6 May, 2022 14:49

Biden is sending Ukraine billions of dollars of weaponry it can't use properly

Kiev can’t maintain and repair complex US and NATO arms – if they break, they're useless

After hounding the US and other NATO members for weeks about his need for heavy weapons to defend against Russia’s ongoing “special military operation”, Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, appears to have been granted his wish. The US Congress, on April 28, passed legislation that breathed life into a World War II-era law that would allow the US to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan.

“Passage of that act enabled Great Britain and Winston Churchill to keep fighting and to survive the fascist Nazi bombardment until the United States could enter the war,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland who has been at the forefront of anti-Russian legislation over the years. “President Zelensky has said that Ukraine needs weapons to sustain themselves, and President Biden has answered that call.”

Beware of what you wish for

General Omar Bradley, a famous American military commander during World War II who knew more than a thing or two about killing Nazis, is attributed with saying “amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.” For every piece of heavy equipment that the Ukrainian military is about to receive as part of this massive infusion of military aid provided by the US there is attached the unspoken yet critical reality of the issue of maintenance and sustainability. Simply put, if its broke, you can’t use it. Andmilitary equipment breaks – frequently– especially when subjected to the strains and stress of unending modern combat.

The Ukrainian Army, which is undergoing training on the M777 system at the US Army training center in Grafenwoehr, Germany, will be focused on the manpower-heavy requirements of M777 operation (which needs an eight-man crew, as opposed to the five-man crew of the M198), and not how to maintain the system in combat. But even if these weapons make it to the front lines, the complexity of the system will ensure inefficient operations which sooner rather than later will result in the M777 howitzer breaking down with no means of repairing it.

The US and NATO seem content with providing Ukraine with old, worn out (obsolete is the operative word here) equipment that is virtually guaranteed to break down rapidly under combat conditions and for which Ukraine has no logistical support plan in place.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, recently visited Ukraine, where she told President Zelensky “America stands with Ukraine. We stand with Ukraine until victory is won,” adding “Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.” Pelosi’s visit has been portrayed as an indication that the Biden administration, by providing Ukraine with the heavy weaponry it has been requesting, is committed to Ukraine prevailing in the ongoing conflict with Russia. But the reality is far different—by providing Ukraine with equipment which is all but guaranteed to break down shortly after entering combat, and for which Ukraine has no infrastructure on hand to maintain and repair,Biden and Pelosi are doing little more than feeding the Ukrainian military suicide pills and calling it nutrition.

With friends like these, who needs enemies.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555029-western-weapon-supplies-ukrainian-suicide/

6 May, 2022 12:50

Don’t patronize us’, India tells EU official

India has abstained for numerous UN General Assembly resolutions on the conflict

Ahimsa, is an ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings

India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti, has accused the Netherlands of “patronizing” his country after the Dutch ambassador to the UK publicly scolded New Delhi for abstaining on UN General Assembly resolutions on the war in Ukraine.

"Kindly don't patronise us, Ambassador. We know what to do," Tirumurti wrote in a tweet to Dutch envoy Karel van Oosterom on Thursday.

Tirumurti’s tweet came in response to van Oosterom’s (now-deleted) warning that India “should not have abstained” from votes pertaining to Russia and the war in Ukraine and that it should “respect the UN Charter.”

Despite repeated calls and pressure to join the West in helping to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war, New Delhi has been reluctant to cut ties with Moscow.

India has abstained on multiple votes and resolutions at the UN General Assembly this year, including a vote moved by the US in April to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over accusations of the killing of civilians.

The Asian giant also abstained from a vote brought by Ukraine and its backers in March, condemning Russia over the humanitarian situation in the country, saying then that the focus should be on the cessation of hostilities.

In a statement delivered Wednesday at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, Tirumurti reiterated India's position that "pursuing the path of dialogue and diplomacy" is the "only way out" of the crisis.

"India remains on the side of peace and therefore believes that there will be no winning side in this conflict and, while those impacted by this conflict will continue to suffer, diplomacy will be a lasting casualty,” he said.

The South Asian nation has a strong trading relationship with Russia, receiving arms from Moscow in previous agreements between the two sides. It even deemed the current situation an opportunity to broaden cooperation. The country boosted oil purchases from Russia recently, despite pressure from Washington.

https://www.rt.com/news/555077-india-envoy-netherlands-unsc/

>>16229192

Yes the whole world is caught in the middle. For this shithole country Ukraine. Scott Ritter put a lot more detail in that article, basically every armament is old and junk, so I guess every organization gets to write it off with no taxes incurred. Ukraine is a dumping ground for equipment they can’t possibly use. So is there a real war happening?

