SCOTT RITTER: Live-Action Role Play in Ukraine

Malcolm Nance, Dennis Diaz and Willy Joseph Cancel: Their experiences — one fatal — offer a sobering view of Americans in the International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.

By Scott Ritter
Special to Consortium News

It was — literally — a made-for-television moment. A former U.S. Navy chief petty officer turned cable news pundit, dressed in a fresh out-of-the-box camouflage uniform replete with body armor and magazine pouches, wearing matching camouflage helmet and gloves, and cradling an automatic rifle, stared into the camera and announced “I am here to help this country [Ukraine] fight what is essentially a war of extermination.”

With a Ukrainian flag on his left shoulder, and a U.S. flag emblazoned on his body armor, the man, Malcolm Nance, declared that “This is an existential war, and Russia has brought it to these people and is mass murdering civilians.”

A day before, Nance had tweeted a black-and-white photograph of himself, similarly clad, announcing “I’m DONE talking.”

Nance spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a cryptologic technician, interpretive (CTI), specializing in the Arabic language, and has turned his career into a thing of legend, so much so that when he speaks of his journey from news desk to Ukraine, it almost sounds convincing.

“Ukraine announced that there was an international force on Feb. 27,” Nance told one reporter,

“and I started looking into it on Feb. 28 … I called the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, and I said: ‘Hey, I want an appointment.’ They were a little slow, so I just went down there and put in my application. The guy asked if I had combat experience and I said ‘Yep.’ Then he looked at my application and said, ‘You’re on the team.’”

Just like that.

But the hype doesn’t match the reality. Although he sports a combat action ribbon on the lapel of his coat jacket (when not attired in full combat regalia), Nance has never actually participated in ground combat operations, according to a serviceman who served with him. His “combat” experience was limited to providing linguistic support onboard a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Beirut in 1983. Important work, but not combat.

Despite this resume enhancement, Nance was — according to Nance — a natural for recruitment by Ukraine. In the days before the Russian invasion, Nance was in Ukraine, reporting for MSNBC.

But being Malcolm Nance, he claimed to be doing so much more. “I spent a month in Ukraine,” Nance recalled, “driving around, mapping out the Russian order of battle, driving up and down the highways and analyzing where the invasion routes would come and go. So I knew the country backward and forwards by the time of the invasion.”

(It might be time to remind the reader that Nance’s Navy specialism in Arabic gave him neither the training nor the experience to conduct the kind of battlefield intelligence preparation that he described.)

The Ukrainians know this. So why would they take on a 61-year old Arabic linguist whose physical presence on any battlefield would be seen as a detriment?

‘Not an Infantry Guy’

Malcolm Nancie in 2019. (USC Price, Flickr)

“I’m not an infantry guy,” Nance is quick to admit. However,

“combat isn’t about being a murdering, Seal Team Six assassin; it’s mainly about precision, accurate fire, selective fire, keeping people calm, getting on the line and moving forward.”

None of which are skill sets in Nance’s real-life resume.

Despite his larger-than-life televised send-off, and his proclivity for dressing and acting like an aging LARP (live action role play) warrior on a weekend airsoft reenactment, Nance’s real-world duties mimic those he was performing with MSNBC.

Airsoft player. (UNHchabo, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons)

“Right now, part of my duty is to the press,” Nance admitted during a recent interview.

“They [the Ukrainians] were well aware that I was a high-level asset. So, instead of putting me out on the line, I’m in a safe house talking to people like you.”

Today, Nance is little more than a poorly paid newsroom producer (the Ukrainians pay him and other Legionnaires $600 per month). “I get up at 4 and what I do is I read, I read the news. I try to feel the battlefront based on Ukrainian news and reporting. And then I look at expert analysis from the previous night in the West.”

But he is always hopeful for some action.

“No matter where I am, no matter what I’m doing, I constantly check my gear. If I’m in a safe house on a press junket, like I am now, I go over all of my gear. I reorganize my pack. I assume that I will have to take everything, get up and run with it or move to a forward location.”

