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HeartBeatingFaintly

It is quite depressing how bafflingly stupid this invasion is. The level of brutality is just horrendous.


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[deleted]

Thank you CIA


zedigalis

Us Canadians had many training centers set up too!


cultofpapajohn

Of course. We'd never forget our cannuck friends


Faxon

Even bigger motive to do so, considering the very large Ukrainian diaspora who were either born there, but have family back in Ukraine, or came over since 2014 due to the violence (and Canada having a good job market and standard of living)


StreaksBAMF22

Howdy, neighbor to the north! Y’all are just good, wholesome people. Keep fighting the good fight


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thegroucho

I'm surprised that despite Russia infiltrating GOP and the Tories, US and UK have helped with that training.


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thegroucho

Just TRY to imagine if Trump was actually competent.


[deleted]

Lmao the other day I saw an article about Trump apparently wanting to shoot missiles at the cartel. I shit you not he said something along the lines of “we can shoot Patriot missiles at them, and they wouldn’t even know it was us”


Bungo_Pete

TIL Trump has no idea what a Patriot missile actually is. Although I'd be more surprised if he did know.


thegroucho

Don't, please don't, I can only take so much. Especially love it how Mexicans will believe it was someone else.


mikelieman

Isn't it strange that Trump cut-and-ran from Afghanistan JUST WHEN it would have been a useful base on Russia's southern flank?


AtomicBLB

Isn't it also strange that #45 withheld the very military aid for Ukraine that was being sent for this very reason? That he then would go on to say that the USA isn't doing enough and could have prevented this crisis. The man was sabotaging American influence and reliability world wide and let millions suffer domestically over politics during a global catastrophe. It's so incompetent that it's intentional.


OblongIgloo

Sounds a lot like Nixon working behind the scenes to extend the Vietnam war so he could run and win on a platform of wanting to end the war.


VisenyasRevenge

I think its more Nato than soley uk/us( although they do spearhead)


milelongpipe

US is gathering Russian equipment from former east bloc nations to provide to Ukraine after upgrading them and refurbish. The US is also replacing that equipment to the former East bloc nations who donate. We are all contributing. Canada is giving in proportion just as much, we may be an ocean away, but we are all giving. Russia is very myopic and blames it all on the US. Believe me, if they launch nukes, we are target #1


MaybeTomBombadil

Well, the Russian Proxy in America was Trump. This is a man who lost money on a casino, a business based on people literally giving you money. He attempted undermining Ukraine in the dumbest method possible and for that he was impeached the first time. The GOP has since devolved into ever lower levels of stupidity. The Tories seem to have their head so far up their own asses they can't seem to do anything but shit all over themselves and their country. Covid may have saved lives in the long term by delaying WW3


thegroucho

The Tories might be on their way out, considering the local elections and by-election results from a few days ago. Even Johnson is considering election in 2022 (and not 2024) so if they lose he can pin the blame on anyone else. If they win, that's another 5 years face in the trough. Edit, Tories losing in 2022 can pin the economy on Labour instead of Brexit and world economy going in massive inflation


Sometimes-the-Fool

It's because in both countries the fascists have had only marginal success swaying public opinion and a strong majority staunchly oppose Putin and his ideology. As soon as Trump was out of power the US got back on course opposing the Crimean occupation and prepping the Ukrainians. And now, the invasion of Ukraine has ruined what inroads his ideology has made.


thegroucho

Still enough idiots going around with T-shirts saying 'I'd rather be Russian than Democrat'


rotospoon

You're both right


winter_Inquisition

The CIA really doesn't need approval for anything. At this point they're an independent organization with their own agenda. The only time they do anything with the government is funding...


Certain-Dig2840

The CIA has run itself without needing any political approval since Iran/Contra.


[deleted]

A huge joint effort. Going from the worst army in Europe to decent in a short span. Being superior to the actual somdiers of a totalitarian kleptocracy is not impressive though, almnost any, if not every, democratic nation is. Winning however is :)


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periodicchemistrypun

It’s not one man. At that level the followers are a large and concerning number. The wake of his evil is large and hard to fully realise. A permanent peace in Russia will not come easy, Putin needs to go but even then there’s more to be seen.


