So no doubt you've heard that war is in Europe. I was just wondering whether with the increasing number of NATO troops deployed to the eastern front have any of your friends or people you know ended up here?

No one I know. Horrible state of affairs, end up nearly in tears every time they have some sort of interview with someone over there, be it a soldier or someone simply hiding. And every time they mention Estonia I hope you don't end up involved somehow.

It's actually quite peaceful here. Local russians are keeping a low profile mostly. And behind the border is only a skeleton crew because the others are busy becoming one with the land in Ukraine.

In case you were unaware, humble bundle has a Ukraine bundle. Shiny and I purchased it, and I think we've convinced all our friends as well. When I bought in it was at about $3mill, but it appears to be up to $15mill at this point. It's worth it just for the games alone, in my opinion.

Yeah cheap and a ton of games, it's been shared on quite a few communities I'm in. Definitely worth it, even if only 2 or 3 games are any good.

There were a number of games I was interested in, including Back4Blood, Quantum Break, Satisfactory... I could go on for a little while. Anyway, I think I convinced most of my day-to-day gaming buddies to pick it up as well. Looks like it's raised $18million at this point. That's pretty impressive.

I'm really impressed with the showing the Ukraine military has made. After they pretty much got steamrolled in Crimea, I was expecting this to be short. Instead the Russians are taking a serious beating. I just hope it doesn't escalate into nuclear/biological/chemical warfare.

I believe that the miscalculation on this one can only be described as 'godlike' (read that one in quake voice) by everyone involved. Just a small example is the 16 fully kitted ambulance vehicles sent by Estonian entrepreneurs and medical professionals. A month ago I would've called 1 vehicle a miracle-like event. And there's more, so much more, from so many countries.

Peltz, as an Estonian you will have a view point that is interesting to me.

Not that other folk don’t an interesting viewpoints, but I assume the following…

This may cause minor offence.

Satis the gunslinging Texan believes the Cold War was never really over, and Putin the communist must be stopped.
Ox the Belgian is an EU fuckboy, so hates Russia because Ukraine wants to submit to the Brussels Empire.
Pevil is a subservient English subject of her majesty, and so does whatever the queen and her main stream media say.
Derf is mostly English, somewhat Italian (almost insignificantly so) and views the world with a raised eyebrow.

So anyway, Peltz, what is your view? Taking both sides of the story I hear into account, Russia is playing geopolitical games (as all major powers do) because the West / Ukraine were also playing geopolitical games.

I always find it funny when russian politicians or media says the west is about attack and take russias resources. I mean if you look at this from a logistical and cost/benefit point of view, there is no scenario for any country in the world where it would be cheaper than to just buy the stuff from russia.

As for attacking Estonia, It would always be simultaneous attack on all three. The baltic countries are so small its impossible to make use of all the troops and machines they have if the target would be any one of the baltic countries. And there's a huge lake separating our borders as well.

Luckily our language is soo different and our history so well documented that no bullshit "historic russian claim" can fly, well at least in any civilized country. Russian Federation citizens however live in a different dimension than the rest of world so anything is possible there. It's quite possible that Ox is Putin's long lost son in that dimension. .

Yes I will echo the sentiments about Russia’s inflated opinion of its own military capability. From the little ‘research’ I did, I learned that most military personnel below the rank of Sergeant are conscripts. This is a serious shortcoming in my opinion vs a more advanced military like that of the UK, where, despite overall numbers being lower, all personnel are volunteers, so the level of professionalism isn’t at all comparable when it comes to operations. I kinda assumed Russia would be further along.

Fair point Peltz about the lingering visceral memory of the recent past. This will certainly introduce a bias, but a fair one at that.

To further characterise Russia, it seems as though it is struggling with an inferiority complex. Wanting to be European, but kind of isn’t. Wanting to be a major power, but kind of isn’t. Wanting a strong economy, but is an energy exporter only. Wanting to be a democracy, but openly admits it is an oligarchy. Wanting to appear militarily supreme, but fields far too many conscripts.

My view on the matter is very limited. Years ago I stopped consuming ‘news’ entirely and still refuse to listen/watch/read. Taking both sides of the story into account, Russia have a case (whether constructed or not) and what is remarkable is that the West is mostly powerless to react meaningfully (possibly given the nukes alone). Or perhaps (slightly more cynically) there is nothing to gain if they were to deploy a force to repel Russia. The spoils of that war for the West would be … nothing. Ukraine would remain Ukrainian. Western influence over Ukraine would continue. Russian territory would not be seized, and the Russian government would not be toppled / replaced.

What I will guess however is that Ukraine is filled to the brim with foreign special forces operating within, on behalf of Ukraine, but also clearly waging the war without actually doing so. I mean, it wouldn’t take much given how easily blended in foreign forces could be. They just need to make sure to avoid capture, which, against a conscript force I’m sure is controllable. I’m sure all sorts of SAS and SBS types are in there for instance and practically many other counties too.

Well for the US, every dollar spent on Ukraine is a dollar not spent on combating China's influence. So in that regard a quick resolve is in their interest which can turn into a peace treaty with some bullshit in it.

The special forces have been there since 2014. It's no secret. But they wont be running any attack missions or such. They're probably running security for the hundreds of military instructors and engineers currently in Ukraine. There are videos out there where vehicle mounted weapons have been converted to portable systems with parts that have been designed for this conflict specifics. This not something an average car mechanic whips up on a Sunday. Also the weapon systems we send, there is no way some random Vladymyr is going to become proficient with them by figuring shit out on the go.