Great work day

We got lots done. We had a good time doing it. What more can you ask for? 

During one of the breaks I asked one of the team members if it made him uncomfortable that we are shooting at unidentified flying objects. I mean, balloons that we know came from China are one thing, but ….

His answer was effectively yes but it seems par for the course for what is going on in the world today.

I just placed a reservation for a tour this weekend to a nature reserve. If I don’t post Saturday I’ll have to backblip but don’t worry if you don’t hear from me that night. Open air vehicle through the park. Fancy tent with cots. 

I may get to see someone else that I originally met in Mozambique. She lives in Cape Town but will be in Johannesburg for a wedding starting Thursday. 

It looks like at least 500,000 people fled Russia, maybe almost 1 million. This, just demographically, will impact Russia for generations. If there is another draft we can expect more. Of course, as the economy gets worse we can expect more. Russia’s Communications Ministry reported that 10% of the country’s IT workers left last year. 

In order, Russians have gone to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Turkey, Armenia, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, the US, and Mongolia.

If you have less money you go to Yerevan, Armenia. I’ve been. It was decades ago, but I’ve been. It is one of the five ex-Soviet countries that allow you in with just a national ID so people who need a quick escape like it. It has shared religion and Armenians also speak Russian. Armenia has attracted thousands of IT workers and immigrants have set up new schools, bars, cafes, and support networks. This is where activists and journalists go.

If you have more money you go to United Arab Emirates. UAE still has direct flights to Moscow. Russians can travel visa free for 90 days and get a national ID through business or investment. 

Every month the war goes on, the more people will never return to Russia. They are getting jobs, their kids are in school, they are learning new languages. 

There is an opinion piece in the Washington Post that says we have captured thousands of Iranian weapons. Iran tried to export them to Yemen in violation of A UN Security Council banning it. The writers argue that we should give them to Ukraine. Thousands of Russian style assault rifles and machine guns, dozens of antitank missiles, bunches of ammunition, some surface to air missiles. If Iran keeps trying to ship the weapons out and the West keeps seizing them and giving them to Ukraine it might piss off Russia. Sounds good to me. 

Prigozhin has been stripped of the right to recruit convicts from prison and told to stop criticizing the Defense Ministry. 
Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands will supply Ukraine with as many as 178 older generation Leopard 1 battle tanks in the next few months.