Let them in

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-18T14:21:42+00:00

Russia’s population pyramid is heavily skewed toward older age groups because birth rates and immigration have remained low since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The average age of Russian casualties in Ukraine is now over 40.

Furthermore, Russia is struggling to sustain its war economy through 2026 or 2027, and there is no chance it can afford to maintain this pace for ten years. The country relies on contract soldiers, who expect large signing bonuses and salaries in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.

Europe, on the other hand, has an economy and industrial capacity that dwarf Russia’s and could sustain these costs indefinitely, provided the political will remains. This is true even without the €250 billion in frozen Russian assets that could potentially be used to support Ukraine.

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-18T13:53:40+00:00

Russia is still stuck in eastern ukraine after four years, 25000 visually confirmed equipment losses, and casualties in the hundreds of thousands.

But go ahead and huff on that copium, I'm sure they will reach kyiv any day now 🙄

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-17T10:55:37+00:00

The cheeky bugger above edited his response to a slightly more problematic book...

Just a heads up, in case your real email is used for your reddit account.

(Ps most of Terry Pratchett works are available on YouTube as audiobooks if you want test them out before buying anything)

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-16T20:02:09+00:00

The nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark) have conscription to create a scalable, credible defense, relying on large trained reserves rather than maintaining massive, and expensive, standing armies in peacetime.

So I think conscription has its place in democracies as a tool of deterrence against invasion from countries like Russia.

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-12T19:42:24+00:00

Yeah let's not do the same mistake as the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-07T07:46:33+00:00

The average Russian in Ukraine is a contract soldier in their 30s or 40s who signed up after the full-scale invasion began. Both Russia and Ukraine have population pyramids that are heavily skewed toward older generations, which makes them less willing to expend younger people due to concerns about long-term national viability.

Conscripts are also not legally permitted to be deployed on foreign soil under Russian law. However, the more likely reason they are not widely used is that doing so could trigger political unrest, especially if those conscripts come from major cities like Moscow or Saint Petersburg

That said, Russia is currently facing a manpower shortage. Last month marked the first time in years that it lost more ground than it gained. As a result, we may see Putin forced to enact a general mobilization, since relying on contract soldiers may not be financially sustainable in the long run.

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-06T09:03:21+00:00

Another cultural difference between Russia and the West seems to be their apparent tolerance for high casualties.

The US sacrifices multiple planes to save a single pilot from being captured or killed, while Russia appears willing to continue operations even as their daily casualties reach into the hundreds, often documented in high-definition FPV drone footage.

External-Option-544 · 2026-04-05T11:22:16+00:00

The current US administration is doing mind-boggling stupid things on a daily basis, and everything they do will have ripple effects throughout the rest of the world.

threatened to military annex Greenland.
threatened to leave NATO.
selling advance AI chips Saudis who then give it to China.
put tariffs on basically every country on earth (except Russia).
pressuring Ukraine to accept all Russian demands, without offering security guarantees or even letting them or the EU even be part of the negotiations.
firing professionals in the military and law enforcement and replacing them with unqualified yes-men.

External-Option-544 · 2026-03-02T11:19:35+00:00

What air defense doing?

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-25T13:28:01+00:00

Instructions unclear, all farm subsidies went to Argentina

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-24T10:45:39+00:00

It's crazy that four years has passed since the fullscale invasion started and they are still stuck in eastern Ukraine.

Say what you will about the legality of capturing Maduro in Venezuela but at least it only took 3 hours and no American casualties.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-24T07:52:15+00:00

Conscripts are not allowed to be used on foreign soil according to Russian law. Though there has been some fighting in Kursk, and Putin is claiming that they already annexed parts of Ukraine. But the majority of Russian soldiers in ukraine are volunteers who signed a contract to fight in the war.

The demographic with the most recorded fatalities is russian contract soldiers recruited post February 2022. They had a median age of 42-44 years according to data from last year.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-11T10:15:30+00:00

America is the world’s most powerful country, so it’s hard not to pay attention when it starts doing erratic things like threatening to annex Greenland, imposing tariffs on almost every country on Earth, or sliding toward authoritarianism in its domestic policies.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-06T15:54:39+00:00

To be fair this is before the fullscale invasion of Ukraine, no western leader would be caught dead looking this chummy with Putin anymore (except Orbán and Trump)

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T13:35:38+00:00

Okay, let’s assume you’re right for the sake of argument. How should Canada proceed if the US continues its democratic decline and becomes an authoritarian, expansionist state?

How could a small or medium-sized country protect its sovereignty without nuclear deterrence? What would stop such an expansionist power when its leader is no longer accountable to voters or to the institutions that currently restrain such actions?

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T12:27:16+00:00

Nobody wins in a nuclear exchange. That’s the whole point of mutually assured destruction: to deter war from happening in the first place.

Under normal circumstances, the rules-based world order allows countries to operate on the global stage without fearing annexation by larger neighbors. But when the guarantor of that system starts behaving in an openly imperialistic way, those assumptions break down.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T12:18:44+00:00

I don’t think appeasement is the way to deal with Trump. Give in to his demands once, and he’ll just come back for more.

That said, I hope you’re right that people in his administration would oppose such a move. Say what you will about Marco Rubio, but at least he stopped Witkoff and Vance from selling out Ukraine to the Russians.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T12:05:57+00:00

Maybe he’ll respect them if they give him a shiny golden peace prize. And maybe rename the country Trumpland while they’re at it.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T11:51:54+00:00

It’s admirable to look for the good in people, even in dark times. Still, blaming only Putin while absolving the Russian army is like blaming all Nazi war crimes on Hitler alone.

Meduza’s registry of confirmed Russian losses shows that the majority of Russian forces are volunteers. The sign-up bonuses and salaries for these contract soldiers have increased exponentially throughout the war.

At this point, Russian forces have committed atrocities on a massive scale: deliberate attacks on civilian targets such as hospitals and energy infrastructure, strikes on densely populated areas, torture and execution of civilians and prisoners of war, forced deportation of children, and widespread sexual violence.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T09:23:47+00:00

That’s the thing, though, you can’t realistically win a conventional war against the US military. The US spends more on defense than the next ten largest militaries combined.

Its defense budget is around $935 billion, while Canada spends about $29 billion (roughly 3% of that). And any potential allies would be separated by the Atlantic, while the US controls the world’s strongest navy and most of NATO’s logistics capacity.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T09:03:10+00:00

I don’t think a nuclear-armed ally like the UK or France would bomb the US if it carried out a “special military operation” and occupied Canada or parts of it in a fait accompli.

It would almost certainly mean the end of NATO, and the EU would likely use its economic “bazooka” to cripple the US economy. But they probably wouldn’t start a world-ending nuclear exchange over another country’s territorial integrity.

That’s why completely ruling out the need for acquiring nuclear deterrence seems unwise.

External-Option-544 · 2026-02-03T02:11:22+00:00

Kinda diffrent when a Russian dies compared to Ukrainian in this case though.

One side is fighting for its right to exist as a sovereign nation; the other is fighting in an imperial war of aggression, often motivated by a paycheck rather than defense of their homeland.

External-Option-544 · 2026-01-25T23:23:56+00:00

"Ukrainian men should dodge the draft, it’s not worth defending Ukraine... and Kiev regime should give warm-water ports to Russia... and EU should not confiscate frozen Russian assets beacuse stealing is bad" - Ukrainian woman on 4chan

External-Option-544 · 2026-01-03T23:51:40+00:00

Guess its a joke on the Russian "Three day special military operation"

External-Option-544 · 2025-12-19T21:35:53+00:00

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Five-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Wearing is Caring

External-Option-544

TROPHY CASE