comment: >
  
  Wow!  So very brave!
context: New post can be found here >
  
  Excellent. >
  
  "putin's war" >
  
  Rusky mir >
  
  I mean, technically it did show how far Russia had come since the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991. It turns out: not very far. >
  
  I would argue that it went quite a distance downhill... >
  
  I finally googled it:
  "BMP" stands for “Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty”, Russian for infantry fighting vehicle. >
  
  “Military and absolutist regimes are undoubtedly well fitted to get the jump on an unsuspecting or unprepared enemy; but the history of modern warfare proves that they cannot win over representative governments in the long run, provided that people behind those governments have the heart to sustain initial punishment, and both the will and the resources to fight back.” ~ Samuel Eliot Morison >
  
  Yep Morison is a great historian.
  There is a reason why Authoritarian governments always fail. The lies become a house of cards that is destined to fall.
  Also, authoritarian governments cannot manage a middle class.
  The middle class is what makes democracies strong. Not the rich. Not the poor. The middle class have the ability to make changes and the desire that make them. The rich don’t want change. The poor don’t have the ability.
  A country like Russia that does not have a middle class is always destined to fail.
  In Russia’s case this failure is going to be quite spectacular. 🍿 >
  
  Russia does have a middle class though >
  
  Not like in democracies.
  Russia has the greatest disparity of wealth in the word. In a country of 140 million people about 9000 people have over 90% of the assets.
  The middle class is virtually non-existent outside Moscow and PSB.
  Where I am from, Australia, we have the highest median wealth in the world - about $340k USD.
  I hate to think what Russia’s median wealth is.
  As a rough guess, it might be 2K USD, but I’m probably overestimating. >
  
  I checked and it's about 7k. I'm not sure how that's even possible, since I assume wealth should also include your home's value. >
  
  What would they defend? The conscripts they couldnt care less about?. >
  
  its for show so the people of moscow believe they are in danger so the coming mobilization go down a bit easier >
  
  If they are mobilizing in moscow then russia is truly done for. >
  
  It would be great way for russia to plant spies or instigators. Makes sense. >
  
  And anyone resolved to flee mobilization out of any sort of sense of consciousness would have already seen this coming and done so by now. The next wave are more likely to be people who've been drinking Putin's kool-aid up until the point where they have to participate. They'll likely continue drinking that kool-aid no matter where they end up.
  Not against vetting out the good people still caught up in that mix for whatever reason but that's a huge and largely untenable operation so as a blanket policy this is reasonable and expected. >
  
  White House: Here are 323.912 individual pieces of evidence as proof of your war crimes.
  Wagner: They must be fake. I saw 2 Ukrainians doing war crimes too. What about USA in Iraq? >
  
  Whatabout requires you admit to the accusation in the first place. >
  
  A lot of people miss this fact, and keep consuming “news” that includes whataboutism. >
  
  Whoa, lots of hardware today. Wonder where? >
  
  German Tank Megathread Day 33 >
  
  If I had a dollar everytime a German Tank gets mentioned lately, I could send the tanks myself >
  
  WHY ARE U NOT SENDING TANKS DO U HATE UKRAINE!?
  (/s) >
  
  They need to send at least two or Scholz will take refuge in the fact that he stipulated “Abrams tankS” (plural) >
  
  Send a dozen, who gives a fuck. The US has more than what they need/want. >
  
  Still no official word on the explosion yesterday in Berdyansk.
  However:
  
  . . . pro-Ukrainian locals inform us that the cause of yesterday's explosion was a strong ‘arrival’ at the base of Russian invaders.
  . . . a missile landed on the invaders in the RTS area.^1 There were supposedly enemy vehicles and soldiers here.
  The locals took a video from the scene, which shows a huge crater, apparently left after a missile hit.
  
