Russian lawmakers authorize Putin to use military force outside the country, Part II

[Labster]

That flag on the Moskva cause me to do a double-take as an American.  It's a Russian naval jack

The original plan back in 2014 was that once Russia liberated Luhansk and Donetsk, other oblasts in the south of Ukraine would join up in a new march buffer state confederation called Novorossiya, or "New Russia".  This confederacy of southern rebel oblasts would have had this flag, which is just a little on the nose for me.

The TL;DW is basically that nothing worked on the Moskva.  Only one gun of three different air defense systems worked, radar and internal comms strongly interfered with each other, engines were at the end of their operating life, fire bulkheads didn't seal, and firefighting equipment was locked down by the admiral because people kept stealing it.  The maintenance report included all this, and still passed the ship with flying colors.  TL;DR of that: just Russia stuff.

-- Kessler syndrome fans excited by news that Russia considers SpaceX satellites valid targets in this war
-- 1000 dead bodies found in Izyum so far
-- Russian cruise missiles damage the dam at Kryvyi Rih, causing enough damage to force authorities to drain the water.  Flooding is damaging the city.
-- Zelensky's motorcade was in a traffic accident
-- Russian lawmakers start using the "war" word on TV, suggest bombing Kyiv while Ursula von der Leyen is visiting would be a good way to convince Ukrainians how much they want to liberate them.
-- Russia will see confrontation between military and politicians, says expert
-- Luhansk Peoples Republic leader says "no need to panic"
-- Occupied Luhansk shuts down mobile internet, as a way to preserve op-sec for special looting operation