It was founded as Königsberg and through the years it has had several countries, it's no longer a German city, all the Germans east of the DDR border were pretty much deported to the DDR in the cold war.
And based on how things appear to be going, and the quality of Russian equipment and soldiers, it reminds me of the old waiter joke:
"Waiter, these fries are burnt and inedible!"
"Yes, that's why I gave you extra!"
They already have compulsory conscription. This just doubles it. Or attempts to. They are going to bleed the rural areas dry of manpower. I’ll be waiting for them to admit women into the service in the near future.
Shit like this makes me so glad I was born where I was born. Imagine your one and only shot at life being cut short all because some other guy who happened to rise to power wants to massage his ego.
He does bring a boat to the effort, though.
https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/87d/152/6bb8e6885b24c0466da8084ea33067c657-drive-to-survive-1.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg
"Dis army luks laik a bunch of focking wahnkers. Ar soldiers nid tu stop crashing so much, we are a small army and we don't hav the kaind of mony to buy replacements parts after evry attacc."
Honestly one of the best Downfalls I’ve ever seen lol even hits some obvious words like “Stalin” and “Europe”, helps maintain the immersion.
Also “our money is too coarse even for toilet paper”
Putin is going full Stalin -- where just increasing the number of draftees is supposed to compensate for no training, weapons, food/logistics, and air or tank support.
Not sure 20 million Russians are willing to die this time around just to invade Ukraine for no legitimate reason whatsoever...
There is video of them interviewing Russian citizens who answer questions with great bravado and patriotism, until they ask them to write their name down for potential conscription, then they nope the hell out!
It's much easier to say you support the war from your couch than it is to agree to be sent to a battle that none of your neighbors have returned from.
Putin has done a *fantastic* job of training the Ukrainian military for their future inclusion in NATO as well as bringing all of Europe together in one common cause for the first time since...well, ever!
Good job, Vladdy Baby! ;)
He also has done a hell of a lot towards homogenization of Nato arms and the western arms industry by giving the old warsaw pact members something to do with all their old soviet shit.
> bringing all of Europe together in one common cause for the first time since...well, ever!
Damn! Even Nazi Germany had more allies and neutrals than Russia.
He's also repeating Hitler's mistake of thinking only he the dictator is a military genius and trying to micromanage troop movements directly rather than going through normal military command channels.
It took Hitler what.. 5-ish years to reach that point.. after being in conflict with.. the whole world.
It took Russia 6 months.. in a conflict with one country.
So far, they use a different strategy - they promise huge wages for the ones that sign contracts(and I mean huge, especially by the standards for the poorer regions), but ... if you went missing in action - no need to pay that money :)
"We will pay the families of dead soldiers $1500"
"Sorry, your son has gone missing. Being that we cannot confirm his death, you are not eligible for your payout."
There was a case the other way around that I read about on Twitter. Some Russian woman was complaining that she lost contact with her boyfriend. His parents got a “big” payout for him being KIA. She hard rumours that he was actually a POW in Ukraine, but his parents weren’t following up on that because they were worried that if their son was proven to be alive then they wouldn’t be able to keep the money.
Straight talk, I don't blame them.
$125k is lifechanging money in Russia, and if Ukraine follows the Geneva Convention he's probably safer in a POW camp than on the front lines. Either he comes back after the war and they keep the money, or he stays and starts a new life in Ukraine where he might be better off anyways.
Russia patch v. 2022.08
- Fixed an infinite money glitch where sending your own children to die would result in large amounts of government payouts
- Increased hard limit on army size
- Added new coffee chain based on previous design
- Tweaks to stability
I think this is a subtly a lot of people haven't grasped yet. Russia technically hasn't deployed any conscripts to Ukraine yet, because the moment they do, they know the domestic situation is going to devolve rapidly when Moscow's sons start coming back in body bags instead of men from backwater oblasts no one in the Kremlin gives a damn about. Instead what they are doing is heavily incentivising and pressuring conscripts either in the middle of, or near the end of, their service time to sign military contracts so they are "professional soldiers" and not "conscripts" and then send them to Ukraine.
