USA
There's just one MAJOR problem with Biden's and Schumer's viewpoints: Ukraine has NEVER been a member of NATO nor the European Union. Thus, neither the US nor the EU are forced to do anything in Ukraine. There's no mandatory rule forcing their hand to move in any direction under the current circumstances.
Before you start calling me names, keep in mind that I was one of the first guys around the world to denounce Russia's actions as an true invasion, not just "a special operation" as Putin loves to call it. Letting the Kremlin do its bidding is a terrible idea, but right now Ukraine has no way to ensure they can achieve a relatively quick victory. And the first step to change this virtual impasse might not be related to Europe at all but close to the Strait of Hormuz instead...
Isn't that enough evidence for Democrats?
Guys, that's like asking the FARC to talk to a rival faction that also depends on illicit drug trafficking to negotiate on behalf of the US government... Wait a second! That's exactly what's happening here! Petro was an actual member of a Colombian guerrilla organization! And Maduro's henchman Cabello has been called a drug dealer by the last 2 US administrations!
Do you recall that not long ago I had posted an article on a former Trump official passing away, namely getting killed by a suspect? Well, here's a follow-up!
ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
EUROPE
People, it's been an old rule for any kind of referendum to not portray any specific ideology or personal opinion in any of the questions included in the ballot. They blatantly broke it here!
It was more than enough to call them large cars instead of heavy or bulky or polluting cars.
Several Articles
Quote:Schumer said on MSNBC on Monday:
We’re at a turning point in America is build is crucial and history will look back on it and say did America fail itself?
Why is it crucial? Well, if we don’t aid Ukraine, Putin will walk all over Ukraine, we will lose the war. And we could be fighting in eastern Europe in a NATO ally in a few years. Americans won’t like that.
Two months ago, President Joe Biden made that same argument — that U.S. troops would be fighting Russia if more aid is not passed.
“If he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO Ally — well, we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory — then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,” Biden warned.
There's just one MAJOR problem with Biden's and Schumer's viewpoints: Ukraine has NEVER been a member of NATO nor the European Union. Thus, neither the US nor the EU are forced to do anything in Ukraine. There's no mandatory rule forcing their hand to move in any direction under the current circumstances.
Before you start calling me names, keep in mind that I was one of the first guys around the world to denounce Russia's actions as an true invasion, not just "a special operation" as Putin loves to call it. Letting the Kremlin do its bidding is a terrible idea, but right now Ukraine has no way to ensure they can achieve a relatively quick victory. And the first step to change this virtual impasse might not be related to Europe at all but close to the Strait of Hormuz instead...
Quote:“I’ve reviewed the bill, I don’t think it will solve our border crisis, and might make it worse. I will oppose it,” Cotton announced.
“Joe Biden created this crisis by design. He can and should reverse his open border policies today,” he continued before listing some of his specific issues with the bill, which was negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
“The bill gives Secretary Mayorkas the right—for the first time—to grant asylum claims (and thus American citizenship) to illegal aliens at the border without review by the immigration courts, which will be a massive pathway to rubber-stamping amnesty,” he began, highlighting the fact that the measure also codifies catch-and-release under “alternatives to detention” for any illegal who merely says they “intend” to apply for asylum or another protection.”
The bill actually creates another magnet for illegal immigration, he continued, as it gives work permits to asylum seekers “as long as they pass an initial screening by liberal bureaucrats.”
“This will be a huge magnet for more illegal immigration,” Cotton observed, adding that the bill also grants “50,000 extra green cards per year for no apparent reason and entirely unrelated to border security.”
It also “guarantees new, government-funded lawyers for illegal aliens,” he wrote, adding that the legislation also does nothing to limit “Biden and Mayorkas’s abuse of immigration parole, allowing them to continue abusing parole and issuing work permits to any illegal alien who they claim has an ‘urgent humanitarian reason’ to stay.”
Cotton also said the bill provides “humanitarian” aid to Gaza but without adequate safeguards to ensure the money is not used for “anti-American purposes.”
Quote:Whether Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas becomes only the second presidential cabinet member to be impeached by the House of Representatives in American history will likely be decided Tuesday when the issue is brought to the floor of the lower chamber for a vote.
Secretary of War George Belknap was impeached by the House in 1876, but the Senate refused to convict him. Even so, Belknap resigned from his position.
