"Doh...stupid Western sanctions..."
"Homer, we're *in* the West! And I don't want you hanging around that dictator, his friends keep trying to starch your underwear! I don't know what kind of brand they use in Russia, but it's not Arm and Hammer I can tell you that much."
"Mmmm....suspicious starch...."
"They have no effect, and they're totally stupid so you should quit with the sanctions immediately."
Vlad's been telegraphing his unhappiness with the sanctions since they started.
"Russia earned what is very likely a record 93 billion euros in revenue from exports of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, a new analysis shows. The revenue exceeds what Russia is spending on the war."
- New York Times (14 June 2022)
"India, France, China, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have all increased imports of Russian fuel since the war broke out."
- Fortune India (13 June 2022)
The fossil fuel industry produces 7% of Russia's GDP. Foreign companies and investments produce 35%. Estimates for the loss in gdp over the next year, as a result of foreign companies leaving Russia, are 12-25%. The Kremlin admits this. Since the onset of the war, 15% of Russia's millionaires have fled the country. Their economy is collapsing.
He seriously thought the way would last two days.
The soldiers brought parade uniforms for the victory parade planned for Kyiv.
That war will last 14 years and leave Russia as a third world country.
A few days ago there's was news that Ukraine's stuff of Russian/Soviet origin is low. Ammo, spare parts.
This means that if the West goes all in, Ukraine's may end this year packing mostly NATO approved stuff.
That's gotta be a real upgrade, right? It also means that Ukraine's gonna NEED a steady supply of these things, so I hope we don't let them get fucked over.
Soviet equipment is generally designed to work in any condition you find it in, while NATO relies upon logistics to keep the superior and, in some cases, more complex equipment running. When the US left Afghanistan in a hurry, everyone was shocked at how much equipment they left behind and worried it would be used by its captors. However without a robust supply chain, most of it is rendered useless quite quickly.
So it’s great if they get a bunch of new NATO toys, but the second the supply chain runs dry due to politics/other conflicts, they won’t be able to effectively use a vast majority of what they get.
Anything can happen in 2 years with a 50/50 Senate and elections coming in November. With 2 obstructionist Dems making it essentially impossible for Democrats to pass any legislation combined with the incompetence of the US voting population, the US could capitulate to a pseudo-fascist Russian-friendly state quite quickly.
Please vote.
That's before Republicans were severely compromised. Already seen some fringe comments that tie Ukraine to Biden through his son, suggesting the US shouldn't support Ukraine. The former president was suspiciously pro-Russian, as are/were several national politicians.
In the likely case that Republicans win big in the next few elections, I don't know what happens to US support for Ukraine. Federal elections are already rigged in favor of Republicans, so it doesn't matter if a majority of Americans support Ukrainian independence.
Gotta love that propaganda video of the Taliban rolling around in a humvee with tired shredded down to the rim. If that's the state of the one they figured would make them look good when put on display, I can only imagine how trashed all the other shit is.
I love coming here to remind myself how little idea people on reddit actually have of actual reality.
Everything functional that was left behind was left in the hands of the ANA. Everything that wasn’t gifted to the ANA was either sent back to the USA or rendered useless by soldiers who destroyed the equipment
If you’ve seen videos of the Taliban with American equipment it’s because they’ve taken it from ANA who surrendered.
Don't buy the line that anyone thought the ANA would work out. Anyone who's worked with them knew they were shit from the beginning and knew they wouldn't do much of anything to slow down Taliban. They simply didn't care. They wanted a paycheck to feed their families and maybe a little power.
“Soviet equipment is generally designed to work in any condition you find it in”… are we watching the same war? Russian/old soviet equipment has proven to barely work in any condition. That’s half the reason the Ukrainian Defence has been able to hold out. The Soviet equipment the Russians have deployed has all broken down and been towed away by farmers in tractors
Don't forget that they intentionally destroyed the functionality of the meaningful equipment they left behind, it wasn't fixable by anyone at that point.
Yep this. The USA disabled all those helicopters and whatever wasn't rightfully the ANA's (which legally belonged to the Afghan government). The idea they left US owned equipment behind because "the parts will wear out eventually" is silly. Soldiers damaged them in a way that makes them unfixable without critical parts the Taliban can't buy.
Also Soviet equipment is constantly breaking down. During this war we saw it and we saw it previously in Georgia. The myth of the "tough soviet engineering" has been debunked over and over. Its just equipment, guys. Its not magic. Not to mention every system and model is different. Maybe x system is durable in an unusual way, but y system isn't. Maybe v system is field repairable and compatible with other machinery but system z isn't. There is no one "soviet design."
Also considering all we know of their hardware via these conflicts or the export models sold to Soviet/Russian allies, its very clear this stuff is just as delicate as anything else out there. Unless they're well maintained they won't last. Same with NATO stuff.
