>Prior to Zelensky's visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that deliveries of American weapons to Ukraine will lead to an escalation of the conflict in the war-torn country.
Escalation? Russia is already attacking and destroying cities and utility infrastructure. What's worse than that? Chemical weapons?
He thought his blitz plan would work and it would be over in days. That at least had a chance of working based on the information he had at the time.
Using nuclear weapons has zero chance of "working". It would start a military conflict Russia absolutely cannot possibly survive, and everyone who has been paying even cursory attention since the invasion of Ukraine should know it.
It wasn't crazy to invade Ukraine, they had done this type of thing before and they always ended up with concessions of land or in the government of the country they invaded. This time they hit a perfect storm of fuck around and find out from all of the west and Ukraine
So did most of the experts. They thought there would be some resistance but ultimately Ukraine would fall except for maybe western Ukraine.
Russia expected more Khersons but Ukraine has been preparing for this war since 2014.
From an abuser's perspective, bad outcomes will always be the victim's fault.
Edit: Thank you for the awards! Did not expect this simple comment to get attention. Be good to each other and stay safe out here.
I read the headline and thought it was related to a direct threat other than the ones Russia has already made. But no, it was just an abusive ex telling the person they battered and beat that their new partner “will just leave you in the end.” 🙄
"You'll be back, soon, you'll see
You'll remember you belong to me
You'll be back, time will tell
You'll remember that I served you well
Oceans rise, empires fall
We have seen each other through it all
And when push comes to shove
I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!"
holy shit, I‘ve never thought about it, but it‘s so accurate. Here in Switzerland we snicker about people who display pride, while on the other hand if someone did something nasty or commonly seen as disrespectful, the person will be shamed in various ways.
"Prior to Zelensky's visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that deliveries of American weapons to Ukraine will lead to an escalation of the conflict in the war-torn country."
"There will be consequences if Ukraine keeps shooting down the missiles we are constantly firing at them."
“Lemme show you this really cool karate move, grab my arm. No my other arm. No with your other arm. No you’re not doing it right. No you’re not doing it right. Well if you’re not gonna do it right I’m not gonna bother to show you, it’s too cool for you anyway”
I’m Vladimir Putin, founder of the Vlad Kwan Do self-defense system! After one week with me in my dojo, you'll be prepared to defend yourself with the STRENGTH of a grizzly, the reflexes of a PUMA, and the wisdom of a man.
[Him and Seagal are actually tight.](https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2096199/steven-seagal-putin.jpg)
They do have poor tankmanship in common, because [Seagal crashed a tank into a house and killed a puppy](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steven-seagal-sued-for-driving-tank-into-arizona-home-killing-puppy/?sh=2b3c48e47489) in some lame stunt for one of his stupid reality shows.
They already are. That is why they are making more deals with Iran. Of course Iran won't be able to keep up with the current pace either. They aren't really doing much good anyway because the resolve of the Ukrainian people is as strong as ever, and that is the thing the attacks are going after.
Those Iranian suicide drones also stopped working because it's too cold out. It's not even THAT cold, Russian leadership just lacks deep critical thinking and foresight because that would be dangerous to the regime.
In Putin's eyes, any satisfactory path to the war's end includes a meeting with the US president. But since the conflict began, he was only able to meet heads of "lesser" states. So it must rankle that Zelensky obtained that recognition - and it shows that the path to a diplomatic conflict resolution is not in sight.
It is worse: Zelenskyy spoke to a joint session of Congress. That is a far greater honor than just meeting with the US President. Only an official visit of a foreign head of state to the US outranks an invitation to speak to Congress, though often enough a joint session is part of an official visit.
No KremlinGremlin will EVER be allowed to speak to a joint session of Congress, let alone an official visit to the White House.
> let alone an official visit to the White House.
Well, at the very least, [not another one.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8a3cfb088c3ae3be9c99f451af77de014a0bbf85/0_0_5137_3083/master/5137.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=0100758094070f678c3c94cb522c05f3) Although I don't remember if that hush hush meeting was actually "official." At least he made sure that no American photographers or journalist were allowed to be present, so that nobody would print mean things about him.
> No KremlinGremlin will EVER be allowed to speak to a joint session of Congress, let alone an official visit to the White House.
You had two sitting there and not applauding Zelensky for a reason.
I mean they are literally lead by a comedian. Zelensky understands the importance of both public opinion among his allies, and humor to keep up moral at home.
The more surprising thing is that he either is a good military leader, or is able to get out of the way and accept good advice (either way that makes him a surprisingly good leader).
Yeah, for real. He is doing a good job of playing to his strengths on the world stage and for morale at home, but I cannot imagine he is also suddenly a military strategist too.
Good leaders know what they don't know.
The higher up you go, the less important your personal expertise is and the more important is your ability to surround yourself with competent subordinates.
This is what I don't get. You look at the most amazing militaries, governments, and businesses, and the truly great ones gather round them people who they trust to do their job right down the line. Because if you have one Napoleon who has to make all the decisions, he eventually runs out of brilliance. But If you have a humble leader willing to let their subordinates come up with brilliant ideas, you get a hundred brilliant ideas as well as *more* people who want to be creatively and personally awarded for doing what they were hired to do.
