Russian Invasion of Ukraine[In Progress]

[DaRude]

Some current news on the subject. Funny that republicans just want to separate Ukraine funding so it could be voted on separately instead of lumping it together with US budget, but of course it's being spun differently.  Think we all know that Ukrainian aid will pass in some form this time around, but of course its only a start and will have to repeat again in November/December and then every few months leading closer and closer to US presidential election

Pentagon makes last-minute push to save Ukraine aid as shutdown looms

Pentagon officials are making a last-minute lobbying push on Capitol Hill Saturday to prevent Congress from stripping aid to Ukraine from a funding agreement
...
Defense Department officials stressed to House and Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle the importance of approving aid to Kyiv as Ukraine continues to try to fight off Russia’s invasion, the people said. House Republicans are trying to advance a government funding bill that leaves out funding for Ukraine, alarming officials in Kyiv but paving the way for averting a government shutdown otherwise set to start at 12:01 a.m.

 “Republicans are forcing us to choose between supporting Ukraine and averting a shutdown, and the administration is very concerned,” a congressional aide said.
...
With less than 12 hours to go until government appropriations lapse, the House is taking up legislation that includes disaster funding and keeps federal operations going at current spending levels, but includes none of the $20 billion President Biden has said is necessary to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) advanced the legislation after months of GOP infighting over funding the government, hoping to prevent the Republican-controlled House from shouldering the blame for a shutdown.
...
Defense undersecretary, sent a letter to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) decrying a “funding cutoff” for Ukraine.

“DOD has exhausted nearly all available security assistance funding for Ukraine,” the letter states.
...
with so little time to avert a shutdown, the Senate will now face immense pressure to pass the House bill even without aid for Ukraine.

 Supporters of Ukraine say failure to pass the aid will encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin and likely lead European allies to pare back their support for the war.
...
 “They are willing, and they are able, to abandon our allies,” DeLauro said of the GOP. “Let us continue to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.”

There are also elections in Slovakia

With Kremlin apologist leading the polls, Slovakia vote threatens country’s support for Ukraine

Slovaks have been voting in a knife-edge parliamentary election on Saturday that could radically reshape Slovakia’s approach to Ukraine and create deep rifts within NATO and the European Union.

The frontrunner, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has made no secret of his affinity for the Kremlin during the election campaign. He has criticized the West for supporting Ukraine and adopted a strong anti-US message, even accusing Slovakia’s President Zuzana Čaputová of being an “American agent.” He has said that if elected, he would stop sending weapons to Ukraine and block Ukraine’s NATO ambitions.
...

And now to Serbia

NATO bolsters forces in Kosovo as US urges Serbia to withdraw from border

White House calls Serbian military deployment ‘very destabilizing.’

NATO said on Friday it is increasing its peacekeeping presence in northern Kosovo as a result of escalating tensions with neighboring Serbia, as the U.S. called on Serbia to withdraw a military buildup on the border with Kosovo.

The heightening of tensions comes after about 30 heavily armed Serbs stormed the northern Kosovo village of Banjska last Sunday. A Kosovo policeman and three of the attackers were killed in gun battles.

“We need NATO because the border with Serbia is very long and the Serbian army has been recently strengthening its capacities,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti told the Associated Press. “They have a lot of military equipment from both the Russian Federation and China” he said.
...

Of course there is also Africa, Armenia etc...



Soviet Union collapsed because they overestimated their strength, and had no mechanism to scale down, so the west just opened as many fronts as they could to smartly overextend the Soviets. Ironically i believe this is exactly what we're seeing now.

