Neo once declared Dostoyevsky to be a genius. I agree and followed up with a comment about someone who had written quite a bit about his writings on faith.
In today’s WSJ is a great piece by Gary Saul Morson, who has also come up here before.
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Struggle With Faith.
The Russian novelist accepted the idea that belief includes doubt and embraces wonder.
It’s great, and such weird timing, for me anyway. I had recently bumped The Brothers Karamazov up to the top of my reading list. I’m nearly done and will likely finish it this weekend.
Looking at the DOGE.gov website, its amazing the amount of wasteful, crazy, profligate government expenditures they keep discovering.
Apparently no one actually cared to really monitor what was being spent–after all, it wasn’t their money, it was our taxpayer money, the money extracted from us “little people” they were throwing around–and what it was being spent for.
Apparently a lot of crooked deals and self-dealing are being discovered.
But, more generally, it was a government money garden sprinkler, just sloppily spewing money everywhere, and no one caring how accurate it’s aim was, where the money really went, or if it actually did any good for the U.S.and it’s interests.
If it advanced the causes of the Left, the culture war, that was good enough.
Another insurance CEO attacked, in Oregon.
The unidentified suspect took aim at State Accident Insurance Fund (SAIF) CEO Chip Terhune’s $1.68 million home in Lake Oswego around 4am Friday.
A grainy surveillance image, released by the Lake Oswego Police, showed the suspected gunman donning ‘all dark clothes with a possible hoodie or ski mask,’ while carrying a ‘light-colored object.’
The perpetrator is believed to have fled the scene on foot, and as of Thursday he remains on the run.
Three bullets shattered the glass of the CEO’s front door and windows. The doors have since been boarded up with wood.
The following day, Terhune informed staff at SAIF – a not-for-profit company that provides workers compensation in the state – that he initially thought rocks were being thrown at his home.
Terhune, who is worth more than $764,000, sent an email to his more than 1,000 employees informing them that the company ‘received an email threat purporting to be from the person(s) responsible.’
“Worth more than $764K” forsooth. Lots of people who own their home free and clear can say the same.
Lake Oswego is on the soutern edge of Portland; a hive of leftist villany “The City of Roses.”
Yeah, having a net worth of a mere $764k as the CEO of a company with over 1000 employees is actually modest in the extreme. I’m not sure how they determined that figure, but most CEOs of companies that size have far greater net worths, on the order of several million. Either way, he hardly sounds like the typical greedy, callous, villainous fatcat figure the left likes to paint such people as.
@Nonapod. FWIW he’s the CEO of a non-profit. “Non-profit” of course doesn’t mean “doesn’t make money”, “doesn’t pay well”, “doesn’t hire rich people to run it”. It does mean “not taxed” and “not owned by shareholders”.
They also were sure to mention his $1.8 million house. Near Portland, Oregon. I’m sure its five bedrooms and three bathrooms are quite nice but it wouldn’t be a mansion. If he has $1.5 million left on his mortgage and has a 401K (or the non-profit equivalent) that would get him to $764K net worth, easy.
Possible Good News on the Russian reinvasion of Ukraine has starting popping up…but Trump certainly doesn’t get the abundance of credit since it was ‘Little David’ Zelensky who stood his ground between the two Goliath Twins.
President Trump has spoken nicely about Vladimir Putin as he brokers a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, but he’s also gently letting Vlad know he’ll need to make some real concessions, too: Ukraine should get its land back.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters he aims “to make the best deal we can for both sides,” which “for Ukraine” means getting “as much back as possible.”
Trump’s clear that Ukraine must make concessions: It’ll have to give up hope of joining NATO.
Trump is offering him an off-ramp, but it shouldn’t be a free one: He must push hard for Putin to truly read the table, and pay the necessary price for peace.
President Trump said Wednesday Russia will have to make “concessions” in negotiations with Ukraine — but that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “can forget” about joining NATO.
The president has hesitated to speak about what occupied land Ukraine could get back in peace negotiations with Russia, but made one admission before his first Cabinet meeting of his administration, saying he would try to get Ukraine back its land.
“We’re going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides, but for Ukraine, we’re going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much back as possible. We want to get as much back as possible,” Trump told reporters.
Trump also said the US would not provide any more security guarantees beyond the mineral deal that Zelensky is going to Washington on Friday to sign.
