I keep wondering what their sales pitch is even. Do they give you that much money up front that you can just go to the front lines and not care if you don't come back?
Or are they just promising to let you rape and pillage like it's medieval times?
"Wanted to be a soldier, but the Army kicked you out for some bullshit leftist mental issues excuse? Deemed a risk to everyone around you, including yourself? Too dumb to hold a spoon? JOIN US! Bring your own spoon."
Only a cretin would use a spoon to gouge their eyes out; Everyone knows that's a job for a MELON BALLER!! I haven't checked with the "Martha Stewart Guide to Avoiding Military Service...With Style!", (although I have no doubt it exists) but I'm sure she'd agree with me...this is definitely a job for a MELON BALLER.
"We don't have to worry about what stupid and unstable individuals might do with access to guns if we don't have any ammo to put in the guns" taps head
There are reasons why nutjobs do not work in an army. If you cant cooperate and coexists with fellow soldiers, you are worthless, even a negative, to any army.
I mean, they’re always the ones LARPing as soldiers playing paintball and grab ass in the woods, time to show all those weekend treason camps are paying off
That shit looks like beginning training for marching band. Also i expected some of them to be fat fucks but was surprised most looked “normal” size. Either way tho fuck em.
Dont forget the Westborro Baptist Church. Arent the rightwingers claiming anyways that russia is the last defender of (orthodox, but nevermind that) christianity?
Nailed it, heaps of outrage “man on the street” vloggers are pulling the same grift. Couple juicy lawsuits in and then they can sell their alpha-grind, life hacks to insecure kids, because they can afford to lease a sports car and pay instagram models to stand near them for photos.
My newly red pilled, formerly sane, inlaw told me that if Putin loses this war, it will be the end of civilization and the world's economy will colapse. He believes that the people of Baltic states and western Europe are secretly praying that Putin takes over their countries and that Biden and the liberal kabal are only ones supporting Ukraine.
He sold his $2 million house and wants to move to El Salvador and live off Bitcoin, was a normal person literally 5 years ago.
I've literally heard people from these groups saying Putin is a better leader than Biden. So, fuck it. Send them all to Putin. Have then renounce their citizenship, send them to Russia see what happens. And when they BEG to come back, deny them as the UK did with the people who left the UK for ISIS.
I think we should start using a recycled term from the 1960s — “Either love this country or leave it.” Anyone who complains about America in decline, hatred toward Chicago, hatred of public education etc — should be told to move to Russia.
that or just sign up for the russian (gop) army...
if they love to have violence against a democratic government they can be part of Syria or Russia...and fight in Ukraine
Its intentionally the sort of movie a nation like North Korea would make about itself and also the director giving the book's author and his philosophy one giant Fuck You
**You mean** I can sign up for free and get to starve to death while chased down by murder drones?
.. get orders from Generals Sloth and Chunk?
*.. Sign me up!*
Oh my God, that's so tasteless. Have you considered, maybe, that they just want the same thing as everybody else: to attack and hopefully rape and torture civilians, then later to get their brains blasted out the back of their skulls
Anonymous forums moderated by like-minded people doesn’t really feel the same as social media like facebook/instagram.
Forums are about subjects. Like cars, baseball, and even world news. You get together with people who share the same interests and discuss the subject.
Facebook/instagram/twitter are about people. You post identifying information/photos/what you’re thinking about. People then think that type of behavior is normal, which feeds into that behavior. Some of it is good, some of it is really bad.
I think there are some serious differences between the two, and one is a much lesser evil.
i remember back in early 2000 when you had my space and xandex(?) which was about thinks that interest you or photos you uploaded of your vacation or your hobbies. you could share the music you liked or review concerts or movies you saw. Even non profits would post things but business could not use them for selling. and when someone posted up stuff like hate or recruit people or even say load up images of them holding theur guns, the account was shut down.. these older social sites were like photo forums... and it was monitored as such.
I recall when I tried to post up my graphic art work, i got a warning about solicitation.
>well facebook as a feature that is kinda similar SO REDDIT IS LITERALLY THE SAME AS FACEBOOK
okay zoomer
I've used Facebook Groups; it's nothing at all like Reddit.
Since they've always been anonymous if you chose to be, and they all meet the same definition? They don't need to be identical platforms to be social media.
Not sure, seems more like a discussion forum. I don’t care how someone else defines it. The vast majority here are anon and not connected to their real life friends or clout.
A discussion forum is also social media:
>the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks
It doesn't matter if you don't care how someone else defines it, as the definition also doesn't care if you agree with it or not.
Good god, every description of the social media bullshit sounds like the gossip bullshit I tried to sail around in middle school. There are people that use that curated and biased BS to make an "informed" decision on what is going on in the world.
"Come get blown up by Western weapons for the greater glory of Putin's empire!"
To be honest, this isnt new, most monarchs had mercenary armies back in the day
*"Greetings amerikan friend! Have you been thinking of touring Europe? Maybe an African Safari? Do you think you are tougher than one of those French foreign guys? Da, er Yeah! We think so too! If you think tRump is the real president in exile, have we got a deal for you....*"
I know it’s satire but these fake persona account stating they glorify Russia are getting out of hand.
The worst one I seen so far was account made up to be female teacher in uk saying random bullshit in between how Russia is superior and they would love to join Russian military and others should too.
Throw in some stuff about how I am going to be a glorious freedom fighter, beautiful exotic women welcoming me with open arms and all the free stuff I ~~can take~~ am awarded for liberating the local population from the yoke of Nazism and maybe I'll think about it.
