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You can hardly expect to extract anything from Ukraine mid-term, what with their economy taking a 35-50% dip. Western taxpayers though, you can always get them to shell out a bit more to fight the good fight. Don't really need all those avocado toasts.

It also begs the question of what abrogating previous policies against supplying weapons to conflict zones will mean for America's next war. When, not if. In related news, Germany has largely exhausted their ability to provide weapons to Ukraine from its arsenals.

I have seen exactly one video of a commentator on Russian TV specifically calling for revenge for Moskva, though there may have been more. Hardly an unison situation, let alone evidence to substantiate an attempt at collective psychoanalysis. If that's where we're setting the bar, I'd like to hear your verdict after watching 10 minutes of Tucker Carlson. There's also an implication that anything any random talking head says says on Russian TV is 1:1 representative of the official Russian government position. That's not really how state media works.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Right. So your musings about Russia's collective insanity is supposed to get a pass because, hey, it's "not confirmed" or what? How does that work? I'm sorry that you regard my calling you out as hostile. It's the nature of an open environment where you post stuff, and people respond. You are of course free to keep waxing psychological, and there is no need to respond to me. But expect that I, and possibly others, will continue to reply to things you post whenever. And by all means, go ahead and talk to my "boss". Here, I'll even tag him for you, so we can finally put the matter of moderators having opinions *gasp* to rest so that it's not something that merits a passive aggressive remark every time one of us posts something that a member doesn't like. @Fionavar It can be fact-checked? Can you verify that strikes on a variety of targets, including a missile workshop are in retaliation for the sinking of the Moskva, and only because of that? Can you show that there were no such strikes previous to the Moskva being sunk? I mean, a stated goal of the invasion is demilitarization of the country, so it stands to reason that they would attack such a target -- much like they've been doing from day one. Their rationale has been "it's in retaliation for attacks on Russian soil", of which we've seen one or two in the past few days. Don't get me wrong, this is Russia spinning facts to fit a narrative, but it is not internally inconsistent and suggesting that it's evidence of "madness" is a bit of a stretch.

Not really. You gave four examples of what you think the Russian position is. Or what the media says the Russian position is. Or... what the Soviet Union's position was. Anything that doesn't fit with that is either ignored -a few articles deviating from the mainstream narrative in this thread- or flat out rejected because by definition nothing Russians say is true, while any "report" from a Twitter account with a Ukrainian flag in the handle is worth reposting. You've made a choice to believe a certain version of facts. That's your prerogative, but painting anyone disagreeing with that version as insane strikes me as... dogmatic, to put it mildly. I mean, I'm sure y'all are familiar with the old adage, "in war, truth is the first casualty". We shouldn't believe that "OSINT" sources have made that saying obsolete, heh.

Or... it could be you going off a bunch of preconceptions, media takes and non sequiturs. There's this weird outlook that's getting more and more pervasive that simply because one disagrees with or can't understand someone else's perspective, that perspective must be irrational, insane, illogical, or w/e. It's a convenient way to avoid considering the ramifications of the beliefs held by oneself -- indeed, it bypasses any self-reflection whatsoever. I wonder what the psychologically inclined would say about that, hmm?

Yeah, no. You are sure, and as usual, you are wrong. Brown people from the Middle East beat the Anglos by about ~2500 years. You may be thinking of the creation of corporations, but even then, it's probably the Dutch who created the first companies in a modern sense rather than the English. Putin? But I am not sure Holy ****. You've got to be ****ing trolling.

No, no. Twitter "reports". There's a difference -- these sometimes include Alamy stock photos, or ARMA clips. -- In other news, Spanish journalist Soviet superspy Pablo González Pavel Rubtsov has been held incommunicado in a Polish prison for a month and a half, and stands accused of spying for the damn Russkies. The accusation is substantiated on the fact that he, uh, had a Russian passport. He faces charges that could land him behind bars for up to 10 years. No right to counsel for you, Pavel, that'll teach you to love freedom!

I figure it's a matter of time now that a Polish airbase or Romanian depot will catch a cruise missile or two. And then the nukes can finally start flying. Luckily, I've read "reports" on twatter that Russian nukes don't actually work, so all will be well. Right guys? ...right?

Ha! For such an (apparently) young person you seem remarkably and consistenly cynical in the attitude displayed in your posts. What has made you so cold-hearted? I'm sure it wasn't a computer game about a convoluted conspiracy to install a shadow world government by means of mass surveillance, manufactured conflict, tax codes and a deadly epidemic...

