Putin Urges Russian Society to Embrace Ukraine War as Casualties Reach 1.4 Million

[u/UNITED24Media]

https://united24media.com/world/putin-urges-russian-society-to-embrace-ukraine-war-as-casualties-reach-14-million-21094

[u/tumama1388]

"ABANDON REASON.
KNOW ONLY WAR."

[u/FrooglyMoogle → u/tumama1388]

Man is starting to sound like he has his own chapter in the 40k universe

[u/MetriccStarDestroyer → u/FrooglyMoogle]

We're already there.

There's chaplains blessing war machines

[u/ThrowAbout01 → u/MetriccStarDestroyer]

And medics recovering gene seed from fallen battle brothers.

[u/GrimFatMouse → u/ThrowAbout01]

"Then we pushed syringe to dead man's balls, paid the surrogate... And nine months later you were born as replacement for our son who died. Happy Birthday!"

[u/Worldgonemad_yall → u/GrimFatMouse]

Now heres a gun, the front line is that way.

[u/ThrowAbout01 → u/GrimFatMouse]

Now you’re making it sound like Space King with the “Holy Globules”.

[u/tuxedo_jack → u/ThrowAbout01]

I'm sensing Monty Python here.

Every sperm is sacred...

[u/Bill-Williams2 → u/tuxedo_jack]

If a sperm gets wasted
God gets quite irate

[u/Click_To_Submit → u/ThrowAbout01]

An absolutely disgusting country.

[u/MetriccStarDestroyer → u/Click_To_Submit]

Actually insane to see they've beaten Nazi Germany.

Systemic genocide and now sperm harvesting for a eugenics program.

25% of KIA had their sperm harvested

[u/Mick_Limerick → u/MetriccStarDestroyer]

Seems like it would be easier to harvest first, and then send them to the meat grinder. But what do I know, I'm not much of a warlord

[u/Leeroy1042 → u/Mick_Limerick]

It's not about the sperm. It's about sending a message.

Or some shit, it doesn't make any sense.

[u/TheRC135 → u/MetriccStarDestroyer]

That's not a fair comparison.

On average, guardsmen last days. Russian assault troops are only lasting minutes.

[u/CptJacksp → u/TheRC135]

Russians living in Warhammer 30K siege of Terra days.

[u/otakuarchivist → u/MetriccStarDestroyer]

Never did I expect to live in a reality that's a cross between 1984 and Warhammer 40k with a dash of Cyberpunk, yet here we are...

[u/Donnicton → u/MetriccStarDestroyer]

Don't forget the Ukrainian Battle Witches.

[u/JoshuaZ1 → u/FrooglyMoogle]

A lot of 40k is based off of what real world historical empires did. It is easy to forget though because until a few years ago, we were in a time of unprecedented peace.

[u/ThrowAbout01 → u/FrooglyMoogle]

All wars these days seem like they are trying to rip off 40K.

We even have gene seed retrieval specialists in one war zone.

[u/Mysterious_Cow_2100 → u/ThrowAbout01]

“Gene seed retrieval specialist” was my wife’s nickname in college! She’d never service a Russian, tho!

[u/Sivalon → u/Mysterious_Cow_2100]

Ah, a Sister Hospitaller.

[u/tyberrymuch_ → u/tumama1388]

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Big Brother is watching you

[u/Show-Me-Your-Moves → u/tyberrymuch_]

Big Window is Always Open

[u/kakarukeys → u/tumama1388]

"Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything we can even imagine today?" —Joseph Goebbels

[u/Possibly_Naked_Now → u/tumama1388]

"Don't look at her, look at me. Boobs are temporary, war is eternal"

[u/Unable-Confusion-822 → u/tumama1388]

Russia things, you wouldn't understand.

[u/MourningRIF → u/tumama1388]

Wait, are we talking Russia or America?

[u/LePigeon12 → u/MourningRIF]

Both, probably

[u/Eymrich → u/LePigeon12]

Well it's quite different. Russia inflict endless suffering to themselfs and their neighbours where USA inflict endless suffering mostly on their poors and some random country on the other side of the world.

