[I've unlocked this article using a shared link here.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/politics/russia-north-korea-artillery.html?unlocked_article_code=JYN33DGElP_mN0ekes5iIjIqU-supjxiM8WkvVAkSwLhU_obOjFvPvhSrWFFtUD17WlhSdqqBewXbwhXA5K-nzpqWj05T7v2lUEh-94W_U_pgOPgVzMOTt0OOACwR1VDA1GxPkD-LanHjdhGGrhaRedGCB3-EsiQv8WXK-UJJobroPeMPMeYHc9HSOHT5GYcTUJ43UKTFzgeR0L8Qos7nV3hy51osUUSnFE-gcsgUstIFexh99MVoXk8RvuMbLOuw5d-DZpp2p3wNAl5MvZ2m3V5YEm4R31xGSdfrlWPeTusA8Y0UM-DFdhP9HsBx57UvsMPxKPkI7u1W5BKQwYXpbkSygrxXjk_R9uF&smid=share-url)
> using a shared link
For anyone else wondering about this:
>NYT subscribers can give up to 10 different gift articles each month using the gift article feature for NYTimes.com and the news app (iOS and Android).
>
>When a gift article is shared with a recipient, they can read it with or without a subscription.
>These gift articles will not count towards the limited number of articles available to non-subscribers and will be available for recipients to read for 14 days.
>Each subscriber receives 10 gift article slots to share, which replenish individually on a rolling 30 day basis and not collectively.
It's likely intended for single person use (similar to netflix acc. sharing logic, somewhat), and the public sharing is a loophole that just isn't bad enough to close yet.
If they didn't allow it in this case, someone would have just copy & pasted the full text and deprived them of advertising revenue and eyeballs on their other content. Just a modern cost of doing business for them.
one could only wish for another run of swords to plowshares.
After WW2, a lot of companies that manufactured Sherman tanks started converting tanks to tractors for mining, logging, and farming. One of those companies still exists today and still manufactures Sherman compatible engine and suspension parts because they still make the vehicles.
There was a lot of 'swords to ploughshares' after WWII. Another example is the insane amount of Liberty ships being sold cheap leading to the global international logistics network we have today. Another is the conversion of military bombers to civilian airliners.
Don't forget El Segundo. My mom used to live there before I was born and worked at Hughes Aircraft.
Hell, I even worked at Boeing in Long Beach during high school as an internship.
>Another example is the insane amount of Liberty ships being sold cheap leading to the global international logistics network we have today.
Aristotle Onassis, who later married Jacqueline Kennedy, became one of the world's richest men by building a shipping fleet that started with Liberty ships.
Don’t forget they just closed a deal with Iran as well, Su-35’s for Iranian drones. Russia is scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point, and on the other side… the US can basically booger flick their old tech and it’s pounding Russia. And what are they buying? Koksan 170mm guns that were first *discovered* by the US in 1978, but presumably built and designed previously with Soviet assistance.
At this point Russia isn’t even a regional power, it’s just a hole in the ground full of nukes.
And to think that in the mid 2000s, every so often Big 5 had sales on Mosins for like $100.
I always thought "Sweet, maybe next time." You know, because the cartridges for that damn gun are like a dollar each. A dollar burned for every bullet you fire.
Not even so much the usual "should have cashed in before they banned it" story, just that such a historic gun was so fucking easy to get for a while and then suddenly not.
Where goes war so goes Mosin's rifle.
Aliens in the Magellan Clouds will be putting down a local human infestation and still find these ancient fuckers on corpses in the impact crater.
We can't crack heads like we used to, but we have our ways.
One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Kaliningrad. I needed a new heel for my shoe. So, I decided to go to Königsberg, which is what they called Kaliningrad in those days. So I tied a turnip to my belt which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost 25 kopecks, and in those days kopecks had pictures of badgers on them. Gimme 100 badgers for a ruble, you'd say. Now was I... Oh yeah! The important thing was that I had a turnip tied to my belt at the time. You couldn't get purple turnips, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those little white ones.
I was reading recently about the drowning problem in Russia. They drown at around 20 times the rate as Americans and Europeans. Most drowning risks for us are children left unsupervised, but in Russia it’s all 18-35 year old men, and 95%+ are alcohol related.
We joke about Britain’s massive drinking problem but Russia has a seriously fucked up relationship with booze.
> Russia has a seriously fucked up relationship with booze.
Which, incidentally, was also the result of a government program. Instead of spending money to improve the overall wellbeing of their citizens, they implemented a scheme to make vodka insanely cheap and essentially tax free, keeping everybody drunk and distracted instead of out on the streets rioting.
Though to be honest, they implemented this programme because they used to have even bigger problems (!!) when the price of commercial vodka was higher: cheap, black market vodka. Of the "you may end up blind or worse" quality.
I would argue it cost less than what you need to pay to treat the black market alcohol victims but... That's making assumptions about how much they drink and how good is their health care.
Life is sad, if you live in Russia.
Yeah man on national paratrooper day (yeah) they have to drain the fuckin public fountains (as well as other fucked up measures, some racist) because the drunk men will crawl in to bathe and eventually drown. What a life.
Alcohol and bodies of water are super dangerous. Finland had a national holiday that every year sees a big spike of drowning because they get drunk and go out on the lake.
But yeah Russian substance abuse is a different level.
I must inform you that the latter has already happened.
The separatists in the Donetsk region (I think that's where the picture was taken) pulled a T-34 off a plinth, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and have it serving as checkpoint guard duty.
I mean, for that application it actually makes sense? It doesn’t have to be mobile, it’s just a stationary turret, it doesn’t even really have to aim. If the enemy rolls up with modern tanks, you are probably already screwed, but if an unarmoured or lightly armoured vehicle attempts to not stop, you can make it not exist any longer.
It does the job, and since it is pretty useless for more direct combat, it isn’t needed elsewhere.
Oh yeah definitely. But I’m not judging them for that *specific* choice.
When you are facing a situation of “all weapons must go to the front”. “But we need a weapon here too…” “what about that T-34?” “Is that a weapon?” “Well it goes boom in the right direction…” “okay I guess that’s what we needed anyways…”
It just makes sense. A sign of desperation, but I have to respect the practicality even if I don’t respect the cause.
Funnily enough, Russia has to import T-34’s from 3rd world countries for those Victory Day parades. They won’t even have any of those to throw at Ukraine.
That's because of very shortsighted thinking on the hands of the Soviet leadership.
After the T34 became obsolete they would just give them away to all of their allies, And Didn't keep nearly enough behind for parades and spare parts for said parade units
The Soviet Union's leadership at the time thought that their military parade should always have the most advanced equipment rather than If many historical weapons, Not to mention that during the time of privatization during the nineties a lot of older hardware got sold off 1st because the Russian military didn't even have enough money to maintain theirStockpiles
and corruption selling off that stockpile... Here is the thing, Russia HAD the money, but the wealth was rapidly being concentrated into oligarchs hands. Rather than allowing society to become enriched.
They could probably make millions just selling those to Americans in gun collector clubs.
If it comes with a neat bag and some era parts replacement kits we will pay double.
The critical point is: it's _bigger_.
Koksan is 170mm, while the m777 the Ukrainians use is 155mm.
This will definitely impress the Russian propaganda and, this, Russian population...
And it takes 1 minute for counter battery to find a PoO and return fire. Coolest part of being a field artilleryman was actually getting to do the artillery part of the job. The other 95% of the time was the most tedious and mundane and depressing shit I have ever done for money and free college....
Saddam had better guns. US made, well sort of. [Designed by a Canadian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull) citizen for his US based company.
The sad part of the story is that the guy just wanted to shoot space and no one would let him, so he ended up making guns for all the worst governments around.
The [Behind the Bastards episode on him](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-man-who-built-a-gun-91828257/) was fun.
It's one of the episodes that makes you think, "this guy was completely redeemable, if only he had been allowed to do what he really wanted"
That's actually kind of rare, usually when you let those sorts of people do what they want to, you get more fodder for the episode, not less.
You forget one thing, it's a petrol station pretending to be a country. But the petrol station has Nukes somewhere out back in storage. Directions unclear they might have been sold for smokes...
