A senior Russian official on June 19 inadvertently confirmed the staggering troop losses incurred by Moscow's forces during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with CNN, Russian Ambassador to the U.K. Andrey Kelin was asked about Moscow's maximalist intentions in Ukraine and its ability to recruit enough
  • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    9 hours ago

    Don’t be a Jihadi? Don’t try to force your way onto others trying to establish a Caliphate? Are you seriously taking the side of Al fucking Qaeda here.

    How do you explain Wagner’s actions to the survivors of Moura. “Don’t be a civilian?”

    Detainees were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during questioning, and dozens of women and girls were raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence, the report claims. In one instance, soldiers brought bedding from a house, placed it under trees in the garden, and took turns raping women they had forced there.

    And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, most of the atrocities don’t get investigated at all due to the fucked-up overall situation. It’s all Wagner MO though.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 hours ago

      Don’t be a Jihadi?

      There it is. Everyone’s guilty once you’ve flung shrapnel through their chest.

      But you still can’t imagine why the French-aligned government got ousted in a coup on these terms.

      • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        9 hours ago

        What were the residents of Moura guilty of? Answer.

        Jihadis came in, enforced their perverse interpretation of Islam, Sharia courts, dress codes, the lot. Then Wagner+Mali army came, first stomped the Jihadis, then Wagner moved on to rape the locals. Mali army looked on for a while, then stepped in and said “Ok Russians, that’s enough, stop it”, and it stopped.

        That doesn’t happen with French forces, you don’t have to tell French forces to stop torturing and raping the local civilians, and they also won’t tell you that it’s a valuable strategy of war. And that’s why there’s going to be another putsch because as fucked-up as the Mali military is they’re not inherently cruel. They just have no idea of how to achieve stability, and were dissatisfied by the progress of the French – but seeing the Russians, yep, the French are very much preferable. Or ask Nigeria for help instead. China if you can convince them, that’d certainly be interesting. Anyone, but not Russia.

        Because you know what? You don’t win the hearts and minds of the people if your reputation is even worse than that of the Jihadis. Say what you want about Al Qaeda but they’re not as bad as ISIS or Wagner, they do have a sense of decency. A very twisted one, but it exists.