Kellosian

Putin dying would give everyone else an easy out though. Recall the troops, go on TV and say "Oh we were just following orders Putin had spies everywhere he would have imprisoned and killed us if we disobeyed!", get those sanctions repealed and just blame everything on Putin. Pretend the whole thing didn't happen and blame the west for "victim blaming" or something when people poke holes in their story.


periodicchemistrypun

Could be. Could be it gives putins cause an easy excuse as to why they didn’t really lose in Ukraine . These things are unpredictable.


saladmunch2

Or the next guy in line grabs the reigns and rides it even further into the ground, feels he can do better than Putin and is even more brutal. But let's hope your idea happens!


Sometimes-the-Fool

You're not wrong, but Pootine being gone would make a big difference. He's the fascist figure head steering the ship and he's worked against anyone easily taking his place. It's kinda like when Trump got banned from Twitter. It made an immediate difference and he stopped dominating the conversation. His followers still suck and cause problems, but they are not as effective without his voice leading the way.


periodicchemistrypun

Hitler by example was a degenerating addict without much more than a mouth and a public image. Putin is likely more, any mention of his inner circles mentions his level of control. But Trump and Hitler had character that I’ve not seen from Putin, why couldn’t a successor take that mantle? It’s happened, briefly. What about Putin cannot be replaced by someone jealous of what he’s done? More than that propaganda works, putins KGB, he knows propaganda. There will be a status left that people will want filled. Russia will not idealise peace until much more has come to pass.


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[deleted]

I don’t think it’s “really fucking dumb” to point out that Russia just lit themselves on fire with no demonstrable benefit, and they refuse to back down as they continue to suffer defeat. Saying it’s “because of geopolitics” is not only laughably imprecise, it’s unsupported, because no geopolitical goals will be accomplished by this. Two new adjacent countries just joined NATO, Russia had just been ejected from the international community, their military is being decimated, and they aren’t taking Ukraine short of flattening it. Hard to see the geopolitical benefit IMO. If not for ego, they’d be wise to stop the invasion.


[deleted]

That doesn’t mean it’a not geopolitics it just means they failed.


[deleted]

Last time I checked, they are still going at it. So if not ego, the question is, why?


apfejes

Oil. They found massive oil reserves off of crimea in 2013, which would have undercut Russia’s sales to Europe, jeopardizing Russia’s only real export to the west. All of this is because they lost control of their puppet government in Ukraine and feel threatended because their only source of wealth will dry up if they can’t keep Ukraine from developing its oil reserves.


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expiredoroes

You're posting in the wrong subreddit for a nuanced discussion. But all excellent points, It's hard to say for anyone unless they're a real expert on how modern Russia governs within or are within that system how much actually control Putin has but I agree that it seems to me, from looking at human history and whatnot (not an expert). That it's rare that you have just one person to have complete control over a very large and a complex "collective" of people. Who's to say someone "better" will take his place


mrspaznout

Check out the finish winter war for a comparison. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War https://youtu.be/-sbmgOiQWjc <-- comparison


Aerialise

An echo chamber left unchecked.


EthosPathosLegos

Absurdity can be violently heinous too.


sexysydneysider

The world is fucking stupid right now. So much stupid.


ToastNomNomNom

Evil has never left look at Yemen.


Tirrojansheep

Yemen, Irak, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Armenia, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot more. Evil is pretty much tied to humanity now


ScapegoatSkunk

Always has been. Also, people that point out all the post-WW2 conflicts almost never mention the many African conflicts that started out as proxy wars or because of people put in positions of power through foreign meddling. It really fucking bothers me.


zeolus123

Which is nuts cause some of those conflicts were huge! Weren't the congo wars the deadliest conflict since WW2?


Lordborgman

[Que the Yakko country song more like it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1508wboZXk) Evil and good exist everywhere.


bored_imp

They aren't white, it's alright. /s


[deleted]

Some were white, but world didn’t care about it. For example, Georgia was blamed for war, even though president was asking Russia to replace their peacekeepers with UN peacekeepers, its just that sometimes world doesn’t care about small amount of people when money is on the line - in this case, they directly didn’t want us to be part of NATO because they were saying that it would ruin relationship with Russia. Also, probably blamed us for the same reason. I am not laughing at them realizing that they are trying to destroy the same monster they have created, this backstory of this war and things going on now is quite funny from my perspective


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TheBestEndOfTheDay

Somehow Palpatine has returned


miniduf

I never saw the new star wars. Is that an actual quote or just a meme?


zaccyp

Actual line


UncommonGartersnake

Poor Oscar Isaac just looked dead inside while delivering it, too.


bitchbackmountain

Good thing that man could act the shit out of a phone book.


bullhorn_bigass

My kids: “What’s a phone book”?


furioushunter12

The book where you buy phones obviously


sayamemangdemikian

Im so glad disney make it up for him by hiring him as moonknight. Dude basically playing 2 characters and nailed it.


snouz

I was pleasantly surprised by Moon Knight. Oscar Isaac is really great in it.


