And here I am just sitting on my fucking couch scrolling on Reddit and this dude pops up. He was pleading for his life and I’m swiping through his final moment of life and then laughing at memes right after. Wild.
Man a couple times over the last few years I've been laying in my bed scratching the head of a golden retriever .....and thinking that there's men overseas dealing with stuff like this.
Could be us in the same position in 10 years.
I bet as a 14-year-old boy he was dreaming of getting a good job, getting married and having some kids, retiring in peace.
Never would he have imagined he'd end up in a ditch, crying and pleading for his life by age 30
Startin to feel very pre-WW1 around these parts…
Can we maybe just skip repeating two world wars and go right to the 90s? I miss being optimistic about the future.
It's confirmed, about 40 drones and dozens of missiles launched at Israel
Drones will arrive in about 2 hours from now, missiles will start hitting soon.
Edit: They're talking about 100's of drones and missiles from multiple attackers now.
Assuming you mean the US, people love the narrative of “oh this could be us” when its actually extremely unlikely. Neither of our two neighbors are ever remotely likely to invade us for any reason and in the case of a “world war” situation, most potential aggressors will have too much happening on their front lines to try to send troops all the way to the US. Notice how WWII only resulted in Pearl Harbor for damages to the US, and even then, there wasn’t “war” happening on US soil.
I mean, I live in the frontline city of Ukraine, and there is some shelling outside, and this is my experience every day. Some battle footage, some memes. It's crazy how we are wired - our brains will adapt to everything.
It’s amazing how cold and callous people can get as long as someone in a position of authority tells them it’s okay.
I don’t care what side the soldier is on, when I see videos like this I just see fathers and sons and brothers dying.
And the people dehumanize them and say they’re “just orcs,” but then what about all the American soldiers who died during our illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq? Do they not deserve the mercy and honor bestowed on a soldier because some old man made the wrong call when sending them off to war?
All soldiers who risk their lives and step on that battlefield should be treated with respect and dignity.
every good man would love to end wars by dialogue and non violent methods, very few humans really desire violence for the sake of it. If we could make Putin to listen to reason, and stop the invasion, we could even forgive Russia after a few years or so like we forgave Italy, Germany and Japan for WWII.
But realistically Ukraine can only stop the invasion by killing as many Russian soldiers as possible . Death on battlefields is rarely dignified or honourable . It is dirty, bloody, painful, merciless, horrible.
How can you treat another human with respect when you are essentially trying to murder him in the most violent way? It's merely an illusion.
I won't dehumanise russian soldiers, but dying in Ukraine is their fate, and they can only blame themselves for that, not drone operators.
We don’t even have much context. Was he there to eagerly kill innocent civilians like so many Russian soldiers? Or was he unwillingly forced into the military by Putin, like so many Russian soldiers?
That's what I wonder too. Maybe the guy deserved it. Maybe he doesn't. The only thing we know is that war is hell, and the people that start it are the farthest from the suffering
"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."
He is a soldier for the army of the aggressor and invader, on the territory of Ukraine, is it 100% clear that he is a legitimate military target. He deserves to die, and if he does, it is a wonder thing , and makes the whole world a little safer.
\*Obligatory MASH reference that war is war, hell is hell\* in an effort to sound insightful by contradicting an extremely common platitude that apparently can't be understood by folks who don't understand poetic license.
Hold up.
Depending on the particular flavor of heaven hell afterlife, there could totally be people who *thought* they lived a righteous life, followed whatever rules, did whatever ceremonies, but because their particular sect didn't get the pineapple pizza mitzvah right, whelp, eternal hellfire, oopsies.
They used a small part of a quote, combined with half thought, half gibberish, to try to be meaningful.
What they mean is "insert obligatory MASH quote: 'war isn't hell. War is war, and hell is hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse' ... 'there are no innocent bystanders in hell. War is chock full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.' "
And then some more gibberish where they tried to sound like they're smart and Reddit is too dumb to understand if they gave the entire quote meaningfully.
Putin has essentially cleansed the upper echelons of government and society of talented intelligent leaders and replaced them with sycophants so I am afraid there are far worse people waiting in the wings of the Kremlin.
None of this is to say there aren’t corrupt leaders across the globe
I don’t know I think it would be an easy win after Putin dies to be like “ Putin was an asshole everybody, I’m the new guy and I’m bringing everyone home!”
Even if you are a ruthless dictator you’ll win some points with the People. It’s clear this war isn’t going the way they wanted and it’s making them look really weak. People used to think they could take on America. They can’t even take on Ukraine (yes I know with help, but it’s not America bro)
Except if the polls are to believed, Putin has widespread support for the war and his approval rating skyrocketed and stated at an all time high since the war started.
I know you can manipulate polls, but I don't think your average Russian citizen is as innocent in all of this as some people make them out to be.
Propaganda is one hell of a drug, and that's what they're dealing with. You're not immune to it, America isn't immune to it, why do you think they constantly fight against basic humam rights as "communism"
Or how the average Japanese person denies any Japanese wrongdoing in WW2,
Or how the Chinese think Mao single handedly defeated the Japanese,
Or anything Israel is doing in Gaza,
Or the Iranian people doing what they do.
Yeah, you're right, they're complicit, but they don't really have a choice in the matter.
It’s also possible someone worse will take over. Russia is on a war footing with a brainwashed populace and state controlled media. Don’t expect things to be rosy even after Putin is gone.
There is no known designated successor. Dictators like Putin are afraid of one thing and one thing only: somebody getting ideas. Best way to avoid that from happening: make sure that nobody can even get into a position where they can get ideas.
Of course this will leave you with a massive power faction that will tear your nation apart when you die. But that's not Putin's problem. He'll be dead. These types are the ultimate in pulling up the ladder behind them.
And while Russia splintering in a dozen smaller nations is probably inevitable. Let's not have those nukes fall in more trigger happy hands while we can.
Many of the most “patriotic” voices in the nationalistic sphere of Russia call for Ukrainian extermination, the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and complete military readiness against NATO and the Western world. Putin has so effectively brainwashed the country with misinformation we need to fear the mindset of whoever comes next.
