Russian lawmakers authorize Putin to use military force outside the country

[Labster]

I just gotta say, that for every Russian soldier who does target practice with civilians, there's another who can't hit the broad side of a barn. For every soldier who shells a civilian building, there's another who abandons his tank on the side of the road to walk back home.  For every soldier who rapes a local ten year old (yes, there are reports of this), there's another too shy to talk to women.  And for every soldier who steals food from the locals, there are a lot more who also steal food from the locals because Russian logistics is terrible.  But they aren't all evil, and we really should feel sorry for the conscripts who just want to go home.

People are kind of shocked now, but this is largely what war looked like in the 19th century and earlier in Europe.  Armies were basically murder gangs roaming across the countryside.  They stole food from the peasants because they could, and because most nations never bothered to supply armies where they could simply "live off the land".  They got bored and started raping the local womenfolk, because they had the weapons.  When the losing army retreated, their bodies of their slain just lay in the field.  And while killing peasants wasn't normally a goal, sometimes it was -- especially in sieges.

Except for all of the high tech stuff, this is a very normal war in historical terms.  Poorly disciplined soldiers discovered that they can get away with murder, and start to wonder what else they can get away with.  The Ten Commandments describe things that normally happen in war, yet which should not be done.  Not everyone does atrocities.  But there are always sociopaths who love to get away with what they can get away with in war, and there are always people who just do what they are told.

Today's essay: War Got Weird.  A review of some of the changes that technology have brought to warfare recently: OSINT is pretty amazing; the Ukranian internet survives, with heroic sysops and Starlink.  Ukraine winning the meme war.  Javelin missiles cost $180k but are still cheaper than $4.5M tanks, and at 90% accuracy you can do the math.  I did not know the US Marines were in the process of getting rid of all of their tanks, but looking at Ukraine now maybe it looks like a good idea.

Finally: Victory Day is scheduled for May 9 in Moscow.  According to intelligence, there will be a parade!  Meanwhile, 2000 Ukrainian refugees seeking entry to United States are forced to Remain in Mexico.