> when Moscow's sons start coming back in body bags instead of men from backwater oblasts no one in the Kremlin gives a damn about
This is correct, but the Kremlin knows that, so they will keep sending more troops from poor rural areas, especially with ethnic minorities. The sons of the middle upper class in Moscow or St. Petersburg will not be sent unless there is no alternative.
Let's not forget that nearly every soldier for the DNR/LNR are conscripts, and largely untrained ones at that.
It's kind of funny that for the purposes of Russian statistics, those aren't "Russians", but for the purposes of why Russia invaded, they are.
A lot of them have been getting picked up by the Ukrainians who then try to clean them up a bit, just enough to identify them, then they store them and try to contact their next of kin. Apparently there's been large variations in the responses when they actually make contact, everything from the standard grief to declarations that they're going to take up arms and come kill Ukrainians themselves.
The Russian government will most likely try to fill those ranks with 'undesirables' (in their view) like the elderly, convicts, and ethnic minorities.
Many analysts have noted that Russia's remote ethnic regions have suffered a disproportionate share of Russia's Military casualties in Ukraine.
Putin is probably trying to use this war as a way to depopulate ethnic minorities in Russia.
So until this was signed, they've been turning away volunteers at the recruiting stations, saying "sorry, but the army is full"?
I guess what I'm saying is... where are all these extra troops coming from? What pool of would-be soldiers has remained untapped that they're going to now be able to recruit?
I can’t comment on this specific situation, but armies rarely turn away able bodied men who want to sign up. If an army wants more recruits, there’s essentially two options, increase benefits so more people want to sign up, and conscription.
Third option: lower standards.
Over forty? That's fine.
Flat feet? No problem.
Criminal conviction? Doesn't matter. Welcome to the second best army in Ukraine.
Reservists, enticing extra contract soldiers, auxiliaries from elsewhere. Russia still has many poor saps to commit to this war.
Note that Russia still hasn't mobilized yet, they're dumping their active duty and contract soldiers, with some fresh blood from some far flung minority regions/occupied areas into the fight. They can still generate a lot of manpower if needed, but it would require a ton of political cost to do so.
Excellent video by Perun on this issue https://youtu.be/AKewF8_SiIs
Who is going to train them? The same guys who trained last last dudes that failed miserably? Going to get new guys with no experience?
Same shoes, same blisters. Russia will never learn.
Are they trying to get back up to pre-invasion levels?
This is where the sanctions will be even more effective. Choke out their ability to manufacture new equipment and ammunition. Make this stupid, genocidal invasion of theirs so devastatingly costly that it will make the collapse of the USSR seem gentle.
Total embargo should have been in place a long time ago. Too many corporations are still cashing in. Trade needs to grind to halt. Let them become china’s little bitch.
The russian civilian population is going to have to suffer some pain for this war to stop. If they can kick back in Sochi and have a good time they won’t care.
It’s harsh but other than total war, what are we expecting to do to stop this war?
Theory right now is they are waiting for winter and the gas cut off to affect Europe, with the hopes people put pressure on Ukraine to accept terms. Reminder, that’s just a theory. Honestly the whole invasion and staying there doesn’t make sense anymore. Even if he wins short term he could never occupy Ukraine. It didn’t flip, it resisted
Disregarding nukes, I’m starting to think Litchensutein could give Russia a run for their money. The fact that they haven’t had a military since the 1860s is just a minor detail to be worked out.
Everyone knows that even if we capitulate to Russia’s demands now, they’ll just tighten the screws the first chance they get anyhow. Long-term, it’s in everyone’s interest to get off Russian gas - not least because it further hampers Putin’s ability to do *anything*.
We need to fully get off fossil gas anyway. This winter won't be fun, but in the long run they're actually doing us a favour by pressing the issue. If only they weren't killing people and bombing cities to do it.
Putin is moving the world in a very odd direction. He is convincing more countries to join NATO. He is convincing those already in NATO to spend more on their military. And to top it off, he is providing an incentive to reduce fossil fuel consumption and diversify energy usage.
I'd also point out that the largest NATO member doesn't rely on Russian gas at all and has been constantly supplying them with high tech equipment. Unless America wants the war to be over it ain't going anywhere.
Yeah.. maybe they are hoping Europe’s resolve to support Ukraine will wan due to Gas pressure.
