[WonderMomma]

Just a reminder that the following people are banned in this thread.

ljubodrag, Faust, Lookdavook, VileBreed

But spot on Whiskey. One of many examples showing Faust is full of horse shit.

EDIT: sorry just noticed those posts were original made in the media thread and moved in here.

[Roosta]

Originally Posted by scorpion9 ↗

All of them have been Ukrainians pulled from their everyday routine life, since the beginning.

Your overall comment is confusing as fuck. You are commenting on a post where Ukrainians are being bombed but want to mourn soldiers killed by the SBU? So, you want to mourn the Russian nazis?
Of course, we should mourn the fallen Ukrainians, it's obvious. Whether we should mourn the fallen rashist is another story. A lot of them did get sent to the meat grinder against their will, but most...if not all of them could have avoided the war by running away.

It's hypocritical of you to say it's the saddest loss of life in modern history, yet, you are happy and excited for every murder a rashist commits in Ukraine.

[WhiskeyOutpost]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

Just a reminder that the following people are banned in this thread.

ljubodrag, Faust, Lookdavook, VileBreed

But spot on Whiskey. One of many examples showing Faust is full of horse shit.

EDIT: sorry just noticed those posts were original made in the media thread and moved in here.

Oh gotcha, I figured since he came back from his general ban his threadbans were lifted. I'll PM him, then

[WonderMomma]

Haha, no, thread bans stay until new threads are created. At least that's how it works with Faust. Can't speak for anyone else.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

Russia's misinformation campaign of this war will be closely studied for many years. It's absolutely mind boggling how some people believe this trash... sure Ukraine has their own information warfare tactics, but it can't hold a candle to the massive lie machine the Kremlin has implemented. Russia knows they're in the wrong so they have to fudge reality as much as possible in hopes that they can justify their indefensible "reasons" for war.

What saddens me is the amount of westerners that have hopped on the Putin train - they're so wrapped up in their country's partisan politics that they are willing to hate an entire country because (mainly) liberal leaders are helping them. Some of these people are on DR and they are a showcase of stupidity and/or mental illness.

If the Russian approach to propaganda is effective, then what can be done about it? We conclude with a few thoughts about how NATO, the United States, or other opponents of the firehose of falsehood might better compete.

The first step is to recognize that this is a nontrivial challenge. Indeed, the very factors that make the firehose of falsehood effective also make it quite difficult to counter: For example, the high volume and multitude of channels for Russian propaganda offer proportionately limited yield if one channel is taken off the air (or offline) or if a single misleading voice is discredited.

The persuasive benefits that Russian propagandists gain from presenting the first version of events (which then must be dislodged by true accounts at much greater effort) could be removed if the true accounts were instead presented first.

But while credible and professional journalists are still checking their facts, the Russian firehose of falsehood is already flowing: It takes less time to make up facts than it does to verify them.

More: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html

The "journalists", channels and "experts" are very often the same.
Like jumbo already quoted some channels for verification that are known to not really check their sources and in fact Kremlin channels and online it's always the usual suspects in debate programs and interviewing, Ritter, McGregor etc etc. online that are the ones that had some encounter with the law or government in their own country and see this as some payback and possibly boost their own income.

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

The "journalists", channels and "experts" are very often the same.
Like jumbo already quoted some channels for verification that are known to not really check their sources and in facr Kremlin channels and online it's always the usual suspects in debate programs and interviewing, Ritter, McGregor etc etc. online that are the ones that had some encounter with the law or government in their own country and see this as some payback and possibly boost their own income.

Yeah I saw those "choice" sources he provided. All of them garbage. I wanted to lol at him soooo bad but there is only so much pointing and laughing I can do to a person. Definitely a "you've unlocked clown shoes" moment. I just can't wrap my head around how far gone the brainwashing has gone.

[kellyhound]

Oct 2 (Reuters) - Defence spending will account for almost one third of Russia's total budget expenditure in 2024, the government's draft plans show, as Moscow diverts ever more resources towards prosecuting its war in Ukraine.

