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

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

Post by blindpig » Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:51 pm

The Role of Capitalism in the War in Ukraine
BY RICHARD D. WOLFF

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Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

To the motives for war in human history, capitalism added another: profit. That motive drove technological advancement and created a genuine world economy. It also built new capitalist empires such as the Spanish, Dutch, British, French, Belgian, Russian, German, Japanese, and American empires. Each of these countries built its empire by various means including wars against prior systems operating on their own territories, in their colonies, and in foreign “spheres of influence.” Wars likewise characterized interactions among empires. Global warfare (“world wars”) accompanied the globalization of capitalism and its profit motive. The war in Ukraine is the latest chapter in the history of capitalism, empire, and war.

Capitalism means enterprises run by small groups of people—employers—who preside over large groups—hired employees. Employers are driven to maximize profits: the excess of the value added by hired workers over the wages paid to them. Employers are likewise driven to sell outputs at the highest price the market will bear and buy inputs (including workers’ time) at the lowest possible market price. Competition among capitalist enterprises pressures all employers to plow profits as much as possible back into the business to help it grow and to gain market share as means to maximize profits. They each must do this in order to survive because competition’s winners tend to destroy and then absorb the losers. The social result of this competition among enterprises is that capitalism as a system is inherently driven to expand quickly.

That expansion, inside every capitalist nation, inevitably overflows its boundaries. Capitalist enterprises seek, find, and develop foreign sources of food, raw materials, workers, and markets. As competition becomes global, competing capitalist enterprises seek help from their nations’ governments to expand. Politicians quickly learn that companies in their nations that lose in global competition will blame those politicians for insufficient support. Meanwhile, companies that win in the global competition will reward such politicians for their help. The social result of this is that capitalism entails national competition alongside enterprise competition. Wars often punctuate capitalism’s national competition. The winners in those competitions thereby often tended to build empires, historically.

For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, wars helped British capitalism to build a global empire. In the 19th century, more wars punctuated the completion and consolidation of that empire. Empire growth had itself stimulated all manner of challenges and competition, eventuating in more wars. For example, as capitalism took root and grew in Britain’s American colony, colonial enterprises eventually encountered obstacles (limited markets, taxes, and limited access to inputs). These obstacles eventually grew into a conflict between them and their colony’s leaders, on one side, and Britain’s capitalists and King George III, on the other. The war of independence resulted. Later, British leaders went to war against the United States in 1812 and also considered siding with the enslavers in the South against the capitalist North in the American Civil War.

The 19th century saw countless efforts by other nations to compete with, challenge, undermine, or reduce Britain’s empire. Competitive capitalist enterprises engendered competitive colonialism and many wars. The United States and Germany grew into the major national competitors for Britain. Wars punctuated the growth of capitalism across the 19th century, within the United States and Germany, as well as elsewhere across the globe. As capitalist enterprises combined, centralized, and grew—resulting from the competition among them—so too did many nations consolidate into fewer numbers of nations. Wars became larger too, culminating in the devastating first of the two world wars.

The British Empire fought the German Empire in World War I. That destroyed them both as contenders for global dominance. Having been far less damaged by World War I, U.S. capitalism grew fast in replacing the global capitalist positions that Britain and Germany had lost because of the war. World War I also established capitalism’s responsibility for the tens of millions who died, were injured, and were made refugees in what was then considered the worst war ever. Germany tried to regain its global dominance a few years later, allied with the newest capitalist empire, Japan, to undo the results of World War I. It failed, as the United States defeated Germany and Japan to demonstrate its economic and military (nuclear) superiority. A consolidated U.S. global empire prevailed from 1945 until recent years.

The United States then learned what the British had discovered earlier. Building and consolidating a capitalist empire provokes an endless succession of challengers. Among capitalist enterprises, competition’s losers’ employees move to work for the winners; the winners’ enterprises grow, and the loser’s decline. Winners’ growth often entails still greater profits and more competitive victories. That growth invites and promotes new competitors. Fended off for a while, eventually one or more new competitors discover how seriously to challenge the older dominant firm and displace it. Capitalist empires and their challengers exhibit parallel histories. As the competitive new enterprise destroys the old, the same happens with empires. That has been capitalism’s history, and that is what is now being seen in Ukraine.

Britain, after the end of the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, won a century of global dominance. The United States after World War I did so too. Both empires provoked endless challenges. Nations large and small developed enterprises, industries, and political leaders who wanted to make changes or move in directions that differed from/challenged the U.S. global capitalist hegemony after World War I. For example, across Latin America, references to “manifest destiny” resulted in small wars to remove competing challenges in the region. Likewise, when Iran’s prime minister in the early 1950s, Mohammad Mosaddegh, or Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, showed signs of breaking away from the U.S. empire’s control, both were removed. The one repression attempt by the U.S. that failed was in Cuba. The United States then isolated and economically hobbled Cuba via sanctions and embargoes. Warfare could be economic as well as military. Ukraine is another example, but with a peculiarity: U.S. support for Ukraine is an effort to repress another country that challenges U.S. hegemony, namely Russia. And repressing Russia too is a peculiar indirect way to get at the greatest threat to the U.S. capitalist empire, namely China.

The USSR’s survival after 1917, its World War II victories, and its development of nuclear weapons after 1945 created a potential challenger for the U.S. capitalist empire that had to be confronted. Former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill had accommodated the USSR’s control in Eastern Europe after 1945, but that represented a “loss” for U.S. global dominance. Thus, Eastern Europe quickly became the site of an ideological or “cold” war that pitted freedom and democracy against communism and totalitarianism in the USSR and its “satellite states.” It had to be a “cold” war because the consequences of a nuclear war would have been extreme. Before World War II, U.S. wars against other communist challengers of its empire had not demonized them as “evil communists.” During World War II, the United States even allied with the USSR to jointly defeat the immediate challengers (Germany and Japan). But after 1945, that was the preferred ideological terminology used for the USSR to justify protecting the U.S. empire. Then, when the USSR and its hold on Eastern Europe collapsed in 1989/1990, the old terminology faded in favor of a new terminology, used to begin a new war on a new challenger: Islamic terrorism.

The 30-plus years since 1989/1990 have changed both the U.S. empire and its challenges. Russia proved too weak to hold on to most of Eastern Europe. The United States reintegrated much of that region into Western capitalism via EU and NATO memberships, trade agreements, and Western investments. Slowly, over the last 20 years, Russia overcame some of its post-1989 weaknesses. The meteoric rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) brought new challenges for the U.S. empire, including a Russia-China alliance. Russia is now a capitalist economic system allied with the PRC (whose economy has a larger private capitalist sector than at any time since the Chinese Revolution of 1949). These two powerful capitalist economies are the largest globally by geography (Russia) and by population (China). They present a major problem for the U.S. global empire.

Russia evidently felt finally strong enough and allied with a much larger economic entity so it could hope to challenge and stop further “losses” in Eastern Europe. Thus, it invaded Crimea, Georgia, and now Ukraine.

In stark contrast, the U.S. empire’s ability to suppress challenges to its global dominance shrank. It lost wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as its intervention in Syria’s civil war. Its global economic footprint decreased in relation to that of the PRC. It proved unable to bring nations like Venezuela and Iran to heel despite trying hard for many years.

In Ukraine, on one side is an effort led by nationalists who would bring another nation further back into the U.S.-led global capitalist empire. On the other side is Russia and its allies determined to challenge the U.S. empire’s growth project in Ukraine and pursue their own competitive agenda for part or all of Ukraine. China stays with Russia because its leaders see the world and history in much the same way: They both share a common competitor in the United States.

Ukraine, per se, is not the issue. It is tragically a war-ravaged pawn in a much larger conflict. Nor is the issue about either Russian President Vladimir Putin or U.S. President Joe Biden as leaders. The same history and confrontation would prevail upon their successors. Meanwhile, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to force change on the PRC by imposing the biggest sanctions action in history (i.e., a trade war and a tariff war) utterly failed. Trump was caught up in the same history as Biden, even if each focused on attacking the Russian-Chinese alliance differently.

Eventually some compromise will end the Ukraine war. Both sides will likely declare victory and blame the war on the other among propaganda blizzards. The Russian side will stress demilitarization, denazification, and protection of Russians in eastern Ukraine. The Ukraine side will stress freedom, independence, and national self-determination. Meanwhile, the tragedy goes beyond Ukraine’s suffering. The entire world is caught up in the decline of one capitalist empire and the rise of yet another. Conflicts between the capitalist empires can occur anywhere where differences between them flare up.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy lies in not recognizing the responsibility of the capitalist system with its markets of competing enterprises run/dominated by the minorities we call employers. That system lies at the root of these historic repetitions. The minority employer class controls or is the leadership of the nations that have absorbed and reproduced the competition that capitalism entails. The majority employee class pays most of the costs on both sides (in dead, wounded, destroyed properties, refugee lives, and taxes). A different economic system not driven by a profit motive offers a deeper solution than any on offer at present. Perhaps the war in Ukraine can awaken an awareness of its capitalist roots and teach people to explore alternative systemic solutions. If so, this war and the resulting devastation from it could lead to an important turning point that eventually results in some positive outcomes in the future.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/14 ... n-ukraine/

Whatever other 'capitalist empire' are you talking about, Richard? Trots never know when to shut up.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Interview with Rossiya Television Network, Moscow, April 11, 2022
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 13, 2022

I would like to ask you about “strange” statements by European diplomats on the course of ’s military operation in Ukraine. EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said it must be won on the battlefield. This doesn’t really jibe with the EU’s status as a primarily political and economic organisation. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed regret over his earlier stance on the possibility of normal dialogue with . So now he doesn’t think it’s possible. How is one supposed to talk with these people? How is one supposed to come to terms with them?

Sergey Lavrov: This is a major shift in the policy of the EU and the entire West under the leadership of the US (there is no doubt about that) that occurred after the start of our special military operation. Their current policy is rooted in bitterness and derangement (excuse the non-diplomatic word choice), though it’s not all, but rather turning that country into a bridgehead from which Russia can finally be subjugated and subordinated to the global system built by the West, even though the Cold War ended and the Warsaw Treaty disappeared. The West was moving closer to our borders all the time despite its promises not to expand NATO, statements to the effect that we were no longer adversaries, and many other things.

Our special military operation is designed to put an end to NATO’s unlimited expansion and to keep the US and other NATO countries from achieving total domination in the world arena.

They are building this system based on “rules” which they just now started going on about, despite violating international law in the crudest manner in the process. They devise these rules on a case-by-case basis. It is fine to recognise independence in Kosovo without a referendum but not in even after a referendum that was monitored by hundreds of unbiased foreigners. A threat to security was detected in Kosovo. They bombed it but didn’t locate the threat and didn’t even apologise.

They are cultivating neo-Nazis and ultra-radicals on our borders. The Pentagon is setting up dozens of laboratories conducting experiments to develop biological weapons. The documents found there (in Ukraine) leave no doubt about this. But we are not allowed to respond to a threat on our borders, as opposed to across the ocean. That’s the message.

President Vladimir Putin explained in detail the reasons for the decision on the special military operation. These include eight years of sabotage of the agreements accompanied by the daily bombing of Donbass; the flooding of with Western weapons; and the sending of instructors that trained the most extremist units that were later sent to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They formed the backbone of the groups that are now resisting our operation to demilitarise and denazify . Western propaganda immediately used all this to portray us as pure evil and themselves, consequently, as purely good. The current Ukrainian regime is described as a model of democracy, justice, freedom and European aspirations in all things, including the values that the US has supposedly always preached. The response that followed shows that they understand very well that isn’t really the point. The point is their own dominance, which far from all countries are willing to accept, with its history and traditions, and Russia is one of those countries that will never accept a subordinate status. We can be members of the international community only on equal terms, on conditions of indivisible security. We wanted to reach some accommodation but were ignored by our Western colleagues.

But what Mr Borrell said – even by the standards of the unprecedented, aggressive level things have reached – marks a serious change in the rules of the game. Until now the EU has never acted as a military organisation. Yes, now they are discussing their “strategic compass.” For the first time in history, now allocated an additional 100 billion euros to exercise its military muscles, represents a qualitative change. This “strategic compass” includes a tangible increase in military spending and the formation of a certain collective structure for defence against potential aggressors. But the upshot of all this independence is zero because the US is controlling everything that is being done. The EU has not been given any independent role, even internally. Its efforts are being skillfully controlled by the Baltic states, and , which will not allow any kind of separation between the EU and NATO. Quite the contrary, they will be pushing it back into NATO’s web.

Question: A NATO branch?

Sergey Lavrov: So it seems. Whenever the chief diplomat of a country or an organisation (in this case, head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell) says that a particular conflict can be resolved exclusively by military means, that is how such a statement is construed. This means that either he has a personal grudge, or it was a slip of the tongue, or he got ahead of his orders. This statement is out of line. We will cover this in more detail in our official documents. I hope we will be able to analyse all this within the next couple of days.

You also mentioned Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whom I know well back from his days as Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is now the President of Germany. In an interview that he gave several days ago, he was asked whether an international tribunal was needed to try representatives of the Russian leadership, starting with President Vladimir Putin and the Foreign Minister, as war criminals. He agreed, saying that everyone who is responsible for the military operation and the political decisions should be held accountable. I leave this to his conscience. I think that the facts will become known in Germany, and the perpetrators of war crimes will become known. This will be determined not on the basis of fakes (such as Bucha or Kramatorsk), but on the basis of the deadly evidence that we present, and that our military discover during the special military operation and on the basis of the testimony of the people who have lived in the divided Donbass under the yoke of these neo-Nazis for many years, cut off from their sons who stayed on the eastern side of the line of contact. As these people are being liberated now, it is impossible to fake the feelings that they have or to make up the hardships they went through living under the control of neo-Nazi and other “territorial” battalions.

Steinmeier said another interesting thing about Ukraine. He said that, as a diplomat, he had never dedicated as much time to any other country as he did to Ukraine. He recalled that when Germany chaired the EU in 2007, he was the one to initiate the talks on preparing an Association Agreement with the EU. In 2013, when the riots began on the Maidan, he brokered talks between Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition. That’s how it was, indeed. Importantly, a half-truth is worse than a lie. In fact, Mr Steinmeier left out some important episodes and turning points in the events that he mentioned. First, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU provided for the transition to zero tariffs for the vast majority of goods. By the time this Agreement had already been in the works in 2013, we reminded our Ukrainian colleagues that we also have a free trade area with them as part of the CIS. We introduced significant protections against European goods when we joined the WTO. So, if they have zero tariffs with Europe, and we have long had zero tariffs for most goods with Ukraine, then goods from the EU will pour into our country freely contrary to the agreements that we reached when joining the WTO. We told them we need to sit down and decide on this issue so that we are not impacted by their relations with the EU. However, the EU, which (as Steinmeier says) started the talks on the Association Agreement on his initiative, told us that this was not our business and that they would reach an agreement with Ukraine as they see fit. After that, Yanukovych realised that this would be a problem and Russia would be forced to build a barrier on the border with Ukraine against Ukrainian-made goods. The President of Ukraine asked to postpone the signing for several months so that we could resolve these problems taking into account the interests of Ukraine, Russia and the EU.

It was after this that Europe, which Mr Steinmeier was so proud of when he said that Ukraine aspired to European values, provoked the Maidan. They rallied the people under the banner of fighting Yanukovych who allegedly wasn’t letting Ukraine join the EU.

Mr Steinmeier did not mention that he did not just broker the talks between Yanukovych and the opposition, but also took part in concluding them by signing a settlement agreement. On behalf of Germany and the EU, Steinmeier signed this agreement as a guarantor alongside the foreign ministers of Poland and France. The next morning, they spat on his signature. The opposition tore up the agreement and, from day one, advocated the abolition of the special status of the Russian language (contrary to the Constitution of Ukraine), called for Russians to “get out” of Crimea, sent “friendship trains” there with armed thugs who wanted to storm the Supreme Soviet. After that there was a referendum. Eastern Ukraine completely refused to recognise the coup. They did not attack anyone, but they were declared terrorists and an anti-terrorist operation was announced.

Mr Steinmeier forgot to say that Germany, France, Poland and the entire European Union showed total helplessness and lack of self-respect. Their signatures were trampled on. Tacitly, they even began to encourage this whole thing when they realised that the thugs who came to power would help the West in every possible way and manipulate it. They remained silent when these people burned dozens of innocent people in Odessa’s House of Trade Unions and when, on June 2, 2014, Ukrainian Air Force bombed central Lugansk. They just remained silent. Later, during the attempts to resolve the situation months and years later, we asked them how they allowed a coup to happen. They told us it was “not quite a coup.” Then what? “The costs of the democratic process.” How can you say that with a straight face?

Frank-Walter Steinmeier forgot to mention February 2015, when, alongside the Normandy format leaders, he co-authored the Minsk agreements. Soon after the signing, actually the next day, Petr Poroshenko and his team, speaking in the Verkhovna Rada, refused to act on them. They called the Minsk agreements a “political declaration” which allegedly was not binding. Then we unanimously approved the Package of Measures at the UN Security Council. It has become part of international law and thus binding. They ignored it and in every possible way encouraged the Ukrainian regime as it continued to sabotage its obligations.

We continued our efforts to find compromises, and were ready to make additional concessions and encourage the republics with which Kiev refused to talk to directly to do so as well. At some point during the talks we supported what was called the “Steinmeier formula” as a sign of our flexible approach. When we had to decide what should be done first – granting a special status or holding elections – he came up with a solution that suited everyone and became known as the “Steinmeier formula.” A couple of weeks after the “formula” had been approved and everyone welcomed it, it was consigned to oblivion as well. Petr Poroshenko and Vladimir Zelensky after him were vehemently opposed to following it.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier has to live down a diplomatic disgrace for the second time in several years if he considers himself the initiator (as he proudly stated in that interview) of many things related to the state of Ukrainian society.

Question: Is it possible to speak about a change in the positions of the sides at the Russia-Ukraine talks after the provocations in Bucha and Kramatorsk and considering the collective West, primarily the US, is doing all it can to prolong hostilities?

Sergey Lavrov: President of Russia Vladimir Putin emphasised more than once that we prefer talks. During the very first round of talks when Ukraine suggested contacts and we agreed to arrange them, President Vladimir Putin ordered a pause in the special military operation. When we realised that the Ukrainians were not going to reciprocate, we decided not to make any pauses for subsequent rounds of talks until the final agreement was reached and signed.

The provocations are outrageous. Our military personnel provided chronological arguments and videos made in Bucha (excuse me for going into details but they depicted the positions of corpses and how they looked). They presented all the evidence they could. I don’t understand how adults who consider themselves politicians and diplomats can try to say otherwise without any support.

It is revealing that they tried to keep Bucha going as a story for several weeks but quickly stopped talking about Kramatorsk. Evidence was presented on the same day, including ballistic trajectories, the absence of Tochka-U systems in our forces and the like. More provocations will follow.

Recently, the Defence Ministry and the National Defence Management Centre of Russia submitted intelligence data revealing the plans of the Ukrainian regime to stage new provocations with direct support of Western intelligence services, for instance, involving the use of toxic chemicals, mass executions and burials. There will be more provocations. We must respond to them with facts. Our main argument is what is taking place on the ground.

I don’t see reasons that could prevent us from continuing the talks even though Ukrainians keep making an about face and rejecting what they have just suggested.

We are patient and persistent.

Question: What are conditions like for our diplomats working now in unfriendly countries and the UN Headquarters? We are seeing a worrying surge in Russophobic attitudes. Families with children abroad are receiving threats. Did you have to harden security for the employees? How can the interests of our compatriots be protected against the backdrop of mounting Russophobia?

Sergey Lavrov: Diplomats live and work in difficult conditions. There are attacks, actually terrorist acts against our offices and their physical security but our diplomats are more or less protected by their status. We often do not advise people to go out alone.

We are most of all concerned over the situation of our compatriots, citizens, simply Russians living abroad. They are subjected to regular physical attacks. I know that Western capitals and Western embassies in Moscow are discussing this issue. EU ambassadors hold meetings from time to time for this purpose. Some of our good acquaintances said that EU ambassadors in Moscow are expressing serious concern over examples of Russophobia in Europe. They think this is wrong because it spoils the EU’s image. I wouldn’t say spoil but rather further reveals it for what it is now.

The speed with which the Russophobic wave was set in motion shows (as a US scholar put it) that “latent racism” is alive and well in Europe. At one time, Adolf Hitler mobilised his own society and other European countries against the Jews (and Slavs, for that matter). Now the command to attack is against Russians. The gloves have come off, the pretense and political correctness are gone. Nothing remains.

Ukrainian politicians say “a good Russian is a dead Russian.” All other Russians are bad. Ministers are saying that Europe must discriminate against all Russians without distinction. They want them ostracised whether or not they support Putin because there is no time to determine that. They are openly saying this.


These are serious things. We will use all legal channels at our disposal to protect our citizens. There is the Foundation for Supporting and Protecting the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad. For the most part, it helps hire attorneys for people abroad. We are substantially increasing its financing.

This is a huge problem. We will discuss it.

mid.ru
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https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/13/107743/

The Alliance of MI6, the CIA and the Bandéristes
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 12, 2022
Thierry Meyssan

After having shown that the war in Ukraine was prepared by the Straussians and triggered on February 17 by Kiev’s attack on the Donbass, Thierry Meyssan returns to the secret history that links the Anglo-Saxons to the Banderites since the fall of the Third Reich. He sounds the alarm: we have not been able to see the resurgence of Nazi racialism in Ukraine and in the Baltic States for thirty years, nor do we see that many of the Ukrainian civilians we welcome are steeped in Banderites’ ideology. We are waiting for Nazi attacks to begin in Western Europe before we wake up.

WESTERN SUPPORT FOR NAZISM (1933-1940)

The massive support of the United States and its allies for the Ukrainian Banderites against Russia is comparable to the support of the same side in the early days of Hitler’s Germany against the USSR. Let us remember that absolutely all Western states without exception believed, at one time or another, that the Nazis were the solution to the economic crisis of 1929. Only they seemed to offer a credible alternative to capitalism. Of course, almost all of these people changed their minds when the Nazi danger turned against them.

As an example, let us recall that the French Foreign Minister, Georges Bonnet, enchanted by the Jewish policy of the Reich, proposed to his German counterpart, Joachim von Ribbentrop, to deport French, Polish and German Jews to a distant colony, Madagascar [1].
On December 6, 1938, the same Georges Bonnet signed the Franco-German Commitment to Peaceful Collaboration with Joachim Ribbentrop, the Reich Foreign Minister.

British Prime Minister Neuville Chamberlain organized the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938, which liquidated Czechoslovakia for the benefit of the Reich [2], while the Governor of the Bank of England, Montagu Norman, stole 27 tons of Czechoslovakian gold to help strengthen the Nazi armies [3].
Or Prescot Bush, the father of President George H. Bush and the grandfather of President George W. Bush, invested in 1940 in the factories of the Auschwitz prison camp (which only became an extermination camp in 1942) [4].

After the fall of Nazism, these people were not brought to justice. On the contrary, efforts were made to close ranks and to forget these felonies. Let us be careful not to repeat the same mistakes!

THE ROLE OF THE UKRAINIANS DURING THE COLD WAR

During the Second World War, the theoretician of Nazism Alfred Rosenberg and Minister of the East (Ostminister) entrusted the Latvian Gerhard von Mende to organize the rallying of the peoples of the USSR to the Führer Adolf Hitler. In doing so, he devised a model for the manipulation of minorities that was taken up by the CIA after the fall of the Third Reich. With the help of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, Von Mende created schools for mullahs in Göttingen and Dresden, had a Grand Mufti appointed in the Crimea, and enlisted Eastern SS regiments. He was also the handler of the Ukrainian “nationalist” Stepan Bandera.

In Washington, Presidents Truman and then Eisenhower decided to focus on psychological warfare against the Soviets. The CIA created AmComLib (American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of the USSR), which operated Radio Liberty from Munich. It recycled Gerhard von Mende. It was he who proposed the establishment of a mosque in Munich, which was eventually entrusted to Said Ramadan (the son-in-law of the founder of the Brotherhood Hassan el-Banna) [5]. It was also he who settled Stepan Bandera’s problems and recycled him to MI6 and the CIA [6].

Stepan Bandera’s former deputy and Nazi-imposed Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yaroslav Stetsko, was on the instructions of the Third Reich one of the founders of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN) during World War II. He continued the ABN during the Cold War, this time for the United States. As such, he became a pillar of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) formed by the CIA [7].

The headquarters of the ABN was in Munich, from where Stepan Bandera and Yaroslav Stetsko conducted sabotage operations in the USSR. The chairman of the ABN was the Dane Ole Bjørn Kraft, former chairman of the North Atlantic Council (the civilian authority that commanded the Allied forces). Several operations were planned in collaboration with the CIA and MI6, i.e. under the supervision of Frank Wisner (Nicolas Sarkozy’s grandfather by marriage) and Kim Philby. But the latter betrayed the Crown and passed on information to the KGB, which failed [8].

One of Yaroslav Stetsko’s collaborators, Lev Dobriansky, became U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, while his daughter Paula Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Democracy (sic) in the George W. Bush administration. It was Mrs. Dobriansky who financed for ten years historical studies aimed at making people forget that the Holodomor, the great famine that hit Ukraine in 1932-33, also devastated Russia and Kazakhstan, and to make them believe that it was decided by Stalin to eliminate the Ukrainian people. This myth is manipulated by the Banderites to make people believe that the Russians have hated the Ukrainians for centuries. The European Parliament endorsed it in 2008 [9]. Afterwards, Paula Dobriansky held high positions at the Reuters agency and now works at the Atlantic Council. She was vice-president of the NED during the Maidan putsch.

President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. Bush welcomed the Banderites, including Yaroslav Stetsko, in 1983 at the White House [10].

Bandera was assassinated by the KGB in 1955. Stetsko died in 1986. Both men are buried in the German cemetery of Walffriedhof.

ANGLO-SAXON SUPPORT FOR THE JIHADISTS

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorized “Operation Hurricane”. The idea was to send Arab jihadists, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, to Afghanistan to fight against the communist government. It was then that this small terrorist organization became a real army [11]. One thing led to another, from the wars in Afghanistan to those in Yugoslavia and Chechnya, and finally to Daesh in Iraq and Syria [12].

For forty years, all Nato member states have been invited to provide “political asylum” to jihadists “persecuted” by Arab dictatorships. At least 17 allied states participated in “Operation Timber Sycamore”, supplying billions of dollars worth of weapons to the jihadists [13] until they threatened the West. Let’s be careful not to repeat the same mistakes!

WESTERN SUPPORT FOR UKRAINIAN BANDERITES, CROATIAN USTASA AND BALTIC NEO-NAZIS

During the Cold War, former specialists in Nazi repression were integrated by the United States into its anti-Soviet apparatus. One remembers, for example, the “Butcher of Lyon”, Klaus Barbie, who became chief of repression in Bolivia, or Alois Bruner, who became a special adviser to the Syrian president (before the Ba’ath) after having exterminated Jews in Austria, Greece and France. However, this seemed to have stopped with the dissolution of the USSR.

However, Banderite, Ustasha and Nazi militias emerged in the public space with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the independence of the former Soviet states. They obtained the support of the Anglo-Saxons in the name of the collaboration of their parents during the Cold War. As examples we recall:

In Bulgaria, an annual event in memory of General Hristo Lukov has been held in Sofia for about 15 years [14].
In Estonia, it started in 2009 with the return of the ashes of SS Colonel Alfons Rebane (the “Estonian Rommel”), followed by the laying of a commemorative plaque [15], each time with the strong support of President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (himself a US official). Defense Minister Urmas Reinsalu visited the island of Saaremaa in 2012 to participate in a ceremony of the “Alliance of Estonian Freedom Fighters” (Nazi collaborators) and congratulate former SS men for “liberating the homeland” [16]
In Latvia, President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (1999-2007) claims that the “SS were heroes of the anti-Soviet struggle.” She had school history textbooks changed and authorized events commemorating these “heroes ». Latvia, where a quarter of the population is Russian, has banned the use of Russian in secondary schools. In addition, along with Estonia, it built a wall on its Russian border in 2018 [17]
In Bolivia, MI6 relied on the Croatian Ustasha community to overthrow President Evo Morales, in 2019 [18]

On November 18, 2020, the 3rd Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” (UN A/C.3/75/L.49). All UN members voted “for”, only the United States and Ukraine voted “against”. All members of Nato and the European Union abstained.

NATO’s stay-behind agent Dmitryo Yarosh.

THE SAME CAUSES PRODUCE THE SAME EFFECTS

On May 8, 2007, in Ternopol (western Ukraine), Nazi and Islamist groups created an “Anti-Imperialist Front” to fight together against Russia. Organizations from Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia participated, including Islamist separatists from Crimea, Adygea, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Ossetia and Chechnya. Dokka Umarov, the Emir of Chechnya, who is considered by the United Nations to be a member of al-Qaeda, was unable to attend due to international sanctions. The Front is chaired by Dmytro Yarosh, who went to fight in Chechnya. Together with Andriy Biletsky, the “White Führer”, he created the Right Sector, which led the EuroMaidan revolution, and later the Azov Battalion. Since November 2, 2021, he has been an advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

On April 7, 2022, President Zelensky spoke before the Greek Parliament. He played a short video during his speech. A Ukrainian of Greek origin introduced himself as a member of the Azov regiment and praised his faction’s fight against the Russians.

Since the dissolution of the USSR, Ukraine has revived its old demons. School history textbooks have been changed. For thirty years, children have been taught in school that their country was only independent thanks to the Nazis and that they have no genes in common with the Russians, that inferior race. Every year tens of thousands of children and teenagers attend the “summer camps” of the Banderites, just as the Hitler Youth did. They chant their slogan: “Glory to Ukraine”. These young people, girls and boys, find today asylum in the European Union. Tomorrow, like their Muslim Brotherhood allies, some of them will commit attacks there.

Already, the Bandéristes are recruiting cadets in Canada, France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States and now officers in the military academies of these countries. For this purpose, they have created, in 2019, a secret order, Centuria, which spreads their ideology. This order is opposed to democratic procedures and universal suffrage. Its members recite the “Prayer of the Ukrainian Nationalists”, written by Josef Mashchak during the interwar period. They display the Danish Sun Cross and multiply references to the Thule Order, to which very high Nazi dignitaries belonged. Western armies did not take this threat seriously. This ideology, like that of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East, is spreading like wildfire.

The foul beast is already here, among us.

How can we be so blind?

Translation
Roger Lagassé

This article is a follow-up to :

1. “Russia wants to force the US to respect the UN Charter,” January 4, 2022.
2. “Washington pursues RAND plan in Kazakhstan, then Transnistria,” January 11, 2022.
3. “Washington refuses to hear Russia and China,” January 18, 2022.
4. “Washington and London, deafened“, February 1, 2022.
5. “Washington and London try to preserve their domination over Europe“, February 8, 2022.
6. “Two interpretations of the Ukrainian affair”, 16 February 2022.
7. “Washington sounds the alarm, while its allies withdraw”, 22 February 2022.
8. “Russia declares war on the Straussians”, by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, 5 March 2022.
9. “A gang of drug addicts and neo-nazis”, 5 March 2022.
10 “Israel stunned by Ukrainian neo-Nazis”, 8 March 2022.
11. “Ukraine: the great manipulation“, March 22, 2022.
12. “The New World Order being prepared under the pretext of war in Ukraine“, 29 March 2022.
13. “The war propaganda changes its shape”, 5 April 2022.

NOTES:

[1] “Russia sets record straight: Poland and German Reich planned deportation of Jews as early as 1938”, Voltaire Network, 25 December 2019.

[2] “The Day the West Likes to Forget”, by Michael Jabara Carley, Strategic Culture Foundation (Russia) , Voltaire Network, 25 September 2015.

[3] “Anglo-American Money Owners Organized World War II”, by Valentin Katasonov, Strategic Culture Foundation (Russia) , Voltaire Network, 7 May 2015.

[4] « Les Bush et Auschwitz, une longue histoire », par Thierry Meyssan, Réseau Voltaire, 3 juin 2003. “The U.S. ruling class’ bargains with the Reich”, by Vladimir Simonov, Voltaire Network, 3 May 2005.

[5] A Mosque in Munich : Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West, Ian Johnson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2010).

[6] Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist: Facism, Genocide, and Cult, Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Ibidem (2015).

[7] “The World Anti-Communist League: the Internationale of Crime”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Anoosha Boralessa, Voltaire Network, 12 May 2004.

[8] MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, Stephen Dorril, The Free Press (2000).

[9] Commemoration of the Holodomor, the artificial famine in Ukraine (1932-1933), European parliament, 23 October 2008.

[10] Old Nazis, the New Right and the Republican Party, Russ Bellant, South End Press, (1988).

[11] “The Muslim Brotherhood as an auxiliary force of MI6 and the CIA”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 11 July 2019.

[12] Before Our Very Eyes, Fake Wars and Big Lies: From 9/11 to Donald Trump, Thierry Meyssan, Progressive Press (2019).

[13] “Billions of dollars’ worth of arms against Syria”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 18 July 2017.

[14] “The Nazi Demonstration at Sofia”, Translation Anoosha Boralessa, Voltaire Network, 23 February 2018.

[15] “Estonia celebrates a Nazi Criminal”, Translation Anoosha Boralessa, Voltaire Network, 27 June 2018.

[16] “Estonian Government pays tribute to Nazism”, Voltaire Network, 9 July 2013.

[17] “The new iron curtain”, by Manlio Dinucci, Il Manifesto (Italy) , Voltaire Network, 20 September 2018. “Right to reply by the Latvian government”, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 14 October 2018./

[18] “The overthrow of Evo Morales and the first lithium war”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Roger Lagassé, Voltaire Network, 16 March 2021.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... nderistes/

From the War Gonzo account on Telegram:

⚡️Avdiivka cauldron⚡️The situation for the evening 13.04.22⚡️

After the neo-Nazis are finished off in Mariupol, the main goal of the NM DPR group and the RF Armed Forces will be Avdiivka, a suburb of Donetsk, which was considered one of the most important and serious fortified areas of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass.

