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Cake day: August 15th, 2023

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  • remotelove@lemmy.catoComics@lemmy.mlUSA’s priorities
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    11 hours ago

    It is partially the land sure, but don’t forget where the main natural gas reserves are in Ukraine. It’s not a coincidence that Russia has been specifically targeting Donbass for years now.

    The entire function of Crimea is to help form a land bridge to grab those resources.


  • remotelove@lemmy.catoComics@lemmy.mlUSA’s priorities
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    11 hours ago

    And also, the US and Europe are having to fund the infrastructure repairs in Ukraine as well. You seem to not notice that Russia is specifically targeting civilian infrastructure before winter.

    Russia has clearly stated, multiple times, that Ukraine is basically a gateway into Poland. From that perspective, it makes perfect sense to suppress Putin’s efforts in Ukraine.

    Russia shouldn’t be invading countries period, actually.


  • remotelove@lemmy.catoComics@lemmy.mlUSA’s priorities
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    19 hours ago

    Estimated Russian army spending is between $85-$105 billion USD. (This has likely skyrocketed since that that estimate was taken as Russia has transitioned to a wartime economy.)

    Chinese? ~$212-$230 billion USD.

    Spending on military is better put in context of GDP, and actual spending is going to be very different than published or even estimated numbers. (It’s likely much more, is what I am implying.)

    I actually agree that this money is better spent on social welfare. It’s a stupid situation across the board and many countries are guilty of this disparity.

    For better or for worse, much of that money goes back into the overall economy of the country supplying the aid. Not all, but most. (This can get complicated due to the lifespan of specific types of munitions.)

    What I am saying is that there is a ton of blame to pass around and poking at one country or another is an agenda, not a solution.






  • Any in many ways, that is the way engineers should speak to other engineers when analyzing a problem.

    If two or more people can actually share a common goal of finding the best solution, everyone involved should be making sure that no time is wasted chasing poor solutions. This not only takes the ability to be direct to someone else, but it also requires that you can parse what others are telling you.

    If someone makes something personal or takes something personal, they need a break. Go take a short walk or something. (Linus is a different sort of creature though. I get it.)

    TBH, this is part of the reason I chose my doctor (GP). She is extremely direct when problem solving and has no problems theory-crafting out loud. Sure, we are social to a degree, but we share many of the same professional mannerisms. (We had a short discussion on that topic the other day, actually. I just made her job easier because I give zero fucks about being judged for any of my personal health issues.)










  • There are plenty of estimates out there, but it’s extremely scattered. The problem is that there are dozens of conditionals attached. For example, if a vehicle was just damaged was it actually recovered? If it was recovered, was it actually repairable? If it was repairable, did it make it back into service? If it made it back into service, how does it count against all previous estimates?

    I exaggerated a little, but the point remains. Especially with Russian vehicles, actual numbers are so obscure, probably even their own commands couldn’t give you an answer.

    So. Probably the most reliable way to make educated guesses is to make estimates on visible reserves factoring in visually confirmed total losses. Covert Cabal and his buddies on YouTube seem to do a fairly good job of tracking Russian reserves using the latest satellite pictures.

    After all of that, I don’t have a good answer for you. There is a somewhat reliable way to get “before and after” data but anything that happens in between is anyone’s guess.