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It's not a war, but a Special Military Operation. And that operation goes so well, it is now time not to call a general mobilisation, but only a partial mobilisation.
On Wednesday September 21, at 09:15h, Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement that was rumored since days: all members of the Russian Army's reserve, as well as anybody who has ever served in the Russian military, are called upon to do their duty in the Special Military Operation, fighting the Nazi-Ukrainian forces.
Refusing to report will result in 15 years prison. Skipping out during service will result in 15 years prison. And surrendering to the enemy without being incapacitated will result in 15 years prison, as will not trying to flee from a POW camp.
The move is not unexpected. The Ukrainian counter-offensive triggered the first comments on Russian television about the need for mobilisation, and it was just waiting until Russian regional elections had passed, last week. On top of that, the recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation didn't go to plan, apparently.
First there was India's Modi publicly stating that this ain't a time for war, and that he had repeatedly asked to stop the whole thing. Then there was a falling out over the same subject with both Turkey and Kazakhstan, to which Putin apparently reacted very agressively. All combined might perhaps explain the rather confused press conference afterwards.
Immediately after the end of the SCO Summit, one Nikolai Patrushev stepped on a plane to meet with Chinese colleagues to discuss strategic stability and public security and law and order. He returned after 2 days, on the 19th. On the 20th, a statement by Putin was announced for the evening, but that was postponed for reasons unknown.
In a first phase, 300,000 reservists are being called up but, as Russia's Kommersant business newspaper noted, the total number of people who will be called up is secret, hence open to modification.
Do I need to add that it all ended with the threat to use nuclear weapons?
Official announcement here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2022, @04:59PM (23 children)
Yes, let's take a look at reality.
Really, both sides are suffering badly? We in "the west" are suffering badly? How so? Out here in Albuquerque, about the only noticeable effect this has had on me so far is that I pay a bit more at the gas pump and the grocery store. Methinks your estimation of how much we are suffering is a bit overwrought. The people who are truly feeling the pain are living through a war in Ukraine. When are you going to start feeling some concern for them?
Casualties? I expect my gas and electric bills to go up. Thankfully, I am not expecting any casualties in my home or the homes of my neighbors. Where the hell do you live that you are expecting "casualties"?
Again, your rhetoric is much too overwrought. People are going to be feeling pain at the gas pump and the grocery store. They will be paying higher prices for power and gas this winter. Not fun. But I am not foreseeing "casualties".
Yes, we have already noted that you are a fine little Putin stooge. I'm sure he is proud of your propaganda efforts.
Bullshit!!! No one held a gun to Putin's head and told him he must invade Ukraine. He decided this entirely on his own, against the advice of many in his own country and around the world. This is all on him. No one else.
Hmmmmm. Maybe my recollection is flawed but I was under the impression that a few months back you were complaining that the USA was not sending military aid to Ukraine fast enough. Did your handlers in the Kremlin not approve of that? Just curious.
Yes, as I've already noted, you make a fine Putin stooge. I'm sure he's proud of your efforts.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 21 2022, @05:28PM (22 children)
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Thursday September 22 2022, @12:43AM (18 children)
Let's consider that:
A: The Ukrainian public. The conspiracy spin neglects that there were months of massive public protests. It wouldn't happen merely with magic Koch brother or Soros cooties.
A: Russia. I guess we're supposed to ignore that Russian interference and eight years of military support by Russia. It would have been over in August or September 2014 otherwise.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 22 2022, @01:33AM (6 children)
*yawn*
Boring.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @01:46AM
And now for something completely different.
New York state files huge lawsuit against Trump for systematic fraud [wsws.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 22 2022, @03:24AM (3 children)
(Score: 0, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 22 2022, @04:44AM (2 children)
Translation: You've long ago made your mind up, and are unwilling to look at other perspectives or evidence.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @07:26AM
One of the pretexts of MAGA seems to be that for America to return to its gold era of the 1950s-70s, Cold War 2.0 needs a strong villain.
What a pity Ukrainians are then merely collateral damage in your far right fantasy.
Why do you keep supporting a genocidal cunt like Putin?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday September 22 2022, @12:01PM
I'll note, for example, that you've never provided evidence for significant Koch brothers or Soros involvement in the 2014 Euromaidan revolution. I gather there's some crude statements by US officials that implies material US support, perhaps even that CIA support that is alleged. Meanwhile, when you look at the timeline [wikipedia.org], there's plenty of large protests throughout the saga. Then and now, there's a lot of effort by the locals that's being completely dismissed because foreign involvement is exaggerated.
My guess is that this is merely a bit of propaganda to invalidate Euromaidan and of course, blame the Great Satan. If it's just CIA/Soros/Koch brothers, then the revolution doesn't count and the US started it all. That's been your line too, right?
All I can say, is that the Ukrainians are pretty eager for a foreign-led coup. I think it's worth comparing this to a genuine CIA-led coup, that of Afghanistan. As long as there were US military providing firepower on the ground, Afghanistan was stable. The moment the US left, the Taliban took over. There wasn't even a slight effort at preserving the government.
