[valyagolev]

my favorite hot take from the economist about this war was that one article that considered if Russia might lose because the roads in Ukraine during spring are just dirty and bad

from one of the worst publications to get one’s opinions from this graduated into comedy

edit: for some people it was a serious enough proposition to entertain that i had to check and indicate that no, the analysis shows that russia won’t lose because of dirty roads

[rosndo]

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/02/07/...

Doesn’t really line up with your comment, but perhaps you’re talking about a different article?

[valyagolev]

okay, i misremembered. for me it’s like i was wrong about an onion article

[rosndo]

You misremembered to such an extent that the article actually said the exact opposite of what you thought it did?

Impressive.

[valyagolev]

if i write an article saying “is elon musk alien?.. no” it would be reasonable to say that i wrote an article about him being an alien. it’s not their conclusion that is idiotic, it’s the hypothesis itself

[rosndo]

I think you’re just failing to comprehend what you’re reading. Nobody is suggesting that this would have a dramatic impact.

During my time in the military I was in the armored brigade, muddy conditions of the spring really sucked.

Nobody thinks that this would lose Russia the war, but it’s still a kind of a pain in the ass.

[chrisseaton]

Not sure why you think this is funny? Ground conditions are a critical factor in how Russia can use their armour.

[valyagolev]

against whom exactly? nato? usa? or ukraine? in which of those cases it’s something meaningful? what would it even mean to lose/“be stopped” in each case that it would be impacted by dirty road?

american imagination about this conflict surely runs wild

[chrisseaton]

> against whom exactly? nato? usa? or ukraine?

Ukraine

> in which of those cases it’s something meaningful? what would it even mean to lose/“be stopped” in each case that it would be impacted by dirty road?

Armour can get bogged down as the ground defrosts in the spring - that’s what they mean.

> american imagination about this conflict surely runs wild

I’m British.

[BossingAround]

The "mud could complicate things for Russia" is one of the statements that the White House officials made, e.g. [1].

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-invasion-of-ukraine-...

[throw0101a]

Well, that's one of the things that did help to do in the Nazis during Barbarossa (amongst many others of course). The Russians even have a name for it:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa

[valyagolev]

wait until you learn about Cossacks