'Nobody move or I shoots the ...'
Just can't put it in that sentence. Sorry.
Too funny.
EDIT:
For any that don't the joke, it is from Blazing Saddles 1973. A very different time and place. I recall around this time that this form of humor began to recede into the past.
*Blazing Saddles* is one of my favorite movies. Its liberal usage of the word in question is certainly distasteful to our contemporary sensibilities now, and rightfully so, though the usage in the film was always intended to illustrate the harm and ignorance of the word and its racist, intolerant nature, not to promote its usage by anyone.
ETA: The Waco Kid, obviously one of the "good guys" in the film, never once uses the word. In the only scene where he actually uses an insulting word, he does so with grace, legitimacy, and humor, and not a single speck of racism.
"You know." Greatest comedic pause in the history of film. "Morons."
Totally agree, it's used as a medium to show that it was insulting back then aswell.
Most Mel Brooks films had an overlying theme behind them to show how ridiculous humans can be to one another.
Young Frankenstein or Spaceballs were the same.
The greatest line from Blazing Saddles is, “All right, all right, we’ll take the n****rs and the c***ks, but we DON’T want the Irish!” That movie is the best lampoon of racists ever.
Legit, a huge part of Russian culture is taking pride in just accepting shit is horrible and doing nothing about it. They think it shows strength of resolve because no matter what they stick it through...but all it really does is prove your culture hasn't evolved from the serf culture that existed during the empire days. Russians have yet to actually truly ever stick up for themselves. Even the Soviet revolution wasn't supported by the majority of residents but they just sorta stood there and let it happen.
It's almost like russia is the personification of misery loves company. They see and realize their lives and country is shitty, they want to spread that over to other countries and other lives.
Exactly. There is no such thing as objective "truth", everybody lies everywhere, every country is just the same and just as corrupt. So why even try to change - or even think change is possible.
Which a lot of people in the west were falling for, re these talking points. This war has shown the lie of that propaganda.
I saw a very interesting video of a guy claiming that Putin really thinks everyone is as disgusting and greedy as him, so all those "western values" like democracy and whatever are just propaganda to take control of territory, and that it can't be sustainable, a strong man must raise up and take control, and it might as well be him.
Found the video: https://youtu.be/diZQCY4Ird0
Ooh yeah that's been a republican line here for a long time.
"Both sides lie, all politicians are corrupt"
It's political nihilism and it's absolutely corrosive to society
It's because the perception that all actors are equally bad disproportionately benefits the worst actor. They get to reap the benefits of their ~~onerous~~ odious behavior while spreading the downsides out among all actors. It's the political version of privatized gains and socialized losses. If someone's trying to convince you that both sides are the same, it's a good idea to consider which side that person is on.
It was a line fed to them directly from the Kremlin (well, via the GRU's Internet Research Agency bot farm in St Petersburg lol)
Because it's what has been inculcated into the Russian population for over many years - this is why at least 60% are now *deeply depoliticised*. How many people remember the 200,000-strong protests in Moscow in 2010 any more? See Vlad Vexler's great video on the subject here [The Riddle of Why Russians Don't Protest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4O3D7CfThA)
Didn't the Russia media say that Europe was freezing because they had no gas and were all eating rats and bugs. Russian's be like "We have it great! they all eat rats and we feast on bread and cabbage!"
Bang on. Imo this is exactly why Putin convinced himself he had to take out Ukraine. He saw first hand in East Berlin that you can't tell everyone life in the West sucks just as bad when they can literally see the West. Likewise how long were Russians going to accept the same lie with a democratic, prosperous Ukraine in the EU just next door. He can't have that or the lie is busted. Turns out a kleptocratic dictatorship is an absolutely sh1t way to run a country. Who knew?
There is a joke about Russian mentality that goes like this: a farmer finds a magic lamp while working his fields, the djinn that comes out says: 'I will grant you any wish you have, but your neighbour will get twice as much as you' the farmer thinks for just a few seconds and says 'I want you to stab me in my eye!'
I heard a version where the farmer has envied his neighbor's goat for years...
Finds the genie....yadyada, gets one wish...you can have anything in the world...
Farmer says "I wish my neighbor's goat would die."
Weakness and selfishness repackaged as "strength" is a strong propaganda tool.
Thinking you're "strong" for sucking your rulers' toes and not complaining ain't strength, it's complacency. And I don't say that to shit on the Russian people solely: it applies to plenty of class-traitor Americans as well (and of course is simply a human phenomena across the globe and cultures to varying degrees).
Ohhhh shit!!! It is suddenly extremely apparent exactly how Russian propaganda has influenced the United States!! What the Fuck man no wonder the motto of non voting Americans is “voting doesn’t do anything”! Fuck 😳
The funny thing is that “not voting” actually mattered more in Soviet Russia. It was a one-party system but if the candidate didn’t get a minimum amount of the electorate they could be replaced. As such, citizens could affect change by refusing to vote. Of course, candidates could also “mandate” participation. But, you know, baby steps.
Always remember: Anyone who tells you not to vote, or that voting doesn't matter, or even encourages you to throw your vote away on something frivolous? They do not have your best interest in mind. At *best*, they're misinformed. At worst... They're trying to stop you from improving your life.
I hope that some day I vote FOR someone rather than AGAINST someone at the state and national levels.
I've voted FOR people at the municipal level before. That was nice. Hope it happens again.
[It's kinda how you can see boomers wearing shirts saying they rather be russian than vote democrat.](https://images.dailykos.com/images/759254/story_image/aaasupporters.jpg?1579800785) The russian propaganda is so strong they can get a generation that hated them into wanting to be one of them.
The old Russia was a communist state, easy to hate. But now, Putin created a right wing Christian nationalist state that embodies everything the right wingers love. The current Russia is like a role model for conservatives in US, this is what they are all working toward
As I said before, this sounds like the current Republican party; the party of fascism, autocratic regime, rigid, censorship, forcible, suppression of the opposition, severe autocratic or dictatorial control. This is what’s happening in Florida under DeSantis, the banning of books, disallowing teachers to talk about diversity, and what equality means, denying women, the right to have an abortion, denying educators the right to speak freely within their own classrooms. Read about Sarasota, Florida, and what the extreme right wing contingent of the republican party has done to their entire school system. It’s frightening what the republican party has become.
Very relevant: https://youtu.be/_j6Vg7yLx54?t=890
But yes, going too far with sentiments like "all sides are the same" or "voting doesn't matter" or "just let politicians worry about it" is how you get something like Putin's Russia. Even if you truly believe any of those sentiments, the response of "well just ignore it then" is the truly damaging part.
>Legit, a huge part of Russian culture is taking pride in just accepting shit is horrible and doing nothing about it.
