richardiox
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Post by richardiox on Aug 8, 2024 20:09:20 GMT
Old school playground approach.
Swapsy our Crimea for your Kursk?
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Post by GigaChad Sigma. on Aug 8, 2024 20:30:43 GMT
Might have been mentioned already but they also sank a £300 million dollar sub last week.
Expensive war.
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richardiox
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Post by richardiox on Aug 8, 2024 20:44:14 GMT
Kyiv in 72 hours....
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 9, 2024 18:43:46 GMT
Dunno how long they'll be able to hold it, or even if they plan to do so, but I guess it has its benefits - as a buffer zone against attacks into Ukraine, and as a distraction that throws the Russian plan off balance, and forces them to redeploy their forces. But almost everything anyone has predicted about this war has ended up being wrong, so who knows. I can't imagine they plan to hold territory, though it's certainly noteworthy how long they've been there now, with Russia still seeming to flounder.
Apparently there's important rail in the general area, but even if that's one concrete target it can't be the only purpose. Table-turning, showing that they can put Russia on the defensive. It's much bigger than the previous raids, with a lot of materiel committed.
Making the war more real for Russians is something we've seen them work towards before. Civilians fleeing and conscripts being captured is a terrible look, very different from contract soldiers taking a gamble for money and getting killed/captured.
For the home audience, showing potential recruits/conscripts there's more than being shelled in a trench.
And just changing the narrative. The general mood as been gloomy lately, despite Russia not actually advancing much (last I checked they'd increased the occupied territory by 1% over half the year). It's been a constant stream of "Russia takes village" in the media here in the West.
But yeah, who knows.
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Aug 9, 2024 21:55:56 GMT
If I was a potential recruit, a suicide incursion into Russia is not going to tempt me in...
God speed to the Ukrainians who went on the Kursk offensive. Hard to imagine they are coming back.
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 9, 2024 22:33:37 GMT
They haven't met any significant resistance from what we've seen, and Russians can't teleport. They lost a BUK so we can be sure they at least thought about air defence, and they obliterated an airfield in the neighbouring oblast last night. Judging by the column they took out they seem to have HIMARS support in range back home as well.
I have no idea what the plan is or what will happen, obviously, but it doesn't seem like they YOLO'd a bunch of troops in there to die. They're not far in and will see major buildups coming, so they can retreat.
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Aug 9, 2024 22:51:12 GMT
I hope so!
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Aug 10, 2024 6:25:40 GMT
my armchair generaling is backed up by hundreds of hours of LAN Command & Conquer back in the day, and twitter. ie. I know nothing
that said, the most compelling take I've read is that Russia are happy running highly centralised WW1 tactics - glide bomb a village into dust before throwing waves of expendable meat in and moving on to the next. Ukraine can't, and understandably don't want to, fight on those terms so are instead fighting in a way that Russia is crap at - localised command, highly reactive, scoot round the back, blow shit up, relocate. Only what's happened here is they've faced so little resistance after the "blow shit up" phase there's been no need to relocate yet
and because I so dislike talking about this in armchair general / computer game terms, worth just stating again what's happening. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, children blown up, shot, dying in trenches, in the mud. People who'll never get to hold their grandkids, who'll never grow up to cure diseases or write banging tunes. All dead because of one mad man in Moscow.
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 11, 2024 12:16:06 GMT
Seems like the Ukranians are still going, albeit slower, and reinforcing. Maybe they do intend to hold on to territory after all, or maybe they just don't have a reason to stop or retreat as long as the Russians are still floundering.
There's been some kind of smaller raid/incursion into neighbouring Belgorod oblast as well. Most information about what's happening is coming from scattered Russian sources, so extremely unreliable, but it's been a little amusing to see the Kremlin claim to have halted or pushed back the advance several times only to be immediately contradicted by local officials panicking.
And of course the main Russian response has been shelling and bombing civilians. Absolute ghouls.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Aug 11, 2024 13:08:21 GMT
Seems like the Ukranians are still going, albeit slower, and reinforcing. Maybe they do intend to hold on to territory after all, or maybe they just don't have a reason to stop or retreat as long as the Russians are still floundering.
