Russia, US, Ukraine, and the Future

[Stario]

I see that most of what I've missed lately is just Stario's posts being destroyed more brutally...

Cool story bro! 😎

[AqD]

The Ukrainian men fleeing the draft:-BBC World Service Documentaries

They have every rights to, since death is certainly worse than living in Russia for some, even though we don't have to receive them.


I'm just wondering why we can't easily recruit millions of mercenaries from poor countries to fight for them. If Putin can, we can. We have a lot more money and a lot more weapons and we keep our words instead of reporting the dead as deserters.

[Coughdrop addict]

They have every rights to, since death is certainly worse than living in Russia for some, even though we don't have to receive them.


I'm just wondering why we can't easily recruit millions of mercenaries from poor countries to fight for them. If Putin can, we can. We have a lot more money and a lot more weapons and we keep our words instead of reporting the dead as deserters.

Three main reasons:

1. Mercenaries aren't all that great. Unlike a nation that can spend $billions on their military, mercenaries must often provide their own equipment and training, and so will almost always been less well-equipped and trained than professional citizen-soldiers. While their employer could provide equipment and training, at that point he might as well be using conscripts who might actually have patriotic feelings for the nation.

2. Mercenaries can be unreliable. Historically, mercenaries have a often switched sides when their employer appears to be losing. After all, if it looks like their employer isn't going to be around to pay them it makes no sense for the mercenary to stick around. Even worse, it is far from unknown for mercenaries to take bribes from the opposing force to sabotage their employer or turn on him at the worst possible moment.

3. Mercenaries can pose a danger to the host nation. Historically, nations that rely to much on mercenaries have often had to deal with a mercenary leader realizing that his forces are stronger than his employer's, and that everything his employer has could be his. This inevitably leads to coups, civil wars, and chaos and violence consuming the nation and often spreading to it's neighbors.