At some stage Ukraine and Russia will need to negotiate an end to this war, the Ukrainian side will seek to negotiate from a strong position. They are certainly doing that, they have begun their offensive and they have Russia running away from the fight. Now Russia has called up 300,000 reservists, this is a serious escalation and one feels won’t end well.

Ukraine will have to bring some concessions to negotiations, they can offer some concessions such as not joining NATO. But let’s face it, Ukraine has shown it does not need NATO protection, they are doing fine all by themselves. Yes, they have canvassed NATO and nations for weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has worked hard to garner international support and procure weapons for Ukraine. A pretty good concession to offer Russia for complete withdrawal of all their forces is not having NATO in Ukraine.

Then there is the case for reparations, Russia has to pay for the destruction of Ukraine. The Russian oligarchs hold an unequal share of the wealth of Russia, they were gifted businesses as long as they supported Putin. These are the international Russian assets that will be required to rebuild Ukraine, they are not going to win. Ukraine will negotiate from a reasonably strong position, they are beginning to turn this war around and embarrass Russian on an international stage.

I would severely doubt international sanctions will be immediately removed once Russia extracts itself from Ukraine. From what I am reading, these sanctions are causing some pretty severe limitations in Russia, they are also pulling conscripts from factories manufacturing weapons, so that will be interesting. Since it has been well broadcast that fleeing Russian troops left weapons and equipment for Ukraine to use against them in the future.

I would say Russian gas will need to be redirected to pay for these repatriations, nothing will bring back the lost Ukrainian lives, but this will fund the rebuilding of Ukraine. The Russian tactic of destroying cities will come at a cost, they may have got away with it in Syria, but a victorious Ukraine will hold Russia to account. You can be sure the international community will have no hesitation to confiscate Russian assets and offer them to Ukraine.

So what are the implications of the extensive damage to the Kerch Bridge? Ironically damaged on Putin’s 70th birthday, this is more than a symbolic blow to the Russian President. Mocked by Ukrainians, Happy Birthday Mr President was part of the announcement – too funny.

Ironically, this bridge is a personal project of President Putin, so the timing of the explosion was immaculate. This is a further blow to his prestige, his personal project was targeted and successfully hit. Everyone expects the Russian military to respond with attacks on Ukrainian residential areas, while they cannot respond on the battlefield, they can attack non-combatants.

The Russians have been using the Kerch Bridge to resupply Russian forces in the south, opened in 2018, this bridge is a symbolic structure for the Russians after their annexation of Crimea in 2014. The project was fast tracked by Putin himself, there were questions regarding the quality of the construction, this will test the engineering of the bridge. This was central to holding on to the territory of Crimea, I wonder if Ukraine will demolish this bridge once they retake Crimea.

I would hope the Ukrainian forces wait for the Russians to repair the bridge before hitting it again, this will keep their resources tied up. This will also give the Ukrainian military time to generate new offensives to deplete their resources even further. The Russian army is not known for their logistical abilities, so this is expected to further dent their aspirations in the Ukraine invasion.

Could Putin use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine? The threat is very real, but what is the likelihood really? Russia is losing, Putin knows this, the whole world apart from a whole bunch of conspiracy theorists and Putin apologists know this. President Biden has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin to not use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

So what could the likely US response be? The Washington Post reports private communications have been sent to Russian counterparts warning of grave consequences if Russia uses tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. The New York Times also reports the Biden government has been in constant communications with the Kremlin warning of catastrophic consequences if Russia uses nuclear weapons.

The Biden administration has kept communications purposely vague so the Russian leadership is generally unsure how the US would respond. This is a pretty good strategy, they do not want to signal their exact intentions, the Kremlin just knows it will be negative. I am trying to determine what the end game for Russia is. They are already facing battlefield losses, apart from a total loss, what is next for Russia. We could be looking at a total economic and military collapse, much like the end of the USSR in 1991.