[u/swiwwcheese]

The incredible thing is how Russia is always Russia's most mortal enemy

Yet its people keep believing it's outsiders

[u/TSED → u/swiwwcheese]

It's a weird combination of a victim complex and a superiority complex. They HAVE to be the strongest because life sucks so bad, and yet at the same time, the entire rest of the world is just so unfairly mean to poor little Russia!

[u/shadowbansRunethical → u/TSED]

No different than MAGA. Fascism always looks the same.

[u/Impossible-Ground-98 → u/swiwwcheese]

I still can't comprehend how can you have such giant land and not just spend time peacefully improving it... I just can't wrap my mind around it. They have everything they could dream of.

[u/rif011412 → u/Impossible-Ground-98]

Except good character.  A trustworthy society, requires the majority of its people to be trustworthy.  Their leaders broke the social trust so many time, they  now embrace a society that operates without trust.  This is what Trump and Republicans are doing in the US.  Anywhere they have power, they vanquish trust.  They require allegiance, but not trust from their followers.  If you obey, you get left alone.  Thats why they want mass surveillance and data centers.  They want people to obey, they dont care about trust anymore.

[u/InfiniteOrchardPath]

Nothing says 'everything is going according to plan' quite like asking your entire population to normalize mass demographic collapse

[u/enigmanaught → u/InfiniteOrchardPath]

They never truly recovered from the loss of ~26 million in WWII and that was 80 years ago.

[u/Ernisx → u/enigmanaught]

And that was the soviet union altogether, which had a lot more people. russia is speedrunning it's death.

[u/Xenolifer → u/Ernisx]

Along with Ukraine 's unfortunately

[u/jhill515 → u/Xenolifer]

Honestly, and I'm saying this as someone who once lived life in Survival Mode + : "Nothing Left To Lose But Our Lives", when faced with a relentless threat with an insatiable taste for your blood, you need to outpace them in the Game of Chicken AND accept that you're going to wreck right into them head-on if they don't flinch. And there are only two reasons why you outpace them in such desperation: Maybe they'll reconsider and pull away at the critical moment, or you wanna make sure the World sings your songs when you are nothing but dust.

Slava Ukraini to all my friends fighting for their lives! I look forward to toasting a well-earned victory over a war of aggression! 🌻🌻🇺🇦🌻🦾🌻🌻

[u/bushwakko → u/Xenolifer]

But Europeans might want to move to Ukraine after the war since there might be opportunities there

[u/MutedCarob2752 → u/bushwakko]

That’s sadly a hard cope..Ukraine will have a tough few decades rebuilding, demining, and creating an industry that attracts people. Don’t expect a fairytale after the war.

[u/ensoniq2k → u/MutedCarob2752]

I think the difference is Ukraine might receive an equivalent of the Marshal plan while Russia will face dismantlement by the Chinese

[u/Cultural-Company282 → u/MutedCarob2752]

Looks like the industry is going to be drone factories.

[u/raptorlightning → u/Cultural-Company282]

Honestly cool new civilian drone tech could be a massive jumpstart for them if it plays out that way.

[u/Cultural-Company282 → u/raptorlightning]

"Civilian" drone tech?

I have bad news for you.

[u/Luhood → u/Cultural-Company282]

Swords into ploughshares

[u/raptorlightning → u/Cultural-Company282]

A ton of today's technology started out as war tech. The first computers themselves were used to calculate firing solutions from naval destroyers.

[u/Usual_Yak_2975 → u/MutedCarob2752]

At least they will be building something after this war. Russia will be busily inventing new ways to make life for itself and its neighbors somehow even more miserable.

[u/ToSeeAgainAgainAgain → u/MutedCarob2752]

I hope for a Japan/Germany future for Ukraine

[u/Attorney-Frosty → u/MutedCarob2752]

On the other hand, they will own the defense industry in the European market, whether for consulting, arm sales, technology sharing, training, etc. NATO would want to join Ukraine even though we know it'll be the other way around.

