#russia's military weakness

[tomorrowusa]

« Russia’s war economy is heading toward an impasse. Signs that the official data masks severe economic strains brought on by both war and sanctions have become increasingly apparent. No matter how many workers it tries to shift to the defense industry, the Kremlin cannot expand production fast enough to replace weapons at the rate they are being lost on the battlefield. Already, about around half of all artillery shells used by Russia in Ukraine are from North Korean stocks. At some point in the second half of 2025, Russia will face severe shortages in several categories of weapons.

Perhaps foremost among Russia’s arms bottlenecks is its inability to replace large-caliber cannons. According to open-source researchers using video documentation, Russia has been losing more than 100 tanks and roughly 220 artillery pieces per month on average. Producing tank and artillery barrels requires rotary forges—massive pieces of engineering weighing 20 to 30 tons each—that can each produce only about 10 barrels a month. Russia only possesses two such forges.

In other words, Russia is losing around 320 tank and artillery cannon barrels a month and producing only 20. The Russian engineering industry lacks the skills to build rotary forges; in fact, the world market is dominated by a single Austrian company, GFM. Russia is unlikely to acquire more forges and increase its production rate, and neither North Korea nor Iran have significant stockpiles of suitable replacement barrels. »

— Prof. Marc R. DeVore of St. Andrews’s School of International Relations in Scotland & Prof. Alexander Mertens of National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. At Foreign Policy (archived).

Russia's military strength is almost always overstated. Close to none of the pundits expected Ukraine to be in existence long after Putin's invasion. Yet the Ukrainians were able to hold off the world's so called "second strongest military power" with just shoulder-fired missiles, innovative technology, and Ukrainian tenacity. The large stocks of new weapons only began to trickle in from the West weeks after Ukraine had already stabilized the fronts and even kicked Russia out of the north.

Russia is forced to buy ammunition from North Korea – a third-rate power run by a nutcake tyrant. It even has to import North Korean troops to protect Russian territory.

Russia's economy has experienced a temporary boom because of massive military spending. But when the war ends, that spending will drop and recession will set in.

And don't get me started on Russia's demographic issues.

All Putin can do is bluster about nukes. But even a delusional sociopath like him knows that if Russia is the first to use nukes, it won't be the last.

So let's not worry inordinately about Russia's reaction to Ukraine defending itself. It's a bigger worry for the West in the long run if Putin is given free rein in Europe.

And even all of its nukes can't keep inflation from surging in Russia due to Putin's war.

Chronic inflation hits Russia as huge pay increases fuel rising prices

The Russian Ruble is now worth less than 1¢ US.

Russian central bank intervenes as ruble tumbles past 110 to the U.S. dollar

[narrative-theory]

Russians knew about weaknesses in the Syrian military

Russia's Shocking Secret about Syrian Military Weaknesses Revealed: Scott Ritter

[creativemedianews]

Can Russia’s Military Challenge NATO After Ukraine War?

Can Russia’s Military Challenge NATO After Ukraine War? #NATOreadiness #RussiaNATOconflict #Russianairforceweakness

[komsomolka]

with time i realized imperial core citizens have two equally dehumanizing yet opposite attitudes towards countries outside of their imperialist system. mordor vs charity case. first one is reserved for the states strong and idealogically motivated enough to pose the visible danger to their status quo. russia/china/iran/etc. are subjected to gigantic amount of almost absurdist villainization because of that. second category are global south countries with weak enough position to not trigger their anxieties so they feel comfortable to play sympathetic white savoir and even admit how much their imperialism is at fault for victimizing those poor countries (but will never do the same for 'mordor' countries).

this dual tendency can be seen most visibly in regards to cuba and dprk. both are socialist states suffering under unfair western sanctions. yet there's way more international focus on lifting sanctions from cuba than from dprk. there's way more demonization of dprk too. why is such difference? in my opinion it's because unlike dprk cuba is being seen as a harmless weakling. it has no strong military, terrible economic woes which are widely reported, etc. meanwhile dprk demonstrates strong military might, if they have internal problems it's pretty contained, etc.

i personally would prefer being feared by the first worlders than pitied by them any time.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

It is hard to imagine a worse candidate for the American presidency in 2024 than Donald J Trump. His history of dishonesty, hypocrisy and greed makes him wholly unfit for the office. A second Trump term would erode the rule of law, diminish America’s global standing and deepen racial and cultural divides. Even if he loses, Mr Trump has shown that he will undermine the election process, with allies spreading unfounded conspiracy theories to delegitimise the results. There are prominent Republicans – such as the former vice-president Dick Cheney – who refused to support Mr Trump owing to the threat he poses. Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Mr Trump, calls his former boss a “fascist”. America was founded in opposition to absolute monarchy. The Republican nominee models himself after the leader he most admires: Russia’s autocratic president, Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump’s authoritarianism may finish US democracy. He has praised and promised to pardon those convicted in the January 6 insurrection. He has suggested bypassing legal norms to use potentially violent methods of repression, blurring the lines between vigilantism, law enforcement and military action, against groups – be they Democrats or undocumented immigrants – he views as enemies. His team has tried to distance itself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and its extreme proposals – such as mass firings of civil servants and erasing women’s rights – that poll poorly. But it is likely that, in office, Mr Trump would adopt many of these intolerant, patriarchal and discriminatory plans. He aims to dismantle the government to enrich himself and evade the law. If Republicans gain control of the Senate, House and White House, he would interpret it as a mandate to silence his critics and entrench his power. Mr Trump is a transactional and corrupting politician. His supporters see this as an advantage. Christian nationalists want an authoritarian regime to enforce religious edicts on Americans. Elon Musk wants to shape the future without regulatory oversight. Both put self-interest ahead of the American people. Democracy erodes slowly at first, then all at once. In office, Mr Trump appointed three supreme court justices, who this summer blocked efforts to hold him accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 election: their immunity ruling renders the president “a king above the law”, in the words of the liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor. Since Kamala Harris stepped into the spotlight following Joe Biden’s exit, her campaign has been a masterclass in political jujitsu, deftly flipping Mr Trump’s perceived strengths into glaring weaknesses. With a focus on joy, the vice-president sharply contrasted with Mr Trump’s grim narrative of US decline. In their sole televised debate, Ms Harris skillfully outmaneuvered Mr Trump, who fell into her traps, appearing angry and incoherent. She is confident and composed. He sounds unhinged. [...] Political hope fades when we settle for what is, instead of fighting for what could be. Ms Harris embodies the conviction that it’s better to believe in democracy’s potential than to surrender to its imperfections. The Republican agenda is clear: voter suppression, book bans and tax cuts for billionaires. Democrats seek global engagement; the GOP favours isolation. The Biden-Harris administration laid the groundwork for a net zero America. A Trumpian comeback would undo it. A Harris win, with a Democratic Congress, means a chance to restore good governance, create good jobs and lead the entire planet’s climate efforts. Defeating Mr Trump protects democracy from oligarchy and dictatorship. There is too much at stake not to back Ms Harris for president.

The Guardian Editorial Board's endorsement of Kamala Harris for the 2024 US Presidential Election (10.23.2024).

The Guardian’s editorial board gave a powerful endorsement for Kamala Harris, as our democracy’s survival depends on her winning.

[iamthetruenhaz]

Russia's prep work

I originally wrote this as a reply to a reddit comment about the prep work Putin's Russia has done to reconquer Eastern Europe (and Central Asia) and soften up the West in order to "reclaim" the "lost" global power status the USSR had.

Putin* has been prepping his "reconquering" of Eastern Europe and Central Asia since he stepped into office. He took on an openly anti-western course since the Munich speech in 2007. He probably saw American global dominance weakening following Afghanistan and Iraq and because Russia had stabilised after the 90s, he thought it was time to act.

First he paved the way with the Chechen war where he "won" and got to jump on the War on terror bandwagon and use Islamic terrorism as a boogeyman for his own imperialistic purpose to rile up Russians against external threats.

Then he invaded Georgia to probe the soil and see how the west would react. They mostly ignored him so he went on to meddle in Eastern European politics, coerce Ukraine for gas and fund right-wing parties all across Europe (at the time mostly to drive a wedge between Eastern and Western Europe and suck EE countries back into Russian orbit) while pumping anti-western sentiment and Soviet nostalgia at home.

He saw that the west was disunited because of the US-UK-EU split following the wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria. He capitalized on that in several ways using both the wars and the refugee crisis that followed. One, to increase racist and nationalist propaganda and stir up hatred against "the liberal gay western cabal" and the resulting Euroscepticism. Two, to prop up the "proper" traditionalist Russia as an alternative. Three, to paint Eastern European countries as a puppet of the US liberals who were "ackschually" nazis in disguise, which was easy when the West was divided between trying to coax them into the EU and leaving them as a buffer-zone backwater. The brightest example of the latter was in late 2021 when Lukashenko started dumping Middle Eastern migrants on the Polish border so the Poles could be painted as a racist, white supremacist state. Unlike, you know, Belarus (really Russia) which weaponized the migrants.

