International Russia/Ukraine Megathread V8

[lsa]

Newly russian civilians get to be absolutely fucked.

The pro russians..

 

[crystallake]

Atleast, I would've figured, that the Russian military may have been safe from his corrupting influence, considering he needed them to achieve his goals, but it appears that he has turned the military into a joke also. They made all these boasts about their top-tier equipment, and now it seems that they can't even arm their soldiers properly.

It seems the corruption is one of the biggest issues of the Russian military and it effects all branches. For example it seems normal officers get bribed for overlooking quality issues or whatever and then they just retire and new officers do the same. So they are just running into issues everywhere. A lot of weapon systems that haven't been kept in running condition and only really exists on paper. And that comes from quotes of Russian soldiers who have been actually in combat.

 

[Rational Poster]

Pretty brutal stats for Russia.

Currently, of their 144M people, less than 8 million are men are in their 20s. 10% of them have been deployed already and a similar number have fled the country since the start of the war.

Putin might literally snuff out their next generation.

 

[PEB]

Pretty brutal stats for Russia.

Currently, of their 144M people, less than 8 million are men are in their 20s. 10% of them have been deployed already and a similar number have fled the country since the start of the war.

Putin might literally snuff out their next generation.

We will almost never hear these stats from the pro Russian side of the Republican party. Mitch McConnell pretty pissed at what Kevin McCarthy stated about Republicans cutting Ukraine war funding.

I am not sure where Stewart sits as far as war funding goes? He got booed badly then seem to change his tone.

 

[Terry Noonan]

Things seem to be going accordingly to plan. How before they use a nuke?

 

[SandisLL]

Things seem to be going accordingly to plan. How before they use a nuke?

They still does have these iranian model drones.
Ukr rumoured that first batch they had get was 1750 drones...in other source that 2450 drones....
IMHO might be even more...

 

[SandisLL]

Pretty brutal stats for Russia.

Currently, of their 144M people, less than 8 million are men are in their 20s. 10% of them have been deployed already and a similar number have fled the country since the start of the war.

Putin might literally snuff out their next generation.

They might mobilize also females and introduce age group 18-65 ....
If will declare war and announce total war.

 

[SandisLL]

However not likely. Bunches with hired by wagner prisoners and mobilized in military lads from remote poor areas are delivered+ some % of seperatists still are usable....

 

[Denter]

Putin was a lot more Western-minded than Xi was, prior to the 2010s.

The thing that makes me worry less about Xi going nuts, is that he seems to be more competent and possibly less corrupt. If Putin had been doing a good job in Russia, he would have had less of a reason to lash out at the West/Ukraine. But he has been a fuck-up since the early 2010s. The system is collapsing under the weight of the massive amount of corruption that he has allowed to spread.

Atleast, I would've figured, that the Russian military may have been safe from his corrupting influence, considering he needed them to achieve his goals, but it appears that he has turned the military into a joke also. They made all these boasts about their top-tier equipment, and now it seems that they can't even arm their soldiers properly.

I think its more likely that the military is more of a private fief with significant independence from Putin; if he didn't feel threatened by it, there would be no need for all the mysterious deaths from 1999-present. Its likely that the reform efforts that started ten years ago simply were blocked by high level military figures who wanted to keep feeding from the trough.

 

[AWilder]

I think its more likely that the military is more of a private fief with significant independence from Putin; if he didn't feel threatened by it, there would be no need for all the mysterious deaths from 1999-present. Its likely that the reform efforts that started ten years ago simply were blocked by high level military figures who wanted to keep feeding from the trough.

The guy that Shogui replaced was actually trying to stamp out corruption and hold suppliers accountable. Problem is the suppliers are oligarchs and they viewed the military as a piggy bank.

 

[PEB]

Well Russia did send bombers but where over international waters but operated within an area that US an Canadian identified as needing to respond.
"
The Air Force dispatched two F-16 fighter jets to intercept a pair of Russian bombers that flew close to Alaska on Monday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.

Although the two Russian Tu-95 Bear-H bombers did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, NORAD said it "detected, tracked, positively identified and intercepted" the aircraft as they were "entering and operating within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.""

 

[Rholk]

 

[Strychnine]

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

He should do America next.

 

[Strychnine]

 

[LangfordBarrow]

whats us debt again?

inflation is at 40 year high and senile old joe keeps spending money he doesn't have. thats why he has to beg golf arabs to reduce oil production.

also its funny you call me a fascist when youre the one supporting the actual fascists in this conflict

you have no self awareness kid

This is proof you are a complete moron.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

not suffering from tds doesn't mean support, but compared to other sleazy western leaders he wasn't that bad

What about regarding the debt you're bringing up?

 

[LangfordBarrow]

The same mistakes are being committed in countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc.

The West doesn't really seem to have a gameplan for dealing with vicious tyrants. We try to appease them until they go totally bonkers, and then there's only one option left, really.

But it's a difficult problem to deal with. We're restrained by our democracy yet those guys make all the decisions for decades on end for their countries. I'm all for civil rights for all but how are we to handle oppressive regimes that will sacrifice their citizens in order to maintain power?

 

[Rholk]

i think it's fair to say that political relations have somewhat soured

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

I think its more likely that the military is more of a private fief with significant independence from Putin; if he didn't feel threatened by it, there would be no need for all the mysterious deaths from 1999-present. Its likely that the reform efforts that started ten years ago simply were blocked by high level military figures who wanted to keep feeding from the trough.

Most likely. I've been to numerous places in Ukraine and numerous places in Russia. While Ukraine is like cheap as all hell, there definitely isn't the vibe of corruption open in the air that's in Russia. You feel it everywhere - it is big and blatant. I don't doubt Ukraine has severe issues too, but a more western approach as opposed to Russian approach is in their best interest.

At the end of the day, there is this question about well, Russia doesn't want NATO on its border, much like the USA wouldn't want pro-Russian governments on theirs etc. Which is true. But the fact is there's good reason why Russia is not a great geopolitical partner, and what would be ideal would be sufficient reform in Russia to make a country like Ukraine want to be their ally. I would think the USA would have to have to take a severe look in the mirror if Canada or Mexico preferred to join a military alliance with Russia than the U.S. Yeah, there was Cuba, but it was a bit of a different time where the level of neglect in Latin America was palpable. There's that expression of Voltaire about if God didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him. I may have butchered that, but also recall some latin american leader saying "thank God for Fidel Castro, if he didn't exist we'd need to invent him" because during the Cold War all of a sudden funds and relief was being sent into Latin America to avoid spread of socialism/communism. Perhaps an argument for the benefits of a mulit-polar superpower world.

Anyhow, there's also a legit argument that a good portion of Ukraine does indeed want Russia as their ally and not NATO, especially in the east for cultural reasons. The divide in Ukraine is of course greater than the widening gap between democrats and republicans for obvious reasons, but Ukraine actually has the benefit of their divide being pretty easily geographically seen as compared to the U.S. where democrats are all around the coast.

I don't think it's a bad outcome for all involved if the pro-Russian areas become part of Russia to be honest, but I think the issue is that is very resource rich areas, and the desire of NATO to bleed the Russian economy through this war - there's a financial cost to them but of course the body count is disposable Ukrainians. I'm rambling, but reality is Russia needs a lot of internal reform to maximize the tremendous amount of land and resources they already have, it feels like such a better use of time and resources than invading Ukraine, but convincing corrupt officials to do this is of course a gargantuan task.