Simplicius’ new article is far too long to summarize in any detail, but it’s a must read for anyone who wants to understand the warfare in Ukraine and to develop a feel for evaluating reporting: Mines, Depleted Uranium, and Important Addendums Simplicius provides a detailed explanation of the use and effectiveness of Depleted Uranium (DU) rounds. For example, he explains that tungsten rods are actually more effective than DU, but are far more expensive. He also explains—and provides math to back up his argument—that DU is not harmless, when used extensively. As was done to Iraq by the US. The effect can, indeed, be equivalent to that of a dirty bomb.
All should keep in mind that DU or tungsten rounds are only effective munitions when facing other tanks. They are tank killers only. Alternatively if you had to punch thru a lot of concrete, they would also work. They are waste of time against anything else, i.e, no explosions. A wikipedia search will lead to the hazard from DU is heavy metal toxicity in the kidneys when exposed to DU through open cuts or wounds from schrapnel. All other reporting about various health effects in Iraq is illiterate propaganda with regards to DU.
I was under the impression that US Army Armor and Cav units had transitioned from depleted uranium rounds to tungsten at the turn of the century, for reasons discussed in this article. In short they didnt want to fire DU rounds at target ranges anymore because they didnt want to risk radiation poisoning. I have no idea what the dynamics are with the UK and their Challenger rounds are, but if the USA is providing depleted uranium rounds to the Ukraine, I would imagine those rounds are surplus from nearly 2 decades ago. Of course, we could just not be providing tank ammo period because our stuff doesnt match the Challenger ammo. Our ammo would match Leopard 2 guns, however, since the M1A1 Abrams and later has the same tank gun as the Leopard. Its a confusing picture, not because any of these technical details are particularly important to what is going on in the field, but because whatever ammo is being fielded gives us a hint as to what stockpiles are still built up in NATO armories.
I haven’t read the link yet, but my first reaction to what Mark says about it was, “I knew it!” Do you really have to be a technical expert to have a sense about these things? I don’t think so. Now comes Simplicius with confirmation.
For months now I’ve been asking the Lord to stay the hand of those who have power to launch nuclear weapons or EMP attacks or dirty bombs. Now I can add, “…or dirty bombs or their equivalents.” Those of us that have not been swayed by Western propaganda seem to be too few and too powerless to change the reckless course of those who do have power. Hence, the appeal to heaven. There seems to be no other way to dislodge these crazies bent on destruction.
There are millions of Americans who are, as you say, under the influence of aggressive propaganda and coupled with the tendency to view Russia much like the former Soviet Union as an eternal enemy and a pariah so they are susceptible to disinformation. Those of us who believe we are much more informed are likely avid consumers of history who are able to see the conflict through a clearer lens. Few people understand the meaning of Victoria Nuland's assertions this is a NEOCON revenge war as well as a mission to take the riches of the heartland land mass so they believe our goals are righteous. All we can do is to spread real information to our friends and family in the hope more people understand the stakes and direction this administration is taking us.
I had to stop a moment and think, The Voice… what is that? Oh yeah that show. If only everyone would focus more on the important stuff. Bread and circuses can’t be everything, even if it’s nice to have a little mindless distraction now and then.
I don’t claim to be a history expert but even I distinctly remember reading, way back in the ‘90s, about Russia’s security concerns which, back then, were considered legitimate in diplomatic circles. Whatever your view of Russia was, these had to be taken into consideration. Heedlessly not so now. I have a very small circle of influence of family and friends and most are already aware. The ones who are not don’t seem to want to hear contradictory information. And what about the ones I don’t know, such as the people who live in a house I pass by on my way home from running errands, the front of this house proudly flies the American flag and right next to it flies the Ukrainian flag. Makes me angry. Makes me want to cry.
When there's tit for tat escalation, it's hard to know who is escalating and who is reacting to the escalation. However, there's no way that Putin can let the DE shells issue pass without hitting back.
Who pays the price if there is WWIII? Certainly not the rubes who started it. They will be safely ensconced in their doomsday retreats, while we,"the unwashed" suffer the consequences of their venality. What to do, what to do?
If it comes to the worst, I'm not sure which is better: to die and get it over quickly, or to linger in a bunker and emerge to a world of radioactivity. On that cheerful note, I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous week! :)
Very interesting read, Cassander. Concerning the peaceful use of nuclear, I think we'll be hearing a lot more about that in future as we scale down fossil fuel use and then realise how useless the "alternative" energy sources are. Considering the war usage, I'm less hopeful. Only 2 bombs were dropped in WW2. If a nuclear exchange happens today, it's going to involve a lot more bombs of a far greater power. Hopefully, someone in the US is going to say "stop!" before we get to that point.
Just finished reading Simplicius. Follow the sub stack too.
Here’s my question; if dirty bomb uranium is used by challenger tanks, causes the agricultural ground to be contaminated, does, will Africa and other 3rd world countries food supplies be impacted? Hold my beer.
While I have not looked at the article you referenced, it does dovetail with some things that I have been mulling over for a bit.
