September 2022 – Page 232

Today in Supreme Court History: September 2, 1819

9/2/1819: James Madison writes letter to Judge Spencer Roane criticizing McCulloch v. Maryland.

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California Bureaucrats Want to Take Over Your Local Fast Food Joint

Why start your own business when you can tell other people how to run their operations without doing any of the work or assuming the risk yourself? That’s the apparent theory behind California’s A.B. 257, a bill just passed by legislators that would establish a council with the power to set wages and working conditions for fast food restaurants. It’s a measure likely to kill jobs, guaranteed to cause headaches for business owners, and that will probably prove a boon for the automation industry as well as for fans of failed experiments in 20th century authoritarian government.

“This bill would enact the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or FAST Recovery Act. The bill would establish, until January 1, 2029, the Fast Food Council (council) within the Department of Industrial Relations, to be composed of 10 members to be appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Rules Committee, and would prescribe its powers,” reads the text of A.B. 257, which passed both the Assembly and the Senate. “The purpose of the council would be to establish sector-wide minimum standards on wages, working hours, and other working conditions related to the health, safety, and welfare of, and supplying the necessary cost of proper living to, fast food restaurant workers, as well as effecting interagency coordination and prompt agency responses in this regard.”

The council would be made up of two state officials, four industry representatives, and four representatives of workers and unions. “The Governor shall appoint the representatives of the state agencies, fast food restaurant employees, fast food restaurant franchisees, and fast food restaurant franchisors. The Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules Committee shall each appoint one representative of an advocate for fast food restaurant employees,” specifies the law.

Jurisdictions with populations greater than 200,000 could establish their own local councils to advise the state body regarding further regulations. Restaurant chains will be subject to the councils’ rules if they have 100 or more national outlets.

“In the wake of a pandemic that has been especially brutal to women of color and their families, our policy makers in Washington, D.C., have yet to make the investments we need to support caregivers and help families thrive—or to ensure that the economy is producing good, well-paying jobs in the face of rising inflation,” argued a coalition of progressive and labor groups in a letter dated August 10. “With A.B. 257, fast-food workers will win a seat at the table with decision makers and will gain the ability to shape industry-specific solutions to longstanding problems.”

If the idea of joint state-industry-labor councils dictating terms to nominally private enterprise sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been tried before. In 1934, The New York Times reported the creation in Italy of “22 councils of corporations to regulate all business” consisting of representatives of employers, employees, and government. The councils were responsible not just “for the administration of labour contracts but also for the promotion of the interests of its field in general,” as noted by the Encyclopedia Britannica. A.B. 257 doesn’t go quite that far, yet, but it certainly moves in that direction. To paraphrase Tom Wolfe, the dark night of fascism is always descending in Florida and yet lands only in California (though Florida has its own occasional bouts of authoritarianism).

The legislation not only resembles to a disturbing degree collectivist authoritarian experiments of the past, it also repeats their economic errors.

“A.B. 257 … would impose increased employee costs and onerous new workplace rules at a time when many are still struggling to get back on their feet after the devastating impacts of the government mandated COVID closures,” objects the California Restaurant Association, which represents the industry.

“The economic literature on minimum wage increases has become murkier in recent years, but the overwhelming majority of economists agree that large minimum wage increases in excess of productivity gains means that employers will operate at a loss as far as the effected workers go,” cautions the Cato Institute’s Michael D. Tanner. “It is unclear whether the Councils could prevent fast‐food franchises from laying off workers in the event of higher labor costs (already automated kiosks are replacing many fast food workers), but there is nothing they could do to prevent some franchises from closing down and leaving the state.”

As Tanner notes, raising the cost of labor makes it increasingly attractive for employers to replace human workers in existing restaurants and to plan future restaurants with a preference for automated systems over human employees.

