Read a guy's argument that Putin is sending Russia's minorities to fight and Zelensky is sending Ukraine's ultranationalists, thus both sides are getting rid of their most troublesome elements of the population.
A couple years ago it was an expedient way to empty out the prisons for a win/win situation. Lower cost to house/feed fewer convicts, survivors emotionally invested in the system, those who chose not to volunteer self-selected for hard time.
It's just a pity we let State precipitate this by threatening Russia with the modern equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Maybe we could get Russia to agree to a real ceasefire by offering Vicky Nuland to Putin on a platter.
I've heard worse ideas. Perhaps she could lead a "fact finding trip" to the Ukrainian front lines, to include all the members of Congress and State staffies who pumped up the war.
It's also a political calculation on Putin's part. He is NOT going to send people who populate his base into combat; he's going to send those who aren't (in any real sense) necessary for him to survive.
When I worked in Russia oh-so-many years ago (the 1990s), the folks I spoke with in Udmurtia uniformly said this has always been the dynamic: if given a choice Moscow will always send other ethnicities before sending ethnic Russians. Putin still has that choice.
I would take any study by the CSIS with a grain of salt. Maybe a ton of salt.
Quite frankly I don’t believe their assessment of Russian casualties.
If you look at their leadership, staff and experts you will see that it is the same bunch of people who have been responsible for all the things that have gone wrong for America. They may well call themselves the Center of the Swamp.
The Executive Chairman is Thomas Pritzker and that should be enough to discredit any think tank.
Their report had gotten a lot of publicity and is widely quoted which leads me to believe the Deep State is still doing its best to undermine President Trump. They just can’t let go of the grifter in Ukraine.
Pritzker seems to be gone from the Board, probably as part of the fallout from his connection to Epstein. I did a deep dive into the bios of Board, staff, and "experts". It looks like the WEF except more left wing. Also notably the CEO and a passel of other people are Ukrainian with a few Balts and anti-Putin Russians thrown in for "diversity". So yeah, not a credible source. Since the Russians, like the Ukrainians, are so secretive about losses, I suspect just a lot of made up numbers.
Here is some donor information. Source wasn't cited but the normal place would be the IRS 990 form.
Foundations and Nonprofits —
Major contributors (e.g., $250,000+) include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, ClimateWorks Foundation, Dalio Foundation, Ford Foundation, Khosravi Family Foundation, The Korea Foundation, and The Margot and Thomas Pritzker Family Foundation.
Corporations —
Significant donors (e.g., $250,000+) include http://Amazon.com , Inc., Aramco, Bank of America Corporation, Chevron Corporation, Exxon Mobil Corporation, FedEx, General Atomics, General Dynamics Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Pratt Industries, Inc., Qualcomm, and RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Many are defense contractors or energy companies.
U.S. and Allied/Partner Governments —
Large contributors (e.g., $250,000+) include the Government of the United States, Government of Japan, Government of the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan. Others (e.g., $100,000–$249,999) include Australia, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations; the United Kingdom is in the $50,000–$99,999 range.
Individuals — High-level donors (e.g., $250,000+) include figures like Brendan P. Bechtel, Lester Crown, Kenneth Griffin, John B. Hess, and others from business and philanthropy backgrounds.
Some of the donations are ideological (e.g., Gates). Some of them are for protection as administrations come and go.
That brings me to another point.
The CSIS is a farm team for the Democrats that allows them to fill up the plum book on day one.
Their future ASDs and deputies don’t have to move to DC as they are already there and have been receiving a salary while acting as a shadow government.
Agreed Pete. The top donor of CSIS is...The US gov't. Mediazona, which works with the BBC to estimate dead and wounded via social media and obits, puts the number of Russian dead at 177K to 219K. and who says Ukraine is not "existential" to Russia? The country has said for decades that NATO expansion into Ukraine was a red line, no go. Would the US put up with a hostile Russian or Chinese-backed state on its border in Mexico or Canada? To characterize Russia's slow, troop-sparing pace of war as a sign of failure is deliberately obtuse on CSIS's part. That's not the Russian way of war. It's grinding the Ukr army into dust, emptying Western arsenals and sparing civilian casualties.
One more thing, ratio of killed to wounded might be much more skewed towards the dead than most analysts think. Persistent drones coverage is making the golden hour increasingly thing of the past, and, moreover, Russian commanders are incentivized to not collect bodies and classify them as missing, therefore family wont be able to collect bonus for death in service. A cynical take is state killing off potential pensioners before they Reach the age of retirement... Also making sure there are as few disgruntled veterans left to challenge the establishment when the war is over...
Well one data point is that many Russian correspondents have written about this themselves...
If you want the evidence in English go to Chris_0 Wiki's twitter feed...you'll find loads of translations, with the direct links to the Russian correspondents Telegram Channels...
