Now proud example for you - Battle of Kursk. Germans lost around 3,000 tanks, Soviets - around 12,000.
Not arque with numbers,b'couse have no sourse, just some thout...Nazi lost plenty of tanks near Volokolamsk, fighting not tanks but conscripts with a grenades, same happend to Russian in Chechnia in 1996. USA lost a lot of aircrafts in N'Korea, does it means they are less skillfull then korean? No, they was attaking, and defendent had an artillery. What the total nubber of German's tank
partisipated in Kursk battle? Maybe 3004. Be so kind, supply full picture of final loses under Kursk, then I might spend time and wil give you other sourse. Don't forget add prisoners to the losses.

Better-than-thou-art, I recommend thee on thine discription of the nature of the Scottish peasant.
It did place a radiant smile on mine aspect.
But rest assured that the aristocracy attain their lofty positions from across the borders of Her Majesty's realm.

Lady G. of Bambury

lady G:
mornin' mu-FFFNNGGGGGHHHHH-gasp!
[gag order]

{cue: 'the bells of rhymney', 1st byrds lp}

just so long as ye dinna get
those bell-toes caught in the stirrup!

you'll _need_ those toes, someday...
heh
==
ps> 'rhymey'? nah, twas 'rhymney'...do ye ken?

Ah fair Sir L'ancelot, (Hum, looking good for your age).

'tis not a Maiden's lot to have read the volumes of History of this land to a simular extent as thineself.Nor that of the Byrds. Pray tell more...

Lady G.

>>>Baron,
>>>I have no need for rudeness, however know that >>>I see through your courteousness and high >>>praise, to the veritable devil beneath them.

MY FINE LADY G.,
HUMBLY DRAWING THINE ATTENTION TO THAT IT IS NOT VERIFIABLE.
REMAINING THINE FAITHFUL HUMBLE SERVANT,
BARON GLENMORANGIE OF THE ORDER OF THE INVER BRASS.

WHO

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/

Of that I'm sure,dear Baron!
U-U-you have covered your tracks well this time.
The order has taught you well!

Lady G.

Baron,
How was your Friday night party with the boys? I'm sure you took it very deep! And I hear you love those protien shakes... Have a nice day cocksuccker. Off to play in the ocean in my new boat.

Canadians paving way for NATO role in Ukraine
Kremlin wary as Kiev embassy acts
as liaison office for alliance
GEOFFREY YORK
The Globe and Mail
Saturday, June 24, 2000


Kiev -- The Kremlin was not pleased when it learned the identity of the high-level guest at the Canadian embassy in Kiev.

The visitor was General Wesley Clark, supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe. He was sharing breakfast at the Canadian embassy with diplomats from the nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And the results, according to a Russian government newspaper, were "a closely guarded secret."

Canadian diplomats later insisted there was nothing hush-hush about the NATO commander's visit last February, which they described as a routine briefing.

But Russia's mistrustful reaction showed the sensitivity of Canada's special mission as the co-ordinating embassy for NATO in the Ukrainian capital.

Russia has warned NATO to abandon any hope of expanding into the former Soviet republics. When NATO held a political meeting in Kiev in March, the Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta condemned it as "a dangerous act" and "a move toward discord with Russia."

Many Ukrainians are equally unhappy with NATO's expanding presence. When troops from 10 NATO nations began a joint exercise with Ukrainian troops in Western Ukraine this week, one Communist parliamentarian suggested that NATO was exploring a possible invasion route for its paratroopers.

Canada is taking a key role in NATO's strategy to defuse this fierce opposition in Ukraine. The Canadian embassy is the "contact mission" for NATO visitors. Canada helped create a NATO liaison office in Kiev. And Canadians are visible as senior staff members at the liaison office and at a separate NATO information office where the military alliance is distributing brochures, books and flag decals.

With its 1.5 million Ukrainian Canadians and its non-threatening image, Canada was a logical choice for NATO's co-ordinating job.

"NATO was always perceived as the enemy here, but we're giving NATO a more human face," said Commander Rick Williams, defence attaché at the Canadian embassy in Kiev. "There's no doubt that Canada is leading in this. Because of our special relationship with Ukraine, we're a natural fit for the job. Our role is quite significant."

NATO's strategy is to cultivate a more peaceful image by offering help to Ukraine in dozens of civilian areas. It provided assistance after devastating floods last year. It organizes conferences on scientific and environmental issues. It gave language training to retired Ukrainian military officers to help them learn English, French and German. It even sent a delegation to the Chernobyl nuclear plant to help Ukraine improve its disaster-emergency planning.

Leigh Merrick, chief of the liaison office, says NATO is trying to "soften its image" by "blurring the edges" and showing Ukraine the "portfolio of benefits" of its relationship with NATO. "There is a clear advantage to a gradualist approach to change."

To convince Ukrainians, the liaison office calculates the dollar value of its activities -- estimating that a single visit by a NATO naval force means $750,000 in benefits to the economy and that a single NATO battalion can spend $300,000 during a peacekeeping exercise.

Despite this publicity machine, however, many Ukrainians are suspicious of NATO's intentions in the former Soviet Union, especially after its bombing campaign in Yugoslavia last year. The Russian media, which are highly influential in Ukraine through their domination of local television, have reinforced these suspicions with relentless attacks on the Western alliance.

Only 38 per cent of Ukrainians see NATO as a defensive union or a peacekeeping organization, while 46 per cent see it as an aggressive military alliance, according to a poll of more than 2,000 Ukrainians this month.

The poll, conducted by the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies, found that 50 per cent of Ukrainians believe their country should never join NATO, while only 33 per cent want to join in the next 15 years. The most popular option for Ukraine's future, according to those surveyed, is for Ukraine to remain officially neutral.

Kristina Tarasiuk, a 23-year-old government worker in Kiev, is typical of many. "I think we should join the European Union but not NATO. I think NATO is trying to make Ukraine into an annex, a resource supplier, like Africa. I have more trust in the former Soviet republics, like Russia and Belarus, which we should have better economic relations with."

Georgy Kriuchkov, a Communist member of parliament, argues that NATO has an "anti-Russian subtext" that could damage Ukraine's relations with Moscow at a time when Ukraine is heavily dependent on Russian gas and other supplies.

"To turn Russia into a hostile country would be suicidal for Ukraine."

He is suspicious of NATO's growing presence in Ukraine -- its military exercises and other actions. "All these activities are aimed at tying Ukraine closer to NATO and locking it into an anti-Russian position," he said.

"The events in Yugoslavia proved that NATO is considering possible military operations beyond its borders. It would be easy to provoke a situation that would allow NATO to send forces into Ukraine. Any kind of civil rebellion in Ukraine could become a pretext for NATO intervention."

Despite such views, the Ukrainian government has moved much closer to NATO recently. It signed a "special partnership" agreement in 1997, going beyond the "Partnership for Peace" agreements that the alliance signed with most other ex-Soviet republics. Even when Russia froze its relations with NATO to protest the bombing campaign during the Kosovo war, Ukraine kept its NATO ties alive.

This year, Kiev ratified an agreement allowing NATO to send troops to training exercises in Ukraine without requiring visas. And it allowed NATO to designate a training range in Western Ukraine as an official NATO "Partnership for Peace" training centre.

Anatoly Grytsenko, a retired Ukrainian air force colonel who heads the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies, says NATO is following the right strategy to improve its image here.

"They're doing a good job, but it will take time," he said. "If NATO doesn't start another Kosovo war, the hostility will disappear."