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Address by the President of the Russian Federation
- kranke155 4y agoIs this even appropriate for HN? Is this related to tech somehow? Seems having this sort of post here, all it does is bring out Reddit level bad takes.
- ROTMetro 4y agoFunny that in all criticism of Russia on HK, every opposing post has to include reference to Reddit. You are not going to manipulate people so easily. 'Oh man, come on guys, you're sharing positions with those simple minded Reddit posters'. How about you just make an argument on it's merits, instead of injecting your own bad take?
- kranke155 4y agoHow about limiting this forum to what it’s supposed to cover?
- ROTMetro 4y agoOff-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. I would say Putin escalating a major war in the heart of Europe and his threats of nuclear warfare with the West fall under 'interesting new phenomenon'.
- Georgelemental 4y agoMobilization will hurt Putin politically in Russia. Much of his power and following is based on the belief that he is the only one who can provide stability for Russians—"Putin, the one who put an end to the chaos of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin years." But not mobilizing means losing the war, which he would not survive. So, a bitter pill but one he must swallow
- stunt 4y agoPeople on both sides of this debate are exploited by the war propaganda that both sides push. It doesn't matter which side you stand on today, if you think the solution to this problem is war instead of negotiation and peace, you are being abused by everything you read and hear.
- theironhammer 4y agoAgreed but you have to negotiate for peace from a position of strength.
- nickpp 4y agoIf Russia would stop fighting, there would be no war. If Ukraine would stop fighting, there would be no Ukraine.
- nostrademons 4y agoSo deciphering the double-speak: Russia is instituting a draft, they consider Crimea part of Russia's territorial integrity, efforts to dehumanize the opposition or paint it as a shadowy international conspiracy continue, and they're threatening nuclear war. Get ready for WW3.
- foverzar 4y agoSeems more like a translation TO doublespeak. You can argue with every point, but won't ever win cuz "it's just a way to communicate without being pedantic", but then you put all of this together and get a complete and utter gibberish. And this is basically how doublespeak works.
- theironhammer 4y agoCrimea affords Russia with a warm water port. There's no way in Hell they will give that up. Putin took Crimea because he was afraid of losing it if Ukraine joined NATO.
- justbored123 4y ago> Get ready for WW3. Against who? Russia can't even fight Ukraine. China es calling for peace. This is a minor regional conflict. I feel sorry for the people of Ukraine and Russia that are going to suffer and die pointlessly for the delusional imperial ambitions of an old man that lives 75 years in the pass. Putin is the new Mussolini, getting his ass handed to him while trying to invade Greece and for exactly the same reasons; mainly a low moral, low quality army that doesn't want to fight that war.
- theironhammer 4y agoThe Nuclear War threat is not a joke. Just imagine if China or Russia had the same activities in Mexico or Canada that the USA/NATO has had in the Ukraine over many years. How would Washington react?
- ROTMetro 4y agoPutin can't even elevate to full out war and conscription, yet you think he will jump all the way to using nuclear weapons? The threat is completely hollow.
- iostream25 4y agoA quote from Kier Giles, whose article in today's Guardian addresses some of the silliness and contradictions in Putin's speech this morning. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/21/vladimir-putin-previous-threats-ukriane-hollow-bluff https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/21/vladim... "few of Putin’s contradictory storylines stand up to even a moment’s critical thought: we are winning in Ukraine – but the forces of the west aligned against us are so powerful that now we need to dig deeper to stay in the fight; our proxy regimes in Ukraine need to hold referendums to join us – but we already know they all want to join; we’re protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia itself – but to do this requires incorporating part of another country; our war aim has always simply been to “liberate” Donbas – but to do that we’ve also taken so much of Ukraine that we have a 1,000km frontline."
- iostream25 4y agoMy general sense is that not even Putin believes his own rhetoric, such is his inconsistency of thought. The reality is that Putin has elected to invade a sovereign neighbor country and can unelect to do so. Not one "western" leader, military or civilian, has threatened Russia "existentially" and certainly no one has threatened to invade Russia. Putin is a liar, to put it simply. He's apparently playing the crazy-card, in attempts to freak the world out, but his constant threats to the entire world of nuclear first-strikes and then saying that "THIS TIME IS NOT A BLUFF" means that people can't really learn much by his unchanging and silly rhetoric. As some boxer said: "Be aware of the main trunk of his body and where it's moving and watch his hands"
- koplt 4y ago
- namelessoracle 4y agoBiden publicly called for Putin to be removed. This kind of follows what Chomsky has said, there is no path for PUTIN to de-escalate this situation. I don't see how Putin survives standing down, so he wont.