[paxmao]

Some current news on the subject. Funny that republicans just want to separate Ukraine funding so it could be voted on separately instead of lumping it together with US budget, but of course it's being spun differently.  Think we all know that Ukrainian aid will pass in some form this time around, but of course its only a start and will have to repeat again in November/December and then every few months leading closer and closer to US presidential election

Pentagon makes last-minute push to save Ukraine aid as shutdown looms

Pentagon officials are making a last-minute lobbying push on Capitol Hill Saturday to prevent Congress from stripping aid to Ukraine from a funding agreement
[...]
 “Republicans are forcing us to choose between supporting Ukraine and averting a shutdown, and the administration is very concerned,” a congressional aide said.
[...]
 “They are willing, and they are able, to abandon our allies,” DeLauro said of the GOP. “Let us continue to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.”

There are also elections in Slovakia

With Kremlin apologist leading the polls, Slovakia vote threatens country’s support for Ukraine

Slovaks have been voting in a knife-edge parliamentary election on Saturday that could radically reshape Slovakia’s approach to Ukraine and create deep rifts within NATO and the European Union.

The frontrunner, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has made no secret of his affinity for the Kremlin during the election campaign. He has criticized the West for supporting Ukraine and adopted a strong anti-US message, even accusing Slovakia’s President Zuzana Čaputová of being an “American agent.” He has said that if elected, he would stop sending weapons to Ukraine and block Ukraine’s NATO ambitions.
[...]

And now to Serbia

NATO bolsters forces in Kosovo as US urges Serbia to withdraw from border

White House calls Serbian military deployment ‘very destabilizing.’
[...]

Of course there is also Africa, Armenia etc...

Soviet Union collapsed because they overestimated their strength, and had no mechanism to scale down, so the west just opened as many fronts as they could to smartly overextend the Soviets. Ironically i believe this is exactly what we're seeing now.

What is unclear is who those "fronts" may be playing in favour of. My guess is that Putin is trying some payback where he can harm European interests for a cheap price, but there is plenty of time for pay-back. One thing at a time, let's first continue to allow Ruzzia to self-demilitarise itself.

Regarding US funding, we all know there are many Republicans that are keen on allowing Putin to achieve something that could be interpreted as victory. Things sometimes are seen different once you are in government if they ever get there, but for now, Ukraine has enough to have the initiative.

RE Serbia, the "front" was already open, is not really that new. I guess Serbia is just checking how big may the appetite of the US to replay Balkans war II.

Regardless, the war in Ukraine requires an strategy shift. The best outcome at this point would be taking Tokmak, which would fall short of a more decisive outcome that could make Ruzzia rethink their plans.

My guess is that with sufficient aviation and the right munitions, the front dynamics could be changed, but that will not happen until Ukraine gets proper support, instead of timid packages.

[suchmoon]

Soviet Union collapsed because they overestimated their strength, and had no mechanism to scale down, so the west just opened as many fronts as they could to smartly overextend the Soviets. Ironically i believe this is exactly what we're seeing now.

Again with this rewrite of history bullshit...

Soviet Union collapsed because it was an utter shitshow of corruption, incompetence, authoritarianism, and alcoholism. Not that different from Putin's Russia. There was no global conspiracy to "overextend" it, or even if there was one it would have no chance against the largest country in the world with the most natural resources if said country was not a dysfunctional mess.

Western countries were smart enough to develop various flavors of free-ish markets instead of five year plans and state-owned everything. Which is what most of Eastern Europe did too over the last 30 years while Russia managed just a slight variation of soviet shitshow with some oligarchs sprinkled on top. It's still the largest and richest country in the world... with economy smaller than Texas (coincidentally ~30 million Russians, the equivalent of the entire population of Texas, have no indoor plumbing).

Sounds like you're a true believer of Kremlin's "new world order"... I got sad news for you though, it will end badly for you and your compatriots. A 1990s-style decade of turmoil seems probable, before you'll get another shot at building a civilized society and proper economy. Doing the same dictatorship thing over and over again is not going to yield a different result now or ever.

[Branko]

(coincidentally ~30 million Russians, the equivalent of the entire population of Texas, have no indoor plumbing).

That's about 10 million less than people who would starve to death in USA if not for food stamps

[suchmoon]

(coincidentally ~30 million Russians, the equivalent of the entire population of Texas, have no indoor plumbing).

