"To compensate for the lack of soldiers, the Ukrainian government resorted to paramilitary militias. They are essentially composed of foreign mercenaries, often extreme right-wing militants. In 2020, they constituted about 40 percent of the Ukrainian forces and numbered about 102,000 men, according to Reuters."
The Reuters article corroborated that the paramilitary numbered about 40% of Ukrainian forces, but I don't see any support for the idea these are mostly foreign fighters (much less "extreme right-wing militants"). Logically, why would a foreign neo-fascist go to Ukraine to fight Russia? That doesn't make any sense. Putin has been the chief global spokesperson against the Western liberal order for two decades now...I can't imagine, say, a group of U.S. skinheads heading off to go fight Russia.
Damn the evil globalists, the neocon war party, think of all the death and destruction that those craven madmen have wrought in the last 30 years. I was suckered in by them since I enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in 1991 after previously serving from 1981-1987.
Was looking at Gonzalo's twitter earlier this afternoon and was able to catch the live stream of him, the Duran, and Adrei Martyanov. Quite fascinating and went on for 2.5 hours. A lot of the above does come out during the discussion.
I'm about halfway through the 2 hr plus podcast but i find it excellent.
I disagree with JP who slurs the Duran as being somehow grifters. I don't see any evidence of that and defamatory statements like that should have supporting evidence. Further, Alex and Alex do a good job of reading many of the foreign sources if info that most of us either don't access or can't delve into in depth. If JP wants to spend hours pouring through foreign press and government accounts and then present us all w analysis (including critical analysis debunking that info), then let's have it. I have watched and read alot of sources that openly and aggressively sell their products. The Duran doesn't. They push their Locals channel and mention coffee mugs for sale. Big yip. Furthermore, they regularly invite all sorts of guests to comment so there's a variety of valuable info. The Duran may not be the penultimate site but they provide good content.
As to this podcast, Martyanov made several excellent points. One is the hollowness of the US military. We haven't fought a first class military since Korea and best we could do there was a draw. Vietnam was a defeat and since then the US has basically built its resume beating up on third rate militaries and non state jihadis. Ukraine is exposing just what a beating the US would take if it went up against a top tier military that can attack all rear areas and c&c nodes. US officers have predicted 40,000+ US casualties in first month of any direct hostilities against Russia. Faced w such unacceptable losses, Sock Puppet Regime would have to go nuclear or sue for peace.
I don't feel bad for the neo-nazis or merceneries, but Ukr is conscripting every male from 18 (or 16?) - 60(+?). At this point, there are probably a lot of soldiers who never wanted to be there, w/their leaders ordered to kill them shd they take the surrender offers of Russia, if rumors are correct. And this is being done under pressure from US leadership, amongst others. Makes me ill. 😠
"To compensate for the lack of soldiers, the Ukrainian government resorted to paramilitary militias. They are essentially composed of foreign mercenaries, often extreme right-wing militants. In 2020, they constituted about 40 percent of the Ukrainian forces and numbered about 102,000 men, according to Reuters."
The Reuters article corroborated that the paramilitary numbered about 40% of Ukrainian forces, but I don't see any support for the idea these are mostly foreign fighters (much less "extreme right-wing militants"). Logically, why would a foreign neo-fascist go to Ukraine to fight Russia? That doesn't make any sense. Putin has been the chief global spokesperson against the Western liberal order for two decades now...I can't imagine, say, a group of U.S. skinheads heading off to go fight Russia.
Damn the evil globalists, the neocon war party, think of all the death and destruction that those craven madmen have wrought in the last 30 years. I was suckered in by them since I enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in 1991 after previously serving from 1981-1987.
Was looking at Gonzalo's twitter earlier this afternoon and was able to catch the live stream of him, the Duran, and Adrei Martyanov. Quite fascinating and went on for 2.5 hours. A lot of the above does come out during the discussion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPrDl414AFM
I'll just note, I like Alexander, but prefer to watch him at 1.25x speed since he tends to be a bit winded. Still, a great show.
I'm about halfway through the 2 hr plus podcast but i find it excellent.
I disagree with JP who slurs the Duran as being somehow grifters. I don't see any evidence of that and defamatory statements like that should have supporting evidence. Further, Alex and Alex do a good job of reading many of the foreign sources if info that most of us either don't access or can't delve into in depth. If JP wants to spend hours pouring through foreign press and government accounts and then present us all w analysis (including critical analysis debunking that info), then let's have it. I have watched and read alot of sources that openly and aggressively sell their products. The Duran doesn't. They push their Locals channel and mention coffee mugs for sale. Big yip. Furthermore, they regularly invite all sorts of guests to comment so there's a variety of valuable info. The Duran may not be the penultimate site but they provide good content.
As to this podcast, Martyanov made several excellent points. One is the hollowness of the US military. We haven't fought a first class military since Korea and best we could do there was a draw. Vietnam was a defeat and since then the US has basically built its resume beating up on third rate militaries and non state jihadis. Ukraine is exposing just what a beating the US would take if it went up against a top tier military that can attack all rear areas and c&c nodes. US officers have predicted 40,000+ US casualties in first month of any direct hostilities against Russia. Faced w such unacceptable losses, Sock Puppet Regime would have to go nuclear or sue for peace.
I watched some but, while Martyanov does have interesting insights, his digressions can be a bit maddening.
https://twitter.com/War_Mapper/status/1520559950837448706?s=20&t=3ixPyoonSxHFNBrkM8hkdA
From Gonzalo lira’s twitter
Animated gif of Ukraine war by day
He's got lots of money, Brit citizenship, homes in London and Miami.
I don't feel bad for the neo-nazis or merceneries, but Ukr is conscripting every male from 18 (or 16?) - 60(+?). At this point, there are probably a lot of soldiers who never wanted to be there, w/their leaders ordered to kill them shd they take the surrender offers of Russia, if rumors are correct. And this is being done under pressure from US leadership, amongst others. Makes me ill. 😠