what the fuck is happening in Russia?

(not those specific officers, but same role different city)

A young man shot and wounded the chief recruitment officer at a military enlistment station in Russia’s Irkutsk region on Monday, local authorities said, as thousands of fighting-aged men continued to flee the country to escape being summoned to duty in President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The alleged shooter in the attack on the recruitment chief, at a military commissariat in Ust-Ilimsk, a small town in Irkutsk, apparently was distraught that his close friend had been called for duty despite having no prior military service.

Putin, announcing the partial mobilization, had said only experienced servicemen would be summoned. “We are talking about partial mobilization,” the president said in a national address. “In other words, only military reservists, primarily those who served in the armed forces and have specific military occupational specialties and corresponding experience, will be called up.”

But there have been a torrent of reports all across Russia, including from ardent supporters of the war, of people being summoned for duty despite having no prior military service, or being too old or otherwise physically incapable of going to war.

And now---well, search with "Kremlin admits mistakes" (re mobilization)

BREAKING - Russian FSB security service says it has detained Japanese Consul in Vladivostok - RIA - Reuters News

— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) September 26, 2022

twitter pundits are weird, so what is chris o saying, that if "russian civil society" doesn't collectively decide to hold mass protests against putin they're the ones responsible for any conscripts who die in the ukraine, because "russian civil society" has a "choice"?

god as if my monday wasn't shitty enough already

Unrelated to The War, but interesting:

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin grants Russian citizenship to former US security contractor Edward Snowden.

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 26, 2022

So they can draft him!

I don't usually read much Twitter punditry, but was struck by this study he quoted, posted upthread:

Losses will be comparable to those of DNR troops - British intelligence estimates that as of June (3.5 months into the war) they left 55% of their original strength. It can be assumed that in the next 6 months the losses among the Russian mobilised may amount to 60-70%.

look i know it's rude of me to say but i feel like chelsea manning has come out of things a lot better than snowden did, and i can think of one decision manning made that may have helped

also the curse of three letter acronyms strikes again, i can only read that as "do not resuscitate" troops, i can imagine that losses among soldiers who have DNR orders on file would be pretty severe

I thought it was the Department of Natural Resources, who are more accustomed to citing hunters for going over their bag limits or doing life-jacket checks on recreational watercraft.

i can think of one decision manning made that may have helped

She repudiated Glenn Greenwald, but that's probably not what you were thinking of.

now i'm wondering what the correlation between repudiating glenn greenwald and taking estrogen looks like, i mean it's a small sample size but i, too, repudiate glenn greenwald

seriously edward snowden not transitioning is a fucking tragic blow to humanity, the guy looks like abi thorn pre-transition and look how _she's_ turning out

look i know it's rude of me to say but i feel like chelsea manning has come out of things a lot better than snowden did

this seems uncontroversial

.. anyway, what the fuck is happening in RUSSIA

A few hundred (mainly female) protesters gathered in the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk earlier today to protest mobilisation

While performing the Yakut Osuokhai folk dance they shouted "no to war" and "no to [Yakut] genocide", local media report https://t.co/DZlvHcXRAI pic.twitter.com/MBiukhr8Pl

— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) September 25, 2022

They chose an interesting staging ground for the protest; the statue in the background is of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platon_Oyunsky

A Yakut communist, playwright, translator, statesman, and eventual victim of the Great Purge, he was posthumously rehabilitated in the 1955; a statue of him was erected in 2003.

I kept searching trying to figure out who it was but the results kept coming up with Lenin, whose statue has graced the main square in Yakutsk since 1967. Despite being described as Yakutsk's "cultural heritage," however, its future remains uncertain. Critics point out that plans for it to be refurbished this year have run into budgetary difficulties: not all of the funds necessary have been allocated.