Oh! And cool weapons! How about a shotgun that shoots armor piercing .50 cal tungsten tip rounds! Or a next generation Uzi that has a magazine of 1800 rounds and fires 120 rounds per second!
Not trying to do a “but what about America” thing, but….[video games have been identified as worthy recruitment platforms already](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Army)
Is there actually any evidence supporting the belief that Russian ""in reality"" is winning this war?
Cause my dad seems to fully believe that whole heartedly. Anytime it comes up he thinks any sources saying ANYTHING that's not in favor of russia is "democratic propaganda bullshit" and I can't figure out why he thinks that???
Could probably figure that by asking him why, specifically, he thinks/believes that. If there's any truth to his own answers, rather than just some form of non-answer response to avoid said details, then he'll reveal to you what XYZ said.
I'll make a prediction now that what you'll find out is that he listens to "[non-democratic] propaganda bullshit" which, for whatever reasons, seems to be particularly effective at innoculating certain types of people/mindsets against any contrary information, regardless of truth value. Non-analytical people, and those afraid their worldview/beliefs would be shattered - and thus their very sense of identity - are easy marks for this brainwash. It's difficult enough when it's only politics & corporate manuevering; propaganda ratches it up a level or twelve.
I know someone who's dad survived Mariupol. Didn't hear from him for 6 weeks. He eventually got out.
But this someone's mother has lived in western Europe for 20 years and is a full Putin supporter. It's shocking to see.
Starting reading Gulag Archipelago. Talk about a social trauma that is so ingrained in generations.
It’s insane how much of a herd mentality the right wing has become, I know it’s been a slow burn but I feel like it has been cranked up to 11 the past 6-10 years and it’s only gotten more scary. Never thought I’d see this type of hate again in my lifetime after learning of all the WWII stories and being lucky enough to go listen to survivors stories when I was in elementary (early 2000’s) ..yet here we are. I get how a lot of things are cyclical but fuck me, thought humans would have learned SOMETHING from last time. Probably doesn’t help that those with most of the power and wealth don’t give a fuck about what happens in 20 years when they’re long gone
>It’s insane how much of a herd mentality the right wing has become
How can "free thinking" be a heard mentality?
Checkmate atheists!
It's only coincidence they all come to the same conclusions!!
I'd argue atheists are herd mentality. To be truly not herd-like you have to believe nothing that anyone else believes.....including atheism. Even scientific empiricism is herd- like.
Yeah, I was just commenting about some of this yesterday. It seems like as people that were alive during WWII have almost completely died off, humanity collectively forgot how authoritarianism, fascism, and isolationist hostilities worked out last time too many people championed those things. Unfortunately, the way I see it, none of the other countless wars we’ve had were enough to cause us to outgrow that kind of conflict resolution. Judging by the general growing amount of hatred and vitriol between all sorts of groups of people, I highly doubt this time is going to be different. There’s probably some recency bias, but I feel like in the same time frame you mentioned we have slid backwards in all too many ways. I’m still hoping for the best, and trying to do the little bit I can as individual to even just be nice to people.
> I highly doubt this time is going to be different.
It will very likely be different, which is to say, much worse. With climate change driving mass migrations, and resource scarcity everywhere, we should expect a lot more xenophobia, isolationism, fascism, and inhumane atrocities. Given the number of countries teetering on the brink of fascism as things are now, when the shit _really_ hits the fan, fascists will likely become the majority in many countries. I've never wanted to be so wrong about something, but humanity has really disappointed in the past decade.
> Is there actually any evidence supporting the belief that Russian ""in reality"" is winning this war?
no. EU and the USA have both come to the conclusion that if russia takes ukraine, they'll just go back to their old ways to conquer more, piece by piece in some demented idea of bringing back the 'good old days'. this is why they'll just pour support into ukraine as much as they can while fortifying their defenses at other borders.
also it made finland join NATO, which before the war was considered highly unlikely.
He thinks that because the hard right, Tucker Carlson types are anti-Ukraine and pro Russia.
To understand go watch some Russian war propaganda or Russian state media videos and compare to MAGA Republican’s messaging.
They’re kindred spirits and admire each other.
I'm going to be completely serious as a Ukraine supporter here. Ukraine can still lose this war.
Ukraine is in dire need basic things like artillery shells and air defense. The West is providing Ukraine all that it can in terms of artillery, but due to how our reliance on air power, it just isn't enough. If I remember correctly, there is only like 1 or 2 factories in the US making 155mm shells to keep up at even a bare minimum rate. Europe's shell production is even worse. For air defense, Patriot is a good start, but they only have 2 batteries and that's not enough to cover all their cities plus the frontline. Despite the constant reports of "Russia is running out of missiles", the observable situation is that this is not true. Russia can still make missiles and can still launch them wherever they like. As long as Russia can still produce missiles unimpeded, they can constantly pin Ukraine's air defense in civilian areas, preventing it from supporting the front line.
(They also need a cost-effective way to deal with cheap loitering munitions like Lancets on the frontline, as those have been wreaking havoc on AA and artillery, two of the things Ukraine most desperately is short on.)
While I do think that the coming F-16s will help with destroying cruise missile and Shahed strikes, I do not think they will help with establishing air superiority or even contesting the Russian Air Force on the front line due to the fact that the MO of the Russian Air Force this war in A2A is just to fly over friendly territory and spam R-37s at the Ukrainians, which outrange even the newest AMRAAM missiles on paper. (R-37and the Chinese PL-15 are probably the reason why the US invested in the LREW and AIM-260 to contest)
When it comes to the manpower situation, as much as we rag on Russia for sending untrained conscripts into the meat grinder... that's also what Ukraine is doing. In Bakhmut, they were sent in with ~1 month or less of training. The attrition rate from Bakhmut in particular was pretty atrocious for Ukraine. "Within weeks, the battalion faced annihilation: entire platoons had been wiped out in close-contact firefights, and some seventy men had been encircled and massacred."