The rapid move of the two Mayorkas articles of impeachment adopted Jan. 30 by the House Committee on Homeland Security from that panel to the full House for a final vote was expedited by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) and by the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).
Meeting late into the evening Monday, the rules panel approved a “closed” rule providing for the articles to be considered without amendments being offered from the floor. The rule was adopted on an 8-4 party-line vote, with all of the Republicans supporting it and all of the Democrats opposing it.
Before the vote to adopt the closed rule, the committee also rejected an amendment on another party-line vote that would have required public airing of background information on all of the homeland security panel’s sources in its impeachment deliberations.
Republicans opposed the amendment, while Democrats supported it.
That amendment and two others offered by Democratic members of the panel had also been offered and rejected on party-line votes during the Jan. 30 proceedings.
There was little doubt on the rules panel, which includes nine Republicans and four Democrats, that all three of the Democratic amendments would be rejected.
Democrats also demanded roll call votes on all three of the amendments. One Republican, Rep. Nick Langeworthy of New York, was not present.
The vote on the rule concluded a hearing in which Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and other Democratic members of the Rules panel repeatedly claimed Republicans were impeaching Mr. Mayorkas as a “political stunt” in order to satisfy former President Donald Trump’s demands and without evidence of the secretary having committed any actions that satisfy the “high crimes and misdemeanors” provision of the Constitution.
Mr. Cole opened the hearing by reminding members of the panel “what this crisis at the border means. It means countless young Americans’ futures stolen by the poison of fentanyl, it means terrified young children abandoned by smugglers in the dark, it means criminals, traffickers and cartels becoming enriched, it means bad actors on our terrorist watch lists looking to exploit gaps to get into the country, it means support systems are overwhelmed in communities from coast to coast, it means school children losing access to their schools to house migrants, it means an over-stressed Border Patrol that is unable to successfully carry out its mission, it means a public health crisis and the tragic deaths of countless people as they enter our country drawn by the knowledge that the border is open and the United States government will not stop them.”
Isn't that enough evidence for Democrats?
Quote:During a speech in Las Vegas on Sunday, President Joe Biden boasted that he has continued canceling student debt thanks to workarounds in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked his debt relief plan—while claiming that the forgiveness won’t burden taxpayers.
“I promised we'd help eliminate accumulated student debt that millions of Americans carried during the economic pandemic and beyond,” President Biden said in the speech, recalling one of his key campaign promises.
“The Supreme Court of the United States blocked me, but they didn’t stop me,” he continued, saying he “found another way” to continue canceling student debt, while falsely claiming that the various forgiveness schemes were “not costing people” anything.
In a 6-3 decision in the summer of 2023, the Supreme Court blocked President Biden’s plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt for some 43 million Americans, protecting taxpayers from having to fund the forgiveness scheme but delivering a blow to one of the president’s campaign promises.
At the time, President Biden denounced the decision, saying in a June 30, 2023, speech at the White House that the Supreme Court decision “closed one path” but that his administration would “pursue another,” including by way of a student debt forbearance scheme under the Higher Education Act.
Since then, the Biden administration has continued to cancel debt for specific groups of federal student loan borrowers by tweaking and expanding rules under existing relief programs.
For example, in his Las Vegas speech, President Biden said he “fixed” one of the existing programs to allow public servants to get student debt relief, adding that members of this group would be getting notices in the mail soon.
“This time, they’re not going to have any doubt about who sent it to you. It’s going to have my name on it—Biden,” he declared.
Quote:The United States is urging Venezuela’s neighboring countries to help build bridges between socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition after Maduro torched a dubious deal brokered by the White House, Bloomberg reported Saturday.
Bloomberg stated that, according to anonymous individuals, two unnamed American officials met with several diplomats at the residence of the Colombian Ambassador in Washington last week and pressured the diplomats to help reconcile the socialist dictatorship and the leaders it oppresses.
A spokesperson for the Colombian embassy confirmed to Bloomberg that Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo hosted the meeting under the auspices of the Group of Latin America and Caribbean countries (GRULAC), a regional bloc that gathers periodically in the various member embassies in Washington.
...
Failure to comply will, according to NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, restore the sanctions.
Bloomberg asserted in its report that Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols and NSC Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere Juan Gonzalez have stated that the goal is “not to reimpose sanctions” on the Maduro regime.
“Instead, they want to foster conditions for a fair and competitive election that includes Maduro and the opposition, the people said, asking not to be named because they’re not authorized to speak publicly,” the report read.
