>

Sucks to suck. Night night.
You’d think military training 101 would be ‘don’t give away your position’ 
Guy posts a tik tok and is immediately blown up, shitty way to go. >

It is a shitty way to die. They have no real training, just rounded up and thrown on the front as fodder. But much better than any Ukrainian deaths at their hand. >


They have no real training

I feel like "stay off social media while in a literal warzone" is common sense, not training. >

Yeah, but then again common sense is generally not used when one is drunk. >

These are by and large unwilling participants at this point.   Reddit decrys the barbarism Russia treats Ukrainian pows with but spews levity about Russians dying; where is the disconnect between the fate of pows and conscripts receiving the same treatment?  Folks say they can just leave if they don't like it, and using the same logical falicy to employ words like draft dodger to desperage people on the opposite political speftrum in the US.  
The average citizen of any country does not have the utilitarian knowledge of how to escape a government that has turned on them and controls the borders.  This is something that only bean and ammo hoarders would consider a short coming, whether or not that's a wise position is not the point.  The reality is that alexi the plumber  and Joe the plumber are equally fucked if their homeland employed a program like this. >

I think one point worth making is that Russians however made it into a system like this. They were essentially treating politics as some sort of a natural disaster happening. You can't talk with a tornado or an earthquake. 
It's the same with politics there. Everyone goes like "I am not interested about politics". Then you end up with cities like Chita that look like literal garbage disposals rather than an actual place where people could live. Because nobody cares. Any sorts of bottom-up initiatives are mocked, there is no incentive at all to do any long term planning and so on. So governments get all too comfortable with their positions and eventually expand into oligarchy states. We have seen this over and over again all over the world. But it doesn't happen overnight, it takes many, many years of collectively not giving a fuck. 
Now it's too late. At the start of this war there were people protesting in Moscow and Petersburg. Apparently 20000 ended up being detained. But also:

More than 30,000 technology workers,[208] 6,000 medical workers, 3,400 architects,[209] more than 4,300 teachers,[210] more than 17,000 artists,[211] 5,000 scientists,[212] and 2,000 actors, directors, and other creative figures signed open letters calling for Putin's government to stop the war.[213][214] Some Russians who signed petitions against Russia's war in Ukraine lost their jobs.[215] 

Country of 140 million citizens. Out of which mere 67000 were arsed enough to sign a petition against literally killing people from a neighbouring country. Russians collectively asked for this outcome. 
Women in Iran of all places act way braver than this. 
And heck, if we are comparing Slavic nations - Poland had 10 million people (yes, 1/3 of the whole working class) joining Solidarność (which was openly against changes made by soviet led government) and at some point millions went to the streets.
Vietnam and USA perhaps? There were more people on the streets than soldiers deployed.
I do feel bad for those that cared about all of this and still ended up being drafted. They were just caught in this madness. But the silent majority that didn't give a fuck about their country deciding to go for a war? Well, good luck getting drafted now, enjoy HIMARS to the face. 
I know it's a controversial statement but I simply do not agree with considering them "unwilling" participants. They were very willing according to most available polls (and it is possible to get accurate results from these as somehow afterwards these numbers dropped a lot despite penalties for criticising this war going up) until that first wave of general mobilization hit.
It's also not Putin personally that has assembled torture chambers for teenagers or has decided to let parents watch their kids get killed for funsies by Russian troops. It also wasn't him that has thrown grenades to basements with hiding civilians. Or putting mines inside a fridge. There are individual names under each of these war crimes and none of them is related to the government. >

My Polish partner, who grew up before the wall fell, always told me, when I "fantasized" about the Russian people as having such an amazing past (literature, music, etc), always responded by saying that Russians are a slave people. They get shat on by their successive governments and never ever fight back, she said. They accept any crap, pour their heads down and move on, according to her.
I struggled to believe that for years, but seeing the lack of care, of interest in what's happening in what is essentially their sister country, really gave credibility to my partner's opinion... And it seems like the Russians didn't care all that much until it hit them personally, with the mobilization, failing economy, etc. >

“They get shat on by their successive governments and never ever fight back”
Russians overthrew their government in 1917 - 1923. >

Overthrew the royal family - then got Stalin >

They got a democratically elected Menshevik government, which was then escorted out by gunpoint, replaced by Lenin's Government, which was then put under Stalin (who, mind you, Lenin was against due to his poor temperament).
Serfs and lowly millers helping overthrow an oppressive regime isn't unheard of, them being able to do anything without military support is very, very rare.
The peasant revolts against the Soviets were crushed, mercilessly. 
Old Sasha with his grandpa's 1891 three line isn't going to do shit against an organised force.
Keyboard warriors on Reddit really like to oversimplify how fucked the country has been for the longest time. >

