And those that cannot evolve and progress. I see so much of this rooted in a past that people such as you mentioned, believes can come again. That is the conflict we see here today. You see Trump, you see the dinosaurs trying to deny they are dying off, not able to improve and compete.
I tend to agree with that.
If you listen to what they bellow, it is the past, never a real future. And they have anchored everyone else in place with their omissions and tantrums.
Again ‘threading’, but it’s both ironic n jarring that a country that will smash u in the face about how anti Nazi they are, are now in that realm.
4500 killed + 18000 injured (4500*4) = 22500 off the field. Low estimate.
11000 killed + 55000 injured (11000*5) = 66000 off the field. High estimate.
Not sustainable.
But let’s be honest - is there any confidence that, once explained, the Russian people will care about this, outside of those families whose kids are getting killed or injured in this event? We know how the right wing has spun stuff in the last five years to make the million deaths from COVID something not to be even acknowledged. That kind of disinformation is just the same stuff that’s probably being spun here, no?
Russia’s economy was godawful in the 1990s, gradually improved without most people seeing any of the benefits up until the 2014 invasion and annexation, has since declined pretty sharply and is set to crater thanks to Putin’s dumb new invasion. I wouldn’t describe Russia as having “prospered” in any way.
Agreed, @zenicetus–but even if it’s only HALF that, it boggles my mind that that’d represent roughly 1/10th of our Vietnam experience in two weeks?!?! 
Absolutely. All their braying and complaining is for naught, in the long run. Unfortunately, Mankind has to suffer their temporary bellowing. We will get through this. Ukraine will get through this, too. I understand that’s easy for me to say, sitting in comfort in front of my laptop.
There’s some discussion about the Z thing. I posted this elsewhere
Later I saw this
Both are interesting reads.
You’re right. Our letter Z is rendered in Cyrillic by a letter that looks like a 3. (I can’t type in Cyrillic in this format.) I recall reading somewhere that the "emphasized text Z, for some reason using the Latin alphabet, designates “Zapad,” or “West,” indicating the Western Army Group. But I can’t be sure of this: I don’t remember where this factoid was mentioned.
Then how to explain the many surrenders and desertions that have already happened?
No. That’s why the sanctions are essential. They impose costs on people and few in Russia want to sacrifice their jobs, bank accounts, pay checks, or access to goods and services for a failed war.
Russian mobsters and oligarchs have prospered greatly, so there’s that. The Russian demi-monde seems to flourish regardless.
Let’s see…a Schrodinger’s Cat analogy? A peaceful lion? Oh! Wait! I get it! UKRAINE FOREVER! Fuck, I’m not rooted to St. Louis any longer, I may want to move to Ukraine eventually!
Morale is low, they keep running out of fuel and supplies, the enemy that might not kill you could be the safer (and the Ukrainians have been pushing on broadcasting that steady message that people who surrender will be ok) option when you’re in hostile territory and way outnumbered, etc.
Doesn’t mean their hearts were in the mission at all, just that I’m not buying that they didn’t have any clue where they were or general notion of what they were up to.
Pretty sure that even when the morning starts out with “we’re going on a military exercise”, the moment that you cross the Ambassador Bridge over into Canada, and they tell you to load live ammo, that’s a good indicator that we’re there to take down the evil tyrant in Ottawa.
But I could see where that might strengthen the resolve to continue to prosecute the invasion, too.
It all depends on how Putin and his propagandists spin this and how important the concept of ‘Mother Russia’ remains to the Russian people. If Putie is telling them that Ukraine has done bad things and needs to be brought back into the fold because of its bad behavior, will the Russian people put up with it, or finally say enough is enough?
I don’t have that answer, but I’m not completely convinced that the Russians might not put up with inconvenience to get something the nation thinks they need.
Pretty funny that Putin’s brilliant nationalist campaign to “win the information war” (see the creepy video of chanting Russians in Z-emblazoned black t-shirts in a parking garage) embraces a symbol most closely-associated with the steaming wreckage of the Russian military in the field. The perfect complement to their war effort. Well done!
It’s all post-hoc rationales. There a multiple different vehicle markings, not just the Z. All comes down to which part of the invasion force a particular vehicle is with.
The horrendous losses suffered by the Soviet Army in Afghanistan certainly helped to slowly undermine public acceptance of the Soviet system during the 1980s. So, of course, did the gross mismanagement and the official lies revealed by Chernobyl in 1987.
Queen Anne even got a war named for her.
Queen Anne commands, and we obey,
Over the hills and far away.