Anonymous wrote:Does anyone even have any good reporting sources from inside Russia now? I used to sometimes watch some stuff online but I think anyone I watched has left now or been killed.

Rosenberg with BBC is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/@BBCSteveR

But given the realities of the climate WRT free press in Russia, you have to take that into account with his reporting not that he's not accurate but there are going to be lines he can't cross so that will limit/color what he reports and how he reports.

This kid does some interesting opportunistic "man on the street" interviews:

https://www.youtube.com/@1420channel

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russia is a huge country with literally more landmass than any other country in the world. It spans at least two continents, including both Europe and Asia. Its capital is Moscow, and its population exceeds 140 million

And? Is there a point here besides obvious facts I learned in fourth grade?

It is impossible to understand the country with an appreciation for what makes it unique

You didn't say anything we didn't know. DCUM tends to be highly educated and traveled, and many of us are from Europe, Asia or other parts of the world, where governments educate their kids better than here.

If we’re listing random facts…
Russia is very big, but with a lot of land that is not particularly usable.
Much of Russia is very cold and/or remote.
Russia has a lot of natural resources but a relatively under developed manufacturing sector making it relatively dependent on foreign imports to maintain a modern western standard of living
Russia has a large population to use for cannon fodder but also a low birth rate and high emigration, making the cannon fodder strategy not particularly viable as a long term strategy.
Russia has never had a functioning democracy and its population doesn’t really expect one; kleptocracy has been the norm dating back at least 100 years and is largely expected so long as it’s kept within somewhat reasonable bounds
The national vibe is generally cynicism and self interest

I don’t think Russia is set for revolution. It’s just not really in their character. They are too cynical and pessimistic to make good revolutionaries. I know they had a pretty famous revolution, but that was primarily due to WWI putting a lot of guns in the hands of a lot of really irritated peasants and workers. I guess it’s possible that people returning from Ukraine will be similarly irritated but I doubt it.

I don’t see any really obvious exit ramps here. I think that if there is an exit ramp, it involves Putin declaring victory and everyone pretending that’s accurate with an effort to return to a sort of stagflation normalcy with elites continuing to rob the country and stash money abroad. When Putin dies, there might be room for a moderate reformer aka Krushchev or Gorbachev. But I don’t think we’ll see another move to cozy up to the west like we did for a brief period in the 90s. Both sides feel burned by that effort.

I don’t think they have long term affinity with the Chinese either — Russians think they are way better than Chinese and Chinese think they are way better than Slavs so there’s no a long term special relationship there.

Anonymous wrote:Russia is a huge country with literally more landmass than any other country in the world. It spans at least two continents, including both Europe and Asia. Its capital is Moscow, and its population exceeds 140 million

Russia is losing population really quickly and is projected to be 135 million by 2050 down from 145. The vast majority of the infrastructure is from the Soviets times, is breaking and they do not have the skill base to repair it. A lot of small towns and cities in eastern Russia are ghost towns.

The funny thing is NATO without the US has a population of 660 million and a GDP of $24 trillion. About 4 times the population and 10 times the GDP of Russia. The Ukraine war has been a disaster for Russia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putin can't stop the war. What remains of the Russian economy is entirely dependent on war spending. And five years into this war with more than a million Russian casualties, they still haven't even taken Donbas. It's been a complete humiliation for Russia. Putin can neither end the war nor can he win. His regime and the Russian economy collapse the day the war stops.

Over the past two months, Ukraine is actually gaining back land with small offensives. But they don't have the manpower for a real breakthrough. And drones have changed everything for both sides. You can't move anything within 20 miles of the line of contact without it getting destroyed by drones.

It's a stalemate. Ukraine's strategy seems to be to destroy Russia's economy. They are hitting oil and gas infrastructure hard every day. That's the most likely way this ends. Russia's economic collapse. It's a shame Trump keeps giving Russia lifelines. Keeping sanctions in place would have accelerated the end. Instead, Ukraine will keep destroying refineries and so on until the Russian economy implodes.

Europe was buying oil and gas from Russia while insisting on sanctions. Trump wisely said you first.

lol you actually wrote “Trump wisely said”. What a moron.

Those three words have never been said seriously by anyone other than cult members.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russia is a huge country with literally more landmass than any other country in the world. It spans at least two continents, including both Europe and Asia. Its capital is Moscow, and its population exceeds 140 million

And? Is there a point here besides obvious facts I learned in fourth grade?