- kranke155 4y agoThis is a nonsense commment. Are you trying to say Biden saying something puts Putin is some kind of impossible position? This is an imperialist war of choice.
- theironhammer 4y ago
- soco 4y ago
- heneryville 4y ago
- Mikeb85 4y agoAll the doublespeak is actually pretty amazing to witness... We're defending Russia but also "liberated" Kherson and Zaporizhzhia... The west is threatening us with nuclear weapons... The regime which came into power in 2014 (nevermind that Poroshenko and that whole group were voted out in a democratic election where Zelenskiy and his party, who were notably more friendly to Russia at first, came to power)...
- proxyon 4y ago
- Mikeb85 4y agoYou quoted something I said but seemed to miss the point. Maybe it was a coup, maybe not (leaning towards no as it was a pretty popular protest). But Zelenskiy ousted Poroshenko regardless and absolutely no one doubts that Zelenskiy was elected. Lots happened between 2014 and 2022...
- Blackthorn 4y agoAh yes, all those neo-nazi militias that checks notes supported a Jewish leader.
- moistly 4y agoThey’re so sneaky like that!
- ndlso 4y ago
- apurtbapurt 4y agoOk? Some military guy in Ukraine has a patch with a skull and... drumroll THE NAZI:S ALSO USED IMAGES OF (not-quite-the-same-looking) SKULLS!!! If you are into this kind of scary stuff, I can warmly recomend a documentary from 2012 called Iron Sky. It really puts the American moon landings into a new light. No big surprise of course, since Americans often use eagle symbols, JUST LIKE THE NAZIS!!! The truth is out there!
- bediger4000 4y agoWe used to use the word "kremlinology" to describe efforts to decipher ("bake") the USSR official rhetoric. That word's time has come again!
- theironhammer 4y ago[flagged]
- topspin 4y agoPutin has no choice. He's had no choice since he started all of this in 2014; he can't back down because that outcome isn't survivable for a Russian leader. It's going to take 100,000+ dead Russians. At some point the military and civilian leadership in Russia will realize that Putin has to go, and that is when all this will end. There is a lot of death and destruction yet to go. Ukraine will struggle with hundreds of thousands of new bodies arming Russia's antique military machine. Iran is flying in large quantities of drones that will expose Ukraine's forces to effective Russian artillery. But the outcome won't change; Ukraine will ultimately win because it's not a war of choice for Ukraine and Ukraine has the allies it needs to keep fighting.
- trasz 4y ago>Iran is flying in large quantities of drones that will expose Ukraine's forces to effective Russian artillery. Not really, Russia doesn’t have precision guided munitions. Ukraine - or NATO - is at least decade ahead technologically, maybe two.
- topspin 4y ago> Not really, Russia doesn’t have precision guided... Russia has ample artillery. While they're blind it isn't very effective. Drones correct that deficiency, which is why Russian drones are a serious threat.
- trasz 4y agoDrones make it possible to aim. Russians don’t have anything to aim - they can cover an area with artillery, but for that you don’t need a drone.
- topspin 4y ago> they can cover an area with artillery, but for that you don’t need a drone This is badly incorrect. You have fantastical ideas about how artillery works. Perhaps you've seen images of a few cratered wheat fields and figure that is Russian SOP and goes on 24x7. It doesn't. Those are major operations that require a lot of costly preparation and time. Russia can't afford to do it on a whim, firing whilly nilly at phantoms. No one can. Fire must be directed. Otherwise you're just making noise.
- anonupennprof 4y agoThis may very well be the eve of WW3. The latest Ukrainian victories were due to NATO forces taking over so many core operations, it's basically Russia vs NATO. This formal declaration by Russia is basically saying they are about to stop holding back. They have purposefully avoid destroying infrastructure like water and power in ukraine for an unusually long time. They also have been sending their b-c teams not their A-list because they wanted to save them. This action pleases a great deal of the america military complex because money. At least it would have if American troops were in better shape, enlistments were dropping heavily, and troop fitness is dropping radically. The desire for the common man to die for his country has dropped significantly in Russia AND NATO countries. So you will soon see the following, America will try to rebuild "patriotism" prior to instituting a draft. This is why the pentagon is reviewing all psyops, they are about to reverse the social engineering psyops in motion such diversity and "woke". Russia will push religion to build morale on their side. I believe a draft in America will lead to disintegration, but only time will tell.