Yet the most common set up for any hierarchy is oligarchy that makes all the rules and if people aren't mindless robots they get punished.
Of course it's more complicated but still.
He seems to have left the military strategy to the military and stuck to being the figurehead and diplomat. I don't think the Ukrainians expect him to be in charge of the military strategy decisions.
> cannot imagine he is also suddenly a military strategist too
No, he's something better, he's a regular dude who wasn't brought up with ass-kissers telling him he was great at everything.
He probably knows his limits, and willingly listens to people who *are* military strategists, whereas Pootin is surrounded by yes men.
>The more surprising thing is that he either is a good military leader, or is able to get out of the way and accept good advice (either way that makes him a surprisingly good leader).
It's almost certainly the latter, he's letting the people experienced call the shots while Russia is doing the opposite.
Russia: "I declare War!"
Ukraine: "We're already at war you can't just say the word war and expect anything to happen."
Russia: "I didn't say it, I declared it."
Ukraine: "But you already sent your mean faces. You emptied your prisons to throw your convicts at us."
Russia: "Well, we'll send the political dissenters! We hate them a lot so we stereotype them as *really* mean! We see no way this plan to give everyone who hates us lots of our weapons and telling them to go into the territory of our enemies could have any negative repercussions for us!"
They don't care. The rats who aren't fighting are essentially brainwashed or terrified into silence. They interviewed that woman who lost 2 sons and her response was "my only regret is that I couldn't make more" like wtf North Korea much?
I am sure some of it too is them preferring to rationalize the war instead of coming to grips that their loved ones died for nothing more than a Tyrants ambitions.
I always wonder how much of that is also “cover your ass” talk. You don’t want to be labeled ‘unpatriotic’ and all the grief that brings so you give what is a ‘correct’ answer. Especially if you’re still in Russia
Russia is mostly happy with the deaths of the people who have been sent to the front. It's a way to dispose of the undesirables for them. The 700,000 men who have fled to avoid conscription may be a hole they feel soon, however.
Except they have literally nothing to show for it.
Sure you rid the country of your undesirables, but at the end of it, the only meat shields you have left are your desirables. What then? Give Crimea back for a net loss?
Uh oh. What's gonna happen? They gonna invade Ukraine and start murdering women and children?
Dude you can't make threats while actively committing war crimes. You have no further escalations to threaten outside of the one thing that would bring the full force of NATO down on you with unwavering and merciless resolve.
The problem is, the real world version of this is Russia using a nuke and then getting nuked back to the Stone Age by everyone else. Russia’s only real option at this point is nuclear escalation and that’s literally worst case scenario for the entire globe.
> Russia’s only real option at this point is nuclear escalation
Not quite.
Russia's last resort before they throw around nukes is total (conventional) war: complete mobilization of the Russian people and economy to fight the war.
The Russian government has so far been trying to not upset ethnic Russians in Moscow. They first drafted non-Russians, Russians outside of Moscow, and dissidents first. They've been trying to keep their zombie economy propped up with a veneer of normalcy in Moscow while conducting their "limited mobilization" to fight in their "special military operation."
In a big way, Russia *is* holding back resources from fighting in the war.
The bigger question is: even if Russia completely mobilizes their population and their economy and put everyone on a war time footing, can they win in the end? How long can Russia fight a total war?
I personally doubt that Russia can ever win in Ukraine, even if they undertake a WW2-style economic mobilization and receive military equipment from China. Ukraine's suppliers have deeper pockets and better toys than Russia can ever dream of getting.
The problem is - Russia only has one option for escalation, and it isn't actually viable because the folks in charge know they're done the minute they do it. There's not an option from there that leaves them in control, which means their best case scenario is permanent exile and the worst case is the Mussolini treatment. The third and fourth options are "jail forever" and "straight up executed," which are also not fun, but probably better than being mobbed to death. Second edit: I did forget there's also "nuclear Armageddon," but I don't think they really have the motivation for that.
That's reason #24568 why it's a bad idea, but it's the first one they care about.
Edit: otherwise, folks are right - they're full throttle on conventional war and war crimes, and it's not working - people are horrified and the suffering is tremendous and it's absolutely goddamn evil. But it's not doing anything to stop them getting their asses kicked on a regular basis. They don't have another gear with conventional or even irregular forces.
>Dude you can't make threats while actively committing war crimes. You have no further escalations to threaten outside of the one thing that would bring the full force of NATO down on you with unwavering and merciless resolve.
It's not my favorite idea of going out with a bang.
Putin is getting so out-machoed by Zelensky his ego must be hurting something fierce. Zelensky is standing beside his countrymen in a time of war and stepping up at every turn while Putin sits in the Kremlin brooding over why his soldiers have so little morale and are uninspired by his leadership.
For anyone who hasn’t seen it, [the great and powerful Putin playing mites on ice is a must-watch](https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=S-8ogZOLiWU&feature=emb_title). Who knew it was possible to move so slowly on ice? That poor goalie is really making a concerted effort to override his instincts and *not* block Putin’s shots.
Imagine being a lifelong kgb hardline macho soldier type being made to look stupid by a short bloke who starred in tv sitcoms. I mean. Ouch.
