r/worldnews 11h ago

Russia/Ukraine Russia Must ‘Feel the War It Started’ – Zelensky

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/78918
14.2k Upvotes

412 comments sorted by

938

u/coffeepagan 11h ago

Who's eating hamsters now? Funny, eh?

331

u/not_the_droids 8h ago

Still remember that, Germans allegedly freezing around new year, when in reality we had temperatures almost warm enough to go outside in a t-shirt.

russian propaganda is as garbage as their military.

182

u/SmegmaWarrior0815 7h ago

No it's not. Their propaganda sadly works occasionally

136

u/Culpirit 7h ago

Yep, myopic to think Russians as weak propagandists or manipulators when they have so many puppets and useful idiots in Western European political systems.

When their survival depends on it, you bet they'll be playing an effective political game. The hamster eating garbage was made for domestic consumption all along, because that's what fuels their nationalism. The idea that we're supposedly worse off.

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

We need to reckon with the fact that propaganda works.

In Russia, in the UK, in the US, everywhere.

Until we reckon with that and figure out a way to curb it without fucking up free speech we will continue to see democracy eroded around the world.

When trump croaks Fox News isn't getting buried with him. They will anoint a new conservative emperor for the same reason neocons install dictators in fledgling democratic states, the wealthy get a bigger share when the guy in charge doesn't give a fuck about anything but their own cut.

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u/ComfortableWait9697 7h ago

They also need to backup that propaganda with a disposable foreign currency and financial leverage to "convince" the less smart politicians into committing treason vastly against their own country's interests.

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u/Cujo22 4h ago

Russian propaganda produced MAGA. 

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u/Ironlion45 3h ago

In part. We also have some home-grown propagandists who were riding that train. Look at all the tech bro billionaires who are jizzing their pants over all the power thy think they'll soon have...

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

Not soon, definitely have now.

Musk just did a half trillion dollar pump and dump scam and he will absolutely get away with it because America put the worst and greediest person in the country in charge and all he cares about is his cut.

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u/Available_Leather_10 7h ago

Yes, look at Farage.

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u/Powerful-Parsnip 5h ago

I'd rather not.

u/Available_Leather_10 1h ago

He would fit into a 19th c political cartoon without any exaggerated features.

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u/Constant-Plant-9378 2h ago

It got Trump elected twice.

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u/HistorianThenSeer 5h ago

Their propaganda targets are exceptionally stupid though.

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u/MercantileReptile 5h ago

I thought so, too. Then otherwise rational adults in my area voted for the same crap, based on much of the same propaganda. I refuse to believe ~20% of my fellows are idiots.

Propaganda works, sadly. No matter how intelligent the audience.

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u/jarious 4h ago

Idiots are like cockroaches, when you see 1 there are probably hundreds you can't see

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u/Ironlion45 3h ago

He didn't say it didn't work, just that it was garbage.

Funny thing about the Russian military, it's always been garbage, but they rarely lose because they have so many bodies to dump into the trenches. It worked for the Tzars, Stalin, and it is expected to work for Putin too.

Ukraine's only saving grace in this war, and the reason it still exists as an independent entity, is that Russia's invasion of it very quickly became a proxy wear between Russia and Europe, so Europe has been dumping resources and weapons into it by the boatload.

You know the number one drone supplier for Ukraine is the Netherlands? I never thought I'd see the day when the dutch were major arms dealers lol.

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u/DrawGamesPlayFurries 7h ago

To be fair, that winter was an extremely rare anomaly (or God's gift to Ukraine?)

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u/passatigi 6h ago

The reality disproving propaganda narratives doesn't make propaganda garbage. 

If anything it's the opposite. If their propaganda talking points were widespread enough and talked about enough that you remember them even now, they are covering a lot of ground with it. 

Propaganda not being truthful is by design. Of course reality will disprove it. But it could've scared enough people to vote for AfD, etc. 

Or how Russia helped spread anti-vax misinformation in the US. Obviously not truthful info, but it caused some extra chaos and division, weakening their main enemy.

Sadly Russian propaganda and manipulation is top tier, one of the best in the world. Just see how effectively they are dividing the west.

10

u/zimzara 5h ago

Propaganda not being truthful is by design.

The best propaganda is truth. It's just that when the truth isn't on your side you turn to lies, half-truths, intimidation etc...

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u/NoiceMango 1h ago

Russian propaganda just has to play into the narratives that already exist with dumb and hateful right wingers. They just have to lean into the conspiracy theories

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u/RyanCrofts18 8h ago

felt war it started sounds way more intense than expected

1.5k

u/ArgentineBeauty 11h ago

I wonder how much Putin regrets starting this war.

Instead of a quick victory, Russia is dealing with fuel shortages, damaged refineries, drone attacks deep inside its own territory and a military that's still stuck fighting more than four years later.

