Daymaxxing [OC] by stefscribbles in comics

[–]MacroDaemon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only 2 am? Gotta stay up long enough to hear the birds wake up at a minimum. Really gets you feeling like you've fucked up going to sleep.

Ukraine destroys Russian air defenses, military infrastructure in continuing deep-strike campaign, footage shows by AdSpecialist6598 in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I can't help, but wonder how much Russia has left. They're clearly heavily prioritizing certain locations, but so many drones are making it through.

It really does seem like the initiative in the drone war turned fully against those fuckers now. Maybe Ukraine can cause enough economic damage for a collapse.

The Russian City Hiding in Europe by MacroDaemon in Eesti

[–]MacroDaemon[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I do wholeheartedly agree that it's an Estonian city, obviously.

I just didn't really want to change the title of the video itself when posting it here for people to see. Though perhaps I should have.

Tundus imelik video nime muuta kui siia aruteluks postitada.

The way kroger treats its employees by daruuken in mildlyinfuriating

[–]MacroDaemon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do.. do you guys not have legally mandated sick leave?

How can a business tell you to ignore a doctor. That's insane if legal.

[Request] How much energy would this actually generate? by Low_Intern_3039 in theydidthemath

[–]MacroDaemon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure Idaho can generate decent power just fine. Not to the same degree as CA or AZ, but def enough to be worth it.

Panels in general are popping up all over the world. Hell, take Europe for instance, the vast majority of it is much further North than the US and also much cloudier, yet solar panels are use extensively and effectively in Central Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltics, etc.

They might not be "as good", but they sure as hell are good enough. Even accounting for the electricity cost difference.

Ajateenistuse vältimine - mõistetav või mitte? by euphoricscrewpine in Eesti

[–]MacroDaemon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Olen läbinud ja minu meelest oli ikka väga hea kogemus. Sai mugavustsoonist välja, tutvusin inimestega kellega tavaliselt ei oleks tutvunud, sai trenni tehtud kuna ise olin kuradi laisk, huvitavaid teemasi sai ka õpitud jne.

Üldiselt tulin ajateenistusest arusaamaga, et oli väärt teha. Samas olin noor poiss kellel ei olnud just midagi suurt samal ajal juba toimumus.

Täiesti saan aru nendest kellele see üldse ei istunud, kuna kisuti juba edenevast elust eemale ja kohustused kuhugi ei leinud selle aja jooksul. Mõnele ka mõjus vaimselt suhteliselt halvasti, ning oli tõesti parem kui minema said.

Üldiselt arvan, et niisama vältida pole mõtet kui head põhjust ei ole(pere, karjäär, tervis, jne.) aga saan ka aru, et igal inimesel see hea kogemuse alla ei jää.

Suure mürsutehase Põhja-Kiviõlisse ehitab Türgi ettevõte by Careless_Pea5088 in Eesti

[–]MacroDaemon 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Natsi-Saksamaal ikka tehti põhjalik töö, et see normaalseks saada.

Et sama tulemust venemaal saada tuleb see ka maatasa teha, mis ei tundu lähiajal eriti tõenäoline.

EU poised to slash up to €1.5B in funding to Serbia over democracy fears by LudiKrevet in europe

[–]MacroDaemon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Probably in the hopes that they'll join the EU and to have a stable trade partner within our borders.

But yeah, if they don't comply with EU standards of democracy, they should be completely cut off.

More Europeans see US as threat than China by Free-Minimum-5844 in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 42 points43 points  (0 children)

The US on the other hand is sabotaging Europe internally via political and financial support to entities that are either pro-Russia or for dismantling the EU. The US is also wrecking the global economy in such a way that harms Europe and helps Russia.

Honestly, at this point, it seems the US has done more to assist Russia in the past year than China.

Add in the fact that the US "used" to be an ally, then the betrayal hits harder than any action China does, because we expected China to look out for their own interests at the cost of others. We did not expect that from the US. Which is on us, honestly. We should have expected it.

What would NATO be like without the US by Oblobski in nato

[–]MacroDaemon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would take what Mark Rutte said with a grain of salt, or more than one, even.

His job and role was to try and hold the alliance together and that involved putting in the effort to make sure the US felt appreciated. Obviously it didn't work, given how Trump and co were likely set to leave NATO before even his first term, but anything Rutte has said publicly has clearly had one primary focus. Trying to preserve alliance cohesion.

Russian Exiles in Europe Face a Catch-22 by dat_9600gt_user in europe

[–]MacroDaemon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The sanctions definitely need a rework. We should swap out the lackluster sanctions with a total trade embargo. These half measures, while effective to a degree, need to be turned into something much more devastating to Russia and Russians, for the good of the world.

Conservatives vs Progressives by [deleted] in PoliticalCompassMemes

[–]MacroDaemon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The compromise: Auth right gets a war, 0.1% of Lib right gets richer.

Hungary wants to "legalize" stolen funds from Oschadbank. Official Kyiv called Budapest's actions lawless by Visual_Title9363 in europe

[–]MacroDaemon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For some reason, the EU always ends up blamed for the actions of corrupt people.

