- Russia’s war effort is under growing pressure, with mounting military losses, relentless Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, and attacks damaging nearly 43% of Russia’s refining capacity
- The U.S. and EU are preparing tougher sanctions, targeting Russia’s oil exports, shadow fleet, and major buyers such as China and India, with tariffs and stricter enforcement aimed at squeezing Moscow’s energy revenues.
- Economic strains are intensifying, as Russia faces stagnating growth, shrinking sovereign reserves, a worsening fuel crisis, and the prospect of broader conscription after September elections.
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I genuinely think that Stalin’s purges back in the day led to a genetic shift towards compliance, as most that stuck their head out got shot.
Even now, if you look at a population graph of Russia, you see waves of lower population ages due to the soldiers that died in WWII not going on to start families. Why not a similar effect from the purges?
Edit: also, previous conscription waves targeted ethnic minorities and poor folks. As with everywhere else, nobody gives a fuck about poor people.
I wouldn’t say it started with Stalin. The czars did the same.