There's been some kind of smaller raid/incursion into neighbouring Belgorod oblast as well. Most information about what's happening is coming from scattered Russian sources, so extremely unreliable, but it's been a little amusing to see the Kremlin claim to have halted or pushed back the advance several times only to be immediately contradicted by local officials panicking.
And of course the main Russian response has been shelling and bombing civilians. Absolute ghouls.
I mean, if they're waiting for the Russians to stop them they might end up half way to moscow. The Wagner lot did. |
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 11, 2024 13:19:40 GMT
Some depressive news from here in Sweden: Our right-wing shithead government wants to force all public sector workers to snitch on undocumented immigrants. I'm less liberal on immigration than many on the left here (still far more liberal than the right), but this is ghastly. Nobody should ever have to be scared to seek healthcare or childcare.
I used to work in childcare and education for the local municipality. This would definitely have make me consider quitting. Not my fucking job to play police and have kids deported.
It may not make it through parliament, but as it will probably hinge on the Liberals growing a backbone I'm not optimistic. I hope the unions stir up a massive shitstorm if it does go through, but public sector unions have been pretty hopeless lately as well.
The only upside in Swedish politics since the last election is that the "centre-right" (they're not "centre" at all) have paid in popularity for hitching themselves to the far right. Two of the parties (Liberals and Christian Democrats) have consistently polled below the threshold for getting into parliament. It's still unfathomably depressing that 1/5 voters would still vote for the Sweden Democrats (think UKIP, but somehow more racist).
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Aug 11, 2024 13:42:29 GMT
I love Ukraine's "Special Military Operation" - apparently destroyed 700 russian bombs and fucked up Lipetsk airbase
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Aug 12, 2024 17:18:17 GMT
Russia now gone crying to UN Security Council members as Ukraine is picking on them or some shit
to quote a comment on reddit: The Olympics are over, but they are still competing for the Gold in Mental Gymnastics.
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Post by Whizzo on Aug 12, 2024 18:57:38 GMT
What's Russian for Fuck Around and Find Out?
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 12, 2024 19:04:46 GMT
Maria Zakharova: "This land is peaceful, it's inhabitants kind."
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Aug 18, 2024 19:24:45 GMT
I'm sure they'll find a way to blame Ukraine for this:
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Post by Bill in the rain on Aug 19, 2024 1:38:09 GMT
It's not an eruption, it's a special volcanic operation.
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 19, 2024 10:40:20 GMT
In some more "Russia is shit" news, they've doubled down on the colonial imperialism and russification by designating nearly all organisations for indigenous peoples as extremist separatists. I don't know much about minorities in Russia, but it made news here because it included Sámi organisations. Calling the Sámi extremists is fucking hysterical.
Even before this the Russian Sámi organisation OOSMO was pressured into taking a pro-Russian stance in the war, which cut it off from the Nordic Sámi Council. Previous leaders who made critical comments about the invasion have had to flee to Norway.
I don't have an English news link, but here's an excerpt from a Swedish article:
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Post by technoish on Aug 19, 2024 10:43:54 GMT
Yet the Russian Constitution seemingly unequivocally supports those rights...
Also says no torture and right to fair trial tho, soooo...
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 19, 2024 11:06:08 GMT
Yeah, we know how keen they are when it comes to cultural preservation and self-determination in the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, so surely they won't object if the Nordics club together to protect our countrymen in New Karelia and The Democratic Republic of Kuelnegk Njoarrk in the Kola peninsula. I can't imagine they'd be hypocrites about this stuff.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Aug 19, 2024 17:48:47 GMT
No slight to the Sami but I do find the use of indigenous in a European context kinda confused.
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 19, 2024 20:07:49 GMT
No slight to the Sami but I do find the use of indigenous in a European context kinda confused. Indigenous isn't the best label for most peoples in an etymological sense (most culture groups have moved from where they first emerged), but the Sámi are the oldest extant* culture in Sápmi (northern Scandinavia, Finland and part of the Kola peninsula). It wasn't colonised by us until a couple of thousand years later, so things like the right to use the land, preserving culture, language, etc. are just as valid for them as it is for colonised minority populations in other parts of the world.
