Politics

[CJW]

I hate to pull anyone away from the novelty that other people can reach different conclusions from a similar set of data, but this is another of these short videos that says so much about the Russian way of war and the grand deception Putin is thus far successfully engineering with respect to losses. This video was posted on Telegram by a Russian soldier. It shows he and his squad moving to reinforce a defensive position. They are moving through the bodies of other Russian troops in various stages of decomposition left to rot on the battlefield.

The Kremlin's strategy would seem fairly simple. A corpse that is never recovered never died. To a worried wife or family, from the MOD's perspective he simply has not contacted home in a while. Eventually, particularly as nature takes its course, he will be listed as MIA. The family never officially learns the truth, Putin's mafia like government doesn't have to pay a death benefit, and the general population, particularly that key one in heartland encompassing Moscow and St. Petersburg, continues to be largely blinded to human cost of this invasion - at least until they no longer are. I should note conservative non Ukrainian estimates believe Russia is currently suffering 1200 casualties a day.

Putin is engaged in an ever more dangerous balancing act. Casualties, his economy, export collapse, and faltering military morale (filmed suicides are increasing dramatically) and now an occupation force in Russian territory. At this point, I doubt this ends well for the little KGB thug regardless the conclusion of eventual negotiations.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1f5g2gx/nsfw_a_russian_serviceman_shows_the_hell_of_the

Unless the soldiers decide to turn on their commanders which I would fully endorse, this is just SNAFU as far as Russia goes.

Jon Voight was being interviewed by Ben Shapiro about the new Reagan movie. He was shooting a movie in Russia shortly after the cold war ended. He tried to tell a woman that things will get better. She told him that "he didn't understand. Things will never change".

 

[Pondoro]

I hate to pull anyone away from the novelty that other people can reach different conclusions from a similar set of data, but this is another of these short videos that says so much about the Russian way of war and the grand deception Putin is thus far successfully engineering with respect to losses. This video was posted on Telegram by a Russian soldier. It shows he and his squad moving to reinforce a defensive position. They are moving through the bodies of other Russian troops in various stages of decomposition left to rot on the battlefield.

The Kremlin's strategy would seem fairly simple. A corpse that is never recovered never died. To a worried wife or family, from the MOD's perspective he simply has not contacted home in a while. Eventually, particularly as nature takes its course, he will be listed as MIA. The family never officially learns the truth, Putin's mafia like government doesn't have to pay a death benefit, and the general population, particularly that key one in heartland encompassing Moscow and St. Petersburg, continues to be largely blinded to human cost of this invasion - at least until they no longer are. I should note conservative non Ukrainian estimates believe Russia is currently suffering 1200 casualties a day.

Putin is engaged in an ever more dangerous balancing act. Casualties, his economy, export collapse, and faltering military morale (filmed suicides are increasing dramatically) and now an occupation force in Russian territory. At this point, I doubt this ends well for the little KGB thug regardless the conclusion of eventual negotiations.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1f5g2gx/nsfw_a_russian_serviceman_shows_the_hell_of_the

So what else is new..? Look at this..no respect or remorse for the fallen in best soviet/russian way..

'Retreat from Moscow' Explores Stalin's Messy Victory

Were the Soviets victorious? Yes. Triumphant? No.

www.historynet.com

 

[CJW]

No offense was intended. a Person can obviously be incredibly competent regardless of advanced age. However, we also need to acknowledge that physical and mental decline are a natural part of aging, and the rate and degree of decline increases with age. I do not believe it to be unreasonable to want to avoid our President being incapacitated or worse.

Did you watch that bizarre, awkward softball interview where Harris was accompanied by her emotional support VP? She's already incapacitated by lack of intelligence, naivety and fear.

Anyone can become incapacitated or die at any age. If Trump goes we have a young, seemingly intelligent and capable Vance in charge. If Harris goes we have an absolute scumbag communist wannabe Walz in charge who not so reassuringly looks 20 years older than he actually is.

Even if I couldn't bring myself to vote for Trump, there's nothing you could do to make me fill in an oval next to her name or any D at this point.

I can't imagine being able to stomach the ramifications of them taking over the entire gov't. Maybe that doesn't bother you near as much.

 

[Brent in Az]

 

[Ridge Runner]

View attachment 630728

Nailed It!!

 

[CJW]

And just in case anyone is feeling burdened by what has been, here's 4 straight minutes of Kamala to lower your blood pressure.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1736468129528602811

 

[Doug Hamilton]

As I see it, the gravest threat to America is China, and they are using Ukraine as an opportunity to see our level of commitment to our allies (Taiwan), embarass the West on the global stage, and break our national resolve. If Russia is victorious in Ukraine, I believe that we will have seeded our own demise. Given what I perceive to be the stakes of this conflict, I hope you can understand why this issue is so critical to how I plan to vote.

