https://orinocotribune.com/europe-is-sl ... world-war/
Been on twitter. 99.9% dawdling. Vast majority of "left" voices totally unable to process covid let alone current situation. Ideological confusion is total and complete on the platform. Meanwhile, West is galvanizing for biblical level War and being completely transparent about it (propaganda blitz is just the tip of the iceberg)
We're running out of time
Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
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kidoftheblackhole
- Posts: 318
- Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:09 pm
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
Briefly about Ukraine. 04/10/2022
colonelcassad
April 10, 11:15
Briefly about Ukraine. 04/10/2022
1. The operational pause associated with the preparation of large-scale operations in Left-Bank Ukraine is coming to an end. On both sides, there is an active transfer of troops to the Kharkov-Izyum and Zaporozhye directions.
2. Nikolaev-Kherson. Fights of local importance. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are not yet conducting active offensive operations here. The Armed Forces of Ukraine near Nikolaev cannot attack because of losses, so they are trying to show activity south of Nikopol and Krivoy Rog.
3. Odessa. No significant changes. There are no landings, there are no offensives from the PMR either.
4. Zaporozhye. Vasilyevka-Orekhov-Gulyaipole. Without changes. The front does not move. To the east of Gulyaipole, there are some battles for individual villages, no serious progress is expected here before the start of the battle for Donbass.
5. Mariupol. Cleaning up the remnants of the enemy forces in the areas adjacent to Azovstal. The port area will be cleared soon. Azovstal and Azovmash will remain.
6. Carbon. So far, it has not been possible to break through the enemy defenses on the Novomikhailovka-Velikaya Novoselka line.
7. Marinka. Gnawing fortifications.
8. Avdiivka. Without changes. To the north of it, fighting near Novobakhmutovka, Novoselka-2, near Troitsky, on the outskirts of New York.
9. LPR. Fighting on the southern outskirts of Rubizhne. Street fighting in Popasnaya (slow progress here). Severodonetsk. Fighting on the outskirts of the city.
10. Kharkiv-Izyum. Fighting north of Kharkov. The accumulation of forces on the bridgehead on the southern bank of the Donets in the interests of the upcoming operations to liberate the Slavic-Kramatorsk agglomeration and Barvenkovo.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin- broadcasting of events in Ukraine continues as usual in Telegram (if you are interested, subscribe)
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7550237.html
Russian flag over Mariupol
colonelcassad
April 10, 12:33
The flag of the Russian Federation is raised over the main administrative building of Mariupol - the building of the City Council.
Previously, the flags were hoisted over the administrations of the Kalmius and Levoberezhny districts.
Confirmatory videos near the building of the Mariupol City Council at the link https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41223
There are 3 main pockets of resistance in the city:
1. Azovstal + a piece in the north-west of the Levoberezhny district.
2. Azovmash.
3. Part of the Mariupol seaport and the Primorsky region.
I believe that the Primorsky district and the remaining part of the port will be cleaned first.
Then they will finish off those surrounded at Azovmash, and only then they will deal with Azovstal.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7550716.html
Germany will destroy the industrial basis of its economic power
colonelcassad
April 10, 15:38
Germany will destroy the industrial basis of its economic power
Due to anti-Russian sanctions, a significant part of Bosch deliveries to Russia was suspended, the new head of the company, Stefan Hartung, said in an interview with Handelsblatt. However, the company has areas of interaction with Russian customers that have not yet fallen under sanctions - and Bosch is not going to stop them, Hartung noted.
“We are responsible for all our employees. Almost 360 people in Ukraine and 3,500 people in Russia. We continue to pay salaries, including in those areas where work is not being done yet, ”the publication quotes Hartung as saying.
The head of Bosch also stressed that his company needs Russian gas supplies. “The fact is that we need gas for production. Bosch covers 20 percent of its energy needs with gas. If Germany unilaterally refuses Russian gas, then important elements of the supply chains will collapse, and not only at Bosch. Therefore, I strongly oppose a quick withdrawal of gas supplies,” Hartung said.
Hartung warned that in the event of a gas supply shutdown, the company could face an almost immediate shutdown of all industrial production. He also noted that the consequences of the gas embargo will be much more significant than the consequences of the pandemic and will be much more difficult to overcome. The head of Bosch said that the embargo on Russian gas would lead to the fact that Germany would destroy the industrial basis of its economic power.
In addition, Hartung expressed doubt that in the current situation the world is divided into two camps. He noted that the modern world is so tightly intertwined with global supply chains that it is almost impossible to imagine the division, as during the Cold War years
https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2022-04-10 ... kazavshis- ot-rossijskogo - zinc
And you have to. The coming US economic war against China will surpass even the consequences of the economic war of the US and its satellites against Russia in scale and consequences. Well, from the point of view of the United States, the destruction of the German economy does look like an additional bonus. If Merkel resisted this scenario with all her might, then in the presence of such a useful idiot as Scholz, all German claims to economic leadership in Europe can be nullified.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7550918.html
Google Translator
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LIVE:Donetsk People’s Republic Outlaws OSCE Monitoring Mission
Donetsk authorities have prepared a draft decision to suspend the activities of the OSCE mission in the republic. Apr. 09, 2022. | Photo: @elpaiscr
Published 9 April 2022
Day 45 of the ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia, without any sign of a permanent ceasefire. Below are the main events as they happen.
The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) recognized the activities of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on its territory as illegal, according to the decree of the republic's State Defense Committee.
"The activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission on the territory of the DPR are declared illegal and the presence of its officials - undesirable," the document says.
All representatives of the mission must leave the territory of the republic no later than April 30, the text said.
On April 8, DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonova reported the arrest of an OSCE special mission employee for "committing illegal actions on the territory of the republic, which are incompatible with the mission's mandate."
She added that Donetsk prepared a draft decision to suspend the activities of the OSCE mission in the republic, as well as to recognize its prolongation as unlawful.
Japan Removes Neo-nazi Designation From Azov Battalion
Tokyo's Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSAI) has removed the neo-Nazi designation of the Ukrainian far-right Azov Battalion from Japan's 2021 manual on international terrorism.
"Recently, cases of misinformation have been published as if the PSAI recognized the Azov battalion as a neo-Nazi organization. We regret that this situation has arisen," the Japanese agency said, apologizing for the designation of a neo-Nazi organization as neo-Nazi.
"The 2021 guide includes data collected from various open sources, including foreign and Japanese media, research institutes and others," the statement said. It added that the results were not an independent assessment.
"This does not mean that the agency has recognized the Azov battalion as a neo-Nazi organization," it stressed despite the fact that the battalion's own logo bears Nazi insignia.
To prevent the circulation of incorrect information, the PSIA said it had decided to remove the description from the manual.
The Twitter account of the Ukrainian National Guard had posted a video boasting that Azov fighters greased their bullets with lard for use against Muslim Chechens on the Russian side.
The cancellation of the terrorist designation came after intelligence suggested that Azov militants had been planning terrorist attacks in Lvov against Western diplomats to force NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Azov is said to have been behind many war crimes in Ukraine, from killing civilians and trying to shift the blame to Moscow, to murdering prisoners of war of the Russian armed forces.
The nationalists also faced further accusations from Moscow of holding hostages in a maternity hospital in Mariupol, which would not be the first crime committed by the notorious far-right neo-Nazi group, as they opened fire on civilians during their evacuation of the city, killing at least two people and wounding four others.
Evacuation Attempt of Nationalist Leaders Fails
On the night of April 8, the Kiev regime made a new attempt to evacuate the leaders of the Ukrainian nationalists by sea from Mariupol, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, anounced to journalists.
"The Kiev regime does not stop trying to evacuate the leaders of the nationalist Azov regiment and foreign mercenaries from Mariupol," he pointed out.
"Earlier actions to airlift them out by helicopters failed. On the night of April 8, the Kiev regime made a new unsuccessful attempt to evacuate the leaders of the Ukrainian Nazis by sea," Konashenkov remarked.
According to the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian cargo ship "Apache" under the Maltese flag followed at night in a caravan of ships from Taganrog Bay to the Kerch Strait.
At 22H38 Moscow time, 30 kilometers off Mariupol, it abruptly changed course and attempted to break into the seaport of Mariupol, which is blockaded by the Black Sea Fleet.
The cargo ship continued to move without responding to demands by Russian border guards to make contact through the international channel.
Warning artillery shots, fired by two border patrol boats along the vessel's course, did not cause a change of course or a slowdown in the cargo ship's speed, he said.
"As it was heading into port, the ship was conducting a radio exchange, transmitting messages:
"'I'm a maniac, I'm coming to you,'" Konashenkov said, adding that signs of fire were seen offshore.
The cargo ship then diverted and the crew contacted the border guards, asking them to cease fire and stating that they were ready to comply with the requirements.
"As a result of the impact of the fire, there are no injuries among the ship's crew members. The ship's crew extinguished the fire on their own. After the inspection, the Ukrainian cargo ship Apache with the crew is escorted to the port of Yeysk," Konashenkov concluded.
Russia Denounces Ukrainian Provocation in Irpin City
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov denounced on Saturday that Ukrainian nationalists are preparing new intentional actions to blame Russia for the murder of civilians in the town of Irpin in Kiev province.
According to the Russian Defense entity, its troops left Irpin a week ago.
He indicated that the Russian military left the city more than a week ago and that the officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) plan to transfer, from the morgue of a hospital, the corpses of civilian residents who perished after the Ukrainian artillery attacks and leave them in the basement of a building outside the city.
Similarly, he detailed that later a staging will be organized in the forest, in the framework of which, supposedly, "will be eliminated" a Russian reconnaissance group which, according to the scenario, will arrive in Irpin to kill witnesses of war crimes by Russia.
The official also explained that they will present, as evidence, the corpses of Russian servicemen who were tortured and killed by nationalists.
"This cynical staged action [will be] organized for later broadcasting videos through Western media," Konashenkov specified.
Russia Opens Criminal Investigation on Kramatorsk Attack
On Friday, the Kramatorsk railroad station was attacked, while several civilians were evacuating. Following the attack by Ukrainian troops on the city of Kramatorsk, the Investigative Committee of Russia decided to open a criminal case to investigate the premeditated dissemination of false news about the Russian Armed Forces at the site.
Prior to the announcement, the spokesman for the militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, explained that about 30 people were killed and 100 others were wounded by a missile attack on a railway station in the DPR town of Kramatorsk, which Russia believes was perpetrated by Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian side spread deliberately false information that the attack on the city was carried out by Russian soldiers. On the occasion of that fact a criminal case was also opened for the crime (...) public dissemination of deliberately false information about the Armed Forces of Russia," the Committee said on its channel on Telegram.
According to the entity, a file was opened "against the commander of the brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other unidentified persons", for "abuses against the civilian population", as well as "for the use in an armed conflict of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty signed by Russia".
This Friday a missile hit the train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk while evacuating civilian population, resulting in several casualties. The head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Pavel Kirilenko, stated that there were about 50 deaths, including five children, and 86 wounded, as reported by Russian local media.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry denied any involvement of Moscow and its troops in the attack. It specified that the Tochka-U missiles, fragments of which were found near the station, were only used by Ukraine, and the attack was launched by its troops from the Dobropolie region, 45 kilometers southwest of Kramatorsk.
He also added that the aim of this offensive was to thwart the mass exit of residents from the city in order to use them as human shields to defend positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as in other areas of the country.
The advisor to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Alexei Aristovich, minutes after the first reports of the attack appeared, said that an Iskander missile was used, contradicting what the DPR, Russia and the Ukrainian president, Volodymir Zalensky, declared. Russian media also reiterated that a Tochka was used, based on its very particular characteristics shown in photographs.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0004.html
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Kramatorsk Attack: Russia Denies Use of Missile, Fragments Show Serial Number of Ukraine
April 10, 2022
The presidential spokesperson of Russia, Dmitri Peskov, stressed on Friday, April 8, that his country does not use Tochka-U missiles like the one that was launched that day on the train station in Kramatorsk city, in Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
The Russian official urged the press to follow the statements of the Russian Defense Ministry, which denied the use of this type of missile by its Armed Forces and warned about its use by Ukrainian troops.
“Our Armed Forces do not use this type of missile,” said Peskov. “Also, there were no [Russian] combat missions in Kramatorsk and they were not scheduled for today.”
The Russian Defense Ministry called Kiev’s statements blaming Moscow for the attack on the Kramatorsk train station “provocative and absolutely false.”
The statement from Moscow explained that the Tochka-U tactical missiles, remains of which were found near the impact site, and images of which were published in social media platforms by witnesses, are used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It further stated that on March 14, another similar missile from the Ukrainian forces fell in the center of the city of Donetsk, killing 17 people on the spot and wounding 36 others.
According to the deputy head of the DPR forces, Eduard Basurin, some 30 people died this Friday from the impact of the rocket at the Kramatorsk railway station.
“First there was announcement of evacuation from the cities of Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, Artyomovsk, and Slaviansk,” Basurin told the Russian television channel Channel 1. “People began to gather in places from where they could get out quickly, that is, the train stations. And a shell fell. There are about 30 dead.”
Basurin further stated that the Ukrainian authorities did not hide that they were preparing new provocations. After the missile atteck, authorities and media in Kiev immediately began to say that the missile was launched by Russia.
“But the media that people have, I mean the phones, the cameras, recorded that there were remains of a Tochka-U,” said the DPR official.
He added that the Tochka-U tactical missile “is not used by our republics, I mean Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Army of the Russian Federation does not have it either.”
The head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, stressed that the missile attack is “another monstrous provocation, another war crime by Kiev’s regime. Everything is clear to us, the Kiev regime does not consider these people as its own, it stops at nothing,” he said on television, in reference to this region in the Donbass which in its majority is pro-Russian.
Pushilin warned that this bombing will not be the last provocation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, for which he called on the population “to be prepared and counteract these war crimes, if possible.”
On Saturday, April 9, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a video of the incident where the serial number of the missile can be clearly seen from images broadcast by the British SkyNews network. The serial number was 9М79-1 (Ш91579).
The video shows a similar Tochka-U missile, serial number 9M79-1 (Ш91565) that was lauched by Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city of Alchevsk in 2015. According to the Russian video, the missile used in Kramatorsk is from the same batch as the one in Alchevsk, in Kiev’s constant campaign of bombardment of the Donbass that started in 2014 and continues to this day.
Featured image: Tochka-U missile used by Ukrainian Air Force responsible for the death of at least 30 civilians in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk People’s Republic. Photo: Screenshot from TG-LA7 video footage.
(Prensa Latina) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
https://orinocotribune.com/kramatorsk-a ... f-ukraine/
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Former NATO Military Analyst Blows the Whistle on West’s Ukraine Invasion Narrative
<snip>
PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS
As a former intelligence professional, the first thing that strikes me is the total absence of Western intelligence services in representing the situation for a year. In Switzerland, the services have been criticized for not having provided a correct picture of the situation. In fact, it seems that all over the Western world, the services have been overwhelmed by the politicians. The problem is that it is the politicians who decide: the best intelligence service in the world is useless if the decision-maker does not listen to it. This is what happened during this crisis.
That said, while some intelligence services had a very precise and rational image of the situation, others clearly had the same image as that propagated by our media. In this crisis, the services of the countries of the “new Europe” played an important role. The problem is that, by experience, I found that they were extremely bad on the analytical level: doctrinaire, they do not have the intellectual and political independence necessary to appreciate a situation with a military “quality”. It is better to have them as enemies than as friends.
Then, it seems that in some European countries, politicians have deliberately ignored their services to respond ideologically to the situation. This is why this crisis has been irrational from the start. It will be observed that all the documents that have been presented to the public during this crisis have been presented by politicians on the basis of commercial sources…
Some Western politicians obviously wanted there to be a conflict. In the United States, the attack scenarios presented by Anthony Blinken to the Security Council were only the fruit of the imagination of a Tiger Team working for him : he did exactly like Donald Rumsfeld in 2002, who thus “bypassed” the CIA and other intelligence services that were far less assertive about Iraqi chemical weapons.
The dramatic developments we are witnessing today have causes we knew about, but refused to see:
– on the strategic level, the expansion of NATO (which we have not dealt with here);
– on the political level, the Western refusal to implement the Minsk Agreements;
– and on the operational level, the continuous and repeated attacks on the civilian populations of Donbass for years and the dramatic increase at the end of February 2022.
In other words, we can naturally deplore and condemn the Russian attack. But WE (that is to say: the United States, France and the European Union in the lead) have created the conditions for a conflict to break out. We show compassion for the Ukrainian people and the two million refugees . It’s good. But if we had had a modicum of compassion for the same number of refugees from the Ukrainian populations of Donbass massacred by their own government and who have been accumulating in Russia for eight years, none of this would probably have happened.
Whether the term “genocide” applies to the abuses suffered by the populations of Donbass is an open question. This term is generally reserved for larger cases (Holocaust, etc.), however, the definition given by the Genocide Convention is probably broad enough to apply. Lawyers will appreciate.
Clearly, this conflict has led us into hysteria. Sanctions seem to have become the preferred tool of our foreign policies. If we had insisted that Ukraine respect the Minsk Accords, which we negotiated and endorsed, none of this would have happened. The condemnation of Vladimir Putin is also ours. There is no point in whining after the fact, we had to act before. However, neither Emmanuel Macron (as guarantor and as a member of the UN Security Council), nor Olaf Scholz, nor Volodymyr Zelensky have respected their commitments. Ultimately, the real defeat is that of those who have no voice.
The European Union was unable to promote the implementation of the Minsk agreements, on the contrary, it did not react when Ukraine bombarded its own population in the Donbass. Had she done so, Vladimir Putin would not have needed to react. Absent from the diplomatic phase, the EU distinguished itself by fueling the conflict. On February 27, the Ukrainian government agrees to start negotiations with Russia. But a few hours later, the European Union voted a budget of 450 million euros to supply arms to Ukraine, adding fuel to the fire. From there, the Ukrainians feel that they will not need to come to an agreement. The resistance of the Azov militias in Mariupol will even causea raise of 500 million euros for weapons .
In Ukraine, with the blessing of Western countries, those who are in favor of a negotiation are eliminated. This is the case of Denis Kireyev, one of the Ukrainian negotiators, assassinated on March 5 by the Ukrainian secret service (SBU) because he is too favorable to Russia and is considered a traitor. The same fate is reserved for Dmitry Demyanenko, former deputy head of the main directorate of the SBU for Kiev and its region, assassinated on March 10 , because too favorable to an agreement with Russia: he is killed by the Mirotvorets militia (” Peacemaker “). This militia is associated with the Mirotvorets website which lists the ” enemies of Ukraine”, with their personal data, address and telephone numbers, so that they can be harassed or even eliminated ; a punishable practice in many countries, but not in Ukraine . The UN and some European countries have demanded its closure… refused by the Rada.
Eventually, the price will be high, but Vladimir Putin will likely achieve the goals he set for himself. Its ties with Beijing have solidified. China emerges as a mediator of the conflict, while Switzerland enters the list of enemies of Russia. The Americans must ask Venezuela and Iran for oil to get out of the energy impasse in which they have gotten themselves: Juan Guaido leaves the scene definitively and the United States must pitifully reverse the sanctions imposed on their enemies.
Western ministers who seek to collapse the Russian economy and make the Russian people suffer , even calling for the assassination of Putin, show (even if they partially reversed the form of their remarks, but not on bottom!) that our leaders are no better than the ones we hate. Because, sanctioning Russian athletes from the Para-Olympic Games or Russian artists has absolutely nothing to do with a fight against Putin.
Thus, therefore, we recognize that Russia is a democracy since we consider that the Russian people are responsible for the war. If not, then why are we trying to punish an entire population for the fault of one? Remember that collective punishment is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions…
The lesson to be drawn from this conflict is our sense of variable geometry humanity. If we were so attached to peace and to Ukraine, why didn’t we encourage her more to respect the agreements that she had signed and that the members of the Security Council had approved?
Media integrity is measured by their willingness to work under the terms of the Munich Charter. They had succeeded in propagating hatred of the Chinese during the Covid crisis and their polarized message leads to the same effects against the Russians . Journalism is stripping itself more and more of professionalism to become militant…
As Goethe said: “ The greater the light, the darker the shadow ”. The more the sanctions against Russia are excessive, the more the cases where we have done nothing highlight our racism and our servility. Why has no Western politician reacted to the strikes against the civilian populations of Donbass for eight years?
After all, what makes the conflict in Ukraine more blameworthy than the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya? What sanctions have we adopted against those who have deliberately lied before the international community to wage unjust, unjustified, unjustifiable and murderous wars? Did we try to “make suffer” the American people who had lied to us (because it’s a democracy!) before the war in Iraq? Have we even adopted a single sanction against the countries, companies or politicians who are fueling the conflict in Yemen, considered the ” worst humanitarian disaster in the world “? Have we sanctioned the countries of the European Union who practice the most abject torture on their territory for the benefit of the United States?
To ask the question is to answer it… and the answer is not glorious.
https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/09/forme ... -narrative
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The Ukrainian Conflict Is a U.S./NATO Proxy War, but One Which Russia Is Poised to Win Decisively – Scott Ritter
Finian Cunningham
April 9, 2022
The West has sown the wind in sanctioning Russia; Russia will not reap the whirlwind, says Scott Ritter in an interview with the Strategic Culture Foundation.
Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who has gained international respect for his independence and integrity as a commentator on conflicts and foreign relations. This week, he was banned on the Twitter social media platform for challenging Western claims of a massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, allegedly carried out by Russian troops. Moscow denies the claims, as have other independent analysts who point to evidence that the incident was a false-flag provocation perpetrated by NATO-backed Ukrainian Nazi regiments to undermine Russia internationally and bolster Western objectives. It is a foreboding sign of the times that Ritter should be banned for daring to question dubious narratives. (He was later reinstated following a public outcry against censorship.)
In the following interview for Strategic Culture Foundation, he makes the crucial point that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is exposing the involvement of the U.S. and NATO in the training and weaponizing of that country’s dominant Nazi regiments. That is why Western media have been so vehement in trying to distort the conflict and blame Russia. The truth about Western dirty involvement in Ukraine would be too much to bear for the Western public.
When Ritter served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s he later challenged Western media and government claims that Iraq was harboring WMDs. Those claims were used as a pretext for the U.S.-British war on Iraq launched in 1993 that cost over one million lives, destroyed a nation, created millions of displaced and millions of casualties, as well as spawned international terrorism. It later turned out that the WMD claims were based on deliberate lies for which no Western leader has been held accountable. Scott Ritter was vindicated in his warnings against that war and it is one reason why he is widely respected among international public opinion.
Ritter is a critical commentator on U.S. conflicts and foreign relations. He is a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the Soviet Union implementing nuclear arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and as a UN inspector in Iraq (1991-98) overseeing the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. He is the author of Scorpion King: America’s Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump (Clarity Press, 2020).
Interview
Question: Do you think that Russia has a just cause in launching its “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24?
Scott Ritter: I believe Russia has articulated a cognizable claim of preemptive collective self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. The threat posed by NATO expansion, and Ukraine’s eight-year bombardment of the civilians of the Donbass fall under this umbrella.
Question: Do you think Russia has legitimate concerns about the Pentagon sponsoring biological weapons programs in laboratories in Ukraine?
Scott Ritter: The Pentagon denies any biological weapons program, but admits biological research programs on Ukrainian soil. Documents captured by Russia have allegedly uncovered the existence of programs the components of which could be construed as having offensive biological warfare applications. The U.S. should be required to explain the purpose of these programs.
Question: What do you make of allegations in Western media that Russian troops committed war crimes in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities? It is claimed that Russian forces summarily executed civilians.
Scott Ritter: All claims of war crimes must be thoroughly investigated, including Ukrainian allegations that Russia killed Ukrainian civilians in Bucha. However, the data available about the Bucha incident does not sustain the Ukrainian claims, and as such, the media should refrain from echoing these claims as fact until a proper investigation of the evidence is conducted, either by the media, or unbiased authorities.
Question: Do you think the alleged Russian bombing of a hospital and an art theater in Mariupol were false-flag provocations?
Scott Ritter: Both locations are available for detailed forensic examination that would either confirm or refute Ukrainian allegations that these locations were struck by Russian aerial bombs. Other data, such as the existence of any NATO radar data that would put Russian aircraft over these two locations at the time of the alleged attack, should be collected. A detailed forensic examination of each site would go a long way in proving or disproving the Ukrainian claims through the collection of weapons fragments and the evaluation of environmental samples which would show the chemical composition of any explosive used, thereby allowing a better idea of what weapon or explosive was used to destroy the sites.
Question: Western governments and mainstream media have denigrated Russian objectives to “demilitarize and deNazify” Ukraine. The West says Russia has invented or grossly exaggerated these problems as a pretext for invasion. Do you think this Western denialism is because it doesn’t want to acknowledge that Russia may indeed have legitimate concerns, and secondly that to acknowledge would mean admitting that the West is part of the problem in the current war?
Scott Ritter: The irony is that the West had thoroughly documented the extent of the Nazi ideology in Ukraine’s civil, political, and military structures during and after the 2014 Maidan coup. This documented reality was deliberately obscured by the same sources that had previously documented its existence once the Russian invasion occurred. To acknowledge the existence of this odious ideology by NATO would require NATO to acknowledge the role it played in training and equipping Azov regiment personnel since 2015. The Russian documentation of its ongoing de-Nazification effort in Ukraine is a source of continual embarrassment to NATO, as it exposes the scope and scale of NATO’s role in empowering the militarization of Nazi ideology in Ukraine.
Question: For about four months before the Russian intervention in Ukraine, the Biden administration was asserting non-stop that Moscow was planning an invasion. Do you think this is a case of great intelligence on the part of Washington or the culmination of provocation by Washington resulting in Russian military action in Ukraine?
Scott Ritter: We now know that the U.S. intelligence community under the Biden administration is committed to a policy of haphazardly “declassifying” intelligence for the purpose of shaping public opinion (so-called “getting ahead of the story”). There is no evidence that the intelligence regarding potential Russian military action was based upon anything other than politicized speculation derived from a crude analysis of Russian military dispositions void of any context. Any genuine intelligence assessment regarding the timing of any Russian military action would have incorporated the domestic political imperative of getting Duma [Russian parliamentary] approval for the deployment of Russian forces outside the borders of Russia, which carries with it the requirement of a cognizable justification for this military action under the UN Charter. This required political steps such as Donetsk and Lugansk declaring independence, and then petitioning the Russian parliament to recognize this independence, so that Russia could legitimately invoke Article 51. None of these factors was knowable when the Biden administration was issuing its warnings of imminent attack, thereby certifying the “intelligence” as being derived from fact-free speculation, and not intelligence at all.
Question: The Western media are reporting that the Russian military operation in Ukraine is floundering because it has not over-run Ukraine entirely. As a military expert, how do you see the Russian operation proceeding?
Scott Ritter: Russia is fighting a very difficult campaign hampered by its own constraint designed to limit civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure and the fact that Ukraine possesses a very well-trained military that is well led and equipped. Russia deployed some 200,000 troops in support of this operation. They are facing some 600,000 Ukrainian forces. The first phase of the Russian operation was designed to shape the battlefield to Russia’s advantage while diminishing the size and capacity of the Ukrainian ability to wage large-scale conflict. The second phase is focused on destroying the main Ukrainian force concentration in eastern Ukraine. Russia is well on its way to accomplishing this task.
Question: Do you see danger from Ukraine being turned into a proxy war by the United States and NATO partners against Russia in a way that attempts to repeat the West’s covert war in Syria or the Afghanistan war (1979-89) with the Soviet Union? There are reports of foreign legions being sent to Ukraine via NATO countries. Do you think there is a Western plan to embroil Russia in a proxy war that is aimed at sapping Russia politically, economically, and militarily?
Scott Ritter: The Ukrainian conflict is a proxy war, but one which Russia is poised to win decisively. While there appears to be a NATO/western plan to embroil Russia in a “new Afghanistan”, I don’t see any risk of this conflict dragging on for more than a few more weeks at the most before Russia accomplishes a strategic victory over Ukraine.
Question: There is an arrogant assumption among Western governments that they can impose crippling economic sanctions on Russia in a similar way to what they did on Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea among others. But would you agree that if Russia begins to impose its own counter-sanctions by restricting oil and gas exports then the Western states may end up reaping a whirlwind that is devastating to their societies?
Scott Ritter: Russia was warned well in advance about the scope and scale of U.S.-led sanctions that would be imposed if Russia were to invade Ukraine. Russia has prepared its own counter-sanction strategy which will not only defeat the Western sanctions but further strengthen Russia’s economy by decoupling it from the West and Western control/influence. We see evidence of the effectiveness of this counter-campaign as the Russian ruble is strengthened, the Russian stock market enjoys positive traction, and Europe and the U.S. flounder economically. The West has sown the wind in sanctioning Russia; Russia will not reap the whirlwind.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/ ... tt-ritter/
colonelcassad
April 10, 11:15
Briefly about Ukraine. 04/10/2022
1. The operational pause associated with the preparation of large-scale operations in Left-Bank Ukraine is coming to an end. On both sides, there is an active transfer of troops to the Kharkov-Izyum and Zaporozhye directions.
2. Nikolaev-Kherson. Fights of local importance. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are not yet conducting active offensive operations here. The Armed Forces of Ukraine near Nikolaev cannot attack because of losses, so they are trying to show activity south of Nikopol and Krivoy Rog.
3. Odessa. No significant changes. There are no landings, there are no offensives from the PMR either.
4. Zaporozhye. Vasilyevka-Orekhov-Gulyaipole. Without changes. The front does not move. To the east of Gulyaipole, there are some battles for individual villages, no serious progress is expected here before the start of the battle for Donbass.
5. Mariupol. Cleaning up the remnants of the enemy forces in the areas adjacent to Azovstal. The port area will be cleared soon. Azovstal and Azovmash will remain.
6. Carbon. So far, it has not been possible to break through the enemy defenses on the Novomikhailovka-Velikaya Novoselka line.
7. Marinka. Gnawing fortifications.
8. Avdiivka. Without changes. To the north of it, fighting near Novobakhmutovka, Novoselka-2, near Troitsky, on the outskirts of New York.
9. LPR. Fighting on the southern outskirts of Rubizhne. Street fighting in Popasnaya (slow progress here). Severodonetsk. Fighting on the outskirts of the city.
10. Kharkiv-Izyum. Fighting north of Kharkov. The accumulation of forces on the bridgehead on the southern bank of the Donets in the interests of the upcoming operations to liberate the Slavic-Kramatorsk agglomeration and Barvenkovo.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin- broadcasting of events in Ukraine continues as usual in Telegram (if you are interested, subscribe)
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7550237.html
Russian flag over Mariupol
colonelcassad
April 10, 12:33
The flag of the Russian Federation is raised over the main administrative building of Mariupol - the building of the City Council.
Previously, the flags were hoisted over the administrations of the Kalmius and Levoberezhny districts.
Confirmatory videos near the building of the Mariupol City Council at the link https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41223
There are 3 main pockets of resistance in the city:
1. Azovstal + a piece in the north-west of the Levoberezhny district.
2. Azovmash.
3. Part of the Mariupol seaport and the Primorsky region.
I believe that the Primorsky district and the remaining part of the port will be cleaned first.
Then they will finish off those surrounded at Azovmash, and only then they will deal with Azovstal.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7550716.html
Germany will destroy the industrial basis of its economic power
colonelcassad
April 10, 15:38
Germany will destroy the industrial basis of its economic power
Due to anti-Russian sanctions, a significant part of Bosch deliveries to Russia was suspended, the new head of the company, Stefan Hartung, said in an interview with Handelsblatt. However, the company has areas of interaction with Russian customers that have not yet fallen under sanctions - and Bosch is not going to stop them, Hartung noted.
“We are responsible for all our employees. Almost 360 people in Ukraine and 3,500 people in Russia. We continue to pay salaries, including in those areas where work is not being done yet, ”the publication quotes Hartung as saying.
The head of Bosch also stressed that his company needs Russian gas supplies. “The fact is that we need gas for production. Bosch covers 20 percent of its energy needs with gas. If Germany unilaterally refuses Russian gas, then important elements of the supply chains will collapse, and not only at Bosch. Therefore, I strongly oppose a quick withdrawal of gas supplies,” Hartung said.
Hartung warned that in the event of a gas supply shutdown, the company could face an almost immediate shutdown of all industrial production. He also noted that the consequences of the gas embargo will be much more significant than the consequences of the pandemic and will be much more difficult to overcome. The head of Bosch said that the embargo on Russian gas would lead to the fact that Germany would destroy the industrial basis of its economic power.
In addition, Hartung expressed doubt that in the current situation the world is divided into two camps. He noted that the modern world is so tightly intertwined with global supply chains that it is almost impossible to imagine the division, as during the Cold War years
https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2022-04-10 ... kazavshis- ot-rossijskogo - zinc
And you have to. The coming US economic war against China will surpass even the consequences of the economic war of the US and its satellites against Russia in scale and consequences. Well, from the point of view of the United States, the destruction of the German economy does look like an additional bonus. If Merkel resisted this scenario with all her might, then in the presence of such a useful idiot as Scholz, all German claims to economic leadership in Europe can be nullified.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7550918.html
Google Translator
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LIVE:Donetsk People’s Republic Outlaws OSCE Monitoring Mission
Donetsk authorities have prepared a draft decision to suspend the activities of the OSCE mission in the republic. Apr. 09, 2022. | Photo: @elpaiscr
Published 9 April 2022
Day 45 of the ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia, without any sign of a permanent ceasefire. Below are the main events as they happen.
The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) recognized the activities of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on its territory as illegal, according to the decree of the republic's State Defense Committee.
"The activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission on the territory of the DPR are declared illegal and the presence of its officials - undesirable," the document says.
All representatives of the mission must leave the territory of the republic no later than April 30, the text said.
On April 8, DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonova reported the arrest of an OSCE special mission employee for "committing illegal actions on the territory of the republic, which are incompatible with the mission's mandate."
She added that Donetsk prepared a draft decision to suspend the activities of the OSCE mission in the republic, as well as to recognize its prolongation as unlawful.
Japan Removes Neo-nazi Designation From Azov Battalion
Tokyo's Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSAI) has removed the neo-Nazi designation of the Ukrainian far-right Azov Battalion from Japan's 2021 manual on international terrorism.
"Recently, cases of misinformation have been published as if the PSAI recognized the Azov battalion as a neo-Nazi organization. We regret that this situation has arisen," the Japanese agency said, apologizing for the designation of a neo-Nazi organization as neo-Nazi.
"The 2021 guide includes data collected from various open sources, including foreign and Japanese media, research institutes and others," the statement said. It added that the results were not an independent assessment.
"This does not mean that the agency has recognized the Azov battalion as a neo-Nazi organization," it stressed despite the fact that the battalion's own logo bears Nazi insignia.
To prevent the circulation of incorrect information, the PSIA said it had decided to remove the description from the manual.
The Twitter account of the Ukrainian National Guard had posted a video boasting that Azov fighters greased their bullets with lard for use against Muslim Chechens on the Russian side.
The cancellation of the terrorist designation came after intelligence suggested that Azov militants had been planning terrorist attacks in Lvov against Western diplomats to force NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Azov is said to have been behind many war crimes in Ukraine, from killing civilians and trying to shift the blame to Moscow, to murdering prisoners of war of the Russian armed forces.
The nationalists also faced further accusations from Moscow of holding hostages in a maternity hospital in Mariupol, which would not be the first crime committed by the notorious far-right neo-Nazi group, as they opened fire on civilians during their evacuation of the city, killing at least two people and wounding four others.
Evacuation Attempt of Nationalist Leaders Fails
On the night of April 8, the Kiev regime made a new attempt to evacuate the leaders of the Ukrainian nationalists by sea from Mariupol, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, anounced to journalists.
"The Kiev regime does not stop trying to evacuate the leaders of the nationalist Azov regiment and foreign mercenaries from Mariupol," he pointed out.
"Earlier actions to airlift them out by helicopters failed. On the night of April 8, the Kiev regime made a new unsuccessful attempt to evacuate the leaders of the Ukrainian Nazis by sea," Konashenkov remarked.
According to the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian cargo ship "Apache" under the Maltese flag followed at night in a caravan of ships from Taganrog Bay to the Kerch Strait.
At 22H38 Moscow time, 30 kilometers off Mariupol, it abruptly changed course and attempted to break into the seaport of Mariupol, which is blockaded by the Black Sea Fleet.
The cargo ship continued to move without responding to demands by Russian border guards to make contact through the international channel.
Warning artillery shots, fired by two border patrol boats along the vessel's course, did not cause a change of course or a slowdown in the cargo ship's speed, he said.
"As it was heading into port, the ship was conducting a radio exchange, transmitting messages:
"'I'm a maniac, I'm coming to you,'" Konashenkov said, adding that signs of fire were seen offshore.
The cargo ship then diverted and the crew contacted the border guards, asking them to cease fire and stating that they were ready to comply with the requirements.
"As a result of the impact of the fire, there are no injuries among the ship's crew members. The ship's crew extinguished the fire on their own. After the inspection, the Ukrainian cargo ship Apache with the crew is escorted to the port of Yeysk," Konashenkov concluded.
Russia Denounces Ukrainian Provocation in Irpin City
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov denounced on Saturday that Ukrainian nationalists are preparing new intentional actions to blame Russia for the murder of civilians in the town of Irpin in Kiev province.
According to the Russian Defense entity, its troops left Irpin a week ago.
He indicated that the Russian military left the city more than a week ago and that the officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) plan to transfer, from the morgue of a hospital, the corpses of civilian residents who perished after the Ukrainian artillery attacks and leave them in the basement of a building outside the city.
Similarly, he detailed that later a staging will be organized in the forest, in the framework of which, supposedly, "will be eliminated" a Russian reconnaissance group which, according to the scenario, will arrive in Irpin to kill witnesses of war crimes by Russia.
The official also explained that they will present, as evidence, the corpses of Russian servicemen who were tortured and killed by nationalists.
"This cynical staged action [will be] organized for later broadcasting videos through Western media," Konashenkov specified.
Russia Opens Criminal Investigation on Kramatorsk Attack
On Friday, the Kramatorsk railroad station was attacked, while several civilians were evacuating. Following the attack by Ukrainian troops on the city of Kramatorsk, the Investigative Committee of Russia decided to open a criminal case to investigate the premeditated dissemination of false news about the Russian Armed Forces at the site.
Prior to the announcement, the spokesman for the militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, explained that about 30 people were killed and 100 others were wounded by a missile attack on a railway station in the DPR town of Kramatorsk, which Russia believes was perpetrated by Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian side spread deliberately false information that the attack on the city was carried out by Russian soldiers. On the occasion of that fact a criminal case was also opened for the crime (...) public dissemination of deliberately false information about the Armed Forces of Russia," the Committee said on its channel on Telegram.
According to the entity, a file was opened "against the commander of the brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other unidentified persons", for "abuses against the civilian population", as well as "for the use in an armed conflict of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty signed by Russia".
This Friday a missile hit the train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk while evacuating civilian population, resulting in several casualties. The head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Pavel Kirilenko, stated that there were about 50 deaths, including five children, and 86 wounded, as reported by Russian local media.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry denied any involvement of Moscow and its troops in the attack. It specified that the Tochka-U missiles, fragments of which were found near the station, were only used by Ukraine, and the attack was launched by its troops from the Dobropolie region, 45 kilometers southwest of Kramatorsk.
He also added that the aim of this offensive was to thwart the mass exit of residents from the city in order to use them as human shields to defend positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as in other areas of the country.
The advisor to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Alexei Aristovich, minutes after the first reports of the attack appeared, said that an Iskander missile was used, contradicting what the DPR, Russia and the Ukrainian president, Volodymir Zalensky, declared. Russian media also reiterated that a Tochka was used, based on its very particular characteristics shown in photographs.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0004.html
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Kramatorsk Attack: Russia Denies Use of Missile, Fragments Show Serial Number of Ukraine
April 10, 2022
The presidential spokesperson of Russia, Dmitri Peskov, stressed on Friday, April 8, that his country does not use Tochka-U missiles like the one that was launched that day on the train station in Kramatorsk city, in Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
The Russian official urged the press to follow the statements of the Russian Defense Ministry, which denied the use of this type of missile by its Armed Forces and warned about its use by Ukrainian troops.
“Our Armed Forces do not use this type of missile,” said Peskov. “Also, there were no [Russian] combat missions in Kramatorsk and they were not scheduled for today.”
The Russian Defense Ministry called Kiev’s statements blaming Moscow for the attack on the Kramatorsk train station “provocative and absolutely false.”
The statement from Moscow explained that the Tochka-U tactical missiles, remains of which were found near the impact site, and images of which were published in social media platforms by witnesses, are used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It further stated that on March 14, another similar missile from the Ukrainian forces fell in the center of the city of Donetsk, killing 17 people on the spot and wounding 36 others.
According to the deputy head of the DPR forces, Eduard Basurin, some 30 people died this Friday from the impact of the rocket at the Kramatorsk railway station.
“First there was announcement of evacuation from the cities of Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, Artyomovsk, and Slaviansk,” Basurin told the Russian television channel Channel 1. “People began to gather in places from where they could get out quickly, that is, the train stations. And a shell fell. There are about 30 dead.”
Basurin further stated that the Ukrainian authorities did not hide that they were preparing new provocations. After the missile atteck, authorities and media in Kiev immediately began to say that the missile was launched by Russia.
“But the media that people have, I mean the phones, the cameras, recorded that there were remains of a Tochka-U,” said the DPR official.
He added that the Tochka-U tactical missile “is not used by our republics, I mean Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Army of the Russian Federation does not have it either.”
The head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, stressed that the missile attack is “another monstrous provocation, another war crime by Kiev’s regime. Everything is clear to us, the Kiev regime does not consider these people as its own, it stops at nothing,” he said on television, in reference to this region in the Donbass which in its majority is pro-Russian.
Pushilin warned that this bombing will not be the last provocation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, for which he called on the population “to be prepared and counteract these war crimes, if possible.”
On Saturday, April 9, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a video of the incident where the serial number of the missile can be clearly seen from images broadcast by the British SkyNews network. The serial number was 9М79-1 (Ш91579).
The video shows a similar Tochka-U missile, serial number 9M79-1 (Ш91565) that was lauched by Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city of Alchevsk in 2015. According to the Russian video, the missile used in Kramatorsk is from the same batch as the one in Alchevsk, in Kiev’s constant campaign of bombardment of the Donbass that started in 2014 and continues to this day.
Featured image: Tochka-U missile used by Ukrainian Air Force responsible for the death of at least 30 civilians in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk People’s Republic. Photo: Screenshot from TG-LA7 video footage.
(Prensa Latina) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
https://orinocotribune.com/kramatorsk-a ... f-ukraine/
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Former NATO Military Analyst Blows the Whistle on West’s Ukraine Invasion Narrative
<snip>
PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS
As a former intelligence professional, the first thing that strikes me is the total absence of Western intelligence services in representing the situation for a year. In Switzerland, the services have been criticized for not having provided a correct picture of the situation. In fact, it seems that all over the Western world, the services have been overwhelmed by the politicians. The problem is that it is the politicians who decide: the best intelligence service in the world is useless if the decision-maker does not listen to it. This is what happened during this crisis.
That said, while some intelligence services had a very precise and rational image of the situation, others clearly had the same image as that propagated by our media. In this crisis, the services of the countries of the “new Europe” played an important role. The problem is that, by experience, I found that they were extremely bad on the analytical level: doctrinaire, they do not have the intellectual and political independence necessary to appreciate a situation with a military “quality”. It is better to have them as enemies than as friends.
Then, it seems that in some European countries, politicians have deliberately ignored their services to respond ideologically to the situation. This is why this crisis has been irrational from the start. It will be observed that all the documents that have been presented to the public during this crisis have been presented by politicians on the basis of commercial sources…
Some Western politicians obviously wanted there to be a conflict. In the United States, the attack scenarios presented by Anthony Blinken to the Security Council were only the fruit of the imagination of a Tiger Team working for him : he did exactly like Donald Rumsfeld in 2002, who thus “bypassed” the CIA and other intelligence services that were far less assertive about Iraqi chemical weapons.
The dramatic developments we are witnessing today have causes we knew about, but refused to see:
– on the strategic level, the expansion of NATO (which we have not dealt with here);
– on the political level, the Western refusal to implement the Minsk Agreements;
– and on the operational level, the continuous and repeated attacks on the civilian populations of Donbass for years and the dramatic increase at the end of February 2022.
In other words, we can naturally deplore and condemn the Russian attack. But WE (that is to say: the United States, France and the European Union in the lead) have created the conditions for a conflict to break out. We show compassion for the Ukrainian people and the two million refugees . It’s good. But if we had had a modicum of compassion for the same number of refugees from the Ukrainian populations of Donbass massacred by their own government and who have been accumulating in Russia for eight years, none of this would probably have happened.
Whether the term “genocide” applies to the abuses suffered by the populations of Donbass is an open question. This term is generally reserved for larger cases (Holocaust, etc.), however, the definition given by the Genocide Convention is probably broad enough to apply. Lawyers will appreciate.
Clearly, this conflict has led us into hysteria. Sanctions seem to have become the preferred tool of our foreign policies. If we had insisted that Ukraine respect the Minsk Accords, which we negotiated and endorsed, none of this would have happened. The condemnation of Vladimir Putin is also ours. There is no point in whining after the fact, we had to act before. However, neither Emmanuel Macron (as guarantor and as a member of the UN Security Council), nor Olaf Scholz, nor Volodymyr Zelensky have respected their commitments. Ultimately, the real defeat is that of those who have no voice.
The European Union was unable to promote the implementation of the Minsk agreements, on the contrary, it did not react when Ukraine bombarded its own population in the Donbass. Had she done so, Vladimir Putin would not have needed to react. Absent from the diplomatic phase, the EU distinguished itself by fueling the conflict. On February 27, the Ukrainian government agrees to start negotiations with Russia. But a few hours later, the European Union voted a budget of 450 million euros to supply arms to Ukraine, adding fuel to the fire. From there, the Ukrainians feel that they will not need to come to an agreement. The resistance of the Azov militias in Mariupol will even causea raise of 500 million euros for weapons .
In Ukraine, with the blessing of Western countries, those who are in favor of a negotiation are eliminated. This is the case of Denis Kireyev, one of the Ukrainian negotiators, assassinated on March 5 by the Ukrainian secret service (SBU) because he is too favorable to Russia and is considered a traitor. The same fate is reserved for Dmitry Demyanenko, former deputy head of the main directorate of the SBU for Kiev and its region, assassinated on March 10 , because too favorable to an agreement with Russia: he is killed by the Mirotvorets militia (” Peacemaker “). This militia is associated with the Mirotvorets website which lists the ” enemies of Ukraine”, with their personal data, address and telephone numbers, so that they can be harassed or even eliminated ; a punishable practice in many countries, but not in Ukraine . The UN and some European countries have demanded its closure… refused by the Rada.
Eventually, the price will be high, but Vladimir Putin will likely achieve the goals he set for himself. Its ties with Beijing have solidified. China emerges as a mediator of the conflict, while Switzerland enters the list of enemies of Russia. The Americans must ask Venezuela and Iran for oil to get out of the energy impasse in which they have gotten themselves: Juan Guaido leaves the scene definitively and the United States must pitifully reverse the sanctions imposed on their enemies.
Western ministers who seek to collapse the Russian economy and make the Russian people suffer , even calling for the assassination of Putin, show (even if they partially reversed the form of their remarks, but not on bottom!) that our leaders are no better than the ones we hate. Because, sanctioning Russian athletes from the Para-Olympic Games or Russian artists has absolutely nothing to do with a fight against Putin.
Thus, therefore, we recognize that Russia is a democracy since we consider that the Russian people are responsible for the war. If not, then why are we trying to punish an entire population for the fault of one? Remember that collective punishment is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions…
The lesson to be drawn from this conflict is our sense of variable geometry humanity. If we were so attached to peace and to Ukraine, why didn’t we encourage her more to respect the agreements that she had signed and that the members of the Security Council had approved?
Media integrity is measured by their willingness to work under the terms of the Munich Charter. They had succeeded in propagating hatred of the Chinese during the Covid crisis and their polarized message leads to the same effects against the Russians . Journalism is stripping itself more and more of professionalism to become militant…
As Goethe said: “ The greater the light, the darker the shadow ”. The more the sanctions against Russia are excessive, the more the cases where we have done nothing highlight our racism and our servility. Why has no Western politician reacted to the strikes against the civilian populations of Donbass for eight years?
After all, what makes the conflict in Ukraine more blameworthy than the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya? What sanctions have we adopted against those who have deliberately lied before the international community to wage unjust, unjustified, unjustifiable and murderous wars? Did we try to “make suffer” the American people who had lied to us (because it’s a democracy!) before the war in Iraq? Have we even adopted a single sanction against the countries, companies or politicians who are fueling the conflict in Yemen, considered the ” worst humanitarian disaster in the world “? Have we sanctioned the countries of the European Union who practice the most abject torture on their territory for the benefit of the United States?
To ask the question is to answer it… and the answer is not glorious.
https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/09/forme ... -narrative
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The Ukrainian Conflict Is a U.S./NATO Proxy War, but One Which Russia Is Poised to Win Decisively – Scott Ritter
Finian Cunningham
April 9, 2022
The West has sown the wind in sanctioning Russia; Russia will not reap the whirlwind, says Scott Ritter in an interview with the Strategic Culture Foundation.
Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who has gained international respect for his independence and integrity as a commentator on conflicts and foreign relations. This week, he was banned on the Twitter social media platform for challenging Western claims of a massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, allegedly carried out by Russian troops. Moscow denies the claims, as have other independent analysts who point to evidence that the incident was a false-flag provocation perpetrated by NATO-backed Ukrainian Nazi regiments to undermine Russia internationally and bolster Western objectives. It is a foreboding sign of the times that Ritter should be banned for daring to question dubious narratives. (He was later reinstated following a public outcry against censorship.)
In the following interview for Strategic Culture Foundation, he makes the crucial point that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is exposing the involvement of the U.S. and NATO in the training and weaponizing of that country’s dominant Nazi regiments. That is why Western media have been so vehement in trying to distort the conflict and blame Russia. The truth about Western dirty involvement in Ukraine would be too much to bear for the Western public.
When Ritter served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s he later challenged Western media and government claims that Iraq was harboring WMDs. Those claims were used as a pretext for the U.S.-British war on Iraq launched in 1993 that cost over one million lives, destroyed a nation, created millions of displaced and millions of casualties, as well as spawned international terrorism. It later turned out that the WMD claims were based on deliberate lies for which no Western leader has been held accountable. Scott Ritter was vindicated in his warnings against that war and it is one reason why he is widely respected among international public opinion.
Ritter is a critical commentator on U.S. conflicts and foreign relations. He is a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the Soviet Union implementing nuclear arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and as a UN inspector in Iraq (1991-98) overseeing the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. He is the author of Scorpion King: America’s Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump (Clarity Press, 2020).
Interview
Question: Do you think that Russia has a just cause in launching its “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24?
Scott Ritter: I believe Russia has articulated a cognizable claim of preemptive collective self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. The threat posed by NATO expansion, and Ukraine’s eight-year bombardment of the civilians of the Donbass fall under this umbrella.
Question: Do you think Russia has legitimate concerns about the Pentagon sponsoring biological weapons programs in laboratories in Ukraine?
Scott Ritter: The Pentagon denies any biological weapons program, but admits biological research programs on Ukrainian soil. Documents captured by Russia have allegedly uncovered the existence of programs the components of which could be construed as having offensive biological warfare applications. The U.S. should be required to explain the purpose of these programs.
Question: What do you make of allegations in Western media that Russian troops committed war crimes in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities? It is claimed that Russian forces summarily executed civilians.
Scott Ritter: All claims of war crimes must be thoroughly investigated, including Ukrainian allegations that Russia killed Ukrainian civilians in Bucha. However, the data available about the Bucha incident does not sustain the Ukrainian claims, and as such, the media should refrain from echoing these claims as fact until a proper investigation of the evidence is conducted, either by the media, or unbiased authorities.
Question: Do you think the alleged Russian bombing of a hospital and an art theater in Mariupol were false-flag provocations?
Scott Ritter: Both locations are available for detailed forensic examination that would either confirm or refute Ukrainian allegations that these locations were struck by Russian aerial bombs. Other data, such as the existence of any NATO radar data that would put Russian aircraft over these two locations at the time of the alleged attack, should be collected. A detailed forensic examination of each site would go a long way in proving or disproving the Ukrainian claims through the collection of weapons fragments and the evaluation of environmental samples which would show the chemical composition of any explosive used, thereby allowing a better idea of what weapon or explosive was used to destroy the sites.
Question: Western governments and mainstream media have denigrated Russian objectives to “demilitarize and deNazify” Ukraine. The West says Russia has invented or grossly exaggerated these problems as a pretext for invasion. Do you think this Western denialism is because it doesn’t want to acknowledge that Russia may indeed have legitimate concerns, and secondly that to acknowledge would mean admitting that the West is part of the problem in the current war?
Scott Ritter: The irony is that the West had thoroughly documented the extent of the Nazi ideology in Ukraine’s civil, political, and military structures during and after the 2014 Maidan coup. This documented reality was deliberately obscured by the same sources that had previously documented its existence once the Russian invasion occurred. To acknowledge the existence of this odious ideology by NATO would require NATO to acknowledge the role it played in training and equipping Azov regiment personnel since 2015. The Russian documentation of its ongoing de-Nazification effort in Ukraine is a source of continual embarrassment to NATO, as it exposes the scope and scale of NATO’s role in empowering the militarization of Nazi ideology in Ukraine.
Question: For about four months before the Russian intervention in Ukraine, the Biden administration was asserting non-stop that Moscow was planning an invasion. Do you think this is a case of great intelligence on the part of Washington or the culmination of provocation by Washington resulting in Russian military action in Ukraine?
Scott Ritter: We now know that the U.S. intelligence community under the Biden administration is committed to a policy of haphazardly “declassifying” intelligence for the purpose of shaping public opinion (so-called “getting ahead of the story”). There is no evidence that the intelligence regarding potential Russian military action was based upon anything other than politicized speculation derived from a crude analysis of Russian military dispositions void of any context. Any genuine intelligence assessment regarding the timing of any Russian military action would have incorporated the domestic political imperative of getting Duma [Russian parliamentary] approval for the deployment of Russian forces outside the borders of Russia, which carries with it the requirement of a cognizable justification for this military action under the UN Charter. This required political steps such as Donetsk and Lugansk declaring independence, and then petitioning the Russian parliament to recognize this independence, so that Russia could legitimately invoke Article 51. None of these factors was knowable when the Biden administration was issuing its warnings of imminent attack, thereby certifying the “intelligence” as being derived from fact-free speculation, and not intelligence at all.
Question: The Western media are reporting that the Russian military operation in Ukraine is floundering because it has not over-run Ukraine entirely. As a military expert, how do you see the Russian operation proceeding?
Scott Ritter: Russia is fighting a very difficult campaign hampered by its own constraint designed to limit civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure and the fact that Ukraine possesses a very well-trained military that is well led and equipped. Russia deployed some 200,000 troops in support of this operation. They are facing some 600,000 Ukrainian forces. The first phase of the Russian operation was designed to shape the battlefield to Russia’s advantage while diminishing the size and capacity of the Ukrainian ability to wage large-scale conflict. The second phase is focused on destroying the main Ukrainian force concentration in eastern Ukraine. Russia is well on its way to accomplishing this task.
Question: Do you see danger from Ukraine being turned into a proxy war by the United States and NATO partners against Russia in a way that attempts to repeat the West’s covert war in Syria or the Afghanistan war (1979-89) with the Soviet Union? There are reports of foreign legions being sent to Ukraine via NATO countries. Do you think there is a Western plan to embroil Russia in a proxy war that is aimed at sapping Russia politically, economically, and militarily?
Scott Ritter: The Ukrainian conflict is a proxy war, but one which Russia is poised to win decisively. While there appears to be a NATO/western plan to embroil Russia in a “new Afghanistan”, I don’t see any risk of this conflict dragging on for more than a few more weeks at the most before Russia accomplishes a strategic victory over Ukraine.
Question: There is an arrogant assumption among Western governments that they can impose crippling economic sanctions on Russia in a similar way to what they did on Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea among others. But would you agree that if Russia begins to impose its own counter-sanctions by restricting oil and gas exports then the Western states may end up reaping a whirlwind that is devastating to their societies?
Scott Ritter: Russia was warned well in advance about the scope and scale of U.S.-led sanctions that would be imposed if Russia were to invade Ukraine. Russia has prepared its own counter-sanction strategy which will not only defeat the Western sanctions but further strengthen Russia’s economy by decoupling it from the West and Western control/influence. We see evidence of the effectiveness of this counter-campaign as the Russian ruble is strengthened, the Russian stock market enjoys positive traction, and Europe and the U.S. flounder economically. The West has sown the wind in sanctioning Russia; Russia will not reap the whirlwind.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/ ... tt-ritter/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
On the prospects for a military scenario in Ukraine
colonelcassad
April 10, 17:46
1. The EU wants to achieve military victory in Ukraine.
2. NATO will continue to deploy troops on the western borders of Russia and Belarus.
3. A training program for instructors to use NATO equipment for the war in Ukraine will be launched on the territory of NATO countries.
4. Deliveries of air defense systems have already begun to Ukraine and, in the near future, anti-ship missile systems, not to mention the deliveries of heavy and light armored vehicles. Further self-propelled guns, heavy artillery, MLRS and aviation.
5. Continued negotiations with Russia are considered undesirable by the US and Britain.
6. Both the US and Britain articulate the thesis that the war in Ukraine will go on for months or years.
The moral is simple.
Proxy war with the US and NATO on the territory of Ukraine will be long. Because the issue for its participants is much more than just Ukraine. The question of the future of the world order is being decided.
The United States was clearly counting on an economic blitzkrieg or internal unrest in the Russian Federation, which were supposed to undermine the ability of the Russian Federation to continue the operation in Ukraine. Since nothing of the kind happened (the economy of the Russian Federation withstood the first blow), and society, on the contrary, rallied against an external enemy, and support for the military operation in Ukraine not only did not decrease (even despite the losses), but, on the contrary, grew - the United States is forced to change its plan of action .
Accordingly, the conflict is moving into a long-term stage, where they will try to achieve the same goals over a longer distance before the consequences of this war for the US and the EU become unacceptable. Therefore, the emphasis is on the Syrianization of the conflict in Ukraine at the expense of Ukraine itself. The concept of "war to the last Ukrainian" in action. It seems that at the current stage of the same goals - internal unrest / top coup or economic collapse, they will strive to achieve before the fall, when Biden's position in the United States may greatly worsen after the Congress elections, and the position of most European governments will worsen due to the inevitable economic recession and growing recession. In this regard, the economies of all participants in the war will be in a state of turbulence in the expectation that the opponent will crack first.
Accordingly, one must be prepared for a long-term conflict, where world hegemony is at stake for the United States, and for the Russian Federation its historical subjectivity, a truce in the spirit of Minsk-2, of course, will not be able to resolve these cardinal contradictions, since some real agreements one can speak only with the masters of the Ukrainian puppets, and not with the puppets who are pulled by the strings to imitate diplomatic subjectivity, which de facto they do not possess. Russia is indirectly fighting in Ukraine with the United States and NATO, which use an instrument affiliated with the United States and NATO in the form of occupied Ukraine, where a completely puppet regime and its army, which is imbued with Nazi ideology and armed by NATO countries, is installed. One cannot make peace with an instrument without making peace with the subject who owns it. The fact that all this is called SVO, does not change the content of this conflict. Ultimately, no one has declared war on anyone, and most likely will not declare war. But within the framework of the ongoing Cold War and Ukraine as one of the hot theaters of this war, it is precisely that proxy war between nuclear powers that leaves the scenario of a remake of the Karabakh crisis on the agenda, when the risk of nuclear war can become really real.
Since the US cannot retreat in Ukraine (that would be another step towards losing world hegemony), they will try to force Russia to reduce or abandon its demands, which will most likely lead to domestic confusion and the realization of the goals that The US failed to achieve the first phase of the campaign. Therefore, the war will be dragged out on the same principle that it was dragged out against Assad, hoping that a combination of military and economic pressure will undermine the position of the government and a puppet government can be brought to power. The example of Syria, an immeasurably weaker country than the Russian Federation, shows that this pressure can be fought. The example of Iran is also clear, which was able to prevent both the collapse of its economy and internal unrest.
The Russian Federation has much more opportunities to act under such pressure for a long time, fighting against the United States on several boards, where Ukraine is currently the most important, although not the only front.
Accordingly, with complacency about the timing of the SVO and the possibility of waging such a proxy war with limited means, we must end.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7551483.html
Google Translator
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Olga Chernysheva (Russia), Kind People, 2004.
