Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

[blindpig]

Reduce the population of Russia to 50 million people
July 10, 21:15



Reduce Russia's population to 50 million

Nobel Peace Prize winner, former Polish President Lech Walesa called for Russia to be reduced to 50 million people. It is reported by Le Figaro.

Walesa stated that it was necessary "to force a change in the political system in the country, to organize an uprising of the peoples." He believes that in order to achieve security in the world, Russia must be "dismembered." “Either change the political system of Russia, or return it to a population of less than 50 million,” he explained.

The ex-president of Poland agreed that the West is interested in expanding spheres of influence. “We must understand that the West is expanding its power through NATO, the European Union, through expansion, but in democratic ways. Russia is doing this through violence,” Walesa said.

I have no other Nobel Peace Prize winners for you.
The modest charm of European Nazism wishing to overfulfill Hitler's program.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7728501.html

Google Translator

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FRom Cassad's Telegraph account:

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Forwarded from
Operation Z: Military Correspondents of the Russian Spring
Most of the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Zmeiny Island, contrary to the statements of the Kiev regime, are still in captivity.

According to the sister of one of the prisoners, Anastasia Dyulger, about 75 Marines and border guards of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been in captivity for the fifth month and no one knows anything about them.

Relatives of the prisoners applied to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Main Intelligence Directorate, but they are not provided with information.

Earlier, the Kiev regime first declared the island’s garrison dead , and then that the survivors were exchanged and returned home , but in reality this is not the case, and most of the captive Vushniks remain so.

***

Сolonelcassad
Ukraine asks citizens to leave the Russian-controlled south of the country because of plans to launch a counteroffensive - Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk. @opersvodki
Ukraine is asking citizens to leave the Russian-controlled south of the country because of plans to launch a counteroffensive, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said.

“Our army is launching a counteroffensive. I do not know in what time frame it will be, but I know for sure that there (in the cities of the alleged theater of operations) there should definitely not be women and children. They should not become a "human shield" between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the enemy. Obviously, the enemy must be destroyed. It is clear that there will be battles, there will be shelling, so we urge you to urgently evacuate,” Vereshchuk said.

***

Forwarded from
RIA Novosti
Special operation, July 10 :

Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed two Ukrainian hangars with American M777 howitzers, from which Donetsk was shelled

NATO ammunition depot in Slovyansk hit by high-precision missiles

Ukrainian MLRS shelling Donetsk are guided by satellites, DPR military found out

Ukrainian militants shelled the Shakhtyorsky district, 3 people were killed, 11 injured

Ukrainian troops fired 429 rounds of ammunition at the DPR in a day

civilians were killed by the Tochka-U strike from Ukraine on Novaya Kakhovka, before that Ukrainian intelligence collected data on crowds during city holidays

Allied troops took Grigorovka and continue to move towards Seversk

Minister of Defense of Ukraine admitted that Ukrainian troops are suffering heavy losses

***

Сolonelcassad
Offensive on Donbass: the situation in the east of Ukraine
on July 9-10, 2022

In the Bryansk region in the Unechsky district, an attempt was made to undermine the railway track at the Robchik-Peschanka stretch .

The RF Armed Forces delivered a number of strikes on the border areas of the Chernihiv region , as well as the Esmansky, Mirpopolsky, Khotynsky and Shalyginsky districts of the Sumy region .

In the north of the Kharkov region , the Ukrainian command is regrouping.
To support the active units of the Ukrainian army , TRO units were sent to Udy , Bezruki and Slatino after a short-term training.
Groups of mercenaries and the nationalist battalion "Kraken" were transferred to Stary Saltov and Molodovaya .

In the Donbass , the allied forces continue to conduct an offensive in the Bakhmut (Artyomovsk) direction.
After fierce fighting, the RF Armed Forces drove Ukrainian forces out of Grigorovka and are advancing towards Serebryanka .
Following the liberation of the Disputed Allied forces are fighting in the vicinity of Ivano-Daryevka . In this direction, the main goal of the Russian troops is access to the Bakhmut-Seversk highway and the Seversk-Soledar road .
In the vicinity of Soledar , Ukrainian military personnel are preparing for the upcoming assault on the settlement: defensive structures are being erected and strengthened on the outskirts of the city.
After the liberation of Klinovoye and the occupation of the Bakhmut-Svetlodarsk section of the highway, the RF Armed Forces advance towards the settlement. Merry Valley .
The Ukrainian command is preparing defensive lines along the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Konstantinovka line .
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting almost continuous fire on the territories of the People's Republics : as a result of the shelling, several ammunition depots were destroyed, there are casualties among the civilian population.

In the Zaporozhye region , the RF Armed Forces carried out strikes on enemy targets in the vicinity of Gulyaipol and Orekhov .

In the Krivoy Rog direction, Russian forces hit the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the industrial area in the village of Radushnoye south of Krivoy Rog .



***

Сolonelcassad
The day before yesterday, US President Joe Biden signed a decree on the delivery of another package of military assistance to Ukraine. The list includes four more MLRS HIMARS launchers, as well as a thousand high-precision projectiles for them.

The type of ammunition was not officially named, however, the description “high-precision projectiles that will allow hitting specific objects of the RF Armed Forces” speaks eloquently of the likely transfer of missiles of the MGM-140 ATACMS type . Their range, depending on the specification, can be up to 300 km.

This is the third aid package to Ukraine, including modern weapons, in just over two weeks ( the previous ones were on June 24 and July 3 ). The American side is gradually increasing the amount of assistance provided to Ukraine.

Boris Rozhin believes that in this way the White House is testing how far one can go before Russia's real reaction to US actions. According to him, by the fall , supplies of air defense systems and combat aircraft should be expected from the West .

A couple of days ago, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin , said that the North Atlantic Alliance was waging a hybrid war against Russia and Belarus. In fact, this is what is happening now.

The number of deliveries and missile strikes against Russian facilities is increasing. Increasingly, sabotage groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine arrange sorties in the border regions of Russia and in territories controlled by the Russian Federation. The goal of the West is to sow panic and chaos among civilians through the hands of the Ukrainian army.

August and the first months of autumn will be decisive for the entire West and the course they have chosen. The closer winter comes, the more desperate will be the actions of European and American politicians towards Russia, and the level of aggression will grow exponentially.

Already now one can observe increased activity of long-range artillery and MLRS of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the line of contact. The number of HIMARS launchers has increased from 4 to 12.

Now is the time to move from threats to actual actions. In order for the supply of weapons to be of no practical use, it is at least necessary to ensure complete air supremacy by starting to comprehensively suppress the Ukrainian air defense system . There are all the necessary resources for this - you just need to organize.

And the strikes on “Ukrainian think tanks” announced a couple of months ago should not only be on paper. Otherwise, the sense of such words every time is less and less.
#Russia #USA #Ukraine @rybar https://t.me/rybar/35259

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

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increasing danger
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/11/2022 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT
Original Article: Rybar



On Friday, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order for the provision of another military assistance package to Ukraine. The list includes four other HIMARS multiple rocket launch systems, as well as 1,000 high-precision projectiles for those systems. The type of ammunition has not been officially specified, but the description of "high-precision projectiles that will hit specific targets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" eloquently enough describes the possibility of delivery of MGM-140 ATACMS missiles. Its range, depending on the specifications, can reach 300 kilometers.

[In Ukraine, citing Western media that hadn't actually published anything about it, it has been alleged this week that the US will supply 300km range projectiles, something the US has refused to supply so far fearing they would be used to attack targets inside Russia. At the moment, there is no reliable source to confirm it- Ed ].

This is the third package of military assistance to Ukraine, which includes modern weapons, in just over two weeks (the previous ones were announced on June 24 and July 3). The US side is gradually increasing the amount of assistance provided to Ukraine. Boris Rozhin, Colonel Cassad , explained that, in this way, the White House is testing how far it can pull the strings so that Russia shows a real reaction to the actions of the United States. In his opinion, the possibility of the West handing over SAM missiles and combat aircraft to Ukraine in the autumn is to be expected.

A few days ago, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, claimed that NATO is waging a hybrid war against Russia and Belarus. In fact, that is exactly what is happening right now. The number of renditions and missile strikes against Russian targets are increasing. Sabotage groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which organize sorties in the border areas of Russia and in the territories controlled by the Russian Federation, are also growing. The objective of the West is to cause panic and chaos among the civilian population through the actions of the Ukrainian Army [just yesterday there was a strong attack in the Kherson region in which a hospital was damaged. Oleksiy Arestovich bragged about the attack- Ed ].

August and the first months of autumn will be decisive for the West in general and for the path they have chosen. The closer to winter, the more aggressive the actions of European and American politicians will be against Russia and the level of aggression will increase exponentially. It is already possible to observe the increased activity of the Ukrainian Army's long-range artillery on the front line. The number of HIMARS has increased from four to twelve.

Now it is necessary to move from threats to facts. In order to make it impractical to supply weapons, it is necessary to at least ensure complete air supremacy by starting to destroy Ukraine's air defense system. The necessary resources are available, you just need to organize them.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/07/11/pelig ... more-25015

Google Translator

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Russia temporarily suspends gas shipments to Europe


Since last June, Nord Stream 1 has been operating at 40 percent of its capacity. | Photo: Reuters
Published 11 July 2022

According to the operator Nord Stream AG, the gas pipeline pipes will be deactivated until July 21 for technical reasons.

Russia temporarily suspended gas shipments to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Monday due to scheduled annual preventive maintenance operations.

According to the operator Nord Stream AG, the pipes of the gas pipeline will be deactivated until July 21. During this period, a test of mechanical components and systems will be carried out to guarantee the effective, safe and reliable operation of the gas pipeline.

Since last June, Nord Stream 1 has been operating at 40 percent of its capacity due, according to Russia, to the fact that Canada, due to the sanctions imposed on Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine, has not returned some turbines that were under repair and that are required for fuel pumping.


Last year, maintenance work on the Nord Stream was carried out between July 13 and 23.

Russia announced last June an additional reduction of 33 percent of the gas pipeline's capacity, which the Russian company Gazprom justified with problems with the technical revisions of the turbines of the German company Siemens that are used in the pumping stations.


Before the announcement of the temporary suspension of gas shipments, the European countries that use the Nord Stream 1 expressed their concern about the continuity of their imports of Russian gas, which due to the conflict in Ukraine have been reduced in recent weeks and could soon run out completely.

A prolonged interruption of supply would aggravate the energy crisis in which Europe is already struggling, with rising prices and the fear of a very difficult winter.

Russia has rejected any suggestion that Moscow is using oil and gas as a weapon of political pressure on the European Union and NATO.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-su ... -0019.html

Google Translator

That last sentence...hahaha, wtf were they thinking? Anything can be a weapon....

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CP of Sweden, The Turkish-Swedish Agreement Illustrates Yet Again the Social Democrats' True Nature
7/7/22 5:16 PM

The Turkish-Swedish Agreement Illustrates Yet Again the Social Democrats' True Nature

Only a few hours after the governments of Sweden and Turkey came to their deplorable agreement over Sweden’s NATO membership application, Turkey has requested the extradition of persons living in Sweden with refugee status, these having fled brutal repression in Turkey.

In its pursuit of joining NATO Sweden’s bourgeoisie abandons everything that can be termed as human rights. To become a full member in the imperialist military alliance which is NATO the Swedish government accepts Turkey’s cause as its own. Those who the Turkish government call terrorists the Swedish government shall also call terrorists and join in cooperation against them.

That these are the depths to which the Swedish Social Democratic Party has sunk to in the pursuit of a Swedish NATO membership comes as no surprise to us. The Social Democrats have gone from pretending to be skeptical towards a NATO membership, to doing whatever is necessary to strengthen Swedish monopoly capital’s competitiveness and to secure new markets for it, not least of which are markets for arms export.

The agreement with Turkey reveals yet again that participation in imperialist alliances poses a threat against the democratic rights of the peoples, rights that can only be reclaimed through the struggle for socialism.

The Communist Party of Sweden condemns this agreement which the Social Democratic government of Sweden has made with the government of Turkey, just as we condemn the ascension of Sweden into NATO.

International Section

Communist Party of Sweden

http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Swede ... ue-Nature/

Yep, every goddamn time..

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Ten-Year-Old Girl Among Those Killed with Western Weapons in Ukrainian Shelling of Donetsk
By Jeremy Kuzmarov - July 11, 2022 0


[Source: donbass-insider.com]

Among “unworthy victims” ignored by western media

In the first week of July, Ukrainian army bombing of the Donetsk People’s Republic—carried out with western supplied weapons—resulted in the death of four children.

One of those kids was a 10-year-old girl, Veronica Sergeevna Badina, who was killed by a standard NATO 155 millimeter shell fired by the Ukrainian army against central Donetsk.

According to Veronica’s grandfather and mother, Veronica went outside of her grandmother’s house which she was visiting to get some fresh air and talk with a boy her age.


Veronica Sergeevna Badina [Source: twitter.com]

She then decided to run home to brush her hair, but was torn into three pieces by the 155 millimeter shell, which was fired by a French Caesar self-propelled gun.

Veronica was a vivacious ten-year-old who loved animals and was a sports dancer. She was only two when the war in Eastern Ukraine broke out, so was among the generations of kids who grew up with its horrors.

For several years Veronica suffered from anemia, from which she recovered last year thanks to the help of Dr Lisa’s foundation—only to be cut down by the Ukrainian army.


Memorial in Donetsk of children killed by the Ukrainian army. [Source: donbass-insider.com]

Merchant of Death

The 155 millimeter shell is manufactured by the British based BAE systems, whose shares have reached an all-time high since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.


155 millimeter shell manufactured by BAE systems that killed Veronica Sergeevna Badina. [Source: baesystems.com]

During the 2020 U.S. election campaign, the U.S. division of BAE Systems donated $569,202 to Democratic Party candidates, and $452,594 to Republicans, according to opensecrets.org Joe Biden received $102,591 compared to $94,966 for Donald Trump.

BAE Systems also has spent over $5 million on lobbying in the U.S. over the last two years. Recipients of BAE’s largesse include such anti-Russia hawks as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA—$7,373); Steny Hoyer (D-MD—$10,000), Chuck Schumer (D-NY—$5,605); Liz Cheney (R-WY—$3,259 and another $5,500 in 2022); Jamie Raskin (D-MD—$4,089); Adam Schiff (D-CA—$8,036); Mitch McConnell (R-KY—$9, 289), James Inhofe (R-OK-$13,300) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC-$11,383), who all voted in favor of more than $6.92 blilion in U.S. military assistance to Ukraine since the war started.

Worthy Versus Unworthy Victims

In their landmark 1979 book, The Political Economy of Human Rights: The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism, Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman traced a dichotomy between worthy and unworthy victims in the U.S. media.

Worthy victims were those of enemies of the U.S. who elicit wide media coverage and empathy. Unworthy victims were those killed by U.S. proxies or weapons, or directly by the United States, and whose plight is ignored.

In the Ukraine War, victims of Russian atrocities—both real and imagined—are the worthy victims, while Veronica and her family are the unworthy victims.

Not one major news network in the U.S. covered Veronica’s death—nor that of any of the other victims of Ukrainian army attacks in the Donbass, including two other children who were killed on July 6 when the Ukrainian army fired rocket launchers into the center of Makeyevka, hitting a playground.

The consequence of the latter omissions are significant: they have helped skew public understanding of the Ukraine war in the U.S. and lent support for continued weapons supplies to Ukraine—all of which help prolong the conflict and create more and more victims.



Shocking video from murder scene not covered in western mainstream media. Veronica’s body had to be collected in parts. [Source: YouTube.com] See further coverage here, including mother’s on-sight distraught testimony. [Source: readovka.world]

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/0 ... f-donetsk/

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United States is responsible for Ukraine war
Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, wants to blame it all on Russia, but his country helped create the conditions for the conflict and has poured the most petrol onto the flame, resulting in the threats of famine in some poor countries and runaway inflation across the world economy
Alex Lo
Published: 9:00pm, 6 Jul, 2022




70
Every war has an immediate trigger, and an underlying cause, or causes. Most historians worth their salt would agree, though they may dispute the causes. Not diplomats, though.
They are there to advocate for their own side and often to accuse, and lay all the blame on the other side. Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, told the World Peace Forum in Beijing this week that the Russian war in Ukraine was “unprovoked” and that it was “the greatest threat to the world order”.
Both his claims could be true if you only consider the immediate trigger of the war. It looks different, though, when you examine the underlying causes. With respect to the latter, Burns’ country bears direct responsibility both for creating the conditions for the conflict and continuing to pour the most petrol onto the flame to make sure its burning affects the entire world, including the threats of famine and runaway inflation.
US warns Europe that Russia may plan to invade Ukraine
12 Nov 2021

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, among others, have said the war needs to end quickly; Washington and its Western allies are making sure it doesn’t.

In analysing the underlying causes of the war, I can do no better than quote John Mearsheimer, an influential political scientist at the University of Chicago.
“First, the United States is principally responsible for causing the Ukraine crisis,” he said in a lecture at the European University Institute last month.
“This is not to deny [Vladimir] Putin started the war and that he is responsible for Russia’s conduct on the battlefield.
“Nor is it to deny that America’s allies bear some responsibility, but they largely follow Washington’s lead.”

He argues that the US has pushed for policies on Ukraine that Putin and his colleagues have long considered an existential threat to their country, that is, Nato’s eastern expansion. The Russians have made known their view repeatedly, over many years, but were ignored.
Moscow was responding to “America’s obsession with bringing Ukraine into Nato and in making it a western bulwark on Russian borders”, Mearsheimer said. The Biden administration recommitted itself to getting Ukraine into Nato in 2021. Then it doubled down against Russia and used all sanctions after the invasion. It was not interested in a diplomatic solution and was dragging Ukraine and the rest of the world down with it, he added.
Most Americans and Europeans would not agree with that assessment, but the rest of the world does.

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Slidstvo.Info: Zelenskiy does not declare villa in Italy, campaign denies wrongdoing
By Illia Ponomarenko. Published March 28, 2019. Updated March 29 at 12:03 am

Volodymyr Zelenskiy played a history teacher who becomes President of Ukraine Vasyl Holoborodko in a Ukrainian satirical TV series "Servant of the People," first aired in 2015.
Photo by Studio Kvartal 95
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedy star and leading candidate in Ukrainian presidential election campaign, failed to declare a posh villa in Italy that he owns, according to investigating journalism agency Slidstvo.Info.

The journalists revealed on March 28, just three days before the election, a 15-room mansion located in the luxury resort town of Forte dei Marmi on the Mediterranean coast in northwestern Italy some 90 kilometers from Florence. As reported by the project, the house was purchased in 2017 for 3.8 million euros by Italian company San Tommaso S.R.L. mentioned by Zelenskiy in his declaration for the financial year 2017.

“The building is located just 600 meters away from the sea, just eight minutes walk from the beach,” the journalists noted.



The Slidstvo.Info provided screenshots of documents affirming the purchase.



“He is a rather well-to-do man, he has been in show business throughout his life and has millions-worth of income from the production of comedy shows and movies,” the journalists wrote.


“In his 2017 declaration, Zelenskiy said he (owned) four apartments in Kyiv, a suburban house, as well as flats in Yalta (in Russian-occupied Crimea) and in the United Kingdom. All of them are fully or partly owned or leased by him. However, the 15-room villa by the Italian coast, which Zelenskiy owns along with his wife Olena, is not mentioned by him in the declaration.”

According to the Slidstvo.Info, Zelenskiy’s press service responded to the journalists’ requests regarding the issue by only stating that “the candidate’s declaration was filled in in full compliance with the current legislation of Ukraine.”

Later in the day, the candidate’s press service issued a statement decrying Slidstvo.Info’s report as “fake” and a “cynical aspersion.”

“Three days to the presidential elections, there are attempts to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskiy,” the politician’s campaign stated on its Facebook page.

“The groundlessness of the accusations is obvious again! The law on preventing corruption unequivocally states that beneficial ownership (or simpler words, the assets an applicant controls via a legal entity) must be mentioned only by persons holding responsible and sensitive positions, as well as persons holding positions related to a high level of corruption risks, in accordance with the list of positions constituted by legislation.”

As Zelenskiy does not hold any civil service posts, he was never obliged to declare assets owned by the company founded by him. Instead of that, the mentioned entity was displayed in his declaration in full compliance with current legislation, the press service added.

Slidstvo.Info said it was not known whether Zelenskiy had visited the villa.

However, an Instagram post by Zelenskiy dated Aug. 9, 2017, shows the comedian as he walking on a narrow street by the sea in an unknown Italian town, where he was having a vacation then. “The Zelenskiy family most probably already possessed the villa in Forte dei Marmi” at that time, the Slidstvo.Info journalists said.


Screenshot of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Instagram post showing him taking a stroll in an unknown Italian city on Aug. 9, 2017.

As Slidstvo.Info reported, the town of Forte dei Marmi is known as luxury resort very popular with the Russian elite, mainly top-notch oligarchs. Among those possessing real estate in the town or spending vacations there are billionaires Oleh Deripaska, Roman Abramovich, and Mikail Prokhorov. Tycoon and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has also stayed there.

Meanwhile, according to the latest polls published on March 28, Volodymyr Zelenskiy is maintaining his strong lead in the presidential race just days before Election Day on March 31.

According to a survey by the Rating Group, 26.6 percent of decided voters would support Zelenskiy, while the country’s current President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are in second place, both on 17 percent.

Another polling agency, the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, in poll results released later on March 28 also put Zelenskiy in the lead. Some 27.6 percent of decided voters said they would vote for him on March 31, while Poroshenko gets 18.2 percent and Tymoshenko trails with 12.8 percent, the agency reported on March 28.

(more...)

https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politi ... doing.html

And there ya are, the stout patriot has several boltholes that are none too shabby. Not an oligarch himself but a ruling class toady of the serious money. A comedian and actor, but the sick joke is on the Ukranian people who will be left with a ruined country because Zelensky was nothing but a whore for the USA. You will note the publication date, down the Memory Hole.

[blindpig]

NYT Ground Report Debunks NYT Claim Of Strikes Against 'Ukraine’s Civilians'

Nearly all big mainstream media currently provide 'live updates' of the war in Ukraine. These include abbreviated reports about this or that incident. They are convenient for the reader but miss important details which often debunk the claims made in them.

In today's 'live updates' the Washington Post writes twice about a missile strike in the town of Chasiv Yar:

Two dozen people remained trapped under the rubble of two high-rise apartment buildings in Chasiv Yar, a city in the Donetsk region, that local officials said were struck by Russian missiles. The governor of Donetsk called Russian strikes on the region over the weekend “true hell.”

More details are mentioned further down:

Rescue teams continue to comb through a residential complex after a Russian missile strike in Chasiv Yar over the weekend. Photos show bodies being pulled from the rubble and the possessions of residents buried under piles of bricks and dust.
Amid the debris lay shattered photo frames, furniture, blown-out windows and doors. Some residents returned to try to salvage their belongings. At least 18 were killed, and two dozen are missing. The death toll is expected to rise.

Some locals watched in horror as they waited for news of their loved ones.

“It was a missile strike,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday. “And everyone who gives orders for such strikes, everyone who carries them out targeting our ordinary cities, residential areas, kills absolutely deliberately.”

The Saturday missile strike on Chasiv Yar was also mentioned in yesterday's WaPo 'live updates' in similar detail. I find no stand alone report on the strike on the WaPo website.

Chasiv Yar lies west of Bakhmut about 25 kilometer from the front line



The New York Times' 'live updates' also mention the strike. The summary says:

The toll from a strike on the apartment complex in the Donetsk village of Chasiv Yar late Saturday rose to 24, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said on Monday on Twitter. Eight people had been pulled from the rubble and rescued so far, it said.

Further down the incident is described in more detail:

Rescue workers scrambled on Sunday and into Monday to pull survivors from the wreckage of a five-story residential block in the eastern village of Chasiv Yar, in Donetsk, that was targeted by Russian missiles. Twenty-four people were killed and nine people had been rescued.

But President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a speech on Saturday that he hopes that an influx of weapons supplied by the West — including $400 million in military aid announced by the Biden administration on Friday — would help redress its disadvantage and “reduce Russian attack capabilities.”

The Times however has a reporter, Carlotta Gall, in Ukraine who visited the town and down in her stand alone report we find important details that the summaries somehow missed:

CHASIV YAR, Ukraine — Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is intensifying in Donetsk Province, with a string of towns and villages coming under bombardment in the last week as Russian troops turn their firepower farther west after seizing control of the last city under Ukrainian control in Luhansk Province.
For days now, the attacks have mostly seemed random and without purpose, but taken as a whole they make clear that Russia is preparing to capture another slice of Donetsk, the other province in the Donbas region.
...
The deadliest attack came late Saturday, when rockets struck an apartment complex in the village of Chasiv Yar, a dozen miles from the front. At least 15 people were reported dead.

All through the day on Sunday, soldiers and emergency crews worked to rescue people from the bombed complex, pulling a sixth survivor from the rubble nearly 24 hours after the Russian rockets hit. Still, officials said late Saturday that a number of people might still lay beneath the debris.
...
On the front in Donetsk Province, a resident of Chasiv Yar village, Oleksandr, 31, stood watching the rescue work at the stricken apartment complex as machines pulled away concrete slabs and emergency workers flung bricks aside. “My grandmother was here,” he said. “That’s her bed,” he added pointing to the pile of rubble. “I hope they will find her and I can give her a funeral.”

He said that about 10 civilians, mostly women on pensions, were living in the building at the time of the strike, but that members of the military had come to lodge there two days earlier. He had tried to persuade his grandmother to move to his place, he said, but she had refused.

Two soldiers who had been staying in the building were among the dead, according to another soldier who arrived with colleagues from the front line near Bakhmut to retrieve belongings. He gave only his first name, Dyma, and his age, 28, in accordance with military rules. Military vests and rucksacks and a broken rifle, covered in brick dust, lay on the ground under the trees.

He said a plane had struck the building with rockets. Aerial bombardment was the most punishing, Dyma said. A plane had dropped a parachute bomb on their positions near Bakhmut, causing devastating damage. “They do not announce it but we are taking heavy losses,” he said. “We need to close the skies,” he added, repeating a request that many Ukrainians make for planes and stronger air defense systems from Western allies to combat Russian aerial attacks.

So, according to Oleksandr, the resident of Chasiv Yar, 10 old women were living in the building. But there are a total of 24 who were retrieved dead, according to the latest NYT update, two dozen who are additionally still missing and 8 that were rescued.

That makes for a total of 56 people hit by the strike of which possibly 10 were the resident pensioners. The other 46 then were 'members of the military [who] had come to lodge there two days earlier'.

To call that a 'strike on civilians' is incorrect to say the least. It was a strike on a military target that unfortunately had used a civilian residential structure with the residents becoming human shield and later 'collateral damage'.

The Russian defense ministry is thereby mostly correct when it reports the strike like this:

High-precision ground-based weapons near Chasov Yar in Donetsk People's Republic have destroyed temporary deployment point of 118th Brigade of Territorial Defence of AFU. The attack has resulted in the elimination of more than 300 nationalists.

The number in the Russian report is likely exaggerated (as is typical for such military reports). On the other hand we do not know the real number of casualties as such numbers usually creep up over time as they have already done in this case. The Ukrainian government may also want to hide the real casualty number. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle of both current claims.

UPDATE (17:15 UTC)

I have now found a decent survey view of the house. With 5 stories it is big enough to house the 300 troops the Russia defense ministry claimed. We however do not know how many really were there.



End Update

Ignoring the detailed report from its own reporter the New York Times today added a stand alone piece that accuses the Russian military of repeated hits on civilians:

Russia has claimed that it aims only at targets of military value — even though some were hundreds of miles from the front lines — and that whenever a civilian facility did get hit, it was one that the Ukrainian military had co-opted for use as a command post, a shelter for foreign fighters or storage for weapons.
...
Yet journalists, independent organizations and Ukrainian officials have documented Russian attacks on thousands of civilian buildings, structures and vehicles. In some cases, Russia used outdated weapons that might have been aimed at an industrial facility but missed, putting civilians at risk. But in many other cases, the Russians’ explanations have not held up under scrutiny.
Here are a few of the largest attacks, along with how Russia has explained away responsibility.

July 9: Apartment complex in Chasiv Yar

At least 24 people were killed after Russian rockets slammed into an apartment complex in Chasiv Yar, an eastern village about a dozen miles from the front line, Ukrainian emergency services said. Initial reports said a number of others were trapped beneath the rubble.

Russia’s response: The apartment buildings were being used by Ukrainian troops, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing an unnamed Russian law enforcement official. No civilians were killed, it claimed.

The Russian claim that 'no civilians were killed' is likely false, but the New York Times claim that it was an attack on something 'civilian' is proven wrong by the on-the-ground report from its own journalist.

The accusatory piece also mention as 'civilian' target the shopping mall in Kremenchuck which burned down after a missile strike hit the heavy machine factory right behind it.

The writers also list the Kramatorsk train station which was hit by a Ukranian Tocka-U missile fired from the direction held by the Ukrainian military.

Other 'civilian' places mentioned in that smear piece are the Mariupol maternity hospital which had been reported empty before being used as a fighting position, attacks on holiday apartments in Odessa which had previously been reported to house foreign fighters and the alleged Bucha massacre which was caused by Ukrainian artillery and Azov Nazis who killed pro-Russian civilians after the Russian military had departed the town.

The whole accusatory report, headlined 'Russia Repeatedly Strikes Ukraine’s Civilians. There’s Always an Excuse.', falls apart when one looks into the details behind the propaganda claims 'western' media made about the incidents.

Posted by b on July 11, 2022 at 15:05 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/07/n ... .html#more

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FOUR FACTS THAT EXPLAIN EUROPE'S ONGOING DEBACLE
Jul 11, 2022 , 10:58 am .


The main economies of the European Union feel the consequences of the bellicose position against Russia (Photo: Engdao)

The slow-motion collapse of the European Union (EU) is a consequence of the decisions that its authorities have taken to embark on a war against a country on which they really depend, Russia, sacrificing the national interests of Europeans.

Next, four crises that confirm it.

QUIT "THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD"

On July 7, Johnson announced that he was stepping down as Prime Minister and leader of the British Conservative Party. He will continue to perform his duties "until he appoints a new leader." Boris stated that he regrets leaving "the best job in the world".

Johnson's last year and a half has been plagued by scandals and crises, both in relation to his administration's policies and personal ones (which, however, have also taken on political weight). The straw that broke the camel's back was the situation that MP Chris Pincher unleashed in the Conservative Party. He became one of the Conservatives' 'discipliners', despite the fact that he himself was involved in a number of scandals. At the end of June the last of them was made public. It turned out that Pincher was in an exclusive club in London, he drank too much, after which he "groped" two men without reciprocity. The parliamentarian admitted this and stepped down, after which it became public and other claims against him began to appear.


Boris Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party (Photo: Matt Dunham / AP)

Boris, who appointed Pincher to the post, lied when he claimed he knew nothing about the scandals and their dark history. However, there were immediately those who were able to prove otherwise: the BBC reported that the Prime Minister was aware of a formal complaint against Pincher. And a former public official, Lord McDonald, said Johnson had been told of the complaint in person.

There are also accusations against the prime minister for the multiple alcoholic parties on Down Street during the quarantine and for his own handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson reacted the same way to any accusation against him: at first he denied everything, then he admitted and apologized.

Johnson came to power with the promise of successfully carrying out Brexit and improving the standard of living in the provinces, gradually bringing them closer to the capital. But instead, during his time in power, many complaints have accumulated against the politician: Britain's exit from the EU has not delivered the promised results. That and also the context of the war in Ukraine and the embargo against Russia have plunged the British economy into the abyss, trade and incomes have been reduced, food prices are reaching record highs and businesses and consumers are counting losses from the energy crisis.

FRANCE ENTERS PERIOD OF WAR ECONOMY

Authorities in several EU countries started talking about the energy crisis, that the winter will be very difficult, and that people need to "tighten their belts". The citizens of the eurozone countries are being prepared for the hardships they will have to endure because of their leaders' bellicose stance towards Russia.

It would seem that France, with its nuclear energy, was in a much more advantageous position compared to other European countries. However, the share of nuclear generation in France fell to 43% of its capacity in June, which happened, among other things, due to regular failures in aging nuclear power plants.

The situation was further complicated by the fact that, since mid-June, France stopped receiving pipeline gas from Russia, so it had to switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG). Thus, while the EU talks about increasing "sanctions" against Moscow, France has ranked first in the world in terms of purchases of Russian LNG, according to the Finnish Analytical Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).


France has not been betting on nuclear energy to stop depending on Russia (Photo: File)

Economy Minister Bruno LeMaire acknowledged that the situation in the energy sector is tense, that power cuts are possible and that the government has decided to open a recently closed coal-fired power plant in St. Avold, near the border with Germany this winter.

The cost of electricity has risen to record levels. Wholesale electricity supplies in France as of July were selling for more than 300 euros per mWh. A year ago, the price did not exceed 81 euros. Although the rapid increase in prices does not hit ordinary consumers with all its force, since the State in France pays subsidies and maintains the percentage of taxes, it is unknown how long the crisis will last and if the state budget will be able to withstand it.

In this sense, France is trying to pass a law that allows it to exploit gas infrastructure in winter, the "purchasing power law", which would allow the French executive to take such measures if there is a threat to the security of natural gas supply. .

GERMAN INDUSTRY COMES TO A STANDSTILL
The German economy has always been considered one of the main engines of the EU. But now this engine has huge problems. The British magazine Spectator published an article titled "German Industry Grinds to a Standstill," alleging that exports fell and imports rose amid rising energy costs.

Among the problems plaguing German industry, the magazine mentions that "German industrial export machine was fueled by cheap energy from Russia, and that fuel could soon run out."


German industrial export relied on cheap Russian energy to sustain itself (Photo: Getty Images)

The gas reserves in Germany, in case of not getting more power from Russia, will last until early autumn, the head of the German Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, replied in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit . He said there is a contingency plan for a scenario without Russian supply, but it depends on three key factors: "If we manage to reduce consumption. If we manage to get more gasoline out. And if we manage to fill the vaults. If we had 48 months of peace and time, we would make Germany independent of gas supplies from Russia at a reasonable price," Müller said.

If the country faces an acute gas shortage, then, according to the official, "we will be forced to order the closure" of several facilities. Currently, the German regulator is updating data on gas use and identifying industries and companies that, in the event of an energy crisis, will receive gas before others. According to Müller, these are mainly homes, hospitals and gas power plants.

Energy companies are suffering gigantic losses from rapidly rising gas costs (this month gas prices topped $1,900 for the first time since March 9, according to data from London's ICE stock exchange) and cuts in the Nord Stream supply. In that sense, Uniper , which was Gazprom's largest German partner before the "sanctions" war against Russia, is the first German company to report a liquidity crisis amid the conflict in Ukraine.

According to Bloomberg , Uniper is negotiating financial aid with the German government, the amount in question is 9 billion euros. Rescue measures may include not only loans, but also partial nationalization and permission to pass on part of the costs to final consumers.

THE EURO COLLAPSES

With the impact of the war, with a deepening energy crisis in the EU, coupled with fears of a recession, the euro zone has been hit harder than the US and the dollar.

On Wednesday night, July 6, the euro-dollar exchange rate fell to 1.0187, approaching the 1:1 mark. The exchange rate is at its lowest point in 20 years, down more than 16% since May last year. According to Bloomberg , the probability that the euro will fall to parity with the dollar is 50%, and other analysts do not rule out that it will fall below parity.

The policy of the European Union has been lost in the face of reality. Unable to act jointly in their interests, its member countries have blindly followed the United States on a path that leads to a tragic end. And this only benefits the North American country.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/cu ... -de-europa

Google Translator

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"The Crimean bridge is a legitimate target"?
July 11, 20:59



In addition to https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7728830.html

Pentagon spokesman refused to "rule out" a Ukraine strike on the Crimean bridge

In May, when the Biden government announced the delivery of launchers for medium-range guided missiles to Ukraine, the White House insisted that these weapons would not be used against Russian territory. "We do not intend to supply Ukraine with missile systems that can attack Russia," Biden told reporters. "We do not encourage or assist Ukraine in strikes outside its borders," he later added in a NYT commentary column announcing the delivery of HIMAR to Ukraine.
However, on Friday, July 8, a Pentagon spokesman made it clear that the United States would not deter Ukraine from US weapons attacks on territory that Russia considers its own.
Asked by a journalist whether certain targets, such as the Crimean Bridge and the Black Sea, are “excluded” as possible targets for US-supplied weapons, a Pentagon spokesman said: “I am not aware of any exceptions for Ukrainians fighting on their sovereign territory against Russia. ".

