Is Russia killing its own wounded soldiers to prevent them being captured? There are Russian videos uploaded with Russian soldiers claiming exactly that. Russia is using drones to eliminate wounded Russian soldiers to prevent them being captured.

The Moscow Times and the Kyiv Post are reporting the Russians are using drones to kill their own wounded. They have long used reserve soldiers to prevent their own soldiers retreat, they prevent soldiers deserting. They have shelled their own troops so many times, they have meat attacks where they launch infantry against trenches without artillery or tank support.

Russia does not want their POWs back, the rising number of desertions has swelled prisoner numbers in Ukraine. The embarrassment in Russia, the claim of traitors and the exchange of Ukrainian prisoners are all issues. Russian soldiers have seen the truth of what is happening in Ukraine, they know how they have been treated by their commanders and they know the treatment by the Ukrainians are far superior and that embarrasses Russia.

I followed Warthog Defense daily for the last couple of years to keep me updated about Ukraine war updates. So when I couldn’t find any recent updates I was wondering what happened. Then I tried to check out some of their older videos and I knew YouTube had got them. I finally found an explanation on Sunday from Professor Gerdes Explains that they had officially been removed and the reason why. 

The reason was bullshit, Warthog Defense is not impersonating any channel, this is a cop out and everyone sees through it. But one has to ask, why has YouTube invoked such a silly provision? I would suspect there were constant complaints from Russian based sources until they finally succeeded under sheer weight of numbers.

I had similar issues with my blog Observations in an undemocratic world from blogger, without notice Blogger deleted a number of my posts after complaints without notice. I worked out pretty quickly that I was beholden to Google and had no recourse. You can use the analytics and there was plenty of Russian traffic leading up to the complaint. 

It really cost me page views too, to this day, I still have plenty of page views for a blog I have not posted to since May 2021. Moving to WordPress, it costs me a subscription unlike Blogger but also gives me freedom to write what I want to write. While YouTube gives Warthog Defense viewers, should they move to a new platform then they can take those loyal viewers with them. I will follow Warthog Defense to their new delivery platform, they create quality content and should YouTube uphold their decision, then onto a new video platform.

I read an article in The Australian written by columnist David Penberthy, he detailed the story of a former military surgeon who is assisting not only medics in Ukraine, he is field operating on severely wounded soldiers to save their lives. Dr Craig Jurisevic has plenty of experience in war zones, he is offering his specialised services to save brave Ukrainian lives – I have the utmost respect for this guy.

Dr Jurisevic is highly complementary of the Ukrainian soldiers, he has nothing but respect for both their courage, tenacity, their resourcefulness and their motivation. Based on the article, he stated that they know they are going to win, it is not a war of their choosing, they have to win as it is a war for their existence. I do like the self-belief of the Ukrainians, they brave, they are resourceful, they are willing to fight Russian aggression and they have performed better than most expected.

What the surgeon reported was these soldiers with horrific injuries only required small amounts of pain relief compared to what patients normally require. He said he saw patients sitting in a hospital bed a day after major operations, this is their level of motivation. I am guessing this pain relief is in short supply, so they get by with what they have. They just get on with it, they are mentally strong and they are committed.

Dr Craig Jurisevic stated the soldiers are different in Ukraine that other theatres of war he served. In one case, a soldier who lost a leg was returned to the front lines six weeks later with a temporary artificial leg flying drones. Their injuries are severe, losing limbs after stepping on mines, some have lost both legs and an arm. This is amazing, they are defending their people, their land, their way of life and they are preventing annihilation.

I fully believe, against all odds, that Ukraine will prevail here, as long as the US and European governments continue to support Ukraine with weaponry and punish Russia with sanctions. Ukraine does the fighting to liberate their country, the rest of the world chips in with support. Furthermore, the sanctions on the Russian state and Russian oligarchs should be increased to reduce and erode oligarch support for Putin. Despite being a dictator, he still requires the support of the Russian ruling class to maintain his hold on power.

We are all aware of the Israeli military doctrine, any response to attacks or aggression will be disproportionate. If you start a fight with Israel, everyone knows they will apply intense pressure, you will pay. Israel values the lives of their citizens, they will spare no expense and effort to free their citizens. Israel will flatten Gaza to get the 250 hostages back, this is clear.