Tha Marine Corps did a thing a few years back where they identified berthing areas in a field op based on cell phone signal emissions.Might not be the smartest thing to carry if you have people looking to kill you. >

There’s going to be a person now before you enter war like there is on an airplane. Please put all of your devices in airplane mode and do not turn them back on for the duration of the invasion. >

There's always one that manages to smuggle one in. When I was in infantry training we had a guy get caught with a cellphone 3 times. He had a helicopter mom that would visit him on the weekend with a new phone and get caught every time. >

That warrants 200 pushups from the entire platoon every time someone get caught. >

The dude probably averaged 4 hours of sleep since he had firewatch every night with one of our staff sergeants. One night he fell asleep with his hands in his pocket and smashed his face open. I'm not sure what happened to him after that since he was recycled, but he couldn't catch a break. >

There’s always that one dude. >

Private Paula. >

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 75%. (I'm a bot)


Russian soldiers in Ukraine made worried calls home as their efforts in Ukraine faltered - but their loved ones weren't the only ones listening.
Ukrainian forces used the cell phone calls made by Russian soldiers to locate them and wipe the troops out in large numbers, according to an investigation published by The New York Times that details Russia's blunders throughout the war.
"We listened to the Russian soldiers as they panicked and called their friends and relatives," a Ukrainian official who leads the efforts to intercept the phone calls told The Times.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: soldiers^#1 Ukrainian^#2 calls^#3 Russian^#4 phone^#5 >

Imagine the psy-op value of this. You’re a Russian on the front line and you’re scared and hungry and you just wanna talk to your girl back home. But you can’t. You can’t because they are listening. And they will use your phone call to find you and then they will kill you. They are always listening. They are everywhere. >

It’s interesting what they are and are not saying here. They are also reminding Russian officers that the Ukrainians are always listening, which seems counterintuitive. Why aren’t the Ukrainians worried about divulging this secret? Because the officers are not discussing secret plans on unencrypted cell phones anymore - and the Ukrainians aren’t the only ones listening. Remember the dozens of Russian generals targeted and eliminated with such frequency it stopped making the news? NATO isn’t only providing weapons to Ukraine…. >

Pretty clear by now that Russian military "might" is little more than the threat of nuclear attack. It's army seems to be a bunch of disorganised, under equipped and badly trained people. I wouldn't be surprised if Russia's nukes are so poorly maintained they don't really pose a threat either. Putin must surely be melting down on the down low. >

I thought the same thing about their nuclear weapons but someone pointed out that they only need a couple to work properly to be a legitimate threat. 
I mean, Russia would get physically erased from the map if they tried to lob a nuke at anyone, but the threat is still real. >

I’ve always wondered if NATO’s ability to shoot shit down is good enough for nukes. >

Nothing can shoot down an ICBM. Reagan spent a trillion dollars in the 80s trying to make a system work and it never did. >

Kinetic bombardment 

A kinetic bombardment or a kinetic orbital strike is the hypothetical act of attacking a planetary surface with an inert kinetic projectile from orbit (orbital bombardment), where the destructive power comes from the kinetic energy of the projectile impacting at very high speeds. The concept originated during the Cold War. Typical depictions of the tactic are of a satellite containing a magazine of tungsten rods and a directional thrust system. When a strike is ordered, the launch vehicle brakes one of the rods out of its orbit and into a suborbital trajectory that intersects the target.

^([ )^(F.A.Q)^( | )^(Opt Out)^( | )^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)^( | )^(GitHub)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5) >

Rods from God, baby >

I just watched a Veritasium video on this. I enjoyed it though comments seemed to swing a bit negative. >

It was arguably the worst video he has ever made >

Yeah, and the first one that was really clickbaity. "We tested this secret superweapon" became "we dropped steel lock from a helicopter onto a sandcastle...". >

Now, that’s just going to make Putin warn of serious consequences.
Again. >

Don't text and war. >

Russia is just forcing citizens to fight and die. Their actual military forces are long dead, and now it’s just average joes. Ukrainians have no choice but to keep killing. It’s a terrible situation. >

Their soldiers aren’t long dead. There’s a subreddit that’s posts the deaths of the officers and there’s a steady stream coming in. Also the actual soldiers push the prisoners to the front. If they run then they shoot. They probably do the same with civilians. >