This would all be pathetic if it were not irresponsibly dangerous.

Nance fronts for the International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine, which he describes as “a branch of the Ukrainian army.”

According to Nance, the International Legion is “an organized combat element with contracts signed by the Ukrainian army. We are paid by the Ukrainian army and get a Geneva convention ID card.”

And the mission of the International Brigade? Simply put, per Nance, if a Ukrainian unit is “on the line and they need more reinforcement, they will get a legion unit to give them more manpower.”

Dennis Diaz

Dennis Diaz enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 2000. He was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, before being honorably discharged in 2004.

In early March, Diaz, an entrepreneur and former 2020 candidate for U.S. president from Waterbury, Connecticut, now 39 and the father of four, volunteered to serve in the International Legion.

“I’m ready to roll,” he told local media before leaving the U.S. “Whatever I have to bring, I’m going to pack it up and we’re going to take care of business.”

 

His age and obvious lack of physical conditioning did not seem to be an obstacle for the one-time combat Marine. “War,” he told the press, “is 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical.”

Diaz says he has a lot to offer Ukraine. “I have a lot of military experience,” he said, “I did go to Iraq and Afghanistan … I have some flight experience. Also, I was field artillery in the Marine Corps. Also, I’ve got some experience driving tanks. Enough to be a valuable asset to Ukraine.”

According to his Tik Tok page, Diaz spent some $2,700 of his own money purchasing uniforms and field equipment, including a flak vest and helmet, to take with him to Ukraine.

But by late March, Diaz was still in the U.S., waiting further instructions from the Ukrainian embassy. He never made the trip.

The Ukrainians, it seemed, had cooled to the idea of Americans fighting for the International Legion. Where once they were welcoming (“Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries,” the Ukrainian foreign minister tweeted in early March), by the end of March the Ukrainian embassy stopped publicly commenting on U.S. applications.

The primary reason for this newfound publicity shyness appears to be the poor performance of the International Legion during its first combat experiences, fighting Russian troops in the Kiev suburb of Irpin in mid-March.

Haphazard Approach

The haphazard approach to recruitment was the norm, it seemed, for the entire intake and training processes associated with the legion.

Potential recruits made their own way to Poland, from where they were told to head to the western Ukrainian city of Lvov. The candidate legionnaires were then taken to Livorov, a military camp outside Lvov, where they were subjected to a rudimentary selection process that sought to separate those with and without combat experience.

Those with combat experience were issued weapons and ammunition and sent straight to the front, where they were integrated with Ukrainian Territorial Defense Units. Those without were given a rudimentary four-week basic training course.

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The first group of “combat tested” legionnaires were sent to Irpin, where they were tasked with conducting a “hasty defense” against a Russian attack.

While the Ukrainians held, the performance of the legion was “uneven,” resulting in many of the newly minted legionnaires being unceremoniously released from service and sent home. The lackluster performance of the legion had become a domestic political issue, prompting the Ukrainian government to halt recruitment due in large part to the lack of weapons and the lack of military experience.

Some legionnaires, however, were asked to stay, including a four-man team led by a veteran U.S. Army combat engineer with two deployments to Afghanistan named Cameron Van Camp.

Willy Joseph Cancel

One of the Americans under Van Camp’s charge was a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine named Willy Joseph Cancel.

Cancel had enlisted in the Maines in 2017, where he underwent basic training before being trained as an infantryman. Cancel never saw combat and was given a bad conduct discharge. In 2020 he was given a bad conduct discharge from the Marines after serving five months in jail for disobeying a direct order. Upon being discharged, Cancel got married, had a son, and gained employment as a corrections officer in Tennessee.

For whatever reason, Cancel, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, left his job and his family and, on March 12, at his own expense, flew to Warsaw, Poland, where he met up with Van Camp.

Together the two Americans travelled to Ukraine, where they were sent directly to the front lines in Kiev due to their status as “combat veterans.” though Cancel n ever served in a combat zone.)

