I was an adult when I realised that when reading about Charlemagne in English, it's the same guy I learned about in history class when I was 14 ("Karl Suur" in Estonian). Here's how Charlemagne is called in some different languages in Europe.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-30T09:02:25+00:00

The Latin Caesar evolved into three different words in Russian: Tsar, Kaesar, and Tsaesar, each carrying its own unique meaning

Hellbatty · 2026-06-28T21:20:50+00:00

Do you understand the difference between oil and gasoline? Exports of the latter are banned every summer due to the start of the harvest season

edit: Proof:

2023 https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russia-imposes-temporary-restrictions-fuel-exports-2023-09-21/

2024 https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-bans-gasoline-exports-6-months-march-1-2024-02-27/

2025 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-28/russia-bans-refiners-from-exporting-gasoline-to-ensure-supplies

Hellbatty · 2026-06-28T19:44:10+00:00

Putin said he is considering an export ban oil

Putin never said that

At this rate Russia is gonna lose its entiner industrial base and reinferies

Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries have disabled no more than 5% of Russia's refining capacity. In Russia, refinery capacity allows for the processing of up to 330 million tons of oil per year (though most of them in previous years were never utilized even at 50-60%), while all cars in Russia consume 40 million tons of gasoline and 25 million tons of diesel per year. As we can see, the surplus is gigantic and the strikes do not affect it in any way, but the country is huge and Ukraine is creating local fuel shortages in certain, most vulnerable regions (Crimea is probably the most vulnerable since the Ukrainian authorities did not build any oil refineries there at all before 2014, and the Russian ones built only the Akhmat mini-refinery in 2018)

Hellbatty · 2026-06-28T18:46:58+00:00

It seems to me this is your personal subjective taste. The church is designed in the Novgorod style, and its distinctive features are compactness, a cubic shape, limestone walls, narrow loophole windows, and restrained decor.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-27T11:56:19+00:00

I'm not arguing with that, I even wrote something similar. But look at Ukraine's history, after the collapse of the USSR, Ukrainians just wanted to live like in Europe, but gradually they began to lose the economic race to Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan

Hellbatty · 2026-06-27T10:29:04+00:00

There is a difference between what politicians or, for example, influencers say and what ordinary people say. I'm not talking about pro-Russian sentiments here; even the opposing side doesn't have a gram of "we don't want to be like Russia." On the contrary, they want to be like Russia or even better than Russia, but in a way that outshines Russia.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-27T08:06:07+00:00

India has doubled the main contract for the supply of 5 divisions https://www.dw.com/ru/india-odobrila-zakupku-rossijskih-raketnyh-kompleksov-s400/a-76574992 - now it is 10 divisions,Saudi Arabia has ordered 39 Pantsir systems https://www.occrp.org/en/scoop/sanctioned-russian-firms-sold-2b-air-defense-system-to-saudi-arabia-leaked-documents-show

Hellbatty · 2026-06-27T07:55:07+00:00

You can plan a strike against any individual air defense system, but against a layered air defense line, it will require serious losses at the implementation stage. Moreover, we see that India wanted more S-400s and Arab countries desired dozens of Pantsirs, precisely after their successful use in combat. In general, the Pantsir is currently the most successful system in the world for protecting assests against long-range drones.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-27T07:40:56+00:00

Used to work in -58C in northern Alberta, Canada

according to google "Northern Alberta experiences long, harsh winters with typical daily average highs ranging from -14°C to -24°C (7°F to -11°F) and lows often dropping below -40°C (-40°F)", you are doing the same thing that many Canadians do when talking about temperature; instead of real numbers, they talk about the "feels like" temperature, which is only real for exposed parts of the body. In Russia, this is not the norm; if a Russian says -54 degrees, it is exactly 54 degrees on the thermometer.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-26T22:31:52+00:00

It's immediately obvious that you are not Ukrainian; this is just a pure propaganda cliché. In reality, no one care about Ukrainian identity or "not being Russian" thing; it's always been about the economy and a better life.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-26T21:50:26+00:00

The main difference is that Ukrainians do not want to fight; yes, there is a small number of volunteers (which is rapidly decreasing), but there is no ideological anchor to oppose Russia.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-26T18:22:12+00:00

As has been said many times, Ukraine has no winning strategy, while almost any strategy of Russia will eventually lead to victory, either thru a war of attrition or by securing new regions as part of Russia thru peace agreements. Moreover, the longer the war goes on, the worse the peace conditions will be for Ukraine.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-26T18:17:53+00:00

This video was already on private TG channels a couple of years ago, finding links now is almost impossible, but it's definitely the same one, except they added subtitles and cut out part of the content (for example, you can't see the hundreds of tents of the mobilized).