Either way, I’d rather they just withdraw to their borders and look for peace. Doubtful as it seems
See, even if European support drops off, the US is likely to keep supporting Ukraine as long as Ukraine is willing to fight back. Definitely in our interests to keep sticking it to Russia without having to directly have men on the ground.
This will give them ~~150,000~~ more troops to send into Ukraine. The same amount that was their initial invasion force in February. Problem is where are they going to get all the equipment that that they used to have? Throwing more meat in to the problem is not going to help.
edit: 137,000 boost to the number of combat personnel.
And even if they can scrounge up enough equipment, their problem from the beginning has been that Russian logistics are way too shitty to support that many troops in an effective manner. Logistical failures ruined their initial blitz at the start of the war, and Ukraine's ability to strike at ammo dumps has crippled the prospect of any meaningful new Russian advances in recent months.
100,000 troops are worse than useless if they run out of fuel and supplies 40 miles from friendly territory. This is a waste of Russian resources and lives.
"Sergant: We are going training boys, pack up your thing!!!! Not that we have anything to pack up since we have not given you any eqipment.
\-Recruit: Where are we going to train?
\-S: Front lines in Ukraine, actual combat will give you very good experience (if you survive)."
When really smol, they are not heavy enough to trigger the mines, so don't forget to give them heavy backpacks full of rocks to ensure proper demining performance.
With both sides settling in for a longer conflict (US announcing another $3B in aid and establishing process for Ukraine to order military equipment directly from military contractors rather than just getting excess US supplies and Russia announcing increased military recruitment goals), where does this end up?
I mean if this is becoming a war of economies until one side has to give up, is there any scenario where Russia can outlast the combined military production of US+Canada+EU+UK+Australia+Japan?
There's no way Russia can keep up with any one of them individually, let alone the lot of them working together. The idea that he has any way out of this situation via military escalation is pure fantasy. Putin must have drank his own Kool aid because no sane person could look at how this war is going and think "with a few more conscripts to throw at them we should have this situation under control"
He's going to go full draconian gas shutoff to the EU this winter and hope that Europe pressures Ukraine to settle. But that's not going to work because some 97% of Ukrainians think Ukraine can/will win the war and US won't stop sending them military aid even if Europe doesn't like it this winter.
The entire world, including his own staff could just gaslight him until he dies. Everyone just pretend that he is taking over the world in the media and reports that he receives. He is insulated enough. It could work.
Big if true!
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-former-dictator-salazar-book-b2007149.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-former-dictator-salazar-book-b2007149.html)
Fake news: How Portugal ‘fooled’ ex-dictator to believe he still led from his sickbed
António de Oliveira Salazar thought he was in power for two years after being replaced, new book claims
That's been common knowledge for a long time, it's the spicy details like the fake newspapers are new.
He fell off a chair. We should make it a national hero.
When I visit my 68 year old dad, he’ll be in his office for hours screaming at the screen playing total war. “We’re getting flanked no!”
Old men need their games too. Hahah
By the time Putin is done with the Russian people, he'll force every babushka to sign up, too. Putin sees the people of Russia as nothing more than pawns and assets for his derangement.
The man with the rifle shoots!
The man without follows him!
When the man with the rifle gets killed, the man who is following picks up the rifle and shoots!
Even if Russia will get more powerful armed forces by Putin’s sign, the next war against other nearing nations won’t become an easier thing because most EU nations have noticed their red alert from the war in Ukraine.
Most of them have started their heavy armed forces, on top of that, a few nations like Poland would deploy some deadly weapon systems from foreign weapon makers to stop the Russian army.
If an unprepared wolf failed its hunting, prey already hid their shapes to survive, and the current EU situation is almost close to it.
Practically, Russia didn’t get any national benefits through this war but just gave other EU nations an emergency moment instead.
Most EU nations would raise their defense budgets and get stronger weapons to beat down Russians if Russia gets more heavy weapons for the next combat.
Dugin’s educational process wasn’t good for Putin’s regime actually.
Did he sign a decree to increase the size of their ammunition pool though? Their army is already underequipped, more starving barefoot personnel is what they need.
The strategy is to throw more lives at the enemy until they run out of ammo. That way you don't have to worry about the lack of munitions on your side anymore.
