#internecine warfare

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

THE BIG SPLIT

TCinLA

The circus came to town in DC for the past four days and did a good job of displaying why the Republicans are in a lot of trouble.

The CPAC clown show, er, I mean shitshow, er, I mean conference, is proof of the difficulty the party will have in keeping their increasingly fractured coalition together for 2024.

A mere 40 years ago, the Republican Party was defined by overall ideological unity on three conservative principles: free markets, a muscular foreign policy and traditional social values.

Those three pillars were the heart of the Reagan revolution. No more.

The MAGA movement, which clearly took over this year's CPAC conference, has moved the party to a protectionist, populist, belligerent outlook. The one issue that appears to still unite the GOP is fighting "wokeness," which even former House speaker Paul Ryan - called a RINO last night and targeted for “removal” by Trump in his Nuremberg Rally speech - cited as his primary reason for continuing to support and be involved with Faux Snooze in a combative interview last week with his formr friend and ally, Charlie Sykes.

No more free markets. For the past year, companies such as Disney and PNC Bank that are proud to publicly showcase their commitment to progressive values that embrace diversity have come under attack, with Governor InSanity declaring he will control the content creatd by Disney to prevent further attacks of “wokeness” on good god-fearin’ patriotic Amurrikins.

What was once the “Party of Lawn Ordure” sees Fraternity Freddie, er, I mean Matt Gaetz, call for defunding the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies if they don't “get back on our side." The goobers at CPAC gave him a standing ovation. Vivek Ramaswamy, a venture capitalist and GOP presidential candidate issued a call for the FBI to be dismantled and replaced with something else.

Trump’s keynote address last night was two hours of a vengeful indictment of the GOP establishment: "We will expel the warmongers, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists, we will throw off the political class that hates our country. The Republican Party was ruled by freaks, neocons, open-border zealots and fools. We're never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove and Jeb Bush.” He then pledged to protect Social Security from any Republicans pursuing reduced benefits.

This from a former president and current leading presidential candidate of one of the two major political parties of this country, who pushes his political campaign with a “music video” that has the “J6 Prison Choir” - the convicted insurrectionists now in the DC jail - singing “The Star Spangled Banner” while he shouts the Pledge of Allegiance.

Can it get crazier?

Well, yes, since you ask, it can.

Friday night, Marjorie Traitor Goon targeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in her speech, telling him to "leave your hands off of our sons and daughters." When asked about former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, both unapologetic Ukraine hawks, Congresswoman Goon replied "I don't listen to Nikki Haley and I don't think she's going to do well in the primary."

The Goonbimbo is probably right.

For those who think Governor InSanity will be a threat to the Trump Party, a top Trump adviser said that the governor has "Reagan Republican" vulnerabilities the former president will exploit.

“Reagan Republicans” are now “the enemy” in the looney half of what passes for the Republican Party today.

Trump knows his audience: he dominated DeSantis in the CPAC straw poll, 62%-20%, and saw improvement from his 2022 numbers when he led DeSantis 59%-28%. “Trump has completely remade the party since he’s become president,” a Trump aide said. “He realized there’s a difference between what grassroots activists thought and what Bush Republicans in Washington, D.C., were trying to enact.”

"In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution. This is the final battle, they know it. I know it, you know it, and everybody knows it, this is it. Either they win or we win. And if they win, we no longer have a country." The neverwere’s, the neverwillbe’s, the lifetime losers, the Dilberts who know they’re the geniuses but no one will recognize them, they love this, this is why they support him. He’ll “get” all those people who pointed at them and snickered.

He also knows who the average wingnut moron is: a senile old white male boomer. "We're not going back to people that want to destroy our great social security system. Even some in our own party, I wonder who that might be. That want to raise the minimum age of social security to 70, 75 or even 80 in some cases, and then a route to cut Medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable."

“Get your government hands off my social security!” - the battle cry of the drunks in The Villages.

Two other declared GOP candidates, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, garnered 3 and 1 percent of the vote respectively. Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, who ran a Super Bowl ad for his long-shot campaign for the GOP nomination came in third with 5% of the vote. Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, along with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, each had 1% of the vote to round out the tally board.