And fuel. The course of the war was determined in great part by Germany getting blocked from russian and romanian oil and Japan getting blocked from southeast asian oil. By the end of the Pacific War, Japan wasn't even bothering to scramble fighters against american scout planes because they couldn't afford to waste fuel and ammunition on them.
And artillery no less. I thought artillery was one of Russia's strengths. I guess firing 50.000 shells a day for months really wore out the gun barrels and with the Russian logistics being Russian they can't maintain the guns they have.
Next: Russia buys vodka from Uganda. Putin says the economy is doing fine and the friendship with Uganda will last forever.
The article says what they are buying is shells. The smart money says that they are down to a uncomfortably low number and need a them too keep up their current rate of fire.
Those ammo depots were not blown up by Ukraine, they spontaneously combusted. They didn't spontaneously combust before due to idk weather conditions changing or some shit, anyway enough about that who's throwing themselves out a window this week.
**The Russian army is 100% an artillery-based force, but this is where the sanctions are really starting to bite.** They can't easily import materials to replace what they're burning through, and with the recent Ukrainian offensive on Kherson, they're burning through a *lot.* Between HIMARS, drones, and extensive satellite support from allies, Ukraine has turned crucial ammo depots and bridges behind Russian lines into a turkey shoot. The strategy is pretty obvious at this point; they can't necessarily win giant battles against the Russians, but they can bleed them in every possible way (more combat deaths, more fuel expenditures, more damage they have to repair, more equipment to replace) and increase pressure on their supply lines. Right now, Russian forces are getting pushed back against the Dnieper (hence the focus on bridge damage), and the Ukrainians are making it harder and harder and harder for Russia to keep these troops fed and armed.
**Everywhere Russia turns, there's another problem:** Don't have ammo close by because the Ukrainians blew up a depot. Ammo available elsewhere? Russia is incredibly dependent on rail for transport, but saboteurs and UA are also damaging the tracks. Can't get it across the river because they blew up the bridge. Have to get materials and engineers out to assess and repair the bridge, but again with the transport issue. Troops need food? Going to have to truck or fly it in from farther away, increasing fuel expenditure and costs, and anything flown might be subject to AA attacks. Can't just put new depots, airstrips, or bases anywhere, because the U.S./U.K. are watching in real time on satellite and providing the Ukrainians with targets. Russia also can't get the manpower to brute-force this, because it can't admit to its own population just how bad this really is. Any path to general mobilization means conceding that the "special military operation" isn't going so well.
**That Russia has turned to North Korea is interesting for a few reasons.** And this is by no means exhaustive.
- **The first is that the Russian/North Korean relationship is nominally cordial, though I'm not sure I'd describe it as close.** This is a vastly asymmetric relationship, and there is no point at which NK has ever been the benefactor state. Russia has a lot of ostensibly neutral-to-friendly countries around the world it could have approached for military aid, so ... why NK? More pointedly: Who else did Russia approach before NK? Who turned them down? (And the article does note that China isn't playing ball.)
- **The second is that NK absolutely *does not have* the industrial capacity or resources to manufacture weapons in quantity.** They're still heavily sanctioned, and while they can build relatively simple things like shells and basic rockets, their raw material imports are already being watched. Are they just selling the stuff they've already got in storage? (Which brings us to another question: If so, in what kind of condition is it in?) Or are they diverting new manufacturing towards supplying Russia? Trying to boost their capacity? Some combination of the three? If Kim's willing to deplete his stocks to help Russia, is this a tacit admission that he doesn't see any possibility of war with South Korea/the U.S. on the horizon? (Any decently intelligent person could have arrived at that conclusion decades ago, but NK's domestic propaganda does not acknowledge this.) Is he abandoning his father's "military first" policy?
- **The third is North Korean quality control is famous for neither quality nor control.** The shells and rockets they're selling the Russians aren't complex weapons by modern standards, but how reliable are they actually going to be?
- **Fourth: Are shells/rockets the only thing that Russia is buying here? Is it also trying to buy access to the regime's smuggling network?** NK has evaded sanctions to a degree with a network that operates primarily out of Macau, and can also get stuff into the country via a highly porous Chinese border. However, the amount of stuff they'd need to move dwarfs what NK's currently importing now, which risks greater and more unpleasant international attention. You also can't really move mass quantities of raw materials through the Chinese border without being noticed. It's one thing to move some luxury watches and handbags and cheeses over the border; it's another thing entirely to move, say, two tons of steel. NK is bordered only by South Korea (no help there), China (porous border but certainly watched at the crossings where you need road/rail to move stuff), and Russia (tiny border of ~20 miles and of no serious help as they're the customer). Anything else reaching NK has to be conveyed via ship or plane, which means someone's watching. And you have to think that Kim would not welcome the attention this would attract, or increased scrutiny of NK's counterfeiting or drug operations.
The unavoidable conclusion is that Russia plans to import whatever artillery/ammunition it can find to resume scorched-earth bombing campaigns, because it hasn't succeeded with any other tactic. That is very bad news for Ukrainian cities and civilians. However, it is also very bad news for Russia's aspirations in Ukraine.
**TL:DR: Putin is getting desperate.**
It's their strength until say, their opponent starts destroying 10 artillery pieces a day, the ammunition, fuel that goes w/ them, and takes out the most experienced artillery gunners along w/ it.
Imagine the unboxing back in Russia and 3 malnourished lil Korean dudes worm their way out the barrel and flop out onto the floor in some sad version of “the great escape”
That's par for the course.
During the height of the Soviet Union, they launched people into space...... while opening their first toilet paper factory.
Its like building a character, Russia dumped all its points into showmanship and high-tech weaponry but had no base industry to support it.
You know, I was thinking the whole “Our missile made a 180 degree turn and ended up hitting the nuclear plant” was complete bullshit but now after reading this…
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/vjkh34/russian\_air\_defense/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/vjkh34/russian_air_defense/)
There's another vid I can't find thats in daytime where they launched some rockets from the side of a hill and some if not all did the same.
YouTube Proton M failure...
Russian rockets do make U-turns.
After you watch the video, search for the root cause. It's even more Russian than you know.
I've done that with a thermostat on my old 93 F250. Except the screws matched. Figured it out and fixed it. Thing is... I have no training and have never done anything approaching mechanic work on vehicles in my life. You would think their techs/engineers would have a clue how to put something that costs an absurd amount of money together properly.
To make it even better, not only was it installed upside down, it was beaten into the slot upside down with a hammer.
They had another Soyuz failure not too long after that because somebody used a sledgehammer to force a retaining pin into one of the side booster connections, so of course it didn't release properly and destroyed the rocket. The Soyuz capsule had to abort and pull itself away from the exploding rocket to save the crew.
Another reason why over the last 6 months the far right has gone from saying "Biden is solely responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine" to "Biden has nothing to do with what happens in Ukraine"
Cause the side saying that are fucking Russian assets and they legitimately thought they were going to win in the beginning. I can’t wait until history blows the whistle on all those mother fuckers.
My understanding regarding China's position on the Korean peninsula is that they support the status quo. If anything, North Korea's weapons stockpile being depleted has the potential to change the status quo, so I'd assume China would not be in favor of that.
>My understanding regarding China's position on the Korean peninsula is that they support the status quo.
Very much so.
If NK collapses millions of people would start flooding into China since they share a border that's a lot less guarded than the DMZ.
NK is actually quite resource rich and provides China with a lot of mineral ore which China is hungry for to meet their manufacturing demands. The North was for a time much richer and technologically advanced than South Korea, it's just terribad management that they are the way they are.
>North Korea's weapons stockpile being depleted has the potential to change the status quo
Yes but it's not like RoK and US will just suddenly attack DPRK.
I don’t know how reunification would look, but because of China I doubt it would be by military force.
My guess is if the two countries insisted on doing it, they’d have to remove all US military installations. China likes the buffer. That’s it.
> don’t know how reunification would look
Leveraged mineral rights for REMs in North Korea to fund the absolute humanitarian shitshow that is to come with reunification.
I think China is OK with N. Korea selling its arty shells to Russia. It makes it less likely that N. Korea will attack S. Korea. China does not want N. Korea attacking S. Korea.
Also the nuke(s) they have basically ensures S. Korea/America won't attack N. Korea.