I asked Grok to display the statistics on US combat deaths by percentage by racial group. The sources used were mostly of War Department and similar levels. This is what was returned:
Post-9/11: (OIF/OEF) (dead/percentage of total)
Native America: 73, 1.08
Asian: 139, 2.05
Black: 634, 9.37
Hawaiian/PacIs: 24, 0.35
White: 5,643, 83.38
Multiple/Unk: 255, 3.77
Total: 6,768, 100%
Percentages for Vietnam were slightly higher for blacks (~12%) and whites (~86%). Interesting that Hispanics don't show in the breakdown, but I suspect they mostly get lumped in with whites.
Rog. The city info is probably out there somewhere in recruiting data. I would be surprised if there's an easy way to get income level information, though. I don't recall any effort to collect parent's data from recruits or even later, and most youngsters that sign up are almost certainly--personally--low income. That data could be collected by surveying service members, but it would almost certainly be incomplete. My gut says most fall at or below the median, but that's just based on what I knew about the people I worked with.
Putin's Russia can best be understood as consisting of the Duchy of Greater Muscovy (basically Moscow and St. Petersburg) and Russia's colonial possessions (everything else).
This has been true to some extent for all of Russia's history, but I think Putin's centralized oligarchy maximizes it. It's not just an "ethnic Russian" thing, btw. The rulers subjects of Muscovy care just as little about the lives of ethnic Russians in Omsk as the Kazakhs and Tatars who live there.
War casualties will only be a big political issue for Putin if Muscovy is affected. (I think general economic collapse could be a problem, but Muscovy is happy to fight to the last colonial subject.)
Short story, being in the Russian army sucks and is dangerous all by itself. To the point that those who can bribe their way out of it do. Which, of course skews the demographics. To be fair, that applies to draftees, not kontracniki who theoretically can't be sent to Ukraine. Theoretically.
I’m quoting you and with permission, I am objecting…I’ll explain…
“This opening graphic from the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) report by Alexander Kolyandr from last week, Death Without Glory: Russia’s Message to the Frontline Soldier, tells a story.”
Absolutely not true!
I personally have witnessed true, videos by my Professor Russell Lee Otway, showing total respect for every single soldier fighting on the five (5) separate battle fronts.
President Vladimir Putin speaks directly to every member of his military units. President Putin orders the lights lit, to hold Russian soldiers in honor, alive or deceased! Glory is the tribute given daily to soldiers, citizens and even me, an American Naval Officer, retired, granddaughter of a Russian soldier. Respectfully yours, Nurse Jane
I believe Ukraine is losing badly and the globalists/ deep state/ swamp is not ready to call it quits and is feeding us lines about how we are winning. It’s Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan all over again. Same old light at the end of the tunnel. Their new world order is at stake.
Russia also conveniently forgets the expendable prisoner Shtrafbat Brigades and the executions of soldiers who were executed because they got separated from their units during combat.
Sal, you know how you feel about people misusing 'flank' and 'front'?
Well, I feel the same way when someone like Kolyandr says or writes something like this: "Muscovites are relatively the least likely to suffer death...." I know what he's saying, but I'll bet Muscovites suffer death at the same rate as everyone else: 100%.
Thanks, mom. Point out where I'm in error...either in my comparison to Sal or my assertion re: eventual demise. Make a point with argument; it's not your job to police my speech.
She's right...it's not "ha-ha" funny, but it is "truth" funny. Besides, it's good training for later in light when folks become inclined to take themselves too seriously.
Read a guy's argument that Putin is sending Russia's minorities to fight and Zelensky is sending Ukraine's ultranationalists, thus both sides are getting rid of their most troublesome elements of the population.
A couple years ago it was an expedient way to empty out the prisons for a win/win situation. Lower cost to house/feed fewer convicts, survivors emotionally invested in the system, those who chose not to volunteer self-selected for hard time.
It's just a pity we let State precipitate this by threatening Russia with the modern equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Maybe we could get Russia to agree to a real ceasefire by offering Vicky Nuland to Putin on a platter.
I've heard worse ideas. Perhaps she could lead a "fact finding trip" to the Ukrainian front lines, to include all the members of Congress and State staffies who pumped up the war.
Shackle her to Lindthey "Ladybug" Grahammmmm during that visit.
He only wants her head. Platter or pike whatever is easiest.
Outstanding Research and Graphics
Lord, have mercy.....
Horror.....
......by the numbers. 😣 🩸 📈 🤕 🩻 🗺️⏰ ❄️ ⚰️
"We are not the same" 🇺🇲 ✅
It's also a political calculation on Putin's part. He is NOT going to send people who populate his base into combat; he's going to send those who aren't (in any real sense) necessary for him to survive.
