Our debt to Russia

The war machine of Nazi Germany was the greatest, most finely crafted, fighting implement the world has ever seen. And what destroyed the German army, the best army in the world, was the Russians. As Ian Shaw put it:

The Russian Army was the largest in the world in World War II. Its training was simple, logistics crude, and medical facilities nearly non-existant. It also defeated the best army in the world, and produced some of the war’s best generals.

The great battles that broke the back of the Wehrmacht — Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk — were fought by the Red Army, and for that the world owes them a debt. As Paul Keating puts it:

The visit to Australia by Vladimir Putin is the first ever by a Russian head of state or head of government.

President Putin, who arrives on Friday, is representing Russia at this week’s APEC leaders’ meeting. Moscow’s membership of APEC is as much an accident as it is a reflection of Russia’s Far East economy.

Russia was offered a place at the APEC table, not because it was a natural constituent, but as a consolation prize by the Americans, for their having taken strategic advantage of it in the years immediately following the Cold War.

No one should ever forget that the Russians carried the primary burden of winning World War II, losing 26 million of their people in the process. More than the present population of Australia. A level of death, destruction and misery on a scale unprecedented in human history.

When Hitler failed to smash Britain with his blitz, he unleashed on Russia the full might of his army and air force, then the largest in history. What followed was carnage and human suffering on an unimaginable scale as the Russian people absorbed his ferocious power. A battering they took for four solid years before a second front was opened in the west at Normandy.

History tells us that the Russian people, with all resolution, summoned all human strength and resources to repel the Nazis, right down through the bloody battles of East Prussia and into Berlin.

Without that Russian sacrifice, Europe could never have been liberated from the west.

While the cause they fought for was evil, the German army of WW2 was probably the best army that’s ever existed — at least in modern times — and I salute them for it. And the Red Army beat them, and I salute them too.

(Link from Normblog)

Australian government made to look stupid

The Australian government spent $84 million on a porn filter. A 16 year old cracked it in half an hour. Link
(via Slashdot):

Australian teenager cracks $84-million Internet porn filter in 30 minutes

Tom Wood, a Year 10 student, probably 15 - 16 years old has cracked the federal government’s $84-million internet porn filter in just 30 minutes. He can deactivate the filter in several clicks in such a way that the software’s icon is not deleted which will make his parents believe the filter is still working.

The minister responsible decides that when you’re in a hole, the best think to do is keep digging:

Australian communications Minister Helen Coonan said the government had anticipated kids would find their ways around the NetFilter. Yes Minister, but 30 minutes for a teenager to crack a 84 million dollar filter is simply ridiculous.

I wonder if the Australian government are going to pay the people back the $84 million they’ve wasted. Of course, the anti-porn, anti-freedom scumbags who got the government to do this are just as responsible, and they should be equally liable to cough up for this silly waste of money.