* There was some kind of neolithic presence before them, but we know very little about who they were and what became of them.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Aug 19, 2024 22:12:05 GMT
No slight to the Sami but I do find the use of indigenous in a European context kinda confused. Indigenous isn't the best label for most peoples in an etymological sense (most culture groups have moved from where they first emerged), but the Sámi are the oldest extant* culture in Sápmi (northern Scandinavia, Finland and part of the Kola peninsula). It wasn't colonised by us until a couple of thousand years later, so things like the right to use the land, preserving culture, language, etc. are just as valid for them as it is for colonised minority populations in other parts of the world.
* There was some kind of neolithic presence before them, but we know very little about who they were and what became of them.
I do get who the Sami are. The reason I find it confused is you could say something relatively similar about the Welsh/Bretons/Cornish/Manx Celtic speakers, entered Britain around 3000-3300 years ago, somewhat displacing the Beaker people who were Bronze Age rather than Neolithic. But nobody ever does. Hence it seems confused, potentially a bit patronising as the Sami are seen as primitive somehow. Maybe the definition is just isolated or separate/non-integrated these days; but that's not a particularly good description for say indigenous people in North America who did integrate with one another. As the Welsh have just integrated with England and the Bretons have just integrated with France; well that and nobody thinks the Anglo-Saxons killed all the Britons they just stopped speaking Celtic. |
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 20, 2024 2:57:45 GMT
Yeah, there's a difference as there isn't as much left of distinct Celtic cultures to preserve, and not the same unbroken separation from the dominant culture. We could talk about Geats, Swedes, Goths and Scanians in Sweden as well, but we all identify under the umbrella of "Swedes" now, and what differences remain aren't the sort of things that require any particular legal status.
I think it's easier to see it in terms of what the Sámi would stand to lose if the designation was removed, like the right to use their lands in traditional ways and at least a say in how it's used by the Swedish state and private interests. The right to self-determination in certain matters, to prevent being overruled by the vastly larger Swedish population.
There's also the fact that we haven't been great about all this, and it's not ancient history. There's been a very real need to defend their culture from suppression and forced assimilation.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Aug 20, 2024 12:50:27 GMT
They definitely need legal protections, though again so does the Welsh language to stop it being washed away by the tide.
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Aug 20, 2024 14:38:31 GMT
really like this sign outside a bar outside a bar in Tallinn
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1ews08m/outside_a_bar_in_tallinn/
Hope to see a sequel to Downfall and the meme but with Putin
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Post by skalpadda on Aug 20, 2024 15:07:43 GMT
They definitely need legal protections, though again so does the Welsh language to stop it being washed away by the tide. I don't know much about how it works in the UK, but don't the Welsh have the power to promote language preservation and education on their own if they want, via the Senedd? |
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Aug 20, 2024 19:00:02 GMT
They definitely need legal protections, though again so does the Welsh language to stop it being washed away by the tide. I don't know much about how it works in the UK, but don't the Welsh have the power to promote language preservation and education on their own if they want, via the Senedd? They do. It's not really protected in legislation exactly though. There is now a devolved government which prioritises these things. Maybe Scotland is more illustrative. Gaelic is an incredibly niche language in Scotland. They promote it when it's a nationalist cause, but there's a strong argument that the majority Scottish people have never spoken Gaelic. They've spoken Bryhthonnic (eg Welsh), Pictish or Anglo Saxon but 70% of areas or people in Scotland never spoke it. Scottish people are the amalgam of those things but they're never not indigenous in some sense. This is probably a bit of my suspicion of the term as it's implied Gaelic is the indigenous language, but it isn't. It's merely the romantic notion of it. The Sami though are there own things and I may just be applying British ickiness to this. |
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Aug 26, 2024 19:07:50 GMT
incase the embed does not work
Russians just tried to blow up the Kyiv hydroelectric dam.
If successful, this will permanently flood one of the largest cities in Europe.
Meanwhile, US forbids Ukraine from stopping it.
its time to let Ukraine take off the gloves
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Post by GigaChad Sigma. on Aug 29, 2024 9:26:08 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6240qepyppoPretty interesting story in regards to cheap drones. While they're clearly effective and I cheer on anything that tips the balance in Ukraine's favour, cheap, kitset wooden drones are a pretty terrifying prospect for everyone.
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