Americans rage against government/media, believe everything they’re told about ‘Covid.’ Americans continue to rage against government/media, believe everything they’re told about Ukraine.
Ugh. Please don’t muck up this thread even more with antivax, anti-science conspiracy theories. We have a thread specifically for Covid.
Americans one day: “Government/media lying sacks of s***!” Americans next day: “Why would government/media lie about that ? What are you, some kind of self-appointed QAnon shaman ???”
Ukraine's Navy claims that Russia is using forbidden chemical weapons in Ukraine, including K-51 grenades with chloropicrin. Just when you think Russia can't possibly sink any lower in their prosecution of this war, they surprise you and . . . sink lower. Russians attack Armed Forces of Ukraine with banned chemical weapons Ukrainian Navy
It looks like colder weather is changing the war in Ukraine. It's making it harder for drones, with all their plastic parts, to operate effectively. In particular, Iranian drones are not able to handle the colder temperatures. Not sure which side is more reliant on drones, or if there are metal (aluminum?) drones available. The Joint Forces explains why Russia uses fewer Iranian drones
Russia is importing rebel fighters from CAR (Central African Republic) and using them to fight the war, but abandoning them in the field without food, water, or ammunition. African former rebels recruited as mercenaries by the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group have been abandoned in Ukraine, a report says
Shouldn't be all that surprising. Although it wasn't the Russians themselves, Putin and the boys have a history of enabling Syria's use of chemical weapons in the Assad's war against Syrian rebels. U.S. accuses Russia of helping Syria cover up chemical weapons use US: Russia blocks Syria chemical weapons use accountability Inquiry strikes blow to Russian denials of Syria chemical attack
From an American journalist living in Russia ... My acquaintance tells me that the hospital is now filled with wounded Russian soldiers from the Ukraine campaign, and in particular with maimed POWs who were released by the Ukrainian authorities in prisoner exchanges. The hospitalized include a good many traumatized soldiers who were savagely castrated or otherwise disabled by their Ukrainian captors. If publicized, these cases would be far more inflammatory in broad Russian society than the horrendous video which circulated in social media a week ago showing the brutal execution of a dozen disarmed Russian POWs by jubilant Ukrainian soldiers. Clearly, the Kremlin is holding this back, lest detailed knowledge of the Ukrainian brutality unleash violent emotions in the Russian public. In these circumstances, I call attention to the very difficult balancing act required of the Russian President. The man has nerves of steel. He is surely under great pressure from the patriotic hard-liners in the Kremlin who are au courant about the castrations and other evidence of Ukrainian depravity. One nod from Vladimir Vladimirovich and Kiev would be leveled to the ground in a matter of hours. It is tragic that Washington and Brussels confuse this restraint with incompetence, fear and other nonsense.
Putin's cronies are getting scared of war crime trials after Russia capitulates in Ukraine. Things are getting desperate in Moscow. Putin Cronies Resort to Begging on Live TV Over War Failures
Russia ruined Bayraktar’s image ... Bayraktar TB2 in Ukraine practically doesn't fly, no new deliveries
New poll in Russia: only 25% of Russians support the war, down from 57% in July. At this rate, in another five months, only Putin will support this war. Only 25% of Russians support war, poll shows; Ukraine wants price cap on Russian oil cut in half: Live updates
^ Meduza Latvia-based, virulently anti-Putin and is thought to be funded by an anti-Putin oligarch ... Putin approval nearly 80%, Russians despise the US ... Indicators As of October support for war robust ... Conflict with Ukraine: October 2022
And while Russians are stiffened in their resolve and prepared for a long war ... Americans are growing tired of war ... Survey: Americans want to scale back military entanglements - Responsible Statecraft
More from Doctorow about the mood on the ground in Russia ... “What we do read and hear is that more than 100 State Duma members have voluntarily signed up to fight and are now at the front in the Donbas. In the broader countryside, ranking officials in the provincial governments have done the same. That is to say, we hear about a personal commitment to defend the Motherland by people in power, which has no equivalent whatsoever in the political life of little Belgium or the great big USA. Why that is so would be an interesting question to put to Mr. Biden.”
More about the lie that the majority of people in the occupied regions are pro-Russian. The independence vote in 1991 (with 84% turnout) identified 17% of the population of Soviet Ukraine as ethnic Russians, yet 90% of the voters wanted to be independent of Russia. Basically, half the Russians in Ukraine didn't want anything to do with Russia. All 25 administrative regions voted to be independent. I suspect those percentages either haven't changed much, or have swung even further away from Russia since the invasion. Here’s Why Ukraine’s Independence Vote Exposes Putin’s Lies
