Mark, we all love you dearly :heart: — but you have to stop posting nonsense from Real Raw News. It's a satirical spoof fake news website.Quote:
Posted by pyrangello
:)
:focus:
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Mark, we all love you dearly :heart: — but you have to stop posting nonsense from Real Raw News. It's a satirical spoof fake news website.Quote:
Posted by pyrangello
:)
:focus:
Possibly not quite on-topic, but a barn-storming speech by George Galloway at the at the Oxford Union on the 90th anniversary of the famous/infamous King and Country debate.
Includes a pop at a certain Tobias Ellwood in the audience, a British Conservative Party politician and lieutenant colonel in the 77th Brigade, whose supposed purpose is that of information warfare against Britain's enemies, though many believe are being used to turn the screw on our own people rather than any foreign threat. Enjoy.
Ok , didn't know that about that site, I read somewhere where that at least 75 percent of the stories there had some validity to them. After all they didn't spend all that money in gitmo for nothing. One thing about Avalon it will get debunked here if it isn't true. Point respectfully taken bill, no worries.
Time for the West to rethink goal of total defeat for Russia in Ukraine
Most countries of the world refuse to impose sanctions on Moscow because they do not believe in the Western version of the conflict in Ukraine. Meanwhile, sympathy for Russia is growing, writes former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani in an article for the South China Morning Post newspaper.
- As the war drags on, sympathy is growing for Russia as the underdog fighting the behemoth North American and EU economies
- The West would get more support for its cause in Ukraine if it is seen to be pushing for either a peace proposal or a fair compromise on Ukraine
He notes that 85 percent of the world's countries have not imposed sanctions against Russia after the start of the special operation in Ukraine. Many of these countries' leaders do not believe in the version of the conflict that the West is 'selling', according to Mahbubani, who was named one of the 100 best thinkers in the world in 2012.
Most impartial observers believe the conflict could have been avoided, he added.
The global South still remembers the hegemony of the West, which adheres to the strategy of "complete victory" for Ukraine. As the conflict continues, sympathy for Russia grows, the ex-diplomat notes.
- Surprised
“Many were surprised that the harsh sanctions imposed on Moscow did not lead to a collapse. They are amazed that Russia is still on its feet despite these massive attacks,” Mahbubani writes.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 last year. “The aim is to protect people who have been subjected to the genocide of the Kiev regime for eight years,” President Putin explained.
- Genocide
He wants to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, and bring to justice the war criminals responsible for "bloody crimes against civilians" in Donbass.
- dutch 🇳🇱 (+ Multi-Language Options). 🦜🦋🌳
Made me smile. :)Quote:
Posted by ExomatrixTV
The whole current issue is that Russia + China + India (+ a steadily growing number of other countries) now combine to be the new economic behemoth. The rapidly decaying US is fast becoming the dangerously cornered underdog here.
You can even see this in the unending (and arrogantly sociopathic) attempts of the US/EU to place sanctions on Russia. I'm wondering how long we'll have to wait before Russia and China start sanctioning the US. Not really a joke, as this could very easily happen. :ROFL:
Wow, that's some invective and who could blame her :flower:Quote:
Posted by Vicus
I really do hope that, in time, there is a civilian and/or military coup there that will oust this vile regime; it could happen if enough good Ukrainian men - and women - decide to take back (what's left of) their country (western Ukraine perhaps) and reconcile with Russia. Time will tell of course.
Here's the video, embedded:
That was extraordinarily stirring :muscle:Quote:
Posted by Miller
...
... Russia Has Shelters For Russians And The U.S Has...? 38:35
https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AL5GRJUkQm...00ffffff-no-rj roypotterqa
February 21, Streamed live 17 hours ago
Absolutely right-on, no-holds-barred observations by George Galloway. Respect to him as he’s not afraid of calling liars and self-serving sycophants.Quote:
Posted by TintinThat was extraordinarily stirring :muscle:Quote:
Posted by Miller
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70565
Presidential Address to Federal Assembly
Vladimir Putin delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly. The ceremony took place in Gostiny Dvor, Moscow.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon,
Members of the Federation Assembly – senators, State Duma deputies,
Citizens of Russia,
This Presidential Address comes, as we all know, at a difficult, watershed period for our country. This is a time of radical, irreversible change in the entire world, of crucial historical events that will determine the future of our country and our people, a time when every one of us bears a colossal responsibility.
One year ago, to protect the people in our historical lands, to ensure the security of our country and to eliminate the threat coming from the neo-Nazi regime that had taken hold in Ukraine after the 2014 coup, it was decided to begin the special military operation. Step by step, carefully and consistently we will deal with the tasks we have at hand.
Since 2014, Donbass has been fighting for the right to live in their land and to speak their native tongue. It fought and never gave up amid the blockade, constant shelling and the Kiev regime’s overt hatred. It hoped and waited that Russia would come to help.
In the meantime, as you know well, we were doing everything in our power to solve this problem by peaceful means, and patiently conducted talks on a peaceful solution to this devastating conflict.