The fighters of "Sparta" in their sector of the front and other units on the neighboring flanks are taking offensive actions in order to take Avdiivka into the "pincers". See @wargonzo

's special inclusion for exclusive details and details. *our project exists at the expense of subscribers, card for help 4279 3806 9842 9521

***

WarGonzo
⚡️Underground fighters in Kharkov recorded an appeal⚡️

Fighters of popular resistance to the Kiev regime in Kharkov, calling themselves "Kharkiv anti-fascists" recorded a video with an appeal to fellow citizens. It is obvious that those who are ready to fight against neo-Nazis with weapons in their hands - even in the territories that have not yet been liberated - are becoming more and more. Every day.

***

On a breakthrough from Mariupol. There are many rumors and discrepancies. Here's what the @wargonzo project knows , I'm breaking it down into numbers and numbers.

At the time of the breakthrough, there were about 1,500 neo-Nazis (Azov militants and AFU fighters) at the Ilyich plant.

Of these, about 800 were going to go for a breakthrough in the first column, the rest had to go out along the corridor cut by them.

The column consisted of about 120 pieces of equipment , including automobiles. At the head was a tank, 2 Gvozdika self-propelled guns and up to 10 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as MTLBs, armored cars and trucks.

More than 100 Ukrainian marines surrendered. Including the political officer of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

More than half of those who were going to break through retreated back to the plant. Several dozen were destroyed by artillery strikes of the NM DPR. Up to 10 groups of 3-4 people were scattered and tried to seep through the environment. The search and elimination operation continues.

Hence the data on the second smaller breakthrough. We are talking about these wandering groups, which the special forces and fighters at posts enter into battle with if they are detected. Hence, a more thorough check of the car on the Volnovakha-Mariupol highway.

So no panic.

@wargonzo

***

Avdiivka cauldron⚡️Situation on 14.02.22⚡️

The Avdiivka area is directly adjacent to the Donetsk airport. From there, the nationalist forces of Ukraine regularly shell the capital of the DPR. Under their blows constantly fall civilian quarters.

In a special report by @wargonzo, you will see the fireworks of the Sparta unit on this sector of the front, and the commander with the call sign Vesyoly will tell you how the Spartans manage to counteract the Armed Forces here.

[youtube]http://t.me/wargonzo/6582[/youtube]

@wargonzo

https://t.me/s/wargonzo
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 15, 2022 1:39 pm

Russian District in State of Emergency After Helicopter Raid

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Ukraine continued shelling into Russian territory despite Russia's warnings. Two Ukrainian helicopters fired rockets at the village of Klimovo, about 40 km north of the border. | Photo: Twitter @NguynPh64820006

Published 15 April 2022

The Russian Investigative Committee said that two Ukrainian combat helicopters carried out six cross-border air raids on residential buildings.


Authorities in the Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region decreed a state of emergency Thursday following an attack recorded in the village of Klimovo by two Ukrainian combat helicopters, according to Russia's Investigative Committee.

"Two combat helicopters equipped with offensive heavy weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces illegally broke into Russian airspace. Flying at low altitude and acting deliberately, they carried out at least six air strikes on residential buildings in the village of Klimovo," the Committee reported.

According to the document, quoted by the TASS agency, the measure will be implemented until further notice on the territory of the Klimovsky district.

Following the incident in the border locality, the advisor to the Russian Health Minister Alexei Kuznetsov said that at least eight people were injured, six of whom were hospitalized. In addition, a pregnant woman and a child were among those affected.


2 Ukrainian Armed Forces helicopters entered the airspace of the Russian Federation at low altitude, carrying out at least six airstrikes on residential buildings in Klimovo, Klimovsky district, Bryansk region.
The governor of Bryansk, Alexander Bogomaz, commented that the attack also caused damage to several houses, such as partially destroyed structures, broken glass, torn roofs, among others. The Russian authorities have initiated a process to find those responsible for the attack.

The Russian Federal Security Service also reported another attack on Wednesday against the Novye Yurkovichi border checkpoint, located in the region.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported that there was an attack from Ukraine on the village of Spodaryushino, which did not leave any people dead or wounded. The residents were evacuated.

These actions are taking place amid the special military operation launched by Russia on February 24, aimed at defending the population of Donbas, denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0001.html

Russia shoots down Ukrainian helicopter that attacked Klimovo village

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Russia has warned that the number and scope of missile operations against targets in kyiv will increase in response to Ukraine's strikes. | Photo: ria.ru
Published 15 April 2022

Russia on Friday liquidated at least 30 soldiers from a Polish mercenary unit in Kharkov.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported this Friday that its air defense forces destroyed with S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems a Ukrainian MI-8 helicopter that attacked civilians in the village of Klímovo, in the province of Brianks.

According to the military entity, the number and scale of attacks against kyiv will increase in response to the aggressions of the Ukrainian forces on its territory.

During the night of this Thursday, Kalibr long-range sea missiles attacked a military installation on the outskirts of kyiv. Among the devastated facilities were workshops for the production and repair of long- and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-ship missiles of the Vizar machine-building plant.


Similarly, the Defense agency specified that they took control of the Iliich steel factory in Mariupol and "completely liberated it from the Ukrainian nationalists."

Meanwhile, Russian rocket troops annihilated the Polish mercenary unit in the town of Izumskoye in the Kharkov region, killing at least 30 soldiers.


In turn, the ministry explained that eight kyiv UAVs were shot down, and aerial missiles hit seven enemy objects, while tactical aviation destroyed 13 military targets.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, Russian troops have destroyed 132 aircraft, 105 helicopters, 245 anti-aircraft missile systems, 456 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,213 tanks and other armored vehicles, 249 multiple rocket launchers, 966 field artillery units and mortars, as well as 2,110 units of special military vehicles, secured from the institution.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-de ... -0007.html

Google Translator

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The Ukrainian conflict is a U.S./NATO Proxy War, but one which Russia is poised to win decisively – Scott Ritter
Originally published: Strategic Culture Foundation by Strategic Culture Foundation (April 9, 2022 ) - Posted Apr 14, 2022

Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who has gained international respect for his independence and integrity as a commentator on conflicts and foreign relations. This week, he was banned on the Twitter social media platform for challenging Western claims of a massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, allegedly carried out by Russian troops. Moscow denies the claims, as have other independent analysts who point to evidence that the incident was a false-flag provocation perpetrated by NATO-backed Ukrainian Nazi regiments to undermine Russia internationally and bolster Western objectives. It is a foreboding sign of the times that Ritter should be banned for daring to question dubious narratives. (He was later reinstated following a public outcry against censorship.)

In the following interview for Strategic Culture Foundation, he makes the crucial point that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is exposing the involvement of the U.S. and NATO in the training and weaponizing of that country’s dominant Nazi regiments. That is why Western media have been so vehement in trying to distort the conflict and blame Russia. The truth about Western dirty involvement in Ukraine would be too much to bear for the Western public.

When Ritter served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s he later challenged Western media and government claims that Iraq was harboring WMDs. Those claims were used as a pretext for the U.S.-British war on Iraq launched in 1993 that cost over one million lives, destroyed a nation, created millions of displaced and millions of casualties, as well as spawned international terrorism. It later turned out that the WMD claims were based on deliberate lies for which no Western leader has been held accountable. Scott Ritter was vindicated in his warnings against that war and it is one reason why he is widely respected among international public opinion.

Ritter is a critical commentator on U.S. conflicts and foreign relations. He is a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the Soviet Union implementing nuclear arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and as a UN inspector in Iraq (1991-98) overseeing the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. He is the author of Scorpion King: America’s Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump (Clarity Press, 2020).

Interview
Q: Do you think that Russia has a just cause in launching its “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24?

SR: I believe Russia has articulated a cognizable claim of preemptive collective self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. The threat posed by NATO expansion, and Ukraine’s eight-year bombardment of the civilians of the Donbass fall under this umbrella.

Question: Do you think Russia has legitimate concerns about the Pentagon sponsoring biological weapons programs in laboratories in Ukraine?

SR: The Pentagon denies any biological weapons program, but admits biological research programs on Ukrainian soil. Documents captured by Russia have allegedly uncovered the existence of programs the components of which could be construed as having offensive biological warfare applications. The U.S. should be required to explain the purpose of these programs.

Q: What do you make of allegations in Western media that Russian troops committed war crimes in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities? It is claimed that Russian forces summarily executed civilians.

SR: All claims of war crimes must be thoroughly investigated, including Ukrainian allegations that Russia killed Ukrainian civilians in Bucha. However, the data available about the Bucha incident does not sustain the Ukrainian claims, and as such, the media should refrain from echoing these claims as fact until a proper investigation of the evidence is conducted, either by the media, or unbiased authorities.

Q: Do you think the alleged Russian bombing of a hospital and an art theater in Mariupol were false-flag provocations?

SR: Both locations are available for detailed forensic examination that would either confirm or refute Ukrainian allegations that these locations were struck by Russian aerial bombs. Other data, such as the existence of any NATO radar data that would put Russian aircraft over these two locations at the time of the alleged attack, should be collected. A detailed forensic examination of each site would go a long way in proving or disproving the Ukrainian claims through the collection of weapons fragments and the evaluation of environmental samples which would show the chemical composition of any explosive used, thereby allowing a better idea of what weapon or explosive was used to destroy the sites.

Q: Western governments and mainstream media have denigrated Russian objectives to “demilitarize and deNazify” Ukraine. The West says Russia has invented or grossly exaggerated these problems as a pretext for invasion. Do you think this Western denialism is because it doesn’t want to acknowledge that Russia may indeed have legitimate concerns, and secondly that to acknowledge would mean admitting that the West is part of the problem in the current war?

SR: The irony is that the West had thoroughly documented the extent of the Nazi ideology in Ukraine’s civil, political, and military structures during and after the 2014 Maidan coup. This documented reality was deliberately obscured by the same sources that had previously documented its existence once the Russian invasion occurred. To acknowledge the existence of this odious ideology by NATO would require NATO to acknowledge the role it played in training and equipping Azov regiment personnel since 2015. The Russian documentation of its ongoing de-Nazification effort in Ukraine is a source of continual embarrassment to NATO, as it exposes the scope and scale of NATO’s role in empowering the militarization of Nazi ideology in Ukraine.

Q: For about four months before the Russian intervention in Ukraine, the Biden administration was asserting non-stop that Moscow was planning an invasion. Do you think this is a case of great intelligence on the part of Washington or the culmination of provocation by Washington resulting in Russian military action in Ukraine?

SR: We now know that the U.S. intelligence community under the Biden administration is committed to a policy of haphazardly “declassifying” intelligence for the purpose of shaping public opinion (so-called “getting ahead of the story”). There is no evidence that the intelligence regarding potential Russian military action was based upon anything other than politicized speculation derived from a crude analysis of Russian military dispositions void of any context. Any genuine intelligence assessment regarding the timing of any Russian military action would have incorporated the domestic political imperative of getting Duma [Russian parliamentary] approval for the deployment of Russian forces outside the borders of Russia, which carries with it the requirement of a cognizable justification for this military action under the UN Charter. This required political steps such as Donetsk and Lugansk declaring independence, and then petitioning the Russian parliament to recognize this independence, so that Russia could legitimately invoke Article 51. None of these factors was knowable when the Biden administration was issuing its warnings of imminent attack, thereby certifying the “intelligence” as being derived from fact-free speculation, and not intelligence at all.

Q: The Western media are reporting that the Russian military operation in Ukraine is floundering because it has not over-run Ukraine entirely. As a military expert, how do you see the Russian operation proceeding?

SR: Russia is fighting a very difficult campaign hampered by its own constraint designed to limit civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure and the fact that Ukraine possesses a very well-trained military that is well led and equipped. Russia deployed some 200,000 troops in support of this operation. They are facing some 600,000 Ukrainian forces. The first phase of the Russian operation was designed to shape the battlefield to Russia’s advantage while diminishing the size and capacity of the Ukrainian ability to wage large-scale conflict. The second phase is focused on destroying the main Ukrainian force concentration in eastern Ukraine. Russia is well on its way to accomplishing this task.

Q: Do you see danger from Ukraine being turned into a proxy war by the United States and NATO partners against Russia in a way that attempts to repeat the West’s covert war in Syria or the Afghanistan war (1979-89) with the Soviet Union? There are reports of foreign legions being sent to Ukraine via NATO countries. Do you think there is a Western plan to embroil Russia in a proxy war that is aimed at sapping Russia politically, economically, and militarily?

SR: The Ukrainian conflict is a proxy war, but one which Russia is poised to win decisively. While there appears to be a NATO/western plan to embroil Russia in a “new Afghanistan”, I don’t see any risk of this conflict dragging on for more than a few more weeks at the most before Russia accomplishes a strategic victory over Ukraine.

Q: There is an arrogant assumption among Western governments that they can impose crippling economic sanctions on Russia in a similar way to what they did on Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea among others. But would you agree that if Russia begins to impose its own counter-sanctions by restricting oil and gas exports then the Western states may end up reaping a whirlwind that is devastating to their societies?

SR: Russia was warned well in advance about the scope and scale of U.S.-led sanctions that would be imposed if Russia were to invade Ukraine. Russia has prepared its own counter-sanction strategy which will not only defeat the Western sanctions but further strengthen Russia’s economy by decoupling it from the West and Western control/influence. We see evidence of the effectiveness of this counter-campaign as the Russian ruble is strengthened, the Russian stock market enjoys positive traction, and Europe and the U.S. flounder economically. The West has sown the wind in sanctioning Russia; Russia will not reap the whirlwind.

https://mronline.org/2022/04/14/the-ukr ... tt-ritter/

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How long have we been waiting for you! Mariupol meets the army of the DPR

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Groups of soldiers of the DPR army are slowly advancing along the streets of Mariupol towards the city center. The private sector in the frontline zone is an ideal place for enemy caches. Here you can find warehouses of weapons, ammunition, and sometimes the Ukrainian security forces themselves, those who fell behind the general group of retreaters or were wounded and abandoned by their own.

"How long have we been waiting for you!"

House by house, servicemen of the internal troops are inspecting the private sector, residential buildings in which people have remained, and abandoned ones. Local residents help by talking about the owners of vacant plots and opening houses, the keys to which were left for them by departing neighbors.

Someone left a long time ago, and someone, apparently, fled from the war already in the midst of hostilities. Sometimes you can even see plates of food on the tables, as if in an instant the owners took off and hit the road. What is the fate of these people - one can only guess and assume, looking at the numerous shot civilian vehicles throughout the city, standing on the sidelines since the day when "Azov" * disrupted the work of humanitarian corridors, shooting down columns of civilians.

Those who remained are recovering from their experiences and greet the DPR fighters with words of gratitude. The Ukrainian propaganda that worked here for years did not achieve its goal, failing to wash the heads of people who know how to think, and therefore the Russian army is greeted here as liberators, not invaders.

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At first glance, it may seem that someone is only diligently pretending to meet the troops so joyfully, but sincere and pure emotions of people can be easily distinguished from feigned contentment. And, looking at the general picture of the surrounding reality, it is clear that Mariupol, already a Russian city, after eight years of occupation by Ukraine, after the May 2014 massacre, after Bandera marches, torchlight processions and "Azov" parades*, is especially happy to be liberated.

"How long have we been waiting for you!" the woman exclaims, stopping at the crossroads near the fighters. There are many such people here, those who simply thank the soldiers who have finally returned to Mariupol.

"Thank you guys! Thank you very much! You are our defenders, thank you! You are so young, health to you, your loved ones, everyone! We are happy, very happy!"


The difference is obvious

After endless robberies and looting by the Ukrainian security forces, some residents of Mariupol are surprised to note not just a big, but a colossal difference between the same "Azov" * and the DPR army in relation to the local population. True intentions are especially well manifested during the sweep.

In houses that are abandoned by the owners, the fighters are faced with the task of not only inspecting the structure for the presence of Nazis who have taken refuge there, but also to conduct a superficial inspection of the property. Simply put, find out if there are berets on the threshold, Ukrainian uniforms on hooks for clothes, and under the frames - photos of the owner of the house from service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the National Battalion. At first glance, it seems that this is sheer absurdity, but reality shows that often those who joined the Ukrainian Nazis from among the local population did not just retreat, but fled in a hurry, leaving the most valuable evidence in plain sight.

Dozens of houses have to be inspected by soldiers of the DPR army during the cleansing, in each of them there is a mass of valuable property, ranging from decorations abandoned by the owners to expensive equipment. The fighters indifferently pass by, not even paying attention to all this.

“You understand,” says a fighter named Vlad. “It’s the law of life: you take a ruble, and give it back a thousand. Secondly, and firstly, we are not here to fill our pockets.”

His colleague agrees, jokingly adding that if the DNR fighters were engaged in looting and robbery, they would not fight with Azov *, but would be in the same ranks with it. Immediately, already absolutely seriously, the fighter adds: this is the elementary difference between the warring parties: for some, robbing the civilian population is a common occurrence, while for others it is unacceptable either from the point of view of the law or from the point of view of morality.

“Everything is fine, everyone is very polite, everything is neat, and they help us,” says Alexander, a resident of Mariupol. He still had the keys to several neighboring houses, and together with the fighters he walked down the street, helping to inspect the empty housing.

A few minutes after the start of the cleansing, the remaining residents of the quarter themselves come out to meet the fighters. Here they quickly realized that there was no threat from the soldiers, and even, on the contrary, they are open to dialogue, they can ask all their questions and ask for help. The main thing is the request to bring medicines. And again, an indicative moment: the fighters open personal first-aid kits, distributing the medicines that they have with them.

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"We did not consider them defenders"

People willingly share stories about the deplorable neighborhood with the Nazis from "Azov" *. There are dozens of stories, and each of them is a separate volume of a criminal case. Robbery and extortion, attacks, kidnapping, genocide of the civilian population, which, by the way, Azov* promised to protect from "Russian aggression".

- How so? - we ask one of the residents of Mariupol. “They called themselves defenders, didn’t they?”

- They called. But we are not. We did not consider them defenders.

According to people, "Azov" * considered himself the masters of the city, not putting either local authorities or official Kyiv, headed by President Zelensky, in anything. Ordinary residents of Mariupol directly compare the banned group with a gang, thereby giving an answer to the question of what it was like to live not just next to them, but under their rule.

“We are glad that they left! But it hurts us that they are with us like this… We have been in hell this month…” says a pensioner living on Vostochny.

From her house to one of the remaining pockets of resistance, only a few kilometers, and now the woman clearly hears the sounds of a powerful battle that ensued between the advancing units of the DPR army and "Azov"*. But neither she nor her neighbors, who survived this very month of hell, have any sympathy or compassion for the Nazis.

There is no compassion for "Azov" * and humanly. The reason for this is still the same: the inhumanity of the Nazis themselves, the harshness and cruelty, the frenzy with which they treated the local population. And therefore, no empathy. And the brightest wishes to the soldiers of the DPR army, who are ready to put an end to this bloody story unleashed by Kiev.

Author of the text and photo: military commander Georgy Medvedev

https://novorosinform.org/kak-dolgo-my- ... 93487.html

Google Translator

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NED finances key Ukrainian propaganda organ, the Kyiv Independent
Originally published: CovertAction Magazine by Evan Reif (April 13, 2022 ) | - Posted Apr 14, 2022


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[Source: twitter.com]

Throughout this war, one of the most prolific voices has been the Kyiv Independent. Through both its website and its Twitter account, it has been posting a nearly endless stream of unconfirmed and often fantastical pro-Ukrainian propaganda along with unverified, and often unattributed tales of the latest Russian atrocities.
Despite never offering even a scrap of evidence, however, it exploded from a few thousand followers before the war to several million now, with millions more following its individual reporters. It is routinely promoted by some of the biggest names in media, such as CNN and Fox News.

Let’s take a look at one tweet in particular, as an example of this. On March 30, the Kyiv Independent tweeted this:

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Only Russia’s losses are being reported, making it appear as if Ukraine is winning. [Source: twitter.com]

We can see here a blending between truth and lies. While strikes would hit the warehouse, and the Red Cross would confirm that (and also, that it had been abandoned for more than two weeks by that time and all aid was distributed), no evidence was given that the strikes were Russian and the Red Cross did not comment on it.
The only source for the claim that the attacks were Russian is the Azov Battalion, putting the credibility of the statement into serious doubt. Kyiv Independent does not tell you this.

Despite this being posted with no evidence in the first place, the tweet was re-tweeted 12,000 times. How many people could this piece of literal Nazi propaganda have reached?

This outfit is well-funded and well-run. They can and do produce large amounts of good-quality English-language content very quickly. The market for this content, obviously, is not Ukrainians, but the West.

It is important to understand just how a propaganda network like this works. This blending of truth and lie is very common. The terrible realities of war mean that there is always plenty of information to report. Attacks and counterattacks. Bombs falling here. Shells there. Deaths and fires.

Much of this is probably accurate information. The sheer volume of it, combined with all the promotion, paid or otherwise, means that soon you will see Kyiv Independent reports on every screen, every day.

However, you only get one side of the issue. It is illegal to report on Ukrainian military casualties. This means that all you will see is dead Russians, burning Russian tanks and the wreckage of Russian aircraft. This creates an image of an invincible Ukrainian Army, killing Russians by the thousands with no losses of their own.

Meanwhile, every shell and bomb that hits a Ukrainian city is relentlessly covered. This means that the Russians are simultaneously portrayed as an omnipresent bogeyman, but also as incompetent cowards. Umberto Eco’s words about shifting rhetorical focus are relevant here.

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[Source: ucc.ca]

Peppered in the endless streams of more mundane reporting, however, are the increasingly unhinged calls for escalation. Worse yet, at some points the mask comes off entirely, such as in this bizarre article which seems to both downplay nuclear war, and cast it as an acceptable price to pay for Ukrainian victory, all while accusing Putin of being the nuclear threat.
It is clear that the editorial position of this paper is that the war should escalate, more people should die and, if necessary, Russia, and therefore the Russian people, should be annihilated with nuclear weapons. More than that, their position seems to be that we cannot afford NOT to do so.

No one would win World War III. Not even the reporters at Kyiv Independent. No one except the arms dealers. This outfit has greatly outsized reach with which to spread these ideas.

Foreign Funding

The paper was founded in 2021 after the staff of the Kyiv Post walked out en masse after the paper came under new ownership. While it is presented as a valiant attempt to retain editorial control, the seed funding the Post received from the Canadian Government and European Endowment for Democracy (the EU equivalent of the NED) tells another tale.

Indeed, if you look more closely at the staff, a pattern of collaboration with NATO regime-change operations becomes very clear.

Meet the team:

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[Source: kyivindependent.com]

Olga Rudenko, Editor-in-Chief:

According to her Linkedin page, she worked for three years with an organization called the Objective Investigative Reporting Project as a grant coordinator for independent journalists. A little digging finds that she is referring to this, for which no unpacking is necessary, given as the sidebar tells us what we need to know.

“Launched in July 2013, Objective is a new media development project and joint venture of Niras/BBC funded by the Danish Foreign Ministry. The project will run for four years in seven countries–Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.”

It appears that Miss Rudenko’s primary role was to disperse funding to journalists writing about corruption, particularly focusing on Ukrainian oligarchs.

While they claimed to have done investigative reporting in Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, it seems they mostly focused on Ukraine and Moldova. These articles were then given away to a variety of papers in Ukraine, meaning that the enterprise did not make any money.

How Rudenko was able to get enough foreign funding to support an entire team of journalists working for years in multiple countries is unclear. It is possible that there is some connection to the Media Development Fund, which she would co-found the same year as the aims and methods of the two are quite similar.

Prior to this she was not a particularly distinguished reporter, working mostly as a staff reporter for Kyiv Post. Before that, she would work as a foreign freelancer for Associated Reporters Abroad, under which she wrote stories for various American and overseas press agencies. Her articles in this role were numerous, but seem to be mostly routine stringer work. She worked her way up the ranks to become an editor at the Kyiv Post before leaving with the rest of the staff in 2021 to found the Kyiv Independent.

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The CFO of the Independent, Jakub has a background in finance and economics. He was a former office manager for McKinsey as a manager of digital strategy. McKinsey has a long and sordid history of collaboration not just with intelligence, but also with some of the most disgustingly avaricious capitalists in the world. [Source: kyivindependent.com]

She would also become a fellow of the Wilson Center at some point, another U.S. government-funded think tank for which she has also written some news articles.

Jakub Parusinski, CFO:

The consulting firm was heavily involved in the Opioid crisis, the Enron scandal and even helped fix bread prices in Canada. Their government work includes helping the Saudi Arabian regime identify and murder dissidents and helping South African utility companies steal and launder millions of dollars from the impoverished South African people among many, many other crimes. While we cannot confirm exactly what Mr. Parusinski was involved with at McKinsey, it certainly was not benevolent.

He also worked for the International Center for Policy Studies. This is a think tank founded in 1994 by the Soros-run Open Society Institute, and funded in large part by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, which was founded by the German government and is currently funded by USAID more than any other donor (view page 20).

He would later go on to found the Media Development Foundation (MDF) with Daryna Shevchenko and Olga Rudenko. The MDF is an organization that seems to exist primarily to spread money from the NED, USAID, NATO and Internews (which is itself 90% government-funded) to the so-called independent press of Ukraine.

They do this by training and recruiting reporters throughout Ukraine, creating an army of freelance reporters who can be used as a content mill to expand the operations of regional papers, who they then support with grants, advertising support and search-engine optimization. The papers benefit from the increased revenues, and the freelance journalists are guaranteed work. This allows the MDF and NED to set up a network of influence throughout Ukraine, from some of the largest papers to those serving towns of a few thousand.

In later articles, I will elaborate on this, but the network is quite extensive. As you can see from their documents, they are in up to their heads in NATO regime-change cash.

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[Source: kyivindependent.com]

Daryna Shevchenko, CEO:

Her background is another juicy one, working for a company called IREX. IREX is a global education and development NGO created by the Ford Foundation and U.S. Department of State in 1968 and funded by them to such an extent that its financial disclosure form says the following:

IREX receives funds from the U.S. Department of State (DOS), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), other Federal agencies, and private-sector sources. Approximately 86 percent and 90 percent of the funds received in 2020 and 2019 including cost share, respectively, were through awards from the U.S. Government.

She was also a co-founder of the Media Development Foundation which, as mentioned above, works with both the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA offshoot founded in the 1980s to advance U.S. soft power, and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv before getting together with Jakub to found Jnomics Media, then the Kyiv Independent. According to her Facebook page, she also did a stint at the Institute for the Development of the Regional Press, another NGO with USAID funding, quite openly so in this case.

Outside of her NGO work, Miss Shevchenko was also a reporter at the Kyiv Post. Her reporting there was mostly vanilla with some vague peppering of nationalism, writing about entertainment, fashion, food, and a weekly interview column. She would continue on this path until the Maidan coup in 2014, when she dove head-first into political reporting. She works mostly as an executive these days, only releasing an occasional article, usually in support of her projects with the MDF or Kyiv Independent.

A perusal of Ms. Shevchenko’s Facebook page reveals that she has some long-running sympathies for the far right, laying wreaths on monuments to fascist terrorists all the way back to 2011.

She is also a fan of books by nationalist author Vasyl Shkliar, who writes fantastical and heroic tales about fascist murderers responsible for the deaths of thousands.

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[Source: kyivindependent.com]

Oleksiy Sorokin, COO:

Sorokin is one of the busier reporters for Kyiv Independent, no doubt leveraging his native fluency in English (he is Canadian-born and attended college in Toronto) to be the paper’s de facto international correspondent. A quick Google search shows he has worked with the Canadian, British, and American press within the recent past.

Sorokin started as an intern for Transparency International, which, according to its own disclosures, is funded by the U.S. Department of State, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the Foreign offices of many other NATO/U.S.-aligned states.

He then went straight into the COO and editor job after only three years’ experience as a reporter. This man is very young, only graduating college in 2018. While he lacks the same ties his co-workers have to NATO intelligence, we can say that his years with the Kyiv Independent have considerably deepened them.

Illia Ponomarenko, Azov Battalion Member

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[Source: kyivindependent.com]

Illia is one of the most famous reporters on this war, with his personal Twitter account having more than one million followers. He has appeared on Fox News and written for The Guardian and USA Today.
He attended a very odd university, Mariupol State University, that is heavily funded by USAID and other NATO NGOs, from which he graduated with a degree in international relations. He had an internship in the United States cut short by COVID and, after returning, went straight into his war reporting, befriending neo-Nazi militia commanders along the way.

The university is a strange tale. Formed only in 1991, it is, again, openly USAID funded. Its rector, Mykola Trofymenko, was appointed to the job in 2020 at age 35. The university seems to be very much NATO-aligned, as we can see here from Illia’s professor Lidia Shevchenko who was a delegate at NATO headquarters in Brussels .

During the invasion, Illia has been absolutely prolific, posting nearly endless streams of unconfirmed statements with no evidence or attribution, which are gobbled up by a credulous American press and public. He has become one of the most brazen and least credible propagandists since “Baghdad Bob” during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

What is very credible, however, is his tie to and friendship with Azov. He lacks even the shame to scrub this evidence from his Twitter account before going on Fox News, and the Western press either does not know or, more likely, simply does not care.

These photos are from Illia’s Facebook page, from an artillery training exercise he attended with his Nazi pals.

In a new low even for him, on March 27, 2022, in response to widely circulated videos of Ukrainian fascists torturing and kneecapping Russian prisoners, Illia not only made no apologies for their crimes, but called for further atrocities.

These are the kinds of people U.S., Canadian and European taxpayer dollars are supporting!

https://mronline.org/2022/04/14/ned-fin ... dependent/

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Appeal of the Union of Soviet Officers
April 15, 13:16

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APPEAL of the International Union of Soviet Officers to the personnel of the Armed Forces of Russia, the People's Militia of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, participants of the special operation in Ukraine

Dear comrades! Our fighting friends!

Generals, officers, sergeants and soldiers! Today you have the most difficult, extremely dangerous, but vital combat mission to liberate the freedom-loving people of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from the genocide, to destroy Bandera fascism in Ukraine.

( https://t.me/pravdaphotoandvideo/163 )For a month and a half, you have been fulfilling your military duty to our Motherland, to our people with honor and dignity, with the greatest patriotism and selflessness. At present, you are fighting not only against Ukrainian nationalism - now you are waging a real war with the whole pack of anti-Russian dark forces that, like mad dogs, have grabbed our country in order to destroy it and tear it to pieces. The United States, Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, Poland, NATO as a whole want to seize our Russian people by the throat and bring them to their knees with their sanctions and military assistance to Bandera's fascist Ukraine!

Therefore, in you, in the face of every general, officer, sergeant and soldier, our people see their liberator, the deliverer from all the troubles that are approaching our country! You are our salvation from all the international bastards who took up arms against our Motherland, against our GREAT POWER! Their hands are up to the elbows in blood! First of all - in the blood of civilians, women, children, the elderly and in your noble blood! Before the start of the SVO, more than 160 children and almost 14,000 residents of Donbass were killed at the hands of rampant Bandera executioners.

Together with you, we are indignant, looking at the crimes of the Bandera non-humans, who staged a wild provocation in Bucha, at the station in Kramatorsk. These monsters openly mock and brazenly mock our prisoners of war.

Death to these rascals! Executioners have no place on our land! There is no and should not be forgiveness and mercy for them!

For centuries, the West has hatched crazy, bestial plans to destroy and trample on Russia. In the Middle Ages, these were the Teutonic knights, then the Polish gentry, Napoleon in 1812. In 1941, possessed Hitler dreamed of destroying the Soviet Union and drowning our people in blood. They didn't succeed! All of them had their backs broken and thrown into the backyard of history! We survived and won!

Today the situation is similar. International criminal, bandit forces, the “brown plague” planned to break and tear us apart, enslave us and ensure that our Motherland, our Russia does not exist! You must not allow this! Our people believe in your successful fulfillment of a truly historic, fateful mission to liberate our native Ukraine from the filth of Bandera and outright fascists. Executioners have no place on our peaceful land! Each of them should get what they deserve!

There is no other way to make peace with wolves than by taking off their skins!

We, members of the International Union of Soviet Officers, participants in the Great Patriotic War, veterans of military operations in Afghanistan, Chechnya, South Ossetia, Syria, know firsthand about those combat difficulties, possible irreparable losses that you have to experience. We are with you all the way! We believe in you!

We sincerely support you and wish you victory in this difficult struggle! Only complete and final victory! We have no other choice!

OUR BUSINESS IS RIGHT! VICTORY WILL BE OURS!

Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the MSSO and the Central Council of the SSO of the Russian Federation G.M. Benov, lieutenant general of aviation.

https://gazeta-pravda.ru/issue/40-31243 ... fitserov-/ - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7560413.html

Google Translator

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Ukraine and the Bolshevik Revolution
April 14, 2022 Stephen Millies

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The struggle to overthrow the cruel tyrant called the Russian Czar was long and difficult. The czarist empire was a prison house of nations.

Czarist Russia’s conquering of Siberia meant killing and exploiting Indigenous peoples like what was done in the United States and Canada.

Poland was divided between Russia, Germany and Austria. Unlike Poland, which had been a powerful state for centuries before its partition, Ukraine was a nation in formation.

Revolutionaries fought against the oppression of dozens of nationalities in Czarist Russia.

“The situation of the Ukrainian working people today is tragic in the extreme,” wrote the Russian novelist Maxim Gorky in 1916. “The czarist cutthroats give them no chance to develop their language, literature and art.”

It was even illegal to publish books and newspapers in Ukrainian.

Before the Bolshevik Revolution, 76% of Ukrainians didn’t know how to read or write. In 1900, there were only 35 Ukrainian women who had attended college.

The treatment of the Ukrainian poet, writer and artist Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) was particularly outrageous. Born into serfdom, a form of feudal enslavement, he became the most famous figure of the Ukrainian national renaissance.

