This is a massive escalation because French foreign legionaries are French troops fighting for France and recognized as such. There is no real legal discrepancy as far as I’m aware because these are not mercenaries. Literally the second one of them is wounded in combat they are automatically a French citizen.
Yes hello it was me who said they would go to Odessa, yes I’m shitting a fat fucking brick right now.
French foreign legion does not mean they are mercenaries, they are French troops under contract as professional soldiers who fight for the chance of French citizenship who take orders directly from the French president. This is how they’ve operated for well over a century. The reason they’re called the foreign legion is because anyone can join regardless of birth nation, but they mainly pull from Europe, America, and French colonies. They are not to be confused with the Ukrainian foreign legion who operate as mercenaries.
They are not PMCs they are French troops.
The French foreign legion are not mercenaries, they are soldiers fully in support of the French colonial project (many of them unfortunately are subjects of French colonialism as well) who are looking to gain French citizenship through military service. This is important because if they were simply mercenaries then Russia could attack them without thinking about it. That is not the case here, these are French troops wearing the French flag engaging in offensive operations under direction of the French president. This is a big step even though it’s a small number of troops. They are being sent to Ukraine because these troops were pushed out of Africa which is where France gets most of their uranium for their energy security. That is partially the reason France outspoken about sending troops.
That is why I believe if US troops are sent anywhere it will be the Middle East. Maybe the 101st airborne will be sent to Ukraine since they’re already in Romania and have experience in the European theater, but most of US ground forces are built around middle eastern conflict although not for large scale combat. When it comes to Europe look to Ukraine, when it comes to the US look to the Middle East. Biden becoming more involved in the Israeli war might affect his chances more positively than entering Ukraine. We’ll have to see, but the French sending troops in as we speak does not give a lot of confidence. Not because I don’t think the Russians will ultimately win, but because these people are unhinged as fuck.
I think that unfortunately the US does not care about European opinions on the matter and realistically the big dogs of Europe seem to be in lock step with Washington. My theory is the west is going to gamble by sending troops to Odessa and Kyiv. The Russian offensive has already started and I think the wests plan is that by the time the Russians reach Odessa they’ll have to make the ultimate choice to either leave Odessa in Ukrainian hands or directly attack NATO forces and start WW3 in earnest. The west is facing a multitude of crisis so one would think that this decision would be incredibly stupid, but ultimately the US dollar at this point is being held up by the propagation of more USD into the global monetary system and the manufacturers of artillery shells and other war materials want guarantees of purchase in order to make increase in production viable, that’s really the only reason Ukraine has been getting its balls kicked in so far. NATO becoming involved full force will alleviate many of the issues Ukraine faces right now which is manpower and artillery shortages. If nato goes to war then all the Ukrainian men taking refuge in nato nations will automatically be up for drafting. Add in the fact it’s an election year and wartime presidents tend to do well and the unthinkable doesn’t seem so unthinkable unfortunately.
I will say over the course of the war I’ve had a more positive outlook on Russias position to win than other users and I’ve been hopeful for this war to be over sometime soon. This moment right here has been the only time I’ve been legitimately scared of what might happen.
Edit: holy Christ the French foreign legion was sent into the Ukrainian FRONTLINE as I wrote this comment.
This is why I believe the west will send troops to defend Odessa, it is the only thing that will make Ukraine viable economically to service the debt they are going to owe the west. These people want to make sure Ukraine is actually going to be able to pay them.
I had an aneurism reading this.
We should have an emoji for doubling down that’s a picture of the KFC double down lmfao
Yup, the west has screwed itself over in a multitude of ways in this situation. Really even if they had engaged Russia in Ukraine but told Ukraine to concede the Donbas it would still have been fine, but at this point so many mistakes have been made that as you said there’s no turning back. Really the biggest one was freezing and then taking the Russian reserves that were in the US.
Yes we all know Russia wanted into the club at one point, but this person literally said
If they just conceded the territory, how much would the locals’ lives change?
My brother in Christ you’re comparing the people liberating them to the people trying to genocide them. There are differences between Ukraine and Russia and we can either discuss them or you can take your “deranged contempt” somewhere else.
Yes, but Ukraine has been the biggest blow to American empire in literally its entire history. Before the war the rot was visible if you knew where to look, but now it’s everywhere.
Putin is not a different brand of corruption here he’s the only rational actor in this entire conflict. Russia has made it entirely clear to the west since the 90’s that Ukraine was a redline. The west should have listened. Take your ignorance somewhere else.
All they had to do was not push Russias redline and American empire would have lasted another 40-50 years at least. Sucks to suck I guess.
the world war region in Europe
Germany is planning on attacking the Crimean bridge, which is an act of war on Russia.
Russia and Syria say the US harbors and trains militants from ISIS and other groups in the 55 km buffer zone surrounding its base in Al-Tanf
Yup and and it’s a good thing he’s going to lose. Not because we’ll have a stupid reactionary in charge, but because the Democratic Party is an abject failure and it will either submit to left wing ideals or it will be irrelevant for at least a generation maybe more. Also if we’re going into an election season with this much fervor then amping it up with a republican president might be the move for even more radicalization.
I mean, giving the US what exactly? What the US wants is for Russian troops to go back to Russia, and then for Russia to overthrow Putin and Balkanize. That’s definitely not going to happen.
This is the ultimatum that the west wants for Russia however. Do you avoid striking French troops who will now be operating artillery pieces and killing your men? Or do you accept that you have to strike French troops and massively escalate the situation? This is why I thought they would be sent to Odessa in the first place but Macron wants to play nuclear fucking hot potato with all our lives. I don’t see how Russia can just not do something.