Dear Readers:
Today I have this very informative piece from the Ukrainian newspaper STRANA. About some men who have escaped from Ukraine taking a route through the Carpathian Mountains. Their ordeal is reminiscent of Mexicans and Central Americans illegally migrating to the U.S., except these Ukrainians have to survive the mountains instead of the desert. Their final goal is Romania.
STRANA: In the early morning fog, a small group of men begins to move in the direction of the Ukrainian border. They follow paths that wind through the mountains, hoping to remain unnoticed. These men are part of a flood of Ukrainians who seek to evade the mobilization by escaping across the border.
STRANA spoke with some of these men, under conditions of anonymity, who illegally crossed the border into Romania. Their trip took 6 days and 5 nights, covering a distance of around 80 kilometers.
One man who successfully completed the trip: “I started preparing for my trip 3 weeks in advance. I bought a compass, an altometer, a flashlight, heater, sleeping bag, raincoat, and various other necessary items that are needed to survive in the mountains. I also bought some maps of the vicinity, because the google maps are not up to date for this region. When everything was put together and packed, I ended up with a backpack weighing 11 kilograms. It’s especially important to have the right footwear. I know some people who tried to make the trip wearing sneakers. They ended up freezing their feet, because these mountain tops are covered in snow.
“Everything depends on the route you take, and on the weather conditions. If there is rain and fog in the mountains, then that complicates matters. You can’t see where you’re going, and the route itself becomes dangerous, as some of these paths are slippery, the mud sticks to your legs, the nights can get very cold, with the dampness penetrating to your very bones. There are some pluses, though, because when the weather is bad, you are less likely to encounter the border patrols; there are also fewer drones and helicopters; and you are harder for them to see.
“You should plan your trip so that you cross the border very early on a Sunday morning. This is because of the human factor: On weekends, especially early in the morning, people get lazy and are less likely to notice you.”
Other variables to factor into your planning: What day of the week, how many people in your group, the size and weight of your backpack.
“After I had put my backpack together, I saw that it weighed 11 kilograms. That’s heavy, so I started working out every day, improving my physical fitness and letting my body get used to carrying that kind of weight. Every day I would take my backpack and walk at least 20 kilometers, thus my body gradually got used to this weight. I have heard of many people who tried to make this trip, who ended up handing themselves over to the border patrols, because they were simply not physically prepared for the trip. I myself travelled with a comrade who almost gave up at a certain point, he said he was too tired and couldn’t continue, so I had to carry his backpack for him, as well as my own. You need to think of all of this in advance. If you are not sure that you can handle the physical demands, then you’re better off turning back than dying impotently somewhere in the mountains.”
[to be continued]
Awful Avalanche 
Not to brag, but as a once experienced hiker, before old age happened: just 11kg? That is the load my wife was carrying, sometimes even more, hiking throughout northern Europe, like Sweden, Ireland, Scotland, Norway. I used to carry at least 1/2 more than that, up to 20kg.
Hunting in NW Canada means you had to carry out your game, moose, deer, bear etc. from the point of your kill to your camp for up to 3miles, through swamp, hill country etc. Loaded with about 40kg of a moose hind quarter. No problem on level ground, but going uphill…sheer pain, crawling through the bush, with nary a trail in sight.
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Maybe these Ukrainian youths are from the Snowflake Generation?
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“…[can’t] handle the physical demands, then you’re better off turning back than dying”
But the pacifists here insist they behave in accordance with a higher moral code, not from the personal fear of death. Consequently, they would not fear dying alone in the mountains because, their death would have deprived the state the use of their body in war; even if their service was to see them returned home safely. Yes?
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Meanwhile, the English elite [who were/are the driving force* behind this war on Russia, every schoolboy’s dream, a Crimean War 2.0] have once again won the coin toss. Yes, the dreaded game of “heads I win, tails you lose”.
“The legal team representing high-powered insurers Lloyd’s and Arch says that since the Nord Stream explosions were “more likely than not to have been inflicted by… a government,” they have no responsibility to pay for damages to the pipelines”
Which means Lloyd’s calls bullshit on the Gilligan’s Island Cast performing the deed…And if that doesn’t work the plan is to avoid payment by enacting retroactive legislation that prohibits them from payment on Nord Stream I.
