Also, pushing your view into the media is pretty trivial. Most news outlets are kind of desperate for content at all times, so basically any news release that has any real news value at all tends to get printed pretty much as is.
Especially if it's on a topic of high interest such as the Russo-Ukrainian war or right now the war in Gaza, pretty much anything a government puts out about those will get printed just as surely as it would if a totalitarian government literally told a media to print it.
The difference with media in the West and China is more that in the West there are always numerous competing narratives. There's a ton of Russian and Chinese propaganda too.for example.
Editorial independence in the 24/7 news world is a somewhat theoretical concept, because these days everything gets published by default if there's any chance people will click the article. Sometimes a single press release will get spun into a dozen articles if the topic is really hot but there's a shortage of stuff to report. (Again, the war in Ukraine was like this at times.)
The government in a democracy can at times successfully put a lid on some stories, and if it puts a lot of effort in the US government especially can quite successfully control the narrative on some topics some of the time... but it has no chance of controlling all medias and all stories all of the time. Critical and differing views still get out. They might not get as much attention, and often the critical narratives start coming out months or years after the fact, but they do generally get out. Of course that doesn't matter if people don't read those stories.
Last edited by Itse; 11-15-2023 at 11:05 PM.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Itse For This Useful Post:
The numbers coming from the Avdiivka front are something else. It's honestly quite a feat that Avdiivka has held since 2014 being right next to Donetsk. It's pretty much the most heavily fortified Ukrainian line, yet Putin decided it was the smart thing to send all his reserves on this fortress for some insane reason. Even the Bakhmut days never crossed 1000 dead in a day that i recall, and this was passed 3 times this week alone.
Russia lost 90(!) Artillery in 2 days.
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Firebot For This Useful Post:
A lot of nasty stuff going on recently in Kozacha Lopan, my in-laws village. Most of my wife's family left last year when an evacuation corridor opened up. But her uncle and his wife stayed behind, as the wife is a military nurse and is required to stay. Uncle refuses to go without her, so he stayed behind as well. The village still comes under attack on occassion, although the UA does actually have soldiers now who fire back onto Russian positions across the border.
Woke up this morning to news of this attack yesterday:
On Tuesday, around 06:00 a.m., the enemy shelled Kozacha Lopan. A detached house was hit and caught fire.
“As the fire was extinguished, rescuers discovered the body of a civilian man, 29,” Syniehubov wrote.
Apparently it was my wife's uncle who came across this house and found the occupants all dead. We found the actual address on the village's Telegram channel and he confirmed he was the first arrival who notified authorites. The news statement says only 1 casualty occurred, but that's incorrect. He found at least 4 bodies inside, including my wife's classmate that is her age. RIP Sveta and family. The village is now under a mandatory evacuation order towards Dergachi, since fighting is picking up in Kharkiv Oblast along that area of the border. Uncle and wife are refusing to go, so much of my MIL and her sister's day is spent trying to convince him to go. We have all offered to help them them financially so they will have somewhere to stay, but they are stubborn AF and still refuse to go.
I suspect that when the opportunity arises or the war finishes, that there will be a massive DMZ-style buffer zone of mines and other deterrents, and Kozacha Lopan will exist no longer due to being 2km from the border. Just way too much stuff going on that close and the russians still refuse to piss off, shooting those villages with no military objective in mind other than being sacks of cancerous #### who refuse to go away.
The Following 16 Users Say Thank You to Huntingwhale For This Useful Post:
The following post is not meant to convince or entice anyone
I am choosing to leave this as a post contained within this thread because it gets a lot of traffic, rather than starting a new thread.
I and two others are going to Ukraine in March 2024 out of Calgary. This is for a combat role, not a humanitarian/aid role. You need to be under 40 years of age and absolutely must be in excellent physical AND mental shape. This is an English-speaking unit so there are no language requirements. Ukrainian or Russian would be an asset. Law enforcement experience and first aid training are considered assets. Military experience is not required; training and instruction in a multitude of facets is provided regardless of background. We are not accepting online donations or other outside financial aid; you must be prepared to pay your own way. The vast majority of equipment is provided so you do not need to consider this aspect financially. There is a monthly salary but it is very low and should not be a motivation for going.