Then he failed in Ukraine when his puppet's sharp turn away from a planned EU accession path caused the Euromaidan revolts. Pro-Russian protesters soon spawned, staging provications (my own country had a wave of protests and pro-russian counter-protests back then and I remember neonazis and other paid protesters being at the forefronts). Russian media started hurling accusations of nazism against pro-western protesters.

All of a sudden, it's like a switch was flipped in Russian society. Decommunization was out the window. In 2015, Stalin was chosen as the most influential figure in *world* history by Russians. All the anti-Western, Russian irredentist, traditionalist, racist and homophobic sentiments coalesced into one, directed against the "evil nazi gay jewish West". Putin started openly provoking the West with displays of military force, close flybys in territorial waters, playing Cuban missile crisis in Kaliningrad. All to rack up the atmosphere of an imminent Cold War II and maybe even WWIII where a "wronged", "humiliated" Russia would finally make the West pay. The WWII victory celebrations also took on the appearance of a war cult, with jingoistic slogans like "we can do it again", "to Berlin" and "we're coming for the German women" displayed on every 9th May parade. Eastern European countries, especially the Baltics and Poland, noticed and tried to raise alarm, but were mostly told to keep their paranoia down and ignored.

In the last decade, he used his military and propaganda machine (what we call "hybrid warfare") to create the impression of the following: (1) The West is imperialist (and is being hypocritical about it), waging pointless bloody wars in the Middle East; (2) The West is weak in those wars, causing Russia to step in like in Syria and deal with the issue "properly"; (3) Western democracies are weak in dealing with "barbaric" refugees because they're too greedy not to let them in but too soft to throw the bad apples out (this was used to boost nationalism and Euroscepticism).

By those means, Russian propaganda managed to manipulate both anti-imperialist and nationalist groups within the West as well as in Russia and Eastern Europe and pave the way for its "just war" of "reconquering" Eastern Europe. In the West, the image of Eastern Europe was molded as either "poor backwards savages we're better off without" (for nationalists), "paranoid silly yokels crying wolf about Russia who is now playing nice" (for moderates), "ingrates not worth defending so we'll pull out" (for Trump-like US conservatives) or "backwards homophobic barbarians we don't want here because they'll ruin our utopia" (for progressivists). In Russia, they were portrayed as "lost property", accused them of being "taken over by nazis" anytime they tried to acknowledge any of the repressions suffered from USSR, and "unconscious puppets of the West" and routinely threatened with "annexation in 3 days" whenever they "misbehaved" by taking a stance against Russia's politics, whether past or current. Finally, in Eastern European countries themselves, Russia tried to ruin the image of the liberal West by portraying them as "the real fascists", "liberalism gone so far it circled back to fascism" and to prop up its own image as the "savior from debauchery upholding the good ols ways".

Also worth noting that Putin was all too eager to intervene in any country that tried to reject Russian dominance or even its own pro-Russian dictatorship. He was ready to support Belarus in 2020 and intervened in Kazakhstan in 2022 just a month before the invasion of Ukraine.

So yeah, it was quite the prep work. All to ensure that when he went on his imperialistic crusade in EE, people at home and in the West and even in Eastern Europe itself would applaud him, failing that be indifferent, failing THAT remain unheard.

* by "Putin" I don't necessarily mean just him, but the lobby behind him as well.

[mesetacadre]

The Red Army had the advantage that it was born of Revolution and unhampered by traditions of the past. If this carried with it the disadvantage of inexperience, that fault was quickly corrected in the wars of intervention in which Soviet Russia was invaded by armies of fourteen foreign powers. The new Red Army generals were young and quick to learn from the military experience of the whole world. They were among the first in Europe to envisage the future forms of modern war. At a time when British and French military writers were still thinking in terms of the trench warfare of 1914-17 and German war effort was confined to theory by the treaty of Versailles, military writers in the Red Army journals were predicting the form of World War Two. Beginning in 1926 and thereafter, Soviet writers prophesied that future war would have the following three characteristics:

1. Great mobility at the beginning of the war, based on a powerful air force coordinated with highly mechanized ground troops.

2. A surprise attack that will rapidly overwhelm weak enemies with very small losses to the victor.

3. If two countries of comparatively equal strength are involved, and if the first surprise attack does not at once gain victory, the early stage of extreme mobility will pass into a relatively static war of position – though never so static as the war of 1914-17 – and the war will be decided by relative economic resources, war reserves, and the morale of the people.

Thus, the form of the second World War did not catch the Red Army unawares.

The Soviets Expected It (1941), Anna Louise Strong

[headingalaxys-spicy]

Can I ask for a country!reader with aph america, china and russia who used to depend on them for survival in the past because they were very poor, but now they are successful and distancing themselves? Thanks

I uh got lost on this one and it’s a long Drabble where I think I hit the mark but didn’t .

This one is kind of a long read.

Anyways I still hope you enjoy!

America 🇺🇸

Reminsing about the times you used to cling to him for everything.

You and your citizens needed food because your nation was experiencing a once-in-a-mellinnia drought?

You got it. Alfred would have prepared you and all of your people a splendid feast. He’s more than happy to provide.

Lacking clothes?

Not a problem. He’s made sure that all the clothes you require are bespoke. You look stunning & quickly made any other nation stare at you in awe whenever you attended world meetings with Alfred. Since you needed him, you did your best to prove your loyalty to him in subtle but sufficient ways. You always hung off his arm whenever meetings adjourned or before they began. You always sat next to him & voted in his favor when he did something for you. You’d become the lovely little charm he enjoyed showing on the world stage. He loved having all the strings attached to you. You were like a perfectly crafted marionette doll made just for him.

Alfred was always interested in maintaining dominance in your relationship. It was amusing to watch you attempt to break that power dynamic.

Alfred is going to allow you to cut your ties to him symbolically. He’ll allow your economy to blossom, the education sector to bloom, and you have one of the best healthcare systems. You’d figured out how to be efficient. But you had no military because you depended on him, and he couldn’t have you be too far independent from him. But to some degree, he wants you to believe that you are. He didn’t want to lose, just like England. He was better than him and felt that he’d always maintain control over you. It was obvious you couldn’t take care of yourself. You needed him. To him, your success was temporary.

The moment he sees the first string break from his precious puppet, he begins devising a plan to pin you with iron strings.

“Y/N? Why are you looking into how to structure a military? Aren’t the bases I gave you enough? But also aren’t your people kinda weak and like being with books and having intellectuals and farmers?”

“Yeah….” You began hesitantly and try to concoct a lie that would soothe his fears about being abandoned. You began to abhor the tight strings that choked the life out of your wrists. You wanted to begin to break free so that you could create a future independent of him & his contracts.

“No…actually…” Your voice was trembling now. You forced your arms outwards to the open air, waiting for the divine silver scissors to cut loose your wrists.

“I appreciate you, Alfred… I really do…but” You stare at him straight in the eyes, summoning your strength. His blue orbs had darkened with scary ghost-like shadows. Still you marched onwards.

“But I want to build myself up and be on my own.”

Alfred bit down on his own lip. Holding back his rage was difficult for him but he was desperately in love with you. He thought you would have known that it would have been your permanent place to be with him. The deal was that you were supposed to be in debt to him forever. And forever means until the end of time! Till the two of you were the last people standing in the midst of an alien war, the only ones on a desolate island. You were designed perfectly for him, but he had to let you find out just how difficult it is to be in charge of through thick & thin.

“That also means….” You place a comforting hand on his cheek to break him out of his internal fantasy of the two of you against the world. You attempt to soften the blow to his already bruised ego. A sprinkle of light briefly flashes over his eyes. You already know that what you’ve just started is going to be a major emotional endeavor.

“I can pay you back” A bright like the summer sun smile graced your face & melted some of the ice that had formed in his heart after hearing you wanted to become independent from him.

‘Y/N why do you have to do this to me? Why in hell do you want that of which is forbidden?’ He placed his hand on top of you hand that still cradled his cheek.

“Okay just let me know if I can hel-”

“NO! No… America…I’ve got to learn how to do things on my own. If I depend on you all the time I’ll never know how to do anything.”

The strings that are attached to your soul shake. Your wrists had been cut free by the silver scissors. That feeling was terrifying and magnificent.

Alfred's heart was hit with the sharp sting of a lightning bolt. What he feared was beginning to manifest into reality. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. It made him insanely angry and drove him mad. You never called him by his nation's name like that, at least not in a long time.

“Okay [Country Name]. We can talk later.” He politely removes your hand from his face and leaves you without giving you a hug good-bye. Alfred didn’t give you another glance before he left you alone. Once the door slammed shut that’s when his scheming began.