Embellishment appeared to be the name of the game with the Americans and the legion; according to Van Camp, he and Cancel were sent to Irpin to assist the Ukrainian military in counter-battery and “sniper” operations, even though neither of them had ever been trained in these highly specialized military occupations, something that would have been painfully obvious to anyone involved.

In any event, Van Camp was able to keep his four-man team in the legion following the post-Irpin “purge” and subsequently his unit saw combat in southern Ukraine, fighting in Kherson and Nikolaev. It was here, sometime in late April, that Cancel lost his life; his remains were not recovered from the battlefield.

Van Camp and the other Americans who had fought with Cancel left Ukraine in early May to bring the deceased former Marines’ belongings home and to speak with Cancel’s widow and family.

Cancel’s presence on the battlefield raises numerous questions about the screening process used by the International Legion.

One of the easiest ways to check the relevant military experience of a U.S. veteran is through an examination of his or her DD 214, or record of service, a copy of which is provided to every veteran upon discharge.

Cancel’s DD-214 would not only have shown that he lacked any combat experience, but that he had not been trained in any relevant combat arms skill set other than basic infantryman — especially sniper or counter-battery operations. Moreover, his bad conduct discharge would have been a red flag for any professional military organization.

Cancel’s death on the front line as part of the International Legion directly contradicted the legion’s own stated standards.

“What we want is for people to come that have already been in the line of fire,” a corporal in the International Legion who was responsible for training declared.

Americans, however, could apparently pass themselves as having what the corporal called “concrete combat experience,” making them “very attractive candidates” for the legion.

This inability to effectively screen genuine combat veterans from LARPers points to a lack of professionalism on the part of the International Legion.

A Canadian who had travelled to Ukraine to help train the Territorial Defense Force in urban combat said he wasn’t impressed by what he had seen; with recruits lacking experience, equipment and proper motivation. In true LARP fashion, they seemed only interested in gaining what the Canadian described as “quick combat exposure.”

“I think that the international legion was something that was conceived to be a propaganda tool to push forward the message that this is the world against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and that they’re fighting for more than just Ukraine,” the Canadian said. “They don’t have the infrastructure, or the time, to really properly do any sort of international unit.”

This message should be heard by anyone who might be caught up in the “romance” of fighting side-by-side with the Ukrainian army against the Russian invader. It should be used to counter the propaganda being generated by over-the-hill want-to-be heroes like Nance. It would have been useful for aging veterans such as Diaz before they spent nearly $3,000 outfitting themselves for a war in which they were never going to participate.

But, most importantly, it should have been heard by Cancel and his family, so that he could have been dissuaded from embarking on his one-way journey of personal redemption.

Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.

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49 comments for “SCOTT RITTER: Live-Action Role Play in Ukraine

  1. robert e williamson jr
    May 19, 2022 at 11:35

    Malcolm Nance is very obviously not the cause celebre that he would think, more the product of a worthless MSM campaign to create one. As Usual they fail at their deception. Idiots!

    Sounds to me he is more the individual needing serious mental counseling. His bounce from his former, self promoted, and embellished career has all the markings of serious mental flaws. He willingly becomes one of today’s most embarrassing products coming form the US these days, Eric Prince comes to mind as his twin.. The self-made, self promoting hero.

    He deserves and hopefully gets his due of disrespect and disdain from those of us who know better.

    A fool exposed by his own tired ass mantra of embellished lies. More fitting of a Disney corp cartoon character. The dark character who steal valor from the “Real McCoy’s “, as I like to think of them.

    I’ll see ya in the funny papers Malcom!

    Thanks CN

  2. Lars Van Ness
    May 16, 2022 at 11:15

    Well, it wasn’t a total waste of money by Diaz and Nance. There’s always paintball! And they can get together back home and make mockumentaries simulating “actual combat operations”!

  3. TellTheTruth-2
    May 15, 2022 at 19:49

    Sadly, we can’t give every Senator and Congress Person who voted to send Ukraine $40 Billion a gun and ship them to Ukraine and let them fight the war with Russia they’re so determined to get the USA into. You vote for war: you go to war.