“Increasing the minimum wage provides economic incentives for firms to adopt new technologies that replace workers,” Scott A. Wolla and F. Mindy Burton noted last year in an analysis for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “That is, a higher minimum wage raises the cost of labor and increases the range of tasks that are susceptible to displacement by automation—especially the tasks of minimum wage jobs, which tend to be labor intensive and composed of low-skill tasks. For example, consider the self-checkout lanes at grocery stores and digital kiosks at a fast-rood restaurant …”

As that analysis suggests, the push in recent years for higher minimum wages has already spurred restaurant chains, including McDonald’s, to adopt self-service kiosks for ordering and robots for food preparation. The provisions of A.B. 257 can only make flesh-and-blood employees that much more expensive and uncompetitive.

Even government officials aren’t all enthused by the legislation’s vision of corporative decision-making for the fast-food industry. California’s own Department of Finance opposes the bill because of the high costs and regulatory fragmentation it poses. Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to indicate whether he’ll sign the measure.

As it stands, California already offers a difficult environment for businesses to navigate, with a significant existing regulatory apparatus and a high minimum wage.

“States at the bottom of the list continued to suffer from reputations for high taxes, regulation and costs of living, with Washington at No. 46, followed by New Jersey, Illinois, New York and California,” Chief Executive magazine noted this year in its annual rankings of best and worst states for business.

If already substantial interventions in the market haven’t achieved the utopia that progressives desire, the fault may not lie with what’s left of economic freedom, but with the interventions themselves. Subjecting nominally private enterprise to the dictates of collectivist councils didn’t do any favors for 1930s Italy, and it’s not likely to have a better outcome in California of 2022.

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Review: After Cult Leader Was Convicted, His Compound Was Raided by Child Protective Services

Even though Warren Jeffs resigned as president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), his followers continue to worship him as their prophet. Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting minors—at the time of his arrest in 2006, he had more than 70 wives and nearly a third of them were under the age of 17. A handful of Jeffs’ followers were also charged with sexual assault.

This religious community—the subject of Netflix’s latest true-crime docu-thriller, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey—wasn’t finished with conflict after Jeffs and others were removed from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. Child Protective Services (CPS) returned to rip more than 450 children from their mothers on the compound. CPS claimed that because their religion represented a “pervasive belief system,” it was too dangerous to leave any children in the community. In horrifying raw footage from the raid, the children (including newborns) are seen crowding on buses and screaming for their parents. The Texas Supreme Court later found that the raid was not justified because CPS failed to prove the children were in immediate danger.

When faced with a choice between family and church, many FLDS members continue to choose the latter. This devotion has led to many broken families where the husband is exiled while his wife and children—who think obedience is their only choice—stay behind, or in the worst-case scenario, are reassigned to new husbands.

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Christian Britschgi: Zoning Restrictions Worsen the Housing Crisis

If you want less expensive housing, you need more housing. And the way to get more housing is actually pretty simple: You have to let people build it.

But that seemingly simple solution has turned out to be incredibly difficult, mostly because of politics. More specifically, the problem is zoning.

Local zoning rules put limits on what can be built and where. Zoning rules restrict how high a building can be, or how many units can occupy a given parcel of land.

In some cases, they also require aesthetic features that can be cumbersome or expensive to build.

In other words, zoning makes housing more scarce—and more expensive.

In theory, President Joe Biden has staked out opposition to the worst of these building restrictions. While campaigning for president, he backed loosening zoning rules.

And the bipartisan infrastructure law Biden signed last year contained billions of dollars for transportation grants the administration indicated could go to localities that reformed strict zoning laws, as part of the administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan, which the White House has described as a plan to “ease the burden of housing costs.”

But that plan has produced disappointing results.

That’s the topic of this week’s episode of The Reason Rundown With Peter Suderman, featuring Reason Associate Editor Christian Britschgi.

Mentioned in this podcast:

“Joe Biden’s Use of Transportation Dollars To Incentivize Zoning Reform Is a Big Flop” by Christian Britschgi

“Environmental Lawsuits Tried To Block 50,000 Homes From Being Built in California in 1 Year” by Christian Britschgi

“Are San Francisco’s NIMBYs Finally Getting Their Comeuppance?” by Christian Britschgi

“Marc Andreessen’s High-Tech Fix for the Housing Crisis Lets Him Keep Being a NIMBY” by Christian Britschgi

Audio production and editing by Ian Keyser; produced by Hunt Beaty.

