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  • nevemsenki@kbin.social
    30·
    2 years ago

    2021: Russia is the 2nd strongest army in the world
    2022: Russie is the 2nd strongest army in Ukraine
    2023: Russia is the 2nd strongest army in Russia?

      • BOMBS@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 years ago

        more like “2024: Russia is second strongest economy in Russia.” The West is going to Marshall plan Russia to avoid this whole thing again in the future and from China getting a nice piece of it.

    • Icalasari@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      In Soviet Russia, government crush insurrection In Putin’s Russia, insurrection crush government

  • MrVilliam@lemmy.worldEnglish
    301·
    2 years ago

    We did it, Lemmy! We got so much engagement that a megathread was deemed necessary!

    • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.caEnglish
      8·
      2 years ago

      I really hope this leads to the end of Putin. It’s never going to happen until the Russians do it, and fuck it’s taking them a long time.

  • nevemsenki@kbin.social
    12·
    2 years ago

    Well this was unexpected…

    https://twitter.com/maks_nafo_fella/status/1672575672869371907?s=46&t=GOHXGZ0xA0G8kGCzzYvywQ

    “For the time being, in connection with the threat of the capture of Moscow, the Wagner PMC, the state administration bodies of the Russian Federation may be transferred to St. Petersburg. A number of high-ranking officials are already there” — rosZMI

    Earlier some government jets - including Putin’s - were noticed leaving Moskow.

    https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1672572380122607618?s=20

    What the heck is going on? That’s some pretty significant panic for an uprising of less than 25k people with little to no air- and armoured support.

    • BOMBS@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago

      Putin’s head is on the chopping block too! He almost got Moscow under siege. The dude has lost complete control over his country. He was on live TV clearly scared and indirectly pleading for Prigozhin to stop the advance. Putin might as well get his body-double to head out to Belarus too and fake his death. Both of them, Putin and Prigozhin, could go into hiding and hope no one finds out where they are for the next 10-15 years.

  • NevermindNoMind@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    2 years ago

    Ukrainian supporter’s incursions into Russia were said to bring the war home to the Russians. Most in Russia watch the Ukrainian war on state TV news shows, but other than some western chain stores being closed there hasn’t been a huge impact on their lives. The Ukrainian incursions made things a little more real for ordinary Russians, but that’s nothing compared to living in Moscow and bracing for a coming siege.

    Imagine your living in Washington DC and you wake up a Saturday to find out the mayor is ordering people stay off the roads as heavy weapons are being set up to defend the city from the Blackrock solders currently marching toward the city. Even if they backed down and the battle was ultimately avoided, I don’t think I’m feeling very confident about the federal government, military, or that Biden has a handle on things. I think that wakes you up from the illusion that your in a stable country, with institutions and leaders in control.

    • BOMBS@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      I was coming here to personalize it to Americans as well. This is wild! We lose our minds over the most relatively mildest issues. Imagine if Biden went on live TV scared and saying something like you described, indirectly pleading for Blackrock to stand down.

      I don’t live in DC, but I thought about my city in Florida. I’m in my house thinking, “What if we knew that a mercenary unit was on its way to come take over the city using military force?” and I really can’t imagine what the scene would be like. Would people be leaving the city en masse? Would there be neighbors outside in fatigues with flags and rifles? Would people start shooting into the air as a sign of bravado? Would Costco and Sam’s club be assaulted by civilians stocking up? What would the gas stations look like? Would everyone just assume that nothing will happen because the cops would have it under control? lol I seriously have no idea how the population of my city would react.

      I’m guessing today is a day people will be talking about in 10-20 years. Yo, the capital of a nuclear power, while at war with a neighboring country, was almost sieged by its own troops while the leader of that country went on live TV calling it a treasonous mutiny! I think I’m still in shock 😮 I think I need a support group or something lol

      • NevermindNoMind@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        2 years ago

        Yeah for real it’s really hard to wrap my mind around what Russians, especially those in Moscow, must be thinking. Blackrock was just the closest thing to an American version of Wagner I could think of, but it actuly fits kind of well. It’s 2014, the US is using Blackrock in Iraq, the leader is posting on social media about how the Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sucks, he then eventually posts that there are no WMDs and Bush got tricked into thinking that by the military. So our Blackrock guy puts all his troops on a boat, lands in Jacksonville or something, takes the city over, then marches to DC with little to no resistance, but kills US military personnel along the way. Bush does a scared prime time address then hops on airforce one and fucks off from DC. The Canadian prime minister brokers some agreement with the Blackrock guy, and the battle for DC is averted. Bush says nothing. It feels like some wild alternative fiction novel when I write it out, but Russians fucking lived it.