And military equipment breaks – frequently – especially when subjected to the strains and stress of unending modern combat.

Take the M777 155mm towed howitzer the US is providing to Ukraine – some 90 in total. Intended to be a lightweight, easily transportable replacement for the workhorse M198 howitzer used by the US Army and Marines from the mid-1980’s through the mid-2000’s, its design made sacrifices to reduce weight which, under combat conditions, resulted in “serious problems with metal fatigue, instability while firing, and damage inflicted by recoil quickly became apparent,”according to a fact-sheet about the system. Many of the problems faced by the M777 revolve around the materials used in its production. “There are many problems with using titanium instead of steel,” the fact-sheet notes, “rooted in the fact that while it is similarly strong, titanium alloys are much less flexible (making them more prone to metal fatigue).” Moreover, the fact sheet concludes that “this artillery piece is too light for the powerful 155 mm ammunition. The lighter a weapon is that fires a given projectile and propellant charge, the more violent its recoil is. This has resulted in the recoil-absorption mechanisms in the M777 wearing out dangerously fast in combat conditions.”

The US Army experience at the National Training Center, in Fort Irwin, California, shows that the combat effectiveness of an M777-equipped artillery unit begins to degrade around the fourth day of operations, primarily due to maintenance issues. Left unresolved, an M777-equipped unit could find itself completely combat ineffective within a week. The US Army solution—extensive field-level maintenance supported by forward-deployment of critical spare parts and highly trained personnel—is one that can only be conducted by units trained to do so, and with the logistical infrastructure in place to allow it.

The Ukrainian Army, which is undergoing training on the M777 system at the US Army training center in Grafenwoehr, Germany, will be focused on the manpower-heavy requirements of M777 operation (which needs an eight-man crew, as opposed to the five-man crew of the M198), and not how to maintain the system in combat. But even if these weapons make it to the front lines, the complexity of the system will ensure inefficient operations which sooner rather than later will result in the M777 howitzer breaking down with no means of repairing it.

The logistical problems of the M777 are replicated with each item of heavy military equipment the US and its NATO allies are providing to Ukraine, from 200 obsolete Vietnam-era M113 armored personnel carriers(whose 6V53 Detroit two-stroke six-cylinder diesel engines with Allison TX100-1 three-speed automatic transmissions are unlike anything in the Ukrainian military arsenal, meaning there is no one qualified to maintain or repair them in Ukraine) to the 50 obsolete 1960’s-era Gepard anti-aircraft armored vehicles dispatched by Germany (with separate engines for propulsion and energy supply to the turret, doubling the maintenance headache). The US and NATO seem content with providing Ukraine with old, worn out (obsolete is the operative word here) equipment that is virtually guaranteed to break down rapidly under combat conditions and for which Ukraine has no logistical support plan in place.

>>16229237

Yeah, I wonder what it is.

>>16229268

So would you want to go?

7 May, 2022 15:53

Canadian sniper ‘terribly disappointed’ with military reality in Ukraine

A Canadian ex-soldier known as ‘Wali’ has alleged chaos, looting and incompetence in the Ukrainian military

Once lauded by the international media, a Canadian sniper known as ‘Wali’ has returned from Ukraine to Quebec, telling local media that his experience there was a “terrible disappointment.” He claimed there was inadequate weaponry, poor training and heavy losses, as well as profiteering and desertion in the ranks.

When ‘Wali’ answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call in March and volunteered to fight for Ukraine, he was given lavish coverage by the Western media. A former Canadian soldier who had also volunteered to fight with Kurdish militants in Iraq, Wali was described by Spanish media as “the best sniper in the world,” celebrated by American military bloggers for “hilariously troll[ing]” Russia and praised by the New York Post for “grabbing anti-tank missiles in a warehouse to kill real people.”

However, he said that reality left him disillusioned. Back home in Quebec, Wali told La Presse on Friday that his Ukrainian commanders initially “didn’t know what to do” with foreign fighters like himself. Tired of waiting for an opportunity to fight, Wali joined the ‘Norman Brigade,’ a private unit led by another former soldier from Quebec.

However, several members of this brigade told La Presse that weapons and armor promised by the brigade’s head never showed up, and some of its members found themselves near the front lines with no protective equipment. Around 60 members of the brigade have since deserted, its commander told La Presse, andsome soldiers “schemed” to steal a $500,000 shipment of American-supplied weapons and form their own unit.

Wali eventually joined a Ukrainian unit fighting near Kiev, and described having to seek out weapons, food and gasoline.

