OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

JohnInCarolina

HeavyG said:

Echo...echo...echo...

Is a good read. Trying to find a path to moderate content that pleases all the various parties is going to be "fun".

Yeah I obviously hadn’t noticed Frank’s post when I threw mine up.  Funny as someone totally different sent it to me yesterday.  I guess it’s making the rounds amongst the elite…

dmchicago

Welp, there goes my theory that lousubcap is one of John’s troll accounts. 

lousubcap

Actually I'm just the front act or warm-up band.     Troll's troll in strange places.   

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia launched a wave of cruise missiles at hydroelectric dams and other critical infrastructure across Ukraine this morning. Explosions have been reported near the capital, Kyiv, and in at least 10 other cities and regions. Ukraine’s air command said it shot down 44 out of 50 enemy rockets. As a result of the strikes, scheduled partial blackouts and emergency blackouts have been introduced in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Poltava regions, Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko said. Luke Harding, Dan Sabbagh and Isobel Koshiw report for the Guardian. 

A military expert close to the Russian Defense Ministry accidentally confirmed last week that the drones Moscow is using to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure are manufactured and supplied by Iran - exposing the repeated denials by Moscow and Tehran as false. “We all know the drones are Iranian,” Ruslan Pukhov told the anchors on pro-Kremlin broadcaster RBC television, clearly unaware that they were live on air. “But the government has not admitted to it,” he muttered. He compared the situation to a body part that everyone knows they have but no one ever mentions in polite company. Robyn Dixon reports for the Washington Post. 

Moscow has announced it is suspending its involvement in the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports. The decision came after Russia accused Ukraine of a “massive” drone attack on its naval base of Sevastopol in Crimea. Russia’s defense ministry said Ukraine attacked its fleet near Sevastopol with 16 aerial and maritime drones early on Saturday, claiming British navy “specialists” had helped coordinate what it called a terrorist attack. The UK denied the accusation. Hours later, a statement by the foreign ministry in Moscow said: "The Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the 'Black Sea Initiative', and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period." Hugo Bachega and Paulin Kola report for BBC News. 

Russia has accused the British Navy of blowing up the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea. "According to available information, representatives ... of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year — blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines," the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. The accusation did not include any further information or evidence to support claims of state sabotage. The U.K. Defense Ministry quickly denied Moscow's claim. Joshua Posaner reports for POLITICO."

dmchicago

Slava Ukraine 

https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1587066811106951168?s=46&t=WuCCjNNYU1HHVl2ZnoYeIQ

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian missile strikes across Ukraine yesterday had “widespread impact” on the country’s power grid, according to Pentagon officials. “Ukraine has been able to defend against some of these attacks, but damage to the electric grid and water supply are serious concerns directly harming the civilian population,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters. Another U.S. military official said they did not have specific information to provide on the extent of the damage but were “keeping a close eye” on it and still gathering information.  “In terms of the infrastructure, by virtue of the electrical grid being impacted, we are seeing impacts in terms of water supply systems, water treatment, things like that, which is affecting access to water among the civilian population,” they said. Ellen Mitchell reports for The Hill. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a news conference yesterday that the infrastructure attacks were “not all we could have done.” Putin last week denied having any intentions of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He repeated the unsupported accusation that Kyiv used the marine corridors negotiated by the U.N. to attack Moscow’s fleet with drones. Reuters reports. 

Inspectors from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog have started verification work at two sites in Ukraine where Russia alleges “dirty bomb” preparations are taking place. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is inspecting the sites at Kyiv’s request, will release its initial conclusions by the end of the week. The Washington Post reports. "

Legume

Has anyone seen any reporting on the fentanyl deaths from Halloween candy yet? 

fishlessman

was very disturbed when i found some of mine was tainted with candy

fishlessman

going thru your kids candy is a long time tradition, mom separates all the good stuff into her possession getting first dibs. same scare will happen next year, mom knows best

Botch

Good footage of the floating drone attacks on Russia:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9tNwORmwro
 

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian military intelligence said yesterday that Iran is planning to send sophisticated Arash-2 drones to Russia. The Arash-2 has been touted by the Iranian military as one of the longest-range attack drones in the world. Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, part of the Defense Ministry, said “a batch of more than 200 combat drones Shahed-136, Mohajer-6 and Arash-2 is planned to be sent from Iran to the Russian Federation at the beginning of November.” The intelligence agency said in a post on Telegram that the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles “will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan.” Jonny Hallam reports for CNN. 