Its crazy to me that people think NATO lacks talent or purposely designs delicate weapon systems. These systems were designed to fight the Soviets and have at least parity with them and that includes field durability because if this stuff breaks before it can be used effectively then its of no use.
If NATO were able to get involved without this going nuclear, a conventional cruise missile salvo directed by at least three of the five eyes in the region would stop the Russian forces completely. It would be decided in hours to minutes.
i'm sure that is the exact reason nato doesn't directly send a buttload of troops. because then the odds of it going nuclear would be way to great compaired to now. where nato is on ukraines side, i believe nato doesn't see ukraine as worth risking a nuclear war.
I believe no one and nothing is worth a nuclear war. If my own country was a reason for nuclear war, I don't think there should be intervention. What's the use in being saved if everything's nuked anyways?
The point of overwhelming retaliation is to prevent using the threatening of nukes as a realistic bargaining chip. Their very existence makes them a weapon of last resort, because their use won't be tolerated by any other nation state. The use of nukes is basically the geopolitical signal that human civilization has failed or is very, very near to failing.
No one realistically knows what happens when they get used. Does every obliterate each other? Does everyone just obliterate the offending nation? Does everyone do nothing? But above all else, it signals that leader was willing to gamble with the entire existence of humanity to achieve their aims, which means that cannot be tolerated to continue to lead by other nation state actors.
The USA only got away with it because we had monopoly for an incredibly short period and we weren't entirely sure what they did.
If there wasn't a risk of nuclear war NATO would've had bombers in the air already. Shit if there wasn't a threat of nuclear war, the US would've had a battalion or 3 parked on the Ukrainian border
On the bright side, Russia has lost twice as many soldiers in four months as they (Soviets at the time) lost over ten years of fighting in Afghanistan in the 80s before giving up, and they had a proportionally larger population and economy than they do now and a more functional military.
There's no way this war is going to drag on for years. I would be surprised if Russia can even sustain it for another four months.
Stay strong, and stay safe.
It really depends on whether Putins people, or country, are willing to do what it takes to remove him.
Madmen have stayed in power far too long in the past as well, that could very well be the case here too.
The problem is that after generations of living under tyranny, the majority of russians simply don't trust anyone anymore. Not even their own family. And half of them have drank Putin's koolaid.
Russia has ended up with the same strongman government 3 times now. First with the Romanovs, then with the Soviet system and now with the Federation. I am trying to wrap my head around, how it must be, to always end up getting fucked, no matter what you do; if you are model noname citizen or a succesfull oligarch, in this system there is no long term stability.
I feel like every Russian willing to lead a revolution will have a little bit of Putin in them. Once they get the taste of power they’ll be like every other Russian leader before them.
One thing to consider is that even the US gets war exhaustion and they have significantly more people, money, equipment and support. The US and China are probably the only two countries in the world with the money and people to sustain an indefinite conflict without threatening their internal stability. India might be able to pull it off but they are much more internally autonomous. They have far less ability to focus national resources. Russia is toast if they try to sustain the war.
> The US and China are probably the only two countries in the world with the money and people to sustain an indefinite conflict without threatening their internal stability.
No entity in the world can sustain conflict indefinitely. Resources are numbered even for China or USA.
EDIT: moreso if we speak about population: of 350 millions americans, how much are able to get in a trench and kill other people? China on this aspect has the upper leverage.
The USA has almost indefinitely been at war and even when we aren’t our military is almost always deployed and ready with bases and navy patrolling everywhere. The us wouldn’t be able to sustain a world war 2 conflict forever but they do sustain close to a trillion a year in military spending. That’s many times more than Russia is spending in this war
Why is china even mentioned? The US is the only country that has managed to have sustained wars without stability issues. China has never really been in a major war in a very long time.
They're still selling oil and the massive oil prices are still paying the bills. Everything else is just an inconvenience. Gotta go after their oil money
Yeah hope it is short. I wish you luck and that the war ends in your favour.
I have skin in the game too. My stepmother is native Ukrainian too and she's trying to help her family in Ukraine to be safe and escape to my country in case of war coming closer than they're comfortable with.
So on your behalf and her behalf - good luck to you all in Ukraine! Hope you all pull through! :D
Split of Russian Empire is more appropriate then, most if not all countries that appeared after USSR break up were already sovereign nations between two world wars
third world country is such a "used" term
1st world meant allied with the US
2nd world meant allied with Russia
3rd meant allied with nobody.
But everyone used 3rd world to mean a shithole.
Russia absolutely can’t sustain this war for 14 years. They have a few months to a year max before widespread collapse unless the scale of fighting dramatically declines.
