A recent attempt on youtube by an obvious anti-Russian, to pour scorn on this film's historical accuracy, tries to point out that the nazi troops state they are members of a unit that was not there.. but can't bring himself to see that they might have been lying!
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St. John of Kronstadt Orthodox
SpiritualCare Centre
THE TRAGEDY IN UKRAINE
"Veterans and children of the Great PatrioticWar: to the Government andpeopleof Germany".
By events in Ukraine
Today, when the German government decided
to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons, the
world has changed -- the silhouettes of a
new world war are more than clearly
outlined! And again - Germany!
But there are honest people in Germany.. anti-
fascists, and we hope that this Message will
fall into their hands. People born between
1927 and 1945 have the status of "war
children" in Russia.
All those who survived that war can subscribe to this letter. We think that actual signatures are not necessary, we suggest that veterans(or "war children"), read them this letter, independently or with someone's help,
and send us (at the coordinatesindicated below) something like the following:
Moscow, Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, 90 years old, disabled war veteran (or otherwise), Hero of the Soviet Union (or Holder of the Order of Glory... or otherwise), was repatriated to Germany during the war (or otherwise).
Or just the city, full name, and age. The
main thing, is that they should be real
people who are familiar with the text.
MESSAGE TEXT
We, the last veterans -- and all the peoples of
Russia who survived that great and terrible
war.. are now on the verge of death! Our
time is already running out. For a huge
part of our lives, we hoped we would
come to the end of it, in peace -
without all-destroying hatred!
For the painfully long decades after the Second World War, we overcame our righteous anger! I long for retribution for the innumerable wounds, spiritual and physical.. that we still carry in our bodies and our hearts! And most of us have forgiven! And not in a small way due to the fact that Germany for many years, has demonstrated its repentance its understanding of what it has done! And we have overcome -- not only ourselves, but also the voice of the blood of our barbarically exterminated relatives! By whom? Germans ...fascists!
We have forgiven... following the laws of human
coexistence! So it was... until 2014. And then,
in 2014, when everything began in Ukraine...
we looked with hope at Germany, and at the
then Chancellor Angela Merkel. We couldn't imagine that after all that the Germans did
in Ukraine, after Babi Yar, after mountains
of mutilated corpses, they would still look
with lust: at the Ukrainian fields that can
feed Europe today! Or they, the Germans,
who have covered the Crimea they once
promised with blood, will still somehow be interested in turning the Crimea into an American - and in general - a NATO base, ideal for aggression against Russia! Which would be clearly
aimed at afuture war.
After all -- only fools do not understand the meaning and goals of the entire coup inUkraine..... in the conditions of which Russia behaved in the only possible way! But the Germans are not fools! We the Russians, know for certain your psychology, as "brothers in blood" - our blood, which you "prudently" shed in rivers!
We remember -- your "systematic methods of
population reduction"! Our population! Until
now - in different parts of our once united
Homeland - where the boot of German
fascism was trodden, we find hidden
mass graves of our civilians: in the
Novgorod region, in the Kuban, in
the Rostov region, in Karelia. In
Belarus, in 2021... hundreds of
civilian remains... were found
in Brest ...on the site of the
Jewish ghetto the Trostenets
concentration camp.... near
Minsk terrible in its tragedy
revealed the secret of the
remains... of thousands of
tortured and killed people!
We are talking about tens of thousands of newly discovered victims of Nazism! This blood - still cries out for revenge - and for decades the memory of these barbarously destroyed
Russian people -- and monuments to Russian soldiers, liberators - have been desecrated with impunity!
And the new Nazis are marching in the Baltic
States and Ukraine - in front of the entire
"civilized" world! But, in 2014, we were
sincerely convinced - that in this new
Nazi demarche it's the Germans who
will be our associates in preventing
this meanness!
We hoped that, guided by an elementary
conscience -- the Germans would not
participate.. in an obviously fascist
anti-state coup in Ukraine! After all
...the subsequent catastrophe of
modern Ukraine was committed
by direct descendants of those
who were special bastards in
the German army! Clearly,
openly!
Americans and Canadians have only hidden and preserved this diabolical heritage... feeding thisgeneration, but the product of this evil... is Germany! Hitler's Germany! And it was impossible for us to believe that it was Germany that would again give a "road map" to these inhumans! But we were wrong! Germany has once again allowed these fascist geeks...... to enter the world!
The support of modern Germany - in the face of
the new government of Ukraine-Bandera.. the
heirs of the SS division "Galicia" -- the thugs
of the UPA OUN, and all other abominations;
is simply unthinkable for us! This is beyond
all that is human! But you.. Germany, have already done it and continue to do it! You
have, once again, set your sights on the
Slavic world and these geeks are blood
from the blood of German Nazism! And
again to Russia!
Only, even more despicable: inciting our closest Ukrainian brothers against us! And you know it! You know this as well as we do! You killed one nation in that Great War! Yes, we are one people!
The truth is written and often spoken about
by your own Steinmeier, who at the same
time, viciously took a direct part in the
Kiev coup of 2014 — fascist in fact!
This American.. may not be clear about some-
things, but it's more than that, for you! And
after all, it was your vykormysh... that got
ready.. for their torchlight processions in
Kiev! The living shadow of Nazi Germany
is behind all this. It was only temporarily
covered up by sly diplomacy - "helmets
instead of guns"! But that's it, "masks
are reset"! Your supply of German
weapons to Ukraine today... is
natural - it is in the logic of
your policy of recent
decades.
Today it is clearly pro-fascist! You have taken
this step: German weapons will kill Russians
again! Keep killing. During the years of the
conflict in the Donbas, your professional
killers have already killed Russians, at
least by teaching them... "how to kill
correctly"! Only now -- it's even more
despicable — you're teaching this to
- your blood brothers! Donbass is on
your conscience! Thousands of lives
of its peaceful citizens --- again your
handiwork! We do not care about the
role of Americans, in everything that
happens: there, is money-God! We,
veterans of that war, its children,
are concerned about the role of
the Germans! Because it is you
who know -- exactly -- who the
Ukrainian "national battalions"
consist of --- and could have
prevented and stopped, this
new fascism ! But they did
not do it! And just by doing
this -- you are once again,
responsible to history!
And you are definitely participating ---- in the
preparation of Ukraine for war with Russia!
You can't help but understand the purpose
of everything that happened ---- from the
unconstitutional coup in Kiev .....to the
bloodshed in the Donbass! But, in fact
this is preparation for the Third World
War! And again, you are Germans...
Germany! We hear from the high
German rostrum in Berlin today:
"Russia, will pay a high price"!!!
This is the German Chancellor's
speech! Unthinkable! We have
already paid the price ------ 27
million of our lives! Isn't that
enough for you?! What price
are you still talking about?
There is no home ----- in Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus - where "this price" isn't paid! And
there is no home --- in Germany, that did
not participate in that terrible, bloody
barbarism! It's scary! It's wild! And
today, there are, already, more than
13 thousand dead Russian people
in the Donbass at the hands of
the new Nazis!
The German Chancellor's public mockery of the
Russian genocide in the Donbas, is a crime in
itself! How much can the lessons of history
be misunderstood - and discredited! The
scariest story in the world! Do you want
to be even scarier?! After all, this new
"Dranch nach Oschtern" ..may lead to
the fact that the 2nd Nuremberg trial
over you will no longer be - there will
simply be no humanity! You won't be
here! But a special Ecumenical trial
of you Germans is inevitable! Over
all aggressors — but over you
ESPECIALLY!
World justice will be served! And we --- the last
veterans of that terrible war, are leaving this
world ---- as witnesses! Witnesses for the
PROSECUTION! And today the victory
will be ours, but those who died
yesterday, or those of us who
will die today, already bear
witness to the role of the
German people, in the
history of the human
world — a bloody
history!
German weapons are back in the
hands of Nazi thugs! Please stop!
Email addresses for information:
veterans1945@yandex.ru
https://t.me/Veteran_v_stroy_chat
- Russian Union of Veterans: organizing
questions and collecting signatures of
veterans and children of the Second
World War
****************************
veteran1944@yandex.ru -questions about
this publication to its author: Monk John (Adlivankin), Deputy Head of the Russian Orthodox Church. head and ved.
specialist.... of the St. Peter's
Orthodox Counseling Centre.
St. John of Kronstadt.
__________________________________
If you want the truth about the massacre of civilans in Bucha - paste the web address below into your browser
https://www.bitchute.com/video/6ZHPL2pTuadJ/
REQUIEM
Efran and Poet's tribute to all those killed by wars
THE LATEST NEWS
Lukashenko: The conflict in Ukraine ---
will change if Belarus is drawn into it
June 25th, 8:58pm
(RT.ru)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, that
at a recent meeting with representatives of Vladimir
Zelensky in Minsk, he warned them - that if Kiev
tried to drag Belarus into the conflict, it would
instantly change the “quality of the war.”
"Tell Zelensky: if he thinks that he can talk to us like this
and still drag us into a war, then he should understand
that the quality of the war will change instantly. This
will be a completely different kind of war," he said,
RIA Novosti reports.
According to him, the Ukrainian side understands
this ....and has already given its response.
Lukashenko noted that Belarus does not need
to get involved in the Ukrainian conflict.
He also said that Belarus will be
close to Russia in any situation.
_________________________________
A resident of Konstantinovka: Kiev's Armed
Forces --- set fire to a church with civilians
in it ....in the city
June 25th, 8:01pm
(RT.ru)
Ukrainian militants deliberately set fire to a church
in Konstantinovka, where civilians were hiding.
Maxim Plyushko, an evacuated resident
of the city, told TASS about this.
"We were sitting in the temple. There's nothing sacred,
and they set fire to the temple at two o'clock in the
morning. There are people there," he said.
Plyushko noted - that there were 19 people in the
church. Six of them have been evacuated so far.
Plyushko also described.. how the Ukrainian occupiers
attacked the first group of people with an FPV drone
during their evacuation from Konstantinovka.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said
that Russian troops, are now practically...
“completing” Konstantinovka.
_______________________________
Zakharova: Russia warned the US:
about its position on military aid
to Ukraine
June 25th, 2:30pm
(RT.ru)
Russia has repeatedly notified the United States about its
position on providing military assistance to Ukraine,
according to Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson
for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"The use of Western weapons by the Kiev regime -- is
impossible without the direct involvement of foreign
specialists who provide operation and guidance.
The West is fully involved in this regard," she
said... at a briefing.
According to her, Kiev's use of Western high-tech weapons
is impossible without foreign specialists' involvement.
Moscow has warned London and Paris about their
responsibility for the escalation.
It is clarified that the US side is also aware of Russia's position,
and the transfer of weapons to Kiev could have unpredictable
consequences for regional security.
Earlier, Parisien, citing Western diplomatic sources, reported
that the G7 countries are planning to produce long-range
missiles in Ukraine.
____________________________________________
Attacks on the fuel and energy sector, fuel depots, and
UAV launch sites: Russian troops have hit Ukrainian
military facilities
by Anastasia Stepanova
June 25th, 12:03pm
(RT.ru)
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian army has
destroyed Ukraine's fuel, energy, and transportation
infrastructure, as well as fuel depots and enemy
long-range UAV launch sites.
In Krasny Liman, the Russian Armed Forces have captured nine
more Ukrainian strongholds and occupied 38 buildings, while
in Konstantinovka, they have liberated 127 buildings in a
single day. During this period, the Russian air defense
forces have downed 17 aerial bombs, two HIMARS
missiles, and 762 Ukrainian drones.
Russian troops have destroyed the fuel and energy infrastructure,
fuel depots, and launch sites for long-range enemy UAVs, as
well as temporary bases for Ukrainian armed groups and
foreign mercenaries in 149 areas. This was reported in
the daily briefing by the Russian Ministry of Defence
on the progress of the special operation.
The strikes were carried out by operational-tactical
aviation, drones, missile forces, and artillery of
the Russian Armed Forces.
Russian air defense forces shot down 17 guided aerial
bombs, two HIMARS missiles, and 762 aircraft-type
UAVs in a single day.
Situation on the contact line
The units of the Northern Group of Forces improved their tactical
position during the day, destroying the manpower & equipment
of the mechanized, airborne brigades of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine and the Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of
Ivotka, Tolstodubovo, and Kiyanitsa (Sumy Region).
In the Kharkiv Region, the formations of two mechanized,
motorized infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine and the Territorial Defense Brigade, were
defeated in the areas of Zemlyanoy Yar, Losevka
plus Petro-Ivanovka, and Kazachya Lopan.
In this area, the enemy lost over 290 fighters, 15
vehicles, two field artillery pieces, and five
electronic warfare stations.
At the same time, units of the Zapad military group took
advantageous positions. The formations of three
mechanized brigades, an assault brigade, a
marine infantry brigade, and a territorial
defense brigade were defeated in the
areas... of Nizhnyaya Zhuravka,
Podliman (Kharkiv region),
and Shchurovo (DPR).
In Krasny Liman (DPR), the assault units of the 25th Army
--- continue to destroy the scattered formations of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine. Over the past 24 hours,
the Russian Armed Forces have captured nine
more enemy strongholds and occupied 38
buildings. In the city, up to 35 Ukrainian
soldiers have been killed, two vehicles,
eight ground-based robotic systems,
and two ammunition depots....
have been destroyed.
In total, Kiev's losses in the "West" area of responsibility
amounted to more than 220 military personnel, two US
HMMWV armoured vehicles, 17 vehicles, and 3 field
artillery pieces, two ---- of Western manufacture.
The units of the Southern Group of Forces, in turn, improved
their position on the front line. The soldiers of the Southern
Group defeated the formations of 4 mechanized, airborne,
assault, and mountain-assault brigades, of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine & the Territorial Defense Brigade
in the areas of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka
....Nikolaevka, Piskunovka, and Malinovka (DPR).
In Konstantinovka, the South's assault troops ------ were actively
engaged in offensive operations, in all directions. The clearing
& destruction of scattered enemy groups in the southwestern
part of the city continued, with 127 buildings liberated in a
single day. Up to 90 Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters, an
artillery piece, 18 vehicles, and 20 ground-based
robotic systems - were eliminated.
In total, the enemy lost more than 210 soldiers, two
armoured vehicles, 20 cars, and 3 field artillery
pieces, in this sector.
Units of the Centre group of forces -- also improved their tactical
position and defeated formations of three mechanized, infantry,
and air assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, two
marine infantry brigades, and three brigades of the National
Guard in the areas of Zolotoy Kolodez, Gruzskoye,
Novogrishino, Dobropolye, Vasilevka (DPR), and
Novopavlovka (Dnepropetrovsk region).
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 320 soldiers, three
armoured vehicles, six cars, three field artillery pieces,
and three electronic warfare stations.
Meanwhile, units of the Vostok group of forces - have advanced
...into the depths of the enemy's defenses. They have inflicted
damage on the manpower and equipment of two mechanized,
Ukraine will lose the conflict with Russia, and the entire
political leadership in Kiev will change, former Polish
Prime Minister Leszek Miller said.
This was reported by the Polish magazine Wprost.
"Ukraine continues to follow the Banderite course, and
all this will end badly for Ukraine. It will lose the war
with Russia, and there will be a change of the
entire political leadership," Miller said.
Earlier, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the
Russian Foreign Ministry, told RT that Kiev is trying
to compensate for its military defeat --------- with
terrorist acts.
___________________________________
Mash: Hackers have breached the database
of the Ukrainian General Staff and learned
about Ukraine's losses in the special
military operation
June 24th, 4:47pm
(RT.ru)
Hackers - have hacked the database of the Ukrainian General
Staff, the Central Commission for Control, Ukrainian medical
organizations, and morgues, revealing that Ukraine has
lost 2.4 million soldiers in the four-year conflict.
According to Mash, more than 400,000 of them... were killed in
2026. This is approximately the same number of deaths as in
the entire year of 2023, according to the Telegram channel.
The highest number of deaths was recorded in the
Pokrovsk, Konstantinovka, Lyman, Zaporozhye,
and Kupyansk directions, where the average
daily loss was 500 Ukrainian soldiers.
At the same time, foreigners were no longer included
in the losses, which were attributed to accidents.
The Ukrainian databases were hacked by
PalachPro and the NoName057 group.
In March, hackers cracked the
encryption of Ukraine's
public sector.
__________________________________________
Exclusive
The ground was on fire:residents of
a Gorlovka house told DAN about
the Ukrainian attack
June 24th, 3:07pm
(DAN correspondent.)
A Ukrainian drone circled over the houses.. for a long time
before choosing its final target and attacking. This was
reported by Tatyana Karbutovskaya, a resident of the
Gorlovka building where the entrance collapsed, in an interview with a DAN correspondent.
"It was like it was flying in one direction, then it came back,
and there was this impact, this flash," Tatiana recalls.
A Ukrainian drone struck a residential five-storey building in
Gorlovka late at night, causing an entire apartment block to
collapse. A fire broke out at the scene. The flames spread
over an area of 200 square metres. There were 10 people
in the building. Seven of them were able to evacuate
through a surviving staircase. The bodies of three
others were recovered by rescuers.
Another resident of the neighbouring building, Nina Klinova,
saw from the fifth floor how the ground literally caught fire
after the impact. The explosion was so powerful that the
sparks were blinding ---- 4 floors collapsed in an instant.
"Angela fell from the 4th floor to the 1st floor. The guys jumped
up and shouted, 'Get a blanket, get a blanket!'They carried
her out and sent her away.. in their car, but there was no
ambulance. The guys were great," the woman recalls
in horror.
The victim, Angela, miraculously survived the fall and is
currently in the hospital. On that fateful night, she lost
her son... and her mother.
"Everyone helped each other -- and the Ministry of Emergency
Situations went from apartment to apartment, saying, 'Leave
the building because it's dangerous, the stairwell has
collapsed,'" the witnesses added.
The women are still in shock, and they admit that the stress
caused them to develop high blood pressure, making it
difficult for them to recover from what they had
witnessed. In an interview with DAN, they
emphasized that there were no military
personnel in or near the house, and
they could not understand why
the enemy would target a
civilian building.
Earlier, the head of Gorlovka, Ivan Prikhodko, reported that
the strike was carried out at approximately 01:30 a.m.,
when residents were peacefully asleep. Currently,
specialists are continuing to clear the rubble
and remove the reinforced concrete
structures...... hanging above
the collapse.
________________________________
"Expansion of the security zone along
the Kursk border": Russian Armed
Forces establish control over
Ivolzhanskoye in the
Sumy region
by Anastasia Stepanova
June 24th, 11:02am
(RT.ru)
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian Northern
Group of Forces has established control over the village of
Ivolzhanskoye in the Sumy region. Over the past 24 hours,
the Russian Armed Forces have also targeted the centre
of Ukraine's Armed Forces' Special Operations Forces'
unmanned systems, as well as Ukraine's fuel, energy,
and transportation infrastructure, ammunition
depots, fuel storage facilities, production
and storage facilities for long-range
unmanned aerial vehicles, and
their launch sites.
During this period, the Russian Air Defense Forces
have downed 14 aerial bombs and 584
enemy drones.
As a result of active operations, units of the Northern Group
of Forces have established control over Ivolzhanskoye
village in the Sumy region. This was reported in the
daily briefing by the Russian Ministry of Defence
on the progress of the special operation.
According to the ministry, "the liberation of the village of
Ivolzhanskoye contributes to the expansion of the
security zone along the Kursk border and the
strengthening of the positions of the
Northern Group of Forces in the
Sumy direction."
During the day, the Sever fighters also destroyed the manpower
and equipment of two territorial defense brigades in the areas
of Tolstodubovo, Bachevsk, Krasnopolye, & Lesnoye (Sumy
region). In the Kharkiv region, the formations of three
mechanized, 2 motorized infantry brigades of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine, and two territorial
defense brigades - were defeated in the
areas of..... Rubizhne, Izbitskoye,
Kazachya Lopan, Kolodezne,
Vodyanoye, Makarovo,
Olkhovatka, and
Sosnovy Bor.
Here, the enemy lost over 215 fighters, five vehicles,
an artillery gun, a US' BRAWLR anti-aircraft missile
system, and an air target detection radar station.
During the same period, units of the Western Group of Forces
- occupied more advantageous positions. They defeated the
personnel and equipment, of two mechanized brigades, an
assault brigade, a brigade of the Ukrainian General Staff's
security forces, and two marine infantry brigades in the
areas of Smorodkovka, Iziumskoye, Stetskivka,
Gusinka, Selishche, Nizhnyaya Zhuravka,
Staroverivka (Kharkiv Region),
and Volchiy Yar (DPR).
In Krasny Lyman, the assault units of the 25th Army continue to
destroy the scattered units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By
advancing in the western direction, the Russian Armed Forces
have captured five more enemy strongholds and 43 buildings.
They have also completed the destruction of Ukrainian
militants from the 120th Territorial Defense Brigade,
who were blocked in the northwestern part of
the city.
During the day, up to 30 militants...... were eliminated in Krasny
Liman, and a pickup truck, two ATVs, four remotely controlled
robotic systems, and nine UAV control points were destroyed.
In total, the enemy's losses in the "West" area of
responsibility amounted to over 210 soldiers,
two armoured vehicles, 15 pickup trucks,
and an artillery gun.
The units of the Southern Group of Forces, in turn... improved the
situation on the front line. The soldiers of the Southern Group of
Forces defeated the formations of five mechanized, mountain-
assault, airborne, and assault brigades of the Armed Forces
of Ukraine and the Marine Infantry Brigade in the areas of
Alekseevo-Druzhkovka, Nikolaypolye, Nikolaevka, and
Kramatorsk (DNR).
In Konstantinovka (DPR), the South assault units continued their
offensive in the southwestern part of the city, destroying
scattered enemy groups and individual militants.
Over the course of the day, 114 buildings
were liberated in the city.
In Konstantinovka, the Armed Forces of Ukraine.... lost up to 30
fighters, an armoured vehicle, 13 cars, 2 ATVs, three artillery
pieces, 21 ground-based robotic systems, & 21 UAV control
points. In total, Kiev lost up to 205 military personnel, two
KAZAK armoured vehicles, 18 cars, five field artillery
pieces, and an electronic warfare station.... in the
South sector.
Meanwhile, units of the Centre military group improved their
tactical position and defeated formations of 4 mechanized, assault, and airborne brigades, a brigade of unmanned
systems, an assault regiment of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine, a marine infantry brigade, four brigades of
the National Guard, a territorial defense brigade,
and the Azov special forces brigade* ...in the
areas of...... Dobropolye, Zolotoy Kolodez,
Svetloe, Sergeevka, Veseloye, Ivanovka,
Novovodyanoye, Gruzskoye (DNR),
as well as Novotroitskoye and
Novopavlovka........ in the
Dnepropetrovsk Region.
In this area, Ukraine lost more than 310 military personnel,
an armoured combat vehicle, six vehicles, two artillery
pieces, and two electronic warfare stations.
Units of the Vostok military group continued to advance into the
depths of the enemy's defenses. They inflicted damage on the
personnel and equipment of three mechanized, four airborne
assault, two assault brigades, a battalion of unmanned
systems, three assault regiments of the Armed Forces
of Ukraine, and a marine infantry brigade in the areas
of Aleksandrovka, Gavrilovka, Podgavrilovka, Dibrova, Prosyanaya, Ivanovka, Malinovka, Malomikhailovka,
and Pokrovskoye (Dnepropetrovsk region).
In this area, the enemy lost up to 465 soldiers,
an armoured combat vehicle, a field artillery
gun, and eight vehicles.
Meanwhile, units of the Dnipro military group defeated
formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' heavy
mechanized brigade ------- in the areas of
Malokaterinovka in the Zaporozhye
Region) and Novoaleksandrovka
(Kherson Region).
Up to 50 Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters were eliminated here.
A US' HIMARS MLRS launcher, six vehicles, and 3 electronic
warfare stations ...were destroyed.
In addition, the Russian Armed Forces have targeted the centre
of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' special operations forces'
unmanned systems, Ukraine's fuel, energy, & transport infrastructure, ammunition depots, and fuel storage
facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as
well as production and storage facilities for long
-range UAVs, their launch sites, and temporary
locations for Ukrainian fighters and foreign
mercenaries.... in 143 areas.
Russian air defense forces shot down 14 guided
aerial bombs and 584 aircraft-type drones
in a single day.
* Azov is an organization recognized as a terrorist organization by the Russian
Supreme Court on August 2, 2022.
_____________________________________
CBS News reported on US plans
to create combat training
grounds...in Ukraine
June 23rd, 11pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The US Army plans to create two specialized training grounds
that will reproduce the conditions of combat operations in
Ukraine with the active use of drones. This was reported
by the CBS News TV channel on June 23, citing US
Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll.
"You can simulate the entire situation of combat operations,
as well as organize joint work of manufacturers of drones
and developers of anti-drone tools," he said, in
the publication.
In addition, the United States is considering the possibility of creating a global test site outside the country.... for conducting larger-scale tests, including hypersonic technologies.
In the deep military recruitment office: Ukraine is tightening
its mobilization again. The country is discussing the
opening of rural TSKs and the digital registration
of conscripts.
Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davie said on
May 25, that the further development of the Russian-
Ukrainian conflict could become unpredictable
....after the Russian Foreign Ministry's
statements about the possibility
of strikes on Kyiv.
__________________________________________
Lieutenant Silivanov led the assault on
an AFU stronghold in the SVO zone
June 23rd, 9:15pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Lieutenant Ruslan Silivanov, commander of a motorized rifle
platoon, commanded the unit during the assault on a
stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
The press service of the Russian MoD reported
on the feats of Russian Armed Forces soldiers
in the zone of the special military operation.
The assault groups, one of which was led by Silivanov himself,
approached the enemy's stronghold stealthily, using the
terrain's features for concealed movement.
The Russian soldiers surprised the enemy, who had not yet
prepared, by attacking their firing positions and then
storming the stronghold, which was successfully
occupied in a short period of time. During the
assault, several soldiers were injured, and
Silivanov promptly organized first aid
and their subsequent evacuation.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also noted the professionalism
of Corporal Pavel Alekseyev, who provided fire support to
Russian assault groups as part of a howitzer
artillery battery.
When enemy attack drones attacked the assault troops,
Alekseyev organized artillery fire on the launch points
of the Ukrainian drones.
The targets were detected ..using aerial reconnaissance, and
Alekseyev received the coordinates and launched the attack.
As a result, the Ukrainian drone crews ---- suffered
significant losses.