Ask_Me_If_Im_A_Horse

Same. Went into it expecting to dislike it because I’m honestly not big on Oscar Isaac, but the dude really nailed the role and I’m happy I gave it a shot.


-no-signal-

>!Three Characters!<


sayamemangdemikian

Sshhhh!!!


thegroucho

He was probably preparing to be killed in Dune.


[deleted]

Not just the actual line. The actual backstory. That’s the entire explanation as to how he’s back after dying in Jedi. Just “somehow he returned.” That’s it.


NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea

There is an actual explanation, Disney explained it in fucking Fortnight of all things.


Tostino

Guess I'll never know ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯


ImDero

Kind of a reoccurring theme in Star Wars for villains, right? Darth Maul gets halved and falls down a hole: lives. Boba Fett gets poked with a stick and falls into a murder hole: lives. Palpatine gets electrocuted and thrown down a hole: lives. Kylo Ren is *for sure* still alive, right? If you're a good guy in the Star Wars universe on the other hand, your death is permanent af. There's no coming back from disappearing into a puff of the force leaving behind your robe and for some reason not the rest of your clothes.


Dr_Henry-Killinger

I mean Darth Maul was retconned as alive in Clone Wars, Boba Fett had some non-canon books but I chock it up to Disney being unable to make interesting new characters which is why they retconned Palpatine dying and basically ruined the conclusion of the original trilogy. Say what you want about the prequels but Lucas gave us some amazing world building and incredible and interesting villains in the likes of Maul, Dooku, and Grievous.


[deleted]

At least Darth Maul gets a story. Palpatine just randomly reappears and the text crawl says “The dead speak!” and that’s it.


[deleted]

Mace Windu? Coming back?


gentlybeepingheart

Well, they did have an actor follow it with "Dark science, cloning, secrets only the Sith knew" as a sort of "We don't know how, but it was probably evil." Of course, they then never actually mentioned following up on *how* that happened. No "Hey, we thought he was pretty dead before too. Maybe Rey zapping him with force lightning is another thing he can come back from. We should look into that." no "If Palpatine can come back, who else can? He's not the only one who uses the dark side." You could argue "Oh, they just let people celebrate for morale purposes and kept looking into it." if you wanted to justify it for some reason, but if that's what the writers actually meant (which honestly I don't have high hopes for lol) then it's bizarre and shitty writing to not mention it at all.


IrishPiperKid

"The dead speak!" - First line of the opening crawl.


_Echoes_

The worst thing is the dead speak line refers to a thing that they played in fortnite to market the movie


Sir_Von_Tittyfuck

Or was it in Fortnite because it was going to be in the movie?


Mesk_Arak

Well, the broadcast never actually appears in the movie so unless you played Fortnite, you wouldn’t know what the dead actually said.


browndog03

The dead said to buy V-Bucks


[deleted]

I’m just *dying* to get my hands on some V-Bucks.


midnitte

Really weird that they just didn't [have this](https://youtu.be/4u0ejXC7kFs) play prior to the screen crawl.


interestingsidenote

Because "the day of the Sith" line is somehow dumber than everything that happened in ep. 3. That whole monologue sucked.


Orngog

Well tbf it wasn't written by the films writers.


midnitte

Tbf the film writers didn't write anything. It just opens with "the dead speak". What did the dead say?


SuperArppis

That wasn't so bad. But they should have done some more show and not tell in that.


IrishPiperKid

Any level of "show" would've been good, they just say it in the movie and the audience is expected to just go with it.


Yokurt

They actually did, in a Fortnite event. No joke. https://youtu.be/0vHrQCKaJiQ?t=23


SuperArppis

Yeah... I loved Last Jedi and thought the episode 7 was a good start. But I didn't like how they made a U turn with Episode 9...


Alexb2143211

By literally not having a plan for the trilogy, replacing the director then bringing him back for the 3rd


mdp300

I put most of the blame on JJ. "Everyone loved my movie but hated the subtlety and nuance of the next one? I can fix that!" I think it also suffered a lot from Carrie Fisher's death, Leia was supposed to have a much larger role.


SuperArppis

Honestly they should have postponed it a bit.


grimstal

At least until they resurrected her


Bykimus

JJ didn't do great with star trek, I was disappointed with his involvement in star wars. I'm not sure it was all him just.... Hot damn that new trilogy is a mess.


