Starsfan posted:

I understand people from Ukraine hating everyone in Russia circumstances being what they are, and I understand westerners hating the Russian government / army, but I don't get how anyone who isn't a victim in this first hand can blame the average Russian person for what's going on.

BULBASAUR posted:

its war, we're the enemy, sadly its how it generally goes

Cerebral Bore posted:

as far as i can tell from this there are two kinds of monks, the absolute unit and the wizard

Zeroisanumber posted:

I've never understood the whole Russian hate thing. Most Russians are nice people with a hosed up government, same as Americans.

spacetoaster posted:

Someone needs to edit this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7yIzY1BxuI

It's terrifying by the way.

DancingShade posted:

They've been using off the shelf commercial drones to do this for a while. The product they're pushing looks fine, its just a question of cost and production scalability.

No point making a slightly better suicide drone if the cost to benefit ratio isn't there, or if you can only crank out 20 a month.

Also lol the buzzing drone manages to sneak up on someone who must be firing their LMG non stop to drown out the engine noise.

Edit - so basically it needs to be more cost effective than an off the shelf hobby drone with a go-pro and a hand grenade. And we all know how expensive green paint makes things.

Gravid Topiary posted:

there's a video on reddit of some armour getting wrecked by a PTKM-1R anti-tank mine -- what's the countermeasures for something like that, which i think relies mostly on acoustic signatures and seismic sensors for target acquisition?

spacetoaster posted:

I don't know, I did some poking around on that ELBIT youtube channel and it's all pretty horrifying.

Also the fact that they are just one company of a poo poo ton that are working their asses off on this stuff.

Also, I just watched that black mirror episode with the tiny robotic bees.

V. Illych L. posted:

chauvinism is about the only thing we have left as a positive case for the western project, and there's often a decent case to be made for it. i've noticed this on these very forums wrt the yankee contempt for europeans of all kinds as well - one cannot make an explicitly positive case about one's own country, so the exercise becomes affirming that everyone else is incalculably worse in all the ways that matter. since there is always material for criticism, this kind of chauvinism can be engaged in without fear of being proven wrong, and one is not breaking with etiquette by being patriotically gauche. the present russian case is really just an extreme case of it, where ukraine is suddenly a model democracy and the war really is a matter of global cultural hegemony between Democracy, as flawed as it is, and Authoritarianism

Ardennes posted:

More of those Slovenian t-55s are showing up so cross them off in your sighting bingo, still no Challenger 2s.

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/inerati/status/1682802934449356803?t=saM4a96bhkXoNIp-fCkuMg&s=19

DancingShade posted:

We may never see the Challengers in action at all if they lost all the ammo put aside for Ukraine in a depot attack. Would have been handy still having the UK factory that made the shells but alas.

V. Illych L. posted:

chauvinism is about the only thing we have left as a positive case for the western project, and there's often a decent case to be made for it. i've noticed this on these very forums wrt the yankee contempt for europeans of all kinds as well - one cannot make an explicitly positive case about one's own country, so the exercise becomes affirming that everyone else is incalculably worse in all the ways that matter. since there is always material for criticism, this kind of chauvinism can be engaged in without fear of being proven wrong, and one is not breaking with etiquette by being patriotically gauche. the present russian case is really just an extreme case of it, where ukraine is suddenly a model democracy and the war really is a matter of global cultural hegemony between Democracy, as flawed as it is, and Authoritarianism

Endman posted:

It’s the land reform that made these people number one on the USA’s shitlist. They often were way more moderate, but were pushed towards the Soviets by the West’s incredible violence when they made even the slightest move towards inconveniencing a landowner.

comedyblissoption posted:

Zeroisanumber posted:

I've never understood the whole Russian hate thing. Most Russians are nice people with a hosed up government, same as Americans.

spacetoaster posted:

Someone needs to edit this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7yIzY1BxuI

It's terrifying by the way.

ContinuityNewTimes posted:

The chad proletarian T-72 and the virgin oligarchic T-14

Weka posted:

I think an argument can be made that it would have been in America's best interests to allow the land reform and bring these countries into the western bloc, then just claw it all back using the evil magics of capitalism.

"A Gallup poll made on behalf of CNN and USA Today concluded that 79% of Americans thought the Iraq War was justified, with or without conclusive evidence of illegal weapons. 19% thought weapons were needed to justify the war.[12]"

98% of Americans confirmed as nasty not nice.

spacetoaster posted:

Someone needs to edit this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7yIzY1BxuI

It's terrifying by the way.