The report claimed that the Biden strategy to fix the mess created by Biden’s sanctions relief hinges on Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro, who, immediately upon taking office in August 2022, allied himself with the Maduro regime.
Guys, that's like asking the FARC to talk to a rival faction that also depends on illicit drug trafficking to negotiate on behalf of the US government... Wait a second! That's exactly what's happening here! Petro was an actual member of a Colombian guerrilla organization! And Maduro's henchman Cabello has been called a drug dealer by the last 2 US administrations!
Do you recall that not long ago I had posted an article on a former Trump official passing away, namely getting killed by a suspect? Well, here's a follow-up!
Quote:Artell Cunningham, 28, was fatally shot by Maryland cops early last Tuesday morning after he gunned down [Mike] Gill, 56, and Alberto “AJ” Vasquez Jr, 35, in two separate D.C. carjackings on Monday evening.
Gill, a father of three, was shot in front of his wife, who rushed to hold his hand as he lay bleeding on the ground with one foot still inside his car. He remained alive at the scene, but died at the hospital on Saturday.
...
[Gill] served as chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
...
After shooting Gill, Cunningham continued his campaign of terror with a failed attempt to carjack another nearby motorist before moving on to Vasquez, taking his car after fatally shooting him.
“Everyone always remembers AJ. Everyone always remembers him not matter what the scene was,” his mother, Antoinette Walker said to Fox 5 DC. “With the amount of carjackings and just instances of this magnitude, now it’s touched our doorstep. It’s not right.”
Vasquez’s father, Jacob Walker, highlighted the tremendous loss that his son’s two young daughters have experienced, and said he wished he could tell him how much he loves him.
“His daughters will never get that chance to talk to him again. No weddings, no nothing. He’s 35 years old,” Walker said, before going on to grieve how gun violence “has just become normalized in a sense for America.”
The mourning father added that he would have “never had expectations that I would be…having to bury my child over something as senseless as a carjacking.”
Quote:In a video, Mike was handcuffed and escorted out by Los Angeles police at Crypto Arena after some joyous moments for him at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony on Sunday, where he won three awards in quick succession.
A police spokesperson didn’t offer a name or additional details, but confirmed a Black male was detained.
A representative for Mike did not immediately respond to an emailed or text request for comment.
“The only thing that limits your age is not being truthful about your age or what you’re doing,” the 48-year-old Mike said backstage. He won for best rap performance, rap song and rap album.
...
Mike’s first win came after he won for best rap performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” which also took home best rap song. The single features Andre 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane.
He won best rap album for “Michael.”
When he collected third award, the Atlanta-based rapper shouted out “Sweep! Atlanta, it’s a sweep!”
Quote:Police in Chicago have charged a 23-year-old suspect with shooting a woman in the face in November while inside a car.
After the incident, which occurred in Jefferson Park, law enforcement said a person inside another vehicle shot the woman while she was in another car, CWB Chicago reported Saturday.
However, investigators and prosecutors now say that is not what happened.
The suspect charged in the case was identified as Nathan Frazer, a Skokie resident. An image shows the man in question:
Prior to the shooting, someone drove Frazer to the victim’s residence to meet up with her and two other individuals, the CWB Chicago report noted, adding the suspect had only met the woman one time before the incident happened:
He arrived holding a bottle of alcohol and quickly became agitated when he misplaced his phone, but he became quiet and kept to himself after finding it in the Lexus he came in. About two hours later, the group all entered the Lexus to give Frazer a ride home, according to a written proffer filed by prosecutors.
Frazer was apparently in the seat behind the driver next to two other people. The victim in the case had taken the passenger seat. When the suspect yelled and demanded to be returned home, the driver told him the car was warming up and they were waiting for it to finish doing so.
However, once the vehicle began moving, the suspect tried to exit and the victim pleaded with him to behave, the CWB Chicago report continued:
After Frazer unsuccessfully lunged toward the victim, she yelled that he would not do anything to her “because this is a nice white neighborhood,” the proffer said.
“Who isn’t going to do anything, b***h?” allegedly Frazer replied, in sum and substance, as he pulled a gun from his waistband and immediately shot her in the face.
Quote:Damage reports piled up late Sunday as a slow-moving storm system steadily pummeled Southern California, and downtown L.A. broke a 97-year-old rainfall record.
...
