I’m more impressed that people with negative opinions about the war speak up. It takes courage to stand up when there can be real consequences doing so.
Indeed. Some of them actually joke about it. “I’m not talking to you, Putin is gonna come get me”.
There are other interviewees who clearly have something they want to say, but instead they kind of back off and just deliver a platitude about how they’re “sure” Putin knows what he’s doing. It’s obvious they don’t believe a word of it.
Hope you understand this is the kind of reports easy to make extremely manipulative. Like those age-old videos about how stupid people are, where the interviewer talks to a hundred of people asking dozens of question and then cherry-picks just a few examples and edits the reel.
Just recently Russian police experts have decided that there’s no crime in Russian TV persona Krasovsky saying that Ukrainian children should be drowned or burned on TV (it’s not our of context, it’s not a joke, it was exactly this) while some common people got in jail for calling a Special Military Operation with a word “war” in a tweet. So, like, I’d personally wouldn’t say anything on camera if I were in Russia.
Grifman
21552
This is a hidden mobilization:
Grifman
21553
Entrenched Russian position wiped out after MLRS strike - WARNING - graphic video of aftermath:
At least those trenches look a bit more realistic than some, if no more effective against 21st century ordnance.
In his defence, I didn’t and don’t know where it is!
Being in a static position with no top cover is a death sentence.
I’m definitely aware of editing with anything I watch online, but did you watch the video? I think what he gets on tape speaks for itself.
It’s not like the Daily Show picking the most outrageous statements to make people laugh, it seems like a genuine document to me.
Did you ship out to Kandahar? :D
In fairness, too, during WWII for instance few Americans had the vaguest idea where, say, Peleliu or Kasserine or Caen was either…
No.
Point taken.
I was near Bastion/Leatherneck.
Of course, but what gets me is the obliviousness. If you say “I’m going because I feel I have to try to stop the Japanese Empire or the Nazis” then that’s conviction, and it makes me think you have at least some idea of what you’re doing.
The Russian guy is saying “I don’t know anything. I have no idea what Ukraine is doing, or if fighting them is even the right thing to do, but if I get called up, I guess I’ll just go fight”. That’s a wild one, especially considering what he will be walking into.
For the kid from Mississippi, if you have volunteered, and you are going to into a brutal war, and you know where you’re being deployed, wouldn’t you want to at least look at a map?
I try to always be vague when I’m talking about other people who aren’t part of the conversation, but his unit had an uncommon specialization that meant they were gonna be shipped around to the most remote outposts, and I knew he was probably going to be in serious danger.
He clearly didn’t. To him it was just a job. It was that or working at McDonald’s.
Within a couple of months his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, and a bunch of ANA were killed. He was not the same kid when he came back.
In my experience, that’s not reflective of most soldiers or their experiences. That’s what made it interesting to me. Usually I ask people (if they’re American) “Did you sign up because you were pissed off by 9/11?” and often that will be the reason, or they have some other more philosophical or psychological take on going to war.
They’ve thought about it, at least. This kid had no idea. He didn’t care, he was just a bored 19 year old.
KevinC
21562
Just pulling up the article now so maybe I should finish reading it before commenting, but wasn’t that clearly his mindset from the start? NATO will fracture, Europe will wilt under energy prices, and no one in the West really cared beyond stamping their feet and making a show.
The West is just pretending to care. Any minute now EU will freeze and overthrow their governments.
Anyway, this idea of getting into the mind of a dictator is funny one. What would happen to me if I’d surround myself by yes men for 20 years and govern 1/8 of the world? I don’t know. This journalist assumes he understands the worldview and goals of Putin. Who’s to say Putin even wants to end the war? He doesn’t even have noticeable protests about it so it doesn’t seem to be danger to his rule. And it’s obvious the West doesn’t want to bomb Kremlin no matter what happens. Anyway I’ve repeated it bunch of times, bold of you to assume death of million Russians would be unacceptable price for Putin to make him the most famous person in the world for several years.
Aceris
21564
It’s pretty clear that he vastly underestimated the resolve of Ukraine, and somewhat underestimated the resolve of the West. By the time he understood the true nature of the situation he was pot-committed. Except in this case the pot is full of human suffering and war crimes.
Aceris
21565
I think the only danger to his rule is if Russia “loses” - so if anything he has an incentive to keep the war going.
Define “loses”. Putin says the West want to turn Russia into a satellite state with many genders and gay parades and Nazism. If the West does that Putin indeed will probably be out of office.