Ukraine is “actively conducting a dialogue” to get more anti-aircraft missile systems from the West, a top Ukrainian official has said. This comes as Tehran prepares to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Moscow. Ukraine’s Air Force said yesterday that it currently has no effective defense against the types of ballistic missile that Iran is preparing to ship to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine. Xiaofei Xu and Olga Voitovych report for CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a “reliable and long-term defence” was needed for the safe passage of ships carrying grain exports from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.In his nighttime address, Zelenskyy said the world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt the corridor.

Meanwhile, a total of nine Ukrainian regions were experiencing power cuts after Russian missile attacks.The United States said Russia fired about 100 missiles on Monday and Tuesday. Ukraine said it shot most of those missiles down, but some had hit power stations, knocking out electricity and water supplies.

Three outbound vessels had left Ukrainian ports by midday on Tuesday under July’s Black Sea grain export deal, the United Nations-led coordination centre said, on the second day of sailings after Russia suspended participation in the UN-brokered initiative.Moscow’s move has raised fears that a global food crisis could return, though so far, a Russian blockade has not been reimposed. Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said he believed grain exports under the deal would continue."

lousubcap

Russia-Ukraine update regarding the shipping embargo:

"Two days after quitting a UN-brokered grain deal, Russia says it's rejoining it now in order to allow ships of wheat and corn to once again sail out of select Ukrainian Black Sea ports and to markets around the world. Moscow had withdrawn from the arrangement over the weekend after an alleged attack on its navy in occupied Ukrainian Crimea. That "grain agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March," and the bulk of it went to lower or lower-middle income countries, the Associated Press reports, citing UN officials. "

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The U.S. yesterday accused North Korea of covertly shipping a “significant number” of artillery shells to Russia to aid its war effort in Ukraine. The White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said that it was unclear if the artillery munitions, which are being transferred through the Middle East and North Africa, had reached Russia. The United States does not believe that the additional weapons will alter the trajectory of the war. Alan Rappeport reports for the New York Times.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was again relying on diesel generators to power critical cooling functions after shelling cut the plant’s connection to outside power yesterday. Energoatom, the Ukrainian company that operates the plant, said in a statement that two recently repaired high-voltage power lines had been damaged by Russian shelling and that the plant had gone into “full blackout mode.” There is enough fuel at the facility to power generators for 15 days, the company said. It is at least the fourth time the plant has lost its connection to outside power since Russian forces began occupying the facility early in the war. Each time, engineers have raced to make repairs before the diesel fuel ran out. International nuclear inspectors have called the situation unsustainable and precarious. Marc Santora reports for the New York Times. "

dmchicago

Russian windows man, I dunno. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/world/europe/anatoly-karpov-chess-champion-russia.html

Botch

dmchicago said:

Russian windows man, I dunno. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/world/europe/anatoly-karpov-chess-champion-russia.html

!!!
Only injured?  I wouldn't want to be anywhere near where he's hospitalized (the actual article was blocked for me).  

HeavyG

Botch said:

dmchicago said:

Russian windows man, I dunno. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/world/europe/anatoly-karpov-chess-champion-russia.html

!!!
Only injured?  I wouldn't want to be anywhere near where he's hospitalized (the actual article was blocked for me).  

Karpov, Former Chess Champion, Is Injured After Fall in Moscow

Victor Mather

3 minutes

---

Europe|Anatoly Karpov, the Russian lawmaker and former chess champion, is injured in an apparent fall.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/world/europe/anatoly-karpov-chess-champion-russia.html

Anatoly Karpov, the Russian lawmaker and former chess champion, is injured in an apparent fall.

Mr. Karpov has been a loyal defender of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and the invasion of Ukraine. But he has also expressed sympathy for the war’s civilian victims on both sides.

• Nov. 3, 2022, 4:58 p.m. ET

Anatoly Karpov, the former chess champion who is now a member of Russia’s Parliament, was injured in a fall outside the Parliament building in Moscow on Saturday, Russian and international news media have reported.

Mr. Karpov has been a loyal defender of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and of many of Russia’s more internationally contested acts, notably the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine. But he has also expressed sympathy for the war’s civilian victims on both sides.

Accounts in the Russian news media about the incident and the seriousness of Mr. Karpov’s injuries have sharply conflicted over the past few days, with speculation fed by the number of Putin critics who have died or suffered injuries since the invasion of Ukraine. People close to Mr. Karpov, however, have said that he slipped and fell.