When I worked in Russia oh-so-many years ago (the 1990s), the folks I spoke with in Udmurtia uniformly said this has always been the dynamic: if given a choice Moscow will always send other ethnicities before sending ethnic Russians. Putin still has that choice.
I would take any study by the CSIS with a grain of salt. Maybe a ton of salt.
Quite frankly I don’t believe their assessment of Russian casualties.
If you look at their leadership, staff and experts you will see that it is the same bunch of people who have been responsible for all the things that have gone wrong for America. They may well call themselves the Center of the Swamp.
The Executive Chairman is Thomas Pritzker and that should be enough to discredit any think tank.
Their report had gotten a lot of publicity and is widely quoted which leads me to believe the Deep State is still doing its best to undermine President Trump. They just can’t let go of the grifter in Ukraine.
Pritzker seems to be gone from the Board, probably as part of the fallout from his connection to Epstein. I did a deep dive into the bios of Board, staff, and "experts". It looks like the WEF except more left wing. Also notably the CEO and a passel of other people are Ukrainian with a few Balts and anti-Putin Russians thrown in for "diversity". So yeah, not a credible source. Since the Russians, like the Ukrainians, are so secretive about losses, I suspect just a lot of made up numbers.
Here is some donor information. Source wasn't cited but the normal place would be the IRS 990 form.
Foundations and Nonprofits —
Major contributors (e.g., $250,000+) include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, ClimateWorks Foundation, Dalio Foundation, Ford Foundation, Khosravi Family Foundation, The Korea Foundation, and The Margot and Thomas Pritzker Family Foundation.
Corporations —
Significant donors (e.g., $250,000+) include http://Amazon.com , Inc., Aramco, Bank of America Corporation, Chevron Corporation, Exxon Mobil Corporation, FedEx, General Atomics, General Dynamics Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Pratt Industries, Inc., Qualcomm, and RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Many are defense contractors or energy companies.
U.S. and Allied/Partner Governments —
Large contributors (e.g., $250,000+) include the Government of the United States, Government of Japan, Government of the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan. Others (e.g., $100,000–$249,999) include Australia, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations; the United Kingdom is in the $50,000–$99,999 range.
Individuals — High-level donors (e.g., $250,000+) include figures like Brendan P. Bechtel, Lester Crown, Kenneth Griffin, John B. Hess, and others from business and philanthropy backgrounds.
Some of the donations are ideological (e.g., Gates). Some of them are for protection as administrations come and go.
That brings me to another point.
The CSIS is a farm team for the Democrats that allows them to fill up the plum book on day one.
Their future ASDs and deputies don’t have to move to DC as they are already there and have been receiving a salary while acting as a shadow government.
Agreed Pete. The top donor of CSIS is...The US gov't. Mediazona, which works with the BBC to estimate dead and wounded via social media and obits, puts the number of Russian dead at 177K to 219K. and who says Ukraine is not "existential" to Russia? The country has said for decades that NATO expansion into Ukraine was a red line, no go. Would the US put up with a hostile Russian or Chinese-backed state on its border in Mexico or Canada? To characterize Russia's slow, troop-sparing pace of war as a sign of failure is deliberately obtuse on CSIS's part. That's not the Russian way of war. It's grinding the Ukr army into dust, emptying Western arsenals and sparing civilian casualties.
We wouldn’t even put up with a hostile regime in the same hemisphere let alone on our border. Just ask former President Maduro.
Cuba sleeps nervously...
It's a very simple model: decide what you want the numbers to be, then construct a fantasy to make it so.
interesante. calculo.
One more thing, ratio of killed to wounded might be much more skewed towards the dead than most analysts think. Persistent drones coverage is making the golden hour increasingly thing of the past, and, moreover, Russian commanders are incentivized to not collect bodies and classify them as missing, therefore family wont be able to collect bonus for death in service. A cynical take is state killing off potential pensioners before they Reach the age of retirement... Also making sure there are as few disgruntled veterans left to challenge the establishment when the war is over...
And how do you know this?
Well one data point is that many Russian correspondents have written about this themselves...
If you want the evidence in English go to Chris_0 Wiki's twitter feed...you'll find loads of translations, with the direct links to the Russian correspondents Telegram Channels...
Kipling said it best, Tommy
In our all volunteer force, what is the percentage of kids coming from the large metropolitan areas?
Of those, how many from income groups above the median?
Can't tell you specifics off the top of my head, but in general, flyover states and rural areas are significantly over represented.
I suspect that imbalance is less in the officer corps.
Some google fu would likely find the specifics fairly quickly.
No dice on finding those metrics...