While I’m convinced that Putin is not the trigger happy madman that the neocons and the MSM portray him, I also believe that every political leader has certain realities that must be faced and those realities can sometimes require a response. Perhaps an unstable domestic situation or a military that feels frustrated or taken for granted, or perhaps a political rival that senses vulnerability might precipitate a less measured reaction than would normally be the case. I think it’s fair to say that Putin has displayed admirable restraint in the SMO in Ukraine despite the endless provocations from the west, whether in the form of sanctions or the most recent threat to introduce DU munitions into the conflict.
Putin has remained deliberate and restrained in his response. My concern is that as the provocations escalate, which the neocons seem intent on doing, there will come that critical moment when these constant goadings require a response because a “line” has been crossed. It could present itself as a somewhat mundane incident but it could produce unintended and devastating consequence. It seems that none of the political leaders in the West are interested in strategic thinking or the escalating dynamics of a military conflict and certainly have little regard for Kissinger’s latest admonition that “endless provocation” is not productive or helpful and are instead committed to constantly adding fuel to the fire. It is conceivable that someone will do something ill advised and set off an unforeseen chain of events which Putin could not ignore. Couple this with the foolish notion that NATO or the US would prevail against Russia in a full on assault seems a situation fraught with peril.
A couple of well placed EMPs or strategically launched hyper sonic missiles could send Europe and the US back to the Stone Age in the blink of an eye.
DU shells, high tech land mines, dogfighting with drones and an endless stream of threats seem a recipe for disaster.
It’s not called the fog of war for naught, but I forgot that there’s nothing an old dead Prussian military officer has to teach any of the neocons.
Just a few idle musings from a rube in flyover county.
Excellent comment. This is the great fear for me. As many have said here on Mark's wonderful blog, the neocons have no reverse gear and no awareness of the consequences of their actions. So how does Putin react to that? If he drags out the SMO, he will degrade the Ukrainians and Nato to military insignificance, but he also increases the risk of an increasingly unhinged Deep State doing something terminally crazy. I think at the moment, he's strengthening his hand as much as he can (military build-up, alliances, weapons development) in the hope that someone, somewhere deep in the Pentagon is going to wake up and call a stop to this.
Yesterday I saw a tweet that claimed, with video, that the Uk commander in charge of much of the bombardment of Donetsk city -- thousands upon thousands of civilians killed and wounded -- has been captured.
All should keep in mind that DU or tungsten rounds are only effective munitions when facing other tanks. They are tank killers only. Alternatively if you had to punch thru a lot of concrete, they would also work. They are waste of time against anything else, i.e, no explosions. A wikipedia search will lead to the hazard from DU is heavy metal toxicity in the kidneys when exposed to DU through open cuts or wounds from schrapnel. All other reporting about various health effects in Iraq is illiterate propaganda with regards to DU.
I was under the impression that US Army Armor and Cav units had transitioned from depleted uranium rounds to tungsten at the turn of the century, for reasons discussed in this article. In short they didnt want to fire DU rounds at target ranges anymore because they didnt want to risk radiation poisoning. I have no idea what the dynamics are with the UK and their Challenger rounds are, but if the USA is providing depleted uranium rounds to the Ukraine, I would imagine those rounds are surplus from nearly 2 decades ago. Of course, we could just not be providing tank ammo period because our stuff doesnt match the Challenger ammo. Our ammo would match Leopard 2 guns, however, since the M1A1 Abrams and later has the same tank gun as the Leopard. Its a confusing picture, not because any of these technical details are particularly important to what is going on in the field, but because whatever ammo is being fielded gives us a hint as to what stockpiles are still built up in NATO armories.
The info about Prigozhin is interesting. He better be careful lest he end up like Ernst Rohm.
I haven’t read the link yet, but my first reaction to what Mark says about it was, “I knew it!” Do you really have to be a technical expert to have a sense about these things? I don’t think so. Now comes Simplicius with confirmation.
For months now I’ve been asking the Lord to stay the hand of those who have power to launch nuclear weapons or EMP attacks or dirty bombs. Now I can add, “…or dirty bombs or their equivalents.” Those of us that have not been swayed by Western propaganda seem to be too few and too powerless to change the reckless course of those who do have power. Hence, the appeal to heaven. There seems to be no other way to dislodge these crazies bent on destruction.
There are millions of Americans who are, as you say, under the influence of aggressive propaganda and coupled with the tendency to view Russia much like the former Soviet Union as an eternal enemy and a pariah so they are susceptible to disinformation. Those of us who believe we are much more informed are likely avid consumers of history who are able to see the conflict through a clearer lens. Few people understand the meaning of Victoria Nuland's assertions this is a NEOCON revenge war as well as a mission to take the riches of the heartland land mass so they believe our goals are righteous. All we can do is to spread real information to our friends and family in the hope more people understand the stakes and direction this administration is taking us.
Few people even know who Nuland is. Maybe last The Voice winner?
I had to stop a moment and think, The Voice… what is that? Oh yeah that show. If only everyone would focus more on the important stuff. Bread and circuses can’t be everything, even if it’s nice to have a little mindless distraction now and then.
The Voice winner. Good point and funny!
