u/Creepyfaction

In the current era, commentators point to Ukraine and the Middle East for lessons on the changes in warfare, drones for the former and missiles for the later. But waging for many years at this point is the War in Myanmar that features jungle and riverine warfare in the 2020s where drones are also featured as well. What exactly are the main takeaways from that conflict that are of interest to military thought?

Initially at the start of the war and even going further back into the 2010s, most foreign fighters on both sides were from the Former USSR, Europe, or NATO countries. But now it seems that people from Third World countries now form a bigger share of foreign recruits. At the start of the war, I heard of Pro-Russian foreign volunteer units organized around nationality like the Serbians while at one point, there were Pro-Russian PMCs staffed by Uzbeks.

For Russia, how exactly do they manage, organize, and rank their foreign fighters? Are they grouped/sorted by nationality, language, prior skill/experience? Are they integrated into regular Russian units or kept in separate foreign fighter units? Do some Russian units see more foreign recruits than others?

Within the Russian Military, what nationality is considered the most desirable to recruit from versus the most disposable or less desirable? Are people from Ex-Soviet nations or Russian speakers held in higher regard than say people with no real connection at all with the Russians or Soviets? Do they seek out those with prior military experience and put them above those with none? In Africa, I've heard of some countries like Cameroon having problems with their soldiers deserting their army to join Russia.

In recent years, affordability in weapons, particularly PGMs and air defense among other things has been a major topic. Among the major powers, how have they gone about pursuing affordability in military hardware? The Iranian Shahed-style drones have spawned multiple copies or similar designs in other countries to fulfill the niche it serves while lately, Russia has seen breakthroughs in jet-powered OWAs and cheaper cruise missiles that likely stem from the influx of Chinese micro-engines entering mass production. The Ukrainian scaling up of drone warfare since 2022 has sparked a military revolution among both state and non-state forces into setting up their own DIY drone program. Countering OWAs has spawned cheaper interceptor drones first by Ukraine before other countries began fielding their own.

Despite being a pioneer in mechanized warfare, the Germans in WW2 were still heavily reliant on horses for their logistics. Compared to dealing with attrition to personnel, what can be said about the topic when it comes to animals once modern warfare came around 19th century onward? In WW2, what was the situation regarding that for the nations that still depended on animals for logistics?