I forgot about Ukraine alright, Serbia would be quite close to them too historically as they would with Greece
The Brits inf fairness to them have given massive amounts and the best quality and especially in the run up to the start. As have the yanks
Poorer and smaller countries like the Baltics, Poland etc gave what they could.
If it was up to Berlin, Vienna, The Hague, Paris they would be taking a lead role now in negotiating with the new Govt in Kiev and talking about the importance of solidarity and human rights.
The inconvenience of the Ukrainian forces has been a major headache to them.
I know it's been asked already, but what is the substance of Daly's and Wallace's lawsuit against RTE?
I suppose we need some entertainment in these trying times.
A rather interesting train was spotted heading eastwards in Poland today.
The train appears to contain vehicles painted in the style of the German Bundeswehr; however the vehicle types are not currently in service with the Bundeswehr (they were phased out from 2007-2011). Not saying these are necessarily going to Ukraine directly but it's an interesting development:
This would have taken 14 years to do in Ireland.
Australia is missing from that list, which is a fairly big miss given they have been far more helpful than France, despite being half a world away.
I think its status with respect to the current conflict would be pro-Ukraine, anti-NATO.
Although internally there would be a wide variety of opinions and stances.
My mistake, I thought they had been for a short period right at the beginning before Tito and Stalin fell out.
I'm quite critical of their slow approach to sanctions and military aid. I just don't think all the criticism of them is motivated by concern for Ukraine.
Ahh FFS.
And they claim we shouldn't teach history.
Yugoslavia under Tito was non aligned even though it was communist-ish.
It wasn't even in Warsaw Pact.
BTW all those countries in Eastern Europe like Albania, Poland, Hungary, Czechosolvakia, Romania, Bulgaria were not in USSR either, but Warsaw Pact.
EDIT: oops forgot the old East Germans (birthplace and home of Frau Merkhel) and of course the USSR.
Yugoslavia didn’t need any interventions from the Red Army to maintain the communist regime. The other Warsaw Pact countries were far shakier and needed far more soviet assistance to maintain the system. This only increased Stalins paranoia and he often tried to take out Tito.
The Serbia Kosovo conflict in 1999 was probably the turning point in the souring of Russia - western relations. Putin came to power around then and they’ve been getting worse ever since
Well lets not get carried away. Ireland has sent no weapons at all. Ireland won't allow its "neutral" euros in the EU fund to be besmirched by someone using them to pay for weapons. If using that graphic (from https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118915712#Comment_118915712) as a source (dated March 26), the medical supplies are the "extra" for UK vs France (though going on posts here, sometimes you'd think UK is the only European country supplying weapons at all). On France I did see this article from a few weeks earlier (March 9) about lack of publicity or information out in public domain over exactly what they have done.
They might have ticked a lot of boxes in terms of types of weapons but the numbers have been incredibly small for a country of its power and wealth. I think Brexit was one of the biggest follies ever undertaken but they have been ahead of pretty much everyone else in terms of military support. And when you see the "i'm alright jack" attitudes of the Germans and French it makes arguments for brexiteers so much easier.
Ah not fair is fair, they were quite good at sinking old trawlers in port as well. 😉
Yugoslavia was never part of the USSR and wasn’t aligned with the Warsaw Pact. Serbia are pro Russia alright, the other countries wouldn’t be
I think it’s very relevant- to my mind, Serbia and Russia are one and the same. Their flags are almost the same ffs. Religion, language, culture, ethnicity are two sides of the same coin.
Take Ireland and they'll have europe surrounded :D
Ehh why are the the two C***s suing RTE ?
I mean it will be hard for them to argue their character was impuned or some such, when they have spent last month refusing to sanction a war criminal and his regime.
I think part of it is brexiteer point scoring and I find that hard to separate from genuine criticism.
If Russia take Ukraine they have a land bridge of friendly countries right to the Balkan’s with Hungary and Serbia and then you have non NATO aligned Austria and neutral Switzerland and then the French who have already surrendered they could be at the Atlantic in weeks.
It was part of the USSR was it not under its former status as part of Yugoslavia?