There have been varying scenarios, from the US sinking the Black Sea fleet in retaliation to attacking the divisions that launched the attacks in Ukraine, or a no-fly zone over Ukraine enforced. Would the US retaliate with tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, it is considered unlikely. They are using surveillance to ensure tactical nuclear weapons are not transported to the frontlines, they could possibly destroy the launcher prior to launching a missile. Likewise, Russia could deliver tactical nuclear weapons via artillery, that would be harder to track and defend against.

Why would you pursue an MBA? This is the question I ask myself frequently, why put yourself through the effort and pain? Then there is the cost, is it worth the loss of salary and the tuition fees?

In this current covid environment, I was lucky, I have already graduated so I will not join the rush to get educated. I understand that people want to use this period of weakness to gain knowledge, skills and enhance their employment opportunities. Without a strong alumni network, gaining a business based qualification is fraught with danger and missed opportunities.

One has to get out to gain solid employment opportunities and contacts, the internships were so important in this model, they provided the basis of opportunity. This is really the reputation of the business school, they need not only the business contacts, their courses should be designed with industry input. Without a dedicated alumni network to support graduates, you are just paying a course fee and you are on your own, this is the role of the business school.

This should include industry aligned associations such as the Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Institute of Management, the Project Management Institute, the Australian Human Resources Institute or the Australian Institute of Training and Development depending on what specialty you intend to pursue.

For me, this is pretty much what leadership is all about, when the Russians invaded Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was offered evacuation by the US, he replied “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride”

This claim was countered by Russian soldiers on September 12 who collectively told the world, “I don’t need ammunition, I need a ride!!!” as they dropped their weapons and ran away. We need to remember, back not so long ago, when the Russians invaded Ukraine and massed their troops and equipment at the border and headed towards Kyiv, a defiant Zelensky stood firm.

It was a great defense by the Ukrainian troops, they held out against Russian aggression and in the early days of the invasion, we thought they held out for a few weeks and at least put up a fight against an overwhelming invasion force. Had Zelensky fled and returned once the city was defended, he would have lost all moral authority. There is no doubt, had Kyiv fallen, Zelensky would have been captured and killed. Yes, Zelensky is the face of the Ukraine resistance, but he is showing the required leadership with actions and simple messaging that Putin lacks.

The Russian Nazi lie didn’t suck anyone in, well apart from conspiracy theorists and Putin apologists, probably some card carrying members of the flat earth society are part of that club too. The Russian propaganda machine has worked overtime to paint the Azov Regiment as right-wing nationalists and classified them as a terrorist organisation. We all know who the fascists are though.  

So this will infuriate the Putin apologists, the prisoner swap with Russia included 215 Ukrainians, many who had been captured after the fall of Mariupol. In return, 55 pro-Russian prisoners including Putin puppet Viktor Medvedchuk were traded for the Ukrainian prisoners. Pretty much the only victory the Russians can claim, the eventual surrender of the Azov Regiment after the siege of Mariupol Steel Plant has been returned via the prisoner swap. 

I scanned the list to see if Lieutenant Illya Samoilenko was among those involved in the prisoner swap. I watched the Sky News interview with him as they were deep in the Mariupol Steel Plant, he really impressed me. He spoke calmly and was defiant despite hanging out for 68 days against an overwhelming Russian onslaught. For all the silly talk of a terrorist organisation, the members of the Azov Regiment are returned, if they were really terrorists – that wouldn’t happen. 

In what was an interesting couple of nights waiting for Felix’s attempt, I tuned in late every night but conditions required postponing the attempt. That was good news, I would hate to see his team feel the pressure and make reckless decisions.

It was amazing to watch Felix ascend in the Red Bull Stratos helium balloon, a skydiver in a pressure suit ascending to the edge of space in a balloon in 2012. When Felix was cleared to jump after the pressure in the capsule equalised, he moved to the edge of the jump platform and performed his final checks, it was very intense.

If he had an issue moving or jumping clear where he damaged his helmet or pressurised suit – this would have been disastrous. He would have depressurised and suffered extensive injuries from depressurisation. Felix is no longer a base jumper or sky diver, he is a space diver after making his stratosphere jump from 39 km above the earth’s surface. 