The Crimean Bridge was built between 2015 and 2018 and links Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed after the 2014 US-EU-backed coup in Kyiv. The statement by a Pentagon official that the bridge is Ukraine's "sovereign territory" is yet another indication that the United States is supporting Ukraine's 2021 military plan to take back Crimea by force.

Such a statement by a US official can only be understood as a green light for Kyiv's strike on the Crimean bridge, and it represents a serious provocation. And this is just a day after Philip Breedlove, the former Supreme Commander of NATO in Europe, announced: “The Crimean Bridge is a legitimate target.” In an interview with the English newspaper Independent, Breedlove said that “several people I spoke to believe that to 'drop' the Crimean bridge is to deliver a powerful blow to Russia. The Crimean Bridge is a legitimate target.”
Breedlove went on to say, "But if they want to drop the bridge, it will require a special operation, a bombing."
He added: “I heard many people ask if it is right for Ukraine to behave so aggressively and if the West will support it, but I don’t understand such an argument.”

Breedlove pointed out that US Harpoon missiles could be used in such an attack on Russian territory, which can also hit land targets, although they are mainly known as weapons for the sea.
Friday's Pentagon briefing, which was barely reported in the media, was also startlingly candid about the extent to which the US has been systematically training its Ukrainian pawns for war against Russia over the years.

“The United States began a training program for Ukraine in 2015 – yes, in 2015 – helping Ukraine form, train, equip, deploy and maintain combat units. With this in mind, it is important to understand why, from the very beginning of the war, Ukraine was able to meet numerous, more combat-ready Russian troops, was able to maintain flexibility, strength and achieve commendable success, already being prepared for certain opportunities provided by the United States and other countries - especially Javelins, but not only, and thus, Russia in February went into battle with a much more serious adversary than expected, and which she - let's be honest - met in 2014.

A Pentagon spokesman added:

“And when we see how Ukraine successfully repelled the initial attack, it shows years of preparation, weapons and advice, coupled with a sharp increase in the supply of key weapons - 11,000 anti-tank and almost 1,500 anti-aircraft - in the first weeks alone, along with critical intelligence, which allowed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to successfully defend Kyiv and force the Russians to retreat, and to reassess their goals and their tactics.

Although the US has been arming Ukraine for years, the Pentagon spokesman has made it clear that US involvement in this war will continue for years to come . The US "thinks about the needs of Ukraine for months and years," he said.
Such statements are accompanied by reports of another $400 million worth of arms sales to Ukraine, including four more HIMARS, that is, there are only twelve of them in Ukraine.
Such statements are made in connection with the G20 summit, at which the United States categorically refused the possibility of bilateral negotiations to end the war.

State Department spokesman Ned Price, when asked if Secretary Blinken would meet with Lavrov, responded with a resounding no, saying: “We would like the Russians to give us a reason to meet bilaterally with them…But the only thing we see from Moscow is more cruelty and aggression against the people and state of Ukraine”.

As in any war, the goals of the warring parties become clearer with time. Despite what the US calls "tactical" failures,The US plans to flood Ukraine with weapons and troops to bleed Russia dry and allow Ukraine to eventually launch a counteroffensive in which Crimea is the most important target. For the US ruling class, this war, which has already cost tens of thousands of lives, must continue, according to Biden, "as long as it takes" to achieve these goals.

Significant strikes on Russian territory, like the destruction of the Crimean bridge, guarantee the escalation of this war. The enormous risk involved is outlined in an op-ed by Malcolm Chambers in the Financial Times titled: "Crimea could be a turning point in Putin's 'first blink' nuclear game."
“Because there is no ceasefire… The Armed Forces of Ukraine are determined to prevent the Kremlin from being able to supply its troops in Ukraine through the Crimean bridge… The Crimean bridge can be a tempting target…

If strikes on such targets are seen as a prologue to a full-scale invasion of Crimea, they can increase the risk nuclear escalation. This possibility is cause for extremely serious concern. Putin pointed out this risk aggressively in the months leading up to the invasion.

Putin's nuclear threats have begun to fade in recent months. To maintain their relevance, Russia must make it clear that invading Crimea means crossing a red line. Threatened with the loss of Crimea, Putin may decide that such a game is worth the candle, believing that Ukraine (with the encouragement of the West) will blink first. It will be a very dangerous moment."

Chambers made it clear that a strike on the Crimean bridge would greatly increase the possibility of the war turning into a nuclear confrontation, with unpredictable consequences. That the Pentagon has publicly refused to rule out such a strike exposes the extreme irresponsibility and even desperation that drives US policymakers.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/0 ... a-j09.html - original in English

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7730337.html

gas morality
July 11, 18:57



Gas morality

I don't know whether SP-1 will be launched on July 22 or not. But I know very well why the enemy is roaring with foolishness at all voices that it will not start: in our place, he would have acted only this way, without a single moment of hesitation. And if we were dependent on the enemy for grain and fertilizers, he would also take advantage of these dependencies, overflowing his first pages with outpourings of joy, how the Russians will now have nothing to eat and how they will starve us until the very capitulation.
I'm not talking about SP-1 at all. This is me, taking advantage of this opportunity, once again about the fact that our global adversary differs from ukrov not by the degree of cannibalism, but only by its character. And it would be good for everyone to keep this circumstance in mind on a daily basis.

https://t.me/politadequate/6565

Of course, if the United States had a conditional opportunity to cut off the Russian Federation from some resource that is critically important for the Russian economy (something identical to gas, which is critically important for the German economy), then they of course this was done without regard to the damage to the peoples of Russia, and a gang of vassals would have approved it with hoots.
And it is equally obvious that when Russia even partially touched such a mechanism, stories about "using energy as a weapon", "gas blackmailing Europe", "a blow to the green economy" and "violation of contractual obligations" immediately begin. Hottentot morality that prevails in the United States , obviously multiplies in countries dependent on the United States and local elites, who unconsciously understand only the language of coercion and also try to behave in relation to countries and peoples not included in the "golden billion".

Let's take the same gas. At one time, Donald Trump forced Merkel to agree to the construction of terminals for American LNG. Germany did not want this, but in this way she had to pay for her military-political dependence. And this is normal for them - sensing the heaviness of the master's boot, the European Fronde is rapidly disappearing. And Europe has come to terms with it.

But it is absolutely impossible to come to terms with the fact that "barbarian Russia" begins to force Europe to do something. And what is most terrible, especially from the ideological point of view, is coercing successfully, as the episode with the Siemens turbines vividly showed.

And now, Europe is already expecting Gazprom to launch Nord Stream after repairs are completed. In the current realities, it is normal to twist Europe's gas eggs, especially if this critical vulnerability is obvious. And to stop such pressure until the issues of the blockade of Kaliningrad, the blockade of Svalbard, etc. are resolved. questions, it would be extremely strange. The old format of relations with Europe is dead. The new one has not yet been formed. Forcing Europe to realize the energy reality is, first of all, a step towards building a future format of coexistence.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7729958.html

Google Translator

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

Forwarded from
Readovka
The map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of July 11,

the Kiev regime once again showed its terrorist "talent" - two terrorist attacks at once in a day, in Kharkiv , Zaporozhye and Kherson regions , and again the heads of the local VGA became targets. In the first case, alas, the militants achieved their goal - the head of the administration of Veliky Burluk, Yevgeny Yunakov, was blown up in his car by an improvised explosive device planted along the route of the car. The exact same crime was almost played out in Kherson with the head of the VGA Vladimir Saldo, but he was much more fortunate - vigilant citizens noticed a homemade bomb next to the politician's car in time. In Melitopolthey attacked Andrey Sioguta, the head of the administration of the Melitopol district - the attacker was liquidated during the arrest .

Let's move on to the situation on the fronts:

Kharkov Front
Ours continue to advance on enemy positions. Fighting in the Svetlichny area . It is reported that the Armed Forces, in addition to transporting equipment, ammunition and using aviation and drones, are mining the area along the Seversky Donets , waiting for the Russians to cross in the area of ​​Stary Saltov . Ukrainian Su-25s and MiG-29s were shot down in the zone of the most active battles.

Izyumsko-Slavonic front
Today it was finally announced that Bogorodichny was finally taken under our control. Also, the Armed Forces of Ukraine hastened to retreat from the resort area of ​​the Blue Lakes , which is in the vicinity of Krasny Liman . Pressure on Slavyansk from the north is increasing. The fights are hard, but ours are pressing.

Donetsk Front
Tripoli and Vladimirovka were liberated . The location of these points is such that it will be possible to develop movement from them to both Soledar and Artemovsk in order to "cut" the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine between the cities on this line. In the area of ​​N. p. Bogatyr shot down a Ukrainian Su-25.

Arrivals
Under shelling traditionally from early morning Donetsk , Yasinovataya , Gorlovka , and their environs.
Less than an hour ago, the militants attacked Novaya Kakhovka from the HIMARS MLRS - representatives of the regional military administration announced that they had hit a warehouse with saltpeter. According to preliminary data, residential buildings, a hospital and a market were damaged by the explosion, the number of victims is being specified.

Calibrations
In Dnepropetrovsk , our high-precision missiles bombed an ammunition depot for the notorious HIMARS. A powerful blow was struck at Chasov Yar , where the 118th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was located - more than 300 militants were reported killed. In Kharkov , in the Osnovyansky and Slobodsky districts, about 250 militants and up to 25 vehicles and armored vehicles were liquidated.

In the world
It became known that a sabotage group from the Belarusian nationalist detachment "Volat" was captured by the NM of the LPR near Volcheyarovka. This is not the first "Belarusian trophy" of our troops in recent times.

👁From the interesting
Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the defeats in Lisichansk and Severodonetsk is trying to freeze the conflict in anticipation of full-scale Western assistance. An imaginary "truce" in the future threatens with a significant escalation of hostilities - Readovka explains why any lull at the front and freezing of the conflict now is a total war in the future, and this can not be done, all the more so now.



***

Сolonelcassad
Another round of internal political squabbling is actively unfolding in Ukraine:

Ukrainian-born American congresswoman Victoria Spartz complained to Biden about the head of President Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak . According to her, the latter can cooperate with the Russian side. It is Yermak who is allegedly guilty of the quick surrender of Kherson and the encirclement of the RF Armed Forces in Mariupol at the beginning of the NMD.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry took the side of the head of the presidential office and asked Spartz not to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. She was accused of PR on the conflict, with a hint that the congresswoman represents the Republicans, who are now at enmity with the Democrats.

Congresswoman from the American Democratic Party and deputy head of the support group for Ukraine Marcy Kaptur also came to the defense of Yermak and accused Spartz of working for Russia.

Spartz's accusations immediately began to actively "disperse" resources close to ex-president Petro Poroshenko . Yermak's resignation will indeed weaken Zelensky, but with the current architecture of Ukrainian power, this can only be done through lobbyists in the United States. The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny , who has a smoldering conflict with Yermak , will also become the beneficiary of the departure of the head of the OP .

The key point is that Spartz is one of the lobbyists for arms supplies to Ukraine. You can't just dismiss her accusations. An attack on Yermak is needed to create a split between Zelensky and the US Democratic Party.

How interesting it is to watch the adventures of a toad and a viper in the Ukrainian terrarium of like-minded people.

***

Forwarded from
Private on the wire
The Swedish Nazi is hiding from prison in the ranks of the Ukronazi army

Bjorn Sigvald, whom even the Swedish media refer to as BS escaped from law enforcement officers and joined the Nazis of the Ukrainian army. According to official information, this character founded the organization "Misanthropic Division", involved in organizing and helping to organize terrorist attacks.

Since 2014, Sigvald has been a member of the Nazi Carpathian Sich unit in western Ukraine. The network has a joint photo of Bjorn and radical extremist Igor Garkavenko, who spent 9 years in prison for terrorist attacks against a number of Ukrainian political and cultural organizations, including the Israeli Cultural Center.

***

Сolonelcassad
Regarding the threats to the residents of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, it is worth remembering that there is nothing new here. In the same way, the Nazi regime in Kyiv behaved in 2014 in the Donbass, where such threats, complementing the shelling and terrorist attacks, were aimed at clearing the territory of "sovki", "quilted jackets" and "colorados". Ukraine there was interested in the territory without people, the attitude towards which fit into the formula "Suitcase, station, Russia." The same was offered to the Crimeans. Having lost new territories, Ukraine continues to act according to the same scheme, which clearly shows that it behaves like an occupier towards its own citizens.

***

Forwarded from
Older than Edda
Heavy fighting is going on right now in the forests in the north of the DPR. Artillery works around the clock, firing dozens of tons of ammunition.

If from the east and south of Slavyansk the Center grouping continues to occupy settlements, then on the Izyum Front there are battles for every forest glade, forest belt, forest patch. The enemy replaces the retired units with new ones, they suffer losses and another batch of cannon fodder goes to the front.

In this case, the capture of the village of Bogorodichne, a very big success. The fortified area protecting Slavyansk from the north literally gnaws through, no matter what efforts Kyiv makes to stabilize it.

I have already written about this more than once, it’s not a sin to repeat it. Those fighters who are now under constant fire from a numerically superior enemy are advancing on Slavyansk through forests strewn with an incredible number of mines - steel people in the full sense of the word. And personally, I am proud that so many of them are my friends and brothers.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

[blindpig]

The Kremlin Offers Citizenship to Ukrainians


Russian President signed a decree Monday on the citizenship of Ukrainians. July 11, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@mfa_russia

On Monday, the Russian President signed a decree which offered citizenship under a simplified scheme.

Under the new decree signed Monday by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian nationals may now apply for Russian citizenship. The decree covers stateless persons living in Ukraine and citizens of the two Donbass republics, as the Kremlin previously recognized them as independent.

Ukrainians can now apply for citizenship without presenting the regular requirements requested by foreigners. This new decree was primarily designed for the citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the residents of the two southern Ukrainian regions under the Russian army's control.

Those living in territories controlled by the two Donbass entities had access to a simplified procedure introduced in 2019, allowing them to get their citizenship paperwork processed in just three months. By February this year, already 950 000 Ukrainians had applied and 770 000 of them had become Russian citizens.

The decree issued on Monday by the Russian President explains that those at the service of Donbass militias and local law enforcement authorities in the region are also eligible to apply for Russian citizenship. Putin highlighted that their status as foreign military personnel could not be used as a reason to deny them citizenship.


By May, Moscow had included the people of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south of Ukraine among those eligible for the citizenship scheme. Putin released a document later in the same month that designated orphaned children from the Donbass republics and Ukraine as suitable for processing as well.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/The ... -0028.html

Dozens Injured in Ukraine’s Strike on Novaya Kakhovka


Explosions in Novaya Kakhovka | Photo: Ria Novosti

Published 11 July 2022 (11 hours 9 minutes ago)

The strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Novaya Kakhovka was carried out using US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), according to Deputy Head of the military-civilian administration of the region Ekaterina Gubareva.

Dozens of people were injured as a result of the strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at Novaya Kakhovka, there were also deaths, head of the Kakhovka District military-civilian administration in the Kherson region Vladimir Leontyev told TASS.

"Unfortunately, there are casualties, a large number of injured, dozens of people were left homeless," he said, noting that the city is significantly damaged.

Leontyev added that "the victims were admitted to both the city hospital and the military hospital". "We still have to assess the damage, because the situation is still ongoing" he said, adding that the city authorities intend to start assessing the damage on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian military attacked Novaya Kakhovka on Monday evening. In addition to damaged buildings, the attack also led to an explosion at fertilizer warehouses.

The strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Novaya Kakhovka was carried out using US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), according to Deputy Head of the military-civilian administration of the region Ekaterina Gubareva.

"Just received a message about an attack on our beautiful and peaceful Novaya Kakhovka. American HIMARS was used," she wrote on her Telegram channel.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Doz ... -0023.html

Putin-Erdogan Talk About Black Sea Shipping and Grain Exports


The presidents of Russia and Turkey held a telephone conversation in view of the forthcoming Russian-Turkish summit. Jul. 11, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@nexta_tv

Published 11 July 2022 (10 hours 56 minutes ago)

In anticipation of an upcoming Russian-Türkish summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart from Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a telephone conversation, according to the Kremlin.

In their conversation, the two presidents discussed increasing trade, using national currencies in settlements, and pursuing an uninterrupted supply of energy resources.

The Kremlin said in a statement, "President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ahead of the Russian-Turkish high-level meeting planned in the near future, the leaders considered a set of issues of mutual interest."

According to the statement, the conversation focused on "further intensifying economic cooperation, including measures to improve its legal framework, increase trade volumes and use national currencies in settlements, as well as continue uninterrupted supplies of Russian energy."

The Kremlin added that the two presidents addressed the situation in Ukraine, about which they discussed coordinating efforts to guarantee safe navigation in the Black Sea and grain export to international markets.


The statement also said that on the Syrian settlement, "the importance of trilateral joint work - with the participation of Iranian partners - within the framework of the Astana process was emphasized."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Put ... -0024.html

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No, Iran Will Not Deliver Armed Drones To Russia

In March this year we were treated to an onslaught of obviously false claims that China would deliver weapons to Russia for the fight in Ukraine.

Russia seeks military equipment and aid from China, U.S. officials say - Washington Post - March 13, 2022

Russia has turned to China for military equipment and aid in the weeks since it began its invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, did not describe what kind of weaponry had been requested, or whether they know how China responded.

The development comes as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan plans to travel to Rome on Monday to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.

“We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing, that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions, evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them,” Sullivan told CNN.

Russia is an exporter of military weapons and China is one of its biggest customers. There is nothing in the Chinese arsenals that Russia can not and does not produce itself.

The claim was false from the get go but Sullivan, the mediocre National Security Advisor of the Biden regime, planted it to put pressure on China. It of course did not work.

China denied that it had received any request from Russia or that it was in any way willing to ever fulfill one if it would come:

*China Signals Disinterest in Providing Weapons to Russia for Brutal Ukraine Campaign - MSN - Mar 14, 2022
*China Insists It Won't Help Sustain Russia's War Against Ukraine - Newsweek, Mar 17, 2022
*China denies sending weapons to support Moscow - Guardian - Mar 21, 2022
*Chinese Defense Ministry denies ever handing over weapons to Russia - Yahoo - Jun 13, 2022

No Chinese weapons have been seen in Ukraine.

Now an equally stupid claim was launched by the very same liar who launched the fake Chinese weapons claim.

White House: Iran set to deliver armed drones to Russia - AP - Jul 7, 2022

The White House on Monday said it believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with “hundreds” of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing war in Ukraine.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had already provided any of the unmanned systems to Russia, but said the U.S. has “information” that indicates Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use them as soon as this month.

“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline,” he told reporters Monday.

Russia has for some time build mass production facilities for its own drones.

*Russia Reveals New Drone Capabilities, Hinting At What It Could Bring To Bear In Ukraine - Forbes- Dec 23, 2021
*Drone production facility outside Moscow to get into top gear - TASS - Feb 1, 2022
*Russia was lagging behind in drone capabilities, but is now catching up – comment - LTR - Mar 18, 2022

A decade ago, the Russian Armed Forces possessed fewer than 200 UAVs, and now this figure stands at over 2000, and each year is replenished by 300. Furthermore, the Russian defence industry is conducting R&D on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in UAVs, with the ambition of enabling them to perform as unified “swarms of drones” in combat zones. Sources claim that this was already tested in 2020, during the Kavkaz-2020 military exercise.

Russia has absolutely no need to buy drones from Iran. Besides that it is dubious that Iran would be able to deliver some and certainly not 'several hundreds'.

Gregg Carlstrom - @glcarlstrom - 6:18 UTC · Jul 12, 2022
Does Iran even have "hundreds of weapons-capable drones" to export? It has limited production capacity; would be surprising (to say the least) if it could churn out hundreds, let alone hundreds of useful weapons systems rather than worthless tchotchkes.

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj @yarbatman - 23:14 UTC · Jul 11, 2022
1. @jakejsullivan's claim that Iran is set to send "several hundred" drones to Russia doesn't make sense. Data is spotty, but it's unlikely Iran even has that many operational drones in its own fleet. It also has no experience exporting drones at scale.
2. The Defense Intelligence Agency's 2019 report on Iranian Military Power does not assess that Iran has the ability to mass produce and export drones. Hard to believe things have changed dramatically in three years.
3. From the report: "Despite advances in its UAV manufacturing capabilities, Iran remains reliant on Western manufactured engines and components to support its UAV production. Iran is developing a domestic UAV engine but is struggling with quality issues."
4. @RUSI_org's database seems to suggest that Iran has 50 operational drones in its fleet (cc @Justin_Br0nk). Also most of Iran's drones are rudimentary. These are not Bayraktars and would be of little value.
Perhaps someone can check the Jane's estimate.
5. Last year, @bellingcat reviewed satellite images and video footage "showing over 154 drones." But there's widespread agreement among analysts that these displays of air power probably include drones that are not fully armed or operational.
6. Sullivan's statement is also odd because he says that it is "unclear" whether Iran has already exported any drones. He was weirdly responding to a broader question about Russian capabilities. This export might happen, but I'll believe it when I see it.
7. The only explanation I can think of is that Sullivan believes Iran’s new drone JV in Tajikistan is primarily intended to supply Russia. But I am doubtful production can ramp up that quickly. Plus can’t the US just lean on Dushanbe if concerned?

The Washington Post notes the weird timing of Sullivan's claims thereby hinting that it was made for purely political purposes which have nothing to do with Russia:

The revelation comes as President Biden prepares to depart for the Middle East, where he is expected to confer with key allies on a unified regional policy toward Iran. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been further strained in recent weeks, amid faltering nuclear talks and an uptick in rocket and drone attacks on U.S. military installations in the Middle East, conducted by militia groups armed and funded by Iran.

The whole issues is just a talking point designed to put Iran and Russia into the same 'baddies' binder for Biden's talks in the Middle East. The countries there may not like Iran but they will certainly not allow for a condemnation of Russia. The whole idea is, as many others Sullivan had, stupid to begin with.

So no, there will not be any Iranian drones going to Russia or fly over Ukraine.

Posted by b on July 12, 2022 at 9:32 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/07/n ... .html#more

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NATO Declares War on Multipolarity
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 11, 2022
Fabrizio Casari


ImageNATO: “China threatens our interests. Look how they’ve placed their country in the middle of our military bases!” (Source)

The conclusion of the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June officially opened a new stage in history in which Western imperial unipolarism declares war on multilateralism without any diplomacy. With the new Strategic Concept, the Atlantic organization abandons any ambition to guarantee international peace, as from its founding statute; it chooses war, or at least the threat of it, as the central axis of its international relations. An increase of soldiers and weapons in Europe and in the Pacific region, an increase in political and military pressure: a new policy dedicated to imbalance, to raising tensions with threatening and provocative postures and with the enlistment of any country which, because of its territorial location, can exert pressure or even pose a threat to the nations NATO considers hostile, is made official. The accession of Sweden and Finland, in fact, indicates how Washington no longer contemplates even formally the existence of neutral countries destined to cushion the bipolar clash, and instead decides to unite militarily the entire West.

The formal assumption of what was previously only substantive – that is, an offensive organization with aggressive features – confirms that NATO has become an extension of US policy, a security ring for its interests. Another hypocritical postulate that saw the United States as the guarantor of the security of the West disappears, since now it is the West that is dedicated to the security of the United States. The new role is clear: to enter into conflict with anyone who threatens the position of the United States. That, in addition to finding itself with an international system that protects them, also sees in it an element of economic utility, since increased military tensions will lead to an overall increase in military spending. And while for all the countries of the world they represent a distraction of public spending to the detriment of welfare, a millstone for the policies of socio-economic progress, for the United States they are the fundamental engine of its economic growth.

It is not clear from the document how NATO intends to act in a possible direct war against Moscow and Beijing. On the military level, the game is uncertain, as well as crazy, and on the economic level it seems complicated, since its members cannot base their war effort on a solid industrial and manufacturing apparatus. The deindustrialization of the last decades and the financialization of the economy have undermined the West’s capacity to sustain a war production that would allow a confrontation with powers such as Russia and China. An economic and military framework that should push the Atlantic organization to greater prudence, but which prefers to rule out with threats of war any hypothesis of accommodation with Russia’s legitimate security needs and China’s projects of growth and multipolar integration.

Who is threatening whom?

In the overflowing rhetoric of the new Strategic Concept, Russia and China are the authoritarian regimes that, along with others, would like to destroy the Western system. The argument that China is the one threatening the U.S. is hilarious: as is well known, there are some 800 U.S. military bases around the world, of which about 20 directly threaten Beijing. In the Pacific, 137,000 US troops are stationed at bases in Hawaii, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines, and there are also US troops in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. In particular, the bases in Guam (Marianas) and Yokosuka (Japan) are the largest in size, military equipment and nuclear weapons in the world. China does not possess a single one outside its territory. And it is China that would threaten the United States?

Identical reasoning could be made about NATO’s eastward enlargement to encircle Russia, whereas there are no Russian bases on the borders of NATO countries; Moscow has only two and they are in Syria.

That is why it is difficult to attempt an objective analysis of the trends taking place on the world scene in the face of so much returning McCarthyism: the new Strategic Concept does not have any of the concepts or the strategy necessary for the convulsive phase full of tensions and wars that the planet is experiencing precisely because of the aggression of the USA which sees its domination threatened.

But apart from the propagandistic rhetoric, the adversaries of NATO, which has become the political representative of the entire West, are not only China and Russia, but all the countries defined as “emerging”, i.e. those that show constant economic and technological growth and are unwilling to cede resources and political sovereignty to the United States and its minority partners.

The United States, now mired in a profound economic and social model crisis, and lagging behind in technology and the military, has identified the imperious growth of China, the military weight of Russia and the economic value of emerging countries (India above all) as the obstacle to be removed to avoid a free market confrontation that would cause the West to lose.

Europe, goodbye

The other predominant aspect of the Madrid summit is that it sanctioned the end of Europe as a political and economic project based on the interests of the continent and which sought, from its inception, to create a zone of peace on the continent where two world wars were born due to German expansionism. Brussels now has a role similar to that of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, i.e. of mere support for the extension of U.S. dominance. It puts its political identity, its history, its economic growth, its territory and its population at the disposal of the expansion of the US empire, which also includes tactical nuclear wars that Washignton needs to test the actions and reactions of its adversaries.

An example of this? The entry of Sweden and Finland has been hailed with emphasis, but the abandonment of the principle of non-alignment by these two countries means a multiplication of the risk of war in Europe and not an increase in collective security. And it remains to be demonstrated that their entry into NATO is a militarily expedient idea. Both countries, in fact, share a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, which, however, controls the Baltic and the Arctic with its Kaliningrad military base. Kaliningrad – 15,000 square kilometers in size and sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland – is a Russian military outpost located 1,400 kilometers from Paris and London, 530 from Berlin and 280 from Warsaw, and is a part of Russian territory in the middle of the European Union. It is in a key position for two reasons: the Baltic Sea port, which houses the base of the Russian naval fleet, is located in one of the few areas where the sea does not freeze. Moreover, by controlling the Suwalki corridor – which connects the oblast with Belarus and is the only land passage between Poland and the Baltic countries – Moscow could isolate Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in one fell swoop and quickly impose itself on Warsaw.

Moreover, Europe would become an even more important target in the event of a conflict, since Kalinigrad is home to Iskander systems, short-range tactical ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of up to 500 kilometers and thus capable of reaching much of Europe. In short, contrary to what might be suggested, the entry of Sweden and Finland does not represent a reinforcement of the continent’s security level, but an increase in the risk of conflict, and Russia’s new ballistic adjustment will increase Europe’s military fragility.

Then there are the economic repercussions. The devastating crisis plaguing, and even more so in winter, the EU, will sink the tenuous assumptions of post-pandemic recovery, while the US will benefit, because the EU’s reduced economic strength will reduce the weight of a dangerous competitor in trade and currency markets. The US will have a good chance to impose its products on a market where the EU will not be able to compete due to the partial but significant shutdown of its production capacity and distribution network, brought down by reduced energy supply and higher prices, from which Moscow benefits in return.

All for one, not one for all

Madrid affirmed the end of the concept of diversity within the Alliance, of the idea of maintaining collective security by considering the respective needs of each of its members. There is no longer any place for national or regional needs. The military defense system of capitalism is centralized and lays the foundations for the global confrontation between the US empire and the rest of the world, which sees in the South and the East of the planet the affirmation of a new group of countries claiming to share planetary governance. This is not a wrong assertion, far from it: the BRICS (and not only them) are strategically important, economically successful, politically influential, militarily strong and demographically majority countries. Awaiting the next entry of Iran and Argentina, they already account for 40% of the world’s population, 25% of GDP and 18% of trade, and more than half of the planet’s economic growth. Which scares Washington.

In Madrid, NATO shed the mask of the defensive military alliance, worn out by military and political defeats, and now openly places itself in a belligerent condition against the rest of the world. The representation of some 700 million people decides to confront even militarily the more than 5 billion remaining inhabitants of the earth in order not to share the governance of the planet. Why? Because it would force to stop the plundering of resources and raw materials necessary to maintain a West which no longer produces anything required for the development of the planet and which, on the contrary, condemns its future to an inevitable war to monopolize vital resources such as water, the biosphere, rare earths and fuels.

Slogans, threats and muscular displays are of little use. NATO’s voraciousness has run out of time: As David grows and strengthens, Goliath has nothing to rejoice about.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... ipolarity/

Russian Ops in Ukraine: Ukraine’s “Million Man Army” Readies for Battle
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 11, 2022



Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for July 11, 2022

– Russian forces are consolidating control over the cities, towns, villages, and transportation infrastructure they’ve captured in recent offensives;

– Russian forces are also now shaping the battlefield toward the Bakhmut-Siversk defense line, as well as the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk defense line;

– The US plans to send another 4 HIMARS brining the total number sent to 12;

– Russia claims to have destroyed 2 HIMARS along with depots containing HIMARS ammunition;

– Ukrainian Defense Ministry admits heavy losses and a desperate need for more heavy equipment;

– Ukrainian Defense Ministry also claims to have a “million” strong military force it will use to take back Ukraine’s southern coastline;

– The UK has begun training 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers every 4 months, while Ukraine loses more than twice that amount on the battlefield in the same amount of time;

– Stated US policy of “extending Russia” by using Ukraine as a proxy, helps explain why the current Western strategy is not working, but continues to be pursued nonetheless;

References:

US Department of Defense – Senior Military Official Holds a Background Briefing JULY 8, 2022: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri…

US Department of Defense – Senior Defense Official Holds a Background Briefing JULY 8, 2022: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri…

Reuters – Russia says it destroyed ttwo U.S. HIMARS in east Ukraine, Kyiv rejects claim: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/…

WSJ – Ukraine’s Defense Minister Says It Has ‘Passed Test’ on New U.S. Guided Rockets, Needs More: https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/ukra…

Financial Times – Military briefing: is the west running out of ammunition to supply Ukraine?: https://www.ft.com/content/d413576c-c…

The UK Times – Ukraine has one million ready for fightback to recapture south: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk…

Al Jazeera – Troop numbers: Foreign soldiers in Iraq: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/1…

BBC – Russia-Ukraine war: UK training programme gets under way: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62102451

Marines (US) – Recruit Training: https://www.marines.com/become-a-mari…

Marines (US) – Preparing for the Operating Forces: https://www.marines.com/life-as-a-mar….

RAND Corporation – Extending Russia: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_re…

Voice of America – Ukraine ‘Disappointed’ by Canada’s Decision to Return Repaired Turbine for Russian Gas Pipeline: https://www.voanews.com/a/ukraine-dis…

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... or-battle/

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Offensives, threats and more war
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/12/2022 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT



At the beginning of June, when the reopening of some schools in the city of Mariupol began and the extension of the school year was announced - partly to offer some normality and a return to civilian life in an almost apocalyptic situation, but also to guarantee prevent those students in their final year from losing the opportunity to continue with higher education - Ukraine's first reaction was condemnation. The same thing happened in other areas now under Russian control, such as Kherson, the region that has suffered the least from the harshness of the war and where Russia intends to present normality as an argument to convince the population that its presence there is not neither threatening nor temporary.

At that time, Irina Vereschuk, deputy prime minister and minister for the "temporarily occupied territories", appealed to the children's parents to demand that they not take their sons and daughters to school. Do not take children to study in educational institutions of the occupation. Move into controlled territories. The children will thank you later, ”she affirmed then her. The appeal was due to the change in the educational model, the removal of Ukrainian nationalist content in favor of the Russian world view, and also the Russian language, which Ukraine has been trying to remove from the education system for years.

But there was an added nuance, which explains why Ukraine has not made similar appeals in the last eight years to the families of Crimea, the DPR and the RPL. “Let's be honest: there will be no normal life in the temporarily occupied territories until reunification with Ukraine. In addition to a whole series of legal problems, there is one more: Ukraine will fight for its land, so the temporarily occupied territories can be a war zone. Here we have to be honest with each other”, added the deputy minister, assuming that Ukraine will take the war to this region that, until now, had avoided massive destruction and in which civil life and economic activity had resumed.

Now, after a month and an offensive that has not been very successful in the region, Vereschuk returns to appeal to the population of Kherson. Better armed with the arrival of heavy artillery from its Western partners and led by foreign military intelligence, which provides the targets in real time (including the decision centers of the People's Republics and ammunition depots in different areas of the front), the Ukrainian Army is in a position to launch an offensive. That is, at least, what the political authorities are trying to make out.

This weekend, while Arestovich boasted about the attacks against targets in the Kherson region (forgetting that they were civilian and not military targets), Vereschuk called on the population to evacuate the area as soon as possible. “It is necessary so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not endanger the population during offensive actions,” he stated. To show the urgency of the situation, the deputy governor of the region added that the evacuation should take place in any possible direction, including through Crimea.

These statements coincide with the statements of the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleskiy Reznikov, who in an interview with The Times referred to the "anti-Kremlin coalition" that has been formed and spoke of the million-strong army with which Ukraine will recover, by military means, the lost territories. Reznikov added that President Zelensky has already given the order to create the necessary plans to recover the coastal areas, that is, the Kherson and southern Zaporozhye regions. His statements coincide with what was stated weeks ago by the Ukrainian president, who referred to the plan to recover the territories lost since February 24 by military means, and subsequently begin negotiating with Russia the return of those lost since 2014. .

Hours earlier, Reznikov had proposed the three possible scenarios for resolving the conflict, all of them favorable to Ukraine, the most optimistic of which would involve the practical dissolution of Russia with the independence of all kinds of regions in which there is currently no separatism. Reznikov's words do not always correspond to reality and respond more to his wishes. In this case, they have not even been confirmed by President Zelensky, who in a media appearance claimed not to have read the minister's words and refused to announce offensive plans.

As Ukraine has been announcing for months, these offensive plans exist and are more feasible as kyiv receives heavy weapons from its partners, its soldiers are trained abroad (so the British press affirms) and reserves are accumulated as they are lost. territories in Donbass. Since the Russian intervention began, kyiv has made it clear that recovering Kherson takes priority over recovering Donbass, destroyed and with a population that Ukraine has considered since 2014 suspected of disloyalty. Kherson is also a much weaker link for Russia, which despite having strengthened its presence, does not have a large contingent in the area.

The region is also the area farthest from a front that covers hundreds of kilometers and where information is scarce. However, it is clear that at the moment there is no large-scale Ukrainian offensive in that area. In recent days, Ukrainian aggressiveness has increased with the massive use of Tochka-U missiles on targets in cities such as Kherson, Novaya Kajovka or Melitopol. However, the declarations of the Ukrainian authorities also seek non-military objectives. It is important for Ukraine to prevent the consolidation of the situation in social and military terms, hence the need to cause panic among the population with the announcement of an offensive that may or may not be imminent. Although Russia does not have an excessive number of troops, The same can be said of the Ukraine and the dozen HIMARS that the Ukrainian Army has at its disposal give it a much greater destructive capacity, but they will not be capable of capturing the cities under Russian control by themselves, at least in their current numbers. However, the material obtained by kyiv is enough to test Russia's air defenses, trying to overwhelm them in order to create more damage to Russian troops.