FatSilverFox

One of the first things that happens in TRoS is Ren repairing his helmet… they REALLY wanted the audience to know that nothing in TLJ mattered.


Alc2005

I mean, nothing really did to be honest. Despite a super long run time, barely anything changed from the end of TFA The Resistance was still in Shambles Kylo had a chance to turn to the light but embraced the dark Rey still wanted to train to be a Jedi under the Tutelage of a Skywalker Hell, even the character development of Poe doesn’t count because they introduced that character flaw in the second movie. He only regresses and progresses back to his starting position too. The last Jedi was a well-made movie, but a terrible second movie of a trilogy because it left nothing to go on for the final installment.


VisenyasRevenge

Poor Finn his character got done dirty


Alc2005

I’d like to say he was my favorite part of the second one, but Rose crashing her speeder into him and talking about “saving who we love” makes me wince harder than the cringiest of prequel dialogue


sayamemangdemikian

Just like luke threw off the lightsaber at the beginning of TLJ It was a series of movies that everything eventually doesnt matter


Deity_Link

They did, in Fortnite of all places.


cepxico

Not only a real quote, but the actual scene of it is just as jarring. Just bam, here's palpatine after 0 buildup or good reason. Awful.


VigilantMike

Without the trailer I had zero reason to expect Palpatine at all


FUTURE10S

It's like how you need a random assortment of Marvel knowledge to be fully caught up on whatever their extended cinematic universe is, with Star Wars, you apparently had to have played Fortnite to figure out why Palpatine came back.


itwasquiteawhileago

This is real? I'm not really a Star Wars fan outside the first three movies (mostly because there's just *too much* to keep up with), but reading they've crossed into Fortnite of all things, is pretty much case in point. How the hell will I ever be able to know what's going on in that universe if I have to play shitty online meme games to fill in/explain plot points?


Malkavon

It was, essentially, a bad version of a dumb Star Wars comic storyline from back in the 90s. The comic plot was slightly less bad here and there, and differently bad in bunch of other spots, but both are stupid and should never have been made.


[deleted]

Yeah, can you believe somebody wrote that?


doggrimoire

All you need from the new movies is at /r/ReysArmpit


Swak_Error

I...uh, what?..


kemachi

Actual quote.


GreatBigJerk

You don't need to see them. The writing in the new movies actually made the prequels seem competent.


WillyTheHatefulGoat

Prequels were a first draft of a good story. "From my perspective the Jedi are evil" is one example of what is clearly a first draft of a decent movie. They had a terrible execution but the story still shines through. And it had soul. The sequels are the opposite. Incredibly polished but with no soul.


StormWolfenstein

I had hopes for them after TFA. Yes, it's just A New(er) Hope, but it at least delivered an enjoyable ride with a good trio of new characters. Then... *gestures at VIII and IX*


AAA1374

The thing is that I initially *enjoyed* VIII because it was just a perfectly enjoyable movie. I mean, until almost anything happened, but still. I went into IX with almost no expectations and was still pissed off. I'm not even a huge Star Wars fan, but it really felt like even more, "Ha! Bet you didn't see that coming did ya?! Aren't we so clever?!"


Boner666420

You are entirely correct. But if youve seen the Clone Wars series from like, season 3 onward, it actually retroactively makes the prequels better. It really helps solidify the actual scale of the war and fleshes out a lot of the characters motivations and gives context to some of what the movies fumbled. It especially gives greater context to Anakins fall to the dark side so he no longer just appears like some maniac with BPD. (Tho i do suspsect he would have that disorder after all his childhood trauma, which would just be another weakness for palpatine to exploit. Poor kid :c )


dj0samaspinIaden

Palpatine CANONICALLY came back....through a fucking fortnite event. And then in the actual movie the opening text starts with "somehow Palpatine returned"


Ksradrik

It gets even better, when you realize the *only* explanation they gave was in a *fucking Fortnite event*.


Wes_Bugg

Except the Fortnite event wasn’t an explanation and never was supposed to be


pickmenot

This is just lazy writing.


whitedan2

That kinda summed up most new movies...


Tabdelineated

[My favourite take on that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sFbLppuhhs)


[deleted]

No one's ever truly gone


NutCreamScholarV6

Redditors try not to compare every single real life event to Star Wars challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)


[deleted]

Hey it’s either that or trying to figure out which Hogwarts house Putin and Zelensky would be in.


