Althouse: "Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering 'acute radiation sickness' from contaminated soil..."

April 1, 2022

"Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering 'acute radiation sickness' from contaminated soil..."

"... according to Ukrainian officials. The troops, who dug trenches in a contaminated Red Forest near the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history, are now reportedly being treated in a special medical facility in Gomel, Belarus. The forest is so named because thousands of pine trees turned red during the 1986 nuclear disaster. The area is considered so highly toxic that not even highly specialized Chernobyl workers are allowed to enter the zone.... The Chernobyl facility fell to Russian control on Feb. 24, the first day of the invasion. Workers were on duty for more than 600 hours before being allowed a shift change.... Digging trenches in the forest—considered the most contaminated area of the site—drew widespread ridicule from Ukrainians who work at the site."

From "Russian Troops Suffer ‘Acute Radiation Sickness’ After Digging Chernobyl Trenches/Several hundred Russian troops reportedly rushed to a special medical facility in Belarus after digging in radioactive soil in a forest near the infamous nuclear plant" (Daily Beast).

70 comments:

gilbar said...: And, we KNOW all this is true; because
It was told by the Ukrainians, and reported by the Daily Beast; 4/1/22, 10:02 AM
Achilles said...: This has been under ukrainian control for decades.

Why has it not been cleaned up? This seems like an excellent opportunity for graft. Nothing is more popular than cleaning up nuclear disasters.

The greens could have made billions and hyped the project to the moon.

What the hell is going on here?

Why didn't anyone clean this up?; 4/1/22, 10:06 AM
Sebastian said...: Russian ineptitude should be encouraging to us, except that in extremis it may make them more dangerous, and of course in the short run it makes for more destruction in Ukraine.; 4/1/22, 10:08 AM
Achilles said...: Cleaning up chernobyl would have been a much better waste of money than Hunter's "Biolabs."; 4/1/22, 10:11 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: @Achilles - Leaving the area around the power plant alone has created a nature preserve, an area without humans. Lots of greens are happy to see it stay that way.; 4/1/22, 10:20 AM
MadisonMan said...: If a story seems too good to be true....; 4/1/22, 10:20 AM
robother said...: What sense does it make? Why would Russian soldiers, in the middle of conducting an offensive operation against Ukraine, be hand digging defensive trenches in the middle of a forest? I have to think this is a Ukraine propaganda effort, like the heroic ace shooting down all those Russian MIGs the first days of the attack.; 4/1/22, 10:22 AM
Original Mike said...: I don't believe this. Though digging in the ground is the worst thing they could have done, nonetheless, ACUTE radiation sickness takes one hell of a dose.; 4/1/22, 10:23 AM
Scotty, beam me up... said...: My analysis is that the Russian soldiers, going up to the older officers, had no clue about the radiation threat posed by this geographical area. Why? The Chernobyl disaster is probably not in the Russian history books and probably not taught in school history classes. This was the ultimate failure of the Soviet Union, which always championed its positive accomplishments to the world and its population while downplaying and ignoring catastrophes caused by their country and system. When the meltdown occurred, the catastrophe was a state secret and was discovered indirectly by technicians at a Swedish nuclear power plant a 1000 miles away who thought that they had a nuclear accident! Russia, post-Soviet Union, probably has continued this policy of wiping their history books of negative history by their country and its predecessors. The Russian Army’s officers should have recoiled in horror when seeing that they were being sent to this area if they had known what that area meant as soon as they saw CHERNOBYL (in Cyrillic, of course) on their maps. In my reasoning, there is no other explanation as to the ignorance of the Russian soldiers of the significance of Chernobyl.; 4/1/22, 10:25 AM
Leland said...: I'm not buying the notion that Russian troops dug trenches (a defensive action) to hold the abandoned city of Chernobyl.; 4/1/22, 10:25 AM
PM said...: Last year, read Higginbotham's detailed book on the Chernobyl disaster. Its deadliness was (and is) aided by lethal can't-show-our-ass-to-the-world Russian politics.; 4/1/22, 10:25 AM
Emil Blatz said...: The Chernobyl incident is given less credit for the fall of the USSR than it deserves. One estimate of the cost of Chernobyl from 1986 to 2016 was $780B, and that was before the $6B cover was rolled into position (2017) over the concrete and steel "sarcophagus" hastily created in 1986 to encapsulate the reactor remains. The new cover, which can be seen as a highly reflective Quonset-hut like structure in Google earth images, has an expected life of 100 years, after which time the metal structure will have become brittle from all the radioactive bombardment, requiring replacement. Rinse and repeat for 17,000 years.; 4/1/22, 10:34 AM
Dave Begley said...: What a bunch of dopes!; 4/1/22, 10:34 AM
JPS said...: I saw this headline. I'm skeptical, mainly because most reporting about anything to do with radiation hazards is so sensationalistic, and most reporters have no clue about this stuff on a technical level. Seen too many stories on the radioactive wild boars of Fukushima.