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Filling Gasoline Cars Could Become Cheaper Than Charging EVs In The UK

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

Due to skyrocketing energy prices, Britons could soon face higher costs for charging their electric vehicles (EVs) at home than filling up gasoline-fueled cars, The Washington Times reports.

The high energy and electricity prices that could undermine the growth in EVs uptake in the UK and globally could be a cautionary tale for what could be the future in the U.S. if the energy transition is pushed to accelerate without accounting for whether EVs and renewable energy sources could replace fossil fuels, analysts tell The Washington Times.

“For the U.S., this actually gets to an underlying fallacy of a lot of people that are pushing electric vehicles: they assert electric vehicles are cheaper because they assume electricity prices are going to stay cheap,” Kenny Stein, policy director of the Institute for Energy Research, told The Washington Times.

Last week, the UK energy regulator Ofgem said the new price cap for household energy bills would be $4,113 (£3,549) per year, an 80-percent hike in the energy price cap aimed at shielding consumers from price swings, promising to plunge millions more into energy poverty.

The chief executive of Ofgem, Jonathan Brearley, has also warned that another hike in the price cap would be coming in January next year, raising household energy bills much further, to above $6,952 (£6,000), according to recent forecasts. That would be almost double on the latest hike.

The price cap currently stands at $2,285 (£1,971) per year, based on typical use for the average household, which is already a 54% increase on the $1,480 (£1,277) per year that was in place between October 2021 and March 2022.

Many British households are already struggling with paying their bills, and they are accumulating more debt, too. The government is helping, but more help would be needed for the higher bills.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/02/2022 – 05:00

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European Private Jet Demand Soars As Rich Avoid Travel Chaos

Strikes and pilot shortages forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights at major European airports. The chaos of flight disruptions boosted private jet use among the wealthiest this summer, who jumped on a Gulfstream G550, Cessna Citation X, and or Bombardier Challenger 350 to avoid any hiccup of arriving late to their destination.

Bloomberg reported private jet use soared by almost a third in recent months compared to pre-pandemic levels. Airport capacity from Ibiza to Mykonos was stretched thin as European politicians proposed regulating or even banning private jet flights after a summer of record-breaking heat.

Ironically, despite all the chatter about climate change, London logged the most private jet flights in July (12,000). Naples, Amsterdam, and Berlin saw the most significant increases in private jet traffic in July versus pre-pandemic levels.

“The level of convenience is just incomparable when you’re relying on scheduled airlines that have not put their game back together,” said Richard Koe, managing director at aviation consultancy WingX. What’s inconvenient is British Airways Plc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and other major carriers are canceling thousands of domestic flights amid pilot and crew shortages, leaving some passengers unable to reach their destination.

Koe said the current tightness in the private-jet market comes as the number of people flying private has increased by as much as 40%. He added demand could rise even more if airlines cut flights through winter.

Meanwhile, France is exploring ways to rein in soaring private-jet flights with possible new regulations to tax the use of the high-emitting planes.

Clement Beaune, France’s transport minister, said President Emmanuel Macron had approved a plan to examine measures to curb private-jet use amid a growing backlash over elites.

“Behaviors will need to change, and they are changing already,” Beaune told French television station France 2. “At the national level as well as at the European level, we can think about systems either of taxation or of regulation.”

“Overall in Europe, private traffic rose almost 30% from pre-pandemic levels to nearly 179,000 flights,” Bloomberg said.

The most popular traveled routes were London to Palma De Mallorca, London to Ibiza, Paris to Nice, and London to Paris.