No deal about the thousands of Ukrainian children Russia has stolen, but topic was brought up in one of the articles.
At least pressure is now being applied to Russia – who has saw hundreds of thousands of its soldiers killed in three short years, and it will take a long time to replace the equipment loses. Struggling economically also—unable to throw Ukraine out of Russia—unable to move the frontlines by any more than a tad at huge costs, Russia is gonna face some loss of face or else continue the fight w/ America possibly aiding Ukraine in that fight.
We’ll see…
hundreds of thousands of its soldiers killed in three short years
No, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have not been killed in the Ukraine war. More like c. 95k.
That’s a lot. But it is considerably less than KIA in multiples of 100k.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. appears to be the only Ukrainian in the room who understands how much damage Zelensky just did to his own cause.
Both Trump & Vance are screwing this up. Don’t put your hands on a Guest, President Trump. Don’t tell a Guest to show some “appreciation”, Vance!!!
Vance best not be on the 2028 GOP Ticket…
It appears Zelenskyy was under the impression that Joe Biden was still POTUS. I believe he has been thoroughly disabused of that notion.
Pres. Trump: “We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.” https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1895539174154850745
Russia’s losses: approx – 874,560 killed with 2,623,680 wounded.
No one knows for sure, but certainly a whole more than just “95k.“
Regarding Ukraine and Russia. Time will tell. How many times has the narrative changed about what is happening in the last week?
Panic whores have to sell.
And yet Ukraine is still occupying part of Russia. One million Russian casualties by May 9, 2025. Quite a legacy Vlad.
You’re wrong. I know where you likely got those figures: “Special Operations Forces of Ukraine” website (https://www.minusrus.com/en). Not a reliable source. Very unreliable, in fact. It is in the interests of Ukraine to vastly inflate Russian losses (KIA, MIA, WIA), and that’s what it has done and continues to do.
om: 1 million total casualties (again, KIA, WIA, MIA) is probably more or less in the neighborhood.
IrishOtter49 – Prove me wrong…
Book title — “Masterful Supplicancy in One Easy Lesson” by Vlad Zelenskyy
Lesson One, the only lesson, so mark it well:
1) Take a dump on the rug!
See!? Easy, right?
Video shows VP Vance starting this blowup. Insulting and undiplomatic approach by bootlicker Vance!
Then Trump gets involved – “You’re not in a very good position.” That moronic statement after Little David Zelensky had already told both Vance and Trump that Ukraine hasn’t been in a good position with Russia since 2014…
Zelensky has remained calm at this 5:14 minute point. Both Trump and Vance are aggressive, loud, and angry…
Now that would be treason, not a good career move.
The irony is china and russia are the most binary people in the world
“unable to throw Ukraine out of Russia…” – Karmi
True that Ukraine still has forces in Kursk. By the end of August, Ukraine had captured an estimated 500 sq. miles of land in Kursk. Today Ukraine controls an estimated 174 sq. miles.
As to casualties, we really don’t know. Lots of soldiers on both side have been killed or wounded.
Who said the first casualty of war is the truth?
om:
To be fair, that would probably put those fired workers on a preferred list of folks to re-hire under the next Democrat administration.
If they still have security clearances maybe they can grub for food otherwise
Ive been bewildered how open to exploitation the intelligence agencies are at least on our end occassionally a puteyev comes along
But more often than not you get more reckless figures
Who woulda ever guessed that a smaller country invaded Russia and the Russians couldn’t throw them out?
om is probably the closest on deaths and wounded Russian troops…”One million Russian casualties by May 9, 2025.”
@IrishOtter49
Sorry, but I am going to have to go with Karmi on this, at least regarding casualty figures.
No, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have not been killed in the Ukraine war.
They almost certainly have been, though how many is anyone’s guess.
More like c. 95k.
I know where you got that figure, and while I commend you for your taste in sources (and agree it’s significantly closer to the truth than Karmi’s recitation of the Ukrainian claims) I think you’re not understanding what that figure is.
A: Military personnel in the Russian Federation (meaning: No foreign fighters – which isn’t what we were looking at at the moment -, no mercenaries like Wagner, no Donbaschukuo militias regardless of whether the individual dead was a local WWII Veteran who grabbed their Mosin to shoot “Fascists” or literally just a reflagged Rus Fed Contractni, and likely a fair bit of absences among say paramilitary police or interior ministry troops fighting the Ukrainians in Kursk; basically if you’re not in the Russian Federation’s military proper you’re not counted).