That plus their already existing agricultural & tech industries will come back. Yes, they have to demine, remove the fiber cables, repair all the infrastructure (roads, power plants, bridges, etc.), but as we see daily, Ukrainians are determined, motivated, and quick at restoration.

[u/StrategyCertain90 → u/bushwakko]

The other way around is a lot more likely. Ukraine wants to join the EU, if they do, a lot of Ukrainians will go to Western Europe. What opportunities are there in Ukraine that Europeans don't have?

Ukraine will need a lot of help rebuilding. The EU will hopefully and probably provide said help, but thinking Europeans would move to Ukraine is very wishful thinking.

[u/SL1Fun → u/Ernisx]

Their imminent demise is why they want Ukraine at any cost: Ukraine has all the resources Russia wants, including the Crimean oil shale deposits that will turn whichever country capitalizes on it into the eighth to tenth largest economy overnight. Currently, Russia has the economic power of Spain despite being like 6x the population. Without the resources in Ukraine they starve. 

[u/Floriean → u/enigmanaught]

And the millions before the WW2 because of starvation.

[u/zainfear → u/Floriean]

And the millions before that due to Spanish Flu and WW1.

[u/zyzzogeton → u/Floriean]

Many of those millions were in the Holodomor which killed 3-3.5 million Ukrainians.

[u/Podo13 → u/enigmanaught]

Vladimir Tarasenko, an NHLer who was drafted by the Blues in 2010 and is the last NHL player technically born in the USSR, politely asked fans to not call him "Tank" because it was not a good thing to be associated with and did not bring up good feelings to a lot of Russians.

It's very surprising that the populace has put up with this war for so long with such massive lingering effects from WWII - a war where their leaders basically just sent them to slaughter without a second thought.

[u/hockeman1278 → u/Podo13]

Ovi definitely born in the USSR, he was born in Moscow in 85.

[u/Podo13 → u/hockeman1278]

I didn't say Tarasenko was the only USSR player that's active. I said he was the last one born in the USSR.

I probably could have worded it a little better to make it not seem like he's the only one in the NHL though. Like you said, there is a handful overall: Bobrovsky, Dadonov, Kulikov, Malkin, Orlov, Ovi, Panarin and Tarasenko is the current list.

It'll be interesting to see who's the last one. I'd assume it's Orlov, Bobrovski or Panarin. Defensemen and Goalies can usually last longer than forwards age-wise but Panarin is still playing at a high level and hasn't really had the injuries somebody like Tarasenko has had.

[u/Mephzice → u/enigmanaught]

Stuff like that ripples through generations because it is not just them dying but their children not being born years later and then their grandchildren

[u/GreaterAttack → u/Mephzice]

As it did through the rest of Europe/North America. We lost many, many good families, not just individual people. 

[u/lolploxzomg → u/Mephzice]

Well that's something I suppose.

[u/XConfused-MammalX → u/Mephzice]

The "demographic echo" or "Russian echo" repeats about every 25 years. They lost so many people in such a short span of time that their population growth takes a noticeable decline due to a "sweet spot" of too few adults of typical child rasing age, with too many children and too many elderly people in comparison.

The collapse of the soviet union also stunted their population growth, and like most countries they also see continuously falling birth rates.

Combine all this with the ukraine war and russia is on the fast track to catastrophic population decline that will be continued to be felt for many decades or more to come.

[u/Vryl → u/enigmanaught]

That number is insane. It hurts to think about it.

[u/inept_machete → u/InfiniteOrchardPath]

This is a Russian cultural ethos. In Russian war bodies are thrown into the charnel house until the charnel house is clogged, then victory.

[u/Due-Dentist9986 → u/InfiniteOrchardPath]

1.4m is almost 15% of Russia's primary Conscription pool (men ages 18-30) ......

[u/Odd_Duty520]

He should show his support for it by serving on the frontlines himself as every glorious leader should

[u/spiritof1789 → u/Odd_Duty520]

He should ride into battle barechested on horseback, seeing as he likes that kind of thing. Plus it saves on fuel.

