• Quinten
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    10 months ago

    Please note that the official title of the article is:

    Yevgeny Prigozhin: Wagner chief presumed dead after Russia plane crash.

    Decided not to delete this post due to the many comments and discussions.

  • @[email protected]
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    71410 months ago

    Wow, I’ve been browsing Twitter, Reddit and Lemmy for the past few hours. I’m surprised to see such breaking news first in Lemmy instead of Twitter or Reddit.

    Awesome! Hope the Fidiverse keeps on growing to become bigger than Reddit and Twitter.

    • @[email protected]
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      7010 months ago

      Good point. Really good sign for users if we can get breaking news stories here like this.

    • BarqsHasBite
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      10 months ago

      Reddit hot sorts more by popular, so things take a long time to rise up.

      Lemmy hot seems to be (too much) biased to new. Can be a bad thing because it looks like things don’t get popular. They do but you don’t see it by hot, you see it by top 12 hour.

      • @[email protected]
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        6610 months ago

        Early 2010s Reddit was so addicting, if there was something in the world it was on the front page in 15 minutes. I remember being excited to check on Reddit after waking up to see that was the event of the day.

        After 2016 the algo was screwed up and it became a cesspool of reposts and news were late to show up.

      • Veloxization
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        1810 months ago

        I think the algorithm for Lemmy’s hot sorting is just based on interactions within time unit. The newer the post, the more valuable an upvote is.

      • @[email protected]
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        1010 months ago

        The one thing current Reddit seems to do right is give smaller subreddits a chance to show up on Hot. Lemmy tends to be a little too simple, and the frontpage gets dominated by the one or two big groups.

        • @[email protected]
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          610 months ago

          Yeah, I’m pretty happy with the sorting algorithm in general for the way content gets presented, but some weighting to better include smaller communities would be great. Lemmy is still struggling with getting a critical mass in users to support niche interests, and a better post sorting could help a bit at least.

      • DarkThoughts
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        610 months ago

        On Reddit you want to sort by “Rising” for this sort of breaking news stuff.

        • @[email protected]
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          310 months ago

          Now I learn this, 2 months after tossing that platform in the bin.

          After years of wondering where the hell the breaking news went…

      • kamenLady.
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        510 months ago

        Yesterday i switched to active for a while, because hot was almost identical to new.

    • @[email protected]
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      610 months ago

      I think it’s only a matter of time. The enshitification of reddit is guaranteed, it’s really inevitable and it’s going to keep getting worse. Long live the Fediverse!

  • @[email protected]
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    10 months ago

    Who would have expected this? Surprised pikachu

    But the only one who opposed Putin (with any military power) being dead isn’t necessary a good thing (imho)

    • Ghostalmedia
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      20410 months ago

      Yeah, but he was stripped of all of his power. Wagner group is being rolled into the state military. The opportunity for Wagner to push back and or give Putin the boot has passed.

      And, this dude was also an evil corrupt piece of shit. If he overthrew Putin, Russia would’ve still been an authoritarian disinformation state.

      • Guy Dudeman
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        8410 months ago

        He was a straight-up Neo-Nazi and named the group after Hitler’s favorite composer. So yeah, he would have been infinitely worse than Putin… and that’s saying something.

      • @[email protected]
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        10 months ago

        Wagners are straight up fleeing into neighboring countries and Africa. They must have read the history books about what happens when one warlord assimilates another’s forces (they kill them quietly and easily now that they’re disarmed).

        • Ghostalmedia
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          1410 months ago

          Seems like most reasonable folks didn’t think he’d reform Russia. The only “good” he’d cause would be unrest that would force Russia to pull out of invading their democratic neighbors.

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        If he overthrew Putin, Russia would’ve still been an authoritarian disinformation state.

        He would at least cause a schism between the putin fanatics and everyone else.

    • DessertStorms
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      3710 months ago

      But the only one who opposed Putin (with any military power) being dead isn’t necessary a good thing (imho)

      Replacing one dictator with another who has the support of something like the Wagner group would not have been good for anyone but the Wagner group.

      • @[email protected]
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        1310 months ago

        There would be no clean replacement. It would get very bloody and chaotic. Not a bad hypothetical scenario. But that ship has sailed when Prihozhin surrendered (he didn’t stand much of a chance anyway).

