Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
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Russia’s military Keynesianism
The Kremlin’s strategy to redistribute wealth through the war effort may boost its legitimacy.
by Volodymyr Ishchenko
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/10/26/russias-military-keynesi
anism
. . . More repression is not the only option for Putin and is not the only basis of his regime. To understand the other direction he could take, it is important to look at the political economy dimension of recent developments.
When declaring the “partial” mobilisation, Putin emphasised that drafted Russian soldiers would be paid the same as the contract soldiers who have been the backbone of the Russian forces in Ukraine so far. This means they should be paid at least $3,000 per month, depending on military rank, bonuses, insurance and a generous welfare package. This is about five to six times higher than the median wage in Russia. Drafting 300,000, let alone more than one million soldiers – as some media reports have claimed may be the real target – would necessitate the redistribution of billions of dollars from the Russian state budget.
There were reports of chaos in the payment arrangements in the first weeks since the start of mobilisation. However, at an October 19 meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Putin ordered that all problems with military wages be resolved, showing that the high remuneration for mobilised soldiers and support for their families is an important part of his strategy.
Add to that the money flowing to the reconstruction of the ruined Mariupol and other heavily destroyed Ukrainian cities in the newly annexed regions of southeastern Ukraine. Currently, workers from across Russia are recruited for the reconstruction effort and are offered double the amount they would make at home. Even a non-qualified construction worker receives more than $1,000 a month.
Recently, Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said more than 30,000 Russian workers are employed in the reconstruction of occupied Ukrainian territories, and that the government plans to increase the number to 50,000-60,000.
In the next three years, the Russian budget is expected to allocate at least $6bn for the reconstruction of the newly annexed Ukrainian territories. How much of it will not be lost to Russian crony capitalism remains to be seen.
There are also a lot of funds flowing into the military-industrial complex. As demand for weapons and munitions has increased significantly, the number of workers, as well as wages, has grown. At least partially, the growth in the military-industrial complex compensates for the decline of production in the industries dependent on Western components and suffering from sanctions. In other sectors, employees who have been drafted into the army have left jobs to be filled by new workers, which decreases unemployment.
All in all, the state expenditure for “national defence” has already increased 43 percent from last year to this year and reached $74bn. A planned cut for 2023 has been scrapped and instead Moscow plans to spend some $80bn. The “national security and law enforcement” expenses are also expected to increase by 46 percent to $70bn next year.
Looking at all these developments, we see something like military Keynesianism taking shape in Russia. Millions of Russians who are either mobilised to fight in Ukraine, employed in reconstruction or in the military industry, or participating in the suppression of unrest in the occupied territories and at home, or are family members, have turned into direct beneficiaries of the war.
Among other things, this means the emergence of a positive feedback loop that did not really exist before. The Russian ruling elite started the war to pursue its own interests and it managed to get only ritual and passive support from the Russian population.
However, this redistribution of state wealth through the military effort is creating a new basis for more active and conscious support within a significant section of Russian society, which now has a material stake in the
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Fuck Ukraine.
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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
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Cross-posted from here
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=65340
THIS IS HOW I KNOW WE'RE LOSING IN UKRAINE (AND ELSEWHERE): PENTAGON’S STRATEGY WON’T RULE OUT NUCLEAR USE AGAINST NON-NUCLEAR THREATS
Since Bloomberg is behind a paywall, here is Zerohedge's version which links to Bloomberg BTW)
Quote:
In Stunning Strategy Reversal, Pentagon Will No Longer Rule Out Use Of Nuclear Weapons Against Non-Nuclear Threat
Thursday, Oct 27, 2022 - 09:05 AM
Well, we're finally there: stocks are officially trading off nuclear war headlines.
Moments ago, as part of his closely-watched speech, Vladimir Putin appeared to talk down the likelihood of a nuclear attack in Ukraine:
*PUTIN: NO POLITICAL, MILITARY REASON IN NUKE STRIKE IN UKRAINE
Which, however, is more than can be said about the US.
As Bloomberg just reported, the Pentagon's new National Defense Strategy rejects limits on using nuclear weapons long championed by arms control advocates (and, in the not too distant past, by Joe Biden) citing burgeoning threats from Russia and China.
“By the 2030s the United States will, for the first time in its history face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries,” the Defense Department said in the long-awaited document issued Thursday. In response, the US will “maintain a very high bar for nuclear employment” without ruling out using the weapons in retaliation to a non-nuclear strategic threat to the homeland, US forces abroad or allies.
In yet another stark reversal for the senile occupant of the White House basement, in his 2020 presidential campaign Biden had pledged to declare that the US nuclear arsenal should be used only to deter or retaliate against a nuclear attack, a position blessed by progressive Democrats and reviled by defense hawks. But, like with every other position held by the pathological liar who even trumps Trump in the untruth department, this one has just been reversed as well as "the threat environment has changed dramatically since then" and the Pentagon strategy was forged in cooperation with the flip-flopping White House.