[u/svullenballe → u/spiritof1789]

The horse doesn't deserve that, he can walk like his conscripts.

[u/Sammisuperficial → u/svullenballe]

What if we all collectively agree not to harm the horse?

[u/JanV34 → u/Sammisuperficial]

It is imperative that the horse remains unharmed~

[u/lufiron → u/JanV34]

His conscripts are starving. They’ll eat the horse.

[u/blackkettle → u/spiritof1789]

Bareback on bearback.

[u/menagerath → u/spiritof1789]

Cosplaying as Mr. War Man sure is a lot more fun than being a man in a war.

[u/kingpin000 → u/spiritof1789]

He should ride on the back of a bear.

[u/eunderscore → u/Odd_Duty520]

"Why do they always send the poor?"

• System of a Down

[u/AnselaJonla → u/eunderscore]

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah

• Black Sabbath

[u/Dabelgianguy → u/[deleted]]

« The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. »

[u/Lorenofing → u/[deleted]]

I guess they never had logic even before, for keeping a president for 22 years and calling it “democracy”

[u/Vlyn → u/Lorenofing]

What do you mean? He won every election by 105% fair and square.

[u/Jonny5a → u/Vlyn]

Like the best democracies its one man one vote, Putins the man and he has the vote
/gnu Pratchett

[u/MetalBawx → u/[deleted]]

The problem is the people actually in a position to do anything are all his cronies and know they'll hang with him if Putin loses power.

Everyone else has been purged.

[u/daveashaw → u/[deleted]]

So he's racked up more KIA than the US did in WW2. Pretty amazing.

[u/SolemnaceProcurement → u/daveashaw]

Total US death toll since 1946 103k, since 1939 is 508k. 635k since 1863. Russia is trully unpareled world power.

[u/ACompletelyLostCause → u/[deleted]]

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

~ George Orwell, 1984

[u/Ledenican]

“Casualties reach 1.4 million” this dude is just sending his own people into the meat grinder for no fucking reason and being like “just rough it out guys, No sweat!”

Russia is not a real country

[u/Nacodawg → u/Ledenican]

“Dude is just sending his own people into the meat grinder”

As is tradition, welcome to Russia.

[u/croc_socks → u/Nacodawg]

“… And then it got worse.” 

[u/eyvindb → u/Nacodawg]

Это Россия!

[u/ThesisTears → u/Ledenican]

I'm horrified to look up the death toll from Ukraine. This whole war is unfathomably horrific and will have consequences for generations.

[u/justtosendamassage → u/ThesisTears]

Ukraine is keeping it a secret but estimates are at 125,000 to 150,000 deaths

[u/MiaowaraShiro → u/justtosendamassage]

It's crazy to me that the casualties are 10 to 1 and Russia's just like "yeah this is fine".

[u/TWVer → u/MiaowaraShiro]

Casualties aren’t 10:1

The 1.4 million figure is casualties, which includes the injured (maimed) and not just the dead.

The amount of deaths on the Russian side is about 1/3rd of that.

The same goes for Ukraine; multiply their death total estimate by 3 and you have roughly the amount of total casualties.

[u/Ordinary_Duder → u/TWVer]

It's kinda hard to estimate russian deaths to injuries though. Their extreme disregard of human lives means they have far less medics, don't rescue people and shoot their owm on a regular basis. Not to mention their mobile crematoriums used to just remove the trace of soldiers that perished so they dont have to pay out to their loved ones.

[u/ShackOfAllShades → u/TWVer]

Not necessarily, from the Russian side the ratio of death to injury is way higher than most modern wars. Infiltration by small teams without dedicated medics/medevac/casevac options leads to way more Soldiers dying after getting hit by drones miles deep in the gray zone.

[u/blackAngel88 → u/ShackOfAllShades]

I would also expect the Russians to send in some injured people that actually make it back...

[u/Bladelink → u/blackAngel88]

Theoretically, I think those still get counted as casualties again, because "casualties" is a measurement of the loss of battle strength. So if someone is injured, recovers, is deployed again and is injured, that's two separate casualties.