He will take you down like an agonizing tumor once you have your nation properly running. Alfred will allow you to stabilize because he wants to dissolve you slowly. He will document every miscalculation, bad decision, and failed proposal & use it as evidence that you should have never been allowed to be in charge of your own nation. This time his newer strings would be made of impenetrable steel.

Cartels and Mafias suddenly began to spring up in all of your major cities and spread to the suburbs. Your police departments were ineffective at solving the crime waves that were sweeping your small nation. Your government, of course, was in a panic due to the magnitude and rapid pace of these crime sprees. It only took three weeks for the chaos of the mafia wars to be taken to the quieter streets in the suburbs. There was an apparent hunt to find a drug den that had the product of at least $15 million. It was also rumored that it’s likely a scared diamond somewhere in your nation's midst.

“Oh, this is getting insane!”

You were watching the coverage of your nation's trials and tribulations on international television. America’s news outlets seemed to be particularly harsh. Deep down you were beginning to doubt whether being independent from him was the right choice.

‘Everything is getting so bad so quickly.’

You tap your fingers nervously against your desk until the fact dawns on you that: Dealing with tough issues was a part of life.

You take a deep inhale in and call a meeting with your boss, emergency response teams, & negotiators. You pop open your computer to take notes and devise a plan. You were ready for the crazy next few months with lots of caffeine and difficult conversations.

Alfred hates that you’ve become self-sufficient and can handle the major crises he’s constructed. You had cut loose your feet by now. You knew your silver scissors hungered for more. All you had left to cut was that of which was around your neck. He didn’t want to see you free.

The next thing Alfred will try to attack is your economy. Can’t run a nation on an empty bank account. As he drew up plans to make your nation sink under, there was a delicate knock at the door. He knew it was you. His heart hums fast-paced with anxiety-filled music.

‘Why won’t they be mine?’ He repeats over and over again in his mind. He swiftly flips his plan board to its other blank slate.

“Come in Y/N I know it’s you!” The door swings open to unveil his lovely puppet. You were ecstatic as you practically sprinted to him as you busted through the door. You had a white envelope with you.”

“Here you are Alfred some of what I owe you!” You gleefully hand him your payment. His heart begins to reveal that it has cracks that begin to deepen.

‘They can’t be doing this! How could they?!?! How in the fuck can they not see that they were made for me!’ Alfred didn’t want to admit he admired your determination. You really could be indepe-

Blood crept up his throat at the thought of your independence.

The check that you handed him may as well have been the sharp end of an axe. It made his blood run between ice and fire. He was angry that you desired the forbidden fruit and sad to some degree that you didn’t want him as much as he wanted you.

‘Weren’t you always supposed to stick around with the people who save you….Y/N? I’m your hero after all those decades…That means I’m supposed to own you for life dammit.’

Your hand on his shoulder will jolt him back to reality.

“Alfred, are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah. Yeah. Just busy and consumed with a few important things.” His eyes don’t meet yours they stay surveying the ground. He’s fighting the urge to pin you down & steal your silver scissors before they have a chance to become the ax. It means that you’d be able to sever your ties forever and be in-

“No.” He says to the frigid air-conditioned room.

“Hmm?”

“Long day Y/N and even longer month. You should go.” He shoos you away in an attempt to save face & not showcase his worse tendencies just yet. He needed you to believe that he was 100% on board with your plan to be 100% independent from him.

“Okay! I won’t linger. I’ll have another payment for you soon!” You rush off to continue with your ambitious endeavor. His heart never failed to flutter furiously whenever he was hit by your fiery determination. That’s one of the reasons he loved you and why he had to have you. He was itching to have you living with him again.

Once he see’s that you’d come a significant way in paying off your debt to him you had flourishing trade deals with larger countries that seemed to benefit your population greatly. You were doing it. The thick thread that was around your neck shook.

Alfred’s eye will twitch in reacting to the shift in power. He hated how you weren’t in his home doing more important things like cooking with him, playing video games, pigging out on pizza and watching movies. You knew how to soothe him, make him laugh, and fit perfectly between his arms.

Why did you have to break your responsibility to protect his heart?! Alfred’s inner turmoil about losing you will only increase. It will reach a boiling point where he’s going to resort to kidnapping you if you refuse to have a close permanent relationship where he can easily dominate you.

He shatters those silver scissors you possess into millions of tiny pieces. He doesn’t fail like Arthur because he is superior to that old man of his past. The iron strings will be bitterly cold & burn your skin. The steam of hate will be felt in the air as you know Alfred would never allow you to be without your strings. After all, you were all he’s ever wanted in his lonely life.

China 🇨🇳

There are many early mornings when the beauty of the Spring Blossoms takes his mind off of how his heart aches when he’s without you. With his legs crossed and his mouth inhaling deeply, his mind takes stock of the lack of noise in the background.

You weren’t there because you’d moved away.

Yao’s eye twitched at that awful thought. It made him sick to his stomach. He’s been through numerous wars, scandals, collapses, & centuries worth of bullshit. It’s not like he hadn’t felt betrayal but since he regarded you differently from the others. You had a certain effect on his heart, making him infatuated with you. You were like a rare gem unearthed from the Forbidden City. You were special to him, and no one else was allowed to have you. He, like Alfred, will want to maintain a calm & collected composure in front of you. Yao didn’t want you to know he hated the idea of you separating from him to become more independent. He wanted to keep you trapped in his beautifully crafted glass cage.

‘How in the hell does Y/N not love the life I meticulously crafted for them here?’ His mind wanders to all the fun outings you did together….hand-in-hand. One of the main things he enjoyed doing with you was drifting through Wangfujing snack street—the hustle and buzz of the sea of people that frequented the busy night market.

He loved being your guide & seeing your face light up when you tried something new & enjoyed it.

‘How could that not be enough for you Y/N?’

His nails scrape at his freshly pressed sage brown military uniform. The thick fabric crinkled under his frustration. He understood that having power over you would eventually make you want to escape him. He, however, was impressed with how you breached security systems and bypassed his guards.

For as long as you depended on him Yao primarily treated your relationship as he was your mentor that you were always supposed to adhere to. He always took up most of the time you had in the majority of your schedule. Yao hardly allowed you without his supervision either he or one of his guards was beside you. But what did that matter? Why should you complain? He provided for you since you’d come to him at his doorstep. You were desperate, destitute & in great need. You required his assistance & his tender love and care.

“Of course, y/n of course! Come in! You look sickly I can nurse you back to health!” Yao was ecstatic when you crawled to him in your desperate hour. It meant that he had an opportunity to ensnare you for all of your existence. That’s why he crafted that golden cage for you. It was beautiful, and that's all that should have mattered to you. Yao defended you well whether it be in the negotiation room on the world stage or even on the battlefield.

Yao had you covered. But you were still desperate to leave. It’s why the ground had tiny shards of glass that cut into him deeply.

Yao takes another deep inhale. He understood all too well that this was just a rebellious state & you’d soon be reminded of your place. All he’d have to do is retrieve & re-educate you.

Yao is going to devise ways to make your economy come to a sluggish crawl. He knows it is foolish to allow you to have a strong cultural economy which allowed your nation to expand your tourism, architecture, & education sectors. This allowed you to have time away from him so that you could develop your own ideals… a determent to his dominant control over you & your people. He wanted to keep you trapped in the delusion that you needed him for your survival.

‘The time for my sweet y/n to play this foolish game of independence has run it’s course.’

Yao’s mind blissfully wandered back to the days when he’d first found you: poor, destitute, and alone. You didn’t have any fight within you as a struggling nation. You and your people were on the verge of giving up all hope. Everyone who was a [name of your nation's people] wanted to resign themselves to being dissolved into the cold void of space, leaving behind nothing more than a chapter or two within the catalog of history.

That all changed when you caught the eye of one of the oldest empires in the world: China. He sought you out due to the fact that you were a lovely nation that sat near the sea. You had prime port spots and beautiful land whose capabilities were best suited for farming. He could take you under his wing & teach you how to utilize your available resources to it’s full capabilities. Not to squander itlike you were so foolishly doing.

He recognizes that his first huge miscalculation in maintaining control over you was allowing you to have unsupervised educational rights. You began to craft a population that valued critical thought over blindly following direction from those in charge.

Yao’s eye twitches once more. The thought of having to contend with a [country name] intellectual, professor, or anyone who’s been through your unique but effective education system meant he had….

“General Wang!” You have a response to the contract that you sent to [country name] for review.

Yao was eager to see your response to a partnership deal that was riddled with a ton of underhanded loopholes he could take advantage of if you disobeyed him. He was able to sense the hesitation in the soldier's hand. It wanted to jerk back. To keep his eyes away from the offensive sight.

