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Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by constrictyuslf on Monday February 16, 2026 @10:36PM (#47043423)
Some ukarians would probably prefer to be on a couch too, even if it's West of the donbass, but not like they have a choice about martial law or conscription or the suspension of voting, but hey just some details right?
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by atmavatar on Monday February 16, 2026 @11:08PM (#47043602)
Ceding territory to end the war will surely fix the problem. That worked out well with Crimea, after all.
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by somenameforme on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @12:01AM (#47043872)
They didn't cede anything there. They continued to claim that Crimea was theirs, with support from the US. Less than a year before Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine was openly speaking of all options to retake Crimea which would obviously entail war with Russia. [1] All the while they were actively seeking to join NATO, and Biden was certainly implying it would happen soon.

This certainly contributed to Russia's decision to invade, as they likely saw the future as being a war on their terms, or a war on NATO's terms. And the narrative about aggressor would have likely played out similarly even if Ukraine/Biden had moved to invade Crimea, precisely because nothing was ever conceded.

[1] - https://www.unian.info/politics/russian-aggression-ukraine-a...

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by weregiraffe on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @12:43AM (#47044113)
Russia delenda est.
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by nandomrumber on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @02:15AM (#47044604)
Translates to Russia must be destroyed.

Lovely.

Israel, Russia… anyone else you want to see burn because you don’t like their current political leaders?

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by rngfnby on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @07:25PM (#47055418)
Let's try it.

Frankly, after the Epstein files, I welcome some fire and brimstone to clean things up a bit. (Of course, you probably think Epstein was a Russian agent)

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by artem2471 on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @02:09AM (#47044575)
So Biden was “implying” something, and that was the reason for the war.
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by netsharc on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @05:38AM (#47045884)
"I stole your car, you need to cease all your attempts of taking it back, that is aggression/violence against me!".
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by gspetr on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @12:26AM (#47044004)
Worked out pretty well for Finland, has it not?
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by artem2471 on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @02:03AM (#47044528)
Finland inflicted a serious military victory over ussr, actually had a possibility of Allies joining in Winter War, and fought with ussr in 1941-1945. After all that it got its neutral position, not only by ceding some land, but actively resisting. Meanwhile Baltic states lost their sovereignty for 50 years.
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by pandaman on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @08:12PM (#47055739)
Finland had an offer from the USSR to swap some land for double the size elsewhere. After the "serious military victory over ussr" it lost that land plus some more for the total of 11% of its area, including its second largest city.

>and fought with ussr in 1941-1945

That is a very hilarious way to say that Finland allied with Nazis and got crushed again.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by artem2471 on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @04:45PM (#47066896)
Finland retained its independence.

There was a clear designation of Finland as Soviet zone of influence in Molotov Ribbentrop protocol, every other country in that zone was conquered.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by pandaman on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @07:29PM (#47068383)
>Finland retained its independence.

As same as all other Axis powers and their allies, nobody wanted to annex them.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by Gud on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @02:03AM (#47044529)
No, it hasn’t.

They lost a large chunk of land and every male still needs to spend one year of their life defending their country.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by docdeek on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @03:14AM (#47044922)
Compulsory military service is not uncommon in Europe.
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by jmye on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @03:31PM (#47052892)
Nearly every country that has it shares a land border with Russia. Weird.
Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by docdeek on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @04:06PM (#47053350)
That’s inaccurate. Amongst NATO countries, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Turkey have mandatory military service, and Croatia is bringing it back. There’s also non-NATO countries like Austria, Belarus, Cyprus, and Switzerland with mandatory military service.

Of those countries, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania all have borders with Russia. The remainder - the majority of both the NATO countries and of the European states with service generally - do not have a border with Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgj4npzp53o

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by gspetr on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @03:08AM (#47044888)
"They lost a large chunk of land"

I've asked Gemini. Interestingly, they were offered over 2x as much territory in exchange for 1.5% of their land. Curiously, Wikipedia doesn't mention that in the Winter War article.

They lost 10-11% after WW2. Which deal was better?

"every male still needs to spend one year of their life"

Not 1 year. Gemini says it's 6-12 months, and several European countries not bordering the big bad fit that criteria.

Who exactly is after Austria, which has conscription, but has been neutral since basically the entire cold war?

Or the famously neutral Switzerland?

"No, it hasn’t."

Top Export Partners (2019)

The total value of Finnish goods exports in 2019 was approximately $72.84 billion.

1. Germany: $10.44 billion (14.33% share)

2. Sweden: $7.47 billion (10.26% share)

3. United States: $5.20 billion (7.14% share)

4. Netherlands: $4.34 billion (5.95% share)

5. Russia: $4.02 billion (5.51% share)

6. China: $3.84 billion (5.28% share)

Top Import Partners (2019)

1. Germany: $11.42 billion (15.49% share)

2. Russia: $10.01 billion (13.57% share)

3. Sweden: $8.16 billion (11.06% share)

4. China: $5.49 billion (7.45% share)

5. Netherlands: $3.29 billion (4.46% share)

6. United States: $2.48 billion (3.37% share)

Nominal GDP per Capita in 2019 (2019 US dollars):

United States: $65,281

Finland: $48,629

Germany: $46,793

Yep, didn't work out well at all.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by beAbU on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @03:35AM (#47045054)
> I've asked Gemini

I don't think this has the intended effect you are hoping for.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by dietr1ch on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @09:39AM (#47047961)
What a scary world where history is left to AIs.

Imagine the Taiwan copypasta being used against you.

> Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times. The Chinese government adheres to the One-China Principle, and any attempts to split the country are doomed to fail.

Re:Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for t... by jmye on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @03:27PM (#47052841)
What, specifically, do you think you're adding, here? The wild, incredible insight that at least "some" (whatever that weasel word means) folks in Ukraine probably wish they weren't fighting a war for the future of their country? Fucking astounding.