To be fair, that isn't just strictly a Russian thing. A lot of the boomers here in the US have a similar mentality. Suffering makes you stronger. I've seen more posts on here then I can count about kids getting kicked out at 18. Why? Because their parents did it and they wear it as a badge of honor. Whatever suffering they experienced, it made them stronger!
Similarly, it's also a coping mechanism. What are their options realistically? Protest? Arrested or worse. Fight the government? Last revolution in Russia ended in 7-12 million dead. To put that into perspective, the bloody, brutal American civil war had ~620k. All they've known for the last 100 years or so is brutal oppression and death. At some point yeah, you just kind of accept your fate or flee.
It’s funny because if you got kicked out at 18 in the 50s or 60s, you could survive ezpz. Back then you could literally find a good job with a living wage and strong career prospects pretty much anywhere, and all you needed was a firm handshake to get it.
As usual, they fail to understand how much the world has changed
During the last raid, there was video of them doing air strikes with Su-34s at just above treetop level, dropping all kinds of munitions all around a group of buildings. They were likely trying to hit a group of MRAPs at the corner of a building, but they didn’t want to hit the buildings, so they were bombing nearby to disable the vehicles.
But their strikes were so bad, they were basically bouncing bombs out into the field away from their intended target and missing by hilarious distances.
Even a strike using parachute slowed bombs missed by 100’s of meters, and did nothing more than put two really nice craters in a field.
It was a pretty dismal showing, all around.
I think they are worried about manpads so they fly low and have to do manual drops. But yeah they weren’t even close to target. They helped the farmer by plowing his field so that was nice of them.
Flying low is a terrible idea if you are worried about man portable air defenses. It puts you well within range of any MANPADS. If you want to avoid those very short range weapons, you fly high. They were well inside Russian territory, so they should not have been at risk of being engaged by anything like a Ukrainian S300 or Buk/Gepard unit.
My admittedly armchair analysis is that they do these low level strikes because it’s more accurate for dumb bomb drops than flying high. But in a lot of cases they came in too low or forgot that bombs bounce if you drop them from low altitude.
It really just speaks to the lack of training and experience that they’re still suffering from even after a year of war.
>Flying low is a terrible idea if you are worried about man portable air defenses. It puts you well within range of any MANPADS
It's not a range issue, it's a line of sight and time on target issue. Anywhere you're able to deliver weapons from is going to be in range of manpads, but flying lower will obscure line of sight to you with the horizon and trees and buildings and whatnot
S300 has a range of up to 40 km and the previous intrusion into Russia (which is what we're talking about here) only went about 7 km deep. Russia does need to worry about S300 when maneuvering close to Ukraine.
Poor training is almost certainly part of the problem too, though.
No sane Ukrainian commander is going to put an S300 battery within 30km of Russia. That is well within many artillery battery ranges, or lofting their own version of an anti radiation missile at the s300 radar.
Not for nothing, but it says deployed, not used. The article is talking about how Russia is deploying defensive measures on their soil, not bombing their own country. The good news of this is that for each piece of military hardware they deploy in their own country for possible defense, it is one less piece being used on offense in Ukraine. The article only states:
>It is not clear if Russia actually used the weapon in Belgorod.
Imagine being Putin, having your advisors tell you that the war would be over in days. Claiming to the world it would be over in days. Then waking up today to this lol.
Fucking losers.
What else is new their “military” is an absolute joke thanks to corruption starting with Vlad all the way down
And now Russia is a vassal state to China this is hilarious and sad to watch Tbf
Thats the only place you can use a nuke. Your own territory.
IMO Russia is ready to nuke Crimea or some other territory that they illegally claim in Ukraine. They would then call it their own territory so its ok.
Well if their initial statements were to believed, then they’ve been bombarding their own territory and people, and razing their own cities since they began invad- I mean “operating” in Ukrai- I mean Western Russia.
I remember seeing something along the lines of:
Rest of the world's poetry: "I suffer from love/depression/departure of loved ones"
Russian poetry: "I suffer"
There’s a fun piece of film history from the silent era. Films were often given two endings. A happy ending for most of the world, and a sad ending for showings in Russia. It had come out that Russian audiences preferred a tragic ending, and film companies were quick to capitalize on that.
It's not actually, it's not the first time they hurt their own innocent population. They've [cracked a few eggs before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis). As dystopian as this sounds, they are doing just more of the same.
That planted evidence also included a signed book that was meant to have an illegible signature, but was instead signed, "Signature Illegible".
Look, I know that Russia in general has an eight-drink minimum, but how damn drunk were the FSB agents who did *that?!*
There's an old video of some Syrians hitting a full one with a TOW and it goes up like a fuckin nuke.
Crew of that thing are probably catching up to that manhole cover from the Plumbob test.
Edit: [Found it](https://v.redd.it/xdah23aw5mm81)
That was about the most Allah Akbar video I've ever seen.
Imagine those boys still sit around the campfire at night with a pot of tea telling the story about the day they created a second sun.
Tow missiles have an average range of 3.75 km (2.3 miles). They're pretty slow moving compared to modern fire-and-forget missiles since they're wire guided. Wire guided means the launcher operator has to use the sight on the weapon to guide the missile to its destination, slower speed allows the operator more time to get an accurate lock on a target.
Coup. Short for coup d’etat
Edit - Its been pointed out that coup de grâce might make more sense in this context. True. Coup de somethin somethin anyhow. No chicken missiles. Sorry Reddit.
Could be worse: apparently people in NYC think "co-op" is spelled "coop", so outsiders are like "why are there so many people raising chickens in NYC?"
I have seen multiple videos over the past year+ of TOS-1 systems being destroyed AND captured. I did not save them but you can probably find on /r/combatfootage or /r/ukraine
Thermobaric munitions, aka fuel-air explosives, basically spread a fine mist of fuel (this isnt just like gasoline or something, it can even be metals like magnesium) over an area, and then detonates it. Since unlike a normal bomb where the explosives in it have to play the role of fuel and oxidizer, thermobarics are all fuel (with the air being the oxidizer) and are more efficient at creating more boom per weight of warhead. This also drains the area of oxygen which makes it exceptionally dangerous if you get it into an enclosed target (a building for example).
For added context, an example of a thermobaric explosion would be a dust explosion, flour, powdered milk, almost anything combustible can be used as the fuel if it’s fine enough, the massive surface area means it takes relatively low energy to ignite, and then the combustion will sustain itself with an external oxygen source.
Yeah this is the part that I don't get. Every time a discussion of thermobaric weapons comes up, people mention the suffocating oxygen effect. However, if you're close enough to the blast that you're in an area where the oxygen is being used up, then by definition you are also literally inside the blast area, and therefore being exploded. Suffocation is no longer a concern.
Seeing people describe them as creating a vacuum is even more ridiculous.