- jollyllama 4y agoI don't think you're far off with your first couple of points, but I don't think the USA will try conscription, precisely because it would have destabilizing effects you mention.
- mint2 4y ago> They also have been sending their b-c teams not their A-list because they wanted to save them That this comment claims this really says all one need about the comment. Russia Just admitted it was over extended and had exhausted its professional army by declaring a mobilization of reservists. Everyone clearly knows the professional army is the C list and it’s the reservists that are the true A listers. <heavy sarcasm>
- AnimalMuppet 4y ago> The latest Ukrainian victories were due to NATO forces taking over so many core operations, it's basically Russia vs NATO. Evidence? NATO is sending a lot of materiel and weapons. NATO is helping with intelligence. If that's what you mean by "core operations", maybe I can see it. More than that? Let's see the evidence.
- ThalesX 4y agoInteresting read for anyone that might be interested: 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Ukraine BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/ukraine/ https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-... https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/313615_UKRAINE-2021-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/313615_UKRA... (I love how the downvotes have already begun not even a minute in... how is this not context to the speech? Zealots...)
- Blackthorn 4y agoHot damn, the whataboutisms are out in force on this article, and not even an hour in.
- mikeyouse 4y agoI’d love to ask the residents of Bucha or Izium what they think about the relative respect for human rights between Russia and Ukraine but of course the Russian military invaded their land and then murdered large swaths of their population and then buried them in mass graves. These things are just the weakest deflections in service of a psychopathic dictator’s imperialistic war.
- netmonk 4y agoMickey what is the name of your drug dealer ? He sells good stuff it seems.
- nayroclade 4y agoApparently, the size of the mobilisation will be 300k people, so this isn't going to be an overwhelmingly large force. The speculation I've seen is that this move is about 1) stopping the attrition of professional soldiers as their contracts expire and 2) providing manpower in logistics and controlling the occupied areas, so as to allow more rest and rotation of front-line soldiers.
- kranke155 4y agoThey invaded with less than 300k. It is doubtful that Ukraine has a similar number of professional soldiers (excluding Territorial Defence ). It’s possible that this will give them an overwhelming force.
- Mikeb85 4y agoUkraine has more than 300k because their survival is on the line and they mobilised en masse... Keep in mind Ukraine had 45 million people before the war versus Russia's 144 million. But Ukraine mobilized absolutely everyone they could versus Russia which needs to keep their population content and downplay the "special operation".
- AnimalMuppet 4y agoUkraine didn't have 300k when Russia invaded. They may have more now. Anyone have data? And, 300k without artillery, tanks, air support, and logistics isn't an overwhelming force. Does Russia have the rest of what it takes to make them an effective force?
- orwin 4y agoNo. They have less than 800 multipurpose and attack planes combined (because i don't want to explain it in another comment: they have air superiority, so their fighter plan count isn't relevant). If we consider Russian hardware as well maintained as France or US, it means 650 available planes max for offensive operations. A bit more than 50 planes are confirmed destroyed, so I'll round it up to 600. That means 300 sortie a day max (if each plane have 2 maintenance crew fulltime). But as the long-range air defense is effective, you cannot penetrate too deep, and that limit the efficiency. Ukraine is like twice the size of Irak, with more population and vegetation. Russia do have air superiority but they cannot action it. Hopefully for the conscripts, Putin just want to defend and wait it out . In this case, manpower is effective. Another way to use manpower is to assault continuously WW1 style, supported by artillery fire. This would be stupid.