That's about 10 million less than people who would starve to death in USA if not for food stamps

Whenever you post something I can't help but imagine you as the guy in this poster:



But hey, if you aspire to poop in an outhouse just because 'murricans have food stamps, who am I to argue.

[BADecker]

If you want to see what is really happening in Ukraine, here it is. And it's about to slide over into the Western Hemisphere.

Douglas Macgregor - 750,000 Lifted in Ukraine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MGFX8I5W0M.

[paxmao]

(coincidentally ~30 million Russians, the equivalent of the entire population of Texas, have no indoor plumbing).

That's about 10 million less than people who would starve to death in USA if not for food stamps

Whenever you post something I can't help but imagine you as the guy in this poster:



But hey, if you aspire to poop in an outhouse just because 'murricans have food stamps, who am I to argue.

The issue here is that some people in this thread are somehow thinking of Ruzzia as the USSR - the soviet times. It is well said that the USSR was mostly dysfunctional, but it did have at least, in a very general sense, some level of interest in the wellbeing of Ruzzians. People will queue for potatoes, but they would mostly have at least one potato per person and a place to sleep, with another 4 of their family, but warm.

Am I may hear some ask how that can be "good", and my answer is that before they had the Tzars, which did not give much of a deer's excrement for the general population, so, believe it or not, an improvement.

Now, we have... Putin & Co. Which effectively do not give a deer's poo for the general wellbeing of the population, but have certainly kept the highly effective and non-at-all dysfunctional mass control systems of the communism. Kremlin tea or window fly experience are only for the chosen few, but filtration and torture are for the many. As o now, people may speak about the massive traffic jams or the closing of airports, but they dare not speak in public of the "SVO" as they may just get a first row ticket to the front of said event for doing so.

But still, some in here are still talking about "poverty" and comparing Ruzzia with US or the west as they were still talking about the Soviet Union in economy, influence and power. That is gone - as the stockpiles of Soviet equipment are now going to never be replaced.

[coolcoinz]

(coincidentally ~30 million Russians, the equivalent of the entire population of Texas, have no indoor plumbing).

That's about 10 million less than people who would starve to death in USA if not for food stamps

Love the answer.

In the 21st century we still shit into a hole in the ground when it's negative temperature outside, but you guys also have a problem with poor people!
Let's not try to deny nor fix the problem because someone in another part of the world has some problems too!

-Hey, dude, you still live in your mother's basement and watch porn all day at the age of 30!
-Yes, but people in Zimbabwe live in mud huts and run barefoot, so I'm not in the worst possible situation here.

If Russian military plans are as well thought and prepared as your arguments, you guys are done.

[Branko]

(coincidentally ~30 million Russians, the equivalent of the entire population of Texas, have no indoor plumbing).

That's about 10 million less than people who would starve to death in USA if not for food stamps

Love the answer.

In the 21st century we still shit into a hole in the ground when it's negative temperature outside, but you guys also have a problem with poor people!
Let's not try to deny nor fix the problem because someone in another part of the world has some problems too!

-Hey, dude, you still live in your mother's basement and watch porn all day at the age of 30!
-Yes, but people in Zimbabwe live in mud huts and run barefoot, so I'm not in the worst possible situation here.

Is Russian military plans are as well thought prepared as your arguments, you guys are done.

Thats not the meaning behind my words...the meaning was "GET THE HELL OUT OF UKRAINE AND SOLVE YOUR POVERTY PROBLEMS, LET RUSSIANS
GET INDOOR PLUMBING INSTEAD BEEN FORCED TO GO TO WAR"

[suchmoon]

Thats not the meaning behind my words...the meaning was "GET THE HELL OUT OF UKRAINE AND SOLVE YOUR POVERTY PROBLEMS, LET RUSSIANS
GET INDOOR PLUMBING INSTEAD BEEN FORCED TO GO TO WAR"

That's a new one... Ukrainians forced Russians to not have indoor plumbing? Does that qualify as biological warfare?

