Well you kinda hit the nail on the head immediately, by citing Russian withdrawal from areas as to why the 100,000 figure is mostly military; how exactly can the Russians be killing Ukrainian civilians in large numbers if they're not occupying Ukrainian civilians in large numbers in the first place?
"not occupying Ukrainian civilians"? ...? Anyway... Moving past the fact that particular statement wouldn't pass the Turing test, the actual argument goes beyond idiotic. I mean, I guess their were no UK civilian casualties in WW2, since the Germans never occupied British civilians? Large scale bombing and artillery strikes are famous for the fact that they're physically incapable of hitting the wrong target.
Further, I'm glad Marduk brought up Bucha; if the Russians are actually out here mass executing Ukrainian civilians by the tens of thousands, where is the supporting evidence? The U.S. produced satellite imagery for Bucha, where are the killing fields that would contain bodies equal to Babi Yar? Maybe your take then is Russian airpower and missiles are just that horrific, but I thought the party line was the Russians were running out of them and they were very badly inaccurate?
There's just too much wildly blatant misrepresentation here for it to be taken seriously. They're running out of half decent modern missiles, so they're forced to use older and role inappropriate weapons to make up the shortfall. Because they're forced to use shitty weapons, their accuracy sucks. Because their accuracy sucks, they have to fire more to have a decent chance of hitting their target. Because they're firing larger amounts of less accurate fire, they're more likely to cause collateral damage, including civilian casualties. Because the Russian leadership are 10 pounds of shit stuffed into a 5 pound bag, they don't care. Ergo, greater civilian casualties tha and necessary, even if they weren't practising scorched earth policies and indiscriminate targeting on the attack.
Seriously, it's called critical thinking and far too many of you aren't using it in the least in this conflict. The narratives you have all bought into are directly contradictory and require you to get into so many logical contradictions it's not funny.
No, it's confirmation bias, and the degree to which you've decided to support an extraordinary partisan view is as confusing as it is sad.
The amount of projection in this post is honestly hilarious. If it's no use in loophole debating, then why make this paragraph? Or, even better, this post given you were not the subject of the conversation to begin with? For someone who sees no "impact on the real world situation" or that I'm not "convincing anyone here", it's odd you've never stopped to consider that's exactly what you're achieving here with me? As I said, it's all projection,
I mean... That's not what projection is? As for what I personally am hoping to achieve, I'd like for idiots spouting bullshit to shut up, so I can use the thread as a source for details I might otherwise miss, and in a secondary role of showing a different political POV on that info. I don't come here to see a surprisingly clever, trained Russian dancing bear.
but since you brought up the subject of prophets:
Truly, we live in an age of prophets with people like you around,
Russia’s Oil Revenue Soars Despite Sanctions, Study Finds:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered global condemnation and tough sanctions aimed at denting Moscow’s war chest. Yet Russia’s revenues from fossil fuels, by far its biggest export, soared to records in the first 100 days of its war on Ukraine, driven by a windfall from oil sales amid surging prices, a new analysis shows.
Russia earned what is very likely a record 93 billion euros in revenue from exports of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to data analyzed by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a research organization based in Helsinki, Finland. About two-thirds of those earnings, the equivalent of about $97 billion, came from oil, and most of the remainder from natural gas.
“The current rate of revenue is unprecedented, because prices are unprecedented, and export volumes are close to their highest levels on record,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst who led the center’s research.
And, as we have all learned from your previous proclamations, all trends, no matter how short or what the surrounding context is, can be extended arbitrarily into the future for however long you'd like to give you the inescapable gospel truth.
I mostly just find you a joke to be honest, especially with this fake sympathy here. You've spent this entire thread and every interaction with me in particular doing nothing but personal attacks because that's all you can do. You've never been able to bring any citation with me, and in our last tangle you promptly fucked off when I was able to cite seven different sources to prove my case. You're not fooling anybody with these fake crocodile tears, because I realize exactly what you are.
Mate... If all you've seen in everything I've said is personal attacks, you've probably got a problem with egocentrisim too, or even narcissistic personality disorder making it hard to separate someone pointing out the things you say are stupid, as opposed to saying you are stupid.
If you think I left because you posted a bunch of links that you were prepared to argue yourself blue in the face to say they supported whatever bs you were on about at the time, well good for you. I hope you pat yourself on the back and treat yourself to a special cookie for your victory. The reality is that the shit you say is so disconnected from reality, and the arguments you make so entirely predicated on that confirmation biased view, I truly CBF to argue you any more.
You're right that I'm not going to change your mind. I can only hope that eventually reality will. In the meantime, despite some deeply unpleasant interactions, and huge amounts of hostility I've been met with elsewhere on the board, congratulations on being the first person I truly felt I had no point talking to, and nothing to gain from such, and thus making the one and only spot on my ignore list!