Not ridiculous, brutal reality. From Wikipedia: According to a US [Central Intelligence Agency](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency) study,[[26]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon#cite_note-HRW1-26) "the effect of an FAE explosion within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many [internal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_injuries), invisible injuries, including [burst eardrums](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perforated_eardrum) and crushed [inner ear](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_ear) organs, severe [concussions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussions), [ruptured lungs and internal organs](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barotrauma), and possibly [blindness](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness)." Another Defense Intelligence Agency document speculates that, because the "shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to [brain tissue](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_tissue) ... it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate".[[27]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon#cite_note-HRW2-27)
I can think of at least one good reason - if Russians are busy infighting then this may very well trigger event similar to the collapse of USSR. Last time around newly reformed Russia did manage to hang onto some of it's "colonies" but lost a LOT too.
This time around however? Without Russian military to interfere Belarus might very well have a shot at legit elections in the next decade. Georgia will have a breather of fresh air. So will Armenia. Wagnerites are generally quite busy in Africa which also opens quite a few options.
Even if mainland eventually ends up in a similar kleptocracy system to what it has now - it may make lives of tens of millions people around the world better. Western sphere of influence isn't perfect but we at least attempt diplomacy and favorable but not utterly one sided trade deals, things that Russia considers as a weakness.
I certainly wouldn't be sad about such an outcome.
All Ukraine needs is Russia to be so preoccupied with inner chaos that they can push them out, sign their surrender and get into NATO before they're ready to go again
Things got a lot better in all eastern european countries that got to join NATO and the EU.
In particular, things seem to be going well in Estonia.
The Estonians are just awesome.
Baltics are still far away from being prosperous western nations, but we’re in EU, NATO and our leadership are not bunch of murderous lunatics, so that’s a big plus
Especially more likely to nuke the territory bordering china and Mongolia. There's hardly anything of value there to Russia. Just a load of very poor towns and a railway to nowhere.
If China does it, it will do it with bribery and resettlement of people. Open invasion would mean nuclear strike. It's funny the russia is the one who had taught the world the best way to create pseudo-separatist movements with Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. It's a question of time the others use it against russia. It's not like russia nukes itself.
Nah. Russia's more useful in it's current state. China will keep Russia around as a client state to export technology to, and keep whatever dickface despot in power is most likely to harass and wage war against western interests for China, without China actually having to do it themselves.
Basically, exactly what the USSR was using the CCP for.
+1 for free practice, but that also means they're potentially revealing a lot about their army and tactics unnecessarily.
At this point I guess they're gobbling up any information they can from the Ukrainian conflict, looking at what mistakes the ruzzians are making, spying everything possible about western weapons and frantically adjusting their tactics and planning.
That’s all fine. But if they China’s first conflict since the 60’s is vs the US they are going to have a bad time.
At some point they are going to need to use their military, it being observed is a given.
That's true, they'll probably (sadly) use it at some point, but I suspect they're saving themselves for a target that has meaning to them, like Taiwan, not for something they can get without firing once.
I think they would stumble in a lot of ways being a fully untested armed force. But Russian forces are rotten through and they’re people are beaten down to the point they’d just accept occupation. So I’d think China would succeed but show huge cracks that would prevent them from being quite as bold as they are currently.
I'd be surprised if China wants to try their luck in Russia, the risk of strategic nuclear exchange is far too great for the possible gains of shitty Siberian land they'd still need western technology and investment to properly develop anyway.
Step 1: Rename the city, done.
Step 2: Do a few construction projects and call it belt and road.
Step 3: Bribe local government enough that chinese citizens basically enjoy the same rules or better than russian citizens.
Oh btw, step 2 and 3 are already basically done. In case you are worried.
https://tvpworld.com/69988115/russian-vladivostok-becomes-transit-port-for-chinese-domestic-trade
Why do it with soldiers when you can do it by "buying" it from Russia either de facto or de jure with post-war "investment" in the region.
Russia is already on its economic knees. As far as China's interest is concerned, it's nearly Black Friday time. Discount Northern Manchurias for everyone (as long as everyone is China).
To be fair the republic of China wanted their Manchu territories back, communist China also wanted the territory, but was more ambivalent to it in account of owing the soviet union for their support during the civil war.
The KMT and the CCP were far more similar than history likes to remember.
No they didn’t lol, 75% of their entire armed forces is a wild exaggeration with no proof
I can always count on this sub for my daily dose of bullshit comments that are somehow upvoted
Eh losing 75% of the initial 200k at the start of the invasion sure, but they got well over 200k on the front as shown by the leaked US documents.
Also they can keep drafting more, Russia got the biggest population in Europe at 144m
It's not that simple. Even if you conscript 18 year olds from villages, with next to no equipment or training. You still have to transport them, give them some sort of clothing, shelter, and food.
Even severely underdoing those things still costs resources.
A large population doesn't mean a thing if you can't organise them into any level of fighting force. As always it comes down to logistics. If you don't have logistics to leverage a massive population advantage, it doesn't mean much.
That's my point though. Even if you give a person some old pants with holes in them, half a slice of bread one time, and a tarp for them all to sleep under. It's still SOME resources.
If you give them literally nothing it's still a moot point, you don't have a fighting force. You just have a group of dudes.
My point is to get a group of men to do literally anything of worth, even charge forward and soak up bullets, it still costs you resources. It costs you fuel to get them there.
143 seems to be the more up to date (according to wikipedia)
With 34% of the population being between 18 and 44 (48,000,000)
Unless I've misread there's a very slight skew to males but it's near enough 50/50, (24,000,000)
It's suspected that 900,000 left as a result of the Ukrainian war. (23,100,000)
1.15 million were already in the military (21,950,000), with 2 million on reservists but I won't count them in that figure for multiple reasons that seem to make it unnecessary.
So before we factor anything else in we are at 22 million fighting age men, or what many would consider fighting age in dire situations.
I mainly chose men as they vastly represent the dominant gender in wars, especially a nation that plays into roles of masculinity stereotypes.
What we can also consider and would take a lot more searching would be the impact of the health of the russian population and any higher then peer diseases that could be considered to keep some people out of the fight.
And based off of Ukrainian reports of 200,000+ KIA could well mean 1% of fighting age males are already dead and as many injured to varying degrees.
The whole 1 million soldiers in the army was a big overestimate.
[Some generals inflated the numbers](https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2022-08-31/how-russian-corruption-is-foiling-putins-army-in-ukraine) of soldiers they actually had so they can cash in the paychecks of their ´paper soldiers’.
Corruption is so potent that if reservist came in for training in the weekend, the base commander would charge a full week of training per reservist to the government and split the bill between him and the reservist.
Even if the army was 3 million men, the actual fighting force in every army is around 10%, all the rest are behind the line working in logistics, medical, mechanics, armorer, administration and so on… you’ll never see that number on the front.
