Reply To: Russian Tensions

So, Russia is expanding the size of its military:
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed calling up Russian citizens aged 21-30 for active duty, building up the personnel strength by another 30% and deploying 20 new divisions…The lower limit of the conscription age needs to be raised gradually from the current 18 years to 21 years and the upper limit from 27 years to 30 years, Shoigu said.

Having said they weren’t going to expand conscription after the resistance last time, this is a slightly worrying sign of how things are really going, that they need to draft more victims. Although this is being spun as a need for a greater military because of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Putin claims “We will not engage in militarization of the country and militarization of the economy,” but if they draw more labour capacity out of the economy and into military idleness, wages will start to erupt and they will have to start intervening in industry to control prices.

This is also hard to square with: Putin stressed that the Russian Armed Forces were receiving all the required means: “We have no financing constraints and the country and the government give all that the Army requests. I hope that the response will be formulated accordingly and the corresponding results will be achieved.”

I will also note their estimate that NATO has squandered $97 billion into the war, just to emphasise why war is a crime against the whole of humanity, since that represents vast economic resources that are not being sent to satisfy human need.