Podcasts, videos, books and tweets of the week 83
Lots of important events recently
Russian soldiers
Two years on we have this portrait of Russian soldiers.
In two years of total war, Moscow has tried every trick to keep the death march going.
It held a draft, expanded state-sponsored mercenary companies, recruited convicted prisoners, integrated proxies from occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and forcibly conscripted Ukrainians in occupied territories and Ukrainian POWs.
Lately, Russia has seized on the simple, yet effective strategy of exploiting its people’s war-made hopelessness by providing military salaries that outbid any employer in town, in most towns.
Russian conscription
Adding more bodies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin's website showed on Sunday.
Russia can recruit amongst its third class citizens, as long as Muscovites and Leningraders aren’t touched, Putin isn’t threated.
Ukrainian conscription
Despite grifter myths, Ukraine has more soldiers in combat and is probably losing 1:1. Skill and courage cannot counter massive artillery superiority. Ukrainian soldiers are paying the price for Western laziness, complacency, treachery, and stupidity, the price is their lives. And despite what moron grifters think, Russians aren’t stupid and aren’t immune to learning. They certainly know how to use artillery.
Ukraine is facing enormous manpower problems, combined with just about the worst demographics in the world. The soldiers on the front are dad age. Not the usual 18-21 year olds of war. Up to now Ukraine hasn’t been conscripting anybody even post university age but this has changed: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that will lower the country’s minimum conscription age from 27 to 25, potentially boosting the number of men available to fight Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine has 28 million people in free areas. 28. Russia has more than 5 times the population and better demographics, especially among the people ‘real’ Russians don’t mind dying.
Ukraine could have won the war by now - with proper Western aid. Or it could at least be better equipped than Russia, replacing men with steel. But it isn’t.
That’s the fault of Biden not providing enough aid to win the war early on, in case Putin got toppled. Now its the fault of Europe not stepping up to provide weaponry while Republicans do their traitor Trump dance in the USA.
Putin is now winning.
All the bravery, skill and passion in the world won’t win against boom boom.
Remember everybody laughing at Russiam especially buying weapons from North Korea. Well, those NK shells helped take Bakhmut and Adivika.
In other news, Skynet is now killing people
The natural step from automated ‘target’ picking is adding autonomuous weapon firing and Israel will take that step, with its lack of control of its military. If it doesn’t, then China or Russia or the USA will take that step.
Lavender was developed by the Israel Defense Forces’ elite intelligence division, Unit 8200, which is comparable to the US’s National Security Agency or GCHQ in the UK.
Several of the sources described how, for certain categories of targets, the IDF applied pre-authorised allowances for the estimated number of civilians who could be killed before a strike was authorised.
Two sources said that during the early weeks of the war they were permitted to kill 15 or 20 civilians during airstrikes on low-ranking militants. Attacks on such targets were typically carried out using unguided munitions known as “dumb bombs”, the sources said, destroying entire homes and killing all their occupants.
Sorry counsel, railways matter
"In fact, Russia has been building a railway to connect [their own territory] with our southern temporarily occupied territories for more than a year now. This process is almost complete, and it could pose a serious problem for us.
Railways are mentioned in Phil’s article above.
Risk of collapse of front
John Ghetto Spencer, best friends with the man who has done more Black Lives Don’t Matter work than anybody on the planet except for Trump, is arguing on Twitter with Phil about Ukraine doing fine. I’ve been warning here and on Bluesky for ages about Ukraine suffering from lack of Western support. But here were are:
According to high-ranking Ukrainian officers, the military picture is grim and Russian generals could find success wherever they decide to focus their upcoming offensive.
Muzyka is worried about the front as well
Equally important is the fact that Russian gains occur despite reported Ukrainian counterattacks. As stated previously, while such an approach could hinder Russian advances in the short term, without sufficient manpower levels, Kyiv will likely consume its available resources at much higher rates, leading to much faster Russian gains in the long term. Ukrainian mobilisation is a beacon of hope, but work on legislation is progressing at a snail’s pace, which further harms Ukrainian ability to defend over the following months.
Russia full circle
While Gaza starves
Boeing hires spin doctors instead of engineers
Meet Boeing’s most important new hire - spin doctor master Declan Kelly who will engineer planes with words to stop them falling from the air and/or losing parts. Need to massage that reputation instead of building planes that don’t kill people. This company is rotten, no change,handshake madness.
Late April Fools! Or all year round.
Where they belong
Wokefather Bluesky thread
You don't offer allyship. You don't even think to call me Wokefather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my pronoun to be revealed, and you uh ask me to do murder, for money.
Official Fallout recipe
Tacos from Phil, pierogis, sauerkrauts and kielbasa from me, Ben brings the onions.
Minoru Suzuki won his mortal combat with Maki Itoh
and is now officially ‘the cutest in the world’.
Hey, if this was Asuka vs Minoru I wouldn’t post it. If you know, you know.
Our book is still out
Phil has a new book coming out soon