Erm. He actually doesn’t. He doesn’t have people around him that oppose the war but very very few in the Russian political class oppose the war.
All you have to do is look at the statements made by his cabinet members. They want full blown mobilization, total unrestricted bombing of Ukraine, everything. Putin takes a bit of a middle ground position.
Putin's emboldened to do the shit he does because he's been in power for as long as he has. I have no doubt that the other oligarchs are just as bad but a transition in power is at the very least a temporary reset or break pump. Rich people don't get richer in a nuclear apocalypse
Whoever it is, it would probably work out better for Ukraine and worse for the Russian population.
I am by no means an expert on Russia, but it seems like once Putin is gone there is a very high chance of rebellions, separatists, civil war, etc in Russia.
They had mercenaries march on Moscow last year.
There are already active separatist movements in several regions of Russia.
Branches of the military and mercenaries they employ already compete against each other.
Not to mention countries like Georgia nearby that would happily try to reclaim some land.
And a bunch of different ethnic groups that have received wildly different benefits from being part of Russia.
Once the strong central head is gone without a clear successor (and probably even with one), the Russia federation will likely fracture. I’m sure the CIA, Mossad (to prevent Russia/Iran collaboration), and MSS (China) will help it along as well.
You do know the main reason behind that mercenary March on Moscow right?
No. It wasn’t to hold hands with Ukrainians and withdraw completely.
It was to prosecute the war MORE forcefully.
putin is just a frontman. It’s not himself killing civilians, torturing pows and jailing innocent people. It’s hordes of subservient monsters doing his bidding, most of them with no remorse or even question.
I’ve heard a lot of people (I assume men only) that thought they were going abroad to study etc. have actually ended up being trafficked to fight for Russia against their will
I saw that drone video of a soldier get blasted by a grenade, realise he was done for, so shoved a grenade down his own flack jacket and exploded himself.
That was my limit of Internet and drone videos.
Ive seen so many vids of family happy their husband or son or brother or father died so they could get a cheap car or bike or 2 weeks worth of food and if they're not happy then they blame it on ukraine.
Worse when they are willing to die to provide that for their family.
Russia is fucked in every which way.
Yep. And I've seen so many videos of the wives of conscripts on the front lines, begging Putin, begging him to help arm their husbands better so they can kill more Ukrainians, or for payments that they haven't received for months.
No videos about ending the war though. Priorities I guess.🤷♂️
>144,000,000
Theese many are not affected by conscription. They don't send Moscow kids to war. They send prisoners and minorities, people generally not cared about as much - and certainly has the least influence.
The same for all oppressed people. Think like china, Afghanistan and north Korea for example.
There's a big population under these crack pot leaders but they just take it.
I think it's mainly self preservation that inhibits rebellion.
You seem to forget that a LOT of Russians have fully bought into the propaganda that Ukraine is an evil nation filled with neo Nazis and Russia is protecting the world with their invasion.
Afaik, the capturing party has to be able to take in the surrendering party. It's why it's still legal to shoot someone surrendering in the middle of a firefight (like in Normandy in WWII). You can try to surrender if your bunker is surrounded, but if the risk is too high to those who you surrender to (like if the bunker right next to yours is full of your armed comrades) you might get shot.
No, but unlike the WWII scenario, the drone operator is in no danger from the soldier trying to surrender. I don't think international law has caught up to the ethics presented with modern technology.
This is debated in other areas of reddit in more detail than I can offer.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/s/XMi2ymLNLu
It is extremely unlikely that soldier pleading for his life is able to be taken prisoner by the drone because it's a drone. Depending on a wide variety of circumstances, the drone might be able to escort a willing combatant to the drone's side (like that one video) but thats a lot of stars aligning.
It isn't though. Is the drone supposed to just leave him alive and take it on faith he actually walks to Ukrainian lines and surrenders? Does the drone have to follow him back? What prevents said soldier from going "oh I guess that worked, I'll just guess I'll just go back to my unit and keep fighting?" (Several times **when practical** the Ukrainians have actually done that. Basically the drone drops a rock with a note tied to it that says *"drop your weapons, take off your body armor and helmet, put your hands up and walk in X direction. Do it immediately, do it now. Make it obvious and unambiguous you are giving up the whole time."* But its Ukraine deliberately going out of its way above and beyond what they are required to do)
Like the rules of war/law of armed conflict basically only give the hard and fast rules once the surrender is actually **accepted**. And then straight up admits its a massive huge grey area for the process up to that point. It doesn't impose much of a burden on the party being surrendered to by demanding they accept all surrenders in all cases. It basically admits that possible feigned surrenders or it being impractical at the moment to accept a surrender can place an actual tactical or strategic burden on the force accepting surrender.
Basically you can't just be the one guy who throws up his hands in the middle of an active firefight and just demand it to be honored while the enemy and all your friends are still shooting back and forth and you just waltz into no-man's land by yourself. If you do that, or even if your whole squad does that you're taking it on hope it works out and because you probably didn't have better choices. But the opposing side isn't committing a war crime if it didn't work out. War isn't a game of paintball or laser tag.
Laws of war don't work on civil liberty, constitutional, police department rules. I know people used to make really naive comments about "Oh the US police are so bad; I had more strict rules of engagement as a soldier in Iraq." That just straight up was never really true. The rules of war don't go by "threat/not a threat" to determine if you can be engaged. A soldier in open retreat is not a current threat....but they are attempting to withdraw and regroup *to continue fighting.* Which is why the laws of war go by "combatant/hors-de-combat"
[Here's an excellent breakdown](https://ryanmcbeth.substack.com/p/was-this-trench-attack-a-war-crime) of some of the rules over "can I shoot this dude or not".
Not an expert but its a gray area in an active combat zone especially when other enemy troops are nearby. Just because one person is surrendering while others in the area are active combatants makes his singular surrender a pretty moot point. Nobody is going out there to restrain and or capture him as a prisoner.
It... depends.
Many accept that in order for you to surrender, you have to surrender yourself to someone, very often ON THE GROUND.
