Dnipro, 19 March morning
A very quick update.
The last two weeks have seen some good weather, ground has mostly dried out, probably heavy equipment needs another week or two of similar weather to allow effective passage at the fronts. Last couple days have cooled down a little, to 6-9 degrees, very slight rain, but this actually helps to harden the fields.
We have had two weeks of good electricity, a few days without any cuts, weird as hell, but today we will resume some outages, a few times a day for a few hours after some strikes in Zaporoshnye yesterday.
Very little equipment and supply trucks on the road, huge numbers of ambulances as usual.
There is an explosion in police / TCC roadblocks for mobilisation, they are everywhere. I drove in an ambulance convoy to the west early this week, and they were across every region, not just Dnipro. Clearly there is a huge push at the moment to mobilise, but no idea how they will be equipped or paid.
Fuel is up around 30 percent, no shortages that I have noticed yet, but they will soon come. Food prices also rising. Freight rates heavily impacted, I just bought a container in from a port in Gdansk and the freight cost was double that I paid about 5 months ago. Customs bribes required to get it across the border, fully legal cqrgo were up by 25 percent.
Like the rest of the world we are watching the Trump inspired chaos in the middle east, and cheering on Iran. We are also enjoying watching the world realise just how fucking useless the west's air defences are. Notice how Germany isn't offering the iris t, or the abortion of other European air defence systems that were designed to embezzle billions of dollars which were intended to defend Ukraine.
The effectiveness of patriot systems on drones and modern weaponry are as mythical as the unicorn, it's good to see this being realised, and amusing to see the usa answer to it is to push to get more money to build more of them......
Something I have never got my head around is Christian support for Israel. I have always assumed it was out of sheer ignorance as to what the arpatheid state of Israel is actually about. Something any of us who have actually visited it, and the region fully understand.
I came across the below yesterday when i asked ai why Americans, mostly Christians, were such fanatics when supporting Israel, a country full of Jews, the same Jews who killed their saviour.
I found it interesting, but I still have no idea why they could be so stupid as to believe it, and again fall back to my original belief, that evangelical Christians are just dumb arse ignoramuses without a clue.
Christian Zionist belief in Armageddon is a powerful theological and political ideology, primarily held by millions of U.S. Evangelicals, that views the modern state of Israel as central to a divinely ordained apocalypse. They believe aiding Israel triggers the Second Coming of Jesus, despite a scenario where non-Christians face destruction.
Core Beliefs:
Christian Zionists interpret biblical prophecy to mean that the gathering of Jewish people in Israel, and its expansion, is a necessary prelude to the final battle of good vs. evil (Armageddon) and the return of Christ.
Support for Israel: This belief drives robust financial, political, and moral support for Israel, often prioritizing a hardline, nationalist perspective that opposes territorial compromise.
Political Influence: The "Armageddon lobby" has significant sway in US politics, influencing foreign policy, such as the 2018 embassy move to Jerusalem, which they view as essential to fulfilling biblical prophecy.
Conflict as Prophecy:
Many proponents see wars in the Middle East not as disasters, but as inevitable, necessary steps towards this "end times" scenario.
Contrast with Jewish Zionism:
While sharing support for Israel, most Jewish Zionists do not subscribe to this Christian apocalyptic narrative, which culminates in the conversion or destruction of non-Christians.
This belief system is not considered a fringe movement but a widespread ideological force in American evangelicalism.