B: Who have been confirmed to be killed.
and
C: Have had their identities confirmed.
This means they are probably quite solid but also means they function more as a *bare basement* figure rather than a realistic estimate of what the total deaths are, since it’s focusing almost exclusively on the actually serving troops in the Russian military proper.
It’s also a low estimate even for those; Mediazona estimates about 160,000+ deaths total among that demographic alone, and I find this plausible (if anything likely a bit low).
But above all it doesn’t factor in the likes of the DNR and LNR, Wagner (which boasted of taking dozens of thousands of deaths at Bakhmut and others, and while a lot of those weren’t necessarily “Russian” citizens most probably were), and so on with I think a realistic and fair analysis of being “Russian soldiers.”
That’s a lot. But it is considerably less than KIA in multiples of 100k.
Sure but even Mediazona is claiming the multiple of those killed in the Russian Military proper alone is 1.6 or so. Adding in other orgs or troops that I think can be “fairly” called “Russian Troops” (even admitting that would not be all Kremlin-side combatants like the North Koreans) would I think get us far higher.
I currently believe that about 175,000 dead since the 2022 open invasion is probably the basement, and now estimate the total number is something like 2-300k. Between a fifth and a third of a million KIA.
So while I agree Ukraine’s official figures are unreliable (though I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say “very unreliable”; Perun and others have broken that down, and I also think understanding the gulf between what the Ukrainian Gov’t is CLAIMING – mostly “total combat losses of personnel” – ie anybody fighting on the “Russian side” – and what Mediazona is claiming (“Identifiable and estimated deaths for serving Russian military personnel proper”) we’re still almost certainly looking at a Kremlin that has suffered at a minimum 100k Kremlin-aligned Russian KIA, and probably two or three times that.
I’d also guess that total casualties are probably closer to or over two million than they are close to one million.
Turtler:
Quite the butcher’s bill for a 3 day Special Military Operation.
If you call it a “war” in The Russian Federation that is an actionable offense.
Ukraine The Latest podcast anticipates Russian total casualties to be 100,000,000 by this years anniversary of victory in The Great Patriotic War (IIRC).
North Korean casualties? Who’se counting? Likewise Ukrainians forced into assaults on Ukrainian lines in Donetsk or Luhansk?
How far is that Ukrainian “Russia’s losses” link off?
om is estimating ”One million Russian casualties by May 9, 2025,” and Turtler is guessing “total casualties are probably closer to or over two million than they are close to one million.”
Lets split the difference and use the ‘3:1‘ ratio – three wounded for every one killed. 375,000 killed? Definitely a lot less than the Ukrainian site.
What were Russia’s losses in Afghanistan – over 10 years? 10,000 killed, and Russia finally broke. Russia has to be hurting internally…
I got the figure of 95k KIA from the people I work with and for. I’m assuming it has been widely disseminated on the WWW.
Meduza and Mediazona are both anti-Putin organizations. I would expect their figures to be elevated and, as I am also anti-Putin, I am delighted with their erudite analyses. It’s always a good thing to have one’s confirmation biases . . . confirmed. Nevertheless I take them with several grains of salt, for reasons that needn’t be stated. Another way of saying this is, I’m not convinced by their arguments, in large measure because 1) their sources are suspect; and, 2), because the elevated figures are compatible with their political and ideological views about the war (and Putin).
That said: if the war continues through 2025 I do believe the casualty toll for both sides will reach the catastrophic levels you have said already pertain. As Wellington remarked during the Battle of Waterloo: “Hard pounding this, gentleman; let’s see who will pound the longest.”
Who will pound the longest in Ukraine? Who can?
Was holding off on this ‘Trump Tally‘ update, but with both President Trump and VP Vance giving America its most undiplomatic day every, I can no longer hold off an update to the Weak category…
Trump Tally update 2/28/2025
Strong:
1) Pre-Jan 20 was very well organized w/ Trump quiet. CoS Susie Wiles has done a great job!
2) Quickly picked Admin & staff pre-Jan 20.
3) Inauguration Day 2025 shows total preparation made by good leader – unlike being unprepared during his first term.
4) Moved fast on illegal immigration promises – plus lots of helpful EO’s.
5) Have to give Trump a Strong on his choice of Pete Hegseth as SoD – and solid work by the GOP Senate to get him confirmed!
6) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to expose government waste, cutting regulations, and restructuring federal agencies. Early impact has been *AMAZING*!
7) Trump calls Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) a “fantastic guy,” and I also like him. Hey, we think our Far-left dissidents are bad, but compared to Saudi Arabia’s dissidents ours are closer to a Mother Teresa. Trump bringing MbS in to host a summit between himself and Putin is a great move. A great move that builds a stronger relationship with MbS, empowers MbS, whilst also opening negotiating ‘Doors’ for talks with Russia and Iran.
Weak:
1) Failed to end Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours.
2) Re-designates Iranian-backed Houthis as terrorists – lets Iran continue to back them!?!
3) neo called it an “unforced error” on Trump’s part. Most commenters agreed. ‘Twas an internet vision of Trump starring as the Hare in ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’. Horrid response to Air collision above the Potomac – horrid response to a National Tragedy. Probably doesn’t bode well for confidence in his future response/s to a National Emergency…?
4) Still early into the Breaking News about ‘Second Buddy’ Putin and President Trump opening negotiations on Ukraine’s future; however, if this is Trump’s opening move in the negotiations, it is an incredibly ill-informed and/or naive one. Thusly, such an opening deserves a spot under the Weak category on the Trump Tally…Geez!?
5) President Trump may have been a *BIG* ‘wheeling-dealing fish’ in the New York pond, but it is starting to look like he is outta his league in bigger waters. His opening negotiations with Putin has earned him a comparison to Neville Chamberlain—an unfortunate comparison that seems to be sticking. To make matters even worse, ‘US officials have backtracked’ – that will be President Trump backtracking on his ridiculous opening negotiation offer to Putin of ‘Nato membership and US security guarantees were off the table for Ukraine’.
6) This one will remain in bold—a 100% disaster for America. Have never saw such horrid American Diplomacy—Trump & Vance were both disasters, with Vance leading the way, but both showed their Aggressive, Loud, Rude, Angry, and Undiplomatic sides. The video from that link shows what a disaster it was for America and the Free World.
Re: Ukraine War — KIA, WIA, MIA, captured
_____________________________
Remember there’s probably somewhere around 1.5 million dead, wounded, missing, and captured on both sides together. That is the largest casualty uh rate figure total since in Europe since the Battle of
Stalingrad in 1942 and 1943.
Well. From these cheap seats and the vast canyon of differences already aired here on The Fight in The Oval Office, I wish neo would take a reader poll Monday…and Friday…when negs get going again.l
First, there’s the Fight — then there’s all the kibbutzing to follow. And that’s where the meaning of Street Theater shows up.
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Amazing what can be done when you put great minds together. No more paper. Months to days.
https://x.com/DOGE/status/1895271532752208353#m
Neo once declared Dostoyevsky to be a genius. I agree and followed up with a comment about someone who had written quite a bit about his writings on faith.
In today’s WSJ is a great piece by Gary Saul Morson, who has also come up here before.
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Struggle With Faith.
The Russian novelist accepted the idea that belief includes doubt and embraces wonder.
https://archive.md/PtotW
It’s great, and such weird timing, for me anyway. I had recently bumped The Brothers Karamazov up to the top of my reading list. I’m nearly done and will likely finish it this weekend.
Looking at the DOGE.gov website, its amazing the amount of wasteful, crazy, profligate government expenditures they keep discovering.
Apparently no one actually cared to really monitor what was being spent–after all, it wasn’t their money, it was our taxpayer money, the money extracted from us “little people” they were throwing around–and what it was being spent for.
Apparently a lot of crooked deals and self-dealing are being discovered.
But, more generally, it was a government money garden sprinkler, just sloppily spewing money everywhere, and no one caring how accurate it’s aim was, where the money really went, or if it actually did any good for the U.S.and it’s interests.
If it advanced the causes of the Left, the culture war, that was good enough.
Another insurance CEO attacked, in Oregon.
“Worth more than $764K” forsooth. Lots of people who own their home free and clear can say the same.
Lake Oswego is on the soutern edge of Portland; a hive of leftist villany “The City of Roses.”
Yeah, having a net worth of a mere $764k as the CEO of a company with over 1000 employees is actually modest in the extreme. I’m not sure how they determined that figure, but most CEOs of companies that size have far greater net worths, on the order of several million. Either way, he hardly sounds like the typical greedy, callous, villainous fatcat figure the left likes to paint such people as.
