EU to mobilize 200B Euros to invest in AI

Its hard to not get 'stuck in the cross-fires' when one side is very directly aiming right at you, wants to kill you, steal your house (or wristwatch like in WWII in massive scale), maybe have fun with your wife and enslave your kids and their kids.

We in western Europe (where I moved just to clarify) are closely aligned with US values and way of life, which russian elite sees as direct attack on their comfy stealy mafia way of life and existential threat. What general russian population thinks is unfortunately irrelevant here, it doesn't manifest in anything concerning rest of the world.

Also look at end of Soviet union - every single member state ran the fuck away from russians with 99.99% speed of light, and will do just about anything to resist being forcefully merged back, including Belarus with lukashenko, or Kazachstan with quite recent demonstrations and subsequent shooting of protesters also helped by russian special forces (friend of ours from there witnessed it firsthand, executions on spot of cca 2,500 protesters one after another, whomever they caught in the streets). They know darn well what they reject and fear, no 'panslav' bullshit made up lies is ever changing that.

Don't think for a second that one can be some really impartial and respected 3rd side, even ultra-neutral Swiss are now much more aligned with west than east (politically, values, but also militarily - check whether their guns work with NATO ammo or russian ones - thats 101 of waging a war and picking up side well before that). There are cca impartial sides out there, but not in Europe or anywhere else near russia.

/rant, I could go on like that for a very long time

Ukraine's army and soldiers have done everything, above and beyond what could be expected of them, and none "collected their pay checks and went home".

Is this sarcasm?

But where do you get this info? This is bullshit. There are no 200k desertions, not even half that, even in the worst estimates. And because of immigration numbers in Europe ALONE we know for sure there are 1m desertions in Russia, from just the Russians that register as refugees in Europe. There were 100+km traffic jams JUST FROM DESERTERS LEAVING RUSSIA. Let's assume at least double that are in other destinations. That's 15 Russian desertions per Ukrainian if we take your numbers, something like 35 Russians deserting per Ukrainian if we take realistic numbers.

I'm fucking trying to hire a Russian deserter. Interviewed him, currently trying to arrange a permit, getting info on what would be involved. For what a shit country it is Russians can be damn well educated, and obviously, are currently available for hire (with caveats of course) in Europe ... frankly at bargain prices even for Europe.

There's a, now pretty famous, Russian deserter that was part of Putin's IT team [1]. There's a famous Russian deserter from the Nuclear weapons team [2]. There's desertions of Kremlin insiders [3].

As for the losing ground ... everyone was sure Russia was going to beat the Ukrainian army and government in 3 days. Then it was definitely not going to take 2 weeks, and now Russia's entire army is in shambles, Ukraine is executing areal attacks against Russian fucking air defence with Cessna "rockets", and that works! There's reports, with video of Russia's army having entirely run out of equipment, using golf carts as armored vehicles.

And yes, Ukraine works by the general tactic of retreating 100 meters leaving a trap, having Russia sacrifice WAY too much dealing with the trap, retreating another 100 meters.

As for the money, aside from the amount quoted being bullshit, the 150 billion dollars that US + EU loaned combined in trade for destroying the Russian army? That's cheap. In fact those amounts are loans, being spent largely in the US, to be repaid by the Ukrainian government. 70% or so is a direct stimulus for the US economy, paid by Ukraine, if they win. It would be cheap even if it was a gift to Ukraine, but it's not.

By contrast, just the Russian actions in the Baltic seas, cutting internet cables are estimated to cost 2+ billion. In other words it's not even possible to avoid spending it. And those damages are NOT loans. We will be paying for that, one way or another, out of pocket, nobody will pay anyone back for that.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/russian-defect...

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dl2pv0yj0o

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/putin-adviser-...

Emigration or fleeing is not desertion, if you leave a country before being part of the army, you have fled the country but you did not desert. You have to be part of a military unit to have the ability to desert.

You can look at Ukrainian sources about the desertion problem, there are videos of actual Ukrainian soldiers and commanders talking about this, they made laws around this issue.

> Russia's entire army is in shambles, Ukraine is executing areal attacks against Russian fucking air defence with Cessna "rockets", and that works! There's reports, with video of Russia's army having entirely run out of equipment, using golf carts as armored vehicles.

> And yes, Ukraine works by the general tactic of retreating 100 meters leaving a trap, having Russia sacrifice WAY too much dealing with the trap, retreating another 100 meters.

So are the maps that I'm looking at all fake(including the Ukrainian ones) or the Russian army that is in shambles is till beating the Ukrainian army?

> As for the money, aside from the amount quoted being bullshit

The 100bn came from Zelensky, so is he saying bullshit?

> the 150 billion dollars that US + EU loaned combined

I'm pretty sure the US alone has sent more than 150, but it doesn't matter because it would make the situation look even worse.

> trade for destroying the Russian army

For a destroyed army they are gaining a lot of ground, I'm afraid to even think about what would a not-destroyed Russian army would be capable of.

> be repaid by the Ukrainian government. 70% or so is a direct stimulus for the US economy, paid by Ukraine, if they win

Even if they win, they won't have an economy to pay it back.

> It would be cheap even if it was a gift to Ukraine, but it's not.

It is a gift because the likelihood of Ukraine ever paying it back is one the same level of Hawk Tuah Coin gaining back it's value. It's not cheap because it didn't accomplish much.

> By contrast, just the Russian actions in the Baltic seas, cutting internet cables are estimated to cost 2+ billion.

You do realise that the Baltic sea is far away from Ukraine and even if Russia loses the war they can still send submarines there right?

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I recommend you look at factual accounts of what is actually happening, you can look at multiple sources to minise bias and you should be open to the possibility that your favourite news outlets might not be completely honest with the way they are presenting things because their reporting does not line up with all the facts.

Even if I accept all your beliefs about Putin and Russia, I can still say that most of the money given was wasted compared to spending it on the European side of NATO.