The U.S. proxy war in Ukraine
Posted Apr 09, 2022 by John Bellamy Foster
The following is the text of a presentation by John Bellamy Foster given on March 31, 2022 to the advisory board of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. —Eds
Thanks for inviting me to make this presentation. In talking about the Ukraine war, the essential thing to recognize at the outset is that this is a proxy war. In this regard, none other than Leon Panetta, who was CIA director and then secretary of defense under the Barack Obama administration, acknowledged recently that the war in Ukraine is a U.S. “proxy war,” though seldom admitted. To be explicit, the United States (backed by the whole of NATO) is in a long proxy war with Russia, with Ukraine as the battlefield. The U.S. role in this conception, as Panetta insisted, is to provide more and more weapons faster and faster with Ukraine doing the fighting, bolstered by foreign mercenaries.
So how did this proxy war come about? In order to understand that we have to look at the U.S. imperial grand strategy. Here we have to go back to 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved or even further to the 1980s. There are two prongs to this imperial grand strategy, one as geopolitical expansion and positioning, including the enlargement of NATO, the other as the U.S. drive for nuclear primacy. A third prong involves the economy but won’t be considered here.
The First Prong: Geopolitical Expansion
The first prong was enunciated in Paul Wolfowitz’s Defense Policy Guideline for the United States in February 1992, just months after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The grand imperial strategy adopted at the time and followed ever since had to do with the United States advancing geopolitically into the terrain of the former Soviet Union as well as what had been the Soviet sphere of influence. The idea was to prevent Russia from reemerging as a great power. This process of U.S./NATO geopolitical expansion commenced immediately, visible in all the U.S./NATO wars in Asia, Africa, and Europe that have taken place in the last three decades. NATO’s war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s was particularly important in this respect. Even while the dismemberment of Yugoslavia was going on, the United States began the process of enlarging NATO by moving it further and further East to encompass all of the former Warsaw Pact countries as well as parts of the former USSR. Bill Clinton in his 1996 election campaign made the enlargement of NATO part of his platform. Washington started to implement that in 1997, eventually adding 15 additional countries to NATO doubling its size and creating a 30-nation Atlantic Alliance targeting Russia, while also giving NATO a more global interventionist role, as in Yugoslavia, Syria, and Libya.
But the goal was the Ukraine. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was the most important strategist of all of this and had been Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor said in his 1997 Grand Chessboard that Ukraine was the “geopolitical pivot,” particularly in the West, which if it were brought into NATO and under Western control, would weaken Russia so much that it could be tethered, if not dismembered. This has been the goal all along and U.S. strategic planners and Washington officials, along with the NATO allies, have stated over and over that they wanted to bring the Ukraine into NATO. NATO made this goal official in 2008. Only a few months ago, in November 2021 in the new strategic charter between the Biden administration in Washington and Zelensky government in Kyiv, it was agreed that the immediate aim was bring Ukraine into NATO. But this has also been NATO’s policy for a long time now. The United States in the final months of 2021 and at the beginning of 2022 was moving very fast to militarize the Ukraine and accomplish that as a fait accompli.
The idea, articulated by Brzezinski and others, was that once the Ukraine was secured for NATO, Russia was finished, the proximity to Moscow with Ukraine as the thirty-first nation in the NATO alliance, would give NATO a 1200-mile border with Russia, the same path through which Hitler’s armies had invaded the Soviet Union, but in this case with Russia facing the world’s greatest nuclear alliance. This would change the entire geopolitical map giving the West control of Eurasia west of China.
How this actually played out is important. The proxy war started in 2014 when the Maidan coup, engineered by the United States took place in Ukraine, removing the democratically elected president, and putting ultra-nationalists largely in control, with U.S./NATO sponsorship. The immediate result though was that Ukraine began to break apart. Crimea had been an independent, autonomous state from 1991 to 1995. In 1995 Ukraine illegally tore up the Crimean Constitution and annexed it against its will. The Crimean people didn’t consider themselves part of Ukraine, and were largely Russian speaking, with deep cultural connections to Russia. When the coup occurred, with Ukrainian ultra-nationalists in control, the Crimean population wanted out. Russia gave them an opportunity with a referendum to stay in the Ukraine or join with Russia. They chose the latter. However, in the eastern Ukraine the primarily Russian population was subjected to repression by ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi Kyiv forces. Russophobia and extreme repression of the Russian-speaking populations in the East set in—with the infamous case of the forty people blown up in a public building by neo-Nazis associated with the Azov Battalion. Originally there were a number of breakaway republics. Two survived in the Donbass region, with dominant Russian-speaking populations: the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
A civil war thus emerged in Ukraine between Kyiv in the West and Donbass in the East. But it was also a proxy war with the U.S./NATO supporting Kyiv and Russia supporting Donbass. The civil war started right after the coup, when the Russian language was basically outlawed, so that individuals could get fined for speaking Russian in a store. It was an attack on the Russian language and culture and a violent repression of the populations in the eastern parts of the Ukraine.
Initially, there were about 14,000 lives lost in the civil war. And these casualties were in the eastern part of the country, with something like 2.5 million refugees pouring into Russia. The Minsk Agreements in 2014 and 2015 led to a ceasefire, mediated by France and Germany, and supported by the United Nations Security Council. In these agreements the Luhansk and Donetsk Republics were given autonomous status within Ukraine. But Kyiv broke the Minsk agreements again and again, continuing to attack the breakaway republics in Donbass, though on a reduced scale, and the US continued to provide stepped-up military training and weapons.
Washington provided an enormous amount of military support to Kyiv between 1991 and 2021. The direct military aid to Kiev from the United States was $3.8 billion from 1991 to 2014. From 2014 to 2021, it was $2.4 billion, increasing in rate, and then finally skyrocketing once Joe Biden came into office Washington. The United States was militarizing the Ukraine very fast. The United Kingdom and the Canada trained around 50,000 Ukrainian troops, not counting those trained by the United States. The CIA actually trained the Azov Battalion and the rightwing paramilitaries. All of this was targeting Russia.
The Russians were concerned particularly about the nuclear aspect, since NATO is a nuclear alliance, and if Ukraine was brought into NATO and missiles were placed in Ukraine, a nuclear strike could occur before the Kremlin had time to respond. Already there are anti-ballistic missile defense facilities in Poland and Romania, crucial as counterforce weapons in a NATO first strike. Yet, it is important to understand that the Aegis missile defense systems placed there are also capable of launching nuclear offensive missiles. All of this factored into Russia’s entry into the Ukrainian civil war. In February 2022 Kyiv was preparing a major offensive, with 130,000 troops on the borders of Donbass in the East and South, with U.S./NATO, firing into Donbass, with continuing U.S./NATO support. This crossed Moscow’s clearly articulated red lines. In response, Russia first declared that the Minsk Agreements had failed and that the Donbass republics had to be regarded as independent and autonomous states. It then intervened in the Ukrainian civil war on the side of Donbass, and in line with what it considered its own national defense.
The result is a proxy war between the U.S./NATO and Russia being fought in Ukraine, developing out of a civil war in Ukraine itself, which had its inception in a U.S.-engineered coup. But unlike other proxy wars between capitalist states this one is occurring on the borders of one of the great nuclear powers and is brought on by the long-articulated grand imperial strategy in Washington aimed at capturing the Ukraine for NATO in order to destroy Russia as a great power, and establish, as Brzezinski stated, U.S. supremacy over the globe. Obviously, this particular proxy war carries grave dangers on a level not seen since the Cuban missile crisis. Following the Russian offensive, France declared that NATO was a nuclear power and immediately afterwards, on February 27, the Russians put their nuclear forces on high alert.
Another thing to understand about the proxy war is that the Russians have been trying to with considerable success to avoid civilian casualties. The populations of Russia and Ukraine are interwoven, and Moscow has attempted to keep civilian casualties down. Figures in the US military and in the European militaries have been indicating that the civilian casualties are remarkably low, when compared to the standard of U.S. warfare. One indication of this is that the military casualties to the Russian troops are greater than the civilian casualties of Ukrainians, which is the reverse of the way it works in U.S. warfare. If you look at how the United States fights a war, as in Iraq, it attacks the electrical and water facilities and the entire civilian infrastructure on the grounds that this will create dissension in the population and a revolt against the government. But targeting civilian infrastructure naturally increases civilian casualties, as in Iraq where the civilian casualties from the U.S. invasion were in the hundreds of thousands. Russia, in contrast, has not sought to destroy the civilian infrastructure, which it would be easy for them to do. Even in the midst of the war they are still selling natural gas to the Kyiv, fulfilling their contracts. They have not destroyed Ukraine’s Internet.
Russia intervened mainly with the object of freeing up Donbass, much of which was occupied by Kyiv forces. A priority has been gaining control of Mariupol, the main port, which would make Donbass viable. Mariupol has been occupied by the neo-Nazi Azov battalion. The Azov battalion now controls less than 20% of the city. They are hiding out in the old Soviet bunkers in part of the city. The Donetsk People’s Militia and the Russians control the rest of it. There are about 100,000 paramilitary forces in Ukraine. Most of the paramilitaries within the Ukrainian forces that constituted the larger part of the 130,000 troops that were surrounding Donbass, have now been cut off by the Russian military. Besides gaining control of Donbass together with the people’s militias, Moscow seeks to compel the Ukraine to demilitarize and to accept a neutral status, remaining outside of NATO.
If you look at the situation from the standpoint of the peace agreements—and the Global Times had a good report on it on March 31—you can see what the war is all about. Kyiv has provisionally agreed to neutrality, to be overseen by certain guarantors from the West, such as Canada. But the sticking point in the negotiations is what Kyiv calls “sovereignty.” That is all about Donbass and the civil war. Ukraine insists that Donbass is part of its sovereign territory, irrespective of the wishes of the population in the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The people in the Donbass republics and the Russians can’t accept that. In fact, the peoples’ militias and the Russians are still working at liberating parts of Donbass that are occupied by these paramilitary forces. It is there that the main sticking point in the negotiations lies, and this goes back to the reality of the civil war in Ukraine. The U.S. role in this has been to operate as a spoiler in the negotiations.
The Second Prong: The Drive to Nuclear Primacy
Here it is necessary to turn to the second prong of the U.S. Imperial Strategy. So far, I have discussed the grand imperial strategy in terms of geopolitics, the expansion into the territory of the former Soviet Union and the Soviet sphere of influence, which was articulated most effectively by Brzezinski. But there’s another prong to the U.S. grand imperial strategy that needs to be discussed in this context, and that is the drive to new nuclear primacy. If you read Brzezinski’s Grand Chessboard, his book on U.S. geopolitical strategy, you won’t find a word on nuclear weapons. The word nuclear doesn’t appear at all in his book, I believe. Yet this is of course crucial to the overall U.S. strategy with respect to Russia. In 1979, under Jimmy Carter, while Brzezinski was his national security advisor, it was decided to move beyond Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) and for the United States to pursue a counterforce strategy of nuclear primacy. This involved placing nuclear missiles in Europe. In his “Letter to Americans,” which appears in Protest and Survive published by Monthly Review Press in 1981, Marxist historian and anti-nuclear activist E.P. Thompson actually quotes Brzezinski admitting that the U.S. strategy had shifted to a counterforce war.
To explain this, it is necessary to go back a little bit further. By the 1960s, the Soviet Union had achieved nuclear parity with the United States. There was a big debate within the Pentagon and security establishment about this, because nuclear parity meant MAD. It meant Mutually Assured Destruction. And whichever nation, it didn’t matter which, attacked the other, both would be utterly destroyed. Robert McNamara, John F. Kennedy’s secretary of defense, started promoting the notion of counterforce to get around MAD. Essentially, there are two types of nuclear attacks. One is a countervalue which targets the cities, the population, and the economy of the adversary. That’s what MAD is based on. The other kind of attack is a counterforce war aimed at destroying the enemy’s nuclear forces before they can be launched. And, of course, a counterforce strategy is the same thing as a first strike strategy. The United States under McNamara, started to explore counterforce. McNamara then decided was such an approach was insane, and he decided to make MAD the deterrence policy of the United States. That lasted through most of the 1960s and seventies. But in 1979, in the Carter administration, when Brzezinski was the national security adviser, they decided to implement a counterforce strategy. The United States at that time decided to locate Pershing II missiles and nuclear-armed cruise missiles in Europe. That led to the rise of the European Nuclear Disarmament movement, the great European peace movement.
Washington initially put Pershing II intermediate nuclear missiles, as well as cruise missiles, in Europe. This became a huge issue for the peace movement in both Europe and the United States. The dangers of a nuclear war were enormously enhanced. The Ronald Reagan administration heavily promoted the counterforce strategy and added their sci-fi Strategic Defense Initiative (better known by its nickname of Star Wars), which envisioned a system that would shoot down all of the enemy missiles altogether. This was largely a fantasy. Eventually, the nuclear arms race in this period was stopped as a result of the massive peace movements in Europe on both sides of the Berlin Wall and the nuclear freeze movement in the United States, as well as the rise of Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. But after the dissolution of the USSR, Washington decided to go forward with the counterforce strategy, its drive towards nuclear primacy.
Over the next three decades, Washington kept on developing counterforce weapons and strategies, enhancing US abilities in that respect, to the point that in 2006 it was declared that the United States was near nuclear primacy, as explained at the time in Foreign Affairs, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, the main center for U.S. grand strategy. The Foreign Affairs article declared that China didn’t have a nuclear deterrent against a U.S. first strike, given the improvements in U.S. targeting and sensing technology, and that even the Russians couldn’t count on the survivability their nuclear deterrent anymore. Washington was pushing forward to achieve complete nuclear primacy. This went hand in hand with the enlargement of NATO in Europe because part of the counterforce strategy was to get counterforce weapons closer and closer to Russia to decrease the time with which Moscow could respond.
Russia was the primary target in the strategy. While China was clearly intended to be the later target. But Trump coming in decided to pursue detente with Russia and concentrate on China. That threw things off for a while, destabilizing the U.S./NATO grand strategy since the enlargement of NATO was an essential part of the nuclear primacy strategy. Once the Biden administration came into office, attempts were made to make up for lost time in tightening the Ukraine noose in Russia.
In all of this, the Russians, now a capitalist state and regaining great power status, were not fooled. They saw this coming. In 2007 Vladimir Putin declared that the unipolar world was impossible, that the United States wouldn’t be able to achieve nuclear primacy. Both Russia and China started to develop weapons that would get around the counterforce, strategy of the United States. The idea of a first strike is that the attacker—and only the United States has anything near this capability—strikes the land-based missiles, whether in hardened silos or mobile, and by tracking the submarines is in a position to eliminate them as well. The role of anti-ballistic missile systems is then to pick off whatever retaliatory strike remains. Naturally, the other side, namely Russia and China among the great nuclear powers, know all of this, so they do everything they can to protect their nuclear deterrent or retaliatory strike capability. In the last few years Russia and China developed hypersonic missiles. These missiles move extraordinarily fast, above Mach 5 and at the same time are maneuverable, so they cannot be stopped by anti-ballistic missile systems, weakening the U.S. counterforce capability. The United States itself has not yet developed hypersonic missile technologies of this kind. This type of weapon is what China calls an “assassin’s mace,” meaning that it can be used by a lesser power to counter an overwhelming advantage in the military power of the opponent. This then increases the basic deterrent of Russia and China by protecting their retaliatory capabilities in the event of a first strike against them. It is one of the major factors that that is countering U.S. first strike capabilities.
Another aspect in this game of nuclear chicken is the U.S./NATO dominance in satellites. It is largely because of this that Pentagon targeting is now so accurate that they can conceive of the possibility of destroying the hardened missile silos with smaller warheads because of the absolute accuracy of their targeting, while also targeting submarines. All of this has to do with the satellite systems. This gives the United States, it is widely believed, the capability of destroying hardened missile silos or at least command and control centers with weapons that aren’t nuclear, or with smaller nuclear warheads, because of the increased accuracy. The Russian and Chinese militaries have been focusing therefore a lot on anti-satellite weapons in order to take this advantage away.
Nuclear Winter and Omnicide
All of this may sound bad enough, but it is necessary to say something about nuclear winter. The U.S. military—and I imagine it’s true of the Russian military as well—have, if you read their declassified documents, completely walked away from the science on nuclear war. In the declassified document on nuclear armaments and nuclear war there is no mention of firestorms anywhere in the discussion of nuclear war. But firestorms are actually what result in the largest number of deaths in a nuclear attack. The firestorms can spread out in a thermonuclear attack on a city to as much as 150 square miles. The military establishments, which are all about fighting and prevailing in a nuclear war, leave the firestorms out of account in their analyses even in calculations of MAD. But there is another reason for this as well since the firestorms are what generate nuclear winter.
In 1983, when counterforce when weapons were being placed in Europe, Soviet and American atmospheric scientists, working together, created the first models of nuclear winter. A number of the key scientists, in both the Soviet Union and the United States, were involved in climate change research, which is essentially the inverse of nuclear winter, though not nearly as abrupt. These scientists discovered that in a nuclear war with firestorms in 100 cities, the effect would be a drop in an average global temperature by what Carl Sagan said at the time was up to “several tens of degrees” Celsius. They later backed off from that with further studies and said it was that the drop would be up to twenty degrees Celsius. But you can imagine what that means. The firestorms would loft the soot and the smoke into the stratosphere. This would block to 70% of the solar energy reaching the earth, which would mean all harvests on Earth would end. This would destroy nearly all vegetative life, so that the direct nuclear effects in the northern hemisphere would be accompanied by the death of almost everyone in the southern hemisphere as well. Only a few people would survive on the planet.
The nuclear winters studies were criticized by the military and by the establishment in the United States, as exaggerated. But in the 21st century, beginning in 2007, the nuclear winter studies were expanded, replicated, and validated numerous times. They showed that even in a war between India and Pakistan using Hiroshima-level atomic bombs, the result would a nuclear winter not as severe, but with the effect of reducing the solar energy reaching the planet enough to kill billions of people. In contrast, in a global thermonuclear war, as the news studies have shown, nuclear winter would be even would be as bad or worse as what the original studies in 1980s had determined. And this is the science. It’s accepted in the top peer-reviewed scientific publications and the findings have been repeatedly validated. It is very clear in terms of the science that if we have a global thermonuclear exchange, it will kill off the entire population of the earth with maybe a few remnants of the human species surviving somewhere in the southern hemisphere. The result will be planetary omnicide
At first McNamara thought that counterforce was a good idea, because it was seen as a No Cities strategy. The United States could just destroy the nuclear weapons on the other side and leave the cities untouched. But that quickly dissolved, and nobody believes that anymore because most the command-and-control centers are in or near the cities. There’s no way that these can all be destroyed in a first strike without attacking the cities. Moreover, there’s no way that the nuclear deterrent on the other side can be completely destroyed, where the major nuclear powers are concerned, and only a relatively small part of the nuclear arsenals of the major powers can destroy all the major cities on the other side. To think otherwise is to pursue a dangerous fantasy that increases the chance of a global thermonuclear war that will destroy humanity. This means that the major nuclear analysts, who are deeply engaged in counterforce doctrines, are promoting total madness. The nuclear war planners pretend that they can prevail in a nuclear war. Yet, we now know that MAD, mutually assured destruction, as it was originally envisioned, is less extreme than what a global thermonuclear war means today. Mutually assured destruction meant both sides were destroyed in their hundreds of millions. But nuclear winter means virtually the entire population of the planet is eliminated.
Counterforce strategy, the drive towards first strike capability or nuclear primacy means that the nuclear arms race keeps on increasing in the hope of eluding MAD, while actually threatening human extinction. Even if the numbers of nuclear weapons are limited, nuclear weapons, the so-called “modernization” of the nuclear arsenal, particularly on the U.S. side, is designed to make counterforce and thus a first strike thinkable. That’s why Washington withdrew from the nuclear treaties like the ABM Treaty and the intermediate-range nuclear missile treaty. These were seen as blocking counterforce weapons, interfering with the Pentagon’s drive to nuclear primacy. Washington walked out of all of those treaties and then while it was willing to accept a limit on the total number of nuclear weapons because the game was then being played in a different way. The U.S. strategy is focused on counterforce not countervalue now.
All of this is a lot to be absorbed in a short time. But I think it’s important to understand the two prongs of the U.S./NATO imperial grand strategy in order to understand why the Kremlin considers itself threatened, and why it acted as it did, and why this proxy war is so dangerous for the world as a whole. What we should keep in mind right now is that all of this maneuvering for absolute world supremacy has brought to us to the brink of a global thermonuclear war and global omnicide. The only answer is to create a massive world movement for peace, ecology, and socialism.
https://mronline.org/2022/04/09/the-u-s ... in-ukraine
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Read all about it: Final days of the battle for Mariupol
gilbertdoctorow Uncategorized April 9, 2022 4 Minutes
The Russian operation to take the port city of Mariupol is drawing to a successful conclusion. “Success” has to be understood today in a qualified sense, since large parts of the city now lie in ruins and as many as 4,000 civilians may have been killed in the fighting, largely victims of trigger happy Ukrainian ultra-nationalists. The Azov battalion soldiers and other irregulars holding the city from fortified positions in residential communities of this city of 460,000 shot wantonly at those who tried to escape from the basements of apartment houses to fetch water or who dared attempt to join the humanitarian corridors and exit the city. The civilian population was held hostage and constituted a “human shield.” They protected the Ukrainian forces from the full fury of Russian artillery and precision air strikes, which otherwise would have been deployed.
All of the fighting over Mariupol has gotten very little coverage in the Western media. All that we heard about was the difficulty in establishing humanitarian corridors and interviews with the few terrorized civilians who managed to get out to the West. To be fair, the situation on the ground in Mariupol has been reported only partially by the Russians because it has been very much a work in progress that they kept under rules of secrecy in line with their entire ‘special military operation.’
Now that the capture of Mariupol is in its final phase, some information of value has been published in alternative Russian media and I propose to present that here to give readers a sense of how this war is being prosecuted and why. Main source: https://www.9111.ru/questions/7777777771838727/
In effect, most of the city proper has been taken by the Russian army and Donetsk militias, with significant assistance from a battalion of Chechens headed by their leader Kadyrov. As the routes out of the city heading east were freed and as the snipers and other Azov forces were pushed back to provide some level of safety in the streets, large numbers of civilians have left the city in the past week. It is estimated that the civilian population remaining in Mariupol at present is about one third what it was at the start of the conflict.
The Azov fighters, other irregulars and Ukrainian army forces numbered about 4,000 at the start and now have been reduced due to casualties. They include among them “foreign mercenaries” as the Russians have said for some time. Now from intercepted phone conversations of these belligerents, it appears that among the foreigners are NATO instructors. This means that the proxy war between Russia and the USA/NATO begins to approximate a direct confrontation, contradicting the public pronouncements coming from the Biden administration. Should the Russians succeed in taking these NATO instructors alive, which is one of their priority tasks, the next sessions of the UN Security Council could be very tense.
To be sure, the 4,000 enemy forces mentioned above were only those within the city. Ukrainian forces numbering perhaps ten times more were positioned to the west of the city at the start of hostilities. Presumably they have been pushed back to the West.
As we have known for a week or so, the remaining Azov and other Ukrainian forces have retreated from the city proper to two locations on the outskirts of Mariupol: the port and the Azovstal industrial territory. The Russians have now entirely encircled both.
The port runs for about 3 kilometers along the sea and reaches inland about 300 meters. It is from here that in the past week, the Azov group tried to send out by helicopter a dozen or more of its top officers. The helicopter was shot down by the Russians, killing all aboard. A relief helicopter also was destroyed by the Russians, but here one Ukrainian survived and he was interrogated about the failed operation.
The port is now being cleared of enemy forces, with the Donbas militia taking the lead.
The Azovstal industrial complex is a much tougher nut to crack. It consists of two steel works. Their specific feature is underground levels going down as much as six to eight stories, where the enemy has to be flushed out by siege methods not by artillery barrage or bombing. As many as 3,000 nationalists and Ukrainian army soldiers may be there. The main task for the Russians is to watch all entrances and exits to the underground.
The Russians are not bombing for two reasons:
First, there is no sense in destroying the infrastructure above the ground level if the enemy is holed up below. Moreover, there are some residential buildings in the vicinity.
Second, if you bomb and bury the nationalists underground, then there will be no witnesses to bring to court to talk about the atrocities which these people have committed in the Donbas. And there may well be in these underground bunkers still more biological laboratories which were till now very carefully kept out of view. The Russians want to get their hands on proof.
Whatever the level of destruction may be, the pending Russian victory over Ukrainian forces in Mariupol is anything but Pyrrhic. It is a full-blooded victory with great strategic importance insofar as it gives the Russians full control of the Azov Sea littoral. It seals the land bridge connecting the Russian Federation mainland with Crimea. It also is a key piece in ensuring water supplies to Crimea, which had been cut off by Ukraine in order to inflict maximum pain on Russian Crimea. With water now flowing once again from the Dnieper, there is a solid basis for resuming farming on Crimea in its traditional levels and also to support tourist inflows, a key source of income for the region. Add to that the likelihood that with some time and investment, Mariupol will reassume its important economic role as seaport and industrial town.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2022
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/04/09/ ... -mariupol/
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NATO announces large-scale, permanent force along Russian border
Date: April 9, 2022
Author: Rick Rozoff
The Telegraph
April 9, 2022
Exclusive: Full-scale Nato military force to defend borders https://archive.ph/nYJmY#selection-1315.1-4187.3
Nato is drawing up plans to deploy a permanent full-scale military force on its border…the alliance’s secretary general has revealed.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Jens Stoltenberg said Nato was “in the midst of a very fundamental transformation” that will reflect “the long-term consequences”….
As part of a major “reset”, the relatively small “tripwire” presence on the alliance’s eastern flank will be replaced with sufficient forces to repel an attempted invasion of member states such as Estonia and Latvia. Options for the reset are being developed by Nato military commanders.
The disclosure came as Boris Johnson made an unexpected visit to Kyiv to hold talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president. The Prime Minister used the visit, which was planned in secrecy, to announce that Britain was sending anti-ship missiles and 120 armoured vehicles in the latest batch of military assistance.
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Setting out plans for the “reset” of Nato, Mr Stoltenberg pointed out that it now already had 40,000 troops under its direct command in the eastern part of the alliance – nearly 10 times the number it had a few months before the invasion.
But he added: “What we see now is a new reality, a new normal for European security. Therefore, we have now asked our military commanders to provide options for what we call a reset, a longer-term adaptation of Nato. I expect that Nato leaders will make decisions on this when they meet in Madrid at the Nato summit in June.”
[N]ow Nato is preparing to have a permanent presence on its eastern flank of a scale that could itself defend the alliance….
https://antibellum679354512.wordpress.c ... an-border/.
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From Cassad's Telegram :
Сolonelcassad
Forwarded from
Readovka
Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 10
The situation on the fronts without significant changes. The transfer of troops to the Kharkov and Zaporozhye directions continues.
Today, the loudest event of the day was the hoisting of the DPR flag over the city administration of Mariupol. Earlier, the flags of the DPR troops raised over the Kalmiussky and Left-bank districts of the city - Mariupol is gradually freed from nationalists every day. In the State Duma, Crimean deputy Mikhail Sheremet today proposed to unite the Republic of Crimea with the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions into the Tauride province within the Russian Federation. Residents of the regions do not seem to mind - they raise Russian flags everywhere and complain about the attitude of the Ukrainian authorities.
Again, reports began to appear about possible provocations by Ukraine related to toxic chemicals. Yesterday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine already attacked tanks with acids, and today the Ministry of Defense reported that now in Belogorovka, Popasnyansky district, neo-Nazis mined chlorine tanks on the territory of the water utility, which they plan to blow up. The Ministry of Defense has warned that Kyiv is preparing provocations with mass deaths of people in order to again blame Russia and the LDNR in foreign media. Ukrainian nationalists continue to hold more than 6,000 foreign citizens from 12 states hostage as a "human shield".
Eastern front.The DPR State Defense Committee today banned the activities of the OSCE monitoring mission. In the village of Zvonetskoe, Dnipropetrovsk region, the headquarters and base of the Dnepr national battalion were destroyed by a missile strike of the Black Sea Fleet, where foreign mercenaries arrived the other day. In Mariupol, the cleansing of the remnants of the enemy grouping in the port area and in the industrial area around Azovstal continues. Several battles of local significance took place in the Zaporozhye region, the positions of the troops did not change. Also, fighting continues north of Avdiivka, near Novobakhmutovka, near Troitsky and on the outskirts of New York. In Popasnaya, the LNR troops are slowly advancing through the streets of the city, fighting is also taking place on the outskirts of Rubizhne and Severodonetsk.
Southern front.The Armed Forces of Ukraine again made an attempt to counterattack our forces in the Kherson region. With the support of Governor Kim, the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to strike, however, the counterattack failed - the Ukrainian troops were surrounded and blocked in one of the villages. Now they have two options - to surrender or die, because they are abandoned by the command and are trying to call for help on social networks: “I appeal to all my friends with a request to spread it! We are not heard by the command of the 28th ombr. We ask you to withdraw the troops from the encirclement, one of their commanders led them there. They made another "Ilovaisky cauldron", they were abandoned by the command, they are alive, even though they were "written off", they ask for help". Near Nikolaev and Odessa, the situation is unchanged. In the Nikolaev region and at the Chuguev military airfield, air strikes destroyed the S-300 air defense systems, apparently the same ones that Slovakia recently supplied to Ukraine.
During the day, the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 86 military facilities of Ukraine: two command posts, two ammunition depots, three fuel depots, three installations of multiple launch rocket systems, as well as 49 strongholds and areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment. Eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles are in the air.
From the interesting: the Prosecutor General's Office of the DPR opened a criminal case against the commander of the 19th missile brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yaroshevich for hitting the railway station in Kramatorsk with Point U. There is a new wave of hysteria in Ukraine: Pushkin has now fallen under the “cancellation”. Everywhere monuments to the poet are poured with paint and dismantled. Pushkin monuments were recently dismantled in Ternopil and Mukachevo, and the local authorities even called this barbarity "de-Russification."
32.0Kviews
17:42
A source of the Telegram channel "Resident" in the Office of the President of Ukraine revealed the plans of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the eastern front.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine handed over to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a defense plan on the eastern front, which provides for the destruction of the Russian cities of Severodonetsk, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk "based on the experience of Mariupol." The Ukrainian telegram channel "Resident" writes about this with reference to a source in the Office of the President.
Deputy commander of "Azov" * Kalina accused Kyiv of betrayal
The Nazi spokesman said that, despite verbal support, the Ukrainian authorities are ignoring all attempts by the militants to get in touch.
The Ukrainian authorities, who verbally support the Nazis from the Azov Regiment * (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation - ed. note), in reality refuse any contacts with the "defenders of Mariupol". This was stated in another video message by the deputy commander of "Azov" * (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation - ed.) Kalina.
According to him, Ukrainian politicians in the media are constantly talking about supporting the fighters, but in fact they are calmly waiting for Russian troops to clear Mariupol.
Google Translator
Tough shit, Sherlock. Thought ya'll wanted to be martyrs for the White Race? Why don't you just follow your Leader:
colonelcassad
April 10, 17:46
1. The EU wants to achieve military victory in Ukraine.
2. NATO will continue to deploy troops on the western borders of Russia and Belarus.
3. A training program for instructors to use NATO equipment for the war in Ukraine will be launched on the territory of NATO countries.
4. Deliveries of air defense systems have already begun to Ukraine and, in the near future, anti-ship missile systems, not to mention the deliveries of heavy and light armored vehicles. Further self-propelled guns, heavy artillery, MLRS and aviation.
5. Continued negotiations with Russia are considered undesirable by the US and Britain.
6. Both the US and Britain articulate the thesis that the war in Ukraine will go on for months or years.
The moral is simple.
Proxy war with the US and NATO on the territory of Ukraine will be long. Because the issue for its participants is much more than just Ukraine. The question of the future of the world order is being decided.
The United States was clearly counting on an economic blitzkrieg or internal unrest in the Russian Federation, which were supposed to undermine the ability of the Russian Federation to continue the operation in Ukraine. Since nothing of the kind happened (the economy of the Russian Federation withstood the first blow), and society, on the contrary, rallied against an external enemy, and support for the military operation in Ukraine not only did not decrease (even despite the losses), but, on the contrary, grew - the United States is forced to change its plan of action .
Accordingly, the conflict is moving into a long-term stage, where they will try to achieve the same goals over a longer distance before the consequences of this war for the US and the EU become unacceptable. Therefore, the emphasis is on the Syrianization of the conflict in Ukraine at the expense of Ukraine itself. The concept of "war to the last Ukrainian" in action. It seems that at the current stage of the same goals - internal unrest / top coup or economic collapse, they will strive to achieve before the fall, when Biden's position in the United States may greatly worsen after the Congress elections, and the position of most European governments will worsen due to the inevitable economic recession and growing recession. In this regard, the economies of all participants in the war will be in a state of turbulence in the expectation that the opponent will crack first.
Accordingly, one must be prepared for a long-term conflict, where world hegemony is at stake for the United States, and for the Russian Federation its historical subjectivity, a truce in the spirit of Minsk-2, of course, will not be able to resolve these cardinal contradictions, since some real agreements one can speak only with the masters of the Ukrainian puppets, and not with the puppets who are pulled by the strings to imitate diplomatic subjectivity, which de facto they do not possess. Russia is indirectly fighting in Ukraine with the United States and NATO, which use an instrument affiliated with the United States and NATO in the form of occupied Ukraine, where a completely puppet regime and its army, which is imbued with Nazi ideology and armed by NATO countries, is installed. One cannot make peace with an instrument without making peace with the subject who owns it. The fact that all this is called SVO, does not change the content of this conflict. Ultimately, no one has declared war on anyone, and most likely will not declare war. But within the framework of the ongoing Cold War and Ukraine as one of the hot theaters of this war, it is precisely that proxy war between nuclear powers that leaves the scenario of a remake of the Karabakh crisis on the agenda, when the risk of nuclear war can become really real.
Since the US cannot retreat in Ukraine (that would be another step towards losing world hegemony), they will try to force Russia to reduce or abandon its demands, which will most likely lead to domestic confusion and the realization of the goals that The US failed to achieve the first phase of the campaign. Therefore, the war will be dragged out on the same principle that it was dragged out against Assad, hoping that a combination of military and economic pressure will undermine the position of the government and a puppet government can be brought to power. The example of Syria, an immeasurably weaker country than the Russian Federation, shows that this pressure can be fought. The example of Iran is also clear, which was able to prevent both the collapse of its economy and internal unrest.
The Russian Federation has much more opportunities to act under such pressure for a long time, fighting against the United States on several boards, where Ukraine is currently the most important, although not the only front.
Accordingly, with complacency about the timing of the SVO and the possibility of waging such a proxy war with limited means, we must end.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7551483.html
Google Translator
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Olga Chernysheva (Russia), Kind People, 2004.
The U.S. proxy war in Ukraine
Posted Apr 09, 2022 by John Bellamy Foster
The following is the text of a presentation by John Bellamy Foster given on March 31, 2022 to the advisory board of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. —Eds
Thanks for inviting me to make this presentation. In talking about the Ukraine war, the essential thing to recognize at the outset is that this is a proxy war. In this regard, none other than Leon Panetta, who was CIA director and then secretary of defense under the Barack Obama administration, acknowledged recently that the war in Ukraine is a U.S. “proxy war,” though seldom admitted. To be explicit, the United States (backed by the whole of NATO) is in a long proxy war with Russia, with Ukraine as the battlefield. The U.S. role in this conception, as Panetta insisted, is to provide more and more weapons faster and faster with Ukraine doing the fighting, bolstered by foreign mercenaries.
So how did this proxy war come about? In order to understand that we have to look at the U.S. imperial grand strategy. Here we have to go back to 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved or even further to the 1980s. There are two prongs to this imperial grand strategy, one as geopolitical expansion and positioning, including the enlargement of NATO, the other as the U.S. drive for nuclear primacy. A third prong involves the economy but won’t be considered here.
The First Prong: Geopolitical Expansion
The first prong was enunciated in Paul Wolfowitz’s Defense Policy Guideline for the United States in February 1992, just months after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The grand imperial strategy adopted at the time and followed ever since had to do with the United States advancing geopolitically into the terrain of the former Soviet Union as well as what had been the Soviet sphere of influence. The idea was to prevent Russia from reemerging as a great power. This process of U.S./NATO geopolitical expansion commenced immediately, visible in all the U.S./NATO wars in Asia, Africa, and Europe that have taken place in the last three decades. NATO’s war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s was particularly important in this respect. Even while the dismemberment of Yugoslavia was going on, the United States began the process of enlarging NATO by moving it further and further East to encompass all of the former Warsaw Pact countries as well as parts of the former USSR. Bill Clinton in his 1996 election campaign made the enlargement of NATO part of his platform. Washington started to implement that in 1997, eventually adding 15 additional countries to NATO doubling its size and creating a 30-nation Atlantic Alliance targeting Russia, while also giving NATO a more global interventionist role, as in Yugoslavia, Syria, and Libya.
But the goal was the Ukraine. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was the most important strategist of all of this and had been Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor said in his 1997 Grand Chessboard that Ukraine was the “geopolitical pivot,” particularly in the West, which if it were brought into NATO and under Western control, would weaken Russia so much that it could be tethered, if not dismembered. This has been the goal all along and U.S. strategic planners and Washington officials, along with the NATO allies, have stated over and over that they wanted to bring the Ukraine into NATO. NATO made this goal official in 2008. Only a few months ago, in November 2021 in the new strategic charter between the Biden administration in Washington and Zelensky government in Kyiv, it was agreed that the immediate aim was bring Ukraine into NATO. But this has also been NATO’s policy for a long time now. The United States in the final months of 2021 and at the beginning of 2022 was moving very fast to militarize the Ukraine and accomplish that as a fait accompli.
The idea, articulated by Brzezinski and others, was that once the Ukraine was secured for NATO, Russia was finished, the proximity to Moscow with Ukraine as the thirty-first nation in the NATO alliance, would give NATO a 1200-mile border with Russia, the same path through which Hitler’s armies had invaded the Soviet Union, but in this case with Russia facing the world’s greatest nuclear alliance. This would change the entire geopolitical map giving the West control of Eurasia west of China.
How this actually played out is important. The proxy war started in 2014 when the Maidan coup, engineered by the United States took place in Ukraine, removing the democratically elected president, and putting ultra-nationalists largely in control, with U.S./NATO sponsorship. The immediate result though was that Ukraine began to break apart. Crimea had been an independent, autonomous state from 1991 to 1995. In 1995 Ukraine illegally tore up the Crimean Constitution and annexed it against its will. The Crimean people didn’t consider themselves part of Ukraine, and were largely Russian speaking, with deep cultural connections to Russia. When the coup occurred, with Ukrainian ultra-nationalists in control, the Crimean population wanted out. Russia gave them an opportunity with a referendum to stay in the Ukraine or join with Russia. They chose the latter. However, in the eastern Ukraine the primarily Russian population was subjected to repression by ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi Kyiv forces. Russophobia and extreme repression of the Russian-speaking populations in the East set in—with the infamous case of the forty people blown up in a public building by neo-Nazis associated with the Azov Battalion. Originally there were a number of breakaway republics. Two survived in the Donbass region, with dominant Russian-speaking populations: the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
A civil war thus emerged in Ukraine between Kyiv in the West and Donbass in the East. But it was also a proxy war with the U.S./NATO supporting Kyiv and Russia supporting Donbass. The civil war started right after the coup, when the Russian language was basically outlawed, so that individuals could get fined for speaking Russian in a store. It was an attack on the Russian language and culture and a violent repression of the populations in the eastern parts of the Ukraine.
Initially, there were about 14,000 lives lost in the civil war. And these casualties were in the eastern part of the country, with something like 2.5 million refugees pouring into Russia. The Minsk Agreements in 2014 and 2015 led to a ceasefire, mediated by France and Germany, and supported by the United Nations Security Council. In these agreements the Luhansk and Donetsk Republics were given autonomous status within Ukraine. But Kyiv broke the Minsk agreements again and again, continuing to attack the breakaway republics in Donbass, though on a reduced scale, and the US continued to provide stepped-up military training and weapons.
Washington provided an enormous amount of military support to Kyiv between 1991 and 2021. The direct military aid to Kiev from the United States was $3.8 billion from 1991 to 2014. From 2014 to 2021, it was $2.4 billion, increasing in rate, and then finally skyrocketing once Joe Biden came into office Washington. The United States was militarizing the Ukraine very fast. The United Kingdom and the Canada trained around 50,000 Ukrainian troops, not counting those trained by the United States. The CIA actually trained the Azov Battalion and the rightwing paramilitaries. All of this was targeting Russia.
The Russians were concerned particularly about the nuclear aspect, since NATO is a nuclear alliance, and if Ukraine was brought into NATO and missiles were placed in Ukraine, a nuclear strike could occur before the Kremlin had time to respond. Already there are anti-ballistic missile defense facilities in Poland and Romania, crucial as counterforce weapons in a NATO first strike. Yet, it is important to understand that the Aegis missile defense systems placed there are also capable of launching nuclear offensive missiles. All of this factored into Russia’s entry into the Ukrainian civil war. In February 2022 Kyiv was preparing a major offensive, with 130,000 troops on the borders of Donbass in the East and South, with U.S./NATO, firing into Donbass, with continuing U.S./NATO support. This crossed Moscow’s clearly articulated red lines. In response, Russia first declared that the Minsk Agreements had failed and that the Donbass republics had to be regarded as independent and autonomous states. It then intervened in the Ukrainian civil war on the side of Donbass, and in line with what it considered its own national defense.
The result is a proxy war between the U.S./NATO and Russia being fought in Ukraine, developing out of a civil war in Ukraine itself, which had its inception in a U.S.-engineered coup. But unlike other proxy wars between capitalist states this one is occurring on the borders of one of the great nuclear powers and is brought on by the long-articulated grand imperial strategy in Washington aimed at capturing the Ukraine for NATO in order to destroy Russia as a great power, and establish, as Brzezinski stated, U.S. supremacy over the globe. Obviously, this particular proxy war carries grave dangers on a level not seen since the Cuban missile crisis. Following the Russian offensive, France declared that NATO was a nuclear power and immediately afterwards, on February 27, the Russians put their nuclear forces on high alert.
Another thing to understand about the proxy war is that the Russians have been trying to with considerable success to avoid civilian casualties. The populations of Russia and Ukraine are interwoven, and Moscow has attempted to keep civilian casualties down. Figures in the US military and in the European militaries have been indicating that the civilian casualties are remarkably low, when compared to the standard of U.S. warfare. One indication of this is that the military casualties to the Russian troops are greater than the civilian casualties of Ukrainians, which is the reverse of the way it works in U.S. warfare. If you look at how the United States fights a war, as in Iraq, it attacks the electrical and water facilities and the entire civilian infrastructure on the grounds that this will create dissension in the population and a revolt against the government. But targeting civilian infrastructure naturally increases civilian casualties, as in Iraq where the civilian casualties from the U.S. invasion were in the hundreds of thousands. Russia, in contrast, has not sought to destroy the civilian infrastructure, which it would be easy for them to do. Even in the midst of the war they are still selling natural gas to the Kyiv, fulfilling their contracts. They have not destroyed Ukraine’s Internet.
Russia intervened mainly with the object of freeing up Donbass, much of which was occupied by Kyiv forces. A priority has been gaining control of Mariupol, the main port, which would make Donbass viable. Mariupol has been occupied by the neo-Nazi Azov battalion. The Azov battalion now controls less than 20% of the city. They are hiding out in the old Soviet bunkers in part of the city. The Donetsk People’s Militia and the Russians control the rest of it. There are about 100,000 paramilitary forces in Ukraine. Most of the paramilitaries within the Ukrainian forces that constituted the larger part of the 130,000 troops that were surrounding Donbass, have now been cut off by the Russian military. Besides gaining control of Donbass together with the people’s militias, Moscow seeks to compel the Ukraine to demilitarize and to accept a neutral status, remaining outside of NATO.
If you look at the situation from the standpoint of the peace agreements—and the Global Times had a good report on it on March 31—you can see what the war is all about. Kyiv has provisionally agreed to neutrality, to be overseen by certain guarantors from the West, such as Canada. But the sticking point in the negotiations is what Kyiv calls “sovereignty.” That is all about Donbass and the civil war. Ukraine insists that Donbass is part of its sovereign territory, irrespective of the wishes of the population in the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The people in the Donbass republics and the Russians can’t accept that. In fact, the peoples’ militias and the Russians are still working at liberating parts of Donbass that are occupied by these paramilitary forces. It is there that the main sticking point in the negotiations lies, and this goes back to the reality of the civil war in Ukraine. The U.S. role in this has been to operate as a spoiler in the negotiations.
The Second Prong: The Drive to Nuclear Primacy
Here it is necessary to turn to the second prong of the U.S. Imperial Strategy. So far, I have discussed the grand imperial strategy in terms of geopolitics, the expansion into the territory of the former Soviet Union and the Soviet sphere of influence, which was articulated most effectively by Brzezinski. But there’s another prong to the U.S. grand imperial strategy that needs to be discussed in this context, and that is the drive to new nuclear primacy. If you read Brzezinski’s Grand Chessboard, his book on U.S. geopolitical strategy, you won’t find a word on nuclear weapons. The word nuclear doesn’t appear at all in his book, I believe. Yet this is of course crucial to the overall U.S. strategy with respect to Russia. In 1979, under Jimmy Carter, while Brzezinski was his national security advisor, it was decided to move beyond Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) and for the United States to pursue a counterforce strategy of nuclear primacy. This involved placing nuclear missiles in Europe. In his “Letter to Americans,” which appears in Protest and Survive published by Monthly Review Press in 1981, Marxist historian and anti-nuclear activist E.P. Thompson actually quotes Brzezinski admitting that the U.S. strategy had shifted to a counterforce war.
To explain this, it is necessary to go back a little bit further. By the 1960s, the Soviet Union had achieved nuclear parity with the United States. There was a big debate within the Pentagon and security establishment about this, because nuclear parity meant MAD. It meant Mutually Assured Destruction. And whichever nation, it didn’t matter which, attacked the other, both would be utterly destroyed. Robert McNamara, John F. Kennedy’s secretary of defense, started promoting the notion of counterforce to get around MAD. Essentially, there are two types of nuclear attacks. One is a countervalue which targets the cities, the population, and the economy of the adversary. That’s what MAD is based on. The other kind of attack is a counterforce war aimed at destroying the enemy’s nuclear forces before they can be launched. And, of course, a counterforce strategy is the same thing as a first strike strategy. The United States under McNamara, started to explore counterforce. McNamara then decided was such an approach was insane, and he decided to make MAD the deterrence policy of the United States. That lasted through most of the 1960s and seventies. But in 1979, in the Carter administration, when Brzezinski was the national security adviser, they decided to implement a counterforce strategy. The United States at that time decided to locate Pershing II missiles and nuclear-armed cruise missiles in Europe. That led to the rise of the European Nuclear Disarmament movement, the great European peace movement.
Washington initially put Pershing II intermediate nuclear missiles, as well as cruise missiles, in Europe. This became a huge issue for the peace movement in both Europe and the United States. The dangers of a nuclear war were enormously enhanced. The Ronald Reagan administration heavily promoted the counterforce strategy and added their sci-fi Strategic Defense Initiative (better known by its nickname of Star Wars), which envisioned a system that would shoot down all of the enemy missiles altogether. This was largely a fantasy. Eventually, the nuclear arms race in this period was stopped as a result of the massive peace movements in Europe on both sides of the Berlin Wall and the nuclear freeze movement in the United States, as well as the rise of Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. But after the dissolution of the USSR, Washington decided to go forward with the counterforce strategy, its drive towards nuclear primacy.
Over the next three decades, Washington kept on developing counterforce weapons and strategies, enhancing US abilities in that respect, to the point that in 2006 it was declared that the United States was near nuclear primacy, as explained at the time in Foreign Affairs, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, the main center for U.S. grand strategy. The Foreign Affairs article declared that China didn’t have a nuclear deterrent against a U.S. first strike, given the improvements in U.S. targeting and sensing technology, and that even the Russians couldn’t count on the survivability their nuclear deterrent anymore. Washington was pushing forward to achieve complete nuclear primacy. This went hand in hand with the enlargement of NATO in Europe because part of the counterforce strategy was to get counterforce weapons closer and closer to Russia to decrease the time with which Moscow could respond.
Russia was the primary target in the strategy. While China was clearly intended to be the later target. But Trump coming in decided to pursue detente with Russia and concentrate on China. That threw things off for a while, destabilizing the U.S./NATO grand strategy since the enlargement of NATO was an essential part of the nuclear primacy strategy. Once the Biden administration came into office, attempts were made to make up for lost time in tightening the Ukraine noose in Russia.
In all of this, the Russians, now a capitalist state and regaining great power status, were not fooled. They saw this coming. In 2007 Vladimir Putin declared that the unipolar world was impossible, that the United States wouldn’t be able to achieve nuclear primacy. Both Russia and China started to develop weapons that would get around the counterforce, strategy of the United States. The idea of a first strike is that the attacker—and only the United States has anything near this capability—strikes the land-based missiles, whether in hardened silos or mobile, and by tracking the submarines is in a position to eliminate them as well. The role of anti-ballistic missile systems is then to pick off whatever retaliatory strike remains. Naturally, the other side, namely Russia and China among the great nuclear powers, know all of this, so they do everything they can to protect their nuclear deterrent or retaliatory strike capability. In the last few years Russia and China developed hypersonic missiles. These missiles move extraordinarily fast, above Mach 5 and at the same time are maneuverable, so they cannot be stopped by anti-ballistic missile systems, weakening the U.S. counterforce capability. The United States itself has not yet developed hypersonic missile technologies of this kind. This type of weapon is what China calls an “assassin’s mace,” meaning that it can be used by a lesser power to counter an overwhelming advantage in the military power of the opponent. This then increases the basic deterrent of Russia and China by protecting their retaliatory capabilities in the event of a first strike against them. It is one of the major factors that that is countering U.S. first strike capabilities.
Another aspect in this game of nuclear chicken is the U.S./NATO dominance in satellites. It is largely because of this that Pentagon targeting is now so accurate that they can conceive of the possibility of destroying the hardened missile silos with smaller warheads because of the absolute accuracy of their targeting, while also targeting submarines. All of this has to do with the satellite systems. This gives the United States, it is widely believed, the capability of destroying hardened missile silos or at least command and control centers with weapons that aren’t nuclear, or with smaller nuclear warheads, because of the increased accuracy. The Russian and Chinese militaries have been focusing therefore a lot on anti-satellite weapons in order to take this advantage away.
Nuclear Winter and Omnicide
All of this may sound bad enough, but it is necessary to say something about nuclear winter. The U.S. military—and I imagine it’s true of the Russian military as well—have, if you read their declassified documents, completely walked away from the science on nuclear war. In the declassified document on nuclear armaments and nuclear war there is no mention of firestorms anywhere in the discussion of nuclear war. But firestorms are actually what result in the largest number of deaths in a nuclear attack. The firestorms can spread out in a thermonuclear attack on a city to as much as 150 square miles. The military establishments, which are all about fighting and prevailing in a nuclear war, leave the firestorms out of account in their analyses even in calculations of MAD. But there is another reason for this as well since the firestorms are what generate nuclear winter.
In 1983, when counterforce when weapons were being placed in Europe, Soviet and American atmospheric scientists, working together, created the first models of nuclear winter. A number of the key scientists, in both the Soviet Union and the United States, were involved in climate change research, which is essentially the inverse of nuclear winter, though not nearly as abrupt. These scientists discovered that in a nuclear war with firestorms in 100 cities, the effect would be a drop in an average global temperature by what Carl Sagan said at the time was up to “several tens of degrees” Celsius. They later backed off from that with further studies and said it was that the drop would be up to twenty degrees Celsius. But you can imagine what that means. The firestorms would loft the soot and the smoke into the stratosphere. This would block to 70% of the solar energy reaching the earth, which would mean all harvests on Earth would end. This would destroy nearly all vegetative life, so that the direct nuclear effects in the northern hemisphere would be accompanied by the death of almost everyone in the southern hemisphere as well. Only a few people would survive on the planet.
The nuclear winters studies were criticized by the military and by the establishment in the United States, as exaggerated. But in the 21st century, beginning in 2007, the nuclear winter studies were expanded, replicated, and validated numerous times. They showed that even in a war between India and Pakistan using Hiroshima-level atomic bombs, the result would a nuclear winter not as severe, but with the effect of reducing the solar energy reaching the planet enough to kill billions of people. In contrast, in a global thermonuclear war, as the news studies have shown, nuclear winter would be even would be as bad or worse as what the original studies in 1980s had determined. And this is the science. It’s accepted in the top peer-reviewed scientific publications and the findings have been repeatedly validated. It is very clear in terms of the science that if we have a global thermonuclear exchange, it will kill off the entire population of the earth with maybe a few remnants of the human species surviving somewhere in the southern hemisphere. The result will be planetary omnicide
At first McNamara thought that counterforce was a good idea, because it was seen as a No Cities strategy. The United States could just destroy the nuclear weapons on the other side and leave the cities untouched. But that quickly dissolved, and nobody believes that anymore because most the command-and-control centers are in or near the cities. There’s no way that these can all be destroyed in a first strike without attacking the cities. Moreover, there’s no way that the nuclear deterrent on the other side can be completely destroyed, where the major nuclear powers are concerned, and only a relatively small part of the nuclear arsenals of the major powers can destroy all the major cities on the other side. To think otherwise is to pursue a dangerous fantasy that increases the chance of a global thermonuclear war that will destroy humanity. This means that the major nuclear analysts, who are deeply engaged in counterforce doctrines, are promoting total madness. The nuclear war planners pretend that they can prevail in a nuclear war. Yet, we now know that MAD, mutually assured destruction, as it was originally envisioned, is less extreme than what a global thermonuclear war means today. Mutually assured destruction meant both sides were destroyed in their hundreds of millions. But nuclear winter means virtually the entire population of the planet is eliminated.
Counterforce strategy, the drive towards first strike capability or nuclear primacy means that the nuclear arms race keeps on increasing in the hope of eluding MAD, while actually threatening human extinction. Even if the numbers of nuclear weapons are limited, nuclear weapons, the so-called “modernization” of the nuclear arsenal, particularly on the U.S. side, is designed to make counterforce and thus a first strike thinkable. That’s why Washington withdrew from the nuclear treaties like the ABM Treaty and the intermediate-range nuclear missile treaty. These were seen as blocking counterforce weapons, interfering with the Pentagon’s drive to nuclear primacy. Washington walked out of all of those treaties and then while it was willing to accept a limit on the total number of nuclear weapons because the game was then being played in a different way. The U.S. strategy is focused on counterforce not countervalue now.
All of this is a lot to be absorbed in a short time. But I think it’s important to understand the two prongs of the U.S./NATO imperial grand strategy in order to understand why the Kremlin considers itself threatened, and why it acted as it did, and why this proxy war is so dangerous for the world as a whole. What we should keep in mind right now is that all of this maneuvering for absolute world supremacy has brought to us to the brink of a global thermonuclear war and global omnicide. The only answer is to create a massive world movement for peace, ecology, and socialism.
https://mronline.org/2022/04/09/the-u-s ... in-ukraine
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Read all about it: Final days of the battle for Mariupol
gilbertdoctorow Uncategorized April 9, 2022 4 Minutes
The Russian operation to take the port city of Mariupol is drawing to a successful conclusion. “Success” has to be understood today in a qualified sense, since large parts of the city now lie in ruins and as many as 4,000 civilians may have been killed in the fighting, largely victims of trigger happy Ukrainian ultra-nationalists. The Azov battalion soldiers and other irregulars holding the city from fortified positions in residential communities of this city of 460,000 shot wantonly at those who tried to escape from the basements of apartment houses to fetch water or who dared attempt to join the humanitarian corridors and exit the city. The civilian population was held hostage and constituted a “human shield.” They protected the Ukrainian forces from the full fury of Russian artillery and precision air strikes, which otherwise would have been deployed.
All of the fighting over Mariupol has gotten very little coverage in the Western media. All that we heard about was the difficulty in establishing humanitarian corridors and interviews with the few terrorized civilians who managed to get out to the West. To be fair, the situation on the ground in Mariupol has been reported only partially by the Russians because it has been very much a work in progress that they kept under rules of secrecy in line with their entire ‘special military operation.’
Now that the capture of Mariupol is in its final phase, some information of value has been published in alternative Russian media and I propose to present that here to give readers a sense of how this war is being prosecuted and why. Main source: https://www.9111.ru/questions/7777777771838727/
In effect, most of the city proper has been taken by the Russian army and Donetsk militias, with significant assistance from a battalion of Chechens headed by their leader Kadyrov. As the routes out of the city heading east were freed and as the snipers and other Azov forces were pushed back to provide some level of safety in the streets, large numbers of civilians have left the city in the past week. It is estimated that the civilian population remaining in Mariupol at present is about one third what it was at the start of the conflict.
The Azov fighters, other irregulars and Ukrainian army forces numbered about 4,000 at the start and now have been reduced due to casualties. They include among them “foreign mercenaries” as the Russians have said for some time. Now from intercepted phone conversations of these belligerents, it appears that among the foreigners are NATO instructors. This means that the proxy war between Russia and the USA/NATO begins to approximate a direct confrontation, contradicting the public pronouncements coming from the Biden administration. Should the Russians succeed in taking these NATO instructors alive, which is one of their priority tasks, the next sessions of the UN Security Council could be very tense.
To be sure, the 4,000 enemy forces mentioned above were only those within the city. Ukrainian forces numbering perhaps ten times more were positioned to the west of the city at the start of hostilities. Presumably they have been pushed back to the West.
As we have known for a week or so, the remaining Azov and other Ukrainian forces have retreated from the city proper to two locations on the outskirts of Mariupol: the port and the Azovstal industrial territory. The Russians have now entirely encircled both.
The port runs for about 3 kilometers along the sea and reaches inland about 300 meters. It is from here that in the past week, the Azov group tried to send out by helicopter a dozen or more of its top officers. The helicopter was shot down by the Russians, killing all aboard. A relief helicopter also was destroyed by the Russians, but here one Ukrainian survived and he was interrogated about the failed operation.
The port is now being cleared of enemy forces, with the Donbas militia taking the lead.
The Azovstal industrial complex is a much tougher nut to crack. It consists of two steel works. Their specific feature is underground levels going down as much as six to eight stories, where the enemy has to be flushed out by siege methods not by artillery barrage or bombing. As many as 3,000 nationalists and Ukrainian army soldiers may be there. The main task for the Russians is to watch all entrances and exits to the underground.
The Russians are not bombing for two reasons:
First, there is no sense in destroying the infrastructure above the ground level if the enemy is holed up below. Moreover, there are some residential buildings in the vicinity.
Second, if you bomb and bury the nationalists underground, then there will be no witnesses to bring to court to talk about the atrocities which these people have committed in the Donbas. And there may well be in these underground bunkers still more biological laboratories which were till now very carefully kept out of view. The Russians want to get their hands on proof.
Whatever the level of destruction may be, the pending Russian victory over Ukrainian forces in Mariupol is anything but Pyrrhic. It is a full-blooded victory with great strategic importance insofar as it gives the Russians full control of the Azov Sea littoral. It seals the land bridge connecting the Russian Federation mainland with Crimea. It also is a key piece in ensuring water supplies to Crimea, which had been cut off by Ukraine in order to inflict maximum pain on Russian Crimea. With water now flowing once again from the Dnieper, there is a solid basis for resuming farming on Crimea in its traditional levels and also to support tourist inflows, a key source of income for the region. Add to that the likelihood that with some time and investment, Mariupol will reassume its important economic role as seaport and industrial town.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2022
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/04/09/ ... -mariupol/
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NATO announces large-scale, permanent force along Russian border
Date: April 9, 2022
Author: Rick Rozoff
The Telegraph
April 9, 2022
Exclusive: Full-scale Nato military force to defend borders https://archive.ph/nYJmY#selection-1315.1-4187.3
Nato is drawing up plans to deploy a permanent full-scale military force on its border…the alliance’s secretary general has revealed.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Jens Stoltenberg said Nato was “in the midst of a very fundamental transformation” that will reflect “the long-term consequences”….
As part of a major “reset”, the relatively small “tripwire” presence on the alliance’s eastern flank will be replaced with sufficient forces to repel an attempted invasion of member states such as Estonia and Latvia. Options for the reset are being developed by Nato military commanders.
The disclosure came as Boris Johnson made an unexpected visit to Kyiv to hold talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president. The Prime Minister used the visit, which was planned in secrecy, to announce that Britain was sending anti-ship missiles and 120 armoured vehicles in the latest batch of military assistance.
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Setting out plans for the “reset” of Nato, Mr Stoltenberg pointed out that it now already had 40,000 troops under its direct command in the eastern part of the alliance – nearly 10 times the number it had a few months before the invasion.