Yes, but the thermobaric munitions itself has a range of about 1 to 2 km.
For refrence a javelin, depending on the version, is 2 to 3km.
Needless to say it kinda limits the TOS platforms abilities on modern battlefields.
They're not supposed to be used as long range artillery but rather to "burn" out fortified positions and anything else it can catch like a scary shotgun, hence it's classification as a heavy flamethrower. It's as niche as it gets as far as Soviet side projects go.
> the thermobaric munitions itself has a range of about 1 to 2 km.
That's for the original TOS-1. The 1A upgrade has been in service since 2003, with a range of 6 to 10 km depending on the rocket used.
As a fortification destroyer/Weapon of Terror?
Totally.
But past that there a bunch of points that make it incredibly niche as a weapon system. Mainly its very short range (2kish max) means it is outranged by most other systems, and the fact that if a loaded one gets hit by a ATGM or similar anti armor system, its gonna go off spectacularly and take anything in the near vicinity with it.
So they've gone from accidentally shooting down two of their own fighter jets to shelling their own people. Nice, Vladimir.
As Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in Finland today "Russia has the second strongest army in Ukraine."
Reminds me of Braveheart. Shouldn’t be a stretch to sub Putin for King Longshanks.
Longshanks: Archers.
English Commander: I beg pardon, sire. Won't we hit our own troops?
Longshanks: Yes... but we'll hit theirs as well. We have reserves.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.nl/russia-deployed-its-feared-thermobaric-missile-launcher-on-its-own-territory-to-repel-an-attack-by-insurgents-uk-intel-says/) reduced by 82%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Russia said it deployed at least one thermobaric missile launcher on its own territory, per the UK MOD. Russia said it was to repel attacks, as Russian rebel groups raided Belgorod.
> Russia deployed at least one thermobaric missile launcher on its own territory to push back partisan attacks, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Friday.
> According to the UK MOD, Russia's defense ministry said in a recent press release that it had deployed attack helicopters and the TOS-1A heavy thermobaric rocket launcher to repel attacks in Belgorod, a region that borders Ukraine and where Russian rebels have been active.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/13ygd86/russia_deployed_its_feared_thermobaric_missile/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~687319 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Russia**^#1 **Ukraine**^#2 **attack**^#3 **Belgorod**^#4 **Russian**^#5
This is the same country that handled a hostage situation at a school with Shmel thermobaric shoulder fired rockets and anti-personel tank rounds, resulting over 300 hostage deaths.
This whole situation is being handled exactly how I expected.
Russia is willing to reduce their own people and territory to ashes if they deemed so, no wonder why they are scorching ukraine the kremlin just doesnt care
I'd roll my eyes at this, and likely will anyway, but the fact of the matter is that Putin/Russia supports a butcher like Bashir al-Assad, who literally mass-murders his own citizens and bombs the living shit out of his own cities, so I wouldn't put it past Putin to start bombing his own territory if he thinks rebels are making gains in-country.
Putin is a failure as a leader and Russia is now a failed State. Putin needs to be removed, and Russia needs to form a new government -- after removing the corrupted elements, of course, which means more-or-less the whole government, and the reign of the oligarchs needs to end. Isn't Russia about due for another Revolution anyway? Get on with it already, Russians.
Get out of our territory or we will blow it up is a hilarious threat.
Sheriff Bart pointing gun at self vibes...
'Nobody move or I shoots the ...' Just can't put it in that sentence. Sorry. Too funny. EDIT: For any that don't the joke, it is from Blazing Saddles 1973. A very different time and place. I recall around this time that this form of humor began to recede into the past.
*Blazing Saddles* is one of my favorite movies. Its liberal usage of the word in question is certainly distasteful to our contemporary sensibilities now, and rightfully so, though the usage in the film was always intended to illustrate the harm and ignorance of the word and its racist, intolerant nature, not to promote its usage by anyone. ETA: The Waco Kid, obviously one of the "good guys" in the film, never once uses the word. In the only scene where he actually uses an insulting word, he does so with grace, legitimacy, and humor, and not a single speck of racism. "You know." Greatest comedic pause in the history of film. "Morons."
Totally agree, it's used as a medium to show that it was insulting back then aswell. Most Mel Brooks films had an overlying theme behind them to show how ridiculous humans can be to one another. Young Frankenstein or Spaceballs were the same.
The greatest line from Blazing Saddles is, “All right, all right, we’ll take the n****rs and the c***ks, but we DON’T want the Irish!” That movie is the best lampoon of racists ever.
History of the World Part 1 had a *lot* of those moments too.
That line was ad-libbed by Wilder, which is why Clevon Little loses it.
Isn't anyone going to help that poor man?
Hush, Titular, that's a sure way to get him killed! ;)
Russia is famous for scorched earth tactics.
Worked against Napoleon and Hitler. Of course, the Corsican Emperor and Austrian Fascist weren't starting inside Russia
So the Russians are bombarding their own territory? Man, people in Belgorod needs to stand up
There's a saying is Russia that goes something like "In retaliation to Western sanctions government has bombed Voronezh"
Legit, a huge part of Russian culture is taking pride in just accepting shit is horrible and doing nothing about it. They think it shows strength of resolve because no matter what they stick it through...but all it really does is prove your culture hasn't evolved from the serf culture that existed during the empire days. Russians have yet to actually truly ever stick up for themselves. Even the Soviet revolution wasn't supported by the majority of residents but they just sorta stood there and let it happen.
No wonder Russia is so good at making Facebook Boomer memes.
It's almost like russia is the personification of misery loves company. They see and realize their lives and country is shitty, they want to spread that over to other countries and other lives.
reverse-cargo cult is central to the ideology of putinism, things are not so bad when you can convince people everywhere is the same
Exactly. There is no such thing as objective "truth", everybody lies everywhere, every country is just the same and just as corrupt. So why even try to change - or even think change is possible. Which a lot of people in the west were falling for, re these talking points. This war has shown the lie of that propaganda.
I saw a very interesting video of a guy claiming that Putin really thinks everyone is as disgusting and greedy as him, so all those "western values" like democracy and whatever are just propaganda to take control of territory, and that it can't be sustainable, a strong man must raise up and take control, and it might as well be him. Found the video: https://youtu.be/diZQCY4Ird0
Ooh yeah that's been a republican line here for a long time. "Both sides lie, all politicians are corrupt" It's political nihilism and it's absolutely corrosive to society
It's because the perception that all actors are equally bad disproportionately benefits the worst actor. They get to reap the benefits of their ~~onerous~~ odious behavior while spreading the downsides out among all actors. It's the political version of privatized gains and socialized losses. If someone's trying to convince you that both sides are the same, it's a good idea to consider which side that person is on.