Even though Europeans virtue signal the hardest in the world against climate change, they still allow elites to travel on private jets while everyday people have to reduce their carbon footprint.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/02/2022 – 04:15

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Brickbat: This Will Cure What Ails You

Veterans Affairs Canada confirmed that an employee “inappropriately” brought up medically assisted suicide when a veteran called seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. The veteran, who wasn’t identified by media, didn’t ask about medically assisted suicide and was disturbed by the suggestion. In a statement, Veterans Affairs Canada said “appropriate administrative action will be taken,” but it declined to say what that action might involve. It also refused to answer questions about whether employees have suggested medically assisted suicide to other veterans who have sought help.

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Brickbat: This Will Cure What Ails You

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CJ Hopkins’ New Book Banned In Germany, Austria, & Holland

Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

So, the censorship of my latest book, The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021), continues. Amazon.com has now banned the book in three countries … Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands.

The pretext the Amazon Content Review Team has cited as grounds for banning the book is the semi-visible swastika on the cover. This pretext is clearly a pretext, i.e., a lie, as Amazon sells a number of other products displaying semi-visible swastikas in these markets.

For example, William Shirer’s books, or Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, as depicted in the images above. Some of the swastika-displaying products Amazon offers in these markets display not merely semi-visible swastikas, but totally-visible swastikas on their packaging.

For example …

So, the Amazon Content Review Team’s pretext for banning the book is clearly a lie, and not even a convincing lie. But then Amazon doesn’t have to lie convincingly.

When you are an unaccountable supranational corporation founded and executive-chaired by Jeff Bezos, the second-richest person in the world, and a component of the US Intelligence Community, the “rule of law” does not apply to you. You do not have to justify your actions to any court of law or regulatory body, much less to some mid-list author whose income and reputation you are maliciously damaging.

Sure, there are constitutional protections against censorship and discrimination, and other laws that ostensibly forbid you from maliciously damaging the reputations and incomes of mid-list authors like me. For example:

Article 5 of the Grundgesetz (i.e., Germany’s constitution):

“Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing, and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.”

Article 3 of the Grundgesetz:

“No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions.”

But these laws do not apply to you, not when you’re Amazon.com, because you know that: (a) the governments in question, i.e., the governments of Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands, condone your violations of their constitutions (which they have abrogated in any event under the pretext of a “public health emergency”) and might have even have had something to do with them; and (b) lawyers will be too afraid of your wealth and power to challenge you in court.

Moreover, mainstream journalists will completely ignore your censorship of political literature that does not conform to the new official global-capitalist ideology, or they will “like” or retweet one of my tweets, and then rush back to covering whatever one of their colleagues tweeted about some other colleague’s tweet, and their colleagues’ responses to that tweet, i.e., the tweet about the original tweet, because they, i.e., the mainstream journalists, are also scared shitless of incurring your ire, and potentially getting their books banned by Amazon, and their incomes and reputations damaged, and getting fired by their literary agents, and so on.

Which means you can pretty much do whatever you want to anyone you want, which is a pretty sweet deal if you’re an immensely powerful supranational corporation that dominates book sales and distribution globally and is also an essential component of the global-capitalist Intelligence Community.

Which that is kind of the point of this piece. Yes, Amazon’s banning of my book will damage my book sales and reputation as an author, but I’ll survive. The point is, as I put it in a post I published yesterday, before Amazon advised me that they had banned the book in Austria and The Netherlands, in addition to Germany:

“What is important is that corporations like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (which control our communication networks) do not have the slightest qualms about censoring information, banning books, suppressing facts, spreading disinformation, and generally behaving like Orwellian Thoughtpolice … and we are gradually becoming accustomed to it. It is becoming “normal,” boring even. I don’t know about you, but I am not OK with living in a world where Amazon and other unaccountable global corporations decide which books we are allowed to read, which films we are allowed to watch, which facts we are allowed to know about. And that is where we are headed, currently. We’re not going to arrive there suddenly, one day. We’re going to arrive there just like this … little step by little step, one little act of corporate censorship at a time.”

I don’t know how to fight this, exactly … not my book ban, the larger phenomenon. It probably has to start with mainstream journalists and lawyers taking on these global corporations. Relatively obscure little literary outlaws (like me) do not have the juice to do it.