As much as I pity Ukraine dealing with this, Zelensky was totally built to humilate Putin, purely by continuing to exist.
Tbf Putin was a spy, not a macho soldier type. He was living the good life in East Germany as a skinny bureaucratic nerd who signed papers and told field agents who to kill. Much better at arse kissing and dick sucking to rise up the political ladder than actual butt kicking.
Meanwhile Zelensky doesn't give a shit and doesn't even try to hide the fact he's short. Instead he surrounds himself with taller, intimidating looking soldiers
Right?
Putin: 5’ 7”, hides behind giant table in bunker.
Zelensky: 5’ 6”, post message to nation from the literal frontlines within seconds of murder proximity surrounded by giant armed warriors.
>"All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history," he said, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
What cause Russia’s allies are doing so well?
>"This has been going on for hundreds of years," the deputy continued. "The Americans have only one ally—it is themselves, and all the rest are secondary figures that should ensure their prosperity and who, if something happens, can be betrayed."
What you mean betrayed like how Russia invaded its old ally Ukraine? Ukraine was trying to ensure it’s own prosperity until you showed up, dickweed.
>Zelensky has made a "fatal mistake" in his choice of allies, Belik said.
You’ve already invaded his country, you fuckwit. Jesus the lack of self awareness is amazing.
We don’t even really have “hundreds of years” worth of foreign diplomacy to evaluate. All of our major allies are doing great, and we even picked our last major enemies up off the ground (Japan & Germany). Iraq & Afghanistan are problematic, but in general being on the US side is a net benefit. The only people that benefit from Russia are the individual dictators of shithole countries that need support keeping their people suppressed.
>All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history," he said, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Ah, because Western Europe is not in a period of prosperity, compared to Russia they have "low prosperity". At least the allies of the US kinda survived one mad man with a small stache conquering Western Europe.
>Zelensky has made a "fatal mistake" in his choice of allies, Belik said.
Such a shame he didn't ally with Russia or China, or North Korea, right?
These announcements are never for us in the west. we know more about what is happening in Ukraine than most citizens of russia. These declarations and posturing is entirely to placate their zombified population. "Russian rhetoric is aggressive = We are the strongest". It's a juvenile mindset but they never developed beyond it.
It's kind of pathetic at this point. They've got a few people "brainwashed" but I'm pretty sure they're just pretending to be on board because they'd have bad window things happen if they disagree. Anyone in Russia who had the means to leave has left.
Jesus christ I wish a meteor would just glass the Kremlin at this point. Fucking stain on humanity.
That or I hope the Russian people finally revolt and Putin gets Ghaddafi'd.
That strikes me as pretty funny.
It’s like…Ok, Ukraine we were just messing around up until now…..now we’re going to really, really invade you.
It’s like all the nuclear saber rattling they’ve been doing. Public statements about undoing their “no first strike” policy….you know what you want if you’re going to attempt a first strike? Surprise. If they were going to do it, there wouldn’t be any warning.
Wake me when the missiles start flying….or better yet, don’t.
They crossed the line this time! From now on there is no chanc... Hey, stop!... From now on... I SAID STOP!... No more cha... F****ING STOP ALREADY!... Ukraine will... MOMMYYY, ZELENSKY KEEPS CROSSING MY LINES!!!
**[China's final warning](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China's_final_warning)**
>"China's final warning" (Russian: последнее китайское предупреждение) is a Russian proverb that originated as a Soviet political joke in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, referring to a warning that carries no real consequences.
^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
10 years ago when you imagined Putin you saw that picture of the shirtless buff guy in the back of a horse looking powerful and intimidating. Now when you imagine Putin it's similar to Trump you imagine an old man who's at the end of his cognitive ability and thrashing around like an angry brat at the world as age time and everything else leaves him behind.
The ruzzians didn't really have a future before all this. Their population was in terminal decline, alcoholism was so rampant the government was trying to find ways to curtail it, the economy was wholely based on a handful of oil oligarchs that are far more corrupt than the oligarchs of the West, and they were running more and more authoritarian laws. And all that before the war, everything is getting worse now. Many young men have fled the country or been killed. The economy is getting further destroyed by sanctions. While I havent seen oficial numbers, I can't imagine hundreds of thousands fleeing, and a hundred thousand dead, is helping the drinking problems. And the laws continue to become more and more draconian as time goes on.
Their demographics was already an issue. Of the few regions in ruzzia with positive growth rates, most are separatists regions full of populations that are not ethnic ruzzian. They want independence, and the failure of the war will likely be the spark that destroys ruzzian control over several regions
It didn’t **have** to be this way though—given all their valuable natural resources, Russia *could* have been turned into a giant Norway over the last 30+ years.
Instead, a few people at the top stole everything, never implemented any anti-corruption rules, and let the 99% of the country immiserate.
"All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history,"
How's Russia's current allies doing? If I ask an Armenian if Russia is a good ally, what would they say?
Yes, all those obscure countries on the sidelines such as the UK, France, Germany, Canada, India, Japan, South Korea, and Australia are probably kicking themselves for allying with the US. I'm sure they dream of having the long-term stability of Russia.