“Let me guess the Magpie didn’t want to nest and make a home in its beautifully gilded cage?” No trace of surprise in his monotone voice. Within the calm, there was a silent raging anger brewing beneath his skin.

‘How fucking dare you Y/N. Using me. Don't you know once in debt you’ll always be in debt?’

It takes him a couple of decades to even acknowledge that he has feelings for you. By the time he does, he’s already rescued your nation a few times. He knew he felt differently about you just he couldn’t pinpoint why.

Yao hoped that you’d be satisfied with having the illusion of freedom. You could pick your clothes, what you ate, what outings. That was enough for a while. After all, you did come from a [country name] where there was nothing but struggle and strife and hardly enough to get by. It was easy at first to satiate your population with feasts that had high-quality and fresh food. Dim Sum day and night accompanied by the best teas and wines.

Yao LOVED showing off his knowledge of tea, whether it be a strong black tea that kicked alive all of your senses or a green tea that relaxed you to sleep and gave you lovely dreams. Crafting food and drinks was one of his specialties. He put extra passion and flare when it came to making food for you. That and he is trying to show off. He didn’t always need military power or grand spectacles to captivate. Thats what he had developed his cooking skills for. He could prove that he was more than just a political stronghold…he had a gentle side too. Yao is going to make a spectacle while he cooks. He will do back flips as he makes your pan-fried dumplings or spruces up your rice. His heart flutters with joy whenever he sees you giggle. It was like getting a strong hit of opium. You’re his addiction, and he wasn’t going to give it up. He wanted to create reasons as to why you should always be around him. So if keeping you poor was a part of the game, he was willing to do so.

He’s not an idiot or blind to how you’d be in pain from him being ruthless in trying to keep you under his thumb. So he does give you some economic leverage and allow your people to concentrate solely on art. He adored it when you created masterpieces especially when they were exclusively for him. It was easy & it wouldn’t burst the delicate bubble of reality that he wanted to keep you trapped in. It prevented the both of you for a while from thinking about the future. Yao could once again see his and your nation become tied together and be content. However, that's a double-edged sword as it does eventually lead you to crave more.

Yao is going to create a cyclical conundrum for himself: Give you microdoses of freedom that slowly show you that you can be independent and happy while fighting the urge to want to take you over and never let you be free and see you sad. He still has to worry about you seeking susbatantial answers he’s not really ready to answer (if ever). He hoped to some degree that as an immortal nation, you’d come to be infantilized forever. But he could not pause progress.

“You’re 100% right sir. Y/N & [citizen name] didn’t really want to be beholden to you anymore. The parliament has decided to vote against your proposal. They seem determined to forage their own way.”

“Dammit Y/N why do you have to be incredibly headstrong!” He springs to his feet as soon as the anger rushed through his body.

“Why do you have to be so ungrateful? Why do you show no respect? How in the world can Y/N not see that I LOVE & just want to PROTECT you!”

“Well, sir I suppose it’s time to resort to less gentle tactics to make them concede.”

“Oh, my rebellious misguided magpie. What am I going to do with you? Looks like you’re going to do with you? Looks like you’re going to need a heavy dose of tough love.”

Yao snaps his finger for his soldier to come close.

“If they want to prod the dragon as it sleeps then I’ll let the people of [country name] find out how foolish that is.”

Yao is going to “peacefully” kidnap you meaning he will bribe who he can and kill whoever can’t be reasoned with money when it comes to your security detail. He’s going to make a show of it. It will start when you accidentally cut yourself with glass. It will begin at the sole of your foot. Birds will suddenly join your midst. A black and white feather will land in your small puddle of blood.

“More won’t have to be spilled Y/N if you just give in.”

Russia 🇷🇺

At first, Ivan will be lax & he won’t really acknowledge the things that you’re trying to do to separate from him. He’ll want to believe he’s downed too much vodka and cocktails. It’s nonsense. Nonsense. All of it. Since you’d been with him for so long & still in debt to him he believed that’s guarantee that you’d never leave him. At this point in his mind, he’s built the narrative that you stayed because you loved him.

“ I wish things didn’t have to be this way,” Ivan says coldly with his pipe in one hand and love letter in the other.

At the beginning of your relationship, when you and your people were down on your luck, he saw you as a feminine version of Latvia that he wanted to protect and bear hug 24/7.

“Let the loving, warm arms of Mother Russia help you.”

Ivan is eager to assist you & your impoverished people not only because he is fond of you but because you have beautiful tracks of land when it’s not being bombarded by drought and animals facing severe infection and plagues. It seemed for some reason that sunshine and prosperity had been avoiding you like finding a cure to heal your cattle.

“Hmm? Ummm…” Were the only words that you could summon. You were shocked that one of the superpowers would come over to chit-chat with you. To some degree you knew you were hardly a faint blip on most nations radar.

“Y/N you’re cute when you behave like a nervous kitten.” He placed his gloved bear paw on top of your head. When he did so you could finally take stalk of how much taller he was than you. At least a foot and a few inches. Your muscles soon tensed up and intimidation along with a host of other emotions suddenly flooded your nervous system.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. I guess. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately you know?” Nervous still you began to involuntarily shake. You could tell if it was caused by your nerves or hunger. Being in his presence was intense. You bite down on your lip hoping there was at least some decent food when you got back to your room like your boss had promised. Your facade of keeping it together without collapsing seemed like an impossible task.

“Stress? What kind of stress? Tell me da? We are friends now after all aren’t we?” His pure periwinkle eyes sparkled with glitter with hints of black specks within them.

“Huh? I mean we’ve been on a few committees and have been in a few voting blocks together, but it’s …” You knew you had to be careful with your choice of words. One wrong one and you knew he could crush you in one quick motion only using his wrist.

You hardly had the energy to stand. You began to wobble. You became woozy.

“Come. Y/N. Come. You must sit sunflower. You look pale & weak.”

You were definitely going to ignore his emphasis on the word ‘weak’. You kept it as a mental note in the back of your head.

‘He’s being a bit suspicious and creepy. I wonder if he’s about to offer…’

“About to make you a kind offer you won’t forget.”

‘Is he!? No. NO. I’m definitely going loopy due to hunger.’ You were trying to concoct a response that was equal parts composed, resilient, and calm. However, that process was cut short when a grey, black, and white static filled your eyes. Rendering you incapable of seeming like a nation that had their shit together. Quite the opposite. With no response, Russia will take the lead. He placed his hand on your upper back. He took note of how your palms and fingers were spread apart wide in an attempt to stabilize yourself. Your eyes were glazed over with an exhausted grey mist.

He chuckles in amusement.

‘Man, this is going to be easy.’

It took a few minutes before your haze finally lifted. However, it felt like your soul had left your body and you were just an empty husk running on fumes.

“Um, this is really a conversation for a later time…” Unable to think of ways to navigate a negotiation with a massive country like Russia. You could at least buy yourself some time and try to talk to someone for advice. You know that it seemed benevolent but had plenty of tight ropes, strings, and red lines that come attached with such a deal.

“After the meeting, we can talk it out over dinner. I can show you some of my nation's best food.” His aura brightened at the fact that you’d be more within his domain and far deeper within his influence.

Russia, at this point, is kinda like a honey trap. He learned this tactic from his friend (enemy at times) America. Knowing how to be a smooth charmer even though he tends to have an unsettling presence that has chaotic energy with a baby face. He incorporates but doesn’t copy America. Russia tends to lean on his disarming soft face to help him and instead of offering punishments first, he’s more likely to offer an insensitive with maybe a threat at the end. (This only tends to happen if he can’t see that you’re responding positively to what’s being offered.) So Russia knows how to show more restraint.

Of course, you didn’t say no to the private meeting you had with him. Your boss practically begged you to do so, along with some of your citizens and advisers.

“How can we say no? You have to Y/N! What do we have to lose at this point?”An advisor stated with urgency.

“We can figure it out as we go but we must do something! This is a sign this is it!” Another citizen piped up.

“All right, all right I’ll go.”

Ivan will introduce you to this five-point plan that he drafted. It will be showcased through Matryoshka Doll. The five stages will explain how you will become one with Mother Russia without losing your recognizable national heritage.

‘Don’t worry’ is what he’ll assure you. He’s got all the heavy lifting. Just allow him to set the pace and control everything.

Ivan won’t immediately snap you up like a Venus fly trap. He knows that he has to manage you and all of your people, constituents, and other parties. He’ll let all settle in before he begins to move any plan forward.

Ivan’s scarf had wrapped around your shoulders as he brought out a Matryoshka doll that was about the size of your thumb.

“You will receive a new one once you complete a new phase. It shows how close friends we’ve become.”

