• tigermountain@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Just finished watching this and it’s one of the best miniseries I’ve seen. It did such an incredible job of portraying the oppressiveness of the Soviet state and its impact on its citizens. I found it a bit soul crushing seeing the parallels to what’s currently happening in the US when ideology comes first.

      • nforminvasion@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Wow! That boss sure had A LOT of sway over the USSR to enforce reactor rods with graphite tips! And to have intentionall held back computer technology in the reactor!

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    For those who need to know more:

    Local media have reported that the institute has subsequently been locked down, with staff forced to sleep on the floor and on chairs. “They’ve been isolating everybody since Friday – more than 60 people,” one relative, Roman, told the news portal Siberia.Realities.

    He said family members were allowed to drop off food at a checkpoint while tests were carried out inside the building. Similar quarantine restrictions have been placed on several other hospitals in and around the city.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/05/russia-lab-worker-possibly-dies-of-plague-siberia-quarantine-measures-irkutsk

    • diablicja@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      At least this time around they seem to be treating it seriously instead of trying to cover it up to save face I guess?

      • HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 days ago

        They do both “nothing to see here” while trying their worst best to contain it.

        My money is on them shipping infected people to the front lines while saying they are just in quarantine.

        A few weeks later “oh noes they all ded frum virus” meanwhile they just spread it to all their own troops while claiming it’s just a flu and everyone is fine.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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      4 days ago

      US military spread bacteria over the west coast in operation sea spray in 1950. 11 hopitalized. One dead.

      Scientists told the military that post war nuclear testing should occur off the east coast because of prevailing winds. Military: fuck you and here’s your cancer.

    • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      I still remember reading reddit threads about what looked like mass incineration of human remains and the speculations thereabout.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          It was definitely some random scary bullshit on the internet that co-mingled the two. But so much of the hype in the early days of COVID ended up being FUD used by the administration to justify draconian anti-immigration policies. We had FOX News screaming about Leprosy and “Mexican Flu” being transmitted by Migrant Caravans decades before that. Any disease outbreak became an excuse to hyper-police people entering the US at the borders.

          Part of the problem with all this disease discourse is that it’s routinely anti-foreigner agitprop. This goes straight back to The Spanish Flu, which originated from a Haskell County, Kansas pig farm and got spread across Europe by WW1-era US soldiers. It became major weapon of the 20th century reactionary right to ban Italian Immigrants way back then. Now we see disease scares used to freeze out everyone from Taiwan to Brazil to Afganistan. If anyone is sick anywhere, it’s an excuse to ban migrants everywhere.

        • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          No, but it did involve George Clooney’s satellites for darfur. This was around new years and we’ll before anyone even thought about viruses.

          They had some sort of images of lots of dirt that got moved and some sort of chemical spectrum analysis from… somewhere idk, but the ne of the chemicals was something that occurs when bodies are burned.

          The general thought was that it was anti Chinese conspiracy kind of building off the Uyghur, but it was in a different place, or a new ethnic realignment of similar ilk.

      • rumba@lemmy.zip
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        4 days ago

        That’s like saying MRSA is no big deal because millions of people die every year from bacterial infections.

        They’re studying some outlier versions of an illness with a much worse outcome.

      • zoltanshields@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        I’ve never seen a more accurate depiction of my typical experience in a professional environment. “Nobody wants to speak up or handle things correctly because someone senior with direct responsibility for your employment shouted down any dissent because they want to meet a metric” is apparently a timeless experience.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        The show was very well done, but it implies this was history. That mass of reactor is still burning underground, and Russian bombs have damaged the sarcophagus covering it. The remaining reactors are still in use.

        • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          burning

          no, it’s not. if it was burning something would be coming out. melting might be a description, but it’s not even doing that… smouldering maaaybe?

          you are 100% correct that russia is playing stupid games with their radiological fuckup, and that should stop immidiately.

          re: remaining reactors - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plant

          according to wiki they have been decommissioned and are in a state of cool down; power needs to be maintained in order to keep cooling pumps going for the reactor cores; but power is not being generated and comes from off site.

        • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 days ago

          Really scary to think about the burning mass in the underground…
          Also very abstract to think about that.

      • MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        I first watched it on an airplane. Swapping between the seat screen and my phone. Great show. Can’t wait to watch it again someday

        Then I watched it on a big(?) ((I guess 60inch?) TV at home. Great show. Let’s make sure I’m in the right mental space before I rewatch the show…)

        mild spoilers for history I guess

        The hospital scenes on a much bigger screen. Seeing the (I know its all dramatised) impact of lies on a bigger screen really affected me.

  • LocalAreaMan@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Any information to the contrary, or is it just more propagandist hype?

    Russia is hiding all the plague victims? Seriously?

    • FrenziedFelidFanatic@pawb.social
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      6 days ago

      Mostly hype. Plague isn’t that virulent with modern precautions and antibiotics, and Russia’s response has been to swiftly quarantine hundreds of people. Plague occurs naturally on occasion, and is largely a known threat.

      Most of the hype has been speculation around this case being a bioweapon combined with distrust in Russian institutions generally.

      I’m not one to trust Russia generally, but I don’t see much evidence that this is more than a nothing burger blown out of proportion by growing anti-Russia sentiment due to their invasion of Ukraine.

        • FrenziedFelidFanatic@pawb.social
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          6 days ago

          I mean. You could have just linked Chernobyl.

          I don’t doubt that there would be some degree of cover-up if there was an escalating situation. I just don’t see any reason why it would be escalating.

          • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            He’s a Kremlin shill btw. Essentially pushing the the idea that Russia is nothing but a victim of the west, instead of a victim of the kleptocracy under Putin.

          • Soupbreaker@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            Yeah, it ought to be in there between China and Iran, just based on mineral wealth. Makes the whole list suspect, tbh. Went to check the sources on Statista, but they want me to register before they’ll show me, so fuck that.

            • one_step_behind@quokk.au
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              5 days ago

              Yeah I knew it was mostly rare earth metals and some amount of oil. I was just surprised to not see them on the list because it seems to be focused on USD value of natural resources.

              Nevertheless it is an interesting chart, so thank you.

              • LocalAreaMan@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                It puts U.S. foreign policy in perspective.

                The thawing Arctic is opening access to even more, which is why Trump wants Canada and Greenland.

        • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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          6 days ago

          I mean it is, but Russia was giving up its resources for pennies ever since the 90s, this framing is a bit weird.

          • LocalAreaMan@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            I think if that was true then there’d be no adversarial relationship with Russia, like attention to Venezuela disappeared overnight with them folding to Trump.

            The Arctic thawing is opening up access to a vast trove of natural resources. The fabled Northwest Passage is about to finally become a reality. This is why Trump wants Canada and Greenland. There’s only three nations, and Denmark has already folded.

            Russia has changed quite a bit since Putin took leadership, and for the better. Like it or not, it’s why Russians like him.

            • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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              6 days ago

              Russia has changed quite a bit since Putin took leadership, and for the better

              Well yeah compared to the borderline failed state that was 90s Russia, that’s not a difficult task, accomplished by getting the other billionaires to keep 1% of the wealth they’re extracting in the country.

              This is why Trump wants

              Trump is literally senile. There might be people in his administration who feel that way, but the administration’s policy is so demented I don’t think we can attribute clear motivations to anything.

              • LocalAreaMan@lemmy.world
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                6 days ago

                I dunno. He got Venezuela and Greenland. I didn’t think either would work, but here we are.

                Do you think a Dem administration would let go of either if they took power? I don’t think so.

                The last days of humanity will be a violent struggle over dwindling resources to feed billionaires’ greed.

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Hi Mr. Local Area Man. Funny of you to show up in yet another thread claiming that Russia is being preyed upon by the west again.

        • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Hey man, I’m just saying, maybe Putin shouldn’t have orchestrated apartment bombings, sold former soviet assets to oligarchs, own several luxurious properties throughout your country, had political dissidents and opponents assassinated (inside and outside of Russia) took extreme efforts to install pro-Putin leaders in other countries, make all displays of LGBTQ pride and education illegal, control the entire media system, and not relinquish power ever.

          • LocalAreaMan@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            Let’s say your wildest accusations against this foreign Emuel Goldstein boogieman were true. You’re saying that the West wouldn’t want to destroy Russia and take all their shit? As if. Everything you accuse Russia of doing is true for America or the dictatorships we foster. We’re currently arming over 80% of all dictatorships. The only difference is that they’re willingly giving us their natural resources.

            Weird how no one talks about Venezuela anymore. That propaganda sure dried up quick after they turned over their oil fields to corporations.

            • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              Like I said the last time we spent a week in a thread going back and forth, I can do this forever. You know I can.

              You already established you aren’t American, and CERTAINLY aren’t culturally progressive. You claim it, every single time, say “we’re doing x.” “We do x.” You don’t even realize you’re on a European instance do you?

              I didn’t claim Russia was doing SHIT this time. I merely responded that you claim Russia is a victim of the west.

              Putin, and his Kremlin are the problem for Russians. Vladamir Putin, specifically.

              The rest of the world worries about Russians because of what Putin has done to them to enrich himself.

              • LocalAreaMan@lemmy.world
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                4 days ago

                The rest of the world?

                And even then, that’s just Western oligarchs dictating policies we have no say in.

                What happens when you ask the people who the biggest threat is?

                You’re a minority within a minority, lapping up lies from the Epstein Billionaire Class.

                • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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                  And that’s the part I find funny. You simply cannot comprehend, or allow, that because I dissent from not just the current regime, but most administrations of the U.S., that I must be eating up the propaganda.

                  Its not even odd to you is it? The U.S.A currently has a very pro-Putin regime. Yet the U.S.A is doing exactly what you are pointing out.

                  I mean, fuck, the Trump family has made significant money IN Russia. The Kremlin, the sole authority in Russia could stop that cash in an instant. Why don’t they?

                  But I mention the cruelty of Putin, and you get all bent out of shape. Putin is a victim of western propaganda.

                  Do you need a list I have of 64 people who the Kremlin successfully assassinated? Or just the ones within Russia?

  • stateofaffairs@lemmy.today
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    4 days ago

    Lies are what bind people into a manufactured reality that stymies their ability to live free and meaningful lives.

    If we run with the cost trope, look at lies like a shady drug deal.

    You are angry and want to buy some satisfaction. You lost your job, or can’t buy a house, the cost of living is too high. Whatever it is, you are looking for relief.

    So a a shady dealer offers you a lie to give you some relief. You give them some personal freedom monthly and they sell you “immigration did this to you” and it works for awhile. But you start to realize the immigration story doesn’t hit the same way. You look for relief in new lies. So you give the dealer more freedom, and buy “its not just immigrants, its obviously trans people.” Yeah that’s it, those trans people are turning the steel factories into drag theaters, wrecking the economy. “Damn!” You think. “Its not my fault, its them!” The relief you get from the lies hooks you more.

    The hook is powerful. But you’re never satisfied and you need more lies as your brain adjusts, maybe even protests. You’ve got to shut it up, and you start to conflate your issues with freedom itself. You’re happy to give more freedoms over to the dealer for relief through even grander lies.

    The relief will always be temporary, but you don’t even realize that any more.

    You’ll never solve the problems that plagued you and you’ll die angry and depressed. Maybe if you gave up just a little more freedom, you could have had a better life. You never awaken to reality that the people taking your freedoms are the ones ruining your life. The lies were too powerful, too addictive, and they rewired you to willingly accept your own servititude.

    That’s the cost of lies.