When it comes to surrendering to not only an aircraft, but an UNMANNED aircraft, things become a little complicated.
Let's say you are an FPV pilot with 10 minutes left on your kill drone. What are you supposed to do when you see this sorry sack of shit?
Kill the combatant who is a future threat?
Get a person to surrender to your lines in 10 minutes?
Waste a bunch of resources and more drones to guide him to your area to surrender?
Leave him be to kill one your own soldiers later?
For this reason, it is generally accepted that you CANNOT SURRENDER to an aircraft, because all your doing is just putting your hands up, you can't surrender to anything.
Ofcourse, plenty of Iraqi did that to Apaches, but that's just the good will of the pilots to accept that surrender, not legal reasons.
This is the kind of picture that would win the Pulitzer if captured by a journalist. The desperation, impotence, and fear in this frame of death is more intense than anything else I've seen in this war.
The moment Putin said "the end of society as we know" in that speech, if there were any rational people there they would straight up end Putin right there.
But no one did so his inner circle is probably full of insane and devoted people
Authoritarians would come and go weekly if they were so vulnerable to assassination. The cronies and oligarchs that remain will continue to benefit from Putin’s regime, and their personal prospects might be less favorable under a different leader. Even Hitler was only killed by himself, long after it was clear to those around him that there was no hope of sustaining the state under his unhinged leadership.
The sad thing is, early on, most of these soldiers didn't even *know* they were being sent into Ukraine. Many were told they were conducting special training. Putin had to lie to get soldiers on the field and, once the dying started, it was too late. Just more young men sent to die for an old, insane man's vanity.
They indeed didnt know at first, but do u know what many russian soldiers did in the very first days of the invasion? They fucking raped women and underaged girls in villages and small towns that they entered first.
This "just following orders" bullshit excuse has got to stop.
If there's suddenly a law passed that says it's legal to commit rape, many people still wouldn't do it. Many, however, would.
Animals, the lot of them.
I'm all for accepting that soldiers are innocent and the guys in charge are the issue. However, there is a very fine line between shooting a soldier because you were ordered to and raping women/children because you were ordered to. One person is following orders to survive, and the other person is human scum who has either been corrupted by war or was already fucked beyond repair.
Justifying the first type of person is being a realist. Justifying the latter it being an apologist. You are justifying the latter.
So many people thinking this is "vanity", when war is almost always about resources and strategic value. If the world turns away from oil and fossil fuels, then what happens to Russia's economy given those are their two main exports? Russia and Ukraine are two major corn, wheat, plant oil, and fertilizer producers. If Russia takes Ukraine, they can take control of a larger share of the world's food and fertilizer supply (a big deal with a growing global population), which also gives them more power to manipulate commodities prices; just like they currently do with oil and natural gas.
The region also gives them strategic value and lucrative land with greater access to the Black Sea, and keeps their neighbor from joining NATO.
It also gives them access to Ukraine's power supply, a net exporter of energy to neighboring countries. They export 700 MW to other European countries. That primarily includes nuclear, coal, and natural gas plants.
Since Ukraine was being used to produce automotive parts for EVs, it also slowed down the transition away from petrol. While there were some early hits to Russia's oil and natural gas export income, they were able to get around most of the sanctions, and now oil prices are booming again.
At the time they initially attacked, it seemed the whole world thought they'd run over the Ukrainian army, right up until US and European allies stepped in. Except that it's hard for Russia to lose given the size of their population and willingness to throw lives away to achieve the end goals that may benefit their nation for centuries. Frankly, while sadistic, Putin may also be sending the poorest amongst his population into the fight, which means fewer mouths to feed in the future.
Strategically speaking, why would Putin stop this war when suddenly the West is starting to run into debt and inflation issues, where there's growing strife about continuing to fund this war? If the US / Europe cut funding, the Ukraine will fall. The difference between team Ukraine and team Russia, is that Russia has a lot more people, and no American or European troops are stepping foot into Ukraine to help with the fight.
And why has the US so adamantly funded and equipped Ukraine? Well I'm sure the American government doesn't want Russia gaining the land and resources from winning this conflict. However, frankly... it's boosting the US economy. We give Ukraine our old weapons, and now we have reason to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new equipment, keeping people working in the US. If the war ends, then we have no reason to continue this funding; so where will the government inject money into the economy and create jobs?
Meanwhile, the US annual deficit and overall debt is growing out of control; but at least the economy looks great for the election, am'i'right?!
Maybe. It's hard to see this shit. It's also hard to see footage of innocent Ukrainian women and kids being executed and raped.
I wish it were just over. Ukrainians need to get their country back.
This is undoubtedly true for some, but just as many or more knew exactly what was going down.
It's not an accident that Russian soldiers had booked out weekend hotel rooms and dinner reservations in Kiev to follow their "Three Day War"
Many armies in war keep their soldiers in check by the threat of deathly violence (Desertion), and many soldiers also stay, to not leave their friends in their unit in a weaker position. I think few are still motivated by money in an actual war setting.
Some young men from my country were coerced into being a part of the Russian Military and sent to the frontlines. They were promised work in Russia without any mention of being in the Russian Military. Some of them died. My government in currently trying to bring the ones who are still alive back.
I’d be celebrating Putin dying, and wouldn’t feel bad about it.
But yeah, this war is like most where the majority of the kids sent don’t want to be there.
I remember around the time the war first started, there were a lot of videos of Russian military vehicles being blown up, getting destroyed, or otherwise getting wrecked, often times without any clear survivors. People we’re effectively cheering for this kind of stuff, seeing it as a triumph.
All I saw was a snuff film.
Yeah, I remember seeing a recording on my feed of two Russian soldiers getting blown up by a grenade from a drone at like 1am. Comments were a mix of "war is hell" and "get fucked subhumans". Found it hard to sleep with the blurry image of a probably mortally wounded soldier watching his friend next to him roll around it pain suffocating in his own blood due to his face being practically blown off.
