Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-25

[Ed Anger]

I ain't lending the Germans shit. 

[CountDeMoney]

They're probably fresh out of Jews, too.

[KRonn]

Oh man, the info that article brings out is absurd. What is up with the German military!? Oh how the mighty have fallen! And Germany is the wealthy nation, the robust economy, of Europe, so what's the excuse for having to use broomsticks for guns on their AFVs?

[DGuller]

Democracies are weak and lacking in resolve up until the moment they need to mobilize.  The reason Putin is deploying his Chewbacca offense is to give Europe an out to stay at 1939 France level of military preparedness.

[Razgovory]

We are talking about Greens.  They wouldn't buy guns to hold back an invasion of Nazi-zombies.

[Tamas]

That photo made me remember this correspondent guy of the biggest Hungarian online news site. He was touring in Donetsk and its area, and on his way back to civilisation he was waiting with his translator/guide at a train stop just on the safe Ukrainian side of things, and he was eating with two Ukrainian soldiers, who were on a short leave before going back to that strategic town that fell during the week. This happened a week or two before the fall, so the journalist was wondering if these two guys were still alive.

They were piss drunk, in their understandable relief of being away from falling artillery shells. One of them asked the journalist to teach him English after the war. Kind of heartbreaking.

[CountDeMoney]

 

Parliament: UK, EU 'sleepwalked' into Ukraine crisis

LONDON (AP) — A parliamentary report published Friday accused the British government and European diplomats of "sleepwalking" into the Ukraine crisis, saying there was a "catastrophic misreading" of mood by Europe ahead of the standoff between Russia and Western countries.

The House of Lords' EU Committee said foreign ministries in Britain and other European countries have been poorly equipped to draw up an "authoritative response" to the crisis partly because they lack expertise on Russia.

"The (British) government has not been as active or as visible on this issue as it could have been," the committee said.

It also said that for too long the EU had been optimistic about Russia's democratic development, and as a result Europe failed to realize the depth of Russian hostility when the EU opened talks on Ukraine in 2013.

Earlier this month, Britain's former senior NATO commander General Richard Shirreff said British Prime Minister David Cameron's failure to act over Ukraine had turned him into a "foreign policy irrelevance."

France and Germany have led the diplomatic process to hammer out a cease-fire deal with their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.

Britain's Foreign Office said no one could have predicted the scale of the "unjustifiable and illegal" Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine, and that it is for the Ukrainian people to decide whether they want a closer relationship with the EU.

[Ed Anger]

The UK is just a joke nowadays. Only worth it in the value of its airbases.

[Syt]

[Martinus]

I'm shocked, shocked, that Germany, France and the UK would "sleep-walk" into and mishandle a territorial dispute in Central-Eastern Europe.

[derspiess]

We are talking about Greens.  They wouldn't buy guns to hold back an invasion of Nazi-zombies.

They might buy locally-sourced organic guns that fire environmentally friendly biodegradable ammo.

[Syt]

Photo series about the Donetsk Airport before the fighting and now:

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/02/a-year-of-war-completely-destroyed-the-donetsk-airport/386204/?utm_source=SFFB

[derspiess]

Photo series about the Donetsk Airport before the fighting and now:

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/02/a-year-of-war-completely-destroyed-the-donetsk-airport/386204/?utm_source=SFFB

Still more pleasant and hospitable than ATL.

[Ed Anger]

Lolz

[Zanza]

German defense minister is now discussing whether we need more main battle tanks again.