“You had to know someone who knew someone who told you that in some old barbershop they would give you an AK-47,” he recounted. “Even for the meals, it is often the civilians who provide them.”

In the end, Wali said that he ended up firing two bullets into windows “to scare people,” and decided to come home shortly after two Ukrainian conscripts he was posted with in the Donbass region exposed themselves to a Russian tank and received “highly accurate” shell fire in return.

“I told them not to expose themselves like that, but they weren't listening to me,” he said. “I saw the shrapnel go by like lasers. My body tensed up. I couldn't hear anything, I immediately had a headache. It was really violent.”

Wali is not the only volunteer to have left Ukraine shortly after arriving to fight. On Reddit’s ‘VolunteersForUkraine’ forum, potential recruits and those already in Ukraine swap advice, encouragement, and sometimes horror stories.

One poster who allegedly survived a Russian missile strike on a training center for foreign recruits in March described how his commanding officers were “sending untrained guys to the front with little ammo and s**t AKs and they’re getting killed.” The Reddit user said that he fled to Poland after the attack with a number of foreign veterans, as “the legion is totally outgunned as has a few crazy Ukrainian leaders. After the attack one officer wanted to march everyone to Kyiv and fight. Absolute insanity. Stay home.” Other posters have told similar stories, involving unprepared recruits receiving several days’ training before being sent to the front with inadequate equipment.

Ukrainian commanders, too, struggled to handle the influx of untrained foreigners, according to some of their assistants in Canada, and in April Kiev’s ‘International Legion’ put a pause on recruitment.

According to La Presse, however, some foreigners with relevant military experience are currently being put to use on “special” operations behind Russian lines.

Moscow has remindedthese foreigners that, as mercenaries, they are not afforded the status of combatants under international law. “They came to Ukraine to earn money by killing Slavs. Therefore, the best that awaits them is criminal liability and long prison terms,” Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov stated last month. Notably, under international law, foreign volunteers who, on a personal basis and by their own initiative, join the armed forces of one of the parties to an armed conflict are considered combatants.

https://www.rt.com/news/555128-canadian-sniper-wali-ukraine/

7 May, 2022 15:53

Сase of rare disease confirmed in England

There’s no cure for the Africa-linked infection, which can cause severe disease in some people, British medics say

A rare case of monkeypox has been confirmed in England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced on Saturday.

The agency emphasized that monkeypox is a rare viral infection that doesn’t spread easily between people. For most, it is a mild disease that disappears within a few weeks but some can develop severe illness.

The patient who has been diagnosed with monkeypox had recently arrived in the UK from Nigeria, and is being treated at the infectious disease isolation unit of Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital in Central London.

“As a precautionary measure, UKHSA experts are working closely with NHS colleagues and will be contacting people who might have been in close contact with the individual to provide information and health advice,” the UKHSA said.

The agency considers the overall risk to the general public “very low.”

Monkeypox is similar to human smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980, and can be confused with chickenpox. Its initial symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. A rash often begins on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body.

According to the UK National Health Service (NHS), monkeypox can be caught from infected wild animals in parts of West and Central Africa.

“It’s thought to be spread by rodents, such as rats, mice and squirrels,” the NHS says.

Only a few people have been diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK and all of them traveled to West Africa or were close contacts of someone who had traveled there.

A 2003 monkeypox outbreak in the United States was traced to a pet store where small mammals from Ghana were sold.

Although monkeypox is generally milder than smallpox, the death rate among infected people in Africa can be as high as 10%, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There is currently no cure for the virus, although the smallpox vaccine is believed to prevent infection, according to the NHS and CDC.

https://www.rt.com/news/555127-monkeypox-uk-case-disgnosed/

7 May, 2022 14:43

The EU is destroying its own energy security with the planned Russian oil embargo

With no clear alternatives and surging energy prices, sanctions look set to hurt the bloc more than they will harm Russia

By Timur Fomenko, a political analyst

The European Union, this week, announced ambitious proposals to embargo the importation of Russian oil by the end of 2022. After teeth-pulling negotiations which have been met with strident objections from several member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, and public doubt over the impact of such measures, its Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyden declared that these measures would be gradually implemented throughout the course of the year.

This didn’t reassure markets, with crude oil prices quickly rising above $114 per barrel as of Friday morning, and Moscow officials predicting that the bloc would still be buying Russian oil via third countries and intermediaries, a strategy that has allegedly been utilized by Iran under tough American sanctions.

Despite marketing the measures as tough, for multiple reasons the EU is set to be the biggest loser of such an effort. The proposed embargo reveals a huge strategic vulnerability in its “energy security” – the ability of a state, or group of states, to secure access to energy resources when they are not capable of producing enough of their own. When you consider how many wars have been fought by the West purely over access to oil supplies, including two in Iraq, this is a big deal.

