Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Think the Bradleys look cool with that new style

Not much signs of any internal discontent that could lead to any civil war ,

Maybe a few years down the line maybe but not anytime soon

What Russians are before they are conscripted / kidnapped ect, into Putins military is one thing, What comes out the other end is something else entirely. I've lived in Moscow, but mostly in the republics, and the difference could not be greater. Until they get to know you ( All Russians are naturally mistrustful, whatever part of Russia they live in. Not so surprising given their history) after that they've fine, and I'm still in touch with most of them. And recently ( yesterday ) one of them, who nearly tore the head off me back if Feb-Mar last year, because I criticized Putin, has come round almost ( but not quite) 360 degrees. Where she lives has been inundated with Russians fleeing Crimea and the occupied area's in Ukraine. House prices have soared because of the increased demand, and competition for the available jobs has also intensified. Govt services are practically non-existent, and generally prices are rising, so living standards are falling proportionally. This is all on a basic level how ordinary Russians are affected, but now the cemetery's are also showing the results of the war. What she had to say about the Government would blister paint off walls, and while she did not mention Putin directly as in by name, he was definitely included. big change indeed!! The Russians you meet abroad, are generally the more well to do ones, most people in the republics don't ever get out of Russia because that takes money, and that's not something they have too much off. For the majority of them, Ukraine is their first ( and last) trip out of Russia.

Politicians come and go of course, but as I mentioned before, the Military / Defense bosses know 100% what the security situation is, and strategically, they are in for the long haul so their words carry some very heavy weight, not mention the defense contracts, which are seriously big business where the US economy is concerned. Militarily, they are crippling Russia at a cost that is basically peanuts when taken as a fraction the US total defense budget.

Yup. so much for all the talk about sanctions being ineffective, and only hurting the west etc, They are hitting and hurting ordinary Russians, and now with the proposed new compulsory extra and unpaid working hours directive, it will apply more heat to the pot, creating more internal pressure on the system, until it will eventually explode.

Maybe, but they are now participating in the support of a murderous regime and are therefore guilty of same by association.

Meanwhile: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/01/fear-is-contagious-but-so-is-courage-the-ukrainian-soldiers-training-to-retake-bakhmut

God speed to them, may they survive as best as possible and kill as many Russians as possible when driving them out.

Could be evidence of corruption .

Transporting them to safety might not be possible, especially if there's a risk of imminent capture of the facility in question. In that case, burning these documents is often the best option, although ideally, you'd want to be doing a better job than that.

The Japanese Embassy burned all of their confidential paperwork before handing over the official declaration of war to the US Government, although famously several hours safter the attack on Pearl Harbour had taken place. Likewise, the US Embassy in Saigon tried to burn as many of their documents as possible before the city fell in 1975, so it's not really uncommon.

Does seem to be turning very Hunger Games like. The Capital takes and take, and the Districts have finally had enough.

Russia has declared an illegal war on its neighbour.There is nothing remotely nice about that.

That is not a good reason to start pontificating as to the niceness of a whole group of people over another

We have to take people as we find them.

I doubt very much if I was living in Russia now I would be feeling very nice to other people.

The Germans and the Japanese have been demonized for their past actions as a political grouping but we have hopefully got past that now.

Let's not build up a stigma against Russians who,at the end of the day are ,for the most part as deserving of drawing breath as we are

By the way I give a free pass for direct victims of the Russian regime to give vent as much rational or irrational enmity and scorn as seems appropriate but we don"t fall into that category thankfully.

And here's a picture of an elderly woman who lost her daughter and granddaughter in said same strike. I can't even begin to conceive this kind of grief and I hope I never have to. But but but peace now..... we need to negotiate! 🙄

Ben Hodges spoke again recently and made a good point that I hadn't thought about. The ICC really need to start dishing out more charges for the people behind these strikes. Every single person who inputs a coordinate, who flies a plane and launches a missile. Name and shame them, we know who many of them are. Putin may not care beyond some embarrasment that his life in civilised society outside of Russia is over. He's an old man with a short lifeline and billions of dollars worth of real estate.

But these operators are not. It's time to hold them all accountable for this. It may shake the bough somewhat when the younger people around Putin realise that they'll be sinking with this rotten ship when it starts taking on water.

Willing or unwilling - what difference does it make if they are supporting this Russian regime and their special military operation?

The corrupt culture inside Russia is not going to change while so many people do well out of it.

It is endemic, hard-wired and ubiquitous.

Having read a few books on the subject, it's not the FSB and GRU that are keeping it going, it's just become a way of life to be absent of transparency, accountability, laws of business and commerce, to be corrupt in central and local government, the police, the Courts, the military, the civil service, schools and universities, sport, medicine and social care.

It happened as a rebound against the all-controlling misery of communist centralised rule 35 years ago and really it's the same record, just a different tune.

Perhaps this catastrophic mis-step of the Putin regime may cause Russians across the social and cultural classes to look more soberly at their core values and way of life, but I doubt it.

Ukraine will regain its territory to its 2014 borders, Putin will leave the stage and a change will come, that much is certain.

But I suspect that what comes next may be even worse, rather than better.

Medvedev, Prigozhin, Kadarov.....none of them would exactly inspire hope.

A hint please ?

Reported that Moldova is opening its territory to the UAF for operations. But only one source reporting on it and no mention from any of the usual reliables.