This appalling method of deception has been tried and tested many times before. They behaved just as shamelessly and duplicitously when destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They will never be able to wash off this shame. The concepts of honour, trust, and decency are not for them.
Over the long centuries of colonialism, diktat and hegemony, they got used to being allowed everything, got used to spitting on the whole world. It turned out that they treat people living in their own countries with the same disdain, like a master. After all, they cynically deceived them too, tricked them with tall stories about the search for peace, about adherence to the UN Security Council resolutions on Donbass. Indeed, the Western elites have become a symbol of total, unprincipled lies.
We firmly defend our interests as well as our belief that in today’s world there should be no division into so-called civilised countries and all the rest and that there is a need for an honest partnership that rejects any exclusivity, especially an aggressive one.
We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialogue with the West; we said and insisted that both Europe and the whole world needed an indivisible security system equal for all countries, and for many years we suggested that our partners discuss this idea together and work on its implementation. But in response, we received either an indistinct or hypocritical reaction, as far as words were concerned. But there were also actions: NATO’s expansion to our borders, the creation of new deployment areas for missile defence in Europe and Asia – they decided to take cover from us under an ‘umbrella’ – deployment of military contingents, and not just near Russia’s borders.
I would like to stress –in fact, this is well-known – that no other country has so many military bases abroad as the United States. There are hundreds of them – I want to emphasise this – hundreds of bases all over the world; the planet is covered with them, and one look at the map is enough to see this.
The whole world witnessed how they withdrew from fundamental agreements on weapons, including the treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles, unilaterally tearing up the fundamental agreements that maintain world peace. For some reason, they did it. They do not do anything without a reason, as we know.
Finally, in December 2021, we officially submitted draft agreements on security guarantees to the USA and NATO. In essence, all key, fundamental points were rejected. After that it finally became clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggressive plans had been given and they were not going to stop.
The threat was growing by the day. Judging by the information we received, there was no doubt that everything would be in place by February 2022 for launching yet another bloody punitive operation in Donbass. Let me remind you that back in 2014, the Kiev regime sent its artillery, tanks and warplanes to fight in Donbass.
We all remember the aerial footage of airstrikes targeting Donetsk. Other cities also suffered from airstrikes. In 2015, they tried to mount a frontal assault against Donbass again, while keeping the blockade in place and continuing to shell and terrorise civilians. Let me remind you that all of this was completely at odds with the documents and resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, but everyone pretended that nothing was happening.
Let me reiterate that they were the ones who started this war, while we used force and are using it to stop the war.
Those who plotted a new attack against Donetsk in the Donbass region, and against Lugansk understood that Crimea and Sevastopol would be the next target. We realised this as well. Even today, Kiev is openly discussing far-reaching plans of this kind. They exposed themselves by making public what we knew already.
We are defending human lives and our common home, while the West seeks unlimited power. It has already spent over $150 billion on helping and arming the Kiev regime. To give you an idea, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 countries earmarked about $60 billion in 2020–2021 to help the world’s poorest countries. Is this clear? They spent $150 billion on the war, while giving $60 billion to the poorest countries, despite pretending to care about them all the time, and also conditioning this support on obedience on behalf of the beneficiary countries. What about all this talk of fighting poverty, sustainable development and protection of the environment? Where did it all go? Has it all vanished? Meanwhile, they keep channelling more money into the war effort. They eagerly invest in sowing unrest and encouraging government coups in other countries around the world.
The recent Munich Conference turned into an endless stream of accusations against Russia. One gets the impression that this was done so that everyone would forget what the so-called West has been doing over the past decades. They were the ones who let the genie out of the bottle, plunging entire regions into chaos.
According to US experts, almost 900,000 people were killed during wars unleashed by the United States after 2001, and over 38 million became refugees. Please note, we did not invent these statistics; it is the Americans who are providing them. They are now simply trying to erase all this from the memory of humankind, and they are pretending that all this never happened. However, no one in the world has forgotten this or will ever forget it.
None of them cares about human casualties and tragedies because many trillions of dollars are at stake, of course. They can also continue to rob everyone under the guise of democracy and freedoms, to impose neoliberal and essentially totalitarian values, to brand entire countries and nations, to publicly insult their leaders, to suppress dissent in their own countries and to divert attention from corruption scandals by creating an enemy image. We continue to see all this on television, which highlights greater domestic economic, social and inter-ethnic problems, contradictions and disagreements.
I would like to recall that, in the 1930s, the West had virtually paved the way to power for the Nazis in Germany. In our time, they started turning Ukraine into an “anti-Russia.”
Actually, this project is not new. People who are knowledgeable about history at least to some extent realise that this project dates back to the 19th century. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland had conceived it for one purpose, that is, to deprive Russia of these historical territories that are now called Ukraine. This is their goal. There is nothing new here; they are repeating everything.
The West expedited the implementation of this project today by supporting the 2014 coup. That was a bloody, anti-state and unconstitutional coup. They pretended that nothing happened, and that this is how things should be. They even said how much money they had spent on it. Russophobia and extremely aggressive nationalism formed its ideological foundation.
