boldotter2 said:Europe lived through something similar—actually, much worse—for over 50 years. Everything the European Union represents today came about despite the actions of Nazi Germany and the USSR. We have everything we have because we didn't settle for "compromises."
The landings in Normandy, the burning of Dresden, and the reunification of Germany weren't "compromises." The collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR certainly wasn't either.
I mean, look, it was the Cold War, right? Even if things didn't actually get "hot" over in Europe back then, everyone pretty much knew exactly where one side's backyard ended and the other's began. It was all about those clearly defined spheres of influence.
boldotter2 said:Look, I know nuclear weapons are scary, but we've already dealt with contamination before. Back in the 50s and 60s, the world didn't suddenly slide into a new ice age. For instance, those American thermonuclear tests in the 50s leaked radiation across half the Pacific—even reaching Japan, where they actually found traces while cleaning up Fukushima. And that Soviet Tsar bomb? That 50-megaton beast probably contaminated the whole planet.
There have been about 2,000 nuclear tests globally, and a huge chunk of them were atmospheric. I guess we’re pretty small targets, and honestly, we've already survived a bit of a nuclear war in terms of fallout.
The whole nuclear winter scenario is basically built on the absolute worst-case nightmare: both superpowers dumping their entire arsenals at once during an era when those stockpiles were seven times larger than what we have today. So, does it necessarily have to be the total apocalypse Sagan described—you know, practically the end of all life on Earth?—maybe not, but it would certainly mean the end of modern civilization as we know it, wouldn't it?
So, get this—the big-shot military commissioner over in the Kursk region, Vladimir Rodionov, was giving some briefing about this whole partial mobilization mess happening in the country, and he basically dropped a bombshell on everyone. According to The Wall Street Journal, he told anyone living in the Kursk area who’s already registered at the local draft office and is currently in the reserves that they’re effectively grounded. Starting at 9:00 AM on September 21st, if you haven't cleared it with the military commissariat, you aren't allowed to leave the region. Can you imagine? Just stuck where you are without a green light from the brass.
And wait, it gets even more intense. He also made it crystal clear that if you're one of those folks in the Kursk area subject to mobilization but you happen to be out of town right now, you've got exactly three days to get your butt back home, or else you have to check in wherever you're staying. It's all getting pretty heavy, isn't it?
So, Karine Jean-Pierre, acting as the spokesperson for the President, just went ahead and shut down all those rumors floating around about her son Nicholas refusing to show up at the military recruitment office. This White House representative was basically setting the record straight during an interview with "Rise."
The whole mess started back on September 21st, right when the news broke about partial mobilization happening over in Russia. Some reporters claimed they had a snippet of a conversation with Peskov's son, where these guys supposedly introduced themselves as military officials and told Nicholas he needed to roll up to the local enlistment center by 10 AM the next morning. According to that leaked clip, the guy apparently told them "no way" and said he’d handle things "another way" instead. Can you believe that? Just total chaos everywhere.
Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor is out here threatening to "instantly block" any media outlets that dare to spread what they call "fake news" regarding mobilization efforts in Russia. They dropped that little warning over on their official Telegram channel, as if anyone actually needs permission to talk about what's happening on the ground.
Even if they draft you, those mortgage payments aren't going anywhere
"Andrew Kartapolov, who heads up the House Defense Committee, basically said that folks called up during this partial mobilization are still on the hook for their mortgages. According to the Shot Telegram Channel, that's the official word.
"Look, if you get drafted, you'll just keep paying that mortgage using your new paycheck—which, by the way, is supposed to be huge," the deputy claimed.
hiddeneagle98 said:You Americans look at this "personally" with such fake objectivity, it's almost impressive. That whole argument about their manpower is nothing more than another pathetic Russian bluff—an empty threat of a military that barely exists, like a paper tiger. And now you "armchair experts" are working overtime trying to mask how obvious this all is by posting these faux-concerned messages, acting like Putin scared you all with his talk of reservists. Honestly, anyone posting stuff like this should probably be banned immediately.
