No Air Defense, No Air Force, No Money, Complains Slovakia

Slovakia’s continuous military aid to Ukraine under the previous government has left the country’s own defense posture badly damaged, with “years” now needed to fix it, the current Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kalinak admitted.

 

“The former government left us without our own anti-aircraft defenses, without combat aviation, and we don’t even have the promised 700 million for MiGs, which the government also handed over to Ukraine”, he complained.

 

The minister (left), who assumed office back in October under the new government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, accused his predecessors of simply surrendering key military assets to Ukraine without coming up with any plan to secure their replacements. [Note: Slovakia had sent military aid in thirteen packages worth 671 million euros ($718.24 million) to Kyiv since Russia's Special Military Operation in February 2022 before Fico's appointment].

 

The defense ministry had effectively been run by “people with qualities of pugs rather than wolves”, Kalinak told the Standard newspaper on Thursday.

 

Upon his electoral victory in September, Fico (left) had immediately halted the country’s military aid to Kiev, as well as pledged to block Ukraine’s potential accession into the US-led NATO bloc. 

 

The new PM has repeatedly criticized the Western approach to handling the Ukraine conflict, arguing that the enduring support of Kiev turned into a “futile waste of human resources and money”, which only prolongs the hostilities and fills Ukrainian cemeteries with “thousands of dead soldiers". 

 

Fico wrote in Slovakia’s Pravda newspaper last week, promising that he will no longer be subject to stupid liberal and progressive demagoguery. Regrettably, much of Europe is very much caught up in this farcical foolishness – and it will be at their peril.

 

Methinks, Boeing are cursed! 

 

On Friday, a Boeing 747 cargo jet in the US flying from Miami, Florida to Puerto Rico caught fire while it was still above Miami, prompting a stunned witness on the ground to shout, "Oh my God, it's on fire. Oh my God!"

 

Fortunately, the Atlas Air flight, with five people on board, safely returned to Miami International Airport. 

 

A preliminary report by the FAA says the plane experienced "engine failure" and that a "post flight inspection revealed a softball-size hole above #2 engine".

 

Stay tuned for more Boeing mishaps.