[paxmao]

Thats not the meaning behind my words...the meaning was "GET THE HELL OUT OF UKRAINE AND SOLVE YOUR POVERTY PROBLEMS, LET RUSSIANS
GET INDOOR PLUMBING INSTEAD BEEN FORCED TO GO TO WAR"

That's a new one... Ukrainians forced Russians to not have indoor plumbing? Does that qualify as biological warfare?

The narrative is that Putin was "forced" to go to war. However it is still unclear how was that the only option left. That is, what would have been so terrible and devastating for Ruzzia is they had simply continued being a good commercial partner to Europe and an active responsible actor in the world.

My answer is that Ruzzia does not want to grow as other countries by growing the economy, improving productivity, creating markets, technology or specialising ... oh, or plumbing to avoid gonadic freezing injuries.

Ruzzia grows by grabbing. Thus, if they run the risk of not being able to kleptokrat Ukraine... they are "forced" to war. It is a systemic issue, it is far easier to "grab" a mine and get paid for the resources that actually develop anything useful for the world that someone would be happy to pay for. Just look at Ruzzias exports: Weapons, grain, oil, ... nothing that you have to "create".

Russia's main exports are: fuels and energy products (63 percent of total shipments, of which crude oil and natural gas accounted for 26 percent and 12 percent respectively); metals (10 percent);

does people realize that Wagner used to get paid a percent of the income generated from mines they were able to "grab" (in Africa or anywhere else BTW).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/25/where-does-wagner-get-its-money-how-russias-mercenaries-turned-rebels-earned-millions-from-contracts-and-mining-deals/

How Russia’s Mercenaries-Turned-Rebels Earned Millions From Contracts And Mining Deals.

This is Ruzzias "growth" model.

[TwitchySeal]

Thats not the meaning behind my words...the meaning was "GET THE HELL OUT OF UKRAINE AND SOLVE YOUR POVERTY PROBLEMS, LET RUSSIANS
GET INDOOR PLUMBING INSTEAD BEEN FORCED TO GO TO WAR"

That's a new one... Ukrainians forced Russians to not have indoor plumbing? Does that qualify as biological warfare?

The narrative is that Putin was "forced" to go to war. However it is still unclear how was that the only option left. That is, what would have been so terrible and devastating for Ruzzia is they had simply continued being a good commercial partner to Europe and an active responsible actor in the world.

My answer is that Ruzzia does not want to grow as other countries by growing the economy, improving productivity, creating markets, technology or specialising ... oh, or plumbing to avoid gonadic freezing injuries.

Ruzzia grows by grabbing. Thus, if they run the risk of not being able to kleptokrat Ukraine... they are "forced" to war. It is a systemic issue, it is far easier to "grab" a mine and get paid for the resources that actually develop anything useful for the world that someone would be happy to pay for. Just look at Ruzzias exports: Weapons, grain, oil, ... nothing that you have to "create".

Russia's main exports are: fuels and energy products (63 percent of total shipments, of which crude oil and natural gas accounted for 26 percent and 12 percent respectively); metals (10 percent);

does people realize that Wagner used to get paid a percent of the income generated from mines they were able to "grab" (in Africa or anywhere else BTW).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/25/where-does-wagner-get-its-money-how-russias-mercenaries-turned-rebels-earned-millions-from-contracts-and-mining-deals/

How Russia’s Mercenaries-Turned-Rebels Earned Millions From Contracts And Mining Deals.

This is Ruzzias "growth" model.

If Ukraine were to continue down the progressive road leading west and it became more like the Western countries that Oligarchs spend most of their time  (and money) and Russians went for vacation back when they were allowed...that would be bad news for Russia.

Eventually Russians would start to wonder "why can't we be like that?" and realize the answer was Putin.