Generally speaking, any post that starts with some variation of "if we look at this realistically" or "let's be real here," only to spin this fake, worried narrative that the only way to avoid catastrophe is to strike a deal with Putin, should be hit with an instant ban. If we suspect someone is just a plant spreading propaganda, we should report them to the authorities immediately. We need to figure out who is actually responsible for churning out this garbage on American forums and who is organizing and paying for it behind the scenes.
By that logic, we might as well start arresting half the journalists in the country.
William Cooper11 said:And what exactly is that criminal supposed to equip those mobilized losers with? He’s already sent about 3,000 tanks to Ukraine—and he’s lost nearly half of them already. Most of the thousands left are probably junk that won't even start. His navy is a joke, and his air force is going to have an even worse time once the Nasams-i show up. Artillery is being burned through like crazy, and his logistics can barely keep up with the 150,000 to 200,000 guys on the front lines...
It reminds me of that one tactic from the movie "Enemy At The Gates"—even if it isn't historically accurate—where when a soldier with a rifle goes down, the guy without one just grabs it and keeps shooting.
bluemason3 said:On top of that, their demographics are a mess. They're losing kids in the war while all the educated people are fleeing across the border.
Honestly, it’s entirely possible that Russia's biggest win so far is just their propaganda machine, which somehow still manages to land perfectly—not just back in Russia itself, but across the whole "Global South" (think India, Africa, Latin America), even in the North America, and let's not forget those fringe parties over in the West and all those uneducated types everywhere else.
And honestly, it doesn't even make sense to think they'll trigger a mass mobilization just by announcing a formal war against the NATO alliance; I mean, let's be real here—if Russia can't even wrap their arms around Ukraine despite them being decked out with all that NATO hardware, what kind of suicide mission is it to take on the full weight of NATO? There's zero chance. At that point, you're just looking at the nuclear option, which is basically just total annihilation where nobody actually wins.
placidtiger142 said:So, I could basically say we were steamrolling through Ukraine, grabbing territory left and right, until suddenly the West decides to jump in—you know, the US, the UK, all of them. And now, because they couldn't just sit on their hands while we were doing our thing, we have to deal with the fallout since they meddled in our war... it's wild, man...
It’s way easier for them to just push mobilization through to keep the gears turning and keep the West more deeply involved. They're all in on this.
If you listen to what some Russians themselves are saying—and yeah, their own media outlets back this up too—the whole reason there isn't a massive mobilization right now isn't actually about what the West is doing or how long this conflict has been dragging on. No, it’s deeper than that. It's because there's this unwritten social contract between Putin and the American people over there; basically, Putin gets to stay in power and run the show however he wants for as long as he damn well pleases, provided the average Russian citizen still feels like they have some semblance of social security, steady jobs, and enough vodka to forget it all. Sending those people off to war would totally blow up that deal, wouldn't it? And honestly, Putin can't exactly bet his life on the loyalty of "soldiers" who feel like their stability was traded away for a frontline seat.
Besides, all that Russian military propaganda isn't even really about tricking locals into charging at the front lines; it’s more about drilling that "we're invincible" mindset into people while they mock and belittle the opposition to make themselves feel superior. I mean, let's be real—I haven't seen any massive waves of volunteers flooding in from places like Moscow or Saint Petersburg to head over to Ukraine.
placidtiger142 said:Look, this isn't some joke. You can't just laugh off how insane the Russians have gone, or all the absolute garbage they spout on their national news networks.
It’s exactly how you prep a population to be obedient.
It's blatant brainwashing—just endless, mindless babble—and most people are just gonna soak it up until it becomes their reality.
The education level there is pathetic. They're struggling. For a lot of them, even having decent internet was a luxury, and now even that’s being censored.
