#war fatalities

[tomorrowusa]

In some ways it’s poetic justice. Putin’s genocidal war to destroy Ukrainian identity is also a deep self-inflicted wound on Russia itself.

Tens of thousands of Russians have already died in the conflict and hundreds of thousands more, mostly young and talented, have fled the country. A majority of the latter will probably not return.

If men go to war or emigrate en masse instead of fathering children, where will the children come from? The effect on the labor market will also be severe: conscription at such a productive age leeches the labor force out of an economy that is already expected to lose 3–4 million people aged twenty to forty by 2030 (compared to 2020) for objective demographic reasons.

The working population is also losing those who have already left or will leave the country in response to the intense militarization of life, not to mention those who are mobilized, killed, or maimed in combat if the so-called “special operation” continues.

Combined, this will create a significant labor force deficit and a plethora of demographic problems, further exacerbating the negative dynamics in birth rates observed in Russia since 2016–2017.

Demographic imbalances are nothing new. But the countries in East Asia experiencing them, unlike Russia, are not also causing their economies to gradually implode with wars of aggression which they cannot afford. 

Putin’s war will set off a cascade of demographic problems which will last for decades in Russia.

A year of military service for the 300,000 men mobilized into the army in September and October 2022 will mean 25,000 fewer births, estimates Mikhail Denisenko, director of the Institute of Demography of the Higher School of Economics. That isn’t a huge number, but it could rise significantly as a result of emigration, the long-term decline in birth rates, and potential expansion of the mobilization age.

Like Trump Republicans in the US, Putinists are cracking down on abortion to try to offset demographic issues. But that may be too late to have much effect.

Worried about the reduced production of future soldiers for their imaginary empire, lawmakers—supported by the clergy—are mulling a partial ban on abortion. Yet Russia has mostly completed the “third demographic transition,” when the majority of the population gains the ability to regulate birth rates. Abortions are no longer widespread in the country.

Putin has been spending heavily on his police state apparatus and on his large third-rate army. This, as well as corrupt oligarchs siphoning off tens of billions to buy superyachts and luxurious foreign property, have led to underinvestment in much of the Russian economy.

Meanwhile, the proportion of productive expenditure (above all, education and healthcare) is stagnant at best and cannot compete with the unproductive expenditure that takes priority for a military-police state. Furthermore, it’s difficult to assess the real scale of spending on the military and defense (including the state’s defense from its own citizens): about 23 percent of expenditure in the 2023 budget is classified. 

Another way Russia is in sync with the far right in the US is its war on education. 

Authoritarian regimes want to get rid of high-quality and globally competitive education. The “special military operation” has only accelerated the political purges at Russian educational establishments. We have yet to find out how many young people with science and technology degrees have left Russia (including due to fears of being persecuted for espionage or treason if working with covert innovations). However, even the nearsighted state has noticed that the number of high school students planning to take the Unified State Exam in physics and information sciences has fallen.

A high-quality, modern education produces modern, thinking people, and thinking people aren’t prepared to go and fight for false ideals. Educated individuals are independent individuals, including economically. A militarized state does not need independent people. It needs people who diligently obey orders. 

So it’s not just the quantity of people Russia is losing but also the quality.

The longer the war lasts, the more likely Russia will end up as a hollowed-out state with a stagnant economy run by aging vatniks who are obsessed with nostalgia for the geopolitics of the 1970s.

In 20 years people won’t be saying: “What a glorious leader Putin was!” Instead it will be something like: “What the fuck was that shithead thinking?”

EDIT: Speaking of Russian losses...

[br-disaster]

Nie Mingjue: *is a little unsteady on his feet*

Nie Huaisang, immediately: 🏃🏃

[vikobelo]

mother Hera (*￣3￣)╭ for force fatale zine

[shyranno]

Happy belated birthday, Kelly Marie Tran! I love you always

Piece done for @forcefatalezine <3

[sapphicsparkles]

My Bo-Katan piece for the @forcefatalezine !!! Absolutely loved this project! Everything was beautifully done and the mods were a joy to work with!

[tony-loon]

"Oh nooo, my dear Enric just died, he was my Pryde and joy… that's my fifth billionaire husband just fading away in my arms…. how could that happen?" Bonus:

Based on this wonderful chart that I sadly do not know the origin of: IF YOU HAVE THE ORIGINAL LINK PLS COMMENT OR MESSAGE ME SO I CAN CREDIT THE GENIUS WHO CAME UP WITH IT!!!!

[texaschainsawmascara]

Femme Fatales covers

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[jazzrazzberry]

Ranking all the Doctors

Everyone outside of the box is a little bit of a sad sack. I don’t make the rules. I’ve forgotten some I’m so sorry for my crimes. It’s hard to find pictures. We worked really hard for this.

[queenjiru]

I can finally post the piece I did for the @forcefatalezine ! I had the honor of drawing the elegant Mon Mothma ✨

[allgremlinart]

unpopular opinion I think Azula wanted Lu Ten dead as a kid on some level I think she wanted to put him in a Saw Trap. like "I'd be a way better Firelord than this guy and also he keeps giving me Welches Fruit Gummies when he comes over when I TOLD him I HATE gummy based snacks. I'm going to put scorpions in his shoes" etc etc

[thenegoteator]

just realised I forgot to post this - it's my piece for the @forcefatalezine!!! such an excellent project, I really recommend keeping an eye out for the leftover sales coming up!!!