Reznikov's words are not only a message to the Russian Army, which will have to adapt its means and strategy to the new situation of greater strength and better equipment in Ukraine at the front, but also to its allies. Those million troops willing to attack and defeat Russia at the front need weapons. Hence, the demonstrations of the last days of the Ukrainian political authorities seek again an increase in the supply of certain Western weapons, especially the HIMARS. Ukraine has already proven its effectiveness on the front lines, Mikhailo Podoliak said last week, so it deserves a higher number of these systems capable of firing at targets up to 300 kilometers away.

Every time that Ukraine announces an imminent offensive - it is true that, on this occasion, the announcement is more serious and has been accompanied by words that, camouflaged in a concern for the population that Ukraine has not shown in eight years, seek to cause the panic - kyiv takes its success for granted. This future offensive has been no exception. Ukraine intends to recover by military means a region that it was able to recover diplomatically last March, albeit at the cost of accepting the loss of Crimea and at least part of Donbass. Thousands of people have since died and entire cities have been destroyed in a war that Ukraine now aspires to take to Kherson, Novaya Kajovka or Melitopol. In any case, Ukraine has already decided that this is the will of the population.

In need of a success that guarantees the support of its partners, especially that of the countries of the European Union, more reluctant than the United States and the United Kingdom to believe in a Ukrainian military victory. In search of more weapons, Ukraine offers more war. In this fight, Ukraine aspires to different victories. The most precious would be the military, but getting Russia to divert part of its troops from Donbass to Kherson or causing panic among the civilian population of the territories controlled by Russia would already be prizes that kyiv would not hesitate to exploit for its propaganda.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/07/12/25020/#more-25020

Google Translator

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Why Ukrainian air defense has not yet been destroyed
July 12, 11:19



Why Ukrainian air defense has not yet been destroyed

A discussion has begun on the Web about the actions of the domestic Aerospace Forces (VKS) to suppress the Ukrainian air defense and why the Ukrainian air defense still retains some of its combat capabilities.

Before proceeding to the presentation of my position, let me state a few basic points.

Now there will be a piece of scientific text from the collection “Tactics of RTV Air Force. Fundamentals of Combat Use of Forces and Means of Aerospace Attack”, developed by the teaching staff of the Military Engineering Institute of the Siberian Federal University. It is very important to read it for a better understanding of the issue. The topic of discussion almost entirely fits into the concept of the main forms of use of aerospace attack forces in offensive operations. These are:

– air campaign;
- air offensive operation (VNO);
- systematic military operations;
- air space operation (VKO).

At the same time, air campaigns and operations are the main forms of the operational-strategic use of large groupings of the Airborne Forces, and systematic combat operations are the main form of their operational-tactical use. The air campaign is a combination of the first and subsequent air offensive operations, united by a common concept and aimed at achieving the most important military-strategic goals in the theater of operations.

The duration of an air campaign in a theater of operations, including air offensive operations and systematic combat operations of air attack forces, can be up to 30 days. For the first time, the air campaign as a form of combat use of the Air Force was defined during the war of the coalition forces against Iraq. An air offensive operation (AOO) is the main form of using air attack means (AOS) in a war using only conventional weapons.

An air offensive operation is understood as a set of interrelated and coordinated in terms of purpose, place and time of hostilities conducted in the theater of operations by operational-tactical forces using only conventional weapons and a limited number of strategic aviation according to a single plan and plan. VNO is carried out with the aim of gaining air superiority by destroying enemy aircraft on the ground and in the air, suppressing its air defense system and disorganizing the work of control, communications and support systems.

The duration of the operation is from three to five days. After the first air offensive operation, the combined NATO air forces, as a rule, move on to systematic combat operations, solving particular tasks. One of them is the provision of constant fire impact on the enemy in order to disrupt command and control and demoralize the personnel. The conduct of the second and subsequent air operations is determined by the degree of achievement of the goals of the first air defense and was coordinated with the actions of land and sea groupings of troops.

The main method of using aviation and cruise missiles in defeating the enemy and gaining air superiority is the implementation of massive air and missile strikes (MARU) against airfields, centers and points of radar detection, guidance and control, and communications. For those wishing to explore the issue in more detail, I advise you to read here.

Everything according to the rules

And now about the actions of our VKS. During the first three days, we delivered massive strikes on the main and alternate airfields, on radar posts, on the control posts of the Air Force-Air Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on communication centers - and this fully fits into the strategy of the VNO outlined above.

In the first strike, our VKS destroyed the radar network, violating the unified radar field of Ukraine, thereby creating an information vacuum about the situation in the sky. These strikes decentralized the air defense system of Ukraine, deprived it of the ability to act as a single combat system and adequately respond to threats. At the same time, airfields were attacked. The runway, taxiing, weapons depots and fuel and lubricants were put out of action. Aircraft were destroyed in parking lots. Also, strikes were made on strategic stocks of fuel and lubricants, aviation weapons depots. There are at least four waves of such attacks. At the same time, massive strikes were carried out on the reconnoitered positions of the air defense system.

How can you evaluate the effectiveness of this stage? Our Aerospace Forces were able to disorganize the Ukrainian Air Force-Air Defense, destroy most of the radar and air defense command posts, disable most of the airfields and suppress up to 50% of Ukrainian air defense systems. The Air Force-Air Defense of Ukraine was unable to resist our actions as a whole, to carry out organized air defense of their military and industrial facilities, and from the third day they switched to single sorties of surviving combat aircraft and ambush operations of their air defense systems.

Until now, the actions of the Ukrainian Air Force have been episodic, without any significant impact on the course of hostilities.

Until mid-March, we were moving towards the conquest of complete air supremacy. There are three points associated with this term - more precisely, three states. The first is “air superiority”, in which the side that has achieved it has the initiative, suppresses the activity of the enemy and, as they say, dictates its own conditions. The enemy only "snarls" and defends himself, retaining certain opportunities to respond to blows and, in turn, also deliver episodic blows, at great risk to the forces involved in this.

The second is air supremacy in a certain area, when in a certain area where this or that operation is carried out, superiority is first created, and then air supremacy after the destruction of enemy aircraft operating here, the disabling of airfields and the suppression of ground air defense. Enemy air defense can retain separate systems, most often MANPADS, it is also possible to save air defense systems, but devoid of means of controlling the air situation, with the threat of immediate destruction when switched on to the active mode, they can no longer provide any effective counteraction to aviation. We achieved such air superiority over Mariupol by the end of April.

And there is the concept of complete air supremacy, when the enemy's air defense system is completely disorganized and destroyed at all its levels - from the Air Force to the object and military air defense. Separate systems such as MANPADS can be preserved, but this is no longer any factor influencing the course of hostilities.

An example of air supremacy is the two Iraqi wars, during which Iraq's backward air defense was completely suppressed and ceased to exist in an organized manner. In Afghanistan and Libya, air superiority was simply a factor - due to the enemy's complete lack of air defense systems. But already during the war in Yugoslavia (1999), the combined air forces were only able to achieve air superiority, but they never received air supremacy - until the last day of the war, the Yugoslav air defense retained strength and combat capabilities, snapped, which forced the Americans and their allies to work from altitudes of 6000 meters and above.

Ukrainian-American air defense

What is the situation in the NWO sky today? Let me remind you: after the first three days of the operation to actively destroy the air defense infrastructure, we destroyed most of the radar stations, disabled most of the military airfields, destroyed at least half of Ukrainian aviation on the ground and in the air, and defeated the main air defense command posts and the main combat control centers , guidance points, and other objects. Accordingly, the hunt for anti-aircraft missile systems began and was constantly conducted. In the first few days, most of the SAM was destroyed, at least definitely more than half.

At first, the Armed Forces of Ukraine still tried to cover their military, rear, industrial and political facilities and daily lost anti-aircraft missile systems, lost aircraft, because the predictable appearance of Ukrainian aircraft in the areas of the covered objects, the operation of their air defense systems in the conditions of our complete control of the air situation made them enough reachable targets. But two months later, the Armed Forces of Ukraine changed their tactics and moved to a qualitatively different level of confrontation. This was due to the fact that the NATO coalition led by the United States joined the military operation.

Instead of the destroyed radar stations, communication centers and command posts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, American means of airspace control took over their role.

- AWACS aircraft, which are on combat duty around the clock in the air along the border with Ukraine, heavy reconnaissance drones, reconnaissance satellites, radio interception tools with which the Americans opened our air defense system, the actions of our aviation, and these data, after processing, were transmitted in real time to command APU points.

In fact, Ukraine received from the Americans a stable and powerful air defense information system. It was enough for our plane to tear off the front pillar, as the American AWACS, American drones, American satellites were already transmitting information to the US command centers about the take-off of Russian aircraft, from where they immediately appeared at the Ukrainians via automated systems. Today, this unity of NATO information capabilities and Ukrainian command centers is the basis of the combat work of Ukrainian air defense.

I must say that Ukraine carefully prepared for the war. This training was facilitated by the fact that the Ukrainian air defense was armed with the same weapon systems and detection equipment as the Russian one, had the same combat work algorithms, the same tactics. The same military school of anti-aircraft warfare. Therefore, the Ukrainian command knew both the strengths and weaknesses of the Russian Aerospace Forces. They were supplemented by US military advisers who had been preparing for a confrontation with our Aerospace Forces for many years.

As part of the preparations for the war, the Armed Forces of Ukraine secretly transferred part of their aviation to the territory of other countries - to Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. In total, up to 100 aircraft and helicopters were deployed there, guaranteed to take them out from under the blows.

In addition, Ukraine conducted an audit of its vast fleet (more than 1,000 pieces) of obsolete and out-of-service aircraft that it has in storage. During November-February, the most maintainable aircraft were secretly transported to aircraft repair enterprises in Poland and Bulgaria, where local flight specialists began to repair and restore them with the help of Soviet aircraft repair kits available there, left over from the time of the Warsaw Pact. In total, up to 30 MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft and the same number of helicopters were restored in this way.

New tactics of Ukraine

The anti-aircraft missile systems of Ukraine, after heavy losses in the first weeks, switched to the ambush mode. Let me explain right away: ambush actions and guerrilla actions are completely different concepts. Guerrilla actions differ from ambush ones in that during guerrilla actions, air defense systems that are in ambush or simply disguised in positions do not have proactive information about the appearance of the enemy. And the enemy is detected either visually, when VNOS observers report about him, who simply observe the sky with the help of optics, or receive information from radio interception equipment and even agents that, say, some kind of aircraft is flying from point A to point B , and in this case, the air defense crews try to turn on and catch this target at the moment of approach, after which they immediately turn off and change their location. This is partisanship.

In Yugoslavia in 1999, at the last stage, when most of the radar stations were disabled, information about NATO overflights was received from air surveillance posts and agents, which also played the role of Russian military intelligence deployed there.

In Ukraine, the situation is qualitatively different. Here, the air defense systems operate in ambush mode. As I said, the entire American military machine is working for Ukraine, and above all, a very powerful airspace control system. That is, American air surveillance systems track the movements of our aircraft and UAVs, and as soon as these aircraft are over areas where certain Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile systems are on alert, they simply give them target designation: azimuth, altitude, speed, range to the target, and almost always the target type. And then they give the command to turn on at the moment when the target, that is, our aircraft, appears directly in the zone of reaching the air defense system. In the minimum time, the radar search is turned on, the target is detected and the missiles are launched, after which the calculation is immediately curtailed and leaves the area, from where it was launched. It is almost impossible to detect such air defense systems until they are turned on. At the same time, the positions of such "ambushes" are carefully camouflaged and protected by cover units. All this has sharply reduced the ability to detect Ukrainian air defense systems.

There are simply no Ukrainian air defense systems, especially serious ones (such as Buk or the same S-300), at a distance where our artillery can reach them. The Ukrainian command is not fools to be substituted under our artillery strikes. Since they have complete information about our movements in the air, it is not at all necessary for them to all be deployed in the Donbass, as someone wrote. On the contrary, they are dispersed throughout the territory of Ukraine and are located in places where they can intercept our attack aircraft over their strategic facilities. More precisely, on the approaches to them: in the area of ​​bridges, crossings, industrial facilities of the military-industrial complex and other strategically important objects, which, as they are sure, sooner or later Russia will try to hit. Directly above the battlefield, where our attack aircraft and our helicopters work,

The main reason for the protracted fight against Ukrainian air defense is that here we are fighting not against brigades and battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but against the Aerospace Forces of the most powerful military power - the United States,

which supports the Ukrainian Air Force-Air Defense with all the resources at its disposal, realizing how important their role is.

Fighting air defense is a complex task

So how do we deal with Ukrainian air defense? Someone wrote that this is the main task of the "special forces" of the GRU and the Airborne Forces - to identify and destroy such targets. Even sniper weapons were mentioned as an effective means of dealing with these dimensional and weakly protected targets.

Such tasks are really set before the special forces and the rifles are really capable of hitting such targets, disabling equipment and even causing the detonation of missiles. But you need to understand that in the conditions of the Ukrainian theater of operations (sparse, narrow forest belts, steppes, density of Ukrainian defense, often disloyal population) such deep (and Ukrainian air defense systems are definitely not located in the reach of our artillery) objects can easily become a one-way road for any the most prepared group. Therefore, a successful fight against air defense systems for special forces is from the section of random luck. Of course, there are also Hurricanes and Iskanders to combat enemy air defenses, but their use also requires accurate target designation.

The fight against Ukrainian, or rather, integrated Ukrainian-American air defense is a complex task that can only be solved by a whole range of tools:

air reconnaissance from electronic warfare aircraft and UAVs, satellite reconnaissance, undercover reconnaissance (including from local residents), multiplied for very painstaking analytical work. For example, by analyzing the statistics of Ukrainian missile launches, when we roughly know that, for example, two Buk-M1 or S-300s are operating in the Izyum region, and then we try to track them down and destroy them. And, of course, the highest professionalism of our pilots, missilemen, special forces and gunners.

The combat algorithm from detecting a Ukrainian air defense system to striking it should take a few minutes, and not turn into a multi-stage system for transmitting information across all levels of combat control. Here, the work of an automated control system integrated with means of reconnaissance and destruction of precision-guided munitions is necessary. Only by outstripping and anticipating the enemy, we will be able to defeat him. Chasing and simply reacting to his attacks means giving him the initiative.

And the last. Of course, this has already been written and said, I will only repeat. We have relatively compact Aerospace Forces, and our combat aircraft, which can be used as front-line aviation, are spread over a front of 1,500 km. Unfortunately, they simply cannot physically become today the decisive element in suppressing the enemy, which we would like. Now this role is unconditionally performed by our artillery and missile forces.

The fight against air defense is ongoing, but we must understand that we are dealing with an enemy who is aware of our tactics, because he fights with the same weapons, studied from the same textbooks, understands our vulnerabilities and our advantages. But most importantly, it relies on the huge information and technical support of our opponents in the face of the United States, Britain and others.

We are fighting Ukrainian air defense, we are hunting for air defense systems, aircraft, UAVs. This is a complex task, and in talking about it, we should not oversimplify and profane the challenges we face. CBO is a severe test, and we must find accurate answers to all questions. This is the only way we can defeat the enemy. And this is by no means a clown in Kyiv.

(c) V. Shurygin

https://m.vz.ru/opinions/2022/7/11/1166515.html - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7731705.html

Iranian drones for SVO
July 12, 10:11 am



Iranian drones for SVO

With regard to the US statements that the Russian Federation and Iran are negotiating the supply of "hundreds of drones" from Iran, several things should be taken into account

: the subject of identifying such deliveries, accompanying this sounding with various threats.

2. The problems with the shortage of drones for the needs of an extended theater are obvious and have been officially recognized by the Russian government (see the statement of Deputy Prime Minister Borisov).

3. Now the production of drones is being rapidly increased, production facilities are being transferred to a 3-shift mode of operation + they plan to open new assembly shops, for which specialists are being recruited.

4. Iran is one of the world leaders in the development of drones (in many ways, Iran's initial successes are built on the reverse engineering of American models) and has a long history of successfully using its drones during military campaigns in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Especially successful in Yemen, where even artisanal drones assembled by the Houthis from Iranian components achieved spectacular results.

5. From a subjective point of view, of great interest to the RF Armed Forces from the range of Iranian UAVs can be various kamikaze/loitering munitions UAVs, most of the models of which have a range of 100 km or more.

6. With bulk purchases of systems that can be launched from conventional containers (which can even be installed on ordinary pickups and trucks - for example, there is a version with six containers with salvo launch of loitering ammunition), it will take some time to train the calculations.

7. In addition to kamikaze drones, Iran also has a large collection of various reconnaissance and strike drones, some of which are in fact distant relatives of American drones, which at one time fell into the hands of the Iranian military.

8. It is important to remember that after the lifting of the arms embargo imposed by the UN against Iran, there are no formal obstacles to arms trade between Iran and the Russian Federation. Relations between the Russian Federation and Iran are improving, Iran will join the SCO in the coming months, relations between Iran and the United States are traditionally at the bottom.

In general, if such negotiations are really underway, then a significant number of Iranian-made drones can help a lot in the course of a further campaign in Ukraine - for example, to work on enemy artillery and missile systems, which in the current realities are within the working radius of Iranian UAVs.

In general, we will see whether such deliveries will be carried out or everything will remain at the level of talk. From my point of view, if such an opportunity exists in practical terms and allows you to close problematic moments here and now, until the production of drones is increased many times in the country, then you should take it.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/56850 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7731215.html

Google Translator

[blindpig]

THE WAR * GERMANY * THE LEFT: BERLIN BULLETIN NO. 203; July 11, 2022
By Victor Grossman (Posted Jul 12, 2022)

In 1307 in Switzerland, so goes the legend, the Habsburg rulers’ local bailiff, Gessler, stuck his hat on a pole and commanded every passerby to salute it. Wilhelm Tell refused. As fearsome punishment he had to shoot an apple from his own little boy’s head with his crossbow. His aim was sure, the boy was safe. But “Gessler’s hat” still means forced obeisance to some symbol. Or else!

In current media, every mention of the war in Ukraine must start with a denunciation ofthat monster Putin. Or else! What epithet is more witheringthan “Putin-lover”!

I, too, am not a Putin-lover. And I have a great hatred of war, especially war rained from the skies or aimed from a distance. Waging war, against civilians, even against younguniformed “adversaries,” is inherently wrong. But I will not bow my head to this modern “Gessler’s hat”, no matter what epithets I may be pelted with (crossbows are rarely available). Actually, for my last Berlin Bulletin, while some readers accused me of being too “pro-Putin” others said I was too “anti-Putin”!

Despite my horror at the death, destruction and misery I see daily on TV, my entire background demands a careful analysis of a conflagration which may yet fling flames across more borders and can all too easily kindle atomic annihilation. Why did Russia send an army into Ukraine? Was it pure imperialism? A terrible miscalculation? Did Putin see it as a dire necessity? Or was it a baited trap?
To start with, I cannot forget, deny or ignore what I have seen happen since 1945; how the Pentagon, White House, Congress and those behind them sought the defeat of one pro-socialist effort after another. They failed in Cuba and Vietnam, they succeeded in Ghana, Grenada, Chile – and, most important, in Europe! By utilizing every weakness, blunder, even offense, and exerting every form of pressure, Poland was won by a team led by Ronald Reagan, “Polish Pope” John Paul II, the CIA and a few experts in the AFL-CIO. In 1989-90 it was the GDR’s turn, with help from US Ambassador to Bonn Vernon Walters, a former CIA Deputy Director who had played a major role in Poland. In 1991 came the glorious victory over the USSR, where Yeltsin, an alcoholic marionette, opened the gates to ten years of chaos, desolation and sell-out to new Russian oligarchs and not so new US corporations.

That’s when Putin stepped in, just in time to save Russia from total collapse, using his own set of oligarchs, crossing himself piously as he knelt in church but keeping a tight state hold on banks and basic resources. This was not at all what American businessmen and politicians wanted.So the US-led military pact NATO, breaking its promise of 1990 not to move an inch eastwards, advanced, one regime-changed ally after the other, towards complete encirclement of Russia: in 1999 Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, in 2004 Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; then the hinterland in fragmented, bombed ex-Yugoslavia: Slovenia,Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia. Only a few more were needed to close a tight ring around Russia. Afghanistan did not pan out, nor did Georgia (though attempts are vigorously continuing). But most important was Ukraine, which could block Russia from the Black Sea and reached to within 400 miles of Moscow.

The elected president of that huge gem, unwilling to become part of the encircling noose, sought a more neutral position. “Not enough!” said NATO and sent in Nuland. Victoria Nuland, deputy in Hillary Clinton’s State Department (and wife of a top cold war strategist), went to Kyiv, dealt out at least $5 billion and even tasty cookies to a largely right-wing, anti-Russian crowd, and maybe a few to the mysterious snipers who forced the president to flee for his life. In a famous hacked phone call she personally chose the next Ukrainian ruler, banker-politician Yatzenyuk, a man supported by the “Freedom Party” of Oleh Tyahnybok, who had denounced a “Jewish-Russian Mafia” and praised Ukraine’s new hero Stepan Bandera, who led in murdering thousands of Jews and Poles in 1941.

One of the new rulers’ first measures discriminated against the many Russian-speakers, limiting the use of all but Ukrainian, making them second-class citizens and in Crimea angry enough to vote, with a big majority, to break with Ukraine and rejoin with Russia (to which they had belonged until 1954) and in eastern Donbas to form two separate republics, much as Albanian-speaking people in Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 2008. In such decisions national pride, or self-defense – superseded complex international rules. Military operations against Donbas were soon launched, using the fascistic “Azov” militia units.

With Ukraine now a new segment in the ring around Russia, USA-NATO built up its strength there, first with “non-lethal” arms and trainers, letting allies like Lithuania pass on bigger stuff. Then came a series of military maneuvers. Defender-Europe 20 was hindered by Covid-19 but, in 2021, Sea Breeze was conducted in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea with more than 30 warships and 40 planes from 32 countries not far from the Russians’ southern naval base of Sevastopol.

Then it was Operation Cossack Mace, this time to “improve compatibility between British and Ukrainian military formations, strengthen mutual relations, joint planning and perform battalion and tactical operations.” Two British-built naval bases were planned near the short Russian coast.
In September 2021 it was Rapid Trident 21. -“To increase combat readiness, defense capabilities and interoperability, the exercise features joint jumps of Ukrainian and U.S. paratroopers and, for the first time, service members will conduct battalion tactical exercises of a multinational battalion with combat shooting in a single combat order … The purpose is to prepare for joint actions as part of a multinational force during coalition operations.” Joining the USA and Ukraine were Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, Moldova, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Turkey and the UK.

Such activities were allegedly for peace, defending Ukraine against “authoritarianism.” But Russia viewed the threat of cutting it off in the Baltic and Black Sea, plus 700 or 800 big or small USA bases on six continents, in a very different way. Washington was a safe 7800 miles away; St. Petersburg and Moscow were under the noses of those missile launchers, warplanes and warships, and the USA alone had a 13-1 preponderance over Russia in military spending. Bipartisan American politicians were outdoing themselves in reviling Russia, nor could the Maidan events with Victoria Nuland be forgotten.

As for Putin, like him or hate him, it is hardly surprising that he was alarmed, perhaps even for personal reasons in view of the fates of other leaders disliked by Washington: Allende, dead in his bombed residence, Lumumba, tortured and murdered, Saddam Hussein, hanged, Muammar Gaddafi, fatally sodomized, the Afghani Najibullah, castrated and stringed up, Usama Bin Ladin, shot in his rooms and dumped into the ocean, Slobodan Milošević, mysteriously dying in a prison cell. (Fidel Castro was luckier, surviving over a hundred bungled CIA assassination attempts.)
In a 14-page historical summary, Putin wrote,

“We respect the Ukrainian language and traditions. We respect Ukrainians’ desire to see their country free, safe and prosperous.” … “Russia is open to dialogue with Ukraine and ready to discuss the most complex issues. But it is important for us to understand that our Ukrainian partner defend its national interests not by serving someone else’s, that it not be a tool in someone else’s hands to fight against us.”

That was in July 2021. How sincere were such words? What did they mean in February 2022? Daring to ignore the “Gessler hat,” I think basic Russian policy must be seen not as expansionist but as defensive. In 2015 Russia agreed to the Minsk II agreement to avoid further warfare in Donbas and resolve the conflict with negotiations and compromises. Kyiv ignored, indeed undermined Minsk II; Germany and France, its co-sponsors, abandoned it. Foreign Minister Lavrov made proposals to discuss a neutral Ukraine. At first Zelensky seemed interested – until pressure from Washington and London to “stay tough” prevailed; Lavrov’s further requests to negotiate differences, above all to remove NATO troops and maneuvers from Russian borders, were rejected in December 2021 by Secretary of State Blinken, as “very obvious nonstarters”. Was that rejection Putin’s “red line”? Who knows? I only wish they had been “starters” instead – for the White House and Pentagon. That could have saved the Ukrainians immense suffering and exile – although it might have meant fewer billions for Northrup-Grumman or Raytheon.

And on February 24? Did Putin perhaps march into an elaborate trap – as Russia had once done in Afghanistan? Did he consider a big impending Ukrainian offensive against the Donbas republics and their Russian-speaking population, where 14,000 had died in ten years of battle, as an immediate danger to Russia? Did the many US-Ukrainian biological laboratories – admitted to by Victoria Nuland in a US Senate committee hearing – seem an immediate threat? I cannot know.

One commentator, turning to history, recalled the surprise attack on the USSR by the Nazi armies in 1941, resulting in up to 27 million deaths and vast destruction. He surmised that Putin, seeing a growing, hostile Ukrainian army, with NATO (or the USA leaders) guiding it from the wings, decided that a first attack was necessary to prevent any repetition of 1941.

Putin defendedthe invasionof Ukraine with the following words:

Today we are told that we started a war in Donbas, in Ukraine. No, it was unleashed by this same collective West which organized and supported the unconstitutional armed coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, then encouraged and justified genocide against the people of Donbas …

The West is fighting Russia with all the tools that are also used in a war: weapons, sanctions, money, media, diplomacy. The only thing that slows the West down from intervening with its own soldiers is the danger of nuclear war.

Ukraine is only the unfortunate sacrificial pawn of the West, which had been prepared for this role since 2014 and with which the West has provoked Russia (with the Maidan coup in 2014, arms deliveries, construction of NATO bases, etc.) until Russia saw no choice but to take military action to protect its own security interests. At the beginning of February 2022, the West rejected the security guarantees proposed by Russia in December 2021 and even refused to talk about them.

That is Putin’s position. True or not,and for whatever reason, invasion was a tragic choice! Aside from the misery in Ukraine it has led to a dangerously explosive polarization, painfully splitting the world’s weak left-wing forces for peace and progress.
And in Germany? For years the unified country was torn between two forces. Some economic groups, like gas importers and exporters of manufactured and agricultural goods, wanted to get along with Russia (and even more with China), a policy symbolized by Angela Merkel and the Baltic pipelines. This was angrily opposed by men along the Potomac, in Charles Koch’s Wichita HQ and similar locations, who wanted both to export fracked gas and to head off even limited German-Russian reconciliation. They were aiming at the eventual defeat of Russia, then China, as major barriers to their plans for world hegemony, prudently labeled “the rule of order,” democracy, liberty (and free markets!) as against “authoritarianism.”
Closely beholden to them was that force in Germany, the Atlanticists, whether because of ideology, intertwining corporate and financial interests, or perhaps even personal career hopes. After February 24th, inside and outside the governing coalition, the Atlanticists won full victory, filling the media with angry denunciation of everything Russian, working to permanently break off all commercial ties with Moscow, starting with the Baltic oil pipelines, even though this may well cause industrial shutdown s and maybe very chilly room temperatures. Christian Democrats, Free Democrats, and first and foremost the Green party joined the attack, with the young Green foreign minister Annalena Baerbock demanding that as many and as heavy weapons possible to be sent to Kyiv, with her cherished goal the “ruin of Russia”.
The Social Democrats were not so clear, with Chancellor Scholz hesitant about sending heavy weapons to Kyiv and getting deeply involved in what could become an open war, NATO vs. Russia. But media attacks grew fiercer, and Scholz bowed to that “Gessler hat,” siding with NATO and Washington, stationing more German troops in Lithuania and demanding an unprecedented sum of €100 billion for more armaments to “protect German security”.
The competition in denouncing Russia grew strong enough to revive half-forgotten tones from the 1930s, like when Lars Klingbeil, a leading Social Democrat, claimed that “Germany’s allies have great expectations and Germany must fulfil them… It is time for it to exit the end-of-history mode and become a leading power on the world stage after almost 80 years of holding back.”
Frightening words! Even more frightening were those of top air corps General Ingo Gerhartz: “For a credible deterrent, we need both the means and the political will, if necessary, to implement nuclear deterrence.” The “old guard” in the established parties were beginning to summon up past glories!
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is all out for those past glories but, like some other far-righters in Europe, did not join the verbal attacks on Russia and opposed armaments for Ukraine! Their main mission in nearly all matters is opposition – above all to the European Union. But as dyed-in-the-wool nationalists, they also support a big German military build-up, a renewed draft and/or compulsory civil service for young men (as also recommended by President Steinmeier!).
The Left – Die Linke – has always stood out as the one party of peace, opposing deployment in Serbia, Afghanistan, Mali or anywhere outside German borders. Now it was split, with the main bone of contention the Ukraine war. Actually, disagreement on related issues was by no means new, though rarely so emotional as at the party congress session in late June.
It was a disastrous year for The Linke. In the September elections the party received only 4.9%, down from 6.9% four years earlier. Its caucus in the Bundestagwas only just saved by a special rule; if three or more delegates were elected directly in their districts the caucus was saved, even without 5%. Exactly three scraped through, but proportional representation now gave it 39 deputies, not its previous 69; no longer the strongest opposition party, it had become the weakest. The urgent party reassessment and changes called for by this disaster failed to materialize and the party lost bitterly in three state elections: Saarland – from 12.8% to 2.6%, Schleswig-Holstein, 3.8 to 1.7% and in the key industrial North Rhine-Westfalia from 4.9 to 2.7%! Few workers voted Left. Some prominent members quit. The magazine Der Spiegel falsified a sex-related event (some obscure member’s alleged assault) into a malicious “Me-too” attack on the more militant co-chair Janine Wissler for allegedly covering it up. Her “reformist” co-chair,Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, quit her leadership position in a huff, and with new leadership elections now necessary, the party faced total defeat, perhaps a split and even its demise!
In the main dispute the so-called reformers weakened the party’s basic opposition to NATO in hopes of being accepted in a government coalition with the pro-NATO Greens and Social Democrats. Such dubious hopes were rendered fully impossible by the Left’s poor election results. But the reformers still tended to play down or absolve the NATO’s current role, giving Russia and Putin the entire blame for the Ukrainian tragedy while the militant wing of the party viewed the NATO, especially the USA, as provocateurs, whose expansionist policy of deploying armaments and maneuvers along Russian borders was clearly looking for trouble – and, sadly, getting it. The quarrel reflected a deeper rift – between those who called for improvements in child care, pensions, minimum wages but saw socialism only as a future goal in vague clichés while basically accepting a systemic status quo in which they strove to become accepted, despite the growing menace of the billionaires. The militants, while not calling for revolution tomorrow (like some ultra-leftists), nevertheless saw a rejection of the capitalist system as vital – and basic opposition a necessity. The one group accepted NATO, the other opposed it. Their differences colored often hot but very brief Congress debates, which were dominated by the reformers, who won out in the end with about a 60-30 ratio – and managed to slip some very ardent pro-NATO advocates into leading positions. Janine Wissner was re-elected as co-chair (thus rejecting the malicious media smear). For co-chair, the usual male-female, East-West, leftish-reformist balance formula was maintained, and the militant, popular Sören Pellmann from Leipzig, one of the three delegates to save the Left caucus by winning a seat in his district, lost out to the rather moderate Martin Schirdewan, till then a delegate in the European Parliament, who promised to put far more stress on working-class struggles while opposing armament sales to Ukraine and organizing for peace. He seemed to seek Left reconciliation – and, at last, action.
Some on the left deplored the Congress results. Others were glad there had been no split, some political positions had been rescued, a threatened stress on “gender issues,” even in grammar and punctuation, had been averted and a shaky compromise arrived at. It remain to be seen whether The Left can regain roots among working people for the many hardships and big menaces now looming. And much may yet depend on its position regarding Gessler’s hat. A side note: In the famous play by Friedrich Schiller, the events involved led to the Swiss rebellion against Habsburg tyranny.

https://mronline.org/2022/07/12/the-war ... y-11-2022/

*****************

Perpetual War: Western Arms and Money Delivered to Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 11, 2022
Observateur Continental


Western countries have provided Kiev with more than $10 billion in military aid since February 24, 2022, when the Russian special military operation in Ukraine began. Which weapons and which countries have provided or promised to provide Kiev?

The United States leads in terms of aid to Ukraine: according to the White House, since February 24, Washington has allocated to Kiev 6.1 billion dollars in aid (in thirteen tranches).

Among the weapons delivered: HIMARS wheeled multiple rocket launchers (5), M777 howitzers (108), Humvee multipurpose vehicles (100), M113 armoured personnel carriers (200), Stinger portable surface-to-air missiles (800), grenade launchers (100), Javelin anti-tank missiles (2,000), Mi-17 helicopters (3), and drones, in particular Switchblade kamikaze drones (821) At the end of June, the United States announced the delivery to Ukraine of the modern short- and medium-range anti-aircraft system NASAMS.

In addition, on May 9, U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation on the delivery of weapons to Ukraine under a lend-lease arrangement. Thus, during the fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (begin October 1 in the United States), Washington will be able to “temporarily make military equipment available to the Ukrainian government or to governments in Eastern Europe.”

The UK has delivered Mastiff armoured vehicles (120), Brimstone-1 air-to-ground guided missiles (200), NLAW anti-tank systems (3,965), ammunition for M777 howitzers (20,000). In April, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the delivery of $130 million worth of weapons, including Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 additional NLAWs. And in June, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed the supply of M270 MLRS multiple rocket launchers to Kiev. In total, London has provided Ukraine with $2.8 billion in aid.

Germany has delivered infantry fighting vehicles (14), Strela anti-aircraft systems (2,700), Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank rocket launchers (900), Stinger anti-aircraft missiles (500), anti-tank mines (15,000), infantry weapon ammunition (16 million), MG3 machine guns (100), hand grenades (100,000), helmets (23,000) and 178 different vehicles to Ukraine. In June, the German government published the upcoming supply plan, which includes 30 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, the Iris-T anti-aircraft system, three Mars multiple rocket launchers, 22 trucks and 80 pickups. In all, Berlin has given Kiev 1.39 billion euros in aid.

Spain has supplied Uro Vamtac armored vehicles (20), anti-tank rocket launchers (1,370), rifle and machine gun cartridges (700,000), light machine guns, medicines, helmets and drugs.

In March, France began delivering Caesar self-propelled guns (19 promised) and Milan anti-tank missiles (nearly 40) to Ukraine. At the end of June, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastian Lecornu announced additional aid. The new deliveries will include a number of VAB armoured vehicles, Caesar guns and Exocet anti-ship missiles.

In Italy, Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said that Rome has sent Kiev anti-tank weapons, very short-range anti-aircraft systems, mortars, ammunition, transmission systems, personal protection equipment.

Greece sent Kiev Czech RM-70 LRMs (122), RPG-18 anti-tank rocket launchers (815), Soviet BMP-1s (122), American FIM-92 Stinger missiles (60), 73-mm projectiles (15,000), AK-47 automatic rifles (20,000), 7.62-mm cartridges (3.2 million), 155-mm artillery shells (17,000), anti-tank grenades (1,100).

Since February 24, Belgium has given Ukraine 76 million euros in military aid, including: anti-tank weapons (200), FNC assault rifles (5,000), fuel (3,800 tons). In addition, the Belgian government has decided to deliver anti-tank missiles and M109 howitzers.

