Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Prigozhin is gone. Payments stopped coming in. Useful idiots left unpaid.

Was watching that and thinking "meh...not so big".

Then the boom just got boomier....

Ahhh thank you for the update. I didn't realise all of that was happening. Just on way back from Bulgaria definitely notice a lot less people around as I presume it's the Russians not here on holiday.

My Telegram timeline seems to be stuffed with this type of thing in the last week. S-8 unguided rocket pods being mounted on some sort of vehicle.

You haven't read much history. Countries lead by Queens are historically more likely to go to war than countries lead by Kings.

Women in rare positions of power in male dominated societies often showed aggression to compensate for perceived images of weakness. Hence even in modern times people like Thatcher etc. In more equal societies that trend has largely disappeared.

All evidence and studies show that men have a much greater propensity to violence. Hence almost all murders are committed by men, almost all violent criminals are men. Despots, serial killers,mass shooters - almost always men.

You seem to have a weird anti modern woman streak (not getting any action?), but claiming that gender/sex has no link to violence is an argument you've lost before you even start.

And Putin shows classic toxic male treats: a sense of entitlement and bitter resentment over status, a desire to exact revenge on a former underling that now wants to go its own way. Delusions of grandeur, lack of empathy...

Ah yes, those poor warmongers were agentless victims of the patriarchy...

Like most modern feminists, you go straight to personal attacks when your argument is shown to be weak.

Putin isn't an evil totalitarian because of toxic masculinity. He's an evil dictator because he's an evil prick who happened to be in the right place at the right time. There's a valid argument that a woman wouldn't have been able to ascend to the same position because the Russia he came to power in was (and still is) a wildly chauvinistic society. That isn't however a valid argument that a female version of Putin in the same position wouldn't have behaved any differently than he did because women don't have the capacity to have a sense of entitlement, bitter resentment, a desire for revenge, delusions of grandeur or a lack of empathy. Hell, 15 minutes scrolling through Instagram would disabuse the most naïve individual that women certainly show those traits too.

Anyway, we're dragging this thread way off-topic so let's put a pin in it. We're clearly not going to agree on the subject: I believe men and women are equal, you clearly see men as an inferior gender whose inner nature drives them to behave like beasts that women need protecting from.

Actually discussed this with my partner last night, we would both (hopfully*) go and fight to protect our daughter and grand daughters, but if one of us had to stay behind we both concluded it would be her, (bookshelves overflowing with my books on war/conflict and military strategy might have had a bearing on that decision).

You obviously haven't met many feminists, but you have been taken in by a lot of faschist/far right/misogynistic bullsh*t, there are 4 feminists in my household, my partner, our daughter and her daughters, (5 if you believe men can be feminists and include me). Those women taught me what feminism is really about, and that is: equity leading to equality. If you think otherwise you have been sadly missled.

*I understand nobody really knows what they would do in such a situation.

probably be used as indirect fire artillery

Afaik the Patriot was designed during the Cold War.

Both sides accuse the other

Of course I'm far more willing to believe the Ukrainians given everything we know.

Sweet suffering Jesus, go outside and talk to some people.

Starting to hit dusk now in the theater. It's there right above Donetsk and Mariupol in eastern Ukraine.

I doubt highly they could artillery strike it themselves from the direction of Belarus (false flag) so if they are going to do it (which is crazy, prevailing eastward winds, etc. etc.) it would naturally make sense to do at night so there is less if any visual confirmation of a lack of weapon strikes etc.

Either way this is a time bomb, with Ukraine's offensive having to treat the whole region around it with kid gloves, making it easy for Russia to hold for now.

If there is a nuclear incident what does the international community do.

Which would probably trigger Total War. NATO is good, but not disable the Russian military in one fell swoop good.