Archived April 27th 2023

April 25th 2023

Russia’s new T-14 Armata battle tank debuts in Ukraine

Al Jazeerahttps://www.aljazeera.com › news › russias-new-t-14-a..

Russia has begun using its new T-14 Armata battle tanks to fire on Ukrainian positions “but they have not yet participated in direct assault …

The T-14 tank has an unmanned turret, with crew remotely controlling the armaments from “an isolated armoured capsule located in the front of the hull.” The tanks have a maximum speed on the highway of 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour, RIA reported.5 hours ago

Russia’s new T-14 Armata battle tank debuts in Ukraine – RIA

Reuters https://www.reuters.com › world › europe › russias-new-…

April 24th 2023

Has Nato Expansionism Caused Conflict With Russia ?

Some analysts have suggested western expansion into eastern Europe after 1991 is a strategic blunder, and has predictably led to the catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine. The growth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) from 16 members in 1990 to today’s 30 is sometimes described as imperialist, and EU enlargement has been subjected to similar criticism, namely that a western power grab has provoked Russia.

Such views give succour to Vladimir Putin and undermine the legitimate wish of Ukraine to become part of the European economic and security architecture. They also undermine Ukrainian citizens under siege and defending their homeland.

Putin sponsored the uprising in Eastern Ukraine that has cost 14,000 lives, and illegally annexed Crimea. Years of aggression, including cyber-attacks, have culminated in the current disastrous war against an independent, democratic, and sovereign state, threatening regional and global stability.

The 1989 revolution in the Communist east of Europe was powered internally by popular protest. Beginning in Poland with the Solidarity movement, boosted by support from Pope John Paul II, change swept through the whole region. Soviet-backed governments fell, and the USSR itself imploded. Mikhail Gorbachev’s dream of ‘socialism with a human face’ died, giving way to a kleptocratic autocracy under Boris Yeltsin.

Former Warsaw Pact members soon applied to join NATO and the EU. The Treaty of Rome offers EU membership to any European state willing and able to take on associated responsibilities and meeting Copenhagen Criteria for accession. Former Communist states had to implement reforms to business practice, property rights, and legal systems to cope with EU law and a market economy.

This upsets many on the left: the EU favours a capitalist market economy, which the peoples of the former Communist states wanted in the 1990s. They did not want, as Timothy Garton Ash eloquently testified, a version of socialism. From under Russian bombardment, a Ukrainian leftist, Taras Bilous, has appealed to critics of Western policy to suspend their criticisms while Moscow rains missiles on Ukrainian cities.

NATO too has an ‘open door policy’ enshrined in Article 10 of the Atlantic Treaty. This offers membership to any ‘European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area’. All the former Communist countries wanted to join NATO to protect their interests and aspirations as independent sovereign states.

Applications to join both the EU and NATO are ‘merit-based’ and include shared values and a common understanding of democracy. In contrast, Russian claims on Ukraine are based on ethnicity, nationality, and geopolitics.

Three of the Visegrád Group – the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland – joined NATO in 1999. In the following year, Yeltsin handed power to Vladimir Putin and ten more states formed the Vilnius Group to prepare and lobby for NATO membership. Seven of them, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia, joined NATO in 2004, just before their EU accession, for which Bulgaria and Romania had to wait until 2007.

States choose whether to apply to NATO or the EU. They can leave either bloc if they wish. To suggest that NATO or the EU have indulged in imperialist expansion ignores the choice element exercised by the states concerned. The EU has certainly extended its influence for political and economic gain, but the process has been of mutual benefit. It is not the zero-sum game implied by imperialism.

NATO has been a defensive alliance since its foundation in 1949. This does not mean that some of its members, the US, UK, and France, have not engaged in egregious acts of war and human rights abuse since 1949. NATO’s only Article 5 intervention, involving collective defence, was in 2001 in Afghanistan. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force operation lasted from 2003 until 2014, and while it can hardly be described as an unmitigated success, the major failures came later.

Other NATO operations in Bosnia Hercegovina and in Kosovo were provoked by what the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia later judged to be war crimes, including genocide, by the Serbian leaderships in Bosnia and in Belgrade. Those interventions lacked UN Security Council authorisation because Russia and China could apply a veto. Both were reluctant to condemn their Serbian allies.

EU and NATO enlargement should be seen in the context of the Helsinki Final Act (1975) to which the USSR was a signatory, and the Charter of Paris (1990), signed by Gorbachev. These texts underline the right of sovereign states to self-determination in their choice of partnerships. In the Budapest memorandum (1994) Russia agreed to respect the territorial integrity and the existing borders of Ukraine in exchange for Ukrainian denuclearisation.

What was agreed or not agreed regarding NATO expansion after the end of the Cold War is highly contested. Putin is aggrieved that the West broke commitments made in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse.

But it is an odd logic that supposes that Russia, a successor state to the former oppressor of nine NATO members, should have a veto over who joins the Alliance, a demand rejected by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Given the threat now, Putin’s demand that NATO forces withdraw from the Baltic states is untenable.

Why did NATO not admit Russia as a member? There was a short period where Russia might have pursued membership, according to former NATO Secretary General George Robertson. Putin asked to be invited to join ‘as an equal’. Robertson replied that NATO does not invite states to join, they must apply. Putin never did apply, and by 2004 he had gone off the idea, preoccupied with the Orange Revolution and pro-democracy movement in Ukraine. In any case, Russia did not meet the stipulation that a state joining the Alliance should be free from border disputes or internal conflict. Wars raged in Chechnya between 1994-96 and 1999-2000, with hostilities continuing for years afterwards.

NATO instead offered Russia a partnership, initially through the NATO-Russia Founding Act in 1997, intended to reassure Yeltsin. This was augmented by a NATO-Russia Council in 2002 to aid security cooperation. After the Vilnius enlargement in 2004, even Putin expressed the view that ‘each country has the right to choose the form of security it considers most appropriate’. Neither Yeltsin nor Putin were keen on NATO enlargements, but they acquiesced in their inevitability. They had no choice against the settled will of the countries involved.

Throughout the post-1949 period, NATO and the EU have been consistent in their shared commitment to European security. It is Putin who has changed, and Russia’s actions consolidate the prospect of a new cold war in Europe. NATO’s function is to secure peace in the North Atlantic area, a task as valid now as it ever was pre-1991. Given the bellicosity of the current regime in Moscow, NATO must maintain guarantees to its membership. It is fundamental to the values and aspirations cherished by NATO and EU members, and prospective members.

A new thought is whether current events will cause Finland and Sweden to reconsider their neutrality, and apply to join NATO.

By Simon Sweeney, Reader in International Political Economy and Business at the University of York.

‘DEMOCRACY’ PROTECTS US FROM RUSSIA AND REVIVED COMMUNISM , By R J Cook.

Comment The answer to this question is yes. Meanwhile the CIA have been targetting Kazakhstan for years. They are next on the NATO list. China will follow in the not so long term. NATO’s respect for national sovereignty and independence is a sick joke.

The key phrases in the above article are as follows :

NATO with its Anglo – U.S elite leadership is as stuck in the lucrative cold war mindset as Russia , if not more so. U.K has too much influence in its old colonies as we see with their panic over Sudan. The U.S is the worlds greatest colonial power and a credit to its British parents. Given their incestuous mentality they are equals in hypocrisy with their mantras of sovereign states and democracy. Eastern Europe is riddled with exploitation and corruption which is why so many East Europeans have gone west. They now think all will be well if west comes east. I have discussed these issues with East European and Russian colleagues during my 12 years in the haulage industry who have taken my understanding way beyond the academic.

NATO and EU policies serve and protect the rich elite whose treacherous maniplulative wealth grabbing policies and activities are why the planet is in environmental, demographic, social and economic crisis. A recent report concluded that the world population is also in the grip of a mental health crisis. All the western political and media elite will tell us is that Russia is evil because of Vladimir Putin. So all you have totell the dopey and doped up masses is that ‘DEMOCRACY PROTECTS US FROM RUSSIA AND REVIVED COMMUNISM. Western elites had no problem when Yeltsin’s oligarchs came west with money bags from asset stripping the Russian peoples’ infrastructure. That is the essence of NATO EU principles, fool and fleece ( rob ) the common people. Russian oligarch stolen money pumped into obscenely rich football clubs was a particularly clever trick.

R J Cook

April 22nd 2023

Ukraine unveils plan for recaptured Crimea – but West ‘reluctant’ to help

Ukraine unveiled on Sunday a 12-point plan outlining how it would reintegrate Crimea back into the country if it regained the territory militarily. Kyiv has repeatedly said that seizing the peninsula back from Russia is one of its key war aims. But Washington is tacitly sceptical.

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The most telling detail in the report by Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, concerned Sevastopol – Russia’s main port on the Black Sea for the past 200 years. In this plan for Crimea’s “de-occupation”, Danilov said “the so-called ‘city of Russian glory’ is to be renamed Object 6”.

Danilov also promised tough action against Ukrainians in Crimea deemed to be collaborators with the Russian enemy: “In addition to prosecuting perpetrators for collaboration and high treason, a lustration mechanism is under development that will determine the level of responsibility and degree of involvement of Crimean residents in supporting occupation administration activities,” the report said. “Sanctions could include the right to participate in elections – to vote and to be elected.”

Posted on Facebook, the plan also calls for the demolition of the Kerch Strait Bridge connecting the peninsula to Russia, the expulsion of all Russian citizens who settled in Crimea after 2014, and the nullification of all property transactions made in Crimea under Russian rule.

This was the first indication of what Crimea would look like after Ukraine took it back. But many say Kyiv is getting ahead of itself, as the Ukrainian army is still fighting ferociously to try and repel Russian assaults on Bakhmut in the east. Planning for the aftermath of the re-conquest of Sevastopol is unlikely to be an immediate item on the agenda of Ukraine’s general staff.

‘Reassuring public opinion’

In fact, Danilov’s statements were motivated primarily by domestic political purposes. “These 12 points include many aspects of plans set out for the Donbas; they’re all policies that allow Kyiv to reassure public opinion by showing it’s serious about taking back every bit of Ukrainian territory from the Russians,” said Huseyn Aliyev, a specialist in the Russo-Ukrainian War at Glasgow University.

Nevertheless, Kyiv has pushed Crimea up its agenda since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Crimea was a “taboo subject” at the start of the war when the Russian conquest of Kyiv itself was on the cards, Aliyev pointed out.

“Since the Russian attack on Kyiv failed and Ukraine had that wave of success with its first counter-offensives, the idea of retaking Crimea has become integral to the official Ukrainian discourse,” said Jeff Hawn, an expert on Russian security issues and a non-resident fellow at US geopolitical research centre the New Lines Institute.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in August that “everything started with Crimea and will end with it”, referring to Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014. Asking for more Western arms, Zelensky said at the Davos summit in Switzerland in January that “our objective is to liberate all of our territories” and “Crimea is our land”.

Zelensky was trying to show just how much Ukraine’s military is “keen to retake land, strengthened by its successes on the ground”, underlined Nicolo Fasola, a specialist in Russian military issues at the University of Bologna.

Long-range weapons necessary

Rhetoric from the Biden administration’s hawkish faction emboldened Kyiv. US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said in February that “Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum demilitarised”.

But just days before, Nuland’s boss Secretary of State Antony Blinken implied scepticism about Ukraine retaking Crimea on a private call with experts leaked to the press – saying Crimea is a “red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While stressing that decisions about the war are Ukraine’s to take, Blinken told a congressional committee in March that Kyiv may want to think about using diplomacy instead of military offensives in trying to take back some parts of its territory.

Analysts say retaking Crimea is easier said than done. “As things stand, the Ukrainian army has only attacked non-fortified Ukrainian positions,” Fasola observed. “But Crimea will be completely different because Russia has had an entire defence system in place for the last eight years.”

Long-range missiles are an all-important lacuna in Ukraine’s arsenal. Kyiv has long demanded ATACM missiles, which have a range of over 300 km. Washington has refused to give them.