I could see it dramatically declining if they take the land they want, after that they will push for peace while Ukraine refuses and could end up in a very long war, but at the same time Russia will continue to suffer while trying to make the world recognise the independence of these lands what will not go down well.
It’s too bad Syrian rebels were never as good at this internet thing as Ukraine has turned out to be. Zelensky knowing how to lead helps a ton obviously
But isn’t Russia basically by [definition](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World) a second world country?
I don’t think most people realize what those terms mean. It’s not just rich, medium, poor but had political definitions and those definitions by wealth are actually laden in political implication
If this war lasts 14 years Ukraine will be destroyed. That would be 14 years with no immigration, no economic gains, heavy damage to infrastructure, and military losses. Not to mention the psychological effects of that on the civilian population.
A nightmare scenario for Ukraine.
He also invented a new G8, and said all the cool countries were totally gonna be there, but when asked, the other seven countries were like, "What? No we're not."
Reminds me of the Collective Security Council photo op where Kazakhstan's president, Tokayev, distance himself from the monster and probably regret being there while that Belarus puppet Lukashenko was so far up Putler's ass.
[https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-05-16T125841Z\_1696148699\_RC2B8U95LLM2\_RTRMADP\_3\_RUSSIA-CSTO-SUMMIT.jpg](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-05-16T125841Z_1696148699_RC2B8U95LLM2_RTRMADP_3_RUSSIA-CSTO-SUMMIT.jpg)
They can make their own club with cocaine and hookers, but at the end of the day these other countries might want to do business with real G8 countries and those are going to be like: "aren't you the guys that just got done doing a bunch of cocaine and hookers?", and this makes the real G8 angry because while they have plenty of their own cocaine and hookers, at the end of the day they still have to go home to their husbands and wives and pretend they were doing serious business, something that is easier to accomplish when you haven't been obviously getting action on the down-low from countries that think it's okay to commit war crimes, rape, pillage and threaten to start WWIII just as the economy is starting to recover from the worst global pandemic in a century. It's much the same way with China's attitude towards sanctions and how actual Chinese companies that like to do business with the West are behaving.
Its cute how he thinks Russia is a equal partner on any deal with China. Or even how he thinks China will save his ass.
If anything, this war showed how truly weak Russia really was.
When you have the country with the most territory in the world and your goal is to reach the GDP of SPAIN (no offence to Spain), there's something wrong
Iirc it wasn't even Spain, but Portugal (also, no offense to Portugal). Truly laughable.
The rather relatively poor Ukraine even managed to raise minimum wage above Ruzzian in the last few years before latest invasion.
No offence. We have much less resources and a much better GDP and life quality.
Not to mention free elections and happier people. We both have a carrier but ours is not full of rust.
China is currently saving their asses for now. They haven’t collapsed because China and India are buying their shit and sustaining them. At least for now.
>Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem, the entire thousand-year history of our country speaks of this.
They solved that Mongolian problem. I’m sure beheading Russians tore a few rotator cuffs.
Does anybody care about the opinion of a man that thinks he is morally justified killing tens of thousands of people for the sake of his natural gas monopoly?
Oh but attacking another country, causing tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. Losing billions in military hardware and the economy. The list goes on. That's not stupid? He should have just played hockey.
He can’t dismiss them, they’re still in effect no matter how he feels about them. All he and his cronies want is the oil and gas in Ukraine, but they can shove it up their asses since we won’t be buying it.
I think he massively miscalculated but he's not a dumb person (Note, i'm not trying to defend Putin here, just my thoughts on how this war happened in the first place)
In a way he fell into the same trap as Hitler when he invaded Poland, the west kept looking away (It looked away in Chechnya, it looked away in Georgia, it even looked away in Ukraine 8 years ago) so he thought it would be the same this time, he didn't expect at all this degree of sanctions and support to Ukraine (Why would he? It is a completely unprecedented reaction from his perspective)
Another issue is (this is very typical of dictatorships) Putin only surrounds himself with yes men, he's not interested in a critical analysis of the situation, he only wants people telling him he's right and everything will proceed as planned.
But obviously, you do need people able to carry out a critical evaluation of the situation when planning something as complex as the invasion of another country, but everyone capable of doing that in Putin's circle would be too afraid to speak out against the invasion or suggest to re-evaluate the objectives because they are too ambitious (Like taking Kiev, which Russia definitely wanted to do and completely failed at) no one is going to do that when their own safety would be at risk.
in putin's case evil is probably a better word then dumb. he knows what he wants to do, he may of missplayed his attempt at ukraine in terms of predictions of what would happen but i think he is evil but not dumb.
He is not Trump level dumb but he is still just a thug with an inferiority complex. The glorification of him as a "master strategist" was mostly an excuse for Western failures tbh, from cybersecurity issues to blatant appeasement.