Your eyes wander down to the bright red hooded figure that is decorated with Ivy and Azalea flowers. You ran your index finger down the smooth surface. You admired the intermixing of the pastels with the primary colors. The florals seemed to string themselves together like a fence that had cursive graffiti on it. In the back of your mind, you still couldn’t help but feel that you were making a huge mistake even if on the surface, things between you and Ivan would be smooth.

“We first have to ensure that your citizens are able to eat, have proper housing, and all of their other basic needs are met. You’ll have to live with me of course.”

‘Maybe, I’m just overthinking it. After all what choice do I really have? It’s not like I’ve been able to survive to well on my own.’

Your thumb continued to rub the fresh paint. The Azalea flowers encapsulated and sustained you. They were lovely because they represented the current concealed love. The colors made you feel safe and comforting. The coolness of the wood brought goosebumps to your skin. Your immune system was trying to send warning signs but you continued to ignore them for the idea that permanent comfort wasn’t too far off. The suffering was beginning to be too much to tolerate daily.

Ivan will make sure that you’re comfortable in his house. He’ll allow you to go see your nation every 4 months or so. The rest of the time will be you learning proper Russian, the culture, history, etc.

As you began to adjust to life with him, you enjoyed not having to face hardships. It was nice not to have to worry about where your next meal was to come from or how some of your particularly vulnerable cities managed to survive with minimal resources. These questions were no longer at the forefront of your mind. You allowed the sweet side of life to dull your senses.

The next part of Ivan’s five-point plan involves him having full jurisdiction of your military bases, ports, secret hubs, etc. He didn’t want you or your population getting into battle.

Ivan’s log-like arm was draped over you, and he introduced you to some of his seasoned commanders who’d be taking over all of your military operations. As you trailed behind him through the Russian-built base, you were in awe of the immense firepower he possessed and was lending to you. It was a not-so-subtle reminder of how much you now depended on him. It was the first time that you realized that you entered an inescapable pact that you made with Ivan. Your mind had finally registered the second doll with the Camellia flowers had been firmly sealed around you as it was tossed into the sea.

A firm squeeze on your hand brought you back to reality. Ivan’s sweet and somewhat sinister smile that adorned his pale snow face reassured you that everything would be fine so long as you were in his care.

If you want to escape him with the least emotional and economic damage and the lowest detriment to your citizens, then you really should have prevented him from setting up any kind of military infrastructure. So he now has a strategic advantage if (and or when) you try to separate from him.

As a nuclear power he of course, never let you have a program for energy much less for weapons. If you ever asked about such things ice and snow will coat the room while his face will have the everpresent smile remaining on Ivan’s face. His icicle-like ‘why’ was more than enough for you to never bring the subject up with him again.

The comfort began to feel more like constriction….suffocation. The air around you felt like you were in the vacuum of space.

The final matryoshka doll is decorated with cedar leaves (I will live for thee), Yellow Hyacinths (Jelously), Ivy (Wedded Love), and Primrose (I cannot live without you). It was handed to you right before the two of you began another tense meeting on why you’re trying to become more independent.

“I will not be without you Y/N nation of [insert most recognized attribute]”

“Hmmm?” Trying to make sure you didn’t just hear that highly possessive statement. Trying to give Ivan a chance to walk that back. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, you break it.

“Ivan, are you okay?” Your voice trembles out.

“Da Y/N….But we do have some difficult discussions to be had.” He closed his book with a loud thud, it was loud enough to make you jump in your seat a little.

At this point, it’s game over. Whatever well-thought-out plan you may have made to be independent of him may as well be strapped to a rocket being sent to the moon. If you want to be successful, you’d need another superpower backing you or extremely good socioeconomic conditions and political unrest in Russia to actually be able to win against him.

[milverton]

I watch Jake Broe's update videos on the war in Ukraine pretty religiously, so I wanted to share what he had to say in his latest video because I at least felt a little better about this whole new trumpocalypse fiasco after hearing some of the points he made.

Here's his tweet that summarises what he says in the video, but I would recommend still watching the whole thing! (I've bolded the main points)

Okay! We all needed a day to reflect on what happened and I have good news and bad news for Ukraine about Trump returning to the US Presidency.

Let's start with the bad news for Ukraine…

Trump could end all US military cooperation

Trump could lift all sanctions on Russia

Trump could return all frozen assets to Russia

Yes, that is all very bad, but there might be good news.

First, Trump is always transactional. It does not matter if Russia was helping Trump or not in the past, Trump does not feel like he owes anyone anything for past favors. If Trump ever gives something up, then he will want something in return at the same time.

Russia will make demands that Trump is happy to accommodate, but only if Russia agrees to something that makes Trump look good. If Russia refuses, then Trump will rapidly escalate against Russia out of spite. American weapons in Ukrainian hands have already killed hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers. Putin might refuse any kind of transactional deal with Trump. Nobody knows what either Trump or Putin will do. Trump could inadvertently destabilize Russia without even meaning to.

Second, Trump does not take over until January 20th, which means we know for a fact that Russia is not going to use a nuclear weapon before Trump returns to office. Russia is not going to start a nuclear war if they think Trump will give them favorable terms. Meaning there is no risk of escalation management the next two months. Take the gloves off!

For the next two months Ukraine should be given permission to hit whatever they want with whatever is given to them anywhere on Russian territory. Additionally, Biden now is forced to rush deliver and allocate the rest of America's available funds allocated by Congress to Ukraine this winter.

If instead Harris was re-elected and MAGA controlled Congress, military aid would have ended anyways and Biden would have tried to stretch these funds out until next summer. Biden can't do that now. So Ukraine is actually going to get a huge boost in military aid right away.

Third, even though I do not think Trump cares at all about Ukraine, he does care about his own image and legacy. He is never running for office ever again, but he loves to be loved by his supporters. He does not want to look weak and if Ukraine refuses to a negotiated capitulation and instead fights on without US help, these are going to be top headlines daily (maybe the fall of Kharkiv or the fall of Odesa) and this will make Trump look weak. He hates that. These would be images that would look worse for America than the US withdrawal of Afghanistan.

Forth, Trump hates Iran. Trump fiercely supports Israel and Iran is currently trying to destroy Israel. If Trump takes any military action against Iran (or looks the other way when Israel does) this could weaken or cripple one of Russia's most important allies. Harris was never going to do anything about Iran. Trump might actually cripple Iran and their Russian allied proxies in the Middle East.

Fifth, Trump loves the idea of cheap oil. He might actually find ways (cutting regulations, building more pipes, granting access to more public lands) that brings the global price of oil down so much that this ends up bankrupting Russia faster. That is not Trump's goal, but he might accidentally do it.

Sixth, Europe might finally militarily wake up once Trump stops answering their phone calls. Europe has the population and the economic power to support Ukraine and defeat the Russians without America's help. This is Europe's moment. They can't use America as an excuse anymore for holding them back.

Lastly… this is crazy, but Trump's economic plan of tariffs and trade wars might actually trigger a massive recession in the United States. When the US goes into recession, this almost always triggers a global recession. We realistically need an economic collapse of Russia to defeat them and Trump might accidentally cause this without even wanting to.

It is all weird to think about. But we just do not know what will happen or what the state of the war will be three months from now. It is a complete mystery to everyone, including the Russians.

Keep supporting Ukraine. Russia will be defeated.

[mariacallous]

you don't have to answer if you think it'll give you too much blowback but I think Biden's Israel strategy is that he thinks Bibi is likelier to listen to him if he gives US support than if he pulled the plug on support entirely, and he thinks Bibi would be even more unhinged if the US turned on him, so it's a harm reduction approach to diplomacy . There aren't any good options so he's taking the option that'll lose him the least votes domestically and what MIGHT result in Bibi being less awful. People can disagree with this strategy but it's frustrating to see the people who call him Genocide Joe not reading the news stories of the Biden administration putting immense pressure on the Israeli gov't behind the scenes. like idk maybe real diplomacy might work better in foreign policy than performative slogans and speeches ...

Unfortunately I think that’s exactly the calculation, and I do also think that it’s probably the best option available. Netanyahu and his government have made no secret of how extreme they are, and how little they care, both about people they disagree with/are opposed to and things like norms and morals. His government is also one that is prone to disproportionate reactions, both militarily and otherwise. All of that is to say that the options available and the outcomes are limited.

The US has also very poorly handled things in the Middle East (huge “no shit” moment there, I know, and obviously not just in the Middle East) historically and recently, and between the Trump administration left things in general and their specific actions re: Israel, the cards the US holds are very weak, and completely pulling support for Israel and doing the political and policy equivalents of chanting “from the river to the sea” a) makes Netanyahu and his government even more extreme and unresponsive and therefore they *really* can just go off and do what they want, since any restraining or moderating influence is completely gone, b) pushes them even closer to Russia and other powers who would welcome that kind of realignment and split, c) will cause Iran and its proxies (Hezbollah and Hamas) to be even more active and empowered and violent and d) is completely unhelpful for both Israeli and Palestinian civilians who would suffer more.