On Sunday, downtown L.A. had seen 4.1 inches of rain, which broke the record for the calendar day set on Feb. 4, 1927, when 2.55 inches of rain was recorded. Sunday was the third wettest February day on record and tied for the 10th wettest day for any time of year since recordkeeping began in 1877, the National Weather Service said. (The wettest day ever was March 2, 1938, which brought 5.88 inches of rain.)
Several schools announced closures for Monday, though the bulk of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools remained open, as of this writing.
The San Francisco Chronicle noted that the storm, a “Pineapple Express” or “atmospheric river” that swept in from the Pacific and hit the whole state, had been classified as a “bomb cyclone,” which results from a dramatic decrease in air pressure.
ASIA
A Few Articles
Quote:A court in Beijing on Monday sentenced Australian writer Yang Hengjun to a “suspended death sentence” on espionage charges — effectively sentencing him to life in prison.
Australia responded with shock and outrage, denouncing the sentence as an “appalling” threat to improved relations with China.
Yang Hengjun, born in China in 1965 under the name Yang Jun, worked for the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ministry of State Security before taking a private-sector job in Hong Kong. From there, he decided to emigrate to Australia in 2002, and also lived in the United States for a time, holding a position at Columbia University as a visiting scholar. In recent years he worked as a political pundit, blogger, and writer of espionage novels.
Yang is a pro-democracy political activist, which drew the baleful attention of his former employers at the Ministry of State Security. In January 2019, he traveled to China with his wife, a Chinese citizen with permanent residency in Australia, and her child. Yang’s wife and the child were allowed to enter China, but he was arrested at the airport and has been held in “pre-trial detention” ever since.
Yang’s fateful trip to China was made at the height of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, which the Chinese Communist Party would eventually crush with a tyrannical “national security law,” and also at a time of tense relations between Australia and China. The Australian government and human rights groups have frequently protested his detention over the years, describing him as a political prisoner and criticizing his long-delayed and utterly opaque “trial” as a mockery of legal proceedings.
Quote:The governments of South Korea and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly research and develop new weapons technology, the two parties confirmed on Monday.
The agreement is the latest expansion of defense cooperation between Seoul and Riyadh, which has exploded as conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol expands efforts to elevate South Korea as a major military technology provider. Yoon has found a willing partner in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is endeavoring to diversify his alliances in the face of the catastrophic deterioration in relations between Saudi Arabia and America under leftist current President Joe Biden. Particularly aiding Saudi-South Korean ties was Biden’s decision to stop selling “offensive” weapons to Saudi Arabia in 2021, caving to pressure from pro-Iran groups to stop supporting Saudi efforts against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen.
Anonymous reports in the past year have indicated that Biden has toyed with the idea of restoring those weapons sales, but he has yet to do so. In the meantime, the Houthis have launched a terrorist campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea that has devastated global commerce, and Saudi Arabia has inked numerous deals to buy South Korean weapons.
The latest agreement surfaced following a visit to Saudi Arabia by South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik this weekend to attend the World Defense Show, a military industry showcase in Riyadh. The World Defense Show gave global investors and interested state parties the chance to discuss collaboration in defense technology and related topics with Saudi authorities, who expressed enthusiasm about military development becoming a formidable part of the Saudi economy.
“The sector is expected to contribute as much as $25 billion (93.75 billion Saudi riyals) to the country’s GDP by 2030,” the Saudi news outlet al-Arabiya reported. “It is also expected to support 40,000 direct and 60,000 indirect job opportunities, according to government estimates.”
Quote:Reuters on Monday interviewed investment managers who said India’s long effort to attract business from the “de-risking” movement, which gained steam after the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, is finally paying off even though India’s markets still have some negative qualities.
India pulled in about $20 billion in foreign money in 2023, adding to the growing volume of domestic investors.
India’s economy is projected to grow by 6.5 percent over 2024 — one of the best growth rates in the world and almost two percent better than China’s. Chinese equities pulled in about $8 billion in 2023 compared to India’s $20 billion.
India’s negative qualities include overpriced stocks, mercurial regulators, and some lingering unease over Modi’s Hindu nationalist government and the resulting domestic unrest. The potential for the Indian market is so vast that foreign money is overlooking the risks and buying in.
...
The implication from many financial analysts was that they value stability above all else, and as long as Chinese authoritarianism delivered stability and constant growth, Big Money was not losing much sleep over it. International investors give the impression that India’s market surge could taper off abruptly if China starts performing better.