Quite recently, a brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was named Edelweiss after a Nazi division whose personnel were involved in deporting Jews, executing prisoners of war and conducting punitive operations against partisans in Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Greece. We are ashamed to talk about this, but they are not. Personnel serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian National Guard are particularly fond of chevrons formerly worn by soldiers from Das Reich, Totenkopf (Death’s Head) and Galichina divisions and other SS units. Their hands are also stained with blood. Ukrainian armoured vehicles feature insignia of the Nazi German Wehrmacht.
Neo-Nazis are open about whose heirs they consider themselves to be. Surprisingly, none of the powers that be in the West are seeing it. Why? Because they – pardon my language – could not care less about it. They do not care who they are betting on in their fight against us, against Russia. In fact, anyone will do as long as they fight against us and our country. Indeed, we saw terrorists and neo-Nazis in their ranks. They would let all kinds of ghouls join their ranks, for God’s sake, as long as they act on their will as a weapon against Russia.
In fact, the anti-Russia project is part of the revanchist policy towards our country to create flashpoints of instability and conflicts next to our borders. Back then, in the 1930s, and now the design remains the same and it is to direct aggression to the East, to spark a war in Europe, and to eliminate competitors by using a proxy force.
We are not at war with the people of Ukraine. I have made that clear many times. The people of Ukraine have become hostages of the Kiev regime and its Western handlers, who have in fact occupied that country in the political, military and economic sense and have been destroying Ukrainian industry for decades now as they plundered its natural resources. This led to social degradation and an immeasurable increase in poverty and inequality. Recruiting resources for military operations in these circumstances was easy. Nobody was thinking about people, who were conditioned for slaughter and eventually became expendables. It is a sad and dreadful thing to say, but it is a fact.
Responsibility for inciting and escalating the Ukraine conflict as well as the sheer number of casualties lies entirely with the Western elites and, of course, today’s Kiev regime, for which the Ukrainian people are, in fact, not its own people. The current Ukrainian regime is serving not national interests, but the interests of third countries.
The West is using Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia and as a testing range. I am not going to discuss in detail the West's attempts to turn the war around, or their plans to ramp up military supplies, since everyone is well aware of that. However, there is one circumstance that everyone should be clear about: the longer the range of the Western systems that will be supplied to Ukraine, the further we will have to move the threat away from our borders. This is obvious.
The Western elite make no secret of their goal, which is, I quote, “Russia’s strategic defeat.” What does this mean to us? This means they plan to finish us once and for all. In other words, they plan to grow a local conflict into a global confrontation. This is how we understand it and we will respond accordingly, because this represents an existential threat to our country.
However, they too realise it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield and are conducting increasingly aggressive information attacks against us targeting primarily the younger generation. They never stop lying and distorting historical facts as they attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious organizations in our country.
Look what they are doing to their own people. It is all about the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversion and abuse of children, including pedophilia, all of which are declared normal in their life. They are forcing the priests to bless same-sex marriages. Bless their hearts, let them do as they please. Here is what I would like to say in this regard. Adult people can do as they please. We in Russia have always seen it that way and always will: no one is going to intrude into other people’s private lives, and we are not going to do it, either.
But here is what I would like to tell them: look at the holy scripture and the main books of other world religions. They say it all, including that family is the union of a man and a woman, but these sacred texts are now being questioned. Reportedly, the Anglican Church is planning, just planning, to explore the idea of a gender-neutral god. What is there to say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Millions of people in the West realise that they are being led to a spiritual disaster. Frankly, the elite appear to have gone crazy, and it looks like there is no cure for that. But like I said, these are their problems, while we must protect our children, which we will do. We will protect our children from degradation and degeneration.
Clearly, the West will try to undermine and divide our society and to bet on the fifth columnists who, throughout history, and I want to emphasise this, have been using the same poison of contempt for their own Fatherland and the desire to make money by selling this poison to anyone who is willing to pay for it. It has always been that way.
Those who have embarked on the road of outright betrayal, committing terrorist and other crimes against the security of our society and the country’s territorial integrity, will be held accountable for this under law. But we will never behave like the Kiev regime and the Western elite, which have been and still are involved in witch hunts. We will not settle scores with those who take a step aside and turn their back on their Motherland. Let this be on their conscience, let them live with this – they will have to live with it. The main point is that our people, the citizens of Russia, have given them a moral assessment.
I am proud, and I think we are all proud that our multi-ethnic nation, the absolute majority of our citizens, have taken a principled stance on the special military operation. They understand the basic idea of what we are doing and support our actions on the defence of Donbass. This support primarily revealed their true patriotism – a feeling that is historically inherent in our nation. It is stunning in its dignity and deep understnding by everyone – I will stress, everyone – of the inseparable link between one’s own destiny and the destiny of the Fatherland.
My dear friends, I would like to thank everyone, all the people of Russia for their courage and resolve. I would like to thank our heroes, soldiers and officers in the Army and the Navy, the Russian Guards, the secret services staff, and all structures of authority, the fighters in Donetsk and Lugansk corps, volunteers and patriots who are now fighting in the ranks of the BARS combat army reserve.