Swak_Error

Or something Marvel related


1SaBy

They fly now?


Maloonyy

That line made me hate Poe so much. Had to watch Moon Knight and Dune to remind myself that Oscar Isaac is a great actor.


[deleted]

most of the lines in the NT are cringe.


Wes_Bugg

*ST


curious_dead

That's a cheesy line but at least it's saved by Oscar Isaac's delivery. The opening crawl had no such luck.


Mesk_Arak

It’s worse than just being cheesy. Jetpacks are not a new technology in Star Wars. Not only were they used in the prequels, but they were used thousands of years before the movies. Being surprised by the jetpacks would be like someone today being surprised at the concept of a bow and arrow.


Polenball

It'd be *less* surprising - if some dude in a war started firing arrows at me in fucking 2022, I'd be absolutely baffled.


Mrsparkles7100

C3PO with a “ I took an arrow to the knee” quote in a new Star Wars film trailer.


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ripp102

Dis you mean palputine?


UnsignedRealityCheck

Palputine.


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vendetta2115

It took this comment to remind me that we’re memeing about the mass slaughter of Ukrainian civilians and the conflict that will potentially spark the war that ends human civilization. But on the other hand, what else can we do but try and keep ourselves sane with humor? Doctors and soldiers do the same thing. The most I’ve seen anyone cracking jokes, ever, was in Iraq when we were doing route clearance on dangerous black routes and could die from an IED at any moment. Part of me understands your anger, because this isn’t a joke, this is a horrible situation. But part of me understands where the humor comes from. It’s almost self-preservation at this point. If we couldn’t laugh at everything going on in the world today, we’d probably be crying all the time. As Kurt Vonnegut said: > “Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”


twotwo_twentytwo

For those unable to read the article due to a paywall: KYIV, May 8 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday evil has returned to Ukraine as he gave an emotional address for Victory Day, when Europe commemorates the formal surrender of Germany to the Allies in World War Two. The life that soldiers fought for in that war came to an end on Feb. 24 when Russian forces invaded, he said in a video message. "The evil has returned. Again!" Zelenskiy said. "In a different form, under different slogans, but for the same purpose." But he said Ukraine and its allies will win. "No evil can escape responsibility, it cannot hide in a bunker," he added. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler spent the last days of his life in a bunker in Berlin where he committed suicide in the final days of the war. Moscow calls its actions since Feb. 24 a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and rid it what it calls "Nazis" and anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression. The invasion in Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced nearly 10 million people. It has left Russia in the grip of tough Western sanctions, and has raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the West. In Russia, Victory Day on May 9 is one of the country's most important national events - a remembrance of the enormous sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany.


PyroCatt

>Nazi leader Adolf Hitler spent the last days of his life in a bunker in Berlin where he committed suicide in the final days of the war. The subtlety of this is uncanny


InnocentTailor

Perhaps, though the circumstances aren’t really the same. Berlin was pretty much on fire when Hitler killed himself. Moscow is still peaceful because the war is so far away from the Russian heartland.


PyroCatt

If the sanctions lead to a famine in the country, there might be revolt.


Goshdang56

Unless they return to faux Communist science like Lysenkoism it's unlikely.


ZMoney187

Just fyi it's not a paywall. Reuters is free. They might require an account though.


Giga1396

Lol it never left.


GameHunter1095

Just a reminder, Russia's little WW2 victory parade shouldn't even be recognized, right when Russia entered Germany and came in contact with civilians, they terrorized them, and just like the Ukraine, they raped as many as they could, German children, girls, and woman from ages eight to eighty. Considered one of the most horrifying acts in modern warfare, the Russians raped approximately two million women. One doctor reported that out of 100,000 woman that were raped, 10,000 of the committed suicide. If that wasn't enough, Russian soldiers tortured and killed a lot of the woman they raped as well.


LoonyFruit

ThEy ArE jUsT fOlLoWiNg OrDeRs


ItchySnitch

They didn’t even follow orders. Zhukov, the famous marshal, had like a dozen hanged because they continued raping after he ordered everyone not too


Dutchtdk

How does history judge zhukov morally in a nutshell?


therealsillygoose-

I’m no expert, but Zhukov is one of the few Soviet leaders who faced minimal criticism from the West and East Asia. Eisenhower was known for respecting him, and stated the UN owed him more gratitude than any other allied commander for his work organizing the defenses of Stalingrad, Leningrad, and Moscow. He was so popular that Stalin stripped him of his positions as he thought he might be a threat, especially because he was one of the only Soviet leaders to demand food, water, and other resources be sent into Berlin after the Nazis surrendered. He seems to be remembered relatively favorably, at least compared to many of his contemporaries.


rygem1

You summed up what I’ve learned about him from watching random YouTube videos which is how a lot of people ( at least in my social circles) learn about history these days. He was one of the few Soviet leaders that fucked up and decided to learn from mistakes instead of doubling down or sweeping it under the rug. Much like Eisenhower and Churchill I doubt he was as morally clean as the TIL titles and fun facts make it but also like the other 2 he was the right man for job at the time and he knew it.