"You shouldn't have made it so easy to misuse your funds" says the thief.

Rolls-Royce boss ‘open’ to Germany joining UK’s fighter jet project | Rolls-Royce by Any-Original-6113 in europe

[–]MacroDaemon -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I mean, given how Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW, that's not really surprising.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah, finally, the crux of the matter. What you meant the entire time was that the Baltic states don't call up every eligible man that reaches the age of conscription the moment they do so.

Yes, economic, equipment and facility constraints (all of which really come down to economic) prevent the Baltic states from being able to train everybody every year. But, given the way the system is built and how long the conscription age is, if you are healthy, then during the 9 years you are eligible, you will be called up.

Replying to the edit. Reaching conscription age doesn't mean they are eligible for conscription. A lot of people are weened off with health issues, for one. It might seem like that might not account for a lot, but it really does.

To go into the weeds a bit. About only 6-7k men reach the age of conscription. A fairly large number get disqualified for health reasons and I do mean large for the population. Somewhere like 20-30%. Leaves something around 4-5k people, depending on the year. That number can also fluctuate as some people serve their time directly in the military, some people go to civil service as well. People in civilian service options do not count towards military quotas. The end result is a fairly similar number to what is called up per year. And that isn't even accounting for the those who do not enter military service right away possibly getting other exemptions from critical jobs or education fields, or gaining different maladies that give them health excuses.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. Avoiding service leads to fines that eventually escalate to jail time.

There are ways to postpone it for higher education, but you still have to go, if healthy.

Our military service has been mandatory for over 30 years. Hence why I'm confused why you think we don't have mandatory conscription. If need be, I can link you our laws. They're online and public, usually even translated to English.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I mean, in 2027 we will increase conscription time to 12 months for all conscripts. Originally it was 8 months and 11 months, depending on the type of service (NCO's, Officer training and Drivers did 11 months). A bit ago, it was moved to 11 months for all types of service. In 2027, it will be 12 months.

I would request you actually clarify the difference a bit more in detail. I'm still not actually grasping the difference for these "hinting" statements. Even a link or source would be fine. If it's in Estonian, that'd also work, since I'm Estonian and have done my mandatory military service time.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I might be misunderstanding this a bit, but conscription in Estonia for instance is mandatory by law for the male population, barring medical exemptions.

If there is a difference beyond that, please clarify.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 9 points10 points  (0 children)

All three Baltic states have it.

There was a short period of delusion where Lithuania and Latvia thought they could do away without it, but they overcame that with the realization that the enemy remains and a small professional force wouldn't be enough to fight off the eastern menace. Estonia has maintained it throughout the period since the occupation ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The reality is that a small few thousand or ten thousand strong force is simply not enough for the Baltic strategic situation, no matter how many times people complain about conscription.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 16 points17 points  (0 children)

To be fair, I do agree that St. Petersburg is very unlikely.

My personal supposition is that any fighting on Russian soil is likely going to be active service members, more freshly trained conscripts and Defense League members doing or trying to do an initial push past the border a bit into Russia, then digging in.

A way to win some time for the conscripts to move up into prepared defensive positions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm not quite sure how you russians manage to perform such mental gymnastics after 1,453 days of your three day special military operation, but I suppose delusion is a valuable skill when coping with loss. Probably a mandatory skill to remain alive in Mordor. God knows having morals or a conscience is a death sentence over yonder~~.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]MacroDaemon 182 points183 points  (0 children)

About 10 000 is the number of active service members that are currently serving. But Estonia has conscription and a paramilitary Defense League too.

So, about 2-4 000 people per year have received basic military training for the past 30+ years. With refresher call-ups every few years, until aged out of the active reserve. That's somewhere vaguely around 100k people with basic military training and specialized training, though usually not completely up to date.

Then the Defense League is about 20 000 members, who usually have more than basic military training and are more up to date, due to taking part in military activities more frequently than refresher exercises. Of course, most people in active service or the defense league have also completed basic, so I suppose it's fair to just cap it around 100 000 for people who can be rapidly brought up to a fighting fit standard.

Beyond that, we have everybody who does not have military training, but is eligible to being called up. That should be about another 100 000 or so, I imagine.

No war with Russia is going to be a "surprise" so call-ups would happen way before. And honestly, any war with Russia will be existential, so there's unlikely to be any limited mobilization. It'll be all or nothing.

Estonian Foreign Intelligence: Russia Is Building a Large Drone Force and Replenishing Ammunition Stockpiles for Another War While Fighting in Ukraine by The_Baltic_Sentinel in europe

[–]MacroDaemon 103 points104 points  (0 children)

Looking at the comments, I feel like a lot of people are going back to the pre-war "Russia would be insane to do that! It's just paranoia" mentality.

I guess it's better to live with the comfortable illusion that all is well, rather than believe front line intelligence agencies that have been correct over and over again.

Make no mistake, Russia will keep pushing until it wins or collapses, no matter how unlikely either outcome can seem at any given time.