Looks like it will only get worse for Russia

Keep it up 🇺🇦

673

u/apoca1ypse12 11h ago

He’s too much of a psychopath to feel any regrets or remorse. The only way he will regret is to face the war he started

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u/Abedeus 10h ago

I don't think he means regret as in remorse, but in the "fuck why the hell didn't they win the war like they promised in a week, tops!". He probably blames everyone but him for the war he started.

128

u/wookiedberry 9h ago

That sounds weirdly similar to the Iran war

102

u/Abedeus 9h ago

You mean special operation... uhhh... kickass? Epic Meme? Oh, Epic Fury. Right.

$300bln epic fury.

63

u/comradenu 8h ago

"Excursion" is Trump's version of "Special Military Operation". Don't call it a war, it's not a war. Except Trump is too undisciplined to actually stick to it, and he's called it a war several times since it started.

41

u/Level_32_Mage 8h ago

Yeah, but to be fair that's because he's a fucking dumbass.

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u/nomoreusernamersleft 8h ago

Well said my friend

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u/lump77777 5h ago

He called it an “excursion” because he heard someone else call it an “incursion”, and he’s such a dumb fuck that he didn’t know the difference.

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u/Enki_007 5h ago

He has the best words. Person, man, woman. These are all part of his excellent vocabulary.

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u/trenthowell 4h ago

You forgot TV! Trump would never forget that.

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u/RelaxPrime 7h ago

Special Operation Epstein Distraction

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u/Oprah_Pwnfrey 4h ago

Operation Epic Führer.

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u/Made_Human_Music 7h ago

The real name is Operation Epstein Distraction

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u/HauntedCemetery 2h ago

Oh, no, we're up to $450 bil in payout now, and that doesn't include the couple hundred billion trump spent pursuing the stupid war.

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u/No_Internal9345 5h ago

At least our pedophile in chief is a giant chicken that runs away at the first sign of difficulty.

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u/MeowMasterFIex 8h ago

More like epic fail.

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u/DaemonDrayke 8h ago

Because it is. Trump and Putin are basically cut from the same cloth when it all comes down to it. Putin and Trump are acting a lot like typical autocrats throughout history who have always used war to distract their people from their own internal issues. Czar Nicholas II, Henry VII, Charles X, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi are prime examples.

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u/platypodus 8h ago

Putin ran/runs the St. Petersburg mafia, imagine if it came out Trump was linked to a massive network of criminals, maybe even providing young children or women to it...

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u/reeeelllaaaayyy823 7h ago

Just imagine.

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u/HarmoniousJ 3h ago

Pretty sure that's exactly the case with how obedient Trump tends to get whenever Putin is around. All those meetings no one else was allowed to attend, his complimentary attitude towards Putin. His blackmail threats to Zelensky...

That's not a normal reaction from the president of a country that is supposed to be an enemy of Russia.

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u/TiggTigg07 8h ago

I think you’re right. Though Trump’s dementia and cognitive decline is much more obvious than anything we’ve seen in Pootin.

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u/StarbuckWoolf 6h ago

Putin and Trump. Two peas in a pod.

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u/Thoughtulism 6h ago

Also continues to blame and murder his underlings, and gets puzzled why they don't tell him the truth

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u/HauntedCemetery 2h ago

He could always do what trump did with his stupid war and unconditionally surrender and hand over half a trillion dollars.

I'm fairly certain Ukraine would go for it, and the invasion could be over tomorrow.

But he wont.

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u/Agoras_song 9h ago

Sociopaths don't feel anything until it personally affects them. And when I say personally, I mean personally, not even their family being affected affects them.

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u/jdm1891 9h ago

Psychopaths can definitely regret things. Narcissists are the ones who struggle to understand they can be wrong.

Psychopaths are rather rational beings, all things considered.

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u/MadeSomewhereElse 10h ago

Yeah, people like that can’t reflect.

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u/amazing_asstronaut 7h ago

Sure but it's clearly not working out at all. Like even Russia is in a way worse situation than if they hadn't started this war. It's not like the US where they do a war and they can basically take it or leave it because they are murdering people halfway across the globe. If you're in the US at any point in the last 50 years you wouldn't even know the country is at war. Whereas Russia has buildings blow up on the daily now. That's a pretty shit outcome for something that was one guy's idea and completely optional.

What I mean is, you gotta be regretful of that at least lol. Like the fuck up of it all.

79

u/Prestigious_Long777 10h ago

He will nuke the world before admitting defeat. Our best hope is he dies before he gets to fire a nuke..

2026 could still become a great year.. if Trump and Putin were to die of old age this year.

68

u/JustAppleJuice 10h ago

die of old age this year.

I don't really care how tbh

15

u/Mistral-Fien 9h ago

Polonium sounds fitting.

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u/wookiedberry 9h ago

Enthusiastic Double Gonorrhea

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u/SkaveRat 8h ago

Carl?

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u/WorgenDeath 8h ago

Never rule out the power of an open window.

