Thread by @kamilkazani

Not quite. Almost all KIA in Ukraine are peasants/untermenschen so their lives are not worth a dime. With Afghanistan it was different. In 1985 the Party made a fatal mistake by starting to draft (and send to Afghanistan) college students, even from the most prestigious unis

That was suicidal. Previously good families could save their kids from the army sending them to college. In a college they could finish a military minor (военная кафедра) so even if you do get into the army, you serve as an officer. Which is way better than serving as a private

In 1985 this door was closed. Everyone could be drafted and sent to Afghanistan, even the golden kids from the Moscow State University. Suicidal decision. Yeah, peasants families may not want their kids to die. But the fuck they're gonna do? With cultural elites it's different

The entire late Soviet discourse about Afghanistan and the army horrors in general is more understandable if you consider that in 1985 the Party got into direct confrontation with the cultural elites by starting to draft their kids. I don't think Putin gonna repeat this mistake

Yes, the cultural elites might not be able to prevent their sons being sent to Afghanistan if the Kremlin told so. What they could do however, is to shift the discussion on the war and the army horrors into the center of the public discourse. Which they did. End of not a thread