  
  ^(^1) ^(RTS is an old Soviet or pre-soviet term, from the collective farming days, something like “Repairs & Technical Station,” but it would be a whole neighborhood, iirc.) >
  
  actual news:
  Italy will send the SAMP/T missile system to Ukraine, Italy's foreign minister says >
  
  
  technological superiority of Russian weapons
  
  If anyone had still any doubts they aren't trolling and bullshitting, that is your moneyquote. >
  
  Was reading up a bit on Wagner Group and what kind of loonies are members of it.
  There is the Rusich, a neo-nazi regiment of it, headed by some guy called Alexey Milchakov. From Wikipedia: Milchakov first came to public attention after he filmed himself torturing and decapitating a puppy in 2011, posting the footage online. A petition calling to hold him accountable was supported by more than 5500 people. At the same time animal rights activists addressed FC Zenit fans in order for them to give an assessment to Milchakov's actions. In his VK page he also called for killing of homeless people, puppies and children.
  And in their eyes, they are supposed to be the "defenders of common sense", fighters against "nazi Ukrainians" and the "sodomist and crazy West". Despicable. >
  
  You got to figure any killer for hire is going to be sick in the head. >
  
  So Russia tried to pull what Ukraine did in the Kharkiv offensive, which is to start a punishing offensive in one section of the country and then secretly launch a second one, taking advantage of all attention and resources being focused on the first one. 
  While Ukraine could pull it off by virtue of having more, better equipped soldiers on hand and whittling down the Russians to the point where they didn’t have enough troops to defend the whole line, Russia couldn’t. 
  Ukraine has a fair amount of well-trained and armed troops. Ukraine isn’t shuffling troops around and only able to focus on one location. Heck, Ukraine may even be able to pull off another Kharkiv offensive because again Russia can only make progress by pulling most of their resources to one small area and pushing. 
  Russia may have taken Soledar and be about to take Bakhmut, but it is at the expense of most of the troops they raised in the fall, putting Russia back into the same situation as they were in back in late August. If the ground cooperates, Ukraine could make significant progress quickly now that Russia has wasted its strength. This was Ukraine’s goal. Set up a place to bleed the Russia strength at minimal cost to their own. >
  
  Ukraine has the Eye of Sauron based in Northern Virginia. Little chance of such things working >
  
  I could listen/read these calls all day! >
  
  
  The USA will support the transfer of F-16 fighter jets by allies to Ukraine - the American ambassador to the OSCE. Michael Carpenter, confirmed that Washington will agree with the idea of partners to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
  
  I just noticed this from 4 hours ago on the live thread. Why isn't this today's main talking point? >
  
  anyway if Ukraine loses we will look silly with our jets and tanks doing nothing.
  Somehow either Russia win or someone steps up and says the joke is over now. >
  
  
  Somehow either Russia win
  
  I think I've got a better chance of winning the lottery. >
  
  I’m curious about the logistics of the mobilization.
  Why is it necessary to personally hand over a slip of paper? From various interviews, I gather that a man can indefinitely postpone his recruitment if he can somehow avoid the “ceremony” of personally receiving the paper. Why does that work? Doesn’t the government have a central register of men who have been selected? >
  
  Russia is a very  bureaucratic  country, like calling the war "special operation" makes what Putin could and couldn't do innl regards with recruits. >
  
  That’s precisely why I’d expect such simple draft-dodging to fail. The country where I was born has mandatory military service, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to avoid it — the whole state bureaucracy would grind to a halt for me. No driver’s license, no bank account, no passport, no job… ordinary city life would become impossible.
  The guy interviewed in this article is an extreme example, in that he moved out of the city… but he still retains his IT job. Presumably he is still getting paid? He is still paying for his Internet? He is transferring his salary to his wife, so she can buy food and pay for fuel?
  Why is the Russian state (which, as you say, is very bureaucratic) unable to intervene and lock him out of the system? >
  
  Many goats can breathe a sigh of relief on this day >
  
  Some goats were hurt in the process, may they graze the fields in peace in the afterlife. >
  
  There it is, they're back to their favorite crutch, nuking a western nation. It's the US this time; Germany and Britain take a breather. >
  
  "Gee, Vladimir, what do you wanna do tonight?"
  "The same thing we do every night, Sergei: threaten our enemies in the West!" >
  
