Notes From the Rear: Part III
More stories from Russians as they try to survive their society's collapse
In response to the rising incidents of sabotage inside Russia against military facilities, railway lines, recruiting stations, and other infrastructure, former Russian President and now Assistant Head of the National Security Council Dmitry Medvedev recently said that Russia could reinstate the death penalty if it feels that the security of the Russian state is at risk.
However, the bizarrely big-headed, little marionette said, “he wouldn’t advise that such a change take place because it’s beneath the dignity of Russia.”
Setting aside the fact that his words are always a giant crock of steaming, rancid chum, what caught my interest about this article, which I read in one of Russia’s most popular government-censored online sites, Fontanku.ru, were the comments to Medvedev’s words.
Below is a listing of some of the more clever and, even say, brave ones (this link takes you to the posts below). Also, so that you know, a reader must give an active email account to post comments.
Карабас Барабас02 Ноя 2022 в 15:37
Он же сам себе яму роет (He’s digging his own grave).
kоt-obormot02 Ноя 2022 в 15:43
Иногда лучше пить, чем “умные” мысли толкать в массы (Sometimes it’s better to drink them push “smart” ideas out into public).
26586993702 Ноя 2022 в 15:45
Это он от Гааги так страхуется (He’s obviously covering his ass for when he is being tried at the Hague)?
Nerevar02 Ноя 2022 в 15:54
Правильно, не готова инфраструктура для казней. Нет виселиц, газовых камер, печей для сжигания заживо (Right on. The country’s capital punishment infrastructure is totally not ready. No gallows, no gas chambers, no ovens for burning people alive).
mynine02 Ноя 2022 в 16:55
“Если ваши убеждения позволяют убивать людей, начните с себя” (If you are so convinced that it is time to kill people, begin with yourself).
All these wonderful comments and more are in the paper, and information about the Russians posting them is there. If I could find these people, so too can the FSB. Well, all I can say is bravo, and keep up the sarcasm and hate for the fascist regime that has taken over your country.
Blown tires
It might not be much, but it is something, especially if you were one of the 83 passengers on the plane that landed this afternoon in the far-eastern town of Irkutsk in Russia.
The tires on an Airbus A320 exploded upon landing, and the sight of sparks greeted the startled passengers who happened to be sitting near the windows. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the plane eventually stopped in the middle of the runway.
Here is a little-known fact. Airplane tires rarely blow out upon landing.
The simple reason is that airliner tires are blown up to about 200 psi, or about six times the psi of a car tire, according to Wired. It is the high air pressure that gives airliner tires their strength. Of course, the tire construction needs to be tougher stuff than your average car tire, but the strength of the rubber compounds is primarily to allow such high-pressure inflations rather than to resist impact on landing (Almost Never Blowout).
And yet, on this one plane, a mere eight months after sanctions hit and Russia’s aviation industry was being starved of modern spare parts, there was a blowout of two tires upon landing.
Given that Russian planes aren’t required to be certified for flight into Europe anymore because sanctions forbid them from going there, the blowout probably speaks to inattentive pre-flight maintenance and poor airport preparation, as there is a good chance the landing strip was littered with foreign objects.
In 2003, I flew on this airline, Ural Air, from Moscow to Yalta, and there was also a blowout on landing. Maybe it’s just this airline.
The officers are cowardly, fat, and lie
In this amazing YouTube video, a young Russian civilian from the far-eastern island of Sakhalin tells about his experience getting to Ukraine, being wounded in the first hours, and then getting out. The video has a wonderful English translation.
Four hundred civilians were mobilized from the villages around Sakhalin and taken to a “training facility.” On the six-hour drive to the facility, the young man tells how everyone was drunk and even viciously fighting with each other on the bus. Upon arriving, the fights continued with the awaiting army officers. Eventually, the alcohol dried up, sobriety slowly kicked in, and one day of training was conducted.
Next, they were taken by a “VIP” Boeing to Rostov-na-Dony, only a few hours from the border of Ukraine. After arriving, they were met by regular army officers who, according to the young, a fat colonel “who looked like he was pregnant” treated them like dogs.
They were told they would receive 21 days of training and, after a few hours, were put in a truck and driven to the border.
Another big-bellied officer met them and swore to them on his officer’s oath that no one would be sent to the front unprepared for war. They were there for one week, during which, in between the hour or two of training each day, they drank and slept.
Quite abruptly, they were told the Ukrainian army had located their tents and would soon start bombing, so they needed to find another location. It turns out that the airstrike threat was just a lie and an excuse to move them to the front.
Loaded onto trucks, they crossed the border into Ukraine and headed for the front. In a small, utterly bombed-out town, round-belly officers emerged from the basements of wrecked houses and commanded the truck drivers to take the mobilized civilians up to the line.
Once there, he said it was only a matter of a day or so before the war took its toll.
With Ukrainian drones buzzing all night, preventing them from sleeping, the morning started with more drones and some minor explosions. What amazed him was that once the drones left, it would only take a minute before the artillery and mortar strikes commenced.
The professionalism of the Ukrainians amazed him. His “unit” arrived with no mechanized or artillery support — just soldiers with guns.
With dozens killed or wounded in minutes, the attack continued for over an hour until darkness set in. Hurt, he realized he would bleed to death, so he removed the dead body under which he had hidden for protection from himself and ran back to the rear for help. He has likely lost the use of his one hand and was waiting for surgery at the moment of this recording.
This young man’s war is over. He doesn’t recall firing any shots from his rusty and antique gun.
This is how Russia treats its citizens. Imagine how it treats the citizens of countries it occupies.