Comments by "" (@tomk3732) on "Russia takes Bakhmut — but the battle continues" video.
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@kyoungd US had volunteer army during times of Vietnam but it simply was not enough thus US had to do draft. "conscription remains in place on a contingency basis and all male U.S. citizens, regardless of where they live, and male immigrants, whether documented or undocumented, residing within the United States, who are 18 through 25 are required to register with the Selective Service System.[2][3] United States federal law also continues to provide for the compulsory conscription of men between the ages of 17 and 45 and certain women for militia service pursuant to Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution and 10 U.S. Code § 246"
Ukraine does not really have a navy nor it has any nuclear forces nor it actually spent any money on air force - all of it went to the army in addition to aid supplied by the west from 2014.
The military aid - as you state 50B in say first year of the war is significantly more than Russia spends on its equipment for the army during a year - around... 5x more. I know, shocking that soldiers in the Russian army get paid a salary, or they maintain their bases or maybe existing equipment etc. Actual acquisition budget is not 100%.
US is not fantastic at fighting a conventional war at all - US lost almost every war it ever was in. Including conventional wars. Please do name a war, other than 1st Iraqi war and not a small invasion of an island of Grenada where US army had a victory since WWII.
Russia is good at conventional war - it won almost every conventional war it was in since its inception again in 1992! Cannot say that for US. Also as Soviet Union we see almost all victories - "List of wars involving Russia" on wiki for a list. Yep, looks good no? Through I would say Syrian war is more or less over and is a Russian victory, as usual. Right now Russia is on clear course to win in Ukraine - despite epic level of western support, full mobilization etc. Russia is set to win a full blown conventional war in Europe.... certainly way, way, way better record than US - which last time fought at peer enemy and won ... in WWII (!)
I am unsure about this myth of western crucial involvement in Russian gas and oil infrastructure. Its not like Russia has no connections outside of it and its not like Russia cannot take care of its own oil.... you do know.... that Russia managed to get oil as Soviets.... with zero western help? Not even tiny little bit?! It also sent dog and man to space, without any western help - who would have ever believe that!
Why would China need expertise in oil and gas - they have Russia for that. They are one of world's largest producers - they certainly have technology needed.
Why would China ask for concessions - we do not see that - you do know there are others in Asia and around the world - like 87% of the planet is not the west and 82% is not China.
Actually there are no significant discounts given to either China or India - Russian budget would have issues not records if they had to sell low. Besides most Russian oil still goes to Europe - except now its blended in India.
Russian economy is doing great - its growth is predicted to be over 2% year over year, unemployment is under 4%, inflation is low. They are growing quite faster then rest of Europe. As someone remarked, Russia is running the very best war economy there ever was!
I have no idea how someone can look at this an think that Ukraine and west that clings to control can win. It is not 1960s anymore. BRICS passed G7 few years ago and by 2050 will be more than 2x as big. The world wants to be free - and part of this freedom seeking is to drop western control and so called "international order". They want to be free and want any order to be equal among all people.
Also how on Earth does anyone in the west think betting on Kiev regime run by pure blood Nazi is a good idea is beyond me. I know US loves to bet on the devil himself and did many times - but each time it backfired. Heck, US loans to Nazi Germany did not work out too well either. After all these episodes supporting clearly Nazi racial supremacy is lunacy. Clinging to control will not work any better that clinging to slavery worked for the south - time to move on with progress - pass on the torch to Asia - China. Of course falling empires never do it easily - lets hope US will not have to loose major conventional war in order to finally let go.
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@kyoungd Russian navy plays roughly same role today as it played in the beginning - that is its a missile platform. There is no other role for it. Well, it did in the beginning do some transport duties - but I hardly would point this out as major role.