Achilles,

The best they judged they could do, practically, was to cover the worst of it – the part that would kill you in a few minutes of standing near it – in concrete, then basically tell people to stay the hell away from the less contaminated but still dangerous zones. You're talking about basically digging up a vast amount of contaminated ground, and then where the hell do you put it?

So they went with, Stay away and don't stir it up. It's not a perfect solution, but there are none, and it's arguably better than the alternatives.; 4/1/22, 10:38 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: I see that our FSB embeds were the first to comment.; 4/1/22, 10:39 AM
Original Mike said...: Acute radiation sickness also takes some time to manifest itself; a few weeks.; 4/1/22, 10:54 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Achilles said...

Why didn't anyone clean this up?

Because it is 4 square miles in area and it received a massive dose of radiation. There is very little that they can do to clean it up and the best way to handle it is to make it a forbidden zone.; 4/1/22, 10:55 AM
BothSidesNow said...: There is an interesting thread on twitter by a nuclear scientist that goes into a lot of technical detail about the radiation there, the precise isotopes, etc. Bottom line is that the scientist felt very strongly that given the type of material and the time spent at the site, there was very little probability of radiation sickness.; 4/1/22, 10:55 AM
TreeJoe said...: I'm enjoying Ukrainian war propaganda.

As far as I can tell, the Ukrainian will to fight, military, and psy-ops capabilities were far underweighted by the entire West at the beginning of this war.; 4/1/22, 10:57 AM
Rusty said...: Original Mike said...
"I don't believe this. Though digging in the ground is the worst thing they could have done, nonetheless, ACUTE radiation sickness takes one hell of a dose."threw
When that thing blew it threw hundreds of tons of very radioactive debris for miles around it. The debris consisted of the entire graphite containment system and parts of the fuel.. Stuff so radioactive if you just got near , it would kill you in a few days. And in the ensuing years that stuff has ben slowly working itself into the earth.; 4/1/22, 10:58 AM
Original Mike said...: "The Chernobyl facility fell to Russian control on Feb. 24,"

So I guess there's been enough time.; 4/1/22, 11:01 AM
Achilles said...: robother said...

What sense does it make? Why would Russian soldiers, in the middle of conducting an offensive operation against Ukraine, be hand digging defensive trenches in the middle of a forest? I have to think this is a Ukraine propaganda effort, like the heroic ace shooting down all those Russian MIGs the first days of the attack.

Maybe.

I could see generals ordering troops into an area and building defensive positions easily without thinking about consequences like this.; 4/1/22, 11:02 AM
Achilles said...: Left Bank of the Charles said...

I see that our FSB embeds were the first to comment.

Stupid fascist calls people he disagrees with traitors on behalf of his failing regime.

You are not just gullible and stupid. You are an active threat to freedom.

This pattern has been repeated so many times in history it is cliche. There is a reason only dumb shitheads like you are still following it.; 4/1/22, 11:05 AM
Enigma said...: The YouTube channel Kreosan has a rotating cast of Russian/Ukrainian "comedy hooligans" who do all sorts of reckless things that could get themselves killed. They snuck into the Chernobyl exclusion zone many times using many methods. This includes cars, rail cars, boats, etc. They've been in the buildings, dove under water in flooded basements, measured radiation with Geiger counters, and been tested for exposure. They also visited are also some elderly people who refused to leave the zone, as well as leftovers from other explorers/vandals.

All published for the world to see.