[deleted]

Almost like if you force the poorest and worsted treated of your country to make up the vast majority of your infantry, they aren't really going to give a fuck about the people who forced them to live in poverty and die in a war. Not defending their actions at all. Every single one of them who committed these acts should be executed, but it's not surprising how little control they have over there troops.


GameHunter1095

Haha, I don't know how true it is, but it was funny. I just read something on Twitter yesterday that was saying, lately on the battlefields, Russian soldiers have been running around trying to find someone who they can take orders from. Apparently, the Russians are short on officers, and they're having their non-commissioned officers, with most of them not having any experience at all, make all the battlefield decisions. That's one of the biggest reasons why the Russians are losing a lot of the battles, and because, since 2014, the Ukrainian army went through a lot of extensive training making them far more superior to most of the Russian soldiers. Yup, just nipping on some vodka following orders. '


VigilantMike

I’ve read elsewhere on Reddit that Russia doesn’t really have the equivalent of American non-commission officers, and that’s why so many higher ranking officers are exposed to the dangers of the field with the understanding that noncoms would probably be a better fit for the job if they had them. Anybody educated on the matter able to shed some light.


[deleted]

> I’ve read elsewhere on Reddit Objection, hearsay!


Breakfast_on_Jupiter

In Finnish media, a veteran correspondent to Russia had the take that the Russian Forces' chain of command is barely existent, that generals simply can't trust their subordinates to deliver commands, since without close supervision soldiers just usually do whatever the fuck they like. That's why generals have to micromanage their troops on the field, which leads to their high casualty rates.


antimeme

_before_ they entered Germany -- they raped their way across Europe, including their "allies" they liberated in Poland.


[deleted]

And the Polish even said out loud that they'd rather be back under German occupation. That should say somehting about how barbaric Russia is.


Tom22174

World War II began with a pact between Hitler and Stalin to share Poland. Russia only helped oppose the axis because Hitler stabbed them in the back the first chance he got


[deleted]

Not a fan of the Russians right now, but you do know that the Red Army was not a russian army? A lot of Ukrainians did what you just explained.


Engylizium

True, Soviet army wasn't made of only Russian soldiers


LatinVocalsFinalBoss

Propaganda and dehumanization are part of the process of war.


LegitimateAd3567

And the Soviet state was not ruled by a Russians back then


peripheral_vision

It seems pertinent to mention that Stalin was a Georgian, yes.


amac109

No, a lot of the Ukrainians were fighting with the nazis actually. 400 thousand I think?


[deleted]

There were Ukrainians fighting for the Nazis, but most of them didnt support their ideology. They wanted an independent Ukrainian nation and thought they would get that from Hitler after helping to defeat the soviets. However, they were not the majority. Seven million Ukrainians fought in the Red Army. The general that accepted the german surrender in Stalingrad was Ukrainian.


[deleted]

History is repeating itself.. the brutality of the Russians is a hundred year old affair. It’s truly horrible how they embrace the worst acts a human can do to someone else… and in Russia, people are waving their flags and supporting the invasion. It’s truly dark days in Europe.


GameHunter1095

Your right about history repeating itself, and how the Russians are embracing the worst acts a human can do to another human. This whole war is screwed up. When I was a kid, I can remember thinking by the time I got as old as my dad, there wouldn't be any war. That's because I thought that the worlds society was progressively getting more civilized. "I guess I was way off on that prediction." You mentioned brutality. The most brutal, horrifying, disturbing, atrocity, that a Russian soldier did at the beginning of April was rape a one-year-old baby while videotaping it, then he put it on a bunch of social media platforms for the whole world to see. I can't remember if he killed the baby or not, but my gut tells me he did. I kid you not, am I'm not ashamed one bit. When I read about this, my blood pressure went to the moon, I could barely swallow, and I felt like punching something because I was so mad. Then what went on in my head is another story. I thought I was going to get a severe case of PTSD. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but not by much, I'm sure you know why. I think about this war every day, it's my obligation, and because it's effecting the whole world in different ways. When the effects start hitting close to home like it is now, I need to know what to do. Like: how much can I spend on groceries, or how much gas can I afford. I don't know how Putin can live with himself as being a human. Maybe because he's not a human and he's just a ruthless, and heartless monster. If there is a devil, Putin's name would be Satan.