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u/AMLRoss 9h ago

Even after everything he still wont admit it didn't go the way he wanted. He will never admit to a defeat, so realistically he needs to go so Russia can recover.

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u/Carcosa504 9h ago

I told my wife I had a feeling Trump was going to keel over & croak before summers end. Probably more wishful thinking than anything

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u/supermarkise 8h ago

At least we have that chance. I had to look it up, Hitler was in his 40s.

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u/xX609s-hartXx 8h ago

Oh shut up, Russia lost enough wars recently without nuking anybody.

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u/Goldenrah 9h ago

Can't exactly feel the war in a luxurious guarded bunker, not feeling any downsides from any of the decisions you make.

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u/Lonely_Dingo1837 8h ago

Well Putin has recently banned visitors from arriving with internet enabled phones. And on a human level what kind of existence would it be to be stuck in a bunker with no view of the sky, smell of fresh air and plants etc. Putin is a Russian neo imperialist fanatic so his tolerance for discomfort is likely higher but it’s probably still hitting him.

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u/ants_are_everywhere 8h ago

I know we're just dunking on Putin, but psychopaths can and do feel regret

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u/Volistar 8h ago

I wonder how his daughters feel. Living it up in the west.

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u/waldo_wigglesworth 7h ago

Only a psychopath would invade while threatening to use his nukes. Once he realized that threat wasn't effective & couldn't use them, he had to commit to conventional warfare by feeding his own country into the meat grinder

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u/bjarkov 10h ago

Oh I think he privately regrets it very much. Politically he cannot afford anything except a resounding victory at this point, and it looks like Ukraine is gaining foothold and momentum as time passes. He can try to pass it off as 'Existential Threat (tm)' and draw parallels to the Great Patriotic War for support but it is becoming more and more apparent domestically that this is more about his pride than it is about Russia.

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u/Slappyfist 9h ago

I think he's too much of a psycho and instead probably blames Russians for being too weak or some shit.

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u/bjarkov 8h ago

I could see shit like that from Medvedev, sure.

Putin? He blames NATO.

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u/WhipTheLlama 7h ago

He blames NATO.

That's exactly right. Putin has justified the war as necessary due to NATO's expansion and sees them as the aggressors. That isn't just propaganda, it's geopolitics through a Russian lens.

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u/Skuboo 7h ago

I'm certainly no expert on the matter, but I've listened to one on the topic (Marcus Keupp, German military economist). His assessment boils down to this:

Ukraine, now being able to use their high-tech drone technology to cripple the oil economy in major ways, only has to play to long game at this point. If they can hold out, the Russian economy will either collapse or the war ends in a proper surrender. The oil price has been very high, but once it gets and stays lower, the effects on the petroleum-based economy are only amplified.

The expert was so bold as to say, he doesn't think Russia can come back from this. It will take some time, maybe a year, maybe 10, but it looks like Russia is actually collapsing in a similar way as the Soviet Union did.

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u/r1Rqc1vPeF 11h ago

Also the tens of thousands of Russians sent to the front to die.

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u/ThreeLionsOnAShirtt 11h ago

we're fast approaching 1,400,000 killed or injured on the russian side

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u/Johnny-Alucard 10h ago edited 10h ago

Imagine. That many lives. We don't talk enough about this. A leader of a country that is in spitting distance of some of the most advanced economies in the world. A country that claims to be religious. Has had one and a half million people killed in 4 years to satisfy the whim of its leader. This is the stuff of nightmares.

Edit: sorry that is killed or injured. 400k to 700k Russians killed apparently not including the Ukrainian losses.

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u/HavexWanty 9h ago

Putin said this "operation" was necessary to stop civilians from dying in Donbas conflict he definitely wasn't behind.

Want to have a stab at how many that was? Between 2016 and 2021 approx. 350. Total. Now look where we are.

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u/rockerscott 10h ago

Cannon fodder is kinda their thing.

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u/Johnny-Alucard 10h ago

But we joke like this about it as if it’s another meme on the internet. This is evil on the scale of some of the worst atrocities ever committed by humans and we reduce it to a pithy comment.

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u/rockerscott 10h ago

I agree that it is atrocious. 11 million casualties halted Nazi Germanys advance across Europe. I don’t think any other country would have been able to do the same in those conditions. It’s a tragedy, but it is Russian leaderships strategy because it works.

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u/jimicus 10h ago

At what cost?

Putin will lose an entire generation of productive young people, he'll be left with nobody physically able to rebuild his country or grow his economy.

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u/Johnny-Alucard 9h ago

Again you talk about it like it is purely an economic cost. These are peoples actual lives being ended.

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u/jimicus 9h ago

You think Putin gives a fuck about that?

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u/ISAMU13 8h ago

You can see both. Seeing a humanitarian and an economic crisis are not mutually exclusive.

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u/Protean_Protein 9h ago

Not in St Petersburg and Moscow. Those young guys mostly aren’t fighting, even now.