Famous Russian '3-lines', as used during WW2.
front line = fighting
second line = shoot front line if not fighting/obeying orders
third line = shoot second line if they're not shooting a misbehaving first line.
Yes front line is yer total cannon fodder. >

Russia has 8 million men of military age left. And they are sending 1.5 million to die next year. The demographic collapse has just spread up by a decade >

Is their vast unused land up for grabs once they’ve all suicide missioned themselves? >

Only for China. China is the big winner of this war. >

This may be a dumb question but I would be interested in seeing the US create a second USA there, like USB. >

that's not a question >

Curious as to how these soldiers charge their cell phones.  And how they get service. >

Really curious about this too - you're in another country, you connect to the carriers in that country which are monitored by that government and call a +7 dial code to call Russia? That can't be the case surely. Do Russian soldiers go to war with their work phone and their personal phone with all their social media feed documenting their time killing Ukrainians? >

Think of it like this, why are so many calls of russians being recorded and utilized by Ukraine? Russians especially after drinking are not the brightest out there. Now the one thing russia has going for it is that due to the country and those being sent being so pour, many do not have modern day phones. So they won't be so tied down by that and GPS. But you can be damn sure they are being used against them. >

Exactly. It's not like the average conscript from some far-flung hinterland understands the core principles of infosec. I mean, I work in an office in the USA and Janet in Accounting doesn't understand the core principles of infosec and she has a masters degree. How is a barely literate conscripted peasant soldier supposed to know this shit? >

Fucking Janet. >

It’s wild to me that in a war zone they have access to their personal cellphones. 
I was never in the military but assumed US solders only call home when at base. >

Well the Russian communication system was janky to start and when it got wrecked... well most people have phones these days. >

They never prepared for this because they thought it would be over in a matter of a month. I would’ve never thought a country would go into a war so ill prepared but boy was I wrong >

Their arrogant asses will deny it till the end of their lives too. Also my Russian anti-war media was saying that Kyiv was supposed to take 4 and a half hours or smth like that. >

Tovarishchi, the first rule of Special Military Operation is that you don't TikTok about Special Military Operation. >

Tovarisch is a bit more Soviet, friend in Russian is "друг" like "drewg", plural being "drewzhia" >


drewg

Droog?
I know lots of the slang in A Clockwork Orange is based on Russian. >

I actually picked up the same romanization from Fallen Angels, by Niven, Pournelle, and Flynn, where it's used by the mixed Russian and American exiled inhabitants of abandoned and united space stations¹.
Nonetheless, in this case, "tovarishchi" ("comrades", sing. "tovarishch"), as the old Soviet style of address, was a precise and deliberate choice.
1: It makes sense in context, I swear. >

Man, 20 years ago they were telling us not to bring our cell phones on missions, how is that not part of current discipline? >

This is kinda sad ngl >

Yeah regardless of geopolitics knowing that panicked calls home to relatives and friends were being used to hunt down soldiers is a really sad thing >

Have you heard what some of those fuckers are talking about in those calls?  You should watch Insights from Ukraine on YT - specifically the one about the soldier talking to his mum about how much he enjoys torturing prisoners and how he does it. >

Because that person represents every person? You might be a psychopath with that lack of empathy. >

Sociopath.  And what he said didn't seem that way to me.  He CLEARLY said 'some of them'. >

When you turn on your phone it tries to connects to the nearest tower and sends IMEI data (about the phone) and SIM data. 
So what happens is a Russian goes into Ukraine and turns on his phone.


His phone sends IMEI and SIM data to get verified on the network


Instantly Ukrainian intelligence guys see that a previously unknown IMEI and SIM near the Russian border has just popped up. At this point they could cross-reference it to a compromised Russian SIM database and probably work out who he is and where he lives, cross reference that with a compromised military database to see what unit he is a member of, shoe size, eye colour, vaccination history, exam results probably - there are so many compromised Russian databases


They check that it's not a Ukrainian phone or account through using their data to make sure


They know it's Russian so they let them use the network but capture all of the data


The Russian phone connects to 2 more masts, making 3 in total


The Ukrainians now know where the Russian is within 200m at all times when the phone is turned on and looking for a signal, and his phone will be looking for a signal a lot because its relationship with the mast has been adjusted so the signal drops in and out more than would happen normally


They watch the position of all the Russian phones on a live map whilst capturing all their data


When a load of them get together Mr Himars comes to visit >

Oof. Big oof. >

Why would you spill that secret instead of keeping the enemy in the dark how you got them and use that tactic again? >

Doesn't matter. It's not like Russia doesn't know this is a bad idea. They most likely ARE telling their soldiers not to do that. But they do it anyway because:

