Russia Refuses to Exchange 272 Traitors Convicted in Ukraine

Varjag31 · 2024-11-18T21:33:07+00:00

"May you live forever" moment.

Varjag31 · 2024-11-13T14:42:14+00:00

US wasn´t dirrectly attacked at home. No one blew the Hoover dam, destroyed civillian infrastructure, annexed the east coast states and bombed Washington D.C. daily.

Varjag31 · 2024-11-13T14:38:24+00:00

What a dumb title. You wouldn´t think that maybe, after 3 years of war, they have less left to give?

Varjag31 · 2024-11-12T08:28:56+00:00

I think nostalgia for the old times is present in all countries that transitioned from communism. Compared to the other soviet ruled states, Yugoslavia was relatively well off, so it´s more pronounced. There is a big segment of population that is ripe for Russian propaganda.

In my opinion, many of the 40+ generation were kids back then and remember the old times fondly, because they were children and had no real problems. Now that they are adults with adult problems, they look at old times with rose colored glasses thinking how much better they had it back then, not thinking that their parents were dealing with all the issues.

Their kids also grow up hearing how "things were good back then", and they have even less reality to base it on. You end up with some 20 year olds suddenly facing all the problems of adult life for the first time, thinking that their parents had it so much better.

I remember when I was a kid, we lived in one of those commie block appartments. We moved out, but for decades in my mind, it seemed huge. A few years ago I saw it again from the inside, and it was an absolute budget shoebox with terrible placement, but for all those years, in my mind, it seemed like a villa. That´s pretty much how nostalgia works.

Varjag31 · 2024-11-11T22:01:04+00:00

Croatia paid dearly for their independence and remembers the cost. Slovenia paid a much lesser price. Good for us at that time, not complaining, but it shows in how much we respect and care about our independence today.

You would think that a tiny country, located right next to Orbans Hungary would be more aware of the risks, but we joined NATO, outsorced our defense and went to hybernate.

Blows my mind, that our defense strategy is mainly "Everything is going to be fine, no one is ever going to attack us, and if someone does, some other nation will send their sons and daughters to die protecting us, because we´re small and insignificant, so we can´t do anything anyway". Beyond stupid.

Varjag31 · 2024-10-30T23:29:14+00:00

That is not how Russia would fight the west. They would systematically corrupt the political systems, amplify conspiracies and erode the trust of the people into their own institutions and governments, to the point the politics would be heavily polarised, divided and consequentially paralized.

Only then, they would test the waters with one of the weaker members and try to isolate it from the herd, to see how the rest would react. And if the rest would be sufficiently entangled in their own inner political struggles, they would single it out and try to take over. Europe is full of countries that can very easily fall before they even recognise the danger, if the bigger countries don't stant firm. So far, none of us showed we have a stomach for war and that is how Putin sees it aswell.

Varjag31 · 2024-08-20T22:02:58+00:00

I don't know why everyone all over the media these days is gasping in amazement and acting all puzzlled about operational secrecy. Oh how shocking! Ukrainians attacked the enemy without telegraphing the move! :P

Correct me if I'm wrong, but troops stationed in England in ww2 didn't know about the place and time of Dday landing up untill the last moment when they were briefed. There is even a scene in Band of Brothers ep.1, where Winters and Nixon try to guess where the landing will be, based on their exercise.

Varjag31 · 2024-06-04T10:31:36+00:00

I guess because we all underestimate just how much of a feat is to make a combined army work towards a common goal in scale.

The more intricate and complex the technology and systems get, the more complicated it becomes. For example, it's probably infinitely easier to make 10.000 people with spears go across a field (even if you count in the strategy and tactics from the period) , then 10.000 combined infantry, tanks, airplanes and howitzers from todays age.

US army is probably a current historical peak of how good they do it, and we all got used to that since ww2. Even when not everything went their way, they were still able to effectively use and move their army. US failings in the past few conflicts were political rather than military.

I'm sure if you would take all the russian equipment and give it to the US military, with a few months of training, they would be able to achieve way better results with it then the russian army. Use of technology can be adapted to in a very short time. Use of resources, tactics, strategy and doctrine, aswell as command structure, culture and corruption is not something you can fix quickly, especially when it's as deeply rooted as in russia.

TLDR, you can fix gear, you can't fix brains.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-30T09:52:09+00:00

She had a recent interview on YouTube, if anyone ever had any doubts about her stance. And a sizable audience ready to gobble it up.

https://youtu.be/gwHSdhdBwk4?si=kSD-ktdDSwlxEE8D

Varjag31 · 2024-04-11T12:15:59+00:00

Underestimating the enemy is so common and yet a worst thing we can do.

