Russian invasion of Ukraine

[s_bushido]

Am I reading this wrong or are you excusing war crimes?

Dude finds a way to justify basically everything Israel does to the Palestinians, so it would be par for the course here.

[Lochton]

Zelensky's social media game is so on point it will be historically noteworthy. Especially in contrast to the embarrassing social media propaganda of Russia.

It is scary, even the Russians admit that Russia has no chance versus Ukraine and the rest of the West in the social media and propaganda front.

Many Russians are being informed about Ukraine containing Nazi army/parties, as well as being a threat between the Russian borders and the EU. Apparently, a few of the protests reported by the west to be taking place in Russia are falsely flagged though; they aren't protesting against the decision of war but against the west due to the sanctions. Apparently, they all cheered when the Oligarchs were sanctioned but the little person pushes people to support Putin more in the end.

It is scary when you are told what things are from other people on the other side of the border.

[noremorze]

You're asking what's wrong with the GOP? The guys that thought Trump was sane enough to be President? lol

Point taken lol

[Breccia]

It is scary, even the Russians admit that Russia has no chance versus Ukraine and the rest of the West in the social media and propaganda front.

To be fair, it's pretty easy to admit that when you can't get on YouTube, FB or Twitter. At some point, Russia will be the best orator in an empty theater.

[Makabreska]

To be fair, it's pretty easy to admit that when you can't get on YouTube, FB or Twitter. At some point, Russia will be the best orator in an empty theater.

Come to think of this. With all those payment methods being cut, can Russians even pay for WoW now?

[Elegiac]

Come to think of this. With all those payment methods being cut, can Russians even pay for WoW now?

The wording in ActiBlizzion's announcement seems to indicate that no subscriptions can be renewed; and as you said, the lack of available payment methods means that even if they could it'd be hard for them to do so.

Not sure how that applies to people who pay for their subs through tokens, but it's likely a lot of Russian players will disappear from the servers within the month.

[Breccia]

can Russians even pay for WoW now?

They can probably still use WoW tokens from the AH. That's a sealed system.

[Lochton]

To be fair, it's pretty easy to admit that when you can't get on YouTube, FB or Twitter. At some point, Russia will be the best orator in an empty theater.

They still have access to those sites as long as there is a connection to the internet. Problem is, Russia is not on the media and propaganda wagon further than the reasoning their people have already been told since 2014, unlike Ukraine and the west. I am not defending, I am just sharing the views that Russian friends of mine experience.

[Azadina]

The wording in ActiBlizzion's announcement seems to indicate that no subscriptions can be renewed; and as you said, the lack of available payment methods means that even if they could it'd be hard for them to do so.

Not sure how that applies to people who pay for their subs through tokens, but it's likely a lot of Russian players will disappear from the servers within the month.

They should have banned the whole lot in the first place, not just block payments.

[Elegiac]

They can probably still use WoW tokens from the AH. That's a sealed system.

Fun Fact: One (1) WoW token is currently worth 2480 rubles or approximately 17% of your monthly wage if you're Russian.

For reference, if you make the minimum wage in the US it amounts to less than 2% of your monthly income.

[Lochton]

Come to think of this. With all those payment methods being cut, can Russians even pay for WoW now?

My friends can only access the token at the auction. There is no method of buying a token with real money or even resubscribing for them, could be due to their bank or not, but their experience.

[JohnBrown1917]

They should have banned the whole lot in the first place, not just block payments.

That makes no sense, I doubt Putin or his cronies play WoW.

[Crispin]

That makes no sense, I doubt Putin or his cronies play WoW.

Sure he doesnt??

[Makabreska]

That makes no sense, I doubt Putin or his cronies play WoW.

Nor do they play competitive sports. But all these sanctions are also targeting normal Russians to create internal pressure. And also we reached an avalanche stage, when NOT banning Russians is now being perceived badly.

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Sure he doesnt??

He defo that belf pala that griefed me last week.

[MCMLXXXII]

Sure he doesnt??

Last I heard he had a main called XxLegolaSxX

[Biglog]

In the majority of cases the equipment losses by the Russians are verified, not just conjecture. Documented OSINT equipment losses don't just go off of simple paint (lol). These are confirmed losses matching unit designations, equipment models, etc. There has been *a lot* of T-80, Panstirs, etc. and other newer hardware destroyed and captured which is equipment that Ukraine does not and did not have. Writing them off as all old T-72Bs repainted is a fantasy that is easily disproven. In half of the cases we have the accompanying video of the Russian equipment or aircraft being destroyed as well. So it's important to at least level set on the situation there which has a lot of hard supporting evidence. Even if you go off the Russian MOD's admitted (and very likely low) losses they are still very high. Just writing Russia's situation off as 'media lies so I don't believe anything' is not really helpful to the discussion.

Anyway, a concern now has to be Russia's state-of-mind and stability over the next coming months. Their losses in Ukraine are unsustainable. The economic impact of the sanctions are unsustainable. Global outrage and repercussions will only increase as civilian deaths mount. One report today mentioned June as likely the internal "deadline" for Russia to be able to withstand the pressure of the sanctions before shortages and the economy would bring things to near-collapse. Keep in mind also that Russia's official military doctrine includes justifying the use of tactical nukes to force negotiations if they begin to lose in a war. As unpredictable as Putin has been I don't think he would start a major WW3 nuclear attack unless it was an absolute last resort. The more likely danger though is that as this unwinnable war drags on and the (particularly food) shortages and economic situation in Russia deteriorates, we could see Russia do something horrible but more limited like an unconventional attack on 1 Ukrainian city to try to force a surrender or negotiations. Either way this doesn't seem to be a situation where Russia can afford politically, militarily, or economically to indefinitely occupy Ukraine, even if/when they manage to eventually defeat Ukraine's military.

[Azadina]

That makes no sense, I doubt Putin or his cronies play WoW.

Oh, is that what the sanctions are supposed to do? Make billionaires poor magically?

[Breccia]

Fun Fact: One (1) WoW token is currently worth 2480 rubles or approximately 17% of your monthly wage if you're Russian.

For reference, if you make the minimum wage in the US it amounts to less than 2% of your monthly income.

Wow. Um, I mean, jeez. Hadn't thought of it like that before.

[JohnBrown1917]

Nor do they play competitive sports. But all these sanctions are also targeting normal Russians to create internal pressure. And also we reached an avalanche stage, when NOT banning Russians is now being perceived badly.

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.

Yeah, normal russians cant do shit against Putin, and the WoW playerbase is an even smaller part of that.

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Oh, is that what the sanctions are supposed to do? Make billionaires poor magically?

They do indeed make a ton of money of Russian players playing WoW.

[Flarelaine]

That makes no sense, I doubt Putin or his cronies play WoW.

As funny as it may be, there is a webcomic about just that.

http://superputin.win/episode3.html

It's in Russian. There used to be an English version, but apparently we do not deserve the awesomeness that is SuperPutin.