Mythical Female Snipers Stalking Russia?

Noah Shachtman at WIRED's Danger Room blog says,

Russia's top investigator is claiming that their wartime foes, the Georgians, deployed a cadre of female snipers from Ukraine and Latvia. The shooters sound an awful lot like the mythical "white tights" -- the exotic, stone-cold, blue eyed, Olympic bialthete killers of Chechen war lore who were said to pick off hapless Russian conscripts.

Read the post at Danger Room, by Nathan Hodge: The Return of 'White Tights': Mythical Female Snipers Stalk Russians

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Anonymous

The bad acne in the picture above suggests that this may actually be an adolescent male instead.
The Unusual Suspect

“Sexy when a woman does it, creepy when a man does it…”

That is true for very many values of “it”.
GregLondon

The recent history of Georgia and Russia (recent as in from the fall of the soviet union to today) is full of violence, war, and war crimes against civilians.

If anyone thinks August 2008 was an isolated incident does not know their history.

http://www.warhw.com/2008/11/02/georgia-on-my-mind/
Faustus

#20 One of those values is “me”
mdh

and a sock full of flour with a knot tied in it.

We had a sock full of gravel wrapped in duct tape, among other projectiles. About once a year a kid would need stitches, our parents never learned how it really happened. Girls played too.
Anonymous

The “white tights” tag line isn’t about the clothes the sniper wears, but rather ANOTHER mythical group that they resemble in practice (ie, sniping off Russian soldiers).
Anonymous

Sounds like something straight out of Metal Gear Solid 4.
avraamov

#13 :’Obligatory comment: “Are they single and may I have their number?”‘

yep. it’s etched on the bullet.
Mark Temporis

Who’s the girl? I’d assume BB didn’t actually GET a picture of a mythical Georgian sniper. And unlike the poster above, I think the green highlights are totally hawt.
mouthyb

I am a girl, and I have to tell you that the person with a sock full of gravel would have had a face full of my fist. Flour hurts bad enough, and I used to be quite the scrapper, as a kid. Textbooks, tree branches, chairs, yard equipment, toys and my teeth; whatever was handy. I just didn’t want to be the one bleeding at the end of the day.
Anonymous

“…the skin blemishes mean that it could just be a young male sniper…”

Why would blemishes = male? Women get zits too, they just cover them up with makeup so that nobody sees them. Now a female sniper? If she is seen, her first worry isn’t going to be about looking pretty.
Antinous

They’re hard to find because their hideouts walk around on giant chicken legs.
mouthyb

Baba Yaga!
pseudonym

Deadly Viper Assasination Squad in training.
dustbuster7000

The photo is marked ‘Female Sniper’, but are we even sure that’s a photo of a woman? The yellow and green wavy stuff is the snipers ghillie suit, and the skin blemishes mean that it could just be a young male sniper. Although the eyebrow is vaguely suggestive.
Aloisius

Well since some women can see four distinct ranges of color, I imagine they’d be prefect as snipers. Tetrachromat would probably have an easier time spotting people in camouflage.
dustbuster7000

Aloisius, whats a range of color?
etho

I can’t be the only one who thinks that is totally hot.
Anonymous

dustbuster7000 ,

Aloisius is talking about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy

“It has been suggested that women who are carriers for variant cone pigments might be born as full tetrachromats, having four different simultaneously functioning kinds of cones to pick up different colors. One study suggested that 2â€“3% of the world’s women might have the kind of fourth cone that lies between the standard red and green cones, giving, theoretically, a significant increase in color differentiation. Another study suggests that as many as 50% of women and 8% of men may have four photopigments.”
Takuan

might as well be killed by someone interesting.
Sparrowhawk

Don’t think the Russians aren’t above having brigades of hot female snipers.

http://www.iremember.ru/infantry/kalugina/kalugina.htm
mdh

Glad #1 said it.

Also, nice choice of tags
Anonymous

Nope, Etho. I’m right with you.
Takuan

“hot”, I see “hot” mentioned quite a bit. Clearly, these have never smelled an on-duty sniper.
airship

The ‘White Tights’? I think these guys read too many comic books.
mouthyb

You know, if I was out in the woods patiently awaiting targets, I would not be wearing white tights. Especially not in Russia, as the undergrowth I’d be laying in would cut through those things very quickly.
Anonymous

I’m from Latvia an I’m proud if it’s true, but it seems an other Rusian political campain against their small neighbour country
mdh

MouthyB, when I was a kid we’d play Manhunt in the woods. One of the kids was so good he started wearing painters pants and a white t-shirt, and we STILL could never find him. He later joined the army and has survived 3 deployments.
mouthyb

We used to play a game called ‘murderer in the dark’ that sounds similar. Woods, no lights, ‘murderer’ has a flashlight. You get a twenty second lead and then you’re off to try and reach an agreed on oak tree before the murderer catches you.

I played my entire childhood. I believe I only lost once, but I’m not above cheating and moving when the other person moves/is chasing another player.
lucia_engel

Sniper Wolf!
Scuba SM

I’m with Takuan…

Besides, didn’t anyone watch Enemy at the Gates?

“I slowly put snow into my mouth so they cannot see my breath…”

That’s the exact opposite of hot. :p
Anonymous

#19: I believe thats a Ghille suit and not green hair.
Nephlabobo

Dammit #9 – You beat me to it.
Tensegrity

The best part is that they are bi.
The Unusual Suspect

@#22

Nicely done, Faustus!
jaypee

Obligatory comment: “Are they single and may I have their number?”
Anonymous

Did anybody else read “Female Strippers” instead of “Female Snipers” ?

Dyslexia is strong with me today.. :-)
mouthyb

When we were feeling really fiesty, we played a version where the ‘murderer’ had a flashlight and a sock full of flour with a knot tied in it.
The Unusual Suspect

#8, “White” because it’s camouflage (they operate in snow) and “tights” because loose-fitting pants would interfere with skiing.

At least, that’s what Svetlana told me.
Anonymous

snipers in white tights are like wearing pajama bottoms in public. Sexy when a woman does it, creepy when a man does it…
LyhjeHylje

Maybe the Russian generals have listened too many WW2 war stories and believe the granddaughters of “belaya smert” are coming after them.
nosarembo

In Soviet Russia, hot girl shoots you!
(Sorry…)
Anonymous

hotness

but not sure about the green highlights in her hair

taa ha ha ;)
Anonymous

@#38:

Now, these Russian sniper grlz are by far hotter IMO!
Ernunnos

#17, if that man’s got a body of a biathlete, I don’t expect anyone will complain if he’s wearing tights. The white tights rumor probably has its origins in biathlon. There was a TV movie 10 years ago about Olympic shooters turning sniper in Bosnia.