World Politics

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

I really like this picture, thought I would share.

 

 

The look of defiance and the embodiment of the indomitable spirit of Ukraine.

Edited May 8, 2022 by wanna-b-fanboy

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-1.6446322

Quote

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Western policies for Moscow's military action in Ukraine on Monday, during a speech at Moscow's Victory Day celebrations.

Speaking at a military parade marking victory over the Nazis in the Second World War, Putin drew parallels between the Red Army's fight against the Nazi troops and the Russian forces' action in Ukraine.

He said the campaign in Ukraine was a timely and necessary move to ward off what he described as "an absolutely unacceptable threat just next to our borders."

"The danger was rising" he said, and "Russia has pre-emptively repulsed an aggression" in what he described as a "forced, timely and the only correct decision by a sovereign, powerful and independent country."

He has repeatedly alleged that Ukraine was planning to attack Russia, which Kyiv has flatly denied. The United Nations has overwhelmingly condemned the invasion and has repeatedly called for Russian troops to withdraw.

What a clown show.

[blue_gold_84]

LOL

[Tracker]

It appears that Putin has become so paranoid about a possible coup against him that his KGB is killing off anyone who could potentially plot against him. Several powerful industrial-financial directors have died under mysterious circumstances, Another happened yesterday:

The series of mysterious deaths of Russian billionaires continues. Alexander Subbotin, former top manager of Lukoil was found dead. He allegedly died from toad poison. It seems RU intelligence agencies are experimenting with other types of poison.

[do or die]

Lt Col Alexander Blinov celebrated Victory Day, today

........by becoming the 40th Russian Colonel killed in Ukraine

[iHeart]

in some non-Ukraine war news

 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

5 hours ago, iHeart said:

in some non-Ukraine war news

 

Any worse then the guy who worked under Duterte?

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/05/05/putin-apologized-for-russian-foreign-ministers-hitler-remarks-israel-says

[JCon]

I hope that the Philippines can find a good leader. Duterte is a monster with all the summary executions. 

[Tracker]

Rumours persist that both Duterte and Marcos are CIA assets and Fernando and Imelda were.

[iHeart]

good god who knows how many world "leaders" were CIA assets

[Tracker]

                                               

[HardCoreBlue]

5 minutes ago, Tracker said:

                                               

How about losses on the Ukraine side? I wouldn’t know where to look for legitimate data on this.

[Tracker]

 

if you accept the usual statistics, that for every dead military personnel, there are 4-6 disabled, that would mean that almost half of the Russian standing army is hors de combat. The Russian army is sending conscription notices out to men of service age. but with the casualties already suffered and the tremendous losses  in equipment, the new draftees are likely to be rushed into the front lines with little or no training and poor equipment. This is a recipe for slaughter. 

In the Viet Nam war, 25% of officer fatalities were at the hands of their troops, and this is likely to be even higher for the unfortunate Russian officers. The Ukrainian army have today picked off their 60th colonel, so there will be a lot of skittish Russian officers.

Just now, HardCoreBlue said:

How about losses on the Ukraine side? I wouldn’t know where to look for legitimate data on this.

The Ukrainian military is being very guarded about this, but a few weeks ago, I read a retired British intelligence officer's estimate that for every Ukrainian casualty there were 6-8 Russian ones, so you can estimate that the Ukrainian losses have been about 5,000, but the civilian deaths have been about 10 times that.

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-senator-canada-freeloader-1.6448053

Quote

A U.S. senator derided Canada as a freeloader on defence during a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday in Washington — and suggested he's getting fed up with it.

It happened during an exchange about the anticipated $40 billion US in additional help for Ukraine that the U.S. Congress is expected to imminently pass.

[Dan] Sullivan specifically mentioned Canada twice, and referred to Germany once in passing over the course of his broadside.

"Are you seeing a shift in our NATO allies to say, 'You know what? It's time for us to pull our own weight here. The Americans are doing it — once again," the Alaska Republican asked. 

"[Because] $40 billion [more for Ukraine] — that's a lot of money. My constituents have got a lot of needs, too. 

"We still have NATO allies, Canada one, who just freeload. And it's getting a little tiring.

The U.S. currently spends more on its military than all other NATO countries combined — in fact twice more than all others combined, including more than 30 times Canada's spending in total dollars and nearly triple what Canada spends as a percentage of GDP.

 

"If there was ever a time countries had to kind of wake up and say, 'You know what? For 40 years we've promised to hit two per cent (of GDP). The wolf's at the door. Maybe the bear's at the door, or the dragon's at the door. Whatever metaphor you want. …

"My understanding is Canada still won't even hit one per cent of GDP."

Canada in fact currently spends 1.36 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product on the military, according to the latest NATO figures.