_____________________________________
The Ukrainian Armed Forces Brigade
requested a thousand body bags
by Marina Sovina (night editor)
June 23rd, 6:34pm
(Lenta.ru)
The command of the 119th separate territorial defense brigade
of the Armed Forces of Ukraine appealed to the relatives of
the missing fighters. A source in the Russian security
forces, told RIA Novosti about this.
According to his information, the family was asked to provide
the unit with bags for storing and transporting the remains.
There are a thousand such bags.
Earlier, it was reported that in the village of Bolshaya Rybitsa
in the Sumy region, the Ukrainian military burned several
residential buildings that contained the bodies of
soldiers from the 21st Separate Mechanized
Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Russian side allowed them to be evacuated from
the contact line ..during the ceasefire period. After
the arson, the fate of the remains ...is unknown.
In January, the adviser to the head of the Donetsk People's
Republic, Igor Kimakovsky, reported that military mobile crematoriums were appearing at the positions of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine. The official explained
that the bodies are being burned to hide the
true level of losses among personnel.
________________________________________
Rostec has announced improvements to
the T-90 tank based on the experience
of the special military operation
June 23rd, 6:11pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The main tank of the Russian army, the T-90 Proryv, is being
improved by specialists based on feedback from Russian
soldiers in the special military operation zone (SMO).
This was reported by the press service of the
Rostec state corporation on June 23.
"The T-90 is a well-known tank. It has become more powerful
and more protected. This process is ongoing. The vehicle
continues to be improved. Our specialists are enhancing
the equipment --- based on the new challenges coming
from the front lines," the Telegram channel reported.
Nikolai Volobuev, Deputy General Director of the state
corporation, noted --- that the knowledge of the SVO
fighters..... who have real experience working with
equipment, is very useful for updating equipment
and creating new models.
The report specifies that the tank's electronic warfare
system has been significantly improved over the past
few months. It is noted that additional protection for
the engine & transmission compartment has been
added to the upper hemisphere defense.
The press service also reported, that the Uralvagonzavod
continues to work on improving the tank's protection and
enhancing its operational and technical characteristics.
The focus ---- is on increasing the tank's survivability
and crew safety.
"The T-90M is a beast, not a car! It's good
at cross-country driving .......and is fast."
Rostec said on May 7 that the Russian T-90M, T-72B3M, and
T-80BVM tanks can be considered the best mass-produced
tanks - in the world. This was stated in materials for a
meeting.. between Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov
and Russia's President, Vladimir Putin. It was
noted that these tanks are highly adaptable
to modern combat conditions.
At the same meeting, Putin noted that Rostec had demonstrated
very good growth in the volume of civilian products during the
special military operation (SVO). Chemezov noted that the
state corporation's profits had quadrupled over the past
10 years. Overall, the revenue from civilian products
amounted to 1 trillion 120 billion rubles.
__________________________________________
UAV --- attacked a car in
Donetsk, injuring a man
June 23rd, 1:40pm
(DAN.ru)
A man born in 1970 was injured in the Petrovsky
District of Donetsk. This was reported today
by the head of the municipal district,
Alexey Kulemzin.
He clarified -- that the man was injured as a result
of a UAV attack -- on a truck belonging to the
municipal enterprise Dorozhnoe Remontno
-Stroitel'noe Upravlenie.
The victim received medical assistance.
The Kiev regime, with the direct support of the West,
is taking out its anger on civilians and civilian
facilities due to its inability to stop the
Russian Armed Forces' advance
in the combat zone.
_________________________________________
Putin said that Russia will go
where it needs to go
June 23rd, 1:04pm
(RT.ru)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country
will get to where it needs to be, commenting on the
situation on the front lines.
"(The guys at the front. — RT) go every single day — we'll
get to where we need to go," the Russian leader said at a meeting with graduates of higher military
educational institutions.
Putin emphasized that the Russian Armed Forces are
“hammering” the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the
front - every single day.
_____________________________
Progress in all directions: The Russian Armed
Forces have taken up new positions in the
SVO zone and are advancing in Krasny
Liman and Konstantinovka
by Adeline Vishnevskaya
June 23, 2026, 15:00
(RT.ru)
Over the course of the day, air defense systems
shot down five Storm Shadow cruise missiles
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian armed forces have
carried out strikes on Ukraine's fuel and energy sector
and transportation infrastructure, according to the
Ministry of Defense. These targets include fuel
depots used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,
locations for the production and storage
of drones, and temporary bases for the
Ukrainian Armed Forces and foreign
mercenaries.
Additionally, air defense systems have downed 13 guided aerial
bombs, five Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and 462 drones.
The ministry highlighted the successes of Russian fighters in
the DPR: in Krasny Liman, Russia's Armed Forces captured
five enemy strongholds and cleared 52 buildings of
militants, and in Konstantinovka, they liberated
128 buildings.
At the same time, units of the Northern Group of Forces
improved their tactical position. They defeated the
personnel and equipment of the mechanized
brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
and the territorial defense brigade in
the areas of the settlements of
Volnaya Sloboda, Bachevsk,
and Novaya Sich
(Sumy region).
In the Kharkiv region, the formations of the mechanized and
motorized infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
were defeated in the areas of Kolodezne, Kazachya Lopan,
and Bily Kolodez.
The enemy lost over 215 fighters, 12 vehicles, two
electronic warfare stations, and an Israeli RADA
RPS-42 counter-battery station.
The Western fighters took advantageous positions and lines.
They defeated the manpower and equipment of the
mechanized and assault brigades of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine, the marines brigade, and
the border detachment of the Ukrainian
Border Service in the areas of
Samborovka, Chervony Oskol,
Gusinka (Kharkiv region),
Volchiy Yar, as well as
Shchurovo (DPR).
The Ministry of Defense emphasized that in the village of
Krasny Liman (DPR), the assault units of the 25th Army
continue to conduct offensive operations and destroy
scattered units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Units of the 67th Motorized Rifle Division captured five
enemy strongholds in the northwestern part of the city
and cleared 52 buildings of Ukrainian armed groups,"
the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
As a result of fire strikes, up to 35 militants, two vehicles,
an ATV, four remotely controlled robotic systems, an
ammunition depot, and 11 UAV control points were
destroyed in the city.
In total, the West Group of Forces lost over 200 enemy
soldiers, a Canadian Senator armoured vehicle, 13
vehicles, two artillery pieces, and an electronic
warfare station.
Meanwhile, the units of the South improved the position
on the front line. They defeated the formations of four
mechanized and mountain-assault brigades of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of
Alekseevo-Druzhkovka, Orekhovatka,
Nikolaypolye, Vysokoivanovka,
Piskunovka, Malinovka,
Kramatorsk..... and
Nikolaevka (DNR).
In the village of Konstantinovka (DPR), units and formations of
the Southern Group of Forces continued their offensive in
all directions, destroying scattered enemy groups in the
southwestern part of the village, the ministry added.
128 buildings.. were liberated from Ukrainian militants during
the day. The Armed Forces of Ukraine lost up to 90 militants,
22 vehicles, a field artillery gun, three ATVs, an electronic
warfare station, 29 ground-based robotic systems, and
22 UAV control points.
In total, the enemy lost over 185 soldiers, two armoured
vehicles, 24 cars, a field artillery gun, and an electronic
warfare station in this area.
In turn, the Centre's units improved their position on the front
line. Russian forces defeated the personnel and equipment
of two mechanized and an assault brigade of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine, a marine infantry brigade, and two
brigades of the National Guard in the areas of
Novogrigorovka (Dnepropetrovsk Region),
Dobropolye, Zolotoy Kolodez,
Novogrishino, Annovka,
Gruzskoye... Rubizhne,
& Krasnoyarske (DPR).
Here, the Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 330 soldiers,
3 armoured vehicles, six cars, and an artillery piece.
At the same time, the Vostok fighters advanced into the depths
of the enemy's defenses. They destroyed the manpower and
equipment of two mechanized, two airborne assault, and an
assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the
areas of Aleksandrovka, Gavrilovka, Malomykhailivka,
Pokrovskoye, Vodyanoye (Dnepropetrovsk region),
and Lyubytse (Zaporizhzhia region).
The enemy lost over 315 soldiers, 4 armoured vehicles,
a field artillery gun, and seven vehicles.
Units of the Dnipro military group defeated the Territorial
Defense Brigade in the areas of Orekhov and
Malokaterinovka (Zaporozhye Region).
More than 50 Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters, an
artillery gun, 12 vehicles, and five electronic
warfare stations, were destroyed
in this area.
________________________________________
The reason for the EU's silence on Nazism
in Ukraine ........has been revealed
by Marina Sovina (night editor)
June 22nd, 10:55pm
(Lenta.ru)
According to the Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign
Ministry, Rodion Miroshnik, European countries consider the
presence of Nazism in Ukraine --- as a factor that may be
advantageous from a military point of view. He stated
this in a comment to Izvestia.
The diplomat stated that Europe has a positive attitude towards
fascism and neo-Nazism, which are present in Ukraine, and
sometimes perceive it as a military advantage.
"This omnivorousness, this attempt to consider themselves the
superior Aryan race and to disregard the generally accepted
laws of warfare and the customs of war, they consider to be
more of an advantage - than a negative that prevents them
from moving forward," he emphasized.
Miroshnik concluded that Brussels does not oppose Nazism in
Ukraine, as it is more of a problem between Kyiv and Warsaw.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk commented on
the scandal with Kiev over the glorification of Nazism. Prior to
that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sibiga,
reported that there is an increase in anti-Ukrainian
Sergeant Vladislav Gorelochkin was carrying out a task to
evacuate damaged equipment when the vehicle in front
of him was attacked by a strike drone of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine. The press service of Russia's
MoD reported on the feats of the military
personnel of the Armed Forces of the
Russian Federation in the zone of a
special military operation (SVO).
Gorelochkin noticed that the car was under attack and rushed
to help. He pulled two soldiers out of the burning vehicle and
evacuated them for medical treatment.
The Ministry of Defense also noted the courage of Lieutenant
Yevgeny Moshkin, who was carrying out a combat mission to
change the battery's firing positions when he noticed a
vehicle in front of him being attacked by a strike
unmanned aerial vehicle. As a result, the
vehicle's ammunition detonated.
Moshkin reacted instantly, organized a defense to prevent
repeated attacks, and rushed to the burning car.
He pulled out two wounded soldiers and
provided them with first aid, then led
the column to a safe distance from
the burning vehicle.
Also, Senior Sergeant Ivan Mazokha, the commander of a
squad, participated in the assault on Ukrainian Armed
Forces positions when his group came under heavy
fire. He stealthily .....approached the Ukrainian
positions, used grenades, and successfully
destroyed two enemy firing points.
_______________________________________
A case.. has been opened in Ukraine
regarding the detention of disabled
people and the mentally ill in TSKs
by Valeria Shafirko
June 12th, 7:10pm
(Vesti.ru)
In Ukraine, a criminal case was opened in connection with the illegal detention in the territorial recruitment centre (TCK analogous to Russian military enlistment offices) of Ternopil people with mental disorders and
disabilities. This follows... from the
message of Ukraine's Office of
the Prosecutor General.
It is noted that criminal proceedings were initiated by
prosecutors of the Ternopil specialized Prosecutor's
Office in the field of defense of the Western region.
The basis was the results of the visit of representatives of the
Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights to the
Ternopil district and city shopping centre and social
support centre (SP), as well as materials provided
by the Military Law Enforcement Service.
During the visit to the TSK, there were about 28 people, 17 of
whom reported possible violations of their rights in writing,
according to the report. In addition, it was established
that there were Ukrainians in the TSK, who were not
previously subject to mobilization. These included
a man with a lifelong disability from childhood,
as well as individuals with mental health
issues. Furthermore.... there were
Ukrainians in the TSK, who had
reached the maximum age
for military registration.
On June 9, it was reported that Ukrainian MP Georgy Mazurashu
registered a bill, according to which, TSK employees could be imprisoned for 5 to 12 years for the illegal detention or kidnapping of people during mobilization.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the parliamentarian has
previously submitted a number of bills to the Verkhovna Rada
that would increase liability for violations during mobilization,
but none of them... have been passed.
__________________________
"To discourage the desire to attack our civilian
facilities":Putin announced plans to increase
strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure
by Adeline Vishnevskaya
June 12th, 6:48pm
(RT.ru)
Ukraine is expanding the use of aircraft-type drones in an
attempt to harm Russian society, and the economy, but it will fail, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
According to him, Russia is currently actively strengthening its air defense system -- and will increase its strikes on enemy infrastructure -- "to discourage them from attacking our civilian facilities."
Additionally, the president announced that Russian experts
are working on expanding the low-orbit satellite fleet.
The Kiev regime is expanding the use of aircraft-type drones in
an attempt to divide Russian society, but it will not succeed.
This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during
a meeting with participants of the special military
operation in the Kremlin.
"As for aircraft-type UAVs, we see --- that the enemy is expanding
the use of this military equipment ---- mainly to solve one task.
This task is to divide Russian society, inflict moral and ethical
damage on us, create confusion among Russian citizens, and
cause economic damage. It will not succeed,"
the President said.
According to him, experts are working on strengthening the
country's air defense system. At the same time --- given the
actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russia's troops'
task is to respond to the enemy "as it should be," the president noted.
"We are doing this, and --- we will increase our strikes on the
enemy's infrastructure to discourage them from attacking
our civilian facilities. They will not be able to achieve
their goal of dividing society or causing economic
damage to us," Putin emphasized.
The head of state also said that Russia is working on a low-orbit
satellite constellation that is “as good as Starlink, and maybe
even better.” The launch date has not yet been announced.
"The work is not just well-organized --- but it is progressing at a
good pace and with good quality. I hope that you will feel this
on the ground ....in the near future," the President said.
In addition, Putin emphasized that Western countries can give
up their hopes of achieving a strategic defeat of Russia:
"They have not succeeded in achieving anything like this, and
they never will. No one --- has ever succeeded in achieving a
strategic, final defeat of Russia, because our multi-ethnic,
united people understand their responsibility to future
generations... No one needs Russia -- except us, and
only we are capable of protecting, strengthening,
and creating the conditions....... for its
confident development."
"We can give only one advice --- to our enemies: do not fight with
Russia, never try to do this. And let's live together and resolve
all the issues ------- through negotiations. But these should be
negotiations, and not ultimatums to us --- which they have
tried to put to us so far. Not anymore. Now it seems like
they say: "Let's negotiate." Yes --- we agree to conduct
negotiations, but only taking into account our national
interests, and not just today, but long-term, designed
for an historical perspective," the president added.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia
is ready for negotiations, but only if they are fair - and “without
cheating,” as was the case before the 2014 coup in Ukraine.
"I very much hope that the experience of previous failures, when
the West refused to implement the agreements it supported, will
not be repeated in relation to the agreement in Alaska. But so
far, to our great regret, our US partners have not shown any
interest in this... Probably, everyone should take seriously
what the Russian president said when he was answering
questions ---- during the SPIEF plenary session: now
everything depends, not on negotiations, but on
the actions of our heroes at the front,"
Lavrov stressed.
In addition, on June 12, Vladimir Putin signed a decree
establishing the authorized strength of the Russian
Armed Forces at 2,399,130 personnel.. including
1,510,000 military personnel. The presidential
decree was published on the official legal
information portal. As a result --- the
authorized strength... of Russia's
Armed Forces was increased
by 7,360 personnel.
________________________________
What happened on June 12.
The main events
June 12th, 5:29pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Russian President Vladimir Putin - met with participants of the
special military operation (SMO) in the Kremlin on Russia Day.
The US has released evidence - of funding for more
than 120 biological laboratories around the world.
The Russian army has liberated the village of Priyut
in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
Putin met with participants of the
special operation in the Kremlin
Putin held a meeting with participants of the special operation
in Ukraine in the Kremlin. The head of state called the special
operation fighters the main heroes of Russia Day, and
emphasized that every Russian soldier carries out
his task, with dignity. The president also noted
the key role - of infantry and assault units in
combat operations, stating that they are
responsible for achieving Russia's
combat objectives.
The Russian leader added --- that everyone is carrying out their
combat mission and doing it with dignity, but it all comes down
to the fact that it is the stormtroopers -- who complete the mission.
Putin said that Russia will increase its retaliatory strikes
to discourage the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU)
from targeting civilian objects.
The President also drew attention to the fight against drones.
According to him, Russia is working on... creating a satellite
system for controlling combat drones. In addition, Russian
developers are actively working on the production of
drones with artificial intelligence (AI).
Putin emphasized ----- that not only developers, but also
representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in
particular commanders are involved in this direction.
At the same time the head of state emphasized ----
that the fight against drones is one of the most
important tasks on the line of combat
contact, as drones complicate the
work of the infantry.
The US -- has released evidence of
funding for biological laboratories
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United
States has released evidence of the United States' funding of
over 120 biological laboratories in more than 30 countries.
It is noted that the US authorities deliberately concealed
from US citizens information about the existence of the
laboratories funded by Washington in other countries,
including in Ukraine, and some of them ---- were
engaged in research using dangerous and
highly contagious pathogens.
This included strains of anthrax, tularemia, tuberculosis,
According to the Ministry of Defense, from May 23 to May 29, in
response to Ukraine's terrorist attacks on civilian targets in
Russia, the Russian Armed Forces - carried out a massive
and five group strikes using high-precision air, sea, and
ground-based weapons, as well as strike drones.
As a result, the enterprises of Ukraine's military-industrial
complex, fuel and energy facilities, transport and port
infrastructure used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,
air bases, assembly shops, storage - and launch
sites for unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as
temporary locations - for Ukrainian armed
formations and foreign mercenaries -
have been targeted.
In addition, during the same period, as a result of the decisive
actions of the units of the Northern Group of Forces, control
was established over the settlements of Novovasilevka,
Granov.... (Kharkiv Region), Zapselye, and Riasnoye
(Sumy Region). As a result of the active offensive
actions of the Eastern Group of Forces -- the
settlements of Vozdvizhevka (Zaporozhye
Region) & Dobropasovo (Dnepropetrovsk
Region) were liberated.
Over the past 24 hours, the North's fighters --- liberated the
settlements of Budarki and Karaichnoye (Kharkiv Oblast).
The Centre's troops --- liberated Novopodgorodnoye
(Dnepropetrovsk Oblast). The East's fighters ---
liberated Lesnoye (Dnepropetrovsk Oblast).
It is noted that during the assault on the villages of Karaichnoye
and Budarki, the North's reconnaissance units identified enemy
firing positions, while the motorized riflemen, having secured
positions in the villages, together with the UAV strike teams,
drove Ukrainian nationalists out of buildings, basements,
and bunkers.
Artillery units ...also played an important role in the battle,
engaging in counter-battery fire and actively destroying
enemy guns and Ukrainian command posts.
"In the face of these losses -- the Ukrainian Armed Forces were
forced to form groups of experienced instructors from training
centres, but they were unable to withstand the units of the
Northern Group of Forces --- and were forced to abandon
their positions," the Ministry of Defense said.
In addition, air defense systems shot down 44 guided aerial
bombs, 3 UK air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles,
3 French long-range SCALP aerial guided missiles, 23
HIMARS US' MLRS shells, and 2,628 aircraft-
type UAVs.
Over the course of a week, Sever's units defeated the
personnel and equipment of three mechanized,
motorized infantry, airborne, and assault
brigades of Ukraine's Armed Forces,
two territorial defense brigades,
and a National Guard brigade.
In total, the enemy lost over 1,245 fighters, ten armoured
vehicles, 110 cars, seven field artillery pieces.. and four
electronic warfare stations in the area of responsibility
of the Northern Group of Forces.
At the same time, units of the Zapad military group continue
active offensive operations. Over the course of the week,
formations of 3 mechanized, 2 assault brigades of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine, 2 marine infantry brigades
and a territorial defense brigade --- were defeated.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 1,340 fighters,
a tank, 37 armoured vehicles, 128 cars, 9 field artillery
pieces, and 5 electronic warfare stations in this area.
Over the past week, units of the Southern Group of Forces
-- improved their tactical position. The manpower and
equipment of six mechanized, motorized infantry,
air-assault, & mountain-assault brigades of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine infantry
brigade and a territorial defense brigade
were defeated.
In total, the enemy lost over 950 fighters, 3 tanks, 26 armoured
combat vehicles, 111 vehicles, 17 field artillery pieces, three
Grad MLRS combat vehicles, and two electronic warfare
stations ...in the South's area of responsibility.
During the week, the Centre's fighters -- defeated the formations
of 4 mechanized, 1 infantry, jäger, air-mobile assault, 2 airborne
assault brigades, 2 assault regiments of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine, 2 marine infantry brigades, and 4 brigades of the National Guard.
During this period, the enemy lost more than 2,250 fighters,
a tank, 22 armoured vehicles, 58 cars, & 15 field artillery
pieces. 7 electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Over the past week, Vostok's units have defeated the personnel
and equipment of - 3 mechanized, 2 assault, 4 airborne assault,
3 assault regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine
infantry brigade, and a territorial defense brigade.
Meanwhile --- the Kiev regime's losses in the Vostok's area of
responsibility amounted to over 1,970 military personnel, 16
armoured vehicles, 49 vehicles, and 4 field artillery pieces.
In turn, units of the Dnipro military group defeated the
personnel and equipment of t3 mechanized brigades,
a mountain assault brigade, an unmanned systems
brigade, a marine infantry brigade, and two
territorial defense brigades.
Over the course of a week - the enemy lost more than 375
fighters, 5 armoured vehicles, 70 cars, 3 field artillery
pieces, and 18 electronic warfare stations
in this area.
_________________________________________
A 'bus driver -------- was injured in
Gorlovka during a drone attack
May 29th, 1:06pm
(DAN.ru)
A passenger bus driver -- was injured during a drone
attack in Gorlovka. This was reported by the city's
mayor, Ivan Prikhodko.
"A passenger bus driver was injured in the Nikitovsky district
of Gorlovka as a result of an attack by an AFU UAV," he said.
The mayor also said .......that several civilian vehicles were
damaged in the Central City District. In addition, a utility
company team - was attacked. No one was injured.
Earlier reports said that two civilians
in Gorlovka were injured.
The day before, after a drone attack, the driver of the
Makeevka-Sevastopol bus, died. The man was not
directly injured in the raid, but - shortly after, he reportedly died of natural causes.
__________________________________
"As in - a Russian proverb": Nebenzya reacted
to the speech by the Ukrainian Permanent
Representative to the UN
by Adeline Vishnevskaya
May 29th, 9:52am
(RT.ru)
Russian Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily
Nebenzya - responded to the speech by Ukraine's
ermanent Representative, Andriy Melnyk, with
the saying "The thief's hat.... is on fire."
Speaking to members of the UN Security Council.... Nebenzya
emphasized: that Russia had provided all the evidence of the
consequences of the attack on Starobelsk including inviting
foreign journalists to the site.
The Permanent Representative also revealed the number of
people who had been killed or injured in the past week
as a result of the attacks by the Kiev regime.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's Permanent Representative to the
United Nations... commented on the speech by Andriy
Melnyk, the Ukrainian Permanent Representative,
during a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian permanent representative..... likes Russian
proverbs. I will also allow myself to use one. It was like
in the Russian proverb: 'The thief's hat burns,'"
Nebenzya said, in his response.
During his speech, the Russian Permanent Representative
mentioned that anyone who doubts the consequences of
the strike on Starobelsk - can watch the video report
presented by Russia --- and journalists from 19
countries, who visited the site personally,
confirmed the information's accuracy.
"No matter how much --- Kiev tries to justify itself, no matter how
much the 'leading' Western media - tries to turn a blind eye to
what happened, this is a cynical terrorist act. The brutality
with which the Kiev regime dealt with children can only
be compared -- to the actions of the Nazis and their
accomplices during World War II, who ruthlessly
exterminated civilians," said the Permanent
Representative of the Russian Federation.
He recalled that 21 people were killed and 44 were injured when
the Kiev regime attacked a college and dormitory in Starobelsk.
On May 24, Russia launched a "retaliatory strike" ------ against
military facilities in Kiev and the Kiev region using Oreshnik,
Iskander, Kinzhal, Tsirkon, air-launched, sea-launched, and
ground-launched cruise missiles, as well as strike drones.
Nebenzya emphasized -- that there were no actual or
planned attacks ....on civilian infrastructure.
Moreover, the terrorist attack in Starobelsk is not
an isolated incident, the ambassador added.
"In the past week alone, 51 civilians were killed and 199 others,
including 20 children, were injured as a result of attacks by
the Kiev regime's militants. These... are not just dry
statistics, but human lives: women, children,
and the elderly.''
''During the same period, over 4,300 drones were launched
at civilian targets, including residential areas, schools,
and hospitals, in Russia, including Moscow and the
Moscow region," he said.
He also noted that in the current circumstances, the Russian
Armed Forces --- continue to consistently carry out systemic
strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities in
Kyiv, including those related to drones, plus decision-
making centres and command posts.
Since these facilities are dispersed throughout Kyiv,
Russia has advised foreigners and diplomats to
leave the city --------- as soon as possible.
"The events of the last week - have clearly shown - that neither
the leader of the Kiev regime nor its sponsors are interested
in a substantive dialogue on the prospects for a peaceful
settlement with our country. Instead, they are doing
everything they can to escalate the conflict,"
Nebenzya said.
''Without military pressure... no calls for real diplomacy will work,
so the Russian Armed Forces, will continue to pursue the goals
of the special military operation --- until the threats emanating
from Ukraine ------ are completely eliminated,'' the Permanent
Representative concluded.
At the time of the attack on the college and dormitory
in Starobelsk, 86 children were inside the building.
According to Yana Lantratova, the Russian
Human Rights Commissioner, this was
a targeted terrorist attack.
"Three waves, 16 UAVs, hit the exact same spot.
There were no military facilities nearby,"
she said.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian
Foreign Ministry, clarified... that most of the
victims were young people.. between
the ages of 15 and 22.
"Moreover, the perpetrators of this monstrous crime sought
to literally raze the college to the ground and destroy as
many people as possible. Even during the rescue
operations, they attempted to attack those
who came to help the victims ------- at
least 15 times," she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the attack
was not accidental, which once again confirms the terrorist
nature of Ukraine's actions.
"But it is clear to us, and it becomes even more evident, who
we are dealing with, who we are fighting, and for what.
This, is a manifestation of neo-Nazism. It once again
confirms the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime,"
the President stated.
_______________________________________________
Private Kotsyuba eliminated
a disguised.....Ukrainian
machine gun position
May 28th, 9:02pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Private Andrei Kotsyuba discovered and eliminated a
camouflaged machine-gun position of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine (AFU). The press service of
the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on
the feats of the military personnel of the
Armed Forces (AF).... of the Russian
Federation --- in the zone of the
special military operation.
