• Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    That Ukraine even needs so many unmanned weapons points to a deep manpower shortage.

    Another possibility is that the Ukrainian government values it’s manpower more than Russian government.

    • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      Ukraine has no interest in putting even more of its population into Russia’s meat grinder… because they will obviously lose a war of attrition.

    • BMTea@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Only because they have fewer men. Have you seen the draft gangpress measures? People are being sent to be cannon fodder, under-equipped and underprepared.

      • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago
        Country Democracy Index Score (2023)
        Ukraine 5.06
        Russia 2.22

        The Ukrainian government requires much more support from it’s population than the Russian government. Ukraine is a hybrid regime that was making progress towards joining the EU which has strict democracy requirements for entry. Russia is an authoritarian regime.

        • BMTea@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          “Hybrid regime” is just a fancy name for oligarchy, and the argument that Ukrainian state cherishes the lives of its military aged men is a bit silly. Democratic states and authoritarian states are equally as capable of using human lives as currency when they view a war as existential. They weigh that against demographic and economic concerns. That’s all.

          • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            the argument that Ukrainian state cherishes the lives of its military aged men is a bit silly

            Don’t strawman, my argument is

            Ukrainian government values it’s manpower more than Russian government

            Do you have any evidence or arguments to counter my initial claim?

            • BMTea@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              This is how it went:

              You said Ukraine values its manpower more than Russia.

              I agreed with you, and added that it is because they have less manpower.

              You then brought up some democracy index like that was relevant to the topic.

              I inferred from this that you were explaining that you believe they value manpower more due to their hybrid regime versus Russia’s authoritarian regime and disagreed with you on that cause.

              You called my inferrence a “strawman” and then asked for evidence against your first claim, that I agreed with.

              Please read more carefully.

              • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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                2 days ago

                I read your responses carefully. This is you apparently agreeing with me and adding that it’s because they have less manpower.

                Only because they have fewer men. Have you seen the draft gangpress measures? People are being sent to be cannon fodder, under-equipped and underprepared.

                I bought up the democracy index to illustrate that the Ukrainian government requires support from the Ukrainian population more than the Russian government requires support from their population. The Ukrainian government does not value their manpower just because they have less of it, the Ukrainian government is also more accountable to their population (as they are not an authoritarian regime). That is why I brought up the democracy index as it is a quantifiable measure of government accountability to their populations.

                • BMTea@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  And I was disagreeing with you on that point, so I don’t know why you challenged me on the very first point you made, which I agreed with.

                  I don’t agree that the democracy index is really a quantifiable measure as it has several arbitrary criteria, but you could just assert that Ukraine is more democratic than Russia anyways, which is a matter of common sense.

                  Your argument that “democratic accountability” has something to do with it doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t follow. Ukraine has a draft. Drafts are drafts, there is no “democratic” objection to being drafted for war. Russia also drafts men as needed and the process looks quite similar sometimes, but in Ukraine it has become a severe social phenomenon.

                  • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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                    2 days ago

                    Do you agree that the Ukrainian government is more accountable to it’s population than the Russian government?