Russian Special Military Operation in the Ukraine - Mark IV: The Partitioning of Discussion

[Pаzuzu]

Wait? Are those technicals? Are we at Somalia tier warfare already?

Pretty sure ukies have been using those from the start. So-called banderamobile.

 

[VargReallyDidNothingWrong]

Wait? Are those technicals? Are we at Somalia tier warfare already?

Both sides have been using technicals since 2014

 

[Meh123]

Didn't Putin said that the Germans have other pipelines they can use to get natural gas from?

The remaining line of NS2 and another one through Poland, but the poles do not let the LNG flow.
But to buy ruZZian gas, you'd first had to uncuck yourself and admit that the sAncCtIoNs tHaT wOrK actually just fucking your own eco. Then give puttler money that you wanted to send to UA to kill puttler.

 

[geckogoy]

Wait? Are those technicals? Are we at Somalia tier warfare already?

Both sides have been using technicals since 2014

No, they are much more advanced

 

[Alabama Gamer]

They are not from a (supposedly) belligerent nation and fight for pay. That's the actual legal definition of a mercenary. They have absolutely no protections under the Geneva Conventions.

The definition is bit narrower than that. Under Article 47 of the 1977 amendment, to be a mercenary a foreign soldier has to be motivated "essentially by the desire for private gain" and paid or promised payment "substantially in excess" of what that regular counterparts receive. So, the Colombians probably count, but not most European volunteers.

 

[The Ugly One]

Counterpoint: Literally all of Chinese history.
Empires built on a solid foundation have staying power. Chinese culture is indomitable and the geography ensures it doesn't fall apart along with any given empire (dynasty). And there were many of those, often simultaneously. But each time they gradually returned to being the "standard" Chinese Empire.
Roman legalism kept that empire together from its (arguable) start around 200BC through the period where it actually was called an empire rather than just an unusually large city-state republic through the period where it gradually collapsed in on itself until its end in the 1400s when it consisted, more or less, of a single city once more.
The USA is more comparable to the Mongol Empire than to either of the two famous empires. It's a militarily strong regime imposing its will on neighbours, demanding tribute and conquering outright any who refuse. That one lasted less than a century (even if, in the empire itself, it was a tremendously good century).

An empire of tribes that have linguistic and cultural ties is quite a bit different than an empire of far-flung vassal states whose only connection to the core is it's easier to let the core run things than not. The latter sort of empire is the sort to disappear forever once it's gone. There's no real reason for Sudan, Japan, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia to all belong to the same empire.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Tbh I don't think this is that much of a problem. There have been foreign military volunteers but you expect it and there aren't that many and they aren't that effective. Also China should be sending thousands of officers to this War to get experience and if they aren't doing it secretly and I just don't know they are kind of retarded. It also kind of makes sense at least basically a NATO proxy war.

There's no reason China couldn't find some Chinese that can easily blend in with Russia's Asians in the SMO, especially since Ukraine has none of its own. A lot Westerners can't tell Asians apart but it's not an issue for Asians. That said Russia and China have Asians that aren't well known outside their respective regions.

but not most European volunteers

See that's the thing; what's Ukraine's ideology? Literal National Socialism, Third Reich style, which is illegal in Western European countries; the Hakenkreuz is illegal to display. So I don't think ideological motives would fly in a tribunal, if there will ever be one.

Of course the West is turning a blind eye to it, which says a lot about their hypocrisy.

edit sorry my cat decided something was so important he jumped on the desk and keyboard

 

[Saleh]

Counterpoint: Literally all of Chinese history.
Empires built on a solid foundation have staying power. Chinese culture is indomitable and the geography ensures it doesn't fall apart along with any given empire (dynasty). And there were many of those, often simultaneously. But each time they gradually returned to being the "standard" Chinese Empire.
Roman legalism kept that empire together from its (arguable) start around 200BC through the period where it actually was called an empire rather than just an unusually large city-state republic through the period where it gradually collapsed in on itself until its end in the 1400s when it consisted, more or less, of a single city once more.
The USA is more comparable to the Mongol Empire than to either of the two famous empires. It's a militarily strong regime imposing its will on neighbours, demanding tribute and conquering outright any who refuse. That one lasted less than a century (even if, in the empire itself, it was a tremendously good century).

America has lasted more than the Mongol Empire or even the Yuan dynasty and this is because all nomadic empires have short lifespans.

America definitely resembles more like the Middle Roman republic (punic wars) since they were pretty lenient with their allies (italians or others) and would allow them great amounts of autonomy while also having a Roman military colony nearby to control their foreign policy (sound familiar?)

