The other "good guys"......Putin calling in his debts from Assad Russia drafting thousands in Syria for Ukraine war: monitor Issued on: 15/03/2022 - 14:06Modified: 15/03/2022 - 14:04 please log in to view this image Students demonstrate in support of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, at a university campus in the Syrian city of Aleppo on March 10, 2022 - AFP/File 3 min Beirut (AFP) – Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from Syrian army and allied militias to be put on standby for deployment in Ukraine, a war monitor said Tuesday. ADVERTISING The Kremlin said last week that volunteers, including from Syria, were welcome to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activists said Russian officers, in coordination with the Syrian military and allied militia, had set up registration offices in regime-held areas. "More than 40,000 Syrians have registered to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine so far," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the UK-based monitor. Moscow is recruiting Syrians who acquired combat experience during Syria's 11-year-old civil war to bolster the invasion of Ukraine it launched on February 24. Russian officers deployed as part of the force Moscow sent to Syria in 2015 to support Damascus had approved 22,000 of them, Abdel Rahman said. Those fighters are either combatants drawn from the army or pro-regime militias who have experience in street warfare and received Russian training. In a country where soldiers earn between $15 and $35 per month, Russia has promised them a salary of $1,100 to fight in Ukraine, the Observatory reported. They are also entitled to $7,700 in compensation for injuries and their families to $16,500 if they are killed in combat. Another 18,000 men had registered with Syria's ruling Baath party and would be screened by the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor with links to the Kremlin, the monitor said.
Syrians fighting Syrians on the ground in Ukraine, what a ****ed up war. Putin obviously outreached himself with his original strategy, and now has to call in mercenaries to help get the job done
That’s an interesting source Stainsey. It’s good to see stuff written from a different angle, in this case referencing everything back to the Middle East, for a change, rather than everything seen through the prism of the U.K. I’ve no doubt there are anti Assad fighters including some religious nutters going to Ukraine to fight Russians, for them it’s just a proxy for their own anti Assad and Russia fight. Putin is meant to be getting official Syrian army forces to fight in the Ukraine as well. There are also Chechens from both sides of their civil war fighting on either side in Ukraine as well. No right or wrong implied, though if I were Zelensky being offered the services of armed and experienced fighters who want to kill Russians I’d struggle to say ‘no, I don’t like your background’ in current circumstances. I wouldn’t make them any promises either.
Totally this mate…and the Russians sure have their own Neo Nazis fighting out there, including The Wagner Group. Funny was just watching a video about the random groups fighting out there on each side (Lotus eaters ?) It’s hard to pick the good guys in all this
Great post As I said to Steels, just watched a Facebook video about the exact same thing….it’s so random about who is fighting who and, in my opinion, makes it difficult to choose the ‘good side’…which is what I’ve been trying to say. And as for your last point….couldn’t agree more. I’d probably be accepting the same amount of ‘help’ from anyone if needed…however the irony that a Jewish president is accepting assistance from Islamists and Neo-Nazis isn’t lost on me NB Don’t forget the Africans who have pledged allegiance to Russia
There are no good guys in war - what's good about killing another human being, even if he is battering down your door? Yes, there's different shades of bad, but as I said at the beginning of this, war is a failure of diplomacy. Of course, attempting diplomacy with a megalomaniac like Putin would be like smashing your own face off a wall.....
It’s ****ed up in so many ways. The Chinese might actually be quite happy to see Putin go under, they’d move straight into those countries where Russia has influence to become the new big brother, especially in Africa. Of course dictators hate seeing other dictators deposed, it tells them that it could happen to them too, so Xi is probably ****ting it a bit. Meanwhile first Johnson now the Germans hanging around in the Gulf trying to find new autocrats to depend on for energy……
My mate recently came back from a holiday in Costa Rica and said he couldn’t believe how much investment is being made by China over there….much in the last few years. Chinese influence is everywhere, as I’m led to believe is what’s happening in Africa. China could soon be the dominant super power don’t you think ? If not already
They're there already, they are just very sleekit about it. No big banging of drums or posturing, just sneakily taking over infrastructure in all these places - it's why the UK panicked and ditched Huawei (though you'd not know it - one helluva lot of our networks are still very reliant on their tech).
One thing that has surprised me so far is the comparative containment of cyber attacks to just Russia v Ukraine (both sides at it and Anonymous helping Ukraine from wherever). The attacks which have happened don’t seem to have had massive or permanent impact on either side. I thought hackers could do stuff like turn off entire power networks…
If I was a Jewish father in Europe during WW2 and a murderous Nazi bastard kicked my door in, intent on killing my family, I'd think it was pretty ****ing good if I managed to kill him first. Would my actions be a different shade of bad? Of course there can be good and bad in these things.
You'd be defending your family, and in that split second you need to make a decision - I'd hope you have the strength of will and character to protect them, not all of them did. However, you'd still have to live for the rest of your life knowing that you've killed a man....up to you and your conscience to decide if that's good or bad.....there's still a few veterans of the war who will be able to advise you on how they feel
The Russian state was responsible for hoax calls to Ben Wallace and Priti Patel, pretending to be the Ukrainian prime minister, Downing Street has said. In its first statement attributing blame for the video calls, No 10 said it believed Russian state actors were responsible, without giving more details on who linked to the Kremlin had been identified as being behind the attempts. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, was also unsuccessfully targeted. Fortunately for Nadine, the caller hang up claiming she talked absolute ****e for half an hour burning his/her head out.
I'm well aware of that. I wouldn't lose much sleep personally if I'd have been the father in my example. Knowing you've killed fellow soldiers, in open conflict, when it was you or them is totally different. Again though, issues are being conflated imo. I maintain that there can be good against evil in a conflict. You and Stainsey disagree, as is your right. No point going round in circles mate.
