>

Tonight's gonna be a good night to whack my ears with a wooden mallet.
“Inflict defeat”
Playing the victim while being the aggressor.
“Stop hitting back, you’re hurting me!” >

Typical bullying narcissist behavior to flip the morality of the situation back at the victims. 
"Stop hurting me! I'm only hurting you because I ~~love you~~ want to install a puppet government and steal your valuable lands and resources!" >

It's more sinister than being a bullying narcissist. Since Soviet times, Russia and the KGB's strategy has always been to befuddle the truth and skew any information that people get. They've been doing it for over a century.
Putin's an old KGB agent and he's using the old playbook, but I honestly think he's so old and geriatric that he doesn't understand that the world doesn't work in that same way in the modern information age. Maybe in Russia where he controls practically everything, but this sort of thing just sounds comical to the rest of us. The guy is still living in the USSR c. 1975. >


Putin's an old KGB agent and he's using the old playbook, but I honestly think he's so old and geriatric that he doesn't understand that the world doesn't work in that same way in the modern information age.

Completely agree on this one. Planning their invasion for several days just proves this. This guy definitely needs an updated OS. Unfortunately, this will never happen since his KGB school just "seals" everything he knows not leaving a chance for the update. Sad though. >

Could you please expand upon the "planning their invasion for several days just proves this" comment? Was that not enough, or too much planning? >

I wonder if they meant 'planning for an invasion that would only take a few days' - i.e. the Russians thought that they would take Kyiv in a few days, and then it would all be over? >

Yes, they literally believed the entire operation would be over in three days. And that's because Putin thought he had installed his puppets in every leadership position, and those puppets would just hand the nation over to him. That only worked in Kherson, but all the others took the money and ran. >

I'd say less the installed puppets and more that his inner circle of advisors are either completely sycophantic and assured him that Russian might would be able to steamroll to Kyiv or simply kept quiet knowing full well the true state of the military. Either way, pretty typical dictator stuff - anyone with dissenting opinions is either removed or executed and so an echo chamber forms. 
This coupled with a personal low opinion of Ukraine led Russia to believe the government would fold which they very well might had Zelenskyy decided to flee. >

I mean Putin doesn’t exactly foster an environment that is open to constructive criticism, so I wouldn’t be surprised if every “advisor” was routinely silent and just there to agree with whatever he wants to do at the moment. >

Russia can still CHOOSE to leave Ukraine and avoid defeat. >

Nah. They were defeated when they failed to hold their precious airport, failed to capture Kyiv, and poisoned themselves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
russia is the new "This is what winning looks like." >


russia is the new "This is what winning looks like."

honestly, as someone who has studied Russian history...this has kind of always been how they promote themselves lol
it's a huge reason why Victory Day (the end of WW2) is a BIG deal. Probably the biggest holiday after New Year's. They need to tell everyone around them who cares that they were the "ultimate winners" in World war 2
if you look at their military record, it's really an ongoing clusterfuck of hilariously pathetic military botch-ups: Crimean War, Russo-Japanese War, early parts of WW1, the Invasion of Afghanistan, the first Cechen War. They obviously had some level of success since they were a world power for a while, but holy fuck have they had some major screw-ups. >

The good ol Baltic fleet journey to Japan is still my favorite Russian military misadventure >

Go on… >

They sailed their fleet from the Baltic to Vladivostok to fight the Japanese. On the way they shot at a British fishing boat because they "thought it Japanese" (in the Baltic???) which got them banned from using the Suez.
In the end, they sailed halfway around the world just to get absolutely fucking stomped by Japan in quite possibly the most one-sided naval battle ever, then had to crawl several thousand miles back home in utter defeat.
(E: As several have mentioned, there's hilarious parts I didn't recount and parts I got a little wrong just reciting the basics from memory. Look it up, the Battle of Tsushima. It's a pretty crazy moment in history.) >

It was the Baltic (no casualties) and the North Sea (2 british fishermen were killed and an unnarmed fishing boat sunk at the cost of a russian orthodox priest and at least one russian sailer also being killed by friendly fire), with the latter costing them access from the Suez >

So their k/d was 2/2 against an unarmed opponent? Damn lol >

The whole voyage is odd. If they made a movie out of it. No one would believe it. >

I could see Wes Anderson pulling it off >

Nothing escapes the keen inquiring minds at the Kremlin >

Russia: Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it. >

I, too, am extraordinarily humble. >

Do not EVER call me a thesaurus! >

I’ve mastered the ability of standing so incredibly still that I become invisible to the eye. >

I have Famously huge turds! >

That's what you get from eating so many zargnuts. >

People, be careful. Don’t give Putin Drax ideas or he will kidnap Kevin bacon. >

Who names their child after a food? That would be very confusing at breakfast. >

It would be a great comedy show with a cook who took everything literally >

Yes. That's the point. You fucking idiots. >

It's only been 30 years, did they already forget how the Cold War worked? >

I think Cold War 2.0 really has surprised them. Just a few years ago they had a US President, a number of his staff, and several Senators and Congressmen in their back pocket. They also had a former German Chancellor literally on the payroll, an oligarch's son nominated for a position in the English House of Lords, allies in growing far-right parties throughout Europe, and what they thought was a reliable puppet government in Hungary that could block any NATO action even in the worst case scenario everything else failed. Europe was heavily dependent on Russian oil. They probably thought that they had enough diplomatic, clandestine, and financial leverage to march in unopposed, and once that didn't happen it triggered shocked Pikachu faces. >


Just a few years ago they had a US President, a number of his staff, and several Senators and Congressmen in their back pocket.

Also at least one highly-placed counterintelligence agent in the FBI, from the looks of things. Allegedly. >

Again.  FFS. >

Yeah but look at our intelligence so far on this war.  It looks like we’ve got quite a few paid informants as well.  Such is life in the spy world. >

Pretty surprising tbh, didn’t the last president give a bunch of names or something like that? >

The counterintuitive thing about spies, and the only reason they work, is they are insanely easy to replace.
Nearly anyone,  and everyone in a strategic field, or location is a potential spy. >

Exactly. Some people think of Russian spies as highly trained KGB operatives, when in reality the most successful Russian spies of all time were 5 British citizens who were recruited during their time at Cambridge University. They went on to hold positions in Parliament, MI6 etc. It's just regular people who are willing to pass on sensitive information. >

Actual intelligence officers don't infiltrate organizations and steal intel.  They convince people with access to the intel, and no ties to their agency, to pass the intel to them.  Most countries have a good idea of who the foreign intelligence officers in their country are.  Almost all of them have diplomatic credentials, and it is more effective to allow them to operate in your country and attempt to shadow them than it is to kick them out. >

West: *sends weapons to defeat russia*
Russia: YOU'RE SENDING WEAPONS TO DEFEAT US!
West: Yes? >

Also west: sends 20 year old leftover junk and cripples mighty Russian army >

A lot of the equipment actually is Cold War designs, so it's more like 40 year old stuff. >

No sir you forgot the 70s we're 30 years ago easy mistake to.... Oh God. >

Every damn time >

Literally every time! How are we all still so stuck in the aughts??? When someone asks me how old I am I'm like "Twelv...uh, wait, uh...almost 30".
Edit: I a word >

The aughts all sort of blend together as a bland smear of economic hardship and terrible music. >

Are you telling me you aren't a die-hard Black-eyed Peas fan?