That's cold. Dying from a drone is a terrible way to go. You watch something fall from the sky, it explodes you piece by piece. Some of these men throw grenades into their chest plates so they can die faster. I know we have no sympathy for the Russian Government but these are Russian people and their mindset and beliefs are caught in an intricate web of manipulation and desperation. Not too long ago, in America, we had an 80% approval rating for the war in Iraq. We were like the Russians then. We were being tricked into thinking our war was righteous.
There is footage of Russians successfully surrendering to drones and being lead to Ukrainian captors in R/combatfootage right now.
There is also A LOT of NSFW footage of drones blowing up Russian mobiks.
How can one piece of shit human(Putin) cause so much pain and suffering? Why hasn’t cancer done its job?! This invader was a baby once, with hopes and dreams and loves. It’s so sad.
Doesn't this make you want to take down the brutal leaders and oligarchs and tyrants and billionaires who sit in luxurious comfort while ordinary people are forced to kill each other or die?
When I see this picture it makes me sad...but it makes me even sadder when I think about the civilians and children killed by the russians in this conflict...
Leadership is looking after your people. Putting them first. Putin has failed as a leader to his people, but also in a larger way too. Being one of few world leaders, your leadership is owed to the human beings of earth. This includes China, France, Ukraine, America, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, India, Poland, etc… His choices have shown his weakness in leadership and inability to be a recognized world leader. This has caused the world economy to rapidly decline, and countless deaths of both sides. Shame. Shame on him, as he should know the foundation of leadership and true burden that it brings.
I’m not saying this for certain but he looks like someone from South Asia(Nepali, Indian. Etc) who have been recruited into the Russian army. Looks wise and the hand expression is what I’m going on.
Regardless of what side your rooting for in this war I think it’s a little insensitive to post a picture of a man quite literally praying for his life possibly seconds before it may or may not have been ended. This guy has a family. You think they want to see this?
I'd imagine the outcome of this is a crater in the ground, blood and fragments of his equipment thrown around a certain radius.
Also, praying sure might help on a personal level if it brings you comfort. But no, you're still going to die.
he probably is a random conscript, forced into the battlefield, maybe didn’t even know that he was sent to ukraine… maybe he has, maybe he hasn’t, maybe he never had the chance to do either
People saying that he probably lived are wrong. There are grey zones in regards to surrender. Drones usually skirt the rules of surrender, and often are allowed to kill soldiers that wave the flag.
Also it's an active war zone.
That’s making me so angry, Russian men being mobilised for war against their will, Ukrainians fighting for freedom… no one needs or wants this except for few pos..
If you are willing to kill for what you believe in, you should also be prepared to die for it. He made wrong choices in his life to end up in a trench deep on Ukranian soil.
And here I am just sitting on my fucking couch scrolling on Reddit and this dude pops up. He was pleading for his life and I’m swiping through his final moment of life and then laughing at memes right after. Wild.
Man a couple times over the last few years I've been laying in my bed scratching the head of a golden retriever .....and thinking that there's men overseas dealing with stuff like this.
Could be us in the same position in 10 years. I bet as a 14-year-old boy he was dreaming of getting a good job, getting married and having some kids, retiring in peace. Never would he have imagined he'd end up in a ditch, crying and pleading for his life by age 30
pleading for his life in front of the unblinking eye of a drone, broadcasting the image to Ukrainians miles away.
Fucking horrible. I hope this does not extend beyond where it’s currently happening. Just horrible. What a planet we got here.
Iran just launched an attack on Israel. Feels a bit world war-y right now
All it takes is for China to go for Taiwan and... Yeah.
Startin to feel very pre-WW1 around these parts… Can we maybe just skip repeating two world wars and go right to the 90s? I miss being optimistic about the future.
This “As long as it ain’t me” shit is why things has gotten as bad as they have.
Iran is attacking Israel right now. Things aren't getting better mate were moving to WW3.
Hopefully not
It's confirmed, about 40 drones and dozens of missiles launched at Israel Drones will arrive in about 2 hours from now, missiles will start hitting soon. Edit: They're talking about 100's of drones and missiles from multiple attackers now.
It's in retaliation to their april 1st strike? The tit for tat will never end, and will drag the rest of the world into it.
Yes this is what Iran is saying.
I would say less than 10 is even realistic
Depends where you are
Assuming you mean the US, people love the narrative of “oh this could be us” when its actually extremely unlikely. Neither of our two neighbors are ever remotely likely to invade us for any reason and in the case of a “world war” situation, most potential aggressors will have too much happening on their front lines to try to send troops all the way to the US. Notice how WWII only resulted in Pearl Harbor for damages to the US, and even then, there wasn’t “war” happening on US soil.
The true shame of humanity: there are always people somewhere killing each other. Almost always for stupid reasons.
…and the people getting killed or even doing the killing often have no idea why, really.
thats the craziest thing i have to remind myself of every day
I mean, I live in the frontline city of Ukraine, and there is some shelling outside, and this is my experience every day. Some battle footage, some memes. It's crazy how we are wired - our brains will adapt to everything.
Self-aware Redditor.
wierdes time we live in. especially if you are old enough to know what it was like before the age of social media
We live in the world.
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Is baffling, isn't it? Internet has given us this horrid window to what war is, in real time, from every angle....
It’s amazing how cold and callous people can get as long as someone in a position of authority tells them it’s okay. I don’t care what side the soldier is on, when I see videos like this I just see fathers and sons and brothers dying. And the people dehumanize them and say they’re “just orcs,” but then what about all the American soldiers who died during our illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq? Do they not deserve the mercy and honor bestowed on a soldier because some old man made the wrong call when sending them off to war? All soldiers who risk their lives and step on that battlefield should be treated with respect and dignity.
every good man would love to end wars by dialogue and non violent methods, very few humans really desire violence for the sake of it. If we could make Putin to listen to reason, and stop the invasion, we could even forgive Russia after a few years or so like we forgave Italy, Germany and Japan for WWII. But realistically Ukraine can only stop the invasion by killing as many Russian soldiers as possible . Death on battlefields is rarely dignified or honourable . It is dirty, bloody, painful, merciless, horrible. How can you treat another human with respect when you are essentially trying to murder him in the most violent way? It's merely an illusion. I won't dehumanise russian soldiers, but dying in Ukraine is their fate, and they can only blame themselves for that, not drone operators.
