Ardennes posted:

Athe same time, the Biden administration probably doesn't want this thing to last forever. The Republicans are not going to cut him off completely, but "accountability" is going to be a tricky issue considering what we know about where arms shipments are actually going. I could see them giving Biden some "rope" initially and then raise hell when some weapons obviously go missing.

Frosted Flake posted:

I was thinking about a good way to explain what happened in terms readily comparable to the English-speaking world and I think I have one.

Canada has an Irish culture totally at odds, as in diametrically opposed, to how it's understood in Ireland and the rest of the English-speaking world. The reason is that Canada all-but banned immigration of Irish Catholics but went out of the way to encourage the immigration of Irish Protestants so that uniquely the vast majority of Irish in (English) Canada are Proddies. This is opposed to the demographics of the two Irelands, past and present, but also contrasts with Australia, who received mostly transported Irish Catholics and the US, which received mostly Irish Catholics fleeing the Great Famine. Even during the Great Famine, when there was a great deal of traffic to Montreal, what Irish Catholics that landed here went to the States as soon as they were able, or stayed in Montreal if they were too poor or sick to travel to the US.

So, what it means to be "Irish" in Canada (the Belfast of the North) is very different than what it means anywhere else, just like what it means to be "Ukrainian" in Canada is very different than what it meant in the majority of Ukraine. We have an Irish culture created by Ulstermen in the image of Ulster, similarly we have allowed Galicians to create a picture of Ukraine in the image of Galicia. Canadian Irish were militant supporters of the Orange Order, the Political activities of the Ukrainian diaspora here are well known. Iirc Canadian support for the UDR/RUC and Crown was much higher than it ever was for the IRA and I only ever heard the IRA referred to as terrorists, in the media and by everyone I knew, growing up in the 90's and 2000's. In the same way that being Irish means to fight for King and Country, the Ukrainian "national struggle" as understood here, means to have fought against the USSR, rather than having been part of it.

Most, and by that it's got to be 90% these days, of Canadians are oblivious to this, because how would they know? We have Irish bars, just like Australia and the US, and how would you know which names are Scots Gaelic instead of Irish or that the Red Hand of Ulster is not the kind of ticky tacky Irish pub decoration found in Ireland? It's totally normal for the Union Jack to be generic pub decoration in Irish pubs and nobody would really think about that or even notice. As far as anyone here is concerned, that's just what Irish culture is, it's uncontroversial. "Irish" dress here is as often as not Lowland Scot, most places have "Scottish and Irish" Stores (so, Scots-Irish), but who is going to know if people wear trews in Ireland? You just go there to get plum pudding to bring to Christmas or to look for a tartan scarf or cable knit sweater, or an outfit for a wedding, and there's not much to it.

Same thing with Ukraine. People see flower crowns and "national costume" and hear the "national story" and that's it. Ukrainian culture is pretty common in Canada, I grew up knowing pierogis as varenyky, and understanding all Ukrainians are Catholic, and that's all there was to it.

So, you know, these things happen. People aren't going to interrogate these assumptions and it lets a lot of stuff go by under the radar.

Tankbuster posted:

something something all punjabis are sikh.

Azathoth posted:

They're going to want it to keep going just as long as they feel they are effectively damaging Russia with it. I can only guess at their internal calculus for effectiveness but I'm assuming that right now the only real consideration is whether the funding is actually harming Russia geopolitically or whether it is just being siphoned off by oligarchs and allied groups, hence the "accountability" you mention.

quote:

Putin has said that 50,000 reservists called up as part of his “partial mobilisation” drive are now involved in active fighting within combat units in Ukraine, according to a report by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The Russian leader reportedly said a total of 80,000 of the reservists were “in the zone of the special military operation” – the term Moscow uses for its invasion – with the remainder of the more than 300,000 called up since late September still in training camps.

“We now have 50,000 in their combat units … the rest are not taking part in the fighting yet,” Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a visit to the Tver region, outside Moscow.

quote:

The majority of Ukrainians (88 percent) have said they believe their country will be a prosperous member of the European Union in a decade, according to a poll published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on Monday.

Ukraine applied for membership of the EU shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February and Kyiv was granted candidate status in June.

The invasion has killed thousands of civilians and devastated vast tracts of territory and infrastructure.

The poll surveyed 1,000 respondents across Ukraine with the exception of the annexed peninsula of Crimea and other areas that were occupied by Russian proxies before Feb. 24 when Moscow launched its invasion.

Ukrainians were optimistic about their chances of joining the EU even in the east of the country, which has seen particularly heavy fighting, the poll found.

Seventy-six percent of respondents there saw the future of their country in the EU. Only 5 percent said they believed the war would ultimately leave the country with a destroyed economy and provoke a large exodus of Ukrainians.

quote:

Kyiv has never refused to negotiate with Moscow and it is ready for talks with Russia’s future leader, but not with Vladimir Putin, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president has said.