Weka posted:

I think an argument can be made that it would have been in America's best interests to allow the land reform and bring these countries into the western bloc, then just claw it all back using the evil magics of capitalism.

"A Gallup poll made on behalf of CNN and USA Today concluded that 79% of Americans thought the Iraq War was justified, with or without conclusive evidence of illegal weapons. 19% thought weapons were needed to justify the war.[12]"

98% of Americans confirmed as nasty not nice.

stephenthinkpad posted:

Most of the new Russian high value weapons are pretty meh. The standouts are the Lancet and Ka52.

mawarannahr posted:

MS MITCHELL: Which we’re all feeling here in the U.S. and all over Europe, but all over the world now it’s become – it is reality.

Let me ask you about what Russia is doing, bombing grain silos, canceling the grain agreement. This is going to increase famine around the world. Food prices are going to go up. And there is real concern now about Russia claiming a false flag as they mine —

SECRETARY BLINKEN: That’s right.

MS MITCHELL: — the Black Sea harbors, and blaming Ukraine. Is there anything that we can do? I know the UN is having meetings today, but Russia has a veto there. Is there any way that – can NATO escort ships through? How do we get the grain out quickly, even while we try to help them with overland routes?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So, Andrea, first, let’s put this in perspective. Of course, this never should have been necessary. The Black Sea Grain Initiative never should have been necessary in the first place. The only reason it had to happen was because Russia invaded Ukraine, and then having invaded Ukraine it decided to blockade its ports – the leading port, Odesa, for export to the world of wheat and grain and other food products. And so the United Nations, Türkiye helped initiate this effort. The result over about a year was to get 35 million tons of food products out to the rest of the world, predominantly to the developing world – 50 percent of the food products at least going to the developing world; two-thirds of the wheat. That meant people were getting food on the table. It meant that even countries that weren’t directly receiving the food products from Ukraine were getting lower prices, because it’s a world market.

Russia, by weaponizing food, is doing something truly unconscionable. Throughout this period, when the initiative was working, that 35 million tons equates to about 18 billion loaves of bread. Imagine what that means every single day to people living throughout the developing world.

So I hope the world is watching this and seeing how Russia is cynically manipulating food in order to advance its objectives in Ukraine.

Now, to your question, we’re working with allies, we’re working with partners, we’re working with Ukraine to look at other options. But I have to tell you, I don’t think it’s possible to make up the volumes lost by ending this initiative through other routes.

So we’re going to do our best, but this has put a deep chill on the – on shipping, on insuring. And by the way, in the four days since they have ended their participation in this arrangement, what have they done, Russia? They bombed every single day the Odesa Port. They’ve laid more mines. They’ve threatened shipping. In fact, they did an exercise just yesterday that they very deliberately publicized where they simulated an attack on a ship. What does that tell you about their intentions? What does that tell you about the lack of any basic decency when it comes to getting food where it needs to go?

MS MITCHELL: So now there’s no way that commercial shipping can proceed. I mean, I’m sure it’s —

SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s very – I think it’s very, very difficult, because for the shippers, for the insurers, given the threats – more than the threats, the action that Russia’s taken over the last few days – it would be very hard to operate in that environment. That’s why we are looking for alternatives, we are looking for options; I just don’t think we can make up the volume.

MS MITCHELL: What about the false flag? Is it of concern?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, we’ve raised real concerns about that. I think you heard Bill Burns talk to that, John Kirby from the White House podium. Again, this is something that is part and parcel of the Russian playbook. We said before the aggression against Ukraine started – I was at the United Nations a couple of weeks before. We laid out in detail the very kinds of false flag operations that they would conduct in anticipation of the attack. It’s exactly what they did. We called them on it; the world knew about it. We want to make sure that people see what this is, if it happens, for what it is.

MS MITCHELL: How concerned are you about the counteroffensive, which is bogged down, by Ukraine’s own admission?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Look, these are still relatively early days. We have said from the start, we’ve known from the start that this would be hard going. You’ve heard a number of people talk about that. The Russians have laid significant and serious defenses when it comes to mines initially. The Ukrainians are working their way through that. I believe they have what they need to be very successful. And as they deploy and as they actually put into this effort all of the forces that have been trained in recent months, the equipment that we and some 50 countries have provided them, I think that will make a profound difference.

But here’s what makes the ultimate difference. The ultimate difference is, unlike the Russians, they’re fighting for their land, they’re fighting for their country, they’re fighting for their future, they’re fighting for their freedom. That is the single biggest difference-maker that I think we’ve already seen as they’ve taken back more than 50 percent of the territory that Russia initially seized. That’s the difference-maker going forward, too.