Czar Alexander II had Shevchenko imprisoned for writing a satirical poem, an action that helped shorten his life. Besides criticizing serfdom and the czarist dictatorship, Taras Shevchenko also opposed the grotesque discrimination suffered by Jewish people.

The great majority of Ukrainian people had been serfs. So had Russians and other nationalities in the empire. Thirty thousand serfs were worked to death in building St. Petersburg.

Serfs could be bought and sold like cattle. They were beaten by their owner with a leather whip called the knout.

But unlike enslaved Africans in the United States, their families couldn’t be broken up. Their names and languages weren’t stolen from them. Children of serfs weren’t thrown to the sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.

Serfdom was abolished in 1861 by the same czar that had persecuted Taras Shevchenko. Alexander II did so before serfdom was overthrown from below.

One factor might have been the anti-slavery struggle in the United States and the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War there in 1861.The martyrs of Harpers Ferry were not able to immediately overthrow the slave masters but they may have helped frighten the Czar into getting rid of serfdom.

Poverty and pogroms

Ukraine was rich but Ukrainians were desperately poor. The country has some of the richest topsoil in the world.

The czarist empire was the greatest exporter of wheat during most of the 1800s with Ukraine producing the greatest share. It was only after 1870 that the United States, Argentina and Canada became major wheat exporters.

Yet the Ukrainian peasants who harvested wheat and other crops were often hungry themselves. Farm laborers would suffer night-blindness because of a lack of vitamins.

The Czarist regime was hated. It was almost overthrown in the 1905 revolution.

The Czar sought to turn this anger into racist violence directed at minorities. These spasms of terror in which hundreds of people were lynched were called pogroms. They were deliberately instigated by the regime.

The 1917 riot in East St. Louis, Illinois, where the police allowed over 100 Black people to be murdered by white mobs was a pogrom. So were the race riots in Chicago and other U.S. cities in 1919.

The burning of “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Oklahoma by white supremacists in 1921 and the mass graves of African Americans there was certainly a pogrom.

The biggest target of czarist pogroms were Jewish people. Thousands of Jews were murdered, tortured and raped.

The Bolsheviks fought pogroms with guns. The revolutionary movement had been centered in the cities and minefields where the working class was concentrated.

Workers in St. Petersburg prevented pogroms from being organized. The greatest center of pogroms was Ukraine and Moldova where the working class was smaller.

None of this prevented the centuries-old czarist police state from being overthrown in March 1917. Eight months later, workers organized into councils known as soviets took power. They were led by socialists who were called Bolsheviks.

Lenin led the Bolsheviks. Their slogan of “bread, peace and land” appealed to millions of people.

They wanted an end to hunger, poverty and war. Two million soldiers from the former Czarist Empire had died in World War I.

Peasants ― the vast majority of society ― wanted to take the land that they had plowed for generations. The Bolsheviks told them to kick out their landlords and seize the land.

In contrast, capitalists betrayed Black people after the U.S. Civil War. Instead of the former slave masters being forced to give up their plantations, most Black people became landless sharecroppers.

Lenin and Ukraine

When the peasants and workers took power on Nov. 7, 1917, the Russian landlords and capitalists were demoralized. The support given by capitalists in other countries sparked a civil war.

The counter revolutionaries were called White Guards, who were a Russian terrorist army much like the Ku Klux Klan. The United States and other countries sent troops to support the White Guards and attempted to drown the socialist revolution in blood.

The Red Army of workers and peasants defeated the White Guards and foreign troops. Dock workers in Seattle and Britain refused to load weapons for the White Guards.

This was what Italian and Greek workers are doing now. They’re stopping NATO weapons from going to the Kyiv regime that depends on fascist thugs to remain in power.

In the Russian Civil War of 1918-20, most of Ukraine had been overridden by White Guards. They murdered 100,000 Jewish people there.

A well-to-do minority of Ukrainians supported the White Guards and joined the pogroms. Their political descendents supported the Nazis in World War II and today they comprise the fascist Azov Battalion and Right Sector thugs.

After hundreds of years of Czarist oppression, Ukrainians and other nationalities wanted freedom. Lenin, who was Russian, said in effect, “right on!”

He drafted a resolution for the Communist Party about Ukraine in November 1919. Here are some excerpts:

“In view of the fact that Ukrainian culture (language, school, etc.) has been suppressed for centuries by Russian czarism and the exploiting classes, the [central committee of the Communist Party] makes it incumbent upon all party members to use every means to help remove all barriers in the way of the free development of the Ukrainian language and culture…

“[Communist Party] members on Ukrainian territory must put into practice the right of the working people to study in the Ukrainian language and to speak their native language in all Soviet institutions; they must in every way counteract attempts at Russification that push the Ukrainian language into the background and must convert that language into an instrument for the communist education of the working people. Steps must be taken immediately to ensure that in all Soviet institutions there are sufficient Ukrainian-speaking employees and that in future all employees are able to speak Ukrainian.”

Famines and industrialization

The Ukrainian Soviet Republic was established. In 1922 Ukraine joined with the other soviet republics to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Socialism brought great advances. By 1939, some 88% of Ukrainians could read and write. The literacy rate in 1959 was 99%.

Whereas printing in Ukrainian had been forbidden by the Czar, in 1980 there were around 1,500 newspapers and magazines printed in that language.

Ukraine is a multinational country. Besides millions of Ukrainian and Russian speakers, there are Greek, Hungarian, Jewish, Roma and other peoples. Ukrainian fascists call these people “scum.”

Some have asked why the Bolsheviks included predominantly Russian speaking areas, like the Donbass, within Ukraine’s boundaries. (The boundaries drawn by communists are the same ones used today.)

The reason was that in 1917, the vast majority of Ukrainians were peasants who lived in the countryside. Most of the workers were Russian, like coal miners in the Donbass. Including these workers in Ukraine helped promote socialism.

After the civil war came the famine in 1921-1922 in which millions died. This was the era before the “green revolution.”

Farmers in Ukraine and Russia often used wooden ploughs. Even with good weather crop yields could be low. The loss of millions of agricultural workers because of World War I, the civil war and the 1918 influenza pandemic further reduced the harvest.

More controversial is the 1932-1933 famine. At least 3.3 million people died in this tragedy.

Many Ukrainians, who are not communists, claim this famine was deliberate genocide against the Ukrainian people. Yet the famine affected millions of Kazakhs and Russians outside Ukraine.

This famine took place during the first five-year plan which was rapidly industrializing the Soviet Union. Part of this offensive was bringing socialist production to the countryside.

Millions of peasants got land because of the Bolshevik Revolution. But these plots were too small to employ modern agricultural machinery.

Peasants were encouraged to join cooperatives and form collective farms. The richer farmers, called kulaks, resisted.

This was an intense class struggle which amounted to a second revolution. Sometimes the worst exploiters are the small property owners like small slumlords or other small-time cockroach capitalists.

Kulaks helped sabotage the harvest by concealing grain stocks and slaughtering livestock. Detachments of workers and poor peasants defeated the kulaks.

The forming of collective farms went hand-in-hand with constructing factories making tractors and harvesters. The countryside was electrified. Ukrainians left wooden ploughs behind and built a modern society.

Defeating Hitler and NATO

Looking back, some argue that collectivization should have started sooner and/or more slowly. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in his article “Dizzy with Success,” urged activists to be more careful.

Often overlooked in this famine, as historian Mark B. Tauger points out, is the devastating role of the wheat rust fungus. This plant disease would have been disastrous whether there had been a collective farm movement or not.

And where was U.S. President Herbert Hoover? In 1921, before he became president, Hoover led a relief campaign that aided starving people in the Soviet Union.

But in the early 1930s Hoover did nothing, even while many U.S. farmers couldn’t sell their crops during the Great Depression.

Also questioned is that the Soviet Union exported crops while people were starving. Professor Tauger estimates that as many as two million people might have lived if these exports ceased.

This is heartbreaking. But as Tauger mentions, both Germany and Britain threatened to stop lending credit to the Soviet Union unless it paid more of its debts.

What the Soviet Union had to sell at the time was largely oil, lumber and wheat ― all at the low Depression prices. As it was, the Soviets did cut farm exports. (“The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933,” by Mark B. Tauger, Slavic Review, Spring, 1991.)

Imports of machinery were absolutely necessary to industrialize the Soviet Union. And the industrialization carried out by the five-year plans enabled the Soviet peoples to defeat the Nazi invasion, which killed over 5 million Ukrainians.

So many of the new industries were built in Ukraine. One of the best known projects was the Dnieprostroi hydroelectric dam. By 1940, over a half-million Ukrainian workers had high school or college educations.

Today the greatest racist hellhole is the United States. Wall Street was finally able to overthrow Soviet power in 1991. This was despite an overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens ― including 78% of Ukrainians ― voting to retain the Soviet Union in a March 17, 1991 referendum.

This tragedy was a greater defeat than the victory of Hitler over the bones of the German working class. World capital and its media have been able to poison the minds of too many Ukrainians, Russians and other peoples living in the former Soviet Union.

We look forward to NATO’s defeat and a revival of a revolutionary movement in Ukraine. Long live the unity of all the workers and progressive peoples in Ukraine! Workers and oppressed peoples of the world, unite!

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2022/ ... evolution/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 15, 2022 3:05 pm

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Testimony Reveals Zelensky’s Secret Police Plot to ‘Liquidate’ Opposition Figure Anatoly Shariy

Accounts from the Ukrainian SBU’s torture prison reveal Zelensky’s plot to assassinate exiled opposition figure and leading journalist Anatoly Shariy.

by Dan Cohen
April 14th, 2022

KIEV, UKRAINE — On March 7, Anatoly Shariy, a Ukrainian opposition figure and one of the country’s most popular journalists, received an email from Igor, an old acquaintance with whom he had not communicated for years (Igor is an alias used to protect his identity).

“Please help me find a place to live, suggest an apartment or an agent. I’m ready to do any work for you, whatever you say,” the email read.

“I realized that he was in the hands of the SBU,” Shariy told me, using the acronym for Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, notorious for its persecution of anyone accused of sympathy for Russia. “I understood whom I was talking to and did not particularly answer anything.”

Shariy suspected that the SBU wanted Igor to surveil him for an assassination attempt.

Four days later, Shariy received an email from a different address. This time, it was Igor, confirming Shariy’s suspicion that the first email had been written by an SBU agent. Igor explained that he had been interrogated and tortured for his ties to Russia.

“I realized that the SBU officers were preparing an assassination attempt on Anatoly and decided to agree to warn him that his life was in danger,” he told me in a phone call.

Shariy has lived in exile since 2012, having fled during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych and received political asylum in the EU. His opposition to the 2014 Maidan coup d’etat grew his profile and made him a target of Petro Poroshenko, who came to power in its wake. The neo-Nazi movements he had exposed in prior years had gained serious political power and intensified their aggression against him. In 2015, Lithuanian media branded Shariy as a “favorite friend of Putin,” and the Lithuanian government soon revoked his asylum. Shariy, meanwhile, had sought protection elsewhere and relocated to Spain, where he has continued to grow into one of the most popular critics of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

However, his predicament has hardly improved. In 2019, Alexander Zoloytkhin, a former soldier of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, published the address and photos of the house where Sharij, his wife Olga Shariy and young child live, as well as photos of Olga’s car. Ukrainian neo-Nazis demonstrated outside his house and he received numerous death threats.

Today, he is a top target of the Kiev government, neo-Nazi paramilitaries, and the SBU.

‘I helped him to become the president’

Shariy began his career in journalism in 2005, first writing for women’s magazines, and then conducting investigations into Ukrainian oligarchs, organized crime, and neo-Nazi networks.

He became a well-known critic of the 2014 U.S.-orchestrated Maidan coup d’etat, using his YouTube channel video blog to amass an enormous online following. Today, he has nearly 3 million subscribers on YouTube, 340,000 on Facebook, and 268,000 on Twitter, becoming one of the country’s most popular journalists despite living outside its borders for a decade.

In 2019, months ahead of the presidential election, Shariy founded a center-right Libertarian political party, naming it after himself: The Party of Shariy. Appealing to young professionals and small and medium business owners, Shariy’s online popularity transformed him into an important player in building a coalition, consistently polling between three and six percent.

Shariy actively supported Zelensky during the campaign, attacking the incumbent Poroshenko. “I thought he [Zelensky] was determined to follow up on his election promises. I helped him to become the president. It’s true me and my team did anything for him to get the post,” Shariy told m

Shariy’s activists were effective in disrupting Poroshenko’s campaign events.

“We were following Poroshenko everywhere we went with his pre-election tour. There were so many people in each city and town organizing themselves in groups and asking Poroshenko hard questions,” Shariy recalled.

In one July 2019 event, Shariy’s supporters trolled Poroshenko’s campaign motto – “Army – YES, Language – YES, Faith – YES” – answering “Shariy” instead of “YES.”

[youtube]https//youtu.be/-HPQMWNmtao[/youtube]

But Zelensky’s carefully-crafted campaign image of a political outsider dedicated to stamping out rampant corruption – copy-pasted from his hit television series, “Servant of the People” – turned out to be a farce.

Zelensky cut deals with oligarchs and stacked his cabinet with the same figures he spent his campaign criticizing. He spurned the coalition-building efforts that typify Ukraine’s multi-party parliamentary democracy, preferring to cut backroom deals for votes. He even sided with his former bitter rival Poroshenko’s own party in Odessa’s 2020 municipal elections despite his famous quote during the pre-election debates when he told Poroshenko, “I AM YOUR VERDICT” – “Я – ваш приговор”.

“When I realized he was not intending to change anything, the corruption was the same or even worse, we changed our mind,” Shariy said.

Following Zelensky’s victory, he proceeded to eliminate state funding for parties that received under 5% of the vote in the elections. Shariy’s party, having received only 2.23%, was among those that were cut off.

Spurned by the new president who he helped get elected, Shariy publicly denounced Zelensky, remarking that he should “curtail their state funding and shove it up their ass.”

Zelensky betrayed his campaign promises of reform and meaningful progress in the Donbass stalemate, leading to a rapid decline in popular support. This left a niche open which was quickly filled by the Party of Shariy. While older voters traditionally supported Viktor Medvedchuk’s “Opposition Platform – For Life”, Shariy’s online presence and style appealed to younger generations.

On the ground, Party of Shariy activists began to protest Zelensky with the same tactics they had wielded in his favor against Poroshenko, appearing at his events and demanding his resignation.

As Shariy gained political capital and was even considered a possible contender for the presidency in a future election, the war of words between him and Zelensky turned into a bitter rivalry.

Zelensky lashed out at Shariy, accusing him of “trying to increase your rating at the expense of my rating, the rating of the president.”

Ukrainian journalist Yuri Tkachev, who was recently arrested by the SBU, commented that Shariy’s party is much stronger than the polls indicate. “It is strange to think that the government would spend so much energy on an insignificant opposition party. All this makes us think that their ratings are higher than they are trying to show us,” he remarked.



Hunting dissidents on a political ‘safari’

Throughout the election, the anti-Poroshenko antics of the Party of Shariy were met with severe violence from the president’s base, which included ultra-nationalists and neo-fascists. Some who dared to ask Poroshenko difficult questions were beaten. In Zaporizhzhya, a man’s car was set on fire and a woman was assaulted by Poroshenko himself.

This violence continued after Zelensky won the election and his rivalry with Zelensky intensified.

At a June 2020 demonstration in which Party of Shariy members demanded an investigation into the politically motivated attacks on their members, neo-Nazi groups attacked using smoke bombs and tear gas, followed by brawls inside the subway. Afterward, these groups announced a political “safari,” offering rewards for attacks on Party of Shariy members. This marked the escalation of violence meted out against the political opposition, especially targeting the Party of Shariy and its supporters.

In one incident, masked men beat a young man in Kharkiv, leaving him severely injured and hospitalized. In Vinnytsia, men from the neo-fascist group Edelweiss beat a party member in broad daylight, breaking his ribs and puncturing a lung. In another incident, a member of the U.S.-trained neo-Nazi Azov Battalion attacked a member inside their party office.

While members of his party were beaten in the streets and inside their offices, Shariy was under threat. On July 8, 2020, he accused Zelensky of ordering his assassination, publishing a confession given to Catalan Police by Zoloytkhin, the man who had published his address the year before. Zoloytkhin was wanted in Ukraine for numerous serious crimes, including participation in the 2016 kidnapping and beating of journalist Vladislav Bovtruk. Zoloytkhin confessed to police that top figures in the Zelensky government had instructed him to murder Shariy, and Shariy published a video confession from Zoloytkhin.



In February 2021, the SBU charged Shariy with treason, accusing him of “spreading Russian propaganda,” and summoned him to an interrogation by the SBU. After he declined to appear, he was put on the national wanted list.

Shariy is blacklisted on Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), an online database of what its owner declared “enemies of the state,” containing personal information and addresses. The blacklist is affiliated with the Ukrainian government and SBU and was founded by Anton Herashchenko, now an advisor to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. The site accuses Shariy of violating the sovereignty of Ukraine and financing terrorists.

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A screenshot shows Shariy on a govt’-linked website that publishes the personal details of enemies of the state

Multiple figures were killed soon after their names were added to the list. On April 15, 2015, Oleh Kalashnikov, a politician from the pro-Russia Party of Regions, the party of ousted president Victor Yanukovych, was shot to death in Kiev. The next day, Oles Buzina, a prominent journalist and author who advocated for unity among Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia and campaigned to outlaw neo-Nazi organizing, was shot and killed near his apartment. The culprits were found to be Andrey Medvedko and Denis Polishchuk, neo-Nazis who had served in government and military positions – their confessions were published by Shariy. Yet Buzina’s murderers not only walk free but have received government funding.

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The scene of Oles Buzina’s murder. Credit | Ruptly

Zelensky has opened numerous criminal cases against Shariy. He personally enacted sanctions against him, his wife Olga Shariy, and his wife’s mother, Alla Bondarenko. Shariy’s political party was banned in Zelensky’s sweeping March 20 decree that criminalized all opposition parties, accusing them of ties to Russia.



‘An ordinary person confesses at least to the murder of John F. Kennedy’
Prior to the Russian offensive, Shariy appeared often on Russian television, positioning himself as a neutral alternative to Zelensky and his regime of pro-EU neoliberals and neo-fascists. When Russian tanks rumbled across the Ukrainian border, he immediately denounced the invasion, calling the Kremlin foolish for invading a country that he believed would collapse on its own. Nonetheless, the threats against him intensified and Zelensky sought to eliminate Shariy from political life and kill him altogether.

On March 2, Ukrainian intelligence agents arrived at the Kiev home of Igor. The following is an account he gave to MintPress over the phone on April 7.

They took him into custody, handcuffing him and placing a sack over his head, then took him to a sports complex-turned temporary prison, connected to the main SBU headquarters, located in central Kiev between Vladimirskaya, Irininsky, Patorzhinsky, and Malopodvalna streets. Originally constructed as a Trade Union Palace following the Russian revolution, this building became the Bolshevik headquarters of Ukraine. Since 1938, it served as headquarters of the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation, the NKVD of the U.S.SR, and today, as a torture center for Russian prisoners of war and Ukrainians accused of having ties to Russia.

Inside the narrow underground rooms converted to an expansive state security complex, Igor says, SBU agents oversee members of the “Territorial Defense” – ultra-nationalist civilians and criminal elements who the government gave weapons in the streets in the first days of Russia’s offensive – as they beat, torture and even kill their prisoners.

Numerous prominent figures have been kidnapped and tortured by the Territorial Defense and the SBU. Among them are mixed martial arts fighter Maxim Rindkovsky, who was beaten on video and allegedly killed, Denis Kireev, the Ukrainian negotiator who was murdered after being accused of treason, and Volodymyr Struk, the Mayor of Kreminna, who was murdered after being accused of supporting Russia. Even Dmitry Demyanenko, former SBU head of the Kiev region, was shot dead in his car on March 10, accused of sympathy for Russia.


In fact, the SBU is a project of the CIA. Following the 2014 coup, the security service was headed by Valentin Nalyvaichenko, who was recruited by the CIA when he was the Consul General of Ukraine in the United States. The CIA reportedly has an entire floor in the SBU headquarters.

In November 2021, Zelensky appointed Oleksandr Poklad to head the SBU’s counterintelligence. A former lawyer and cop with ties to organized crime, Poklad is nicknamed “The Strangler” – ​​a reference to his favorite method of obtaining testimony from his victims. One article describes another torture method known as ‘The Elephant:’

“A gas mask is put on the victim of torture, and pepper tear gas from a spray can or a poisonous aerosol such as dichlorvos is launched into the gas mask hose. After such torture, an ordinary person confesses at least to the murder of John F. Kennedy.”


The United Nations and Amnesty International have both documented SBU torture prisons.

The SBU also closely collaborates with neo-Nazi groups including Right Sector, Azov, and C14, which was contracted by the Ukrainian government to conduct street patrols.

‘A small Guantanamo’

Inside the sports complex-turned temporary torture prison, Igor says the sack over his head was replaced with a blindfold, leaving him only he could only see his legs.

A Ukrainian businessman who had long worked in transportation logistics – including stints in Moscow – a story typical of many Ukrainians, since returning to Kiev, Igor had maintained business ties to Moscow and Crimea, which had joined the Russian Federation after a successful referendum in 2014.

Several family members, including his mother, live in Russia and he regularly visited them until relations between the two countries reached a boiling point in 2021. “With the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the events of February 24, my mother started to call me very often because she was very afraid of my status,” he told me.

Territorial Defense began to round up anyone suspected of sympathizing with Russia, as well as Ukrainians with cross-border ties, whether family or business.

Inside the makeshift prison, Igor says he identified 25 to 30 distinct voices of imprisoned men, and saw 10 to 12 men in Russian military uniforms, what he believes were prisoners of war. Two of the Russians were severely beaten in order to motivate the others to give on-camera testimony about their hate for Putin and opposition to the war.

Other detainees were religious people known for assembling at military installations to pray for peace and homeless people who had no way to abide by the evening curfew and were swept up by nighttime patrols.

While many of those inside the complex were kept for a couple of hours and released, others were severely beaten. “It was like a small Guantanamo,” Igor recalled.

Igor says that he was interrogated three times, with each session lasting between 15 and 30 minutes. The beatings were carried out by Territorial Defense volunteers while SBU officers instructed them on how to torture and asked him questions.

“They used a lighter to heat up a needle, then put it under my fingernails,” he told me. “The worst was when they put a plastic bag over my head and suffocated me and when they held the muzzle of a Kalashnikov rifle to my head and forced me to answer their questions.

But he says the suffering he endured was minor in comparison to the torture of the Russian prisoners of war, who were beaten with metal pipes while the Ukrainian national anthem played on repeat in the background. “I could hear it because all the torture was done in a nearby room. It was psychologically severe. This was done at night, the sounds of beatings were constant. It was difficult to sleep.”

Listening to conversations of other prisoners, Igor understood that two prisoners from Belarus were beaten to death, identifying one as a man named Sergey.

‘Like a Jew in Nazi Germany’

The existence of the torture prison was corroborated by an account I received from Andrey, a man with citizenship from Russia and a western European country (Andrey is also an alias to protect the identity of the source).

When he was first brought to the prison, Andrey recalls, he witnessed police beating what they told him was a Russian saboteur.

“It’s like mob justice, you know? You just find somebody that roughly fits the description and you take it out on him,” he said.

Tied to a chair, police repeatedly punched the man in the torso, the face, and back of the head as blood poured from his mouth.

“The police weren’t even interested in what he had to say. They would ask a question, he would start speaking slowly and they would hit him in the head,” he said. “They were taking out aggression and fear on him like a punching bag.”

Andrey says police threatened him with the same but he was spared because he held citizenship from a western European country. “I was told that If it wasn’t for my second passport, I’d be killed. I don’t know how much of that was to influence and scare me, or how much it was real,” he said.

During one interrogation, he says he was blindfolded, his hands were taped behind his back, and he was driven to an unknown location. After being taken into a building and up and down flights of stairs, he was thrown to the floor and kicked in the head.

Andrey recalls hearing ultra-nationalistic Ukrainian music in the prison. “Hard bass, electro, rock, rap – it was either to deprive us of sleep or to mask what was going on behind the music.”

Inside the prison, Andrey met Igor, who slept on an adjacent mat. He recalled being uncertain if Igor was an actual prisoner or if he was a plant that would attempt to extract information. In their brief exchanges, Andrey memorized a phone number Igor gave him and contacted him after he was released.

Andrey remains inside Ukrainian borders since his release, worried that the anti-Russia hysteria engulfing Ukraine could lead to his injury, or worse. “I’m like a Jew in Nazi Germany,” he told me.

‘They were very interested in his daily routine’
During Igor’s interrogation, SBU agents found contact information for his uncle, a former Soviet military officer. Believing that his uncle had influence in the Russian military, SBU agents called him to demand he facilitate an exchange of Igor for prisoners of the Snake Island incident.

When SBU agents found videos of Shariy on Igor’s phone, officers from a separate department were called in. From then on, they began to treat him better, removing his handcuffs and giving him larger quantities of food.

Igor’s connections to Shariy were minimal, limited to occasional contact via text message. In 2015, Shariy published a video about an incident in which Igor’s truck cargo was held for ransom by Aidar Battalion militants at a border crossing between Crimea and Ukraine.

Igor subsequently filmed interviews and events for Shariy, though they never met face to face. Nonetheless, SBU agents apparently saw Igor as an opportunity to gather sensitive information about Shariy’s habits.

Hours later, the chief officer came to interrogate him about materials and interviews he had worked on for Shariy. He was then given a blanket and allowed to sleep for two days.

After another interrogation, they instructed him to travel to Spain, where Shariy is taking refuge. “Their main intention was that I would stay at Shariy’s side, assist him in preparing materials, and report to the officers what he is working on, what his status is, what his family is doing, what foods he eats, and where he shops. They were very interested in his daily routine, his movements, and people close to him. They wanted me to be as close as possible to him and at his side as often as possible.”

It was then that Igor realized Shariy’s life was in danger.

“As far as I understood, based on the information that I had to convey, the liquidation of Anatoly Shariy was being prepared, since he poses a danger to the government of Ukraine and criticizes the actions of the SBU, the government, and President Zelensky,” he told me.

The SBU told him an agent stationed in Spain would contact him after his arrival and provide him with further instructions.

Another department of the SBU notified his brother of his arrest, demanding a $1,000 bribe for his release. “For the SBU, this is just a way of making money. They were detaining people and asking for money in exchange,” he said. His brother paid the bribe on March 10, freeing Igor, though Igor’s car was confiscated as collateral. “There are many cases like this. They take civilian cars for the needs of SBU and the Ukrainian army.”

SBU agents had assured Igor that he would be able to pass through Ukrainian borders and enter the European Union, a nearly impossible task for Ukrainian males aged 18 to 60 who are subject to mandatory conscription.

After his release, Igor says he stayed in Kiev for ten days, resting and regaining his health. He then traveled to Transcarpathia, a region in Western Ukraine. Instead of following the orders of the SBU, Igor went to a different western European country. On April 2, he contacted Anatoly Shariy by email, informing him that he believes he is under threat.

“I warned Anatoliy Shariy that there could be an attempt to kill him in Spain.” Shariy understood that Igor’s call represented an extraordinary threat. “I was very tense with questions about the fact that he could be sent to me so that he could find out the places I visit, up to where I eat. The direction of these questions clearly indicates that they have the idea of ​​my physical elimination,” Shariy told me by email.

Now in an EU country, Igor is facing an uncertain future and is unable to return to Ukraine. “I am afraid, not only for my own life but for my relatives and my friends,” he says.


With opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, bruised and apparently beaten, in the custody of SBU, the threat against Shariy is clear. He continues to receive death threats against him and his family, sometimes 100 per day, he says.

Anatoly Shariy SBU threats
Left: “Look it’s your future.” Right: “I hope they will find you soon.” Screenshots courtesy of Anatoly Shariy

Feature photo | Image by Antonio Cabrera

Other video and photos at link.

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The Russian Way of War: Part Two
gilbertdoctorow Uncategorized April 14, 2022

Sometime in the distant future, when the Russian internal documents relating to the conduct of this war in Ukraine are made public, one of the great conundrums of our time may finally receive a definitive answer: why Russia has been prosecuting its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine with one hand tied behind its back, always holding back the vast destructive forces at its command, and so drawing out the operation and suffering losses of its soldiers in a way which a more cruel, ‘American style’ campaign would largely have avoided.

At the very start of the armed conflict, I remarked on the specifics of what I called ‘the Russian Way of War’ now being applied in Ukraine. This approach does not inflict death on huge numbers of civilians, does not count on a ‘shock and awe’ initial attack to demoralize and overrun the enemy. I said at the time that the overriding considerations on the Russian side were the traditional ‘brotherly’ relations between Ukrainians and Russians, who were extensively intermarried and had relations on both sides of the national frontiers. The intent of Vladimir Putin and his war collegiums was to do minimal damage to the Ukrainian people, to try to separate the ‘healthy’ elements in the Ukrainian military command from the rabid nationalist Azov and similar irregular forces that had become embedded in the army over the past eight years. If the two could be separated, the war could be won with absolute minimum expenditure of materiel and loss of life.

However, in the early weeks of the operation, after it had become manifestly clear that these were illusions, that Russia was facing a unified military force supported by widespread popular civilian backing, still there was no change visible in how Russia was operating on the ground. The only hint of change to come was the refocusing of available forces on the capture of Mariupol, to secure the whole Azov Sea littoral and the progressive redirection of the ground forces to the encirclement of the major part of the Ukrainian army that was entrenched just to the west of the line of demarcation with Donbas. In compensation, there was the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kiev and Chernigov, in the north.

There has been a lot of supposedly expert analysis of the war from British, American and other retired generals. Add to that the ignorant but voluble speculations of simple Western journalists, especially ladies, who have never held firearms of any kind let alone drawn up battle plans. All of these Western commentators begin with assumptions on how an invasion of Ukraine should be fought, assuming the war was unleashed by the USA or Britain. Any deviation by the Russian forces from the timetable or scope of such a Western style assault aimed, of course, at overthrowing the regime in Kiev and subjugating the entire country, is deemed to be a failure of morale or ability to coordinate air cover, artillery and other elements of the battle. Full stop. The conclusion they reach is that the Russian armed forces are far less ominous than we had feared, and we should not hesitate to expand NATO and push them back.

At the same time, no one, NO ONE, in the West has commented on a few obvious facts that place the Russian ‘military operation’ totally outside the traditions of invasions or other acts of aggression. The Russians’ choice of words to describe what they were about to do was anything but arbitrary. They had specific objectives of ‘demilitarization’ and ‘denazification,’ to which was added in the past couple of weeks, almost as an afterthought, to secure the Donbas from any further attacks by Ukrainian forces positioned on the other side of the line of demarcation. The importance of the last-named would not be obvious to Western readers, because the only war pictures put up on Western media are those showing suffering of residents of Mariupol or Khamatorsk. However, Russian television viewers are shown daily the consequences of Ukrainian missile and artillery barrages on the civilian population of Donetsk and surrounding villages, with a daily death toll and casualties requiring hospitalization. This is only the tail of a story of vicious attacks in violation of the Minsk Accords that goes back eight years and produced more than 14,000 civilian deaths, of which the West has chosen to be oblivious to this very day.

The appointment several days ago of General Dvornikov to head the next phase of the war, the full liberation of the Donbas and liquidation of the main concentration of the Ukrainian ground forces, received immediate comment in the Western media. Russian media are just beginning to catch up and publish their evaluation of what changes in the conduct of the war may result.

Dvornikov distinguished himself as commander of Russia’s very successful military operation in Syria. He was known for effective coordination of air and ground forces, something for which the first phase of the war did not seem impressive, whether because of incompetence, as Western analysts insisted, or because of avoidance of collateral damage and loss of civilian life within the constraints of a geography where the enemy troops were intermixed with residential housing, as the Russian narrative insisted. The new battlefield in Donbas would be far better suited to “technical” solutions of artillery and missile strikes.

However, the appointment of Dvornikov is only one sign that the Russian Way of War is being reconsidered at present in the highest levels of the Russian command. In part, this is so because of the ever more daring, or shall we say reckless American and NATO promises to supply heavy armaments to Kiev. The alarm bells rang in Moscow yesterday over statements by a Deputy Secretary of Defense in Washington that the next level of support to Kiev would include intermediate range missiles capable of striking at airfields within Russia.

The Russian response to that threat was immediate. General Konashenkov, the spokesman of the Russian military throughout the campaign, issued a special announcement that any attacks on Russian territory coming from Ukraine would result in Russia’s directing strikes at the decision-making instances in Kiev, which the Russian command had so far chosen not to do. This obviously means the Ministry of Defense, Zelensky’s presidential administration, perhaps the Rada, as well as their handmaidens including Ukrainian television towers would now be instantly destroyed. De facto regime change would be the direct consequence.

While the leaders of several European countries have in the last couple of days publicly discussed whether Russian actions in Ukraine constitute “genocide,” as Joe Biden blithely declared, no one seems to remark on the most glaring contradictions to any notion of Russia’s presently staging an all-out war in Ukraine.

Ursula van der Leyen, Boris Johnson and the prime ministers of Poland and several Baltic States calmly travel to Kiev, stroll down the boulevards of central Kiev together with Zelensky, as if no war existed. To be sure, they are surrounded by security escorts, but these are only of value should there be some violent passersby on their route. The possibility of a Russian missile attack seems not to cross anyone’s mind. In light of Konashenkov’s remarks, all that may change abruptly at any moment.

Finally, I am obliged to mention that not all military professionals in Russia have remained silent over how the ‘military operation’ is being conducted. Last week, reporting live from Mariupol and surveying the scene of utter destruction around him, Yevgeny Poddubny, the most experienced war correspondent of Russian state television, veteran of the Syrian war and other hotspots, quietly muttered, as if spontaneously: “in a military campaign you normally bring in forces six times the numbers of your opponent and here we were nearly matched in numbers.” Surely therer was nothing “offhanded” about that.

