#marc r. devore

[tomorrowusa]

« Russia’s war economy is heading toward an impasse. Signs that the official data masks severe economic strains brought on by both war and sanctions have become increasingly apparent. No matter how many workers it tries to shift to the defense industry, the Kremlin cannot expand production fast enough to replace weapons at the rate they are being lost on the battlefield. Already, about around half of all artillery shells used by Russia in Ukraine are from North Korean stocks. At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons.

Perhaps foremost among Russia’s arms bottlenecks is its inability to replace large-caliber cannons. According to open-source researchers using video documentation, Russia has been losing more than 100 tanks and roughly 220 artillery pieces per month on average. Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges.

In other words, Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. The Russian engineering industry lacks the skills to build rotary forges; in fact, the world market is dominated by a single Austrian company, GFM. Russia is unlikely to acquire more forges and increase its production rate, and neither North Korea nor Iran have significant stockpiles of suitable replacement barrels. »

— Prof. Marc R. DeVore of St. Andrews’s School of International Relations in Scotland & Prof. Alexander Mertens of National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. At Foreign Policy (archived).

Russia's military strength is almost always overstated. Close to none of the pundits expected Ukraine to be in existence long after Putin's invasion. Yet the Ukrainians were able to hold off the world's so called "second strongest military power" with just shoulder-fired missiles, innovative technology, and Ukrainian tenacity. The large stocks of new weapons only began to trickle in from the West weeks after Ukraine had already stabilized the fronts and even kicked Russia out of the north.

Russia is forced to buy ammunition from North Korea – a third-rate power run by a nutcake tyrant. It even has to import North Korean troops to protect Russian territory.

Russia's economy has experienced a temporary boom because of massive military spending. But when the war ends, that spending will drop and recession will set in.

And don't get me started on Russia's demographic issues.

All Putin can do is bluster about nukes. But even a delusional sociopath like him knows that if Russia is the first to use nukes, it won't be the last.

So let's not worry inordinately about Russia's reaction to Ukraine defending itself. It's a bigger worry for the West in the long run if Putin is given free rein in Europe.

And even all of its nukes can't keep inflation from surging in Russia due to Putin's war.

Chronic inflation hits Russia as huge pay increases fuel rising prices

The Russian Ruble is now worth less than 1¢ US.

Russian central bank intervenes as ruble tumbles past 110 to the U.S. dollar

[amphtaminedreams]

JUNE 2021->JANUARY 2023: Photo Dump No.21

DATE SAVED, L-R BY ROW:

1. 8th December 2022 [Twisted Museum, Oxford Circus], 18th June 2022 [MSGM RTW S/S22], 11th January 2022 [Circolo Popolare, Fitzrovia], 16th October 2022, 4th December 2021 [Naomi Campbell & Kate Moss photographed by Steven Klein for I-D Magazine, issue 131: The US Issue, August 1994], 19th June 2021 [Marina Diamandis photographed BTS on the set of the 'Venus Fly Trap" music video, released June 2021], 28th November 2021 ["Celeuma” by Steffi Calaghan @ the Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York Square], 7th December 2022 [Southwark, Greater London], 14th December 2022

2. 29th November 2022, 21st October 2022 [source: instagram account @kamillacollages], 12th October 2022 [Soho, Westminster], 16th May 2022 [Atelier Versace Haute Couture S/S16], 8th August 2022, 28th November 2022, 22nd November 2022 [London Wall, The City], 13th June 2021 [Marina Diamandis, performing the Ancient Dreams: Live from the Desert livestream concert, 12th June 2021], 30th December 2021 [source: instagram account @posterjournal]

3. 17th November 2022 [Barbican Centre, Silk Street], 11th October 2022, 18th November 2022, 13th June 2021 [edit source: @exoticflowerey], 11th November 2022, 28th October 2021 [Rokh, Resort 2022], 15th November 2022 [Charing Cross, Westminster], 19th November 2022 [background: Christchurch, Dorset, 11th July 2021, graphic source: instagram account @sanxtypo], 26th September 2022