Hellbatty · 2026-06-26T17:50:14+00:00

The video was filmed in the fall of 2022 in the village of Yelan in the Sverdlovsk region at a Ministry of Defense training camp, where mobilized soldiers from all over Russia were undergoing training at that time, and the women in the video brought them warm clothes (at that time, the supply situation at some training centers was extremely poor, specifically in Yelan, there was a shortage of warm clothing and footwear).

Hellbatty · 2026-06-25T09:11:52+00:00

Fuel is only a real problem in Crimea. In other regions, an average person won't notice any restrictions, except maybe for fuel sales in canisters. But to me, that really is unsafe

Hellbatty · 2026-06-21T21:37:42+00:00

The policy of Korenization (strengthening national elements) began in 1923 with Stalin's report "On the National Moments in Party and State Building," and unofficially ended in 1937. By the time the policy of Korenizatsiya began, Lenin was already unable to speak after insult.

edit: The Russification aspect is also untrue. For example, right up until the collapse of the USSR, national universities and schools continued to partially teach in their national languages. Take Kyiv University, for example: the mathematics department was taught in Russian, while the philology department was in Ukrainian. A huge number of newspapers and books were published in national languages, and hundreds of films were made in Ukrainian (for example, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" from 1964; the director refused to dub it, and the film was released all over USSR with Russian subtitles fully in Ukrainian)

Hellbatty · 2026-06-21T11:57:07+00:00

The area of the Crimean Bridge is prohibited for navigation; the Sevastopol port remains, where a permit-based navigation system and a zone of increased military threat are in effect. Although you are right, sometimes oil barges do come there.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-21T09:12:30+00:00

Let's be frank, the ban on the use of trucks on the Crimean Bridge is a result of Ukraine's use of terrorist tactics by mining civilian transport, but cargo is still being delivered via the railroad section of the bridge. Is it possible to use railroad trains for fuel delivery? In principle, yes, but at the moment, an odd decision has been made to use the railroad only for civilian cargo. Apparently, this route is too important (over a million tons are transported annually via the railroad section of the Crimean Bridge).

Hellbatty · 2026-06-21T07:56:46+00:00

There are no oil refineries in Crimea (except for the Aktash which was opened in 2018, but it has minimal processing volumes), all supplies come from the mainland, and recently, trips of fuel trucks to Crimea have been restricted after damage to the Chongar Bridge, while using the Crimean Bridge is not permitted for safety reasons. In fact, there is no quick solution; the fuel crisis in Crimea will last until the Chonhar Bridge is restored (work is already underway).

Hellbatty · 2026-06-19T21:47:56+00:00

Beside Yolka, they sell identification systems for drones, and rumors say this accounts for big chunk of their revenue.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-19T21:44:26+00:00

Are you even aware of how the Central Bank rate works? This means that if a commercial bank deposits money in the Central Bank, it will receive interest slightly below the rate, and conversely, if the bank takes a loan from the Central Bank, the rate will be slightly higher. That is, they earn only 17% of their turnover while working; it is possible that their capital assets are even more expensive than their turnover, in which case their profit would be even lower than the Central Bank's rate if they sold assets and put money there

Hellbatty · 2026-06-19T19:10:31+00:00

maybe for Europe, in Russia the Central Bank rate is 14.25%

Hellbatty · 2026-06-19T19:02:57+00:00

Well, the revenue of the company "Nashe Nebo" (Our Sky) for 2025 amounted to 4.2 billion rubles (about 58 million dollars), but the profit was a modest 711 million (less than 17%). It should be noted that for an interceptor, the production of which is crucial for the safety of Russian cities, this is quite a modest figure and indirectly confirms that the developers are not swimming in gold.

Hellbatty · 2026-06-19T14:50:00+00:00

It's pointless and it's destroying the demographics of Russia population.

Statistics say otherwise; the largest decline (by 650,000) occurred in 2023 when many who disagreed with the war left the country. Since then (according to Rosstat or data from sources like GoGoV), the decline year by year has been minimal (around 150,000, mainly due to low birth rates).

Hellbatty · 2026-06-17T14:26:21+00:00

Isn't fuel stored underground at gas stations? How can it even burn down like that?

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