“Ukraine will find it extremely difficult to even approach Crimea without using long-range missiles to destroy part of Russia’s defences,” Hawn said.

But there are significant reasons why the US does not want to send ATACMs, Fasola noted: “The US fears that Ukraine would use them to hit Russian territory, while a missile of American origin striking Russian soil could provoke a serious escalation of the conflict.”

Moreover, amid broader Western concerns about depleting their own stockpiles to feed Ukraine’s war effort, Washington is also worried that it just “doesn’t have enough ATACMs to be able to send them to Ukraine”, added Glen Grant, a senior analyst at the Baltic Security Foundation.

Nuclear risk

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Experts underline that Ukrainian rhetoric about re-conquering Crimea is not just bluster: “There’s definitely going to be fighting over control of Crimea before the war is over,” Grant put it.

But analysts are equally confident that battles over Crimea are not going to happen in the immediate future.

“Before that, Ukraine wants to liberate Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, and the army will need all the strength it’s got to achieve that – so Crimea will have to wait for at least a year,” Aliyev said.

But how the Kremlin would react to such an offensive is an entirely different question. “There’s a definite risk that Putin would use nuclear weapons to counter a Ukrainian offensive in Crimea,” Fasola concluded. “And that’s why Ukraine’s Western allies are reluctant to openly support the retaking of Crimea.

This article was adapted from the original in French.

April 20th 2023

Cleaning Up A Dirty World With God On Their Side.

I read this fascinating book today. Wright talks of disappointment that Russia departed from the new rules based world order, where trade woud guarantee worldwide prosperity to the masses and massive astronomical profits for the elite. U.S control 60% of the IMF and would keep every member in line, notably Russia and China where socialism lingered and needed eradicating. He noted that there was always great instability in the world when there was a shift to a new paradigm. It is deemed vital to the new world order for the U.S to lead the war to establish and protect their western style democracies across the world. U.S foreign policy had moved on from containment and would do whatever necessary to achieve U.S ends.
***R J Cook.***

English

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NATO’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Last updated: 04 Apr. 2023 17:52

NATO condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine – which is an independent, peaceful and democratic country, and a close NATO partner. NATO and Allies continue to provide Ukraine with unprecedented levels of support, helping to uphold its fundamental right to self-defence.

This page contains information about NATO and its relationship with Ukraine, and the latest news on NATO and Allies’ responses to the ongoing war.

Relations with Ukraine

A strong, independent Ukraine is vital for the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area. Relations between NATO and Ukraine date back to the early 1990s and have since developed into one of the most substantial of NATO’s partnerships. Since 2014, in the wake of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, cooperation has been intensified in critical areas. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, NATO and Allies have provided unprecedented levels of support. more >>

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1. What is NATO?

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5. How has NATO supported Ukraine since Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014?

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7. Why isn’t NATO sending troops or closing the skies over Ukraine?

8. What are NATO and Allies doing to impose costs on Russia?

9. What is NATO doing to enhance the defence of its countries and citizens?

10. What is NATO’s response to Russia’s dangerous rhetoric around nuclear, chemical and biological weapons?

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Secretary General in Kyiv: NATO stands with Ukraine20 Apr. 2023
Secretary General welcomes Foreign Minister of Ukraine to NATO04 Apr. 2023
Finland to join NATO as Allied Foreign Ministers meet 03 Apr. 2023
NATO Secretary General takes part in virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting15 Mar. 2023
Statement by the North Atlantic Council marking one year of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine24 Feb. 2023

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April 17th 2023

NATO SET UP . April 17^th 2023

There is no end to the Anglo American led NATO’s hypocrisy, with elite mainstream media blasting their messages across the world. That’s where Vladimir Kara Murza came in. He holds dual Russian citizenship, having returned from living in London. That is very interesting timing. So it doesn’t surprise me that Vladimir Kara Murza has been convicted of spying. He has committed treason.

The west is not democratic as my experience of U.K authorities ,years as a public servant and senior member of my local council has taught me. However, though most people haven’t a clue what democracy means, they are fooled into a sense of freedom based on demonising Vladimir Putin’s Russia. So our moralising media are demanding stronger sanctions on Russia. At best this is the old ‘lesser of evils’ con trick.

They and our corrupt politicians are certain that no connection between Vladimir Kara Murza and what has been and is still being done to war crimes whistle blower Julian Assange – concerning the illegal second Gulf War which destabilised the Middle East and more. The media does not want to know him or brave Chelsea Manning. The same goes for young Jake Teixeiria, who saw rather too clearly the military mad men and communist fearing fat cat politicians baying for what could easily turn into nuclear war. He is lined up for 15-25 years because , among other things, he revealed that Britain and the U.S lead the numbers of NATO special forces fighting Russia in Ukraine. That means on top of all the ordnance and free equipment, NATO has to stop denying they are at war with Russia – setting them up by reneging on treaties.

R J Cook

Published

2 hours ago

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Russia-Ukraine war

Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza sits on a bench inside a defendants' cage during a hearing at the Basmanny court in Moscow on October 10, 2022 — Image caption, Vladimir Kara-Murza pictured during a hearing in October 2022

By Steve Rosenberg and Kathryn Armstrong

BBC News, Moscow and London

Opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Russia for charges linked to his criticism of the war in Ukraine.

He was found guilty of treason, spreading “false” information about the Russian army and being affiliated with an “undesirable organisation”.

The Russian-British former journalist and politician is the latest of several Putin opponents to have been arrested or forced to flee Russia.

He has denied all of the charges.

From November: Kara-Murza’s letters from jail

Mr Kara-Murza, 41, has spent years speaking out against Russian President Vladimir Putin and, alongside the war in Ukraine, has also been critical of the government’s crackdown on dissent.

Last week, he said in a statement that he stood by “every word that I have said… Not only do I not repent any of this, I am proud of it.”

“I know that the day will come when the darkness engulfing our country will clear,” he added in remarks posted online. “Our society will open its eyes and shudder when it realises what crimes were committed in its name.”

Mr Kara-Murza’s 25-year sentence, which has been widely condemned, was the maximum sought by prosecutors and is the longest sentence an opposition figure has received since the war in Ukraine began.

It took only minutes for the judge to rule on his case – sometimes the delivery of verdicts and announcing sentencing can take a long time in Russian courts.

The judge said Mr Kara-Murza would serve his time in a “strict regime correctional colony” and that he would be fined 400,000 roubles ($4,900; £4,000).

The tough sentence is a sign that in today’s Russia the authorities are not only determined to silence critics but also to neutralise anything or anyone they believe represents a threat to the political system.

The BBC was not allowed access into the courtroom and only a handful of journalists from Russian state media were granted access, along with the defendant’s mother and lawyer.

Instead, reporters and foreign ambassadors crowded into a separate room to view proceedings on two TV screens.

Speaking outside the court after the sentencing, his lawyer Maria Eismon, said the sentence was “terrifying” but also a “high appreciation” of her client’s work.

“When [Mr Kara-Murza] heard it was 25 years, he said: my self-esteem even rose, I realised I’d been doing everything right!” she said.

Ukraine war: Where are Russia’s opposition leaders now?

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny also weighed in on Mr Kara-Murza’s sentencing, calling it “revenge” by the Kremlin “for the fact that he did not die at one time” after he allegedly survived two poisonings by Russian authorities.

Mr Kara-Murza played a key role in persuading Western governments to sanction Russian officials for human rights abuses and corruption.

He was arrested a year ago in Moscow, initially for disobeying a police officer. More serious charges were levelled at him once he was in custody.

Mr Kara-Murza’s case was partly based on a speech he made to politicians in the US last year, where he said Russia was committing war crimes in Ukraine with cluster bombs in residential areas and “the bombing of maternity hospitals and schools”.

Those claims have been independently documented – but deemed false by Russian investigators who said the defence ministry did “not permit the use of banned means… of conducting war” and insisted Ukraine’s civilian population was not a target.

Another charge stemmed from an event for political prisoners at which Mr Kara-Murza referred to what investigators called Russia’s “supposedly repressive policies”.

Vladimir Kara-Murza awaits the verdict in his trial — https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65297003

Last week, a copy of a speech he made to the closed court was released, in which he said his trial reminded him of a Stalin-era show trial of the 1930s.

“I only blame myself for one thing,” he said.

“I failed to convince enough of my compatriots and politicians in democratic countries of the danger that the current Kremlin regime poses for Russia and for the world.”

His sentence has been widely condemned, with the British government summoning its Russian ambassador and saying that it would look at measures for holding those involved in Mr Kara-Murza’s detention and “mistreatment” to account.

The UK had already sanctioned the judge who presided over the trial for previous involvement in human rights violations.

“Russia’s lack of commitment to protecting fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, is alarming,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

Later on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry criticised Britain’s response to Mr Kara-Murza’s arrest, describing it as “direct interference in the internal affairs of Russia”, AFP news agency reported.

The ministry said the British ambassador made “unacceptable” remarks after London demanded his immediate release.

The United Nations and the US State Department have also condemned the verdict, with the latter describing Mr Kara-Murza as “yet another target of the Russian government’s escalating campaign of repression”.

Not-for-profit group Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, described the verdict as a “travesty of justice” and called on Russia to “immediately vacate the verdict and unconditionally free him”.

Mr Kara-Murza comes from a well-known Soviet dissident family. His father, Vladimir Sr, was also a Kremlin critic.

He received British citizenship when he moved to the UK as a teenager with his mother and he attended Cambridge University.

He began his career in journalism before becoming an adviser to Boris Nemtsov, another prominent Russian opposition leader and politician who was shot dead in Moscow in 2015.

Mr Kara-Murza was involved in the passing of the Magnitsky Act in the US – a key piece of legislation that helped secure the adoption of sanctions targeting human rights abusers in Russia.

He nearly died twice after being poisoned and moved to the US with his family to recover. He later returned to Russia but refused to leave after the invasion of Ukraine, despite the growing risk to those who opposed the government.

Ukraine war: Leak shows Western special forces on the ground

Pentagon leaks

https://emp.bbc.co.uk/emp/SMPj/2.49.2/iframe.htmlMedia caption,

Watch: The Pentagon leaks explained in under 60 seconds.

By Paul Adams & George Wright

BBC News

The UK is among a number of countries with military special forces operating inside Ukraine, according to one of dozens of documents leaked online.

It confirms what has been the subject of quiet speculation for over a year.

The leaked files, some marked “top secret”, paint a detailed picture of the war in Ukraine, including sensitive details of Ukraine’s preparations for a spring counter-offensive.

The US government says it is investigating the source of the leak.

According to the document, dated 23 March, the UK has the largest contingent of special forces in Ukraine (50), followed by fellow Nato states Latvia (17), France (15), the US (14) and the Netherlands (1).

The document does not say where the forces are located or what they are doing.

The numbers of personnel may be small, and will doubtless fluctuate. But special forces are by their very nature highly effective. Their presence in Ukraine is likely to be seized upon by Moscow, which has in recent months argued that it is not just confronting Ukraine, but Nato as well.

April 15th 2023

Before It’s Too Late by R J Cook

Accused Jake proudly photographing himself in National Guard Uniform, became alarmed at the direction the greedy old power maniacs were taking his country. How do you defend a nation where hypocritical leaders cannot stop lying for their minority elite ends ? This is a tragedy as the regime will give him at least 15 years,while mainstream media savage or shun him, like it did Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange.

As much as U.K pretends it is not at war with Russia, it is. Therefore criticising my native country is dangerous. This is all the more so since this website has a regular police watch on it. Google rank the site well down the list with many users telling me access is marked restricted..

Back in my maths teaching days, a colleague called me a Luddite for my concerns about computers spreading into education and public life. Nerds can’t always see the danger, but some of us more imaginative nerds read, think too much and make dangerous connections. I said at the outset that the information highway would work out to be the disinformation highway. I am stating the obvious. Powerful countries like U.K and U.S.A use it to spread propaganda. They got caught by Jake’s leaks.