It is impossible to understand the country with an appreciation for what makes it unique

You didn't say anything we didn't know. DCUM tends to be highly educated and traveled, and many of us are from Europe, Asia or other parts of the world, where governments educate their kids better than here.

It’s the last gasp of the Russian empire.

I love when dictators get dismembered and disemboweled in the streets. Hope a few Russians get a good video.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russia is a huge country with literally more landmass than any other country in the world. It spans at least two continents, including both Europe and Asia. Its capital is Moscow, and its population exceeds 140 million

And? Is there a point here besides obvious facts I learned in fourth grade?

It is impossible to understand the country with an appreciation for what makes it unique

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putin can't stop the war. What remains of the Russian economy is entirely dependent on war spending. And five years into this war with more than a million Russian casualties, they still haven't even taken Donbas. It's been a complete humiliation for Russia. Putin can neither end the war nor can he win. His regime and the Russian economy collapse the day the war stops.

Over the past two months, Ukraine is actually gaining back land with small offensives. But they don't have the manpower for a real breakthrough. And drones have changed everything for both sides. You can't move anything within 20 miles of the line of contact without it getting destroyed by drones.

It's a stalemate. Ukraine's strategy seems to be to destroy Russia's economy. They are hitting oil and gas infrastructure hard every day. That's the most likely way this ends. Russia's economic collapse. It's a shame Trump keeps giving Russia lifelines. Keeping sanctions in place would have accelerated the end. Instead, Ukraine will keep destroying refineries and so on until the Russian economy implodes.

Europe was buying oil and gas from Russia while insisting on sanctions. Trump wisely said you first.

lol you actually wrote “Trump wisely said”. What a moron.

Does anyone even have any good reporting sources from inside Russia now? I used to sometimes watch some stuff online but I think anyone I watched has left now or been killed.

Anonymous wrote:Putin can't stop the war. What remains of the Russian economy is entirely dependent on war spending. And five years into this war with more than a million Russian casualties, they still haven't even taken Donbas. It's been a complete humiliation for Russia. Putin can neither end the war nor can he win. His regime and the Russian economy collapse the day the war stops.

Over the past two months, Ukraine is actually gaining back land with small offensives. But they don't have the manpower for a real breakthrough. And drones have changed everything for both sides. You can't move anything within 20 miles of the line of contact without it getting destroyed by drones.

It's a stalemate. Ukraine's strategy seems to be to destroy Russia's economy. They are hitting oil and gas infrastructure hard every day. That's the most likely way this ends. Russia's economic collapse. It's a shame Trump keeps giving Russia lifelines. Keeping sanctions in place would have accelerated the end. Instead, Ukraine will keep destroying refineries and so on until the Russian economy implodes.

In addition to oil resources, Ukraine should also be taking out the rail capacity in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border.

Anonymous wrote:Putin can't stop the war. What remains of the Russian economy is entirely dependent on war spending. And five years into this war with more than a million Russian casualties, they still haven't even taken Donbas. It's been a complete humiliation for Russia. Putin can neither end the war nor can he win. His regime and the Russian economy collapse the day the war stops.

Over the past two months, Ukraine is actually gaining back land with small offensives. But they don't have the manpower for a real breakthrough. And drones have changed everything for both sides. You can't move anything within 20 miles of the line of contact without it getting destroyed by drones.

It's a stalemate. Ukraine's strategy seems to be to destroy Russia's economy. They are hitting oil and gas infrastructure hard every day. That's the most likely way this ends. Russia's economic collapse. It's a shame Trump keeps giving Russia lifelines. Keeping sanctions in place would have accelerated the end. Instead, Ukraine will keep destroying refineries and so on until the Russian economy implodes.

Europe was buying oil and gas from Russia while insisting on sanctions. Trump wisely said you first.

Anonymous wrote:Russia is a huge country with literally more landmass than any other country in the world. It spans at least two continents, including both Europe and Asia. Its capital is Moscow, and its population exceeds 140 million

And? Is there a point here besides obvious facts I learned in fourth grade?

Anonymous wrote:Man, he can not end this war. He will not survive that.

He won't survive continuing it.

Russia is a huge country with literally more landmass than any other country in the world. It spans at least two continents, including both Europe and Asia. Its capital is Moscow, and its population exceeds 140 million