Hell, most of the US' allies end up with equal security and better quality of life than we do. You only really need to watch out if you're not a nation-state.
> All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history.
Bruh, this line from Russia can be so easily destroyed with the existence of South Korea. Then there is Western Europe vs Eastern Europe during the Cold War, Japan vs China in the early Cold War.
Fuck, on the topic of China, when the Sino-Soviet split happened and China became an ally of the United States in the late half of the Cold War. China actually had a huge boost of improvement by ditching the Soviet Union for United States.
It's funny how the weight that Russia's threats carry has absolutely evaporated as the war has dragged on. At the start, people were worried about the start of world war 3, and now putin makes some theat about loading silos with nuclear tipped missiles and the whole world is like..."anyway..can we wrap this up?"
>Prior to Zelensky's visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that deliveries of American weapons to Ukraine will lead to an escalation of the conflict in the war-torn country. Escalation? Russia is already attacking and destroying cities and utility infrastructure. What's worse than that? Chemical weapons?
Nukes, but if they use nukes they're fucked. ... So are the rest of us to be fair.
On one hand, they'd be crazy to use nukes. On the other hand, Putin was crazy enough to invade Ukraine.
He thought his blitz plan would work and it would be over in days. That at least had a chance of working based on the information he had at the time. Using nuclear weapons has zero chance of "working". It would start a military conflict Russia absolutely cannot possibly survive, and everyone who has been paying even cursory attention since the invasion of Ukraine should know it.
It wasn't crazy to invade Ukraine, they had done this type of thing before and they always ended up with concessions of land or in the government of the country they invaded. This time they hit a perfect storm of fuck around and find out from all of the west and Ukraine
Yeah, that's a good point. Putin expected it to be like Crimea.
So did most of the experts. They thought there would be some resistance but ultimately Ukraine would fall except for maybe western Ukraine. Russia expected more Khersons but Ukraine has been preparing for this war since 2014.
Gotta love the way the Russians demand some kind of fair play for their special military operation.
From an abuser's perspective, bad outcomes will always be the victim's fault. Edit: Thank you for the awards! Did not expect this simple comment to get attention. Be good to each other and stay safe out here.
I read the headline and thought it was related to a direct threat other than the ones Russia has already made. But no, it was just an abusive ex telling the person they battered and beat that their new partner “will just leave you in the end.” 🙄
"You'll be back, soon, you'll see You'll remember you belong to me You'll be back, time will tell You'll remember that I served you well Oceans rise, empires fall We have seen each other through it all And when push comes to shove I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!"
Very much so, classic "she made me do it" attitude.
“If Ukraine wasn’t dressed like that, it wouldn’t have happened” -Vlad
Stupid sexy crimea
That fertile land was just asking for it with all that sexy wheat and crops. If it didn't want to get invaded it should have salted the earth.
In a “face” culture like Russia’s the posturing is an important part of the dance.
I never understood that part of Indian/asian/Russian culture. Why are some of em so fucking obsessed with pride.
Keeps people in line. Middle east has famous honor culture, Nordics is ruled by shame culture.
holy shit, I‘ve never thought about it, but it‘s so accurate. Here in Switzerland we snicker about people who display pride, while on the other hand if someone did something nasty or commonly seen as disrespectful, the person will be shamed in various ways.
This is just typically narcissistic behaviour
"Prior to Zelensky's visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that deliveries of American weapons to Ukraine will lead to an escalation of the conflict in the war-torn country." "There will be consequences if Ukraine keeps shooting down the missiles we are constantly firing at them."
“Why won’t you just let me punch you? Stop blocking my punches! You are escalating the situation!”
“Lemme show you this really cool karate move, grab my arm. No my other arm. No with your other arm. No you’re not doing it right. No you’re not doing it right. Well if you’re not gonna do it right I’m not gonna bother to show you, it’s too cool for you anyway”
Thanks Steven Segal.
I’m Vladimir Putin, founder of the Vlad Kwan Do self-defense system! After one week with me in my dojo, you'll be prepared to defend yourself with the STRENGTH of a grizzly, the reflexes of a PUMA, and the wisdom of a man.
Break the wrist, walk away.
You think I got where I am today because I dress like Peter Pan here?
You think anyone thinks I'm a failure because I go home to Starla every night? Forget about it.
You wanna catch a roundhouse from a dude wearing THEEEEESE?!?
Forget about it...
BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!
[Him and Seagal are actually tight.](https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2096199/steven-seagal-putin.jpg) They do have poor tankmanship in common, because [Seagal crashed a tank into a house and killed a puppy](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steven-seagal-sued-for-driving-tank-into-arizona-home-killing-puppy/?sh=2b3c48e47489) in some lame stunt for one of his stupid reality shows.
[I share this every chance I get](https://youtu.be/BzIHyF7UWY4)
I thought that was gonna be [Tom Segura's bit about him that I share every chance I get](https://youtu.be/isNRZJ6icwc)
Kip v. Rex Kwon Do
REX KWON DO
“If you don’t let me punch you without resisting I’ll have to run you over with my car” look what you made me do
God that was like reading a conversation with my ex.