@Nonapod. FWIW he’s the CEO of a non-profit. “Non-profit” of course doesn’t mean “doesn’t make money”, “doesn’t pay well”, “doesn’t hire rich people to run it”. It does mean “not taxed” and “not owned by shareholders”.
They also were sure to mention his $1.8 million house. Near Portland, Oregon. I’m sure its five bedrooms and three bathrooms are quite nice but it wouldn’t be a mansion. If he has $1.5 million left on his mortgage and has a 401K (or the non-profit equivalent) that would get him to $764K net worth, easy.
Possible Good News on the Russian reinvasion of Ukraine has starting popping up…but Trump certainly doesn’t get the abundance of credit since it was ‘Little David’ Zelensky who stood his ground between the two Goliath Twins.
First – 2/27:
Putin will need to give (back) land to get peace
At least the Zelensky bashing by Trump has ended…
Second – 2/26:
Trump says US will try to get Ukraine as much land back ‘as possible’ — but Zelensky can ‘forget about’ NATO
No deal about the thousands of Ukrainian children Russia has stolen, but topic was brought up in one of the articles.
At least pressure is now being applied to Russia – who has saw hundreds of thousands of its soldiers killed in three short years, and it will take a long time to replace the equipment loses. Struggling economically also—unable to throw Ukraine out of Russia—unable to move the frontlines by any more than a tad at huge costs, Russia is gonna face some loss of face or else continue the fight w/ America possibly aiding Ukraine in that fight.
We’ll see…
hundreds of thousands of its soldiers killed in three short years
No, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have not been killed in the Ukraine war. More like c. 95k.
That’s a lot. But it is considerably less than KIA in multiples of 100k.
Photo at link: https://x.com/seanmdav/status/1895538598272974872
Well – that didn’t take long…
Trump tears Zelensky apart in brutal White House screaming match as President lay hands on Ukraine leader
Both Trump & Vance are screwing this up. Don’t put your hands on a Guest, President Trump. Don’t tell a Guest to show some “appreciation”, Vance!!!
Vance best not be on the 2028 GOP Ticket…
It appears Zelenskyy was under the impression that Joe Biden was still POTUS. I believe he has been thoroughly disabused of that notion.
Pres. Trump: “We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1895539174154850745
Russia’s losses: approx – 874,560 killed with 2,623,680 wounded.
No one knows for sure, but certainly a whole more than just “95k.“
Regarding Ukraine and Russia. Time will tell. How many times has the narrative changed about what is happening in the last week?
Panic whores have to sell.
And yet Ukraine is still occupying part of Russia. One million Russian casualties by May 9, 2025. Quite a legacy Vlad.
You’re wrong. I know where you likely got those figures: “Special Operations Forces of Ukraine” website (https://www.minusrus.com/en). Not a reliable source. Very unreliable, in fact. It is in the interests of Ukraine to vastly inflate Russian losses (KIA, MIA, WIA), and that’s what it has done and continues to do.
om: 1 million total casualties (again, KIA, WIA, MIA) is probably more or less in the neighborhood.
IrishOtter49 – Prove me wrong…
Book title — “Masterful Supplicancy in One Easy Lesson” by Vlad Zelenskyy
Lesson One, the only lesson, so mark it well:
1) Take a dump on the rug!
See!? Easy, right?
Video shows VP Vance starting this blowup. Insulting and undiplomatic approach by bootlicker Vance!
Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump and Vance unravels into an extraordinary clash
Then Trump gets involved – “You’re not in a very good position.” That moronic statement after Little David Zelensky had already told both Vance and Trump that Ukraine hasn’t been in a good position with Russia since 2014…
Zelensky has remained calm at this 5:14 minute point. Both Trump and Vance are aggressive, loud, and angry…
Now that would be treason, not a good career move.
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/02/28/russia-china-seeking-to-recruit-fired-american-intelligence-workers-n2186128
The irony is china and russia are the most binary people in the world
“unable to throw Ukraine out of Russia…” – Karmi
True that Ukraine still has forces in Kursk. By the end of August, Ukraine had captured an estimated 500 sq. miles of land in Kursk. Today Ukraine controls an estimated 174 sq. miles.
As to casualties, we really don’t know. Lots of soldiers on both side have been killed or wounded.