I would like to apologise that I will not be able to mention everyone during today’s speech. You know, when I was drafting this speech, I wrote a very long list of these heroic units but then removed it from my text because, as I said, it is impossible to mention everyone, and I was afraid to offend anyone I might leave out.
My deepest gratitude to the parents, wives and families of our defenders, the doctors and paramedics, combat medics and medical nurses that are saving the wounded; to the railway workers and drivers that are supplying the front; to the builders that are erecting fortifications and restoring housing, roads and civilian facilities; to the workers and engineers at defence companies, who are now working almost around-the-clock, in several shifts; and to rural workers who reliably ensure food security for the country.
I am grateful to the teachers who sincerely care for the young generations of Russia, especially those that are working in very difficult, almost front-line conditions; the cultural figures that are visiting the zone of hostilities and hospitals to support the soldiers and officers; volunteers that are helping the front and civilians; journalists, primarily war correspondents, that are risking their lives to tell the truth to the world; pastors of Russia’s traditional religions and military clergy, whose wise words support and inspire people; government officials and business people – all those who fulfill their professional, civil and simply human duty.
My special words go to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. You, my friends, determined your future at the referendums and made a clear choice despite the neo-Nazis’ threats and violence, amid the close military actions. But there has been nothing stronger than your intent to be with Russia, with your Motherland.
(Applause)
I want to emphasise that this is the reaction of the audience to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Once again, our deepest respect for them all.
We have already begun and will expand a major socioeconomic recovery and development programme for these new regions within the Federation. It includes restoring production facilities, jobs, and the ports on the Sea of Azov, which again became Russia’s landlocked sea, and building new, modern road,s like we did in Crimea, which now has a reliable land transport corridor with all of Russia. We will definitely implement all of these plans together.
Russia’s regions are currently providing direct assistance to the cities, districts and villages in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. They are doing it sincerely, like true brothers and sisters. We are together again, which means that we have become even stronger, and we will do everything in our power to bring back the long-awaited peace to our land and ensure the safety of our people. Our soldiers, our heroes are fighting for this, for their ancestors, for the future of their children and grandchildren, for uniting our people.
Friends, I would like to ask you to pay your respects to our fellow soldiers who were killed in the attacks of neo-Nazis and raiders, who gave up their lives for Russia, for civilians, the elderly, women and children.
(A minute of silence)
Thank you.
We all understand, and I understand also how unbearably hard it is for their wives, sons and daughters, for their parents who raised those dignified defenders of the Fatherland – like the Young Guard members from Krasnodon, young men and women who fought against Nazism and for Donbass during the Great Patriotic War. Everyone in Russia remembers their courage, resilience, enormous strength of spirit and self-sacrifice to this day.
Our duty is to support the families that have lost their loved ones and to help them raise their children and give them an education and a job. The family of each participant in the special military operation must be a priority and treated with care and respect. Their needs must be responded to immediately, without bureaucratic delays.
I suggest establishing a dedicated state fund for bringing targeted, personalised assistance to the families of fallen fighters, as well as veterans of the special military operation. This entity will be tasked with coordinating efforts to offer social, medical support and counselling, and also address matters related to sending them to health resorts and providing rehabilitation services, while also assisting them in education, sports, employment and in acquiring a new profession. This fund will also have an essential mission to ensure long-term home care and high-technology prosthetics for those who need that.
I am asking the Government to work with the State Council Commission on Social Policy and with the regions to resolve the organisational matters as quickly as possible.
The state fund must be transparent in its work, while streamlining assistance and operating as a one-stop-shop, free from red tape or administrative barriers. Every family without exception, and every veteran will have their personal social worker, a coordinator, who will be there for them in person to resolve in real time any issue they might face. Let me emphasise that the fund must open its offices in all regions of the Russian Federation in 2023.
We already have measures in place for supporting Great Patriotic War veterans, combat veterans, as well as participants in local conflicts. I believe these essential elements will be added to the state fund’s mission moving forward. We need to explore this possibility, and I am asking the Government to do so.
Make no mistake: the fact that we are establishing a state fund does not mean that other institutions or officials at other levels of government will be relieved of their responsibility. I expect all federal agencies, regions and municipalities to stay focused on veterans, on service personnel and their families. In this context, I would like to thank the senior regional officials, mayors, and governors who routinely meet with people, including by visiting the line of contact, and support their fellow countrymen.
On a special note, let me say that today, career service personnel, mobilised conscripts, and volunteers all share frontline hardships, including in terms of provisions, supplies and equipment, remuneration, and insurance payments to the wounded, as well as healthcare services. However, there are complaints that make it all the way to my office, as well as to the governors, as they have been telling me, and to the military prosecutor’s office and the Human Rights Commissioner, showing that some of these issues have yet to be resolved. We need to get to the bottom of each complaint on a case-by-case basis.