Even during freefall, they were concerned he may rupture and haemorrhage his eyes. What a freefall, with little to no air resistance, Felex tumbled around out of control. As it transpired, the Red Bull Stratos balloon took longer to stabilise on ascent and exceeded the calculated height, so Felix jumped from 8000 feet higher than planned. 

Felix exceeded the speed of sound becoming the first person to break the sound barrier during freefall. Whilst a skydiver normally reaches a terminal velocity of 200 kph in a chest down position, or 250 – 290 kph in a head down position, instead hitting 1,357.6 kmh with a freefall height of 36,402.6 metres. 

Despite having a drogue parachute that could be deployed during his spinning freefall, Felix decided to not activate this brake, he regained control and maintained his freefall. Interestingly, the scientific data for high altitude bail-outs was collected for the commercial space industry. No one really knew if it was feasible to pursue this bail-out strategy, it is being further researched.

A field of dead Russian troops from Chechnya in the Donbas region of Ukraine, it is hard to feel pity for these lost lives once we saw the routing of Russian troops around the Kharkiv region and the torture chambers and mass graves. 

Now that Putin has mobilised 300,000 more troops to surge into Ukraine, we know they will be under-equipped, under-trained, poorly led and thrown in to defend an area where they will be out-thought, out-maneuvered and out-played by highly motivated Ukrainian forces. One expects the body counts to rise for the Russian invaders. The fascists are losing, their unbelievable claims that they are fighting to denazify Ukraine is funny if it wasn’t so serious. The best plan for these war criminals is to drop their weapons and get as far away as they can and maybe escape with their lives.

It was a surprise to us all, the Ukrainians had announced that they were planning an assault on Kherson in the south. This was a little strange as they had not previously announced their plans, so was this a classic diversion? No doubt they built up troops and equipment in the area, maybe some shelling in the area to add some authenticity. 

What we do know is the Russians believed this and pulled troops out of the Kharkiv region to bolster defences in the south. At the time of writing, I am a little unsure how many Russian troops had been redeployed, it appears they had a choice to make, defend Kherson or Kharkiv and they chose to strengthen Kherson leaving Kharkiv exposed.  

As the offensive began, there was little news getting out so we really were not sure what was going on. What we did know was Ukraine had some pretty decent technology allowing them to concentrate firepower and I was guessing the US was supplying intelligence to the location of Russian weaknesses. Then after a week of fighting, the news of the Ukrainian successes started to filter out and apart from the African pro-Russian bloggers, Russian bots and the brainwashed, everyone was surprised and extremely happy. Let’s hope these gains are consolidated and Ukraine pushes on.

The Tissot Petite Seconde is an interesting watch, I am interested in Tissot, that’s for sure. However, the style of the Petite Seconde is similar to the IWC Portugieser 40, a clean dial with a sub-dial at 6 o’clock. The 42 mm 316L round stainless steel case has 20 mm lugs, a thickness of 11.4 mm and has a display caseback. The polished case looks like it may scratch easily, I do like the bezel, it is a little different to most designs with the step design.

The movement is an ETA 6498-1, this is a  hand-wound engine, this is what really interests me. I am looking for a timepiece with a hand-wound movement. With no rotor to impede the view, the mechanicals are on display with solid finishing and 25 jewels. The Tissot rotor is generally not to my tastes on their automatic movements, the finish isn’t great. The movement of this hand-wound movement through the display caseback looks great, the finish is excellent for the price point.

The dial is what sets this timepiece for me, the small centrally located minute hand at the 6 o’clock position is symmetrical, the no-date is another positive, this unbalanced the dial. The only date windows that interest me are the oversize date windows of German watches from the Saxony region. I have walked into a number of boutiques and I have been unable to actually handle the Petite Seconde. Actually, I do not see many of their vintage pieces in most boutiques. To be fair, they want to hold fast moving watches, they are not collectors, they are retailers. So if a model isn’t moving, I can hardly expect them to hold a timepiece in inventory, that is understandable.