The straw poll also found 79% of attendees oppose U.S. military aid to Ukraine, while 74% want abortion regulated on the state (not federal) level.

Basically, Trump is prioritizing the 30% of Republicans who consider themselves "Trump-first Republicans," leaving his rivals to compete for backing among the shrinking minority who support the party first.

Trump declared he would run even if he was indicted, and the goobers cheered him. he will, too.

If four or five others enter the race and divide up that 70% who aren’t “Trump first” among them, Trump ends up with a plurality win in most of the coming GOP winner-take-all primaries, just like he did in 2016. And in that 70%, most of them already also agree with the policies Trump is promoting. For anyone else to win, they will have to adopt Trumpism hook, line and sinker, whatever they want to call it.

This morning, “moderate” “sane Republican” former Maryland governor Larry Hogan announced he is NOT running for president in 2024.

The media and the political elites want to find Anything But Trump to write about, unless it is clown shows like this past weekend at CPAC. The fact is that even the people claiming to not be Trump, like Hikki Haley, cannot find anything they disagree with him on when asked by interviewers. They announce that they too are supportive of the most recent Idiot Thing among Republicans, the way Paul Ryan defended Fox because it is “anti-woke,” though even he couldn’t describe was “woke” is and why it should be opposed, when asked. Either all of this, or they want to prove they could out-Trump Trump, as DeSantis is attempting to do with his non-campaign campaign for president.

What we have witnessed and are witnessing is a Republican party on steroids to turn the latest fringe belief or activity into the next mainstream definer of the party. This is because this is now a party bereft of ideas, that likely won’t have a convention and write a platform in 2024 because they don’t have new ideas and know that their old ideas are unpopular; this is why they no longer believe in democracy. It is now a badge of belief in the party that the Jauary 6 insurrectionists are “persecuted political prisoners,” that the footage that has been shown of the insurrection is faked.

The Republican Party is whatever a mentally-deficient, un-educable, lifelong cheat and liar says it is whenever he opens his mouth and words come out. Two hours of mendacity; malevolence; revenge fantasy; willful, chosen ignorance; and free association broadcast last night is today what the Republican Party believes and is about.

Until the next time he lets words fall out of his mouth.

People have asked, how did it happen in Germany in the 1930s - this is how it happened then and is happening now.

[TCinLA :: Thats Another Fine Mess]

[seat-safety-switch]

Recently, I was watching television when a formless ghoul appeared and told me that it was my fault for not owning a house. Despite the fact that I do own a house thanks to the unsolved death of my landlord and the subsequent squatters-rights law that allows me to keep adverse possession of the property unless I leave for over 24 hours at a time, something else about what she said stuck in my craw.

She explained that if I would just take $1500 a month out of my paycheque, and put it aside, and never touch it, I would have enough to make a down payment on a house. This made sense, but only that kind of sense which is made until you put down the bong and ask the other person at the party to repeat themselves very slowly while you pull out your Bowie knife and body-snatcher detector.

if you did indeed start saving $1500 a month in January 1st, 2018, you would indeed have $90,000 by January 1st, 2023. Probably a little more from interest, but not nearly as much as you would have had by repeatedly putting that money into literally any investment vehicle, such as a 1978 Plymouth Volare.

Now, here's where things get really crazy.

If you take that same $1500 a month and you start putting it in your bank account in the year 620, by January 1, 2023, you will be able to afford a $25 million house, all cash. Or the 20% downpayment on a $125 million house if you’re feeling like you can stretch it a little. And you also will have experienced the entire arc of the industrial revolution, which you will have been unable to enjoy while paying rent to more than two dozen landlords, even as the concept of serfdom collapses around you.

Here's where things get even crazier.

If you had $1500 American dollars per month in the year 620, you would actually be able to just buy the papacy and install yourself as Pope, replacing the uncharismatic Boniface V. In this case, you would be living rent free in the Vatican for over 1400 years, unable to be removed unless through direct sub-papal fiat, although still vulnerable to the radical side-effects of internecine warfare in Italy and especially the pressures of standing up to a politically strong emperor in a time when the Church’s absolute power over politics is beginning to wane. Then, you can spend that $1500 a month on whatever you like, instead of housing or food. I recommend a 1978 Plymouth Volare.

