Photo credit:Wikimedia/Free Denizen

Global military expenditures eclipse  US$2 trillion in 2021 for first time ever

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

The fiscal ravages of the pandemic had little practical effect on worldwide military spending in 2021, as it passed US$2 trillion (C$2.5 trillion) for the first time, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported on April 25.

The list of the five biggest spenders bore no surprises: the United States led the way, followed by China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia. Together, they accounted for 62 per cent of all military spending, said the institute.

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Photo credit:Wikimedia/Royal Navy

HMCS Uganda: the ship that voted           its way home

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

The only Canadian ship to fight against the Japanese in the Second World War, HMCS Uganda also had the distinction of being the only ship to vote itself out of that war.

Uganda was one of the mightiest ships in the Canadian navy, 169 metres long, armed to the teeth with nine six-inch guns, eight four-inch guns and many smaller guns, plus torpedoes. Its crew of 907 officers and men were chosen from every province of Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland. Captain Edmond Rollo Mainguy was in command.

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Photo credit:Mariupol City Council- Reuters

Mariupol steelworks siege echoes 1942 fighting at Stalingrad tractor plant

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

A desperate band of Ukrainian fighters and more than 1,000 terrified civilians have been holed up beneath a sprawling factory complex for more than seven weeks—the last defenders of the besieged city of Mariupol.

Facing an unrelenting barrage of bunker-busting bombs from the air and missile strikes from the sea, the holdouts were surrounded by Russian troops and in dire need of food, ammunition and medical supplies.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia.org

The last of the Allied convoys to the Soviet Union

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

In the summer of 1941, Nazi Germany launched an invasion on the Soviet Union, despite a non-aggression pact signed by the two countries in 1939.

The Soviets were unprepared when some 3.5 million German troops attacked along a front stretching nearly 3,000 kilometres. The USSR turned to the Allies for help.

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