In just a dozen days, Russia lost as many combat aircraft in its ongoing war in Ukraine. The losses included three Su-34 fighter-bombers that were shot down on Thursday—with reports of the downing quickly circulating on social media.
The Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name “Fullback”) multirole strike aircraft is a twin-engine, twin-seat, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber, initially developed for the Soviet Air Forces in the 1980s. It was one of the Kremlin’s many programs that were forced on the backburner following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the economic crisis that followed. The program was later revived and the Su-34 formally entered service in 2014. It has been considered one of the Kremlin’s most capable warbirds.
The loss of so many aircraft, including a total of eight Su-34s, can’t be downplayed. That was a point made by David Axe, writing for Forbes.com last week, as he suggested that the Russian air force is losing warplanes far, far faster than it can afford to lose them.
“Russia’s sanctions-throttled aerospace industry is struggling to build more than a couple of dozen new planes a year,” Axe wrote.
It isn’t just aircraft either. Russia has lost thousands of tanks, and upward of 400,000 dead and wounded, with figures regularly posted online and tracked by open-source military intelligence trackers.
“The Russian military is dying a brutal death in Ukraine,” said Harry J. Kazianis, senior director of National Security Affairs at the Center for the National Interest.
“I don’t see how Moscow doesn’t need a generation of rebuilding to get to anything close to being able to challenge NATO—if it ever truly can,” added Kazianis. “Russia may indeed get some territory for Ukraine in a peace deal someday, however, it may trade that territory for losing its right to being called a great military power.”
There were times when governments would seek to hide such losses on the battlefield.
However, in the era of social media, it is also nearly impossible for the Kremlin to conceal or even downplay the recent losses from the world, and more importantly from the Russian people. During past conflicts, the official propaganda machine could kick into overdrive and the public in Mother Russia might not know of any setbacks its military had experienced. That certainly isn’t the case with the ongoing war in Ukraine, as even pro-Kremlin propagandists have been vocal in criticizing the handling of the conflict.
Can’t Silence The Truth On Social Media
Since the earliest days of the war just over two years, Kyiv has also managed to employ social media to share its victories and highlight the suffering of its people during its setbacks.
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The downing of the Su-34, as well as two of just nine A-50 reconnaissance aircraft, became propaganda coups for Kyiv and came days after the city of Avdiivka fell to the Russian military. Thus even in defeat, Ukraine can craft a positive message—something that Russia has largely failed to do.
“It says that Russia can’t control the narrative outside of Russia and that’s of course because Ukraine is doing a very good job of making sure that they’re leaking intelligence that will get into the Western press and make Russia look bad,” said Dr. Matt Schmidt, associate professor of National Security and Political Science at the University of New Haven.
However, even with some pushback from the Russian propagandists, the Kremlin has attempted to do damage control to make sure that its losses don’t cause widespread panic at home.
“Critically Russia is effectively controlling the narrative in the Russian-speaking world,” added Schmidt, “And that is allowing Putin to be able to continue to recruit enough men to throw the Ukrainian into these human waves, and essentially to allow him to keep any kind of descent down to a manageable level.”
How long that will last has yet to be seen, and the power of social media shouldn’t be downplayed. Nor should Ukraine’s ability to shoot down Russian airplanes and then brag about it!
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