- ajl666 4y agoIt's sad to see how easily westerners are mislead by our own leaders, who ape Soviet contempt for constituents and maliciously ignore voter inputs. You should at least make an effort to see things from the Russian point of view. To say there's nothing valid in the Russian state's actions, is really idiotic. 1) Are post WW2 borders sacred? 2) The dissolution of the USSR was chaotic, unnegotiated, and basically due to the magnanimity of Gorbachev. 3) Therefore, post USSR space resembles post-colonial Africa: former co-nationals are now minorities, depending on which post-Soviet state one examines. Armenia and Azerbaijan are good examples. Oh, but the news didn't tell you to get upset about it yet, so you have no opinion? That's why these opinions on Ukraine are so unprincipled. 4) The Turks depopulated Ukraine via the slave trade. Russia conquered the land, pushed the Turks back, and colonized E Ukraine for themselves. 18th century stuff. What I want to know is why the wokester position (the official Western "Good Guy" position, otherwise known the Party Line Winston) finds the USA's existence an affront to Native Americans and Mexicans, Israel's existence an affront to Palestinians, but cares not one whit for Poland occupying half of historic Germany, Turkey's ongoing genocide of Armenians (They back Azerbaijan, and Turkey is also a NATO power), and Greeks (threatening to invade... read proper journalists and you'll know)? 5) The West did the same thing to Serbia. The West in fact helped with the Muslim genocide of Serbians. Kosovo is the origin of Serbian culture and the Muslims overran it in the last 400 years. If you weep for the Native Americans and Tibetans, then you should care about what happened in Serbia too. Worse, the precedent is the one that the Russians used as the pretext to invade Ukraine. 6) Crimea was given to Ukraine in the 1950s by Khrushchev. It was Tatar and then it was Russian. HOW IS THAT SACRED? The same international law the US breaks constantly? 7) Remember that post-Cold War Magnanimity by Gorby? Know how people keep saying 'uh oh, if Putin loses, he'll nuke us all?' Do you really think that political shift came from nowhere? The west has been attacking Russia ever since the Cold War ended. If western idiots (sadly, most of us) haven't recognized (or are too ignorant to even know about because you don't read) the damage, that's only because you do the same thing the Russians do: slavishly listen to leaders without actually questioning the fact-stack. The US broke the promise not to move NATO eastward. That was the original sin. That was not nothing. That was as aggressive as attacking Ukraine. The demographic decline of Russia is not war damage? The economic damage of allowing China into the WTO and not Russia (when they were trying to be good) is not war damage? The use of western financial institutions to pillage Russia and financialize and control its mineral assets, while at the same time encouraging the de-industrializing of Russia is not war damage? 8) The Russians stopped the Cold War, but the US and the West did not. 9) Now they are mobilizing. They can't do it like we do: the US uses war to pillage its own people. The Russians are mobilizing the only way they can: the old fashioned way. The Russians are pushing back the only way they can: the old fashioned way. 10) Everywhere I go, supposedly intelligent people act like citizens of Oceana who can't seem to remember what happened the prior news cycle and remember only what the Wokeing class demands. Everything else goes in the memory hole. 11) THE WEST IS JUST AS BAD! CYBERPUNK IS JUST AS SH!T AS FALLOUT! 12) I didn't want any of this. The time to have stopped this was in the 1990s when the Western Trojan horse known as Chubais was busy annihilating the Russian economy. We nurtured China because their slaves were going to make our masters more profits and turn the majority of Americans from a free people with trades into a poor, welfare dependent people from the noblesse oblige of our 'elites' who shipped our manufacturing overseas... Russia has resources, China has slaves. Russia didn't play along when we tried financializing their economy and pulling it into our orbit. So now it's war. 13) To all you stubborn ignorant dummies: Good job. You have caused global starvation, European economic collapse, the annihilation of Ukraine, and it all benefits... you? 14) Hacker News is filled with beneficiaries of US policies. You can rely on a man to not understand something when his paycheck is dependent on him not understanding. 15) Keep on downvoting. The truth is a virus and I hope it destroys your brains.
- diimdeep 4y agoCan anyone clarify something that I have recently heard in interview (Russian language)[1]: that U.S. citizens believe that U.S. defeated Nazis and won WW2, and not USSR. Is this in your experience is mostly true or false ? [1] https://youtu.be/Q0oRii7zV9A?t=1973 https://youtu.be/Q0oRii7zV9A?t=1973
- freeone3000 4y agoThis isn't taken as factually true but is part of the US narrative, so it feels true even to people who were told about WWII. After all, the Allied Powers were fighting Germany, so USSR contributions feel limited, even if their contributions exceeded Allied ones.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoYes I believe this is true reflection of Western opinion. There was an article a while back that showed a much higher recognition of Soviet efforts and sacrifices in WW2 immedistely after the war ended but tapering away ever since.
- generj 4y agoThe broadly accepted view is that the USSR won their front of the war using American supplies and Russian blood. And that the western fronts would have been far worse except for the Eastern front bleeding Germany dry. The US won against Japan essentially without help from the USSR.
- theironhammer 4y agoI would agree and add that the American and British soldiers were "lions lead by donkeys" and if not for the might of the American industrial machine supplying materiél the superior trained and leas German forces would've at least prevailed much longer than they did.
- frozencell 4y agoFun facts: - Wall Street partly funded the Russian communism revolution.