US weapons aid is just acquisition of new equipment - so when comparing apples to apples you compare how much new equipment one got. Thus base maintenance etc. is not involved in this at all. It is pure gift of weapons. This is why it is like 5x of yearly budget for same equipment as Russia - easily. Ukraine pays salaries of troops from economic aid money it gets - i.e. the other 60+B it gets a year - that money pays for salaries. Do if you want to compare that - sure - this is what most pp would compare. For example, Soviets during WWII got a lot of aid such as trains and food - hardly military stuff - 10000 train cars and 1000 locomotives. If we compare total aid, its well over 120B per year. So well above current yearly Russian budget for military - even at war (!).
Russia did not just support Assad - they actively used their troops - ground forces as well. At one point they were loosing up to 100 people a month. They also did a lot of bombing runs. How many troops did US loose in direct fight with ISIS as part of support?
Regarding Afghanistan, lets compare apples to apples - US was there, Soviets were there. Soviets after 10 years or so left and their government, without any support, and against the Taliban supported by the US lasted almost 3 years. US was around 20 years in Afghanistan, fought against Taliban which were NOT supported by anyone and the government they formed lasted three weeks.... So do you really think US is so good at conventional wars? US totally failed to root out Afghan resistance. They did not even scratch it. They only controlled the capital and area around their bases - so much so for "control". Three weeks, based on local roads and country size is roughly how fast you can drive.
Ukraine gets EPIC support as no one got even close. "Afghanistan and Iraq received much greater Western support than the current situation in Ukraine. " not true. Both at the very top received less than HALF of the support Ukraine gets. Around 120B per year. And this is low ball figure - as a lot of aid is not really shown - for example, aid from Poland is frequently marked as "charity".
Regarding China / India / rest of the planet - this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine supported by the west - this is a war between Russia supported by non west and Ukraine supported by the west. China especially has vested interest in breaking western grip on power - but even India has interest in it as well. Do you really think anyone in say Europe cares about some territorial integrity of some UA? Nope. This is about control - they want to say they are in charge - the west is in charge, the western "rules" - you hear this a lot. This is why its in the best interest of non western world to break these rules - these rules are not for say India - they are for west..
In G7 only US matters and in BRICS only China - so what is your point? Sure they are friends as much as say Japan and US are - you do know Japan fought a war with US somewhat recently? Its not like G7 is all roses.
Polls show the world does not want not just US but any western influence. I.e. they do not want US to lead at all (come on, who would - crazy!) what would be next, survey of slaves that say they want their master to stay in power? Really? Really? People want to be free - and that means no leader. The main problem with rise of China is that it may become next US - and no one wants that. So far China shows nothing of the sorts - China is far easier to deal with than US - you can trade with China with no strings attached!
Fun fact, in China over 70% of people (around a billion) say they are best democracy in the world - only 6% say US is ;) More people in the world (just looking at China) say China is #1 world democracy than there are people in the west ;)
Ukraine is a Nazi state - having a Jew as president and I believe a PM is not an issue. You can have Israel with right leadership descend into Nazism - there is nothing in ideology saying that cannot be done. We had Nazism flare up in imperfect form in Africa.
Ukraine Nazi flag is red - black - its their equivalent of German Nazi swastika. Look at videos of Ukrainians on say CNN and you see it all over the place. Alternatively they use "black sun" or "runes" etc.
On their tanks they frequently now use German Nazi style double cross.
Their laws are carbon copy taken from 1930s Nazi Germany - for example, speaking Russian by official is a fine of 5000 Harvina. Russian books are banned. Ethnic Russians are to be expelled by force etc. History is changed and white washed - now Bandera (official Hero of Ukraine) is a nice guy that did not kill over a million....
You need to read more history to find out about Ukraine Nazi state and its current continuation. These guys make German Nazi look civilized.
How can anyone deny Ukraine Nazi links - what will be next, white washing SS and saying there were just some German nationalists fighting for freedom? Well, technically, there were German, they were nationalists and they were... fighting for their version of freedom. It is shameful that the west is supporting this evil.
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@kyoungd Why would Russian navy approach UA coast - to do what, wave? LOL!
There is no need for equipment maintenance right away for new stuff received - it is destroyed long before any maintenance costs are taken and these are paid by the west. Training is rudimentary. For trucks etc. there is almost no training needed or provided.
