Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Just look at the economic crash here. Lots of people saw it coming but the vast majority of the public didn't.

And the politicians buried their heads in the sand hoping it would pass over.

This economic downfall will accelerate hopefully.

Few of the propagandists were claiming no more ATACMS strikes because of Russia's new Missile....well....

Well the right to bear arms is to prevent the government from illegally taking control of the whole country. Think Syria, Russia, N. Korea, 1930s Germany, Black and Tans etc…

If it comes to the gun or the box car which do you choose? I'm not saying it is an easy choice.

We're on a mission from God!🙄

Elwood Blues himself

I'm sure Ukraine would be more than willing to restore neutrality to their constitution and revoke the requirement to join NATO but they'd expect one simple thing from Russia first; you stay on your side of the border and we'll stay on ours. If Russia could just do that, there would be no need for Ukraine to join NATO.

The Times wrote an article a few weeks back explaining the failure of the Ukrainian government to better protect its energy infrastructure. Apparently, at the start of the year British military engineers (deployed in Ukraine it seems) designed and tested some form of concrete structures to protect facilities from strikes, and shared it with the Ukrainians. 12 months later, nothing was built. Apparently the right people in the Ukrainian government departments were not bribed so they blocked any progress on the defences.

When it [the rocket test] finished in February, the British engineers, alongside teams from America, Germany and Japan, advised their Ukrainian colleagues that they should build the structures to protect Ukraine’s energy grid from Russian attack. Yet nine months later, President Zelensky’s government has not done so, amid accusations that government corruption has stalled the work.

Mustafa Nayyem, the head of the agency with the job of protecting critical infrastructure, resigned in June in protest at government failures, claiming that the project has been deliberately delayed by Kyiv’s refusal to release the funds allocated to carry it out. “It was impossible to work. When you see that the leadership of the government is creating some artificial obstacles for you, it’s useless,”

His team suspect that the project was delayed because bribes were not paid to officials in the prime minister’s office who hold the purse strings. “They [the government] didn’t pay contractors; the contractors stopped all projects.”

Ukraine’s presidential office, the prime minister’s office and energy ministry declined to comment.

Critics say the move, as well as the cabinet reshuffle that accompanied it, only served to consolidate power in the hands of Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and his lieutenants. Government insiders say one of those lieutenants, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, is the informal gatekeeper for government building projects.A former official who worked closely with the president’s office alleged that Tymoshenko demanded a 10 per cent fee from the companies to select and present their projects for approval. The former official alleged that Tymoshenko kept large amounts of “dirty” cash and distributed this cash to unofficial “volunteer” advisers in the presidential office. 

Ukraine is infamously corrupt, but I would have thought the current conflict would have concentrated minds. Sadly it seems in this case the corruption goes all the way to the top.

Russian Windows ‘24

https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1866799986572488964?t=0SpNhzeW4Pi-kISZBeXgFw&s=19

I don't think anyone will argue there are issues with systemic corruption in Ukraine, but this is largely due to it having been a part of the USSR.

It's one of the reasons Ukraine wants to remove itself from Russia's sphere of influence, and more align itself with the EU.

And also one of the reasons Russia doesn't want them to align with or join the EU, as the Ruskies prefer the old-fashioned corruption.

Russian corruption is one of the main reasons the same prick is running the place for over 2 decades, ffs. And Russia might have the neck to claim Zelenskyy's presidency is somehow invalid? **** off!

Yes more financial pain for Russia.

….