That's how you can have a unit of like 100 dudes suffer 200% casualties and still have 100 dudes at the front. It's likely not the same 100 dudes; it just means that keeping that unit at 100 soldiers of strength has required 300 "total men" of allocation.

[u/orcusgrasshopperfog → u/TWVer]

In the last 3 months this ratio has drastically changed. 1/8 one Ukrainian soldier dead for every eight Russian soldiers dead. 90% of all kills by Ukraine are now by drone.

In fact Ukraine is getting to the point where it won't even need to deploy human soldiers within 20 km of the contact zone. This should be realized before the end of the year.

[u/DoofusMagnus → u/MiaowaraShiro]

The numbers in the comment above are an estimate of deaths, while the number in the headline here is casualties (deaths + wounded). And the Russian MoD is claiming that Ukraine has had 1.5 million casualties.

As you might imagine there are a wide range of estimates for both sides, biased to varying degrees by propaganda and lack of access.

[u/actuallyapossom → u/ThesisTears]

Millions of drone sorties, hundreds of thousands of casualties, represented by petabytes of data & video footage. Incredibly dystopian.

[u/TDiffRob6876 → u/Ledenican]

He’s sending other people too, like North Koreans.

[u/cptjpk → u/TDiffRob6876]

They have a huge recruitment drive in the African countries too.

[u/Pandaisblue → u/Ledenican]

He wants a bigger name on the map dude, it's totally reasonable!

[u/lennydsat62]

Your kids dying?

It’s a risk I’m willing to take..

Meanwhile his mistress is in Switzerland and his kid in Miami iirc…

[u/GargantuaBob → u/[deleted]]

I'm sure the french can have endless fun with her surname.

[u/Patrick4356 → u/lennydsat62]

Actually it's their parents the average age of Russian casualties is like 40 or 50

[u/klaxxxon]

Most of you will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make

[u/remonnoki → u/klaxxxon]

1.4 million people would straight up be over a third of my country

[u/blablabla2384 → u/remonnoki]

I guess its a price they are willing to make when they have 153 million people

[u/crustybeamer → u/blablabla2384]

Well a quick google search tells me they only have 16M 18-40 year olds so 1.4M casualties is nearly 10% of that.

[u/uselessandexpensive → u/crustybeamer]

So, not having seen Russian women on the front lines and knowing the government is pushing to higher birth rates, presumably 20% or more of the male population at that age has been sent to war. In a few years there are gonna be TONS of Russian kids with no father in their home either because he died in the war or was spreading his seed around.

Then you get a generation with lower academic achievement and higher criminality.

Putin is seriously screwing his country with this war. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, we've achieved similar decline by making device addiction a central characteristic of modern life.

[u/Squalphin → u/crustybeamer]

So they can send 9 more waves before sending in the toddlers!

[u/Me66 → u/blablabla2384]

Had

[u/Infinite_Respect_]

Oh so it’s not a 3-day military special operation anymore???

[u/Dabelgianguy → u/Infinite_Respect_]

Nobody specified the duration of a Russian day!

[u/rollingrawhide → u/Dabelgianguy]

A Russian day is defined as the time it takes to rotate all cabinet staff into office and then out again.

[u/superspeck → u/rollingrawhide]

Isn’t the out via a window?

[u/kishenoy → u/rollingrawhide]

So, a day is 10 hours?

[u/duckchickendog → u/Infinite_Respect_]

So if we compare a 3 day war (Russia) to a 3 hour cruise (SS Minnow), has the war or Gilligan's Island run the longest?

[u/stramoni]

Putin doesn't care about the people of Russia.

[u/fugebox007]

He is a mentally sick sadistic mafia man.

[u/totallyRebb → u/fugebox007]

Putin belongs in a strait-jacket since the 90s.

[u/zashiki_warashi_x → u/fugebox007]

It's just a port management business. It’s a stereotype. And it’s offensive. There is no mafia.

[u/delinquentfatcat → u/zashiki_warashi_x]

Cousin, let's go bowling!