This is the real life hack, and it's shocking nobody talks about it.

Subscribe to my tiktok for more finance tips, and by “tiktok” I mean the sound that the broken camshaft on my 1978 Plymouth Volare is making. If you buy it, I swear it’s an easy fix.

[feiandart]

When the door is finally opened and Anthony reveals himself to Aziraphale, the artist can distinctly see the Lord holding his breath and squaring him from head to toe. Oh, it is marvellous to see him swallowing, as if he had a lavish banquet before his eyes and was foretasting it. His cheeks flush first a soft pink, then a bright red, blinking and mouthing a few words which, however, does not come to the surface. In the end, to complete the picture of Aziraphale's tender nervousness, there are his hands that join in front of his chest and begin to torment each other. Oh, yes, Anthony smiles contentedly, I've hit the nail on the head. "You are... Are..." The Lord clears his throat, averting his gaze, "you're really... Really charming today, Mr. Crowley." He hints an embarrassed smile. "I mean, it's not like you're not usually, ah, I mean, um," he pauses, "I wasn't expecting so much effort, honestly... I mean, it's just... It's just..." ''Just the exhibition of an emerging artist,'' suggests Anthony. "... and a dinner," Aziraphale continues. ''A dinner at the Ritz,'' specifies the artist with an amused smile. On Valentine's Day, adds his mind. It's not what it looks like, protests his rational side, it's not a date. But it looks like one! "You look very good too," Anthony continues, ignoring the internecine warfare going on in his head, "but you are always impeccable, after all." "Oh, that's not true..." "Aziraphale, you sleep in fancy pyjamas. Even if it's tartan." "Tartan is stylish!" "And that is definitely your opinion."

[ my sugar baby is a piece of art - chapter #13 - read here ]

[olderthannetfic]

You mentioned once an old lesbian sci-fi book series with a dom/sub binary divided along hair color (brown hair/blonde hair) that developed a IRL subculture, like Gor.

I can’t remember the name of it (and Google has been unhelpful).

--

Aristasia was an offline community of people in the UK who ended up in court over sketchy BDSM practices as well as a larger online community full of internecine warfare over whether the point was, in fact, horny lesbian spanking world or not.

[trans-girl-uchiha-itachi]

this is also petty as all hell, BUT,

does it bother anyone else that hogwarts takes so much visual inspiration from collegiate gothic architecture a la oxford when it supposedly is a medieval castle designed for defensibility? what in the goddamn is up with all those massive Perpendicular glass windows?? FIRST of all you'd put that in a cathedral and not A KEEP, and SECOND of all, if hogwarts is colloquially "a thousand years old" in the 1990s, the core/central parts of the castle cannot possibly have been constructed very much after 1000 and that's at LEAST A CENTURY TOO EARLY for gothic. *pounds fist on table* i demand ENGLISH ROMANESQUE god damn it!!!

i am forced to conclude there were several waves of massive & tumultuous reconstruction due to wizard internecine warfare and can only imagine the sheer levels of shenanigans required to keep the chamber of secrets, uh,,, secret

[porlovistoeinmasochist]

References to Vlad III in Renfield (2023)

Vlad III Draculea was the voivode (a prince-like military leader) of Walachia—a principality that joined with Moldavia in 1859 to form Romania—on and off between 1448 and 1476. Also known as Vlad III, Vlad Dracula (son of the Dragon), and—most famously—Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes in Romanian), he was a brutal, sadistic leader famous for torturing his foes. By some estimates he is responsible for the deaths of more than 80,000 people in his lifetime—a large percentage of them by impalement.

Walachia had been ravaged by the ceaseless Ottoman-Hungarian conflict and the internecine strife among feuding boyars. Trade had ceased, fields lay fallow, and the land was overrun by lawlessness. Vlad III began his reign with a strict crackdown on crime, employing a zero-tolerance policy for even minor offences, such as lying.

