you are so smart, why not tell us with sources to read?

Posted by The Walking Unvaxed 2022-04-02 10:58|| 2022-04-02 10:58|| Front Page Top

#16 His sources are Russia Today, Pravda, and daily emails from the Internet Research Agency.

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-04-02 11:03|| 2022-04-02 11:03|| Front Page Top

#17 Even the most reputable U.K. publications are crawling with MI6 agents (usually masquerading as the papers' foreign correspondents).

The tabloids however are a complete joke. Both MI5 and MI6 routinely use them to spin, plant stories, demonise opponents and do character assassination, whip up support for wars.

Roy Greenslade was on the media beat at the Telegraph and the Guardian. Greenslade says: "Most tabloid newspapers – or even newspapers in general – are playthings of MI5."

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 11:06|| 2022-04-02 11:06|| Front Page Top

#18 /\ You mean like the BBC and CNN ?

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 11:12|| 2022-04-02 11:12|| Front Page Top

#19 with a room temperature IQ:

Glad you're reading the sidebars.

Uncontrolled room temps around here? 120-150.

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-02 11:15|| 2022-04-02 11:15|| Front Page Top

#20 Gotta love a Skid.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 11:16|| 2022-04-02 11:16|| Front Page Top

#21

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-02 11:17|| 2022-04-02 11:17|| Front Page Top

#22 Most of the Daily Mail stories on Ukraine that this site links to are part of an MI6 I/Ops campaign.

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 11:19|| 2022-04-02 11:19|| Front Page Top

#23 Now that we've discussed the DM as a source, let's focus on the data the DM presents. It says:

Russia has lost an estimated 143 planes, 131 helicopters, 625 tanks in conflict

Squinty, if you don't like those numbers, what numbers do you think are accurate? Sources, please, with links.

Posted by Matt 2022-04-02 11:20|| 2022-04-02 11:20|| Front Page Top

#24 "Skidmark" is either a gullible twat or a very clumsy MI6 paid hack

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 11:21|| 2022-04-02 11:21|| Front Page Top

#25 Sell them defect parts at twice the price.

Posted by Airandee 2022-04-02 11:28|| 2022-04-02 11:28|| Front Page Top

#26 /\ Yes, "gullible twats" be us. Don't waste your time here Squint.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 11:29|| 2022-04-02 11:29|| Front Page Top

#27 Pity the poor US Defense Intelligence Agency junior analyst whose boss tells him to peruse "Skidmark's Daily Daily Mail" roundup for trustworthy open source nuggets each day. (At least the analyst can keep tabs on Kendall Jenner's toes and ogle Emily Ratajkowski's breasts)

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 11:30|| 2022-04-02 11:30|| Front Page Top

#28 /\ But wait! Wat if the Skidmark actually is an analyst at the Silver Bullet ?

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 11:33|| 2022-04-02 11:33|| Front Page Top

#29 #24 "Skidmark" is either a gullible twat or a very clumsy MI6 paid hack

Now THAT'S funny.

Posted by badanov 2022-04-02 11:35|| 2022-04-02 11:35|| Front Page Top

#30 Shouldn't the troll want people to be as mis-informed as possible?

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-02 11:36|| 2022-04-02 11:36|| Front Page Top

#31 Yes, "gullible twats" be us.

Hey pal, I resemble that remark!

Posted by SteveS 2022-04-02 11:36|| 2022-04-02 11:36|| Front Page Top

#32 Still waiting for your numbers, Squinty. tick-tock, tick-tock.

Posted by Matt 2022-04-02 11:39|| 2022-04-02 11:39|| Front Page Top

#33 "The London tabloids are notorious outlets for MI5 and MOD disinformation."

Is Kamala Harris posting here in disguise?

Posted by DooDahMan 2022-04-02 11:39|| 2022-04-02 11:39|| Front Page Top

#34

Posted by Deadeye Poodle6931 2022-04-02 11:46|| 2022-04-02 11:46|| Front Page Top

#35 Not enough spelling mistakes and squinty uses proper grammar.

Posted by Silentbrick 2022-04-02 11:48|| 2022-04-02 11:48|| Front Page Top

#36 I would like to thank Chuckles Ebbique3271 for triggering a thoroughly educational and amusing discussion.