Americans do not loose 100s of people but do not win anything in return - see Afghanistan - Soviets lost a lot of people - but had great results. US lost few people but had terrible results. You go to war to win it - accept losses. US lost almost a trillion USD in Afghanistan. So what that for PR they did not have casualties? Maybe they should have lost 20k killed but had results - or never actually stayed. Clear win for Soviets / Russia.
Soviets loss in Afghanistan was not related to break up of Soviet Union later on. Costs were not even remotely high. The breakup was due to poor policies of Soviet leadership.
Let me re-iterate - the total aid as per google in year 1 of the war exceeded 120B. This includes money from US poppet states.
The war is between Russia - supported by non western countries and Ukraine supported by the west. China cares about Russia a lot. China cannot afford for Russia to loose. Come on, this is geo politics 101. Look at the envoy now traveling around EU and back to Moscow. China is getting ready to, in emergency, provide aid to Russia - if west oversteps read lines.
85% + 2% (Russia) did not sanction Russia - let that sink in. They all trade with Russia & are happy to break western dominance. China as well as everyone else in Asia knows that eventually they will need to go into full sanctions war with the west. Of course this will cost them as well so they are not to eager to go into the hot water. However, even countries such as Indonesia created their own payment system - they are getting ready.
Russia absolutely does not want to re-create Soviet Union - even Putin said that. LOL. Even trying to join Russia would be rejected. Heck, Putin flatly refused to get involved in little Tajikistan - Uzbekistan conflict ;) They had to both beg for weeks for Putin to send a single police battalion. Putin simply said they are independent now and need to take care of their own affairs ;)
EU is not a country.
I do not think that a lot of countries prefer US over China - I think if such survey was done China would be picked over US - if someone wanted a leader. China would get overwhelming support from places such as Africa or South America.
Yes, China is by far easier to deal with than US - by far! This is why a lot of smaller countries are signing documents of cooperation with China. Sure, China is throwing around a lot of influence etc. around - but not even close to what US is doing. Please, take a look at surveys about US - US is the most hated country on earth. With few exceptions world view of US is negative. US forces countries to do its bidding. They call it "free choice" - you are free to be poor or do as we say. With China you do not have to make such choice. With China you can trade without strings attached.
And do let me know who bombards city centers with dumb artillery every day and fires on hospitals - oh wait, its Ukraine. Who officially say they will cleanse millions of people? Who has laws of racial superiority? Putin said that Ukraine and Russia are very similar or even the same - no Nazi would say even something remotely close to that.
As for children - what will - children now have a will to stay in a war zone? Really? they were moved out of war zone and once parents were located they were returned to such parents or guardians. What is wrong with that - this is how things should be done. Protect the children and then return them to their parents.
As for adults - they moved to Russia freely - they can leave anytime - over 2 million people. No one is keeping them there against their will - why would they?
Of course I show you officials fined for speaking Russian - no links allowed so you need to google -
"Ukrainian authorities have fined the mayor of Kharkov, Igor Terekhov, nearly 100 euros for speaking Russian on television and managing his social networks in the same language, as he would have violated a law that places Ukrainian as the vehicular language throughout the state, even before the Russian invasion." from MSN
"Russian book ban in Ukraine" - from wikipedia
"Ukraine withdraws 19 million Russian, Soviet-era books from libraries" - reuters
"Tamila Tasheva, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's top representative for Crimea, told Ukraine's Radio NV that some 500,000 to 800,000 Russians are currently living illegally in Crimea, and could be forcibly deported in accordance with the norms of Ukrainian legislation and international law."
I can provide a LOT more links. You can google yourself as well. The Kiev link to Nazism is as clear as that of Germans. I live in area heavily populated by Ukrainians. They make around 20% of the population. This does not imply that Kiev regime is not Nazi in some way or form - their actions, statements etc. are clearly linked to Nazi as well as flags, symbols etc.
What are they supposed to do? Build concentration camps? I am sure you would also have a good explanation for that.
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