Same thing applies to modern electronics. But the necessary investments that were at a scale ‘impossible to finance’ in peacetime to move technology forward in the time frames we saw were made essential by the logic of war. Only rarely in peacetime have we seen periods of innovation such as the recent ‘semiconductor age’, and many of those are fundamentally the horizontal spread of technologies originally developed for conflict.
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Is it possible to be at peace? Or. Is there a country (has there ever been?) that isn’t on a war footing on some front? Am shooting my arguement in the foot as it were…
However, I like to think that we have general movements forwards that coincidentally can come to a focal point during conflicts. I would say most of the steps forward have come in relatively peaceful (often prosperous) times - though not necessarily palatable times.
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Yes. There have been countries which were at peace for extended periods of time.
This idea that war is good for innovation ignores all the infrastructure destroyed and brainpower killed in wartime.
Germany had a thriving technological sector and outstanding science until the Nazis chased half the top scientists away and the war destroyed all the labs and research facilities. Who knows what they could have achieved if Einstein and his peers had been left unmolested.
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Yeah, fully agree with this. War does generally accelerate the big-scale development of already existing technologies, but that is all. Genuine inventions don’t come during wartime imo.
Einstein developed the basis of his theory of relativity in Switzerland, which was at peace, and thankfully still is. The brothers Wright found a way to fly in an airplane in 1903, not during war. The brothers Lumière invented cinema in 1895, again not in wartime. etc. etc.
The Russians have set fire to the Nuclear reactor which they control in Zaporizhia. It’s a modern reactor, so won’t melt down probably, but insane form of blackmail
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1822711017354264874
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Yeah, that’s the Fascist Trope that conflict is strictly necessary for development, but I was hardly pushing that, Tesh. I was never ever saying, or trying to say, that it was and is necessary 
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Never mind, the Russians just decided to give us a scare by burning car tired in the cooling tower because that makes sense to them.
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I know Magnus and my comment was a general one, not a directed one. It has always irked me that all.
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https://x.com/yarotrof/status/1822972880134529322
https://x.com/maxseddon/status/1822971942401380605
By the way, this is much more than what we know of.
I’ll be honest, It’s incredibly difficult to know what it happening, Ukraine is saying anything. OSINT maps out of geolocated clashes, areas confirmed under Ukrainian control are “confirmed” when one sees Ukrainian geolocated units milling about without being stressed or gunfire in the background, or when they raise flags. The information space is dark, just specks of light in it. it’s difficult to know the situation, but seems odd if the RU governor lies.
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This is funny though, Putin clamps down on his report:
https://x.com/Archer83Able/status/1822979518773985357
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Smirnov - What a surname that is for a Russian who likes his Vodka :0)
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This again, is behind the “frontline”, very close to border. UKR are now capturing settlements they drove past in the early days.
https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1822966043054105035
This is also a reminder that area of clashes does not constitute control. I know I am being a bit like @cynicaloldgit here, mood killer and so on, but advance spearheads clashing 30 km into Kursk doesn’t mean, in any form or way that Ukraine control area that far into Kursk. There will be many Russian villages and towns with garrisons that are not taken. This is manouver warfare, so “recce in force” is a thing. And Ukrainian sabotage and recce can be 20 even 30 km in front of lines of control when the situation is so chaotic. That doesn’t mean that they will be that far into Kursk tomorrow or in 2 days. Just an example.
And since there is such an information blackout, except for RU military telegram, which almost always exaggerated numbers, one can only speculate.
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This is the one where we (well, some of us) speculated that War Gonzo (Semen Pegev) got shot all those months ago (the blurred out redhead getting shot in the forehead there, which honestly looked almost exactly like him in the video ). Funny that they use such a well known video.
Note: he did not get shot, in case you missed out on that.
https://x.com/KvotheTheArcane/status/1822964037388321198
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Feels kind of weird watching that while i listen to the 1812 Overture…
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Not the only one.
This is an unrelated video from today. But seems they let anyone drive large military trucks through cities, even when drunk
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1822971690512482801
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Rumour for now
https://x.com/FreudGreyskull/status/1822993415023542490
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Makes me think of videos from China…
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Blowing up the ammunition depot of the two airfields closest to Kursk (the two where tactical bombers are based), helps of course.
Make no mistake, this is due to that.
https://x.com/Azovsouth/status/1822962388393394211
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OMG !!!
https://x.com/warrior_na92602/status/1822639269103743273
He actually said that. “Unsportsmanlike”…
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