[Branko]

Thats not the meaning behind my words...the meaning was "GET THE HELL OUT OF UKRAINE AND SOLVE YOUR POVERTY PROBLEMS, LET RUSSIANS
GET INDOOR PLUMBING INSTEAD BEEN FORCED TO GO TO WAR"

That's a new one... Ukrainians forced Russians to not have indoor plumbing? Does that qualify as biological warfare?

The same way USA was forced to threaten to nuke Cuba?
If I would be Putin, I'd again try to put nukes on Cuba, just
to show western hypocrisy

If Ukraine were to continue down the progressive road leading west and it became more like the Western countries that Oligarchs spend most of their time  (and money) and Russians went for vacation back when they were allowed...that would be bad news for Russia.

Eventually Russians would start to wonder "why can't we be like that?" and realize the answer was Putin.

Pre-war Russia had double per capita GDP than Ukraine...millions of Ukrainians went to work to Russia to make ends meet, not other way around
IMF, Americans and corruption devastated Ukraine even before war

[TwitchySeal]

Pre-war Russia had double per capita GDP than Ukraine...millions of Ukrainians went to work to Russia to make ends meet, not other way around
IMF, Americans and corruption devastated Ukraine even before war

Im sure it had nothing to do with the famine that Stalin intentionally caused, killing 3+ million Ukrainians by seizing all the grain in response to middle class of Ukrainians calling for independence from Russiain.  This was before the war where Russia and the Nazis made a secret deal to not get in each others way to each take half of Ukraine (Stalins story was that it was to stop the genocide of ethnic Ukrainian's lol).

[Branko]

Pre-war Russia had double per capita GDP than Ukraine...millions of Ukrainians went to work to Russia to make ends meet, not other way around
IMF, Americans and corruption devastated Ukraine even before war

Im sure it had nothing to do with the famine that Stalin intentionally caused, killing 3+ million Ukrainians by seizing all the grain in response to middle class of Ukrainians calling for independence from Russiain.  This was before the war where Russia and the Nazis made a secret deal to not get in each others way to each take half of Ukraine (Stalins story was that it was to stop the genocide of ethnic Ukrainian's lol).

Yes, I'm pretty sure, too

Also, Stalin was not Russian

[DaRude]

Some current news on the subject. Funny that republicans just want to separate Ukraine funding so it could be voted on separately instead of lumping it together with US budget, but of course it's being spun differently.  Think we all know that Ukrainian aid will pass in some form this time around, but of course its only a start and will have to repeat again in November/December and then every few months leading closer and closer to US presidential election

Pentagon makes last-minute push to save Ukraine aid as shutdown looms

Pentagon officials are making a last-minute lobbying push on Capitol Hill Saturday to prevent Congress from stripping aid to Ukraine from a funding agreement
[...]
 “Republicans are forcing us to choose between supporting Ukraine and averting a shutdown, and the administration is very concerned,” a congressional aide said.
[...]
 “They are willing, and they are able, to abandon our allies,” DeLauro said of the GOP. “Let us continue to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.”

There are also elections in Slovakia

With Kremlin apologist leading the polls, Slovakia vote threatens country’s support for Ukraine

Slovaks have been voting in a knife-edge parliamentary election on Saturday that could radically reshape Slovakia’s approach to Ukraine and create deep rifts within NATO and the European Union.

The frontrunner, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has made no secret of his affinity for the Kremlin during the election campaign. He has criticized the West for supporting Ukraine and adopted a strong anti-US message, even accusing Slovakia’s President Zuzana Čaputová of being an “American agent.” He has said that if elected, he would stop sending weapons to Ukraine and block Ukraine’s NATO ambitions.
[...]

And now to Serbia

NATO bolsters forces in Kosovo as US urges Serbia to withdraw from border

White House calls Serbian military deployment ‘very destabilizing.’
[...]

Of course there is also Africa, Armenia etc...

Soviet Union collapsed because they overestimated their strength, and had no mechanism to scale down, so the west just opened as many fronts as they could to smartly overextend the Soviets. Ironically i believe this is exactly what we're seeing now.

