Not just generals. According to the higher end estimates, they've lost roughly the same amount of troops generally in the first month in Ukraine as they have in the whole Afghanistan campaign. So they are losing generals in roughly the same proportion of troops generally but at a much higher rate.
Yes the very definition of "useful idiots"
@Strazdas - Very good article in today's Indo about the brainwashing and gaslighting of the Russian public which has been going on for many years.
And all done under Putin's direct orders.
I'm pretty sure he'd do it personally if there were enough days in a week.
I
I'm picking up a fair bit of arrogance and racism in the way they talk about Ukrainian people. Even openly describing them as "neo-Nazis", "drug users" and "bandits" strikes me as them viewing their near neighbour with contempt and they (Russians) thinking they are superior to them. It's all rather unpleasant and doesn't reflect well on them - there's almost a touch of the 'master race' stuff going on.
A lot of the leading figures in the governing SPD party earned their spurs under chancellor Gerhard Schröder, including Olaf Scholz. As a consequence, they would have had regular dealings with staff at the Russian embassy in Berlin, though I doubt all are as corrupt and morally bankrupt as Schröder turned out to be. This was in all likelihood reinforced by the preceding decades of "Ostpolitik" started by Willy Brandt and kept up by every chancellor since then, as well as by a genuine desire to not antagonise Russia again. This has afforded Russia an inordinate amount of influence in Berlin, something that is only now beginning to change, even though reluctantly.
And it's not just the centre-left SPD that's affected by it. The conservative CDU, the party of former chancellor Angela Merkel, has had a similarly close relationship with Russia, dating back to the days of Helmut Kohl, who developed close connections in the mid-eighties and then used them to not only get Gorbachev to agree to reunification in 1990, but to also convince him to withdraw all Russian troops from East German territory. Thankfully, whilst the SPD still needs to be pushed to change by their coalition partners, namely the Greens, the CDU has recently elected a prominently anti-Russian candidate as its leader. As much as I despise Friedrich Merz for his MANY other failings, I doubt he'd ever get as cozy with Putin as Schröder and Merkel did.
Massive fire in Lviv (the city is close to Polosh border). I guess it's the Putler's way of saying "Hi Joe" while Biden is in Poland. TV is only showing smoke in the sky as Lviv governor asked not to show the details that would allow Russians to asses the damage after the attack.
Might make it hard to keep those websites up...
She ran on Win95?
Theres a few nato vessels including french aircraft carrier off the coast of Romania.
They could wipe out the Russian fleet in minutes if they have wanted to and hit Targets in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine
Appears to have been hit by three big missiles.
Some people are indeed wondering if this was aimed at Joe Biden who is at the Poland - Ukraine border this afternoon.
The missiles hit a town on the outskirts of lviv.
Reports are the target was a communication tower.
I'm told many Russians still view Stalin as a hero to the Russian people, totally unaware of the carnage he put to his own people so that's not too surprising to me at all.
Putin would surely be very very careful about not hitting Biden?
That must be unprecedented in modern times. Possibly the start of the Rwandan genocide, but even that was a civil war (if that's really a difference). Can't imagine what the response would be there. But it'd surely legitimately bring the US into things
Nothing 'Marxist' about modern Russia. Russia is more far right than far left. Pretty much all the far right talking points of the last decade Putin is big believer in.
Putins ideology right now is much closer to fascism than communism.
Simpler times for both leaders:-
Hopefully one of the days they'll make a big discovery like Joey
Russia considers bitcoins as a method of payment for oil/gas:
Nazi thing is absolute nonsense. Putin has bankrolled most of the major far right movements across Europe past decade. Russia itself is full of far right neo nazi like groups.
Last Ukraine election only 2% of the electorate voted for right right candidates. That's much much less than in France, Italy, Germany, Sweden etc etc
Irrelevant question, the Ukrainians aren't recruiting mercenaries from Syria, the Russians are
There's no way the Russians have any interest in assassinating Biden.
And what country would be that, Sherlock?
Assinate Biden? They can't even hold on to their weaponry against fcucking farmers. Muppets.
They might be thick but they are not stupid.
That certainly wasn't the case not so long ago, at least in my I grant you limited experience. It's much more a new thing. The nazi thing is even more ridiculous as Mother Russia has her fair share of neo nazi and far right groups. Even Moscow's poster boys for nazis the Azoz had it's genesis in a bunch called Section 82, or something like that, a neo nazi group allied to the Moscow Spartak FC Ultras a Russian neo nazi group that masqueraded as football supporters. Far Right nationalists are not too hard to find in that neck of the woods.
The master race stuff in general when it comes to Russian, and something their autocrat promotes is IMHO more of an insecurity than anything. Their history is framed as being one of victims, attacked from outside 'foreign" forces and the plucky Russians defended their land and pushed them back. The fear of the outsider and the outsider's culture and deviat influence is strong. WW2 reinforced that and propaganda around that terrible event is and has been pushed heavily to the generations since. Well a fearful people are a more controllable people(I have had two Russians tell me Chernobyl was a CIA plot..). A technique used by autocrats even otherwise democratic governments the world over. QV the Reds under the bed paranoia in 1950's America.
Earlier in the thread somebody expanded more on this Russian arrogance thing and how they were all **** and my initial reaction was WTF? The more I thought on it the majority of Russians I've known have been women. All but one were perfectly pleasant people. When I think of the handful of Russian men I've met, yeah there was more of the arrogance thing alright. One guy was sound as a pound, another was fairly OK if mad as a march hare, the other two, were yeah arrogant. However, again I found that just below the surface it was a faux arrogance based on insecurity.
rogber: "There's no way the Russians have any interest in assassinating Biden."
It was sabre rattling at Biden rather than a literal attack on his person.
That is false. They have western weapons that they were giving for free. No war since WW2 has any country received modern western weapons for free. Where is the thousand of weapons for Yemen where is the out cry for those poor people. And free aid. America in Iraq and Afghanistan up against poorly trained and badly armed people. Iraq and Afgan didn't get free modern weapons to take out America. What about Palestine they do not get free weapons and money while Israel does every year and look how they dominate. So no what you are saying does not ring true.
Can't imagine what the response would be there.
For the mean-minded, it might echo the response of Dorothy Parker to the death of former president Calvin Coolidge: How could they tell?
I'm just curious I know its a bit off thread. If say America had of invaded Ukraine and Ukraine had all the arms that they had at the moment and more been supplied how America would of held up. I know they would of dominated the skies and had complete control of Ukrainian airspace within 24 hrs and I know they could of pounded out the Ukrainian armour. But in regards to American soldiers when they went in how would they of faired? More I'm wondering in a modern war how would America fair if they fought a war against someone like Ukraine not against Iraq or Afghanistan? Off topic but wondering might they have thousands of casualties? Nothing like Russian casualties of course.
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