News Related To The Ukraine / Russian War

[sear]

Diary of a Dead North Korean Soldier Reveals Grisly Battlefield Tactics​

By Dasl Yoon / in Seoul and Jane Lytvynenko in Kyiv, Ukraine / Updated Jan. 11, 2025 7:38 am ET
The troops are exposed, green, loyal—and dying by the thousands in front-line combat against Ukraine.
The crude stick-figure diagram, sketched in blue ink, details how North Korean soldiers deployed to support Russia in the Ukraine war should respond to the approach of a Ukrainian drone. One soldier—referred to as “bait” in the drawing—should stand still to lure the drone so that a pair of comrades can attempt to shoot it down.

The grisly tactics were divulged in a diary taken off a slain North Korean soldier on Dec. 21, with passages containing mundane details of life at the front, descriptions of combat tactics and expressions of love for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to excerpts recently made public by Ukraine’s special-operations forces. Independent experts say the diary entries appear genuine, with penmanship, word choice and expressions of ideological fervor all common in North Korea.

https://www.wsj.com/world/diary-of-a-dead-north-korean-soldier-reveals-grisly-battlefield-tactics-fafbede7?mod=hp_lead_pos7

There's little sense to be made of it by the rational mind.
Here's an excerpt of Eric Bogel's reflection:

... So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war.​

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Galipoli.

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that town that they called Sulva bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready he primed himself well​

He chased us with bullets he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again. ...

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Someday no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda
Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

"... and expressions of love for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to excerpts recently made public ..."

North Korea is a totalitarian dictatorship.
I don't doubt some North Korean troops have attended to the detail of declaring in writing their commitment to their "dear leader", a term used in North Korean television broadcasts. Stockholm Syndrome?
Perhaps it reflects their sincere attitude, based on lies they've accepted as true. OR
perhaps it's a precaution, in case of battlefield injury, they may feel less likely to be neglected in hospital, or left to die.
Bottom line, even if North Korean troops behave as loyal troops are expected to, that addresses behavior, not motivation. Is it out of love? Or out of fear, for themselves, or their family remaining in North Korea?

 

[Shiftless2]

Wait a minute - why is this still going on? Trump promised to end it even before he took office - just a simple phone call. [/end sarcasm]

 

[sear]

#62

Russia's war dead tops 70,000 as volunteers face 'meat grinder' - BBC​

Sep 19, 2024 ... More than 70,000 people fighting in Russia's military have now died in Ukraine, according to data analysed by the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr3255gpjgo

" [/end sarcasm] " S2 #62

End life, for 70K Russians, as of September. And how many Ukrainians, North Koreans, & others? Putin has already downed one airliner. What / who's next?

 

[sear]

A Wider War Has Already Started in Europe​

Phillips Payson O’Brien / Mon, January 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM EST
Last month, the undersea power cable Estlink 2, which connects Estonia with fellow European Union and NATO member Finland, was suddenly cut. ...
Undersea cables have been vital to the sovereignty of Estonia, a former Soviet republic that borders Russia and desperately needs to maintain power and communications channels that are free from Moscow’s control. Soon after Estlink 2 was sabotaged, Finnish authorities seized the oil tanker Eagle S, which was en route from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Egypt. Registered in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the ship is likely part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet—a collection of foreign-flagged tankers that Putin’s regime uses to sell Russian oil and skirt international economic sanctions imposed after his invasion of Ukraine.
The Eagle S, however, apparently had a covert military purpose as well: Investigators discovered that the vessel was crammed full of advanced surveillance equipment, which used so much power that the ship suffered from periodic blackouts. Finnish authorities concluded that the Eagle S had dragged its anchor across the Baltic Sea bed for “dozens of kilometers” in an attempt to break the Estlink 2 line.

Obviously, cutting a power line is a less overt form of aggression than the full-scale invasion that Putin launched in Ukraine. The common thread, though, is that Russia is using force to undermine a recognized country’s independence and its ability to fight back.
... in this and other cases across the continent, European officials seem terrified of admitting what is happening. Authorities in multiple countries are investigating parcels that spontaneously caught fire or exploded in the custody of cargo airlines, perhaps in preparation for a broader operation that would threaten many large aircraft. Saboteurs have targeted a number of other strategically significant assets in Europe—munitions factories, crucial rail lines—along with civilian infrastructure such as warehouses and malls.

Investigators believe that Russia is behind the attacks.

The inability to describe acts of war as acts of war is part of a culture of distortion and denial regarding the subject of state-sponsored violence. Over generations, policy makers have created many subclasses of conflict: cold wars, police actions, hybrid wars, cyber wars. Different euphemisms serve different purposes. Putin prefers special military operation because he doesn’t want to publicly admit that he is waging a brutal war on Ukrainians. Many in Europe avoid describing Russia’s sabotage campaign outside Ukraine as war because they’d rather not have to do anything in response.

A Wider War Has Already Started in Europe

Putin’s not-so-quiet sabotage campaign against European democracies

news.yahoo.com

They have not learned this vital lesson of history.
Ignoring an aggressive madman like Putin, like Hitler does not make them go away.
Ignoring these acts of War does not safeguard victim nation sovereignty.

No NATO member nation need face Putin alone.
But the longer consequence severe enough to discourage further Russian aggression is withheld, the more deadly and expensive such discouragement is likely to be.