Russia also plans to ramp up state borrowing to help fund what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine in the coming years and is counting on a recovery in oil and gas revenues to pre-invasion levels to do so.

Spending under the "national defence" section of Russia's budget will total 10.78 trillion roubles ($109 billion) next year, or 29.4% of total planned expenditure of 36.66 trillion roubles, according to the finance ministry's budget documents that outline the government's fiscal plans for 2024-2026.

In 2021, the year before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, defence spending totalled 3.57 trillion roubles, 14.4% of total spending. In 2022, the share of defence spending rose to 17.7%, data on Russia's electronic budget page showed earlier this year.

Spending figures for 2022 were subsequently removed from the online budget portal. The most up-to-date data for 2023 was published as part of the finance ministry's 2024-26 budget plans.

The finance ministry has allocated 6.41 trillion roubles to defence in 2023, or 21.2% of total budget expenditure of 30.27 trillion roubles, but Finance Minister Anton Siluanov last week said total spending would be above plan at around 33.5 trillion roubles.

That may mean that defence spending will also be significantly higher than first envisaged.

Moscow doubled its target for defence spending in 2023 to 9.7 trillion roubles, Reuters reported exclusively in August, citing a government document.

"The budget's structure shows that the main emphasis is on ensuring our victory - the army, defence capability, armed forces, fighters - everything needed for the front, everything needed for victory is in the budget," Siluanov said last week.

"This is a big strain for the budget, not a small one, but it is our absolute priority."

EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE FREEZE
As defence spending in 2024 triples from pre-invasion levels, the share of spending on "national security", which covers funding for law enforcement agencies, is also rising, set to reach 9.2% in 2024, the documents showed.

To compensate for those increases, Moscow will effectively freeze spending on education and healthcare. The share of spending on "national economy", encompassing roads, infrastructure and construction, will decrease to 10.6% in 2024, the lowest share since 2011.

"Social policy", traditionally the leading spending area on state salaries, pensions and benefits, will account for less spending than defence at 7.73 trillion roubles in 2024, and with its lowest share of spending since 2011 of 21.4%.

Spending on those areas will nominally rise, but below inflation, meaning real-term cuts.

Chief Economist, Russia and CIS, at Renaissance Capital Sofya Donets said that taking defence and national security spending to almost 40% of all Russia's expenditure pending may have a strong short-term impact, but will contribute little to growth in the long-term due to their minimal impact on tax revenues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week said increasing defence spending was "absolutely necessary" for the budget because Russia is living "in a state of hybrid war".

Russia argues that the West is fighting a hybrid war against it to sow discord and ultimately carve up its vast natural resources, allegations that Western leaders deny, saying Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine was unprovoked.

Ukraine vows to eject every last Russian soldier from its territory, and casts the invasion as an imperial-style land grab by Russia.


Meanwhile: https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?f...to=RUB&view=1W

[kellyhound]

Putin's spokesman, Peskov, urged Russians not to pay attention to the fall of the ruble stating that interest in the dollar exchange rate is a vestige of the past, and one must get used to "living in the ruble zone."

[iARTEMx]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Putin's spokesman, Peskov, urged Russians not to pay attention to the fall of the ruble stating that interest in the dollar exchange rate is a vestige of the past, and one must get used to "living in the ruble zone."

Everyrhing is going as planned

[kellyhound]

During a working trip to the Kharkiv region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the locations of the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade, 68th Jaeger Brigade, and 25th Airborne Brigade, which are carrying out combat missions in the Kupiansk-Lyman area.

The President received information from the units about their priorities, and presented awards to service members and combat medics who distinguished themselves while defending Ukraine.

The Head of State also visited the tank unit of the 21st Mechanized Brigade, where he inspected equipment provided to the Ukrainian army by its Western partners, including Leopard 2 tanks and CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, which were used in battles in the Kupiansk area.

You don't see Putin doing this anyway near the frontline.

#zelenskyy