The unit in which Kotsyuba was assigned to was firing at
the enemy when the soldier spotted an enemy machine
gun crew. He stealthily approached the position and
used grenades. This allowed the unit to break into
an enemy stronghold and successfully take it
under control.
The Ministry of Defense also praised the bravery of
Private Daniil Sokolov, who participated in the
capture of an enemy stronghold.
The enemy ---- was putting up active resistance. Sokolov
decided to make his way to the nearest firing position
...approached the enemy from the flank and used
hand grenades.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces firing position was
destroyed, and the serviceman --- managed to
break through to the stronghold. As a result,
the unit was able to gain a foothold in the
new territory.
__________________________________________
Magyar told Rutte that he would not
send equipment and troops
to Ukraine
May 28th, 7:42pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Hungary -- will not supply weapons and military equipment
to the conflict zone in Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister
Péter Medgyárt announced this on May 28 following a
meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary General
Mark Rutte.
"I informed the Secretary-General that Hungary will not supply
any weapons or military equipment to the Russian-Ukrainian
conflict zone," he said on Facebook (owned by Meta, which
is recognized as an extremist organization and banned
in Russia).
During the meeting, the parties also discussed the
upcoming NATO summit in Ankara and the
situation in the Strait of Hormuz.
"Mark Rutte informed me about the preparations for the
NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8 and the details of
the international conflict in the Strait of Hormuz,"
Magyar said.
Magyar also said on May 22 that Budapest is not considering
the possibility of sending its military personnel to Ukraine.
The Hungarian authorities have repeatedly stated the
need for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, and
have opposed steps that they believe..... could
lead to a further escalation of the situation.
______________________________________________
NBC News reported that the US did
not respond... to Zelensky's letter
May 28th, 7:31pm
(Izvestia.ru)
A letter from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to US
President Trump and Congress.. requesting the supply
of air defense systems has not received a response
from the United States. This was reported on
May 28, by NBC News.
"There were no immediate comments on the letter from
the United States. Zelensky said... that the letter was
delivered to institutions in Washington on Tuesday,"
the publication said.
It is clarified that Zelensky linked the prospects
of diplomacy to the supply of additional
weapons to Ukraine.
On the same day, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov
said that the US authorities are unlikely to respond
quickly to Zelensky's appeal to Trump
to supply new weapons.
Former press secretary of the head of the Kiev regime
Yulia Mendel at the same time noted that Zelensky
with his letter to Trump put Washington in an
awkward position. Having rejected many
peace proposals, he now - again -
demands more US missiles,
Mendel specified.
_____________________________
“A Monstrous.. Dehumanized Blasphemy.”
by Adeline Vishnevskaya
May 28th, 6:36pm
(RT.ru)
The reaction of Western countries to the terrorist attack
carried out by the Kiev regime ------- is a “monstrous,
de-humanized blasphemy,” said Maria Zakharova,
spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry,
on Radio Sputnik.
According to her, not only did the West.. fail to express
sympathy for the attack, but they also presented the
situation ...as if the attack had been carried out
against a command centre - rather than a school.
"They weren't allowed to say that the strike was targeted,
that the Kiev regime had planned an attack specifically
on children's facilities, and so on. They weren't
allowed... to say that. But they could have
simply said, 'Yes, children were killed,
and it's terrible, and we empathize
with everyone.' Now they don't
even say that. They --- have
completely disengaged."
_____________________________
Shoigu: An attack on Kiev
could happen --- at
any moment
May 28th, 3:18pm
(RT.ru)
The strike on Kiev, which the Russian Foreign Ministry warned
Western diplomats about, could be carried out at any time.
This was announced by Sergei Shoigu, Secretary
of the Russian Security Council.
"It could happen at any time," he
said, according to RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry called on foreigners --- to
leave Kiev as soon as possible, and residents of the city to
stay away from military facilities and the administrative
infrastructure of the Vladimir Zelensky regime, in
connection with the beginning of systemic
strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial
enterprises, command posts, and
decision-making centres, after
the Ukrainian Armed Forces
struck a college, killing
girls in Starobelsk.
_________________
The court sentenced the commander
of a Ukrainian national battalion
to 20 years in prison
May 28th, 2:12pm
(RT.ru)
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Gennady
Khamraev, a platoon commander of the Right Sector
volunteer battalion, to 20 years in prison.
This is reported by RIA Novosti,
citing a court representative.
It has been established that in the winter of 2015, Hamraev,
who shared the ideas of Nazism, left Russia ...and went to
Ukraine, where he joined the Right Sector. He underwent
military training.. was promoted to the rank of platoon commander --- and took part in combat operations.
A criminal case was opened under articles on participation
in a terrorist community and training for terrorist activities.
"The sentence is: 20 years in a strict-
regime penal colony," the court said.
Earlier, a Ukrainian citizen who financed the
Right Sector was sentenced to ten years
in the Lugansk People's Republic.
* The Right Sector is an organization recognized
as a terrorist organization by the Russian
Supreme Court on January 23, 2025.
______________________________________________
"Overcame the enemy's resistance":Russian troops
take control of Novovasylivka -- in Kharkiv region
by Adeline Vishnevskaya
May 28th, 12:01pm
(RT.ru)
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian armed forces have taken
control of Novovasilevka in the Kharkiv region. In addition,
they have destroyed UAV storage and launch sites, plus
Ukrainian energy, transport, and airfield infrastructure.
Four aerial bombs have been shot down, and a US' M113
armoured personnel carrier has been destroyed. The
Ukrainian Armed Forces have suffered over
1,200 casualties.
According to the Ministry of Defense, as a result of active
offensive operations by units of the North Military Group,
control over the village of Novovasilevka (Kharkiv
Region) has been established.
"During the battles - the assault groups of the 69th Motorized
Rifle Division of the North Military Group, under the cover of
artillery and attack drones ---- broke through the enemy's resistance, destroying groups of Ukrainian nationalists
from the Separate Territorial Defense Brigade,"
the ministry said.
They noted that in their attempts to hold the settlement, the
Armed Forces of Ukraine.. used "elite" Kraken UAV crews*,
which suffered losses and fled, leaving the assault troops
of the ordinary mobilized Ukrainian citizens ------- to fend
for themselves.
"Establishing control over the village of Novovasilevka in the
Kharkiv region disrupts the enemy's logistics for delivering
ammunition, food, and conducting rotations in this sector
of the front," the Ministry of Defense emphasized.
In addition, operational-tactical aviation, strike UAVs, missile
forces, and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces ---- have
destroyed - long-range drone storage and launch sites,
plus energy, transport.... and airfield infrastructure
used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In addition,
ammunition and fuel depots, plus temporary
locations of Ukrainian armed formations
and foreign mercenaries, have been
destroyed ------ in 147 areas.
Air defense systems shot down four guided
aerial bombs and 184 aircraft-type UAVs.
Meanwhile, the Sever fighters defeated the personnel and
equipment of two mechanized and motorized infantry
brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine -- and a
brigade of the National Guard in the areas of
the settlements of Rubizhne, Kazachya
Lopan, and Bely Kolodez
(Kharkiv region).
In the Sumy region, two mechanized brigades, an airmobile
brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and 2 territorial
defense brigades ------- were defeated in the areas of Khrapovshchyna, Luzhky, Pisarevka, Pustohorod,
and Volna Sloboda.
In this area, the enemy lost up to 185 soldiers, two
armoured vehicles, 13 cars, and an artillery gun.
The units of the "West" - improved their tactical position.
They destroyed the manpower and equipment - of two
mechanized, assault brigades of the Armed Forces
of Ukraine and a territorial defense brigade, in
the areas of - Nechvolodovka, Monachinovka
(Kharkiv region), Krasny Lyman, Yatskovka,
and Rubtsy (DNR).
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 180
fighters, a tank, 2 armoured vehicles, and
20 cars.
At the same time, the South's fighters took advantageous
positions and lines. They defeated the formations of two
mechanized, airborne, mountain assault brigades of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine infantry brigade,
and a territorial defense brigade, in the areas
of ---- Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Piskunovka,
Novoselovka & Konstantinovka (DPR).
The enemy lost up to 90 troops, 4 armoured vehicles,
including a US' M113 armoured personnel carrier,
13 vehicles, and 2 field artillery pieces.
Units of the Centre group of forces improved their position
on the front line. Russian troops destroyed manpower and
equipment of 2 mechanized, airmobile, airborne brigades,
an assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, two
marine infantry brigades and 3 brigades of the National
Guard in the areas of Belitskoye, Kucherov Yar,
Raiskoye and Vodyanskoye (DNR).
Here, the Ukrainian armed forces lost over 370 fighters,
six vehicles, and three field artillery pieces.
In addition, the Vostok units advanced into the depths of
the enemy's defenses. They defeated the personnel and
equipment of two mechanized, an assault, two airborne
-assault brigades, and four assault regiments of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Omelnik,
Charivne (Zaporozhye region) plus Pokrovskoye,
and Podhavrylivka (Dnepropetrovsk region).
In this sector, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost
over 370 soldiers, an armoured vehicle, 8 cars,
and an artillery gun.
Units of the Dnipro military group have defeated formations
of two mechanized and mountain assault brigades of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Preobrazhenka,
Orekhov, and Kirovo (Zaporozhye region).
Up to 50 Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters,
12 vehicles, and two electronic warfare
stations ....were destroyed.
* A terrorist organization banned in Russia.
______________________________________________
Germany drew a gloomy conclusion
- after Russia's attack on Ukraine
by Marina Sovina (night editor)
May 27th, 11:14pm
(Lenta.ru)
Ukraine does not have enough resources to counter Russian
strikes. This is the conclusion made by the correspondent
of the German TV channel Welt, Ibrahim Nabar, who is
in Kyiv.
He noted that Ukraine is experiencing a shortage of missiles,
especially for Patriot air defense systems, acknowledging
that the military capabilities of Ukraine and Russia are
not comparable.
"Ukraine has almost no chance with these
missile reserves," the journalist said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent an urgent
letter to the putative head of the US Donald Trump, in which
he complained about the critical lack of funds for air
defense systems.
On May 24, the Russian military launched a retaliatory strike
against military facilities in Ukraine for Starobelsk. The
attack used ballistic missiles "Oreshnik", Iskander
aeroballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles
"Dagger", cruise Zircon missiles and
strike drones.
The head of the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMWA),
Timur Tkachenko, said that it was a record for Kyiv - for the entire period of hostilities.
________________________________
Europe has unexpectedly spoken out
about negotiations..... with Russia
by Artem Vereykin (Night Line Editor)
May 27th, 10:03pm
(Lenta.ru)
European leaders are - unexpectedly - reconsidering
their position on negotiations with Russia. This - is
reported by the German paper, Berliner Zeitung.
"There has been a sudden increase ---- in Europe's
willingness to negotiate with Russian President
Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine,"
the report said.
It is noted that a few months ago, such a discussion
would have been “unthinkable,” but now, the
geopolitical situation ------- is changing
dramatically, and so are Europe’s
“strategic interests.”
Earlier, the Russian leader's press secretary Dmitry
Peskov, said Putin is ready for negotiations with
Europe. “Russia is open, and President Putin
is open to these negotiations, but.... the
Europeans have only just started to
mature,” he said.
______________________________________________
Private Derdya used grenades
during the assault on an
AFU stronghold
May 27th, 9:30pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Rifleman Private Alexander Derda participated in the capture
of a stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine -- as part of
the assault group. The press service of Russia's Defense
Ministry told about the exploits of servicemen of the
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in the
zone of a special military operation (SVO).
Derd discovered the location of the disguised stronghold and
decided to inflict initial damage on the enemy by throwing
grenades into the ventilation ducts. Then, while the
enemy was disoriented by the unexpected attack,
the assault team breached the stronghold and
engaged in combat, quickly capturing it
without any casualties.
The Ministry of Defense also praised the courage and
determination of Sergeant Alexey Semenov --- who
was under mortar fire from the Ukrainian Armed
Forces -- along with his assault group.
Following the Russian soldiers' mortars, enemy attack
drones attempted to attack. However, despite the
challenging situation ---- Semenov decided to
continue moving forward, in order to reach
the Ukrainian Armed Forces' position,
and eliminate the attackers.
In a short period of time, the group approached
the Ukrainian mortar team. The enemy was
successfully eliminated.
________________________________________________
Ukrainian Drone - Strikes School Building
in LPR -Days After Starobelsk Tragedy
May 27th, 7:57pm
(Sputnik)
A Ukrainian drone - has struck a gymnasium building in
the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), with no injuries
reported, LPR head Leonid Pasechnik said
on Wednesday.
"Enemy drones targeted the Svatovsky [also known as
Svatove] municipal district and Severodonetsk
[Siverskodonetsk]. As a result of another
strike --- the building of Svatovskaya
Gymnasium No. 7 was damaged.
The impact hit the roof,"
Pasechnik said.
There were no children inside the building
at the time of the strike, and no one was
injured, he added.
__________________________________________
Polyansky: The West is close.. to a direct confrontation with Russia
May 27th, 6:47pm
(RT.ru)
Western countries are close to directly participating in
military operations against Russia. This was stated
by Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's Permanent
Representative to the Organization
for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE).
"They are now really very close to direct
participation in military operations,"
he told Izvestia.
Polyansky stated that "Western countries.. often
misinterpret Russia's patience and humanism
as a sign of weakness."
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that
the West does not hide the fact that Russia
and Belarus are the opponents -- in their
military exercises.
___________________________________________
Exclusive
Russia responded to Merkel's prediction
about the end of the Ukrainian conflict
by Karina Mirzoyan (correspondent
for operational information dept.)
May 27th, 2:57pm
(Lenta.ru)
Alexey Chepa, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma
Committee on International Affairs, commented on
former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's
statement that the conflict in Ukraine..
should be resolved within ten years.
Merkel had earlier expressed hope that in ten years
the conflict would be over and Ukraine would
become an independent, free,
sovereign country.
"I do not know why Merkel announced a ten-year term
and what she meant. But I also want to believe that
Ukraine will become an independent state, a free
country within Russia. And not in ten years.... but as soon as possible," Chepa said.
According to the parliamentarian, if the Russian and
Ukrainian armies unite, the consequences for
Europe --- will be obvious.
"I would like to wish this - to the Ukrainian people. To spite
Europe. And then, if the two strongest armies in Europe,
Russia and Ukraine do unite, we will understand what
it will mean --- for Europe," Chepa emphasized.
Earlier, it became known that Europe continues to discuss
possible candidates for the role of negotiator with Russia,
however, the main obstacle remains the inability of the
EU countries to agree on a single candidate. Among
the discussed figures are the Finnish President
Alexander Stubb and former Italian Prime
Minister, Mario Draghi.
_________________________
"They pushed out the Ukrainian nationalists":
The Russian Armed Forces took control of
Granov and liberated Vozdvizhevka
by Adeline Vishnevskaya
May 27th, 12:35pm
(RT.ru)
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian armed forces have taken
control of Granov in the Kharkiv region and liberated
Vozdvizhevka in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The establishment of control over the village of Granov has
created conditions for a further Russian military advance
towards the Ukrainian Armed Forces' logistics centre
near the village of Kazachya Lopan --- according to
the Ministry of Defense. Additionally.... during the
same period, air defense systems have downed
three Storm Shadow missiles. The Ukrainian
Armed Forces --- suffered approximately
1,200 casualties.
As a result of the active actions of the North military group,
control over the village of Granov (Kharkiv region) was
established. And -- thanks to the decisive actions of
the East, the village of Vozdvizhevka (Zaporozhye
region) was liberated. This was announced by
the Ministry of Defense.
It is noted that during combat operations in Granov, artillery
and unmanned aircraft units suppressed the enemy's firing
points, and assault troops entered the village at dusk...
and secured positions on the outskirts.
"By clearing the strongholds, Russian military personnel forced
the Ukrainian nationalists from the motorized infantry brigade
out of the village and began clearing the buildings and
basements," the defense ministry said.
They emphasized that - the establishment of control over the
village of Granov expanded the security zone in the Kharkiv
region and created conditions for further Russian military
advance towards the Ukrainian Armed Forces' logistics
centre near the village of Kazachya Lopan.
In addition, operational-tactical aviation, strike UAVs, missile
forces, and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces' military
groups --- have targeted Ukrainian military-industrial
complex enterprises and energy facilities... used
by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These strikes
have included locations where long-range
drones are stored and launched, fuel
depots, and temporary bases for
Ukrainian armed forces and
foreign mercenaries in
144 areas.
The air defense system shot down three British
air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles,
five guided aerial bombs, and 285
aircraft-type UAVs.
At the same time, the Sever fighters --- defeated
the formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces'
mechanized brigade in the areas of
Rubizhne and Staritsa
(Kharkiv region).
In the Sumy region - the personnel and equipment of three
mechanized brigades, an air-mobile brigade of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine and a territorial defense brigade, were
affected in the areas of Tolstodubovo, Khrapovshchyna,
Ivolzhanske, Krasnopillia, and Katerynivka.
In this area, the enemy lost over 165 fighters, ten
vehicles, a US' M101 105mm howitzer, and an
electronic warfare station.
At the same time, units of the "West" took advantageous
positions and lines. They defeated the manpower and
equipment of 3 mechanized, & 2 assault brigades of
the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 2 marine infantry
brigades, and a territorial defense brigade in
the areas of Krasny Lyman, Pryshib (DNR),
Smorodkivka, Gusinka, Novy Mir, Osinovo,
Grushevka, and Monachinovka
(Kharkiv region).
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 190 soldiers,
a British Snatch armoured personnel carrier, a
Novator armoured personnel carrier, plus 19
vehicles, and a US' M114 155mm howitzer.
The units of the Southern Group of Forces - in turn - improved
their position on the front line. They defeated the formations
of three mechanized, motorized infantry, mountain assault,
& air-mobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, & a Marine Infantry Brigade - in the areas of Piskunovka .....Orekhovatka, Nikolaevka, Novoselovka,
Rai-Aleksandrovka, Kramatorsk, and
Konstantinovka (DPR).
Here, the enemy lost up to 180 fighters, two tanks, including
a German Leopard tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, a US' Stryker armoured personnel carrier, 5 armoured combat
vehicles, 18 vehicles, 2 artillery pieces, and a Grad
multiple rocket launcher.
Meanwhile, the Centre's fighters --- have taken advantageous
positions. They have defeated the personnel and equipment
of mechanized, assault, airborne, and air-mobile brigades --
the assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the
marine infantry brigade, the special forces brigade, and
two brigades of the National Guard --- in the areas of
Novopavlovka (Dnepropetrovsk region), Raiskoye,
Sergeevka, Krasny Kut, Toretskoye, Belitskoye,
Kucherov Yar, Novoaleksandrovka, and
Novogrigorovka (DNR).
The Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 340 soldiers,
2 armoured vehicles, seven cars, an artillery gun,
and an electronic warfare station in this area.
In addition, the Vostok units continued
to advance ---- into the depths of the
enemy's defenses.
The Russian Armed Forces destroyed the manpower and
equipment of 2 mechanized, 3 airborne assault, and an
assault brigade, as well as 4 assault regiments of the
Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of Novoselovka,
Yegorivka, Omelnyk, Charivne, Dolinka (Zaporozhye
Region), Pokrovskoye, and Gavrilivka
(Dnepropetrovsk Region).
In this sector, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost up to 285
soldiers, three armoured vehicles, and seven cars.
Units of the Dnipro military group - defeated formations of the
Ukrainian Armed Forces' mechanized brigade and territorial
defense brigade in the areas of Preobrazhenka and
Orekhov (Zaporozhye region).
Up to 60 Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters, ten vehicles,
and five electronic warfare stations --- were destroyed.
Former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin commented
-- on the recent strikes on objects in Kiev using the latest
Oreshnik system. According to the politician, Russia's
actions ---- are a natural response to the actions of the Ukrainian side.
''What did they think, that we would be silent? They were
warned - and they got it. This is a war -- and I want to
emphasize it, once again,'' Stepashin emphasized.
He also expressed confidence that the leadership of the Kiev
regime is waiting for an inglorious end, drawing historical
parallels with the events of 1945.
''Hitler also ended his life in a bunker. So did Goebbels
and the rest of the gang. They'll meet the same fate.
I have no doubts,'' summed up the politician.
________________________________________________
Russia’s Retaliatory Strike -Delivers
‘Convincing Message’ to Ukraine
and Its NATO Backers
– Expert
May 25th, 4:31pm
(Sputnik International)
Russia’s strike in response to Ukraine’s terrorist attack on
Starobelsk that killed 21 students - shatters the illusion
that the regime still controls its airspace, military
expert Alexander Mikhailov tells Sputnik.
Russia deployed the nuclear-capable Oreshnik, Kinzhal
and Zircon missiles, as well as the Iskander systems,
the analyst notes.
“In practice, only Patriot systems can reliably intercept
the Iskander - and Ukraine has very few of those left.”
As for Oreshnik, it is --- “an unstoppable
offensive weapon in Russia’s arsenal.”
Russia acts with restraint, avoiding strikes on key political
and civilian infrastructure in Kiev, despite possessing the
capability to “flatten Ukraine with every type of weapon
within days,” the expert says.
Russia’s measured approach - gradually bleeding white
Ukraine’s resources – offers the regime “a chance to
come to its senses.”
The broader message to NATO is that if it keeps pushing
Russia to the limit, it could “unleash a weapon no air
defense or missile shield would be able to stop.”
“I think the message has been
delivered clearly enough,"
Mikhailov said.
________________________________
The State Duma commented on
Russia's takeover ...of Odessa
by Evgeny Fomenko (Editor,
Russia Department)
May 25th, 2:23pm
(Lenta.ru)
Russia -- always remembers the need to take Odessa under its
control, the Black Sea city only temporarily remains part of
Ukraine. This was stated by the first deputy chairman of
the State Duma Committee on Defense, Alexey
Zhuravlev, in an interview with Gazeta.Ru.
"We always keep in mind the need to liberate this Russian city,
and the population will undoubtedly welcome the Russian
army ---- with jubilation," Zhuravlev said.
He noted: that Moscow could take control of the rest
of the cities on the Black Sea coast of Novorossiya.
"This is because the Ukrainian authorities are forcibly imposing
an ideology on local residents who would like to join Russia.
People will be happy to throw off this oppression as soon
as they receive at least minimal support from outside -
the pro-Russian underground is currently active in
Odessa," the deputy concluded.
Earlier, war correspondent Alexey Zhivov said that Odessa
should be taken under control to restore Russia in its
historical borders. He noted that in the current
realities, Ukrainian ports have become a
valuable asset for the EU and US.
________________________________________
Russia's Foreign Ministry: The bloody
attack in Starobelsk - the last straw
by Victoria Rasseikina
May 25th, 1:56pm
(Vesti.ru)
The attack on Starobelsk was the last straw,
according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In response ---- Russia has "begun to systematically strike Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises in Kiev," according to the Foreign Ministry.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine on the night of May 22 attacked
the academic building and dormitory of the Lugansk State
Pedagogical University. As a result of this attack,
21 people were killed.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the attack in Starobelsk was
a direct violation of a number of international acts -- including
the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols,
which regulate the protection of civilians during conflicts,
and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The number of deaths in the Ukrainian attack on Starobelsk in the LPR ..increased to 21
by Sergey Popov
May 23rd, 8:44pm
Vesti.ru
The number of people killed in a Ukrainian Armed Forces
strike on a college dormitory building in Starobelsk in
the Lugansk People's Republic has increased to 21,
and all the bodies have been recovered from the
rubble, according to the Russian Ministry
of Emergency Situations.
Earlier, it was reported that 18 people were killed
as a result of an attack by Ukrainian militants
on a dormitory in Starobelsk.
On the night of May the 22nd, Ukrainian nationalists
attacked the academic building and dormitory
of the pedagogical college in Starobelsk,
LPR. The dormitory building, where
teenagers lived, collapsed from
the fifth to the second floor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Ministry of Defense to work out options for responding to this act
of aggression by the Kiev regime.
_______________________________________
Former Rada Deputy Lutsenko:Kiev Will Not
Sleep ----- If Russia Invades from the North
May 23rd, 3:25pm
(RT.ru)
Former member of the Verkhovna Rada, Igor Lutsenko, said
that Kyiv would no longer "sleep" if the Russian Armed
Forces launched an offensive from the north.
"It will be enough for them to reach Ivankov's level, and
then our capital will be ------- awake," he told UNIAN.
The former MP added that modern technologies
would allow the Russian army ---- to launch
powerful strikes against the capital.
Earlier, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RT that Kyiv is
responding to its defeats on the front
with terrorist attacks.
______________________________________________
People are carrying flowers to
the dormitory in Starobelsk
May 23rd, 3:08pm
(RT.ru)
People are carrying flowers to the dormitory
in Starobelsk, which was hit by the Armed
Forces of Ukraine. The memorial was
organized by college staff.
_____________________________________________
Strike --- on military-industrial complex and
energy facilities --- Russian military struck
facilities used by Ukraine's Armed Forces
by Anton Kuznetsov
May 23rd, 12:30pm
(RT.ru)
The Russian military has destroyed Ukrainian military industry
facilities and energy facilities used by the Armed Forces of
Ukraine, as well as assembly facilities, storage sites for
UAVs, and temporary bases for Ukrainian militants and
foreign mercenaries. This is reported by the Ministry
of Defense. The ministry clarified that air defense
systems had shot down 8 guided aerial bombs
and 800 drones.
Operational-tactical aviation, strike drones, missile forces, and
artillery of the Russian Armed Forces ---- have destroyed a
Ukrainian military industry enterprise, & energy facilities
used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, plus assembly
shops, and storage facilities for long-range drones,
as well as temporary bases for Ukrainian armed
formations and foreign mercenaries...... in
142 areas.
According to the Ministry of Defense, eight guided aerial
bombs and 800 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles
were shot down by air defense systems.
Meanwhile, units of the Northern Group of Forces improved their
tactical position and defeated the personnel and equipment of
the mechanized, airmobile, and territorial defense brigades of
the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Tolstodubovo,
Ivolzhanskoye, Khrapovshchyna, and Proletarskoye
in the Sumy region.
In the Kharkiv region -- the Russian military defeated the
formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' mechanized
brigade, as well as the territorial defense brigade, in
the areas of the settlements of Rubizhne and
Izbitske in the Kharkiv region.
