wildlife

During a meeting I was leading I watched two squirrels chase each other on Fireglow. If I hadn't been the one leading the meeting I would have turned off the computer camera and taken a picture. 

A group of coworkers went to a conference in Brussels last week. One caught Covid, another is testing. How? Every social media picture of them has them indoors without masks and standing real close together. 

Russia has been firing Soviet-era missiles, some over 50 years old. 

Russia has to use retired pilots working for the Wagner military contractor. They just don't have enough trained personnel. Ukraine captured one who said he used commercial GPS rather than Russian military equipment. They don't have up-to-date avionics equipment. Russia's failure to deliver air power is possibly the most important factor behind its limited success. Their air combat training has just been scripts to impress senior officers, not to train initiative. 

Russian troops have a morale problem. Sometimes the troops disobey orders, en masse. Well, apparently even their missiles don't agree with the war. There is a video of a Russian missile changing its mind and going back from whence it was fired. The Ukrainian social media says, "In occupied #Alchevsk, Russian missile refused to carry out orders." I'm not on Telegram or I could share a link. I do love the Ukrainian sense of humor. 

On Friday a Russian military craft crashed and caught fire. The plane "partially collapsed" as it attempted to land. 

Now the Institute for the Study of War, a DC based think tank, is joining the chorus and saying that Russian offensive operations are likely to stall in coming weeks, regardless of whether Russia manages to capture the two cities it is going after at the moment. "Ukrainian forces have fundamentally accomplished their objective in the battle by slowing down and degrading Russian forces. Russian offensive operations will likely stall in the coming weeks ... likely granting Ukrainian forces the opportunity to launch prudent counteroffensives."

This one is pathetic. Russia dropped leaflets north of Kyiv last week. "They are trying to force you to defend the interests of others!" They called the local regime tycoons, gangs, and terrorists. They were addressed to the citizens of Chechnya.