I am totally opposed to universal healthcare, which is why I hope for Republican control of Congress.

No offense was intended. a Person can obviously be incredibly competent regardless of advanced age. However, we also need to acknowledge that physical and mental decline are a natural part of aging, and the rate and degree of decline increases with age. I do not believe it to be unreasonable to want to avoid our President being incapacitated or worse.

Did you see of listen to the debate? So we elect Kamala and start out with "incapacitated." And that sounds like a good idea?

 

[Wheels]

I disagree with her on most things, but I do believe that she is fit to serve as President. I cannot say the same for Trump, and certainly not for Biden.

Trump gives multiple interviews or speeches every day, and has for over a year and the media jumps over every gaff/potential gaff he makes. Harris gives her first interview since becoming the heir apparent to CNN. CNN has to cut and edit over half of the interview. How do we know she has a coherent cognitive thought and is fit to serve when she refuses to speak.

 

[Brent in Az]

Kamala's incognitive incoherence will be exposed in the debate.

 

[Red Leg]

I don't find that surprising though.

For me this is one of those very clear differences in policy in democracies vs dictatorships, and it's born out of pure utility.

In a democracy it is very important to protect and preserve your troops. They vote, their family votes, their friends vote, to not care for them demonstrates to the voting populace that the government isn't caring for voters. That's political suicide, or at least immensely problematic to the key concern of politicians; retaining power. A democratic system therefore has no choice but to "Leave No Man Behind" even when a cold calculation of cost / benefit might justify doing so, and even if the leaders in charge don't truly care any more or any less than dictators do. It's just good politics... in a democracy.

But in a dictatorship, this incentive isn't there, or not nearly to the same degree. The survival or death of conscripts from some far flung province has basically zero bearing on Putin's ability to retain power. So why waste resources on retrieving them, unless of course you feel you're getting more utility from doing so vs letting them die? A dead solider isn't going to spark civil unrest (especially if you can suppress the information of his passing), a living, wounded one talking to his family and friends back home might well be. Not saving them is just good politics... in a dictatorship.

The death of sons of the 'in group' might be problematic, as might the death of the sons of people in close enough proximity to that 'in group' to make their displeasure evident, which goes some way towards explaining why he's not drawing troops from the vicinity of Moscow.

It's a horrible topic in practice, but it's still a fascinating insight into the levers of power and their impact on political policy at the macro and micro level.

What is also quite interesting in this space is to look at the impact of natural disasters and death counts. You'll see the same forces in play with stuff like building codes in earthquake zones in democratic vs dictatorial systems (and therefore death tolls for similar events in different nations, even controlling for per capita GDP), or in responses to Tsunamis, or Hurricanes in these systems.

Democratic leaders do everything they can to prevent deaths. Not doing so measurably increases their chances of losing power, so they're incentivized to care. Dictators do not, because deaths don't hurt them, whilst expending the same effort on suppression of the populace and bribing the in-group benefits them. Hence, they're incentivized not to care.

I think this is more uniquely Russian than a product of dictatorships - something truly sick in the Russian soul. My counter example would be the Wehrmacht of WWII. Their field medical support was superb practically to the end - collapsing first in the East - but never completely. Many wounded allied airmen and soldiers - particularly US Army personnel captured during the Bulge In late 44 benefited from that well organized care.

 

[HankBuck]

Did you see of listen to the debate? So we elect Kamala and start out with "incapacitated." And that sounds like a good idea?

@Doug Hamilton —- but BUT Kamala is better looking then Hillary (who isn’t?) not as smart as Hillary, and slightly more likable (who isn’t), of course she has No foundational values (what Politician does??)…. My guess is - if she can Stop Talking and Trump keeps Talking — she wins. AND - Melania gets a GIGANTIC PreNup settlement either way. (But what the Hell do I know….Not much for sure)….I hate politics but this whole post and race is fun

 

[Tanks]

...Democratic leaders do everything they can to prevent deaths. Not doing so measurably increases their chances of losing power, so they're incentivized to care. Dictators do not, because deaths don't hurt them, whilst expending the same effort on suppression of the populace and bribing the in-group benefits them. Hence, they're incentivized not to care.

With some exceptions, we literally spent millions of dollars of resources in order to recover the submarine that got crushed while trying to view the Titanic.

On the other side of things no one cares that black youths kill each other in thousands each year in inner cities. Local governments don't care because it would be admitting failure first in order to fix the issues, and others don't because it is black youths killing each other.

 

[Tanks]

Kamala's incognitive incoherence will be exposed in the debate.

If Trump lets her.

 

[freefall]

If Trump lets her.

If ABC lets her.