NationStates

Washington Resistance Army wrote:I heard something about a hack in Russia that showed the 300,000 was only the first wave and they actually want to go for a million. Not sure about the veracity of that though.

West Bromwich Holme wrote:Should the U.S. take in Russians who don't want to be conscripted, of which there are many, and grant them asylum?

Would this be a good thing from a humanitarian POV?

Picairn wrote:

Hrstrovokia wrote:Russia will use nukes, it's the only thing to level the playing field now.

If Russia wants to use tactical nukes, now is the time. Yet nothing has happened. I'm starting to think that Putin fears MAD and nuclear escalation as much as we do.

Saiwania wrote:If Russia were the first to launch nukes and spark the 3rd world war, would they become the new black mark of history like how Germany was after WW2 for a few decades or so? An entity/name so reviled, that no one wants to permit them to be a nation anymore or undo any partitions of in the aftermath.

I have some optimism that if the nukes are used, that it won't necessarily mean that all of us die, that there will be at least a few survivors and that our world is more like Taris- minus the Rhakghoul disease where we have mutated monsters roaming around that with one bite or scratch, will turn someone into one of them.

Leocardia wrote:I can't believe we thought Russia to be this big and powerful #2 best military in the world.

In all our games, in all our movies, in all our encyclopedias... Russia had this really strong army despite having a #5 rank in world military expenditure.

Technically, Russia only partook in wars like Syria/ISIS and Georgia where the Russians were technologically superior -- in which the opponent had no air force or missiles, and just guerrilla insurgents.

Chan Island wrote:

West Bromwich Holme wrote:Should the U.S. take in Russians who don't want to be conscripted, of which there are many, and grant them asylum?

Would this be a good thing from a humanitarian POV?

Yes and yes. Not only because of the humanitarian POV (that's almost the least important reason) but because it is the smart play politically. With it, we signal that we are not enemies of the Russian people, just of Vladimir Putin's mad adventures outside the country. We gain allies who could bring in skills, knowledge and insight that could help us resolve this war. And it would represent a significant crack in Putin's propaganda at home, since each of them will be communicating with friends and family who stayed behind, injecting truth into this house of lies.

West Bromwich Holme wrote:Should the U.S. take in Russians who don't want to be conscripted, of which there are many, and grant them asylum?

Would this be a good thing from a humanitarian POV?

Washington Resistance Army wrote:

Picairn wrote:Scrolling through news reports from Buryatia, Dagestan, Chechnya, etc. plus the reports of anti-war protesters receiving mobilization summons, it is very likely that Russia may be mobilizing more than just 300,000 reservists, with poor ethnic minorities bearing the brunt. Some who received their draft papers have no military experience at all.

I heard something about a hack in Russia that showed the 300,000 was only the first wave and they actually want to go for a million. Not sure about the veracity of that though.

Salus Maior wrote:

Washington Resistance Army wrote:
I heard something about a hack in Russia that showed the 300,000 was only the first wave and they actually want to go for a million. Not sure about the veracity of that though.

...And again, how are they going to equip a million people?

Salus Maior wrote:...And again, how are they going to equip a million people?

Salus Maior wrote:

Washington Resistance Army wrote:
I heard something about a hack in Russia that showed the 300,000 was only the first wave and they actually want to go for a million. Not sure about the veracity of that though.

...And again, how are they going to equip a million people?

Picairn wrote:

Salus Maior wrote:...And again, how are they going to equip a million people?

Mosin-Nagant rifles, AK-47s, and PPSh-41 machine guns for conscripts. Easy. Throw in some T-55s and a couple T-72s for support. /s

Ifreann wrote:

Salus Maior wrote:
...And again, how are they going to equip a million people?

One out of two get a rifle, one without follows him. When the one with the rifle get killed, the one who is following picks up the rifle and shoot!

Austria-Bohemia-Hungary wrote:Silvio Berlusconi: Ex-PM defends Russian war on eve of Italian election
>Italy's former PM said Vladimir Putin wanted to replace the Kyiv government with "decent people".
That this buffoon haven't been deported to Moscow yet is a travesty.

Austria-Bohemia-Hungary wrote:Silvio Berlusconi: Ex-PM defends Russian war on eve of Italian election
>Italy's former PM said Vladimir Putin wanted to replace the Kyiv government with "decent people".
That this buffoon haven't been deported to Moscow yet is a travesty.

Austria-Bohemia-Hungary wrote:Silvio Berlusconi: Ex-PM defends Russian war on eve of Italian election
>Italy's former PM said Vladimir Putin wanted to replace the Kyiv government with "decent people".
That this buffoon haven't been deported to Moscow yet is a travesty.

The Two Jerseys wrote:

Austria-Bohemia-Hungary wrote:Silvio Berlusconi: Ex-PM defends Russian war on eve of Italian election
>Italy's former PM said Vladimir Putin wanted to replace the Kyiv government with "decent people".
That this buffoon haven't been deported to Moscow yet is a travesty.

Was he in a hot tub with Svetlana and Anastasia when he said that?

Laka Strolistandiler wrote:

West Bromwich Holme wrote:Should the U.S. take in Russians who don't want to be conscripted, of which there are many, and grant them asylum?

Would this be a good thing from a humanitarian POV?

Yes, please- if they’ll do that then I’ll early travel there, grab my green card and begin serving uncle sam’s misguided sons.

The team of three independent experts on Friday presented their first oral update to the UN human rights council, after it launched initial investigations looking at the areas of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, adding that it would broaden its inquiries.

Speaking a day before the seven-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, Erik Møse, the head of the investigation team, told thecouncil that, based on the evidence gathered by the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, “it has concluded that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine”.

The team of investigators visited 27 towns and settlements, as well as graves and detention and torture centres; interviewed more than 150 victims and witnesses; and met with advocacy groups and government officials.

Møse said the team had been especially “struck by the large number of executions in the areas that we visited”, and the frequent “visible signs of executions on bodies, such as hands tied behind backs, gunshot wounds to the head, and slit throats”.

He added it was investigating such deaths in 16 towns and settlements, and had received credible allegations regarding many more cases that it would seek to document. The investigators had also received “consistent accounts of ill-treatment and torture, which were carried out during unlawful confinement”, the council was told.

“Interlocutors described beatings, electric shocks, and forced nudity, as well as other types of violations in such detention facilities,” Møse said.

Møse said the team had also “processed two incidents of ill-treatment against Russian Federation soldiers by Ukrainian forces”, adding that “while few in numbers, such cases continue to be the subject of our attention”.

He said investigators had also documented cases of sexual and gender-based violence, in some cases establishing that Russian soldiers were the perpetrators.

“There are examples of cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes,” he said.”In the cases we have investigated, the age of victims of sexual and gendered-based violence ranged from four to 82 years.”

The commission had documented a wide range of crimes against children, Møse added, including children who were “raped, tortured, and unlawfully confined”.

Picairn wrote:According to Meduza, Russia reportedly plans to draft up to 1.2 million people, with 16,000 from Moscow and 3,200 from St. Petersburg. Rural areas will be hit the hardest with mobilization, while conscription in regional capitals is kept to a minimum.

Picairn wrote:Russia certainly does not have the logistical capacity to sustain 1 or 1.2 million soldiers in combat, so my guess is that a large majority will be kept to 1) the reserves for later rotations or 2) logistical and maintenance operations, while a smaller better-trained minority do the fighting (probably within the 100,000 - 300,000 range). That is, of course, if Russia manages to scrape them all together successfully.