Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
Crimea is under effective seige now, because the Kerch Strait Bridge is all but unusable and the land corridor, the coastal road through the occupied territories, is patrolled by autonomous truck-hunting drones. Yes, they require human permission to actually go in for a kill but we have arrived at the point where some kid miles from the front is clicking a dialogue box asking Blow up lorry? OK/Cancel.
This is only very surprising to those who prefer to think the Ukraine war has more or less gone away, except for every 3 months when the BBC dispatches someone to file weary reportage from some crater near the front where the troops haven’t been rotated out in months. The narrative that Russian victory is inevitable is surprisingly persistent, especially in the face of this week’s multiple Ukrainian strategic attacks on Moscow.
|
As if to prove a point, one of those “Russia Masses Troops to Advance and Take Donbas” stories appears on the BBC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9w2g0ewk95o
The salient facts (that Russia is losing 30,000 troops a month, has barely advanced anywhere all year, has lost ground to Ukraine in various sectors) is either not mentioned at all, or gets a look in downpage. All because there are 100 Russians inside a ruined city all desperately doing flag-planting propaganda photos.
These stories appear because journalists have been steeped for decades in the idea that Russia is basically the same as the Soviet Union, a superpower with a massive, effective army. But it’s not even certain *that* was ever really true, and it’s absolutely not true now. Nevertheless, we’re doomed to suffer breathless commentary every time something happens that props up that presupposition.
Join CF
You are here: 