The militants lost up to 190 people, 2 armoured
vehicles, 17 cars, 2 artillery pieces, and an
electronic warfare station.
Units of the Zapad military group took advantageous positions
and lines and defeated the manpower and equipment of two
mechanized and assault brigades of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Studenok,
Peski-Radkovskie, Chervony Oskol of the Kharkiv
region... and Lozovoye of the Donetsk People's
Republic. The Armed Forces of Ukraine - lost
more than 230 people, 22 armoured combat
vehicles, including a US-made Bradley
infantry fighting vehicle, 19 vehicles
and two artillery guns.
The units of the Southern Group of Forces improved their
position on the front line. They defeated the formations
of 2 mechanized brigades, a mountain assault brigade
and a marine infantry brigade, in the areas of the
settlements of.. Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka,
Podolskoye, and Konstantinovka, in
the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy lost up to 170 troops, 2 armoured vehicles,
14 cars, 4 field artillery pieces, and an electronic
warfare station.
Units of the Centre group of troops have taken advantageous
positions and lines. They have inflicted damage ---- on the
manpower and equipment of two mechanized, airmobile,
assault, and airborne assault brigades of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine, a marine infantry brigade, and
2 brigades of the National Guard, in the areas
of Shevchenko, Dobropolye, Belozerskoye,
Sergeevka, Raiskoye in the DPR, and
Novopodgorodnoye.... in the
Dnipropetrovsk region.
The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 290 soldiers, two
armoured vehicles, nine cars, and six field artillery pieces.
Units of the Vostok group of forces continued to advance into
the depths --- of the enemy's defenses. They defeated the
manpower and equipment of 2 mechanized brigades, 3
air assault brigades, an assault regiment of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine, and a marine infantry brigade in
the areas of Malomykhailivka, Prosyanaya,
Zarechnoye, and Pokrovskoye in the
Dnipropetrovsk region, & Rovnoye,
Lyubytse, Zelenaya Dibrova,
and Voskresenka, in the
Zaporizhzhia region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces: lost more than 280
soldiers, three armoured vehicles, and nine cars.
Units of the Dnipro group of forces defeated formations of
the mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
and the marines brigade in the areas of Orekhov and
Grigorovka in the Zaporozhye region. Up to 50 AFU
fighters.... 2 armoured combat vehicles, 12 cars
& 1 electronic warfare station were destroyed.
___________________________________________
Nebenzyaaccused Europe of mocking
the victims of the Ukrainian attack
on the college
May 22nd, 8:54pm
(Izvestia.ru)
The European colleagues of the United Nations Security Council
openly mock the victims among children who were injured, as a
result of the shelling of the Ukrainian college in Starobilsk.
This was announced on May 22 --- by the Permanent
Representative of Russia to the World Organization,
Vasily Nebenzya.
"This is not even hypocrisy or double standards ----- but outright
mockery of the child victims," Nebenzya said at an emergency
meeting of the UN Security Council requested by Russia --- in
response to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on a
dormitory in the Lugansk People's Republic.
He emphasized that none of the Security Council members had mentioned the deaths of children, and stated that the level of cynicism at today's meeting was "off the charts."
"How did we get to the point --- where representatives of
European countries don't consider children and young
students in Starobelsk --- residents of Donbas, and
Russia as a whole... to be human beings? Don't
you feel ashamed to say what we're hearing
right now?" he added.
______________________________________
Zelensky's former press secretary
makes a grim statement
about Ukraine
by Marina Sovina
(night editor)
May 22nd, 7:55pm
(Lenta.ru)
The Ukrainian authorities plan to continue the hostilities
for many years to come. This was told by former press
secretary to Vladimir Zelensky, Yulia Mendel, in
social network X.
“Ukraine is desperately trying to replenish its front-line
troops. Even forced mobilization is not enough, as
many people avoid service by paying bribes,”
she said.
According to Mendel, the government is tightening the rules
for reserving employees of military age. This means that
many more Ukrainian men will no longer be protected
from forced mobilization, Mendel said.
Earlier, it was reported that Ukraine has no real chance to win
the conflict with Russia. This was stated by Yulia Mendel.
She noted that the policy of the Ukrainian leadership
leads to.... the loss of an entire generation.
Prior to this, political scientist Ivan Mezyukho reported
that Ukraine.. is preparing for large-scale presidential
and parliamentary elections, although the country's
leaders - have not publicly confirmed this.
__________________________________________
Russia Has Three Responses
to Ukrainian Attack on
Donbass Children –
Expert
May 22nd, 7:42pm
(Sputnik International)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the Defense
Ministry - to plan responses to the Ukrainian drone
attack on a high school dormitory in Starobelsk
in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).
Russia has several options, National Defense magazine
editor-in-chief Igor Korotchenko, tells Sputnik.
1. Hitting decision-making centres — specifically in Kiev,
"where the leaders of the terrorist regime direct and
order attacks on Russia, including the latest large-
scale tragedy involving the deaths of children.''
2.Critical infrastructure that supports Ukrainian
Armed Forces rear operations and stability.
3.Ukrainian military and state command networks
"The retaliation strike must be large-scale and concentrated,"
Korotchenko says. "Of course, we will not strike civilian
infrastructure or the civilian population. Those are the
methods used by Zelensky’s terrorists against us."
The pundit stressed that Russia is fighting the military operation
in Ukraine in line with international law and the UN Charter.
"Accordingly, strikes will target only military sites, critical
infrastructure - considered lawful military targets - and
Ukraine’s political and military command centres."
The strike on the Starobelsk dormitory was not accidental
— it came in three waves during the night. There are no
military facilities near the dormitory.
Why... does the Zelensky regime target civilians? Because it
built up an illusion of safety and impunity, the expert replies.
According to Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian children's
ombudsman, 18 children may be trapped under the
rubble of a collapsed dormitory in Starobelsk -
after an attack by Ukraine's Armed Forces.
"Preliminary reports indicate that 18 children may still
be trapped under the rubble. We are praying that the
number of victims does not increase," she said in
a statement.
The Commissioner for Children's Rights in the LPR, Inna
Shveng, told RT -- that 36 children were injured in a
terrorist attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces
in Starobelsk.
From under the rubble the bodies of the deceased were recovered, reported the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
According to Ombudsman Yana Lantratova, four people were killed.
Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RT that - Ukraine did not carry out the terrorist attack in Starobelsk on its own; the West helped it.
________________________________________________
Lavrov: The West Cannot Accept the
Existence... of Independent Russia
May 22nd, 11:47am
(RT.ru)
Western countries cannot accept the existence of
an independent Russia, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov said.
He noted at the second International Public and Political
Hearing on the Formation of an Architecture of Equal
and Indivisible Security in Eurasia that - in this
regard - the West has remained the same
as it was several centuries ago.
“...The West cannot accept the very fact of Russia’s existence
as an independent entity representing a civilized alternative
to the West,” Lavrov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the head of the Foreign Ministry spoke about
During this period, the Russian air defense forces have
successfully intercepted three aerial bombs and
516 drones.
As a result of active operations, units of the Northern Group of Forces have established control over Shesterovka village in the Kharkiv region. This is reported in the daily briefing
by the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the progress of
the special operation.
During the day, the Sever fighters also defeated the formations
of two mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
and a territorial defense brigade in the areas of the villages
of Velyka Babka, Granov, Riasnoye, Staritsa, & Izbitskoye
(Kharkiv region). In the Sumy region... the personnel and
equipment of a mechanized brigade, an assault brigade,
an assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,
and a territorial defense brigade were defeated in
the areas of the villages of Ivolzhanskoye,
Mogritsa, Zapselye, and Degtyarnoye.
In the North's area of responsibility, the enemy lost up to 195
fighters, 14 vehicles, and an electronic warfare station.
Units of the Western Group of Forces - have taken advantageous
positions. The three mechanized, assault, and airborne brigades
of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the marines, and the territorial
defense brigades have been defeated in the areas of Lesnaya
Similarly to the ABM Treaty, the US unilaterally pulled
out of the INF Treaty in 2019. However, instead of
simply stating it wished to develop weapons
beyond the treaty’s limitations, the Trump
administration accused Moscow of
violating the treaty by lying about
the range of its 9M728/9M729
missiles used by Iskander
missile systems.
Nonetheless, within 2 weeks of the US’ formal
departure from the treaty, in August 2019, it
began testing the first of multiple missiles
that violated the treaty’s limitations.
The origins of the INF Treaty lay in a dramatic
showdown, across Europe, in late 1983,
triggered by Washington’s deployment
of ITS Pershing-II intermediate-range
ballistic missiles (IRBM) to Europe.
With a 900-mile range, a flight apogee of just 60 miles,
and a maneuverable, radar-guided reentry vehicle,
the missile could put an 80-kiloton nuclear war-
head on Moscow in between 6 and 11 minutes
...according to Pentagon leaders. Such a fast
strike time gave the Soviets just minutes to
identify, analyze and respond to the threat,
greatly increasing the risk of them mis-
reading a situation and launching a
mistaken nuclear return volley,
believing it to be their
only chance.
In addition, tensions in Europe had already been
ramped up by years of psychological operations
designed to increase Soviet anxieties, such as
US bombers charging Soviet borders and
turning away at the last second
That’s why, when NATO began the vast, ultra-realistic
“Able Archer-83” war games, simulating an all-out
attack on the Soviet Union, in November 1983, it put Soviet fears through the roof.
However, it wasn’t until after the war games had
concluded, several days later, that NATO
commanders discovered key signs: the
Soviets had loaded hundreds of strike
aircraft in East Germany and Poland
with nuclear bombs, and orders to
strike “front-line targets” at a
moment’s notice.
The INF Treaty eliminated missiles like the Pershing-II,
banning land-based missiles with ranges of between
500 klms and 5,500 klms. This significantly cooled
tensions in Europe... although the treaty was only
between the US and Soviet Union -- now Russia --
which left other countries, such as China, free to
develop their own intermediate-range missiles.
The INF’s absence now is especially poignant,
considering the long-standing Russian fears
over a NATO Aegis Ashore missile system,
built on a land base in Deveselu, Romania.
While the US claimed the system was purely
defensive, Moscow noted... that Aegis can
also be used to launch offensive missiles.
Among the missiles tested after the INF Treaty lapsed
was a land-based Tomahawk missile with a range of
1,600 kilometres - a cruise missile US Aegis
cruisers have fired at sea for years.
1992 Treaty on Open Skies
The Open Skies treaty... was an attempt to increase
transparency and put to rest fears of an impending
attack by the other side. The deal allowed 35
partner nations to perform reconnaissance
overflights over other nations... using
specialized aircraft with specialized
equipment. However, flights could
not interfere with other military
activities and could be refused
by the overflown nation, for a
variety of reasons.
The US sent signs it was interested in leaving the
treaty as early as 2019, claiming it was caused
by Russia refusing US Open Skies aircraft
access to several areas almost a decade
earlier - denials Moscow insisted were
within its rights under the treaty.
The US finally made the move on May 21ST 2020,
meaning the six-month cooldown time had the
US leaving the treaty, after the November 2020 elections, that Trump lost.
The decision sparked an outcry across Europe, with Ukraine being one of the loudest critics;
that nation having long used Open Skies to perform overflights in western Russia, to calm its nerves about troops and
installations there.
Indeed, the Open Skies Treaty was drafted precisely to
avoid the type of anxious confrontation... unfolding on
the Russia-Ukraine border, over the last two months.
The Democrats publicly attacked Trump’s withdrawal
as illegal then... although much of their criticism
focused on his refusal to notify Congress before
pulling out. However, in March 2021, a leaked
message --- sent to concerned “international
partners” by the Biden administration said
it was afraid that doing so “would send
the wrong message to Russia and
undermine our position... on the
broader arms control agenda.”
Istanbul, Astana Declarations
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) has its origins in the November
1972 multilateral talks in Espoo, Finland
...intended to further the peaceful
cooperation of the Detente era.
Today, the OSCE has 57 members and 11 observers
and continues to serve as a regional forum for
resolving international issues.
Two of its most important declarations of principles
came at summits in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1999 and in
Astana (now Nur-Sultan), Kazakhstan, in 2010,
which, among other topics, affirmed each
nation’s right to its own security in the
context of an international community.
"The security of each participating State... is
inseparably linked to that of all others. Each
participating State, has an equal right to
security. We reaffirm the inherent right
of each and every participating State
...to be free to choose or change its
security arrangements, including
treaties of alliance, as they evolve.''
''Each State also has the right to neutrality. Each
participating State will respect the rights of all others in these regards. They will not
strengthen their security ...at the
expense of... the security of
other States.'' the Astana
declaration states.
While the OSCE met in Vienna, Austria, 2 weeks ago,
the talks yielded no major breakthrough. Earlier this
week -- when the US and NATO delivered separate
written responses to Russia’s December security
proposal -- the US response was considerably
more intransigent, while NATO’s, sent from
Brussels and speaking for 30 member
states, acknowledged the Russian
security concerns and proposed
mutual briefings in the NATO-
Russia Council and the re-
establishment of their
respective envoys in
Moscow & Brussels.
However, neither reply gave deference to Russia’s
central concern --- the eastward expansion of
NATO and the impact that has on Russian
security, especially since now, the US
explicitly regards Russia as a
challenger to its position ...as leader of the post- Cold War global order.
Speaking on Thursday, about the US response,
in particular, Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey
Lavrov said "The principle that one should not strengthen one's security -- at the expense of
the security of others is deliberately avoided.
Neither the Istanbul or Astana declarations are mentioned by our Western partners in the discussions on European
security that are currently
taking place. We cannot
accept this.”
Morgan Artyukhina is a writer and news editor at
Sputnik’s Washington, DC, bureau... focusing on
international & breaking news. Born in southern Maryland, she studied Russian, Central, and
East European Studies, at the University of
Glasgow and is a former history professor.
At Sputnik, she covers military technology,
the expanding neoliberal police state, and
the ongoing struggles against it in the US
and around the globe.
Image: palestine
Paul Larudee: Zionist Dream
Turning into Nightmare
November 25th, 5:26pm (FNA)
Paul Larudee, political activist and commentator,
says Zionists have come to this understating
- that Zionism is now nearing its predestined
self-annihilation.
Speaking in an interview with FNA, Larudee
said, “Zionism planted the seeds of its own
destruction the moment they created a
plan for a Jewish state in someone
else's homeland. It is increasingly
becoming an international pariah
...contributing to the wars and
conflicts in West Asia, South
America, Africa, and other
parts of the world. It only
creates more enemies
for them.”
Paul Larudee is an - Iranian-born - American political
activist who is a major figure in the pro-Palestinian
movement. Based in the San Francisco Bay area,
he is involved with the International Solidarity
Movement, & was a founder of the Free Gaza
Movement & the Free Palestine Movement.
Larudee was a member of the US delegation
aboard the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla,
which was attacked by Israeli forces.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: Yaakov Sharett says “Israel and the Zionist
enterprise were born in sin.” What do we
learn about the nature of Israel?
A: Such words from a Zionist leader's son may help to
gradually sink doubts into the minds of other Zionists,
but we must not forget that many Jews were opposed
to Zionism for decades before 1948. It is unfortunate
that as Zionism became more successful in its
genocidal project, it also became more
acceptable to more Jews. But that is
now being reversed. As Zionism
becomes more racist, violent,
and aggressive, it is starting
to lose Jews who cannot
stomach such behaviour.
Q: Such a significant assertion was made by the son
of a signatory to the Israeli declaration in 1948. Do
you believe settlers will learn a lesson to end their
occupation of the Palestinians’ land?
A: There are two kinds of settlers that are being used
to colonize the West Bank and Jerusalem. The most
aggressive and violent are the ideological settlers,
who think of themselves as conquering soldiers,
much like the Europeans who took the land from
the native peoples in the western hemisphere.
They want to expel all Palestinians by any means
necessary, and take their land. They do not need
Israel to paint a rosy picture. They are ready to
endure hardship, although Israel actually
helps and enables them. The other type
are the opportunists. Israel builds
subsidized housing and industrial
parks on Palestinian land... and
makes it attractive for settlers
to move there. Israel creates
many advantages for them...
so as to increase the Jewish
population in the occupied
territories and push the
Palestinians out.
Q: Yaakov Sharett predicts a dark future for Israel
and asks settlers to immigrate from Israel; like-
wise, Lawrence Wilkerson, former Israeli State
Department aide, said Israel will be gone in
some 20 years. How do you assess
these statements?
A: Clearly, Sharett is being a realist in this case.
Despite Israel's influence, propaganda, bribes
and manipulations of other governments, it is
increasingly becoming an international pariah,
contributing to the wars and conflicts in West
Asia, South America, Africa and other parts of
the world. They believe that this makes them
strong, but it only creates more enemies for
them. Sharett seems to understand that the
Zionist dream is proving to be unsustainable.
It can only be realized by committing greater
and greater crimes, but even many Zionists
consider this too high a price for their dream,
and their dream is turning into a nightmare.
Zionism planted the seeds of its own destruction
the moment they created a plan for a Jewish
state on someone else's homeland.
Image: palestine
UN Must Prevent Normalization of
Israeli Violation of Human Rights:
Iran Envoy
November 20th, 11am (al Manar)
Iran’s ambassador to the UN office in Geneva
put the onus on the United Nations: to take
action: against the normalization of the
systematic violation of human rights
and humanitarian laws, by the
Zionist regime.
In an address to a meeting between ambassadors
of the member states of the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation, residing in Geneva,
and to members of the Commission of Inquiry of the UN Council on Human
Rights, held on Friday, Esmaeil
Baqaei Hamaneh called for the
clarification of true and false
narratives, referring to the
stories... that equate the
victims of Israeli crimes
with the perpetrators
of the heinous acts.
“It is the duty of all of us to clarify the true and false
narratives, the narrative that equates the victims
of Israeli crimes, with their killers, which is
humanly shocking, legally unfounded,
and morally shameful,” the Iranian
envoy stressed.
He added that the inquiry commission has an historic
responsibility --- to prevent the normalization of
systematic human rights violations by the
Israeli regime.
The Iranian diplomat invited all the participants in the
meeting to call for justice; and not allow war crimes,
crimes against humanity, and blatant violations of
human rights, to become normal, Press
TV reported.
In May, the UN Human Rights Council agreed to initiate
an international probe into “systematic” human rights
abuses committed during the asymmetrical war
between ‘Israel’ and Palestinian resistance
groups in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented
by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC and the Palestinian
delegation to the UN, by a vote of 24 states in favour, 9 against, and 14 abstentions.
The UN rights body agreed to establish “an ongoing
independent, international commission of inquiry”
into the war to probe the “underlying root causes
of recurrent tensions and instability, including
the systematic discrimination and repression
based on group identity.”
Israeli troops have, on numerous occasions, been
caught on camera, brutally killing Palestinians...
with the videos going viral online and sparking
international condemnation.
The Tel Aviv regime has been criticized for its extensive
use of lethal force against, and extrajudicial killing of,
Palestinians... who do not pose an immediate threat
to the occupation forces, or to the Israeli settlers.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Palestinian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, called
on the International Criminal Court to launch an
immediate investigation into the Tel Aviv
regime’s crimes, in the occupied
Palestinian territories --- after
the Israeli forces shot dead a
young man, in the northern
part of the West Bank.
Source: Iranian Agencies
Image: Bill Dores
China is no threat
to people in the US; Wall Street,CIA & the Pentagon are
-- Analyst
October 16th, 3:14pm (PressTV)
US political analyst and activist Bill Dores says
China is no threat to the people in the US., but
Wall Street, the CIA, and the Pentagon, are.
Dores, a writer for Struggle/La Lucha and a longtime
antiwar activist, made the remarks in an interview
with Press TV on Saturday, after the CIA launched
a new mission centre to address what it calls “the most important geopolitical threat” posed... by China.
CIA Director William Burns said in a statement last week
that the new unit, called the China Mission Centre, will
“further strengthen our collective work on the most
important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st
century, an increasingly adversarial Chinese
government.”
Burns said that his agency will still focus on other threats
as well, including those emanating from Russia, North
Korea and Iran.
The CIA’s renewed attention to China is the latest evidence
of the Biden administration’s focus on Beijing as its main
foreign policy target.
Since taking charge of the White House earlier this year,
the Biden administration has been directing resources
toward countering China.
Why is the CIA targeting China?
“The CIA is grabbing more tax money --- to start a ‘mission
centre’ aimed at China, which it calls the ‘most important
geopolitical threat we face.’ This is ominous news
- considering the agency’s history of 'fabricating'
evidence to start wars, e.g. Iraq’s nonexistent
‘weapons of mass destruction,’” Dores
commented to Press TV.
“US troops have left Afghanistan. But not a dime has been
slashed from the bloated US military budget. Indeed, it’s
being increased to $778 billion from $753 billion to face
the alleged ‘Chinese threat.’ That’s more than the
combined military budgets of China, India,
Russia, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Germany,
France, Japan, South Korea, Italy
and Australia,” he added.
“It’s also been revealed that US Special Forces have been
operating secretly on Taiwan for two years. Meanwhile...
the US Congress will not pass the Build Back Better Act
to modestly extend our social safety net,” he added.
“The People’s Republic of China... has five times the population of the United States. But it spends only
$258 billion on its military. China’s forces are
deployed in - or around - the borders and
coasts of China. By no stretch of the
imagination is China threatening
he US militarily. Why would it?
For what gain?” he asked.
“So, what the Sam Hill is a ‘geopolitical threat.’ It’s a
twisted concept based on the twisted premise that
the United States, with 4 percent of the world’s
population, should dominate the world
politically & economically. And that
really means the billionaires and
millionaires, that Occupy Wall
Street protesters called the
‘One Percent,’” he stated.
China’s economic ‘threat’ to US
“China’s real ‘threat,’ in the minds of the US corporate
ruling class, is economic. China produces more than
the United States, and its economy is growing much faster,” the analyst said.
“It has achieved this, not by destroying the economies of
other countries with war and sanctions, but by growth,
and trade. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has greatly
weakened the stranglehold Wall Street banks once
held on the world economy. An article in the US
magazine Foreign Policy whined: that China is
‘whittling away’ at the murderous ‘sanctions
regime’ the US and West Europe use -- to
‘punish’ countries that defy their
dictates,” he explained.
“US corporations do, of course, invest in China. They make
a lot of money there. But they cannot dictate to China's
government the way US oil companies dictated to the
Shah of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Or
the way they dictate to their paid servants in the
White House and the Capitol today,”
he observed.
“Politicians and news media tell working-class people in
the US that China’s growth is, somehow, a threat to our
well-being. They conceal the fact: that China’s dynamic
growth is the biggest single factor staving off a global
economic collapse,” he said.
“Yet it is their own Wall Street masters who have shut
down plants all over this country and foreclosed on
millions of homes. It is they who used the techno-
logical revolution as a weapon, to drive down
wages and destroy millions of jobs,”
Dores said.
Washington’s ‘hate China’ campaign
“Washington raises several phony issues in its ‘hate
China’ campaign. One is the alleged persecution of
the Uighur people in Xinjiang Province. There’s
nothing but hypocrisy here,” the analyst said.
“If this claim were true - and I’ve seen no reliable evidence
that it is - Washington would be the last to care. The US
leads the world in mass incarceration and murder
by police,” he noted.
“According to the Equal Justice Initiative... ‘Millions of
Americans are incarcerated in overcrowded, violent,
and inhumane jails and prisons.. that do not provide
treatment, education, or rehabilitation.' A majority
are from the oppressed Black, Latin and Native
nations... targeted by the police,” he said.
“Among the incarcerated are dozens of political
prisoners, such as Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard
Peltier and Jamil Abdullah Al Amin, who have
spent decades behind bars on framed-up
charges,” he stated.
“Last year’s Black Lives Matter uprising..... highlighted
the extent of racist police murder in the US. Between
1980 and 2018, the US police killed more than 30,000
people. Half of those killings were misclassified,
according to a study published in the Lancet
medical journal,” he said.
US supports ‘ethnic cleansing and
murder of Palestinian people’
“We also can't forget that Washington not only supports
but subsidizes --- the ethnic cleansing and murder of
Palestinian people --- by the racist state of Israel,
including the mass imprisonment of 2 million
people in the giant concentration camp
called the Gaza Strip. The US also has
no problem with the oppression of
the majority Muslim people of
Kashmir, by the Indian state,” Dores noted.
“The US accuses China of stealing ‘intellectual property,’
a twisted concept indeed. Perhaps the West should pay
China for inventing paper, iron smelting, the seed drill,
the compass, rockets, gunpowder and other
innovations... that made its economic
development possible,” he said.
“There is the accusation of currency manipulation. But
Washington... has flooded the world with devalued
dollars ever since the Nixon administration took
the dollar off the gold standard in the 1970s.
The US has long used the dollar as an
instrument of financial warfare,”
he said.
Why is the US Navy in the South China Sea?
“And there is the issue of ‘free navigation’ in the South
China Sea. Which raises the question, what is the US
Seventh Fleet doing in the South China Sea anyway?
For that matter, why is the US Fifth Fleet off the
coast of Iran and the US Fourth Fleet off the
coast of Venezuela,” Dores said.
“Every year, ships carry $3.4 trillion worth of goods
through the South China Sea. Most of that is
bound to and from China,” he said.
“The PRC has no interest in stopping that commerce.
It does have an interest in keeping US warships
away from its coast and ports,” he said.
“For the past seven years, the US Navy has helped Saudi
Arabia impose a naval blockade that is starving the
children of Yemen. US sanctions, backed by the
US Navy, are the main obstacle to commerce
between nations in the world today,”
he said.
“Instead of new CIA mission centres, military bases and
fleets of warships and warplanes all over the world, the
US should do what China does: Invest in schools,
health care, housing, railroads and renewable
energy. Bring all the ships, planes, troops
and spies home. The world would be a
much better and safer place,”
he concluded.
Image: Sa’dollah Zarei
Iran won’t let US, Turkey, Israel
create crisis in Caucasus
Sunday, October 3rd, 11:51am (PressTV)
by Sa’dollah Zarei
The fact of the matter is, that if there is no more time for
preventing a conspiracy from taking shape... there is
still time to thwart the conspiracy that has formed.
Here are some points with regards to this issue:
1) What the US, the Zionist regime, the governments of
Turkey and Azerbaijan, and the West in general, are
pursuing in the regions north of Iran is, firstly, a reaction to the great achievements of the
Islamic Republic and the resistance front.
When the criminal Zionist regime refers to the Republic of
Azerbaijan as “Lebanon of Israel,” it means that there is
a “Lebanon of resistance” that has foiled any Israeli
conspiracy over the past forty years and turned
into a major crisis for the occupying regime.
