Hole wrote:There are sources that claim up to 4,5 million POW´s after the gigantic cauldrons (Kesselschlachten in german) in the first few months of operation "Barbarossa". There deliberate murder was possibly the greatest crime of the war.
I have calculated that for you twice if I remember. The latest data provided from the German side put the number of KIA at well over 5 mln, and that almost equals the Soviet KIA ratio if we exclude the POWs murdered. It was on pair fight, what makes it even more interesting if we will keep in mind that for the whole 1941, Wehrmacht was much stronger in manpower than the RKKA direct on the front. That lasted well into 1942 actually, and only relocating part of the RKKA from the East equaled that, and Russkie started to gain an advantage slowly fro 1943. Still, it was nothing like described by the western propaganda history, and not even close to the on time German narrative, where they always fought against "a multiple times superior hordes". The horrific losses of the Soviet nation were mostly due to the bestiality of the advancing Germans, and in 2/3rd constitute the murdered civilians. While 3/4 constitute the people who couldn't defend themselves if we add POWs.
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https://t.me/levigodman/4711 India is buying more and more oil and fertilizers from the Russian Federation, the volume will increase even further - Indian Ambassador to Moscow
Some people in India are going to make a ton of money through resales, while for Russia it's replacement export volumes all the same
https://t.me/levigodman/4712 Russia and Iran will build ships for the Caspian Sea together. In 4 years, Iran wants to double its merchant fleet by purchasing and building 50 new ships (13 of them from Russia)
Sounds local, but really this sort of thing is the seed of the International North South Transport corridor that will be extended to India and Pakistan
https://t.me/levigodman/4713 Ships built by Russia will carry Iranian exports - from building materials to fruits and milk. In 2016, the Iranian company Nasim Bahr Kish bought the Solyanka port in the Astrakhan region.
The Iranians are already ready to supply Russia with fashionable clothes, tires, car and aircraft parts, and even gas turbines for power plants.
Not to forget UCAVs
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Speaking of Astrakhan, it's not well known but from the early 17th century onward the city had an Armenian, Persian and Indian merchant presence, due to the trade route the city was on. Iranian and Indian goods traveled the Caspian, to Astrakhan, and then from Astrakhan further to Moscow and Europe.
The Indians left some time in the 19th century, while the Persians lasted until the revolution
There are still some surviving buildings in Astrakhan that were used by Persian and Indian subjects
For example the Persian Trading house
The Indian Trading house; which was remodeled in the 19th century towards a classicist style
And the Persian Mosque, which served Iranians in the city and other Shiites.
It's a decrepit building by now, but there are plans under way with the participation of Iran to restore it to its original form:
Anyway, here's to hoping that with the blockade from the West, more attention is paid to the port of Astrakhan and that the city regains its former role as a gateway for Iran and the Indian subcontinent to Russia and perhaps vice-versa.
Last edited by flamming_python on Wed Aug 24, 2022 3:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Six months into war, Russian goods still flowing to US
Yeah, do as we say, not as we do... Europe has to cut ties with Russia to damage Russia... even if it damages the EU... like increased energy prices or not parts for aircraft engines, but America will keep buying what they need from Russia because the whole world suffers if the US economy is damaged and the US does not want the whole world to suffer to hurt Russia.
I have an observation concerning the latest struggle to expel Russian citizens out of the Schengen zone. First, it won't be effective in any way, if only one country will deny it. And we already know that there will be more than one. Which makes the whole story a pure propaganda campaign unleashed by just another Russophobic barking puppy. But the other side of the story is even better. The whole concept is based on some strong, internal European belief that Russkies, while cut off from the European marvels, will coup against the evil regime and overthrow it. This is so egocentric European-oriented feeling that Europe is a bloody center of the universe, that needs nothing more to add Oh fuckin' yeah, being a Russkie, I would revolt immediately having no chance to see how the cathedra in Milan is surrounded by hundreds of Maurs, who bully the old grannies brought there in buses to b shaved Lacking the chance of seeing homeless and garbage in the very city center of Paris would make me hate Putin on spot! Where can I spot a guy carrying a goat on his neck other than Paris metro?!? And yeah, not being in London, where can I have some chicken tikka masala, served by the Bangladeshians posing for Hindus Oh, Berlin ... where else you can meet the hordes of drunk&junky homeless at the Tiergarten entrance? Mmmm mmmm, Genua, how splendid to watch Garibaldi Street, pissed at both sides to the knee level by the horde of drug addicts of all skin colors...
