How to Establish a No-Fly Zone Without Starting World War III

[Dashinka 24,931]

32 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I heard that, I don't understand why the Ukrainian government trusted our government in the first place, to be honest. I don't know what they were expecting or hoping for. Just a sad situation all around.

Based on Trump's first impeachment, it really looks like the DoS folks in the Ukraine were meddling quite a bit.

[millefleur 5,047]

18 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

I also suspect most of them are women.

The Twitter userbase in general is also mostly people in their 20's-30's, maybe max 40's, with probably more teenagers than over 40's. So, overwhelmingly younger people. Anecdotal, but the Ukrainian woman I am friends with is not a Zelensky fan but she's from the older "Soviet" generation and certainly don't use Twitter or other socials, such speeches have no affect on that generation, they just want everything to be over already. And not all men in Ukraine want to go fight like it's some Call of Duty/Marvel movie style heroic battle, a lot of them honestly would be bailing right now if they weren't forced to stay. The Ukrainian I mentioned earlier, she escaped to Germany via a contact she had but her husband and son have to stay behind, even though neither of them want to fight, they'd rather be in safety in Germany with her. So, these speeches are for a very specific audience for sure, predominately Western, younger people, of which women probably are majority.

[Mike E 11,742]

12 minutes ago, millefleur said:

a lot of them honestly would be bailing right now if they weren't forced to stay

Good thing then for the narrative that Zelenskyy is forcing them to stay.  

[Boiler 46,322]

He should have gone for a lower age and not made it gender specific, missed a trick there.

[Mike E 11,742]

12 minutes ago, Boiler said:

He should have gone for a lower age and not made it gender specific, missed a trick there.

Forcing kids younger than 18 to fight would have dampened enthusiasm.  It’s also illegal under international law, afaik.  

[Boiler 46,322]

Reduced the upper limit from 60 to say 40.

[Mike E 11,742]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Reduced the upper limit from 60 to say 40.

How many more Twitter followers would that get him?

 

There is no reason why men 40-60 can’t fight.  

[millefleur 5,047]

6 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Reduced the upper limit from 60 to say 40.

Would make a lot more sense. The average male lifespan in Ukraine is somewhere like 66 years old, if that. And I agree about the gender thing: pretty sure it makes more sense to have a motivated, younger woman who wants to fight on your team than an older man who doesn't care/isn't interested or has health problems. At least Israel figured that out, I'm surprised Ukraine didn't go with their model.

[Dashinka 24,931]

Thought this was interesting.

 

https://www.uniindia.com/story/Foreign-fighters-joining-Ukraine-army-asked-to-sign-indefinite-contract

[Mike E 11,742]

8 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Thought this was interesting.

 

https://www.uniindia.com/story/Foreign-fighters-joining-Ukraine-army-asked-to-sign-indefinite-contract

I wonder what the contract the Syrians signed looks like. 

[millefleur 5,047]

5 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Thought this was interesting.

 

https://www.uniindia.com/story/Foreign-fighters-joining-Ukraine-army-asked-to-sign-indefinite-contract

You know I've been hearing so many things about these foreigner volunteers and the crazy stories they are telling, I'm not sure what to believe. Why scare them off immediately with an ominous contract like that? Sounds like there might be some serious morale boosting issues on the ground in Ukraine, despite their excellence at it on Twitter. The passport surrendering thing is nuts, again, I don't know what to believe but I hear others said their passports were torn/cut up. It's all hearsay for now....hard to know what is true.

 

I also know a bunch of just rando volunteers showing up who don't even speak the language probably doesn't help either. It's a hard situation and must be chaotic. I'm sure some of these stories/rumors are getting spread around because they simply cannot communicate with each other and then misinterpret things, which leads to frustration/arguments.

[TBoneTX 46,320]

Ukraine wouldn't be this hosed now if that unparalleledly* courageous hero, Col. Porkchop (er, Alexander Vindman) had accepted leadership of the Ukraine Defense Ministry.

 

*cool new word