First they were the second most powerful army in the world.
Then they were the second most powerful in Ukraine.
And now they are the second most powerful in Russia.
I like they way this is going 🤗.
Second most powerful in Moscow 🤞😬🤞
Would be wild if they took over Russia and Zelenskyy became the president of Russia.
Can countries still annex other countries like that these days?
Who would stop him?
Second most powerful in all of their military bases.
Second most powerful in Putin’s dreams
And now they are the second most powerful in Russia.
I think it’s been that way for longer than people think. Remember when Wagner just rolled through Russia without any resistance? Putin’s might has always been false promises/ blackmail, but it’s obvious now that Russia hasn’t had the means to back itself up for a while now
Prigozhin should have waited to betray Russia until Ukraine was in a position like this.
Seems like he was an idiot, though. IDK what level of delusional hubris one needs to be on to travel to Moscow after an attempt such as that.
With how it went down he was mainly an idiot for standing down. Idk how he imagined that ending
I think it might have been dissatisfaction of his troops that lead to the coup. He knew it would not work out, so he tried to bail out quickly. He should have probably just left the country never to return.
Once he started he had two options: continue until the end and maybe die trying or just die. For some reason he opted for the second one.
Nazis have now assumed marching on Moscow would work out for them twice, maybe it’s just a related mental defect.
The fact that people like you can rationalize the Kremlin’s far-right, proto-fascist ideology as some sort of anti-Nazi movement is just more proof that the biggest threat to humanity is ingorance combined with a near-infinite potential for self-serving delusions. We desperately need to reform our formal education systems and limit the impact of authoritarian propaganda as much as possible, and from there the number of victims, like Dragon.
Lol, Prigozhin was a Nazi you dingus, it’s why he named it Wagner.
they made a classic blunder- the one slightly more well known than getting into it with a scillian when death is on the line! Getting into a land war in Asia!
Wait. But aren’t they Asia? Lol
Most of productive thoughts throughout the pre-soviet russian history was wasted on that exact question. No joke. That long-going identity crisis even caused a divide within the elites about the choice of following either the european footsteps (westerners) or going on their own (slavic-philes).
Interesting. I’ll have to go into some research on this one.
The correct russian names for these two groups are западники and славянофилы. I feel like googling them like this you’d encounter better results. But they are limited to one period of history while the question itself was before and after them.
Tha ks! I’ll take a look today at work! Sorry for the late reply.
To my knowledge, it’s the first time in history that a non-nuclear power invaded and occupied territory belonging to a nuclear power.
So, that’s even more dubious history Putin played a part in.
A very nuclear power at that.
Well, if you consider Israel to be a nuclear power…
Serious question: was Israel really occupied at any point in time during, this or past, post maybe nuclear power times?
I don’t think a short term raid that’s immediately repelled necessarily counts as occupation in this sense.
My Israel history is also very limited
Oh no, poor Putin
But remember, when god closes a door, he certainly opens a window…
The amount of scrubs skits involving a window makes this even funnier
Ukraine and Russia are uniting into one country. Just not the way Putin envisioned.
He wanted a war, so he got one.
I mean right?
Fuck around and find out and all that!
Yes, it’s the embarrassment that’s really important here. 🙄
Its part of it. There’s also the better negotiating position, possibility of flanking the Kremlin’s defenses, and forcing them to respond in a situation where Ukraine has the momentum and defensive stance.
Wowee, all he had to do was not be a shitter and this wouldn’t have happened. Now it will be his eternal reputation in history books.
This is all history will remember him for. A botched violent and illegal invasion of a peaceful country for absolutely no good reason whatsoever!
Go Ukraine, fuck Russia.
A not very wealthy country of about only 120 million people wanted to play superpower.
They were offered peace, cooperation and prosperity, but instead they chose corruption and confrontation.
Russia could very possibly have been the biggest economy in Europe by now, if they had chosen cooperation. That would have made them more powerful and influential than all the bullshit they’ve pulled to undermine the west and their neighbors.wanted to play superpower
As someone who is from that region, it’s not even that. A whole lot of countries want to play superpower, and they are only mildly hated for it. The US, the French, even the Chinese are an abstract economic threat. The Russians want to play 18th century superpower and that makes them a concrete military threat.
The stupid thing is, just by looking at the state of the world right now, they totally would have won the long game if they went soft power only. Putin is a failure that way as well I guess.
I totally agree.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were handed everything they wanted on a silver plate.
They could have been Poland on steroids.
But they chose to reject it, so stupid.
Russians have been brainwashed for centuries by their elites to thinking corruption is the natural order of things.