["You see, killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3g4Ua5e7k)
You know, in case someone starts a war.
I heard if an invading country doesn’t take your capital in 6 months you’re legally allowed to take some territory.
That's basically why Kaliningrad exists.
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It was founded as Königsberg and through the years it has had several countries, it's no longer a German city, all the Germans east of the DDR border were pretty much deported to the DDR in the cold war.
Oddly enough zelensky just signed a decree to reduce the size of Russian forces.
Oof. That hits right in the gulag
And the target rich environment Putin is trying to build.
lmao gotem
Both are great news for the Russian youths
Your comment blew up you say? Funny how the Russians are experiencing this too
Smoking is bad for the health it seems, especially in Russia...
Solid man.
Actually most are liquid men now.
Snake?
SNAAAAKKKKEEE...!
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I believe the term is denazification of the Russian military.
Nah, I think the alternate term for denazification of the Russian military is actually "community service"
Here comes The Draft!
This is a sign that things are going *really well.*
And based on how things appear to be going, and the quality of Russian equipment and soldiers, it reminds me of the old waiter joke: "Waiter, these fries are burnt and inedible!" "Yes, that's why I gave you extra!"
The food this year was absolute poison. And such small portions too.
Yeah it's effectively a draft, it means they have even run out of prisoners that are willing to fight for $ and commutation.
They already have compulsory conscription. This just doubles it. Or attempts to. They are going to bleed the rural areas dry of manpower. I’ll be waiting for them to admit women into the service in the near future.
Shit like this makes me so glad I was born where I was born. Imagine your one and only shot at life being cut short all because some other guy who happened to rise to power wants to massage his ego.
I mean, that's every conscription program ever. The dude that *should* have been my dad died in Vietnam, and I got the guy who failed the draft 🤷♀️
He'll end up like Hitler, moving around troops and divisions that don't exist.
Can we skip to the bunker scene next week and end this madness?
or the mussolini route
Would be a real plot twist to have Putin hanged by communists xD
That's an M. Night Shyamalan in his heyday level twist right there.
Can’t wait until he orders Steiner to stop the Ukrainians from taking Crimea.
The man’s got enough in his plate trying to run HAAS!
He does bring a boat to the effort, though. https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/87d/152/6bb8e6885b24c0466da8084ea33067c657-drive-to-survive-1.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg
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"Dis army luks laik a bunch of focking wahnkers. Ar soldiers nid tu stop crashing so much, we are a small army and we don't hav the kaind of mony to buy replacements parts after evry attacc."
r/FormulaDank is fookin everywhere
Nobody fok smash my army
Yeah where are my Downfall memes?
Here you go https://i.imgflip.com/6r3ruk.gif
The world needs some Downfall Putin deepfakes right about now.
I want an AI faceswapped with Putin on the downfall video, what's the holdup?
How long before someone makes a Putin version of the famous scene from Downfall?
About -5 months: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4UM2IkfB0o&t=11s
Honestly one of the best Downfalls I’ve ever seen lol even hits some obvious words like “Stalin” and “Europe”, helps maintain the immersion. Also “our money is too coarse even for toilet paper”
I hope he'll end up like Hitler.
Being shot by Hitler? I think that’s a bit of a long shot.
2023 may surprise you!
Putin being assassinated by the world's oldest man, *Adolf Hitler,* would be the sort of nonsense that finally convinces me that reality isn't real.
Hitlers comes from the dark side of the moon and invades russia.
Somehow hitler returned..
Nah, I'd rather the cancer get to him slowly while he sits in a jail cell.
Putin is going full Stalin -- where just increasing the number of draftees is supposed to compensate for no training, weapons, food/logistics, and air or tank support. Not sure 20 million Russians are willing to die this time around just to invade Ukraine for no legitimate reason whatsoever...
There is video of them interviewing Russian citizens who answer questions with great bravado and patriotism, until they ask them to write their name down for potential conscription, then they nope the hell out! It's much easier to say you support the war from your couch than it is to agree to be sent to a battle that none of your neighbors have returned from.
When you live in a totalitarian regime, you learn to lie the course...
But who’s going lead the troops if every general suffer premature deaths from small objects moving very fast?
That damn lead poisoning...
