The 1989 International Convention makes it clear that quote: " Recruitment, Use, Training, and financing of mercenaries' is illegal". but paradoxically, the International Humanitarian Law covers their treatment if captured or injured. In general, during war the injured are considered no-combatants and are covered under the conventions.
Would you care to prove that statement by posting exactly how much the rights of Ukrainians matter to you?
In Anticipation...
Its no conditions for manuever warfare either in Ukraine,so it will be spring/summer before it happens anyway
And they will counter attack with the newly arrived Leopards,Challengers,Bradleys,CV90 and marders and captured russian tanks once training is complete and the ground is not muddy anymore.
Combined arms and manuever warfare takes alot of training as well
More dirty tricks from the russians.
They'll be burning them next!
MudSpud threadbanned
And so it goes...
He was right to ensure his reports didn't get sucked into the Jan 6 insurrection. He'll go down in history in a positive light - some say Milley saved American Democracy that day.
To be fair, the first two points were entirely valid.
The Afghans did have the technical capability to fight, they had the training and equipment. It all came down to will to fight, of which they ultimately had none. The Afghan army just disappeared in front of the Taliban without a fight, same as the Iraqi army did in front of ISIS.
Kyiv also could have fallen in three days if two things had happened. a) The Russia offensive was conducted more effectively, which everyone expected it would be, rather than the utter half-baked shambles it turned out to be and b) There was less Ukrainian will to fight, which people also expected might be the case.
The last point remains to be seen but it's not like it's an outlandish claim. If you said Ukraine would fight Russia to a stalemate this time last year, people would have laughed. Russia being unable to realise even their most basic goals of controlling Donetsk and Luhansk is a major, major win for Ukraine all things considered, when you look at what people expected the outcome to be, and the radically disproportionate strengths of their respective militaries at the outset.
Very good article, you sent a good link as well earlier as well.
By the time you see the man with the sledgehammer, you won't be in any position to do anything....
Ah shure, Its aisy to amuse some people...and MudSpud fits that category, the not to be taken seriously one😎.
You might want to reconsider whether there are sledgehammer wielding ninjas prowling the woods. They say truth is stranger than fiction.
War sledgehammers?
Novosibirsk deputies sent sledgehammers to the front. Um, why? Leopards crush? Have you watched the Wagners?
What about weapons in the second army of the world?😂
Could be for percussive maintenance.
For comparison, just look at Lukashenko's legs,,,
I never once wore civvies on deployment, but I did have a set just in case (some people did not). Came in handy on leave when they dropped me off in Germany and I had to take a commercial flight to Vienna.
FFS, can I not multi-quote any more? Even copying/pasting the quote isn't working...
---
JM, Mercenary is defined in the 1989 treaty with similar language to that of the Geneva Conventions. I direct your attention to Article 1, section 1c. Insofar as Wagner employees are generally Russian, they are thus not mercenaries under the treaty in regards to this war and are treated as combatants in all respects. They may be mercenaries as the term is commonly used, but in this case, not by legal definition.
[Edit: Looks like Russia is not one of the 46 countries to have signed it, anyway. Neither is Ireland.]
Well in all fairness, MudSpud must hold the record for the longest lasting one? I wonder what the next iteration will be called?
*Caution the following shows real combat footage and death,*
Trench warfare Ukrainian style the short version of this popped up during the week,
This is class
Milley has, form.
Top U.S. General Urges Diplomacy in Ukraine While Biden Advisers Resist
Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made the case in internal meetings that the Ukrainians have achieved about as much as they could reasonably expect on the battlefield before winter sets in and so they should try to cement their gains at the bargaining table, according to officials informed about the discussions.
But other senior officials have resisted the idea, maintaining that neither side is ready to negotiate and that any pause in the fighting would only give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a chance to regroup. While Mr. Biden’s advisers believe the war will likely be settled through negotiations eventually, officials said, they have concluded that the moment is not ripe and the United States should not be seen as pressuring the Ukrainians to hold back while they have momentum.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/us/politics/biden-ukraine-russia-diplomacy.html
I think it would be accurate to say that Ukrainians are none to impressed with Milley and that he's not their most admired or popular figure in Washington at the moment, which is in some ways a pitty, given the post he holds.
I don't think I have seen a name ascribed as the author of that Baldrikian nonsense piece of advice that Ukraine should give up Bakhmut and retreat. Whoever that is will not be held in high regard in Kyiv.
Re your comment about Afghans. It was not about the will to fight, they proved that they could and would fight with the Russians. It was all about the mesh of historical tribal clannishness, and religion that stretches back hundreds of years, and supersedes any training. or imposition of any foreign / modern culture. Afghans are still ruled today by historical events that took place maybe hundreds of years ago. There are still parts of Afghanistan where donkeys and camels are used in their daily routines and TV's and mobile phones don't work. They knew exactly what was happening when the Taliban came back, and reacted accordingly. They knew the real world when they saw it. Their Afghan world.
I presume my father likely wore civies when he returned to the UK from deployment in North Africa in WW2 and the Sunderland landed on the Shannon Estury at Foynes to refuel. I gather Ireland was not exactly being helpful by interring anyone they knew were in the Uk military.
I wonder did he have a cover story, was he in fact an oriental carpet merchant normally based in Cairo, returning on family business?
Nope, I'm off to pornhub. I'm afraid we part company here.
;-)
@cnocbui i think it would be accurate to say that Ukrainians are none to impressed with Milley and that he's not their most admired or popular figure in Washington at the moment, which is in some ways a pitty, given the post he holds.
But nobody knows whats being said behind the scenes,unnamed sources according to a journalist who wasn't at the meetings ,the same unnamed sources saying F16s ATACMs and any other weapons systems being promised or not promised , there are people in the US who don't support the Ukrainans and would be more than happy to sow doubts in public.
It's a good observation actually,
Well, and I kid you not, on flight in a Russian Mi8 helicopter one time, while waiting for it to take off, I went prowling around the passenger section, and at the very back was a curtain marked " Emergency Equipment" ( in Russian obviously) so being curious, I pulled it aside, and lo and behold, there was an Axe and a Sledgehammer, two fine lumps of steel with tree branches for handles. And that was it, no first aid boxes, lights, food or water.
My go to rule when working on cars and other things, is 'if at first you don't succeed, use force'.
Ireland were interring people in WW2 who were in the British army.
Ok, that's a good one.
The first casualty of war, are trees.
That was my point, he was in the Fleet Air Arm.
Works for me, though the editor is truly awful and trying to go back and enter text between the quotes is a tricky proceedure.
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