The point was repeated in yesterday’s edition of the semi-official newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta in an interview with Lieutenant General Leonid Reshetnikov, a retired officer of the foreign intelligence service. Reshetnikov said:

“When on the attack, military science tells you that you should have a minimum of three times the numbers of the defending side. But on the ground, according to available information, we are artacking from a minority position. We are achieving results that come very rarely in history, in Izyum, in Novaya Kakhovka and in other territories. This shows the mastery of our soldiers and command.” Yes, Reshetnikov has cast his remarks as a compliment, but the hidden criticism is there for anyone who cares to look closely.

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From the beginning, I have directed attention to what Russian social, academic and political elites have to say about the ‘special military operation.’ One of my key markers has been the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov political talk show and yesterday’s edition provided a lot of food for thought.

First, with regard to sanctions, there was near unanimity among the panelists that it is time for Russia to respond directly and strongly to the full economic and hybrid war that the United States and Europe are now waging against their country. They call for an immediate cut-off of gas supplies to Europe, to an embargo on export of titanium and other essential raw materials for advanced industrial production in the West. One alternative to these cruel and devastating moves against Europe would be to try it all out first on Japan, which has been a fervent enforcer of the trade war on Russia and even in the past few days publicly came out in support of the Azov ultranationalists, by removing them from the list of global terrorists. Russia should impose a total commercial embargo on Japan, beginning with hydrocarbons and extending into all spheres, such as fishing concessions. Moreover, Russia should position tactical nuclear weapons and other significant armaments on the Kurile Islands as a firm reminder of who owns these territories now and forever.

As regards military action, the consensus of the panelists was also in favor of all-out war on Ukraine, to hell with collateral civilian casualties. The war must be ended quickly, decisively and with minimum further Russian casualties. Period. As several noted, it is highly likely that television viewers are also confused by Russia’s ‘softly, softly’ approach till now. While they trust the Commander in Chief, they want more decisive action in the air and on the ground. It is worth mentioning that the panelist who represents Russia’s ‘creative’ classes, director general of the Mosfilm studios, Karen Shakhnazarov, who had been wavering in his support for the war a couple of weeks ago, was now ‘all in’ and doing his best to find solutions to winning the kinetic war at once.

Then there was also the question of war mobilization. The consensus of panelists was that the Russian economy has to be put on a full war footing, with decision making concentrated in the Executive and removed from the hands of entrepreneurs. This is required not for the ongoing conflict with Ukraine but for continuation of the wider war with the U.S.-led West that constitutes the context for the conflict. Dispatch of longer range missiles to Kiev would make the USA a cobelligerent and Russia should be prepared to strike at the ‘decision making’ institutions there.

In short, the logic of the discussion on Solovyov’s show was that the Russians should make perfectly plain to Washington that it is courting disaster, that we are not in a video game but in a life and death struggle in which Americans do not enjoy immortality.

How much of this feistiness will influence the next moves from the Kremlin remains to be seen. But American analysts would do well to cast an eye on programs like Solovyov’s lest we all move on to end of the world scenarios out of ignorance and miscalculation.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2022

https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/04/14/ ... -part-two/

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The War in Ukraine Marks a Turning Point in Power in the World
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 14, 2022
James ONeill

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One of the interesting features of the ongoing war in Ukraine is the extent to which the Australian mainstream media has almost entirely ceased to bother offering an objective assessment of what is actually happening in the ongoing war in that country. The latest examples refer to the alleged murder of citizens in the town of Bucha by Russian soldiers. The allegations of the Ukrainian forces are accepted without question. The facts of the case create a different picture.

The Russian troops had vacated the town four days before the discovery of the deceased victims, most of whom who had been shot in the head with their arms bound together. The gap between the departure of the Russian soldiers and the revealing of the deceased was not less than three days, or more likely four. Reports from the city in the first days after the departure of the Russians made no mention of the finding of any bodies.

This gap is something in entirely missing from Western mainstream media accounts. Similarly missing from media accounts is that the city was re-occupied by members of the Neo-Nazi battalion whose hatred for Russian speaking persons (who were the victims) is well established. Western mainstream media have reported the finding of these bodies, days after the Russians left, without pointing out the obvious problem with
“the Russians did it” official narrative. The Western governments (nearly all members of NATO) that have supported the Ukrainian government, have leapt upon the incident as a reason to express horror at the alleged Russian atrocities and to propose further restrictions on the purchase of Russian goods.

It is in this context that NATO has held a meeting in Brussels on the sixth and seventh of April. The Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg said that the NATO allies are “determined to provide further support to Ukraine, including the provisions of weapons.” This is something the Australian government has also done. That it makes them a party to the ongoing war and therefore a legitimate target of attack is something that seems not to have entered the limited brain cells of Australia’s foreign minister.

Not content with mounting an attack on Russia, Stoltenberg also said that NATO would “need to take account of China’s growing influence inclusive and coercive policies on the global stage, which pose a systemic challenge to our security, and to our democracies.” The last time anyone looked, NATO was an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Stoltenberg’s comments draw attention to the fact that NATO’s ambitions are in fact worldwide. It is no less than a United States vehicle to enhance the United States’ pretentions to worldwide domination.

Stoltenberg’s speech coincided in terms of timing with the evidence given to the Defence Appropriations Subcommittee of the United States Congress by Admiral Charles Richards. His testimony related to the “systemic challenge” posed by the rise of China. He said that China “continues the breathtaking expansion of its strategic and nuclear forces with opaque intentions as to their use.”

Richards went on to say that “the strategic security environment is now a three-party nuclear peer reality, where the PRC and Russia are stressing and undermining international law, the rules-based order, and norms in every domain. Never before has this nation simultaneously faced two nuclear capable near peers who must be deterred differently. Today, both the PRC and Russia have the capability to unilaterally escalate a conflict to any level of violence, any domain, worldwide, with any instrument of national power, and at any time.”

In the case of Russia, the Admiral noted “its novel and advanced weapon delivery systems, many of which are capable of hypersonic speeds and flight path adjustments designed to avoid United States missile defence systems. They continue to develop additional strategic systems with new hypersonic warheads to expand the range of threats against the United States.”

In the case of Russia, the Admiral noted “its novel and advanced weapon delivery systems, many of which are capable of hypersonic speeds and flight path adjustments designed to avoid United States missile defence systems. They continue to develop additional strategic systems with new hypersonic warheads to expand the range of threats against the United States.”

Of the admiral’s conclusions the one that was of most significance was his claim that China and Russia both “actively seek to change the international rules-based order, while the United States and our allies and partners seek to defend it.”

These statements by both Stoltenberg and Richards highlight the critical importance of the current conflict in Ukraine. A defeat of Russia in the conflict would force a rethink of the non-western international community (currently overwhelmingly supportive of Russia,) although you won’t read that in the local newspapers as to the lack of capability of the United States led Western alliance. Conversely, Russia’s victory in that war, which looks increasingly likely to be the case, would inevitably speed the decline of the West as a major global player.

Which points to the real reason for the support for Ukraine given by the United States and its European stooges. The outcome of that conflict is of critical importance because the conflict is being closely watched around the world. There are two possible outcomes. On the one hand, if Russia is defeated by a United States led Western alliance, then the current perception around the world of the United States as a declining power would be reversed. On the other hand, for Russia to win this conflict would inevitably result in an acceleration of the world’s perceptions of the declining western power structure as a force to be reckoned with, and in the American perception, feared.

In short, the West needs to win in Ukraine to reverse the disintegration of United States and Europe in the eyes of the world. Such a victory looks increasingly unlikely. The world is undergoing massive changes in its balance of power. The emphasis has shifted from West to East and the speed of the transition has been markedly affected by the conflict in Ukraine. The West is showing a remarkable tendency to completely misjudge the resilience of Russia and the impact upon its own position of so disastrously misjudging the course of events.

What we are witnessing is of historical significance. The war in Ukraine truly marks the end of an era. The West should have noted the refusal of the developing world to condemn the Russian move. Its implications will be profound in its effects. Western hegemony has at last been given the proverbial boot. It is not before time.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... the-world/

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Russian MoD Analysis of Documents Related to US Biological Warfare Activities in Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 14, 2022

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Briefing on the results of the analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine (April 14, 2022)

A special military operation by Russian troops has yielded additional information on US military and biological activities in Ukraine, confirming numerous violations of the Biological Weapons Convention.

Taking advantage of existing gaps in international law and the lack of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration has consistently built up its military-biological capabilities in various regions of the world.

The Russian Federation has made continuous efforts to establish a BTWC verification mechanism, but this initiative has been consistently blocked by the collective West, led by the US, since 2001.

The existing UN Secretary-General’s Mechanism to Investigate the Suspected Use of Biological and Toxin Weapons, as well as the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare and Military Conflict, do not cover the verification of States Parties’ biological activities. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, has no such authority either.

We have previously provided a scheme for US coordination of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine.

One of its elements is the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre (STCU), a seemingly non-public organisation that has nothing to do with the Pentagon.

The Russian Defence Ministry has managed to uncover its role in US military and biological activities in Ukraine.

According to its statutes, the STCU is an international intergovernmental organisation established to “…prevent the spread of knowledge and expertise related to weapons of mass destruction…”.

Its legal status is defined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada, the USA and Sweden and the Protocol of Amendment of July 7, 1997.

STCU is headquartered in Kiev and has regional offices in Baku, Chisinau and Tbilisi, as well as in Kharkov and Lvov.

However, the Russian Ministry of Defence’s Chemical and Biological Threat Expertise Centre found that the STCU’s main activity is to act as a distribution centre for grants for research of interest to the Pentagon, including biological weapons research.

In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $350 million on STCU projects.

The U.S. customers and sponsors of STCU are the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.

In addition, note the document prepared by the STCU curators, dated March 11, 2022, which underlines the true nature of this organisation. It notes, quote: “…there has been an outflow of scientific experts in the development of means of delivery and advanced weaponry who have worked for Ukrainian institutions, as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The best-trained professionals with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies (between 1,000 and 4,000) have found themselves in unfavourable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to defection to other states to participate in programmes to develop WMD, delivery systems and other weapons…”.

By using such words, Washington actually acknowledges Ukrainian experts’ work on the development of weapons of mass destruction delivery and use, and considers it appropriate to continue funding them.

Here are the names of the officials who were involved in the military-biological programmes.

The post of STCU executive director is held by Bjelajac Curtis Michael, a US citizen. Born August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at California’s Anderson University of Management. He holds a master’s degree in international finance and has worked in Ukraine since 1994.

The European Union chairman of the STCU board is Maier Eddie Arthur; the US chairman is Phil Dolliff, who is the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programmes.

Documents received by the Russian Ministry of Defence confirm STCU’s ties to the US military department. The slide shows a formal recommendation from the US State Department endorsing the STCU’s cooperation with the Pentagon’s main contractor, Black & Veach. The correspondence expresses the willingness of Matthew Webber, the company’s vice president, to work with the STCU on ongoing military-biological research in Ukraine.

Between 2014 and 2022, the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre implemented five hundred R&D projects in post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan).

US supervisors were primarily interested in dual-use research, such as project 6166, Development of Technologies for Modelling, Evaluation and Prediction of Effects of Conflicts and Threats of Mass Destruction Weapons Spread, and project 9601, Transfer of Ukrainian Technologies for the Production of Complex Dual-Use Materials to the European Union.

Many of them are aimed at studying potential biological weapons agents (plague, tularaemia) and pathogens of economic importance (pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever).

Projects P-364, 444, and 781, aimed at studying the spread of dangerous pathogens through insect vectors, wild birds, and bats, were funded by the Centre directly in the interests of the military department.

Note the documents of Project 3007 “Monitoring of the epidemiological and environmental situation regarding hazardous diseases of aquatic origin in Ukraine”.

During the work, Ukrainian specialists, supervised by American scientists, systematically collected water samples in a number of major Ukrainian rivers, including the Dnepr, Danube and Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal, to determine the presence of particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E pathogens, and draw conclusions about their possible waterborne spread.

The project assessed the damage properties of the selected samples and deposited the strains in a collection and subsequently exported them to the USA.

This is a map of Ukraine’s water resources. Its analysis shows that the results of this work can be used to create an unfavourable biological situation not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as well as in Eastern Europe – Belarus, Moldova and Poland.

Our concern about Washington’s activities in Ukraine stems from the fact that, contrary to its international obligations, the US has retained norms in its national legislation that allow for work in the field of biological weapons.

The ratification of the 1925 Geneva Protocol by the United States was accompanied by a number of reservations, one of which allows for the retaliatory use of chemical and toxin weapons.

Under the US Federal Unity and Cohesion Against Terrorism Act, research into biological weapons is permitted with the approval of the US government. Participants in such research are not criminally liable for developing such weapons.

Thus, the US administration is implementing the principle that domestic law takes precedence over international law in this area. The most ethically controversial research is conducted outside national jurisdictions.

Thus, during the special operation in Ukraine, it was established that US scientists from a laboratory in Merefa (Kharkov Region) were testing potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No 3 in Kharkov between 2019 and 2021.

Persons with mental disorders were selected for the experiments on the basis of their age, nationality and immune status. Special forms were used to record the results of 24-hour patient monitoring. The information was not entered into the hospital database and the staff of the medical institution signed a non-disclosure agreement.

In January 2022, the laboratory in Merefa was shut down and all equipment and preparations were moved to western Ukraine.

There are a number of witnesses to these inhuman experiments, whose names we cannot disclose for the sake of their safety.

Finally, in a previous briefing we described a technical device for the delivery and application of biological formulations that has been patented in the US.

At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment.

It is a matter of concern that on March9, three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-litre containers and equipment for spraying formulations were detected by Russian reconnaissance units in Kherson region.

In January 2022, Ukraine reportedly purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediary organisations, which can be used to apply biological formulations and toxic chemicals.

We continue to analyse the evidence of crimes committed by the US administration and the Kiev regime in Ukraine.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... n-ukraine/

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Readovka
At the border checkpoint in the Crimea, the border with the Kherson region was blocked for non-military cargo

According to the source of Readovka, about 2/3 of the entire cargo traffic was stuck at the border , including trucks with supplies and fuel. The reasons for the border closure are not reported.

“We walked in military convoys so as not to stand in lines for 12 hours, there was an inspection, but the passage was just on the passport. Now they said to "customize" the goods and stand in line with everyone, for 12 hours. But Russians cannot legally cross the border, only with a Ukrainian passport,” a source told Readovka.

In particular, the closure of the border is confirmed by a video from Armyansk – there, due to new transportation rules, a fuel truck intended for a farmer for sowing “got up”.

“We are so lucky that from today there are new rules for passing the border. We traveled for almost a month, carried humanitarian aid twice a week, to people, dogs and cats, but from today the traffic flow was stopped. It's a shame, only food and fuel prices went down. Gasoline, for example, fell to 75 rubles from 180, ” said military commander Roman Saponkov.

Recall that problems at border checkpoints are also observed in the Rostov region - there, according to unreasonable demands from the authorities, cargoes with humanitarian aid and equipment for the military are massively delayed . Even books and icons are confiscated for “checking”, and the “expertise” itself lasts for days, and sometimes weeks, because of which military personnel have to be left without vital things, which just get stuck on the border.

***

forwarded from
direct action⚡Z
An "Interbrigade" fighter died. Irishman

I don't know where it happened - now their detachment is already in Rubizhne. I don't know when it happened - I got a call from a strange man on April 1st, confused in his testimony. I chose not to believe, but the information was confirmed.

A professional womanizer, drunkard and military man Mark McCain, aka Mark Krylov, an Irish citizen, better known in the LDNR as an Irishman , died.

He graduated from a military school in Latvia, it seems that he was still studying to be a military psychologist. Wherever he has not been in the role of a soldier of fortune: in the French Foreign Legion and even in Iraq on the side of the Americans, where he was tried for violating an order, he refused to clean up the civilian population. In general, he did not speak very well of America. And then a Russian woman unknown to me in Ireland, Mark's mother-in-law, did two good deeds: she taught the Irishman swearing Russian and in 2014 enrolled him in the Interbrigade. So he ended up here.

The “Mongoose” detachment, the 2nd brigade of the LPR, “Pyatnashka”, again the 2nd brigade ... Everywhere he was next to the National Bolsheviks. And at the beginning of 2022, the Irishman signed a contract with the 7th brigade of the LPR. The beginning of the special operation found him in Luhansk - the commander of the reconnaissance group was picking up guys for himself. It's not a fast thing. On the evening of March 8, he showed up on my doorstep with a basket of flowers and disappeared. The next day he left for the location. Two days later - to the front. I didn't see him again. But someday I will, in Valhalla, after our victory. For which he has done so much.

Natalya Chernova

***

forwarded from Open Ukraine | Ukraine
2:31
Ukraine is experiencing the tragedy of the death of the Mariupol garrison. This is grief for the relatives and loved ones of those who died there, but for Cocainissimus, this is a hype. Nobody was going to save the soldiers abandoned there, they were needed to cause maximum damage to residential areas and create a picture of destruction

***

forwarded from
Fake war. Analytics
The OSCE has prepared a large report describing the "war crimes" committed by both the Russian and Ukrainian military during the special operation.

Basically, the commission of “crimes” is attributed to Russian troops, although the mission also confirmed the fact of ill-treatment of prisoners of war by the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as their violation of the Geneva Convention - we are talking about the publication by the Ukrainian side of personal data of Russian military and video materials with torture.

We analyzed the report and stated with regret: it turns out that the OSCE believes Ukrainian fakes, which have already been repeatedly exposed. Details are in our material .
Telegraph
Fake news from the OSCE. What is wrong with the report on the events in Ukraine
The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Special Rapporteurs Group has published a 108-page preliminary report on the events in Ukraine between February 24 and April 1. It contains an investigation into alleged “military…
198.9Kviews
03:46

***

American military correspondent Patrick Lancaster about the found corpses of civilians in Mariupol, among whom were people with their hands tied. Video strictly 18+ You

can subscribe to Patrick Lancaster's channel here https://t.me/PatrickLancaterNewsToday
260.0Kviews
edited
03:12

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forwarded from
BelVPO
The probable nature of the alleged counter-offensive actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. American version.

The Ukrainian army is concentrating its main efforts on inflicting a flank attack on the Russian grouping of troops in the Kharkiv region and defeating the units of the RF Armed Forces in the Kherson region.

The alleged plan of the Ukrainian General Staff (according to the American expert opinion):

the Armed Forces of Ukraine intends to deter the Russian strike with the help of three light (airborne, airborne and motorized infantry) brigades;

to the three brigades (4th, 17th tank and 92nd mechanized) available in the Kharkov region, it is planned to transfer four more brigades from the Kiev and Chernihiv regions (72nd and 93rd mechanized, dshbr), which should strike at the flank of the Russian grouping of troops in the Izyum area.

In the Nikolaev area, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are planning a secondary strike, for which it is planned to regroup two brigades (5th tank and 122nd mechanized) from the Odessa area to two available in the Nikolaev area (80th airborne brigade and 124th territorial).
245.5Kviews
02:19

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 16, 2022 1:26 pm

LIVE: US Thinks Conflict in Ukraine May Continue Till Late 2022

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) arrives to deliver remarks on the release of the 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from the Press Briefing Room at the State Department in Washington, DC, USA 12 April 2022. | Photo: EFE/EPA/SHAWN THEW

Published 15 April 2022

In response to Ukrainian air raids carried out on Thursday, Moscow warned that its forces would retaliate against attacks on Russian soil.

On April 15, Russian troops continue to consolidate their positions in Mariupol. Negotiations to reach an immediate and permanent ceasefire are stalled. Below are the latest developments as they happen.

Germany to allocate over 1 billion euros for military aid to Kiev

Berlin will allocate 2 billion euros for military aid to "other countries," a representative of the German government has confirmed to dpa news agency.

Most of the funds will go to help Ukraine, she said. This is more than a billion euros.

It is noted that about 400 million euros are envisaged for the European Peace Facility, which buys weapons for Ukraine.

US thinks special operation in Ukraine may continue until late 2022 - CNN


According to the channel, this means a significant review of US estimates, who earlier expected the Russian military operation to be over quickly.

EU foreign policy chief, Kiev officials discuss situation in Ukraine

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in a Twitter post he had talked to Ukrainian government officials on Friday to discuss the current situation in the country.

"Spoke to Deputy Prime Minister [Olga] Stefanishina, Defense Minister [Alexey] Reznikov and Foreign Minister [Dmitry] Kuleba today on latest military developments on the ground," Borrell said.

Combat tactics of Ukrainian nationalists reminiscent of Nazi Germany - Russian official

Ukrainian nationalists employ combat tactics reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s methods during the World War II, Russian Investigative Committee Chair Alexander Bastrykin said on Friday.

"Combat tactics and methods employed by Ukrainian nationalists before and after the special operationof the Russian armed forces are similar to methods used by Nazis during World War II. Firing at civilians in order to kill and intimidate, using them as human shield during retreat, planting bombs and mines at important social facilities is widespread," he said in an article, published by the committee’s official journal, headlined Investigator’s notes.

Bastrykin stressed that Ukraine has turned into a country, whose ideology is based on Russophobia.

"They used the rostrum of Verkhovna Rada [national parliament] to declare Russian-speaking population, including those living in Donbass, ‘biological waste’ and designate Russia as the country’s main enemy. Moreover, back in 2021, Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on indigenous peoples of Ukraine, which makes no mention of Russians," Bastrykin wrote.

Since 2014, over 165,000 people have been interviewed and over 45,000 listed as victims (including over 7,700 minors) in criminal cases, launched by Russian investigators over the events in Ukraine.

Thousands take part in pro-Russian rally in Serbia’s Belgrade

A major rally involving thousands of participants in support of Russia took place in Serbia’s Belgrade Friday.

The participants, who gathered near the monument to Russian Emperor Nicholas II in downtown Belgrade, carried flags of Russia, Serbia, Novorossiya, Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic. The participants opposed the vote on Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council, which Serbia had to join under Western pressure.

The rally took place under the slogan "not in my name." Thus, Serbian people want to show that they do not support anti-Russian steps in the UN.

The rally started with anthems of Russia and Serbia. Following a 40-minute rally, the participants organized a march and moved out towards the Russian Embassy in Serbia. The column of people was over 1 kilometer long.

From time to time, the participants stopped and chanted negative slogans towards NATO.

According to Serbian media, prior to the UN vote, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic was visited by ambassadors of EU and G7 states. During the meeting, Serbia was directly told that failure to support the anti-Russian resolution will result in cessation of crude oil supply, which would deal a huge blow to Serbian economy. Furthermore, Belgrade was warned about potential "full blockade of European integration, which means closing Brussels’ cash register," as well as a barrier for investments and potential outflow of Western investments already made in Serbia.

Following the vote in the UN, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated that his country supported Russia’s suspension from the Human Rights Council over pressure and blackmail of the West. The resolution was supported by 93 states, while 24 voted against and 58 abstained. On April 8, local media reported that the EU excluded Serbia from the list of states, covered by sanctions for import of Russian oil.

Russia will intensify its attacks on Kyiv in response to attacks on its territory. On Friday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that "the number and scale of missile strikes against Kyiv facilities will increase in response to any terrorist attack or sabotage committed by the nationalist regime in Kyiv on Russian territory."

On Thursday, the Russian Investigative Committee announced the opening of a criminal investigation into the shelling of the town of Klimovo in the Bryansk region by two Ukrainian helicopters that caused seven injuries.

A Russian missile destroyed one of the helicopters when it was going back to its base in Ukraine. Over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian attacks have also been recorded in Russian towns such as Spodariouchino and Jouravlevka.

Russia opens criminal case against Colombian for false news. The Investigation Committee today opened a criminal case against Alberto Giraldo Saray, a Colombian citizen who is accused of spreading fake news about the Russian military operation.

"Between March 8 and 18, Giraldo Saray, in prior agreement with people who directed him from abroad, was in charge of the technical preparation of six mobile devices that were hidden in a Moscow shopping center," authorities said.

"Managed by remote control, these devices carried out a massive sending of SMS messages with false information about the actions of the Armed Forces in Ukraine, including alleged murders of civilians."

The Russian authorities carried out a search in the Colombian's residence, where they seized objects and documents as evidence. Giraldo Saray, who has lived in Russia for several years, was sentenced on April 11 to almost two months in preventive detention at the request of the Attorney General's Office.

If he is proven guilty, he could be fined up to US$67,000, sentenced to five years of compulsory social work, or jailed for up to 10 years.


Polish mercenaries die in Ukraine. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov confirmed that around 30 Polish mercenaries were killed in the town of Izyumskoye, in the Kharkov region, in northeastern Ukraine.

French Legion Soldiers were seen among Ukrainian Troops. Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko announced French legion soldiers were seen on Ukrainian territory fighting alongside other mercenaries.

"These facts will be documented and investigated as part of a criminal case on the recruitment and participation of foreign mercenaries," she said.

Italy cannot verify whether there is a genocide in Ukraine. In an interview on Radio Rai1, Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi di Maio stated that "Italy does not have the elements to verify whether a genocide is taking place in Ukraine." He argued that the European Union should determine based on evidence if war crimes have happened in that country.

Nevertheless, "what we have seen in Bucha and Krematorsk... is atrocious and terrifying. We will have to bring those responsible to international justice," he said, adding that his ministry is working to reestablish the Italian embassy in Kyiv in the next few days.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0007.html

Countries Willing to Pay for Russian Gas in Rubles on the Rise

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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says Russia expects other importers to make their decisions. Apr. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@ArthurBenta

Published 15 April 2022 (13 hours 7 minutes ago)


Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that several Russian natural gas buyers have arranged to switch to payment in rubles. The decision is expected to be adopted by other importers as well.

On April 1, a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin came into force, which requires non-friendly nations to pay for supplies of Russian gas only in rubles.

According to the deputy prime minister, Moscow's energy resources are vital to ensuring energy security in Europe. In this regard, he said that countries of the European Union (EU) would probably be unable to fully substitute Russian energy in the following five to ten years.

The measure, which requires unfriendly countries to access Russian natural gas only through payments in rubles, was adopted in the wake of the large number of sanctions imposed on Moscow since Russia's special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 and targeted hostile nations that have frozen Russian foreign exchange reserves via sanctions.

Buyers who operate from those non-friendly countries must open two accounts at Russian Gazprombank, one in euros and the other in rubles, as determined by Russia. The gas payment would go to the euro account; afterward, the bank would switch it to rubles. Once the rubles arrive, the bank will consider the payments to be completed.

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country agrees to pay for Russian gas following the suggested procedure and added that Hungary deems it is not an infringement of the EU regime of sanctions.

For his part, Armenia's Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said that his country has already completed several payments for Russian gas in rubles.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cou ... -0017.html

Russian Forces Stroke 217 Targets in Ukraine

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Russian MoD said that Moscow's forces have hit 217 military targets. Apr. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@mod_russia

Published 15 April 2022


On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that its military forces have stroke 217 military facilities in Ukrainian territory.

According to the report released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Friday, the country's missile troops and artillery hit 217 military facilities in Ukraine, as the aviation forces have destroyed six other targets.

Major General Igor Konashénkov, the spokesperson for the Russian MoD, said that 15 command posts were eliminated alongside 201 fortifications and a concentration zone for the Kiev forces. He added that the aviation forces hit an artillery battery, two multiple rocket launchers, two missile and artillery weapons depots, and three assembly areas of Ukrainian military personnel and equipment.

The Spokesperson of the Ministry said that the strike of the Russian military forces had prevented, earlier in the day, an attempt by nationalist units to attack the Kajovka hydroelectric power plant in Ukraine with two Tochka-U tactical missiles.

Konashénkov explained that the missiles were hit in the air by Moscow air forces, despite some of the pieces falling in the Kherson region, resulting in a woman and a child injured and damaging a nursery and residential buildings.


After the beginning of the Russian special military operation last February 24 on Ukrainian soil, the Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed that the military actions carried out were not targeting Ukrainian citizens or cities but the country’s military infrastructure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to conduct the special operation in Ukrainian territory after the request made by the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk calling for help and with the objective of denazify and demilitarizing the country.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0015.html

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Donetsk evacuates more than 500 people from the city of Mariupol

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A total of 18,429 people have been housed in the aid center of the Ministry of Emergencies of the Donetsk People's Republic. | Photo: EFE
Published April 16, 2022 (2 hours 23 minutes ago)

Russia sent a formal note to the United States warning of the consequences of increased military aid to Ukraine.

The military authorities of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) reported this Saturday that around 500 people were evacuated from the city of Mariupol in the last 24 hours.

According to the authorities, the evacuated citizens were housed in shelters and in the aid center of the DPR Ministry of Emergencies.

A total of 18,429 people have been housed in this center since March 5.


Russia this week sent a formal complaint to the US government warning of the consequences of increased military aid to Ukraine.

According to US media, Moscow warned the US and NATO to send weapons to Ukraine, judging that said military equipment could lead to an increase in the conflict and cause unforeseeable consequences.


A Russian message to NATO and the US administration

The sending of weapons to Ukraine must stop, otherwise there will be unforeseen serious consequences. #Ukraine #Russia #America #Kyiv pic.twitter.com/05uFxFyUTR

— ����️���������� (@kooom911) April 16, 2022


The warning came as President Joe Biden pledged $800 million in new military aid to Ukraine, including helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 to protect the civilian population of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from kyiv's aggression.

The Kremlin has indicated that one of the fundamental objectives of the military operation is the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the military attacks are not directed against civilian installations, but rather seek to disable the war infrastructure and the nationalist battalions present in Ukraine.

The US, NATO and the European Union have condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine and activated several batteries of sanctions that seek to inflict the greatest possible damage on the Russian economy.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/donestk- ... -0006.html

Moscow says elimination of Ukrainian nationalists is a priority

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Peskov affirmed that his country will continue to confront the nationalist battalions in the regions where they have attacked the civilian population. | Photo: EFE
Published April 16, 2022 (7 hours 19 minutes ago)

Dmitry Peskov warned that peaceful life is returning where nationalist armed groups have not attacked civilians.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the elimination of nationalist battalions in Ukraine is a primary task of the special military operation undertaken by his country in eastern Ukraine and the Donbas region.

"After all, the main task is to liberate Ukraine from these nationalist battalions. The operation continues and the tasks that have been set are well known. They must and will be fulfilled. There should be no doubt about it," the senior Russian official commented.

Dmitry Peskov warned that peaceful life is returning where nationalist armed groups have not taken civilians hostage and where they have not attacked social facilities and houses.

He also said that in the places where the Ukrainian battalions have attacked the population and destroyed houses and social facilities, clashes will continue until these nationalist forces are suppressed.

On February 24, President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in the Donbas region to protect the population from attacks and aggressions from kyiv.

Putin emphasized that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-el ... -0037.html

Google Translator

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Image

Russia investigating ISIS-style Ukrainian “social ad”
Posted Apr 15, 2022 by Al Mayadeen
Originally published: Al Mayadeen (April 12, 2022 ) |

On Monday, Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into a Ukrainian social media ad calling for violence against Russian soldiers. The promo, made in a peculiar style reminiscent of ISIS propaganda films, depicts a faux execution of a Russian soldier.

It is worth noting that in early March, 450 extremist Arab and foreign nationals arrived in Ukraine from Idlib to fight against Russian forces.

The disturbing video went viral on social media over the weekend, causing fury in Russia. The video depicts a lady, presumably representing Ukraine, making a harsh speech against Russians, with a ‘prisoner’ dressed in Russian military uniform kneeling at her side. The actress blames Russian “pigs” for ridiculing, oppressing, and killing Ukrainians for a long time, but claims that things have changed.

“There’s a new social ad out in Ukraine”

Girl wearing a Ukrainian Gown slits the throat of a Russian soldier. Whole thing has been taken in the ISIS style. I wonder when the Europeans will get to realise that Ukraine embodies ISIS backed by their leaders in the heart of Europe? pic.twitter.com/7cT2vSclM0

— Moonlight (@DCS8732) April 10, 2022



“Something terrible woke up the peace-loving and grain-growing nation. Something that has been dormant for centuries in the bowels of the Dnieper banks. Primordial and antique Ukrainian god. And now we’re reaping a bloody harvest. Death awaits you all,” she says, while she is depicted as slitting the throat of the Russian prisoner with a sickle.


Calls for violence
The actress featured in the video, Andrianna Kurilets, a small-time actress, has deleted her social media accounts following the ad’s publication.

An official criminal investigation is underway by Russia’s investigative Committee for “calls for violence against officers of the Russian Armed Forces,” adding that in the ad, the actress “Voices extremist statements and cuts a man’s throat with a sickle while smiling. This video has been circulated on social networks and contains explicit hate speech, as well as threats.”

Last month, Russia began investigating a violent video purportedly showing the abuse of prisoners of war at the hands of the Ukrainian military.

According to the Committee, the location of the videos is speculated to be in the eastern region of Kharkov, which is a hub for Ukrainian nationalists.

Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov revealed that Ukrainian nationalist battalions are copying the tactics of international terrorists in Syria.

“Nationalist battalions are using so-called ‘Bandera cars’ which are cross-country vehicles with large-caliber firearms or mortars mounted on them. Let me remind that this tactic is practiced by international terrorists in Syria,” Konashenkov told reporters.

Ukraine’s extremism has been increasingly prevalent in recent months. The Ukrainian parliament in late March compared the damage of its cities to that of Nazi Germany following the allied air attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine’s leadership of having Nazi Germany sympathies, and he stated in a speech marking the commencement of Russia’s military operation on Ukraine last month that one of Russia’s aims was to “denazify” the country.

Apart from incorporating the neo-Nazi ‘Azov’ battalion into its military, the Ukrainian government has begun attempts to depict its people as genetically separate from Russians, whom Kiev leaders have publicly referred to as “orcs.”

