Russian invasion of Ukraine

[RadasNoir]

Did you know Putin has an 83% approval rating in Russia? They love him, don't be deluded of there being much dissent like you see in the news.

And any information that comes from Russia is 100% trustworthy, right?

C'mon, dude.

[Vladier]

Take the 83% and get a bunch of salt to fill the grand canyon.

Here's what happens when you get these kind of questions from a dictatorship. You say yes or you go missing and no one in their right mind wants to go missing.

It's not even that the people say yes, it's just that the only people who actually answer those polls are the ones who say yes (or are desperately brave enough to answer no). Those who refuse to participate in a poll are not counted towards the results, which skews the data.

[uuuhname]

lmfao it is so obvious those approval ratings are just Russian propaganda. holy fuck dude, he couldn't even get 2/3rds of the country to back this invasion. compare that to the lead up to the US middle east invasions having approvals in the 80%'s.

[Xyonai]

lmfao it is so obvious those approval ratings are just Russian propaganda. holy fuck dude, he couldn't even get 2/3rds of the country to back this invasion. compare that to the lead up to the US middle east invasions having approvals in the 80%'s.

We'll probably never know the actual numbers, and speculating on approval ratings without actually being in the country and talking to people is just that; speculation.

Though in the same vein it's difficult to take the word of 'native Russians' at face value since the ones we typically interact here and elsewhere with seem completely on board with the 'It was fine that we Bombed a Maternity Ward, funneled Tens of Thousands of Civilians into Russia and executed hundreds more because of those six hundred or so Nazis that may or may not hold any actual political influence in a country of 40m people' sort of mentality.

[Vegas82]

yes it is a very serious situation so I don't take kindly to being interpreted as a sadist of any kind: "it takes one to know one". If that wasn't your intention, then I apologize.

You literally said you’re hoping for WW3.

[UnifiedDivide]

You literally said you’re hoping for WW3.

Just for reference on the above.

if there's ever a world war were waged like that again, I'm pretty sure male conscription will be mandatory. I'll admit don't have much going in life so I would gladly be dragged in that if it just swept me up. It's not like I could just sign up by default in my state now.

It's why I will tell you upfront I am not a sensationalist that enjoys headline news for the sake of being loud. I genuinely want events in life that take away responsibility from certain other concerns I have. Things like war with conscription or a semi-apocalyptic event like the initial mandatory COVID lockdown and subsequent racial rioting over a year that forced/encouraged me to stay home and not interact with people (I hate humanity at large and am an introvert).

On topic: That is my explanation for why I was so eager to see how Biden would respond to Putin; the possibility of real declaration of conflict after all the tension being stirred.

[Vegas82]

Just for reference on the above.

Literal sadism. Couldn’t qualify for the military now, but they hope WW3 happens so they can get swept up and fed to the meat grinder.

[UnifiedDivide]

Literal sadism. Couldn’t qualify for the military now, but they hope WW3 happens so they can get swept up and fed to the meat grinder.

Just need those beautiful nukes to drop now and maybe he'll have responsibilities taken from him. Any day now

[Azadina]

Just for reference on the above.

Without any name references, I think someone hasn't thought of a fact, that even if a mass draft was called, they'd still weed out obviously deranged psychos from it. Because those are far more problems (a lot) than they are of worth (fuck all).

[PhaelixWW]

don't dare misinterpret what I said. The other poster said the Russian army is "scared for their lives marching to their deaths." You don't do any of the shit I mentioned if you're "scared" you do it because you are 1) evil and 2) emboldened terrorizing people without consequences.

Just sadistic pieces of shit, that's the Russian army.

You have no clue about how humans work, do you?

Makes me think you're either a) confined to a basement and never interact with people in real life, b) too young to have have a fully formed reasoning capacity, or c) just faking it for internet funzies.

Regardless, the problem isn't even so much that you don't understand how humans work, it's that you're mistakenly convinced you do.

[Zaydin]

At the end, we can say mean things about Russia, but we are truly helpless and incapable of stopping them because of their nuclear arsenal. I genuinely do believe Putin will win and take Ukraine, and then he will extend his conquest to the rest of Europe after he is emboldened by his victory and the notion he cannot be stopped with the fear of MAD.

Oh my god. Just. F@$KING. STOP. It has been explained to you time and time again why your fetish for Russian conquest of Europe won't happen and you just don't listen or you refuse to admit you're wrong. Vladolf Putler is struggling to defeat an army that everyone thought Russia would crush in a matter of days and instead has held on for over a month and is even pushing Russia back in places.

The worst thing Putler could do for his grip on power would be to start a multi-front war with NATO that would end with his military in ruins and with a Russian economy also in ruins that can't afford to rebuild it.

The only reason I haven't put you on ignore is that it would make finding this thread again a pain because I am getting sick and tired of repeating myself with you.