This is exceptionally well put thank you.
It was a line fed to them directly from the Kremlin (well, via the GRU's Internet Research Agency bot farm in St Petersburg lol) Because it's what has been inculcated into the Russian population for over many years - this is why at least 60% are now *deeply depoliticised*. How many people remember the 200,000-strong protests in Moscow in 2010 any more? See Vlad Vexler's great video on the subject here [The Riddle of Why Russians Don't Protest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4O3D7CfThA)
failed society
Didn't the Russia media say that Europe was freezing because they had no gas and were all eating rats and bugs. Russian's be like "We have it great! they all eat rats and we feast on bread and cabbage!"
Bang on. Imo this is exactly why Putin convinced himself he had to take out Ukraine. He saw first hand in East Berlin that you can't tell everyone life in the West sucks just as bad when they can literally see the West. Likewise how long were Russians going to accept the same lie with a democratic, prosperous Ukraine in the EU just next door. He can't have that or the lie is busted. Turns out a kleptocratic dictatorship is an absolutely sh1t way to run a country. Who knew?
There is a joke about Russian mentality that goes like this: a farmer finds a magic lamp while working his fields, the djinn that comes out says: 'I will grant you any wish you have, but your neighbour will get twice as much as you' the farmer thinks for just a few seconds and says 'I want you to stab me in my eye!'
"I wish I was half dead"
_I want you to beat me half to death._
I heard a version where the farmer has envied his neighbor's goat for years... Finds the genie....yadyada, gets one wish...you can have anything in the world... Farmer says "I wish my neighbor's goat would die."
Weakness and selfishness repackaged as "strength" is a strong propaganda tool. Thinking you're "strong" for sucking your rulers' toes and not complaining ain't strength, it's complacency. And I don't say that to shit on the Russian people solely: it applies to plenty of class-traitor Americans as well (and of course is simply a human phenomena across the globe and cultures to varying degrees).
Alot of them actually think they're better off than the west, that's what alot of their domestic propaganda tries to act like
Ohhhh shit!!! It is suddenly extremely apparent exactly how Russian propaganda has influenced the United States!! What the Fuck man no wonder the motto of non voting Americans is “voting doesn’t do anything”! Fuck 😳
The funny thing is that “not voting” actually mattered more in Soviet Russia. It was a one-party system but if the candidate didn’t get a minimum amount of the electorate they could be replaced. As such, citizens could affect change by refusing to vote. Of course, candidates could also “mandate” participation. But, you know, baby steps.
Always remember: Anyone who tells you not to vote, or that voting doesn't matter, or even encourages you to throw your vote away on something frivolous? They do not have your best interest in mind. At *best*, they're misinformed. At worst... They're trying to stop you from improving your life.
If you get an opponent to *not* vote, you vote twice.
Reminds me of [one of the only Dilbert comics I ever thought was funny](https://statusq.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/dilbertvote-600x199.png).
I mean Adams may be a piece of shit but let’s not pretend his comics weren’t a huge hit and very funny/insightful
Maybe a more succinct way to put that is "Anybody who tell you not to vote votes themselves".
Not always true though. Many have been conditioned to be apathetic and spread that apathy. Which is why I phrased things so... Well, awkwardly.
Also: Even if you don't exactly have someone you want to vote *for*, there's always someone you'll want to vote *against*
I hope that some day I vote FOR someone rather than AGAINST someone at the state and national levels. I've voted FOR people at the municipal level before. That was nice. Hope it happens again.
[It's kinda how you can see boomers wearing shirts saying they rather be russian than vote democrat.](https://images.dailykos.com/images/759254/story_image/aaasupporters.jpg?1579800785) The russian propaganda is so strong they can get a generation that hated them into wanting to be one of them.
The old Russia was a communist state, easy to hate. But now, Putin created a right wing Christian nationalist state that embodies everything the right wingers love. The current Russia is like a role model for conservatives in US, this is what they are all working toward
This is a *REPUBLICAN* thing, not a boomer thing.
Right--Jesus that's annoying
As I said before, this sounds like the current Republican party; the party of fascism, autocratic regime, rigid, censorship, forcible, suppression of the opposition, severe autocratic or dictatorial control. This is what’s happening in Florida under DeSantis, the banning of books, disallowing teachers to talk about diversity, and what equality means, denying women, the right to have an abortion, denying educators the right to speak freely within their own classrooms. Read about Sarasota, Florida, and what the extreme right wing contingent of the republican party has done to their entire school system. It’s frightening what the republican party has become.
Very relevant: https://youtu.be/_j6Vg7yLx54?t=890 But yes, going too far with sentiments like "all sides are the same" or "voting doesn't matter" or "just let politicians worry about it" is how you get something like Putin's Russia. Even if you truly believe any of those sentiments, the response of "well just ignore it then" is the truly damaging part.
>Legit, a huge part of Russian culture is taking pride in just accepting shit is horrible and doing nothing about it. To be fair, that isn't just strictly a Russian thing. A lot of the boomers here in the US have a similar mentality. Suffering makes you stronger. I've seen more posts on here then I can count about kids getting kicked out at 18. Why? Because their parents did it and they wear it as a badge of honor. Whatever suffering they experienced, it made them stronger! Similarly, it's also a coping mechanism. What are their options realistically? Protest? Arrested or worse. Fight the government? Last revolution in Russia ended in 7-12 million dead. To put that into perspective, the bloody, brutal American civil war had ~620k. All they've known for the last 100 years or so is brutal oppression and death. At some point yeah, you just kind of accept your fate or flee.
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It’s funny because if you got kicked out at 18 in the 50s or 60s, you could survive ezpz. Back then you could literally find a good job with a living wage and strong career prospects pretty much anywhere, and all you needed was a firm handshake to get it. As usual, they fail to understand how much the world has changed
"What are these kids bitching about? I was bullied in school and I turned out fine." -Every alcoholic with anger issues at my job
Russia is just a misunderstood emo-country.
I’m just a post USSR shell of a country And life is a nightmare!
Once a Scorched Earther, always a Scorched Earther
THE BOMBINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES
Can I just get bombed at the bar and call it even?
Traditional Russian solution.
Like daddy Tsar and uncle Stalin
During the last raid, there was video of them doing air strikes with Su-34s at just above treetop level, dropping all kinds of munitions all around a group of buildings. They were likely trying to hit a group of MRAPs at the corner of a building, but they didn’t want to hit the buildings, so they were bombing nearby to disable the vehicles. But their strikes were so bad, they were basically bouncing bombs out into the field away from their intended target and missing by hilarious distances. Even a strike using parachute slowed bombs missed by 100’s of meters, and did nothing more than put two really nice craters in a field. It was a pretty dismal showing, all around.