Stepan Bandera, an infamous Ukrainian nazi collaborator, is regarded as a hero by Ukrainian nationalists. Fahruddin Sharafmal, a Ukrainian television broadcaster, sparked outrage by approvingly quoting Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in asking for the murder of Russians and their children.

https://mronline.org/2022/04/15/russia- ... social-ad/

Right from the outset I had thought that the cinematographic horrors of ISIS propaganda videos were inspired, if not directed, by some coked up nerd in Langley who had watched too many 'Sinbad' movies. This is more of the same and it will likely get worse as Ukraine's situation deteriorates, and we are talking about Nazis after all.

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CP of the RUssian Federation, Liberal fascism is revealing its sinister plans
4/14/22 10:28 AM

Liberal fascism is revealing its sinister plans

Statement by the Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel has stated that confrontation between Ukraine and Russia "must be won on the battlefield”

J. Borrel is a long–time opponent of Russia. Back in May 2019, he called our country an "old enemy." But his current statement is of a new qualitative nature. Borrel has publicly revealed the plans of Western strategists, which were closely kept in secret until now. This is not a war between Russia and Ukraine. This is the NATO war against Russia, where the Ukrainian nation is used as a cannon fodder.

The words "negotiations" or "political settlement" have disappeared from the vocabulary of Western politicians and their Kiev vassals. In the West and in Kiev as well, exclusively militant speeches are in the air. Weapon supplies and mercenaries are flooding Ukraine. The false information warfare is on the way in extremely aggressive manner.

At the same time, Western "democracies" do not hesitate to use the most disgusting bloody provocations. It has been already confirmed that the "Bucha massacre” was of a staged nature, as well as Tochka-U missile strike at the station in Kramatorsk killing more than 50 civilians, was done by Bandera troops.

But as the chief of Hitler's propaganda Goebbels stated "the more terrible the lie, the more willing they are to believe it." Since the West needs to justify the atrocities of its vassals, new bloody provocations can be expected.

The United States and its allies do not just ignore the fact that the present power in Ukraine is under control of outright Nazis. They protect these rotten sons who are the successors of fascist criminals and perpetrators of the gravest crimes against the people of Ukraine. Confirmation of this is the voting procedure on December 7, 2021 on the UN resolution entitled "Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo–Nazism, and other forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia".

Only two countries, in fact, have supported fascism by voting against the resolution: these are the USA and Ukraine. 49 countries abstained. Among those who refused to condemn Nazism are all "democracies", many of which had been fighting on Hitler's side, and currently provide Bandera with weapon systems along with political and propaganda cover.

In particular, they are Great Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

Even American congressmen with alarm speak about the fact that Ukraine has turned into a world center of neo-Nazism. But the real power in America is in hands of those who support Bandera neo-Nazis. The United States is forcing all NATO allies to drive weapons to Ukraine, forcing them to buy new American weapons, thereby increasing profits of "sellers of death" in the United States.

The smoke screen of the "struggle for universal values" has been dropped. Josep Borrel has publicly equated the European Union, NATO and Bandera troops. The West can no longer hide its historical hatred of Russia along with desire to suppress it, relying again on the most sinister forces in the face of neo-Nazism.

In these conditions, the solidarity of all progressive forces of the world is essential. It is necessary to mobilize all the spiritual, intellectual and economic resources of Russia to repel fascism.

The country needs a new course based on the proposals submitted by the Communist Party. The social and economic policy of the Russian state must undergo fundamental changes in order not only removing sanctions stranglehold, but also to embark on the path of independence in import and accelerated industrialization, relying on the creative genius of the people, on the enormous natural resources and production potential of Russia.

Our future is socialism!



G. Zyuganov

Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee

http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-the-R ... ter-plans/

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Cleaning up the plant named after Ilyich
colonelcassad
April 16, 10:39

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Footage of the cleansing of the plant named after Ilyich in Mariupol. Taken from a drone.
The plant itself came under the control of the DPR army yesterday. Most of the personnel were killed, wounded or captured. The remnants fled to "Azovstal" or dispersed, trying to merge with the civilian population and escape from the city.
The main center of resistance in Mariupol is the Azovstal region. Also, fighting is taking place in the Primorsky district, where the cleansing is ongoing, as well as in the residential area of ​​the Levoberezhny district adjacent directly to the eastern outskirts of Azovstal.

(Video at link.)

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7561230.html

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 16, 2022 3:49 pm

Ukrainian refuseniks on why many won’t fight for Ukraine
April 15, 2022 Fergie Chambers

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Protesters on February 10 holding signs that read, “No war with Russia” Photo: Facebook / Ukrainian Peace Movement

Since Russia began what they call the “special operation” on February 24 in Ukraine, the corporate media has reported the Ukrainian population is united in resistance against the Russian military offensive. Aside from reports of civilians volunteering in a variety of non-military support roles, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and other state officials have urged civilians to take up arms. Then, on March 9, Zelensky approved a law that allows Ukrainians to use weapons during wartime and negates legal responsibility for any attack on people perceived to be acting in aggression against Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense even posted a graphic online with instructions on how to launch Molotov cocktails at tanks.


A poll conducted in early March by the Ukrainian sociological group, “Rating,” indicated that, of those Ukrainians surveyed, over 90 percent supported their government’s war effort, and 80 percent claimed willingness to participate in armed resistance. However, this survey excluded people who live in the self-proclaimed independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. It also did not include the 1 million Ukrainians who had by then already fled the country. Since the survey, an additional 3.6 million have fled.

Beneath the façade of chest-beating patriotism, however, lies an anti-war movement. Just as it is diverse in its motivations to oppose the war, this movement is decentralized geographically and appears not unified enough to move as one force.

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Ruslan Kotsaba, Ukrainian journalist and conscientious objector, in a cage during a recent court trial. Photo: friendspeaceteams.org

In post-Maidan Ukraine, opposition to militarism had already been a slippery slope, well before the current Russian incursion. The case of Ruslan Kotsaba, a Ukrainian journalist and conscientious objector, was perhaps the first such of state suppression under military law that had gained some degree of international attention, at least from human rights and pacifist organizations. Kotsaba was originally a proponent of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests against the government of later-ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. But he began changing course when he spoke out against the 2014 violence in the majority ethnic Russian Ukrainian region of Donbass. He posted a now-notorious YouTube video in 2015, calling for a mass boycott against the mobilization in the far eastern region. After garnering hundreds of thousands of views, Youtube yanked it. For these statements, Kotsaba was arrested, detained, and charged with treason and “obstruction of the legitimate activities of the armed forces of Ukraine.” After being sentenced to 3-1/2 years on the latter charge, and spending more than a year in prison, his conviction was overturned on appeal. But, in 2017, a higher court reopened the case and his trial recommenced in 2021. Shortly before the recent escalation with Russia, the state prosecution was suspended, though not entirely concluded. This article provides a glimpse into the prevailing sentiments toward anti-war expressions in Ukraine. It comes from a Kharkiv-based “human rights protection group,” yet it describes the suspension of his prosecution as unjust, given his “active collaboration with the Russian state.”

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Protesters holding signs that read, “No war with Russia” (right) and “No war with Ukraine” Photo: Deutsche Welle / Ukrainian Peace Movement

‘Anyone Will Rat You Out’

This reporter spoke with someone who would only go by the name, “Pavel.” He belongs to a now-banned Kyiv-based Ukrainian Marxist group. Pavel recently moved from Ukraine to Bucharest, Romania, and declined to give his real name or the name of his group. In 2015, the Communist Party was outlawed in Ukraine, on grounds it promoted “separatism.” More recently, on March 22, a month into the Russian incursion, Zelensky banned 11 mostly left-wing opposition parties. Pavel cited these bans, and the well-being of his family remaining in Ukraine, as reasons for his anonymity.

“Anyone who says anything against the military, protests against NATO, or really, opposes the government from any direction, is immediately labeled ‘pro-Russian,’” the 26-year-old told Toward Freedom. “Anyone is bound to rat you out as a Russian spy if they disagree with you: Nationalists or even other ‘leftists,’ like anarchists or progressives. Most of the country has joined forces with the nationalists. SBU [Ukrainian Secret Service] will catch wind of a protest, a meeting, or an article, and they’ll speak to their friends in the ‘civil society,’ who will send armed nationalists to ‘handle’ you.”

He spoke of a close comrade from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, who had made statements on Facebook before February 24 against NATO interference in Ukraine and in support of the Minsk Agreements, the 7-year-old brokered cease-fire accords between the Ukrainian government and Donbass separatists, who had declared independence for two Ukrainian oblasts (states), Donetsk and Lugansk. Pavel said this person had gone into hiding in early March because nationalist groups had threatened their life. The person believed nationalists were still searching for them. Pavel and the person in hiding know of others who had disappeared in years prior.

Beyond this exchange, and a handful of correspondences on WhatsApp and Telegram, it has been next to impossible to find Ukrainian war resisters who had left the country to speak on the record. This is unsurprising given that one month ago, Zelensky issued a decree of martial law, banning most men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country.

Military Service a ‘Form of Slavery’

Ukrainian pacifist leader Yurii Sheliazhenko told this reporter the pre-wartime penalty for evading military service had been up to three years in prison, but penalties have been increasing indefinitely since February 24. It’s impossible to verify what the exact penalties are, he said, as such hearings and verdicts are now closed to the public, ostensibly for the “safety of the judges” involved. As of April 10, Ukraine’s border guard reported roughly 2,200 detentions of “fighting age” men who were trying to escape the country. Many reportedly used forged documents or attempted to bribe officials, and others have been found dead in rural border areas.

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Yuri Sheliazhenko Photo: Twitter

The 31-year-old Sheliazhenko, on the other hand, has not left Kyiv. Instead, he is working tirelessly with his organization, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement (UPM), to promote a message of worldwide non-violent resistance to all forms of armed conflict, including on behalf of his own country. His organization was founded in 2019, initially to oppose mandatory military service, which he calls a “form of slavery.”

Toward Freedom had the opportunity Sunday to speak by phone for two hours. He noted that he was equally opposed to the practice in Russia, or in any other country. But, in 2019, as the war raged on in the Donbass region, conscription in Ukraine began to take on an “especially cruel nature. Young men were being given military summonses off of the streets, out of night clubs and dormitories, or snatched for military service for minor infractions such as traffic violations, public drunkenness, or casual rudeness to police officers. In Ukraine, if you do not respond to such a summons, you will be detained.”

Sheliazhenko’s pacifism developed in childhood, where in the final days of the former Soviet Union, he immersed himself in the works of authors Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov at “peaceful” summer camps in the Ukrainian countryside. These were a contrast to today’s militarized, nationalist-themed summer camps springing up all over the country since the Euromaidan.



Now, he is a conscientious objector. “[There is] no exemption for conscientious objectors in Ukraine, even for clergy or religious organizations.” He noted that a 2016 UN Declaration on the Right to Peace failed to protect conscientious objection on the level of international law. Plus, transgender and gender-non-conforming people are caught in a Catch-22. “In Ukraine, because trans women are treated legally as men, they are not exempt from the martial law order,” Sheliazhenko said. “But then, they are also prohibited from fighting in the military. There are some horrible stories about LGBT people being abused both on the borders—attempting to leave—and within the military here in Ukraine.”

He describes Ukrainian society as increasingly militarized and that Nazism has become a real issue: “Our country has created an existential enemy, and now they say all people should unite around a nationality and a leader! The country has generally shifted far to the right. There are of course Neo-Nazis. But then many of these people are not perceived as ‘Neo-Nazis,’ but as ‘defenders of the country.’” He noted that the cease fires in the Minsk Agreements had been violated on an almost daily basis, by both Ukrainian forces and separatist militants. That said, a perusal of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine’s camera logs in Donbass, especially in the days leading up to February 24, show that almost every day, the first strikes were recorded from “government-controlled” locations, meaning Ukrainian military territory. By the time the war escalated in February, the UPM’s mission expanded past its usual opposition to conscription, and into directly challenging the military mobilization in Ukraine and in Russia. Of particular concern to the UPM is the role of NATO, and the unlimited shipment of weapons coming from the West. “When the UN failed to become a true organization of global, peaceful law enforcement, the U.S. developed NATO to institute global violent governance,” Sheliazhenko said. “These NATO weapons are moving this war to escalation, and it’s very profitable to the weapons corporations, like Raytheon, Lockheed and Boeing. [U.S. Secretary of Defense] Lloyd Austin is a board member of Raytheon!” The latter claim is correct.

This reporter asked Sheliazhenko if he was concerned for his own safety and about the nature of the risk he takes in publicly opposing his government and the war. “I will not fight in a fratricidal war, and no one should. But luckily, I am a consistent pacifist,” he replied. “If my summons comes, I will not go. And I have taken some precautions.”

Sheliazhenko said he also speaks against Russian military actions. However, he went on to explain peace activists would put themselves in danger of being arrested if they suggested Ukraine give up the Donbass region to the self-proclaimed independent republics. Fortunately for him, because he does not discuss territorial concessions, he is not deemed a threat. “I am seen maybe more as a freak, a clown.”

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Screenshot of German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle showing protesters holding a banner that reads, “Go to Washington and never come back!” Photo: Deutsche Welle / Ukraine Peace Movement

‘Millions Don’t Support Authorities’

Another perspective came from Alexey Albu, 36, a self-described communist and anti-fascist from Borotba, a Ukrainian revolutionary union that was banned along with communist parties in 2015. Albu represented the anti-Maidan movement in 2014 mayoral elections in Odessa, his home city. But he was forced to flee after massacres that took place May 2, 2014. Dozens had been left dead.

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Alexey Albu, a member of Borotba, a banned revolutionary union in Ukraine.

“In the press, there began to appear some accusations that it was my demand to shelter in the trade union building, and so I was guilty in the deaths of 42 people. Of course, this was not true,” Albu explained in Russian to this reporter. “But I realized that the authorities were preparing public opinion. On the 8th of May, I got information that the SBU would arrest me and my comrades the next morning. After that, I was put on a most-wanted list, but I was already in Crimea.”

Albu is now in the city of Lugansk, in the Lugansk People’s Republic. From there, he remains in regular contact with comrades back in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.

“I want to say that millions of people in Ukraine do not support the far-right authorities, but all of them are really frightened.” A similar sentiment was documented in Toward Freedom’s March 21 article. “They are afraid of arrests, tortures, kidnappings,” Albu added. “Many notable people in opposition have been kidnapped and disappeared since the beginning of the military operation.” Some of those include former leader of the Ukrainian Union of Left Forces, Vasiliy Volga, and political scientist Dmitriy Dzhangirov. “Worse, many people who were in opposition to Kiev were detained, and we still don’t know about their fate. For example, the Kononovich brothers, leaders of the Komsomol [Young Communist League], and hundreds of other people.” Accounts of the March 6 detention of the Konovich brothers, accused of being “pro-Russian,” were widespread in international left-wing circles, as were demands to set them free.

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The Kononovich brothers, leaders of the Young Communist League in Ukraine, have been detained since March 6. Photot: Internationalmagz.com

Albu reiterated the anti-war movement’s demand that the Ukrainian state demilitarize right-wing Ukrainian state forces. He also emphasized that, behind media narratives that show a nation of unified anti-Russian freedom fighters, much dissent can be found.

“You can see the real relation of so many of the people to the military operation in liberated zones, like Kherson or Melitopol,” Albu said, suggesting fear of state repression often veiled popular opinion until Russian forces would take control of an area. “Once the Kiev government is not in control, people [will] support the end of this right-wing occupation very widely.”

Fergie Chambers is a freelance writer and socialist organizer from New York, reporting from eastern Europe for Toward Freedom. He can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2022/ ... r-ukraine/

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15 March 2022: Protesters gather outside Parliament in Cape Town in support of Ukraine and against Russia’s invasion, calling for the government to condemn Vladimir Putin’s actions. (Photo: Rodger Bosch/ AFP)

International law and ‘European civilisation’
Originally published: New Frame by Christopher Grever (April 8, 2022 ) | - Posted Apr 15, 2022

In 1946, shortly after putting the human rights gloss on the UN Charter’s Preamble, Jan Smuts bemoaned the fact that the “noble experiment” of South Africa–as “a little epic of European civilisation on a dark continent”–was under threat from the claims for racial equality by emergent Third World states.

A few weeks ago, the enduring understanding of South Africa as a threatened outpost of the West was publicly dramatised as the Ukrainian flag was projected on to the Cape Town City Hall. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said it was an act of solidarity against “imperialism” and “violence”. The projection of the flag on to the seat of municipal power coincided with the South African government’s decision to abstain from voting in an extraordinary United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russian “aggression against Ukraine”.

The decision to abstain–on the basis that the resolution did not “create an environment conducive for diplomacy, dialogue and mediation”, sidelined the UN’s peace-making mechanisms and would likely further escalate the conflict–has been roundly condemned in South Africa’s media, much of which explicitly understands and presents itself as part of the West.

The choice to project the Ukrainian flag was instructive. Historically, public opposition to war rallies under the idea of peace. It’s difficult to reimagine opposition to the Iraq war, for example, taking the form of large numbers of protesters clashing with the police in London, Melbourne or Cape Town while waiving the Iraqi flag. There is no possibility that the Palestinian flag would be projected on to City Hall during one of Israel’s periodic sieges, or the flag of Yemen as it is bombed by Saudi Arabia, with United States backing.

Attempts to note these double standards have been inevitably, and swiftly, dismissed as a pathological moral failing and “intellectually vacuous whataboutism”. But if we rule such comparisons as inherently unacceptable, we miss something important about the nature of the response to the invasion of Ukraine, and about international law.

Pause for thought

Western powers have made it crystal clear, in words and deeds, that there is something distinctive about this invasion because it is taking place in Europe, involving European sovereignty and white lives. In light of this, the projection of a European flag on to a public building should give us pause: not about equal respect for sovereignty, but unequal elevation of European sovereignty (and white lives) and the violence it has wrought historically and in the present.

The claim that there are persistent, structural inequalities between the benefits and protections afforded by international law to “European” sovereigns and that of Third World states–and, in turn, to that of their racialised populations–is an axiom of scholars writing in the tradition of Third World Approaches to International Law. One such scholar, Antony Anghie, has illustrated how “many of the basic doctrines of international law–including, most importantly, sovereignty doctrine–were forged out of the attempt to create a legal system that could account for relations between the European and non-European worlds”. Both the doctrine of sovereignty, and “the West”, were “constituted through colonialism”, as it was in contradistinction to their putatively “uncivilised” Other that Europeans came to know themselves as civilised, sovereign and “white”. Moreover, Anghie shows how these “colonial origins” of international law “create a set of structures that continually repeat themselves” all the way to the present.

Therefore, calling attention to a double-standard in responses to international events–particularly those parading under the sign of European sovereignty–as manifestations of the underlying colonial structure of the international order, is neither “intellectually vacuous whataboutism” nor a pathological moral failure. It is the expression of a long tradition of moral and intellectual resistance to that manifestly unjust order.

For example, in 1917 one of the progenitors of this tradition, the great African-American intellectual WEB Du Bois, writing amid the rubble of World War I, declared:

Behold little Belgium and her pitiable plight; but has the world forgotten Congo? What Belgium now suffers is not half, nor even a tenth of what she has done to Black Congo since Stanley’s great dream of 1880.

Du Bois’ point was not to disregard the suffering of Belgians, or justify the actions of the Central Powers, but to call attention to an emerging unjust and racialised international order in which there were “no Red Cross funds” for the numerous colonial wars that had taken part in “a dozen lesser places” in the preceding decades (and, more specifically, to call out the role of global white supremacy–or “the culture of white folk”–in that international order’s construction and operation).

Not a fringe position
Asking why some are suddenly so moved to be in solidarity with Ukrainian sovereignty and suffering is particularly important and urgent for a number of further reasons. One is that the condemnation of the Russian invasion by Western states and public commentators has been riddled with assumptions and claims about Western civilisation. Russia been labelled as “uncivilised” and the West as “civilised”. This is not a fringe position. Shortly after the conflict began, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told the BBC that the refugee crises had “special features” because it was happening in Europe.

Ruling comparison illegitimate inevitably results in glossing over or mischaracterising the violence committed in the name of Europe, or “the West” (which, as Édouard Glissant pointed out, is a project not a place). This is not solely a matter of, say, ignoring the illegal and catastrophic U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It also masks foundational elements of the horrific situation in Ukraine: in large part a proxy war between Russia and the U.S. and Nato, a fact conveniently effaced by the commentariat’s collapse into the crudities of civilisational discourse.

Moreover, the reports of mistreatment of “non-Europeans” trying to flee the violence in Ukraine, and in particular the refusal of border guards to allow them to enter neighbouring countries, illustrates how “Europeanness” is constituted by the violent expulsion of the Other and exemplifies the collective, continental project to keep Europe white through the racialised policing of its borders. This is not a case of a few bad apples bobbing to the surface in a moment of crisis. It is a systemic expression of the wider racial border project of “Fortress Europe”, in which white supremacy is “laundered through the prism of nationality” and institutionalised through the EU’s Commission Vice-President for Protecting our European Way of Life. The Guardian newspaper reported last year that EU member states had “pushed back” at least 40,000 asylum seekers during the pandemic, resulting in more than 2 000 deaths.

The Danish ambassador to South Africa was quick to call out its response to Russian invasion, in part by recalling his country’s role in the struggle against the “deeply unjust and racist” system of apartheid. However, in the name of maintaining its “Western” character, Denmark has recently introduced special “Ghetto laws” for what it designates as “non-Western” communities. UN human rights experts have suggested that these laws–which subject “non-Western” communities to forced evictions and harsher criminal sentences and impose mandatory instruction in “Danish values” for “ghetto children” from the age of one–amount to discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity and national origin. More candidly, they recall exactly that “deeply unjust and racist” system of apartheid.

Double standards
The project of Fortress Europe–in its internal and external dimensions–also has uncomfortable parallels to Smuts’ paranoia about the threats to “European civilisation”, and international law’s accommodation of his white supremacist project in response. In 1946, Smuts was concerned about India’s “vast millions” that were “invading, infiltrating, penetrating in all sorts of devious ways”, “the east coast of Africa from Mombasa to Durban, and ultimately to Cape Town”. His long-held view was that granting “equal rights for Indians in South Africa would lead to equal rights for Natives, and that would mean the end of South Africa”. In 1945, the “father” of international human rights law, Hersch Lauterpacht, cited Smuts’ concerns about “the whites [being] swamped by the blacks” to justifying the decision not to fully apply the “International Bill of the Rights of Man” to “sui generis” South Africa. According to Lauterpacht, doing so would result in “a consummation which would signify the end of [South Africa’s] Western civilisation”.

Despite its promises of universalism, international law has clearly not yet shaken its foundation as a racial order–as “the international society of the white race”, as it was described by one of its founding fathers, John Westlake (who taught Smuts).

Little of this nuance made it into the feverish responses from many South African international lawyers and public commentators. This shallow unanimity, and the extraordinary self-righteousness with which it has been marked, is in large part owing to the fact that many South African commentators and most of its international lawyers remain entranced by the “Northbound gaze”: looking to the West for their internationally significant events, moral direction and theoretical paradigms. This often puts the bulk of the commentariat in conflict with the government’s position on international issues (generally continentally derived). International lawyers have even struggled to remain consistent to their own positions; contradictions that are difficult to hide behind the supposed distinction between law and politics, or nostalgia for a caricature of president Nelson Mandela’s foreign policy that forgets his support for Palestine and Cuba and his commitment to “internationally agreed and nonviolent mechanisms” for achieving peace.

The outrage that met the government’s failure to arrest former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of committing international crimes by the International Criminal Court, was apoplectic. One international lawyer went so far as to declare that “no government has throughout the history of South Africa stooped as low as the one currently in control”.

However, since 2016, a European businessman who has already been convicted of international crimes by a Dutch court has found refuge in Cape Town–while his African co-conspirator, Charles Taylor, remains in prison–having avoided extradition on a specious international legal argument and one far more outlandish than the government’s legal justification for not arresting al-Bashir (an argument made on behalf of the convicted war criminal by the same international lawyer who upbraided the government for failing to arrest al-Bashir, and later tried to compel it to arrest Grace Mugabe). The Supreme Court of Appeal rejected this argument in September 2021, but to date Guus Kouwenhoven remains in Cape Town, and South Africa’s international lawyers remain unperturbed.

Similarly, the efforts of the South African government, along with the African Union, to seek a negotiated settlement in Darfur rather than adopt a purely punitive approach was met with derision by international lawyers, or simply ignored. However, as the Constitutional Court described it, South Africa’s own transition involved a painful, pragmatic decision to abandon the “standard justice script” (and international legal norms) that demanded a retributive response, “in the face of a political impasse that [bore] neither hope of certain resolution nor the avoidance of visceral strife” (a better description of the situation in Ukraine, one would be hard-pressed to find). Not only has this compromise remained largely unchallenged by South Africa’s international lawyers, they have rushed to reimpose the “standard justice script” in respect of crimes committed elsewhere and, for the most part, abandoned families of victims who continue to refuse to let apartheid-era international crimes lie. In fact, many of the cause célèbres of South African international lawyers post-1994 have an inconvenient or uncanny domestic shadow: too often involving making excuses or exceptions for white people and punishing Black people.

We need to confront the uncomfortable truth that too many of South Africa’s international lawyers and “thought leaders” remain enthralled by the West and illiterate in traditions of thought about the international order from the Global South. As long as this remains the case, and notwithstanding Smuts’ concerns, the epic of European civilisation on the “tip of the Africa” will continue–materially and ideologically.

https://mronline.org/2022/04/15/interna ... ilisation/

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German EU official uses racist rhetoric claiming Russians don’t value life

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A German EU official claimed Russians don’t value human life and thus aren’t Europeans. The ex NATO researcher was echoing a centuries-old colonialist trope used to justify genocide of Indigenous peoples, US war on Vietnam, and Israeli occupation of Palestine.

ByBenjamin NortonPublished18 hours ago

A European Union official has used racist rhetoric to dehumanize Russians, claiming they don’t value human life, and are therefore not Europeans.

The fact that the EU official is German is also eyebrow-raising, considering the country’s fascist history and genocidal attacks on Russians.

Florence Gaub is deputy director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), which describes itself as “the Union’s agency dealing with the analysis of foreign, security and defence policy issues.”

Gaub has also served as a researcher at the NATO Defense College, and has taught at numerous prestigious European universities. She currently works with the World Economic Forum (WEF), a corporate-backed neoliberal lobby group.

On April 12, Gaub was invited on to Germany’s state media outlet ZDF, to discuss the Ukraine war on its top news program Heute, hosted by prominent journalist Markus Lanz.

She used this large platform to launch a racist rant essentially claiming that the Russian people are uncivilized non-Europeans who don’t care about human life.


“We should not forget, even if Russians look European, they are not European, in a cultural sense,” Gaub declared in the German-language interview.

“They [Russians] think differently about violence or death,” the EU official continued. “They have no concept of a liberal, post-modern life, a concept of life that each individual can choose. Instead, life simply can end early with death.”

To try to justify her bigoted views, Gaub said that “Russian life expectancy is quite low, as you know. It is 70 for men.”

She failed to explain that Russians had a healthy life expectancy under socialism in the Soviet Union, but after the United States and Western Europe overthrew the USSR from 1989 to 1991, they imposed brutal capitalist “shock therapy” on Russia that caused life expectancy to fall precipitously.

A 2001 UNICEF report found that the grueling capitalist reforms forced on Russia in the 1990s caused 3.2 million excess deaths, leading life expectancy for men to drop by six years.

In this period of Western-imposed mass privatizations and free market fundamentalism, 18 million Russian children were pushed into poverty. Over one-third of the population lived in poverty, with mass unemployment. There were high levels of child malnutrition, and a steep increase in HIV and tuberculosis cases.

The Russian Federation was not able to get back to the level of life expectancy it had had under socialism in the Soviet Union in 1989 until 22 years later, in 2011.

In other words, it took Russia two decades to recover from the devastating economic attack waged on it by the Western powers.

Russian male life expectancy graph Soviet Union
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A graph of Russian male life expectancy shows it precipitously fell after the overthrow of the Soviet Union

In her racist rant, Florence Gaub, the German European Union official, conveniently failed to mention that life expectancy is even lower today in Ukraine than it is in Russia.

Ukraine’s post-Soviet regime also suffered from the capitalist shock therapy imposed on it in the 1990s, although not quite as badly as Russia. Despite this, Russia’s life expectancy surpassed that of Ukraine in 2015.

(For context, Cuba has a higher life expectancy than the United States, despite the fact that Cuba is a relatively poor, formerly colonized country that has been under an illegal US economic blockade for more than 60 years.)

life expectancy Russia Ukraine

Despite these disparities, Gaub claims Russia is the country that does not value human life, not Ukraine.

Many Western government officials likewise insist that Ukraine is a model of “democracy,” despite the fact that the authoritarian regime in Kiev banned communist parties and left-wing symbols, arrested elected opposition lawmakers, and shut down critical media outlets long before Russia invaded in February 2022, and have since prohibited another dozen opposition parties.

Western colonialists’ long history of claiming their victims don’t value human life
Instead of addressing any of this historical context, the EU’s Florence Gaub chose to use racist rhetoric and claim that the political conflict in Ukraine is a product of Russian culture, that Russians simply don’t value life.

“That is why they treat death differently, people simply die,” she claimed.

The notion that a population targeted by Western imperialist powers supposedly doesn’t care about human life is a centuries-old colonial trope.

European settlers claimed Native Americans did not value human life to try to justify their genocidal colonization of the Americas.

The US Declaration of Independence itself echoes this racist rhetoric about “the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

To justify Washington’s decades-long war on Vietnam, which led up to to 3.8 million deaths, top US General William Westmoreland similarly claimed, “The Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does a Westerner… Life is plentiful; life is cheap in the Orient. The philosophy of the Orient expresses that life is not important.”

Today, officials from the Israeli apartheid regime frequently dehumanize indigenous Palestinians by claiming they don’t value life.

US politicians make the same racist comments about the Chinese, to justify Washington’s new cold war on Beijing.

Now German militarists are rehashing this racist rhetoric to accelerate the new cold war on Russia.

https://multipolarista.com/2022/04/15/g ... alue-life/

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Evolution of the conflict

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One of the key problems of Russia is that it still has not switched to the war regime, but has remained in the NVO regime, and without this transition there will be no victory in the war.

When, at the beginning of the conflict, the Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin called everything a special military operation, they automatically drove everything into a certain framework of this SVO. The conflict evolved, it became clear that there was no SVO at all, even if there was a calculation for it, but the framework remained. And most of the politicians, functionaries and even the military continue to remain within this framework, not realizing that a real war is going on, respectively, in the process of self-deception, gross mistakes are made, while not fatal, but may become fatal in the future.

Moreover, Moscow contradicts itself: on the one hand, it realizes and says it publicly that most of the Western world, one of the largest armies in Europe, and almost all the economic and military functionality of the West are acting against it, but at the same time it behaves as if there is a local military operation. This is a self-deception that can backfire if you do not change the approach and do not call a spade a spade and prepare both the Defense Ministry and the state apparatus, and citizens for this.

If at the beginning of the conflict the West was limited to a sanctions strike and the supply of light weapons and intelligence information, now Ukraine is pumping weapons on a completely different scale: to the endless supplies of various anti-tank systems, MANPADS, communication systems and other things, heavy and light equipment, artillery, anti-ship missiles have been added and perhaps soon there will be air defense and aviation (including drones).

There are no more halftones. Threats towards NATO and the West regarding the supply of weapons clearly had no effect, if at the beginning NATO denied and stated that there would be no such deliveries, now the casket is completely open, and the reaction remained in words. The West sees this very well and draws conclusions.

Moscow must first of all admit to itself that there is a war going on and part of the world is directly involved in this war against Russia, there is no NVO in Ukraine and could not be. Moscow must transfer the entire conflict into the regime of a real war and transfer the state to these rails. Officials, military functionaries and citizens should know and understand this. This is extremely important for Moscow. In half a turn, even local success will not work, it is out of the question, this train has long gone.

The main reasons that brought Russia to February 24, 2022 are, among other things, long years of half-tones, a series of mistakes and indecisiveness of diplomacy, unawareness of the inevitable, lack of strategy and constant half-turns in everything. All this led to the fact that the red lines moved towards Russia, and what seemed impossible yesterday became a reality today, and Moscow's reactions to this were more like light phantom impulses. The West saw this and continued to move the front. And, unfortunately for Moscow, it has not ended even now, within the framework of the conflict in Ukraine.

On February 24, the bridges were burned, Moscow must not only understand this, but also act accordingly. There is no way back, there is only one way, and in order to overcome it, you need to act with full force and without looking back.

(c) TOGARMA

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7562092.html

Google Translator

Truth is the Russians thought this would be a cakewalk but it hasn't been.(But neither has in been the disaster that NATO & Nazi propaganda make out) Bad decisions, a bit of arrogance, and most shameful, a disregard for some basic tactics. This can and I expect will be overcome and at the very least the Nazi army in Donbass will be destroyed. But some of those other goals will be more difficult to obtain. Hard to say, one thing leads to another...

The 'mistakes', etc, on the political level all had to do with Russia expecting to be accepted into the 'club' of advanced capitalist countries with a level of respect their due. After all, they were capitalists, no longer communists, right? Apparently not right, tho the Kremlin took until halfway through the Trump regime to figure it out. They knew Obama was trouble but hoped Trump, motivated by his cupidity, would be easier to get along with. Ha! That was the beginning of the end for him(and no, he will not be allowed in the White House again, trust me.), a convenient twofer for the imperialist and their Democratic Party. So while communism was the reason given for the Cold War which ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union apparently there was other motivation because here we are again. Like always in the epoch of capitalism it all come down to money: Russian resources are huge and as our capitalists can conceive of their profitable possession they already consider them 'theirs' and just a bit of the nitty-gritty required to make it so. The nukes also figure in as they are in effect China's ace in the hole, China is the ultimate economic enemy and must be disarmed in this regard before the Main Act. US capitalism see this sequence as of existential consequences for them and for once I hope they're right.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:28 pm

Briefly about Ukraine. 04/16/2022
April 16, 19:32

Image

Briefly about Ukraine. 04/16/2022

1. Mariupol.
Plant them. Ilyich is released. In addition to prisoners, trophies were taken. The plant was seriously damaged during the fighting, but it could well be restored. Fighting continues in the Azovmash area. Most of the Primorsky region has been liberated, but resistance still continues there. The enemy concentrated the remaining forces on the defense of Azovstal, holding the very territory of Azovstal, as well as the houses of the Levoberezhny district adjacent to it, where forces are now concentrated to storm the plant. Azovstal is heavily bombed. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have not had the opportunity to release the remnants of the Mariupol group for a long time, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused these plans back in mid-March for military reasons.