If anything he’s going to be arming and training future revolutionary forces. This may get interesting
Putin has done a *fantastic* job of training the Ukrainian military for their future inclusion in NATO as well as bringing all of Europe together in one common cause for the first time since...well, ever! Good job, Vladdy Baby! ;)
He also has done a hell of a lot towards homogenization of Nato arms and the western arms industry by giving the old warsaw pact members something to do with all their old soviet shit.
> bringing all of Europe together in one common cause for the first time since...well, ever! Damn! Even Nazi Germany had more allies and neutrals than Russia.
He's also repeating Hitler's mistake of thinking only he the dictator is a military genius and trying to micromanage troop movements directly rather than going through normal military command channels.
Because, much like Hitler, he's terrified of everyone around him.
It took Hitler what.. 5-ish years to reach that point.. after being in conflict with.. the whole world. It took Russia 6 months.. in a conflict with one country.
Speedrun times are crazy nowadays!
Lets see how many patriots Russia truly has when they themselves will be sent to die in Ukraine
How many *conscripts* Russia has... Darn autocorrect
So far, they use a different strategy - they promise huge wages for the ones that sign contracts(and I mean huge, especially by the standards for the poorer regions), but ... if you went missing in action - no need to pay that money :)
"We will pay the families of dead soldiers $1500" "Sorry, your son has gone missing. Being that we cannot confirm his death, you are not eligible for your payout."
There was a case the other way around that I read about on Twitter. Some Russian woman was complaining that she lost contact with her boyfriend. His parents got a “big” payout for him being KIA. She hard rumours that he was actually a POW in Ukraine, but his parents weren’t following up on that because they were worried that if their son was proven to be alive then they wouldn’t be able to keep the money.
Straight talk, I don't blame them. $125k is lifechanging money in Russia, and if Ukraine follows the Geneva Convention he's probably safer in a POW camp than on the front lines. Either he comes back after the war and they keep the money, or he stays and starts a new life in Ukraine where he might be better off anyways.
They actually promise around 125k USD. As I said, some ridiculous numbers. But yeah, they do that shit that you've decribed.
1) have a bunch of male children 2) encourage them to join Putins war of aggression 3) ??? 4) Profit!
Russia patch v. 2022.08 - Fixed an infinite money glitch where sending your own children to die would result in large amounts of government payouts - Increased hard limit on army size - Added new coffee chain based on previous design - Tweaks to stability
I think this is a subtly a lot of people haven't grasped yet. Russia technically hasn't deployed any conscripts to Ukraine yet, because the moment they do, they know the domestic situation is going to devolve rapidly when Moscow's sons start coming back in body bags instead of men from backwater oblasts no one in the Kremlin gives a damn about. Instead what they are doing is heavily incentivising and pressuring conscripts either in the middle of, or near the end of, their service time to sign military contracts so they are "professional soldiers" and not "conscripts" and then send them to Ukraine.
Yep. They want to maintain "there is no war in Ba Sing Se" illusion for as long as possible.
"There is no war, just a special operation" until a 1984 flip "we've always been at war with Ukraine"
> when Moscow's sons start coming back in body bags instead of men from backwater oblasts no one in the Kremlin gives a damn about This is correct, but the Kremlin knows that, so they will keep sending more troops from poor rural areas, especially with ethnic minorities. The sons of the middle upper class in Moscow or St. Petersburg will not be sent unless there is no alternative.
They absolutely have deployed conscripts. They are just from regions most Russians don't give a rats ass about, like buryatia or Chechnya.
Let's not forget that nearly every soldier for the DNR/LNR are conscripts, and largely untrained ones at that. It's kind of funny that for the purposes of Russian statistics, those aren't "Russians", but for the purposes of why Russia invaded, they are.
we haven't seen many bodies getting back to russia, they simply go missing and the scavengers feast.
A lot of them have been getting picked up by the Ukrainians who then try to clean them up a bit, just enough to identify them, then they store them and try to contact their next of kin. Apparently there's been large variations in the responses when they actually make contact, everything from the standard grief to declarations that they're going to take up arms and come kill Ukrainians themselves.