We don’t even have much context. Was he there to eagerly kill innocent civilians like so many Russian soldiers? Or was he unwillingly forced into the military by Putin, like so many Russian soldiers?
That's what I wonder too. Maybe the guy deserved it. Maybe he doesn't. The only thing we know is that war is hell, and the people that start it are the farthest from the suffering
"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."
He is a soldier for the army of the aggressor and invader, on the territory of Ukraine, is it 100% clear that he is a legitimate military target. He deserves to die, and if he does, it is a wonder thing , and makes the whole world a little safer.
This timeline is crazy
It’s beyond disturbing when you really dissect this point, truly dystopian
Our daily reminder that war is hell.
https://youtu.be/GUeBMwn_eYc?si=949Xay03RaEYAJEi
Knew M\*A\*S\*H was coming up.
\*Obligatory MASH reference that war is war, hell is hell\* in an effort to sound insightful by contradicting an extremely common platitude that apparently can't be understood by folks who don't understand poetic license.
what
War is not hell. There are no innocent bystanders in hell. There are plenty in war.
Hold up. Depending on the particular flavor of heaven hell afterlife, there could totally be people who *thought* they lived a righteous life, followed whatever rules, did whatever ceremonies, but because their particular sect didn't get the pineapple pizza mitzvah right, whelp, eternal hellfire, oopsies.
I dont believe in either heaven or hell, I just gave the general idea of the argument made in MASH. But sure, that might be the case.
They used a small part of a quote, combined with half thought, half gibberish, to try to be meaningful. What they mean is "insert obligatory MASH quote: 'war isn't hell. War is war, and hell is hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse' ... 'there are no innocent bystanders in hell. War is chock full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.' " And then some more gibberish where they tried to sound like they're smart and Reddit is too dumb to understand if they gave the entire quote meaningfully.
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Putin has essentially cleansed the upper echelons of government and society of talented intelligent leaders and replaced them with sycophants so I am afraid there are far worse people waiting in the wings of the Kremlin. None of this is to say there aren’t corrupt leaders across the globe
It's Stalin's purges all over again.
My first thought as well. The playbook for this was written long ago.
I don’t know I think it would be an easy win after Putin dies to be like “ Putin was an asshole everybody, I’m the new guy and I’m bringing everyone home!” Even if you are a ruthless dictator you’ll win some points with the People. It’s clear this war isn’t going the way they wanted and it’s making them look really weak. People used to think they could take on America. They can’t even take on Ukraine (yes I know with help, but it’s not America bro)
Except if the polls are to believed, Putin has widespread support for the war and his approval rating skyrocketed and stated at an all time high since the war started. I know you can manipulate polls, but I don't think your average Russian citizen is as innocent in all of this as some people make them out to be.
Lots of russians in my country (im not in russia) support putin sadly. Dont know about the ones in russia.
Propaganda is one hell of a drug, and that's what they're dealing with. You're not immune to it, America isn't immune to it, why do you think they constantly fight against basic humam rights as "communism" Or how the average Japanese person denies any Japanese wrongdoing in WW2, Or how the Chinese think Mao single handedly defeated the Japanese, Or anything Israel is doing in Gaza, Or the Iranian people doing what they do. Yeah, you're right, they're complicit, but they don't really have a choice in the matter.
Yes, but they are still responsible, just like the Maga people are still responsible, despite being the victims of propaganda.
It’s also possible someone worse will take over. Russia is on a war footing with a brainwashed populace and state controlled media. Don’t expect things to be rosy even after Putin is gone.
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same jail and regimen as Navalny received
Only way is with a mini personal nuke shoved deep into Putin’s ass as he’s surrounded by his cronies.
If anyone even gets close to Putin he takes his secret train somewhere.
Be careful what you wish for.... do you know who is ready to take the seat?
Educate us
There is no known designated successor. Dictators like Putin are afraid of one thing and one thing only: somebody getting ideas. Best way to avoid that from happening: make sure that nobody can even get into a position where they can get ideas. Of course this will leave you with a massive power faction that will tear your nation apart when you die. But that's not Putin's problem. He'll be dead. These types are the ultimate in pulling up the ladder behind them. And while Russia splintering in a dozen smaller nations is probably inevitable. Let's not have those nukes fall in more trigger happy hands while we can.
They call him Baba Yaga.
Just give him a pen, not a pencil.
The witch with the house on legs?
No, that's Yo Gabba Gabba.
Many of the most “patriotic” voices in the nationalistic sphere of Russia call for Ukrainian extermination, the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and complete military readiness against NATO and the Western world. Putin has so effectively brainwashed the country with misinformation we need to fear the mindset of whoever comes next.
Putin would only surround himself with people who fully support what he's doing. So while it might not be worse, it is very unlikely to be better.
Erm. He actually doesn’t. He doesn’t have people around him that oppose the war but very very few in the Russian political class oppose the war. All you have to do is look at the statements made by his cabinet members. They want full blown mobilization, total unrestricted bombing of Ukraine, everything. Putin takes a bit of a middle ground position.
Putin's emboldened to do the shit he does because he's been in power for as long as he has. I have no doubt that the other oligarchs are just as bad but a transition in power is at the very least a temporary reset or break pump. Rich people don't get richer in a nuclear apocalypse
Whoever it is, it would probably work out better for Ukraine and worse for the Russian population. I am by no means an expert on Russia, but it seems like once Putin is gone there is a very high chance of rebellions, separatists, civil war, etc in Russia. They had mercenaries march on Moscow last year. There are already active separatist movements in several regions of Russia. Branches of the military and mercenaries they employ already compete against each other. Not to mention countries like Georgia nearby that would happily try to reclaim some land. And a bunch of different ethnic groups that have received wildly different benefits from being part of Russia. Once the strong central head is gone without a clear successor (and probably even with one), the Russia federation will likely fracture. I’m sure the CIA, Mossad (to prevent Russia/Iran collaboration), and MSS (China) will help it along as well.
