Omnibus Russia Ukraine crisis
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
Well our tax dollar should ( in my opinion ) spent judiciously and our governments be mandated to live within their ( our ) means . If we cannot balance a budget how can we afford to prop up ( what from numerous reports ) a corrupt regime . I believe we should have withdrawn from NATO years ago as we have yet to live up to our contractual defence commitments . Y the same token we should withdraw our financial support from the WHO and UN . We are broke . But that is just me .
Not to mention the Billions of dollars of Agri sales and contracts
Pre CN. It was Grand Trunk. GT went belly up and was bought by the Feds.
All the sales in the world do not excuse us from inserting ourselves into the political situation on the other side of the world . How did Korea , Vietnam , Iran , Iraq and Libya work out .
They worked out great. Have you heard from Mao, Hussein, Ho Chi Min or Gaddafi lately?
Actually, it's the machinery that builds and repairs the equipment. Unfortunately (for Russia anyway) even that machinery has been rendered near-useless by Russia's kleptocratic oligarchy.
A perfect example of that kleptocracy are the Russian admirals who spent more state money on their own personal yachts than on the navy it was intended for.
There are other amusing tidbits happening. Wagner group's leaders have been cut off from all communication to the Russian Defense Ministry by the state, not the Ukrainians, because they keep complaining about a lack of ammunition. Based on a number of sources, missiles and artillery shells in particular are running especially short. It appears that Russia can only produce about half of what it expends every month. And no question that the shortage of trucks is making the overall materiel shortage at the front even more acute. And since the rail lines that Russia used for supply have been cut, that means that their ammo and fuel depots that supply the front can't be much more than 80km from it as any further away would mean fewer trucks that could deliver supplies per trip, when they have supplies.
All of this because Putin convinced himself that his troops would be welcomed as liberators and there'd either be no fight, or a very short one in which Ukraine concedes. And he did have some reason to believe that based on his invasion of Crimea; Limited Ukrainian response and no real response from the West other than some slightly annoyed finger-wagging. Only his time, as we all know, Putin seriously miscalculated.
Even little Estonia has pledged something nuts like 45% of its 2023 military budget to defend Ukraine. And in Georgia, the pro-Russian govt announced it would begin conscription in an effort to provide more manpower for Russia's meat-bag brigades. An announcement that immediately led to large scale protests forcing the Georgian govt to back down.
As for the Ukraine, Western pledges to send MBTs should be weighed accordingly. The Abrams is a non-starter, for now. It is the only tank that runs on a gas turbine engine and requires its own unique infrastructure to maintain it. Leopard IIs and Challenger IIs will be of more immediate use. But probably the most useful of all would be if the other former Soviet states that aren't pro-Russian/pro-Putin donated some of their updated T-72s. Since Ukrainian tankers and repair crews already know it well, all it would take is a little familiarization with the updated equipment. That would give some lead time for the rest of the tank and repair crews to get familiar with the Leopards and Challengers.
As for Putin, he's still stuck in the Soviet Union days. The difference is the Soviet army looked big and powerful because it was big and powerful. It most likely was the 2nd most powerful army in the world. Prior to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army still looked big and powerful and was still regarded as the 2nd most powerful army in the world. Since the invasion however, well, it's the 2nd most powerful army in Ukraine at least.
Ya know, it takes a special kind of stupid to A) buy into your own propaganda and B) allow yourself to be completely screwed by the kleptocracy you encouraged in the first place.
South Korea is a free and prosperous nation. Vietnam is a tourist-friendly country. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.
There is rail. Has been all along. It gets hit but is repaired immediately. It was hit again last night and will likely be up and running by tomorrow. Don't discount the Ruskie sappers. There is even a new rail line and highway being built.
Female Russian Army medics forced into sex slavery by officers
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Mar 29, 2023 • 2 minute read
Russian officers are using the euphemism “field wives” to describe their sickening sexual arrangements with female combat medics.
In fact, the women are sex slaves, a former Russian soldier told Radio Free Europe.
Those medics who refuse to go along face horrendous consequences. The ex-soldier — named as Margarita — described how months later she is still feeling the effects. She suffers constant nightmares and panic attacks because of her ordeal.
“Even when I’m not alone and I’m doing something, I still see before my eyes all that horror,” Margarita told Radio Free Europe.