Mr. Karpov, 71, was the undisputed chess world champion for a decade, beginning in 1975 when the American Bobby Fischer declined to defend his title. He is known for a yearslong rivalry with another Russia chess champion, Garry Kasparov.

In the Soviet era, Mr. Karpov was a Kremlin favorite, while Mr. Kasparov was the maverick thorn in the establishment’s side, a role he has continued to play after leaving Russia in 2013. He is a fierce critic of Mr. Putin and has sharply criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Victor Mather covers every sport for The Times.

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia may be on the verge of a significant setback in its war on Ukraine, amid signs that its troops might withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River at Kherson. Ukrainian forces have worked to cut off Russian supply lines, and ground photos revealed the Russian flag no longer flying over the Kherson administration building. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he believes the Ukrainian military has the capability to recapture the area. Artem Grudinin, Henry Austin, and Courtney Kube report for NBC News.

Ukrainian government officials and experts, though, expressed concern that the comments from a Russian-appointed official in Kherson and the flag photos could be disinformation, setting a trap. Other photos showed the Russian flag still flying over other government buildings. Pavel Polityuk and Tom Balmforth report for Reuters. See also the agency’s latest reports on the war.

Russian troops have not retreated from the area, even though residents are seeing fewer Russian soldiers, patrols, and checkpoints in Kherson and Kremlin-appointed civilian administrators have moved to an area about 50 miles away.  Marc Santora and Ivan Nechepurenko report for the New York Times.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, against using nuclear weapons. A statement carried by Chinese news agency Xinhua cited Xi saying the international community should ““jointly oppose the use of, or threats to use, nuclear weapons.” Stuart Lau reports for Politico. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency found no evidence of undeclared Ukrainian nuclear activity following inspection of three sites. The findings refute Russian allegations that Ukraine is developing a dirty bomb. Laurence Norman reports for the Wall Street Journal."

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1587915723917008897?s=20&t=wVOwWMX9b9jKDD_5ABANSQ

dmchicago

I’m sure to those guys the term buzzing the tower has a completely different meaning

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Fighting raged around the Ukrainian-held eastern city of Bakhmut, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said yesterday. A correspondent for Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency said that troops with the Wagner Group, a private military force with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, had seized the village of Ivangrad, which is close to a road on Bakhmut’s southern approach. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, Serhii Cherevaty, told a Ukrainian television channel that 30,000 Russian personnel were deployed to the assault on Bakhmut. Independent military analysts have said that the campaign for Bakhmut, an industrial center that was home to 70,000 people before the war, serves little strategic purpose for Moscow because Ukrainian advances to the north have severed the city from important rail links. Matthew Mpoke Bigg reports for the New York Times. 

Russian state media yesterday claimed that Ukraine had struck a dam near the strategic city of Kherson with U.S.-made missiles. RIA Novosti and other state media said Ukrainian troops in the purported attack used six high-mobility artillery rocket systems, a key system the U.S. has supplied to Kyiv, including one rocket that damaged the dam lock. Ukraine has not yet commented on the reports, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously accused Moscow of planting mines at the dam for a potential “false flag” attack that Moscow would blame on Ukraine. Zach Schonfeld reports for The Hill. "

(Edit to add:)

"Ukraine suffered a comms outage when 1,300 SpaceX satellite units went offline over funding issues, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The satellite dishes made by Elon Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX have been universally hailed as a game-changing source of communication for Ukraine’s military, allowing it to fight and stay online even as cellular phone and internet networks have been destroyed in its war with Russia. However, concerns have risen recently over the dependability of SpaceX after discussions about funding were revealed and outages were reported near the frontlines. The recent outages started on October 24 and were described by one person briefed on the situation as a “huge problem” for Ukraine’s military.  The terminals had been disconnected, this person said, due to a lack of funding.   Alex Marquardt and Sean Lyngaas report for CNN. "

lousubcap

Tom Nichols from The Atlantic: The narcissists here-

"

The former president and the new Twitter boss are role models for voters whose concerns are not about democracy, justice, or the cost of milk, but their own bitterness.

