https://apnews.com/article/mariupol-medic-body-camera-036cf9f28180e9525760d68bddbe4ee4 Russian female medic records 2 weeks in Mariupol and it is stunning. DD
azov surrendered like the racist cowards i figured them to be. Didnt even have the balls to go out guns blazing
A good read on why the Russian Army is struggling ... Ukraine update: A Russian volunteer's story lays waste to the myth of the Russian "BTG"
Finland has sent out notice that Russia is halting natural gas exports to Finland tomorrow, three days after they applied for membership to NATO: Natural gas imports from Russia under Gasum’s supply contract will be halted on Saturday 21 May at 07.00 On the afternoon of Friday May 20, Gazprom Export informed Gasum that natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract will be cut on Saturday May 21, 2022 at 07.00.
However, Turkey has announced that it will veto Finland and Sweden's application for NATO membership, as new members must be accepted unanimously by all 30 current members. Turkey Refuses to Lift Veto on Finland’s, Sweden’s, NATO Bids Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday warned that Turkey will continue to block NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, citing security concerns. “We told related friends that we will say no to Finnish and Swedish entry to NATO. We will continue in our path,” Erdogan said. Erdogan added that NATO is a security alliance, and Ankara cannot accept countries which support “terrorist” groups referring to Nordic countries’ support for Kurdish groups. “Finland and Sweden are harbouring terrorist centres,” Erdogan said, meaning especially their support for Kurdish forces in Syria, which Turkey considers a branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK. Some among the North Atlantic globalist elites have called for Turkey to be ejected from NATO. At the same time, this may be a negotiating tactic by Turkey, but they do appear to be playing this hand very aggressively indeed for a bluff. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
lol, no one seriously wants to eject Turkey from NATO. If the globalist agenda is working, Turkey will back down after Norway and the Swedes gives up the PKK to allow Erdogan some flex time for his base.
Why is Turkey causing problems for Finland and Sweden's plans to join NATO? The crisis has brought to the fore longstanding Turkish grievances against Western nations and NATO allies, while it has given Ankara an opportunity to use its position in the alliance to extract concessions. Turkey has complained about the lack of support it has received in its fight against Kurdish militants, which Ankara perceives as its top national security threat. It has accused Sweden of harboring its adversaries and providing support to Kurdish militants in northern Syria, whom Ankara considers an extension of the PKK. Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Saturday that her country, just like the rest of the EU, considered PKK a terrorist organization. The government has said it is ready to iron out any obstacles in talks with Turkey. Ankara has also demanded that Sweden and Finland drop an arms embargo that was slapped on Turkey in 2019 following its military offensive in northeastern Syria. "It may not all be about Sweden and Finland," Asli Aydintasbas, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote in an article. "The president almost certainly sees this as an opportune moment to air his grievances about existing NATO members, especially with the Biden administration, which has kept the Turkish leader at arm's length."
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/20/politics/us-troops-in-europe/index.html US to keep 100,000 troops in Europe. DD
This goes again to the original point of why Biden could not simply guarantee that Ukraine would never join NATO. NATO operates on consensus so no single US President can give guarantees about NATO membership. Putin knows that and it is one reason why that argument that Russia had to invade because the US was going to get Ukraine into NATO was specious. That said we'll see how this plays out given that Turkey has it's own interests and is leveraging this situation to their advantage. The PKK is already considered a terrorist group by the rest of NATO so likely a deal can be worked out where Sweden and Finland agree to name the PKK a terrorist organization and they then join. Even without NATO membership Sweden and Finland have already entered into mutual defense agreements with the UK and other NATO countries so they are already more into the Western trans Atlantic camp.
The irony of the PKK (Kurds) is that they were the CIA's best trained assets against turning back ISIS until their success itself became a problem in the region. This all came to head in Syria when both Russia and Turkey made a play in the civil war and Trump decided their usefullness to America had come to an end. No country hates the kurds more in that region, even the Palestinians are a rung above on the unwanted stepchild ladder. It's yet another pawn on some chessboard rich old vampires are playing and that no one is telling us to care about.
Yeah I’ve said for years that Turkey actually has the most power in NATO because everyone is on pins and needles in the west about Erdogan leaving and allying with Russia and China. They are kinda the Joe Manchin of NATO. I guess Hungary is the Kirsten Sinema. Ideologically Erdogan and Orban have little in common with the West but they are self interested especially militarily and NATO doesn’t enforce Democracy the way it should. Still it’s in the West’s best interest to keep Turkey in because of what it would mean for Russia’s desire for more brute force power… especially in the Middle East where Putin’s end game seems to be complete domination of the global fuel market. Turkey is a key player for them if Putin can get a break up to happen in NATO.
I was wondering if their missiles were totally inaccurate or if they were deliberately hitting non-military targets. I think both. I mean it's sad what they are doing but also makes them look like a 3rd world country.
It was the Kurds who fought ISIS with US assistance but I'm not sure it was the PKK. My understanding of Kurdish politics is that there are many groups with the PKK primarily operating in Turkey. The Kurds who fought ISIS were mostly from Northern Iraq and Syria itself and not necessarily Turkey. There have also been times when the PKK has fought other Kurdish groups. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/29/iraqi-kurds-turn-against-the-pkk/