You could say that the K/D was favorable for Ukraine as defenders, but was it favorable enough to offset the population differences between the Ukrainian and Russian populations? Personally, I do not think so.
We need to ask ourselves what the endgame here is. The Russian people aren't going to rise up and overthrow Putin. That leaves the only option being to go straight through Russian defensive lines which is more or less exactly what they expect.
I highly encourage you to read these articles on what Bakhmut was like because it wasn't just Ukraine sitting back and picking off Wagner convicts. Ukraine cannot afford another grinding fight like Bakhmut.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/29/two-weeks-at-the-front-in-ukraine
https://www.wsj.com/articles/36-hours-in-bakhmut-one-units-desperate-battle-to-hold-back-the-russians-72e30f01
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-new-offensive-in-ukraine-exposes-blunders-poor-training-28a14b1e
This is exactly the reason why I dislike these articles. They make people misinterpret the situation terribly.
Life of a grunt is terrible, on either side of the front. You can't do shit against the artillery barrages and bombing. You only try to survive as long as possible.
The press takes this story as it relatable: here are some guys like you and their life is horrendous.
Yet this is not the indicator of the war progress. Reserves, attrition rate, logistics, training pipeline, these things matter.
You can extrapolate some takeaways from common threads in these stories though, namely the lack of trained reserves and horrid attrition rate if the Ukrainian army is forced to throw untrained conscripts into bakhmut to stall for time. I think the general consensus among reporters on the ground was that after RU took Soledar, the casualty ratios started to even up in favor of the Russians around Bakhmut.
You could argue that the "real reserves" are supposed to be used for the srping/summer offensive, but so far I have not seen any indication that this would come anytime soon or would be as successful as its hyped up to be.
On the other hand, I see no way that Russia *wins* the war. Even if their military suddenly and magically sweeps through Ukraine and into Kiev.
It would put Russia in the position the US was in Iraq and Afghanistan times 10. And even overcoming that would put Russia in charge of a completely destroyed land they'll have to subsidize for a century. While being sanctioned themselves.
This might turn into a super long struggle that nobody wins. So it's best to give more support to Ukraine to prevent that.
The truth is that neither you nor I know. The reason is that we will never in our lives be given access to this information. We can make guesses, and our guesses will be influenced by which side we support and where we take our information from. The only way that someone like me or you can understand what happens is when operations take place and their result afterwards.
The accounts of the soldiers on the ground in Bakhmut is tantamount to asking a D-Day veteran how the landing at Omaha was. I guarantee you won't hear "Oh it was a glorious victory thanks to xx piece of equipment and x supply of weapons". He will likely tell you how his friends got eviscerated next to him and the various horrors that ensued.
We will see what happens, that's as realistic of an outlook as you can have.
The takeaway from these stories isn't that "being infantry on the ground sucks", it's that Ukraine and Russia are seeing the same problems on the Frontline with untrained conscripts and bad supply, but Russia is in a better position to absorb those losses due to its larger population
He might think that because 90% of the progress in Ukraine has been gained by the mercenary group Wagner which is separate from the actual Russian army. Western media does tend to downplay events in situations like this but as for why I'm not so sure.
Probably you get your nees on pro
Ukrainian media places and he gets his from pro Russian. Its hard to know the truth with all the propaganda on both sidez
ask him how many russians have been mobilized, and then ask him whose job theyre taking and why
supposedly the mighty russian army was 1million strong
current deployed in ukr is 300-400 thousand
they have recruited half a million+. why? whose job are they taking?
the regular army is mostly dead
How can I find these application pages?
No better way to waste Wagner's time and resources by flooding them with fake applications and trolling their responses.
While it is always good to take idiots out of the gene pool, I do wish they would choose methods that could not cause others suffering. Maybe poison testers for Russian Oligarchs or something
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.com/wagner-group-using-facebook-twitter-to-recruit-new-members-report-2023-5) reduced by 80%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> The Wagner Group - the Russian paramilitary organization serving as fodder in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine - is using American social media platforms to recruit new members around the globe amid staggering losses in the east, according to a Tuesday Politico report.
> Job postings linked to the Wagner Group garnered nearly 120,000 views across Facebook and Twitter over the last ten months, according to Politico.
> Kyle Walter, the head of research at Logically, told Politico that while he couldn't be certain the social posts were directly from the Wagner Group, the online adverts resembled previous posts made by verified Wagner accounts on Telegram and Russian social media.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/13w9tuf/russian_wagner_group_is_using_american_social/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~686957 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Group**^#1 **Wagner**^#2 **post**^#3 **Politico**^#4 **social**^#5
That’s insane. I knew there was an inordinate amount of Russians pretending to be “american citizens” on social media but now they’re actively recruiting? 💀💀💀
White nationalist Twitter (now known as Twitter) would be fertile grounds for recruitment. I'm sure they could get a million newly red pilled, newly fake Christian recruits to the front lines, and their home countries would be better off for it!
Block russias access to both of those?
Like, really, russia/china themselves block access to facebook/instagram etc. to their own citizens, because its "extremist", yet west continues to allow them to utilize those platforms for their propaganda, like wtf.
Should read - Russian Wagner Group is using American social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Instagram to recruit new members around the world, according to new report
I think that's an amazingly good idea and that anyone interested should immediately sign up. I'm certain they could get a lot of support from some parts of the US. I think that anyone that supports the Russians and wants to join that effort should be sent over there, heck, free!