This is just unbelievable, how deep this selfish feeling of being amazing sits in the hearts of the European rulers, who are just torn away from the very core of European society, which is slowly going to the point of boiling.
Each and any Russian citizen has even better chances to have holidays in Turkey or Egypt. Tunesia, Marokko, Algeria - all remain wide open and give a shit about the west idiocies. Very soon, there will be a Syrian Med coast wide open for Russian tourism. And yeah, Israel will cut the Russkie flow, that is sure Iran is an unexplored marvel, a safe and hospitable country with thousands of years of history. All Gulf states are wide open for Russians, with 6* resorts in Abu Dhabi or Dubai just waiting there. And we are still in 4h flight distance from Rostov! What about the whole of the East, with the beauties of China? The crystal clear seas of the Philipines, undiscovered Myanmar?
Oh shit, I would have been devastated while unable to pay 500 euro a night in let's say St. Tropez, while can spend a week for that in 5* resort in Egypt, all inclusive
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ALAMO wrote:I have an observation concerning the latest struggle to expel Russian citizens out of the Schengen zone. First, it won't be effective in any way, if only one country will deny it. And we already know that there will be more than one. Which makes the whole story a pure propaganda campaign unleashed by just another Russophobic barking puppy. But the other side of the story is even better. The whole concept is based on some strong, internal European belief that Russkies, while cut off from the European marvels, will coup against the evil regime and overthrow it. This is so egocentric European-oriented feeling that Europe is a bloody center of the universe, that needs nothing more to add Oh fuckin' yeah, being a Russkie, I would revolt immediately having no chance to see how the cathedra in Milan is surrounded by hundreds of Maurs, who bully the old grannies brought there in buses to b shaved Lacking the chance of seeing homeless and garbage in the very city center of Paris would make me hate Putin on spot! Where can I spot a guy carrying a goat on his neck other than Paris metro?!? And yeah, not being in London, where can I have some chicken tikka masala, served by the Bangladeshians posing for Hindus Oh, Berlin ... where else you can meet the hordes of drunk&junky homeless at the Tiergarten entrance? Mmmm mmmm, Genua, how splendid to watch Garibaldi Street, pissed at both sides to the knee level by the horde of drug addicts of all skin colors...
This is just unbelievable, how deep this selfish feeling of being amazing sits in the hearts of the European rulers, who are just torn away from the very core of European society, which is slowly going to the point of boiling.
Each and any Russian citizen has even better chances to have holidays in Turkey or Egypt. Tunesia, Marokko, Algeria - all remain wide open and give a shit about the west idiocies. Very soon, there will be a Syrian Med coast wide open for Russian tourism. And yeah, Israel will cut the Russkie flow, that is sure Iran is an unexplored marvel, a safe and hospitable country with thousands of years of history. All Gulf states are wide open for Russians, with 6* resorts in Abu Dhabi or Dubai just waiting there. And we are still in 4h flight distance from Rostov! What about the whole of the East, with the beauties of China? The crystal clear seas of the Philipines, undiscovered Myanmar?
Oh shit, I would have been devastated while unable to pay 500 euro a night in let's say St. Tropez, while can spend a week for that in 5* resort in Egypt, all inclusive
This is something I brought forward to some folks here who think that "Oh no, Russians cannot vacation in Europe!"
I tell them that Russia itself has a ton of history and beautiful locations including resorts in the Black Sea that they really do not have to go far for European beauty. All within their country and within their own currency.
Then, they can indeed go to plenty of locations for holidays. Guarantee that Syria will end up a good destination for Russians if not already. Many of these places are much cheaper than any Euro trip. What will you get in France? or Germany? Amsterdam? I been to all those locations and was bored out of my mind. Nothing interesting to see. I mean, there are some beauty and cool locations but nothing amazing. Hell, France lost one of the best reasons to go see it - the Notre Dame Cathedral. Our miniature knockoff in Quebec still stands though.
Point is, I rather travel to all those other locations than Europe. Well, besides Romania cause I wanna see Count Vlad's castle. But that's about it.
