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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: 2) by quietus on Wednesday September 21 2022, @05:02PM (2 children)
One way to further up the nuclear threat is to do an above ground nuclear explosion somewhere on a testing ground, when wind and atmospheric conditions are favourable.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Wednesday September 21 2022, @06:35PM (1 child)
That would certainly concentrate a few minds - but it comes with its own problems.
There are 2 major testing grounds - the far north of the country and the Kazakh tundra. Unfortunately, the effects would be felt not only by the West but by other nations who are currently 'neutral' in this conflict. A detonation in the far north might go towards Canada and the USA but at this time of the year it much more likely to travel southwards, crossing lots of friendly territory as it does so.
Kazakhstan is technically an independent country and might not be amenable to having such a test on its territory, nor would its neighbours in the Caucasus feel too pleased either. The whole point of these two places is that they are not only remote but that they are far enough away from prying foreign eyes. Yes. the fallout would certainly reach the West eventually but only after crossing quite a few other countries beforehand. And what, in the end, would it prove? We know that Russia has the weapons.
A bigger and more likely risk it to intentionally attack one of the smaller nuclear power stations inside Ukraine in something of a scorched earth policy and at the same time removing some of Ukraine's power generation capabilities. A favourable wind direction would also exists here. Khmelnitsky or Rivne NPP would be the most likely targets. I would expect the Russians NOT to disable Zaporozhye as it provides a significant amount of power for the breakaway regions. If they were losing however, then they might not care so much about that. They don't have to prove that they have nuclear weapons, only that they are not frightened by the threat of radiation and fallout, whereas the West is much more averse to that risk.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday September 22 2022, @03:12PM
Or he could combine it with the story from a couple of days ago and solve two problems - use a nuke to take out some of Starlink's satellites.
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.