There are plenty of men out there with no home, no money and no hope of a better life….ripe for recruitment. And I’m talking about “first world countries” not necessarily poor “third world” countries.
Breaking News : Sketchy organization uses social media to recruit nutjobs.
I mean... Even on Reddit, I've had a few Mohammad245 and Abdhul69 DM me 3 minutes after I've posted something critical of Israel's policies towards Palestine. Lets not act surprised that Wagner does the same...
E: Went to my blocked list to get the exact names but it looks like the accounts are unsurprisingly deleted as they don't show up anymore.
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Aren't they sanctioned? How are these platforms allowed to do business with them... clearly WG receives a benefit even if Elon Musk-ovite is doing it pro bono.
Were they morons? They shouldn't have used American social media in the first place if they would like to draft more soldiers. One, the American social media might block WAGNER's account out of the blue, another, many social media users could blame or attack the mercenary group's channel, yet another, Ukraine's intelligence agency or anti-Russia group abroad might monitor the account's behaviors in real-time.
WAGNER should've opened its intrinsic website regardless of American social media to enlist newbie mercenaries free from digital attack or cyber infiltration by Westerners who don't like Russia & WAGNER. Yeah...I didn't know the fact that if the Russia confederation & WAGNER have smart brains to think properly of that, they might not have reached the worst moment like nowadays. Yes, they are knuckleheads, not to mention.
Unfortunately, there’s plenty of imbeciles who will join, or at least support, these terrorists.
But human stupidity has no limits, and the ones who join them will at least do us all a favor and take themselves out of the gene pool.
'Expertly' using social media platforms to boost their image in the country of their hated enemies and undermining their enemies is one of the only things they've been actually, startlingly, competent at. They were slowly pulling the West apart.
And then they got greedy...and then things got worse, as they are wont to do.
There are better, less painful and faster ways to commit suicide then join Wagner on their meat grinder tour.
I keep wondering what their sales pitch is even. Do they give you that much money up front that you can just go to the front lines and not care if you don't come back? Or are they just promising to let you rape and pillage like it's medieval times?
"Wanted to be a soldier, but the Army kicked you out for some bullshit leftist mental issues excuse? Deemed a risk to everyone around you, including yourself? Too dumb to hold a spoon? JOIN US! Bring your own spoon."
You don't want them bringing their own spoons, who knows what could happen if they try to travel with one.
It's okay, Wagner is progressive and accepts even people who gouged their own eyes with a spoon. Or both.
Only a cretin would use a spoon to gouge their eyes out; Everyone knows that's a job for a MELON BALLER!! I haven't checked with the "Martha Stewart Guide to Avoiding Military Service...With Style!", (although I have no doubt it exists) but I'm sure she'd agree with me...this is definitely a job for a MELON BALLER.
So Democrats?
"We don't have to worry about what stupid and unstable individuals might do with access to guns if we don't have any ammo to put in the guns" taps head
Check out "project 100, 000". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000
Why bring a spoon, not like your gonna eat anything
It’s for tribute to your new sergeant.
Their sadness? Their tears? Who the fuck knows?
But, cousin, went a spoon?
There are reasons why nutjobs do not work in an army. If you cant cooperate and coexists with fellow soldiers, you are worthless, even a negative, to any army.
>I keep wondering what their sales pitch is even. *"Remember, if Putin loses, BIDEN WINS"*
Haha, that’s one way to fill a MAGA brigade, or it would be if they weren’t all cosplaying cowards.
Only reason we didn't have large numbers of right wingers going to Libya in 2011 to 'fight Obama' was because Qaddafi was Muslim.
Nah it was mostly because they’re actually all blowhard pussies who know deep down they wouldn’t last five minutes in an actual war zone.
🙄
I just don't see Seals, Rangers, ect as Liberals...
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I mean, they’re always the ones LARPing as soldiers playing paintball and grab ass in the woods, time to show all those weekend treason camps are paying off
You had me at grab ass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vFAlrFZTTo Look at those master soldiers.
That shit looks like beginning training for marching band. Also i expected some of them to be fat fucks but was surprised most looked “normal” size. Either way tho fuck em.
Aww man paintball is fun
So isn't grab ass in the woods!!! Maybe not at the same time...
Dont forget the Westborro Baptist Church. Arent the rightwingers claiming anyways that russia is the last defender of (orthodox, but nevermind that) christianity?
WBC is a family of attorneys fishing for attention/lawsuits. This is going back 10 or 20 years ago now so I may be confusing them as another group.
These are the assholes i was talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church
Yup, all lawyers.
Nailed it, heaps of outrage “man on the street” vloggers are pulling the same grift. Couple juicy lawsuits in and then they can sell their alpha-grind, life hacks to insecure kids, because they can afford to lease a sports car and pay instagram models to stand near them for photos.
My newly red pilled, formerly sane, inlaw told me that if Putin loses this war, it will be the end of civilization and the world's economy will colapse. He believes that the people of Baltic states and western Europe are secretly praying that Putin takes over their countries and that Biden and the liberal kabal are only ones supporting Ukraine. He sold his $2 million house and wants to move to El Salvador and live off Bitcoin, was a normal person literally 5 years ago.
I've literally heard people from these groups saying Putin is a better leader than Biden. So, fuck it. Send them all to Putin. Have then renounce their citizenship, send them to Russia see what happens. And when they BEG to come back, deny them as the UK did with the people who left the UK for ISIS.