Why is a front led by the US, Zionist regime, Turkey and
Azerbaijan, talking about launching a pan-Turan move
-ment here? Because a powerful religious movement
has, for more than 40 years, disrupted the plots of
colonialists and criminals. So, it is quite clear that the enemy, although very hardworking, is in a state of “passivity.”
Here is another important question: will this evil conspiracy
ever yield any result? The answer is that there is a serious
antidote to prevent the realization of this tension-making
scheme, and if it enters the scene, it will definitely
thwart the plan, as it has happened so far.
2) Some people make a mistake here and say that the Syunik
agreement with North Karabakh... is a matter that concerns
the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia and that Iran’s
objection to it is not a matter of concern. They argue that
the implementation of the agreement is to the detriment
of Iran’s regional situation, but it is a natural
consequence and thus does not create a
right for Iran to legitimize its opposition.
The answer is clear; This is not an agreement between the
two countries on a disputed region, but one on creating a
region meant to undermine the security, political and
economic position of a third country.
While acknowledging their military and political failure, in
Afghanistan, the Americans explicitly speak of pursuing
a proxy war model to make up for their defeat. Shortly
afterwards, it becomes known that they had sent a
signal to Azerbaijan to launch and attack and a
signal to Armenia to, in turn, show tolerance
and accept the post-war reality, and at the
same time, following the end of a recent
44-day Karabakh war, the US stated
that they 'support' the agreements
reached between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. All this suggests that
the US has been standing behind this war and the situation that ensued.
Simultaneously, the Azerbaijani government announced
the widespread use of Israeli attack drones in the war,
and the Armenian army called the UAVs the main
reason for its heavy casualties in the war. This
means that it was an American-Israeli war.
Everyone knows, that the administration of Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is a Christian govern-
ment dependent on the West, but it's interesting that
in this war, the United States and Israel destroyed the forces and facilities belonging to a pro-West
Christian administration, and supported a
Muslim government instead! Isn’t that
a telltale sign?
The question is, what kind of “proxy war” US officials
were talking about in the course of their withdrawal
from Afghanistan? Was it possible for the US to
start such a war in Afghanistan? Which forces
could be used by the US to launch a proxy war
in Afghanistan? Could the US bring the Taliban
- which was taking power - into a proxy war?
Proxy war with whom? The answer is no.
Was the Afghan army able to enter a proxy war? The
answer's clear. Was the army that was not even able
to defend Kabul for an hour, against the Taliban —
which took control of the capital without firing a
single shot — ready to enter a proxy war?
Could the old mujahedeen forces.. serve
as the proxies of the American war? The
answer is clear. The old forces, besides
having an anti-American spirit... have
currently no military capability. Could
the USA... create a ''proxy force'' in
Afghanistan, in the medium term,
with the Taliban et al present on the scene? The answer to this
question is also, no. This is
because... for at least the
next 50 years... US crimes
will be in front of the eyes
of the Afghan people, and
the prospect for any kind
of Afghan-American,
cooperation...
is bleak.
So, what did the Americans mean by a proxy war? In fact,
the Americans wanted a proxy war where there was a
fertile ground... and the required strength. From the
American point of view, the “ethnicity” factor must
be emphasized and turned into a winning weapon
against anti-American revolutionary uprisings.
The Americans have long focused on the
model of racism and pan-Turanism... in
the case of this region, and considered
them as “a possible solution,” or more
accurately, the last “remaining arrow,”
and pinned their hopes on it.
Therefore, the prominent role of this tendency, in the
developments in the north, and its overlapping in the
Caucasus, besides the intention to highlight the anti
Iranian and anti-Islamic edges in the rhetoric of the
officials of these countries, tell us that we are
facing a “semi-hard” proxy war.
When Azeri President Ilham Aliyev speaks openly in an
interview about the widespread presence of Israeli
forces and equipment in the Caucasus, and the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, he
is, in fact, blowing the lid off a proxy war.
3) Saudi Arabia’s measures are yet another issue that is indicative of the proxy war in the developments
unfolding in Iran’s northwestern frontiers, on
the one side, and its scale, on the other. The
Saudis have explicitly said that they are
working to launch a 24-hour television
network for the Turkish region of the
Caucasus called “Turk national.”
Why is the Saudi regime in the Caucasus trying to launch
such a TV network? The people in this region are neither
Arabs nor Sunnis in order for them to be the audience of
a Sunni Arab country. At the same time, it is obvious that this decision cannot be implemented without the consent and cooperation of the governments in the region.
4) Naturally, on this front, Iran can't remain silent and turn
a blind eye to the dimensions and consequences of the
action that being along its borders; therefore, it has to
react, but what is the due reaction? There is no doubt
that military conflict & dragging Iran into the military
arena is a well-known policy of the American front.
On the other hand... we know that what is intended for the Caucasus region is not even a full-fledged military
war, let alone a regional and multilateral war. We
are thus not talking about a war in the sense
that it is perceived. We are talking about
actions that disturb the peace of this
region and the interests of the
powers around it.
Isn’t it true... that the Azerbaijani government says Israeli
drones and forces have been involved in the recent war
between the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Republic of
Armenia? Isn’t it true that the Israelis explicitly referred
to the Republic of Azerbaijan... as “Lebanon of Israel”?
Since there are talks about the formation of a definite
security threat against the Islamic Republic, Iran has
the right to dismantle and confront the centre of
conspiracy against itself, without coordination
with any place or individual.
This type of Iranian confrontation is not so incomprehensible
to Zionists. Interestingly, an Israeli institution wrote a few
days ago: “Iran may want to retaliate against Israeli attacks
in Syria in Azerbaijan.” The regime is attacking areas in
Syria under the false pretext that Syria has become a
base for the presence of Iranian military personnel.
The Israeli institute asks what problem would arise
if Iran attacked a base in Azerbaijan, where Israeli
force are possibly present?
Of course, Iran knows very well how to use developments
to the detriment of its enemies. The Islamic Republic will
naturally begin with negotiations, to fraternally resolve
the issue between neighbours on Iran’s northwestern
border. Over the past 2 decades, the United States,
Turkey, and the Zionist regime have faced ultimate
defeat in any sedition that they incited and gotten
out of the situation while fraught with humiliation.
They are inciting sedition while they do not have
the power to tolerate and manage the war. If
these acts of sedition are not put aside, they
will face defeat, thanks to Iran’s measures.
(The views expressed in this article.... do
not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)
It’s time for NATO to leave Kosovo
before it does any more damage
October 2nd, 10:36am (RT)
By Boris Malagurski, a Serbian Canadian documentary
film director, known for “The Weight of Chains”,
enlisted in the catalogue of the Library of
Congress, whose work has been show- cased on international festivals...
including Raindance in London.
Follow Boris on Twitter @malagurski
Just as it all ended badly for the West’s military interventions
in Vietnam and Afghanistan, so it will in Kosovo. NATO has
overstepped its mandate, overplayed its hand, and
overstayed its welcome.
As the last US military helicopters were leaving Kabul,
Afghanistan, many, including myself, emphasized the
similarities with America’s embarrassment in Saigon,
South Vietnam – but one parallel that few dared to
draw, was with Kosovo.
When I merely asked “Is Kosovo next?” on Twitter, it
sent Albanian media outlets into a frenzy. Kosovo’s
Albanian majority celebrates the NATO troops as
saviours – NATO bombed Serbia, to take away
control of its Southern province of Kosovo in
1999. Since then, NATO has been sponsoring
a nation-building project... that seemed to have culminated in 2008, when Kosovo’s
provisional authorities declared
independence from Serbia.
It wasn’t an ‘end of history’ moment. Serbia and much of
the world didn’t recognize Kosovo as an independent
country, and Kosovo itself remained heavily
dependent on Western aid... and military
support. Most Albanian politicians are
aware of this and they are highly
obedient with regards to NATO,
whose KFOR troops are
‘keeping the peace’
in Kosovo.
However, NATO has overstepped its mandate. UN Security
Council Resolution 1244, which put an end to NATO’s war
with Yugoslavia, guarantees Serbia’s sovereignty over
Kosovo, while NATO has pushed for an independent
Kosovo from day one of their occupation. The
resolution also called for... the return of an
agreed number of Yugoslav and Serbian
personnel to maintain a presence at
significant sites and key border
crossings.... NATO has never
allowed this to happen. The
last Serbian prime minister
who called for this agree-
ment to be honored, was
assassinated in 2003, a little over a month
after his request.
On the other hand, what are the results of NATO’s nation
building in Kosovo? Close to a 30% unemployment rate.
One of the poorest areas of Europe... with as much as
45% of the population living below the official poverty
line, and 17% being extremely poor. Former Kosovo
Liberation Army terrorists, some accused of
trafficking weapons and human organs,
replaced their military uniforms with
politicians’ suits and are governing
the entity. The previous president
of Kosovo, nicknamed ‘The Snake’
...is currently being tried for war
crimes, and crimes against
humanity, at The Hague.
He’s the one who unveiled the Bill Clinton statue in
Kosovo’s capital. Bill then came to celebrate with
‘The Snake’.
Kosovo’s recent license plate row with Serbia was just
the latest example of a leadership in Kosovo incapable
of dealing with real issues, but rather... going into
conflict... to cover its incompetence. Instead of
negotiating with Belgrade, Kosovo unilaterally
used force --- to implement the removal of
Serbian license plates. And all that NATO
was willing to contribute to deescalate
the tensions... was to offer its KFOR
troops, to replace Kosovo’s special
unit, without even trying to resolve
the essence of the dispute. What
is NATO still doing in Kosovo?
Probably the same thing it was doing in Afghanistan.
Hoping a bad decision to go in, will eventually pay
off somehow. But it won’t. It didn’t in Vietnam, it
didn’t in Afghanistan, and it won’t in Kosovo.
So it’s time for NATO to start packing
its bags.
The statements, views and opinions expressed
in this column, are solely those of the author,
& don't, necessarily, represent those of RT.
Image: Iqbal Jassat
“Normalization":Betrayal of Palestineby Arab despots no easy road
by Iqbal Jassat
October 1st, 11am (PressTV)
Pinning Palestinians down while applying harsh
measures of violent repression -- accompanied
by a fanatical settler movement of arch-racists
given free reign to attack and plunder -- is a
notorious game Israel has elevated to a
daily ritual.
In fact the routine of inflicting war crimes has all
the hallmarks of a rogue regime entirely caught
up in a misplaced belief --- that to engage in ethnic cleansing, is a religious obligation.
Conflating Judaism with a racist political ideology
of Zionism has been part of a strategy designed
to deceive, distort and divert. It has its roots in
the first Zionist congress held on the eve of
the 19th century.
That this is well documented and widely known is
not in dispute. Indeed... awareness of Zionism's
goal to dismember and dislodge Palestinians
from their centuries old homeland and
forcibly impose thereon a foreign
entity known as Israel, has
always been a bedrock
for resistance.
Israel has thus always been considered an enemy
thrust upon a native population through the most
horrific forms of terrorism. The memories of Deir
Yassin remind the world of bloody massacres
committed by Zionist terrorists which didn't
spare hundreds of villages... to
colonize Palestine.
That more than seven decades later the expansionist
goals of Zionism are still being pursued at great
human cost to successive generations of the
indigenous Palestinian population, is
reflected in daily atrocities.
None of these facts, as attested to by historians, as
well as organs of the United Nations, are contested.
Though of course Israel and supporters of it seek
to distort and malign commentators who speak
truth to power, as anti-Semitic.
Yet against this background of terrorism and current
conditions siege, occupation, killings and mass
imprisonment - recorded and broadcast via
mainstream media for all the world to
witness - it is bizarre that a handful
of Arab regimes, have broken rank
with Palestine's freedom struggle.
And at a time when even Haaretz describes
the atrocities by Israel, as a pogrom:
"Residents of the Palestinian communities in the south-
eastern West Bank have experience of settler attacks
- when they graze their flocks, work their fields, or
even have a picnic on their own land.... But they
cannot recall an attack like the one experienced
Tuesday -- by the small communities of Khirbat
al-Mufkara, al-Rakiz and al-Tuwani. On Simhat
Torah, dozens of young Jews, most of them
masked, conducted what can only be
described as a pogrom."
The treachery associated with what has become known
as "normalization" is an outrageous manifestation of
betrayal and collaboration. Limited to the UAE,
Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco,.. these regimes
have in effect confessed that the protection
of their shaky thrones... counts for more...
than legitimate rights of the Palestinians.
As unelected self-imposed despots fearful of democratic
values, they have bargained that "normalization" with
the usurper of Palestine will "guarantee" safety and
protection for them. In other words, just as Egypt
has done, these oligarchs have outsourced their
intelligence networks and security apparatus to Israel, knowing full well that in doing so, they have abandoned Palestine.
Though the abnormality of the implicit recognition of an
illegal colonial enterprise, has been in sharp contrast
to countless Arab League resolutions... the deal of
"normalization" pushed by Trump and vigorously
backed by the Biden administration... has exposed these leaders - as surrogates of western imperialism.
The case of Bahrain's role in the "Abraham Accords"
reveals the soft underbelly of Arab dictatorships.
Besides being financially dependent on its
neighbours especially the UAE and Saudi
Arabia, Bahrain’s alliance with Israel is
designed to entrench its power and
crush any resistance to author-
itarianism or efforts towards
freedom and democracy.
In 2011, during the onset of the Arab Spring uprisings,
Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to suppress anti
-government protests. This trend continues today
by Israel --- equally committed to maintaining the
status quo, and preventing the success of any
popular uprisings.
In this context, one may justifiably condemn Bahrain’s gross insensitivity and abject abdication of Palestine's freedom struggle... as treacherous.
Showcasing Israeli war criminal Lapid’s visit to Manama
where he is set to open the embassy flying Israel's flag
is utterly outrageous. This follows the opening of a
Zionist embassy in Abu Dhabi, and will likely be
establishing one in Rabat. Sudan thus far has
reportedly said that it has no plans yet to
open an embassy in Khartoum.
Not surprising therefore that the Arab street across these
capitals have vowed to end "normalization". The iron-
fisted grip held by Arab despots notwithstanding,
human rights movements (many banned and
leaders exiled) have declared their outright
rejection of America's much-vaunted
Abraham Accords.
Stirrings in Sudan are becoming more vocal despite
Khartoum's attempts to silence critics. In Bahrain
the main opposition group, al-Wefaq National
Islamic Society declared Lapid’s trip as a
"threat", saying, "This is provocative
news and this trip is completely
rejected, and he (Lapid) should
not set foot on Bahraini soil."
Their message is clear: "Any (Israeli) presence on Bahraini soil --- means incitement."
Iqbal Jassat is an executive at the Johannesburg-
based Media Review Network (MRN), a socio-
political advocacy group, that concerns
itself with media and political analysis.
(The views expressed in this article do
not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)
Image: Paul Antonopoulos
Greece And FranceTake First Step
Towards European Independence
Following AUKUS Debacle
September 28th (South Front)
by Paul Antonopoulos,
independent geopolitical analyst
Signing of Franco-Greek Agreement is the
beginning of supplanting NATO in Europe.
Of the 30 NATO member states, Greece is one of the few
to spend well over 2% of its GDP on defense, as agreed
upon by NATO Defence Ministers, in 2006. However,
Greece’s high spending (relative to GDP), is not
because it is positioning itself as a buffed-up
military state opposed to Russia, as per the
aims of NATO, but rather, to defend itself
against the threats of another NATO
member, Turkey.
With NATO consistently downplaying Turkish aggression
against Greece and the new AUKUS pact creating
distrust between the Anglosphere and the
Europeans... Greece has ensured new
extra security assurances against
its long-time enemy.
Greece’s strengthened partnership with France highlights
that the immediate consequences of the AUKUS alliance
are already being felt, as the two countries are making
the first serious steps towards a Europe independent
of Washington.
Alexis Papahelas, one of Greece’s top journalists, explained
that the Franco-Greek security pact is Macron’s “revenge”
against the Americans as it will strengthen European
autonomy. He also confirmed persistent rumours
that a defensive pact between France and
Greece was almost reached last year,
but ultimately broke down at the
last minute for “unknown
reasons.”
To put the situation in context, Greece for a year and a half-
received bids from six countries, including France, the U.S.
and UK for brand new navy frigates. The finalization of a
deal was continuously delayed... due to Greece’s
insistence, that a frigate purchase must include a defense agreement.
Greece signed its 12-month Mutual Defense Cooperation
Agreement (MDCA) with the US last year, but ultimately
did not decide on which frigate bid to accept. With
negotiations for a Franco-Greek defence pact
last year stalling, Athens ultimately decided
to sign the MDCA... with Washington. This
was rumored to be partially motivated
as part of 'negotiations' to pressure
the French to accept Greek terms.
However, with the sudden emergence of AUKUS, European
trust in the Anglosphere quickly diminished, and thus
galvanized Franco-Greek discussions on European
independence. And finally, a deal to purchase
three brand-new French Belharra-class
frigates, was stricken.
For his part, Mitsotakis said on Tuesday morning at the
signing of the agreement that:- “It is an historic day for Greece and France. Today’s development is an
initiative that responds to the demands of the
times on our continent. It paves the way for
an autonomous and strong Europe of the
future. Whether there is a timetable for
creating a European army: the debate
on European military autonomy,
evolves. Options such as this
corporate defense partner-
ship, move to this central
strategic choice.”
Effectively, Greece and France are advocating for a pan-
European military that would likely drive out NATO, as
the premier defensive pact in Europe.
Another demonstration that this pact is aimed at
supplanting NATO... is its careful wording.
Although Turkey was not mentioned
explicitly, there is little doubt that
part of the motivation for the
Franco-Greek defense pact
was Turkey’s unilateral
aggression in the
Mediterranean.
Even just minutes after the signing of the Franco-Greek
agreement, former Dutch diplomat Fons Stoelinga
tweeted: “EU autonomy in security and defense.
NATO still does not address the problem of
NATO-member Turkey destabilizing the
whole Eastern Mediterranean region.
France and Greece now react and
signed a security bilateral pact.”
The mutual defense assistance clause of the agreement
ensures that if Greece or France is attacked on its
territory, the other will come to assist, even if the
attacking country is part of other alliances.....
including NATO. This is an obvious message
directed towards Turkey, a NATO member
that on a daily basis violates Greek air-
space and threatens to invade its
Aegean islands.
These violations and threats receive no repercussions from
NATO as individual members are unwilling to risk their
economic relations with the country, whilst many
NATO leaders still believe that Turkey is a
bulwark against Russia.
France for most of its modern history, but especially
galvanized under President Emmanuel Macron.. had
an ambition of creating a more independent Europe.
The European experience under former U.S.
President, Donald Trump, and the recent
snub from President Joe Biden, with the
AUKUS debacle... has only increased the urgency of achieving European
independence from Washington.
Despite this ambition, as well as warning Europe that it will
become secondary in world affairs, if it does not become
independent, it appears that France can finally kickstart
its project alongside Greece.
Achieving EU unity is a difficult prospect, because minnow
states like Lithuania prioritize the interests of Washington
rather than the continent, but as Paris and Athens have
shown --- they will move ahead, in changing the geo-
political balance in the Mediterranean and will not
wait, while member states continuously bicker
amongst themselves on foreign policy issues.
If France and Greece can create strong foundations for an
independent Europe, it will only be inevitable before more
EU member states become interested in also being
integrated into a continental structure that is
independent of transatlantic alliances.
Image: Eric Zuesse
Why did the Taliban win against
the Americans in Afghanistan?
by Eric Zuesse
August 21st, 2021
Why did the communists win
against the Americans in Vietnam?
Why did the communists win
against the capitalists in the
Russian Revolution?
Why did the American Revolutionists
win against the British Empire?
I shall here propose an answer to all of them, because that answer applies to all such cases, as I'll explain:
When an imperialistic society is as corrupt as Britain has been since the creation of the British East India Company in 1600, and as America has been since the end of World War II in 1945, with its takeover and control by the MIC (military-industrial complex), which has inevitably produced the cancerous growth of America’s permanent-warfare state, what, then, is the reason to continue living by staying merely as a colonist or a vassal-regime (or even as the imperialist regime itself), which means, when the imposed regime is so profoundly corrupt --- as any
imperialist power necessarily is --- to accept such corruption, as this?
There’s something that is worse than dying... and it is to continue
living under a regime that one utterly despises. That’s a dragged
-out death, instead of a quick death. A regime which is as
corrupt as any imperialistic regime inevitably is, will be
intolerable for a significant number of the residents in
any one of its vassal-nations or “colonies.” Death, for
them, isn’t such a bad choice, if it means that they'll
go down fighting to overthrow it. They are driven by
the motivation, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
This is a motivation that few, if any, of the imperialistic regime’s hired
soldiers (regardless of whether conscripted or not) can match. And
when they are foreigners who are fighting on a foreign soil (instead
of locals who are defending their land’s own locally determined
rulers), they especially and certainly cannot match such
motivation, because only the locals can be fighting with
a patriotic spirit. This is an intrinsic weakness in any
empire. And imperialist leaders tend to ignore it,
because they don’t want to understand how
repulsive they are, to virtually anyone but
their own boot-lickers.
Ultimately, the demoralization of a hired soldier’s continuing to place
his very existence in jeopardy so as to continue the war to enslave
and control the resisting local subject-population will mount high
enough to produce self-contempt, desertion, and sometimes
even suicide, in the oppressing power’s forces, especially if that’s a foreign power.
No longer will the rationalizations(that “We are protecting the residents here”) be able to continue fooling the invading-force’s soldier, and the imposed stooge- regime’s soldier. They both (the foreign regime, and its imposed local stooge-government or colony) are there really, to control the local subject-population; and, ultimately, enough of the oppressor’s forces will know this to cause the imposed stooge-government, to be conquered by those indigenous residents there - people who will be recalled as heroes, by the other
residents in that land.
This is an advantage that any revolutionists
have, against the imposed regime.
This is the real meaning of “martyrs,” in the deeper sense than
merely of a religious type — it is instead of the patriotic type; it
concerns the land -- and not necessarily any religion -- such as
Christianity, Islam, or Marxism. Their loyalty is to Afghanistan;
or it is to Vietnam; or it is to Russia; or it is to China; or (before
America became imperialistic) it was to America. And so forth.
It is to the local land, not to any dictators. It is to the country
that the foreign invader’s forces are occupying. The
invader’s forces and their imposed stooge-regimes
can’t match this motivation.
Similarly, when the American invaders were conquered by the
residents of Vietnam, the winners were the Vietnamese, not
really the communists; and, in fact, the Marxist philosophy
(or ‘religion’) subsequently has waned there. America, in
Vietnam, as in Afghanistan, was the invader, in a land
which had not invaded their own.
That similar situation exists in Afghanistan. The Sauds had invaded
America on 9/11, with the assistance of G.W. Bush, Condoleezza
Rice, and perhaps others in the Administration. And so, the U.S.
-imposed soldiers in Afghanistan couldn’t even possibly have
been fighting against Afghanistan for any authentically
patriotic real (factually true) reason, at all. Therefore,
lies were constantly needed by the U.S. regime, not
only against Iraq, but even against Afghanistan.
(Furthermore, if Bush’s objective had really been to identify whom
and how was actually behind the 9/11 attacks, then he would have
pursued that at the U.N. Security Council and would have gotten
unanimous backing for it, which would quickly have isolated
and led to the destruction of Al Qaeda. It could all have been
done without any war between nations, and also fully in
accord with international law. To the extent that 9/11 was state-sponsored terrorism, it was actually being
sponsored by the Governments of the U.S. and
Saudi Arabia.
George W. Bush, who was buddy-close with the Sauds, used 9/11 as
an excuse to trash both the U.S. Constitution and international law
so as to hoist yet higher his own tyranny, his own power - not only internationally but also.. in his own nation. An imperialist would,
of course, like to trash both, and to hoist his personal power as
high as possible. And GWB had the boldness to do it, and -
because America has been imperialistic ever since 1945
(i.e., international aggressions... have been America’s
culture since 1945) — he has been able to enjoy the
success of getting away with doing it. However,
everyone else, and especially outside America’s MIC, suffers from it.
What have the mere soldiers of invading and occupying
imperialist powers actually earned by having placed
their own lives at risk? Maybe a tombstone back
home, in the country that had invaded and
occupied that colony.
By contrast, even if a defending soldier has died as a
hero among the locals in a failed revolution against
the imperialist power, any tombstone will be
unnecessary to be that person’s memorial,
because the true memorial is in the heart,
and in the mind, of the locals there, not
in anything that is in the land of the
invading foreign power.
And, so, I propose that the answer, to the question here, is that,
whereas America’s Founders were waging war as heroes
(because their war was just), today’s Americans are
waging war as villains (because our wars are unjust
- imperialistic aggressions, instead of heroic
defenses against an aggressor). Between
America’s founding and the present time,
America has switched from doing war
against military occupiers, to doing
war as military occupiers.
And this, I maintain, is the reason why: “The Taliban’s 80,000
troops have retaken Afghanistan with cities falling like
dominos while the 300,000-strong government forces,
better equipped and trained, mostly melted and
surrendered with no will to fight.”
What today’s Taliban are to today’s Afghanistan is therefore what
the 1776 American Revolutionists were to the America of that era.
It’s not the ideology; it is the love of that land there, which has
motivated the residents’ forces to victory, against the forces
of the invading-and-occupying foreign power. This can
happen in any land, at any time.
America went into Vietnam focused on the “body counts.” That’s
how stupid America’s imperialistic leaders were, back then. The
only motivation they really understood was fear: “body counts.”
They’ve evidently learned nothing since. That is how corrupt
America is.
Right now in America, the ‘debate’ about Afghanistan is about Joe
Biden, who is basically irrelevant. He wanted to end America’s
military occupation there, just as Trump did, and just as
Obama did. He acted on it, whereas they did not — they
didn’t want to be accused by their political opponents
of having ‘lost Afghanistan on their watch’, but Biden
was evidently willing to risk it.
His only failure in the matter is that he kept lying to the American
people (and probably also to himself) about how chaotic the
evacuation would inevitably be, and about how collapsed
Afghanistan is, and has been, ever since the Soviets
invaded there in 1979.
Throughout America’s imperialistic era, the U.S. Government has
routinely been lying to the American people. Imperialism isn’t as
bad for the imperialistic nation’s public as it is for the conquered
land’s people, but it is very bad, even for them. The only people
who benefit from it are the billionaires, who control companies
such as Lockheed Martin, and ExxonMobil, and Amazon.