In a stunning move that should - or rather "should" - spark outrage among the so-called progressives but will at best prompt some very sternly retracted letters, the nuclear report that’s part of the broader strategy said the Biden administration reviewed its nuclear policy and concluded that “No First Use” and “Sole Purpose” policies “would result in an unacceptable level of risk in light of the range of non-nuclear capabilities being developed and fielded by competitors that could inflict strategic-level damage” to the US and allies.
The nuclear strategy document doesn’t spell out what non-nuclear threats could produce a US nuclear response, but current threats include hypersonic weapons possessed by Russia and China for which the US doesn’t yet have a proven defense.
It does spell out, however, in the strongest terms, what would happen to another nuclear power, North Korea, if it launched a nuclear attack on the US, South Korea or Japan. That action “will result in the end of that regime,” it says. US nuclear weapons continue to play a role in deterring North Korean attacks.
So, the brilliant neocon minds behind the report concluded, it is better to instill the fear of a disproportionate nuclear retaliation, thus making an outright nuclear attack far more likely (if the US will nuke you anyway, may as well go all out).
In the document, which was framed well before the invasion, the Pentagon says Russia continues to “brandish its nuclear weapons in support of its revisionist
I think they mean "revanchist"*, but as that word is hardly known to the USA public, they found a replacment word that doesn'
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Quote:An example of a non-nuclear threat:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Cross-posted from here
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=65340
THIS IS HOW I KNOW WE'RE LOSING IN UKRAINE (AND ELSEWHERE): PENTAGON’S STRATEGY WON’T RULE OUT NUCLEAR USE AGAINST NON-NUCLEAR THREATS
Russia warns West: We can target your commercial satellites
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-wests-commercial-satellites-
could-be-targets-2022-10-27/
More non-nuclear examples: sinking Liquefied Natural Gas tankers going to the EU. It doesn't have to be LNG. It could be any old kind of ocean transport or even airplanes with passengers. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-court-announce-ruling-mh17-
murder-trial-nov-17-2022-08-15/
One more example that is my favorite: Russia releases the same amount of natural gas into the atmosphere that Europe was buying from Russia before Russia refused to deliver the gas. Putin could say that he has an excess of gas he has to release and it is none of your business what Putin does to the climate of Siberia. If Putin wants Siberia warmer, that is Russia's right.
In his speech today, Putin reminded the West that he holds it responsible for every problem Russia has. The Russians are NOT at fault in any way, shape, or form. Putin quoted a 1978 Harvard lecture by Russian dissident and novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who launched a frontal assault on Western civilisation, decrying the hollow materialism and "the blindness of superiority" of the West. "Power over the world is what the so-called West has put on the line in its game - but the game is dangerous, bloody and I would say dirty," said Putin. "The sower of the wind, as they say, will reap the storm."
https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-says-west-is-playing-dangerous-blo
ody-dirty-game-2022-10-27/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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And you think those are worth a nuclear response?
Well, I always knew you were an America-hating dick. Now it look like you hate all of humanity.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And you think those are worth a nuclear response?
Well, I always knew you were a dick.
That's putting it lightly.
--------------------------------------------------
Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
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Cross-posted from here
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=65340
Quote:
THIS IS HOW I KNOW WE'RE LOSING IN UKRAINE (AND ELSEWHERE): PENTAGON’S STRATEGY WON’T RULE OUT NUCLEAR USE AGAINST NON-NUCLEAR THREATS
What our neocons have done so far
Sanctions war (failed to implode Russia's economy and cause regime change in Moscow).
Cross-border military support (Insufficient. And the Pentagon knew it.)
Monetary support (going to end soon).
Intelligence sharing
"Volunteers" and military intel officers in Ukraine
"Dirty bomb" false flag planning
Been posting for MONTHS that the combined USA/NATO conventional forces were insufficient.
Gonna hand out "I told you so's" from time to time.
The reason you guys fucked up?
?-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:The possibility of a strongly worded United Nations resolution condemning Russia for destroying every commercial satellite system, except for Russian satellites, would absolutely deter Russia. The pen is mightier than the sword. Putin is terrified of displeasing the UN more than being nuked.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And you think those are worth a nuclear response?
Well, I always knew you were an America-hating dick. Now it look like you hate all of humanity.
Russia’s Anti-Satellite Weapons
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2022-03/features/russias-anti-satellit
e-weapons-asymmetric-response-us-aerospace-superiority
Russia threatens a retaliatory strike against US commercial satellites
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10/russia-threatens-a-retaliatory
-strike-against-us-commercial-satellites/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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SECOND, Russia has had the capability of destroying our satellites for a decade now. The fact that they have not utterly destroyed us is due to their restraint, not our strength.
Grow the fuck up.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:Just yesterday, Russia threatened to destroy SpaceX satellites because Ukraine was connected to those satellites. Just before Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia demonstrated how it could destroy SpaceX satellites or anybody who displeased Putin. Perhaps a stern warning from the UN would work better than nukes, but I'm unsure if Putin reads warning labels before he acts. Some forms of communication that don't use words work far better with people, such as Putin, who don't understand written words. Possibly Putin has a severe learning disorder.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, . . .
Grow the fuck up.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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