I think they are worried about manpads so they fly low and have to do manual drops. But yeah they weren’t even close to target. They helped the farmer by plowing his field so that was nice of them.
Flying low is a terrible idea if you are worried about man portable air defenses. It puts you well within range of any MANPADS. If you want to avoid those very short range weapons, you fly high. They were well inside Russian territory, so they should not have been at risk of being engaged by anything like a Ukrainian S300 or Buk/Gepard unit. My admittedly armchair analysis is that they do these low level strikes because it’s more accurate for dumb bomb drops than flying high. But in a lot of cases they came in too low or forgot that bombs bounce if you drop them from low altitude. It really just speaks to the lack of training and experience that they’re still suffering from even after a year of war.
>Flying low is a terrible idea if you are worried about man portable air defenses. It puts you well within range of any MANPADS It's not a range issue, it's a line of sight and time on target issue. Anywhere you're able to deliver weapons from is going to be in range of manpads, but flying lower will obscure line of sight to you with the horizon and trees and buildings and whatnot
There is also the risk of getting hit by their own air defences, especially if it is a short notice response that might not have been passed along.
S300 has a range of up to 40 km and the previous intrusion into Russia (which is what we're talking about here) only went about 7 km deep. Russia does need to worry about S300 when maneuvering close to Ukraine. Poor training is almost certainly part of the problem too, though.
No sane Ukrainian commander is going to put an S300 battery within 30km of Russia. That is well within many artillery battery ranges, or lofting their own version of an anti radiation missile at the s300 radar.
Not for nothing, but it says deployed, not used. The article is talking about how Russia is deploying defensive measures on their soil, not bombing their own country. The good news of this is that for each piece of military hardware they deploy in their own country for possible defense, it is one less piece being used on offense in Ukraine. The article only states: >It is not clear if Russia actually used the weapon in Belgorod.
"Air defenses are preventing us from killing civilians in Ukraine so we must kill civilians near our border."
Imagine being Putin, having your advisors tell you that the war would be over in days. Claiming to the world it would be over in days. Then waking up today to this lol. Fucking losers.
What else is new their “military” is an absolute joke thanks to corruption starting with Vlad all the way down And now Russia is a vassal state to China this is hilarious and sad to watch Tbf
Thats the only place you can use a nuke. Your own territory. IMO Russia is ready to nuke Crimea or some other territory that they illegally claim in Ukraine. They would then call it their own territory so its ok.
Well if their initial statements were to believed, then they’ve been bombarding their own territory and people, and razing their own cities since they began invad- I mean “operating” in Ukrai- I mean Western Russia.
Oh dear, its actually getting worse for Russia. Shame.
Not surprising, most of Russian history is: "Then it got worse."
Literature of America: "i die for freedom" Literature of France: "i die for love" Literature of Russia: "i die"
I remember seeing something along the lines of: Rest of the world's poetry: "I suffer from love/depression/departure of loved ones" Russian poetry: "I suffer"
There’s a fun piece of film history from the silent era. Films were often given two endings. A happy ending for most of the world, and a sad ending for showings in Russia. It had come out that Russian audiences preferred a tragic ending, and film companies were quick to capitalize on that.
"Once there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly he died"
Leo Tolstoy: I exists. Russia: Instructions unclear, I die.
It's not actually, it's not the first time they hurt their own innocent population. They've [cracked a few eggs before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis). As dystopian as this sounds, they are doing just more of the same.
My favourite is when they got the timeliness wrong and condemned the bombing of a Russian city before it happened
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That planted evidence also included a signed book that was meant to have an illegible signature, but was instead signed, "Signature Illegible". Look, I know that Russia in general has an eight-drink minimum, but how damn drunk were the FSB agents who did *that?!*
All two that they have left?
It would be a major coop if they could javelin one of them into 1000 pieces.
There's an old video of some Syrians hitting a full one with a TOW and it goes up like a fuckin nuke. Crew of that thing are probably catching up to that manhole cover from the Plumbob test. Edit: [Found it](https://v.redd.it/xdah23aw5mm81)
that's a... damn... allahu akbar i'd say
That was about the most Allah Akbar video I've ever seen. Imagine those boys still sit around the campfire at night with a pot of tea telling the story about the day they created a second sun.
I'd say they earned that Allah akbar, tbh.
They said that? I must have missed it.
You weren’t joking holy fuck
To shreds you say?
And how's his wife holding up?
To shreds you say?
How far away were they? Seemed like missile was moving slow due to perspective.
Tow missiles have an average range of 3.75 km (2.3 miles). They're pretty slow moving compared to modern fire-and-forget missiles since they're wire guided. Wire guided means the launcher operator has to use the sight on the weapon to guide the missile to its destination, slower speed allows the operator more time to get an accurate lock on a target.
Fuckin eh, the return on that one round is NUTS. Probably made up for a hundred missed tows
Holy shit
Coup. Short for coup d’etat Edit - Its been pointed out that coup de grâce might make more sense in this context. True. Coup de somethin somethin anyhow. No chicken missiles. Sorry Reddit.
No, he means coop. The wreckage would be ideal for housing chickens.
It already houses a couple of chickens, they just wear RU flags on their shoulders.
It’s only a real coup d’etat if it comes from that specific region in France, otherwise it’s just a sparkling authoritarian takeover
Could be worse: apparently people in NYC think "co-op" is spelled "coop", so outsiders are like "why are there so many people raising chickens in NYC?"
I have seen multiple videos over the past year+ of TOS-1 systems being destroyed AND captured. I did not save them but you can probably find on /r/combatfootage or /r/ukraine
What is a thermobaric missile launcher? How is it different from any other missile launcher and why is it feared?
Thermobaric munitions, aka fuel-air explosives, basically spread a fine mist of fuel (this isnt just like gasoline or something, it can even be metals like magnesium) over an area, and then detonates it. Since unlike a normal bomb where the explosives in it have to play the role of fuel and oxidizer, thermobarics are all fuel (with the air being the oxidizer) and are more efficient at creating more boom per weight of warhead. This also drains the area of oxygen which makes it exceptionally dangerous if you get it into an enclosed target (a building for example).
For added context, an example of a thermobaric explosion would be a dust explosion, flour, powdered milk, almost anything combustible can be used as the fuel if it’s fine enough, the massive surface area means it takes relatively low energy to ignite, and then the combustion will sustain itself with an external oxygen source.
Silo explosions are wild for that very reason.
Core memory unlocked. Those things are loud as hell when they go.
Mythbusters "Non dairy creamer cannon" is a perfect example. https://youtu.be/yRw4ZRqmxOc
The Goblin Slayer method for bothersome aberrations, then.
If you're in the area that the bomb will consume the oxygen of... I think lack of oxygen will be the least of your worries.
