Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

It’s tough to get any real momentum behind a movement in a country where the intelligence agencies are basically woven into the fabric of everything. They snuff out most things before they even get off the ground—unless it's one of those totally spontaneous outbursts.

analogbear5 said:It’s tough to get any real momentum behind a movement in a country where the intelligence agencies are basically woven into the fabric of everything. They snuff out most things before they even get off the ground—unless it's one of those totally spontaneous outbursts.

I honestly don't know how you even begin to look people in the eye—the ones who lost sons and daughters, and we're talking about a huge number here. I've never seen a "special operation" leave behind nearly 40,000 dead soldiers, let alone God knows how many more wounded.
That’s roughly 40,000 families right there at the starting line. Unless, of course, a family is so brainwashed that they couldn't care less about their own kid, though I guess there are always a few of those types.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:I honestly don't know how you even begin to look people in the eye—the ones who lost sons and daughters, and we're talking about a huge number here. I've never seen a "special operation" leave behind nearly 40,000 dead soldiers, let alone God knows how many more wounded.
That’s roughly 40,000 families right there at the starting line. Unless, of course, a family is so brainwashed that they couldn't care less about their own kid, though I guess there are always a few of those types.

Well, Nazi Germany had millions of deaths, so I don't recall seeing much in the way of protests back then; those families just had to find a way to cope, I guess.

Morgan Wright5 said:Well, Nazi Germany had millions of deaths, so I don't recall seeing much in the way of protests back then; those families just had to find a way to cope, I guess.

The thing is, they were backing Hitler. And besides, everyone knew there was a full-blown war going on and that Hitler was tearing through Europe. Nobody sat them down and told them it was some "special military operation" or that they were suddenly at risk because of, say, Poland.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:Save that fairy tale for someone else. It’s not like nobody in Russia is talking to friends or family over in Europe, totally clueless about what's going on. As soon as one person gets the real scoop, it spreads through the population like an epidemic. Plus, I seriously doubt highly educated Russians are falling for that nonsense, and I also doubt they haven't seen news about how even Garry Kasparov isn't openly bashing Russia over the invasion. Information always finds a way to leak through, no matter how hard a country tries to spin the truth.
Plus the internet, like you mentioned.

I didn't say the whole nation, but the vast majority definitely are, otherwise we'd be seeing a massive revolt against Putin. Speaking of which, there were protests all over Russia where massive crowds were arrested.

+the biggest issue is that the American people see with their own eyes what happens to Putin's rivals (persecution, suspicious deaths, and poisonings). The opposition simply kills itself off right at the start.

Where does Russia actually stand on the electronics front? How are they handling chip procurement? And what about getting their hands on CNC machinery? Just how much of a lifeline is the Chinese really providing them right now?

Gerald Torres84 said:+the biggest issue is that the American people see with their own eyes what happens to Putin's rivals (persecution, suspicious deaths, and poisonings). The opposition simply kills itself off right at the start.

Like I said, most of the population is backing Putin. Who knows, maybe Russians don't even actually like Ukrainians and just want them occupied.

feralhawk45 said:Where does Russia actually stand on the electronics front? How are they handling chip procurement? And what about getting their hands on CNC machinery? Just how much of a lifeline is the Chinese really providing them right now?

From what I gather, the Japanese are the heavy hitters when it comes to chips, and Japan's been pretty loud and clear about those sanctions—not to mention they've already dealt with some threats.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:The thing is, they were backing Hitler. And besides, everyone knew there was a full-blown war going on and that Hitler was tearing through Europe. Nobody sat them down and told them it was some "special military operation" or that they were suddenly at risk because of, say, Poland.

Saying "we're threatened by Poland" is basically how WW2 kicked off... 😁

swiftjackal11 said:McDonald's is killing it right now. Honestly, their food has never tasted better. If they ever lifted those sanctions, the dollar would be unstoppable.😵

Check out this video.



So, tell me... do you really think Russia can actually pull off being successful on its own? Like, purely within its own borders, without any help from foreign investors?

Jeremy Peterson4 said:From what I gather, the Japanese are the heavy hitters when it comes to chips, and Japan's been pretty loud and clear about those sanctions—not to mention they've already dealt with some threats.

Largest semiconductor companies by market cap
https://companiesmarketcap.com/semic...by-market-cap/

The Japanese players aren't even close to the top tier, and the Chinese companies are even further behind than that...

Jeremy Peterson4 said:From what I gather, the Japanese are the heavy hitters when it comes to chips, and Japan's been pretty loud and clear about those sanctions—not to mention they've already dealt with some threats.

Thanks for the input. It makes me wonder, though—is it even possible to develop software-driven weaponry without access to chips?

electricsurfer47 said:Check out this video.

So, tell me... do you really think Russia can actually pull off being successful on its own? Like, purely within its own borders, without any help from foreign investors?

As long as Putin and his inner circle of 20 oligarchs have billions—and we're talking US dollars here—sitting in their accounts while the working class struggles, $667 there's really nothing to discuss.