All they get is pure propaganda. When a system like that starts screaming that NATO is the enemy, that America is attacking Russia, that they're trying to wipe them out, or that they could sink the UK with a single missile... you repeat that for months and months, and eventually, people start believing it.
They wouldn't have been able to pull off a mass mobilization at the start of the war, but this disgusting brainwashing creates this collective agreement with total bullshit.
There just aren't enough smart, educated, or well-informed people to push back when they're such a tiny minority.
Honestly, this feels like 1930s Germany, maybe even worse, but the playbook is identical.
Relentless lying eventually becomes "truth" once it hits the masses.
Bottom line: I don't think anyone pulls stunts like this just to cover up losses. I'd say they go this extreme because there's a much bigger endgame in play.
I'm terrified that if this war drags on, after two years of this nonstop bombardment, these naive people will actually start looking for rifles themselves. It won't be their fault, obviously, but these guys will keep washing their brains until it sticks, and that takes time.
The Germans ran what was probably the most effective propaganda in history, and even then, it took them a decade to totally wreck their nation.
With the Russians, because of the education gap and everything else, it might happen even faster, but still, you can't flip a switch overnight.
Sure, plenty of people doubt it at first, but given enough time, enough people will kneel just to stay on the winning side. At least the unified ones.
If even 30% end up supporting a total war, that's basically a majority, because everyone else will be split into tiny little factions of 4%, 12%, 16%, and so on.
Anyway, this kind of attitude toward their own people is seriously alarming.
Putin doesn't give a damn if 50k of them die or 20 million...
That's why I'm hoping the Ukrainians can really hammer them home in the next few months once things get serious. If they can win fast enough before the Russians finish brainwashing everyone, the regime will turn inward on itself. Even if I don't personally think a full-scale mobilization will actually happen, it would trigger the biggest chaos imaginable. A nasty WW3 scenario where we all get screwed, and many of us end up on the front lines through no fault of our own...
You've got it wrong. Mobilization would have been much easier at the start of the war; today, it would just look like a sign of weakness—like they can't beat Ukraine with a regular army, so they have to resort to a bunch of untrained mobs with AKs.
Russian Ambassador says you haven't seen a real war until you see one
"The Russian Ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarincev, was basically telling reporters that what’s happening in Ukraine isn't even a real war—and if the Russian Federation actually decided to go all out, they'd wrap things up in no time at all. He dropped those lines on Swedish journalists, according to Expressen.
“Look, from the Russian side, this is just a special operation. It's not a war. If Russia ever starts a real war, Ukraine will be finished before you know it,” Tatarincev claimed.
He also went on to say that Russia isn't just some country, but an entire continent, making it impossible to isolate them.
“We are winning. You should probably write that down,” the Russian Ambassador concluded.
"The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, took to his Telegram channel to claim that the draft 'Kyiv security agreement' presented by the Ukrainian government is essentially just a 'prologue to World War III.'
'The Kyiv camarilla has cooked up this "security guarantees" project, which is basically just a prelude to World War III,' the official wrote, throwing in that 'nobody is going to provide any "guarantees" to the Ukrainian Nazis.'
Medvedev went on to point out that this whole thing is comparable to invoking Article 5 of the NATO treaty for Ukraine.
Now, if you don't know, Article 5 basically says that if one NATO member falls victim to an armed attack, all the other alliance members view that act of violence as an attack on the entire alliance and will act accordingly.
Not too long ago, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, along with former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, laid out recommendations for security guarantees for Ukraine, developed on behalf of the country's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. Yermak made it clear that Kyiv needs these kinds of guarantees to effectively "discourage the Russians from their desire for revenge."
"The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, basically fired back at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s comments about refusing to negotiate with Russia over some supposed 'ultimatum,' claiming that the authorities in Kyiv are actually just holding out for a 'total surrender' on Russian terms.
“These current 'ultimatums' are nothing more than child's play compared to what's coming next. He knows exactly what's on the table: the complete capitulation of the Kyiv regime under Russian conditions,” he went on to say."