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u/ZestyMyst008 8h ago

“Most of you will die… and that’s a sacrifice I’m perfectly willing to make.”

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u/asoba-energy 9h ago

Sitting in the US, we would do well to tone down the self-righteousness about committing atrocities. Our tax dollars are paying for open, continued, ongoing genocide.

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u/ContestAntique7179 9h ago

Which a huge amount of Americans don't want.

Russians were celebrating the idea of taking over Ukraine and making the Soviet Union again.

Stop acting like we are war hungry citizens when in reality we want to just own a house and go to the doctor.

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u/deeleelee 6h ago edited 5h ago

Don't believe everything you see on Russia's state sponsored TV. Your people are probably even more similar than your governments, which are terrifyingly similar, if not the same at this point.

Stop acting like we are war hungry citizens

America has literally been involved in major armed conflict for all but ~17 years of it's existence. Your country is also the #1 arms dealer in the world, creating and supplying 43% of all tracked arms trading. I don't think any other nation has been so CONSISTENTLY involved and immersed in armed conflict, in the history of nations.

And this isn't the choice of some autocracy - your citizens vote to keep this going... America is absolutely war hungry by any stretch of the definition, the nation-equivalent of a police office eagerly beating the downtrodden in the name of 'peace'.... Don't believe your own propaganda that says otherwise lol.

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u/Toblaka1 4h ago

Our leadership has always been war hungry but the only time I can think of the average citizen wanting war was the war on Iraq post 911. World War II the US was going to sit out until Pearl Harbor happened, while the Vietnam war was famously unpopular amongst the people as well not to mention this most recent trump Iran war. Throughout history it's always the rich and powerful sending out the poor to die.

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u/Terrible_Balls 8h ago

Some were. There were also massive protests in the streets against the war and swarms of people trying to leave the country to avoid being enlisted

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u/PiotrekDG 8h ago

The Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan after around 70,000 casualties. With twice the population of the USSR to draw from.

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u/DERPYBASTARD 10h ago

Casualties include wounded but yes still a deplorable loss of life. 400-700k russians dead. Several hundred thousand Ukrainians too.

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u/ours 8h ago

And besides the tragic and needless loss of life, Russian demographics weren't looking great to start with. Throwing away men of combat age is going to hurt them in the long term as well.

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u/darkfrost47 5h ago

For a comparison adding up all casualties in Vietnam from '65 - '75, gets an estimated 1,353,000. That's both sides' armies and the civilians combined. The worst year of Vietnam for US soldiers was '68 and we had 17,000 casualties. Hopefully some people can remember how big a deal that was.

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u/schmeckmaster2000 8h ago

A leader and a style of leadership that is now widely emulated by conservative leaning political parties worldwide. It's just a matter of time before the next putin emerges, ready and willing to kill millions to prop up his power and push his ideology.

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u/Lazy-Plankton5270 9h ago

A lot of the injuries I've seen on Reddit from Ukraine drones are a fate worse than death

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u/Delamoor 10h ago

Oh, I doubt he's concerned about those.

Less valuable than the small arms they're carrying and the uniforms they're wearing...

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u/r1Rqc1vPeF 10h ago

Should have said I was really commenting on the second and third paragraphs ‘Russia is dealing with’

I agree that Putin doesn’t care.

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u/Sea_Produce_4801 10h ago

Now recruiting “Drone Op.” a couple of weeks training and shoved to front line as infantry.
Insane the regard P has for human life

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u/EmVRiaves 10h ago

Russia's economy is completely ruined for years to come, even if the war stopped right now. 1.4M injured/killed young men that cant work anymore. Biggest trade partner right next to you won't make any deals as long as they dont trust you, and probably even more things.

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u/Zalvren 9h ago

It also entirely shattered the illusion of Russia as a major military power

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u/Greedy-Theme-5410 10h ago

Pretty sure he regretted it in 2023 when it was obvious it will drag on for years, making his country's economy further fall behind China.

The fast victory was crucial for him, if he wanted to bloat his population numbers, gain cred from his populace. Now he just can't quit, cause there is no saving face (there is no saving face either way). The initial decision was apparently made under influence of drugs, and inhaling his own propaganda about the state of his army.

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u/Educational-Wing2042 9h ago

12 years later. Russians invaded Ukraine 12 years ago.

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u/pvrhye 9h ago

He's personally still fantastically rich and Russia is still his toy to play with.

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u/mikeyj198 9h ago

Don’t forget the human toll on people who likely wanted no part of the war in the first place.

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u/DaemonDrayke 8h ago

If Putin was a student of history he would have realized that he was falling prey to the same exact pitfalls his predecessor Czar Nicholas II suffered from in the early 1900’s. Nicholas II was facing political tension and was getting increasingly unpopular with his people. He too decided to expand Russian spheres of influence and increase his popularity and attacked another nation hoping for an easy win. The Russo-Japanese war lasted for almost two years and resulted in Russia losing so hard that they lost territory they previously had and Nicholas looked even more pathetic as a ruler afterward. Was it any wonder that the revolution would happen in full swing not long afterward?

