Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

If that is the case , then fair dues to American - it picked A very , very, very good “A” team to defend Ukr -Its incredible how Ukr have held out for so long and is still holding out

"Information overload" (aka "fill the air with as much all sorts of contradictory shíte as possible") is exactly the Russian troll tactic.

When you see this happening online you know that:

It's either trolls in the service of Kremlin, directly and willingly spreading Russia state propaganda.

Or as useful idiots just playing for Kremlin on their own volition for whatever reason.

The Russian invasion is grounding to a halt by all accounts. The Ukraine now has a chance to turn things back in their favour.

Unfortunately, Russians use human bodies as a cannon fodder and attack as insects. They will keep throwing poorer and poorer recruits (forced) at it at a massive cost and losses. That's how they did it in WW2 and one of the reasons they "won". Millions were used to swarm.

Thankfully, it's not 1942 and they don't have million of men to throw at it. The still have loads though.

This could go on for a long time, unless Ukraine gets superior tech in large numbers. In modern warfare the tech actually matters...

ooo

Security Service: Russian forces attack their proxies in Ukraine. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on July 10, citing intercepted phone calls, that Russian troops had bombed a battalion of their proxies from Donetsk Oblast fighting on their side. According to a phone conversation by one of Russia's proxies, the battalion was trying to withdraw from the frontline near Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, when Russians attacked them.

Some up-to-date news on the invasion of Ukraine.

Also, the US defence office says if the Ukraine can arrange it, an attack on the Minsk Bridge is fair game. It would however require a long-range weapon of significant power.

This is not some kind of a bragging rights contest.

Russia has no business in Ukraine and Ukraine is entitled to do all it can to repel the invader

Other countries have a moral obligation to give Ukraine what help they can ,in the knowledge that by doing so they are also acting in their own self interest .

Only naive fools believe what either side of a military conflict say without a grain of salt

But this does not establish any kind of a moral equivalence between Russia and Ukraine (other than that both countries are victims of the same criminal cabal in the Kremlin)

Countries have a moral obligation to protect themselves and this is what both the Ukraine and we are doing.

Tactics are a different thing and fish can be fried in many ways.

But allowing and rewarding barefaced territorial aggression is something that only the naive or the cowardly would advise.

We ,like Ukraine have little choice but to stand up to crude and barbaric aggression.

For us ,moreso than Ukraine the costs are not so high when placed against the cost of failure

(for Ukraine the costs of success and failure are both intolerably high and theirs must be the judgement which course to take.We must support whatever they decide)

Our energy security should have been arranged before this conflict showed it up and would have had to be addressed anyway in light of the climate emergency.

By "we"I was not referring to Ireland specifically-I meant the democracies.

Do you think Ireland should do more?

Is Ukraine asking for more from Ireland?

Interesting stuff from latest eurobarometer polls.

While 59% of people in europe see preservation of European values as priority, (as opposed to maintaining prices and cost of living), in same survey 59 and 58% are not ready to face a rise in food and energy prices respectively, as a consequence of sanctions against russia.

Cost of living crisis certainly starting to bite, and this survey was only done in April-May. Ukraine need a big win before winter or public support will dwindle

Took a quick look at the questions on the Eurobarometer Survey (think it was this one) https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2792

Seems pretty clear that "values" and defending them are being put above any economic factors across the majority of the EU at the moment, as they linked them directly in the key question.

From the summary:

Freedom is not for free – and that is OK. Nearly six out of ten respondents (59%) say the defence of common European values such as freedom and democracy is more important than maintaining prices and the cost of living. This is also the relative majority view in 20 Member States.

QA15 is a Likert scale running from 1 (The defence of our common European values such as democracy & freedom must be a priority, even if...) up to 6-(Maintaining prices and the cost of living must be a priority even if...)

Most respondants are falling on ranges 1-3 (59 %).

In any case how does a 180degree reversed European approach to Ukraine actually fix any of this (energy costs and shortages) without also creating some bigger problems down the line? Kow-towing (that's what it will be) to Putin/Russia now is very much a can kicking exercise. How it works to benefit Europe apart from perhaps some cheaper energy in short term is never explained. If you consider what will probably happen after stopping the military support of Ukraine and ending the EU sanctions for more than 2 seconds, it is clear its a very bad idea. That's leaving aside bone fides of the people who argue for/promote such policies or why they do so (not for our benefit imo).

The above posters point (be careful what you wish for!) is a good one as well. If the US/EU really start finding the global economic costs and stresses of a prolonged war in Ukraine mounting and becoming intolerable (inflation, energy shortages this winter, potential famines??) later in the year, they could decide the best option is to ramp up the military support for Ukraine and the economic warfare on Russia even further, ignoring all the (not so veiled) threats of military escalation and retaliatory actions by Putin.

Thankfully, the most pro-European Czech government in 20 years is taking up the EU Presidency after the French is going to make sure there are further EU sanctions and EU military action 👍🏻 Incredibly lucky it's this government and not the previous populist one. All the populists now in the opposition are showing their feathers talking about how consumer prices should be the focus and not Ukraine and that essentially Ukraine should be left to rot.

I think it's time to challenge the taboo of Irish fake neutrality. Or however you call it. Let's call a spade a spade.

Getting more involved in EU defence leveraging and complementary to NATO would probably be a good choice for Ireland as I thought because I expected it would be very palatable to Finland and Sweden also but that's changed. Now the whole EU is in NATO essentially bar Cyprus, Malta (microstates), Austria and Ireland. So the only one to work with on EU defence is Austria, erm not so sure this is the way but.

April 2022 visit to Austria:

One thing is militarism, another is defending democracy, freedom and human rights. The latter can't be defended with words. Austrian army isn't great but is it a 3 times active personel and 15 times reservists of Ireland. Irish army is essentially a joke, especially if you are "neutral".

Nothing, except their privacy, yes?