While it is obvious that Ukraine would have done far worse without the massive supply of foreign weapons, they've fought this war themselves - not US forces with the locals watching on. They defeated that decapitation strike and have repeatedly shown strong initiative, such as repeatedly taking advantage of Russian mistakes and weaknesses.
As to perspectives, flat Earth is also a perspective. Evidence is what makes the perspective worth considering. There's an AC muttering about "unfounded war mongering propaganda", but they won't provide even the slightest support for the allegation.
Last time you provided a serious perspective to your argument in a journal, we had the typical one-sided arguments [soylentnews.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @05:10PM
It hasn't escaped my notice that whenever you are losing an argument you suddenly declare it "boring". I wouldn't be surprised if others have noticed this too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @02:08AM (9 children)
Again you merely repeat unfounded war mongering propaganda
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @02:14AM (6 children)
Putin is the war monger.
People are being arrested on the streets of Russia in protest at being conscripted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @02:37AM
> People are being arrested on the streets of Russia in protest at being conscripted.
Yes, came here to say the same thing. BBC reports over a thousand detained/arrested already, mostly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It might take a little while to verify, but there appear to be documentary photos/videos from private cell phones confirming this.
Also various reports of airliners full of men leaving Russia. One report seemed clever, Google reports a spike in air ticket purchase requests from Russia to Turkey and other countries that accept Russians with no special visa.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @03:21PM (4 children)
Of course, no-one in America has ever been arrested for protesting conscription or dodging the draft.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @05:26PM (3 children)
Not sure what point you are trying to make. Protests in the USA against the Vietnam war built in intensity through the 1960s and were eventually successful in the early 1970s. That war became so unpopular that the government eventually withdrew (and not very gracefully, if there is such a thing in war).
Things happen faster today with social media making it much easier to gather people for demonstrations on short notice, etc.
Reports (BBC) suggest that a dozen or so of the recent Russian demonstrators that were detained were then conscripted, nearly "on the spot". I don't recall if the USA ever tried that trick?
(Score: 3, Informative) by quietus on Friday September 23 2022, @06:53AM (2 children)
The source of these reports might have been Kommersant* (a newspaper in Russia, comparable to the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times), which reported people being arrested and, upon release, immediately being served with their mobilisation papers. There's no doubt they'll get 'additional training' before being sent to the front line. If you were still in doubt, this clearly shows that mobilisation is not going to be "partial".
In other words, in Putin Russia they don't bother anymore with sending you to prison -- Stalin is spinning in his coffin for not having thought about that himself.
This was predicted, btw, by a Russian journalist, who suggested that could be one of the main reasons for declaring mobilisation -- put any protests down:
As a final note, the number of 300,000 conscripts. Izvestia reported yesterday that that number could rise to a million, with especially the people younger than 30 being targeted. As Russia has an obligatory military duty, effectively everyone healthy has served in the military, and can be called up. Also reported by Izvestia (or Ria Novosti) is that the current crop of conscripts will be receiving their mobilisation order once they've finished their conscription.
*: I would link to the original article, but yandex' translation doesn't work on the desktop currently (while the translation app still does its thing).
(Score: 2) by quietus on Friday September 23 2022, @09:08AM
Also people who were discharged from Russia's obligatory draft at age 18 due to health reasons, can be mobilised, according to the Military Kommissar of the Irkutsk region, Yevgheny Fuzhenko, reports Kommersant.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Friday September 23 2022, @02:58PM
The number has now been upped to 1.2 million [meduza.io] people, mainly from rural areas.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 22 2022, @03:28AM
Well, since you're not uttering a word in rebuttal, I see no reason to care about your post. If you wish to disagree, then provide disagreement.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 22 2022, @03:31AM
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 22 2022, @06:18PM
Hahah, a Koch (((Soros))) teamup is what Runaway just proposed........ with a straight face.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2022, @04:58PM
Perhaps you missed this in my previous comment:
So, when are you going to start showing some concern for the people of Ukraine? Do you still stand by your comment that you "don't give a small rat's ass that Ukrainians might live under Russian rule"?
I will just note that Putin could solve that problem in a matter of an hour or two with just a few phone calls.
No, I accept what I am seeing with my own eyes and what I am hearing with my own ears. In your previous comment you said that "we" in the west were suffering. You said that "we" should be anticipating casualties soon. I'm not yet seeing signs of any of that. The most significant change is that I was paying more for fuel at the gas pump, although gas prices have been coming down in recent weeks. I am also paying somewhat more for groceries. But NO casualties in my neighborhood, so far. And I don't really expect any casualties here in the heartland to come from this. By contrast, the ones who are really suffering are the Ukrainians. They really are suffering casualties. As in, mass graves types of casualties. Don't you think we should be concerned about that?
If you are referring to what I think you are referring to, the people of Ukraine got rid of a Russian-backed lackey. Why do you object to the Ukrainians deciding how they are governed (and by whom)?
I believe that is Russian-backed militias. Pay attention!
<rolls eyes>And you accuse me of delving into "stupid"? You have got a hell of lot of nerve!
Neither is it the paranoid fantasy you are portraying it to be, Vlad.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 26 2022, @05:33AM (1 child)
Errmmm... why have you stopped that late? Remember that poked face, bankrolled by Soros </s>? [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 26 2022, @11:46AM