The Anglo U.S elite establishment politicians, press and security services have ridiculed anyone who mentions conspiracy or fake news. They go out of their way to hide the truth of their dirty deeds, corruption and dishonesty. So we come to the case of 21 year old National Guardsman Jake Teixeira a junior intelligence officer, following in the illustrious footsteps of Chelsea Manning and the second Gulf War.

***The heavy brigade arrest Jake at his family’s home yesterday.***

Defence experts on British media were rubbishing Jake. One observed that Manning, Snowden and now Teixeira were all young men easily manipulated. No credit is given to these men because we are supposed to believe only that our so called enemies – chosen by the rich western ruling elite – do bad things . These three men have made informed judgements. The SKY defence man asserted, “This kind of intelligence work should be conducted by colonels.” He was probably thinking of the great U.S Colonel Oliver North CIA selling weapons to Iran for the Shah to send them to support the Contras in El Salvador and Guatamala because they wanted regime change. Congress would not grant the money so the CIA ran drugs into the U.S to fund the project. It is no wonder the CIA ran the conspiracy to use media to rubbish conspiracies. So we know why so many Washington & Langley insiders are official liars and surreptitious killers, by proxy when deemed necessary. They are serving a powerful elite with U.K totally on board.

***Jake Teixeira held at machine gun point ready to be taken away for revealing Anglo U.S’s NATO dirty secret war role against Russia allegedly defending that ‘brave little nation’s democracy.***.

Jake Teixeira may or may not have known what he was doing when he leaked top secret papers onto the DISCORD private website, papers then leaked world wide by another group member. They have , however, been the most explosive weapon used so far in what has been a war of attrition. The U.K has been exposed for providing 50 out of 97 NATO Special Forces along with 14 U.S active on the ground in Ukraine, confirming NATO going beyond its dubious supply of weapons, munitions ,tanks , Sea King helicopters and intelligence. This explains the attack on the Crimea Bridge and false flag operations. Disclosure has also revealed Ukraine field dispositions and shortage of anti aircraft shells. Apparently shells are expected to run out in May and thus offering an invitation for Russia to mobilise its airforce. There is further information concerning exposing human sources of field intelligence that has been helping NATO’s Ukraine proxy forces, with fear of reprisal.

I suspect young nerd Jake, like Anglo U.S war crime whistle blower Chelsea Manning, was crunching the numbers predicting a nuclear holocaust if the Anglo- U.S NATO led industrial and military mad men were exposed as the liars and hypocrites that they are – before its too late.

R J Cook

April 13th 2023

‘Paddy’ Joe Biden and Finnegan’s Tale by R J Cook

Paddy Biden April 13 2023.

The English working classes call it the gift of the gab, the Irish call it Blarney. Down to earth Americans call it bullshit. Whatever, you call it ,the BBC and Sky News were sloshing it around like cheap intoxicating wine when the great long lost intergenerational Irish American President Paddy Joe Biden arrived at Dublin Airport yesterday where his armour plated bomb proof limousine and more security men were on guard.

According to the smarmy commentator, Paddy Joe had a sense that he was coming back to his spiritual home. Though Biden is an old English name, he is more closely related to the Finnegans. That is a name made famous by notable Irish writer James Joyce in the entertaining thought provoking ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ and a Dubliner’s recording of a song of the same name,sung by an old Folk hero of mine Ronnie Drew. His name is Scots and his vocal timbre was like gravel being shovelled. Beautiful. I played my Dubliners LPs over and over, even in my student residence room , from 1971-74. I practised their songs with my guitar, performing them in folk clubs as recently as 2008- 11.

I was working with my then girlfriend Christine Halpin, a talented musician and song writer. One Sunday night in the Bradwell area of Milton Keynes by the Grand Union Canal, we were performing Eric Bogle’s ‘Green Fields’ of France, with me on lead guitar and lead vocals.

I was looking down from the stage at a room full of hard drinking men and their women. A well built upright elderly man was striding to the door. I worried he didn’t like us. He was wearing a white Aran jumper. As I struck up the vocals with “Well how do you do young Willie McBride, do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside, I’ve been working all day and I’m nearly done”, the man turned,then walked right up to the stage ,watched and listened intently. Afterwards he asked me,with a strong Irish accent, which part of Ireland I came from. I said I am English. He said “No , you are definitely Irish. Your accent is somewhere south of Dublin.” He was so insistent that I eventually agreed, replying : “Alright, I admit it. I am an Irishman pretending to be English.” The old Irishman’s weather and age worn face contorted into an expression of wonderment. Then after a long pause, he asked “Now why on earth would you want to do that ?”

Christine and I finished our set , then joined the old fellow and his sister, listening to his tales of travels to the United States and around, doing all sorts of work before coming back to the British Isles.

In my late teens and 20s, I had a great passion for Ireland and republicanism which I hoped would catch on in Britain. Irish literature and history was of much interest during my teens and twenties. But the curious resurgence of terrorism,the mysterious role of MI5 in stirring it all up while young British soldiers were sitting targets and ultimate scapegoats in their old age, I abandoned my cares for Ireland’s plight. Ireland was turning into a tax haven and developer’s playground. It no longer seemed such a romantic place. Maybe that’s a good thing. I remember in 1973, my United States Economic History tutor and sometime drinking companion at the University of East Anglia, Irish American Dr Alan O’Day. I asked him about his time in Dublin, researching his PhD. Alan stifled an imaginary yawn, then said “ Boooring”

Another Irish American,young lawyer Jack Haskew told me the difference between the struggling Irish, with the line “ It was terrible. It got worse ,the even worse and they all died.” The Irish American sees things differently. So we have : “It was terrible. It got worse. Then we did something about it.”

Ireland changed after the Good Friday Agreement, based on optimistic promises and EU membership , with allied multicultural immigration, with sights like Muslims praying on the hallowed Croke Park Dublin, countenanced by the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Class divisions and liberal political correctness tends to put the south’s government more out of touch with the white working classes who traditionally were expected to take out their anger over the border issue. Botched Brexit has inflamed the situation, so along comes Paddy Biden to remind them and the world how fellow saintly President and sex pest Democrat (sic ) Bill Clinton was the brains and power behind the Good Friday Agreement.

The Irish , WASP Americans and British are not that different , they speak versions of English and generally accept authority. Biden knows how close we are to a massive escalation of what is already World War 3. He is out to strengthen the incompetent planet eating Anglo Saxon greedy new world order. To me his fake Irish ness is nauseating but , helped by elite media, it is working on the ignorant frightened masses who want to believe they are part of a big fair minded democratic collective. The ruling elite don’t actually care. In the nineteenth century Phoenix Park was famous for a terrorist attack on the British ruling elite. Today the white mansion dazzled in the sunshine as stern faced rulers looked forward to the evening’s banquet, wine and beer.

When my Irish fan insisted on me being Irish, I was rather modest. He was correct about my South Dublin roots. My maternal grand father William Close left the Irish family mansion, coming to England in 1916 where he fathered five children, my mother Gladys Close who was his last born in 1924. His youngest son, my uncle Charles was killed while fighting with the London Irish Rifles in 1944. With this in mind, I would never dream of trivialising my Irish ancestors by claiming to have shared their hardships.

That is why I am utterly appalled and nauseated by Biden , Democrats and fawning pseudo liberal elite media. I have every reason to loathe my police state feminazi fake democratic,unjust home country , but I am English. I used to be proud of that, as a member of the Air Training Corps and offering myself for military service. That was my outlook until the Thatcher and Regan regimes turned opportunities into self seeking profiteering hypocritical nightmares that worsen every day.

R J Cook

***President Joe Biden’s Air Force One lands in Dublin April 12th 2023***

***Red Carpet Ready For U.S President Biden who will inspect the troops before a military band plays the Star Spanled Banner,the Irish National anthem and more besides.***

Eire’s ( Southern Ireland ) figurehead president Bertie Ahern greets the man lauded as the greatest Irish American President since their beloved assassination victim Jack Kennedy, smiling ‘Paddy’ Joe Biden.

Facing Reality by R J Cook

Facing Reality

***To the western super rich these guys still represent communism***

‘***One man’s paranoia is another man’s resality.’ This man knows the reality of Western provocation, lies, ambitions, games and hypocrisy. His face says it all.***

***Smug moralising concern over a Ukrainain soldier’s beheading by knife , the video has gone viral. War is brutal turning men into animals.***

***Sky News facing reality of U.S intelligence leaks revealing Anglo U.S led special forces on the ground for reconaisance and demolition expertise.***

***Actor cum western puppet president Zelensky working his global audeince for all he is worth ,yesterday.***

There is an interesting range of expressions on the faces of western media folk and their experts responding to the Ukrainian so called crisis. Here are some examples broadcast yesterday.

Smug arrogant and condescending describes the Sky selection, voices oozing and rasping away their self righteous hypocrisy. Zelensky portrays an agony worthy of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ -then once an actor always an actor.

Ms Liz Truss, the greatest failure as PM, leading the field of so many appalling self interested PMs, yesterdsy. She vented on PUTIN who the U.K media even villified for his refusal to promote male to female transsexuals -he is correct because if it is real it doesn’t need promoting. But she is really promoting her feminism and feminist bigots promoting the vile hate opinion that we transwomen are violent sex offenders in waiting. She is absolutely the right person to represent Thatcher’s vile asset stripping,war mongering, profiteering and diviseiveness. As defence minsiter she routed for Russia and Ukraine to take the war bait..

Trans lady Miss Roberta Jane Cook London 2003,scorns Liz Truss’s drivel about inherently benevolent capitalism and freedom. As for Vladimir Putin on LGBTQ and transgender, she says ‘This is the country where 16 year old trans girl Briana Ghey was stabbed to death in a park and police said , she was targeted for being transsexual but it was not a hate crime. This is the land of famous transphobes like J K Rowling and Liz Truss who urges us to comply with nature – what a laugh. So ban gays and lesbians. Presumably in the U.K, where TERF feminsists have identified transwomen as sex offenders in waiting, killing a young trans girl is an act of love for bioillogical women. That’s freedom U.K style.

‘One man’s reality is another man’s paranoia’ as a psychiatrist once told me. Having to study philosophy to an advanced level -as part of my stimulating first undergraduate year at the University of East- defining reality was a major theme.

There appears to be a real world of solids,liquids and gases ,but humans have to sense them and agree on a working definition. Most of the masses are low on senses and the political class excel in persuading us that only their definition is true. From this we get cultural differences, tribalism, nationalism, greed, power mania and war.

So here we are once again with the ever popular war game which the west insists must be played according to their euphemistically defined rules based world order – their rules. If they are caught out as war criminals the messenger has to be locked away like Julian Assange on trumped up secretive treason charges.

Now we have a leak from Washington. Anglo U.S led Special Forces,with the UK making up 50 of the 97 troops on the Ukraine battlefield. All hell is quietly breaking loose because added to the massive arms shipments responsible for the so called ‘cost of living crisis’, NATO is actually at war with Russia confirming World War 3,which has already hit Russian targets,featured Ukraine’s false flag missile attack on Poland and an SAS obvious attack on the Crimean Bridge. The latest news is the U.K has trained Ukrainians to fly and supply Sea King helicopters. Only yesterday a mad U.S General told Sky News it was time for an all out assault on Crimea to protect resources and prevent it becoming a strategic Russian missile base. This highlights a major Russian problemBritish media is working and censoring as if the U.K is at war with Russia. This site is restricted in the U.K to authority monitoring. I have been officially labelled a deluded paranoid bi polar schizophrenic more likely to die by misadventure than suicide.

Zelensky was on Sky News gurning away about a Ukrainian soldier who was decapitated with a carving knife. Raising the stakes will make even worse things happen on masse.

Oxford educated bourgeois Liz Truss’s speech for the annual memorial war mongering Thatcher lecture, had its moment of ranting about evil Putin before turning her feminist guns on helpless hopeless transwomen – of which I am one. She playing Lone Ranger to Major Ben Wallace’s Tonto were out to stimulate the arms industry mega war profiteering. They are getting there with their penultimate regime change. China is next on their list which is why they are flexing their muscles over Taiwan , source of 90 % of the world’s micro chips.

