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5 posts total
ChrisO_wiki

1/ X's algorithm was changed in mid-July 2024 to systematically boost Republican-leaning accounts and Elon Musk's own account following his endorsement of Donald Trump, according to a newly released computational study of engagement from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). ⬇️

ChrisO_wiki

2/ The study, by Professor Timothy Graham of the QUT and Professor Mark Andrejevic of Monash University, analysed 56,184 posts sent by a number of pro-Republican and pro-Democrat accounts between 1 January 2024 and 25 October 2024 and examined view counts, retweet counts, and favourite counts for each.

ChrisO_wiki

1/ At least 50,000 Russian convicts have joined the Russian army, with tens of thousands dying in battles in Ukraine. Convicts are still joining, but what makes them want to risk death? Prisoners say that sadistic treatment in penal colonies makes war preferable to prison. ⬇️

ChrisO_wiki

2/ Many of the Russian convicts who went to war in Ukraine were imprisoned in the Omsk region, where jails have a reputation for extreme brutality, even by Russian standards. The independent Russian media project 'Okno' ('Window') has been speaking with former inmates.

ChrisO_wiki

1/ Over 600,000 Russians are estimated to have left their country since 2022 in the biggest exodus since the post-Soviet period. Many have left to avoid being mobilised to fight. One man managed to escape into exile after deserting the Russian Army twice. ⬇️

ChrisO_wiki

2/ Govorit NeMoskva tells the story of Alexander, a 46-year-old who was the chief engineer of a large construction company. When mobilisation was announced in September 2022, he believed that he would be protected by his company. He soon found this was not the case.

ChrisO_wiki

1/ Hellish conditions on the front line in Ukraine have reportedly led to an upsurge in extrajudicial punishments in the Russian army, with soldiers being hanged, tied to trees for days, forced to rape each other, or thrown naked into open pits in freezing temperatures. ⬇️

ChrisO_wiki

2/ Verstka reports on a series of interviews with frontline Russian troops over the past few months. Many have been fighting at the Ukrainian bridgehead at Krynky on the left bank of the Dnipro, which they describe as a scene of slaughter with 60-100 people dying every day.

DELETED

@ChrisO_wiki maybe add a content warning next time? This is kinda what those are for.

Poloniousmonk

@ChrisO_wiki

Good read, thanks.

Imagine how pleasant the survivors will be back in the world as civilians. Russian culture will just get nastier.

ChrisO_wiki

1/ Reports suggest that Russian commanders are demanding a standard bribe of a month's salary – 100,000 rubles ($1,100) – to allow their men go on leave. Those without money or connections are spending months fighting on the front line without being rotated or rested. ⬇️

ChrisO_wiki

2/ The practice of commanders demanding bribes for leave has been reported previously. Interviews by Siberia.Reality (an offshoot of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) suggest that it's widespread, and that Putin's promise of periodic leave is mostly being ignored.

Relatives of mobilised Russians complain that their men have not been allowed leave. In February 2023, Putin promised soldiers would get 14 days' leave every 6 months. In reality, men have gone as long as 10 months without leave.

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