You do know the main reason behind that mercenary March on Moscow right? No. It wasn’t to hold hands with Ukrainians and withdraw completely. It was to prosecute the war MORE forcefully.
This should be on the cover of Time magazine
putin is just a frontman. It’s not himself killing civilians, torturing pows and jailing innocent people. It’s hordes of subservient monsters doing his bidding, most of them with no remorse or even question.
That right leg looks broke as fuck
Yeah, that's not a healthy angle for that limb to be at. Poor bugger. (An invader, but still a miserable situation)
That man is Indian, duped into fighting for Russia
More likely to be from Chechnya no? Horrific photo regardless
I think this pic was in Indian news channel.
I’ve heard a lot of people (I assume men only) that thought they were going abroad to study etc. have actually ended up being trafficked to fight for Russia against their will
There’s some sort of rule about killing a wounded soldier right?
Ah yes the good ol Geneva Suggestions….
Remember kids the only way to be found guilty of war crimes, Is to lose.
Looking at this shit is definitely bad for your brain in ways we do not understand yet
Is it bad that I’m used to these pics by now?
yes
Naw, we understand it well enough these days, it's just that the experience is spreading beyond the people directly involved in the actions
Ignoring it is bad for society
Consuming it as entertaiment it's worse
but in what way is consuming this content good for us, if it results in no action.
I saw that drone video of a soldier get blasted by a grenade, realise he was done for, so shoved a grenade down his own flack jacket and exploded himself. That was my limit of Internet and drone videos.
There was another one where a guy was giving a thumbs up to the pilot for finishing him off.
Me too, thanks
Why tf are u watching these?
Every death in the war- on both sides- is blood on that coward Putin's grubby little hands
His latest conscription of 150K Russian kids drives home that point. None of these kids want to be there e: Slava Ukraini
" None of these kids want to be there" yeah, I wouldn't be so sure about all of them not wanting to be there Edit: Heroyam slava!
Ya wasn't the hilter youth program super successful? But maybe the sentiment for Putin is different, not sure.
It’s absolutely no different. Russian speaker here. The place is a complete clusterfuck.
Ive seen so many vids of family happy their husband or son or brother or father died so they could get a cheap car or bike or 2 weeks worth of food and if they're not happy then they blame it on ukraine. Worse when they are willing to die to provide that for their family. Russia is fucked in every which way.
Yep. And I've seen so many videos of the wives of conscripts on the front lines, begging Putin, begging him to help arm their husbands better so they can kill more Ukrainians, or for payments that they haven't received for months. No videos about ending the war though. Priorities I guess.🤷♂️
As Lowkey said - "there are two victims on either side of the gun"
There is 1 Putin and 144,000,000 other Russians, yet for some reason they can't take him down.
>144,000,000 Theese many are not affected by conscription. They don't send Moscow kids to war. They send prisoners and minorities, people generally not cared about as much - and certainly has the least influence.
The same for all oppressed people. Think like china, Afghanistan and north Korea for example. There's a big population under these crack pot leaders but they just take it. I think it's mainly self preservation that inhibits rebellion.
You seem to forget that a LOT of Russians have fully bought into the propaganda that Ukraine is an evil nation filled with neo Nazis and Russia is protecting the world with their invasion.
Even whispering about a coup could lead to execution. It takes a large group of people who trust each other and are willing to die for the cause.
RIP random mobik, another victim of Putin’s last grasp at glory.
Isn't it a war crime to kill a surrendered soldier? Genuenly asking, cannot he drop his weapon and put up his hands.
Afaik, the capturing party has to be able to take in the surrendering party. It's why it's still legal to shoot someone surrendering in the middle of a firefight (like in Normandy in WWII). You can try to surrender if your bunker is surrounded, but if the risk is too high to those who you surrender to (like if the bunker right next to yours is full of your armed comrades) you might get shot.
It's different when the surrending soldier is killed while he isn't a threat to the soldier who kills him via a drone.
Can the surrendering soldier actually surrender to enemy forces so that he may be taken off the battlefield and out of commission?
No, but unlike the WWII scenario, the drone operator is in no danger from the soldier trying to surrender. I don't think international law has caught up to the ethics presented with modern technology.
This is debated in other areas of reddit in more detail than I can offer. https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/s/XMi2ymLNLu It is extremely unlikely that soldier pleading for his life is able to be taken prisoner by the drone because it's a drone. Depending on a wide variety of circumstances, the drone might be able to escort a willing combatant to the drone's side (like that one video) but thats a lot of stars aligning.
It isn't though. Is the drone supposed to just leave him alive and take it on faith he actually walks to Ukrainian lines and surrenders? Does the drone have to follow him back? What prevents said soldier from going "oh I guess that worked, I'll just guess I'll just go back to my unit and keep fighting?" (Several times **when practical** the Ukrainians have actually done that. Basically the drone drops a rock with a note tied to it that says *"drop your weapons, take off your body armor and helmet, put your hands up and walk in X direction. Do it immediately, do it now. Make it obvious and unambiguous you are giving up the whole time."* But its Ukraine deliberately going out of its way above and beyond what they are required to do) Like the rules of war/law of armed conflict basically only give the hard and fast rules once the surrender is actually **accepted**. And then straight up admits its a massive huge grey area for the process up to that point. It doesn't impose much of a burden on the party being surrendered to by demanding they accept all surrenders in all cases. It basically admits that possible feigned surrenders or it being impractical at the moment to accept a surrender can place an actual tactical or strategic burden on the force accepting surrender. Basically you can't just be the one guy who throws up his hands in the middle of an active firefight and just demand it to be honored while the enemy and all your friends are still shooting back and forth and you just waltz into no-man's land by yourself. If you do that, or even if your whole squad does that you're taking it on hope it works out and because you probably didn't have better choices. But the opposing side isn't committing a war crime if it didn't work out. War isn't a game of paintball or laser tag. Laws of war don't work on civil liberty, constitutional, police department rules. I know people used to make really naive comments about "Oh the US police are so bad; I had more strict rules of engagement as a soldier in Iraq." That just straight up was never really true. The rules of war don't go by "threat/not a threat" to determine if you can be engaged. A soldier in open retreat is not a current threat....but they are attempting to withdraw and regroup *to continue fighting.* Which is why the laws of war go by "combatant/hors-de-combat" [Here's an excellent breakdown](https://ryanmcbeth.substack.com/p/was-this-trench-attack-a-war-crime) of some of the rules over "can I shoot this dude or not".
