Good twitter thread on the make up of Russian KIAs. No one from Moscow proper has been officially reported KIA, all from low income regions where there is high unemployment.
This is interesting, but I imagine that we would see a similar trend in the U.S. Relative to population, how many soldiers get recruited from NYC, L.A., New Hampshire, and DC versus places like Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Of the recruits that do come from urban areas, I bet most are poor and/or visible minorities. The military tends to recruit heavily in poorer areas.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
MOD updates for the day. Heavy fighting is occurring and expected to continue in the coming weeks in the Izium (prelude to Kramatorsk), Kherson, and Mariupol areas with no real changes in lines of control. US sources now peg the number of Russian casualties at 20% of February 24th pre-invasion forces.
Ukrainian forces in Mariupol are reportedly running low on ammo after more than 40 days of fighting and Russian forces closing in. US and OCPW chemical warfare investigators are having trouble reaching and collecting evidence to verify the chemical weapons used in Mariupol because of the continued heavy fighting in there.
This is interesting, but I imagine that we would see a similar trend in the U.S. Relative to population, how many soldiers get recruited from NYC, L.A., New Hampshire, and DC versus places like Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Of the recruits that do come from urban areas, I bet most are poor and/or visible minorities. The military tends to recruit heavily in poorer areas.
It is the same across all militaries.
There is a reason there where/are so many Newfies in the military.
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WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - The Pentagon will host leaders from the top eight U.S. weapons manufacturers on Wednesday to discuss the industry's capacity to meet Ukraine's weapons needs if the war with Russia lasts years, two people familiar with the meeting said on Tuesday.
As one Redditor put it, "Russia is going to find out why the US doesn't have free college tuition and universal healthcare". I thought it was a funny line even if it doesn't quite fit the situation.
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As one Redditor put it, "Russia is going to find out why the US doesn't have free college tuition and universal healthcare". I thought it was a funny line even if it doesn't quite fit the situation.
The cold war arms race was what bankrupted the Soviet Union, it's Amazing Putin doesn't remember those lessons.
Funny as the comment is, US not having free tuition and universal healthcare has more to them having scummy insurance and health companies leeching off at every level of service provided while paying many times more than other 1st world countries.
So not that it is a surprise - but Finland and Sweden are moving closer to joining Nato. So this plan to keep Nato from Ukraine now likely to bring Nato to new other countries that border Russia.
What a colossal eff up this has been by Putin.
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China bogged the Japanese army down in a brutal guerilla war that lasted nearly a decade. The inability of the Japanese to win the war in China sapped their resources and manpower rendering complete focus on their war with the Americans impossible. They had a place at the table when the conditions for the surrender of Japan were decided. Neither Stalin or the Western Allies considered them or their contributions to the war effort irrelevant.
Japan occupied and controlled large parts of China from 1901-1945. It was a modern mechanized military vs discombobulated and decentralized militias in China for a long time. China's biggest asset was the fact that they were leaning towards Communism and Stalin was a fan of having an ally on the SC. Make no mistake, the West and the USSR were never truly friends, even during the war years.
So not that it is a surprise - but Finland and Sweden are moving closer to joining Nato. So this plan to keep Nato from Ukraine now likely to bring Nato to new other countries that border Russia.
What a colossal eff up this has been by Putin.
And to make it worse, this did look like a colossal mistake from the start. It's been called out as an utter lunacy by many, including Russians, from the get go.
And to make it worse, this did look like a colossal mistake from the start. It's been called out as an utter lunacy by many, including Russians, from the get go.
I know it's probably being suppressed, but in the perfect world this kind of #### up would be thrown back in his face non-stop by the media. Imagine setting out on a voyage to show how strong Russia is against NATO "aggression", only to come back home with NATO having...gotten bigger.
That is a colossal #### up, but I don't imagine it's being told that way on RTR or any of the Russian TV news channels (correct me if I am wrong).
Again, in the perfect world, this is called a fireable offence.
