Not Exactly the Best Sales Pitch for the Russian Army

Russian soldiers who die in the line of duty in Ukraine have all of their sins forgiven, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed in a sermon, comparing their sacrificial death to that of Jesus.

The assertion, made on Sunday, ratchets up Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s already staunch support for Russia’s war on Ukraine since its beginning in February.

More Christianist bullshit. I'm not aware of anything in the Scriptures to support the notion of Jesus taking up arms, let alone committing war crimes, but the Russians must have their own holy books that condone rape, murder and looting.

The U.S. State Department expressed concern Wednesday that Americans with dual citizenship with Russia could be conscripted by Moscow to help fight its war against Ukraine.

“Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service,” the State Department said in a statement.

Well, no fucking shit. Those dual nationals are still Russian citizens and they are subjected to being drafted.

I've seen reports that the Ukrainians are already claiming to have Russian POWs who were mobilized under Putin's orders of last week. Some received a day's worth of training. Putin is denying requests for orderly withdrawls in places where the alternative is a Russian collapse (and the Ukrainians getting more equipment). Some of the Russian booty has been near state-of-the-Russian-art AAW and EW gear, much of which has made its way westward into NATO hands as thank-you presents for NATO equipment.

Meanwhile, the Germans seem to be trying to stick to the middle of the road, by prolaiming that they support Ukraine but, on the other hand, not providing much in the way of meaningful support, compared to other European NATO nations. Sometimes, in war, being in the middle-of-the-road means that, like paved roads, one has a wide yellow streak.

This reminds me of a long-deceased friend of my mother's. She was a teenager in Denmark during the war. She didn't like the Germans very much, for obvious reasons, but she really detested the Swedes. She said that they were quislings.

ETA this, per Jon Jones's comment: