Tag: cannon fodder

How Musk Sold Out America’s Veterans – OpEd

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How Musk Sold Out America’s Veterans – OpEd

Former service members around the country already feel the repercussions, which include cuts to transportation programs for disabled veterans, reduced telephone support for caregivers, and the postponement or cancellation of suicide prevention trainings.

Other veterans report the cancellation of therapy groups and longer wait times for appointments as well as disruptions to medical studies, including a clinical trial on a new medication with the potential to treat cancers of the mouth and throat. Some facilities eliminated staff members especially trained or certified to perform certain roles, delaying the requisition and delivery of medical supplies.

As always happens amid Musk’s ham-handed raids, the cuts at the VA commenced without the slightest foresight or sense. Among many other examples, officials summarily canceled hundreds of contracts with outside providers, only to immediately scale back the reckless decision after realizing they needed the help performing essential work like physician recruitment and burial services.

Kaldahl, who receives hearing aids, eye care, and other services from the VA, has to travel to larger cities, such as Superior, Wisconsin, or Minneapolis, to receive care unavailable at a clinic near his home.

The racial and class question

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The racial and class question

Virtually forgotten due to the discourse of Ukrainian unity and the general lack of interest in analyzing the nuances of events, the racial and class question is going virtually unnoticed in this war. If the Donbass conflict had a proletarian aspect that the press mocked in the first weeks of the DPR due to those Soviet-looking press conferences of workers and academics, in the current context, there have not even been any such comments. Presented as a war of national liberation, no aspect other than nationalism has deserved much mention in the Western press or in academia. Volodymyr Ishchenko and Ilya Matveev, who have sought to study the class aspect in the outbreak of the conflict, are the rare exception. To Ischenko’s surprise, RFE/RL published an article last September that dealt, albeit in generalities and without great depth, with the increase in inequality that war implies, an aspect that is, on the other hand, perfectly evident. “As the war drags on, the gaps in Ukrainian society are widening,” the American media headlines.

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Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?

‘The ants that get trampled on’

Not everyone agrees with drawing closer to the US, however, and they warn about the Philippines turning into a “proxy” for American interests. The president’s own sister Imee, a senator, told ANC Digital earlier this month that “China will always be our neighbour, we have no fight with them, let’s not get dragged into a fight that’s not our own.”

Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, director of the pro-China Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, wrote in the Manila Times on February 10 that “agreements such as the EDCA, the VFA and the Mutual Defence Treaty have not only cemented the US military presence and influence in the Philippines but also, most importantly, exemplified the Philippines’ dependence on the US in the military and defence sector.”

Teresita Ang See, former president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and currently part of its advisory council, told This Week in Asia: “Filipinos in general condemn China’s action. But many also understand that China’s assertiveness is in response to US, Japanese and Australian provocations and increasing military presence in the Philippines.”

She warned that “we are fighting a proxy war between the US and China and in the end we will be the ants that get trampled upon”.

H/T: Johnsonwkchoi

Related:

Responding to the Catholic Bishops

Philippines counts the cost of tough South China Sea stance against Beijing

With duplicity, the Philippines hot-headedly positions itself as the US’ cannon fodder + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What does the Philippines want – a stable and conducive environment for its peaceful development, or to be trapped in the unpredictable game of geopolitics? Recently, the country’s actions and words have been filled with duplicity and complexity, but the trend is discernible – the Philippines is hot-headedly positioning itself as a vanguard, bridgehead, and even cannon fodder for the US.

With duplicity, the Philippines hot-headedly positions itself as the US’ cannon fodder

Related:

8th PH-CN BCM in the South China Sea: A Step Forward, But What Lies Ahead

Philippines to develop islands in South China Sea + More

Tonto Strikes Again: Preempts Task Force, DFA + and an update (Philippines)

U.S. Agent To Be New President Of Finland

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Alexander Stubb will willingly build a new Iron Curtain in Europe if he becomes the President of Finland. Mr. Stubb, former Prime Minister of Finland (2014–2015), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011), member of the National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus or Kokoomus) leading the ruling coalition and the government, rejects the possibility of restoring relations with Russia even once the war in Ukraine ends. After the armed conflict in Ukraine, Stubb is ready to start a war in Finland.

U.S. Agent To Be New President Of Finland

Related:

Alexander Stubb: Relations with Russia only when Ukraine wins the war

Former Finnish premier Stubb reveals his CIA-contacts as Plame and Lavery

Do Russians know everything about Alexander Stubb’s cooperation with the CIA?

Flash : Ukrainian Nazi organization Azov is openly recruiting in France

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ukrainian Azov organization has already enrolled foreigners since 2014. As an example and according to reliable sources, French Nazi militant Karel Cherel Salzburg joined the formation in 2018, through Bastion social, a supremacist group in Lyon, then Gaston Besson (link in French), a French war criminal during the civil war in former Yugoslavia, who was then operating as recruiter in Switzerland

Flash : Ukrainian Nazi organization Azov is openly recruiting in France

Related:

LCI gives the floor to a French neo-Nazi mercenary fighting for Ukraine – Donbass Insider (Karel Cherel-Salzburg)

Ukrainian government persecutes pacifist, while Zelensky meets with neo-Nazi leader

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The NATO-backed government of President Volodymyr Zelensky has officially charged Ukrainian peace activist Yurii Sheliazhenko with “justification of Russian aggression.” After the country’s Security Service (SBU) raided his Kiev apartment earlier this month, Sheliazhenko has been interrogated and placed under nightly house arrest as he awaits prosecution.

Ukrainian government persecutes pacifist, while Zelensky meets with neo-Nazi leader

Related:

Ukrainian pacifist Yurii Sheliazhenko sentenced to house arrest until October 11 from 10pm to 6am the next day

This post is also available in: Italian, German, Greek

Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World

Democracy Now: Why Is Ukraine Prosecuting Pacifist Yurii Sheliazhenko for “Justifying Russian Aggression”?

Ukraine Fires Top Military Enlistment Officers After Bribery Scandal

US Announces $345 Million in Unprecedented Military Aid for Taiwan

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The weapons are being provided through the presidential drawdown authority, the primary way the US has been arming Taiwan

US Announces $345 Million in Unprecedented Military Aid for Taiwan

Related:

China slams first US military aid to Taiwan island under Presidential Drawdown Authority

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities’ stubborn insistence on the secessionist position of “Taiwan independence,” attempting to seek “independence” by relying on the US and by using force, begging for US arms sales or military aid, and enhancing military collusion with the US are moves that are making Taiwan a powder keg and ammunition depot, and have increased the danger and risk of a conflict in the Taiwan Straits, Chen said.

If the DPP is allowed to follow this path to the end, the youth will only become cannon fodder, the spokesperson said.

…

But no matter how “Taiwan independence” forces collude with external interference forces, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is fully capable of crushing their attempts in seeking “independence” or resisting reunification by force, Wei said.

New York Times admits, then covers up, massive Ukraine casualties

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Since January of this year, the New York Times has published dozens of articles claiming that Ukraine’s “spring offensive” would be a decisive turning point in the war with Russia. But this offensive, now six weeks old, has turned into a debacle. While Ukrainian forces have nowhere breached Russia’s main defensive line, tens of thousands of troops have died.

New York Times admits, then covers up, massive Ukraine casualties