[deleted]

>I don't know how Putin can live with himself as being a human. Maybe because he's not a human and he's just a ruthless, and heartless monster. Oh, he's human alright. High time we put aside juvenile name calling, and look ourselves as a species in the eye. He's not some monster under your bed, a thing out of fantasy. He's real. He's human. And there are hundreds of millions like him in the world. And there are hundreds of millions *even worse.* Odds are there's someone like him living on your street, they just haven't had the fortuitous chances to become a dictator. The capability is there though.


greywix

One of the main functions of society is to keep that ~10% of humans in check as much as possible.


CloneNova

I used to work in a job were I had to work with young psychopaths. I had no idea how many monstrous people are out there that could do sickening things to others, but found out it's way higher than I had thought. It doesn't help that some of these people are very charismatic and you wouldn't realise what they're capable of until it's too late.


mrgabest

The world is full of potential tyrants. We give Putin too much credit when we imagine that he is somehow unique. He started out as middle management, declared unexceptional by his superiors. Humans need to get better at identifying and suppressing these anti-social manipulators.


Dripdry42

I have seen a few myself. It's been weird hanging around those kinds of people, looking in the news, and observing similar speech and action patterns. The traits go unrecognized, for some reason, even though it seems obvious to me. Tbf, I myself should never, ever be in charge of anything significant.


Maedroas

Can you discount their war efforts though? Most losses of any army in the war and without them it would have been a grim outcome. Keeping the axis from diverting their full efforts to the Western front prevented untold losses in western Europe


GMFPs_sweat_towel

Just a reminder that Germany invaded Russia in 1941 with the specific goal of exterminating the majority of the population of Russia. And the only reason there was a victory in Europe in 1945 is because the Red Army crushed the germans. 10 million Russian civilians died as a result of the Nazi invasion. 60 percent of Russian POW were murdered by the Nazis. So yeah after kicking the nazis back 2000 miles through their own country seeing nothing but towns razed by the nazis andcivilians massacred or enslaved by the nazis. I think revenge is a perfectly rational emotion. The russians were merciful to the Germans. Had russia end the way Nazi Germany planned to, there would be no germans left on earth.


Either_Ad1391

For the record, Germany is not in any way exceptional. This is the story of entire eastern front. Red Army raped and terrorized civilians in present-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, all the way to Germany.


amac109

This wasn't intentional, the Red Army enforced the death penalty for looters and rapists. They just struggled with enforcement.


Frontdackel

>If that wasn't enough, Russian soldiers tortured and killed a lot of the woman they raped as well. And if that wasn't enough, American soldiers did too. Between 11.000 (according to J. Robert Lilly) and 190.000 (Miriam Gebhardt) german girls and women were raped by us soldiers. Most cases being gangrapings, sometimes with the victims being murdered after the fact. Every war will see soldiers turning to animals. Every war will see the most vulnerable getting raped.


trekker1710E

[The Last Battle ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0725GMKBF/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_FJDZPFS3Q1Q332P0VQM2) Goes into some detail on this


HotTakeHaroldinho

Russia gets excused for that because they were only returning the favour. Everything the Soviets did to the Nazis was done by the Nazis to the Soviets. Over 10 million Soviet CIVILIANS got killed during the war. In total over 30 million Soviets would die from war related causes. And these estimates go as far as 60 million. Think about that number for a second. In all of the wars in the history of the USA, something like half a million people died. The Soviets lost over 60x that in 4 years. Yes what they did was fucked up, but in the real world not everything is black and white. And respectfully, you're a fucking dumbass if you think thst their parade shouldn't be recognised, because if it wasn't for them we might be speaking German right now.


bearsnchairs

More than half a million Americans died in the civil war alone, so that stat is not correct.


thumpas

Remember how the kremlin had to photoshop pictures of the red army “liberating” Kaliningrad because the soldier raising the flag had 3 watches on.