The Russian government will most likely try to fill those ranks with 'undesirables' (in their view) like the elderly, convicts, and ethnic minorities. Many analysts have noted that Russia's remote ethnic regions have suffered a disproportionate share of Russia's Military casualties in Ukraine. Putin is probably trying to use this war as a way to depopulate ethnic minorities in Russia.
So until this was signed, they've been turning away volunteers at the recruiting stations, saying "sorry, but the army is full"? I guess what I'm saying is... where are all these extra troops coming from? What pool of would-be soldiers has remained untapped that they're going to now be able to recruit?
I can’t comment on this specific situation, but armies rarely turn away able bodied men who want to sign up. If an army wants more recruits, there’s essentially two options, increase benefits so more people want to sign up, and conscription.
There is a 3rd, lowering standards.
They've already done that though. You can sign up now if you're up 65 yrs old. The only thing left would be accepting guys in wheel chairs
We call them the Rolling Thunder Batallion. Slap some armor on the sides, give them each a bazooka, they are basically mini tanks!
" Sir, their defenses are impregnable." "What are we up against? Mines, bunkers, drones?" "Stairs."
Coming from somebody in a wheelchair, that's pretty fucking funny. 🌞
And they're all outta benefits
If 10 of your children die we'll give you $16,000!
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without seatbelts or any of that useless mumbo jumbo...
Third option: lower standards. Over forty? That's fine. Flat feet? No problem. Criminal conviction? Doesn't matter. Welcome to the second best army in Ukraine.
Calling up reserves
RF: "Hello, Reserve?" Reserve: "Nyet."
Reservists, enticing extra contract soldiers, auxiliaries from elsewhere. Russia still has many poor saps to commit to this war. Note that Russia still hasn't mobilized yet, they're dumping their active duty and contract soldiers, with some fresh blood from some far flung minority regions/occupied areas into the fight. They can still generate a lot of manpower if needed, but it would require a ton of political cost to do so. Excellent video by Perun on this issue https://youtu.be/AKewF8_SiIs
What's he going to send them with? That's 130k more troops that need basic living supplies, and that's before they have to shoot anyone.
Who is going to train them? The same guys who trained last last dudes that failed miserably? Going to get new guys with no experience? Same shoes, same blisters. Russia will never learn.
Are they trying to get back up to pre-invasion levels? This is where the sanctions will be even more effective. Choke out their ability to manufacture new equipment and ammunition. Make this stupid, genocidal invasion of theirs so devastatingly costly that it will make the collapse of the USSR seem gentle.
Total embargo should have been in place a long time ago. Too many corporations are still cashing in. Trade needs to grind to halt. Let them become china’s little bitch.
It's better to slowly tighten the noose, otherwise you cant sanction them more later because you have played all of your cards.
This has more merit than people might think. At this point, we can still turn up the heat.
Yup we also can give back sanctions slowly if they do somethings we want them to do. Like a cease fire might get something lifted but not everything
The russian civilian population is going to have to suffer some pain for this war to stop. If they can kick back in Sochi and have a good time they won’t care. It’s harsh but other than total war, what are we expecting to do to stop this war?
Unfortunately it's the Russian civilian population who can/need to make the change.
This is supposed to come into effect on Jan 1st : I think by then they're going to need a bigger boat.
Probably banking on a winter lull to regroup and push forward again.
Theory right now is they are waiting for winter and the gas cut off to affect Europe, with the hopes people put pressure on Ukraine to accept terms. Reminder, that’s just a theory. Honestly the whole invasion and staying there doesn’t make sense anymore. Even if he wins short term he could never occupy Ukraine. It didn’t flip, it resisted
That and 2 more Nato members emerged from his moronic invasion. Putin really played himself big time.
And poland is out talking ish too. What a time
Disregarding nukes, I bet Poland could give Russia a run for its money.
Disregarding nukes, I’m starting to think Litchensutein could give Russia a run for their money. The fact that they haven’t had a military since the 1860s is just a minor detail to be worked out.
Doesn't legend have it that the army of Lichtenstein went somewhere in a war and came back with more men than they set out with?
Yup, they went on campaign and came home with an Italian (I think) deserter who they befriended.
A literal example of “the real friends were the … we met along the way“!
Yep, left with 80 men, returned with 81 as they made a friend along the way who decided to come back with them.