        And your point on how regular people are likely to respond is really good. People freak out about thunderstorms where I am. We didn’t have toilet paper during the early weeks of the pandemic. What does a 25k strong army marching to your basically defenseless city look like? Especially with basically no warning, shit started popping off on a Friday night, by Saturday morning the seige is coming.

        One thing that is different, and that makes it even harder to put myself in their shoes, is Russians understand and have tolerated a good level of corruption most of their lives. Their cynical to a depressing degree. So maybe all of this wouldn’t be as shocking to them as it would be to us. But that doesn’t mean they were ready for tank battles in their neighborhood. From what I understand Moscow is basically a modern city, full of educated knowledge workers, bureaucrats, and the like, a lot like DC. It’s really hard to think about how they are processing all of this.

    • Deestan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      Political philosopher Vlad Vexler commented that this had opened Russia up for politication. It didn’t fit most people’s imagination to talk about a Russia not led by Putin, but now that is possible to imagine and talk about.

      • BOMBS@lemmy.worldEnglish
        02·
        2 years ago

        I’m thinking there’s no way Putin is in charge anymore. He might be president on paper and come out on TV acting like he’s in charge, but he no longer has the power. Someone else is running the show, we just don’t know who. The coup worked, but publically replacing Putin would cause too much chaos, so they’re going to conduct a theatrical performance to keep the peace while things get rearranged behind the scenes. What do you think?

    • tburkhol@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      Remember that scene in Fury Road where Max and Furiosa realize the Citadel is undefended?

    • Rogue_General@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Just wanted to point out that this article is from February… not that the situation is any better for Russia now

  • easeKItMAn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 years ago

    Jason Jay Smart on Twitter: “BELARUS 🇧🇾 REBELLION Belarussian soldiers, who are supporting Ukraine 🇺🇦, have called on Belarussian citizens to unite behind what is transpiring with Wagner, to liberate Belarus of Russia 🇷🇺. https://t.co/nEPulH3jeC” / Twitter

    • Quacksalber@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      On the one hand, it shows how precarious the situation is for Putin: Prigozhin was able to bully him into Wagner staying its separate PMC and probably another contract for Prigozhin (maybe paid for by Lukashenka) to keep the money flowing.

      However it shows on the other hand how thuroughly Putin has broken the spirit of the russian people. A BBC commentator was speculating that Prigozhin was betting on others joining his “peaceful march”, but apparently too many russians are married to Putin’s propaganda.

      • BOMBS@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        bully him into Wagner staying its separate PMC

        From my understanding, the Wagner troops that didn’t rebel would be absorbed into the military, and those that did would have the charges dropped. That sounds like Wagner is over.

      • itsnotlupus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        Right, he just needs to stay away from, let’s see, tea, windows, letters, and door knobs.

        Well, that sounds easy enough.

  • nevemsenki@kbin.social
    6·
    2 years ago

    So, apparently the Russian MoD has blown up some fuel depots in Voronesh using attack helis (tweet says ammo, but it’s a fuel depot actually):
    https://twitter.com/Sarim_ali197/status/1672557129167675393?t=90nF4Ro-vKHJWhWL0LMVHw&s=19

    At the same time, Wagner are trying to shoot down said helicopters, here’s a near miss:
    https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1672557020984033280?s=46

    Things be getting spicy by the looks of it.

    • rbhfd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      I think Prigozjin was convinced that his days were numbered after the alledged Russian attack on Wagner troops so he decided to go out with a bang.

      Now he negotiated things to ensure his safety through Lukashenko.

      • Veraxus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        If this whole thing isn’t just Putin-backed theatrics, there will never be any such thing as “safety” for Prigozhin.

        I’m more inclined to believe that this is merely a narrative crafted by Putin to try to pin responsibility for his failure in Ukraine on his own military chiefs.

        One way or the other, we’ll see eventually.