[Scape]

Russian in Warsaw declares intention to initiate Kaliningrad's secession from Russia

Did NOT see this coming.

[Scape]

He makes very good points. Putin rolls in here without pushback he will roll over Canada in the north in a hearbeat.

[Scape]

Tanks seen in Donetsk after Putin recognises breakaway regions

[Scape]

Russia's spy chief stammered as Putin snapped at him to 'speak directly!' while pressing him about support for decree on eastern Ukraine

[xerxes]

I know it's still early, but it's disheartening to see the Western powers largely sit still yet again.

Just because it's a slow walk into Ukraine doesn't make it any less of an invasion.

[Scape]

If I were Japan, I would take back the Kuril Islands.

It looks like they mightJapan says it's ready to join U.S.-led sanctions on Russia

[Zipperfish]

xerxes xerxes:

I know it's still early, but it's disheartening to see the Western powers largely sit still yet again.

Just because it's a slow walk into Ukraine doesn't make it any less of an invasion.

Options are limited when a miscue could lead to all out world war. NATO is weak right now. The US is inwardly focussed and public opinion for the Alliance is not strong.

Might be a good time for Canada to start bucking up its military (and contribute the 2% GDP that NATO requests for defence).

[bootlegga]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

xerxes xerxes:

I know it's still early, but it's disheartening to see the Western powers largely sit still yet again.

Just because it's a slow walk into Ukraine doesn't make it any less of an invasion.

Options are limited when a miscue could lead to all out world war. NATO is weak right now. The US is inwardly focussed and public opinion for the Alliance is not strong.

Might be a good time for Canada to start bucking up its military (and contribute the 2% GDP that NATO requests for defence).

Agreed, but with all the rot they've faced over the past four decades, the armed forces will need much more than another $9 billion a year (up to $34B from the current $23B) to right the ship.

They probably need another $10 billion a year for a decade to deal with all the rusted out equipment, crumbling bases and infrastructure, personnel losses and low morale, etc.

I can't see any government spending what we really need on the armed forces, because most voters want tax cuts or social programs/climate change funding, not more troops, pilots and sailors.

[Thanos]

Time to accept that Russia has it's own version of the Monroe Doctrine. There's a certain limit beyond which they'll simply refuse to accept any encroachment towards their native territory. The Baltics were an exception because their place in the old Russian Empire was always sketchy. But Ukraine has been Russian turf for upwards of 400 years - Kiev is actually where the Russian ethnic identity began, so there's a huge emotional and nationalist attachment involved as well. It's not logical to expect that Ukraine would be allowed to join an enemy alliance and not have a very negative response from Russia.

Not excuse-making for Putin here. Just offering a glimpse of how the Russians perceive things.

[Zipperfish]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Agreed, but with all the rot they've faced over the past four decades, the armed forces will need much more than another $9 billion a year (up to $34B from the current $23B) to right the ship.

They probably need another $10 billion a year for a decade to deal with all the rusted out equipment, crumbling bases and infrastructure, personnel losses and low morale, etc.

I can't see any government spending what we really need on the armed forces, because most voters want tax cuts or social programs/climate change funding, not more troops, pilots and sailors.

It's funny how the threat of war sharpens the mind though. We share a border with Russia.

[Zipperfish]

Thanos Thanos:

Time to accept that Russia has it's own version of the Monroe Doctrine. There's a certain limit beyond which they'll simply refuse to accept any encroachment towards their native territory. The Baltics were an exception because their place in the old Russian Empire was always sketchy. But Ukraine has been Russian turf for upwards of 400 years - Kiev is actually where the Russian ethnic identity began, so there's a huge emotional and nationalist attachment involved as well. It's not logical to expect that Ukraine would be allowed to join an enemy alliance and not have a very negative response from Russia.

Not excuse-making for Putin here. Just offering a glimpse of how the Russians perceive things.

The response from the West tacitly accepts that. Shitty if you are Ukrainian, or one of the many Canadians from the Ukraine.

[bootlegga]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Agreed, but with all the rot they've faced over the past four decades, the armed forces will need much more than another $9 billion a year (up to $34B from the current $23B) to right the ship.

They probably need another $10 billion a year for a decade to deal with all the rusted out equipment, crumbling bases and infrastructure, personnel losses and low morale, etc.

I can't see any government spending what we really need on the armed forces, because most voters want tax cuts or social programs/climate change funding, not more troops, pilots and sailors.

It's funny how the threat of war sharpens the mind though. We share a border with Russia.

Perhaps, but unless we see a full on war, I don't see any appetite for us spending $35 to $40 Billion a year on defence, which is what we need to spend. Even if we did, we won't buy the types of weapons platforms we need because they're too expensive or too 'offensive' in nature (or both).

The big problem is that if we do wind up in a war, we won't have time to ramp up spending and build everything we need to fight it - everything takes much longer now to build (and is vastly more complex) than it did in World War 2.

You'd think Canadians would want Canada to have new fighter aircraft to deal with Russian aerial incursions in the North, yet a large chunk of Canadians voted for the Liberals in 2015, 2019, and 2021, who've done their best to delay the purchase of replacement fighters for our 1980s-era Hornets.

And many conservative voters talk a big game when it comes to supporting the military, but when its budget time, demand tax cuts instead of big investments in defence. Harper talked tough and planned all sorts of big purchases, but when it didn't get him more votes in 2008, he scaled them back and slowed down equipment purchases so long that most of the Navy rusted out and new fighters were an election issue, instead of already being in service. We could have had F-35s (or something else) almost a decade ago, but the price tag was too high (just like it was for Mulroney in the 1980s/90s).

The current crop of conservatives are too worried about social issues like abortion and 'mah rights' instead of sovereignty and national defence, so even if Pierre Poutine or Fundamentalist Barbie win the next election, it won't matter - the armed forces will continue their slow decline into oblivion.

Meanwhile the NDP and Greens seems to think that defence spending can be cut even more to pay for their climate policies.

Sorry, but I have little faith in any of our politicians actually spending what is necessary to protect our sovereignty and 'punch above our weight' in international affairs the way we did 60 years ago.

[Thanos]

Russia doesn't have the millions in their armed forces anyway anymore, not like in the Soviet era. They've apparently got 100000 combat personnel and presumably another couple hundred thousand in support/logistics arrayed against Ukraine. This is about 70% of their effective personnel concentrated in the one region. They could clobber Ukraine and any of the old former Soviet republics quite badly, but that's the extent of what they could do. Attacking any actual NATO territory like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, or the Baltics is completely off the table as it's beyond Russia's capabilities. Get to the Rhine, like in the old days? Nonsense. They wouldn't even get to the Vistula River in Poland before they got annihilated by US & British forces alone.

One of the NATO or US analysts recently called Russia a big gas station and that's all. Aside from O&G exports they have literally no impact or contribution to the world economy at in the slightest. That's Russia's Achilles Heel, and always will be, because at their core they are and always will be an economic basket case. No one knows how the Ukraine situation is going to play out. But Russia becoming a major power again afterwards, even if Putin wins all his goals? Ludicrous. They're a third-world shithole that's only significant to the world due to still being in possession of nuclear weapons.

[Scape]

PM announces 'first round' of sanctions against Russia, troop deployment to Latvia

[housewife]

bootlegga I have to agree with your thoughts on this! The only time people care about the military is if they think they can get something out of it. They sure as hell don't want to pay them or purchase equipment so that they can do their job! With everyone only thinking of themselves and political leaders buying votes instead of making the hard decisions it's hard to have any hope of it improving