I asked Grok to display the statistics on US combat deaths by percentage by racial group. The sources used were mostly of War Department and similar levels. This is what was returned:
Post-9/11: (OIF/OEF) (dead/percentage of total)
Native America: 73, 1.08
Asian: 139, 2.05
Black: 634, 9.37
Hawaiian/PacIs: 24, 0.35
White: 5,643, 83.38
Multiple/Unk: 255, 3.77
Total: 6,768, 100%
Percentages for Vietnam were slightly higher for blacks (~12%) and whites (~86%). Interesting that Hispanics don't show in the breakdown, but I suspect they mostly get lumped in with whites.
I wasn't talking about historical combat deaths, current enlistment.
In the stats above, how many whites came from the large cities?
Of those, how many came from an income level above the median in those cities?
Rog. The city info is probably out there somewhere in recruiting data. I would be surprised if there's an easy way to get income level information, though. I don't recall any effort to collect parent's data from recruits or even later, and most youngsters that sign up are almost certainly--personally--low income. That data could be collected by surveying service members, but it would almost certainly be incomplete. My gut says most fall at or below the median, but that's just based on what I knew about the people I worked with.
Here's what I could find:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=What+states+provide+the+most+US+military+recruits+by+population%3F&t=hr&atb=v462-1&ia=web&assist=true
I was a little surprised that per capita AL, MS, LA, AR, and SC are the top 5. I would have expected western states to be in the running.
Not surprisingly CA, TX and FL top the list on a gross numbers basis.
Putin's Russia can best be understood as consisting of the Duchy of Greater Muscovy (basically Moscow and St. Petersburg) and Russia's colonial possessions (everything else).
This has been true to some extent for all of Russia's history, but I think Putin's centralized oligarchy maximizes it. It's not just an "ethnic Russian" thing, btw. The rulers subjects of Muscovy care just as little about the lives of ethnic Russians in Omsk as the Kazakhs and Tatars who live there.
War casualties will only be a big political issue for Putin if Muscovy is affected. (I think general economic collapse could be a problem, but Muscovy is happy to fight to the last colonial subject.)
Apropos of today's subject:
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/2026021842318.aspx#gsc.tab=0
Short story, being in the Russian army sucks and is dangerous all by itself. To the point that those who can bribe their way out of it do. Which, of course skews the demographics. To be fair, that applies to draftees, not kontracniki who theoretically can't be sent to Ukraine. Theoretically.
Sounds like America 1960s. Student deferment. National Guard. Etc.
"bone spurs"
“asthma"
The rich and connected don't serve.
Never will...
I think there's a few. They're mostly the exception.
Being in the Russian army has always sucked, if you read the history. It's just a different century. Well, different everywhere but Russia, I guess.
CDR good morning!
I’m quoting you and with permission, I am objecting…I’ll explain…
“This opening graphic from the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) report by Alexander Kolyandr from last week, Death Without Glory: Russia’s Message to the Frontline Soldier, tells a story.”
Absolutely not true!
I personally have witnessed true, videos by my Professor Russell Lee Otway, showing total respect for every single soldier fighting on the five (5) separate battle fronts.
President Vladimir Putin speaks directly to every member of his military units. President Putin orders the lights lit, to hold Russian soldiers in honor, alive or deceased! Glory is the tribute given daily to soldiers, citizens and even me, an American Naval Officer, retired, granddaughter of a Russian soldier. Respectfully yours, Nurse Jane
See my earlier post.
I believe Ukraine is losing badly and the globalists/ deep state/ swamp is not ready to call it quits and is feeding us lines about how we are winning. It’s Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan all over again. Same old light at the end of the tunnel. Their new world order is at stake.
Russia also conveniently forgets the expendable prisoner Shtrafbat Brigades and the executions of soldiers who were executed because they got separated from their units during combat.
Classic ballad evoking that saga here...
https://youtu.be/tkFtFiKQiZ8?si=mPb5nplfceY-Mq7p
I love data . . . it usually shoots holes in the anecdotal narrative.
Assuming you have data. Everyday the HAMAS ministry of information gave us data.
One must always CONSIDER THE SOURCE. Grades are assigned.
Sal, you know how you feel about people misusing 'flank' and 'front'?
Well, I feel the same way when someone like Kolyandr says or writes something like this: "Muscovites are relatively the least likely to suffer death...." I know what he's saying, but I'll bet Muscovites suffer death at the same rate as everyone else: 100%.
Don't be obtuse.
Thanks, mom. Point out where I'm in error...either in my comparison to Sal or my assertion re: eventual demise. Make a point with argument; it's not your job to police my speech.
LIfe's rough, nobody gets out alive. One of my favorite things to say to my kiddos. My wife then tells me I'm not funny.
She's right...it's not "ha-ha" funny, but it is "truth" funny. Besides, it's good training for later in light when folks become inclined to take themselves too seriously.