        • BNE
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          210 months ago

          If we could avoid another “oops, all Taliban” outcome though, that would be grand.

    • sab
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      3610 months ago

      The most surprising thing here is that nine people were willing to get on a plane with Prigozhin. That’s arguably much closer to actual suicide than any of the convenient window deaths that keep happening.

      • livus
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        10 months ago

        Not really. Meet your new boss, same as your old boss. Russia isn’t pulling out of Africa.

          • livus
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            210 months ago

            The Sahel is full of oil and minerals so the “war on terror” is in full swing.

    • @[email protected]
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      1810 months ago

      Somehow I always thought they would poison him. More personal. But if he brought his own water, I suppose this saves everybody some time.

      • @[email protected]
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        610 months ago

        It’s not too late for them to identify the body by the “Polonium-210 tracer” he got during check-in.

      • @[email protected]
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        510 months ago

        I honestly thought he’d go via the classic window fall, but this was far more original.

    • @[email protected]
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      810 months ago

      It’s not like Putin and his closest cronies are in any way competent. They are removing anyone who dared to criticize. Before the coup Prigozhin, Girkin were allowed to say whatever they wanted as long as they did not undermine the general effort. Now Putin’s inner circle will ultimately disconnect themselves from reality: govern the country and the war from a bunker filled with scared yes-sayers with no alternative voices.

    • genoxidedev1
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      710 months ago

      I’m pretty sure Ukraine still opposes Putin so at least we got that.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      Tragically the plane crashed into a surface to air missile.

      Edit: yeah, this is actually what happened, no subtlety here, damn.

      • @[email protected]
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        10610 months ago

        Like, fucking literally.

        “Crash” my ass, BBC, you say it got shot down in the article, how is that not a more accurate and sensational headline?

        “Prigozhin got blown the fuck up, like everyone knew he would the moment he pussed out, the Nazi coward.”

        • @[email protected]
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          2910 months ago

          Technically, they just say that a Wagner linked Telegram channel said it got shot down. They’re probably waiting for better proof/additional sources before they take the full step of saying it was shot down themselves (at which point I think it’d get added to the headline).

        • @[email protected]
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          810 months ago

          Because the only source for that (at present) is the Wagner Group, who have a (dead) dog in the fight and are not bastions of truth. NYT will be trying to confirm it before saying so.

          • @[email protected]
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            110 months ago

            Do they have a dog in this? Last I heard they were getting executed in the field if they showed support for the coup.

    • Flying SquidM
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      1110 months ago

      I didn’t know airplanes couldn’t handle their polonium.

    • @[email protected]
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      8910 months ago

      I feel like when the attempted coup fizzled out there was a Russia expert who predicted he’s be dead within 90 days. Sounds like that guy was right.

        • @[email protected]
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          1410 months ago

          No kidding, literally everyone figured he’d be dead soon. Not sure how he didn’t realize that.

        • @[email protected]
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          610 months ago

          “Person vaguely aware of how Russia works predicts Prigozhin will be dead in 90 days”. That headline doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

      • @[email protected]
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        610 months ago

        Weirdly enough, it’s exactly two months between the mutiny and his death. Interestingly enough, the invasion started on 24th as well. Weird.

  • @[email protected]
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    14810 months ago

    Damn I was hoping he would be able to cause more chaos inside Russia before Putin had him killed.

  • Cylusthevirus
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    13810 months ago

    One of the cardinal rules of power struggles is “If you’re gonna shoot for the king, don’t miss.

      • loobkoob
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        4010 months ago

        From what I gather, he backed down because all his top men’s families were being threatened. Prigozhin’s family was kept safe, of course, but I don’t think they expected Russia to threaten the families of those further down the ladder.

          • @[email protected]
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            510 months ago

            I have a theory.

            I think the Slavic Russian Nazi a total dictator let run a private army might have been a little dumb.

    • sab
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      10 months ago

      Furthermore,

      Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies

      -- Machiavelli in the Prince

      Not to call out Putin’s Russia for being amateur hour, but the Prince is probably the first thing to read for an aspiring dictator.