    • Tobysgirl
      May 17, 2022 at 15:26

      YES! A thousand times YES! I’d like to see Barbara Lee who said Putin wants to install autocratic governments around the world — sliding into dementia, Ms Lee? — fighting alongside white supremacists! And short of that, maybe some of them can move in next door to her. Our American “progressives” might as well start sewing swastikas on their sleeves right now.

  4. Bilejones
    May 15, 2022 at 17:36

    Darwin Strikes Again!

    We need more chlorine in the gene pool.

  5. May 15, 2022 at 14:05

    Many of us, when we were little kids, dreamed of swashbuckling adventurers such as the above.
    Of being gun-fighters in the Old West, of being pirates in the Caribbean, or joining the Foreign Legion, etc.
    And then we grew up. Well, most of us eventually grow up.
    But some people do not grow up.

  6. Realist
    May 15, 2022 at 12:59

    The American people should be allowed access to the truth about this conflict, its origins and how things are actually going down on the battlefield, instead of receiving just the lies and false narratives of our government and propagandist media before they throw their lives away fighting for a pack of lying fascistic savages that fancy calling themselves followers of hard core Nazis from WWII. But after eight years of continuous bullshit in the service of lies and personal acquisition of power, influence and American financial aid (an opportunity seized even by the current American president’s own family), absolutely no one in the American camp is gonna change their stripes. They are in this for the whole enchilada: total submission of Russia even if it means a world war and the deployment of nukes, seizure of all its resources and a base from which to next attack China. Nance and his fellow creatures in Ukraine’s foreign legion are either history’s biggest fools or are still looking for their piece of the action in this feeding frenzy for power and wealth.

    I still recall an era (circa Vietnam) when it was definitively illegal for American citizens to serve as mercs in foreign wars. Not that some didn’t do it, but they were formally lawbreakers, discussed as such in the newspapers and prosecuted in the courts. I think it was Blackwater that first made fighting for pay as soldiers of fortune a growth industry. It is reportedly still illegal for the US government to employ mercs. But, using characteristic American hypocrisy, they get around that by calling them independent contractors. Washington still has a stable of vicious headchoppers, which they refer to as an “asset” rather than an army, in the Syrian city of Idlib which they and Turkey will not allow to be reconquered by the Syrian government.

    “The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of a regular army” (Wikipedia). So, there is still that, if anyone still cares.

    • TellTheTruth-2
      May 15, 2022 at 19:52

      Eric Prince .. a nice Calvinist boy from Holland, Michigan turns into a hired murderer .. ie .. Blackwater.

    • May 15, 2022 at 23:11

      “The American people should be allowed access to the truth about this conflict, its origins and how things are actually going down on the battlefield”

      The American people will never ‘access’ truth until they want to. For any grown up to believe watching the ‘news’ is the same as sourcing information, is not only pathetically naive, it’s extremely dangerous for the glory grabbers who are ‘done talking. Truth is out there. It’s at once as ‘ treasure to be found by he who digs for it’, and as ‘wisdom crying in the streets’. But I won’t’hold my breath waiting for the American public to care enough to do the digging. The ubiquitous gullible are their own just desserts.

      • May 16, 2022 at 08:51

        Well, since my years as an Intel Analyst for the US Army, (DPMO etc I determined that a person’s greatest mistake when it comes to ignorance of truth, was their inability to source it correctly. Last night the Lord showed me something profound. He took me to Isaiah 6:9 – 11. His message was simple: People know only as much truth as they want to. Period.