This is absolutely true... for once from the Economist.
I live in Britain, or should it be renamed Brit-stan? Inflation has gone from 1% to 12% according to "official" figures in Britain basically since the Pukraine op started. This is huge because Europe/the West had got used to 1% inflation for 10, 12 or more years. (Altho the figures were always massaged and dubious to some extent).
But for energy, you are probably looking at household bills going from 1.5 k to perhaps 5k GBP next year. Food is similar. And you go out in the night and many public roads, pubs, bars etc are like a ghost town.
Vast chunks of the population live on credit... and credit is drying up or becoming FAR more expensive eg 3 or 4 x as much.
Britain and Europe desperately need to get their tongues out of Uncle Sham's dirty arsehole. Or things will get pretty ugly for many.
There again... was financial collapse the plan all along?
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ALAMO wrote:I have an observation concerning the latest struggle to expel Russian citizens out of the Schengen zone. First, it won't be effective in any way, if only one country will deny it. And we already know that there will be more than one. Which makes the whole story a pure propaganda campaign unleashed by just another Russophobic barking puppy. But the other side of the story is even better. The whole concept is based on some strong, internal European belief that Russkies, while cut off from the European marvels, will coup against the evil regime and overthrow it. This is so egocentric European-oriented feeling that Europe is a bloody center of the universe, that needs nothing more to add Oh fuckin' yeah, being a Russkie, I would revolt immediately having no chance to see how the cathedra in Milan is surrounded by hundreds of Maurs, who bully the old grannies brought there in buses to b shaved Lacking the chance of seeing homeless and garbage in the very city center of Paris would make me hate Putin on spot! Where can I spot a guy carrying a goat on his neck other than Paris metro?!? And yeah, not being in London, where can I have some chicken tikka masala, served by the Bangladeshians posing for Hindus Oh, Berlin ... where else you can meet the hordes of drunk&junky homeless at the Tiergarten entrance? Mmmm mmmm, Genua, how splendid to watch Garibaldi Street, pissed at both sides to the knee level by the horde of drug addicts of all skin colors...
This is just unbelievable, how deep this selfish feeling of being amazing sits in the hearts of the European rulers, who are just torn away from the very core of European society, which is slowly going to the point of boiling.
Each and any Russian citizen has even better chances to have holidays in Turkey or Egypt. Tunesia, Marokko, Algeria - all remain wide open and give a shit about the west idiocies. Very soon, there will be a Syrian Med coast wide open for Russian tourism. And yeah, Israel will cut the Russkie flow, that is sure Iran is an unexplored marvel, a safe and hospitable country with thousands of years of history. All Gulf states are wide open for Russians, with 6* resorts in Abu Dhabi or Dubai just waiting there. And we are still in 4h flight distance from Rostov! What about the whole of the East, with the beauties of China? The crystal clear seas of the Philipines, undiscovered Myanmar?
Oh shit, I would have been devastated while unable to pay 500 euro a night in let's say St. Tropez, while can spend a week for that in 5* resort in Egypt, all inclusive
This is something I brought forward to some folks here who think that "Oh no, Russians cannot vacation in Europe!"
I tell them that Russia itself has a ton of history and beautiful locations including resorts in the Black Sea that they really do not have to go far for European beauty. All within their country and within their own currency.
Then, they can indeed go to plenty of locations for holidays. Guarantee that Syria will end up a good destination for Russians if not already. Many of these places are much cheaper than any Euro trip. What will you get in France? or Germany? Amsterdam? I been to all those locations and was bored out of my mind. Nothing interesting to see. I mean, there are some beauty and cool locations but nothing amazing. Hell, France lost one of the best reasons to go see it - the Notre Dame Cathedral. Our miniature knockoff in Quebec still stands though.
Point is, I rather travel to all those other locations than Europe. Well, besides Romania cause I wanna see Count Vlad's castle. But that's about it.
Maybe Abkhazia and Odessa could join the list sooner or later. If Dagestan got its act together, the Caspian Sea coast would have some great tourist destinations for the Russian World too. And the other side of the Caspian Sea if Kazakstan got its act together.
But anyway, the EU and Britain are nothing but sock puppets of Uncle Sham right now and things need to change.