What is unclear is who those "fronts" may be playing in favour of. My guess is that Putin is trying some payback where he can harm European interests for a cheap price, but there is plenty of time for pay-back. One thing at a time, let's first continue to allow Ruzzia to self-demilitarise itself.

Regarding US funding, we all know there are many Republicans that are keen on allowing Putin to achieve something that could be interpreted as victory. Things sometimes are seen different once you are in government if they ever get there, but for now, Ukraine has enough to have the initiative.

RE Serbia, the "front" was already open, is not really that new. I guess Serbia is just checking how big may the appetite of the US to replay Balkans war II.

Regardless, the war in Ukraine requires an strategy shift. The best outcome at this point would be taking Tokmak, which would fall short of a more decisive outcome that could make Ruzzia rethink their plans.

My guess is that with sufficient aviation and the right munitions, the front dynamics could be changed, but that will not happen until Ukraine gets proper support, instead of timid packages.

For me it's quiet clear. Fundamentally, previously expansionism, colonialism, spheres of influences etc... were all decided by force (hard power). Then we got to the pinnacle of that with MAD, so military forces were pretty even on that front. Then US ingeniously realized that expansionism can still continue but instead of hard power which it didn't have much advantage in anymore, it can be achieved with soft power, taking cookies away from places that didn't matter Africa, south America etc... and strategically giving them out in places where they mattered the most, countries bordering their opponents, and places of conflict. China picked up on that and started playing on that field with their Belt and Road Initiative, Russia was too weak to play on that field so it couldn't do anything but watch NATO expanding to its borders with cookies (soft power). Russia was gutted to bare bones with only Russian speaking Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan left in its sphere, it realized that this was an existential threat and drew a red line indicating that they were willing to protect the remainder of the sphere in the only playing field it had a chance in, which was going back to the hard power. But as we know US ignored it, and democratic cookies still showed up in Ukraine and then Kazakhstan and Belarus. Of course Europe saw the soft power expansionism and didn't really cared much for it, but had little choice in the matter. Now essentially gloves are off, all sides will hit where it'll hurt the most and Ukraine is nothing but a small piece in this puzzle. Masses are conditioned to consume and live today by borrowing from the future, so naturally they're not willing to sacrifice short term for some long term gain, thus are more exposed to war fatigue . This is easily exploitable by populist and is less of a concert in a less democratic states, so it has little to do with Putin, just an easy way to get/stay in power for career politicians. Thus US elections shouldn't really be a surprise for anyone.

US passed 45day stopgap budget without Ukrainian aid, so now if they want to send more money it'll have to be voted on separately, so everyone will have to reveal their position, which might carry liability for republicans who'll have to fall in line and get behind on the policy of their next candidate.

And A party headed by a pro-Kremlin figure came out top after securing more votes than expected in an election in Slovakia, official results show, in what could pose a challenge to NATO and EU unity on Ukraine...Speaking after his victory, Fico doubled down on his rhetoric, said he “will do everything” in his power to kickstart Russia-Ukraine peace talks...Fico has pledged an immediate end to Slovak military support for Ukraine and promised to block Ukraine’s NATO ambitions in what would upend Slovakia’s staunch backing for Ukraine...this will likely change under Fico, who has blamed “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” for provoking Russia’s President Vladimir Putin into launching the invasion

Not a lot of good news for Ukraine, guessing to intersept the news headlines UK former Secretary of State for Defence decided to publishes this optimistic piece to raise the morale. It's filled with typical propaganda you'd expect out of former Secretary of State, except for this one piece.

Ukraine is winning. Now let’s finish the job
...
Ukraine can also play its part. The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40. I understand President Zelensky’s desire to preserve the young for the future, but the fact is that Russia is mobilising the whole country by stealth. Putin knows a pause will hand him time to build a new army. So just as Britain did in 1939 and 1941, perhaps it is time to reassess the scale of Ukraine’s mobilisation.

