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You certainly can't believe everything you read on the internet, but apparently Zelenskyy met with Erik Prince who was up to his war profiteering self-serving c

You certainly can't believe everything you read on the internet, but apparently Zelenskyy met with Erik Prince who was up to his war profiteering self-serving crap. Zelenskyy subsequently aggressively moved forward with a plan to produce Turkish government manufactured drones (the ones you now see advertised in the war-media) and associated munitions within Ukraine, starting off with the purchase of a dozen for USD$70M (~USD$6M each). https://www.voltairenet.org/article215489.html https://www.voltairenet.org/article215489.html https://time.com/6144109/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-viktor-medvedchuk/ https://time.com/6144109/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-vikto... https://time.com/6076035/erik-prince-ukraine-private-army/ https://time.com/6076035/erik-prince-ukraine-private-army/ https://www.businessinsider.com/erik-prince-had-pitched-10-billion-private-army-in-ukraine-time https://www.businessinsider.com/erik-prince-had-pitched-10-b... Even though I am inclined to believe he is the lesser of two evils, it would seem that this war is in part being used as an advert for those munitions (see multiple videos released in the last 2 days from the drones). The Turkish OEM https://baykartech.com/en/uav/bayraktar-tb2/ https://baykartech.com/en/uav/bayraktar-tb2/ was founded by Selçuk Bayraktar, an MIT graduate returnee who married Turkish president Erdogan's youngest daughter in 2016. Its apparent exclusive armament is the Turkish government's own Roketsan brand munition https://www.roketsan.com.tr/en/products/mam-c-smart-micro-munition https://www.roketsan.com.tr/en/products/mam-c-smart-micro-mu... A UK entity accused Bayraktar of cloning their munitions rack design (the company denied the claim), and an Austrian motor manufacturer accused the company of redirecting their 100HP recreational aviation motors to military use. I'd be interested to read more from a local about any public statements and private funding and control around those deals. While he's certainly the lesser of two evils in this conflict, history shows us the politicians are often not as clean as they like to make out, it's not out of the question that Zelenskyy or his cronies could have an undeclared private stake in the business and thus be personally profiting from the war and its aftermath.

MauranKilom 5y ago
> it's not out of the question that Zelenskyy or his cronies could have an undeclared private stake in the business and thus be personally profiting from the war and its aftermath. No doubt that's possible. But if profiting off the war were his primary objective, then why would he stay in harm's way by remaining in Kyiv? Pretty risky bet, I'd say.
- contingencies 5y ago
  He's an inbound politician approaching the apex of his career at the intersection of two superpowers. Of course he's got more than one iron in the fire.
chelical 5y ago
Don't think Turkish drones are war profiteering considering how much utility they've had in the current war and in the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict. Maybe you're not aware, but Ukraine has been dealing with war since 2014. This is probably the worst example you could have used since TB-2s are both incredibly practical and extremely cost efficient compared to most Western military equipment Ukraine would have purchased instead.

MauranKilom 5y ago

> it's not out of the question that Zelenskyy or his cronies could have an undeclared private stake in the business and thus be personally profiting from the war and its aftermath. No doubt that's possible. But if profiting off the war were his primary objective, then why would he stay in harm's way by remaining in Kyiv? Pretty risky bet, I'd say.

contingencies 5y ago
He's an inbound politician approaching the apex of his career at the intersection of two superpowers. Of course he's got more than one iron in the fire.

chelical 5y ago

Don't think Turkish drones are war profiteering considering how much utility they've had in the current war and in the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict. Maybe you're not aware, but Ukraine has been dealing with war since 2014. This is probably the worst example you could have used since TB-2s are both incredibly practical and extremely cost efficient compared to most Western military equipment Ukraine would have purchased instead.