Melissa Rivera5 said:Saying "we're threatened by Poland" is basically how WW2 kicked off... 😁

Oh, totally. I mean, the UK and France officially declared war once they hit Poland, but before that, things were already being occupied left and right. Did anyone bother to tell them they should be worried about Czechoslovakia too? Please.

The Germans were riding high on that euphoria, thinking they could just do whatever they wanted because nobody was stepping in to stop them.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:I honestly don't know how you even begin to look people in the eye—the ones who lost sons and daughters, and we're talking about a huge number here. I've never seen a "special operation" leave behind nearly 40,000 dead soldiers, let alone God knows how many more wounded.
That’s roughly 40,000 families right there at the starting line. Unless, of course, a family is so brainwashed that they couldn't care less about their own kid, though I guess there are always a few of those types.

The government doesn't explain anything to its citizens. In fact, I am convinced many people have no idea their fathers or children were even lost in this war. You can't exactly go out and buy back your dead, and it raises the question of what they actually do with the soldier's bodies they have access to. Often, the circumstances are such that the body is simply gone, or it's in a state where identification is impossible. On the Russian side, there is zero effort to accurately tally losses; why would they bother upsetting their citizens with such news? There are reports that Ukrainians possess Russian bodies that the Russians refuse to take back. Naturally, they won't, because doing so requires acknowledging their own casualties. Instead, they are logged as 'missing' or perhaps 'captured.' It provides plenty of ways to spin the story to the public. Once a body is finally returned home, then the reality becomes undeniable. It likely depends on the specific military unit and their internal protocols regarding notifying next of kin. To put it bluntly: it is not in their interest to show their true losses.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:The thing is, they were backing Hitler. And besides, everyone knew there was a full-blown war going on and that Hitler was tearing through Europe. Nobody sat them down and told them it was some "special military operation" or that they were suddenly at risk because of, say, Poland.

I suppose most Russians don't actually support Putin. It seems a bit unlikely that the Russian people are so naive as to believe that a "special military operation" isn't, in reality, a full-scale war. Perhaps we shouldn't view Russia through a Western lens—it never really functioned that way to begin with. They’ve been conditioned to live under an autocracy, so I imagine they simply act accordingly.

brightheron64 said:Largest semiconductor companies by market cap
https://companiesmarketcap.com/semic...by-market-cap/

The Japanese players aren't even close to the top tier, and the Chinese companies are even further behind than that...

Intel is basically a global heavyweight when it comes to semiconductors. Just because a company is headquartered in the US doesn't mean their stuff is actually being manufactured stateside—honestly, I don't think that matters much anyway.

That bit about Taiwan caught me off guard, though. I also saw somewhere that Japan and Taiwan are teaming up to try and fill the gap in the chip supply for the auto industry.

The biggest issue here is that everything Putin actually wanted is slowly starting to happen—it’s just happening much later than he originally anticipated.
He was banking on leaders like Viktor Orbán, and he definitely counted on Germany being way too dependent on Russian energy. He also knew how much Europeans value their comfort and how terrified they are of losing it. So, things are just drifting along, and I suspect we're going to see more and more division among the EU members.
The European Union just isn't equipped to end this. I’ve been scrolling through comments on other news sites, and honestly, people just seem too self-absorbed—not to mention the total lack of empathy out there.
Plus, it feels like the Russians have a pretty solid handle on intelligence work, because it seems almost impossible to move anything—even weapons—without them intercepting it.

The US and the EU—since it was pretty obvious an invasion was coming—could have worked out a specific defense pact or mutual military aid agreement with Ukraine, separate from NATO, to deter the kid. There was plenty of time to pull something like that off, maybe as far back as 2014...

Morgan Wright5 said:I suppose most Russians don't actually support Putin. It seems a bit unlikely that the Russian people are so naive as to believe that a "special military operation" isn't, in reality, a full-scale war. Perhaps we shouldn't view Russia through a Western lens—it never really functioned that way to begin with. They’ve been conditioned to live under an autocracy, so I imagine they simply act accordingly.

Nah, I'm actually rooting for them. 🤣
The ones who actually get what's going on just stay quiet, plain and simple. And honestly? That’s why Europe is going to come down hard on them once kepec loses this war.

swiftjackal11 said:As long as Putin and his inner circle of 20 oligarchs have billions—and we're talking US dollars here—sitting in their accounts while the working class struggles, $667 there's really nothing to discuss.

Could you elaborate on that a bit?

Did you actually watch the video?

I really hope you gave it a look, because the guy breaks down exactly what Russia did to prop up their currency and how they kept everything from totally collapsing.

Basically, if some foreign investor decided to put money into Russia, they might make a profit, but getting those funds back out is another story entirely.
And then there’s the whole situation with foreign currency. There were all these restrictions put in place, and now I honestly don't know where the Oligarchs are stashing their dollars or euros if their overseas accounts are frozen. I wonder if an Oligarch can even flee Russia, grab a different citizenship just to live abroad, and eventually find a way to unfreeze their assets.