(2) belongings, after their training ground was hit by Russian forces on Monday
Meet Jake Priday, British teacher from Cardiff, aged 25, 6’3” in height, whose Ukrainian adventure lasted 9 hrs - he's been in the British army for 6 years in Estonia, Kenya & Iraqi Kurdistan, where
(3) he helped train local militias in 2017 - his goal was to give Ukrainians basic medical training
he was packed with a bunch of other heroes-in-waiting, incl a Belarusian anarchist & a Bulgarian bouncer & neo-Nazi from London: “My plan is to kill as many Russians as I can”
(4) Jake thought he might be sent to a refugee camp to help the wounded & teach basic first aid, BUT co-ordinators explained that volunteers were expected to fight ON THE FRONTLINE after 5-7 days’ training
(5) details of the 5-7 days' training
(6) Signs emerged that they could be toast as soon as a contract was pulled out after the 1st breakfast - they were told to sign a contract stipulating that they would be paid US$230 a month & would have to remain in the Ukrainian foreign legion for the duration of the war
(7) PLUS: the most disturbing clause of the contract: they would be put under the same obligations as all Ukrainian men: under martial law declared by Zelensky on 24/2/2022 - no man aged 18-60 is allowed to leave, which means people might lose their jobs or houses in the West
(8) the contract also binds volunteers to serve for "an indefinite length of time" - none of these volunteers interviewed had been told about these terms before they crossed into Ukraine - in practice, those who no longer wished to fight could apply for a discharge & between 20
(9) & 30 volunteers have already been allowed to leave after signing on - the Ukrainian ministry of defence denied that the contract requires volunteers to sign on indefinitely but refused to share a copy
Jake ended up persuading 20 other volunteers not to sign
(10) Jake's dream of a war hero was shattered as once he refused to sign, he was immediately asked to leave the barracks
(11) a 21-year-old from Britain with no military experience who has been working dead-end jobs for years flew to Poland without telling his parents - Jake felt like the man was signing his “death warrant” but this youngster did leave Ukraine afterwards
(12) Yet Western 'volunteers" are still flocking to fight in Ukraine: French foreign legionnaires, Baltic ex-servicemen & American gun-nuts
a bulked-up former pilot from Louisiana who did 4 tours in Afghanistan sold his pick-up truck to fund his trip: “I’m just here to shoot”
(13) others: Balkan fighters in cargo pants; German hipsters-turned-gonzo humanitarians; Mormons from Utah, & a middle-aged Norwegian woman determined to ease the burden on Ukrainian mothers & take up a Kalashnikov "in the spirit of solidarity"
(14) another: a a Lithuanian volunteer seasoned in anti-tank warfare with a tattoo of a crusader on horseback across his chest
(21) Also Meet Ben Spann from Warwickshire in the UK, aged 36, who did not tell his wife or teenage son that he was going to Ukraine although he has never served in the military
(22) Ben spent 5 days in a "safe house" with 4 ex-British soldiers, & had a gun pointed at his head after the house was searched by a "Ukrainian SWAT team"
Ben, who runs an anti-knife crime charity & has grown cannabis, admits his Ukraine adventure was "an absolute nightmare"
(23) Ben was not impressed with the safe house.... calling it "a crack den in England", & didn't appreciate the 10 members of a Ukrainian SWAT team pointing AK-47s at their head in the safe house
(24) Ben's son was doubting whether he even cared about him, why he was doing this
he ended up travelling back to the Polish border where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have fled to
(25) The official line of the UK regime
(26) Hey yo, but Ben would still go back one day - that's "probably the ego side of him"
(27) Ukraine: Briton who travelled to warzone to join military fight against Russia leaves over 'suicide mission' fears
(29) Almost 40% of Americans polled by Quinnipiac University said they would rather flee than defend the US, BUT nearly 8 in 10 support U.S. Military Response "if Putin attacks a NATO country"
(1) New York University (NYU is demanding apologies from pro-Palestine student activists, assigning “moral” homework in a disciplinary process by forcing them to attend "Ethics Integrity Series" classes which include students would be assigned a “reflection paper"
(2) the students are explicitly instructed not to “justify” their actions & were told to turn their papers in by May 29 in “12-point Times New Roman or similar font”
(3) one student said: “I’m not going to apologize for opposing genocide.” The risk to her — someone who has finished her Ph.D. work — is the threat of a mark on her transcript, she said, for a failure to comply
(1) Giant pandas Ya Ya & Le Le can finally come home to China following recent allegations of mistreatment of the pandas by the Memphis Zoo by animal rights activists
(1) Today in Hong Kong, a teenager was jailed for 3 years over 29 offensive posts published on YouTube, Discord & the LIHKG forum in a span of 28 months, after pleading guilty to the charges #RaamWTF
(2) Chui Hoi-chun, an 18-year-old part-time waiter, was convicted of for parodying “March of the Volunteers” on social media in the 2nd conviction under the national anthem law, as well as for charges of insulting the flag & publishing seditious remarks
(3) what he did - & he committed some of the offenses while "studying in New Zealand"
(1) More McBNO woes 😰: McBNO boners from Hong Kong who've moved to the UK share tips on how to stay warm during the current energy crisis in the UK in Facebook groups for exchanging tips on coping with new life there #RaamWTF
This one lamented that he got frostbites on his
(2) foot soles & toes, & can't sleep, had to buy a heater to warm his feet.... according to him, it helps to put one's feet with frostbites in front of this heater for 30 mins
This one found out that sticking bubble wraps on windows makes the flat warmer
(3) This one wants to avoid buying too many candles to keep warm (costs money), said a friend taught him to wrap up used up leftover candle wax with foil & burn it to keep warm
(1) FT interviewed 23 sex workers in Cardiff in the UK, incl a former civil servant who had to become a prostitute to feed her family, incl her husband - he even drove her to have sex with a customer in a hotel - she said: “I’m doing this for my family, my house, and my husband”
(2) why the former British civil servant, who is her 30s, started to sell her body
(3) Five of the 23 British sex workers interviewed say they returned to the sector in 2022 & that rising living costs wholly or partly influenced their move - the no of male sex work has also risen in recent years with the rise of casual selling on online platforms