The issue has a second bottom as well. It will be just another blow to the euro economy. Depriving it of billions of euros the Russkie tourists brought in yearly. At Ritz Carlton hotel beach on the Teneriffe, only one language was heard all day long - Russian. The Russians half own Montenegro... The whole city of Karlove Wary, one of Europe's most famous mineral water resorts, is owned by Russians. I have rented there an app several times, different ones, and all the owners were Russkie. They have their own airport, with direct flights to three directions: Moscow, Peter, and Tel Aviv. And it pays off, even if there is a big Praque airport just 70 km away! Yeah, tell me how the Monte Carlo will close its harbor for the Russkie yachts and the casinos for the Russkie cash All the croupiers there must know Russian as an obligatory language A whole Spanish coast was full of Russian tourists. This is ridiculous, just another shoot in the own feet made by the Europe rulers, against the interest of their own people.
In the meantime, Russkie will travel to Turkey, as they did for decades now. Kemer will be called a "Russian resort" for the very same reason it is called that way now - it is flooded with Russian tourists. And tons of Russians own villas there. They will be visiting Tunisia, Egypt, and Maroko as they always did. One will be sharing a restaurant with the Russians in Dubai, the same way it is now. Nothing will change here. Only there will be more and more of them.
Being a rather active tourist, spending a month+ a year traveling, I see no real difference from the perspective if I would live in Russia. All European destinations are far away, the same distance opens a whole of the Middle East, North Africa and East. You can travel from Kaliningdar to Vlad for $500 a person, a two-way ticket, and you have all the Far East in front of you. China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar ... Not to mention, that soon there will be a 3 thousand km coastline of the Black Sea owned by Russia, plus 1500 km of Azov Sea coatline that is internal waters of the Russian Federation now. How many resorts you can place on a 4500 km coastline, how do you think?
Edit : one mote thing I have just realized. A Hungary and Balaton Lake resorts would kill for a nice flow of the Russkies tourists, with the thick wallets they aways have there Remind me, who has already responded to this stupidity, saying that Hungary won't join any more step? wasn't that the Orban or something?
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The 12% inflation figure shows you what a total load of BS it is. People's energy bills are going up 200-300% but the CPI is only 12%. The CPI is a stupid metric constructed based on a weighted sum (Sum(1-n)[a_n*DP_n] where DP_n is the price change for product n) with energy and good having weights around 0.1. The energy basket is being spread out over all sorts of BS to dilute the spike from electricity and heating bills. Gasoline prices have not shot up 300% but around 40%. But people's energy costs are not 95% from gasoline.
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Firebird wrote:Maybe Abkhazia and Odessa could join the list sooner or later. If Dagestan got its act together, the Caspian Sea coast would have some great tourist destinations for the Russian World too. And the other side of the Caspian Sea if Kazakstan got its act together.
But anyway, the EU and Britain are nothing but sock puppets of Uncle Sham right now and things need to change.
Abkhazia has been a tourist destination for Russians for a long time now
Although it's a funny sort of place. There was a taxi driver there going by the name of Schumacher; and who drove like a nutcase, going through traffic lights and meandering between cars, sliding.. went with him a few times. Old chap, in his 60s, veteran of the war in the 90s.. but stops to chat up young tourist ladies, constant jokes, and never seen the guy booked once for speeding. In fact over the whole weekend I was there I only saw the cops once and that was well outside Sukhumi. Infrastructure is all frozen in time, slowly decaying - with the exception of the main highway from Adler to Sukhumi; which is all modern and well-maintained and everything. Else Sukhumi itself is very a much Soviet-style city with only khruschevkas, Stalin-era apartment blocs and some neo-classicist buildings of the Soviet variety.. but a lot of them are run-down. There is a pebble beach, beyond an ugly concrete embankment; but it's no Bahamas. All the school-girls were dressed in those brown dresses with aprons from the Soviet-era. I have to say the women there are quite beautiful. Open-air restaurants with dance floors are a popular way to spend the evening for both locals and tourists. I went there with my then girlfriend, an international student from Zambia. So you can imagine she attracted quite a lot of attention; had to constantly discourage locals from wanting to take photos with her. Or she would get a random comment from someone driving by about how f**king sunburnt she was Another thing - the country reminds you of Georgia in every way. The food, the people, music, nature, Christian cathedrals and so on.. but don't you dare mention Georgia You will actively offend people
Main attractions in Abkhazia - Lake Ritsa, the New Athos Monastary, and its pristine subtropical nature and woodland. Great for cave-divers as well. Has the deepest caves in the world. Just don't go alone by yourself.
