Russia invades Ukraine

[FlamesAddiction]

It was kind of odd to hear Bout praising his American captors saying that he was treated with respect, they kept the cuffs loose, and always fed him. I guess the expectations for prison in Russia are really low.

Griner on the other hand, is going directly to the hospital when she gets back.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Locke

I think Canada has spent more on the Ukrainian military than the Canadian military.

Granted....they need it right now. When was the last time Canada fired a shot in anger?

Why do we need to when we border the US. There has to be benefits to residing next to a 3rd world country armed to the gills.

[Cheese]

still no word from Pointman! Hope all is well with him and his family!

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Locke

I think Canada has spent more on the Ukrainian military than the Canadian military.

Granted....they need it right now. When was the last time Canada fired a shot in anger?

Having a strong well equipped military can save you from firing a shot in anger.

As an aside Canada has probably fired a shot in anger in every decade since WW2.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Cheese

still no word from Pointman! Hope all is well with him and his family!

I have also been waiting to see an update. I hope he was successful in his bid to flee.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Pointman

I'm currently staying in the east Kazakhstan town of Jarkent. My wife is collecting all the required documents and generally prepares for immigration. She will fly to Turkey with our kids on Oct 24th, I will join them there and we will fly to Israel together.

This is his last message (Oct. 4th). Looks like his last login was on Oct. 17th.

Hopefully all is well with the move and he has been too busy to update.

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by Locke

I think Canada has spent more on the Ukrainian military than the Canadian military.

Granted....they need it right now. When was the last time Canada fired a shot in anger?

I did get shot in a drive-by by a military reservist in '92. Does that count?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Yeah 12th in spending and 39th in population. Pretty decent if you ask me.

Edit: Also, if I'm the CAF, I'm looking at every dollar spent in Ukraine is a dollar that negatively impacts the Russian military that inhibits future encroachment/aggression in the Arctic.

After all the billions spent during the cold war, the Americans have to be laughing at how cheaply they're able to facilitate the complete collapse of Russia as a world power

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Tiger

I did get shot in a drive-by by a military reservist in '92. Does that count?

That depends. Was he angry at you?

Its the 'anger' part I was really stressing. Whenever Canada has been involved in things like the Balkan Peacekeeping, Afghanistan and Iraq we were sort of dragged into it by our Big Brother.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Having a strong well equipped military can save you from firing a shot in anger.

As an aside Canada has probably fired a shot in anger in every decade since WW2.

And I agree for the most part. But one thing I find almost 'Peak Canadian' especially as it pertains to our Armed Forces is that we pretty much ignore them and their materiel needs until we're slapped in the face and cant anymore.

Its a very dysfunctional organization when it comes to supply and procurement.

Anyways, I digress, I think its great that we're helping the Ukrainians however we can even if it is in the uniquely Canadian fashion of sending them long underwear.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

After all the billions spent during the cold war, the Americans have to be laughing at how cheaply they're able to facilitate the complete collapse of Russia as a world power

To be fair Russia is putting out some pretty heavy military equipment.... For the height of the cold war that is.

It's crazy that some of the same tactics the USA used to strengthen the resistance in Afghanistan are still working today in Ukraine. Russia still has zero answer for a guerilla force armed with Stingers.

[FlameOn]

I still find it amazing that the USSR had lower levels of corruption than modern day Russia and the Soviet army wasn't actually as cored out as modern day Russia. Even at the height of Afghanistan, Soviet troops didn't show the level of incompetence, poor level of discipline, broken equipment, and lack of combat readiness that the modern Russian military has now. The Russian army is the 30 year rotted zombie corpse of the Soviet military.

[FlameOn]

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin who criticized the invasion of Ukraine and condemned the massacre in Bucha arrested and sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for spreading "false information". He apparently had the chance to flee, but stayed because he felt his message would have more impact if stayed in Russia.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1601187857518841857

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Sliver

How does she even have a public profile? Is women's basketball that popular that anybody even knew who TF she was? Plus she brought drugs into another country. I just can't get over how that outraged Americans so much, yet they'd punish anyone bringing drugs into their country, too. It's all so fataing stupid.

9 years for what effectively is a joint when the traditional punishment in Russia would be a fine or nothing is what makes it political.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GGG

9 years for what effectively is a joint when the traditional punishment in Russia would be a fine or nothing is what makes it political.

Yeah, I think it's odd that some people who have been critical on Russia play off the Griner thing as no big deal. Russia jailing people for petty crimes and using archaic sentencing for political purposes is a human right issue and they deserve to be criticized for it.

Even if someone is dead set on saying that by the letter of the law, what she did was "drug smuggling", her rights were violated even according to Russian law.

[JohnnyB]

I see it as both true that what she did was something dumb/reckless that invited prosecution and true that Russia took advantage of the situation for political leverage by punishing her excessively.

[Roof-Daddy]

That's exactly why no one from the west should go over there right now.

They make up their own rules to serve their own purposes and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it.

They are blowing up babies right now FFS

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by GGG

9 years for what effectively is a joint when the traditional punishment in Russia would be a fine or nothing is what makes it political.

Is that right? Okay, it's a much bigger deal than I was assuming then. I figured she got the sentence anybody would get for bringing drugs into the country. Frankly, I'm surprised it would be just a fine. That seems light for Russia. Imma have to verify that, but if true it does change my opinion on things big time.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Is that right? Okay, it's a much bigger deal than I was assuming then. I figured she got the sentence anybody would get for bringing drugs into the country. Frankly, I'm surprised it would be just a fine. That seems light for Russia. Imma have to verify that, but if true it does change my opinion on things big time.

It's oversimplifying it a little bit. She had a couple vape cartridges, which are illegal. What really got her is that she got hit with possession AND smuggling charges. The average sentence for either in Russia is 5 years in prison, they don't joke around when it comes to drugs (and they decide to actually do something about it). Her max sentence would have been 10 years, and she got 9. She probably got 4.5 on each charge.

The 'extra' she likely got was the smuggling charge. Two vape cartridges is pretty clearly personal use to any sane thinking person. But she did face up to 5 years just on the possession charge.

Folks really, really need to pay attention to the rules and laws when they travel abroad.

And yes, I used to quite enjoy watching the show "Locked Up Abroad"

[FurnaceFace]

Just to continue derailed this thread, here’s some interesting facts:

On February 17, 2022, Griner was arrested on smuggling charges in Russia. She was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport after the Federal Customs Service found she was carrying vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil. In Arizona, she had been prescribed medicinal cannabis, which is illegal in Russia.

The basics of Russian cannabis law go something like this: cannabis is illegal. However, not unlike other countries, a personal use amount is decriminalized, in this case, up to 6 grams of marijuana, or two grams of hash.

This is considered only an administrative offense, and is punishable by a fine or short detention period (of about 15 days). This is laid out in Article 228 of the Russian Criminal Code.

https://cannadelics.com/2020/03/08/h...ion-in-russia/

Note she was arrested for smuggling charges, not personal use. That same link above links to this version of the Russian Criminal Code which states for smuggling:

2. The movement across the customs border of the Russian Federation of narcotics, psychotropic substances […] shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of three to seven years

I believe that version of the code is many years old as the last amendment is 2004 therefore the charge was likely increased. Convicting someone to the full extent of the charge for a small amount is worth debate.

Also to answer why she was going to Russia in the first place:

Griner has played in Russia during the WNBA off-season for several years, where she earns a salary of more than a $1 million, nearly five times what she can earn in the US.