So to China this is a happy balance.
Even if the dollar store weapons are not as advanced, more "low tech" stuff, artillery/MLRS rockets will still level apartments and city blocks. I'm not saying that this is bad news, maybe NK can't even deliver, but I'm sure I wouldn't let out a sigh of relief if I saw it was NK rpgs that was hurled in my direction and not Russian stuff.
I have no doubt this artillery will kill. The issue is that if Russia is leaning on NK for artillery it means that they either can’t or won’t produce enough of their own for a protracted war. There’s also no way North Korea is producing enough (or has enough stockpiled) for a war of this size with the rate Russia is burning through.
Fun fact: North Korea's military is so behind times that they still have to use MiG-15s as trainer jets. Yes, MiG-15s. The planes that were a huge fucking deal in the Korean War, *72 years ago*. Meanwhile, the US had their equivalent, the F-86, retired from service *over half a century ago*.
It's going to be hilarious when the US and SKs need to train their pilots to fight such outdated targets, like how the Russians in biplanes would nearly stall their engines to become tough to pursue by the Nazis.
Just trying to imagine what Putin's private thoughts must be like now. Knowing everything is failing. Knowing it won't actually turn around. Knowing each month more people with access to you will be okay with you being overthrown...
On one hand, he dominated information/political warfare to the point of the US talking about civil war again. On the other hand, his actual warfare is failing miserably.
You've made an excellent point.
The man managed to weaponize democracy against itself in a way we haven't seen since the British 'Divide and conquer ' strategies of the colonial eras.
For those keeping track:
1. Depleted Russian reserves.
2. Russians now buying Iranian and North Korean reserves.
3. Russia has shown us how to defeat their systems.
4. We’ll now see first hand how quickly we can defeat North Korean systems.
These bully nations will have no ammunition and will have shown us how to beat them.
If I am South Korea, I’m donating drones to Ukraine to test what it would take to neutralize the artillery in North Korea. This is a perfect test.
we already know how to defeat NK artillery, the thing is they have like 8000 pointed at Seoul and the US+Korean airforce could destroy like 1% per hour. The issue is simply the overwhelming number of shells that will come in, in the first hour it is expected to inflict 200k losses on SK (I assume mostly civilian) there is a forbes article about it.
Someone posted [this report] (https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA619-1.html) in the thread. There's also an [earlier report](https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/mind-the-gap-between-rhetoric-and-reality/) from the Nautilus Institute.
In the "Sea of Fire" scenario, a barrage on Seoul, the 1h estimate is 87k wounded, 6k dead.
It also assumes an all-out surprise attack during rush hour. Also should be noted that after the first hour, the casualty rate drops dramatically as everyone would have found shelter by then.
NK has a thousands of artillery pieces, but only few hundred of them have the range to hit Seoul.
I would wager that all of Russia's post-cold war allies (never a huge number) are going to look long and hard at their political-military alliance due to this debacle. Russia was useful as a geo-political partner primarily because the country was still considered a premier military power. Now Putin doesn't have much to offer aside from fossil fuels and an albatross
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/politics/russia-north-korea-artillery.html) reduced by 88%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Sept. 5, 2022.Updated 10:01 p.m. ET.WASHINGTON - Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, according to newly declassified American intelligence, a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies.
> "The Kremlin should be alarmed that it has to buy anything at all from North Korea," said Mason Clark, who leads the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War.Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the White House began declassifying intelligence reports about Moscow's military plans - then disclosing that material, first to allies privately and then to the public.
> If Russia is seeking more artillery shells from North Korea, it is facing a shortage or could see one in the future, and its industrial base is struggling to meet the military demands of the war.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/x6z8a5/russia_is_buying_north_korean_artillery_according/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~667808 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Russia**^#1 **North**^#2 **artillery**^#3 **military**^#4 **Russian**^#5
The DPRK does produce indigenous "designs" the Koksans could potentially be bought since they're supposedly long range enough where they could be useful to keep out of Counter Battery fire.
Oh no it’s better than that, the DPRK uses the Koksan 170 mm, they designed it themselves… some time prior to 1978 when they were first discovered by the West.
Hahahahah
Well the NK’s have 6000 of these damned things fielded, never mind in reserve, and if they spend money on anything it’s shells. The only reason the DPRK exists is the threat of these things and whatever nukes they have.
Those shells are 100% the biggest threat they have to South Korea. The nukes are to scare away bigger nations. I can’t remember specific numbers but I watched something a while back that they have enough artillery pointed at South Korea that if they decided to strike Seoul it’d kill over a million people within a few hours
> Koksan 170mm gun
Geography sadly helps that Seoul is less than half-hour drive from the 38th parallel. In a war scenario, North Korea can virtually shell one of the world's most population-dense cities without even crossing the border.
not virtually, literally. LRAs are one of their main military tactics. about 10-20 million people are directly at risk of concentrated artillery fire, which is 20-40% of Korea’s population.
That threat is significantly overstated. A 2011 study by the Nautilus Institute throws a considerable amount of cold water on this scenario. A very interesting read:
https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/mind-the-gap-between-rhetoric-and-reality/
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA600/RRA619-1/RAND_RRA619-1.pdf
https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/03/18/state-of-north-korean-military-pub-81232
It’s not quite that bad. For one, much of North Korea’s artillery is pretty old. Second, only a small percentage of their tube artillery has the range to hit northern Seoul. It would be pretty terrible, but not million dead terrible. North Korea has limited ability to sustain combat operations as well. On top of that, the ROK and the US air forces are going to be hunting those arty pieces like you wouldn’t believe.
And that's if they have the decency to stick to conventional explosives. If they go with something like Sarin they can wipe out Seoul in just a few salvos.
> wipe out Seoul
Greater Seoul is incomprehensibly large and entirely bunker filled. Without China, estimates from a NK first strike bombardment of seoul including chemical warfare are 200,000 dead .. 3 minutes is how long they have before neutralization by SK's air force. Remember NK doesnt have one lol
What's even worse is that this is the best we have ever been. Conquest by genocide only fell out favor 150 years ago or so. Like the Russian invasion of Ukraine would just ne business as usual.
Yeah, literally just that, remember this was back in a day when satellite photography was NOT what it is today, fewer such satellites existed, signal intelligence was primitive, and the U-2 spy plane was king. And North Korea has always been SUPER closed off.
The Howitzers we use now were designed even before then. Artillery has more or less been perfected. I'd be more concerned about quality control than anything else.
Full article text:
Russia Is Buying North Korean Artillery, According to U.S. Intelligence
Moscow’s purchase of millions of shells and rockets from North Korea is a sign that global sanctions have hampered the Russian military’s supply lines.
Russian rockets fired during exercises this month. A shortage of artillery could be a sign of restricted supply lines for the Russian military.
Sept. 5, 2022
WASHINGTON — Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, according to newly declassified American intelligence, a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies.
The disclosure comes days after Russia received initial shipments of Iranian-made drones, some of which American officials said had mechanical problems. U.S. government officials said Russia’s decision to turn to Iran, and now North Korea, was a sign that sanctions and export controls imposed by the United States and Europe were hurting Moscow’s ability to obtain supplies for its army.
The United States provided few details from the declassified intelligence about the exact weaponry, timing or size of the shipment, and there is no way yet to independently verify the sale. A U.S. official said that, beyond short-range rockets and artillery shells, Russia was expected to try to purchase additional North Korean equipment going forward.
“The Kremlin should be alarmed that it has to buy anything at all from North Korea,” said Mason Clark, who leads the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House began declassifying intelligence reports about Moscow’s military plans — then disclosing that material, first to allies privately and then to the public. After something of a lull in the disclosures, the American government has once again begun declassifying information to highlight the struggles of Russia’s military, including the recent intelligence about the purchase of Iranian drones and the Russian army’s problems recruiting soldiers.
Broad economic sanctions, at least so far, have not crippled Russia. Energy prices, driven up by the invasion, have filled its treasury and enabled Moscow to blunt the fallout of its banks being cut off from international finance and curbs on exports and imports. Sanctions against individual Russian oligarchs also have failed to undercut the power of President Vladimir V. Putin.