I personally admit to being gullible and female, despite the joint efforts of the regulars here to fix the former. The latter is unfixably fixed, no matter what President Biden currently believes he thinks.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-04-02 11:53|| 2022-04-02 11:53|| Front Page Top

#37

Posted by Deadeye Poodle6931 2022-04-02 11:58|| 2022-04-02 11:58|| Front Page Top

#38 Phone rings
Skid: Agent 86 here
Sputnik News: Sputnik News here, what do you have?
Skid: Emily Ratajkowski is still ugly.
Sputnik: No, something new.
Skid: George Max is gay?
Sputnik: Who is George Max? Can we turn him?
Skid: Uhh, Putin's is on steroids.
Sputnik: Thanks, tonight's lede.
Skid: heh

Posted by The Walking Unvaxed 2022-04-02 11:59|| 2022-04-02 11:59|| Front Page Top

#39 the site owner is a professional military intelligence analyst

His real love is writing fiction. Hence the attraction to tabloid shit, Information Ops and other tall tales.

Posted by Unereper Forkbeard6621 2022-04-02 12:07|| 2022-04-02 12:07|| Front Page Top

#40 This is all such fun (until the FBI shows up at my door).

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-02 12:07|| 2022-04-02 12:07|| Front Page Top

#41 tabloid garbage that is obviously planted by MI6 or MI5

You are not interested in knowing what a foreign intelligence service wants you to believe? Sounds like a useful data point to me.

As for Agent 86, that's our Skid!

Posted by SteveS 2022-04-02 12:11|| 2022-04-02 12:11|| Front Page Top

#42 Love watching you ~~guys~~ "gullible twats" play with a new chewtoy.

Posted by CrazyFool 2022-04-02 12:12|| 2022-04-02 12:12|| Front Page Top

#43

Re #37: Thanks for the suggestion, but we've had rather spotty luck with your people Deadeye.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 12:16|| 2022-04-02 12:16|| Front Page Top

#44 His real love is writing fiction. Hence the attraction to tabloid shit, Information Ops and other tall tales

a disgruntled grievance guy trying to fuck with his former bosses

That explains a lot, thank you. So this is essentially a shitposter site for bored ex-analysts who are no longer in the loop on anything

Posted by Grorong Barnsmell1400 2022-04-02 12:19|| 2022-04-02 12:19|| Front Page Top

#45 disgruntled grievance guy trying to fuck with his former bosses

By re-posting shit from the Daily Mail and pushing it at DIA analysts? He really is a gullible twat.

Wouldn't it be more effective for him to just go full Ritter?

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 12:26|| 2022-04-02 12:26|| Front Page Top

#46 Probably not prudent to discount Open Source or Info Ops, or those who follow such publications. Someone once told me 95% of all intelligence collected originates in unclassified Open Source information venues. Analysts simply study the available data and make critical assessments, which oftentimes then become classified and possibly actionable.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 12:31|| 2022-04-02 12:31|| Front Page Top

#47 bored ex-analysts

The guy with the Daily Mail fetish is definitely not an analyst, current or former. Probably an IT guy. Low level database administrator type. But "disgruntled grievance guy" fits the shitposter profile. Makes sense

Posted by Cherese Bumble5078 2022-04-02 12:36|| 2022-04-02 12:36|| Front Page Top

#48 I've given up on you, Squinty, so I'm just going to assume that the DM's figure of 625 Russian tanks lost is accurate.

Posted by Matt 2022-04-02 12:39|| 2022-04-02 12:39|| Front Page Top

#49 Best chew-toy fracas in a while. Its nice to see the troll A-team back and decent grammar and up-to-the-minute cultural dreck mixed in. It tells me we are still an important influencer for somebody they want to shade or twist!

Posted by NoMoreBS 2022-04-02 12:39|| 2022-04-02 12:39|| Front Page Top

#50 Someone once told me 95% of all intelligence collected originates in unclassified Open Source information venues.

That's true, but most of it comes from local sources in the local language. No experienced or intelligent analyst would rely on obviously planted Information Ops using the Daily Mail.

Posted by Cherese Bumble5078 2022-04-02 12:42|| 2022-04-02 12:42|| Front Page Top

#51 Ref #47: Analysts have monitored this site from unclassified boxes in SCIFS for nearly two decades CB. Go ahead, it's Saturday. Lift a window and get some air. When you return to work on Monday, you'll likely have no window to open.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 12:43|| 2022-04-02 12:43|| Front Page Top

#52 essentially a shitposter site for bored ex-analysts who are no longer in the loop on anything

Hey, don't knock shitposting. It beats working for a living. What else are "professional military analysts" good for?