Who said the first casualty of war is the truth?
om:
To be fair, that would probably put those fired workers on a preferred list of folks to re-hire under the next Democrat administration.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/02/28/uk-govt-minister-resigns-over-starmers-decision-to-spend-foreign-aid-cash-on-military-instead/
If they still have security clearances maybe they can grub for food otherwise
Ive been bewildered how open to exploitation the intelligence agencies are at least on our end occassionally a puteyev comes along
But more often than not you get more reckless figures
Brian E
Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion: Six Month Assessment
Who woulda ever guessed that a smaller country invaded Russia and the Russians couldn’t throw them out?
om is probably the closest on deaths and wounded Russian troops…”One million Russian casualties by May 9, 2025.”
@IrishOtter49
Sorry, but I am going to have to go with Karmi on this, at least regarding casualty figures.
They almost certainly have been, though how many is anyone’s guess.
I know where you got that figure, and while I commend you for your taste in sources (and agree it’s significantly closer to the truth than Karmi’s recitation of the Ukrainian claims) I think you’re not understanding what that figure is.
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/02/24/three-years-of-death
Firstly: the “95k” figure are
A: Military personnel in the Russian Federation (meaning: No foreign fighters – which isn’t what we were looking at at the moment -, no mercenaries like Wagner, no Donbaschukuo militias regardless of whether the individual dead was a local WWII Veteran who grabbed their Mosin to shoot “Fascists” or literally just a reflagged Rus Fed Contractni, and likely a fair bit of absences among say paramilitary police or interior ministry troops fighting the Ukrainians in Kursk; basically if you’re not in the Russian Federation’s military proper you’re not counted).
B: Who have been confirmed to be killed.
and
C: Have had their identities confirmed.
This means they are probably quite solid but also means they function more as a *bare basement* figure rather than a realistic estimate of what the total deaths are, since it’s focusing almost exclusively on the actually serving troops in the Russian military proper.
It’s also a low estimate even for those; Mediazona estimates about 160,000+ deaths total among that demographic alone, and I find this plausible (if anything likely a bit low).
But above all it doesn’t factor in the likes of the DNR and LNR, Wagner (which boasted of taking dozens of thousands of deaths at Bakhmut and others, and while a lot of those weren’t necessarily “Russian” citizens most probably were), and so on with I think a realistic and fair analysis of being “Russian soldiers.”
Sure but even Mediazona is claiming the multiple of those killed in the Russian Military proper alone is 1.6 or so. Adding in other orgs or troops that I think can be “fairly” called “Russian Troops” (even admitting that would not be all Kremlin-side combatants like the North Koreans) would I think get us far higher.
I currently believe that about 175,000 dead since the 2022 open invasion is probably the basement, and now estimate the total number is something like 2-300k. Between a fifth and a third of a million KIA.
So while I agree Ukraine’s official figures are unreliable (though I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say “very unreliable”; Perun and others have broken that down, and I also think understanding the gulf between what the Ukrainian Gov’t is CLAIMING – mostly “total combat losses of personnel” – ie anybody fighting on the “Russian side” – and what Mediazona is claiming (“Identifiable and estimated deaths for serving Russian military personnel proper”) we’re still almost certainly looking at a Kremlin that has suffered at a minimum 100k Kremlin-aligned Russian KIA, and probably two or three times that.
I’d also guess that total casualties are probably closer to or over two million than they are close to one million.
Turtler:
Quite the butcher’s bill for a 3 day Special Military Operation.
If you call it a “war” in The Russian Federation that is an actionable offense.
Ukraine The Latest podcast anticipates Russian total casualties to be 100,000,000 by this years anniversary of victory in The Great Patriotic War (IIRC).
North Korean casualties? Who’se counting? Likewise Ukrainians forced into assaults on Ukrainian lines in Donetsk or Luhansk?
I know, inconceivable.
Meanwhile
https://nypost.com/2025/02/28/us-news/ilegal-migrant-terror-suspect-nabbed-in-nyc-will-be-deported/
How far is that Ukrainian “Russia’s losses” link off?
om is estimating ”One million Russian casualties by May 9, 2025,” and Turtler is guessing “total casualties are probably closer to or over two million than they are close to one million.”
Lets split the difference and use the ‘3:1‘ ratio – three wounded for every one killed. 375,000 killed? Definitely a lot less than the Ukrainian site.