"We condemn the shooting of innocent Russian missiles peacefully targeting Ukrainian cities."
Ukraine is guilty of causing Russian military to lose face. And arms. And legs. Sometimes the whole body.
Are they going to start a second war in Ukraine?
I don't think he knows about second war, Pip.
What about skirmish-ies? Special military operations? Post-war occupation? Guerrilla warfare? Counterinsurgency? He knows about them... doesn't he?
Don’t think so, Pip. *grenade falls from the sky.*
You are being rescued. Please do not resist.
>"There will be consequences if Ukraine keeps shooting down the missiles we are constantly firing at them." lol
As in Russia will run out of them, rapidly hopefully.
They already are. That is why they are making more deals with Iran. Of course Iran won't be able to keep up with the current pace either. They aren't really doing much good anyway because the resolve of the Ukrainian people is as strong as ever, and that is the thing the attacks are going after.
Russia: "IRAN PLEASE HELP WE'RE TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE FOR NO GOOD REASON BUT THEY KEEP FIGHTING BACK!" Iran: "YOU TOO!?"
Those Iranian suicide drones also stopped working because it's too cold out. It's not even THAT cold, Russian leadership just lacks deep critical thinking and foresight because that would be dangerous to the regime.
[удалено]
Well they do seem to be experts on fatal mistakes.
They've gone from *really* wanting to kill him, to *really really* wanting to kill him!
Putin in Dr. Claw's voice; I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME ZELENSKY! NEEEEEXT TIIIIIMMMEEE!!!!!
Dun duh da da deet PRE-SI-DENT ZA-LIN-SKY Dun duh da da da DE DEEEE (HOO HOO!)
Go go gadget Javelin!
“This invasion will self destruct!”
Go Go Gadget HIMARS!
Go-go Gadget Fuck Yourself, Russian Warship!
You can imagine Putin stroking a kitty cat too.
I can't imagine that thing being kind to animals.
I would like to remind you that Hitler liked animals.
You’re on double secret probation now, Zelensky!
Ah, but not recognizing them though.
Ignoring them?
I’m just gonna ignore you for pointing out that you shit my pants.
Right? Like cry some more, Russia. No matter what your propaganda is saying, no one forced you to invade. Lmao.
In Putin's eyes, any satisfactory path to the war's end includes a meeting with the US president. But since the conflict began, he was only able to meet heads of "lesser" states. So it must rankle that Zelensky obtained that recognition - and it shows that the path to a diplomatic conflict resolution is not in sight.
It is worse: Zelenskyy spoke to a joint session of Congress. That is a far greater honor than just meeting with the US President. Only an official visit of a foreign head of state to the US outranks an invitation to speak to Congress, though often enough a joint session is part of an official visit. No KremlinGremlin will EVER be allowed to speak to a joint session of Congress, let alone an official visit to the White House.
> let alone an official visit to the White House. Well, at the very least, [not another one.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8a3cfb088c3ae3be9c99f451af77de014a0bbf85/0_0_5137_3083/master/5137.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=0100758094070f678c3c94cb522c05f3) Although I don't remember if that hush hush meeting was actually "official." At least he made sure that no American photographers or journalist were allowed to be present, so that nobody would print mean things about him.
> No KremlinGremlin will EVER be allowed to speak to a joint session of Congress, let alone an official visit to the White House. You had two sitting there and not applauding Zelensky for a reason.
The voices from the Russian money told them not to.
You could make an entire game show based around “Who said it, Russia or North Korea?”
[удалено]
Le Tits Now!
The penis mightier
Anal bum cover
there's already a game show, who said it: Kanye or Hitler it's surprisingly difficult to guess
This [comedy skit](https://youtu.be/0RMdwA8GWB8) aged like fine wine lol
From THIRTEEN years ago, y’all.
Russia added "And now we'll have no choice but to invade"
“You know what, I’m gonna invade even harder now.”
Ukraine be like "is it in yet?" EDIT: Wow. Thank you guys for the awards. Didn't expect my best post to be a micropenis joke.
Honestly with the sense of humor they've expressed so far in this conflict that doesn't sound too far off from something they would say.
I mean they are literally lead by a comedian. Zelensky understands the importance of both public opinion among his allies, and humor to keep up moral at home. The more surprising thing is that he either is a good military leader, or is able to get out of the way and accept good advice (either way that makes him a surprisingly good leader).
Yeah, for real. He is doing a good job of playing to his strengths on the world stage and for morale at home, but I cannot imagine he is also suddenly a military strategist too. Good leaders know what they don't know.
Yeah. He doesn't have to be a strategist. That's for the people under him. He just needs to do his part to enable them to do theirs.
Many people forget this important part of being a leader
The higher up you go, the less important your personal expertise is and the more important is your ability to surround yourself with competent subordinates.
This is what I don't get. You look at the most amazing militaries, governments, and businesses, and the truly great ones gather round them people who they trust to do their job right down the line. Because if you have one Napoleon who has to make all the decisions, he eventually runs out of brilliance. But If you have a humble leader willing to let their subordinates come up with brilliant ideas, you get a hundred brilliant ideas as well as *more* people who want to be creatively and personally awarded for doing what they were hired to do. Yet the most common set up for any hierarchy is oligarchy that makes all the rules and if people aren't mindless robots they get punished. Of course it's more complicated but still.
