Russia - threadbanned users in OP

It is Biden's responsibility to sort this and it would be sorted if it was given priority.

Biden foolishly imho fell straight for Russian's divide and conquer strategy. Encouraging their buddies in Iran to encourage their buddies in Hamas to attack and thus lead to the vicious war being raged by Netanyahu with Biden sucked in.

He should have seen that a mile off and warned Israel very severely at the start of their retribution that US support would be limited for a few days.

The GOP have the house, which they are using to block the bill. Biden's team have found solutions, loopholes where they can deliver e.g. missiles for the Hawk anti-air systems, seized Iranian weapons/munitions destined for the Houthi's being sent to Ukraine and so on.

"Just be a good president" is hilariously vague, can you explain what Biden should have done to get that aid passed without sacrificing crucial votes for the upcoming election..

It's not just about the current funding. Under the lend lease act, Biden send zero aid. His reasoning was Ukraine would be on the hook financially for any equipment sent under the act. But Biden should also been forward thinking, that once the current aid package ran out, there was a chance a new one could be stalled by Congress.

Biden also has the power to send surplus and obsolete equipment to Ukraine, if he chooses to. Like all those cluster shells that the US will never use again, Bradley's being scrapped etc...

Granted none of the above will unlock the current aid package by the GOP.

Indeed but lend-lease expired, during which time aid was being sent to Ukraine. If he had evoked lend lease on top of what was being sent it would almost certainly have triggered a GOP block for sure (as opposed to an uncertain future block). So I can see why that was not so straightforward.

As for the drawdown on obsolete equipment, EDA, he seems to be saving that for a last minute critical emergency. While there's still hope of passing the 60bn I don't think he'll use it, however if that 60bn is completely hopeless OR the situation changes dramatically in Ukr then I think we might see it used. Keeping in mind that the 60bn is infinitely, infinitely better than EDA stock for Ukraine.

Personally I think it's a lot more complex (politically) than it appears on the surface. Made worse by the fact that it's a critical election year in the US.

Insane how one guy having sex with a teenager has doomed the Ukraine.

Some months back Biden increased 155mm shell production by a factor of 6.

"Encouraging their buddies in Iran to encourage their buddies in Hamas to attack"

Never heard this particular conspiracy theory before. It sounds like a whopper though.

Both the PAC-2 and PAC-3 missile production is being ramped up 75% and and IRIS-T production is being tripled this year and doubled next year, NASAM production has doubled.

I've no clue what the Russian ramped up figures are, maybe you can let us know?

Another 1 hit.

Not sure of the damage but if guide bombs and we're Fab 500 or bigger then expect considerable damage.

Again, what's the Russian figures?

It was a long hard struggle when Churchill was kissing American ass to persuade them to come to Europe's aid during WW2. Had the Americans later decided that they were pulling any help they would never have been repaid for all the lend-lease and other funding. Whatever funds have so far been put on Ukraine's tab will never get repaid as a new Russian backed regime in Kyiv will wave two fingers at Washington and any other countries invested in this.

The West will be fooked if the Americans don't pull the finger out.

Depressing, enraging, and Europe and the US don't seem to care much now

Well Europe better prepare for millions more refugees if this continues

Paywalled

MEPs have urged intelligence services to publish the names of who was paid by Russia, while pointing fingers at the EU's far right.

Two French liberal MEPs led the calls for culprits' names in a plenary debate in Brussels late on Wednesday (10 April).

"We demand the names, the numbers, who was paid, which party, by which intermediary, for which objective, and how much," said Valérie Hayer.

Nathalie Loiseau said: "the [intelligence] services must make public what they know" before the European Parliament elections in June.

"People have a right to know if they are voting for honest candidates or bought candidates," she said.

"That elected representatives accepted money from a hostile foreign power is just something else and I'm disgusted," Loiseau added.

Hayer had called for the debate on Russian interference following revelations by Czech and Polish intelligence services on 27 March that MEPs and MEP-candidates had been paid by Russia to spread propaganda.

The intermediary was allegedly a pro-Russian website based in Prague called Voice of Europe and run by a pro-Kremlin oligarch.

The sums were "tens of thousands of euros", the Czechs and Poles said, but they did not say who was paid, pending further investigations.

"We will not publish further details for now," BIS, the Czech domestic intelligence agency, told EUobserver.

A contact from another EU country's spy service, which is also taking part in the counterintelligence probe, said: "The intelligence services in the Czech Republic and Poland have communicated about this in public ... other services involved prefer not to communicate on this topic".

Hayer and Loiseau's calls to name names were echoed by centre-right, centre-left, and green MEPs from around Europe on Wednesday.

And suspicion has centred round far-right EU deputies who gave interviews to Voice of Europe, some of whom were present at the debate.

"[Russian president Vladimir] Putin has found links at the heart of our institution, starting with far-right deputies and national leaders, who call themselves nationalists, pretend to defend their countries, but in reality work for a hostile foreign tyranny," said French socialist Raphaël Glucksmann.

Glucksmann also called out social-media firm X and its owner Elon Musk for continuing to host Voice of Europe content, despite the Czech accusation.

Czech liberal MEP Dita Charanzová said other EU states should follow Prague's example in taking Voice of Europe videos offline.

Czech green Markéta Gregorová said knowing that intelligence services were monitoring Russian pay-offs to MEPs made her feel "calmer".

But she added "we don't need the Voice of Europe or ID MEPs to show us we have a big effing problem" in terms of Russian hybrid warfare, referring to the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the EU Parliament.

Two of those who gave interviews to Voice of Europe, but who haven't been accused of taking Russian money, also took the floor to clear their names on Wednesday.

Spanish far-right Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch said former conservative and socialist German chancellors had done more to advance Russian interests in the EU than any far-right MEPs.

He also said the leftwing Spanish government helped Russia via its close ties with Russian allies Cuba and Venezuela.

"I've spent 20 years working and 40 years writing against Putin," Tertsch said.

Marcel de Graaff, an independent Dutch MEP, accused the EU of "violation of Christian rights", via its support of Covid vaccines and abortion.

But he said "any criticism [of the EU] is demonised," indicating that his links to Voice of Europe were being used as slurs against him.

The Czech EU values commissioner, Věra Jourová, told MEPs she would crack down on online platforms that spread Russian lies, but said espionage or corruption allegations were matters for individual member states.

MEPs also called for an internal investigation into the Russia revelations, but the EU Parliament can do little beyond imposing a fine on deputies who did not declare payments from third parties.

The parliament found, also on Wednesday, that Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka had breached its code of conduct on declaring income and gifts, following accusations she had worked with Russian spies.

But Ždanoka's only sanction was to pay a €1,750 fine, the Politico website reported.

Let's ban Zelenkski. He is clearly a Russian troll.

I should have been clearer in my wording. The ramp up of AA missiles in the west is nowhere near what is required for a war with Russia. The ramp up in production of artillery shells is also no where near enough. If it was, then Ukraine wouldn't be begging for them on a daily basis.

Anyway I will leave this echo chamber for while. Impossible to have discussion without the usual Russian troll barbs.