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Think the biggest issue with the more offensive actions they could take is that it’s very difficult to make troop movements or position your personnel when they
by bladegash 5y ago
Think the biggest issue with the more offensive actions they could take is that it’s very difficult to make troop movements or position your personnel when they are pinned down with artillery.
From my view, their best options right now are to
1) minimize the number of directions/locations which they have to defend,
2) shelter and minimize losses during air raids/artillery strikes,
3) blow every single strike they make out of proportion to gain sympathy of Western partners and even Russian citizens. I’d even go so far as to start staging fabricated atrocities - the world has a short attention span and international pressure helps their cause).
4) employ unconventional warfare, including coordinated psychological operations directed towards Russian citizens and military members/their families (e.g., their mothers).
These are all things I’m pretty sure they’re doing right now and is part of their strategy. Authoritarian governments have some positives, but central decision making is also a glaringly vulnerability.
The same person who can decide to start a war, is the same person who can be the target of an entire war effort to try and persuade them to stop the war.
Let’s just say, we probably don’t even hear about/know half of what is going on behind the scenes/clandestinely to sabotage Russia’s potential for success right now.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gruez 5y ago
- magicalist 5y agoThis seems needlessly off topic and flamebaity.
- gruez 5y agoIf you can come up with another example of "noble lie that went badly", I'm all for it.
- bladegash 5y agoSure, all things going great and your life isn’t under threat, ethics are important and Id encourage people to refrain from lying or harming others. However, you do not always get to choose the situations you face in life and there is a reason war is described as “hell”. People sacrifice more than just their physical well-being (e.g., think along the idea behind Sophie’s Choice). It is just the reality that sabotage, deception, and espionage are used and in many ways just as important for winning wars (aka, survival) as any other military tactic/strategy (just look to influential and studied military tacticians such as Sun Tzu, Cardinal Richelieu, or Clausewitz).
- gruez 5y ago>It is just the reality that sabotage, deception, and espionage are used and in many ways just as important for winning wars (aka, survival) as any other military tactic/strategy (just look to influential and studied military tacticians such as Sun Tzu, Cardinal Richelieu, or Clausewitz). If we accept that, then we basically also accept that in war, it's expected that everything coming out from both sides is going to be lies and propaganda, so there's no need to take anything seriously. Sounds like exactly what putin wants for his PR war. Are russians committing war crimes in ukraine? The ukranians say so, but we all know they're going to be lying anyways, so who knows?
- bladegash 5y agoI’m not sure what point you are arguing. I think we should be absolutely skeptical of every side, especially the ones we want to believe. Propaganda is absolutely being used by all sides. I’m not going to debate what people should do, as I have no control over that. It’s a tool that has been used because it is effective, regardless of the propriety or rationality of believing the messages.