Posted by Woozle the Infinitesmal6408 2022-04-02 12:47|| 2022-04-02 12:47|| Front Page Top

#53 Analysts have monitored this site from unclassified boxes in SCIFS for nearly two decades CB.

At what point in those two decades did the site get hijacked by all the Daily Mail MI6 I/Ops shitposting?

Posted by Squinty Gliper2985 2022-04-02 12:52|| 2022-04-02 12:52|| Front Page Top

#54 Squinty, still no numbers on Russian losses from you. Next time do your homework before you come to school.

Posted by Matt 2022-04-02 12:56|| 2022-04-02 12:56|| Front Page Top

#55 So this is essentially a shitposter site for bored ex-analysts who are no longer in the loop on anything

No shit, there I wuz...

Let’s not tell Grorong Barnsmell1400 about Mr, Wife’s adventures as a corporate R&D type developing laundry detergents in the Third World, most of which I only heard about when he was talking to colleagues while I fed them dinner. He doesn’t like upsetting me about the near misses, though his mother told me that very night when he called from India with amoebic dysentery.

Pro hint: a home cooked meal loosens tongues admirably, and the Italian lads will literally weep if the coffee is poured from the same cheap aluminum espresso pot used by their mothers. Come to think of it, the young military intelligence sergeant one of my au pair girls brought home for dinner when we lived in Germany interrogated me so smoothly that I didn’t realize it wasn’t aimless conversation until long afterward, which goes to show all sorts of things.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-04-02 12:57|| 2022-04-02 12:57|| Front Page Top

#56 Go easy on the Squint Matt. I can see a blossoming contributor buried beneath that bluster.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 13:00|| 2022-04-02 13:00|| Front Page Top

#57 developing laundry detergents in the Third World

That's honest work. More useful than anything produced by most of our "professional military analysts"

Posted by Woozle the Infinitesmal6408 2022-04-02 13:04|| 2022-04-02 13:04|| Front Page Top

#58 The regulars here have been places and done things, it shows in the information they share. I've definitely learned some useful stuff in the comments here.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-02 13:10|| 2022-04-02 13:10|| Front Page Top

#59 Analysts have monitored this site from unclassified boxes in SCIFS for nearly two decades CB
I heard about it back in the early days of the Iraq War. Someone said that Rumsfeld had mentioned it in passing once. Hard to believe anyone looks at it today, given all the shitposting on the site now. Maybe if you cleared out all the Daily Mail garbage and got actual local sources in local languages there might be some stuff worth looking over

Posted by Cherese Bumble5078 2022-04-02 13:10|| 2022-04-02 13:10|| Front Page Top

#60 95% of all intelligence collected originates in unclassified Open Source information

Yupp. They're all lazy sad sacks now. 🙃 Gone are the days when you could reach out and bring back a tidbit and not find it originated in a youtube rant.

Posted by Dron66046 2022-04-02 13:11|| 2022-04-02 13:11|| Front Page Top

#61 /\ Document translation and exploitation is conducted here on a near daily basis. For obvious reasons, a great deal of RU of late. Where does your interest lie? What languages do you specialize in? Perhaps we can more accurately focus our posts to assist your efforts. We are here for you.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-04-02 13:18|| 2022-04-02 13:18|| Front Page Top

#62 Yep, long-gone are the days when I was doing call for fire missions, danger close, from a foxhole knee-deep in grenade pins, overlooking the LDLC and the incoming hordes of ....Defense Logistics Agency Auditors examining our procurement files> Damn, it was epic!

Posted by NoMoreBS 2022-04-02 13:21|| 2022-04-02 13:21|| Front Page Top

#63 have they really even tried yet?

Posted by Sluse Grealet9429 2022-04-02 13:24|| 2022-04-02 13:24|| Front Page Top

#64 I heard about it back in the early days of the Iraq War. Someone said that Rumsfeld had mentioned it in passing once. Hard to believe anyone looks at it today, given all the shitposting on the site now. Maybe if you cleared out all the Daily Mail garbage and got actual local sources in local languages there might be some stuff worth looking over

Daily Mail's presentations aren't mixed in with the post on terrorism. They are separate. Their existence or reference doesn't change the rest of the news posted here.

And as the dateline suggests, the Daily Mail is where we get the best coverage of non-terrorism related US domestic news.

Posted by badanov 2022-04-02 13:58|| 2022-04-02 13:58|| Front Page Top

#65 #56 OK, OK

Posted by Matt 2022-04-02 14:14|| 2022-04-02 14:14|| Front Page Top

#66 'Weekly World News' was the Bat Boy paper, CF (also headlined "Aliens Abduct Cheerleaders").

