The Brink of War?

[Dodger]

Do I at least get a helmet?

[Moses]

Reports now coming out that Russia is rounding up people from homeless shelters as conscripts.

Matty, "reports" also coming out what Russia supplies soldiers with viagra for to f*ck enemy soldiers, Even New York Times published that bullshit. Dragonman for sure will take it seriously as a "fact".

[Dragonman]

Yes, I'm aware of what conscription is. I just never knew the Russian leadership was so depraved and desparate they would go to this extent.... Geez, what insanity... It's just straight up cannon fodder at this point. .

My intention in defining conscription was not to insult anyone's intelligence but to establish that it is a lawful procedure when compared with the reports of what is actually happening as the mobilization falls short of the 300,000-man target, i.e., "Russia says over 200,000 drafted into army since Putin's decree" (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ee-2022-10-04/). The Washington Post actually refers to what the military forces are using as "press gangs" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ilization-men/).

This conscription takes places after the failure of the spring recruitment period: "The 2022 spring conscription, which ran from April 1 to July 15, was supposed to recruit 134,500 soldiers. However, on July 11, Sergei Shoygu, the defense minister, said that by this date only 89,000 had been sent to the military units. His statement revealed that the spring conscription was a de facto failure." (https://cepa.org/article/russias-mil...h-will-worsen/).

I suspect this this mobilization is also a de facto failure.

[cdnmatt]

Yeah, no worries, I no longer take offense to anything. I practice stoicism daily, plus am 40 now and have been through too much bullshit to care anymore.

It still doesn't make sense though. This must have been a decision from the politicians, because there's no way a military general signed off on this plan. Again, I have no military experience, but even I know rounding up the homeless and sending them to the front lines probably isn't going to achieve the greatest results on the battle field.

Here's a prime example as to how Russia and the West are different. I would love to see the US military start going around to homeless shelters in Houston, Texas and telling people they're now drafted and being sent to Ukraine to help in the war effort. Let's see how that goes! I lived in Texas for a year before, so I'm pretty sure I already know the end of that story. Very quickly, whoever the US President is at the time gets informed he's now unemployed.

[Dragonman]

Matty, "reports" also coming out what Russia supplies soldiers with viagra for to f*ck enemy soldiers, Even New York Times published that bullshit. Dragonman for sure will take it seriously as a "fact".

As I posted earlier, I don't believe anything you write unless and until there is an authoritative source cited for what you report. This posting is an example of why I believe nothing you post because I can find no link in the Internet to such an article by the New York Times - although there are several other, older, reports on the topic of the use of rape by Russian forces in the newspaper, e.g., a report from MARCH 29, 2022, updated APRIL 3, viz, "Reports of sexual violence involving Russian soldiers are multiplying, Ukrainian officials say" (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/w...e-ukraine.html). I counted around 10 such reports on the Internet dating back to Bucha - a name I am sure you remember.

The use of sexual violence in Ukraine by Russian forces was first mentioned at the UN on June 6, 2022: "Reports of sexual violence in Ukraine rising fast, Security Council hears" (https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1119832) by Pramila Patten.

The current reports on Viagra being issued to Russian soldiers seem to originate from a report On October 13 by Pramila Patten, Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in which she "confirmed that rape is part of Russia’s “military strategy” and a “deliberate tactic to dehumanize the victims.” She emphasized that “when women are held for days and raped, when you start to rape little boys and men, when you see a series of genital mutilations, when you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it's clearly a military strategy.”
According to Patten, the United Nations managed to verify more than a hundred cases of rape or sexual assault in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. The data obtained to date suggests that the age of the victims of sexual violence ranges from four to 82 years old. The victims are mostly women and girls, but also men and boys. Patten added that “it's very difficult to have reliable statistics during an active conflict, and the numbers will never reflect reality, because sexual violence is a silent crime.” As such, as she noted, “reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg” (see https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelina...h=1803722836a0).

It was subsequently reported by other news sources, including https://www.hindustantimes.com/world...917929633.html, https://nypost.com/2022/10/15/russia...s-un-official/, https://www.businessinsider.com/russ...ficial-2022-10, https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/w...3248b456c.html, and https://newsroom.gy/2022/10/15/russi...s-un-official/.

CSM Times (https://csmtimes.com/russia-responds...ers-in-ukraine) reports that "The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to recent remarks from Pramila Patten, UN Secretary General Special Representative, who claimed that Russian military men supposedly used Viagra when committing sex crimes in Ukraine. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Patten's remarks "go beyond reason and can not be taken seriously." "Her words go beyond reason. In addition, the official is obviously acting outside her mandate and powers. At the same time, she does not hide the fact that in her judgments she relies on fragmentary data from an "independent international commission of inquiry into Ukraine" that Russia does not recognize. As she acknowledged herself, it was difficult to verify that information. In other words, we have yet another classic "highly likely case", only this time at the level of perverted fantasy," Maria Zakharova said."

Zakharova, however, did not deny that rapes had occurred - only that the soldiers had to resort to using Viagra.

The story of Russian rape in Ukraine is not new - the only new part is the idea that young Russian recruits need Viagra to perform. Given the recent performance of Russian forces in advancing backwards, I would not be surprised if there was some substance to the story, however.

[Moses]

New black hole on the Earth:

[Dodger]

The story of Russian rape in Ukraine is not new - the only new part is the idea that young Russian recruits need Viagra to perform.

No doubt the work of those newly recruited Homeless Hobo's.

[Dragonman]

New black hole on the Earth:

Is that a racist comment about the two presenters?

[Moses]

Is that a racist comment about the two presenters?

Looks like you not saw video? There presenters prepare public to listen sounds of black hole and then Ukrainian president Zelenskiy starts to talk.

[latintopxxx]

...very quick to jump to conclusions arent we...