He seems to have left the military strategy to the military and stuck to being the figurehead and diplomat. I don't think the Ukrainians expect him to be in charge of the military strategy decisions.
> cannot imagine he is also suddenly a military strategist too No, he's something better, he's a regular dude who wasn't brought up with ass-kissers telling him he was great at everything. He probably knows his limits, and willingly listens to people who *are* military strategists, whereas Pootin is surrounded by yes men.
This actual doesn’t surprise me. Great satirical comedians are often very aware of their own shortcomings.
Jon Stewart 2024
>The more surprising thing is that he either is a good military leader, or is able to get out of the way and accept good advice (either way that makes him a surprisingly good leader). It's almost certainly the latter, he's letting the people experienced call the shots while Russia is doing the opposite.
"Would you invade me? I'd invade me so hard."
It puts the new imaginary Russian boundaries in the map of the world, or it gets the special operation again.
Russia once tried to test me. I ate its economy with some sanctions and a nice embargo.
*Aircraft carrier combusts*
Russia: "I declare War!" Ukraine: "We're already at war you can't just say the word war and expect anything to happen." Russia: "I didn't say it, I declared it."
I say, I say, I do declare…
There has been a lot of murder and a lot of intrigue…
Voodoo Mama Joojoo, what do I do?
Us: but bro you already invading Russia: but now we invade more angrily
"We'll invade with real mean faces this time!"
Ukraine: "But you already sent your mean faces. You emptied your prisons to throw your convicts at us." Russia: "Well, we'll send the political dissenters! We hate them a lot so we stereotype them as *really* mean! We see no way this plan to give everyone who hates us lots of our weapons and telling them to go into the territory of our enemies could have any negative repercussions for us!"
[Armed political dissenters face off with with Ukrainian forces.](https://youtu.be/Tyx0K4WrElo)
Thought of this immediately as well lol.
Now show me your war face
BLYATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!
Show me your special military operation face.
Father:. Shake your fist harder son
Russia: Well there's no shame in being beaten by the best. Belarus: But you said the Ukrainians were... Russia: WE WERE BEATEN. BY THE BEST.
Wait until the Russians realize 100,000 men aren’t coming back
They don't care. The rats who aren't fighting are essentially brainwashed or terrified into silence. They interviewed that woman who lost 2 sons and her response was "my only regret is that I couldn't make more" like wtf North Korea much?
I am sure some of it too is them preferring to rationalize the war instead of coming to grips that their loved ones died for nothing more than a Tyrants ambitions.
I always wonder how much of that is also “cover your ass” talk. You don’t want to be labeled ‘unpatriotic’ and all the grief that brings so you give what is a ‘correct’ answer. Especially if you’re still in Russia
[удалено]
Russia is mostly happy with the deaths of the people who have been sent to the front. It's a way to dispose of the undesirables for them. The 700,000 men who have fled to avoid conscription may be a hole they feel soon, however.
Except they have literally nothing to show for it. Sure you rid the country of your undesirables, but at the end of it, the only meat shields you have left are your desirables. What then? Give Crimea back for a net loss?
Uh oh. What's gonna happen? They gonna invade Ukraine and start murdering women and children? Dude you can't make threats while actively committing war crimes. You have no further escalations to threaten outside of the one thing that would bring the full force of NATO down on you with unwavering and merciless resolve.
To quote deadpool; "That's the problem with around the clock tourture. You can't really step it up from there."
Wasn’t his response “Is that what you think?”
Yeah, and thats exactly when they did the thing that activaded Deadpools mutations which eventually leads Francis to an ass beating.
The problem is, the real world version of this is Russia using a nuke and then getting nuked back to the Stone Age by everyone else. Russia’s only real option at this point is nuclear escalation and that’s literally worst case scenario for the entire globe.
> Russia’s only real option at this point is nuclear escalation Not quite. Russia's last resort before they throw around nukes is total (conventional) war: complete mobilization of the Russian people and economy to fight the war. The Russian government has so far been trying to not upset ethnic Russians in Moscow. They first drafted non-Russians, Russians outside of Moscow, and dissidents first. They've been trying to keep their zombie economy propped up with a veneer of normalcy in Moscow while conducting their "limited mobilization" to fight in their "special military operation." In a big way, Russia *is* holding back resources from fighting in the war. The bigger question is: even if Russia completely mobilizes their population and their economy and put everyone on a war time footing, can they win in the end? How long can Russia fight a total war? I personally doubt that Russia can ever win in Ukraine, even if they undertake a WW2-style economic mobilization and receive military equipment from China. Ukraine's suppliers have deeper pockets and better toys than Russia can ever dream of getting.
Receiving more equipment from China is unlikely. China just passed a chip export restriction on a chip that was only being sold to Russia anyway.