As for the boyars—the high-ranking figures who had killed his father and older brother— Vlad III had a retributive plan. In 1459 he invited 200 of them to a great Easter banquet, together with their families. There, he had the women and the elderly stabbed to death and impaled; the men he forced into slave labour. Many of these workers would die of exhaustion while building Poenari Castle, one of Vlad III’s favourite residences.

Many of the Germans under Vlad III’s aegis were Saxons. Not to be confused with the Anglo-Saxons of England, these were German migrants who had settled in Transylvania in the 12th century after the region was conquered by Hungary. They were mostly well-to-do merchants, but to Vlad III, they were allies of his enemies.

Over the next few years, Vlad III razed entire Saxon villages and impaled thousands of people. In 1459, when the Transylvanian Saxon city of Kronstadt (today Brasov) supported a rival of Vlad III’s, the voivode’s response was savage. After initially placing trade restrictions on Saxon goods in Walachia, he had 30,000 people impaled—and reportedly dined among them so he could witness their suffering personally. He also had Kronstadt burned to the ground. Back in Walachia, he impaled Saxon merchants who violated his trade laws.

Vlad III dines amid impaled victims following his assault on Brasov (then known as Kronstadt). Printed in Nuremberg in 1499, this engraving, and others like it, helped spread Vlad III’s gruesome reputation across Europe.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARY EVANS, AGE FOTOSTOCK

Vlad III’s tactics, both on and off the battlefield, against the Turks were extraordinarily brutal. In the spring of 1462, Mehmed II assembled an army of 90,000 men and advanced on Walachia. After conducting a series of night raids and guerrilla warfare, Vlad III employed his trademark tactic, impaling more than 23,000 prisoners with their families and putting them on display along the enemy’s route, outside the city of Targoviste.“There were infants affixed to their mothers on the stakes,” writes the French historian Matei Cazacu, “and birds had made their nests in their entrails.”The sight was so horrifying that Mehmed II, after seeing the “forest” of the dead, turned around and marched back to Constantinople. Vlad III wrote to Matthias I explaining that he had “killed peasants, men and women, old and young . . . We killed 23,884 Turks, without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers.” To prove the truth of his words, he produced sacks full of severed noses and ears.

(Text taken from https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2021/11/vlad-the-impalers-thirst-for-blood-was-an-inspiration-for-count-dracula)

[stephanpolitical]

Republicans erupt into open warfare over Ukraine aid package vote | Republicans | The Guardian

[posttexasstressdisorder]

[andijaart]

+++🙏🏻God Bless🕊️+++

The Blessed Prince Dovmont (Baptised Timothy) of Pskov

MEMORIAL DAY JUNE 2

You hated paternal iniquity, blessed Prince Dovmont, and escaped the darkness of suffering, which consists in zeal for idolatry, came of your own free will to the Sun of glory - Christ, illuminated by the grace of Divine Baptism, and now, standing in the light of the Most Holy Trinity, pray to Christ God to preserve and save Orthodox people and your city from godless Muslims, and attacks Catholics, and from internecine warfare and about the salvation of our souls.

💫International Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross May the blessing of the Lord be upon you!

[solipseismic]

internecine warfare

[aloraanophis]

On the topic of the Werefolk and Therianthropic culture in general (Creative Writing/Fantasy)

As I dip my pen into the pot and begin to write upon the silicon once more, I wonder where I should begin. About which of the wonders I have seen I should tell you.

The fall of Atlantis? The Titans who reigned there? The Betrayal? The Dark Millennia and its internecine warfare? The crash of the Vampyr and the legacy of the ship and her children? The Fae-driven quest for colonialism?

Where, in short, do you begin when you want to cover the vast scope of the world? Captain America or Gilgamesh? Heracles or Superman? Plato or Angela Davis? In the vast swathe of human experience that is filled with laughter and terrified screams, where do you begin?

Where should I begin?

Perhaps, taking a dart and metaphorically throwing it at the board, we shall discuss the Therianthropes--the Werefolk.

When the words "Werefolk" are invoked, most people think specifically of the Werewolves and the Lycanthropic Panic that was started by Universal Films in 1913.