But he added: “What we see now is a new reality, a new normal for European security. Therefore, we have now asked our military commanders to provide options for what we call a reset, a longer-term adaptation of Nato. I expect that Nato leaders will make decisions on this when they meet in Madrid at the Nato summit in June.”
[N]ow Nato is preparing to have a permanent presence on its eastern flank of a scale that could itself defend the alliance….
https://antibellum679354512.wordpress.c ... an-border/.
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From Cassad's Telegram :
Сolonelcassad
Forwarded from
Readovka
Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 10
The situation on the fronts without significant changes. The transfer of troops to the Kharkov and Zaporozhye directions continues.
Today, the loudest event of the day was the hoisting of the DPR flag over the city administration of Mariupol. Earlier, the flags of the DPR troops raised over the Kalmiussky and Left-bank districts of the city - Mariupol is gradually freed from nationalists every day. In the State Duma, Crimean deputy Mikhail Sheremet today proposed to unite the Republic of Crimea with the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions into the Tauride province within the Russian Federation. Residents of the regions do not seem to mind - they raise Russian flags everywhere and complain about the attitude of the Ukrainian authorities.
Again, reports began to appear about possible provocations by Ukraine related to toxic chemicals. Yesterday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine already attacked tanks with acids, and today the Ministry of Defense reported that now in Belogorovka, Popasnyansky district, neo-Nazis mined chlorine tanks on the territory of the water utility, which they plan to blow up. The Ministry of Defense has warned that Kyiv is preparing provocations with mass deaths of people in order to again blame Russia and the LDNR in foreign media. Ukrainian nationalists continue to hold more than 6,000 foreign citizens from 12 states hostage as a "human shield".
Eastern front.The DPR State Defense Committee today banned the activities of the OSCE monitoring mission. In the village of Zvonetskoe, Dnipropetrovsk region, the headquarters and base of the Dnepr national battalion were destroyed by a missile strike of the Black Sea Fleet, where foreign mercenaries arrived the other day. In Mariupol, the cleansing of the remnants of the enemy grouping in the port area and in the industrial area around Azovstal continues. Several battles of local significance took place in the Zaporozhye region, the positions of the troops did not change. Also, fighting continues north of Avdiivka, near Novobakhmutovka, near Troitsky and on the outskirts of New York. In Popasnaya, the LNR troops are slowly advancing through the streets of the city, fighting is also taking place on the outskirts of Rubizhne and Severodonetsk.
Southern front.The Armed Forces of Ukraine again made an attempt to counterattack our forces in the Kherson region. With the support of Governor Kim, the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to strike, however, the counterattack failed - the Ukrainian troops were surrounded and blocked in one of the villages. Now they have two options - to surrender or die, because they are abandoned by the command and are trying to call for help on social networks: “I appeal to all my friends with a request to spread it! We are not heard by the command of the 28th ombr. We ask you to withdraw the troops from the encirclement, one of their commanders led them there. They made another "Ilovaisky cauldron", they were abandoned by the command, they are alive, even though they were "written off", they ask for help". Near Nikolaev and Odessa, the situation is unchanged. In the Nikolaev region and at the Chuguev military airfield, air strikes destroyed the S-300 air defense systems, apparently the same ones that Slovakia recently supplied to Ukraine.
During the day, the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 86 military facilities of Ukraine: two command posts, two ammunition depots, three fuel depots, three installations of multiple launch rocket systems, as well as 49 strongholds and areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment. Eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles are in the air.
From the interesting: the Prosecutor General's Office of the DPR opened a criminal case against the commander of the 19th missile brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yaroshevich for hitting the railway station in Kramatorsk with Point U. There is a new wave of hysteria in Ukraine: Pushkin has now fallen under the “cancellation”. Everywhere monuments to the poet are poured with paint and dismantled. Pushkin monuments were recently dismantled in Ternopil and Mukachevo, and the local authorities even called this barbarity "de-Russification."
32.0Kviews
17:42
A source of the Telegram channel "Resident" in the Office of the President of Ukraine revealed the plans of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the eastern front.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine handed over to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a defense plan on the eastern front, which provides for the destruction of the Russian cities of Severodonetsk, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk "based on the experience of Mariupol." The Ukrainian telegram channel "Resident" writes about this with reference to a source in the Office of the President.
The interlocutor of the channel also said that Kyiv is urgently transferring all new weapons from the USA, Great Britain and EU countries to the eastern front.Kramatorsk/Slavyansk/Severodonetsk have been turned into fortress cities, where 30,000 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and 200 MLRS systems are concentrated.
https://novorosinform.org/ukraina-gotov ... 93410.html“There are already 24,000 ATGMs, Javelin, NLAW, Starstreak, Stinger MANPADS,” the report says.
Deputy commander of "Azov" * Kalina accused Kyiv of betrayal
The Nazi spokesman said that, despite verbal support, the Ukrainian authorities are ignoring all attempts by the militants to get in touch.
The Ukrainian authorities, who verbally support the Nazis from the Azov Regiment * (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation - ed. note), in reality refuse any contacts with the "defenders of Mariupol". This was stated in another video message by the deputy commander of "Azov" * (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation - ed.) Kalina.
According to him, Ukrainian politicians in the media are constantly talking about supporting the fighters, but in fact they are calmly waiting for Russian troops to clear Mariupol.
https://novorosinform.org/zamkomandira- ... 93407.html"Politicians who constantly say that "we support them, we are constantly in touch with them", but they themselves have not picked up the phone for more than two weeks, and no one communicates with anyone. But we are not in the future, we are in the present, you understand When you read about yourself with sorrow, but you are still alive and live in hope that they should still come to you," the Readovka telegram channel quotes the Nazi.
Google Translator
Tough shit, Sherlock. Thought ya'll wanted to be martyrs for the White Race? Why don't you just follow your Leader:
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
Donetsk denounces about 40 Ukrainian attacks this Monday
According to reports, the Ukrainian military fired at 04:20 local time at the village of the Trudovskaya mine. | Photo: EFE
Published April 11, 2022 (4 hours 49 minutes ago)
So far no loss of human life or injuries have been reported.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired again on Monday against the city of Donetsk, of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in the Ukrainian Donbas region, according to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC).
According to the entity, the Ukrainian military fired at 04:20 local time (01:20 GMT) against the town of the Trudovskaya mine, with 15 122-millimeter ammunition.
Another attack was reported in these same areas around 06:15 (03:15 GMT) with another 10 pieces of ammunition. In addition, the Ukrainian forces opened fire with another 10 and 6 ammunition at 04:40 (01:40 GMT) and 06:00 (03:00 GMT) respectively, against the Petrovsky district of Donetsk.
So far there are no reports of casualties or injuries from the attacks.
Later, other bombings were recorded both in Donetsk and in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR). According to the JCCC, at 0625 (0325 GMT) Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Yasynuvata with six 122-millimeter shells.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/donestk- ... -0004.html
Attack on train station in Donestk leaves at least 50 dead
According to the Donetsk authorities, the attack occurred during the evacuation of the civilian population from the town. | Photo: @olehbatkovych
Published 8 April 2022
The Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic denounced that the Ukrainian military carried out the attack on the Kramatorsk train station.
A missile attack perpetrated this Friday against the train station in the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, left at least 50 dead and almost a hundred injured.
The Territorial Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic denounced that the Ukrainian military carried out an attack with Tochka-U missiles near a train station in Kramatorsk.
According to the statement from the Donetsk authorities, the attack occurred during the evacuation of the civilian population from the town.
Witnesses to the event spread images on social networks showing several charred cars and the remains of an alleged missile.
The scene of the attack was strewn with abandoned suitcases, broken glass and debris, while the interior of the station was covered in blood.
For their part, the kyiv authorities point out that it was a deliberate Russian attack against a civilian infrastructure.
https://telesurtv.net/news/ataque-dones ... -0008.html
Russia destroys military installations in eastern and southern Ukraine
Russian defense systems neutralized two Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft in the air near the city of Izium, in the Kharkov region. | Photo: EFE
Published April 11, 2022 (38 minutes ago)
High-precision missiles were launched towards the outskirts of the city of Dnipro, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashénkov, specified on Monday that the Armed Forces of his country destroyed Ukrainian military equipment and facilities, mainly located in the east and south of the country, as part of their special military operation.
According to the official, high-precision air-launched missiles near the Velyka Novosilka region of the Donetsk region leveled a base for repairing weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian air defense forces.
Konashenkov noted that, in addition, nine tanks, five 2S3 “Acacia” self-propelled guns and five BM-21 “Grad” multiple launch rocket systems were eliminated, with high-precision strikes on Vozdvyzhenka and Ivanovka.
Similarly, the Defense spokesman announced that the defense systems neutralized two Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft in the air near the city of Izium, in the Kharkov region and controlled by Russian troops, key to their advance towards the borders. administrative offices controlled by the Ukrainian Army in the Donbas.
Also, in the east of Ukraine, Russian forces shot down three drones and in the south eliminated a Valkyrie-type unmanned vehicle, in the Mykolaiv oblast.
Also, in the Mykolaiv and Zhovtneve areas, two ammunition depots were disabled, and in the Uspernivka area, a radar for illumination and guidance of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.
On the other hand, in the south, specifically in the Kherson region, Russian troops shot down a Ukrainian Mi-24 military helicopter.
This Sunday, high-precision Kalibr missiles were launched from the sea towards the outskirts of the central city of Dnipro, destroying the equipment of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile division, supplied to kyiv by one of the European countries.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-de ... -0006.html
Google Translator
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Dutch Journo: ‘We are Here, in Donbass, to Awaken Westerners Deluded by MSM Propaganda’
April 11, 2022
By Ekaterina Blinova — April 8, 2022
There are only a handful of Western journalists on the ground in Donbass, while the Western mainstream press is rubber-stamping fake news about the Ukrainian crisis using the same templates it previously exploited in Iraq, Libya and Syria, says Dutch independent journalist Sonja van den Ende.
Sonja van den Ende, an independent journalist from Rotterdam, Netherlands, went to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as an embedded reporter with the Russian army to see how the special operation is unfolding with her own eyes.
The sound of shelling and explosion does not frighten her: she’s gotten used to it. Seven years ago, van den Ende worked in Syria, months before the Russians stepped in at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and changed the tide. The parallels between the Western mainstream press’ coverage of the Syrian and the Ukrainian conflicts are striking, according to her.
“They lie continuously about everything just to implement their own agenda,” van den Ende. “Like in Syria, President Assad was ‘the murderer’ and now President Putin is ‘the butcher.’ They had used this script for many years in Iraq, Venezuela and [other] countries which don’t comply with their agenda; they need a bad “guy”. But they (media) are not even there on the ground, they can’t judge. Only a handful of journalists from the West are here: Graham Philips, Patrick Lancaster, Anne-Laure Bonnel and me.”
However, this is not the only parallel, according to the Dutch journalist. She has drawn attention to Kiev’s fake reports and “false flag” operations including the Snake Island hoax, hype over Russia’s alleged “attack” on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the now-debunked story of Russia’s “strike” on a Mariupol hospital, and the most recent Bucha provocation, to name but a few. Van den Ende says that it resembles nothing so much as jihadists’ false flags and the White Helmet’s staged “gas attacks”. She specifically recalls the 4 April 2017 chemical provocation in Khan Sheikhun, Idlib, which was debunked by investigative reporters including Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh.
“The same happened in Bucha,” says the Dutch journalist. “Many witnesses are saying that the Russian army left on 30 March. Even the Ukrainian military who came in on 1 April didn’t report about corpses on the streets. This happened on 3 April, according to the Western media. Also, evidence is saying that the bodies had white armbands, the sign of the Russian army, the soldiers wear them. So the soldiers are killing the Russian Ukrainians? No way.”
Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende in Donetsk - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.04.2022Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende in Donetsk
© Photo : Sonja van den Ende
Ukrainian Neo-Nazism is No Myth
Van den Ende talked to many Ukrainian civilians while travelling across Donbass. According to her, nearly everyone condemned the Kiev government for prohibiting the Russian language and depriving them of many cultural and domestic human rights.
“The majority of the people whom I spoke with were very happy that the [Russian special] operation has started,” the Dutch journalist says. “Of course, nobody wants violence and war, but they have been suffering already eight years from the war, carnage and destruction by the Ukrainian forces. The worst were the Nazi battalions, who were fighting along with the regular army.”
Ukrainian neo-Nazism is not a myth, emphasises van den Ende. When she visited the Ukrainian port city of Odessa in 2016 and 2017 she noticed the fascist sentiment which has been spreading across the nation for quite a while. Actually, Ukrainian Nazism has been there since the Second World War, says the Dutch journalist.
The ideological successors of Stepan Bandera, the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), the 14th SS-Volunteer Division “Galicia,” and the Nachtigall Battalion went underground during the Soviet period. However, after many years these forces are alive again with the US, the UK and EU using them to destabilise Ukraine, she says. Previously, these Western geopolitical actors much in the same vein used Islamists to unseat Assad, adds the journalist.
According to van den Ende, after carrying out a 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine, the minority of neo-Nazis grabbed power and have been terrorising mainly the eastern part of the country using very vicious and cruel Nazi-style methods for eight years.
Distribution of humanitarian aid by the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass Photo : Sonja van den Ende
Feeling Protected at Long Last
The West is continuously trying to blame Russia for all the damage inflicted on Ukrainian villages and towns. However, Eastern Ukrainian eye-witnesses say that most of destruction in the civilian areas was caused by the retreating Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi formations, including the notorious Azov Battalions, according to the Dutch journalist. In addition to using civilian facilities as shields, the Ukrainian military are reported to have indiscriminately shelled the positions they left and cede to the Russian forces.
To illustrate her point, van den Ende describes the shelling of a hospital in Volnovakha, in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The building was not bombed from the air, but attacked with grenades and rockets, she says, citing a Volnovakha resident.
“The West claims it was bombed by the Russians, but as a lady told me, that she worked there all her life, and that the Ukrainian [military] – who were quartered in the hospital – shelled and destroyed the facility and her house, which was next to the hospital.”
According to the Dutch journalist, Eastern Ukrainians are treated very well by the Russian army and regularly receive humanitarian aid in most locations. What’s more, the locals say that at long last they feel protected, she adds.
Fierce fight between the Ukrainian armed forces and neo-Nazi battalions on the one side and the Russia-backed DPR and LPR militias on the other side left many houses ruined. However, the people of Donbass have not given up, highlights the journalist.
“As a woman said: ‘We are strong, we can rebuild it, for our children and grandchildren, to have peace,'” notes van den Ende.
Distribution of humanitarian aid by the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass © Photo : Sonja van den Ende
Is Russia Losing an Information War?
Some observers suggest that Russia is losing the information war with the West. The Western Big Media machine is working day and night with the backing of Big Tech, while most Russian news outlets have been either censored or completely silenced in the Western countries.
“No, Russia is not losing the information war completely,” argues van den Ende. “I think it’s up to us, the handful of Westerners, to awaken the majority of Westerners who are still asleep and getting bombarded with fake news and made-up stories day by day.”
One should bear in mind that this conflict is being fanned by the Western politicians in the first place, says the Dutch journalist. According to her, the West did completely the same in Syria but has largely lost that war.
The world is changing and the Western establishment has yet to reconcile itself with the emerging multipolar world order, according to van den Ende. She notes that Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the beginning of this change in his 2007 Munich speech. Although they opted to neglect his words at that time, it is becoming obvious that a unipolar world is gone for good, the journalist concludes
(Sputnik)
https://orinocotribune.com/dutch-journo ... ropaganda/
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Kyiv Independent Deep Dive: The West’s In-Kind Answer to Putin’s Propaganda
While staff members of The Kyiv Independent grandstand about how “independent journalism is the cornerstone of democracy,” they are quietly being funded by Western governments – a fact that should ring alarm bells with critical media consumers.
by Alan Macleod
KIEV, UKRAINE – As the Russian attack on Ukraine has come to dominate global news feeds, so has a previously little-known outlet called The Kyiv Independent. Since its inception in November of last year, the Independent’s profile has risen rapidly and has been promoted and endorsed by both social media giants and the corporate press.
The Kyiv Independent has become the toast of the town. It seems virtually impossible to turn on cable news without seeing its reporters on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, or other networks. Its staff has been given the opportunity to write multiple op-eds in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, something considered the ultimate seal of approval by many journalists. NPR listeners might also have heard interviews with reporters from the Independent.
But, while almost universally presented as a collective of unbiased journalists producing credible content, the Independent’s history, funding sources, and the proximity of many of its key staff to Western governments suggest that the news organization is not nearly as independent as its name implies.
Since November, the outlet has amassed over two million Twitter followers, up from around just 20,000 one week before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Twitter also constantly promotes its content on its homepage, encouraging hundreds of millions of people to read and follow them.
The Independent has also managed to raise more than $3.2 million from two separate crowdfunding campaigns on GoFundMe and rakes in more than $72,000 per month from supporters on Patreon. This is partially down to ringing endorsements from the likes of The Washington Post, CBS News and PBS, who endorsed their funding drives as the perfect way to do something to help Ukrainians.
“Journalists with The Kyiv Independent have done tremendous work covering the war, offering the world constant updates as they fear for themselves, their families, and their homes,” the Post wrote. Meanwhile, the Times has regularly signal-boosted its coverage as well, recommending it to readers as a way to “avoid drowning in an ocean of information.” Another article instructing teachers on how to discuss the war states that “Ukrainian sources like The Kyiv Independent” are a “good starting point” as “reliable news sources.”
In short, there has been nothing short of a ringing, wall-to-wall endorsement of the startup news organization. However, few, if any, of these reports and appearances hint at how close The Kyiv Independent and many of its staff members are to Western governmental power.
A newborn raised on the milk of regime change
The Kyiv Independent was born in November when dozens of staff members from The Kyiv Post clashed with ownership on that paper’s political coverage. New Post owner Adnan Kivan reportedly wished his employees to be more deferential to the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, leading to an acrimonious split whereby dozens of Post employees were fired and began their own outlet. While some have pointed to this as an example of the Independent’s credibility and unwillingness to be controlled, others are not so sure.
Commenting on the split, journalist Mark Ames remarked that, “Ukraine’s western-backed civil society (along with the hardline Ukrainian diaspora) loathed Zelensky right up to the invasion, suspecting him of being insufficiently nationalist.” Ames’ Moscow-based newspaper, The eXile, was closed down by Vladimir Putin in 2008. His analysis seems to have been proven correct by the Independent’s editor-in-chief, Olga Rudenko, who wrote in the pages of The New York Times that, “Mr. Zelensky, the showman and performer, has been unmasked by reality. And it has revealed him to be dispiritingly mediocre.”
The 30 Kyiv Post staff members were immediately able to fund their new venture, thanks to more than CA$200,000 in cash from the Canadian government, which made the donation through the European Endowment for Democracy. Outside of Russia, Canada has the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world and has taken an active role in trying to shape the country’s political trajectory.
Established in 2013 and directly modeled after the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the European Endowment for Democracy is an EU organization that functions in much the same way as the NED does. Although it couches its actions in the language of “democracy promotion,” it exists to hand out large sums of money, support, and training to political groups, journalists, and NGOs in enemy countries with the goal of promoting EU interests, including the overthrow of hostile governments. It does not “promote democracy” inside the EU; its operations are limited to Eastern Europe and the Middle East-North Africa region. In recent years, it has backed anti-government movements in Belarus, Russia, Syria, and Lebanon.
None of this information, including any connection to Canada or the European Endowment for Democracy, is on The Kyiv Independent’s website. Indeed, the outlet presents itself as totally independent and supported by readers. In its “About” section, it proclaims that “The Kyiv Independent won’t be dependent on a rich owner or an oligarch. The publication will depend on fundraising from readers and donors and later on, commercial activities.” It does not expand on who these donors are. However, its staff presents its funding as above board: “We’re not taking dirty money,” said one reporter. MintPress asked both The Kyiv Independent and the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine for comment about their funding arrangement but has not received a response.
Troubling CVs
The troubling connections undermining The Kyiv Independent’s credibility do not end there, however. For example, its contributing editor, Liliane Bivings, used to work and write for the NATO think tank The Atlantic Council, specifically covering Ukraine. Producer Elina-Alem Kent worked for the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in 2017; not exactly the background one would associate with grassroots, independent media. Chief financial officer Jakub Parusinski was previously employed by the International Center for Policy Studies, a Ukraine-focused think tank sponsored by numerous Western governments. In 2020, culture reporter Artur Korniienko was awarded a fellowship to work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an organization that The New York Times once described as a “worldwide propaganda network built by the CIA.” Meanwhile, contributor to The Kyiv Independent Lucy Minicozzi-Wheeland previously worked for the Council on Foreign Relations, was given a scholarship by the State Department to study Ukraine, and also worked at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center, an organization directly funded by the U.S. government.
The unquestioned star of The Kyiv Independent, however, is defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko, who, in a short time, has built up a following of over 1.1 million people on Twitter. From the front lines, his tweets and videos go viral daily and provide the basis for much of the Western media’s reporting on the conflict. Yet Ponomarenko is far from a neutral actor, and spends an inordinate amount of his time embedded with the Azov Battalion, the Neo-Nazi group whom he describes as his “good friend[s]” and his “brothers in arms.”
The Azov Battalion is a Neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has been formally incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces. Their units wear the mark of the wolfsangel on their sleeves, the symbol that the notorious Nazi 2nd SS Panzer Division – a unit infamous for overseeing the systematic extermination of Jews and Slavs in Eastern Europe – wore during the Second World War.
Azov’s first leader, parliamentarian Andriy Biletsky, said that his mission was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen,” the word Hitler used to describe Jews and other “subhumans,” including Ukrainians.
Ponomarenko has, on at least two separate occasions, declared himself to be “consecrated” by the Azov Battalion and has previously used language potentially hinting at his political leanings. For instance, in 2019, he tweeted that he was “absolutely devastated to learn that my good friend, Sn. Lt. Igor Prozapas, the former chief artillery officer with the Azov Battalion, has passed away. Valhalla today meets a dedicated gunman and true patriot. He was a Kyiv Post contributor too.” Modern Nazis regularly appropriate Viking concepts such as the Valhalla afterlife for warriors killed in combat.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their contributors, neither The Kyiv Post nor The Kyiv Independent seems particularly interested in scrutinizing the Azov Battalion or the insurgent Neo-Nazi movement in Ukraine. Indeed, the latter calls Azov the “defenders of Mariupol”.
Independent journalism™: brought to you by the CIA
As noted previously, virtually all of The Kyiv Independent’s essential staff came from The Kyiv Post exodus. Yet the Post’s sources of income are, if possible, even more eyebrow-raising than the Independent’s, coming as they do from the CIA cutout organization National Endowment for Democracy.
At the time of the Russian invasion, the NED pulled from its website all records of its widespread project of funding a broad range of Ukrainian political parties, NGOs, media outlets, and civil-society groups. From the few, unofficial and incomplete archived records of NED grants that still exist, however, MintPress has ascertained that, through its affiliated foundations, The Kyiv Post has sought and received at least $459,000 in NED cash. A minimum of $394,000 went through the Media Development Foundation (MDF), a fundraising vehicle The Post launched in 2013 and one of its primary sources of income, according to former Editor-in-Chief Brian Bonner.
A further $65,000 went to another Post project, the Free Press Foundation (FPF), including one $35,000 grant to “support the editorial team of a leading independent newspaper to produce investigative reporting on corruption and violations of media freedoms.” That this “leading independent newspaper” was The Kyiv Post is barely in question, given that the FPF’s founder and executive director was the Post’s commercial director, and therefore responsible for fundraising. Furthermore, The Kyiv Post shares the same address as the FPF, whose website makes it clear that the two organizations are essentially one and the same.
A second, $30,000, NED project, the FPF boasts, paid for over 100 Kyiv Post articles, podcasts, and videos covering the 2019 elections, plus the establishment of a fact-checking team. In Ukraine, the U.S. Dollar evidently goes a very long way.
A now-deleted 2018 NED document shows a sizable donation to The Kyiv Post’s primary funding vehicle, the “Media Development Foundation.”
A further example of just how far the NED’s money goes is a $15,000 grant to the MDF entitled “promoting reforms in key sectors.” In return for the cash, the agreement states that the Post would “publish at least 100 articles and analyses on the progress of reforms” in sectors such as defense, the judiciary and healthcare, suggesting that they were directly paying for content to be produced. On its website, however, The Kyiv Post insists that “the donor doesn’t influence the content.”
A 2019 Kyiv Post article acknowledges the papers NED funding
What “reform” could allude to here is the massive course of economic “shock therapy” in which the government conducted a firesale of state-owned businesses and assets, in the process dismantling its welfare state and removing barriers to Western corporations’ operations in the country. This process has helped to keep Ukraine the poorest country in Europe, although both the domestic and international billionaire classes have benefited enormously.
The Kyiv Post was already strongly supportive of many of these reforms. Indeed, the outlet has an entire “Reform Watch” vertical, replete with more than 2,600 articles dedicated to assessing and promoting them, more than 1,500 of which have been published since 2017. It has also published glossy infomercials aimed at foreign investors, describing in glowing detail how the “profound reforms” have reshaped Ukraine into a promising space for international business.
Reading the language of these grants, it is clear that “increasing the capacity” of outlets like The Kyiv Post was of primary importance to the U.S.. This led Washington to pay for the training of huge numbers of interns in writing, video editing, camera usage and other journalism skills at “leading Kyiv media outlets” – principal among them, the Post. The level of funding also rapidly increased through the years, starting with relatively modest sums in 2014 but rising to over $200,000 by 2018, no doubt building considerable capacity indeed.
“Without the NED, there would be nothing”
The NED was set up by the Reagan administration in the 1980s explicitly as a front for the CIA, whose public image had been seriously tarnished by a series of scandals. Technically a private organization, and therefore not subject to the same public scrutiny or legal regulations, the NED carried out the CIA’s dirtiest operations abroad, specifically those of regime change and foreign interference. In this, they are relatively open, although they are careful to couch their activities in the language of “democracy promotion.”
“It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA,” NED President Carl Gershman said, explaining its creation. NED co-founder Allen Weinstein agreed: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” he told The Washington Post.
The NED has played a key role in recent U.S. regime-change attempts. In Hong Kong, it funneled money to the leaders of the domestic protest movement, in order to sustain it. In Venezuela, it has organized music concerts to undermine the Maduro administration. Last summer, it fomented a nationwide campaign of demonstrations in Cuba. And it currently has 40 active projects in Belarus, all with the goal of removing President Alexander Lukashenko from office. Ukraine, however, is the NED’s “top priority” according to its 2019 annual report.
The Kyiv Post also sought out and received other highly questionable sources of funding, including, by its own admission, the Danish government and NATO itself.
During the NATO-backed 2014 Euromaidan insurrection, in which the democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown and replaced by a successor handpicked by the United States government, the European Endowment for Democracy also rushed through what it described as “emergency support” to The Kyiv Post. What exactly this support entailed is not disclosed in much detail, leaving cynics wondering whether the European Union was channeling cash to pliant local media in order to push through a coup.
The Post’s post-split staff might also raise a skeptic’s eyebrow. Among them is the new chief editor, Bohdan Nahaylo, who spent two decades working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, rising to become its director of Ukrainian services between 1989 and 1991. Nahaylo’s boss, Richard Carlson (Tucker Carlson’s father) stated that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty played a “very critical role” in the dissolution of the USSR and the transition to a hyper-capitalist model, adding:
International broadcasters were equally important in laying the groundwork for the democratic revolutions that we have seen. Isn’t it incredible how Western all those Eastern Europeans sound in talking about freedom, democracy, free enterprise, environmental concerns. And they didn’t get those ideas from their own media or from textbooks in their own countries; they got them mainly from international broadcasters like Voice of America, the BBC, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe.”
These sources of income mean that almost everybody at The Kyiv Post or The Kyiv Independent was, for quite some time, in the pay of NATO and/or the U.S. national security state. Indeed, in 2015, Daryna Shevchenko, current CEO of The Kyiv Independent and then a staff writer for The Kyiv Post, openly acknowledged how much the CIA cutout organization had done for her and her colleagues. “To our partners, the National Endowment for Democracy, without them there would be nothing,” she wrote. Shevchenko made the comments after a Media Development Foundation training event attended by a host of Kyiv Post/Kyiv Independent journalists. Also attending was Aric Toler of Bellingcat, another NED-sponsored outlet which masquerades as independent journalism. Toler went on to work for The Atlantic Council.
While these journalists often speak in the language of objectivity and neutrality, they are, at the same time, crystal clear that the purpose of The Kyiv Independent is to “counter the Russian narrative,” in the words of Editor-in-Chief Rudenko. Thus, they see themselves as fighters in an information war. And as the battle for public opinion rages, they are among the West’s most potent weapons.
A necessary skepticism
While experts disagree on how well or poorly the military invasion is going, it seems clear that Russia is losing the information war. President Putin has been widely condemned, has breathed new life into NATO, and has united European countries in resistance. Russian media and pro-Russian sources have been wiped from the Internet. And while Putin declared that the point of his “special military operation” was to “denazify” his neighbor, few have accepted that premise, despite the well-documented far-right insurgence in Ukraine. Further undermining this claim was a video released this week of the head of the Russia-backed Donetsk People’s Republic awarding a medal to a soldier sporting two separate fascist symbols on his jacket.
Despite Russia being the chief belligerent in this war and some Russian sources spreading false information, we must still be skeptical of claims made by the other side. In war, the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus noted, truth is always the first casualty.
As ferocious as the fighting has been, the propaganda war has been, if anything, more intense. And supposedly “independent” Ukrainian media have been a key part of it. There is already a serious problem in modern discourse with the term “independent media,” a phrase commonly used to refer to any media outlet, no matter how big an empire it is, that is not owned or funded by the state (as if that is the only form of dependence or control to which media is subject).
But even at this extremely low hurdle, The Kyiv Post and The Kyiv Independent fall. While key staff members grandstand about how “independent journalism is the cornerstone of democracy,” they are quietly being funded by Western governments – a fact that should ring alarm bells with critical media consumers. Again, this does not mean that what they publish is false or that there is no worthwhile reporting being done. But it does undermine their claims of independence or impartiality. That The Kyiv Independent does not even acknowledge its foreign funding and presents itself as reader-supported is especially troubling.
Feature photo | A reporter films Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, right, during a press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, March 23, 2022. Vadim Ghirda | AP
https://www.mintpressnews.com/280167-2/280167/
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Ukrainian secret service and neo-nazis abduct left-wing activist in Dnipro
April 11, 2022 Susann Witt-Stahl
The beating of left-wing activist Alexander Matyushenko on March 3 in Dnipro, documented by Azov members.
Around noon on March 3, five persons forced their way into the apartment of 31-year-old hotel clerk Alexander Matyushenko and his partner Maria M. in Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk). As the latter told jW, they were both shouted at, forced to lie on the floor, and not allowed to move. The aggressors reportedly did not disclose identification, but two of them were apparently recognized as members of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) thanks to insignia on their clothing. The officials searched the rooms, while another man in a military uniform showing emblems of the fascist Azov Battalion beat up Matyushenko to extort information. “The same person was spitting in my face and cutting my hair with a knife,” Maria M. said. Accordingly, Matyushenko was beaten and maltreated for a total of two hours.
These accounts are backed up by footage allegedly posted by a thug involved in the assault on the Dnipro city Telegram channel, which has around 335,000 followers. A photo shows Matyushenko lying on the ground bleeding all over his face with a gun pressed to the back of his head. A video shows him being kicked and forced to repeatedly shout the greeting of the fascist banderists, “Slava Ukrajini – Gerojam slava!”
Matyushenko is an anti-fascist and a member of Livitsya (Left), an alliance founded by activists from various social movements in Dnipro two years ago. The left-wing organization supports strikes and uses both public rallies and publications to protest social cuts, low wages, the curtailment of democracy, and the enforced conformity of the media – which has been used by Ukrainian oligarchs to established a “right-wing consensus” in society, as Matyushenko criticized in a newspaper article in 2020. “The right-wing government and the right-wing opposition are competing in anti-communism and xenophobia.”
According to Maria M., Alexander has repeatedly been subjected to attempts of intimidation in the past, both by fascists and the police. Now the repressive organs apparently want to get serious and silence him. After maltreating the man, the officials issued a protocol and confiscated computers, smartphones and other belongings. “Then they pulled bags over our heads, tied our hands with tape and took us to the SBU building. There they interrogated us and even threatened to cut off our ears,” Maria M. recalls. She was released after spending the night in a detention cell, she said. Matyushenko, however, was taken to a remand prison, where eventually a physician treated his injuries – multiple rib fractures, bruises, and lacerations to the eyes and face.
Only his lawyer has been allowed to visit him so far. Matyushenko, who says he has actually never held a gun, is under investigation as per Section 437 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code for “conducting an aggressive war or aggressive military operation,” a crime punishable by 10 to 15 years in prison. At a March 26 detention review hearing, his provisional release on bail was denied. The number of reports from Dnipro about similar cases of arbitrariness of authorities is increasing: “The war is being used to kidnap, imprison, even kill members of the opposition who criticize the government,” a left-wing activist told jW. “We must all fear for our freedom and our lives.”
The original article was published in the German daily newspaper junge Welt on April 2, 2022.
https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2022/ ... in-dnipro/
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Victoria's Secret
The MSM gets its war analysis from the sister in law of the woman who made the war inevitable.
A Skeptic
Apr 5
I’m the sort of person who can’t stand getting ‘expert analysis’ from the same people who lied to me the last time. When I see a war article on the BBC, Fox, CNN, or MSNBC, I know I need to do my own research. When I see that all of the MSM agrees on something, I know it’s either true, or it’s some next level narrative.
When Colin Powell held up the sample of ‘Yellow Cake’ that proved Iraq was going to nuke us all, the MSM all got behind the narrative.
Today, the MSM is entirely rallied behind one narrative. Russia is losing in Ukraine. According to the narrative, all Ukraine needs is some gear, and this Russian loss is a done deal. For a skeptic, who still remembers the ‘Yellow Cake’, this near universal agreement on the narrative is troubling.
My first thought is to get away from the talking heads, and the expert analysis. These people were all experts on something else last week! Instead, I try to find their sources.
In reading numerous articles, I soon found a frequently used source. That source was a site called ‘The Institute for the Study of War’, or ‘ISW’. ISW produces a daily synopsis of the battlefield events, as well as daily maps. It’s easy to see why the Main Stream Media loves the site. It pretty much sums up the day into media friendly talking points.
The ISW Analysis of the war is bleak for Russia. It fully ignores Russia’s stated goals, hammers home any Russian setbacks, and elevates minor Ukrainian wins. To the casual news consumer, Russia will lose if we in the west help just a bit more. How can anyone not want to help? We can easily crush Russia and save this shiny new democracy, with just a little more help.
Once you see the reality of this coverage, you can’t help but see that it is agenda driven by Neocon insiders, aimed at prolonging a Ukrainian loss, for the simple purpose of gaining some wishful NATO advantage over Russia.
Presented next are a sampling of articles sourcing ISW:
Here we have the BBC Coverage of the latest events.
The BBC clearly depends on ISW analysis of the situation.
Fox News also uses ISW analysis.
As it turns out, numerous MSM articles look to ISW as a source. Here a few more examples:
MSNBC - ...According to a report by Washington think tank the Institute for the Study of War, two leaders of the Russian intelligence service were placed under house arrest Friday.
CNN Reporting
So who is The Institute for the Study or War?
According to the Mission statement, they check all the right boxes!
The Who We Are gets a little bit interesting! Right away, William Kristol stand out. But first, we see that it’s Founder and President is Dr. Kimberly Kagan.
Who is Kimberly Kagan? Wikipedia shows us all we need to know!
Wait, What?
Yes, we read this correctly. The Founder and President of ISW, the MSM’s go to source, is in fact the Sister In Law of Victoria Nuland.
Be sure to research Victoria Nuland if you don’t know who she is. In short, she is the Architect of Ukraine’s 2014 Coup. She currently serves the United States Department of State.
The following from Wikipedia shows just how much Victoria Nuland has at stake in Ukraine.
The MSM gets its war analysis from the sister in law of the woman who made the war inevitable.
For an even deeper dive, I looked at who ISW uses for sources.
It appears that ISW gets the vast majority of its ‘Open Source’ information from Ukraine’s General Staff Facebook page. That’s odd
(References at link.)
https://askeptic.substack.com/p/victorias-secret?s=r
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Could NATO-Supplied Arms Change Ukraine’s Fate?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 10, 2022
NATO has claimed it would begin sending more significant, heavier weapons to Ukraine including armored vehicles, missiles, and even floating discussion over tanks and warplanes.
However there are serious complications going unmentioned across the Western media:
1. Heavy NATO weapons like tanks, anti-ship missiles, and warplanes take months or longer to train on;
2. Heavy NATO weapons require entirely new infrastructure, warehouses of new spare parts, ground support equipment, and personnel trained to carry out maintenance;
3. None of these proposed weapons, nor anything else in NATO’s inventory can make up for Ukraine’s shortcomings including loss of trained manpower, crippled logistics, and organizational structures to compete with Russian military power;
4. Many of these weapons – like the UK’s Harpoon missiles – are nearing expiration;
5. In order for these systems to be put directly into use, NATO personnel would have to covertly operate them.
References:
Washington Post – What weapons to send to Ukraine? How debate shifted from helmets to tanks.:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... s-ukraine/
The National Interest – Germany’s Leopard 2 Tank in Syria Was Beaten Badly in Battle. Why?:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... -why-78441
YouTube – Direct ATGM hit: Kurdish female fighters destroy invading Turkish Leopard 2 tank in Afrin region:
Defense One – Saudi Losses in Yemen War Exposed by US Tank Deal:
https://www.defenseone.com/business/201 ... ar/130623/
The Brookings Institution – Is selling tanks to Saudi Arabia such a good idea?:
The National Interest – The UAE’s Leclerc Tanks Had a Rough Time in Yemen:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboo ... men-196893
Forbes – Lacking Missiles And Aircraft, British Warships Are Harmless ‘Herbivores’:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2 ... fe29ae1b73
The Balance Careers – Navy Fire Controlman Job Description:
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/fire- ... on-3345817
Where to Find My Work:
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https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... ines-fate/
All of these promises of arms are neither here nor there when the Ukes surrender. Except of course for the makers who send the bill to the appropriate governments, it's a fucking bonanza! The Soviet era weaponry of the former Warsaw pact will all be replaced by 'modern' weapons, ching ching! And ya gotta wonder what happened to the 2000 or so tanks on Ukraine's order of battle. Howe many destroyed?(the Russian numbers are probably close...) And how many haven't run since 1990 or so and are derelict due to the neglect of the unbelievably corrupt capitalist Ukrainian government?
According to reports, the Ukrainian military fired at 04:20 local time at the village of the Trudovskaya mine. | Photo: EFE
Published April 11, 2022 (4 hours 49 minutes ago)
So far no loss of human life or injuries have been reported.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired again on Monday against the city of Donetsk, of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in the Ukrainian Donbas region, according to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC).
According to the entity, the Ukrainian military fired at 04:20 local time (01:20 GMT) against the town of the Trudovskaya mine, with 15 122-millimeter ammunition.
Another attack was reported in these same areas around 06:15 (03:15 GMT) with another 10 pieces of ammunition. In addition, the Ukrainian forces opened fire with another 10 and 6 ammunition at 04:40 (01:40 GMT) and 06:00 (03:00 GMT) respectively, against the Petrovsky district of Donetsk.
So far there are no reports of casualties or injuries from the attacks.
Later, other bombings were recorded both in Donetsk and in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR). According to the JCCC, at 0625 (0325 GMT) Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Yasynuvata with six 122-millimeter shells.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/donestk- ... -0004.html
Attack on train station in Donestk leaves at least 50 dead
According to the Donetsk authorities, the attack occurred during the evacuation of the civilian population from the town. | Photo: @olehbatkovych
Published 8 April 2022
The Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic denounced that the Ukrainian military carried out the attack on the Kramatorsk train station.
A missile attack perpetrated this Friday against the train station in the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, left at least 50 dead and almost a hundred injured.
The Territorial Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic denounced that the Ukrainian military carried out an attack with Tochka-U missiles near a train station in Kramatorsk.
According to the statement from the Donetsk authorities, the attack occurred during the evacuation of the civilian population from the town.
Witnesses to the event spread images on social networks showing several charred cars and the remains of an alleged missile.
The scene of the attack was strewn with abandoned suitcases, broken glass and debris, while the interior of the station was covered in blood.
For their part, the kyiv authorities point out that it was a deliberate Russian attack against a civilian infrastructure.
https://telesurtv.net/news/ataque-dones ... -0008.html
Russia destroys military installations in eastern and southern Ukraine
Russian defense systems neutralized two Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft in the air near the city of Izium, in the Kharkov region. | Photo: EFE
Published April 11, 2022 (38 minutes ago)
High-precision missiles were launched towards the outskirts of the city of Dnipro, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashénkov, specified on Monday that the Armed Forces of his country destroyed Ukrainian military equipment and facilities, mainly located in the east and south of the country, as part of their special military operation.
According to the official, high-precision air-launched missiles near the Velyka Novosilka region of the Donetsk region leveled a base for repairing weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian air defense forces.
Konashenkov noted that, in addition, nine tanks, five 2S3 “Acacia” self-propelled guns and five BM-21 “Grad” multiple launch rocket systems were eliminated, with high-precision strikes on Vozdvyzhenka and Ivanovka.
Similarly, the Defense spokesman announced that the defense systems neutralized two Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft in the air near the city of Izium, in the Kharkov region and controlled by Russian troops, key to their advance towards the borders. administrative offices controlled by the Ukrainian Army in the Donbas.
Also, in the east of Ukraine, Russian forces shot down three drones and in the south eliminated a Valkyrie-type unmanned vehicle, in the Mykolaiv oblast.
Also, in the Mykolaiv and Zhovtneve areas, two ammunition depots were disabled, and in the Uspernivka area, a radar for illumination and guidance of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.
On the other hand, in the south, specifically in the Kherson region, Russian troops shot down a Ukrainian Mi-24 military helicopter.
This Sunday, high-precision Kalibr missiles were launched from the sea towards the outskirts of the central city of Dnipro, destroying the equipment of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile division, supplied to kyiv by one of the European countries.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-de ... -0006.html
Google Translator
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Dutch Journo: ‘We are Here, in Donbass, to Awaken Westerners Deluded by MSM Propaganda’
April 11, 2022
By Ekaterina Blinova — April 8, 2022
There are only a handful of Western journalists on the ground in Donbass, while the Western mainstream press is rubber-stamping fake news about the Ukrainian crisis using the same templates it previously exploited in Iraq, Libya and Syria, says Dutch independent journalist Sonja van den Ende.
Sonja van den Ende, an independent journalist from Rotterdam, Netherlands, went to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as an embedded reporter with the Russian army to see how the special operation is unfolding with her own eyes.
The sound of shelling and explosion does not frighten her: she’s gotten used to it. Seven years ago, van den Ende worked in Syria, months before the Russians stepped in at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and changed the tide. The parallels between the Western mainstream press’ coverage of the Syrian and the Ukrainian conflicts are striking, according to her.
“They lie continuously about everything just to implement their own agenda,” van den Ende. “Like in Syria, President Assad was ‘the murderer’ and now President Putin is ‘the butcher.’ They had used this script for many years in Iraq, Venezuela and [other] countries which don’t comply with their agenda; they need a bad “guy”. But they (media) are not even there on the ground, they can’t judge. Only a handful of journalists from the West are here: Graham Philips, Patrick Lancaster, Anne-Laure Bonnel and me.”
However, this is not the only parallel, according to the Dutch journalist. She has drawn attention to Kiev’s fake reports and “false flag” operations including the Snake Island hoax, hype over Russia’s alleged “attack” on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the now-debunked story of Russia’s “strike” on a Mariupol hospital, and the most recent Bucha provocation, to name but a few. Van den Ende says that it resembles nothing so much as jihadists’ false flags and the White Helmet’s staged “gas attacks”. She specifically recalls the 4 April 2017 chemical provocation in Khan Sheikhun, Idlib, which was debunked by investigative reporters including Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh.
“The same happened in Bucha,” says the Dutch journalist. “Many witnesses are saying that the Russian army left on 30 March. Even the Ukrainian military who came in on 1 April didn’t report about corpses on the streets. This happened on 3 April, according to the Western media. Also, evidence is saying that the bodies had white armbands, the sign of the Russian army, the soldiers wear them. So the soldiers are killing the Russian Ukrainians? No way.”
Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende in Donetsk - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.04.2022Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende in Donetsk
© Photo : Sonja van den Ende
Ukrainian Neo-Nazism is No Myth
Van den Ende talked to many Ukrainian civilians while travelling across Donbass. According to her, nearly everyone condemned the Kiev government for prohibiting the Russian language and depriving them of many cultural and domestic human rights.
“The majority of the people whom I spoke with were very happy that the [Russian special] operation has started,” the Dutch journalist says. “Of course, nobody wants violence and war, but they have been suffering already eight years from the war, carnage and destruction by the Ukrainian forces. The worst were the Nazi battalions, who were fighting along with the regular army.”
Ukrainian neo-Nazism is not a myth, emphasises van den Ende. When she visited the Ukrainian port city of Odessa in 2016 and 2017 she noticed the fascist sentiment which has been spreading across the nation for quite a while. Actually, Ukrainian Nazism has been there since the Second World War, says the Dutch journalist.
The ideological successors of Stepan Bandera, the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), the 14th SS-Volunteer Division “Galicia,” and the Nachtigall Battalion went underground during the Soviet period. However, after many years these forces are alive again with the US, the UK and EU using them to destabilise Ukraine, she says. Previously, these Western geopolitical actors much in the same vein used Islamists to unseat Assad, adds the journalist.
According to van den Ende, after carrying out a 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine, the minority of neo-Nazis grabbed power and have been terrorising mainly the eastern part of the country using very vicious and cruel Nazi-style methods for eight years.
Distribution of humanitarian aid by the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass Photo : Sonja van den Ende
Feeling Protected at Long Last
The West is continuously trying to blame Russia for all the damage inflicted on Ukrainian villages and towns. However, Eastern Ukrainian eye-witnesses say that most of destruction in the civilian areas was caused by the retreating Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi formations, including the notorious Azov Battalions, according to the Dutch journalist. In addition to using civilian facilities as shields, the Ukrainian military are reported to have indiscriminately shelled the positions they left and cede to the Russian forces.
To illustrate her point, van den Ende describes the shelling of a hospital in Volnovakha, in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The building was not bombed from the air, but attacked with grenades and rockets, she says, citing a Volnovakha resident.
“The West claims it was bombed by the Russians, but as a lady told me, that she worked there all her life, and that the Ukrainian [military] – who were quartered in the hospital – shelled and destroyed the facility and her house, which was next to the hospital.”
According to the Dutch journalist, Eastern Ukrainians are treated very well by the Russian army and regularly receive humanitarian aid in most locations. What’s more, the locals say that at long last they feel protected, she adds.
Fierce fight between the Ukrainian armed forces and neo-Nazi battalions on the one side and the Russia-backed DPR and LPR militias on the other side left many houses ruined. However, the people of Donbass have not given up, highlights the journalist.
“As a woman said: ‘We are strong, we can rebuild it, for our children and grandchildren, to have peace,'” notes van den Ende.
Distribution of humanitarian aid by the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass © Photo : Sonja van den Ende
Is Russia Losing an Information War?
Some observers suggest that Russia is losing the information war with the West. The Western Big Media machine is working day and night with the backing of Big Tech, while most Russian news outlets have been either censored or completely silenced in the Western countries.
“No, Russia is not losing the information war completely,” argues van den Ende. “I think it’s up to us, the handful of Westerners, to awaken the majority of Westerners who are still asleep and getting bombarded with fake news and made-up stories day by day.”
One should bear in mind that this conflict is being fanned by the Western politicians in the first place, says the Dutch journalist. According to her, the West did completely the same in Syria but has largely lost that war.
The world is changing and the Western establishment has yet to reconcile itself with the emerging multipolar world order, according to van den Ende. She notes that Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the beginning of this change in his 2007 Munich speech. Although they opted to neglect his words at that time, it is becoming obvious that a unipolar world is gone for good, the journalist concludes
(Sputnik)
https://orinocotribune.com/dutch-journo ... ropaganda/
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Kyiv Independent Deep Dive: The West’s In-Kind Answer to Putin’s Propaganda
While staff members of The Kyiv Independent grandstand about how “independent journalism is the cornerstone of democracy,” they are quietly being funded by Western governments – a fact that should ring alarm bells with critical media consumers.
by Alan Macleod
KIEV, UKRAINE – As the Russian attack on Ukraine has come to dominate global news feeds, so has a previously little-known outlet called The Kyiv Independent. Since its inception in November of last year, the Independent’s profile has risen rapidly and has been promoted and endorsed by both social media giants and the corporate press.
The Kyiv Independent has become the toast of the town. It seems virtually impossible to turn on cable news without seeing its reporters on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, or other networks. Its staff has been given the opportunity to write multiple op-eds in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, something considered the ultimate seal of approval by many journalists. NPR listeners might also have heard interviews with reporters from the Independent.
But, while almost universally presented as a collective of unbiased journalists producing credible content, the Independent’s history, funding sources, and the proximity of many of its key staff to Western governments suggest that the news organization is not nearly as independent as its name implies.
Since November, the outlet has amassed over two million Twitter followers, up from around just 20,000 one week before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Twitter also constantly promotes its content on its homepage, encouraging hundreds of millions of people to read and follow them.
The Independent has also managed to raise more than $3.2 million from two separate crowdfunding campaigns on GoFundMe and rakes in more than $72,000 per month from supporters on Patreon. This is partially down to ringing endorsements from the likes of The Washington Post, CBS News and PBS, who endorsed their funding drives as the perfect way to do something to help Ukrainians.
“Journalists with The Kyiv Independent have done tremendous work covering the war, offering the world constant updates as they fear for themselves, their families, and their homes,” the Post wrote. Meanwhile, the Times has regularly signal-boosted its coverage as well, recommending it to readers as a way to “avoid drowning in an ocean of information.” Another article instructing teachers on how to discuss the war states that “Ukrainian sources like The Kyiv Independent” are a “good starting point” as “reliable news sources.”
In short, there has been nothing short of a ringing, wall-to-wall endorsement of the startup news organization. However, few, if any, of these reports and appearances hint at how close The Kyiv Independent and many of its staff members are to Western governmental power.
A newborn raised on the milk of regime change
The Kyiv Independent was born in November when dozens of staff members from The Kyiv Post clashed with ownership on that paper’s political coverage. New Post owner Adnan Kivan reportedly wished his employees to be more deferential to the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, leading to an acrimonious split whereby dozens of Post employees were fired and began their own outlet. While some have pointed to this as an example of the Independent’s credibility and unwillingness to be controlled, others are not so sure.
Commenting on the split, journalist Mark Ames remarked that, “Ukraine’s western-backed civil society (along with the hardline Ukrainian diaspora) loathed Zelensky right up to the invasion, suspecting him of being insufficiently nationalist.” Ames’ Moscow-based newspaper, The eXile, was closed down by Vladimir Putin in 2008. His analysis seems to have been proven correct by the Independent’s editor-in-chief, Olga Rudenko, who wrote in the pages of The New York Times that, “Mr. Zelensky, the showman and performer, has been unmasked by reality. And it has revealed him to be dispiritingly mediocre.”
The 30 Kyiv Post staff members were immediately able to fund their new venture, thanks to more than CA$200,000 in cash from the Canadian government, which made the donation through the European Endowment for Democracy. Outside of Russia, Canada has the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world and has taken an active role in trying to shape the country’s political trajectory.
Established in 2013 and directly modeled after the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the European Endowment for Democracy is an EU organization that functions in much the same way as the NED does. Although it couches its actions in the language of “democracy promotion,” it exists to hand out large sums of money, support, and training to political groups, journalists, and NGOs in enemy countries with the goal of promoting EU interests, including the overthrow of hostile governments. It does not “promote democracy” inside the EU; its operations are limited to Eastern Europe and the Middle East-North Africa region. In recent years, it has backed anti-government movements in Belarus, Russia, Syria, and Lebanon.
None of this information, including any connection to Canada or the European Endowment for Democracy, is on The Kyiv Independent’s website. Indeed, the outlet presents itself as totally independent and supported by readers. In its “About” section, it proclaims that “The Kyiv Independent won’t be dependent on a rich owner or an oligarch. The publication will depend on fundraising from readers and donors and later on, commercial activities.” It does not expand on who these donors are. However, its staff presents its funding as above board: “We’re not taking dirty money,” said one reporter. MintPress asked both The Kyiv Independent and the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine for comment about their funding arrangement but has not received a response.
Troubling CVs
The troubling connections undermining The Kyiv Independent’s credibility do not end there, however. For example, its contributing editor, Liliane Bivings, used to work and write for the NATO think tank The Atlantic Council, specifically covering Ukraine. Producer Elina-Alem Kent worked for the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in 2017; not exactly the background one would associate with grassroots, independent media. Chief financial officer Jakub Parusinski was previously employed by the International Center for Policy Studies, a Ukraine-focused think tank sponsored by numerous Western governments. In 2020, culture reporter Artur Korniienko was awarded a fellowship to work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an organization that The New York Times once described as a “worldwide propaganda network built by the CIA.” Meanwhile, contributor to The Kyiv Independent Lucy Minicozzi-Wheeland previously worked for the Council on Foreign Relations, was given a scholarship by the State Department to study Ukraine, and also worked at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center, an organization directly funded by the U.S. government.
The unquestioned star of The Kyiv Independent, however, is defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko, who, in a short time, has built up a following of over 1.1 million people on Twitter. From the front lines, his tweets and videos go viral daily and provide the basis for much of the Western media’s reporting on the conflict. Yet Ponomarenko is far from a neutral actor, and spends an inordinate amount of his time embedded with the Azov Battalion, the Neo-Nazi group whom he describes as his “good friend[s]” and his “brothers in arms.”
The Azov Battalion is a Neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has been formally incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces. Their units wear the mark of the wolfsangel on their sleeves, the symbol that the notorious Nazi 2nd SS Panzer Division – a unit infamous for overseeing the systematic extermination of Jews and Slavs in Eastern Europe – wore during the Second World War.
Azov’s first leader, parliamentarian Andriy Biletsky, said that his mission was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen,” the word Hitler used to describe Jews and other “subhumans,” including Ukrainians.
Ponomarenko has, on at least two separate occasions, declared himself to be “consecrated” by the Azov Battalion and has previously used language potentially hinting at his political leanings. For instance, in 2019, he tweeted that he was “absolutely devastated to learn that my good friend, Sn. Lt. Igor Prozapas, the former chief artillery officer with the Azov Battalion, has passed away. Valhalla today meets a dedicated gunman and true patriot. He was a Kyiv Post contributor too.” Modern Nazis regularly appropriate Viking concepts such as the Valhalla afterlife for warriors killed in combat.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their contributors, neither The Kyiv Post nor The Kyiv Independent seems particularly interested in scrutinizing the Azov Battalion or the insurgent Neo-Nazi movement in Ukraine. Indeed, the latter calls Azov the “defenders of Mariupol”.
Independent journalism™: brought to you by the CIA
As noted previously, virtually all of The Kyiv Independent’s essential staff came from The Kyiv Post exodus. Yet the Post’s sources of income are, if possible, even more eyebrow-raising than the Independent’s, coming as they do from the CIA cutout organization National Endowment for Democracy.
At the time of the Russian invasion, the NED pulled from its website all records of its widespread project of funding a broad range of Ukrainian political parties, NGOs, media outlets, and civil-society groups. From the few, unofficial and incomplete archived records of NED grants that still exist, however, MintPress has ascertained that, through its affiliated foundations, The Kyiv Post has sought and received at least $459,000 in NED cash. A minimum of $394,000 went through the Media Development Foundation (MDF), a fundraising vehicle The Post launched in 2013 and one of its primary sources of income, according to former Editor-in-Chief Brian Bonner.
A further $65,000 went to another Post project, the Free Press Foundation (FPF), including one $35,000 grant to “support the editorial team of a leading independent newspaper to produce investigative reporting on corruption and violations of media freedoms.” That this “leading independent newspaper” was The Kyiv Post is barely in question, given that the FPF’s founder and executive director was the Post’s commercial director, and therefore responsible for fundraising. Furthermore, The Kyiv Post shares the same address as the FPF, whose website makes it clear that the two organizations are essentially one and the same.
A second, $30,000, NED project, the FPF boasts, paid for over 100 Kyiv Post articles, podcasts, and videos covering the 2019 elections, plus the establishment of a fact-checking team. In Ukraine, the U.S. Dollar evidently goes a very long way.
A now-deleted 2018 NED document shows a sizable donation to The Kyiv Post’s primary funding vehicle, the “Media Development Foundation.”
A further example of just how far the NED’s money goes is a $15,000 grant to the MDF entitled “promoting reforms in key sectors.” In return for the cash, the agreement states that the Post would “publish at least 100 articles and analyses on the progress of reforms” in sectors such as defense, the judiciary and healthcare, suggesting that they were directly paying for content to be produced. On its website, however, The Kyiv Post insists that “the donor doesn’t influence the content.”
A 2019 Kyiv Post article acknowledges the papers NED funding
What “reform” could allude to here is the massive course of economic “shock therapy” in which the government conducted a firesale of state-owned businesses and assets, in the process dismantling its welfare state and removing barriers to Western corporations’ operations in the country. This process has helped to keep Ukraine the poorest country in Europe, although both the domestic and international billionaire classes have benefited enormously.
The Kyiv Post was already strongly supportive of many of these reforms. Indeed, the outlet has an entire “Reform Watch” vertical, replete with more than 2,600 articles dedicated to assessing and promoting them, more than 1,500 of which have been published since 2017. It has also published glossy infomercials aimed at foreign investors, describing in glowing detail how the “profound reforms” have reshaped Ukraine into a promising space for international business.
Reading the language of these grants, it is clear that “increasing the capacity” of outlets like The Kyiv Post was of primary importance to the U.S.. This led Washington to pay for the training of huge numbers of interns in writing, video editing, camera usage and other journalism skills at “leading Kyiv media outlets” – principal among them, the Post. The level of funding also rapidly increased through the years, starting with relatively modest sums in 2014 but rising to over $200,000 by 2018, no doubt building considerable capacity indeed.
“Without the NED, there would be nothing”
The NED was set up by the Reagan administration in the 1980s explicitly as a front for the CIA, whose public image had been seriously tarnished by a series of scandals. Technically a private organization, and therefore not subject to the same public scrutiny or legal regulations, the NED carried out the CIA’s dirtiest operations abroad, specifically those of regime change and foreign interference. In this, they are relatively open, although they are careful to couch their activities in the language of “democracy promotion.”
“It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA,” NED President Carl Gershman said, explaining its creation. NED co-founder Allen Weinstein agreed: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” he told The Washington Post.
The NED has played a key role in recent U.S. regime-change attempts. In Hong Kong, it funneled money to the leaders of the domestic protest movement, in order to sustain it. In Venezuela, it has organized music concerts to undermine the Maduro administration. Last summer, it fomented a nationwide campaign of demonstrations in Cuba. And it currently has 40 active projects in Belarus, all with the goal of removing President Alexander Lukashenko from office. Ukraine, however, is the NED’s “top priority” according to its 2019 annual report.
The Kyiv Post also sought out and received other highly questionable sources of funding, including, by its own admission, the Danish government and NATO itself.
During the NATO-backed 2014 Euromaidan insurrection, in which the democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown and replaced by a successor handpicked by the United States government, the European Endowment for Democracy also rushed through what it described as “emergency support” to The Kyiv Post. What exactly this support entailed is not disclosed in much detail, leaving cynics wondering whether the European Union was channeling cash to pliant local media in order to push through a coup.
The Post’s post-split staff might also raise a skeptic’s eyebrow. Among them is the new chief editor, Bohdan Nahaylo, who spent two decades working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, rising to become its director of Ukrainian services between 1989 and 1991. Nahaylo’s boss, Richard Carlson (Tucker Carlson’s father) stated that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty played a “very critical role” in the dissolution of the USSR and the transition to a hyper-capitalist model, adding:
International broadcasters were equally important in laying the groundwork for the democratic revolutions that we have seen. Isn’t it incredible how Western all those Eastern Europeans sound in talking about freedom, democracy, free enterprise, environmental concerns. And they didn’t get those ideas from their own media or from textbooks in their own countries; they got them mainly from international broadcasters like Voice of America, the BBC, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe.”