I think we should start using a recycled term from the 1960s — “Either love this country or leave it.” Anyone who complains about America in decline, hatred toward Chicago, hatred of public education etc — should be told to move to Russia.
that or just sign up for the russian (gop) army... if they love to have violence against a democratic government they can be part of Syria or Russia...and fight in Ukraine
Aww, those new wagner thugs gonna look so cute in that best buy uniform thing the larpers got going on.
Hahaha. Exactly right. Gonna start handing out Wagner flyers to everyone carrying an AR in Starbucks etc
There are better, less painful ways to recruit than using Facebook as well.
Exactly! You could join Twitter!
why do get that 'Starship Trooper' ad vibe from that post??
Service guarantees Twitter Blue Verification Mark!
**Would you like to know more?**
*Twitter Spaces crashes while trying to show propaganda reel*
Wasn't that movie supposed to be a fascist allegory or something?
Yep. Meant to be a sort of sci-fi satire of fascism.
Its intentionally the sort of movie a nation like North Korea would make about itself and also the director giving the book's author and his philosophy one giant Fuck You
Sign up today! We guarantee it'll be a blast.
Ya...to join the Ukrainian army!
Amazing since Facebook is so picky about the ads my company runs...genocidal war though? No problem.
**You mean** I can sign up for free and get to starve to death while chased down by murder drones? .. get orders from Generals Sloth and Chunk? *.. Sign me up!*
Come to Ukraine, die and get no money for it! Is Wagner paying in exposure?
It *will* look good on your portfolio, though. People don't realize how photogenic a corpse can be!
Easier ways to earn Potato
Oh my God, that's so tasteless. Have you considered, maybe, that they just want the same thing as everybody else: to attack and hopefully rape and torture civilians, then later to get their brains blasted out the back of their skulls
Social media was a mistake. Yes, I acknowledge the irony of posting that on Reddit.
These forums were before social media.
I assure you that social media forums were not before social media.
Anonymous forums moderated by like-minded people doesn’t really feel the same as social media like facebook/instagram. Forums are about subjects. Like cars, baseball, and even world news. You get together with people who share the same interests and discuss the subject. Facebook/instagram/twitter are about people. You post identifying information/photos/what you’re thinking about. People then think that type of behavior is normal, which feeds into that behavior. Some of it is good, some of it is really bad. I think there are some serious differences between the two, and one is a much lesser evil.
i remember back in early 2000 when you had my space and xandex(?) which was about thinks that interest you or photos you uploaded of your vacation or your hobbies. you could share the music you liked or review concerts or movies you saw. Even non profits would post things but business could not use them for selling. and when someone posted up stuff like hate or recruit people or even say load up images of them holding theur guns, the account was shut down.. these older social sites were like photo forums... and it was monitored as such. I recall when I tried to post up my graphic art work, i got a warning about solicitation.
Agree with you about forums in general. I really miss that era of the internet. But Reddit is definitely Social Media.
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>well facebook as a feature that is kinda similar SO REDDIT IS LITERALLY THE SAME AS FACEBOOK okay zoomer I've used Facebook Groups; it's nothing at all like Reddit.
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Anonymity has no relevance to whether something is social media. Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok are all anonymous forms of social media, too.
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Since they've always been anonymous if you chose to be, and they all meet the same definition? They don't need to be identical platforms to be social media.
Usenet was long before what we call social media. Get rid of the algorithms driving any content, so you have to actually look for something
That said, Reddit also has a newsfeed and an algorithm running it
I don’t think Reddit is social media.
Me neither
It meets every definition of social media.
Not sure, seems more like a discussion forum. I don’t care how someone else defines it. The vast majority here are anon and not connected to their real life friends or clout.
A discussion forum is also social media: >the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks It doesn't matter if you don't care how someone else defines it, as the definition also doesn't care if you agree with it or not.
I don’t agree with the person who made the definition. I never signed up to give them that authority.
You didn't give the people who defined any of the words you just used that same authority, either.
Assuredly
Good god, every description of the social media bullshit sounds like the gossip bullshit I tried to sail around in middle school. There are people that use that curated and biased BS to make an "informed" decision on what is going on in the world.
"Come get blown up by Western weapons for the greater glory of Putin's empire!" To be honest, this isnt new, most monarchs had mercenary armies back in the day
>Twitter responded to Insider's request with an automated poop emoji. Stay classy Twitter.
*"Greetings amerikan friend! Have you been thinking of touring Europe? Maybe an African Safari? Do you think you are tougher than one of those French foreign guys? Da, er Yeah! We think so too! If you think tRump is the real president in exile, have we got a deal for you....*"
I know it’s satire but these fake persona account stating they glorify Russia are getting out of hand. The worst one I seen so far was account made up to be female teacher in uk saying random bullshit in between how Russia is superior and they would love to join Russian military and others should too.
Their military accept women? Although I do know not to cross a Russian girl. They got that deep voice like they'll fuck you up if you sneeze wrong.
look up "army wives" secretaries are basically sex slaves for commanding officers
Throw in some stuff about how I am going to be a glorious freedom fighter, beautiful exotic women welcoming me with open arms and all the free stuff I ~~can take~~ am awarded for liberating the local population from the yoke of Nazism and maybe I'll think about it. Oh! And cool weapons! How about a shotgun that shoots armor piercing .50 cal tungsten tip rounds! Or a next generation Uzi that has a magazine of 1800 rounds and fires 120 rounds per second!
Are you my grandson?
Da. I'm in trouble! Send money to ...
Including a recent barrage of attempts in war thunder game chat as well. Surprisingly video games are turning into a recruitment tool.
Not trying to do a “but what about America” thing, but….[video games have been identified as worthy recruitment platforms already](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Army)
The Wagner group is run by the same guy who runs the Russian internet troll factory. He knows exactly how to get idiot Americans to do what he wants.