The studio's release of "The Werewolf," and the now well-documented Lycanthropic Panic saw the Werewolves flee from America's cities to hide in the rural spaces of the world. Europe, never a very welcoming place to Lycanthropes, saw that old prejudice flare up again, and it spread across the world. First across the British Empire before jumping borders.

But of course the fear and hatred did not stay contained to the Werewolves. All the Werefolk found themselves fleeing population centers and hiding wherever they could, where they remain to this day.

From the Werehawk to the Werelephant, the shapeshifting branch of humanity known as the Werefolk fled to the corners of the world that had not yet been overly touched by the rest of humanity. Here and there groups would form, often but not always along the lines of their kind, but communities of mixed Werefolk were as common as not.

And there they have largely stayed, only in the last decade or three beginning to probe the wider fabric of society as the latest generation, impossibly bored by the generations of exile, have begun making names for themselves as the world has begun to rediscover and embrace the weird and fantastical and magical alike.

There is no singular Therianthropic culture, just as there is no singular form they all take. But there are some fairly regular constants around Werefolk culture writ large:

Unlike some of the horror stories that have risen up in popular culture about them, the Werefolk are indeed human. Their form may have been altered by the Fae during the Dark Millennia but they remain firmly human, if at times something slightly more.

The concept of an "Inner Wolf/Animal" that fights them for control of their mind is a dehumanizing stereotype originating in England in the mid-1800's that was later used as an excuse for the Werewolf Hunts.

The concepts of Alpha, Beta, and Omega Werewolves (and sometimes by extension other Werefolk) are, as always, not true and never have been. This theory that found its way into popular culture was started by L. David Mech in his book The Wolf, and debunked by him years later, even if popular culture has failed to recognize this.

While it is true that in some respects Werefolk's human physiology is affected by the form they shapeshift into, it is generally agreed that the Werefolk Essentialist claim that the animal they become is the main predictor of their behavior are, in fact, wrong. No matter how loud the Essentialists are. A diminutive weremouse can be as aggressive as a Polar Bear, and a massive Wererhino as meek and gentle as a capybara.

Werefolk tend to form tightly knit communities that are generally insular, often around family-based "clan" cultures forced upon them by the Werewolf Hunts of the 1930s that, after all, were rarely satisfied with just hunting the Werewolves and often changed up their targets to other Therianthropes, from Wereotters to Weremoose.

While generally distrustful of outsiders, they are fiercely loyal to their friends and found family. Some have, in the last century, developed formalized bonds of social debtory via formal, pronounced pacts, colloquially known as Life Debts.

Unlike their portrayals in Popular Culture, Werefolk can generally transform from human to animal form within seconds in a usually painless procedure (see also: Permanent Therianthropism and Transformative Disabilities)

Despite what you may have heard from print and film, Werefolk rarely stayed alone in their communities for long. Indeed, the modern American hidden cities were all formed with Werefolk as a base, with other magical humans and creatures trickling in to hide as they, in turn, were targeted and had to flee.

An academic footnote on Life Debts: So-called Life Debts were only awarded for acts of extreme bravery and a highly formalized, culturally-specific form of alliance stronger than any other kind of bond. Stronger than friendship, stronger than blood. Life Debts were not declared on an individual level, but at the clan, family, and/or community level. Despite what the fantasy authors may tell you, there is not a single recorded case of a Life Debt on an individual level. They tended to last for at least 2 generations before being considered having been repaid, and often saw an intermingling of Werefolk involved in the Debt from the affected communities. Modern Therianthropic academics dispute the number of Life Debts that have ever been declared and fewer still that were called upon, but out of the thousands of examples in the historical and literary record, they suggest that fewer than three hundred were ever actually formed and less than half that number ever called upon. It is a colorful, though overhyped, example of Werefolk culture that has caught the imagination of popular culture. The historians additionally tell us that only the Werepuma, Werepossum, and Werebison communities have recorded examples of initiating Life Debts in their oral or written histories.