Poland handed over to Ukraine 60 mm LMP-2017 mortars (100) and 1,500 rounds of ammunition, AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers (18), T-72 tanks (240), UAVs (8), a number of 152 mm cumulative rounds of ammunition and helmets. In addition, Warsaw says it is ready to supply Ukraine with FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles and FB MSBS Grot automatic rifles. In total, Poland has given Ukraine 1.7 billion euros in aid.

Canada provided Kiev with M777 howitzers (4), M72 (4,500) and Carl Gustaf M2 (100) anti-tank rocket launchers, Roshel Senator armored vehicles (8), hand grenades (7,500). Ottawa also promised to send Ukraine LAV III Kodiak armored vehicles. In addition, Canada has allocated $790,000 to Kiev to purchase high-precision satellite imagery with the promise of six drone cameras.

The Czech Republic delivered to Ukraine DANA howitzers (20), RM-70 LRMs (20), BVP-1 armored vehicles (5), rocket launchers (160), Mi-24 helicopters (160), T-70 tanks (40). Three days after the start of the special operation, the Czech Ministry of Defense sent Ukraine military aid (automatic rifles, pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles and ammunition) worth about $8.6 million.

Estonia delivered 122mm D-30 howitzers, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Mamba Mk2 EE armored vehicles (7), a Role 2 field hospital and other aid totaling 230 million euros.

Norway provided M109 howitzers (22), M72 anti-tank rocket launchers (4,000), Mistral anti-aircraft missiles (100).

Latvia provided Ukraine with Stinger surface-to-air missiles and helicopters. In addition, on February 28, the Latvian parliament allowed the country’s citizens to fight as volunteers on the Ukrainian side after registering at the Latvian Armed Forces Reservists Office.

Denmark has delivered M10 mortars, M113 armored vehicles (50), Harpoon anti-ship missiles, M72 anti-tank rocket launchers (2,700), Stinger surface-to-air missiles (300), Skywatch automated drones (25), TYR body armor (2,000), IFAK first aid kits (700). In April, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced a new military aid package worth $90 million. Denmark promised to send the Ukrainian army nearly 50 modernized M113 G3 DK armored vehicles, 120mm mortar rounds and anti-tank weapons, Danmarks Radio reported. Olfi magazine reported that Copenhagen intends to deliver 25 Piranha III armored vehicles, M10 mortars with several thousand projectiles to Kiev. In May, Denmark announced the delivery of Harpoon anti-ship missiles with ammunition.

Australia supplied Ukraine with M777 howitzers (6), Bushmaster armored vehicles (20) and M113 (14).

Sweden sent the Ukrainian army AT4 anti-tank rocket launchers (10,000), helmets (5,000), combat rations (135,000) and body armour (5,000). In June, Swedish diplomatic chief Ann Linde announced that the kingdom had prepared a fourth aid package for Ukraine. It will include anti-ship missiles, anti-tank weapons, 12.7 mm rifles and ammunition, for a total of 95 million euros. It later emerged that Sweden planned to send Ukraine an additional $49 million in military aid, including anti-tank weapons, support and demining equipment, the Associated Press reported.

Portugal delivered M114 155mm howitzers (5), M113 armored vehicles (15), G3 automatic rifles, grenades and ammunition.

The Netherlands sent the Ukrainian army armored vehicles (supposedly YPR-765), Stinger surface-to-air missiles (200), helmets (3,000) and flak jackets (2,000), sniper rifles (100) with 30,000 rounds of ammunition and rocket launchers (400) for a total of 102 million euros.

Slovakia supplied S-300 anti-aircraft systems. In April, the Slovakian magazine Pravda announced that Slovakia was preparing to deliver some 20 DANA artillery guns (Zuzana version) to Ukraine, and in June Bratislava handed over four Mi-17 and one Mi-2 helicopters as well as LRM ammunition to Kiev, reports Deutsche Welle.

Slovenia delivered T-72 tanks (the German agency DPA said 54 tanks), AK-47s and helmets.

Finland delivered automatic rifles (2,500) with 150,000 rounds of ammunition, anti-tank rifles (1,500) and combat rations. It was reported in February that the Finnish government had approved the delivery of 2,000 bulletproof vests, 2,000 composite helmets, 100 stretchers and equipment for two emergency medical aid stations to Ukraine.

Turkey has set up joint production with Ukraine of Bayraktar TB2 combat drones.

Luxembourg has provided anti-tank equipment (100), Jeep Wrangler vehicles, military tents (15). According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 15% of Luxembourg’s military budget has been allocated to support the Ukrainian army.

Croatia said in February that it would send 16.5 million euros worth of infantry weapons and protective equipment to Kiev.

Northern Macedonia has also provided assistance to Ukraine, without specifying what that assistance is. Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Ireland have delivered fuel, body armor, helmets and medicine to the Ukrainian army, while Hungary and Malta have only sent medicine. in February that it would send 16.5 million euros worth of infantry weapons and protective equipment to Kiev.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... o-ukraine/

Ukraine: A Global Hotbed for Mercenaries and Terrorists
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 11, 2022
Drago Bosnic


ISIS members transferred from Syria to Ukraine | The Cradle

Western mercenaries are often considered the mainstay of all foreign personnel fighting for the Kiev regime. However, although they’re the ones with the most media exposure, the truth is, there are mercenaries from all around the world fighting for the regime. And although international law outlaws mercenaries, the ones fighting in Ukraine aren’t just “regular soldiers of fortune”, but also international terrorists previously operating in the Middle East and Africa. Even before Russia intervened, information on Islamic terrorists fighting for the Kiev regime was already common knowledge.

Already in late February, Syrian intelligence services intercepted information that the Turks were recruiting troops among the terrorist formations under their control to go fight in Ukraine. According to the information made public at the time, Turks formed and armed at least seven groups of about 100 terrorists in each, which included members of terrorist groups such as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya and the Islamic Party of Turkestan.

A few weeks later, Iraqi Shia group “Ashab al-Kahf” reported that “military advisors” from the countries of the “anti-ISIS” coalition, namely Lithuania, Italy, Germany and the UK, arrived in Iraq to recruit mercenaries for the Kiev regime forces. Two US bases, Ain el-Assad (Iraq) and Al-Tanf (Syria), were used as headquarters for this operation. Residents from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Turkey, Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, etc. were given a chance to fight “for democracy”, with priority given to specialists in large-scale urban combat.

On March 8, the Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad announced the threat of “flooding Ukraine with mercenaries and turning it into a big European Idlib.” In early July, he announced the transfer of ISIS terrorists from Idlib to Ukraine, an operation carried out jointly by Turkey, the US and its client states. Earlier, in May, Sergey Ivanov, head of the Press Bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, spoke about the transfer of ISIS soldiers to Ukraine by the Americans. In mid-April, Spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, stated that at that time and since the beginning of Russia’s intervention, at least 200 Turkish-backed terrorists had arrived in Ukraine. This issue further ruined the already murky reputation of the Kiev regime, as its units were now composed of both Neo-Nazi and Islamic terrorist troops.

It’s pretty clear why the Kiev regime is trying to recruit anyone at this point. Simply put, the motivation of regular Ukrainians to fight for the regime is dwindling, as their forces are suffering heavy casualties, reaching the scale of 10:1, and not in their favor. This is almost perfectly consistent with the scale of artillery supremacy of the Russian forces, which is also 10:1. Just how desperate the Kiev regime is to recruit troops for the “Donbass meat grinder” can be seen in the fact that Ukrainian men are now openly being abducted and pushed to the frontlines. Recently, in Transcarpathia, Ukraine’s westernmost region, police were seen going to recreation centers, including public pools, trying to drag men out of the water and send them to military units.

And this doesn’t only apply to Ukrainian citizens, but also to foreigners residing in Ukraine, including college students. At the start of Russia’s special military operation, when foreigners were being evacuated, including African ex-pat students, some were denied access to trains and buses, while others were told they would be conscripted to the Kiev regime forces. An ABC News journalist interviewed a Congolese national who managed to escape this fate and who said: “We were told: ‘We will give you weapons, and you will fight for Ukraine!’ I say: ‘Eh? Will we fight for Ukraine? We are not Ukrainians. We are black. How can we fight for Ukraine?!'”

On the other hand, there were also mercenaries from some African countries, such as Nigeria, who stated they wanted to fight for the Kiev regime. The regime promised to pay for “their services” and additional funds were sent to the Ukrainian embassy in Nigeria. However, in addition to evidence of military experience, Ukrainian diplomats demanded mercenaries pay $1000 for a visa and a flight ticket, promising a monthly salary of $3,300 dollars, although they previously promised twice as much. At the same time, this is also considered a way for many to use the conflict as an excuse to reach Europe.

What is certainly clear from all this chaos is that the political West seeks to dispose of terrorists and also use them against Russian forces in this war to the last Ukrainian. In addition, Washington DC and London are profiting from all this in the long-term, as mainland Europe is bearing the brunt of the costs and consequences of their proxy war against Russia. Many of the mercenaries and terrorists fighting for the Kiev regime will certainly end up being Europe’s problem, provided they survive the conflict. As already noted, the Kiev regime, for its part, will accept anyone willing to fight in its suicidal confrontation with Russia.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... errorists/

How the Russian-Speaking Donbass First Attempted to Win Independence from Ukraine in 2004
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 11, 2022
Alexander Nepogodin


The foundations for the current Ukraine conflict were laid almost two decades ago

In late June, after fierce fighting, the last remaining units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces pulled out of Severodonetsk, a large industrial center in the western part of the Lugansk People’s Republic.

Back in 2004, the city hosted the famous congress of the ‘federalists’, Ukrainian politicians – elected at different levels – who backed the presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych during the Western-backed Orange Revolution. Back then, they declared then that the Kiev protests were an attempted coup and warned that an illegitimate government coming to power could prompt the congress to establish south-eastern autonomy to protect local residents.

At the same time, regional deputies decided to hold a referendum on changing the country into a federal state and appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for support. In this article, RT recounts the first attempt of Ukraine’s southeastern regions to gain independence from Kiev and explains why the events of 2004 defined the future armed conflict in Donbass.

Just a step away from federation

Political discussions about a possible disintegration and reconfiguration of Ukraine have been going on ever since the country became independent in 1991. Ironically, one of the first people to doubt the country’s unity was Vyacheslav Chornovol, the founder of the national democratic party Narodny Rukh (People’s Movement) and a hero for Ukrainian nationalists. Admittedly, he only mentioned the possibility of turning Ukraine into a federation. The idea of federalization was the focal point of discussions that – until the Maidan political crisis of 2014 – were commonly referred to as “separatist” discourse.

As early as 1989, Chornovol said that Ukraine should be a “union of lands.” “I imagine future Ukraine as a federal state, a union of lands, which have come together throughout the course of history and whose natural, climatic, cultural, ethnographic, and linguistic differences, as well as idiosyncrasies in their economies, habits, and customs define the unique diversity of a single people. I envision the People’s Republic of Ukraine, which includes such lands as the Kiev Region, Podolye, Volhynia, Galichina, Bukovina, Transcarpathia, Getmanshchina, Sloboda Ukraine, Zaporozhye, the Donetsk region, and Tauria, whereas Crimea could be an independent neighbor or an autonomous republic in alliance with Ukraine,” he wrote.

Chornovol added that Ukrainian should be the only state language in the new federation, although local authorities could make certain provinces bilingual.

Two years later, in 1991, Chornovol initiated the convention of the so-called Galicia Assembly, which spoke in favor of administrative reform and the creation of a new autonomous regional entity, Galichina, based on the amalgamation of the Lviv, Ternopol, and Ivano-Frankovsk Regions. Even though the assembly was one of the catalysts of Ukraine’s independence, Chornovol’s supporters were accused of separatism after Leonid Kravchuk was elected president. This was in large part due to ideas to create a Donetsk Republic and Novorossiya in the Russian-speaking southeast of Ukraine, which began circulating in the 1990s. Over time, Chornovol’s proposals came to be viewed as too radical, and opponents of federalization have been linking his designs with the breakup of the country for more than 30 years now.

When the Ukrainian constitution was adopted in 1996, it defined Ukraine as a unitary state, which removed the issue of federalization from the agenda. And yet, apart from the 24 regions and two federal-level cities (Kiev and Sevastopol), Ukraine also included the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which, for a few years, even had its own constitution and president. Throughout those years, Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma managed to strike the right balance in their foreign and domestic policies, especially as regards to handling relations between regions on both sides of the “Subtelny line,” which is traditionally used to divide Ukraine into two distinct parts.


FILE PHOTO. Some 3,500 local officials from 17 of Ukraine’s 27 regions meet in Severodonetsk, an eastern Ukrainian town 28 November, 2004. © AFP / PHOTO MIG

However, in 2004, when the outcome of the protests was still uncertain, politicians who supported Yanukovych (dubbed “pro-Russian” in the West, despite his years of negotiations with the EU) revived the idea of federalization. Members of the Party of Regions claimed that Ukraine had failed as a unitary state and therefore had to be reorganized as a federation with a high degree of autonomy at the level of administrative and territorial entities. Ukraine was going through a real crisis, and, probably for the first time, that schism was pushing the country to the brink of an all-out civilian conflict.

“Not going to let Galichina tell us how to live our lives”

The mass protests in Kiev, which would later be known as the Orange Revolution, were met with little enthusiasm in the southeast of Ukraine, especially in Donbass. While protesters at the Maidan claimed their ‘pro-European’ candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, had his victory “stolen from him,” many supporters of Yanukovych felt the same watching their opponents clamor for official election results, which had declared the latter victorious, to be repealed. A response to the protests in the capital was imminent.

On November 28, the All-Ukrainian Congress of Deputies of All Levels welcomed more than 3,500 pro-Yanukovych delegates from across the country. They declared that the protests were an attempted coup and warned that an illegitimate Yushchenko-led government taking over Kiev could prompt the congress to establish autonomy to protect the residents of southeastern Ukraine.

The final statement of the congress, which had been unanimously adopted by its delegates, said: “If the sociopolitical situation in the country develops according to the worst crisis scenario, we will stand firm and united to defend the vote of the people of Ukraine going as far as holding a referendum on possible changes to the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine.” The significance of the gathering was further elevated by the presence of Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who delivered a sharp rebuke to Ukraine’s radical opposition. “On the one hand, we’re seeing this orange-fueled mayhem [orange became the symbol of support for Yushchenko – RT], which claims to represent the majority in Ukraine. On the other hand, we have this quiet force gathered in this room today,” Luzhkov said to a round of applause.

At the same time, the Regional Council of Lugansk came up with an alternative project, proposing the establishment of the South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic with Kharkov as its capital city. Along with the initiative, local MPs also asked President Putin to help them organize a referendum on Ukraine’s federalization. The referendum was scheduled for December 5, 2004. At the same time, the Regional Council of Donetsk decided to establish its own police force.

Leaders of Ukraine’s southeastern regions began to voice their support for the idea of reorganizing the country. Kharkov’s authorities decided to set up committees that would have executive state powers. Governor Yevgeny Kushnarev was elected head of the regional executive committee – he was well known as a pro-Russian politician and supporter of federalization, as well as a presidential hopeful according to many journalists and activists. His responsibilities at the time included coordination between other councils in the southeastern territories. The Kharkov Region also stopped making payments to the national budget, waiting for the situation in Kiev to stabilize.

It was Kushnarev who put into words the idea that later defined the development of the Donbass armed conflict. Speaking at the Severodonetsk conference, he said, “I’d like to remind you that we are 400 kilometers away from Kiev and 40 kilometers away from Russia. We understand that the east is very different from Galicia in the west. We are not imposing our way of life on Galicia, but we will never let Galicia lecture us either.” Together with Boris Kolesnikov, head of the Regional Council of Donetsk, he proposed organizing a referendum in every city to see if people trusted the government and asked what they thought of ‘relaunching’ Ukraine as a federal republic.

All of this political activity in the country’s southeast caused some serious concerns in the West, where governments started to see that the dissolution of the state was quite possible. The diplomatic channels were activated. EU and Russian representatives began making frequent visits in order to work out some compromises. At the end of the day, they didn’t include a referendum, but a process was agreed on to transfer power to Yushchenko. The compromise worked like this: Yushchenko got the green light at the election, and his win in the runoff was accepted by the opponents. In return, he agreed to change the constitution and have presidential privileges reduced as of January 1, 2005, thus turning Ukraine into a parliamentary republic. The local governments in the South-East wrapped up their plans.

One Step Closer to the Abyss

As time went on, everyone felt comfortable forgetting about the convention of ‘federalists’ in Severodonetsk and the programs announced by the local governments in the South-East. They were only recalled when attempts were made to blackmail or jail the local big wigs. One shouldn’t underestimate the significance of those events, however. It was the very first time the South-East made it clear what its response was to “patriots” in Kiev trying to seize power and disregard the opinion of half the country’s population while they were at it. Back then, there were no consequences because the parties to the conflict worked out a solution based on compromise, while Russia abstained from backing and pushing Yanukovych.

A little later, however, the members of the Severodonetsk rally came under severe pressure. A criminal charge was launched against Evgeny Kushnarev – a famous member of the Party of Regions – on the grounds of separatism, to be dropped later. That was enough for Kushnarev to distance himself from the separatism agenda, focusing instead on regional issues. In 2005, he “engaged,” as he called it, Yanukovych by merging his New Democracy platform into the Party of Regions. The two politicians ran together in the parliamentary elections in 2006. It was Kushnarev who addressed the items on the election program the most, including the issue of the status of the Russian language.

In January 2007, Kushnarev was severely wounded during a wolf hunt in the Izyum district of Kharkov Region. He was shot by one of his friends, who had joined him for the hunt. A day later, Kushnarev died in spite of two surgeries. He was regarded as the leading anti-Maidan spokesman and a pro-Russian candidate for presidency.

The events of those years – Maidan, federalization attempts in southeastern Ukraine and the death of a popular champion of Russia and federalism, Evgeny Kushnarev – marked the end of the first era in the history of an independent Ukraine. The people in power, Kuchma included, were anything but impeccable. They had a lot to answer for. But they were forged in the Soviet era and they had a sense of responsibility for their country and understood how complex the situation really was in Ukraine and abroad.

During that period, politicians avoided any radical steps and tried to resolve conflicts through compromise. But when Yushchenko came to power, he abandoned this approach and attempted to impose on Ukraine an agenda that was alien to millions of its citizens. Aggressive ‘Ukrainianization’ and a policy aimed at distancing the country from Russia eventually resulted in mounting tensions and a protracted political crisis.

All of that has brought Ukraine to its present state – a country plagued by domestic political crises and economic instability, a nation suffering territorial loss and ravaged by an armed conflict in the southeast that began in 2014. Today, Ukrainians look back on the period, which ended in 2004, as the last peaceful era in Ukraine’s modern history. Kiev’s failure to draw the right conclusions from the ‘Severodonetsk case’ contributed to the tragedy Ukraine experienced in 2014. Ukrainian society was never able to bridge its internal divide, and the revolution that came a decade later only split the country further, leading to the loss of Crimea and a bloody war in Donbass.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... e-in-2004/

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War in Ukraine. Summary 07/12/2022

July 12, 22:53



War in Ukraine. Summary 07/12/2022

1. Seversk.
After the liberation of Grigorovka, fighting continues in the direction of Serebryanka, the capture of which will allow them to advance to Dronovka and bypass Seversk from the north.
Fighting in the Verkhnekamensky area. The enemy continues to level the village with artillery, trying to slow down the advance of the RF Armed Forces towards the eastern outskirts of Seversk.

2. Soledar.
After the capture of the Disputable Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, battles began for Ivano-Daryevka in order to further advance to the Seversk-Soledar highway.
The enemy is strengthening the defenses on the line of the settlements of Zvanovka-Razdolovka.
In the area of ​​​​Berestovoye and Belogorovka - positional battles.
To the east of Soledar, the enemy has been driven out of Vladimirovka and is being driven out of Stryapovka.

3. Artemovsk.
Fighting in the Pokrovsky area.
The enemy suffered heavy losses as a result of strikes against concentrations of manpower in Artemovsk and Chasov Yar.
In turn, missile strikes continue deep into the territory of the DPR and LPR against ammunition depots and fuel and lubricants.
In the area of ​​Svetlodarsk, attempts continue to cut off enemy forces that have settled at the Uglegorsk TPP.
The enemy still holds Kodema and Semigorye.

4. Avdiivka.
Positional battles near the Avdeevka-Konstantinovka highway and in the Avdeevka industrial zone.
There is no serious progress towards Krasnogorovka and Ocheretino. On the outskirts of New York - also without significant changes.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to shell Donetsk, Gorlovka, Yasinovataya and other settlements.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the army of the DPR, in turn, are increasingly working on the Avdiivka fortified area.

5. Slavyansk.
Fighting in the area of ​​the Valley, Bogorodichny, Sidorovo. The enemy is gradually pushed back to the city.
According to the statements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the advanced positions of the RF Armed Forces are 10 km from the outskirts of the city. The advance is hampered by forests that cover Slavyansk from the northwest.
The enemy continues to rotate badly battered units in the area of ​​Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.

6. Kharkov.
Positional battles in the direction of Zolochev, Uda, Dementievka, Upper Passages and Upper Saltov.
The enemy shells Cossack Lopan and Tsupovka.
The RF Armed Forces are actively working on targets in Kharkov.

7. Carbon.
Positional battles in the area of ​​Pavlovka and Yegorovka.
In Maryinka and Novomikhailovka - no significant changes.

8. Zaporozhye.
On the line Kamenskoye-Orekhov-Gulyaipole - no significant changes. Fights continue in a positional manner.
In the area of ​​Kamensky, another exchange of bodies of the dead took place - they changed 40 to 40.
The enemy is trying to accumulate forces in Zaporozhye for active operations in the direction of Vasilyevka and Pologi.

9. Nikolaev.
In response to the shelling of Energodar and Novaya Kakhovka, the RF Armed Forces delivered massive strikes on Nikolaev, as well as in the Nikopol and Krivoy Rog directions.
The high activity of artillery and MLRS on both sides hinders active offensive operations and at this stage forms a tendency towards positioning.
But political statements from Kyiv indicate that a possible offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Krivoy Rog direction may fit not only into purely military parameters.
Attempts to advance to Kherson will be dictated by the stated political goals and the desire to achieve tactical or even operational success before mid-autumn.

10. Odessa, Izyum, Dzerzhinsk - no significant changes.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/56906 - zinc (online broadcast of hostilities in Ukraine continues as usual in Telegram, if you are interested, subscribe)
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/56905 - trailer, video from the first trophy American howitzer M777 (significant damage to the gun is noticeable)

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7733501.html

Google Translator

[blindpig]

Russia: Poland Fears a Leak of Its Expansion Plans to Ukraine


The Chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said that Poland is nervous about the leak of its plans on Western Ukraine. Jul. 12, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@Hawkeye1745

Published 12 July 2022 (11 hours 17 minutes ago)

On Tuesday, the Russian Chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service said that Poland fears a leak on their plans to dismember Ukraine.

Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, said that the Polish administration is trying to hide its intentions to expand to Western Ukraine; it fears the leak of its plans of dismembering Ukraine.

"Information coming to the Service indicates a nervous reaction of Poland's leadership to the fact that its plans of dismembering Ukraine have come into the public eye," said the Russian official. According to Naryshkin, Poland didn't expect either Kiev, Washington, or Moscow to notice its plans to take Ukrainian territories in light of the tough geopolitical standoff.

"Poland hoped that when the conflict in Ukraine reaches a phase of diplomatic settlement, the sides will have to recognize 'Poland's expansion' as an accomplished fact. Now, following the leak of sensible information the Polish leadership has to quiet concerns of its NATO and EU' friends,'" said the Russian director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Warsaw seeks to correct the situation by making propaganda, ordering the media to make a campaign to disguise Poland's actions toward strengthening its positions in Ukraine and refute "rumors." Naryshkin said that Poland will mainly work for creating an image of "collective participation" of all Ukraine's neighbors in Kiev's affairs, by cooperating more closely with the situation in Ukraine.


Warsaw wants to launch a media campaign that will mask the strengthening of its position in Ukraine. This was stated by the director of the SVR Sergey Naryshkin. The Russian intelligence service has already stated that Poland wants to occupy part of Ukraine and create a state there.

"Warsaw seems not to see that its "secret" ambitions and complexes have been a source of taunting and irritation for its 'patrons' for years. By the way, the unclassified documents of the Foreign Intelligence Service have an articulate characteristic given by British Foreign Secretary John Simon back in 1935, who said that the Polish government's childish policy of prestige was hindering peacebuilding in Europe and suited neither its political, nor financial, nor military position," said the Russian chief.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0018.html

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NATO displays self-laudatory militarism
By Jan Oberg | China Daily | Updated: 2022-07-13 08:31


Staff members work at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

With the exception of the hairstyle of Boris Johnson, who resigned as British prime minister on Friday, NATO leaders look alike, dress uniformly, behave in the same fashion, and speak and make decisions through their inner mental uniforms. In doing so, they have turned Europe into a dark continent of peacelessness for, most likely, decades.

The NATO leaders' inner uniforms are not worthy of words like realpolitik, proportionality, statesmanship, moderation, vision or innovation. And NATO-speak defies words such as mediation, negotiated solution, confidence-building, disarmament and arms control, common security, not to speak of reconciliation, forgiveness, cooperation, and civil conflict-resolution.

The NATO leaders seem beyond the rational, and deep into omnipotence and dangerous groupthink: We are right, have no doubts, have done nothing wrong, need not invite different views; we stand united, and our decisions will bear the desired result, because we cannot make mistakes.

But what did the recent NATO Summit in Madrid achieve? Nothing but more of the same.

In fact, NATO is a defunct, outdated provocative alliance. No new thinking, because its leaders refuse to learn any lessons, and have spent $350 billion more on military activities since 2014. Russia's annual military expenditure is $66 billion and yearly UN peacekeeping operations cost $7 billion－you get the proportions?

NATO member states' goal of spending 2 percent of GDP goal on defense is now the floor, not the ceiling. A defense expenditure ceiling, anyway, is intellectual nonsense, since a security budget is tied to threat analyses, not to the state of a country's economy. As for NATO's European members, their "rapid reaction forces" could increase from 40,000 to well over 300,000, along with new bases for thousands of permanently stationed US troops.

The 2008 NATO decision that Ukraine and Georgia shall become members is confirmed.

Ukraine, a non-NATO state which the military alliance has no legal obligations toward, has been getting weapons and other military equipment from NATO members, especially the United States. NATO has also promised membership to Ukraine, completely ignoring the vehement objections of Russia.

The US-led NATO's "operation Ukraine", in fact, began years ago, and gained pace after Washington masterminded and financed a regime change in 2014, installed a pro-US leadership and supplied weapons to Kyiv. The latter facts have been confirmed by former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in an interview with Irish Times.

In the Ukraine conflict, the US-led NATO is fighting a proxy war against Russia, in an attempt to weaken the Russian economy and bring it down on its knees.

But even if its wish comes true, the US is not likely to sit in peace, for it has already defined China as a "strategic rival" which it will try to subdue.

Yet NATO's groupthink is at the root of the crisis, as evidenced from its move to admit Sweden and Finland as new members and further militarize the alliance despite already being, according to some experts, 12 times stronger than Russia. It is clear therefore that, instead of trying to help end the conflict, NATO is using it as a pretext for its own expansion and global dominance.

Will NATO member states ever mobilize tens of billions of dollars worth of resources to protect the environment and fight climate change, eradicate poverty, reduce illiteracy, build civil infrastructure, or contain pandemics? Your guess is as good as mine.

The West, most of them NATO members, is united－for the moment－by hatred, militarism and a complete lack of positive vision for humanity's future, depriving us of our right to and hope for a better, peaceful future.

How will those economies that were already under great strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic recover from the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict? Which social classes will pay the price of NATO's folly? What social benefits will be reduced and for whom? And with NATO already spending 12 times more than Russia on "defense", will there come a point when enough will ever be enough?

How much faster and deeper will the global crises manifest themselves for the US-led West to stop this completely wasteful investment in utterly destructive militarism instead of constructive problem-solving? Even before the Ukraine crisis, the world knew that we were in the 11th hour－we either solved the problems or left it to nature.

We are now in the most dangerous, delusional times since 1949, the year NATO was established. NATO has, manifestly and consistently, shown it is incapable of maintaining, let alone restoring, peace, and instead constantly mobilized war in complete violation of its own original－meaningful and defensive－treaty.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20220 ... 6bfa6.html

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US Activities in Ukraine are a Smoke Screen for Clearly Criminal Bioresearch
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 12, 2022
Vladimir Platov



As has been repeatedly pointed out by many media, the United States has long shown the world its disregard for international norms and its willingness to wage war with weapons of mass destruction anywhere in the world.

This fact was further documented during the Russian special operation in Ukraine, which resulted in the Russian Ministry of Defense obtaining multiple pieces of evidence and testimonies of captured Ukrainian and foreign “specialists” involved in the criminal activities of secret US biological laboratories in Ukraine.

For example, it was learned that Washington was preparing to conduct a study to diagnose highly dangerous pathogens, including the Ebola virus, at the Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute in Odessa. It is noteworthy that the disease is not endemic and has never been reported in Ukraine. This raises a legitimate question about the need for such research and the true purpose of it being carried out by the United States particularly on Ukrainian territory.

In addition, US military-controlled biological laboratories in Ukraine have apparently been studying viruses that can be transmitted by mosquitoes, including those that spread Dengue fever, in the interests of developing biological weapons. The stated aim of this “project” was to study viruses capable of infecting Aedes mosquitoes. As a result of work already carried out in this area, the viral preparation was taken to the USA for further aerobiological research. The Pentagon’s interest in vectors of vector-borne diseases and building bioweapons with this in mind stems from the fact that during the last major yellow fever outbreak in Africa in 2013, there were 170,000 cases of severe disease, of which 60,000 ended in death. It is notable that deliberate outbreaks of Dengue virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes (the same ones studied in Ukraine) occurred in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s. The use of Aedes mosquitoes, like those used by the US military in Ukraine, as biological weapons has previously been documented in a class action by Cuban citizens against the US government and has been submitted to the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention.

Military microbiologists from the USA, and with them from Germany, have also shown interest in the Ukraine to study tick-borne diseases, research on which was funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) as part of projects UP-1, UP-8. Ticks were collected mainly in the south-eastern regions of Ukraine, which are home to natural pockets of diseases characteristic of the Russian Federation, which is officially listed by Pentagon doctrine as a major enemy of the United States. A separate project on ixodid ticks, which are vectors of a number of highly dangerous diseases (tularemia, West Nile fever, Congo-Crimean fever), has been implemented by the University of Texas.

Cooperation between US and German military microbiologists in this field was clearly not incidental or sporadic. Documents obtained during the special operation in Ukraine have revealed that a number of secret Pentagon projects to test biological weapons in Ukraine were carried out on behalf of the Central Medical and Health Service of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). In doing so, special attention was paid to studies of fatal cases of Congo-Crimean fever infection, summarizing demographic, epidemiological and clinical data.

This shows that Ukraine and other post-Soviet states have already become a testing ground for biological weapons not only for the US, but also for its NATO allies. First of all Germany, the Russian Ministry of Defense pointed out in its Telegram channel. It is therefore not surprising that a number of projects have been carried out for the benefit of the Central Medical and Health Service of the German Armed Forces.

As Black&Veatch and Metabiota’s TAP-coded report to the Pentagon demonstrates, alongside this, the US military and intelligence agencies in Ukraine have conducted far from peaceful programs on economically significant quarantine infections, codenamed UP. Such infections, which can damage the agriculture of individual countries and entire regions, have been the main focus of these projects. These include glanders (a contagious zoonotic, mainly chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia mallei), African swine fever, classical swine fever, highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease. Thus the African swine fever was of particular interest to US military biologists and it was this pathogen that was the subject of two projects. For example, the TAP-3 project dealt with studying the spread of the ASF pathogen through wildlife, examining the migration routes of wild boar through Ukraine. The TAP-6 project has already scaled this process to Eastern European countries. According to documents obtained from US biological laboratories, the study of the population of vectors of dangerous diseases was carried out by employees of the Institute of New Pathogens of the University of Florida in the Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine, as well as in the areas bordering on Belarus and Russia. In this context, it is noteworthy that the situation regarding African swine fever has deteriorated in recent years in the Eastern European countries: since 2014, according to the International Office of Epizootics, outbreaks have been reported in Latvia (4,021 cases), Estonia (3,814 cases), Lithuania (4,201 cases) and Poland (over 13,000 cases of ASF have been reported and agricultural losses from the disease exceed €2.4 billion).

Information obtained during the special operation in Ukraine shows that US tests of dangerous diseases were conducted on Ukrainian servicemen, who were engaged as volunteers in experiments to assess the tolerability of dangerous diseases. The state of health of Ukrainian servicemen who have voluntarily laid down their arms also testifies to this: 33% of those surveyed had had hepatitis A, more than 4% had fever with renal syndrome and 20% had West Nile fever. These figures are well above the statistical average. The Russian defense ministry also noted that highly active neuromodulators had been tested on vulnerable Ukrainian citizens, causing irreversible damage to the central nervous system.

This criminal activity by the US in Ukraine was largely made possible because Ukraine had no laws to control dangerous pathogens, and the country had biosecurity deficiencies that made it impossible to respond effectively to emergency situations. And this is confirmed by the US report on the activities of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) from 2005 to 2016, which became available during Russia’s special military operation. The report focuses on non-compliance with biosafety requirements for the work and storage of microbial collections. DTRA activities in Ukraine are assessed positively, as the US has been able to export a microbial collection, organize biological situation assessments and implement projects to study particularly dangerous and economically significant infections that could cause a worsening (changing) epidemiological situation. The report highlights the advisability of continuing such work for the Pentagon, which has cost more than $250 million since 2005. The annex to the document also identifies sponsors and implementers of “research” programs in Ukraine that have nothing to do with biosecurity issues, in particular the Soros Foundation.

The said evidence explains the objectivity and necessity of the decision taken by the Russian Investigative Committee to investigate the role of the United States in the inhuman experiments carried out by United States representatives in the biological laboratories in Ukraine.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... oresearch/

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Democracy in Ukraine
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/13/2022 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT



Since the Russian military intervention began on February 24, 2022, the war has served as a justification for a series of measures that, under different conditions, would have been described as anti-democratic or, at the very least, would have been subject to certain scrutiny. This is the case of the centralization of information policy, the prohibition of the publication of images on the Russian bombings or their consequences and, above all, the veto of a whole series of opposition political parties whose activities were first suspended and later prohibited. Among the parties banned since the beginning of the Russian intervention are minority parties with little political presence such as the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc, the Justice and Development Party, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Sharii Party, Natalia Vitrenko's Progressive Socialist Party, most of which had already suspended their already meager activities. Only the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc actively collaborates with the Russian authorities in Kherson, something they are paying for with constant attacks such as car bombs that can only be described as terrorists.

On May 14, without any complaint from the democratic countries, which have presented the current war as a conflict between democracy and authoritarianism, Volodymyr Zelensky signed the order for the prohibition of these pro- Russian parties , a qualification that justifies the repression, confirms that there is an agenda of unique thought in the country and that, above all, it does not require any proof. Some of these parties, such as that of Anatoly Sharii, tremendously critical of the government, but hardly classifiable as pro -Russian , had already suspended their activities to focus on humanitarian aid. Others, like the Progressive Socialist Party, although they carried out protest actions at the beginning of the Maidan regime, have completely disappeared from political life.

Among the parties banned by presidential order and without a legal ruling to justify it was also the Opposition Platform for Life, one of the various parties born from the decomposition of Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions. With Viktor Medvedchuk, a second-rate oligarch who is usually accused of being pro -Russianand having a personal friendship with Vladimir Putin, as the main figure, the party was, until months before the Russian intervention, the leader in voting intentions. Then began the process of delegitimizing a party that aspired to present itself as a block that would represent the interests of the population of the southeast of the country. As part of the same case in which former President Petro Poroshenko was also charged, the courts placed Medvedchuk under house arrest. Among the many cases against them, Ukraine accuses Medvedchuk and Poroshenko of allegedly illegal coal trade between the DPR and Ukraine, a trade that existed in Poroshenko's time and also in Zelensky's time, either directly or through Russian territory.