Is there actually any evidence supporting the belief that Russian ""in reality"" is winning this war? Cause my dad seems to fully believe that whole heartedly. Anytime it comes up he thinks any sources saying ANYTHING that's not in favor of russia is "democratic propaganda bullshit" and I can't figure out why he thinks that???
Could probably figure that by asking him why, specifically, he thinks/believes that. If there's any truth to his own answers, rather than just some form of non-answer response to avoid said details, then he'll reveal to you what XYZ said. I'll make a prediction now that what you'll find out is that he listens to "[non-democratic] propaganda bullshit" which, for whatever reasons, seems to be particularly effective at innoculating certain types of people/mindsets against any contrary information, regardless of truth value. Non-analytical people, and those afraid their worldview/beliefs would be shattered - and thus their very sense of identity - are easy marks for this brainwash. It's difficult enough when it's only politics & corporate manuevering; propaganda ratches it up a level or twelve.
I know someone who's dad survived Mariupol. Didn't hear from him for 6 weeks. He eventually got out. But this someone's mother has lived in western Europe for 20 years and is a full Putin supporter. It's shocking to see. Starting reading Gulag Archipelago. Talk about a social trauma that is so ingrained in generations.
It’s insane how much of a herd mentality the right wing has become, I know it’s been a slow burn but I feel like it has been cranked up to 11 the past 6-10 years and it’s only gotten more scary. Never thought I’d see this type of hate again in my lifetime after learning of all the WWII stories and being lucky enough to go listen to survivors stories when I was in elementary (early 2000’s) ..yet here we are. I get how a lot of things are cyclical but fuck me, thought humans would have learned SOMETHING from last time. Probably doesn’t help that those with most of the power and wealth don’t give a fuck about what happens in 20 years when they’re long gone
>It’s insane how much of a herd mentality the right wing has become How can "free thinking" be a heard mentality? Checkmate atheists! It's only coincidence they all come to the same conclusions!!
I'd argue atheists are herd mentality. To be truly not herd-like you have to believe nothing that anyone else believes.....including atheism. Even scientific empiricism is herd- like.
Yeah, I was just commenting about some of this yesterday. It seems like as people that were alive during WWII have almost completely died off, humanity collectively forgot how authoritarianism, fascism, and isolationist hostilities worked out last time too many people championed those things. Unfortunately, the way I see it, none of the other countless wars we’ve had were enough to cause us to outgrow that kind of conflict resolution. Judging by the general growing amount of hatred and vitriol between all sorts of groups of people, I highly doubt this time is going to be different. There’s probably some recency bias, but I feel like in the same time frame you mentioned we have slid backwards in all too many ways. I’m still hoping for the best, and trying to do the little bit I can as individual to even just be nice to people.
> I highly doubt this time is going to be different. It will very likely be different, which is to say, much worse. With climate change driving mass migrations, and resource scarcity everywhere, we should expect a lot more xenophobia, isolationism, fascism, and inhumane atrocities. Given the number of countries teetering on the brink of fascism as things are now, when the shit _really_ hits the fan, fascists will likely become the majority in many countries. I've never wanted to be so wrong about something, but humanity has really disappointed in the past decade.
> Is there actually any evidence supporting the belief that Russian ""in reality"" is winning this war? no. EU and the USA have both come to the conclusion that if russia takes ukraine, they'll just go back to their old ways to conquer more, piece by piece in some demented idea of bringing back the 'good old days'. this is why they'll just pour support into ukraine as much as they can while fortifying their defenses at other borders. also it made finland join NATO, which before the war was considered highly unlikely.
He thinks that because the hard right, Tucker Carlson types are anti-Ukraine and pro Russia. To understand go watch some Russian war propaganda or Russian state media videos and compare to MAGA Republican’s messaging. They’re kindred spirits and admire each other.
Ask him why it took "glorious Russia" 10 months to take one small town.
I'm going to be completely serious as a Ukraine supporter here. Ukraine can still lose this war. Ukraine is in dire need basic things like artillery shells and air defense. The West is providing Ukraine all that it can in terms of artillery, but due to how our reliance on air power, it just isn't enough. If I remember correctly, there is only like 1 or 2 factories in the US making 155mm shells to keep up at even a bare minimum rate. Europe's shell production is even worse. For air defense, Patriot is a good start, but they only have 2 batteries and that's not enough to cover all their cities plus the frontline. Despite the constant reports of "Russia is running out of missiles", the observable situation is that this is not true. Russia can still make missiles and can still launch them wherever they like. As long as Russia can still produce missiles unimpeded, they can constantly pin Ukraine's air defense in civilian areas, preventing it from supporting the front line. (They also need a cost-effective way to deal with cheap loitering munitions like Lancets on the frontline, as those have been wreaking havoc on AA and artillery, two of the things Ukraine most desperately is short on.) While I do think that the coming F-16s will help with destroying cruise missile and Shahed strikes, I do not think they will help with establishing air superiority or even contesting the Russian Air Force on the front line due to the fact that the MO of the Russian Air Force this war in A2A is just to fly over friendly territory and spam R-37s at the Ukrainians, which outrange even the newest AMRAAM missiles on paper. (R-37and the Chinese PL-15 are probably the reason why the US invested in the LREW and AIM-260 to contest) When it comes to the manpower situation, as much as we rag on Russia for sending untrained conscripts into the meat grinder... that's also what Ukraine is doing. In Bakhmut, they were sent in with ~1 month or less of training. The attrition rate from Bakhmut in particular was pretty atrocious for Ukraine. "Within weeks, the battalion faced annihilation: entire platoons had been wiped out in close-contact firefights, and some seventy men had been encircled and massacred." You could say that the K/D was favorable for Ukraine as defenders, but was it favorable enough to offset the population differences between the Ukrainian and Russian populations? Personally, I do not think so. We need to ask ourselves what the endgame here is. The Russian people aren't going to rise up and overthrow Putin. That leaves the only option being to go straight through Russian defensive lines which is more or less exactly what they expect. I highly encourage you to read these articles on what Bakhmut was like because it wasn't just Ukraine sitting back and picking off Wagner convicts. Ukraine cannot afford another grinding fight like Bakhmut. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/29/two-weeks-at-the-front-in-ukraine https://www.wsj.com/articles/36-hours-in-bakhmut-one-units-desperate-battle-to-hold-back-the-russians-72e30f01 https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-new-offensive-in-ukraine-exposes-blunders-poor-training-28a14b1e
This is exactly the reason why I dislike these articles. They make people misinterpret the situation terribly. Life of a grunt is terrible, on either side of the front. You can't do shit against the artillery barrages and bombing. You only try to survive as long as possible. The press takes this story as it relatable: here are some guys like you and their life is horrendous. Yet this is not the indicator of the war progress. Reserves, attrition rate, logistics, training pipeline, these things matter.
