The corruption is complete from top to bottom. I’ve read the Russian invasion force are camping out selling fuel for food. Makes me wonder if they can actually launch nukes. Apparently the US spends something like 30b a year in just maintenance. I have doubts in Putin’s Russia doing the same. They may have cooked the books and stripped the launch tech for scrap metal. Is the Red October out there somewhere? I don’t want to find out. But if this last week is a view of Russia from the last 20 years, I suspect their nuclear capability has been overestimated.
If his nukes are as badly maintained as his tanks and helicopters I bet a good chunk of that nuclear stockpile doesn't even work. Have you seen what the surrendering Russian troops look like? They're malnourished children in dirty uniforms. It's like they just conscripted whoever. Like I think they just went to whatever the equivalent of high school in Russia is, kidnapped a bunch of kids, and sent them off to fight. Anyway here's some more footage of Russian stuff getting blown up by drones:
I also began to wonder about the state of their nuclear arsenal. Of course Russia would only need about 400 of their 6000+ warheads to hit every major US city, or just two large EMP attacks to wipeout most of our electrical grid and cause the death of about 100 million people. Also wondering about the long term effects of the sanctions. If Russia needs money I'm sure China will be willing to lend it to them.
Russian Major General gets sniped by the Ukranians. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-kill-andrei-sukhovetsky-b2027858.html And the Russians are so crazy they're firing on a nuclear power plant. That can't be good.
CHYNA. They aren’t really trusted in Europe. Asia has US since the 1940s and even then Japan Russia India are all in the vicinity. US kinda does what it wants with South America. Africa is the only place left. And it’s incredibly corrupt and for sale.
They're bringing in reserves from eastern Russia and asking Belarus and Kazakhstan for help. Even if the casualty numbers are exaggerated you wouldn't do that if it's going well. They might be able to occupy Ukraine, but can they hold it? Are they prepared to deal with guerilla warfare for years? This whole thing just seems so stupid. Putin is seeming less and less like some smart super spy and more like a dumb thug.
Right. As America has learned, a long term occupation is going to cost way more than the invasion and Putin's funds are drying up. His only hope is to get a puppet government installed and leave. I'm sure that was his plan from the beginning but it isn't going well. The social media aspect of this war is just bizarre. Some times it feels like it's being treated as televised sporting event with promotional managers fighting proxy war through memes and 10 second video clips.
I wouldn't want to be whatever puppet Putin tries to put in. Just look at what they did to that General. Great way to get your head blown off.
And now Russia is walling their citizens off from large parts of the internet and shutting down western news media in their country. A digital Iron Curtain. I guess Elon Musk giving Ukraine free fast satellite internet is their equivalent of the Chronosphere.
Russia is running out of military trucks so they're just shipping in whatever. It's mud season in Ukraine and if military trucks are getting stuck in the mud I would think these old clunkers are going to be even worse.
I don’t really understand the point of this anymore. Russia turning Ukraine into a scrap metal junkyard?
The Ukranians assassinated another Russian Major General. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitaly_Gerasimov The Ukranians seem to be much better at assassinating people than the Russians.
I think assassinated is incorrect. The implications are all wrong. But it likely depends on how he was killed. Anyways here’s a really long but interesting article on the subject. https://lieber.westpoint.edu/assassination-law-of-war/
I thought when it's a high ranking official, even military official, it's called an assassination. Is that not the right term for it? Does it depend on the method with which he was killed? Does the mission have to set out to kill him? During WW2 for instance there was an operation to kill Admiral Yamamoto to get revenge for Pearl Harbor and it's usually referred to as his assassination. He was killed by fighter planes. The US knew what plane he would be on and specifically set out to kill him.
This part summed it pretty good for me. The guy is a general there for war. If it was peacetime, like Solemini, or if he was Martin Luther King, it would be an assassination. It’s a generally nefarious act. In this case, the guy is killed in direct defense of their nation. Id say he is just KIA. Of course in todays modern nomenclature, an assassin is seen as a badass (often with a creed). So it in that sense the sniper or whoever could be “a cold as ice assassin”. In that sense sure, he was straight assassinated like a bitch. It’s more romantic that way.
Putin is threatening to lift trademark restrictions to reopen McDonalds. Putin - "Look... me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds."
Putin threw a temper tantrum and fired 8 of his generals today. There's growing concern among Russian soldiers that they won't be paid as the ruble is worthless. Scenes of abandoned Russian APCs and tanks are becoming common. The only thing Russia seems to be good at killing is civilians. Their troops aren't worth a shit against anyone who can shoot back. I'm not sure what bombing a childrens' hospital accomplishes other to make people hate you even more.
Oh and no more gaming in Russia. Everyone pulled out. Maybe this means I can actually find a PS5 or Switch OLED now. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022...-market-no-longer-exists/?comments=1&start=80