“In the event that the Defendants are found to be liable to pay an indemnity and/or damages to the Claimant,” the brief states, “the Defendants reserve their position as to whether any such payment would be prohibited by any applicable economic sanctions that may be in force at the time any such payment is required to be made.”
Heads I win, Tails you lose
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Forgot to credit the excerpt to GrayZone
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/04/17/uk-insurers-refuse-pay-nord-stream/
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The Gilligan’s Island Crew shown moments before planting the Nordstream bombs…
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Ginger was the person who donned a slinky/sexy scuba suit, then actually dived down and planted the bomb, the other members of the team were there for technical support. Everyone had a job to do: Thurston Howell III was monitoring the water pressure and waves with his sonar contraption built by the Professor from spare coconut parts, Skipper was feeding out the fuse while simultaneously keeping the raft afloat, Mary Ann held the clock timer and kept everyone to their tasks, Lovey had prepared snacks for everyone, and Gilligan was just fucking up, as usual.
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Ginger could never do that! Her, ahem, “Mae Wests” would be too much of a flotation device. But it’s entertaining to think of her trying. Especially because she wouldn’t have had access to a scuba suit on the Island, and would have to swim in the suit that doG gave her…
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No, Ginger just removes her fake boobs and squeezes into the scuba suit that the Professor crafted for her out of seaweed and coconut shells. He also rigged up an oxygen tank for her, using reeds for straws, and coconut shells to trap the oxygen.
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Gilligan grabbed his apple phone and let Blinky know “IT IS DONE”
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And Blinky replied: “Thanks, Little Buddy!”
Gilligan: “Now you send the rescue ship, right?”
Blinky: “We’ll see…”
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From MOA comment section.
https://x.com/simpatico771/status/1792753684146966964
If the above proves genuine, it should be used at a war crimes tribunal against those officials of the Biden/Cheney/Hillary/Obama Administration [singular-intended] who have extended this war through the election for the sole purpose of clinging to power. The degeneracy of DC and it’s war against Russia is fully revealed in the pathos of the scene.
Is there not one administration official who has a trace of decency left in them? Not one?
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Well put, S. I am reminded of Joseph Welch’s immortal line addressed to Senator McCarthy: “Senator, have you no sense of decency?”
The answer, then as now, is obviously: “I am not familiar with that concept.”
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Joe McCarthy’s lawyer side kick was a young Bobby Kennedy.
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The Bobby Kennedy people know today, the Bobby Kennedy that is venerated today, is the Bobby Kennedy that resulted after he realized the CIA arranged his brother’s murder and…he had decided to something about it. There was no “reasoning” with him after that moment…that’s the guy that was murdered at the Ambassador Hotel. If Bobby had remained the man you are talking about…they’d of let him live out his years like the debauched “Lion of the Senate”.
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S possibly makes a good point: If Bobby had remained a scumbag, would he have been assassinated by the CIA? Does the CIA only assassinate good and noble people? Logically speaking, I suppose one could still be a douche and get assassinated by the CIA… On the other hand, maybe the CIA only assassinates Truly Virtuous Knights of Camelot, which case it’s sort of a litmus test of Sans peur et sans reproche!
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Talk about having no real choice. Understandably, who in hell wants to be drafted, given zero training, and be sent off to fight the RF Armed Forces on the frontline? It’s an absurd proposition to die for the benefit of someone like the loon from the hillbilly backwoods of the US like Lindsey Graham — he of rant, rave, foam at the mouth dingleberry fame on constant AIPAC and MIC dripfeed. Yassir, Anerica is fighting to the last Ukrainian.
Ukraine is as of today under the titular control / illegal management of an illegitimate puppet leader name of Zelensky — “the yes sir, no sir, three bags full, sir” Cur of Kiev. And policy of “Ukraine” is run by brain-dead fourth-rate bureaucratic ideologues from the CIA and State Dept, while chinless wonder US generals / admirals make stupid statements about Russian military capabilities as being useless.