Because of how Biden has been handling things, we’ve gotten more aid in to Palestinians, more pressure to stop harming them, and more credit and support among the Israeli citizens, which puts even more pressure from above and below on Netanyahu, and it’s being done in a way that makes it difficult for Netanyahu and his government to try to use it or publicize it, plus it’s a steady pressure.

Is there more he could and should be doing? Absolutely. More aid and support going to Palestinians. Pushing even more on Egypt to open relief corridors. Less military aid being sent to Israel currently. But there’s no button or switch that can be used which just stops what’s happening.

[dostoyevsky-official]

PARIS, France — The embattled but defiant president of the French Fifth Republic, Emmanuel Macron, has vowed to fight on after rebel lawmakers toppled a key regime ally, Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

In a shock offensive, rebels overthrew Barnier over a budget bill meant to cement government rule. Experts in French and European studies, however, argued that the offensive wasn't a surprise, pointing to long-simmering political tensions, the Macron regime's growing weaknesses, and sectarian fissures in French society.

The rebel factions oppose each other but joined forces to deliver a crushing blow to the beleaguered, fractured government.

Le Pen's National Rally group was founded by extremist splinters of the Nazi Movement, but claims to have moderated in order to govern all of France. National Rally has changed its name several times to distance itself from its more radical past. Nonetheless, the faction has received funding and training from Russia and extremist groups in recent years.

The New Front Popular, a shaky alliance of left-wing groups, previously rejected any calls to work with more right-wing factions. Yet in a sign of the alliance's growing pragmatism, it fought together with National Rally to weaken the government's control in key areas, including over Matignon. It remains to be seen whether the alliance can avoid the internecine battles that have characterized it for so long.

France is a land known for for its history of political violence, protests, and revolutions. Political polarization has fueled sectarianism over the last decade, casting doubt on the country's ability to peacefully emerge from growing tensions and political deadlock.

The Young Vest movement in 2018 was the most recent uprising against Macron's rule. At its peak, the Young Vests maintained a presence in parts of the capital, Paris, and were closing in on control of key national infrastructure before being brutally crushed by the Macron government's security forces, known as the gendarmerie.

Sporadic strikes and clashes have broken out in the years following.

However, scenes across France remain calm in the aftermath of Barnier's overthrow. Parisians were spotted shopping and preparing for the Christian holiday season. Likewise, the mood remains peaceful in the rebel strongholds of Seine-Saint-Denis and Pas-de-Calais — at least for the moment.

At press time, a White House spokesperson said that the American military alliance with France is "ironclad" and called on all parties to respect the rule of law.

[tanadrin]

Duncan does a quick compare-and-contrast episode on the German Revolution, and points out that:

Kaiser Wilhelm bowed to pressure to switch out his government much faster than Tsar Nicholas

The SPD was immediately hostile to the spreading workers' and soldiers' councils in Germany--Friedrich Ebert, despite heading the SPD, is really hostile to the idea of a social revolution like occurred in Russia, and thinks the SPD can win socialist goals in a parliamentary system because of its electoral strength. (This is not absurd on its face--Russia at this point is in civil war and there are competing Red and White Terrors; the SPD is electorally strong, though the weakness of the parliamentary system Germany will get will prove to be a huge problem)

Prince Max shoves the Kaiser out the door by announcing his abdication, even before the Kaiser actually does abdicate, then immediately resigns in favor of Friedrich Ebert, the head of the SPD. In general one gets the sense that the SPD is not getting caught flat-footed by events like everybody was in the Russian revolution, but accurately anticipating or even forcing them to ensure a smooth transition of power.

In Germany the provisional government is all socialists instead of all liberals, the equivalent of the Right SRs in Russia

When a call goes out for a worker's assembly in Berlin to run the new government, and Ebert can't stop it, he leans into it and gets as many of his guys into it as possible--once again showing the Wisdom of Showing Up to Meetings. The SPD and the anti-war USPD splinter faction manage to coopt this assembly.

The radical left is explicitly trying to create a revolutionary body to overawe the provisional government a la the Petrograd Soviet, but instead of it being SRs and Mensheviks in the Soviet versus liberal Kadets in the government, the SPD/USPD is controlling the whole show. No dual power dynamic emerges.

Ebert also quickly moves to get the German military onside: in exchange for their support against attempts to implement a soviet-style system in Germany, he promises not to fuck with their autonomy.

The war ends like two days after the November Revolution starts--I think Baden is appointed head of the government on the 9th, and the armistics occurs on the 11th. There's no question of continuing the fighting--indeed, one aim the military is trying to secure is getting the civilian government to end the war, so they aren't blamed for it (despite their situation being unwinnable).

Circumstances helped a lot--and the SPD and Ebert in particular are much better at navigating the situation than anybody between February and October 1917 in Russia. It helps that the SPD is a big-tent party with a ton of support, in a more developed multiparty political system. These are the same properties that made then feckless when opposing the war, but left them in a position to take up the reins of government in 1918.

Ebert's government is good at quickly announcing a slate of popular social and political reforms, delivering on their socialist credentials; it helps that the workers' and soldiers' councils that do form are more ideologically in line with the SPD than they are with the Bolsheviks, and support the government's call for a national assembly slash constitutional convention. Unlike in Russia, this assembly is not delayed by war or anything else.

When the USDP and Spartacists/KPD break decisively with the SPD, they are kind of muddled in their aims and divided between each other, and the Spartacist Uprising breaks out basically by accident, but fails to attract much mass support. Ebert is able to use the Freikorps to suppress the uprising. More July Days than October Revolution--and Liebknecht and Luxemburg are captured by the Freikorps and murdered, which means there's no regrouping and reconsolidation for an equivalent later push.

As with the Russian Revolution, very small differences in both individual actions and general circumstances might have produced wildly different results--anything from right-wing military dictatorship to full-blown communist revolution. Still, it's hard to see the Weimar Republic as the optimal outcome, given how that's going to turn out.

[imagoddamnonionmason]

Basic Information

Other Name(s):  Nadežda Pugacheva (before brainwashing), Nadya (family and Perseus Operators), Nad (Keith), Jo (Mason, Woods), Bell (callsign), Auntie Dodie (Toddler!David Mason). Later become Jodie Woods, once she and Frank become married in 1984.

Physical Appearance

Eyes: honeyed brown

Hair: dark brown

Skin: white

Tattoo(s): none

Scar(s): shoulder, chest - gunshot wounds. Other misc. scars. 

Face Claim: Kate Beckinsale

Description: At first glance, Jodie seems to be quite plain, though this is something that she prefers given her line of work. Her hair is just past shoulder-length when she wears it down, but when working it is pulled up into a ponytail/low bun. There are some bangs that frame her forehead and sides of her face, which can be wayward when she attempts to tie them back, so usually leaves them alone. 

Her facial features are sharp, nestled on an oval shaped frame. Occasionally, when a situation calls for it, she will wear minimal makeup - she feels out of place when she does wear it, so often opts out of it. Her ears are pierced with a singular stud, but takes them out when on missions. 

As for what she wears, Jodie will often wear jeans and a plain grey t-shirt when in the safe house or her downtime, accented with a jean jacket, or cardigan if it’s a little cold. She does have a thicker, muted green winter jacket for colder weather. She also wears plain pumps. 

For missions, it’s often a muted green turtleneck, dark jacket and combat trousers, with military boots. She will also wear the appropriate paraphernalia attributed with operators to carry extra clips, lethals and other such equipment. 

Personality

Like(s): coffee, dogs, nighttime, rain, puzzles, cyphers, that people actually trust her, Frank's beard (if he shaves, she fights), intelligent conversation, her daughter (loves her so much)

Dislike(s): dark chocolate, when it’s so hot you can’t breathe, being snuck up on, being spoken about as though she isn't there, people questioning her loyalty or her integrity, being left out of important conversations that involve her, if anyone messes with her daughter, being judged based on her past, not having full recollection of her past

Strength(s): calm, efficient, loyal, fast thinker, keen eye for patterns and details, can be very patient, willing to compromise where needed, adaptable

Weakness(es): can be cold and mistrustful, can be very guarded even against those she trusts, lets past trauma rule her sometimes, even though loyalty is also her strength it can also be her weakness, her calmness can be taken as being cold, detached, even apathetic sometimes, at other times she can be stubborn and her anger can get the better of her. When she sees red, it's red.