4. 27th August 2021 [Bournemouth Town Centre, Dorset], 6th October 2022 [Coperni RTW SS23], 17th October 2021 [Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets], 2nd December 2022, 4th October 2022, 29th June 2021 [source: instagram account @catsofinstagram], 26th June 2021 [Iris Law wearing archive Roberto Cavalli RTW F/W04 @ the Forte BVLGARI Magnifica Gala, June 2021, via instagram], 1st December 2022 [Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Rooms @ Tate Modern, Bankside], 2nd December 2022

5. 1st September 2022, 13th June 2021 [Thierry Mugler Haute Couture F/W98], 29th August 2021 [source: instagram account @theopeninvite], 14th November 2022, 9th November 2022, 6th June 2021 [Emma Stone as Cruella de Ville, dir. Craig Gillespie, released May 2021], 14th October 2022, 7th September 2022 [Mr.Mulligan's Adventure Golf, Bournemouth Centre], 14th January 2022 [details @ Marc Jacobs RTW S/S17]

6. 11th October 2022, 28th October 2022, 13th July 2022, 9th March 2022 [Teuta Matoshi Effortless Dahlia dress, S/S21], 26th June 2021 [Solange via Instagram, June 2021], 3rd August 2021 [still from the original Peter Pan, released 1953, Walt Disney Productions], 8th August 2021 [Southbourne, Dorset], 27th October 2022, 20th October 2021 [source unknown]

7. 8th July 2021 [Bella Hadid in Cannes, July 2021, via lnstagram], 2nd January 2023 [Christchurch, Dorset], 30th September 2022, 4th January 2023, 5th September 2022 [Jaded London Devore Daydream dress, source: Depop account @jadedldn], 19th December 2022, 23rd January 2022 [”Mrs Carl Meyer and her Children" details, John Singer Sargent, 1896 @ Tate Britain, Millbank], 22nd July 2021 [Christchurch, Dorset, graphic: lnstagram account @wetheurban], 17th October 2021 [The Other Art Fair @ the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane]

8. 8th August 2021 [Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, costume details, Suicide Squad, costume design by Kate Hawley, released July 2021), 17th January 2023 [The Horror Show! Exhibition @ Somerset House, Strand], 11th August 2022 [source: instagram account @jzcreativespace.jpg], 23rd September 2021 [Charles de Vilmorin Haute Couture F/W21], 4th July 2021 [Bella Hadid photographed backstage @ Versace RTW F/W21 digital broadcast], 24th April 2022 [Shoreditch High Street, Hackney], 19th January 2023, 11th January 2023 [Mr.Mulligan's Adventure Golf, Bournemouth Town Centre], 16th December 2022

9. 20th March 2022 (source: instagram account @thekindset), 10th October 2022, 23rd December 2022, 25th June 2021 [Olivia Rodrigo photographed for  “Sour Prom: the Concert Film" promotional material, released June 2021], 2nd December 2022 [Guy's Campus, Great Maze Pond, London], 6th January 2023 [St.Christopher's Place, London], 9th January 2023 (source: instagram account @hel717), 29th January 2022 [Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counterculture exhibition @ Bermondsey Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey Street], 9th November 2021 (Versace “Juno” platform heel , RTW F/W21, source: twitter account @MEENAVOGUEE]

10. 5th July 2021 [Kim Kardashian photographed in archive Mugler attending the opening of Thierry Mugler: Couturissime @ the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, February 2019], 5th October 2022, 17th November 2022 [Barbican, Tower Hamlets], 16th December 2022 [Christchurch Quay, Dorset], 6th July 2021 [illustration by Gloria Gorni, source: instagram account @gloriecoeur], 17th December 2022 [Brighton Seafront, East Sussex], 19th September 2021 [Van Gogh Alive Exhibition @ Kensington Gardens, Knightsbridge], 18th June 2022, source: instagram account @thefemalewarhol], 30th June 2021 [Margot Robbie photographed for the cover of British Vogue, August 2021 issue]