Some of these guys were affected by the invasion. This kind of content is perhaps not going to return, but the scale of the disaster in 1986 was huge. Cleaning it up would mean excess radiation exposure for thousands of people, along with radiation sickness, cancers, etc. Watch before blaming anyone for inaction.

https://www.youtube.com/c/kreosan/videos; 4/1/22, 11:08 AM
madAsHell said...: This Russian endeavor into the Ukraine has been eye opening.

The Russians can't even execute a war against their neighbors...........but they have significant collusion, and influence with President Trump.; 4/1/22, 11:10 AM
TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...: The Russians are pulling back and regrouping, probably to take another crack at it once the grounds is dried up some and they are able to replenish materiel and troops. I wouldn't be surprised if they concentrate their forces in the north and this time swing west to try and cut off supply lines in the western Uke.

That will be coupled with another attempt to take Odesa. The troops levelling Mariupol will come available when the city falls and the Rosvgardia can replace the combat troops for garrison duty. Taking Odesa and the west (Lviv) will cut Uke off from outside support and from international shipping, and the Ukes will have no choice but surrender to become part of Greater Russia.

The "sick soldiers" is probably a just-so story that covers the reality (withdrawal and regrouping) with a blanket of human interest that confirms the bias of the media that the Russkies are just bumbling idiots.

They've made a lot of mistakes, but Russkies are good at figuring things out and trying to fix them. Putin will have his Russian empire. It will take a bit longer than he planned.; 4/1/22, 11:13 AM
Achilles said...: Leland said...

I'm not buying the notion that Russian troops dug trenches (a defensive action) to hold the abandoned city of Chernobyl.

I think people would be surprised at how mechanical a lot of military actions are.

When you are talking about moving forward into hostile territory like this you are going to set up blocking positions and maintain a forward facing line. You do not leave out places that are uninhabited.

That Russians occupied the space and set up defensive positions around this city is entirely reasonable.

What I think is possibly fake is the acute radiation poisoning given the timelines involved.

But one thing that soldiers are good at is getting into sick call when they don't want to be somewhere.

"I have radiation sickness" will be just like "I got PTSD." Impossible to negatively prove and great for lying in a hospital bed instead of sleeping in the freezing mud.; 4/1/22, 11:16 AM
Original Mike said...: You have a point, Rusty.; 4/1/22, 11:24 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: I call bullshit until I see and hear from the soldiers themselves.; 4/1/22, 11:29 AM
Leland said...: I think people would be surprised at how mechanical a lot of military actions are.

I think most people know today's date.; 4/1/22, 11:31 AM
Enigma said...: @Achilles: But one thing that soldiers are good at is getting into sick call when they don't want to be somewhere.

"I have radiation sickness" will be just like "I got PTSD." Impossible to negatively prove and great for lying in a hospital bed instead of sleeping in the freezing mud.

I've worked with a lot of military veterans and assert that you've got this quite the opposite of reality. There are many, many, many veterans with PTSD who are deep in the closet because they'll lose their weapons and lose their jobs if they admit it. PTSD is associated with suicide, and suicide is a common (recently rising) issue in the US military. Many disabled people deny it to themselves, but are obvious broken and just weird to those around them.

Radiation poisoning is rather easier to assess than mental health, as one can simply examine their bodies: blistered skin, hair loss, bloody vomit, bloody stools, etc. Malingering...?

https://www.lancsindustries.com/blog/10-signs-of-radiation-sickness/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/radiation-sickness/symptoms-causes/syc-20377058; 4/1/22, 11:46 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Leland said...

"I have radiation sickness" will be just like "I got PTSD." Impossible to negatively prove and great for lying in a hospital bed instead of sleeping in the freezing mud.

Yes, because it's sooooo easy to fake hair loss, constant vomiting and the massive loss of white blood cells that accompanies acute radiation syndrome. Hell, they'll be scamming the Russian version of the VA for years!

(You really need to quit now, while you're still a little ahead.); 4/1/22, 11:50 AM
Candide said...: If you want good old propaganda, check Russian version.

If you want fairy tales, listen to Ukrainians.

If you want Ukrainian fairy tales without the war, read ‘Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka’ by Gogol.; 4/1/22, 12:03 PM
jaydub said...: "What sense does it make? Why would Russian soldiers, in the middle of conducting an offensive operation against Ukraine, be hand digging defensive trenches in the middle of a forest?"

