remzem
8d ago
Which ones should I ask? The rebels in the east? The regime in Kiev? The more Russian speaking groups in the south and east? The more Ukrainian speaking groups in the west? The ones that have fled to Russia? The ones that have fled to Western Europe?
remzem
8d ago
These sorts of articles were all over the place early in the war even in MSM as propaganda to fool westerners into providing aid.
War in Ukraine: Is Russia’s stock of weapons running low? - 13 October 2022 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-63247287
US official says Russia has probably lost half its tanks, used majority of precision-guided weapons in Ukraine - November 8, 2022 https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-11-09-22/h_1d3301daec6bd4cf650d0151cf751b2a
remzem
10d ago
Seems like if they hold on to it it'd put Ukraine's new defensive line at the Vocha in the south, idk about the north it's not been as active, probably collapse the pocket at least near Keramik. Which is about as big a chunk of land as Ukraine gained during the failed counter-offensive. So not much really considering how big Ukraine is. It's high ground which will give Russia advantages in the attritional war as well. Main take away of this war is that maneuver warfare is dead on a modern battlefield. Can't push deep without losing EW and other needed protections and getting droned to death. Taking territory is more about positional advantages.
Still not good for Ukraine though especially considering troops refusing to fight has been happening regularly, refusals in avdiivka earlier this year, and in Chasiv Yar recently. News recently was that Ukraine would have to accept a truce by the end of the year without more aid, seems more likely that they were looking at suffering a major collapse and breakthrough before the elections. Probably why they pulled out whatever intelligence agency leverage they had on Johnson and got him to trade in his political career for CNN contributor or wherever he ends up.
remzem
14d ago
When someone/thing with that sort of power kills a family member you got to be a little bit crazy to not fall in line and just accept whatever they get payed for the endorsements though.
remzem
16d ago
just a puppet state and source of expendable shock troops for the new Russian Empire.
So if they lose they end up being in exactly the same place they are now but for the Russian Empire instead of the Atlanticist Empire?
remzem
16d ago
It's continually baffling to me how the majority of this forum thinks that defending your own lands from a hostile foreign invader somehow makes you a puppet.
and it seems like bad faith to me when globalists are suddenly completely certain that nationalism is universally supported and good. Even the more right wing people I chat with aren't purely line on a map nationalists that ignore cultural differences. Ukraine is an especially poorly partitioned country where you have entire regions that are mostly Russian speaking, then others that are Ukrainian speaking, and still more that are heavily Hungarian. The place is a complete mess. It doesn't matter if they fix the "conscription issues" (which is a very clinical way to say that 10k+ a month are dying and their older male population is so exhausted the only way to keep the front from collapsing is to lower the conscription age and get rid of any opportunity for long term conscripts to demobilize)
credibledefense bans all opposing views... it's an echochamber like most of reddit.
remzem
19d ago
I think Bibi needs a war to stay in power. The west has been looking to replace him with someone more global west friendly for a while. Israel probably also recognizes that it's long term prospects are quite bad. Demographic issues. Surrounded by enemies and probably the most hated country in the world with large parts of Africa and almost all of the ME being against it for religious regions. West also seems to be losing support especially younger generations due to increase in immigrants and the upper classes obsession with oppressor/oppressed dynamics that they then racialize and apply to the global population. It probably feels now or never for them.
remzem
24d ago
Link just seems to be to a globalist ngo that ranks globalist countries positively?
These data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
WEF and World Bank? really?
Just write your own list of countries you don't like and it'd have as much credibility.
remzem
26d ago
I don't really see any evidence that authoritarianism is the sole variable when it comes to corruption. It can be a factor but on the other hand the west is nominally democratic and it's ruling classes central ideology, DEI, is an ideology that exists entirely to enable grift. Lots of things can lead to corruption. In Russia's case the necessity of winning the war now that things have gone hot is reducing corruption. Can't win a war if your bombs are full of water and your intelligence gathering agencies are lying to you.
I would say that this 'being under pressure' is the bigger underlying factor when it comes to corruption. At least corruption that doesn't get caught quick and exists long term. That's basically the way that democracy and capitalism combat corruption when they actually function properly. If you're a corrupt business or politician you are going to have unhappy constituents or products that aren't competitive, they vote you out / don't buy your stuff. Authoritarianism is kinda like Monopoly where this pressure is removed. Though I think people overestimate the amount of power and freedom to act that authoritarians have, people still have the power to 'vote' via violence, but the stakes are a lot higher and coordination issues mean that this 'vote' is rarely exercised.
In the textbook definition of authoritarianism where one entity does have sole power to do whatever, like if a god came down to earth or something, this pressure is entirely removed though. This probably ties in with the idea that ,"Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times."
remzem
26d ago
These two points are circular. A complacent and lazy Europe leads to a complacent and lazy Russia where the priority is people enriching themselves instead of furthering national goals. That's why recent events are such a disaster for the west. Russia is adapting to foreign pressure, which means this kind of corruption is decreasing as a necessity lest they lose to the US and get color revolutioned into a failed state.
Probably just lobbyists? Farmer lobby is big money and Fetterman seems very willing to go to bat for his donors even if it goes against progressive dogma.
Seems like an accidental good thing though. Lab meat© would have a lot of the same issues GMOs have, not so much health impacts, but legal impacts that put control of the food supply increasingly in the hands of our would be masters. With our climate too delicate to handle cow farts lab meat© becoming competitive would give authoritarian centralizing forces a better argument to ban meat. Or maybe just put carbon taxes on cows and subsidize meat© to the point no one can make a profit on meat and all the farms go under. Then an entire section of the food pyramid will require specialized clean rooms and labs to even exist. Things that the average person will not have access to.
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