[rescue-ram]

Keep trying to write a post on why the concept of "raised Baptist" Hawkeye is interesting to me and struggling sjjfjd because the funny part would be the layer of "I don't even believe in this stuff anymore but you are SO WRONG" to his interactions with Frank, but I don't know how to explain the nuances of internecine baptist warfare and why this is really funny to me

[xtruss]

As Russia Celebrates Veteran's Day, Here's How the Country Fought in Different Periods of Its Thousand Year History

How Military Service in the World's Largest Country has evolved, from Tsars to Bolsheviks to the Modern State

Servicemen take part in a dress rehearsal of a military parade marking the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in Moscow, Russia. © Sputnik/Evgeny Biyatov

For over 100 years, Russia has celebrated Defender of the Fatherland Day on February 23. The holiday, which originally glorified the Red Army, took on wider meaning after the fall of the USSR. Presently, the holiday sees Russians celebrating all those who served in the military in defense of their country.

It is roughly equivalent to the American Veteran's Day or the British Armed Forces Day.

The military has always been respected in Russia. But over the country’s thousand-year history, the system has undergone major changes.

Varangians: Strangers From The North

At the dawn of the existence of Rus, the Slavic tribes that populated the land that would become Russia had no army of their own. Whenever conflicts became violent, they resembled 'wall on wall' fist fights. These confrontations continued in this manner until the Slavs learned the art of war from their northern neighbors and colonizers – the Varangians.

The Varangian guard, which took control of the trade route that passed through central Rus to the Greek civilizations, called themselves 'rowers', since they used row boats in their military campaigns. It is thought that the ancient Scandinavian word “rōþr” at some point evolved into the similar sounding 'rus'. It’s highly likely that the future name of Russia thus sprang from the self-designated name of the Varangian warriors.

The people of Rus wore simple shirts and helmets. They were mainly armed with spears and axes, while a sword marked a warrior’s superior status. They fought on foot, moving along rivers on boats called drakkars, which were rolled over rapids. The Varangians engaged in the great Viking tradition of trade and raids – pretty much the same as in Western Europe at the time.

One of the most famous Varangians and first rulers of Rus was Grand Prince Svyatoslav, who fought Bulgaria, the Byzantine Empire, and the Khazar khaganate. Some sources mention large raids as far away from the center of Rus as the southern Caspian lands.

Svyatoslav Igorevich (according to the description of Leo the Deacon). © Wikipedia

Boyars-Vigilantes: The First Warriors in Rus

As the ancient Russian principalities were established, grew more powerful, and formed a settled economy, the Varangian-Rus people increasingly assimilated. In their turn, the Slavs adopted Varangian methods of warfare. This process, along with the need to protect the territories under their control, resulted in the formation of a new kind of military organization – the princely vigilante squad.

These were boyar warriors from among the prince’s loyal inner circle. They equipped themselves with war horses, armor, pikes, and swords at their own expense. In military campaigns, the unit was accompanied by a foot detachment of 200-300 spearmen. These combat groups were quite mobile and were able to quickly respond to the raids of the Polovtsians and Pechenegs. Unfortunately, by the time of the Mongol invasion, these detachments had not sufficiently evolved – still small in number and dispersed, they could not effectively fight the horde from the East.

'Morning on Kulikovo field' by Alexander Bubnov

Streltsy: The First Permanent Army

Despite the defeat by the Mongols, the vigilantes and local militias continued fighting during the internecine wars of the 14th and 15th centuries, until a single state was formed under Ivan the Terrible.

It was then that the first unified regular army appeared in Russia, called the Streltsy. This reform occurred in 1550 and a special order (ministry) was created. This first army wasn’t large – it consisted of no more than 3,000 soldiers. However, the Streltsy were paid and were not obliged to work the land, which greatly facilitated social mobility in those days. The privileges, allowance, and a rather free lifestyle made the new profession extremely popular, and within 50 years, there were over 20,000 Streltsy in Moscow and the regions.

The Streltsy wore a kaftan and gloves and had uniform weapons. They were armed with a “bardishe” (poleaxe with a long shaft), a “pischal” (the Russian equivalent of an arquebus or long gun), and a saber. To achieve greater firing accuracy during important battles, the shaft of a bardishe was used to support the pischal. The Streltsy also often carried low-power powder grenades.

