Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Edge-]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that "war" was coming to Russia after three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow.

"Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia -- to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process," Zelensky said on a visit to the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

my guy linking a month-old article as if it's current

[YUPPIE]

my guy linking a month-old article as if it's current

What's relevant is how frequent these drone attacks have been since then. He was clearly not bluffing.

[Shadowferal]

The ruble is failing — and now more Russians are cutting back on buying basic goods like food and toothpaste as prices jump

An economist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Janis Kluge, told The Washington Post in a report published on Wednesday: "The Russian people have been isolating themselves from these political developments, but the inflation rate is something they can't isolate themselves from because they have to pay,"

"It is a way in which politics really interferes in their lives, and this is the part which is worrying for the Russian leadership," Kluge added. "Because no propaganda will make this go away."

[Twdft]

Y'all have memory of a sift.

How long ago since the entire eastern bloc including the Soviets overthrew their governments? It was possible then and is everywhere at anytime.

[alach]

The ruble is failing — and now more Russians are cutting back on buying basic goods like food and toothpaste as prices jump

An economist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Janis Kluge, told The Washington Post in a report published on Wednesday: "The Russian people have been isolating themselves from these political developments, but the inflation rate is something they can't isolate themselves from because they have to pay,"

"It is a way in which politics really interferes in their lives, and this is the part which is worrying for the Russian leadership," Kluge added. "Because no propaganda will make this go away."

Yeah it will. He will just blame it on the west like usual and his loyal subjects will believe him.

[Kaleredar]

Y'all have memory of a sift.

How long ago since the entire eastern bloc including the Soviets overthrew their governments? It was possible then and is everywhere at anytime.

Indeed. The oldest human being was alive while Tsarist Russia still ruled. That was two whole Russian government collapses ago.

Prig thought he was safe when there's precedent for the Kremlin's enemies to suffer "oh so tragic accidents" that put them out of the picture. Putin thinks he's safe, when there's precedent for Russia's entire government collapsing due to economic turmoil and gross mismanagement... both of which are currently occurring.

Yeah it will. He will just blame it on the west like usual

I hope he does do that. Because it tells his people that the west can exert their power over Russia when Russia displeases it.

Better to make the west happy in this scenario than to keep pissing them off for no reason then, isn't it?

and his loyal subjects will believe him.

I don't know how much the Russian people believe the propaganda they're being fed. I'm sure they know it's nonsense, but it gives them all a "plausible deniability" to lie to themselves so they can lower their heads and pretend things are going peachy keen while inflation skyrockets and their domestic situation progressively worsens with no sight of getting better.

As others have said in this thread, my impression of the Russian people is that they have a sort of "resigned apathy" towards the situation, as they have had for the last couple decades in Russia and that have landed them at the mercy of a tin-pot dictator chasing nonsensical, murderous dreams of USSR-esque expansion and burning Russia's future in pursuit of it.

[Corvus]

Yeah it will. He will just blame it on the west like usual and his loyal subjects will believe him.

It might be a hard sell as they have been continually telling their people that sanctions have no effect and russia strong. To turn around and start saying the exact opposite might be a little hard.

Not that is likely the populace will do anything much about it.

[DarkTZeratul]

As others have said in this thread, my impression of the Russian people is that they have a sort of "resigned apathy" towards the situation, as they have had for the last couple decades in Russia and that have landed them at the mercy of a tin-pot dictator chasing nonsensical, murderous dreams of USSR-esque expansion and burning Russia's future in pursuit of it.

I have been told of an old USSR-era joke, "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."

[Elder Millennial]

As others have said in this thread, my impression of the Russian people is that they have a sort of "resigned apathy" towards the situation, as they have had for the last couple decades in Russia and that have landed them at the mercy of a tin-pot dictator chasing nonsensical, murderous dreams of USSR-esque expansion and burning Russia's future in pursuit of it.

I don't buy the "resigned apathy" thing. The Russians are perfectly capable of raising a fuss. But only and only whenever the current dictator appears weak. They have a weird cultural equivalent of smelling blood in the water.

They will rebel against well meaning reformers, because they are too "weak" and they will rebel against weak or incompetent authoritarians. They idolize the worst oppressors, because they were "strong" and hate and look down on any leader displaying any degree of desire to reduce oppression.

Russian culture is literally just obsessed with "strength" and they get a weird collective anxiety whenever they aren't under someone's boot and immediately start looking for someone willing and able to put the boot back on them.

This actually makes a lot of sense if you realize that Russia is just a massive colonial empire dominated by Russians that is ready to burst at the seams any moment the boot is lifted. Their entire culture is defined by it being an empire.

[Flarelaine]

Y'all have memory of a sift.

How long ago since the entire eastern bloc including the Soviets overthrew their governments? It was possible then and is everywhere at anytime.

To be frank, it all became possible when the man in charge in Moscow decided he does not want to be in charge at any price.

[Veggie50]

I don't buy the "resigned apathy" thing. The Russians are perfectly capable of raising a fuss. But only and only whenever the current dictator appears weak. They have a weird cultural equivalent of smelling blood in the water.

They will rebel against well meaning reformers, because they are too "weak" and they will rebel against weak or incompetent authoritarians. They idolize the worst oppressors, because they were "strong" and hate and look down on any leader displaying any degree of desire to reduce oppression.

