Two months after the Russian ruble fell below a U.S. penny, the transcontinental country’s fiat currency is the best performing currency worldwide. American economists are baffled by the “unusual situation” because a country facing stiff sanctions typically sees its fiat currency decline in value, but Russia’s ruble has done the exact opposite.
Our Weapons are Too Good
Der Spiegel- Why Has Germany Been So Slow to Deliver Weapons?
At the same time, sources close to the government say there is concern that Ukraine could become overconfident if it experiences a string of battlefield victories and rolls into Russian territory – which would mean that German tanks would once again be inside Russia. It is a concern that highlights a certain distrust in Berlin of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And that, too, is a reason why the defense industry in Germany has not been authorized to deliver battle tanks.
Down The Primrose Path
NATO will defeat Putin if means killing every last Ukrainian;
Martin asked, “Is the U.S. giving Ukraine enough to just hold the line? Or are they giving them enough to actually take back lost territory?”
“I think that we and the other countries are giving Ukraine enough to take back lost territory,” Petraeus said, “but again, that does remain to be seen.”
New equipment is not much use unless the Ukrainians can effectively employ it in combat. The U.S. has sent thousands of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, but when American veteran Mark Hayward arrived at the front in March as a volunteer, he found they were useless. “They couldn’t even turn the things on to tell whether they worked,” he said.
There were not enough batteries to power them.
Let Them Eat Cake
ZeroHedge- NATO’s Mission Imperative: Break Russia Even If Millions Worldwide Perish
The executive director of the World Food Program has warned that 49 million people in 43 countries will be facing starvation soon.
Unfortunately, for Africans and the rest of the world, the liberal rulers in my country and in Europe have another plan. Bear in mind, that 140 million people suffering acute hunger lived in just 10 countries, and those countries are not in Europe.
Meanwhile closer to home.
The Western Producer- Ottawa will not ease Russian fertilizer tariff
Agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the 35-percent tariff applies to all Russian fertilizer shipments. Farmers in Eastern Canada in particular buy about one-third of their fertilizer needs from other countries.
“Does this government not realize that the 35 percent tariff it is imposing on our farmers is not even penalizing Russia?” asked Conservative MP from Beauce, Richard Lehoux. “It is only handicapping our family farms and doubling the cost of producing Canadian food.”
Down The Primrose Path
Biden will fight Putin to the very last Ukrainian.
President Biden confirmed that his administration is sending medium-range advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, responding to a top request from Ukrainian officials who say the weapons are necessary to curb the advance of Russian forces in the east. https://t.co/x3pPj9bwxA
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 1, 2022
In the Paris daily Le Figaro this month, Henri Guaino, a top adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy when he was president of France, warned that Europe’s countries, under the shortsighted leadership of the United States, were “sleepwalking” into war with Russia. Mr. Guaino was borrowing a metaphor that the historian Christopher Clark used to describe the origins of World War I.
Naturally, Mr. Guaino understands that Russia is most directly to blame for the present conflict in Ukraine. It was Russia that massed its troops on the frontier last fall and winter and — having demanded from NATO a number of Ukraine-related security guarantees that NATO rejected — began the shelling and killing on Feb. 24.
But the United States has helped turn this tragic, local and ambiguous conflict into a potential world conflagration. By misunderstanding the war’s logic, Mr. Guaino argues, the West, led by the Biden administration, is giving the conflict a momentum that may be impossible to stop.
He is right.
[…]
The rocky course of the war in Ukraine thus far has vindicated Mr. Putin’s diagnosis, if not his conduct. Though Ukraine’s military industry was important in Soviet times, by 2014 the country barely had a modern military at all. Oligarchs, not the state, armed and funded some of the militias sent to fight Russian-supported separatists in the east. The United States started arming and training Ukraine’s military, hesitantly at first under President Barack Obama. Modern hardware began flowing during the Trump administration, though, and today the country is armed to the teeth.
Since 2018, Ukraine has received U.S.-built Javelin antitank missiles, Czech artillery and Turkish Bayraktar drones and other NATO-interoperable weaponry. The United States and Canada have lately sent up-to-date British-designed M777 howitzers that fire GPS-guided Excalibur shells. President Biden just signed into law a $40 billion military aid package.
In this light, mockery of Russia’s battlefield performance is misplaced. Russia is not being stymied by a plucky agricultural country a third its size; it is holding its own, at least for now, against NATO’s advanced economic, cyber and battlefield weapons.
And this is where Mr. Guaino is correct to accuse the West of sleepwalking. The United States is trying to maintain the fiction that arming one’s allies is not the same thing as participating in combat.
Narrative shift: “Gone is the rosy idealizing lens through which each and every encounter with the Russians is typically portrayed.”
Make Borscht not War
New York Times- The War in Ukraine Is Getting Complicated, and America Isn’t Ready
Is the United States, for example, trying to help bring an end to this conflict, through a settlement that would allow for a sovereign Ukraine and some kind of relationship between the United States and Russia? Or is the United States now trying to weaken Russia permanently? Has the administration’s goal shifted to destabilizing Vladimir Putin or having him removed? Does the United States intend to hold Mr. Putin accountable as a war criminal? Or is the goal to try to avoid a wider war — and if so, how does crowing about providing U.S. intelligence to kill Russians and sink one of their ships achieve this?
Without clarity on these questions, the White House not only risks losing Americans’ interest in supporting Ukrainians — who continue to suffer the loss of lives and livelihoods — but also jeopardizes long-term peace and security on the European continent.