2. Zaporozhye.
The front line Kamenskoye-Orekhov-Gulyaipole remains unchanged. Intensive hostilities are not conducted here, although the parties are actively using artillery and MLRS. The Russian Federation is actively engaged in the establishment of railway communication, which will facilitate the supply of the group in this direction.
To the east of Gulyaipole, there are sluggish battles for individual villages. Serious progress has not yet been noted. Ukrainian flags are being actively removed in the region and the work of new authorities is being established to the best of their ability.

3. Nikolaev.
The sides are not yet conducting active offensive operations, being mainly engaged in the exchange of strikes (artillery and MLRS). Attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to advance towards Kherson led to heavy losses, and here, for the time being, tendencies towards positionalism triumph. The RF Armed Forces are methodically working on targets in Nikolaev itself, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy. Also, strikes were made in the direction of Krivoy Rog and Nikopol to stop the enemy's activity. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to advance in the Novorontsovka area, traditionally fired at Chernobaevka from the MLRS and OTRK. The grouping of forces on both sides has grown here in recent weeks. It is impossible to exclude the activation of this direction in the coming weeks.

4. Odessa.
No major changes. Landing operations or "breakthroughs" from Transnistria are not expected. Part of the forces of the Odessa Volkssturm and one of the brigades were transferred to the Nikolaev direction. The use of NATO-supported anti-ship missiles will make it more difficult for the Black Sea Fleet to carry out missions in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, but it is unlikely to affect the intensity of missile launches against targets in Ukraine.

5. LPR.
In Popasnaya, the troops are moving forward, controlling part of the city center, the enemy is stubbornly defending. The pace of progress is generally low. Heavy fighting continues in the southern part of Rubizhne and on the outskirts of

Severodonetsk .
There is no big progress in these settlements yet.

7. Avdiivka.
There are no changes in Avdiivka itself. Ordinary positional battles in the prom. To the north of Avdiivka, fighting took place in the area of ​​Novobakhmutovka, Novoselki-2, and Troitsky.

8. Slavic-Kramatorsk agglomeration.
The enemy is preparing for a long-term defense, being subjected to systematic missile, air and artillery strikes. The emphasis is on the tough defense of cities with the support of the reserve concentrated in the area of ​​Artemovsk, Soledar and Krasnoarmeysk.

9. Kharkov.
No big changes. Battles - to the north and east of the city. Settlements north of Kharkov, as well as the northern outskirts of Kharkov, are gradually turning into an analogue of Mariupol. The enemy is accumulating forces near Kharkov in order to interfere with possible operations of the RF Armed Forces to encircle the city. Chuguev's garrison is also reinforced.

10. Raisin.
The offensive of the RF Armed Forces continues in the direction of Slavyansk and Barvenkovo. The enemy throws here the main reserves, which are gradually ground here in fierce battles. As before, the RF Armed Forces have 3 routes here - to Slavyansk, to Barvenkovo ​​and to Pavlograd through Lozovoye. The expected big offensive will show exactly where they are going to reach the Donetsk-Pavlograd highway.
In general, we can talk about the continuation of the operational pause in anticipation of the start of a large-scale offensive by the RF Armed Forces in the Donbass.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/42820 - zinc

Plus according to Zelensky's statement about Ilovaisk.

"Yes, maybe Ilovaisk" (c) Zelensky

In fact, Ilovaisk has already happened.
Near Ilovaisk, according to Ukrainian data, the losses amounted to up to 1000 people killed + wounded + prisoners. And this was considered the biggest defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2014.
In Mariupol, according to Ukrainian data, up to 14.5 thousand people were surrounded.
Of these, 3-3.5 thousand are still defending. All the rest are killed, wounded, captured, missing, deserted or leaked in small groups to the Zaporozhye region.
Even now, the scale of the defeat of the Mariupol grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is several times greater than the scale of the defeat near Ilovaisk.
But no one officially recognizes this, since this would mean that even under Poroshenko, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not suffer such a defeat as under Zelensky.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/42819 - zinc

1. Online broadcasting of events in Ukraine continues in Telegram https://t.me/boris_rozhin (if you are interested, subscribe)
2. The daily format of reports on directions will return with the start of the offensive operation.
3. For questions unbanned in Telegram, write here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/35100 (I don’t do this - the moderator works)

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7562664.html

Google Translator

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

From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

🗺SITUATION IN UKRAINE AS OF APRIL 16, 2022 according to @southfronteng (approximate map)

⊕ The Russian Armed Forces attacked an armored plant in Kiev with a high-precision air-launched missile;
⊕ The Russian Armed Forces attacked a military equipment repair facility in Nikolaev with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces launched a strike with a high-precision aircraft missile at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Povstansky;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Lisichansk with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Petrovsky with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked the central storage base for radar reconnaissance and communications equipment near Poltava with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ Air defense systems of the RF Armed Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 south of Izyum.

***

forwarded from
🇬🇧Major and General🌍
❗️⚡️FROM THE URGENT STATEMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

We appeal to all servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and foreign mercenaries - with the cynical attitude of the Kiev authorities, such an unenviable fate awaits all of you. With this in mind, do not tempt your fate following the example of the Mariupol tragedy, but make the only right decision to stop hostilities and lay down your arms now, wherever your “curators” force you to fight for the ideas of Nazism. At the same time, the Russian Federation guarantees to each of you the preservation of life and compliance with all the norms of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, as it already happened with your comrades who had previously surrendered in Mariupol.

This urgent statement is to be immediately published and communicated to the United Nations, the OSCE, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations through all available information resources, including the media.

In addition, the specified urgent statement during the night will be continuously communicated to the Ukrainian formations at Azovstal on all radio channels with an interval of every 30 minutes, - the RF Ministry of Defense

***

forwarded from
Unofficial Bezsonov "Z"
The militants blocked at the Azovstal Mariupol plant are in a hopeless situation and demand permission from Kyiv to surrender, but the Ukrainian authorities demand heroic suicide from them.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation offer the militants to lay down their arms from 06:00 Moscow time on April 17, guaranteeing the preservation of life.

***

Image

forwarded from
Readovka
The map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 16 is a rather calm and successful day on all fronts. Particularly funny against this background is the statement of the President of Ukraine with clearly understated losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 3,000 dead and 700 prisoners, when only Azovstal remained with a maximum of 2,500 soldiers out of 15,000-20,000 soldiers in Mariupol alone (by the way, today their losses amounted to 4,000 people), and in recent days 1464 soldiers of the Armed Forces have surrendered . However, this is not the first lie of the President Ze/

***

Summary of hostilities on April 16, 2022 from Vladislav Coal

Briefly: regrouping in the Kharkov direction, fighting on the Izyum bridgehead, advance in Popasna. The liberation of all Mariupol with the exception of Azovstal.

🎯Kharkov direction - Russian troops are regrouping, the approximate front line in the Kharkov region lies along the settlements of Prudyanka - Russian Lozovaya - Tsirkuny - Shestakovka - Chkalovskoye - Balakleya.

🎯PAVLOGRAD ARCH:

🏹The northern flank of the arc (from Balakleya to Popasnaya) - heavy fighting continues in the Izyum region , the approximate front line is the Seversky Donets River - Shpakovka - Topolskoye - Malaya Kamyshevakha - Brazhkovka - Dry Kamenka - the Seversky Donets River. On the left bank of the Seversky Donets, Ukrainians maintain positions from Oskol, 10 km east of Izyum, to Severodonetsk in the LPR. Here, fighting continues in Rubizhne, as well as on the outskirts of Kremennaya and Severodonetsk. To the south, a heavy assault on Popasnaya continues (there is information about the capture of the City Council) and fighting in the Novotoshkovsky area.

🏹The central front (from Popasna to Maryinka) - heavy artillery skirmishes between Yasinovataya and Avdiivka. Fighting also continues in the area of ​​Krasnogorovka, Marinka and Novomikhailovka.

🏹The southern flank of the arc (from the Dnieper River to Marinka) — the configuration of the front line remains unchanged, escalation occurs periodically in one of the directions. Velyka Novoselka and Vuhledar remain under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

🎯Mariupol cauldron - the liberation of the entire Mariupol is reported, with the exception of Azovstal and the surrounding area. Photo evidence of control over MKII, Azovmash, railway station, port is given. Bombers are working on Azovstal - about 2,500 Ukronazis have gathered there.

🎯Kherson-Nikolaev direction - the front line is unchanged along the line of the Black Sea - Aleksandrovka - Snigirevka - Velikaya Aleksandrovka - the Dnieper River.

Past reports: February 28, March 1, March 2, March 3 , March 4 , March 5 , March 6 , March 7 , March 8 , March 9 , March 10 , March 11 , March 12 , March 13 , March 14 , March 15 , 16-17 March

26 March , 27 March ,March 30, April 1, April 2 , April 3 , April 5 , April 6-7 , April 8
Telegram
Vladislav Coal
Vladislav Coal. Together we write on the fireproof residue from the reconstruction.

Military-political weather forecast @griaz_zamerla

***

forwarded from
TOGARMA
For several days now, the topic of exchanging Medvedchuk for prisoners has been circulating in the information field. What is noteworthy, if initially the promotion came from the Ukrainian media and public figures, now there are lobbyists in Russia.

Considering that we are looking at the whole conflict from the outside, we really do not care what decision will be made on this issue, but, nevertheless, we will note several factors that are very important and the consequences that this exchange can lead to if the lobbyists achieve their goal. goals.

1. Medvedchuk is a citizen and politician of Ukraine. Officially, he has not been convicted, but is accused in a criminal case. It's no secret that he was not on the run, but was held in illegal custody (although according to the court he should have been under house arrest) in order to be used as a trump card at the right time. From the point of view of international law and human rights, Kyiv violated everything it could. From the point of view of Ukrainian law - the same thing.

Now Kyiv and some Moscow lobbyists are promoting the topic of exchanging a Ukrainian political prisoner for prisoners (there are various options on the net, from the corridor for Azov in Mariupol to captured foreign mercenaries and various high-ranking officers). In fact, with the same success in the future, Kyiv can catch other political opponents who previously had contacts with Moscow or an indirect / direct connection and demand an exchange. Believe it will. If Moscow makes a concession, although this makes no sense either militarily or politically, then it will simply open Pandora's box and give new cards to Kyiv.

2. How will such a move by Moscow be perceived in the ranks of the RF Armed Forces, and in society itself. Definitely - the reaction will be negative. It turns out that on the battlefield the army does everything to achieve a result, soldiers get injured and die, and then Moscow exchanges prisoners of war for a Ukrainian politician, and even worse, if it gives a corridor for Azov, with which bloody battles have been going on for a month. Then all these prisoners of war and the same Azov return to service and continue to fight in the RF Armed Forces. Well, how can that not be negative?

The exchange of Medvedchuk in any form will lead to adverse consequences for Moscow. This will signify Moscow's weakness and indecisiveness and will expose a lot of weaknesses both in the eyes of Kyiv and the West, and in the eyes of its own soldiers and citizens.

I remember the story connected with the capture of Yakov Stalin and the attempts of the Germans to exchange him for Paulus. I think many people know her, it's not worth reminding.

Telegram channel: @togarma301

***

#exclusive
A war correspondent from Italy, Vittorio Rangeloni, has visited Mariupol and talked to local residents:
"...All these people (corpses) have been lying around since March. They were killed by snipers from among the Ukrainian Nazis who were based in the plant. The Nazis' mission is to destroy the infrastructure and civilians.
...I have been here since the launch of the special military operation, and I have witnessed the whole thing. The Russian army targeted the plants where the militants were deployed. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Nazis fired on civilians with weapons of all kinds..."

***

❗️IMPORTANT.
Britons Sean Pinner and Aiden Eslin, who fought as part of the Nazi Azov Regiment in Mariupol, who are now in captivity, according to our information, were previously seen in Syria as part of the Kurdish YPG. In the photo
(b/w), which was supposedly taken in northern Syria, they are on the far right.

Also, according to some reports, Pinner managed to celebrate in Bosnia in 94.

I think that in the story with these characters, the ears of British intelligence may come out.🤙🏽

***

MO RF. Evening summary for April 16th.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue a special military operation in Ukraine.

During the day, high-precision air-launched missiles hit 15 enemy targets.
Among them: in the areas of settlements BARVENKOVO, RUBEZHNOE, PAPASNA, NOVOZVANOVKA, KRASNOARMEYSK, SELIDOVO, NOVOBAKHMUTOVKA, six places of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment and seven strongholds of Ukrainian troops were destroyed.
As a result of the strikes, more than 320 Ukrainian servicemen were killed and wounded, 23 armored vehicles and seven vehicles for various purposes were destroyed.

Operational-tactical aviation destroyed 67 areas of concentration of personnel and Ukrainian military equipment during the day.

The missile forces hit 317 military facilities, including: 274 enemy strongholds and areas of concentration of manpower, 24 command posts and two field fuel depots of Ukrainian troops.

Russian air defense systems
in the ODESSA region shot down a Ukrainian military transport aircraft in the air, which was delivering a large batch of weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries.
Over the settlements of LOZOVAYA and VESELAYA, two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 134 aircraft, 460 unmanned aerial vehicles,
246 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2269 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 252 multiple rocket launchers, 987 field artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 2158 units of special military vehicles.

The entire urban area of ​​MARIUPOL is completely cleared of the militants of the Nazi formation "Azov", foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian troops.

The remnants of the Ukrainian group are currently completely blocked on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant. Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender.

Let me remind you thatin Mariupol at the time of its encirclement on March 11 were: the 36th separate brigade of the marines, the 109th brigade of territorial defense, the 503rd separate battalion of the marines, a company of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade, units of the 17th anti-tank brigade, Nazi formations "Azov", "Aidar", "Right Sector", units of the police and state border services, as well as foreign mercenaries.
The total number of this group was about 8 thousand 100 people.

During the liberation of Mariupol, 1,464 Ukrainian servicemen have already surrendered. The number of surrenderers is increasing daily. Including those who escaped from the territory of Azovstal.

According to their testimony,the total number of Ukrainian servicemen, Nazis and foreign mercenaries who took refuge on Azovstal does not exceed 2.5 thousand people.

Thus, on April 16, only in MARIUPOL, the losses of the Ukrainian group amounted to more than 4,000 people.

Therefore, Zelensky’s recent statements to the Western media that the irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian military during the operation allegedly amount to 2.5-3 thousand are a common lie for him.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has reliable data on the true losses of the Ukrainian army, the National Guard and arrived foreign mercenaries, which Zelensky is afraid to tell the people of Ukraine.

Today, irretrievable losses amount to 23,367 people.
We will soon publish some data from Ukrainian documents about our losses, revealing the place of death and the places of burial of the dead.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Sun Apr 17, 2022 1:47 pm

LIVE: Russian Forces Destroy Ukrainian Military Facilities

Image
The Ministry of Defense warned that the military attacks are not directed against civilian facilities, but seek to disable the war infrastructure. Apr. 16, 2022. | Photo: Twitter: @mod_russia

Published 16 April 2022

On April 16, the conflict in Russia and Ukraine continues, with a clear sights on a negotiated caesefire. These are today´s developments as they happen.

Russian forces destroy Ukrainian military facilities

The Ministry of Defense warned that the military attacks are not directed against civilian facilities, but seek to disable the war infrastructure

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported Saturday that the Russian armed forces destroyed Ukrainian military facilities, using high-precision, long-range aerial weapons, as part of the special military operation in Kiev.

According to the agency, a total of 16 enemy targets were hit, which included 11 areas of concentration of Ukrainian weapons stored in Povstanskoe, Barvenkovo, Lisichansk, Srybnoe, Petrovskoe and Opytnoe regions.

Also, the Defense Ministry spokesman added that the Russian Armed Forces eliminated a total of 811 Ukrainian targets in the last 24 hours, distributed in 8 convoys with fuel for military equipment, as well as 760 zones of concentration of live force.


He also added that near the Ukrainian locality of Nikolayev, two artillery warehouses, a depot of radar reconnaissance equipment, as well as a storage base for anti-aircraft defense means were attacked.

At the same time, the concentration area of the 95th airborne assault brigade in Ukraine was hit by Russian forces, as well as an Su-25 fighter 15 kilometers south of the town of Izium, Kharkov region.

Russian Missile Troops eliminated in one day 317 Ukrainian military facilities including 24 command posts, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported.

"The Missile Troops destroyed 317 facilities, including 274 military support points and groups, 24 command posts and two fuel depots of the Ukrainian forces," Konashenkov told reporters.

Russian aviation, he noted, eliminated 67 areas of concentration of servicemen, weapons and war equipment.
In addition, Russian air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian Forces transport plane near the Ukrainian city of Odessa, which was delivering a large batch of weapons supplied to Kiev by Western countries, the Russian military officer added.

In total, he summed up, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation, 134 aircraft, 460 drones, 2,269 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 987 units of field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,158 units of special military vehicles were destroyed.

Image
Source: Twitter: @europe_northern

Estonia Admits Sanctions Against Russia Unsuccessful

On Saturday, Estonian Defense Minister Kalle Laanet said that economic sanctions against Russia have not yet taken effect.

"It takes time for the sanctions to take effect. So far, only a relatively short time has passed, so we still do not see the desired consequences," Laanet said in an interview with the German daily Handelsblatt.

The Estonian Defense Minister assured that they can still tighten the sanctions to "boycott oil and gas".

Numerous countries began to tighten sanctions against Russia after it recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics as sovereign states on February 21 and three days later launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine, claiming that both republics had requested help in the face of "genocide" by Kiev.

Wife of detained Ukrainian opposition activist asks Putin to extradite Medvedchuk to Russia

Oxana Marchenko turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin and to other prominent leaders to have her husband, the leader of the Ukrainian party Opposition Platform for Life Party, Victor Medvedchuk, extradited to Russia if Kiev and Moscow come to an agreement.

"I, the wife of a Ukrainian opposition politician, Ukrainian People's Deputy Medvedchuk, ask for your help in exchanging my husband, who was illegally detained by the Kiev authorities for political reasons," she emphasized in a video posted on her YouTube channel.

She added that Victor Medvedchuk gave his consent to his exchange and extradition to the Russian territory in case Russia and Ukraine reach an appropriate agreement.


Russia Accuses Germany of Developing Biomilitary Labs

On Saturday, the Russian government claimed that Germany had in coordination with the United States a network of at least 30 biomilitary laboratories on Ukrainian territory working on "biological agents potentially useful as biological weapons."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that this is one of the reasons why Berlin "is more active than other EU (European Union) countries" in trying to attribute plans to use biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine to Russia.

Germany, like the U.S., has for many years been carrying out "military and biological activities" on the territory of Ukraine, she stated.

As a result of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces found documents that shed some light on the biomilitary program implemented by the U.S. Department of Defense in Ukraine, she recalled.


"Dangerous research" was being conducted in these facilities, according to Zakharova, who mentioned a direct link to the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine and cited tropical diseases such as dengue or chikungunya or pathogens such as West Nile virus or the Usutu River virus.

Between 2020 and 2022, the third phase of the program has been underway, which provides for the "collection of sensitive epidemic information in third countries, including through the use of big data technologies," the spokeswoman said.

It also includes the "development of partner countries' infrastructure for working with dangerous biological agents," she said.

The spokeswoman also urged German authorities to "stop spreading lying accusations about our country's alleged intention to use weapons prohibited by international law in the special military operation."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0006.html

Russia Urges Ukrainian Nationalists to Surrender in Mariupol

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Russia's defense ministry has told Ukrainian forces still fighting in the besieged southern port of Mariupol to lay down their arms starting 6 a.m. Moscow time (0300 GMT) on Sunday to save their lives. | Photo: Twitter @ladalavara

Published 17 April 2022 (5 hours 8 minutes ago)

The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the humanitarian measure was taken given the situation faced by Ukrainian nationalists at the Azovstal metallurgical plant located in the port of Mariupol.

The Russian government on Sunday urged Ukrainian nationalist battalions present in the city of Mariupol to lay down their arms and cease hostilities as of 06.00 Moscow time.

The announcement was made by the head of the Russian Federation's National Defense Control Center, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, according to the official Russian Tass news agency.

"Russia guarantees to each of the surrendered [...] to respect all the norms of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, as already happened with their comrades who had surrendered earlier in Mariupol" stressed the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the humanitarian measure was taken given the situation faced by Ukrainian nationalists at the Azovstal metallurgical plant located in the port of Mariupol.


Mizintsev said that militants of nationalist formations that are surrounded in Mariupol have requested permission from Kiev to lay down their weapons, but in response they receive threats of execution from Ukrainian military commanders.

He also added that Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries are in a desperate situation, practically without food and water.

The Russian military agency informed that the request for cessation of hostilities and surrender of the nationalist battalions will be forwarded to the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0001.html

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

News from Mariupol that you do not want to hear on Easter
April 17, 14:32

Image

Willy Wimmer, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Germany on the situation in Mariupol:

"This is Easter news from Mariupol that you don't want to hear on Easter or any other day. The BBC is reporting Easter Sunday today that Russian soldiers have reportedly captured British soldiers in Mariupol. The news is still has not yet been debunked in

London.However, uncomfortable, cruel questions arise.For example, the question that British soldiers and, therefore, soldiers from a NATO country, forgot in Mariupol?

The second question - are there soldiers from other NATO countries in addition to British soldiers in Mariupol? Is the recent news true that there have been many attempts to evacuate by helicopter or ship high-ranking NATO advisers from Mariupol from the factories of the Azov Metallurgical Plant and the great underground fortress there? Is it true that all these attempts failed?

Why did the NATO countries choose the notorious Azov Regiment as an “object of consultations”, and maybe not only consultations. From the Russian point of view, anyone who fights against Russia under the insignia of the SS will have to deal with those who remember the victims of fascism in the Great Patriotic War.

Was and is the Azov Regiment really a “suitable formation” for allegedly hundreds of soldiers from NATO countries to put pressure on Russia? Why did the Western media hide and destroy news related to Mariupol and the Azov Regiment for several weeks? does the right assess the use of large numbers of NATO soldiers in advising and leading the warring party of Ukraine?

(c) Willy Wimmer

https://www.world-economy.eu/nachrichte ... -mariopol/ - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7563705.html

Russian Defense Ministry about foreign mercenaries in Ukraine
April 17, 11:54 am

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Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation about foreign mercenaries in Ukraine

Official data of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine.

1. At the moment, about 400 foreign mercenaries are surrounded on the territory of Azovstal;
2. The majority are citizens of European countries and Canada;
3. In total, 6824 mercenaries from 63 states arrived in Ukraine;
4. Most of all from Poland - 1717;
5. 193 mercenaries arrived from Syrian Idlib;
6. At the moment, 4877 mercenaries are on the territory of Ukraine,
7. 1035 were destroyed in hostilities, 912 fled the country.

PS. In the title photo, there is another captured British mercenary who was captured in Mariupol (after the surrender of enemy forces at the Ilyich plant).

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7563072.html

Google Translator

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Patrick Lancaster and Maximilian Clarke Report from Mariupol
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 16, 2022



Battle Raging On The Azov Sea In Mariupol (Special Report Under Fire)

https://youtu.be/5VrKFX7DmQE (+18)
Mariupol Residents Expose War Crimes & Show Dead Ukraine Soldiers

https://youtu.be/-2qiqpMN6dM (+18)
Dozens of Murdered civilians Found in Mariupol after Ukraine retreats (Some hands bound)

https://youtu.be/zlokJAUKhFE
Mariupol Residents Accuse Ukraine Of Firing On Civilians

https://youtu.be/jdfTEgC4kIw (+18)
Russian Soldiers Evacuate Children from Dangerous Areas of Mariupol

https://youtu.be/hw5gSzMjIwo
The largest steel plant in the embattled port city of Mariupol was one of the last strongholds for defending Ukrainian forces. Today (15.04.22) Russian government announced that they and the Donetsk People’s Republic had full control over the expansive plant. We were the first western journalists enter since fighting largely stopped; though sporadic small arms fire could still be heard.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -mariupol/

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Expansion of NATO Bases in Eastern Europe Threatens Russia and World Peace
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 15, 2022
Olivier Renault

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Nato has announced an overhaul that involves a significant increase in Atlantic Alliance troops in Eastern Europe. Experts are convinced that Nato’s reforms will fundamentally reshape the security architecture in Europe and draw Russia and the West into a new arms race. Does the Atlantic Alliance’s initiative simply mean the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia?

Nato is developing plans to deploy large-scale standing military forces on its eastern borders with Russia, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told The Telegraph in an interview on April 10. According to him, the Atlantic Alliance has entered the phase of “fundamental transformation” because of what is happening in Ukraine. On April 6, the Pentagon, together with General Mark Milley, the U.S. Chief of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, considered the establishment of permanent U.S. bases in Eastern Europe. On the same day, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that the 1997 Russia-NATO Founding Act did not correspond to the current situation in the world and its days were over. “The era of engagement with Russia is over,” she said at a dinner with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. CNN recalls: “The law, signed in 1997, states that ‘Nato and Russia do not consider themselves adversaries,’ according to the original document.”

As part of a massive overhaul of Nato, the relatively small presence of troops on the eastern flank will be replaced by full military forces sufficient to repel an attempted “Russian invasion” of Atlantic Alliance member states such as Estonia and Latvia. Jens Stoltenberg noted that currently under his direct command in the eastern part of the Atlantic Alliance, there are already 40,000 military personnel – almost ten times more than at the end of last year.

“What we see now is a new reality, a new normal for European security. Therefore, we have now asked our military commanders to provide options for what we call a reset, a longer-term adaptation of Nato. I expect NATO leaders to make decisions on this when they meet in Madrid at the NATO summit in June,” said Jens Stoltenberg.

It should be noted that by then, the Finnish authorities will make a decision on the country’s application for membership in NATO. Last Sunday, Lithuania announced training for Ukrainians while the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army was on site, reports Stripes, the website of the U.S. Army. Continental Observer learns that Lithuania will host a mission to train Ukrainian soldiers in the use of new weapons that the Baltic country’s other Nato allies are sending to Kiev to help it in its war against Russian forces. Stripes states, “The [Ukrainian] troops were trained in the use of maritime patrol boats and in the use of weapons systems, such as the Switchblade drone, which the United States is now supplying to Ukraine.” Again, the U.S. military site admits: “The United States has long been involved in training the Ukrainian military”; “For years, the [U.S.] military operated from a site in western Ukraine that focused on preparing troops to fight Russian-backed separatists in the eastern region known as Donbass.”

Interesting thing to note. Stripes confirms that the U.S. had planned these trainings before Russian troops entered Ukraine: “However, for security reasons, the U.S. training was suspended less than two weeks before February 24, when Russia launched its full-fledged invasion.” It should be recalled that Ukraine has organized military exercises with the United States, Poland and Lithuania in July 2021. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas, accompanied by Thomas Hitschler, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Ministry of Defense (Since 2017 Berlin is heavily engaged in Lithuania), said: “Lithuania, together with other countries of the eastern fringe of Nato, is seeking to strengthen the battalion battalions of the Nato front forces to the front brigades.

Nato forces are being consolidated near Russia’s borders in the Baltics with personnel, tanks, artillery and reconnaissance equipment. In addition, the Atlantic Alliance is preparing to deepen its cooperation with Finland and Sweden, which are still theoretically neutral. Observers believe that even the permanent transfer of American aircraft carriers to the Baltic is in the works.

Nato allies announced on April 7 the launch of a groundbreaking initiative to strengthen the Atlantic Alliance’s technological edge. Allied foreign ministers approved the Charter for the North Atlantic Defense Innovation Accelerator (DIANA). DIANA will focus on deep technologies – those emerging and disruptive technologies that Nato has identified as priorities, including: artificial intelligence, megadata processing, quantum technologies, autonomy, biotechnology, new materials and space.”

In short, total war is declared against the new target of Nato: Russia. The arms race launched by NATO and the USA is taking place for the sake of peace and the lives of the inhabitants of the countries under the US and NATO’s military political control. Western politicians have decided to tear up the law, signed in 1997, stipulating that NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries and therefore want to start a direct and frontal war against Russia.

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A map of NATO member countries (in light blue) arrayed in a crescent opposite Ukraine and Russia. NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION

NATO to Establish Permanent Bases in Eastern Europe
Pierre Duval

NATO is currently going through a process of reviewing its security architecture in Europe. The Pentagon, during an internal meeting, considered the future of the American presence on NATO’s eastern flank. General Mark Milley, the U.S. Chief of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III testified last Tuesday before the committee on the defense budget request for the fiscal year 2023. On that occasion, the establishment of permanent U.S. bases in Eastern Europe was considered.

And it is above all the declaration of war by the United States against Russia that jumps out at observers. Ukraine appears to be nothing but a proxy for US and NATO projects. With the huge American military investment in Ukraine since 2014 – as General Mark Milley states – we also discover the communication strategy employed by the secret services of which Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be the essential spokesman.

The decision will be finalized in June. “Our goal is to make sure that we continue to reassure our allies and partners, especially those on the eastern flank, and especially our allies in the Baltic area or the Baltic region,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who believes that the decision will be announced at the Madrid summit in June. The Pentagon said that “the United States already employs rotating units in the Baltic republics and Poland” and that “since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, others have been deployed in the Baltic countries, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. At the last Nato summit in March, leaders agreed to review the position of the alliance’s troops in Europe.

Ukraine is an unofficial Nato partner. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said at the meeting that he often spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. “We want to make sure that we meet their needs, and we provide them with the most useful things … to their fight,” he said, pointing out that the U.S. military brings weapons and other means to wage war. He also said that “the things we have provided them have been very, very useful in their efforts to slow down the advance of an overwhelming Russian force.

Thus, the United States and NATO are using Ukrainian forces as a proxy to wage war on Russia. Lloyd J. Austin III said that “anti-armor and anti-aircraft capabilities have been effective, as has the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. He added that “an unheralded capability is the use of secure tactical radios that has allowed the Ukrainians to maintain command and control during battles with Russian forces.”

Since 2014, the United States has been training the military and intelligence in Ukraine. Communication is the lifeblood of the war against Russia. It turns out that the U.S. military is behind Ukraine’s military actions and its strategy in communication. General Mark Milley stressed “the importance of intelligence and intelligence sharing”, that is, also communication. He – which informs about the real role of Volodymyr Zelensky – “congratulated the Ukrainian president for his leadership in the crisis”.

Volodymyr Zelenskya, in fact, goes around the parliaments of most Western countries, through the European Parliament and the UN and television to support the communication enterprise against Russia. At each stage, Volodymyr Zelensky adapted his speech according to the history of the country concerned in order to reach the listeners. He appears as the spokesman of the communication service of the American army and Nato.

General Mark Milley also emphasized the role of “captains, lieutenants and non-commissioned officers at the tactical level,” recalling a very important point: “Ukraine has been trained by the United States since 2014”; “And they personally gave me feedback saying that this training has been quite effective in terms of mission command concepts, distributed leadership at the subordinate level and the development of a corps of non-commissioned officers.

The most amazing thing about all of this is that the Pentagon itself publishes its relationship and ties to Ukraine on its website, which provides insight into Russia’s actions.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... rld-peace/

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Germany’s Economic Minister Warned Of Unrest If Russian Gas Is Immediately Cut Off
Written by Andrew KORYBKO on 16/04/2022

Up until this point, it was considered to be nothing more than so-called “Russian propaganda” for anyone to make such a prediction, but now it’s literally the official position of the German government itself.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck confirmed Russian assessments that Germany’s immediate cutoff of that country’s gas would provoke unrest in heart of that European leader. He revealed in an interview that “An immediate embargo on [Russian natural] gas would threaten social peace in Germany”, though such a scenario is indeed seriously being considered due to the immense pressure being put upon the EU by its American overlords as of late. Another contributing factor is the bloc’s reluctance to comply with President Putin’s geo-economic judo move late last month that newly designed unfriendly countries such as EU’s members pay for gas with rubles.

Image

All of this goes to show just how fundamentally Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine changed the geostrategic situation in Europe. Prior to the onset of that campaign, the bloc was already experiencing massive unrest driven by its population’s refusal to continue complying with what many of them regarded as the politically motivated epidemiological policies imposed by their governments. Now, however, Germany might descend into an even more intense crisis in the event that the US successfully pressures it to immediately cutoff imports of Russian gas. This prediction that was just made by none other than its own Minister for Economic Affairs should lead to a rethinking of Russia’s assessment.

Up until this point, it was considered to be nothing more than so-called “Russian propaganda” for anyone to make such a prediction, but now it’s literally the official position of the German government itself. Given the “politically correct” standards imposed upon the population by their leaders, society cannot openly ask why Germany is now “parroting Russian propaganda” since Moscow can never be extended credence under any circumstances. Nevertheless, those among the population who remember the prior narrative that was just recalled will likely start questioning what’s really going on and potentially distrust the “official narrative” even more than they already do.

The lesson to be learned is that even so-called “adversaries” like Russia are sometimes correct in their assessments even if some suspect that they might be making them for partially ulterior motives such as to provoke panic and/or influence policymaking. In this particular example, however, Russia and those who share its multipolar worldview were simply trying to make the masses aware of the interconnected humanitarian and political consequences connected with Germany’s potentially immediate cutoff of gas from that country. The self-inflicted destabilization of the EU’s largest country would only serve American interests by weakening its economic rival, though that’s likely why it wants that scenario.

https://orientalreview.org/2022/04/16/g ... y-cut-off/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:48 pm

Bezler in Berdyansk
April 17, 20:30

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Bezler in Berdyansk.
Of the living heroes of the events of 2014, only "Gloomy" and "Arrow" are missing.

