As a kid growing up the Homeric epic, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d\u00a0\u00a0was a revelation.\u00a0 And it continues to be so to\u00a0this day \u2026\u00a0six or so decades later.\u00a0 I must have read it a hundred\u00a0times.\u00a0 I glean something new from it\u00a0every time.\u00a0 For me, the story of Odysseus,\u00a0as it likely has been for many a young person\u00a0over millennia, speaks to not only the quintessence of manhood \u2026\u00a0warrior, husband, father and unalloyed optimism\u00a0born of dogged persistence, effective use\u00a0of one\u2019s noggin\u00a0 \u2026 but also\u00a0the unquenched burning desire to return\/reclaim\u00a0one\u2019s home land against seemingly insurmountable odds.\u00a0\u00a0My wife, channeling her inner Penelope(the ever faithful wife of Odysseus\u00a0at her loom),\u00a0continues to patiently and painstakingly re-tape\u00a0over and over\u00a0my well-worn, tattered yet evergreen\u00a0paperback\u00a0translation by\u00a0W.H.D Rouse.<\/p>\n
One cannot help but think of Ukraine\u2019s very determined, persistent and adaptive struggle against the Russian behemoth and not recall to mind\u00a0the seemingly hopeless\u00a0circumstances\u00a0of Odysseus, son of Laertes, and his men trapped in the cave of the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, son of Poseidon(god of the oceans), the one-eyed\u00a0Cyclops.\u00a0 As a kid my heart pounded helplessly as the Cyclops would return daily to his\u00a0cave, effortlessly remove the humongous\u00a0rock which bars the cave entrance\u00a0and\u00a0then leisurely\u00a0devour a handful of Odysseus\u2019 companions, as they screamed helplessly for their lives.\u00a0 But Odysseus, the one they call \u201cever ready\u201d will by cunning, determination and pluck,\u00a0 eventually find a way to confront the giant, blind him and with wit\u00a0ensure\u00a0that the giant\u2019s allies and friends will deem his explanation of what has happened\u00a0to him quite risible \u2026\u00a0\u201cwho blinded you?\u201d they asked.\u00a0 \u201cNobody\u00a0blinded me\u201d the giant\u00a0screamed loudly\u00a0in agony.\u00a0 Well, if you say so. They walked away.\u00a0 Odysseus, the ever clever, had earlier on told the giant that his name was \u201cNobody\u201d.\u00a0 The not so perspicacious Polyphemus believed that was a real name.\u00a0\u00a0And as some\u00a0Ukrainian soldiers in the field\u00a0regularly count their luck and say of their Russian antagonists\u00a0\u2026\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re lucky they are so stupid\u201d.<\/p>\n
Putin and his loud propagandistic Russian Russky Mir adherents in the course of their misbegotten war of aggression continue to daily destroy(devour?) the lives of the innocent people of Ukraine, which they risibly and cynically claim\u00a0\u201cis not a real country\u00a0and is part of Russia\u201d.\u00a0 The Russians, like the Cyclops, would like to keep the Ukrainians locked up in their unavailing cave\u00a0of Russky Mir as\u00a0vassals, impoverished and their\u00a0natural resources\u00a0plundered, misused in the usual Russian\u00a0penchant for depredation and rapine of their neighbors \u2026\u00a0all of it for the sole benefit\u00a0of metropolitan Russia.\u00a0But ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE\u00a0is not\u00a0having it and like the\u00a0ever resourceful\u00a0and\u00a0much-enduring Odysseus, are fighting back valiantly with determination and resourcefulness.\u00a0 Some one should have told Putin and company about Ukraine\u2019s foundational history of ancient Greek plucky adventurism(Jason & the Argonauts) and the dauntless storied Zaporozhian Cossacks.\u00a0For nearly 4 years the Ukrainians\u00a0have and continue to fight the bigger and\u00a0better-resourced Russian \u201cworld\u2019s second army\u201d to a frazzle \u2026\u00a0to the surprise of many doubters. <\/p>\n
Case in point. The news this past weekend of the destruction of the Russian\u00a0RT-70 Space Radio Telescope in Crimea, among other surveillance assets, received relatively muted coverage in the main stream media(I\u00a0believe both annieli and quaoar mentioned it in their diaries).<\/p>\n
Whilst one could perhaps file it away in the recesses of the mind as another \u201cUkraine Bombs Russian site in Crimea\u201d story, the importance of this most recent Ukrainian attack cannot be overstated.\u00a0 It is huge.\u00a0 The\u00a0ex-Soviet Union built several of these giant radio telescope systems on the Southern Russian\u00a0mainland and in Crimea in pursuit of supremacy in the \u201cSpace Race\u201d and to monitor their various satellites.\u00a0 But overtime, the Russian Federation has converted these systems(several of which Ukraine has destroyed) into valuable military assets which they have since pressed into service of their now regular and incessant daily airborne\u00a0terrorism of the people of Ukraine:<\/p>\n
Ukraine destroys irreplaceable Soviet radio telescope in Crimea, opening path to more operations<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Navy officials revealed the strikes specifically target layered defenses protecting both the strategic bridge and Novorossiysk naval base where Russian missile carriers operate.<\/p>\n
euromaidanpress.com\/…<\/a><\/p>\n But the RT-70 is different on many levels. Beyond protecting valuable Russian military assets in Crimea and mainland Russia, the destruction of the\u00a0RT-70 radio telescope system potentially\u00a0hobbles Russia\u2019s ability to mount its future\u00a02,000 drones plus missiles a day attacks planned against\u00a0Ukraine:<\/p>\n Russia Could Unleash 2,000 Drones on Ukraine at Once, German General Warns<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s Ministry of Defense has raised concerns over Russia\u2019s growing capability to conduct large-scale drone strikes against Ukraine, potentially involving up to 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles in a single coordinated attack.<\/p>\n According to Major General Christian Freuding, head of the Situation Center for Ukraine at Germany\u2019s Ministry of Defense, Moscow is actively expanding its drone production capacity.<\/p>\n He said that such mass deployment could present a major challenge for Ukraine\u2019s air defense systems, which are not optimized for intercepting large volumes of low-cost drones simultaneously.<\/p>\n united24media.com\/<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n Something about the best laid plans of mice and men. The Ukrainians know they cannot\u00a0just sit there idly\u00a0and watch the Russians plan and actually launch this dastardly mass bombing campaign for which their current air defense systems \u201care not optimized for intercepting \u2026\u00a0simultaneously\u201d.\u00a0 And Ukrainians being Ukrainians, by Cronion, have gone out there and\u00a0done something about it. And they will continue to do what needs doing to\u00a0ensure it does not happen.\u00a0 Hell, what Russia is doing, even today, is beyond horrible enough.\u00a0 No way the Ukrainians\u00a0can allow it to get exponentially worse.\u00a0 The key word in all this is GLONASS.\u00a0\u00a0GLONASS\u00a0is Russia\u2019s global navigation satellite system, offering high-precision positioning, timing, and navigation services worldwide.\u00a0 More on GLONASS here:<\/p>\n What is GLONASS And How It Is Different From GPS?<\/p>\n beebom.com\/…<\/a><\/p>\n After the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula,\u00a0RT-70 was converted into controlling the satellites responsible for GLONASS navigation:<\/p>\n RT-70 was used to control the satellites responsible for the GLONASS navigation system (the Russian equivalent of GPS).<\/p>\n The radio telescope was disabled by a drone that hit the Goliath radio receiver. Since the destroyed equipment needs to be custom-made, restoring the facility will cost ten times more than repairing a mass-produced piece of equipment( emphasis mine):<\/p>\n