Putin's Invasion of Ukraine

[Cassia]

I remember when Russians took to the streets to protest Yeltsin's dismantling of parliament. Moscow was a war zone. It led to a violent military crackdown and the consolidation of absolute executive power under a new constitution. Protest made their lives even worse. Kinda adds up why they just let the dictator do his thing.

It's definitely a lose-lose situation. But the long-term consequences of society being "apolitical" during a dictatorship is that the dictator has a free hand to do some seriously heinous stuff, mostly to the host county. We've seen the populace of whole countries struggle against a dictator (Hungary comes readily to mind) and we've seen countries quietly acquiesce to them (Russia, North Korea, etc). The latter is worse by any conceivable metric.

I've often heard conflicts summarized as a "struggle for freedom" but painting it in such abstract terms does it a real disservice - we're really talking about the people in a country having a say in how they are governed, to choose their own leader and own political agenda, to have a say in their own future. Often, we're also talking about the ability to live without being attacked by secret police, without having people being abducted, etc. And not just freedom from unjust rule and arbitrary harm, but the ability for normal people to live peaceful and prosperous lives connected to the rest of the world. These conditions change the course of the lives of millions and also the future of the world as a whole. It's lamentable that dictators ever successfully convince the people to part with such truly valuable things.

Yes, just look at all the idiots willing to support our version of a madman-dictator. And then the prototype, the celestial dictator that demands to be worshiped or it is eternal hellfire. People seem to think belief is a choice. It is not. It is a mind-state. If anyone has a choice to believe Puff the Magic Dragon is real, I'd love to meet them, LOL.

[Hydra009]

Fools Russian:



Russian infantry assault under the cover of fog. Huge manpower advantage. But the 3 Ukrainian defenders ambushed them, then the fog cleared and the drones went to work. Clearly, the Ukrainians know how to do more with less. Very disciplined, too. Not many even western units would hold fast in such a situation.

[theantithesis]

Not many even western units would hold fast in such a situation.

Americans would bottle like the Shotz Brewing Company

"I thought we were the main characters!"

[Hydra009]

Warmonger says no to peace - again and again

Mad Vlad says that Ukraine's ceasefire proposals are too "exotic" for him

When asked what he meant by "exotic" proposals, Putin refused to clarify.

Of course not, because then it'd be obvious that he's lying.

One proposal was just a straight ceasefire - Ukrainian units wouldn't fire unless fired upon. It doesn't get simpler than that. Mad Vlad refused.

Another proposal was to not attack each other's energy infrastructure - power plants, hydroelectric dams, refineries, pipelines, etc. Super simple stuff. Mad Vlad refused.

And yet another was to not attack commercial shipping - no attacking port infrastructure, grain ships, cargo ships, shadow fleet ships, etc. Simple proposal. Mad Vlad refused.

Trump and Musk say that Ukraine must make a deal, but with who? Someone who refuses every deal? Putin says "peace" and means capitulation, and Zelenskyy says peace and means no more Russians in Ukraine and no more missiles and drones flying. So when they say peace, they don't mean the same thing. Until Putin understands what peace means (or someone else comes to power who does), there can be no peace.

[Hydra009]

In the Lyman direction, Ukraine went on the offensive, using APCs to drop off infantry up to 3km in enemy territory. This is notable because these sorts or rapid advances are very unusual, drones usually slow or prevent such assaults. In this one, only one Russian drone attacked an APC, damaging it as it retreated but not stopping it. The Russians usually have much more drones at their disposal and this was a bright, sunny day. So what gives? Denys speculates that Ukrainian electronic warfare prevented the normal drones from operating and the Russians only had a single fiber optic drone at their disposal (possibly due to logistics disruptions). No matter the cause, it shows that maneuver warfare is still possible in small doses.

[Hydra009]

Insane Kremlin Logic: Putin crony says Ukraine planned to invade, so Russia invaded first

LOL, Russia must've been clairvoyant then, because they had their army prepping for war and massing at the Ukrainian border weeks before even that.

I bet Zelenskyy was salivating at the chance to control the notoriously pristine and productive Russian towns, lol. Ukraine's crime metrics would spike if they annexed even a couple of Russian towns. Russian territory is so undesirable that even during the incursion into Belgorod and Kursk regions, the Ukrainians expected some sort of trade for Ukrainian territory.

[Cassia]

Insane Kremlin Logic: Putin crony says Ukraine planned to invade, so Russia invaded first

LOL, Russia must've been clairvoyant then, because they had their army prepping for war and massing at the Ukrainian border weeks before even that.

I bet Zelenskyy was salivating at the chance to control the notoriously pristine and productive Russian towns, lol. Ukraine's crime metrics would spike if they annexed even a couple of Russian towns. Russian territory is so undesirable that even during the incursion into Belgorod and Kursk regions, the Ukrainians expected some sort of trade for Ukrainian territory.

Who outside of Russia would fall for this stupidity? Trump. That's who.

[Hydra009]

Russia's new terror tactic is to stagger out drone/missile attacks on major Ukrainian cities - launching just a couple every 30 minutes or so- maximizing air alerts and paralyzing daily life, like restaurants and public transit, which don't operate during air alerts.

Certainly, notions of conquest are gone, but not notions of petty, pointless harm.

[Hydra009]

Bear hunting:



Ukraine badly damaged a Russian bomber at Engels airbase Russia says it was a training plane. Looks like they'll need a replacement regardless. But they don't/can't build any Tu-95 bombers anymore, so this is an irreplaceable loss. And they lost another one at the same spot back in July (tail was completely blown off) and they just put another one there and a month later, it was gone, too. Pure strategic genius right there.

Russia has lost about 12 of these bombers since the start of the war (7-8 of them were lost during Operation Spiderweb) and they're all irreplaceable, meaning Russia's airforce loses capabilities with every hit. In 2020, 55 were in service. So Ukraine has eaten through about 20% of them so far.

[Hydra009]

Russia torments Kyiv with nearly constant air raids