PS. And the good news came in the evening. In Mariupol, the Ukrainian war criminal Colonel Baranyuk, who commanded the 36th brigade, was eliminated. Baranyuk and his accomplices were liquidated during a night ambush during an attempt to escape from the Ilyich plant. Video of the liquidation here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/43121 Together with Baranyuk, another 50 people were killed, including part of the brigade leadership. 42 people were taken prisoner. Great job.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7564328.html

Google Translator

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THE CONNECTIONS OF THE UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKY IN TAX HAVENS
11 Apr 2022 , 2:18 pm .

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Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky became famous when he played the role of a teacher in the comedy Servant of the People who, outraged by his country's chronic corruption, successfully runs for president. Later, in 2019, the persecution of corrupt oligarchs was the slogan that led him to the presidency.

However, the Pandora documents, leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), suggest that Zelensky is not much different from the criminals he vowed to hunt down.

"Leaked documents suggest he had, or has, a previously undisclosed stake in an offshore company, which he apparently secretly transferred to a friend weeks before he won the presidential election," notes an investigation by The Guardian . Paradoxically, Zelensky criticized politicians like Petro Poroshenko for hiding his assets abroad.

After winning the elections, Zelenski incorporated this friend into the government, as well as other friends from his hometown and colleagues from the television world. At the time he said that it was not "financial cronyism", but the evidence presented below shows otherwise.

*It has assets and companies registered in Belize and Cyprus.
*Zelenski has a 25% interest in a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
*On March 13, 2019, he made a secret transfer and signed the papers on the high seas.
*Zelensky's wife, Olena, is the one receiving payments from the Film Heritage Foundation, the film's producer.
*Igor Kolomoisky, a billionaire whose TV station carried Zelenskiy's show, gave resources to offshore firms owned by Zelenskiy and his circle, including Film Heritage.
*Zelensky is believed to have an apartment in an Edwardian mansion in Regent's Park valued at £1.575 million and another apartment nearby Baker Street, opposite the Sherlock Holmes Museum, bought for £2.2 million. They are probably not the only ones.
*He had, at the time of the investigation last year, secret business connections with Russia, as did other Ukrainian politicians.

https://misionverdad.com/las-conexiones ... s-fiscales

Google Translator

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Cassad's Telegram account:

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forwarded from
Readovka
Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 17

The loudest event was the release of hostages in Mariupol, blocked by Ukrainian nationalists in a Turkish mosque. During the battle, Russian special forces destroyed 29 militants, freed the hostages and evacuated them from the combat zone.

The Nazis from the Azov regiment (banned in the Russian Federation) were again offered to surrender, since their situation in the surrounded Azovstal was hopeless. However, as our military learned from radio intercepts, the fighters from Kiev were ordered to shoot anyone who decides to lay down their arms. Now there are about 400 foreign mercenaries on the territory of the plant, almost all of them are citizens of European countries and Canada.

At night, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched rocket attacks on a military plant in the Brovar district of the Kiev region. The operational-tactical aviation of Russia destroyed two radars of the S-300 air defense system and one Osa AKM anti-aircraft missile system. In total, the pilots destroyed 68 objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Eastern front. The regrouping of troops continues in the Kharkov direction. The front remains virtually unchanged, with the exception of Mariupol, where a systematic cleansing continues. The crews of foreign ships, which were blocked by Ukrainian nationalists, were completely evacuated from the port.Fighting continues in the industrial zone adjacent to Azovstal. The fortifications at the plant, the Russian army continues to strike regularly. Heavy fighting also continues near Izyum and Severodonetsk, and our troops are also storming Popasnaya. Artillery duels and shelling of positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from MLRS do not stop.

To date, the DPR army has liberated a territory inhabited by about 800,000 people. A significant part of the republic with a population of about 1.5 million people still remains under the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the LPR, the situation is a little simpler - the army is left to recapture the territory, where about 300 thousand people live, from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Southern front.The situation here is still unchanged. In the Nikolaev and Kherson regions, periodic local clashes between the Russian army and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition to periodic artillery shelling and raids by the Russian Aerospace Forces, there is no special military activity. The Ukrainian media are actively spreading the idea of ​​a counteroffensive. Apparently, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are planning to try to strike with the onset of good weather. Although the active work of Russian aviation, which regularly strikes in the south of Ukraine, casts doubt on the success of the vaunted "counteroffensive" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The current state of affairs on the fronts indicates the imminent start of a new phase of the special operation. Active actions will begin almost immediately after the occupation of the entire territory of the Azovstal plant by the RF Armed Forces and the elimination of centers of resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mariupol.

Of the interesting: the Ministry of Defense has prepared statistics on foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. In total, the Kyiv regime attracted 6,824 foreign mercenaries from 63 states to Ukraine. Poland became the "leader" among the supplying countries, deploying 1717 "soldiers of fortune". Also, one and a half thousand mercenaries arrived from the United States, Canada, Romania, and another 300 people each from Great Britain and Georgia. During the hostilities, the Russian army destroyed 1035 foreign mercenaries, and 912 refused to participate in hostilities and fled from Ukraine.

Another interesting news is that the final number of Marines of the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who laid down their arms became known - according to the military correspondent Rudenko, a little more than 1,300 soldiers surrendered and were sent to certain death in order to save the senior officers.As a result of the assault on the plant named after Ilyich, according to the DPR special forces, the commander of the 36th brigade, Vladimir Baranyuk, was liquidated, as well as up to 50 servicemen, including five senior officers of the brigade. Another 42 soldiers surrendered.

Image

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forwarded from
Rybar
❗️🇬🇧🇺🇦The situation in Mariupol by the end of April 17, 2022

▪️In the Primorsky district , the cleaning of the Primorsky boiler is being completed. The evacuation of the last crews of foreign ships blocked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine was carried out in the port. There was no confirmation from the Ilyichevets IC that the sweep was completed.

▪️In the Levoberezhny district , fighting is taking place in the industrial zone adjacent to Azovstal along Taganrogskaya Street and Ul. Golubenko .

The forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Azov National Regiment and foreign mercenaries blocked at the plant refused to lay down their arms and are methodically destroyed by bomber aircraft and heavy artillery.

▪️On the territory of the industrial zone of MMK Ilyich , an inventory of the captured warehouses of ammunition and weapons continues.

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forwarded from
Rybar
❗️🇬🇧🇺🇦The performance of the Ukrainian anthem continues in the classrooms in the schools of the Kherson region

War correspondent Alexander Kots writes that a new curriculum is being prepared for schools in the liberated territories of southern Ukraine, the Kharkiv region, the DPR and the LPR, and teachers are planned to be sent this summer to the Crimea to prepare for work on Russian standards.

This is, of course, a good and right thing, but it is possible and necessary to act now.

For example, in Kherson, there are two Russian schools.

▪️The School of Humanitarian Work of

the ShGT was one of the most prestigious schools in Ukraine.

Its director and founder, Artem Kiyanovsky, fought for a long time to preserve teaching in Russian, despite the pressure that the Ukrainian authorities put on him.

Shortly before the start of the SVO , he was dismissed from his post due to a conflict with the Commissioner for the Protection of the Ukrainian Language Taras Kremin, but the school itself continues to function.

▪️Kherson Specialized School No. 30

In 30 schools , 4 programs operated until 2019:

🔸Russian,
🔸Ukrainian-Russian,
🔸"New Ukrainian School",
🔸"Intellect of Ukraine".

But in all classes, the Russian language was taught without fail.

In 2020, the pressure on teachers intensified, and the Intellect of Ukraine program canceled free Russian language lessons, replacing them with an elective course worth 1,600 hryvnias for six months.

At the same time, children and teachers in both schools are fully Russian-speaking.

❗️And this educational base is now used not by Russia, but by supporters of the Kiev authorities. How else to explain that, for example, students of the Russian classes of the 30th school suddenly began to sing the anthem of Ukraine in the classroom , although there was no such practice before.

In all schools in Kherson and in all territories occupied by the Russian Armed Forces, education continues according to Ukrainian programs with all the ideological moments that follow from this.

And having won the military battles, you can lose the battle for the minds if you don’t start doing something in this direction right now.
#Russia #Ukraine #Kherson @rybar *Support us: 4377 7278 0407 7977

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⚔️In Mariupol

1) Plant them. Ilyich and "Azovmash" under the control of the NM of the DPR and the RF Armed Forces. Areas are being cleared. There is still a lot of work.

2) In the Primorsky district, due to dense urban development, things are going more slowly, but they are going. The liberation of the Turkish mosque suggests that everything is being done here from the south. Now the Ukrainian group is divided into two fragments. I think that the area will be cleared completely in the near future.

3) Azovstal remains the hardest nut to crack in this operation. Today, the militants were given the opportunity to leave, they refused . Utilization of manpower of terrorists resumed in full. EVERYTHING works!

The humanitarian situation is dire. The forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the DPR and the Russian Federation, volunteer projects and the whole good world manage to deliver everything necessary to the city.

The next important point is population filtering. Not a single cock terrorist of "Azov" should leak. So let's win!

@arbaleto @akimapachev @diza_donbass

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forwarded from
Exploration★DoZor
0:11
🇬🇧🇺🇦Near Izyum, several tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (presumably it was the 93rd Ombre "Cold Yar") tried to attack the positions of the Russian troops, as a result of which:

▪️One Ukrainian tank was denazified and went over to the side of the RF Armed Forces;
▪️At the second, as a result of an accurate hit, the BC detonated and blew off the tower;
▪️The third one is disabled and cannot be restored;
▪️The crews of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to escape from the scene ... it didn’t work out (it didn’t work out).

A clean uniform and a couple of ATGMs were found in a denazified tank. Useful on the farm.

@razved_dozor

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The day before, we published a photo showing how neo-Nazis from Azov threw the corpse of their colleague into a trash can. The NM DPR fighters later examined the body and came to the conclusion that the dead Azov militant they found was in fact executed by his colleagues.

Moreover, an examination of the things and other “evidence” that he had with him allows us to conclude that the military man executed by the “Azov” was a foreigner. The special services have already taken control of this case, and consultants with extensive experience in the field of forensic examination and genetic examination are inclined to believe that this is a native of the Middle East - most likely Turkomans.

From ourselves, we note that the Turkomans live in northern Syria and are fighting on the side of pro-Turkish groups in Idlib, Lattakia and Aleppo. In addition, there are also quite a few representatives of this nationality in the Turkish PMC Sadat.

@wargonzo

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Gossip
#Exposure
The military administration of Kharkov is looking for a traitor.
According to our source in the General Staff, in the last two days alone, the Russians have destroyed several key defense installations. In particular, several commanders and dozens of personnel were killed. Ammunition depots and hidden stands of equipment were knocked out. This situation has already happened before. But then, according to our interlocutor, everyone wrote off the work of Russian UAVs. But now, the situation has repeated itself, so it was decided to look for a real traitor who leaks information to the Russian forces. As our source noted, the SBU believes that this is a fairly high-ranking figure, included in the highest circles of the regional civil-military administration


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forwarded from
Older than Edda
Each first meeting with captive vushniks begins with tears on their part and requests not to kill them. At first we did not understand what was the matter, but now everything fell into place.

On the one hand, their own command is rubbing the game that the Russians will immediately kill them, on the other hand, absolutely everyone has seen the video in which the Ukroscots mock the captured Russian soldiers.

The synergy of these two forces results in tears in the eyes and urine in the pants. After some time, fear is replaced by bewilderment, is it really not that they will not kill, but they will not even torture?

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forwarded from
Rybar
❗️🇬🇧🇺🇦The situation in Mariupol by 12.00 April 17, 2022

▪️The resistance of the enemy in the Primorsky region after an unsuccessful attempt to break through is focal in nature, and a sweep is underway on the territory of the Primorsky pocket.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine left the buildings of the Donetsk Regional Council and the Prosecutor's Office with the adjacent quarters, and also lost fire control over Primorsky Park .

At the request of the President of the Republic of Turkey Erdogan, on April 16, a special operation was carried out in the Primorsky district to free the hostages held by the Ukrainian Nazis in a Turkish mosque. The mosque of Suleiman and Roksolana was released, 29 militants were killed, including foreign mercenaries, the hostages were released.

▪️In the Levoberezhny district , fighting is taking place in the industrial zone adjacent to Azovstal, almost all residential buildings, with the exception of the microdistrict 6th section, are controlled by allied forces.

About 2,500 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Azov militants, and about 400 foreign mercenaries are blocked at the plant.

▪️The cleaning of the industrial zone of MMK Ilyich has been completed .

In the liberated neighborhoods, numerous warehouses of ammunition and weapons were found, including those produced by NATO countries, including portable air defense systems and anti-tank missiles. An inventory is being carried out.

▪️The Ukrainian authorities are trying to respond to the largest military defeat of the Ukrainian army in recent history with harsh statements in the press.

Ukrainian President Zelensky threatened to stop negotiations with Russia. In order to save the fighters of Azov and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who took refuge at the Azovstal plant, President Zelensky, in his words, “is doing everything he can, but the details of his struggle to save the defenders of Mariupol cannot yet become public.”

▪️The command of the allied forces offered the Ukrainian group, blocked at the Azovstal plant, to voluntarily lay down their arms, not to put up senseless resistance and save their lives. However, the Kiev authorities forbade negotiations on surrender, ordering the Azov neo-Nazis to shoot those who wanted to surrender on the spot.

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forwarded from
Rybar
❗️🇬🇧🇺🇦The situation in Mariupol by 12.00 April 17, 2022

▪️The resistance of the enemy in the Primorsky region after an unsuccessful attempt to break through is focal in nature, and a sweep is underway on the territory of the Primorsky pocket.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine left the buildings of the Donetsk Regional Council and the Prosecutor's Office with the adjacent quarters, and also lost fire control over Primorsky Park .

At the request of the President of the Republic of Turkey Erdogan, on April 16, a special operation was carried out in the Primorsky district to free the hostages held by the Ukrainian Nazis in a Turkish mosque. The mosque of Suleiman and Roksolana was released, 29 militants were killed, including foreign mercenaries, the hostages were released.

▪️In the Levoberezhny district , fighting is taking place in the industrial zone adjacent to Azovstal, almost all residential buildings, with the exception of the microdistrict 6th section, are controlled by allied forces.

About 2,500 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Azov militants, and about 400 foreign mercenaries are blocked at the plant.

▪️The cleaning of the industrial zone of MMK Ilyich has been completed .

In the liberated neighborhoods, numerous warehouses of ammunition and weapons were found, including those produced by NATO countries, including portable air defense systems and anti-tank missiles. An inventory is being carried out.

▪️The Ukrainian authorities are trying to respond to the largest military defeat of the Ukrainian army in recent history with harsh statements in the press.

Ukrainian President Zelensky threatened to stop negotiations with Russia. In order to save the fighters of Azov and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who took refuge at the Azovstal plant, President Zelensky, in his words, “is doing everything he can, but the details of his struggle to save the defenders of Mariupol cannot yet become public.”

▪️The command of the allied forces offered the Ukrainian group, blocked at the Azovstal plant, to voluntarily lay down their arms, not to put up senseless resistance and save their lives. However, the Kiev authorities forbade negotiations on surrender, ordering the Azov neo-Nazis to shoot those who wanted to surrender on the spot.

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forwarded from
Unofficial Bezsonov "Z"
1:27
#exclusive
“I am Ishchenko Pavel Valeryevich, Armed Forces of Ukraine, 56th brigade, 23rd battalion, service number of the first mortar battery. I was in the city of Mariupol, at the plant of Ilyich. There was an order from the command of the 36th brigade to shoot both military and civilians. We refused. Then, after a while, a command came that we were disbanded. That is - do what you want, go out as you want, no one cares about you. When I tried to get out, I was taken prisoner.

"My name is Ischenko Pavel Valeryevich, I'm from the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 56th Brigade, the 23rd Battalion, maintenance number of the 1st Mortar Battery. I was deployed in the city of Mariupol, in the Illich plant. The command of the 36th Brigade gave an order to fire on both military and civilians.We refused to do that.Then, after a while, we received a command to disband the brigade, which meant - do whatever you want, get out as you like, no one cares about you. When I tried to escape, I was taken prisoner."

***

❗️🇬🇧🇺🇦Losses of the Ukrainian side as a result of a special military operation of the RF Armed Forces as of April 17, 2022

▪️During the day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 560 people killed, wounded and captured. 3 people were taken prisoner in all areas of combat operations.

▪️According to the internal report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 2 tanks, 19 armored vehicles, 12 field artillery guns and mortars, 4 MLRS, 4 long-range and medium-range air defense systems, 1 short-range air defense system, 23 vehicles and special equipment, 1 aircraft, 2 helicopters and 10 UAV.

All data are predictable : the Ukrainian side in internal reports does not have the exact number of casualties for each category.

There is no communication with some units, and they are listed as missing, some equipment can be restored after the strike. Therefore, in internal reports, the tendency is always to underestimate the real number of losses .

Image

***

forwarded from
Voenkor Kitten Z
Morning briefing of the Russian Defense Ministry. The main thing:

- In the area of ​​N. p. Brovary destroyed an ammunition factory;
- 68 military facilities were hit, incl. SAM "Osa AKM" and 2 locators of illumination and guidance S-300;
- Destroyed more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, 7 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers and 14 armored vehicles;
- 10 Ukrainian UAVs were shot down;
- In the Primorsky district of Mariupol, the hostages held in the Turkish mosque were released.

@voenkorKotenok

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:41 pm

LIVE: Ban on Russian-flagged Vessels Entering Belgium Enforce

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EU approved the fifth package of sanctions against Russia in response to the military operation in Ukraine, which includes, among other measures, the closure of EU ports for Russian-flagged vessels. Apr. 17, 2022. | Photo: Sputnik / Evgeny Odinokov

Published 17 April 2022 (20 hours 10 minutes ago)

Sunday, April 17, while the rest of the Christian world celebrates Easter and Pope Francis calls for peace on all war torn terretories, armed conflict continues in Ukriane without clear sights on negotiations for a ceasefire. These are the events as they unfold.

The ban on entry into Belgian ports for Russian-flagged vessels came into force on April 17, Belgian TV channel RTBF reported.

"Currently about 12 Russian ships are heading towards the North Sea coast, they are being monitored by the Belgian authorities. But only three of them are banned from access, taking into consideration various exceptions," the media outlet published.

It was reported earlier that in the ports of Belgium and other European Union (EU) countries will continue to accept Russian ships carrying gas and oil, as well as pharmaceutical, medical and agricultural production, including wheat.

In addition, entry will be allowed on humanitarian grounds, and unloading of coal will be allowed until August 10, 2022.

The European Sea Ports Organization called for ensuring additional personnel in the ports of EU countries to monitor compliance with sanctions against Russia.

Last April 8, the EU approved the fifth package of sanctions against Russia in response to the military operation in Ukraine, which includes, among other measures, the closure of EU ports for Russian-flagged vessels.

Russian Security Council Says EU has Secret Plan

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev denounced that the Europeans' secret plan is not peace in Ukraine, but a default on payments by Moscow to provoke economic instability in the country.

"A default for Russia could become a default for Europe. Both morally and economically," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.

He added that Europe does not seek peace in Ukraine, but what it seeks is for Russia to default.


"European aunt Ursula [von der Leyen] began actively issuing texts that are no longer devoted to people's sufferings, nor to the end of the special military operation, nor to the long-awaited peace in Ukraine, but to Russia's default on payments," Medvedev wrote.

He added that this is the deep strategy of the EU and the sacred plan of the "masochists from Brussels and their playmates across the ocean."

According to the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, the EU financial system is not entirely stable, "people's confidence is falling" and it was not so destabilized even in the 2008 crisis.

"Expect a big thank you from ordinary Europeans for hyperinflation, which can no longer be blamed on the 'evil Russians', for the lack of basic foodstuffs and for the large number of refugees that will lead to a wave of violent crimes," Medvedev concluded.

Donetsk Confirms Evacuation of More Than 500 People From Mariupol City

In the last day from the city of Mariupol to the locality of Bezimennoye of the Donetsk People's Republic, more than 500 people, including 64 children, were evacuated, the DPR territorial defense headquarters reported.

"Over the past 24 hours, from 8:00 [local time on April 16 to 8:00 on April 17], from Mariupol to Bezimennoye, Novoazovsky district, 526 people, including 64 children, were evacuated," the headquarters said on its Telegram channel.

According to the report, between March 5 and the morning of April 17, 18,955 civilian inhabitants were evacuated to Bezimennoye.

EU To Impose New Santions on Russian Banks

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"What should not happen is that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin collects even higher prices on other markets for supplies that would otherwise go to the EU," said von der Leyen.
The head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen told a German newspaper, that the European Union will be implementing new sanctions on Russia that will target banks, in particular Sberbank (SBER.MM), as well as oil.

Bild am Sonntag, in an interview published on Sunday, asked von der Leyen to name the key points of a planned sixth round of sanctions.

"We are looking further at the banking sector, especially Sberbank, which accounts for 37% of the Russian banking sector. And, of course, there are energy issues," she said.


Russia Announces Resistance To Western Sanctions

According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russia "is capable of resisting the current confrontation with the West", in reference to the rounds of sanctions applied by Western powers led by the European Union and the United States after the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, almost two months ago.

Western countries have continued to impose new sanctions against Moscow in response to the Russian military's special operation in Ukraine. So far, it has been mainly the financial sector and the supply of high-tech products that have been affected.

In addition, some European countries have announced their intention to reduce their dependence on Russian energy supplies in the foreseeable future. The Kremlin called these measures an economic war, one never before seen, but emphasized that they were ready for such a development of events.

However, Russia has been preparing for such an offensive of this magnitude. As Peskov recalled, the Central Bank of Russia took measures to stabilize the situation on the foreign exchange market; payments for gas supplies to hostile countries were transferred to rubles.


Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will withstand the current confrontation with the West.

The Russian Government has prepared a plan to counter the restrictive measures, which includes about a hundred initiatives. The amount of their financing will be for the equivalent of $12 billion.

At the same time, Peskov emphasized that the pressure of these sanctions on Moscow have had a sort of boomerang effect as many of the santions have only turned into economic problems for the United States and Europe, causing a serious increase in fuel and food prices.

On the other hand, developing countries are suffering the consequences more severely due to these sanctions as fuel and food prices keep rising, while still battling the aftermath of a global pandemic.

To name a few, the sanctions include the disconnection of some Russian banks from the SWIFT system, the freezing of its international reserves, the embargo on the import of some energy agents, as well as the closure of air space, ports and roads for Russian carriers.

For her part, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen believes that Western sanctions will provoke a default in Russia and announced that sanctions against Russia were "getting stronger every week", as a result, Russia is unlikely to avoid a default.

"Every week, sanctions are hitting the Russian economy deeper: exports have collapsed by 70 percent. According to our forecasts, GDP will collapse by 11 percent. Russia's national bankruptcy is only a matter of time." The question is, how long can the West bare the

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIV ... -0004.html

Dunno why it ended like that. Been seeing more editorial errors of late.

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Damage to RK "Moskva"
April 18, 11:09 am

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Photos of the damaged missile cruiser "Moskva".
Damage is visible in the central part of the ship and the ongoing fire in the interior.
To the versions - anti-ship missiles, mines, safety violations, today there was also added a version of the spontaneous launch of one of the S-300 air defense missiles, which led to the detonation of a part of the BC in the central part of the ship.
We are waiting for the conclusions of the commission on the reasons for the death of the ship.

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There was also a short video https://t.me/boris_rozhin/43255 , where you can see that there are Russian ships around the "Moscow" (apparently filmed during an attempt to drag the "Moscow" to Sevastopol")

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7565674.html

The red banner returned to the Ilyich plant
April 18, 10:28

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The red banner returned to the Ilyich plant liberated from the Nazis.
First, it's beautiful...

PS. And more about symbols. Bandera's trident was removed in Berdyansk. Video here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/43201

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7565344.html

Grandma in Murmansk
April 18, 11:48

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Murmansk.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7565835.html

Google Translator

Guaranteed that the occupants of the Kremlin are not pleased will any of those images, and the 'bandiera rossi less than the sinking 'Moskva'. For the sake of the war effort it will be tolerated but when this is over it will no doubt be back to trashing the USSR at every opportunity. The only reason that Putin has any good words for the state he helped overthrow is the realization that very significant portions of the population, a majority in fact, revere that state and think of it as the 'good old days', as indeed it was for the vast majority compared to their poverty and the corruption of the present. We saw what happened when military leaders arose in Donbass who also had a socialist agenda: they were assassinated by unknown parties, perhaps Ukraine SBU, mebbe Russia, or mebbe Russia chose to look the other way while knowing what Ukraine was up to.

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Ukraine completes questionnaire for accession to the European Union

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Von der Leyen plans to submit Ukraine's application for membership next summer. | Photo: Reason
Published April 18, 2022 (5 hours 40 minutes ago)

kyiv explained that the European Commission must prepare a recommendation to confirm whether Ukraine meets the requirements to join the bloc.

Ukraine has completed the questionnaire to gain accession to the European Union and the entity must give its recommendation on the entry of kyiv to the bloc, informed the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Igor Zhovkva.

READ ALSO:

Russia denounces EU claims to harm negotiations with Ukraine

Ukrainian official Zhovkva explained on Sunday that the European Commission must prepare a recommendation to confirm whether his nation meets the criteria to join the bloc, an issue that Zelensky's office believes should be positive.

This issue complies with what was promised by the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, to the president of the European Commission, Úrsula von der Leyen, while she visited kyiv at the beginning of April.


During his trip to Ukraine, Von der Leyen argued that he would provide what is necessary for the country to make its membership valid and stressed that he plans to submit that nation's application next summer.

On February 28, four days after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, Zelensky decided to sign an application for Ukraine's accession to the European Union and demanded that his country be added immediately.

That same week, countries such as Moldova and Georgia announced the sending of similar requests to the European group.

It is worth mentioning that last March several leaders of the bloc, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, rejected the rapid accession of Ukraine to the European Union.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/ucrania- ... -0006.html

Google Translator

Any claims to being 'progressive' by the EU is thrown out the window with this. The EU proves itself to be gutless vassals of the US hegemon.

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“One less traitor”: Zelensky oversees campaign of assassination, kidnapping and torture of political opposition
MAX BLUMENTHAL AND ESHA KRISHNASWAMY·APRIL 17, 2022

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Above: The torture of left-wing activist Alexander Matjuschenko on March 3 in Dnipro, recorded by Azov members. Below: President Volodymyr Zelensky poses during a media engagement.

While claiming to defend democracy, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has outlawed his opposition, ordered his rivals’ arrest, and presided over the disappearance and assassination of dissidents across the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has framed his country’s war against Russia as a battle for democracy itself. In a carefully choreographed address to US Congress on March 16, Zelensky stated, “Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided. The destiny of our people, whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy.”

US corporate media has responded by showering Zelensky with fawning press, driving a campaign for his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize and inspiring a flamboyant musical tribute to himself and the Ukrainian military during the 2022 Grammy awards ceremony on April 3.

Western media has looked the other way, however, as Zelensky and top officials in his administration have sanctioned a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination of local Ukrainian lawmakers accused of collaborating with Russia. Several mayors and other Ukrainian officials have been killed since the outbreak of war, many reportedly by Ukrainian state agents after engaging in de-escalation talks with Russia.

“There is one less traitor in Ukraine,” Internal Affairs Ministry advisor Anton Geraschenko stated in endorsement of the murder of a Ukrainian mayor accused of collaborating with Russia.

Zelensky has further exploited the atmosphere of war to outlaw an array of opposition parties and order the arrest of his leading rivals. His authoritarian decrees have triggered the disappearance, torture and even murder of an array of human rights activists, communist and leftist organizers, journalists and government officials accused of “pro-Russian” sympathies.

The Ukrainian SBU security services has served as the enforcement arm of the officially authorized campaign of repression. With training from the CIA and close coordination with Ukraine’s state-backed neo-Nazi paramilitaries, the SBU has spent the past weeks filling its vast archipelago of torture dungeons with political dissidents.

On the battlefield, meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has engaged in a series of atrocities against captured Russian troops and proudly exhibited its sadistic acts on social media. Here too, the perpetrators of human rights abuses appear to have received approval from the upper echelons of Ukrainian leadership.

While Zelensky spouts bromides about the defense of democracy before worshipful Western audiences, he is using the war as a theater for enacting a blood-drenched purge of political rivals, dissidents and critics.

“The war is being used to kidnap, imprison and even kill opposition members who express themselves critical of the government,” a left-wing activist beaten and persecuted by Ukraine’s security services commented this April. “We must all fear for our freedom and our lives.”

Torture and enforced disappearances “common practices” of Ukraine’s SBU
When a US-backed government seized power in Kiev following the Euromaidan regime change operation of 2013-14, Ukraine’s government embarked on a nationwide purge of political elements deemed pro-Russian or insufficiently nationalistic. The passage of “decommunization” laws by the Ukrainian parliament further eased the persecution of leftist elements and the prosecution of activists for political speech.

The post-Maidan regime has focused its wrath on Ukrainians who have advocated a peace settlement with pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east, those who have documented human rights abuses by the Ukrainian military, and members of communist organizations. Dissident elements have faced the constant threat of ultra-nationalist violence, imprisonment, and even murder.

The Ukrainian security service known as the SBU has served as the main enforcer of the post-Maidan government’s campaign of domestic political repression. Pro-Western monitors including the United Nations Office of the High Commission (UN OHCR) and Human Rights Watch have accused the SBU of systematically torturing political opponents and Ukrainian dissidents with near-total impunity.

The UN OHCR found in 2016 that “arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment of such conflict-related detainees were common practice of SBU… A former Kharkiv SBU officer explained, ‘For the SBU, the law virtually does not exist as everything that is illegal can be either classified or explained by referring to state necessity.”

Yevhen Karas, the founder of the infamous neo-Nazi C14 unit, has detailed the close relationship his gang and other extreme right factions have enjoyed with the SBU. The SBU “informs not only us, but also Azov, the Right Sector, and so on,” Karas boasted in a 2017 interview.

Kiev officially endorses assassinating Ukrainian mayors for negotiating with Russia
Since Russia launched its military operation inside Ukraine, the SBU has hunted down local officials that decided to accept humanitarian supplies from Russia or negotiated with Russian forces to arrange corridors for civilian evacuations.

On March 1, for example, Volodymyr Strok, the mayor of the eastern city of Kreminna in the Ukrainian-controlled side of Lugansk, was kidnapped by men in military uniform, according to his wife, and shot in the heart.

On March 3, pictures of Strok’s visibly tortured body appeared. A day before his murder, Struk had reportedly urged his Ukrainian colleagues to negotiate with pro-Russian officials.

Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, celebrated the mayor’s murder, declaring on his Telegram page (see below): “There is one less traitor in Ukraine. The mayor of Kreminna in Luhansk region, former deputy of Luhansk parliament was found killed.”

According to Geraschenko, Strok had been judged by the “court of the people’s tribunal.”

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Telegram post by Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, celebrating the assassination of “traitor” and Kreminna Mayor Volodymyr Struk

The Ukrainian official therefore delivered a chilling message to anyone choosing to seek cooperation with Russia: do so and lose your life.

On March 7, the mayor of Gostomel, Yuri Prylipko, was found murdered. Prylipko had reportedly entered into negotiations with the Russian military to organize a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of his city’s residents – a red line for Ukrainian ultra-nationalists who had long been in conflict with the mayor’s office.

Next, on March 24, Gennady Matsegora, the mayor of Kupyansk in northeastern Ukraine, released a video (below) appealing to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his administration for the release of his daughter, who had been held hostage by agents of the Ukrainian SBU intelligence agency.


Then there was the murder of Denis Kireev, a top member of the Ukrainian negotiating team, who was killed in broad daylight in Kiev after the first round of talks with Russia. Kireev was subsequently accused in local Ukrainian media of “treason.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement that “there would be consequences for collaborators” indicates that these atrocities have been sanctioned by the highest levels of government.


As of today, eleven mayors from various towns in Ukraine are missing. Western media outlets have been following the Kiev line without exception, claiming that all mayors been arrested by the Russian military. The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied the charge, however, and little evidence exists to corroborate Kiev’s line about the missing mayors.

Zelensky outlaws political opposition, authorizes arrest of rivals and war propaganda blitz
When war erupted with Russia this February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a series of decrees formalizing Kiev’s campaign against political opposition and dissident speech.

In a March 19 executive order, Zelensky invoked martial law to ban 11 opposition parties. The outlawed parties consisted of the entire left-wing, socialist or anti-NATO spectrum in Ukraine. They included the For Life Party, the Left Opposition, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, Union of Left Forces, Socialists, the Party of Shariy, Ours, State, Opposition Bloc and the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc.

Openly fascist and pro-Nazi parties like the Azov National Corps were left untouched by the presidential decree, however.

“The activities of those politicians aimed at division or collusion will not succeed, but will receive a harsh response,” President Zelensky stated.

As he wiped out his opposition, Zelensky ordered an unprecedented domestic propaganda initiative to nationalize all television news broadcasting and combine all channels into a single 24 hour channel called “United News” to “tell the truth about war.”

Next, on April 12, Zelensky announced the arrest of his principal political rival, Viktor Medvedchuk, by Ukraine’s SBU security services.


The founder of the second largest party in Ukraine, the now-illegal Patriots for Life, Medvedchuk is the de facto representative of the country’s ethnic Russian population. Though Patriots for Life is regarded as “pro-Russia,” in part because of his close relations with Vladimir Putin, the new chairman of the party has condemned Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine.

Members of the state-sponsored neo-Nazi Azov Battalion’s National Corps attacked Medvedchuk’s home in March 2019, accusing him of treason and demanding his arrest.