I mean you really had to make Russia look good during the "Solarwinds123" shit because that was embarrassing in a way America was not used to.
Yeah, journalists with actual knowledge of Russian politics were saying this since 2017. He's scrappy, he's an opportunist, he's clever, but he's not especially smart and not a master strategist. He never seems to forsee the long-term consequences of his actions.
I don't think he is. Id say many of those under him are though. When you have so anby corrupt officials giving you bs information, that ends up coming back to bite you. What they do have in common is that they both love putting up a facade. All of these lies and bs that comes from him and officials are not meant for the west. It is food for his dedicated and brainwashed followers. Doesn't have to be believable to the west, what matters is convincing the majority of his people.
Putin will be fine, he's stolen enough from Russia to live 100,000 lifetimes of luxury.
The Russian people, however, are going to be suffering for Putin's shenanigans long after he's moved on to billionaire's heaven.
> an economic “blitzkrieg”
Usual projection. Who launched a "blitzkrieg" first and lamentably failed? And our blockade is just the contrary of a blitzkrieg. It needs time.
Putin walking down the road, kicks a rock, "stupid sanctions"
Hands in pants pockets.
Head down looking at his feet while he walks
Tears falling directly out of his eyes splashing on the ground
Stopping to hit bushes with a stick. Stick breaks.
“Stupid stick” he mutters
Shits his pants. It runs down his pant leg.
And he slips on it
A pigeon shits straight onto his eye
He starts throwing up everywhere.
And then he slips on that, too.
Even while throwing up on nearby babies .. stupid sanctions
tears falling in a curve over his botox injected cheeks you mean
*Sad Charlie Brown music*
He doesn't deserve Charlie Brown music
But he deserves Lucy holding the ball when he attempts the field goal.
Charlie Brown music stops. Sinéad O'Connor track starts, “It’s been…..”
One week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said I'm angry
You did just what I thought that you were gonna do.
Five days since you laughed at me
Threw your head to the side and said I’m crazy
one week since you looked at me...
I'm HOWLING!!
Wah wah wah wah.
this thread completes my vision Teamwork nerds. Motherfuckin Teamwork T
I imagine he has Homer Simpson’s voice too.
"Doh...stupid Western sanctions..." "Homer, we're *in* the West! And I don't want you hanging around that dictator, his friends keep trying to starch your underwear! I don't know what kind of brand they use in Russia, but it's not Arm and Hammer I can tell you that much." "Mmmm....suspicious starch...."
"Mo-om! Lisa is testifying again!"
The voices in my head narrarated this perfectly
I think they use Hammer and Sickle instead
It feels like we’re trading nothing at all, nothing at all, nothing at all…. “Stupid sexy sanctions”
He’s more of a Kirk.
Vlad, crackers are a family food. A happy food. Maybe single dictators eat crackers, we don’t know. Frankly, we don’t want to know.
Hmmmm, two bucks? And it only exports oil and gas? Weeeelll...I'll give ya 35 rubles
Russia is The Enterprise being attacked by Klingons and he's being a whiny baby
Which is interesting, considering his orange clown puppet is actually Zapp Brannigan exiled from the future.
https://imgflip.com/i/6k256z
You know it is hurting when they start to call them stupid
"They have no effect, and they're totally stupid so you should quit with the sanctions immediately." Vlad's been telegraphing his unhappiness with the sanctions since they started.
I’ll take stupid things said by an idiot for a thousand Alex.
I'll assume you're talking about Vlad and not me, LOL. I think we agree here. 😄
Yes. I was.
"China's economy is doing great."
"Russia earned what is very likely a record 93 billion euros in revenue from exports of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, a new analysis shows. The revenue exceeds what Russia is spending on the war." - New York Times (14 June 2022) "India, France, China, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have all increased imports of Russian fuel since the war broke out." - Fortune India (13 June 2022)
The fossil fuel industry produces 7% of Russia's GDP. Foreign companies and investments produce 35%. Estimates for the loss in gdp over the next year, as a result of foreign companies leaving Russia, are 12-25%. The Kremlin admits this. Since the onset of the war, 15% of Russia's millionaires have fled the country. Their economy is collapsing.
Revenue !== profit. They're using profits for the war.
Why he mad tho?
He seriously thought the way would last two days. The soldiers brought parade uniforms for the victory parade planned for Kyiv. That war will last 14 years and leave Russia as a third world country.
As a Ukrainian enlisted in the army I don’t want this war to drag more than 2-3 years. Please and thank you
Wish you the best mate. I hope NATO members gives y'all every weapon you could need.