These sources of income mean that almost everybody at The Kyiv Post or The Kyiv Independent was, for quite some time, in the pay of NATO and/or the U.S. national security state. Indeed, in 2015, Daryna Shevchenko, current CEO of The Kyiv Independent and then a staff writer for The Kyiv Post, openly acknowledged how much the CIA cutout organization had done for her and her colleagues. “To our partners, the National Endowment for Democracy, without them there would be nothing,” she wrote. Shevchenko made the comments after a Media Development Foundation training event attended by a host of Kyiv Post/Kyiv Independent journalists. Also attending was Aric Toler of Bellingcat, another NED-sponsored outlet which masquerades as independent journalism. Toler went on to work for The Atlantic Council.
While these journalists often speak in the language of objectivity and neutrality, they are, at the same time, crystal clear that the purpose of The Kyiv Independent is to “counter the Russian narrative,” in the words of Editor-in-Chief Rudenko. Thus, they see themselves as fighters in an information war. And as the battle for public opinion rages, they are among the West’s most potent weapons.
A necessary skepticism
While experts disagree on how well or poorly the military invasion is going, it seems clear that Russia is losing the information war. President Putin has been widely condemned, has breathed new life into NATO, and has united European countries in resistance. Russian media and pro-Russian sources have been wiped from the Internet. And while Putin declared that the point of his “special military operation” was to “denazify” his neighbor, few have accepted that premise, despite the well-documented far-right insurgence in Ukraine. Further undermining this claim was a video released this week of the head of the Russia-backed Donetsk People’s Republic awarding a medal to a soldier sporting two separate fascist symbols on his jacket.
Despite Russia being the chief belligerent in this war and some Russian sources spreading false information, we must still be skeptical of claims made by the other side. In war, the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus noted, truth is always the first casualty.
As ferocious as the fighting has been, the propaganda war has been, if anything, more intense. And supposedly “independent” Ukrainian media have been a key part of it. There is already a serious problem in modern discourse with the term “independent media,” a phrase commonly used to refer to any media outlet, no matter how big an empire it is, that is not owned or funded by the state (as if that is the only form of dependence or control to which media is subject).
But even at this extremely low hurdle, The Kyiv Post and The Kyiv Independent fall. While key staff members grandstand about how “independent journalism is the cornerstone of democracy,” they are quietly being funded by Western governments – a fact that should ring alarm bells with critical media consumers. Again, this does not mean that what they publish is false or that there is no worthwhile reporting being done. But it does undermine their claims of independence or impartiality. That The Kyiv Independent does not even acknowledge its foreign funding and presents itself as reader-supported is especially troubling.
Feature photo | A reporter films Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, right, during a press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, March 23, 2022. Vadim Ghirda | AP
https://www.mintpressnews.com/280167-2/280167/
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Ukrainian secret service and neo-nazis abduct left-wing activist in Dnipro
April 11, 2022 Susann Witt-Stahl
The beating of left-wing activist Alexander Matyushenko on March 3 in Dnipro, documented by Azov members.
Around noon on March 3, five persons forced their way into the apartment of 31-year-old hotel clerk Alexander Matyushenko and his partner Maria M. in Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk). As the latter told jW, they were both shouted at, forced to lie on the floor, and not allowed to move. The aggressors reportedly did not disclose identification, but two of them were apparently recognized as members of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) thanks to insignia on their clothing. The officials searched the rooms, while another man in a military uniform showing emblems of the fascist Azov Battalion beat up Matyushenko to extort information. “The same person was spitting in my face and cutting my hair with a knife,” Maria M. said. Accordingly, Matyushenko was beaten and maltreated for a total of two hours.
These accounts are backed up by footage allegedly posted by a thug involved in the assault on the Dnipro city Telegram channel, which has around 335,000 followers. A photo shows Matyushenko lying on the ground bleeding all over his face with a gun pressed to the back of his head. A video shows him being kicked and forced to repeatedly shout the greeting of the fascist banderists, “Slava Ukrajini – Gerojam slava!”
Matyushenko is an anti-fascist and a member of Livitsya (Left), an alliance founded by activists from various social movements in Dnipro two years ago. The left-wing organization supports strikes and uses both public rallies and publications to protest social cuts, low wages, the curtailment of democracy, and the enforced conformity of the media – which has been used by Ukrainian oligarchs to established a “right-wing consensus” in society, as Matyushenko criticized in a newspaper article in 2020. “The right-wing government and the right-wing opposition are competing in anti-communism and xenophobia.”
According to Maria M., Alexander has repeatedly been subjected to attempts of intimidation in the past, both by fascists and the police. Now the repressive organs apparently want to get serious and silence him. After maltreating the man, the officials issued a protocol and confiscated computers, smartphones and other belongings. “Then they pulled bags over our heads, tied our hands with tape and took us to the SBU building. There they interrogated us and even threatened to cut off our ears,” Maria M. recalls. She was released after spending the night in a detention cell, she said. Matyushenko, however, was taken to a remand prison, where eventually a physician treated his injuries – multiple rib fractures, bruises, and lacerations to the eyes and face.
Only his lawyer has been allowed to visit him so far. Matyushenko, who says he has actually never held a gun, is under investigation as per Section 437 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code for “conducting an aggressive war or aggressive military operation,” a crime punishable by 10 to 15 years in prison. At a March 26 detention review hearing, his provisional release on bail was denied. The number of reports from Dnipro about similar cases of arbitrariness of authorities is increasing: “The war is being used to kidnap, imprison, even kill members of the opposition who criticize the government,” a left-wing activist told jW. “We must all fear for our freedom and our lives.”
The original article was published in the German daily newspaper junge Welt on April 2, 2022.
https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2022/ ... in-dnipro/
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Victoria's Secret
The MSM gets its war analysis from the sister in law of the woman who made the war inevitable.
A Skeptic
Apr 5
I’m the sort of person who can’t stand getting ‘expert analysis’ from the same people who lied to me the last time. When I see a war article on the BBC, Fox, CNN, or MSNBC, I know I need to do my own research. When I see that all of the MSM agrees on something, I know it’s either true, or it’s some next level narrative.
When Colin Powell held up the sample of ‘Yellow Cake’ that proved Iraq was going to nuke us all, the MSM all got behind the narrative.
Today, the MSM is entirely rallied behind one narrative. Russia is losing in Ukraine. According to the narrative, all Ukraine needs is some gear, and this Russian loss is a done deal. For a skeptic, who still remembers the ‘Yellow Cake’, this near universal agreement on the narrative is troubling.
My first thought is to get away from the talking heads, and the expert analysis. These people were all experts on something else last week! Instead, I try to find their sources.
In reading numerous articles, I soon found a frequently used source. That source was a site called ‘The Institute for the Study of War’, or ‘ISW’. ISW produces a daily synopsis of the battlefield events, as well as daily maps. It’s easy to see why the Main Stream Media loves the site. It pretty much sums up the day into media friendly talking points.
The ISW Analysis of the war is bleak for Russia. It fully ignores Russia’s stated goals, hammers home any Russian setbacks, and elevates minor Ukrainian wins. To the casual news consumer, Russia will lose if we in the west help just a bit more. How can anyone not want to help? We can easily crush Russia and save this shiny new democracy, with just a little more help.
Once you see the reality of this coverage, you can’t help but see that it is agenda driven by Neocon insiders, aimed at prolonging a Ukrainian loss, for the simple purpose of gaining some wishful NATO advantage over Russia.
Presented next are a sampling of articles sourcing ISW:
Here we have the BBC Coverage of the latest events.
The BBC clearly depends on ISW analysis of the situation.
Fox News also uses ISW analysis.
As it turns out, numerous MSM articles look to ISW as a source. Here a few more examples:
MSNBC - ...According to a report by Washington think tank the Institute for the Study of War, two leaders of the Russian intelligence service were placed under house arrest Friday.
CNN Reporting
So who is The Institute for the Study or War?
According to the Mission statement, they check all the right boxes!
The Who We Are gets a little bit interesting! Right away, William Kristol stand out. But first, we see that it’s Founder and President is Dr. Kimberly Kagan.
Who is Kimberly Kagan? Wikipedia shows us all we need to know!
Wait, What?
Yes, we read this correctly. The Founder and President of ISW, the MSM’s go to source, is in fact the Sister In Law of Victoria Nuland.
Be sure to research Victoria Nuland if you don’t know who she is. In short, she is the Architect of Ukraine’s 2014 Coup. She currently serves the United States Department of State.
The following from Wikipedia shows just how much Victoria Nuland has at stake in Ukraine.
The MSM gets its war analysis from the sister in law of the woman who made the war inevitable.
For an even deeper dive, I looked at who ISW uses for sources.
It appears that ISW gets the vast majority of its ‘Open Source’ information from Ukraine’s General Staff Facebook page. That’s odd
(References at link.)
https://askeptic.substack.com/p/victorias-secret?s=r
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Could NATO-Supplied Arms Change Ukraine’s Fate?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 10, 2022
NATO has claimed it would begin sending more significant, heavier weapons to Ukraine including armored vehicles, missiles, and even floating discussion over tanks and warplanes.
However there are serious complications going unmentioned across the Western media:
1. Heavy NATO weapons like tanks, anti-ship missiles, and warplanes take months or longer to train on;
2. Heavy NATO weapons require entirely new infrastructure, warehouses of new spare parts, ground support equipment, and personnel trained to carry out maintenance;
3. None of these proposed weapons, nor anything else in NATO’s inventory can make up for Ukraine’s shortcomings including loss of trained manpower, crippled logistics, and organizational structures to compete with Russian military power;
4. Many of these weapons – like the UK’s Harpoon missiles – are nearing expiration;
5. In order for these systems to be put directly into use, NATO personnel would have to covertly operate them.
References:
Washington Post – What weapons to send to Ukraine? How debate shifted from helmets to tanks.:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... s-ukraine/
The National Interest – Germany’s Leopard 2 Tank in Syria Was Beaten Badly in Battle. Why?:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... -why-78441
YouTube – Direct ATGM hit: Kurdish female fighters destroy invading Turkish Leopard 2 tank in Afrin region:
Defense One – Saudi Losses in Yemen War Exposed by US Tank Deal:
https://www.defenseone.com/business/201 ... ar/130623/
The Brookings Institution – Is selling tanks to Saudi Arabia such a good idea?:
The National Interest – The UAE’s Leclerc Tanks Had a Rough Time in Yemen:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboo ... men-196893
Forbes – Lacking Missiles And Aircraft, British Warships Are Harmless ‘Herbivores’:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2 ... fe29ae1b73
The Balance Careers – Navy Fire Controlman Job Description:
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/fire- ... on-3345817
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https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... ines-fate/
All of these promises of arms are neither here nor there when the Ukes surrender. Except of course for the makers who send the bill to the appropriate governments, it's a fucking bonanza! The Soviet era weaponry of the former Warsaw pact will all be replaced by 'modern' weapons, ching ching! And ya gotta wonder what happened to the 2000 or so tanks on Ukraine's order of battle. Howe many destroyed?(the Russian numbers are probably close...) And how many haven't run since 1990 or so and are derelict due to the neglect of the unbelievably corrupt capitalist Ukrainian government?
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
Some tidbits from Cassad's telegram account:
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In the house of the governor of the Kherson region, a warehouse was found, intended for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the defense
of the Boxes of the Red Cross Defense Ministry. They have food in them.
Three weeks ago, a Red Cross vehicle, escorted by people in military uniform, brought food boxes to the house. The warehouse is related to: the security company "Elite Service", hands. Youth team of PP "Servant of the People" Nisar Ahmed and representatives of regional authorities.
Now the supply chain for individuals with uncertain tasks has ceased to exist.
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Sladkov reports that another 160 soldiers and officers of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered in Mariupol (in the Azovstal area).
Earlier it was reported that the breakthrough of the Ukrainian military from the encirclement ended unsuccessfully - they suffered losses in people and equipment.
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Another Ukrainian Aryan who was caught during a search with a Nazi tattoo.
Probably he was also forced to inflict them.
Does anyone else have doubts about the existence of Nazism and Nazis in Ukraine?
Many of them flee from Mariupol to temporary accommodation centers, and then try to get to Russia.
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By the way, after the release of a hysterical post on Facebook from the 36th brigade, as well as after the complaints of "Kalina" that they have not answered the phone in Kyiv for 2 weeks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine burst out with a comment that the defense of Mariupol continues and the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in touch.
Apparently the hysteria of the relatives of those surrounded made them react. But it is quite clear that the Armed Forces of Ukraine no longer have a military opportunity to save the remnants of the encircled - they are simply sacrificed in order to gain some time and at the same time get rid of the uncontrolled Nazis, from whom they will sculpt the "heroes of Mariupol." The Nazis have already understood this and therefore they scream that they want to be the living heroes of Mariupol, and not the dead ones. But they are transparently hinted that "the violinist is not needed."
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Canada spent $1 billion to train Ukrainian Nazis over 8 years.
But in addition to Canada, the United States, Britain and others dealt with this issue.
This is again to the question of how Ukrainian Nazism was pumped with weapons and money, institutionalizing it and integrating it into the Ukrainian state. Recently, the process reached the finish line and "Azov" was directly included in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in the West they began to openly legalize it, although until recently it was called a "neo-Nazi" and "terrorist" organization.
"Canada has spent nearly a billion dollars training Ukrainian forces since 2014. Azov Regiment soldiers have benefited from this training "
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In Novo-Ogaryovo today are negotiations between Putin and the Austrian Chancellor. Who yesterday visited Ukraine.
The shuttle voyage of the Austrian Chancellor has been coordinated with the EU leadership.
From what they say publicly, they plan to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the economic war between the EU and the Russian Federation, including the gas issue.
Rumors also continue to circulate that the topic of humanitarian corridors for foreigners from Mariupol may be raised there again.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
Google Translator
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Assessing the Combat in Ukraine: Learning from Mistakes
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 10, 2022
Elijah J. Magnier
The United States and NATO members have made a tremendous effort in sending Ukraine billions of dollars in tons of selected weapons needed for the war against Russia, which is causing the conflict to last as long as possible. NATO generals worked tirelessly to fight Russia with Ukrainian soldiers who decided to join the US war on the European continent. General Franck McKenzie confirmed offering useful information to the Ukrainian army to counter Russia’s attacks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Pentagon has rushed more weapons for urban fighting, which is expected to be the dominant nature of the future battle.
From the first two days of the conflict, Russian supremacy, which employed the element of speed and selective bombardment, pushed the bulk of the forces on the eastern, southern and northern fronts, including from Belarus, to reach the outskirts of the capital, Kiev, on the second day. Moreover, columns of Russian tanks and armored vehicles stopped 67 kilometers from the Ukrainian base, visible to all Western satellites that observed the speed with which these forces reached the outskirts of the capital. But what happened soon after? Why did the Russian military strategy change? And what are the lessons to be drawn so far from the ongoing battle?
After the first two weeks of the war, Russia declared its goals: Ukraine must recognize Crimea as Russian territory; it must remain neutral without joining any Western military alliances, including NATO; Ukraine must prevent the flow of strategic weapons into Ukraine: it must not become a nuclear state and it must recognize the Donbass province as independent.
The beginning of the war showed how Russian generals were trained to receive control of cities from the mayors as if the mayors were waiting for Russian troops to arrive at their destinations and hand over the keys to the cities without resistance. It is unclear whether this was a Russian detour to fool Western intelligence into believing that Moscow considered a walkout so that the Ukrainian army would be more relaxed as they would not be facing a real war or whether it was in fact a Russian miscalculation.
What was noticeable is that all Ukrainian cities under attack, without exception, fought back. NATO trained the Ukrainian army, provided it with selective weapons to fight the armored Russian troops, and offered full propaganda coverage demonizing Russia and presenting the Ukrainians as heroes. It was an opportunity the US would not miss to rally many anti-Russian supporters behind the action. Washington wanted to avoid the Afghanistan experience, where the Afghan army surrendered Kabul without a fight when President Joe Biden expected them to fight for “six months.”
Russia probably did not expect to see Ukraine resist in the way that its forces did. It is hard to guess if the Russian military command did not possess enough intelligence, especially when the West did not hide the flow of various lethal weapons to Kiev. Regardless of Russia’s ability to withstand the significant human losses and destruction of military equipment (being a major arms manufacturer in all its forms) no details of the battles were offered from the Russian perspective. However, the expectations of the Russian generals were not up to the desired standard according to the outcome of the battle. However, a Russian war plan, diverting the attack from the main objective, cannot be revealed to the enemy. It can only be deduced after the war in a careful study of the military tactics adopted on all fronts.
The Russian military leaders modified their military plans after the first four weeks of the war, refraining from entering a front formation to reach the objectives and opening a land corridor between Crimea, the Donbass and the Russian territories. Or alternatively, the Russian army showed remarkable military perception, brilliantly executing a maneuver to deceive the enemy by drawing large numbers of Ukrainian military personnel from the Donbass area to the capital to defend it, thinking that the occupation of Kiev was at the top of Russia’s priority. In this case, the military maneuver diverted the world’s attention and weakened the Ukrainian army on the Donbass front, allowing the Russian military and separatists to control a considerable part of the province. If this was not the case, a fundamental flaw in military planning must have been recorded.
Russian military leaders called on the army to spread out on multiple fronts and reduced forces in the north near the capital, Kiev, to deploy them in the east and south, declaring more modest objectives. At no point did Russia say that its goal was to occupy the capital, although all indications and the gathering of large troops in the vicinity of Kiev led to this conclusion.
In the last two weeks of the battle, Russia resorted to the use of its precision missiles and air power – except for the infantry assault inside the southern city of Mariupol – to make up for the losses suffered by entering the cities, ignoring the simple tactics of urban warfare.
It is also clear that President Putin does not want to add more soldiers to the force he employed at the beginning of the battle. Therefore, he used a different method of fighting after accepting the attrition process he was exposed to in Ukraine. Thus, the theater of operations has become much smaller than in recent weeks, allowing all objectives to be achieved and keeping the Russian army on the battlefield until Ukraine signs a treaty.
The performance of the Ukrainian army is considered a force that Washington-whose generals are commanding the battle from Ukraine’s neighboring countries-can count on for attrition and prolonging the fighting, but not, of course, to defeat the Russian army. Therefore, American leaders have publicly stated that they want Russia to pay a heavy price in the war and nothing more.
This article offers a conclusion based on Russia’s high human and equipment loss count, which is greater than the price of the victory that would undoubtedly be achieved. The independence of the Donbass and the neutrality of Ukraine, to which the Ukrainian president has agreed, are the main goals to be cemented.
As for what was clear about Russian military tactics and lessons learned, there are many points laid out by military experts who followed the details of the battle and highlighted the most important observations.
On the first point, the Russian army did not master the study of the enemy. It failed to expose all the hypotheses and possibilities to avoid being surprised on the battlefield. For example, the American army had laid out all options in the smallest details during the first Gulf War of 1991. The American army failed to predict the consequences of desert sand and its damage to helicopters and the weapons used.
As for the second point, it was shown that the Russian army relied on the weight of its prestige and did not have a more pragmatic approach towards the Ukrainians. Therefore, Russia was faced with several hundred thousand Ukrainian men, ready to fight in every town.
The third point is the underestimation of Ukrainian morale. Ukraine was supported by the US and NATO, whose troops trained the Ukrainian army for many years, from 2015 until the day the Russian war started. Consequently, the Russian military had to take this fact more seriously.
The fourth point is related to the volume of external interventions and their impact on the battlefield. The Kremlin sees and hears how NATO sends the appropriate selective weapons to the battlefield. The movements of the Russian forces were monitored, the weapons used, and the strengths and weaknesses were observed and even publicized. Moscow should have taken this factor seriously and minimized its “holes”.
The fifth point is the failure to ensure the necessary cover for Russian mechanized forces on the move and outside the cities. There was a gap in urban warfare surveillance, which was visible when Russian troops failed to identify and detect Ukrainian forces concentrated in the cities. According to military experts, a special force of infantry and mechanisms on wheels should be deployed first before the tanks advance, whose wings become fragile and exposed in a street battle. Evidently, the Russian army did not use mobile methods of defense. Ukraine was able to deceive Russia into believing that there was a (false) forward advantage that the Russian attacking forces had broken through and believed it had cleared the way for its more considerable forces to safely advance. In reality, the effective Ukrainian line of defense was in the rear, reinforced by ambushes armed with anti-tank laser launchers.
The sixth point is that the Russians chose to use infantry, as they did at Mariupol later, in all urban warfare. Urban warfare tactics differ from those adopted in open, flat theaters and are expensive for tanks if not protected. In addition, the Russian military incursion into the depths of the front showed a serious mistake in not having the forces to clear the rear areas, leaving hostile forces able to hit it. Consequently, many cannons and armored vehicles that were thought to be stationed in various regions considered safe, were seized.
The seventh point confirms that Russia did not control the airspace as it said in the early days of the war. Turkey stipulated that Ukraine avoided broadcasting the achievements of the Bayraktar-2 aircraft that destroyed many Russian tanks to bypass embarrassing Istanbul with its Russian ally. In addition, NATO has maintained a continuous supply line across the Ukrainian borders and into the battlefields without Russia controlling the air in order to prevent the flow of weapons. This has cost the Russian army significant additional losses.
Consequently, Russia could not protect the spearhead force and could not secure an air umbrella for its troops. Satellite images showed Russian tank columns stationed outside Kiev, which exposed them to severe hits from Turkish drones operated by the Ukrainian army. In another aspect, three Ukrainian helicopters hit Russian fuel depots inside Russian territory. This indicates a failure of Russian air defense during a war, which allowed the infiltration of an operational Ukrainian Air Force unit that hit selected targets. There is little doubt about NATO’s cooperation in this regard. However, Russia was not paying attention to this serious violation.
The eighth point is that Russia did not use intensive preliminary bombs before invading the cities and simultaneously dispersed its military effort on several fronts. Again, it is unknown whether Russia intended to divert attention from its main objective. Russia is not revealing information about its plans and the reality will be uncovered at some point in the future.
The ninth and final point is President Putin’s decision to deploy forces estimated at 150,000 to 200,000 men. This means that he has not used the basic military equation of using at least three or four times as many troops as defensive forces. This is most likely related to the confidence that Russia had in the conduct of this war, believing that the separatist forces would be sufficient, in addition to the Russian army, to retake the entire Donbass region.
Learning the lessons of war began before the end of the battle because the performance of the Russian army in the first weeks of the fighting had changed using a strategy that had been used in the previous stage. It would have achieved its objectives more quickly and decisively.
Russia considered that the decision of the war was inevitable. Still, the preparation for battle and the method of fighting allowed for criticism if the goal was not to destroy Ukraine or change the regime in Kiev. Therefore, the military effort did not hit where it should have from the first days, such as in the last few weeks in the south and east. The Russian objectives have been reduced in size, and the “hard hammer” has not been used to bombard the cities, terrorize and weaken the morale of the defenders.
The battle continues and will not end until Russia achieves its objectives announced by President Vladimir Putin, who said they were necessary to remove the “existential danger,” as he described it. The Russian army is now concentrating its attack on eastern Ukraine, the Donbass and the south. Russia has lost the propaganda war, but that is irrelevant when the objectives are achieved. All anti-American forces are watching the battle to learn lessons from it, hoping that it will not last much longer. Meanwhile, the sanctions war between the West and Russia is just beginning and can be expected to considerably harm both sides and their respective populations.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -mistakes/
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Ukraine: They Saw and Heard the Truth — Then Lied About It
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
Eva K Bartlett
Photos from site of Ukraine’s March 14 missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
Media on Donbass Delegation Omitted Mention of Ukraine’s 8 Year War on the Autonomous Republics
*Following is a lengthy overview of my recent re-visit to the Donbass, on a two day media delegation, with a brief critique of some of the media’s slanted reporting. It is also a follow up from my 2019 visit to hard hit areas of the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is now 8 years of Ukraine’s war on the people of the Donetsk & Lugansk Republics.
Point of impact of March 14 Ukrainian missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
In the last week of March, I stood on a central Donetsk main street next to two of the impact points of a Ukrainian missile attack that had killed 21 civilians and injured nearly 40 more on March 14. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) maintains that their military intercepted Ukraine’s Tochka-U ballistic missile, and that not all of the cluster munitions inside had exploded in the city streets, thereby lessening the already terrible bloodshed it caused. Indeed, if all of the munitions had exploded, it would have been a bloodbath more horrific than the 21 killed.
Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
Near the ATM, there were flowers and candles laid in memory of the civilians murdered that day, with haunting photos nearby depicting the aftermath of the bombing, the grisly scenes of the dead and the maimed—scenes you will generally never see blasted across Western corporate media, just as the same media were silent when terrorism struck civilian areas in Syria.
I’m intimately familiar with war zones, and with Western corporate media’s white-washing of the perpetrators’ crimes (Israeli crimes against Palestinians; Western-backed terrorists’ crimes against Syrians; Ukrainian military and Nazi crimes against the civilians of the Donbass—and also against Ukrainians proper), so the lack of media coverage on this recent Ukrainian war crime doesn’t surprise me.
They don’t report on it, or the myriad Ukrainian war crimes prior, because it doesn’t suit their narrative, a narrative that erases the eight years of Ukraine’s war against the four million people of the Donbass republics, killing at least 14,000 people, to give a modest estimate.
War crimes investigator, Ivan Kopyl, spoke about Ukraine’s March 14 attack, noting, “The warhead of a Tochka-U missile contains 50 cassettes of cluster munitions. We managed to find 28 traces of cluster explosions on the soil…A Tochka-U missile changes its orientation just before landing, so after it flies on a trajectory it makes a turn and falls vertically down before detonating at a certain height. The fragments then shower the surface in a radius of approximately 150 meters.”
I have one of those cluster fragments, a twisted and jagged square-shaped piece of metal—seemingly harmless looking on its own, but deadly when flying through the air at high speed, in great numbers.The attack occurred around noon, when this central city street—not a military area, but a civilian one—would have been busy. Photos show a gutted bus and gutted cars. Pensioners, Koply noted, would have been lined up at the ATM right where the blasts occurred. “There was also damage to a yard where there are two kindergartens – there were several craters there,” he noted.
The strike on the heart of the city is among the latest in Ukraine’s litany of war crimes.
Ukraine again bombed Donetsk following the March 14 attack. Donetsk News Agency reported on March 30 that the Ukrainian forces’ bombing had killed one person and seriously injured four others. One of the girls injured in that attack fell into a coma, the DPR Ombudsman noted.
And just now, there’s been news of another Ukrainian Tochka-U attack. According to RT, at least 50 people (including 5 children) were killed at a railway station in Kramatorsk, where thousands of people were waiting for evacuation trains. Eduard Basurin, a representative of the DPR People’s Militia, stated that the attack was a missile containing prohibited cluster munitions.
“This is a fragment of the missile that hit the Kramatorsk train station…The AFU has blamed the Russians, but this picture of the missile shows that it is indisputably a Tochka-U rocket — used exclusively by the Ukrainian side. It’s the same kind of missile that two weeks ago hit the center of Donetsk and killed 27 civilians.
What’s that saying? Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times . . .”
As of March 31, the Ombudsman reported that there’s been 6,010 deaths, including 96 children, since Ukraine’s war began in 2014. And that’s only with regards to the DPR. In the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), which has also been under Ukrainian fire since 2014, as of late February, 1,762 civilians had been killed, including 35 children.
During my 2019 visit to the DPR, I went to the northern city of Gorlovka, of which I wrote:
“Gorlovka was hardest hit in 2014, especially on July 27, when the center was rocked by Ukrainian-fired Grad and Uragan missiles from morning to evening. After the dust settled and the critically-injured had succumbed to their wounds, at least 30 were dead, including five children. The day came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
A monument commemorates the Gorlovka victims of Ukrainian bombings and sniping from 2014-2017. Near a sculpture of an angel, over 230 names fill the marble slabs, the first dedicated solely to children, 20 of them.”
Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
At the site of the March 14 bombing, DPR head Denis Pushilin spoke, outlining the chronology the last 8 years, from the violent coup in Ukraine and subsequent increase in radical Ukrainian nationalism, to the two republics’ decision to push for autonomy, to Ukraine unleashing hell on the 4 million people and continual violations of the (2014 & 2015) Minsk Agreements and the massive amounts of weapons pumped from the West to Ukraine (see also). [*Note: I’ll be adding a subtitled clip of his words in the next day or two.]
School and Hospital shelled by Ukrainian forces
The town of Volnovakha—on the road between Donetsk and Mariupol further south—was secured by DPR forces nearly two weeks prior to our visit. Entering the town, we passed destroyed homes and buildings, which was expected, as there was heavy fighting to liberate the area held by the Ukrainian forces.
As they did in their copy-paste reporting on liberated areas of Syria, most Western media reports on Volnovakha focus on the destruction, without any context as to why it occurred—these residential areas were occupied by Ukrainian forces, and not all of the destruction was from DPR forces’ fighting against the Ukrainian forces: the Ukrainian forces themselves fired on homes, and according to hospital staff, on the hospital itself.
In addition to not giving this context, most Western media in general depict the liberating forces as deliberately and wantonly destroying everything in sight. Some media went as far as to claim that Putin himself had destroyed the town. This cartoonish narrative, so prevalent in Western reports whitewashing terrorism in Syria and now in whitewashing Ukrainian forces’ crimes, unfortunately does achieve its intended effect: duping Western viewers into believing the opposite of reality–that the liberators are the war criminals.
Again, just as terrorist factions in Syria occupied schools and hospitals, so too do Ukrainian forces, including in Volnovakha. When DPR forces had liberated the city, they found foreign weapons used by Ukrainian forces inside the hospital. [See also: Western Media Quick to Accuse Syria of ‘Bombing Hospitals’ – But When Terrorists Really Destroy Syrian Hospitals, They Are Silent]
In a central area of Volnovakha, Russian soldiers handed out humanitarian aid to lines of residents, including: bags of canned goods, fresh bread, water.
According to Alexander Yurievich Kachalov, the interim mayor, Ukrainian forces used civilians as human shields. “They made sure to destroy as much infrastructure as possible. They bombed buildings in order to leave ruins after they left, to make it harder for us to restore.”
This was common in Syria. Terrorist factions destroyed buildings and vehicles when fleeing, while leaving mines and booby traps on streets and in houses, to kill still more civilians and soldiers.
A woman waiting in line for humanitarian aid said, “They say Russia did this. This wasn’t Russia, Ukraine did it, destroyed everything here! They shot at our hospital. I work there. The new children’s and infection units have been destroyed. The outpatient clinic was destroyed. And then they left. They took the medical staff’s car and went away.”
At the destroyed hospital, Chief Physician, Viktor Fedorovich Saranov, said
“[The Ukrainian Army] were there. There were tanks on our territory. There were guns and Grads outside the territory. I asked them to act in accordance with the Hague and Geneva conventions. I asked them to leave the hospital. They said it was war.
Many people come to us from nearby houses under fire. About 500-600 people came to our basement. We gave everyone three meals a day.
The second and third floors were occupied here. We were preparing for a long siege, and then it turned out like this: they conducted an attack. They evacuated the soldiers. And they mined the entrance to the intensive care unit. On the last day, when they were leaving, they shot at the intensive care unit.” The ICU, he said, had already been evacuated.
A woman who said she had worked at the hospital as a nurse for nearly 58 years said:
“On the 28th I was home alone. They soon started shelling. How can they do it with their local hospital? With patients here. They were laying in corridors, as they had been evacuated. They said there was no one in the hospital, no staff, no patients. This is a lie.”
Later, researching, I came across this news (*warning, graphic video at the link):
“Foreign mercenaries who were wounded in the Volnovakha hospital were shot by their own before leaving the city so that they could not tell anything. All the wounded have a control shot in the temple or the back of the head.”
On the road back towards Donetsk, we stopped at a school that had been shelled in late February.
According to Victoria Terichenko, head of the Dokuchaevsk city administration’s Department of Education, the shelling was by Ukrainian forces.
“Of course, Ukraine. There were only Ukrainian troops there. We had no military here, we were only civilians here.”
Fortunately, children weren’t at school at the time of the shelling, but Terichenko said a nursery school in the area had been shelled, with children inside, but again, fortunately, not on the side of the building shelled.
Horrors of Ukraine’s War on the People of the Donbass Republics
Ukraine’s relentless bombing and sniping of the people of Donbass is bad enough, along with it being ignored by Western press and politicians.
But in its eight years of warring on a people who rejected the rule of ultra-nationalists and Nazis, who just wanted to live autonomously, speak their own language, remember their history (Ukraine has rewritten history to glorify Nazis and Nazi collaborators and to vilify those who defeated Nazism, namely the Soviets), Ukraine has committed war crimes as heinous as ISIS and their co-terrorists in Syria, with more and more testimonies coming out of mass graves, rapes, torture of civilians and Donbass soldiers, beheadings. None of this shocking given the crimes these extremists commit against even Ukrainian civilians and journalists.
Along a sidewalk flanking a central park, there is a row of photos containing incredibly disturbing images of murdered LPR civilians.
Elders slaughtered on benches and in wheelchairs, the corpse of an infant, mass graves, a room used to imprison and torture people, the insignia of the notorious rapists and murderers of the “Tornado” battalion.
One photo shows Nazi graffiti left on a wall.
These are similar to the graffiti I saw in January 2009 left by Israeli soldiers who occupied the home of a Palestinian family, half of which had been killed by Israeli-fired White Phosphorous. One of the slogans written in Hebrew was: “Next time it will hurt more.” This, to the family whose infant had burned alive due to the White Phosphorous bombing, and whose surviving family members were badly mutilated from the prohibited weapon. In another house in eastern Gaza, likewise occupied and desecrated by Israeli soldiers, more hate and death graffiti had been left for the traumatized inhabitants.
Different people and places–same violent hatred of the population being targeted.>
In the same park area, there is a monument to two journalists killed in 2014 by Ukrainian forces. Had these journalists been killed by Russia or Syria, their names would have been on the front pages of news sites and TIME magazine covers. In Syria, dozens of journalists have been killed by terrorist forces, to the silence of not only Western media but also of the groups supposedly advocating for journalists’ rights and safety.
In Shchastia, north of Lugansk, more civilians received humanitarian aid in the liberated town.
*Humanitarian aid being handed out in Shchastia, a town north of Lugansk, liberated in early March.
Western Delivered Weapons on Display
In the two republics, we saw some of the vehicles and weapons captured from Ukrainian forces. Telesur journalist Alejandro Kirk spoke to me about these captured weapons and vehicles, noting the many foreign made weapons sold to Ukraine. Western countries continue to sell weapons to Ukraine.
On March 20, journalist Alexander Rubinstein wrote of the West’s exorbitant shipping of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine over the years. He noted:
“At least 32 countries have announced their intention to ship billions of dollars in weapons into Ukraine for use against Russian forces in Ukraine. Photographic evidence shows that these weapons have already ended up in the hands of neo-Nazi paramilitaries – units which have already received training and arms the US and its NATO allies.
All of this builds on $3.8 billion in military aid from the United States to Ukraine, the training of 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers by Canada and the United Kingdom, and a longstanding CIA program aimed at cultivating an anti-Russian insurgency.
…weapons furnished by NATO allies have been placed in the hands of the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi former paramilitary organization incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard.
The governments of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have presided over a massive program to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers for a full-scale war with Russia. Trainees have included top commanders of the Azov Battalion.
In late February, the European Union opened the floodgates of weapon shipments to Ukraine, approving financing through the aptly-named “European Peace Facility” to reimburse countries sending weapons to the country to the tune of $500 million USD. Another $55 million USD is earmarked for non-lethal military aid.
This February, the State Department announced $350 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, bringing “the total security assistance the United States has committed to Ukraine over the past year to more than $1 billion.”
Another $200 million was sent in early March, and following Zelensky’s March 16 appeal to Congress for more weapons, Biden is reportedly set to dole out another $800 in military aid including 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 9,000 anti-tank systems, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, 400 grenade launchers, 20 million rounds of ammunition, 100 tactical drones, 25,000 sets of body armor and 25,000 helmets. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
These figures add to the $2.5 billion in military aid the US delivered between 2014 and the summer of 2021, bringing the total to $3.8 billion.”
A shipment of NLAW grenade launchers and instructors from #NATO countries arrived in #Kharkiv. The Azov regiment was the first to learn about new weaponry pic.twitter.com/CCzjN40rW7
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 8, 2022
Missing Context: What the Donbass People Have Endured In 8 Years of Ukraine’s War
After my September 2019 visit to the DPR, I wrote about the mostly elderly civilians I met who were living in battered homes damaged by Ukrainian shelling and heavy machine gun fire just 500 meters and 600 meters from Ukrainian forces. They remained there, they told me, mostly because they had nowhere else to go. Some spoke to me on camera, others were afraid of Ukrainian retaliation were they to be interviewed.
But their stories were all pretty much the same: at night, when the observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) left, the Ukrainian terrorizing began, with shelling throughout the night.
I also met a couple who had been living for 6 years in the stinking, dank, basement of a battered school, after Ukrainian bombing destroyed their home.
The DPR press officer who accompanied me and provided translations, spoke of how Ukrainian forces used weapons prohibited under the Minsk Agreements.
Dmitri, press officer of the DPR People’s Militia, explaining the Ukrainian-fired shell found at home Zeitsevo resident.
According to him, Ukrainian forces ~600m from this point.
More at this post:https://t.co/8G4MSrxwZs pic.twitter.com/wkYJMUoFiE
— Eva Karene Bartlett (@EvaKBartlett) September 13, 2019
Irina Dikun, head of the administration of Zaitsevo, another frontline village, spoke at length on the Ukrainian bombing that erupted nearly every night.
“They are destroying street by street in the town. They take one street and destroy it house by house. Then they turn to another street. There was a school, and a nursery school, before, but they were both destroyed by Ukrainian artillery.”
As in Syria, when schools and hospitals are actually destroyed (in Syria by terrorist factions), the same media that howls over militarized hospitals being targeted, the same media that also manufactures stories that never even occurred, is silent when the destroying is actually done, by Ukrainian forces.
In Zaitsevo, Irina explained fire trucks and medics couldn’t reach targeted homes, because the ambulances themselves became targets for Ukrainian forces (as happens in Gaza, where medics are targeted by Israeli forces, as I myself witnessed).
During that 2019 visit, I also interviewed some of the defenders of the DPR, painted by Western media as “separatists”, “pro-Russian forces” and other such descriptions meant to dehumanize. The same Western media so quick to humanize terrorists, including one who chewed the organ of a dead Syrian soldier.
One more relevant note from that visit: Dmitri asked what people in the West think about the fact there is a Nazi state in Europe. I replied that most people don’t know, because of the media whitewashing.
Which brings me to my recent return to the Donbass: I was curious to see whether the journalists on the same delegation as me would report truthfully, partial truths, or fabricated lies. As it turned out, my skepticism was warranted.
Distortions and Omissions of Some Western Media on the Ground in the Donbass
Telesur’s report gave the historical context needed to understand the present, including the coup in Ukraine, the active neo-Nazis in Ukraine (many of whom re entrenched in the Ukrainian army), the past eight years of Ukraine’s war on the Donbass, the 14,000 killed during these years, and the media blackout on the suffering of the Donbass people.
Sky News’ report was good, mentioning the civilians killed in Donbass by Ukraine’s war, including the March 14 attack and the school shelling, while also giving air time to the DPR’s Pushilin.
Neither of the two French channels’ (FranceInfo and TF1Info) reports on the delegation’s visit mentioned the March 14 Tochka-U attack, even though we visited the site & Pushilin spoke of it at length, much less the roughly 8,000 civilians killed in the two republics alone. I couldn’t find mention of the Azov or other Nazi battalions participating in the atrocities against the Donbass people, even though we heard about them and saw the graphic photo display in Lugansk. Their reports were framed as, “this is what Russia wants us to see,” regarding the humanitarian aid and reclaimed towns.
Le Kremlin a organisé ces dernières heures le premier voyage de presse dans le #Donbass, région d’#Ukraine où l’armée russe a réalisé ses plus fortes percées. @JeromeGarro était présent : notre envoyé spécial vous explique l’un des objectifs de cette opération, regardez ⤵. pic.twitter.com/3NN4cj6tRA
— TF1Info (@TF1Info) March 25, 2022
And of course, they focused greatly on the destruction, but not on the reasons for it, the implication being that the Russians and the “pro-Russian separatists” were responsible.
The chief physician of the hospital in Volnokava spoke at length and did specifically state the Ukrainian army had occupied the hospital, as did the nurse I cited, both of whom addressed the group of journalists.
FranceInfo’s mention of the hospital was framed as, “The Russians accuse the Ukrainians of having bombed it.” They included a few seconds of the chief physician saying he didn’t know who had done it, there were soldiers in the area, he didn’t know who.
But actually, the physician spoke to us for about several minutes, during which—as I wrote earlier—he did specifically talk about the presence of the Ukrainian army in the hospital.
One journalist asked: “Why did such destruction happen?” To which the chief physician replied, “I don’t know. They were military. And who they were: military, national battalions, army? I don’t know.”
That’s the bit France TV cherry picked, omitting his previous words about the Ukrainian army occupying the hospital, as well as omitting what he said afterwards: “There was Ukrainian territory on that side and the rockets were from that side. They mined the entrance to the intensive care unit. On the last day when they were leaving, they shot at the intensive care unit.”
Likewise, TF1Info included just a few seconds of the physician’s words on the Ukrainian cannons and machine guns at the hospital, but then followed up with the presenter’s caveat: it is one of the arguments often presented by the Kremlin—in spite of the fact that not only he, but the nurse and many people I encountered in the town specifically blamed the Ukrainian army for occupying the hospital and attacking it themselves when leaving.
If there were any further TF1Info reports from their journalist’s visit which might have included mention of Donbass’ dead, I couldn’t find them. Likewise, of FranceInfo.
This tactic of cherry picking quotes and omitting information is a standard corporate media war propaganda tactic and, unfortunately one seen over and over in Syria and elsewhere.
Journalist Vanessa Beeley wrote of one particularly horrific and sadistic terrorist massacre of 200 Syrian civilians, including 116 children, in April 2017, killed by an explosion as they were being evacuated from their terrorist besieged villages. She wrote of one traumatized woman who lost 20 family members (10 dead, 10 missing) having witnessed the attack.
“Then, after the filming session (by various agencies, including Dubai based Orient News & Qatari Al Jazeera) which lasted approximately ten minutes, she and the other parents were forced back onto the buses, at gunpoint, and locked inside. They had to watch, while the armed militia collected the dead, dying and mutilated bodies of their community’s children and flung them in the back of trucks and Turkish ambulances, before driving them away from their families in Rashideen.
Not one western media outlet questioned why these injured, dying and disoriented children were being piled on top of one another in the back of a truck that obviously belonged to Nusra Front.”
In fact, as they did routinely in their Syria coverage, media essentially relegated these dead civilians as unimportant, because their deaths didn’t fit the corporate narrative, even when civilians were repeatedly targeted by horrific terrorist bombings, mortars and missiles.
Global Media Abusing the Suffering of the Donbass to Further Anti-Russia War Propaganda, Just as They Did in Syria…
It is already bad enough that Western media generally don’t report on Ukraine’s relentless shelling of the Donbass, but all the more disgusting when it depicts a scene from the March 14 bombing of Donetsk as if it was a bombing of Lvov by Russia.
“The aftermath of the bombing of Donetsk by Ukrainian “Tochka-U” missile, used by Italian newspaper “La Stampa” as an image from Lvov“
*Propaganda noted in this article: The Hard Facts about Ukraine and Donbass
At the site of the Tochka-U missile attack in Donetsk, photos of the moments after the bombing, including the scene depicted in Western media as in Lvov. Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
This isn’t the only instance. More recently, various Western media have used footage showing a multi-story apartment building in Donetsk that was bombed by Ukraine on March 30 to infer that the scene depicted was actually of Ukrainian areas that had been bombed by Russia. If you followed the war propaganda around Syria, you would be aware that this practice is common, not accidental.
New York post using Donetsk bombing photo to infer the scene was Kiev or elsewhere, under Russian bombing. The article has since been updated, photo removed. They would say it was a mistake. With corporate media, it never is. Luckily, at the time, some observers caught the lie.
And as with war propaganda on Syria, some media will use footage not even from Ukraine:
More propaganda
pic.twitter.com/SVwn19G9Hr
— Suzanne Seddon (@suzseddon) March 15, 2022
I could add paragraphs of examples of how Western media did this in Syria, but for the sake of brevity will state simply that this is one of many deceitful and deliberate propaganda tactics used to both downplay the hell civilians are suffering under Ukraine’s bombing, and instead to pretend Ukraine is the victim. How the journalists that propagate such lies live with themselves, I’ll never understand.
Finally, a word to some in independent media who feel the need to denigrate Russia’s denazification operation in Ukraine by snidely putting “special operation” in quotation marks, or others who took to social media to tell the world they don’t like war, and denounced Russia for its military operation (to stop a war): The people of the Donbass don’t like war, they didn’t ask for Ukraine to unleash hell upon them. Such posturing disrespects the at least 14,000 killed by Ukraine’s war.
As journalist Roman Kosarev, who has covered the war eight years, said:
“Russia isn’t starting a war, Russia is ending one.“
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -about-it/
Other photos and video at link.
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In the house of the governor of the Kherson region, a warehouse was found, intended for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the defenseof the Boxes of the Red Cross Defense Ministry. They have food in them.
Three weeks ago, a Red Cross vehicle, escorted by people in military uniform, brought food boxes to the house. The warehouse is related to: the security company "Elite Service", hands. Youth team of PP "Servant of the People" Nisar Ahmed and representatives of regional authorities.
Now the supply chain for individuals with uncertain tasks has ceased to exist.
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Sladkov reports that another 160 soldiers and officers of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered in Mariupol (in the Azovstal area).
Earlier it was reported that the breakthrough of the Ukrainian military from the encirclement ended unsuccessfully - they suffered losses in people and equipment.
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Another Ukrainian Aryan who was caught during a search with a Nazi tattoo.
Probably he was also forced to inflict them.
Does anyone else have doubts about the existence of Nazism and Nazis in Ukraine?
Many of them flee from Mariupol to temporary accommodation centers, and then try to get to Russia.
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By the way, after the release of a hysterical post on Facebook from the 36th brigade, as well as after the complaints of "Kalina" that they have not answered the phone in Kyiv for 2 weeks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine burst out with a comment that the defense of Mariupol continues and the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in touch.
Apparently the hysteria of the relatives of those surrounded made them react. But it is quite clear that the Armed Forces of Ukraine no longer have a military opportunity to save the remnants of the encircled - they are simply sacrificed in order to gain some time and at the same time get rid of the uncontrolled Nazis, from whom they will sculpt the "heroes of Mariupol." The Nazis have already understood this and therefore they scream that they want to be the living heroes of Mariupol, and not the dead ones. But they are transparently hinted that "the violinist is not needed."
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Canada spent $1 billion to train Ukrainian Nazis over 8 years.
But in addition to Canada, the United States, Britain and others dealt with this issue.
This is again to the question of how Ukrainian Nazism was pumped with weapons and money, institutionalizing it and integrating it into the Ukrainian state. Recently, the process reached the finish line and "Azov" was directly included in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in the West they began to openly legalize it, although until recently it was called a "neo-Nazi" and "terrorist" organization.
"Canada has spent nearly a billion dollars training Ukrainian forces since 2014. Azov Regiment soldiers have benefited from this training "
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In Novo-Ogaryovo today are negotiations between Putin and the Austrian Chancellor. Who yesterday visited Ukraine.
The shuttle voyage of the Austrian Chancellor has been coordinated with the EU leadership.
From what they say publicly, they plan to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the economic war between the EU and the Russian Federation, including the gas issue.
Rumors also continue to circulate that the topic of humanitarian corridors for foreigners from Mariupol may be raised there again.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
Google Translator
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Assessing the Combat in Ukraine: Learning from Mistakes
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 10, 2022
Elijah J. Magnier
The United States and NATO members have made a tremendous effort in sending Ukraine billions of dollars in tons of selected weapons needed for the war against Russia, which is causing the conflict to last as long as possible. NATO generals worked tirelessly to fight Russia with Ukrainian soldiers who decided to join the US war on the European continent. General Franck McKenzie confirmed offering useful information to the Ukrainian army to counter Russia’s attacks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Pentagon has rushed more weapons for urban fighting, which is expected to be the dominant nature of the future battle.
From the first two days of the conflict, Russian supremacy, which employed the element of speed and selective bombardment, pushed the bulk of the forces on the eastern, southern and northern fronts, including from Belarus, to reach the outskirts of the capital, Kiev, on the second day. Moreover, columns of Russian tanks and armored vehicles stopped 67 kilometers from the Ukrainian base, visible to all Western satellites that observed the speed with which these forces reached the outskirts of the capital. But what happened soon after? Why did the Russian military strategy change? And what are the lessons to be drawn so far from the ongoing battle?
After the first two weeks of the war, Russia declared its goals: Ukraine must recognize Crimea as Russian territory; it must remain neutral without joining any Western military alliances, including NATO; Ukraine must prevent the flow of strategic weapons into Ukraine: it must not become a nuclear state and it must recognize the Donbass province as independent.
The beginning of the war showed how Russian generals were trained to receive control of cities from the mayors as if the mayors were waiting for Russian troops to arrive at their destinations and hand over the keys to the cities without resistance. It is unclear whether this was a Russian detour to fool Western intelligence into believing that Moscow considered a walkout so that the Ukrainian army would be more relaxed as they would not be facing a real war or whether it was in fact a Russian miscalculation.
What was noticeable is that all Ukrainian cities under attack, without exception, fought back. NATO trained the Ukrainian army, provided it with selective weapons to fight the armored Russian troops, and offered full propaganda coverage demonizing Russia and presenting the Ukrainians as heroes. It was an opportunity the US would not miss to rally many anti-Russian supporters behind the action. Washington wanted to avoid the Afghanistan experience, where the Afghan army surrendered Kabul without a fight when President Joe Biden expected them to fight for “six months.”
Russia probably did not expect to see Ukraine resist in the way that its forces did. It is hard to guess if the Russian military command did not possess enough intelligence, especially when the West did not hide the flow of various lethal weapons to Kiev. Regardless of Russia’s ability to withstand the significant human losses and destruction of military equipment (being a major arms manufacturer in all its forms) no details of the battles were offered from the Russian perspective. However, the expectations of the Russian generals were not up to the desired standard according to the outcome of the battle. However, a Russian war plan, diverting the attack from the main objective, cannot be revealed to the enemy. It can only be deduced after the war in a careful study of the military tactics adopted on all fronts.
The Russian military leaders modified their military plans after the first four weeks of the war, refraining from entering a front formation to reach the objectives and opening a land corridor between Crimea, the Donbass and the Russian territories. Or alternatively, the Russian army showed remarkable military perception, brilliantly executing a maneuver to deceive the enemy by drawing large numbers of Ukrainian military personnel from the Donbass area to the capital to defend it, thinking that the occupation of Kiev was at the top of Russia’s priority. In this case, the military maneuver diverted the world’s attention and weakened the Ukrainian army on the Donbass front, allowing the Russian military and separatists to control a considerable part of the province. If this was not the case, a fundamental flaw in military planning must have been recorded.
Russian military leaders called on the army to spread out on multiple fronts and reduced forces in the north near the capital, Kiev, to deploy them in the east and south, declaring more modest objectives. At no point did Russia say that its goal was to occupy the capital, although all indications and the gathering of large troops in the vicinity of Kiev led to this conclusion.
In the last two weeks of the battle, Russia resorted to the use of its precision missiles and air power – except for the infantry assault inside the southern city of Mariupol – to make up for the losses suffered by entering the cities, ignoring the simple tactics of urban warfare.
It is also clear that President Putin does not want to add more soldiers to the force he employed at the beginning of the battle. Therefore, he used a different method of fighting after accepting the attrition process he was exposed to in Ukraine. Thus, the theater of operations has become much smaller than in recent weeks, allowing all objectives to be achieved and keeping the Russian army on the battlefield until Ukraine signs a treaty.
The performance of the Ukrainian army is considered a force that Washington-whose generals are commanding the battle from Ukraine’s neighboring countries-can count on for attrition and prolonging the fighting, but not, of course, to defeat the Russian army. Therefore, American leaders have publicly stated that they want Russia to pay a heavy price in the war and nothing more.
This article offers a conclusion based on Russia’s high human and equipment loss count, which is greater than the price of the victory that would undoubtedly be achieved. The independence of the Donbass and the neutrality of Ukraine, to which the Ukrainian president has agreed, are the main goals to be cemented.
As for what was clear about Russian military tactics and lessons learned, there are many points laid out by military experts who followed the details of the battle and highlighted the most important observations.
On the first point, the Russian army did not master the study of the enemy. It failed to expose all the hypotheses and possibilities to avoid being surprised on the battlefield. For example, the American army had laid out all options in the smallest details during the first Gulf War of 1991. The American army failed to predict the consequences of desert sand and its damage to helicopters and the weapons used.
As for the second point, it was shown that the Russian army relied on the weight of its prestige and did not have a more pragmatic approach towards the Ukrainians. Therefore, Russia was faced with several hundred thousand Ukrainian men, ready to fight in every town.
The third point is the underestimation of Ukrainian morale. Ukraine was supported by the US and NATO, whose troops trained the Ukrainian army for many years, from 2015 until the day the Russian war started. Consequently, the Russian military had to take this fact more seriously.
The fourth point is related to the volume of external interventions and their impact on the battlefield. The Kremlin sees and hears how NATO sends the appropriate selective weapons to the battlefield. The movements of the Russian forces were monitored, the weapons used, and the strengths and weaknesses were observed and even publicized. Moscow should have taken this factor seriously and minimized its “holes”.
The fifth point is the failure to ensure the necessary cover for Russian mechanized forces on the move and outside the cities. There was a gap in urban warfare surveillance, which was visible when Russian troops failed to identify and detect Ukrainian forces concentrated in the cities. According to military experts, a special force of infantry and mechanisms on wheels should be deployed first before the tanks advance, whose wings become fragile and exposed in a street battle. Evidently, the Russian army did not use mobile methods of defense. Ukraine was able to deceive Russia into believing that there was a (false) forward advantage that the Russian attacking forces had broken through and believed it had cleared the way for its more considerable forces to safely advance. In reality, the effective Ukrainian line of defense was in the rear, reinforced by ambushes armed with anti-tank laser launchers.
The sixth point is that the Russians chose to use infantry, as they did at Mariupol later, in all urban warfare. Urban warfare tactics differ from those adopted in open, flat theaters and are expensive for tanks if not protected. In addition, the Russian military incursion into the depths of the front showed a serious mistake in not having the forces to clear the rear areas, leaving hostile forces able to hit it. Consequently, many cannons and armored vehicles that were thought to be stationed in various regions considered safe, were seized.
The seventh point confirms that Russia did not control the airspace as it said in the early days of the war. Turkey stipulated that Ukraine avoided broadcasting the achievements of the Bayraktar-2 aircraft that destroyed many Russian tanks to bypass embarrassing Istanbul with its Russian ally. In addition, NATO has maintained a continuous supply line across the Ukrainian borders and into the battlefields without Russia controlling the air in order to prevent the flow of weapons. This has cost the Russian army significant additional losses.
Consequently, Russia could not protect the spearhead force and could not secure an air umbrella for its troops. Satellite images showed Russian tank columns stationed outside Kiev, which exposed them to severe hits from Turkish drones operated by the Ukrainian army. In another aspect, three Ukrainian helicopters hit Russian fuel depots inside Russian territory. This indicates a failure of Russian air defense during a war, which allowed the infiltration of an operational Ukrainian Air Force unit that hit selected targets. There is little doubt about NATO’s cooperation in this regard. However, Russia was not paying attention to this serious violation.
The eighth point is that Russia did not use intensive preliminary bombs before invading the cities and simultaneously dispersed its military effort on several fronts. Again, it is unknown whether Russia intended to divert attention from its main objective. Russia is not revealing information about its plans and the reality will be uncovered at some point in the future.
The ninth and final point is President Putin’s decision to deploy forces estimated at 150,000 to 200,000 men. This means that he has not used the basic military equation of using at least three or four times as many troops as defensive forces. This is most likely related to the confidence that Russia had in the conduct of this war, believing that the separatist forces would be sufficient, in addition to the Russian army, to retake the entire Donbass region.
Learning the lessons of war began before the end of the battle because the performance of the Russian army in the first weeks of the fighting had changed using a strategy that had been used in the previous stage. It would have achieved its objectives more quickly and decisively.
Russia considered that the decision of the war was inevitable. Still, the preparation for battle and the method of fighting allowed for criticism if the goal was not to destroy Ukraine or change the regime in Kiev. Therefore, the military effort did not hit where it should have from the first days, such as in the last few weeks in the south and east. The Russian objectives have been reduced in size, and the “hard hammer” has not been used to bombard the cities, terrorize and weaken the morale of the defenders.
The battle continues and will not end until Russia achieves its objectives announced by President Vladimir Putin, who said they were necessary to remove the “existential danger,” as he described it. The Russian army is now concentrating its attack on eastern Ukraine, the Donbass and the south. Russia has lost the propaganda war, but that is irrelevant when the objectives are achieved. All anti-American forces are watching the battle to learn lessons from it, hoping that it will not last much longer. Meanwhile, the sanctions war between the West and Russia is just beginning and can be expected to considerably harm both sides and their respective populations.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -mistakes/
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Ukraine: They Saw and Heard the Truth — Then Lied About It
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
Eva K Bartlett
Photos from site of Ukraine’s March 14 missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
Media on Donbass Delegation Omitted Mention of Ukraine’s 8 Year War on the Autonomous Republics
*Following is a lengthy overview of my recent re-visit to the Donbass, on a two day media delegation, with a brief critique of some of the media’s slanted reporting. It is also a follow up from my 2019 visit to hard hit areas of the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is now 8 years of Ukraine’s war on the people of the Donetsk & Lugansk Republics.
Point of impact of March 14 Ukrainian missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
In the last week of March, I stood on a central Donetsk main street next to two of the impact points of a Ukrainian missile attack that had killed 21 civilians and injured nearly 40 more on March 14. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) maintains that their military intercepted Ukraine’s Tochka-U ballistic missile, and that not all of the cluster munitions inside had exploded in the city streets, thereby lessening the already terrible bloodshed it caused. Indeed, if all of the munitions had exploded, it would have been a bloodbath more horrific than the 21 killed.
Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
Near the ATM, there were flowers and candles laid in memory of the civilians murdered that day, with haunting photos nearby depicting the aftermath of the bombing, the grisly scenes of the dead and the maimed—scenes you will generally never see blasted across Western corporate media, just as the same media were silent when terrorism struck civilian areas in Syria.
I’m intimately familiar with war zones, and with Western corporate media’s white-washing of the perpetrators’ crimes (Israeli crimes against Palestinians; Western-backed terrorists’ crimes against Syrians; Ukrainian military and Nazi crimes against the civilians of the Donbass—and also against Ukrainians proper), so the lack of media coverage on this recent Ukrainian war crime doesn’t surprise me.
They don’t report on it, or the myriad Ukrainian war crimes prior, because it doesn’t suit their narrative, a narrative that erases the eight years of Ukraine’s war against the four million people of the Donbass republics, killing at least 14,000 people, to give a modest estimate.
War crimes investigator, Ivan Kopyl, spoke about Ukraine’s March 14 attack, noting, “The warhead of a Tochka-U missile contains 50 cassettes of cluster munitions. We managed to find 28 traces of cluster explosions on the soil…A Tochka-U missile changes its orientation just before landing, so after it flies on a trajectory it makes a turn and falls vertically down before detonating at a certain height. The fragments then shower the surface in a radius of approximately 150 meters.”
I have one of those cluster fragments, a twisted and jagged square-shaped piece of metal—seemingly harmless looking on its own, but deadly when flying through the air at high speed, in great numbers.The attack occurred around noon, when this central city street—not a military area, but a civilian one—would have been busy. Photos show a gutted bus and gutted cars. Pensioners, Koply noted, would have been lined up at the ATM right where the blasts occurred. “There was also damage to a yard where there are two kindergartens – there were several craters there,” he noted.
The strike on the heart of the city is among the latest in Ukraine’s litany of war crimes.
Ukraine again bombed Donetsk following the March 14 attack. Donetsk News Agency reported on March 30 that the Ukrainian forces’ bombing had killed one person and seriously injured four others. One of the girls injured in that attack fell into a coma, the DPR Ombudsman noted.
And just now, there’s been news of another Ukrainian Tochka-U attack. According to RT, at least 50 people (including 5 children) were killed at a railway station in Kramatorsk, where thousands of people were waiting for evacuation trains. Eduard Basurin, a representative of the DPR People’s Militia, stated that the attack was a missile containing prohibited cluster munitions.
“This is a fragment of the missile that hit the Kramatorsk train station…The AFU has blamed the Russians, but this picture of the missile shows that it is indisputably a Tochka-U rocket — used exclusively by the Ukrainian side. It’s the same kind of missile that two weeks ago hit the center of Donetsk and killed 27 civilians.
What’s that saying? Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times . . .”
As of March 31, the Ombudsman reported that there’s been 6,010 deaths, including 96 children, since Ukraine’s war began in 2014. And that’s only with regards to the DPR. In the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), which has also been under Ukrainian fire since 2014, as of late February, 1,762 civilians had been killed, including 35 children.
During my 2019 visit to the DPR, I went to the northern city of Gorlovka, of which I wrote:
“Gorlovka was hardest hit in 2014, especially on July 27, when the center was rocked by Ukrainian-fired Grad and Uragan missiles from morning to evening. After the dust settled and the critically-injured had succumbed to their wounds, at least 30 were dead, including five children. The day came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
A monument commemorates the Gorlovka victims of Ukrainian bombings and sniping from 2014-2017. Near a sculpture of an angel, over 230 names fill the marble slabs, the first dedicated solely to children, 20 of them.”
Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
At the site of the March 14 bombing, DPR head Denis Pushilin spoke, outlining the chronology the last 8 years, from the violent coup in Ukraine and subsequent increase in radical Ukrainian nationalism, to the two republics’ decision to push for autonomy, to Ukraine unleashing hell on the 4 million people and continual violations of the (2014 & 2015) Minsk Agreements and the massive amounts of weapons pumped from the West to Ukraine (see also). [*Note: I’ll be adding a subtitled clip of his words in the next day or two.]
School and Hospital shelled by Ukrainian forces
The town of Volnovakha—on the road between Donetsk and Mariupol further south—was secured by DPR forces nearly two weeks prior to our visit. Entering the town, we passed destroyed homes and buildings, which was expected, as there was heavy fighting to liberate the area held by the Ukrainian forces.
As they did in their copy-paste reporting on liberated areas of Syria, most Western media reports on Volnovakha focus on the destruction, without any context as to why it occurred—these residential areas were occupied by Ukrainian forces, and not all of the destruction was from DPR forces’ fighting against the Ukrainian forces: the Ukrainian forces themselves fired on homes, and according to hospital staff, on the hospital itself.
In addition to not giving this context, most Western media in general depict the liberating forces as deliberately and wantonly destroying everything in sight. Some media went as far as to claim that Putin himself had destroyed the town. This cartoonish narrative, so prevalent in Western reports whitewashing terrorism in Syria and now in whitewashing Ukrainian forces’ crimes, unfortunately does achieve its intended effect: duping Western viewers into believing the opposite of reality–that the liberators are the war criminals.
Again, just as terrorist factions in Syria occupied schools and hospitals, so too do Ukrainian forces, including in Volnovakha. When DPR forces had liberated the city, they found foreign weapons used by Ukrainian forces inside the hospital. [See also: Western Media Quick to Accuse Syria of ‘Bombing Hospitals’ – But When Terrorists Really Destroy Syrian Hospitals, They Are Silent]
In a central area of Volnovakha, Russian soldiers handed out humanitarian aid to lines of residents, including: bags of canned goods, fresh bread, water.
According to Alexander Yurievich Kachalov, the interim mayor, Ukrainian forces used civilians as human shields. “They made sure to destroy as much infrastructure as possible. They bombed buildings in order to leave ruins after they left, to make it harder for us to restore.”
This was common in Syria. Terrorist factions destroyed buildings and vehicles when fleeing, while leaving mines and booby traps on streets and in houses, to kill still more civilians and soldiers.
A woman waiting in line for humanitarian aid said, “They say Russia did this. This wasn’t Russia, Ukraine did it, destroyed everything here! They shot at our hospital. I work there. The new children’s and infection units have been destroyed. The outpatient clinic was destroyed. And then they left. They took the medical staff’s car and went away.”
At the destroyed hospital, Chief Physician, Viktor Fedorovich Saranov, said
“[The Ukrainian Army] were there. There were tanks on our territory. There were guns and Grads outside the territory. I asked them to act in accordance with the Hague and Geneva conventions. I asked them to leave the hospital. They said it was war.
Many people come to us from nearby houses under fire. About 500-600 people came to our basement. We gave everyone three meals a day.
The second and third floors were occupied here. We were preparing for a long siege, and then it turned out like this: they conducted an attack. They evacuated the soldiers. And they mined the entrance to the intensive care unit. On the last day, when they were leaving, they shot at the intensive care unit.” The ICU, he said, had already been evacuated.
A woman who said she had worked at the hospital as a nurse for nearly 58 years said:
“On the 28th I was home alone. They soon started shelling. How can they do it with their local hospital? With patients here. They were laying in corridors, as they had been evacuated. They said there was no one in the hospital, no staff, no patients. This is a lie.”
Later, researching, I came across this news (*warning, graphic video at the link):
“Foreign mercenaries who were wounded in the Volnovakha hospital were shot by their own before leaving the city so that they could not tell anything. All the wounded have a control shot in the temple or the back of the head.”
On the road back towards Donetsk, we stopped at a school that had been shelled in late February.
According to Victoria Terichenko, head of the Dokuchaevsk city administration’s Department of Education, the shelling was by Ukrainian forces.
“Of course, Ukraine. There were only Ukrainian troops there. We had no military here, we were only civilians here.”
Fortunately, children weren’t at school at the time of the shelling, but Terichenko said a nursery school in the area had been shelled, with children inside, but again, fortunately, not on the side of the building shelled.
Horrors of Ukraine’s War on the People of the Donbass Republics
Ukraine’s relentless bombing and sniping of the people of Donbass is bad enough, along with it being ignored by Western press and politicians.
But in its eight years of warring on a people who rejected the rule of ultra-nationalists and Nazis, who just wanted to live autonomously, speak their own language, remember their history (Ukraine has rewritten history to glorify Nazis and Nazi collaborators and to vilify those who defeated Nazism, namely the Soviets), Ukraine has committed war crimes as heinous as ISIS and their co-terrorists in Syria, with more and more testimonies coming out of mass graves, rapes, torture of civilians and Donbass soldiers, beheadings. None of this shocking given the crimes these extremists commit against even Ukrainian civilians and journalists.
Along a sidewalk flanking a central park, there is a row of photos containing incredibly disturbing images of murdered LPR civilians.
Elders slaughtered on benches and in wheelchairs, the corpse of an infant, mass graves, a room used to imprison and torture people, the insignia of the notorious rapists and murderers of the “Tornado” battalion.
One photo shows Nazi graffiti left on a wall.
These are similar to the graffiti I saw in January 2009 left by Israeli soldiers who occupied the home of a Palestinian family, half of which had been killed by Israeli-fired White Phosphorous. One of the slogans written in Hebrew was: “Next time it will hurt more.” This, to the family whose infant had burned alive due to the White Phosphorous bombing, and whose surviving family members were badly mutilated from the prohibited weapon. In another house in eastern Gaza, likewise occupied and desecrated by Israeli soldiers, more hate and death graffiti had been left for the traumatized inhabitants.
Different people and places–same violent hatred of the population being targeted.>
In the same park area, there is a monument to two journalists killed in 2014 by Ukrainian forces. Had these journalists been killed by Russia or Syria, their names would have been on the front pages of news sites and TIME magazine covers. In Syria, dozens of journalists have been killed by terrorist forces, to the silence of not only Western media but also of the groups supposedly advocating for journalists’ rights and safety.
In Shchastia, north of Lugansk, more civilians received humanitarian aid in the liberated town.
*Humanitarian aid being handed out in Shchastia, a town north of Lugansk, liberated in early March.
Western Delivered Weapons on Display
In the two republics, we saw some of the vehicles and weapons captured from Ukrainian forces. Telesur journalist Alejandro Kirk spoke to me about these captured weapons and vehicles, noting the many foreign made weapons sold to Ukraine. Western countries continue to sell weapons to Ukraine.
On March 20, journalist Alexander Rubinstein wrote of the West’s exorbitant shipping of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine over the years. He noted:
“At least 32 countries have announced their intention to ship billions of dollars in weapons into Ukraine for use against Russian forces in Ukraine. Photographic evidence shows that these weapons have already ended up in the hands of neo-Nazi paramilitaries – units which have already received training and arms the US and its NATO allies.
All of this builds on $3.8 billion in military aid from the United States to Ukraine, the training of 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers by Canada and the United Kingdom, and a longstanding CIA program aimed at cultivating an anti-Russian insurgency.
…weapons furnished by NATO allies have been placed in the hands of the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi former paramilitary organization incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard.
The governments of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have presided over a massive program to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers for a full-scale war with Russia. Trainees have included top commanders of the Azov Battalion.
In late February, the European Union opened the floodgates of weapon shipments to Ukraine, approving financing through the aptly-named “European Peace Facility” to reimburse countries sending weapons to the country to the tune of $500 million USD. Another $55 million USD is earmarked for non-lethal military aid.
This February, the State Department announced $350 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, bringing “the total security assistance the United States has committed to Ukraine over the past year to more than $1 billion.”
Another $200 million was sent in early March, and following Zelensky’s March 16 appeal to Congress for more weapons, Biden is reportedly set to dole out another $800 in military aid including 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 9,000 anti-tank systems, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, 400 grenade launchers, 20 million rounds of ammunition, 100 tactical drones, 25,000 sets of body armor and 25,000 helmets. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
These figures add to the $2.5 billion in military aid the US delivered between 2014 and the summer of 2021, bringing the total to $3.8 billion.”
A shipment of NLAW grenade launchers and instructors from #NATO countries arrived in #Kharkiv. The Azov regiment was the first to learn about new weaponry pic.twitter.com/CCzjN40rW7
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 8, 2022
Missing Context: What the Donbass People Have Endured In 8 Years of Ukraine’s War
After my September 2019 visit to the DPR, I wrote about the mostly elderly civilians I met who were living in battered homes damaged by Ukrainian shelling and heavy machine gun fire just 500 meters and 600 meters from Ukrainian forces. They remained there, they told me, mostly because they had nowhere else to go. Some spoke to me on camera, others were afraid of Ukrainian retaliation were they to be interviewed.
But their stories were all pretty much the same: at night, when the observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) left, the Ukrainian terrorizing began, with shelling throughout the night.
I also met a couple who had been living for 6 years in the stinking, dank, basement of a battered school, after Ukrainian bombing destroyed their home.
The DPR press officer who accompanied me and provided translations, spoke of how Ukrainian forces used weapons prohibited under the Minsk Agreements.
Dmitri, press officer of the DPR People’s Militia, explaining the Ukrainian-fired shell found at home Zeitsevo resident.
According to him, Ukrainian forces ~600m from this point.
More at this post:https://t.co/8G4MSrxwZs pic.twitter.com/wkYJMUoFiE
— Eva Karene Bartlett (@EvaKBartlett) September 13, 2019
Irina Dikun, head of the administration of Zaitsevo, another frontline village, spoke at length on the Ukrainian bombing that erupted nearly every night.
“They are destroying street by street in the town. They take one street and destroy it house by house. Then they turn to another street. There was a school, and a nursery school, before, but they were both destroyed by Ukrainian artillery.”
As in Syria, when schools and hospitals are actually destroyed (in Syria by terrorist factions), the same media that howls over militarized hospitals being targeted, the same media that also manufactures stories that never even occurred, is silent when the destroying is actually done, by Ukrainian forces.
In Zaitsevo, Irina explained fire trucks and medics couldn’t reach targeted homes, because the ambulances themselves became targets for Ukrainian forces (as happens in Gaza, where medics are targeted by Israeli forces, as I myself witnessed).
During that 2019 visit, I also interviewed some of the defenders of the DPR, painted by Western media as “separatists”, “pro-Russian forces” and other such descriptions meant to dehumanize. The same Western media so quick to humanize terrorists, including one who chewed the organ of a dead Syrian soldier.
One more relevant note from that visit: Dmitri asked what people in the West think about the fact there is a Nazi state in Europe. I replied that most people don’t know, because of the media whitewashing.
Which brings me to my recent return to the Donbass: I was curious to see whether the journalists on the same delegation as me would report truthfully, partial truths, or fabricated lies. As it turned out, my skepticism was warranted.
Distortions and Omissions of Some Western Media on the Ground in the Donbass
Telesur’s report gave the historical context needed to understand the present, including the coup in Ukraine, the active neo-Nazis in Ukraine (many of whom re entrenched in the Ukrainian army), the past eight years of Ukraine’s war on the Donbass, the 14,000 killed during these years, and the media blackout on the suffering of the Donbass people.
Sky News’ report was good, mentioning the civilians killed in Donbass by Ukraine’s war, including the March 14 attack and the school shelling, while also giving air time to the DPR’s Pushilin.
Neither of the two French channels’ (FranceInfo and TF1Info) reports on the delegation’s visit mentioned the March 14 Tochka-U attack, even though we visited the site & Pushilin spoke of it at length, much less the roughly 8,000 civilians killed in the two republics alone. I couldn’t find mention of the Azov or other Nazi battalions participating in the atrocities against the Donbass people, even though we heard about them and saw the graphic photo display in Lugansk. Their reports were framed as, “this is what Russia wants us to see,” regarding the humanitarian aid and reclaimed towns.
Le Kremlin a organisé ces dernières heures le premier voyage de presse dans le #Donbass, région d’#Ukraine où l’armée russe a réalisé ses plus fortes percées. @JeromeGarro était présent : notre envoyé spécial vous explique l’un des objectifs de cette opération, regardez ⤵. pic.twitter.com/3NN4cj6tRA— TF1Info (@TF1Info) March 25, 2022
And of course, they focused greatly on the destruction, but not on the reasons for it, the implication being that the Russians and the “pro-Russian separatists” were responsible.
The chief physician of the hospital in Volnokava spoke at length and did specifically state the Ukrainian army had occupied the hospital, as did the nurse I cited, both of whom addressed the group of journalists.
FranceInfo’s mention of the hospital was framed as, “The Russians accuse the Ukrainians of having bombed it.” They included a few seconds of the chief physician saying he didn’t know who had done it, there were soldiers in the area, he didn’t know who.
But actually, the physician spoke to us for about several minutes, during which—as I wrote earlier—he did specifically talk about the presence of the Ukrainian army in the hospital.
One journalist asked: “Why did such destruction happen?” To which the chief physician replied, “I don’t know. They were military. And who they were: military, national battalions, army? I don’t know.”
That’s the bit France TV cherry picked, omitting his previous words about the Ukrainian army occupying the hospital, as well as omitting what he said afterwards: “There was Ukrainian territory on that side and the rockets were from that side. They mined the entrance to the intensive care unit. On the last day when they were leaving, they shot at the intensive care unit.”
Likewise, TF1Info included just a few seconds of the physician’s words on the Ukrainian cannons and machine guns at the hospital, but then followed up with the presenter’s caveat: it is one of the arguments often presented by the Kremlin—in spite of the fact that not only he, but the nurse and many people I encountered in the town specifically blamed the Ukrainian army for occupying the hospital and attacking it themselves when leaving.
If there were any further TF1Info reports from their journalist’s visit which might have included mention of Donbass’ dead, I couldn’t find them. Likewise, of FranceInfo.
This tactic of cherry picking quotes and omitting information is a standard corporate media war propaganda tactic and, unfortunately one seen over and over in Syria and elsewhere.
Journalist Vanessa Beeley wrote of one particularly horrific and sadistic terrorist massacre of 200 Syrian civilians, including 116 children, in April 2017, killed by an explosion as they were being evacuated from their terrorist besieged villages. She wrote of one traumatized woman who lost 20 family members (10 dead, 10 missing) having witnessed the attack.
“Then, after the filming session (by various agencies, including Dubai based Orient News & Qatari Al Jazeera) which lasted approximately ten minutes, she and the other parents were forced back onto the buses, at gunpoint, and locked inside. They had to watch, while the armed militia collected the dead, dying and mutilated bodies of their community’s children and flung them in the back of trucks and Turkish ambulances, before driving them away from their families in Rashideen.
Not one western media outlet questioned why these injured, dying and disoriented children were being piled on top of one another in the back of a truck that obviously belonged to Nusra Front.”
In fact, as they did routinely in their Syria coverage, media essentially relegated these dead civilians as unimportant, because their deaths didn’t fit the corporate narrative, even when civilians were repeatedly targeted by horrific terrorist bombings, mortars and missiles.
Global Media Abusing the Suffering of the Donbass to Further Anti-Russia War Propaganda, Just as They Did in Syria…
It is already bad enough that Western media generally don’t report on Ukraine’s relentless shelling of the Donbass, but all the more disgusting when it depicts a scene from the March 14 bombing of Donetsk as if it was a bombing of Lvov by Russia.
“The aftermath of the bombing of Donetsk by Ukrainian “Tochka-U” missile, used by Italian newspaper “La Stampa” as an image from Lvov“
*Propaganda noted in this article: The Hard Facts about Ukraine and Donbass
At the site of the Tochka-U missile attack in Donetsk, photos of the moments after the bombing, including the scene depicted in Western media as in Lvov. Photo: Eva Bartlett, March 24, 2022.
This isn’t the only instance. More recently, various Western media have used footage showing a multi-story apartment building in Donetsk that was bombed by Ukraine on March 30 to infer that the scene depicted was actually of Ukrainian areas that had been bombed by Russia. If you followed the war propaganda around Syria, you would be aware that this practice is common, not accidental.
New York post using Donetsk bombing photo to infer the scene was Kiev or elsewhere, under Russian bombing. The article has since been updated, photo removed. They would say it was a mistake. With corporate media, it never is. Luckily, at the time, some observers caught the lie.
And as with war propaganda on Syria, some media will use footage not even from Ukraine:
More propaganda
pic.twitter.com/SVwn19G9Hr— Suzanne Seddon (@suzseddon) March 15, 2022
I could add paragraphs of examples of how Western media did this in Syria, but for the sake of brevity will state simply that this is one of many deceitful and deliberate propaganda tactics used to both downplay the hell civilians are suffering under Ukraine’s bombing, and instead to pretend Ukraine is the victim. How the journalists that propagate such lies live with themselves, I’ll never understand.
Finally, a word to some in independent media who feel the need to denigrate Russia’s denazification operation in Ukraine by snidely putting “special operation” in quotation marks, or others who took to social media to tell the world they don’t like war, and denounced Russia for its military operation (to stop a war): The people of the Donbass don’t like war, they didn’t ask for Ukraine to unleash hell upon them. Such posturing disrespects the at least 14,000 killed by Ukraine’s war.
As journalist Roman Kosarev, who has covered the war eight years, said:
“Russia isn’t starting a war, Russia is ending one.“
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -about-it/
Other photos and video at link.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
LIVE: West Doesn't Want Resolution to Conflict - Russia
A handout photo made available by the Austrian Chancellery shows Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer at a press conference after his meeting with Russian President Putin, at the Austrian Embassy in Moscow, | Photo: EFE/EPA/DRAGAN TATIC / AUSTRIAN CHANCELLERY
Published 11 April 2022
The West doesn’t want the diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine pushing Kiev to stake on more militarism, Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.
On Monday, 47 days after the start of their military operation in Ukraine, Russian troops maintain the initiative in the Donetsk, Mariupol and Kharkiv regions. Below are the main developments as they occur.
Japan approves additional sanctions against 398 people and 28 organizations from Russia
The Japanese government on Tuesday approved additional sanctions against 398 people and 28 organizations from Russia in connection with the situation around Ukraine, according to the website of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
In particular, deputies of the State Duma fell under sanctions.
Blinken said that India should take a stand on the situation around Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meets virtually with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 11 April 2022 - EFE/EPA/Chris Kleponis / POOL
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said India should make its own decisions about how it deals with the situation around Ukraine.
"India must make its own decisions about how it approaches this challenge," Blinken said at a news conference after a meeting of U.S. and Indian foreign policy and defense chiefs.
At the same time, he noted that the U.S. considers it "important that all countries, especially those with leverage, put pressure on Putin to stop the war."
According to Blinken, it is important that "democracies stand together and speak with one voice, defending the values we share."
The secretary of state said the U.S. "will continue to increase our support for the government and people of Ukraine and encourage other countries to do the same, just as we call on all countries to condemn Moscow's increasingly violent actions."
"And I would also note that India is providing significant humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, particularly medicine, which is much needed and in real demand," he added.
For his part, Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar said that India is "against the conflict" and "for dialogue and diplomacy" and for an "urgent end to violence."
"We are ready to contribute in any way we can to achieve these goals," he said.
Blinken said the U.S. hopes its allies and partners will not increase their purchases of Russian energy, and urged all countries to avoid new deals to buy arms from Russia.
"When it comes to oil purchases, sanctions and so forth, I would just point out that there are restrictions on energy purchases. Of course, we encourage countries not to buy additional energy from Russia," the U.S. secretary of state said.
Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin are on a working visit to India.
Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden held a video conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him not to increase Russia's oil imports. Since the beginning of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, India has purchased at least 13 million barrels of oil from Russia, with a total of 16 million barrels of similar purchases by India in the whole of 2021.
Austrian Chancellor told Putin about Zelensky's desire for direct talks
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's desire for direct talks.
"I informed him that President Zelensky wants direct contact for negotiations," Nehammer said, his remarks broadcast live on the German television channel Welt.
Nehammer visited Moscow on Monday and met with Putin; there was no press conference following the meeting.
West doesn’t want diplomatic resolution of conflict in Ukraine - Russian diplomat
The West doesn’t want the diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine pushing Kiev to stake on more militarism, Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.
"We see how foreign patrons of the current Ukrainian authorities are persistently dissuading them from political and diplomatic ways," the Russian foreign ministry quoted him as saying at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.
After such "encouraging" signals from Western capitals, Ukraine’s leadership "has changed its rhetoric to stake on militarism again," he noted.
The Kremlin will go to court if the West declares Russia in default. "Of course, we are going to go to court, because we have taken all necessary actions so that investors receive their payments," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
President Vladimir Putin's administration will present proof that Russia did everything possible to pay off the Eurobonds in the currencies in which the debt was originally contracted.
"Western countries' deliberate policy is to artificially create a payment suspension," he added, recalling that all Russian accounts were blocked, which prevents Moscow from paying bondholders. However, Russia opened accounts so that foreign investors could receive the expected payments in ruble equivalent.
"Will they be able to convert rubles into foreign currency? Yes, but according to our position, this can be done once Russia's foreign currency accounts are unfrozen," Siluanov explained
Russia in favor of continuing negotiations with Ukraine. Despite Ukraine's inconsistency and tendency to reject its own proposals, Russia prefers to continue the negotiation process, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that Moscow will be patient and persistent throughout the negotiations.
His country, however, will never play a subordinate role in the current world order. "Russia, with its history... its traditions, is one of those countries that will never occupy a subordinate position. We can only be members of the international community on equal terms, under conditions (that guarantee) the indivisibility of security," Lavrov stressed.
Croatia expels 18 diplomats and 6 employees from the Russian embassy in Zagreb. The Croatian Foreign Affairs Ministry decided to reduce the size of the Russian diplomatic representation on its territory. In a note to the Russian ambassador, Croatia also called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
Russia keeps up the pressure in Donetsk, Mariupol and Kharkov. In the Donetsk area, Russia continues to focus on taking control of the Popasna, Rubizhne, Nyzhne, and Novobahmutivka settlements. Russian troops also seek to fully control the city of Mariupol, where their offensive continues in the Azovstal plant and seaport areas.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War maintains that Russian forces have gained ground in Mariupol over the last 24 hours. Currently, this city is divided in two zones: while the center is controlled by the Russians, the main port and the Azovstal steel plant remain in Ukrainian hands.
Overnight, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed Ukrainian military equipment and facilities. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that high-precision air-launched missiles near Velyka Novosilka destroyed the base for the repair of weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian air defense forces.
Ukraine imposes a full embargo on imports of goods from Russia. From now on, no Russian products will be able to be imported into Ukraine. "Such a decisive step by Ukraine can serve as an example for our Western partners and will stimulate them to strengthen sanctions against Russia," Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Russia raised its reserve fund by US$3.4 billion. The largest source of the increase was additional oil and gas revenues received in the first quarter of 2022. Russia's reserve fund was created to finance unforeseen expenses not covered by the federal budget.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces said that the Russians did "not stop trying to break through the defense of Ukrainian troops in Izyum City. The Russian military is "trying to take full control of the city of Mariupol." Meanwhile, a rocket attack conducted by Russian forces on Sunday destroyed an airport in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine, Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk military-civilian administration said.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. Nehammer said he planned the visit to Moscow on his own initiative with an aim to promote dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. They discussed defense and financial support for Ukraine. In their talks, the pair also touched upon the sanctions against Russia over its conflict with Ukraine.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0004.html
Russia Won't Change Its Policy Towards Ukraine
Russian FM spokeswoman said that the Kremlin will not change its position toward Ukraine. Apr. 11, 2022. | Photo: @AHMEDQALI4
Published 11 April 2022
On Monday, the Russian government announced it would not change its position in Ukraine because of other countries' pressure.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday that Moscow would not change its posture in light of the pressure imposed by other countries with the expulsion of Russian diplomats from several countries.
"Why not declare all [Russian diplomats personae non grata] in a bid to make us change our position? No, we will not change it," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
The message reads: "I would tell the French foreign ministry the following: if you had threatened Kiev with sanctions for non-implementation of the Minsk agreement at least once, you would have achieved peace and stability in Europe."
The comments came aimed at the earlier Monday's announcement made by the French foreign ministry, where it designated six more Russian personnel to Moscow's diplomatic mission in the country as personae non grata.
The Russian embassy's minister counselor was handed a note being convened to the French foreign ministry.
As a coercive measure against Russia because of the special military operation launched in Ukraine last February 24, several European countries have decided to remove Russian diplomatic staff from their embassy.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0019.html
*******************************************************
The Reasons For And Dangers Behind The War In Ukraine
The war in the Ukraine continues but the propaganda hysteria around it seems to have calmed down a bit as reality is setting in.
This gives room from more sane voices to be heard by the public. I will start with the Russian ones.
The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, was interviewed by Newsweek. He explained Russia's political and judicial reasoning behind the war:
"The special operation in Ukraine is the result of the unwillingness of the Kiev regime to stop the genocide of Russians by fulfilling its obligations under the international commitments," Antonov told Newsweek. "The desire of the NATO member states to use the territory of a neighboring state to establish a foothold in the struggle against Russia is also obvious."
...
To Russia, Antonov said that the [Maidan] revolution was a "bloody coup d'état instigated by the West" in which "ultranationalist ideas came to power in Kiev." He said that policies viewed by Moscow as hostile such as the removal of Russian as a national language and the rehabilitation of nationalist Ukrainian figures such as Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II, had "taken root in Ukraine under external administration."
...
Antonov argued that it was the "nationalist frenzy and revanchist sentiments of the Kiev regime" that resulted in the effective death of the Minsk deals as Ukraine chose "the path of rapid militarization" with help from abroad.
"The NATO member countries have commenced a military exploration of Ukraine," Antonov said. "It was flooded with Western weaponry while President Vladimir Zelensky announced Kiev's plans to acquire nuclear weapons which would threaten not only neighboring countries, but also the entire world."
...
"In this context, Russia had no other choice but to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics," Antonov said. "Then, in accordance with Chapter VII, Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, with the authorization of the Federation Council of Russia and in execution of the Treaties of Friendship and Mutual Assistance with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin made a decision to begin a special military operation."
"Its aim is to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine in order to reduce military threats posed by the Western states that are trying to use the fraternal Ukrainian people in the struggle against the Russians," he added.
Sergey Karaganov is a high level Russian political scientist and commentator who is also a presidential advisor in Moscow. He was interviewed (in English) by the Italian Corriere Della Sera
Sergey Karaganov: «We are at war with the West. The European security order is illegitimate»
An excerpt:
How can an attack be justified on such grounds?
«For 25 years people like myself have said that NATO expansion would lead to war. Putin said several times that if it came to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, there would be no Ukraine anymore. In Bucharest in 2008 there was a plan of quick accession of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO. It was blocked by the efforts of Germany and France, but since that time Ukraine has been integrated into NATO. It was pumped up by weaponry and its troops were trained by NATO, their army getting stronger and stronger day by day. In addition we saw a very rapid increase of neo-Nazi sentiment especially among the military, the society and the ruling elite. It was clear that Ukraine had become something like Germany around 1936-1937. The war was inevitable, they were a spearhead of NATO. We made the very hard decision to strike first, before the threat becomes deadlier».
I recommend to read the whole Karaganov interview to better understand the Russian thinking.
"It was clear that Ukraine had become something like Germany around 1936-1937," said Karaganov. The 'western' public has difficulties to understand that. But it is the prevailing Russian view and when analyzing the developments in the Ukraine over the last years with Russian history in mind one can easily come to the same conclusion.
It is also what the Canadian Russia expert Patrick Armstrong had mentioned as the most important item after he had read Putin's speeches at the start of the war:
Had I been at home I would have read Putin’s speech earlier and understood sooner. What he is talking about is what the Soviet Union tried to do from 1933 onwards: namely to stop Hitler before he got started. This time Russia is able to do it by itself. In other words, Putin feels that he is making a pre-emptive attack to stop June 1941. This is very serious indeed and indicates that the Russians are going to keep going until they feel that they can safely stop.
.
The Russian view is not really that far fetched.
Here is a recent news agency video of officials of the Ukrainian Security Service SBU in front of a destroyed house seemingly praying with a priest for the deceased.
Note the fascist Right Sector patch the official carries on his arm and back. The SBU has become a kind of Gestapo tasked with eliminating opposition elements in Ukraine. The UN's OHCHR, the OSCE, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International have all reported about the SBU's many crimes.
There is also an 'SS Galizien' patch on the officers back which refers to the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) which fought with Nazi-Germany against the Soviet Union. Like many other SS division the 1st Galician was involved in serious war-crimes but later mostly whitewashed. After the war many of its surviving officers fled to Canada and to the United States.
The offspring of those officers and other immigrants from the Ukraine played a noticeable role in lobbying for the war.
That has been successful as the U.S. had chosen to support extreme elements in Ukraine in opposition to peace. This has, as Aaron Maté writes, moved president Zelensky from an election campaign position of finding peace with Russia to becoming a war maniac:
On a warm October day in 2019, the eminent Russia studies professor Stephen F. Cohen and I sat down in Manhattan for what would be our last in-person interview (Cohen passed away in September 2020 at the age of 81).
...
"Zelensky ran as a peace candidate," Cohen explained. "He won an enormous mandate to make peace. So, that means he has to negotiate with Vladimir Putin." But there was a major obstacle. Ukrainian fascists, Cohen warned, "have said that they will remove and kill Zelensky if he continues along this line of negotiating with Putin… His life is being threatened literally by a quasi-fascist movement in Ukraine."
Peace could only come, Cohen stressed, on one condition. "[Zelensky] can’t go forward with full peace negotiations with Russia, with Putin, unless America has his back," he said. "Maybe that won’t be enough, but unless the White House encourages this diplomacy, Zelensky has no chance of negotiating an end to the war. So the stakes are enormously high."
...
Although Trump's impeachment failed to remove him from office, it succeeded in cementing the proxy war aims of its chief proponents: rather than support Zelensky's peace mandate, Ukraine would instead be used to "fight Russia over there."
I had earlier quoted an interview with Dmytro Yarosh, then the leader of the fascist Right Sector, who just a week after Zelenski had become president threatened him with death should he try to make peace with the eastern Ukrainian rebels. Yarosh later became an advisor to the chief general staff of the Ukrainian military. He is the main person behind the ongoing nazification of the Ukrainian military.
As ambassador Antonov has said the war in Ukraine is not only about the Ukraine.
Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, is correctly pointing out the two levels of the war we see:
It is not that the empathy for Ukraine or support for Zelensky’s national resistance is misplaced, but that it has the appearance of being geopolitically orchestrated and manipulated in ways that other desperate national situations were not, and thus gives rise to suspicions about other, darker motives.
This is worrisome because these magnified concerns have acted as a principal way that the NATO West has gone out of its way to make the Ukrainian War about more than Ukraine. The wider war is best understood as occurring on two levels: a traditional war between the invading forces of Russia and the resisting forces of Ukraine as intertwined with an encompassing geopolitical war between the US and Russia. It is the prosecution of this latter war that presents the more profound danger to world peace, a danger that has been largely obscured or assessed as a mere extension of the Russia/Ukraine confrontation.
...
If this two-level perception is correctly analyzed in its appreciation of the different actors with contradictory priorities, then it becomes crucial to understand that in the geopolitical war the US is the aggressor as much as in the traditional war on the ground Russia is the aggressor.
Falk concurs with professor John Mearsheimer who fears that the larger U.S. Russia conflict hidden behind the war in Ukraine may lead to widening of the conflict into a potential nuclear war.
Summarizing Mearsheimer's recent talk with Katrina vanden Heuvel and ambassador James Matlock, the former CIA analyst Ray McGovern writes:
Speaking at an April 7 webinar, Mearsheimer was, true to form, "offensively realistic". He explained: (1) the root cause lies in the April 2008 NATO summit Declaration that Ukraine (and Georgia) "will become members of NATO"; and (2) that Russia sees this as an "existential threat" and therefore "must win" this one.
For President Joe Biden and the Democrats, even though Ukraine poses zero strategic threat to the U.S., a Russian "win" would be, politically, a "devastating defeat", says Mearsheimer. In that sense, the conflict is a "must-win" for the US as well. Underscoring the obvious, he noted it is impossible for both sides to "win" – at least not in current circumstances.
...
Noting that US academics and policy makers don’t believe NATO’s designs on Ukraine represent an existential threat to Russia, Mearsheimer is as blunt as his courteous mien permits. "What people in Washington believe is irrelevant. What matters is what Russia believes." He rejects the "mainstream" view that Putin’s Russia is motivated by expansionist aims, and asks the savants in Washington to put concrete evidence behind their claims. Moreover, "There is no evidence in what Putin has said that he wants to make Ukraine part of Russia," Mearsheimer adds.
Towards the end of a talk with Gonzalo Lira former Marine officer and UN Inspector Scott Ritter disputes the potential for escalation. The Pentagon, he says, knows the real situation on the ground and that the Ukrainian army will lose the war. Neither NATO, nor the U.S. nor single countries like Poland have their forces configured in a way that would allow them to successfully wage war against Russia. They would need more time to get ready than Russia will need to win the war in Ukraine.
Ritter predicts that the Pentagon will overrule any escalation the Ukraine warmongers in the State Department and National Security Council may plan and that those responsible for the current mess, Victoria Nuland, Anthony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, will get silenced or removed after the midterms.
I hope he is right.
Posted by b on April 11, 2022 at 16:33 UTC | Permalink
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/s ... .html#more
How The U.S. Does 'Diplomacy'
The U.S. doesn't do diplomacy. Every country has its own interests. But the U.S. and its pricks in the State Department insist that its interests must have priority over all others. Any country that disagrees with that will be called out on this or that issue or will even get sanctioned.
March 19 2022: President Xi Jinping Has a Video Call with US President Joe Biden
The two sides exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine.
President Biden expounded on the US position, and expressed readiness for communication with China to prevent the situation from exacerbating.
President Xi pointed out that China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine to come to this. China stands for peace and opposes war. This is embedded in China’s history and culture. China makes a conclusion independently based on the merits of each matter. China advocates upholding international law and universally recognized norms governing international relations. China adheres to the UN Charter and promotes the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. These are the major principles that underpin China’s approach to the Ukraine crisis.
March 21 2022: US announces new sanctions on Chinese officials over ‘repressive acts’
The State Department said it would impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials it said are believed to be responsible for “policies or actions aimed at repressing religious and spiritual practitioners, members of ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, labor organizers, civil society organizers, and peaceful protestors in China and beyond.”
April 11 2022: Ukraine dominates Modi-Biden talks
Mr. Modi, who spoke via videolink to Mr Biden, described the situation in Ukraine as “very worrying” and said he had spoken, several times, with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and had not just urged peace, but also direct talks between them. India’s unwillingness to call out Russia by name for its attack on Ukraine has not gone down well in Washington, but U.S. officials have also said that they hoped countries that have relationships with Moscow might leverage them to bring about a resolution to the situation.
April 12 2022: US Monitoring "Rise In Human Rights Abuses" In India: Antony Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was monitoring what he described as a rise in "human rights abuses" in India by some officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of New Delhi.
"We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values (of human rights) and to that end, we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials," Mr Blinken said on Monday in a joint press briefing with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
January 10 2022: Chas Freeman - Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
What distinguishes diplomats from courtiers, securocrats, and other bureaucrats in a national capital is a reliance on empathy: the ability to see the world through other eyes and to use this insight to induce others to see their interests the way the diplomat wants them to see them. It takes more than a diplomatic passport, position, or title to make someone a “diplomat.” Diplomacy, like other skilled work, requires knowhow gained through training, mentoring, on-the-job experience, and awareness of historical precedents. It is a calling and a role, not a job title.
Yet diplomacy remains at best a proto-profession in the United States, thanks to the uniquely American reliance on the political spoils system to staff even key national security functions. This makes diplomatic appointments to benefit appointees and their political parties rather than the country. It thereby enshrines amateurism and incompetence. As the New York Herald-Tribune put it in 1857, in the United States “diplomacy is the sewer through which flows the scum and refuse of the political puddle. A man not fit to stay at home is just the man to send abroad.” Only one thing has changed about this in the last 165 years. Female campaign donors and celebrities now compete with men for appointments to what they imagine are ambassadorial sinecures in plummy places abroad, leaving seedy and dangerous places to lifers.
Posted by b on April 12, 2022 at 10:42 UTC | Permalink
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/h ... l#comments
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US Lawmakers Welcomed Notorious Georgian Warlord now Boasting of War Crimes in Ukraine
April 12, 2022
By Alexander Rubinstein – Apr 8, 2022
Top lawmakers in US Congress hosted Mamuka Mamulashvili, an infamous Georgian Legion warlord who has boasted of authorizing field executions of captive Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Georgian warlord Mamuka Mamulashvili (center) visits Rep. Eliot Engel in 2017
Having taken up arms against Russia for a fifth time, Georgian Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili has bragged on video about his unit carrying out field executions of captured Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
While Western media pundits howled about images of dead bodies in the city of Bucha, echoing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy’s accusation that Russia is guilty of “genocide,” they have largely overlooked the apparent admission of atrocities by an avowed ally of the United States who was welcomed on Capitol Hill by senior lawmakers overseeing congressional foreign policy committees.
Having fought in four wars against Russia, and despite allegations that he played a leading role in the massacre of 49 protesters in Kiev’s Maidan Square in 2014, Mamulashvili has taken multiple trips to the United States, where he received a warm welcome from members of Congress, the New York Police Department, and Ukrainian diaspora community.
In an interview this April, Mamulashvili, was asked about a video showing Russian fighters who had been extrajudicially executed in Dmitrovka, a town just five miles from Bucha. Mamulashvili was candid about his unit’s take-no-prisoners tactics, though he has denied involvement in the specific crimes depicted.
“We will not take Russian soldiers, as well as Kadyrovites [Chechnyan fighters]; in any case, we will not take prisoners, not a single person will be captured,” Mamulashvili said, implying that his fighters execute POWs.
The warlord’s battle dress shirt was emblazoned with a patch reading, “Mama says I’m special.”
“Yes, we tie their hands and feet sometimes. I speak for the Georgian Legion, we will never take Russian soldiers prisoner. Not a single one of them will be taken prisoner,” Mamulashvili emphasized
Executions of enemy combatants are considered war crimes under the Geneva Convention.
Ukrainian and Georgian Legion fighters celebrate after executing captive Russian soldiers on video
War crimes on the front lines
Western governments continue to block a Russian request for a United Nations investigation into alleged massacres in Bucha, where scores of corpses were photographed following the Russian withdrawal from the city, some with hands bound and shot execution style – as Mamulashvili described doing to prisoners.
While the events in Bucha have become a source of outrage and heated contention, a clear case of war crimes by Ukrainian forces which took place just five miles down the road on March 30 as Russian troops withdrew has received a more muted response despite coverage by the New York Times.
The macabre footage shows Russian paratroopers dead or bleeding out in the road, some with their hands clearly bound — reportedly the handiwork of the Georgian Legion.
Celebrating the ambush’s success, the videographer calls the attention of his fellow soldiers: “Georgians! Belgravia, boys!” Belgravia refers to a nearby housing complex from which some of the non-Georgian fighters presumably hail.
“Look, he is still alive,” one of the fighters says as a Russian writhes in a pool of blood. He was then shot three times at close range.
Oz Katerji, a neoconservative British-Lebanese operative who has generated attention by sending threatening Whatsapp messages to journalists opposed to the US-backed dirty war in Syria, fantasizing about police torturing Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, hysterically heckling former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at an antiwar meeting, and embedding with CIA-backed armed gangs in Syria, wound up at the site of the Russian convoy two days after it was destroyed.
Filming himself against the backdrop of numerous burned out Russian tanks, Katerji tweeted that soldiers told him “they had removed eight Russian corpses from the battlefield yesterday.”
Far-left: UK neoconservative Oz Katerji in Lebanon; Right: Katerji at the site a destroyed Russian convoy on April 2.
An equally sanitized depiction of the scene was published by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Twitter, which compiled shots of the destruction and an interview with a soldier over an intermittent electronic soundtrack.
In the original war crimes video, one of the men who gloated at the scene of the killings has been identified as Khizanishvili Teymuraz of the Georgian Legion. Previously, Teymuraz served as a body guard to former Georgian president and Mamulashvili ally Mikheil Saakashvili.
A pet project of Washington neoconservatives, Saakashvili met disgraceafter leading a disastrous war of choice against Russia over South Ossetia in 2008. He eventually accepted an offer from Ukraine to serve as governor in Odessa in 2015.
“It is necessary to create chaos on the Maidan”
The most deadly incident during the 2013-14 riots and protests on Kiev’s Maidan Square that eventually led to the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was the massacre of 49 demonstrators on February 20, 2014. The incident galvanized international outrage against Yanukovych and weakened his government’s negotiating position. Yet it remains shrouded in intrigue.
During the color revolution on the Maidan, Mamulashvili rallied his old war buddies to take up Ukraine’s cause. Near the central square, his group was reportedly “told to ensure order so that there were no drunks, to maintain discipline and identify rabble-rousers sent in by the authorities.”
Mamulashvili’s former comrades told Russian media that he eventually told them “it is necessary to create chaos on the Maidan, using weapons against any targets, protesters and police — no difference.”
President Vlodymyr Zelensky has described the killings on the Maidan as “the most complicated case in our country,” noting that the crime scene was tampered with and documents have mysteriously disappeared.
International bodies also remain befuddled. While the NATO-funded Atlantic Council think tank has described the matter as “unsolved,” the United Nations has noted that “justice remains elusive.”
Today, some researchers point to Mamulashvili and his Georgian Legionnaires as key suspects behind the mysterious killings. Ivan Katchanovski, a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa, is among those who believe Mamulashvili’s allies were likely among those who fired on protesters from buildings over Maidan Square, generating bloodshed that was ultimately blamed on Ukraine’s then-government.
“Testimonies by several Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups for the Maidan massacre trial and investigation and their interviews in American, Italian and Israeli TV documentaries and Macedonian and Russian media are generally consistent with findings of my academic studies of the Maidan massacre,” Katchanovski commented to The Grayzone.
While Katchanovski said his academic research did not focus on the involvement of specific individuals in the massacre, he stated that most of the Georgians who testified in the trial revealed their names, passport numbers and border stamps, copies of plane tickets, videos and photos in Ukraine or Georgian military, and other evidence to affirm their credibility. He added that some of their identities were verified by the Ukrainian border guard service and the Armenian and Belarusian authorities for the Maidan massacre trial in Ukraine.
“The Maidan massacre trial in November 2021 admitted and showed as evidence a testimony of one of these Georgians who confessed of being a member of a group of Maidan snipers,” Katchanovski stated.
The US members of Congress that hosted Mamulashvili were either unaware of these allegations or believed the Georgian warlord was simply innocent.
A warlord goes to Washington
As this reporter recently documented for The Grayzone, photos posted by Mamulashvili on his Facebook page show the Georgian hard-man inside the US Capitol rubbing elbows with some of the top figures on the House Foreign Relations Committee.
His hosts included then-Rep. Eliot Engel, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, former Rep. Sander Levin, Rep. Andre Carson, Rep. Doug Lamborn, and former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.
Additional photos show him visiting Senate offices, including that of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Kristen Gilibrand, who sits on the Intelligence Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.
Contacted by phone by this reporter, the offices of Senators Feinstein and Gilibrand have declined to comment on their hosting of the Georgian warlord.
Mamulashvili with Rep. Carolyn Maloney in March 2018
Mamulashvili’s multiple trips to the United States have offered him the opportunity to attend events at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, give talks at Saint George Academy, a Ukrainian Catholic School in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and hold forth in an interview with the Washington office of US government’s Voice of America in 2015. He has even posed for photo ops with officers of the New York City Police Department.
Georgian warlord Mamulashvili with NYPD officers, June 4, 2017
Additional photos show Mamulashvili holding the flag of the Georgian Legion with Nadiya Shaporynska, the founder and president of US Ukrainian Activists, a DC-based non-profit that has lobbied members Congress to take measures against Russia, held daily rallies outside of the White House, and fundraised tens of thousands of dollars to procure supplies for the Ukrainian military and refugees.
In between these trips, Mamulashvili constructed three training bases and recruited hundreds of fighters. Some photos he posted to Facebook show the warlord’s subordinates training children (below) for battle against Russia. The practice of cultivating children for warfare is sharedby Ukraine’s more notorious Azov Battalion.
US volunteer with the Georgian Legion details executions, flees after threats
In March, this reporter interviewed Henry Hoeft, a US army veteran who accepted Zelensky’s appeal for foreign fighters and volunteered for the Georgian Legion.
Hoeft told The Grayzone that members of the legion threatened to kill him when he refused to go to the front lines without a weapon. Heft also recalled how Georgian fighters put bags over the heads of two men who blew through a checkpoint and executed them on the spot, accusing them of being spies for Russia.
While Western reporters have presented Mamulashvili as a brave and tactically deft battlefield commander since he entered the fight against Russia in Ukraine, his unit has also received mention in articles over the years on the unsavory figures it has welcomed into its ranks: neo-Nazis, bank robbers and fugitives like Craig Lang, who is wanted in the United States on suspicion of murdering a married couple in Florida.
In the east of Ukraine, where Lang spoke to the media on behalf of the Georgian Legion (then sometimes called the “Foreign Legion”) from the front lines, the Department of Justice and FBI have investigated Lang and seven other Americans for war crimes. The group allegedly took “non-combatants” as prisoners and tortured them, sometimes to death before burial in an unmarked grave.
Mamulashvili’s Facebook page contains an un-captioned photograph of the American fugitive.
As the war in Ukraine intensifies and the US deepens its commitment to escalating it, top foreign policy figures in Washington are wagging a finger at Russia with one hand and literally shaking the hand of Mamulashvili, an avowed war criminal, with the other.
Featured image: Georgian warlord and confessed war criminal Mamuka Mamulashvili visits Washington in 2017
https://orinocotribune.com/us-lawmakers ... n-ukraine/
"Know them by their proxies."
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Ukraine: Russia Warns the UNSC of New Provocations by the Kiev Regime
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on the situation in Ukraine
Mr. President,
We never doubted that today our Western colleagues would produce lots of speculations as to what is going on in Ukraine in light of the Russian special military operation. Your scheme of action is clear to us. You seek to twist and besmirch the goals of the SMO, downplay the facts that are inconvenient to you, advance fakes and propaganda narrative, promoted by Ukraine and professional Western consultants who work for the Kiev regime. All your efforts meet the logic of information war that is being waged on Russia and that is not inferior to actual hostilities on the ground in terms of its intensity.
Our Albanian colleagues set a new benchmark of disinformation today. The Permanent Representative of Albania read out almost a full list of crimes that are ascribed to Russia, but did not bother to mention that neither of those cases had any credible evidence. I take it that you completely defied presumption of innocence.
Recently, Western and Ukrainian fake factory has stepped up to a new level and got down to fabrications and stagings in the best traditions of notorious Syrian-British White Helmets. Unprecedentedly cruel and “crude” provocation in the town of Bucha (Kiev region) is still on everyone’s lips. One propagates it as a Russian crime, despite irrefutable evidence that proves the staged nature of the incident, and that is getting more and more numerous. I will not go into detail here, because we already did it last Tuesday, after the British Presidency of the Security Council had done its best to not allow for a separate UNSC meeting on the topic – in violation of the Council’s basic rules of procedure.
Let me just say that when thoroughly analyzing the acts of Ukrainian nationalists, it is hard to get rid of a déjà vu feeling. Back in 1944, ideological teachers of Kievan radicals, who acted in the best traditions of Goebbels’s propaganda, organized a provocation with civilians who had allegedly been killed by Red Army soldiers in the village of Nemmersdorf in Eastern Prussia. Shortly before that, all major German newspapers had received guidelines stipulating how exactly they should present the alleged “atrocities” of Soviet soldiers.
Nowadays newspapers are not read that often, so such guidelines are first circulated in social media with no attempts made to actually conceal this fact. Those who do this commission background actors, specify aspects that should be accentuated, etc. In a word, Goebbels would have been impressed by style and scale of his Ukrainian disciples, had it not been for the quality of performance, which failed them.
Later on, various experts provided credible refutation of the Nemmersdorf case that was designed to accuse Red Army soldiers of mass murders and rapes. The name of the village then became proverbial and was widely used to designate a gross staging carried out for propaganda purposes. Exactly same thing happened recently in Bucha. But even this one was outmatched by what we saw at the end of this past week. I am referring to the provocation that Ukrainian nationalists organized in the city of Kramatorsk that was still under their control. This one was a classical “false-flag”operation. Let me speak of it in more detail, especially given that many of us already mentioned it today.
On 8 April, Ukrainian military carried out a Tochka-U air strike from the area of Dobropol’e (45 km southwest of Kramatorsk) against the Kramatorsk railway terminal, killing 50 people, including 5 children. 98 people were taken to hospitals of Kramatorsk, including 16 children, 46 women, and 36 men. Why are we so sure it were the Ukrainian and not Russian military, as Western media initially claimed and as some our colleagues said earlier today? There are several reasons, I will name three of them.
Firstly, Russian troops do not use Tochka-U tactical missile systems. They are outdated, that is why we replaced them with Iskander systems. Ukrainian troops, however, keep using Tochka-U systems very actively.
Secondly, eyewitnesses had taken some pictures on “hot scents”, before Ukrainian propaganda makers arrived on the scene. Those photos make it possible to unmistakably identify both the type of the missile and direction where it had come from. This area is so far controlled by Ukrainian military.
Thirdly, same photos let us easily identify the number of the Tochka-U, and say that it belonged to “Ш915” series. Missiles of the same series were used on many occasions to shell peaceful cities of Donbas. There are debris of those missiles displaying corresponding serial numbers.
The 19th Missile Brigade of Ukrainian armed forces used same type of projectile in their air strike against the Donetsk city center, which killed 21 residents on the spot and wounded 36 more.
Western media still present the appalling video footage of this shelling as bombardment of Kiev.
To sum up, the provocation in Kramatorsk failed. But Ukrainian propaganda experts will surely try to learn their lesson and work better next time. They do their best. Lately, we have informed the United Nations of the following provocations that they are working on.
– Staged filming of the search and opening of mass graves in Ragovka settlement of Kiev region.
– Reporters from Western media have arrived at the town of Kremyannaya. Their goal is to film a provocation organized by Ukrainian armed forces. This time it should be about Russian troops allegedly shooting at ambulances that transport patients.
– In Bilogorovka, neo-Nazis have mined chlorine tanks at a water supply plant, which they plan to blow up when LPR militia formations approach the town.
– In Irpen (Kiev region), a Bucha/Nemmersdorf-style provocation is taking place. Members of Ukraine’s Security Service plan to take bodies of civilians who were killed by an artillery bombardment from the morgue of the town hospital in Polevaya Street to a basement of one of the buildings in eastern outskirts of the town. Then a staged action with shooting and “destruction” of an alleged “Russian reconnaissance group” that arrived in Irpen “to kill witnesses of Russian war crimes” will be staged by the Security Service of Ukraine in Puscha-Voditskii forest area. At the same time, the bodies of captured Russian servicemen previously killed by nationalists under torture will be presented as “undeniable evidence”. We wait for Western media to circulate video footage of this staged campaign.
As recently as today, Russian Defense Ministry reported that representatives of the Ukrainian and Western media were invited to Seredina Buda town in Sumy region, which was formerly under the control of Russian troops, to conduct staged video footage.
In Nizhnyaya Syrovatka near Sumy, bodies are being dragged into one of the basements of residential buildings. This story about “another victim” of Russian troops is directed by British “filmmakers”. I remind that Russian troops withdrew from the town three weeks ago. We receive all these reports from local residents who remain on the ground and are not indifferent to the goals of the SMO.
Besides, I cannot fail to mention reports coming from Odessa, according to which there are many Ukrainian soldiers in the city who are dressed in Russian military uniform. Apparently, another large-scale deadly provocation, or rather a false flag operation is being prepared in Odessa. Colleagues, please do not say we did not warn you.
Both past and planned provocations, coupled with the notorious practice of using civilians as a human shield startle with inhumane attitude to the future of Ukrainian people and prove that Ukrainian nationalists are in full neglect of any moral norms and rules of the international humanitarian law. As we repeatedly stated, Russia does not fight Ukrainian civil population.
Mr.President,
Since this meeting is also dedicated to the issue of women, peace, and security, I cannot but address this aspect. In respect to Ukraine, this agenda is highly politicized and imbued with provocations. We clearly see an intention to present Russian soldiers as sadists and rapists – in the same manner as one tried to present Soviet winner-warriors of WW2 as sadists and rapists back in the day. Neither goals, nor the Russophobic sentiment of Ukraine’s inherited propaganda playbooks have changed.
However reality proves otherwise. Despite all tricks, truth about heinous tortures of civilians (including women and children) by sadists from Ukrainian nationalist battalions sometimes does get through to Western audience.
Take primary school 18 of Mariupol, that was long held by Azov Nazi battalion. Even seen-it-all military were shocked by what they saw there – a dismembered dead body of a woman on the floor in the basement, hands severed off, face disfigured, swastika sign branded onto the belly. Remarkably, from time to time Ukraine and the West attempt to present this terrifying photo evidence, which has already been published, as evidence of crimes committed by Russians.
Mr.President,
Nationalists have been consistently working on the Ukrainian society for at least 8 years. That is why unfortunately, Ukrainian women sometimes assume rather strange, I would say even wildish image. This is best illustrated by a patriotic reel that is being actively promoted on social media. It features a famous actress from Western Ukraine cutting the throat of a tortured Russian soldier with a sickle. In the background, patriotic mottos, as well as curses can be heard. The only thing this may be connoted with is ISIL spreading video footage that depicted terrorists cutting throats of their victims.
It is very unfortunate that Ukraine resorted to this limitless ruthlessness, to blind extremism and radicalism that keeps abreast with that demonstrated by ISIL. When seeing this, one but makes sure that Russia’s special military operation was really needed and had no alternative. The SMO is needed for the sake of Ukraine’s future, for the sake of security of Russia and other its neighbors. I doubt that peaceful Poles can feel safe when organizers of Wołyń massacre that killed dozens of thousands of their fellow citizens back in 1943 are cherished in present-day Ukraine as national heroes. I am speaking about peaceful Poles rather than Polish authorities, blinded by Russophobia, whose policy has long lost any common sense.
Mr.President,
Let me finish my statement by making a more optimistic point. There is another Ukraine that is getting through our SMO a new chance to peaceful life and good neighborly relations.
This Ukraine has its symbols, among them women. For example, there is a video clip that went viral on social media and seems to have touched everyone’s feelings. I mean the video made by Ukrainian troops when they entered one of the villages. There was a very old lady who stepped forth to greet them. Having mistaken them for Russians, she welcomed them with red Soviet Victory Banner in her hands. She spoke words of kindness to them and said how long she had waited to be liberated. Ukrainian soldiers, and we must do them justice for that, make no wrong to the old lady and give her a parcel with produce, but in return they take the banner from her and start trampling it with their boots. Then the lady, who had realized her mistake, demonstratively returned the parcel to them and demanded her banner back – the banner for which her parents had fought. The video stops here.
I would very much want to believe that nothing bad happened to the lady afterwards. Her courage and resolve have inspired many people. I would also want to believe that she will see the moment of liberation and will be able to take the red banner on Victory Day, which is a sacred holiday to all of us, and honor the memory of her parents and all those who liberated Ukraine from Nazis, without fearing that someone might trample on it.
Thank you.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... ev-regime/
The Missing of Mariupol Under Fire
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
The Missing Of Mariupol Under Fire Special Report (The Search Is On) Russia – Ukraine War.
Special Report by Patrick Lancaster
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... nder-fire/
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From Cassad's Telegram:
Forwarded from
Readovka
At night in Mariupol, the remnants of Ukrainian troops surrounded on the territory of the Ilyicha plant made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the city - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
However, the breakthrough attempt was thwarted - 3 tanks, 5 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 vehicles and up to 50 people were liquidated, and 42 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered.
What else did the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation report:
- The Russian military destroyed an ammunition depot and a protected hangar with Ukrainian aircraft at the Starokonstantinov military airfield in the Khmelnytsky region, as well as an ammunition depot near the village of Gavrilovka, Kiev region;
- Operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 32 military facilities of Ukraine, including the Buk-M1 air defense system, the S-300 air defense system for illumination and guidance, as well as one command post and 18 areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment;
- Russian air defense systems shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles in the air in the areas of the settlements of Berdyansk and Melitopol;
- In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 130 aircraft, 99 helicopters, 244 air defense systems, 443 UAVs, 2139 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 241 MLRS, 917 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 2046 units of special military vehicles.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
A handout photo made available by the Austrian Chancellery shows Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer at a press conference after his meeting with Russian President Putin, at the Austrian Embassy in Moscow, | Photo: EFE/EPA/DRAGAN TATIC / AUSTRIAN CHANCELLERY
Published 11 April 2022
The West doesn’t want the diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine pushing Kiev to stake on more militarism, Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.
On Monday, 47 days after the start of their military operation in Ukraine, Russian troops maintain the initiative in the Donetsk, Mariupol and Kharkiv regions. Below are the main developments as they occur.
Japan approves additional sanctions against 398 people and 28 organizations from Russia
The Japanese government on Tuesday approved additional sanctions against 398 people and 28 organizations from Russia in connection with the situation around Ukraine, according to the website of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
In particular, deputies of the State Duma fell under sanctions.
Blinken said that India should take a stand on the situation around Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meets virtually with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 11 April 2022 - EFE/EPA/Chris Kleponis / POOL
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said India should make its own decisions about how it deals with the situation around Ukraine.
"India must make its own decisions about how it approaches this challenge," Blinken said at a news conference after a meeting of U.S. and Indian foreign policy and defense chiefs.
At the same time, he noted that the U.S. considers it "important that all countries, especially those with leverage, put pressure on Putin to stop the war."
According to Blinken, it is important that "democracies stand together and speak with one voice, defending the values we share."
The secretary of state said the U.S. "will continue to increase our support for the government and people of Ukraine and encourage other countries to do the same, just as we call on all countries to condemn Moscow's increasingly violent actions."
"And I would also note that India is providing significant humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, particularly medicine, which is much needed and in real demand," he added.
For his part, Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar said that India is "against the conflict" and "for dialogue and diplomacy" and for an "urgent end to violence."
"We are ready to contribute in any way we can to achieve these goals," he said.
Blinken said the U.S. hopes its allies and partners will not increase their purchases of Russian energy, and urged all countries to avoid new deals to buy arms from Russia.
"When it comes to oil purchases, sanctions and so forth, I would just point out that there are restrictions on energy purchases. Of course, we encourage countries not to buy additional energy from Russia," the U.S. secretary of state said.
Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin are on a working visit to India.
Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden held a video conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him not to increase Russia's oil imports. Since the beginning of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, India has purchased at least 13 million barrels of oil from Russia, with a total of 16 million barrels of similar purchases by India in the whole of 2021.
Austrian Chancellor told Putin about Zelensky's desire for direct talks
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's desire for direct talks.
"I informed him that President Zelensky wants direct contact for negotiations," Nehammer said, his remarks broadcast live on the German television channel Welt.
Nehammer visited Moscow on Monday and met with Putin; there was no press conference following the meeting.
West doesn’t want diplomatic resolution of conflict in Ukraine - Russian diplomat
The West doesn’t want the diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine pushing Kiev to stake on more militarism, Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.
"We see how foreign patrons of the current Ukrainian authorities are persistently dissuading them from political and diplomatic ways," the Russian foreign ministry quoted him as saying at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.
After such "encouraging" signals from Western capitals, Ukraine’s leadership "has changed its rhetoric to stake on militarism again," he noted.
The Kremlin will go to court if the West declares Russia in default. "Of course, we are going to go to court, because we have taken all necessary actions so that investors receive their payments," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
President Vladimir Putin's administration will present proof that Russia did everything possible to pay off the Eurobonds in the currencies in which the debt was originally contracted.