At a time when Ukraine needed a media victory, Viktor Medvedchuk was arrested and presented to the media dressed as a military man with a battered face after what the SBU alleges was an escape attempt. Since then, the leader of the Opposition Platform has been deprived of the seat he won with the votes of the population, the SBU has shown a video in which, reading a previously written message, the politician asked Russia to be exchanged for the defenders of Azovstal and subsequently a secret trial has begun against him of which hardly any details are known, but from which excessive legal rigor is not to be expected.

However, none of these trends is new, nor is the use of the war against Russia as an argument for the introduction of clearly anti-democratic measures. In the eight years since the governments born from Euromaidan came to power, the press and opposition parties have been a target of both the authorities and extreme right-wing groups, who have sometimes carried out the dirty work of harassing and threatening media and journalists that the authorities could not carry out legally. There have been several cases of harassment and aggression by groups such as the Azov regiment against the media in search of modifying their editorial line. With the Russian military intervention, this work is no longer necessary and any decision, no matter how undemocratic, random or authoritarian,

But although the pro- Russian label has been, throughout this time, the main argument to justify repressive measures against all media outlets, journalists or opposition parties, the main target of the witch hunt in post-Maidan Ukraine has been communist ideology, understood in the broadest possible sense, including anyone who refused to deny the Soviet period as well. With the aim of a complete break with the Soviet past, Ukraine passed the law that condemned and prohibited the dissemination of propaganda and symbology of the totalitarian communist and Nazi regimes. That law not only equated, as Effraim Zuroff, of the Wiesenthal Foundation, wrote, "to the most genocidal regime in the history of humanity with which it liberated Auschwitz and helped end the reign of terror of the Third Reich", but it was approved specifically to fight against only one of those indicated ideologies. This is evident from the way in which groups such as the Praviy Sektor have acted with total impunity - the case of Serhiy Sternenko is just one example - and others such as the C14 have formed part of the official structures of the Government, fundamentally the Ministry of Veterans , where the Azov regiment has also become strong over the years, which despite what has been published these months by media such as The Times , continues to use the Wolfsangel as its main symbol.

Meanwhile, it has been the communist parties, not only the Communist Party of Ukraine, but also smaller parties like Borotba, that have been stigmatized, stripped of their symbols and headquarters, and banned. Also in this case, extreme right-wing groups have acted as enforcement arm in cases where the authorities could not act legally. This is the case of the main headquarters of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Odessa, captured by Serhiy Sternenko's Praviy Sektor and just a few months later, already occupied by the regional authority at that time led by Mikhail Saakashvili.

With the hammer and sickle removed from its symbols, blurred for years, losing the popularity that its leader Petro Simonenko had in the 1990s, the Communist Party has lost, since the Maidan victory, its seat in Parliament - where a religious held a ritual to purify the seats that the communist deputies had occupied -, their identity and all political presence. The Communist Party was, along with other minor communist parties, the first to be targeted by the anti-totalitarian law that sought solely to eliminate the left-wing opposition, which had a large part of its electorate in Crimea and in the industrial areas of the country, the southeast who in 2014 protested against the change of government.

The Communist Party never defended the Donbass rebellion. Their tents disappeared from the lot in front of the Donetsk Regional Administration building in the first weeks of the protests in 2014, when talk of separation from Ukraine began and the armed rebellion began. Party members who were in favor of the DPR, Boris Litvinov among them, were expelled and were forced to reorganize the Communist Party of the DPR outside the official structures. Although there was no basis to accuse the KPU of threatening the territorial integrity of the country, the main argument for arresting opponents and banning media or parties, communist ideology and the hammer and sickle were always more than enough justification to ban the party.

The first ban, that of participating in political activities, came in 2015. With it, the scarce presence that the KPU already had then disappeared completely. But Ukraine's struggle against the Communist Party has dragged on. This same month, without of course causing any complaint from the democratic countries, a court in Lviv confirmed the definitive ban on the KPU, which in recent years has tried to fight through the courts to defend its existence.

“The activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine are prohibited; the properties, funds and other assets of the country, its regional, municipal and district organizations, headquarters and other structural entities have been transferred to the State”, affirms the statement of the Lviv court that has definitively sentenced to secrecy, and perhaps to oblivion , to the KPU.

With the Communist Party banned and gone, Ukraine's struggle against communist ideology continues. On July 12, one could read in the international press that “Lviv court bans Marxist Ukrainian Workers' Party”, a headline that might seem from another time. The Workers' Party of Ukraine was the umpteenth attempt by Alexander Bondarchuk, a journalist and former Communist Party deputy, to register a left-wing party in post-Maidan Ukraine. It is not the first battle of post-Maidan Ukraine against Bondarchuk, who in 2015 spent nine months in prison accused of threatening the territorial integrity of Ukraine . His crime was editing a Marxist newspaper, Working Class , in which he published an interview with Pavel Gubarev.

But, above all, the repression seeks exemplary punishments against well-known activists. This is demonstrated by the arrest and indictment of communists such as the Kononovich brothers, young members of communist organizations, in preventive detention since the first weeks of the Russian intervention and accused of all kinds of thought crimes. Although explained as a consequence of the war with Russia, the arrest of communist, leftist, pro -Russian activists or simply opponents or journalists -as is the case of Yuri Tkachev in Odessa- is nothing more than the continuation of an action that did not begin in February 2022 , but goes back to February 2014, when the new regime born in Euromaidan was clear from the beginning who its enemies were.

That yes, the war escalation has not only allowed to take steps that in interior years would have been unthinkable and that would have been harshly criticized - the elimination of statues to Pushkin or the elimination of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky from the school curriculum and also the idea of ​​cleaning the libraries of all the books in Russian - but it justifies much more. Facing months of pretrial detention and a sentence of up to a decade in prison for thought crimes for the Kononovich brothers, members of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions are being released.

By direct order of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ruslan Onischenko, former commander of the Tornado battalion, possibly the most criminal of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions, is to be released. The crimes of the battalion in its participation in what Ukraine described as an anti- terrorist operation - the war in Donbass - were so serious that the impunity that Kiev has guaranteed to veterans did not arise for them . Soldiers from the Tornado battalion were convicted of looting, raping, kidnapping and executing Donbass civilians. Now, the war allows them to return to the front lines to continue their work.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/07/13/25029/#more-25029

Google Translator

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About HIMARS
July 13, 14:15



About HIMARS

1. At the current stage, they are used at the same distance at which Tochka-U can operate. Even the night strike on Luhansk was carried out not only with the help of HIMARS, but also with Tochka-U missiles. As you can see, so far no fundamental increase in the range of destruction has occurred. Previously, missiles flew quite well to Berdyansk, Taganrog, Millerovo, the Belgorod region, etc. Without any HIMARS and for the most part got off. Of course, there are more long-range missiles for HIMARS, but they have either not been delivered yet, or they have been delivered, but have not been used. I would estimate the probability of such deliveries as high. The Pentagon has already given the go-ahead for strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation. Basically to himself.

2. As sources from the field have already noted, the use of HIMARS is in conjunction with other MLRS ("Grad", "Alder", "Smerch", "Hurricane") and OTRK "Tochka-U", where the task of the old Soviet complexes is to "overload systems air defense with multiple targets and increase the chances of the HIMARS missile to hit the target.As we see from the episode with Nova Kakhovka, air defense systems and air defense missile systems may well shoot down HIMARS missiles just as they say, shoot down missiles "Hurricane" or the same "Tochka-U". Precisely because, that this is possible, the enemy uses a massive missile launch on one specific target in order to increase his chances of success.

3. Accordingly, the problem is not in HIMARS itself, which is just a good MLRS system, but in the changed tactics of the enemy, who, using technical and undercover intelligence data, focused his attention on the logistics and command infrastructure of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine, trying to act within the framework of the concept of network-centric war , seeking to disrupt the supply chains and disable individual elements of the command structure.

4. I am sure that the change in approaches to the tactics of delivering strikes is the decision of the USA / NATO, which provide target designation, ensure the supply of the necessary weapons for such strikes, and most likely they themselves are directly involved in ensuring the operation of the complexes. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are nothing more than a screen and performers.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/56974 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7734361.html

We'll all pay the price this winter
July 13, 12:40



We'll all pay the price this winter

The European Union, like all of Europe, will pay a heavy price for anti-Russian sanctions. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister of Romania Kelemen Hunor. According to him, the continent will face the most severe winter in the last 60 years.
“First of all, we, the European Union, will pay for the sanctions against Russia <...> Europe, the European Union, we must say frankly: we will all pay the price this winter, unfortunately, and it is not foreseen at the present time, there are no signs of the end of the conflict approaching ”, Hunor said on the air of the B1 TV channel.
“It will be a severe winter, perhaps the most severe winter in the last 40-50-60 years. Even, unfortunately, for the whole of Europe,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.

https://ura.news/news/1052569751 - zinc

This is the price of supporting the Nazi regime in Ukraine.
I am far from thinking that "Europe will freeze and crawl." This is more likely from the field of mantras of 2015 "Ukraine will freeze."
The United States will continue to push its vassals to continue the conflict with the Russian Federation (after all, this is beneficial to the United States, which openly drowns its economic competitor), not paying attention to the price that the European citizen has already paid and will still pay, who delegated his future to such a leader who, in a notification order to inform him that he will have to endure the worst winter in decades for the sake of the Nazi regime in Ukraine.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7734158.html

Google Translator

[blindpig]

War in Ukraine. Summary 07/13/2022
July 13, 23:42



War in Ukraine. Summary 07/13/2022

1. Seversk.
Fighting today shifted to the outskirts of the city after the RF Armed Forces ousted the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Verkhnekamenskoye.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR declares that the fighting is already going on in the city limits of Seversk.
Fighting in the area of ​​Ivano-Daryevka.
The positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the heights near Seversk are subjected to heavy artillery and missile attacks.

2. Soledar.
The enemy was forced out of Upper Kamenka.
Fighting in Stryapovka and in the Yakovlevka area.
The LPR announces the withdrawal of our troops to the outskirts of Soledar. The enemy claims to be holding the line for the time being.
In Belogorovka and Berestovoe - no significant changes.

3. Artemovsk.
The battles for Pokrovskoye, as well as the battles for the Veselaya Dolina, began on the outskirts of the city.
Fights for the Uglegorsk TPP. Information about the retreat of the enemy from Svetlodarsk is not yet true - while the Armed Forces of Ukraine hold Kodema and Semigorye, they still have the opportunity to supply troops defending at the Novolugansk and Uglegorsk thermal power plants, which fetters the activity of the RF Armed Forces southeast of Artemovsk.
In Clock Yar, they continue to clear the rubble with the dead soldiers of the Volkssturm. Officially - 47, unofficially - more than 100.
Artemovsk is being attacked on a regular basis.

4. Slavyansk.
Fighting in the area of ​​the Valley, Sidorov, Prishib, Mazanovka.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine recognize some advance of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to Slavyansk.
Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka, Konstantinovka have been subjected to intense missile strikes in recent days. Several concentrations of enemy troops were hit.

5. Kharkov.
Fighting in the area of ​​Udy, Dementievka, Upper Passages, Upper Saltov. Attacks on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the northern outskirts of Kharkov and in the Chuguev area also continue. Attacks are also being made in the Zolochev area. On the whole, so far tendencies towards positionalism have been dominating here.

6. Avdiivka.
On the front line without significant changes.
With a sedentary front, both sides rely on artillery. The enemy continues shelling Donetsk, Gorlovka, Yasinovataya and other settlements.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have been intensifying attacks on Avdiivka in recent days.

7. Zaporozhye.
On the line Kamenskoye-Orekhov-Gulyaipole without changes.
To the east of Gulyaipole, the enemy attempted reconnaissance in force in the direction of Olgovsky, suffered losses in manpower and equipment, and retreated. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to find the capabilities of the RF Armed Forces in the Zaporozhye region for a potential offensive with operational-tactical goals. It is obvious that such attempts will continue, as well as, in fact, missile attacks on the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region.

8. Nikolaev.
The enemy suffered heavy losses in people and equipment as a result of massive missile attacks on the city. Attempts to be active in the Krivoy Rog direction were not successful due to the suppressive fire of the RF Armed Forces.
The UAF also continued strikes on the outskirts of Kherson and on Nova Kakhovka, continuing to target ammunition depots and command posts.

9.
Ugledar, Marinka, Velikaya Novoseloveka, Dzerzhinsk, Odessa, Izyum - without significant changes.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/57043 - zinc (online broadcast of hostilities in Ukraine continues in Telegram as usual)

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7736247.html

Google Translator

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Anatomy of a Coup: How CIA Front Laid Foundations for Ukraine War

Kit Klarenberg Jul 1

Obvious examples of Central Intelligence Agency covert action abroad are difficult to identify today, save for occasional acknowledged calamities, such as the long-running $1 billion effort to overthrow the government of Syria, via funding, training and arming barbarous jihadist groups.

In part, this stems from many of the CIA’s traditional responsibilities and activities being farmed out to “overt” organizations, most significantly the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Founded in November 1983, then-CIA director William Casey was at the heart of NED’s creation. He sought to construct a public mechanism to support opposition groups, activist movements and media outlets overseas that would engage in propaganda and political activism to disrupt, destabilize, and ultimately displace ‘enemy’ regimes. Subterfuge with a human face, to coin a phrase.

Underlining the Endowment’s insidious true nature, in a 1991 Washington Post article boasting of its prowess in overthrowing Communism in Eastern Europe, senior NED official Allen Weinstein acknowledged, “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

It Begins

Fast forward to September 2013, and Carl Gershman, NED chief from its launch until summer 2021, authored an op-ed for The Washington Post, outlining how his organization was hard at work wresting countries in Russia’s near abroad - the constellation of former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact states - away from Moscow’s orbit.

Along the way, he described Ukraine as “the biggest prize” in the region, suggesting Kiev joining Europe would “accelerate the demise” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Six months later, Ukraine’s elected President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in a violent coup.

Writing in Consortium News not long before that fateful day, investigative legend Robert Parry recorded how, over the previous year, NED had funded 65 projects in Ukraine totaling over $20 million. This amounted to what the late journalist dubbed “a shadow political structure of media and activist groups that could be deployed to stir up unrest when the Ukrainian government didn’t act as desired.”

NED’s pivotal role in unseating Yanukovych can thus be considered beyond dispute, an unambiguous matter of record - yet not only is this never acknowledged in the mainstream press, but Western journalists aggressively rubbish the idea, viciously attacking those few who dare challenge the established orthodoxy of US innocence.

As if to assist in this deceit, NED has removed many entries from its website in the years since the coup, which amply underline its role in Yanukovych’s overthrow.

For example, on February 3rd 2014, less than three weeks before police withdrew from Kiev, effectively handing the city to armed protesters and prompting Yanukovych to flee the country, NED convened an event, Ukraine's lessons learned: from the Orange Revolution to the Euromaidan.

It was led by Ukrainian journalist Sergii Leshchenko, who at the time was finishing up an NED-sponsored Reagan–Fascell Democracy Fellowship in Washington DC.

Alongside him was Nadia Diuk, NED’s then-senior adviser for Europe and Eurasia, and graduate of St. Antony’s College Oxford, a renowned recruiting pool for British intelligence founded by former spies. Just before her death in January 2019, she was bestowed the Order of Princess Olga, one of Kiev’s highest honors, a particularly palpable example of the intimate, enduring ties between NED and the Ukrainian government.

While the event’s online listing remains extant today, linked supporting documents - including Powerpoint slides that accompanied Leshchenko’s talk, and a summary of “event highlights” - have been deleted.

What prompted the purge isn’t clear, although it could well be significant that Leshchenko’s talk offered a clear blueprint for guaranteeing the failure of 2004’s Orange Revolution - another NED-orchestrated putsch - wasn’t repeated, and the country remained captured by Western financial, political and ideological interests post-Maidan. It was a roadmap NED subsequently followed to the letter.

Along the way, Leshchenko specifically highlighted the importance of funding NGOs, exploiting the internet and social media as “alternative [sources] of information,” and the danger of “unreformed state television.”

So it was that on March 19th, representatives of the far-right Svoboda party - which has been linked to a false flag massacre of protesters on February 20th, an event that made the downfall of Yanukovych’s government a fait accompli - broke into the office of Oleksandr Panteleymonov, chief of Ukraine’s state broadcaster, and beat him over the head until he signed a resignation letter.

That shocking incident, motivated by the station broadcasting a Kremlin ceremony at which Vladimir Putin signed a bill formalizing Crimea as part of Russia, was one of many livestreamed by protesters that traveled far and wide online.

Panteleymonov’s savage defenestration notwithstanding, much of this livestreamed output served to present foreign audiences with a highly romantic narrative of the demonstrations, and their participants, which bore no relation to reality.

The Revolution Will Be Televised

Writing in NED’s quarterly academic publication Journal of Democracy in July that year, Leshchenko discussed in detail the media’s fundamental role in the Maidan coup’s success, drawing particular attention to the work of “online journalist” Mustafa Nayyem.

Nayyem personally kickstarted the protests the previous November, rallying hundreds of his Facebook followers to protest in Kiev’s Independence - now Maidan - Square, after Yanukovych scrapped the Ukrainian-European Association Agreement in favor of a more agreeable deal with Moscow.

Nayyem was no ordinary “online journalist”. In October 2012, he was one of six Ukrainians whisked to Washington DC by Meridian International, a State Department-connected organization that identifies and grooms future overseas leaders, to “observe and experience” that year’s Presidential election.

Funded by the US embassy in Kiev, over 10 days they “[gained] a deeper understanding of the American electoral process,” meeting candidates and election officials, and touring voting facilities. They were also invited to discuss “Ukraine’s progress towards a more fair and transparent election process” with “equally curious” representatives of US government agencies.

With whom the sextet met is unstated, although promotional pictures show Nayyem filming a personal summit with John McCain on his smartphone. The video was posted to his personal YouTube channel - in it, Nayyem asks the noted warhawk for his thoughts on Ukraine, to which he responds, “I’m concerned with the influence of Russia.”

This is striking, for McCain flew to Kiev in December 2013 to give an address to Maidan protesters, flanked by known Neo-Nazi Oleh Tyahnybok, while then-State Department official Victoria Nuland notoriously handed out motivational cookies to attendees.

On February 4th 2014, one day after Leshchenko’s NED presentation, an intercepted recording of a telephone call between Nuland - now Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs - and US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt was leaked, in which the pair discussed how Washington was “midwifing” Yanukovych’s ouster, and named several handpicked individuals to head the post-coup government.

Whether Nayyem’s influential US contacts in any way motivated his decision to ignite the Maidan demonstrations in November 2013 isn’t certain. The pivotal part he himself played in promoting the protests globally is far clearer, for he was a founder of digital broadcaster Hromadske TV.

In his Journal of Democracy article, Leshchenko records how Hromadske hadn’t even officially launched when it began streaming Maidan demonstrations live, the literal second they erupted at Nayyem’s direction.

While Leshchenko coyly states that Hromadske “drew most of its modest funding from international organizations and the donations of Ukrainian citizens,” it actually received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a variety of questionable sources, including the US Embassy in Ukraine, intelligence front USAID, George Soros’ International Renaissance Foundation, American oligarch Pierre Omidyar, and - of course - NED.

Hromadske’s audience expanded rapidly both within and without Ukraine thereafter, its embedded output eagerly recycled by countless mainstream news outlets, meaning Western viewers were presented with a single, partisan perspective on the unrest - and a highly misleading one at that.

Based on Hromadske’s coverage, overseas onlookers would’ve been entirely forgiven for concluding the protests were wholly energized by concerns over human rights and democracy, and overwhelmingly - if not universally - popular.

In a representative February 2014 essay dismissing as Russian propaganda the demonstrable fact that both the Maidan demonstrators and their leadership were riddled with neo-Nazis, academic and Journal of Democracy contributor Andreas Umland boldly declared, “the movement as a whole…reflects the entire Ukrainian population, young and old.”

Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. An extraordinarily revealing Washington Post op-ed by North American academics Keith Darden and Lucan Way published that same month detonated this wholly bogus narrative, which has nonetheless only endured - and intensified - ever since.

The pair forensically exposed how less than 20 percent of protesters professed to be driven by “violations of democracy or the threat of dictatorship,” only 40 - 45 percent of Ukrainians were in favor of European integration, Yanukovych remained “the most popular political figure in the country,” and no poll conducted to date had ever indicated mass support for the uprising.

In fact, “quite large majorities” opposed “takeover of regional governments by the opposition,” and the population remained bitterly divided on the future of Ukraine, Darden and Way wrote. Such hostility stemmed from “anti-Russian rhetoric and the iconography of western Ukrainian nationalism,” rife among demonstrators, “not [playing] well among the Ukrainian majority.”

Of the 50 percent of Ukraine’s population residing in regions that had “strongly identified with Russia” for over two centuries, “nearly all [were] alienated by anti-Russian rhetoric and symbols.”

“Anti-Russian forms of Ukrainian nationalism expressed on the Maidan are certainly not representative of the general view of Ukrainians. Electoral support for these views and for the political parties who espouse them has always been limited,” Darden and Way concluded. “Their presence and influence in the protest movement far outstrip their role in Ukrainian politics and their support barely extends geographically beyond a few Western provinces.”

‘Pro-Ukrainian Agenda’

Despite - or perhaps because of - such slanted coverage, Hromadske only grew from strength to strength subsequently. Such was its surging popularity, Leshchenko recorded, even Ukraine’s state broadcaster “struck a deal” to amplify its output, “thus handing this small ‘garage’ webcasting enterprise an audience of millions.” In the process, Ukrainians - and the world - were well-educated in the false narrative of Yanukovych being overthrown via popular will.

Hromadske’s potential to influence perceptions was evidently not lost on other Western governments either. In 2015, the British Foreign Office provided significant funds to develop “radio broadcasting” initiatives in the Russian-majority regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, for a project dubbed “Donbas calling”. The next year, London proffered yet more sums to the outlet, so it could serve as a local “information provider” to an “audience of up to one million people.”

In 2017, Hromadske again received hundreds of thousands of pounds to expand even further into the breakaway regions. Among other things, Britain supported the installation of “16 FM transmitters in Ukraine-controlled areas along the contact line and ‘grey zone’ in the east,” meaning the station could reach up to two million citizens potentially possessed of separatist perspectives.

The public profiles of Leshchenko and Nayyem concurrently rose exponentially too. In Ukraine’s October 2014 elections, both were elected to parliament as part of Petro Poroshenko’s bloc, the former becoming a member of its anti-corruption committee, the latter its cross-party group on European integration, leading to glowing profiles in the Western media. All along, NED closely monitored their progress, hailing the pair as emblems of the new, liberated Ukraine that flowered in the wake of Maidan.

Nonetheless, Leshchenko’s personal commitment to democracy was rather undermined in August 2016, when he and Artem Sytnyk, head of Kiev’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, leaked documents - dubbed the “the black ledger” - identifying payments to Donald Trump’s then-campaign manager Paul Manafort from Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, to the US media.

Leshchenko expressed his “hope” that the disclosure would damage Trump’s electoral chances and would be “the last nail in Manafort’s coffin lid,” as “a Trump presidency would change the pro-Ukrainian agenda in American foreign policy.” He was one of several prominent politicians in Kiev “involved to an unprecedented degree in trying to weaken the Trump bandwagon,” as the Atlantic Council, NATO’s propaganda arm, conceded at the time.

As hoped, Manafort duly resigned, and the RussiaGate racket then erupted - a connivance that went some way to ensuring the “pro-Ukrainian agenda in American foreign policy” wasn’t compromised one iota.

Indeed, Trump’s term in office was typified by ever-escalating hostility between Washington and Moscow, the Oval Office resident going to dangerous lengths his predecessor had consistently refrained from to arm and galvanize the most reactionary and violent elements of the Ukrainian armed forces, including the notorious Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, and tear up Cold War arms control treaties, much to Moscow’s chagrin.

In December 2018, a Ukrainian court ruled that Leshchenko and Sytnyk’s release of the “black ledger” was illegal, amounting to “interference in the electoral processes of the US” that “harmed the interests of Ukraine as a state.”

In May the next year, a corruption probe was launched after Leshchenko purchased a $300,000 apartment in central Kiev, a sum far in excess of his apparent means. Two months later, he was voted out of parliament, Zelensky’s Servant of the People party candidate taking his seat in a landslide. Leshchenko’s friend and collaborator Nayyem simply opted not to stand, in order to seek a government post “connected to the Donbas.”

Despite no longer being part of the legislature, Leshchenko has continued to wield significant sway over the Ukrainian government, advising Zelensky on “Russian disinformation” to this day.

Mere days before the Russian invasion began, in an interview with The Guardian, Leshchenko referred to the Minsk Accords - which Zelensky stood on a specific platform of implementing - as “toxic”, suggesting the leader would “betray” his country by adhering to their obligations, which included granting autonomy to Donetsk and Luhansk.

This reflects NED’s position - on February 14th this year, its Journal of Democracy published an article declaring the Accords to be “a bad idea for the West and a serious threat to Ukrainian democracy and stability,” not least because they would mean “tacitly accepting Russia’s false narratives about the Donbas conflict” - namely, that the conflict “was caused by the West-orchestrated ‘coup’ in 2014.”

In other words, an objective analysis of what actually happened and why, in which NED is completely central. Still, the organization didn’t need to rely purely on Leshchenko to keep the Minsk Accords moribund. Its extensive network of assets in the country, and Washington’s dark alliance with Ukraine’s far-right, was more than sufficient to ensure that Zelensky’s overwhelmingly popular mission of restoring relations with Russia would and could never be fulfilled.

‘In Solidarity’

In the hours following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NED hurried to remove any and all trace of its funding for organizations in Ukraine from its website.

A search of the NED grants database today for Ukraine returns “no results,” but a snapshot of the page captured February 25th reveals that since 2014, a total of 334 projects in the country have been awarded a staggering $22.4 million. By NED President Duane Wilson’s reckoning, Kiev is the organization’s fourth-largest funding recipient worldwide.

An archive of NED funding in Ukraine over 2021 - which has now been replaced with a statement “in solidarity” with Kiev - offers extensive detail on the precise projects backed by the CIA front over that fateful 12-month period.

It points to a preponderant focus on purported Russian misdeeds in eastern Ukraine. One grant, of $58,000, was provided to the NGO Truth Hounds to “monitor, document, and spotlight human rights violations” and “war crimes” in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Another, of $48,000, was provided to Ukraine’s War Childhood Museum to “educate the Ukrainian public about the consequences of the war through a series of public events.” Yet another received by charity East-SOS aimed to “raise public awareness” of “Russia’s policies of persecution and colonization in the region, and document illustrative cases,” its findings circulated to the UN Human Rights Council, European Courts of Human Rights, and International Court of Justice.

There was no suggestion this wellspring would be used to document any abuses by Ukrainian government forces. UN research indicates 2018 - 2021, over 80 percent of civilian casualties were recorded on the Donbas side. Meanwhile, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reports show that shelling of civilian areas in the breakaway regions intensified dramatically in the weeks leading up to February 24th, potentially the precursor of a full-blown military offensive.

As such, NED’s expurgation of records exposing its role in fomenting and precipitating the horror now unfolding in southeast Ukraine not only protects de facto CIA agents on the ground. It also reinforces and legitimizes the Biden administration’s fraudulent narrative, endlessly and uncritically reiterated in Western media, that Russia’s invasion was entirely unprovoked and groundless.

Ukrainians now live with the mephitic legacy of that reckless, unadmitted meddling in the most brutal manner imaginable. They may well do so for many years to come. Meanwhile, the men and women who orchestrated it rest comfortably in Washington DC, insulated from any scrutiny or consequence whatsoever, every day cooking up fresh schemes to undermine and topple troublesome foreign leaders, hailed as champions of liberty by the mainstream press every step of the way.

https://kitklarenberg.substack.com/p/an ... front-laid

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Iran Denies Planning to Supply Drones to Russia


Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani. Jul. 12, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@TranslateWarIT

Published 12 July 2022 (9 hours 33 minutes ago)

Cooperation between Iran and Russia in the modern technologies sector predates the Ukrainian crisis, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman made his remarks Tuesday in response to claims by U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan about Iran's sale of modern technical breakthroughs to Russia.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan claimed the U.S. had information that "Iran is preparing to provide Russia with hundreds of drones" and train Russian soldiers to use them in Ukraine.

In this respect, Kanaani said the field of modern technologies between Russia and Iran had not seen any significant development of late.

According to the Foreign Ministry spokesman, "The history of cooperation between Iran and the Russian Federation in the field of modern technologies dates back to the period before the Ukrainian war."


Within this context, Kanaani denounced Washington's hypocrisy, arguing that the Middle East has been flooded with weapons by the U.S. and allied powers.

The Iranian official said, "Washington and European governments have turned occupying and invading countries including West Asia into an arsenal of their diverse lethal arms."

Without such support, "the Zionists would not have been able to continue their crimes, aggression and occupation of Palestine for more than seven decades," Kanaani added.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ira ... -0023.html

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

Сolonelcassad
In Ukraine, they are slowly beginning to recognize https://t.me/ukrainian_guide/2412 losses during a super-successful strike on the location of the Volkssturm battalion in Chasov Yar. Initially, they tried to pass off the victims of the strike as civilians, but as photographs appeared of the rubble being cleared from which the corpses in camouflage were pulled out, everything became extremely obvious.
In the morning, 47 dead were officially announced (judging by the screen, some of them were from Western Ukraine), unofficial figures - 90-110 killed + a large number of wounded and injured. The battalion has become incompetent and we are unlikely to see it on the front line in the near future.

***


Сolonelcassad
A state of emergency has been declared in Hungary due to the situation on the energy market. The export of energy carriers and even the most ordinary firewood from the territory of Hungary is prohibited.
The Hungarian government says that in autumn and winter Europe will most likely run out of gas. Already in July, the Hungarians are seriously preparing for the energy crisis, which will cover most of Europe this autumn.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

[blindpig]

Russia & Lithuania Welcome EC’s Step on Kaliningrad


European Commission banned transit through Kaliningrad of military and dual-use goods and technologies. Jul. 13, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@PreQrac

Published 13 July 2022 (11 hours 16 minutes ago)

Russia assesses the decision of the European Commission on the Kaliningrad transit as "common sense."

According to the clarifications issued by the European Commission on July 13 regarding the sanctions on Russia, transit by rail is allowed with appropriate controls; however, access by road to Kaliningrad remains illegal.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, "this decision, which removes restrictions on a certain range of products transported by rail, is a manifestation of realism and common sense."

However, Zakharova expressed Russia's concern in this regard. The spokeswoman said, "the Russian side will closely monitor how these EU steps will be implemented in practice."

Moscow is looking carefully at the reasons offered by the European Commission, assessing them in the light of a core matter - full vital support for the Kaliningrad area, the Russian diplomat said.



Under the recently updated European Commission guidelines on the transit of sanctioned Russian goods through the Kaliningrad territory, "the transit of goods serving military purposes, dual-use goods and technologies" is totally banned, according to a Commission statement.

The statement further reads that "Lithuania also welcomes the Commission's limitation of the volumes of transit of goods through the territory of the EU on the basis of historical averages of the last three years, reflecting only the actual need for essential goods, as well as the need to strengthen transit control."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0018.html

Ukraine SitRep - Additional Defense Lines, A Failed Counterattack, Weapon Deliveries
On July 2 Lysichansk came under Russian control:

This comes only a week after the cauldron around Lysichansk began to close. Until a few hours ago there was still a chance to flee from Lysichansk but the only passable road was under Russian fire. It is not know yet how many made it out or how many gave up and were taken prisoners.
Some of those who retreated went to Siversk some 20 kilometer west of Lysichansk. That city will be the next bigger target in that campaign sector.

The speed of this operation was much faster than the one in Mariupol. That points to diminished capabilities and soldier motivation of the Ukrainian forces.

The now much shortened frontline frees up several battalion tactical groups on the Russian side which can now be refitted and rested to then move elsewhere.

The front has since consolidated:

In a week or two those BTCs which now rest and resupply will be back. They will create a new cauldron around Siversk and maybe Bakhmut, decimate the Ukrainian forces within it to then capture the whole area.

The artillery preparations for the next push had began immediately after the fall of Lysichansk. The 'week or two' have passed and the attack on the next defensive line (yellow line in the east) from Siversk to Kurdiumivka has begun. Yesterday ground fighting was reported within Siversk and Soledar.


Source: LiveUAmap (not fully updated)

In a week or two the line down from Siversk to Krasna Hora will probably be under Russian control. Bakhmut, which is very fortified, may take a few more days to fall.

The battle will then move to the next defensive line further west (also marked in yellow). That line is anchored in the north on Sloviansk which has a railway line (black) coming in from the west. That railway line allows the Ukrainians to supply their current frontline with heavy artillery ammunition and fuel.

Sloviansk will be attacked from the northwest, the northeast and southeast. The force disposition map below shows that the Ukrainian defenses in that area are rather weak.


Source: MilitaryLand.net

(The map above uses NATO symbology. The marking within the blue (friendly) rectangles shows the type of the unit. 'Crossed bandoliers' are infantry, 'tank tracks' stand for armored units, a black dot designates artillery, a combination of tank tracks and crossed bandoliers means mechanized infantry. The marking above the rectangle shows the size of the unit. An X means brigade (3,000-4,000 men), three vertical lines a regiment (1,000-1,500 men), two vertical lines a battalion (300-600 men) and so on. Each unit is 'organic' in that its has its own artillery or mortar group and other attached support like transport and medics.)

The Ukrainian lines in the northeast of the Donetzk oblast are held by pure infantry troops of dubious quality (i.e territorial defense brigades). Most of these have already been mauled by Russian artillery attacks and are down to 70% or less of their original strength. They have little capability to withstand the motorized (and armored) Russian forces that are moving against them. The Ukrainians have very few armored reserves behind the front that could intervene and oppose those Russian attacks.

Now let's look at the bigger picture in east Ukraine. I have marked 5 defense lines (yellow) which all run north to south along major highways or railroads.



The two in the east (right side) will fall within the next two or three weeks. The only really major one of the other lines is in the west (left side) running from Kharkiv through Dnipro down to to Zaporizhzhia in the south. It will be nibbled up piecemeal. Kharkiv, the anchor in the north is already under attack. Zaporizhzhia in the south is under long range artillery fire. The center around Dnipro will be attacked from the east as well as from the west side of the Dnieper river (see below). I believe that the Russian side intends to completely take that western line before the winter sets in.

Now let's look at the southern front where the Ukrainian forces attempted a counterattack on Kherson. For orientation: This map has Dnipro in the upper right.



Kherson in a major city on the western side of the Dnieper river. If the Russian side holds onto it it can move up to the economically important industrial mining area of Kryvyi Rih and from there launch an attack on Dnipro from a southwestern direction.

This is a major strategic danger for the Ukrainian side. That is why it collected lots of forces around Mykolaiv (Nikolaev in Russian transliteration) and attempted a counterattack on Kherson. On the force disposition map we can see motorized infantry, marine infantry, artillery, helicopter, and missile brigades all positioned in or around Mykolaiv.



Over the last days those forces used heavy artillery in an attempt to destroy the reservoir dam and river crossing near Nova Kakhorvka on the right side of the above map. This would have flooded the area south of Kherson and would have made its defense way more difficult. But so far all major Ukrainian attacks on the dam and along the southern frontline have failed.

The next map shows the main reasons for that failure.



All the Ukrainian units in and around Mykolaiv have come under very heavy artillery fire by the Russian forces. Major targets were unit headquarters, ammunition dumps and any larger groupings of soldiers. The planned Ukrainian counterattack on Kherson was thereby destroyed even before it took up its starting position. I am not aware of any Ukrainian reserve forces that could be moved there to revive it.

All together the Ukrainian forces are in a dire state. They have little to withstand further moves by the Russian side.

Now let's look at the U.S. support for the Ukrainian forces.

Next to man portable small arms, Javelin anti-tank missiles and stinger anti-air missiles, a major U.S. delivery has been the 100 light howitzers M-777 and their standard 155mm ammunition. These are rather flimsy guns and slow to redeploy. Some 70% of these have by now been disabled or destroyed.