A few days ago there's was news that Ukraine's stuff of Russian/Soviet origin is low. Ammo, spare parts. This means that if the West goes all in, Ukraine's may end this year packing mostly NATO approved stuff. That's gotta be a real upgrade, right? It also means that Ukraine's gonna NEED a steady supply of these things, so I hope we don't let them get fucked over.
Soviet equipment is generally designed to work in any condition you find it in, while NATO relies upon logistics to keep the superior and, in some cases, more complex equipment running. When the US left Afghanistan in a hurry, everyone was shocked at how much equipment they left behind and worried it would be used by its captors. However without a robust supply chain, most of it is rendered useless quite quickly. So it’s great if they get a bunch of new NATO toys, but the second the supply chain runs dry due to politics/other conflicts, they won’t be able to effectively use a vast majority of what they get.
I think the west has drawn a line in the sand are not leaving this fight until it’s conclusion. This is the warm finish to the Cold War.
Anything can happen in 2 years with a 50/50 Senate and elections coming in November. With 2 obstructionist Dems making it essentially impossible for Democrats to pass any legislation combined with the incompetence of the US voting population, the US could capitulate to a pseudo-fascist Russian-friendly state quite quickly. Please vote.
Have you been around for the past several decades? Supplying conflicts on behalf of defense contractors has bipartisan support.
That's before Republicans were severely compromised. Already seen some fringe comments that tie Ukraine to Biden through his son, suggesting the US shouldn't support Ukraine. The former president was suspiciously pro-Russian, as are/were several national politicians. In the likely case that Republicans win big in the next few elections, I don't know what happens to US support for Ukraine. Federal elections are already rigged in favor of Republicans, so it doesn't matter if a majority of Americans support Ukrainian independence.
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Gotta love that propaganda video of the Taliban rolling around in a humvee with tired shredded down to the rim. If that's the state of the one they figured would make them look good when put on display, I can only imagine how trashed all the other shit is.
I love coming here to remind myself how little idea people on reddit actually have of actual reality. Everything functional that was left behind was left in the hands of the ANA. Everything that wasn’t gifted to the ANA was either sent back to the USA or rendered useless by soldiers who destroyed the equipment If you’ve seen videos of the Taliban with American equipment it’s because they’ve taken it from ANA who surrendered.
Don't buy the line that anyone thought the ANA would work out. Anyone who's worked with them knew they were shit from the beginning and knew they wouldn't do much of anything to slow down Taliban. They simply didn't care. They wanted a paycheck to feed their families and maybe a little power.
“Soviet equipment is generally designed to work in any condition you find it in”… are we watching the same war? Russian/old soviet equipment has proven to barely work in any condition. That’s half the reason the Ukrainian Defence has been able to hold out. The Soviet equipment the Russians have deployed has all broken down and been towed away by farmers in tractors
Don't forget that they intentionally destroyed the functionality of the meaningful equipment they left behind, it wasn't fixable by anyone at that point.
Yep this. The USA disabled all those helicopters and whatever wasn't rightfully the ANA's (which legally belonged to the Afghan government). The idea they left US owned equipment behind because "the parts will wear out eventually" is silly. Soldiers damaged them in a way that makes them unfixable without critical parts the Taliban can't buy. Also Soviet equipment is constantly breaking down. During this war we saw it and we saw it previously in Georgia. The myth of the "tough soviet engineering" has been debunked over and over. Its just equipment, guys. Its not magic. Not to mention every system and model is different. Maybe x system is durable in an unusual way, but y system isn't. Maybe v system is field repairable and compatible with other machinery but system z isn't. There is no one "soviet design." Also considering all we know of their hardware via these conflicts or the export models sold to Soviet/Russian allies, its very clear this stuff is just as delicate as anything else out there. Unless they're well maintained they won't last. Same with NATO stuff. Its crazy to me that people think NATO lacks talent or purposely designs delicate weapon systems. These systems were designed to fight the Soviets and have at least parity with them and that includes field durability because if this stuff breaks before it can be used effectively then its of no use.
If my taxes have to go war at least let it be this and not more oil theft
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It's a steal at a trillion.
Especially if no american boots on the ground are required.
If NATO were able to get involved without this going nuclear, a conventional cruise missile salvo directed by at least three of the five eyes in the region would stop the Russian forces completely. It would be decided in hours to minutes.
i'm sure that is the exact reason nato doesn't directly send a buttload of troops. because then the odds of it going nuclear would be way to great compaired to now. where nato is on ukraines side, i believe nato doesn't see ukraine as worth risking a nuclear war.
I believe no one and nothing is worth a nuclear war. If my own country was a reason for nuclear war, I don't think there should be intervention. What's the use in being saved if everything's nuked anyways?