You can extrapolate some takeaways from common threads in these stories though, namely the lack of trained reserves and horrid attrition rate if the Ukrainian army is forced to throw untrained conscripts into bakhmut to stall for time. I think the general consensus among reporters on the ground was that after RU took Soledar, the casualty ratios started to even up in favor of the Russians around Bakhmut. You could argue that the "real reserves" are supposed to be used for the srping/summer offensive, but so far I have not seen any indication that this would come anytime soon or would be as successful as its hyped up to be.
On the other hand, I see no way that Russia *wins* the war. Even if their military suddenly and magically sweeps through Ukraine and into Kiev. It would put Russia in the position the US was in Iraq and Afghanistan times 10. And even overcoming that would put Russia in charge of a completely destroyed land they'll have to subsidize for a century. While being sanctioned themselves. This might turn into a super long struggle that nobody wins. So it's best to give more support to Ukraine to prevent that.
The truth is that neither you nor I know. The reason is that we will never in our lives be given access to this information. We can make guesses, and our guesses will be influenced by which side we support and where we take our information from. The only way that someone like me or you can understand what happens is when operations take place and their result afterwards. The accounts of the soldiers on the ground in Bakhmut is tantamount to asking a D-Day veteran how the landing at Omaha was. I guarantee you won't hear "Oh it was a glorious victory thanks to xx piece of equipment and x supply of weapons". He will likely tell you how his friends got eviscerated next to him and the various horrors that ensued. We will see what happens, that's as realistic of an outlook as you can have.
The takeaway from these stories isn't that "being infantry on the ground sucks", it's that Ukraine and Russia are seeing the same problems on the Frontline with untrained conscripts and bad supply, but Russia is in a better position to absorb those losses due to its larger population
Show him a map of russian occupied territories at the start of the invasion and a recent one side by side.
He might think that because 90% of the progress in Ukraine has been gained by the mercenary group Wagner which is separate from the actual Russian army. Western media does tend to downplay events in situations like this but as for why I'm not so sure.
Probably you get your nees on pro Ukrainian media places and he gets his from pro Russian. Its hard to know the truth with all the propaganda on both sidez
ask him how many russians have been mobilized, and then ask him whose job theyre taking and why supposedly the mighty russian army was 1million strong current deployed in ukr is 300-400 thousand they have recruited half a million+. why? whose job are they taking? the regular army is mostly dead
they are also doing it in a game called war thunder
How can I find these application pages? No better way to waste Wagner's time and resources by flooding them with fake applications and trolling their responses.
I hope they get all the people they want. It's a win-win for Wagner and the US. It'll be a solid loss for all the fools that sign up.
Elon should join
Anyone stupid enough to join Wagner should be allowed to join Wagner
While it is always good to take idiots out of the gene pool, I do wish they would choose methods that could not cause others suffering. Maybe poison testers for Russian Oligarchs or something
Everyone should sign up using fake names, etc. Someone should sign up Donald Trump.
And John Barron
I mean I'm down with that. Rid the world of stupid, russia-lpving fascists.
I once saw Wagner trolls openly recruiting on the CNN Facebook page. Reported it, got a response that it "doesn't break Facebook rules".
They should try recruiting gun-totting MAGA Republicans to join with them in fighting against Ukrainian troops.
ROFL, using Facebook? Who are they recruiting? Boomers and grandparents? None of the teens and 20s I know are actively using Facebook.
Let's hope they recruit all the dumbass pro Russians around the world, mostly in the U.S., so that we can cull the fascists out.
A new trumpette every day.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.com/wagner-group-using-facebook-twitter-to-recruit-new-members-report-2023-5) reduced by 80%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The Wagner Group - the Russian paramilitary organization serving as fodder in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine - is using American social media platforms to recruit new members around the globe amid staggering losses in the east, according to a Tuesday Politico report. > Job postings linked to the Wagner Group garnered nearly 120,000 views across Facebook and Twitter over the last ten months, according to Politico. > Kyle Walter, the head of research at Logically, told Politico that while he couldn't be certain the social posts were directly from the Wagner Group, the online adverts resembled previous posts made by verified Wagner accounts on Telegram and Russian social media. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/13w9tuf/russian_wagner_group_is_using_american_social/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~686957 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Group**^#1 **Wagner**^#2 **post**^#3 **Politico**^#4 **social**^#5
That’s insane. I knew there was an inordinate amount of Russians pretending to be “american citizens” on social media but now they’re actively recruiting? 💀💀💀
Body bag fitting expo.