The comments on Twitter by Mykhailo Podolyak followed a Washington Post report on Saturday that said the administration of US President Joe Biden was privately encouraging Ukrainian leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Moscow.

“Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter, saying that Russia should first withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

“Is Putin ready? Obviously not. Therefore, we are constructive in our assessment: we will talk with the next leader of [Russia].”

quote:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a move by Ukraine’s government to take control of stakes in a top engine maker and four other strategic companies was needed to meet the country’s urgent wartime needs.

“Such steps, which are necessary for our country in conditions of war, are carried out in accordance with current laws and will help meet the urgent needs of our defence sector,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

“In these difficult times, we must direct all our forces to liberate our land and people, [and] support the Ukrainian army,” he added.

[...]

Ukraine’s government has invoked wartime laws to take control of stakes in a top engine maker and four other strategic companies, according to officials, signalling its most dramatic wartime intervention into big businesses.

The companies included engine maker Motor Sich, energy companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, vehicle maker AvtoKrAZ and transformer maker Zaporizhtransformator.

The decision was taken at a meeting of top security officials chaired by Zelenskyy on Saturday and went into effect on Sunday, placing the privately held stakes under the control of the defence ministry, three top officials said. The officials did not elaborate on the size of the stakes that had been taken over.

“At the end of the military state [martial law] … the assets can be returned to their owners or appropriately compensated at their value,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, told a news conference called to announce the move.

Danilov was joined at the news conference by Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, and Denys Shmyhal, the country’s prime minister.

Danann posted:

https://twitter.com/GeromanAT/status/1589528686591897601

Truga posted:

well would you look at that, it's the same map again
what are the odds

Frosted Flake posted:

Oh my God




It all makes sense now.

e: Tricked by the wily Spaniards. Still weird that wikipedia has a template for the Ulster banner and Canadian flag combined though.

Frosted Flake posted:

To give people an idea of how the Troubles were reported here by the Paper of Record:

That's right, one month after 9/11, our concern was the deadly Irish Republican Army.

quote:

A Ukrainian official accuses Russian forces of looting empty homes in the southern city of Kherson and occupying them with soldiers wearing civilian clothes to prepare for street fighting in what both sides predict will be one of the war’s most important battles.

speng31b posted:

nationalising wartime industries, hmm

Lostconfused posted:

No they're not, this is only targeting people that are already wanted or under arrest by the government.

quote:

Ukraine’s government has invoked wartime laws to take control of stakes in a top engine maker and four other strategic companies, according to officials, signalling its most dramatic wartime intervention into big businesses.

The companies included engine maker Motor Sich, energy companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, vehicle maker AvtoKrAZ and transformer maker Zaporizhtransformator.

The decision was taken at a meeting of top security officials chaired by Zelenskyy on Saturday and went into effect on Sunday, placing the privately held stakes under the control of the defence ministry, three top officials said. The officials did not elaborate on the size of the stakes that had been taken over.

“At the end of the military state [martial law] … the assets can be returned to their owners or appropriately compensated at their value,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, told a news conference called to announce the move.

Danilov was joined at the news conference by Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, and Denys Shmyhal, the country’s prime minister.

Hadlock posted:

mildly suprised to see blue checks in australia and no blue checks in argentina

speng31b posted:

good thing they don't have a track record of expanding that definition arbitrarily

but for now:

Lostconfused posted:

I already posted it pages ago, this is purely a political play.

Danann posted:

https://twitter.com/GeromanAT/status/1589528686591897601

gradenko_2000 posted:

Person of Caucasus

Frosted Flake posted:

More Sikhs here than in India iirc, largest Indian group in Canada,

i say swears online posted:

there are nearly more sikhs in india than there are people in canada

Hadlock posted:

speng31b posted:

the nafo derangement about BJG continues unabated, and gets funnier

https://twitter.com/dolphin3njoyer/status/1589651440028758016?s=20&t=-KU9GWQ3cC4ikLZFGz7ILw

"honorary POC" nafos telling BJG she false flagged the racism in her own replies is some big brained stuff

Frosted Flake posted:

More Sikhs here than in India iirc

i say swears online posted:

there are nearly more sikhs in india than there are people in canada

Danann posted:

https://twitter.com/GeromanAT/status/1589528686591897601

gradenko_2000 posted:

Do you think we'll get any Russian operators in Modern Warfare 2 or are games staying away from Russians because of real-world events?

Frosted Flake posted:

To give people an idea of how the Troubles were reported here by the Paper of Record:

That's right, one month after 9/11, our concern was the deadly Irish Republican Army.

Best Friends posted:

Ukrainian energy infrastructure is declining but and at the same time every Russian missile targeting energy infrastructure is either missing or being shot down. so presumably the energy infrastructure issues have an unrelated cause.

tristeham posted:

the US must denazify Canada