"Capable" in this context doesn't just refer to training alone.
As laid out in the video, Russian recruits are getting older and older (as in: have sometimes even fought in Soviet era conflicts) and recruitment standards are dropped more and more (apparently having Schizophrenia is OK for a Russian soldier) to keep a steady influx of warm bodies. Next, Russian recruits appear to be broadly separated into two groups: The meat shields who are rushed to the front with minimal training to plug the biggest holes in the units (stark examples include only multiple days between reported recruitment and death). The second group is going through a more traditional training regiment but also shortened. This shortening also applies to officer candidates.
In short: Recruits are getting less physically capable due to the average age increasing drastically over time, and militarily less capable due to shortened or basically nonexistent training.
As for the Ukrainians: I expect the video with analysis on their casualties and recruitment to drop this week.
Apparently I misinterpreted this statement by Scholz. I initially thought when I heard about it, he was speaking on behalf of the whole SPD and not just himself.
He is not leading anything at the moment. His party won the most votes, but is far from having 50% + 1 seat. Merz depends on forming a coalition, and he basically alienated everyone.
Yeah, I won't put my money on it either. However, I can see various NGOs initiating reports to federal prosecutors in the aftermath, followed by calls to lift immunity. Of course, his coalition wouldn't allow that to happen, but doing so would cost them a huge chunk of credibility.
As per law, the federal police is required to enforce the warrant and Merz can do shit about it unless he successfully overturns the law. If the officers did not arrest him, they would even be liable to prosecution for obstruction of justice (Sadly, no English version of the German law article). In fact, even Merz himself could be charged himself should he try to order them to stand down, which AFAIK he doesn't have the authority to do anyway.
0 F is defined as the lowest temperature a guy was able to reach with some random mixture which is arbitrary.
But 0 C is commonly defined as the point at which water turns from solid to liquid and the other way round. Scientifically it's ever so slightly off but still it's defined via Kelvin.
If you play your next game of Risk, I recommend you have a look at the size of the countries modelled in the game and compare them to real world values.
In which sense would it be a bigger threat than before?
Unlike Kaliningrad Moldova is landlocked so if Russia manages to take it, the country is not suitable as a staging point for serious military operations, because material can only reach it via air Though given their current international standing I am not sure if reinforcement that way even is a possibility at the moment or in the near future as Romania would likely close their airspace to Russia and Ukraine ... is Ukraine.
It's still possible to argue that it's "not a big deal", though. Russia has had a constant military presence in the breakaway region of Transnistria for decades, so technically not much would change.
einkorn @ einkorn @feddit.org Posts 3Comments 450Joined 1 yr. ago
Most likely outcome? Probably. Most favourably, though? Probably not.