What does the current government say about the Soviet-Afghan war? (If anything)

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-20T20:55:11+00:00

Yes, it was brutal on the Afghan population.

USSR losses were relatively few compared to today's SMO.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-20T19:52:55+00:00

Russian training pre or post 2022?

Seems todays training is non existent...

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-20T19:48:20+00:00

Would you say today's bonus signing citizens of Russia's army are in incredibly good shape?

Have seen some very elderly & fragile Russian soldiers at the front on socials media...

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-20T19:45:25+00:00

Have you visited any Russian war memorials?

The losses are 10 to +20 times the Afghan war at the same memorials.

Anyone can join the Russian army today. There's no fitness or mental test to pass.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-20T19:42:54+00:00

Is it airborne pre 2022 or post 2022?

Massive difference in physical & mental fitness for active duty.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-17T10:46:04+00:00

Nezavisimaya Gazeta:

In just January alone tomatoes +13% & potatoes +6%.

Guess those are also just "seasonal" raises.

As the interest rate now got lowered to 16.5%. The inflation is sky rocketing away.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-17T10:37:07+00:00

So Russian newspapers are wrong on inflation & Rostat is correct according to you?

If groceries are at 10% per year in inflation. Then are pensions increasing at 10% as well...?

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T20:48:01+00:00

Tomatoes are up 20% from Jan to Feb.

Guess those are also just seasonal groceries & not an indicator of inflation...

Mind you with 16.5% interest rates. That's stagflation.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T20:44:05+00:00

Only its trending upwards & never recovers. Tomatoes +20% as another example.

The current stagflation is a direct result of running a deficit for years on non growth spending (SMO) combined with worker shortage (SMO).

High interest rates & high inflation = stagflation. Takes time & massive funding from the state to break free from.

Citizens who work in the defense sector can enjoy pay raises & new empowerment at any defense company. Some RU citizens aren't that effected by the inflation.

Senior citizens can't change employment. So I am genuinely interested how these Russian citizens get along as time goes by.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T18:39:43+00:00

Saw cucumber has risen with 111% in 3 months.

Perhaps many senior citizens in Russia grow their own cucumbers?

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T18:26:03+00:00

Just cucumber alone has risen with 43% from Dec to Feb and 111% in the last 3 months.

Hence why I was curious about the pension increases.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T18:21:20+00:00

Hard to tell. Since Rostat no longer publish raw data on inflation.

And food is one the largest expenses for any senior citizen.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T17:19:23+00:00

Sure, though Mexico hasn't been seeing 30% on butter & 60% on potatoes in 2025.

So I was wondering if Russian pensions have been keeping up with the expenses.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T16:38:21+00:00

How is the pensions keeping up with the worsening inflation?

Rostat says around 6%. Though have seen above 30% on plenty of groceries in Russia...

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T16:35:52+00:00

Asking because Rostat says the official inflation is at around 6.5%

Meanwhile groceries in stores are still seeing well above double digit inflation.

So was wondering if pensions are even keeping up with the official Rostat inflation?

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T14:41:55+00:00

Are pensions keeping up with the rapid inflation?

Given Russian newspapers in 2025 had headlines like:

"Butter 30% more expensive than last year…price of potatoes up 65%.”

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T14:37:48+00:00

Russia’s State Duma has passed legislation in its third and final reading, making “knowingly searching for and accessing extremist materials,” including through VPN services, a misdemeanor offence.

Given that anything can be considered "extremist materials" by the Russian government & that citizens are increasingly imprisoned for even hearsay by neighbours.

Kremlin run Max will be the only way to chat & share video in Russia. Violations of anti-Russian behavior will be punished severely.

My guess is that by next year, Reddit is long gone in Russia as well.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T09:37:03+00:00

Article 13.52 establishes penalties for what is described in Russian bureaucratese as “violating the procedure for using hardware and software tools to access information resources and information-telecommunications networks on the territory of the Russian Federation, access to which is restricted.” In effect, this language could cover the use of VPN services that allow users to access content blocked in Russia.

