>

Eat Bugs and be happy.
The Netherlands remembers MH17. RuZZian invaders get wrecked. >

For those wondering, yeah, MH17 caused a massive shift in how the Dutch saw Russia. The flight was from Amsterdam so it was a majority Dutch people, and Russia has done nothing but attempt to shift blame. I personally knew two people on the flight and me and everyone around me has been on the "Fuck Russia" train for a decade now. >

I remember around the time Russia tried to blame it on Ukraine. Enough to put doubt in many minds. >

They still do. >

I misread op and thought they were saying Russia didn't do anything to try to shift the blame. My bad. >

I can totally see why, I worded it a bit awkwardly. >

Netherland have actively aided Ukraine and Ukraine appreciate this aid very much.  Thank you Netherland. >

You’re welcome, we are just happy we do not have to risk our own lives. >

They understand what it’s like to be invaded and have your way of life, your culture and identity threatened by invaders. This is just returning karma, paying it back. >

Yeah, we did it to Indonesia. First hand experience! >

Emberassingly, pretty much after we got liberated.
Never forget, so we don't repeat. >

Uhm no, we did it for 350 years. And we would have carried on with it, but finally got kicked out after WWII. >

As far as I understand Indonesia attempted to kick us out, but we stayed by means of terrible bloodshed. Only after pressure from the international community, especially the US, did we end our oppression in Indonesia. >

The Marshall deal depended on it, but the resistance movement also made Indonesia less profitable. Fun fact: the parents of our current prime minister were kicked out of Indonesia. Until recently and only under immense pressure did he begrudgingly apologize for the centuries of oppression, murder and robbery. >


Until recently and only under immense pressure did he begrudgingly apologize for the centuries of oppression, murder and robbery.

Immense pressure? Begrudgingly? They were literally sued by the people he was apologising for to not apologise, and did it anyway. 
And I think it's strange to criticise the current PM for this, when the previous PM's never did it either. >

After years and years. For years he didn't want to apologize saying his parents spent time in a Japanese internment camp. Well shit, they were caught robbing Indonesia! The PM before him was an even worse piece of shit, that is true. >

I have never heard he didn't want to apologise because his parents live in Indonesia. That's very strange, especially considering he is apologising on the behalf of a country, not his personal or family actions.
Do you have any source on this? >

Netherlands rocks! >

It sure does >

Too soon >

Putin: “The fricken’ Dutch!” >

Extremely common Netherlands W >

How do the Dutch always make good decisions? >

We don't. There are a number of major governmental scandals ongoing. However it appears our prime minister and cabinet are approaching this particular issue with unusual zeal and vision. >


There are a number of major governmental scandals ongoing.

I kind of forgot about those, but are they ongoing? I mean they resigned over it and we just re-elected them again >

They're an excellent example of "They can't keep getting away with it!", that's for sure. >


"They can't keep getting away with it!"

They can because their voters don't give a shit :D >

For some reason i read the title as "The Neanderthals..." and was very confused for a second. >

Where some of my Dutch  family members are concerned, your confusion would be bang on the money >

Bang on the rocks ? >

About why it is difficult to calculate the dollar value of military aid and while any aid is awesome, what Ukraine would need next >

Wish your description did Perun's video more justice.
For those in the know: it's Perun's latest, a tour de force on Western aid to Ukraine
For the unfamiliar: the above link is a 1hr+ deep dive into the provision of military aid to Ukraine by her Western allies by an Australian youtuber who started as a gaming channel but began putting out serious videos about military logistics after the Russian invasion, informed by his day job in procurement for the Australian armed forces. Or the Australian arms industry or think tanks; he's  understandably evasive on the details.
It's an hour long power point presentation and his weekly videos are the best thing you can watch on the conflict. >

Never tried to summarize the video, obviously I linked it because Perun is awesome. Thanks for adding more context. >

Only saw it because I was going to link it myself. Yes, he is. >

That's pretty impressive for a nation their size. >

To put into perspective:  
The Netherlands is up to 0.1% (€1B) of its annual GDP (€1T) to Ukraine.
US has contributed 0.2% ($48B) of its annual GDP ($23T) to Ukraine.
Germany has contributed 0.3% (€12.5B) of its annual GDP (€4.3T) to Ukraine.
Edit:  decimals are hard. >

Also, do remember this is military aid only.
We didn't have much in the way of equipment left especially as we started focussing on fast response brigades, meaning, little in the way of tanks and artillery that is so sorely needed now.
Now if this were a naval war, we would've been able to do more. >

Precisely, we're one of the safest countries in Europe in the event of war, we're surrounded by allies on all sides, in ways that go well beyond NATO and the EU, so our entire army is geared to fighting away from home. >

Can anyone explain how these numbers make sense. It's hard to fathom the cost of a war. For instance a billion dollars of food sounds like it could feed refugees etc for a very long time.
A billion dollars of guns and ammo sounds like more than most armies would ever need,
A billion dollars of bomb sounds like etc etc etc..
America has spent way more, I just can't get my head around it anymore than I can the scale of a billion. >

Well one himars missile is $150,000 to make doesn't take long to get to a billion >

7000 GLMLRS is a lot >

That's great, but to put this in scale:


The US GDP is about 23 times the Netherlands's GDP


The US military aid to Ukraine $50B (with total aid at $68B) is 50 times that of the Netherlands.


i.e.  The US is putting twice the %-of-GDP vs. the Netherlands. >

You forget the EU money going to Ukraine; to which the Netherlands is a major contributed.
To put this into perspective;
Florida is doing nothing at all, and only the federal US government is de ding anything.
Meanwhile both the Netherlands as a state as well s the EU are sending aid. >


You forget the EU money going to Ukraine; to which the Netherlands is a major contributed.

Good point.
But the total EU contribution (not just military) compared to the cumulative member country GDP was tiny.  It was maybe $30B.  And Netherland's contribution to the EU was about 4% of that, so $1.2B
I guess that puts it close (but still less) to the US as a %-of-GDP.
Again:  Great.  But is it really all that much compared to others??? >

No one is saying that one country is contributing more than others.
However if you want to make that comparison; much of the US military aid is provided as lend-lease, which means Ukraine will pay for it later. Meanwhile the Netherlands provides it as a gift.
Then the Dutch economy has suffered greatly under increased gas prices; while the US has profited greatly from selling LNG at inflated prices to Europe.
Then the Netherlands has sent expensive American weapon systems to Ukraine like patriot systems. These need to be replaced, and who benefits from that? uS defense companies.
So yes, it is really that much. But in the end it doesn't matter; Ukraine simply needs a lot of help. >

You ignore the main argument. Are you a Russian agent intentionally trying to sow discord? >

I kinda surprised they could >

Honest question, is this money given by various countries in various ways to help and never be returned or is it given as wartime loans that they will come knocking for once the war is over? >

Depends on the country. In the case of the Netherlands the military aid is a direct gift >

They are a country of 17 million people. That is like 57 dollars per person
For comparison, the US has spent around 90 dollars per person. >

This is military aid only. The article also goes into some detail as to how the accounting behind this works; and the value of the military aid is in reality probably higher.