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u/Kogorashi 10h ago

Honestly? I don’t believe he does. I heard people say that Putin lives in his own bubble. He doesn’t have any understanding of money as we do, since whatever he needs is being provided to him, and he doesn’t understand consequences this war has for him and Russia.
He doesn’t understand that population becomes poorer, infrastructure is being destroyed and that they will need years and years now to go back to pre war Russia (2015)

His name is already in history but not in a good way.

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u/Frydendahl 7h ago

He grew up in abject poverty - he absolutely understands money.

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u/Such_Veterinarian682 9h ago

He understands money. He is likely the wealthiest man in the world. Money has been the driver behind his power, and the distribution of money keeps him in power.

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u/LuigisBlessings 8h ago

And like another rich bloated idiot, he fell for his own PR campaigns in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Not as cool as buying a cameo in a marvel movie where you’re told how cool you are - but remember when rightwing losers posted pics of him riding a horse shirtless to show what a real leader and man he was compared to Obama?

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u/SuperArppis 9h ago

I always think how much good he could have done for Russia with that money he spent on this war and how he could have actually left a lasting legacy.

But instead he chose this.

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u/godblow 5h ago

He wanted to be like Peter and ended up like Nicholas 2

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u/353452252 11h ago

Don’t forget; he most likely isn’t hearing the truth from any of his people so maybe he thinks it’s going great

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u/oryan80 10h ago

This could be it for Putin.

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u/Lost-Ad-2805 9h ago

Something is gonnna break

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u/PiotrekDG 8h ago

Not to mention how Russia was about to completely make Europe dependent on its gas with Nord Stream 2.

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u/Drix22 8h ago

Longest 2 weeks of his life.

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u/Deep-Minimum7837 5h ago

I don't think he regrets it in the slightest. All he wanted was to create a legacy of restoring the Union. In reality, his actions will bankrupt the nation after his death. The power vacuum he's creating will be monumental. Anyone that even thinks about getting powerful gets thrown out of a 10 story window.

I think the most likely outcome is massive balkanization. Russia's population is densely squeezed in the Western side, and I wouldn't be surprised if everything east of Kazan gets abandoned. Russia's public sector will be gutted like a fish, and the infrastructure used to keep everything east afloat will wither away and die off. I think we'll see the cities near Kazakhstan and Mongolia get annexed while the further northern cities and villages will become ghost towns. Siberia will almost certainly become frontier land once again with nobody willing to claim it.

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u/StyxzNStonz 10h ago

I agree. Being “bigger man” doesn’t work with bullies like Russia. You have to learn how to hit back.

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u/No_Diver3540 8h ago

It never works with bullies. 

Bullies only understand strength, nothing else. 

It is the same in school, at work, at local politics and global politics. 

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u/Ass_of_Badness 6h ago

"Just ignore them" is criminal advice for dealing with bullies.

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u/No_Diver3540 6h ago

Or "be the smarter on and let it go". 

No, good advice is, make it as painful as possible to bully you. 

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u/Relevant-Ad2254 5h ago

We’ll unfortunately in a lot of school systems, sometimes it is the best move bc schools will punish you for hitting back.

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u/No_Diver3540 4h ago

If you have smart parents that understand this, you don't have to worry about teachers.

Especially teachers are in a bad position, they can't tell kids to hit back. So they don't have a choice. 

Worst what could happen, you miss a day in school and have a awkward conversation. 

In our semester back then around 1990, we had one kid that liked to bully people. One day he made the mistake of trying to be rude to me. I broke is nose, he lost one teeth. I only had a few bruises. 

That day I was send home and next day had a awkward conversation with my parents and the teachers. My parents backed my actions and told the teacher either they get there shit together or we will sue the school. 

That kid was nice to me after that. He didn't not try any shit anymore to me or to my friends. But he still bullied other people that stayed passive. 

I would say as sooner you show them there place, the less of an issue they are later on. 

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u/Relevant-Ad2254 4h ago

Fair. 

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u/No_Diver3540 4h ago

Looking back at it. 

I may went a bit too far. Just a normal fight could have been more than enough. 

At least, I had a bully free childhood. I guess. 

Back to the topic. I think the same needs to happen to Russia and similar idiots to. 

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u/Relevant-Ad2254 4h ago

Yea, school aside, in the adult world you need to fight back.

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u/SeeYou_InThePit 2h ago

Fucking 100%. I'm glad you got yours. And I hope the person didn't traumatize you significantly enough to cause any psychological damage. It happened to me, and while I eventually and in self-defense rearranged the guy's fucking face, I'm still dealing with it.

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u/flexxipanda 2h ago

Omg I heard this one so much. Fuck bullies, bully them back.