And one more thing: everyone understands that serving in the special military operation zone causes immense physical and mental stress, since people risk their lives and health every day. For this reason, I believe that the mobilised conscripts, as well as all service personnel, and all those taking part in the special military operation, including volunteers, must benefit from a leave of absence of at least 14 days every six months without counting the time it takes them to travel to their destination. This way, every fighter will be able to meet family and spend time with their loved ones.
Colleagues, as you are aware, a 2021–2025 plan for building and developing the Armed Forces was approved by a Presidential Executive Order and is being implemented and adjusted as necessary. Importantly, our next steps to reinforce the Army and the Navy and to secure the current and future development of the Armed Forces must be based on actual combat experience gained during the special military operation, which is extremely important, I would even say absolutely invaluable to us.
For example, the latest systems account for over 91 percent, 91.3 percent, of Russia's nuclear deterrence forces. To reiterate, based on our newly acquired experience, we must access a similarly high quality level for all other components of the Armed Forces.
Officers and sergeants who act as competent, modern and decisive commanders, and they are many, will be promoted to higher positions as a matter of priority, sent to military universities and academies, and will serve as a powerful personnel reserve for the Armed Forces. Without a doubt, they are a valuable resource in civilian life and at governments at all levels. I just want our colleagues to pay attention to that. It is very important. The people must know that the Motherland appreciates their contribution to the defence of the Fatherland.
We will widely introduce the latest technology to ensure high-quality standards in the Army and Navy. We have corresponding pilot projects and samples of weapons and equipment in each area. Many of them are significantly superior to their foreign counterparts. Our goal is to start mass production. This work is underway and is picking up pace. Importantly, this relies on domestic research and the industrial base and involves small- and medium-sized high-tech businesses in implementation of the state defence order.
Today, our plants, design bureaus and research teams employ experienced specialists and increasing numbers of talented and highly skilled young people who are oriented towards breakthrough achievements while remaining true to the tradition of Russian gunsmiths, which is to spare no effort to ensure victory.
We will certainly strengthen the guarantees for our workforce, in part concerning salaries and social security. I propose launching a special programme for low-cost rental housing for defence industry employees. The rental payments for them will be significantly lower than the going market rate, since a significant portion of it will be covered by the state.
The Government reviewed this issue. I instruct you to work through the details of this programme and start building such rental housing without delay, primarily, in the cities that are major defence, industrial and research centres.
Colleagues,
The rest here,
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70565
Is anyone from the UK going to this rally? MEP Clare Daly is also going and I daresay will be speaking too.Quote:
Posted by jaybeeGod love him - he's doing more for this country than all the other 650 MP's combined... and is the main organizer of the No2NATO - No2War rally in Central London on Feb. 25th...Quote:
Posted by Miller
Where is Russia's Winter Offensive + President Biden Empty-Handed in Kiev
Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for February 22, 2023:
- Russian forces continue encircling Bakhmut, moving outward from Kremenna, and pressuring Vugladar;
- US President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev, Ukraine with little else but rhetoric;
- the most recent US military assistance package to Ukraine is meager with many items omitting the quantity being sent;
- US analysts believe Russia's winter offensive already began, that it is underwhelming, and will exhaust Russian combat potential giving Ukraine better chances of success for its own spring offensive;
- More likely Russia is conducting theater-wide spoiling operations to deny Ukraine a pause to put together significant offensive forces;
- Russian General S. Surovikin prepared extensive defenses to blunt Ukraine's offensive;
"End signal": The Ukrainians lost the largest supply hub of Bakhmut- The Russians took Berkhovka-Yahidne
giving the free shot! 21/02/2023 00:07
The Ukrainians are preparing the defense of Chasiv Yar west of Bakhmut! :sherlock:
( again no right click permission )
https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog..._x_tr_pto=wapp
With English interpreter in background
https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/statu...57808758149123
All too many fake coincidentals, itv’s Susanna Reid just happened to be in situ, and interviewed the ‘first lady’. Convoy just not secure enough for presidential security, actors in situ with sunglasses, all ridiculous. Pure theatricals, fed up with all this nonsense. Biden probably remaining in his doddery care home in USA. Pathetic.
Little dog barking to a Grisly Bear 21 Feb, 2023 08:38 :ROFL:
Baltic nation urges West to cross ‘red lines’ on Ukraine
Constraints on supplying weapons to Kiev only exist “in our minds,” the Lithuanian president says
Ukraine’s Western backers should abandon all limitations on military aid and quickly supply Kiev with the weapons it needs in the conflict with Moscow, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda has said.
“This is very important that we cross these red lines, which are in our minds and don’t really exist in reality. Maybe sometimes Russia tries to set up those red lines instead of us,” Nauseda told CNN on Monday.
He said his “message” to the West was: “Not [to] waste the time. Be decisive, be united and take decisions as quick as possible” on delivering weapons to the Kiev government.
The leader of Lithuania, which is a member of both NATO and the EU, welcomed the surprise visit of US President Joe Biden to the Ukrainian capital Kiev earlier that day, saying that it sent a strong message of unity to the allies and was proof that Ukraine wouldn’t be abandoned by the West.