As for Odessa - I wouldn't count on it for the next 20 years. Look, its heyday was first of all, during the late Tsarist era, when it was a porto-franco and place where you can get rich if you had the skills for it. And then after that in the post-war Soviet era for tourism. By the end of the USSR the population was half-Jewish. Now virtually all the Jews left. Many Russians or Russia-minded people left, either to earn money in Russia or after the Trade House massacre. And now you've had 8 years of indoctrination and import of hard-core nationalist weirdoes from Western Ukraine to make sure the city stays loyal. Ergo - there's nothing to do there. Even after it will be recaptured for Russia and the murders of the protestors avenged. Who would go there for holidays, even after that? And who in Odessa would welcome Russian tourists, after all the pro-Russian elements there were targeted, squeezed out, while the rest will blame visitors from Russia for their pain and grief and suffering in 2022.. not their own inaction in 2014.
Dagestan is not doing so badly. At least one city - Derbent. It's getting a lot of investment and visitors are picking up But there are Islamists in Dagestan who are dissatisfied with tourists, warning that they can corrupt the local population with new norms. Thankfully they're outnumbered heavily by people with common sense.
As for Kazakhstan on the Caspian; all they ever had there were oil towns. The poorest and most ill-educated part of the Kazakh population lives in the countryside of western Kazakhstan meanwhile, with imported professionals or from other parts of the country working in the cities. And this caused a major conflict in the 80s; you can read about Novy Uzen (now called Zhanaozen). Aktau I guess has some potential
Closest thing to a resort town on the eastern Caspian coast was the city of Krasnovodsk in Turkmenistan. It was mostly populated by Slavs with some Kazakhs in the steppe, and Caucasians here and there who dominated the markets. Turkmen were only present in the city as KPSU members and administrators/officials. But its potential was ruined somewhat by chemical industries around the city. Nowadays it's called Turkmenbashi, and most of the Russians and others have long left. With the government Turkmenistan has, I don't see anything much happening there - it's like a holiday resort town for Turkmen state employees and bureaucrats only in this day and age.
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flamming_python wrote: Abkhazia has been a tourist destination for Russians for a long time now
You know this business is vibrant. St. Tropez became famous only because Bridgitte Bardo was filmed on the Pamplona beach. Nobody living more than 50 m away ever heard of this "famous destination" till 1956. As God created a woman, a resort was created along. The very same applies to most of the resorts - some of them fade away in darkness even if still offer the very same layout they did back then. There are tons of objectively nice places in the south of the UK that used to be famous holiday destinations for the middle class, that are dead now. I have been to tons of famous resorts in Europe in the last two decades, and the path they follow is nothing I would like to leave to my kids as a heritage. You have tons of fantastic, first-class locations that are dying. In front of visitors' eyes. A top location, first line sea view abandoned, perishing into shadow in Spain, France, Italy, Croatia. Maybe it is just a switch in modish destinations, but I hardly believe in that sawing that all with my own eyes. If one manages to redirect this few billion euros that the Russkie tourists have spent each year to keep the blood running in the shallow wains of Europe touristic business back to Russia, it will be an end of a story. Dead end.
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You know this business is vibrant. St. Tropez became famous only because Bridgitte Bardo was filmed on the Pamplona beach. Nobody living more than 50 m away ever heard of this "famous destination" till 1956. As God created a woman, a resort was created along.
c'mon so it wasn't after "Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez" ? BTW I drove Mehari once too because of this movie
The whole concept is based on some strong, internal European belief that Russkies, while cut off from the European marvels, will coup against the evil regime and overthrow it.
If they could think independently and actually did for a bit they might realise a coup against the European deep state is exactly what they need... they need people in charge who give a damn about the people of Europe, instead of the yesmen they have at the moment who do as the US tells them, which has led to the entire EU ending up in the state it is in now...
The rest of the world are starting to realise Russia is an alternative to the west that is not preachy and does not demand you conform to their culture and beliefs to trade with them...