India, unlike China, is a democracy, and the major risk event that could interrupt India’s market growth would be an unpredictable result in May’s national elections. Few observers expect Modi to lose, but if he and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) underperform at the polls or if the election is accompanied by domestic unrest, market-boosting reforms could be imperiled.
Another potential problem is that India’s booming stock market is fueling a rush of initial public offerings (IPOs), with at least 66 of them already planned for 2024 — but with valuations pushed so high by the roaring market, there is a strong risk that some of those IPOs will flop and scare investors away.
MIDDLE EAST
2 Articles
Quote:The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen wrote a menacing post on the Telegram messaging platform in December that suggested they might try cutting undersea cables carrying Internet traffic from around the world.
Telecom corporations affiliated with the legitimate government of Yemen warned on Monday that the Houthis are capable of such sabotage because global firms unwisely did business with them and showed them how the undersea cable system works.
The alarming Houthi post on Telegram included a map of telecommunication cables running along the bottom of the Red Sea, along with an ominous message, which read, “There are maps of international cables connecting all regions of the world through the sea. It seems that Yemen is in a strategic location, as internet lines that connect entire continents – not only countries – pass near it.”
The Houthis have been launching terrorist attacks against Red Sea shipping to support the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, shutting down one of the world’s most important sea lanes. Sabotaging the world’s Internet traffic seems like something they might consider doing if they can overcome the logistical hurdles.
According to Yemeni telecom corporations, up to 16 major undersea submarine cables run through the Red Sea towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. One of them links Southeast Asia to Europe. In total, the cables handle about 17 percent of the world’s Internet traffic, which is, coincidentally, close to the percentage of world shipping that passed through the Red Sea before the Houthis began attacking ships with missiles, drones, and hijackers.
Quote:Shipowners determined to make a bid for a return to normalcy in global trade without running the risk of becoming a victim of Iran-backed rebels in the Red Sea are asking for clearance to embark armed security teams.
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A group of Dutch shipowners have approached the Ministry of Defence in Amsterdam to get permission to embark armed teams onboard cargo ships flying the national flag. While the mercenaries would be of little use in the case of a missile attack — of which there have been many since the Houthis started launching strikes on global trade in sympathy with their allies in Gaza — the ship owners want them in case of pirate attacks by the terror group.
That boarding raids are part of the Houthis’ modus operandi was dramatically illustrated at the end of last year when large car carrier the Galaxy Leader was taken by their commandos. The ship, her crew, and its valuable cargo remains in the possession of the Houthis, with the group even allowing curious members of the public to go aboard to enjoy the new “tourist attraction”.
Acting on the assumption that the group of navies working to defend merchant ships from Houthi missiles and drones would soon succeed in the combination of shootdowns and strikes against launch sites in Yemen, the Royal Association of Dutch Shipowners sought to get teams to defend their ships against attacks on their ships by boatloads of fighters, Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) reports.
The embarkation of armed teams is redolent of the response by many ship owners to the Somali Pirate attack crisis earlier this century, when large numbers of ships transiting the Gulf of Aden were attacked by gangs using fast boats, commonly armed with ex-Soviet stock weapons like the AK-47 platform and rocket-propelled grenades. The United Nations’ International Maritime Organisation issued new guidance on Private Armed Security over the Somali piracy attacks, noting “The carriage of firearms on board merchant ships is a complex legal issue”.
EUROPE
A Few Articles
Quote:King Charles has cancer, Buckingham Palace has said in a statement, and he will postpone his public duties while undergoing a programme of treatment that began today.
Just days after being discharged from hospital for treatment of a non-cancerous enlarged prostate, it has been revealed King Charles III also has cancer. The cancer was discovered during tests the monarch underwent during his hospital stay, which identified a “separate issue of concern”.
Subsequent testing confirmed the King does have a non-specified “form of cancer”, Buckingham Palace said, and that he had already started a regime of treatment today.
The BBC reports the King has received treatment in London as an outpatient.
While the King is unable to perform public duties, the Palace made clear his constitutional role is unaffected as he would be able to continue to undertake “State business and official paperwork as usual”.
...
King Charles III is the King of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and ten other Commonwealth Realms besides. As a Constitutional monarch, his assent is required for the passing of laws but in practice this is now a mere formality, and he acts on the advice of his Prime Minister and Parliament.
