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Russia/Ukraine conflict
- Thread starter amolina
- Start date
Sounds like they were volunteers, not conscripts. All the better.
My knowledge of this stretches back decades. Kamil Galeev has added a lot of meat to the bones, but the Russian people tend to be very xenophobic. Children in school are taught about how Russia has been overrun by foreigners in the past and they much keep up a strong defense to keep out non-Russians.
I forget the name, but there was a Frenchman who traveled to the US and Russia in the 1830s and wrote about his experiences. He encountered a lot of suspicion trying to enter Russia.
Dictators are products of their culture. Pinochet worked in Chile, but he would not get anywhere in the Philippines. Putin was successful because he reflects Russian values. He's doing specific things that another Russian probably wouldn't, but on the overarching themes he's right in line with Russian culture.
Here in the United States Republican politicians start going on about their opponent being a socialist when they want to swing fence sitters over to their side. It's a tactic that would fail in Europe, but worked quite well in the US until the last few years. It's because politicians in the 50s through the 80s constantly made people think of the Soviet Union when they heard the word socialist and the Soviet Union was the ultimate evil in the public imagination. The propaganda in the US was more subtle than in places like Russia, but I got it in school and from the general community: USSR=Evil and socialism with it is evil.
Now Americans who were born too late to remember the cold war have a more European perspective on the term "socialism". When they hear socialist they think of places like Scandinavia. The old socialist attacks don't work on them. When they hear a politician is a socialist, they think being more like Scandinavia isn't so bad. (There are exceptions in all generations on both sides, but that's how the bulk of the population react.)
I had that bias that socialist=communist into my adulthood when I got online with a lot of people who weren't American and started to see my cultural biases. It was unconscious until then. For most older Americans it still is.
That's just one non-Russian example of how memes soak into the sub-consciousness of a population and how it can be used as a trigger by political people who have an agenda.
Russia also has a cold war cultural divide. For those who remember the USSR, the west is evil and wants to conquer Russia and turn it into the decadent west. That's part of the cultural DNA. For those who don't remember the USSR and have had the advantages of living in a major city with western influences, they have a more positive view about the west and don't buy into the paranoia. For those isolated in remote places with little access to the outside world, a lot of the paranoia is still there because young people only have the older generations to go on and some propaganda from the Kremlin.
The more pro-western Russians have been fleeing the country since the war started which weakens what pro-western attitudes there were in the Russian public.
It's likely Ukraine will get back their territory because Russia will be unable to stop them and they may get some of the Russian money frozen in the west, but unfortunately they probably won't get much else.
However there is a fair chance that Russia will be too preoccupied with a civil war on the back end of this war to worry much about what happens in Ukraine. Ukraine may get some of the Ukrainians kidnapped back as provinces break away from Moscow and try to play nice with outside countries to help their cause.
Back in March when nights were still dipping below freezing in the north the Russians had a lot of troops freeze to death in the north. According to intercepted phone calls the Russian troops now have poor food supplies, they are on half rations and that's going to get worse when the supply crunch hits from the Kerch bridge being out.
The Russians are also having a tough time supplying any uniforms for their troops. With supply movement disrupted any winter uniforms being shipped to Ukraine are probably stuck in transit waiting for train space to get into Ukraine.
Nights are beginning to freeze in Donbas now. In another month the days will be in the low single digits C (in the 30s F).
Russian supply is shaky. They are moving some into Crimea by ferry, but it's a trickle compared to what they could move by train. The Ukrainians are hitting the only rail line from Donbas into Southern Ukraine to slow down supply along that line. And if the Donbas front collapses, that line will be closed completely for the Russians. Additionally if the Ukrainians can reach the coast of the Azoz, they can sink the ferries moving supplies and hit the Kerch bridge with missiles.
The Russian supply situation has been poor since the beginning of the war, damaging the Kerch bridge made it dramatically worse, gains in the Donbas could shut it down completely leaving all their troops in the south, including Crimea with nothing.
I read one of the NATO countries set up a sniper school for Ukrainian. I forget which country, I think it was one of the Baltic Republics.
The US has been training Ukrainians in Germany for a few months now, but it looks like that's expanding. As smaller NATO countries run out of things to give to Ukraine, they can help the war effort by pivoting to a training role or help out with maintenance.
From this article it sounds as though the attack in Belgorod may have been from a couple of Tajik volunteers that got into an argument with the others over religion. Can't be good for morale.
www.reuters.com
At least 11 killed, 15 wounded in attack at Russia military training ground
At least 11 people were killed and 15 more wounded at a Russian military training ground on Saturday when two attackers opened fire on a group of volunteers who wished to fight in Ukraine, RIA news agency said.
www.reuters.com
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
Is the character and behavior of current Russians post fall of Berlin wall( ~ 1989-1990) the same as what is typically thought of from WWI, WW2?
These mcDonald loving generation, likely also grew up with heating, warmer climate (global waring) ... not sure they are as the older generation.
With rampant corruption and lacking proper equipment, not sure we can think of these guys as the ones from the Nepolean wars ?
These mcDonald loving generation, likely also grew up with heating, warmer climate (global waring) ... not sure they are as the older generation.
With rampant corruption and lacking proper equipment, not sure we can think of these guys as the ones from the Nepolean wars ?
I think it's probably universally the case that each successive generation becomes "softer" than the previous. Just see how well a typical 20 something today copes without a cell phone and internet for a few weeks. Let alone having to survive freezing cold and lack of food, etc.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
If true the human race would have died out long ago. It does seem to be universally the case that older generations complain about newer ones:
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
― Socrates
When times are good successive generations get softer. It's common in the west right now because people in the west have been getting richer each generation since WW II. In the US the upward trajectory has been going on longer with a hiccup in the 1930s.
In other news:
Professor Timothy Snyder at Yale has been doing a course on Ukrainian history this term and he has put the course online for anyone to view
RobStark
Well-Known Member
Aid to Ukraine during call to President Zelenskyy.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
Vlody wants (B)illions, not pocket change.
Aid to Ukraine during call to President Zelenskyy.
Artful Dodger
"Neko no me"
Putting 2+2 together:
Elon Musk on Twitter: "Pitching my idea once again for a crossover of Das Boot & Boss Baby. “Das Baby” – Hijinks on the high seas! https://t.co/FieRmSthp2" / Twitter
Turned off starlink to crimea, square antenna visible on back of miniboat, hmm... data logs would reveal a 2x3 km^2 footprint, with a timestamp. Somewhere.
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I'm pretty sure that Tweet does not indicate that Elon has gone boatschizo (about the only term coined on 4chan that has ever made me laugh) on the Kerch bridge demo.
I could do without a comedy about baby Nazis, personally. Sounds like a Springtime for Hitler ploy to me.
I could do without a comedy about baby Nazis, personally. Sounds like a Springtime for Hitler ploy to me.
Artful Dodger
"Neko no me"
U.S. Army B.Gen (ret) Steven Anderson (09:48): "George Patton couldn't make this a success for Putin". Well no, maybe not, but at least they'd be roommates...
Vindman on Putin's bridge response: Russia is really a one-trick pony | CNN
“THE FIGHTING MAN: THE STORY OF GENERAL GEORGE S PATTON” WWII DOCUMENTARY 32274
Tiger
Active Member
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
Could be Pooty Poot giving Pooh Bear some warning that he’s about to drop some P239 action.
There have been many calling for anti-missile systems like an Iron Dome over Ukraine. A bit of reality about these systems
Thread by @MarkHertling on Thread Reader App
Thread by @MarkHertling on Thread Reader App
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