So, if you happen to know any people like that …

Oh, and, for those of you who enjoy seeing how the ideological-sausage gets made, here, for the purpose of criticism and review, is my recent correspondence with the Amazon Content Review Team.

* * *

August 29, 2022 (4:35 PM)

Hello,

During our review process, we found that your book’s cover image contains content (i.e. Swastika, Reichsadler, Sowilō) that is in violation of our content guidelines for Germany and may infringe German law. As a result, we will not be offering the following book for sale in Germany:

The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021)
ASIN: B0B1VCK39P, 3982146429

You may reply to this message if you believe this decision has been made in error.

Our content guidelines are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing website: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2TOZW0SV7IR1U.

Best regards,

Amazon KDP

Content Review Team
Amazon Content Review Team

* * *

August 29, 2022 (5:18 PM)

Dear Amazon KDP Content Review Team,

German law is clear on the banned/permitted use of images of swastikas. See, e.g., this Deutsche Welle article …

Swastikas and other banned symbols can displayed in Germany if they are used for “civic education, countering anti-constitutional activities, art and science, research and education, the coverage of historic and current events, or similar purposes,” according to the Criminal Code.

There are numerous examples of books, films, artworks, etc. containing swastikas for the above-cited purposes in Germany.

The cover artwork of my book (which has been on sale throughout the world since May 2022, and was an Amazon bestseller in several countries upon its release) clearly falls under such exceptional use under German law, therefore, there is no legal ground for Amazon to ban its sale or otherwise censor it.

Additionally, Amazon.de offers for sale other products bearing images of swastikas, e.g., William Shirer’s books, a Quentin Tarantino film, etc. Thus, your decision to ban my book can only be seen as arbitrary, rather than as the result of a consistent in-house policy.

Moreover, Amazon’s banning of my book violates Germany’s constitutional protection of freedom of expression as set forth in Article 5 of the Grundgesetz:

Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing, and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.

I trust you have taken this decision based on your misunderstanding of German law and lack of awareness of the other books and products Amazon offers in Germany that also contain images of swastikas for the above-cited purposes, and not based on any political or ideological bias and/or intention to damage my income and reputation as an author. Thus, I assume you will immediately reverse this ban.

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Yours sincerely,
CJ Hopkins

* * *

August 30, 2022 (3:07 PM)

Hello,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

We need a little time to look into the problem.

We’ll reply and send you more information within 2-3 business days.

Thanks for your patience.

Content Review Team
Amazon Content Review Team

* * *

August 30, 2022 (6:24 PM)

Hello,

Thanks for your email.

We’ve reviewed your book “The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021)” (ASIN:B0B1VCK39P, 3982146429 ), and found that it is in violation of our content guidelines and we will not be offering this title for sale on Amazon.

We reserve the right to determine whether content provides a poor customer experience and remove that content from sale.

You can find our KDP content guidelines, here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200672390

Thanks for your understanding.

Best regards,
Amazon KDP

Content Review Team
Amazon Content Review Team

* * *

August 30, 2022 (6:39 PM)

Hi Amazon Content Review Team,

Could you please clarify:

(1) in which countries Amazon KDP has banned and/or is planning to ban the book;

(2) the nature of the “poor customer experience” you have cited, or which specific “content guidelines” the book violates?

I would note that the book has overwhelmingly positive reader reviews from readers all around the world, so I am unclear as to which customers are having a “poor experience.”

With kind regards,
CJ Hopkins

* * *

August 31, 2022 (9:38 AM)

Hello,

During our review process, we found that your book’s cover image contains content (i.e. Swastika) that is in violation of our content guidelines for Germany and may infringe German law.

As a result, we will not be offering the following book for sale in Germany, Netherlands and Austria:

“The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent > Factory
Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021)” (ASIN:B0B1VCK39P, 3982146429 )

Regarding the Paperback version “The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent > Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021)” (ASIN: 3982146429) KDP Print availability may not always align with digital availability.

For European countries sales, in order for a KDP paperback title to be available in one European country, you must make the book(s) available in all European countries.