"Western countries' deliberate policy is to artificially create a payment suspension," he added, recalling that all Russian accounts were blocked, which prevents Moscow from paying bondholders. However, Russia opened accounts so that foreign investors could receive the expected payments in ruble equivalent.
"Will they be able to convert rubles into foreign currency? Yes, but according to our position, this can be done once Russia's foreign currency accounts are unfrozen," Siluanov explained
Russia in favor of continuing negotiations with Ukraine. Despite Ukraine's inconsistency and tendency to reject its own proposals, Russia prefers to continue the negotiation process, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that Moscow will be patient and persistent throughout the negotiations.
His country, however, will never play a subordinate role in the current world order. "Russia, with its history... its traditions, is one of those countries that will never occupy a subordinate position. We can only be members of the international community on equal terms, under conditions (that guarantee) the indivisibility of security," Lavrov stressed.
Croatia expels 18 diplomats and 6 employees from the Russian embassy in Zagreb. The Croatian Foreign Affairs Ministry decided to reduce the size of the Russian diplomatic representation on its territory. In a note to the Russian ambassador, Croatia also called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
Russia keeps up the pressure in Donetsk, Mariupol and Kharkov. In the Donetsk area, Russia continues to focus on taking control of the Popasna, Rubizhne, Nyzhne, and Novobahmutivka settlements. Russian troops also seek to fully control the city of Mariupol, where their offensive continues in the Azovstal plant and seaport areas.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War maintains that Russian forces have gained ground in Mariupol over the last 24 hours. Currently, this city is divided in two zones: while the center is controlled by the Russians, the main port and the Azovstal steel plant remain in Ukrainian hands.
Overnight, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed Ukrainian military equipment and facilities. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that high-precision air-launched missiles near Velyka Novosilka destroyed the base for the repair of weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian air defense forces.
Ukraine imposes a full embargo on imports of goods from Russia. From now on, no Russian products will be able to be imported into Ukraine. "Such a decisive step by Ukraine can serve as an example for our Western partners and will stimulate them to strengthen sanctions against Russia," Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Russia raised its reserve fund by US$3.4 billion. The largest source of the increase was additional oil and gas revenues received in the first quarter of 2022. Russia's reserve fund was created to finance unforeseen expenses not covered by the federal budget.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces said that the Russians did "not stop trying to break through the defense of Ukrainian troops in Izyum City. The Russian military is "trying to take full control of the city of Mariupol." Meanwhile, a rocket attack conducted by Russian forces on Sunday destroyed an airport in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine, Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk military-civilian administration said.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. Nehammer said he planned the visit to Moscow on his own initiative with an aim to promote dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. They discussed defense and financial support for Ukraine. In their talks, the pair also touched upon the sanctions against Russia over its conflict with Ukraine.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0004.html
Russia Won't Change Its Policy Towards Ukraine
Russian FM spokeswoman said that the Kremlin will not change its position toward Ukraine. Apr. 11, 2022. | Photo: @AHMEDQALI4
Published 11 April 2022
On Monday, the Russian government announced it would not change its position in Ukraine because of other countries' pressure.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday that Moscow would not change its posture in light of the pressure imposed by other countries with the expulsion of Russian diplomats from several countries.
"Why not declare all [Russian diplomats personae non grata] in a bid to make us change our position? No, we will not change it," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
The message reads: "I would tell the French foreign ministry the following: if you had threatened Kiev with sanctions for non-implementation of the Minsk agreement at least once, you would have achieved peace and stability in Europe."
The comments came aimed at the earlier Monday's announcement made by the French foreign ministry, where it designated six more Russian personnel to Moscow's diplomatic mission in the country as personae non grata.
The Russian embassy's minister counselor was handed a note being convened to the French foreign ministry.
As a coercive measure against Russia because of the special military operation launched in Ukraine last February 24, several European countries have decided to remove Russian diplomatic staff from their embassy.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0019.html
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The Reasons For And Dangers Behind The War In Ukraine
The war in the Ukraine continues but the propaganda hysteria around it seems to have calmed down a bit as reality is setting in.
This gives room from more sane voices to be heard by the public. I will start with the Russian ones.
The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, was interviewed by Newsweek. He explained Russia's political and judicial reasoning behind the war:
"The special operation in Ukraine is the result of the unwillingness of the Kiev regime to stop the genocide of Russians by fulfilling its obligations under the international commitments," Antonov told Newsweek. "The desire of the NATO member states to use the territory of a neighboring state to establish a foothold in the struggle against Russia is also obvious."
...
To Russia, Antonov said that the [Maidan] revolution was a "bloody coup d'état instigated by the West" in which "ultranationalist ideas came to power in Kiev." He said that policies viewed by Moscow as hostile such as the removal of Russian as a national language and the rehabilitation of nationalist Ukrainian figures such as Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II, had "taken root in Ukraine under external administration."
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Antonov argued that it was the "nationalist frenzy and revanchist sentiments of the Kiev regime" that resulted in the effective death of the Minsk deals as Ukraine chose "the path of rapid militarization" with help from abroad.
"The NATO member countries have commenced a military exploration of Ukraine," Antonov said. "It was flooded with Western weaponry while President Vladimir Zelensky announced Kiev's plans to acquire nuclear weapons which would threaten not only neighboring countries, but also the entire world."
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"In this context, Russia had no other choice but to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics," Antonov said. "Then, in accordance with Chapter VII, Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, with the authorization of the Federation Council of Russia and in execution of the Treaties of Friendship and Mutual Assistance with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin made a decision to begin a special military operation."
"Its aim is to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine in order to reduce military threats posed by the Western states that are trying to use the fraternal Ukrainian people in the struggle against the Russians," he added.
Sergey Karaganov is a high level Russian political scientist and commentator who is also a presidential advisor in Moscow. He was interviewed (in English) by the Italian Corriere Della Sera
Sergey Karaganov: «We are at war with the West. The European security order is illegitimate»
An excerpt:
How can an attack be justified on such grounds?
«For 25 years people like myself have said that NATO expansion would lead to war. Putin said several times that if it came to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, there would be no Ukraine anymore. In Bucharest in 2008 there was a plan of quick accession of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO. It was blocked by the efforts of Germany and France, but since that time Ukraine has been integrated into NATO. It was pumped up by weaponry and its troops were trained by NATO, their army getting stronger and stronger day by day. In addition we saw a very rapid increase of neo-Nazi sentiment especially among the military, the society and the ruling elite. It was clear that Ukraine had become something like Germany around 1936-1937. The war was inevitable, they were a spearhead of NATO. We made the very hard decision to strike first, before the threat becomes deadlier».
I recommend to read the whole Karaganov interview to better understand the Russian thinking.
"It was clear that Ukraine had become something like Germany around 1936-1937," said Karaganov. The 'western' public has difficulties to understand that. But it is the prevailing Russian view and when analyzing the developments in the Ukraine over the last years with Russian history in mind one can easily come to the same conclusion.
It is also what the Canadian Russia expert Patrick Armstrong had mentioned as the most important item after he had read Putin's speeches at the start of the war:
Had I been at home I would have read Putin’s speech earlier and understood sooner. What he is talking about is what the Soviet Union tried to do from 1933 onwards: namely to stop Hitler before he got started. This time Russia is able to do it by itself. In other words, Putin feels that he is making a pre-emptive attack to stop June 1941. This is very serious indeed and indicates that the Russians are going to keep going until they feel that they can safely stop.
.
The Russian view is not really that far fetched.
Here is a recent news agency video of officials of the Ukrainian Security Service SBU in front of a destroyed house seemingly praying with a priest for the deceased.
Note the fascist Right Sector patch the official carries on his arm and back. The SBU has become a kind of Gestapo tasked with eliminating opposition elements in Ukraine. The UN's OHCHR, the OSCE, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International have all reported about the SBU's many crimes.
There is also an 'SS Galizien' patch on the officers back which refers to the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) which fought with Nazi-Germany against the Soviet Union. Like many other SS division the 1st Galician was involved in serious war-crimes but later mostly whitewashed. After the war many of its surviving officers fled to Canada and to the United States.
The offspring of those officers and other immigrants from the Ukraine played a noticeable role in lobbying for the war.
That has been successful as the U.S. had chosen to support extreme elements in Ukraine in opposition to peace. This has, as Aaron Maté writes, moved president Zelensky from an election campaign position of finding peace with Russia to becoming a war maniac:
On a warm October day in 2019, the eminent Russia studies professor Stephen F. Cohen and I sat down in Manhattan for what would be our last in-person interview (Cohen passed away in September 2020 at the age of 81).
...
"Zelensky ran as a peace candidate," Cohen explained. "He won an enormous mandate to make peace. So, that means he has to negotiate with Vladimir Putin." But there was a major obstacle. Ukrainian fascists, Cohen warned, "have said that they will remove and kill Zelensky if he continues along this line of negotiating with Putin… His life is being threatened literally by a quasi-fascist movement in Ukraine."
Peace could only come, Cohen stressed, on one condition. "[Zelensky] can’t go forward with full peace negotiations with Russia, with Putin, unless America has his back," he said. "Maybe that won’t be enough, but unless the White House encourages this diplomacy, Zelensky has no chance of negotiating an end to the war. So the stakes are enormously high."
...
Although Trump's impeachment failed to remove him from office, it succeeded in cementing the proxy war aims of its chief proponents: rather than support Zelensky's peace mandate, Ukraine would instead be used to "fight Russia over there."
I had earlier quoted an interview with Dmytro Yarosh, then the leader of the fascist Right Sector, who just a week after Zelenski had become president threatened him with death should he try to make peace with the eastern Ukrainian rebels. Yarosh later became an advisor to the chief general staff of the Ukrainian military. He is the main person behind the ongoing nazification of the Ukrainian military.
As ambassador Antonov has said the war in Ukraine is not only about the Ukraine.
Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, is correctly pointing out the two levels of the war we see:
It is not that the empathy for Ukraine or support for Zelensky’s national resistance is misplaced, but that it has the appearance of being geopolitically orchestrated and manipulated in ways that other desperate national situations were not, and thus gives rise to suspicions about other, darker motives.
This is worrisome because these magnified concerns have acted as a principal way that the NATO West has gone out of its way to make the Ukrainian War about more than Ukraine. The wider war is best understood as occurring on two levels: a traditional war between the invading forces of Russia and the resisting forces of Ukraine as intertwined with an encompassing geopolitical war between the US and Russia. It is the prosecution of this latter war that presents the more profound danger to world peace, a danger that has been largely obscured or assessed as a mere extension of the Russia/Ukraine confrontation.
...
If this two-level perception is correctly analyzed in its appreciation of the different actors with contradictory priorities, then it becomes crucial to understand that in the geopolitical war the US is the aggressor as much as in the traditional war on the ground Russia is the aggressor.
Falk concurs with professor John Mearsheimer who fears that the larger U.S. Russia conflict hidden behind the war in Ukraine may lead to widening of the conflict into a potential nuclear war.
Summarizing Mearsheimer's recent talk with Katrina vanden Heuvel and ambassador James Matlock, the former CIA analyst Ray McGovern writes:
Speaking at an April 7 webinar, Mearsheimer was, true to form, "offensively realistic". He explained: (1) the root cause lies in the April 2008 NATO summit Declaration that Ukraine (and Georgia) "will become members of NATO"; and (2) that Russia sees this as an "existential threat" and therefore "must win" this one.
For President Joe Biden and the Democrats, even though Ukraine poses zero strategic threat to the U.S., a Russian "win" would be, politically, a "devastating defeat", says Mearsheimer. In that sense, the conflict is a "must-win" for the US as well. Underscoring the obvious, he noted it is impossible for both sides to "win" – at least not in current circumstances.
...
Noting that US academics and policy makers don’t believe NATO’s designs on Ukraine represent an existential threat to Russia, Mearsheimer is as blunt as his courteous mien permits. "What people in Washington believe is irrelevant. What matters is what Russia believes." He rejects the "mainstream" view that Putin’s Russia is motivated by expansionist aims, and asks the savants in Washington to put concrete evidence behind their claims. Moreover, "There is no evidence in what Putin has said that he wants to make Ukraine part of Russia," Mearsheimer adds.
Towards the end of a talk with Gonzalo Lira former Marine officer and UN Inspector Scott Ritter disputes the potential for escalation. The Pentagon, he says, knows the real situation on the ground and that the Ukrainian army will lose the war. Neither NATO, nor the U.S. nor single countries like Poland have their forces configured in a way that would allow them to successfully wage war against Russia. They would need more time to get ready than Russia will need to win the war in Ukraine.
Ritter predicts that the Pentagon will overrule any escalation the Ukraine warmongers in the State Department and National Security Council may plan and that those responsible for the current mess, Victoria Nuland, Anthony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, will get silenced or removed after the midterms.
I hope he is right.
Posted by b on April 11, 2022 at 16:33 UTC | Permalink
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/s ... .html#more
How The U.S. Does 'Diplomacy'
The U.S. doesn't do diplomacy. Every country has its own interests. But the U.S. and its pricks in the State Department insist that its interests must have priority over all others. Any country that disagrees with that will be called out on this or that issue or will even get sanctioned.
March 19 2022: President Xi Jinping Has a Video Call with US President Joe Biden
The two sides exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine.
President Biden expounded on the US position, and expressed readiness for communication with China to prevent the situation from exacerbating.
President Xi pointed out that China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine to come to this. China stands for peace and opposes war. This is embedded in China’s history and culture. China makes a conclusion independently based on the merits of each matter. China advocates upholding international law and universally recognized norms governing international relations. China adheres to the UN Charter and promotes the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. These are the major principles that underpin China’s approach to the Ukraine crisis.
March 21 2022: US announces new sanctions on Chinese officials over ‘repressive acts’
The State Department said it would impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials it said are believed to be responsible for “policies or actions aimed at repressing religious and spiritual practitioners, members of ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, labor organizers, civil society organizers, and peaceful protestors in China and beyond.”
April 11 2022: Ukraine dominates Modi-Biden talks
Mr. Modi, who spoke via videolink to Mr Biden, described the situation in Ukraine as “very worrying” and said he had spoken, several times, with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and had not just urged peace, but also direct talks between them. India’s unwillingness to call out Russia by name for its attack on Ukraine has not gone down well in Washington, but U.S. officials have also said that they hoped countries that have relationships with Moscow might leverage them to bring about a resolution to the situation.
April 12 2022: US Monitoring "Rise In Human Rights Abuses" In India: Antony Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was monitoring what he described as a rise in "human rights abuses" in India by some officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of New Delhi.
"We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values (of human rights) and to that end, we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials," Mr Blinken said on Monday in a joint press briefing with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
January 10 2022: Chas Freeman - Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
What distinguishes diplomats from courtiers, securocrats, and other bureaucrats in a national capital is a reliance on empathy: the ability to see the world through other eyes and to use this insight to induce others to see their interests the way the diplomat wants them to see them. It takes more than a diplomatic passport, position, or title to make someone a “diplomat.” Diplomacy, like other skilled work, requires knowhow gained through training, mentoring, on-the-job experience, and awareness of historical precedents. It is a calling and a role, not a job title.
Yet diplomacy remains at best a proto-profession in the United States, thanks to the uniquely American reliance on the political spoils system to staff even key national security functions. This makes diplomatic appointments to benefit appointees and their political parties rather than the country. It thereby enshrines amateurism and incompetence. As the New York Herald-Tribune put it in 1857, in the United States “diplomacy is the sewer through which flows the scum and refuse of the political puddle. A man not fit to stay at home is just the man to send abroad.” Only one thing has changed about this in the last 165 years. Female campaign donors and celebrities now compete with men for appointments to what they imagine are ambassadorial sinecures in plummy places abroad, leaving seedy and dangerous places to lifers.
Posted by b on April 12, 2022 at 10:42 UTC | Permalink
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/h ... l#comments
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US Lawmakers Welcomed Notorious Georgian Warlord now Boasting of War Crimes in Ukraine
April 12, 2022
By Alexander Rubinstein – Apr 8, 2022
Top lawmakers in US Congress hosted Mamuka Mamulashvili, an infamous Georgian Legion warlord who has boasted of authorizing field executions of captive Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Georgian warlord Mamuka Mamulashvili (center) visits Rep. Eliot Engel in 2017
Having taken up arms against Russia for a fifth time, Georgian Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili has bragged on video about his unit carrying out field executions of captured Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
While Western media pundits howled about images of dead bodies in the city of Bucha, echoing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy’s accusation that Russia is guilty of “genocide,” they have largely overlooked the apparent admission of atrocities by an avowed ally of the United States who was welcomed on Capitol Hill by senior lawmakers overseeing congressional foreign policy committees.
Having fought in four wars against Russia, and despite allegations that he played a leading role in the massacre of 49 protesters in Kiev’s Maidan Square in 2014, Mamulashvili has taken multiple trips to the United States, where he received a warm welcome from members of Congress, the New York Police Department, and Ukrainian diaspora community.
In an interview this April, Mamulashvili, was asked about a video showing Russian fighters who had been extrajudicially executed in Dmitrovka, a town just five miles from Bucha. Mamulashvili was candid about his unit’s take-no-prisoners tactics, though he has denied involvement in the specific crimes depicted.
“We will not take Russian soldiers, as well as Kadyrovites [Chechnyan fighters]; in any case, we will not take prisoners, not a single person will be captured,” Mamulashvili said, implying that his fighters execute POWs.
The warlord’s battle dress shirt was emblazoned with a patch reading, “Mama says I’m special.”
“Yes, we tie their hands and feet sometimes. I speak for the Georgian Legion, we will never take Russian soldiers prisoner. Not a single one of them will be taken prisoner,” Mamulashvili emphasized
Executions of enemy combatants are considered war crimes under the Geneva Convention.
Ukrainian and Georgian Legion fighters celebrate after executing captive Russian soldiers on video
War crimes on the front lines
Western governments continue to block a Russian request for a United Nations investigation into alleged massacres in Bucha, where scores of corpses were photographed following the Russian withdrawal from the city, some with hands bound and shot execution style – as Mamulashvili described doing to prisoners.
While the events in Bucha have become a source of outrage and heated contention, a clear case of war crimes by Ukrainian forces which took place just five miles down the road on March 30 as Russian troops withdrew has received a more muted response despite coverage by the New York Times.
The macabre footage shows Russian paratroopers dead or bleeding out in the road, some with their hands clearly bound — reportedly the handiwork of the Georgian Legion.
Celebrating the ambush’s success, the videographer calls the attention of his fellow soldiers: “Georgians! Belgravia, boys!” Belgravia refers to a nearby housing complex from which some of the non-Georgian fighters presumably hail.
“Look, he is still alive,” one of the fighters says as a Russian writhes in a pool of blood. He was then shot three times at close range.
Oz Katerji, a neoconservative British-Lebanese operative who has generated attention by sending threatening Whatsapp messages to journalists opposed to the US-backed dirty war in Syria, fantasizing about police torturing Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, hysterically heckling former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at an antiwar meeting, and embedding with CIA-backed armed gangs in Syria, wound up at the site of the Russian convoy two days after it was destroyed.
Filming himself against the backdrop of numerous burned out Russian tanks, Katerji tweeted that soldiers told him “they had removed eight Russian corpses from the battlefield yesterday.”
Far-left: UK neoconservative Oz Katerji in Lebanon; Right: Katerji at the site a destroyed Russian convoy on April 2.
An equally sanitized depiction of the scene was published by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Twitter, which compiled shots of the destruction and an interview with a soldier over an intermittent electronic soundtrack.
In the original war crimes video, one of the men who gloated at the scene of the killings has been identified as Khizanishvili Teymuraz of the Georgian Legion. Previously, Teymuraz served as a body guard to former Georgian president and Mamulashvili ally Mikheil Saakashvili.
A pet project of Washington neoconservatives, Saakashvili met disgraceafter leading a disastrous war of choice against Russia over South Ossetia in 2008. He eventually accepted an offer from Ukraine to serve as governor in Odessa in 2015.
“It is necessary to create chaos on the Maidan”
The most deadly incident during the 2013-14 riots and protests on Kiev’s Maidan Square that eventually led to the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was the massacre of 49 demonstrators on February 20, 2014. The incident galvanized international outrage against Yanukovych and weakened his government’s negotiating position. Yet it remains shrouded in intrigue.
During the color revolution on the Maidan, Mamulashvili rallied his old war buddies to take up Ukraine’s cause. Near the central square, his group was reportedly “told to ensure order so that there were no drunks, to maintain discipline and identify rabble-rousers sent in by the authorities.”
Mamulashvili’s former comrades told Russian media that he eventually told them “it is necessary to create chaos on the Maidan, using weapons against any targets, protesters and police — no difference.”
President Vlodymyr Zelensky has described the killings on the Maidan as “the most complicated case in our country,” noting that the crime scene was tampered with and documents have mysteriously disappeared.
International bodies also remain befuddled. While the NATO-funded Atlantic Council think tank has described the matter as “unsolved,” the United Nations has noted that “justice remains elusive.”
Today, some researchers point to Mamulashvili and his Georgian Legionnaires as key suspects behind the mysterious killings. Ivan Katchanovski, a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa, is among those who believe Mamulashvili’s allies were likely among those who fired on protesters from buildings over Maidan Square, generating bloodshed that was ultimately blamed on Ukraine’s then-government.
“Testimonies by several Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups for the Maidan massacre trial and investigation and their interviews in American, Italian and Israeli TV documentaries and Macedonian and Russian media are generally consistent with findings of my academic studies of the Maidan massacre,” Katchanovski commented to The Grayzone.
While Katchanovski said his academic research did not focus on the involvement of specific individuals in the massacre, he stated that most of the Georgians who testified in the trial revealed their names, passport numbers and border stamps, copies of plane tickets, videos and photos in Ukraine or Georgian military, and other evidence to affirm their credibility. He added that some of their identities were verified by the Ukrainian border guard service and the Armenian and Belarusian authorities for the Maidan massacre trial in Ukraine.
“The Maidan massacre trial in November 2021 admitted and showed as evidence a testimony of one of these Georgians who confessed of being a member of a group of Maidan snipers,” Katchanovski stated.
The US members of Congress that hosted Mamulashvili were either unaware of these allegations or believed the Georgian warlord was simply innocent.
A warlord goes to Washington
As this reporter recently documented for The Grayzone, photos posted by Mamulashvili on his Facebook page show the Georgian hard-man inside the US Capitol rubbing elbows with some of the top figures on the House Foreign Relations Committee.
His hosts included then-Rep. Eliot Engel, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, former Rep. Sander Levin, Rep. Andre Carson, Rep. Doug Lamborn, and former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.
Additional photos show him visiting Senate offices, including that of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Kristen Gilibrand, who sits on the Intelligence Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.
Contacted by phone by this reporter, the offices of Senators Feinstein and Gilibrand have declined to comment on their hosting of the Georgian warlord.
Mamulashvili with Rep. Carolyn Maloney in March 2018
Mamulashvili’s multiple trips to the United States have offered him the opportunity to attend events at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, give talks at Saint George Academy, a Ukrainian Catholic School in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and hold forth in an interview with the Washington office of US government’s Voice of America in 2015. He has even posed for photo ops with officers of the New York City Police Department.
Georgian warlord Mamulashvili with NYPD officers, June 4, 2017
Additional photos show Mamulashvili holding the flag of the Georgian Legion with Nadiya Shaporynska, the founder and president of US Ukrainian Activists, a DC-based non-profit that has lobbied members Congress to take measures against Russia, held daily rallies outside of the White House, and fundraised tens of thousands of dollars to procure supplies for the Ukrainian military and refugees.
In between these trips, Mamulashvili constructed three training bases and recruited hundreds of fighters. Some photos he posted to Facebook show the warlord’s subordinates training children (below) for battle against Russia. The practice of cultivating children for warfare is sharedby Ukraine’s more notorious Azov Battalion.
US volunteer with the Georgian Legion details executions, flees after threats
In March, this reporter interviewed Henry Hoeft, a US army veteran who accepted Zelensky’s appeal for foreign fighters and volunteered for the Georgian Legion.
Hoeft told The Grayzone that members of the legion threatened to kill him when he refused to go to the front lines without a weapon. Heft also recalled how Georgian fighters put bags over the heads of two men who blew through a checkpoint and executed them on the spot, accusing them of being spies for Russia.
While Western reporters have presented Mamulashvili as a brave and tactically deft battlefield commander since he entered the fight against Russia in Ukraine, his unit has also received mention in articles over the years on the unsavory figures it has welcomed into its ranks: neo-Nazis, bank robbers and fugitives like Craig Lang, who is wanted in the United States on suspicion of murdering a married couple in Florida.
In the east of Ukraine, where Lang spoke to the media on behalf of the Georgian Legion (then sometimes called the “Foreign Legion”) from the front lines, the Department of Justice and FBI have investigated Lang and seven other Americans for war crimes. The group allegedly took “non-combatants” as prisoners and tortured them, sometimes to death before burial in an unmarked grave.
Mamulashvili’s Facebook page contains an un-captioned photograph of the American fugitive.
As the war in Ukraine intensifies and the US deepens its commitment to escalating it, top foreign policy figures in Washington are wagging a finger at Russia with one hand and literally shaking the hand of Mamulashvili, an avowed war criminal, with the other.
Featured image: Georgian warlord and confessed war criminal Mamuka Mamulashvili visits Washington in 2017
https://orinocotribune.com/us-lawmakers ... n-ukraine/
"Know them by their proxies."
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Ukraine: Russia Warns the UNSC of New Provocations by the Kiev Regime
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on the situation in Ukraine
Mr. President,
We never doubted that today our Western colleagues would produce lots of speculations as to what is going on in Ukraine in light of the Russian special military operation. Your scheme of action is clear to us. You seek to twist and besmirch the goals of the SMO, downplay the facts that are inconvenient to you, advance fakes and propaganda narrative, promoted by Ukraine and professional Western consultants who work for the Kiev regime. All your efforts meet the logic of information war that is being waged on Russia and that is not inferior to actual hostilities on the ground in terms of its intensity.
Our Albanian colleagues set a new benchmark of disinformation today. The Permanent Representative of Albania read out almost a full list of crimes that are ascribed to Russia, but did not bother to mention that neither of those cases had any credible evidence. I take it that you completely defied presumption of innocence.
Recently, Western and Ukrainian fake factory has stepped up to a new level and got down to fabrications and stagings in the best traditions of notorious Syrian-British White Helmets. Unprecedentedly cruel and “crude” provocation in the town of Bucha (Kiev region) is still on everyone’s lips. One propagates it as a Russian crime, despite irrefutable evidence that proves the staged nature of the incident, and that is getting more and more numerous. I will not go into detail here, because we already did it last Tuesday, after the British Presidency of the Security Council had done its best to not allow for a separate UNSC meeting on the topic – in violation of the Council’s basic rules of procedure.
Let me just say that when thoroughly analyzing the acts of Ukrainian nationalists, it is hard to get rid of a déjà vu feeling. Back in 1944, ideological teachers of Kievan radicals, who acted in the best traditions of Goebbels’s propaganda, organized a provocation with civilians who had allegedly been killed by Red Army soldiers in the village of Nemmersdorf in Eastern Prussia. Shortly before that, all major German newspapers had received guidelines stipulating how exactly they should present the alleged “atrocities” of Soviet soldiers.
Nowadays newspapers are not read that often, so such guidelines are first circulated in social media with no attempts made to actually conceal this fact. Those who do this commission background actors, specify aspects that should be accentuated, etc. In a word, Goebbels would have been impressed by style and scale of his Ukrainian disciples, had it not been for the quality of performance, which failed them.
Later on, various experts provided credible refutation of the Nemmersdorf case that was designed to accuse Red Army soldiers of mass murders and rapes. The name of the village then became proverbial and was widely used to designate a gross staging carried out for propaganda purposes. Exactly same thing happened recently in Bucha. But even this one was outmatched by what we saw at the end of this past week. I am referring to the provocation that Ukrainian nationalists organized in the city of Kramatorsk that was still under their control. This one was a classical “false-flag”operation. Let me speak of it in more detail, especially given that many of us already mentioned it today.
On 8 April, Ukrainian military carried out a Tochka-U air strike from the area of Dobropol’e (45 km southwest of Kramatorsk) against the Kramatorsk railway terminal, killing 50 people, including 5 children. 98 people were taken to hospitals of Kramatorsk, including 16 children, 46 women, and 36 men. Why are we so sure it were the Ukrainian and not Russian military, as Western media initially claimed and as some our colleagues said earlier today? There are several reasons, I will name three of them.
Firstly, Russian troops do not use Tochka-U tactical missile systems. They are outdated, that is why we replaced them with Iskander systems. Ukrainian troops, however, keep using Tochka-U systems very actively.
Secondly, eyewitnesses had taken some pictures on “hot scents”, before Ukrainian propaganda makers arrived on the scene. Those photos make it possible to unmistakably identify both the type of the missile and direction where it had come from. This area is so far controlled by Ukrainian military.
Thirdly, same photos let us easily identify the number of the Tochka-U, and say that it belonged to “Ш915” series. Missiles of the same series were used on many occasions to shell peaceful cities of Donbas. There are debris of those missiles displaying corresponding serial numbers.
The 19th Missile Brigade of Ukrainian armed forces used same type of projectile in their air strike against the Donetsk city center, which killed 21 residents on the spot and wounded 36 more.
Western media still present the appalling video footage of this shelling as bombardment of Kiev.
To sum up, the provocation in Kramatorsk failed. But Ukrainian propaganda experts will surely try to learn their lesson and work better next time. They do their best. Lately, we have informed the United Nations of the following provocations that they are working on.
– Staged filming of the search and opening of mass graves in Ragovka settlement of Kiev region.
– Reporters from Western media have arrived at the town of Kremyannaya. Their goal is to film a provocation organized by Ukrainian armed forces. This time it should be about Russian troops allegedly shooting at ambulances that transport patients.
– In Bilogorovka, neo-Nazis have mined chlorine tanks at a water supply plant, which they plan to blow up when LPR militia formations approach the town.
– In Irpen (Kiev region), a Bucha/Nemmersdorf-style provocation is taking place. Members of Ukraine’s Security Service plan to take bodies of civilians who were killed by an artillery bombardment from the morgue of the town hospital in Polevaya Street to a basement of one of the buildings in eastern outskirts of the town. Then a staged action with shooting and “destruction” of an alleged “Russian reconnaissance group” that arrived in Irpen “to kill witnesses of Russian war crimes” will be staged by the Security Service of Ukraine in Puscha-Voditskii forest area. At the same time, the bodies of captured Russian servicemen previously killed by nationalists under torture will be presented as “undeniable evidence”. We wait for Western media to circulate video footage of this staged campaign.
As recently as today, Russian Defense Ministry reported that representatives of the Ukrainian and Western media were invited to Seredina Buda town in Sumy region, which was formerly under the control of Russian troops, to conduct staged video footage.
In Nizhnyaya Syrovatka near Sumy, bodies are being dragged into one of the basements of residential buildings. This story about “another victim” of Russian troops is directed by British “filmmakers”. I remind that Russian troops withdrew from the town three weeks ago. We receive all these reports from local residents who remain on the ground and are not indifferent to the goals of the SMO.
Besides, I cannot fail to mention reports coming from Odessa, according to which there are many Ukrainian soldiers in the city who are dressed in Russian military uniform. Apparently, another large-scale deadly provocation, or rather a false flag operation is being prepared in Odessa. Colleagues, please do not say we did not warn you.
Both past and planned provocations, coupled with the notorious practice of using civilians as a human shield startle with inhumane attitude to the future of Ukrainian people and prove that Ukrainian nationalists are in full neglect of any moral norms and rules of the international humanitarian law. As we repeatedly stated, Russia does not fight Ukrainian civil population.
Mr.President,
Since this meeting is also dedicated to the issue of women, peace, and security, I cannot but address this aspect. In respect to Ukraine, this agenda is highly politicized and imbued with provocations. We clearly see an intention to present Russian soldiers as sadists and rapists – in the same manner as one tried to present Soviet winner-warriors of WW2 as sadists and rapists back in the day. Neither goals, nor the Russophobic sentiment of Ukraine’s inherited propaganda playbooks have changed.
However reality proves otherwise. Despite all tricks, truth about heinous tortures of civilians (including women and children) by sadists from Ukrainian nationalist battalions sometimes does get through to Western audience.
Take primary school 18 of Mariupol, that was long held by Azov Nazi battalion. Even seen-it-all military were shocked by what they saw there – a dismembered dead body of a woman on the floor in the basement, hands severed off, face disfigured, swastika sign branded onto the belly. Remarkably, from time to time Ukraine and the West attempt to present this terrifying photo evidence, which has already been published, as evidence of crimes committed by Russians.
Mr.President,
Nationalists have been consistently working on the Ukrainian society for at least 8 years. That is why unfortunately, Ukrainian women sometimes assume rather strange, I would say even wildish image. This is best illustrated by a patriotic reel that is being actively promoted on social media. It features a famous actress from Western Ukraine cutting the throat of a tortured Russian soldier with a sickle. In the background, patriotic mottos, as well as curses can be heard. The only thing this may be connoted with is ISIL spreading video footage that depicted terrorists cutting throats of their victims.
It is very unfortunate that Ukraine resorted to this limitless ruthlessness, to blind extremism and radicalism that keeps abreast with that demonstrated by ISIL. When seeing this, one but makes sure that Russia’s special military operation was really needed and had no alternative. The SMO is needed for the sake of Ukraine’s future, for the sake of security of Russia and other its neighbors. I doubt that peaceful Poles can feel safe when organizers of Wołyń massacre that killed dozens of thousands of their fellow citizens back in 1943 are cherished in present-day Ukraine as national heroes. I am speaking about peaceful Poles rather than Polish authorities, blinded by Russophobia, whose policy has long lost any common sense.
Mr.President,
Let me finish my statement by making a more optimistic point. There is another Ukraine that is getting through our SMO a new chance to peaceful life and good neighborly relations.
This Ukraine has its symbols, among them women. For example, there is a video clip that went viral on social media and seems to have touched everyone’s feelings. I mean the video made by Ukrainian troops when they entered one of the villages. There was a very old lady who stepped forth to greet them. Having mistaken them for Russians, she welcomed them with red Soviet Victory Banner in her hands. She spoke words of kindness to them and said how long she had waited to be liberated. Ukrainian soldiers, and we must do them justice for that, make no wrong to the old lady and give her a parcel with produce, but in return they take the banner from her and start trampling it with their boots. Then the lady, who had realized her mistake, demonstratively returned the parcel to them and demanded her banner back – the banner for which her parents had fought. The video stops here.
I would very much want to believe that nothing bad happened to the lady afterwards. Her courage and resolve have inspired many people. I would also want to believe that she will see the moment of liberation and will be able to take the red banner on Victory Day, which is a sacred holiday to all of us, and honor the memory of her parents and all those who liberated Ukraine from Nazis, without fearing that someone might trample on it.
Thank you.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... ev-regime/
The Missing of Mariupol Under Fire
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
The Missing Of Mariupol Under Fire Special Report (The Search Is On) Russia – Ukraine War.
Special Report by Patrick Lancaster
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... nder-fire/
********************************************
From Cassad's Telegram:
Forwarded from
Readovka
At night in Mariupol, the remnants of Ukrainian troops surrounded on the territory of the Ilyicha plant made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the city - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
However, the breakthrough attempt was thwarted - 3 tanks, 5 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 vehicles and up to 50 people were liquidated, and 42 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered.
What else did the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation report:
- The Russian military destroyed an ammunition depot and a protected hangar with Ukrainian aircraft at the Starokonstantinov military airfield in the Khmelnytsky region, as well as an ammunition depot near the village of Gavrilovka, Kiev region;
- Operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 32 military facilities of Ukraine, including the Buk-M1 air defense system, the S-300 air defense system for illumination and guidance, as well as one command post and 18 areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment;
- Russian air defense systems shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles in the air in the areas of the settlements of Berdyansk and Melitopol;
- In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 130 aircraft, 99 helicopters, 244 air defense systems, 443 UAVs, 2139 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 241 MLRS, 917 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 2046 units of special military vehicles.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
NATO admits it wants 'Ukrainians to keep dying' to bleed Russia, not peace
Ben NortonBen Norton
Source: Al Mayadeen Net
8 Apr 15:31
NATO sees Ukrainians as mere cannon fodder in its imperial proxy war on Russia.
The US-led NATO military alliance has made it clear that it is willing to fight to the last Ukrainian in order to bleed Russia and advance Western geopolitical interests.
In a shockingly blunt admission, The Washington Post acknowledged that some NATO member states want "Ukrainians to keep fighting, and dying" in order to prevent Russia from making political gains.
In an April 5 report on peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, the major US newspaper disclosed that NATO is afraid that Kiev may give in to some of Moscow's demands.
The Washington Post wrote explicitly: "For some in NATO, it’s better for the Ukrainians to keep fighting, and dying than to achieve a peace that comes too early or at too high a cost to Kyiv and the rest of Europe."
Anonymous Western diplomats emphasized that "there are limits to how many compromises some in NATO will support to win the peace," and that they would rather prolong the war in Ukraine if they can prevent Russia from having its security concerns met.
The newspaper said that NATO members are desperate not to give "Russian President Vladimir Putin any semblance of victory," and are more than willing to force Ukrainians into the meat grinder to do so.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan noted that the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is closely coordinating with Washington, and is in "near-daily contact" with the White House. It is evident who is really in charge.
The newspaper likewise revealed that the US military has more than 100,000 troops deployed in Europe.
The Washington Post has a close relationship with the US government. The newspaper is owned by $200-billionaire Jeff Bezos, one of the richest human beings in history.
Bezos is also the founder and executive chairman of mega-corporation Amazon, which has tens of billions of dollars worth of contracts with the CIA, Pentagon, NSA, FBI, ICE, and other US government agencies.
If The Washington Post is disclosing this information about NATO, with quotes from senior White House officials, it clearly got the green light from its handlers in Washington.
This report is a semi-official confirmation that NATO sees Ukrainians as mere cannon fodder in its imperial proxy war on Russia.
In fact, some Western officials have stated this openly.
A former senior State Department official, hard-line right-wing war hawk Eliot A. Cohen, boasted in an article in The Atlantic magazine that the "United States and its NATO allies are engaged in a proxy war with Russia."
He effused proudly, "They are supplying thousands of munitions and hopefully doing much else—sharing intelligence, for example—with the intent of killing Russian soldiers," adding, "the more and faster the better."
The State Department veteran declared that the "stream of arms going into Ukraine needs to be a flood."
This is exactly what NATO member states are doing: flooding Russia's neighbor with weapons.
Instead of supporting peace talks with Russia, the United States and European Union have been actively escalating the war, sending Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, including tens of thousands of anti-tank missiles, thousands of anti-aircraft missiles, and hundreds of kamikaze drones, as well as tanks and armored vehicles.
What goes unmentioned is how US and European arms corporations have heavily profited from the war. The stocks of private military contractors skyrocketed after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24, as Western governments pledged to substantially increase their military expenditure.
The Joe Biden administration immediately delivered $350 million in weapons in late February, before pledging an additional $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine in March, of which $6.5 billion in military support.
The foreign ministers of NATO met at the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels on April 6 and 7 and pledged to escalate the war in Ukraine even further.
The Western politicians were joined by representatives of several non-NATO members, including Japan, South Korea, Georgia, Finland, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba traveled to Brussels for the meeting, where he dispelled any doubt that NATO wants more war instead of peace.
"I came here today to discuss three most important things: weapons, weapons, and weapons," Kuleba summarized.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg similarly declared, "After the invasion, allies stepped up with additional military support, with more military equipment, and it was a clear message from the meeting today that allies should do more and are ready to do more to provide more equipment, and they realize and recognize the urgency."
Stoltenberg boasted that direct NATO military support for Ukraine goes back to 2014 and that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were trained by NATO in the past eight years, long before Russia invaded.
NATO transparently prefers that Ukrainians keep sacrificing their lives in hopes of weakening and destabilizing Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians who think peace should be the solution, not more war, face dire consequences.
A Ukrainian negotiator who had participated in peace talks with Russia, Denys Kyreyev, was murdered, reportedly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which is notorious for being influenced by neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists.
All of this extreme violence and warmongering flies directly in the face of NATO's claim to be a supposed "defensive" alliance.
The reality is NATO has never been devoted to defense, let alone democracy. Among the military alliance's founding members in 1949 was the fascist dictatorship of Portugal.
During the first cold war, NATO supported former Nazi collaborators and fascists in its infamous Operation Gladio. With NATO support, far-right extremists carried out terrorist attacks in Europe to try to repress the left-wing, especially during Italy's notorious Years of Lead.
When the first cold war ended, NATO continued to expand onto Russia's borders, repeatedly violating promises made by the United States, Britain, and France that the military alliance would not move "one inch eastward" after the reunification of Germany in 1990.
In bombing campaigns in the 1990s, NATO destroyed and carved up the former Yugoslavia, which no longer exists as a country.
Then NATO helped the United States launch its war in Afghanistan in 2001, and maintained a joint military occupation until 2021.
In 2011, NATO waged war on Libya, the most prosperous country in Africa. The Western military campaign shattered Libya's state. Foreign fossil fuel corporations soon pillaged the North African nation's massive oil reserves.
Still today, in 2022, Libya has no unified central government. It does, however, have open-air slave markets for Sub-Saharan African refugees.
The ruins of Libya, Afghanistan, and former Yugoslavia show what NATO truly offers the world.
And the US-led military alliance is now prepared to sacrifice Ukraine to advance the interests of Washington and Wall Street.
https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... leed-russi
*************************************
Mearsheimer: Russia Sees ‘Existential Threat,’ Must Win
by Ray McGovern Posted onApril 11, 2022
University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer, widely respected "dean" of the realism school (aka, "offensive realism") of international relations, has put the conflict in Ukraine in a context that everyone can understand – and needs to understand before it is too late.
Speaking at an April 7 webinar, Mearsheimer was, true to form, "offensively realistic". He explained: (1) the root cause lies in the April 2008 NATO summit Declaration that Ukraine (and Georgia) "will become members of NATO"; and (2) that Russia sees this as an "existential threat" and therefore "must win" this one.
Houston, We Have a Problem
For President Joe Biden and the Democrats, even though Ukraine poses zero strategic threat to the U.S., a Russian "win" would be, politically, a "devastating defeat", says Mearsheimer. In that sense, the conflict is a "must-win" for the US as well. Underscoring the obvious, he noted it is impossible for both sides to "win" – at least not in current circumstances.
Compromise? The kind of give and take needed to cobble together some kind of compromise has become equally impossible with the years-long demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin. One cannot compromise, of course, with the devil – even if this means that others (in this case, the militarily outmatched Ukrainians) have to shed more blood – of course, not US/NATO blood so far. But this may come; there are always unintended consequences from what historian Barbara Tuchman called the March of Folly toward war.
Mearsheimer notes that the US is already "as close as you can get" to being directly involved. And who can be sure that President Biden will be able to continue resisting ever mounting pressure to do more. And what are the odds that President Putin will be able to resist similar pressures to take fuller advantage of Russia’s dominance in its "near-abroad". By invading Ukraine he has already acted more aggressively than many analysts, myself included, thought likely.
NATO is still doubling down, sending weaponry into Ukraine, even as Russia makes it clear it will try to destroy them as soon as they cross the border. However "offensive" you may find Mearsheimer’s realism, it is, well, real. His enviable historical record is clear; he is not given to overstatement. And so he must be taken seriously when he points out that the Ukraine conflict is more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis of 60 years ago and that, like the situation in 1962, escalation to the use of nuclear weapons is a growing possibility.
The US Disconnect
Noting that US academics and policy makers don’t believe NATO’s designs on Ukraine represent an existential threat to Russia, Mearsheimer is as blunt as his courteous mien permits. "What people in Washington believe is irrelevant. What matters is what Russia believes." He rejects the "mainstream" view that Putin’s Russia is motivated by expansionist aims, and asks the savants in Washington to put concrete evidence behind their claims. Moreover, "There is no evidence in what Putin has said that he wants to make Ukraine part of Russia," Mearsheimer adds.
So who are these professors, pundits, and politicians who have convinced most Americans that "we have to fight the Russians there so we don’t have to fight them here"?
Whether out of professional courtesy or lack of time, Mearsheimer did not spell this out. As a decades-long practitioner of Russian analysis, however, I am astonished at what passes for analysis of Russia in this day and age. It is as though the Soviet Union never fell apart and that KGB rascal Putin is still trying to take over the world.
The following is what I might call Exhibit A, courtesy of the New York Times, Putin Has the US Right Where He Wants It by Fiona Hill:
The West’s muted reactions to both the 2008 and 2014 invasions emboldened Mr. Putin. This time, Mr. Putin’s aim is bigger than closing NATO’s "open door" to Ukraine and taking more territory – he wants to evict the United States from Europe. As he might put it: "Goodbye, America. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out."
Thus far the words of one Fiona Hill, a protégé of the Chief Exorcist of all things Russian, Richard Pipes of Harvard – a Polish-American confederate of Polish-American Russophobe, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Current ‘Expertise’ on Russia
Ms. Hill’s January op-ed suited the Times emphasis on Russian perfidy so well that it gave a lot more space to her Friday in "Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Fiona Hill."
Those brave enough to sort through Ms. Hill’s thoughts on Russia and Ukraine may conclude that she is a true believer – that she really believes whatever it is she is saying. I think we have to give her the benefit of the doubt. Chalk that up to poor education on Russia.
I hasten to add that Fiona Hill is simply Exhibit A. Other Exhibits go well beyond "Z". For someone like me, who was exposed to the best in training in Russian/Soviet studies back in the day, it is not only dangerous – but also extremely sad – to see the product academia is turning out these days.
I am joined in this thought by Gilbert Doctorow, who experienced – and put into practice – the best learning on Russia available at Columbia – again, back in the day. He recently wrote this:
Those in Washington who thought Russia could be crushed misunderstood Russians and underestimated the capabilities, determination and sang froid of their Government.
But then there is nothing to be surprised at in this state of affairs.
Russian studies in the United States have been virtually useless to anyone for at least two decades. Taking the well known and respected Harriman Institute of Columbia University as a marker, I can say that … the monthly program of events for the student body has zero on offer. The lectures and round tables on the Ukraine war today are talk between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee, with all panelists reading from State Department briefings, no different from what the journalists in mainstream media are doing. Not an original perspective or thought to be found there.
The field has been totally politicized into an anti-Putin street party and otherwise trivialized. There is no way that this esteemed institution could help anyone in Washington planning economic warfare on Russia to understand the resilience of the Russian side and the futility of their mission.
P.S. See Gilbert Doctorow’s 2013 essay in The Moscow Times: Defunding Russian Studies May Be a Blessing.
https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2 ... -must-win/
**************************************************
Surrender of the 36th Marine Brigade in Mariupol
April 12, 23:04
Good news from Mariupol.
It is reported that the enemy forces defending the Ilyich plant capitulated.
On the night of 10 to 11, they tried to break through, but after suffering heavy losses, they retreated to the factory or scattered around the district (where some of them were killed or captured - video of the interrogation of the political officer of the brigade https://t.me/boris_rozhin/ 41836 / survey of prisoners caught during an unsuccessful attempt to break through https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41834 )
Since they already felt a critical shortage of ammunition and other supplies, they decided to surrender.
The process has already begun.
Sladkov reports that about 1,000 people surrendered, of which 300 were wounded (of which 90 were severe). Photos of the surrender are here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41843(video promised later)
Pegov writes about two capitulated battalions and 200 wounded. (The 501st battalion capitulated earlier)
In general, this looks like the largest surrender since the beginning of the war.
Broadcast of events in Ukraine as usual in Telegram - https://t.me/boris_rozhin (if you are interested, subscribe)
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7555695.html
Google Translator
***********************
Cassad's Telegraph:
Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Radio Russia
Military expert Boris Rozhin called the industrial complex "Azovstal" in Mariupol the main center of resistance
Military expert Boris Rozhin , speaking live on the radio channel "Listen!" on Radio Russia, commented on the situation in Mariupol and its environs:
and Mariupol metallurgical plant named after Ilyich. And the last to finish off those surrounded at Azovstal. This is a difficult object to assault. The enemy relies on industrial buildings (large concrete structures), where there are underground communications through which you can move. There are also objects that are convenient as firing points for snipers. These points must be identified and gradually methodically destroyed. It should be taken into account that Azovstal is an important enterprise. The less it suffers during the fighting, the less it needs to be restored for the needs of the DPR. The militants are doing everything to cause maximum destruction. But the main priority remains the preservation of the lives of our people." The enemy relies on industrial buildings (large concrete structures), where there are underground communications through which you can move. There are also objects that are convenient as firing points for snipers. These points must be identified and gradually methodically destroyed. It should be taken into account that Azovstal is an important enterprise. The less it suffers during the fighting, the less it needs to be restored for the needs of the DPR. The militants are doing everything to cause maximum destruction. But the main priority remains the preservation of the lives of our people." The enemy relies on industrial buildings (large concrete structures), where there are underground communications through which you can move. There are also objects that are convenient as firing points for snipers. These points must be identified and gradually methodically destroyed. It should be taken into account that Azovstal is an important enterprise. The less it suffers during the fighting, the less it needs to be restored for the needs of the DPR. The militants are doing everything to cause maximum destruction. But the main priority remains the preservation of the lives of our people."
On the identification of cases of recruitment of young residents of Siberia into the ranks of neo-Nazis:
“We observe signs of recruitment all over the world. These are both Belarusian and fugitive Russian Nazis who are wanted and are fighting as part of Nazi formations in Ukraine, in the same “Azov”. FSB He is very active in these groups.
Listen to the full interview
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
Ben NortonBen Norton
Source: Al Mayadeen Net
8 Apr 15:31
NATO sees Ukrainians as mere cannon fodder in its imperial proxy war on Russia.
The US-led NATO military alliance has made it clear that it is willing to fight to the last Ukrainian in order to bleed Russia and advance Western geopolitical interests.
In a shockingly blunt admission, The Washington Post acknowledged that some NATO member states want "Ukrainians to keep fighting, and dying" in order to prevent Russia from making political gains.
In an April 5 report on peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, the major US newspaper disclosed that NATO is afraid that Kiev may give in to some of Moscow's demands.
The Washington Post wrote explicitly: "For some in NATO, it’s better for the Ukrainians to keep fighting, and dying than to achieve a peace that comes too early or at too high a cost to Kyiv and the rest of Europe."
Anonymous Western diplomats emphasized that "there are limits to how many compromises some in NATO will support to win the peace," and that they would rather prolong the war in Ukraine if they can prevent Russia from having its security concerns met.
The newspaper said that NATO members are desperate not to give "Russian President Vladimir Putin any semblance of victory," and are more than willing to force Ukrainians into the meat grinder to do so.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan noted that the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is closely coordinating with Washington, and is in "near-daily contact" with the White House. It is evident who is really in charge.
The newspaper likewise revealed that the US military has more than 100,000 troops deployed in Europe.
The Washington Post has a close relationship with the US government. The newspaper is owned by $200-billionaire Jeff Bezos, one of the richest human beings in history.
Bezos is also the founder and executive chairman of mega-corporation Amazon, which has tens of billions of dollars worth of contracts with the CIA, Pentagon, NSA, FBI, ICE, and other US government agencies.
If The Washington Post is disclosing this information about NATO, with quotes from senior White House officials, it clearly got the green light from its handlers in Washington.
This report is a semi-official confirmation that NATO sees Ukrainians as mere cannon fodder in its imperial proxy war on Russia.
In fact, some Western officials have stated this openly.
A former senior State Department official, hard-line right-wing war hawk Eliot A. Cohen, boasted in an article in The Atlantic magazine that the "United States and its NATO allies are engaged in a proxy war with Russia."
He effused proudly, "They are supplying thousands of munitions and hopefully doing much else—sharing intelligence, for example—with the intent of killing Russian soldiers," adding, "the more and faster the better."
The State Department veteran declared that the "stream of arms going into Ukraine needs to be a flood."
This is exactly what NATO member states are doing: flooding Russia's neighbor with weapons.
Instead of supporting peace talks with Russia, the United States and European Union have been actively escalating the war, sending Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, including tens of thousands of anti-tank missiles, thousands of anti-aircraft missiles, and hundreds of kamikaze drones, as well as tanks and armored vehicles.
What goes unmentioned is how US and European arms corporations have heavily profited from the war. The stocks of private military contractors skyrocketed after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24, as Western governments pledged to substantially increase their military expenditure.
The Joe Biden administration immediately delivered $350 million in weapons in late February, before pledging an additional $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine in March, of which $6.5 billion in military support.
The foreign ministers of NATO met at the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels on April 6 and 7 and pledged to escalate the war in Ukraine even further.
The Western politicians were joined by representatives of several non-NATO members, including Japan, South Korea, Georgia, Finland, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba traveled to Brussels for the meeting, where he dispelled any doubt that NATO wants more war instead of peace.
"I came here today to discuss three most important things: weapons, weapons, and weapons," Kuleba summarized.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg similarly declared, "After the invasion, allies stepped up with additional military support, with more military equipment, and it was a clear message from the meeting today that allies should do more and are ready to do more to provide more equipment, and they realize and recognize the urgency."
Stoltenberg boasted that direct NATO military support for Ukraine goes back to 2014 and that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were trained by NATO in the past eight years, long before Russia invaded.
NATO transparently prefers that Ukrainians keep sacrificing their lives in hopes of weakening and destabilizing Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians who think peace should be the solution, not more war, face dire consequences.
A Ukrainian negotiator who had participated in peace talks with Russia, Denys Kyreyev, was murdered, reportedly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which is notorious for being influenced by neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists.
All of this extreme violence and warmongering flies directly in the face of NATO's claim to be a supposed "defensive" alliance.
The reality is NATO has never been devoted to defense, let alone democracy. Among the military alliance's founding members in 1949 was the fascist dictatorship of Portugal.
During the first cold war, NATO supported former Nazi collaborators and fascists in its infamous Operation Gladio. With NATO support, far-right extremists carried out terrorist attacks in Europe to try to repress the left-wing, especially during Italy's notorious Years of Lead.
When the first cold war ended, NATO continued to expand onto Russia's borders, repeatedly violating promises made by the United States, Britain, and France that the military alliance would not move "one inch eastward" after the reunification of Germany in 1990.
In bombing campaigns in the 1990s, NATO destroyed and carved up the former Yugoslavia, which no longer exists as a country.
Then NATO helped the United States launch its war in Afghanistan in 2001, and maintained a joint military occupation until 2021.
In 2011, NATO waged war on Libya, the most prosperous country in Africa. The Western military campaign shattered Libya's state. Foreign fossil fuel corporations soon pillaged the North African nation's massive oil reserves.
Still today, in 2022, Libya has no unified central government. It does, however, have open-air slave markets for Sub-Saharan African refugees.
The ruins of Libya, Afghanistan, and former Yugoslavia show what NATO truly offers the world.
And the US-led military alliance is now prepared to sacrifice Ukraine to advance the interests of Washington and Wall Street.
https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... leed-russi
*************************************
Mearsheimer: Russia Sees ‘Existential Threat,’ Must Win
by Ray McGovern Posted onApril 11, 2022
University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer, widely respected "dean" of the realism school (aka, "offensive realism") of international relations, has put the conflict in Ukraine in a context that everyone can understand – and needs to understand before it is too late.
Speaking at an April 7 webinar, Mearsheimer was, true to form, "offensively realistic". He explained: (1) the root cause lies in the April 2008 NATO summit Declaration that Ukraine (and Georgia) "will become members of NATO"; and (2) that Russia sees this as an "existential threat" and therefore "must win" this one.
Houston, We Have a Problem
For President Joe Biden and the Democrats, even though Ukraine poses zero strategic threat to the U.S., a Russian "win" would be, politically, a "devastating defeat", says Mearsheimer. In that sense, the conflict is a "must-win" for the US as well. Underscoring the obvious, he noted it is impossible for both sides to "win" – at least not in current circumstances.
Compromise? The kind of give and take needed to cobble together some kind of compromise has become equally impossible with the years-long demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin. One cannot compromise, of course, with the devil – even if this means that others (in this case, the militarily outmatched Ukrainians) have to shed more blood – of course, not US/NATO blood so far. But this may come; there are always unintended consequences from what historian Barbara Tuchman called the March of Folly toward war.
Mearsheimer notes that the US is already "as close as you can get" to being directly involved. And who can be sure that President Biden will be able to continue resisting ever mounting pressure to do more. And what are the odds that President Putin will be able to resist similar pressures to take fuller advantage of Russia’s dominance in its "near-abroad". By invading Ukraine he has already acted more aggressively than many analysts, myself included, thought likely.
NATO is still doubling down, sending weaponry into Ukraine, even as Russia makes it clear it will try to destroy them as soon as they cross the border. However "offensive" you may find Mearsheimer’s realism, it is, well, real. His enviable historical record is clear; he is not given to overstatement. And so he must be taken seriously when he points out that the Ukraine conflict is more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis of 60 years ago and that, like the situation in 1962, escalation to the use of nuclear weapons is a growing possibility.
The US Disconnect
Noting that US academics and policy makers don’t believe NATO’s designs on Ukraine represent an existential threat to Russia, Mearsheimer is as blunt as his courteous mien permits. "What people in Washington believe is irrelevant. What matters is what Russia believes." He rejects the "mainstream" view that Putin’s Russia is motivated by expansionist aims, and asks the savants in Washington to put concrete evidence behind their claims. Moreover, "There is no evidence in what Putin has said that he wants to make Ukraine part of Russia," Mearsheimer adds.
So who are these professors, pundits, and politicians who have convinced most Americans that "we have to fight the Russians there so we don’t have to fight them here"?
Whether out of professional courtesy or lack of time, Mearsheimer did not spell this out. As a decades-long practitioner of Russian analysis, however, I am astonished at what passes for analysis of Russia in this day and age. It is as though the Soviet Union never fell apart and that KGB rascal Putin is still trying to take over the world.
The following is what I might call Exhibit A, courtesy of the New York Times, Putin Has the US Right Where He Wants It by Fiona Hill:
The West’s muted reactions to both the 2008 and 2014 invasions emboldened Mr. Putin. This time, Mr. Putin’s aim is bigger than closing NATO’s "open door" to Ukraine and taking more territory – he wants to evict the United States from Europe. As he might put it: "Goodbye, America. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out."
Thus far the words of one Fiona Hill, a protégé of the Chief Exorcist of all things Russian, Richard Pipes of Harvard – a Polish-American confederate of Polish-American Russophobe, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Current ‘Expertise’ on Russia
Ms. Hill’s January op-ed suited the Times emphasis on Russian perfidy so well that it gave a lot more space to her Friday in "Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Fiona Hill."
Those brave enough to sort through Ms. Hill’s thoughts on Russia and Ukraine may conclude that she is a true believer – that she really believes whatever it is she is saying. I think we have to give her the benefit of the doubt. Chalk that up to poor education on Russia.
I hasten to add that Fiona Hill is simply Exhibit A. Other Exhibits go well beyond "Z". For someone like me, who was exposed to the best in training in Russian/Soviet studies back in the day, it is not only dangerous – but also extremely sad – to see the product academia is turning out these days.
I am joined in this thought by Gilbert Doctorow, who experienced – and put into practice – the best learning on Russia available at Columbia – again, back in the day. He recently wrote this:
Those in Washington who thought Russia could be crushed misunderstood Russians and underestimated the capabilities, determination and sang froid of their Government.
But then there is nothing to be surprised at in this state of affairs.
Russian studies in the United States have been virtually useless to anyone for at least two decades. Taking the well known and respected Harriman Institute of Columbia University as a marker, I can say that … the monthly program of events for the student body has zero on offer. The lectures and round tables on the Ukraine war today are talk between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee, with all panelists reading from State Department briefings, no different from what the journalists in mainstream media are doing. Not an original perspective or thought to be found there.
The field has been totally politicized into an anti-Putin street party and otherwise trivialized. There is no way that this esteemed institution could help anyone in Washington planning economic warfare on Russia to understand the resilience of the Russian side and the futility of their mission.
P.S. See Gilbert Doctorow’s 2013 essay in The Moscow Times: Defunding Russian Studies May Be a Blessing.
https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2 ... -must-win/
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Surrender of the 36th Marine Brigade in Mariupol
April 12, 23:04
Good news from Mariupol.
It is reported that the enemy forces defending the Ilyich plant capitulated.
On the night of 10 to 11, they tried to break through, but after suffering heavy losses, they retreated to the factory or scattered around the district (where some of them were killed or captured - video of the interrogation of the political officer of the brigade https://t.me/boris_rozhin/ 41836 / survey of prisoners caught during an unsuccessful attempt to break through https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41834 )
Since they already felt a critical shortage of ammunition and other supplies, they decided to surrender.
The process has already begun.