Those are the people (the owners), who hire the leading
politicians, including the members of Congress, and the
Presidents, to spread their empire, and their control.
They also hire the ‘journalists’ who shape their nation’s public
to support these invasions and military occupations. The
Government officials of an imperialistic regime represent
not the nation’s public - but its aristocracy - who hire and
appoint millions of the rest, the many agents (employees,
etc.) of the few billionaires. The billionaires really control
their country. After all: America is a thoroughly corrupt
country, just as any imperialistic country is. (All
imperialistic countries, are controlled by their
aristocracy. And every aristocracy is corrupt.)
The public in Afghanistan have long known this fact about America -
that it is corrupt. And this is the main reason why the Taliban now
rule that country. They represent that land. Not this land. It’s a
different culture, and a different place. To most Afghans,
America represents only corruption. There is nothing
unique about what is now happening in Afghanistan.
It has been happening for thousands of years, and
it’s just replaying an ancient script, but in that
particular location.
However, instead, the U.S.-and-allied media are focusing on Biden’s
bit part (which was always in a supporting role) in America’s
invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. So, probably
nothing will be learned from America’s invasion and
occupation of Afghanistan, just as nothing was
learned from America’s invasion & occupation
of Iraq, and from America’s invasion and
occupation of Vietnam, and from the
many other such post-WW-II
American foreign disasters.
For America’s billionaires, these have all been great successes
(very profitable); and, so, probably nothing that’s useful to the
American people will be learned from history; and, instead,
the myths will continue that have caused “The Military” to
be either the highest-respected or the second-highest-
respected of all of the 19 named institutions in America - the world’s permanent- warfare state.
The American military wastes the most money and the most blood
of any institution in America, but Americans nonetheless respect it
enormously. That, too, is a mark of an imperialistic country. The
way to control a public is to sustain the myths. U.S.-and-allied
billionaires make sure that it is done - however much it costs.
As regards the future of Afghanistan itself: On August the 19th,
the most reliable geostrategic reporter and analyst, Alexander
Mercouris, headlined at The Duran, “US Freezes Afghanistan
Reserves, Threatens Economic Crisis. Russia Works to
Establish New Government”, and he explained why the
Taliban will either cooperate with Russia, China, and
Iran, or else will degenerate yet further into a failed
state, especially because the U.S. and its allies will
do everything possible to strangle the fully looted
Government of Afghanistan — the new Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan. So: even after the US
and its allies have all left that land, the war
against the people there will continue, in
full force, from the same people, though
with different methods.
PS: The philosopher Zizek headlined at RT on August 20th, “The
true enemy for Islamists is not the West’s neocolonialism or
military aggression, but our ‘immoral’ culture”, and he said
“it was not neocons who boosted Islamic fundamentalism,
this fundamentalism grew up in a reaction to the influence
of Western liberal secularism and individualism.”
He did not understand that though religious fundamentalists
(including the Taliban) focus especially on sexual and gender
issues, a person didn’t have to be at all religious in order to
consider the financial and economic corruption of the
imperialists and of their stooges to be disgusting.
Americans didn’t invade & occupy Afghanistan, in order to
spread “liberal secularism and individualism,” but in order
for US-and-allied billionaires to expand their wealth, their
empire, and their global control. Even if the Taliban and
other religious persons might object only (or even just
mainly) to the sexual and gender issues... a broader
segment of the Afghan population were repelled by
the rampant financial and economic corruption of
the imperialists, and of their stooge-rulers.
This was not a defeat for “secularism and individualism.”
It was a rejection of imperialism: a rejection of it even by people who don’t understand what “imperialism” means.
(Source: Strategic Culture Foundation)
Image: Iqbal Jassat
Israel is committed to
aggressively pursuing
'Zionist colonialism',
says analyst
August 14th, 9:38am (PressTV)
A political commentator says Israel is relentlessly
following its "Zionist colonialism" in the occupied
Palestinian territories, and the evacuation orders
handed out to indigenous Palestinian families in the West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds, are in line with the regime’s land
expropriation policies: to build more illegal settler homes.
“Israel aggressively pursues Zionist colonialism, which
has been the bedrock of the regime’s illegal ethnic-
cleansing agenda for the last seventy or more
years,” Iqbal Jassat, an executive member
of Johannesburg-based Media Review
Network, told Press TV, in an
exclusive interview
on Saturday.
He lambasted the Tel Aviv regime’s systematic theft of
Palestinian property as “a reprehensible disregard
for the inalienable rights of indigenous
Palestinians to their own lands
and homes.”
“The racist practice of evacuation, is a misleading
interpretation of forced expulsion, illegal under
the international law. It is also indicative of
the Group Areas Act [of 1950], under the
former apartheid regime of South
Africa,” Jassat noted.
The South African analyst also criticized the United Nations
and the International Criminal Court (ICC), for their
“impotence” ...to prevent Israel's unjust and
blatant violations of international
conventions and principles.
“It also raises serious questions about the inherent biases
existing within these institutions. These biases prevent
the exercise of law --- to halt land grabs, home demolitions, expulsions and incremental genocide,” he pointed out.
Jassat went on to say that Western countries’ decades-long
guilty conscience has prevented these states from
criticizing Israel, for its barbaric and brutal
practices, as such denunciations would
be treated as anti-Semitic.
“The US and its allies in NATO view Israel as a bulwark of
their interests in the heart of the Muslim world. They,
therefore, place their so-called security goals
above injustices against Palestinians,”
the analyst said.
“Moreover, the Arab world is mainly made up of unelected
despots, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates and Bahrain. Their collective view, pivots
on the false notion... that their security is tied
to Israel. That explains the close proximity
between their notorious intelligence
services and Israel's Mossad
and Shin Bet.”
Jassat further noted that the controversial normalization
agreements that several Arab states have struck with Israel, have stifled opposition to the Tel Aviv regime’s colonialist and expansionist policies.
He said the unacceptable betrayal of the Palestinians'
struggle for liberation from the Israeli occupation,
has even resulted in the regime being granted
observer status, at the African Union.
Image: Finian Cunningham
Russia-Chinathe Endgame
by Finian Cunningham
July 3rd, 1:41pm (Sputnik)
The consolidation of the Russia-China alliance this week
spells the endgame for Western imperialism and the
never-ending wars that it spawns.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s leader Xi
Jinping celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Sino-
Russian Treaty of Friendship, first signed in July
2001. The hallmark of that historic accord is a
mutual commitment to peace, prosperity
and global stability.
As Putin commented, the alliance between Russia and China
is a vital source of “stability at a time of increasing geo-
political turbulence”. The latter remark is an oblique
reference to the US-led Western states which are
driven by ratcheting up antagonism and
tensions with Moscow and Beijing,
using all sorts of spurious
complaints.
The attempt by Washington (whether Republican or Democrat)
and its Western minions to make trouble with Russia and
China has become almost frenetic. Step back from the
daily headlines in Western media and it is glaring just
how much the agenda has become irrationally
hostile towards Moscow and Beijing.
Week after week there are unfounded allegations about
Covid-19, & so on. It’s like a mad cacophony to wind
up tensions. Nevertheless, the deranged attitude of
Western ruling cliques is but the death throes of a
world order that has reached its expiration.
Russia and China’s partnership has hugely transformative
geopolitical significance. Both these giant nations straddle
the continents of Asia and Europe, connecting the Pacific
with the Atlantic, ranging from the Arctic to the
Mediterranean. Both are committed to a vision
of a multipolar world where nations cooperate
for mutual development.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) linking Eurasia with
Africa and the Americas is the vision of the future, and
Russia is a key partner in implementing that
ambitious win-win project for global peace
and prosperity.
This vision stands in stark contrast to the prevailing Western
capitalist paradigm which operates through dominance,
control and exploitation for American and European
profiteering. That kind of centuries-old system
necessarily involves imperialist conduct ...
whereby the natural resources of foreign
nations are commandeered by brute
military force, conflict, subjugation,
subterfuge, skulduggery and
other machinations.
The multipolar vision of global relations advocated by Russia
and China is the nemesis of the Western imperialist system.
And that explains why the Americans and their European
vassals make every effort to demonize and distort
Russia and China.
But the geopolitical potential of Russia and China is
unstoppable. There is a force of natural justice that
all nations will inevitably subscribe to as the only
reasonable, feasible & sustainable way forward.
It’s about people-centered development ...
versus profit-driven disorder.
Moreover, the partnership between Russia and China is a
geographer’s wonder study. Russia is the world’s largest
national territory by landmass. With over 17 million sq.
kilometres, it covers 11 time zones out of the world’s
total of 24. The abundance of natural resources that
Russia possesses is astounding, from reserves of
natural gas, oil, metals and minerals, to forestry,
agriculture and fisheries. It also can boast of
highly advanced technology in multiple
sectors. And... it shares a long land
border with China, for easing trade.
Meanwhile, China has a population of 1.4 billion people, ten
times that of Russia. With highly advanced technology and
manufacturing, China is not only a vast market for Russian
resources, it is also a gateway to the world economy.
China has already become the world’s biggest
economy over the United States, according
to some measures.
The US and Europe are post-industrial economies that are
also post-peak of their prime. Their “prime” was always
based on an extractive predatory relationship with the
rest of the world that was predicated on inflicting
conflict and poverty on others.
As China and Russia build on their strategic partnership for
mutual prosperity and peace the upshot will inevitably
entail the endgame for Western imperial powers,
which are atrophying from massive inequality,
indebtedness, moral decadence and
social decay.
Fortunately, too, and this is crucial, Russia and China have
military defenses from new generations of hypersonic
weaponry that make them impregnable against any
warmongering notions by the United States. A
failing empire like the US and its Western
satellites is always a dangerous time, as
it tries to prevent the inevitable collapse,
but starting a war with Russia & China
...is not an option.
The views & opinions expressed in the article
do not - necessarily - reflect those of Sputnik.
Image: Barry Grossman
Barry Grossman:US, Israel
Adopting Bullying Tactics
for ICC War Crimes
Investigation in
Palestine
June 30th (FNA)
Barry Grossman is an international lawyer and political
commentator focused on human rights related issues.
He has been extensively published, on various legal
subjects and is a frequent commentator on political
affairs. He has taught law at the University of
Melbourne’s Faculty of Law and Monash
University’s Faculty of Law.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: How do you see the ICC ruling and the
issue of anti-Semitism raised by Israel?
A: To be sure, Benjamin Netanyahu has himself said that
“when the ICC investigates Israel for fake war crimes,
this is pure antisemitism”.
There can of course be no doubt that antisemitism is real;
indeed, every bit as real as Islam-phobia. But the long
standing ruse of conflating antisemitism with any and
all criticism of Zionism or Israel, is no longer taken
seriously, by a growing and very substantial
minority of people in the wider population.
Meanwhile the tactic of tarring everyone who resists Zionism
or criticises Israel with the antisemitism brush is having the
unfortunate, though not necessarily unintended
consequence of discrediting even the most
genuine efforts to draw attention to those
people whose speech is, indeed,
motivated by little more than
hatred for Jews.
Q: There are huge media attacks towards ICC’s probe to
Israeli war crimes in Palestine. Do you believe the ICC
can make a correct ruling under this media hegemony?
A: Propaganda about the ICC case published by the
Atlantic World’s Corporate Media Cartel is of course
preceded by pressure and instructions from think-
tanks, as well as the security/policy making
apparatus, which are, of course, fully
infiltrated by individuals promoting
Zionist agendas.
In that regard, both the US and Israel have openly declared
their hostile intentions towards the ICC and there is already
clear evidence that they're deploying all their usual tactics,
including intimidation, extortion, bribery and garden variety
corruption, to get politicians around the world, lawyers
involved in making Palestine’s case, and members of
the ICC to fall into line.
That said, if the myriad jurisdiction related technicalities
raised by Israel can be overcome, I am quite sure the
ICC is capable of reaching what many of us consider
the correct position regarding ubiquitous war crimes
and other violations of international law, perpetrated
by the occupation.
The real problem is that the ICC is quite limited in its ability
to enforce any ruling against responsible individuals and
Israeli organizations, so long as the key Atlantic World
nations continue to provide unqualified support for
the occupation, or, at the very least, to remain
neutral, in the face of clear evidence of the
occupation’s crimes.
A second very significant strategic issue arises from a
prevailing political reality which dictates that, in order
to make a reasonable finding about the occupation’s
crimes, the ICC will also have to use its authority to
investigate violations of international law alleged
against Hamas and other Palestinian groups ---
bearing in mind that the law of armed conflict
does not concern itself with the order in
which things played out and any finding
against Palestinian groups will certainly
receive far more traction, both in the
international community as well as
in occupied Palestine, than any
finding of culpability on the
part of the occupation.
Indeed, from where I sit, I do not see Palestine as
having much to gain from this process, but it
does stand to lose no small part of the
standing in public opinion, which it
has taken decades to develop, at
the cost of thousands of
Palestinian lives.
Q: Is it hypocrisy that Israel says Palestine is not
a sovereign state to have a delegation at ICC?
A: Hypocrisy hardly even begins to cover it. No nation
is in a position to dictate that Palestine is not a
sovereign nation-state, even if the UN has not
yet extended Palestine’s observer nation
status to full membership --- the way it
quickly recognized Israel’s existence
as a full member, in 1949.
It is also worth remembering that
31 UN member nations still do
not recognize Israel.
Of course, none of this is relevant to the Palestinian
delegation’s participation in ICC proceedings
investigating allegations of war crimes and
other violations of international law
committed against Palestinians by
Israeli nationals & organizations,
even though Israel is not, itself,
a party to the ICC treaty.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority (PA),
whose statehood and sovereignty has been
subject to intense dispute across the
international community... is a
signatory to the Rome Statute
(that is, the ICC Treaty), so it
would be bizarre, if it was
not permitted to have a
delegation present, at
the ICC proceedings.
Image: US Encirclement of China
US Encirclement of China:
A 'Progress' Report
by Brian Berletic
May 22nd (The Saker)
We post this long-read article in full -
as the New Eastern Outlook site has
been down for a number of days.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing are not merely
the recent results of former US President Donald Trump’s
time in office – but rather, just the latest chapter in US
efforts to contain China, that stretch back decades.
Indeed, US foreign policy has, for decades, admittedly aimed at encircling and containing China’s rise, and maintaining primacy over the Indo-Pacific region.
The “Pentagon Papers” leaked in 1969 would admit in
regards to the ongoing US war against Vietnam that:
…the February decision to bomb North Vietnam and the
July approval of Phase I deployments make sense only
if they are in support of a long-run United States policy
to contain China.
The papers also admitted that China, “looms as a major
power threatening to undercut [American] importance
and effectiveness in the world and, more remotely but
more menacingly, to organize all of Asia against
[America].
The papers also made it clear that there were (and still are),
“three fronts to a long-run effort to contain China: (a) the
Japan-Korea front; (b) the India-Pakistan front; and (c)
the Southeast Asia front.”
Since then, it is clear that from the continued US military
presence in both Japan and South Korea, the now two
decades-long US occupation of Afghanistan on both
Pakistan’s and China’s borders, and the emergence
of the so-called “Milk Tea Alliance” aimed at over-
throwing Southeast Asian governments friendly
with China and replacing them with US-backed
client regimes – this policy to contain China
endures up to today.
Assessing US activity along these three fronts reveals
the progress and setbacks Washington faces -- and
the various dangers to global peace and stability
Washington’s continued belligerence poses.
The Japan-Korea Front
Military.com in their article, “Here’s What It Costs to
Keep US Troops in Japan and South Korea,” reports:
In all, more than 80,000 US troops are deployed to Japan
and South Korea. In Japan alone, the US maintains more
than 55,000 deployed troops — the largest forward-
deployed US force anywhere in the world.
The article notes that according to the US Government
Accountability Office (GAO), the US spent “$34 billion
to maintain military presences in Japan and South
Korea between 2016 and 2019.”
The article cites the GAO providing an explanation as to
why this massive US military presence is maintained in
East Asia:
“…US forces help strengthen alliances, promote a free
and open Indo-Pacific region, provide quick response
to emergencies and are essential for US national
security.”
“Alliances” that are “strengthened” by the physical
presence of what are -- essentially, -- occupying US
forces, suggests the “alliance” is hardly voluntary and claims of promoting a “free and open Indo- Pacific region” is highly subjective – begging the question of, to whom, is the Indo-Pacific “free and open”.
And as US power wanes both regionally in the Indo-
Pacific as well as globally, Washington has placed
increasing pressures on both Japan and South
Korea to not only help shoulder this financial
burden, but to also become more proactive
within Washington’s containment strategy
toward China.
Japan is one of three other nations (the US itself,
Australia, and India) drafted into the US-led
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue – also
known as the “Quad.”
Rather than the US solely depending on its own military
forces based within Japanese territory or supported by
its Japan-based forces, Japan’s military along with
India’s and Australia’s are also being recruited to
take part in military exercises and operations
in and around the South China Sea.
India’s inclusion in the Quad also fits well into the US
3-front strategy that made up Washington’s contain-
ment policy toward China as early as the 1960s.
The India-Pakistan Front
In addition to recruiting India into the Quad alliance, the
US helps encourage escalation through political
support and media campaigning of India’s
various territorial disputes with China.
The US also targets Pakistan’s close and ongoing
relationship with China – including the support of
armed insurgents in Pakistan’s Baluchistan
province.
Recently, a bombing at a hotel in Quetta, Baluchistan
appears to have targeted China’s ambassador to
Pakistan, Ambassador Nong Rong.
The BBC in its article, “Pakistan hotel bomb:
Deadly blast hits luxury venue in Quetta,”
would claim:
Initial reports had suggested the target
was China’s ambassador.
Ambassador Nong Rong is understood to be in Quetta
but was not present at the hotel at the time of the
attack on Wednesday.
The article also noted:
Balochistan province, near the Afghan border,
is home to several armed groups, including
separatists.
Separatists in the region want independence from the
rest of Pakistan and accuse the government and
China of exploiting Balochistan, one of
Pakistan’s poorest provinces, for its
gas and mineral wealth.
Absent from the BBC’s reporting is the extensive and
open support the US government has provided these
separatists over the years and how – clearly – this is
more than just a local uprising against perceived
injustice, but yet another example of armed
conflict-by-proxy waged by Washington
against China.
As far back as 2011 publications like The National
Interest in articles like, “Free Baluchistan” would
openly advocate expanding US support for
separatism in Pakistan’s Baluchistan
province.
The article was written by the late Selig Harrison
--- who was a senior fellow at the US-based
(corporate-financier funded) Centre for
International Policy --- & would claim:
Pakistan has given China a base at Gwadar in the
heart of Baluch territory. So an independent
Baluchistan... would serve US strategic
interests, in addition to the immediate
goal, of countering Islamist forces.
Of course, “Islamist forces”... is a euphemism for US-
Persian Gulf state sponsored militants used to both
fight Western proxy wars, as well as serve as a
pretext for Western intervention. Citing
“Islamist forces” in Baluchistan,
Pakistan - clearly - serves as an example of the latter.
In addition to op-eds published by influential policy
think tanks, US legislators like US Representative
Dana Rohrabacher, had proposed resolutions
such as (emphasis added),
“US House of Representatives Concurrent Resolution
104 (112th): Expressing the sense of Congress that
the people of Baluchistan, currently divided
between Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan,
have the right to self-determination and
to their own sovereign country.”
There is also funding provided to adjacent, political
groups supporting separatism in Baluchistan,
Pakistan, as listed by the US government’s
own National Endowment for Democracy
(NED) website under “Pakistan.”
Organizations like the “Association for Integrated
Development Balochistan” are funded by the US government and used to mobilize people
politically, constituting clear interference
by the US, in Pakistan’s internal
political affairs.
The Gwadar Port project is a key juncture within China’s
growing global network of infrastructure projects, as
part of its One Belt, One Road initiative. The US
clearly opposes China’s rise & has articulated robust strategies to counter it; everything up to and including, open war, as seen in the Pentagon Papers, regarding the Vietnam War.
The recent bombing in Baluchistan, Pakistan demonstrates
that this strategy continues, in regards to utilizing local
militants to target Chinese-Pakistani co-operation, and
is one part of the much wider, region-wide strategy:
of encircling and containing China.
The Southeast Asia Front
Of course the US war against Vietnam was part of a wider
effort to reassert Western primacy over Southeast Asia
...and deny the region from fueling China’s inevitable rise.
The US having lost the war and almost completely retreating
from the Southeast Asia region saw Southeast Asia itself
repair relations amongst themselves and with China.
Today, the nations of Southeast Asia count China as their
largest trade partner, investor, a ''key partner'' in infra-
structure development, a key supplier for the region’s
armed forces, as well as providing the majority of
tourism arrivals throughout the region. For
countries like Thailand, more tourists
arrive from China, than from all
Western nations combined.
Because existing governments in Southeast Asia have
nothing to benefit from by participating in American
belligerence toward China, the US has found it
necessary to cultivate and attempt to install
into power various client regimes. This has
been an ongoing process, since the
Vietnam War.
The US has targeted each nation individually for years.
In 2009 & 2010, US-backed opposition leader-in-exile,
Thaksin Shinawatra, deployed his “red shirt” rioters
in back-to-back riots - the latter of which included
some 300 armed militants and culminated in city-
wide arson across Bangkok, and the death of
over 90 police, soldiers, protesters, and
bystanders.
In 2018, US-backed opposition groups took power in
Malaysia after the US poured millions of dollars, for
over a decade, in building up the opposition.
Daniel Twining of the US National Endowment for Democracy subsidiary – the International
Republican Institute – admitted, during a talk by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, that same year, that:
…for 15 years working with NED resources, we worked
to strengthen Malaysian opposition parties -- and guess
what happened 2 months ago after 61 years? They won.
He would elaborate on how the NED’s network played a
direct role in placing US-backed opposition figures into
power, within the Malaysian government, stating:
I visited and I was sitting there with many of the leaders
the new leaders of this government, many of whom
were just our partners we had been working with
for 15 years and one of the most senior of them
who’s now one of the people running the
government said to me, ‘gosh IRI you
never gave up on us even when we
were ready to give up
on ourselves.’
Far from “promoting freedom” in Malaysia ---- Twining
would make clear the ultimate objective of interfering
in Malaysia’s internal political affairs, was to serve
US interests, not only in regards to Malaysia, but
in regards to the entire region and specifically
toward encircling and containing China.
Twining would boast:
…guess what one of the first steps the
new government took? It froze Chinese
infrastructure investments.
And that:
[Malaysia] is not a hugely pro-American country. It is
probably never going to be an actual US ally, but this
is going to redound to our benefit, and and that’s
an example of the long game.
It is a pattern that has repeated itself in Myanmar over
the decades --- with NED money building a parallel
political system within the nation and eventually
leading to Aung San Suu Kyi and her US-backed
National League for Democracy (NLD) party
taking power in 2016.
For Myanmar, so deep and extensive is US backing for
opposition groups there, that the elections virtually
guarantee US-backed candidates win.. every single
time. The US National Endowment for Democracy’s
own website alone... lists over 80 programs and
organizations receiving US government money
- for everything from election polling, and
building up political parties - to funding
media networks and “environmental”
groups used to block any Chinese-
initiated infrastructure projects.
The move by Myanmar’s military in February this year,
ousting Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the NLD, was meant to correct this.
However, in addition to backing political groups
protesting in the streets, the US has – for many
decades – backed and armed ethnic rebels
across the country. These rebels have now
linked up with the US-backed NLD and are
repeating the US-backed regime change
tactics used against the Arab World in 2011 --- in nations like Libya, Yemen,
and Syria – including explicit calls
for “international intervention.”
A US-Engineered “Asia Spring”
Just as the US did during the 2011 “Arab Spring” – the US
State Department, in a bid to create synergies across
its various regime change campaigns in Asia, has
introduced the “Milk Tea Alliance” to transform
individual US-backed regime change efforts in Asia, into a region-wide crisis.
The BBC itself admits in articles like, “Milk Tea
Alliance: Twitter creates emoji for pro-
democracy activists,” and that:
The alliance has brought together anti-Beijing protesters, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, with pro-democracy campaigners in Thailand and Myanmar.
Omitted from the BBC’s coverage of the “Milk Tea Alliance”
(intentionally) is the actual common denominators that
unite it – US funding through fronts like the National
Endowment for Democracy and a unifying hatred
of China - based exclusively on talking points
pushed by the US State Department itself.
Circling back to the Pentagon Papers and recalling the
coordinated, regional campaign the US sought to
encircle China with – we can then look at more
recent US government policy papers like the
“Indo-Pacific Framework” published in the
White House archives from the Trump
administration.
The policy paper’s first bullet point asks:
How to maintain US strategic primacy in the Indo-Pacific
region, and promote a liberal economic order, while
preventing China from establishing new, illiberal
spheres of influence, and cultivating areas of
cooperation to promote regional peace
and prosperity?
The paper also discusses information campaigns designed
to “educate” the world about “China’s coercive behaviour
and to influence operations around the globe.” These
campaigns have materialized in a propaganda war
fabricating accusations of “Chinese genocide” in
Xinjiang, China, claims that Chinese telecom
company Huawei is a global security threat,
and that China – not the US – is the single
largest threat to global peace and
stability today.
In reality US policy aimed at encircling China -- is
predicated upon Washington’s desire to continue
its own decades-long impunity upon the global
stage, and the continuation of all the wars,
humanitarian crises, and abuses, that
have stemmed from it.
Understanding the full scope of Washington’s
“competition” with China... helps unlock the
confusion surrounding unfolding individual
crises like the trade war; the ongoing
violence and turmoil in Myanmar;
bombings in southwest Pakistan;
students mobs in Thailand; riots
in Hong Kong; and attempts by
the US to transform the South
China Sea, into an inter- national conflict.
Understanding that these events are all connected - then
assessing the success or failure of US efforts - gives us a clearer picture of the overall success of Washington in encircling China. It also gives governments and
regional blocs a clearer picture of how to manage policy, in protecting against US subversion: that threatens national, regional, and global peace
and stability.
Brian Berletic, is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
Australians should be ashamed that they have a regime propped up to serve US racist agendas!
Image: sanctions infograph
How Exceptional America Is
by Eric Zuesse
September 30th, 2020
America is becoming exceptionally exceptional. In some votes
at the UN General Assembly - the Assembly of nations - only
Israel, or one or two other U.S. allies, vote along with it, and
all others either vote against it, or else abstain in order to
prevent U.S. retaliation against their own nation. No other
nation is anything like that. In fact, on many occasions,
the U.S. arm-twists other delegations -- in order to get
them to abstain from voting so as to make less stark,
and less embarrassing, America’s international
isolation. But America is also extraordinarily
exceptional in other ways, which have
nothing to do with the UN.