I have been following the media briefings on YouTube by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, when he gets questioned in an aggressive manner and is forced to defend the actions of Israel, he fires up. Driving to work one morning I heard the news headlines of the Israeli rocket attack on the Al-Shifa Hospital. I was a little surprised by these headlines, Israel does not normally target hospitals. So I asked myself, was this an Israeli missile that missed a target, an iron dome intercept missile that fell to the ground or some other scenario I did not envision.

As the morning played out, I had my headphones on in our open plan office to drown out the chatter and background noise. Then the Al Jazeira video footage was published, this was a Hamas missile fired over the hospital that failed to ignite and fell into the carpark killing the people camped there for protection. The condemnation of the world on Israel was lifted, the world instead saw Hamas were firing missiles over a hospital, but seriously, what does one expect from a terrorist organisation?

I understand Glen does not like this nickname, The Big Show just became The Biggest Show. It was around 11 pm and I was falling asleep. Australia was in serious trouble at 7-91 chasing down Afghanistan’s total of 5-291 in the 19th over. Glen Maxwell was coming off a big innings against the Netherlands, scoring an amazing 106 off of 44 balls.

I turned the cricket on for the final stages of Afghanistan’s innings, they put on a pretty decent display. At the 40th over, they were around 200, then they accelerated away in the final 4 overs to post a decent total of 291. I was cooking garlic prawns for my late dinner, Mitch Marsh was hitting fours and sixes and Australia looked well on its way to running down this total.

It was looking like a feasible run chase with Marnus Labuschagne at the crease; however, Marnus was dozing when Glen called a quick single and he nearly made his ground. Then Inglis, Stoinis and Starc all got out in a short time leaving Australia highly vulnerable, defeat seemed inevitable. It was late in the evening, I had to work the next day so I went to bed close to midnight seeing a victory unlikely.

Maxwell was having back spasms and leg cramps, he had difficulty running so quick singles were out and boundaries and sixes were required. So not only was Glen battling Afghanistan, he was fighting himself. I missed the news on the radio when I got up and got ready, so I was in my vehicle on my way to work the next morning when the 7am news came on the radio, Australia had booked a place in the semi-final against South Africa and Maxi scored 201 not out. I could not believe it, this was a comeback for the ages, this was the point where the belief became real.

So we had the referendum we didn’t need to have, the whole premise of The Voice to Parliament was poorly thought out, disgracefully proposed, had no bipartisan support and was a waste of over $400 million of taxpayers money. 

Generally referendums fail, but one that sought to change the constitution of Australia had to be properly thought out. What the Albernese government offer was no solution, the details were going to be negotiated at a later time, that was once we ceded power to Canberra – nah. If we are going to make a profound change to the constitution, then the changes had better be properly discussed in a public forum, costed and implications identified.

Two real stars to come out of the campaign were Warren Mundine, a well known and well respected indigenous politician. When warren puts a case forward, it is worth taking note of what he has to say as he is pretty level-headed, well spoken and can articulate a strong and well researched case. Warren was a prominent No campaigner, he did not support The Voice to Parliament in its current state. Warren wants to make a difference to aboriginal lives and he knew this was not the vehicle to do so.

Jacinta Price was the star of the No campaign, she was not such a prominent politician as Warren Mundine at the beginning of the six week campaign. However, Anthony Albanese turned Senator Price into a superstar performer, she excelled in her take-down of the Yes campaign. Senator Price is from Alice Springs in central Australia. Jacinta lives in the very town where the changes need to be made, she knows better than most the challenges faced by ind indigenous communities.

Prominent Yes campaigner from the Albanese government Linda Burney was in all types of trouble in her electrate. There was an overwhelming No vote, I could argue Linda Burney did not Barton represent her electorate, voters in Barton voted 54.97% No and 44.03% Yes. Interestingly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s inner city Greyndler electrolate voted strongly Yes at 74.3% and only 25.7% No. This inner city latte sipping electorate buckled the national trend of a roughly 60/40 split.