Sladkov reports that about 1,000 people surrendered, of which 300 were wounded (of which 90 were severe). Photos of the surrender are here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41843(video promised later)
Pegov writes about two capitulated battalions and 200 wounded. (The 501st battalion capitulated earlier)
In general, this looks like the largest surrender since the beginning of the war.
Broadcast of events in Ukraine as usual in Telegram - https://t.me/boris_rozhin (if you are interested, subscribe)
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7555695.html
Google Translator
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Cassad's Telegraph:
Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Radio Russia
Military expert Boris Rozhin called the industrial complex "Azovstal" in Mariupol the main center of resistance
Military expert Boris Rozhin , speaking live on the radio channel "Listen!" on Radio Russia, commented on the situation in Mariupol and its environs:
and Mariupol metallurgical plant named after Ilyich. And the last to finish off those surrounded at Azovstal. This is a difficult object to assault. The enemy relies on industrial buildings (large concrete structures), where there are underground communications through which you can move. There are also objects that are convenient as firing points for snipers. These points must be identified and gradually methodically destroyed. It should be taken into account that Azovstal is an important enterprise. The less it suffers during the fighting, the less it needs to be restored for the needs of the DPR. The militants are doing everything to cause maximum destruction. But the main priority remains the preservation of the lives of our people." The enemy relies on industrial buildings (large concrete structures), where there are underground communications through which you can move. There are also objects that are convenient as firing points for snipers. These points must be identified and gradually methodically destroyed. It should be taken into account that Azovstal is an important enterprise. The less it suffers during the fighting, the less it needs to be restored for the needs of the DPR. The militants are doing everything to cause maximum destruction. But the main priority remains the preservation of the lives of our people." The enemy relies on industrial buildings (large concrete structures), where there are underground communications through which you can move. There are also objects that are convenient as firing points for snipers. These points must be identified and gradually methodically destroyed. It should be taken into account that Azovstal is an important enterprise. The less it suffers during the fighting, the less it needs to be restored for the needs of the DPR. The militants are doing everything to cause maximum destruction. But the main priority remains the preservation of the lives of our people."
On the identification of cases of recruitment of young residents of Siberia into the ranks of neo-Nazis:
“We observe signs of recruitment all over the world. These are both Belarusian and fugitive Russian Nazis who are wanted and are fighting as part of Nazi formations in Ukraine, in the same “Azov”. FSB He is very active in these groups.
Listen to the full interview
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
"Vovina thousand"
April 13, 10:43
In total, according to the Ministry of Defense, 1,026 people from the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered in the area of the Ilyich plant in Mariupol.
Among those who surrendered:
1. 162 officers
2. 151 wounded (all received medical care)
3. 47 female soldiers.
4. 1 British mercenary Aiden Aislin
Information about how many soldiers of the enemy remained at the plant named after Ilych and at Azovmash is still unknown, but it is already obvious that the bulk of the forces of the 36th Marine Corps capitulated. Most likely, in the coming days, the entire industrial zone north of Azovstal will come under the full control of the DPR.
This is the largest single surrender of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the NWO. And even if you think about it, there were no such large one-time surrenders in the conditions of hostilities even in the Ilovaisky and Debaltsevo pockets, where smaller groups surrendered.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7556324.html
Exchange of Ukrainians for Ukrainians
April 13, 9:25 am
Exchange of Ukrainians for Ukrainians
1. Zelensky got out last night and openly offered to exchange Medvedchuk, who was taken hostage, for prisoners in Mariupol.
2. As I wrote earlier, Medvedchuk was taken hostage for a long time and he was held, and judging by his appearance, they could well have been tortured.
In this case, he was clearly pulled into the light under the situation in Mariupol, where the surrender of soldiers and officers of the encircled group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is accelerating. Zelensky and Avakov do not even hide this. Attempts with helicopters, ships, humanitarian corridors and breakthroughs failed - hostages were used.
3. It is worth noting that we are talking about the hostage-taking of the leader of one of the former opposition parties (now liquidated), who was not convicted by any court. Of course, the "democratic media" will also ignore this, just as they ignored the closing of channels and parties, including the party of Medvedchuk himself, which was the number 2 party in Ukraine before the campaign to destroy it.
4. It is also worth noting that the “president of Ukraine”, having taken a citizen of Ukraine hostage, is trying to trade him in order to exchange them for other citizens of Ukraine. Such is the "war with Russia", where Ukrainians are offered to be exchanged for Ukrainians.
5. Of course, exchanging Medvedchuk for some kind of military, especially foreign ones, is inappropriate - their value is simply incomparable.
The ideal answer would be something in the spirit of "The issue of exchanging prisoners of war soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the citizen of Ukraine Medvedchuk, taken hostage by the Ukrainian authorities, is not discussed. The defeat of the grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine abandoned by Zelensky in Mariupol will continue as planned."
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7556046.html
Where are the Cossacks?
April 13, 14:41
In comparison with the events of 2014-2015, the much smaller participation of Cossack formations in hostilities attracts attention. If in 2014 the Cossacks, both those who fought and those who were holed up in the rear, were a very massive and widespread phenomenon, then in the campaign of 2022 they flash only sporadically in the Luhansk People's Republic and in the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region. There is no need to talk about any really mass participation yet.
But from the state budget for the Cossacks, a lot of money was allocated and allocated, and this topic is supported at the state level. Nevertheless, despite the expectations that the Cossacks will take an active part in the campaign for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine (not to mention the issue of liberating the territory of the DPR and LPR from Ukrainian occupation), the level of participation does not even reach 2014. Apparently in the conditions of hostilities there are some more important events. But there were many stories that as soon as the liberation of Donbass began, huge detachments of Cossacks would go to help Donbass. So where?
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7556723.html
Google Translator
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Russia Destroys S-300 Systems Provided to Ukraine by Europe
April 12, 2022
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian military has destroyed the S-300 air defense systems, which Europe provided to Ukraine, with Kalibr missiles.
The news outlet HispanTV has reported that Russian sources stated on Monday that the Russian military had successfully destroyed several Ukrainian targets, including four S-300 missile launchers in the outskirts of southern Dnepropetrovsk which were supplied by Europe.
Similarly, a base being used to repair Ukrainian weapons and equipment, close to the town of Velikaya Novosiolovka was also destroyed by Russian missiles, as well as two ammunition storage sites close to Nikolaev and Zhovtnevoye.
As reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the Donetsk region the missiles destroyed nine tanks, five 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery systems, and five BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher systems. Two Ukrainian Su-25 planes were also shot down close to the city of Izium, in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.
As the result of the Russian operations, more than 60 Ukrainian nationalists were liquidated close to the towns of Vozdvizhenka and Ivanovka, in the Donetsk region.
In addition to this, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation, the Russian troops have destroyed 129 planes; 99 helicopters; 243 S-300, Buk-M1, and Osa air defense systems; 441 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2079 tanks and other armored vehicles, 239 rocket launchers, 909 units of field artillery and mortars, and 2003 other military vehicles.
Featured image: The launch of a Kalibr missile from a naval ship. Photo: CiudadCCS.
https://orinocotribune.com/russia-destr ... by-europe/
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China: Ukraine Conflict Shows US Hegemony Desire
Chinese FM Spokesperson said that the Ukraine conflict has shown the U.S. desire for hegemony. Apr. 12, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@@CGMeifangZhang+
Published 12 April 2022 (10 hours 47 minutes ago)
Chinese Foreign Ministry said that due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, it had been revealed that the U.S. seeks hegemony.
On Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine had been evidence of what the U.S. is willing to do to pursue hegemony and intimidation.
The comments were made by Chinese spokesperson Zhao Lijian during a daily press briefing answering a question on a recent poll, where 90 percent of the Chinese netizens consider that the U.S. actions in light of the Ukraine issue are not fair and just, instead of representing hegemony and bullying. He said that the U.S.-led NATO had pushed the Russia-Ukraine tension to escalate, evidenced by the ins and outs of how the Ukraine crisis has developed into what it is today.
Zhao said that Washington has been adding pressure and heightening tensions, coercing other countries to choose sides, and creating a chilling effect of "friend or foe" instead of taking actions to ease the conflict. The spokesperson added that the U.S. media had spread disinformation to smear China and distorted China's responsible position of facilitating peace talks with the intention to blame, encouraging the confrontation, and attempting to take advantage of the situation, and looking for a breach of its plot to suppress China and Russia simultaneously.
Chinese FM spokesperson said that Washington is being consumed by its desire of withdrawing ideological lines when forming closed and exclusive cliques and stoking opposition and confrontation holding the Cold War mentality, with deep eagerness to prolong its hegemony and power politics. Under the pretext of democracy, freedom, and human rights, the White House prompted "color revolutions," creating regional confrontations and evens wages wars against other countries to cash in on instability for substantial economic interests and geopolitical advantage.
Zhao said that the U.S. also uses unilateral sanctions to engage in economic coercion with the only purpose of suppressing and containing other countries, severely affecting the stability of global industrial and supply chains. He said the country has a double standard in applying the rules of international law and international order, and the "rules-based order" which it promotes are the ones that suit its acolytes.
Meanwhile, peace and development have an overriding trend and gained overwhelming support; the hegemonic and bullying acts performed by the U.S. go against the trend of current times and spread an ever-stronger opposition from the international community, said Zhao.
The spokesperson called on Washington to deal with the international public opinion, including China's. He urged the country as well to quit its Cold War and zero-sum game mindset, its outdated thinking of seeking its absolute security at the expense of the security of other countries, and to act on the line of international fairness and justice.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Chi ... -0010.html
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CP of the Russian Federation, Whether the World Supports NATO War Against Russia?
4/11/22 2:15 PM
By Dr Vyacheslav Tetekin
The Western press actively imposes on the international community the idea that allegedly the whole world stands for tough measures against Russia in connection with its military operation in Ukraine. This is not surprising. Major American and European TV companies and newspapers have long become weapons of the US and the EU information war against their geopolitical rivals. The same as aircraft carriers and Marines. The "world press" is a cheaper, but no less destructive weapon than aircraft carriers. So there is no faith in these "zealots of democratic values". In particular, after the fake about the "Bucha massacre", which was eagerly picked up by a number of Western publications.
Now about the world community’s real position. A vote at the UN General Assembly on a resolution condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine gives some, albeit incomplete, idea of the balance of forces. The result of the vote is as follows: 141 countries "for", 5 countries "against", 35 abstained. 15 countries did not vote. In general, 55 UN members did not support the resolution in one way or another. That is, there is at least no universal condemnation. In fact, the Americans – the authors of the resolution – were shocked. They did not expect that over a quarter of the UN members would refuse to support them.
When assessing the results of voting, one needs to apply not only arithmetic, but also physics - to count not only the number of countries, but also their weight in world affairs. And here the picture is very different. To begin with, the resolution was not supported by China (1.4 billion people) and India (1.4 billion) – the two largest countries by population. And the first and third economies in the world in terms of GDP. Pakistan (230 million), Bangladesh (180 million), of course, Russia itself (149 million), Ethiopia (118 million), Vietnam (98), Iran (87 million) also did not participate in this venture.
The most unpleasant surprise for the US and its allies was Africa’s position. Of the 55 countries that did not support the anti-Russian resolution, 26 were African states. These are Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, CAR, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Morocco, Togo, Eswatini, Ethiopia.
In Africa, they remember perfectly well how the European colonial powers plundered them for many decades. Hence they do not regard US-EU unholy alliance as genuine “defender of civilized values". Whereas Russia (the USSR), is known for its decades-long support of the liberation of the continent. Therefore, representatives of even those African countries that voted for the anti-Russian resolution admitted in private that they did it only under strong economic and political pressure from the US, UK and France. Only Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Nigeria have officially condemned Russia's actions. Not too much!
Of Russia's closest neighbors, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Mongolia did not vote for this resolution. In Latin America, it was not supported by Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and El Salvador. By the way, many of those who voted for the UN political resolution refused to impose economic sanctions against Russia. For example, such big countries as Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Egypt. And where are the anti-Russian feelings in the whole world?
Meanwhile, only 91 states voted for another UN resolution, this time on Russia's temporary exclusion from the Human Rights Council. 84 countries were against or abstained. That is, the composition of the anti-Russian forces turned out to be even less convincing. In general, according to the British Economist magazine, which is hard to suspect of sympathizing with Russia, over 60% of the world's population lives in countries friendly or neutral towards Russia.
In reality, only 48 countries are openly unfriendly. These are the "big five" states of the Anglo-Saxon world that consider themselves the true masters of the planet: the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Then there are 27 EU members plus 10 non-EU European countries. Judging by the way they are all being driven into sanctions against Russia and against their own interests, they are just vassals of the United States and its allies. And the most remarkable thing is that in the huge Pacific region only 5 countries are unfriendly to Russia: Japan and South Korea (with their US military bases), Taiwan, Singapore and... Micronesia.
But even in Europe there is no complete unity. Serbia and Hungary refused to join sanctions. Bulgaria and Hungary have not allowed weapons sent to Ukraine to pass via their territories. Trade unions of a number of countries have prevented the supply of weapons to the combat zone. In particular, the Greek railway workers refused to transport weapons to Ukraine. The airport workers in Italy, having discovered that instead of humanitarian aid, the weapons were being sent, refused to load them.
In some cases, the reluctance to support the United States and its allies is less public, but more effective. The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, seemingly countries closely linked to the United States, did not even talk to Joe Biden about increasing oil production in order to compensate for the volumes falling out due to the attempt to boycott Russia.
A separate issue is the behavior of Western companies. In theory, a total boycott has been declared against Russia. However, the desire to preserve their profits in the huge and solvent Russian market outweighs loyalty to their governments. Coca-Cola, Ritter Sport, Danone, Samsung, Phillips, Lacosta, Benetton, Ashan, Lerua Merlen, Globus, Metro, Burger King, KFC, Mitsubishi, Colgate-Palmovil, Proctor & Gamble, AstraZenik are just some of the companies who continue to work in Russia. Many companies, having announced their departure, do not go anywhere, declaring only the suspension of activities or new investments.
The European public is even more rigid. Powerful demonstrations are taking place in almost all EU countries to protest against the sharp deterioration of life caused by rising gas and gasoline prices. And this rise is associated with a reduction in Russian oil and gas supplies due to sanctions. Ordinary Europeans do not care about Pres. Zelensky’s feelings. They realize that their government's game on the side of the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine is the root cause of their troubles.
More advanced citizens understand that in fact this is a US dirty game against Europe. The goal is to deprive European industry of a reliable source of energy from Russia, force them to buy expensive American liquefied gas, thereby reduce the competitiveness of the European economy, and redirect the investments to the United States. Smart people understand that in fact, the blow is being dealt not so much to Russia as to Europe.
Meanwhile, it is important to assess not only who does not participate in anti-Russian actions, but also who supports the neo-Nazi government in Ukraine. As a matter of fact it is the same coalition of European states, which invaded the USSR as part of Hitler's Werhmacht in 1941 or supplied the fascists with weapons. Troops and SS legions from France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Estonia and Latvia (as well as Bandera “Galicia” division from Western Ukraine) fought against the Soviet Union. 25% of the armored vehicles and weapons of the Fascist army were produced in the Czech Republic. So the neo-Nazis in Ukraine today are helped by exactly those who supported the Nazis in Hitler's Germany.
Even the United Kingdom and the United States, which in 1941 were on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition, in the 1930s invested a lot of money in the revival of the German military machine, which then rolled through Europe like a monstrous roller. There were powerful Nazi parties in England and the USA before the war. Churchill was the only major British politician who warned about the danger of Nazism in Germany. And Joseph Kennedy, the US ambassador to the UK (and father of Pres. John F. Kennedy) was recalled back in 1940 for sympathizing with Hitler.
By the way, it would be useful to remind the West of another failed attempt of a total boycott. As is known, Napoleon waged wars of conquest in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and invaded Russia in 1812, primarily to ensure the continental blockade of Britain, France's main enemy. Nothing came of the then "sanctions" against UK, and Napoleon's ambitions of world domination ended up with his overthrow. Put Russia in the place of UK, and Joe Biden in the place of Napoleon, and you will see a repetition of events 200 years ago. Only now the attempt of the Russia’s boycott has a much less chance of success than Napoleon's sanctions against UK. And Mr. Biden is nowhere close to Napoleon.
The events in and around Ukraine are perceived by many as a NATO war against Russia. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer people willing to side with America in its geopolitical ambitions. And the world has changed. The workshop of the world today is not the UK or the USA, but China and other Asian countries. Most countries think in terms of national interests, not Washington's interests. So the attempt to boycott-blockade Russia is initially doomed to failure. It is high time for the USA and Britain to forget about their former colonial rule over the world. Otherwise they might lose far more than they hope to achieve by starting their dirty game against Russia and Europe.
http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-the-R ... st-Russia/
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Some bits from the Telegram account of War Gonzo:
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"Azov" can eliminate 2 US officers in Mariupol
According to the @wargonzo project from sources on the Donbas frontline, based on an analysis of radio intercepts of enemy communications, there are at least two high-ranking retired American officers in the air raid shelters at Azov-Stal.
According to our sources, they entered Mariupol together with PMC "Academy" and most likely are not active employees of the Pentagon. However, at the same time they are extremely important persons for Washington.
“These officers are aware of many covert US operations in third countries and are the bearer of information that is extremely sensitive to Washington,” a source familiar with the analysis of radio intercepts told the @wargonzo project.
It is also noted that in order to conceal this “sensitive information”, the American intelligence services are ready to order the Azov militants to eliminate these two officers. Whether they are alive at the moment is not yet known for sure.
@wargonzo
***
WarGonzo
Marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took part in the operation NM DPR
Several Ukrainian marines from the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who surrendered to the Donbass units the day before, volunteered to take part in the DPR NM operation to evacuate the body of our high-ranking officer from the Ilyich plant in Mariupol. The @wagonzo
project learned about this from its own sources in the Donbass front line. We do not have the right to disclose the name of the deceased major general, but we can report that he died really heroically. He was ambushed directly during the performance of a combat mission during the liberation of Mariupol. For a long time, neo-Nazis refused to hand over the body or report its whereabouts. Instead, the Azov militants posted a video of the corpse being abused.
After yesterday's operation to eliminate the breakthrough of neo-Nazis from the Ilyich plant, the Ukrainian marines who surrendered not only shared information about where the general's body was, but also volunteered to participate in the DPR NM operation to evacuate him. Namely, they acted as guides and showed a safe path.
This kind of action should have been expected from them earlier. At the very least, this would help save a large number of soldiers and civilians.
@wargonzo
***
WarGonzo
37 Afghans are in Azov-Stal along with neo-Nazis
This became known to the Donbas intelligence officers after another radio intercept a few days ago.
However, according to the @wargonzo project, just the day before, the Afghans got in touch and requested an evacuation corridor from the industrial zone in Mariupol, where they are surrounded along with neo-Nazis from Azov. It was the militants, by the way, who blocked the negotiations on the evacuation of foreigners by the fighters of the NM of the DPR and the Russian Federation.
@wargonzo has the following version of the stay in the ranks of the "Azov" 37 Afghan soldiers.
We are talking about those special forces who previously worked for the pro-American government of Ghani - after the withdrawal of NATO troops and the victory of the Taliban - they were evacuated to the United States, where they entered the service in the Academy PMC (formerly Black Waters). They are just one of those military men, whose education and training the Americans were actively engaged in in Afghanistan. They came to Mariupol to fight as mercenaries.
@wargonzo
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Front-line summary for the morning of 04/12/22
Another assault: People's militia of the LPR attacked the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Severodonetsk.
Firestorm: Russian troops shell Kharkiv and nearby areas for the second day to prevent the Ukrainian army from launching an offensive on their positions.
An attempt to break through: in Mariupol, marines from the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to break out of the blockade ring.
Ringing silence: in the Izyum direction, the opposing sides are preparing for fierce battles.
Listen to the most truthful summary from the @wargonzo analytics department .
https://t.me/s/wargonzo
Good source. Unfortunately images will not transfer and there are a lot worth seeing. In Russian but Google translator handles it adequately.
April 13, 10:43
In total, according to the Ministry of Defense, 1,026 people from the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered in the area of the Ilyich plant in Mariupol.
Among those who surrendered:
1. 162 officers
2. 151 wounded (all received medical care)
3. 47 female soldiers.
4. 1 British mercenary Aiden Aislin
Information about how many soldiers of the enemy remained at the plant named after Ilych and at Azovmash is still unknown, but it is already obvious that the bulk of the forces of the 36th Marine Corps capitulated. Most likely, in the coming days, the entire industrial zone north of Azovstal will come under the full control of the DPR.
This is the largest single surrender of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the NWO. And even if you think about it, there were no such large one-time surrenders in the conditions of hostilities even in the Ilovaisky and Debaltsevo pockets, where smaller groups surrendered.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7556324.html
Exchange of Ukrainians for Ukrainians
April 13, 9:25 am
Exchange of Ukrainians for Ukrainians
1. Zelensky got out last night and openly offered to exchange Medvedchuk, who was taken hostage, for prisoners in Mariupol.
2. As I wrote earlier, Medvedchuk was taken hostage for a long time and he was held, and judging by his appearance, they could well have been tortured.
In this case, he was clearly pulled into the light under the situation in Mariupol, where the surrender of soldiers and officers of the encircled group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is accelerating. Zelensky and Avakov do not even hide this. Attempts with helicopters, ships, humanitarian corridors and breakthroughs failed - hostages were used.
3. It is worth noting that we are talking about the hostage-taking of the leader of one of the former opposition parties (now liquidated), who was not convicted by any court. Of course, the "democratic media" will also ignore this, just as they ignored the closing of channels and parties, including the party of Medvedchuk himself, which was the number 2 party in Ukraine before the campaign to destroy it.
4. It is also worth noting that the “president of Ukraine”, having taken a citizen of Ukraine hostage, is trying to trade him in order to exchange them for other citizens of Ukraine. Such is the "war with Russia", where Ukrainians are offered to be exchanged for Ukrainians.
5. Of course, exchanging Medvedchuk for some kind of military, especially foreign ones, is inappropriate - their value is simply incomparable.
The ideal answer would be something in the spirit of "The issue of exchanging prisoners of war soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the citizen of Ukraine Medvedchuk, taken hostage by the Ukrainian authorities, is not discussed. The defeat of the grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine abandoned by Zelensky in Mariupol will continue as planned."
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7556046.html
Where are the Cossacks?
April 13, 14:41
In comparison with the events of 2014-2015, the much smaller participation of Cossack formations in hostilities attracts attention. If in 2014 the Cossacks, both those who fought and those who were holed up in the rear, were a very massive and widespread phenomenon, then in the campaign of 2022 they flash only sporadically in the Luhansk People's Republic and in the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region. There is no need to talk about any really mass participation yet.
But from the state budget for the Cossacks, a lot of money was allocated and allocated, and this topic is supported at the state level. Nevertheless, despite the expectations that the Cossacks will take an active part in the campaign for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine (not to mention the issue of liberating the territory of the DPR and LPR from Ukrainian occupation), the level of participation does not even reach 2014. Apparently in the conditions of hostilities there are some more important events. But there were many stories that as soon as the liberation of Donbass began, huge detachments of Cossacks would go to help Donbass. So where?
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7556723.html
Google Translator
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Russia Destroys S-300 Systems Provided to Ukraine by Europe
April 12, 2022
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian military has destroyed the S-300 air defense systems, which Europe provided to Ukraine, with Kalibr missiles.
The news outlet HispanTV has reported that Russian sources stated on Monday that the Russian military had successfully destroyed several Ukrainian targets, including four S-300 missile launchers in the outskirts of southern Dnepropetrovsk which were supplied by Europe.
Similarly, a base being used to repair Ukrainian weapons and equipment, close to the town of Velikaya Novosiolovka was also destroyed by Russian missiles, as well as two ammunition storage sites close to Nikolaev and Zhovtnevoye.
As reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the Donetsk region the missiles destroyed nine tanks, five 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery systems, and five BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher systems. Two Ukrainian Su-25 planes were also shot down close to the city of Izium, in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.
As the result of the Russian operations, more than 60 Ukrainian nationalists were liquidated close to the towns of Vozdvizhenka and Ivanovka, in the Donetsk region.
In addition to this, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation, the Russian troops have destroyed 129 planes; 99 helicopters; 243 S-300, Buk-M1, and Osa air defense systems; 441 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2079 tanks and other armored vehicles, 239 rocket launchers, 909 units of field artillery and mortars, and 2003 other military vehicles.
Featured image: The launch of a Kalibr missile from a naval ship. Photo: CiudadCCS.
https://orinocotribune.com/russia-destr ... by-europe/
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China: Ukraine Conflict Shows US Hegemony Desire
Chinese FM Spokesperson said that the Ukraine conflict has shown the U.S. desire for hegemony. Apr. 12, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@@CGMeifangZhang+
Published 12 April 2022 (10 hours 47 minutes ago)
Chinese Foreign Ministry said that due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, it had been revealed that the U.S. seeks hegemony.
On Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine had been evidence of what the U.S. is willing to do to pursue hegemony and intimidation.
The comments were made by Chinese spokesperson Zhao Lijian during a daily press briefing answering a question on a recent poll, where 90 percent of the Chinese netizens consider that the U.S. actions in light of the Ukraine issue are not fair and just, instead of representing hegemony and bullying. He said that the U.S.-led NATO had pushed the Russia-Ukraine tension to escalate, evidenced by the ins and outs of how the Ukraine crisis has developed into what it is today.
Zhao said that Washington has been adding pressure and heightening tensions, coercing other countries to choose sides, and creating a chilling effect of "friend or foe" instead of taking actions to ease the conflict. The spokesperson added that the U.S. media had spread disinformation to smear China and distorted China's responsible position of facilitating peace talks with the intention to blame, encouraging the confrontation, and attempting to take advantage of the situation, and looking for a breach of its plot to suppress China and Russia simultaneously.
Chinese FM spokesperson said that Washington is being consumed by its desire of withdrawing ideological lines when forming closed and exclusive cliques and stoking opposition and confrontation holding the Cold War mentality, with deep eagerness to prolong its hegemony and power politics. Under the pretext of democracy, freedom, and human rights, the White House prompted "color revolutions," creating regional confrontations and evens wages wars against other countries to cash in on instability for substantial economic interests and geopolitical advantage.
Zhao said that the U.S. also uses unilateral sanctions to engage in economic coercion with the only purpose of suppressing and containing other countries, severely affecting the stability of global industrial and supply chains. He said the country has a double standard in applying the rules of international law and international order, and the "rules-based order" which it promotes are the ones that suit its acolytes.
Meanwhile, peace and development have an overriding trend and gained overwhelming support; the hegemonic and bullying acts performed by the U.S. go against the trend of current times and spread an ever-stronger opposition from the international community, said Zhao.
The spokesperson called on Washington to deal with the international public opinion, including China's. He urged the country as well to quit its Cold War and zero-sum game mindset, its outdated thinking of seeking its absolute security at the expense of the security of other countries, and to act on the line of international fairness and justice.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Chi ... -0010.html
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CP of the Russian Federation, Whether the World Supports NATO War Against Russia?
4/11/22 2:15 PM
By Dr Vyacheslav Tetekin
The Western press actively imposes on the international community the idea that allegedly the whole world stands for tough measures against Russia in connection with its military operation in Ukraine. This is not surprising. Major American and European TV companies and newspapers have long become weapons of the US and the EU information war against their geopolitical rivals. The same as aircraft carriers and Marines. The "world press" is a cheaper, but no less destructive weapon than aircraft carriers. So there is no faith in these "zealots of democratic values". In particular, after the fake about the "Bucha massacre", which was eagerly picked up by a number of Western publications.
Now about the world community’s real position. A vote at the UN General Assembly on a resolution condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine gives some, albeit incomplete, idea of the balance of forces. The result of the vote is as follows: 141 countries "for", 5 countries "against", 35 abstained. 15 countries did not vote. In general, 55 UN members did not support the resolution in one way or another. That is, there is at least no universal condemnation. In fact, the Americans – the authors of the resolution – were shocked. They did not expect that over a quarter of the UN members would refuse to support them.
When assessing the results of voting, one needs to apply not only arithmetic, but also physics - to count not only the number of countries, but also their weight in world affairs. And here the picture is very different. To begin with, the resolution was not supported by China (1.4 billion people) and India (1.4 billion) – the two largest countries by population. And the first and third economies in the world in terms of GDP. Pakistan (230 million), Bangladesh (180 million), of course, Russia itself (149 million), Ethiopia (118 million), Vietnam (98), Iran (87 million) also did not participate in this venture.
The most unpleasant surprise for the US and its allies was Africa’s position. Of the 55 countries that did not support the anti-Russian resolution, 26 were African states. These are Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, CAR, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Morocco, Togo, Eswatini, Ethiopia.
In Africa, they remember perfectly well how the European colonial powers plundered them for many decades. Hence they do not regard US-EU unholy alliance as genuine “defender of civilized values". Whereas Russia (the USSR), is known for its decades-long support of the liberation of the continent. Therefore, representatives of even those African countries that voted for the anti-Russian resolution admitted in private that they did it only under strong economic and political pressure from the US, UK and France. Only Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Nigeria have officially condemned Russia's actions. Not too much!
Of Russia's closest neighbors, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Mongolia did not vote for this resolution. In Latin America, it was not supported by Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and El Salvador. By the way, many of those who voted for the UN political resolution refused to impose economic sanctions against Russia. For example, such big countries as Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Egypt. And where are the anti-Russian feelings in the whole world?
Meanwhile, only 91 states voted for another UN resolution, this time on Russia's temporary exclusion from the Human Rights Council. 84 countries were against or abstained. That is, the composition of the anti-Russian forces turned out to be even less convincing. In general, according to the British Economist magazine, which is hard to suspect of sympathizing with Russia, over 60% of the world's population lives in countries friendly or neutral towards Russia.
In reality, only 48 countries are openly unfriendly. These are the "big five" states of the Anglo-Saxon world that consider themselves the true masters of the planet: the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Then there are 27 EU members plus 10 non-EU European countries. Judging by the way they are all being driven into sanctions against Russia and against their own interests, they are just vassals of the United States and its allies. And the most remarkable thing is that in the huge Pacific region only 5 countries are unfriendly to Russia: Japan and South Korea (with their US military bases), Taiwan, Singapore and... Micronesia.
But even in Europe there is no complete unity. Serbia and Hungary refused to join sanctions. Bulgaria and Hungary have not allowed weapons sent to Ukraine to pass via their territories. Trade unions of a number of countries have prevented the supply of weapons to the combat zone. In particular, the Greek railway workers refused to transport weapons to Ukraine. The airport workers in Italy, having discovered that instead of humanitarian aid, the weapons were being sent, refused to load them.
In some cases, the reluctance to support the United States and its allies is less public, but more effective. The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, seemingly countries closely linked to the United States, did not even talk to Joe Biden about increasing oil production in order to compensate for the volumes falling out due to the attempt to boycott Russia.
A separate issue is the behavior of Western companies. In theory, a total boycott has been declared against Russia. However, the desire to preserve their profits in the huge and solvent Russian market outweighs loyalty to their governments. Coca-Cola, Ritter Sport, Danone, Samsung, Phillips, Lacosta, Benetton, Ashan, Lerua Merlen, Globus, Metro, Burger King, KFC, Mitsubishi, Colgate-Palmovil, Proctor & Gamble, AstraZenik are just some of the companies who continue to work in Russia. Many companies, having announced their departure, do not go anywhere, declaring only the suspension of activities or new investments.
The European public is even more rigid. Powerful demonstrations are taking place in almost all EU countries to protest against the sharp deterioration of life caused by rising gas and gasoline prices. And this rise is associated with a reduction in Russian oil and gas supplies due to sanctions. Ordinary Europeans do not care about Pres. Zelensky’s feelings. They realize that their government's game on the side of the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine is the root cause of their troubles.
More advanced citizens understand that in fact this is a US dirty game against Europe. The goal is to deprive European industry of a reliable source of energy from Russia, force them to buy expensive American liquefied gas, thereby reduce the competitiveness of the European economy, and redirect the investments to the United States. Smart people understand that in fact, the blow is being dealt not so much to Russia as to Europe.
Meanwhile, it is important to assess not only who does not participate in anti-Russian actions, but also who supports the neo-Nazi government in Ukraine. As a matter of fact it is the same coalition of European states, which invaded the USSR as part of Hitler's Werhmacht in 1941 or supplied the fascists with weapons. Troops and SS legions from France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Estonia and Latvia (as well as Bandera “Galicia” division from Western Ukraine) fought against the Soviet Union. 25% of the armored vehicles and weapons of the Fascist army were produced in the Czech Republic. So the neo-Nazis in Ukraine today are helped by exactly those who supported the Nazis in Hitler's Germany.
Even the United Kingdom and the United States, which in 1941 were on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition, in the 1930s invested a lot of money in the revival of the German military machine, which then rolled through Europe like a monstrous roller. There were powerful Nazi parties in England and the USA before the war. Churchill was the only major British politician who warned about the danger of Nazism in Germany. And Joseph Kennedy, the US ambassador to the UK (and father of Pres. John F. Kennedy) was recalled back in 1940 for sympathizing with Hitler.
By the way, it would be useful to remind the West of another failed attempt of a total boycott. As is known, Napoleon waged wars of conquest in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and invaded Russia in 1812, primarily to ensure the continental blockade of Britain, France's main enemy. Nothing came of the then "sanctions" against UK, and Napoleon's ambitions of world domination ended up with his overthrow. Put Russia in the place of UK, and Joe Biden in the place of Napoleon, and you will see a repetition of events 200 years ago. Only now the attempt of the Russia’s boycott has a much less chance of success than Napoleon's sanctions against UK. And Mr. Biden is nowhere close to Napoleon.
The events in and around Ukraine are perceived by many as a NATO war against Russia. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer people willing to side with America in its geopolitical ambitions. And the world has changed. The workshop of the world today is not the UK or the USA, but China and other Asian countries. Most countries think in terms of national interests, not Washington's interests. So the attempt to boycott-blockade Russia is initially doomed to failure. It is high time for the USA and Britain to forget about their former colonial rule over the world. Otherwise they might lose far more than they hope to achieve by starting their dirty game against Russia and Europe.
http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-the-R ... st-Russia/
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Some bits from the Telegram account of War Gonzo:
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"Azov" can eliminate 2 US officers in MariupolAccording to the @wargonzo project from sources on the Donbas frontline, based on an analysis of radio intercepts of enemy communications, there are at least two high-ranking retired American officers in the air raid shelters at Azov-Stal.
According to our sources, they entered Mariupol together with PMC "Academy" and most likely are not active employees of the Pentagon. However, at the same time they are extremely important persons for Washington.
“These officers are aware of many covert US operations in third countries and are the bearer of information that is extremely sensitive to Washington,” a source familiar with the analysis of radio intercepts told the @wargonzo project.
It is also noted that in order to conceal this “sensitive information”, the American intelligence services are ready to order the Azov militants to eliminate these two officers. Whether they are alive at the moment is not yet known for sure.
@wargonzo
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WarGonzo
Marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took part in the operation NM DPRSeveral Ukrainian marines from the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who surrendered to the Donbass units the day before, volunteered to take part in the DPR NM operation to evacuate the body of our high-ranking officer from the Ilyich plant in Mariupol. The @wagonzo
project learned about this from its own sources in the Donbass front line. We do not have the right to disclose the name of the deceased major general, but we can report that he died really heroically. He was ambushed directly during the performance of a combat mission during the liberation of Mariupol. For a long time, neo-Nazis refused to hand over the body or report its whereabouts. Instead, the Azov militants posted a video of the corpse being abused.
After yesterday's operation to eliminate the breakthrough of neo-Nazis from the Ilyich plant, the Ukrainian marines who surrendered not only shared information about where the general's body was, but also volunteered to participate in the DPR NM operation to evacuate him. Namely, they acted as guides and showed a safe path.
This kind of action should have been expected from them earlier. At the very least, this would help save a large number of soldiers and civilians.
@wargonzo
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WarGonzo
37 Afghans are in Azov-Stal along with neo-NazisThis became known to the Donbas intelligence officers after another radio intercept a few days ago.
However, according to the @wargonzo project, just the day before, the Afghans got in touch and requested an evacuation corridor from the industrial zone in Mariupol, where they are surrounded along with neo-Nazis from Azov. It was the militants, by the way, who blocked the negotiations on the evacuation of foreigners by the fighters of the NM of the DPR and the Russian Federation.
@wargonzo has the following version of the stay in the ranks of the "Azov" 37 Afghan soldiers.
We are talking about those special forces who previously worked for the pro-American government of Ghani - after the withdrawal of NATO troops and the victory of the Taliban - they were evacuated to the United States, where they entered the service in the Academy PMC (formerly Black Waters). They are just one of those military men, whose education and training the Americans were actively engaged in in Afghanistan. They came to Mariupol to fight as mercenaries.
@wargonzo
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Front-line summary for the morning of 04/12/22Another assault: People's militia of the LPR attacked the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Severodonetsk.
Firestorm: Russian troops shell Kharkiv and nearby areas for the second day to prevent the Ukrainian army from launching an offensive on their positions.
An attempt to break through: in Mariupol, marines from the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to break out of the blockade ring.
Ringing silence: in the Izyum direction, the opposing sides are preparing for fierce battles.
Listen to the most truthful summary from the @wargonzo analytics department .
https://t.me/s/wargonzo
Good source. Unfortunately images will not transfer and there are a lot worth seeing. In Russian but Google translator handles it adequately.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
Briefly about Ukraine. 04/13/2022
April 13, 20:53
Briefly about Ukraine.
1. Western sources say that the RF Armed Forces are completing preparations for the start of an offensive operation in the coming days. Assume terms from 3 to 10 days before the start of the operation. Day X, of course, is kept secret, although preparations for it are not particularly hidden, especially since Shoigu has long outlined the directions where events will take place.
2. The Russian Defense Ministry today openly threatened that if attempts continue to attack the territory of the Russian Federation, strikes will be made on decision-making centers, including in Kyiv. It's high time to tackle the government quarter in Kyiv. "Dagger" on the Verkhovna Rada on the day the offensive began, it will be beautiful.
3. The remnants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after yesterday's surrender of the main forces of the 36th Marine Corps fled to Azovstal, from where they write vlogs and call those who surrendered "deserters", who cannot be considered heroes. Today, a cleanup of the Ilyich plant is underway, and there will be Azovmash soon.
4. The seaport of Mariupol is completely released. All hostages, including all foreigners, have been released. The remnants of the enemy forces are defending in the Primorsky district in a residential area. Some fled to Azovstal. The port itself has yet to be cleared. The coastal facilities have mostly been preserved, which is good for the development of the DPR.
5. An intensification of the supply of foreign weapons to Ukraine is expected, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and artillery. Further rockets and rate hikes up to a remake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The threat of nuclear war will continue to grow.
6. Le Pen confirmed that she considers Crimea to be Russian and wants to withdraw France from NATO command structures. Of course, they won’t let her win with such cases - for NATO it will be the finish line.
7. German business is simply howling at calls to abandon Russian gas. According to the "fat cats", Germany will lose up to 250 billion dollars and slide into recession. But of course Germany must pay for supporting Nazism and Russophobia. At the moment, a block has been formed from Hungary, Germany and Austria, which slows down the rejection of Russian gas and oil. For the time being, Russia is holding on to its trump card of shutting off gas to Europe (which would deal a monstrous blow to Germany, putting an end to its claims to economic dominance in Europe).
8. The Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry made it clear today that no one is going to change Medvedchuk for prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. An attempt to cover up the failure in Mariupol with Medvedchik failed. Relatives of the prisoners are recording hysterical videos with calls to save the prisoners and those surrounded. Medvedchuk's wife asks "friend Rejep" to save her husband. Ironically, Medvedchuk is still a people's deputy who has not been convicted. The rule of law as it is.
Full-fledged reviews of the directions will return after the resumption of intensive offensive operations. I think soon.
Broadcast of events in Ukraine as usual in Telegram https://t.me/boris_rozhin - if you are interested, subscribe
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7557227.html
Google Translator
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The Defense Industry’s Ukraine Pundits
To explain the crisis, corporate news networks are leaning on hawkish ex-military officials — without disclosing their current defense industry ties.
The Defense Industry’s Ukraine Pundits
Last week, CNN brought on former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for his fourth recent appearance to talk, once again, about Russian President Vladimir Putin's deadly invasion of Ukraine.
“I think we need to understand that there is only one thing that Putin understands, and that's force,” said Panetta on Newsroom.
The former CIA director added: “I think the United States has to provide whatever weapons are necessary to the Ukrainians, so that they can hit back, and hit back now.”
At no time did Panetta nor CNN mention that he’s a senior counselor at Beacon Global Strategies, a defense industry consulting firm that has reportedly represented weapons manufacturer Raytheon. The firm doesn’t disclose its clients, but Raytheon and the defense industry generally stand to benefit from the conflict in Ukraine.
The episode is part of a broader pattern and practice: Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, cable news networks have routinely called on defense officials-turned-consultants to offer analysis and help the American public make sense of the crisis. Often, these analysts have used their TV time to call for greater U.S. involvement and bolder moves that could ratchet up tensions between two nuclear-armed superpowers.
The networks have consistently failed to disclose these analysts’ day jobs, describing them instead by only their former high-ranking military or government roles — leaving viewers in the dark about the analysts’ financial ties to defense contractors that stand to profit from increased or prolonged conflict.
During its Ukraine coverage, MSNBC even failed to include disclosures when the network invited on former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who serves on the board of directors at Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest defense contractor.
When asked about this matter, Johnson told The Lever, “I have no comment.”
Corporate media’s lack of transparency about these consultants is deeply troubling, said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen.
“This type of revolving-door behavior should be prohibited for military officials to serve in a private capacity representing military contractors,” Holman told The Lever. “If not prohibited, it should be disclosed to everyone so when they’re going on television trying to affect Biden's policy on whatever war they have in mind, they ought to be straightforward.”
The phenomenon is not new. In an analysis of three weeks of news coverage following last year’s U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) found that 20 of the 22 featured guests from the U.S. on the networks’ Sunday shows had ties to the military-industrial-complex. At that point, too, the TV networks regularly neglected to disclose their guests’ ties to the defense industry. But the stakes are now much higher: Military conflict between the U.S. and Russia could make for a world-ending disaster, which is why the Biden administration has been reluctant to take major actions that could be perceived as escalatory.
But the Ukraine crisis and the potential for greater conflict have been a goldmine for defense contractors, sending stocks skyrocketing and prompting sharp increases in defense spending.
“The people who have the most interest in influencing the direction of the coverage are weapons makers,” Jim Naureckas, editor at FAIR, told The Lever. “They have the most direct financial stake in the way we cover issues of war and peace. Unfortunately, they are interested in more war and less peace.”
Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, U.S. defense stocks in leading companies like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin have surged, and they are expected to continue rising in the coming months. And in the wake of Russia’s invasion, President Biden signed into law a spending package that directs a record-breaking $782 billion towards defense — almost $30 billion above his initial request.
According to The Hill, “The additional Ukraine aid comes on top of more than $1 billion the U.S. has already spent in the past year to arm Ukrainian soldiers with modern weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, manufactured by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies, and Raytheon’s anti-aircraft Stinger missiles.”
Cashing In On Military Experience
With stories about Russia’s invasion dominating the news, networks have had tons of pundit slots to fill. Those spots have largely gone to high-ranking ex-military officials, who often find lucrative careers in the influence industry working on behalf of defense contractors — and who tend to spout hawkish rhetoric that aligns with how corporate media generally covers conflict. Most of the time, however, the networks have failed to divulge how such martial bombast could aid these former officials’ private-sector employers.
For instance, Jeremy Bash, who served as chief of staff at the Pentagon and the CIA under President Barack Obama, has been a recurring guest on MSNBC and NBC during their coverage of the crisis in Ukraine.
Bash, who was named a national security analyst for NBC and MSNBC in 2017, is also a founder and managing director at Beacon Global Strategies, which describes itself as “a strategic advisory firm specializing in international policy, defense, cyber, intelligence, and homeland security.” While Beacon Global Strategies does not disclose its clients, the firm has worked for defense giant Raytheon, according to the New York Times.
Days after Putin first launched the invasion of Ukraine, Bash went on NBC’s Meet the Press, eager to weigh in on the whole affair — presenting it as “an opportunity for the United States and the west to actually deliver a very fatal blow to Russia's ambitions on the global stage.”
“I think swallowing Ukraine, a country the size of Texas, with 40 million people, is unprecedented since World War II,” he said. “And if the United States can train and equip the Ukrainians and, I think, engage in a second Charlie Wilson's War, basically the sequel to the movie and the book, which is arming and training a determined force that will shoot Russian aircraft out of the sky, open up those tanks with can-openers, like the Javelins, and kill Russians, which is what our equipment is doing, I think this is a huge opportunity to hit Putin very hard.”
Javelin anti-tank missiles are manufactured jointly by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. At no point did anyone involved in the broadcast mention that Bash’s consulting firm has worked for Raytheon.
Admiral James Stavridis, an advisory board member at Beacon Global Strategies, has also made frequent recent appearances on MSNBC. Stavridis is also the vice chair of global affairs and managing director at private equity giant Carlyle Group, which has a history of investing in the defense and national security markets.
Stavridis pushed a war-hungry stance on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber shortly after the Russian invasion began. “In NATO, where I was supreme allied commander, you flood the zone in Eastern Europe,” said Stavridis. “You bring in troops, tanks, missile systems, warships, all the above, in order to send a signal to Vladimir Putin.”
On Meet The Press a couple weeks later, Stavridis recommended that the U.S. send more anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine to allow the country to create its own no-fly zone: “What we ought to do is give the Ukrainians the ability to create a no-fly zone,” he said. “More Stingers, more missiles that can go higher than Stingers.”
Stinger missiles are manufactured by Raytheon, Beacon Global Strategies’ reported client. Again, MSNBC failed to disclose information about Stavridis’ firm or its work for Raytheon.
Stavridis also called on the United States to approve an arms transfer proposed by Poland, which offered to send Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine — via an American air force base in Germany, with the expectation that the U.S. would then supply Poland with replacement planes. “Get those MiG-29s in their hands,” said Stavridis.
The Biden administration shot down that plan on the basis that it could significantly escalate tensions between the U.S. and Russia. A Pentagon spokesperson said that “we do not believe Poland's proposal is a tenable one.”
Beacon Global Strategies did not respond to a request for comment.
“I'd Love To See NATO Move In There”
Bash and Stavridis aren’t the only high-ranking national security officials-turned-pundits working as consultants who have lately been beating the drums of war.
Retired U.S. combat general Barry McCaffrey, for example, has been a mainstay on MSNBC. During an appearance on The Beat with Ari Melber, he lauded NATO and the European Union’s early decision to bring more than 7,000 U.S. troops and armored vehicles from Fort Stewart, Georgia, into Germany.
McCaffrey — who made the controversial Gulf War decision for his infantry division to fire on Iraqi soldiers, civilians, and children after a ceasefire was already underway — runs a consulting firm called BR McCaffrey Associates LLC. According to the business’ website, McCaffrey’s firm promises to help clients “build linkages between government and private sector clients; design public relations, media, advertising and legislative strategies; and provide client specific analysis of U.S. and international political and economic issues.”
In the years following 9/11, McCaffrey pushed for an endless Iraq War, including on NBC, without disclosing his financial interests: McCaffrey’s consulting firm was working behind the scenes to help at least one defense company secure a contract supplying Iraq with armored vehicles.
Former CIA Director and retired army general David Petraeus, meanwhile, has made multiple appearances on CNN recently, during which he talked about the need to get MiGs “into Ukrainian skies.” Petraeus is a partner at private equity giant KKR, a firm with significant defense business. He also serves on the board of directors at Optiv, which provides cybersecurity technology and services across the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense.
Retired army general Wesley Clark has also made a handful of appearances on CNN, voicing his opinion that this “battle is a long way from over, provided we can continue to provide replenishment to the weapons to the Ukrainians.”
Clark has long enjoyed a lucrative career working with defense companies. He runs a strategic consulting firm, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, which says it “uses his expertise, relationships, and extensive international reputation and experience in the fields of energy, alternative energy, corporate and national security, logistics, aerospace and defense, and investment banking.”
Last week on CNN, Clark was asked about the idea of sending a NATO task force to patrol waters off the coast of the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
“I'd love to see NATO move in there with a task force,” he said. “I don't think it's going to happen in the near term because of NATO's reluctance to come into direct conflict with Russian forces… But I do think it's important.”
“You Can't Give Away The Game”
MichèIe Flournoy, a former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense under Obama, has appeared on CNN at least twice in recent weeks to advocate for greater direct military support to Ukraine. Flourney is now co-founder and managing partner at WestExec Advisors, whose clients include aerospace and defense companies like Boeing. She also serves on the board of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
Flournoy didn’t disclose any of that when she went on State of the Union in early March to push for increasing military aid to Ukraine. “We need to be supplying Ukrainians with as much as we possibly can, munitions like anti-tank Javelin missiles, anti-air Stinger missiles,” she said. “And I think we should also be trying to get them some more of the planes that they know how to fly, MiGs from Eastern Europe, that could enable them to be much more effective in protecting the skies.”
On Amanpour a few days later, Flournoy doubled down on the idea of providing more weapons to Ukraine. “I think we need to bend over backwards to help the Ukrainians as much as possible,” she said. “This is not going to be over anytime soon.”
Flournoy’s appearance on Amanpour was one of the rare instances where CNN actually disclosed her work at WestExec Advisors — but the network didn’t mention the firm’s defense-industry clients. Naureckas, of FAIR, doesn’t simply blame pro-war talking heads for failing to disclose their defense-industry ties. He says it’s also up to the journalists running these cable news shows to help the public understand that these “military experts” have a stake in pushing for war.
“Everyone involved is aware of the transaction that is going on,” said Naureckas. “Journalists know this as well, but you can’t admit it because that would spoil the grift if you said, ‘Here’s a person who’s funded by the weapons industry to tell you about this crisis.’ It should be the reporter's instinct to explain the agenda of the people they are quoting, but because this is such an integral part of what is done in the journalism system, you can't give away the game.”
CNN and NBC did not respond to requests for comment.
https://www.levernews.com/the-defense-i ... e-pundits/
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U.S. Military Intelligence Official Refutes 'Russian Atrocities' Claims
Russian soldiers left the town Bucha in Ukraine on March 30. Two days later the Ukrainian Gestapo like SBU and men of the fascist Azov battalion moved in to find and remove 'traitors'. On April 2/3 video was published that showed freshly killed men laying on the streets of Bucha. Several of them had white arm bands signaling to Russian forces to see them as friendlies.
The 'west' and Ukrainian officials immediately called those dead the result of 'Russian atrocities'.
I had called it a provocation:
The Bucha 'Russian' atrocities propaganda onslaught may have worked well in the 'west' but it lacks evidence that Russia had anything to do with it.
The former Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar calls it an outright fake: ...
And a fake it was.
Thankfully there are still some sane U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officials and William Arkin is talking with them:
Last Wednesday, Bucha Mayor Anatolii Fedoruk said that 320 people had been killed in the town of 37,000.
...
"It is ugly," a senior official with the Defense Intelligence Agency tells Newsweek. "But we forget that two peer competitors fought over Bucha for 36 days, and that the town was occupied, that Russian convoys and positions inside the town were attacked by the Ukrainians and vice versa, that ground combat was intense, that the town itself was literally fought over."
...
"I am not for a second excusing Russia's war crimes, nor forgetting that Russia invaded the country," says the DIA official. "But the number of actual deaths is hardly genocide. If Russia had that objective or was intentionally killing civilians, we'd see a lot more than less than .01 percent in places like Bucha."
320 of 37,000 is not .01 percent. But we do not know how many of those dead were Russian or Ukrainian soldiers. Some of the dead were so called 'civilian defenders' which were supposedly local civilians to whom the government had handed guns to 'fight the Russians'. During a war a 'civilian' with a government issued gun shooting at enemy soldiers is a combatant, not a civilian.
The DIA official continues:
"Have the Russians been indiscriminate? Absolutely. But it shouldn't too surprising. It's part and parcel of the Russian way of war, lining up their artillery guns and letting loose," the DIA official says. "But here in particular, in Bucha and the other towns around it—Irpin and Hostomel—there was intense ground fighting that involved almost 20 battalion tactical groups."
I doubt that there is really intentional 'indiscriminate' Russian artillery fire. The Russians have held back quite a lot and paid in blood for it.
One should also note that the often shown mass graves in Bucha were not from recent actions but had been dug on March 10 after heavy fighting when Russian soldiers tried to enter the town:
Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine, said the first signs of excavation for a mass grave at the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints were seen on March 10.
"More recent coverage on March 31st shows the grave site with an approximately 45-foot-long trench in the southwestern section of the area near the church," Maxar said.
The DIA official clearly says the civilian casualties in Ukraine, which are quite low, get overplayed and that attributing them solely to Russia is wrong:
On Monday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had recorded 1,793 deaths and 2,439 injuries to civilians in all of Ukraine since the war began on February 24. U.S. intelligence believes that the true number is some five times greater, as previously reported by Newsweek.
"It's bad," the DIA official says. "And I don't want to say it's not too bad. But I can't help but stress that beyond the clamor, we are not seeing the war clearly. Where there has been intense ground fighting and a standoff between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the destruction is almost total. But in terms of actual damage in Kyiv or other cities outside the battle zone, and with regard to the number of civilian casualties overall, the evidence contradicts the dominant narrative."
...
The official says that it is dangerous to attribute one or even several graves and scenes of civilian disaster to Russian barbarism rather than just being realistic about the depredations of war.
The official also worries that attributing the destructiveness only to Russian conduct, rather than to war itself, creates future dangers.
"If we blame all the damage on Putin, as if he commanded it and that it is due solely to Russian war crimes, we are going to walk away from Ukraine with some illusion in our heads that modern warfare can be fought more cleanly, that the Ukraine war is an anomaly solely created by Russia's behavior. This war is just demonstrating how destructive any war on this scale would be."
One should avoid to wage war whenever possible but it also important to end wars as quickly as possible:
"Maybe it's heartless to urge that we look at Ukraine with precision, without human emotion," says the DIA official.
"But for those who think tens of thousands have died and Russia is intentionally killing civilians and pursuing genocide, I say that's even more of an argument to find a diplomatic solution to cease fighting. But nothing is going to happen in the coming days or weeks to change the reality on the battlefield. That's why stopping the fighting should be our highest priority."
Unfortunately ending the war is not a priority for the U.S. nor the EU. Their leaders are drunk on the idea that the Ukraine defeated Russia around Kiev. They seem to believe that the Ukraine can defeat Russia everywhere.
But the retreat from Kiev was ordered because the deceptive move towards it had fulfilled its purpose of keeping a large number of Ukrainian soldiers in place around Kiev while the Russian army opened the land corridor to Crimea.
The Ukraine has no chance to defeat the Russian army no matter how many old tanks or airplanes the U.S. and EU countries move to it.
Sending more weapons only prolongs the war and inevitably creates more military and civilian casualties on both sides.
Posted by b on April 13, 2022 at 14:55 UTC | Permalink
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/u ... .html#more
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Cassad's Telegraph account:
Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 13
Despite the general information lull, very intense battles are going on in some places of the front today. Of course, it is still too early to talk about a full-scale offensive. The battles are rather positional, without much change in the front line, but in places very fierce. So let's go over briefly about the fronts, from north to south.
Kharkov - positional battles - a very serious work of artillery. Explosions thunder every day by the dozens. Mostly flies around the suburbs. The head of defense of Kharkov reports civilian casualties, but at the same time slyly declares that there are no reasons for evacuation .
Izyum-Slavyansk. Our troops are firmly entrenched in this direction, continue to advance on Slavyansk.“The enemy snaps, actively works with rocket and cannon artillery, including at Izyum. There is no question of any Ukrainian counter-offensive, although the actions of the enemy's DRG have become more active. Russian special forces are conducting successful counter-sabotage work, clearing villages on the road to Slavyansk. Tank battles, artillery duels, the work of aviation on the front line, skirmishes of special forces units, that's all that can now be seen with one's own eyes at the unfolding battle for Donbass, on its Izyum-Slavic sector of the front , ”comrades from the field share the situation.
Neighborhood in the LPR is no less " hot ". Artillery is constantly working from both sides. The people's militia of the LPR with volunteers from Chechnya are clearing Rubizhne and advancing to Popasnaya. Fighting is also going on in the direction of Lisichansk and on the outskirts of Severodonetsk. Slowly and hard, but the enemy is successfully pushed in some places.
In Avdiivka, Ukrainian resources report “fierce clashes” and an attack by the Russian Armed Forces. Active artillery work is underway. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, in turn, subject the areas of Donetsk to massive shelling. Explosions in Yasinovataya, Tekstilshchiki, Petrovsky district, Aleksandrovka, etc.
It is also reported about the attack of our forces in the Bolshaya Novoselka area. Attacks are also being made in the area of Gulyai-Polye and Ugledar. To the north of the settlement Canopies during the 5-hour battle, our forces were able to dislodge the enemy from their positions, equipment and manpower of the enemy were destroyed. This defeat was confirmed by the speaker of the Zaporozhye Regional Military Administration.
By Mariupol. There, the cleansing of the Ilyich plant continues, from where a huge number of marines from the 36th brigade surrendered yesterday. In total, on the evening of April 13, 1,350 Marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered.
At the same time, as it turned out, part of the senior officers, while the main forces of the Marines were thrown into a senseless breakthrough from the ring, i.e. for slaughter and captivity, they themselves moved in the opposite direction, to Azovstal, the last stronghold of the Nazis in Mariupol. The port area is completely under our control.
Also today there was another incident at the border. The authorities of the Kursk region reported about the shelling of a checkpoint in the village of Gordeevka on the border with the Sumy region of Ukraine from small arms. The firing points were suppressed, there were no casualties or destruction on the Russian side. After that, in the evening, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that if such attacks on our territory continue, the Russian Armed Forces will strike at decision-making centers, including in Kiev, from which the Russian army has so far refrained.
By the way, this is not the only incident on the border today. The Ukrainian side reports shelling of the border crossing in the Chernihiv region, already from the Russian side.
Of the interesting, it is worth noting the news from across the ocean. The Pentagon stated thatThe United States will transfer 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 18 howitzers, 300 Switchblade kamikaze drones, 500 Javelin missiles to Kiev. And they will do it as soon as possible. Considering that the military equipment of the NATO countries is already accumulating near the borders with Ukraine, we should expect a more large-scale development of the conflict. There are rumors at the front about the beginning of the participation of NATO countries in May - openly. And they've been closed since the beginning.
***
Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Rybar
On Wednesday, the US government approved another $800 million military aid package to Ukraine, which includes a wide range of weapons and military equipment, including 11 Mi-17 multipurpose helicopters previously intended for the Afghan armed forces.
In addition, the package will include:
18 howitzers of 155-mm caliber, as well as 40,000 ammunition for them.
Mobile radar stations, including 10 AN / TPQ-36 Firefinder mobile anti-battery systems and 2 AN / MPQ-64 Sentinel airborne target detection radars. American instructors will train operators of these systems.
200 M113 armored personnel carriers.
100 Humvees.
500 Javelin ATGMs and hundreds of other anti-tank missiles.
300 unnamed Switchblade loitering ammunition.
Unmanned patrol boats for coastal defense.
M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mines.
C-4 explosives and demolition equipment.
Means of radiation, chemical and biological protection.
Medical equipment.
30 thousand sets of body armor and helmets.
Over 2000 optical sights and laser rangefinders.
#USA #Ukraine
@rybar
***
Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Rybar
The Pentagon's Viewpoint: How Russia Prepares for the Second Phase of the Special Military Operation
Pentagon officials hold daily press briefings on the progress of the RF Armed Forces' preparations for the second phase of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Together with Frida Kahlo @sex_drugs_kahlo, we have put together all the main theses of the last days and give them with our comments.
There is an opinion in the Pentagon that the moral and psychological state of the personnel of the RF Armed Forces is low. And this is despite the fact that Putin appointed the commander of the Southern Military District Dvornikov to lead the operation.
This is not so: Dvornikov, as the commander of the troops of the Southern Military District, has been leading the fighting in the Donbass-Luhansk direction since February 24.
It’s just that now you need to create a media picture: the famous general, who is accused of rivers of blood of the spilled Syrians, is Moscow’s last chance. Such conjectures do not correlate with reality in any way.
The US government has decided to accelerate the supply of weapons . The Pentagon's meeting with defense contractors in Ukraine is part of the "normal rhythm of work" of the Ministry of Defense with representatives of the industry. In Ukraine, Switchblade drones have already begun to be used , and ATGMs for Javelin MANPADS should arrive in the middle of the month .
In the West, they have taken a course to slow down the conflict in Ukraine in order to ignite new hot spots around Russia (the Caucasus and Central Asia). At the same time, companies in the military-industrial complex are trying to make the most of the active phase of the operation.
