Those who follow the war on Russia will be aware that Russia appears to be actively targeting NATO personnel fighting in Ukraine, more actively than in the past.
It also raises the intriguing possibility that French troops could be directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict against Russia.
"At least some of these French-speaking individuals weren't mercenaries, but actually French serving military personnel, that is military personnel who worked for the French government, who were in Ukraine at the behest of their government. And now they're dead," Ritter said.
That apparent new Russian policy contrasts with previous leniency towards NATO military 'advisors' or other personnel in Ukraine, the expert argued, suggesting a paradigm shift to targeting all hostile forces in Ukraine.
"They have not been taken out in significant numbers, although with Russian intelligence being what it is, there is every likelihood that the Russians knew they were there and could have taken them out," Ritter said. “This shows that Russia has made a decision: everybody in Ukraine now is fair game”.
The broader implication is clearly that Russia is now in an "endgame" of annihilating of the Ukrainian armed forces.
From the roster embedded in your original piece, the disparity in ages (and, presumably, ex-military ranks, whether legitimately-retired or merely sheep-dipped) makes it fairly clear that this wasn't some spontaneous grouping of old army buddies seeking gold, glory and adventure. The French Defense Minister's "it's a free country" type response is laughable, as someone, most likely French military (who better to know who goes where), organized this group by function and sent them in to fill a defined role.
60-ish dead, though, is a big number to have in one event. One would think, under normal circumstances, that there'd be a sufficiently-large group of affected family members at home in France to make a stink before this story gets buried. Then again, these are far from normal circumstances, as I seem to recall stories out of Poland last year of cemeteries being expanded to accommodate massive mercenary KIAs from UA and nobody seemed to press the stories further.
I'd bet that that's something like what the French ambassador was told by the Russian foreign ministry. I saw in a tweet that another similar strike was made last night.
G'day Mark & Fellow MIH seekers, Tis' a sad state of affairs when 'Free' Western Gov'ts can not be trusted to truly represent the needs and will of it's populace. The spending/elite enrichment nature of today's leadership is being exposed - a difficult task considering the fascist behavior of gov'ts and the widespread 'mis/dis information' programs employed in our 'free' countries. France's economy is highly dependent on... practically slave-labor and economic theft of 3rd world countries that, should be to no one's surprise, accept a pragmatic Russian (Chinese) alternative sponsorship. Not that I think RU/China have good programs - when your western benefactors rape and pillage your country's labor and resources while espousing 'DIE'/ESG (intentional, more accurate acronym spelling here) and fairness and environmentalism to protect said 3rd world countries, well, the hypocrisy is rich and turning to other offers is a logical outcome. Kind of a 'what did ya expect would happen when the truth gets out' thing. Blessings to all! (WrH)
My guess, is waiting allowed Russia to control the escalation.
And perhaps Russia did not have the extra missiles needed previously.
And allowed the West to over extend.
And the Western Arsenals/ warehouses are now empty.
Or may be the Russians were waiting till Ukraine really needed the extra foreign help, and now that has been shown to be at risk. My guess is Western “mercenaries” are now taking steps to reduce their risk. Which will decrease their productivity.
Great article. As regards the poor French in Niger suffering economically, tough noogies--they egregiously took advantage of the uranium trade (as well as the payments system) down there for many decades.
An old adage in business: 'Pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered.'
Toward the end of this post there is a discussion of the the foreign "mercenaries"--really NATO personnel--including video presentations by a French journalist and a German journalist. The point is that there are clearly thousands of NATO soldiers operating a lot of the NATO weapons systems that require long training.
I read your piece on Emmanuel Todd and his book, do you have any idea where to find the English translation of this book to read I’ve looked, but I haven’t found one yet
It seems the French Neo colonial possessions were critical to France Economic health. Tom Luongo discussed this a while ago, and explains why Victoria Nuland visited Niger after the coup.
Utterly foolish. What will France do, ask Estonia for backup? Hasn’t the the last horrible year in Ukraine, and in Africa, taught the French anything? Plus ça change…as we say all too frequently, this will not end well.
“Surely this intolerance of others and their viewpoints is nothing less than the hubris the Greeks viewed and warned against as the suicidal sin.“ Marlin K. Jensen
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240118/scott-ritter-russia-wont-hesitate-to-eliminate-western-troops-in-ukraine-1116252636.html
It also raises the intriguing possibility that French troops could be directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict against Russia.
