War with Russia

[Pinno718]

The lurker who came in from the cold.

Good to see another poster.

Have a look at that land mine chappie All uphill. Farq me, it's an eye opener.

 

[wakemalcolm]

Did you meet him in a café?
What an interesting encounter.

Girlfriend at the time was seeking some purpose in her life, and had a course to learn Russian booked in Petrograd for the summer. I tagged along for the first week or so using a Finnish agency to set up a couple of home stays (& a scary sleeper between Moscow and St Petersburg where I slept with my passport down my pants).
St Petersburg was a bit vanilla northern European tourist stop by then but Moscow was truly vibrant.

The relationship didn't survive the year and she now has no digital footprint, so I'm guessing she's probably an asset of one state or another.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

*Some f*cker is now going to have a count.

Hold my Borscht...

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Aw come on - I did only one foodie post*.
Dems perps, me small criminal.

*Some f*cker is now going to have a count.

2, you did two! :

Indian food ain't hot. Thai food is.
However, Friday night is curry night at Casa Pinno and sometimes visitors go a bit red in the face so perhaps we're growing tolerant without realising.

I Like medium hot and very spicy. Last night was Lamb Biryani with home made Naan.
It was (and wasn't) the dogs danglies.

Borscht ?

Borscht
Soup


Borscht is a sour soup popular in Eastern Europe, most famously known for its vibrant red color from beets, though variations exist. It's made with a meat or vegetable stock and includes ingredients like cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and onions, with a signature tangy flavor from vinegar, lemon juice, or tomatoes, often served with a dollop of sour cream and fresh dill.

Meat and potato stews is common in Russia, Hungary, Eastern Europe etc.

 

[First Aspect]

It's with some irony that all the great conquerors who tried and failed succumbed to geography (and winter). Russia's current failing is it's sheer size. It's now proving impossible to defend and manage.

If only they'd stayed within the 1989 borders that weren't threatened in any way.

 

[matticus]

Did a homestay once with a retired Russian cosmonaut. Borscht for tea every night. Pretty thin too.
He had an apartment with a balcony overlooking the river and Gorky Park. Even though it was the era of the winds of change, I didn't chance my luck on it.

This is by far the coolest farking post I've ever read here. Really hope it's true

(I am utterly fascinated by some aspects of the Soviet era - spies and the space programme being uppermost. )

 

[Pinno718]

Jeezo.

I posted a clip of African soldiers being recruited and sent in to the meat grinder with commentary from a Russian basically saying that they are going to their deaths and in the same video, an African recruit strapped to a land mine and being told in Russian to 'go you piece of sh*t' and there's no frikkin reaction from you lot.
Hopefully i'll get some comment (All uphill aside). But what the recruitment of African soldiers mean is that Russia is running out of troops. The only thing Pootin has left is terrorism - targeting civilians with drone strikes.
The propaganda being spread in Africa on local radio is basically saying that Putin is the anti-imperialist. These guys are clueless. They sign up, they die in droves.
I bet they also don't sign up knowing that their Russian counterparts are signing up with huge incentives and insurance plans.
Oh and that btw, is where if a soldier is captured, the family gets no compensation as they are labelled as traitors or deserters and often if they are killed, the Russian govt. label them as 'missing' and again, the family get no compensation. Habeas corpus.

 

[wakemalcolm]

This is by far the coolest farking post I've ever read here. Really hope it's true

(I am utterly fascinated by some aspects of the Soviet era - spies and the space programme being uppermost. )

Hope you're not losing your $hit like David Mitchell because it is, in fact, true.

Can't believe it was more than 25 years ago; there was so much hope and vibrancy in the city. You could walk around the parks, riding the stunning metro well into the night feeling safe and a tourist visa allowed you access to the Kremlin.
At the same time there were callbacks to the past like Yeltsin's 30 car motorcade that brought the city to a halt and warnings of the future with the corrupt gangsters driving around in blacked out Mercs many with stoved in rear ends as their brakes were generationally better than the average Lada or Moskvich.
Looking back, I probably caught it at it's best (for a western tourist). I don't see myself returning any time in the coming 25 years.