Russian culture is literally just obsessed with "strength" and they get a weird collective anxiety whenever they aren't under someone's boot and immediately start looking for someone willing and able to put the boot back on them.

This actually makes a lot of sense if you realize that Russia is just a massive colonial empire dominated by Russians that is ready to burst at the seams any moment the boot is lifted. Their entire culture is defined by it being an empire.

Russians have a daddy dom kink… I like that…

[Bluespiderman57]

I don't buy the "resigned apathy" thing. The Russians are perfectly capable of raising a fuss. But only and only whenever the current dictator appears weak. They have a weird cultural equivalent of smelling blood in the water.

They will rebel against well meaning reformers, because they are too "weak" and they will rebel against weak or incompetent authoritarians. They idolize the worst oppressors, because they were "strong" and hate and look down on any leader displaying any degree of desire to reduce oppression.

Russian culture is literally just obsessed with "strength" and they get a weird collective anxiety whenever they aren't under someone's boot and immediately start looking for someone willing and able to put the boot back on them.

This actually makes a lot of sense if you realize that Russia is just a massive colonial empire dominated by Russians that is ready to burst at the seams any moment the boot is lifted. Their entire culture is defined by it being an empire.

Jeez guys, why not just throw a Patten quote in there?

“The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I’ve seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of a bitch, a barbarian, and a chronic drunk.”

- General George S. Patton

[Gorsameth]

Jeez guys, why not just throw a Patten quote in there?

“The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I’ve seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of a bitch, a barbarian, and a chronic drunk.”

- General George S. Patton

probably because its hella racist.

[Bluespiderman57]

probably because its hella racist.

Yeah more than a bit. Just figured we get it out of the way so that we can stop going over and over how shitty Russians are and instead talk about the actual war. Did you know the Ukrainian forces may have already penetrated the second line of defense? That seems kinda big.

[Veggie50]

Jeez guys, why not just throw a Patten quote in there?

“The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I’ve seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of a bitch, a barbarian, and a chronic drunk.”

- General George S. Patton

It seems very insulting to other asian countries to compare russians to them.

[Elder Millennial]

Jeez guys, why not just throw a Patten quote in there?

“The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I’ve seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of a bitch, a barbarian, and a chronic drunk.”

- General George S. Patton

Here's the thing. Ignoring the last sentence, Russians themselves would be the first to agree with Patton.

According to the latest poll, the opinion that Russia in a European country is most widely held among respondents over the age of 55 (33 percent of this age group agree). This opinion is less popular among young people aged 18–24 — 71 percent of young Russians don’t consider Russia a European country, compared to 23 percent who do.

The share of Russians who consider themselves Europeans has also fallen from 35 percent in 2008 to 27 percent in 2021. At the same time, the share of those who don’t consider themselves Europeans has grown from 52 percent to 70 percent. The latter opinion is most widely held among Russians under 40 years old: 74 percent of respondents aged 18–25 don’t consider themselves Europeans, along with 75 percent of those in the age group 25–39.

Considering Russia is a "civilization-state" uniquely distinct from "Western Civilization" is literally a core idea of modern Russian nationalism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...bal-far-right/

Dugin sees Russia’s geopolitical “destiny,” as he put it in an interview earlier this year, as an expansion of its “Eurasian” power — “the assertion of Russia as an independent civilization with its own traditional values. And it will not be complete until we unite all the eastern Slavs and all the Eurasian brothers into one big space. Everything follows from this logic of destiny — and so does the Ukraine.”

[Iphie]

Yeah more than a bit. Just figured we get it out of the way so that we can stop going over and over how shitty Russians are and instead talk about the actual war. Did you know the Ukrainian forces may have already penetrated the second line of defense? That seems kinda big.

I know they broke first line near Robotnye (spelling?) and Verbove, but where is the breakthrough on second? Mind, second line is said to be a tank ditch, dragons teeth and trenches but no mines, so that would be a lot less dangerous than first line.

[Saradain]

I know they broke first line near Robotnye (spelling?) and Verbove, but where is the breakthrough on second? Mind, second line is said to be a tank ditch, dragons teeth and trenches but no mines, so that would be a lot less dangerous than first line.

The youtube channel Reporting from Ukraine seems to have told this info, which he has quoted before as a nice source of everyday happenings at the frontlines.

And Robotyne was liberated already, which I "knew" just before mainstream media thanks to the said channel, if it is reliable.

[Gabriel]

Can't wait for the cope once Russia is forced to withdraw from Ukraine.

[Bluespiderman57]

I know they broke first line near Robotnye (spelling?) and Verbove, but where is the breakthrough on second? Mind, second line is said to be a tank ditch, dragons teeth and trenches but no mines, so that would be a lot less dangerous than first line.

It appears the the farthest back section of the second line stops right outside Verbove. Within the last day or so, Russians have started shelling the northern section of the town, which seems to indicate Ukrainian forces have found a weak point.

The youtube channel Reporting from Ukraine seems to have told this info, which he has quoted before as a nice source of everyday happenings at the frontlines.

And Robotyne was liberated already, which I "knew" just before mainstream media thanks to the said channel, if it is reliable.

Yeah pretty much. Guy has been mostly spot on for awhile now. And does make corrections if wrong.