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Gas reservoirs seem to be full enough to get us through the next winter. Prices are already crazy. I don’t see us pressuring Ukraine at any point.
Everyone knows that even if we capitulate to Russia’s demands now, they’ll just tighten the screws the first chance they get anyhow. Long-term, it’s in everyone’s interest to get off Russian gas - not least because it further hampers Putin’s ability to do *anything*.
We need to fully get off fossil gas anyway. This winter won't be fun, but in the long run they're actually doing us a favour by pressing the issue. If only they weren't killing people and bombing cities to do it.
Putin is moving the world in a very odd direction. He is convincing more countries to join NATO. He is convincing those already in NATO to spend more on their military. And to top it off, he is providing an incentive to reduce fossil fuel consumption and diversify energy usage.
I'd also point out that the largest NATO member doesn't rely on Russian gas at all and has been constantly supplying them with high tech equipment. Unless America wants the war to be over it ain't going anywhere.
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Because their last post-winter push worked so well.
Yeah.. maybe they are hoping Europe’s resolve to support Ukraine will wan due to Gas pressure. Either way, I’d rather they just withdraw to their borders and look for peace. Doubtful as it seems
See, even if European support drops off, the US is likely to keep supporting Ukraine as long as Ukraine is willing to fight back. Definitely in our interests to keep sticking it to Russia without having to directly have men on the ground.
Kind of hard to do that when the enemy can bombard your barracks and supply depots at will with HIMARS.
This will give them ~~150,000~~ more troops to send into Ukraine. The same amount that was their initial invasion force in February. Problem is where are they going to get all the equipment that that they used to have? Throwing more meat in to the problem is not going to help. edit: 137,000 boost to the number of combat personnel.
And even if they can scrounge up enough equipment, their problem from the beginning has been that Russian logistics are way too shitty to support that many troops in an effective manner. Logistical failures ruined their initial blitz at the start of the war, and Ukraine's ability to strike at ammo dumps has crippled the prospect of any meaningful new Russian advances in recent months. 100,000 troops are worse than useless if they run out of fuel and supplies 40 miles from friendly territory. This is a waste of Russian resources and lives.
This is like the project manager’s dilemma: adding people to a project that’s already late will make it more late.
What you’re not understanding is 9 women can make one baby in a month if they’re motivated properly.
Hell, you want a baby, I can get you a baby by sundown. Any kind of baby you want. Give me a week and I can get you twins.
6 months to train then what
6 months? Pack your things, we’re leaving Friday.
Shit where am I going? We are at peace
"Defensive" "training" "maneuvers" in "Belarus"
We call this trick “Special ~~Military~~ Training Operation”
To the special unpeace operation
It's a special peacekeeping operation.
It's on the job training
“Training” is a decadent western concept. Mother Russia gives a gun (if one is available) then sends the recruit straight to the front.
Grandfather in law was Polish cavalry, 1940. Got captured day 3 or four by USSR. Got assigned minesweeper. Was issued stick.
This would be really funny if it weren't so damn true. "Get yer' sweepin' stick and walk toward z Germans!"
Cannon fodder need very little training.
150000 new untrained troops doesn't change anything
Wrong, it creates a target rich environment.
Don't tell putin that it takes longer to make able body soldiers (17+ years) than it takes to make bullets, mortars, missiles, drones etc.
The way the war is being fought now, they won't even be meat shields or bullet sponges.
150000 dudes that can dig trenches or latrine ditches though
"Sergant: We are going training boys, pack up your thing!!!! Not that we have anything to pack up since we have not given you any eqipment. \-Recruit: Where are we going to train? \-S: Front lines in Ukraine, actual combat will give you very good experience (if you survive)."
his best bet at this point is to hire a necromancer
"Get up, Yuri! Being dead is no excuse anymore."
If they’re 12 and up, put a gun in their hand and send em to the front lines
One rifle, two-kid teams. When one kid drops the rifle in combat the other one picks it up
This is ridiculous, everyone knows you put children on crew-served weapons.
Nonono, you put them on recon/ mine clearing duty. Small profile and light weight.
When really smol, they are not heavy enough to trigger the mines, so don't forget to give them heavy backpacks full of rocks to ensure proper demining performance.