The bottom line is that the U.K was a key player and instigator of the last World Wars. The vile pleasure bent Russian Tsar Nicholas II , first cousin to the British and German Kings were all about ostentatious wealth, patronising, ignoring and slaughtering their masses in the name of God. Nicholas II ignored the warning signs of his starving people,expecting them to fight for the elite in1914. When that butchery ended, the Russian Revolution was fact, so beloved aristocrat and war monger Winston Churchill led the charge to war on communism. That class and its moronic lackeys are still at war. They thought the rise of Yeltsin and his deputy Putin,with all the asset stripping oligarchs rushing gold west had sorted the problem. The west does not want us to know that over 70% of the German army were killed or captured by the Russian army and that it took the western allies a year to get from France to Germany. Russia knows the truth. They know reality when they see it. Communism never had a chance because the wealthy western elite are only willing to sacrifice their masses, not pay taxes at the extortionate rate as fawning masses. This is the reality of war.

R J Cook

April 10th 2023

April 8th 2023

**Sky News Anchor Kay Burley visibly excited by the site of these tanks bound for UKRAINE.**

NATO’s dangerous game gets more so by the hour. Under their guiding influence , Ukraine is weighing up an assault on resource rich and strategically important Crimea. It is obvious that Britain had some influence on blowing up the bridge. It is equally obvious that Anglo U.S Special forces were responsible for blowing up sections of Nordsteam. Before war broke out , both Britain’s PM Johnson and U.S President Biden insisted that Nordstream would never come on line. Anyone who believes the Ukrainian horror show is about universal freedom and democracy is either brain dead or the epitome of self important ignorance.

There is more than one significant person in Russia eager to make due response to extreme provocation, that has been boiling up since Western hedonistic drunken puppet Yeltsin’s deserved demise. The capitalist and monarchistic elites fear a resurgence of communist ideals. The paradox is that such ideals, however hopeless to enact, thrive on the kind of ruthless self centred secretive conspiring liars that currently run and are ruining the planet.

Cheer leaders for NATO supplying state of the art tanks to so called democratic Ukraine have no idea of the potentially disastrous escalation in the offing. Russia will have to respond. Meanwhile western masses appear to have no idea why this insane hostility to Russia is so vital to the ruling elite.

As with two previous world wars,the masses are brainwashed into seeing it all in black and white. That is why there appears to be no end to warfare until the capitalist elite either control everything or destroy what is left of anything approaching social order and life sustaining environment. Making the Ukraine war all about tanks will lead to reckless use of depleted uranium shells on both sides, as happened in Syria where Abrams tanks were not invincible and NATO war crimes were buried with the dead.

Depleted Uranium ( DU ) is used by the U.S. Army in 120 mm or 105 mm cannons employed on the M1 Abrams tank. DU is a by-product of the enrichment process used to make reactor-grade uranium. Because of the different percentages of uranium isotopes in depleted uranium , its specific activity (14.8 mBq/μg) is approximately 40 percent lower than that of naturally occurring uranium (25.4 mBq/μg) and considerably lower than that of enriched uranium (approximately 1,750 mBq/μg) (Harley et al., 1999). However as discussed above, the chemical properties of depleted uranium are the same as those of the enriched and natural forms.

The chemical and physical properties of depleted uranium are ideal for many military and commercial uses. It is 65 percent more dense than lead (with a density of 18.9 g/cm³), has a high melting point (2070°F, 1132°C), is highly pyrophoric (it ignites when it fragments), has a tensile strength comparable to most steels, and is chemically highly reactive (Kirk, 1981). The density of DU and its ability to self-sharpen are properties that attracted the attention of the Department of Defense (DoD) beginning in the late 1950s, as the military sought to increase the armour penetration of munitions (OSAGWI, 1998)

Penetrating the armour of an enemy tank is the name of the game in tank warfare. The M1A2 Abrams main battle tank can fire a highly-accurate kinetic energy sabot round. This shell uses depleted uranium that can be deadly against any tank around the world, but the shells could cause health problems for soldiers and civilians who are exposed to potential radiation.

The M829 round has an electric primer, propellant, sabot projectile, and depleted uranium penetrator with fins and a tracer. The ballistic tip keeps the shot flat, so it doesn’t drop in the air.

The U.S. Army had previously used tungsten-tipped penetrators. They found that depleted uranium was tougher and heavier than the tungsten rounds.

The depleted uranium causes the round to burst into flames once it penetrates the armour of the targeted tank. M829 series (now upgraded to the M829A4 variant) can go through half a meter of armour at a range of over one mile.

So it will be very interesting to see what happens next ,in so far as we in Britain will be told anything if it goes as badly wrong as I expect it to.

R J Cook.

Ukraine to export electricity again after months of Russian attacks

Related Topics

Russia-Ukraine war

A power substation heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv — Image caption, Power sub-stations, like this one in Kharkiv, were reduced to hunks of twisted metal during Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

By Marita Moloney

BBC News

Ukraine is able to export electricity for the first time in six months as its energy infrastructure recovers from months of repeated Russian attacks.

Russia began its lengthy and deliberate assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last October.

It led to power cuts and scheduled blackouts, leaving towns and cities in darkness during winter.

Ukraine was forced to stop electricity exports – but will now be able to sell its excess power again.

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko signed an executive order authorising the exports, although local customers remain the priority.

He said the system had been producing extra capacity for almost two months and that Ukrainians were not facing restrictions.

“The most difficult winter has passed,” Mr Halushchenko said on Friday.

“The next step is to start exporting electricity, which will allow us to attract additional financial resources for the necessary reconstruction of the destroyed and damaged energy infrastructure.”

He also praised the “titanic work” of engineers and international partners to restore the system.

Last month, residents across Ukraine told the BBC that power supplies were becoming more reliable.

“The city has transformed,” said Inna Shtanko, a young mother in Dnipro. “Finally, street lights are back, and it’s no longer scary to walk the city streets.”

However, the operator of the country’s electricity network, Ukrenergo, has warned that Ukraine could not count on Russian attacks stopping.

Ukrenergo said on Saturday that Russia has launched more than 1,200 missiles and drones at its energy facilities so far during the war.

The company described the assault as the largest attempt to destroy a European country’s energy system.

In cities across Ukraine this winter, some civilians had to use hubs known as “resilience centres” to keep warm during power cuts and freezing temperatures.

The hubs provided power and heat, as well as basic supplies like food and medicines.

Every one of Ukraine’s thermal and hydroelectric power plants has been damaged since Russia began targeting energy infrastructure.

Kyiv has also lost control of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, which is in Russian hands.

In June 2022, Ukraine had said it was hoping to bring in €1.5bn (£1.33bn) from electricity exports to the EU – its main export market for energy since the war began – by the end of the year.

From February: The battle to keep Ukraine’s power running

With a dusting of fresh winter snow settling around us and the crackle of electricity loud in the wires over our heads, Michael runs his gloved fingers over golf ball-sized holes in the crippled hulk of a huge transformer.

“Here, and here, and here,” he says, as he shows where shrapnel from a Russian missile punctured the transformer’s thick sides.

Sharp metal fragments of the missile lie on the ground nearby.

Along the way, other transformers as big as bungalows are disappearing behind protective cocoons of concrete and sandbags.

Read Paul Adams’ special report in full here

April 7th 2023

Bear Baiting

NATO – EXISTENTIAL REALITY By R J Cook

NATO – Existential Reality

West’s Proxy War Hero Zelensky. How many people outside Russia know that USSR were responsible for defeating over 70% of the German army, along with their allies, in World War Two – or that Brave little Finland fought Russia for the Nazis in the same war ?

***NATO’s aim is to cut Russia off from the west unless and until they get regime change to their corrupt liking.***
Ukrainian refugees in Europe, and the war mongering fantasy land of Britain,should take a good look around at the drug culture, rising suicide rates among the young, the bully boy corrupt police ,surging unelployment ,hyper inflation. rich self seeking morons in power,corrupt court system which favours lying police along with ricjh people who make laws to suit them, violent crime,homlessness , alcoholism, poverty,disease and ignorance .

This is especially so in basket case Britain where 90% of the population’ live’ on 10% of the land. This is while the other 10 % own 90% of the land. Increasingly oppressive public space orders are being passed to ban drinking alcohol in public, also to control speech in case it offends ‘sensitive’ people.This is the new Fascism that Russia can look forward if NATO wins. Here it will be all about protecting women, ethnic minorities and the rich as the self styled liberaL elite left aspire to make Stalin look like a Bunny Rabbit.
***R J Cook***

Here in the west , much is being made of hero Zelensky and saintly Anglo-U.S led NATO which had no problem destroying war crime whistle blower Chelsea Manning and jailing Julian Assange forever ( so imagine just what NATO’S U.K & U.S darlings are hiding ) after failing to get Assange in custody on faked rape charges. The nasty British elite and lackeys pursued their rape fit up even after Sweden dropped the charges. The U.S paid for Ecuador’s regime change so their parent country U.K Plc partners in crime could drag Julian out of Ecuador’s London Embassy. So much for NATO respecting sovereign states rights and regimes.

That is Anglo U.S led western style democracy. Inevitably if they get their land and resource grabbing regime change they will want their hands on U.S asylum seeker Snowden. In British eyes, as my comfortable next door neighbour asserted, ‘Putin is evil. His people are either evil or cowards.” She speaks for the bourgeois. The masses outlook is even more moronic.

The whole hideously moralising saga ,as recounted in the western media, ignores history ,why NATO and SEATO were created and what they exist for nowadays. They are a rich man’s club vital to the arms industry and global elite planet eating resource grabbing profiteers.

I worked with all nationalities of East Europeans in the haulage and logistics industry for 12 years. Most of them commented to me about political corruption with much EU money wasted or embezzled.

Much is made of Vladimir Putin’s luxury lifestyle , but no mention of Boris Johnson making millions since being kicked out of Downing Street for lying or the Biden fortune from Ukraine – making a mockery but saying all about the latest Democrat elite attack on Trump, which is much loved by British mainstream media..

NATO is a rich person’s club fighting for privilege. It is a matter of record that Britain was happy with the 1920s rise of Hitler as a bulwark to contain Stalin’s USSR , leading the attack on Russia in 1920. Many rich British supported and would have allied with Hitler. It was a close call. But from the encirclement of Germany, these privileged communist fearing power and money grabbers have raised the stakes today celebrating Finland’s membership, proving Vladimir Putin’s point has nothing to do with paranoia. It is his and Russia’s existential reality. It is about encirclement,containment and controlling the Black Sea for a new western hegemony which will never accept a bi polar world..

R J Cook

April 6th 2023

Doors of Perception – Heaven & Hell – by R J Cook

As a psychiatrist said to me,’One man’s paranoia is another man’s reality.’ Western elite media is a crucial part of the Corporate State. It assumes the right to define reality. The above extracts from U.K’s trendy free Metro newspaper which gets its money from commercial advertising are typical of simplistic Trump and Putin lowest common denominator reporting..

‘The Metro ‘ is available all over London and the Home Counties on buses , from mainline and underground stations. It is a cunning device mixing state and western elite opinion, trashy advertisements and mind numbing sport reporting in cliches.

Aldous Huxley, renowned for his 1960s book ‘Brave New World’,wrote a lesser known work ‘ The Doors of Pereception, Heaven & Hell’. It was about hallucinogenic drugs and their effects. In our touchy feelie brave new feminised world , perceptions of select groups that are useful to the New World Order are the only ones that matter. Trump is right about the United States, like Britain and Europe going to Hell. Vladimir Putin looks as if he is living in it. Meanwhile, China’s leadership smile inscrutable smiles , but are weighing it all up. They could do very well out of all of this, but currently there are no certainties.

R J Cook.