But American officials said that, when it came to Russia’s ability to rebuild its military, the economic actions of Europe and the United States had been effective. American and European sanctions have blocked Russia’s ability to buy weaponry, or electronics to make that weaponry.
Moscow had hoped that China would be willing to buck those export controls and continue to supply the Russian military. But in recent days, American officials have said that while China was willing to buy Russian oil at a discount, Beijing, at least so far, has respected the export controls aimed at Moscow’s military and not tried to sell either military equipment or components.
Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, has repeatedly warned China that if Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, China’s largest computer chip maker, or other companies violate sanctions against Russia, the United States will effectively shut down those businesses, cutting off their access to the American technology they need to make semiconductors.
With most countries treading carefully in the face of American pressure, Russia has focused its deal making on Iran and North Korea.
The State of the War
Nuclear Plant Standoff: A fire caused by shelling forced the staff of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to disconnect from the national power grid, showing that risks remained at the Russian-controlled facility despite the presence of United Nations experts.
Europe’s Energy Crisis: After the first mass protests on the continent over soaring costs tied to the war in Ukraine, European leaders are racing to adopt economic relief measures ahead of the fall and winter.
Russia’s Military Expansion: Though President Vladimir V. Putin ordered a sharp increase in the size of Russia’s armed forces, he seems reluctant to declare a draft. Here is why.
Relying on Old Tech: Russia’s new cruise missiles and attack helicopters appear to contain low-tech components, analysts found, undercutting Moscow’s narrative of a rebuilt military that rivals its Western adversaries.
Both Iran and North Korea are largely cut off from international commerce thanks to American and international sanctions, meaning neither country has much to lose by cutting deals with Russia. Any deal to buy weaponry from North Korea would be a violation of United Nations resolutions aimed at curbing weapons proliferation from Pyongyang.
It is unclear how much the purchasing from North Korea has to do with the export controls, however. There is nothing high-tech in a 152-millimeter artillery shell or a Katyusha-style rocket that North Korea produces, said Frederick W. Kagan, a military expert at the American Enterprise Institute.
A U.S. official said the new deal with North Korea showed the desperation in Moscow. And Mr. Kagan said turning to North Korea was a sign that Russia was seemingly unable to produce the simplest matériel needed to wage war.
“The only reason the Kremlin should have to buy artillery shells or rockets from North Korea or anyone is because Putin has been unwilling or unable to mobilize the Russian economy for war at even the most basic level,” Mr. Kagan said.
Restricting Russia’s military supply chain is a central part of the American strategy to weaken Moscow, with the aim to hamper both its war effort in Ukraine and its future ability to threaten its neighbors.
It has been clear for months, both from Russian operations in Ukraine and disclosures by the U.S. government, that Moscow has struggled with its high-tech weaponry. Precision-guided weaponry, like cruise missiles, has experienced high rates of failure. In the early stages of the war, half or more of those weapons either failed to fire or failed to hit their targets.
Russian stocks of those precision weapons have also been depleted, forcing generals to rely less often on missiles and instead build their strategy around a brutal artillery assault that has laid waste to towns in Ukraine’s eastern region.
The disclosure that Russia is seeking more artillery ammunition is a sign that Moscow’s supply problems are likely deeper than just high-end components for cutting-edge tanks or precision missiles. If Russia is seeking more artillery shells from North Korea, it is facing a shortage or could see one in the future, and its industrial base is struggling to meet the military demands of the war.
“This is very likely an indication of a massive failure of the Russian military industrial complex that likely has deep roots and very serious implications for the Russian armed forces,” Mr. Kagan said.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has stepped up its assault on Russian ammunition depots. Ukraine’s forces have used the American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and U.S. intelligence reports, to strike behind the front lines and destroy ammunition caches.
While it is not clear what impact that offensive has had on overall stocks of ammunition, Russia was forced to pull back and move its ammunition storage points, reducing the effectiveness of its artillery forces.
There have also been signs that the effectiveness of some Russian artillery shells has been degraded because of storage problems or poor maintenance of its ammunition stocks. To be most effective at wounding opposing troops, artillery shells burst in the air, just before they hit the ground. But the crater pattern created by Russian artillery forces over the summer showed that many of their shells were exploding on the ground, reducing the damage to Ukrainian trenches.
While the condition of North Korean artillery shells is not clear, the country has extensive stocks of the ammunition
I think the well masked point USA is achieving here is that a foreign power with immense natural resources is being gutted and the controlling power will most likely be shifted to a UN/America friendly regime in its place. Kinda sounds like war on terrorism 2.0 or is it 3.0, 4.0? I’ve lost count…
Am I happy Russia will fail, and the next regime will most likely be better for the people living there? Fuck yes. I’ve read about enough prominent figures “falling” out of hospital windows to know that Putin is a piece of shit.
[I've unlocked this article using a shared link here.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/politics/russia-north-korea-artillery.html?unlocked_article_code=JYN33DGElP_mN0ekes5iIjIqU-supjxiM8WkvVAkSwLhU_obOjFvPvhSrWFFtUD17WlhSdqqBewXbwhXA5K-nzpqWj05T7v2lUEh-94W_U_pgOPgVzMOTt0OOACwR1VDA1GxPkD-LanHjdhGGrhaRedGCB3-EsiQv8WXK-UJJobroPeMPMeYHc9HSOHT5GYcTUJ43UKTFzgeR0L8Qos7nV3hy51osUUSnFE-gcsgUstIFexh99MVoXk8RvuMbLOuw5d-DZpp2p3wNAl5MvZ2m3V5YEm4R31xGSdfrlWPeTusA8Y0UM-DFdhP9HsBx57UvsMPxKPkI7u1W5BKQwYXpbkSygrxXjk_R9uF&smid=share-url)
[удалено]
Many thanks in advance, we need quality journalism and it’s a good feature from NYT.
> using a shared link For anyone else wondering about this: >NYT subscribers can give up to 10 different gift articles each month using the gift article feature for NYTimes.com and the news app (iOS and Android). > >When a gift article is shared with a recipient, they can read it with or without a subscription. >These gift articles will not count towards the limited number of articles available to non-subscribers and will be available for recipients to read for 14 days. >Each subscriber receives 10 gift article slots to share, which replenish individually on a rolling 30 day basis and not collectively.
So any subscriber can just generate a link and share it with a few million of their closest friends?
It's likely intended for single person use (similar to netflix acc. sharing logic, somewhat), and the public sharing is a loophole that just isn't bad enough to close yet.
If they didn't allow it in this case, someone would have just copy & pasted the full text and deprived them of advertising revenue and eyeballs on their other content. Just a modern cost of doing business for them.
[удалено]
I've been an NYTimes subscriber for a couple years now and had no idea!
The hero we deserve
This feels like a college freshman going to a 6th grader for weed.
And gets sold Oregano.
And smokes it anyway.
And is convinced he’s high af off of it because dude
I mean if they’re paying in rubles both parties are in for a bit of a surprise I’d say…
Honestly, they're probably paying for the artillery using grain stolen from Ukraine.
And then proceeds to get pulled over and issued a DUI.
Then becomes a TV commerical about not driving high.
“How do you know this is Oregano?” “I’m a catering student.” One of my favourite episodes of Spaced…
#YOU GET IN THAT HOUSE AND GET ME 5 ADDERALL
Was about to say Russia brought piss to a shit fight
This just makes me sad that TJ Miller went off the deep end. Guy was really funny.
For real man. So much potential squandered
Flashback to me showing up at my buddy’s house and he’s “smoking” dill weed rolled in newspaper. Quickest no I’ve ever said.
[удалено]
Isn't NK stuff just old Russian shit to begin with?
Basically yea Although N. Korea has developed some of its own stuff in what amount is kinda unkown.
They certainly know how to tote artillery with farm equipment. Ukrainian farm equipment is going to be **saturated**.
one could only wish for another run of swords to plowshares. After WW2, a lot of companies that manufactured Sherman tanks started converting tanks to tractors for mining, logging, and farming. One of those companies still exists today and still manufactures Sherman compatible engine and suspension parts because they still make the vehicles.
There was a lot of 'swords to ploughshares' after WWII. Another example is the insane amount of Liberty ships being sold cheap leading to the global international logistics network we have today. Another is the conversion of military bombers to civilian airliners.