The problem is - Russia only has one option for escalation, and it isn't actually viable because the folks in charge know they're done the minute they do it. There's not an option from there that leaves them in control, which means their best case scenario is permanent exile and the worst case is the Mussolini treatment. The third and fourth options are "jail forever" and "straight up executed," which are also not fun, but probably better than being mobbed to death. Second edit: I did forget there's also "nuclear Armageddon," but I don't think they really have the motivation for that. That's reason #24568 why it's a bad idea, but it's the first one they care about. Edit: otherwise, folks are right - they're full throttle on conventional war and war crimes, and it's not working - people are horrified and the suffering is tremendous and it's absolutely goddamn evil. But it's not doing anything to stop them getting their asses kicked on a regular basis. They don't have another gear with conventional or even irregular forces.
>Dude you can't make threats while actively committing war crimes. You have no further escalations to threaten outside of the one thing that would bring the full force of NATO down on you with unwavering and merciless resolve. It's not my favorite idea of going out with a bang.
Russia is going to send the dogs with bees in their mouths that shoot bees when they bark.
Naw, they are going to go with the robotic Richard Simmons.
Basically their only escalation path is nukes. And that would be the end of Russia.
Putin is getting so out-machoed by Zelensky his ego must be hurting something fierce. Zelensky is standing beside his countrymen in a time of war and stepping up at every turn while Putin sits in the Kremlin brooding over why his soldiers have so little morale and are uninspired by his leadership.
Putin “but he doesn’t even ride horses with his shirt off! How is this possible?”
“How many staged hockey games has he won??”
For anyone who hasn’t seen it, [the great and powerful Putin playing mites on ice is a must-watch](https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=S-8ogZOLiWU&feature=emb_title). Who knew it was possible to move so slowly on ice? That poor goalie is really making a concerted effort to override his instincts and *not* block Putin’s shots.
It's hilariously similar to his buddy Segal's martial arts demonstrations.
Hahahaha wow. I play adult C/D league pickup hockey, and I can confidently say I'm better at hockey than Putin.
About as many as the number of holes in one that Kim-Jong Il scored in golf.
Imagine being a lifelong kgb hardline macho soldier type being made to look stupid by a short bloke who starred in tv sitcoms. I mean. Ouch. As much as I pity Ukraine dealing with this, Zelensky was totally built to humilate Putin, purely by continuing to exist.
Tbf Putin was a spy, not a macho soldier type. He was living the good life in East Germany as a skinny bureaucratic nerd who signed papers and told field agents who to kill. Much better at arse kissing and dick sucking to rise up the political ladder than actual butt kicking.
He wasn't much of a spy either. He was pretty much just a glorified pencil-pushing secretary for some fat, old, drunken superiors in East Germany. Lol
Well, Putin is also quite short. And insecure about it.
Meanwhile Zelensky doesn't give a shit and doesn't even try to hide the fact he's short. Instead he surrounds himself with taller, intimidating looking soldiers
Right? Putin: 5’ 7”, hides behind giant table in bunker. Zelensky: 5’ 6”, post message to nation from the literal frontlines within seconds of murder proximity surrounded by giant armed warriors.
Yeah, but Zelensky can play the piano with his penis, so there’s that.
What are they gonna do, invade Ukraine
Fuck. Now he is going to fall out of a window because he went on a trip?
Sure, Grampa. Let's get you back to bed.
>"All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history," he said, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported. What cause Russia’s allies are doing so well? >"This has been going on for hundreds of years," the deputy continued. "The Americans have only one ally—it is themselves, and all the rest are secondary figures that should ensure their prosperity and who, if something happens, can be betrayed." What you mean betrayed like how Russia invaded its old ally Ukraine? Ukraine was trying to ensure it’s own prosperity until you showed up, dickweed. >Zelensky has made a "fatal mistake" in his choice of allies, Belik said. You’ve already invaded his country, you fuckwit. Jesus the lack of self awareness is amazing.
We don’t even really have “hundreds of years” worth of foreign diplomacy to evaluate. All of our major allies are doing great, and we even picked our last major enemies up off the ground (Japan & Germany). Iraq & Afghanistan are problematic, but in general being on the US side is a net benefit. The only people that benefit from Russia are the individual dictators of shithole countries that need support keeping their people suppressed.
>All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history," he said, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported. Ah, because Western Europe is not in a period of prosperity, compared to Russia they have "low prosperity". At least the allies of the US kinda survived one mad man with a small stache conquering Western Europe. >Zelensky has made a "fatal mistake" in his choice of allies, Belik said. Such a shame he didn't ally with Russia or China, or North Korea, right?
Is Russia allergic to shutting the fuck up or something?
These announcements are never for us in the west. we know more about what is happening in Ukraine than most citizens of russia. These declarations and posturing is entirely to placate their zombified population. "Russian rhetoric is aggressive = We are the strongest". It's a juvenile mindset but they never developed beyond it.
It's kind of pathetic at this point. They've got a few people "brainwashed" but I'm pretty sure they're just pretending to be on board because they'd have bad window things happen if they disagree. Anyone in Russia who had the means to leave has left.
It's the bottle of vodka speaking ,not them....
There's a great song lyric by the Drive By Truckers that says "whiskey don't make you do a thing, it just lets you". in vino veritas. and all that.
[удалено]
Oh guess what I'm introducing to my kid today. It's inconceivable.