April 3rd 2023

Finland will join NATO on Tuesday – Stoltenberg

Reuters

NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg holds a news conference before NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels

[1/2] NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a news conference before a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium April 3, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

BRUSSELS, April 3 (Reuters) – Finland will join NATO on Tuesday, a step that will make Finland safer and the alliance stronger, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

“We will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at NATO headquarters. It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security and for NATO as a whole,” he told reporters in Brussels.

“Sweden will also be safer as a result.”

Darya Trepova: Russia releases video of suspect in cafe killing of Vladlen Tatarsky

Russia-Ukraine war

Darya Trepova declines to say who gave her the statuette but Russian authorities have immediately blamed opposition figures — Image caption, Darya Trepova declined to say who gave her the statuette but Russian authorities have blamed opposition figures

By Will Vernon in Moscow & Paul Kirby in London

BBC News

Russian investigators have detained a woman in their hunt for the killers of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a blast at a St Petersburg cafe.

In video released by authorities – most likely recorded under duress – Darya Trepova is heard admitting she handed over a statuette that later blew up.

But in the footage, she does not say she knew there would be an explosion, nor does she admit any further role.

Investigators said they had evidence the attack was organised from Ukraine.

However, Kyiv officials said it was a case of Russian infighting.

More than 30 people were wounded in the bombing in Russia’s second city.

Tatarsky had been attending a patriotic meeting with supporters in the cafe as a guest speaker late on Sunday afternoon.

A video circulating on social media showed a young woman in a brown coat apparently entering the cafe with a cardboard box.

Images showed the box being placed on a table in the cafe before the woman sat down. Another video showed a statue being handed to Tatarsky.

In a brief excerpt of her interrogation released by the ministry, Darya Trepova, 26, appeared under duress as she sighed repeatedly.

When her interrogator asked if she knew why she was detained, she replied: “I would say for being at the scene of Vladlen Tatarsky’s murder… I brought the statuette there which blew up.”

Asked who gave it to her she responded: “Can I tell you later please?”

What we know about detained cafe blast suspect

Russia’s anti-terrorism committee alleged the “terror attack” was organised by Ukrainian special services “with people co-operating with” opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The investigative committee later went further, saying it had evidence it was “planned and organised from Ukrainian territory”. It was working to establish the “entire chain” of people involved, it added.

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which has released a series of exposés of corruption involving the Putin entourage, said it was “very convenient” for the Kremlin to blame its critics when Navalny was due to go on trial soon for extremism.

Navalny has been in jail ever since he returned to Russia from Germany in January 2021. He survived a nerve agent attack in Russia in August 2020, which was blamed on Russian FSB security service agents.

Foundation head Ivan Zhdanov said everything pointed to FSB agents themselves. “Naturally we have nothing to do with this,” he said, adding that Russia needed an external enemy in the form of Ukraine and a domestic one in Navalny’s team.

Ms Trepova was detained in a St Petersburg flat owned by a friend of her husband’s, Russian reports said.

On the day of Russia’s full-scale invasion last year she was reportedly detained for a number of days for taking part in an anti-war protest.

Russian investigators working at the scene of an explosion at the cafe in St. Petersburg — Image caption, Russian investigators arrived at the scene of the explosion at the St Petersburg cafe

The cafe, Street Food Bar No 1 near the River Neva, was once owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin – who runs Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group which has taken part in much of the fighting in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Prigozhin said he had handed it over to Cyber Front Z, a group that calls itself “Russia’s information troops” and said it had hired out the cafe for the evening.

Prigozhin paid tribute to Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, in a late-night video which he declared was filmed from the town hall in Bakhmut.

He displayed a flag which he said had the words “in good memory of Vladlen Tatarsky”.

Tatarsky, a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, was neither a Russian official nor a military officer. He was a well-known blogger with more than half a million followers and, like Prigozhin, had a criminal past.

Born in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, he said he joined Russian-backed separatists when they released him from jail, where he was serving time for armed robbery.

He was part of a pro-Kremlin military blogger community that has taken on a relatively high-profile role since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Tatarsky is among those who have gone so far as to criticise the Russian authorities, slamming the military and even President Vladimir Putin for setbacks on the battlefield.

Unusually, Tatarsky took up arms in combat operations and reported from the front line. He claimed to have helped launch combat drones and build fortifications.

Last September, he posted a video inside the Kremlin where Mr Putin was proclaiming the annexation of four part-occupied Ukrainian regions.

“We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it,” Tatarsky told his followers.

Vladlen Tatarsky - pic from his Telegram channel — Image caption, Vladlen Tatarsky posted reports on the Telegram messaging service

The military bloggers have provided information about the war in a country where many have become frustrated with the lack of accurate information from official sources.

Information provided by the Russian military, Kremlin-controlled television and state officials has been criticised for being inaccurate.

Last week, several official Russian sources shared a video allegedly showing Ukrainian troops harassing civilians. Western analysts proved using open-source information that the video had been staged.

Some pro-Kremlin bloggers also slammed the video as a crude fake. Much of the bloggers’ pro-Russian material is not factual either.

Who was behind Tatarsky’s murder is unclear, but it is reminiscent of the killing of Darya Dugina, a vocal supporter of the war and the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist. She died in a car bomb attack near Moscow last August.

While Russian officials pinned the blame firmly on Ukraine, in Kyiv presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the blast was part of a Russian “internal political fight”, tweeting: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar.”

The Ukrainians have proved themselves as more than capable of carrying out drone attacks and explosions deep inside Russian territory in recent months. They rarely admit involvement but often drop hints.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said he did not think it was the Ukrainian government: “I think there is a group of radicals operating, which unlikely has something to do with the government.”

The blast could be linked to Russian political infighting. There are now a lot of angry men carrying guns in Russia.

With the military running low on troops, convicts have been let out of prison, handed weapons and sent to the front. Russian authorities have also conducted large-scale recruitment campaigns for volunteer fighters and recruited some 300,000 men in a “partial mobilisation”.

The Kommersant newspaper recently reported that the number of murders committed in Russia last year rose for the first time in 20 years.

https://emp.bbc.co.uk/emp/SMPj/2.48.0/iframe.htmlMedia caption,

Watch: Russian military blogger given statue before St Petersburg cafe blast

April 2nd 2023

Russian Military Blogger Killed & 19 Others Injured In St Petesburg Cafe – TASS NEWS AGENCY.

Cafe bomb in St Petersburg kills military blogger

Related Topics

Russia-Ukraine war

An explosion in a St Petersburg cafe has killed prominent Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, Russia’s Interior Ministry has confirmed.

At least 19 people were injured in the bomb blast at Street Food Bar No 1.

Videos posted on social media show an explosion and injured people on the street. It is not clear who was responsible for the blast.

Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin) was a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

He was a guest speaker at an event hosted by the cafe when the bomb went off.

He had reported from the Ukraine frontline and gained particular notoriety last year after posting a video filmed inside the Kremlin in which he said “We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it.”

The occasion for that was a Kremlin ceremony hosted by President Vladimir Putin, who proclaimed Russia’s annexation of four partly-occupied regions of Ukraine. That land grab was internationally condemned. St Petersburg is President Putin’s home city, where he first rose to prominence.

Interior Ministry sources quoted by Russia’s RIA news agency said a bomb was hidden in a statue presented to Tatarsky in a box as a gift.

The cafe targeted on Sunday was previously owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group, the St Petersburg news site Fontanka reports.

Image caption, The scene near the cafe after the bomb blast

Tatarsky’s following on Telegram numbers more than 500,000. He and other military bloggers have criticised aspects of the Russian campaign in Ukraine.

A group called Cyber Front Z, calling itself “Russia’s information troops” on Telegram, said it had hired out the cafe for the evening.

“There was a terrorist attack. We took certain security measures but unfortunately they were not enough,” its post on Telegram said. “Condolences to everyone who knew the excellent war correspondent and our friend Vladlen Tatarsky,” it said.

Last August a car bomb attack near Moscow killed Darya Dugina, a journalist and prominent supporter of the Russian military. She was the daughter of ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, a close ally of Mr Putin.

April 1st 2023

In A Few Years, The Russian Army Could Run Out Of Tanks. What Happens Then?

Russia has yet to run out of tanks though the west , relying on spying, hopes so. Western tanks are highly provocative and it is going to get worse. The western global economy is being restructured to facilitate this lunacy. Western media is pumping out the propaganda. They are convincing the likes of number one Ukraine War cheer leader U.K that rising taxes and the so called ‘cost of living crisis’ are worth prolonging the carnage.

One wonders how many westerners have any idea how Russia was provoked into this situation by reneging on important treaties. This has been in the cause of expanding NATO to encircle Russia, with their secret war in Syria intended to open a gateway into Asia to surround China as well. Chinese nerves are straining. The west wants oil from the South China Sea and regime change there too.

The environmental consequences of world wide war are being down played. Added to this is rampant overpopulation and pollution from five appalling African countries, along with western fears that Russia and China want to provide positive aid here and in Pakistan. Hence the assassination attempt on Imran Khan for making an energy deal with Russia. They are confident they can keep India on side by ‘divide and rule’. However Modi worries the west.

That doesn’t suit the planet eating fat cat western capitalist global corporations , political left wing posers, bankers and global media. The latter exalt themselves along with the chattering classes with nonsense about open door immigration for ‘asylum seekers’ which the lower orders must finance even if they lose everything and it kills them. If the Chinese get totally on side , using their skills at destroying satellites, then what is left of the global economy will go with them. The west must work harder to subvert their enemies’ populations and distribute more man made viruses. Russia and China’s response to such antics after mysterious Covid 19 – which apparently escaped from a Chinese meat market ( sic ) – could be devastating’

Britain is always on Iran’s case because it is too close to Russia. Their Iran issue is their beloved well trumpeted human rights ranting over wearing of Niqab and Hijab. Interestingly there is no similar questioning of Islamic practices in the U.K or France. The U.K condemned France for trying to ban restrictive Islamic female clothing. Travel to Birmingham and see the Burkhas, Niqabs and Hijabs out and about in the U.K.

Fortunes are being made, ugly egos are being pleasured among the western war mongers. Trump has to face prosecution for trumped up charges concerning hush money paid to a porn star. There is no chance of applying the same rules to Hunter Biden or his father. Trump never had a chance ,always portrayed as a Russian agent. He has to be blocked from the Presidency by any means which is why the Capitol Riots were arranged and blamed on him.

Ukraine has no defined history as a nation and is certainly not at one with Crimea. What Ukraine and Crimea do have is an abundance of resources including oil. The ignorant western and Ukrainian masses are being duped. Russia is fighting NATO and all its ego maniac military mad men for a global elite that , as in the glorified World War One and Two. These grotesque moralising money grabbing hypocrites see no danger to themselves and are happy to thin out the lower order white population.

R J Cook

Kremlin spokesman: NATO has become Russia’s enemy because it is party to the conflict in Ukraine

NEWS: Russian President’s Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Izvestia that the collective West, the US and NATO are the main source of global Russophobia. “We must not hide the truth or sugarcoat the reality, we must call things as they are […] NATO has become Russia’s enemy because it is party to the conflict in Ukraine where Ukrainians are killing civilians, including Ukrainians and Russians.

Peskov recalled the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who emphasized that the secret services of the NATO states are working around the clock against us, and their diverse and increasingly technologically advanced weaponry is being offered to Ukraine for free […]

At the meeting of the FSB collegium, Putin stated that the West had never shied away from using extremists against Russia in its own interests, having at its disposal all possible means […]. The danger of terrorist actions on the territory of Russia is increasing due to the actions carried out by Kyiv and the West, who will continue to use their “old friends”.

U.S.: The Iran Threat & Options

March 13, 2023

For decades, the United States has considered the Islamic Republic to be among the greatest threats to its interests and allies in the Middle East. Successive presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, have cited Iran’s nuclear program, support for terrorism, meddling in the Middle East and imprisoning American citizens on trumped up charges. Since the 1980s, U.S. forces deployed in Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria as well as Afghanistan have come under attack by Iran’s surrogates and allies. Washington has charged that hundreds of Americans have been killed in firefights, suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices and assassinations. Tehran has claimed, in turn, that U.S. forces have assassinated a top military commander, sank or disabled warships, and shot down a civilian passenger plane. U.S. forces have also attacked Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria.