America is truly an exceptional nation. As the
Republican Party magazine National Review
stated, on September 15th, “Last week,
the US and Israel were the only states to vote against a General Assembly resolution on the coronavirus response. Some have seized upon that vote to paint the
USt as a bad faith actor that stands alone in the world.”
However, this vote wasn’t about only “the global
coronavirus response.” It was — perhaps even
more importantly - about U.S. sanctions against
Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Russia, China, and other
countries that the U.S. regime considers to be
its enemies. (None of these countries ever
invaded or even threatened to invade
the USA; all of those sanctions are
100% U.S. aggression.
They are target-countries that America’s aristocracy
wants to take over. (The world’s U.S.-sanctioned
countries are marked in red -- on the map of the
world below.) Israel strongly supports sanctions
against both Syria and Venezuela, and routinely
invades and bombs Syria just for good measure.
So, it joined America’s position on that.
That UN General Assembly vote was held on September
11th. America’s Associated Press bannered the next day,
“UN assembly approves pandemic resolution; US, Israel
object”, and reported that, “The 193-member world body
adopted the resolution by a vote of 169-2, with Ukraine
and Hungary abstaining. It was a strong show of unity
by the UN’s most representative body, though many
countries had hoped for adoption by consensus.”
The AP further stated:
It calls on governments and international financial institutions
“to provide more liquidity in the financial system, especially
in all developing countries.” It supports recovery plans that
“drive transformative change towards more inclusive and
just societies, including by empowering and engaging all
women and girls.”
And it urges UN member nations “to adopt a climate- and
environment-responsive approach to COVID-19 recovery
efforts”, including by aligning investments and domestic
policies with the UN goals & the 2015 Paris agreement
to combat climate change. …
By a vote of 132-3, the assembly amended the resolution to
urge all countries “to refrain from promulgating and applying
any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in
accordance with international law and the Charter of the
United Nations that impedes the full achievement of
economic and social development, particularly in
developing countries.”
The United States was then overwhelmingly defeated in
attempts to remove 2 paragraphs from the resolution,
one referring to women’s rights to “sexual and
reproductive health” --- and the other --- to
“promoting global sustainable transport.”
In addition to arguing against the language on sanctions,
the United States opposed all references to the World
Health Organization, which the US administration had
stopped funding, accusing the UN agency of failing
to do enough to stop the virus from spreading
when it first surfaced in China.
Nowhere in the AP’s article was any mention made that
in the “vote of 169-2,” the two nations which had voted
against the Resolution were the US and Israel, but only
that there had been “objections from the United States
and Israel,” regarding attachment, to the Resolution, of
the Amendment that added the anti-sanctions provision
to it. This omission was not an error. It is a type of
omission that is common in propaganda. America
was more isolated than that ‘news’-report
made clear.
This vote was about only a “Resolution,” a statement of
the various nations’ values, to work toward, not about
any nation’s policy, but the U.S. and Israel don’t share
those goals — not even rhetorically. This opposition
to that Resolution’s goals, was truly exceptional.
In particular, nothing is more abhorrent to the US regime
--- than to stop or impede its sanctions. These sanctions
include, for example, punishments against any company
or government that will, in any way, assist in Russia’s 96%
completed NordStream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany,
for the EU to buy Russia’s pipelined natural gas instead of
America’s fracked, canned, shipped, natural gas. The U.S.
regime insists that EU nations buy the far costlier trans-
Atlantic-shipped fracked US liquefied natural gas (LNG).
That insistence upon the EU’s wasting money, in order to
prop-up America’s fracking industry, is, indeed, exceptional,
because European nations haven’t customarily been treated
as being mere colonies of other powers. America is treating
purchasers from, or cooperators with, that competitor (Russia),
as being its enemies. The way the U.S. Representative stated
this (after a lengthy diatribe which blamed China for Covid-19
and said that the U.S. had quit the World Health Organization
because WHO lacked “independence from the Chinese
Communist Party”) was: “Economic sanctions are a
legitimate means to achieve foreign policy, security,
and other national and international objectives, and
the United States is not alone in that view or in that
practice.” (That exact same sentence had, earlier,
been stated by the US regarding a different matter,
on 18 November 2019.) Actually, the U.S. regime is
very “alone” on it. Furthermore, the other part was
also a lie: the U.S. regime asserts that coercing
corporations and countries to not buy from the
lowest-cost supplier, is within its sovereign
right to do.
However, as Professor Alfred de Zayas, who until recently was
the UN’s top expert on this topic, explained in depth on 27th
June 2019, that assertion is blatantly false, on many clear
grounds concerning international law. It is a blatant lie, no
matter how many times the U.S. regime asserts it (and
asserts that the US regime isn’t “alone” in asserting it).
Even back when Barack Obama (the man who repeatedly
claimed that “The United States is and remains, the one
indispensable nation”) was America’s President, the US
was exceptional at the United Nations. For example, on
24th November 2014, I headlined “U.S. Among Only 3
Countries Officially Backing Nazism & Holocaust-
Denial”, and reported that - “In a UN vote, on
November 21st, only 3 countries - the US, Ukraine, and Canada — voted against a resolution to condemn racist fascism,
or nazism, and to condemn denial of Germany’s World War II Holocaust against, primarily, Jews.''
This measure passed the General Assembly, on a vote of 115
in favour, 3 against, & 55 abstentions (the abstentions were
in order not to offend U.S. President Obama, who was
opposed to the resolution).” Then, on 21 June 2015,
I headlined “America’s UN Ambassador Continues
Standing Up for Nazis” and noted that, again,
Obama’s UN Ambassador, Samantha Power,
had stood up for nazism; she had just
delivered an address -- in Ukraine --
rallying that country’s supporters
of nazism to war against Russia.
Then, on 21 November 2017, I headlined “Trump
Continues Obama’s Support of Nazism”, and
reported that:
On November 16th, US President Donald Trump, acting
through an agent of his agent, UN Ambassador Nikki
Haley, voted at the UN against a resolution that
condemns bigotry, and especially condemns
nazism & all forms of racism. He thus, yet
again, continues in the tradition from his
predecessors, Presidents Obama, and
Bush, each year, placing this nation in
the company of only one or two U.S.
allies throughout the world who join
with the US in refusing to commit to
opposing and doing everything to
reduce, not just political Nazism
(which, of course, is past), but
ideological nazism, racist
fascism - institutionalized
bigotry (which, sadly, is
not past).
But, be that as it may, the U.S. is also exceptional in
many other ways. I listed some of those on July 13th.
There are two main reasons why the U.S. regime is able
to coerce other nations to not violate its will. One is that
although publicly available reports allege it spends
approximately 37% of the entire world’s military
expenditures, the U.S. regime actually - spends
around 50% of the entire world’s military costs,
and therefore, it possesses an extraordinary
physical capacity to impose its will, if and
when merely economically blockading an
‘enemy’ country (via sanctions) fails to do the job of getting it to comply.
And the other main reason is that, since the US government
is at least as corrupt as the average “third-world” country is,
but is instead one of the world’s richest countries, arranging
pay-offs to other world leaders, in order to obtain their
cooperation, is easily affordable... (These payoffs are
being paid by all US.taxpayers, not by only America’s
billionaires, who reap all of the profits from the
empire that is imposed.)
American exceptionalism is real. It’s not the type of
exceptionalism that the regime’s propaganda claims
to be the case, but, nonetheless, it is real.
(Strategic Culture Foundation)
Image: sanctions map
Please watch the video above... We have never existed in such peril, and yet almost no-one is able to act.
Nuclear words: Putin's FINAL warning:
(People DO need reminding -- unless US, UK and French policy changes, and stops being so 'exceptional' -- that is, outside the UN legal Charter and thus, criminal --- there will be a reaping.)
World Will Not Survive the US' Neocons' Doctrine of US World Hegemony - Paul Graig Roberts Wednesday, February 7th, 2018
"The government of the United States is clearly in demonic hands. We are overflowing with proof", writes American well known analytist and ex- official Paul Graig Roberts in his website.
Take today (2-2-18) for example. A report from the House Intelligence Committee was released that is proof that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice --- and the Democrat National Committee, are now in a conspiracy against American democracy and the President of the United States, with the full support of the presstitute media.
As if that is not enough, also released today, is the Pentagon’s new Nuclear Posture Review. A nuclear posture review specifies a country’s attitude to nuclear weapons and their use. In past posture reviews, nuclear weapons were regarded as unusable except in retaliation for a nuclear attack. The assumption was that no one would use them. There was always the chance that false warnings of incoming ICBMs would result in a nuclear button being pushed - setting off Armageddon.
There were many false warnings during the Cold War
President Ronald Reagan, was very concerned about a false warning, ending in mass death & destruction.
This is why his principal goal was to end the Cold War, which he succeeded in doing. It did not take successor governments long, to resurrect the Cold War.
The new US nuclear posture is a reckless, irresponsible, and destabilizing departure from the previous attitude toward nuclear weapons. The use of even a small part of the existing arsenal of the United States would be sufficient to destroy life on earth. Yet, the posture review calls for more weapons, speaks of nuclear weapons as “usable,” and justifies their use in First Strikes, even against countries that do not have nuclear weapons.
This is an insane escalation. It tells every country that the US government, believes in the first use of nuclear weapons against any & every country. Nuclear powers such as Russia & China must see this to be a massive increase in the threat level from the US.
Those responsible for this document should be committed to insane aslyums, not left in policy positions where they can put it into action.
The neoconservatives are a small group of conspirators. Most neoconservatives are Jews allied with Israel. Some are dual-citizens. They created an ideology of US world hegemony, specifying that the chief goal of US foreign policy, is to prevent the rise of any other power that could serve as a constraint on US unilateralism.
As neoconservatives control US foreign policy, this explains US hostility toward Russia and China and also the neo-conservatives’ use of the US military to remove governments in the Middle East, seen by Israel as obstacles to Israeli expansion. For two decades --- the US has been fighting wars for Israel in the Middle East. This fact proves the power and influence of the insane neo- conservatives. It is certain, that people as insane as the neoconservatives, would launch a nuclear attack on Russiaand China.
The Russian and Chinese governments seem to be completely unaware of the threat that the neo- conservatives pose to them. I have never experienced in interviews with Russians and Chinese, any awareness of the neo- conservative ideology. Possibly, it is too insane for them to grasp.
Ideologues such as the neoconservatives are not fact-based
They are chasing their dream of world hegemony. Russia & China are in the way of this hegemony. Having learned the limits of conventional military power—after 20 years the US “superpower” has been unable to defeat a few thousand lightly armed Taliban in Afghanistan—the neo-conservatives know: conventional invasions of Russia or China, would lead to the total defeat of US forces.
Therefore, the neoconservatives have elevated nuclear weapons to a First Strike, usable, arsenal that in the neoconservative dream of world hegemony can be used to destroy Russia and China.
Ideologues who divorce themselves from the facts create a virtual world for themselves. Their belief in their ideology blinds them to the risks for them- selves and others that they impose on the world.
Thanks to the American liberal/progressive/left, the entirety of the world is faced with a far more likely nuclear demise than ever threatened us during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
By its collaboration with the military/security complex & the corrupt Hillary DNC, the liberal/progressive/left has forever discredited itself. It is now seen by every thinking person worldwide as an insane propaganda ministry --- for the neoconservatives’ plan to use nuclear weapons to eliminate constraints on US unilateralism.
The liberal/progressive/left has endorsed “hegemony or death.”
They will get death. For all of us.
(Source - DONi News Agency)
According to: PaulGraigRoberts.org
Legendary memorial at Saur-Tomb ''restored by May 2017''
DPR authorities have finished restoring the Saur-Tomb by May 2017. It was announced by the Building Minister, Sergey Naymets.
‘Saur Tomb has been being restored since November, and we planned to finish this by May 2017’, the Minister said.
He said "many people contributed to this project of restoration of the memorial damaged by shelling," Naumets noted.
____________________________
Cool Russia!
[Eng Subs] Children of Donbass, "Toys for Poroshenko" Music Video by Artem Grishanov
POWERFUL - PUT THIS ON HEADPHONES. I guarantee you will cry - and if you don't - please seek psychiatric help.
Full Text: Official Declaration of the Malorossiyan Federation
Zakharchenko announces a new federal state, Malorossiya, (means ''Little Russia'') as the legal successor of Ukraine. DONi News Agency
On 18.7.2017 the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, declared the creation of a new federal state, Malorossiya, which will become the legal successor of 'Ukraine'. The new state formation, will consist of 19 regions of the former Ukraine with the capital in Donetsk city. Kiev remains a historical and cultural centre, without the status of capital city.
Here is the full English translation of the declaration:
Political Declaration
The project of the state of "Ukraine", formulated 150 years ago and implemented in different versions during the 20th century, has reached its logical conclusion --- and led to the country's disintegration, civil war and the death of tens of thousands of people, including children, women, and elderly people.
And this process is irreversible. An attempt to turn the story back will result in "balkanization" of the conflict, expansion of chaos, escalation of civil war and even bigger numbers of casualties.
To stop the civil war and avoid new victims, we representatives of the majority of the regions of former "Ukraine" assembled in Donetsk on July 18, 2017, discussed the current situation and came to the following conclusions:
- the state of "Ukraine" has revealed itself as a failed state and demonstrated its being incapable of granting its inhabitants a peaceful and prosperous present and future;
- the current authorities – elected in Kiev, after the coup d'etat, against the backdrop of political terror and the absence of elections in the Crimea and Donbass, are illegitimate;
- the state of "Ukraine" is on the brink of economic catastrophe and depopulation;
- an ultranationalist coup is brewing in Kiev, as a result of which outright neo-Nazis will come to power insteadof "Banderites with a European face";
- the Ukrainian nationalistic project (the Galician one) has discredited itself, by the shedding of civilians' blood in the country;
- the ideology of "Ukrainism" has proved to be misanthropic, mixed with xenophobia (Russophobia, anti-Semitism, Polonophobia) and neo-Nazism (the ideology of national exclusivity and superiority);
- resulting from historical development and due to the Maidan, the word "Ukraine" is forever associated with the names of the Nazi accomplices, Bandera and Shukhevich, with the tragedies of the Baby Yar, the Volyn massacre & Khatyn, and, nowadays, with the mass murder of people on the Maidan, in the Trade Unions' House in Odessa, and Genocide of the Donbass people.
On the basis of the above, we believe that the state of "Ukraine", in the form it was established, after the collapse of the USSR, is UNSERVICEABLE.
We, representatives of the regions of the former "Ukraine", propose to re-establish the state and to proclaim the state of MALOROSSIYA, under an historical background, out of the former "Ukraine". In this case, it is of fundamental importance to rename the country, since "Ukraine" as a state, is guilty of war crimes, mass terror and the genocide of its own people.
In turn, the new name of the country, based on historical traditions, will enable us to reunify those pieces of the former "Ukraine" that seemed to have parted ways forever, including because of participation in the civil war, on different sides of the front line.
We must turn the page of our people's history, which is flooded with the blood of our brothers and sisters.
Malorossiya is an INDEPENDENT, SOVEREIGN state, with a new name, a new flag, a new constitution, a new state structure, new principles of social and economic development, and new historical prospectives.
But this is NOT A REVOLUTION ! This is a return to history. This is a novelty that restores, not destroys.
In view of the economic plight of the country, the chaos & disintegration potential, and regarding the possibility of launching a "war of all against all", we consider it necessary to declare a state of emergency for the transition period – up to 3 years. During this time, the process of adoption of the new Constitution and the establishment of the rule of law, should be completed.
Under a state of emergency, a ban on the activities of political parties and foreign funds is to be introduced, & penalties for criminal offenses, especially against the person, are to be increased. The fight against corruption will be toughened, as well as the penalties for it.The shadow arms market is to be eliminated, including by registering weapons in accordance with the new law.
In the same period an investigation is to be carried out, with the involvement of foreign specialists –- from Russia, Belarus & the European Union –- into the crimes committed by the Maidan Kiev regime: the murders on the Maidan, the murder of Odessa citizens in the Trade Unions' House on May 2nd, 2014, and the war crimes in Donbass, in the so-called ATO.
In the same period, the People's Tribunal is to be prepared to charge the state criminals who have led the country into disintegration and civil war: V.F. Yanukovich (with a request to Russia for his extradition), P.A. Poroshenko and his clique: Turchinov, Yatsenyuk, Kolomoisky, Paruby, Nalivaichenko and others.
We are sure that, having recovered from the criminal neo-Nazi ideology of "Ukrainism", we will be able to build a new society on the basis of friendship and mutual assistance -- but not hatred and envy. The creative genius of our people will manage to bring Malorossiya to the forefront of global civilization and play a role in history. The role of Good, and Truth.
Official translation by the DONi Donbass News Agency, 07/18/2017
(Source - Russia Insider)
_____________________________________________
Nato – A Dangerous Alliance May 24th
As Nato ends its summit in Brussels, Rae Street explains why the military alliance remains a threat to world peace
When the Warsaw Pact ended, after the collapse of communism, some optimists might have expected Nato to be broken up too. After all, the Labour Party in Britain had been opposed to Nato in the mid-1980s. But that was not to be. The US, which had always dominated Nato, quickly began to reinvent Nato and furthermore, to expand it.
Following the end of the Warsaw Pact many central and east European governments wanted to join Nato. This, of course, was music to the ears of the US military manufacturers. Indeed, the chair of the expand Nato committee, Bruce Jackson, was technical director of Lockheed Martin, the largest military manufacturer in the world. So, for the new Nato members because of the policy on “interoperability,” that is Nato personnel being able to use the same military equipment, it was out with the old Soviet military hard- ware and in with sales of, for example, Lockheed’s military aircraft ,costing millions of dollars.
This continues to this day in countries which can ill afford it, with struggling economies. The latter includes Greece. Think of the situation in Greece today.
Expanding Nato up to the borders with Russia, was a provocative policy. The dangers were pointed out but the military industrial complex and the “hawks” in the West, took no notice.
To this day, this helps President Vladimir Putin: more and more of the Russian people believe that “the West” is against them.
Decades later, we read: “British troops have arrived in Estonia, as part of a major Nato mission in the Baltic states, to deter Russian aggression.”
From the start, Nato has always held a nuclear armed policy. It continues to claim that nuclear weapons “preserve peace.” Manifestly, nuclear weapons do not deter conflict.
Governments, including Britain’s, now analyse the main threats to security as cyber warfare and terrorism. Remember September 11th 2001, when New York was attacked by terrorists in planes, brandishing knives?
The US then had and still has, 13 nuclear armed Trident submarines, of which several will be roaming the seas fully operational. Britain has four, with one constantly on alert at sea.
Were these any use in the madman’s attack on Westminster, or in any terrorist attacks?
Trident is “integrated” into Nato. Even worse, Nato still has a policy of “first use of nuclear weapons.”
When the then minister of defence, Geoff Hoon, was asked in Parliament why Britain has a policy of “first use,” he replied: “Because of our obligations to Nato.”
Under the direction of the US administration, with its policy of global domination, Nato has established a string of nuclear-armed bases across Europe, in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, at Incirlik.
The latter is now causing deep problems as relations between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the US, become more and more fractious.
There is now a real problem for Nato, as Erdogan is a repressive dictator — how can Turkey remain in Nato?
Nato states are supposed to uphold principles of human rights and democracy, notably lacking in Turkey today.
The nuclear-armed bases come under Nato’s “nuclear sharing policy” — in effect a violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Nato continues to expand. The policy of not acting “out of area” was dropped long ago. “North Atlantic” simply means, a domination of policies by the US.
Nato claims in its “strategic concept” that “the promotion of Euro-Atlantic security is best assured through a wide network of partner relationships with countries and organisations around the globe.”
In 1994 Nato established the Partnerships for Peace across Europe, extending as far as Uzbekistan.
Nato surrounds Russia from the west and east. These Partnerships for Peace (note the language again) now include 22 states, including “neutral” Ireland.
Then there is the ''Mediterranean Dialogue,'' with ''arrangements'' with countries in the Middle East. Few people realise that Nato carries out military exercises with Israel.
Nato has also established bilateral relations — named individual partnerships — with Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan.
In this part of the globe, where Nato carried out a military exercise in 2014 with Japan, named Ocean Shield, they are surrounding and menacing China, as the enemy.
Then there was the statement by Nato that “co-operation between Nato and the United Nations continues to make a substantial contribution to security in operations round the world.
“The alliance aims to deepen political dialogue and practical co-operation with the UN, as set out in the Nato/UN declaration, signed in 2008.”
This seems like Nato bidding to be the UN's military arm.
This hardly accords with the UN Charter. It was the Organisation for Security & Co-operation in Europe, set up under Chapter 8, of the UN Charter, to prevent and resolve conflict by non-military means and to promote co-operation in humanitarian and other fields.
The 54 member states stretch from Iceland to Kyrgyzstan and include Russia. Alas, how many times do you read of their work in the press, compared with the times you hear about Nato?
Nato is sold to us as a peace-making body. After all, the US is home to the finest PR companies in the world.
To summarise, Nato is pursuing yet more militarism and war:
- All Nato states are required to increase their military budgets to 2 per cent of GDP. That means stealing more money from social needs. Readers of the Morning Star know those all too well: the NHS, education, adult social services; the list is endless.
- Nato member states will have to spend 20 per cent of defence budgets on military equipment: warships, war planes, drones, bombs. By fuelling the arms race, Nato makes a mockery of moves for conflict resolution.
- Nato and its member states multiply interventions outside their territory and increase their presence through world- wide partnerships and “coalitions of the willing.”
- Nato extends its nuclear policies as a supreme “guarantee for the allies’ security,” notwithstanding that the majority of countries in the world are negotiating a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. In the meantime, nuclear weapons in Europe — under the guise of Nato — and elsewhere, are being modernised at a cost of many tens of billions of dollars and pounds. Think of Trident at a cost of £205 billion.
The Nato summit will be held and activists will beholding a “counter-summit” with protesters organising workshops and a demonstration.
CND activists will be there from the UK, but -- we also need people to raise the issues with their MPs, write letters to the press and raise awareness on social media.
Let’s put pressure on the government to invest in social welfare, not Nato, not war.
(Source - Morning Star)
In 2017 in the Donbass - give the children Peace!
Ethnic Ruthenes of sub-Carpathian Ukraine demand autonomy
Activists of a Slavic ethnic group known as Ruthenes -- or Rusyns -- who reside in the Trans-Carpathian (sub-Carpathian) region of Ukraine, have turned to President Pyotr Poroshenko with a demand:
recognize the results of 1991's regional referendum --- when 78% of the region's residents, voted in favor of granting it the status of a self-governing region.
"We have two main demands - to recognize the Rhuthenes as an ethnos and to acknowledge the regional referendum of 1991, where 78% sub-Carpathians voted for the region being a self-governed territory within Ukraine," Vesti quoted Ivan Palinkash, the leader of the Ruthene movement & a member of the People’s Council's presidium of Sub-Carpathian Ruthenes.
Natalya Magalina, a deputy of Uzhgorod district council, told the meeting of leaders of Ruthene ethnic organizations it is important to maintain the Ruthene language by establishing minimal norms for broadcasting in the native tongue, over the state regional TV Channel Tisa-1.
This isn't the first time that the Ruthenes of the sub- Carpathian area have asked the Kiev government to recognize the outcome of the referendum held 25 years ago. The Coordination Council of Ruthene Organizations of the Trans-Carpathian Region turned to the central authorities with the same requirement, the previous time, in the summer of 2015.
It was also in the summer of 2015 that the activists of Ruthene organizations adopted an appeal to the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe & the UN, as well as to the parliaments of Hungary, the Czech Republic, & Slovakia, to wield pressure on President Poroshenko and force the Ukrainian government towards accepting the result of their referendum.
The Ruthenes are an indigenous sub-Carpathian people. Ukrainian authorities do not consider them to be a separate ethnos, and continue calling them Ukrainians, although the UN has issued recommendations more than once, to recognize their status as a separate ethnos.
More than that, Kiev accuses the leaders of Ruthene organizations of making appeals for encroachments on the territorial integrity of the country.
(source - TASS)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zionist lobby preventing West from criticizing Israel: Analyst Fri Dec 16, 2016
The European Union has censured the Israeli regime for destroying Palestinian shelters and structures in the occupied territories. According to a statement by the European bloc, the Tel Aviv regime has demolished 866 structures so far in 2016 in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli military control.
Anthony Hall, editor-in-chief of the American Herald Tribune from Alberta, says that the European states have been under the influence of the Zionist lobby to go along with Israeli interests - and thus refuse to slam crimes against the Palestinian people.
“Every government within the EU has a very strong Israeli lobby, and this is one of the dilemmas that the Western people are facing,”Hall explained.
“Not only the governing parties but the opposition parties as well, are constraining discussion and discourse within a very narrow range, that puts Israeli priorities at the top of the list in all our Western countries,”he added.
The professor also called on Western citizens to“intervene directly and make contact with the Palestinian people, directly.”
“We, as the citizens in the EU, citizens in Canada, & citizens in the US, have to find ways to bypass the constraints of our governments & the biases and power of this lobby over our governments,” he noted.
Hall criticized the EU for its forensic accounting of homes demolished in Palestine.
“This type of numerical accounting fails to really describe the nature of this destruction of homes in its broader context ------ where thousands of Palestinian people are in dungeons and being tortured in Israeli incarceration facilities,” he said.
“The reality: that the world is letting this happen is very discouraging,” he added.
Hall warned that the prospect of a Palestinian state is no longer viable, given the emphasis on building up settlements, and destroying the structures of the indigenous people of Palestine.
"This goes beyond apartheid,” he said.
The Israeli policy of demolishing houses in the West Bank to build illegal settler units has affected 5,704 Palestinians, of whom, 1,221 have been rendered homeless, including 586 children.
(source - PressTv)
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UN Adopts"Paper Tiger" Resolution, on Israel's Withdrawal from the Syrian Golan
Fahwad Al-Khadoumi -The UN General Assembly adopted yet another resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, in line with a resolution of June 4, 1967.
However, UN General Assembly resolutions are non-binding and no more than a paper tiger, with- out a unanimous decision by the permanent UN Security Council members, to enforce them; A highly unlikely prospect.
In its latest resolution, the UN General Assembly again condemned Israel's non-compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 497 (1981).
The General Assembly reiterated that Israel's decision from December 14th, 1981, to impose Israeli laws, administration & custody on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, is null and void -- and has no legality at all.
