Istari6
5362
A quick Google search suggests the US lost 2,401 KIA in Afghanistan across 20 years. The Russians are on day 6 of the war? Still, the French lost 27,000 KIA on a single day: August 22nd, 1914. Even higher than the British one day losses on the Somme nearly two years later.
Meanwhile we’ve received orders that no British service personnel are to go to Ukraine.
It’s a good question. Most of what I thought I knew about Russia has gone out the window in the last week.
But isn’t it also kinda hard to imagine that all of these powerful guys are okay with Putin setting their money on fire?
It used to be in the Soviet Union, that if you weren’t good to your friends, your friends would get a new friend, and you’d either be shot, or sent to live on a farm under police “protection”.
It seems weird to me that a Russian leader would just shit on his friends and think that was safe? But then all of this is weird. I have no idea.
If that’s true, it makes me sad for both sides. The Ukranian dead is likely several times the Russian dead. I was hoping (probably foolishly) that this was still a pretty restrained conflict, at least in terms of actual dead.
Enidigm
5366
But in a country with laws on paper and despotism in practice, the only reason they have money anyway is on suffrage from the Tsar.
Honestly the more i think about it, the obession with the old empire, the Orthodox church, ect, seems like Putin has been setting himself up for a self crowning.
vyshka
5367
Sadly we might never know just how bad it has been. If they prevail, I’m sure the Russians will do everything they can to hide the true costs for everyone.
The first phase of Putin’s regime involved setting very clear limits to Oligarchs’ political freedom. You toed Putin’s party line or found yourself in prison for not paying the $21billion tax bill that had suddenly arrived out of nowhere. No campaigning against Putin, no funding critical media, no public criticism etc.
So on the one hand, as the owners of big chunks of the Russian economy, they must count as an important constituency. On the other hand the ones most likely to cause trouble are already in exile (or worse).
My understanding is that the cronies whose opinions Putin actually cares about are the circle of ex-KGB people who have made themselves rich from running the country (as he has), but who are a separate group from the Oligarchs (who mostly made themselves rich during the privatization of Soviet industries). I guess they’re also losing lots of money, but they’re more likely to agree with his ideological approach. And maybe restoring the greatness of Russia is worth a few billion in lost Swiss bank accounts.
Tim_N
5369
Not sure about that assumption. It was revealed upthread that the Russians are claiming 2870 Ukranian soldiers killed, and I think the chances are high that they would exaggerate upwards to a greater extent than the Ukranian estimate of Russian killed that is backed up by western officials.
Houngan
5370
The problem is that unit skill doesn’t matter a lick on the wrong end of an artillery campaign. Now that it seems Russia is okay with massive civilian casualties, they can just keep kicking Ukraine in the morale as bodies pile up with no danger on their part. Man for man I would take Ukraine’s chances any day in a defensive war, but the current war has shifted to who has the most weapons, the strongest weapons, and the will to use them indiscriminately.
Dejin
5371
Tweeter is Time Magazine Correspondent
Houngan
5372
That seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Dejin
5373
Definitely seems like the right move. I’m sure the Republicans will make hay with it, but SecDef still made the right decision.
Like a corrupt monarchy, where Putin and his security buddies are the royal center, and the oligarchs are the landed class. That makes perfect sense. Thanks for clueing me in!
Grifman
5375
It is highly unlikely that UA losses are several times greater than Russia, instead they are probably lower, maybe significantly so. Defenders invariably inflict higher casualties on attackers, unless they are encircled or caught in a retreat.
Grifman
5376
Good prices on slightly used Russian tanks on eBay, get one now:
Houngan
5377
“Never been fired, only dropped once.”
If I owned a tank I’d put glowy orange paint on all the points the armour was thickest.
Mwahahaha.
Maybe combat losses, but civilians always pay a heavy price when cities are bombarded.
Houngan
5380
And have a bigger cost in will to fight. This is the ugly phase, and I’m afraid it’s going to work.
Istari6
5381
That assumes peer-level in weaponry. If defender is deficient in modern firepower (artillery, gunships, airpower), their casualties can be quite a bit higher than attacker. See Iraq or Afghanistan.