Petty Grievances Elon Musk speaking at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee / Getty) View in browser On October 7, the Republican House Judiciary Committee cryptically tweeted, “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” The tweet was, predictably, ridiculed—especially after Ye (as Kanye West is now known), just days later, threatened “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” on Twitter. But, intentionally or not, the committee had hit upon a basic truth: The three are alike. What unites these successful men—and, yes, Trump is successful—is their seething resentment toward a world that has rewarded them money and influence, but that still refuses to grant them the respect they think is their due. And if we should have learned anything since 2016, it is that resentment is perhaps the most powerful political force in the modern world. In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, nationalism had its turn at spurring us to destroy ourselves; in later years, the struggle with monstrous ideologies killed tens of millions and brought us repeatedly to the brink of nuclear war. Today, however, social and cultural resentment is driving millions of people into a kind of mass psychosis. I will leave aside Ye, who has his own unique problems (although I will note that his early career was marked by his anger at being shut out, as he saw it, from hip-hop and then the fashion world). Prominent and wealthy Americans such as Trump and Musk, along with the former White House guru Steve Bannon and the investor Peter Thiel, are at war not so much with the American political system, whose institutions they are trying to capture, but with a dominant culture that they seem to believe is withholding its respect from them. Politics is merely the instrument of revenge. Don’t be fooled when such people protest that they hate the dominant culture and want no part in it. Trump has spent his life as the outer-borough mook with his nose pressed to the windows of midtown Manhattan, wondering why no one wants him there. He claims to hate The New York Times but follows it obsessively and courts its approval. Musk, for his part, has put people in space, but when Twitter users started impersonating him, mostly to show him how idiotic his new “verify everyone for $7.99” plan is, he blocked and suspended them. (As one Twitter wag noted, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is like Elmer Fudd buying a platform full of Bugs Bunnies.) The great irony is that Musk’s other achievements might have vaulted him past perceptions that he’s a spoiled, rich doofus, but buying Twitter and making (and then deleting) jokes about self-gratification while telling people to vote Republican has pretty much obliterated that possibility. Trump (and Bannon, Thiel, and others) is enraged, apparently, that his transition to elite-class status did not produce respect—or, at least, not the kind of respect he wants from the quarters of society from which he seems to crave it. Never underestimate the kind of anger that such insecurity can produce: Trump and those like him managed to get a ticket in the swankiest carriage on the train, only to find themselves sitting alone. And if that’s how it’s going to be … well, the only answer is to derail the entire thing, from locomotive to caboose, and make everyone suffer. Even worse, the voters who do accept someone like Trump are people with whom Trump would never associate. Howard Stern, once a close friend of Trump’s, has said bluntly that the former president actually hates his own voters. Trump, Thiel, and many others have no interest in “the people” other than to use their votes as raw fuel for settling scores with other elites. And in many cases, plenty of “the people” are just fine with that. As the British journalist Simon Kuper noted a few years ago, anti-system parties in the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States are powered not by struggling workers, but by the “comfortably off populist voter” who has “never been invited into the fast lane of life: the top universities, the biggest firms, the major corporations.” The January 6 rioters were, by and large, not the dispossessed; they were real-estate agents and chiropractors. These citizens think that the disconnect between material success and their perceived lack of status must be punished, and if that means voting for election deniers and conspiracy theorists, so be it. If you still doubt the power of resentment, remember this: Trump wasted his years as the most powerful man in the world whining about how no one respects him. Thiel has spent many millions propping up two candidates who are shameful buffoons. And Musk just lit $44 billion, with a B, on fire so that he could be a hero to an army of trolls that continues to goad him into doing even dumber things, as the Bonfire of the Dead Presidents roars away. There is one more example of such resentment, and it’s a lot less funny. Russia is an entire nation seized with a massive inferiority complex, and the Russian regime is giving vent to that resentment in the continual murder of Ukrainians. Putin, an insecure thug, has his own bizarre reasons for the war, but the brutality of the Russians on the battlefield against their Slavic kin is very much rooted in resentment: Why do you live in freedom? Why are you living better than us? And finally, look at the Republican campaigns across the nation. Few are about kitchen-table issues; many are seizing on resentment. Resentment sells. The GOP is running a slew of candidates who are promising that “we” will make sure “they” never steal an election again, that “we” will stop “them” from making your kids pee in litter boxes, that “we” will finally get even with “them.” Voters in the United States and many other developed countries can lie to themselves and pretend that a one-year hike in the price of eggs is worth handing power to such a movement. Human beings need rationalizations, and we all make them. But voting as responsible citizens requires being honest with ourselves, and I suspect that we will soon learn that more of us are gripped by this kind of sour social irritation than we are by the price of gas."