For the EU, cutting off oil dependency continues to be a difficult step which will exacerbate already surging energy costs and inflation across the continent. How will the bloc find new supplies? And if so, surely relying more on other partners will bring new dangers?

In the year 2020, 29% of the EU’s imported crude oil came from Russia, 9% from the US, 8% from Norway, 7% each from Saudi Arabia and the UK, and 6% apiece from Kazakhstan and Nigeria. The removal of the largest market, Russia, means the bloc now has to increase its imports from the others. The natural candidates of course are the Persian Gulf states. This means the EU’s strategic dependency on continued access to oil resources in the Middle East is drastically increased, raising the bargaining power and political leverage of these countries. However, all evidence so far points to OPEC states benefitting from higher prices and refusing to cooperate with Western demands to increase production. Economics are about supply and demand. If supply decreases, but demand remains high (given you can’t go without oil) then prices rise, and why would any seller in the world put their prices down when the customer has no alternative to your essential product? The fact Russia is part of OPEC+ further complicates things.

As a result, the EU is making a huge mistake in its foreign policy and has no contingency plan or strategy to address this emerging problem. Currently, the bloc is determined to utilize Ukraine to try and impose a military defeat on Russia. In the meanwhile, it has also appointed itself as an “Indo-Pacific” power, showing little initiative to avoid being sucked into Washington’s confrontation with China in a region of the world it isn’t based in. This leaves the EU with the option of partnering up with India, but the 1.3-billion-strong nation is a net energy consumer, not a supplier – which is, coincidentally, another reason why attempts to undermine New Delhi’s ties with Moscow are likely to fail.

This all places a gaping hole in the EU’s foreign policy when it comes to strategic “energy security”. While endeavouring to reduce “strategic dependence” on Russia, they are merely creating a patched-up dependency on other regions instead, opening the doors to new risks….

Russia is too big of a critical global energy resource to be ignored, which is why EU sanctions will not deliver a knockout blow to the Russian economy. If the proposed ban is phased, then Russia continues to make more in the short term with the raised prices anyway.

This only goes to show the EU is drastically weakening itself to appease the interests of a United States that wields disproportionate power over its strategic and foreign policies. For sure, America benefits from energy sanctions on Russia, but this comes at an aggravated price for European consumers. In this case, these sanctions will do more harm to the EU itself than they will to Russia. This will be as economically painful as it will be strategically disastrous. The bloc doesn’t have a concrete alternative in place and what’s worse, it has barely even contemplated such an alternative. This will leave the continent weaker, poorer and more vulnerable, threatening a terrifying repeat of the 1970s energy crisis, which given inflation data, is already well underway.

https://www.rt.com/news/555073-eu-destroy-energy-security/

7 May, 2022 14:28

US ‘directly’ involved in Ukraine conflict – Moscow

Washington should be on a “list of war criminals” for sharing military data with Kiev, the head of Russia’s Duma has said

Washington should be added to a “list of war criminals” as it is now directly participating in “hostilities” in Ukraine, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin claimed on Saturday, citing media reports about alleged US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden has told senior intelligence officials that “counterproductive” leaks about data sharing with Ukraine should stop, NBC reported on Friday.

Though there was no official reaction to the report from the US authorities, Volodin took to Telegram to comment on it. “The United States is taking part in hostilities in Ukraine. US President Biden, demanding to stop leaks about the exchange of intelligence information with Ukraine, admitted that Washington had been exposed,” he wrote.

Volodin said that the Ukrainian government, which he described as the “Kiev Nazi regime,” not only relies on weapons from the West, but also on the “assistance of American intelligence forces.”

The Duma chairman wrote that Washington “essentially coordinates and develops military operations” in Ukraine, and is therefore directly participating in the “hostilities” against Russian forces.

“For the crimes committed in Ukraine by the Kiev Nazi regime, the US leadership should also be held accountable, adding to the list of war criminals,” Volodin concluded.

However, the Pentagon earlier dismissed some of the media reports and specifically denied that the US had provided data allowing Ukrainian forces to strike Russia’s Black Sea flagship ‘Moskva’ off the coast of Odessa last month.

“The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case,” said US military spokesman John Kirby.

Russia insists that its missile cruiser wasn’t attacked, but sank on April 14 after a fire that had broken out on board caused ammunition to explode.

The White House National Security Council has admitted, however, that the US is “regularly providing detailed, timely intelligence to the Ukrainians on the battlefield to help them defend their country against Russian aggression and will continue to do so.”