[Vegas82]

I’ll take the infraction, but has anyone besides me tried PMing globals since Flairelane and Rozz don’t care about the obvious troll?

[Biglog]

It's becoming clear from liberated cities as the Russians retreat that they have committed horrific war crimes against civilians on a scale that hasn't been seen in the Western world for a long time. Dead civilians, many with hands tied behind their backs line the streets. Piles of dead naked women in the street and god knows what they endured. A mass grave with nearly 300 civilian bodies. Many bodies showing torture, and reports of rapes were widespread If you have not seen the pictures or stories they are really truly disturbing. It's difficult to imagine how Russia will ever be able to re-engage with the rest of the world as a normal operating country after this. The Russian army turned out to be much more roving drunken criminal gang than competent professional military.

Looting was also almost industrial with looted Ukrainian washing machines stacked on the back of Russian military transport trucks. That is an important point because it is the kind of thing that would not happen without commanding officer orders, which shows that these were conscious, planned war crimes, ordered or at least approved by higher-ups in the Russian military.

The Russians have also had a lot of issues with communication during the war and have resorted often to using open unencrypted messages that were easily intercepted. Because of this it's possible that Ukraine and/or other western intelligence has information on specifically which units operated in cities like Bucha and Irpin where the war crimes were particularly severe. From that they could identify commanding officers and possibly individuals serving in those units. Accountability will be near impossible unfortunately with Russia operating essentially as a rogue state. But even the Nazi leaders in WW2 eventually met their day in the Hague.

[Verdugo]

I’ll take the infraction, but has anyone besides me tried PMing globals since Flairelane and Rozz don’t care about the obvious troll?

I think its time to petition globals because Flair and Rozz just dont give a shit about job they volunteered to do.

[YUPPIE]

But even the Nazi leaders in WW2 eventually met their day in the Hague.

because they were a conventional military force. We have never dealt with someone with weapons of mass destruction (i.e, nukes) like Putin. How he will be dragged out to the Hague is difficult to acertain, if ever. But I wouldn't be optimistic about it.

[Verdugo]

because they were a conventional force. We have never dealt with someone with weapons of mass destruction like Putin. How he will be dragged out to the Hague is difficult to acertain.

Kindly fuck off you piece of shit.

[Milchshake]

I think its time to petition globals because Flair and Rozz just dont give a shit about job they volunteered to do.

I think the Cruelty is the point. When people with authority enjoy watching their users get tormented.

[Xyonai]

It's becoming clear from liberated cities as the Russians retreat that they have committed horrific war crimes against civilians on a scale that hasn't been seen in the Western world for a long time. Dead civilians, many with hands tied behind their backs line the streets. Piles of dead naked women in the street and god knows what they endured. A mass grave with nearly 300 civilian bodies. Many bodies showing torture, and reports of rapes were widespread If you have not seen the pictures or stories they are really truly disturbing. It's difficult to imagine how Russia will ever be able to re-engage with the rest of the world as a normal operating country after this. The Russian army turned out to be much more roving drunken criminal gang than competent professional military.

The moniker of 'Orc' seems horrifyingly apt with what folks are finding moving back into these cities with these absolutely sickening displays of barbarism committed by an army of ill-disciplined goons and thugs. It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep a level, pragmatic approach to these things concerning 'what needs to be done', because I hear shit like this and just feel like the only solution is to put the hammer down on these chucklefucks and melt them like those Wagner fucks got melted in Syria.

But barring, admittedly petty and unrealistic, AC-130 based vengeance Russia cannot be allowed back onto the world stage if it cannot even -pretend- to act like a civilized country.

- - - Updated - - -

At the end, we can say mean things about Russia, but we are truly helpless and incapable of stopping them because of their nuclear arsenal. I genuinely do believe Putin will win and take Ukraine, and then he will extend his conquest to the rest of Europe after he is emboldened by his victory and the notion he cannot be stopped with the fear of MAD.

The moment Russia steps foot into a NATO country they will cease to exist and Putin knows this. Their Army is a fucking joke, their air force is a joke. All they're good at is punching down and slaughtering people who cannot fight back, and this is on full display with how piss poor they're doing in Ukraine, and you naively think that a concerted NATO military operation won't just fold them in half? The disparity of hard power makes even the Nuclear threat a joke.

[Poopymonster]

I think its time to petition globals because Flair and Rozz just dont give a shit about job they volunteered to do.

Just clicked on their name, posts by user, and all the ones that are conspiracy theory bullshit report.
If you/I get flagged for "abusing report", in the politics sticky, posting conspiracies is against the rules here.
If we have to bombard the mods by reporting posts that break the rules, then we have to do so.
The more the merrier.

[DarkAmbient]

Bombarding the mods with reports is more likely to get the thread locked than anything else...