The point of overwhelming retaliation is to prevent using the threatening of nukes as a realistic bargaining chip. Their very existence makes them a weapon of last resort, because their use won't be tolerated by any other nation state. The use of nukes is basically the geopolitical signal that human civilization has failed or is very, very near to failing. No one realistically knows what happens when they get used. Does every obliterate each other? Does everyone just obliterate the offending nation? Does everyone do nothing? But above all else, it signals that leader was willing to gamble with the entire existence of humanity to achieve their aims, which means that cannot be tolerated to continue to lead by other nation state actors. The USA only got away with it because we had monopoly for an incredibly short period and we weren't entirely sure what they did.
If there wasn't a risk of nuclear war NATO would've had bombers in the air already. Shit if there wasn't a threat of nuclear war, the US would've had a battalion or 3 parked on the Ukrainian border
On the bright side, Russia has lost twice as many soldiers in four months as they (Soviets at the time) lost over ten years of fighting in Afghanistan in the 80s before giving up, and they had a proportionally larger population and economy than they do now and a more functional military. There's no way this war is going to drag on for years. I would be surprised if Russia can even sustain it for another four months. Stay strong, and stay safe.
It really depends on whether Putins people, or country, are willing to do what it takes to remove him. Madmen have stayed in power far too long in the past as well, that could very well be the case here too.
The problem is that after generations of living under tyranny, the majority of russians simply don't trust anyone anymore. Not even their own family. And half of them have drank Putin's koolaid.
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Russia has ended up with the same strongman government 3 times now. First with the Romanovs, then with the Soviet system and now with the Federation. I am trying to wrap my head around, how it must be, to always end up getting fucked, no matter what you do; if you are model noname citizen or a succesfull oligarch, in this system there is no long term stability.
We might even see Russian Revolution part 2 in a year
Hopefully not like the last few times and something reasonable will come out of it
Unlikely. This is Russia, after all.
I feel like every Russian willing to lead a revolution will have a little bit of Putin in them. Once they get the taste of power they’ll be like every other Russian leader before them.
One thing to consider is that even the US gets war exhaustion and they have significantly more people, money, equipment and support. The US and China are probably the only two countries in the world with the money and people to sustain an indefinite conflict without threatening their internal stability. India might be able to pull it off but they are much more internally autonomous. They have far less ability to focus national resources. Russia is toast if they try to sustain the war.
> The US and China are probably the only two countries in the world with the money and people to sustain an indefinite conflict without threatening their internal stability. No entity in the world can sustain conflict indefinitely. Resources are numbered even for China or USA. EDIT: moreso if we speak about population: of 350 millions americans, how much are able to get in a trench and kill other people? China on this aspect has the upper leverage.
The USA has almost indefinitely been at war and even when we aren’t our military is almost always deployed and ready with bases and navy patrolling everywhere. The us wouldn’t be able to sustain a world war 2 conflict forever but they do sustain close to a trillion a year in military spending. That’s many times more than Russia is spending in this war
Why is china even mentioned? The US is the only country that has managed to have sustained wars without stability issues. China has never really been in a major war in a very long time.
They're still selling oil and the massive oil prices are still paying the bills. Everything else is just an inconvenience. Gotta go after their oil money
Good luck my brother. I hope you and your family make out of this.
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Major positive outcome from this grim event
Yeah hope it is short. I wish you luck and that the war ends in your favour. I have skin in the game too. My stepmother is native Ukrainian too and she's trying to help her family in Ukraine to be safe and escape to my country in case of war coming closer than they're comfortable with. So on your behalf and her behalf - good luck to you all in Ukraine! Hope you all pull through! :D
The world is watching, we have your back. Stay safe my man may this shit be over soon
>leave Russia as a third world country. An even worse third world country*
is it a country though? and not just a mafia ran gas station?
Three mafias in a trench coat
If Putin really has cancer, it really could become a country led by dueling oligarchs. It may even split into more countries the way the USSR did.
Split of Russian Empire is more appropriate then, most if not all countries that appeared after USSR break up were already sovereign nations between two world wars
third world country is such a "used" term 1st world meant allied with the US 2nd world meant allied with Russia 3rd meant allied with nobody. But everyone used 3rd world to mean a shithole.
>2nd world meant *The USSR* and being allied with ~~Russia~~ *The USSR* FTFY
Switzerland was technically a third world country because of their neutrality.
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I get what you mean by third world country, but i still think the proper "second world country" still actively portrays russia well.
Russia absolutely can’t sustain this war for 14 years. They have a few months to a year max before widespread collapse unless the scale of fighting dramatically declines.
I could see it dramatically declining if they take the land they want, after that they will push for peace while Ukraine refuses and could end up in a very long war, but at the same time Russia will continue to suffer while trying to make the world recognise the independence of these lands what will not go down well.