In August 2020, Azov’s National Corps opened fire on a bus carrying representatives of Medvedchuk’s party, wounding several with rubber-coated steel bullets.

Zelensky’s administration escalated the assault on his top opponent in February 2021 when he shuttered several media outlets controlled by Medvedchuk. The US State Department openly endorsed the president’s move, declaring that the United States “supports Ukrainian efforts to counter Russia’s malign influence…”

Three months later, Kiev jailed Medvedchuk and charged him with treason. Zelensky justified locking away his leading rival on the grounds that he needed to “fight against the danger of Russian aggression in the information arena.”

Medvedchuk escaped house arrest at the onset of the war between Russia and Ukraine, but is a captive once again, and may be used as collateral for a post-war prisoner swap with Russia.

Under Zelensky’s watch, “the war is being used to kidnap, imprison and even kill opposition members”
Since Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, Ukraine’s SBU security service had been on a rampage against any and all iterations of internal political opposition. Leftist Ukrainian activists have faced particularly harsh treatment, including kidnapping and torture.

This March 3 in the city of Dnipro, SBU officers accompanied by Azov ultra-nationalists raided the home of activists with the Livizja (Left) organization, which has organized against social spending cuts and right-wing media propaganda. While one activist said the Azov member “cut my hair off with a knife,” the state security agents proceeded to torture her husband, Alexander Matjuschenko, pressing a gun barrel to his head and forcing him to repeatedly belt out the nationalist salute, “Slava Ukraini!”

“Then they put bags over our heads, tied our hands with tape and took us to the SBU building in a car. There they continued to interrogate us and threatened to cut off our ears,” Matjuschenko’s wife told the leftist German publication Junge Welt.

The Azov members and SBU agents recorded the torture session and published images of Matjuschenko’s bloodied face online.

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The torture of left-wing activist Alexander Matjuschenko on March 3 in Dnipro, recorded by Azov members and posted on Telegram by the city of Dnipro

Matjuschenko was jailed on the grounds that he was “conducting an aggressive war or military operation,” and now faces 10 to 15 years in prison. Despite enduring several broken ribs from the beating by state-backed ultra-nationalists, he has been denied bail. Meanwhile, dozens of other leftists have been jailed on similar charges in Dnipro.
Among those targeted by the SBU were Mikhail and Aleksander Kononovich, members of the outlawed Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine. Both were arrested and jailed on March 6 and accused of “spreading pro-Russian and pro-Belarusian views.”
In the following days, the SBU arrested broadcast journalist Yan Taksyur and charged him with treason; human rights activist Elena Berezhnaya; Elena Viacheslavova, a human rights advocate whose father, Mikhail, was burned to death during the May 2, 2014 ultra-nationalist mob attack on anti-Maidan protesters outside the Odessa House of Trade Unions; independent journalist Yuri Tkachev, who was charged with treason, and an untold number of others; disabled rights activist Oleg Novikov, who was jailed for three years this April on the grounds that he supported “separatism.”
The list of those imprisoned by Ukraine’s security services since the outbreak of war grows by the day, and is too extensive to reproduce here.

Perhaps the most ghastly incident of repression took place when neo-Nazis backed by the Ukrainian government kidnapped Maxim Ryndovskiy, a professional MMA fighter, and brutally tortured him for the crime of training with Russian fighters at a gym in Chechnya. Ryndovskiy also happened to be Jewish, with a Star of David tattooed on his leg, and had spoken out on social media against the war in eastern Ukraine.

[youtube]http://twitter.com/i/status/1500195518697328646[/youtube]

Ukraine’s SBU has even hunted opposition figures outside the country’s borders. As journalist Dan Cohen reported, Anatoly Shariy of the recently banned Party of Shariy said he was the target of a recent SBU assassination attempt. Shariy has been an outspoken opponent of the US-backed Maidan regime, and has been forced to flee into exile after enduring years of harassment from nationalists.

This March, the libertarian politician and online pundit received an email from a friend, “Igor,” seeking to arrange a meeting. He subsequently learned that Igor was held by the SBU at the time and being used to bait Shariy into disclosing his location.

For his part, Shariy has been placed on the notorious Myrotvorets public blacklist of “enemies of the state” founded by Anton Geraschenko – the Ministry of Internal Affairs advisor who endorsed the assassination of Ukrainian lawmakers accused of Russian sympathies. Several journalists and Ukrainian dissidents, including the prominent columnist Oles Buzina, were murdered by state-backed death squads after their names appeared on the list.

Common Ukrainian citizens have also been subjected to torture since the start of the war this February. Seemingly countless videos have appeared on social media showing civilians tied to lamp posts, often with their genitals exposed or their faces painted green. Carried out by Territorial Defense volunteers tasked with enforcing law and order during wartime, these acts of humiliation and torture have targeted everyone from accused Russian sympathizers to Roma people to alleged thieves.

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Ukraine’s SBU studies torture and assassination from the CIA

Vassily Prozorov, a former SBU officer who defected to Russia following the Euromaidan coup, detailed the post-Maidan security services’ systemic reliance on torture to crush political opposition and intimidate citizens accused of Russian sympathies.

According to Prozorov, the ex-SBU officer, the Ukrainian security services have been directly advised by the CIA since 2014. “CIA employees have been present in Kiev since 2014. They are residing in clandestine apartments and suburban houses,” he said. “However, they frequently come to the SBU’s central office for holding, for example, specific meetings or plotting secret operations.”

Below, Russia’s RIA Novosti profiled Prozorov and covered his disclosures in a 2019 special.


Journalist Dan Cohen interviewed a Ukrainian businessman named Igor who was arrested by the SBU for his financial ties with Russian companies and detained this March in the security service’s notorious headquarters in downtown Kiev. Igor said he overheard Russian POWs being beaten with pipes by Territorial Defense volunteers being coached by SBU officers. Pummeled to the sound of the Ukrainian national anthem, the Russian prisoners were brutalized until they confessed their hatred for Putin.

Then came Igor’s turn. “They used a lighter to heat up a needle, then put it under my fingernails,” he told Cohen. “The worst was when they put a plastic bag over my head and suffocated me and when they held the muzzle of a Kalashnikov rifle to my head and forced me to answer their questions.”

Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the first head of the SBU after the Euromaidan regime change operation of 2013-14, nurtured close ties to Washington when he served as general consul to the Ukrainian embassy to the US during the George W. Bush administration. During that time, Nalyvaichenko was recruited by the CIA, according to his predecessor at the SBU, Alexander Yakimenko, who served under the Russian-oriented government of deposed President Viktor Yanukovych.

In 2021, Zelensky appointed one of Ukraine’s most notorious intelligence figures, Oleksander Poklad, to lead SBU’s counterintelligence division. Poklad is nicknamed “The Strangler,” a reference to his reputation for using torture and assorted dirty tricks to set-up his bosses’ political rivals on treason charges.

This April, a vivid illustration of the SBU’s brutality emerged in the form of video (below) showing its agents pummeling a group of men accused of Russian sympathies in the city of Dnipro.


“We will never take Russian soldiers prisoner”: Ukraine’s military flaunts its war crimes
While the Western media has focused squarely on alleged Russian human rights abuses since the outbreak of war, Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Ukrainian social media accounts have proudly exhibited sadistic war crimes, from field executions to the torture of captive soldiers.

This March, a pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel called White Lives Matter released a video of a Ukrainian soldier calling the fiancee of a Russian prisoner of war, seen below, and taunting her with promises to castrate the captive.


Ukrainian soldiers’ use of the cellphones of dead Russian soldiers to mock and hector their relatives appears to be a common practice. In fact, the Ukrainian government has begun using notoriously invasive facial recognition technology from Clearview AI, a US tech company, to identify Russian casualties and taunt their relatives on social media.


This April, a pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel called fckrussia2022 posted a video depicting a Russian soldier with one of his eyes bandaged, suggesting it had been gouged during torture, and mocked him as a “one-eyed” pig.

Perhaps the most gruesome image to have appeared on social media in recent weeks is the photo of a tortured Russian soldier who had one of his eyes gouged before he was killed. The accompanying post was captioned, “looking for Nazis.”

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Photos distributed by pro-Ukraine Telegram channels showing captured, tortured and executed Russian soldiers

Video has also emerged this April showing Ukrainian soldiers shooting defenseless Russian POWs in the legs outside the city of Kharkov. A separate video published by Ukrainian and US-backed Georgian Legion soldiers showed the fighters carrying out field executions of wounded Russian captives near a village outside Kiev.

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Ukrainian and Georgian Legion fighters celebrate after executing captive Russian soldiers on video

It is likely that these soldiers had been emboldened by their superiors’ blessings. Mamula Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian Legion, which participated in the field executions of wounded Russian POW’s, boasted this April that his unit freely engages in war crimes: “Yes, we tie their hands and feet sometimes. I speak for the Georgian Legion, we will never take Russian soldiers prisoner. Not a single one of them will be taken prisoner.”

Similarly, Gennadiy Druzenko, the head of the Ukrainian military medical service, stated in an interview with Ukraine 24 that he “issued an order to castrate all Russian men because they were subhuman and worse than cockroaches.”

Ukrainian officials present woman tortured and killed by Azov as victim of Russia

While Western media homes in on Russian human rights violations at home and inside Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has authorized a propaganda campaign known as “Total War” that includes the planting of bogus images and false stories to further implicate Russia.

In one especially cynical example of the strategy, Ukraine 24 – a TV channel where guests have called for the genocidal extermination of Russian children – published a photo this April depicting a female corpse branded with a bloody swastika on her stomach. Ukraine 24 claimed that it found this woman in Gostumel, one of the regions in the Kiev Oblast that the Russians vacated on March 29.

Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian member of parliament, and Oleksiy Arestovych, the top advisor to President Zelensky, published the photo of the defiled female corpse on social media. While Vasylenko left the photo online, Arestovych deleted it eight hours after posting when confronted with the fact that he had published a fake.

In fact, the image was pulled from footage originally recorded by Patrick Lancaster, a Donetsk-based US journalist who had filmed the corpse of a woman tortured and murdered by members of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion in a Mariupol school basement they had converted into a base.

At 2:31 in Lancaster’s video, the woman’s corpse can be seen clearly. https://youtu.be/6LQSYmda0Sc


As weapons pour into Ukraine from NATO states and the war intensifies, the atrocities are almost certain to pile up – and with the blessing of leadership in Kiev. As Zelensky proclaimed during a visit to the city of Bucha this April, “if we do not find a civilized way out, you know our people – they will find an uncivilized way out.”

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/17/trai ... pposition/

Other video and screenshots at link.

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US Tries to Paint David as Goliath, Hides Own Role
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 17, 2022
Daniel Patrick Welch

Revolutionary sources from Cuba to China to Bolivia to Venezuela and Vietnam are not confused about who is David and who is Goliath in this story. Nor are other victims of endless coup attempts and regime change wars waged by the US and its steroid addled NATO doppelganger. The people of Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, virtually all of Africa and South America. In Russia’s bold action, they see someone finally standing up to the undisputed bully and sponsor of terrorism on the planet. With the cat clearly out of the bag, it is time to close ranks against the real danger facing the world.

Don’t be shocked. French journalist Georges Malbrunot has caused a stir with his claim that “the Americans are in charge of the war on the round in Ukraine. “And who is in charge? It’s the Americans. I saw it with my own eyes.” It’s a US war, folks. Always has been. Another US regime change war in a string that has left death, destruction and mayhem in virtually every corner of the globe.

US has been there the whole time, and if you think they are just getting there now to “defend Ukraine,” you are beyond help. This has been in the planning for many years, the culmination of the Bait and Bleed mantra espoused by Brezinski and the rest of the cabal of monsters that has seized control of the US policy apparatus.

The interesting thing is that they are getting their asses handed to them, which you can see if you look behind the well constructed veil. On the publicity front, the CIA’s lie factory is wiping the floor with the Russians, managing to hoodwink huge numbers of people in the core countries (the vaunted International Community) into thinking up is down and day is night. Easy peasy for the country that coaxed generations of women to their deaths from smoking, by selling them little ‘Torches of Freedom’ during the suffragette years.

But then they have always been better at virtual war than at the real thing. Frantic helicopter escapes from Saigon, Kabul and other famous places can attest to that. Which is not to say the Vanguard of the Imperium will ever go easy into that good night. In fact, the greatest victory so far, and there doesn’t seem to be much hope of reversing it given the sorry state of Americans’ knowledge of their own history, is the massive PR success of transposing David with Goliath.

Americans are so naïve, childlike really, in their well massaged beliefs that they yearn, if not for a biblical angle, then superhero angle to every story. Just like in the movies. Even if it’s a joke-telling, accomplished penist (don’t spell check that, it’s not a typo) who is glad to add another role to his IMDb credits. Perfect foil, perfect empty vessel.

Especially for getting the whole thing backwards. It’s not little Ukraine fending off the Big Bad Russians. Ukraine has not been an independent state for quite some time. US began its NATO-tipped invasion in 1990 at the latest. Then they crept ever eastward, pursuing the same regime change war (coup is the old word and the correct one) in one guise or another in a dozen different countries around the globe.

It’s Russia (and by extension, all these imperial victims around the globe) against the US, NATO and the collective west. From Iran to Vietnam to Cuba to Congo to Angola to Algeria to Nicaragua to Venezuela to Honduras to Libya to Syria to Yemen to Pakistan and on to the big prize–Russia (or China). Yes, it’s the same war. Yes, US/NATO are the instigators. Yes they have funded, trained, and let loose nazis for this purpose.

They dug in deep (literally) in a secret, fortified, forward NATO base right on Russia’s border. What they didn’t expect was Russia’s fierce response, which caught them with their generals’ pants down. They calculated, unwisely, that Russia would never take Mariupol and capture a US general. From Mariupol, barely 35 miles from Russia’s border, they set out to direct this war from an impenetrable bunker fortress. In a year or so, the west too will have hypersonic missiles.

So no, don’t bother acting all surprised, especially if you hail from one of those western “democracies” that is knee deep in the blood of the rest of the world, the ones Padraig Pearse called “Ye that have harried and held, ye that have bullied and bribed.” If you have trouble getting your mind past Big Bad Russia…. Well, turn off your TV first. Try to find some real news and learn some real history. And if you are not a tax resister, or if you don’t spend every waking minute putting your body in front of some tank bound for one or another country full of brown people, you might want to pipe down a bit about how terrible Russia is. Your money is literally paying for this shit. You also might, like Dr. King, demur from condemnation “without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” It was over 50 years ago, but the uncontested champion still reigns.

Revolutionary sources from Cuba to China to Bolivia to Venezuela and Vietnam are not confused about who is David and who is Goliath in this story. Nor are other victims of endless coup attempts and regime change wars waged by the US and its steroid addled NATO doppelganger. The people of Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, virtually all of Africa and South America. In Russia’s bold action, they see someone finally standing up to the undisputed bully and sponsor of terrorism on the planet. With the cat clearly out of the bag, it is time to close ranks against the real danger facing the world.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -own-role/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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

Post by blindpig » Mon Apr 18, 2022 11:03 pm

Phase 2. Preparation
colonelcassad
April 18, 22:57

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1. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Zelensky gang announced that the 2nd phase of the operation in Donbass had begun, which Shoigu announced at the end of March.
2. From the Russian side, no one has officially announced anything yet.
3. Nevertheless, artillery preparation against the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been on the rise since tonight, and missile strikes have been launched on the territory of Ukraine. Kyiv, Nikolaev, Kharkov, Slavyansk, etc. are celebrated at 11 pm. etc.
4. All this may indicate that the operational pause is ending. Reconnaissance in force took place today (Kremennaya was occupied), rocket and artillery preparation began in the evening. It is possible that an offensive operation with decisive goals may begin tomorrow. However, I would not be surprised if artillery preparation continues tomorrow during the day.

In general, we are waiting.
The broadcast of hostilities in Ukraine will continue as usual in Telegram - https://t.me/boris_rozhin (if you are interested, subscribe). Apparently, the period when it was possible to rest a bit is coming to an end.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7567270.html

Lenin returned to Genichesk
April 18, 16:10

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Lenin returned to Genichesk.
In the city center, a monument to Lenin was restored, which the Nazis demolished in 2015.
The Russian flag and the Banner of Victory are hung over the city administration.

The news notably burned both the rightists and the leftists.
Well, the Ukrainian Nazis, of course.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7566460.html

Google Translator

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The Ukraine Is Still Losing So What Is Its Plan?

Russian and Donbas forces have cleared the city of Mariupol except for the giant metallurgic complex of Azovstal which is held by some estimated 4,000 men, including many from the fascist Azov battalion.

On Sunday Russia opened corridors across the front line and asked for those forces to surrender. However the Zelensky government ordered them to stay and to continue to bind Russian forces which otherwise could be used elsewhere:

Russia had given the Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol until Sunday morning to lay down their weapons or be “eliminated.” On Sunday, the forces at the plant ignored the deadline, and Ukrainian officials vowed that they would not surrender. In response, the Russian assault intensified, with missiles and bombs hitting the city and new attacks occurring near the plant, according to the Ukrainian military.
...
Ukrainian officials said on Sunday that the struggle was not over for Mariupol, which for two months has tied up Russian troops and resources that are badly needed elsewhere.
The Azovstal complex is a 2 by 2 miles industrial area. It can be surrounded and controlled by a relatively small force. Those within the area no longer have heavy artillery ammunition and presumably little other supplies. The Russian forces can see and bomb anything that moves on the open ground and can otherwise sit back and wait their enemies out.

I do not believe that holding on to Azovstal will significantly delay the upcoming second phase of the Russian operation which will surround and destroy the Ukrainian army on the Donbas front.

The Russian military has two huge advantage over the Ukrainian forces in the east. One is of course its air superiority. The other is the unimpeded supply line which allows it to get as much heavy artillery ammunition, fuel and food to its forces as it needs.

Without fuel the Ukrainian army can not move and without constant supply, especially of large amounts of artillery munitions, it can not counter Russian artillery which will be in heavy use against it.

This pictures of a former Ukrainian position show the devastating result of such a situation.

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Nearly all of the Ukrainian ammunition and fuel supplies have been bombed and destroyed. What is trickling in through its western borders has difficulties to reach the eastern front and is anyway not enough to supply an actively fighting and maneuvering army.

On April 16 Russia shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane that was bringing 'western' weapons to Odessa. Today it destroyed another ammunition depot near Lviv were 'western' weapons are crossing the border into Ukraine. Some bits of fuel allegedly still reach the Ukraine through trains from Moldova. But that is far from enough.

Here is a week old report on the fuel situation:

Since the beginning of the war, the number of gas stations in Ukraine has decreased three times, and private fuel consumption has decreased by about the same amount, said Sergey Kuyun, director of the A-95 consulting group.
“According to our estimates, a third of the total number of gas stations is operating, this is about 2.5 thousand stations, before the war there were 7.5 thousand. Of course, the main reason is the lack of fuel. Consumption has also decreased three times compared to the pre-war level,” he said at a closed briefing at the Media Center in Lviv on Monday.

At the same time, Kuyun noted that traders or network owners are forced to provide their most strategic and powerful facilities, located mainly in regional centers or on main routes, while peripheral stations are forced to stand idle, although there are also a lot of consumers there.

According to him, the shortage of fuel became especially aggravated after the shutdown of the Kremenchug Oil Refinery as a result of a missile attack by Russian invaders.
...
On April 2, the Russian invaders destroyed the infrastructure of the Kremenchug oil refinery with their shelling, and it stopped working.

The damage done daily to the Ukrainian military and military industry is huge. One can get a sense of it when one reads through the briefings of the Russian defense ministry. From today's morning brief (here in full as some have difficulties accessing the site):

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.
High-precision air-based missiles destroyed 16 military assets of Ukrainian overnight.

Among them: 5 enemy command posts, 1 fuel storage facility, 3 ammunition depots, as well as military personnel and equipment concentrated in Barvenkovo, Gulyai Pole, Kamyshevakha, Zelenoe Pole, Velikomikhailovka and Nikolaev.

Operational-tactical aviation hit 108 areas of concentration of Ukrainian manpower and military equipment.

In addition, 1 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down by an air-to-air missile near Buda.

Army aviation destroyed 8 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, as well as up to a company of enemy manpower near Pashkovo, Veseloe and Illichevka.

Missile troops struck with high-precision Iskander land-based missiles. 4 arms depots and Ukrainian military equipment were destroyed, as well as 3 areas enemy manpower concentration near Popasnaya, Yampol and Kramotorsk.

Russian artillery units hit 315 Ukrainian assets overnight.

18 command posts, 22 artillery batteries, 1 OSA-AKM anti-aircraft missile system, as well as 275 enemy strong points and areas of concentration of enemy manpower were hit.

Russian air defence means shot down 3 Ukrainian combat aircraft in the air: 2 MiG-29 fighters near Izyum and 1 Su-25 near Avdeevka.

11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were also shot down in the air near Klimovo, Nevelskoe, Novotroitskoe, Izyum, Panteleimonovka, Sladkovodnoe and Yasnoe. 10 large-calibre rockets fired by Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers at Chernobaevka were intercepted.

In total, 139 aircraft, 483 unmanned aerial vehicles, 250 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,326 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 254 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,004 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,184 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.

This has now been going on daily for more than a month. While the precision of the above numbers is somewhat uncertain I do not think that they are exaggerated by much. Yesterday there was no particular heavy fighting and the equipment destroyed on that one day alone was already more than what the U.S. has in total promised to send.

That means that the military destruction and defeat of the Ukrainian forces in the country's east is all but assured.

What then is the strategy that government in Kiev and its overlords in Washington DC are following? Why has the Ukraine not given up? Why didn't it continue to negotiate with the Russian side?

Is their hope that their daily over the top 'Russia is losing' propaganda will create enough political momentum for a large scale NATO intervention?

That would end in a disaster for the NATO forces.

Russia is obviously prepared for it. It has so far held back large parts of its own forces. Russia has at least 12 tactical missile artillery brigades, each with 36 Iskander missile launchers and 144 fire ready missiles. Only three of the those brigades plus a third of two other ones have so far been committed:

Three brigades, or a total of 36 Iskander launchers (two missiles each plus two resupply missiles per launcher) were deployed to Belarus as part of the buildup to war in Ukraine. Two additional brigades (12 launchers) were also assigned to Russia's Southern Military District and moved forward in the area of Belgorod near the Russian border; and to the area of Krasnodar, south of Ukraine.
Most of the Russian airforce has likewise been held back.

On March 24 the Pentagon claimed that Russia was running out of precision munitions. However, if the Russian defense ministry report is correct, at least 16 precision air ground missiles and 7 Iskander were used just yesterday. To me that does not sound like 'limited supplies'.

Other issues:

Since Saturday Gonzalo Lira, who has been reported from Kharkov, is no longer reachable. He seems to have been captured or killed by the Ukrainian Gestapo-like SBU. Sadly I had expected that. Doing hours of Youtube live streams when your enemy controls the internet in your area is not very smart.

A picture of the damaged Russian cruiser Moscwa was published today.

Image

The Russian cruiser was damaged last week and sunk. The ship is listing and so it must have additional damage below its waterline. The picture shows fire midships on its port side where two of its close-in weapons systems and their ammunition storages are. The ships crane is deployed right above that area. The large anti-ship missiles towards the bow and the S-300 air defense launchers behind the deckhouse seem intact. The port side life rafts are no longer where they were and must have been launched. That means that a significant part of the crew likely got off the ship alive before it sank.

The picture does not tell us what has happened. Was this an accidental ammunition explosion as Russia had first claimed or was the ship hit by Ukrainian (or British?) anti-ship missiles as the Ukraine is claiming? We will have to wait for further reports to know that.

Posted by b on April 18, 2022 at 17:28 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/t ... .html#more

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Turkey Won't Allow Foreign Minesweepers to Enter Black Sea

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Turkish flag seen in the Black Sea, April 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @NaturalYork

Published 18 April 2022


On March 31, Russia accused Ukraine of having planted some 420 mines in the Black and Azov Seas, further stating that many of those explosive devices were already adrift.

On Monday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that his country will not allow foreign minesweeper ships to enter the Black Sea to defuse the drifting mines after they broke off from anchor cables near Ukrainian ports.

Turkey attaches importance to fully implementing the Montreux Convention because "it is significant not only for Ankara but also for all the Black Sea countries," Akar said, adding his country prefers the balance around the Black Sea not to be "disturbed."

According to analysts, however, the geopolitical balance could be broken precisely if the issue of the Black Sea mines becomes a justification for the entry of minesweepers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

On March 31, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov accused Ukraine of having planted some 420 mines in the Black and Azov Seas. He also specified that YaM-1 mines were installed from February 25 to March 4.

"Since then, under the influence of wind and surface currents, Ukrainian mines have moved freely in the western part of the Black Sea in a southerly direction," Konashenkov said.


So far, Turkey has detected at least three mines in the waters of Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Marmara Sea. While Ukraine denies responsibility for the events, the presence of sea mines is not inconceivable from a military perspective.

"Ukraine cannot achieve sea control. However, the right NATO support could enable Ukraine to deny Russia sea control, limit Russian maneuver, and impose costs on the Russian Federation Navy," Lt. Cmdr. Jason Lancaster wrote in the journal of the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC ).

"Ukraine needs sea mines... Mines are a cheap and effective way to deny the enemy maneuver... The majority of the Black Sea between Odessa and Crimea is less than 50 fathoms, which makes it an excellent location for mine warfare," he explained.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Tur ... -0013.html

Ukraine Plans To Attack Orthodox Churches, Russia Warns

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A view of the Orthodox Svyato-Pokrovsky church. | Photo: Twitter/ @AndyVermaut

Published 18 April 2022 (6 hours 18 minutes ago)

Russian Colonel Mizintsev holds that the Zelenski regime mobilized over 70 armed groups to carry out attacks in the provinces of Zaporiyia, Nikolaevsk, Odesa, Sumi, and Kharkiv.

On Monday, Russian Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev denounced that the Ukrainian government plans attacks against Orthodox churches based in its territory for the eve of the April 24 Orthodox Easter.

“The Kyiv regime wants to accuse the Russian military of mass murders during this sacred day for believers,” Mizintsev stated, stressing that President Volodimir Zelenski mobilized over 70 armed groups to carry out the attacks in the provinces of Zaporiyia, Nikolaevsk, Odesa, Sumi, and Kharkiv.

“This attitude only demonstrates the Ukrainian government’s total indifference towards its people,” he added and urged the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE), and the International Red Cross to intercede with Zelenski to prevent these crimes from being committed.

On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry condemned that Ukrainian officials attacked civilians attempting to flee the country through humanitarian corridors in eastern and south-eastern provinces with light weapons and mortars.


“This attack was cynical and unjustifiable,” Mizintsev said, arguing that the Russian Armed Forces and the military formations of the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk strictly obey the ceasefire regime when evacuation routes are opened.

The Rusian coronel also denounced that Ukraine has not allowed any humanitarian corridor to Russia even though the Kremlin has provided daily humanitarian corridors to Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumi, Kharkiv, and Mariupol since March 4.

“Zelenski calls for us to stop our special defensive military operation but does not collaborate in any conciliatory effort and continues to foster hate against our culture,” Mizintsev pointed out, stressing that humanitarian issues should not be politicized.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ukr ... -0011.html

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

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Report of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the morning of 04/18/2022


High-precision air-launched missiles destroyed 16 Ukrainian military facilities during the night.
Including: five enemy command posts, a fuel storage facility, three ammunition depots, as well as personnel and military equipment concentrated in the areas of the settlements of BARVENKOVO, GULAI POLE, KAMYSHEVAKHA, ZELENOE POLE, VELIKOMIHAILOVKA and NIKOLAEV.

The operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out strikes on 108 areas of concentration of personnel and Ukrainian military equipment.
In addition, an air-to-air missile shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle in the BUDA area.

Army aviation destroyed 8 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, as well as up to a company of enemy manpower in the areas of PASHKOVO, VESELOE and ILYCHEVKA.

Rocket troops carried out strikes with Iskander high-precision ground-based missiles. Four depots of weapons and Ukrainian military equipment were destroyed, as well as three areas of concentration of enemy manpower near the settlements of POPASNAYA, YAMPOL and KRAMOTORSK.

Russian artillery units during the night attacked 315 objects of the Ukrainian troops.
The following were hit: 18 command posts, 22 artillery batteries, the OSA-AKM anti-aircraft missile system, as well as 275 strongholds and enemy manpower concentration areas.

Russian air defense systems shot down three Ukrainian combat aircraft in the air: two MiG-29 fighters in the area of ​​the IZYUM settlement and one Su-25 in the AVDEEVKA area.

Also, 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down in the air in the areas of the settlements of KLIMOVO, NEVELSKOE, NOVOTROITSKOE, IZYUM, PANTELEIMONOVKA, SLAKOVODNOE, CLEAR. Intercepted 10 large-caliber rockets fired by Ukrainian multiple launch rocket systems at the village of CHERNOBAEVKA.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 139 aircraft, 483 unmanned aerial vehicles,
250 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2326 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 254 multiple rocket launchers, 1004 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2184 special military units automotive technology.

***

forwarded from
WarGonzo
⚡️URGENTLY⚡️Reservists captured 25 Marines⚡️

According to sources @wargonzo , a group of 25 Ukrainian marines surrendered in the village of Volodarskoe, which is located near Mariupol.

These Marines from the 36th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to get out of the city. They moved in the dark, during the day they waited in empty houses. But in the village of Volodarsky, they were noticed by reservists of the commandant's regiment of the DPR and surrounded.

The reservists, being in the overwhelming minority, blocked the Ukrainian military and waited for reinforcements from the mobile group.

Despite their numerical superiority, the Ukrainian marines realized that no one would joke with them, and chose the only right decision - surrender.

@wargonzo

***

🗺SITUATION IN UKRAINE AS OF APRIL 18, 2022 according to @southfronteng (approximate map)

⊕ The Russian Armed Forces launched a high-precision aircraft missile attack on Ukrainian military facilities in Barvenkovo;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked Ukrainian military facilities in Gulyai-Polye with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked Ukrainian military facilities in Kamyshevakh with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked Ukrainian military facilities in the Zeleny Pole area with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked Ukrainian military facilities in Nikolaev with a high-precision aircraft missile;
⊕ The RF Armed Forces attacked Ukrainian military facilities in Velikomikhaylovka with a high-precision aircraft missile.

***

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forwarded from
INTERNATIONAL FAN
🇬🇧🇺🇦The 54th day of the special operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine was notable for a number of successful strikes on military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the destruction of a logistics center in Lvov, the liquidation of a week-long supply of Western weapons and an unsuccessful attempt by Kyiv’s troops to break through to the nationalists blocked at Azovstal.

***

forwarded from
Readovka
The map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of April 18,

the Ukrainian side announced that the second phase of the special operation had begun this morning. Reports from the fields indirectly confirm this statement. It seems that it has begun, but this is not yet certain - someone says that this is the final of the preparatory phase.

Izyum-Slavyansk is the hottest destination of recent days, a lot of messages come from both sides. Ours manages to successfully attack, despite the attempts of the enemy to prevent it from doing so. Now we see the expansion of the foothold on this front. There are more and more reports about the occupation of villages in the district. The offensive goes in several directions "fan". To the west - to Lozovaya, to the east - to Oskol, and to the North - to Slavyansk.The APU has heavy losses. A large number of prisoners are reported. The 93rd, 95th, and 25th brigades suffer greatly. The prisoners report that in these brigades the losses are up to 40% of the personnel. Again shot down several "flyers" yesterday, this time, minus two MiG-29s. To the east of the highway to Slavyansk, fighting is going on in the area of ​​​​the village of Peski-Radkovsky . It is noted that the shock Ural brigade especially distinguished itself in the battles, which defeated the elite special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the forces of the 79th brigade in the battle near Borovaya. Artillery is working hard on both sides.

To the east of these places, the NM of the LPR with the troops of the Russian Federation occupied Kremennaya - this is a village north of Rubizhne. There are fights inside. In other settlements of this agglomeration, there is also shooting and arrivals. We now see the greatest increase in pressure in Popasnaya. Ours manage to break through the enemy's defenses, though not quickly. From here, further actions are expected to close the boiler.

In the Donetsk region, activity also increased significantly. Avdiivka is under heavy shelling - a Su-25 was shot down here. “On the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Donetsk, Apocalypse, on the fortified areas, strikes from some powerful weapon arrive, terrible explosions thunder. The fortified area of ​​the Armed Forces of Ukraine “Anthill” in Peski is under fire, ”commissioner Sladkov reports.
To the east of Gulyai-Polye, in Malinovka, power is changing again, now it is ours, like a number of villages around. Also in this direction there is an increase in artillery.

In Mariupol, according to eyewitnesses, the enemy remained only at the Azovstal plant - about 3,000 people. Well, they still catch “losses” and single foci. Our little by little began the assault. The northern cluster has already been “gnawed off”. But the main “military show” is the bombing of the Azov militants. VKS began to throw various big “candies” on the heads of the “fanatics”. They write that even the FAB-5000 was thrown off. This is the most powerful bomb in the world, not counting the nuclear ones. As soon as the "city of God" began, the militants began to ask for help, up to the Pope. And suddenly, they say, it turned out that there were a lot of civilians in the Azovstal bunker, including children. But why were they silent about them before, and no one is shown, except for one girl? Why didn't they come out when they offered to surrender, and more than once? Question.

Well, according to tradition, a whole bunch of especially high-precision arrivals. From the interesting: “The Russian Aerospace Forces struck at the 124th Joint Logistics Support Center of the Logistics Forces of the Ukrainian Troops in the Lviv region. The logistics center and the large batches of foreign weapons that were in it, received over the past 6 days by Ukraine from the United States and European countries, were destroyed. - reports the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
In Dnepropetrovsk, a plant for the repair of Tochka-U warheads was shut down today, and a railway junction was “dropped” in the Pavlograd region.

From interesting:“Today, the real documented irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian side amount to 23,367 people ,” the Russian defense ministry said today, emphasizing that the data was obtained precisely from Ukrainian secret documents.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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