So apparently Russia is stealthy mobilising the whole country thus old man from another country demand more and younger Ukrainian blood to the front lines. Should Ukraine start conscripting 16yr olds now?

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[BADecker]

~

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

You got that right about Zelensky. Actually, I think he never stopped being a comedian. Ukraine is so dead, that it takes a comedian to pull off what Zelensky is doing.

Russia is planting landmines everywhere in Ukraine - https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-mining-everywhere-ukraine-explosives-fridges-toys-books-military-engineers-2023-8?op=1. The cost of removing them will be almost as much as the war is costing Ukraine. Much of Ukraine land is worthless simply because of this. Russians won't want the land, even after the war is formally over. And Ukrainians who left the country won't want to come back to this.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=russians+planting+explosive+mines+in+Ukraine+land&ia=web


2 Very Ominous Events That Are Going To Happen This Week


http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/2-very-ominous-events-that-are-going-to-happen-this-week/
This week, two "tests" will be conducted that sound rather ominous.  The first of these "tests" will happen in Russia on Tuesday.  Vladimir Putin has ordered the very first "nationwide nuclear attack exercise" in the entire history of his country, and that is making headlines all over the globe…

Russia will stage its first nationwide nuclear attack exercise across 11 time zones in preparation for potential nuclear war.

It is scheduled to take place on October 3 and will see Vladimir Putin's regime present the West as a nuclear aggressor.

If Vladimir Putin was entirely convinced that there is zero chance that a nuclear war will happen, he would not have ordered these drills.

Obviously he believes that there is at least a remote possibility that the conflict in Ukraine could spark a nuclear war.

It is being reported that this exercise will assume "that martial law has been introduced in Russia" and that a nuclear attack by the western powers would destroy "up to 70% of Russian housing"…

The one-day nuclear attack exercise, which has only ever been done region by region, will include preparation for the destruction of up to 70% of Russian housing stock and life support facilities.

It will assume the scenario that martial law has been introduced in Russia and that is has gone through full mobilisation.
...

[LTU_btc]

Eventually Russians would start to wonder "why can't we be like that?" and realize the answer was Putin.

No way that they would realize it. They rather would blame USA, EU and whole West in general for their problems. Like some time ago it even become popular joke to blame Obama for potholes on Russian roads or shit in children playground.

[DaRude]

Eventually Russians would start to wonder "why can't we be like that?" and realize the answer was Putin.

No way that they would realize it. They rather would blame USA, EU and whole West in general for their problems. Like some time ago it even become popular joke to blame Obama for potholes on Russian roads or shit in children playground.

I'm not trying to say that there's no whataboutism going on in Russia, but it's hilarious that with plethora of examples you couldn't come up with anything better than the  Thanks, Obama meme

[TwitchySeal]

Pre-war Russia had double per capita GDP than Ukraine...millions of Ukrainians went to work to Russia to make ends meet, not other way around
IMF, Americans and corruption devastated Ukraine even before war

Im sure it had nothing to do with the famine that Stalin intentionally caused, killing 3+ million Ukrainians by seizing all the grain in response to middle class of Ukrainians calling for independence from Russiain.  This was before the war where Russia and the Nazis made a secret deal to not get in each others way to each take half of Ukraine (Stalins story was that it was to stop the genocide of ethnic Ukrainian's lol).

Yes, I'm pretty sure, too

Also, Stalin was not Russian

Stalin became the leader of the Soviet union 15 years before the start of WW2.

He literally manufactured a famine that killed millions of Ukrainians because he saw the middle class calling for independence threatening.

So, Ukraine gets invaded by Russia twice during WW1, then goes through a famine that killed millions intentionally created by Stalin, then during WW2 gets tag teamed by the nazis and Soviets, spends the next few decades living under the iron curtain, finally independence in the 90s and now here you are trying to defend Putin blowing up whatever he can because the west is so evil...