      • Realist
        May 16, 2022 at 15:39

        No question that Americans, as a group, are constitutively insouciant (indifferent) as PCR incessantly reminds us. However, the chronic censorship which our government and media impose upon us certainly has a major effect on hindering those who want to know the truth and who do work hard to acquire it. The impediment to information flow and free speech wouldn’t be so rampant and conspicuous to those with a modicum of awareness, as it has become, if the deceptions were not being effective. What is especially heinous is the government’s recent overt move to posture as if it has the right and power to define “truth” itself through the agency of its new “Ministry of Truth” (aka Disinformation Governance Board) headed by an imbecile who couldn’t discern the “truth” from a falsehood if it bit her in the arse. The government is not dispensing truth, it is force feeding propaganda, and it is not being done to “set you free” but to limit your knowledge and control your actions.

    • May 16, 2022 at 13:48

      I would expect them to deal with their neighbors with respect and diplomacy. And not to allow yourself to become a proxy of a government thousands of miles away, and a gangster outfit like NATO. And, if you want to put nuclear tipped missiles on your neighbor’s border (i.e. your border) then you better have the military to back it up.

  7. Bob Dobbs
    May 15, 2022 at 11:57

    Normally we call that stolen valor.

  8. Larry
    May 15, 2022 at 11:37

    No surprise our so called ‘ally’ Israel that DID USS Liberty, ISIS, 911 and Epstein mossad op are pushing US to war in Ukraine using filth like Victoria Nudleman, her P0S hubby Robert Kagan etc.

  9. Anon
    May 14, 2022 at 19:47

    Few can match Mr Ritter’s credibility as War Correspondent; add clear direct prose… Genuine CN asset!
    Must Measure Mr Cancel’s death in relation 2 Yesterday’s CNews cycle death of Ms Abu
    Akle in what some may regard as “Police Action” NOT War!
    Uhhh… Just sayin (&BTW tnx CN 4 reporting both)

  10. Piet Fluwijn
    May 14, 2022 at 16:32

    These are mercenaries. In the US they have a “beautiful” name for them: contractors. Mercenaries however are not protected by the Geneva Conventions. They may be executed on the spot when captured. Personally, if find that an excellent solution.

    • BigSherm
      May 15, 2022 at 00:50

      Incorrect.
      Foreigners often join the US military, and are considered part of the military.
      Contractors like Blackwater, and mercenaries are never considered part of the military.

      • Piet Fluwijn
        May 15, 2022 at 16:34

        We are talking about Ukraine and not about the US. Those guys sign a contract in Ukraine to serve 3 years in their army and are paid. So they are mercenaries. Do you really believe that the rules for serving in the US army are valid for the whole world? I repeat to make me clear; An American fighting in Ukraine, in the Ukrainian army and paid by Ukraine, is a mercenary. Period.

        • Tobysgirl
          May 17, 2022 at 15:31

          Yes, Piet, it’s like when Americans say the whole world is against Russia. They leave out most of the world, but they learned that from their Europeans forebears.

  11. bobLich
    May 14, 2022 at 16:24

    Even though it seems that this ‘International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine’ is not much of a deterrent to Russia, the propaganda that can be generated from this freedom-loving crowd is probably well worth it for the war effort. Military people volunteering and paying all/most of their expenses. The military people even put on a good show.

    What’s really disgusting on the ‘International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine’ website is where the ‘You can volunteer for Ukraine if you’ section lists ‘have a strong will to defend world peace’. American military adventures do not promote peace. They allow the American ruling class to get wealthy by having long drawn-out wars. The American ruling class wants to own Eurasia and world peace won’t get it for them.

    This also looks like a great way to indoctrinate the youth into militarization as a part of their life in America.

  12. Realist
    May 14, 2022 at 14:53

    The American people should be allowed access to the truth about this conflict, its origins and how things are actually going down on the battlefield, instead of receiving just the lies and false narratives of our government and propagandist media before they throw their lives away fighting for a pack of lying fascistic savages that fancy calling themselves followers of hard core Nazis from WWII. But after eight years of continuous bullshit in the service of lies and personal acquisition of power, influence and American financial aid (an opportunity seized even by the current American president’s own family), absolutely no one in the American camp is gonna change their stripes. They are in this for the whole enchilada: total submission of Russia even if it means a world war and the deployment of nukes, seizure of all its resources and a base from which to next attack China. Nance and his fellow creatures in Ukraine’s foreign legion are either history’s biggest fools or are still looking for their piece of the action in this feeding frenzy for power and wealth.

