Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy. (Politics General)

Background Human
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@Meanlucario
You get used to it. A couple years back I felt like I was the one taking crazy pills because I didn’t want to burn everything to the ground.
Is the current neoliberal paradigm perfect? No. Is it even particularly good? Probably not. Given current political conditions, is it likely to be replaced by anything better? Naw and hell naw.
Background Pony #0847
There are too fucking many nuances to describe in a forum post but I’ll try to hit the high notes.
a) In theory almost everyone is eligible to be drafted. Males 18-60 except those too disabled to work and some women with the right education.
b) Formally speaking mobilization is supposed to be declared in “waves” and the current one only supposed to be aimed at recruits of “first wave” (youngest and the best-prepared), and even then no more than 300k of them. In reality it seems they did draft some of the 35 years+ guys already, so nobody really knows wtf is going on.
c) To get drafted you must be served a “summons” - it is the same word that is used for the court summons except military commissars are empowered to issue them on their own. Like with the court summons they have to either have your signature or a signature of two witnesses that it was delivered to you (importantly - to you personally, dropping it at a place where you live is not enough)and you refused to sign. I haven’t heard about authorities fabricating a signature yet.
*there were recent changes that 18-year old guys are supposed to deliver themselves to be conscripted without summons, but that’s only for them the rest are still running on the “summons”
d) Even if Russian authorities wanted to draft everybody they literally have no state capacity to do so, normally the system relies on making an example out of few troublemakers and it is enough to keep it running smoothly (just like many other aspects of a human society - taxes, driving, etc). What would happen now is anybody’s guess, my personal guess there would be enough people complying with the soft power to throw more meat into the meatgrinder but most people who want to evade being drafted and willing to sacrifice some aspects of their lives for that will be able to do so.
e) Worst case scenario there’s still an alternative of going to the prison. Prisons here are probably among the worst in Europe (maybe some Balkan countries or Turkey could be a contender) but unless something out of usual is arranged for “draft dodgers” it still may be a reasonable choice, at least if you don’t expect to have to serve the whole 10 years (which is likely, recent law threatened 15 years for “spreading disinformation” about Russian Armed Forces but so far all the prosecutions resulted in heavy fines and not a single prison sentence).
All in all - Russian authorities do not seem to want to drag everybody to the front, and wouldn’t be able to if they wanted. System seems to be running fine on the usual threats of consequences instead of having to drag each conscript kicking and screaming.
Meanlucario
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Time to get spooky
@Background Human
Helps that I’m a realist. Things aren’t good, but if things were as bad as people act like they are, we would have blown ourselves up decades ago. We would even have made it past tribes if we were nearly as bad as some claim we are.
Background Pony #0F2F
@Background Pony #0847
Addendum: there is a lot of conflicting info floating around now, what are exact legal consequences of not responding to the “Summons” (povestka) in the current situation is unclear. Criminal prosecution with a statutory maximum of 10 years is the worst possible scenario, but it is unclear whether the current batch of summons is enough to trigger criminal prosecution in case of disobedience or will be treated as a “administrative crime” (~summary prosecution as a misdemeanor with a small fine as a maximum).
On the gripping hand there has been some extralegal punishments meted to those who did not comply with dubiously legal orders, but so far they all have been mild. Example: there has been no equivalent of “stop-loss” order before the changes in the law on the previous week, so it was legal for soldiers to just quit the army the same way you quit work; some were able to get it no problem, others were illegally jailed, but if they persevered for a couple of weeks they still got out instead of being jailed indefinitely. It was an attempt to bully them into submission instead of literally forcing them to choose between imprisonment and war.
Zincy
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In Vino Veritas
Fun fact, other than Lake out in Arizona, every single Trump backed governor candidate has ran 0 TV ads since winning their primaries.
Lake has just now started, by putting out 1 single ad running on FOX affiliates. She won her primary on Aug 2nd, it’s almost October.
All 6 Trump backed gubernatorial candidates are running well behind their dem opponents in terms of money, staff, and airtime. Sharpio in Pennsylvania has basically blanketed the airwaves and buried Mastroino under a sea of cash and ground workers.
Zincy
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In Vino Veritas
True, the bankrolls are getting a little thin.
Speaking of Trump endorsed candidates, Dr. Oz continues to run a bafflingly bad campaign. He recently gave Fetterman a badass slogan. Appearing on the far right Podcast “Ruthless”, Oz took aim at Fetterman’s choice of clothing. Saying that the dems choice of wearing a hoodie and jeans combo was him displaying that he “kicks authority in the balls” and “I’m a man, and I’ll show you who’s boss”.
Which I’m sure sounded like an insult in Turkish Delight’s little pea-brain, but to everyone else that sounds like a pretty boss campaign slogan.