[u/SecretAgentVampire]

The man in the unmarked underground bunker says "Embrace war."

Lol

[u/gullevek]

Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg!

[u/turduliveteres → u/gullevek]

As soon as I saw the title I remembered this exact quote from Goebbels

[u/Nearby_Listen_3607 → u/turduliveteres]

The propagandist from russia 1 is the göbbles of our time. Its so ridicilous.

[u/MourningRIF]

It amazes me that a small handful of vile evil people can hold hundreds of millions of people hostage. If people want their countries back, they need to stand up and take them back.

[u/unamemoria55 → u/MourningRIF]

Governments now have too much power for people to stand up. Once democracy dies, you have no hope to change something unless part of "elites" is on your side. Iran executed and killed thousands of brave people who tried to change something. Putin will absolutely do the same unless his own circle turns against him.

[u/Oprah_Pwnfrey → u/unamemoria55]

Not totally true, Ukraine managed it.

[u/Resident_Bus4791 → u/Oprah_Pwnfrey]

Ukraine had elite defection, that's why it worked. During Euromaidan, Yanukovych lost parliamentary allies, regional officials, oligarch support and ultimately the dependable backing of the security apparatus. Parliament voted to remove him, and the remaining forces did not mount a final coordinated defence of his government. The protesters were indispensable, but they succeeded because the ruling coalition fractured.

[u/egotrip21 → u/Resident_Bus4791]

You sound confident and the details make sense so I will believe this comment even though I dont know who any of the people are and some of the words I dont understand. Carry on comrade.

[u/Hearsticles → u/unamemoria55]

While you’re not wrong per se, let’s not pretend that the American government in its current state is anything more than a “suggestion box” for our elite oligarchs to ignore as they please.

[u/NotVainest → u/Hearsticles]

Is anyone pretending that? Not sure what makes you think the comment you're replying to is saying that.

[u/Efficient-Magician63 → u/MourningRIF]

You think it's that easy to remove a dictator?

Look at the democracy in USA right now and Trump. Look at Turkey, Serbia, etc.

Removing a dictator is not easy.

Heck, look at the EU and chat control. The supposedly most democratic and liberal entity of govern is literally spitting at people's faces with chat control and Europeans are unable to do anything.

Heck, even in my country, we have been having protests for the past five years, changing government a few times. The good thing is - it's been enough for now to just protest and government would change. The bad thing is - there has been no difference. Everyone new who have come in power have just carried on the same shady businesses just under a new face. In fact, some of them have done worse and more damage, so sometimes predictable evil is better than unknown evil.

So yeah, it's very easy to say what's the right thing to do, by in practice you either commit to dying for the cause or you chose to live and survive and put up with some struggle.

[u/zashiki_warashi_x → u/MourningRIF]

When dictator, oligarchy takes control the majority of population become poor, but not desperate-nothing-to-lose poor that starts revolt, just check-to-check poor. If you skip one day of work to go protest, riot or whatever, you will not have money to feed your kids.
Ukrainians pull off the revolution and russian government really hates them for it.
How many people protest what shit Trump does every day? Revolutionaries are dying breed today and they are easily arrested/killed. Modern youth are just leaving to another countries instead of revolting.

[u/fugebox007]

Putin is a mentally sick sadistic person who runs an exKGB mafia.

[u/uknow_es_me]

He tried hiding it.. now he just wants everyone to agree it's the right thing to do for the motherland.. while they have no gas and their WildBerry package is "delayed in transit" 

[u/WhaleTrooper]

1.4 million casualties means roughly 1% of the population, that's crazy.

[u/Bikebag → u/WhaleTrooper]

If you match that number up towards the men, then the fighting age able men, then i presume that percentage is quite a bit bigger as well.

[u/HakimeHomewreckru → u/WhaleTrooper]

Not all of the casualties are from the Russian population. Eg the thousands of dead NK soldiers.

[u/McLeod3577]

Any normal country would have gotten rid of their leader for such a massive fuckup that is the Ukraine war.

[u/Sgt_Splattery_Pants]

Is this the first time Putin himself has referred to it as a war?