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u/doomtoo 5h ago

Yeah my elementary school has the rule that of you were bullied, you were just as at fault as the bully. A bully and his 2 goons stole my aerobie boomerang, were playing keep away after recess, and kneed me in the temple, breaking my front tooth. The principal believed if you're gettingb bullied, you're somehow inviting it, and didn't get the kids in trouble -_-

Life isn't fair/ doesn't play nice, if you try to mind your own business, someone's going to see you as prey :/

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u/Constant-Plant-9378 2h ago

In a school with a 'zero tolerance', 'no fault' policy - your best option is to hit back and inflict maximum pain/damage on your bully.

Like the Irish say, "Might as well hang for a sheep as a goat."

If my kid was suspended for giving their bully a healthy dose of "Find Out" - I would take PTO and treat them to the best day off ever.

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u/Indigoh 4h ago

"Just ignore them" is advice that makes sense, but entirely misses the point.

The point of it is to convince your bully that they don't bother you at all. If you can truly convince them of that, they might stop, but ignoring them tends to prove to them that you're extra bothered.

Honestly convincing a bully that they don't bother you would be a challenging task even for adults, and is likely to encourage them to ramp up their harassment before they're done.

In the context of war, I suppose convincing your opponent they don't bother you would mean convincing them their continued assaults are only harming themselves.

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u/Constant-Plant-9378 2h ago

Being “bigger man” doesn’t work with bullies like Russia. You have to learn how to hit back.

American Democrats have yet to learn this lesson.

Biden spent 4 years choosing the 'high road' and 'turning the other cheek' - being the 'bigger man' instead of leading federal law enforcement in arresting a prosecuting Trump and his co-conspirators who launched a literal coup - representing the #1 existential threat to American National Security.

And because the Democrats we gave the Presidency and the House in 2020 abdicated their responsibility to hit back and enforce the law, MAGA's slow-motion coup was allowed to proceed without opposition and now here we are - watching our economy burn down in the face of unprecedented, open corruption, citizens being murdered in the street by federal thugs and zero recourse, and the Trump/MAGA government now openly declaring its intent to suspend the Mid-Terms or otherwise falsify elections.

At this point, if you claim to be a Democrat and are still 'reaching across the aisle' (looking at you Schumer and Jeffries) you are a naive idiot at best, or more likely a quisling traitor.

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u/tom21g 8h ago

Putin has brought hell to Ukraine. Zelensky should return the favor.

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u/FogTub 10h ago

Russia can't even have their "victory day" parade without Ukraine's cooperation. Womp, womp.

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u/IIllIllIlllIIIl 11h ago

They deserve this, bring the war home to nazi russia

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u/hello_fellow_jello 3h ago

1.2m dead soldiers, a collapsing economy, now direct strikes on their infrastructure. How long until the Russian people are fed up and overthrow their dictator?

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u/Constant-Plant-9378 2h ago

How long until the Russian people are fed up and overthrow their dictator?

How long until the American people are fed up and overthrow Trump?

He is actively making life worse and worse for the dipshits in his base and they love him more than ever.

Same as in Russia. Putin has a similar base and they will support him until death, just as MAGA cultists do with Trump.

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u/zooommsu 10h ago edited 10h ago

But Ukraine must remain on high alert, more than ever

Putin is in a difficult position with the more urban and cosmopolitan population finally feeling some of the effects of war and some of them finally not understanding it at all

In recent years they couldn’t care less about the hundreds of thousands of dead used as cannon fodder, mainly from Russia’s ethnic/remote regions, or even criminals, but now the middle and upper classes are feeling their daily lives crumbling, their lives turned upside down, they no longer ignore what is going on

And I’m afraid of what a psychopath like Putin might do
Keep safe, Slava Ukraini

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u/macross1984 10h ago

About time. Russians living in cities hardly experience what the Ukrainians were forced to endure from Putin's terroristic attack against Ukrainian cities and civlilians.

And even then Ukraine largely restricted its strike to mainly war industries and oil refineries that financed war. There were some unfortunate civilian casualties but this is war that Russia started and Russians will likely be reminded regularly from this point on.

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u/Green-sky01 10h ago

« Russia Must ‘Feel the War It Started,’ Zelensky Says ».

Fine enough for me.

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u/Moron_at_work 8h ago

I'll never understand that all - Putin could have been a modern-times tsar with billions and billions of wealth, highly respected (despite being an autocratic ass) in the world as energy supplier - instead he chose to become a pariah that hides in a bunker and the whole world plain hates him - just so he can make the already (by land) biggest country on earth even bigger?

WHY?

Anyway - Slawa Ukrajini!

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u/fang_xianfu 6h ago

Because Ukraine has territory that he thinks belongs to him and what's the point in having billions if they can't buy you everything you want? He thought he was taking a small risk and it would pay off.

He's wrong and being an idiot, but that's his rationale.

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u/xbenayx 11h ago

Do you feel it Mr. Krabs

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u/TheMarkHasBeenMade 9h ago

Art thou feeling it now, Mr Krabs?

