### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3141 "2022-03-23T16:18:18Z")
Maybe this guy has a printer:
>
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3142 "2022-03-23T16:22:25Z")
> [@Airbeck](#):
>
> I’ve heard that Russia outsources it’s hacking needs.
I don’t know about that. I’ve heard that the FSB has long been building hacking tools, and it’s certainly consistent with Russian government doctrine. Which is what has led to rumours that Kaspersky may have ties to the FSB and hence the Russian government. There certainly are independent non-government Russian hackers, but those are the ones more interested in ransomware than in wreaking havoc and destruction.
All of the above is just speculation based on stuff I’ve read. I have no authoritative info.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3143 "2022-03-23T16:23:58Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#):
>
> Anonymous are currently mass printing information about the war on unsecured printers around Russia and have sent seven million texts to Russian phones.
I really like that tactic.
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### Author:  [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3144 "2022-03-23T16:24:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I’ve heard that the FSB has long been building hacking tools, and it’s certainly consistent with Russian government doctrine.
I wonder if those hacking tools are stored in the same warehouses as the state-of-the-art military equipment the oligarchs have been building for Putin.
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### Author:  [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3145 "2022-03-23T16:28:56Z")
Indeed. I would imagine that department has the same corruption issues as every other part of that government.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3146 "2022-03-23T16:38:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> I’m still concerned about fuel and food. I hear little about that being supplied, and only lots of talk about missiles, even though fuel and food may be even more vital for Ukraine than munitions.
If you talk to Ukrainians or Ukrainian organisations in your town, they will tell you where to go help pack stuff into cardboard boxes.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3147 "2022-03-23T16:42:49Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#):
>
> Anonymous are currently mass printing information about the war on unsecured printers around Russia and have sent seven million texts to Russian phones.
Wait a minute. According to the story cited a bit later in the thread, they’ve printed 40,000 copies – but from all of 156, or maybe 160, printers. That’s about 250 copies per printer.
For one thing, that’s probably emptied the paper trays, so without cooperation on the other end they won’t get any more printed. For another, anybody discovering 250 copies of the same thing arriving uninvited via their printer may be too pissed off to read them. For a third, they’ve only hit 160 separate places, at most; and if some of those printers are in the same place as each other, maybe considerably fewer.
I was imagining 40,000 printers scattered among large and small businesses and private homes spitting out one copy each; or at least a few thousand spitting out a few copies each. I’m a bit disappointed in the actual situation.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3148 "2022-03-23T16:45:44Z")
Another political casuality of war. We’ll never know how many Russians resisted by leaking information or providing intel to the West.
I guess he could have been a scapegoat for the military failures.
> **[Mystery as Putin's defence minister 'vanishes with heart problems' as war stalls](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putins-defence-minister-vanishes-26536281)**
>
> Sergei Shoigu has not been seen for 12 days and old footage or pictures have been shown of him on TV, say reports in opposition media - he was mentioned in a Kremlin report on March 18 but no visuals of him were shown
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3149 "2022-03-23T16:57:39Z")
Vanishes with heart problems? Maybe he turned out to have a heart.
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3150 "2022-03-23T17:00:13Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> According to the story cited a bit later in the thread, they’ve printed 40,000 copies – but from all of 156, or maybe 160, printers. That’s about 250 copies per printer.
That’s disappointing. And as you suggest printing something once or twice might be more effective than flooding the recipient with 250 copies.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3151 "2022-03-23T17:03:56Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> anybody discovering 250 copies of the same thing arriving uninvited via their printer may be too pissed off to read them.
Yes, but there’s no form of protest that doesn’t involve unintentionally pissing off the people it’s trying to win over. Remember the people protesting by blocking streets so cars cannot pass? It’s the main obstacle/contradiction of trying to protest effectively.
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### Author:  [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3152 "2022-03-23T17:07:43Z")
What someone needs to do is get a civilian drone capable of flying a preprogrammed route modified to fly over Russian cities and drop a bunch of leaflets over a few blocks of crowded streets.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3153 "2022-03-23T17:07:48Z")
So Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s counterpart?
I haven’t seen Austin much in the recent press. (I had to look him up). Secretary of State Blinken has been handling the crises.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3154 "2022-03-23T17:12:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Another political casuality of war. We’ll never know how many Russians resisted by leaking information or providing intel to the West.
>
> I guess he could have been a scapegoat for the military failures.
>
> [https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putins-defence-minister-vanishes-26536281](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putins-defence-minister-vanishes-26536281)
So, the defense minister, six generals, two FSB agents, and as many as 10,000 Russian soldiers have all had sudden heart problems. I recommend a diet much lower in cholesterol, regular exercise, a prescription for Lipitor, and getting the hell out of Russia. I suspect the latter remedy would be the most effective.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3155 "2022-03-23T17:12:26Z")
Sec of Defense Austin met with his NATO counterparts last week and will be going to Bruselles with Biden this week, so it’s not like he hasnt been busy.
We aren’t at war with Russia, so it makes sense that State is more out front than the DOD.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3156 "2022-03-23T17:13:47Z")
I was thinking the same thing. To quote Winston Churchill – not a noted pacifist – “Better jaw, jaw than war, war.”
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### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3157 "2022-03-23T17:18:21Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> getting the hell out of Russia. I suspect the latter remedy would be the most effective.
According to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-23/putin-adviser-chubais-quits-over-ukraine-war-and-leaves-russia):
> **Putin Adviser Chubais Quits Over Ukraine War, Leaves Russia**
>
> Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais has stepped down and left the country, citing his opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
> Chubais gave Putin his first Kremlin job in the mid-1990s and initially welcomed his rise to power at the end of that decade. Under Putin, Chubais took top jobs at big state companies until the president named him envoy for sustainable development last year.
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### Author:  [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3158 "2022-03-23T17:19:50Z")
Missed this story a couple of weeks ago, but apparently Albania has [renamed the street in the capital where both the Russian and Ukrainian embassies are to "Free Ukraine](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/albania-renames-street-capital-tirana-free-ukraine-2022-03-06/)." This is a Reuters link and appears to be a real thing. It’s obviously also an extremely minor thing, but it brings a small smile to my face anyway.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3159 "2022-03-23T17:21:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> > [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#):
> >
> > Anonymous are currently mass printing information about the war on unsecured printers around Russia and have sent seven million texts to Russian phones.
>
> I really like that tactic.
But what does Weedlord Bonerhitler think? [https://www.gawker.com/5916751/gop-trolled-by-weedlord-bonerhitler-in-online-healthcare-petition-stunt](https://www.gawker.com/5916751/gop-trolled-by-weedlord-bonerhitler-in-online-healthcare-petition-stunt)
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3160 "2022-03-23T17:26:33Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> Mostly, I suspect, because they want to keep us _out_ of the war, and directly attacking us like that is more likely to bring us _into_ it.
Where we are seeing it is attacks on financial/PI infrastructure, and I think some telecomm, but that isn’t being discussed much. I absolutely agree that they aren’t being more direct to avoid pulling NATO in.
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