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Tim Bowden

@timbowden.bsky.social
265 followers 90 following 429 posts

Australia

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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 2h
Appreciate that. But I suspect Ukraine is going to continue loosening their restraints. They have a continually decreasing reason to care what the US thinks and says. Anyway, enough hits on the (non nuclear?) icebreakers and soon it may not matter so much.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 3h
Reader's Digest publishes better jokes than this.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10h
Sure, but St Petersburg, Primorsk and Ust-Luga are all within range of Ukrainian drone strikes. I'm expecting we will see another round of hits up there. And not just on tankers but icebreakers. That may prove to be the weakest point in the system.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 13h
At this point, just sink the bloody ships. There is nothing much left to lose. The Trump administration will always find a way to support Putin no matter what Ukraine does or does not do.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Unfortunately we (Australia) are buying fuel from India and Singapore that was refined from Russian oil.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
What both Putin and Trump are getting from this deal is another whip with which Trump can beat Ukraine. It is a truly obscene deal.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I don't believe you are correct. I believe Trump is well aware the diesel deliveries are unlikely to happen, and even if they did, they are in such low quantities relative to not just global demand, but also US demand, that it won't make a scrap of difference to fuel prices.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
A pity that Australia is still buying Russian oil that has been refined elsewhere, particularly in India.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Every US government since the initial invasion in 2014 has failed Ukraine.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
No democracy is ever stuck with their government. If enough of the people feel strongly enough, civil protest and resistance can always bring down a government, regardless of where in the electoral cycle you are.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
If only we would be prepared to accept this reality we could respond to it before Russia decides we will never respond and does something that is beyond tolerable.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I see the funny buggers are determined to give us a testing time.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Meanwhile, the Australian Greens (minority party) have just dropped a policy of "non violent" support for Ukraine but no military aid. Thankfully there is lots of public backlash over that position. They've always been a party of "fairies at the bottom of the garden" - detached from reality. Idiots.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Plenty of Aussies down here are supporting Ukraine and would like to see our government give more support to you.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"No shit Sherlock". Kallas is telling us what anyone with a modicum of nous can see. Yet some are still determined to pretend Russia isn't already at war with Europe.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This is why a prosperous democratic Ukraine is such an existential threat to the feudal Russian power structures. It presents an enticing alternative the serfs might believe is possible for themselves.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Yes, but by your own admission you use a smartphone so obviously you have made a superhuman effort to avoid its evils ;)
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm betting not even @prune602.bsky.social had this one on her bingo card.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Unfortunately she doesn't have the power to direct the actions of member states. What she has is the power of persuasion. She is doing a lot more than most others. But each state can do more, like Greece that she just obliquely referenced wrt their expiring Patriot missiles they won't release.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
May it burn in hello
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
What, no nuclear Armageddon threats? How are we supposed to take it seriously?
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Daisy pushers.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
But it is a great pity he didn't do more to prepare Ukraine for the coming invasion.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
That certainly sounds like a more likely chain of events to me.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The nature of democracy is that there should always be people willing to stand against a leader and hold them to account. Even a good leader. They are not gods. They should never be treated as such. And they are certainly not infallible.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A flight of Flamingoes is a thing of beauty. A landing of Flamingos is a thing of strategic leverage. Even if it takes a dozen Flamingos to do the work of one then the payoff is still spectacular.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
That has nothing to do with CO2. It is down to the wobble in the earth's axis of rotation. That is on a cycle of about 10k years. CO2: the problem is we have been pumping massive quantities of CO2 /equivalent/ gasses into the atmosphere. We are not in danger of suffering any CO2 shortage.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Just an armchair observer of Russia since the 80's. And actively listening to as many Ukrainians as I can covering a wide spectrum of opinions and experiences. That is what is driving my observations. I may be a long way from Ukraine, but this conflict is personal since Russia shot down MH17.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Drapatyi is a big part of the solution there but the modernisation of the command structure has a lot further to go. FWIW, my impression is that both Zelenskyy and Fedorov both need to find a workable compromise.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
From what I understand (so don't take this as gospel) a big part of the mobilisation problem is resistance by the Ukrainian people due to old Soviet style commanders (like Syrskyi) who treat their troops like an expendable resource.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Zelenskyy might be the leader Ukraine needs but he is not an infallible Tsar. The reforms Fedorov was pushing through are desperately needed.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
You're human. You're expressing your humanity. If anyone has a problem with that then it is their problem, not yours. Thanks for giving us an insight into daily life in Ukraine. You are putting a very human face on the reality behind the endless numbers of bombs, missiles, attacks and destruction.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Looks very 70's. Disco vibe.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Freya Project. It will deliver results long before Patriot licences become a thing.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The serfs are beginning to realise they are still serfs. Maybe if they ever stopped acting like serfs they would stop being serfs.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Agreed, the serfs won't rise. But I'm expecting the FSB will (eventually). They are the power the Tsar's throne rests on. They are the ones who will lose the most if Russia crumbles. So they are the ones who will move against Putin in order to preserve their power in the next regime.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Pretty much, yes.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I completely understand your sentiment. It is not something I could do either. Seeing people like that greeted warmly as friends gets my bile up, but it is what must be done. Just so long as everyone understands they are not Ukraine's friends.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
They are not being brought to Ukraine to help Ukraine. They are being brought to Ukraine in the hope it will wedge them enough that they cannot help Russia as openly and effectively. That approach, I believe, is at the heart of all Ukraine's dealings with Trump and his team.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
What a stunningly impressive and compelling 5G chess move. This, boys and girls, is how you stop wars. Feck me, how does the entire US not shrivel up in humiliation?
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Yep. I reckon the best Ukraine can hope for it to make it harder for Trump to so blatantly support Russia. And if you look closely at their actions, it seems this is likely to be their goal.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
It's the feudal system in action.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I've said this before but I reckon Magyar is Ukraine's modern day equivalent of Greece's Ulysses. Definitely a hero who has answered the call of his time and will be remembered in Ukrainian folklore for centuries.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Actually, seeing the Ukrainian people engaging so enthusiastically in democracy is incredibly encouraging. Democracy is messy by its nature. If it ever stops looking messy and uncomfortable with all the warts hidden away behind closed doors in back room deals then you have cause for concern.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
No matter how much I detest her, she never fails to lower my opinion of her. Her complete lack of self awareness is truly astounding.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Bigoted white trash will always be bigoted white trash. Did anyone expect anything different?
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
White bigoted trash will always be bigoted white trash.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Guilt money? *cough* aluminium*cough*
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
If only more people understood this better.
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Tim Bowden @timbowden.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I add it to one of my Trello recipe lists anyway. Because one day I might just get there.
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