Those 100 howitzers did not have the digital systems that allows for precision ammunition to be used with them. The U.S. has since send another 18 M-777 howitzer with digital aiming systems and 1,000 rounds of precision ammunition to be used with them. The delivery included three artillery detection radars. Those three batteries, with six guns each, will thereby be used in a counter artillery mission against Russian artillery.

The U.S. has also delivered 18 HIMARS long range missile systems to the Ukraine. An additional 3(?) systems have come out of German and British depots. They are the new Wunderwaffe Du Jour.

The main use of the HIMARS system has so far been the destruction of several Russian ammunition depots (vid) some 50 kilometers (30 miles) behind the front lines.

The Russian side will use the obvious countermeasures against such attacks. Larger depots will move further back, smaller ones more near to the front will be dispersed and camouflaged. Missile and air defenses will be brought up to defend the depots. Special forces will move behind the Ukrainian front-lines to hunt down the HIMARS missile systems. I have seen two videos of such units attacking Ukrainian S-300 air defense systems far behind the front lines with anti-tank weapons and sharpshooter rifles.

Over the last weeks some HIMARS and other systems have been hitting Donetsk city and have caused a number of civilian casualties. The Russians have launched special counter battery missions which have been successful in hunting those units down. Some Russian Tochka-U missiles systems, no longer in service with the Russian forces, have been given to the forces of the Donetzk Peoples Republic to defend their main city. The Tochka has a similar 100+ kilometer reach as the HIMARS but is less precise.

There is no oversight over where the 'western' weapon deliveries to the Ukraine go to. Here is a civil car with Albanian number plates loaded with British and U.S. anti tanks missile. The Ukrainian military has admitted that such transfers are happening. We can only guess where those weapons will end up.

Of the 18 HIMARS the U.S. has delivered two were reportedly destroyed and one, including its ammunition, was allegedly sold to the Russian side. There were also reports that two French Caesar artillery systems have been sold to the Russians. Those will become nice show pieces right next to all those Nazi Tiger tanks that ended up in Russian military museums.

Tomorrow the parliament of the Russian Federation will hold a special session likely about the war in Ukraine. I have seen no hint of what it might decide to do but it will probably enable Russia's president to use more forces in Ukraine than he currently does.

The Ukrainian side is losing hundreds of soldiers per day which leads to lots of funerals with questionable symbolics (vid).

It is high time for the Ukrainian and 'western' side to stop the war and to re-enter into negotiations with the Russian side.

---
This week I ask all MoA readers to help me with my efforts to run this blog.
Please consider to contribute.

Posted by b on July 14, 2022 at 10:28 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/07/u ... .html#more

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Here's that funeral b was talking about:

http://twitter.com/i/status/1546908415330439168

No Nazis in Ukraine....

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Ukraine: Notes from a War that is No Longer News
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 13, 2022
Oleg Yasinsky



In recent months it has been difficult to make balanced analyses and projections of events, for it must be admitted that with all our arrogance and a supposed understanding of the logic of the Ukrainian-Russian absurdity, we failed to predict anything at all. We denied seeing what we feared so much, as our consciousness often denies our mortality, we denied recognising the inevitability of this war. We are discovering the hardest thing about civil wars, what literature keeps silent about: the most painful deaths are sometimes not those of those closest to us, but of those former friends who, through the madness of circumstances, are left in the opposite trench, and with whom there will be no more reconciliation, no more future jokes about these mad times.

It is also hard to be a pacifist; hating hatred and war, it is not difficult to understand that the current carnage in the heart of the former Soviet Union is not the product of any hatred, but of pure political calculation and professional media work, generous in handing out medieval beliefs and very poor in any rational expression. It seems to me hypocritical to talk about the hope for peace and to wish the negotiations success, when the partner does not exist. Ukraine has been a NATO and paramilitary base for 8 years and has always used all the agreements with Russia and the rebel republics of Donbass to build up its forces, arm itself, repress internal dissent and continue to provoke its neighbours. If Russia stops or backs down, it loses the war. If European governments stop supporting the Ukrainian government and allow it to fall, opening up the possibility of political, economic and military unification of the three Slavic states of the former USSR, NATO will have to concede defeat, which would nullify the new imperial ambitions of the US, burying forever its dream of destroying China.

I am in Moscow and my former co-worker in a Ukrainian TV programme, which we had before the war, is a refugee in Germany with her daughter. Her younger brother, only 19 years old, was a Ukrainian volunteer and died in the fighting in Mariupol. When the war started, in the early days, he left his poems and his guitar and signed up as a volunteer in a nationalist battalion. He acted as he felt it was his duty, as young Ukrainians were taught for the last 8 years, with anti-Russian and anti-communist slogans. It is the nationalist battalions that commit the most heinous crimes in this war. Their ideologically well-prepared political commanders are Nazi commissars in charge of the Ukrainian troops. They carry out orders from Washington and London. Was that boy a Nazi? What could I tell his sister? What good will my words or my silence do her? Now she is promoting in social networks Ukrainian Nazi groups who for her are the “heroes of the motherland”. Her parents live in Crimea, they always felt Russian and next to the Orthodox icon they had a picture of Putin cut out of a magazine.

…And in the opposing trenches, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers listen to the same songs…

Russia is as full of contradictions as ever. We know that the origins of Putin’s government are no different from those of the Ukrainian government and that afterwards the sad outcome of the fraud called Perestroika, what Russia sought most was to integrate into the capitalist Western world, applied to join NATO, accepted secondary roles to avoid conflict, remained silent for decades in the face of NATO’s expansion and its permanent denigrating treatment by the Western media. The turning point came with the coup d’état in Ukraine, when the West brought to power far-right, radically anti-Russian forces, which, faced with the massive disagreement of the population of its eastern regions, bordering Russia and culturally much closer to Russia than to western Ukraine, decided to start a military operation with bombings in the cities of its own country.

In response, Russia supported economically and militarily the Ukrainian territories that proclaimed themselves independent republics and took back the Crimean peninsula, where the population always felt more Russian than Ukrainian. Although today Ukraine claims so much for the return of Crimea, during the years when it was part of the country, it was in total neglect by the central power and at that time in 2014, it was threatened by armed nationalist gangs promising to “send to Crimea the friendship trains” (a sarcastic expression meaning the sending of paramilitary thugs). Crimea is also home to Russia’s most important naval base with access to the Mediterranean, which at the time, with NATO’s increasing war activity in the region, was a very important factor. It seems that in this period, the Russian government began to understand that it had no friends or allies in the European Union and that Russia alone would have to defend its interests as best it could.

When the Russian army attacked the Ukrainian military installations on 24 February, it seems that in those early days there was an absurd hope of avoiding a confrontation between the troops… it is hard to believe, but it seems that the Russian leadership thought that the Ukrainian army would defeat Zelensky’s puppet government, outlaw Nazi groups and expel US and NATO advisors from the country, which would immediately halt the Russian military operation. Most Russians were shocked by the news. Almost all of them have relatives or at least close friends in this neighbouring country that is so close to Russia mentally and culturally. Many of them rushed to write to the Ukrainians that they were wrong, that they were hurt, that they did not support the war, that those who decided it were crazy. And in response, many of them received photos of the corpses of mutilated Russian soldiers and anti-Russian insults of all kinds. This changed the mood of many.

In the first week of the war, thousands of people in Russia came out in protest. About 3,500 were arrested across the country, but afterwards, after brief interrogations, they were released. The West expected an explosion of protests and brutal repression. Protests were being promoted on all networks and screens, and going online from Russia, from the first hours of the war, an anti-war campaign was more planned and more funded than ever before. The Russian government passed draconian laws against anyone spreading “fake news about our army”, but never enforced them. “The strictness of the laws is compensated by the non-enforceability of their enforcement,” say the Russians. The brutal economic sanctions and the even more brutal global campaign against Russian culture definitely united most Russians against the West.

The Russian army continues to advance slowly. They try to avoid urban clashes, attacking only military targets, but the weapons have no intelligence or mercy and there are many civilian casualties. Between 300 and 500 Ukrainian servicemen are also killed every day. The Ukrainian army, retreating, responds indiscriminately by firing indiscriminately through the residential districts of Donetsk and the towns taken by Russian troops, leaving every day only civilian casualties that since 2014 are of no interest to the Western press. The value of Ukraine’s military support from the West will soon exceed the value of the entire Russian military budget. In the hypothetical case of Ukraine’s military triumph, this means an unpayable debt, with interest in the millions until the end of time.

In Russia, there are thousands of questions among civilians and military personnel. It seems that a large part of the government has the same questions. How can a government, which so recently felt part of the Western world, pretend to win a war against the system that decided to destroy it? Can the profound social change that Russia needs be supported by at least a part of its government? If the government is definitely incapable, who would take charge, in a people with such communitarian values, but without any social organisation?

A few days ago, there was an exchange of prisoners of war. Among those returned to Ukraine were several members of the Nazi Azov battalion. Earlier, various Russian government officials had repeatedly assured that ALL members of the far-right military organisations would be tried and, unlike ordinary military personnel, none of them would be exchanged. This generated enormous annoyance in the Russian civilian and military world and strong criticism of the government, which post-factum, with its usual clumsiness, justified itself by saying that the exchanged Azov fighters were investigated, that they did not commit any crime against the civilian population and that they are all in a very bad state of health, amputees and unable to return to combat.

An official report says that 95% of the former Russian military prisoners were tortured with electricity by the Ukrainians. In general, the clumsiness and ineptitude of official Russian propaganda in the face of an efficient global information war is one of the enigmas of these times. The media war in Russia is waged by volunteers, bloggers and the military, while government spokespersons spout incoherent ramblings that quickly become memes. Thus, when under fire from new artillery installations recently handed over to Ukraine by France, Russian troops had to leave an island in the Negro Sea, the defence ministry said that Russia did so “as a gesture of goodwill”. If everything in Russia was done in the same way as the official media war, the country would probably no longer exist.

Meanwhile, from Ukraine, the terrible news continues to come in. Intelligence forces and paramilitary groups are still searching for the internal enemy. There are thousands of prisoners, torture and hundreds of unofficial executions of civilians. Former militants of the long-banned left are rushing to denounce their former comrades in order to deserve forgiveness. Russian literature has been removed from school curricula and Russian-language songs are legally banned throughout Ukraine, although 70 per cent of the country speaks Russian as a native language. Throughout the country, all Soviet monuments and monuments dedicated to Russian personalities continue to be demolished. A new law was passed allowing the state to expropriate all property of persons suspected of “supporting the aggressor”. In a small northern town, the entire organisation of young writers was arrested, accusing them of being agents of the Kremlin, as they wrote only in Russian and nothing patriotic.

A close friend, a poet and publisher, who was never involved in political issues, recently called me from a third country: his flat in Kiev was raided by state security services and he was accused of treason for representing “an enemy culture” and “the Russian world”. With only what he was wearing, he got into his car and left the country. He was lucky, he was able to leave because he had a medical certificate of invalidity, because men up to the age of 60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine. He does not reveal any more details, as he has children and grandchildren left in Ukraine. I know dozens of such stories at first hand, and not all of them have happy endings.

Because there are so many casualties, more and more cannon fodder is needed on the front lines, and the authorities continue to hunt down the young and not so young. Yesterday on a beach in Kiev, police handed a young man sunbathing in the sun an order to join the army. He jumped into the river and swam away.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... nger-news/

Europe Dances on the Titanic
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 13, 2022
Fabrizio Casari



140 days after the start of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, the Western reaction, which according to Biden would have erased Russia from the international scene, turns out to be a political and economic failure, the most serious and profound in the history of American and European arrogance.

The boomerang effect of the sanctions has accelerated the crisis that was already affecting the entire West. Its origins are political, the result of overestimating the strength of the US and the EU in the international markets and the degree of their political influence in the international community.

The principal error was conceptual: it was thought that sanctions could be applied to the world’s largest energy and grain producer, ignoring its political and military weight while believing that the international community, with an economy already on its knees, put to the test by the production and distribution crisis caused by the pandemic, could and would further deepen the crisis of its energy supplies.

It takes an overflowing ego in Washington, an inability to comprehend international processes and a dreamlike dimension to believe that in the name and on behalf of US interests the world would want to commit suicide.

The overestimation of one’s own international leadership has been seen in the global adherence to sanctions: confusing numbers with the political and economic weight of countries is a trivial error, one of political neophytes, of narcissists in front of a distorting mirror.

The largest and most powerful Asian, African and Latin American countries have not joined the sanctions against Moscow. It would have been sufficient to test the waters first instead of appearing to be amateurs later.

The failed balance sheet of the war against Russia is here: with the exception of Japan, the 740 million Westerners have brought no one else to their side; countries representing 5 billion people, and not part of the West, have increased their relations with Moscow, which possesses the energy and political weight necessary for the development of the BRICS countries and much of Africa. The closure of Western markets has been largely offset by the increase of Russian products in Eastern and Southern markets. This has made financial sanctions insignificant, and even the theft of Russian Central Bank deposits and the ban on dollars and euros have only hurt creditors.

Dangerous amateurs

In response to the sanctions, Russia has raised the price of fuel that Europe desperately needs. And although Brussels is aiming for an end to Russian supplies by the end of the year, the rising cost of supplies is directly affecting Europe.Why? Because the EU buys gas from Mozambique, Angola, Algeria and India, all of whom buy oil and gas from Moscow and inevitably are suffering the increases both when buying from the Russians and when reselling to Europeans.

There is an idiocy of calculation in the EU that adds to its structural dependence and is leading Europe to a collapse of supply that will result in a most severe economic crisis, as Purnima Anand, President of the BRICS Economic Forum, has warned. For the Indian economist, “sanctions against Russia affect all the rules of world trade, because Moscow is a partner of many countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

On the other hand, sanctions on products generate an increase in their cost; and this affects almost all the countries that issue them, because those same products are forced to import them. The pandemic had already impacted the underbelly of an economy that, in any case, was suffocating: there was a worrying increase in distribution costs caused by the reduction of reserves and the increase in transportation costs, also due to speculation by the oil companies. To this scenario was added the desire to strike at Moscow, generating more damage for the sanctioners than for the sanctioned.

Who wins and who loses?

The pressure of the sanctions falls on Europe, the real US market competitor along with China, which since the beginning of the sanctions and has had to resort (as if by chance) to the US for gas supplies, from where in recent months it has imported record quantities of LNG, although the possible volumes can never replace Russian gas in terms of quantity, speed of transport, cost and quality of the product. Meanwhile, the dollar has gained 13% against the euro.

Thus, the United States won over its allies and not Russia, which, by contrast, gained an advantage of 0.99 due to the appreciation of its currency (on February 24 one dollar cost 1.13 rubles, on July 8 the exchange rate was 1.01). Russia was therefore not affected by this situation. In addition to having gained 15% on the exchange rate, by increasing its energy supply costs, it is obtaining record figures on its strategic sector assets.

The balance sheet to date says that if Russia’s expulsion from the Swift system was necessary to break Russian import/export, the mission has been a disaster. If the idea was to isolate Russia, it has failed: Putin is an interlocutor for the world, Zelensky is not. If the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian military was intended to defeat Russia on the ground, the objective has failed miserably. As of today, the Russians control 26% of Ukrainian territory and Zelensky, at this point, in terms of influence and strategic interlocution, is more like Guaidò than Churchill.

The EU risks implosion

The transformation of the EU into a US protectorate is producing ominous results. The Berlin-Paris axis, which has been the EU’s command bridge for the past 22 years, is collapsing in the face of the demise of the German locomotive and the lack of leadership with international authority. There is a general problem of narrowness in the systemic framework, a consequence of a general political fragility in which an unprecedented economic and social crisis with no way out is growing.

Political crises are hitting the Old Continent and some of them are marked by the resignation of heads of government. The most striking case is that of Great Britain, with Boris Johnson leading the Anglo-Saxon charge against Russia with Biden.

The domestic economic crisis has not encouraged the solidarity of Her Majesty’s subjects with the festive prime minister: according to The Guardian, one in ten British families do not have enough to eat and not because there is a lack of food, but because it costs too much. Across the Channel, inflation has now exceeded the 9% ceiling, prompting a first strike against rising gasoline prices on Monday. The drivers’ union has called a referendum among its members to approve a series of national strikes (which would be the first since 1995, in a country where wages have been stagnant for three years).

In Estonia, the same fate befell Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a Russophobic hawk who resigned in a country with a very strong Russian minority that risks being cut off from trade routes as a result of Lithuanian sectarianism against Moscow.

In Bulgaria, the government fell. The liberals do not have a majority in Parliament to form a government and their leader has ceded the mandate to President Radev, bringing the country closer to new elections, the fourth in just over a year.

And in the rest of the continent, things are not going well either.

Germany has declared an energy emergency and electricity and gas rationing, and Berlin is already thinking about how to get out of the sanctions that threaten to sink it economically. Olaf Sholz has neither the experience, nor the charisma, nor the authority of Angela Merkel, which would be necessary at such a delicate moment, when decisions taken at the behest of the United States risk leading Germany towards the end of the Golden Age.

France, despite its nuclear power, is said to be in a “war economy” and the specter of the yellow vests revolts is once again agitating Macron, now politically and numerically weaker in the National Assembly. The social protest that blocked air and rail transport last week has resumed in force. Inflation is at 6.5%.

Spain is going through a political crisis marked by the cession of Podemos to the Atlantic sirens with the consequent disaffection of its electorate and the PSOE sees how Sánchez is surpassed in the polls by the populares (which, however, even with the support of VOX, would not reach an absolute majority). The stagnation that has characterized the last few years of Spanish political vicissitudes is indicative of the limbo between colonial dreams and the reality of the colonization of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Netherlands, austerity theorists, observe with concern how the waves of strikes by farmers, stockbreeders and fishermen in Holland have paralyzed the country.

In Italy, Draghi’s pseudo-monarchy seems to have its months numbered. Indeed, the question is when, and no longer if, the M5S will pull its government out of the Atlanticist furor that has infinitely worsened the socio-economic conditions of Italians.

While waiting for the prone press to take notice, the annual report of the ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics), provides frightening figures on the poverty of Italians. The number of people in absolute poverty from 2005 to 2021 has almost tripled from 1.9 to 5.6 million (9.4% of the total) and the number of families in absolute poverty has doubled from 800 thousand to 1.96 million (7.5%). As for wages, salaries are below 8.41 euros per hour, but managers earn 65 times more than workers. Inflation is 6.4%.

And this is without having calculated the effects of the war and sanctions against Russia, which will hit the European economies in general and the German and Italian economies in particular, even harder starting this autumn, due to their greater dependence on Russian gas.

This is not scaremongering and is confirmed by Fatih Birol, CEO of International Energy: “Europe will face a red alert next winter. Recent natural gas supply disruptions, in particular the drastic reduction in flows to EU countries, are expected to remove some 35 billion cubic meters of gas from the market this year, which will pose a major challenge to efforts to replenish storage.”

Thus, the loss of Europe’s role seems to proceed in forced stages. Europe no longer has a role to play, having given up pursuing its own interests to adhere to a blind Atlanticist obedience that punishes it in the name of and on behalf of US interests. This Stockholm syndrome has turned into an assisted suicide in the space of four months.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... e-titanic/

US-Supplied HIMARS MLRS Kills, Injures Hundreds of Civilians across Donbass and Southern Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 13, 2022
Drago Bosnic



In early June, it was reported that the United States, NATO and other satellite states will be sending billions worth of additional weapons, including the HIMARS MLRS to the Kiev regime in yet another desperate attempt to buy the Neo-Nazi junta more time, as it’s facing an imminent defeat across all frontlines from northern areas of Kharkov oblast to the western fringes of Kherson oblast. At the time, Western state-run mainstream media were claiming that the system is a supposed “game-changer” and that it would not only “slow down or halt Russian advance”, but also “help push back” the Russian military by enabling the Kiev regime forces to mount “decisive counteroffensives”.

Needless to say, none of this happened. But what did happen was more of the same coming from the Kiev regime – using any weapon at its disposal to target residential areas and infrastructure. To make matters even worse, the Kiev regime is now targeting not only Donbass, but even the regions which were under its jurisdiction just 4 months ago, the Kherson and Zaporozhye oblasts. In addition to the “regular” shelling of Donetsk and the surrounding areas, a nearly decade-long “normal” occurrence for people there, the Kiev regime is now using the US-supplied M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) MLRS against the DPR’s (Donetsk People’s Republic) capital, in addition to other places in the area.

On Sunday, July 10, one such strike claimed the lives of at least three civilians and injured over 40 others, according to a report by DPR authorities. According to their representatives from the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination on Ceasefire (JCCC), the July 10 Ukrainian missile strike hit the DPR’s Amvrosievsky district, which borders Russia’s southwestern Rostov oblast. In addition to those killed and wounded, at least four people were reported missing. Other attacks on civilians (including children) across the Donbass republics (particularly the DPR) were also reported.

Still, in addition to these attacks, the Kiev regime has also been shelling settlements in southern Ukraine, which it held until late February. For this purpose, it has not just been using conventional artillery, but also MLRS and short-range ballistic missiles, such as “Tochka-U”. In one such attack, at least 7 people died and nearly 100 were wounded after Kiev regime forces hit a residential area with HIMARS MLRS.

The administration office of the Kherson oblast confirmed that the attack on Novaya Kakhovka was conducted by using the US-made MLRS. According to the local officials, Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant was the intended target, but the rockets hit a warehouse housing saltpetre and fertilizer, damaging a hospital, a market and residential buildings, according to the Head of Novaya Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev. In addition to other areas hit by these rockets, a humanitarian aid depot with over 35 tons of food and other necessities was also damaged in the explosion. According to local sources, all windows within a two-kilometer radius were shattered.

In other areas, specifically northern Kharkov oblast, Kiev regime artillery units shelled EMERCOM’s (Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations) humanitarian convoy in the settlement of Kozacha Lopan. According to local sources, two civilians were killed as a result, while Neo-Nazi junta infiltrators have also killed the mayor of Velykyi Burluk. He was executed for allegedly “collaborating” with Russian forces. In the south, Kiev regime forces hit Tokmak in the central part of Zaporozhye oblast. Russian air defense systems intercepted the missiles and rockets, but the fragments still fell on the city. Luckily, no civilian casualties were reported.

Neo-Nazi junta forces also hit the airfield in Chernobaevka on the westernmost fringes of the Kherson oblast. Reportedly, there was a massive explosion in the facility. Ukrainian rocket artillery also shelled the Russian-held Snigirevka in the Nikolayev oblast. There was also an assassination attempt on the head of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo, but was prevented by Russian special services. Bomb disposal units disarmed the roadside IED planted to kill Saldo. A Kiev regime forces strike drone was also shot down over Melitopol, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Zaporozhye oblast administration reported.

Russian Armed Forces responded with a number of strikes against the Kiev regime troops, including the launch of a strike near Radushnoe in the Krivoy Rog rayon of the Dnepropetrovsk oblast. Reportedly, ammunition depots housing rockets and artillery shells for the US-supplied M142 HIMARS MLRS, M777 and Ukrainian 2C7 howitzers were destroyed. Also, in Nechayane, another ammunition storage was destroyed by a Russian missile strike. Last week, the Russian military posted a video of the destruction of two US-supplied HIMARS MLRS, near the frontline in a settlement just south of Kramatorsk. In addition, LPR troops damaged and later captured one of the US-made M777 howitzers and posted a video of the artillery piece.

What is certainly clear from all this is that the so-called “game-changers” and “Wunderwaffen” the political West has been sending for the last 8 years, but especially in recent months, have done virtually nothing to make the Kiev regime troops a more effective fighting force. What these weapons have contributed to is the death and maiming of civilians and the destruction of their property and infrastructure, not just in Donbass, but in other areas as well. However, this should not be surprising to anyone, as the Neo-Nazi junta announced their intention of exterminating the “Untermenschen” in southern and eastern Ukraine back in 2013, before the US-orchestrated coup brought them to power.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... n-ukraine/

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VIDEO: Germany criminalizes journalist for exposing Ukrainian war crimes
MAX BLUMENTHAL·JULY 13, 2022

Independent Donetsk-based journalist Alina Lipp of Germany details her prosecution by the German state for violating new speech codes through her reporting in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
As the only German reporter on the ground in Donetsk, Lipp has exposed Ukrainian forces shelling civilians, attacking a maternity ward, mining harbors, and bombing a granary filled with corn for export. She faces three years in prison if she returns to her home country.



https://thegrayzone.com/2022/07/13/vide ... ar-crimes/

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PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Imaginary War
July 13, 2022

It began when the Biden regime and the press misrepresented Russian aims in Ukraine. All else has flowed from it.


U.S. President Joe Biden after delivering remarks on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Feb. 24. (White House, Adam Schultz)

By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News

What were the policy cliques, “the intelligence community” and the press that serves both going to do when the kind of war in Ukraine they talked incessantly about turned out to be imaginary, a Marvel Comics of a conflict with little grounding in reality? I have wondered about this since the Russian intervention began on Feb. 24. I knew the answer would be interesting when finally we had one.

Now we have one. Taking the government-supervised New York Times as a guide, the result is a variant of what we saw as the Russiagate fiasco came unglued: Those who manufacture orthodoxies as well as consent are slithering out the side door.

I could tell you I don’t intend to single out the Times in this wild chicanery, except that I do. The once-but-no-longer newspaper of record continues to be singularly wicked in its deceits and deceptions as it imposes the official but imaginary version of the war on unsuspecting readers.

As Consortium News’s properly suspecting readers will recall, Vladimir Putin was clear when he told the world Russia’s intentions as it began its intervention. These were two: Russian forces went into Ukraine to “demilitarize and de–Nazify” it, a pair of limited, defined objectives.

An astute reader of these commentaries pointed out in a recent comment thread that the Russian president had once again proven, whatever else one may think of him, a focused statesman with an excellent grasp of history. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Allied Control Council declared its postwar purpose in Germany as “the four D’s.” These were de–Nazification, demilitarization, democratization and decentralization.

Let’s give David Thompson, who brought this historical reference to my attention, a deserved byline here:

“Putin’s reiteration of the de–Nazification and demilitarization principles established from the Potsdam Conference is not just some quaint tip of the hat to history. He was laying down a marker to the United States and the United Kingdom that the agreement reached at Potsdam in 1945 is still relevant and valid ….”

The Russian president, whose entire argument with the West is that a just and stable order in Europe must serve the security interests of all sides, was simply restating objectives the trans–Atlantic alliance had once signed on to accomplish. In other words, he was pointing out said alliance’s gross hypocrisy as it arms the ideological descendants of German Nazis.


From left, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Soviet leader Josef Stalin during the Potsdam Conference, 1945. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons)

I dwell on this matter because the imaginary war began with the Biden regime’s and the press’s quite irresponsible misrepresentations of the Russian Federation’s aims in Ukraine. All else has flowed from it.

You remember: Russian forces were going to “conquer” the whole of the nation, wipe out the Kiev regime, install a puppet government and then drive on to Poland, the Baltic states, Transnistria and the rest of Moldova, and who could imagine what after that. De–Nazification, we can now read, is a phony Kremlin dodge.

Next Edition

Having lied outright on this score, the next edition of the comic went onto the market. Russia is failing to achieve its imaginary objectives. Low morale, desertions, poorly trained troops with not enough to eat, logistical failures, lousy artillery, inadequate ordnance, incompetent officers: The Russians were riding for a fall on Ukrainian soil.

The corollary here was the heroism, courage and battlefield grit of Ukrainian troops, least of all, the Azov Battalion, who were not any longer neo–Nazis. Never mind the Times, The Guardian, the BBC and various other mainstream publications and broadcasters had earlier told us about these ideological fanatics. That was then, this is now.

The problem at this point was there were no battlefield successes to report. The defeats, indeed, had begun. In May, roughly when the Azov Battalion, heroic and democratic as it is, was forced to surrender in Mariupol, it was time for — this just had to be — Russian atrocities.

We had the theater and the maternity hospital in Mariupol, we had the infamous slaughter in Bucha, the Kiev suburb; various others have followed. Just what happened in these cases has never been established by credible, disinterested investigators; plentiful evidence that Ukrainian forces bear responsibility is dismissed out of hand. But who needs investigations and evidence when the brutal, criminal, indiscriminately ruthless Rrrrusssians, must be culpable if the imaginary war is to proceed?

My unchallenged favorites in this line come courtesy of CNN, which went long this spring on allegations — Ukrainian allegations, of course — that Russian soldiers were raping young girls and young boys right down to months-old infants. Three such specimens are here, here and here.

The network abruptly dropped this line of inquiry after the senior Ukrainian official disseminating these allegations was removed from office because the charges are fabrications. A wise move on CNN’s part, I think: Propaganda does not have to be very subtle, as history shows, but it does have its limits.

Just after the atrocities narrative had ripened, the Russians-are-stealing-Ukrainian-grain theme began. The BBC offered an especially wonderful account of this. Look at this video and text presentation and tell me it isn’t the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, as many holes in it as my Irish grandma’s lace curtains.

But at this point, problems. Russian forces, with their desertions, antiquated guns, and dumb generals, were taking one city after another in eastern Ukraine. These were not — the fly in the ointment — imaginary victories.

Out with the war-is-going-well theme and in with the brutal Russians’ indiscriminate use of artillery. This was a “primitive strategy,” the Times wanted us to know. In the awfulness of war, you simply don’t shell an enemy position as a preliminary to taking it. Medieval.


The New York Times building. (Thomas Hawk, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)

Lately, there’s another problem for the conjurors of imaginary war. This is the death toll. The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission reported May 10 that the casualty count to date was in excess of 3,380 civilian fatalities, bumped up in June to 4,509, and 3,680 civilians injured. (And both sides shoot and kill in a war.)

Goddamn it, they exclaimed on Eighth Avenue. That is nowhere near enough in the imaginary war. Desperate for a gruesomely high death toll, the Times, on June 18, published “Death in Ukraine: A Special Report.” What a read. There is nothing in it other than innuendo and weightless surmise. But the imaginary war must grind on.

The Times’s “special report”— dum-da-da-dum — rests on phrases such as “witness testimony and other evidence” and “the thousands believed killed.” The evidence, to be noted, derives almost entirely from Ukrainian officials — as does an inordinate amount of what the Times publishes.

There is a great quotation: “People are killed indiscriminately or suddenly or without rhyme or reason.” Wow. Is this damning or what?

But another problem. This observation comes from one Richard Kohn, who is emeritus at the University of North Carolina. I hope the professor is having a good summer down in Chapel Hill.

In late June, Sievierodonetsk fell — or rose, depending on your point of view — and in short order so did Lysychansk and the whole of Luhansk province. Now come the ’fessing up stories, here and there. The Ukrainian forces are so discombobulated they are shooting one another, we read. They can’t operate their radios and — an artful back flip here — they are running out of food and ammunition and morale. Untrained soldiers who signed up to patrol their neighborhoods are deserting the front lines.

Holdouts


(raw pixel, CCO)

There are the holdouts. The Times reported last week that the Ukrainians, done for in Luhansk, are planning a counteroffensive in the south to reclaim lost territory. We all need our dreams, I suppose.

To the surprise of many, Patrick Lang, the ordinarily astute observer of military matters, published “Unable to even fix its own tanks, Russia’s humiliation is now complete” on his Turcopolier last Friday. The retired colonel predicts the Russians are in for “a sudden reversal of fortunes.” No, I’m not holding my breath.

Have you had enough of the imaginary war? I have. I read this junk daily as a professional obligation. Some of it I find amusing, but in the main it sickens when I think of what the American press has done to itself and to its readers.

For the record, it is hard to tell exactly what occurs on Ukraine’s tragic fields of war. As noted previously in this space, we have very little coverage from professional, properly disinterested correspondents. But I offer here my surmise, and it is nothing more.

This war has proceeded, more or less inexorably, in one direction: In the real war, the Ukrainians have been on a slow march to defeat from the first. They are too corrupt, too mesmerized by their fanatical Russophobia to organize an effective force or even to see straight.

This is not a grinding war of attrition, as we are supposed to think. It has proceeded slowly because Russian forces appear to be taking care to limit casualties — their own and among Ukrainian civilians. I put more faith in the U.N.’s numbers than in that silly, nothing-in-it “special report” the Times just published.

I do not know why Russian forces approached the outskirts of Kiev from the north early in the conflict and then withdrew, but there is no indication they intended to take the capital. There were battles, but they were certainly not “beaten back.” That is sheer nonsense.

I await proper investigations — admittedly unlikely — of the atrocities that have certainly occurred but without, so far, any conclusive indication of culpability.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, remarked recently Russia’s objective remains to take most of Ukraine. In a speech at the end of June in Ashgabat, the Turkmenistan capital, Putin appeared notably at ease and asserted, “Everything is going according to plan. Nothing has changed.” The objective, he said, remained “to liberate Donbass, to protect these people, and to create conditions that would guarantee the safety of Russia itself. That’s it.”

Putting these two statements side by side, there is vastly more evidence supporting Putin’s than there is for Haines.

Intentionally or otherwise — and I often have the impression the Times does not grasp the implications of what it publishes — the paper put out a story Sunday headlined, “Ukraine and the Contest of Global Stamina.” The outcome of this conflict, it reported, now depends on “whether the United States and its allies can maintain their military, political and financial commitments to holding off Russia.”

Can they possibly not understand down on Eighth Avenue that they have just described Ukraine as a basket-case client? Do they know they have just announced that the imaginary war they have waged these past four and some months is ending in defeat, given there is no one in Ukraine to win it?

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/13/p ... inary-war/

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Western weapons, intelligence and tactics
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/14/2022 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT



Ukraine continues to hype its next offensive to recapture temporarily occupied coastal territories, that is, the Kherson region and southern Zaporozhie. In March, at a time when several media outlets practically took a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine for granted, Moscow implicitly showed its willingness to abandon those territories just as it would hours later with the territories north of kyiv. . However, this Russian abandonment of a strategic area and in which it had gained control (this was not the case in kyiv, where artillery duels were causing excessive casualties without any possibility of advancing on the Ukrainian capital) implied concessions. : Ukraine would be forced to admit the loss of Crimea and Donbass. Without interest in negotiating Donbass borders that would not imply the loss of the entire territory and openly refusing to admit the loss of Crimea,

Just hours after the Russian negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, announced what he believed to be a possible deal, the Ukrainian side used the same method it had used for seven years in the Minsk process: trying to rewrite the Russian proposal. It was the end of a negotiation process that was always frankly unlikely, since Russia and Ukraine were not only negotiating territorial issues, but aspects such as security guarantees involving third countries.

The Ukrainian Army, which remains despite the defeats suffered in Mariupol, Popasnaya or Severodonetsk-Lisichansk, has been reinforced during this time thanks to the enormous amounts of financing and weapons sent by Western countries. For the moment, this new force has translated into more destruction in the People's Republics and more pressure on the Russian and Republican troops, especially in those areas where the number of troops is scarcer.

The task of Ukraine to present a future offensive as a sure success is facilitated by the work of the images that are published in the media. Faced with the damage caused by Ukrainian artillery and missiles, which are published in the Russian and Republican press, Ukraine prohibited at the beginning of this phase of the war the broadcast and dissemination of the consequences of Russian bombing and missile attacks. Thus, while the destruction of Russian ammunition dumps is broadcast by the media, this is not the case with Ukrainian ammunition dumps, which are also being destroyed by Russian attacks. That feeling is also helped by the fact that the foreign press is maintaining total loyalty to the Ukrainian demands.

In this task of trying to present a change in trend on the front that, at least for the moment, is not such, Ukraine is also exploiting the successes, real or imagined, of Western weaponry. Every military success has to be explained by the use of Western weapons, a way of undermining the opponent's morale, justifying his own worth and demanding even more weapons from his partners. The long-awaited HIMARS have a special presence in this work.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/07/14/armas ... more-25036

[blindpig]

Faina Savenkova – “I wanted Americans to know the truth”
Originally published: Donbass Insider on July 11, 2022 by Donbass Insider (more by Donbass Insider) | (Posted Jul 14, 2022)

If you ask most teenagers in the United States or Europe what they like to do, they’ll probably tell you they enjoy playing video games like “Call of Duty,” where they pretend to be at war. For them, war is a game. An entertaining way to spend their time after school or on weekends. For 13-year-old Faina Savenkova, war is no game, but a terrifying daily reality she has faced for eight long years. Two weeks ago, I first wrote about Faina, the child-writer from eastern Ukraine. She has been surrounded by war since she was just five years old. She first began writing about it when she was ten, as a way to cope with the daily fear of bombardment. And she hopes that her writing will bring attention to the plight of other children in the war-torn region of Donbas where she lives.