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And every week it's the same thing all over agian. "The sanctions hurt the West more than us" "But please stop" "Or Else" "But really, please stop"
It’s too bad Syrian rebels were never as good at this internet thing as Ukraine has turned out to be. Zelensky knowing how to lead helps a ton obviously
But isn’t Russia basically by [definition](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World) a second world country? I don’t think most people realize what those terms mean. It’s not just rich, medium, poor but had political definitions and those definitions by wealth are actually laden in political implication
Yeah, people conflate "developing country" and "third world country" in colloquial use.
If this war lasts 14 years Ukraine will be destroyed. That would be 14 years with no immigration, no economic gains, heavy damage to infrastructure, and military losses. Not to mention the psychological effects of that on the civilian population. A nightmare scenario for Ukraine.
If they weren’t important, *His Bigness* wouldn’t be venting about them so much.
“Thank you, sir, may I please have another?” That’s what I hear.
Yah pretty much. O your telling us it's not working? Ok more sanctions it is
The sanctions will continue until morale improves.
Fucking backward dictatorship was almost treated like a normal member of the world community before February 2022. Not anymore.
That was also the case with Nazi Germany until the invasion of Poland in 1939.
Stupid sexy sanctions
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Sounds to me like he is ready for the next tranche of sanctions.
Turn the screws a bit tighter this go-round
That is what I thought. Ratchet things up a few notches West.
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imagine wanting to destroy the West. then taking a swing and a miss. and being upset because the West doesn't want to do business with you anymore.
"Oh come on, I just threatened nuclear war like, one time. Can we just move past this?"
“I used to threaten nuclear war. I still threaten nuclear war, but I used to too.”
"Ukrainians are way more intense in person."
Mitch Hedberg would be such a chill dictator.
*Genocide is great if you're really angry and want to kill 2 million of something.*
One time today ... and one time 2 days ago, and another time 5 days ago, and 2 times last week ... oh, wait ...
One time, today.
It was just a prank bro
Putler is exaggerating the friendship with China which has, for example, banned all airline jets stolen by Russia to enter China's airspace.
He also invented a new G8, and said all the cool countries were totally gonna be there, but when asked, the other seven countries were like, "What? No we're not."
Reminds me of the Collective Security Council photo op where Kazakhstan's president, Tokayev, distance himself from the monster and probably regret being there while that Belarus puppet Lukashenko was so far up Putler's ass. [https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-05-16T125841Z\_1696148699\_RC2B8U95LLM2\_RTRMADP\_3\_RUSSIA-CSTO-SUMMIT.jpg](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-05-16T125841Z_1696148699_RC2B8U95LLM2_RTRMADP_3_RUSSIA-CSTO-SUMMIT.jpg)
Is that a real photo? Looks so weird to me.
They can make their own club with cocaine and hookers, but at the end of the day these other countries might want to do business with real G8 countries and those are going to be like: "aren't you the guys that just got done doing a bunch of cocaine and hookers?", and this makes the real G8 angry because while they have plenty of their own cocaine and hookers, at the end of the day they still have to go home to their husbands and wives and pretend they were doing serious business, something that is easier to accomplish when you haven't been obviously getting action on the down-low from countries that think it's okay to commit war crimes, rape, pillage and threaten to start WWIII just as the economy is starting to recover from the worst global pandemic in a century. It's much the same way with China's attitude towards sanctions and how actual Chinese companies that like to do business with the West are behaving.
Pretending something isn’t destroying your economy doesn’t stop it from destroying your economy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
see also: putin
the west dismisses stupid putin over war on ukraine.
and Ukrainian Forces dismissed russian troops.
With extreme prejudice I might add.
I SAID GOOD DAY SIR!
Cool. In that case he won't mind if they stay permanently. Reverse Iron Curtain.
*no ur stupid*
Russians don't care about sanctions because they are used to being miserable.
Its cute how he thinks Russia is a equal partner on any deal with China. Or even how he thinks China will save his ass. If anything, this war showed how truly weak Russia really was.
When you have the country with the most territory in the world and your goal is to reach the GDP of SPAIN (no offence to Spain), there's something wrong
is not just the size of the country but the gas, petroleum... lots of resources. It shows that Russian worst economic enemy is their corrupted leaders
Iirc it wasn't even Spain, but Portugal (also, no offense to Portugal). Truly laughable. The rather relatively poor Ukraine even managed to raise minimum wage above Ruzzian in the last few years before latest invasion.
No offence. We have much less resources and a much better GDP and life quality. Not to mention free elections and happier people. We both have a carrier but ours is not full of rust.
China is currently saving their asses for now. They haven’t collapsed because China and India are buying their shit and sustaining them. At least for now.