They can’t believe that western nations can have shows of wealth and quality of life standards they do, because that means the way they and their ancestors have lived for decades isn’t how people are supposed to live.
Their elites steal everything, ensure education standards are low as possible so their workers can just barely manage to operate in a factory, on a farm or in a mine, and then encourage them to stay drunk as possible during their waking hours.
And then they wonder why Russians who manage to emigrate west never go home and sooner or later cut all contact with their backwards motherland.
Frankly if it hadn’t been for the advent of Nuclear Weapons, and Soviets stealing designs for them from America, Russia never would have been a Superpower at all and probably collapse in on itself in the 60s.
Russians have been brainwashed for centuries by their elites
Meanwhile western have been brainwashed for centuries by their elites to thinking russians are the bogeyman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
Elites steal everything everywhere not just in russia
Russia could very possibly have been the biggest economy in Europe by now,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
Countries are at war with each others.
What’s your point? It clearly states the cold war ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Most of eastern Europe chose to democratize, and they are way better off today than in 1991. But Russia chose to undermine the west and the countries around them, instead of cooperation.Countries are at war with each others.
That’s not a law of nature by any means.
But Russia chose to undermine the west and the countries around them, instead of cooperation.
West and russia have been at war since WWII and even before read the article on cold war carefully.
At some point we’ll probably have to admit that they’re culturally not inclined to do good. That and the rampant alcohol abuse is holding them back.
This is just racist.
Whatever
So is this the game rulers are playing? Embarrass each others at the expense of millions of people?
The ruler of Ukraine is playing a game called “Defend my country from foreign invaders”.
Putin embarrassed himself by allowing it to get to this point. Russia is into year three of the war that was supposed to last a few days, over what is ostensibly his ego alone.
The ruler of Ukraine is playing a game called “Defend my country from foreign invaders”.
You are saying it in a sarcastic way but for them it’s pretty much a game. Rulers don’t fight their wars they send peasants to die for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobilization_in_Ukraine#2024
“As of 26 April 2024, the Polish government has offered, and the Lithuania governments is considering, repatriating Ukrainian men living in their countries to Ukraine. So that they can be drafted into the Ukrainian military”
What do you mean “Sending them”? Send them where? The war is on their home soil. They don’t have to be “sent” anywhere. Even the guys who fought into Russia are doing so to get the Russians OUT of Ukraine.
And what do you mean Zelenskyy is sending them to die for “him”. The Ukrainian soldier aren’t dying for Zelenskyy. They’re fighting and dying for their friend, family, and countrymen raped and killed by foreign invaders.
What do you mean “Sending them”? Send them where? The war is on their home soil.
To the front that’s where they are fighting. Not sure if you have seen it but many front lines are now wastelands where nobody lives anymore. Soldiers get send there to fight over invisible lines on the map.
They’re fighting and dying for their friend, family, and countrymen raped and killed by foreign invaders.
A soldier and a member of the army fights for the government. Why do you think conscription is a thing?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobilization_in_Ukraine#2024
“Zelenskyy did not support a petition to allow men between the ages of 18 and 60 to leave the country abroad.”
The front where they’re fighting in on their home soil. They don’t need to be “sent there”, it’s their homeland. They’re not invisible lines in a map, it’s their land, their homes. The homes of their families, their friends, their community, their countrymen. They’re fighting for eachother. It doesn’t get any more noble than that. Nobody lives there anymore because of the foreign invaders. If they win the war, people can live there again. That’s literally what they’re fighting for, not “The government”.
The front where they’re fighting in on their home soil.
You are commenting in a thread that is about this war moving on russian soil.
They don’t need to be “sent there”, it’s their homeland.
Their homeland it’s not the front. Nobody lives in the front anymore, you can take a look at the many videos of combat footage available to see the destruction that got left behind. The land and homes got wrecked by both sides.
They’re fighting for eachother.
By definition a soldier of the army works and fight for the government. Anyone is free to fight for the reason they want but conscripts are forced to become soldiers and fight for the government.
The thread is about an operation on Russian soil, during a conflict exclusively over Ukrainian soil. One group operating just over the border in Russia in a defensive war doesn’t change the fact that the front line is in Ukraine. The objecting of the operation remains restoring the sovereignty of Ukraine.
Their homeland is in fact the front. Their homeland consists of the entire country of Ukraine. Even the forests and the fields. Even the ruins of their homes. Even the graves of their loved ones killed by Russian invaders. The homes may have been destroyed by Russia, but once the war is won the Ukraines can return there. That is the point.