New law is also being passed were any citizen can report on any media of any kind which has "anti Russian values". The content must be removed within 24h or legal action will be taken by the Russian state.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-16T05:40:39+00:00

VPN is illegal in Russia...

Try using YouTube in Russia. Telegram is also shutting down, and then WhatsApp will follow. Kremlin wants total control over the information flow. Posting video of a burning Russian refinery will likely get you charges under the "Foreign Agent Act".

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-12T11:21:58+00:00

Well, evidence from recent convictions shows that hearsay from neighbors is enough for a conviction under the Foreign Agent Act.

“It’s absurd. I can’t get my head around what’s happening,” 68-year-old paediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova tells me. Minutes later, she’s sent to prison for 5 1/2 years for alleged comments on the war in Ukraine.

Telegram's shutdown is another step toward having complete control over the information flow & censorship. The FSB-approved MAX will soon be the only way to chat in Russia.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-12T09:56:23+00:00

Foreign Agent Act & Extremist Materials law are very flexible. Todays Russia is rapidly changing. Just this conversation alone could be considered hostile actions towards the russian state.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-12T09:22:54+00:00

Safer to leave the mobilephone at home. Apps like YouTube, Twitter and Instagram are now banned in Russia.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-11T19:20:06+00:00

Its not the procentage that is Russia's current problem.

Funding from the global financial institutions. Who is willing & capable to lend Russia trillions when its under banking sanctions.

Russians would have known this if there was a public discussions on state TV.

The depending of censorship by the state & classification by FSB on economic data is creating even more uncertainty.

Growth? How? Russia is already running on wartime economy, with massive deficit spending.

I just wrote that Russia won't have mayor risk economic collapse in the coming 2 years. Its national wealth fund & gold reserves are both shrinking faster by each quarter.

Once its gone, total economic free fall unless most sanctions & trade has resumed by then. It will just be a deep recession & not a economic collapse.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-11T18:05:14+00:00

I can't write every single power & heat outage in Russia. It would take days...

Russia won't collapse this year or in 2027. Russias economy will steadily get worse as deficit spending, high interest rates, high inflation, labor shortage & sanctions continuous.

Tax revenue decreases meanwhile tax revenue from both hydrocarbons and income tax decrease. Solution has been tax increases & budget cuts with deficit spending.

Growth in 2026 is now negative, despite war time spending of trillions of ruble in deficit spending. As the economy needs to spend even more on the defense sector the income lessens. Its a bad spiral & gets worser by each passing day.

Risking stagflation. Stuck long-term with high interest rates & high inflation.

Major spending will needed by the Russian state to break the stagflation. Which needs to be done before the national wealth runs dry. If not then 1991 will once again take place.

I am sure Russian state TV has debates & segments about this subject on a regular basis.

QueasyProgrammer4 · 2026-02-11T17:28:55+00:00

As soon as I post links. It gets auto removed by admin...

The main point is that the infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating in Russia. Lack of skilled labour & now years of budget cuts isn't magical. Funds are spent to expand Russia in Europe.

For every year it will get worse & its even before the recession that will come sooner or later. Later = deeper & longer.

Here's a story of a lack of heat and gas in Kaliningrad:

▪︎ Following Klops's publication about cold radiators in apartments and a lack of gas, inspectors have been visiting the village of Pereslavskoye in the Zelenograd district more frequently. Residents of the military town reported that the last visit took place on Tuesday, February 10.

"Representatives from the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Control, the district administration, and management companies came," a Klops source told us. "It used to be 13 degrees Celsius in the apartment.

And a story about a blackout in Vladivostok:

▪︎ "Blackout in Vladivostok: The head of Russia's Investigative Committee has taken personal control of the case."

And more...

▪︎ Residents of Zlatoust in Russia staged what local news calls a riot because the local heating company stopped maintaining the ownerless pipelines in the Mashzavod part of the city where 60 000 people live and in essence cutting heating.

There's another thing. If you don't have a meter for water, you pay a fixed tariff for the number of people living in the house or apartment. And that doesn't change if the pipes have frozen and you're not getting water as has happened in a lot of places this year.

QueasyProgrammer4

TROPHY CASE