For example, Cavoli, Supreme Commander of NATO forces in Europe, said on the weekend that Ukie troops are better trained than Russians! How’d you like to go into battle with a complete fool like that in charge? He makes even the gout-ridden old majors pontificating absurdly in the British press about Russian military inadequacies look like true intellectuals. Let alone French generals who built the Maginot line then folded like wet cardboard when the Boche turned up through Belgium instead of attacking French forts head on like true gentlemen.
So anyway, what’s an average Ukie man of no particular political bent to do? He sees he’s supposed to commit suicide for criminal idiots. So off he treks to Romania to escape. Welcome to NATO, feller! Where precisely the same bullshite is being trotted out to Europeans as he was subjected to in Ukraine! There is no escape from the oligarchs who run the West. Better to try to surrender to the Russians, seriously, and eventually volunteer to dig ditches along with temporary workers from North Korean and the Central Asian peasantry — three squares a day and hope that Russia wins and he sees his family again someday.
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You are on a roll- a bit hard to argue with most of that, though I hope is that our escapee can do a bit better than “ditch digging”… I draw some sort of encouragement from what is happening in Mariupol which seems to be being rebuilt with help from the “Central Asian peasantry”. And “a second school is more traditional but even more spectacular.”
https://thefloutist.substack.com/p/report-from-donbas
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North Koreans, just like Chinese, really know how to build stuff. They build fast, and they build well. Russia made a pact with the people of Mariupol, to build back their city better than ever. Russians should be happy to have friends like the North Koreans and Chinese, people who know how to work and build. This is what the world needs, people who are smart and know how to build stuff.
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True, but if you want to securitise an income stream, have it treated as a bond and then have it rated by an agency as AAA risk free, and sell it to a pension fund that you manage for a substantial fee, you really need Wall Street, not North Korea.
Hell the North Koreans couldn’t rehypothocate a bond, create derivative debentures and sell insurance to cover the unimaginable risks if their lives depended on it.
You think millions of 155mm shells makes a lot of craters, you haven’t seen anything yet. Wait till the credit default swaps hit the ground.
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Good point! Those dumb-shit North Koreans, they wouldn’t even know how to short-sell a derivative in the middle of a ponzi scheme – oi!
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I, 2nd Y’s reply most emphatically !!! Excellent point and extra points for displaying wittiness above and beyond the call of duty!
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thanks for this story yalensis.. this would probably be my escape route… i like hiking in the mountains… 80 kilometers is not too shabby a distance.. depending on how many mountain tops you have to go over – maybe there are more difficult routes to take with less likelihood of capture… fascinating story either way…
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Thanks, James. I was reading some other stories about people who chose a river crossing into Romania. Unfortunately, a lot of them drowned, because the currents can be swift, what with the melting snow in springtime.
Anyhow, as a seasoned hiker, I am sure you know about the importance of footwear and a walking stick and having ample supply of water, etc. But if you ever have to escape this way, please take the advice of these travelers and watch out for the drones!
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footwear is critical!! lets hope i never have to escape canada, but you never know, lol!!
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I have long wondered why Gonzalo Lira did not do something like these guys. OK, he was older and a heavy smoker, so not in the best shape to hump it over the mountains. But he had been in the hands of the Ukronazis already. Did he REALLY think that he’d just be allowed to cross at the Hungarian border on his motorcycle, like he was a regular tourist? As cynical as he was with his political viewpoints, why wasn’t he similarly savvy about the way things worked in Banderastan? A guy like him MUST have had connections with shady figures, so he could have hired a “fixer” to put him in a big empty box in the back of a cargo truck or something. The Dunning-Kruger dynamic plays out in many ways. Lira was smart about some things, but didn’t know how clueless he was about others. It was a fatal flaw in his vision.
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True. If he was truly the wiley character that he claimed, then Gonzalo would have hired Roma guides to smuggle him across the mountains. I have been reading stories about this in the press. The gypsies were always wonderful smugglers, but they only made pennies smuggling cigarettes. Now they are making a lot more smuggling humans. The extra cash is all for the good: They are able to fix up their sagging huts and buy cars. All good for the local economy.
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