WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia

[Ravenlocke]

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Has the United States already decided that the territory of Ukraine is quite suitable for a nuclear war?

US donates radiation sensors to Ukraine to detect nuclear explosions
Sensors will be deployed "throughout the region" and will be able to characterize the size, location and effects of any nuclear explosion.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/575457-put...n-fabrication/

Kremlin reacts to ‘Putin drone assassination’ claim

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has dismissed claims that Ukraine had attempted to assassinate the head of state using a suicide drone. Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as “yellow fabrications.”

“No, we are not familiar with these reports,” Peskov told reporters. “There are many such ‘yellow fabrications’ these days. There’s no reason to pay them any mind.”

On Wednesday, German tabloid Bild published a story titled ‘17 kilos of explosives intended to kill Putin’, claiming that a Ukrainian drone that crashed near Moscow on Sunday had targeted the president, and that the Russian authorities were trying to cover it up.

Bild quoted Ukrainian activist Yuri Romanenko, who claimed that Ukrainian intelligence had sent the drone to target Putin during his visit to the Rudnevo industrial park outside Moscow. The UAV reportedly passed through Russian air defenses undetected and crashed “not far” from the target location. The German outlet described Romanenko as someone with close ties to Kiev’s intelligence services.

The crash of the UJ-22 on Sunday was widely reported in Russian media, however. The UAV was found in the Bogorodsky district, about 30km from Moscow’s eastern outskirts and 20km from Rudnevo. It had 30 blocks of C4 explosive, around 17 kilograms, on board. Three more drones, all of the smaller quadcopter variety, were discovered near the Russian capital on Monday.

The same day, Ukrainian propaganda service Euromaidan PR tweeted a video purporting to show footage of Moscow taken by Ukrainian drones, claiming responsibility for the quadcopters and leaving a threatening message: “We are closer than you think.”

The platform’s Community Notes quickly fact-checked the claim, however, revealing that the drone footage actually came from an old YouTube video.

Putin’s planned visit to Rudnevo at some point this week was mentioned by Russian media on Sunday. The president arrived at the industrial park on Thursday, spending over an hour in a meeting with officials and representatives of Russia’s aerospace industry. Putin called drone aviation a field of “critical importance” for economic sovereignty, in which Russia should strive to not merely keep pace with the competition, but be “a step ahead.” He also discussed the importance of mass producing UAVs.

[Ravenlocke]

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Scott Ritter: 'Ukraine Victory Resolution' Act - a Delusional Suicide Pact

After the presentation of the resolution, it must then be approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee and then put to a vote in Congress, both at the House of Representatives and the Senate level, before becoming law.

While the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" faces an uncertain future in a Congress where enthusiasm for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is waning, one should not count out the potential for the resolution becoming law, especially given the track record of its sponsors. Wilson, Cohen and McCaul last collaborated on the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act", which was signed into law on May 9, 2022, by President Joe Biden. That law enhanced Biden’s authority to simplify bureaucratic barriers with regards to military equipment for Ukraine or other Eastern European countries affected by the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine.
Since the start of Russia's Special Military Operation, the Helsinki Commission has worked closely with the Ukrainian government to craft legislation that supports Ukrainian goals and objectives when it comes to its conflict with Russia.

To call the Helsinki Commission a de facto adjunct of the Ukrainian government would not be an exaggeration. Indeed, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, was the person chosen to make the official announcement regarding the presentation of the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" to the House of Representatives.

The text of the draft resolution "affirms that it is the policy of the United States to see Ukraine victorious against the invasion and restored to its internationally recognized 1991 borders."

Wilson and Cohen both have stated that the territorial integrity of Ukraine must be preserved, meaning that the conflict in Ukraine could not be ended until the territories of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Crimea are returned to Ukrainian sovereignty.
While the resolution introduced by Wilson and Cohen accurately reflects both current US policy objectives and Ukrainian government desires, it ignores two critical realities. First, it is Russia that is winning the conflict, not Ukraine, and as such any termination of the current conflict will reflect this hard truth.

Moreover, to tie both the US and Ukraine to unrealistic expectations creates obstacles to any possible negotiated end to the conflict, meaning that the conflict will drag on to its inevitable conclusion—a strategic Russian victory—in a manner which will only increase the human, material, and financial cost to Ukraine.
Indeed, as senior Russian officials such as former President Dmitri Medvedev have noted, if the crisis does not reach a negotiated end, Ukraine itself may cease to exist as a sovereign entity. The irony of a piece of US legislation purporting to defend Ukrainian sovereignty serving as the foundation of the death of Ukraine as a nation seems to have escaped the sponsors of the resolution.

