Did they finally drop the "were you a Nazi during WWII" question which they still had on the form last time I went to the US?
No prizes for guessing this would happen
There are reports for Russia asking for a green corridor - which I assume means freedom to allow their troops out without being attacked. Which, as you state, seems like an odd request.
Of course maybe those requests are not real, more than anything else this is the kind of thing that is going to be hard to get good info on.
Good idea, sorta like “Are you a terrorist” or “have you been to Syria recently” on US visa/esta applications
He has also been saying he wants to see the Zelensky government toppled in Ukraine (this is actually a change from what they were saying in March)
I'm not sure what this 'green corridor' business is in this context. If the troops are encircled, they have three choices. Sit there, defend in place, and hope to be rescued before being destroyed or starved. Attempt to break out back to friendly forces. Or surrender. There's nothing 'inhumane' about this beyond the fact that there's a war going on.
Lavrov: Russia is not prohibited from bombing the military infrastructure in Ukraine
A new take on Putin’s table fetish
A thread on Kherson city
Once they use the white flag and surrender (or are captured), they are protected by the Geneva Conventions on War, because they are then not considered militarily active. Withdrawing soldiers, carrying their weapons are still militarily active.
That was revised to 30, and that is still the aim of the German government. The issue was the ammunition, Switzerland refused to grant export permission for that stuff since it had originally been manufactured by a Swiss company. Another manufacturer has since been found in Norway and that's allowed the Bundeswehr to start training Ukrainian crews.
These were originally announced three months ago. There were originally supposed to have been 50 of them going to Ukraine. -> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/germany-to-send-50-gepard-anti-aircraft-tanks-to-ukraine
IRIS-T isn't even in service with the Bundeswehr in it's surface to air role. The system is effectively brand-new and built to order, it only left the prototype stage in 2014. Each battery consists, as far as I know, of three 8-cell missile launchers, a fire control radar and a command post, all mounted on individual vehicles. Germany promised one such battery back in May, and according to foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, that battery is scheduled to be delivered before the end of summer, so that could be the Egyptian system.
The current kerfuffle is around a follow-up order of 11 additional IRIS-T batteries where Scholz is apparently sitting on the paperwork for both the approval and the financing for that order to go ahead. And honestly, now that my rage has died down a bit, I can actually see why Scholz is hesitant, to a certain degree anyways, just to make sure that the paperwork is watertight, especially for the financing aspect. This would be a massive order by any measure, especially since Diehl Defence, the manufacturer, is only able to produce 2 systems a year, though their CEO has stated that they could double their production capacity if required.
Is that German air - defence system ready for delivery ? There was a poster further down the twitter thread who was pointing out that the air- defence system ( s) in question weren't ready for delivery yet , let alone training the crew ( you'd hope the crew would be trained up in advance ) ,
There was a plan to requestion a system that had been built for Egypt and was nearly complete but I don't know how that went , and theres a couple of Norwegian air defence system that the Americans have bought, one of which has been delivered to Poland - but wether it's in use yet is another story ..
Everyone is boiling Putin like a frog… the Germans a little slower than we’d like, but the end result WILL be the same.
Nothing stopping either side asking one for surrender ,or the other side to withdraw - Maybe the position isnt Holdable ,but neither side want the casualties at that moment ...
3/15 German Gerard’s arrived and officially confirmed
The news story they're quoting is real though, just checked Welt Am Sonntag myself. It's behind a paywall and I refuse to pay even a single cent for any Axel Springer owned paper anymore, but from what I can see, this is about eleven additional IRIS-T systems that Ukraine wants to purchase in addition to the one that is being provided by the German government. That doesn't excuse Scholz's behaviour in the slightest, it's come to the point where I believe the only way forward with him is a JFK scenario, but from what I can see, this one seems more like Welt am Sonntag's attempt to further undermine him. Here's the link to the actual story if anyone wants to try to bypass the paywall:
Deutsche Luftabwehrsysteme: Scholz verzögert milliardenschwere Lieferung rein defensiver Waffen an die Ukraine - WELT
Also, to add a bit of context. Die Welt and Welt am Sonntag are part of the Axel Springer publishing group, which also publishes Bild, Germany's largest tabloid, similar to the Daily Mail. All these papers, as well as their online counterparts, have a strong conservative slant and Bild in particular has been shown time and time again to exaggerate or downright fabricate stories. Die Welt has traditionally been more restrained and reliable, but has drifted far to the right during the course of the pandemic, sometimes even going farther than Bild. Not trying to discredit the story, that very much seems to hold water and fits with Scholz's previous actions, but just wanted to put the source into perspective.
Collins English Dictionary
Prevaricate:
Noun-
Scholz
Verb-
Scholzing
Synonyms, Olaf, German Chancellor, SDP
Yeh I figured best to hold of any praise as German politicians STILL continue to offer rope for Russians to hang them
better wait official confirmations like so
Is there anything in the Geneva Conventions about having to allow encircled soldiers to withdraw? I don't think there is anything inhumane (bar the general inhumanity of war) about requiring their surrender.
Nexta is a Bellarussian news channel.
I retract my praise for the Germans earlier, should have known better
I see that this little stunt by Vlad hopes to get the support of Iran, Syria and Bolivia in an international war-crimes tribunal. The first two of these are of course experts in war crimes, but Bolivia?
Read the BBC report: The Russian allegations are pathetic. But I suppose there are always idiots who will believe literally anything.
No, that barrel is perfectly machined for the shells it will take...they are machined to the same tolerances'.. the wobbly wonders. The whole world is still trying to figure out how they work.🙃🙄
Ukraine does not need to sink to the same inhuman levels that the Russians are at. Let the Geneva Conventions apply here, and as a bonus, when other Russians see their fellow soldiers surrender and get treated humanely, you may see many more throw down their arms too.
Meantime
Who is going to spend hundreds of billions building pipelines for Siberian oil and gas to China
Fair enough, I didn't see the sign, I was responding purely to his statement, which lacked nuance.
But ultimately words and signs are pretty cheap either way when you're out of harm's way. Saw a guy sunbathing and drinking beer on a beach the other day in a "I Stand with Ukraine" t shirt. About as useful as a "no war" sign when it comes down to it. Actions are what matter.
It wasn't a Russian holding up the sign in Russia, or even in Germany. It was a German organisation putting up the sign in Germany.
I tend to agree with him - it is a weak and mealy-mouthed response. They should be protesting the invasion not making it seem like they want everyone to just stop fighting.
This is a pretty stupid post by Kasparov or at best poorly worded. A Russian citizen holding up a "no to war" sign is engaging in a dissident act which can lead to a lengthy jail sentence or, even if based in Germany as in his example, effectively means they can't re-enter Russia. It is an act of protest, not an act of privilege, and takes more bravery than any EU or US citizen saying anything whatsoever about the war. The tens of thousands of people who protested the war all across Europe in the early days were also protesting against Russia, not saying "the war should be stopped at any price".
I think what he really means are the intellectuals who say "don't deliver weapons, they only prolong the war" which is a different matter entirely.
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