Washington’s top concerns about Iran have included:

Increasingly accurate ballistic missiles with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250)
Drones provided to Russia and tens of millions of dollars in arms to militant proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Yemen
Aggression at sea, including seizure of U.S. drones and provocations of U.S. naval forces in the Persian Gulf
Cyberattacks on the U.S. government, infrastructure, and private businesses
Plots to kill current and former U.S. officials in retaliation for the 2020 assassination of General Qassem Soleimani

Juniper Oak military exercise — Warships, fighters, bombers and helicopters in the U.S.-Israeli exercise “Juniper Oak 23” in 2023

Like his three predecessors, President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. “The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons,” he said in July 2022. In the same interview with Israeli television, he said the use of force was a “last resort.” Yet his diplomatic initiative to revive the historic nuclear deal—brokered between Iran and the world’s six major powers in 2015 but abandoned by President Trump in 2018—deadlocked after 17 months of talks launched in April 2021.

“We continue to believe that diplomacy presents the most attractive option, but we also agree with our Israeli partners that we shouldn’t take anything off the table,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price warned on Jan. 9, 2023. Biden faced pressure, at home and abroad, to do more to contain Iran’s program as Tehran increased the enrichment of uranium, which could be used to fuel a nuclear weapon, and installed more faster and efficient centrifuges for enrichment.

In early 2023, Iran would still need up to a year, or possibly two, to assemble a bomb and a warhead with a missile—if Iran made the political decision to cross the nuclear threshold, according to Israeli estimates. In January, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the retiring head of the Israeli Defense Forces, claimed that Iran already had enough uranium that, if enriched further, could fuel four nuclear weapons.

Iran also posed a threat to the U.S. homeland and American partners in the Middle East. Tehran is “becoming more aggressive and more capable in their nefarious activity than ever before,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Nov. 17, 2022. “They employ a growing range of tactics to advance their interests and to harm the United States.”

Under Biden, the U.S. and Israel have accelerated the pace of joint military exercises.

November 2022: U.S. and Israeli forces conducted a three-day air force exercise that simulated an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.
January 2023: Israeli F-35 stealth fighters participated in drills with six U.S. F-15 fighters. The goal was to simulate attacks deep into enemy territory.
January 2023: Israeli and U.S. forces conducted a four-day exercise, dubbed “Juniper Oak 23,” the largest joint military exercise to date. The live-fire drill included 42 Israeli aircraft and 100 U.S. fighters, bombers and other warplanes as well as a U.S. carrier strike group.
February 2023: U.S. and Israeli forces conducted a joint exercise called “Juniper Falcon” to strengthen coordination in several fields, including aerial defense and cyber warfare.
February 2023: U.S. Marines and Israeli forces conducted a ten-day exercise in Israel called “Intrepid Maven 23.2” to enhance collaboration. The drill included 200 Marines and sailors.
March 2023: The U.S. and Israeli air forces conducted a two-week drill in Nevada called “Red Flag” to enhance collaboration in several areas, including attack operations and refueling. Nearly 100 aircraft would take off twice a day during the drill, the U.S. Air Force said.

U.S. warplanes often conducted patrols with partner forces, which showcased the “ability to combine forces to deter and, if necessary, defeat our adversaries,” Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the top U.S. Air Force officer in the Middle East said after two B-52s flew near Iran in September 2022. “Threats to the U.S. and our partners will not go unanswered.”

Jan. 27, 2021: B-52 flight to the Persian Gulf
March 7, 2021: B-52 flight to the Persian Gulf
Oct. 30, 2021: B-1B flight to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal
Nov. 11, 2021: B-1B flight to the Red Sea
Feb. 14, 2022: B-52 flight to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea
March 29, 2022: B-52 flight to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea
June 8, 2022: B-52 flight to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea
Sept. 4, 2022: B-52 flight over the eastern Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea
Nov. 10, 2022: B-52 flight to the Middle East

In January 2023, the mounting tensions were reflected in the largest U.S.-Israeli military exercise ever conducted. It was carried out by land, sea and air over four days. “More than 6,400 American troops and more than 1,500 Israeli troops conducted long-range strikes, suppression of enemy air defense, electronic attacks, offensive counter and air interdiction, and air operations in the maritime domain,” said General Michael Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command. “Juniper Oak 23,” a live-fire drill, included 42 Israeli aircraft and 100 U.S. warplanes — including F-35 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers — as well as a U.S. carrier strike group and Special Operations Forces. “The scale of the exercise is relevant to a whole range of scenarios, and Iran may draw certain inferences from that,” a U.S. official told NBC News. The exercise also deployed two KC-46 air refueling tankers, which can be used to support a long-range bombing mission.

Juniper Oak 23.2 has just begun… pic.twitter.com/DN8tVsGT3D — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 24, 2023

The escalating tensions since the 1979 revolution are in stark contrast to the warm ties between the United States and Iran during the monarchy. President Richard Nixon’s administration (1969-1974) cultivated a close relationship with Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Nixon and his successors – both Republicans and Democrats – considered Iran to be the primary guarantor of U.S. interests in the region and a bulwark against Soviet expansion. In the 1970s, the United States sold oil-rich Iran military equipment worth billions of dollars. Tens of thousands of U.S. technicians deployed in Iran to train local armed forces and maintain weapons. The U.S. Embassy in Tehran was a sprawling 27-acre compound.

Relations soured after Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy and 52 diplomats in 1979. Washington broke off relations with Tehran in 1980. The United States allied with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein during the eight-year war with Iran. Washington provided intelligence to Iraqi forces who used chemical weapons to kill thousands of Iranians. Since the mid-1980s, Washington and Tehran have made sporadic diplomatic overtures, with mixed results. In the mid-1980s, they traded arms for American hostages in a covert operation that was the most controversial decision of the Reagan administration.

In 1997, President Mohammad Khatami called on both nations to “bring down the wall of mistrust,” as the Clinton administration lifted sanctions on Iranian carpets, pistachios, and caviar. In 2013, President Barack Obama and President Hassan Rouhani launched direct diplomacy that produced the 2015 nuclear deal involving five other major powers. President Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed more than 1,500 sanctions. The following are key remarks by U.S. officials on the Iranian threat since 2021.

President Joe Biden

In an interview with Israeli Channel 12 News on July 13, 2022: “The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons.” The United States would use force “as a last resort.”

Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley

In an interview with Foreign Policy on Nov. 30, 2022: “We’ll have the sanctions, pressure, and diplomacy. If none of that works, the President has said, and, as a last resort, he will agree to a military option because if that’s what it takes to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, that’s what will happen. But we’re not there.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

In a tweet on Aug. 4, 2022: “Our message to Iran is clear: we will not tolerate threats of violence against Americans — and that certainly includes former government officials. Any attack would be met with severe consequences.”

In comments during the J Street National Conference on Dec. 4, 2022: “Our countries [Israel and the United States] participate regularly in joint military exercises, research, weapons development. We hold regular strategic dialogues. And this cooperation allows us to collaborate in countering a range of regional threats, none graver than those posed by Iran. The Iranian regime routinely threatens to wipe Israel off the map and continues to provide weapons to terrorists and proxies like Hizballah and Hamas that remain motivated, like Iran, by the rejection of Israel’s right to exist.

“In recent months, more and more countries are realizing that – what we have long known about the Iranian regime’s propensity to sow violence and instability.

“We see this daily, as the regime is once again viciously cracking down on peaceful protesters at home; killing hundreds of his own people, including scores of women and children; and locking away thousands more in its brutal prisons. At the same time, the regime is arming and training Russian forces with drones, drones that President Putin is using to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy the infrastructure that provides millions of families with heat, with water, with electricity, just as winter is setting in.

“The United States is committed to standing with the Iranian people, especially women, as they demonstrate extraordinary courage in standing up for their rights. We are licensing technology so that Iranian citizens can communicate with one another, as well as remain connected to the outside world, despite the regime’s constant internet blockages and shutdowns. And we’re coordinating with allies and partners to sanction those responsible for the abuses against Iranian civilians, including the killing of Mahsa Amini.”

“We continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But should the Iranian regime reject that path, its leaders should make no mistake that all options are on the table to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.

“We will continue to consult closely with European allies, with Israel, with partners in the region, and colleagues in Congress on the way forward.”

In an interview with Al Arabiya on Jan. 29, 2023:

Q: I wanted to start with Iran. The administration said that this is not the right time to go back to the JCPOA. Your President described it as dead. Yet, you don’t prefer the military option. How can you stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon?

Blinken: “First, Iran had an opportunity to get back into the JCPOA at the end of this past summer. Unfortunately, they rejected what was on the table and had been agreed to by everybody. Their either wouldn’t move forward with it. Now our focus is on the many things that have happened since, including the horrific repression of the Iranian people on the streets of Iran as young people, women in particular, have been standing up for their basic rights, and very important communities across Iranian society are doing the same thing and are being repressed violently by the regime.

At the same time, we’re also seeing Iran support Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, providing it with drones and potentially other weapons systems. So that’s where the focus is and that’s the concern of many countries around the world.

At the same time, yes, we continue to believe that the most effective way to deal with the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program is through diplomacy. Diplomacy is never off the table. But President Biden has also made clear that we’re determined that Iran not acquire a nuclear weapon, and every option remains on the table to ensure that that doesn’t happen. But our preferred path would be diplomacy.”

Q: Including military option?

Blinken: “Everything is on the table.”

Q: You talked about the regime. The regime has been executing demonstrators after a sham trial. How can you support people who have been calling for help actually from the West and particularly from the United States?

Blinken: “We have been, with many other countries, standing up and speaking out for those who are simply trying to have their voices heard and their rights upheld. We’ve gone after those who have been involved in repressing them, and through sanctions, through designating them in various ways. We’ve sought to help the Iranian people be able to continue to communicate with each other as well as with the rest of the world through communications technology. And of course, we continue to look for ways to disrupt the malicious activities that they’re engaged in.

But I think there’s tremendous solidarity around the world with the Iranian people, who are simply trying to have their basic rights respected by the regime.”

Q: So is this military maneuvering or exercise with the Israelis and other people in the Gulf meant to deter Iran activities in the region?

Blinken: “All of our military efforts are designed with the idea of deterrence in mind – that is, to try to make sure that a would-be aggressor thinks twice, thinks three times, and then doesn’t do it. That’s what deterrence is all about. And it’s important to be able to demonstrate that and to make sure that you’re ready if aggression comes. And if deterrence doesn’t work, that you’re also in a position to effectively defend yourself.”

Q: The United States always support people who want to change the regime that oppresses them. Why not the case with Iran?

Blinken: “We support the Iranian people, but these decisions are theirs. They’re not ours. They’re not anyone else’s. One of the things that we don’t want to do is to somehow make this about us. That’s exactly what the Iranian regime wants. They want to say to their own people, “Oh, no, this is somehow the work, the design of some outside power,” the United States or someone else. It’s not. It reflects a profound misunderstanding of their own people if they believe that somehow we’re responsible for this, and it reflects a profound weakness. They’re afraid of their own people.”

In remarks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 30, 2023: “We agree that Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, and we discussed deepening cooperation to confront and counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region and beyond. Just as Iran has long supported terrorists that attack Israelis and others, the regime is now providing drones that Russia is using to kill innocent Ukrainian civilians.

In turn, Russia is providing sophisticated weaponries to Iran. It’s a two-way street. Russia’s ongoing atrocities only underscore the importance of providing support for all of Ukraine’s needs – humanitarian, economic, and security – as it bravely defends its people and its very right to exist, a topic that we also discussed today.”

Gen. Michael Kurilla (Commander of Central Command)

CENTCOM Commander Kurilla — General Kurilla

In an interview with Al Arabiya on May 12, 2022: “I view Iran as the most destabilizing force in the Middle East. The United States’ position is that we will not allow a nuclear Iran. However, our concerns about Iran go beyond its nuclear capability.”