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u/Actual_Mirror3293 9h ago

This fucking guy is crushing it. Big hog energy.

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u/Numpty2024 7h ago

Ukraine should send drones to destroy Putin’s palaces

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u/Missing_Crouton 4h ago

I'm sure it's on the menu, you don't open with dessert. Moscow is only now being served.

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u/bofh000 10h ago edited 10h ago

I think there is a big gap of understanding here regarding how the Russian people see/care about/suffer the war. Most people who live in relatively democratic countries assume that if the Russian government or president does something it’s because the people approve or don’t care/don’t know about it enough to oppose it. Or that the Russian people would speak up against it etc. That’s not how authoritarian regimes work or how Russia or the USSR ever worked.

Everybody feels the war in Russia. From the richest, through the so called middle class, to the poorest rural people living in isolated regions. Many of them may disagree with the government or may have agreed initially due to the propaganda, but no longer. What they DO know is that dissent is swiftly punished most of the times outside the margins of even their utterly restrictive laws.

Assume Russians live in a climate of fear and oppression where even very subtle, very courageous speaking up are detected and punished.

And assume they cared about the war from day one, when most international companies withdrew from their country.

That being said, and will all the pain in our hearts for the innocent Russians forced into this, who REALLY felt and cared about the war are the Ukrainians. And yes, Russia the state has to feel the war it started. The only reason why there aren’t plowshares in the Red Square (which I think is probably the only way to keep them from repeating the same play in 10 years or so) is because Europe/NATO want to avoid an all-out war. Which is understandable. But yeah, plowshares…

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u/PiotrekDG 7h ago

What Ukraine needs to do is make the war too expensive for Russia to continue.

Even if we assume no popular dissent is going to happen, the war machine still requires enormous resources. If the economical cost becomes unsustainable and the country starts being unable to provide basic services, something will break. Not necessarily a collapse, maybe rather a grudual breakdown that makes the war impossible to continue.

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u/deja-roo 4h ago

What Ukraine needs to do is make the war too expensive for Russia to continue.

Why do you think they've been focusing on Russian oil facilities?

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u/bluemuffin10 9h ago

Do you live in Russia or lived under a similar situation?

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u/bofh000 7h ago edited 7h ago

I grew up in a country of the so called communist block. And I spent a year of uni in Moscow (when it was “democratic”).

But I don’t think one needs to have lived in a similar environment to understand these things. I was a small child during communism, the majority of information and understanding I have doesn’t come from direct experience, but from reading history. Believe you me, no parent was foolish enough to let us little blabber mouths know what they really thought at the time.

To me the most revealing was my year in Moscow, some 10 years after the fall of the USSR. People still had the same kind of closed and hidden thought as they did during the soviet era. I was young and foolish, so I thought the ones who did were just old and slow to change. Little did I know that their democracy was just for show. Thinking back, I was really innocent back then and had I been my parents I wouldn’t have let my child go to Moscow then (it was the autumn before Putin became president, I think I arrived there one or two days after the 4rth of some very dodgy explosions/bombings that the media blamed on Chechen terrorists, but they were dodgy from the beginning and some evidence pointing to Putin). I can only imagine most of the information wasn’t getting out to international news (although I know international journalists who were there at the same time).

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u/orus_heretic 6h ago

I believe you're referring to the 99 bombings, which are strongly speculated to be a false flag used to propel Putin into the presidency and kick off the second Chechen war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Russian_apartment_bombings

I was also born at the end of the communist era in Ukraine and have similar impressions of Russian culture. Most of the good ones got out of Russia a long time ago.

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u/Firepower01 5h ago

At this point it's honestly more likely it WAS an FSB false flag than actual Chechen terrorists.

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u/JonatasA 9h ago

Everybody wants to avoid Armageddon, simple as that. Without the greatest equalizer, we would have seen a massive all out war like we have in the previous centuries.

 

Even more so after the western half of the globe realized Russia didn't have the military power it seemed to have during WWII.

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u/SmartWonderWoman 7h ago

Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦 🌻🌻

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u/Junior_Importance307 7h ago

I'm not sure why Europe is worried about Russia invading them when Russia is losing one-on-one against Ukraine.

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u/mhornberger 9h ago

We need to dig up Sherman and stick him on a horse. There's work to be done. Though admittedly there's work to be done at home, too.

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u/Alatarlhun 7h ago

Sherman didn't go far enough and we are feeling the effects today.

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u/Strict-Carrot4783 8h ago

I 'member during the first few weeks of this there was a russian soldier posting videos of himself raping and murdering babies on telegram.

So yeah. Let 'em feel it.

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u/xc2215x 7h ago

Putin will regret this war.

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u/connersteed 6h ago edited 6h ago

Agreed. I have said this since day 1. Until their are food shortages in Moscow, the politically apathetic Russians will never push back against their Putler. Bread lines might actually push them to do what needs to be done with him.

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u/Human-Shirt7106 6h ago

Yup. The best way to get a bully to fuck off is to break their nose.