Despite Anthony Albanese’s personal success in his electorate, not one state in Australia supported the referendum. However, the Australian Capital Territory, the home of Canberra voted Yes. To keep some perspective, the Australian Capital Territory is really a small enclave in the state of New South Wales and many would argue out of touch with mainstream Australia. Canberra has only three electorates in the city itself with Bean voting Yes 53.35%  and No 43.66%, Canberra voting Yes 70.59% and No 29.41% along with Fenner Yes 57.44% and No 42.56%

At the time of Federation in 1901, there was a disagreement between Sydney and Melbourne where the national capital should be and no decision could be reached. So it was decided to build the national capital halfway between the two most populated cities in the country in basically a farmer’s field. Canberra began it’s life as a compromise, and that is still what Canberra is. Even now, Canberra is not a big city with a population of just 464,601 [March 2023]. Canberra is a just a political city, that is its whole purpose.

The national capital has no real industry, it is a political city mostly inhabited by career bureaucrats. Most people know what these left-wing government paper shufflers are all about. So it was no surprise why they voted Yes, Canberra is the problem. The vast majority of Australians want better outcomes for aboriginal Australians, they know Canberra is a money pit full of consultants and political activists that skim enormous sums of money away from the indigenous programs to better the lives of indigenous Australians that make up 3% of the population. 

So I propose a change to improve indigenous outcomes. The location of Canberra is so turn of the 20th century when transport was limited. A city such as Canberra that was halfway between the two major population centres almost made sense at that time. This is no longer the case, with modern transport systems, frequent airline services throughout the contrary, distances are significantly reduced. When Canberra was proposed in 1901, the first powered flight by the Wright brothers was still a couple of years away.

Moving the national capital to to heart of Australia makes sense, with modern transport infrastructure, a capital in Alice Springs is now feasible. The Canberra bureaucrats who voted for the indigenous Voice to Parliament can now back up their convictions. Setting up a capital in the centre of Australia will benefit indigenous Australians greatly. Moving the capital city to the heart and centre of the country will advance their cause significantly. 

The government infrastructure bring built will offer fantastic employment opportunities for local communities. With the rapid population growth of federal bureaucrats, the requirement to build communities will allow local indigenous people to interact directly with government officials. Even better, foreign embassies need to be built at the national capital, the opportunity for foreign diplomatic staff to directly interact with local communities will be outstanding.

Skills and training programs will be set up, with government programs set up, they will be easy to monitor from the new national capital. The crime will be significantly reduced, the national capital requires a well funded and organised police force, the crime on the streets of Alice Springs will be cleaned up. 

With international embassies set up in Alice Springs, the eyes of the world will be on the indigenous people of the area. The international press will be based at Alice Springs, the eyes of the world will now be focused on indigenous outcomes. Alice Springs will be an international city with federal government employees living and working in Alice Springs, local indigenous voices will be heard after all.

When Israel commenced its assault on Gaza, I was concerned with the tunnel network and how Israeli soldiers would be ambushed in urban fighting. Already, this is a difficult fight, Hamas have long prepared for this battle, they have planned, they have trained, they are well funded and they are ready to execute their evil plans.

What we saw during the surprise attack on southern Israel, the Hamas assault teams were well trained, they were organised and they achieved their objectives. How Hamas was able to plan this surprise attack without the knowledge of Israeli intelligence is stunning, the reliance on technology is what allowed Hamas to plan this attack undetected.

Let me be clear here, I acknowledge the planning, training and execution of this assault on Israel. Hamas and its backers were well funded, recruited disaffected people to carry out these depraved acts of hatred and violence and trained their fighters with the skills to be effective. I do not condone their actions, I do not support any of their twisted theology

The terrorists that crossed into Israel displayed the brutality of ISIS, their acts against women, children and the aged is just disgusting. The Palestinians in Gaza did themselves no favours in the eyes of the world when the terrorists openly paraded the hostages around the streets of Gaza to cheers, spitting on the hostages, these are ordinary Palestinian people here, they should be ashamed of themselves. They cannot complain when the Israeli offensive begins to rescue these hostages – we all know what will happen.

I drove down to the family weekend house on a Thursday afternoon, the night before there was an amazing semi final between cup hosts India and New Zealand. As an Aussie, New Zealand is my second team that I support, so I was pretty happy to see them at the knockout phase of the tournament. 

I work from home on a Friday so  I knocked off work at the usual time and I have to stop at the supermarket to purchase my weekend food. Apparently South Africa won the toss decided to bat first, I was not aware of this yet though. I switched the television on and could not believe what I was seeing. South Africa were 4/64 after 19 overs. The run rate was 3.00, but Klaasen and Miller were still at the crease so they were not finished yet. 