Newly mobilized Russians are told what they need to take to the war. Spoiler - pads and tampons.
(English subtitles) pic.twitter.com/CumYqqpuit

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 26, 2022

also in the bizarro russian news: “a petition to provide vegan and vegetarian military rations has gathered over 25000 signatures”

'ask your family to send tourniquets!'

geez that inspires confidence

Looks like enlistment/mobilization centers being set up at the Georgian border at the main Verkhnii crossing. If true, looks like effecticvely like a partial border closing

Questions about the capacity of Georgia (and to lesser extent Armenia) to absorb anti-mobilization Russians (also maybe between March exiters and September exiters)

welp, the votes are in, everybody wants to join the Russian Federation - that's democracy in action

Solovyov gets drafted and goes crazy. pic.twitter.com/bd8lMf4zFi

— RealSubtitles (@R82938886) September 27, 2022

A weird people in my uneducated opinion

RIP red tie man

I do not think those are real subtitles.

If they are, that's a really weird exchange

click through and it’s made very clear they’re fake comedy subtitles

yeah not really sure what’s the purpose of this tweet or the fact that reposting it might not provide the necessary context.

the original exchange is revolting - and should be presented as such.

in the actual bizzaro russian news: those who are drafted are advised to buy and bring their own supplies. clothing, first aid etc

which essentially means: you can buy better chance of survival - if you can afford it.

if Russia wanted to preserve the illusion that they're still a world-class fighting force, this incursion has pretty much shattered it.. creaky old equipment, poorly trained & supplied troops, a chaotic command structure, rampant corruption, looting, etc. They have plenty of cannon fodder, but that's about it.

i’m holding slight hope it’s these kind of news that will contribute to mass discontent - because this is something that they can’t blame ukraine for

.. or the west

in the actual bizzaro russian news: those who are drafted are advised to buy and bring their own supplies. clothing, first aid etc

This was an issue with American troops in Iraq 2 as well, iirc.

I was gonna say.

maybe we just need one general what the fuck is happening thread

#onethread

What do Russians think of the Pitchfork 90s lists?

how the fuck do you leave off Yegor i Opizdenevshie??

from meduza:

sources close to kremlin say the russian government is not in the rush to annex because the "PR effect during mobilization will be close to zero". they also say the kremlin understands that russians haven't been convinced yet the annexation is necessary, although the official propaganda says the regions are economically beneficial, and referendums followed by annexation is an absolutely "normal process" - including the west (quoting such examples as texas joining the US).

there is also the thinking that such a delay would leave some room for negotiations. although currently the main headache for moscow is the wide spread discontent due to the mobilization. the kremlin conducted a closed survey and the results were not to their liking.

it appears the plans to block the borders for any men within the drafted age group are on hold for now - "we underestimated the amount of people trying to flee and we can't risk it - because we don't have enough enforcement".

reminds me of playing Command & Conquer, I know exactly what point in the game he's at

The only people who are ready to live according to US rules are "political masochists and other followers of non-traditional political relations," a homophobic joke.

Putin rants about sex change operations. "This is unacceptable. We have our own future. pic.twitter.com/n99bow1BaA

— max seddon (@maxseddon) September 30, 2022

What a weird rant...

I mean it’s only weird if one discounts everyone who talks like that these days

More on today's speech:

I wish every single person in the West would listen to Putin's speech. Obviously, that won't happen so let me summarise as a professional translator for 10+ years. He states, as he has done from the outset, what his intentions and complaints are in the plainest terms possible.🧵

— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) September 30, 2022

Lovely mix of truths, exaggerations, elisions, prejudices, fantasies, and lies.

xp

Some fairly valid points, meant solely to rationalize his hateful and brutal form of imperialism.

(Quote starts with “They flattened…”)

German cities without "any military need to do so". There was no need for this except to scare us and the rest of the world. Korea, Vietnam. To this day they "occupy" Japan, South Korea and Germany and other countries while cynically calling them "allies".

— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) September 30, 2022

Yeah, pretty sure Dresden was payback for the Blitz

and the V2 program

Churchill was also interested in dropping anthrax over Germany along with poison gas.

elvis t otm

"Yeah, pretty sure Dresden was payback for the Blitz"

the RAF were the first to target and kill German civilians in the air war between Britain and Germany. The "payback" rhetoric has always been a load of bollox. Unless your name is Aimless and confidently talking history channel level trash as knowledge is your ting!