Relationships

Parent(s): unnamed Russian mother, unnamed Russian father 

Sibling(s): Radomir Timofeyovich Pugachev aka Timosha (brother)

Friend(s): Sarah and Alex Mason, (after a time) Russell Adler, Aleksandra Adler (@alypink's OC)

Spouse(s): Frank Woods (husband)

Child(ren): Ashley Woods (daughter)

Biography

1949 - Nadežda’s family is captured by the MGB and sent to [redacted], an undisclosed Gulag within rural Russia. Father, a WW2 veteran, was executed at the time of capture. There were rumours that he was critical of the current government and had become belligerent with his negative opinion of his leaders. By extension, his family were heavily scrutinised and kept at the Gulag. Her mother passed away in the labour camp. Initially, Nadežda and her brother, Radomir, were kept there with their mother, until her death, then were sent to a children’s orphanage. 

1953 - Nadežda is approached by an old friend of her father’s, who said to have fought alongside him during WW2. He makes her an offer she can’t refuse and joins his ranks despite her young age. She did this as this old friend promised he could find a suitable family to keep her brother safe and grow up to live in a better Russia. From then, she trained to fight and became an excellent tool for Perseus to use. (He had been too late to ask for her father to join his ranks, but she was the next best thing in his mind.)

1958 - At the age of eighteen, Nadežda was ordered to join the KGB by Perseus, to work alongside comrades and earn their trust, so that he may learn ways to exploit them if the need arose in the future and to seek potential operators to join his ranks. She studied at the Higher Intelligence School in Moscow, where she extended her espionage knowledge.

1960 - [redacted].

1962 - Nadežda is ordered to collect information regarding growing US involvement in Vietnam. Any encoded information regarding US military operations is passed over Nadežda’s desk. Also ordered to decode any Russian intelligence regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

1965 - [redacted].

1968 - encoded intelligence regarding Operation Fracture Jaw is decoded by Nadežda. 

1969 - [redacted].

1976 - Nadežda, alongside other Persues operators, rescues Vikhor “Stitch” Kuzmin.

[Following paragraphs are redacted.]

1979 - Nadežda makes contact with Special Officer, Keith Wells, offering crucial insight into Perseus’ organisation. What causes this change of allegiance is unknown to the CIA. Nadežda is informed by Officer Wells that there is a mole within the CIA and not to trust any other operator other than himself, as they could not risk the information crossing the palms of the wrong person. They come to an agreement that Nadežda would claim no knowledge of him in the face of possible interrogations, if ever that came to happen. 

[Following paragraphs are redacted.]

1981 - January 13, Nadežda accompanied Arash Kadivar to Trabzon airfield, Turkey. Subsequently, Kadivar shoots Nadežda after revealing that he knows of her betrayal. He states that it’s a shame one of Perseus’ top agents turns out to be nothing more than a traitorous dog. CIA operatives, Alex Mason, Frank Woods and Russell Adler assassinate Kadivar, preventing the weapons from leaving the country. Upon sweeping the tarmac for survivors, Adler finds Nadežda still alive with a dossier related to Perseus. 

Following Nadežda’s capture and recovery from her injuries, traditional methods of interrogation did not succeed. She had hoped that, due to her captors being the CIA, word of her capture might reach Officer Wells, as she intended to keep her word and say nothing of their interactions; after expressing, in one interrogation, that the only operator she would speak with was Officer Wells, she is informed that he was presumed KIA and possibly at the hands of a Perseus Operator. Nadežda does not know whether to trust this information, given what Officer Wells had said in the past and so kept her mouth shut out of loyalty to him.

Several weeks later, through psychological torture, neuroactive drugs and hypnosis, Adler, the CIA, alongside MI6 Agent Helen Park, brainwashed her. A connection was formed between Adler and Nadežda by use of fake, implanted memories inspired by Adler’s time in Vietnam with the success of implying a years-long friendship between the two. 

Nadežda was no more and Adler gave her the callsign Bell. 

Alongside this, a whole new persona was fashioned and Bell was an MI6 Agent, Jodie Hall, from London, England, though information of her past never went further than that.  

“We have a job to do.” was the common trigger phrase to keep Bell in check as well as slipping small amounts of neuro-stimulant drugs to Bell to keep their conditioning effective. 

Volkov is captured. 

Bell and Woods uncover a Spetsnaz training ground - encrypted information regarding Operation Greenlight is uncovered. 

KGB headquarters infiltrated with the help of Dimitri Belikov uncovering previously erased names of Sleeper Agents, who Perseus aims to use in their upcoming infiltration of Operation Greenlight. 

Sleeper Agent Theodore Hastings is followed to Cuba, where the mission goes south - Bell saves Park’s life but is unable to save Lazar. 

Adler and the team reveal Bell’s true identity, but she remains loyal to their cause, revealing the location of Perseus and the station which will be used to detonate the nukes aimed on half the world. Though she is confused, betrayed and angry, she understands this choice is the right one and, somewhere deep down, she knows she didn’t need the conditioning to have made it. 

Solovetsky is attacked and the nukes are stopped. 

Bell is MIA for a short while.

Once located, a deal is made with the CIA that she would offer her services and any information she had on the Perseus faction and hunting down any Perseus Operators still in action in exchange for starting a new life in America as her given persona, Jodie Hall.

[xoalin4]

This is my first time ever making a story/geadcannon thingy. I’m sorry if it’s bad, I’m still trying to learn how to do it.

Nikto x reader

Nikto never knew how it show love, how to be gentle nor kind.

I mean, how was he supposed to know when he grew up in a shit household, a shit mother, an even shitter father and a shit school.

he hated his childhood, he basically never had one. No warm hugs from his parents, no going shopping with his mother, no Christmas presents. Nothing.

he wasn’t a good kid neither, always getting into fights in school, out of school, at home. Skipping school and often times not coming home for a whole week.

he was only good at one thing in his life, killing and sex. First time he had sex was when he was 16, and he kept going back to that same brothel. So it was obvious he was going to be good at it.

But what was he supposed to do when a cute little thing like you came up to him? Ignore you obviously. But that didn’t work.

you were persistent, following him around base like a lost puppy. God, you were insatiable

how did someone like you even end up in the military? God knows how. You were weak and too kind for your own good.

It annoyed him, any chance you’d get, you would cling to his arm. Staying near to him no matter how many times your other colleagues told you to stay away from him.

It also annoyed him even more when those fucking men would drool over you while you were working out. Oh how much he wanted to punch their faces in until there was nothing but mush left.

You were too kind, too weak and for gods sake, too fucking innocent to realise that those touches and looks those men gave you were far from kind.

He wanted to protect you from their prying eyes, wanted to take you back to Russia and lock you in his house to become his perfect little wife.

You’d look so beautiful there, cooking a meal for him to eat each time he comes back from a mission, just for him to eat you after like he never even touched his food.

He was a disgusting pig for wanting something like you, something so pretty and pure. You were barely in your late twenties! But hey, you were an adult weren’t you?

So it wasn’t that bad. Yeah, it wasn’t that bad that he imagined ruining that pure body of yours with his tainted hands. It wasn’t that bad that he wanted to choke you with his cock. It wasn’t that bad that he wanted to completely ruin you until you were nothing but an obedient little wife for him.

Yeah, it wasn’t that bad.

But what did you expect when you looked at him with those goddamn glossy eyes? You were so- fucking perfect in his eyes. Nothing like him.

He shouldn’t even be looking at you, he was far too tainted to ever be able to touch you. to hold you. To buy you sweet meaningless gifts. To fucking ruin you.

He was disgusted in himself. Disgusted that almost every night he had to fight off the urge to fist his cock while looking at the photo he has of you in your underwear while you were getting changed.

You wouldn’t mind right? You wouldn’t mind that he imagines doing unspeakable things to you? You wouldn’t mind that he has photos of you half naked on his phone that he somehow got without ever asking you?

God he couldn’t help himself, he wanted you, and he wanted you bad. None of the cheap whores at the brothel could ever compare to you. Because each time he was bottomed out in one of them, all he couldn’t think of was you.

He should be ashamed, and he is! But he simply doesn’t care enough to stop. And is too scared to ask you out on a proper date. Not that he even knows how to do one

I mean, why would someone so precious like you want someone like him? Cold, face disfigured beyond recognition, body tainted with too many scars to count. He was ruined

But then again, you were clinging to him like your life depended on it, so who is he to not take advantage of that? He is none but a man after all.

So when you did follow him to his corders one night, he couldn’t help it. If you wanted to follow him asking for his cock like a slut then who was he to deny? You never asked for it, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want it

—————————————————————————

You don’t know how it happened honestly, it all went to fast. One minute you were following nikto to his corridors and the next your face was pressed into the pillows with his cock sheathed deep inside your sopping cunt.

He wasn’t gentle with it either, tho he did prep you with his fingers, tho that wasn’t very gentle. But you liked it, of course you did! Who were you to not like anything nikto gave you? What was the point of having you if you didn’t except what he gave you without a problem?

He was big, not overly big but decent enough to stretch you so much it hurt. But god it felt good, maybe you were just a whore. Who knows.