I will not mince words. You need to be prepared for extremely heavy fighting and terrible conditions. This unit functions in a couple different ways but primarily operates defending/assaulting at the front. You are strongly encouraged to have a will established before departing. You are not recommended to have a family or children. We are all in our 20's and consider everything about this to be an enormous undertaking but also a calling. We hope to find more like-minded individuals and expand this group. If you are very serious about fighting alongside us and want to get in touch with us or our Ukrainian contacts, please send me a PM.
The Following 51 Users Say Thank You to Hey Connor, It's Mess For This Useful Post:
The following post is not meant to convince or entice anyone
I am choosing to leave this as a post contained within this thread because it gets a lot of traffic, rather than starting a new thread.
I and two others are going to Ukraine in March 2024 out of Calgary. This is for a combat role, not a humanitarian/aid role. You need to be under 40 years of age and absolutely must be in excellent physical AND mental shape. This is an English-speaking unit so there are no language requirements. Ukrainian or Russian would be an asset. Law enforcement experience and first aid training are considered assets. Military experience is not required; training and instruction in a multitude of facets is provided regardless of background. We are not accepting online donations or other outside financial aid; you must be prepared to pay your own way. The vast majority of equipment is provided so you do not need to consider this aspect financially. There is a monthly salary but it is very low and should not be a motivation for going.
I will not mince words. You need to be prepared for extremely heavy fighting and terrible conditions. This unit functions in a couple different ways but primarily operates defending/assaulting at the front. You are strongly encouraged to have a will established before departing. You are not recommended to have a family or children. We are all in our 20's and consider everything about this to be an enormous undertaking but also a calling. We hope to find more like-minded individuals and expand this group. If you are very serious about fighting alongside us and want to get in touch with us or our Ukrainian contacts, please send me a PM.
Hero
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Trojan97 For This Useful Post:
This isn't the neweat Perun video, but I just finished it and found it extremely interesting. This is the kind of analysis you just can't easily find elsewhere.
It's basically analyzing the actual impact of various weapons systems.
There's a first part to the video too, which I found less interesting, but might be useful as background if you haven't gotten into this stuff before. Plus people's tastes will vary on what's interesting, the first video talks more about better known systems.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Itse For This Useful Post:
Wow, I'm impressed. I gotta ask, and I don't say this with any ill-will or pre-conceived notions, but what's your motivation for this?
The crux of it is that we all have family who are from Ukraine or who still live there. For me, I have many relatives from my mom's side who are there. Thankfully they relocated further west and are relatively safe.
When the conflict broke out I started sending what money I could to a couple different organizations for war efforts and aid. But when you are around and connected to this wonderful Ukrainian community here in Calgary and your relatives abroad, it really starts to hurt you in a deep way hearing all of the people who are affected by the war and it made me feel useless... Eventually sending money was no longer assuaging the profound sense of guilt I felt for not being there. That is when my friends and I had serious discussions and began putting that money aside for this. I don't have bloodlust but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't angry.
The Following 30 Users Say Thank You to Hey Connor, It's Mess For This Useful Post:
The crux of it is that we all have family who are from Ukraine or who still live there. For me, I have many relatives from my mom's side who are there. Thankfully they relocated further west and are relatively safe.
When the conflict broke out I started sending what money I could to a couple different organizations for war efforts and aid. But when you are around and connected to this wonderful Ukrainian community here in Calgary and your relatives abroad, it really starts to hurt you in a deep way hearing all of the people who are affected by the war and it made me feel useless... Eventually sending money was no longer assuaging the profound sense of guilt I felt for not being there. That is when my friends and I had serious discussions and began putting that money aside for this. I don't have bloodlust but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't angry.
Take care of yourself, both physically and mentally.
Airaghardt
__________________
Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
Corporal Jean-Marc H. BECHARD, 6 Aug 1993
The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to undercoverbrother For This Useful Post:
The crux of it is that we all have family who are from Ukraine or who still live there. For me, I have many relatives from my mom's side who are there. Thankfully they relocated further west and are relatively safe.
When the conflict broke out I started sending what money I could to a couple different organizations for war efforts and aid. But when you are around and connected to this wonderful Ukrainian community here in Calgary and your relatives abroad, it really starts to hurt you in a deep way hearing all of the people who are affected by the war and it made me feel useless... Eventually sending money was no longer assuaging the profound sense of guilt I felt for not being there. That is when my friends and I had serious discussions and began putting that money aside for this. I don't have bloodlust but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't angry.
You have my undying respect, your parents are scared ####less right now so be nice to them
The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to afc wimbledon For This Useful Post:
