LongTimeLurker

Seen that as well but doubt it's true because part of the left bank of the Dniepr that juts out into the Black Sea is in that oblast for some bizarre reason. Knowing that is probably a sign that I have spent way too much time staring at maps of Ukraine since late February. It's easy to forget just how far the Russians got at the very start of the war. They had to go all the way up to Voznesensk because of how tenaciously the local Ukrainian forces held onto Mykolaiv and the bridge the Russians needed to try to reach Odesa and Transnistria.

There's probably some sort of secret deal. You let us retreat relatively unscathed and we won't flatten the place and shoot all the civilians that didn't evacuate when we asked them to sort of stuff. Something similar happened around Kharkiv in terms of the Russians suddenly leaving lots of places very easily they had no obvious need to at around the same time Izium didn't turn into the complete bloodbath that it could have done for them.

but once that's over and done with: Hopefully the following wasn't one of Joe Biden's senior citizen moments:

Latest elsewhere after last night's games: Think what makes closing the gap to potential Challenge Cup entry territory especially unlikely is having four games left against the Old Firm colt teams while most of the title contenders only have two but hopefully I'm wrong about that.

Not keen on seatbelts apparently:

This appears to be the announcement: Guess they waited until the American midterms were out the way.

There have been so many previous false reports that Snihurivka was about to fall going right back to the infamous phoney Canadian twitter account in the very early days of the war that it's difficult to take seriously now, but that's also being discussed by the more sensible pro-Ukrainian twitter sources today:

Hopefully the end of Herr Drumpf because the Republicans should have won this at a canter given the state of the global economy.

Some talk from the normally more reliable twitter sources that Russia is on the retreat again on the right bank of the Dniepr in Kherson oblast:

Worth bearing in mind that Bo'ness United are not one of the clubs living beyond their means. Just one of the stronger junior teams you would normally have expected to be in the last 16 of the Junior Cup pre-pyramid. With the obvious exception of Darvel there will be more former junior clubs like that entering the LL over the next 5 to 10 years that can do similar on putting a squad together without an external cash injection. Sounds like you will need to significantly improve your team budget from where it is now after you have lost the SPFL parachute payments you currently enjoy just to be able to stand still at this level in other words.

Not convinced on that. Think they know that opposition to a woke cultural agenda plays well across broad swathes of the globe and that talking about Satan so they are viewed as fellow bible thumpers just helps to provide a point of difference from the "decadent West" at this point. I always try to keep in mind how my grandfather (born not long after Queen Victoria had popped her clogs) reacted to finding out that the Village People were gay back in the 1970s after a lifetime spent with very different social attitudes from what is now the norm in the West. How are they no in jail? Whit are they daein on the telly? Switch that aff! etc etc. Suspect a lot of what has been pushed in recent years on transgender rights has evoked similar deeply visceral responses in a great many people around the world. When that happens cynical politicians will find ways to push people's buttons and use it to their advantage with stuff like this: Brian Soutar & Cardinal Winning but this time using RT rather than the Daily Record and with nuclear weapons and a plan for global domination is where we are currently at.

Dour Scots fit in just fine though. I moved to Canada to escape Maggie back in the 80s and I was told there were arguments initially among the East Europeans where I worked as to which Communist country I had emerged from because I was so different from the have a nice day brigade.

Once everything freezes things can still be quite active in that part of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Debaltseve The Russian military (everybody chose to pretend it was local "separatists" at the time) seized a town called Debaltseve from the Ukrainians back in Jan & Feb 2015. The lull is more likely to be when it is muddy which is the case right now. An example further back in time would be the unfortunately named Operation Uranus back in late Nov 1942 during WWII: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uranus which was very bad news for Friedrich Paulus and the boys in Stalingrad, who fought on until late Jan after being surrounded.

Failing that send in the RUC:

Haven't met Breyten Breytenbach but have met a close relative of his who definitely fits the stereotype.

Interesting take on what is happening on the right bank of the Dniepr around Kherson:

Used to be a useful GIRUY protest vote vehicle and are despite the contents of the opening post more competent at governance than Labour in a Scottish context but time they got a grip where independence referenda are concerned or they will need to be given the heave ho. If the polls aren't consistently 55%+ Yes maybe take the hint that the answer will still be No and focus on doing more with the powers Holyrood already has until that changes? Being able to game the Holyrood electoral system by having the Greens as an alter ego on the regional lists does not give you a mandate for independence.

My money is on this being deliberate. Too bad they didn't add Putin huilo in cyrillic on their way over to Cyprus.

Elsewhere:

Even if the SPFL doesn't want to expand splitting the LL into east and west is probably the best way ahead if Club 41 could be factored in on relegation in addition to Club 42 in a similar manner to how relegation and playoffs work higher up the SPFL. One automatic relegation for Club 42 then the three tier 5 champions and Club 41 playoff for two SPFL places the following season. Three rather than two tier 5 feeders balances the populations involved much better but the problem in blazer politics terms is what to do with the SoS. It probably should wind up beng a feeder to the third division of the WoS alongside the WoS fourth division but is unlikely to accept that status.

...wibble wibble I'm a teapot stuff from a guy whose main qualification for being Russian president was being even shorter than Vlad.

Sold out their socialist principles to back faith schools rather than pushing secularism.

They still are reported to have a makeshift bridge at Nova Kakhovka dam (most of the time when HIMARS hasn't just paid a visit anyway) and a few barge type ferries elsewhere so maybe they have been able to slowly move that out at night to limit what would be left to the Ukrainians if they have to pull out fully from the western bank? Meanwhile on the propaganda front: