what the fuck is happening in Russia?

On the subject of destroying England but not Wales, I remember devouring books about nuclear war when I was younger - because of "Two Tribes" and nuclear paranoia - and one of them pointed out that a chain of about six megaton-range nuclear groundbursts in a line parallel with the England/Wales border would render England uninhabitable for decades. By extension England also means London, which means the entire United Kingdom.

Looking at NUKEMAP this does appear to be the case, because the prevailing winds are from the west and southwest. An 800kt bomb detonated on Portsmouth would spread fallout over London, which wouldn't destroy the city but would tank the economy, because no-one is going to want to work in the Square Mile if they have to spend every day locked inside a hermetically-sealed bunker. It would be futile burning £50 notes in the faces of homeless people because they would all be blind.

In real life the Russians did apparently have Cardiff on their target list. There was even a nuclear survival bunker in the city. Wisely the people who designed it didn't put it underneath a large building, unlike in Threads:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60244090

I do wonder how the average Russian feels about Ukraine. Especially bearing in mind that sharp generational gap. From a British perspective the only remotely comparable scenario would have been an invasion of Ireland during the height of the Troubles, perhaps on the back of the discovery of North Sea Oil. Ted Heath would have been pilloried by the international community, particularly the United States, but he could have argued that Britain was self-sufficient. But it's very difficult to comprehend something like that happening so it's hard to put myself in the position of a Russian person contemplating a mechanised invasion of next door.

A while back some Russian soldiers were irradiated after being ordered to dig trenches in the vicinity of Chernobyl:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/world/europe/ukraine-chernobyl.html

Supposedly because none of the soldiers had heard of the Chernobyl disaster, because they were born in the 2000s and it just isn't featured in the Russian media. Does the average Russian teenager even know that Ukraine is a thing? They're unlikely to go there on holiday, so why would they even know it exists?

I do wonder how the average Russian feels about Ukraine.
...
Does the average Russian teenager even know that Ukraine is a thing?

This was linked earlier in the Ukraine thread but might be new to you:

http://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/05/03/feeling-around-for-something-human

I haven't seen this yet but it appears to cover the same ground:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qmQs2LbnaE

English subs, of course.

There's also the fact of the declining Russian birth rate and the numerous cases of kids being separated from their parents, or orphans being taken into the country, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it is *the* reason because it's too malicious and depressing to contemplate.

This is what I had been wondering about, I'd not seen it mentioned explicitly, or even implicitly really. The declining birth rate, ageing society, population pyramid are a problem, but it being perceived as a problem is another matter still, nevermind thinking 'lets steal people' being a solution! And yet...over 1% of the people in Russia are Ukrainians that have been taken

i think sending it ties into a scheme ongoing since the 2010s or before and obviously connected to what happened in the previous century to rebuild the far east demographically, turning it into a viable asia pacific logistics and trade hub. there haven't been many takers for resettlement schemes. but ukrainians don't have much choice, i guess. tass reports 2800 people will be sent to primorsky or khabarovsk by the end of the year: https://1sn.ru/bolee-800-ukrainskix-bezencev-pribyli-v-xabarovskii-i-primorskii-kraya-za-poslednie-sutki.

New Yale study says that whatever the Kremlin is claiming publicly, their economy is going to hell in a hand basket:

https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-imploding-sweeping-sanctions-corporate-exodus-yale-study-2022-7

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/21/daughter-of-putin-ally-alexander-dugin-killed-in-car-bomb-in-moscow-reports

so close- what a tragedy

Denazification begins at home.

Is this more likely to be FSB or similar?

Compact magazine claimed that Dugin and his daughter are "anti-fascist"—This is total bullshit.https://t.co/Db9Lvu9laM

— John Ganz (@lionel_trolling) August 22, 2022

"The war in Ukraine is not happening in isolation. While Russia is contesting the US-led security order in Europe, China is challenging it in Asia. A geopolitical transition has begun whose results may not be fully apparent for decades. But the post-cold war order that has governed the world for the past 30 years is drawing to a close. From its demise, a new balance of power will emerge."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/22/six-months-war-putin-ukraine-russia-nato-energy-prices

Meanwhile in Russia

📅 Today marks 83 years since the signing of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the USSR.

📹 Watch our retrospective video for information on the state of affairs in Europe prior to the signing of this document.

🔗 https://t.co/0oj5eo5QbC pic.twitter.com/mxyonaFXDt

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) August 23, 2022

they missed the bit out where hundreds of thousands of the Red Army died/got captured because Stalin wouldn't believe his own NKVD agents' multiple reports on an imminent invasion. But I agree with some of the Brit bashing!

Speaking of Brit bashing -

On the one hand, the 1939 William Strang mission to Moscow was a last-ditch effort doomed to failure. On the other hand, why the fuck did they pick this guy to begin with:

During the late-1930s, Strang was a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship, which was pro-Nazi.