After 25 overs, or the halfway point of their innings South Africa were 4/84 with a slightly better run rate of a pedestrian  3.16, highly unusual for a semi final. South Africa has never progressed past a semi final in a world cup – not ever. Their nemesis has been Australia, even though the players have changed over the years, the mental anguish  of choking on the big stage is in their minds.

Adam Zampa was going for 8.00 per over, Glen Maxwell at the other end was bowling tight. The commentators were calling for a change so on comes Travis Head. Trav went for a couple of boundaries for his first ball, then a dot ball with the 4th ball of his first over saw the dangerous Klaasen’s leg stump knocked over. This could be the breakthrough Australia needed, this was the partnership that had the potential to rescue South Africa. 

Then Jansen comes to the crease, the first ball hits his pads and an appeal, sees the umpire lift his finger. Klaasen and Miller meet in the middle of the wicket, the pair decides to challenge the decision, I don’t see why, he was out. So after the third umpire fails to overturn the original decision, Travis Head is about to bowl the final ball of his first over and is on a hat trick. Coetzee survives, but South Africa is in real trouble, they are about to fail again in a semi final.

An area that concerns me is Chinese criticism of Australia concerning the racism element of their diplomacy. They are engaging in economic coercion with Australia under the guise of racism as they are angry of Australian government calls for an independent enquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. The international community is aware of CCP attempts to cover up news the spread of coronavirus in China, it did get out and infect the world, that is a known fact, what we want to know is how it began so we can prevent it happening in the future.

What the CCP is doing is engaging in a new and aggressive style of diplomacy that is really not doing anyone any good. This arrogant attitude of the CCP believing how dare Australia call into question Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus. The whole world has been affected by this pandemic, millions of people infected and the deaths have not finished yet.

The CCP, the Chinese Communist Party is deplorable but we need to ensure this is not reflected in the treatment of Chinese people. They are suffering too, nobody believes CCP figures regarding infection rates in China. Notwithstanding, the economic slowdown in China is hurting their people too, this may cause an uprising but this is unlikely given the level of surveillance in the country.

Through free trade, the people of China have enjoyed economic success pulling millions out of abject poverty and this has damaged the livelihoods of inhabitants of industrialised countries. China has been allowed in international trading organisations and abused every opportunity from currency manipulation, forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft and dumping.

Let me be clear here, we have no issues with Chinese people, the strategy and tactics of the CCP borders on disgraceful but we have no issues with the citizens of China. Now, I must also address that issues have occurred in Australia against Chinese and Singaporean students and just about every Australian deplores these attacks – these are not on.

What you would expect the CCP to do during the trade war with the US is improve relationships with its trading partners of Australia, Japan, India and the EU to drive a wedge between allies to isolate the US. Instead, the arrogance of the CCP intends to coerce all countries that don’t fit their philosophy that will force countries to create trading partnerships isolating China.

During the covid pandemic Republican Governor Ron DeSantis gained national coverage keeping the state open. I am interested in different perspectives on handling the pandemic, so the Florida approach was to open earlier than the other states even though there was increased rates of infection and death to certain groups within the community.

What annoyed me was when DeSantis told the students at the press conference at the University of South Florida to take their masks off and stop with theatre as masks don’t do anything anyway. The students under pressure removed their masks, but this leads me to this question, what is US freedom? If the students were free, why would they need to be told to remove their masks in a pandemic? Freedom is making your own choices, DeSantis just removed the very freedoms the Americans bang on about.

Florida was a state that opened early, so I am very interested in looking at the performance of that state from a perspective of were Florida’s death rates higher than other states? A major US study found that masks and social distancing drove down infection rates. However, masks and social distancing did not affect death rates as much as expected. Instead, factors such as population age, general health and wellbeing, race, poverty, health care access and vaccination were the decisive factors in reducing death rates.

So Florida’s older less healthy population was harder hit than other states, that would make sense based on the general population trends as Florida has the reputation as the retirement state. Interestingly, education rates were listed in the report as affecting death rates, I would like to know why. Regardless, people should not be pressured to remove masks for a political television moment, respect these people’s freedom to choose and wear masks if they want to even if it doesn’t look good on your press conference.