      • @[email protected]
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        110 months ago

        Wait, I’m listening to The Prince in audiobook form. Does that mean I’m an aspiring dictator?

        • sab
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          210 months ago

          Well, if you are, there might be a job opening in Russia for you soon!

      • Cylusthevirus
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        10 months ago

        I mean he had to know, right? With guys like Putin if you go hot, you either kill him or he has you killed. There is no in-between. His entire image relies on that. Maybe they had Prigozhin’s family or something?

        • @[email protected]
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          810 months ago

          It might be that he was counting on the support of one or more Generals. That fizzled at the last minute, and then he didn’t know what to do.

    • @[email protected]
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      310 months ago

      “When you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die. There is no middle ground.”

  • @[email protected]
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    12010 months ago

    The guy wasn’t stupid. He knew going against Putin meant death if he failed. At some point during his attempted coup, he realised it wasn’t going to work and was faced with a choice: die now, or “back down” to scheme his way out of an almost certain death later. Turns out he couldn’t. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠༼⁠ ⁠•́⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠•̀⁠ ⁠༽⁠_⁠/⁠¯ Oh well, nothing of value was lost.

    • @[email protected]
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      7510 months ago

      I have nothing to add to your comment other than the fact that your text person clearly has a large nose and I think that’s a stylistic choice and I appreciate that as someone who also has a large nose.

      Oh, and fuck Putin.

      • Chrüsimüsi
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        3010 months ago

        I also don’t have anything to add other than that I really appreciate comments who pay respects to details of other comments. I don’t know, just makes me happy, so thank you for that!

        Oh, and fuck this fucking asshole named Putin, may he die a painful and slow death.

    • @[email protected]
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      1010 months ago

      I’m not sure he couldn’t have done it if he’d kept driving into Moscow. The defenses of the city were just in shambles. Almost as bad as Denmark in 1940.

      However, having tucked tail he should have known better than to come back.

      Now there are rumors that Wagner would stage a second coup attempt if the deaths were confirmed (which they are now).

      That would be a complete suicide mission now. 2500%.

      Still, interesting times.

      • @[email protected]
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        610 months ago

        Yeah, there’s pretty much no chance with the leaders dead, their camp far from Moscow, no surprise factor, and the potential allies like Surovikin pushed from power. It seems like Putin has completely outplayed them.

    • @[email protected]
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      810 months ago

      At some point during his attempted coup, he realised it wasn’t going to work

      When was that, exactly? Putin fled, reserve forces were standing by and not fighting Wagner, and he was a day out from an undefended Moscow. Worst case scenario was a protracted civil war, but he still would’ve lived longer than this.

      Honestly, none of this makes sense. The fact that he aborted in the first place makes the idea that he was conspiring with Putin the whole time to flush out disloyal elements within the Russian armed forces seem credible… but then why kill him after? I’m not ruling out the possibility that either this was a genuine accident, or it was another false flag and he and his second in command just faked their own deaths.

    • @[email protected]
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      210 months ago

      Couldn’t he go hide in like Central America or something? Though I suppose Russian intelligence would still find him and get to him.

      Maybe he could hide on the South Pole of the moon.

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        Who’s to say he didn’t?

        Pretty sure Russians are the only ones investigating, and we all know how much they can be trusted.

      • @[email protected]
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        110 months ago

        reportedly he was going back from some african country that day. he also could stay in belarus, but he chose to go back to moscow

    • @[email protected]
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      2610 months ago

      The whole Western political apperatus has been saying Putin doesn’t have the guts to release any of the compromat he holds on them and that he needs them more than they need him.

  • @[email protected]
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    10 months ago

    I wonder if there is a correlation between drop height and importance of the persons he’s killing.

  • @[email protected]
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    10510 months ago

    To think he avoided drinking polonium tea and falling out of a window and self inflicted gunshot wound to the head for all this time just to die in a freak tragic accident.

  • Brawler Yukon
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    9710 months ago

    Plane must have accidentally ran into a surface-to-air missile. Y’know, as you do.

    • @[email protected]
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      1110 months ago

      I heard the plane had marital issues and gambling debt, no surprise it tried to end things on its own. Its unfortunate all the passengers were innocent victims and in no way targeted. /s