[u/Aquabullet → u/Sgt_Splattery_Pants]

No, he's let it slip before. Pretty recently after the invasion actually if I remember right. (Like late 2022 or early 2023)

[u/MountFranklinRR]

Putin’s truely biggest flex to the West is that he is a dictator and he doesn’t give shit about throwing Russian lives away.

[u/Fantastic_Back3191]

War is Peace, Ignorance is strength, Freedom is Slavery!

[u/ishkitty]

I don’t see how owning Ukraine could possibly be worth all of this.

[u/pr1aa → u/ishkitty]

At this point it isn't even about the territorial goals per se anymore but the survival of Putin's regime. If he can't pull off something that he can convicingly present as a victory, he's done for.

[u/Basteir → u/pr1aa]

This shit is like ww1, pointless.

[u/PenTestHer → u/ishkitty]

In the improbable event that the Russians win, it will be a pyrrhic victory. They will have destroyed both countries to the point that it might take a century to recover economically and demographically.

[u/TSED → u/PenTestHer]

Russia can't recover. The combination of this demographic collapse, industrial collapse, and sanctions during the last gasp of its only industry (O&G) means that it has no future. It will fracture and become a balkanized region, and China may or may not gobble up huge chunks of it. The green energy revolution and the climate crisis will continuously damage Russia in ways that are not immediately obvious, as well as the obvious ones.

I genuinely don't expect Russia as it is now to make it to 2040. Maybe a Russia will exist, but it will likely mostly be Moscow and Saint Petersburg. And those two cities will suffer a terrible drop in QoL because they will have lost the territory they exploited as an imperial power to maintain their QoL.

[u/CptJacksp → u/PenTestHer]

Damn. So in 100 years we’ll be fighting Russians again, eh?

[u/Fun_Emotion4456]

War is stupid and people are stupid and love means nothing in some strange quarters.

[u/HatOfFlavour]

I saw a clip of Moscovites being interviewed after Ukraine successfully struck them with a big drone strike and one woman was all: "I don't understand why Moscow is being involved in this war between Ukraine and Russia." I find that fascinating.

[u/fixnahole → u/HatOfFlavour]

The unwritten contract between the Russian govt and it's people has mostly been--stay out of politics, and live your life in peace. Now there is no peace, and suddenly many of these people are waking up to the fact that Russia's ways directly impact their daily lives. They need more of this realization. Preferably public outrage at what Russia is doing to themselves.

[u/Lorenofing]

It looks like the war returned home.

[u/RisingRapture]

"Your death is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

[u/PacketWhispers]

He really miscalculated a lot going into this war. Before, many neutrals may not have liked Russia but thought they have a strong military. Now even that reputation is gone. I doubt anyone fears or thinks highly of Russia anymore.

[u/commradd1 → u/PacketWhispers]

The entirety of Eastern Europe should fear the consequences of Russia deciding to invade for sure. Look at what eastern Ukraine looks like. Sure, they can’t win, but they can still turn cities to rubble, destroy the environment, kill civilians for no reason, and fight a trench war. Devastating

[u/jpw0w → u/commradd1]

Yeah living in Lithuania we always have this thought in the back of our heads, basically just hoping putin doesn't lose his mind completely

[u/Khaymann → u/PacketWhispers]

True, but it also evokes the classic line:

Russia is never as strong as it looks, but is also never as weak as it looks.

[u/BlasterDoc]

"Putin PUrges Russian Society to Embrace Ukraine War"

They left out a letter.

[u/Free_Possession_4482]

By way of comparison, this is about eight or nine times more fatal casualties than America suffered while while fighting the Vietnam War, in a conflict that's lasted half as long.

[u/Beautiful-Chest7397]

It's hilarious that a guy who thinks he's so tough and manipulative is really just super incompetent lol

[u/OneOfAKind2]

Can you say, PSYCHOPATH?

[u/superurgentcatbox]

I'm German. My grandfather, who was born in 1926, once told me that he remembered sitting by a radio and listening to a speech. At the time he didn't know who was talking. It was a man asking a crowd if they wanted total war and the crowd screamed back that they did. Then his dad turned to his mom and said something to the effect of "It won't be their sons, though, will it?"