In addition to military duties, the Streltsy had civic duties, acting as policemen and firemen, They also often interacted with the local cavalry. In battle the Streltsy were directly responsible for the capture of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556), and most importantly, the retention of these territories.

Sagittarians. Fragment of the painting by Sergei Ivanov 'Tsar. XVI century.'

Russia Learns From The West

After the fall of the Rurik dynasty and the onset of the Smuta (The Time of Troubles), Russia was forced to adapt and change its military system because of the prolonged war with Poland and the occupation of Russia’s northern territories by Sweden. To fight the occupation, “foreign formation regiments” were organized. These military units were made up of servicemen, “willing” free people, foreigners, Cossacks, and other mercenaries.

The new regiments did not replace the Streltsy but used more modern tactics to fight. This included the placement of pikemen in front of the musketeers, which increased the tactical manoeuvrability of combat detachments.

By the 1630s, the foreign formation regiments had evolved into the first Hussar and Reiter companies. These were in fact knights with long pistols. They wore cuirasses and helmets, but when attacking, they fired dozens of heavy bullets at the enemy and then either retreated to reload or finished the enemy off with daggers and these meter-long pistols.

Uniforms II. Russian troops. 1. A soldier of a foreign regiment before Alexei Mikhailovich. 2. The era of Peter the Great. The bombardier. 3. The era of Peter the Great. An officer of the Grenadier regiment. © Wikipedia

Peter The Great’s Reforms – The First Conscription Army in Russia

Although the Hussar and Reiter regiments were quite effective, they still weren’t large enough. The Streltsy, who took on the role of a mass army, unfortunately engaged in a dispute with the young Tsar Peter I. The conflict prefaced large-scale military reform. In 1705, the future emperor and founder of the Russian Empire issued a decree “On the recruitment of soldiers from free people”. It was then that the term “recruit” was legally endorsed. Peter I “copied” this innovation from Sweden, which had a strong regular army.

The decree stated that from each village, town, community, and household, one person (except for the head of the family and the breadwinner) must be sent to the army for a lifetime of service and must become a soldier. This person was to be chosen by lot. In the early years of the law, all classes were subject to conscription. All nobles were obliged to serve in the army, and communities were required to regularly provide a certain number of recruits between the ages of 20-35.

In addition to the professional army, Peter I also established the Russian navy, military industry, and military academies.

By the end of Peter the Great’s reign, the regular army numbered 200,000 to 300,000 in all military service branches. This was an impressive number for a country with a population of 13 million. The duration of military service also became shorter over time. Lifetime military service was dispensed with, and soldiers went into “reserve”, being called to the army only in case of war. However, for many decades the duration of military service didn’t drop below 20 years.

'Battle of Poltava' by Pierre-Denis Martin

The Army of The Empire

The next major reform of the Russian army took place in the 19th century. Any defeat brings with it necessary lessons, and such was the case with the Crimean War, which resulted in Milyutin's sweeping reforms. The main innovation was the transition from Peter the Great’s recruitment system to universal military service – a standard practice in European armies. From that time on, all men between the ages of 21 and 40 were required to be on active military duty. In the ground forces, the duration of service was 15 years: six years of active service and nine years in reserve. After that, men were enlisted in the State Militia (the reserve of the armed forces, convened only in case of war) until they turned 40.

Additionally, instead of permanent armies and corps, Milyutin formed military districts with stationed units. This meant that soldiers and officers no longer had to permanently live in tents.

The second half of the 19th century was also marked by qualitative changes. Particular attention was paid to the army’s technical equipment. The end of the century saw the development of aeronautical and railway units. In 1885, a team of military aeronauts was formed (using hot air balloons or airships), with the East Siberian Field Aeronautical Battalion taking part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. In 1911, the first aviation detachment appeared in Russia, and by the beginning of the First World War, there were 39 such groups. The famous “Ilya Muromets” heavy bombers also appeared at that time.

In those years, state-owned factories and logistics expanded, all combat units were equipped with machine guns, and telephone lines were installed between the various units.

Fundamental changes also concerned military service admission. The term of active service in the infantry and foot artillery was three years, in other branches of the ground forces it was four years, and in the Navy, it was five. Some categories of citizens were given privileges. Men who were unable to carry weapons for health reasons and some clergy were exempt from military service.