The Ukrainians (and NATO) were concerned when the Ruskies took Chernobyl that a) the workers on site would not be allowed/able to maintain the containment zone or the Ruskies would destroy it as a terrorist act, and b) The Ruskies would use radioactive materials from the site to build a dirty bomb using radioactive material with the Chernobyl specific signature, then blame it on the Ukrainians. Because of those factors the Ukrainians were always aiming to retake Chernobyl when the war situation allowed, hence the reason the Ruskies dug in.; 4/1/22, 12:07 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Putin is sacrificing his soldiers for his ego.; 4/1/22, 12:10 PM
Narayanan said...: Ukraineian psyops should tell the world if there are any
Maxwell Q. Klinger among Russian forces; 4/1/22, 12:16 PM
Chris Lopes said...: "And, we KNOW all this is true; because
It was told by the Ukrainians, and reported by the Daily Beast"

The idea that Russian troops occupying a radiation contaminated area might get radiation sickness is hardly science fiction. The more unbelievable part would be that they were ordered there in the first place. So while it may well be Ukrainian propaganda, let's not pretend we are talking about a bigfoot or UFO sighting.; 4/1/22, 12:29 PM
MadisonMan said...: It would be pretty hard to dig trenches into frozen ground.; 4/1/22, 1:12 PM
Earnest Prole said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/1/22, 1:25 PM
Richard Aubrey said...: You can get sick by being radiated from nearby objects. But digging in the ground means a high probability of ingesting the stuff which is far worse.; 4/1/22, 1:43 PM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: The Russians can't even execute a war against their neighbors...........but they have significant collusion, and influence with President Trump.

Do you actually believe that bullshit are are you just a tool?; 4/1/22, 1:50 PM
gspencer said...: Entering and digging in radioactive dirt>

Hmmm. Shouldn't that have been in the training manual?

You know, in the section containing other wisdoms like,
--- Don't eat the yellow snow
--- Don't set up your latrine near your source of drinking water; 4/1/22, 1:57 PM
Tomcc said...: I saw this yesterday and it made no sense that troops would be ordered to dig trenches in the world's most radioactively contaminated site. Were they expecting a ground force to attack to take back...Chernobyl? It also suggests that senior Russian officers are so ill-informed as to give such an order.; 4/1/22, 2:00 PM
Tank said...: That didn’t f*****g happen.

The first casualty of war is the truth.; 4/1/22, 2:13 PM
n.n said...: transgenderheaven ...corporal-klinger-a-man-in-a-dress

Trans-social. He didn't resort to surgical or medical means to corrupt his physiology, or even psychiatric manipulation in order to facilitate a divergent sexual orientation.; 4/1/22, 2:35 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Probably needs to be said at this point that "digging trenches" could also mean digging latrine pits if they were encamped in the area. And yes, I could see them encamped in the area. They're using unencrypted Chinese handheld radios for communications, that I've heard are available as Amazon*. God knows if they have GPS, if it works correctly or if anyone of them can land navigate using a map and compass. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that they ended up 20 miles away from where they thought the were.

*Through the Althouse Blog Amazon Portal!; 4/1/22, 2:42 PM
Leland said...: NorthOfTheOneOhOne

Please do not libel me by attributing to me in quotes things that I did not write.; 4/1/22, 3:22 PM
Narayanan said...: Ukraine has Maxwell Q. Klinger at highest level; 4/1/22, 3:57 PM
Static Ping said...: Achilles said... This has been under ukrainian control for decades. Why has it not been cleaned up? This seems like an excellent opportunity for graft.

Last I knew, there was not really an option to clean it up at this point. There are places in Chernobyl that will kill you within minutes. I am assuming the solution is to wait for the radiation to reduce over time and/or come up with some better technology, and then address it. It is not like the real estate is vital and so it needs to be reclaimed right now. Fencing the place off and limiting access seems like a reasonable decision, especially for a poor country like The Ukraine.; 4/1/22, 4:04 PM
Static Ping said...: And for the record, this (a) sounds like Ukrainian propaganda, but (b) given the poor performance of the Russian military from top down I would not be surprised if it is true.; 4/1/22, 4:05 PM
Drago said...: Left Bank: "I see that our FSB embeds were the first to comment."

The dumbest lefty NPC's will never give up their hoaxes. They cant exist without them.

Collusion, the fine people hoax, alfa bank, hillary dossier, Trump moscow hotel, feeding goldfish(!),....