In the west, most people seem to believe that the war in Ukraine began in February, 2022, when Russian forces first crossed the border. And mainstream media makes the war sound simplistic and two-dimensional, like a comic book, with “bad guys” and “good guys.” As though Russians are Orcs from Mordor, and President Vladimir Putin is an evil madman who invaded Ukraine for no reason other than his seething hatred for humanity and his desire for world domination.

As they say, truth is the first casualty of war.

In reality, many of the people living in eastern Ukraine begged Putin to intervene for years before he finally relented. And during those years, the people of Donbas lived in their basements as Ukrainian nationalists, who idealize mass-murderers like Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich, bombed their homes, churches, schools, markets and other civilian places. The Russian-speaking residents of eastern Ukraine have been under attack by Ukrainian forces, backed by the U.S. and NATO, ever since the Maidan coup which ripped Ukraine asunder in 2014. Just last week, Russian forces finally secured the entire region of Lugansk, wresting it out of Ukrainian control. But the war rages on in Donetsk and in other parts of eastern Ukraine, and civilians continue to die, many of them children.

Faina wants Americans to know what she and other children in the breakaway People’s Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk have been going through all this time. I talked with her via text on VKontakte, a Russian social media site where we have become acquainted. I also invited her to write an open letter to the American people, which I will include in this article.
Here is our conversation, translated from Russian.

Deborah Armstrong: How old were you when the war started, and what are your first memories of the war?

Faina Savenkova: When the war began, I was five years old. My first memories are of the frightening rumbling, the dark basement, dogs and cats which were abandoned, roaming the yards and streets. At that age, you perceive everything differently. You don’t have the sense of fear that adults have. It’s probably because you don’t understand that you could die. So, you just sit there, counting the explosions, studying a spider that weaves its web in the corner of the damp basement, praying that it will end quickly.

DA: How has the war changed your life?

FS: I became more focused. After all, to live in a war is to know all the time that you could be killed. A missile or a shell could come, even if you live on the outskirts of town. I was once asked what the difference is between children living in war and children from Europe or the United States. My answer was that we are not much different, except that we are in a hurry to live, not putting things off until tomorrow. Because that “tomorrow” may not come for us.

DA: How has the war changed your family’s lives? Your friends’ lives?

FS: My parents did not leave either in 2014 or in 2022. Of course, the war impacted all of our lives, but it has become sort of a daily routine that we have gotten used to, so it’s hard to say right away how it affected us. Some of my former classmates had relatives killed because of the war, so their lives changed much more than mine.

DA: Americans don’t believe that there are Nazis in Ukraine. What would you say to them?

FS: Unfortunately, in America not many people know much about what happened in our country. Even the fact that we have had a war going on. Americans only learned about it in 2022, when the Russian operation in Ukraine began. The American media said that evil Putin attacked poor Ukraine. Of course, many believed it. True, the media forgot to mention that Ukraine has been killing civilians in Donbas for eight years. I don’t know what Nazism means to Americans. To me, it’s lack of freedom, prohibition to speak your mind, the worship of Bandera and Hitler, the shelling of peaceful cities, the killing of children. That’s Nazism. But I would probably suggest that these people come to Donetsk and Makeyevka and live there under the bombardment.

DA: How do you feel about the U.S. and NATO “defending” Ukraine?

FS: I don’t think that they are defending Ukraine. Handing them weapons is not helping them, because Ukrainian soldiers are dying. Not American or NATO soldiers. So, this isn’t supporting them, it’s sending an entire nation to its death.

DA: What do you think about Russia’s “special military operation”?

FS: When I signed a letter from 100 fiction writers in support of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, many people condemned me. Both then and now, I have no doubts about the rightness of this decision. Ukraine is killing children and women. They shoot at kindergartens, schools and homes, and people are dying because of it. And the only country that can save us is Russia. Of course, Russia might not have sent its army to help Donbas, because Russian soldiers are also dying. But thanks to the army, I can live more-or-less peacefully in Lugansk and I already fear less for my life.

DA: How do you feel about your country, the Lugansk People’s Republic, gaining independence?

FS: To me, it’s something which has already happened.

DA: What do you think about how people in the west refer to you as “Russian separatists”? Our media is constantly repeating that phrase. What do you think is going on?

FS: I know that the United States celebrates Independence Day on the Fourth of July. Britain, too, was once unhappy, calling Americans “separatists.” I don’t think that a big state likes it when some region wants to live on its own, but it doesn’t happen that simply. Things like this happen when politicians can’t agree. Donbas and Crimea only wanted their rights respected, our heroes honored, and for the Russian language not to be banned. We also wanted good relations with Russia. But no one listened to us. And anyway, I don’t consider myself a “separatist.”

DA: Faina also wants to draw attention again to the Ukrainian website Mirotvorets, which has published a database of thousands of names, including hers, along with personal information like home addresses. The people listed, mostly journalists, activists and writers like herself, are deemed to be “enemies of Ukraine.” At least one journalist on this list has been killed, and after his death, the Ukrainian word for “liquidated” was put over his photograph in red letters.Despite demands from international human rights organizations, Mirotvorets, which ironically means “Peacemaker,” continues to operate. You can visit the site, but be prepared to see graphic images of violence. The website’s home page is covered with photographs of dead Russian soldiers, and that is only the beginning of the horror. And yet the website remains. This is what Faina had to say about it:

FS: I wrote a video appeal to the UN last year, about how children shouldn’t die [in war]. In October, this website posted my contact information and home address, violating international laws on personal data. Now my data is on the Internet. This is a danger to my life, because in addition to nationalists, there are human traffickers and just murderers. My case caused a scandal and reached the UN Secretary General and UNICEF but unfortunately, all they did was express concern, and the danger to my life remains. Nevertheless, I will continue to fight this site, because it’s not just me, but many other children as well. It’s difficult for me to explain to Americans what Mirotvorets is. This site posts the data of those who disagree with the authorities of Ukraine under the pretext that these people are “enemies of Ukraine.” By comparison, imagine if the Ku Klux Klan opened such a website in the U.S., with a server located in Russia, and listed politicians, actors, musicians, public figures and anyone who expresses a different opinion and posted their addresses and bank accounts and openly called for reprisals against them? Of course, I fear for my life, but I will do everything I can to have this site shut down and the organizers brought before an international court. European journalists and the Russian Foundation for Battling Injustice and Mira Terada [the foundation’s spokesperson], are helping me. I hope that everything will work out for us.

DA: What is the main thing you wish Americans knew about this war?

FS: I would like Americans to know the truth. When they tell you that some [people] are bad and others are good, it’s not the truth, it’s propaganda.

Interview of Faina Savenkova by Deborah Armstrong

To my friends in America

Two events recently took place in the world. In America, in the suburbs of Chicago, people were killed during Independence Day celebrations. And in the last three days, artillery fire from Ukraine in Donbas, in Donetsk and Makeyevka, killed five children. A 10-year-old girl was torn apart by a Ukrainian shell. But did American journalists notice this? No.

I can understand why Americas mourn the dead on Independence Day. But they stubbornly refuse to see what Ukraine is doing. I live in Donbas, and after children were killed by the weapons you and Europe supply, I should probably hate you and be rejoice that God punishes those who cause the death of our children. But I am Russian and I have been living in a war for eight years now. I understand what death is, so I do not feel anger and hatred. And I grieve with you for those who died. Human life is priceless, and murder is always terrible because you cannot bring back those who are lost, you cannot dull this pain. Just as you cannot shut out the war, because the war, which your government is as much to blame for as anyone else, is bound to come back to you.

I’m sorry that many in America don’t know that it all started eight years ago. And Ukraine is killing civilians, destroying our cities, killing children. But your politicians hardly pay attention to this. They are ready to fight to the last Ukrainian and, apparently, they think they will defeat Russia in a nuclear war. They won’t. I would like you to understand that war is bad, just like killing innocent people is. I hope this will soon be over, and that humanity will once again understand the value of life and a peaceful future, and that Russia and America will be friends.

Faina Savenkova, age 13, Lugansk

https://mronline.org/2022/07/14/faina-s ... the-truth/

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Three Illuminating Quotes About the War in Ukraine
JULY 13, 2022


From left to right: John Pilger, Noam Chomsky and Chris Hedges, all three of them have condemned the media propaganda on the war in Ukraine. Photo composition by author.

By Caitlin Johnstone – Jul 12, 2022

Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, and Chris Hedges have lent their expertise to the subject of the war in Ukraine with some recent comments that help bring some much-needed clarity to an often confusing and always contentious issue. Here they are.

John Pilger: “I’ve spent my career working in the mainstream, and I’ve covered probably seven, eight, nine shooting wars; I’ve never seen coverage so utterly consumed by a tsunami of jingoism, and of manipulative jingoism as this one.”

This comment comes from a recent interview with the legendary Australian journalist by the South China Morning Post, and it says so much about the information ecosystem we now find ourselves floundering around trying to understand things in.

From the earliest days of the invasion it was clear that the western world was being smashed with a deluge of propaganda unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. In the first full month of the conflict, American network TV stations gave more coverage to the war in Ukraine than any other war that the US has been directly involved in, including Iraq and Vietnam. Literal Iraq war architects were some of the first pundits sought out for analysis of the conflict by the mainstream press, and calls for insane escalations against Russia succeeded in pushing the Overton window of acceptable debate in the direction of warmongering extremism and away from support for diplomatic solutions.

And this was all easily piped into mainstream consciousness because the way had been lubricated by years of Russia hysterica resulting from the mass scale psychological operation known as Russiagate. America’s most dangerous confrontation in generations just so happens to have been preceded by years of media-generated panic about that very same country, despite the Ukraine invasion having ostensibly nothing whatsoever to do with the conspiracy theory that the Kremlin had infiltrated the highest levels of the US government. Heckin’ heck of a coincidence right there, buddy boy.

Noam Chomsky: “It’s quite interesting that in American discourse, it is almost obligatory to refer to the invasion as the ‘unprovoked invasion of Ukraine’. Look it up on Google, you will find hundreds of thousands of hits. Of course, it was provoked. Otherwise they wouldn’t refer to it all the time as an unprovoked invasion.”

This quote, from an interview last month with Ramzy Baroud, is self-evidently true and should be pointed out more often.

People don’t go adding the same gratuitous adjectives and modifiers to something over and over again unless they’re trying to manipulate how it’s perceived. If your neighbor always referred to his wife as “my wife who I definitely never beat,” you’d immediately become suspicious because that’s not how normal people talk about normal things. We don’t say “round Earth” or “the Holocaust that totally happened,” we just say the words, because their basic nature is not seriously in dispute and we’ve got nothing invested in manipulating or obfuscating people’s understanding about them.

The need of the political/media class to continually bleat this phrase “unprovoked invasion” over and over again is itself a confession that they know they’re not telling the whole truth. It’s the imperial propaganda version of this classic tweet:


Chomsky outlines many of the provocations the US/NATO power structure engaged in prior to the conflict, which many western analysts spent years warning was coming as a result of the provocative actions that were already being taken by the empire. The invasion could easily have been prevented with a little diplomacy and some low-cost, high-reward concessions ike honoring the Minsk agreements and providing assurances of neutrality for Ukraine, but they chose provocation and escalation instead. Add to that the exponentially increased shelling of the Donbas by Kyiv immediately prior to the invasion and you can understand why empire spinmeisters are working so hard to push the “unprovoked” line.

None of this is to say that Russia is blameless in this war; if I provoke someone into punching somebody they are still morally responsible for having thrown the punch, but I am also responsible for having provoked it. Russia is responsible for its actions, and the US/NATO/Ukraine power structure is responsible for its actions. Putin is responsible for invading, the western empire is responsible for provoking that invasion. Not complicated.

In the same interview Chomsky also says that “censorship in the United States has reached such a level beyond anything in my lifetime” regarding this war. That assessment plus Pilger’s testimony about war propaganda unlike anything he’s ever seen shows that imperial narrative management is at an all-time high, which wouldn’t be happening unless the empire had some major agendas it wanted to roll out in the coming years.

Chris Hedges: “At no time, including the Cuban missile crisis, have we stood closer to the precipice of nuclear war.”

Echoing the urgent warnings that Stephen Cohen was making at the end of his life, a new article by Hedges outlines the profoundly dangerous games the empire is playing with a nuclear superpower in its continually escalating proxy war against Moscow.



The observations by Pilger and Chomsky about how much effort is going in to manipulating people’s understanding of this war make sense when you realize that the agendas the empire is trying to roll out against Russia now and then China later down the road stand not only to throw the world into poverty and starvation, but to wipe us off the face of this planet.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There’s no good reason the world’s most powerful government needs to risk the life of everyone on earth in a bid to secure planetary domination. It is possible for all nations and peoples to simply get along and collaborate toward the common good together. All that would need to happen is for these agendas of total hegemony to be abandoned.

Unfortunately the managers of empire don’t seem to have any plans to abandon their goal of global conquest anytime soon, so we the ordinary people of this world may end up having to force the issue with them at some point in the interests of our very survival.

This is a hell of a time to be alive, but man they’ve been keeping it interesting.

https://orinocotribune.com/three-illumi ... n-ukraine/

Wow, two Chomsky quotes and he didn't say anything reactionary...What is this world coming to?

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

forwarded from
Readovka
Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of July 14

The situation on the fronts for the past day:

Slavic direction
From the places they report that most of Seversk has been taken. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are retreating, as being in a lowland has a detrimental effect on their defensive orders. Earlier, Verkhnekamenskoye was liberated , and the 6th regiment of the NM of the LPR occupied the village of Stryapovka . In the Seversk region , fighting is going on between the liberated Grigorovka and Serebryanka .
There are reports from local residents that Russian troops are entering Soledar from the northeast. There are fights in the greenery of the dacha sector and in the area of ​​​​garages. In the area of ​​Slavyansk - fighting in the forest near the village of Mazanovkaand along the Izyum-Slavyansk highway near the village of Dolina , and to the east - fighting in the area of ​​Prishib and Sidorovo . Enemy tactical drones are operating in the sky.

In the Donetsk direction , Kamenka was completely liberated from the formations of the Kiev regime , through which the Avdiivka-Konstantinovka highway passes and which covers Avdiivka from the northeast. This does not give us a breakthrough to Avdiivka , but nevertheless this is a step - now they will strive to gradually bypass the city from the north and put even more pressure on it with artillery, as well as cut the Orlovka-Avdiivka highway.

Clashes continue in the Zaporozhye direction in the Pavlovka area . Also, the Armed Forces of Ukraine again launched an unsuccessful attack from Olgovsky (between Velikaya Novoselka and Gulyaipole).

In the southern direction - the concentration of forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the region of Krivoy Rog . Otherwise, there are no significant changes at the front.

"Arrivals" from the APU . A blow was struck on the village of Aleksandrovka in the Petrovsky district of the city and the Kuibyshevsky district. Around 15:00, Ukrainian troops attacked the Center bus station and the Central Department Store in the Voroshilovsky district of the city from large-caliber artillery (155 mm).

Calibration of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The target of the missile strike in Vinnitsa was the House of Officers, which, according to intelligence data, housed the headquarters of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the personnel mobilization center. In Nikolaev , a hotel was destroyed , in which the commanders of the armed formations of Ukraine lived.

In the world, the
Governor of the Kaliningrad region confirmed the information that transit cargo from Russia through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region will begin to arrive by rail in the coming days - Readovka explains this scandalous epic from the point of view of international political games.



***

Сolonelcassad
Offensive on Donbass: the situation in the east of Ukraine
on July 14, 2022

During the day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine raided the territory of the Bryansk region several times: during the day, a border checkpoint near the village of Chernozemny was attacked . In the evening, a Ukrainian UAV dropped an explosive device near the village of Novye Yurkovichi . There were no casualties as a result of the incidents.

Russian troops hit the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village of Doroshovka and on the territory of the Grabov community of the Sumy region.

In the north of the Kharkiv region , positional battles are going on in the Svetlichny area . At night, the RF Armed Forces attacked an AFU facility on the territory of the Moskovskoye electric depot in the southeast of the city.

In the Donbass , the allied forces resumed their offensive in the Bakhmut (Artyomovsk) direction.
The messages about urban battles in Seversk that have appeared in social networks are still premature. Clashes continue in the vicinity of Ivano-Daryevka . To the north, there are battles for Verkhnekamenskoye , the capture of which will allow access to Seversk from the east.
Allied forces occupied Novaya Kamenka and Stryapovka , reaching the eastern outskirts of Soledar . To the north, there are battles for the village of Yakovlevka , located on the Lisichansk-Soledar highway .
The assault on the village of Pokrovskoye on the outskirts of Bakhmut continues.
The RF Armed Forces delivered a number of strikes on the positions of Ukrainian formations on the territory of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration.
In the Donetsk direction, the allied forces are fighting for Kamenka , the capture of which will allow developing the offensive on Avdiivka .
Ukrainian formations once again attacked Donetsk in the area of ​​the bus station "Center", two local residents were killed. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also continued to shell other settlements of the DPR and LPR.

Late in the evening, Russian artillerymen delivered a series of strikes from the RZSO on the Nikopol district of the Dnepropetrovsk region .

In the Zaporozhye region , the parties fought artillery duels: the RF Armed Forces hit the enemy positions in Gulyaipole, Zaliznychny, Malinovka and other surrounding settlements.

In the Krivoy Rog direction, the parties continued to conduct mutual shelling on the line of contact.



***

forwarded from
Readovka
Russian troops liberated Kamenka - another step towards Avdiivka?

Today, the headquarters of the DPR’s territorial defense announced the liberation of the village of Kamenka, Yasinovatsky district, by our troops. It is located not far from Avdiivka, from which fierce shelling of the peaceful quarters of Donetsk is being carried out. Especially for Readovka, military expert Boris Rozhin commented on this and told what Kamenka and its capture means for us and for the Avdiivka garrison, as well as how events will develop in this area in the near future.

“Kamenka in its current form is a dilapidated village, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich a fortified area of ​​the Armed Forces of Ukraine was equipped, covering Avdiivka from the northeast. It is also important for expanding control over the Avdiivka-Konstantinovka highway ,” Rozhin said.

According to the expert, the capture of Kamenka itself does not guarantee any quick advances in Avdiivka - it can rather be interpreted as some kind of tactical success. The capture of Kamenka does not solve the fundamental problem of taking Avdiivka now, but in the future it will not be superfluous to solve this problem, Rozhin added.

“Obviously, if we are talking about Avdiivka, then we will observe an intensification of artillery work on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city, in the area of ​​Avdiivka Koksokhim. We will also observe attempts to undermine the enemy’s defenses in the Krasnogorovka area in order to advance in the direction of Ocheretino, gradually move north of Avdeevka to those positions that will allow shelling the Orlovka-Avdeevka highway. The group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that defends the fortified area is supplied through it, ”the expert concluded.

Thus, the capture of Kamenka does not mean an early solution to the problem of Avdiivka, but opens up a way for our troops to bypass the city from the north and further block the route along which the militants who have settled in Avdiivka are supplied.

***

forwarded from
VZ - VZGLYAD.RU
Data on Ukraine's combat losses are a " state secret ", said Anna Malyar, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry,

"The numbers of the dead are a state secret during martial law. It is due to military expediency and the fact that the enemy should not know these numbers and use it for their own capabilities, ”she said.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has repeatedly pointed out in information reports to the high level of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, according to the Russian side, the Ukrainian command is trying to present as loss from desertion or loss for unknown reasons.

Earlier, the Daily Mail newspaper noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine lose up to 20 thousand people every month, so local military enlistment offices resort to "radical methods" of conscription.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

[blindpig]

Russian Oil Sales Rise in Several Countries Despite Sanctions


Despite massive sanctions from the West, Russia is expected to make more than $320 billion from energy sales in 2022, up more than a third from 2021. | Photo: Twitter @ranjit68

Published 15 July 2022 (2 hours 11 minutes ago)

Despite Western sanctions against Russia due to the conflict with Ukraine, many countries have increased their purchases of Russian black gold, a recent report reveals.

A recent report quoted by Reuters indicate that Western sanctions on Russian crude have failed to undermine the Eurasian country's economy; on the contrary, several states such as “China, India and nations in Africa and West Asia” have raised imports from Russia.

The source revealed that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, doubled the amount of Russian crude it imported in the second quarter of this year to supply power plants and build up a surplus.

According to vessel monitoring data from Refinitiv Eikon, the Arab kingdom has imported 647 000 tons (48 000 barrels per day) of fuel oil from Russia through its ports between April and June this 2022. That is considered an increase of 320 000 tons compared to the same period last year.


Since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the U.S. and European Union countries have imposed sanctions against various Russian sectors in order to stifle its economy.


Now, buyers from the U.S. and several EU countries are avoiding Russian energy supplies or have promised to reduce them in the coming months. Europe is in dire straits to become independent from Russia, which supplies more than 40% of the gas it needs, an issue that gets further complicated by the upcoming winter a few months away.

In spite of everything, Russia has returned to first place among world crude exporters after 19 months, overtaking Saudi Arabia. Just this week, Brazil assured that it plans to buy as much diesel as possible from Russia, “a strategic partner” of the South American giant.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0005.html

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Russia and China Haven’t Even Started to Ratchet Up the Pain Dial
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 14, 2022
Pepe Escobar



The Suicide Spectacular Summer Show, currently on screen across Europe, proceeds in full regalia.

The Suicide Spectacular Summer Show, currently on screen across Europe, proceeds in full regalia, much to the astonishment of virtually the whole Global South: a trashy, woke Gotterdammerung remake, with Wagnerian grandeur replaced by twerking.

Decadent Roman Emperors at least exhibited some degree of pathos. Here we’re just faced by a toxic mix of hubris, abhorring mediocrity, delusion, crude ideological sheep-think and outright irrationality wallowing in white man’s burden racist/supremacist slush – all symptoms of a profound sickness of the soul.

To call it the Biden-Leyen-Blinken West or so would be too reductionist: after all these are puny politico/functionaries merely parroting orders. This is a historical process: physical, psychic and moral cognitive degeneration embedded in NATOstan’s manifest desperation in trying to contain Eurasia, allowing occasional tragicomic sketches such as a NATO summit proclaiming Woke War against virtually the whole non-West.

So when President Putin addresses the collective West in front of Duma leaders and heads of political parties, it does feel like a comet striking an inert planet. It’s not even a case of “lost in translation”. “They” simply aren’t equipped to get it.

The “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” part was at least formulated to be understood even by simpletons:

“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield, well, what can I say, let them try. We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian – this is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people. But it looks like it’s all coming to this. But everyone should know that, by and large, we haven’t really started anything yet.”

Fact. On Operation Z, Russia is using a fraction of its military potential, resources and state of the art weapons.

Then we come to the most probable path ahead in the war theater:

“We do not refuse peace negotiations, but those who refuse should know that the longer it drags, the more difficult it will be for them to negotiate with us.”

As in the pain dial will be ratcheted up, slowly but surely, on all fronts.

Yet the meat of the matter had been delivered earlier in the speech: “ratcheting up the pain dial” applies in fact to dismantling the whole “rules-based international order” edifice. The geopolitical world has changed. Forever.

Here’s the arguably key passage:

“They should have understood that they have already lost from the very beginning of our special military operation, because its beginning means the beginning of a radical breakdown of the World Order in the American way. This is the beginning of the transition from liberal-globalist American egocentrism to a truly multipolar world – a world based not on selfish rules invented by someone for themselves, behind which there is nothing but the desire for hegemony, not on hypocritical double-standards, but on international law, on the true sovereignty of peoples and civilizations, on their will to live their historical destiny, their values and traditions and build cooperation on the basis of democracy, justice and equality. And we must understand that this process can no longer be stopped.”

Meet the trifecta

A case can be made that Putin and Russia’s Security Council are implementing a tactical trifecta that has reduced the collective West to an amorphous bunch of bio headless chickens.

The trifecta mixes the promise of negotiations – but only when considering Russia’s steady advances on the ground in Novorossiya; the fact that Russia’s global “isolation” has been proved in practice to be nonsense; and tweaking the most visible pain dial of them all: Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

The main reason for the graphic, thundering failure of the G20 Foreign Ministers summit in Bali is that the G7 – or NATOstan plus American colony Japan – could not force the BRICS plus major Global South players to isolate, sanction and/or demonize Russia.

On the contrary: multiple interpolations outside of the G20 spell out even more Eurasia-wide integration. Here are a few examples.

The first transit of Russian products to India via the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) is now in effect, crisscrossing Eurasia from Mumbai to the Baltic via Iranian ports (Chabahar or Bandar Abbas), the Caspian Sea, and Southern and Central Russia. Crucially, the route is shorter and cheaper than going through the Suez Canal.

In parallel, the head of the Iranian Central Bank, Ali Salehabadi, confirmed that a memorandum of interbank cooperation was signed between Tehran and Moscow.

That means a viable alternative to SWIFT, and a direct consequence of Iran’s application to become a full BRICS member, announced at the recent summit in Beijing. The BRICS, since 2014, when the New Development Bank (NDB) was founded, have been busy building their own financial infrastructure, including the near future creation of a single reserve currency. As part of the process, the harmonization of Russian and Iranian banking systems is inevitable.

Iran is also about to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the upcoming summit in Samarkand in September.

In parallel, Russia and Kazakhstan are solidifying their strategic partnership: Kazakhstan is a key member of BRI, EAEU and SCO.

India gets even closer to Russia across the whole spectrum of trade – including energy.

And next Tuesday, Tehran will be the stage for a crucial face-to-face meeting between Putin and Erdogan.

Isolation? Really?

On the energy front, it’s only summer, but demented paranoia is already raging across multiple EU latitudes, especially Germany. Comic relief is provided by the fact that Gazprom can always point out to Berlin that eventual supplying problems on Nord Stream 1 – after the cliffhanger return of that notorious repaired turbine from Canada – can always be solved by implementing Nord Stream 2.

As the whole European Suicide Spectacular Summer Show is nothing but a tawdry self-inflicted torture ordered by His Master’s Voice, the only serious question is which pain dial level will force Berlin to actually sit down and negotiate on behalf of legitimate German industrial and social interests.

Rough and tumble will be the norm. Foreign Minister Lavrov summed it all up when commenting on the Declining Collective West Ministers striking poses like infantile brats in Bali to avoid being seen with him: that was up to “their understanding of the protocols and politeness.”

That’s diplo-talk for “bunch of jerks”. Or worse: cultural barbarians, as they were even unable to respect the hyper-polite Indonesian hosts, who abhor confrontation.

Lavrov preferred to extol the “joint strategic and constructive” Russian-Chinese work when faced with a very aggressive West. And that brings us to the prime masterpiece of shadowplay in Bali – complete with several layers of geopolitical fog.

Chinese media, always flirting with the opaque, tried to put its bravest face ever depicting the over 5-hour meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Secretary Blinken as “constructive”.

What’s fascinating here is that the Chinese ended up letting something crucial out of the bag to slip into the final draft of their report – obviously approved by the powers that be.

Lu Xiang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences went through previous readouts – especially of “Yoda” Yang Jiechi routinely turning Jake Sullivan into roasted duck – and stressed that this time Wang’s “warnings” to the Americans were “the sternest one in wording”.

That’s diplo-code for “You Better Watch Out”: Wang telling Little Blinkie, “just look at what the Russians did when they lost their patience with your antics.”

The expression ”dead end” was recurrent during the Wang-Blinken meeting. So in the end the Global Times had to tell it like it really is: “The two sides are close to a showdown.”

“Showdown” is what End of Days fanatic and Tony Soprano wannabe Mike Pompeo is fervently preaching from his hate pulpit, while the combo behind the senile “leader of the free world” who literally reads teleprompters actively work for the crashing of the EU – in more ways than one.

The combo in power in Washington actually “supports” the unification of Britain, Poland, Ukraine and The Three Baltic Midgets as a separate alliance from NATO/EU – aiming at “strengthening the defense potential.” That’s the official position of U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julian Smith.

So the real imperial aim is to split the already shattering EU into mini-union pieces, all of them quite fragile and evidently more “manageable”, as Brussels Eurocrats, blinded by boundless mediocrity, obviously can’t see it coming.

What the Global South is buying

Putin always makes it very clear that the decision to launch Operation Z – as a sort of pre-emptive “combined arms and police operation”, as defined by Andrei Martyanov – was carefully calculated, considering an array of material and socio-psychological vectors.

Anglo-American strategy, for its part, lasers on a single obsession: damn any possible reframing of the current “rules-based international order”. No holds are barred to ensure the perpetuity of this order. This is in fact Totalen Krieg – featuring several hybrid layers, and quite worrying, with only a few seconds to midnight.

And there’s the rub. Desolation Row is fast becoming Desperation Row, as the whole Russophobic matrix is shown to be naked, devoid of any extra ideological – and even financial – firepower to “win”, apart from shipping a collection of HIMARS to a black hole.

Geopolitically and geoeconomically, Russia and China are in the process of eating NATOstan alive – in more ways than one. Here, for instance, is a synthetic road map of how Beijing will address the next stage of high-quality development via capital-driven industrial upgrading, focused on optimization of supply chains, import substitution of hard technologies, and “invisible champions” of industry.

If the collective West is blinded by Russophobia, the governing success of the Chinese Communist Party – which in a matter of a few decades improved the lives of more people than anyone, anytime in History – drives it completely nuts.

All along the Russia-China watchtower, it’s been not such a long time coming. BRI was launched by Xi Jinping in 2013. After Maidan in 2014, Putin launched the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) in 2015. Crucially, in May 2015, a Russia-China joint statement sealed the cooperation between BRI and EAEU, with a significant role assigned to the SCO.

Closer integration advanced via the St. Petersburg forum in 2016 and the BRI forum in 2017. The overall target: to create a new order in Asia, and across Eurasia, according to international law while maintaining the individual development strategies of each concerned country and respecting their national sovereignty.

That, in essence, is what most of the Global South is buying. It’s as if there’s a cross-border instinctual understanding that Russia-China, against serious odds and facing serious challenges, proceeding by trial and error, are at the vanguard of the Shock of the New, while the collective West, naked, dazed and confused, their masses completely zombified, is sucked into the maelstrom of psychological, moral and material disintegration.

No question the pain deal will be ratcheted up, in more ways than one.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... pain-dial/

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APU depart from Seversk
July 15, 11:11 am



According to the LNR army at 11 o'clock.

1. The enemy withdraws from Seversk in small groups as part of the execution of a combat order for a covert withdrawal of troops.
2. Our troops have already entrenched themselves on the eastern outskirts of Seversk and are sweeping deep into the city.
3. The enemy is still offering patchy resistance.
4. A number of heights near Seversk are still controlled by opponents.
5. The Seversk-Soledar road has not yet been cut.

In general, everything goes to the fact that in the coming days Seversk will come under the control of the RF Armed Forces and the LPR army. And of course, we will recall the statements of Ukrainian propaganda that "after the occupation of Lisichansk by the RF Armed Forces, not a single city will be able to occupy it."

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7739344.html

Google Translator

*******************

More danger to the civilian population
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/15/2022 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT



Since last May 29, Ukrainian troops have subjected the city of Donetsk to almost daily and indiscriminate bombing of civilian sectors of the city. In addition to industrial zones, ammunition depots or control centers, Ukraine has not hesitated to attack residential neighborhoods where there could hardly be any military objective. In addition to the areas usually bombed -not in these months, but in the last eight years-, kyiv has also attacked areas as central as the surroundings of the Donbass Arena or Pushkin Boulevard. On occasion, the DPR authorities have denounced the use of Western weapons in these bombings. However, much of the bombing of Donetsk or Makeevka has been carried out with the use of Ukrainian weaponry, especially the use of Grads,

These bombings have caused, in the month and a half since the center of the city began to be regularly attacked, a constant trickle of material damage and casualties among the civilian population, men and women who do not appear in the media and children who are not taken into account in a balance of dead minors in which only a part seems to count. The suffering of the civilian population is the same on both sides of the front, but the spectacular nature of the consequences of the Russian missiles, the lack of media interest in the population of Donbass and the absence of Western journalists in the areas controlled by Russian troops, DPR o RPL makes your visibility minimal.

Yesterday, a Russian missile attack destroyed a building in the center of Vinnitsa, the House of Officers. In addition to obvious material damage and military casualties, Ukraine denounced the attack as a terrorist attack., as it cost the lives of two children. The images of the moments after the impact of one of the missiles showed civilians walking calmly, which caused the surprise, and even indignation, of some Ukrainian sources, who assume that the population has lost respect for the bombings and it does not move away from possible missile targets as quickly as it should at the time the alarms are activated. Several sources recalled yesterday that, despite the fact that the targets of the Russian missiles - whose accuracy is still high - are military installations, there is a second danger: the possibility that the projectiles will be shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses and hit other nearby places. .

Shortly after, the Ukraine response was a new intensification of the bombing against Donetsk, where the Ukrainian troops attacked the bus station of the DPR capital, an extremely busy area in a city that returned to civilian life years ago and where the Collective transportation is the main means of transportation for those who go to work. A purely civilian target, the attack again caused fatalities.

As the war progresses, when the most obvious military objectives have already been destroyed and the targets are in populated areas or even in city centers, the danger to the civilian population increases notably and it is foreseeable that, given the escalation announced by Ukraine, these risks extend, not only to Kherson, but to cities that have already suffered the harshness of the war. This is the case of Mariupol, which, as the Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent commented last weekDmitry Steshin, is possibly the quietest city in Donbass at the moment. However, the words of one of the officials of the Ukrainian local administration - who fled in the first days of the battle but continues to issue statements as if he were on the ground - raise fears that this military tranquility will be interrupted.

This was reflected yesterday by the Ukrainian newspaper Strana :

Adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andriushenko, advises residents of the city's Primorsky district to "choose a safer place of residence", as the port of Mariupol may be shelled by Ukrainian troops. He thus wrote it on his Telegram channel.

According to Andryushenko, "taking into account the repair of railway tracks and the organization of cargo traffic under the cover of Mariupol-Volnovakha passenger transport, we can finally affirm the transformation of the Mariupol port into a military transport hub."

“Taking into account the range of Ukrainian artillery, especially HIMARS systems, we suggest that residents of the Primorsky district of Mariupol in case a cargo ship enters the port area, choose a safer place of residence and avoid traveling in train as much as possible

Once again, Ukraine tries to provoke fear in the population and it does so by exploiting the threat posed by Western weapons. As a civil infrastructure, the port of Mariupol was always considered key to the viability of the city, which is why it was especially protected by the Russian and Republican troops advancing in the urban battle. The port, which suffered little damage compared to the rest of the city, was one of the last areas to be captured by DPR troops. Now that its vital parts have been repaired, it has begun to function fundamentally for the transport of construction material with which the new authorities are trying to rebuild the city as quickly as possible.

In Dmitry Steshin's recent article about his visit to Mariupol, the correspondent quotes a woman who is hesitant to rebuild because of the possibility that Ukrainian troops will return and bombardment will resume. That is precisely what the Ukrainian local authorities seem to want to insert into the minds of the population. A fear that is not only limited to people who live in the area, whose chances of choosing housing at the moment are practically nil, but to anyone who does something as basic as traveling by train.

With no peace negotiations in sight and with the firm idea of ​​Ukraine and its Western partners to see the war through to the end, it is foreseeable that not only will the intensity of the bombings increase in the front and in the rear of the contenders, but that Civilian and military casualties on both sides of a line of separation that stretches for hundreds of kilometers are also on the rise.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/07/15/mas-p ... more-25042

Google Translator

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The Holodomor and the erasure of Jewish victims
Yasha Levine
Jul 13
This is an installment of The Soviet Jew: A Weaponized Immigrant’s Tale. Read the previous bit here. https://yasha.substack.com/p/white-russian-saviors

In my last big installment, I wrote about my grandmother’s Ukrainian shtetl and my family’s lost history of pogroms. In this installment, I want to write about another big mystery that hangs over that branch of my family: Why did my grandmother Rosa and the rest of her relatives suddenly flee the shtetl and head south to Crimea.

