Russia in the 21st Century [Superthread]

[McG]

Dagestan: Deadly attacks on churches and synagogue in southern Russia

Unidentified gunmen in Dagestan kill 19 police officers and civilians in coordinated attacks.

www.bbc.com

 

[The Bread Guy]

Interesting little Canadian house listed on all that stuff headed to RUS ..,

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/russian-sanctions-canada-equipment-china-1.7246038

 

[The Bread Guy]

BAAD Russia!

UN Body Condemns Russian Satellite Interference In Europe

A UN body condemned a series of incidents of what it said was Russian interference in the satellite systems of European countries and asked it to stop, according to a document published on July 1.

www.rferl.org

 

[McG]

Putin wants a nuclear war. It’s the only explanation at this point for continuing to directly test NATO’s limits. His conventional forces have catastrophically failed and he needs to win a war so the Russian population won’t burn him on a cross. His nuclear forces are still untested. Maybe he can win, or maybe he will at least die quickly.

 

[dimsum]

Putin wants a nuclear war. It’s the only explanation at this point for continuing to directly test NATO’s limits. His conventional forces have catastrophically failed and he needs to win a war so the Russian population won’t burn him on a cross. His nuclear forces are still untested. Maybe he can win, or maybe he will at least die quickly.

His supporters and generals may have no issues sending Russians to slaughter, but I doubt they would be so willing to back him up on nukes.

Maybe Medvedev, but he spouts weird stuff all the time.

 

[McG]

His supporters and generals may have no issues sending Russians to slaughter, but I doubt they would be so willing to back him up on nukes.

Maybe Medvedev, but he spouts weird stuff all the time.

I’m sure he knows his environment. He’s not going straight to nukes. He is raising the water temperature and setting the conditions to get his generals to where they will be supportive. He knows that factory bombings, GPS spoofing vs commercial airlines, cyber attacks, deep sea infrastructure mining, and satellite meddling will inevitably bring a western response from which he can further escalate.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I’m sure he knows his environment. He’s not going straight to nukes. He is raising the water temperature and setting the conditions to get his generals to where they will be supportive. He knows that factory bombings, GPS spoofing vs commercial airlines, cyber attacks, deep sea infrastructure mining, and satellite meddling will inevitably bring a western response from which he can further escalate.

What's the point in a nuclear war though ? It just kills everyone. Unless he just wants to burn the whole place down using nuc's boggles my mind.

And I am doubtful that we could maintain a 'limited exchange' or 'tactical nukes only' approach. Humans just aren't that calm, cool and collected.

 

[McG]

What's the point in a nuclear war though ? It just kills everyone. Unless he just wants to burn the whole place down using nuc's boggles my mind.

He already has his country in a meat grinder that he does not know how to get out of. If he doesn’t figure out a win, Russians will hand him an ending like that of Mussolini or Gaddafi. For a desperate dictator, burning down the world is not necessarily that bad if you think you can pull your personal survival from it.

A nuclear war is not inevitable, but avoiding it probably requires being more escalatory now. Show the sane people in the room that there are lines which will draw lethal force when crossed. Attribution is not enough, because Russia denies and does it again.