 

[Vesperus]

The definition is bit narrower than that. Under Article 47 of the 1977 amendment, to be a mercenary a foreign soldier has to be motivated "essentially by the desire for private gain" and paid or promised payment "substantially in excess" of what that regular counterparts receive. So, the Colombians probably count, but not most European volunteers.

Since it apparently worked for the US and that whole Guantanamo bay brouhaha, just declare them незаконный комбатант (an enemy combatant), and that it sucks to be them.

 

[prolapsed_cranium]

Why is kings and generals so pro-Ukraine?

Like, they always put irrelevant or clickbaity info in the thumbnail or the title of the video. They also dismiss big defeats like Avdiivka or the Super duper Ukrainian counteoffensives as minor setbacks in the road to victory. They also only cite pro-Ukrainian sources like the AFU MOD, Orix, the state department, ISW and many other clowns that aren't worth mentioning here.

Their narrative of the war is pretty rosy in favour of Ukraine all things considered and most of the time they leave out negative info like the manpower and ammunition crises in the AFU. Anyways, their Ukraine series sucks major ass and those videos feel more like propaganda pieces than objective and informative documentaries.

They're getting paid to do it.

 

[Saleh]

It's difficult for the MSM to be Ukraine's dickriders now that the AFU is losing.

 

[just a banana]

They didn't have to look far to find the next Navalny I mean Navalnaya.
I wonder if CNN will do a very dramatic "documentary" about her, too.

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/8as0R

 

[Nicholas II of Russia]

She doesn't sound like a super revolutionary woman if the MSM is pushing her to be as such.

 

[Mr Bunny]

America has lasted more than the Mongol Empire.

That depends on what you consider the beginnings of the American empire not the creation of the American Republic, under Lincoln when he forced the unification of the American states or the end of WW2.

That former has lasted longer than the Mongol empire by 60 years, the latter has 20 years to go before it has lasted the same as the Mongol empire.

 

[Sister Miriam Godwinson]

All right, Yulia, let's hear your political platform (as they do in democratic countries, or so they told me). I am all ears.

 

[slavamonolitu]

They didn't have to look far to find the next Navalny I mean Navalnaya.
I wonder if CNN will do a very dramatic "documentary" about her, too.

Is Navalnaya a rampant neo-nazi as well or have they finally found their wholesome neo-liberal puppet?

 

[Rubick]

Powerful position and her being a whore. There is a material for a joke in there.

 

[Anasûrimbor Kellhus]

I don't get this whole seething about "mercenaries" coming from Russians and Russia-adjacent commentators. First of all, almost none of them actually are mercenaries under the legal definitions for such things, all connotations aside. They're not motivated primarily by the promise of personal gain, and they're not (to my knowledge) compensated substantially in excess of normal soldiers. Most of them seem to be ideologically motivated. You can say, well, okay, but they have an evilbadwrong ideology. That still doesn't make them mercenaries. Foreign volunteers have been a thing in every war since Grug brought his own club with him to go help the Grog tribe fight the Grag tribe because Grig from the Grag tribe stole his meat. Am I missing some cultural context here, or is it just something they say to insult the enemy?

I'm laughing mostly. If a bunch of people want to play military harry potter in the donbass to go "EXPECTO PATRONUM" on putlermort or whatever, so be it.

 

[SaidNoOneEver]

All right, Yulia, let's hear your political platform (as they do in democratic countries, or so they told me). I am all ears.

All I needed to see was the day Navalny died she was happy and living it up at that global forum in Germany. She didn't seem to care at all. Then Blinken sat her down and made her some kind of offer to be the next celebrity du jour for an undisclosed sum and suddenly she's in mourning. It's all a manufactured production. I wonder what her new boyfriend makes of all this, he's got to be a bit nervous that he has to vanish now.

 

[Sister Miriam Godwinson]

All I needed to see was the day Navalny died she was happy and living it up at that global forum in Germany. She didn't seem to care at all. Then Blinken sat her down and made her some kind of offer to be the next celebrity du jour for an undisclosed sum and suddenly she's in mourning. It's all a manufactured production. I wonder what her new boyfriend makes of all this.

I don't care if she is in mourning, I want to hear her political platform. "Share my rage" and "I am not Putin" do not convince me. If she wants to have my support, she needs to tell me what she can offer me as a president or at least a political party leader. I recall her late husband promised to uproot corruption at some point.

If she wants to win the hearts and minds, she needs to address the owners of said hearts and minds in Russia, not European foreign ministers in Brussels. Let them vote for her if they love her so much. For a position in Brussels.