"At least some of these French-speaking individuals weren't mercenaries, but actually French serving military personnel, that is military personnel who worked for the French government, who were in Ukraine at the behest of their government. And now they're dead," Ritter said.
That apparent new Russian policy contrasts with previous leniency towards NATO military 'advisors' or other personnel in Ukraine, the expert argued, suggesting a paradigm shift to targeting all hostile forces in Ukraine.
"They have not been taken out in significant numbers, although with Russian intelligence being what it is, there is every likelihood that the Russians knew they were there and could have taken them out," Ritter said. “This shows that Russia has made a decision: everybody in Ukraine now is fair game”.
The broader implication is clearly that Russia is now in an "endgame" of annihilating of the Ukrainian armed forces.
From the roster embedded in your original piece, the disparity in ages (and, presumably, ex-military ranks, whether legitimately-retired or merely sheep-dipped) makes it fairly clear that this wasn't some spontaneous grouping of old army buddies seeking gold, glory and adventure. The French Defense Minister's "it's a free country" type response is laughable, as someone, most likely French military (who better to know who goes where), organized this group by function and sent them in to fill a defined role.
60-ish dead, though, is a big number to have in one event. One would think, under normal circumstances, that there'd be a sufficiently-large group of affected family members at home in France to make a stink before this story gets buried. Then again, these are far from normal circumstances, as I seem to recall stories out of Poland last year of cemeteries being expanded to accommodate massive mercenary KIAs from UA and nobody seemed to press the stories further.
I'd bet that that's something like what the French ambassador was told by the Russian foreign ministry. I saw in a tweet that another similar strike was made last night.
G'day Mark & Fellow MIH seekers, Tis' a sad state of affairs when 'Free' Western Gov'ts can not be trusted to truly represent the needs and will of it's populace. The spending/elite enrichment nature of today's leadership is being exposed - a difficult task considering the fascist behavior of gov'ts and the widespread 'mis/dis information' programs employed in our 'free' countries. France's economy is highly dependent on... practically slave-labor and economic theft of 3rd world countries that, should be to no one's surprise, accept a pragmatic Russian (Chinese) alternative sponsorship. Not that I think RU/China have good programs - when your western benefactors rape and pillage your country's labor and resources while espousing 'DIE'/ESG (intentional, more accurate acronym spelling here) and fairness and environmentalism to protect said 3rd world countries, well, the hypocrisy is rich and turning to other offers is a logical outcome. Kind of a 'what did ya expect would happen when the truth gets out' thing. Blessings to all! (WrH)
I wonder why Russia waited this long to target foreign “mercenaries”.
My guess, is waiting allowed Russia to control the escalation.
And perhaps Russia did not have the extra missiles needed previously.
And allowed the West to over extend.
And the Western Arsenals/ warehouses are now empty.
Or may be the Russians were waiting till Ukraine really needed the extra foreign help, and now that has been shown to be at risk. My guess is Western “mercenaries” are now taking steps to reduce their risk. Which will decrease their productivity.
Great article. As regards the poor French in Niger suffering economically, tough noogies--they egregiously took advantage of the uranium trade (as well as the payments system) down there for many decades.
An old adage in business: 'Pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered.'
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-12024-russian-gains-resume
Toward the end of this post there is a discussion of the the foreign "mercenaries"--really NATO personnel--including video presentations by a French journalist and a German journalist. The point is that there are clearly thousands of NATO soldiers operating a lot of the NATO weapons systems that require long training.
I read your piece on Emmanuel Todd and his book, do you have any idea where to find the English translation of this book to read I’ve looked, but I haven’t found one yet
I think it's too new for a translation to be out yet. Publication date is 1/11/24.
It seems a foolish thing for the French to be doing. Their neocolonial grip on West Africa was never going to last forever.
It seems the French Neo colonial possessions were critical to France Economic health. Tom Luongo discussed this a while ago, and explains why Victoria Nuland visited Niger after the coup.
Utterly foolish. What will France do, ask Estonia for backup? Hasn’t the the last horrible year in Ukraine, and in Africa, taught the French anything? Plus ça change…as we say all too frequently, this will not end well.
“Surely this intolerance of others and their viewpoints is nothing less than the hubris the Greeks viewed and warned against as the suicidal sin.“ Marlin K. Jensen
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18