Tracker

I believe this is the 600 million dollar yacht that was impounded in a French port yesterday. The intent is to sell the boat and donate the money for Ukrainian war effort and/or rebuilding.

A myth is an unmarried female moth.

He has also refused to divest the $300,000,000.00 Florida has invested in Russian companies.

About 120 of the dead in Ukraine so far are children. Being a Trump toadie means you never have to say sorry.

These anti-vax truckers resent Ukrainian victims of Russian invasion for receiving more media coverage Some of the silliest messaging from right-wing media in recent weeks is the assertion that the convoy of anti-vax truckers, who have been protesting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s vaccine/testing order, represent a profile in courage. A real profile in courage can be found in Ukraine, where everyone from President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ukrainian military to civilians have vowed to keep fighting the Russian troops that are invading their country. And according to Vice News reporters Mack Lamoureux and Tess Owen, some of the anti-vax truckers resent the fact that Ukrainians have overtaken them in media coverage. Lamoureux and Owen explain, “Even the ‘Truckers for Freedom’ Telegram channel, with its 96,000 subscribers, can’t decide if it’s more interested in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or their very own convoy puttering across the U.S. of A. As many involved in the so-called Trucker Convoys — the vast majority of vehicles taking part aren’t big rigs — enter the final stretch of their long haul, the group, aiming to end COVID-19 health measures, are disappointed by the lack of eyes on them, particularly after the Canadian version captured the attention of right-wing Americans for weeks.”

There was an agreement between Ukrainians resistance and the Nazis. During the first world war, the Germans offered Ukrainians separation from the Russian empire in exchange for intel and logistic support against the Tsarist Russian government, and for a few years, Ukraine was an independent country. Then Stalin came along and overran Ukraine again. The Ukrainians thought they had the same deal with the Nazis but as soon as the Russians were driven out of Ukraine, the Nazis turned on their Ukrainian allies and killed as many of them as they could find. When Russia re-took Ukraine, they took reprisals against anyone they thought might have aided the Germans. And yes, the Nazis saw Ukraine as a potential breadbasket for their empire. The plan was to use the "subhuman" Slavs as slave labour, working them to death and then occupying the then-vacant lands.

A note of caution here. As much as many would like to spit vitriol at the Russians, and even though they were responsible for the starvation deaths of 6-8 million Ukrainians, and the killing of many more, Ukrainians have their skeletons in their closets as well. During WW2, a right-wing faction of partisans took advantage of the chaos to undertake ethic cleansing of ethnic Poles living in the area close to the Polish border and forced out or killed some 50-60,000 of them. This was an area claimed by both Ukraine and Poland, but that does not minimize the horror of the killings.

One thing history teaches us is that international events are often completely unpredictable. Who would have thought that a German private pilot could have both flown right into the heart of Russia, evading all radar and then brining down the whole government? There are so many moving parts to this crisis that it is near impossible to predict the path and outcome of it.

For anyone wishing to support Ukraine, the federal government is matching all donations to Ukraine dollar for dollar: Canadian Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal

There is so much here that I do not agree with that I do not know where to begin.

Kinda hard (and dangerous) to say no to a dictator who has already killed a lot of people without remorse.

When the French prime minister was told of the veiled Russian threat, he replied that Russia should remember that France has nuclear missiles, too.

The American rollover of Iraqi forces was only the first battle. They moved on to Afghanistan and became mired in two wars without an exit plan, and slunk out of Afghanistan defeated. They are still taking casualties in Iraq and remain bunkered in their fortresses, paying out billions to mercenaries to fight their battles. Ukraine is far from defeated, at least at this point.

As an example: Pat Robertson says Vladimir Putin 'out of his mind' but 'compelled by God' to invade Ukraine Christian Broadcasting Network founder, far-right conservative, and anti-LGBTQ activist Pat Robertson came out of retirement Monday to support Vladimir Putin, declaring the Russian President is being “compelled by God” to attack Ukraine. Robertson, whose failure to become a practicing attorney led to him becoming a born-against Christian and turning failure that into a net worth reportedly in the hundreds of millions, acknowledged that Putin may be “out of his mind.” "But at the same time, he’s being compelled by God. He went into the Ukraine, but that wasn’t his goal,” Robertson insisted. “His goal was to move against Israel ultimately,” Robertson claimed. He also claimed Putin is supposed to be using Ukraine as a “staging ground for one of the armies, and across is Erdogan in Turkey.”

I have opined this before here, but Harper was only able to keep the crazies in check so long as he personally was popular and held power. Harper bailed when his popularity was slipping and it became obvious that neither he nor the CPC were going to win the next election. Had he not left, he would have received the same fate as all the other CPC leaders- assassination from within the party. It worked for Mulroney when he orchestrated a revolt against Joe Clark and even won a couple of elections, and that is the fantasy of the current lot of CPC.

Putin's mindset will not allow him to countenance any defeat. If he or his generals decide that Ukraine is not worth the price they are paying, and decide to withdraw, the probability is that he will try to cripple it on his way out. This will involve destroying as much of the infrastructure and military as possible. There have been overt attacks on civilian targets already, so Russia has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity already. The scenario is different, but resistance in both Viet Nam and Afghanistan defeated much larger forces, and Russia was driven out of Afghanistan as well. The reasons for the US and Russian defeats were: the support of the great majority of inhabitants for the resistance and foreign supply of weapons to the local fighters.

Justin Trudeau should take that as a great compliment.

Surrender would mean the end of Ukraine for decades and a strengthening of Putin's power in Europe and Asia. Putin wants nothing less than a complete dissolution of Ukrainian self-government and the killing or imprisonment of all opposition there. This is essentially a replay of the Spanish "civil war" where a massively equipped, Nazi-backed force took on democratic inferior forces supported by the international community. The lack of strong response by democratic nations fueled Nazi confidence and led directly to World War 2.

It has been speculated by many international political observers that Trump has been owned by the Russians for some 20 years due to all the money he has borrowed from their banks. There is no way that Ukraine will surrender- the Russians have apparently planned to decapitate the Ukrainian government by capturing or killing every one of them. The Russian army is being shown up as having outdated, poorly maintained equipment, and many of the Russian soldiers are very poorly trained and completely unaware of their mission goals. Putin fits all the criteria for a psychopath, and is at best a sociopath. He will serve himself above all other ends. I would not put it above him to institute a "scorched Earth policy" if forced to retreat out of Ukraine.

I wonder if the right-wingers have gotten frustrated with being out of power so often and have decided to espouse Trumpian policies and tactics. The Manitoba provincial election a few years back where the PCs tried to spilt the opposition vote by funding native candidates is an example that tells us that potential already exists. Someone ought to have gone to jail for that.

There seems to be a competition between GOPers as to who can say the stupidest thing, and the competition is renewed every day.

Only about 60% of Americans are double-vaxxed. Stupid or what?