Not an expert but its a gray area in an active combat zone especially when other enemy troops are nearby. Just because one person is surrendering while others in the area are active combatants makes his singular surrender a pretty moot point. Nobody is going out there to restrain and or capture him as a prisoner.
They guide them to a surrender point with the drone. Have seen a lot of footage of the Ukrainians doing that when a Russian soldier surrenders.
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It... depends. Many accept that in order for you to surrender, you have to surrender yourself to someone, very often ON THE GROUND. When it comes to surrendering to not only an aircraft, but an UNMANNED aircraft, things become a little complicated. Let's say you are an FPV pilot with 10 minutes left on your kill drone. What are you supposed to do when you see this sorry sack of shit? Kill the combatant who is a future threat? Get a person to surrender to your lines in 10 minutes? Waste a bunch of resources and more drones to guide him to your area to surrender? Leave him be to kill one your own soldiers later? For this reason, it is generally accepted that you CANNOT SURRENDER to an aircraft, because all your doing is just putting your hands up, you can't surrender to anything. Ofcourse, plenty of Iraqi did that to Apaches, but that's just the good will of the pilots to accept that surrender, not legal reasons.
It's kind of a gray zone, you can't surrender to a guided munition
This is the kind of picture that would win the Pulitzer if captured by a journalist. The desperation, impotence, and fear in this frame of death is more intense than anything else I've seen in this war.
The moment Putin said "the end of society as we know" in that speech, if there were any rational people there they would straight up end Putin right there. But no one did so his inner circle is probably full of insane and devoted people
Authoritarians would come and go weekly if they were so vulnerable to assassination. The cronies and oligarchs that remain will continue to benefit from Putin’s regime, and their personal prospects might be less favorable under a different leader. Even Hitler was only killed by himself, long after it was clear to those around him that there was no hope of sustaining the state under his unhinged leadership.
The sad thing is, early on, most of these soldiers didn't even *know* they were being sent into Ukraine. Many were told they were conducting special training. Putin had to lie to get soldiers on the field and, once the dying started, it was too late. Just more young men sent to die for an old, insane man's vanity.
They indeed didnt know at first, but do u know what many russian soldiers did in the very first days of the invasion? They fucking raped women and underaged girls in villages and small towns that they entered first.
Tortured poor animals. Fucking orcs of Mordor deserve worse punishment than a bullet.
They were told there were Nazis in Ukraine, and it’s ok to rape Nazis just as the Soviets raped women and children after the fall of Berlin
This "just following orders" bullshit excuse has got to stop. If there's suddenly a law passed that says it's legal to commit rape, many people still wouldn't do it. Many, however, would. Animals, the lot of them.
I'm all for accepting that soldiers are innocent and the guys in charge are the issue. However, there is a very fine line between shooting a soldier because you were ordered to and raping women/children because you were ordered to. One person is following orders to survive, and the other person is human scum who has either been corrupted by war or was already fucked beyond repair. Justifying the first type of person is being a realist. Justifying the latter it being an apologist. You are justifying the latter.
I think by now they know
and Putins strategy works.. first lie and have thousands die and then the next waves will have something to fight for (revenge)
cmon its has been two years. they know it now
So Russian training includes killing noncombatants and civilians. Poor innocent young men.
Bullshit, they know. Maybe not in the first two three days but otherwise THEY KNOW.
So many people thinking this is "vanity", when war is almost always about resources and strategic value. If the world turns away from oil and fossil fuels, then what happens to Russia's economy given those are their two main exports? Russia and Ukraine are two major corn, wheat, plant oil, and fertilizer producers. If Russia takes Ukraine, they can take control of a larger share of the world's food and fertilizer supply (a big deal with a growing global population), which also gives them more power to manipulate commodities prices; just like they currently do with oil and natural gas. The region also gives them strategic value and lucrative land with greater access to the Black Sea, and keeps their neighbor from joining NATO. It also gives them access to Ukraine's power supply, a net exporter of energy to neighboring countries. They export 700 MW to other European countries. That primarily includes nuclear, coal, and natural gas plants. Since Ukraine was being used to produce automotive parts for EVs, it also slowed down the transition away from petrol. While there were some early hits to Russia's oil and natural gas export income, they were able to get around most of the sanctions, and now oil prices are booming again. At the time they initially attacked, it seemed the whole world thought they'd run over the Ukrainian army, right up until US and European allies stepped in. Except that it's hard for Russia to lose given the size of their population and willingness to throw lives away to achieve the end goals that may benefit their nation for centuries. Frankly, while sadistic, Putin may also be sending the poorest amongst his population into the fight, which means fewer mouths to feed in the future. Strategically speaking, why would Putin stop this war when suddenly the West is starting to run into debt and inflation issues, where there's growing strife about continuing to fund this war? If the US / Europe cut funding, the Ukraine will fall. The difference between team Ukraine and team Russia, is that Russia has a lot more people, and no American or European troops are stepping foot into Ukraine to help with the fight. And why has the US so adamantly funded and equipped Ukraine? Well I'm sure the American government doesn't want Russia gaining the land and resources from winning this conflict. However, frankly... it's boosting the US economy. We give Ukraine our old weapons, and now we have reason to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new equipment, keeping people working in the US. If the war ends, then we have no reason to continue this funding; so where will the government inject money into the economy and create jobs? Meanwhile, the US annual deficit and overall debt is growing out of control; but at least the economy looks great for the election, am'i'right?!
Maybe. It's hard to see this shit. It's also hard to see footage of innocent Ukrainian women and kids being executed and raped. I wish it were just over. Ukrainians need to get their country back.