MS MITCHELL: How weakened do you think Vladimir Putin is by the aborted rebellion?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s hard for us to know for sure, and it’s hard to – and probably wrong to speculate. I think what we can say safely is that we’ve seen cracks emerge in the facade. The fact that Prigozhin made a direct challenge to Putin’s authority, the fact that he questioned publicly the very premises that Putin has advanced for the aggression against Ukraine – that’s playing out and will continue to play out. We’ve seen the ongoing drama, too, of where is Prigozhin, what is the arrangement with Putin? We’ve seen their forces, the Wagner forces, move to Belarus – very bad for Belarus, because wherever Wagner goes, exploitation, death, and destruction inevitably follow. We don’t know how this will play out.

If I were Mr. Prigozhin, I would remain very concerned. NATO has an “Open Door” policy; Russia has an open windows policy, and he needs to be very focused on that.

MS MITCHELL: Let me ask you about Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan. Are there any signals from Moscow that they’re open to a trade prior to the inevitable conviction on false charges and sentencing, which would be months and months to come? And Evan Gershkovich has been held already, and Paul Whelan has been there almost five years, or more than five years.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So Andrea, one of the things that we found not just in dealing with Russia, but dealing with a number of other countries that have arbitrarily detained Americans, is that even when we have fundamental differences, fundamental disagreements – and almost by definition the countries that engage in this practice are countries with which we have profound differences – we’re still often able to work discretely and separately on efforts to bring Americans home.

Since President Biden’s been in office, we’ve brought 29 Americans who were being arbitrarily detained home from about eight or nine different countries, all countries with which we have very difficult relations. This is something that we continue to work irrespective of anything else that’s going on in the relationship. We’ll continue to do that.

MS MITCHELL: Is another country offering someone now that might be helpful in a trade?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: We are constantly looking on what it might take, what it might involve to get the result that we want. I can’t go any further than that. But all I can tell you is this is something that we’re doing day-in, day-out. Our determination is to bring people home.

MS MITCHELL: The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul is calling for President Biden to appoint a special envoy for peace talks for Ukraine now. Are you open to that?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: If we saw any evidence that Russia was interested in having meaningful peace talks, we would be the first to jump on it – well, maybe the second because I suspect the Ukrainians would be first. No one wants this war over more quickly than the Ukrainians. They’re on the receiving end of Russia’s aggression every day.

Unfortunately, I see zero evidence that Russia’s interested. And the fundamental problem is this: President Putin believes, continues to believe, that he can outlast Ukraine and that he can outlast all of Ukraine’s supporters. It’s vitally important that we disabuse him of that notion. That goes to the support that so many of us are providing Ukraine right now, but it also goes to something very important that we did just a couple of weeks ago at the Vilnius summit and at the end of the summit.

Countries came together, including G7 countries and a few others, to say that they were going to make a long-term commitment to Ukraine’s security, help it build up over time its deterrent and defense capacity, so that Russia couldn’t repeat this exercise. That sends a very strong signal to Vladimir Putin that we’re not going anywhere, Ukraine is not going anywhere, and it will have the means to defend itself.

If there’s a change in President Putin’s mindset when it comes to this, maybe there’ll be an opening. Right now, we don’t see it.

gradenko_2000 posted:

Bad news for tankies

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682889038133329923?t=xUa4Jpi3tR5Cz9gFFIExUg&s=19

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682890662709002240?t=yu1U52i65XZfKMlRdGeejw&s=19

KomradeX posted:

Only two types of people became monks, either those so fully devoted in their belief in God and desire to be closer to Him, or the 2nd and 3rd fail kids of noble familes that something needed to be done with so they wouldn't cause problems from not inheriting anything

gradenko_2000 posted:

Bad news for tankies

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682889038133329923?t=xUa4Jpi3tR5Cz9gFFIExUg&s=19

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682890662709002240?t=yu1U52i65XZfKMlRdGeejw&s=19

gradenko_2000 posted:

Bad news for tankies

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682889038133329923?t=xUa4Jpi3tR5Cz9gFFIExUg&s=19

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682890662709002240?t=yu1U52i65XZfKMlRdGeejw&s=19

Zeroisanumber posted:

lol my dad was sent to work in Laos in civilian clothes in the 70's

gradenko_2000 posted:

Bad news for tankies

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682889038133329923?t=xUa4Jpi3tR5Cz9gFFIExUg&s=19

https://twitter.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1682890662709002240?t=yu1U52i65XZfKMlRdGeejw&s=19