  Sounds very promising! >
  
  One of the RF milbloggers posted a recruitment notice that UA used that highlights camaraderie and assistance between units, such as
  
  
  “Providing Starlink, battery and personal support for the duration of work, constant communication. Continual air monitoring, targeting of enemy positions, adjustment. Joint friendly dinners after a successful defeat. 
  
  
  among other details.
  The RF milblogger was totally envious!  
  He posted: 
  
  This is not even a discussion, but simply known that an exchange of views are key, how important horizontal communications are at the front between units. 
  The idea of ​​a quick chat where soldiers and officers can quickly solve problems, or ask neighboring units for ammunition or a drone—that is not a novel concept. Its just that it’s been fully implemented in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. [as in, widespread norm]
  Question—why does this work for our enemies, but to us, the ideas amount to things like, taking smartphones away or interfering with the volunteers, and even more so, vehicles for the military. 
  What's wrong here? Is it that the enemy is more focused on winning? In Ukraine, the generals think differently, and believe that everything that could conceivably aid in achieving victory shouldn’t be held back? What is our problem? We don't want to win? We do not know how to calmly integrate innovations or new ideas? Do we really want to listen to the instructions of general Sobolev all the time? 
  We are fighting a tenacious and intelligent adversary. Who thinks flexibly. It can only be defeated with the help of even more flexible and unexpected solutions. 
  And nothing else.
  
  The other RF milbloggers reposted, implying agreement >
  
  The problem is the Russian soldier can't see that Russia's exclusive and extractive mindset results in the way they act on the battlefield. 
  He highlights the inclusive and collabortive mindset of the Ukrainian soldier working for the common good but doesn't realise that the moment he and his fellow soldiers collaboratively adapt that mindset would mean they have ideologically and morally changed and as a result lack the desire to fight an enemy because they share the same values. 
  He is aware of the actions that make the Ukrainian superior but not their philosophical and moral underpinnings. >
  
  Exactly! >
  
  Medic, from Mariupol:
  
  
  “Life in the city was getting worse and worse every day,  ” recalls Dmitry Gavro. “There was not even the basics, like water. We were lucky that March was very snowy and cold. That saved many people. We collected snow and melted it: we could drink, wash ourselves off. There was a problem with food—the city simply ran out. And the stores were closed. There was nowhere to buy food. We [at the hospital] were helped by the Ukrainian military, who shared stew with us. We poured a can of stew into a pot of water from melted snow and it became little bowls of soup for us to eat.
  
  Do you remember the day when the Russians fired at the maternity hospital?
  
  Oh sure. It was the start of my shift. We did not know what was happening in the city, and suddenly, all of a sudden, a large number of crying pregnant women came to us at once—
  
  Wait, did those women go to the hospital on their own?
  
  Yes, some of the women from the bombed maternity hospital came to our hospital on foot. They were all in a terrible psychological state. They cried, they could not explain anything, not in any normal manner.  No one could understand from them what had happened, it was impossible. 
  Trying to speak with these women—who were now all suddenly in labor—it was difficult, but one of them seemed to have her wits about her, and only then did we learn that the Russians had fired at the maternity hospital. They were then told [by the nurses at the maternity hospital] that everyone who can walk should go on their own towards the regional hospital. It just was not realistic to transport all the wounded women from there. Later, heavier women, late in labor from the maternity hospital began to be brought to the hospital by transport.
  
  Do you know anything about the number of those who died as a result of the terrorist attack in the Mariupol maternity hospital?
  
  Hard to tell. There wasn’t anyone then that could sort through the rubble of the maternity hospital. It was very dangerous, because the shelling continued.
  
  Did you personally seen the woman in all the pictures, the blogger girl, who then unexpectedly moved to Russia and began to talk about the “atrocities of the Azov people”? Were you able to communicate with her?
  
  Yes, I saw her in person. She was in severe shock, she was constantly in a state of panic. We didn't talk to her about anything. And it is unlikely that she could then tell [what happened].
  
  
  Read the rest here