The ball of hate..That’s what they called, NHLer Pat Verbeek..Let me say that again. The ball of hate..Trust me, when he was on the ice you didn’t want to be there. He made your life a living hell. .He shoved sticks into your teeth, he shoved elbows at your jaw, he slammed you into the boards, he did anything he could to defeat you, and then some..Strangely enough, the man spent as much time celebrating goals as sitting in the penalty box..Think Gordie Howe was tough?.According to NHL.com, the native of Sarnia, Ont., finished his 20-season NHL career with 522 goals and 2,905 penalty minutes, by far the most of any member of the league’s 500-goal club..And get this … the New Jersey Devils selected Verbeek in the third round (No. 43) of the 1982 NHL Draft. .He made his NHL debut against the New York Rangers on March 21, 1983 and scored his first goal three nights later against the Washington Capitals..Bang! Not only could he score, but he could also run your head into the boards and leave you wondering WTF happened..He played “on the edge” and made no apologies for his chippy style..The Zebras didn’t like this, of course and did what Zebras do. .You can’t play like that anymore in today’s NHL. The bleeding hearts have changed the game..The same goes for politics and foreign affairs — we have become soft. Very, very soft. And by we, I mean the West. .We are so busy trying to be politically correct, we forgot how we got here in the first place..And this is exactly why another ball of hate, a far more infamous one — an iron-handed dictator who calls himself a president, Vladimir Putin — is exploiting those Western weaknesses as I pen this..I mean, it couldn’t be more obvious, could it?.According to Joseph Trevithick at The Drive, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that six amphibious warfare ships that left the Baltic Sea this week are heading to the Mediterranean Sea, where they say these vessels will take part in “naval exercises.” .Clearly, this amphibious flotilla could potentially swing north into the Black Sea, which would put them in a position to support a possible large-scale Russian intervention into Ukraine..The language the Russian ministry of defense used to describe these naval drills is similar in many respects to how the Kremlin has described the nature of large-scale exercises in Belarus that are scheduled to start next month. .The massive deployments of troops and materiel, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles and combat aircraft, associated with those drills have drawn concern..Speaking to reporters this week, a senior US State Department said: “What concerns us is the total picture, right? [Russia] is … amassing 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders combined with moving forces into Belarus over the weekend, it is — it is — these numbers are beyond, of course, what we would expect with regard to a normal exercise, right?.“A normal exercise requires notification 42 days in advance if you’re talking about 9,000 troops, right? Normal and 13,000 requires international observers. That’s what normal looks like. What this is, is something entirely different.”.As part of the build-up, Russia deployed more aircraft closer to the border, which raised fears of a significant air component. Two to three dozen Sukhov-34 fighter jets have joined helicopters positioned near Ukraine, CNN reported..As if to confirm this action, Britain’s capable MI6 intelligence service revealed it has discovered a plan by President Putin to install a pro-Moscow puppet leader in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said this weekend..As Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of a ‘”large-scale war,” Truss said that Yevhen Murayev was being lined up to run the country as a satellite of Moscow..Murayev, a media owner, lost his seat in the Ukrainian parliament when his party failed to secure 5% of the vote in the 2019 elections, BBC News reported..He has roundly denied the report..“It isn’t very logical. I’m banned from Russia. Not only that, but money from my father’s firm there has been confiscated,” Murayev told The Guardian..There are other troubling indicators:.Diplomatic talks between the US, European allies and Russia ended last week without a clear path to de-escalate tensions, media outlets reported. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, called the talks a “dead end.”.Some military experts believe this was what Putin wanted all along — setting it up to fail by making unrealistic demands, beyond just keeping NATO out of Ukraine. All it did was buy time for the Russians to set up their “false flag” invasion of neighbouring Ukraine..Canadian special forces operators have also been deployed to Ukraine as part of an attempt by NATO allies to deter Russian aggression and to identify ways to assist the Ukrainian government, Global News reported..The unit has also been tasked with helping to develop evacuation plans for Canadian diplomatic personnel in the event of a full-scale invasion, sources said..They wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t have good intelligence from the US..To staunch the inevitable bloodbath, the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced they received approvals from Washington to send US-made anti-tank weaponry to Ukraine, BreakingDefense reported..Estonia will provide Javelin anti-armor missiles, while Lithuania and Latvia will provide Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and adjacent equipment. Latvia will also send military meals ready-to-eat for the Ukrainian forces..While Ukraine has already been building a stockpile of Javelin weapons, the inclusion of Stingers represents a new capability for the Ukrainian military, one that could take out Russian helicopters if needed..Britain also said this week it had begun supplying Ukraine with anti-tank weapons, along with a group of around 30 elite British troops, Sky News reported..The members of the Ranger Regiment — part of the army’s newly-formed Special Operations Brigade — flew out on military planes that also airlifted a total of some 2,000 anti-tank missile launchers to the country..The US State Department has also approved the transfer of five Russian-made Mi-17 Hip helicopters that had belonged to the now-defunct Afghan Air Force to the Ukrainian armed forces, according to CNN..The CIA continues to operate an intelligence collection training program for Ukrainian special operators and intelligence officials, current and former officials familiar with the program said. The program was first reported by Yahoo News..The threat of further sanctions — in fact, a green light for the Russians, if anything — has forced the Biden administration to weigh new options, including providing more arms to Ukraine to try to raise the costs for a potential invasion..The recent confusion over statements made by President Joe Biden on Ukraine haven’t really helped either..Is it a price, Putin is willing to pay? We shall know, soon enough..For their part, Ukrainian officials are vowing to fight..“We prepared a response for each scenario,” an official told CNN..“We are going to fight if something happens. Our people are ready to fight. Every window will shoot if [Russians] go [in].”.God help them..Dave Makichuk is a Western Standard contributor. .,He has worked in the media for decades, including as an editor for the Calgary Herald. He is also the Calgary correspondent for ChinaFactor.newsand has written about military affairs for decades,.makichukd@gmail.com