Quote:Self-styled Californian Prince Harry has spoken to the King and will fly back to Britain to see his father in the wake of his cancer diagnosis having been made public, British tabloid newspaper The Sun reports, citing “a source close to Harry”. Per the claims, the King telephoned Prince Harry ahead of the announcement today that Charles III had started cancer treatment.
In recent years, Harry’s trips to the UK have generally been in support of his court cases, and it is reported he has seen little of his family, following an alleged rift. It was claimed during a three-day flying visit to Britain for a court hearing in 2023, Harry was unable to see his father or brother. The Sun claims Harry will come alone, and his wife Meghan Markle and their children Archie and Lillibet will remain in the United States.
King Charles had been in hospital last week for a planned procedure on an enlarged prostate, which the Palace reassured the public at the time was benign and not cancerous. However, tests taken while the King was admitted discovered a “separate issue of concern”, which subsequent investigation revealed to be a “form of cancer”. The King started treatment today, and an announcement that this was happening was made at six o’clock.
Quote:In the case of a war between the United Kingdom and a similarly-sized opponent, the British Armed Forces would exhaust their capabilities “after the first couple of months of the engagement,” said General Sir Nick Carter, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, a House of Commons defence committee report revealed.
General Lord Houghton told the committee that there has been a “hollowing out” of the Armed Forces since 2010, which has resulted in shortfalls in the country’s warfighting resilience.
The Ministry of Defence admitted that gaps in their warfighting readiness include insufficient infrastructure and warehousing for munitions, infrastructure at key ports and airbases, operational medical capacity, and armoured vehicle equipment support.
The Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, claimed that while the cuts to the military were necessary at the time they were enacted, but acknowledged that “there is a whole load of stuff that we disinvested in that we urgently need to reinvest in” and that the Minstry of Defence has “an awful lot of work to do to recover the… readiness that we enjoyed during the cold war, and that we require again now.”
In addition to suffering under lack of investment, the readiness of the military has also been diminished by aid to Ukraine. According to The Telegraph, the 155th Artillery Regiment is literally out of guns after they were shipped to Kyiv for the war effort against Russia.
The House of Commons report also noted that “bottleneck in procurement and delivery” for the 6,000 NLAW anti-tank systems and 155mm artillery ammunition Britain sent to Ukraine will not likely to begin to be replenished at scale until later this year. Therefore, the report said that the MoD should be “strategic about the resources we have, including how to maintain and replenish stockpiles”.
The British armed forces have also struggled to hit recruiting targets and at present, only have around 75,000 soldiers in the army, approximately half that of thirty years ago. This has prompted suggestions from General Patrick Sanders, the head of the British army, that the UK may need to call upon a “civilian army” in the event of a major conflict.
Quote:Parisians voted Sunday to muscle SUVs off the French capital’s streets by making them much more expensive to park from fall, the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the host city for this year’s Olympic Games greener and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.
More than 54% of the votes cast in the low-turnout election supported the measure to triple parking fees for large SUV drivers from out of town to 18 euros ($19.50) per hour in the city’s center, according to official results from City Hall. Only 5.7% of the 1.3 million eligible voters cast ballots at the 39 voting stations around the city.
In get-out-the-vote posts on social media, Hidalgo argued that SUVs take up too much space on narrow Parisian streets, are too polluting and “threaten our health and our planet,” and cause more traffic accidents than smaller cars. The additional fees will come into force from Sept. 1, Hidalgo said.
“The time has come to break with this tendency for cars that are always bigger, taller, wider,” she said. “You have the power to take back ownership of our streets.”
The cost for non-residents to park SUVs in Paris´ central districts, in the arrondissements numbered 1 through 11, would soar to 18 euros ($19.5) per hour for the first two hours, compared to 6 euros per hour for smaller cars.
After that, parking would become increasingly punitive. A six-hour stay with an SUV – enough, say, to take in a show and a restaurant – would cost a whopping 225 euros ($243), compared to 75 euros for smaller vehicles.
Away from the heart of the city, in Paris’ outer arrondissements numbered 12 through 20, an out-of-town SUV driver would pay 12 euros per hour for the first two hours, progressively rising to 150 euros for six hours.
The mini-referendum was open to Parisians registered to vote. The question they were asked was: “For or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars?”
People, it's been an old rule for any kind of referendum to not portray any specific ideology or personal opinion in any of the questions included in the ballot. They blatantly broke it here!
It was more than enough to call them large cars instead of heavy or bulky or polluting cars.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE