Russia and Ukraine

[The Grand Nudger]

They don't need reasons, they're already war criminals. Laying that aside, it's of a piece with pretty much any of russias threats. If anyone does anything that scares them, they swear they'll kill more people harder. DU equipped western mbts can get in on the turret tossing olympics outside of return fire range for russian armor, not that it would matter much if russian armor were in range, since du armored western mbts can take a hit from anything the soviets tanks have and continue to operate. In the south, in a potential run on crimea, the sight lines are so open that the t series operators will likely never see a challenger or abrams or leo. That's the reason they make the threat, because they already know how the t series performs against those tanks from recent conflicts, not out of concern. You probably don't agree with them at all, more that you agree with your own framing.

On that count, the radioactivity of du is overplayed. DU is the leftover waste material from enrichment - quick and dirty, the radiactivity has been shifted over to the enriched uranium, and the depleted uranium is less radioactive that uranium in it's natural form - hence..depleted. So much so that our skin is an effective barrier. The problem is longevity and amount - so, provided they have a plan for battlefield cleanup and removal, it's likely that most people in the coming years will die from unexploded ordinance and land mines that russia has not mapped out or will not share their maps of, than from anything involving du toxicity from tank rounds. That's assuming they can stop the russians killing them directly, first, ofc - and doesn't take into account how many ukranians will become unwell, die, or die earlier due to the destruction and damage to ukranian infrastructure - to say nothing of the lasting psychological and social effects of a recently mobilization population.

In that wider context, where an entire generation of ukranians, at least, have had whatever their lives would have been taken from them even if they survive, anything that can end the war quicker is likely to be a net gain. Not supplying them with what weapons we have that could do that has been a long running hobby of ukraines allies. I doubt they appreciate it, or that we have anything valid to say about what weapons they should or shouldn't want or use. We may worry about du use now, but I'd call it completely certain that ukraine re-aquires actual nuclear weapons on the other side of this conflict. Depending on us and russian promises of security, or the largesse of western states mic, has shown itself to be a ludicrous strategy.

[Fireball]

Yes, depleted uranium, not enriched. The U235 (or most of it) is removed, leaving mostly U238, which has a half-life of ~4.5 billion years. It's more of a hazard if ingested, like lead. That round is also harder than hell, makes it good for clobbering time.

[The Grand Nudger]

Ukraines water supply already being described as scarce and highly contaminated pre-invasion, especially in southern ukraine. They wanted to clean up the infrastructure and enforce strict water quality regs...but something distracted them. Who knows what. I would expect the pounding their already failed system is taking is more consequential to future human health than the type of round that delivers it. If you've got a little du in the wastewater you're drinking - that's less than ideal.....

[Fireball]

No argument there. As for water quality, Ukraine isn't all that different from Russia in the kleptocracy and corruption business.

[The Grand Nudger]

The shitty water in southern ukraine literally is a russian business. It's funny, to me, that people imagine the us has to twist arms to get ukranian nationalists to hate russia. They hate russia because russia is invested in selling them toilet water, for starters. I think the thing that threw russian planning for a loop, ultimately, was how many russian speakers and ethnic russians in ukraine were, in fact, ukranian nationalists. They were absolutely certain that ukranians blamed ukranians for whatever russia was doing to them.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Boru

[The Architect Of Fate]

Next time anyone whines about the Azov Battalion.

https://romea.cz/en/world/the-times-puti...o-brothers

[The Architect Of Fate]

The T-14 Armata. Russia's supposedly most advanced battle tank .Built around a failed domestic Russian copy of a 1940s German X-shaped Simmering SLA 16 engine, also known as the Porsche Tour 212 (That's right a Nazi designed engine that was notorious for breaking down)



Here's that tank breaking down during it's unveiling at a Victory Day Parade. Because the universe couldn't handle the irony 

[Fake Messiah]

Next time anyone whines about the Azov Battalion.

https://romea.cz/en/world/the-times-puti...o-brothers

Russian politicians were notorious for making racist jokes about Obama. Like, does anyone still remember these "gems"?

Russian MP's Obama with banana picture sparks racism debate

The subject of racism has become the focus of a public discussion in Russia after an MP from the Duma caused outrage by posting an image of Barack Obama on Twitter that was photoshopped to include a banana.

Racism is rife in Russia, and black football players often face racial abuse involving bananas. In 2011, the Brazilian Roberto Carlos, playing for Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala, left the pitch in anger after a banana was thrown at him from the stands. In a separate incident, the club Zenit St Petersburg was fined the equivalent of about £6,300 when a fan offered Carlos a banana before a match.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/s...ism-debate

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Obama banana 'jokes' show Soviet-era racism remains alive in Russia

The Obamka bar (which translates to “Little Obama” in Russian) was part of an unsettling new trend in which tensions between the US and Russia have manifested themselves in racist jokes targeted towards the first black president of the United States.

This is the second time in six months that a business in Tatarstan has come under international scrutiny for offensive marketing geared against Obama. In December 2015, the supermarket chain Bakhtele two adult monkeys with their baby, on to whom Obama’s face was superimposed.

The same year, for Obama’s 53rd birthday, a group calling themselves the Moscow Student’s Initiative projected a light show on to the walls of the American embassy showing Obama in a birthday hat eating a banana. More recently, at the 2015 Red Bull Flutgag competition in Moscow, four participants alongside an Obama impersonator chasing after a banana.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m...-in-russia

[Angrboda]

I have to wonder what Russia would do if Ukraine invaded Belarus. I'm imagining Jack and Squat.