[ayaisokay]

The Kids Aren't Alright

* ~ I'm sorry for making this ~ *

Doomers & Fatalism

Regardless of your age, you need a reason to move forward. You need hope. Yet, it's hard to find hope for teens and young adults.

Not a year goes by without an update on the planet's decline (at our hand), wealth is only feeling more unstable and unequally distributed, a pandemic destroyed any hope of sociability for some, and social media does more harm than good when it "connects" people.

There's no true community, nothing to take pride in, there's hardly motivation for ambition or wealth. Hell, we grow up being told we'll be a generation of renters, because it's a statistical improbability than any of us will EVER afford a home without working 3 jobs into our grave.

I can't speak for America, but I know my government haven't made any real effort to prevent renter's from taking that news and slowly inflating rent costs each month.

I'm a part of the generation that is thought to deal with the broadest range of mental health concerns; however, I'm also part of the generation that's most likely to be told to "deal with it," or "grow up," by the people perpetuating our suffering, or the peers that fell victim to toxic hustle culture— enabling the shitty circumstances.

When you start adulthood with so many problems that directly impact your life, most of which come at no fault of your own, you'd hope for help in addressing those matters, but it never comes.

We're told we're lazy, we don't try hard enough, and we've got it easy (which is a demonstrable lie). How is it any surprise we became hopeless doomers? At some point you just get the idea that we were destined to fail.

Threats of War

Now we're told to be ready for World War 3 and I'm struggling to understand why. What values am I defending? Why should I die for a country that doesn't care about me?

Sure, Ukraine and Palestine are in shitty situations, but saying that doesn't require me to do anything. Though they demonstrate something: the government will risk our lives for money, and turn a blind eye to genocide if it suits them.

All that matters is that we're made to feel like our interests align. They don't represent us. They represent themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I don't support either conflict, and I sympathise with the aforementioned nations; however, I am not willing to die for them— I don't think you are. So is it even fair for us to bother complaining? It's not like diplomacy has done a thing so far.

Whether we're roped into a war or not, it doesn't feel like we'd have a choice.

Hobbies and Corporations

Normally I'd propose finding an outlet for everything. I'm not sure that's ideal anymore. Commonplace hobbies like gaming, sports, martial arts, reading, and art, they require 3 things: time, motivation, and effort.

Thanks to hustle culture, holding 3 jobs, running a drop shipping business, and abandoning any meaningful social life is considered just enough and reasonable. That doesn't leave time for personal hobbies, entertainment, or time to actually live. A life like that is no life at all. You're an animal operating on the exclusive goal of survival. You're alive, but you're not living.

Among those of us too physically or mentally scarred to work like our peers, we compassionately took to pen and paper, or software and devices, writing stories, drawing and animating worlds, or making music.

I fear that pocket of joy is getting smaller. AI image generation has already impacted artists, AI voice recreations are already being used in place of some voice actors, and we've all seen the AI voice covers for songs— claiming "you don't need to learn to sing." It didn't take long for me to see "generative AI" being proposed as a source for track samples and stems in music production.

Considering such things, it's hard to motivate yourself to put your work out there. You struggle to justify spending time creating anything, and you're probably not ready to put the effort into producing enough algorithm optimised works per day. After all, no one will see it. No one cares.

That's how it feels.

Social Media

Maybe we still have digital spaces? Really. Are cespools like Twitter spaces you can enjoy? Even Tumblr is quite detached, with small accounts struggling to get so much as a couple likes— nevermind a reblog, and god forbid you get a comment or DM.

That's minor though, it's the relationships that bother me. The ability to lock someone out of your life, within 5 seconds, for the slightest of perceived infractions. You're sensitive and a snowflake if you need boundaries, and you're "rude" and "mean" when you're pushed too far for not establishing them.

You can join a fandom or community and run into those issues, but do you really need more trouble? Ive hung around with furries since I was 13 or 14. It wasn't a furry that SA'd me, and I've never been groomed. But as a child online, I was labelled as a dog fucking groomer (at 15), because I was in a furry community discord server. I don't like to think about how that made the young adult owner of the server feel.

Social media is good for "satirical trolls," who take pleasure in hurting as many people as they can, and then claiming it's OK because they're joking, and you should've known. Is it really worth the effort for anyone else? You know, us "normal people," not bogged down by million strong fanbases, actively managing parasocial relationships and morally questionable stalking.

Closing Statements

I'm not entirely sure why I wrote this post. I guess I'm just another girl crying on the internet when I should save it for the therapy I can't actually afford.

I want to be hopeful, to feel like there's something attainable to desire, or even just things to look forward to. It's been a long time since I woke up and felt there was a good reason to be awake or even alive.

Thanks,

- The Girl That Doesn't Exist

[shyranno]

Painted Ventress to practice for the Force Fatale fanzine!! Have you applied yet? c: We're looking for writers, artists AND cosplayers!! Check us out here: @forcefatalezine

[klazje]

if eli shows up in any potential sw projects post thrawn getting stranded space whale style i think he should get to stab thrawn. eli deserves to partake in a bit of violence.

[forcefatalezine]

Preorders are OPEN for Force Fatale, a fan anthology celebrating the women of Star Wars! With a total of 106 incredible contributions from passionate artists, authors, cosplayers, and merch artists, Force Fatale features 65 different named female characters from across the Star Wars franchise, and we're so excited to share it with you! And all proceeds go to Malala Fund, a charity dedicated to providing education to girls around the world.

http://forcefatale.bigcartel.com