Russian Infantry © Wikipedia

The Soviet Army

In the first months after the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government sought to create an army based on the militia system. This supposed that during peacetime, military units would consist only of the accounting apparatus and limited command staff, drawing upon locally registered fighters in times of need.

In the first months following the revolution, the army was composed of volunteers with the number of troops reaching just below 200 thousand. In order to create a regular army, the resolution "On the organization of the Red Army" was adopted on July 10, 1918. Men from 18 to 40 years old were subject to conscription and by November 1921, the Red Army numbered 5.5 million.

Parade on Red Square, Moscow, 1922. © Wikipedia

Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union became a real test for the army, and the Soviet military system was not ready for it. Victory in the war cost the USSR the lives of tens of millions of people.

The conflict completely transformed Russia’s military system. In 1946, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was replaced by the Soviet Army. In the 1950s, the Armed Forces of the USSR were equipped with nuclear missiles and other advanced military equipment. The Soviet Armed Forces consisted of Ground Forces, Strategic Missile Forces, Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Air Force. This has all been inherited by the Russian Federation.

Solemn march of Soviet Army tanks at the parade in honor of the anniversary of the October Revolution, November 7, 1983. © Wikipedia

Present Times

In Russia’s recent history, the army was at its largest in December 1991, when it numbered about 3.8 million servicemen. In 1992, Boris Yeltsin reduced the number of servicemen to 2.1 million in 1994 and by 1996, to 1.7 million.

At the end of August 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1.9 million to 2.04 million. This came into effect on January 1, 2023.

The Ukraine conflict has impacted Russian military service. Partial mobilization was announced for the first time in the history of the Russian Federation, and 300,000 people who had previously served in the army were called up. Moreover, private military companies became more prominent in light of the conflict.

Among these, the most widely known organization is PMC Wagner Group – currently one of the most effective units of the Russian military.

A serviceman of Russian private military company Wagner Group is seen during the execution of a combat mission in the course of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, in the Lugansk People's Republic, Russia. © Sputnik/Viktor Antonyuk

— By Anatoliy Brusnikin, Russian Historian and Journalist | February 23rd, 2023

[olderthannetfic]

I've a genuine question, regarding the most recent discourse (for lack of a better word) about asexuality in this blog. I'm not someone who sees discourse about asexuality very often, specially on sites like this (which I understand, Tumblr had a very serious aphobic phase) or Twitter. I'm also not American so I don't know that much about the politics there. My question is: was there a change, over time, about what it is expected of asexual people?

Asking this because the last few asks have mentioned that sex is expected in any kind of form (correct me if I misunderstood this). The last time I saw Internet discourse about asexuality (three years ago, more or less, but it wasn't here or Twitter, it was in a fanfic forum) all people freaked out when someone said that asexual people can have sex or libido or masturbating. The people on this forum claimed "that can't be true because if asexual people do any of this then it defeats calling themselves asexuals, this is dumb". That made extremely angry, never touched that forum again. Same on my experiences in social interactions outside the internet, specially in my university (sigh).

But yeah, has this changed? The expectation for asexual people regarding sex? Or this is something rather more specific on certain circles/sites? Or maybe the changed has had happened inside the queer/LGBTQ+ community only? Because I can pretty confidently say that the people on that forum and the people at my university aren't exactly queer or know very little about things beyond the binary division of heterosexual/homosexual.

--

Has there been one singular change? No, I don't think so.

But the term is a bit of a catchall for some fairly disparate experiences of (lack of) attraction, and it doesn't inherently indicate what you do any more than any other orientation does.

Naturally, this leads to much internecine warfare about who's in and who's out and what the Right Way To Be Ace is.

[ronaldparlato]

What made he and Fatima such a brilliant couple was their shared anomie - a Euro-cynicism borne of both millennia of squabbling neighbors and internecine warfare and an African fatalism that came from tribal paganism and an inured moral fatigue.

[rebeleden]

Wealthy donors furious at being dragged into 'internecine warfare' surrounding Trump - Raw Story

STOP NAZI VANILLA ISIS