"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again."

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re the Iran-Russian relationship.

Russia has been working with Iran to develop a nuclear power based electricity infrastructure in Iran. For those of you not aware of it, Iran has been trying to accomplish this since the 1950s, back when US had a great deal of influence over the Shah.

see ""

For the last 5 years or so the Russians have taken the lead in aiding Iran to accomplish this goal.
 
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I found it disconcerting, discovering today that Canada is sending AFVs to Haiti but won't do the same for Ukraine. I'm not casting any aspersions, just wondering about the difference in urgency. Reports are that the vehicles were sold to the Haitians, but I haven't seen anything about manpower deployments. At any rate, why not do the same for Ukraine?
"Today, Canadian and U.S. military aircraft arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to transfer vital Haitian government-purchased security equipment, including tactical and armoured vehicles, and supplies to the Director General of the Haitian National Police (HNP)," the statement reads.
 
Interesting update on the move of Russian forces into Belarus:

A joint Belarus-Russian troop grouping "has begun the task of protecting the Union state", says Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin, amid concerns in the West that it may be used as a launchpad for an offensive against Ukraine.

But Khrenin is quoted as saying that "we are not going to attack anyone" and that the force's aims are "purely defensive".

He did not specify how many troops are in the grouping, or where it has been deployed, but Minsk earlier said that just under 9,000 Russian soldiers would be sent to Ukraine's northern neighbour.

Belarus has been a key Russian ally since the start of Moscow's invasion on 24 February. Russia's failed offensive on Ukraine's capital Kyiv was launched from Belarusian soil.

Ukraine's military says it is monitoring all the latest developments in Belarus, and its troops are prepared for any eventualities.



While the assertions that Belarus won't "attack anyone" are slightly reassuring, the total of 9,000 Russian soldiers in Belarus is a large number given Russia's operational challenges in Ukraine. Perhaps some of the 300,000 poorly-trained conscripts are going to Belarus as part of this so-called defensive force?
 
Yeah, the troops in Belarus "won't attack anyone" just like the "joint military exercises" in February were just "exercises" and nothing more.

If there was ever a poster child for lying bullshit phrases, this is it.

Fully agree. It's interesting to watch Lukashenko walk the tightrope of maintaining his loyalty to Putin while trying to prevent Belarus military forces from being dragged directly into the war.

That said, his efforts are probably of no merit. The simple fact that Russian forces used Belarus as a launching point for the invasion of Ukraine makes Belarus a co-belligerent. Lukashenko can try to claim that he didn't know Russia was planning to invade Ukraine...and that fig leaf might be enough. But pressure is growing on both sides and I'm pretty sure he's aware of how unpopular he is with the rank and file in Belarus.

Frankly, I don't see Lukashenko lasting another year in power. He'll either be forced to use Belarusian forces in Ukraine, which will lead to mass unrest at home, or he'll have to distance himself from Putin, which would remove a main bulwark in his ability to stay in power. He backed the wrong horse and the impacts will likely hit him sooner because his position is so much more vulnerable than Putin's.
 
Not really Ukraine-related, except that another Su-34 has stoofed-in in Russia, hitting a block of flats in the process. Perhaps another indicator of poor maintenance standards within Russian air force?

 
Theres a lot of fantasy stuff on here, everyone knows that after holding the Olympics, the soccer world cup, the winter Olympics and Formula one rounds the Russians wouldnt dare, they would lose their place at sports top table. Believe it or not people have believed that sort of BS for years.
 
If Lukashenko wasn't a brutal thug with blood on his hands, he would be comical. He can't be happy about arming his populace. He can't be too thrilled his friend's army being in his country and oh, what an army it is. Russia has shown the world its Potemkin Army and Lukashenko's army probably isn't up to that level.
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