National Enquirer is about two steps up, right above the Hollywood gossip papers.

WWN still fun to read sometimes though, when I need more weirdness in my life.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2022-04-02 14:24|| 2022-04-02 14:24|| Front Page Top

#67 when I need more weirdness in my life

Although the troll army is helping me with that, too.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2022-04-02 14:26|| 2022-04-02 14:26|| Front Page Top

#68 Y’all carry on. I’ll just enjoy being a little suburban housewife while I giggle.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-04-02 14:55|| 2022-04-02 14:55|| Front Page Top

#69 It's always fun to watch Rantburgers with a new chew toy. Well...maybe not fun for the chew toy.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2022-04-02 15:35|| 2022-04-02 15:35|| Front Page Top

#70 I for one don't understand the trolls. What do they want? Do they think rantburg informs the decisions of the ⭓?

Posted by Dron66046 2022-04-02 15:40|| 2022-04-02 15:40|| Front Page Top

#71 Like hair rays to the muzz, the war-skeptics here at Rantburg get the trolls in a tizzy.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-02 15:56|| 2022-04-02 15:56|| Front Page Top

#72 I was busy or the fracas would have me on my second bowl of popcorn.

Posted by magpie 2022-04-02 16:03|| 2022-04-02 16:03|| Front Page Top

#73 Hard to believe anyone looks at it today, given all the shitposting on the site now.

If the Internet Research Agency trolls would go away it would be back to normal. But you clowns are paid to shitpost, so...

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-04-02 16:08|| 2022-04-02 16:08|| Front Page Top

#74 Like hair rays to the muzz, the war-skeptics here at Rantburg get the trolls in a tizzy.

They're paid Putinists, so any information that doesn't show their Lord and Master in a flattering light upsets them. They don't want to be caught near the Bad Think that says his Holodomor II isn't a stroke of genius...

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-04-02 16:10|| 2022-04-02 16:10|| Front Page Top

#75 Oh -- and if things are going so well for Russia, why are they looking to get Syria involved in it, too? Why expand the war if they're on-track to win?

Unless Putin's intent was ALWAYS to expand the war, to do whatever he could to start World War III...

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-04-02 16:11|| 2022-04-02 16:11|| Front Page Top

#76 "YAWN", had to take a siesta.
What'd I miss?

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-02 17:26|| 2022-04-02 17:26|| Front Page Top

#77 Well, Skid, it turns out you're Bond -- James Bond.

Posted by Matt 2022-04-02 18:50|| 2022-04-02 18:50|| Front Page Top

#78 Yes, this new class of troll here is quite amusing. Their posts come across like Rantburg secretly controls the government and can make them do what we want. It's also clear they don't wander off their assigned topics much to realize how MUCH there is to learn here from the articles and the comments. I get far better analysis and commentary here than the MSM could ever provide. It's also fun when the physics people stop lurking to have their knock down drag outs over things like "That particle doesn't exist" or other weird esoteric stuff most of us barely comprehend.

I will give the new trolls this, they have far better grammar and spelling than the odd dailykos type troll we used to get or the crazed jihadi's that occasionally visit.

Anyway on with the show!
*opens a can of pringles*

And what is it with the Icelandic obsession with Pringles anyway? Is that the USAF's fault?

Posted by Silentbrick 2022-04-02 18:59|| 2022-04-02 18:59|| Front Page Top

#79 Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-02 19:41|| 2022-04-02 19:41|| Front Page Top

#80 And what is it with the Icelandic obsession with Pringles anyway?

Pringles or dried, fermented shark. Which do you choose?

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-04-02 22:26|| 2022-04-02 22:26|| Front Page Top

23:59 Dron66046
23:50 trailing wife
23:47 trailing wife
23:29 Dopey Big Foot3970
23:17 Secret Master
22:49 Rex Mundi
22:26 Rob Crawford
22:25 trailing wife
21:32 Silentbrick
20:52 swksvolFF
20:51 Dopey Big Foot3970
20:37 Dopey Big Foot3970
19:57 Frank G
19:53 Frank G
19:52 DooDahMan
19:49 DooDahMan
19:41 Skidmark
19:35 Skidmark
19:35 trailing wife
19:24 Frank G
19:16 Frank G
19:15 SteveS
19:15 Glith Elmins8083
19:01 Crumble Thrique2167