    I still recall an era (circa Vietnam) when it was definitively illegal for American citizens to serve as mercs in foreign wars. Not that some didn’t do it, but they were formally lawbreakers, discussed as such in the newspapers and prosecuted in the courts. I think it was Blackwater that first made fighting for pay as soldiers of fortune a growth industry. It is reportedly still illegal for the US government to employ mercs. But, using characteristic American hypocrisy, they get around that by calling them independent contractors. Washington still has a stable of vicious headchoppers, which they refer to as an “asset” rather than an army, in the Syrian city of Idlib which they and Turkey will not allow to be reconquered by the Syrian government.

    “The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of a regular army” (Wikipedia). So, there is still that, if anyone still cares.

  13. Carolyn L Zaremba
    May 14, 2022 at 13:16

    Anybody who supports the Nazi government of Ukraine has a screw loose. It is tragic that some of them give up their lives for a puppet proxy war instigated by NATO for decades. I shake my head in bafflement. It seems that they have swallowed whole all of the U.S. mainstream media propaganda. What is between their ears? Air?

    • Rob Roy
      May 14, 2022 at 23:43

      Yes, polluted air.

    • General Consternation
      May 15, 2022 at 13:53

      Oh, it’s worse than air: it’s American news, and television, and advertising, and movies, and the cult of military worship. It’s the belief in American “freedom”!

  14. Vera Gottlieb
    May 14, 2022 at 10:27

    Should I weep for those ‘volunteers’ who are seeking ‘fame and fortune’ as opportunists??? Not a single tear. As the Spanish saying goes…estan buscando algo que no se les ha perdido.

    • h5mind
      May 16, 2022 at 05:19

      Or one of my favorites: “Buscando el quinto pata del gato” (‘Looking for the cat’s fifth paw)

  15. Mikael Andersson
    May 14, 2022 at 04:23

    A friend of mine recently said – “the older I get, the better I was”. Mr Nance, Diaz and Cancel must know the same guy :o)

  16. May 14, 2022 at 02:42

    Potential recruits made their own way to Poland, from where they were told to head to the western Ukrainian city of Lvov. The candidate legionnaires were then taken to Livorov, a military camp outside Lvov, where they were subjected to a rudimentary selection process that sought to separate those with and without combat experience.

    • John Schwab
      May 14, 2022 at 11:16

      What would you EXPECT a small country under attack by a huge neighbor, to do?

      • bluedogg
        May 14, 2022 at 18:20

        I suppose what any smart man would do, which means you don’t crawl into bed with neo-Nazis/ right-wing groups that burn up people in Trade Building or import shooters from other countries to murder your fellow countrymen.

        Now the U.S. and Germany instigated this, and I know it was for their own benefit to bring Russia to her knees as we saw her as a contender along with China to the rule of what they thought was an empire but it looks like said empire bit over more than it can chew as now they are loaded with their own problems.

      • Alan Ross
        May 14, 2022 at 21:28

        Get your trainer, financial supporter, arms source, and propaganda creator to pitch in if they want to use you to rule the world by provoking a war with such a huge neighbor.

      • Cesar Jeopardy
        May 14, 2022 at 22:27

        Surrender or negotiate a way out of war. Instead, they attacked Russian speaking Ukrainians in the eastern part of the Ukraine. They had become a de facto member of NATO, and they clearly were on track to become an official NATO member. All they had to do was act as a buffer state. Russia would have allowed that, although the U.S. likely would have not. Destroying Russia had been U.S. policy for decades. And of course, China would be next.

      • Litchfield
        May 14, 2022 at 22:28

        Negotiate a reasonable settlement that recognizes the huge neighbor’s legitimate security concerns.
        Like the 1992 agreement between Finland and the RF.
        Which the Finns look set to break.
        Which they will come to regret.

        Not play footsie with a huge non-neighbor who is using you as a proxy and is not “agreement capable.”