The latest UNGA resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of UN member States.
The resolution --- reaffirmed the illegality of acquiring territories ----- through the use of military force. The General Assembly also repeated that Israel's continued occupation & enforcement of Israeli law & administration violates international law, the UN Charter, & the Geneva Convention's principles on the protection of civilians during war.
During the UNGA session, a number of states condemned the Israeli practices in occupied Syrian Golan, calling on Israel to withdraw from Golan, in line with June 4th, 1967.
37 states proposed the now adopted draft resolution. However, UNGA resolutions are non-binding and no more than a paper tiger, unless permanent Security Council members are willing to put their money where their mouth was, when they adopted UNSC Resolution 497 (1981) - decades ago.
Moreover, none of the permanent UNSC members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - took any tangible steps when the now former Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, defiantly declared that "Israel and the Golan are part and parcel" and that "the international community should get used to facing the fact that Israel will permanently annex the Syrian territory".
Most favourite scapegoat
The favorite scapegoat among permanent UNSC members, with regard to supporting Israel and neglecting Israel's illegal occupation of Golan is the US. However, Russia is in no way more actively pursuing Israel's adherence with UNSC Resolution 497 (1981) -- than any other -- of the self-anointed permanent UNSC members. In April 2016, Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were ominously silent about the Golan when Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited Moscow.
Russia failed to respond to what Netanyahu had declared "a red line" - occupation of the Golan.
A brief review of recent history pertaining to the Israeli occupation, international affairs & Israel's use of the Golan to wage war on Syria, suffices to show that the UN System has failed, utterly, and that it is perverted to the point that many analysts call for abolishing the UN altogether.
In June 2013 an Austrian UN Disengagement & Observer Force (UNDOF) officer told the press that Israel is -- running a joint operations room with the insurgents in Syria in the Golan.The UNSC failed to respond and more importantly, failed to take action. In July 2013, the Syrian permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Dr. Fayssal al-Hamwi, noted how Israel, since it occupied the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967, has displaced about half a million of the Golan´s original inhabitants.
Also in Feb. 2014, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu preempted a public relations quagmire by visiting a field hospital for "Syrian Freedom Fighters" in the Golan to show how much Israel cares and does, on the humanitarian front. It turned out that the "Freedom Fighters" belonged to the Syrian Al-Qaeda franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra.
In March 2014, Israel launched one of many military attacks against Syrian military and security forces, from the Golan, while the UNSC and most media were "silent".
In April 2014 The Director of Israel's Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, a protegé of the now deceased Ariel Sharon, was appointed to head the Israeli Defense Forces Northern Command.
NSNBC international editor-in-chief, Christof Lehmann, reported that the appointment of Kochavi, indicated that Israel was planning large-scale military operations in the Golan in the near future and the widening of the Syria war. Lehmann was right on the money.
In May 2014 Israel denied Syrians in Golan the right to participate in Syrian elections. The UN was "silent". In mid-April 2016, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that Israel would hold on to the Golan.
A UNDOF withdrawal has left a 12-16 km wide corridor uncontrolled by the UNDOF... In 2013, it transpired that Israel was giving support to Jabhat al-Nusrah, such as a joint intelligence and military operations room in the Israeli occupied Golan, plus logistical support, weapons, field hospitals, and direct combat support.
In September 2014, Israeli machinations, resulted in the displacement of UNDOF troops from a 12-16 kilometer-wide corridor in the disengagement zone in the Golan by Jabhat Al-Nusra.. The corridor has since been used to supply Al-Nusra and the other terrorists and to launch attacks against Syria.
All permanent UNSC members with the exception of Russia were "silent". Russian diplomats tentatively spoke out against terminating the peace keeping mission in the Golan. The UNSC failed to act.
In 2015 it came out that Israel planned a major hydrocarbon extraction project in the Golan. Partners in crime include Genier Energy.
On the board of directors? Dick Cheney, James Woolsey, Bill Richardson, Jacob Lord Rothschild, Rupert Murdoch, Larry Summers and Michael Steinhardt, among others. Other players involved include the Israeli subsidiary, Afek Oil and Gas, American Shale, French Total and BP. Thus, there exists a broad and powerful nexus of US, British, French and Israeli interests: at the forefront of pushing for the break-up of Syria and control of what's believed to be potentially vast untapped oil and gas resources in the country.
On April 20th, 2016, NSNBC international editor- in-chief Christof Lehmann -- said Netanyahu's "Red Line" would be a litmus test for Russia, as a permanent UNSC member. On April 21st, after talks between Netanyahu and Putin in Moscow, it could be concluded that Russia failed -- spectacularly.
In September 2016, Israel started a wave of home demolitions in the Golan. The UNSC was "silent".
In October 2016, Israel announced plans to build 1,600 settlement units in the Golan, & none of the permanent UNSC members took any action.
So much for the latest UN General Assembly paper tiger.
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The UK Labour MPs who didn’t back the Yemen vote have blood on their hands by David Wearing
Presenting the motion in the Commons, Thornberry was subjected to a series of ill-judged interruptions by Labour MPs, such as Kevan Jones, Toby Perkins and John Woodcock. Indeed, Thornberry received more vocal support in the chamber from the SNP group than from her own supposed comrades.
According to subsequent reports, some Labour members even tried to work with their Tory counterparts, in order to defeat their own party’s motion.
Woodcock, a former 'Progress' Chair, claimed that British support is “precisely focused on training the Saudis” to improve their targeting - so as to “create fewer civilian casualties” - parroting the official government line. The idea that the Saudis’ “widespread & systematic” attacks on civilian targets are just a series of well- meaning errors, is one that, to put it as gently as possible, lacks credibility.
And if decades of training provided by the British to the Saudi pilots hasn’t prevented these supposed errors by now --- it seems rather unlikely that it will in the near future.
In any case, this misrepresents the true nature of the UK's role. When the intervention began, the foreign secretary Philip Hammond, vowed to “support the Saudis in every practical way short of engaging in combat”, including “spare parts, maintenance, technical advice, resupply” and “logistical support”. The reality is that the Saudi Air Force, roughly half UK-supplied and half US-supplied jets, could barely function, without this ongoing assistance from Washington and London.
If there is Yemeni blood on the hands of the Saudi-led coalition - then that blood is also on the hands of the coalition’s western backers, enablers and apologists.
The Saudis and their allies can only wage this war because the Anglo-American suppliers of their air forces are providing active, material support. And British and American politicians can only collude in these outrages, because the political cost on them, so far, has been low. However, it is in the gift of their constituents – you, the reader – to change that equation.
(source - The Guardian)
This could be defeated --- with a UNITED LABOUR PARTY !!!
But unfortunately, there are "entryist" MPs who, for decades, have been groomed by CIA cold war relic organisations -- like the Atlantic Council -- and are now trying to misdirect the Labour Party towards cuts, a militarised police, and a US war agenda... and their anti-peace MPs are hobbling Labour.
129 Labour MPs voted to stop support for Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen. The vote was defeated by a majority of 90.
The motion called for ---- support to be withdrawn from the Saudi government until a United Nations investigation could determine whether the Saudi bombing had breached international law.
The motion didn't explicitly include a suspension of UK arms sales.
100+ Labour MPs didn't vote on the motion. If all of them had voted to support it, the government would have been defeated.
The following, are the Labour MPs who abstained, or weren't present to vote.
Adrian Bailey Andy Burnham Angela Eagle Angela Smith Ann Clwyd Ann Coffey Anna Turley Barry Sheerman Ben Bradshaw Bridgit Phillipson Caroline Flint Catherine McKinnell Chris Bryant Chris Elmore (Teller) Chris Evans Chris Leslie Clive Lewis (ill) Connor McGinn Dan Jarvis David Crausby David Lammy Diana Johnson Fiona MacTaggart Frank Field Gareth Thomas Gavin Shuker Geoffrey Robinson George Howarth Gerald Kaufman Gill Furniss Gisela Stuart Gloria De Piero Graeme Jones Graham Allen Graham Stringer Heidi Alexander Helen Jones Ian Austin Ian Murray Ivan Lewis Jamie Reed Jim Fitzpatrick Joan Ryan John Mann John Spellar John Woodcock Judith Cummins (Teller) Julie Elliott Kate Hoey Keith Vaz Kevan Jones Kevin Barron Liz Kendall Luciana Berger Lucy Powell Madeleine Moon Margaret Beckett Margaret Hodge Maria Eagle Mark Hendrick Mary Creagh Meg Hillier (Paired) Melanie Onn Michael Dugher Mike Gapes Natascha Engel Neil Coyle Nia Griffith Pat McFadden Paul Flynn Peter Kyle Phil Wilson Rachel Reeves Rob Flello Rob Marris Roberta Blackman-Woods Rosie Cooper Rushanara Ali Ruth Smeeth Shabana Mahmood Siobhain McDonagh Stephen Kinnock Susan Jones Toby Perkins Tom Blenkinsopp Tom Watson Tracy Brabin Tristram Hunt Vernon Coaker Wayne David Wes Streeting Yasmin Qureshi Yvonne Fovargue
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‘How Can I Deselect My Labour MP?’ A Short Guideto Reselection and Democratic Accountability by Eric Sim, excellent free advice here:
Nicolas J S Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq. He also wrote the chapters on “Obama at War” in Grading the 44th President: a Report Card on Barack Obama’s First Term as a Progressive (Lol) Leader.
In the past weeks, Burundi and S. Africa have joined Namibia in declaring their intention to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). They are likely to be followed by a parade of other African countries, jeopardizing the future of an international court, which has prosecuted 39 officials from 8 African countries, but has failed to indict a single person who is not African.
Ironically, African countries were among the first to embrace the ICC, so it is a striking turnaround that they are now the first to give up on it.
But it is the United States that has played the leading role in preventing the ICC from fulfilling the universal mandate for which it was formed, to hold officials of all countries accountable for the worst crimes in the world: genocide; crimes against humanity; and war crimes - not least, international aggression, which the judges at Nuremberg defined as “the supreme international crime”, from which, all other war crimes follow.
As the ICC’s founding father, former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz, lamented in 2011: “You don’t have to be a criminologist to realize that if you want to deter a crime, you must persuade potential criminals that, if they commit crimes, they will be hauled into court and be held accountable. It is the policy of the US to do just the opposite as far as the crime of aggression is concerned.
"Our government has gone to great pains --- to be sure that no US citizen will be tried by any international criminal court, for the supreme crime of illegal war-making.”
The US has not only refused to accept the jurisdiction of the ICC over its own citizens. It's gone further, pressuring other countries to sign Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIA), in which they renounce the right to refer US citizens to the ICC for war crimes committed on their territory.
The US has also threatened to cut off US aid to countries that refuse to sign them. The BIAs violate those countries’ own commitments under the ICC statute, and US pressure to sign them, has been rightly condemned: as an outrageous effort to ensure impunity for US war crimes.
Resistance to US Impunity
To the credit of our international neighbours, this US strategy has met with substantial resistance. The European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution, stating that BIAs are incompatible with EU membership, and urging EU- member states and countries seeking EU membership not to sign them.
Fifty-four countries have publicly refused to sign BIAs, and 24 have accepted cut-offs of US aid as a consequence of their refusal. Of 102 countries that have signed a BIA, only 48 are members of the ICC in any case ----- and only 15 of those countries are on record as having ratified the BIAs in their own parliaments.
Thirty-two other ICC members have apparently allowed BIAs to take effect without parliament- ary ratification, but this has been challenged by their own country’s legal experts in many cases.
The US campaign to undermine the ICC is part of a much broader effort by the US government to evade all forms of accountability under the laws that are supposed to govern international behaviour in the modern world --- even as it continues to masquerade as a global champion of the rule of law.
The treaties US policy systematically violates today, were crafted by US statespersons and diplomats, working with foreign colleagues, to build a world where all people will enjoy some basic protections... from the worst atrocities, instead of being subject only to the law of the jungle or “might makes right.”
So current US policy is a cynical betrayal of the work and wisdom of past generations of US citizens, as well as of countless victims over the world to whom we are effectively denying the protections of the UN Charter & Geneva Conventions, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and many other multilateral treaties our country ignores, violates or refuses to ratify.
Avoiding jurisdiction in international courts is only one of the ways that the US evades international accountability for its criminal behaviour. Another involves an elaborate, well-disguised, public relations campaign that exploits the powerful position of US corporations in the world of commercial media.
Major Propaganda Funding
The US government spends a billion dollars per year on public relations or, more bluntly, propaganda, including $600 million from the Pentagon budget. The work of its PR teams and contractors is laundered by US news- papers --- and repeated and analyzed ad nauseam, by monolithic, flag-waving TV networks.
These profitable corporate operations monopolize the public airwaves in the US, and also use their financial clout, slick marketing, and the support of the US State Department to maintain a power- ful presence in foreign and international media markets.
Foreign media in allied countries provide further legitimacy and credibility to US talking-points and narratives as they echo around the world. Meanwhile, Hollywood fills cinema and TV screens across the world with an idealized, glamorized, inspirational version of the US that still mesmerizes many people.
This whole elaborate “information warfare” machine presents the US as a global leader for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, even as it systematically and catastroph- ically undermines those same principles. It enables our leaders to loudly, persuasively, demonize other countries and their leaders as dangerous violators of international law, even as the US and its allies commit far worse crimes.
Double Standards
The phrase “aggressive war” is also a no-no in the Western media - when the US government launches wars, across international borders. In the past 20 years, the US has violated the UN Charter to attack at least eight countries (Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya & Syria), and the resulting wars, have killed about two million people.
A complex whirlwind of conflict and chaos rages on in all the countries where the US and its allies have lit the flames of war since 2001, but our US leaders still debate new interventions ---- and/or escalations as if we are the fire brigade not the arsonists. (By contrast, the US government and the Western media are quick to accuse Russia or other countries of “aggression” --- even in legally murky situations, such as after the US-backed coup in 2014, that ousted the elected president of Ukraine.)
Systematic violations of the Geneva Conventions are an integral part of US war-making. Most are shrouded in secrecy: the propaganda machine spins the atrocities that slip through into the public record, as a disconnected series of aberrations, accidents and “bad apples,” instead of as the result of illegal rules of engagement and unlawful orders from higher-ups.
The senior officers and civilian officials who are criminally responsible for these crimes in US & international law -- systematically abuse their powerful positions to subvert investigations, cover up their crimes, & avoid any accountability whatsoever.
Pinter’s Complaint
When UK playwright Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, he bravely and brilliantly used his Nobel lecture to speak about the real role the US plays in the world, and how it whitewashes its crimes. Pinter recounted a meeting at the US Embassy in London in the 1980s in which a senior embassy official, Raymond Seitz, flatly denied US war crimes in Nicaragua ---- for which the US was in fact, convicted of aggression by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Seitz went on to serve as Assistant Secretary of State, US Ambassador to the UK, and then Vice-Chair of Lehman Brothers.
As Pinter explained: “this ‘policy’ was by no means restricted to Central America. It was conducted throughout the world. It was never-ending. And it is --- as if it never happened.
“The United States supported - and in many cases engendered every rightwing military dictatorship in the world, after the end of the Second World War. I refer to:- Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and, of course, Chile. The horror the US inflicted upon Chile in 1973 can never be purged, & can never be forgiven.
“Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place throughout these countries. Did... they take place? & are they in all cases, attributable to US foreign policy? The answer is 'yes', they did take place, and are attributable to American foreign policy. But you wouldn’t know it.
“It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happ- ening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to the US. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power, worldwide, while masquerading... as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant - even witty - highly successful, act of hypnosis.”
If, in 2016, the world seems to be more violent and chaotic than ever, it's not because the US lacks the will to use force or project power, as both major party candidates for President, & their military advisers appear to believe, but because our leaders have placed too much stock in the illegal threat and use of force, and have lost faith in the rule of law, any international cooperation and diplomacy.
After a century of commercial dominance, & 75 years of investing disproportionately in weapons, military forces & geopolitical schemes, perhaps it is understandable that US leaders have forgotten how to deal fairly and respectfully with our international neighbours. But it's no longer an option, to muddle along, leaving a trail of death, ruin and chaos in our wake, counting on an elaborate propaganda mach- ine, to minimize the blowback on our country and our lives.
Sooner, rather than later, US citizens & our leaders must knuckle down and master the very different attitudes & skills that we will need to become law-abiding global citizens in a peaceful, sustainable, multipolar world.
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Russia ends treaty limiting plutonium production in response to recent US escalation of hostility Fort Russ News - Topwar.ru - Lenta - News.Ru - translated by J. Arnoldski
TopWar: On October 3rd, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on suspending compliance with the agreement with the US on disposing weapons-grade plutonium. The main reason for this decision was pointed out as the “unfriendly attitude of the US towards Russia.”
Sources from the State Duma have reported that Russia is ready to resume the agreement, if the US cancels all the anti-Russian sanctions. Plus, Russia demands that the US reduce its military contingent in Europe, before Russia resumes compliance with the protocols. The State Duma’s statement reads:
“Acting according to the agreement and the protocols of the agreement can be resumed after the US eliminates the reasons which led to this radical change in circumstances: after the US reduces its military infrastructure and the number of its troop contingents deployed on the territory of the NATO countries having joined NATO after September 1st, 2000, down to the level at which they were on the day that the agreement and its protocols entered force.
"Since then NATO has grown to encompass 9 states of Eastern Europe. Just around the corner is NATO’s 10th state to be included since 2000 - Montenegro.”
In addition, Russia has demanded, as one of its conditions, that Washington cancel the so-call- ed Magnitsky Act.
there's a big difference between the news, and the truth - if you want the latest news and the truth, say, on Brazil - then please go to our One Union page.
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US/UK elite bankrolled A. Hitler
Germans were paid in company shares for loans that managed Germany's war reparations -- thus US capital began to actively integrate into the German economy.
The total amount of foreign investment in German industry during 1924-1929 amounted to almost 63 billion gold Marks (30 billion was accounted for by loans), and the payment of reparations — 10 billion Marks. 70% of revenues were provided by bankers from the US, and most banks were from JP Morgan.
As a result, in 1929, German industry was in second place in the world, but it was largely in the hands of the USA's leading financial-industrial groups.
"Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie", main supplier of the German war machine, financed 45% of the election campaign of Hitler in 1930, and was under the control of Rockefeller's "Standard oil".
Morgan, through "General Electric", controlled the German radio and electrical industry, via AEG and Siemens (up to 1933, 30% of the shares of AEG were owned by "General Electric") and through the Telecom company ITT — 40% of the 'phone network in Germany.
In addition, they owned a 30% stake in the air- craft manufacturing company "Focke-Wulf".
"General Motors", belonging to the DuPont family, established control over "Opel".
Henry Ford controlled 100% of the shares of Volkswagen. In 1926, with the participation of the Rockefeller Bank, Dillon, Reed & Co, the second largest industrial monopoly in Germany, after I.G Farben, merged with metals group, "Vereinigte Stahlwerke" (Steel trust) plus Thyssen, Flick, Wolff, Feglera etc.
US co-operation with Germany's military- industrial complex, was so intense and pervasive, that by 1933, the key sectors of German industry, & large banks such as the Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Donat Bank, etc, were all under the control of US financial capital.
The political force that was intended to play a crucial role in the Anglo-American plans was being simultaneously prepared.
We are talking about the funding of the Nazi party and A. Hitler personally.
As former German Chancellor Brüning wrote in his memoirs, from 1923, Hitler received large sums from abroad. Where they went, is not known, but they were received through Swiss and Swedish banks.
It is also known that, in 1922 in Munich, a meeting took place between A. Hitler and the military attache of the US to Germany -- Captain Truman Smith -- who compiled a detailed report for his Washington superiors (in the office of military intelligence), in which he spoke highly of Hitler.
Through Smith's circle of acquaintances, A. Hitler was introduced to Ernst Franz Sedgwick Hanfstaengl, (Putzie), --- a graduate of Harvard University who played an important role in the formation of A. Hitler as a politician, rendered him significant financial support, and secured for him, acquaintance & communication with, senior British figures.
Hitler was prepared politically, but, as Germany reigned in prosperity, his party remained on the periphery of public life... The situation changed dramatically with the beginning of 'the crisis'.
In the autumn of 1929, the collapse of the US stock exchange was triggered by the Federal Reserve, and the next stage of the Anglo-US financial circles' strategy, had started.
The Federal Reserve and JP Morgan, decided to stop lending to Germany --- inspired by the bank crisis & economic depression in Central Europe.
In September 1931, England abandoned the gold standard, deliberately destroying international payments systems and completely cutting off "financial oxygen" to the Weimar Republic.
But a financial miracle occurred for the Nazi party: in September 1930 as a result of large donations by Thyssen and I.G. Farben --- the party got 6.4 million votes & took 2nd place in the Reichstag;- after this, more generous investments from abroad were activated.
The main link between the major German industrialists and foreign financiers, became H. Schacht.
On January 4th, 1932, a meeting was held with the largest English financier, a Mr M. Norman, A. Hitler, and von Papen, which concluded a secret agreement on the financing of the NSDAP.
This meeting was also attended by US policy-makers, the Dulles brothers --- something their biographers do not like to mention.
On January 14th, 1933, a meeting between Hitler, Schroder, Papen & Kepler took place, where Hitler's program was fully approved. It was here that they finally resolved the issue of the transfer of power to the Nazis, and on 30th January, A. Hitler became Chancellor.
The implementation of the next stage of the strategy thus began.
The attitude of Anglo-American ruling circles to the new government was very sympathetic. When Hitler refused to pay reparations, which naturally called into question the payment of war debts, neither the UK or France pressed their payment claims.
Moreover, after a visit to the US in May 1933, H. Schacht was placed, again, at the head of the Reichsbank, and, after his meeting with the President and the biggest bankers on Wall Street, the US allocated Germany new loans --- totalling $1 billion.
In June, during a trip to London & a meeting with M. Norman, Schacht sought an English loan of $2 billion and a reduction and then the cessation of payments, on old loans.
Thus, the Nazis got what they could not achieve with the previous government.
In the summer of 1934, Britain signed the Anglo- German transfer agreement, which became one of the foundations of British policy towards the Third Reich, &, at the end of the 30's, Germany became the main trading partner of England.
Schroeder Bank became Germany's main agent in the UK & in 1936 his New York office teamed up with the Rockefellers, to create Schroeder, Rockefeller & Co. investment Bank, which the Times magazine called the Berlin-Rome "economic propagandist axis".
As Hitler himself admitted, he conceived his 4- year plan on the basis of foreign financial loans, so it never inspired him with the slightest alarm.
In August 1934, US Standard oil acquired 730,000 acres of land in Germany... then built large oil refineries which supplied the Nazis with oil.
At the same time, Germany secretly took delivery of the most modern equipment for aircraft factories, from the US, which would begin producing German planes.
Germany gained large numbers of military patents from US firms Pratt and Whitney, Douglas, and Curtis Wright --- and it was US technology, building the Junkers-87.
In 1941 --- as world war ll was raging --- US investments in Germany's economy amounted to $475 million. Standard oil invested - 120 million, General motors - $35 million, ITT - $30 million, and Ford - $17.5 million.
The close financial & economic co-operation of Anglo-American and Nazi business circles, was the backdrop against which, in the 30's, a policy of appeasement led to world war II.
Today, as the world's financial elite begins to implement the 'Great depression 2' plan with its subsequent transition to the "new world order", identifying its key role in the organization of crimes against humanity, becomes a priority.
Yuri Rubtsov is a doctor of historical sciences, academician of the Academy of military sciences, & a member of the International Association of historians of world war II.
Image: Leonard Peltier
FREE POLITICAL PRISONER LEONARD PELTIER NOW!!!
Indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier,
in prison in the US for 38 years, received the first international human rights prize of Uruguay's Mario Benedetti Foundation.
At a ceremony in Montevideo, where the winner was announced, the human rights group calls Peltier the longest-serving political prisoner in the Americas, AFP reports.
Peltier, a Native American activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), was convicted in 1977 for the alleged murder of two US FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the
Pine Ridge Reservation in S. Dakota.
He was sentenced to 2 consecutive terms of life imprisonment.
"Leonard Peltier, who on September 12th, 2014, turned 70, has spent over half his life in prison. He's a symbol of resistance to repressive state policies by the US, where there are people in jail for ethnic, racial, religious & ideological reasons," the foundation's statement says.
Ricardo Elena, a member of the foundation's honorary board, says Peltier's case "is one that is repeated over and over: violation (of rights), persecution, eviction, invasion and expropriation of indigenous people, from the time it was 'discovered', until now.
"It doesn't just happen in the United States; it is happening in southern South America, with the (indigenous) Mapuche people, and with indigenous people in North America," he states.
Elena says the United States "likes to think it's the seat of democracy, but it has political prisoners just like a dictatorship might have."
The Mario Benedetti Foundation was founded to support human rights and cultural causes in line with the work of the Uruguayan writer after whom it was named, who died in 2009.
Peltier is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
James Swan, the head of the Black Hills chapter of the United Urban Warrior Society - a nonprofit group that helps Native Americans fight racial discrimination and injustice - describes Peltier as a political prisoner whose case needs to be reviewed by an independent body.
"What we want people to realize is that this is an injustice," AP quotes Swan as saying.
Peltier, 66, was given two life sentences in '77, on false charges of killing 2 FBI agents.
Peltier asserts that he is innocent and the FBI framed him for political reasons, especially for his activities as a member of the Native American Movement. He has lodged numerous appeals against the conviction - but all unsuccessfully.
He's been denied parole again and again, and will not be eligible for it again until 2024, when he turns 79.
Peltier's relatives say he suffers a number of health problems such as diabetes, arthritis, and the loss of vision in an eye after a minor stroke.
Many activists say Leonard Peltier is the most important political prisoner in the US.
In a review of the US' human rights record, at a United Nations Human Rights Council UPR conference in Geneva, a group called for a new trial for him.
The US Human Rights Network filed a 423-page submission to the Geneva meeting about him.
One item, entitled “Political Repression - Political Prisoners,” about 1970's cases, indicts the FBI: accusing COINTELPRO of “maiming, murdering, false prosecutions and frame-ups, destruction and mayhem throughout the country.”
It cites the FBI for targeting the Puerto Rican Independence Front, the Black Panther Party, the Weather Underground, the American Indian Movement, the Black Liberation Army, as well as “peace activists and everyone in between,” and says “many of today's political prisoners” in the US were jailed indefinitely as a result.
Repression has grown since 9/11, it says.
The political repression paper demands an “immediate criminal investigation into the conspiracy,” and also new trials for two aged activists jailed on murder charges, Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier.