You didn’t even understand half of what he was saying, since he decided to switch his language on you the moment he entered your cunt.

His cock sliding out of your velvet walls, before slamming back in. His hands gripping your hips so fucking hard there is going to be bruises. He didn’t even have the decency to take his gloves off! But you didn’t mind, you’d wear the bruises with pride.

To say it was rough was an understatement, he made it so it would hurt you. He wanted to hurt you, to see you cry and sob in pain. It was your fault after all, you shouldn’t have gone for someone like him.

His hand would grip the back of your hair and pull your head back from time to time, leaning his bulky form over your back to whisper in your ear about how much of a whore you are.

The words only made you clench tighter for him, and he loved it. He’d never go back to them cheap whores at the brothel if it meant he’d be able to bottom out in your whenever he wanted.

You were perfect for him, so small, so tight, so innocent and for him to completely fucking ruin.

He was contemplating just going with his plan in the first place, to take you to Russia to be his wife. He wouldn’t care if you even wanted to be his wife. He has his hands on you and he is never taking them off.

You were so cute tho, your fucked out expression, face scrunched up in pain but overwhelming pleasure. You had practically begged for him to cum inside you with the way your walls clinged to him.

So who was he to care if you whined about being too sore and full to go another round? He didn’t care, he wanted more and he was going to take more.

But he did love you! At least he thinks he did. This is what love is right? That this is how it’s supposed to be?

He’d bring you home, stuff you full of his children but then make you take some pills because he is too scared to be a father.

He’d get you what you wanted, if he felt like you deserved it. He’d get a nice house, have you cook for him and clean the house while he goes out and fights wars.

You’d be such a perfect wife, if you listen to him and do everything he says. He believes that is how love is supposed to be, In his eyes it’s perfect.

He sometimes got a bit too rough during sex tho. he couldn’t help it, he was just not born to be gentle, and you were just so fuckable it only made it worse.

Tho when he did notice that he actually hurt you, a bit too much, he felt guilty as if he committed the worse sin to mankind. He’d get scared, he hurt his precious girl! Now she is never going to want to be with him anymore!

When that does happen tho, he usually stops whatever he was doing and looks at you with stiff posture, basically frozen, unsure of what to do. Before he leaves the room in a rush.

You don’t see him for the next week.

Tho when you did see him again, he was quiet, distant, just like how he was when you’d cling to him for the first time. Pushing you away.

You would then have to plead with him to come back, saying that he did nothing wrong and it was all an accident.

He usually comes back after that. Because god he missed you, missed your smell, your touch, your voice, your everything.

The first time that happened and you got him back, he was practically glued to your side for the whole day. Tho he never once touched you without you asking for it, too scared that he’ll hurt you again and fuck it all up. Just like he always does.

At night when you’d go to bed, he’d lie down stiffly next to you. Until you’d open your arms and call for him, pleading to him that it was ok.

He’d then lay almost on top of you, crushing your poor body with his heavy weight. Tho you didn’t dare make a sound, you didn’t want him to know he was hurting you again.

Tho after that he went back to same old him, emotionless and fucking you like you were some worthless toy. Not caring to be gentle again

Safe to say, is that your relationship isn’t the best, it’s unhealthily and borderline manipulative most of the time.

But he loved you and that was all that mattered.

Right?

Hello! Thank you for reading! If you got it this far without skipping.

This is one of my first stories and first time ever uploading on here. If this is even a story. It’s more of like head canons I suppose.

If there is something wrong about this or something you think I should work on do tell me.

Or if you would like to request headcanons of him or some other character in call of duty you can! I will take requests on my TikTok which is ‘ Xoalin4 ‘ or ‘ xota_linda ‘

I also create bots on Poe and I take requests for them as well. You can find my Poe account on my TikTok description, there is a link.

I take requests for headcanons of: ghost, König, Krueger, Velikan and most of all, nikto

[ultreit-chud]

You're full of wishful thinking that Israel can be destroyed. Iran is weak. Russia is weak and controlled by Jews. Assad just fell. Hezbollah is getting destroyed.

Israel is an extremely fragile construct which is why it needs every government around it toppled or bribed to hell, trillions in Yank military operations for it's benefit and can't stand even mild criticism. Their demographics are more and more orthodox every year, which are inbred retards that refuse to serve in the military but are the biggest warhawks out of all Israelis.

The Israelis certainly don't believe they're safe, otherwise they wouldn't bother doing all this shit. What they're doing now is because they're afraid they couldn't do it in a few years because their enemies are getting stronger. Just a few years ago, the thought of Hamas invading Israel and taking over military bases was considered a pipe dream and Iran bombing Israel a fantasy. Now it's reality and America, their most loyal golem, can't keep up military recruitment numbers because the mainstream opinion is totally anti-war.

[simply-ivanka]

Germany Should Have Listened to Trump

Tuesday 2.27.2024 Wall Street Journal

By Walter Russell Mead

Trump was right about Berlin’s self-defense and risky energy dependence on Russia.

The lower house of Germany’s Parliament voted to legalize the recreational use of cannabis last week. It was a timely move. Germany’s leadership class is going to need all the mellow it can find in a world that isn’t going Germany’s way.

Russian advances in Ukraine and American paralysis over the next aid package are reinforcing the reality that Germany needs to defend itself but lacks the power to do so. So are developments in the Red Sea, where German manufacturers must cope with shipping delays as the Biden administration fails to keep the vital waterway clear.

Forget the 2% of gross domestic product that Germany has repeatedly promised and failed to spend on defense. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius shocked many observers this month when he said that in the new world situation, Germany may have to spend as much as 3.5% of GDP for defense.

The economic news is also grim. Last year Germany’s GDP shrank 0.3%, and last week the government slashed 2024 growth estimates to a pitiful 0.2%. Economists expect negative growth during the first quarter of 2024, placing the country in recession. The outlook for housing is bleak, with business confidence reaching all-time lows. The news in manufacturing is little better. This month the widely followed HCOB German Flash Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 46.1, the eighth month in a row that the index has pointed to decreasing economic activity.

Energy prices are a particular sore spot. The chemical giant BASF announced ���1 billion in spending cuts in its German operations, blaming a mix of weak demand in the German market and “structurally higher energy prices.” Enormous U.S. subsidies under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act are leading German companies to look across the Atlantic.

Chinese competition is another massive worry. China long ago passed Germany as the world’s largest car producer. Increasingly, especially in electric vehicles, it is challenging Germany as both a low-cost and high-quality manufacturer. Beijing aims to marginalize German capital goods and automobile companies in China while Chinese exporters challenge German dominance in world markets.

With the associations representing the small and medium-size Mittelstand firms that make up the heart of the German economy warning in a rare joint open letter about Germany’s loss of competitiveness, Economy Minister Robert Habeck isn’t mincing words. The economy is in “rough waters.” The “competitiveness of Germany as an industrial location” is in doubt.

It isn’t all doom and gloom. The outlook for the service sector is brighter than for manufacturing, and as the Journal reported last week, the Ifo Institute’s business-climate index improved slightly this month. The best that can be said for the outlook? “The German economy is stabilizing at a low level,” according to Ifo’s president.

Meanwhile, Germany’s dysfunctional three-party coalition government is paralyzed by internal struggles. The largest party in the coalition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), is deeply divided over foreign policy, with many nostalgic for good relations with Russia and allergic to military spending. The SPD also wants Biden-like government spending initiatives to revive the German industrial machine and expand social benefits. The Greens, the next-largest party, are by German standards foreign-policy hawks but continue to press for a rapid energy transition that drives up costs for business and consumers. The third party in the coalition, the Free Democrats, wants to hold the line on government spending. As if this weren’t enough trouble, the conservative opposition parties have a blocking minority in Parliament’s upper house.

This is not where Germans thought they would be. Sixteen months ago, I visited Berlin and heard from a stream of government officials, think tankers and economists that everything was working fine. Russia was failing in Ukraine. The energy transition would boost German competitiveness and employment. Germany’s Mittelstand would handle anything China could throw at it.

Under the circumstances, it’s no surprise that antiestablishment parties are growing in Germany. The far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) currently has more support than any of the governing parties, with one recent poll showing the AfD at 19%, the Social Democrats at 14%, the Greens at 13%, and the Free Democrats at 4%.

The most bitter pill of all for Germany’s establishment may be the realization that on the most important issues facing Germany, Donald Trump was right where they were wrong. Getting in bed with Vladimir Putin for cheap energy was both foolish and deeply disloyal to the West. German defense policy was self-defeating and dangerous. China wasn’t a reliable partner.

“Ich bin ein Berliner,” was President John F. Kennedy’s message to Germany. If Donald Trump returns to the White House, his message will likely be “Das habe ich gleich gesagt,” or “I told you so.”