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Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

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Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#151

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

justsomehnguy wrote: post #142
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...it is distressing to see the [British] press grovelling in the gutter as low as Goebbels in his prime, shrieking that any German commander who holds out in a desperate situation (when, too, the military needs of his side clearly benefit) is a drunkard, and a besotted fanatic. ... There was a solemn article in the local [Oxford] paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the…

Very apt quote, sadly. Offtopic: Regarding your Ask HN thread - some years ago I used (well, tried to) a small smartphone stylus which 'docked' in the headphone socket so it would be always with the phone. It wasn't good for me, because it wasn't sensitive enough for sketching, but overall it was fine for navigating the UI. If your phone has no 3.5 jack but you use a case it can be attached to the case. Maybe you can…

Tolkien was a shockingly wise man for his time. I've been enjoying reading his letters lately. Adds so much context to his fictional work as well.

Hah, well thank you! Luckily the hyperhidrosis has since passed, since it was just a temporary side effect from medication. But I'm definitelly gonna get one of these anyway, because it will definitely be an issue again sometime in the future.

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#152

Post by webmobdev »

logicchains wrote: post #76
webmobdev wrote: post #42

It was inevitable - this is what happens when you allow private armies as a business. Nearly a century ago, when the British government decided to take control of a private army the British empire ultimately collapsed because of the backlash from the corporates who ran it. Putin is right to act swiftly and harshly against this kind of behaviour before they become an actual threat to the nation - Mercenaries, unlike n…

The reason they had a private army was to do dirty stuff in Africa that would cause an international incident if the Russian military was involved directly. Without Wagner, it'd have been much harder for Russia to force project. The core problem is the poorly managed war; Wagner'd be unlikely to rebel if the war was going well and everyone was satisfied with the Russian leadership.

Private Armies or Private Military Contractors are desired by governments who want to deflect political accountability, and, to that end, Russian leadership isn't any different to the west on how they've been using them. In the Ukraine conflict, the Wagner group has often been used as cannon fodder. Especially in Bakhmut, where the Ukranians recently lost the bulk of their real soldiers, good soldiers, while the brunt of Russian losses was borne by the Wagner group and not the Russian military. (That is one explanation of why the Wagner group is pissed at Russian military, and, thus, the mutiny).

I agree with your perspective that certain aspects of the war weren't managed well by Russia, but disagree that war isn't going well for Russia - they appear to have achieved 80% of their strategic objectives by annexing Crimea and bordering areas of Ukraine, and holding on to it while Ukranian counter-offensives have failed to dislodge the Russians. In fact military experts in both US (Ukraine’s Chances of Victory in 2023 are Vanishingly Small - https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/06/ukraines-chances-of-vict... ) and India (Final Battle In Russia-Ukraine War? - https://youtu.be/D0oA-Y5eTs4 ) agree that the chances of a Ukraine counter-offensive being successful are quite low.

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#153

Post by watwut »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #132
oneshtein wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically, you say that if two killers will shoot each one, then it's the exact same tragedy as when they shot innocents. In your eyes, offender and defender are both innocent people.

No, this is not what I said. It's so far from what I said or even implied, I'm not even sure how to explain it in a way you won't completely twist around. I guess this will suffice: a nuclear assault by the Russian state, on Russian soil, is not "two killers shooting eachother"; whether they're aiming for Wagner group is irrelevant, since it would also kill thousands if not millions of civilians. Hence, it is an act…

Genocide is not defined by number of victims, but rather by intent. If the actual target is Wagner and civilians are "side victims" then it does not fall into genocide definition. If your intent is to destroy some group in population, for them to not exist, then it becomes genocide. Even if you fail to kill that many people of use non lethal methods.

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#154

Post by watwut »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #94
ilyt wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While russia nuking themselves would be hilarious end of the current clown fiesta, I don't think they are that stupid, there is no way to explain that to public in favourable way to whichever side is left standing

I'm quite disturbed that you think a nuclear genocide on the Russian people would be "hilarious". It would be a humanitarian disaster and an almost unprecedented tragedy. Let's not participate in the vilification of the Russian people.

> Let's not participate in the vilification of the Russian people

Sure. But let also admit that the support for Ukrainian war and actual ongoing genocide in Ukraine is high in Russia.

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#155

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

sph wrote: post #144
ModernMech wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slashdot used to get complaints like this all the time (maybe still does, wouldn't know). They would be followed by a recitation of the Slashdot motto: "News for nerds, stuff that matters. This is a story that matters." Usually shut people up immediately. HN also suffers nerds not wanting to hear about anything except nerd shit, but we don't have a handy shorthand to shut down these tedious complaints.

[flagged]

You're the only one being obnoxious and snarky.

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#156

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

watwut wrote: post #153
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is not what I said. It's so far from what I said or even implied, I'm not even sure how to explain it in a way you won't completely twist around. I guess this will suffice: a nuclear assault by the Russian state, on Russian soil, is not "two killers shooting eachother"; whether they're aiming for Wagner group is irrelevant, since it would also kill thousands if not millions of civilians. Hence, it is an act…

Genocide is not defined by number of victims, but rather by intent. If the actual target is Wagner and civilians are "side victims" then it does not fall into genocide definition. If your intent is to destroy some group in population, for them to not exist, then it becomes genocide. Even if you fail to kill that many people of use non lethal methods.

Oh, you're right, I change my mind. It would be hilarious after all.

What point are you even trying to make here?

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#157

Post by 93po »

bitcharmer wrote: post #136
Lewton wrote: post #95

@dang anything mentioning Wagner group is being flagged off the main page, I could see why some people would react that way when there’s a 20 articles shared about the same thing in an hour, but it’s a bit disturbing that there’s currently zero articles on the front page about this

The main page is heavily curated by dang and only features what he likes. For actual popular content I just go to /active

What you’re implying is not true at all. I am massively critical of online moderation and dang and his team definitely curate a lot but it’s done very transparently when potentially controversial and he has an extremely reputable track record

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#158

Post by 93po »

marak830 wrote: post #106
Lewton wrote: post #95

@dang anything mentioning Wagner group is being flagged off the main page, I could see why some people would react that way when there’s a 20 articles shared about the same thing in an hour, but it’s a bit disturbing that there’s currently zero articles on the front page about this

There is a more and zero chance that those flags are not from general user accounts. Also @danf doesn't actually taf him from what I have read, there is an option at the bottom of the page(apparently, I've never used it XD) Edit: mailto:hn@ycombinator.com Is the link at the bottom.

I would bet it’s almost entirely authentic flagging. News about Russia’s invasion has a lot of propaganda and unverified reporting, and I imagine HN users are tired and skeptical of anything on the news about it.

For context, I’m not at all denying the invasion or how awful it is. I’m only saying there is extreme hyperbole at times in the same way there is about controversial political figures in the US

Re: Russia 'Coup' Live Forecast

#159

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

watwut wrote: post #154
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm quite disturbed that you think a nuclear genocide on the Russian people would be "hilarious". It would be a humanitarian disaster and an almost unprecedented tragedy. Let's not participate in the vilification of the Russian people.

> Let's not participate in the vilification of the Russian people Sure. But let also admit that the support for Ukrainian war and actual ongoing genocide in Ukraine is high in Russia.

Sure, but let's also not pretend the average Russian has unfettered access to independent media.
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