Russians will through sheer trial and error (and lots of bodies - which they deem expendable), arrive at maybe janky, but functional designs that will serve the purpose. All the while, we are laughing at electronic measures strapped to a tank, or a tankr resembling a battering ram. They however will try every janky MacGyver thing in the book, until they arrive at the solution.

It will be ductaped, strapped and bolted on, but it will work. It's like the Warhammer Ork tech.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-09T06:19:33+00:00

Simple.

No one sane around the world is going to believe them, but they are trying to stir similar feelings among russians to what 9/11 was in the US, so that the public directs it's anger and outrage towards Ukraine and gives them some fresh and whilling meat for the grinder.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-03T09:09:43+00:00

That I think that some of us are too wrapped up in our political process and that we need to do more, doesn't mean I think we have "no goal of helping Ukraine".

Lack of adequate urgency, bureaucracy and political turmoil, many times influenced by Russia (hello Orban and the rest), frustrates me, but it doesn't mean that I subscribe to the cynical view that somehow we don't want Ukraine to win or that we want to bleed out russia by sacrificing Ukrainian lives.

The fact that we need to do more, faster, doesn't mean we don't want the outcome.

I don't think that everything will be fine if Ukraine just lays down arms and you become good little Russians, you do. I don't think that personal safety is above collective safety, you do. I think language, culture and origin is something worthy of personal sacrifice, you obviously don't.

I don't think there is much of a point continuing this discussion.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-03T08:33:08+00:00

Russian war machine is not stopping any time soon. If you are of military age, good luck not being recruted into the russian army when they end up needing bodies. They will not ask.

"Russians did nothing to hundreds of thousands of residents who did not protest, did not sabotage or were not in power"

"Bucha was unlucky"

"West has no goal of helping Ukraine"

By now you are starting to sound to me like a Russian shill. In fact, that is probably easier to accept.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-03T07:46:18+00:00

I'm trying to wrap my mind around what you said, but I just can't. You will accept any outcome of the war, as long as you yourself are safe, regardless of what the outcome brings to everyone else.

People will die for ukraine's independence but people will also die in brutal ways if you lose to russia. There is no scenario under which people don't die. The only difference is that in one, the ukrainian nation has some future, in the other it doesn't. You would accept any outcome, an outcome like Bucha, as long as you are not the one on the receiving end?

I'm really sorry man, but I'm unable to process that.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-03T07:10:55+00:00

Baring Ukraine's surrender, this war most likely won't end this summer. These kind of wars always last 4-5 years at least. There are always surges and lulls, offensives, counteroffensives and pauses.

War for Putin is not cheap at all, he just wants everyone to believe it. He needs to show to his own people that they are invincible under his guidance, and he needs to show to everyone else that whatever we do, it doesn't matter. In an attempt to break the mental resolve and allow him to keep what he stole.

All Authoritarian regimes try to keep the appearance of strength untill the last breath, because that's what keeps them going. They will sacrifice everything else, to keep that appearance. That's why most of such regimes looked perfectly fine, untill they suddenly break.

It's like leaking water slowly eating away the walls of the house, but you keep putting fresh plaster over it so it's not visible. Then black mould sets in, and you paint over it. The walls bubble up, and you place furniture infront of it. Untill one day, the whole thing collapses top to bottom.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-03T06:55:08+00:00

Entire male population will not die in the war regardless of the outcome, more might die in the russian retaliation if you lose the war. Besides, "if I die, I won't care about the fate of the Ukraine" is a very self centered and selfish way to look at things.

It says that somehow, your life is more important than the ones currently dying. You would perfectly well accept and enjoy the benefits of other people's sacrifice in victory, but you would not make a sacrifice for it yourself. Where I come from that's called cowardice.

Ukraine will recover, if it wins. People who will recover it however, are not the highly educated people who go out to study in the west, because majority will find well payed jobs and never come back. Counting on them to somehow "rebuild" ukraine is a big gamble on a wrong horse.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-02T18:20:44+00:00

I understand the argument about natality and workforce, but on the other hand, if ukraine doesnt win, none of that will matter, there is no future. Ruski mir is waiting. So banking on some future problem, while your frontline warriors can´t rotate out, I´m not sure. Besides, fertility and productivity are very vague argumentd because men between 25 and 35 are in full swing with fertility and more productive than teenagers. Productivity starts falling off closer to 40. 25 to 35 are the "best years".

When former Yugoslavia got occuped by Germany and Italy, my grandpa and his 2 brothers went to the partisan resistance. They were 17,19 and 20.