I've read that it sunk. And not from a source given to spread pro-UA propaganda either. edit: unconfirmed, though Whatever the case, massive blow to Russian pride and morale.

Dawn of War was (a) great (source of memes). Battlefleet Gothic Armada too. Maybe I'm biased because it seems to be a franchise that produces a lot of coop games, but I like their approach with regards to licensing. I simply ignore all the shovelware made under the brand, and go for the few good bits, heh.

Right. And that may well be Ukraine's stance on the matter if they end up in a position to try Russian soldiers. However the case of a British national fighting Russians is a bit different. There are no Russian POWs held by the UK either so fat chance of an exchange. Considering the position of the UK regarding sanctions (and comments regarding trying Russians in the ICC), there's little incentive for Russia to accommodate them so the guy may end up getting a regular criminal conviction and a long sentence.

Meanwhile in Germany...

It's a muddy mess. Technically, no war has been declared, so what's the legal standing? There's also the possibility that he'd have to face the music if (when) he's sent back to the UK. Could be prosecuted under the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870 that bans Britons from fighting wars against countries the UK is at peace with, and the official posture of the gov't is that anyone going to fight there is breaking the law. Normally I doubt it would be enforced but you never know. Yes. That's probably the most sincere argument I've seen for this. We simply care more about bad **** when we believe we could be next, or when it's happening to a people we feel a kinship with. Politicians and officials in esteemed and righteous international organizations should be above such tribalisms, though. Universal human rights are supposed to be that, not regional, not ethnic, not tribal.

Technically not true, perhaps. Typical response to bad stuff going down somewhere the average westling westerner can't find on a map (current relevant example being Yemen): I mean, if you support 'decoupling' from Russia economically -a fine stance to maintain- there is no valid argument for not doing the same with Saudi. Every accusation you can throw at Putin is also applicable to MBS. But when this apparent double standard is brought up, it's always "OMG wHaTaBoUtIsM". It's like people feel obligated to defend hypocrisy just because the hypocrite happens to be repeating a talking point that resonates with them currently. The world would be such a better place if people were just a tad more consistent with their outrage.

Invision decided that it wasn't worth it to keep BBCode up to date and compatible with newer features. It wasn't an Obs decision -- the vendor just phased the feature out. edit: holy crap, ninja'd by half the forum slowpoke.jpeg

I use the multiquote function as much as I can, but replying to a specific part of a multiquote post is a bother because of the tendency of quote boxes to go *poof* or otherwise disrupt format. And nesting quote boxes is an ability some consider to be unnatural... Man, I miss BBCode.

I'm Spanish. Used to be a lot of carryover crap from back when the military establishment was the main source of the regime's political power in the country, and it took a long while to really modernize and grow out of it. We've come a long way in the last ~25 years and the worst is now in the past, but it's not completely fixed. Senior officers are still mostly untouchable.

Yes. The implication here is that the baby in the video could actually be his own child, or a relative. Dedovschina isn't a phenomenon unique to the Russians, sadly. We used to have a fairly serious suicide problem in the army here before going from a conscripted to a fully professional army, and hazing was identified as a key factor. But again, the possibility that this was somehow demanded of him is just conjecture. It may certainly be that he's just a sick ****. The picture simply isn't complete, and anyone suggesting that it is should provide evidence.

Because I've read "reports" that this kind of video is a product of the kind of endemic hazing prevalent in the Russian armed forces -- which is consistent with the guy putting the camera to his face and stating his full name before starting. There's more going on in the video than just the baby being molested, such as the perpetrator putting a knife up his ass or putting a mascara brush into his mouth that had previously gone into his butthole. Take that as you will. I have no clue if that's actually the case or not, or when and where the video was in fact recorded. <insert obligatory "I'm not defending or excusing anything yadda yadda" disclaimer>

Right. I asked before if you had seen the video -- you haven't. Have you at least read a detailed summary of what goes on in it? Seen captures? Are you familiar with dedovschina?

Yep, I read about that. Have you watched the video?

Never mind, I downloaded a mod that makes me dead after taking a sword to the gut. Much better now.

Less than 2h in and the stupid bullet sponge combat design where 8 headshots later enemies are still coming strong is already quickly killing my interest.