In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 8, 2022:

Q: What is your assessment of U.S. national security interests associated with the growth of Iranian influence in the Middle East?

Kurilla: “My assessment is that Iran’s negative influence in the region continues to grow and is incompatible with U.S. national interests, as well as those of our allies and partners. Iran views the U.S. as its greatest enduring threat and continues a multifaceted approach to remove U.S. forces from the region while avoiding escalation into major conflict. The risk of miscalculation and escalation remains high.”

Q: If the United States returned to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), what concerns, if any, would you have for regional security?

Kurilla: “Iran is, in my view, the single biggest contributor to instability in the region and any agreement must fully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Without knowledge of the specific terms of ongoing diplomatic negotiations, it is premature to assess the outcomes on regional security. Renewed negotiation efforts must consider the significant changes that have occurred in the security and geopolitical environments since the 2018 American withdrawal from the agreement.”

Biden UKRAINE Dodgy Deals Unquestioned While Trump Persecuted In Ongoing Plot To Destroy Trump.

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March 31st 2023

British Ruling Elite Meddlers & Gamblers By R J Cook

This is a comment on the following report. Britain’s ruling class elite are topped off by the descendants of the class obsessed Northern French and Italian gangsters who made up Norman William the Conqueror’s 1066 world changing event.

Ever since, Britain has dominated Europe and misled its United States offspring. They have been major players in making it impossible for decent hard pressed working class Americans to give Donald Trump a second chance. These people set up the NATO proxy Ukraine war on Russia. They need lies and cover ups to complete the New World Order programme set in train with the collapse of the Soviet Union and First Gulf War set up in 1990. Without U.S.S.R the Anglo U.S saw an open door in the Middle East and the rest is history

So it is no surprise that the following is psuedo intellectual drivel provides no answers , exonerating Ukraine and insidiously implying blowing up Nordstream One was a ‘false flag’ Russian operation. In reality it has all the signs of Britain’s beloved SAS and SBS. Hence, the report states that even if they knew the truth – which the elite already does know – this truth will remain secret. That is what that elite means by democracy (sic ).

R J Cook

Online Sleuths Untangle the Mystery of the Nord Stream Sabotage

Open source intelligence researchers are verifying and debunking opaque claims about who ruptured the gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

It’s been six months since the Nord Stream gas pipelines were ruptured by a series of explosions, leaking tons of methane into the environment and igniting an international whodunit. Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and an unnamed pro-Ukrainian group have all been accused of planting explosives on the Baltic Sea pipelines in recent months. But half a year since the sabotage took place, the mystery remains unsolved.

Digital sleuths are stepping in to help provide clarity around bombshell claims about who was behind the attacks. Open source intelligence (OSINT) researchers are using public sources of data in their efforts to verify or debunk the snippets of information published about the Nord Stream explosions. They’re providing a glimpse of clarity to an incident that’s shrouded by secrecy and international politics.

Since early February, multiple media reports have claimed to provide new information about who could have attacked the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on September 26. However, the reports have largely been based on anonymous sources, including unnamed intelligence officials and leaks from government investigations into the attacks.

First, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published claims that the US was behind attacks in a post on Substack. This was followed by reports in The New York Times and German publication Die Zeit claiming a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible. (European leaders have previously speculated Russia could be behind the attacks, and Russia has blamed the United Kingdom.) No country has claimed responsibility for the blasts so far, and official investigations are ongoing.

Each of the recent reports has provided little hard evidence to show what may actually have happened, while helping to fuel speculation. Jacob Kaarsbo, a senior analyst at Think Tank Europa, who previously worked in Danish intelligence for 15 years, says the claims have been “remarkable” but also “speculative” in nature. “In my mind, they don’t really alter the picture,” Kaarsbo says, adding the attacks look highly complex and would likely be “very hard to pull off without it being a state actor or at least with state sponsorship.”

In the absence of official information, OSINT researchers have been trying to plug the gaps by examining the claims of the new reports with public data. OSINT analysis is a powerful way to determine how an event may have unfolded. For instance, flight- and ship-tracking data can reveal movements around the world, satellite images show Earth in near real-time, while small clues in the backgrounds of photos and videos can reveal where they were taken. The techniques have uncovered Russian assassins, spotted North Korea evading international trading sanctions, identified potential war criminals, and documented pollution.

For the Nord Stream blasts, there was little OSINT available. Researchers identified “dark ships” in the area. But underwater, there are obviously limited data sources that can be tapped into—cameras and sensors don’t monitor every inch of the pipelines. “OSINT probably won’t break this case open, but it can be used to verify or strengthen other hypotheses,” says Oliver Alexander, an analyst who focuses on OSINT and has been closely looking at the Nord Stream blasts. “I do think that it’s more of a verification tool.”

Can Trump still run for president?

Anthony Zurcher

BBC North America correspondent

In a word, yes. An indictment or even a criminal conviction would not prevent him from continuing his presidential campaign if he so chooses – and he has given every indication that he will keep pushing ahead regardless of what happens.

In fact, there is nothing in US law that prevents a candidate who is found guilty of a crime from campaigning for, and serving as, president – even from prison.

Trump’s arrest would certainly complicate his presidential campaign, however.

While it might cause some Republican voters to rally around their embattled champion, it could be a significant distraction for a candidate on the campaign trail, trying to stump for votes and participate in debates.

It would also deepen and enflame already sharp divides within the American political system.

Conservatives believe the former president is being held to a different standard of justice, while liberals view this as an issue of holding law-breakers – even those in the highest positions of power – accountable.

Read more to find out what happens next when Trump is arrested.

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Posted at 9:139:13

Donald Trump’s historic indictment: What you need to know

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Here’s a recap of what has happened so far:

Donald Trump is the first US president to be indicted in criminal proceedings, which also happened as he is seeking the Republican nomination in 2024
The specific charge is not known, but the grand jury investigation centered on a $130,000 bribe to porn actress Stormy Daniels to stop her from going public about a sexual encounter with Trump
The key witness in the case, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, told MSNBC that the indictment “will speak for itself“
Trump is due to appear in court on Tuesday next week for his arraignment, during which he will be asked to enter a plea, according to his lawyer
Trump described the indictment as “political persecution” and said he doesn’t expect a fair trial

Supporters waving US flags have gathered outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he has been staying
Longtime ally Sen. Lindsey Graham called the indictment “a shocking and dangerous day for rule of law in America”
Democrats say the indictment proves that no one is above the law. There has been no statement yet from US President Joe Biden

Comment You can’t drain a shark , rodent and snake infested swamp. Also some people and organisations are definitely above the law – including law makers and enforcers. A very corrupt system will do anything to maintain the lucrative Anglo U.S led NATO proxy UKRAINE war on Russia. Regime change is vital to these grotesque planet eaters. Their masses and minions will gladly follow just as the Jews walked into the gas chambers. Just as so many cheered intelligent maniac Adolph Hitler who made their country what it is today. .R J Cook

March 30th 2023

Aboard the Giant Sand-Sucking Ships That China Uses to Reshape the World

Massive ships, mind-boggling amounts of sand, and an appetite for expansionism in the South China Sea: the recipe for a land grab like no other.

MIT Technology Review

Vince Beiser

Read when you’ve got time to spare.

MIT Technology Review

More from MIT Technology Review

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CSIS Asia maritime transparency initiative / DigitalGlobe.

Fifteen miles out on the water south of Biloxi, Mississippi, below a cloudless sky, a foaming torrent of gray-black slurry gushes into a ship. Every three seconds, another truckload’s worth of salt water and sand, siphoned from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, pours into the Ellis Island’s vast, open cargo hold, called a hopper. The ship is gargantuan—the biggest such dredge ever built in the United States. Its progress is, by design, slow. It is hauling a pair of 30-ton drag heads, studded with steel teeth, which scrape along the sandy sea bottom. Twin pipes, each three feet (90 centimeters) in diameter, connect the drag heads to giant pumps on the ship’s deck. The pumps suck slurry into the hopper, which slowly fills with roiling gray soup, speckled with muculent, softball-size bubbles.

“We call ourselves dirt merchants,” Gabriel Cuebas, the Ellis Island’s captain, told me when I visited on a hot day in October 2018. His ship is 433 feet (132 meters) long—a good bit longer than an American football field and about half the length of an aircraft carrier. Twin yellow cranes perch on either side of the deck. Their metal bulk towers over a maze of catwalks and pipes that surround the hopper.

It takes several hours for the hopper to fill with slurry. Once that is done, enormous winches haul up the drag heads, and the ship sets course toward the mainland. An hour or so later, the Ellis Island drops anchor several miles offshore, in water deep enough for its 30-foot draft. An assembly that looks like an eyeless robotic sea serpent bobs in the waves. Crew members get a rope around the serpent’s head and winch it out of the water. They connect the serpent to a pipe leading from the hopper. The ship’s pumps kick in again, pulling slurry back out of the hopper and shooting it down a mile of pipe to a floating booster station, where more pumps will usher it along. The sand will travel through almost five miles (eight kilometers) of pipe before it is finally blasted onto the shore of Ship Island.

Ship Island is, for the moment, actually two islands. What was originally its center was eroded by hurricanes: Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005. (It was spared the worst of 2018’s Hurricane Michael.) The US Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency charged with maintaining America’s waterways, has hired the Ellis Island to help rebuild the eight-mile-long island, an important bulwark against increasingly severe storm surges.

Once this load of sand has been discharged, the Ellis Island will head back out for another, and then another, around the clock, day after day. The whole job will take about a year, during which a relay of ships will move enough sand to bury the real Ellis Island 50 yards deep: 7 million cubic yards (5.4 million cubic meters) of it. The total cost of rebuilding Ship Island, to be paid by the federal government, will be some $350 million.

The Wan Qing Sha, a trailing suction hopper dredger, helps build a new city off the coast of Colombo as part of a massive Chinese infrastructure project, the largest foreign investment in Sri Lanka’s history. Photo credit: ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP / Getty Images.

It is a colossal operation. But compared with what China is doing, it’s a drop in the ocean.

In China as elsewhere, dredging is used to build protective barriers against the rising seas, as the Ellis Island is doing, and to create valuable new real estate. But for China’s president, Xi Jinping, it is also an important geopolitical tool. Today, more than ever, dredges have the power to create land where there was none, altering the shapes of coastlines and the contours of countries. No nation has cultivated this power more zealously than China.

In recent years, China has assembled an armada of oceangoing dredges. Some it buys from Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Increasingly, though, China manufactures them itself. China’s homemade dredges are not yet the world’s largest, nor are they any more technologically advanced than those of other countries, but it is building many more of them than any other country. In the past decade, Chinese firms have built some 200 vessels of ever greater size and sophistication. In 2013, Rabobank, a Dutch firm, declared that China’s dredging industry had become the biggest in the world, and it has only grown since then. Chinese firms bring in as much revenue from domestic dredging as is accrued in all of Europe and the Middle East combined.

Since 1985, according to Deltares, a Dutch research group, humans have added 5,237 square miles (13,564 sq km) of artificial land to the world’s coasts. China is a major—and growing—contributor to that total.

Most plant and animal life on the seven Spratly reefs was destroyed by the mountains of sand dumped atop the coral.

In 2015 alone, China created the equivalent of nearly two Manhattans of new real estate. In recent years, it constructed two artificial islands to support a 34-mile-long bridge that connects Hong Kong with Macao and the Chinese mainland; it opened in October 2018 and is the world’s longest sea crossing. Much of that work was carried out by state-owned CCCC Dredging, the world’s largest dredging firm. By way of comparison: In 2017, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, America’s biggest, took in an estimated $600 million from dredging operations. CCCC Dredging booked $7 billion.

Manufacturing land is not a new practice. The Dutch have been creating new territory since the 11th century by damming wetlands and pumping them dry. Peter Stuyvesant, the first governor of what would come to be called Manhattan, expanded the island with earth displaced by the construction of buildings and canals. Land reclamation, as the practice is called even when the “reclaimed” land is entirely new, has long gone hand in hand with dredging’s other main purpose—clearing paths for ships to travel in.