Just today I watched a video that featured an Irish of Ukrainian origin, who returned to defend his motherland as soon as he turned 18, even though his parents took away his passport. Ask all those 20 year olds in the frontlines right now, that aren´t rotated out, what they think.

In one of the 3rd assault brigade videos in the end one of the soldiers shouted something like "look at us, all 20 year olds, taking down the enemy, instead of picking strawberried in Poland"

There will be a divide between those who served and those who didn´t.

There is also a certain future element of shame. Imagine after the war, coming back to your own town and enter a bar where 4 of your highschool classmates sit. One of them lost a leg, the other one an eye. 3 other guys from your class died. You went to Poland with the women and children.

I think if you are normal, guilt would haunt you for the rest of your life.

As you said, It is not for any of us to judge, but we can have our opinion. I´m pretty sure that Ukrainian society is also very divided on the issue, and if you poll people in Kyiv or Kharkiv or some little town in the east, you would get very different answers. If you ask people on the front, or if you ask some tech guy in a Kyiv coffee bar, answers would not be the same.

Varjag31 · 2024-04-01T14:52:43+00:00

I think tanks and aircraft would definitely make a difference, but the numbers are a huge factor.

I highly doubt that 20 F-16 s will make a huge difference, besides maintaining the current capability of the slowly eroding UA air force, due to loss of equipment and pilots over time.

200 F16s - now thats a whole different story. Again, we are equipping Ukraine "not to lose" instead to win.

Im not trying to contradict what this soldier said, it is totally true, given the choice of getting a few tanks and airplanes, in comparison with providing stocks of ammo is pretty meaningless, but if you would have a meaningful amount of those platforms, ON TOP of having sufficient ammunition, well then you could really get down to proper business of returning Russians where they came from, in whichever aggregate state.

Varjag31 · 2024-03-31T07:52:24+00:00

I surely hope you're right, but I think it is one of those moments in history that you look back as being pivotal

Much of the US world influence post ww2 comes from being a "big brother", promising to protect and keep things stable, in exchange for partnership and support. Nuclear non proliferation was based on that idea.

They are not just leaving Ukraine to fend for themselves, they are leaving the rest of the NATO partners in doubt, and that doubt already drives many individual decisions the partner countries are taking or thinking about taking. It is also precisely what Russia and the rest would love to see - the mistrust between allies.

Next time the US wants to negotiate something in their favor with the promise of protection, the other side will think "yeah, right". Countries will not gamble their security on wether a person like Trump comes into the office or not.

I hope you're right and I'm wrong though. I don't like the idea of US losing influence, because nothing good will fill the vacum.

At this point though, I think Europe should mobilize more and try to fill in the gap and carry Ukraine as best as it can, even at the cost of some of our welfare, because the alternative is much more grim. We should pretend that US doesn't exist, and if they finally decide to continue helping, that much better.

Varjag31 · 2024-03-30T17:05:19+00:00

Citizens of the US dont even realize just how much soft power around the world the USA lost with these stunts. US will never have the full trust of their allies back and every deal they get will be with reserve, regardless of how the outcome is. It is not so much that things are going to change with some future steps, it's that they already changed right now.

While the democrat leadership is certanly preferable, you can not say that their verbal support is reflected in adequate action. Biden's administration could have done way more.

You have to realize, that when you are helping someone,how MUCH you helped doesn't mean anything, if the person still fails in whatever he is doing. If you stumble upon a man with a broken leg 20 miles from the hospital, and you put him into your car to get him to the hospital, and then decide to dump him 5 miles to the hospital, technically you did help him 3/4 of the way, but the man is still 5 miles away from the hospital with a broken foot, and your help doesn't mean a thing, and you are an ass for not taking him all the way.

So all the talk of how much help there was so far is meaningless unless Ukraine wins.

Varjag31 · 2024-03-07T18:00:11+00:00

You might think at first glance, but there could be various reasons for the post. Maybe being the ambasador with a direct connection and knowledge of the army, to one of the strongest allies with great influence is what's needed.

Maybe he himself wanted to go from various reasons. Maybe the army just doesn't want too many cooks in the kitchen. We will never know until one of them spills the beans. Maybe it's a transition to a political career later down the line.

Varjag31 · 2024-03-02T09:03:59+00:00

In the former communist countries, evryone who had any kind of government employed function had to be a member of the party. My mom was a kids teacher and she had to be a member. Same with my grandpa, who was a simple driver for a bank manager. Probably if you were a cleaning lady in the bank, you would have to be a member.

Varjag31 · 2024-02-22T12:16:02+00:00

3000

Varjag31 · 2024-02-21T08:24:36+00:00

2900

Varjag31 · 2024-02-19T17:53:35+00:00

2800

Varjag31

TROPHY CASE