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/YAppelbaum/status/1589960977180672001?s=20&t=LsO2qNWO5EKIKwHsS7Zwtg

lousubcap

A late Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"North Korea has denied U.S. claims that it’s shipping artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. Responding to U.S. accusations that North Korea was covertly supplying a significant number of ammunition shipments to Russia, an unidentified vice director at the North Korean ministry’s military foreign affairs office said, “we regard such moves of the U.S. as part of its hostile attempt to tarnish the image of (North Korea) in the international arena.” “We once again make clear that we have never had ‘arms dealings’ with Russia and that we have no plan to do so in the future,” the vice director added. Hyunh-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hyung report for AP. 

Russian forces have begun detaining locals in occupied areas of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region to root out partisan resistance, according to the Ukrainian military. “Amid the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the occupiers have significantly intensified filtration measures,” the National Resistance Center, a creation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Monday. “Raids among the local population have intensified in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson region. The occupiers are actively looking for the underground movement.” Olga Voitovych and Mick Krever report for CNN. 

Kyiv had transferred five strategic enterprises to state control from previous oligarch ownership, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday. “Such steps, which are necessary for our country in condition of war . . . will help to provide the urgent needs of our defense sector,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram channel statement. “In these difficult times, we must direct all our forces to liberate our land and people and support the Ukrainian army.” The state seizures have been described as temporary with officials insisting that the takeover of these enterprises did not amount to “nationalizations.” Roman Olearchyk reports for the Financial Times."

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update;

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that world leaders should “force Russia into genuine peace negotiations.” Zelenskyy also accused Russia of obstructing peace efforts and criticized it for objecting to Ukraine’s “completely understandable” demands, including the restoration of territory and security guarantees. Andrew Jeong, Ellen Francis, Robyn Dixon, Adam Taylor, and Ben Brasch report for the Washington Post. 

Russian forces hit the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with self-detonating drone attacks. The attacks seriously wounded four and caused a large fire to break out, according to a spokesperson for the Odesa regional administration. Josh Pennington reports for CNN. 

Ukraine has received its first shipment of the National Advance Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. The NASAMS, which is jointly produced by the U.S. and Norway, can defend against “basically any type of advanced aerial threat that Russia may try to employ against Ukraine targets or civilians,” Pentagon spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters yesterday. John Ismay reports for the New York Times.  

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was open to negotiations with Russia if they are focused on safeguarding Ukraine’s territorial integrity, involve compensation from Moscow to Kyiv and bring to justice perpetrators of war crimes."

lousubcap

A quick read on Russia's planned retreat from Kherson:
From Fareed Zakaria-

"Russia’s Kherson Retreat For weeks, keen war observers have looked expectantly at the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson, as a pitched battle has appeared likely. Centered on the west bank of the Dnipro River, Kherson has posed a problem for Russia’s occupying army, The Economist wrote last month, given the increasing difficulty of resupplying Russian troops separated by the Dnipro from Russian-held territory to the east—particularly as Ukrainian forces targeted supply routes and bridges. Russia’s recently installed top commander in the Ukraine war had foreshadowed that tough choices could lie ahead.    Now, Russia’s military has announced it will withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro and consolidate defenses on the opposite side of the river, marking a major development in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.   “This is important,” tweets retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, who has followed the Ukraine war closely, in a thread of analysis couched as applying “if” a Russian withdrawal indeed occurs. Russian President Vladimir Putin had included Kherson in his September proclamation that Russia would annex four Ukrainian regions, Ryan points out: “Having told the Russian people, in the annexation declaration, that Kherson is part of Russia, Putin will need a story to justify the withdrawal and distract the domestic audience from it.” "

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The Kremlin announced a retreat of Russian forces from the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. As the only regional capital Russian has captured, Kherson is both strategically and symbolically important. The retreat is one of the most significant setbacks for Russia in its war against Ukraine. Marc Santora, Andrew E. Kramer, Dan Bilefsky, Ivan Nechepurenko and Anton Troianovski report for the New York Times. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend next week’s Group of Twenty summit in Indonesia, Russian news agencies reported. The Russian delegation will instead be headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. However, Putin may take part in the conference via video link. Ivan Nechepurenko reports for the New York Times. 