I don’t claim to be a history expert but even I distinctly remember reading, way back in the ‘90s, about Russia’s security concerns which, back then, were considered legitimate in diplomatic circles. Whatever your view of Russia was, these had to be taken into consideration. Heedlessly not so now. I have a very small circle of influence of family and friends and most are already aware. The ones who are not don’t seem to want to hear contradictory information. And what about the ones I don’t know, such as the people who live in a house I pass by on my way home from running errands, the front of this house proudly flies the American flag and right next to it flies the Ukrainian flag. Makes me angry. Makes me want to cry.
Putin senses the uk depleted uranium is a huge weapon Ala 5th generation, he just has not found the right message that resonates yet.
Or perhaps he has with an audience outside the West discrediting Western professed values, environmentalism, vs how they really act.
Perhaps Putin and Lukashenko's nuclear agreement is one of the responses to this. As Ritter says, the Russians always have escalatory dominance.
The nuclear agreement comes across as bullying by Russia.
Now, Framing the use of Depleted Uranium as poisoning Russia / Ukrainian land…. And impact on agriculture / food grown in area.
Since it’s in Donbas Ukrainians May see this as a feature.
When there's tit for tat escalation, it's hard to know who is escalating and who is reacting to the escalation. However, there's no way that Putin can let the DE shells issue pass without hitting back.
Who pays the price if there is WWIII? Certainly not the rubes who started it. They will be safely ensconced in their doomsday retreats, while we,"the unwashed" suffer the consequences of their venality. What to do, what to do?
If it comes to the worst, I'm not sure which is better: to die and get it over quickly, or to linger in a bunker and emerge to a world of radioactivity. On that cheerful note, I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous week! :)
https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2023/02/Allison-Nuclear.pdf
Here is an article with some interesting points made about the nature of radioactivity.
Very interesting read, Cassander. Concerning the peaceful use of nuclear, I think we'll be hearing a lot more about that in future as we scale down fossil fuel use and then realise how useless the "alternative" energy sources are. Considering the war usage, I'm less hopeful. Only 2 bombs were dropped in WW2. If a nuclear exchange happens today, it's going to involve a lot more bombs of a far greater power. Hopefully, someone in the US is going to say "stop!" before we get to that point.
Just finished reading Simplicius. Follow the sub stack too.
Here’s my question; if dirty bomb uranium is used by challenger tanks, causes the agricultural ground to be contaminated, does, will Africa and other 3rd world countries food supplies be impacted? Hold my beer.
While I have not looked at the article you referenced, it does dovetail with some things that I have been mulling over for a bit.
While I’m convinced that Putin is not the trigger happy madman that the neocons and the MSM portray him, I also believe that every political leader has certain realities that must be faced and those realities can sometimes require a response. Perhaps an unstable domestic situation or a military that feels frustrated or taken for granted, or perhaps a political rival that senses vulnerability might precipitate a less measured reaction than would normally be the case. I think it’s fair to say that Putin has displayed admirable restraint in the SMO in Ukraine despite the endless provocations from the west, whether in the form of sanctions or the most recent threat to introduce DU munitions into the conflict.
Putin has remained deliberate and restrained in his response. My concern is that as the provocations escalate, which the neocons seem intent on doing, there will come that critical moment when these constant goadings require a response because a “line” has been crossed. It could present itself as a somewhat mundane incident but it could produce unintended and devastating consequence. It seems that none of the political leaders in the West are interested in strategic thinking or the escalating dynamics of a military conflict and certainly have little regard for Kissinger’s latest admonition that “endless provocation” is not productive or helpful and are instead committed to constantly adding fuel to the fire. It is conceivable that someone will do something ill advised and set off an unforeseen chain of events which Putin could not ignore. Couple this with the foolish notion that NATO or the US would prevail against Russia in a full on assault seems a situation fraught with peril.
A couple of well placed EMPs or strategically launched hyper sonic missiles could send Europe and the US back to the Stone Age in the blink of an eye.
DU shells, high tech land mines, dogfighting with drones and an endless stream of threats seem a recipe for disaster.
It’s not called the fog of war for naught, but I forgot that there’s nothing an old dead Prussian military officer has to teach any of the neocons.
Just a few idle musings from a rube in flyover county.
Excellent comment. This is the great fear for me. As many have said here on Mark's wonderful blog, the neocons have no reverse gear and no awareness of the consequences of their actions. So how does Putin react to that? If he drags out the SMO, he will degrade the Ukrainians and Nato to military insignificance, but he also increases the risk of an increasingly unhinged Deep State doing something terminally crazy. I think at the moment, he's strengthening his hand as much as he can (military build-up, alliances, weapons development) in the hope that someone, somewhere deep in the Pentagon is going to wake up and call a stop to this.
Yup. If and when a hot WWIII is triggered you can be sure the trigger will not have been anticipated.
Yep. There's always a Gavrilo Princip lurking in the shadows.
Yesterday I saw a tweet that claimed, with video, that the Uk commander in charge of much of the bombardment of Donetsk city -- thousands upon thousands of civilians killed and wounded -- has been captured.