Naturally, Fetterman’s boosters quickly jumped on it, and it’s now being used as a pro-Fetterman slogan.
Dustcan
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Dogs
Oz sure is making Fetterman look very crudité.
Naturally, Fetterman’s boosters quickly jumped on it, and it’s now being used as a pro-Fetterman slogan.
That’s practically been Fetterman’s entire campaign at this point. He was trailing Oz in the polls, then Oz outed himself as not just a carpetbagger but also bourgeois AF. So Fetterman’s team found out they can just wait for Oz to basically do Fetterman’s campaigning for him.
And it’s been working out spectacularly for Fetterman.
Zincy
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In Vino Veritas
All that is true except the poll parts. Fetterman has consistently maintained strong leads over Oz, with even right leaning polls like Trafalgar showing him with a healthy advantage. I think the average from the primaries sits somewhere around 4 or 5 points.
Zincy
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In Vino Veritas
Russia may have sabotaged the Nordstream underwater pipelines after a series of three explosions led to gas leaks and pressure drops.
While Russia owns and operates the output plants, the underwater pipes are jointly controlled, and the attacks, if they occurred, happened within Norwegian territorial waters.
Which, btw, in an absolutely worst case scenario, could be seen as an attack by Russia on Norways infrastructure. Norway is a NATO member, and an attack on their infrastructure could be considered a direct attack on NATO.
Dustcan
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I always knew one man being insecure about his microdick would be the cause of WW3. Gotta say is sure was an obtuse series of events leading up to it though.
Edit: Vaguely related but Russian troops are calling up Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense to learn how they can surrender in peace. Looks like Zelensky’s promise of protection is paying off.
Ciaran
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友情は魔法だ
Russia may have sabotaged the Nordstream underwater pipelines after a series of three explosions led to gas leaks and pressure drops.
This is the kind of shit that keeps me awake at night. There’s so much of the infrastructure that the entire planet depends on that can be damaged by these kinds of stupid wars - it’s not just about invading another country any more - they’re fucking up the internet.
Do you like movies filmed in Africa or Prague? Do you like seeing what film makers do when they can film in those kinds of locations? Then STOP BLOWING UP SHIT because we need shit that was made in the past to make shit in the future.
It’s a miracle that some of that last century stuff still works at all - poking at it with underwater detonations is absolutely beyond the design criteria and totally not covered in the SLAs.
Background Human
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CHS, Class of 20XX
@Zincy
I think you mean Denmark.
Anyway, it looks like the explosions were just outside territorial waters. The epitome of “I’m not touching you”. And hey, if Gazprom (the majority owner of Nord Stream AG) is okay with Putin blowing up their shit, who are we to say no?
lonewolf
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U mad?
I have several friends who live in Russia, and one of them is considered eligible for being drafted to the army. Now he’s planning to escape, and I’m worried that he might be in danger. Especially that the gov is planning to close the borders.
I thought that if you are eligible for drafting, it’s instant, and they will drag you away to die in the meat grinder. If anyone knows about life in Russia, can anyone explain whether is it that instant or not?
And it looks like you’re right.
They’re just giving the recruits a rifle and telling them to go kill something in Ukraine. No training at all.
They purchased what was supposed to be 100 empty gun cases from a military surplus company for resale. Well at least one had a dozen M16 rifles in it.
They’re lucky the couple was law abiding and reported them. And holly hell some heads are gonna’ roll.
HorsesandMuchMOAR
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Gallusposting since 2019
I already read that “conscripts” are just instantly dragged over with little to no training, or even equipment.
That’s why the Ukrainian side even had messages to help any Russian surrender and run off, no matter how much the Putinists wanted to kill them.
HorsesandMuchMOAR
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Gallusposting since 2019
Tldr to help readers:
  1. Technically any men will be drafted
  2. But it’s usually 35 yrs for now, the first of several waves
  3. The officers have to come to you to give the summons, and it must have your signature, or by two witnesses in your place
  4. There are some people accepting the draft, and others dragged in cos they are troublemakers (perhaps protestors, drunks, prison gangs, IIRC from news reports)
  5. In most cases, draft dodgers end up in jail, but perhaps not as worse as the ban on saying “it’s a war” (15 yrs jail). And some soldiers are even lucky enough to have quit the army, avoiding the draft for now.
  6. The Russian authorities are more in threatening prison instead of sending everyone instantly.
Lastly it seems my Russian friends are enjoying for now even as they are planning their escape, so I hope to the gods they can make it out
Kazapsky
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Five scoops of ice cream
Speaking of Trump endorsed candidates, Dr. Oz continues to run a bafflingly bad campaign.
Considering “bafflingly bad” describes pretty much everything Oz has ever done, this should surprise exactly no-one.
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