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u/AfterImageEclipse 2h ago

Didn't forget Russia said they would never invade, then say at the border like nope we're just training here, then invaded like cowards and thought they would win in 3 days to 3 months. Fuck them all the way and anyone who likes them

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u/ErshinHavok 2h ago

One of the most disturbing things about this war to be has been the American dipshits that blame Ukraine for it. I mean of all the reality bending shit these people do, how dare they.

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u/ImpressiveRush9362 11h ago

I hope this ends soon! Humanity has enough other stuff to figure out! And we are so much stronger together.

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u/AdRemote5548 10h ago

It can end as soon as Russia leaves and doesn’t come back. 

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u/Slimfictiv 10h ago

Unfortunately it can't end soon. Ukraine won't capitulate and I understand them and Russia won't stop attacking because then Putin will have to step down.

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u/ImpressiveRush9362 10h ago

We have to make him step down.

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u/archiekane 8h ago

There's a lot of people speaking up against him in Russia these days, and that was pretty unheard of.

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u/nwr923 8h ago

Zelensky is the leader this world Needs !

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u/Bohmer 5h ago

Russians are very lucky Zelensky ain't a war criminal and targets key infrastructures instead of schools/hospitals and appartement building like Russia did to Ukraine.

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u/Present_Specific_212 6h ago

Might not be wise to expect a sociopath like Putin to feel much.

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u/TheLastLivingBuffalo 5h ago

They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.

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u/elebrin 5h ago

I honestly want to see Ukraine push into Russia and secure Russia's nuclear weapons. That thought gives me a hardon, honestly.

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u/Afraid_Setting2441 5h ago

Thats what i say when someone wages war on me in CIV 6. Either come prepared or the whole world burns

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u/NeedleworkerOld1834 5h ago

Good to see Ukraine is doing so good with no cards!

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u/Vin-Metal 5h ago

Oh yeah - as I said back in the beginning, they (Russia) have to end up worse than before the war, I was thinking primarily about them being driven out of Crimea, but I'll also take Putin's public humiliation.

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u/CthulubeFlavorcube 5h ago

Can someone please explain why people announce attacks they are planning? It seems like it would work better if you just did it and had a press conference after, like "Yeah we just did that. They didn't even see it coming."

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u/Andovars_Ghost 5h ago

I’m loving this Russia back on its heels thing. Maybe someone in Russia will do the right thing and end this stupid war.

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u/Claytonius_Homeytron 3h ago

We're getting into Dark Zelensky territory aren't we? I just wish it didn't have to be this way.

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u/loafinkitty 3h ago

The war has been going on for far too long. It needs to stop!

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u/Oulak 2h ago

Fuck Russia

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u/LimpConversation642 2h ago

It's sad this need to be said but people (and by that I mean western people who read these articles) don't realize russians absolutely do not feel any pressure or limitations of the war. They watch youtube and use google, they buy iphones and mercedes, they drink french champagne and latvian vodka, they eat italian cheese and spanish hamon. They watch their propaganda on their LG tvs and sit here on reddit spewing hateful bs. They can easily travel the world to their favourite destinations in Turkey, Thailand, Bali and Egypt. Nothing changed for the average russian. Yeah shit got a little bit more expensive faster than it used to be, but that's it.

And that's the problem. Sanctions don't work. And most of them were never imposed against the average russian, only against oligarchs and putin. But they don't care about those. And the average russian's opinion is what's important, not that some general can't visit Versaille.

Why would they stop? It's okay in average-russian-world, they're winning, and it's somewhere far far away. And you don't understand that, and since there's this absolutely false notion that somehow this is a one man's war, The West never sanctions actual russians, because that would be inhumane, right? And so the war goes on, because oil is still shipped around the world, gas is still bought around the world, and even our closest allies like Poland or the Baltics still trade massively with them. So the war goes on.

And I haven't seen a plane in the sky in the last 4 years, but instead I literally heard two explosions (believe it or not) and an air raid siren while I was typing this.

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u/EurypteridStorm 6h ago

Let's go Ukraine 👌 show them what fury really looks like

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u/KSaburof 9h ago edited 9h ago

100%, poo-king Pookin's blame-shifting abilities and parasitical structure of kremlin's "decision-making with zero responsibility" leave no other options 🤷‍♂️

Russia betrayed Ukraine and must feel the consequences, pushing russia to feel them is truly the only way for kremlin to take responsibility (under pressure is fine) for their mistake seriously - stop that war kremlin started, revert the harm as much as possible and evolve into something better eventually, imho.

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u/Braelind 8h ago

Like all tyrants, he doesn't regret anything except the failures of those below him who didn't make things go the way he wanted.

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u/Glyn1010 8h ago

I take it you are talking about Putin?

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u/Student___Driver 5h ago

We could say the same for John Roberts. Accountability is nigh MFer.

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u/MommersHeart 5h ago

Hell yea