Ernie wrote: ↑Wed May 28, 2025 7:02 am
We've suspected this before, but Russia might not want its economy to stagnate if it stops fighting.
And... many Russian leaders have a history of using Russian citizens as cannon fodder as well as slaves. Many don't really care about the individuals and families involved.
I suspect another factor as well, soldiers returning from a failed war are a disruptive social forces. Putin riding a tiger, getting off would be dangerous.
I've read the sign up bonuses are quite high compared to general wages, average Russians may not be ideologically connected to the war but rather economically dependent on it.
Ernie wrote: ↑Wed May 28, 2025 7:02 am
We've suspected this before, but Russia might not want its economy to stagnate if it stops fighting.
And... many Russian leaders have a history of using Russian citizens as cannon fodder as well as slaves. Many don't really care about the individuals and families involved.
I suspect another factor as well, soldiers returning from a failed war are a disruptive social forces. Putin riding a tiger, getting off would be dangerous.
I've read the sign up bonuses are quite high compared to general wages, average Russians may not be ideologically connected to the war but rather economically dependent on it.
Our own country has some negative history with how we have treated returning veterans… a number of times.
Rome did considerable efforts to keep their troops away for some of these reasons
Ernie wrote: ↑Wed May 28, 2025 7:02 am
We've suspected this before, but Russia might not want its economy to stagnate if it stops fighting.
And... many Russian leaders have a history of using Russian citizens as cannon fodder as well as slaves. Many don't really care about the individuals and families involved.
I suspect another factor as well, soldiers returning from a failed war are a disruptive social forces. Putin riding a tiger, getting off would be dangerous.
I've read the sign up bonuses are quite high compared to general wages, average Russians may not be ideologically connected to the war but rather economically dependent on it.
Our own country has some negative history with how we have treated returning veterans… a number of times.
Rome did considerable efforts to keep their troops away for some of these reasons
They claim it won't affect benefits or services. But no one with an ounce of integrity actually believes that.
Not sure what this has to do with Russia invading Ukraine, but here's what's actually happening:
The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level officials at the agency Tuesday that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000.
As far as I know, we don't have 20% more veterans now than we did 6 years ago, and it looks like most of the cuts are administrative positions, not people who actually provide healthcare.
They claim it won't affect benefits or services. But no one with an ounce of integrity actually believes that.
Not sure what this has to do with Russia invading Ukraine, but here's what's actually happening:
The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level officials at the agency Tuesday that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000.
As far as I know, we don't have 20% more veterans now than we did 6 years ago, and it looks like most of the cuts are administrative positions, not people who actually provide healthcare.
Nowhere in the article does it claim that most of the cuts are administrative positions. Or that cutting administrators who run things would not affect VA services.
In fact, DOGE has already fired thousands of recently hired VA employees who were still in their 3-year probationary status. Many of them newly hired VA nurses and other medical staff.
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A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
Ken wrote: ↑Wed May 28, 2025 4:38 pm
Nowhere in the article does it claim that most of the cuts are administrative positions. Or that cutting administrators who run things would not affect VA services.
In fact, DOGE has already fired thousands of recently hired VA employees who were still in their 3-year probationary status. Many of them newly hired VA nurses and other medical staff.
There are other sources than that article.
What does this have to do with the Russia and Ukraine conflict of 2022?
Ken wrote: ↑Wed May 28, 2025 4:38 pm
Nowhere in the article does it claim that most of the cuts are administrative positions. Or that cutting administrators who run things would not affect VA services.
In fact, DOGE has already fired thousands of recently hired VA employees who were still in their 3-year probationary status. Many of them newly hired VA nurses and other medical staff.
There are other sources than that article.
What does this have to do with the Russia and Ukraine conflict of 2022?
Both Russia and the US treat their veterans poorly. Although Russia is obviously far worse.
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A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
I don't want to create a new thread just for this news article, so putting it here - Stalin back in favor. The USSR "may not have been legally terminated, so it may still exist".
This intersects with the history of my own people, those who did not, for one reason or another, choose to "get out while the gettin' was good". But for the future, that lesson from history also stands as a warning - - to be spiritually prepared.
Neto wrote: ↑Thu May 29, 2025 6:56 am
I don't want to create a new thread just for this news article, so putting it here - Stalin back in favor. The USSR "may not have been legally terminated, so it may still exist".
This intersects with the history of my own people, those who did not, for one reason or another, choose to "get out while the gettin' was good". But for the future, that lesson from history also stands as a warning - - to be spiritually prepared.
I saw an article that a statue of Stalin has returned to a Moscow subway station. I think that nostalgia for the USSR is an element for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the desire to reestablish Russia as a major power. Putin is definitely feeding “Make Russia Great Again” kind of energy.
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"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless."