Strang became of interest to an undercover MI5 agent, Eric Roberts, who was operating under the pretense of working for the Gestapo, with the intention of identifying potential fifth columnists. In 1943, he reported on one of the diplomat's female friends who was possibly his lover.[5] Unaware of her connections, Strang had told her "that he personally hated the Jews and regarded the Bolsheviks and the Jews as the two greatest enemies of all that is decent".

Not exactly outlandish views in the Tory Party at the time I would have thought.

Stafford Cripps didn't have much success in Moscow either. Maisky noted in his diary that they much preferred negging with out and out Tory shits rather than Labour people of the British left.

Zelenskyy has ratified Law 5371.
Workers now have no right to bargain, and trade unions cannot protect them. pic.twitter.com/SUauiTqmaH

— The International Magazine (@TheIntlMagz) August 23, 2022

Russia's best and brightest are firebombing military conscription centres. https://t.co/ezH1eatNdG

— libcom.org (@libcomorg) August 24, 2022

https://theins.ru/en/politics/252885

This train is on fire: how Russian partisans set fire to military registration and enlistment offices and derail trains.

Loving the sneaky lil Z in Unionize there

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fa-8CIEagAAfcJF?format=jpg

Some disturbing news coming out of Latvia by the looks of it too

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FN0pdUTUYAQSqVj?format=jpg&name=small

On tbe other hand, they look to have found some good news in Kherson

Today Russia deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Kharkov region. pic.twitter.com/IpQ4TOnMqC

— The International Magazine (@TheIntlMagz) March 9, 2022

interesting spelling there

https://i.imgur.com/UI2i80y.png

The chairman of the board of Lukoil, Russia’s biggest privately held oil producer and one of the few Russian companies to criticize the invasion of Ukraine, has died after falling out of a hospital window, Interfax reports https://t.co/wM9r1KAkQn

— max seddon (@maxseddon) September 1, 2022

jeeeesus this world

it has been suggested he was having a smoke and it might have been an acidental fall. CSI Moscow doing the forensics on some ciggies his dead hand was still clutching.

Wow happens a lot in Russia pretty wild that all those windows in tall buildings are so tempting to lean just a little to far

Russian building codes must mandate man-size operable windows in all skyscrapers.

I can see why smoking has a much higher mortality rate in Russia now

at this point I'm starting to wonder if Conor Clapton insulted the Kremlin.

lool

In (post)Soviet Russia you have tears for heaven

Accidental falls is now the leading cause of death among connected Russian executives and bureaucrats.

A top Russian executive has died falling from his boat near Vladivostok, local media reports.
Ivan Pechorin has been described as an ally of Putin, who reportedly picked him for the role.
Pechorin is the latest in a string of unexplained deaths among Russian bosses. Another Russian energy boss has died in mysterious circumstances after "falling overboard" from a boat, according to local media reports.

Ivan Pechorin's body was found washed up around 100 miles from Vladivostok in Russia's far east, on Monday after a two-day search, local outlet VL.ru reported.

Pechorin fell off his moving boat on September 10 as it sailed near Russky Island, the outlet reported. He was the Aviation Director for Russia's Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV), which described his death as an "irreparable loss."

Do we know for sure that the numbers of executives being assassinated has increased in 2022? It was common through out the 1990s and into the early 2000s, then the idea is that assassinations started to clear up, but did they really or is that just received wisdom and it just happens to be getting more attention now?

Not the data collection assignment i was hoping for. Would be v interesting to see though.

kinda good thread

Since there is a lot of interest in what is the reaction to the recent military setbacks in Russia, a🧵with an update.
There are three distinct groups in Russia:
1/25

— Greg Yudin (@YudinGreg) September 14, 2022

how is this deplorable

The laymen are the those carelessly enjoying their lives while people are dying in Ukraine. It is obviously deplorable but the upside of it is that these people are completely unwilling to participate in war actively in any way https://t.co/kGLYiBZaL6
6/25

— Greg Yudin (@YudinGreg) September 14, 2022

silence is violence?

there is a wiki page dedicated to the russian businessmen deaths :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_businessmen_mystery_deaths

Reportedly died from a "drug-induced heart attack" during a shamanic ritual, though critics allege 'toad poison'

End of an era, Bald & Bankrupt kicked out of the country and barred from entry. Sorta weird propaganda/interrogation video released from Birobidzhan

My dear friend Putesy

Pressed specifically on the issue of Crimea, Erdoğan replied “Since 2014, we have been talking to my dear friend Putin about this, and this is what we have requested from him. We asked him to return Crimea to its rightful owners … unfortunately no step has been taken forward.”