The US government is still analyzing the fact of the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol, but so far it "has not come to any conclusions." However, it is very problematic to conduct a check : the Pentagon does not have the necessary specialists in Ukraine and there is no way to contact doctors in Mariupol.
Data on the chemical attack in Mariupol is not only contradictory: it is extremely unconvincing. Moreover, if the fact of the use of chemical weapons is confirmed, the US and NATO will have to answer for what was said and send in the promised troops, since this is a “red line”. Naturally, this is not very correlated with true desires.
Ukraine managed to hold out against Russia for almost 50 days thanks to the skill of the Ukrainian troops, the willingness to adapt to Russian tactics, effective command and foreign assistance. The US government is considering using US troops on NATO's eastern flank to remotely train Ukrainian forces. One option: remote training of military instructors in NATO partner countries .
Considering the huge amount of funds pumped up in recent years for military assistance to Ukraine, now the scale and effect of this assistance will be extolled in every possible way. The fact that units from Odessa are fighting in the Nikolaev-Kherson direction, and reservists from Lvov near Kharkov, no one is going to tell. Yes, and distance learning missions are a separate anecdote.
Russian forces are trying to increase their own maneuverability south of Izyum . For this, a bridge was built across the river. Large bridgeheads were created on the border in Belgorod , Valuyki and Rovenki .
Considering that the Slobozhansko-Slavyanskoe direction is one of the main ones along which it is planned to close the boiler in the Donbass, this is quite natural. It is strange that the Pentagon perceives the crossing of a water barrier as something of a sort, because this is an ordinary measure of the engineering support of the troops.
The Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out 150 sorties to attack Ukraine in the last 24 hours. In total, on average, up to 30 strokes per day are applied, then in the first days the figure was about 50 strokes . In total, more than 1,500 missiles have been fired since the beginning of the operation.
The list of objects to defeat is finite. Now the strikes, as confirmed by the Pentagon, are mainly carried out on reinforcements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The decrease in the intensity of strikes only indicates that there is no need to spend resources on non-priority targets.
#Russia #USA #Ukraine @rybar with @sex_drugs_kahlo *Support us: 4377 7278 0407 7977
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
April 13, 20:53
Briefly about Ukraine.
1. Western sources say that the RF Armed Forces are completing preparations for the start of an offensive operation in the coming days. Assume terms from 3 to 10 days before the start of the operation. Day X, of course, is kept secret, although preparations for it are not particularly hidden, especially since Shoigu has long outlined the directions where events will take place.
2. The Russian Defense Ministry today openly threatened that if attempts continue to attack the territory of the Russian Federation, strikes will be made on decision-making centers, including in Kyiv. It's high time to tackle the government quarter in Kyiv. "Dagger" on the Verkhovna Rada on the day the offensive began, it will be beautiful.
3. The remnants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after yesterday's surrender of the main forces of the 36th Marine Corps fled to Azovstal, from where they write vlogs and call those who surrendered "deserters", who cannot be considered heroes. Today, a cleanup of the Ilyich plant is underway, and there will be Azovmash soon.
4. The seaport of Mariupol is completely released. All hostages, including all foreigners, have been released. The remnants of the enemy forces are defending in the Primorsky district in a residential area. Some fled to Azovstal. The port itself has yet to be cleared. The coastal facilities have mostly been preserved, which is good for the development of the DPR.
5. An intensification of the supply of foreign weapons to Ukraine is expected, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and artillery. Further rockets and rate hikes up to a remake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The threat of nuclear war will continue to grow.
6. Le Pen confirmed that she considers Crimea to be Russian and wants to withdraw France from NATO command structures. Of course, they won’t let her win with such cases - for NATO it will be the finish line.
7. German business is simply howling at calls to abandon Russian gas. According to the "fat cats", Germany will lose up to 250 billion dollars and slide into recession. But of course Germany must pay for supporting Nazism and Russophobia. At the moment, a block has been formed from Hungary, Germany and Austria, which slows down the rejection of Russian gas and oil. For the time being, Russia is holding on to its trump card of shutting off gas to Europe (which would deal a monstrous blow to Germany, putting an end to its claims to economic dominance in Europe).
8. The Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry made it clear today that no one is going to change Medvedchuk for prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. An attempt to cover up the failure in Mariupol with Medvedchik failed. Relatives of the prisoners are recording hysterical videos with calls to save the prisoners and those surrounded. Medvedchuk's wife asks "friend Rejep" to save her husband. Ironically, Medvedchuk is still a people's deputy who has not been convicted. The rule of law as it is.
Full-fledged reviews of the directions will return after the resumption of intensive offensive operations. I think soon.
Broadcast of events in Ukraine as usual in Telegram https://t.me/boris_rozhin - if you are interested, subscribe
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7557227.html
Google Translator
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The Defense Industry’s Ukraine Pundits
To explain the crisis, corporate news networks are leaning on hawkish ex-military officials — without disclosing their current defense industry ties.
The Defense Industry’s Ukraine Pundits
Last week, CNN brought on former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for his fourth recent appearance to talk, once again, about Russian President Vladimir Putin's deadly invasion of Ukraine.
“I think we need to understand that there is only one thing that Putin understands, and that's force,” said Panetta on Newsroom.
The former CIA director added: “I think the United States has to provide whatever weapons are necessary to the Ukrainians, so that they can hit back, and hit back now.”
At no time did Panetta nor CNN mention that he’s a senior counselor at Beacon Global Strategies, a defense industry consulting firm that has reportedly represented weapons manufacturer Raytheon. The firm doesn’t disclose its clients, but Raytheon and the defense industry generally stand to benefit from the conflict in Ukraine.
The episode is part of a broader pattern and practice: Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, cable news networks have routinely called on defense officials-turned-consultants to offer analysis and help the American public make sense of the crisis. Often, these analysts have used their TV time to call for greater U.S. involvement and bolder moves that could ratchet up tensions between two nuclear-armed superpowers.
The networks have consistently failed to disclose these analysts’ day jobs, describing them instead by only their former high-ranking military or government roles — leaving viewers in the dark about the analysts’ financial ties to defense contractors that stand to profit from increased or prolonged conflict.
During its Ukraine coverage, MSNBC even failed to include disclosures when the network invited on former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who serves on the board of directors at Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest defense contractor.
When asked about this matter, Johnson told The Lever, “I have no comment.”
Corporate media’s lack of transparency about these consultants is deeply troubling, said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen.
“This type of revolving-door behavior should be prohibited for military officials to serve in a private capacity representing military contractors,” Holman told The Lever. “If not prohibited, it should be disclosed to everyone so when they’re going on television trying to affect Biden's policy on whatever war they have in mind, they ought to be straightforward.”
The phenomenon is not new. In an analysis of three weeks of news coverage following last year’s U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) found that 20 of the 22 featured guests from the U.S. on the networks’ Sunday shows had ties to the military-industrial-complex. At that point, too, the TV networks regularly neglected to disclose their guests’ ties to the defense industry. But the stakes are now much higher: Military conflict between the U.S. and Russia could make for a world-ending disaster, which is why the Biden administration has been reluctant to take major actions that could be perceived as escalatory.
But the Ukraine crisis and the potential for greater conflict have been a goldmine for defense contractors, sending stocks skyrocketing and prompting sharp increases in defense spending.
“The people who have the most interest in influencing the direction of the coverage are weapons makers,” Jim Naureckas, editor at FAIR, told The Lever. “They have the most direct financial stake in the way we cover issues of war and peace. Unfortunately, they are interested in more war and less peace.”
Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, U.S. defense stocks in leading companies like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin have surged, and they are expected to continue rising in the coming months. And in the wake of Russia’s invasion, President Biden signed into law a spending package that directs a record-breaking $782 billion towards defense — almost $30 billion above his initial request.
According to The Hill, “The additional Ukraine aid comes on top of more than $1 billion the U.S. has already spent in the past year to arm Ukrainian soldiers with modern weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, manufactured by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies, and Raytheon’s anti-aircraft Stinger missiles.”
Cashing In On Military Experience
With stories about Russia’s invasion dominating the news, networks have had tons of pundit slots to fill. Those spots have largely gone to high-ranking ex-military officials, who often find lucrative careers in the influence industry working on behalf of defense contractors — and who tend to spout hawkish rhetoric that aligns with how corporate media generally covers conflict. Most of the time, however, the networks have failed to divulge how such martial bombast could aid these former officials’ private-sector employers.
For instance, Jeremy Bash, who served as chief of staff at the Pentagon and the CIA under President Barack Obama, has been a recurring guest on MSNBC and NBC during their coverage of the crisis in Ukraine.
Bash, who was named a national security analyst for NBC and MSNBC in 2017, is also a founder and managing director at Beacon Global Strategies, which describes itself as “a strategic advisory firm specializing in international policy, defense, cyber, intelligence, and homeland security.” While Beacon Global Strategies does not disclose its clients, the firm has worked for defense giant Raytheon, according to the New York Times.
Days after Putin first launched the invasion of Ukraine, Bash went on NBC’s Meet the Press, eager to weigh in on the whole affair — presenting it as “an opportunity for the United States and the west to actually deliver a very fatal blow to Russia's ambitions on the global stage.”
“I think swallowing Ukraine, a country the size of Texas, with 40 million people, is unprecedented since World War II,” he said. “And if the United States can train and equip the Ukrainians and, I think, engage in a second Charlie Wilson's War, basically the sequel to the movie and the book, which is arming and training a determined force that will shoot Russian aircraft out of the sky, open up those tanks with can-openers, like the Javelins, and kill Russians, which is what our equipment is doing, I think this is a huge opportunity to hit Putin very hard.”
Javelin anti-tank missiles are manufactured jointly by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. At no point did anyone involved in the broadcast mention that Bash’s consulting firm has worked for Raytheon.
Admiral James Stavridis, an advisory board member at Beacon Global Strategies, has also made frequent recent appearances on MSNBC. Stavridis is also the vice chair of global affairs and managing director at private equity giant Carlyle Group, which has a history of investing in the defense and national security markets.
Stavridis pushed a war-hungry stance on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber shortly after the Russian invasion began. “In NATO, where I was supreme allied commander, you flood the zone in Eastern Europe,” said Stavridis. “You bring in troops, tanks, missile systems, warships, all the above, in order to send a signal to Vladimir Putin.”
On Meet The Press a couple weeks later, Stavridis recommended that the U.S. send more anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine to allow the country to create its own no-fly zone: “What we ought to do is give the Ukrainians the ability to create a no-fly zone,” he said. “More Stingers, more missiles that can go higher than Stingers.”
Stinger missiles are manufactured by Raytheon, Beacon Global Strategies’ reported client. Again, MSNBC failed to disclose information about Stavridis’ firm or its work for Raytheon.
Stavridis also called on the United States to approve an arms transfer proposed by Poland, which offered to send Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine — via an American air force base in Germany, with the expectation that the U.S. would then supply Poland with replacement planes. “Get those MiG-29s in their hands,” said Stavridis.
The Biden administration shot down that plan on the basis that it could significantly escalate tensions between the U.S. and Russia. A Pentagon spokesperson said that “we do not believe Poland's proposal is a tenable one.”
Beacon Global Strategies did not respond to a request for comment.
“I'd Love To See NATO Move In There”
Bash and Stavridis aren’t the only high-ranking national security officials-turned-pundits working as consultants who have lately been beating the drums of war.
Retired U.S. combat general Barry McCaffrey, for example, has been a mainstay on MSNBC. During an appearance on The Beat with Ari Melber, he lauded NATO and the European Union’s early decision to bring more than 7,000 U.S. troops and armored vehicles from Fort Stewart, Georgia, into Germany.
McCaffrey — who made the controversial Gulf War decision for his infantry division to fire on Iraqi soldiers, civilians, and children after a ceasefire was already underway — runs a consulting firm called BR McCaffrey Associates LLC. According to the business’ website, McCaffrey’s firm promises to help clients “build linkages between government and private sector clients; design public relations, media, advertising and legislative strategies; and provide client specific analysis of U.S. and international political and economic issues.”
In the years following 9/11, McCaffrey pushed for an endless Iraq War, including on NBC, without disclosing his financial interests: McCaffrey’s consulting firm was working behind the scenes to help at least one defense company secure a contract supplying Iraq with armored vehicles.
Former CIA Director and retired army general David Petraeus, meanwhile, has made multiple appearances on CNN recently, during which he talked about the need to get MiGs “into Ukrainian skies.” Petraeus is a partner at private equity giant KKR, a firm with significant defense business. He also serves on the board of directors at Optiv, which provides cybersecurity technology and services across the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense.
Retired army general Wesley Clark has also made a handful of appearances on CNN, voicing his opinion that this “battle is a long way from over, provided we can continue to provide replenishment to the weapons to the Ukrainians.”
Clark has long enjoyed a lucrative career working with defense companies. He runs a strategic consulting firm, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, which says it “uses his expertise, relationships, and extensive international reputation and experience in the fields of energy, alternative energy, corporate and national security, logistics, aerospace and defense, and investment banking.”
Last week on CNN, Clark was asked about the idea of sending a NATO task force to patrol waters off the coast of the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
“I'd love to see NATO move in there with a task force,” he said. “I don't think it's going to happen in the near term because of NATO's reluctance to come into direct conflict with Russian forces… But I do think it's important.”
“You Can't Give Away The Game”
MichèIe Flournoy, a former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense under Obama, has appeared on CNN at least twice in recent weeks to advocate for greater direct military support to Ukraine. Flourney is now co-founder and managing partner at WestExec Advisors, whose clients include aerospace and defense companies like Boeing. She also serves on the board of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
Flournoy didn’t disclose any of that when she went on State of the Union in early March to push for increasing military aid to Ukraine. “We need to be supplying Ukrainians with as much as we possibly can, munitions like anti-tank Javelin missiles, anti-air Stinger missiles,” she said. “And I think we should also be trying to get them some more of the planes that they know how to fly, MiGs from Eastern Europe, that could enable them to be much more effective in protecting the skies.”
On Amanpour a few days later, Flournoy doubled down on the idea of providing more weapons to Ukraine. “I think we need to bend over backwards to help the Ukrainians as much as possible,” she said. “This is not going to be over anytime soon.”
Flournoy’s appearance on Amanpour was one of the rare instances where CNN actually disclosed her work at WestExec Advisors — but the network didn’t mention the firm’s defense-industry clients. Naureckas, of FAIR, doesn’t simply blame pro-war talking heads for failing to disclose their defense-industry ties. He says it’s also up to the journalists running these cable news shows to help the public understand that these “military experts” have a stake in pushing for war.
“Everyone involved is aware of the transaction that is going on,” said Naureckas. “Journalists know this as well, but you can’t admit it because that would spoil the grift if you said, ‘Here’s a person who’s funded by the weapons industry to tell you about this crisis.’ It should be the reporter's instinct to explain the agenda of the people they are quoting, but because this is such an integral part of what is done in the journalism system, you can't give away the game.”
CNN and NBC did not respond to requests for comment.
https://www.levernews.com/the-defense-i ... e-pundits/
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U.S. Military Intelligence Official Refutes 'Russian Atrocities' Claims
Russian soldiers left the town Bucha in Ukraine on March 30. Two days later the Ukrainian Gestapo like SBU and men of the fascist Azov battalion moved in to find and remove 'traitors'. On April 2/3 video was published that showed freshly killed men laying on the streets of Bucha. Several of them had white arm bands signaling to Russian forces to see them as friendlies.
The 'west' and Ukrainian officials immediately called those dead the result of 'Russian atrocities'.
I had called it a provocation:
The Bucha 'Russian' atrocities propaganda onslaught may have worked well in the 'west' but it lacks evidence that Russia had anything to do with it.
The former Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar calls it an outright fake: ...
And a fake it was.
Thankfully there are still some sane U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officials and William Arkin is talking with them:
Last Wednesday, Bucha Mayor Anatolii Fedoruk said that 320 people had been killed in the town of 37,000.
...
"It is ugly," a senior official with the Defense Intelligence Agency tells Newsweek. "But we forget that two peer competitors fought over Bucha for 36 days, and that the town was occupied, that Russian convoys and positions inside the town were attacked by the Ukrainians and vice versa, that ground combat was intense, that the town itself was literally fought over."
...
"I am not for a second excusing Russia's war crimes, nor forgetting that Russia invaded the country," says the DIA official. "But the number of actual deaths is hardly genocide. If Russia had that objective or was intentionally killing civilians, we'd see a lot more than less than .01 percent in places like Bucha."
320 of 37,000 is not .01 percent. But we do not know how many of those dead were Russian or Ukrainian soldiers. Some of the dead were so called 'civilian defenders' which were supposedly local civilians to whom the government had handed guns to 'fight the Russians'. During a war a 'civilian' with a government issued gun shooting at enemy soldiers is a combatant, not a civilian.
The DIA official continues:
"Have the Russians been indiscriminate? Absolutely. But it shouldn't too surprising. It's part and parcel of the Russian way of war, lining up their artillery guns and letting loose," the DIA official says. "But here in particular, in Bucha and the other towns around it—Irpin and Hostomel—there was intense ground fighting that involved almost 20 battalion tactical groups."
I doubt that there is really intentional 'indiscriminate' Russian artillery fire. The Russians have held back quite a lot and paid in blood for it.
One should also note that the often shown mass graves in Bucha were not from recent actions but had been dug on March 10 after heavy fighting when Russian soldiers tried to enter the town:
Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine, said the first signs of excavation for a mass grave at the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints were seen on March 10.
"More recent coverage on March 31st shows the grave site with an approximately 45-foot-long trench in the southwestern section of the area near the church," Maxar said.
The DIA official clearly says the civilian casualties in Ukraine, which are quite low, get overplayed and that attributing them solely to Russia is wrong:
On Monday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had recorded 1,793 deaths and 2,439 injuries to civilians in all of Ukraine since the war began on February 24. U.S. intelligence believes that the true number is some five times greater, as previously reported by Newsweek.
"It's bad," the DIA official says. "And I don't want to say it's not too bad. But I can't help but stress that beyond the clamor, we are not seeing the war clearly. Where there has been intense ground fighting and a standoff between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the destruction is almost total. But in terms of actual damage in Kyiv or other cities outside the battle zone, and with regard to the number of civilian casualties overall, the evidence contradicts the dominant narrative."
...
The official says that it is dangerous to attribute one or even several graves and scenes of civilian disaster to Russian barbarism rather than just being realistic about the depredations of war.
The official also worries that attributing the destructiveness only to Russian conduct, rather than to war itself, creates future dangers.
"If we blame all the damage on Putin, as if he commanded it and that it is due solely to Russian war crimes, we are going to walk away from Ukraine with some illusion in our heads that modern warfare can be fought more cleanly, that the Ukraine war is an anomaly solely created by Russia's behavior. This war is just demonstrating how destructive any war on this scale would be."
One should avoid to wage war whenever possible but it also important to end wars as quickly as possible:
"Maybe it's heartless to urge that we look at Ukraine with precision, without human emotion," says the DIA official.
"But for those who think tens of thousands have died and Russia is intentionally killing civilians and pursuing genocide, I say that's even more of an argument to find a diplomatic solution to cease fighting. But nothing is going to happen in the coming days or weeks to change the reality on the battlefield. That's why stopping the fighting should be our highest priority."
Unfortunately ending the war is not a priority for the U.S. nor the EU. Their leaders are drunk on the idea that the Ukraine defeated Russia around Kiev. They seem to believe that the Ukraine can defeat Russia everywhere.
But the retreat from Kiev was ordered because the deceptive move towards it had fulfilled its purpose of keeping a large number of Ukrainian soldiers in place around Kiev while the Russian army opened the land corridor to Crimea.
The Ukraine has no chance to defeat the Russian army no matter how many old tanks or airplanes the U.S. and EU countries move to it.
Sending more weapons only prolongs the war and inevitably creates more military and civilian casualties on both sides.
Posted by b on April 13, 2022 at 14:55 UTC | Permalink
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/u ... .html#more
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Cassad's Telegraph account:
Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 13
Despite the general information lull, very intense battles are going on in some places of the front today. Of course, it is still too early to talk about a full-scale offensive. The battles are rather positional, without much change in the front line, but in places very fierce. So let's go over briefly about the fronts, from north to south.
Kharkov - positional battles - a very serious work of artillery. Explosions thunder every day by the dozens. Mostly flies around the suburbs. The head of defense of Kharkov reports civilian casualties, but at the same time slyly declares that there are no reasons for evacuation .
Izyum-Slavyansk. Our troops are firmly entrenched in this direction, continue to advance on Slavyansk.“The enemy snaps, actively works with rocket and cannon artillery, including at Izyum. There is no question of any Ukrainian counter-offensive, although the actions of the enemy's DRG have become more active. Russian special forces are conducting successful counter-sabotage work, clearing villages on the road to Slavyansk. Tank battles, artillery duels, the work of aviation on the front line, skirmishes of special forces units, that's all that can now be seen with one's own eyes at the unfolding battle for Donbass, on its Izyum-Slavic sector of the front , ”comrades from the field share the situation.
Neighborhood in the LPR is no less " hot ". Artillery is constantly working from both sides. The people's militia of the LPR with volunteers from Chechnya are clearing Rubizhne and advancing to Popasnaya. Fighting is also going on in the direction of Lisichansk and on the outskirts of Severodonetsk. Slowly and hard, but the enemy is successfully pushed in some places.
In Avdiivka, Ukrainian resources report “fierce clashes” and an attack by the Russian Armed Forces. Active artillery work is underway. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, in turn, subject the areas of Donetsk to massive shelling. Explosions in Yasinovataya, Tekstilshchiki, Petrovsky district, Aleksandrovka, etc.
It is also reported about the attack of our forces in the Bolshaya Novoselka area. Attacks are also being made in the area of Gulyai-Polye and Ugledar. To the north of the settlement Canopies during the 5-hour battle, our forces were able to dislodge the enemy from their positions, equipment and manpower of the enemy were destroyed. This defeat was confirmed by the speaker of the Zaporozhye Regional Military Administration.
By Mariupol. There, the cleansing of the Ilyich plant continues, from where a huge number of marines from the 36th brigade surrendered yesterday. In total, on the evening of April 13, 1,350 Marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered.
At the same time, as it turned out, part of the senior officers, while the main forces of the Marines were thrown into a senseless breakthrough from the ring, i.e. for slaughter and captivity, they themselves moved in the opposite direction, to Azovstal, the last stronghold of the Nazis in Mariupol. The port area is completely under our control.
Also today there was another incident at the border. The authorities of the Kursk region reported about the shelling of a checkpoint in the village of Gordeevka on the border with the Sumy region of Ukraine from small arms. The firing points were suppressed, there were no casualties or destruction on the Russian side. After that, in the evening, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that if such attacks on our territory continue, the Russian Armed Forces will strike at decision-making centers, including in Kiev, from which the Russian army has so far refrained.
By the way, this is not the only incident on the border today. The Ukrainian side reports shelling of the border crossing in the Chernihiv region, already from the Russian side.
Of the interesting, it is worth noting the news from across the ocean. The Pentagon stated thatThe United States will transfer 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 18 howitzers, 300 Switchblade kamikaze drones, 500 Javelin missiles to Kiev. And they will do it as soon as possible. Considering that the military equipment of the NATO countries is already accumulating near the borders with Ukraine, we should expect a more large-scale development of the conflict. There are rumors at the front about the beginning of the participation of NATO countries in May - openly. And they've been closed since the beginning.
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Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Rybar
On Wednesday, the US government approved another $800 million military aid package to Ukraine, which includes a wide range of weapons and military equipment, including 11 Mi-17 multipurpose helicopters previously intended for the Afghan armed forces.In addition, the package will include:
18 howitzers of 155-mm caliber, as well as 40,000 ammunition for them.Mobile radar stations, including 10 AN / TPQ-36 Firefinder mobile anti-battery systems and 2 AN / MPQ-64 Sentinel airborne target detection radars. American instructors will train operators of these systems.200 M113 armored personnel carriers.100 Humvees.500 Javelin ATGMs and hundreds of other anti-tank missiles.300 unnamed Switchblade loitering ammunition.Unmanned patrol boats for coastal defense.M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mines.C-4 explosives and demolition equipment.Means of radiation, chemical and biological protection.Medical equipment.30 thousand sets of body armor and helmets.Over 2000 optical sights and laser rangefinders.#USA #Ukraine
@rybar
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Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Rybar
The Pentagon's Viewpoint: How Russia Prepares for the Second Phase of the Special Military OperationPentagon officials hold daily press briefings on the progress of the RF Armed Forces' preparations for the second phase of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Together with Frida Kahlo @sex_drugs_kahlo, we have put together all the main theses of the last days and give them with our comments.
There is an opinion in the Pentagon that the moral and psychological state of the personnel of the RF Armed Forces is low. And this is despite the fact that Putin appointed the commander of the Southern Military District Dvornikov to lead the operation.This is not so: Dvornikov, as the commander of the troops of the Southern Military District, has been leading the fighting in the Donbass-Luhansk direction since February 24.
It’s just that now you need to create a media picture: the famous general, who is accused of rivers of blood of the spilled Syrians, is Moscow’s last chance. Such conjectures do not correlate with reality in any way.
The US government has decided to accelerate the supply of weapons . The Pentagon's meeting with defense contractors in Ukraine is part of the "normal rhythm of work" of the Ministry of Defense with representatives of the industry. In Ukraine, Switchblade drones have already begun to be used , and ATGMs for Javelin MANPADS should arrive in the middle of the month .In the West, they have taken a course to slow down the conflict in Ukraine in order to ignite new hot spots around Russia (the Caucasus and Central Asia). At the same time, companies in the military-industrial complex are trying to make the most of the active phase of the operation.
The US government is still analyzing the fact of the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol, but so far it "has not come to any conclusions." However, it is very problematic to conduct a check : the Pentagon does not have the necessary specialists in Ukraine and there is no way to contact doctors in Mariupol.Data on the chemical attack in Mariupol is not only contradictory: it is extremely unconvincing. Moreover, if the fact of the use of chemical weapons is confirmed, the US and NATO will have to answer for what was said and send in the promised troops, since this is a “red line”. Naturally, this is not very correlated with true desires.
Ukraine managed to hold out against Russia for almost 50 days thanks to the skill of the Ukrainian troops, the willingness to adapt to Russian tactics, effective command and foreign assistance. The US government is considering using US troops on NATO's eastern flank to remotely train Ukrainian forces. One option: remote training of military instructors in NATO partner countries .Considering the huge amount of funds pumped up in recent years for military assistance to Ukraine, now the scale and effect of this assistance will be extolled in every possible way. The fact that units from Odessa are fighting in the Nikolaev-Kherson direction, and reservists from Lvov near Kharkov, no one is going to tell. Yes, and distance learning missions are a separate anecdote.
Russian forces are trying to increase their own maneuverability south of Izyum . For this, a bridge was built across the river. Large bridgeheads were created on the border in Belgorod , Valuyki and Rovenki .Considering that the Slobozhansko-Slavyanskoe direction is one of the main ones along which it is planned to close the boiler in the Donbass, this is quite natural. It is strange that the Pentagon perceives the crossing of a water barrier as something of a sort, because this is an ordinary measure of the engineering support of the troops.
The Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out 150 sorties to attack Ukraine in the last 24 hours. In total, on average, up to 30 strokes per day are applied, then in the first days the figure was about 50 strokes . In total, more than 1,500 missiles have been fired since the beginning of the operation.The list of objects to defeat is finite. Now the strikes, as confirmed by the Pentagon, are mainly carried out on reinforcements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The decrease in the intensity of strikes only indicates that there is no need to spend resources on non-priority targets.
#Russia #USA #Ukraine @rybar with @sex_drugs_kahlo *Support us: 4377 7278 0407 7977
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
LIVE: EU Commission Rejects Gas in Rubles Payment Demand
European Commission | Photo: EFE
Published 13 April 2022
On Wednesday, however, 1,026 members of the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade surrendered in Mariupol. Among them were 162 officers, 47 servicewomen, and 151 wounded soldiers.
On Wednesday, the Russia-Ukraine military conflict continues without the parties having managed to reach effective agreements to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Below are the latest developments as they happen.
The European Commission found Putin's decree to pay for gas in rubles to be a violation of sanctions
The European Commission presented member countries with an analysis of Russian President Vladimir Putin's decree on paying for gas from Russia in rubles and warned that its implementation would violate anti-Russian sanctions, Bloomberg reported, citing a source.
According to the commission's preliminary legal analysis, Putin's decree significantly changes the procedure and created a new legal situation.
As the agency's interlocutor noted, the new procedure will "transfer full control to the Russian state" as to "when the deal will be completed and at what point the buyer will be released from obligations."
It will also allow Moscow to regulate the exchange rate in its own interests.
In addition, the mechanism would violate restrictive measures taken by the EU in response to the special operation in Ukraine.
On March 31, Putin signed a decree on transferring payments for natural gas with "unfriendly" countries to rubles. According to the decree, buyers of Russian gas will have to open ruble accounts in Russian banks to pay for supplies starting from April 1.
The EU leaders have repeatedly stated that they are against paying for Russian gas in rubles.
New social networks to replace blocked ones - MGIMO rector
New social networks will substitute the ones blocked in Russia, Anatoly Torkunov, rector of the MGIMO-University, said in an interview with TASS.
Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, which was recognized in Russia as an extremist organization, have been banned in Russia.
"As is said, nature abhors a vacuum, and the outgoing social networks will be replaced by new ones. That is why corresponding work will always be in demand. On the other hand, we are living through a transition from unification to a more distinct country-based and regional segment of the information space, which reflects a tendency toward forming a multi-polar world," he said.
He noted that in light of recent developments social networks are no longer used as communication platforms only as home countries of these networks tend to use them to promote their agendas. "Countries of origin of various platforms tend to use these instruments to promote their agendas, form the impression of mass support for a certain point of view," he added.
Speaking about the activities of Russian diplomats in social networks, Torkunov noted that they attach "great significance" to these instruments. He stressed that a systemic approach in this area will help explain Moscow’s position to foreign audience.
"I should say that in recent year Russian diplomats have been attaching great significance to the work in social networks, which was reflected in the establishment of a wide network of the representation of Russian diplomatic missions on practically all leading global digital platforms," he said.
Ukrainian servicemen torturing prisoners will be brought to responsibility - DPR
Ukrainian soldiers who take part in tortures of prisoners of war will be brought to criminal liability, human rights ombudswoman of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Darya Morrozova told TASS on Wednesday.
"We know who these people are, where they serve and at some point, all of them will be brought to criminal liability for their war crimes," she said.
According to Morozova, the position of international organizations, which are indifferent to tortures of prisoners in Ukraine, is perplexing. "I was shocked by representatives of Ukraine’s official structures, who call for not posting in the internet photos and videos of tortures of prisoners. They don’t say that tortures are inadmissible, they just ask not to hype these facts. I think such statements have simply buried Ukraine’s law. After that, Ukraine cannot be seen as a law-rules state," she said.
Earlier, Ukraine’s mass media posted videos of tortures of Russian and DPR soldiers. Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center who heads the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine, drew the West’s attention to tortures of Russian prisoners of war.
Russian human rights ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova called on international organizations to push Ukraine toward observing the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s press office said earlier that Ukraine’s authorities has informed the UK Foreign Office that they would not observe the Geneva Convention while treating Russian prisoners.
Russia expels diplomat from Czech embassy in Moscow in tit-for-tat measure - Russian MFA
Moscow expelled a senior diplomat from the Czech embassy in Russia in a tit-for-tat measure, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry on Wednesday summoned Czech Ambassador to Moscow Vitezslav Pivonka and expressed a protest to him over the Czech Republic’s "provocative" decision in March to expel a Russian diplomat from the Russian embassy in Prague, the ministry said.
"The ambassador was handed a note of the ministry that, as a tit-for-tat measure, declared a senior diplomat at the Czech embassy in Moscow a persona nоn grata, ordering him to leave the territory of the Russian Federation before the end of day on April 16," the ministry said.
Zelensky warns that the war is "far from over." On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Western countries for more weapons. He said that "the war is far from over" because what has been experienced so far is "only the first round."
More specifically, he asked his allies to send him armored personnel carriers and T-72 tanks, aircraft, 155 and 152 mm caliber artillery shells, and Grad, Uragan, or American M142 missile systems. Zelensky believes Russia will press harder in Kharkov, Mariupol, and the Donbas.
Over 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers surrender on Wednesday. Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that 1,026 members of the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade had surrendered in Mariupol, following an offensive carried out by Russian forces and the militia units of Donetsk. Among them were 162 officers, 47 servicewomen, and 151 wounded soldiers.
"Forty-eight days have passed, wetried everything possible to protect Mariupol, but have no choice but to surrender to ��ussian troops. We don't have food or ammunition left," said soldier Aydin Eislin, as reported by Euromaidan Press.
The land connection between the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv is broken. Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said that authorities are working to restore the automobile connection between Kyiv and Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.
Work is underway to build temporary passages for automobile transport near two key bridges destroyed in the Chernihiv region, he explained, adding that efforts to clean up the Kyiv-Chernihiv highway from landmines and other explosives are also underway.
Russia makes adjustments to its oil policy. President Vladimir Putin said Russia will aim to increase the consumption of oil, gas and coal on its domestic market, and increase the supply of energy resources to other parts of the world.
"The refusal of some Western countries to cooperate normally" and their partial ban on Russian energy resources have already affected millions of Europeans, further provoking an energy crisis and unprecedented inflation, he pointed out during a meeting on the development of the Russian Arctic zone.
U.S.-funded Ukrainian labs were engaged in developing components of biological weapons. The activities conducted by the United States and its allies near the Russian borders "were not aimed at searching for effective means of protection against dangerous diseases or cooperating with the international community," Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said.
"Work there was carried out behind closed doors. In fact, components of biological weapons were developed and pathogenic microorganisms were studied that have posed a threat to all mankind," he stressed.
"Therefore, we consider such activities as a whole absolutely unacceptable both in Ukraine and other countries surrounding us," he said, adding that such activities should be transparent and under control.
The EU modifies its advisory mission to support crime investigations. On Wednesday, the Council of the European Union modified the mandate of the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) to assist the Ukrainian authorities in the investigation and prosecution of international crimes committed during the Russian military operation.
Established in 2014, EUAM-Ukraine is a non-executive civilian mission whose objective is to support that country in strengthening the rule of law through the development of sustainable, responsible, and efficient security services.
Besides being authorized to donate funds or equipment, the EU mission will work in cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust).
The Ukrainian conflict has damaged 90 cultural sites. According to a preliminary balance made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ongoing conflict has affected 90 cultural sites in Ukraine, Donetsk, and Lugansk.
Among them are 44 religious buildings, 11 monuments, six museums, three theaters, and a library. So far, however, no "World Heritage Sites" appear to have been damaged. In Ukraine, the UN agency registered damages to historical sites such as the Mariupol museum, the Kharkov cathedral, the Ivankiv museum, and the Church of the Nativity in Kyiv.
UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay recalled that all cultural places are covered by the Hague Convention, which protects cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Any violation of this convention will generate international responsibilities for those involved, she warned.
Fifteen bodies are exhumed from a mass grave in Bucha. On Wednesday, the Bucha Mayor's Office reported that Ukrainian investigators exhumed 15 bodies from a grave in the courtyard of the St. Andrew's Church.
The municipal authorities acknowledged that the residents themselves buried many of the bodies in that grave “so that they would not rot.”
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0008.html
Russia Warns That Ukraine Creates New Nationalist Battalions
The far-Right Ukranian unit "Azov" providing basic weapons training for the new volunteers of Territorial Defense Units in Kyiv. The civilian militia is mostly armed with AK-74 assault rifles and RPK-74 light machine guns. | Photo: Twitter @UAWeapons
Published 14 April 2022 (4 hours 51 minutes ago)
"The methods and forms of ruthless treatment of civilians demonstrated by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War are now being put into practice with particular sophistication by Ukrainian neo-Nazis," denounced Mizíntsev.
Russia's National Defense Management Center said Wednesday that the Ukrainian government is perfecting the formation of three new nationalist battalions made up of released prisoners in the city of Kharkov.
The head of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, Mikhail Mizintsev, stated that those who make up these military formations are people convicted of serious crimes, who are serving their sentences in two penitentiaries.
According to Mizíntsev's allegations, the purpose of such formations is to keep the population of Kharkov under control so that they do not leave the territory. Similarly, another purpose is to blockade the second largest city of Ukraine.
The Russian authority stated that with this blockade, Ukrainian nationalist groups affect almost 450 citizens, including babies, minors and elderly people, who are waiting for medical treatment and access to food.
"The methods and forms of ruthless treatment of civilians demonstrated by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War are now being put into practice with particular sophistication by Ukrainian neo-Nazis," denounced Mizíntsev.
Alluding to the sabotage and war attacks against Russian military, Mizíntsev warned that if this practice continues, Ukrainian decision-making centers will be attacked.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the military attacks carried out by the Kremlin are not directed against civilian facilities, but are aimed at disabling the war infrastructure.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0002.html
Russia: “NATO Vehicles in Ukraine Will Be Legitimate Targets”
Russia will view US, NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukraine’s territory as legitimate military targets, Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov tells the TASS news agency in an interview. | Photo: Twitter @AlArabiya_Eng
Published 14 April 2022 (7 hours 0 minutes ago)
Russia has repeatedly made clear that its goal is the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Kiev. Meanwhile, the United States and NATO have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into arms shipments to Ukraine.
In the wake of increased Western arms shipments to Ukraine, Russia says any NATO vehicle carrying weapons will be considered a “legitimate target.”
In an interview with Russia's TASS news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Wednesday that his country will oppose all efforts by the United States and the West to curb the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Ryabkov has also made it clear that his country will vigorously suppress all attempts to damage Russian units.
The Russian official has further said that his country will consider U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vehicles carrying weapons in Ukraine as “legitimate military targets.”
"We warn that U.S. and NATO vehicles with weapons moving through the Ukrainian territory will be viewed by us as legitimate military targets," he has stressed.
Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine last February 24 in reaction to Kiev's aggressive behavior in the Donbass region and at the request of the pro-independence leaders of the above-mentioned Ukrainian area. The military operation came after the refusal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to guarantee the security of the Russian borders.
Russia has repeatedly made clear that its goal is the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Kiev. Meanwhile, the United States and NATO have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into arms shipments to Ukraine.
Moscow asserts that the West is putting its own security at risk by delivering huge arms supplies to Ukraine, and warns that Western countries are thus “adding fuel to the fire” of the conflict, which “will have tragic repercussions”.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0001.html
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Russia reports surrender of another 134 Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 176 Ukrainian officers voluntarily laid down their weapons in the last 24 hours. | Photo: EFE
Published April 14, 2022 (1 hour 45 minutes ago)
Some 1,160 soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrendered this day, according to the Russian Defense portfolio.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported Thursday that another 134 Ukrainian soldiers, including 14 officers, voluntarily laid down their weapons on Wednesday night in Mariupol, in the Donetsk oblast (province).
According to the agency, in total, 1,160 soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including 176 officers, have surrendered in the last 24 hours. Russian rockets and artillery annihilated 770 targets, the defense ministry said.
The military entity also explained that high-precision weapons killed 12 Ukrainian military targets, while Russian tactical aviation liquidated 48 facilities, including two command posts, a radar station and two multiple rocket launcher positions.
On the other hand, in Kharkov, the military of the Eurasian nation transferred more than 30 tons of humanitarian aid.
“The Russian military during the special military operation sent another batch of humanitarian aid to the localities of the Kharkov region. Accompanied by the military police of the Russian Armed Forces, they sent this aid with a total volume of more than 30 tons in trucks to the inhabitants in greatest need,” the Ministry reported.
Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, Slavic troops have leveled 131 planes, 104 helicopters, 245 anti-aircraft missile systems, 448 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,179 tanks and other armored vehicles, 248 rocket launchers multiple units, 944 units of field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,088 units of special military vehicles.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-in ... -0004.html
Google Translator
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Fire and explosion on the missile cruiser Moscow
colonelcassad
April 14, 2:28
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed https://ria.ru/20220414/kreyser-1783435471.html the fact of a fire and subsequent detonation of ammunition on the Moskva missile cruiser.
The ship, according to the official statement, was seriously damaged, the crew was removed from the ship. The current state of the ship is unknown.
Earlier in Ukraine, they said that they were able to hit the Moscow with the help of the Neptune missile defense system and damage the ship.
Along the way, photos of the death of an Iranian ship in 2017 were posted, which they tried to pass off as photographs of damage to the Moscow.
Information on the nature of the damage and possible casualties among the crew members is not yet available. There will probably be more specifics in the morning.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7557548.html
Moskva damaged but not sunk
April 14, 13:09
Registration:Moscow, Russia
Russian Defense Ministry on the current situation with the cruiser "Moskva". The ship was damaged but did not sink.
The source of ignition on the cruiser "Moskva" is localized. There is no open fire. Explosions of ammunition have been stopped.
The cruiser "Moskva" remains buoyant. The main missile armament was not damaged.
The crew was evacuated to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet in the area.
Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser to the port.
The cause of the fire is being established.
The Kremlin said that Putin owed about the situation with "Moscow".
I wonder what detonated there? BC for artillery and anti-aircraft weapons?
It is quite clear that one way or another, “Moscow” has so far dropped out of the game. The fire and detonation of a part of the BC just don’t go away for any ship. We are waiting in Sevastopol for repairs. The main thing is to drag it.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7558375.html
Google Translator
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US And UK Conducting ‘Secret War’ In Ukraine – Le Figaro
HI INDIAINTERNATIONALWORLD
SAS and Delta Force part of “secret war”, a French intelligence source reportedly told Le Figaro
Elite special forces from the UK and the US have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of hostilities with Russia in late February, a source in the French intelligence community reportedly told a Le Figaro reporter, last week.
The claim was reported by the newspaper’s senior international correspondent Georges Malbrunot on Saturday, the day when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made his surprise visit to Kiev. The British leader was reportedly surrounded by guards from the elite SAS force, though this claim was not officially confirmed.
UK hopes Ukraine will keep fighting – media
SAS units “have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as did [sic] the American Deltas,” Malbrunot tweeted citing a French intelligence source. He added that according to the source Russia was well aware of the “secret war” waged against its troops by foreign commandos. Le Figaro included his report in their updates on Ukraine.
The UK and the US have been among the most active military supporters of Kiev. Johnson reportedly personally urged his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to keep on fighting against Russia and not settle for peace until better terms are offered.
Western pro-fighting consensus was apparently confirmed last week by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said on Saturday that the “war will be won on the battlefield” as he too was visiting Kiev.
Touched by the resilience, determination and hospitality of @ZelenskyyUA & @Denys_Shmyhal.
I return with a clear to do list:
1. This war will be won on the battlefield. Additional €500 million from the #EPF are underway. Weapon deliveries will be tailored to Ukrainian needs. pic.twitter.com/Jgr61t9FfW
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) April 9, 2022
British media earlier reported that dozens of “retired” SAS soldiers had gone or planned to go to Ukraine to contribute their expertise in reconnaissance and anti-tank warfare to Kiev’s cause. Their services were allegedly paid for by “a country in Europe, still to be named, via a private military company” rather than by the British government, according to the UK tabloid the Daily Mirror.
The Russian military reported action against what it described as “mercenaries” fighting for Ukraine on several occasions. One of the recent instances was on Saturday, just as Johnson and Borell were in Kiev.
The Russian defense ministry said Kiev attempted to use a civilian ship in its latest failed attempt to evacuate high-value personnel from the port city of Mariupol, which saw some of the most intensive fighting during the conflict. The individuals intended for evacuation were identified as leaders of the ultranationalist Azov battalion and foreign mercenaries. There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds of foreign nationals could be blocked in Mariupol along with several thousand Azov troops.
The US and the UK have publicly stated they had no plans to involve their troops in the fighting in Ukraine. Both are major suppliers of arms to Kiev and were training soldiers in Ukraine before the Russian offensive. The experts were reported pulled out of the country in the run-up to the hostilities.
Britain’s Defence Ministry banned active service members from traveling to Ukraine in early March, saying that violating the rule could result in prosecution. Kiev called on volunteers abroad to join the ranks of its newly-created “foreign legion” after the Russian attack.
Russia launched a large-scale offensive against Ukraine in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
Russia has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two rebel regions by force.
https://hiindia.com/2022/04/11/us-and-u ... le-figaro/
European Commission | Photo: EFE
Published 13 April 2022
On Wednesday, however, 1,026 members of the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade surrendered in Mariupol. Among them were 162 officers, 47 servicewomen, and 151 wounded soldiers.
On Wednesday, the Russia-Ukraine military conflict continues without the parties having managed to reach effective agreements to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Below are the latest developments as they happen.
The European Commission found Putin's decree to pay for gas in rubles to be a violation of sanctions
The European Commission presented member countries with an analysis of Russian President Vladimir Putin's decree on paying for gas from Russia in rubles and warned that its implementation would violate anti-Russian sanctions, Bloomberg reported, citing a source.
According to the commission's preliminary legal analysis, Putin's decree significantly changes the procedure and created a new legal situation.
As the agency's interlocutor noted, the new procedure will "transfer full control to the Russian state" as to "when the deal will be completed and at what point the buyer will be released from obligations."
It will also allow Moscow to regulate the exchange rate in its own interests.
In addition, the mechanism would violate restrictive measures taken by the EU in response to the special operation in Ukraine.
On March 31, Putin signed a decree on transferring payments for natural gas with "unfriendly" countries to rubles. According to the decree, buyers of Russian gas will have to open ruble accounts in Russian banks to pay for supplies starting from April 1.
The EU leaders have repeatedly stated that they are against paying for Russian gas in rubles.
New social networks to replace blocked ones - MGIMO rector
New social networks will substitute the ones blocked in Russia, Anatoly Torkunov, rector of the MGIMO-University, said in an interview with TASS.
Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, which was recognized in Russia as an extremist organization, have been banned in Russia.
"As is said, nature abhors a vacuum, and the outgoing social networks will be replaced by new ones. That is why corresponding work will always be in demand. On the other hand, we are living through a transition from unification to a more distinct country-based and regional segment of the information space, which reflects a tendency toward forming a multi-polar world," he said.
He noted that in light of recent developments social networks are no longer used as communication platforms only as home countries of these networks tend to use them to promote their agendas. "Countries of origin of various platforms tend to use these instruments to promote their agendas, form the impression of mass support for a certain point of view," he added.
Speaking about the activities of Russian diplomats in social networks, Torkunov noted that they attach "great significance" to these instruments. He stressed that a systemic approach in this area will help explain Moscow’s position to foreign audience.
"I should say that in recent year Russian diplomats have been attaching great significance to the work in social networks, which was reflected in the establishment of a wide network of the representation of Russian diplomatic missions on practically all leading global digital platforms," he said.
Ukrainian servicemen torturing prisoners will be brought to responsibility - DPR
Ukrainian soldiers who take part in tortures of prisoners of war will be brought to criminal liability, human rights ombudswoman of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Darya Morrozova told TASS on Wednesday.
"We know who these people are, where they serve and at some point, all of them will be brought to criminal liability for their war crimes," she said.
According to Morozova, the position of international organizations, which are indifferent to tortures of prisoners in Ukraine, is perplexing. "I was shocked by representatives of Ukraine’s official structures, who call for not posting in the internet photos and videos of tortures of prisoners. They don’t say that tortures are inadmissible, they just ask not to hype these facts. I think such statements have simply buried Ukraine’s law. After that, Ukraine cannot be seen as a law-rules state," she said.
Earlier, Ukraine’s mass media posted videos of tortures of Russian and DPR soldiers. Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center who heads the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine, drew the West’s attention to tortures of Russian prisoners of war.
Russian human rights ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova called on international organizations to push Ukraine toward observing the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s press office said earlier that Ukraine’s authorities has informed the UK Foreign Office that they would not observe the Geneva Convention while treating Russian prisoners.
Russia expels diplomat from Czech embassy in Moscow in tit-for-tat measure - Russian MFA
Moscow expelled a senior diplomat from the Czech embassy in Russia in a tit-for-tat measure, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry on Wednesday summoned Czech Ambassador to Moscow Vitezslav Pivonka and expressed a protest to him over the Czech Republic’s "provocative" decision in March to expel a Russian diplomat from the Russian embassy in Prague, the ministry said.
"The ambassador was handed a note of the ministry that, as a tit-for-tat measure, declared a senior diplomat at the Czech embassy in Moscow a persona nоn grata, ordering him to leave the territory of the Russian Federation before the end of day on April 16," the ministry said.
Zelensky warns that the war is "far from over." On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Western countries for more weapons. He said that "the war is far from over" because what has been experienced so far is "only the first round."
More specifically, he asked his allies to send him armored personnel carriers and T-72 tanks, aircraft, 155 and 152 mm caliber artillery shells, and Grad, Uragan, or American M142 missile systems. Zelensky believes Russia will press harder in Kharkov, Mariupol, and the Donbas.
Over 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers surrender on Wednesday. Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that 1,026 members of the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade had surrendered in Mariupol, following an offensive carried out by Russian forces and the militia units of Donetsk. Among them were 162 officers, 47 servicewomen, and 151 wounded soldiers.
"Forty-eight days have passed, wetried everything possible to protect Mariupol, but have no choice but to surrender to ��ussian troops. We don't have food or ammunition left," said soldier Aydin Eislin, as reported by Euromaidan Press.
The land connection between the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv is broken. Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said that authorities are working to restore the automobile connection between Kyiv and Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.
Work is underway to build temporary passages for automobile transport near two key bridges destroyed in the Chernihiv region, he explained, adding that efforts to clean up the Kyiv-Chernihiv highway from landmines and other explosives are also underway.
Russia makes adjustments to its oil policy. President Vladimir Putin said Russia will aim to increase the consumption of oil, gas and coal on its domestic market, and increase the supply of energy resources to other parts of the world.
"The refusal of some Western countries to cooperate normally" and their partial ban on Russian energy resources have already affected millions of Europeans, further provoking an energy crisis and unprecedented inflation, he pointed out during a meeting on the development of the Russian Arctic zone.
U.S.-funded Ukrainian labs were engaged in developing components of biological weapons. The activities conducted by the United States and its allies near the Russian borders "were not aimed at searching for effective means of protection against dangerous diseases or cooperating with the international community," Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said.
"Work there was carried out behind closed doors. In fact, components of biological weapons were developed and pathogenic microorganisms were studied that have posed a threat to all mankind," he stressed.
"Therefore, we consider such activities as a whole absolutely unacceptable both in Ukraine and other countries surrounding us," he said, adding that such activities should be transparent and under control.
The EU modifies its advisory mission to support crime investigations. On Wednesday, the Council of the European Union modified the mandate of the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) to assist the Ukrainian authorities in the investigation and prosecution of international crimes committed during the Russian military operation.
Established in 2014, EUAM-Ukraine is a non-executive civilian mission whose objective is to support that country in strengthening the rule of law through the development of sustainable, responsible, and efficient security services.
Besides being authorized to donate funds or equipment, the EU mission will work in cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust).
The Ukrainian conflict has damaged 90 cultural sites. According to a preliminary balance made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ongoing conflict has affected 90 cultural sites in Ukraine, Donetsk, and Lugansk.
Among them are 44 religious buildings, 11 monuments, six museums, three theaters, and a library. So far, however, no "World Heritage Sites" appear to have been damaged. In Ukraine, the UN agency registered damages to historical sites such as the Mariupol museum, the Kharkov cathedral, the Ivankiv museum, and the Church of the Nativity in Kyiv.
UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay recalled that all cultural places are covered by the Hague Convention, which protects cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Any violation of this convention will generate international responsibilities for those involved, she warned.
Fifteen bodies are exhumed from a mass grave in Bucha. On Wednesday, the Bucha Mayor's Office reported that Ukrainian investigators exhumed 15 bodies from a grave in the courtyard of the St. Andrew's Church.
The municipal authorities acknowledged that the residents themselves buried many of the bodies in that grave “so that they would not rot.”
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0008.html
Russia Warns That Ukraine Creates New Nationalist Battalions
The far-Right Ukranian unit "Azov" providing basic weapons training for the new volunteers of Territorial Defense Units in Kyiv. The civilian militia is mostly armed with AK-74 assault rifles and RPK-74 light machine guns. | Photo: Twitter @UAWeapons
Published 14 April 2022 (4 hours 51 minutes ago)
"The methods and forms of ruthless treatment of civilians demonstrated by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War are now being put into practice with particular sophistication by Ukrainian neo-Nazis," denounced Mizíntsev.
Russia's National Defense Management Center said Wednesday that the Ukrainian government is perfecting the formation of three new nationalist battalions made up of released prisoners in the city of Kharkov.
The head of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, Mikhail Mizintsev, stated that those who make up these military formations are people convicted of serious crimes, who are serving their sentences in two penitentiaries.
According to Mizíntsev's allegations, the purpose of such formations is to keep the population of Kharkov under control so that they do not leave the territory. Similarly, another purpose is to blockade the second largest city of Ukraine.
The Russian authority stated that with this blockade, Ukrainian nationalist groups affect almost 450 citizens, including babies, minors and elderly people, who are waiting for medical treatment and access to food.
"The methods and forms of ruthless treatment of civilians demonstrated by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War are now being put into practice with particular sophistication by Ukrainian neo-Nazis," denounced Mizíntsev.
Alluding to the sabotage and war attacks against Russian military, Mizíntsev warned that if this practice continues, Ukrainian decision-making centers will be attacked.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the military attacks carried out by the Kremlin are not directed against civilian facilities, but are aimed at disabling the war infrastructure.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0002.html
Russia: “NATO Vehicles in Ukraine Will Be Legitimate Targets”
Russia will view US, NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukraine’s territory as legitimate military targets, Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov tells the TASS news agency in an interview. | Photo: Twitter @AlArabiya_Eng
Published 14 April 2022 (7 hours 0 minutes ago)
Russia has repeatedly made clear that its goal is the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Kiev. Meanwhile, the United States and NATO have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into arms shipments to Ukraine.
In the wake of increased Western arms shipments to Ukraine, Russia says any NATO vehicle carrying weapons will be considered a “legitimate target.”
In an interview with Russia's TASS news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Wednesday that his country will oppose all efforts by the United States and the West to curb the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Ryabkov has also made it clear that his country will vigorously suppress all attempts to damage Russian units.
The Russian official has further said that his country will consider U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vehicles carrying weapons in Ukraine as “legitimate military targets.”
"We warn that U.S. and NATO vehicles with weapons moving through the Ukrainian territory will be viewed by us as legitimate military targets," he has stressed.
Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine last February 24 in reaction to Kiev's aggressive behavior in the Donbass region and at the request of the pro-independence leaders of the above-mentioned Ukrainian area. The military operation came after the refusal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to guarantee the security of the Russian borders.
Russia has repeatedly made clear that its goal is the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Kiev. Meanwhile, the United States and NATO have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into arms shipments to Ukraine.
Moscow asserts that the West is putting its own security at risk by delivering huge arms supplies to Ukraine, and warns that Western countries are thus “adding fuel to the fire” of the conflict, which “will have tragic repercussions”.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0001.html
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Russia reports surrender of another 134 Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 176 Ukrainian officers voluntarily laid down their weapons in the last 24 hours. | Photo: EFE
Published April 14, 2022 (1 hour 45 minutes ago)
Some 1,160 soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrendered this day, according to the Russian Defense portfolio.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported Thursday that another 134 Ukrainian soldiers, including 14 officers, voluntarily laid down their weapons on Wednesday night in Mariupol, in the Donetsk oblast (province).
According to the agency, in total, 1,160 soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including 176 officers, have surrendered in the last 24 hours. Russian rockets and artillery annihilated 770 targets, the defense ministry said.
The military entity also explained that high-precision weapons killed 12 Ukrainian military targets, while Russian tactical aviation liquidated 48 facilities, including two command posts, a radar station and two multiple rocket launcher positions.
On the other hand, in Kharkov, the military of the Eurasian nation transferred more than 30 tons of humanitarian aid.
“The Russian military during the special military operation sent another batch of humanitarian aid to the localities of the Kharkov region. Accompanied by the military police of the Russian Armed Forces, they sent this aid with a total volume of more than 30 tons in trucks to the inhabitants in greatest need,” the Ministry reported.
Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, Slavic troops have leveled 131 planes, 104 helicopters, 245 anti-aircraft missile systems, 448 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,179 tanks and other armored vehicles, 248 rocket launchers multiple units, 944 units of field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,088 units of special military vehicles.
https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-in ... -0004.html
Google Translator
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Fire and explosion on the missile cruiser Moscow
colonelcassad
April 14, 2:28
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed https://ria.ru/20220414/kreyser-1783435471.html the fact of a fire and subsequent detonation of ammunition on the Moskva missile cruiser.
The ship, according to the official statement, was seriously damaged, the crew was removed from the ship. The current state of the ship is unknown.
Earlier in Ukraine, they said that they were able to hit the Moscow with the help of the Neptune missile defense system and damage the ship.
Along the way, photos of the death of an Iranian ship in 2017 were posted, which they tried to pass off as photographs of damage to the Moscow.
Information on the nature of the damage and possible casualties among the crew members is not yet available. There will probably be more specifics in the morning.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7557548.html
Moskva damaged but not sunk
April 14, 13:09
Registration:Moscow, Russia
Russian Defense Ministry on the current situation with the cruiser "Moskva". The ship was damaged but did not sink.
The source of ignition on the cruiser "Moskva" is localized. There is no open fire. Explosions of ammunition have been stopped.
The cruiser "Moskva" remains buoyant. The main missile armament was not damaged.
The crew was evacuated to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet in the area.
Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser to the port.
The cause of the fire is being established.
The Kremlin said that Putin owed about the situation with "Moscow".
I wonder what detonated there? BC for artillery and anti-aircraft weapons?
It is quite clear that one way or another, “Moscow” has so far dropped out of the game. The fire and detonation of a part of the BC just don’t go away for any ship. We are waiting in Sevastopol for repairs. The main thing is to drag it.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7558375.html
Google Translator
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US And UK Conducting ‘Secret War’ In Ukraine – Le Figaro
HI INDIAINTERNATIONALWORLD
SAS and Delta Force part of “secret war”, a French intelligence source reportedly told Le Figaro
Elite special forces from the UK and the US have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of hostilities with Russia in late February, a source in the French intelligence community reportedly told a Le Figaro reporter, last week.
The claim was reported by the newspaper’s senior international correspondent Georges Malbrunot on Saturday, the day when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made his surprise visit to Kiev. The British leader was reportedly surrounded by guards from the elite SAS force, though this claim was not officially confirmed.
UK hopes Ukraine will keep fighting – media
SAS units “have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as did [sic] the American Deltas,” Malbrunot tweeted citing a French intelligence source. He added that according to the source Russia was well aware of the “secret war” waged against its troops by foreign commandos. Le Figaro included his report in their updates on Ukraine.
The UK and the US have been among the most active military supporters of Kiev. Johnson reportedly personally urged his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to keep on fighting against Russia and not settle for peace until better terms are offered.
Western pro-fighting consensus was apparently confirmed last week by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said on Saturday that the “war will be won on the battlefield” as he too was visiting Kiev.
Touched by the resilience, determination and hospitality of @ZelenskyyUA & @Denys_Shmyhal.
I return with a clear to do list:
1. This war will be won on the battlefield. Additional €500 million from the #EPF are underway. Weapon deliveries will be tailored to Ukrainian needs. pic.twitter.com/Jgr61t9FfW
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) April 9, 2022
British media earlier reported that dozens of “retired” SAS soldiers had gone or planned to go to Ukraine to contribute their expertise in reconnaissance and anti-tank warfare to Kiev’s cause. Their services were allegedly paid for by “a country in Europe, still to be named, via a private military company” rather than by the British government, according to the UK tabloid the Daily Mirror.
The Russian military reported action against what it described as “mercenaries” fighting for Ukraine on several occasions. One of the recent instances was on Saturday, just as Johnson and Borell were in Kiev.
The Russian defense ministry said Kiev attempted to use a civilian ship in its latest failed attempt to evacuate high-value personnel from the port city of Mariupol, which saw some of the most intensive fighting during the conflict. The individuals intended for evacuation were identified as leaders of the ultranationalist Azov battalion and foreign mercenaries. There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds of foreign nationals could be blocked in Mariupol along with several thousand Azov troops.
The US and the UK have publicly stated they had no plans to involve their troops in the fighting in Ukraine. Both are major suppliers of arms to Kiev and were training soldiers in Ukraine before the Russian offensive. The experts were reported pulled out of the country in the run-up to the hostilities.
Britain’s Defence Ministry banned active service members from traveling to Ukraine in early March, saying that violating the rule could result in prosecution. Kiev called on volunteers abroad to join the ranks of its newly-created “foreign legion” after the Russian attack.
Russia launched a large-scale offensive against Ukraine in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
Russia has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two rebel regions by force.
https://hiindia.com/2022/04/11/us-and-u ... le-figaro/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."