      • Sunrise Skipper
        May 14, 2022 at 23:37

        Not go to war. The Ukrainians were seduced by the West and Yukie Nazis to seek an easy answer to complex internal problems. They looked to the West and rejected their friend, let themselves be fooled into a disastrous war that never needed to start, and would not have been without embrace of NATO and Nazi.

      • Rob
        May 14, 2022 at 23:44

        Talk.

      • Kalen
        May 15, 2022 at 00:41

        Ukrainian front.

        RF contracted volunteer Armed Forces: 190k; Armed Forces of Ukraine; 600k+; the LDPR militia 40-50k;
        What you mean Ukraine is a small country it is not. It is huge country. And it is almost militarily strongest country for European standards .

        In fact not Russians by Kiev Regime just announced new round of general mobilization with goal of recruiting 1,000,000 Army. In fact Russians and LDPR wisely refused 16k applications from mercenaries as they are useless in fighting with regular army instead approve regular military units from states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and transdniestria and private contractor Wagner Group. So who is desperate?

        So it is more puzzling that AFU effectively refused to defend their country despite big, NATO trained and equipped armed forces and hid behind hostages of Ukrainian citizen happen to be ethnic Russians whom they BTY despise.

      • Hans
        May 15, 2022 at 01:42

        invite people from a huge country with experience in attacking a small country ?

      • renate
        May 15, 2022 at 04:04

        One would expect the tiny country not to provoke the big country just because another big country egged them on with the promise to support them.

        Maybe all the NATO member governments have lost their minds and have incompetent governments. They are suicidal or it is one big conspiracy. Rational they are not. What is the rationale for Finland and Sweden to give up their proven neutrality, what can they possibly gain? Such insanity, who would have ever guessed it?

        • Rob Roy
          May 16, 2022 at 02:40

          Finland and Sweden are no comparable. Finland hates Russia and will never forget the Winter War of ’39. Sweden is entirely different and I’m surprised they will give up their neutrality. The worst thing a country can do is join NATO. They then are a US puppet.

          • nwwoods
            May 16, 2022 at 20:30

            Sweden has long been “neutral” in name only. The phony accusations levelled against Assamge tell you all you need to know about that county’s obeisance to the USA

            • Tobysgirl
              May 17, 2022 at 15:35

              Exactly. Stieg Larsson told us what we needed to know about Swedish neutrality.

      • Bob Dobbs
        May 15, 2022 at 12:00

        Skilled leaders would not have their country destroyed. They would play the situation more skillfully than Zelensky has. He has allowed himself and his country to be used a military prophylactics in a proxy war the US is conducting on Russia.

      • May 15, 2022 at 23:15

        .. DO? For starters, adhere to their agreements (Minsk I, Minsk II) to stop bombing the huge neighbor’s peoples inside of their borders…

      • eddie escobar
        May 16, 2022 at 02:27

        For 8 years, that small country bombed, raped, and tortured its own citizens, while the West turned a blind eye..
        Well, the huge neighbor finally said enough was enough, and rightfully so..
        What cave did all of these nazi-lovers crawl out of?

      • Rob Roy
        May 16, 2022 at 02:34

        Talk.

      • May 16, 2022 at 13:05

        I would expect them to deal with their neighbors with respect and diplomacy. And not to allow yourself to become a proxy of a government thousands of miles away, and a gangster outfit like NATO. I you want to put nuclear tipped missiles on your neighbor’s border (i.e. your border) then you better have the military to back it up.

    • Ann Ominous
      May 15, 2022 at 13:57

      You should use quotes.

      • nwwoods
        May 16, 2022 at 20:27

        Sean Penn could decide at any time to join the foreign legion and come after Putin. I’ve seen him hold prop guns on movie sets and he was married to Madonna for a few months, so he is certainly as qualified as anyone.

        • Tobysgirl
          May 17, 2022 at 15:38

          Do you think we could get rid of some of our society’s “dead wood” this way?

Comments are closed.