While in Kiev, Biden promised to announce “another half a billion dollars” in military aid to Ukraine later this week. The package would include “artillery ammunition for howitzers, more javelins, anti-armor systems, air surveillance radars” and more, he said.
After securing promises to send main battle tanks from its foreign backers last month, the Ukrainian government of Vladimir Zelensky has intensified its call for warplanes as well, including US-made F-16s, and longer-range missiles.
Washington and other allies have so far been reluctant to deliver such hardware to Ukraine over concerns that it could lead to a major escalation and a direct clash between NATO and Russia.
Moscow has said that its own ‘red line’ would be Western supplies of longer-range and more powerful weapons to Ukraine that would enable it to carry out attacks deep inside Russian territory.
https://www.rt.com/russia/571816-nat...ine-lithuania/
Nazi collaborators, dissidents and Soviet functionaries: The untold story of how Ukraine achieved independence
Ukrainian nationalists were persecuted and imprisoned in the USSR but had many allies in circles of power.
https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/2023.02/...12155a22ea.jpg
The end of the Second World War and the defeat of Ukrainian Nazi-collaborators did not put an end to the nationalist movement in the Soviet republic. On the contrary, realizing the futility of underground armed struggle, the "patriots" took the opposite approach. Thus, political leaders in Kiev became unwitting accomplices, who actively continued the work begun in the 1920s to "Ukrainianize” territories inhabited by a mainly Russian population.
Thanks to this, representatives of the Ukrainian national movement began to engage in human rights activities, while simultaneously raising ethnic issues. It resulted in the creation of the People’s Movement of Ukraine party, known as Rukh, which became the driving force that led the country to independence in 1991. Like other nationalists, they played an important role in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Not Everyone’s Thaw
Repressions against dissidents resumed in the Soviet Union immediately after the end of World War II. In the Ukrainian SSR, this was mainly seen in the struggle against the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), an underground political organization created in the late 1920s, which operated in Galicia and Volhynia. During the War, members of the OUN organized an insurgent army that fought on the side of Nazi Germany. They were aided by sympathetic residents of the Ukrainian SSR’s western regions, which had been annexed in 1939. However, the death of Joseph Stalin and the debunking of his cult of personality put an end to the practice of mass repression. A period of so-called ‘thaw’ began under Khrushchev – a transition from totalitarianism to a milder dictatorship.
Censorship weakened, freedom of speech increased, and there was a relative liberalization of political and public life. As a result, nationally minded Ukrainians gained a certain degree of freedom of expression without the risk of being arrested. However, with the destruction of the OUN underground, they had already become disillusioned with any form of armed struggle. Being mostly intellectuals, they preferred to express themselves not by deeds, but in words.
There were opportunities for this approach. Kiev’s regional committee was headed by Petr Shelest, a native of Slobozhanshchina (the village of Andreevka near Kharkov). Later, during the thaw, he led the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR. During his incumbency, the next stage of Ukrainization began in the republic. He switched to the Ukrainian language himself after his appointment as the Ukrainian SSR’s top official. “Suddenly, small restaurants and taverns with ‘Ukrainian’ names appeared (‘Kuren’, ‘Natalka-Poltavka’, etc.) in the vicinity of Kiev, with elements of Ukrainian ethnography in design and service… Signs with the word ‘Ukraine’ began to appear on various shopping establishments and the like,” recalled Ukrainian writer and literary critic Ivan Dziuba.
continue: https://www.rt.com/russia/571662-ukr...lists-in-ussr/
re: George Galloway’s speech.
Sigh of relief.
“My” poet. Thank you Sir.
Interview by journalist Aaron Mate - 8 minutes
"The Next Few Weeks Will Be DEVASTATING For Ukraine – Col. Douglas Macgregor"
https://youtube.com/watch?v=XorthOKgIx8
I had a look at this and George was in top form, he possesses a true gift for oratory, more to the point his perspective and values are akin to many of us here on the forum.Quote:
Posted by happyuk
Wow! Really, wow! What an orator. All sincere and from the heart.Quote:
Posted by TintinThat was extraordinarily stirring :muscle:Quote:
Posted by Miller
Not sure if this has been posted, but there is abundant evidence that the protests/ massacre that led to the coup in Ukraine in 2014, including this research paper and interviews with the snipers involved.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....act_id=2658245
Italian TV documentary confirms: Maidan snipers worked for Ukrainian "opposition" - goal was to create chaos
https://www.sott.net/article/369086-...o-create-chaosQuote:
The interviews with three snipers of Georgian nationality, conducted by the Italian journalist Gian Micalessin and aired last week as a breathtaking documentary on Milan-based Canale 5 (Matrix program), still have not paved its way to the international mainstream media. That is hardly surprising taking into account the bombshell evidence against the real perpetrators and organizers of the 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev, generally known as the "revolution of dignity".
Most interesting indeed :thumbsup:Quote:
Posted by Blastolabs
A team led by a former US 101st Airborne 'sniper' which included Georgian nationals, and Lithuanians.