What were Russia’s losses in Afghanistan – over 10 years? 10,000 killed, and Russia finally broke. Russia has to be hurting internally…
I got the figure of 95k KIA from the people I work with and for. I’m assuming it has been widely disseminated on the WWW.
Meduza and Mediazona are both anti-Putin organizations. I would expect their figures to be elevated and, as I am also anti-Putin, I am delighted with their erudite analyses. It’s always a good thing to have one’s confirmation biases . . . confirmed. Nevertheless I take them with several grains of salt, for reasons that needn’t be stated. Another way of saying this is, I’m not convinced by their arguments, in large measure because 1) their sources are suspect; and, 2), because the elevated figures are compatible with their political and ideological views about the war (and Putin).
That said: if the war continues through 2025 I do believe the casualty toll for both sides will reach the catastrophic levels you have said already pertain. As Wellington remarked during the Battle of Waterloo: “Hard pounding this, gentleman; let’s see who will pound the longest.”
Who will pound the longest in Ukraine? Who can?
Was holding off on this ‘Trump Tally‘ update, but with both President Trump and VP Vance giving America its most undiplomatic day every, I can no longer hold off an update to the Weak category…
Trump Tally update 2/28/2025
Strong:
1) Pre-Jan 20 was very well organized w/ Trump quiet. CoS Susie Wiles has done a great job!
2) Quickly picked Admin & staff pre-Jan 20.
3) Inauguration Day 2025 shows total preparation made by good leader – unlike being unprepared during his first term.
4) Moved fast on illegal immigration promises – plus lots of helpful EO’s.
5) Have to give Trump a Strong on his choice of Pete Hegseth as SoD – and solid work by the GOP Senate to get him confirmed!
6) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to expose government waste, cutting regulations, and restructuring federal agencies. Early impact has been *AMAZING*!
7) Trump calls Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) a “fantastic guy,” and I also like him. Hey, we think our Far-left dissidents are bad, but compared to Saudi Arabia’s dissidents ours are closer to a Mother Teresa. Trump bringing MbS in to host a summit between himself and Putin is a great move. A great move that builds a stronger relationship with MbS, empowers MbS, whilst also opening negotiating ‘Doors’ for talks with Russia and Iran.
Weak:
1) Failed to end Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours.
2) Re-designates Iranian-backed Houthis as terrorists – lets Iran continue to back them!?!
3) neo called it an “unforced error” on Trump’s part. Most commenters agreed. ‘Twas an internet vision of Trump starring as the Hare in ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’. Horrid response to Air collision above the Potomac – horrid response to a National Tragedy. Probably doesn’t bode well for confidence in his future response/s to a National Emergency…?
4) Still early into the Breaking News about ‘Second Buddy’ Putin and President Trump opening negotiations on Ukraine’s future; however, if this is Trump’s opening move in the negotiations, it is an incredibly ill-informed and/or naive one. Thusly, such an opening deserves a spot under the Weak category on the Trump Tally…Geez!?
5) President Trump may have been a *BIG* ‘wheeling-dealing fish’ in the New York pond, but it is starting to look like he is outta his league in bigger waters. His opening negotiations with Putin has earned him a comparison to Neville Chamberlain—an unfortunate comparison that seems to be sticking. To make matters even worse, ‘US officials have backtracked’ – that will be President Trump backtracking on his ridiculous opening negotiation offer to Putin of ‘Nato membership and US security guarantees were off the table for Ukraine’.
6) This one will remain in bold—a 100% disaster for America. Have never saw such horrid American Diplomacy—Trump & Vance were both disasters, with Vance leading the way, but both showed their Aggressive, Loud, Rude, Angry, and Undiplomatic sides. The video from that link shows what a disaster it was for America and the Free World.
Re: Ukraine War — KIA, WIA, MIA, captured
_____________________________
Remember there’s probably somewhere around 1.5 million dead, wounded, missing, and captured on both sides together. That is the largest casualty uh rate figure total since in Europe since the Battle of
Stalingrad in 1942 and 1943.
–Victor Davis Hanson, “The Daily Signal” (02/28/25)
https://youtu.be/ZVG4YWw3Fqo?t=64
Well. From these cheap seats and the vast canyon of differences already aired here on The Fight in The Oval Office, I wish neo would take a reader poll Monday…and Friday…when negs get going again.l
First, there’s the Fight — then there’s all the kibbutzing to follow. And that’s where the meaning of Street Theater shows up.