Today the industry’s basic tool is the centrifugal pump. It is something like a blender bisected by a garden hose. A motorized drive shaft spins an impeller. The impeller’s spin pulls liquid (and sand) through the pipe. First introduced in the 1860s, these pumps enormously increased the amounts of sediment that can be siphoned from the ground under the sea. They also make it possible to pump the stuff through miles of pipeline to distant destinations.

As steam power gave way to diesel in the late 19th century, the size and power of dredges grew. Developers in Los Angeles used centrifugal pumps to expand the city’s port and turn marshlands into seaside real estate. Sediment dredged from underwater built Boston’s Back Bay, as well as large portions of Marseilles, Mumbai, and Hong Kong.

Beginning in the 1970s, oil-exporting countries in the Persian Gulf plowed their surging wealth into developing huge new ports, which spurred dredging companies to bring larger, mightier ships to market. For coastal megalopolises long on population but short on waterfront, land reclamation offers a way to add room. Hong Kong and Osaka, Japan, both built new international airports on artificial islands in the 1990s. Many of the world’s largest artificial islands are either in the Middle East, such as Dubai’s famous palm-tree-shaped islands, or off the coast of Japan. But that is changing.

The Chinese government declared dredging a “priority growth area” in 2001, as part of a push to increase China’s maritime power. At the time, the country’s dredging fleet consisted of aging, outdated ships. Chinese companies were capable of building only relatively small vessels. With the government’s support and investment, capabilities boomed. In the past 15 years, Chinese companies have built scores of the main types of giant dredges: trailing suction hopper dredgers—“trailers” for short—and cutter suction dredgers.

Trailers like the Ellis Island gather sand while on the move. Their drag heads break up loosely compacted sea-bottom sands, which are then vacuumed up and stored in the ship’s hoppers for transport. In 1965, the biggest such dredges could hold about 6,500 cubic yards of material. That number more than tripled by 1994; by now, it has grown nearly tenfold. The world’s two biggest dredges, the Cristóbal Colón and the Leiv Eiriksson, were built in Spain for Belgium’s Jan De Nul Group in 2009 and 2010. They are identical twins. Stood on end, each would rise higher than a 60-story skyscraper. They can carry about four times as much sludge as the Ellis Island.

Cutter suction dredgers, meanwhile, anchor in areas where the sea bottom is too hard for trailers. A boom arm capped with a cutter head—a tooth-studded steel ball the size of a wine barrel—protrudes from the bottom of the ship. The ball spins around, tearing up sand, rocks, and whatever else it finds on the seabed, while a suction line behind it hoovers up the grains. The material is then pumped onto a barge, or sometimes straight into a pipe leading to the land reclamation site. Cutter suction dredgers’ might is measured by their installed electrical power, which has also grown exponentially in recent decades. The most potent generate and consume more than 40 megawatts—enough to power 30,000 American homes.

In 2017, CCCC Dredging launched the Tian Kun Hao, Asia’s biggest cutter suction dredger, which was built entirely in China. It is about the same size as the Ellis Island, or about a quarter the size of the Belgian behemoths, and can suck nearly 8,000 cubic yards of sand and other material per hour from depths up to 100 feet.

CCCC Dredging has begun taking on projects overseas, and it now operates in dozens of countries. It has a particular focus on places targeted for Chinese-led port development as part of Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative.

China’s land reclamation work will have tremendous economic consequences in coming years. Its political consequences are already profound.

The South China Sea is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. What’s more, billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas lie under the seafloor. So it’s no surprise that every country in the region—China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines—lays claim to parts of the Spratly Islands, a scattering of rocks and reefs in the middle of the sea, 500 miles due east of Vietnam and 200 miles southwest of the Philippines.

China controls seven naturally occurring Spratly outcroppings (one of which it seized from Vietnam in a 1988 clash that left dozens of soldiers dead). It is using its industrial might to create new facts in the water. Starting in late 2013, the Chinese government set dozens of CCCC Dredging’s ships to work. Within 18 months, these ships added nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of new land to the Spratlys, enough to fit three copies of New York’s Central Park with room to spare.

Almost as soon as the sand was dry, China began turning the new islands into military bases. It installed antimissile weaponry, runways capable of handling military aircraft, structures apparently designed to house long-range surface‑to‑air missile launchers, and port facilities for warships. China has also built new territory in another tiny collection of South China Sea islands called the Paracels, where it has similarly installed airstrips and missile batteries.

This expansion of Chinese power into the Pacific has alarmed the US as well as China’s neighbors. To show it does not recognize the new islands as Chinese territory, the United States has made a point of flying B-52 bombers over them and sending warships to pass close by. For its part, China has landed long-range bombers on its new runways, as a show of force.

Ships congregate just northeast of Fiery Cross Reef. CSIS Asia maritime transparency initiative / DigitalGlobe.

Tensions spiked in late September 2018, when the Lanzhou, a Chinese destroyer, cut across the bow of the USS Decatur, an American destroyer. The Decatur’s captain slammed the ship’s engines into reverse, averting a collision by only 45 yards—a quarter of the length of his ship. The incident took place just a few miles away from some of the new artificial islands.

It may be too late for other nations to do much about China’s artificial-land grab. Admiral Philip S. Davidson, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told Congress in April (shortly before assuming his command) that “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States.”

All that island building has also caused “devastating and long-lasting damage to the marine environment,” according to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, which rejected China’s claim to sovereignty over much of the South China Sea in 2016. Most plant and animal life on the seven Spratly reefs was destroyed by the mountains of sand dumped atop the coral. John McManus, a University of Miami marine biologist, called it “the most rapid rate of permanent loss of coral reef area in human history.”

Other land reclamation projects have inflicted similar, albeit smaller-scale, damage. They have destroyed or damaged coral reefs and oyster and seagrass beds in Dubai, Bahrain, and other Gulf countries, as well as killing marine life. In the US, dredges are required to make sure they’re not sucking up turtles and other sea creatures; if they do, they have to stop work until they address the problem. Environmental concerns are one reason why, while China is feverishly building new land, land reclamation in the US is just what it sounds like—confined almost exclusively to counteracting the erosion of previously existing land. “In Bahrain, if we found a turtle we’d just throw it back over the side,” says Brian Puckett, a Great Lakes executive who oversees the Ship Island project.

Puckett is proud to show off pictures of the islands he helped create for real estate developers in the Persian Gulf. “It’s amazing to be able to show them to people on Google Earth and say, ‘I built that,’” he says. “That was part of the reason I came to work with Great Lakes. I want to work on projects that are important.”

Island building, as China has shown, is one of the most important projects there is. Today, geopolitical power goes not only to those who control territory but to those who can manufacture it.

Vince Beiser is the author of “The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization.” Reporting for this article was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

March 29th 2023

Breaking China – Comment On Bloomberg by R J Cook

***China & Russia have been obliged to move closer & formalise their relationship in the face of Anglo U.S led NATO imperialism***

This is a comment on Bloomberg’s Balance of Power article below. The Anglo-Americans led NATO do not favour of any form balancing power. They favour lies, word play, propoganda, secrecy and blatant corruption. Their hypocritical elite excel in illuusions mesmerising the population with black and white lies, pseudo morality and human rights drivel where the truth is exemplified by the fates of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. It speaks volumes about these people and their gullible masses that calling this vile corrupt most unequal system a democracy is taken seriously.

That global elite are worried about the strengthening alliance between Russia and China. These two countries are lined up for regime change. Rather than act as Yeltin’s grown up poodle , when let off the lead ( leash ) he measured the damage done by oligarchs asset stripping shifting communist era wealth to the hedonistic western elitist money obsessed world – reacting accordingly. China meanwhile conserved resources and profits made from supplying 40% of the world’s manufactured goods. This included computer equipment. Moralist Bill Gates had no problem exploiting China’s cheap labour or the hypocrisy concerning indigenous Muslims human rights. So the United States built up massive debt to China. The U.S controls world finance and will have no hesitation defaulting if China does not come back into the line President Nixon et al drew for the country in the 1970s.

So Putin cracked up over NATO’s manipulation of Ukraine and an obvious intent to encircle them. Like Russia, Chinese leadership is between a rock and a hard place. U.K and U.S dominate the west with illusory democracy, human – especially female – rights. I retain the view that Covid 19 was engineered and released with China in mind, to weaken it. Either Russia and China accept this and toe the line, or they will have to accept that the corrupt western elite will push this conflict to another world war that will make the last two global wars look like bonfire night.

R J Cook

The Bloomberg Balance.

March 28th 2023

U.K Building Fast Track To Armageddon – by R J Cook.

***An obviously excited Sky News Kay Burley with a German Leopard tank and its phallic symbolic big gun. Cock Ups Are Us.***

The resource power grabbing insanity of this NATO poxy war appears to have no bounds in the jingoistic rabble rousing lowest common denominator world of elite owned mainstream media. Since the British senile imperialistic and feminist morons running the U.K raised the bar pushing for state of the art tanks ,fighters and anti aircraft systems, we can expect the ultimate fast train to Armageddon. Russia now has the all clear to using depleted uranium shells to destroy these tanks the U.K government fought so hard to have deployed. They are the ones set to send depleted uranium shells to their patsy Ukraine. They are setting the standard.

***Heavy joweled*** Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson Lord Soames of Fletching’ AKA Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames, reprised Britain’s glorious World War Two mythology in a House of Lords rabble rousing support for World War Three aka the ‘cost of living crisis.’

R J Cook

Ukraine war: Germany sends much-awaited Leopard tanks

Russia-Ukraine war

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Russia-Ukraine war

By Adam Durbin

BBC News

The first shipment of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany has been sent to Ukraine, the German defence ministry says.

Eighteen cutting-edge main battle tanks were delivered after Ukrainian crews were trained to use them.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said he was sure the tanks could “make a decisive contribution” on the frontlines of the war.

Challenger 2 tanks from the UK have also arrived, according to reports from Ukraine.

Ukraine has been calling for more modern vehicles and weapon systems for months to help fight Russia’s invasion.

The Ukrainian government is yet to comment on the arrival of the Leopard 2s, but they have confirmed the arrival of the first UK-made Challenger 2 tanks.

Around 2,000 Leopard 2s, widely regarded as being among the best main battle tanks produced by Nato countries, are in use by European countries.

Germany agreed to supply the tanks to Ukraine in January, after being initially reluctant to do so – or even to permit other countries from sending their own.

Under German law, Berlin must approve Leopard 2s being re-exported by any country.

Graphic showing characteristics of the German-made Leopard 2 tank. The Leopard 2 is heavier and better armoured than Russian or Soviet-made tanks and uses Nato-standard ammunition.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the tanks “have made it into the hands of our Ukrainian friends as promised and on time”.

The German army has trained Ukrainian tank crews to use the advanced A6 variant of the Leopard 2 over the past several weeks.

They have been specifically designed to compete with the Russian T-90 main battle tank and is considered to be easier to maintain and more fuel-efficient than most other Western tanks.

On top of the Leopard 2s, Germany has also sent Ukraine two specialist tank-recovery vehicles and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

Meanwhile, Challenger 2 tanks from the UK “are in Ukraine already”, defence ministry spokeswoman Iryna Zolotar told AFP news agency.

Posting a picture of a Challenger 2 alongside other Western-made military vehicles on his Facebook page, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov described the British vehicle as a work of military art.

The UK Ministry of Defence declined to comment but earlier confirmed Ukrainian tank crews training in Britain had returned home after completing their training with the tanks.

Graphic showing characteristics of the British-made Challenger 2 tank. The Challenger 2 is heavier and better armoured than Russian or Soviet-made tanks.

More on this story

Ukrainian soldiers master British tanks in Dorset
- 23 February
Why Germany delayed sending tanks to Ukraine
- 25 January
What weapons are being supplied to Ukraine?
- 22 February

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