Both films are short, at around 10 minutes or so in length.
The work of Ivan Katchanovski has also been previously stored in the library for those interested in his investigations.
Library screenshot:
https://avalonlibrary.net/Tintin/Cap...ary-maidan.PNG
Ukraine: The Hidden Truth - Part 1
Ukraine: The Hidden Truth - Part 2
...
... Ukraine Russia War - One Year in Col Doug Macgregor 19:53
https://yt3.ggpht.com/7sG2dx9yKbBfmA...00ffffff-no-rj Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom
Streamed live 15 hours ago
If Ukraine joins NATO, Russia could be attacked directly. Russia will not allow that, retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor told GB News. The Russians can't help but fight to the end, he added.
- Colonel Says War In Ukraine Is 'Disaster' For Nato: 'Going To Fall Apart'
Macgregor thinks there are few Europeans who would want to fight in this war or wait for conscription to be introduced.
- China Calls For PEACE In Ukraine!
Appearing with Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that China is considering providing “lethal aid” to Russia in the Ukraine War. When Todd, unexpectedly, followed up by asking for evidence Blinken was left at a loss. In reality, China has promoted negotiations and a peace settlement to the conflict, something Blinken and the other bloodthirsty warmongers in Biden’s cabinet can’t abide, which explains why he’s taking this tack. Guest host Aaron Maté and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the surprise pushback from the usually reliable servant to power Chuck Todd.
- "Nobody Gives A Sh*t About Ukraine!" - Reaction To Biden's Surprise Visit To Ukraine:
In this short clip, Patrick Bet-David, Yeonmi Park, Adam Sosnick, Vincent Oshana and Tom Ellsworth react to Joe Biden's surprise visit to Ukraine.
In this 18 minute video Alexander Mercouris explains all this with a lot more context. China's formal stance has always been for peace (everywhere!), but in practice, and also stated very officially, China and Russia are forging an alliance which is growing stronger literally every week.Quote:
Posted by ExomatrixTV
And it's crystal clear that China regards the US as an enemy in just about every way, as per this formal Chinese paper published just a couple days ago:
~~~
- US Hegemony and its Perils
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb...0_11027664.htm
China's Wang Yi in Moscow, meeting Lavrov and Putin
https://youtube.com/watch?v=GI0UMJLLrXM
This account, now restored to twitter, is one of the premiere researchers and summarizers of the deep state biolab atrocities in Ukraine
https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/s...487116289?s=20
Vladimir Putin addressed a large audience at the Luzhniki football stadium in Moscow on Wednesday. In the West there is a lot of criticism of his speech . What exactly did he say? Putin said Western leaders “constantly lie, distort historical facts and continue to attack our culture; the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious organizations in our country'. “Look what they are doing to their own peoples. They destroy the family and their cultural and national identity. The perversity towards children is becoming the new norm, even to pedophilia,” Putin said.
- Putin in speech: Western Elites have gone 'Mad':
“Priests are forced to ordain same-sex marriages. Release them. What do I want to say here? Adults have the right to live their lives the way they want. That's how we've always thought about it in Russia and we always will. No one will invade your private life, we will not.” According to the Russian president, the holy scriptures are clear about this: the family is a unit consisting of a man and a woman.
- 'bizarre speech'
The Western media then wrote that 'Putin claims in a bizarre speech that pedophilia is normal in the West'.
Bizarre? In the West, we send men who rape women to a women's prison because they identify as women. Isn't that bizarre? We expose our children to mostly naked drag queens and anyone who opposes it is demonized and labeled as a 'fascist'. Isn't that bizarre?
- Isn't that bizarre?
The Anglican Church is considering using gender-neutral words to refer to God. Putin: “What can we say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “Millions of people in the West recognize that they are heading for a great spiritual catastrophe. The elites have gone mad and it seems they are beyond treatment. Those are their problems and we have to protect our children.”
- No longer treatable
- dutch 🇳🇱 (+ Multi-Language Options). 🦜🦋🌳
US Military blog talks about using video games for "information dominance" :wizard:
FEBRUARY 13, 2023 BY USER
433. Gaming Information Dominance
Quote:
Video games and video game streaming platforms have emerged as an unprecedented element of the information fight surrounding Russia’s war in Ukraine. Online gaming communities driven by shared interests present a unique tool in the war for perception, which Ukrainian military and government officials as well as civilians have leveraged to grow support for Ukraine both within and outside of the country. Often, these games are military-themed or involve tactical gameplay and range from tank and flight simulators featuring vintage and modern military systems to dystopian first-person shooters. While gaming provides unique opportunities due to its role in enhancing global connectivity, these communities may also pose threats to both personal and institutional security.