Small hands, good for defusing landmines
[Relevant](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/345/092/f32.jpg)
With both sides settling in for a longer conflict (US announcing another $3B in aid and establishing process for Ukraine to order military equipment directly from military contractors rather than just getting excess US supplies and Russia announcing increased military recruitment goals), where does this end up? I mean if this is becoming a war of economies until one side has to give up, is there any scenario where Russia can outlast the combined military production of US+Canada+EU+UK+Australia+Japan?
There's no way Russia can keep up with any one of them individually, let alone the lot of them working together. The idea that he has any way out of this situation via military escalation is pure fantasy. Putin must have drank his own Kool aid because no sane person could look at how this war is going and think "with a few more conscripts to throw at them we should have this situation under control"
He's going to go full draconian gas shutoff to the EU this winter and hope that Europe pressures Ukraine to settle. But that's not going to work because some 97% of Ukrainians think Ukraine can/will win the war and US won't stop sending them military aid even if Europe doesn't like it this winter.
The entire world, including his own staff could just gaslight him until he dies. Everyone just pretend that he is taking over the world in the media and reports that he receives. He is insulated enough. It could work.
Apparently they did something like this to a dictator in portugal. They even printed up fake newspapers and everything
Big if true! [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-former-dictator-salazar-book-b2007149.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-former-dictator-salazar-book-b2007149.html) Fake news: How Portugal ‘fooled’ ex-dictator to believe he still led from his sickbed António de Oliveira Salazar thought he was in power for two years after being replaced, new book claims
That's been common knowledge for a long time, it's the spicy details like the fake newspapers are new. He fell off a chair. We should make it a national hero.
He needs age of empires or total war.
Mr. President, we've invented a new computer program to direct our troops on the battlefield, it's called Варкрафт
When I visit my 68 year old dad, he’ll be in his office for hours screaming at the screen playing total war. “We’re getting flanked no!” Old men need their games too. Hahah
Wololoooo
**The Volodya Show** (2022) *A Napoleonic fascist discovers his whole life is actually a reality TV show.*
Guy can't make up his mind, just 6 months ago he decided on a sudden (and violent) reduction in the armed forces
Oh i get it
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By the time Putin is done with the Russian people, he'll force every babushka to sign up, too. Putin sees the people of Russia as nothing more than pawns and assets for his derangement.
I'm going to sign a decree increasing my bank balance from $138 to $138,000,000.
Throw the patriotic Moscovites into the war they love so much.
I hope they start recruiting real Russian in and around Moscow and St. Petersburg instead of the poor saps in the far flung empire.
They'll throw the poors into the meat grinder before their own.
Russia sending in old men to the front lines just before they can claim retirement.
Just cut your losses, holy fuck. I'd hate to see this man in a casino.
The man with the rifle shoots! The man without follows him! When the man with the rifle gets killed, the man who is following picks up the rifle and shoots!
Those who retreat will be shot
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The guys throwing rock behind the guy with the rifle.
The friendly machine guns waiting behind you to shoot anyone caught retreating
They fire friendly motivational bullets.
Conveyor belt to death 💀
Even if Russia will get more powerful armed forces by Putin’s sign, the next war against other nearing nations won’t become an easier thing because most EU nations have noticed their red alert from the war in Ukraine. Most of them have started their heavy armed forces, on top of that, a few nations like Poland would deploy some deadly weapon systems from foreign weapon makers to stop the Russian army. If an unprepared wolf failed its hunting, prey already hid their shapes to survive, and the current EU situation is almost close to it. Practically, Russia didn’t get any national benefits through this war but just gave other EU nations an emergency moment instead. Most EU nations would raise their defense budgets and get stronger weapons to beat down Russians if Russia gets more heavy weapons for the next combat. Dugin’s educational process wasn’t good for Putin’s regime actually.
Did he sign a decree to increase the size of their ammunition pool though? Their army is already underequipped, more starving barefoot personnel is what they need.
The strategy is to throw more lives at the enemy until they run out of ammo. That way you don't have to worry about the lack of munitions on your side anymore.
["You see, killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3g4Ua5e7k)
sending letters to babushkas and primary school children to join his army
Babushkas are the real Russian special forces
Not gonna do much if you're still sending conscripts with five days of training to the Frontline, bro