This list is endless.

Endless.; 4/1/22, 4:08 PM
Gravel said...: "Do you actually believe that bullshit are are you just a tool?"

Pretty sure he was pointing out the absurdity of the second claim by contrasting it with the first.; 4/1/22, 4:25 PM
Gk1 said...: "According to Ukrainian officials" That's usually when I start reading incredulously and switch on my BS meter to see if I can independently verify this. Too much Hopium bilge has been sprayed by the media.

They are asking us to believe the russians had no idea of the radiation levels/ranges around Chernobyl and just allowed their troops to get radiation poisoning for no particular reason? Smells like bullshit.; 4/1/22, 4:26 PM
iowan2 said...: "Digging defensive trenches in the forest"

Logistically, the whole 'conquering Chernobyl', tactically is a none starter.

Chernobyl is not a military asset. It is a huge suck on basic needs, food and water primarily. Every ounce of water has to be hauled into that hell hole. Drinking, cooking, hygiene. Russia can't keep fuel in front of their troops, but will divert assets and energy to hall water to troops defending a radio active danger zone?

Propaganda is much more plausible explanation than anything involved in this story.

If this is the way Russia is prioritizing troops and military assets, then Russia is doing for better than the media is telling me.; 4/1/22, 4:26 PM
Captain Curt said...: I am extremely skeptical of the "acute" radiation sickness claims. Any radioactive substance emitting radiation that intense would have a very short half life and would have decayed to insignificance in the 35 years since the accident.

Any substance with a half life of a year or less will have less than one billionth the concentration that it had immediately following the accident.

"Chronic" radiation effects -- particularly cancer and birth defects -- are a different story. There is significant controversy as to how dangerous this low-level radiation is as to carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. But these would not be directly detectable in the short term.; 4/1/22, 5:07 PM
MAJMike said...: Opps. Those units will no longer be able to conduct night operations.; 4/1/22, 5:21 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Stupid fascist calls people he disagrees with traitors on behalf of his failing regime."

Funny. A fascist calls someone else a "stupid fascist."; 4/1/22, 5:37 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Leland said...
NorthOfTheOneOhOne

Please do not libel me by attributing to me in quotes things that I did not write.

Apologies, Leland. I was replying to someone who had quoted you and obviously fumbled my attempt at cutting and pasting.; 4/1/22, 6:08 PM
Bender said...: More Ukraine propaganda -- they are pushing the obvious lie that Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.; 4/1/22, 6:13 PM
Ambrose said...: Wow it's still that dangerous. Another reason to drill, baby, drill.; 4/1/22, 6:16 PM
Howard said...: The poor soda digging the trenches ended up eating a bunch of the dirt.; 4/1/22, 6:20 PM
Robert Cook said...: "The Russians can't even execute a war against their neighbors..."

This reveals the dirtly little secret of Russia's shortcomings, and reveals how US propaganda for the entire post-WWII period has successfully bamboozled us into our applauding (or accepting) the US being put on a permanent war footing, pouring (squandering) trillions of dollars into our War Department over these decades, wreaking death and destruction, subverting or overthrowing governments, spreading misery, all necessary to keep the public compliant and to ensure the arms merchants got richer and richer and their toadies in Washington (virtually everyone)benefitted, financially and politically. The people's treasure--our tax dollars--has been stolen from us to help the US in its attempt to control the world. We aren't quite there--though many in Washington assume we are and we often act as if we are--and we probably won't. We will fall as all previous empires and would-be empires have fallen.

Russia has merely been an excuse for the plunderers of our republic to continue stealing the people's money and funneling it into the plunderers' pockets, bank accounts, and assholes.; 4/1/22, 6:35 PM
Drago said...: Dumb Stalinist "hot take" (yes, its Robert Cook): "Funny. A fascist calls someone else a "stupid fascist."'

That's right...the guy calling for a smaller and less powerful government is the "real" fascist.

Thanks for playing.; 4/1/22, 7:06 PM
wildswan said...: Maybe the Ukrainians spread the word among the Russian army in Chernobyl that their fellow soldiers were getting radiation sickness and this led to a panicky retreat from the area.