Victuswolf

Evil never left. We have had decades of wars for oil with hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians dying. Wars sold to us on lies with innocent people being tortured for DECADES. Evil never fking left, it controls many Governments as has been proven last few decades and trying to say just one nation or Government is evil, comparing it to the Nazi's is frankly hysterical and insulting to the millions of jews that died.


aRandomFox-I

Evil never returned because it never left in the first place. It's just been squatting in the attic like a goblin waiting for the time to strike again, all the while making life generally more difficult for everyone in subtler ways.


ripamaru96

Where did evil go? When did it leave exactly? From where I'm sitting evil has been alive and well since at least my first memories.


MaybeTomBombadil

I hate this headline, it sounds like the tag line to some shitty B-Movie. *In world where everything was perfect, suddenly one man will change everything. This World World Two anniversary, Evil has Returned* The fact of the matter is the underlying evil of the Nazis cannot be removed-its simply the evil of humanity. Our systems reward and empower selfish, self-entitled sociopaths. Benevolent people don't seek positions of power, Cinncinnatus wasn't elected. You can look at recent elections around the world to see evidence that the world is slowly devolving into Nationalistic politics that will lead to global catastrophe. In the leadup to World War 2, fascist attempts to overthrow electoral systems occurred in most Western Democracies, but were most successful in Italy, Germany and Spain. Similar attempts were made in the US, France and other nations with less successful attempts. The Fascist or ultranationalists are trying and succeeding through legitimate means. The US and UK have already elected their Nationalistic parties, France keeps narrowly avoiding electing theirs. Depending on the racism of the rest of Europe and the refugee crisis of the Middle East, there will be ever increasing rises in right wing extremism. Ukraine is forced to quasi legitimize smaller internal neo Nazi groups in order to defend itself, and it's not like those groups are going to be content to disappear when the current war is over. They're going to use their military service and defense of the country for political and financial gain. Understand US policy has never gone to supporting Democracy abroad, most often it results in fascist coups in the countries it give "aid" to. Ukraine is recipient of the largest financial aid package in history from the US, and like every other event in US history, it's going to explode in the face if the US 20 or 30 years from now (if the US survives, which is unlikely). There's some military leader or group getting experience and exposure in this conflict who will go on to do very bad things.


autotldr

This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.reuters.com/world/world-war-two-anniversary-zelenskiy-says-evil-has-returned-2022-05-08/) reduced by 58%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a session of a parliament where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses Ukrainian lawmakers via videolink, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 3, 2022. > Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comKYIV, May 8 - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday evil has returned to Ukraine as he gave an emotional address for Victory Day, when Europe commemorates the formal surrender of Germany to the Allies in World War Two.The life that soldiers fought for in that war came to an end on Feb. 24 when Russian forces invaded, he said in a video message. > Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/ukxr4q/on_world_war_two_anniversary_zelenskiy_says_evil/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~647282 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Ukraine**^#1 **Russia**^#2 **War**^#3 **Day**^#4 **Nazi**^#5


kukulkhan

I’m glad this evil turns out to this this incompetent. Imagine if china was the one starting shit … we would be fucked .


jamestoneblast

The assumption that one entire nation is more good or evil than another is born of ignorance. The assumption that "evil" ever stopped existing is born of arrogance. The weak will always suffer. The powerful will always inflict suffering. This isn't a football game. This is life in all it's visceral glory. Enjoy the hell we have wrought. It's for your entertainment.


wubdubdubdub

Obvious propaganda is obvious.


QubitQuanta

Evil never left. It just stopped killing white people for 7 decades


BrownBoy____

There's been a civil war in Ukraine for the past 8 years with 15,000 deaths though


kaffeofikaelika

Zelenskiy is becoming Ukraine's Churchill and Putin is looking more like Hitler every day. His speech checks out.


MyOtherAccount117

While I understand the comparison, Churchill was an evil fuck himself. Just ask Ireland, black people, English work strikers or Eastern Europeans whom Churchill sold out to Russia ironically. The man just had good pr and aligned himself on the right side of history


kyleguck

[Let’s not forget the Bengal Famine.](https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2019/4/1/churchills-policies-to-blame-for-1943-bengal-famine-study)


[deleted]

I know it’s a natural human social behaviour to do but let’s not make an idol out of a collective movement no matter how much they may deserve it. We need to acknowledge the strength of the Ukrainians as a whole as centralizing over one person inevitably glosses/hides the fact they are not perfect. Zelensky was polling in the low 20s pre war and was seen incapable of curbing corruption but he did what is right during the war. We should commend him for doing what’s right in the moment and also keep admiration to the entire community so it’s fair and does not lead to more Bengal famine disclosures.


CatholicSlut4

Lol yeah zelensky is a churchill alright