This was in 1933, a decade after she and her parents had already survived multiple waves of pogroms. If the pogroms weren’t enough to send them packing, what happened in those first few years of the 1930s? And they didn’t just leave and go to some nearby big industrializing city, like was normal at the time. They left for Crimea. The question is: Why? The answer: No one in the family knows. This part of our history is completely missing from the oral record.

For a while now I’ve wanted to try to reconstruct what happened. But I wasn’t sure where to start. We simply don’t have any family stories or documents that could have provided even a hint at what happened. No one from that generation — not my grandmother, not my great-grandmother — talked about it with my mother. It’s as if there’s a cloud of silence that hung over that episode — as if there was something about it that no one wanted to discuss. Now I think I know why.

Since I had no personal family information, I delved into the problem the only way I knew how: by looking at the local context. What was happening in their region at the time? What were the bigger events taking place in Soviet Ukraine?

Now I think I know why the fled the shtetl: It was the horrible famine that was raging in Soviet Ukraine at the time.

I admit the proof I have is meager and circumstantial. Things align. But I could be wrong. But that doesn’t even matter that much. Because as I pieced this history together, I stumbled onto something much bigger than just my family story — something that’s surprisingly relevant to the Ukrainian politics and mythologizing that’s happening today. It has to do with the Holodomor. And in particular: the erasure of Jewish victims from the Ukrainian famine genocide narrative.

My family on my grandmother’s side is from Central Ukraine — from a few shtetls about 120 miles south of Kiev. While trying to learn the history of the particular shtetl where I think my grandmother was born, I found a Ukrainian encyclopedia entry that mentioned the village was hit by famine in 1932-1933. As it explained: “A memorial sign was erected to the victims of the Holodomor in the village cemetery in 1991.” I asked my mom if she knew anything about it and she shook her head. No, she had no idea. No one in the family told her about any famine from where they were from.

It might seem strange that no one said anything about it. Even if my family had enough to eat back then, they must have at least seen people starving. It would have been hard not to notice. The famine killed at least several million people. Starving people from the countryside swarmed the big cities, where people were also starving. The army was even brought out to prevent the flood of miserable people that was clogging the big centers.

But then, my family’s silence is not so surprising. As I wrote before, it may be hard for us to understand in this age of oversharing and our constant focus on trauma and micro-aggressions and PTSD, but that old generation generally kept quiet about the horrible things they had to endure. What was the point of picking at the scabs and reliving the horrors of the past? How could it possibly help? It just wasn’t done. And about the famine, people had an additional incentive to keep quiet: politically it was taboo. The topic was censored.


“Jews on the land,” Ogonek magazine, 1930. (Source: Felix Kandel’s A Book of Times and Events.)

My grandmother’s family didn’t farm. Like most Jews, they were small time merchants, lumpen capitalists that dealt in bread and grain out of their stalls. They had no power. So if grain was suddenly in short supply, like it was in in 1932 and 1933, they would have suffered along with the Ukrainian peasant farmers who produced the stuff. But there were Jewish farmers — not many, but they existed. And they suffered right there along with the Ukrainian peasants.

In his history of Soviet Jews, Felix Kandel — who was one of the writers behind the cult cartoon Soviet Nu, pogodi! back in the Soviet days — lays out some of what was going on:

During the “Holodomor” of 1932-1933, the biggest victims were in Ukrainian villages. The famine did not bypass their neighbors, Jewish farmers. Many Jewish collective farms were included in the list of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine as the most affected by the famine. Among the areas with the highest mortality was the Kalinindorf Jewish National Region. Outside the collective farms, in the cities and towns of Ukraine, there lived a huge number of Jewish artisans who worked for the rural population — tailors, shoemakers, tinsmiths, carpenters and blacksmiths; With the onset of famine, the orders of the surrounding farmers ceased, and the traditional delivery of products to the small-town bazaars also ceased. Now everyone was starving, and official documents of that time confirmed this.[/b]

Who was to blame for the famine?

It’s all politicized and muddy now. But as I understand it, all the credible history points to a hybrid reason: several years of bad weather and bad harvests were made much worse by the Soviet Union’s forced collectivization and industrialization campaigns. As a result there was simply not enough grain available and actual crop yields were much lower than official predictions — and yet Soviet officials, frequently ignorant of the facts and bent on growth and wrenching Soviet agriculture into the glorious industrial age, would not revise their plans and blamed the lack of grain on class enemies and saboteurs and dealt with them severely and harshly.

As historians like Stephen Wheatcroft have argued, declassified archives show that Soviet accelerationism and the harsh methods used to put it into place were in a big way to blame for the hunger and death that spread because of it. But weather played a big role, too. And Ukraine wasn’t the only place where it happened this way. There was even more deadly famine in Kazakhstan at the same time triggered by a very similar mix of causes.

And this wasn’t Ukraine’s only famine during that time. From the World War I through the Russian Civil War and into the 1920s, Ukraine and Russia went through several waves of famines and food shortages, which were made much worse by the epidemics that come riding in on the back of hunger. So the famine of 1930s wasn’t some total anomaly that came out of nowhere. And it wasn’t some sort of devious plot.

But that’s not how the famine is presented to the general public today.

Here in America and in Canada and in Ukraine, the prevailing popular view on it is tightly wound up with Cold War politics, anticommunism, and nationalist narratives coming out of emigre communities. In those circles, the 1932-1933 famine isn’t seen as a horrible but unexpected product of political and environmental factors, it’s presented as a deliberate campaign of genocide — a genocide engineered by Stalin and the Soviet state to wipe out ethnic Ukrainians and to destroy the Ukrainian nation. This view of nationalist history is what’s usually meant when people talk about the Holodomor these days. Some Ukrainian sources claim extraordinary numbers of Ukrainians — 7 million or even 10 million dead, which would make it almost twice as bad as the Holocaust and give Ukrainians genocide supremacy over the Jews.

There’s a big scholarly consensus that very strongly disputes this view. Historians have looked into Soviet archives, but no one’s yet found any evidence that there was ever a plan or a desire by Stalin or his high command to wipe out the Ukrainian people. According to Wheatcroft, Even Robert Conquest — who popularized the genocide theory in his book Bitter Harvest — softened his stance somewhat when new archival research was done after the end of the Soviet Union.

Still, the genocide theory is increasingly seen as the definitive history of what happened. You’ll find statements like “deliberate starvation of the Ukrainian nation” pumped by think-tanks like the Atlantic Council, the policy brain of NATO, Inc. And in Canada, home to a powerful Ukrainian nationalist diaspora, the Holodomor is officially enshrined as a deliberate act of genocide: “deliberately planned and executed by the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin to systematically destroy the Ukrainian people’s aspirations for a free and independent Ukraine” is how the law that codified a Holodomor day of memory puts it. Naturally Chrystia Freeland — everyone’s favorite deputy prime minister of Canada — constantly talks about it.


Great to see Chrystia Freeland (whose own grandfather collaborated with the Nazis) speak about the Holodomor with the League of Ukrainian Canadians, an emigre group founded by Stepan Bandera’s wing of the Ukrainian nationalist movement — a virulently antisemitic organization that worked with the Nazis and actively genocided Jews and Poles during World War II. The two organizations — the old and the new — even share the same logos. With these kinds of partnerships, you can tell Mrs. Freeland cares about genocide.

What’s gross about a lot of the famine-as-planned-genocide narratives being pumped out by Ukrainian nationalists is how many of them are suffused with antisemitism — the belief that that Jews were at the center of using famine as a way of exterminating ethnic Ukrainians. Various scholars have pointed this out, including John-Paul Himka — who just so happens to be Chrystia Freeland’s uncle.

As John-Paul wrote in 2009, “Blaming the Jews for the Holodomor is part of the entire mentality of zhydokomuna [translation: “kike-communism” —YL], the identification of Jews with communism, that pervades the Ukrainian nationalist discourse and mindset. This is an idea that is considered respectable in the Ukrainian diaspora mainstream media, such as The Ukrainian Weekly.” He gives all sorts of examples of the underlying antisemitism that creeps into the Holodomor story. It comes out Ukrainian emigre communities, Ukrainian historians, and even the Ukrainian government. It’s all-pervasive. In one of his papers, John-Paul reprinted a photo he took in Lviv of a memorial sign that blamed the famine directly on “kike-commissars.” Yep, the Jews did it! Damn kikes! It was just hanging there in public.


Photo by John-Paul Himka
“2002-2003. 70th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932-1933. Russian occupants murdered by artificial famine in occupied Ukraine 10,000,000 peasants-Ukrainians. The land that was depopulated by the Jew-commissars was settled by Muscovites from the Russian Federation.” — John-Paul Himka [Source]

I’ve known about the antisemitic aspect of the Holodomor Industry from reading up on Ukrainian diaspora politics over the years. It was compartmentalized in my mind. But when I came across the detail about the famine hitting the region where my family was from and then connecting that to the fact that they had inexplicably fled from to Crimea at the exact same time…it made me think.

Jews made up a significant part of Ukraine at the time. What happened to them during the famine — during this supposed genocide that was aimed purely at wiping out the Ukrainian people?

There is just no way Jews didn’t also suffer during the famine. They lived in cities and small communities in regions hit hardest by food shortages. They were also swept up in this brutal tragedy. They suffered greatly and many died. In short: Jews were also victims.

I’ve looked around and there’s a bit of scholarly work on this subject, but it’s all very minor and fringe. As it stands, it’s mostly a forgotten part of Jewish history — left out by all sides. The Ukrainian nationalists and anti-communinist Cold Warriors don’t want to talk about it because it would deflate their evil Soviet genocide narrative. And on the Soviet side it’s completely missing for obvious reasons: the famine itself was a totally censored topic. That’s why I think my family in Leningrad probably never talked about it. Better to keep quiet. What’s the point of bringing up old wounds, especially politically dangerous ones.

So the effect has been total erasure. Aside from maybe being blamed as perpetrators of the famine, Jews simply don’t exist in the popular famine narrative. Even Jews themselves don’t know much about it anymore.

To be continued…

—Yasha Levine

https://yasha.substack.com/p/holodomor- ... -of-jewish

[blindpig]

NYT Continues To Report 'Strikes On Civilians' That Somehow Happen To Hit Military Targets

Just last week the New York Times reported of a Russian strike 'on civilians' in Chasiv Yar even as its own reporter at the location acknowledged in a detailed separate report that the apartment complex that was hit was mostly housing military forces.

Yesterday a Russian missile strike hit the town of Vinnytsia in western Ukraine.



The New York Times is again lamenting about a damage to civilian buildings even as the main target was obviously a military one.

Strikes on Civilians Deep in Ukraine Show Russia’s Lethal Reach

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine — A volley of missiles hit a shopping center, a dance studio and a wedding hall in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and setting off a frantic search for dozens more missing in the rubble, in the latest strike to hit civilian targets far from the front line.
Seventy-one people, including three children, were hospitalized after three missiles hit the center of Vinnytsia, a typically sleepy provincial capital, leaving behind a harrowing scene of smoking ruins.

The attack used cruise missiles fired by a Russian submarine in the Black Sea, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said. It said three children were among those killed in the strike on Vinnytsia, about 240 miles inland from the coast.

“Every day, Russia destroys the civilian population, kills Ukrainian children, directs rockets at civilian objects,” Mr. Zelensky said. “What is this, if not an open act of terrorism?”

The Times leads its write up with this picture.



There is a distinctive monument in the picture of a fighter jet flying through some ring and a neoclassic building behind it.

Here is a satellite picture of the area.



The photographer who took the NYT picture was standing near the top left of the satellite picture and took the photograph towards the mid bottom of the satellite picture. The fighter jet installations that was photographed is marked by Google as 'Monument in Honor of the Air Force of Ukraine'. The neoclassic building is the U-shaped one on the left marked as the 'House of Officer's'.

The NYT even mentions the 'House of Officers' but only describes it as a 'potential target' and only in the sixth paragraph:

The missiles hit a military officers’ club, a potential target, though one in a densely built-up central neighborhood of the city.
However video taken shortly after the strike shows that The 'House of Officers' was completely destroyed and thereby obviously the main target of the attack.



The video the above picture is clipped from was taken from a car driving on the bottom left road visible in the satellite picture towards the center of it.

While the House of Officers external walls are still standing the roof is gone and one can see through the building.

Here is another picture of it.



A civilian high rise building that the NYT also pictured is visible on the top of the satellite image labeled 'Kredo Bank'.



The building shows no damage from a direct hit by a missile. It had its windows blown out by the shockwave of the explosion at the nearby House of Officers and it is blackened from a fire that had been burning in its lower left part. Here is a video with an overview of the plaza showing the damaged House of Officers and the fire with very dark smoke at the high rise north of it. Here is another one showing the fire. It was reported that 50 cars on a parking lot had also burned there. The shopping center, a dance studio and wedding hall that the NYT laments in its opening paragraph were likely all in the 1st floor of the high rise building. They were not targeted.

Air defense weapons were also fired. They might have caused additional damage:

Ukraine's national police said three missiles hit an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, which is about 167 miles southwest of the capital, Kyiv.
The missile strike ignited a fire that expanded to engulf 50 cars in an adjacent parking lot. The governor of the Vinnytsia region, Serhiy Borzov, said Ukrainian air defense systems shot down another four missiles over the area.

The 'office building' that the Ukraine's national police claims was hit was in fact the 'House of Officers' owned by the Ukrainian military.

There were also an unusual number of people in military clothing helping with the casualties.



The Times continues to play a shell game when it claims hits 'on civilians' even as the targets are clearly military ones:

The strike came amid other recent attacks on populated civilian areas.
...
And in the eastern village of Chasiv Yar, in Donetsk, the State Emergency Service said the death toll from a strike on an apartment complex over the weekend had risen to 48, making it one of the deadliest attacks since the war began.
More deadly attacks are happening every day at the front line where Russia artillery takes out any larger grouping of Ukraine's military.

As for the dead in Chasiv Yar here is again what the Times Carlotta Gall reported from that location:

[A resident of Chasiv Yar village, Oleksandr, 31,] said that about 10 civilians, mostly women on pensions, were living in the building at the time of the strike, but that members of the military had come to lodge there two days earlier.

A Russian strike hit the apartment building. Only 10 civilians were living there, but at least 48 people have died in the strike. 38 of the dead must thus have been 'members of the military' who were lodging there. That they did so made the apartment complex a legitimate military target.

Now let's see what the Russian military claims to have hit in Vinnytsia:

On July 13, Kalibr high-precision sea-based missiles were launched at the House of Officers of the garrison in Vinnitsa.
The facility hosted a conference of the Ukrainian Armed Force command with representatives of foreign armament suppliers aimed at discussing the issues on sending another batch of aircraft, destruction means, as well as on organising the reparation of Ukrainian aircraft.

The attack has resulted in the elimination of the conference participants.

On July 14, shortly after news of the strike in Vinnytsia had come out, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine issued a new Security Alert – Missile Threat Awareness for U.S. citizens:

Avoid large gatherings and organized events as they may serve as Russian military targets anywhere in Ukraine, including its western regions.

Well, what gave them the idea to say that?

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This week I ask all MoA readers to help me with my efforts to run this blog.
Please consider to contribute.

.

Posted by b on July 15, 2022 at 14:12 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/07/n ... .html#more

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

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Сolonelcassad
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation invented everything or the answer to the question “Why are there so many aircraft in the Ukrainian Air Force? »

In the feedback bot, we are often asked the question of where the Armed Forces of Ukraine got so many planes and helicopters. Out of habit, people climb into Wikipedia, check the data on the Ukrainian Air Force there, then look into the briefings of the Russian Ministry of Defense and shout “I don’t believe it!”.

The @rybar team decided to hold a small educational program and tell where the legs grow from.

At the time of the start of the SVO, the official number of aircraft in service ranged from 165 to 178 Su-24/25/27 and MiG-29 units. Plus 23 training and another 67 "mothballed", that is, withdrawn from combat, aircraft. In addition to tactical aviation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine had just over 200 Soviet-made helicopters.

Nevertheless, many of them (even those that were officially in service) were no longer used due to the development of a resource and poor-quality service by Ukrainian technicians - they were listed only in reports for debiting funds for repairs and money laundering .

However, with the start of a special military operation, it became necessary to restore the combat capability of the air forces. Through the efforts of specialists from the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and engineers from NATO countries (mainly from Eastern Europe) , the process of returning decommissioned aircraft to service and repairing damaged ones was established.

In addition to the supply of the aircraft and helicopters themselves, the states of Eastern Europe such as Slovakia , Bulgaria , Poland , Romania , were transferred parts, spare parts and assemblies for aviation equipment. Some secretly, some officially. The Polish leadership, for example, did not hide the fact that they had transferred all available spare parts for MiGs .

The process of repairing flight equipment is carried out at some airfields in Western Ukraine ( Lutsk , Ozernoe , Uzhgorod ). However, most of the restoration work is carried out by the same Eastern European countries as Poland, Slovakia and Romania. Slovak transport helicopters fly almost daily to Uzhgorod and back.

Another country helping the Ukrainian side unofficially is Moldova . The territory of this country not only acts as a transit hub for the transportation of goods for various purposes to Ukraine (from the Romanian Suceava through Ryshkany to Mogilev-Podolsky ), but is also used to repair Ukrainian aircraft. In particular, the Moldovan authorities provided their Marculesti airfield for this purpose.

Despite almost daily losses in aviation equipment, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already established and put on stream the process of repairing decommissioned aircraft and helicopters. Adding to this the supplied weapons from NATO countries, we get quite significant numbers in the amount of old, but still military equipment.

After restoration, the aircraft are promptly delivered from the territory of neighboring states through "neutral" countries to air bases in Western Ukraine, where the process of training flight crews takes place.

The administration of Maia Sandu, despite the declared neutrality in the issue of military-technical support to Ukraine, is increasingly drawing the country into indirect participation in the conflict, following the clear instructions of the Romanian government.



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Сolonelcassad
Offensive on Donbass: the situation in the east of Ukraine
on July 15, 2022

Over the past day, Ukrainian formations carried out several raids on the territory of the Russian Federation : in the evening, with the help of UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they dropped an explosive device on a library in Grayvoron , Belgorod Region. In addition, the enemy fired mortars at the border villages of Neslitsy and Dronovka in the Kursk and Bryansk regions.

The RF Armed Forces inflicted fire damage on enemy positions in the settlements of Kucherovka and Pokrovka in the Sumy region.

Ukrainian troops continue to strengthen defensive positions in the north of the Kharkiv region .
Additional observation posts are equipped in the vicinity of Russkaya Lozova , Konstantinovka and Cherkassky Tishki . A rotation was carried out in Zolochev , Peremoga and Konstantinovka .
During the night, rocket formations of the RF Armed Forces delivered massive strikes against the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the east of Kharkov and in the area of ​​Kholodnaya Gora . In an attempt to cover the city from missile attacks, air defense systems of an unidentified type were deployed to the city.

In the Donbass , the main events take place in the Bakhmut (Artemovsk) direction:
In the Slavyansko-Barvenkovsky direction, servicemen of the 95th Specialized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to force the Seversky Donets River near Bogorodichny , but were ambushed by the RF Armed Forces. During the battle, the unit suffered losses and retreated.
The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is conducting preliminary preparations for the second line of defense on the line Slavyansk - Kramatorsk - Konstantinovka . Some of the most combat-ready units have been withdrawn from Seversk , but it is extremely premature to talk about the beginning of battles for the city itself
Allied forces are fighting on the outskirts of Verkhnekamenskoye. The occupation of the settlement will allow reaching the outskirts of Seversk from the east and establishing fire control over the Seversk-Soledar road .
After the occupation of Novaya Kamenka and Tryapovka , units of the NM of the LPR entered the battle on the eastern outskirts of Soledar . To the north of the settlement, parts of the allied forces are fighting for control of Yakovlevka.
Russian forces are actively probing the enemy's defenses near Kodema and Vershina .

In the evening hours, the RF Armed Forces delivered massive strikes against enemy targets in Dnepropetrovsk and the vicinity of Kremenchug in the Poltava region.

On the territory of the Zaporozhye region , the parties continued to conduct artillery duels: the RF Armed Forces hit the enemy positions in the area of ​​Gulyaipol, Shcherbakov and Maly Shcherbakov .

In the Kryvyi Rih direction , in order to counter tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, several MANPADS "Perun" and Stinger were placed at the forefront of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.



https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

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We have to hide the equipment from our own
July 16, 14:15



When Ukrainian propaganda tries to assure that all the inhabitants of Ukraine are against Russia, but in fact ...
Actually, almost from the beginning of hostilities from Nikolaev, Odessa and many other cities, messages have been received on a regular basis from residents of Ukraine who transmit coordinates and location to our military positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to help destroy them and speed up the liberation of their cities from Nazi occupation.

If you live in Ukraine and want to speed up the process of liberating Ukraine from Nazism, you can write about the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine here colonel.cassad@bk.ru and also on the feedback bot @RSOTM_Z15_BOT. Interested in the deployment and movement of troops, positions of artillery, MLRS, air defense systems, electronic warfare systems, field camps of foreign mercenaries, field positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and roadblocks, fuel and ammunition depots.
The information will definitely reach our military and you will make your small contribution. Even a trifle can be important. Also try to stay away from the military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, all of them can become a target for a missile attack. Don't play the role of a human shield.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7740876.html

Google Translator

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EU To Impose New Measures Against Russia


The EU proposed a new package of sanctions against the Kremlin. Jul. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@michalsuchora

Published 15 July 2022 (12 hours 46 minutes ago)

The European Commission announced the proposal of a new package of sanctions.

On Friday, the European Commission issued a statement announcing that a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation has been proposed, should be approved will be effective after January next year.

"Therefore, we are proposing today to tighten our hard-hitting EU sanctions against the Kremlin, enforce them more effectively and extend them until January 2023," said Ursula von der Leyen, EC President.

"Today's package will introduce a new import ban on Russian gold while reinforcing our dual use and advanced technology export controls. In doing so, it will reinforce the alignment of EU sanctions with those of our G7 partners. It will also strengthen reporting requirements to tighten EU asset freezes," read the statement.

"The package also reiterates that EU sanctions do not target in any way the trade in agricultural products between third countries and Russia. Likewise, the text clarifies the exact scope of some financial and economic sanctions," continued to say the EC.


"Finally, it is proposed to extend the current EU sanctions for six months, until the next review at the end of January 2023," explained the document.

The decision is expected to be approved by the EU Council, scheduled for late July.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/EU- ... -0018.html

Hungarian PM: Anti-Russia Sanctions ‘Killing’ EU Economy


The European Union has "shot itself in the lungs" with ill-considered economic sanctions on Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. | Photo: Twitter @RobertHoustonII

Viktor Orban stressed that sanctions have failed to destabilize Russia’s economy and haven’t forced Moscow to stop the military operation, adding that they have instead caused widespread damage to the EU's own economic stability.


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared in a radio interview on Friday that EU sanctions against Russia were “miscalculated” and could lead to the destruction of Europe’s economy, unless Brussels changes its position.

“The moment of truth must come in Brussels, when leaders admit they have made a miscalculation, that the sanctions policy was based on wrong assumptions and it must be changed,” Orban, an outspoken critic of the EU’s policy on Russia, stated. He said that while Ukraine needs help, the bloc's leaders should change their strategy regarding Russia.

Orban stressed that sanctions have failed to destabilize Russia’s economy and haven’t forced Moscow to stop the military operation, adding that they have instead caused widespread damage to the EU's own economic stability.


“The sanctions do not help Ukraine, however, they are bad for the European economy and if it goes on like this, they will kill off the European economy... What we see right now is unbearable,” the Hungarian leader stated.

Orban warned about the possibility of a recession in the EU as a result of its anti-Russia policy back in May, when he said that the current energy crisis, along with interest rate hikes in the US “have jointly brought about the era of high inflation,” which “will bring about the era of recession.”

Two months later, however, he seems to have even deeper doubts about the future of the the bloc's economy. “Initially, I thought we had only shot ourselves in the foot [with anti-Russia sanctions], but now it is clear that the European economy has shot itself in the lungs, and it is gasping for air,” Orban warned.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Hun ... -0004.html

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Ukraine: Is Russia’s Advance Too Slow?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 15, 2022
Drago Bosnic



In 2014/2015, the then-nascent Kiev regime suffered a humiliating debacle after it was defeated by a much smaller, undermanned and under-equipped Donbass force. The political West stepped in and forced the Neo-Nazi junta to sign the Minsk agreements and prevent the complete collapse of the regime, which, according to their own admission, used the agreements to buy time and never intended to honor them. NATO soon sent some of its best experts to not only train Kiev regime forces to fight the Donbass republics, but also Russia. Since NATO is aware that the Kiev regime would in no way be able to conduct any major offensive operations against Russia, it decided to transfer the vast Western military experience in building complex systems and networks of fortifications.

That experience, more than a century old, was gained during the bloody battles of the First World War. It was drastically expanded in the interwar period, after France invested enormous resources in the Maginot Line. Although this massive fortification system turned out to be a huge waste of money in the Second World War, the Maginot Line itself was never breached in battle, because the Germans simply decided to bypass it. It was a strategic decision, so we cannot exactly blame France’s failure on the Maginot Line. On the contrary, the fact the Germans had to bypass it is an indicator the fortifications served their purpose. The problem was that the French (over)relied on the Maginot Line, while leaving a gaping strategic void in the northeast of the country.

Ironically, the Germans themselves resorted to building vast fortification networks across the Eastern Front after “Barbarossa” failed. The fortifications stretched thousands of kilometers across the frontlines. The Red Army’s mobility was exceptional; still, the fortifications slowed the Russian advance and resulted in higher casualties for the Red Army. The solution was massive employment of artillery, as armored and mechanized units were preparing for a breakthrough. However, this significantly slowed down combat operations, buying more time for Nazi forces.

Unfortunately, we see something similar today in Donbass. For the second time in 80 years, Russian forces are fighting against the doctrine devised by their old enemies. Logically, the stationary nature of fortifications is the biggest problem for the Kiev regime; however, it had 8 years to build this massive and very complex network. This is forcing Russia’s artillery to operate almost non-stop. And despite that, it is nearly impossible to destroy all of the fortifications, as it is a truly monumental undertaking which would take even longer with the currently employed Russian forces.

What Russia did in the given circumstances was to employ its old WWII-era tactics, albeit significantly updated. Russian forces aren’t targeting the entire network, but the sections that are deemed suitable for breakthroughs, although this is subject to improvisation, particularly if it can help accomplish tactical surprise attacks. This is then followed by an armored breakthrough, where a large number of new forces are brought in to widen the breach and gradually destroy the forces in those fortifications, until the entire section collapses. All this is done with constant fire support provided by Russian Aerospace Forces and artillery units. This approach is successful for the most part, but just like during WWII, it does slow down the advancing forces.

Naturally, both aviation and artillery are far more advanced nowadays, and there is also a wide range of guided missiles, drones, and advanced detection systems (thermal imaging, high-resolution cameras, etc.) enabling pinpoint strikes. Another important factor affecting Russian forces is the order to preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers. This further slows down the whole process, but it absolutely makes sense, as Russia is in no hurry, unlike the opposing side. Fortifications are under near-constant shelling which has an extremely negative effect on the already collapsing morale of the Kiev regime forces. In addition, tactical aviation (primarily Su-25 close air support jets) is contributing significantly to this approach, while long-range missiles, launched by air, land and sea, hit command posts, logistics, warehouses, large troop formations, etc.

The advancing forces aspect we saw during the first days of the operation, with the deployment of mobile BTGs (battalion tactical groups) is missing at this point. Back then, the BTGs didn’t have massive artillery support, as the Russians expected a quick collapse of the Kiev regime (which would have most likely happened had the US not exerted extreme pressure to prevent it). This tactical approach is very different from the standard Russian military doctrine. It is also connected with Russia’s intention not just to prevent civilian casualties, but also to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. What we can conclude from the current events is that the Russian military is demonstrating a virtually unrivaled ability to adapt.

Even though the destruction of the fortifications in Donbass dragged on precisely because of the initial lack of a decisive breakthrough, the goal of preventing civilian casualties and saving manpower has been accomplished. What’s more, a sort of “boiling frog” effect is also present as a result. Naturally, this is extremely unfavorable for the Kiev regime forces, because they are suffering massive losses in manpower and equipment, while their logistics are in an almost impossible situation. Thus, the apparently “slow advance” of Russian forces due to a supposed “Ukrainian military prowess” is nothing more than a persistent myth, primarily kept alive in the ever-increasingly comical Western state-run mass media.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... -too-slow/

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"It's going to be tough"
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 07/16/2022 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

Original Article: Dmitry Steshin / Komsomolskaya Pravda



Initially, Alexander Sergeevich had two goals for our trip: to check on the battalion's soldiers on the front line, and to discuss a humanitarian mission with people being brought into the combat zone by Vostok battalion members. They asked me not to reveal the location and circumstances of the evacuation for the time being. The reason is good: the day before, good peoplevisited the same location and immediately posted the images on the internet, which (surprise!) is also monitored by the other side. The consequence was that a good deed turned into hours of shelling by the Ukrainian artillery, destruction and burning of buildings although, luckily, there were no casualties. It is the reality of the 21st century. If during the Great Patriotic War only intelligence had any idea of ​​​​what was happening beyond the front, now the information crosses that line completely freely.

We start the conversation with Khodakovsky with the main topic of the week: What can we expect from the multimillion-dollar offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?

A few days ago, I was in a gray area in the Zaporozhye region, on the front line near the Novojavoska reserve. According to commanders, the usual enemy activity in the form of sabotage and reconnaissance group work and combat reconnaissance is increasingly looking more like trying to go forward and say , what if it goes right ? In Mariupol, agents circulate rumors of combat among the civilian population and tell them not to repair the houses, to flee, Ukraine will soon return. The whole world has heard the statements of Ukrainian politicians about the liberation of the liberated territories. What does the commander think can be expected?

“They call it a counteroffensive. There will always be attempts. They have resources and, what is more important, there is a political order: work for the money, so that there is military assistance that invests in them. Of course they will be active."

A question from readers: “What is the Vostok battalion doing now, what is it preparing for and where is it fighting?” Of course, what can be counted.

“We've spent eight years on defense. The soldiers did well in Mariupol and we have earned a reputation as an assault battalion. We are preparing for the assault, we are working on reconnaissance activities and we are helping our neighbors.”

What kind of help is that?

“The defense organization. As a rule, we work with recruits and sometimes they don't know how to build positions correctly. So we don't fall asleep. In our country, no one has canceled the order to block what is called the enemy 's Donetsk grouping . Unlike the Ukrainians, we are in no hurry to reveal the direction in which our main blow will be delivered.

NATO training camp

Currently, everyone watches the advance of the allied forces. Ours rejoice, the opponent tries to rise up calling the cities he loses unnecessary or destroyed . But, in general, it is clear that in this summer campaign there will be no rapid advances of tens of kilometers or wide flanking of the enemy at the moment.

How do you assess the offensive of the neighbors from Lisichansk to Seversk?

“It's going to be tough. It will be hard to move on. After all, we are not dealing with just anyone, but with an army that inherited everything from the Soviet Union, both the school and the weapons. They are the same ones who have fought with us in Afghanistan, the great-grandsons of those who defeated Germany. We are at war with a sufficiently qualified enemy. The difference in armament is insignificant, they have the same artillery systems, and besides, NATO weapons now abound in Ukraine.

What would you say about western weapons? For example, there were many prayers for the Javelin and then they were all lost.

The HIMERS, above all. These are weapons that were originally designed to counter Soviet multiple rocket launchers. The Americans are based on mass application: efficiency, aim and destroy targets. On our land we are not only faced with samples of NATO weapons, but also with the way of acting and tactics.

What does that mean?

“They provoke us so that we have to act and thus reveal our positions. At the same time, their instant reaction and reconnaissance artillery works effectively. Now we are suffering from it, but we are getting over it. That is the main reason for our slow progress. But we are pushing and moving forward at the same time.”

fighting fatigue

I've heard the question in the trenches dozens of times. Soldiers ask, relatives do too. They already felt victory, but they also knew that it was still far away.

Some soldiers are prepared to reach the borders of the Republics and then want to return home. They say: we are teachers, engineers, miners, we are not military. it is understandable. And there are others who are willing to go to kyiv and beyond. How will it all end?

Alexander Sergeevich pauses before answering.

“When we were working with high-precision weapons at a distance, there was a story, it was the first stage. Then the combined arms battles began. War is not easy and affects people's psychology. But I understand that no one will stop until we finish what we started. Even though there is a pause, a tactical truce . There may be. But until we reach the logical conclusion, nobody is going to demobilize. If we don't do it now, the enemy will reorganize in time. Then our tactical successes, the liberation of the Republics, will be meaningless. Of course, it is difficult for people to accept it, but we will have to do it. Yesterday they were teachers, tomorrow they may be professional soldiers. The instruction ends."

I've talked to recruits near the city. They honestly don't understand why they can't go on leave. They are half an hour from his house. It seems that people are tired. Five months in the trenches and the soldier only thinks about surviving, he no longer shows initiative. There are even books about it.

“I think the problem is subjective. I have a close relative who was one of the first to volunteer and is fighting somewhere near Kherson. From the first day, his commander organized communication with the families. So relatives are not thinking: What's wrong with him? Isn't he dead somewhere?In my family it was instantly apparent that the tension eased. It all depends on the commanders on the ground. The authorities cannot impose a model of behavior. It is possible to rotate and let soldiers go on leave. In one part we are at the front, but in others there is a period of calm. The soldiers can be let go, although it is difficult to return to the combat situation afterwards. But we have to understand that the fight will be prolonged and there will be those who can spend up to a year in the trenches. Soldiers have families. Soldiers cannot be exploited, human resources are finite. In Vostok, even in the midst of battle, we found the opportunity to let the soldiers go at least for a day. I am referring to the units that are fighting on the borders of the DPR. You can't approach the issue by thinking that "if we let him go home now, he won't come back." Here, in the forest, nothing prevents a person from throwing the machine gun and running, but they are fighting. I think that if you ask the chief of the General Staff, he will be surprised: "How is it possible that you have not solved the problem in the battalion?"

Supplies and self-service

The images show that the armies of the Republics have changed even their uniforms. If you see any iron helmets like the SS-40s your grandparents wore, it's either a big surprise or just a tribute to them. Or both things.

It seems to me that the flows of humanitarian aid have become mainstream since the spring. And that many holes have been closed with the help of good people . Is it so?

“Right now we are in a real combat position. There are soldiers behind you, among them there are recruits. The first question I have asked them is what they need. You've heard them say they're fine. I see how the image of the recruit battalions has changed in these months. At first they had Moslin rifles, but now it is clear that they have the necessary equipment. That is, the civilian support system is working. Here we have just been with you in a troubled place and have met with humanitarian workers from Chelyabinsk. All regions of Russia are involved. At Vostok, thanks to humanitarian aid, we have changed the wheels of all our equipment, from cargo to medical.”

The motivation formula

In the trenches there is the opinion that politics is not discussed. They say: Should we expect a political decision in the fall or is it too early?

“My point of view is that there should be a referendum everywhere. It is clear that, in Donbass, it is necessary to hold a vote on access to Russia when we reach the borders. And we will be happy if the result of the referendum in Russia is considered and a decision is made. It is more difficult in the Kherson and Zaporozhye territories, which are now under our control. But I think that the population finally believes in us, that we will not leave. So they don't feel like people who just have Russian passports but start to understand that they already live in Russia.

Here we are talking about the motivation of the soldiers in the trenches. Sometimes they can hardly formulate for themselves the goals of war. You have to simplify and specify the objectives. If it is to recover these lands, if it is to recover those territories that were taken from Russia for totally unjust reasons… that land that our ancestors obtained centuries ago. And for which they shed blood."

That motif implies denazification .

“And demilitarization. This is the land in which we find ourselves. It has always been abandoned. It is very far from kyiv. And the Russian people know them. Russia, Moscow, expelled the Turks and Tatars from here. Now these lands, for political reasons, have been controlled, not only by the neighboring country, but by forces hostile to us. This enemy is like us, many times he has a Russian surname, but he fights for the enemy. So it is necessary to recover the lands.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/07/16/25050/#more-25050

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