The Ukrainian entity in charge of Chernobyl, Energoatom, put out out a press release saying the the Russians had officially handed Chernobyl back to them and then marched away. The press release stated that the Russians had dug trenches in the area known as the Red Forest because the trees were so heavily radioactive that they turned red. The release strongly suggested that the troops in the Red Forest panicked at the first sign of sickness, almost rioted and definitely left the area. But it doesn't really say that they actually did have radiation sickness. This sounds as if there might be new use for Dr. Fauci - assisting the Ukrainian propaganda effort. Or advising the Russians on the need for the Army to mask up around Chernobyl. Masks would be just as effective against radiation particles embedded in dirt and carried by sneezing, as against the virus particles, he could explain. Then they could send the Army back in there.

Quote from Ukraine on CNN:
"It should be noted that the information about fortifications and trenches that the rashists built right in the Red Forest, the most polluted in the entire Exclusion Zone, wasalso confirmed," Energoatom said.
"So it is not surprising that the occupiers received significant doses of radiation and panicked at the first sign of illness. And it manifested itself very quickly. As a result, almost a riot broke out among the military, and they began to gather from there," continued the statement.
CNN was not immediately able to verify those claims.
Separately, Energoatom said there were reports that a column of Russian soldiers who had encircled the town of Slavutych, which was built to house workers at Chernobyl, was also forming up to withdraw toward Belarus.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/europe/ukraine-chernobyl-russia-withdrawal-intl/index.html; 4/1/22, 8:04 PM
William said...: The main front in Ukraine is the Propaganda War, and the Ukrainians are winning....The Germans lost WWI on the propaganda front. In America, the Irish, the Jews, and, of course, the Germans were all sympathetic to the German cause. It wasn't just the unrestricted submarine warfare that caused the turn in public opinion. Zimmerman could have claimed that the so called "telegram" was actually a perfidious bit of Albion disinformation. Instead he bragged about it. The Germans lost the war when they lost the neutrality of America. It didn't have to be that way.....The American public is in favor of Ukraine. The propaganda of the deed versus the propaganda of the word. Russian tanks are in Ukraine and they are destroying people and property. Compare that with propaganda of Ukrainian nationalists who exaggerate Russian losses. Who do you think is winning the propaganda war?; 4/1/22, 8:50 PM
Achilles said...: Robert Cook said...

"Stupid fascist calls people he disagrees with traitors on behalf of his failing regime."

Funny. A fascist calls someone else a "stupid fascist."

I would be curious what position I hold that qualifies me as a fascist?

I don't support the death penalty.
I don't support any state definition of marriage.
I grew tons of pot and support legalization of drugs in general.
I think state property seizures are clearly unconstitutional.
I am pro choice until the fetus is a viable baby.
I do not believe the state should be allowed to levy property taxes on primary dwellings.
I think all Federal Records should be declassified and released to the public.
I think all official communications with foreign governments should be declassified after 5 years.

I would really like to see you work this one out. Calling a libertarian a fascist is really quite silly.

But it really does show how stupid and limited you are that you think this is the path to take Cook.; 4/1/22, 11:15 PM
n.n said...: Another reason to drill, baby, drill.

Organic, biodegradable, high-density, reliable, renewable energy and diverse other applications. The Green House hypothesis, without predictive or retrospective skill, is a blood libel at best. That said, go green, emit.; 4/2/22, 12:32 AM
n.n said...: The main front in Ukraine is the Propaganda War, and the Ukrainians are winning

The Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring, eight years in progress, and two with the current regime. Stand with Ukrainians West, East, North, and South but why now (pun not intended)? Better late than never, I suppose.; 4/2/22, 12:36 AM
Robert Cook said...: RE: Achilles @ 11:15 PM

I stand corrected and withdraw my remark.

I was fooled by your insulting manner to commenters with whom you disagree. You present a fascist personality online.; 4/2/22, 8:47 AM
Narr said...: I like a lot of Achilles's ideas (1115PM) but they'd be a hard fit on a yard sign.

IMO the radiation sickness story is probably a conflation and inflation of some of the scenarios and theories already proposed.

Tired and confused soldiers are stationed at and around Chernobyl and go about their routines, including digging slit trenches and latrines. Some guys get sick, and when they figure out why, and where they are, they bugger off and the rumors go into hyperdrive.

The Ukes just step in to amplify what might be a very minor incident.; 4/2/22, 12:25 PM