Without checking, I'd say it's more like Vladamir Putin, then 15 crazy (ethno) nationalists and/or fascists who'd nuke Berlin in the morning if they somehow conspired to get elected.
Maybe the FSB will put forward a moderate candidate that will 'defeat' Putin in the election, paving the way for the new candidate to pull forces out of Ukraine and save face for russia because after all, it was Putin's war and not russia's. The latest leader would be the beloved leader that brings home all the men of the stans and be looked at in the same vein as the Putin that brought stability to russia after the chaotic 90s.
...
Anyway, actually saw a clip recently (could have been CNN? Can't remember) that had a small piece about an anti-war candidate that I hadn't heard of before. His english was good. While watching it, I couldn't decide if he could be part of the above scenario, or if the FSB wanted to see who voted for him in the ballot so they could send the voters to the front lines.
Markus Reisner of the Austrian army provides a dispassionate and sobering assessment of the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive in his first video for months.
Reisner dispels the narrative that persists (sometimes in this thread) that the Russian soldier is drunk/old/incapable of fighting, and points out the folly of underestimating your enemy. The video serves to highlight how the dwindling supply of military equipment to Ukraine in recent months, and its complete reliance on external military aid, starkly contrasts with the growing Russian military industrial complex and its increasing capability to produce more sophisticated drones and other equipment.
You do realise Russia is a dictatorship? There will no credible challenge to Putin in the election, much less an anti war one
You have to get permission from Putin to run against Putin
Good video as always.
He says at 25:00 that "Russia have begun again to use the Shahed drones, the old ones but also a newer faster version" then he shows a picture of the Shahed-238.
I'm not sure that is true. Iran has shown off the turbine-powered Shahed-238 at an event (and brief documentary footage) but i'm not aware of it being operational or used in Ukraine yet. It would be a fair bit more expensive than the piston-engine version.
I'm skeptical of the Shahed-238. The piston-engined Shaheds are a poor-mans cruise missile, that's the whole point of them, they are cheap and they fill a niche. If you put a jet-turbine in it then you've effectively got a normal cruise missile, probably quite expensive. It's not filling a niche, it's something that Russia can make already. It also shouldn't need such big delta wings as the piston version, it will be draggy as fck
This was the role that Vladimir Zhironovsky traditionally played in previous Presidential elections. He died of COVID so they'll need to cast someone else for that role. I would imagine they will allow one person like that but they'll have to be obviously flawed so that people won't actually vote for them in large numbers. Putin saw the love an support that Progozhyn got in Rostov. He won't want to take a risk. Perhaps they could suggest nuking the moon or cutting the state pension to fund the war effort.
There will be the usual candidate from the Communist Party. Then there will be a bunch of lightweights who nobody has every heard of who don't say anything interesting.
I can't imagine they will cast an anti-war candidate as they don't want to even admit that that's a possible political option.
I used to follow him but I found him to be a tankie in disguise and a lot of his takes are completely arseways. I'm not the only one who has noticed this online I just noticed, he likes to repeat kremlin propaganda too.
And in any case, even if people show their contempt for the fake election, by not turning up, Putin's election team will have more than enough ballot box stuffers on duty. It will be an overwhelming result in favor of Putin.
🤣🤣
Russia moving from producing Western cars to building their own electric cars. Anyone going to preorder?
Still not as ugly as the Cybertruck.
my first thought
That car looks absolutly shocked. It's like it suddenly learned it was Russian-made, or something. :P
It looks like they've taken an existing (ugly) car and jacked it up two foot to fit the batteries underneath. You have to step up into it like a truck.
It'll never be built. Whatever funds have been allocated for its construction will be siphoned off by the various people involved in the chain. This prototype will end up like the Buran, forgotten in a warehouse somewhere. Also, the Soviets relied on the Ukrainians and other nationalities to design all their good stuff, the Russians weren't as capable.
They already built the ladas off the back of old Fiat machinery. Have they somehow gotten the old Multipla blueprints somewhere?
They can't be all spoofers. Surely Ukraine needs way more engineers, mechanics, tradespeople, teachers, doctors and nurses, IT and logistics people to support the war? Not everyone in an army fires a gun.
Of course they do. And it's why they'll need many of the refugees abroad sent back home especially teenagers who could now be 19 or 20. If this turns into a 20 year war they need all the help they can get.
If they're legally here, how do you 'send' them back home for the sole purpose of aiding the war effort if they don't want to go? What use to a war effort are people who don't want to be there?
This topic been covered here before.
There is no mechanism for returning refugees to their home country so they can be drafted into a war, and there is no political will to do it either.
Just the fever dreams of Irish anti-immigration supporters.
Fiat 124s only without the rust
That thing makes the Multipla look classy & elegant by comparison. Did the designers start drinking paint thinner or what's going on there? 😨😨
They brought in conscription with an exemption if you were in education. Immediately the numbers in education shot up incl older men. If you think the excess numbers are not mostly draft-dodgers then you're naive and I have a bridge to sell you.
By the way Ukraine agrees with me, they have proposed a law to limit the exemption to under 30. The language of the law literally says that a significant number people exploited the loophole.
They are also talking about increasing the higher age of conscription to 40 +
Should be borne in mind that there is no 'Ukraine' any more than there is an 'Ireland'. They're artificial constructs unique to humankind. What is really meant is the people of an area who associate themselves with that artificial construct. In progressive countries this is given voice to by way of elections and referenda etc. In totalitarian countries it's by force, where the concept of that country no longer reflects the will of that people, but the tyranny, greed and will of one or a small group of people. So its really for the Ukrainian people to decide how they wish to progress the resistance to Putin's military aggression. Zelensky will no doubt be mindful of turning the citizens of Ukraine against him by seeking to force his vision of a defence of the country on them.
If enough Ukrainians want to resist Putin by putting their shoulder to the war effort, they will. If they do, they will eventually defeat Putin. But nobody outside of the professional army should be forced to fight any war and it should always be within the grasp of a nation to sue for peace.
If the comfortable citizens of the West want to compel others to fight, maybe they should a) put themselves forward or b) lobby their own governments to take direct action.
Fair **** to all those who went to education. Nothing wrong with that. And nothing wrong either with not wanting to go into the military to fight if that's what you decide. The country needs all sorts and not everyone needs to be in the army.
Xinnie obviously doesn't trust them with Li-ion ones.
No point calling me naive when you're simply guessing yourself. Really, are you privy to the motivations of every single Ukrainian immigrant here? Would you be happy to call a Ukrainian a draft dodger to his or her face?
It's a perfectly logical point that you make. Ukraine needs people of service age - if they are here they should return/ be returned to do their bit for their country. God knows, we're all doing our bit to support them and taking the financial hit. But as soon as this revolutionary idea is mentioned, some posters jump up very, very quickly to pooh pooh it.
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