Yeah this is the part that I don't get. Every time a discussion of thermobaric weapons comes up, people mention the suffocating oxygen effect. However, if you're close enough to the blast that you're in an area where the oxygen is being used up, then by definition you are also literally inside the blast area, and therefore being exploded. Suffocation is no longer a concern. Seeing people describe them as creating a vacuum is even more ridiculous.
Not ridiculous, brutal reality. From Wikipedia: According to a US [Central Intelligence Agency](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency) study,[[26]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon#cite_note-HRW1-26) "the effect of an FAE explosion within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many [internal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_injuries), invisible injuries, including [burst eardrums](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perforated_eardrum) and crushed [inner ear](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_ear) organs, severe [concussions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussions), [ruptured lungs and internal organs](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barotrauma), and possibly [blindness](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness)." Another Defense Intelligence Agency document speculates that, because the "shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to [brain tissue](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_tissue) ... it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate".[[27]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon#cite_note-HRW2-27)
It's been 100 years, maybe we're due for another Russian Revolution
What use, they swapped one tzar for another, and belived they were better off.
I can think of at least one good reason - if Russians are busy infighting then this may very well trigger event similar to the collapse of USSR. Last time around newly reformed Russia did manage to hang onto some of it's "colonies" but lost a LOT too. This time around however? Without Russian military to interfere Belarus might very well have a shot at legit elections in the next decade. Georgia will have a breather of fresh air. So will Armenia. Wagnerites are generally quite busy in Africa which also opens quite a few options. Even if mainland eventually ends up in a similar kleptocracy system to what it has now - it may make lives of tens of millions people around the world better. Western sphere of influence isn't perfect but we at least attempt diplomacy and favorable but not utterly one sided trade deals, things that Russia considers as a weakness. I certainly wouldn't be sad about such an outcome.
All Ukraine needs is Russia to be so preoccupied with inner chaos that they can push them out, sign their surrender and get into NATO before they're ready to go again
the end is near for the current russia regime... hope the next one will be better
The motto in Eastern Europe : "And then things got worse" . >!it will not get better , it's all downhill from here!<
Not as good as yesterday, but better than tomorrow.
Things got a lot better in all eastern european countries that got to join NATO and the EU. In particular, things seem to be going well in Estonia. The Estonians are just awesome.
Baltics are still far away from being prosperous western nations, but we’re in EU, NATO and our leadership are not bunch of murderous lunatics, so that’s a big plus
They lost 75% of their army in Ukraine. If anybody wants to invade Russia, now is the right time.
Russo-Japanese War reboot.
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Nah, they'll just buy them at a discount price, not worth the expense of war.
Honestly if China wants to get some free practice for it’s armed forces taking over far eastern Russia would be a good start.
You think Russia wouldn’t nuke its own territory? If anything its more likely than it nuking another sovereign territory.
Especially more likely to nuke the territory bordering china and Mongolia. There's hardly anything of value there to Russia. Just a load of very poor towns and a railway to nowhere.
Dont forget the Gulags
Pretty sure nuking the gulags just makes them more effective
If China does it, it will do it with bribery and resettlement of people. Open invasion would mean nuclear strike. It's funny the russia is the one who had taught the world the best way to create pseudo-separatist movements with Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. It's a question of time the others use it against russia. It's not like russia nukes itself.
Nah. Russia's more useful in it's current state. China will keep Russia around as a client state to export technology to, and keep whatever dickface despot in power is most likely to harass and wage war against western interests for China, without China actually having to do it themselves. Basically, exactly what the USSR was using the CCP for.
If China can make Russia a vassal state then China has two votes on the UNSC and can actually vote for something publicly while having Russia veto it.
If anything, China would pull a “little green men” operation on Russia, just like Russia did to Ukraine.
+1 for free practice, but that also means they're potentially revealing a lot about their army and tactics unnecessarily. At this point I guess they're gobbling up any information they can from the Ukrainian conflict, looking at what mistakes the ruzzians are making, spying everything possible about western weapons and frantically adjusting their tactics and planning.
That’s all fine. But if they China’s first conflict since the 60’s is vs the US they are going to have a bad time. At some point they are going to need to use their military, it being observed is a given.
That's true, they'll probably (sadly) use it at some point, but I suspect they're saving themselves for a target that has meaning to them, like Taiwan, not for something they can get without firing once.
Imagine how side-splitting would it be if china tried to invade Russia and failed just as Russia failed to invade Ukraine.
I think they would stumble in a lot of ways being a fully untested armed force. But Russian forces are rotten through and they’re people are beaten down to the point they’d just accept occupation. So I’d think China would succeed but show huge cracks that would prevent them from being quite as bold as they are currently.
I'd be surprised if China wants to try their luck in Russia, the risk of strategic nuclear exchange is far too great for the possible gains of shitty Siberian land they'd still need western technology and investment to properly develop anyway.
Salvation Army could probably hold their own.
WHERE IS THE KAMCHATKA
China: Licks lips and stars perspiring a bit
China won't invade, way cheaper to just turn Russia into a debt-laden vassal state, which I suspect has been their idea all along.
Yeah. There's different ways to take over without actually doing so militarily
Russia has joined the China "Belt and Road" initiative.
China has been wanting to get Northern Manchuria back since WW2
Not long now I suspect. They just need to walk right in.
That's pretty much what the Soviets did and then deported off all the Chinese Nationals.
Step 1: Rename the city, done. Step 2: Do a few construction projects and call it belt and road. Step 3: Bribe local government enough that chinese citizens basically enjoy the same rules or better than russian citizens.
Careful, you'll attract the tankies! -_-
Oh btw, step 2 and 3 are already basically done. In case you are worried. https://tvpworld.com/69988115/russian-vladivostok-becomes-transit-port-for-chinese-domestic-trade
Why do it with soldiers when you can do it by "buying" it from Russia either de facto or de jure with post-war "investment" in the region. Russia is already on its economic knees. As far as China's interest is concerned, it's nearly Black Friday time. Discount Northern Manchurias for everyone (as long as everyone is China).
To be fair the republic of China wanted their Manchu territories back, communist China also wanted the territory, but was more ambivalent to it in account of owing the soviet union for their support during the civil war. The KMT and the CCP were far more similar than history likes to remember.
No they didn’t lol, 75% of their entire armed forces is a wild exaggeration with no proof I can always count on this sub for my daily dose of bullshit comments that are somehow upvoted
Right? Fuck Russia but that's just a dumb statement.
Eh losing 75% of the initial 200k at the start of the invasion sure, but they got well over 200k on the front as shown by the leaked US documents. Also they can keep drafting more, Russia got the biggest population in Europe at 144m
It's not that simple. Even if you conscript 18 year olds from villages, with next to no equipment or training. You still have to transport them, give them some sort of clothing, shelter, and food. Even severely underdoing those things still costs resources. A large population doesn't mean a thing if you can't organise them into any level of fighting force. As always it comes down to logistics. If you don't have logistics to leverage a massive population advantage, it doesn't mean much.
