Has Putin won?

Interesting clip of a Su-25 passing by a drone about a meter away.

https://twitter.com/raging545/status/1783600406058180806

Might buy one.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1785658032199983191

Marjorie Taylor Greene (like many extreme MAGAS) is trying to present this as internal empathy, but we have multiple examples of her wishing dictatorships on America itself, cheering on Wagner and Russia, and directly implying Russia is actually America' friend fighting for "god"

What she's actually raging about here, is Russia about to have a bad time. And good, be upset. Horse faced loon.

@uninspiredcup: they are always praising Taylor green in Russian tv. The last time margarita Simonyan, head of Russia today, quoted her several times and then complement her by calling her "undeniably heterosexual". Which is not only a really weird compliment, but also kind of strange given that Taylor green is a rather manly woman.

Anyone else eyeing the situation in Tbilisi, Georgia? I haven't seen protests like that since Hong Kong in 2019 (and we all know what China did to that with the bill they passed and just became effective this year). It's not even trending in Twitter.

And reminder, that RF and PRC are considered to be on the "right" side of a certain situation in the Middle East. So, I expect Moscow to get a pass on this.

KInd of indirectly related to the war, but Holy Shit this guy's dim.

Well crap now I have to play DCS World

*runs off to play study sim*

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/08/marjorie-taylor-greene-speaker-mike-johnson-motion-to-vacate

How is this even real... embarrassing, what an idiot

https://twitter.com/GufoPuso/status/1792073492671918280

""Russian side confirming Ukraine has just sunk the “Tsiklon” in the port of Sevastopol with an ATCAMS strike. Built in summer 2023, this ship was the carrier/launcher for Russia's fastest "zirkon" missiles.""

It is just me or is the effect of the brain drain and the cost of this war affecting Russia less than what was portrayed in media?

I find this super hard to judge. One thing that is tricky is short term vs long term. Short term if you spend a ton of money on the military industry productivity should go up and unemployment down. But long term it must be bad as they are not really producing anything of value for the population. But I dont really know what long term is in this context...

Brain drain seems like an even slower process though.

BTW I just tried the new AI feature in Edge (mark the text press alt+I to make AI rewrite your text):

Assessing the impact of military spending on an economy is indeed challenging, especially when considering short-term versus long-term effects. In the short term, significant investment in the military industry can boost productivity and reduce unemployment. However, in the long term, such spending may not yield tangible benefits for the population, as the industry does not produce consumer goods. Defining 'long term' in this context can be ambiguous.

Similarly, brain drain is a gradual process with its own set of complexities. It involves the emigration of skilled individuals from one country to another, which can have profound implications over time.

Damn that makes me sound way smarter 😂😅

Like I was hoping we could soon see the negative effect of it and it start affecting the war.

I would argue more.

People seem super quick to forget that last year Wagner, the foremost army of Russia who made the majority of gains, went on a mutiny straight for Moscow with practically 0 opposition. And that's a key thing, no one was actually opposing him when in reality, Wagner could have very easily been crushed.

Sea fleet has been defeated and almost entirely decimated by a country that has none.

Several high ranking including Sergei Shoigu has been replaced with an economist, not a military leader. Not that Sergei Shoigu was one.

Russia is now having to get aid from North Korea for shells and Iran for drones, both of which (unlike Ukriane where it's for free) have gave them a deal heavily skewed against them.

Most of Russia' actual best troops are long gone. And has been proven not to be good to begin with. It's image is completely tarnished with astronomical casualties through meat-wave assaults.

You'll notice in the West, particularly right-wingers, will completely ignore all this and any ebb on Ukraine is a monumental end.

Where I would argue the West fails is

1. Dealing with Russian propaganda especially internally where Russia has the amazing ability to "kill them"

We cannot, unfortunately, throw Tucker Carlson head first from a window (repeatedly). The West has traitors flagrantly echoing Russian propaganda to an audience. You have people in some form of power doing it in your own very halls, which is frankly, embarrassing.

2. The West has clearly shown fatigue and the rise of the right, faltering while Russia due to it's fascist nature has a much tighter grip where people have been turned cattle like. So the idea Russian people will rebel was misplaced

3. The Ukraine counter offensive proved far more difficult and was extremely overhyped like it was an "end game", this deflated much support. And time by default creates apathy, unfortunately.

Think we're forgetting as well, The West, at the start of this, portrayed that Russia would take Ukraine in 3 days. Then it was weeks. Then it was months.

We are at a 3 year point and Ukraine is not only standing, it has taken large amounts of territory back.