All seems increasingly desperate

Putin televised speech announced for earlier this evening, delayed, rescheduled (has this happened before?) to tomorrow morning

Talk of mobilisation or widescale conscription (with expatriation 'illegal' from tomorrow)...how is this not a losing endgame for them?

expatriation fleeing, that should be

good read

Long post I'm afraid but I wanted to explore the question of potential Russian nuclear use carefully rather than simply asert or dismiss it as a possibility. https://t.co/TVO6mKmxhQ

— Lawrence Freedman (@LawDavF) September 20, 2022

Live from a Russian with his stove on 24/7 spending only 1.44 EUR / month pic.twitter.com/fWiadi7j6u

— yuu ★ (@fwyuuka) September 20, 2022

vlads...

well fuck.

Flights out of Russia sold out fast after Vladimir Putin's announcement... flights to popular destinations such as Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia were snapped up, and prices for remaining seats skyrocketed.

Evgeny, a 31-year-old Russian living in the UK, told the BBC: "Absolutely everyone is afraid, everyone is sending around different information on mobilisation. It is very difficult to figure out what is true and what isn't. Nobody trusts the government."

this doesn't bode well

if they can afford it they can stay visa-free in Turkey for up to 90 days, can't blame them tbh.

Farida Rustamova’s Substack on Starovoit is interesting.

https://faridaily.substack.com/p/ministers-suicide-rattles-russian

It is.

not Russia and seemingly only reported by Ukrainian sources but

https://theukrainianreview.info/kadyrovs-health-crisis-kremlin-searches-for-new-chechen-leader/

good riddance to that fucking ghoul, may there be an especially prolonged and painful way for him to go.

wo-oh black betty

just heard some online pundit who claims that Russia's current internet brownout/blackout is because Putin is concerned about a possible coup from disgruntled military brass who are unhappy with the direction the Ukraine war is going... I don't know where he got this info but Putin's paranoia is well known, there could be something to it

The first to go down was the Telegram app

more: Telegram would be joining a home screen’s worth of apps that have become useless to Russians. Kremlin policymakers have already blocked or limited access to WhatsApp, along with parent company Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Microsoft’s LinkedIn, Google’s YouTube, Apple’s FaceTime, Snapchat and X, which like SpaceX is owned by Musk. Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Discord, as well as Japanese-owned Viber, have been inaccessible since 2024. Last month, President Vladimir Putin signed a law requiring telecom operators to block cellular and fixed internet access at the request of the Federal Security Service. Shortly after it took effect on March 3, Moscow residents reported widespread problems with mobile internet, calls and text messages across all major operators for several days, with outages affecting mobile service and Wi-Fi even inside the State Duma.

nothing or not nothing/here we go lads

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/18/pro-kremlin-loyalist-turns-on-putin-ilya-remeslo-russia

yeah I saw that earlier... dude better be careful going up for a smoke on the roof

there is Polymarket odds on him making it to April's Fool day

I meant there is "no" of course because that would be a buying money opp

Holy shit, that guy is now reportedly in a psychiatric hospital?

well he must be crazy to publish that shit about Putin

Probably up on the 20th floor. Just needs some fresh air to feel better.

“The army isn’t advancing in Ukraine, and the war is going nowhere. There are massive losses. We are fighting over tiny territories that will ultimately give Russia nothing.”

Welcome to the resistance, comrade remeslo. But don't expect a trial.

Interesting story developing this week:

https://www.reuters.com/world/czechs-investigate-fire-after-reports-anti-israel-group-claiming-responsibility-2026-03-20/

A group calling themselves Earthquake Faction set fire to an arms warehouse in the Czech Republic and, in a video showing the action, outlined that it was run by Elbit and used to manufacture drones for Israel. Got lots of attention and praise from the expected quarters.

However, it isn’t run by Elbit (the actual owners were in discussion with Elbit a few years ago on a proposal that didn’t go forward), it isn’t making drones for Israel and there doesn’t appear to be any evidence that Earthquake Faction exists, or existed before this week. The company that owns the warehouse sells weapons to Ukraine.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. There was a similar incident in Belgium last year where ‘anti-Israel protesters ‘ sabotaged a company supplying Ukraine in Belgium. The obvious suspicion is that these are false flags organised by Russia and claiming to be pro-Palestine activities.

these are sincere pro-palestinian activists who have ended up in weird cults that are being very obviously manipulated by russian intelligence

Possibly, or possibly just people recruited off Telegram to pretend. Hopefully it’s the latter.

Another angle of the famous fuel tank explosion in Moscow earlier today. pic.twitter.com/0Ntt3Y9HhS

— Jimmy Rushton (@JimmySecUK) June 18, 2026

https://images.cnscdn.com/c/e/e/a/ceead64cb3503ee0fd088047643ad269/original.jpg

Any news whether this was a Ukrainian drone attack/sabotage, or was it just an industrial cockup?

no, there's footage of drones and missiles trying to bring them down... Russia has already acknowledged it was an attack, to big to hide

Yevgeny Prigozhin shouldn't have stopped halfway to Moscow.