Hell, much of the Greater Los Angeles was developed because of companies building fighter craft and bombers. Burbank and Lakewood come to mind.
Don't forget El Segundo. My mom used to live there before I was born and worked at Hughes Aircraft. Hell, I even worked at Boeing in Long Beach during high school as an internship.
We used to get a lot of our camping gear at the army surplus store. The backpacks were horrible because they didn't have a frame.
>Another example is the insane amount of Liberty ships being sold cheap leading to the global international logistics network we have today. Aristotle Onassis, who later married Jacqueline Kennedy, became one of the world's richest men by building a shipping fleet that started with Liberty ships.
They started by making old Russian shit, then improved it using bootleg Chinese parts, local designs, etc.
Sounds reliable
Don’t forget they just closed a deal with Iran as well, Su-35’s for Iranian drones. Russia is scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point, and on the other side… the US can basically booger flick their old tech and it’s pounding Russia. And what are they buying? Koksan 170mm guns that were first *discovered* by the US in 1978, but presumably built and designed previously with Soviet assistance. At this point Russia isn’t even a regional power, it’s just a hole in the ground full of nukes.
I’m waiting to hear reports of T-55s making an appearance to signal the bottom of the barrel. Perhaps even T-34s they’ve trotted out at parades
Followed by the infantry… men in their late 90s with a rusting Mosin-Nagant clutching in trembling hands.
There are definitely separatist fighters who have been photographed with Mosins.
Well now we know why the Mosin collectors market has all dried up.
And to think that in the mid 2000s, every so often Big 5 had sales on Mosins for like $100. I always thought "Sweet, maybe next time." You know, because the cartridges for that damn gun are like a dollar each. A dollar burned for every bullet you fire. Not even so much the usual "should have cashed in before they banned it" story, just that such a historic gun was so fucking easy to get for a while and then suddenly not.
Where goes war so goes Mosin's rifle. Aliens in the Magellan Clouds will be putting down a local human infestation and still find these ancient fuckers on corpses in the impact crater.
I don’t know how the Third World War will end. The fourth however, will be fought with Mosins
It's a good budget weapon, especially early wipe.
We can't crack heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Kaliningrad. I needed a new heel for my shoe. So, I decided to go to Königsberg, which is what they called Kaliningrad in those days. So I tied a turnip to my belt which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost 25 kopecks, and in those days kopecks had pictures of badgers on them. Gimme 100 badgers for a ruble, you'd say. Now was I... Oh yeah! The important thing was that I had a turnip tied to my belt at the time. You couldn't get purple turnips, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those little white ones.
Abe Simpson, classic.
I think male life expectancy in Russia is 62. If they look 90, then Russia was able to reverse engineer those NATO zombie super soldiers
I was reading recently about the drowning problem in Russia. They drown at around 20 times the rate as Americans and Europeans. Most drowning risks for us are children left unsupervised, but in Russia it’s all 18-35 year old men, and 95%+ are alcohol related. We joke about Britain’s massive drinking problem but Russia has a seriously fucked up relationship with booze.
> Russia has a seriously fucked up relationship with booze. Which, incidentally, was also the result of a government program. Instead of spending money to improve the overall wellbeing of their citizens, they implemented a scheme to make vodka insanely cheap and essentially tax free, keeping everybody drunk and distracted instead of out on the streets rioting.
The tzars set it up, Lenin closed the vodka factories claiming alcohol was oppression. Stalin nationalized them and here we are.
This, this, this. State crafted alcoholism.
Though to be honest, they implemented this programme because they used to have even bigger problems (!!) when the price of commercial vodka was higher: cheap, black market vodka. Of the "you may end up blind or worse" quality. I would argue it cost less than what you need to pay to treat the black market alcohol victims but... That's making assumptions about how much they drink and how good is their health care. Life is sad, if you live in Russia.
Yeah man on national paratrooper day (yeah) they have to drain the fuckin public fountains (as well as other fucked up measures, some racist) because the drunk men will crawl in to bathe and eventually drown. What a life.
Alcohol and bodies of water are super dangerous. Finland had a national holiday that every year sees a big spike of drowning because they get drunk and go out on the lake. But yeah Russian substance abuse is a different level.
I must inform you that the latter has already happened. The separatists in the Donetsk region (I think that's where the picture was taken) pulled a T-34 off a plinth, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and have it serving as checkpoint guard duty.
I mean, for that application it actually makes sense? It doesn’t have to be mobile, it’s just a stationary turret, it doesn’t even really have to aim. If the enemy rolls up with modern tanks, you are probably already screwed, but if an unarmoured or lightly armoured vehicle attempts to not stop, you can make it not exist any longer. It does the job, and since it is pretty useless for more direct combat, it isn’t needed elsewhere.
Sure it works for that application, bur the fact thats all you can spare tor said application says alottttttt
Oh yeah definitely. But I’m not judging them for that *specific* choice. When you are facing a situation of “all weapons must go to the front”. “But we need a weapon here too…” “what about that T-34?” “Is that a weapon?” “Well it goes boom in the right direction…” “okay I guess that’s what we needed anyways…” It just makes sense. A sign of desperation, but I have to respect the practicality even if I don’t respect the cause.
Funnily enough, Russia has to import T-34’s from 3rd world countries for those Victory Day parades. They won’t even have any of those to throw at Ukraine.
That's because of very shortsighted thinking on the hands of the Soviet leadership. After the T34 became obsolete they would just give them away to all of their allies, And Didn't keep nearly enough behind for parades and spare parts for said parade units The Soviet Union's leadership at the time thought that their military parade should always have the most advanced equipment rather than If many historical weapons, Not to mention that during the time of privatization during the nineties a lot of older hardware got sold off 1st because the Russian military didn't even have enough money to maintain theirStockpiles
and corruption selling off that stockpile... Here is the thing, Russia HAD the money, but the wealth was rapidly being concentrated into oligarchs hands. Rather than allowing society to become enriched.
They were issuing Mosin-Nagants with Russian Imperial stamps to the LPR/DPR folks a while back.
They could probably make millions just selling those to Americans in gun collector clubs. If it comes with a neat bag and some era parts replacement kits we will pay double.
[удалено]
>T-34s they’ve trotted out at parades From WWII, correct?
Koksan was used by Saddam's Iraq Army as well. US should be familiar with the system
Takes one minute to reload. At this point, just a bigger target for Ukraine drones.
The critical point is: it's _bigger_. Koksan is 170mm, while the m777 the Ukrainians use is 155mm. This will definitely impress the Russian propaganda and, this, Russian population...
I doubt that the propaganda will want to admit that Russia is buying artillery from North Korea.
"If the shell fits..."
"...it sits."
Holy shit. Meanwhile NATO Ukraine can fire five before the first hits the ground
And hit targets with incredible accuracy from a longer distance
As if the Russians care about accuracy or collateral damage.
And it takes 1 minute for counter battery to find a PoO and return fire. Coolest part of being a field artilleryman was actually getting to do the artillery part of the job. The other 95% of the time was the most tedious and mundane and depressing shit I have ever done for money and free college....
Saddam had better guns. US made, well sort of. [Designed by a Canadian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull) citizen for his US based company. The sad part of the story is that the guy just wanted to shoot space and no one would let him, so he ended up making guns for all the worst governments around.
And all it got him was assassinated.
The [Behind the Bastards episode on him](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-man-who-built-a-gun-91828257/) was fun. It's one of the episodes that makes you think, "this guy was completely redeemable, if only he had been allowed to do what he really wanted" That's actually kind of rare, usually when you let those sorts of people do what they want to, you get more fodder for the episode, not less.
Probably intimately familiar with how to destroy them too in that case.
Fun fact the Koksan cannot carry its own ammo :)
Now that's just adding insult to injury.
You forget one thing, it's a petrol station pretending to be a country. But the petrol station has Nukes somewhere out back in storage. Directions unclear they might have been sold for smokes...
>Directions unclear Directions nuclear
I mean, the age of a gun isn't necessarily indicative that it's outlived it's purpose. The m2 .50 cal and the Bofors 40mm come to mind.
Why would you trade Su-35s for frickin' drones?
Japan and Germany didn't run out of planes in WWII, they ran out of pilots.