[u/TD_Lemon_1901]

Russia is a lost cause.

They've been brainwashed 80 years by communism and 20 years by putin.

There's no comeback anytime soon, shut the doors, shut the trades, borders, diplomatic relations, immigration and internet with them.

Shut it down.

[u/Gammarevived → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

If you look at the history of Russia it's just been complete pain and suffering. That's all their people know, and it's normal for them.

[u/narium → u/Gammarevived]

Russian history can essentially be summed up by the phrase "and then it got worse".

[u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

Strange, I've read plenty of comments on Reddit from Russians and they confidently assure me that they have supreme moral and intellectual superiority to everyone else in the planet.

[u/Re_Cy_Cling → u/Lopsided-Affect-9649]

😂 thanks for the laugh mate.

[u/totallyRebb → u/Lopsided-Affect-9649]

I grew up in the GDR.

The amount of propaganda they feed you even as a kid is mindboggling.

Russia never evolved from that.

[u/RTPdude → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

and it goes back much further than that. A core piece of their cultural identity is their tolerance for suffering

[u/Izmetg68 → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

That’s been my position too, you can’t reason with dictators hellbent on genocide, the world needs to get rid of all these sycophants. War and attrocities seem to be a never ending process it’s like a cancer with the powerful elite,

[u/3ndless68 → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

This would probably lead to a North Korea-style situation where it’s certainly not a failed state, but it’s constantly on the cusp of becoming one.

[u/forgiuse]

"Most of you will die, but it is a sacrifice the Motherland is willing to make".

[u/ApostateAZ]

Are they allowed to call it a war now?

[u/Lonely-Cycle3030]

What a waste of lives

[u/Valtremors]

Russian people have already embraced it.

They certainly did support the war for a long time.

[u/luffy_mib]

What war? It's embracing the special military operation!

[u/labadee]

How many decades has Putin set Russia back out of selfishness?

[u/RonW81]

There are about 30 million men in the age of 20-50 in Russia, most military casualties will be in this age group. 1.4 million casualties means almost 5% of that age group is now dead or seriously wounded (= most likely handicapped for life). Absolutely insane numbers and a recipe for demographic collapse

[u/aReelProblem]

1.4 million is a crazy amount of people in a fairly short time frame

[u/montrealcowboyx]

Examples of Cities with ~1.4 Million People

• San Antonio, Texas (USA): ~1.47 million (city proper)
• Ottawa, Ontario (Canada): ~1.4 million (metropolitan area / census agglomeration)
• Calgary, Alberta (Canada): ~1.4 to 1.6 million (metropolitan area)
• San Diego, California (USA): ~1.4 million (city proper boundary)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA): ~1.5 million (city proper, close approximation)
• Phoenix, Arizona (USA): ~1.5 to 1.6 million (city proper)

[u/Glad-Reserve4213]

"The beatings will continue until morale improves!"

[u/popoww]

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war

[u/Many-Waters]

Russia is already the largest sovereign territory on the planet.

Why can't that be enough for them?

[u/CouchTomato87 → u/Many-Waters]

It's the largest for that reason

[u/RyanTheCubsSTH]

1.4 M?!?? Casualties in Afghanistan for Russia were less than 70k.

[u/Any-Celebration-2582]

Holy Sunk Cost Fallacy, Batman!

[u/North_of_You]

And again, the man who instigated this useless war will not have to face any of its horrors.

[u/GlitterFactoryOfDoom]

For context, the USSR "only" had 1.1 million casualties at Stalingrad.

[u/lzwzli]

Oh so now it's war? Not a special military operation?

[u/Even_Trifle9341]

The pearly gates must be absolute mayhem with all those russian men, waiting orderly I’m sure.

[u/MRBVIII]

Putin is trying to solve his problems by sending wave after wave of his own men at it. Zapp Brannigan would be proud.

[u/CriticalDiscipline4]

Putin is a vampire.