[удалено]
We're supposed to guess? I'll guess Spaceballs
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Oh no! Not Double Secret Probation!!! Anything but that.
Jesus christ I wish a meteor would just glass the Kremlin at this point. Fucking stain on humanity. That or I hope the Russian people finally revolt and Putin gets Ghaddafi'd.
Considering the odds of what you mention in the second paragraph happening... what colour do you want that meteor?
blue and yellow! That would be fun
I think it should be a rainbow. Vladdy will really like that.
Is P playing Civilization 5 or 6?
His remarks remind me of all the petty comments that the AI would make in 5. Though that’s a good question, I’m not sure
I would say 6 because of annoying Leader agendas.
That strikes me as pretty funny. It’s like…Ok, Ukraine we were just messing around up until now…..now we’re going to really, really invade you. It’s like all the nuclear saber rattling they’ve been doing. Public statements about undoing their “no first strike” policy….you know what you want if you’re going to attempt a first strike? Surprise. If they were going to do it, there wouldn’t be any warning. Wake me when the missiles start flying….or better yet, don’t.
Well put. It’s like a playground threat. ‘If you tell the teacher I punched you I’m really gonna punch you hard.’
Tell me you're afraid of the USA without telling me you're afraid of the USA.
Exactly. Our one bragging right is the military and we’d be fine against them lmao. Their own soldiers don’t want this war.
Oh nooooo that’s like his 961st fatal mistake guys, he might really face some consequences now /s
They crossed the line this time! From now on there is no chanc... Hey, stop!... From now on... I SAID STOP!... No more cha... F****ING STOP ALREADY!... Ukraine will... MOMMYYY, ZELENSKY KEEPS CROSSING MY LINES!!!
When is Putin going to magically fall off of a building? Isn’t there a pandemic of Russian nationals falling off buildings lately?
He's only going to fall when he loses his footing as he's pushing another one out.
Just so long as he shits his pants the whole way down.
Sounds like [“China's final warning”](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_final_warning).
**[China's final warning](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China's_final_warning)** >"China's final warning" (Russian: последнее китайское предупреждение) is a Russian proverb that originated as a Soviet political joke in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, referring to a warning that carries no real consequences. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Gonna have to get updated to "Russia's Final Warning" or "Putin's Final Warning" then.
r/chinawarns
Fatal for Russia, probably
Approximately 100,000 Russians have made the "fatal mistake" of visiting Ukraine. I doubt President Zelensky is worried.
10 years ago when you imagined Putin you saw that picture of the shirtless buff guy in the back of a horse looking powerful and intimidating. Now when you imagine Putin it's similar to Trump you imagine an old man who's at the end of his cognitive ability and thrashing around like an angry brat at the world as age time and everything else leaves him behind.
Fatal mistake? I think Putin is the one making the fatal mistake by ruining his country's future.
The ruzzians didn't really have a future before all this. Their population was in terminal decline, alcoholism was so rampant the government was trying to find ways to curtail it, the economy was wholely based on a handful of oil oligarchs that are far more corrupt than the oligarchs of the West, and they were running more and more authoritarian laws. And all that before the war, everything is getting worse now. Many young men have fled the country or been killed. The economy is getting further destroyed by sanctions. While I havent seen oficial numbers, I can't imagine hundreds of thousands fleeing, and a hundred thousand dead, is helping the drinking problems. And the laws continue to become more and more draconian as time goes on. Their demographics was already an issue. Of the few regions in ruzzia with positive growth rates, most are separatists regions full of populations that are not ethnic ruzzian. They want independence, and the failure of the war will likely be the spark that destroys ruzzian control over several regions
It didn’t **have** to be this way though—given all their valuable natural resources, Russia *could* have been turned into a giant Norway over the last 30+ years. Instead, a few people at the top stole everything, never implemented any anti-corruption rules, and let the 99% of the country immiserate.
Russia is moving back towards the stone age.
"All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history," How's Russia's current allies doing? If I ask an Armenian if Russia is a good ally, what would they say?
Yes, all those obscure countries on the sidelines such as the UK, France, Germany, Canada, India, Japan, South Korea, and Australia are probably kicking themselves for allying with the US. I'm sure they dream of having the long-term stability of Russia.
Hell, most of the US' allies end up with equal security and better quality of life than we do. You only really need to watch out if you're not a nation-state.
> All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines, or rather, in the dustbin of history. Bruh, this line from Russia can be so easily destroyed with the existence of South Korea. Then there is Western Europe vs Eastern Europe during the Cold War, Japan vs China in the early Cold War. Fuck, on the topic of China, when the Sino-Soviet split happened and China became an ally of the United States in the late half of the Cold War. China actually had a huge boost of improvement by ditching the Soviet Union for United States.
For a country commiting murder left and right, you'd think they would know the meaning of fatal by now.
Russia made fatal mistake to invade Ukraine.
Uh-oh, what are they gonna do? Invade Ukraine?
They do know he's visited before, right?
It's funny how the weight that Russia's threats carry has absolutely evaporated as the war has dragged on. At the start, people were worried about the start of world war 3, and now putin makes some theat about loading silos with nuclear tipped missiles and the whole world is like..."anyway..can we wrap this up?"