The Kremlin's top security adviser arrived in Iran yesterday amid growing signs that Russia is seeking Iranian precision-guided missiles and drones to use in Ukraine. Russian and Iranian state news agencies have described the visit by Nikolai Patrushec, the head of Russia’s National Security Council, as a routine trip. “In Tehran, Patrushev will hold regular Russian-Iranian security consultations,” read a report by Russia’s state-run news agency TASS. Anatoly Kurmanaev and Marc Santora report for the New York Times. 

The U.S. will not give Ukraine advanced drones despite pleas from Kyiv. The Pentagon declined the request due to concerns that providing the weapons could escalate the conflict, U.S. officials and those familiar with the decision said. Gordon Lubold and Nancy A. Youssef report for the Wall Street Journal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s new conditions for negotiations with Russia were influenced by nudges from the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. Zelenskyy’s decision to drop the requirement that Russian President Vladimir Putin no longer be in power when talks begin, came after days of talks between Kyiv and Washington. Whilst U.S. officials did not directly tell Zelenskyy to alter his position, they did relay that Kyiv must show willingness to end the war reasonably and peacefully, a senior administration official said. Alexander Ward reports for POLITICO. "

lousubcap

More from Fareed Zakaria on the Russian Kherson retreat:

"

A Turning Point for Putin?

As the Global Briefing noted yesterday, Russia’s announcement that it will withdraw troops from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson marks a major development in President Vladimir Putin’s war. At The Washington Post, columnist Max Boot writes that it may say something meaningful about Putin himself, too.    For Putin, the costs of withdrawing from Kherson are notable, Boot points out. Russia’s army will relinquish the only Ukrainian regional capital it has seized in its offensive this year, and in doing so it will make clearer to Russians how badly the war effort is going. It will also boost Ukrainian hopes and help the West’s pro-Ukraine coalition hold together.   That Putin would accept this, Boot writes, is important.   “In some ways,” Boot writes, “the best news about the retreat is that it provides more evidence that Putin is rational—he isn’t another Hitler who wants to die in his bunker and doesn’t care how many people he takes with him. … That should lessen concern that Putin will launch World War III if he doesn’t get his way in Ukraine. Putin certainly miscalculates (as he did in invading Ukraine), and he is definitely reluctant to concede defeat. But he is not unstable, stupid or suicidal.”    That’s all predicated on the withdrawal proceeding as announced. The Economist writes that a “retreat under fire—a ‘retrograde under contact’, in military parlance—is one of the most challenging tasks that any army can undertake. It can go horribly wrong; Russian forces suffered heavy casualties as they escaped from Lyman a month ago.” More to the point, the magazine quotes one Ukrainian official who isn’t sure Russia really will pull back, raising doubts as to whether the announcement might be a ruse."

Gulfcoastguy

There is speculation that Kherson is a trap. That Russia has preregistered all the buildings and features and has a boatload of artillery ready to fire when enough Ukrainians enter. They also mined the area around the city.

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian forces have completed their withdrawal from Ukraine’s Kherson Region west of the Dnipro River, including Kherson city, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Images and videos on social media show that the main bridge over the river has been destroyed. Mick Krever reports for CNN. 

A high-ranking Russian-appointed official in Ukraine’s Kherson region has died following a car accident, local officials said yesterday. The official, Kirill Stremousov, had been outspoken about Russia’s weakening military position on the western bank of the Dnipro River, and in recent weeks had predicted the Russian pullback in public comments. His death was first reported in Russian state news media on Wednesday, and shortly after Moscow’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu ordered Russia to retreat from the city of Kherson. James C. McKinley Jr. reports for the New York Times. 

Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been urging diplomacy in Ukraine. However, other senior officials have resisted the idea. Whilst these officials believe the war will likely be settled through negotiation eventually, they maintain that neither side is ready to negotiate. They are also concerned that any pause in the fighting would give Russian President Vladimir Putin a chance to regroup, according to officials familiar with the discussions. Peter Baker reports for the New York Times. 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III will host the seventh meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group next week. The meeting will be hosted virtually and will include defense ministers from nearly 50 countries. At the meeting, the ministers are expected to discuss ​​how their governments can continue to provide arms, ammunition, and equipment to Ukraine. C. Todd Lopez reports for DOD News. 

White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced another $400 million in military aid for Ukraine yesterday. The latest package brings the amount of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the Biden administration to $19. 3 billion. Dan Bilefsky and John Ismay report for the New York Times."

JohnInCarolina

Interesting piece on the implosion of FTX:

https://puck.news/the-s-b-f-pandemic/