I think you're giving Putin a bit too much credit here. Foresight is not a strong point if the last 7 weeks is anything to go by. He thought this would be over in a week. That the west would shrug and ignore. I very much doubt he spent any time looking to build a pipeline to China (whom I'm sure he probably detests but finds them a necessary evil, or to india where he has the small matter of somehow negotiating with Afghanistan (hates Russia) and Pakistan (hates India) to allow a pipeline or get china to agree to one to india through their territory. Its all a bit pie in the sky when you investigate it. Plus how does Russia getting knockdown prices from China and India help them vs getting two to 3 times the value in europe.
Maybe not relevant to the current conflict but Serbia need to be watched. There's been fuckery in the Balkans ramping up the last few years and while the Serbs are playing along with their EU "aspirations" I would never be surprised to wake up on any morning to find out they've kicked **** off again.
It was posted above what France sent and if its correct then Ireland probably sent more. Anti armour weapons and Fuel was the sum of it. They always talk a good game the french. World leaders at nuking coral reefs and that's about it.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "taking back" ?
Which assumes they haven't been working on contingency plans in the meantime for if/when Europe pulls the trigger on oil or gas embargoes.
The key is that nobody knows what cutting off oil and gas will actually lead to. There is only speculation based on very little evidence or historical precedent; and based on intelligence departments who couldn't even decide whether or not Russia was going to invade Ukraine in the first place nor predict how adept their military was likely to be.
I'd imagine Russia couldn't be delighted to see China delivering missiles to a NATO aligned country. Especially one it has designs on taking back under its wing.
The Ukrainians are certainly using propaganda, but it mostly seems to me to be via concealing setbacks and bad news and strongly pushing good news. But I am unaware of them using outright lies and misinformation to any degree. Would you have some examples where they have done so?
An accusation of the Ukrainians lying about the use of chemical weapons to gain sympathy from the west is pretty strong and needs some justification in my eyes.
This didn't start with the report of chemical weapons use, but several hours earlier:
"Occupation authorities in parts of Donetsk region of Ukraine via Russian State media urge to use chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops in Mariupol" https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/11-april-occupation-authorities-in-parts-of-donetsk-region
Russian state media is fairly open and verifiable source and unlikely to be subject to fake news originating from Ukrainian intelligence. So now the narrative has to be that following the convenient urging of chemical weapons use by Russian agents, the Ukrainians decided to mislead about them being used a few hours later.
Another circumstance the Ukrainians couldn't be argued to have engineered is the Russians appointing General Alexander Dvornikov, known as the butcher of Syria who has instigated the use of chemical weapons.
My version of Occam's razor has the simpler explanation being that the Russians went 1 then 2 then 3, rather than the Ukrainians seeing an opportunity and crying wolf and shouting 3.
Also, the US chipping in wouldn't hurt for the crying wolf scenario, but at the same time, it would more suggest the US perhaps has intelligence that certain brutal tactics were about to be used and that the Ukrainians wouldn't need to lie about it.
"Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in a statement last night. “These reports, if true, are deeply concerning and reflective of concerns that we have had about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine.”It’s unclear what sort of weapon was employed. CNN reported it appeared to be a small munition dropped from a drone that sickened three people. “Before today, there was credible information available to us that the Russians may have been preparing to use agents, chemical agents, potentially tear gas mixed with other agents, as part of an effort to weaken, to incapacitate the Ukrainian military and civilian elements that are entrenched in Mariupol,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told CNN last night. “We shared that information with our Ukrainian partners. We are going to be in direct conversations with them to try and determine what exactly has transpired here, and as soon as we gain additional fidelity, we’ll be in a better position to say what this was or what this may have been.”
I don't believe the US warned the Ukrainians chemical weapons might soon be used and the Ukrainians then piped up a couple hours later and said 'chemical weapons have been used'. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/as-new-russian-general-takes-charges-of-ukraine-invasion-reports-of-possible-chemical-weapons-use-in-mariupol
There's been a lot of fulminating against Germany on this thread but that graphic actually shows they are one of the bigger contributors.
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