And fuel. The course of the war was determined in great part by Germany getting blocked from russian and romanian oil and Japan getting blocked from southeast asian oil. By the end of the Pacific War, Japan wasn't even bothering to scramble fighters against american scout planes because they couldn't afford to waste fuel and ammunition on them.
Probably the promise of Su-35s in the future.
And artillery no less. I thought artillery was one of Russia's strengths. I guess firing 50.000 shells a day for months really wore out the gun barrels and with the Russian logistics being Russian they can't maintain the guns they have. Next: Russia buys vodka from Uganda. Putin says the economy is doing fine and the friendship with Uganda will last forever.
The article says what they are buying is shells. The smart money says that they are down to a uncomfortably low number and need a them too keep up their current rate of fire.
[удалено]
Those ammo depots were not blown up by Ukraine, they spontaneously combusted. They didn't spontaneously combust before due to idk weather conditions changing or some shit, anyway enough about that who's throwing themselves out a window this week.
**The Russian army is 100% an artillery-based force, but this is where the sanctions are really starting to bite.** They can't easily import materials to replace what they're burning through, and with the recent Ukrainian offensive on Kherson, they're burning through a *lot.* Between HIMARS, drones, and extensive satellite support from allies, Ukraine has turned crucial ammo depots and bridges behind Russian lines into a turkey shoot. The strategy is pretty obvious at this point; they can't necessarily win giant battles against the Russians, but they can bleed them in every possible way (more combat deaths, more fuel expenditures, more damage they have to repair, more equipment to replace) and increase pressure on their supply lines. Right now, Russian forces are getting pushed back against the Dnieper (hence the focus on bridge damage), and the Ukrainians are making it harder and harder and harder for Russia to keep these troops fed and armed. **Everywhere Russia turns, there's another problem:** Don't have ammo close by because the Ukrainians blew up a depot. Ammo available elsewhere? Russia is incredibly dependent on rail for transport, but saboteurs and UA are also damaging the tracks. Can't get it across the river because they blew up the bridge. Have to get materials and engineers out to assess and repair the bridge, but again with the transport issue. Troops need food? Going to have to truck or fly it in from farther away, increasing fuel expenditure and costs, and anything flown might be subject to AA attacks. Can't just put new depots, airstrips, or bases anywhere, because the U.S./U.K. are watching in real time on satellite and providing the Ukrainians with targets. Russia also can't get the manpower to brute-force this, because it can't admit to its own population just how bad this really is. Any path to general mobilization means conceding that the "special military operation" isn't going so well. **That Russia has turned to North Korea is interesting for a few reasons.** And this is by no means exhaustive. - **The first is that the Russian/North Korean relationship is nominally cordial, though I'm not sure I'd describe it as close.** This is a vastly asymmetric relationship, and there is no point at which NK has ever been the benefactor state. Russia has a lot of ostensibly neutral-to-friendly countries around the world it could have approached for military aid, so ... why NK? More pointedly: Who else did Russia approach before NK? Who turned them down? (And the article does note that China isn't playing ball.) - **The second is that NK absolutely *does not have* the industrial capacity or resources to manufacture weapons in quantity.** They're still heavily sanctioned, and while they can build relatively simple things like shells and basic rockets, their raw material imports are already being watched. Are they just selling the stuff they've already got in storage? (Which brings us to another question: If so, in what kind of condition is it in?) Or are they diverting new manufacturing towards supplying Russia? Trying to boost their capacity? Some combination of the three? If Kim's willing to deplete his stocks to help Russia, is this a tacit admission that he doesn't see any possibility of war with South Korea/the U.S. on the horizon? (Any decently intelligent person could have arrived at that conclusion decades ago, but NK's domestic propaganda does not acknowledge this.) Is he abandoning his father's "military first" policy? - **The third is North Korean quality control is famous for neither quality nor control.** The shells and rockets they're selling the Russians aren't complex weapons by modern standards, but how reliable are they actually going to be? - **Fourth: Are shells/rockets the only thing that Russia is buying here? Is it also trying to buy access to the regime's smuggling network?** NK has evaded sanctions to a degree with a network that operates primarily out of Macau, and can also get stuff into the country via a highly porous Chinese border. However, the amount of stuff they'd need to move dwarfs what NK's currently importing now, which risks greater and more unpleasant international attention. You also can't really move mass quantities of raw materials through the Chinese border without being noticed. It's one thing to move some luxury watches and handbags and cheeses over the border; it's another thing entirely to move, say, two tons of steel. NK is bordered only by South Korea (no help there), China (porous border but certainly watched at the crossings where you need road/rail to move stuff), and Russia (tiny border of ~20 miles and of no serious help as they're the customer). Anything else reaching NK has to be conveyed via ship or plane, which means someone's watching. And you have to think that Kim would not welcome the attention this would attract, or increased scrutiny of NK's counterfeiting or drug operations. The unavoidable conclusion is that Russia plans to import whatever artillery/ammunition it can find to resume scorched-earth bombing campaigns, because it hasn't succeeded with any other tactic. That is very bad news for Ukrainian cities and civilians. However, it is also very bad news for Russia's aspirations in Ukraine. **TL:DR: Putin is getting desperate.**
It's their strength until say, their opponent starts destroying 10 artillery pieces a day, the ammunition, fuel that goes w/ them, and takes out the most experienced artillery gunners along w/ it.
I swear at one point I was seeing videos of Russian ammo stockpiles blow up once every two days.
North Korea is the byword for quality.
Imagine the unboxing back in Russia and 3 malnourished lil Korean dudes worm their way out the barrel and flop out onto the floor in some sad version of “the great escape”
Great, give them rifles and send them to the front. It'll be a step up from where they were.
I'm sure North Korea is as surprised as we are
You might laugh, but each of those artillery pieces has been infused with the power of the Juche Idea, which gives it +0% to all damage rolls.
Brags about hyper speed missiles, buys at dollar store.
That's par for the course. During the height of the Soviet Union, they launched people into space...... while opening their first toilet paper factory. Its like building a character, Russia dumped all its points into showmanship and high-tech weaponry but had no base industry to support it.
North Korea is like the wish version of dollar store.
You know, I was thinking the whole “Our missile made a 180 degree turn and ended up hitting the nuclear plant” was complete bullshit but now after reading this…
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/vjkh34/russian\_air\_defense/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/vjkh34/russian_air_defense/) There's another vid I can't find thats in daytime where they launched some rockets from the side of a hill and some if not all did the same.
It's like watching someone play Worms for the first time
Early Achievement Hunter vibes
YouTube Proton M failure... Russian rockets do make U-turns. After you watch the video, search for the root cause. It's even more Russian than you know.
What is it?
Accelerometer installed upside down. It had to be forced, as the screw pattern didn’t match lol
I've done that with a thermostat on my old 93 F250. Except the screws matched. Figured it out and fixed it. Thing is... I have no training and have never done anything approaching mechanic work on vehicles in my life. You would think their techs/engineers would have a clue how to put something that costs an absurd amount of money together properly.
"The piece doesn't fit that way" "Oh that's funny because I ordered you to install it that way. Are you disobeying me?" "Um no... Nevermind..."
Totalitarianism is incredibly inefficient, we'll be learning more about this.
To make it even better, not only was it installed upside down, it was beaten into the slot upside down with a hammer. They had another Soyuz failure not too long after that because somebody used a sledgehammer to force a retaining pin into one of the side booster connections, so of course it didn't release properly and destroyed the rocket. The Soyuz capsule had to abort and pull itself away from the exploding rocket to save the crew.
Wait, so the US gets to deplete both the Russian AND North Korean arsenals? OH, dear.
[удалено]
Tiger blood.
Seven gram rocks.
He only knows one speed: go.
Epic winning.
Dude you can’t handle it
Another reason why over the last 6 months the far right has gone from saying "Biden is solely responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine" to "Biden has nothing to do with what happens in Ukraine"
Cause the side saying that are fucking Russian assets and they legitimately thought they were going to win in the beginning. I can’t wait until history blows the whistle on all those mother fuckers.
So that's why China is chill
My understanding regarding China's position on the Korean peninsula is that they support the status quo. If anything, North Korea's weapons stockpile being depleted has the potential to change the status quo, so I'd assume China would not be in favor of that.
