Lawrence Surtees

Ex print journalist, author & telecom research analyst; civil libertarian; student of national security tech, policies & SIGINT ❤️travel, history, ACLU, bacon

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

"One day this Twitter War will be over."

[Going Underground @GUnderground_TV]

On this day in 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức immolates himself at a Saigon intersection, creating one of the Vietnam🇻🇳 War's most iconic images. He burned himself alive to protest the repression and violence of the unpopular US-backed dictator Ngo Dinh Diem.

The US war against Vietnam🇻🇳 is estimated to have killed more than 3 million people, with half of the deaths being Vietnamese civilians.

During the war, the US launched Operation Ranch Hand, spraying South Vietnamese forests with Agent Orange to destroy foliage with was used by the Viet Cong.

The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates 1 million were disabled or suffered health problems due to exposure.

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@ChShafiullah15 D - PSA

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@HQNewsNow Says GI Joke Wannabe & former Fox Bingo caller

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@donwinslow Mob rules of a mobbed-up president

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@SGTWipper1Each “Some things in here don’t react too well to bullets, Ryan.”

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@Acyn As they should.
Cruz is such an epic douche bag.

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

Exactly how I felt.
RIP Anthony.

[Going Underground @GUnderground_TV]

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands.”

—Anthony Bourdain, American chef, filmmaker, and author, who died on this day in 2018.

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@MiaForTrump Hi Mia!
Exactly: Fuck Trump!

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

What a heroine and great story. 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraini

[Mykhailo Rohoza @MykhailoRohoza]

🇺🇦 After surviving occupation, she now rides a motorcycle along the front line and saves wounded soldiers at a stabilization point: the story of Zoia Kovalets, callsign “Cyborg.”

Fifty-five-year-old Zoia Kovalets, known by the callsign “Cyborg,” serves as a senior nurse in the medical company of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade Magura.

She received her nickname in her youth after a serious motorcycle accident left her body full of metal plates and screws.

A passionate biker, Zoia still rides a motorcycle at the front, without electronic warfare protection systems but always carrying a medical kit.

Before the war, she worked as a nurse in a hospital in the Kherson region. After February 24, she found herself under occupation.

Zoia secretly passed information about enemy movements to Ukrainian forces, and the Russians began hunting for her.

In April 2022, while occupiers were searching basements for her, she survived almost by chance.

Curled up on an old metal-framed bed that nearly touched the floor, she hid behind the back of a six-year-old boy named Stasik. The Russians never noticed her.

Later, a local female deputy got a Russian soldier drunk, took Zoia into her home, and gave her her husband's sports jacket.

That was when Zoia realized she had to escape. The occupiers had begun allowing small groups of people to leave on foot, and she decided to take the risk.

She brought all her animals with her: two dogs, four parrots, four guinea pigs, six degus, nine hamsters, turtles, and decorative frogs.

At a checkpoint, a Russian soldier demanded her documents and phone. Zoia had hidden her documents well and handed over an old broken phone that had belonged to her deceased mother.

The soldier became furious and searched everything she had. In the end, however, the animals distracted him enough that he let her pass.

After escaping occupation, Zoia arrived in the city of Kryvyi Rih and found work in a hospital that had been converted into a military medical facility.

But something was missing. Memories of the occupation kept returning. So, in the winter of 2023, she enlisted.

At the stabilization point, Zoia works alongside surgeons—handing them instruments, following instructions, and remembering humorous moments. One wounded soldier, while under anesthesia, asked what she planned to do that evening. Another shouted for doctors not to throw away his underwear because it was his lucky pair.

The hardest period was the counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia direction. There were countless casualties, especially amputations. Zoia says that whenever she closed her eyes, she saw arms and legs... arms and legs... and that no one can ever truly get used to it.

She does not take sedatives. Sometimes she breaks down and shouts, but her comrades are patient with her, and she is grateful for that. She says that after the war, she will miss her team.

At home, three grandchildren and a dog named Biker are waiting for her. Her grandchildren are proud of her and call her a hero.

Zoia admits that she is afraid of “falling flat on her face” in front of the children, so she always tries to conduct herself with dignity.

After the war, she dreams of traveling across all of Ukraine, visiting cities she has never seen before and collecting a complete set of souvenir magnets.

[Defence Index @Defence_Index]

🇺🇸🇬🇧 BIG: US officials are planning to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius to secure control of Diego Garcia, potentially bypassing the UK, according to The Telegraph.

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@Ashu451724 NYC

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@WUTangKids And what's with the kiddy camo outfits??

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@beauti_animals Canada🇨🇦Parliament Hill

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@beauti_animals My home town in Canada.

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

@WorldCity_X Vancouver, British Columbia

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

D-Day's secret logistics: PLUTO - Pipeline Under the Ocean. Supplied 1 million gallons a day of fuel & oil from storage tanks in southern England to advancing Allied armies in France.
Proof of military adage: "Amateurs talk tactics, while professionals talk logistics."

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

June 6, 1944 and 14,000 Canadian troops stormed Juno Beach.

[Marion McDonnell @mmcdonn]

#DDay

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

We remember their heroism and sacrifice.

[Old Canada Series @oldcanadaseries]

82 years ago today. Canada lands on Juno Beach. #DDay 🇨🇦

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

Bahaha!
He just shit his diaper!

[PaulleyTicks @PaulleyTicks]

Shhhhhhhhh, don't wake the baby.

[Lawrence Surtees @LSurteesTdot]

They should do it!