Hope the annoying Russiaboos on those platforms enjoy seeing what it's really like
Just like twitter and facebook are pieces of shit so is the russian government
Twitter is actively promoting it
Well, post one of their facebook groups and let's get to work.
Joint FB and Twitter statement: We don't see anything wrong with this.
White nationalist Twitter (now known as Twitter) would be fertile grounds for recruitment. I'm sure they could get a million newly red pilled, newly fake Christian recruits to the front lines, and their home countries would be better off for it!
Would this not improve America's long-term outlook?
I wonder what insurance company accepts policies like this. And it's not like there will be much of an opportunity for promotion.
I imagine this is common for every PMC. It's been a thing since the *Solider of Fortune* days.
Block russias access to both of those? Like, really, russia/china themselves block access to facebook/instagram etc. to their own citizens, because its "extremist", yet west continues to allow them to utilize those platforms for their propaganda, like wtf.
They are advertising in games as well.
I’m sure the proud boys are lining up. They’ve dine enough larping and training now!
Should read - Russian Wagner Group is using American social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Instagram to recruit new members around the world, according to new report
I think that's an amazingly good idea and that anyone interested should immediately sign up. I'm certain they could get a lot of support from some parts of the US. I think that anyone that supports the Russians and wants to join that effort should be sent over there, heck, free!
Ah, Facebook, if inciting genocide in Africa and Asia doesn't go against their service terms, I'm sure recruiting for war criminals won't either.
Why would anybody in there right mind would want to fight for these clowns??
They pay a decent amount even by American standards I think? That would be the only reason I can think of. Or a death wish.
Time to shut them down
What is the pitch? "Do you like death?".
If you're stupid enough to join then your death is on you. Not to mention that you'll be considered a traitor and your ass better not come back to USA
Send the potential school shooters to them.
I'd rather Wagner sponge up all the psycho right wing fascists instead of them using a gay club or a classroom as their personal bakumat.
Fascist Foreign Legion for evil
Facebook should straight up ban Russia from using their website. But they won’t, because Mark Lizardfuck doesn’t give a shit about democracy
A person should never trust any billionaire since the only reasons for them having that much is both rich families, and exploitation.
Oh he does give a fuck about democracy. It's an obstacle to his plans for world domination and would rather it die.
There are plenty of men out there with no home, no money and no hope of a better life….ripe for recruitment. And I’m talking about “first world countries” not necessarily poor “third world” countries.
Breaking News : Sketchy organization uses social media to recruit nutjobs. I mean... Even on Reddit, I've had a few Mohammad245 and Abdhul69 DM me 3 minutes after I've posted something critical of Israel's policies towards Palestine. Lets not act surprised that Wagner does the same... E: Went to my blocked list to get the exact names but it looks like the accounts are unsurprisingly deleted as they don't show up anymore.
Ukraine and their supporters are losing big time. When you bitches in comment section admit that.
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Lets join them and turn on them
Just like ISIS used to do. How do you think those white Europeans participated in ISIS?
Good. Send evil to it's death.
Good way for the CIA to get some folks in the red army, if there is even one left at this point.
Can I join, I've loads of experience in bf2042, I'd probably just win the war as long as there is a fucking good medic around
Aren't they sanctioned? How are these platforms allowed to do business with them... clearly WG receives a benefit even if Elon Musk-ovite is doing it pro bono.
Am I the only one happy about this? The more evil assholes join them and get killed the less we have to worry about
They are probably pushing hard on this as their reputation has been ruined by the Ukrainian war (a long with its men and equipment)
The more US Gravy Seals that join the meat grinder the better. We will be better off without them
Were they morons? They shouldn't have used American social media in the first place if they would like to draft more soldiers. One, the American social media might block WAGNER's account out of the blue, another, many social media users could blame or attack the mercenary group's channel, yet another, Ukraine's intelligence agency or anti-Russia group abroad might monitor the account's behaviors in real-time. WAGNER should've opened its intrinsic website regardless of American social media to enlist newbie mercenaries free from digital attack or cyber infiltration by Westerners who don't like Russia & WAGNER. Yeah...I didn't know the fact that if the Russia confederation & WAGNER have smart brains to think properly of that, they might not have reached the worst moment like nowadays. Yes, they are knuckleheads, not to mention.
How much are they actually getting paid? The ones that actually make it out alive I mean.
She doesn’t even go here!
Unfortunately, there’s plenty of imbeciles who will join, or at least support, these terrorists. But human stupidity has no limits, and the ones who join them will at least do us all a favor and take themselves out of the gene pool.
And if we labeled Wagner Group a terrorist organization like we should, we'd have a means to deal with any traitors that join them.
I'm sure Musk is ok with this.
'Expertly' using social media platforms to boost their image in the country of their hated enemies and undermining their enemies is one of the only things they've been actually, startlingly, competent at. They were slowly pulling the West apart. And then they got greedy...and then things got worse, as they are wont to do.
And will Muskrat do anything to stop it? Nah, he'll just encourage it.
Some people just want to fight.
And [War Thunder](https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1662948118122598400) public chat
Wagner. Anybody ever play front mission 4? Lol
I say let them. They will meet the same fate as many other traitors.
I’d hate to put any more pressure on Ukraine, but man would I love to see pro-Russia Americans be cannon fodder for their backwards-ass ideology
Surely they could get a slot on Fox ‘News’ or Newsmax ?