Moon Over Alabama- Ukraine SitRep – Russians Break Through U.S. Bolsterism
In total the social-economic situation for Ukraine is catastrophic. The military situation is even worse. Mariupol has fallen and Russian troops working there will soon be able to go elsewhere. The Propasna bulge is threatening to envelope the whole northern frontline together with the core of the Ukrainian army.
There is no more talk of the Ukrainian army ‘winning’ like in Kiev or Karkov where the Russian troops retreated in good order after finishing their task of holding Ukrainian forces in place.
The Ukrainian command has sent several territorial brigades to the front lines. These units were supposed to defend their home towns. They consist of middle age men drafted into service. They have little fighting experience and lack heavy weapons. Several of these units have published videos saying they were giving up. They are lamenting that their commanders left them when their situation became critical.
The Persecution of Canadians Shall Continue Forever
Zero criticism of incoming Ukrainians but doesn’t the ongoing treatment of Canadians bother vaxxed normies?!?
The Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) is available to Ukrainians who want to come to Canada temporarily. There will be no limit to the number of Ukrainians who can apply through this pathway and eliminates many of the normal visa requirements. All eligible Ukrainian nationals may be able to stay in Canada for up to 3 years so long as they meet the criteria of the CUAET.
IRCC is also waiving many fees for eligible travel and immigration documents, such as Canadian passports, permanent resident travel documents, proofs of citizenship, visitor visas, and work and study permits.
The Government of Canada is granting exemptions for unvaccinated and partially vaccinated Ukrainian nationals to enter Canada temporary resident permit or written notice of approval for an application for permanent residence in Canada.
Freudian Faceplant
Former U.S. President George W. Bush: "The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of the Ukraine" pic.twitter.com/IanADTcAg6
— BNO News (@BNONews) May 19, 2022
Unholy Alliance
Turkey has blocked the start of negotiations in NATO regarding Finland and Sweden entry into the alliance.
DPA, citing its sources in the organization.
— Maria Dubovikova (@politblogme) May 18, 2022
Now is not the time to talk. Now is the time to bribe.
Time is of the essence, and so is discretion. If Erdogan wants to turn this into Lets Make a Deal, Blinken needs to square it away quickly and quietly lest everyone in NATO start demanding concessions as well…
Because democracy hangs in the balance or something.
Dr. Strangepork
Senator Rand Paul has blocked passage of the $40B Ukraine aid bill.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) explains his rationale for blocking $40 billion Ukraine military aid package:
“My oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation … We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy.” pic.twitter.com/0DmaXIxSbJ
— The Recount (@therecount) May 12, 2022
For now.
Related: Pallets of baby formula have been delivered by the Biden Administration as store shelves go bare.
War Is Hell
Dr. Strangepork
$40 Billion dollars for Ukraine in one bill — more than the Russians spend on their military in a year.
Let’s Punish Our Allies
Wall Street Journal- Ukraine Stops Russian Gas Flowing to Europe Through Key Pipeline
Pipeline operator halts gas through border point that accounts for a third of Russian exports to Europe via Ukraine
It’s Probably Nothing
We get mail…
Kate, I am a Canadian living in Europe and I wanted to flag for your readers that we cannot get vegetable oils used for cooking at the grocery store. Olive oil is in supply for now at least but not canola, rapeseed, or sunflower oils. I have been to several grocery stores, my husband has been to different ones, and my sister-in-law has been to grocery stores in another part of the country. They currently cannot be found. Apparently Ukraine is a major exporter of these products.
Sign seen today at the grocery store: Due to shortages, we ask our esteemed clientele to take only one bag of flour per purchase.
Bags of flour in France are generally sold in packs of 1kg.
Thanks JA, keep us posted.
Don’t Get Used to It
Russian Military Campaign in Ukraine
Via Stephen McIntyre: excellent sit-rep on status of Ukraine war
Russian Military Campaign in Ukraine—SitRep Using Combined Sources (Boris Rozhin (@colonelcassad) and Vladislav Ugolny)—March 4, 2022
1a—Mariupol—After the evacuation of part of the civilians, artillery and aerial bombardment of Azovstal continued. 1/26 pic.twitter.com/s8IZ7DJ6nS— Gleb Bazov (@gbazov) May 6, 2022
(It appears “March 4th” is a typo and intended to read May 4th.)
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your own eyes and ears”
Voice of Freeland
In this edition of The Watchdog Podcast, Lowkey talks to Alan MacLeod about Ukraine, how the media is covering the conflict, and the promotion of supposedly “independent” Ukrainian media outlets that are quietly being funded by Western governments.
Chief among these is The Kyiv Independent, a newspaper that was barely three months old at the time of the Russian invasion but has shot to prominence in the West, being relentlessly promoted on television and radio and in print. As a result, it has managed to garner over two million followers on Twitter and raise millions of dollars in crowdfunding.
However, far less known is that The Kyiv Independent was born thanks to a grant of over CA$200,000 from the Canadian government, which made the donation through the European Endowment for Democracy…
Via Stephen McIntyre: Canadian UN Ambassador @BobRae48 regularly cites articles from Kyiv Independent in Canadian government efforts to escalate war in Ukraine against Russia. He doesn’t disclose Canadian govt financing…
Indeed
UKRAINE? WHAT’S THAT? There’s a new Current Thing now. – Glenn Reynolds
Richard Grenell, With Steve Bannon
I’d really like to know how to downsize Rumble videos — if any of our readers have the answer, drop it in the comments.