 

[Pross]

This is by far the coolest farking post I've ever read here. Really hope it's true

(I am utterly fascinated by some aspects of the Soviet era - spies and the space programme being uppermost. )

Even more so for paraphrasing The Scorpions - I can't decide if it was intentional or not.

 

[Pross]

Jeezo.

I posted a clip of African soldiers being recruited and sent in to the meat grinder with commentary from a Russian basically saying that they are going to their deaths and in the same video, an African recruit strapped to a land mine and being told in Russian to 'go you piece of sh*t' and there's no frikkin reaction from you lot.
Hopefully i'll get some comment (All uphill aside). But what the recruitment of African soldiers mean is that Russia is running out of troops. The only thing Pootin has left is terrorism - targeting civilians with drone strikes.
The propaganda being spread in Africa on local radio is basically saying that Putin is the anti-imperialist. These guys are clueless. They sign up, they die in droves.
I bet they also don't sign up knowing that their Russian counterparts are signing up with huge incentives and insurance plans.
Oh and that btw, is where if a soldier is captured, the family gets no compensation as they are labelled as traitors or deserters and often if they are killed, the Russian govt. label them as 'missing' and again, the family get no compensation. Habeas corpus.

What reaction do you want? I doubt if anyone is surprised that the Russian military treat Africans that way when they treat their own soldiers so badly. Chuck in how bad racism was over there even outside of the war (I watched a documentary a few years ago) and it's hardly news.

 

[wakemalcolm]

Even more so for paraphrasing The Scorpions - I can't decide if it was intentional or not.

From his apartment, we did have to "follow the Moskva (& cross it) down to Gorky Park", so you bet I was channeling the Scorpions whilst walking.
They also had the prototype of the Buran space shuttle there at the time but I didn't get close to it.
The space museum was, at the time, fantastically hands on and you could climb inside a landing module that they had on display.

I wasn't much into space travel and in 1999 I didn't have a digital camera, so I have few photos; gf at the time believed every moment spent there was a moment we could have spent in the Tretyakov gallery so we didn't linger.

 

[Mr Celine]

Even more so for paraphrasing The Scorpions - I can't decide if it was intentional or not.

I've only just realised what that earworm is and where it came from.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Jeezo.

I posted a clip of African soldiers being recruited and sent in to the meat grinder with commentary from a Russian basically saying that they are going to their deaths and in the same video, an African recruit strapped to a land mine and being told in Russian to 'go you piece of sh*t' and there's no frikkin reaction from you lot.
Hopefully i'll get some comment (All uphill aside). But what the recruitment of African soldiers mean is that Russia is running out of troops. The only thing Pootin has left is terrorism - targeting civilians with drone strikes.
The propaganda being spread in Africa on local radio is basically saying that Putin is the anti-imperialist. These guys are clueless. They sign up, they die in droves.
I bet they also don't sign up knowing that their Russian counterparts are signing up with huge incentives and insurance plans.
Oh and that btw, is where if a soldier is captured, the family gets no compensation as they are labelled as traitors or deserters and often if they are killed, the Russian govt. label them as 'missing' and again, the family get no compensation. Habeas corpus.

I missed that earlier, I'll watch that 33 minute thing later, but I am not sure what I can sensibly contribute on it anyway, other than "Wow, that's terrible".

 

[Pinno718]

I missed that earlier, I'll watch that 33 minute thing later, but I am not sure what I can sensibly contribute on it anyway, other than "Wow, that's terrible".

The Russian soldiers call them 'coal' We know they are inherently racist and therefore, they have zero respect for them and call them 'single use' soldiers.
I saw an extended clip where the guy filming calls him just that - in Russian.