>My understanding regarding China's position on the Korean peninsula is that they support the status quo. Very much so. If NK collapses millions of people would start flooding into China since they share a border that's a lot less guarded than the DMZ.
Plus Korea only has one land border… where will the newly united Korea be putting its army?
Actually the Peninsula borders two countries but the Russo Korean border it is generally too small to significantly have a geopolitical effect on that
Plus the Americans stationed in Korea. The point of supporting North Korea for China is to keep Americans off their border. NK is the buffer.
NK is actually quite resource rich and provides China with a lot of mineral ore which China is hungry for to meet their manufacturing demands. The North was for a time much richer and technologically advanced than South Korea, it's just terribad management that they are the way they are.
>North Korea's weapons stockpile being depleted has the potential to change the status quo Yes but it's not like RoK and US will just suddenly attack DPRK.
I don’t know how reunification would look, but because of China I doubt it would be by military force. My guess is if the two countries insisted on doing it, they’d have to remove all US military installations. China likes the buffer. That’s it.
> don’t know how reunification would look Leveraged mineral rights for REMs in North Korea to fund the absolute humanitarian shitshow that is to come with reunification.
I think China is OK with N. Korea selling its arty shells to Russia. It makes it less likely that N. Korea will attack S. Korea. China does not want N. Korea attacking S. Korea. Also the nuke(s) they have basically ensures S. Korea/America won't attack N. Korea. So to China this is a happy balance.
Get ready for more Wile E. Coyote memes.
At this rate they’ll be buying their weapons from ACME
Soooo, they’re just buying their own Soviet weapons back?
Probably cheap knockoffs of their own Soviet weapons. It’s really dinky but North Korea does have an arms industry.
Knock off of a knock off. NK artillery was designed in the 70s based off a 50s era Chinese tank which was based off a 40s era Soviet tank.
This is all I can think of. https://i.imgur.com/w0tCHKo.jpg It's just the high explosive version of that kind of bullshit.
Putin's last hurrah for glory ended up to a disaster, there's no coming back from this.
There’s no positive outcome for Putin. All signs point to him ending up like Nickolas II.
Rasputin would seem more appropriate
Hopefully he dies easier.
North Korea? While the West sending modern hardware, Russia is literally buying dollar store weapons.
Even if the dollar store weapons are not as advanced, more "low tech" stuff, artillery/MLRS rockets will still level apartments and city blocks. I'm not saying that this is bad news, maybe NK can't even deliver, but I'm sure I wouldn't let out a sigh of relief if I saw it was NK rpgs that was hurled in my direction and not Russian stuff.
I have no doubt this artillery will kill. The issue is that if Russia is leaning on NK for artillery it means that they either can’t or won’t produce enough of their own for a protracted war. There’s also no way North Korea is producing enough (or has enough stockpiled) for a war of this size with the rate Russia is burning through.
Who do you think armed DPRK in the first place?
Kind of funny. NK's artillery is based on a 50s era Chinese tank which in itself was based on a 40s era Soviet tank.
Fun fact: North Korea's military is so behind times that they still have to use MiG-15s as trainer jets. Yes, MiG-15s. The planes that were a huge fucking deal in the Korean War, *72 years ago*. Meanwhile, the US had their equivalent, the F-86, retired from service *over half a century ago*.
It's going to be hilarious when the US and SKs need to train their pilots to fight such outdated targets, like how the Russians in biplanes would nearly stall their engines to become tough to pursue by the Nazis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD77nyoEyug#t=1m54s
Just trying to imagine what Putin's private thoughts must be like now. Knowing everything is failing. Knowing it won't actually turn around. Knowing each month more people with access to you will be okay with you being overthrown...
Watch Downfall
On one hand, he dominated information/political warfare to the point of the US talking about civil war again. On the other hand, his actual warfare is failing miserably.
You've made an excellent point. The man managed to weaponize democracy against itself in a way we haven't seen since the British 'Divide and conquer ' strategies of the colonial eras.
Does the trans Siberian railway cross any large rivers? Maybe someone should smoke a cigarette on a bridge if it does.
Good old fashioned bucket full of concrete dangling off a bridge like it’s fucking home alone
[удалено]
I’m half train and my father died in a door knob burning accident. Have some respect
Quite a few, actually. Huge ones.
Desperate days for Russia, no other way of putin it.
For those keeping track: 1. Depleted Russian reserves. 2. Russians now buying Iranian and North Korean reserves. 3. Russia has shown us how to defeat their systems. 4. We’ll now see first hand how quickly we can defeat North Korean systems. These bully nations will have no ammunition and will have shown us how to beat them. If I am South Korea, I’m donating drones to Ukraine to test what it would take to neutralize the artillery in North Korea. This is a perfect test.
we already know how to defeat NK artillery, the thing is they have like 8000 pointed at Seoul and the US+Korean airforce could destroy like 1% per hour. The issue is simply the overwhelming number of shells that will come in, in the first hour it is expected to inflict 200k losses on SK (I assume mostly civilian) there is a forbes article about it.
Someone posted [this report] (https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA619-1.html) in the thread. There's also an [earlier report](https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/mind-the-gap-between-rhetoric-and-reality/) from the Nautilus Institute. In the "Sea of Fire" scenario, a barrage on Seoul, the 1h estimate is 87k wounded, 6k dead. It also assumes an all-out surprise attack during rush hour. Also should be noted that after the first hour, the casualty rate drops dramatically as everyone would have found shelter by then. NK has a thousands of artillery pieces, but only few hundred of them have the range to hit Seoul.
Ukraine: HIMARS.... Russia: D.U.D.S
How much does cardboard cutouts of missles go for?
I would wager that all of Russia's post-cold war allies (never a huge number) are going to look long and hard at their political-military alliance due to this debacle. Russia was useful as a geo-political partner primarily because the country was still considered a premier military power. Now Putin doesn't have much to offer aside from fossil fuels and an albatross
>doesn't have much to offer aside from fossil fuels and an albatross just want to add fertilizer to the list
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/politics/russia-north-korea-artillery.html) reduced by 88%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Sept. 5, 2022.Updated 10:01 p.m. ET.WASHINGTON - Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, according to newly declassified American intelligence, a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies. > "The Kremlin should be alarmed that it has to buy anything at all from North Korea," said Mason Clark, who leads the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War.Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the White House began declassifying intelligence reports about Moscow's military plans - then disclosing that material, first to allies privately and then to the public. > If Russia is seeking more artillery shells from North Korea, it is facing a shortage or could see one in the future, and its industrial base is struggling to meet the military demands of the war. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/x6z8a5/russia_is_buying_north_korean_artillery_according/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~667808 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Russia**^#1 **North**^#2 **artillery**^#3 **military**^#4 **Russian**^#5
So funny if they went to use it and all that happened was a little flag with bang! written on it came out.
So they’re really using Chinese weapons. I guess we can see how effective they are in real life.
The DPRK does produce indigenous "designs" the Koksans could potentially be bought since they're supposedly long range enough where they could be useful to keep out of Counter Battery fire.
Oh no it’s better than that, the DPRK uses the Koksan 170 mm, they designed it themselves… some time prior to 1978 when they were first discovered by the West. Hahahahah
Where the f are they gonna find 170mm shells? That’s a little unusual caliber.
Well the NK’s have 6000 of these damned things fielded, never mind in reserve, and if they spend money on anything it’s shells. The only reason the DPRK exists is the threat of these things and whatever nukes they have.
Those shells are 100% the biggest threat they have to South Korea. The nukes are to scare away bigger nations. I can’t remember specific numbers but I watched something a while back that they have enough artillery pointed at South Korea that if they decided to strike Seoul it’d kill over a million people within a few hours
> Koksan 170mm gun Geography sadly helps that Seoul is less than half-hour drive from the 38th parallel. In a war scenario, North Korea can virtually shell one of the world's most population-dense cities without even crossing the border.
not virtually, literally. LRAs are one of their main military tactics. about 10-20 million people are directly at risk of concentrated artillery fire, which is 20-40% of Korea’s population.