The recent federal budget promises that spending will grow to about 1.5 per cent while Canada has also provided more than $1 billion Cdn to Ukraine in military and non-military aid and loans; that assistance includes eight armoured vehicles and some howitzers.

The Trudeau government is also promising to modernize NORAD's Arctic radar systems after repeated urging from the U.S. 

Others in Washington have been much more complimentary of Canada. That includes the U.S. defence secretary during a recent press conference at the Pentagon.

Lloyd Austin thanked his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand for stepping up with the armoured vehicles and other contributions to Ukraine: "That's just what we've come to expect from Canada, and from your own leadership, and sense of moral purpose."

Canada no doubt has to do more, especially with respect to its NATO obligations (I'll save the arctic sovereignty discussion for another time), but Sullivan should lay off the hyperbole and at least get his facts straight before spouting off like a typical GOP mouthpiece.

[JCon]

I think more than anything, we can see where the threats are coming from. We'll maintain strong connections to Europe but we're going to be further and further isolated from our nearest neighbours. 

Both Dems and GOP pose a threat. Traditionally, Dems have used economic means to attack Canada (protectionist) but the GOP valued our strategic partnership. However, with the recent antidemocratic, pro-fascist actions by the GOP, we're going to be in tough.

That poison is seeping into our country and a major political party is mouthing the same rhetoric. 

The US is a threat to our democracy aa they turn away from it. 

[WildPath]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

I think more than anything, we can see where the threats are coming from. We'll maintain strong connections to Europe but we're going to be further and further isolated from our nearest neighbours. 

Both Dems and GOP pose a threat. Traditionally, Dems have used economic means to attack Canada (protectionist) but the GOP valued our strategic partnership. However, with the recent antidemocratic, pro-fascist actions by the GOP, we're going to be in tough.

That poison is seeping into our country and a major political party is mouthing the same rhetoric. 

The US is a threat to our democracy aa they turn away from it. 

Couldn't agree more. Canada is in danger with the political situation in the south. It is disappointing to see a strong ally get torn apart from the inside out and a shame to see it spreading to Canada. Before WW2 we were much more under the British sphere of influence and while I still see us maintaining a strong connection to the US, I think it might be wiser for us to strengthen relations where sanity prevails.

I'd be interested to see how European countries have shifted economically and politically in their relationship with the US in the past 5 years.

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

Interesting... it's not a confirmation in anyway, but still very interesting on the implications of this:

 

 

[Tracker]

2 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Interesting... it's not a confirmation in anyway, but still very interesting on the implications of this:

 

 

We can only hope- there was a rumour that he had thyroid cancer,

[JCon]

But, it could be Hodgkins Lymphoma, a very treatable and survivable cancer too. 

[iHeart]

really? considering that a couple of years ago around the same time the US was counting the votes for a week there were reports that he had parkinsons

[JCon]

Just now, iHeart said:

really? considering that a couple of years ago around the same time the US was counting the votes for a week there were reports that he had parkinsons

There's always lots of rumours about reclusive dictators. They're always suffering from "something". 

Kim Jong-un has also been dying for years. Trump was often dying too, while in office. 

[Fatty Liver]

13 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Interesting... it's not a confirmation in anyway, but still very interesting on the implications of this:

 

 

Could be the case, he looks pretty puffy and may be taking steroids to combat cancer.  If anyone can recall a few years back when Norm MacDonald was making fat jokes about himself, it turns out it was steroids not doughnuts that caused his rapid weight gain. Norm died of cancer.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Fatty Liver

[do or die]

On Thursday, May, 12, The Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed they hit the Vsevolod Bobrov, a Project 23120 logistics Russian ship. 

Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Ukraine, reported on Telegram that the Russian ship was hit, damaged and set on fire as a result of a Ukrainian strike, as reported by Ukrinform.

“As a result of the actions of our Navy, the Vsevolod Bobrov logistics ship, one of the newest in the Russian fleet, set on fire. They say she is limping toward Sevastopol,” Bratchuk said

[Tracker]

Russia Loses ‘Entire Battalion’ on Blown Up Bridge: Satellite images appear to show the remnants of tanks and other Russian military hardware around a destroyed pontoon bridge over a river in the Luhansk region.

(This means a loss of 1500 troops and 12-15 armoured vehicles.)

[Tracker]

On 2022-05-04 at 5:38 PM, wanna-b-fanboy said:

 

SOlid Article here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2022/04/01/why-do-russian-tanks-explode-violently-when-hit/?sh=4361e329fc48

 

There was one video that showed a Ukranian, BTR take down a T-72 with an autocannon... by hitting the the space between the turret and the body, detonating the ammo and popping off the top. Needless to say- an autocannon should not be able to take a tank down.

Video evidence of the above: https://9gag.com/gag/aWgRwGq