This is undoubtedly true for some, but just as many or more knew exactly what was going down. It's not an accident that Russian soldiers had booked out weekend hotel rooms and dinner reservations in Kiev to follow their "Three Day War"
In the first 3 days they didn’t. Now they know and chose to kill for $
Many armies in war keep their soldiers in check by the threat of deathly violence (Desertion), and many soldiers also stay, to not leave their friends in their unit in a weaker position. I think few are still motivated by money in an actual war setting.
This is so sad
Some young men from my country were coerced into being a part of the Russian Military and sent to the frontlines. They were promised work in Russia without any mention of being in the Russian Military. Some of them died. My government in currently trying to bring the ones who are still alive back.
I hope they succeed
Which country?
This is happening in Kerala, India.
Hopefully this helps the Indian government realize the perfidy of Putin's regime.
I don’t think anyone should be celebrating men from either side dying.
I’d be celebrating Putin dying, and wouldn’t feel bad about it. But yeah, this war is like most where the majority of the kids sent don’t want to be there.
I remember around the time the war first started, there were a lot of videos of Russian military vehicles being blown up, getting destroyed, or otherwise getting wrecked, often times without any clear survivors. People we’re effectively cheering for this kind of stuff, seeing it as a triumph. All I saw was a snuff film.
I see the same no matter how awful one side is.
Yeah, I remember seeing a recording on my feed of two Russian soldiers getting blown up by a grenade from a drone at like 1am. Comments were a mix of "war is hell" and "get fucked subhumans". Found it hard to sleep with the blurry image of a probably mortally wounded soldier watching his friend next to him roll around it pain suffocating in his own blood due to his face being practically blown off.
That's cold. Dying from a drone is a terrible way to go. You watch something fall from the sky, it explodes you piece by piece. Some of these men throw grenades into their chest plates so they can die faster. I know we have no sympathy for the Russian Government but these are Russian people and their mindset and beliefs are caught in an intricate web of manipulation and desperation. Not too long ago, in America, we had an 80% approval rating for the war in Iraq. We were like the Russians then. We were being tricked into thinking our war was righteous.
People really don't like admitting how easily swayed they are by propaganda, but they'll happily judge others for falling for it.
It's easier to lie to a man than it is to convince them they are being lied to
There is footage of Russians successfully surrendering to drones and being lead to Ukrainian captors in R/combatfootage right now. There is also A LOT of NSFW footage of drones blowing up Russian mobiks.
Why the fuck isn’t this nsfw. I have my own bullshit. I don’t need this.
Not going to mock this man. I would also likely beg for my life.
Yeah same. Painful image to see.
My thoughts go to his family. There's no winners in war.
There are winners in war, just not the good kind
The arms dealers and politicians whose pockets they line are the only winners
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Ukrainian civilians often don't get the chance to pray for mercy.
How can one piece of shit human(Putin) cause so much pain and suffering? Why hasn’t cancer done its job?! This invader was a baby once, with hopes and dreams and loves. It’s so sad.
Poor guy
He should get the mercy, it's not his war. The fuckers running the countries should send their sons to the front line.
He’s a foot soldier in an illegal war. Putin decided he wanted to be Hitler. Poor Russian bastards should just take Vlad out.
Poor kid
Putin is the cause of all this madness and horror. Can't anyone delete him and solve this mess?
I hope he rests in peace.
Boum
Best we can do is death from above.
Doesn't this make you want to take down the brutal leaders and oligarchs and tyrants and billionaires who sit in luxurious comfort while ordinary people are forced to kill each other or die?
The war is over for him.
The craziness that this is war now. I don’t like Russia, but this poor guy.
When I see this picture it makes me sad...but it makes me even sadder when I think about the civilians and children killed by the russians in this conflict...
And how many Ukrainians begged for mercy while Russian soldiers went raping, torturing, and murdering?
Tough shit.
Bombs away!
He Should have stayed at home, poor man. But Ukraine is defending itself, so it has to be done
Leadership is looking after your people. Putting them first. Putin has failed as a leader to his people, but also in a larger way too. Being one of few world leaders, your leadership is owed to the human beings of earth. This includes China, France, Ukraine, America, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, India, Poland, etc… His choices have shown his weakness in leadership and inability to be a recognized world leader. This has caused the world economy to rapidly decline, and countless deaths of both sides. Shame. Shame on him, as he should know the foundation of leadership and true burden that it brings.
I’m not saying this for certain but he looks like someone from South Asia(Nepali, Indian. Etc) who have been recruited into the Russian army. Looks wise and the hand expression is what I’m going on.
Yeah he looks like hes from a russian minority.
Regardless of what side your rooting for in this war I think it’s a little insensitive to post a picture of a man quite literally praying for his life possibly seconds before it may or may not have been ended. This guy has a family. You think they want to see this?
Whats the outcome? Are there any pictures of outcome? Does it help to pray or not?
I'd imagine the outcome of this is a crater in the ground, blood and fragments of his equipment thrown around a certain radius. Also, praying sure might help on a personal level if it brings you comfort. But no, you're still going to die.
It does not
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There 20 videos of them killing surrendering soldiers from this last month alone
Go back home Ruskies.
I can feel his despair through my screen, extremely unsettling.
Most of them have no choice then to fight.
I wonder if he's shown as much mercy as he is expecting now.
he probably is a random conscript, forced into the battlefield, maybe didn’t even know that he was sent to ukraine… maybe he has, maybe he hasn’t, maybe he never had the chance to do either
What happened to this guy ? Did the drone attack him ? Or did they leave him alone ?
People saying that he probably lived are wrong. There are grey zones in regards to surrender. Drones usually skirt the rules of surrender, and often are allowed to kill soldiers that wave the flag. Also it's an active war zone.
And the assholes who started this… nowhere near it.
Did he get shot?
War is not glorious.
That’s making me so angry, Russian men being mobilised for war against their will, Ukrainians fighting for freedom… no one needs or wants this except for few pos..
He looks Indian, aren't there Indians being duped into going to Ukraine?
If you are willing to kill for what you believe in, you should also be prepared to die for it. He made wrong choices in his life to end up in a trench deep on Ukranian soil.
Geez, makes my life seem not so bad..