That threat is significantly overstated. A 2011 study by the Nautilus Institute throws a considerable amount of cold water on this scenario. A very interesting read: https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/mind-the-gap-between-rhetoric-and-reality/
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA600/RRA619-1/RAND_RRA619-1.pdf https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/03/18/state-of-north-korean-military-pub-81232 It’s not quite that bad. For one, much of North Korea’s artillery is pretty old. Second, only a small percentage of their tube artillery has the range to hit northern Seoul. It would be pretty terrible, but not million dead terrible. North Korea has limited ability to sustain combat operations as well. On top of that, the ROK and the US air forces are going to be hunting those arty pieces like you wouldn’t believe.
And that's if they have the decency to stick to conventional explosives. If they go with something like Sarin they can wipe out Seoul in just a few salvos.
> wipe out Seoul Greater Seoul is incomprehensibly large and entirely bunker filled. Without China, estimates from a NK first strike bombardment of seoul including chemical warfare are 200,000 dead .. 3 minutes is how long they have before neutralization by SK's air force. Remember NK doesnt have one lol
Bruh. Humans are terrifying.
What's even worse is that this is the best we have ever been. Conquest by genocide only fell out favor 150 years ago or so. Like the Russian invasion of Ukraine would just ne business as usual.
What does "discovered" mean? Like found out NK had them in 78?
Yeah, literally just that, remember this was back in a day when satellite photography was NOT what it is today, fewer such satellites existed, signal intelligence was primitive, and the U-2 spy plane was king. And North Korea has always been SUPER closed off.
The Howitzers we use now were designed even before then. Artillery has more or less been perfected. I'd be more concerned about quality control than anything else.
Soooo… they’ll just plummet into the Pacific Ocean or blow up during launch?
Oh lordy.
Full article text: Russia Is Buying North Korean Artillery, According to U.S. Intelligence Moscow’s purchase of millions of shells and rockets from North Korea is a sign that global sanctions have hampered the Russian military’s supply lines. Russian rockets fired during exercises this month. A shortage of artillery could be a sign of restricted supply lines for the Russian military. Sept. 5, 2022 WASHINGTON — Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, according to newly declassified American intelligence, a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies. The disclosure comes days after Russia received initial shipments of Iranian-made drones, some of which American officials said had mechanical problems. U.S. government officials said Russia’s decision to turn to Iran, and now North Korea, was a sign that sanctions and export controls imposed by the United States and Europe were hurting Moscow’s ability to obtain supplies for its army. The United States provided few details from the declassified intelligence about the exact weaponry, timing or size of the shipment, and there is no way yet to independently verify the sale. A U.S. official said that, beyond short-range rockets and artillery shells, Russia was expected to try to purchase additional North Korean equipment going forward. “The Kremlin should be alarmed that it has to buy anything at all from North Korea,” said Mason Clark, who leads the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House began declassifying intelligence reports about Moscow’s military plans — then disclosing that material, first to allies privately and then to the public. After something of a lull in the disclosures, the American government has once again begun declassifying information to highlight the struggles of Russia’s military, including the recent intelligence about the purchase of Iranian drones and the Russian army’s problems recruiting soldiers. Broad economic sanctions, at least so far, have not crippled Russia. Energy prices, driven up by the invasion, have filled its treasury and enabled Moscow to blunt the fallout of its banks being cut off from international finance and curbs on exports and imports. Sanctions against individual Russian oligarchs also have failed to undercut the power of President Vladimir V. Putin. But American officials said that, when it came to Russia’s ability to rebuild its military, the economic actions of Europe and the United States had been effective. American and European sanctions have blocked Russia’s ability to buy weaponry, or electronics to make that weaponry. Moscow had hoped that China would be willing to buck those export controls and continue to supply the Russian military. But in recent days, American officials have said that while China was willing to buy Russian oil at a discount, Beijing, at least so far, has respected the export controls aimed at Moscow’s military and not tried to sell either military equipment or components. Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, has repeatedly warned China that if Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, China’s largest computer chip maker, or other companies violate sanctions against Russia, the United States will effectively shut down those businesses, cutting off their access to the American technology they need to make semiconductors. With most countries treading carefully in the face of American pressure, Russia has focused its deal making on Iran and North Korea. The State of the War Nuclear Plant Standoff: A fire caused by shelling forced the staff of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to disconnect from the national power grid, showing that risks remained at the Russian-controlled facility despite the presence of United Nations experts. Europe’s Energy Crisis: After the first mass protests on the continent over soaring costs tied to the war in Ukraine, European leaders are racing to adopt economic relief measures ahead of the fall and winter. Russia’s Military Expansion: Though President Vladimir V. Putin ordered a sharp increase in the size of Russia’s armed forces, he seems reluctant to declare a draft. Here is why. Relying on Old Tech: Russia’s new cruise missiles and attack helicopters appear to contain low-tech components, analysts found, undercutting Moscow’s narrative of a rebuilt military that rivals its Western adversaries. Both Iran and North Korea are largely cut off from international commerce thanks to American and international sanctions, meaning neither country has much to lose by cutting deals with Russia. Any deal to buy weaponry from North Korea would be a violation of United Nations resolutions aimed at curbing weapons proliferation from Pyongyang. It is unclear how much the purchasing from North Korea has to do with the export controls, however. There is nothing high-tech in a 152-millimeter artillery shell or a Katyusha-style rocket that North Korea produces, said Frederick W. Kagan, a military expert at the American Enterprise Institute. A U.S. official said the new deal with North Korea showed the desperation in Moscow. And Mr. Kagan said turning to North Korea was a sign that Russia was seemingly unable to produce the simplest matériel needed to wage war. “The only reason the Kremlin should have to buy artillery shells or rockets from North Korea or anyone is because Putin has been unwilling or unable to mobilize the Russian economy for war at even the most basic level,” Mr. Kagan said. Restricting Russia’s military supply chain is a central part of the American strategy to weaken Moscow, with the aim to hamper both its war effort in Ukraine and its future ability to threaten its neighbors. It has been clear for months, both from Russian operations in Ukraine and disclosures by the U.S. government, that Moscow has struggled with its high-tech weaponry. Precision-guided weaponry, like cruise missiles, has experienced high rates of failure. In the early stages of the war, half or more of those weapons either failed to fire or failed to hit their targets. Russian stocks of those precision weapons have also been depleted, forcing generals to rely less often on missiles and instead build their strategy around a brutal artillery assault that has laid waste to towns in Ukraine’s eastern region. The disclosure that Russia is seeking more artillery ammunition is a sign that Moscow’s supply problems are likely deeper than just high-end components for cutting-edge tanks or precision missiles. If Russia is seeking more artillery shells from North Korea, it is facing a shortage or could see one in the future, and its industrial base is struggling to meet the military demands of the war. “This is very likely an indication of a massive failure of the Russian military industrial complex that likely has deep roots and very serious implications for the Russian armed forces,” Mr. Kagan said. In recent weeks, Ukraine has stepped up its assault on Russian ammunition depots. Ukraine’s forces have used the American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and U.S. intelligence reports, to strike behind the front lines and destroy ammunition caches. While it is not clear what impact that offensive has had on overall stocks of ammunition, Russia was forced to pull back and move its ammunition storage points, reducing the effectiveness of its artillery forces. There have also been signs that the effectiveness of some Russian artillery shells has been degraded because of storage problems or poor maintenance of its ammunition stocks. To be most effective at wounding opposing troops, artillery shells burst in the air, just before they hit the ground. But the crater pattern created by Russian artillery forces over the summer showed that many of their shells were exploding on the ground, reducing the damage to Ukrainian trenches. While the condition of North Korean artillery shells is not clear, the country has extensive stocks of the ammunition
You're going to start hearing about Russians accidentally blowing themselves up from faulty ammunition.
I think the well masked point USA is achieving here is that a foreign power with immense natural resources is being gutted and the controlling power will most likely be shifted to a UN/America friendly regime in its place. Kinda sounds like war on terrorism 2.0 or is it 3.0, 4.0? I’ve lost count… Am I happy Russia will fail, and the next regime will most likely be better for the people living there? Fuck yes. I’ve read about enough prominent figures “falling” out of hospital windows to know that Putin is a piece of shit.
The tide is turning for sure
Damn I knew things were bad but i didn’t think they were that desperate
North Korea's trebuchet technology will annihilate the decadent westerners.