Proxy wars are big business. All the money for our weapons manufacturers, none of the dead Americans. That's why they're going to drag this out as long as possible. The West is never going to give Ukraine all the material it would need to push Russia back. Only enough to keep fighting and surviving.
Too bad the Russians can't just invade unopposed and encourage human flourishing! I mean, indoor plumbing and human rights are really luxuries, when you think about it.
What’s your definition of giving Ukraine all the material it would need? An Air Force with F18s? More Bradley’s? Missiles that can hit deep in Russia?
I don't proclaim to be a war fighting expert. I only played my small part in the military. I'm no combined arms general. But I can clearly see, as well as a lot of folks in here, that humvees and M113s and a handful of HIMARS are not enough to push a front. They are only enough to keep a front static.
Proxy war? The Russians are actively trying to undermine US democracy in favor of an authoritarian favorable to the richest man in the world, Vlad Putin.
Yes, I respond angrily when people downplay the effects of COVID on our population and when people suggest we should take similar laissez faire attitude towards another potential threat. Good catch
I’ve never actually wanted to bitch slap someone from this board before. I think I’d make an exception for you though.
What specifically do you find so offensive about my post that makes you want to meet in a Public parking lot?
I truly didn’t understand how massive a force Wagner was before this. Are there any other mercenary groups of similar size?
It's not. They're vastly wealthy with revenue streams from all over the world. Once they grind down the rest of the fodder they pulled out of Russian prisons they'll go buy some more.
I could be wrong but at its peak black water had about 20,000 mercenaries. Wagner has had 30,000 casualties in ukraine this year
tbf there was a lot more competition in the US PMC market in the 2000s/early 2010s than there is in Russia today
Reading about Wagner controlling that gold mine in Africa was eye opening. I have a better understanding of how spread out and plugged in they are. Eradicating them is not a realistic goal.
Right, when I go on about this vast far right conspiracy and all these tentacles connecting various authoritarian governments, massively wealthy individuals, and gigantic corporations, I'm not just saying it just because I'm a paranoid lunatic... that shit *is* actually going on.
How do you pull people out of prison to fight for a mercenary group? Functionally anyway, they’re now out of jail how do half of them not make a run for it in the middle of the night?
a.) tell them if they desert they'll murder their families and then torture and murder them if they're caught. b.) where are you going to run to? If you surrender to Ukraine, they'll hold you until you're given over to the Russians in a prisoner swap, in which case, see above
This Russian has a large shrapnel cut in his back and they're tending to it when they're hit by another bomb. Spoiler: Graphic Vid of a cut
they have a documented big problem with deserters and people surrendering to Ukrainians at first chance. Wagner addresses it by basically having a policy of we will execute you without question if you don't do exactly what we tell you to do.
As expected: Rip Rawlings, Malcolm Nance,, and James Vazquez are all scammers lots of extremely damning items coming out about them
nance is basically hot tub beer guy who parlayed some twittering into cnbc appearances. I’d never heard of the other two