But the resolution also lays the groundwork for the possibility—indeed, if the resolution accomplished its goal, probability—of a general nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Former Russian President Medvedev recently noted that, according to Russian policy regarding the use of nuclear weapons, such weapons "can be used in case of aggression against Russia with the use of other types of weapons that threaten the very existence of the state. This is, in essence, the use of nuclear weapons in response to such actions."
Any effort by Ukraine to recover its former territories which have been absorbed by Russia would, by definition, constitute a threat against the "very existence of the Russian State," to quote Medvedev. "If you have a weapon in your hands," Medvedev declared recently, referring to nuclear weapons, "and I, as a former president, know what it is, you must be prepared that your hand will not tremble in a certain situation to use it, no matter how monstrous and cruel it sounds."

"Therefore, all these stories that 'the Russians will never do it,' or vice versa, 'the Russians keep scaring us with the use of nuclear weapons,' are not worth a penny," Medvedev said.

This is something Russia's potential adversaries, including Congressmen Wilson, Cohen, and McCaul—and indeed every member of Congress who will be called upon to vote in support of the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" — should keep first and foremost in their mind.

A vote for the resolution is a vote for nuclear war with Russia. The resolution is a literal suicide pact with Ukraine. Hopefully the American people will wake up to this reality before it is too late, and let their representatives know that they chose life over death.

Ukraine has lost its NATO-driven conflict with Russia. There is no need for the entire world to die as a result.

[ExomatrixTV]

• Global Military Spending Tops Record $2.2 trillion, Harley Schlanger Tony Gosling:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZBury3HHc8U

Tonight we are putting the Spotlight on the continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years. The 3.7% increase in global military spending in 2022 alone reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. By any standard this could mean nothing but an "increasingly insecure world." In this edition, we will discuss the reasons behind this sharp increase and its ramifications.

World military spending reaches all-time high of $2.24 trillion

Surge in spending reflects Russia-Ukraine war and ‘increasingly insecure world’, according to leading think tank. Published On 24 Apr 2023

World military spending reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuelled a sharp jump in military spending across Europe, according to a leading defence think tank.

Global spending rose for the eighth consecutive year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday in its annual report on global military expenditure.

There was a 13 percent rise in Europe, the steepest in at least 30 years.

SIPRI said most of that was linked to Russia and Ukraine, but other countries also stepped up military spending in response to perceived Russian threats.

“The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world,” Nan Tian, senior researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “States are bolstering military strength in response to a deteriorating security environment, which they do not foresee improving in the near future.”

Moscow invaded and seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, and backed separatist rebels in the country’s east before it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The moves have spread alarm among other countries that neighbour Russia or were once part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, with Finland’s spending up 36 percent and Lithuania’s military spending up by 27 percent, according to SIPRI.

In April, Finland, whose border with Russia stretches some 1,340km (833 miles), became the 31st member of NATO. Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, also wants to join.

“While the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 certainly affected military spending decisions in 2022, concerns about Russian aggression have been building for much longer,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “Many former Eastern bloc states have more than doubled their military spending since 2014, the year when Russia annexed Crimea.”

The think tank said military spending in Ukraine surged more than six times to $44bn in 2022, the highest single-year increase in a country’s military expenditure ever recorded in SIPRI data.

As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), military spending surged to 34 percent in 2022, compared with 3.2 percent the year before.

Russian military spending grew by an estimated 9.2 per cent in 2022, to about $86.4bn, according to SIPRI. That was equivalent to 4.1 per cent of Russia’s 2022 GDP, up from 3.7 percent in 2021.

The United States remained the world’s largest military spender — up 0.7 percent to $877bn in 2022 — which was 39 percent of total global military spending. The increase was largely driven by “the unprecedented level of financial military aid it provided to Ukraine,” SIPRI’s Nan Tian said.

US financial military aid to Ukraine totalled $19.9bn in 2022, according to the think tank.

China remained the world’s second-largest military spender, allocating an estimated $292bn in 2022. This was 4.2 percent more than in 2021 and represents the 28th consecutive annual increase.

Meanwhile, Japan spent $46bn on the military in 2022, a rise of 5.9 percent from the previous year. SIPRI said it was the highest level of Japanese military spending since 1960.

Japan and China led military spending in Asia and Oceania, which amounted to $575bn. SIPRI said military expenditure in the region had been rising since at least 1989.

Tensions in East Asia have risen over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. China also lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea, a major maritime trading route, parts of which are also claimed by countries including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Japan and China are also embroiled in a dispute over the Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands, which lie northeast of Taiwan.

