A laser is a tiny beam of light that is very straight. None of the photons will hit the missile’s sensor because they are going straight from the laser to the building just like strings. The missile couldn’t see the source of the laser unless it was looking right at it. But when the laser light hits the building, the neatly-organized photons scatter in all directions. The missile’s sensor will be bathed in the laser’s photons which are now bouncing in all directions off the building. You can see this same effect with a laser pointer. Point it at a wall and the light is easy to see from all directions, but the tip of the pointer will hardly be lit up at all. (don’t point the laser light into your eye!)
What it is, is a crime against humanity. They are bombing civilians for no reason whatsoever except that “we can”. There is no purpose to it except to destroy and to kill.
thx for the good laser information!
ignorance fought
Exactly. I’m in favor of the international criminal court holding trials in absentia for those responsible.
Well, that’s not exactly true. Their stated reason is to make living conditions bad enough that the Ukrainian population will demand peace talks so they can have heat and light again. That strategic bombing has never actually achieved this goal - not in the Battle of Britain or the firebombing of Tokyo and Dresden, not in Korea, not in Vietnam or a myriad of other smaller conflicts - has apparently not occurred to them. There is an additional legitimate military goal - the trains which form the basis of most of Ukrainian military logistics are largely electric, and making it harder to keep them running is reasonable military objective.
War is really fucking ugly, and the people who suffer most from it are very rarely the people who wage it.
The rails that run electric trains can also run diesels.
Saw a video recently of Ukrainians making museum-piece steam engines operational again.
The world ran before we had electricity. Apparently, the Ukrainians want the absence of Russians sufficiently to put up with the absence of electricity.
Ukraine still controls Bakhmut. Apparently it’s WWI trench warfare. I saw a photo of nothing but mud and dead, splintered trees. A eerie and apocalyptic scene.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 28 | Institute for the Study of War
Of course, but it makes things more difficult.
I’ve heard a few observers remark about the likelihood of a Russian morale collapse. I am of the opinion that a critical mass of Russians are still fighting quite hard and that no collapse is imminent. That said, when morale collapses do occur they often do so quite rapidly as a sort of cascade effect takes place, and observers say ‘wow, didn’t see that coming’. We saw this most recently in Afghanistan and earlier in Desert Storm. Is there greater potential for a morale collapse now that Russian ranks are beginning to swell with ill-equipped and ill-trained mobiks and the cold of winter is starting to bite, or is this wishful thinking?
This needs to happen. It’s encouraging the Ukrainians have already trained in NATO tanks. Providing tanks has been planned for awhile.
Guardian feed
Lots of Leopard 2 tanks around in Hungary, Poland, Norway etc. in addition to Germany. I’m sure the Ukrainians would love those.
Without air support wouldn’t Ukrainian tanks be targeted just as easily as the Russian tanks?
Somebody bombed a Central African Republic military base manned by Wagner Group mercenaries.
"Another Russian billionaire has died under mysterious circumstances.
After days of questions from the international press, the Russian government on Monday confirmed the death of Forex Club founder Vyacheslav Taran in a helicopter crash last week near his home in southeastern France."
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. 17th or so is just bad luck.
OK, so instead of one cheap drone, you send a dozen. They probably won’t all get shot down, you get to re-use any that don’t, and even a dozen of them is still cheap compared to the cost of the missile they’re guiding.
Of course, the missiles only need laser spotting for precision targeting. They have other entirely-onboard guidance systems, too, and while it’s nice to have centimeter precision, usually in war a munition that misses by 10 or 20 meters still has a useful effect. So it’s not the end of the world even if all of your targeting drones are shot down.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence but many of Chad’s military pilots are Ukrainian mercenaries.
Yes, pure coincidence. 
Another Russian oil depot on fire. Video of the fire is impressive.
No one claims responsibility.
That would take a bit of doing and resources. If it was a pro-Ukraine action, good on 'em.
Why exactly do we need confirmation from the Russian government for something that happened in France? I am confuse.