Online gaming forums and streaming sites enable information operations to reach broad audiences, both domestically and internationally. The Ukrainian developers of the video game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. used advertising for its upcoming installment to fundraise for the Ukrainian military. International fans of individual Ukrainian streamers like Escape From Tarkov player “Bobi” have gathered their efforts to send these streamers information which enabled their escape from the country.
https://madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil/4...ion-dominance/Quote:
The Russia-Ukraine conflict demonstrates how online communities can be a powerful tool in generating support and fighting for national and international information dominance. Video games and online streaming allow individuals to access and interact with information from sources from around the globe and provide a personalized way to combat misinformation. The casual and accessible nature of gaming communities, however, also poses a challenge to protecting sensitive information from dissemination and exploitation in both competition and conflict.
Some updates from the Russian Federation Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of particular note may be the possible escalation involving Moldova.
Source: https://t.me/MFARussia/14938
Text:
🎙 President Vladimir Putin's congratulations on the occasion of Defender of the Fatherland Day
Read in full
(http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70575)💬 Comrade officers, veterans,
Please accept my greetings on this holiday, Defender of the Fatherland Day!
This national holiday epitomises the heroic history of our Army and Navy and the unbreakable link connecting all generations of defenders of the Fatherland. It embodies our deep gratitude to the faithful sons and daughters of the Fatherland, to all those who did not spare themselves as they fought the enemy defending their native land and their people, underwent trials with honour and emerged as a victor, and who crushed foreign invasions. So it was at Lake Chudskoye and on Kulikovo Field, near Poltava and Borodino, and in the victorious May of 1945.
On this day, deep respect and the warmest words go to our dear veterans who defeated Nazism and upheld the freedom and independence of the Motherland. Your feats during the Great Patriotic War will forever remain in the historical memory of our people as a vivid example of patriotism and courage and will serve as an inexhaustible source of spiritual strength. The current generation of Russian soldiers and officers preserves and enhances the military traditions of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
I would like to extend my heartfelt greetings on this holiday to our military personnel, volunteers, mobilised citizens, and specialists in various professions who are participating in the special military operation. Our troops are heroically fighting the neo-Nazism that has taken root in Ukraine, protecting our people in our historical lands, and are fighting courageously and heroically.
❗️ Modern and efficient Army and Navy are a guarantee of the country's security and sovereignty, and a guarantee of its stable development and its future. That is why, as before, we will give priority attention to strengthening our defence capability.
Source: https://t.me/MFARussia/14940
Text:
⚡️ According to the information available, the Kiev regime is plotting an armed provocation against the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic in the near future, which will be carried out by units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including those involving the Azov nationalist formation.
◽️ A staged attack by allegedly Russian forces from Transnistrian territory will be used as the pretext for the invasion.
◽️ For this purpose, the Ukrainian saboteurs involved in the staged invasion will be disguised as military personnel of the Russian Federation.
◽️ The Russian Defence Ministry is closely monitoring the situation on Ukraine's border with the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and is ready to respond to any changes in the situation.
Actually, following viewing multiple filmed episodes of forced mobilisation I did wonder when it'd be the turn of those operating under those instructions to receive "orders" - it appears to be happening now
Text:
Source: https://t.me/intelslava/44995The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has decided to send employees of military registration and enlistment offices of four regions to the front line in the special operation zone, according to the order of the Minister of Defense Reznikov, the photo of the document is being distributed on social networks, including on the Telegram channel of a military expert, retired Lieutenant Colonel of the LPR Andrey Marochko.
Marochko, who published the document, specified that he obtained it from his own sources.
https://avalonlibrary.net/Ukraine/20...ry_2023%29.jpg
Update on the fighting around Bakhmut (Artemovsk) via Donbass Devushka Telegram channel:
Text:
Source: https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/45643❗️🇷🇺🇺🇦 Battle for Bakhmut
situation as of 14.00 February 23, 2023
🔻According to some reports, the Ukrainian formations retreated from Berkhovka, and the settlement came under the complete control of the assault detachments of the Wagner PMC. The village is being cleared.
▪️Fighting for the village has been going on for the past few days, and yesterday the "Wagnerites" pushed the formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the western outskirts. At night, Ukrainian units departed for Dubovo-Vasilevka and Yagodnoe.
▪️Now the assault on the village of Yagodnoye continues, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine transferred reinforcements the day before. At the moment, clashes continue near the Bakhmut nursery, where Ukrainian paratroopers dug in.
🔻The liberation of Berkhovka allows you to completely cut off the supply of the Ukrainian group in Bakhmut through the roads passing in the village and nearby. This will make it possible to increase the pressure on the nearby Dubovo-Vasilevka and Yagodnoe.
Now the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is trying with all its might to hold the Yagodnoye line - the Stupka area in Bakhmut until a new line of defense is built at Chasy Yar. Strongholds are being prepared in Bogdanovka to defend the city.
Russian troops also conducted reconnaissance in combat on the Zaliznyanskoye-Vasyukovka line. In Kyiv, they fear a breakthrough in the defense in this sector and an exit to the rear of the AFU grouping in the Seversk agglomeration.
At the moment, the paratroopers of the 10th brigade and 81st brigade of the DShV of Ukraine are trying to recapture their lost positions in the direction of Vesele, east of Soledar and Belogorovka, west of Lysichansk.