If your book(s) is not in the public domain, or you don’t have publishing rights in any one of those countries, then none of the European countries should be selected as territories.

For a list of European countries, visit Help: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G201834280

If you have additional questions, please reply to this email.

You may reply to this message if you believe this decision has been made in error.

Our content guidelines are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing website: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2TOZW0SV7IR1U.

Best regards,

Thanks for using Amazon KDP

Content Review Team
Amazon Content Review Team

* * *

August 31, 2022 (1:31 PM)

Dear Amazon Content Review Team,

Thank you very much for clarifying in which countries you have arbitrarily decided to ban my book, clearly for political/ideological reasons, as you offer several other products containing “content (i.e. Swastika)” that you falsely claim is “in violation of [y]our content guidelines for Germany and may infringe German law” (referenced in my previous email).

I especially appreciated your failure to address my explication of German law regarding the permitted use of swastikas for certain purposes, and your robotic repetition of the phrase “may infringe German law,” as if I had not explained it (i.e., German law) to you. That was a lovely touch. It radiates Faceless Unaccountable Power, which I assume was what you were going for, so kudos!

Your refusal to explain the nature of the “poor customer experience” that you claimed customers have experienced or might experience, after I demonstrated that your “German law” pretext was nonsense, and a lie, and which specific Amazon “content guidelines” the book violates, is also much appreciated. Again, it evokes that “You-Are-Dealing-With-A-Faceless-Orwellian-Machine” feeling, so … good job!

Thank you also for the gibberish about “publishing rights” in European countries, which has absolutely nothing to do with this matter.

I will be sure to update you regarding the results of your efforts to damage my income and reputation as an author in due course. Until then …

All best wishes and kindest personal regards,
CJ Hopkins

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/02/2022 – 03:30

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Facing “Severe Manpower Shortages”, Russia Now Recruiting From Prisons: US Intelligence

Following a Russian presidential decree from last week which ordered the defense ministry to beef up military ranks to over 2 million troops, US intelligence officials are saying that Moscow is desperate for manpower after heavy casualties during six months of the invasion of Ukraine.

US intelligence has reportedly assessed that Russia is currently grappling with “severe manpower shortages” – according to a new American intelligence finding disclosed Wednesday, also as it seeks to tap new sources of military hardware replenishment by turning to countries like Iran.

The Moscow Times reported last week of Putin’s new decree, “As part of the changes [to military numbers], the total number of military and civilian staff in the Russian Armed Forces will increase from 1.9 million to nearly 2.04 million.”

“The increase will only come from adding new soldiers — not new civilian employees — meaning that the total number of soldiers will rise by 137,000 to 1.15 million,” the report continued, saying numbers will rise to this new level by the start of next year.

It’s unclear if the fresh US intelligence assessment is largely basing its own estimates on this move, but according to the Associated Press, the Kremlin is gearing up to take some extreme measures:

Russia is looking to address the shortage of troops in part by compelling soldiers wounded earlier in the war to return to combat, recruiting personnel from private security companies and even recruiting from prisons, according to a U.S. official who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the downgraded intelligence finding.

The official added that the intelligence community has determined that one step that Russia’s Defense Ministry is expected to take soon is recruiting convicted criminals to enlist “in exchange for pardons and financial compensation.”

Casualty figures on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides have been shrouded in secrecy and the fog of war, but also distorted or hidden by propaganda.

The US DoD’s undersecretary for policy Colin Kahl said in an early August briefing that Russia sustained huge losses especially during the invasion’s opening months.

“There’s a lot of fog in war, but I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in the less than six months,” Kahl said. “Now, that is a combination of killed in action and wounded in action and that number might be a little lower, a little higher, but I think that’s kind of in the ballpark.”

Ukraine has also been accused of implementing unorthodox measures to keep up troop numbers on the frontlines – for example letting criminals out of prison early in order to serve in the armed forces. But regarding all these allegations applied to both sides, the question of firm evidence and the extent of these practices are a reality (and not just more wartime propaganda) remains mostly a huge unknown.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/02/2022 – 02:45

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