This statement apparently did not come as a surprise to Moscow. On May 5, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the Russian authorities know the US, the UK and NATO “on a permanent basis” transmit intelligence and other data to Kiev but this would not “hinder the achievement of the goals set during the special military operation.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/555125-us-involved-russia-ukraine/

7 May, 2022 13:45

No EU fast-track for Ukraine – Austrian minister

Joining the bloc will take more than a decade, Austria’s EU Affairs Minister Karoline Edtstadler warns

Ukraine’s accession to the European Unionwill not happen “in the next five to ten years,” Austrian EU Affairs Minister Karoline Edtstadler has predicted. Austria’s foreign minister has expressed a similar view, despite European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s insistence that Ukraine will be swiftly ushered into the bloc.

EU accession for Ukraine would be “a long process to adjust to, which certainly cannot be achieved in the next five to ten years,” Edtstadler told Austria’s APA news agency on Wednesday. The minister added that as some Balkan states have been waiting “for decades” to join the union, there could be no fast track for Ukraine.

Prior to Edtstadler’s comments, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg angered Kiev by suggesting that Ukraine instead pursue an association agreement with the EU, or integration into the European Economic Area. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko called this advice “strategically short-sighted and not in the interests of a united Europe.”

What the foreign minister…wanted to address with this is that you might also have to be creative in how you introduce Ukraine to Western values,” Edtstadler told APA. “What Ukraine obviously heard was a no to EU membership, which is not what was meant and is not Austria’s position.”

Austria is not the only EU member urging caution on fast-tracking Ukraine’s membership bid. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned in March that “joining the EU is not something that can be done in a few months,” while Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has cautioned that expediting Ukraine’s membership could be seen as unfair by long-term candidates such as Turkey and Montenegro.

In assessing a country’s bid for membership, the European Commission evaluates everything from its economic performance to its legal system, along with environmental regulations and agricultural practices. This process can take decades, with Turkey, for example, remaining a candidate country since 1999.

Nevertheless, Ukraine has completed the first part of a questionnaire for prospective members, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month that it “will not, as usual, be a matter of years to form this opinion but I think a matter of weeks.”

EU sources told Bloomberg last month that apreliminary decision on Ukraine’s candidacy could come as early as June. However, full membership would still be contingent on an investigation by the European Commission and the unanimous consent of every EU member state.

(Allowing Ukraine in EU would be self annillianiting death wish. Giving Nazis more power drags all countries into constant war.)

https://www.rt.com/news/555121-austria-ukraine-eu-fast-track/

6 May, 2022 22:11

HomeWorld News

Surge in British desire to emigrate – reports

Interest in emigration is up by 1,000% as UK taxes and prices rise, lawyers and financial advisers say

A dramatic rise in the cost of living has prompted many Britons to consider leaving the UK, according to professionals catering to aspiring expats. Google searches for moving abroad were up by 1,000% in April, with the US, Canada, and Australia the top three desired destinations.

The Telegraph first reported the alarming trend Friday, attributing the desire to emigrate to “the cost of living squeeze, as soaring energy prices and rising inflation ravage household budgets.”

The outlet blamed a combination of rising taxes and inflation, which officially hit 7% in March. The Bank of England has warned it could reach 10% this year. There has also been a spike in the cost of energy and household goods.

“People are paying much more for everything and it’s a culmination of bad news. It makes people get into the mindset of needing a new start and they know they will have a much cheaper life abroad,” said Jason Porter of Blevins Franks, a firm that provides financial advice to British expatriates across Europe.

Research by London migration lawyers at Reiss Edwards showed a thousand-fold spike in searches for how to move abroad. Inquiries about Australian visas alone were up 670%, the firm said.

“The British public has been faced with a gradual rise in the cost of living since the pandemic, which has been amplified enormously in the last couple of months,” Amar Ali of Reiss Edwards told the Daily Mail, when the outlet inquired about the report.

The US tops the list of countries where Britons would like to emigrate, followed by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Non-English speaking Spain and France are also on the top six list due to their lower cost of living.

A Livingcost analysis cited by the Daily Mail says the average after-tax salary in the US can cover two months’ worth of living expenses, compared to 1.6 in the UK. While the Eurozone inflation was 7.5% in April, it still costs 6% less to live in France, while Spain is more than 18% cheaper, according to aggregator Numbeo.

https://www.rt.com/news/555098-uk-emigration-spike-inflation-taxes/

>>16229429

That made me laugh so loud it scared me! Kek

Elon said Boring Company and Neurolink. has 200 employees each

Tesla a 110,000

SpaceEx has 12,000