Tokyo also has a long-running dispute with Moscow over the Northern Territories, which lie northeast of Hokkaido and were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. Russia calls them the Kuril Islands.

[ExomatrixTV]

• Geopolitics & the Occult Ukraine:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tq_99U0PXpY

– George Szamuely, joins Tony and Martin to discuss geopolitics: Finland to join NATO. WEF Young Leaders. Russia/Ukraine war.

[ExomatrixTV]

Posted by ExomatrixTV (here)

• NY Times & WashPo Editors CONFRONTED Over Ukraine War Lies!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-Upux1XBCbg

Antiwar activist Jose Vega is well on his way to becoming a legendary disruptor of the war machine. His latest target: an event at Columbia Journalism School featuring some of the news media’s top editors talking about anything BUT the Nord Stream pipeline bombing and the ongoing perilous dance with World War III.

Guest host Aaron Maté and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger talk to special guest Jimmy Dore about the sad state of journalism in America and why disruptors like Vega are so important to holding the powerful accountable.

• Exposing The Ny Times/Wash Post. Enough Already With The Establishment Media:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jogo8-wu1vI

EXPOSING the NY Times & Wash Post - Jose Vega

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
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The Bild publication, citing its sources, writes that when crossing the Dnieper , the Armed Forces of Ukraine intend to use small operational special forces on kayaks.

“They are silent and small in size, difficult to see at night. A special coating is applied on board so that they cannot be detected by a night vision device, ” says BILD.

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/sta...69280886419457

I had to share this. I'm a fairly experienced kayaker (and I expect some other members here are as well), and I can tell you definitively from the photo that these guys are complete novices who have little idea what they're doing.

The Dneipr river is wide and with considerable flow (especially since it's been raining so hard), and it's very hard even with experience to control a kayak crossing the flow of a big river if it's heavily laden, e.g. with military hardware.

If they can cross the river undetected at night and without mishap, they'll be really really lucky. Do please post any updates on the outcome of this dangerous stunt if you happen to catch them.

[Applesprig]

Do you think they may use British special forces for this operation ?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Applesprig (here)
Do you think they may use British special forces for this operation ?

The former British Special Forces guys that I've known personally, all as good friends (2 in the SAS and 1 in the SBS) would already be skilled kayakers. (And the same for US Navy Seals.) These Ukrainians in the photo were apparently "trained" for this mission — but (OMG!) definitely not very well.

[Ravenlocke]

Putin warns NATO "We haven't even started yet." | Redacted with Clayton Morris

Ukraine launched massive attacks in the Donbass region this weekend. The mainstream media doesn't seem to care. Meanwhile Ukraine has changed its goals from "survival" to "victory." What does victory mean? More money and weapons from the west. President Putin says that if Ukraine wants to escalate on the battlefield, Russia is ready. Peace talks now.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WOqTJx8UVb8

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https://www.rt.com/business/575475-u...il-transit-eu/

Ukraine looking to grab more of Russia’s oil revenues – Kommersant

Kiev is preparing to significantly increase tariffs for transporting Russian crude oil to the EU through its territory via the Druzhba pipeline, business daily Kommersant reported on Friday.

According to the report from the Russian outlet, which cites the consultancy Argus and market sources, Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta has applied for a two-step increase in transit prices, by 25% from the current $14.90 per ton to $18.70 on June 1, and by an additional 23.5% to $23 on August 1.

Transneft, Russia’s state pipeline transport company, confirmed to Kommersant having received notification from Ukrtransnafta of the tariff hike but said that it was not conducting negotiations with Kiev on the matter.

According to Kommersant’s sources, Ukraine is currently negotiating the hike directly with buyers in Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. However, any arrangements with them will have to be formalized with the Russian Energy Ministry and Transneft, experts say. The latter traditionally pays in advance for the transit of Russian oil through Ukrainian territory. The transit cost is included in the price of oil deliveries, and Russian oil companies, having received payment from buyers, reimburse Transneft for the transit.

The planned hike in transit costs will be the second this year, after Kiev raised the tariff by €2.10 per ton (18.3%) on January 1. Prior to that, the tariff was hiked twice last year.

Experts warn that overly frequent tariff hikes may bring oil transport via Druzhba to a halt, as buyers, despite not having many alternatives to Russian oil, may find the costs too high. According to Igor Yushkov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, this scenario would hurt Ukraine, which relies on the transit fees.

READ MORE: Hungary to pay Ukraine for transit of Russian oil – Reuters
Druzhba carries crude some 4,000km from Russia to refineries in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Supplies via the route were not targeted by the EU embargo on Russian crude that was introduced late last year.

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