It gets fucking boring and lonely at the best of times, which these definitely aren't
they're probably relying on cell phones for comms at least to some degree
and it's a very abstract danger. It doesn't feel dangerous. It's not like whenever you dial home Ukrainians immediately pop up and start shooting at you. You've seen dozens of your unit call home and nothing happened. So you figured fuck it, it'll be fine. And it IS fine, time and time again, until one day it isn't and you all get blown up without warning. >

Forcing a GPS and non-removable batteries into our tracking devices sure makes slaughter easier. 
I suppose we are risking a situation where a dictator becomes technologically competent and wages war against us with this method. >

Each HIMARS can burst 180000 titanium balls down on these guys. A true meat grinder. I hope it is over soon.  A real tragedy. >

Tungsten. Not titanium. >

Lol i read that post twice and was like... Why would you waste titanium like that >

Big bad Russia was just a big fat lie. >

Russians did that a lot in 2014
Always learning and adjusting
Nice
Poor Russian souls >

Awesome. I hope an ally showed them how to do it. >

no better example of why OPSEC is so important >

Why are soldiers even allowed to carry civilian phones in a combat zone? They’re a huge liability to operational security. >

They can’t afford to give them anything else and the soldiers need to keep in contact with family to keep morale high >

Actually phones arn't officially allowed .. but they sneak them in. >

This much awfulness is bound to produce an epic Russian novel. >

I am beginning to feel incredibly sorry for the fodder Russia throwing at Ukraine, I would imagine that more surrender points and safe zones need to be communicated so they can give up without being killed. >

That’s why you should use NordVPN today’s sponsor- >

Besides, SurfShark has recently been blocked in Russia. >

Russia be all "YOU CANT DO THAT ITS NOT FAIR WE ~~INVADED~~ LIBERATED YOU FAIR AND SQUARE" >

God, thats thats fucking grim. Seems like senseless slaughter of terrified conscripts to me, given that the one damn thing the Russians don't have a shortage of is terrified conscripts. >

"call a friend".
Next will be 50-50. >

This is fucked. But war is fucked and Ukraine didn't invite this. >

...Two for flinching. >

Can Russia not do the same? I’ve seen many Ukrainian tic tok videos from front lines. >

I assume the Russians making those calls use the Ukrainian telecom network, allowing them to be triangulated. Accurately pinpointing a position from a TikTok video is much harder >

They did the same thing too. Fortunately for Ukraine they have the EU and the US governments giving satellite information, which doesn't get talked about for obvious reasons. When all the dust settles, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the CIA was covertly boots on the ground in both countries. Nothing beats a good real life story and I for one am looking forward to reading all the great stories and watching documentaries on this in the near future. >

Russia can simply call for all their troops to be withdrawn, but if they don’t, then they can expect them to be hammered. >

The Russian military has shown itself to be borderline incompetent >

Only borderline ?  Mainline I would have thought, given what we have seen. >

The use of the word borderline was generous >

Wow Russia only has used soldiers and not new ones I see >

The Russians are doing the same thing to the Ukrainians. People just got to be glued to that cell phone these days >

Shhhhh >

Does Business Insider do any journalism or is its entire business model copypasta for clicks? >

I want Ukraine to win and I think Putin is a piece of shit, but I can't help feeling a deep sense of pity for all these people dying, including Russians. To think that you're maybe calling your mom panicked and they home on your call and kill you is very unsettling. >

Sucks to be them. Also sucks for all the women, children, men and elderly that the russians murdered in cold blood. If they are in Ukraine, with weapons in their hands, then they are legit target. >

Yeah I'm getting really sick of people's hearts going out to what are ultimately a group of invaders who's sorrow rarely come from the ethical realities of what they're doing but rather the fact they aren't winning. 
It's kind of people to have compassion for these soldiers calling loved ones but I think a lot of people fail to realise theyd do worse things 100x over to anyone who's not them without a second thought. >

Lack of discipline, rules and procedures. But American troops find many ingenious ways to give away their positions too. Fitbits Social Media Snaps etc. In Vietnam my Uncle said it was smoking dope and cigarettes and fucking Music got em blown up repeatedly. Not suggesting Yanks are on par with Russian low I.Q’s but lets just say, Yanks don’t get their troops from Harvard. My Granddad was saying in WWII Yanks were the kings of friendly fire as well.. and covering it up. >

hence the WWII saying ' when the Germans fire, the British duck; when the British fire the Germans duck; when the Americans fire, everyone ducks'