Ukraine / Syria: Mercenaries abound?

Whether it’s civil unrest, rioting, revolutions, wars and uprisings. Wherever there’s trouble, there’s usually a market for mercenaries. For those looking to find opportunities, there would be worse ideas around than looking to both Syria and Ukraine for the moment.

While the two “theaters” are wildly different, and the would-be recruit would have to adapt to wildly different environments as well, chances are that there will be both corporations and agencies looking for some aid and succor, as they say.

Modern Mercenaries?

Turning to the aid of mercenaries has a long history, all over the world and in all sorts of situations. Governments hiring mercs to aid in striking back against an outside or inside enemy, revolutionaries hiring mercs to aid in overthrowing someone or something, mercs as security forces, protecting something, or someone, specific. There’s all kinds of stuff to do, and all sorts of dirt to get on your hands.

Most recently, some reports have said that mercenaries from all over the place, both Europe and overseas, are flocking to Ukraine to see if there will be a need for their (relatively expensive) services, either with the rioting revolutionaries, or with the government, trying to hold the fort. Either way, the chance to make some cash on European soil is very attractive, both because the money can be very good, and the relative safety is higher than in many other arenas around the globe.

The backgroud for the government in Ukraine possibly recruiting mercs, and the possibility of Russia sending mercs to aid in the effort to stabilize (read strike down on the opposition) the political scene in the country, is the close ties between the two governements. Some analysts claim that a revolution in Ukraine would be fatal to Putin’s Russia, while others disagree. Either way, both governments have strong motivation to solicit outside help.

Anyone wanting to try their hand as a merc would do worse than to look towards Ukraine and Syria right about now…