There again... was financial collapse the plan all along?
It is Americas plan... to destroy any chances of a rival being created where the EU cooperates with Russia, they want to destroy Russia, but weakening the EU is a bonus for them because it leaves them with a bigger market... they can bully the EU to lower its food standards and accept GM foods and other things they stick to their guns on normally... but in a war against Russia they can sneak that sort of shit through...
Destroying EU and Russia means their companies can sneak in and buy stuff cheap and make billions.
If one manages to redirect this few billion euros that the Russkie tourists have spent each year to keep the blood running in the shallow wains of Europe touristic business back to Russia, it will be an end of a story. Dead end.
The problem with tourist traps is the greedy arrive and suddenly everything becomes too expensive for locals so they milk the visitors for everything they can... rents and house prices become unaffordable and normal services disappear because how can you run a cafe... staff wages wont pay local rents...
The money coming in from the tourists goes into the bosses pockets, while the workers scrape by on poor wages and conditions... and eventually the tourists get sick of being ripped off and find somewhere else to go with the same sun and sea etc etc.
You know this business is vibrant. St. Tropez became famous only because Bridgitte Bardo was filmed on the Pamplona beach. Nobody living more than 50 m away ever heard of this "famous destination" till 1956. As God created a woman, a resort was created along.
c'mon so it wasn't after "Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez" ? BTW I drove Mehari once too because of this movie
GunshipDemocracy wrote: c'mon so it wasn't after "Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez" ? BTW I drove Mehari once too because of this movie
Nope, it is almost a decade later story. Still, very interesting to see only to check that the city was nothing close to a famous resort in the mid-60s.
Dagestan is ALREADY a popular holiday destination, my friend is literally returning today from a two-week trip to Dagestan for a vacation. There are quite a lot of tourists there now.
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A few ways of spinning these figures. Wonder how many of the Russian passport holders are Russian speaking Ukrainians and how many have returned home after the Russian successes.
The European Union's border agency Frontex issued updated numbers Thursday on how many Russians it had tracked entering EU borders during the six months since the invasion of Ukraine began. It said nearly 1 million Russian citizens entered the EU since that time, or more precisely a total of 998,085 Russian passport holders had entered since Feb. 24.
This huge number for the half-year time frame comes as the debate rages in Europe over an EU-wide ban on Russian travel, with Bulgaria being the latest among a slowly expanding list of EU member states to say it won't support a complete ban, even if it has slowed visa issuances for Russians.
Germany has been among the most important EU nations to say such a travel ban would unfairly impact dissidents, or journalists and activists who are firmly on record as condemning Russia's war in Ukraine. Some officials and pundits have pointed out it smacks of xenophobia, unfairly targeting a single ethnicity or nationality. Image via TASS
"What is important for us is that we understand there are a lot of people fleeing from Russia because they disagree with the Russian regime," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said earlier this month. "All the decisions we take should not make it more complicated to leave the country, for getting away from the leadership and the dictatorship in Russia."
But Finland's Sanna Marin, representing the pro-ban faction have said Russian tourists should pay a penalty for their government's actions. Ukraine's President's Zelensky has been lobbying various Western government to impose a full ban as the next step in anti-Moscow sanctions.
So far, the Czech Republic alongside Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been leading the way in implementing sweeping restrictions on Russian nationals obtaining travel and work visas.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers set for Aug.31 in Prague is set to take up the matter. For now, leadership in Brussels appears to be cold toward an EU-wide policy:
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday poured cold water on a proposal to implement a complete ban on Russian travelers into the EU.
Forbidding all Russians from entering the EU "is not a good idea," Borrell said. "We have to be more selective."
Speaking during a university conference in Spain, Borrell said the idea pushed by senior politicians in Kyiv and various EU countries was "quite controversial," adding that it would create division between capitals, as some introduced travel bans without addressing it at EU level.
Borrell stressed that "More than 300,000 Russians have [fled] their country because they don't want to live under the rule of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Are we going to close the door to these Russians? I don't think it's a good idea."
As for Ukrainians who have fled into the EU Frontex said earlier this month that some 7.7 million Ukrainian passport holders had entered, since Feb.24, but among these 4.7 million have already returned to Ukraine - perhaps given the war has been largely limited to the far east and south of the country.
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