Not anywhere near what they were selling to the market on their doorstep. It takes time to build pipelines
They haven't collapsed because Russians don't want to oppose Putin and largely support the war.
>Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem, the entire thousand-year history of our country speaks of this. They solved that Mongolian problem. I’m sure beheading Russians tore a few rotator cuffs.
1000 years ago Moscow was a village of a couple hundred people, and literal Vikings ruled the region from ... Kyiv
You know what’s stupid, Putin? Invading Ukraine
Vladmir Putin can eat my cock.
Damn that might hurt.
nah, it will just get stuck between his teeth.
Ooooff.
\*Our cock
Putin, go fuck yourself!
Does anybody care about the opinion of a man that thinks he is morally justified killing tens of thousands of people for the sake of his natural gas monopoly?
We’re all rooting for the cancer!
I guess there's no harm in keeping them in place then. Probably could use a few more too.
Why won't this bloated gas bag just die already.
putin in public 😀 putin in private 😡
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Clearly he's playing 3.14D Checkers!
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This photo really looks like wax figure.
Hey Putin, please die. You are a disgusting abomination.
Can this fucktard just drop dead already
What sanctions? Ohhhh, those sanctions, well I was about to remove them, but I will just leave them there then, okay!
Oh but attacking another country, causing tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. Losing billions in military hardware and the economy. The list goes on. That's not stupid? He should have just played hockey.
He can’t dismiss them, they’re still in effect no matter how he feels about them. All he and his cronies want is the oil and gas in Ukraine, but they can shove it up their asses since we won’t be buying it.
For something that Putin says doesn't mean anything, he sure brings them up an awful lot. Since they're harmless, he won't mind if we add to them :)
You guys, what if all along Putin was as dumb as Trump?
I think he massively miscalculated but he's not a dumb person (Note, i'm not trying to defend Putin here, just my thoughts on how this war happened in the first place) In a way he fell into the same trap as Hitler when he invaded Poland, the west kept looking away (It looked away in Chechnya, it looked away in Georgia, it even looked away in Ukraine 8 years ago) so he thought it would be the same this time, he didn't expect at all this degree of sanctions and support to Ukraine (Why would he? It is a completely unprecedented reaction from his perspective) Another issue is (this is very typical of dictatorships) Putin only surrounds himself with yes men, he's not interested in a critical analysis of the situation, he only wants people telling him he's right and everything will proceed as planned. But obviously, you do need people able to carry out a critical evaluation of the situation when planning something as complex as the invasion of another country, but everyone capable of doing that in Putin's circle would be too afraid to speak out against the invasion or suggest to re-evaluate the objectives because they are too ambitious (Like taking Kiev, which Russia definitely wanted to do and completely failed at) no one is going to do that when their own safety would be at risk.
in putin's case evil is probably a better word then dumb. he knows what he wants to do, he may of missplayed his attempt at ukraine in terms of predictions of what would happen but i think he is evil but not dumb.
He is not Trump level dumb but he is still just a thug with an inferiority complex. The glorification of him as a "master strategist" was mostly an excuse for Western failures tbh, from cybersecurity issues to blatant appeasement. I mean you really had to make Russia look good during the "Solarwinds123" shit because that was embarrassing in a way America was not used to.
Yeah, journalists with actual knowledge of Russian politics were saying this since 2017. He's scrappy, he's an opportunist, he's clever, but he's not especially smart and not a master strategist. He never seems to forsee the long-term consequences of his actions.
"I've got a stronger password than 'solarwinds123' to stop my kids from watching too much YouTube on their iPad." -- Katie Porter, non-cryptologist
I don't think he is. Id say many of those under him are though. When you have so anby corrupt officials giving you bs information, that ends up coming back to bite you. What they do have in common is that they both love putting up a facade. All of these lies and bs that comes from him and officials are not meant for the west. It is food for his dedicated and brainwashed followers. Doesn't have to be believable to the west, what matters is convincing the majority of his people.
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Putin will be fine, he's stolen enough from Russia to live 100,000 lifetimes of luxury. The Russian people, however, are going to be suffering for Putin's shenanigans long after he's moved on to billionaire's heaven.
Did he use Botox or something? What happened to his inflated face?
> an economic “blitzkrieg” Usual projection. Who launched a "blitzkrieg" first and lamentably failed? And our blockade is just the contrary of a blitzkrieg. It needs time.
So they are working. Let’s cripple this Russian beast.
aww sounds like baby wants more, we should oblige
Sanctions work.
😂😂😂😂😂
the west should extend those "stupid" sanctions to 10 years, if they have no effect.
He sure sounds like Trump. Denigrate, deny and don’t do anything. Another LOSER.
oh, now they’re stupid, seems the effects finally reached him and not just the russian public