Will current regime resort to use of nuclear weapons against Wagner formations as they approach Moscow? After all, the state and the power regime are facing an existential risk.
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
> While russia nuking themselves would be hilarious end of the current clown fiesta
Oh dropping nuclear bombs on place-where-I-don’t-live is so funny hahahaha it’s not like nuclear weapons have been a genuine threat since WWII and still is hahaha.
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.
Sorry, I ran out of fucks somewhere in the middle of COVID. Them nuking their own army/PMC themselves would be small price if that ended Ukraine's conflict
> Let's not participate in the vilification of the Russian people.
I'm vilifying their leadership. But I'm still amazed there is no revolt there
At what point are the citizens of a country responsible for what the country's military is doing?
Note: not advocating for a nuclear genocide, but I do feel that citizens become culpable if they are allowing their country to stop on others and they aren't protesting or emigrating (if possible)
Well, avoiding the deeper philosophical waters, I would say whatever responsibility is there would depend on how democratic the country is. Russia is very far from being a functioning democracy at the moment. Sure they have elections, but they're likely partially fixed, freedom of the press is a joke, political protest is punished harshly(typically with violence), and opposing political candidates are prosecuted on false charges, jailed, even killed. Given this, I think holding the Russian people as a whole responsible for the war seems unreasonable. Certainly there's some responsibility there in various ways in terms of the personal contributions of individual people. But precisely because Russia is so undemocratic, the distribution of responsibility is heavily distributed onto the oligarchy and military leadership.
But like you say, genocide is never justified, no matter what. And that was mainly what I was reacting to.
Nope, I'd think that if ever something so bizzare would happen it would be tactical nuke targeted at bigger gathering of wagner forces. Little hitler at power there wouldn't care of a village or two got wiped if alternative was coup succeeding.
Russia nuking themselves does not imply that tho. It would be same humanitarian catastrophe as Russia nuking Ukraine, Russia blowing up that nuclear plant in Ukraine they are currently likely planning to blow, Russia blowing up the damm.
Meaning, it would be exactly the same humanitarian disaster as Russia is comiting elsewhere right now. Only difference is that a.) nationality of innocent victims b.) event that harms Russia itself as opposed event that harms countries around Russia.
I'm not sure what you mean here. I'm not saying we should somehow care more about Russians than about anyone else. I just don't think Putin nuking cities with millions of people would be hilarious in any sense of the word, and I don't see how that changes based on which side of the border it's on.
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 of genocide.
I thought this was completely obvious, so I left it implied, but clearly things need to be spelled out to the nth degree around here.
They haven't started killing people for using VPNs yet so I think more correct statement is that they are too stupid to look for that access, or too ignorant or brainwashed to keep believing official propaganda.
I don't think it's more correct. But if you wanted to keep arguing for the sake of it, I agree that's the point you'd make. Good job. "Unfettered access" now means "can use a VPN without being killed for it". Sure.
Nuclear genocide != nuclear suicide. Russian people started the war. Majority of Russians support war with Ukraine even today, with hope that they kill all Ukrainians and occupy their territory, to show their power to Rotten West. They sad that their leader is too weak to nuke Washington and London.
"...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 only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done."
J.R.R. Tolkien, 1944, in a letter to his son, commenting on British war-time propaganda.
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 try to use a notebook style case, so your palms would sweat the case, not the phone and therefore you would have a bit less trouble with false touches.
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.
Point of nukes is deterring other country. If your opponent is not country than there is little use for nukes because there is no target. That is why terrorism was such big topic for US/Russia for last two decades.
It might be strange to say, but Putin is not an absolute dictator. He could not order the use of nuclear weapons on a whim, and have that obeyed throughout the chain. The Russian system will be much more sophisticated than that.
https://thebulletin.org/2022/03/read-the-fine-print-russias-...
No direct attack is needed. Both Dems and Reps said they would trigger article 5 on the event of a nuclear accident or attack in Ukraine that would result in irradiation of NATO territory.
Would the new regime resort to the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine or anyone else?
As unpredictable and irrational as he's become, there's some comfort in Putin's track record of staying off the button. I really hope these events don't cause him to start getting YOLOy
I've had the exact thought, it looks as if we are further descending into apocalyptic territory.
You have people capable of extreme destruction being cornered into an existential state, leaving them with very little rational options. This is when the irrational options starts appearing very rational..
True or not, what if this appears like a western backed coup to Putin and his inner circle. The kind of retaliations such an action would call for is unimaginable.
I'm not sure the Kremlin is full of irrational individuals ready see their country totally annihilated.
I suspect the Kremlin is full of self-serving individuals determined to look after their own self-interest. They'll be happy to see Putin hang on, provided of course his success aligns with their success.
But if their interests could be better served supporting someone else, they will quickly flip allegiances.
I'm inclined to agree with your line of thinking but my comment was on the second and third order consequences of what just happened.
When you put rational people in extremely chaotic situations, they tend to make very irrational choices.
As of just a few hours ago we just entered a world where the following is an actual possibility, albeit an unlikely possibility:
Prigozhin closes in, creating an existential crises for Putin and his inner circle.
They believe this is a western backed coup where defeat isn't just personal but also defeat for Russia.
Putin & his inner circle are put in a position to consider retaliation under the context of a rapidly deteriorating existential crises.
I'm a voracious consumer of history and I can tell the one thing you learn from history is how a set of seemingly unrelated harmless dominos change the world overnight whether if its the death of a duke from a second tier power or the ambition of a failed artist.
I could see the probability of a deranged Putin ordering nuclear strikes within Russia going up, but I think the probability of his order being followed will go down accordingly. It's not as if Putin can actually launch the nukes unilaterally.
It was other city far from Moscow. What I see is civilians are split in 2 camps , young ones that follow social media will probably be in one camp and old people that only follow TV will be in other camp. Let's see what is next.
And I see that a few started blaming USA, Israel and nazis for this.