Milchakov, commander of "Rusich" group fighting for Russia in Ukraine:
"I'm a Nazi, I'm a Nazi. I won't elaborate whether I'm a nationalist, a patriot or imperialist. I say directly: I'm a Nazi. I can raise my hand in Nazi salute"
(interview to Provsvirnin, Sputnik and Pogrom)
Milchakov, commander of "Rusich" group:
"When you are going to war, that's sexual desire, it's like wanting to fuck... When you are killing a piglet, you savour his wife becoming a widow, his family grieving , him coming back home in a coffin. You have erection, don't you?"
Milchakov, commander of "Rusich" is an interesting person. He used to be a fan of the football club Zenit under a nickname "Fritz". In 2011 he became famous after uploading a video with himself killing a puppy, cutting of its heads and then eating it (photos are googlable)
In 2014 the war in Donbass started. So Milchakov rallied his comrades together and founded a group "Rusich" which departed to fight in Donbass on the Russian side
In 2022, Rusich group also actively participated in the Special military operation. Here you can see a Russian propagandist boasting about Milchakov "de-Nazifying" Ukraine
In his early days Milchakov was known as "Fritz". Now he uses "Serb" or "Topaz" nicknames. Here you can see Milchakov congratulating everyone with Hitler's birthday (April 20) in his Telegram channel - Говорит ТопаZ
Milchakov's views have never been a problem. In 2016 Putin's deputy Vladislav Surkov organised a Council of Commanders of Donbass Volunteers. Milchakov participated of course. Here you see him shaking hands with Russia-appointed governor of Crimea Aksenov
When you are hearing about the "de-Nazification" of Ukraine, keep in mind who is de-Nazifying it
Warning: next photo will be graphic
Here you see a de-Nazifier Milchakov straight after he cut off a puppy's head but before he ate it
Here you can see Milchakov in visible confusion after Ukrainians hijacked his Quadrocopter. He orders an immediate retreat as now Ukrainians may know where Rusich group stay and can shell them
You may have wondered where the initial videos with Milchakov declaring himself a Nazi and describing the erection he has when thinking about the grieving families are taken from. Well, from Yegor Prosvirnin (=Sputnik and Pogrom) YouTube channel of course
Sputnik and Pogrom used to be by far the most influential Russian nationalist media. It had tons of high profile fans (@achubays for example) as it promoted the nationalist and imperialist agenda in a manner "sophisticated" enough so that higher classes would like it
At this point, I'm gonna stop. I'll just ask readers to remember the keyword "Sputnik and Pogrom", because it gonna be relevant in the context of the next thread. The end
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As I have already pointed out, general audience, analysts, strategists & decision makers included holds unrealistic notions of how the global economy is organised. Now that is because they never see the back end of industrial civilisation
So let me show you some
There is a major delusion of seeing Europe as a sort of retired continent that "lags in tech" or even "doesn't produce anything". To some extent, it is just American hubris.
But there is more in there than just hubris. There is also some honest, sincere ignorance. The thing with most people is that they see only facade of industrial civilisation. They never ever had a chance to look behind the curtains
Tu-160M, the "White Swan" is the largest, the heaviest and the fastest bomber in the world. Originally a Soviet design, the plane you see today has limited continuity with the USSR. It was created in late 2010s, as a combined project of Putin's Russia and Siemens Digital Factory
Original Tu-160 was created as a domesday weapon of the Cold War. Designed in the 1970s, it was officially launched into production in 1984. And yet, with the collapse of the Soviet Union the project was aborted. In 1992, their production ceased.
No Nuclear War, no White Swans.
With the fall of USSR, Russia suffered a catastrophic drop in military expenditures. As the state was buying little weaponry (and paying for it highly erratically), entire production chains were wiped out. That included some ultra expensive projects such as strategic bombers.
I have repeatedly pointed out that the modern Russian military industry has little continuity with the Soviet one. Destroyed in the 1990s, it was effectively created anew in the Putin's era. Still, it may sound too abstract, so I will zoom in on one specific example:
Stankomash
Located in Chelyabink, Stankomash industrial park hosts major producers for the nuclear, shipbuilding, oil & gas and energy industries. It also produces weaponry, including mine trawls and artillery ammunition (based on the open sources)
All under the umbrella of Konar company
Some examples of the Stankomash manufacture. These photos well illustrate the philosophy of Soviet/Russian dual use industry. In the peace time, you focus primarily on civilian products, in the war time you convert it all to the production of weaponry.
No offence, but this is a completely imbecile, ignorant, ridiculous framing. I have no explanation for all this debate except for a complete & determined ignorance of the foreign policy making class, and their refusal to learn literally anything about the material world.
"Components" framing makes sense when we are discussing drones. Why? Because drones are literally made from the imported components. You buy like 90% of them in China, and may be you make like 10% domestically. For the most part, you just assemble what you bought in China.
Not the case with missiles. Most of what the missile consists of, including its most critical, hard to make parts is produced domestically. Why? Because you cannot buy it abroad. More often than not, you cannot buy it in China. You can only make it yourself, domestically.
Contrary to the popular opinion, Andrey Belousov's appointment as a Minister of Defense makes perfect sense. From the Kremlin's perspective, war is primarily about industry & economy. Now Belousov is the central economic & industrial thinker (and planner) in the Russian gov.
Born into a Soviet Brahmin economist family, Belousov is an exceedingly rare case of an academician making a successful career in the Russian gov. Even more noteworthy, he rose to the position of power through his academic work and publications.
This is unique, ultra rare.
Belousov's career track:
1976-1981 Moscow State University ("economic cybernetics"). Basically, economics, but with the heavy use of then new computers.
1981-1986 Central Economic Mathematical Institute
1986-2006 Instutute of Economic Forecasting
2006-2024 Government
If you want to imagine Russia, imagine a depressive, depopulating town. Now on the outskirts of a town, there is an outrageously over-equipped, overfunded strategic enterprise that has literally everything money can buy in the world. It feels like a spaceship from another planet
Strategic industry is extremely generously equipped. Western companies look scoundrels in comparison. That’s why I am so sceptical about the whole “corruption” narrative. Not that it’s wrong. It’s just that it is the perspective of a little, envious bitch.
What needs to be funded, will be funded. It will actually be overfunded and most literally drowned in money. Obviously, overfunding the strategic sector comes at the cost of underfunding almost everything else (like urban infrastructure). That’s why the town looks so grim.