I know it's probably being suppressed, but in the perfect world this kind of #### up would be thrown back in his face non-stop by the media. Imagine setting out on a voyage to show how strong Russia is against NATO "aggression", only to come back home with NATO having...gotten bigger.
That is a colossal #### up, but I don't imagine it's being told that way on RTR or any of the Russian TV news channels (correct me if I am wrong).
Again, in the perfect world, this is called a fireable offence.
I think it's obvious from his paranoid behavior that Putin fears for his position. All those draconian laws, desperate short term moves to protect the local economy, and somewhat ridiculous attempts to spin a victory out of the mess in Ukraine. To me he looks very afraid.
Finland and Sweden joining NATO would be a pretty big PR loss for him. There's really no way to spin that as anything but a loss for Putin. At best he can try to vilify everyone and say he tried, but that wouldn't change the basic fact that he failed in his attempt to stop a NATO expansion. It's not something he can hide either.
Now that said, there's a massive barrier to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. The pro-Russian conservative authoritarian Victor Orban just won another election in Hungary, and Hungary like any other NATO-country can block any new countries from joining (If I've understood correctly.)
Now that said, Russia is not looking like a great ally at the moment, and there's plenty of ways EU can also put pressure on Orban, so it's not clear yet which way Orban will go.
Japan occupied and controlled large parts of China from 1901-1945. It was a modern mechanized military vs discombobulated and decentralized militias in China for a long time. China's biggest asset was the fact that they were leaning towards Communism and Stalin was a fan of having an ally on the SC. Make no mistake, the West and the USSR were never truly friends, even during the war years.
Does anyone think that the USSR and the West were friends in WWII? WWII was set off by the USSR and Germany carving up Poland. When the allies met the USSR in Germany, they had to split Germany in half and then build a wall between the armies to keep them from going at each other.
Does anyone think that the USSR and the West were friends in WWII? WWII was set off by the USSR and Germany carving up Poland. When the allies met the USSR in Germany, they had to split Germany in half and then build a wall between the armies to keep them from going at each other.
The wall was to keep the East German citizens from leaving, not to keep the armies from fighting.
They weren't friends, but they weren't about to start fighting. Plus Russia wanted no part of a war with the West, they had just conquered a bunch of territory and needed to consolidate their holdings and establish power bases in all their new satellite nations. Then a few months later the US shocked the world and nuked two cities when Russia didn't have a Nuke for another 4 years.
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The wall was to keep the East German citizens from leaving, not to keep the armies from fighting.
They weren't friends, but they weren't about to start fighting. Plus Russia wanted no part of a war with the West, they had just conquered a bunch of territory and needed to consolidate their holdings and establish power bases in all their new satellite nations. Then a few months later the US shocked the world and nuked two cities when Russia didn't have a Nuke for another 4 years.
The inner German border began to be more and more militarized as soon as it was created. It was about far more than just keeping people out. Both sides deployed nuclear weapons in their respective Germanies. The border was largely open to civilian crossing until 1952, but the military build-up started far earlier than that.
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Japan occupied and controlled large parts of China from 1901-1945. It was a modern mechanized military vs discombobulated and decentralized militias in China for a long time. China's biggest asset was the fact that they were leaning towards Communism and Stalin was a fan of having an ally on the SC. Make no mistake, the West and the USSR were never truly friends, even during the war years.
China didn't go communist until 1949. The US wanted China in more than the USSR because they assumed China would take the US side against USSR.
The whole history of China and the United Nations is basically a story of the US flip flopping all over place in who it supported.
Does anyone think that the USSR and the West were friends in WWII? WWII was set off by the USSR and Germany carving up Poland. When the allies met the USSR in Germany, they had to split Germany in half and then build a wall between the armies to keep them from going at each other.
I pretty much consider the USSR as their own side in WW2. The had a pact with the Nazis to partition Poland, and the USSR also attacked Romania and Finland in order to expand. They also had a pact with Japan just before the war to partition Manchuria and Korea.
For that matter, China was also up to no good before WW2. Both China and the USSR were allies of convenience to defeat the Axis, but neither were friendly nations, that is for sure.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