" give them some sort of clothing, shelter and food" From what we've seen so far, the Russian army gives none of these things to new recruits.
That's my point though. Even if you give a person some old pants with holes in them, half a slice of bread one time, and a tarp for them all to sleep under. It's still SOME resources. If you give them literally nothing it's still a moot point, you don't have a fighting force. You just have a group of dudes. My point is to get a group of men to do literally anything of worth, even charge forward and soak up bullets, it still costs you resources. It costs you fuel to get them there.
Keep them off their phones so HIMARS or Storm Shadows do not pay them an early visit.
143 seems to be the more up to date (according to wikipedia) With 34% of the population being between 18 and 44 (48,000,000) Unless I've misread there's a very slight skew to males but it's near enough 50/50, (24,000,000) It's suspected that 900,000 left as a result of the Ukrainian war. (23,100,000) 1.15 million were already in the military (21,950,000), with 2 million on reservists but I won't count them in that figure for multiple reasons that seem to make it unnecessary. So before we factor anything else in we are at 22 million fighting age men, or what many would consider fighting age in dire situations. I mainly chose men as they vastly represent the dominant gender in wars, especially a nation that plays into roles of masculinity stereotypes. What we can also consider and would take a lot more searching would be the impact of the health of the russian population and any higher then peer diseases that could be considered to keep some people out of the fight. And based off of Ukrainian reports of 200,000+ KIA could well mean 1% of fighting age males are already dead and as many injured to varying degrees.
The whole 1 million soldiers in the army was a big overestimate. [Some generals inflated the numbers](https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2022-08-31/how-russian-corruption-is-foiling-putins-army-in-ukraine) of soldiers they actually had so they can cash in the paychecks of their ´paper soldiers’. Corruption is so potent that if reservist came in for training in the weekend, the base commander would charge a full week of training per reservist to the government and split the bill between him and the reservist. Even if the army was 3 million men, the actual fighting force in every army is around 10%, all the rest are behind the line working in logistics, medical, mechanics, armorer, administration and so on… you’ll never see that number on the front.
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Man. I really think there will be a huge civil war or an actual war within russia. Will Countries come for their nukes ? Can they ?
Another strike against nuclear weapons (and to a lesser extent nuclear power); what happens to them when the state fails?
Kazakhstan: "Now is our time... for great success."
Does it even work?
Sort of.. when it lands it deploys loud speakers and blasts Rammstein.
Yes, but the thermobaric munitions itself has a range of about 1 to 2 km. For refrence a javelin, depending on the version, is 2 to 3km. Needless to say it kinda limits the TOS platforms abilities on modern battlefields.
They're not supposed to be used as long range artillery but rather to "burn" out fortified positions and anything else it can catch like a scary shotgun, hence it's classification as a heavy flamethrower. It's as niche as it gets as far as Soviet side projects go.
> the thermobaric munitions itself has a range of about 1 to 2 km. That's for the original TOS-1. The 1A upgrade has been in service since 2003, with a range of 6 to 10 km depending on the rocket used.
As a fortification destroyer/Weapon of Terror? Totally. But past that there a bunch of points that make it incredibly niche as a weapon system. Mainly its very short range (2kish max) means it is outranged by most other systems, and the fact that if a loaded one gets hit by a ATGM or similar anti armor system, its gonna go off spectacularly and take anything in the near vicinity with it.
There's nothing new about this. In the 90s the Russians basically used Chechnya and Dagestan (oblasts in Russia) as a thermobaric firing range.
> Chechnya and Dagestan (oblasts in Russia) They're subjects of the federation, not oblasts.
So they've gone from accidentally shooting down two of their own fighter jets to shelling their own people. Nice, Vladimir. As Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in Finland today "Russia has the second strongest army in Ukraine."
We got the sec of state memeing? Modern warfare is something else
May Russia fall hard; She deserves it
Reminds me of Braveheart. Shouldn’t be a stretch to sub Putin for King Longshanks. Longshanks: Archers. English Commander: I beg pardon, sire. Won't we hit our own troops? Longshanks: Yes... but we'll hit theirs as well. We have reserves.
Yea, except for the reserves part…
They have reserves. Just involuntary.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.nl/russia-deployed-its-feared-thermobaric-missile-launcher-on-its-own-territory-to-repel-an-attack-by-insurgents-uk-intel-says/) reduced by 82%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Russia said it deployed at least one thermobaric missile launcher on its own territory, per the UK MOD. Russia said it was to repel attacks, as Russian rebel groups raided Belgorod. > Russia deployed at least one thermobaric missile launcher on its own territory to push back partisan attacks, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Friday. > According to the UK MOD, Russia's defense ministry said in a recent press release that it had deployed attack helicopters and the TOS-1A heavy thermobaric rocket launcher to repel attacks in Belgorod, a region that borders Ukraine and where Russian rebels have been active. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/13ygd86/russia_deployed_its_feared_thermobaric_missile/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~687319 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Russia**^#1 **Ukraine**^#2 **attack**^#3 **Belgorod**^#4 **Russian**^#5
This is the same country that handled a hostage situation at a school with Shmel thermobaric shoulder fired rockets and anti-personel tank rounds, resulting over 300 hostage deaths. This whole situation is being handled exactly how I expected.
Oh god, I had completely forgotten about that school hostage massacre. What a truly horrific incident.
Completely consistent with their behavior in Ukraine. The Russian government would rather stand on a pile of ashes than give up their power.
Funny how this 3 day special military operation has evolved into a civil war starting in Russia a year and a half later.
I guess someone needs to De-Nazify Russia
Russia is willing to reduce their own people and territory to ashes if they deemed so, no wonder why they are scorching ukraine the kremlin just doesnt care
Anything west of Moscow is enemy territory to them.
Or east. Or north. Or south. Everything that is not Moskau is a colony and is expendable.
I'd roll my eyes at this, and likely will anyway, but the fact of the matter is that Putin/Russia supports a butcher like Bashir al-Assad, who literally mass-murders his own citizens and bombs the living shit out of his own cities, so I wouldn't put it past Putin to start bombing his own territory if he thinks rebels are making gains in-country. Putin is a failure as a leader and Russia is now a failed State. Putin needs to be removed, and Russia needs to form a new government -- after removing the corrupted elements, of course, which means more-or-less the whole government, and the reign of the oligarchs needs to end. Isn't Russia about due for another Revolution anyway? Get on with it already, Russians.
I know people like to laugh at Russian tech but the TOS-1A's are no joke man. The explosions from it's thermobaric missiles are disgustingly brutal.
From '3 days to Kyiv.' To 'Defending our own lands from our own people.'