Before the war, she was a single mom with grown special-needs children. She retired from the army in 2017 following 11 years of service.
Last summer she volunteered as a medic to help out her family. She was in for a horrific shock.
When she arrived at boot camp, a tank regiment commander singled her out. Margarita would be his “field wife”.
She said a “field wife” cooks, cleans and pleasures male officers. Margarita said at first she blew off the colonel’s unwanted sexual advances but he persisted even after they were posted to the killing fields of Ukraine.
Things were made very difficult for the Russian mom.
“For a month I simply slept outside,” Margarita said. “While others spent nights in tents and houses, I slept on the ground, next to a road, in a small forest.”
And when she didn’t break, she was dispatched to the frontlines. Her medical unit had seven women between 23 and 28 years old. Most were married and all had been pressured into sex with one or more officers.
“When we went there, no one, of course, knew what was going on. And when we understood, there was no turning back,” she said, adding that once she saw an officer shoot his “field wife”, a woman named Svetlana.
He was drunk and in a jealous rage. Svetlana was permanently disabled.
“They made it seem as if Ukrainians did it,” Margarita said. “[The officer] shot himself in the hand as if he was protecting her, and he was back from the hospital about three weeks.”
The officer also frequently assaulted Svetlana with the butt of his rifle. The story of another medic named Alina is even more harrowing.
“They simply put her before a fact — you’ll be with this one, he likes you,” Margarita said, adding she later learned that Alina was being “passed around” among different officers and never returned to her platoon.
“The girl went along with it,” she said. “And mostly the girls have made peace with it. They decided that it’s better to live in paradise in this war — fed and with cigarettes.”
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
severreal.org
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Mar 29, 2023 • 2 minute read
Russian officers are using the euphemism “field wives” to describe their sickening sexual arrangements with female combat medics.
In fact, the women are sex slaves, a former Russian soldier told Radio Free Europe.
Those medics who refuse to go along face horrendous consequences. The ex-soldier — named as Margarita — described how months later she is still feeling the effects. She suffers constant nightmares and panic attacks because of her ordeal.
“Even when I’m not alone and I’m doing something, I still see before my eyes all that horror,” Margarita told Radio Free Europe.
Before the war, she was a single mom with grown special-needs children. She retired from the army in 2017 following 11 years of service.
Last summer she volunteered as a medic to help out her family. She was in for a horrific shock.
When she arrived at boot camp, a tank regiment commander singled her out. Margarita would be his “field wife”.
She said a “field wife” cooks, cleans and pleasures male officers. Margarita said at first she blew off the colonel’s unwanted sexual advances but he persisted even after they were posted to the killing fields of Ukraine.
Things were made very difficult for the Russian mom.
“For a month I simply slept outside,” Margarita said. “While others spent nights in tents and houses, I slept on the ground, next to a road, in a small forest.”
And when she didn’t break, she was dispatched to the frontlines. Her medical unit had seven women between 23 and 28 years old. Most were married and all had been pressured into sex with one or more officers.
“When we went there, no one, of course, knew what was going on. And when we understood, there was no turning back,” she said, adding that once she saw an officer shoot his “field wife”, a woman named Svetlana.
He was drunk and in a jealous rage. Svetlana was permanently disabled.
“They made it seem as if Ukrainians did it,” Margarita said. “[The officer] shot himself in the hand as if he was protecting her, and he was back from the hospital about three weeks.”
The officer also frequently assaulted Svetlana with the butt of his rifle. The story of another medic named Alina is even more harrowing.
“They simply put her before a fact — you’ll be with this one, he likes you,” Margarita said, adding she later learned that Alina was being “passed around” among different officers and never returned to her platoon.
“The girl went along with it,” she said. “And mostly the girls have made peace with it. They decided that it’s better to live in paradise in this war — fed and with cigarettes.”
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
"Будешь полевой женой". Женщин на войне "распределяют" для утех офицеров
Почти два месяца Маргарита, военнослужащая по контракту, побывавшая на войне в Украине, находится на реабилитации. Она посещает психолога, принимает сильные антидепрессанты, пытаясь забыть произошедшее с ней в последнее время. Но забыть не получается. Больше всего Маргарита боится вернуться...
severreal.org
Female Russian Army medics forced into sex slavery by officers
Russian officers are using the euphemism "field wives" to describe their sickening sexual arrangements with female combat medics.